Out of the Kitchen and Into the Cellar with Eric Fox

Readers might recognize Eric Fox from his days at The Matheson, where he was restaurant manager before joining the new Appellation Healdsburg as director of food & beverage. 

His background also includes sommelier and beverage leadership positions at some of the country’s most celebrated dining destinations, including Michelin-starred Spruce, Coi and Lazy Bear in San Francisco.

Amber Turpin: How did you get into this work?

Eric Fox: It started with a deep passion for the culinary arts, which eventually led me to study at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. While I loved the culinary side, I became completely captivated by the world of wine and hospitality. I threw myself into the sommelier certification process, earning my advanced sommelier pin after moving to California. 

Over time, that drive naturally evolved from working service into operational leadership. Today, I get to blend all of those passions together—building out hospitality standards, developing standard operating procedures and creating unique guest experiences.

Did you ever have an ‘aha’ moment with a certain beverage? If so, tell us about it.

That moment for me was with the 2006 Qupé Roussanne from the Bien Nacido Vineyard. Tasting that wine gave me pause to sit back in my seat. It demonstrated the profound depth and texture a California white could achieve when grown in the right site and handled with care. The way it balanced richness with a savory, mineral-driven complexity completely shifted my perspective and deepened my drive to study the intricacies of wine.

What is your favorite thing to drink at home?

Honestly, I keep it pretty simple at home. Usually, it’s just a local beer or lots of sparkling water. If I am opening wine, I lean toward something light and easy drinking, like a Frappato or a Beaujolais.

Where do you like to go out for a drink?

Working in Sonoma County gives me access to an incredible food and beverage community. When you spend your entire day analyzing beverage programs and pushing limits in a high-end environment, you crave a palate cleanser when you’re off the clock. 

I love going to places that execute at a high level without being pretentious—spots that focus on great local ingredients, whether that’s a perfectly pulled pint at a neighborhood brewery or a flawlessly balanced classic cocktail at a comfortable bar where the hospitality speaks for itself; Lo & Behold, Maison Healdsburg, Bird & The Bottle and Valley in Sonoma are some of my favorites.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you want to be drinking (besides fresh water)?

It’s tempting to name a legendary, age-worthy Burgundy, but if I’m stranded on an island, practicality wins. I’d want an endless supply of crisp, high-quality Gruner Veltliner or Etna Bianco. They are both incredibly versatile, infinitely complex, and they never get fatiguing on the palate. 

Appellation Healdsburg,101 Dovetail Ln., Healdsburg, 707.723.2000, appellationhotels.com/hotels/california-healdsburg.

Awaiting Victory of Another Kind at World Cup

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Who would imagine that an international sporting event will be the next battleground in the fight against authoritarian repression?

Yet that scenario is unfolding right now, and the battleground is the World Cup tournament—soon to begin in cities around the U.S. In the past year and a half, at least 46 people have died in ICE custody since Donald Trump took office.

Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, made clear that ICE will be present at World Cup venues. Mullin ruled out broad immigration sweeps but not individual apprehensions. At the same time, FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, has required stadium workers to disclose sensitive information (Social Security numbers, residential addresses, nationality and country of birth) and to allow the sharing of that information with federal authorities.

Some say that workers, vendors and visitors have nothing to fear if they’re here legally. But the argument is both specious and disingenuous. It denies the toxic power of racialized scapegoating that Donald Trump ratcheted up over the past 11 years. 

At various points, he has declared that Mexico was sending us rapists, drugs and crime. He has made pronouncements about “sh-thole countries” like Haiti and African nations, about ways that unauthorized immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of Americans, and about Haitian immigrants stealing and consuming the pets of their citizen neighbors. 

Such baseless claims have made many Americans more fearful of immigrants, and—along with rogue immigration enforcement— have frightened many migrants into the shadows or helped pushed them to self-deport.

Solidarity and discipline are needed now at the World Cup games. In Los Angeles, for example, there are about 2,000 unionized workers at SoFi Stadium, and they’ve begun to take action through their union, UNITE HERE Local 11. They’ve filed a complaint with California’s attorney general, citing an intrusion of their privacy and the violation of their rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act. They’ve also threatened to strike unless several demands are met, including assurances that ICE will have no place at the games.

Were ICE to be forced into retreat once again, that would indeed be a World Cup victory deserved by all.

Andrew Moss writes on politics, labor and nonviolence from Los Angeles. He is an emeritus professor (nonviolence studies, English) from the California State University.

Your Letters, June 3

Stone Thrown

“Broken Windows” policing ignores years of evidence showing that the theory has largely failed to achieve its stated goals.

The premise was simple: Aggressively enforce minor offenses such as loitering, graffiti or fare evasion in order to prevent more serious crime. In practice, however, the policy became a strategy for concentrating police power in poor neighborhoods while producing questionable public safety results.

Over the past two decades, criminologists and social scientists have repeatedly challenged the theory’s core assumptions. Major studies found little evidence that visible disorder itself causes violent crime or that aggressive enforcement of low-level offenses significantly reduces serious criminal activity. Crime rates declined in many American cities during the 1990s, including cities that did not adopt broken windows policing, suggesting broader economic, demographic and social changes were far more important factors.

What broken windows policing undeniably produced was an increase in stop-and-frisk encounters, low-level arrests, court fines and aggressive surveillance directed overwhelmingly at poor Black and Latino communities. Ordinary residents were frequently treated as suspects for minor infractions while underlying causes of crime—poverty, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, addiction and inadequate mental health services—remained unaddressed. 

Communities deserve investments that strengthen neighborhoods rather than policies that criminalize poverty. Real public safety comes from stable housing, good schools, healthcare, youth programs and economic opportunity—not from failed theories that burden vulnerable communities while offering little measurable benefit. 

Barbara Grasseschi
Healdsburg

Out Loud, Arts on Prescription, Ghost Forests and M.F.K Fisher

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Santa Rosa
Out Loud

The written word gets the microphone (and a little quasi-competition) when Out Loud debuts at The Astro Motel. Curated and hosted by veteran creative impresario Cheryl King, the new variety show blends poetry, spoken word, standup and original monologues into a live showcase where the audience ultimately decides the “winner.” Up to 10 performers will present short original works, with attendees voting through an interactive app for the evening’s standout act. Equal parts literary salon, comedy night and theatrical experiment, the event leans into the pleasures of hearing writing leave the page and survive contact with an audience. A full bar and post-show mingling complete the atmosphere, because creative vulnerability generally improves with cocktails nearby. 6–9pm, Thursday, June 18, at The Astro Motel, 323 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. More information at stageleftstudio.net.

Larkspur
Arts on Prescription

Can art improve public health? MarinArts and the Lark Theater make the case with Arts on Prescription, a public lecture examining the growing movement to integrate creative participation into models of emotional, cognitive and social care. Led by Marin journalist and researcher Pamela Coddington Samaniego, the evening explores how structured arts programs are increasingly being used to combat isolation and improve wellbeing, particularly as loneliness itself becomes recognized as a public health concern. Drawing on research conducted through Harvard Extension School, Samaniego outlines what successful arts-based health initiatives look like and how a more coordinated system could take shape locally. Consider it part civic conversation, part cultural prescription. 6pm, Wednesday, June 10, at Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur. $25. More information at marinarts.org.

Jenner
Ghost Forests

Redwoods, radical activism and Sonoma County history converge when forest advocate Greg King speaks at the Jenner Community Center on the legacy of logging along the North Coast. Presented by Forest Unlimited, the event centers on King’s environmental history, The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods, which traces both the destruction of old-growth forests and the activist movements that emerged in response—including King’s own role pioneering tree-sitting as civil disobedience. The evening also serves as a fundraiser connected to local opposition against a proposed timber harvest plan near Jenner and Sheephouse Creek. Anticipate equal parts ecological history, political urgency and tales from the redwood frontier. 4pm, Friday, June 12, at Jenner Community Center, 10398 Hwy. 1. $35; signed books included with donations of $100 or more. More information at forestunlimited.org.

Glen Ellen
M.F.K. Forever

Before “foodie” became a lifestyle concept, M. F. K. Fisher was busy turning appetites into literature. This summer, the newly launched M.F.K. Fisher Foundation honors the pioneering writer with the inaugural M.F.K. Fisher Month, a nationwide celebration running from June 3 through July 3—what would have been Fisher’s 118th birthday. The festivities begin with an intimate gathering at Fisher’s famed “Last House” in Glen Ellen before extending to restaurants and cultural spaces around the country. Best known for classics like The Art of Eating and How to Cook a Wolf, Fisher transformed food writing into something richer and more philosophical, exploring not simply what we eat, but why. Fittingly, the monthlong celebration invites people to gather around tables, exchange stories and treat meals as acts of culture rather than consumption. Begins Wednesday, June 3, in Glen Ellen, with events continuing through July 3 at participating venues nationwide. A special 2026 M.F.K. Fisher Last House Luncheon goes from noon–2:30pm, Wednesday, June 3, at Bouverie Preserve, 13815 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen. $150. More information at mfkfisher.org.

Free Will Astrology, June 3-9

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): You are often the best possible remedy for stale, unoriginal thinking that’s festering in your vicinity. And you are especially so these days. Others might have the gall to disrupt the deadening status quo, but you have the charm to do it without scorching every bridge and laying waste to the land. So I invite you to step into the role of cheerful troublemaker. Unleash your iconoclastic sparks with the intention of making life friskier and more imaginative, not more tangled and irritating.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In many farming cultures, including parts of India, growers speak or sing to their crops as they walk through the fields. It’s a gesture of personal care that mirrors growing scientific interest in how plants respond to sound and vibration. Some studies suggest that plants exposed to sustained speech and song may grow more vigorously. Your assignment in the coming weeks, Taurus, is to speak to the growing things in your life with similar devotion. Talk to your projects. Sing to your relationships. Tell jokes to your dreams. The universe is extra responsive to your sweet voice.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Neurologist Oliver Sacks said, “I am haunted by the density of experience.” He meant that every moment contains far more richness than we can fully register or remember. This observation will be especially relevant for you in the coming weeks. Your mind (and heart) will be flooded with an abundance of stimuli, ideas, feelings and impressions. It might initially feel overwhelming, but will ultimately be a boon—especially if you prepare yourself for the intensity and abundance. Imagine yourself standing next to a fountain and feeling cheerful about getting soaked.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You have superpowers that hardened hearts and tough guys can’t fathom. Receptivity is a key part of your genius, for example. Emotional fluency is at the root of your intelligence. Your ability to feel so much and so deeply makes you dangerous to status quos managed by people who overthink everything. Wait. There’s more. You can nurture without smothering and protect without imprisoning. You wield the powers of memory without being enslaved by nostalgia. You make home a verb, not a noun, as you build shelter for yourself and your tribe. I hope you will express these gorgeous talents to the max in the coming weeks and months.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An astrologer rooted in older traditions might claim that now is an ideal time to promote your personal agenda through sly, gossipy maneuvering. But since I am devoted to building a new culture grounded in compassionate values that nourish the soul, my message is different. I’m pleased to tell you that the coming weeks will be a potent phase to engage in elevating gossip that serves the greater good, to celebrate unsung heroes and to call attention to everything that is thriving. For practical dreamers like you and me, carelessly speaking ill of others undermines our own aspirations. One of the most effective ways to expand our own possibilities is to use the power of language to boost other people’s chances for joy and success.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The ancient Library of Alexandria contained more than half a million scrolls. If you devoted eight hours a day to reading, you could finish about 5,000 books over the course of your life. The librarians back then knew they would never read all the texts they managed and protected. Their job wasn’t to consume all knowledge but to be stewards of abundance. They’re good role models for you, Virgo. The wonderful fact is that you don’t have to master every single thing that attracts your attention. Your far more relaxing task is to curate with care and wisdom. Your growing edge is to know what to preserve and what to release. One of your noblest projects is to commune pleasurably with the intriguing mysteries that life brings you, not obsess on them.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libra psychologist Carol Dweck distinguishes between fixed mindsets (“I’m not smart enough”) and growth mindsets (“I can become smarter”). When you have a fixed mindset, obstacles weigh you down. With a growth mindset, they motivate you to develop. What determines your trajectory isn’t your current skill level but how you relate to your edge. With this in mind, Libra, I invite you to monitor your self-talk as you encounter challenges. Are you prone to thinking that limitations are permanent, or do you see them as temporary states you can use as opportunities? You now have a good chance to instill the latter as a root habit.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What’s something you wish you could change about yourself? Is it a trait, pattern, fear or story about your body? And what exactly tells you that this can never change? Is it loyalty to old expectations or a rotting prophecy someone laid on you? Consider the possibility that maybe the “can’t” is really a “won’t,” or a “don’t know how yet,” or “I’m afraid of who I’d be without this.” Then imagine that you don’t have to transform this thing instantly, but, for starters, need only shift it by 10% in the direction of mercy and freedom. What small, specific action would generate that 10%?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): What’s your most vital relationship? I dare you to surprise each other in the coming weeks. Refresh your bond with playful experimentation. Here are adventures you two could explore: 1. Take a walk together with no destination in mind, letting curiosity guide you. Talk about the paths you have not yet taken in life but might like to. 2. Describe the most beautiful future you can imagine for each other. Share practical steps you could take to make these scenarios happen. 3. Choose a food treat you both love, speak a blessing over it, then eat it slowly together as you name what you are most grateful for in your connection.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Chess masters and accomplished musicians practice differently from amateurs. They focus most intensely on their weak points, less so on rehearsing what they already do well. It’s uncomfortable to confront inadequacy, but they’re better for it. In my astrological opinion, Capricorn, you should specialize in a similar courage during the coming weeks. I invite you to direct your generous attention toward your shakiest skills and most uncertain territories. Glorious growth will happen at the edge of your competence.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be more like a lightning storm over a green meadow and less like a porch light attracting moths. Be more like a spiritual riddle in an ecstatic poem and less like a slogan printed on a T‑shirt. Be more like a Miles Davis improvisation and less like a tune played note‑for‑note from the sheet music for a formulaic pop song. Can you stretch yourself into more fertile wildness, Aquarius? Will you expand your future with adventures that thrill your imagination? I believe you can and should. For bonus magic, be more like a dream of wandering in a rowdy paradise and less like the old version of yourself. Trust the frontier signals that make your pulse quicken, and speak less about the obvious truths that make everyone nod in agreement. 

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Are you ready to assess the state of your emotional pain? Every few years, I invite you to take stock. I ask you to reflect on how well you’ve been cultivating meaningful stress while avoiding useless pain and misery. So, how’s your progress since our last check-in? Have you improved at sidestepping dull torments you’ve relived a thousand times? Are you less vulnerable to being wounded by ignorant or thoughtless people? Can you more swiftly shake off the sting of minor troubles? Most importantly, are you increasingly magnetized to the intriguing dilemmas that challenge you to grow wiser and more resourceful?

Homework: Identify 10 of your best blessings. https://tinyurl.com/77ww77

Who Wore It Better? High Fashion Satire: ‘Boosters’ vs. ‘Prada 2’

In the late 1990s, the films The Truman Show (1998) and EDtv (1999) were noted for their uncannily similar premises, in which reality TV shows go to increasingly invasive and unethical extremes in the pursuit of higher ratings.

So-called “twin films” like these are often explained as the result of studios vying to capitalize (literally) on an idea more successfully than their competitors—I’d argue that they can also be a sign of a society attempting to metabolize troubling social and political realities through reiterative storytelling. For example, Truman and EDtv grappled with the contemporary social anxieties of surveillance and privacy erosion by taking the concept of reality TV to satirical extremes. 

Filmmaker Boots Riley’s new film, I Love Boosters, also works within the medium of satirical extremity. The absurdist comedy, about Bay Area shoplifters waging financial and conceptual war against an unethical fashion mogul, overflows with surreal visual gags and fantastical plot devices, unbound by the conventions of any genre. But despite its wacky aesthetic indulgences, Boosters is satire with a purpose—a film conscientiously grounded in, and unabashedly opinionated about, social realities like poverty, poor working conditions, and wealth inequality. 

Booster’s twin (dare I say “evil twin?”) arrived in theaters a month earlier in the form of The Devil Wears Prada 2. Their twin credentials are clear: both movies are comedies set in the fashion world, featuring young women clashing with older, wealthier, more powerful women in the industry. But the two films diverge in their ability to honestly reckon with the ethical implications of the stories they are telling. Boosters commits to a rigorous critique of the fashion industry (and economic inequality at-large) by incorporating its critiques into the very fabric of its storytelling. A political problem like sweatshop labor is skewered not with a throwaway quip, but by making it the focal point of the film’s second half, when a Chinese factory worker literally teleports into a Bay Area luxury outlet to steal back the clothes she made in abusive conditions. 

Tellingly, sweatshop labor is also (briefly) name checked in The Devil Wears Prada 2, but only as a plot device to facilitate the reshuffling of jobs within the glamorous skyscraper offices of the film’s main characters. Prada, for all of its commendable surface-level messaging, is fundamentally a story about the fashion industry elite, told entirely from their perspective. When it comes to the political and economic conditions the rest of us are facing, Boosters—the surreal sci-fi featuring teleportation devices—is actually more in touch with reality.

Cyclists Pedal to Guerneville to raise money for AIDS

Dig that red dress, Hawaiian shirt or tuxedo—whatever your preference—out of your closet and join cyclists from San Francisco at a festival in Guerneville, Saturday, May 30, dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.  

Called the Red Dress Fest, the event, part street fair and part memorial for people who have died of the disease, is the culmination of a three-day cycling event called Cycle to Zero, a fundraiser for the AIDS Foundation of San Francisco. 

Between May 29 and May 31 hundreds of participants will bicycle from San Francisco to Guerneville, and then back again, having raised over $1.6 million in sponsorships and community donations as of May 22.  The money supports the no-cost services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which was founded in 1982 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

For the Saturday evening event, Cycle to Zero will block off First Street in Guerneville from 5 to 9 p.m. It will feature music, entertainment, food vendors and a candlelight vigil starting at 8:30 p.m.

According to Face to Face Sonoma County Development Director Gary Saperstein, the local organization will be providing volunteers for the event. 

“We are proud to work with San Francisco AIDS foundation. The work they do (in San Francisco) is the same as the work we do (in Sonoma County).” 

That work includes HIV/AIDS prevention and testing, helping people with HIV/AIDS secure housing, medical care and other services, and “harm reduction,” such as needle exchange. According to Saperstein there are approximately 1,500 people living with HIV/AIDS in Sonoma County.

Sunday morning the cyclists will break camp and head for Martin Luther King Park in Sausalito, stopping at West Marin Elementary School in Point Reyes for a lunch break.

The Ramble, Magic & Mystery and Q is for Love

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Healdsburg
The Ramble

What began as a passion project from Kelly Dorrance and Noah Dorrance has evolved into one of Sonoma County’s more appealing combinations of Wine Country conviviality and indie-rock credibility. Returning for its fourth year, The Ramble transforms the Abel de Luna Community Center Fields into a daylong gathering of music, food and local wine, headlined this year by Spoon and Lucius. The lineup also includes soul innovator Devon Gilfillian and psychedelic cumbia outfit Tropa Magica, alongside culinary programming and pours from some of Sonoma County’s more adventurous wineries. Beneath the festival atmosphere sits a serious mission: All proceeds benefit GIFFORDS, with the event raising more than $250,000 for gun violence prevention efforts since 2023. Saturday, June 6, at Abel de Luna Community Center Fields, 1557 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Tickets required. More information at bloodrootramble.com.

Larkspur
Magic & Mystery

Cinema and sleight-of-hand converge at the Lark Theater when Bay Area magician and mentalist Christian Cagigal returns with another evening of live illusion paired with film. Following a successful earlier appearance built around Nightmare Alley, Cagigal opens the night with a 30-minute performance of interactive mysteries before the screening of The Illusionist, the Oscar-nominated French animated feature about a fading magician navigating the cultural upheavals of the rock ’n’ roll era. The pairing feels fitting: melancholy stagecraft, old-world wonder and the strange dignity of performers trying to keep enchantment alive in changing times. A classy little evening for anyone susceptible to disappearing acts and bittersweet European animation. 7pm, Saturday, June 6, at Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur. Tickets required. More information at larktheater.net.

Point Reyes Station
Q Is for Love

Portraiture becomes both tribute and quiet resistance in artist Kelley Berg’s twin exhibitions at Gallery Route One. Q Is for Love presents etched portraits of queer artists and writers including James Baldwin, Cy Twombly, Agnes Martin and David Wojnarowicz in recognition of Bay Area Pride, while the companion exhibition All the Time in the World turns toward Berg’s own circle of friends and family in paintings exploring love, grief and endurance. Together, the shows form an intimate meditation on memory, identity and the faces that shape a life. Berg also joins fellow artists Sharon Paster and Rachel Davis for a June 6 panel discussion on figurative art and process. The exhibit runs May 30–July 5 at Gallery Route One, 11101 CA-1, Point Reyes Station. Gallery hours 11am–5pm Thursday–Monday. Free admission. More information at galleryrouteone.org.

Petaluma
Time & Tide

Wetlands tend to get overlooked until they disappear, which is part of what makes Time & Tide: An Artful Exploration of Petaluma’s Wetlands feel so timely. As part of National Historic Preservation Month, the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum hosts an evening exploring the evolving relationship between the community and the Petaluma River watershed. From Past to Future: Stewarding Our Wetlands Together brings together conservation leaders, artists and environmental advocates for a discussion on restoration, climate resilience and the role storytelling and art can play in shaping a sense of stewardship. Featured speakers include representatives from Point Blue Conservation Science and Sonoma Land Trust alongside artist and volunteer Anne Chadwick. Civic ecology with a cultural pulse. 6pm, Thursday, May 28, at Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 20 4th St. Free admission. More information at petalumamuseum.com.

Your Letters, May 27

Endangered Species

Exactly how many tasting rooms, boutique inns, artisanal dog bakeries and “elevated” farm-to-table experiences can one region absorb before the locals become an inconvenient afterthought?

The tri-county area has become a kind of open-air luxury queue. Everywhere you go—Sonoma, Napa, Marin—there are lines. Lines for coffee. Lines for brunch. Lines for wine. Lines for the privilege of standing in another line. Meanwhile, the people who actually live here circle downtown blocks like doomed vultures looking for parking spaces that vaporize like this AI bubble soon will.

Downtowns that once possessed a scruffy local charm now feel like airport terminals for the affluent. Entire neighborhoods seem calibrated for weekend visitors, not the people who built and carried these small towns before they were discovered by Insta-influencers. Some towns aren’t even recognizable to themselves any longer—it’s like the city planning version of Botox and buccal fat removal. 

At some point, Wine Country stopped being a community and became a lifestyle concept. The irony is that tourists supposedly come here for authenticity while helping pave over the very thing they’re seeking. Perhaps the next civic improvement project should involve building a museum dedicated to the extinct species once known as “locals.”

Cassady Caution
Moving to Boise

WWJD?

Do you think Jesus would have validated Chump while knowing EVERYTHING about Epstein?

Gary Sciford
Santa Rosa

We welcome your letters (no matter how cranky). Send them to le*****@********un.com or le*****@******an.com.

Free Will Astrology, May 27 – June 2

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the weeks ahead, simply being right won’t necessarily lead to success. Having strength, intelligence, wealth or connections might help, though not as much as usual. But a different approach will work well as you strive to overcome challenges: a blend of cleverness and integrity. I invite you to be cunning while remaining honorable. Practice subtle strategy in service of higher aims. And here’s one more secret to ensure victory: Let go of any need to receive full recognition for your efforts.  

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Dear Horoscope Guy: Two astrologers have assured me that as a Taurus, I’m a natural-born money magnet. So why am I broke? I keep begging the Divine for cash miracles, and I buy lottery tickets twice a week. Still nothing. Please tell me when I’ll finally hit the jackpot. Better yet, give me the winning numbers. –Taurus Desperate for Dollars.” Dear Desperate: The “luck” you crave will arrive as you diligently pour yourself into building your sweetest dreams, spurning shortcuts and enjoying yourself as much as possible. The Divine prefers to fund eager co-creators, not wishful thinkers. I predict that a slow-motion jackpot will ultimately arrive through your devoted attention to doing what excites you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Among the Dogon of Mali, Sigui so is a secret language. It’s used in a sacred ritual when people gather to retell their beginnings and patch up strains in tribal harmony. I’m borrowing “Sigui so” here as a symbol for a way of talking that I hope you will specialize in during the coming weeks: language that eases tensions, soothes friction and fosters unity. Start like this: Unleash your trademark wit but spike it with sly blessings and tactful probes. Wield your fluency to burn away confusion and uncover unspoken feelings. If you’re in an extra-bold mood, give everyone tacit permission to be their idiosyncratic selves instead of their polished personas.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): What’s the holiest, most healing trouble you could rustle up right now? I mean trouble that freshens what’s stale but doesn’t scorch the earth. Maybe it’s a buoyant disruption, like telling wild truths you usually tend to soften. Or maybe it’s asking for what your future self pines for instead of what your past self regards as polite and reasonable. As a Cancerian soul myself, I dare both you and me to give ourselves permission to rumble. Let’s be brazen as we instigate creative upheavals in service to our cheerful vigor. Let’s instigate at least one concrete action that will rattle the stagnant pattern just enough to make life more interesting.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Sea otters are a keystone species. Their presence is essential to the health of their entire ecosystem. As they eat sea urchins, the kelp forests flourish. Without otters, the urchins overgraze, and kelp forests may collapse, which in turn affects hundreds of other species. One creature’s appetite helps regulate an entire undersea neighborhood. I suspect you’re serving a similar function, Leo. You’re having more impact and wielding more influence than you realize. No pressure. But please act accordingly: with maximum integrity and robust responsibility.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A Dutch woman who died left her grand-nephew an inheritance of 220,000 euros. The only problem is that he’s homeless and constantly on the move, so the executors haven’t been able to find him. This echoes a recurring pattern in your life. Even now, sources of blessings are searching for ways to reach you, but you are slow to notice their approach or to magnetize yourself to their arrival. My prayer: May you figure out what needs to be done to make yourself fully available for these gifts—and then ingrain that capacity in your habit mind.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Visualize your fears. Consider how few of them rest on a genuine likelihood that the scary events could ever take place. Then ask yourself how much of your uneasiness springs from vivid fantasies or from a practiced tendency to fret. You might also ruminate on how you absorb the background worry that’s amplified by mass culture. After reflecting on all that, I invite you to take one concrete action to lower the level of tension you have come to treat as normal. Take another action to weaken the grip of your deepest dread. The current planetary patterns suggest you now have the bold, creative power necessary to shrink your baseline anxiety.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Even more than usual, you have a sacred duty to celebrate your poignant sweetness and dark intelligence. For the sake of your emotional health, you should pay wild reverence to your deepest, most mysterious yearnings. To be the person we all you need you to be, you must tenderly nurture the parts of your inner world that resemble the aurora borealis. I want to support you in these sublime sacraments, which is why I suggest you memorize the following prayer by Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be attentive to what is arising within you, and place that above everything you perceive around you. What is happening in your innermost self is worthy of your entire love.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Linguists use the term “false friends.” These are words in different languages that seem similar but don’t have the same meaning. For example, the Spanish word embarazada resembles “embarrassed” to English speakers but actually means “pregnant.” I suspect you’re dealing with another type of false friend, Sagittarius: people or situations that turned out to be at variance with what you initially imagined. But rather than feeling unsettled by these revelations, I suggest you treat them as a prod to see with fresh eyes. Your disorientation could be the beginning of more interesting understandings.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a code assigned to a book for commercial and cataloging purposes. It contains key information and includes a built-in error-detection notation. If you transpose two numbers when entering an ISBN, the last digit will tell you something’s wrong. In this spirit, Capricorn, I heartily recommend that you build more mistake detection into your life. Invest in extra safeguards. Add verification steps. Build in double-checks. The goal is to create systems robust enough to survive oversights and gaffes. I very much want you to give yourself the gift of safety nets that will empower you to take smart risks and intriguing gambles.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You may not yet grasp how richly creative you are right now, nor how much more abundant your generative powers could become. So it’s auspicious that you are reading this horoscope now. Consider this your advance notice: Your capacity to originate ideas, projects and connections is surging, and it’s crucial to choose with care which possibilities you nurture and which you decline. If you are selective and intentional about what you sow, then about six months from now, you will be far more likely to gather lush, beautiful harvests instead of wrestling with overgrown, unruly tangles.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Ethnobotanist Wade Davis documented how different cultures perceive entirely different realities despite inhabiting the same physical world. It means that two people can stand in the same forest and see different forests through their cultural lens and personal mythology. This is simultaneously the problem and the opportunity you face, Pisces. You and others in your orbit are inhabiting divergent realities that superficially seem the same. If you hope to reconcile the differences, you must first acknowledge them as real. You’re dealing with fundamentally different ways of constructing meaning, not just small misunderstandings. 

Homework: If you knew you would live to 100, what would you do differently in the next five years? https://tinyurl.com/aaa22aaa

Out of the Kitchen and Into the Cellar with Eric Fox

Some might recognize Eric Fox from his days at The Matheson, where he was restaurant manager before joining the new Appellation Healdsburg as director of food & beverage.
Readers might recognize Eric Fox from his days at The Matheson, where he was restaurant manager before joining the new Appellation Healdsburg as director of food & beverage.  His background also includes sommelier and beverage leadership positions at some of the country’s most celebrated dining destinations, including Michelin-starred Spruce, Coi and Lazy Bear in San Francisco. Amber Turpin: How did you...

Awaiting Victory of Another Kind at World Cup

Elle Prince, youth winner of the M.F.K. Fisher Emerging Writers Contest, explores memory and family through her essay “Hot Dog.”
Who would imagine that an international sporting event will be the next battleground in the fight against authoritarian repression? Yet that scenario is unfolding right now, and the battleground is the World Cup tournament—soon to begin in cities around the U.S. In the past year and a half, at least 46 people have died in ICE custody since Donald Trump...

Your Letters, June 3

Stone Thrown “Broken Windows” policing ignores years of evidence showing that the theory has largely failed to achieve its stated goals. The premise was simple: Aggressively enforce minor offenses such as loitering, graffiti or fare evasion in order to prevent more serious crime. In practice, however, the policy became a strategy for concentrating police power in poor neighborhoods while producing questionable...

Out Loud, Arts on Prescription, Ghost Forests and M.F.K Fisher

Santa RosaOut Loud The written word gets the microphone (and a little quasi-competition) when Out Loud debuts at The Astro Motel. Curated and hosted by veteran creative impresario Cheryl King, the new variety show blends poetry, spoken word, standup and original monologues into a live showcase where the audience ultimately decides the “winner.” Up to 10 performers will present short...

Free Will Astrology, June 3-9

Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You are often the best possible remedy for stale, unoriginal thinking that’s festering in your vicinity. And you are especially so these days. Others might have the gall to disrupt the deadening status quo, but you have the charm to do it without scorching every bridge and laying waste to the land. So I invite...

Who Wore It Better? High Fashion Satire: ‘Boosters’ vs. ‘Prada 2’

In the late 1990s, the films The Truman Show (1998) and EDtv (1999) were noted for their uncannily similar premises, in which reality TV shows go to increasingly invasive and unethical extremes in the pursuit of higher ratings. So-called “twin films” like these are often explained as the result of studios vying to capitalize (literally) on an idea more...

Cyclists Pedal to Guerneville to raise money for AIDS

Dig that red dress, Hawaiian shirt or tuxedo—whatever your preference—out of your closet and join cyclists from San Francisco at a festival in Guerneville, Saturday, May 30, dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.   Called the Red Dress Fest, the event, part street fair and part memorial for people who have died of the disease, is the culmination of a three-day...

The Ramble, Magic & Mystery and Q is for Love

Spoon, Lucius, Devon Gilfillian and Tropa Magica are among the bands playing on June 6 at The Ramble in Healdsburg.
HealdsburgThe Ramble What began as a passion project from Kelly Dorrance and Noah Dorrance has evolved into one of Sonoma County’s more appealing combinations of Wine Country conviviality and indie-rock credibility. Returning for its fourth year, The Ramble transforms the Abel de Luna Community Center Fields into a daylong gathering of music, food and local wine, headlined this year by...

Your Letters, May 27

Endangered Species Exactly how many tasting rooms, boutique inns, artisanal dog bakeries and “elevated” farm-to-table experiences can one region absorb before the locals become an inconvenient afterthought? The tri-county area has become a kind of open-air luxury queue. Everywhere you go—Sonoma, Napa, Marin—there are lines. Lines for coffee. Lines for brunch. Lines for wine. Lines for the privilege of standing in...

Free Will Astrology, May 27 – June 2

Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the weeks ahead, simply being right won’t necessarily lead to success. Having strength, intelligence, wealth or connections might help, though not as much as usual. But a different approach will work well as you strive to overcome challenges: a blend of cleverness and integrity. I invite you to be cunning while remaining honorable. Practice...
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