The inevitability of death has always been a source of dread and anxiety, across all ages and human societies. But the modern age has produced a new, very particular dimension to that primal fear.

Many of us fear not so much death itself, but rather the chaotic, disorienting and often extremely expensive process of dying made common by modern medicine.

But if dying is still inevitable, a messy and inhumane death it does not have to be. That’s the message behind journalist Katy Butler’s recent book The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life (Scribner).

Butler, who discusses the book online in a virtual event hosted by Napa Bookmine and the Yountville Community Center on Friday, July 31, has crossed this terrain before. Her 2013 book Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death was part memoir and part investigation, offering the story of her father’s death as an illustration of what she calls “the Gray Zone,” the suspended state between an active life and clinical death largely created by modern medical technology.

“I felt I had laid out a problem in the first book,” says Butler, a long-time Bay Area reporter and writer. “I felt there was a need for a book that was about solutions, and that’s really the difference—this book says, OK, granted we have a broken medical system that is very fragmented toward the end of life, and we are afraid of death anyway. So given these problems, here are the workarounds—stories of people who have actually risen to the occasion and trusted their own best instincts to create a death that was less bad, or maybe even really good.”

The Art of Dying Well works best as a kind of handbook. Its seven chapters are determined by the particular stages of life, from “Resilience,” when you’re still active and healthy, all the way to “Active Dying,” the moment when it’s time to say goodbye. Along the way, each chapter outlines the attitudes and methods of preparation that can lead to a dignified and emotionally fulfilling end of life. The book’s format, says Butler, allows readers to return to it at different times in their lives.

“If you’re in the ‘Resilience’ part of life,” she says, “where you can still reverse a lot of health conditions, then you might want to read that chapter and call it a day, and put it away until you’re in some very different stage of life. And, if you’re in crisis, if there’s someone in your house who is dying, then skip the early parts and turn to the last two chapters and you’ll get a lot out of that.”

Butler’s inspiration was an antique text called Ars Moriendi, translated from the Latin as The Art of Dying. The text dates back to the 1400s and is a kind of medieval guidebook on the best way to meet death. She calls it one of the first bestselling self-help books. “It framed dying as a spiritual ordeal, and it named five different sorts of temptations and emotional struggles at the end of life, and how your attendants or friends could reassure you and help you through that.”

Though the fact of dying hasn’t changed, the circumstances of death have been upended since the Middle Ages. Butler started the writing process mindful of what links ancient ideas of death with contemporary ones.

“I do think there’s some commonality to what people think of as a good death. Clean and comfortable and relatively free from pain, having people that you love around you, being spiritually at peace,” she says. “Those things are still the same.”

The new book also offers up practical policy ideas to address what she calls a “technology-rich but relationship-poor” health care system. One such idea is a Medicare program known as PACE, which keeps ailing seniors out of hospitals and nursing-care facilities when it’s practical to do so, while still meeting their needs for home care, therapy and medication. The problem is, PACE is limited in its capacities and its funding. Still, there are many more down-to-earth approaches people can adopt to make a fulfilling end of life better for everyone—approaches that previous generations knew something about.

“You look at the ‘Greatest Generation,’” Butler says, referring to those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II. “They had stronger social networks and more of an understanding to bring a covered dish when someone has a major health crisis. We need to relearn some of those more rural or red-state values of neighborliness and being part of community groups. That stuff matters.”

Katy Butler discusses ‘The Art of Dying Well’ on Friday, July 31, online at 5pm. Free; $5 donation suggested. RSVP required at Napabookmine.com.

Original article by Wallace Baine, with additional reporting by Charlie Swanson.

Each spring, the Petaluma River usually gets a revitalizing and refreshing environmental facelift courtesy of the stewardship and educational community organization Friends of the Petaluma River, who annually host a major river cleanup project on the first Saturday in May.

Yet, the trash and debris is piling up in the Petaluma River this summer after concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled the planned 2020 iteration of the Spring Petaluma River Cleanup scheduled for two months ago.

Now, organizers at Friends of the Petaluma River are ready to roll up their sleeves and get back to work, and the organization welcomes the public back to the river for a socially distant river cleanup event taking place on Saturday, July 25. Volunteers are invited to sign up online and choose one of several creek locations where small groups will meet to pick up trash from 8am to noon.

“While we can’t have our big gathering and BBQ, we can still work together to protect the Petaluma River,” Friends of the Petaluma River executive director Stephanie Bastianon says in a statement. “People are eager for a way to do good in our community and our annual river cleanup is a safe way people can come together outside, from a distance, and support our local waterways.”

The cleanup event, dubbed “Protect Our River from Six Feet Apart,” is meant to be a day of environmental volunteerism that will also keep participants as safe as possible during the pandemic. Organizers urge volunteers to bring their own water bottle and gloves and to wear sturdy shoes. Trash pickers will be provided, along with buckets, bags, sanitation wipes and gloves as needed. Registration and safety waivers are online now, and it is requested that volunteers sign up in advance to receive their preferred creek assignment.

The annual Spring Petaluma River Cleanup normally removes approximately 3,000–5,000 pounds of trash from the river and surrounding watershed each year. While this socially-distant event is expected to be smaller than the annual spring cleanup, which often includes many student and civic groups participating, the Friends of the Petaluma River still anticipates the removal of hundreds of pounds of trash from the river.

“The trash in our river impairs water quality and pollutes sensitive habitat,” Bastianon says. “It will also ultimately contribute to the astounding amount of trash that ends up in our oceans. With researchers predicting the plastic in our oceans to outweigh fish by 2050, we really need to act now to stop trash from reaching out oceans.”

In partnership with the City of Petaluma, Friends of the Petaluma River was formed in 2005 to celebrate and conserve the Petaluma River Watershed through education and stewardship activities.

The group manages Steamer Landing Park and the David Yearsley River Heritage Center where it hosts educational programs. Throughout the North Bay, the group’s educational reach includes a watershed classroom that travels to local schools as well as youth nature camps like the award-winning Green Heron Nature Camp; an ‘Adopt A Creek’ initiative; the twice annual river cleanups; weekly ‘Boating at the Barn’ outings and the new after-school nature program, Friends’ Flickers.

In addition to the canceled spring cleanup, the Friends of the Petaluma River have also had to cancel several other community events and fundraising festivals, including the immensely popular Rivertown Revival this month. That event, which takes place at the David Yearsley River Heritage Center each July, was instead presented as a virtual variety show series on Facebook. Other planned events that have been canceled or postponed include the Transhumance Festival and the Wine & Whiskey for the Wetlands benefit event. As the Friends of the Petaluma River work to reschedule these events, the organization also invites the public to support the river through an online Clean Water Pledge.

The Socially-Distant Petaluma River Cleanup takes place Saturday, July 25, throughout Petaluma’s watershed area. 8am to Noon. Registration and additional information can be found at FriendsofthePetalumaRiver.org.

Since forming in the spring of 2011, LGBTQ Connection has grown from a small support group into a comprehensive, multi-county initiative fostering healthy, diverse and inclusive communities in the North Bay.

From the beginning, young emerging leaders have driven the organization, which annually engages 3,500 LGBTQ people, their families and their community and trains providers from local organizations across Northern California to increase the safety, visibility and wellbeing of LGBTQ residents.

This fall, LGBTQ Connection invites the public to nominate individuals age 14 to 24 to join the organization’s youth leadership teams and continue the community-wide work to create positive change in Sonoma and Napa counties.

Each semester, LGBTQ Connection recruits interested and motivated youth to work with the youth leadership teams in five- or six-month cycles in Napa, Santa Rosa, Calistoga or Sonoma.

This upcoming semester, these teams will be meeting virtually to maintain social-distancing practices in the wake of Covid-19. Without any transportation barrier, LGBTQ Connection plans to connect these once-separate cross-county teams into one virtual ensemble.

This past spring and summer, LGBTQ Connection was forced to cancel all in-person events when the shelter-in-place orders went into effect in Napa and Sonoma counties last March. In place of those events, the organization has transitioned into online programming via video or telephone services.

This programming includes weekly online meet-ups for youth and young adults, twice-monthly video check-in meetings for older adults, free online counseling appointments with LGBTQ-friendly therapists, wellness calls for youth and seniors, LGBTQ information and referrals for all ages and much more. All of these services are offered in English and Spanish, serving the entire community.

Together, this fall’s youth leadership teams are responsible for creating more virtual events and internet-based initiatives that advocate for increased awareness, visibility and wellness of North Bay LGBTQ youth.

In partnership with LGBTQ Connection, these teams give young people the opportunity to learn how to be a part of a team and to be community leaders. Each team meets once a week for five intensive months.

“That intensity is what we’ve found that it takes to come together as a team and organize impactful projects and events for our community,” LGBTQ Connection organizers write in a statement. “These projects bring people together across generations and cultures to build a stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive LGBTQ community.”

This fall, the youth leaders chosen to participate in LGBTQ Connection’s cross-county teams will work on one of two initiatives. First, a community connection team will work on a project centered around community building and creating inclusive spaces; in addition, a community change team will work on a project centered around advocacy and systems change. In response to current events regarding police protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, both team’s projects will include racial justice as a primary focus.

“The modern LGBTQ movement erupted through uprisings against police brutality led by Black and Brown transgender women. We will work to remain connected to their legacy … throughout the many months ahead,” LGBTQ Connection organizers wrote in a statement last month. “LGBTQ Connection was founded with the goal of listening to and lifting up underrepresented LGBTQ voices, changing unjust systems, and investing in community leadership—especially with our youth, people of color, elders, transgender people, and people from rural areas. Today, we recommit ourselves to those values, to continue to be in relationship with our communities, and to let our actions speak as loud as our words.”

LGBTQ Connection is a program of On The Move, a nonprofit that partners with communities and mobilizes emerging leaders to take action in pursuit of social equity. Those interested in learning about becoming a Fall 2020 youth leadership team member can attend an information meeting hosted by LGBTQ Connection via Zoom on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 3pm. If you know a youth that would benefit from being on this team, nominate them. If you’re a youth, apply now.

lgbtqconnection.org

Founded five generations ago, Sonoma County’s historic Seghesio Family Vineyards is preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary this fall, and in addition to planned parties and events, the winery’s tasting room in Healdsburg will receive an artistic commemoration courtesy of acclaimed artist Angie Mattson.

Mattson is the winner of the Seghesio Family Vineyards’ recent online Anniversary Mural Contest, and her design, “Night in Zinfandel,” won out over hundreds of entries submitted by artists from across the country. Mattson will turn her design into a large-scale art mural at the tasting room later this year.

Mattson’s design is a monochromatic illustration of grape-picking with symbols of nature interwoven throughout. She says it reflects the people, places and values of Seghesio Family Vineyards.

“Since Seghesio is so well-known for Zinfandel, I did a lot of research to get the shape of the leaves and the grapes just right,” Mattson says in a statement. “I also did a lot of research into the flavors of Zinfandel and tried to incorporate those elements into the design. I love the idea that wine is influenced by the land it comes from—the mountains and the sea, the wild herbs, flowers, and plants that grow in and around a vineyard. I wanted to capture the way it feels when you’re in a vineyard and especially at night under the stars when it’s very peaceful but there is still a lot happening—that’s when the animals are coming out and there is some mischief.”

Seghesio Family Vineyards launched the online mural contest in April, and received over 100 submissions from artists of all backgrounds. The entries were viewable online, and visitors were encouraged to comment on their favorite designs, with each comment counting as a vote. The votes were considered when choosing the finalists, along with input from a panel assembled by Seghesio Family Vineyards.

“We were humbled by the outpouring of interest by talented artists across the country who desired to participate in our 125th-anniversary celebration with a mural design inspired by Seghesio’s incredible wines and story,” Stephanie Wycoff, estate director of Seghesio Family Vineyards, says in a statement. “There were many stunning designs, but Angie Mattson’s submission was visually striking and captured the essence of our charm and history with many thoughtful details.”

Contest finalists included acclaimed artists such as Amanda Lynn for her design, “Taste of Life,” Monica Tiulescu for her design, “Zen of Zin,” ELLE for her submission “Vineyards Poetry” and Kimberly Yaeger for her unnamed design. All works can be viewed on the contest website.

Mattson, who also goes by her artist moniker Uto X, is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her art has increasingly been defined as a minimalist folk-art style for the past several years. Also a musician, Mattson began making art by designing merchandise for her band, In The Valley Below, splitting her creative time between music and visual art inspired by her life on the road.

The Seghesio family has been a part of the North Bay’s wine culture ever since Edoardo Seghesio planted his first Zinfandel vineyard in Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley in 1895. Today, the winery’s 400 acres of vineyards in Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys produce award-winning Zinfandel and Italian varietals under the direction of winemaker Ted Seghesio.

Due to Covid-19 health and safety restrictions, Seghesio Family Vineyards’s tasting room in Healdsburg is currently opening up its adjacent grove for outdoor wine tastings Thursday through Sunday. Reservations are required and are available on Seghesio.com.