Free Will Astrology, March 29

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Free Will Astrology, March 29

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Sometimes, I give you suggestions that may, if you carry them out, jostle your routines and fluster your allies. But after trying out the new approaches for a short time, you may chicken out and revert to old habits. That’s understandable! It can be difficult to change your life. Here’s an example. What if I encourage you to cancel your appointments and wander out into the wilderness to discuss your dreams with the birds? And what if, during your adventure, you are flooded with exhilarating yearnings for freedom? And then you decide to divest yourself of desires that other people want you to have and instead revive and give boosts to desires that you want yourself to have? Will you actually follow through with brave practical actions that transform your relationship with your deepest longings?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You have done all you can for now to resolve and expunge stale, messy karma—some of which was left over from the old days and old ways. There may come a time in the future when you will have more cleansing to do, but you have now earned the right to be as free from your past and as free from your conditioning as you have ever been. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, you still need to spend a bit more time resolving and expunging stale, messy karma. But you’re almost done!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Businessperson Robert Bigelow hopes to eventually begin renting luxurious rooms in space. For $1.7 million per night, travelers will enjoy accommodations he provides on his orbiting hotel, 200 miles above the Earth’s surface. Are you interested? I bet more Geminis will be signing up for this exotic trip than any other sign. You’re likely to be the journeyers most excited by the prospect of sailing along at 17,000 miles per hour and witnessing 16 sunsets and sunrises every 24 hours. APRIL FOOL! In fact, you Geminis are quite capable of getting the extreme variety you crave and need right here on the planet’s surface. And during the coming weeks, you will be even more skilled than usual at doing just that.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to become the overlord of your own fiefdom, or seize control of a new territory and declare yourself chieftain, or overthrow the local hierarchy and install yourself as the sovereign ruler of all you survey. APRIL FOOL! I was metaphorically exaggerating a bit—but just a bit. I do in fact believe now is an excellent phase to increase your clout, boost your influence and express your leadership. Be as kind you can be, of course, but also be rousingly mighty and fervent.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his poem, “The Something,” Charles Simic writes, “Here come my night thoughts on crutches, returning from studying the heavens. What they thought about stayed the same. Stayed immense and incomprehensible.” According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you Leos will have much the same experience in the coming weeks. So there’s no use in even hoping or trying to expand your vision. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is, you will not have Simic’s experience. Just the opposite. When your night thoughts return from studying the heavens, they will be full of exuberant, inspiring energy. (And what exactly are “night thoughts”? They are bright insights you discover in the darkness.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If there will ever come a time when you will find a gold bullion bar on the ground while strolling around town, it will be soon. Similarly, if you are destined to buy a winning $10 million lottery ticket or inherit a diamond mine in Botswana, that blessing will arrive soon. APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit. The truth is, I suspect you are now extra likely to attract new resources and benefits, though not on the scale of gold bullion, lottery winnings and diamond mines.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do you have a muse, Libra? In my opinion, all of us need and deserve at least one muse, even if we’re not creative artists. A muse can be a spirit or hero or ally who inspires us, no matter what work and play we do. A muse may call our attention to important truths we are ignoring or point us in the direction of exciting future possibilities. According to my astrological analysis, you are now due for a muse upgrade. If you don’t have one, get one—or even more. If you already have a relationship with a muse, ask more from it. Nurture it. Take it to the next level.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Dear Valued Employee: Our records show you haven’t used any vacation time over the past 100 years. As you may know, workers get three weeks of paid leave per year or else receive pay in lieu of time off. One added week is granted for every five years of service. So please, sometime soon, either take 9,400 days off work or notify our office, and your next paycheck will reflect payment of $8,277,432, including pay and interest for the past 1,200 months. APRIL FOOL! Everything I just said was an exaggeration. But there is a grain of truth in it. The coming weeks should bring you a nice surprise or two concerning your job.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) was a hard-working visionary prophet with an extravagant imagination. His contemporaries considered him a freaky eccentric, though today we regard him as a genius. I invite you to enjoy your own personal version of a Blake-like phase in the coming weeks. It’s a perfect time to dynamically explore your idiosyncratic inclinations and creative potentials. Be bold, even brazen, as you celebrate what makes you unique. BUT WAIT! Although everything I just said is true, I must add a caveat: You don’t necessarily need to be a freaky eccentric to honor your deepest, most authentic truths and longings.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some of my friends disapprove of cosmetic surgery. I remind them that many cultures throughout history have engaged in body modification. In parts of Africa and Borneo, for example, people stretch their ears. Some Balinese people get their teeth filed. Women of the Indigenous Kyan people in Thailand elongate their necks using brass coils. Anyway, Capricorn, this is my way of letting you know that the coming weeks would be a favorable time to change your body. APRIL FOOL! It’s not my place to advise you about whether and how to reshape your body. Instead, my job is to encourage you to deepen and refine how your mind understands and treats your body. And now is an excellent time to do that.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I invite you to make a big change. I believe it’s crucial if you hope to place yourself in maximum alignment with current cosmic rhythms. Here’s my idea: Start calling yourself by the name “Genius.” You could even use it instead of the first name you have used all these years. Tell everyone that from now on, they should address you as “Genius.” APRIL FOOL! I don’t really think you should make the switch to Genius. But I do believe you will be extra smart and ultra-wise in the coming weeks, so it wouldn’t be totally outrageous to refer to yourself as “Genius.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your body comprises 30 trillion human cells and 39 trillion microbial cells, including the bacteria that live within you. And in my astrological estimation, those 69 trillion life forms are vibrating in sweet harmony with all the money in the world. Amazing! Because of this remarkable alignment, you now have the potential to get richer quicker. Good economic luck is swirling in your vicinity. Brilliant financial intuitions are likely to well up in you. The Money God is far more amenable than usual to your prayers. APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit. But I do believe you now have extra ability to prime your cash flow.

John Courage Trio in Healdsburg

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John Courage Trio in Healdsburg

 

Elephant in the Room

177 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Elephantintheroompub.com.

Voted Damn Best Hair in Sonoma County—John Courage Trio, with special guest, 8pm, Friday, April 7. $10.

The Flamingo Resort

2777 4th St., Santa Rosa. vintagespacesr.com.

jackLNDN is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer, known for electronic music (and aversion to vowels). 9pm, Friday, March 31.

21+. $15-$20.

Green Music Center

1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. gmc.sonoma.edu.

Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott (famed cellist and pianist, respectively) will thrash and trash everyone from Mendelssohn to Piazzola at 3pm, Sunday, April 2. Tickets $65–$175.

Hopmonk Tavern Sebastopol

230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. Hopmonk.com.

Pete Floyd (a Pink Floyd tribute) wishes you were here. 8pm, Friday, March 31. $20.

The Lost Church

427 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. thelostchurch.org.

Folksters Joselyn & Don and The Musers join forces and launch Folktopia. 7:30pm, Saturday, Apri 1. $20.

The Phoenix Theater

201 Washington St., Petaluma. thephoenixtheater.com.

Cartilage, Iron Front, Wroht, Hexen House, Postnasal Drainage. All ages, of course.

8pm, Friday, March 31. $10.

Peri’s Tavern

29 Broadway, Fairfax. peristavern.com.

Get wrecked and/or strange with the Wreckless Strangers when they play this beloved West Marin enclave. 9pm, Friday, April 7. $10-$13.

—Daedalus Howell

Send your gigs to dh*****@*****ys.com.

Woke Choke

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Woke Choke

Time to study civics again

By Kimball Shinkoskey

Our people need to wake all the way up before we can claim to be woke.

Being woke to national socialism that tries to impose an end to racism and sexism, or being woke to fascism that wants to enforce the same parental rights for everyone isn’t very politically enlightened at all.

America today is like America during the pandemic, only just a little less rattled. Then, education was put on hold, criminal justice was put on hold, social life was put on hold. Today we are back to “normal,” but that normal is our pre-pandemic habit of backsliding into ignorance, lawlessness and social isolation.

A few generations ago, kids actually learned something in school, society prevented and punished crime, and young people got married and had kids. Not so much anymore.

Given our lack of real wokeness, our recent public health crisis was just the first of others to come. Our educational pandemic is only in its early stages.

Our justice pandemic is digging deeper roots yet. Our social pandemic is looking more and more like China’s. Our overall political pandemic is just heating up. The framers of our Constitution had the key. We need to study the history of our own laws before we can be truly woke. We need civics in a big way.

Kimball Shinkoskey is a North Bay native, author and longtime state government worker who frequently speaks to the need for citizen participation, a renewed democracy and constitutional limits on absolute power.

National Women’s History Month was born in Sonoma County

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National Women’s History Month was born in Sonoma County

It was the late 1970s. Molly Murphy MacGregor, a graduate student at Sonoma State University (SSU), taught a lively class on Women and Social Change at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Petaluma campus.

Momentum to study, uplift and celebrate women grew throughout the decade nationally and in Northern California; students and faculty at SSU pushed to create a women’s studies major in 1972, the Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade in 1973 and Dr. Angela Davis rose to international renown as a professor, author and revolutionary fighting for women’s rights and Black liberation.

MacGregor and a group of local women would go on to create the first Women’s History Week in Sonoma County schools in 1978. Two years later, President Jimmy Carter called for Women’s History Week to be recognized nationally. In 1987, a Congressional resolution established Women’s History Month as a national phenomenon. This year will be MacGregor’s 43rd and final year as executive director of the National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA).

She didn’t grow up planning to dedicate her life to teaching women’s history. Her conversion, as she calls it, took place while she was a high school teacher. When a student asked her about the women’s movement, MacGregor found herself speechless. At that moment, she recognized how little she knew and taught about women. That recognition proved pivotal, changing the course of MacGregor’s life.

At SRJC, many of MacGregor’s students were young mothers returning to school. A few of these parents went to their childrens’ grade school libraries to check out books about women’s history. According to MacGregor, they found almost nothing—five to seven books, which hadn’t been checked out for years.

“We knew they hadn’t been checked out because teachers hadn’t assigned them. And teachers hadn’t assigned them because teachers were never taught women’s history. All of us teach what we know,” MacGregor says.

Galvanized by a shared desire to provide the curriculum schools lacked, MacGregor and her students approached the Sonoma County Office of Education and asked to put Women’s History Week on school calendars. Soon after, MacGregor was among a group of women who formed the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women.

MacGregor says, “We would provide teachers with resources and resource women to come in and talk during that week. Our goal was always to empower teachers and educate them as much as we could.”

GROW Women’s History Week eventually became National Women’s History Month. Photo courtesy of Molly MacGregor

To create women’s history curricula, the women had to rely on source materials that underscored how dire the need for women’s history truly was. “When we started writing all the biographies we wrote, the most prestigious [source material] we read would make you think all these women had sprung from the head of Zeus—all you heard about were their fathers,” MacGregor exclaims.

Over the past 43 years, MacGregor says the country’s collective awareness of women has grown exponentially. Much of the misogyny was not deliberate, according to her.

“There was extraordinary unconscious bias against women. We had to really prove that women had been great artists and scientists….Going back to any culture at any time, you’ll find out that women were substantial in every single aspect of the development of history, but people did not realize,” she says.

MacGregor attributes the national success of Women’s History Month to bipartisan support. In 1981, Reps. Orrin Hatch and Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first joint Congressional resolution proclaiming Women’s History Week.

Yet the need for bipartisan support also kept MacGregor and other lesbians in the movement in the closet about their sexual orientation for decades to come. While supportive of women’s history curriculum, Hatch opposed LGBTQ+ rights bills until at least 2012.

“Was there lesbian energy behind our work? You betcha,” says MacGregor.

She continues, “Lesbians were among the first people to understand that women were important. Women’s studies was always a women-loving-women supportive space.”

Each year, the NWHA chooses a theme for Women’s History Month. In their magazine, Women’s History, MacGregor writes, “Throughout 2023, ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,’ encourages recognition of women past and present who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling, including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts and more.”

Articles within the issue highlight women storytellers who amplify stories from within their own communities. The magazine spotlights Indigenous women storytellers who upheld their cultural traditions even when the U.S. outlawed storytelling in the Code of Indian Offenses in the 1880s.

In the article, “Telling Black Women’s Stories,” Cynthia Denise Robinson Smith writes, “Storytelling is important and dates to slavery. Blacks were forbidden to read and write. It was illegal and could also be fatal. The only avenue available to them was talking about it.”

MacGregor says reading the stories of countless women of color throughout history has shaped and expanded her. “I grew up with a terrible amount of white privilege, and I was so under-educated about it. I’m 77 now, and I say that means I’ve had a lifetime to unlearn some of the lies I was told growing up,” she says.

Although she is heartened by much of the activism and care she sees locally, MacGregor feels there’s a lot to fight for in the U.S. right now. She is deeply shaken about Roe v. Wade being overturned, calls to ban books and attacks on trans children.

“It’s facism that we’re facing,” MacGregor says. Then she asks, “Who are these people that are so afraid of learning about the complexities of our history?”

Despite her many grave concerns, MacGregor is confident that younger generations have the numbers and power to fight.

As quickly as she gets fired up about what worries her, MacGregor becomes effervescent about what makes her hopeful. Last week, women in Vietnam, Spain and Germany called her to ask advice on how to start a Women’s History Week.

“I know you’re writing about me, but I can’t tell you how important it is to recognize all the women who founded this with me and the hundreds of thousands of women since,” MacGregor says.

***

Continuing Education: In celebration of local activists uplifting the history of women in and around Sonoma County, the author of this article recommends:

Dreaming Worlds: The Expanse of Inner Life

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Dreaming Worlds: The Expanse of Inner Life

“I feel strangely awake,” Cleopatra says as she readies the poisonous snake that will take her life, “as if living had been just a dream—somebody else’s dream.” The poignant scene comes at the end of the 1963 cinematic masterpiece starring Elizabeth Taylor, and harkens to the famous Latin quotation, “Vita somnium breve est,” or life is but a short dream. 

The deeper we journey into the inner world of the soul, the more unreal the physical world starts to seem, ruled as it is by the law of impermanence. In hypnagogic states—which can be achieved by lying down in the afternoon and entering that twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, when visions seem to dislodge from some inner wellspring and float into our minds like soap bubbles—we find that there is a hidden realm ever creating the soul’s reality while eliminating everything external and extraneous.

In the ancient symbol of the cross—formed by two intersecting lines, one infinite and the other changing—we see that this deepest part of ourselves belongs to the vertical line of Being, and intuit that this self must have descended into earthly incarnation to live out a dream in the realm of Becoming before reawakening and returning to the light from whence it came.

In an Italian esoteric text from a century ago, an anonymous initiate speaks of his first experience of entering a state in which he felt “whole, sufficient unto myself, independent of any person or circumstance, eternal, inhabitant of my own universe,” and “awake in that immense peace in which all beings were dreaming and sleeping.” 

Gone was everything in life that was “muddled and confused in the disquiet of desires,” and his sense of self felt purified, released into pure intelligence “to behold in a timeless world the infinite marvel of all things.” This deepest self was experienced as “something absolutely impersonal living in me,” a “supreme beauty” that could be summoned at will when the mind is untroubled and still. 

“It is the dream of a god,” writes the initiate, “and I am the dream and the dreamer.”

Cleopata’s earthly life as an embodied ego was torn between romantic passions and clashing empires, all of which went the way of sand and dust. But before the writhing asp—fitting symbol of the primordial serpent of the life force—sunk its fangs into her body to release her soul, she was able to waken from her earthly dream and snatch a glimpse of the true empire of light, where the queen of the Nile would go after closing her eyes and crossing the wide river. 

Your Letters, March 29

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Your Letters, March 29

Reparations Reply

A one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident is among recommendations unanimously accepted by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors as part of a draft plan by a panel proposing reparations.

I am a 415 native, but even by San Francisco standards, this is beyond stupid. I look forward to giving a “thumbs down” to this pathetic gesture. Yes, a gesture. What about Asian Americans, women or Hispanics, as well as the myriad of other groups in San Francisco? It appears that the city is going to have a shortfall this coming fiscal year. So, how is the city actually going to make this gesture (payout)?

I suspect that the city will have to go to the state and request funds to do this. How is Gov. Gavin Newsom going to look declining this grotesque reparation? Will Sonoma County gleefully chip in to make San Francisco feel better? Will California?

Gary Sciford

Santa Rosa

Send your letters to the editor to editor@pacificsun or ed****@*****ys.com.

Best of the North Bay 2023 Winners’ Gallery

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Best of the North Bay 2023 Winners’ Gallery

Check out our online gallery featuring several winners of our “Best of the North Bay 2023” as decided by readers in Napa and Sonoma County.

View our Sonoma and Napa Winners Party photos

  • ABC Home Repairs Inc
    ABC Home Repairs Inc
  • Animal Hospital Sebastopol Amiot
    Animal Hospital Sebastopol Amiot
  • Bernstein Orthodontics
    Bernstein Orthodontics
  • Blackbird of Calistoga
    Blackbird of Calistoga
  • Bliss Organic Day Spa
    Bliss Organic Day Spa
  • Buster's Southern Barbecue
    Buster’s Southern Barbecue
  • Calistoga Catering Company
    Calistoga Catering Company
  • Calistoga Pilates Studio
    Calistoga Pilates Studio
  • Christopherson Builders
    Christopherson Builders
  • Cokas Diko Home
    Cokas Diko Home
  • Coy Brown Painting Contractors
    Coy Brown Painting Contractors
  • Cozy Plum
    Cozy Plum
  • CraftWork
    CraftWork
  • Diane Gleim, LMFT, CST, CST-S
    Diane Gleim, LMFT, CST, CST-S
  • E.R. Sawyer Jewelers est. 1879
    E.R. Sawyer Jewelers est. 1879
  • Energize Hot Yoga Santa Rosa
    Energize Hot Yoga Santa Rosa
  • Fishetarian Fish Market
    Fishetarian Fish Market
  • Four Paws Pet Ranch
    Four Paws Pet Ranch
  • Friedman's Home Improvement
    Friedman’s Home Improvement
  • Goblin Bros. Games Gear
    Goblin Bros. Games Gear
  • Gravenstein Apple Fair
    Gravenstein Apple Fair
  • Gravenstein Grill
    Gravenstein Grill
  • Griffo Distillery
    Griffo Distillery
  • Habitat for Humanity ReStore
    Habitat for Humanity ReStore
  • Hana Japanese Restaurant
    Hana Japanese Restaurant
  • Hansel Auto Group
    Hansel Auto Group
  • Head West Marketplace
    Head West Marketplace
  • HenHouse Brewing Company
    HenHouse Brewing Company
  • Humanity Home Cabinetry
    Humanity Home Cabinetry
  • Jane Dispensary
    Jane Dispensary
  • Kisha Hughes, MD
    Kisha Hughes, MD
  • Stacey Nuccion, MD
    Stacey Nuccion, MD
  • Vanessa DeSousa, DO
    Vanessa DeSousa, DO
  • K9 Activity Club
    K9 Activity Club
  • Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa
    Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa
  • Kaiser Christine
    Kaiser Christine
  • Karma Dog Construction, Inc
    Karma Dog Construction, Inc
  • Launch
    Launch
  • Law Offices of Omar Figueroa
    Law Offices of Omar Figueroa
  • Local Eden, LLC
    Local Eden, LLC
  • Lori Varsames Coaching
    Lori Varsames Coaching
  • Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
    Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
  • Mac Daddy Repairs
    Mac Daddy Repairs
  • Made Local Marketplace
    Made Local Marketplace
  • Mama Said
    Mama Said
  • McCarter Cellars
    McCarter Cellars
  • Melissa Sophia Joy, ND
    Melissa Sophia Joy, ND
  • Milk Honey
    Milk Honey
  • Murnane Carpet Floor
    Murnane Carpet Floor
  • Museum of Sonoma County
    Museum of Sonoma County
  • Next Record Store
    Next Record Store
  • Nicole Agosto
    Nicole Agosto
  • Northern Light Tree Works
    Northern Light Tree Works
  • Northern Pacific Power Systems
    Northern Pacific Power Systems
  • NY Pie
    NY Pie
  • Occidental Nutrition, LLC
    Occidental Nutrition, LLC
  • Ohm Coffee Roasters
    Ohm Coffee Roasters
  • Oliver's Market
    Oliver’s Market
  • Ooh La Luxe
    Ooh La Luxe
  • Parkpoint Health Club
    Parkpoint Health Club
  • Peace Out Junk
    Peace Out Junk
  • Permaculture Artisans
    Permaculture Artisans
  • Poppy Bank Epicenter
    Poppy Bank Epicenter
  • Pristine Auto Detail
    Pristine Auto Detail
  • Redwood Credit Union
    Redwood Credit Union
  • Region
    Region
  • Retrograde Coffee Roasters
    Retrograde Coffee Roasters
  • Russian River Brewing Company
    Russian River Brewing Company
  • Salt Stone
    Salt Stone
  • Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market
    Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market
  • Sawyer Construction
    Sawyer Construction
  • Sean Wilson DDS
    Sean Wilson DDS
  • Silk Moon
    Silk Moon
  • Simply Vietnam
    Simply Vietnam
  • Sofie Contemporary Arts
    Sofie Contemporary Arts
  • Solar Works
    Solar Works
  • Sonoma Burger
    Sonoma Burger
  • Sonoma Chocolatiers
    Sonoma Chocolatiers
  • Sonoma County Library
    Sonoma County Library
  • Sonoma County Pride
    Sonoma County Pride
  • Sonoma Eyeworks Optometry
    Sonoma Eyeworks Optometry
  • Sonoma Hills Farm
    Sonoma Hills Farm
  • Sonoma Hot Tubs and Pool Supplies
    Sonoma Hot Tubs and Pool Supplies
  • Spiral Jewelry Artisery
    Spiral Jewelry Artisery
  • Sports Orthopaedic Physiotherapy
    Sports Orthopaedic Physiotherapy
  • Sucre Shack Shack
    Sucre Shack Shack
  • Suited Hospitality
    Suited Hospitality
  • Summerfield Waldorf School Farm
    Summerfield Waldorf School Farm
  • Sweet T’s Restaurant + Bar
    Sweet T’s Restaurant + Bar
  • The Bike Peddler
    The Bike Peddler
  • The Shuckery
    The Shuckery
  • The Sonoma School of Martial Arts
    The Sonoma School of Martial Arts
  • The Store Next Door
    The Store Next Door
  • The Tides Wharf Restaurant
    The Tides Wharf Restaurant
  • TheBarlow
    TheBarlow
  • Transcendence Theatre Company
    Transcendence Theatre Company
  • Uber Optics
    Uber Optics
  • Verity
    Verity
  • W Real Estate
    W Real Estate
  • Western Farm Center
    Western Farm Center
  • Whistlestop Antiques
    Whistlestop Antiques
  • Wilson Winery
    Wilson Winery
  • WineGlass Marketing
    WineGlass Marketing

North Bay affordable housing developers were Silicon Valley Bank clients

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North Bay affordable housing developers were Silicon Valley Bank clients

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Sunday, March 26, North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank announced that it reached an agreement to purchase SVB from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took control of SVB after its collapse. Under the agreement, First Citizens will obtain SVB’s loans and some other assets, including 17 bank branches.

As its name suggests, Silicon Valley Bank’s bread and butter was the tech sector.

However, the rapidly-growing bank, which collapsed in dramatic fashion in early March, also served North Bay wineries and affordable housing developers.

At the end of 2022, SVB had $74.3 billion in outstanding loans, including almost $1.2 billion loaned to over 400 winery clients. The bank’s St. Helena-based Premium Wine Banking branch published a widely-read annual report on the state of the wine industry.

Between 2002 and 2021, SVB reportedly invested and loaned over $2 billion to affordable housing developers, helping to build or fix up around 10,000 affordable housing units throughout the Bay Area.

After its clients became uncertain en masse, the federal government took over SVB, protecting customers’ assets. However, new loans to affordable housing developers and other clients are halted, and the future remains somewhat uncertain.

According to the Bay Area News Group, as many as 1,000 units of affordable housing slated for construction are facing uncertainty or construction delays due to SVB’s collapse. Public records show that at least two North Bay nonprofit developers have used financing from SVB.

Burbank Housing, one of the North Bay’s largest affordable housing developers, did business with SVB several times over the past decade. Two completed projects, one in Santa Rosa and another in Calistoga, were financed by SVB.

In December 2021, Burbank received financing from SVB for a portion of Caritas Village, the new affordable housing complex in downtown Santa Rosa, public records show.

And, Burbank recently approached SVB for a loan to finance Petaluma River Place, a 50-unit project planned for 1601 Petaluma Blvd. S. Burbank’s request was turned down, but the developer remains “extremely confident” they will be able to secure financing for the project, spokesperson Patrick Montgomery told the Bohemian.

“By all accounts, exposure for Burbank Housing appears to be very manageable, and our Burbank team is of course monitoring the situation very closely,” Montgomery stated.

Public records show that Petaluma-based PEP Housing also used financing from SVB. In 2020, the nonprofit developer received a $20 million construction loan for its 54-unit River City Senior Apartments complex. The project was completed last year. PEP’s media representative was not available for comment before the Bohemian’s deadline.

A few weeks after SVB’s collapse, the future remains hazy. Other banks, including San Francisco’s First Republic Bank, have shown signs of weakness. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s “discount window” has been handing out money to banks at a scale not seen since 2008.

Despite the government’s efforts to stifle more panic, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted between March 16-20 found that just 10% of respondents had “high confidence” in the nation’s banks and financial institutions, down from 22% in 2020.

Local banks have reassured customers about their stability. Of note, customers with less than $250,000 in their accounts are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Sonoma County bans new retail gas stations

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Sonoma County bans new retail gas stations

Sonoma County is taking another step towards a gas-free future.

On March 14, the county’s board of supervisors approved a ban on new retail gas stations in the unincorporated county as California endeavors to end the sale of gas-powered cars in 2035. Sonoma County’s ordinance will go into effect on April 13.

“Preventing new gas stations in the unincorporated county is just one of the tools we need to employ to reach our climate goals. Gas stations can be toxic sites, with run-off pollution and soil contamination, and we need to shift away from fossil fuels if we’re going to make a dent in climate change,” board chair Chris Coursey said in a statement following the vote.

According to a county staff report, there were over 158 fuel stations in Sonoma County in 2016, 46 of which are in the unincorporated county.

Sonoma County has set a goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. Doing so will require major changes in transportation. In 2018, about 60% of the county’s greenhouse gas emissions came from transportation. By 2021, there were over 10,000 registered electric vehicles in the county.

The legislation has been pushed by a local group named Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations (CONGAS). In a statement, Jenny Blaker, the group’s co-coordinator, highlighted the equity considerations at play.

“In addition to the climate crisis and local impacts, CONGAS sees this as an environmental justice issue. In every drop of gasoline we pump there is a wake of destruction—from the drilling to the pumping to the transportation by rail, trucks, and pipelines to processing facilities and refineries—almost always disproportionately impacting indigenous, low income, and communities of color,” Blaker said.

Woody Hastings, the group’s other co-coordinator, said that the outright bans on new gas stations will save planning staff from spending time considering applications for new gas stations.

“Taking this action frees up staff time to work on other climate-smart measures in the county, such as efforts to improve walking and biking amenities, expand clean-emission public transit, and develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure,” Hastings said.

Sonoma County is the first county in the country to ban new gas stations, continuing local cities’ leadership on the issue. In 2021, Petaluma became the first jurisdiction in the country to ban the construction of new gas stations. Cotati, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Windsor followed soon after.

Sonoma County’s ban exempts the construction of private fuel stations used for agricultural and fleet use.

“This is one small step in the right direction to meaningfully address the climate challenge, and with over 150 gas stations operating in Sonoma County, one that I don’t see as controversial,” Coursey stated.

Queer-Go-Round

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Queer-Go-Round

An intimate moment for Sonoma County queer songwriters 

The Lost Church continues its mission of serving as the community stage in Santa Rosa with the Songwriters in the Round gig on March 24. Three queer singer-songwriters gather together at the same time, intimately connecting them with each other and the audience.

I connected with musicians Anne Carol Mitchell, Maya McNeil and RAD to understand what the music scene is like for them, and more generally for queer songwriters in a challenging time. 

What are the challenges facing queer performing artists?

RAD: Getting booked at venues, having a safe place to invite our community to, being seen in the music scene.

Anne Carol Mitchell (Brightdarkdawn): Sonoma County has a vibrant and gorgeous multi-generational queer community. However, I don’t see many of the local spots popular for music and performance uplifting the queer community. There are some great local places like the Brew open mic, The Lost Church and Petaluma Pride. I’d love it if venue owners would consider if what they are presenting is inclusive for not only queer artists but also BIPOC performers. 

Why is the event being done in the round? 

Mitchell: [Playing in the round] messes with the idea of who’s the performer and who’s the audience. It’s less about performing and more about sharing songs in a moment with others. The three of us put a lot of thought into how our songs would fit together, gravitating towards themes like identity, seasons, mystery, songs of seas. We also learned one song from each other to sing on.

Maya McNeil: In preparing for this show, I’ve been warmly reminded of pub sessions in Scotland, where the line between audience and performer is blurred because it’s a form of community gathering, with all ages and skills singing and playing [together]. 

How did you get started in organizing this event?

Mitchell: I met Maya and RAD through friends recently. It’s been incredible working with them. We’ve made a creative community together in preparing for this show. They are both radical and incredibly talented songwriters. 

Can you share a story about being queer in the music world?

RAD: I love playing queer community events. There are kids dancing and bopping around, and then one time when I was done playing they got on stage and started making up original songs and dances.

Mitchell: I wrote and performed music with poet Judy Grahn, whose work was integral to the queer liberation movements of the ’60s and ’70s. In 2008, Judy and I went on tour, and it was inspiring to see younger generations of queers discover the radical poetry of an elder in the queer liberation movement. 

McNeil: I’m not sure I would be in the music world if it weren’t for the queer creative community I first found my footing in a brilliant, kind and deeply inclusive artist community in Sacramento. The vulnerability of performing and being [truly] seen was held by all with care. 

Brightdarkdawn is a project of songwriter/composer Anne Carol Mitchell, a queer woman living in Sebastopol, cultivating food and community with her partner. 

Maya McNeil is a recording artist and healing arts practitioner in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their beyond gender binary/multi-genre debut album, ‘Waiting for the Light to Change’ is out this spring.

RAD is a queer, trans, brown farmer and folk punk playing original, ukealicious, multilingual love for the community.

Free Will Astrology, March 29

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Sometimes, I give you suggestions that may, if you carry them out, jostle your routines and fluster your allies. But after trying out the new approaches for a short time, you may chicken out and revert to old habits. That’s understandable! It can be difficult to change your life. Here’s an example. What if I...
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John Courage Trio in Healdsburg

  Elephant in the Room 177 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Elephantintheroompub.com. Voted Damn Best Hair in Sonoma County—John Courage Trio, with special guest, 8pm, Friday, April 7. $10. The Flamingo Resort 2777 4th St., Santa Rosa. vintagespacesr.com. jackLNDN is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer, known for electronic music (and aversion to vowels). 9pm, Friday, March 31. 21+. $15-$20. Green Music Center 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. gmc.sonoma.edu. Yo-Yo...
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Woke Choke

Time to study civics again By Kimball Shinkoskey Our people need to wake all the way up before we can claim to be woke. Being woke to national socialism that tries to impose an end to racism and sexism, or being woke to fascism that wants to enforce the same parental rights for everyone isn’t very politically enlightened at all. America today is...
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National Women’s History Month was born in Sonoma County

It was the late 1970s. Molly Murphy MacGregor, a graduate student at Sonoma State University (SSU), taught a lively class on Women and Social Change at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Petaluma campus. Momentum to study, uplift and celebrate women grew throughout the decade nationally and in Northern California; students and faculty at SSU pushed to create a women’s studies...
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Dreaming Worlds: The Expanse of Inner Life

“I feel strangely awake,” Cleopatra says as she readies the poisonous snake that will take her life, “as if living had been just a dream—somebody else’s dream.” The poignant scene comes at the end of the 1963 cinematic masterpiece starring Elizabeth Taylor, and harkens to the famous Latin quotation, “Vita somnium breve est,” or life is but a short...
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Your Letters, March 29

Reparations Reply A one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident is among recommendations unanimously accepted by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors as part of a draft plan by a panel proposing reparations. I am a 415 native, but even by San Francisco standards, this is beyond stupid. I look forward to giving a “thumbs down” to this pathetic...
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Best of the North Bay 2023 Winners’ Gallery

north bay bohemian best of 2023 logo
Check out our online gallery featuring several winners of our “Best of the North Bay 2023” as decided by readers in Napa and Sonoma County. View our Sonoma and Napa Winners Party photos
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North Bay affordable housing developers were Silicon Valley Bank clients

Caritas Homes - Santa Rosa 2023 - Photo by Will Carruthers
EDITOR'S NOTE: On Sunday, March 26, North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank announced that it reached an agreement to purchase SVB from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took control of SVB after its collapse. Under the agreement, First Citizens will obtain SVB’s loans and some other assets, including 17 bank branches. As its name suggests, Silicon Valley Bank’s bread and...
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Sonoma County bans new retail gas stations

Chevron Gas Station - Santa Rosa, California
Sonoma County is taking another step towards a gas-free future. On March 14, the county’s board of supervisors approved a ban on new retail gas stations in the unincorporated county as California endeavors to end the sale of gas-powered cars in 2035. Sonoma County’s ordinance will go into effect on April 13. “Preventing new gas stations in the unincorporated county is...
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Queer-Go-Round

An intimate moment for Sonoma County queer songwriters  The Lost Church continues its mission of serving as the community stage in Santa Rosa with the Songwriters in the Round gig on March 24. Three queer singer-songwriters gather together at the same time, intimately connecting them with each other and the audience. I connected with musicians Anne Carol Mitchell, Maya McNeil and...
Read more
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