In case you haven’t heard, it’s 2020, a new year and a new decade. And along with that nice, even, round number comes that time of year where people dedicate themselves to getting healthy. At least for the month of January. While setting goals and making the effort to become a healthier person can be done any time of year, the start of a new year seems to go hand in hand with making a change.

Sonoma County is rich in wine, beer, bread and cheese, and let’s face it—those are all unhealthy things unless consumed in moderation. But, as surely as no one can stop at two slices of cheese or one piece of bread, there’s also a reason they sell beer in packs of six. Admit it—it’s challenging to go easy when consuming delicious things that are bad for your physical, and often mental, health. Yet for all the temptation in this county, there are also several options for kick-starting your health in the new year.

Meredith Brown is the Petaluma-based owner of Salt and Sage Nutrition. Throughout the year she teaches classes on healthy habits that include cooking, eating and the ever-chic detox cleanse. At this very moment Brown and her cadre of students are in the midst of a 21-Day Purification program that began Jan. 20 and runs through Feb. 5. The program requires abstinence from sugar, grains, dairy and alcohol—which makes for some interesting stories during the Wednesday-night meetings. But why 21 days?

“There’s a saying that if you can do something for three weeks, it can become a habit,” Brown says.

Which is what the program seeks to do—build healthy habits. Although Brown offers shorter cleanses throughout the year, she feels the longer cleanse is more effective.

“I notice when I do the 21-day program, when I get to day 10, I don’t really notice that many changes in my body and the diet doesn’t feel like it’s having an effect,” Brown says. “I usually haven’t lost much weight. But by the end of the 21 days, I’ve lost weight and I feel much better about the diet overall. The extra week at the end really seals the deal, and a lot of people tend to stick with the new, healthy eating habit after the detox ends.”

For the $295 price tag, participants get a bevy of oils, fibers and supplements—plus a cookbook and Brown’s spunky personality to help them along.

If 21 days is too daunting, never fear. Wes Coffman, who co-owns Santa Rosa’s Juice on the Square with his mother, Theresa Chavarria, has a shorter cleanse option. The juice bar offers several juice cleanses ranging from a one-day cleanse for those who wish to merely dip their toes in juice, to a 30-day cleanse (doctor’s approval required).

Located temptingly between Fogbelt Brewing Company and Cibo Rustico Pizzeria, Juice on the Square is a hip little spot with colorful and freshly made cold-pressed juices. Echoing a similar sentiment to Brown’s, Coffman says they design the juice cleanses to kick-start a person’s health as well as to help them form healthier food habits.

“It’s a good way to break a habit or routine and also create a new, healthy one where your body gets used to eating more fruits and vegetables” Coffman says, of the cleanses. “In one bottle of juice, you get two pounds of vegetables—so they’re really high in macronutrients, which gives
us energy.”

While he admits it’s likely less expensive to research a juice cleanse online and do it yourself, Coffman notes that juicing takes a long time and is typically very messy. To that end, he also says Juice on the Square “offers a lot of convenience and also a big variety of juices that people may not be able to make at home” in a timely fashion. They also offer delivery.

Cleansing and detoxing your body is oftentimes a big, scary and uncomfortable undertaking. There’s really nothing more terrifying than the day after you ingested four beets and forgot about it until you took a bathroom break. If it isn’t for you, that’s OK—perhaps a more magical, mystical new year habit is more your speed.

In that case, head on over to Lucky Mojo Curio Co., next to downtown Forestville. Not only is Lucky Mojo one of the funkier hidden local gems, it also offers a huge selection of candles, oils, herbs and Hoodoo folk-magic paraphernalia to get you headed the right direction in the new year.

After entering the shop and passing a plethora of lit candles featuring various saints and sinners, one can easily get lost in the shelves of oddball items in Lucky Mojo. Fortunately, staffers like Jenne Kaivo are there to help. When asked about items that might help one get a good start on the new year, Kaivo has plenty of suggestions.

While mixing what looks like a large trough of Himalayan salt, Kaivo talks about “Lucky Money envelopes” that are “really good to give people a little bit of money in the new year.” Kaivo says this can “inspire prosperity and abundance. When you give out good luck to people, good luck comes back to you.” Kaivo also points out several glass-encased candles, oils and bath crystals that one can use for “trying to start on the best path which is good for the new year.”

Lucky Mojo also has several “cast off evil” products which can help get rid of bad influences from the past year; and there’s always the burning of sage to cleanse your home.

The underlying message behind all these different “cleanse” options is self-care—which is exactly what Lindsay Kolterman, general manager and director of operations at Sebastopol’s dhyana Center, is all about. Dhyana Center’s entry into the new year kick-start is a 30-day challenge which Kolterman says is “specifically designed for self-care, as self-care is one of the main components of Ayurveda.”

The dhyana Center is offering a discounted price for their 30-day challenge; $140, down from the usual $175. This fee provides customers “one-month, unlimited access” to the Center, which includes the self-care sanctuary that focuses on “steaming, sauna, epsom salts, infrared saunas, amethyst biomats and a copper cold plunge.”

The dhyana Center is open seven days a week, from 9am to 8pm, allowing “challenge” customers ample time to get their money’s worth within the 30-day time frame. And those customers suitably impressed with the experience can become permanent members if they so choose.

Kolterman touches on the idea of self-care as a healthy habit to build, one which ultimately increases productivity as well as physical and mental health. And in the end, no matter what time of year it is, feeling good feels good. While Sonoma County offers a wide variety of hiking trails, gyms, yoga classes and zeitgeist diets, sometimes a kick in the pants via a cleanse or cleansing ritual can be a great way to slingshot oneself into a healthier lifestyle.

With the Democratic primary fast approaching, some party members are concerned that a state rule will potentially prevent tens of thousands of independent absentee voters from participating in the party’s presidential primary this March.

Here’s the situation: if you are not registered with a political party—or you are registered with a handful of small ones—and you vote by mail, you need to request a new ballot or re-register in order to vote for one of the Democratic presidential candidates.

(If you vote in person but are registered as a no-party preference, then you can request a primary ballot at the polling place.)

In most elections, Californians vote for the top two candidates of any party, so registration doesn’t really matter. The same rule doesn’t hold in presidential campaigns.

In December, registrars in each county sent out postcards to impacted voters offering them a chance to change their registration. The numbers aren’t great.

The deadline to return the letters has passed, but voters can still register with a different political party or request a ballot with primary candidates directly from their county’s registrar.

However, given recent surges in the number of nonpartisan voters—and long-time increases in absentee voters—the policy could impact many voters who are not aware of the problem, according to polls.

“Voters that can’t overcome this procedural hurdle—and there may be as many as 600,000 of them, based on an analysis of 2016 data—won’t be able to vote for a presidential candidate. That’s enough votes to decide who will be the Democratic nominee,” Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, and Paul Mitchell, a political commentator, wrote in a Jan. 2 Los Angeles Times opinion piece.

A Growing Category

In California, where Democrats currently hold the vast majority of elected offices, there are more no-party preference voters than there are Republicans.

In Napa County, 26.12 percent of registered voters have no party preference. In Marin County, 24.56 percent are nonpartisan. In Sonoma County, 23.51 percent have no party preference, according to numbers from the California Secretary of State.

Pair that with the fact that vote-by-mail, also known as absentee voting, has grown in popularity steadily over the past 50 years.

In the 1966 primary, only 1.89 percent of California voters voted by mail. The rate increased significantly starting in the 1990s. In the 2016 primary, 58.92 percent of registered voters in California voted by mail.

A 2016 study by Capitol Weekly found that many people in the affected category intended to vote, but did not know about the problem.

“The study found that 88 percent of these [no party preference, vote-by-mail] voters are interested in voting in the upcoming [2016] election. Of those voters, two-thirds are interested in voting in the Democratic primary, while more than 17 percent are planning on re-registering to vote Republican,” Capitol Weekly reported at the time.

Between 2008 and 2016, the number of absentee, nonpartisan voters nearly tripled, from roughly 700,000 to 2,000,000, according to Capitol Weekly.

State law required each county to send a letter to every no-party preference, absentee voter in their county. In order to receive a ballot with the Democratic Primary candidates on them, voters had to fill out and return the letter; however, based on the return rates, it seems that many voters will be surprised they cannot vote in the primary election.

The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters sent out 47,965 letters. As of Friday, Jan. 17, they had received 9,234 back—a 19.25 percent rate of return.

The Napa County Registrar of Voters sent 21,253 letters. They have received 2,758 letters back—a 12.97 percent rate of return.

The Marin County Registrar of Voters sent out “about 30,000 postcards” and, at last count, had received about 5,000—or 16.7 percent—back, Lynda Roberts, the county’s registrar, said in an email on Friday, Jan. 17.

So far, the Marin County registrar has received roughly 1,500 email requests and an uncounted number of calls, according to Roberts.

The deadline to switch party registration is Tuesday, Feb. 18.

According to data from the Secretary of State’s Office, the number of registered Democrats increased from 7.4 million to 8.9 million, a bump in membership of 1.5 million. The number of nonpartisan voters increased from 4.1 million to 5.4 million—a 1.3 million increase. Meanwhile, the number of registered Republicans remained flat around 4.7 million.

Early Bird

That’s not the only significant change to the California primary this time around.

In 2017, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law to move California’s primary to March 3, 2020. In election phraseology, March 3 is a Super Tuesday, when voters in over a dozen states will cast ballots.

Historically, voters in the Golden State would vote in June. But in 2016, the Democratic primary was pretty much done by June.

Recent polling shows that the top three candidates are fairly close together.

A poll from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), released on Jan. 13, put U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders ahead of the pack with 27 percent of likely voters. Former Vice President Joe Biden received 24 percent. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren got 23 percent.

In 2016, the North Bay counties were split between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

Sonoma County, the most populous of the three counties, favored Sanders over Clinton 52 percent to 47.3 percent; Marin County voted for Clinton 56.4 percent to 43.3 percent; and Napa County chose Clinton in a 53.4 percent to 45.9 percent vote.

Some people put roots down where they were born. Others find fertile ground elsewhere and sow their own seeds. Either way, if we stay somewhere long enough, and make a connection, it can become an important part of who we are and how we perceive the world.

Author Greg Sarris, chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and author of six books, including Grand Avenue and Watermelon Nights, has a lifelong connection with the local landscape. Likewise, Bohemian columnist Jonah Raskin has grown deep roots in the North Bay, both personally and with regard to the wider literature of California—authoring and/or editing over 20 books. Together on Jan. 29, the two writers will discuss and explore the notion of “place” in “A Sense of Place: Author Greg Sarris in Conversation with Jonah Raskin,” hosted by the Rohnert Park–Cotati Library.

A sense of place is something familiar to those who have it. And for those who don’t, there is a sense of something else, maybe a vague feeling of disconnect. Some people just live with that. Others travel until they find a connection. And many find it in the North Bay.

Raskin explores the diversity of those who are native here, those who grew up here, and those who came here and found what they were looking for. He himself is one of the latter.

“I came here as an outsider in November 1975 and didn’t feel any attachment to the place then. Over the years I’ve developed an affinity—a connection to the land, the people, the agriculture and the literature,” Raskin says.

Sarris grew up in Santa Rosa and didn’t leave for the first 20 years of his life. Growing up in a single place allowed him to learn to perceive the world’s connections in a focused, interdependent way.

In Raskin’s book about Northern California writers, Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives, he writes, “Sarris has burrowed so deeply into our region that he’s hit the bedrock of our national experience. He’s made Sonoma County into a metaphor for the nation at large.”

In his books, Sarris explores growing up partly Native American in Santa Rosa. He was born mixed race and adopted and raised by a white family. Like many with complex family situations, the land offers refuge—whether it be a rural, urban or suburban landscape.

“I grew up in and around many different families and cultures here, so I see the place as a complex interweaving—a tapestry if you will—of a unique history,” Sarris says. “Many different people in cultural perspectives inform Sonoma County and populate it with stories.”

And these stories largely informed who he became as a person.

“Much of what formed me as a conscious human being has to do with people as well as places here in Sonoma County,” Saris says. “Everywhere I go here, I see and remember stories. I can walk to a grove of redwoods or up here on Sonoma Mountain where I live and it is like the landscape begins speaking. Of course, I have lived [in] other places—including Los Angeles—but because of my long and first history here, I could say that Sonoma County has filled me with more to think about and write about than any other place.”

For those looking to connect with a place, it’s literally about the land. If you grew up here, you already had your hands in the dirt as children and the landscape holds your stories. In Raskin’s case, he became closely bonded with Sonoma County while working as a field worker at Oak Hill Farm doing research for his book about Sonoma County agriculture, Field Days.

“I believe that it was a turning point in my life when I worked at Oak Hill Farm,” Raskin says. “I wanted to write a book about it and I said, ‘The only way I can really write about this place is to work here, not just interview people, but to get down into the ground and be part of the whole process.’ It made me feel more connected to this place emotionally, psychologically and not just intellectually.”

When you are in a long-term conversation with the landscape, it becomes a text you can pass on. Raskin and Sarris alike now understand the area so well that they are mentors to others.

“A sense of place is sort of like a book or a play,” Sarris says. “You can begin reading it and then know it. But if you are very familiar with the book or play, you’d know it very well, all of its parts. For me, the local landscape is a sacred text full of stories that have been told to me by my ancestors, as well as where many historical events have taken place—and in some cases continue to take place.”

For Raskin, growing up reading the American literature of California instilled in him an appreciation of it.

“This place is changing very rapidly; one reason I’m writing about it is to preserve a record of what has been here,” he says. “It’s important to have a connection to the earth and not just be alienated. It helps to look to people who’ve been there before you.”

For him those people are other California writers. Raskin has written extensively about the literature and landscapes of California—from Jack London to Sarris, from Diane Di Prima to Rebecca Solnit, and, more recently, about the agriculture of the area.

Sarris says of Raskin, “Jonah himself has been a long-time resident of this county and has covered and written about so much of its history and life. Both of us share, albeit in different ways I’m sure, profound love and respect for the land and people.”

Raskin believes in getting these ideas out into the public sphere.

“I believe it’s important to be a public intellectual, to be out there with your ideas, your values and share them,” he says. “And it’s good to remind people of the Native American history and culture—Native Americans have shaped this landscape.”