Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

‘Life Span’: Molly Giles’ New Memoir

Nikki Silverstein

Jun 18, 2024

Woodacre writer Molly Giles has traveled back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge for more than eight decades. Those trips dot the diaries she began keeping at age nine.

“My daughters have volunteered happily to burn all these journals when I die. And I thought, well, maybe I should use them before that,” Giles, 82, told me during a recent interview.

Readers will certainly be delighted with that decision, which spawned Giles’ first nonfiction book, an incisive and revelatory memoir released earlier this month. However, the acclaimed writer says her family, ex-husbands and former lovers may not feel as enamored with Life Span: Impressions of a Lifetime Spent Crossing and Recrossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Throughout Life Span, Giles cleverly uses the iconic structure as the connective tissue for her heart wrenching, humorous and hopeful stories—from her earliest recollections to the present.

For eight or nine years, Giles worked on writing brief scenes from her life, many with the Golden Gate Bridge making an appearance as a bit player. Those wry, penetrating stories form the basis of Life Span. But Giles credits friend, neighbor and fellow writer DB Finnegan—“who gives great advice”—for identifying the landmark as the memoir’s throughline.

“The first piece I wrote was about my grandmother and my mother slapping each other over the 25-cent bridge toll, which is now, what, $10, practically?” Giles shared. “I read it out loud at a reading, and it got a good reception.”

No surprise that people loved the story, which became an early chapter in Life Span. It provides deliciously wicked insight into Giles’ mother, who almost causes a car accident during a petty squabble with her own mother. Never mind the two young girls, Giles and her cousin, being tossed around in the back seat.

Life Span by Molly Giles, 268 pages, published by WTAW Press.

Life Span opens in 1945, when Giles’ father returns to his family after serving in the Army during WWII. Giles, then a three year old, gets to ride with her unfamiliar father in the moving van from San Francisco to their new Sausalito home. The little girl marvels at the bridge approach—“it is like entering a tall orange palace with no walls and no roof.” And she likes taking a deep breath of her father’s cigarette smoke, the taste “warm and burnt toasty.”

Although only a tot at the time, Giles vividly recalls the moving day ride and the feelings she experienced. It’s one of her first memories.

“Don’t ask me what I did yesterday, but I did remember that one,” Giles said. “Driving. How proud I felt sitting in the front seat of the truck. And because my father was so new to me, he was shy. The two of us were very shy with each other all the time. So, it was an awkward ride, but a very happy one too.”

Complicated family relationships remain front and center in Life Span. Almost no one is spared from Giles’ razor-sharp observations, including her three daughters, who have decided they won’t read the book.

“It’s probably for the best, but I told them that I wish they told me that when I was writing it,” Giles said. “I could have really taken the gloves off. Most of us don’t write about our parents until they’ve passed away, but I’m writing about people that are still alive. And I feel very vulnerable about it.”

While Giles doesn’t want to hurt anyone, including her exes—who she’s still good friends with—she confesses that her defense may not be good enough. Her goal was to cull through her journals and write honestly about how she felt at the time of the events, rather than how she feels now.

“I want my children to understand that it’s not about them,” Giles said. “It’s about me, you know? It’s all about me. They can write their own Mommy Dearest when they’re finished. But this is more about my inadequacies and my failures.”

It’s easy to relate to Giles’ foibles—and her flash writing, a concise, crisp style that she has mastered in her award-winning fiction. In Life Span, she employs the technique, carefully crafting complete and powerful stories in pithy chapters, some just a paragraph long.

Giles prefers writing flash pieces. The process of “chopping” prose appeals to her, getting rid of the extraneous to expose the deeper meaning.

“To me, it’s a little like play,” Giles explains. “Moving the pieces around the Rubik’s Cube until everything clicks.”

Life Span certainly clicks. From the opening pages about her father and mother, Giles leads us through her marriages, children, lovers, teaching, writing and what she calls the late Summer of Love, when she falls for Ralph at age 75. She keeps the reader engaged by making all the words count.

Each chapter in the book represents a year—usually a single experience in Giles’ life—until she meets Ralph in 2017. She purposely slowed the pace for the reader by devoting 12 chapters to the first year of their relationship, one for every month.

Those 12 chapters have the reader vacillating on whether the couple will make it. Giles told me that she felt the same way while she was living through it. Between her need for alone time and Ralph’s beautiful young female friends, it was a tough call.

“When it comes to dinner, I am happy with a bag of Fritos, eating over the sink, but Ralph is, you know, let’s have meat and potatoes and salad and vegetables,” she told me. “It’s just that before, I could wear the same outfit three days in a row.”

Eventually, Giles’ trepidation waned. Today, their relationship serves as inspiration to her friends looking for love later in life. Ralph keeps his home in San Francisco, and Giles remains in Woodacre, although they spend several days and nights a week together.

The arrangement keeps both Giles and Ralph traveling across the Golden Gate Bridge on a regular basis. And I can’t think of a better beginning for their next chapter.

Upcoming Events With Molly Giles

In conversation with Peg Alford Pursell

6pm, Saturday, June 29
Books & Letters, 14045 Armstrong Woods Rd., Suite B, Guerneville

In conversation with Jane Ciabattari

7pm, Thursday, July 18
Copperfield’s, 775 Village Ct., Santa Rosa

Celebrity secrets and what we owe the dead

Nikki Silverstein

Aug 15, 2023

Celebrity secrets and what we owe the dead

Two weeks ago, the Pacific Sun and the Bohemian published an article (“A Local Remembers Sinéad,” July 27) about singer and activist Sinead O’Connor, who died last month at age 56.

The writer identified herself as a night shift caregiver to O’Connor, seemingly having no qualms about revealing her association with a “secret client.” O’Connor, the writer said, had undergone an undisclosed procedure and was recovering in a “rehab room.”

A description of the singer’s compromised physical appearance made it into the article a few times, as did the writer’s claim that O’Connor’s celebrity status made her want to protect her client.

“Each of us, in our vulnerable moments, deserves privacy and dignity,” the writer stated.

Yet, in the article, I don’t think the writer protected O’Connor. In addition to the unflattering comments about the way O’Connor looked, she also made reference to—but didn’t elaborate on—“gory details,” apparently regarding the procedure.

The caginess about the procedure and the rehab room left me wondering whether O’Connor had back surgery and was in a physical therapy rehab facility or if she had undergone electroshock therapy at a mental health rehab center. Not that I’m entitled to know.

The piece, clearly intended to be an homage to O’Connor, worked on a certain level. The writer compared her challenging life experiences with O’Connor’s, giving the reader a window into why the outspoken performer had such an impact on her.

But I couldn’t get past the fact that a caregiver violated the trust of a patient.

Caregivers see us when we’re weak, when we need help, when we must turn over some control to another person.

O’Connor entrusted her care, her privacy, her personal health information to a professional caregiver. I don’t think that her death should void the expectation of confidentiality.

I asked the writer about the issue. Frankly, I was unimpressed by her defense.

“I will say that I didn’t share anything that isn’t already public knowledge,” the writer told me. “It’s all on Wikipedia. She has revealed all the things that were alluded to in the piece.”

O’Connor certainly did share her struggles—from surviving child abuse to a difficult hysterectomy to multiple suicide attempts—with the public. That was her prerogative.

However, I firmly believe that a caregiver should never disclose observations about a patient recovering in a rehab room, especially in newspapers that remain on the internet. While O’Connor is no longer living, her children and other loved ones are still here.

To be clear, I would disagree with a butler, housekeeper or chauffeur broadcasting private details about their famous employer. Heck, I’m nobody, and I don’t even want my handyman telling my neighbors about my messy hair or unkempt home. It’s nobody else’s business unless I deem it so.

Of course, the Pacific Sun and the Bohemian had a role in this scenario. I asked my editor why he published the O’Connor piece. The privacy issue didn’t occur to him, he said. It didn’t occur to other people either. I know because I asked quite a few friends about it.

Interestingly, most of my millennial and Gen Z buddies were fine with the article. They told me that since O’Connor shared her troubles with the world, the writer didn’t cross the line.

Folks in the 55+ age group and those with health problems agreed with me. Health care providers, too, frowned on the caregiver/writer providing personal information about O’Connor.

Perhaps my younger friends will feel differently when they get a few gray hairs. As our population ages, the need for caregivers will increase.

Caregivers provide vital services in hospitals, rehabs, assisted living facilities and our homes. They feed us, wipe our tushes and tuck us into bed. While there are laws in place regulating a patient’s privacy, not every situation is covered.

We need to set some ground rules about what is permissible for a caregiver to divulge when they leave us, whether we’re Grammy winners or just regular Joes needing assistance with our bodies or mental health.

Rule number one: What happens in the room stays in the room. Two: Death doesn’t negate rule number one.

And if a caregiver breaks the rules, the media should carefully consider whether to publish their revelations.

Tick Talk: Blood-sucking arachnids spread disease in Northern California

Nikki Silverstein

May 30, 2023

Tick Talk: Blood-sucking arachnids spread disease in Northern California

What the heck is that thing in the photo? A hazelnut? A small dumpling with eight legs? Perhaps an odd seed pod? Nope.

Behold the engorged tick, swollen with blood stolen from its host. Not only do the little suckers feast on our vital red fluid, but they can also leave behind parting gifts, including the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. It’s possible for ticks found in California to transmit seven different diseases to humans, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Exactly a decade ago, I wrote an article about Lyme disease featuring “Jane,” a Marin County native who had been suffering from a myriad of debilitating symptoms for three years.

“It started with a violent flu—the worst flu I ever had in my entire life,” Jane told me in 2013. “Then, I would wake up with numb arms and hands. My vision was slightly blurry.”

New symptoms continued to emerge. Severe headaches, extreme fatigue, joint and bone pain, memory loss and dizziness. Jane spent more and more time in bed.

She trudged to 14 doctors, who poked, prodded and misdiagnosed her. Finally, in May of 2013, the 15th doctor tested her for Lyme disease. Although Jane didn’t recall being bitten by a tick, nor had she noticed the tell-tale bullseye rash some people develop, she had Lyme.

While she was relieved to finally have a diagnosis, she was also confused—and rightfully so.

“First, I was told there was no Lyme in Northern California,” Jane said. “Then, I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme, a disease that I was told didn’t exist.”

In 2012, about a year before Jane’s diagnosis, a group of women in Silicon Valley started the Bay Area Lyme Foundation and convinced a couple of tick ecologists to conduct a study. The results, which came out in 2014, caused a stir in the science community. Sure enough, Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme, was present in 1% to 7% of the western blacklegged ticks collected from Bay Area trails and parks, depending on the location.

“We found ticks carrying B. burgdorferi in nearly every park that we looked, and not just in wooded areas …” said Dr. Dan Salkeld, an ecologist and epidemiologist who was one of the study’s lead authors.

Based on this study and others, the medical community no longer quarrels about whether Lyme exists in Northern California. However, there are still many controversies surrounding the disease.

“No one is denying that Lyme disease is real,” said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer. Willis contracted the disease years ago and had a bullseye rash. Fortunately, he was diagnosed and cured rather quickly.

“Lyme disease has been well established,” he continued. “The debate is around its prevalence.”

The Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District collects ticks year-round from trails, parks and recreation areas in both counties. The adult and young ticks, called nymphs, are tested for the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, and Borrelia miyamotoi, a bacterium that causes tick-borne relapsing fever.

In conjunction with the state, the district also tests for other pathogens, including the bacterium that causes anaplasmosis, a disease that is on the rise in Marin County, according to Willis.

About 2% of the adult ticks in Marin are infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme. Sonoma County fares a bit better at 1.5%.

Those percentages more than double when looking at the infection rate for the nymphs, which are about the size of poppy seeds. In Marin, almost 4.2% of the nymphs harbor Lyme-causing bacteria. The rate is 4.1% in Sonoma County.

“We’re in nymphal season now, from spring through summer,” said Dr. Kelly Liebman, an entomologist and the scientific programs manager for the Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District. “The ticks are out there, and the pathogens are there at low levels.”

But hotspots exist in certain areas, where a much higher percentage of the ticks carry pathogens, said Wendy Adams, research grant director for the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. And those locations can change from year to year.

In a Bolinas Lagoon study, 31% of the collected ticks harbored at least one pathogen, including the bacteria that causes Lyme, tick-borne relapsing fever and anaplasmosis, according to a 2021 research article by Salkeld that was published in the American Society for Microbiology Journal.

While the number of reported cases of Lyme disease remains low in the Bay Area—eight in Marin County and seven in Sonoma County in the last two years—experts agree underreporting occurs.

Consider the backflips by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states that “many cases do not get reported” because health care providers are “busy.” The CDC receives 35,000 reports of Lyme disease cases annually, yet the agency uses insurance records to estimate that approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year.

It’s no wonder that the Bay Area Lyme Foundation is funneling millions of dollars into research at dozens of esteemed institutions, such as Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The organization aims to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure.

Diagnosis is difficult because the two-tiered Lyme antibody test recommended by the CDC, which has been around for 29 years, is known to provide false negatives. It often takes a few weeks for the body to produce enough antibodies to measure, causing a delay in treatment, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“Accurate diagnostics are the linchpin for being treated appropriately for Lyme Disease,” said Adams, the research grant director. “We are hoping that with new, more sensitive detection technologies, we will be able to detect the bacteria itself in a blood sample, and not just the immune response which varies from infection to infection.”

Adams knows firsthand the importance of early and accurate diagnostics. She went five years before being diagnosed with Lyme disease, and it took her several more years to fully recover.

Many Lyme patients and their doctors believe delayed treatment plays a factor in chronic Lyme, a condition the CDC refers to as Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. Even after the prescribed course of antibiotics, some people are still plagued by illness.

Last week, I revisited Jane, whose name is actually Kirsten Seifert-Stein. During our first interview, she insisted on a pseudonym because she feared her family’s health coverage would be canceled due to her Lyme diagnosis.

Ten years post diagnosis, Seifert-Stein, now 53, has not fully recovered. Her health insurance was never canceled, but it doesn’t cover much anyway. She stopped tallying her out-of-pocket medical expenses years ago when the total hit $100,000.

“I’m concentrating on my health and getting better,” she said. “But I’ve sacrificed a lot to do that, Including my career, education and relationships with friends and family.”

Ditto for Sarah Reid, 59, who was also diagnosed with Lyme in 2013. The Santa Rosa resident’s experience is eerily similar to Seifert-Stein’s. Reid doesn’t remember removing a tick or having a bullseye rash. Despite a decade of treatment, she hasn’t been cured.

“I have a persistent disease that pretty much is with me constantly,” Reid said. “Lyme has caused me a lot of trauma, both financially and emotionally, in trying to get diagnosed and treated.”

Remarkably, both women still venture into the great outdoors when they feel up to it. Reid volunteers for the horse trail patrol and rides in Sonoma County parks and preserves, while Seifert-Stein mountain bikes and walks her dog throughout Marin. They agree that preventing tick borne illnesses is the key.

“Take precautions,” Seifert-Stein said. “Use tick repellent, wear the right clothing and do tick checks. It’s OK to go outside.”

For tips on preventing tick bites, visit the Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District and the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

Petaluma-based mobile crisis intervention program expands to San Rafael

Nikki Silverstein

Apr 18, 2023

Petaluma-based mobile crisis intervention program expands to San Rafael

The “subject down” call came into the San Rafael police dispatcher on Thursday morning at 10:22 a.m. A passerby reported that a man was lying on the ground at the corner of Second and A.

Instead of dispatching paramedics or the police to assess the situation, San Rafael’s new mobile crisis intervention team, Specialized Assistance for Everyone (SAFE), responded to the call. On March 29, San Rafael became the first city in Marin County to launch a mobile crisis program. Several such programs already exist in Sonoma County.

Two civilian first responders, specially trained to provide services for vulnerable community members, found the man prone and groaning on the sidewalk. Priscilla Ferreira and her trainee, La Tasha Knighten, noted the smell of alcohol on the man, but also saw that he had head injuries.

Under gentle questioning from Ferreira, the man explained in Spanish that he had been robbed and beaten the previous evening. Ferreira, who is fluent in Spanish, said that SAFE would take him to the hospital in their rig, and he readily agreed.

However, the man kept falling back down when Ferreira and Knighten tried to help him up. Equipped with police radios and tied-in to the 911 dispatchers, they called for paramedics to transport the man to the hospital.

Within a few minutes, five paramedics from the San Rafael and Central Marin fire departments were on scene. Perhaps it was the presence of the large group or a moment of confusion, but the victim suddenly changed his mind about receiving services.

“I want to die,” he yelled. “Leave me alone.”

Ferreira, who had established a rapport with the man, spoke with him again. He calmed down, cooperated and was soon on his way to the emergency room in the paramedics’ ambulance.

It was a typical call—if there is such a thing for a mobile crisis unit—with the desired outcome.

“He could have just walked away, but we got him the medical attention he needed,” Ferreira said. “It feels good.”

My assignment this particular morning was to observe the San Rafael SAFE team in action. While I wasn’t permitted to accompany Ferreira and Knighten in their vehicle, I did a ride along with Sergeant Justin Graham of the San Rafael Police Department. Graham and I shadowed the crisis response team.

“SAFE is a separate entity,” Graham said. “It’s the fourth leg of public safety in San Rafael, alongside police, fire and medical.”

It is unusual for the police to follow a SAFE team, SAFE director Aziz Majid said. The teams respond alone to 80% of the calls, with the police dispatched only when a safety issue arises.

After just three weeks, the program is already having a positive impact in San Rafael. The SAFE teams have handled 10 to 14 calls during each 12-hour shift, allowing the overburdened police and emergency medical personnel to focus on situations requiring their expertise.

“We don’t work for the police—we work with them,” Majid said. “Our team doesn’t carry weapons or handcuffs. We have radios and come armed with empathy.”

SAFE primarily serves the homeless community, which accounts for 40% of their calls, and people with mental health and substance use issues. In addition to de-escalating crisis situations, team members provide a variety of services, including transportation, referrals to other organizations and harm reduction methods, such as needle exchanges.

The City of San Rafael signed a three-year contract with SAFE for $750,000 annually, according to Majid. The program currently operates seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm.

Ferreira and Knighten had responded to two calls prior to helping the man with the head injury. They began their morning by assisting eight homeless people who were being evicted from an unauthorized encampment on private property. Although the campers declined transportation, SAFE gave them clean clothes, food and information about services in the area.

The SAFE duo also went to The Pink Owl, a downtown coffee shop, in response to a public disturbance call. A man known to have mental health issues reportedly entered the shop and accused staff of poisoning his coffee. The man was gone by the time Ferreira and Knighten arrived; however, they checked on the baristas to ensure everyone was OK after the incident.

It wasn’t even 11am, and Ferreira and Knighten were preparing for their fourth call of the day —one that this reporter couldn’t attend. They would be meeting with the Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit organization with programs for homeless people, to discuss the confidential needs of a specific client.

SAFE launched in Petaluma in July 2021. Since then, it has expanded to Rohnert Park; Cotati; Sonoma State University, making it the first mobile crisis program on a California state university campus; and now San Rafael. All of the SAFE teams are under the auspices of the Petaluma People Services Center, which runs more than 70 human services programs.

Majid, SAFE’s director, likes to say that there is “no call too small” for SAFE. Teams can transport a homeless person to St. Vincent’s for a free meal or hand out bottles of water. Then there are the more challenging calls, like a three-hour family mediation.

“A lot of these calls are mental health or substance related—nonviolent,” Majid said. “Police officers are trained for violent or criminal issues. SAFE provides trauma informed care. We watch gestures and body posture, won’t overact and respect personal space. We sit there, listen, give empathy and take our time on a call.”

SAFE employs 34 people across Sonoma and Marin counties, most working in the field as first responders. The needs are different in each community that SAFE serves. In San Rafael, every shift is staffed with a bilingual, Spanish-speaking person. Bilingual SAFE team navigators follow up with clients and refer them to resources in their area.

All team members have a background in the mental health or behavioral fields. Upon joining SAFE, staff go through two weeks of SAFE classroom training and five weeks of field training.

Recently hired, Knighten, who is completing her field training in San Rafael, has more than 13 years of experience working with youth on probation and managing diversion programs. She’s also attending school to become a licensed therapist.

Ferreira started with SAFE a year ago in Petaluma and has transferred to work in San Rafael’s new program. Her psychology and sociology degrees helped prepare her for the job, as did her experience working with autistic children and at a domestic violence shelter. Ferreira is currently working on her master’s degree in conflict resolution and negotiation.

Majid onboarded to the first SAFE team in Sonoma County as an EMT. The Marin native previously worked at San Quentin teaching financial literacy.

The varied expertise of the team members is beneficial because of the wide range of calls they receive. A team could go from working with a family on a dispute about child custody, to an eviction call, followed by responding to someone attempting suicide.

“Then there are those calls where a person doesn’t want to engage,” Majid said. “We respect that. It might take four or five calls to break the ice and make a connection with someone in need, but we keep trying. As long as we’re building rapport, it’s a success.”

Freshman assemblymember pushing hard for constituents’ concerns

Nikki Silverstein

Mar 21, 2023

Freshman assemblymember pushing hard for constituents’ concerns

Assemblymember Damon Connolly listened carefully to voters while on the campaign trail last year for a seat in the California State Assembly. Now, 100 days into office, those conversations with constituents have already inspired his decisions on policymaking.

After narrowly winning the November election, squeaking by opponent Sara Aminzadeh with a 3.6% lead, the freshman legislator says he hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped. On Dec. 5, Connolly was sworn in as the representative for Assembly District 12, which covers Marin and southern Sonoma County.

By mid-February, he had introduced 21 bills to the legislative session. It’s a robust number for a new assembly member, according to Connolly.

“A number of my bill ideas have come from local folks and the issues that they identified,” Connolly said during an interview with this publication.

Connolly also launched a new Select Committee on Wildfire Prevention, which he will chair, a rarity for a freshman. Surprisingly, with catastrophic, out of control wildfires causing unprecedented death and destruction in California, no similar committee existed before Connolly suggested it.

During his term, Connolly will preside over hearings on wildfire prevention, and the committee will provide oversight on fund allocation.

The assemblymember is also serving on several high-profile committees, including the Utilities and Energy Committee. Currently, he is participating in hearings on the soaring costs of utility bills.

“’Hold utilities accountable,’” Connolly said. “I hear that all the time from constituents. And particularly now when we’re seeing energy prices rise two to three times higher than usual.”

As a member of the almighty Budget Committee, Connolly has a role in controlling the state’s purse strings. The assemblymember requested an appointment to the Budget Subcommittee 3, which allows him to focus on the climate crisis, resources, energy and transportation.

Other assignments include serving on the Judiciary Committee and the Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee. Connolly seems particularly proud of his appointment as the vice chair of a joint committee.

“I’m one of four freshmen who received a committee chairmanship, so I’m the Assembly leader of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policy,” Connolly said.

That committee is currently “digging deep” into the California Air Resources Board scoping plan, which was criticized in a January report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. It’s imperative that the state meet ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals by 2030 to 2045 and provide transparency on the path to achieving those lofty targets, according to Connolly.

Agriculture also tops Connolly’s concerns. With the North Bay’s unique contributions to California’s 54-billion-dollar ag industry—from the ranches and dairies in West Marin to Sonoma County’s wineries, livestock and crop production—serving on the Agriculture Committee is a natural fit for the assemblymember.

Although Connolly admits that agriculture is a relatively new area for him, he is particularly excited about how some aspects of farming dovetail with his interest in reducing climate change.

“Part of the solution on mitigating climate change, and I have been leading in that regard, is carbon farming, carbon sequestration, the healthy soils program,” the assemblymember said. “One of my bills relates to that.”

Indeed, AB 406, introduced by Connolly, if passed, will provide millions in grant funding for sustainable farmers by including organic farming in the Healthy Soils and California Farmland Conservancy programs.

The assemblymember also authored AB 404 and AB 405. Both ag bills streamline the process of obtaining organic farming certification by removing some of the red tape that puts small and mid-size farming operations at a disadvantage.

Other bills introduced by Connolly run the gamut, demonstrating the demands of running the most populous and wealthiest state in the country. From a bold bill that protects youth from nicotine and tobacco addiction to legislation that places a cap on fire insurance premium increases for seniors, the assemblymember is covering the bases for his constituents.

Connolly’s AB 935 phases in a ban on tobacco use for people born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, similar to the statewide ban on flavored tobacco that was approved by voters.

The needs of seniors are a priority for Connolly. In addition to the cap on fire insurance premiums, AB 582 provides seniors living in a high-risk fire zone with a tax credit to shore up their property against wildfires.

The idea for restricting pesticide spraying by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) came from district constituents, according to Connolly. Too often, Caltrans has sprayed pesticides such as glyphosate, a key ingredient in Roundup, around public highways, even in counties like Marin and Sonoma, which have passed resolutions against the use of such toxic chemicals. Connolly’s AB 99 will ban Caltrans from deploying the pesticides along highways in counties with restrictions against using the poisons.

Saving the whales made it into the assemblymember’s bill package with AB 953. A vessel speed reduction program provides a two-fold benefit by lessening the risk of whale strikes off California’s coast and diminishing pollution from oceangoing vessels.

Marin and Sonoma commuters may soon breathe a sigh of relief if AB 1464 is passed. The bill creates a pilot program to find a fix for the traffic congestion on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Relieving the headache-inducing gridlock will help decrease pollution, too.

Some of Connolly’s other bills include protections for mobile homeowners and the wetlands; extending healthcare coverage for children with metabolic disorders; restricting the sale of sodium nitrite in high concentrations to prevent teen suicide; and phasing out older, polluting combustion biomass facilities.

The tightening economic conditions will certainly play a role in what the state legislature is able to accomplish in the upcoming sessions. Connolly acknowledges the unpredictability of the state finance system is a problem.

“We rely a lot on the highest income earners, and quite often their income derives from capital gains and investments—as opposed to salary—and that fluctuates,” Connolly said. “It’s been an issue over the years, and we’re seeing it again this year. Tremendously volatile swings make it challenging, and that could very well be an issue we need to take up through the budget.”

In the meantime, the assemblymember plans on continuing his dialogue with constituents. Connolly recently had productive “community get togethers” at coffee shops in Petaluma and San Rafael, and he’s been meeting with environmental groups.

“People who live here have subject matter expertise and they’re engaged,” Connolly said. “It’s been helpful for me, in representing this area, that people are willing to speak and provide ideas on bills. We’re blessed to have an active district.”

Life, Story, Song—Mary Gauthier comes to Sebastopol

Dave Gil de Rubio

Jun 9, 2026

Life, Story, Song—Mary Gauthier comes to Sebastopol

For Mary Gauthier, songwriting goes way beyond conveying her thoughts and emotion. It was also a lifeline when she embraced sobriety back in 1990.

In fact, songwriting’s appeal was important enough for Gauthier to swap being an acclaimed chef at a wildly successful Cajun restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood for heading to Nashville in her mid-30s to pursue her dream of becoming a professional musician.

Fast forward to the present day, and the 64-year-old singer-songwriter is touring—often with partner Jaimee Harris—including a stop at HopMonk Sebastopol on Saturday, June 17.

This year, she’s not only celebrating the 25-year-plus anniversary of her 1999 sophomore bow, Drag Queens in Limousines, but also giving love to her most recent studio effort, 2022’s Dark Enough to See the Stars. Her love of compositional craft will be on full display when she hits the stage.

“We’re going to be playing songs from all the records I made and telling stories,” Gauthier said in a recent interview. “There’ll be stories between the songs; that’s all part of this troubadour show. There’s no smoke, mirrors or flashy stuff. It’s more heartfelt human stories.”

That musical approach has garnered the southern Louisiana native numerous accolades since she released her 1997 debut, Dixie Kitchen. She was nominated for three Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMAs), winning Best New Country Artist and also being named New/Emerging Artist of the Year by the Americana Music Association in 2005. More recently, 2018’s Rifles and Rosary Beads, a project where Gauthier co-wrote songs with U.S. veterans and their families, earned her a 2019 Best Folk Album Grammy nomination.

Heartfelt dedication and expertise are what make Dark Enough to See the Stars such a compelling listen. Recorded in a three-day burst as the world was coming out of the pandemic, these songs are steeped in the inspiration of Gauthier’s evolving relationship with Harris and personal losses. During that time, she was mourning the deaths of numerous personal friends, including John Prine, David Olney, Nanci Griffith and beloved friend and hiking buddy Betsy, all who passed in a short window of time during the Covid lockdown.

“A lot of those songs were written as an odd combo of love songs and songs about grief—they somehow go together,” Gauthier explained. “Maybe love and grief are attached in an inseparable way? I’m not sure, but it seems to work. I lost so many people I cared about in such a short time. It’s still shocking to me that I have a list of 18 people I have on speed dial, and they’re dead in two years’ time.”

She added, “The thing about death is you’re not prepared for it. You don’t think of yourself as old or older. You’re feeling good, life is going along as it always has, and there’s no way you can be emotionally prepared for it.”

Hard times have proven to be fodder for many songs Gauthier has composed. Adopted from a New Orleans orphanage, she spent her teen years surviving an alcoholic father, abusing drugs and alcohol, and navigating the deep South in the late ’60s and ’70s as a gay kid. Music always provided solace, particularly ’70s singer-songwriters like Prine and other artists from the emerging Americana movement, including Griffith, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams.

“I’ve always been interested in the singer-songwriter from the South, which is different than country music,” Gauthier explained. “I like Southerners that master language. It’s American roots music in that it’s from that place in the deep South steeped in a lot of pain that I like to call the Americana Triangle—New Orleans to Memphis to Clarksdale, MS. It’s rooted in American-type pain, which almost always has some component of race in it along with a gothic southern sensibility that’s quite Faulkneresque with some Flannery O’Connor thrown in straight away.”

That fealty to the art of musical composition led Gauthier to teach songwriting workshops and eventually publish 2021’s Saved By a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, a combination autobiography and songwriting lessons.

“I teach songwriting quite a bit and work with adults in learning the art form,” Gauthier said. “The book is a memoir, but also goes into my understanding and take on songwriting. I’m just unpacking the side of songwriting that is more of an art than a commercial enterprise. The art is intrinsically connected to some kind of healing, some kind of transcendence, some kind of alchemy. Using music and song for healing is a part of my story along with finding out it’s working really well.”

Mary Gauthier performs with Jaimee Harris at 8pm, Wednesday, June 17, at HopMonk Sebastopol, in the Abbey, 230 Petaluma Ave. More info via hopmonk.com.

Sonoma Black Artistry, a Juneteenth Event Fights the Power of Creative Theft

Don R. Lewis

Jun 9, 2026

Sonoma Black Artistry, a Juneteenth Event Fights the Power of Creative Theft

No one in our day-to-day existence seems to particularly want AI in their lives, yet it’s infiltrating at every turn. Politics, the economy, the environment and the job market all seem to be suffering in various degrees at the latest corporate coup design to further deny human beings basic rights.

The same holds true for the entertainment sphere, which is increasingly controlled by corporate interests. They not only seem completely disinterested in the opinions of the majority, but they also seem to be tripling down each and every day on their wanton theft of artists’ voices.

Our artistic community both locally and globally has been sounding the warning bell about this pervasive issue for months. And rather than sit idly by and complain, local artist and luminary Angel “Audio Angel” Clendening has an ambition to do something about it.

On Friday, June 19, Juneteenth, Clendening is presenting “Inside/Out—Sonoma Black Artistry in Progress,” which, put simply, is ”a celebration of organic African-American artistry during a time when the value of human musicians is in high question.”

The all-ages event features rappers PaqGod and D-Square, international electronic artist Eki Shola, singer/ songwriter Erica Ambrin, lyrical explorer King Lung, poetic performer LaiddBackZach and experimental DJ/producer Sick Sentz. The evening starts at 6:30 at Sebastopol’s Laguna Lab, 117 Morris St., and serves as a launching pad for events that will continue via social media projects with audience members, centering on African-American youth, and culminating with a virtual summit during Black History Month in February of 2027.

Speaking by phone, Clendening sounds both inspired and honestly pretty exhausted from the constant attack on her chosen profession of musical artist. Rather than throw her hands up and try to just keep on keeping on, she used her ever-vibrant, “never take no for an answer” attitude to move forward with an event based around the notion of being an African-American artist in Sonoma County.

Hence, the seed for the Inside/Out event was planted through “a discussion between LaiddBackZach and I,” Clendening says. “We originally wanted to do something for Black History Month (in February), and then we were running out of time, and we thought, OK, why don’t we pivot to Juneteenth.”

This seed began to germinate. She explains, “We both have some similar experiences, not exactly the same, of course, being African-American artists in Sonoma County and how we wanted to be part of an event that is really showing how different we are.”

Indeed, for those who have listened to Clendening’s musical project Audio Angel, it’s impossible to not notice the myriad genres she explores throughout the recent EP Snapshot, which was released last fall. House, dance, gospel and rock music all blend seamlessly and, more importantly, naturally, as these are all genres and music she loves.

The conversation veers a bit into authenticity in artists, which in turn was the inspiration for the seven other diverse acts on the Inside/Out bill.

Sonoma County based rapper D. Square hails from Smiths Station, Alabama, and is founder of the local media and production company Decolonized Mindz.

He is known for his socially conscious and activist-driven “propaganda hip-hop.” Locals may have seen him onstage at Santa Rosa’s The Lost Church and Railroad Square Music Festival, and he also organized a hip-hop talent showcase, “Manifest Your Destiny,” alongside local promoter Josh Windmiller in Sebastopol that featured a lineup of hip-hop and R&B artists.

Eki Shola is an award-winning vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist (as well as a physician) based in Sonoma County who has just returned home from a May tour throughout Japan.

After being introduced to jazz music at an early age, Shola continued to perform in jazz ensembles even as she entered college as a premed student at Cornell. However, following the devastating passing of her mother, Shola leaned heavily into music as a source of healing. Later, when she and her family lost everything in the 2017 Sonoma County fires, she again found comfort and purpose in music. She now uses her own music as a way to hopefully help connect with and heal listeners.

Erica Ambrin is no stranger to Sonoma County stages and, fitting the theme of Inside/Out, genre comparisons of her music consist of Erykah Badu, The Fugees and Alabama Shakes. Ambrin is currently at work on a new album which comes on the heels of the previously released Suga (2015) and Lucid Dreamer (2018), which was inspired by her time living on Maui. One can also catch her with her jam band, The Eclectic Soul Project.

King Lung is another Santa Rosa based performer whose styles and influences blend underground hip-hop with lyrical poetry. One can get a taste of Lung’s performance at an intriguing hip-hop game show slash improv night called “Whose Rhyme?” on Wednesday, June 11 at the aforementioned Lost Church. Lung will take the stage for a friendly MC competition alongside The Maine Man, Mr. BMMNM!!! and Kayatta in this night hosted by “Dark Matter Lives!” a Sonoma County improvisational hip-hop duo.

Inside/Out event co-founder LaiddBackZach brings his diverse blend of R&B, jazz and hip-hop to the stage with roots in poetry and a love for icons like Tupac, Usher and Michael Jackson. LaiddBackZach leans into introspective hip-hop that tackles deep themes that also feature lively, catchy dance tracks that celebrate love and groove.

PaqGod (akaBlack Beethoven or formerly Khari G) has developed a large following due to his heavy presence on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. His dedicated following relates to his reflective, introspective writing that is heavily influenced by growing up in the Washington, D.C. area as well as to his current life in Sonoma County, where he promotes and participates often in local live events like the “Sunday Night Spotlight” series in Santa Rosa. His flair for high-quality visual accompaniment onstage is also not to be missed.

Rounding out the event is DJ/producer Sick Sentz, who is based out of Sebastopol. Leaning into his 20-plus years as a producer and performer, Sentz’s styles mix together boom-bap, deep instrumentals and intricate scratching for a unique sound all his own. When he’s not performing, Sentz teaches lyrical workshops for students, focusing on songwriting, verse structure and creative confidence.

Clendening is hoping Inside/Out serves as a kickoff to a yearslong check-in as well as online workshops that will culminate in another showcase during February’s Black History Month in 2027.

Inside/Out—Sonoma Black Artistry in Progress begins at 6:30pm, Friday, June 19, at Sebastopol’s Laguna Lab, 117 Morris St. All ages. Tickets are $13–$25 (attendees can also purchase ‘pay it forward’ tickets to enable those in need of a ticket to attend). For more information, check out audioangelworld.com/insideout.