Preserving Pride – Sonoma County Library and activists launch two new local LGBTQ+ archives

By Chelsea Kurnick

This month, Sonoma County Library launched โ€œHere + Queer Sonoma County,โ€ a project to build a digital community-sourced archive of local LGBTQ+ history. Anyone is invited to submit documents preserving memories of queer life and culture in the county.

โ€œA photograph at Pride, a wedding announcement, a video at a protest, a love letter to a first crush; these are all evidence of resistance and persistence,โ€ said Zayda Delgado, supervising librarian at the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library.

Led by Delgado, the project is designed by librarians Terra Emerson, Stuart Wilkinson and Javier Morales, who wanted to fill a gap in Sonoma County Libraryโ€™s collection.

โ€œWe have such a rich LGBTQ history here in Sonoma County. But when we look in the libraryโ€™s digital collection, if you search terms like queer, LGBTQ, gay, lesbian, you find very little. Part of what inspired the idea of the project was realizing that while there is this very rich history here, itโ€™s not really well documented, at least not in the libraryโ€™s collection,โ€ says Emerson, a teen services librarian.

While โ€œHere + Queerโ€ is the libraryโ€™s first dedicated initiative to archive local queer and trans history, it is not the only archival work being done in the region. In 2007, a group of locals launched the โ€œLesbian Archives of Sonoma Countyโ€ with a mission to document the involvement of lesbians in creating community for women in the county between 1965 and 1995. Another archive project, โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma County,โ€ is just now launching, though it is the product of years of information- and ephemera-gathering by community activists who also curate the โ€œSonoma County LGBTQI History Timeline.โ€ These projects focus on history up until the year 2000, whereas โ€œHere + Queerโ€ invites people to submit documents from any time, up to the present moment.

Delgado says, โ€œEspecially for communities that are marginalizedโ€”our BIPOC communities, our LGBTQ+ communitiesโ€”our stories are more at risk of being silenced, erased. And so working with an organization like a public library to protect your story can give you a voice for the future.โ€

Archiving, Delgado says, creates an intergenerational relationship of empowerment in which people can deepen their understanding of themselves by learning about the advocacy, struggles and celebrations of the past.

โ€œAs weโ€™re seeing pushback against LGBTQ+ rights, womenโ€™s rights, itโ€™s important to see progression over time and the ebbs and flows of history. Thereโ€™s an impact in seeing documents and learning, like, this person was fighting for this or seeing pictures of love that show you that people were trying to celebrate their lives [despite the oppression they faced],โ€ she says.

Tina Dungan, a local LGBTQ+ archivist who grew up in Sonoma County, shares Delgadoโ€™s sense that preserving oneโ€™s history is particularly important in the face of oppression. Dungan and Shad Reinstein started the โ€œLGBTQI History Timeline of Sonoma Countyโ€ in 2018, during Donald Trumpโ€™s presidency, which she describes as the beginning of a pretty scary time for gay, lesbian and transgender people.

In the first year of his presidency, the Trump administration removed all mentions of LGBTQ+ people from White House web pages, removed questions about sexual orientation from the U.S. Census and other national surveys, reinstated a ban that would prohibit transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, and signed an executive order that allowed for employers and federal agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and to have discretion to deny them services.

โ€œThings were looking really grim, and we felt like it was really, really important to get that history safely housed to be accessible. A lot of us are getting old and not remembering things anymore, so it was a perfect chance to start working on [archiving],โ€ Dungan says.

Since 2018, Dungan has taught a free course on the timeline through SRJCโ€™s Older Adults Program. Through this work, she connected with other community historians, to teach on facets of local history she wasnโ€™t as knowledgeable about, particularly around pushing LGBTQ+ advocacy into the mainstream. Dungan brought in Magi Fedorka and Adam Richmond to educate about their work in the activist group Forward Together and the Sonoma County Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club. In 1987, Forward Together began five years of advocacy, pressing for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution observing Pride Week, which finally passed in 1992.

Through teaching the timeline course, Dungan and her collaborators have gathered a trove of ephemera for which they would like to find a permanent home. Although the search is ongoing, the group is already accepting submissions to grow their collection, calling the archival project โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma County.โ€ โ€œThe Lesbian Archives,โ€ which is primarily a video oral history project, ultimately housed their collection at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. For โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY,โ€ Dungan is hopeful about the possibility of finding a home within Sonoma County.

โ€œThe fact that the Sonoma County Library has so many queer people working in it now is really exciting,โ€ she says.

Delgado and Dungan feel shared enthusiasm about one anotherโ€™s projects and agree that theyโ€™re complementary. โ€œHere + Queerโ€ will be the countyโ€™s first digital archive of LGBTQ+ history and is the only archive collecting work that extends to the present. Community members can submit documents to the libraryโ€™s database online and, eventually, will be able to access the digital collections online, too. For well over a decade, many documents have been created and housed digitallyโ€”on cameras, smartphones and computers. This makes submitting to a digital archive particularly easy. To support the digital archiving of physical objects, the library is planning on hosting special events with scanning days.

Emerson says, โ€œOne of the goals of the project is to bridge the gap between the older generations and the younger generations of queer community members. We hope the archive will show the through line of how our older community members have shaped the lived reality of our teens, and for teens today to understand that their activism will continue to shape the lived reality of future generations.โ€

Dungan believes โ€œHere + Queerโ€ will introduce many younger people to the importance of history. She says that when youโ€™re young and in the moment, you arenโ€™t necessarily thinking about how people willโ€”or wonโ€™tโ€”be able to find your work later.

โ€œWe didnโ€™t put dates on the flyers we made. When youโ€™re young, you donโ€™t worry about stuff like that. The fact that Zayda and the library are getting it together now is really great because theyโ€™ll be able to remember more and theyโ€™ll be able to save things that might not otherwise get saved,โ€ Dungan says.


โ€˜Here + Queer Sonoma Countyโ€™ is accepting submissions at sonomalibrary.org/queersonoma-en.

To inquire about submitting to the โ€˜LGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma Countyโ€™ archive, contact le********@***il.com.

Tina Dungan teaches โ€˜LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline,โ€™ a free course on Zoom through SRJCโ€™s Older Adults Program, on Wednesdays from 1:30-3pm. For more information, contact cd*****@*******sa.edu.

โ€˜The Lesbian Archives of Sonoma Countyโ€™ collection can be accessed at the GLBT Historical Society archives. To learn more, visit www.glbthistory.org/archives-about-visitor-info.

Kat Look – Maker Kat Warren

0

By Jane Vick

Happy Wednesday all! How has everyone been? I have spent this week writing about stars and poppy fields, reading poetry, and sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge. Iโ€™ve seen light sparking on teal water and considered weightlessness. Iโ€™ve had several interesting dreams, none of which I can remember, and my Chinese Money Plant is in exceptionally good health.

To this weekโ€™s โ€˜Lookโ€™!

Artist Kat Warren is a glimmering star in the Sonoma County skyโ€”Iโ€™m star-minded at the moment, it seemsโ€”and this week I was able to take a peek inside the mind that produces such unique and eye-catching creations as pictured above. Warren makes everything, from clothes to pieces of writing to paintings. Their work, by coincidence much like my introduction, is rooted in dreamscape.

โ€œI learn from plants and I learn from stars. Iโ€™m constantly striving to find ways to relay the expansiveness of different realms and aliveness of the world around us,โ€ said Warren.

Along with loving plants, the stars and the alchemical qualities of art, Warrenโ€™s favorite foods are peaches and apricots. If they could be an animal, theyโ€™d be a pigeon, specifically because of their ability to tap into the magnetic field due to iron crystals in their beaks and their sense of community and relationships with humans. Teslaโ€™s beloved white pigeon comes to mind. Warrenโ€™s love affair with Sonoma County is ongoing, but the wildflowers in spring have them deeply enamored. When I asked them what they thought the county needed, they answered with a Howard Zinn quote: 

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and placesโ€”and there are so manyโ€”where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we donโ€™t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Find Kat Warren in a Bodega Bay flower field, or on Instagram:  @tell_your_angel_mine_says_hi.

See you next week!

Love,

Jane

Jane Vick is an artist and writer based in Oakland. She splits her time between Europe, New York and New Mexico. View her work and contact her at janevick.com.

Letters

0

Boudin Ouster

I am saddened by the recall defeat of Chesa Boudin. Though his defeat was almost certain, the people of San Francisco have lost a sincere and good-hearted member of their government. And government officials with real courage and principles like Boudin are rare and hard to find in these days of mass conformity, political confusion, and the deep and cynical divide that is now our reality as a nation.

I hope that other people who feel a real commitment to making creative and positive changes in San Francisco and in our nation as a whole do not give up hope that real progress is possible. Because it is always true that to act with a new vision for a more human society is always met by the fears and doubts of the vast majority of people.

We human beings have been living in such misery for so many thousands of years that anyone who truly stands for real changeโ€”for a path out of the darkness that is our lifeโ€”seems almost crazy, a little too eccentric for us to trust. Yet it is such brave people throughout history who have been of real help in pointing toward our liberation.

Rama Kumar

Fairfax

Teachable Moment

I would like to personally thank Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio for signing legislation to make it easier for school employees to carry firearms on campuses in that state. We all know that the more weapons, and fewer doors that are available, the safer our kids will be in schools. In fact, there is a flood of teachers moving from California and other states to Ohio to take advantage of this progressive concept. One can barely imagine the possibilities.

Craig Corsini

San Rafael

Home Movies – Building your own, personal film library

By Christian Chensvold

This week in June of 1988, I graduated from Santa Rosa High School, and the following morning set off on my first solo road trip bound for the netherworld of Los Angeles. I was gone for five days and remember only two things.

I spent the first day in Santa Barbara, and decided to save money by sleeping on the beach. The sand tortured my back, while sand fleas tortured the rest of me, and the sound of the waves nearly drove me insane. I finally gave up at 4am, and there, on a dark and desolate Highway 101, I remember looking up at the stars shining over the sea and feeling some eerie sense of destiny, as if I were on a heroโ€™s journey to discover some important piece in the puzzle of my life. Looking back all these years later, itโ€™s clear what I discovered on my trip, because itโ€™s the only other thing I remember.

I found a movie.

Wandering around Hollywood two days later, I found a one-screen movie theater showing Alan Rudolphโ€™s The Moderns, which is set in the Paris art world of the 1920s. Itโ€™s a quirky gem with a fantastic castโ€”itโ€™s also a favorite of more than one person affiliated with this newspaperโ€”and I came out of the theater with the movie poster, the vinyl album and a heady high on movie magic. Already suspecting that my soul belonged to the past, The Moderns gave a 1.21-gigawatt bolt to my inner time machine, and Iโ€™ve watched it numerous times ever since, always finding something fresh in it, especially in the wake of growing maturity and the slings and arrows of lifeโ€™s twists and turns.  

The past few years have been euphemistically referred to as โ€œchallenging times,โ€ and Iโ€™ve tried to share my own coping strategies with cover stories in this paper on escapism and using the teachings of ancient wisdom to create your own reality. And here I am with another, arguing the case for cutting the cord on your streaming services and building your own Library of Alexandria of your top-100 films of all time, and just watching those.

Think about it: could you really name more than a hundred movies that have made a lasting imprint on your soul, that have made you the person you are today, that have been so many foundation stones in the castle of the imagination that youโ€™ve been slowly building over the course of your life? Browsing ourselves into exhaustion in a chaotic netherworld of infinite possibilities suggests a paucity of self-awareness, as if we really donโ€™t really know ourselves at all.

One hundred movies seems like enough great stories for one lifetime.

* * *

They say you never get over your first love, and upon close inspection Iโ€™d venture that most of the films I watch again and again are from one of the three early stages of life. To childhood belong things like The Sound of Music and the Star Wars and the Indiana Jones movies, while to adolescence belong the Back to the Future series and Romancing the Stone. Then, beginning with The Moderns, to young adulthood belongs the realm of world-building, of classic and foreign films and historic escapism, with Francis Ford Coppolaโ€™s Dracula and Martin Scorseseโ€™s The Age of Innocence right at the top. So either I simply like revisiting old favorites, or movies from the past 25 years just arenโ€™t as good as they used to be. If itโ€™s the latter, why torture ourselves with perpetual disappointment?

Science has shed light on the matter with the Baskin-Robbins theory of happiness, which goes like this. If you stop someone on a hot summerโ€™s day and offer them some ice cream, they invariably reply, โ€œIโ€™d love some ice cream!โ€ They make their choice from the three you offerโ€”vanilla, chocolate and strawberryโ€”and slide into a cheerful mood that might last all day. But give people 31 flavors to choose from, and it turns out they arenโ€™t all that happy with the ice cream they serendipitously stumbled upon. Thatโ€™s because a specific part of the brain gets activated: the place associated with the emotional response known as regret. Choosing the wrong ice creamโ€”or movie to watchโ€”descends to the mindโ€™s realm of roads not taken, haunted by the refrain, โ€œIf onlyโ€ฆ..โ€

Before realizing what I was doing, I began by eliminating streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. I began to notice that when faced with endless choices all lined up for me, I invariably clicked on something that looked like it might be interesting, watched it for 15 minutes, and then tried something else, leaving my recently-viewed list with five times as many abandoned films than ones that I actually finished, let alone enjoyed. Then there was the home-page interface itself, which I grew to regard as a kind of casino designed by the devil. I began opting for two well chosen DVDs per week in an effort to make movie-watching special again. But things really took a turn when I bought a $5 VHS player at the thrift store, and loaded up on 25 cent videotapes.

According to our esteemed editor and filmmaker Daedalus Howell, video comes at your eyes in a series of waves. This probably explains why the old tapes seemed more engrossing than contemporary Blu-ray flicks shot digitally, without even being output on film, let alone transferred from film to video. These misty videotapes seemed to unfold more like dreams, just as classic storytelling from Old Hollywood is shot and edited in a way that feels like turning pages in a picture book, with your imagination as co-author of what youโ€™re experiencing. Research has shown that modern fast-cut, shaky-camera filmmaking bypasses the imaginative part of the brain while stimulating the visual cortex, the part used for something like watching a dazzling but meaningless fireworks display. If all the entertainment one consumes is made this way, then youโ€™re quite literally making yourself stupider by dulling the most important faculty you have.

* * *

If you can still get pleasureโ€”in fact, increasing pleasureโ€”from watching certain films over and over again, what does that tell us about human nature, and why we put up with so much self-enforced mediocrity? And not only in the stories we watchโ€”the ancients had myths revealing timeless truths, we have โ€œentertainmentโ€ that makes a profitโ€”but in our lives themselves. I feel like asking my late grandma why she saved the good tableware for special occasions, instead of eating off her finest finery every day? Good God, grandma, carpe diem. What if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, awoke at the pearly gates hoping for entry, and Saint Peterโ€™s first question is: โ€œYou based your life on things you knew were second-rate, and you expect to get into heaven?โ€

Halfway through writing this little meditation, I purchased a copy of The Moderns, and I  look forward to putting it on the shelf along with the 99 other films comprising the story of one manโ€™s life at the cinema and what he learned about himself. I think the next one will be Viscontiโ€™s 1963 epic, The Leopard, starring Burt Lancaster as an Italian prince watching the world transform around him, yet unable to change his spots.

DRIVE-IN SUMMER The Lark Drive-In Theater

0

Larkspur

Drive-In Movies

Is there anything more Americana summer vibe than a classic drive-in movie? The Lark Drive-In has summer movies covered. Located in The Village at Corte Madera, the Lark Drive-In was originally founded during Covid to keep community connection alive. It quickly became clear that this was not a temporary solution, and itโ€™s now a full feature of the theater, with screenings all summer long. See classics like The Sandlot, Back to the Future and The Karate Kid in old-school summer style. Donโ€™t forget the popcorn! The next showing is Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Friday, June 17, at the Lark Drive-In, 1557 Redwood Hwy, Corte Madera. The parking lot opens at 8pm; show begins at approximately 9pm. Tickets are $17 for a drive-in one person per car, and $30 for two or more people per car. Tickets must be purchased beforehand, and late arrivals may be denied entry. www.larktheater.net

Healdsburg

Jazz and Poetry

The best combination since milk and coffee is to spend an evening in Healdsburg serenaded by the vibrant tones of Oakland tenor saxophonist Howard Wiley and his quartet. They bring a pulsing energy of jazz, gospel and funk infused music to the 24th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Renowned for his improvisation skills, Wiley has performed with such names as Lauryn Hill and Jason Moran. His star-studded quartet includes Marcus Phillips, Dante โ€œTazโ€ Robertson and LJ Holoman, whose recording accolades encompass music with Mary J Blige, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Nas and The Game. Opening the evening is the City of San Franciscoโ€™s 8th poet laureate, Tongo Eisen-Martin, a poet, movement worker and educator who was short-listed for a Griffin International Poetry Prize in 2018. This evening of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival will be held at The Elephant Room, 177 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg. 9:30pm. Tickets are $30. www.healdsburgjazz.org

Santa Rosa

Bubbles and Play

Regardless of age, everyone loves a bubble! The Childrenโ€™s Museum of Sonoma County knows it, and thatโ€™s why theyโ€™re celebrating their eight-year birthday with a Bubbly Birthday Bash. This might be one of the most exciting events of summerโ€”itโ€™s literally everything bubbles! The museum has been transformed into a bubbly wonderland with big and small, round and squareโ€”think soap bubbles, bubble wrap and bubble-related activities weโ€™ve all yet to imagine. Itโ€™s a bubble extravaganza! The Childrenโ€™s Museum of Sonoma County was founded in 2005 and is built upon principles found through early childhood research. It was designed to provide hands-on engagement and learning through joyful play to children and their caretakers. The Birthday Bubble Bash is Saturday, June 18 at the Childrenโ€™s Museum of Sonoma County, 1835 W. Steele La., Santa Rosa. 10am-2pm. Admission is $14 and free for members. www.cmosc.org

Kenwood

Forest Bathing

Spend some time practicing Shinrin-yoku, the Japanese art of forest bathing, in a celebration of the first California State Parks Week, June 14-18, presented by the California State Parks, Save the Redwoods League, Parks California and the California State Parks Foundation. This inaugural event celebrates and honors Californiaโ€™s 279 state parks and the people who care for and enjoy them. Shinrin-yoku promotes balance, tranquility and a restored vitality through presence and heightened sensory perception and awareness. This walk is led by a certified Association of Nature and Forest Therapy practitioner, and is the first of many. Find peace in the forest this Thursday June 16, at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, 2605 Adobe Canyon Rd., Kenwood. 10:30am-12:30pm. $20 or free with a ParkRx pass. Registration is required. www.sugarloafpark.org

โ€”Jane Vick

Astrology – Week of 06/15/22

ARIES (March 21-April 19): โ€œThe whole point for me is to change as much as possible,โ€ says Aries actor Keira Knightley. What?! Is she serious? Her number one aspiration is to keep transforming and transforming and transforming? I guess I believe her. It’s not an entirely unexpected manifesto, coming from an Aries person. But I must say: Her extra bold approach to life requires maximum resilience and resourcefulness. If you think that such an attitude might be fun to try, the coming weeks will be one of the best times ever to experiment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus poet May Sarton relished โ€œthe sacramentalization of the ordinary.โ€ What a wonderfully Taurean attitude! There is no sign of the zodiac better able than you Bulls to find holiness in mundane events and to evoke divine joy from simple pleasures. I predict this specialty of yours will bloom in its full magnificence during the coming weeks. You will be even more skillful than usual in expressing it, and the people you encounter will derive exceptional benefits from your superpower.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Here’s a message I hope you will deliver to the universe sometime soon: โ€œDear Life: I declare myself open and ready to receive miracles, uplifting news, fun breakthroughs, smart love and unexpected blessings. I hope to be able to give my special gifts in new and imaginative ways. I am also eager for useful tips on how to express my dark side with beauty and grace. One more perk I hope you will provide, dear Life: Teach me how to be buoyantly creative and sensitively aggressive in asking for exactly what I need.โ€

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In August 2021, a Canadian man named Jerry Knott bought a ticket for a lottery. He stuffed it in his wallet and lost track of it. Two months later, he found it again and checked to see its status. Surprise! It was a winner. His prize was $20 million. I propose we make him your role model for now, my fellow Crabs. Let’s all be alert for assets we may have forgotten and neglected. Let’s be on the lookout for potentially valuable resources that are ripe for our attention. More info on Knott: tinyurl.com/RememberToCheck.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Hundreds of years ago, people in parts of Old Europe felt anxiety about the Summer Solstice. The sun reached its highest point in the sky at that time, and from then on would descend, bringing shorter and shorter days with less and less light. Apprehensive souls staged an antidote: the festival of Midsummer. They burned great bonfires all through the night. They stayed awake till morning, partying and dancing and having sex. Author Jeanette Winterson expresses appreciation for this holiday. โ€œCall it a wild perversity or a wild optimism,โ€ she writes, โ€œbut our ancestors were right to celebrate what they feared.โ€ Winterson fantasizes about creating a comparable ceremony for her fears: โ€œa ritual burning of what is coward in me, what is lost in me. Let the light in before it is too late.โ€ I invite you to do something like this yourself, Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Elizabeth McCracken says, โ€œI don’t dream of someone who understands me immediately, who seems to have known me my entire life.โ€ What’s more meaningful to her is an ally who is curious, who has โ€œa willingness for research.โ€ She continues, โ€œI want someone keen to learn my own strange organization, amazed at what’s revealed; someone who asks, โ€˜and then what, and then what?โ€™โ€ I hope you will enjoy at least one connection like that in the coming months, Virgo. I expect and predict it. Make it your specialty!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran author Stig Dagerman said that when he was sad as a child, his mother kissed him until his mood lightened. When he was older and sad, his mama said, โ€œSit down at your desk and write a letter to yourself. A long and beautiful letter.โ€ This would be a good task for you right now, Libra. Whatever mood you are in, I invite you to write a long and beautiful letter to yourself. I further recommend that you carry out the same ritual once every six weeks for the next nine months. This will be a phase of your life when it’s extra crucial that you express soulful tenderness toward your deep self on a regular basis. You may be amazed at how inspirational and transformative these communications will be.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Sometimes, the arrival of a peculiar event in your life is a good sign. It may mean that fate has sent an intervention to disrupt a boring phase of inertia or a habit-bound grind. An unexpected twist in the plot may signal a divine refreshment. It could be a favorable omen announcing a helpful prod that’s different from what you imagined you needed. I suspect that an experience or two fitting this description will soon materialize in your life story. Be alert for them. Promise yourself you’ll be receptive to their unexpected directives.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarius author Edna O’Brien long ago shed the strict Catholic faith in which she was raised. But she still harbors spiritual feelings colored by her tradition. She says, โ€œIdeally, I’d like to spend two evenings a week talking to [novelist] Marcel Proust and another conversing with the Holy Ghost.โ€ I suspect a similar balance of influences will be healthy for you in the days ahead, Sagittarius. My advice is to connect with an inspiration you drew sustenance from while growing up. Spend time consorting with deep-feeling smart people who will stimulate you to rearrange the contents of your rational mind.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’ve composed a message for you to deliver to your best allies. It will help you be clear about the nature of your energy exchanges. Say something like this: โ€œI promise to act primarily out of love in my dealings with you, and I ask you to do the same with me. Please don’t help me or give me things unless they are offered with deep affection. Let’s phase out favors that are bestowed out of obligation or with the expectation of a favor in return. Let’s purge manipulativeness from our dynamic. Let’s agree to provide each other with unconditional support.โ€

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Author Lauren Collins tells us, โ€œBilinguals overwhelmingly report that they feel like different people in different languages. It is often assumed that the mother tongue is the language of the true self. But if first languages are reservoirs of emotion, second languages can be rivers undammed, freeing their speakers to ride different currents.โ€ I bring these thoughts to your attention, Aquarius, because the next 12 months will be an excellent time for you to begin becoming bilingual or else to deepen your fluency in a second language. And if you’re not ready to do that, I encourage you to enhance your language skills in other ways. Build your vocabulary, for instance. Practice speaking more precisely. Say what you mean and mean what you say 95% of the time. Life will bring you good fortune if you boost your respect for the way you use language.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean-born Robert Evans has been an amateur astronomer since he was 18. Though he has never been paid for his work and has mostly used modest telescopes, he holds the world record for discovering supernovasโ€”42. These days, at age 85, he’s still scanning the skies with a 12-inch telescope on his back porch. Let’s make him your role model for the coming months. I have faith you can achieve meaningful success, even if you are a layperson without massive funding. PS: Keep in mind that โ€œamateurโ€ comes from the Latin word for โ€œlover.โ€ Here’s the dictionary’s main definition: โ€œa person who engages in a study, sport or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.โ€

B’way Standards, Latin Flair – Director taps Puerto Rican roots

By Chris Rooney

When Luis Salgado says, โ€œCalifornia is wonderful,โ€ it’s not a controversial opinion.

Salgado has performed, directed and choreographed around the worldโ€”so it means something.

And it must be sincere, because Salgado is back for a second turn at the helm of Transcendence Theatre Company, this time pumping Latin blood into many Broadway classics in Letโ€™s Dance.

โ€œWe share a lot of similarities,โ€ Salgado said of himself and Transcendence. โ€œOur mission and values are parallel. When they asked me, I was in.โ€

Transcendence is a Sonoma County staple, having brought the best of Broadway to local audiences for more than a decade. Not only are familiar songs imported, but talent right off Broadway stages are flown in to perform them.

With Letโ€™s Dance, however, the familiar classics will get Salgadoโ€™s Puerto Rican influence.

โ€œWeโ€™ll have big, classic numbers,โ€ Salgado said. โ€œBut instead of traditional tap, it will have Peruvian tap.โ€

He went on to describe his version of Phantom of the Opera as โ€œfunkyโ€ and said that his take on other standardsโ€”from Damn Yankees and Guys and Dolls and othersโ€”was akin to melding Bob Fosse with mambo.

Salgado will work with a roster of performers who have appeared in a whoโ€™s who of Tony-winning shows, from Les Misรฉrables to 42nd Street and A Bronx Tale to Wicked.

Of the two dozen or so performers, 10 will be working with Transcendence for the first time. All of them, however, are in for a learning curve.

Salgado said he had some explaining to do to get the dancing up to speed. โ€œItโ€™s like learning a new vocabulary,โ€ he said of mixing up classics with a Latin accent.

Theyโ€™re in capable hands, as Salgado opened his own studio in Puerto Rico 13 years ago.

Beginning with just seven students, his school quickly expanded. In just five short years, he produced six shows and those seven students grew to 250.

He is a guest teacher at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway and has taught internationally.

Salgado assembled a cast of Broadway’s best from around the country with a highly regarded roster of international performers that he has personally worked with for more than a decade.

“We are so thrilled to work with Luis again and have his vision, passion and energy infused into the opening show of our 11th season,” said Transcendence artistic director Amy Miller. โ€œThis season is going to be an eclectic mix of every type of entertainment, and we cannot wait to share a summer of excitement and dynamic talent with our community.โ€

As a performer, Salgado is one of those overachieving multi-hyphenatesโ€”dancer-singer-actor. His Broadway credits include On Your Feet, The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, In The Heights, The Mambo Kings and A Chorus Line.

Performing led to choreographing and directingโ€”and ever greater success. He directed and choreographed the U.S premiere of the Spanish version of In The Heights at GALA Theatre in Washington DC, which received nine 2018 Helen Hayes Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction and Best Choreography.

Minutes after taking time for this interview, Salgado was jetting back to Washington, DC for a special presentation of On Your Feet, which helped resurrect the career of Gloria Estefan, best known for churning out pop hits with the Miami Sound Machine in the 1980s.

Giving back to hisโ€”or anyโ€”community is important for Salgado. His devotion to social work inspired him to create his nonprofit agency, R.Evoluciรณn Latina, which aims to expose kids to the arts at a young age. As founder and director of R.Evoluciรณn Latina, he has helped empower more than 800 artists and 3,000 children through art programming.

As for Letโ€™s Dance, Salgado is employing Sonoma Countyโ€™s natural gifts. He said he is using the skylineโ€”and the sunlight in particularโ€”to help build drama.

โ€œThereโ€™s sunlight for Act One,โ€ he explained. โ€œFor Act Two, the sun has gone out. For the audience, it will be like two different shows.โ€

Salgado hasnโ€™t had much opportunity to enjoy the environs heโ€™s employing for the show; heโ€™s been too busy to be a sightseer. But he still likes the place.

โ€œSonoma is one of the most magical places,โ€ he said. Salgado has been impressed by the thoughtfulness of local drivers, who tend to share the road a bit more readily than the New Yorkers he experiences. โ€œWhen youโ€™re crossing 42nd Street,โ€ he said. โ€œYou donโ€™t get that.โ€

Like most of Transcendenceโ€™s visiting artists, Salgado was put up in a local familyโ€™s home, which he enjoys.

โ€œWe do have supporters who house the talent so the companyโ€”a nonprofitโ€”isn’t spending a bunch of money on housing,โ€ explained Miller. โ€œIt’s really cool, actually, to have the community step in like this.โ€

Added Salgado, โ€œWe have performers and creative staff from Puerto Rico, Colombia and Spain, all who are bringing their talent and life experiences to Jack London State Historic Park, and we are mixing that with the talents of the incredible performers and creative staff that have produced 10 unforgettable years of Transcendence shows. I invite everyone to dance, enjoy and embrace the experience.โ€

Letโ€™s Dance opens Transcendence Theatreโ€™s season and runs from June 17 to July at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen. Transcendence produces three original outdoor musical revues every summer, an indoor holiday show and occasional special performances.

Transcendence summer shows begin with a pre-show picnic featuring gourmet food trucks, vendors, pre-show entertainment and wine from local wineries. Performances take place in the open-air ruins of a historic winery.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $165 for individual shows, with savings of 15% with a season subscription. For tickets and more information, visit bestnightever.org or call the box office at 877-424-1414.

Fiber Optics – Focus on fiber arts in Petaluma

0

By Michael Giotis

With “Common Threads: Art and Fiber,” the Petaluma Art Center continues championing the dialogue between craft and art and where the two, well, interweave.

The exhibition features 12 fiber artists working within 10 miles of the Petaluma Arts Centerโ€”  including Patricia Briceรฑo, Marlie de Swart, Karla Jacobs, Alissa Kaplan, Carol Larson, Travis Meinolf, Joan Pont, Carol Lee Shanks, Marta Shannon, Kate Tatum, Jessica Teem and Susan Vorbeck.

The curators of the exhibition are Carole Barlas, Irma Vega Bijou and Llisa Demetrios, who keenly observed the shared qualities of this particular group of artists and their work. Uniting the dozen artists is their shared “passion, joy and enthusiasm” for what each could make with materials, locally-sourced or otherwise. The possibilities proved endless, from functional to decorative, from practical to artistic, and from utilitarian to playful.

Photos courtesy of Petaluma Arts Center
VASE CASE Felt vases by Karla Jacobs.

Many worked by hand, invested in every step of the process of taking the fleece or fiber and creating a finished piece.

“Over the past few years, I have been working with a fleece garment process to create my work. I begin with wool that has been shorn off a sheep,โ€ said Alissa Kaplan, one of the artists showcased in the exhibition. โ€œFrom beginning to finished garment, the process takes approximately 46 hours.”

The artists would often iterate on an idea, resulting in lush scarves and whimsical felt vases, vast quilts and structural impressive sweaters, objet dโ€™art grown here on our lands, tended to, shaped by local hands.

“I fall in love with each fleece and then try to preserve the essence of the wool and the color of the fleece in processing it. In many pieces, I incorporate the various preparatory stages of the fleece, from washed but untreated curls, to roving to rough or finely spun yarn,” said Marlie de Swart. “Usually the fiber dictates what the final garment looks like.”

Likewise, Carol Lee Shanks enjoys the premise of using “…fibers that have been carefully raised and processed by people who are closely connected to their natural environments. I find beauty in the unique characteristics these textiles possess.”

According to the center’s website, โ€œThere was a boundless, endless curiosity of each artist about what fibers could do.โ€

Sometimes, the artists pushed the possibilities of the material into new and exciting expressions.

“I am a storyteller. With cloth as my medium, I layer text onto fabric and embellish with images, clothing, ephemera and stitch relevant to the story. Through the examination of social-cultural valuesโ€ฆ” said Carol Larson. “I create a narrative which encourages the viewer to contemplate their point of view and potentially spark conversation.”

Conversely, Marta Shannon’s process brings the artist peacefully inward.

“There is a meditative, rhythmic quality to weaving,โ€ said Shannon. โ€œThat is grounding and calming, particularly in our fast-paced lives today.โ€

โ€˜Common Threads: Art and Fiberโ€™ is on exhibit through July 23. For more information, visit https://petalumaartscenter.org/.

Sonoma County Library and activists launch two new local LGBTQ+ archives

This month, Sonoma County Library launched โ€œHere + Queer Sonoma County,โ€ a project to build a digital community-sourced archive of local LGBTQ+ history. Anyone is invited to submit documents preserving memories of queer life and culture in the county. 

โ€œA photograph at Pride, a wedding announcement, a video at a protest, a love letter to a first crush; these are all evidence of resistance and persistence,โ€ said Zayda Delgado, supervising librarian at the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library

Led by Delgado, the project is designed by librarians Terra Emerson, Stuart Wilkinson and Javier Morales, who wanted to fill a gap in Sonoma County Libraryโ€™s collection.

โ€œWe have such a rich LGBTQ history here in Sonoma County. But when we look in the library’s digital collection, if you search terms like queer, LGBTQ, gay, lesbian, you find very little. Part of what inspired the idea of the project was realizing that while there is this very rich in history here, it’s not really well documented, at least not in the library’s collection,โ€ says Emerson, a teen services librarian.

While โ€œHere + Queerโ€ is the libraryโ€™s first dedicated initiative to archive local queer and trans history, it is not the only archival work being done in the region. In 2007, a group of locals launched the โ€œLesbian Archives of Sonoma Countyโ€ with a mission to document the involvement of lesbians in creating community for women in the county between 1965 and 1995. Another archive project, โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma County,โ€ is just now launching, though it is the product of years of information- and ephemera-gathering by community activists who also curate the โ€œSonoma County LGBTQI History Timeline.โ€ These projects focus on history up until the year 2000, whereas โ€œHere + Queerโ€ invites people to submit documents from any time, up to the present moment.ย 

Delgado says, โ€œEspecially for communities that are marginalizedโ€”our BIPOC communities, our LGBTQ+ communitiesโ€”our stories are more at risk of being silenced, erased. And so working with an organization like a public library to protect your story can give you a voice for the future.โ€ย 

Stuart Wilkinson - Sonoma County Library
Librarian Stuart Wilkinson poses with the Here + Queer logo in front of anti-LGBTQ+ protesters at Sonoma County Pride 2022. Photo by Terra Emerson.

Archiving, Delgado says, creates an intergenerational relationship of empowerment in which people can deepen their understanding of themselves by learning about the advocacy, struggles and celebrations of the past. 

โ€œAs weโ€™re seeing pushback against LGBTQ+ rights, womenโ€™s rights, itโ€™s important to see progression over time and the ebbs and flows of history. Thereโ€™s an impact in seeing documents and learning, like, this person was fighting for this or seeing pictures of love that show you that people were trying to celebrate their lives [despite the oppression they faced],โ€ she says.

Tina Dungan, a local LGBTQ+ archivist who grew up in Sonoma County, shares Delgadoโ€™s sense that preserving oneโ€™s history is particularly important in the face of oppression. Dungan and Shad Reinstein started the โ€œLGBTQI History Timeline of Sonoma Countyโ€ in 2018, during Donald Trumpโ€™s presidency, which she describes as the beginning of a pretty scary time for gay, lesbian and transgender people.ย 

In the first year of his presidency, the Trump administration removed all mentions of LGBTQ+ people from White House web pages, removed questions about sexual orientation from the U.S. Census and other national surveys, reinstated a ban that would prohibit transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, and signed an executive order that allowed for employers and federal agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people and to have discretion to deny them services. 

โ€œThings were looking really grim, and we felt like it was really, really important to get that history safely housed to be accessible. A lot of us are getting old and not remembering things anymore, so it was a perfect chance to start working on [archiving],โ€ Dungan says. 

Since 2018, Dungan has taught a free course on the timeline through SRJCโ€™s Older Adults Program. Through this work, she connected with other community historians, to teach on facets of local history she wasnโ€™t as knowledgeable about, particularly around pushing LGBTQ+ advocacy into the mainstream. Dungan brought in Magi Fedorka and Adam Richmond to educate about their work in the activist group Forward Together and the Sonoma County Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club. In 1987, Forward Together began five years of advocacy, pressing for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution observing Pride Week, which finally passed in 1992.ย 

LGBTQ Sonoma County 1989
In 1989, lesbian and gay residents of Sonoma County posed together for an ad that ran in local papers proclaiming “We Are PROUD To Be Your Neighbors!” It encouraged people to urge the Board of Supervisors to formally recognize Pride Week. Photo by Cher Traendly.

Through teaching the timeline course, Dungan and her collaborators have gathered a trove of ephemera for which they would like to find a permanent home. Although the search is ongoing, the group is already accepting submissions to grow their collection, calling the archival project โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma County.โ€ โ€œThe Lesbian Archives,โ€ which is primarily a video oral history project, ultimately housed their collection at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. For โ€œLGBTQI+ LEGACY,โ€ Dungan is hopeful about the possibility of finding a home within Sonoma County.ย 

โ€œThe fact that the Sonoma County Library has so many queer people working in it now is really exciting,โ€ she says. 

Delgado and Dungan feel shared enthusiasm about one another’s projects and agree that theyโ€™re complementary. โ€œHere + Queerโ€ will be the countyโ€™s first digital archive of LGBTQ+ history and is the only archive collecting work that extends to the present. Community members can submit documents to the libraryโ€™s database online and, eventually, will be able to access the digital collections online, too. For well over a decade, many documents have been created and housed digitallyโ€”on cameras, smartphones and computers. This makes submitting to a digital archive particularly easy. To support the digital archiving of physical objects, the library is planning on hosting special events with scanning days.

Emerson says, โ€œOne of the goals of the project is to bridge the gap between the older generations and the younger generations of queer community members. We hope the archive will show the through line of how our older community members have shaped the lived reality of our teens, and for teens today to understand that their activism will continue to shape the lived reality of future generations.โ€

Dungan believes โ€œHere + Queerโ€ will introduce many younger people to the importance of history. She says that when youโ€™re young and in the moment, you arenโ€™t necessarily thinking about how people willโ€”or wonโ€™tโ€”be able to find your work later. 

โ€œWe didnโ€™t put dates on the flyers we made. When youโ€™re young, you donโ€™t worry about stuff like that. The fact that Zayda and the library are getting it together now is really great because theyโ€™ll be able to remember more and theyโ€™ll be able to save things that might not otherwise get saved,โ€ Dungan says. 


โ€˜Here + Queer Sonoma Countyโ€™ is accepting submissions at sonomalibrary.org/queersonoma-en

To inquire about submitting to the โ€˜LGBTQI+ LEGACY Sonoma Countyโ€™ archive, contact le********@***il.com.

Tina Dungan teaches โ€˜LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline,โ€™ a free course on Zoom through SRJCโ€™s Older Adults Program, on Wednesdays from 1:30-3pm.ย For more information, contact cd*****@*******sa.edu.

โ€˜The Lesbian Archives of Sonoma Countyโ€™ collection can be accessed at the GLBT Historical Society archives. To learn more, visit www.glbthistory.org/archives-about-visitor-info.

Trivia

0

1  Ten years ago, in 2012, what two members of the original Grateful Dead helped establish two popular restaurant-bar-music venues in Marin County?

2 What are the two shortest words in the English language?

3 The love child of a male donkey and a female horse is what animal with a four-letter name?

4 Eighteenth century British cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale constructed most of his finest pieces of furniture from the wood of what kind of tree?

5 In the list of biggest money-making films of all time, name the top three that have animal names in the titlesโ€”all have grossed over $1 billion worldwide since their releases in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

6 When the wandering Roman legions reached this isolated European island, they avoided it, and named it Hibernia, meaning wintery, because of its cold, unwelcome climate.  What European country is this today?

7 Although his first name sounds like something small, this giant athlete is the tallest ever to play with the Golden State Warriors. Give his name, his African homeland and his very unusual height.

8 In 2013, a hardcover coffee-table book, entitled Inside the Red Border, was released that featured historical photos from 90 years of pages from what popular magazine?

9a. Due to an ill-advised amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and its subsequent repeal based on public demand, for how many years was it illegal to manufacture, sell and transport alcoholic beverages?

9b. To get around this prohibition, many nightclubs, bars and restaurants opened secret dens of wildlife, known by what โ€œsimpleโ€ name?

10 The name for what nautical measurement about six feet in length is also a verb that means to comprehend a challenging problem?

BONUS QUESTION: For the past 30 years, this landlocked European nation with about 10 million inhabitants has been the world’s top per-capita beer-consuming nation. What country is this?

Want more trivia for your next party, fundraiser or special event? Contact ho*****@********fe.com

ANSWERS:

1 Bob Weirโ€”(the reopened) Sweetwater Cafe in Mill Valley/ Phil Leshโ€”Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael. Thanks for the question to Ethan Hay from Marin County.

2 A and I (… and O?)

3 Mule, characterized by long ears and a short mane

4 Mahogany

5 Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021; Lion King, 2019; Black Panther, 2018 (shown in photo)

6 Ireland

7 Manute Bol, 7 feet 7 inches, from Sudan. Heโ€™s tied with Gheorge Muresan from Romania as NBAโ€™s tallest ever.

8 Time magazine

9a.14 years (from 1919-1933)

9b. Speakeasies

10 Fathomโ€”thanks for the question to Marty Albion from Lagunitas.

BONUS ANSWER: The Czech Republicโ€”it’s the home of Budweiser, don’t forgetโ€ฆ

Preserving Pride – Sonoma County Library and activists launch two new local LGBTQ+ archives

Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Library PRIDE Librarian Zayda Delgado poses at Sonoma County Pride 2022 with the โ€˜Here + Queerโ€™ logo. Delgado is the lead librarian designing the archival project.
By Chelsea Kurnick This month, Sonoma County Library launched โ€œHere + Queer Sonoma County,โ€ a project to build a digital community-sourced archive of local LGBTQ+ history. Anyone is invited to submit documents preserving memories of queer life and culture in the county. โ€œA photograph at Pride, a wedding announcement, a video at a protest, a love letter to a first crush;...

Kat Look – Maker Kat Warren

Image provided by Kat Warren STRAWBERRY This sweet, crochet bag is one of Kat Warrenโ€™s many delightful art pieces.
By Jane Vick Happy Wednesday all! How has everyone been? I have spent this week writing about stars and poppy fields, reading poetry, and sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge. Iโ€™ve seen light sparking on teal water and considered weightlessness. Iโ€™ve had several interesting dreams, none of which I can remember, and my Chinese Money Plant is in exceptionally...

Letters

Boudin Ouster I am saddened by the recall defeat of Chesa Boudin. Though his defeat was almost certain, the people of San Francisco have lost a sincere and good-hearted member of their government. And government officials with real courage and principles like Boudin are rare and hard to find in these days of mass conformity, political confusion, and the deep...

Home Movies – Building your own, personal film library

"Here I amโ€ฆarguing the case for cutting the cord on your streaming services and building your own Library of Alexandria of your top-100 films of all time, and just watching those." Photo courtesy of Alive Films/Nelson Entertainment CLOSE SHAVE John Lone and Linda Fiorentino star in โ€˜The Moderns.โ€™
By Christian Chensvold This week in June of 1988, I graduated from Santa Rosa High School, and the following morning set off on my first solo road trip bound for the netherworld of Los Angeles. I was gone for five days and remember only two things. I spent the first day in Santa Barbara, and decided to save money by sleeping...

DRIVE-IN SUMMER The Lark Drive-In Theater

Photo provided by Stephanie Clarke DRIVE-IN SUMMER The Lark Drive-In Theater in The Village at Corte Madera has a cinema classic for everyone this summer.
Larkspur Drive-In Movies Is there anything more Americana summer vibe than a classic drive-in movie? The Lark Drive-In has summer movies covered. Located in The Village at Corte Madera, the Lark Drive-In was originally founded during Covid to keep community connection alive. It quickly became clear that this was not a temporary solution, and itโ€™s now a full feature of the...

Astrology – Week of 06/15/22

ARIES (March 21-April 19): โ€œThe whole point for me is to change as much as possible,โ€ says Aries actor Keira Knightley. What?! Is she serious? Her number one aspiration is to keep transforming and transforming and transforming? I guess I believe her. It's not an entirely unexpected manifesto, coming from an Aries person. But I must say: Her extra...

B’way Standards, Latin Flair – Director taps Puerto Rican roots

Transcendence is a Sonoma County staple, having brought the best of Broadway to local audiences for more than a decade. Photo courtesy of Transcendence Theatre Company ACTION Guest director Luis Salgado.
By Chris Rooney When Luis Salgado says, โ€œCalifornia is wonderful,โ€ it's not a controversial opinion. Salgado has performed, directed and choreographed around the worldโ€”so it means something. And it must be sincere, because Salgado is back for a second turn at the helm of Transcendence Theatre Company, this time pumping Latin blood into many Broadway classics in Letโ€™s Dance. โ€œWe share a lot...

Fiber Optics – Focus on fiber arts in Petaluma

PQ There was a boundless, endless curiosity of each artist about what fibers could do. Photos courtesy of Petaluma Arts Center VASE CASE Felt vases by Karla Jacobs.
By Michael Giotis With "Common Threads: Art and Fiber," the Petaluma Art Center continues championing the dialogue between craft and art and where the two, well, interweave. The exhibition features 12 fiber artists working within 10 miles of the Petaluma Arts Centerโ€”  including Patricia Briceรฑo, Marlie de Swart, Karla Jacobs, Alissa Kaplan, Carol Larson, Travis Meinolf, Joan Pont, Carol Lee Shanks,...

Sonoma County Library and activists launch two new local LGBTQ+ archives

Zayda Delgado - Sonoma County Library
This month, Sonoma County Library launched โ€œHere + Queer Sonoma County,โ€ a project to build a digital community-sourced archive of local LGBTQ+ history. Anyone is invited to submit documents preserving memories of queer life and culture in the county.  โ€œA photograph at Pride, a wedding announcement, a video at a protest, a love letter to a first crush; these are...

Trivia

1  Ten years ago, in 2012, what two members of the original Grateful Dead helped establish two popular restaurant-bar-music venues in Marin County? 2 What are the two shortest words in the English language? 3 The love child of a male donkey and a female horse is what animal with a four-letter name? 4 Eighteenth century British cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale constructed...
11,084FansLike
4,606FollowersFollow
6,928FollowersFollow