10.15.08

GIVERS: William and Leticia Jarvis gain their greatest pleasures from educating and giving.

By Gabe Meline

When William and Leticia Jarvis first visited the dilapidated Lisbon Winery at the corner of Yount and Main streets in Napa, the building was inhabited by two rival gangs. One group lived at one side of the building, one squatted at the other; the tense situation eventually escalated in a large fire that gutted most of the inside. “Which was fine,” William Jarvis says mildly, walking among the elegant new interior the historic 125-year-old building hosts today. “We completely redid the inside anyway.”

A stunning remodel turned the property into the Jarvis Conservatory, and the city of Napa was grateful that the gangs were gone and that an eyesore had been restored. We honor the Jarvis Conservatory for a different reason. For its ongoing Saturday Opera Night series, for its long commitment to bringing Spanish musical theater to life through 16 different presentations of zarzuelas, and for its recent art films series and numerous special performing arts events, the Jarvis Conservatory is long overdue as one of this year’s Boho Award honorees.

On a recent evening, Jarvis sits in the office of the conservatory, dressed in a long-sleeved blue shirt and suit jacket. “In ’95, there was a big void,” he says. “There wasn’t a lot of entertainment here at all. This was before the development of the Napa Valley Opera House, before COPIA came on the scene, before the Lincoln Theater. So there was a lot of interest at that time, but not a lot of way to carry it out.”

Jarvis, who grew up in Oklahoma and “never went back,” originally came to Napa with his wife to found Jarvis Winery. Yet in addition to bringing their passion for wine to the area, the couple held a longtime passion for opera, for dance, for the arts. Opening the conservatory was essential, he says, for his life’s goal of constant study.

In its Saturday Opera Night series, which has been a feature every first Saturday of the month since the conservatory opened its doors, the Jarvis stage is open to opera singers from all around the Bay Area in a one-of-a-kind event that can only be described as opera open mic. From such a supportive breeding ground, many of the singers who began here have gone on to successful singing careers in New York and Germany. Most all of the former trainees come back to revisit the theater and sing again.

Now, with its art film series, the conservatory brings acclaimed independent films to Napa that would otherwise require an hour-long drive to see on the big screen. This night’s offering is Louise Bourgeois, a documentary about the famed sculptor, and while William describes the thrill of meeting his wife more than 30 years ago, Leticia Jarvis rushes into the office to announce that the film is starting. The art film series, after all, is her baby—the sibling, if you will, to William’s Saturday Opera Night.

The couple works well together, but what’s especially touching is their tenderness. During the film, sitting together in the theater’s private box, William and Leticia laugh together, with Leticia often leaning forward in her chair to touch William’s shoulders, to whisper in his ear or to rest her cheek on his arm. Both of them gaze at the screen, learning about the techniques, the philosophies and the life of Bourgeois.

That’s what the thrust of the Jarvis Conservatory boils down to: education. “We call this a ‘conservatory,’ because of the people who learn things here,” says William. “Not only the singers, but the stagehands, the directors—all the people who learn here.”

After 13 years at the Conservatory, the Jarvises foresee no slowing down. Currently, they’re at work bringing an elaborate puppet show to their stage this November, an event that has proven popular with Latino families and something that fulfills the conservatory’s commitment to bringing fine arts to a community that may not otherwise have access to or funds for live performances.

“The reason we came up with the concept of the conservatory,” Leticia says, “was to give. We’ve been so lucky—I mean, we’ve worked very hard—but with all of what we’ve gotten from our work, it’s a way of giving back some of what we have.”

YOU CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM THERE Jack London and a favorite dog in the Yukon.

Jack London and his dog stories. Jack London and his women. Jack London and his adventures. Jack the author, Jack the alcoholic. All these are portraits of the Jack London with whom we’ve become intimately familiar. But there are other sides to Jack London, far more divisive and compelling. There’s the political London, London the provocateur, the socialist London or, as Sonoma State University professor Jonah Raskin chooses to call him in his new anthology, the “radical” Jack London.

 Indeed, in The Radical Jack London: Writings On War and Revolution ($24.95; University of California Press), Raskin brings London’s socialism and activism to the forefront of the discussion where before it had been mostly sidelined by, well, dog stories—albeit really good dog stories.

Yet books on literary lions litter bookstore bargain shelves all over the Bay Area. It would be easy to dismiss this as just another one, save for one thing: The Radical Jack London resonates powerfully with our contemporary political culture. And that was Raskin’s intention. Written by one revolutionary about another (Raskin was intimately and integrally involved in the battle for the American spirit during the 1960s and ’70s), Raskin brings a scholarly tone to what could be the most unique collection of Jack London’s writings yet bound in one volume, featuring detailed introductions to the texts, some of which have never before been published.

With the most historic election in American history less than a month away, looking to London—who ran for mayor of Oakland twice—may seem, at first, an obscure way to frame our modern predicament. Radical Jack gives us not only insight into London, but into the development of the American left and the attitudes and battles that helped give rise to this time of inspired possibilities.

I recently spoke with Raskin about the radical aspects of London’s life.

“Jack London was profoundly interested in American politics. He wanted to expand the opportunities of people who were marginalized and excluded,” Raskin says. “If he were around today, he would follow the election closely and get beyond what the pundits and experts have to say and get to the real issues.” Raskin adds that the problems of poverty and unemployment that London fought still exist; that the more America has moved forward, the more it has devolved when it comes to many social issues.

“Jack London didn’t like capitalism,” Raskin says. “He always voted for third party candidates. But I think he would see the Democrats as the better half of capitalism if it came down to it.”

London was a paradoxical figure. While espousing the socialist agenda, he also amassed vast land holdings in Glen Ellen, today’s Jack London State Park. And beyond being a radical and fighting for human solidarity, some of London’s writings can be seen as racist.

“American radicals have usually been more true in their words than in their deeds and lifestyle,” Raskin says. “Many times Jack London would blame the victim for their situation. Sometimes this would involve race. But when he would meet someone powerful of another race, he would admire that person.”

Raskin captures and brings a critical eye to London’s paradoxes and failings, both as a socialist and as a human being, while maintaining a focus on how integral London’s politics were to his life and writing.

The class struggles in which London immersed himself may have changed places and faces, but if anything, they’ve become deeper, more ingrained in a fragmented society that has threatened to spin out of control continues down a pathologically imperialist path. Readers will find themselves in London’s essays. Comparisons from this volume to today’s social injustices can all too readily be made, which is what takes Radical Jack from the obscure and makes it foundational to an understanding of modern American political thought. A must for London lovers, and people who really want to know about American politics—this book might even influence your vote.