Andy Pohl was probably 13 years old when he first heard Fugazi. The prolific underground band helped define the Washington, D.C. punk scene in the mid-1980s with a mixture of noise and social consciousness that many dubbed ‘art rock.’
“Their whole idea of embracing DIY and having a strong sense of morality and responsibility to uplift everyone in the community was really inspiring to me,” Pohl says. “It stuck with me. And on top of that, their music is really good.”
Pohl credits Fugazi with getting him into heavy music, and the longtime North Bay bassist and guitarist of bands like Kalifornia Redemption and SNIPERS!! always had it in the back of his mind to do a tribute album to the band.
Last month, that longtime endeavor saw the light of day when Everybody Wants Somewhere: A Tribute To Fugazi was released on Pohl’s Sell the Heart Records label. Featuring 21 bands playing classic Fugazi songs, this massive collection includes 11 tracks on limited edition vinyl, and the rest offered as digital downloads.
“I was really encouraged by the fact that this many people were eager to be a part of this project,” Pohl says.
Tracks by several North Bay artists, including post-rock band The Down House, ambient electronica outfit Identical Homes and songwriter Ryan Michael Keller, dot this genre-bending tribute album that was mastered by Daniel McKenzie at The Black Lodge in San Anselmo.
In the spirit of Fugazi’s ethics, all proceeds from the album will be donated to San Francisco nonprofit Taking It To The Streets San Francisco, which provides homeless youth with mentoring, safe housing and other services to support self-sufficiency.
“I really love the concept and was compelled by what they’re doing,” Pohl says. “This is going to be an awesome partnership.”
‘Everybody Wants Somewhere: A Tribute to Fugazi’; Selltheheartrecords.com.
It’s October 28, 2011. In the square directly outside the front entrance to London’s famous St. Paul’s Cathedral, hundreds of activists (most of them university students and other young people) are gathered with their tents, sleeping bags and other necessities for long-term living. They’re part of the international “Occupy” movement, protesting the widening gap between the 1 percent “haves” and the 99 percent “have nots” that global free market capitalism has fostered throughout the Western world.
Their demonstration had begun a few blocks away—near Goldman Sachs’ London headquarters in the one-square-mile, semi-independent financial district known as “The City”—but the latter’s objections and a court order backed by police forced a shift to St. Paul’s. Now, the Occupiers have received an ultimatum: Either abandon the encampment or be forcibly evicted.
Meanwhile, in an attractive wood-paneled room inside the cathedral, a place where the tumult outside is invisible and even the sound of anti-corporate chanting is barely audible, members of the governing hierarchy debate what to do. One might expect that the issue would be whether to stand with the students—and there is some limited talk of that—or, at least, discuss their demands. But no, the main subject is whether the church doors, which had been locked for two weeks out of concern that the protest might spread into the building, should be reopened to allow for normal religious services.
That’s the setup for English playwright Steve Waters’ Temple, which is currently receiving its American premiere at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company. For some 95 intermission-less minutes, the principal decisionmakers and their advisors rotate around a large center stage table as they engage each other about church history and doctrine. Although (with one possible exception) the people involved and the positions taken are based on his research into what transpired inside that sealed chamber, in interviews Waters reminds us that his play is a blend of fiction and fact. Also with one exception, the emotional level is severely restrained as befits both the English temperament and the special injunction for men of the cloth to love and respect one another even if they disagree.
The exception to the general decorum is the Canon Chancellor. Portrayed by Mike Ryan, he is a fiery advocate of backing the Occupiers in their quest for political and economic justice. Throughout history, he argues, the church has championed the common man, a role that is central to the Christian message. “What would Jesus do?” he asks. The first part of that assumption is debatable, and when his colleagues seem disinclined to take the Jesus test, he decides his only honorable course is to resign.
As for the others, they methodically struggle to find a way out of their dilemma. Historical examples are cited and pertinent scriptural passages analyzed. They even contact Rowan Williams (the then serving Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church) to get an opinion. His answer? Something like, “It’s your problem. You figure it out.” Prodded by an anti-Occupy lawyer for the City of London (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong), the church verger (Sharon Lockwood), who is anxious to see that the necessary preparations are in place for a reopening if one is ordered, and the by-the-book conservative Bishop of London (J. Michael Flynn), the choice ultimately falls to St. Paul’s Dean (Paul Whitworth, in a star turn), who is anything but decisive. Hamlet-like, he dithers. He dodges. He evades. He looks for an answer that will satisfy everyone, but can’t find one until a lively new personal assistant (Sylvia Burboeck), the only character that I suspect is not historically based, gives him a little push.
Which way the Dean lands I’ll leave for you to find out, except to say that it provides a fitting conclusion to a play—directed with admirable precision by Aurora’s artistic director, Tom Ross—that might be fascinating for those who also think a staged reading of the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer sounds like an entertaining way to spend an evening at the theater.
NOW PLAYING: Templeruns through May 14 at the Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley; 510/843-4822; auroratheatre.org.
It took some time, but the coworking trend has reached San Rafael; VenturePad, a full-service coworking and entrepreneurship center, opened here in March. The bright, welcoming space on B Street (between Fourth and Fifth streets) is a joint venture by Chris Yalonis, a longtime Marin entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in software development, and Alejandro Moreno, who guided marketing at Marin’s former leading accelerator Venture Greenhouse. We caught up with Yalonis on local entrepreneurship, working remotely yet together and Marin County realities.
Flora Tsapovsky: Why start a coworking space in Marin, why in San Rafael and why now?
Chris Yalonis:“I’m a 30-year Marin resident and VenturePad is my sixth start-up that I have founded or have been on the ground floor with. I believe that as a community, we need to support our entrepreneurs, freelancers and work-at-home professionals. We were involved with Venture Greenhouse and Renaissance Center, two incubators here in San Rafael that supported and launched over 350 businesses between 2010 and 2015. They dissolved because of unsustainable business models and left many of us in the entrepreneurship and small business support community without a rallying hub. Existing Marin coworking spaces are either niche, or out of the way without nearby amenities, so we wanted to have a center that was substantial and professional, with capacity for a critical mass of over 150 small businesses and entrepreneurs to inspire and support one another.”
FT: Who is your target audience?
CY: “It is an inclusive model that casts a wide net across Marin: Work-at-home individuals in Marin, incorporated entities with four employees or less, commuters to San Francisco, Sonoma, the East Bay and Silicon Valley—a percentage of whom would prefer to work closer to home part of the week, individuals employed by Marin nonprofits and more. Our early founding members tell us that they find that working at home, while comfortable much of the time, can be isolating and distracting and they need to be around other people for social stimulation and motivation.”
FT: Most of your team members are age 40 and older—do you feel there’s a need in coworking for this age group, rather than just the younger, start-up-like crowds?
CY: “According to the census, Marin’s average age is 45. There is a substantial number of professionals who are well established in their careers, are on their third or fourth start-up or business that they own. Besides, according to a McKinsey study in 2016, one third of the U.S. workforce do some kind of freelance work. Marin has an even higher percentage, closer to 40 percent, according to census data, which is approximately 60,000 residents freelancing, so regardless of age, coworking is addressing these needs.”
FT: What kind of workshops and classes do you plan on offering?
CY: “Every Thursday, we have a Lunch & Learn session, free to members and $10 for non-members. They are run by local experts in a variety of leadership practices, [and cover] special skills or relevant hot issues that impact a small business owner or leader. Popular topics have included social media for small business, intergenerational team collaboration, managing cash flow, innovative business models and negotiation skills.
We will be launching our incubator and accelerator program later this year. This will be a six- to nine-month program with 10-15 members per cohort who will have a workspace and meeting rooms, weekly mentoring and classwork, regular milestones and presentations to hit and a network of advisors. VenturePad is also organizing Marin’s first Sustainable Enterprise Conference, slated for October 26 at the Embassy Suites. This is an offshoot of a 12-year-running conference in Sonoma that draws over 400 every spring.”
FT: Where did the inspiration for the look and feel of the place come from?
CY: “We wanted something open, full of natural light with a modern, yet post-industrial feel. Plenty of steel, wood and glass; a very uncluttered, clean look. We found a wonderful open space at street level with 16-foot ceilings, all glass on two of the four exterior walls. We also have ‘baked’ sustainable practices into our operations; VenturePad is carbon-neutral, and all of our energy comes from 100 percent renewable sources.”
FT: What’s your take on the changes that Marin County has gone through in recent years, following the tech boom?
CY: “In recent years, we have added jobs overall, but not our housing stock. The lack of housing stock is the biggest challenge we face as a community, and it has multiple ripple impacts. This includes longer commutes and more out-of-county commuters. As a community, we need to make commercial and residential space more affordable to be able to support young and growing companies and families. Otherwise, they will continue to decline in numbers.”
FT: What are you hoping to achieve with this project?
CY: “We want to grow our membership and build out a rich educational program of lunch, online and workshop sessions, as well as classroom programs for baseline entrepreneurship skills and tools. We also want to be a convenor for public-private collaborations that link up our technical and professional services experts with policymakers and nonprofits to address some of our biggest community challenges. Right now, the target issues include homelessness, sea level rise impact and climate change, fossil fuel-based transportation and congestion, affordable housing and equity. Easy stuff, right?”
VenturePad, 1020 B St., San Rafael; 415/309-0331; venturepad.works.
Craig Ponsford has been in San Rafael since 2010, which means that he’s way ahead of trends. He may be a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, the ex-owner of acclaimed Artisan Bakers in Sonoma and an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, but first and foremost Ponsford is a pioneer of gluten-free baking and innovative approaches to pastry. Experimenting with unique baking techniques and gluten-free flour way before it became a hot topic, Ponsford calls his San Rafael venture, Ponsford’s Place, an ‘innovation center,’ among other things.
“When I opened it, the idea was not only to have a kind of experimental retail kind of place but also a development laboratory, which can be used for a very focused project getting an item from the bench to the factory,” Ponsford says.
In the bakery, Ponsford constantly tries new products made of quinoa, spelt, durum, cornmeal and amaranth flour, as well as grapeseed and even grapeskin flours, a byproduct of the area’s rich winemaking industry. He’s eager to pass the knowledge on; educational classes in the bakery are coming soon, but for now, along with baking, Ponsford often consults with big brands and small businesses on system optimization, gluten-free and high-fiber baking and more. On his resume, one will find truRoots, a brand which made it into Costco and was later purchased by The J.M. Smucker Company, as well as work with the California Raisin Marketing Board, advising Enray, a company out of Livermore, on incorporating sprouted, organic grains from around the world and much more. His take on the huge surge of gluten-free products as a fad? Let’s just say that Ponsford, who has taken the long and patient route to the phenomenon, is not thrilled: “It has been hard to watch and see all the misinformation,” he says. “Ultimately, it has been a big win for Wall Street. Do I need to say more?”
In a welcome contrast to his impressive resume and in full concordance with his modest approach, Ponsford’s bakery is a humble and simple place, filled, nevertheless, with tempting treats. “Everything is made with wholegrain flour; we do not use any white flour,” he stresses, adding that most of the flours come from small California farms. Favorites include a very popular and unique vegetable croissant, seasonal breads like an artichoke, olive and feta levain or a sauerkraut rye, plus “European-style baked goods with a healthy twist.”
The creativity doesn’t stop at the dough, either—the menu includes turnovers filled with anything from crème of nettle mushroom with or without speck, Rancho Gordo Domingo Rojo and vaquero beans with cumin, shishito peppers and potatoes, biscotti adorned with candied blood orange, and there’s a lime mousse tart with tequila-flavored whipped cream. Announcements about seasonal offerings are posted on the bakery’s website, and often lead to a mini-frenzy.
Despite the fact that Ponsford’s Place is now seamlessly embedded in the local community, opening the business wasn’t an easy decision for Ponsford. “I had made a bad business decision with my previous business of 17 years and was going through a terrible ‘divorce’ with my new business partners,” he recalls. “I realized my real passion was feeding people, with my own two hands.” So he found a location close to his home, “small enough to be pretty much a one-man show,” and went for it.
Ponsford has been living in San Rafael for more than 10 years, appreciating every moment. Now, with his small business employing a couple more grain enthusiasts, he feels more at home than ever.
“We have an incredibly supportive local San Rafael crowd, and then we have people who come from all over the Bay Area to visit us,” he says. “The community is the best part.”
Ponsford’s Place, 117 Shaver St., San Rafael; ponsfordsplace.com.
In many ways a cheese- and wine-focused shop seems long overdue in Marin. With a handful of world-class cheesemakers right here in our county, it’s rather surprising that nothing currently exists that showcases and celebrates these producers all in one place.
Slated to open at the end of May in Larkspur Landing’s Marin Country Mart, Fisher’s Cheese and Wine is the brainchild of Kiri Fisher, owner of The Cheese School of San Francisco. Five years ago, the Bay Area native partnered with the late Daphne Zepos, a celebrated chef, cookbook author and renowned cheese aficionado to open the school on Folsom Street in the Mission District. To say that Fisher learned her craft from the very best is an understatement.
“The goal of the store is not to make it a heavy cheese experience,” says Fisher, who has been testing the waters and meeting potential new customers for the last few months at the Saturday Farmers’ Market. We want to educate, and offer our favorite international cheeses with local produce and wines.”
In keeping with the upscale vibe at Marin Country Mart, Bay Area architect Wylie Price is guiding the project. Fisher refers to her shop’s aesthetic as “Scandinavian whimsy,” and hopes to achieve an understated, utilitarian look. On top of the retail component, she will offer tastings, classes, hands-on cheesemaking opportunities, catering services and a café.
“Cheese is an expensive and complicated product—it needs some education around it,” Fisher says. And while cheese will be the star of the show, charcuterie and wine will also be in the mix.
Fisher is bringing some of her staff from The Cheese School over the bridge, but cheese lovers take note—she is looking for staffing help. To learn more and to follow her progress, visit fisherscheese.com, or follow them on Instagram @fisherscheeseandwine.
“I’d rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”—George Washington
My dad, a diehard New Yorker, enjoys telling me that “kale tastes like dirt.” This is usually after I force him to taste my morning green smoothie or wander around my backyard picking homegrown lacinato kale. So I remind him of the stories that he told me about his aunts who grew their own backyard edible gardens and didn’t brunch at Dunkin’ Donuts on 34th Street, like he does most mornings. In fact, as part of the war effort in the early 1940s, the U.S. government turned to its citizens and in the spirit of patriotism, encouraged all Americans to plant edible gardens in private yards, on public land and in vacant lots. Between 1941 and 1943 the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that more than 20 million Victory Gardens were planted in the United States and 40 percent of our total food was produced by those gardens.
One hundred years ago, one in four Americans worked on farms. Today, it’s closer to one in 50. Jim Normandi and his crafty crew of family members are looking to change that. Wishing to blend modern lives with a rural-retro farming arts experience, he opened the Fairfax Backyard Farmer just a few months ago.
“Like the family farms of yesteryear our shop is also family-built, owned and operated,” Normandi says. “One hundred years ago, in 1917, my great-great-grandfather Riziero Traversi, an immigrant from Switzerland, operated a dairy on Old Adobe Road in Petaluma. His California dairy license from that year, along with his portrait, hangs on the wall behind the counter at our modest shop, a reminder of our family legacy.”
After closing down the family wholesale electronics shop during the Great Recession, Normandi returned to the interests of his youth and undergraduate education in environmental studies and horticulture. He set out to create the backyard farming vision he had been focusing on for a few years prior.
“When we tend backyard chickens or bees, or make beer, sauerkraut or yogurt, or grow sprouts or mushrooms on our kitchen counters, we are practicing the ancient art of backyard farming,” he says.
Family, friends and even strangers enthusiastically joined in with support and encouragement.
“My 85-year-old father picked up his toolbelt and lent 50 years of retail experience and advice,” Normandi says of Jimmy Sierra, the retired, renowned treasure-hunter, metal detective expert and author.
“My daughter, Maya, an undergraduate in environmental studies at the U.C. in Santa Barbara and a graphic artist extraordinaire, designed all the logos and store artwork including the custom wall mural,” he continues. “The front room of our warehouse was transformed into a ranch-style showroom with hand-painted murals and custom-built shelving.”
Normandi’s wife, Carol Normandi, a licensed psychotherapist, and cofounder of the nonprofit Beyond Hunger, and his 22-year-old son Traver, sought out products and designed an inventory system. His mom, watercolor artist Win Normandi, and youngest daughter, Iona, created rustic, handmade notecards and jewelry. Various friends built walls and stocked shelves while local residents regularly poked their heads in the front door to applaud and approve of what was emerging inside his bucolic magic shop.
“The community itself really has claimed the store,” Normandi says. “A lot of people come in to visit and are immediately offered help, advice and encouragement not just by me, but by other customers as well. We offer a safe place and environment where people can share their knowledge with the greater community.”
Inside, customers find do-it-yourself kits, agricultural projects, puzzles and innovative ideas for everything
Jim Normandi, owner of the Fairfax Backyard Farmer, explains the bee smoker to a customer from O’Donnells Fairfax Nursery.
“farmy:” Beekeeping, fermenting, sprouting, kombucha crafting, beer brewing, raising chickens—you name it, and Normandi’s got it. And if he doesn’t have it, he knows where to find it.
“You don’t need to own 100 acres and a tractor to reclaim your farming roots,” Normandi says. “You can practice farming on your kitchen counter or in your own backyard. So much of our modern life is dominated by our role as consumers. When we are able to change hats and become a producer even in a very small way, the satisfaction is tremendous.”
Award-winning author and farmer Wendell Berry asks us to not just be passive consumers who accept the cost and quality of food, but to ask, “How fresh is it? How far was it transported? What kind of farm was it grown on?”Once we choose to be informed food consumers, we gain appreciation for our local farmers. Once we understand the farm-to-table food cycle, we may also choose to become a small-scale food producer at home. A successfully grown, sunny, window-box full of cooking herbs is enough to get you hooked on growing and gardening. Before you know it you’ll be a full-fledged hortiholic like yours truly, drooling over the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalogue, roses and succulents. Fairfax Backyard Farmer and I welcome you with open arms and dirty hands.
If you’re not quite ready to plant a vegetable garden, maybe the 7 Bridges Easy Brew Organic Beer Kit is more your style? Or the starter pack for making your own kombucha. Both kits have everything you need to start home brewing, including step-by-step directions, tips and ingredients to brew your first batch. Just like your high school chemistry teacher, Normandi is on hand, full of knowledge, sitting you down and thoroughly explaining each step of the process to you before you leave his shop.
“I believe that the microbrewery explosion, the rise in popular culture of kombucha, hard cider, kefir and even the probiotics of sauerkraut are not separate, unrelated trends and fads but perhaps an unconscious recognition of our farmer roots,” he says. “When we view ourselves as farmers we allow ourselves for a moment to be part of, rather than outside, the cycles of the natural world.”
The store has plenty of fun gifts for upcoming Mother’s Day and Father’s Day—the Shiitake Mushroom Mini-Farm by Far West Fungi, the handcrafted cobalt-colored brown glass nectar feeder, the 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall puzzle and the rooster-print apron with pockets for eggs. The Fairfax Backyard Farmer also offers regular educational Farm Arts classes and workshops, in groups of up to 10 students, presented by local experts.
“We invite you to reclaim your roots and call yourself a farmer again,” Normandi says. He and his wife attend the workshops as well, so they can share farming tips with their customers and the community.
Just last month, the store hosted its first Backyard Farmer Festival. The theme centered around how to reclaim your farmer roots in your kitchen, garden and backyard, and had a prestigious group of expert speakers. Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, discussed urban farming, while author and professor Gretchen Lebuhn spoke about pollinators and how to become involved with the “Great Sunflower Project.” Author and the San FranciscoChronicle’s garden columnist, Pam Peirce, addressed climate change in the garden, and Karen Wang Diggs, classically trained chef and author of Happy Foods, explored the human microbiome.
“Even the word ‘farm’ itself has a deep history,” Normandi says. “The ancient European roots of the word translate to ‘breath, wind and spirit,’ reminding us that to farm is to engage directly with the original life force. Dig deep enough and everyone’s family would at one point be found on the farm. Our farming roots are calling to us.”
The wheels of government turn slowly, but three state agencies completed proposed regulations for medical cannabis well before the January 1 deadline. Marin County has meanwhile told dispensaries to keep out, regardless of the state deadline.
Last week, California’s Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, Department of Food and Agriculture and Department of Public Health released their much-anticipated rules for the industry under the Medical Cannabis Regulatory and Safety Act (MCRSA).
The proposed regulations follow a series of public meetings the agencies held across the state to meet with industry stakeholders about the kind of rules they’d like to see. The speedy state action comes as the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to ban brick-and-mortar dispensaries across the county and only allow for delivery services of cannabis. The county has already banned non-medical sales outright.
On the other hand, the state is meeting life on life’s terms. The Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation has proposed rules on distribution, testing and retail sales. CalCannabis Cultivation, a branch of the Department of Food and Agriculture that oversees the regulations for cannabis cultivation, released proposed rules for cultivation, nurseries and processing and the Office of Manufactured Cannabis Safety, a division of the Department of Public Health, released its proposed regulations on manufacturing cannabis products which includes extraction, processing and infusion.
The regulations now go to the public for a 45-day comment period. Comments are due June 12 and can be made at the agencies’ websites. The regulations do not address the recreational use and sales of cannabis approved by voters in November under Proposition 64.
“This is a major step in an expedited and historic process to regulate the globe’s leading cannabis marketplace,” says Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association. “The state agency staff have done an impressive job meeting the aggressive timelines in the MCRSA. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty as the legislature and the governor seek to unify the medical cannabis laws and the adult use laws.”
Meanwhile, at the local level, the regulators have spoken and the dispensaries are a no-go, regardless of state sanction (see ‘No Go,’ April 19). As the state dutifully pushes forth on a sane and humane pot policy in the “Era of Sessions”—the same Marin County that gave birth to ‘420’ now features high school administrators lecturing Marin students on the evils of the killer weed on the unofficial regional holiday, thereby ensuring another generation of Marin stoners motivated only by high tides and green grass forever.
—Stett Holbrook and Tom Gogola
Swamp and Circumstance
Trump’s swamp monster just sucked up all of the water in the service of Big Ag as a compliant Congressional committee pushed through a Central Valley water deal brutally opposed by Rep. Jared Huffman, and which could have implications in watersheds and at water districts across the state.
A Monday release from the North Coast congressman blasted Trump’s cronies-only administration, lately met with news that former Westlands Water District lobbyist David Bernhardt is on the short list for interior secretary, as Huffman blasted the House Committee on Natural Resources for voting down a set of amendments he offered to House Resolution 1769, the San Luis Unit Drainage Resolution Act. His amendments would have “safeguarded taxpayers from potential self-dealing by lobbyists associated with the Trump Interior Department, protected tribal interests, required the cleanup of toxic drain-water, ensured that all legal liability be extinguished, and blocked water district officials under criminal investigation from handling federal funds.”
The bill is a payoff to the Westlands Water District, the downstate authority in the Central Valley, located in Trumpian Kevin McCarthy’s Fresno home-base. It requires the Department of the Interior (DOI) to implement a 2015 agreement between the DOI and Westlands “to settle litigation concerning the U.S. duty to provide drainage service, entered September 15, 2015,” according to the online legislative record.
The DOI built the San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project in 1960 and the bill sets out to deregulate the operation and “eliminate requirements for [the] Interior to meet drainage requirements for such a unit. Each contractor within the unit that receives water for irrigation shall be responsible for the management of drainage water within its boundaries. The Westlands Water District shall assume all legal responsibility for the management of drainage water within, and shall not discharge drain water outside of, its boundaries.”
The deal, widely reported to have been negotiated in secret between the DOI and Westlands, gave a permanent water contract to Westlands that, as Rep. Mike Thompson said in a 2015 statement, “precludes any further environmental review or contract renewals. In return, Westlands will retire 100,000 acres of farmland, but that still leaves nearly 300,000 acres of impaired lands open to irrigation, opening the door to further pollution of our rivers and streams.”
One of Huffman’s failed amendments targeted the fisheries of the Trinity and Klamath rivers as it directed the DOI to “conduct a government-to-government consultation with the Hoopa Valley Tribe and any other federally recognized Indian tribes in the Klamath-Trinity Watershed that seeks consultation regarding the impact of H.R. 1769.”
C’mon, congressman! You really thought the swamp-keepers would let that one through the gate?—Tom Gogola
Hero: Spring is abloom and Annie Spiegelman, the Pacific Sun’s own Dirt Diva, and Anita Jones are busy at Marin Oaks High School in Novato teaching students to grow vegetables, fruit trees and flowers that attract pollinators. With the mission close to their hearts, they’ve typically opened their wallets and paid for the plants themselves during their five years of volunteering. This season, enter Chip Young at Pini’s Ace Hardware in Novato, who recently donated a gift card valued at several hundred dollars to the program. Thank you heroes Chip, Annie and Anita for your substantial contributions to Marin Oaks High School and for enabling the bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and other important pollinators to alight on the new plants from Pini’s Ace Hardware. May they grow, bear fruit and blossom.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I have misgivings when I witness bears riding bicycles, tigers dancing on their hind legs or Aries people wielding diplomatic phrases and making careful compromises at committee meetings. While I am impressed by the disciplined expression of primal power, I worry for the soul of the creature that is behaving with such civilized restraint. Take advantage of opportunities to make deals and forge win-win situations. But also keep a part of your fiery heart untamed. Don’t let people think they’ve got you all figured out.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “One of the advantages of being disorderly,” said author A. A. Milne, “is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.” I wouldn’t normally offer this idea as advice to a methodical dynamo like you. But my interpretation of the astrological omens compels me to override my personal theories about what you need. I must suggest that you consider experimenting with jaunty, rambunctious behavior in the coming days, even if it generates some disorder. The potential reward? Exciting discoveries, of course.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): According to my reading of the astrological omens, it’s time for you to take a break from the magic you have been weaving since your birthday in 2016. That’s why I’m suggesting that you go on a brief sabbatical. Allow your deep mind to fully integrate the lessons you’ve been learning and the transformations you have undergone over the past 11 months. In a few weeks, you’ll be ready to resume where you left off. For now, though, you require breathing room. Your spiritual batteries need time to recharge. The hard work you’ve done should be balanced by an extended regimen of relaxed playtime.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Apparently, a lot of kids in the U.K. don’t like to eat vegetables. In response, food researchers in that country marketed a variety of exotic variations designed to appeal to their palate. The new dishes included chocolate-flavored carrots, pizza-flavored corn and cheese-and-onion-flavored cauliflower. I don’t recommend that you get quite so extreme in trying to broaden your own appeal, Cancerian. But see if you can at least reach out to your potential constituency with a new wrinkle or fresh twist. Be imaginative as you expand the range of what your colleagues and clientele have to choose from.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In speaking about the arduous quest to become one’s authentic self, writer Thomas Merton used the example of poets who aspire to be original but end up being imitative. “Many poets never succeed in being themselves,” he said. “They never get around to being the particular poet they are intended to be by God. They never become the person or artist who is called for by all of the circumstances of their individual lives. They waste their years in vain efforts to be some other poet. They wear out their minds and bodies in a hopeless endeavor to have somebody else’s experiences or write somebody else’s poems.” I happen to believe that this is a problem for non-poets, as well. Many of us never succeed in becoming ourselves. Luckily for you, Leo, in the coming weeks and months you will have an unprecedented chance to become more of who you really are.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): On numerous occasions, French acrobat Charles Blondin walked across a tightrope that spanned the gorge near Niagara Falls. His cable was 3 ¼ inches in diameter, 1,100 feet long and 160 feet above the Niagara River. Once he made the entire crossing by doing back flips and somersaults. Another time he carried a small stove on his back, stopped midway to cook an omelet and ate the meal before finishing. Now would be an excellent time for you to carry out your personal equivalent of his feats, Virgo. What daring actions have you never tried before even though you’ve been sufficiently trained or educated to perform them well?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Ready for some subterranean journeys? They may not involve literal explorations of deep caverns and ancient tunnels and underground streams. You may not stumble upon lost treasure, forgotten artifacts and valuable ruins. But then again, you might. At the very least, you will encounter metaphorical versions of some of the above. What mysteries would you love to solve? What secrets would be fun to uncover? What shadows would you be excited to illuminate?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Why would you guzzle mind-clouding moonshine when you will eventually get a chance to sip a heart-reviving tonic? Why spoil your appetite by loading up on non-nutritious hors d’oeuvres when a healthy feast will be available sooner than you imagine? I advise you to suppress your compulsion for immediate gratification. It may seem impossible for you to summon such heroic patience, but I know you can. And in the long run, you’ll be happy if you do.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “You’ll always be my favorite what-if.” Many years ago, I heard that phrase whispered in my ear. It came from the mouth of a wonderful-but-impossible woman. We had just decided that it was not a good plan, as we had previously fantasized, to run away and get married at Angkor Wat in Cambodia and then spend the next decade being tour guides who led travelers on exotic getaways to the world’s sacred sites. “You’ll always be my favorite what-if” was a poignant but liberating moment. It allowed us to move on with our lives and pursue other dreams that were more realistic and productive. I invite you to consider triggering a liberation like that sometime soon.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’d love to see you increase the number of people, places and experiences you love, as well as the wise intensity with which you love them. From an astrological perspective, now is an excellent time to upgrade your appreciation and adoration for the whole world and everything in it. To get you in the mood, I’ll call your attention to some unfamiliar forms of ardor you may want to pursue: Eraunophilia, an attraction to thunder and lightning; cymophilia, a fascination with waves and waviness; chorophilia, a passion for dancing; asymmetrophilia, a zeal for asymmetrical things; sapiophilia, an erotic enchantment with intelligence.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You could go online and buy an antique Gothic throne or a psychedelic hippie couch to spruce up your living room. For your bathroom, you could get a Japanese “wonder toilet,” complete with a heated seat, automated bidet and white noise generator. Here’s another good idea: You could build a sacred crazy altar in your bedroom where you will conduct rituals of playful liberation. Or how about this? Acquire a kit that enables you to create spontaneous poetry on your refrigerator door using tiny magnets with evocative words written on them. Can you think of other ideas to revitalize your home environment? It’s high time you did so.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Among America’s 50 states, Texas has the third-highest rate of teenage pregnancies. Uncoincidentally, sex education in Texas is steeped in ignorance. Most of its high schools offer no teaching about contraception other than to advise students to avoid sex. In the coming weeks, Pisces, you can’t afford to be as deprived of the truth as those kids. Even more than usual, you need accurate information that’s tailored to your precise needs, not fake news, ideological delusions or self-serving propaganda. Make sure that you gather insight and wisdom from the very best sources. That’s how you’ll avoid behavior that’s irrelevant to your life goals. That’s how you’ll attract experiences that serve your highest good.
Homework: What’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever done? Testify! Go to Realastrology.com and click on “Email Rob.”
By Charlie Swanson
Andy Pohl was probably 13 years old when he first heard Fugazi. The prolific underground band helped define the Washington, D.C. punk scene in the mid-1980s with a mixture of noise and social consciousness that many dubbed ‘art rock.’
“Their whole idea of embracing DIY and having a strong sense of morality and responsibility to uplift everyone in...
By Charles Brousse
It’s October 28, 2011. In the square directly outside the front entrance to London’s famous St. Paul’s Cathedral, hundreds of activists (most of them university students and other young people) are gathered with their tents, sleeping bags and other necessities for long-term living. They’re part of the international “Occupy” movement, protesting the widening gap between the 1...
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It took some time, but the coworking trend has reached San Rafael; VenturePad, a full-service coworking and entrepreneurship center, opened here in March. The bright, welcoming space on B Street (between Fourth and Fifth streets) is a joint venture by Chris Yalonis, a longtime Marin entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in software development, and Alejandro Moreno,...
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Craig Ponsford has been in San Rafael since 2010, which means that he’s way ahead of trends. He may be a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, the ex-owner of acclaimed Artisan Bakers in Sonoma and an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, but first and foremost Ponsford is a...
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In many ways a cheese- and wine-focused shop seems long overdue in Marin. With a handful of world-class cheesemakers right here in our county, it’s rather surprising that nothing currently exists that showcases and celebrates these producers all in one place.
Slated to open at the end of May in Larkspur Landing’s Marin Country Mart, Fisher’s Cheese and...
By Annie Spiegelman, the Dirt Diva
“I’d rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”—George Washington
My dad, a diehard New Yorker, enjoys telling me that “kale tastes like dirt.” This is usually after I force him to taste my morning green smoothie or wander around my backyard picking homegrown lacinato kale. So I remind him of the...
The Hot Pot
The wheels of government turn slowly, but three state agencies completed proposed regulations for medical cannabis well before the January 1 deadline. Marin County has meanwhile told dispensaries to keep out, regardless of the state deadline.
Last week, California’s Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, Department of Food and Agriculture and Department of Public Health released their much-anticipated rules...
By Nikki Silverstein
Hero: Spring is abloom and Annie Spiegelman, the Pacific Sun’s own Dirt Diva, and Anita Jones are busy at Marin Oaks High School in Novato teaching students to grow vegetables, fruit trees and flowers that attract pollinators. With the mission close to their hearts, they’ve typically opened their wallets and paid for the plants themselves during their...
By Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I have misgivings when I witness bears riding bicycles, tigers dancing on their hind legs or Aries people wielding diplomatic phrases and making careful compromises at committee meetings. While I am impressed by the disciplined expression of primal power, I worry for the soul of the creature that is behaving with such civilized...
