Mendocino County Today: Thursday 11/21/2024

Rain & Wind | Small Farm | Ukiah Time | Fiddler North | Margie Handley | Hannah Missing | NCS Football | Guitar Class | Misplaced Blame | Ed Notes | Gowan's Cider | Basketball Clinic | Taco Music | Open Studio | Closing Thoughts | Sally! Documentary | Alonzo Kendall | Boonville 1909 | Yesterday's Catch | Vatican Drama | Deserve It | Blues Weekend | Klamath Salmon | EPA Head | Stolen Slug | Anti-Social | Nostalgia Pop | Vietnam 1969 | Lion Grow | Right Words | Simple Truth | Flat Tire | Lead Stories | Move On | Tawdry Scandal | Crusty Wonders | Maga Fanboys | Fog Couple

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RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Laytonville 6.00" - Boonville 5.37" - Hopland 4.29" - Covelo 3.71" - Yorkville 3.60" - Ukiah 3.51"

A STRONG ATMOSPHERIC RIVER storm system will continue to bring prolonged moderate to heavy rainfall tonight through Friday. This could lead to life threatening flooding late tonight and Thursday. Strong and damaging southerly winds are forecast to ramp up again late this afternoon into tonight with impacts lasting into Friday. (NWS)

WINDS remain strong along coastal Mendocino and areas of Lake County this afternoon. Another increase of winds for the area is expected Thursday afternoon. Southerly gusts of 30-50 mph are possible with higher gusts possible on coastal headlands and ridges. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 2.41" for the last 24 hours gives me a storm total of 3.36", less than forecast thankfully. I know of other hilly areas locally that got a LOT more. Another day of heavy rain is forecast today Thursday, I have a warm 59F under cloudy skies (not raining at 5am). Rain continues into next Wednesday with lighter amounts forecast. Maybe a break on Saturday?

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REPORT FROM A SMALL FARM IN BOONVILLE

It's finally raining.

Windy, cloudy, dark.

Nights are near freezing.

A fire is needed.

Chickens slowing down.

About done harvesting.

Canning our saved crops.

Grass growing.

Yaks happy.

Days shorter.

Harvest done.

Leaves falling.

Sleeping late.

All's well.

Sigh.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yay! We're done!

Oh yeah?

What about the page long to-do list for winter?…

chop, haul, split firewood

frost cover outdoor spigots (hundreds)

prune every tree and shrub

seed cover crops

chip around all trees, roses, shrubs

order seed

plant garlic and onions

collect rabbit and chicken poo…

feed all plants with it

clean up greenhouses

set up new berry rows

finish siding on the Pink Barn

add solar panels to 501 array

clear clean paint two rooms in small 501 barn

sell/give "stuff" we no longer use

start seed for next year's crops

graft to plum stock

replant asparagus and tree and shrub starts

move quince, pomegranate shrubs

Plan For Next Year

Well, at least our outdoor fruiting and producing crops are done.

I wrote the above before an atmospheric river was scheduled to arrive. Today is the first day of three with a total of over 10" predicted and 5" have already arrived. We spent the past 2 days cleaning gutters, raking leaves, nailing down anything that could blow over or away, cutting drainage ditches where needed, harvesting greens and the last apples and persimmons, planning in case the kitchen crew can't make it to work…basically checking the entire farm for anything that might be damaged.

And yes, I guess we were smoking some really good stuff. Our wish for the election certainly didn't pan out. Like many of us, we're shocked and devastated, but we're also ready to fight to hold the line.

Holding won't do anything good for us or the world. The struggle to control climate change, and the racism, misogyny, and xenophobia continue apace. Our "democracy" is at risk. We have joined the resistance.

Hang in and chins up.

Nikki Auschnitt Steve Krieg

Petit Teton Farm (petitteton.com)

Boonville

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A FIDDLER IN THE NORTH

by Robert Burns

Amang the trees, where humming bees,
At buds and flowers were hinging, O,
Auld Caledon drew out her drone,
And to her pipe was singing, O:
'Twas Pibroch, Sang, Strathspeys, and Reels,
She dirl'd them aff fu' clearly, O:
When there cam' a yell o' foreign squeels,
That dang her tapsalteerie, O.

Their capon craws an' queer "ha, ha's,"
They made our lugs grow eerie, O;
The hungry bike did scrape and fyke,
Till we were wae and weary, O:
But a royal ghaist, wha ance was cas'd,
A prisoner, aughteen year awa',
He fir'd a Fiddler in the North,
That dang them tapsalteerie, O.

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MARGIE LEE HANDLEY

September 29, 1939 - November 9, 2024

Margie Handley, a devoted mother, wife, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother, accomplished businesswoman and philanthropist, passed away peacefully at her beloved ranch on Hearst Rd along the Eel River on November 9, 2024.

Born in Bakersfield, California to Bob and Jayne Harrah, Margie moved with her parents when she was 2 years old to Branscomb in Mendocino County where her dad joined his brothers and father in a sawmill business. Margie moved with her family to Willits where her dad started Remco, which at that time manufactured sawmill equipment. Margie spent a large part of her childhood, trailing her father around sawmills. She had her first job at one of her father's companies, a sawmill in Willits called Firco, scaling log tickets.

Margie met her husband, Gordon Lovell in school and ceased her schooling to get married at the age of 16. She was blessed with the birth of 4 children before she turned 22 years old. She and Gordon moved to Montague, California where she raised her family for 12 years. While she was in Montague, she returned to school and received her GED while mother to two young boys.

In 1969, Margie started her first business, Shasta Pallet Company which built boxes by hand to ship Nike missiles and Howitzer cannon barrels. From working as a secretary for the Superintendent of Schools, to owning a western store in Yreka, to serving as Vice President of Microphor and President of Hot Rocks, an asphalt, sand and gravel plant, Margie was a savvy businesswoman. She was part of her family business, Harrah Industries from 1981-2021 and held a General Engineering Contractor's Class A license.

Margie was blessed to meet Bud Handley, the man she would always refer to as the love of her life, and they married in 1975. They shared 17 years together before his passing.

Margie struck out on yet another adventure when she decided to get into politics after serving as an alternate delegate for Ronald Reagan in Kansas City. She ran for the California Senate seat in 1990 and 1993 and then threw her hat in the ring for the California Assembly in 1996. She held multiple elected and appointed political positions across the state. This included serving on the California Economic Strategy Panel from 1995-2000, The California transportation Commission from 1986-1990 and the California Rural Development Council from 1998-2000.

Her dedication to the town of Willits and the County of Mendocino was evident as she held the position of Chair of the Howard Foundation Board for 30 years (1993-2024) and sat on many boards of businesses throughout the County. She was a member of the Rotary International Club of Willits and served as President from 2004-2005. As Chair of the Howard Foundation Board, she led the charge for fundraising and negotiations that culminated in the construction of the new Howard Memorial Hospital and the neighboring Lamprich Medical Office Building. These were crowning jewels of Margie's accomplishments. She gave generously of her time and money for the betterment of the town she loved. She will be deeply missed and impossible to replace for all who knew her. She was a strong woman of integrity.

Margie loved to travel and was fortunate enough to visit 68 countries before her death. She had a beautiful large family that she relished, that included 37 grandchildren.

Margie found love again late in life. Her dear friend Tom Hawthorne, whom she had served on the California Transportation Commission with, asked her to marry her in 2020, and she said yes. He was 91, she was 80.

Margie is preceded in death by sons Gordon Lovell Jr. and Steve Lovell, grandsons Kyle Lovell, Shannon Lovell, Avery Lovell and husbands Gordon Lovell, Bud Handley and Tom Hawthorne. She is survived by her sister Bonnie Harrah, sons David and Ronald Lovell, numerous grandchildren including Alicia Logan (Lovell), Matt, Christi, Andrea, Seth, Clayton, and Cindy Lovell.

A memorial service will be held for Margie at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 23rd at the Willits Senior Center. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Frank R. Howard Foundation at 3 Marcela Drive, Suite A Willits, CA 95490.

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THE SEARCH INTENSIFIES for Hannah Kobayashi, 31, a Hawaii woman last seen after missing her connecting flight at LAX on November 8. Family members grew alarmed following cryptic texts she sent on November 11, including one mentioning she was “headed to the redwoods,” alongside troubling messages about feeling unsafe and threats to her identity. The last confirmed sighting of the Hawaii native was near the Pico Metro station in downtown Los Angeles on November 11.

Security footage has placed Hannah at The Grove shopping center on November 9 and 10, where she was seen attending a Nike event and shopping at a bookstore. However, her subsequent messages to family raised concerns, as she described feeling unsafe, claimed her funds were at risk, and reported threats to her identity—language that seemed uncharacteristic to her loved ones.

The family has mobilized in Los Angeles, searching areas near LAX and public transit lines while expanding their efforts to Northern California’s redwood regions. These texts, paired with her unexplained movements, have raised fears about her safety and whereabouts.

Standing 5’10” with fair skin, brown eyes, and freckles, Hannah was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, tie-dye leggings, and carrying a green backpack. Her phone last pinged at LAX on November 11, but it remains missing.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support the family’s search efforts, as time remains critical. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact LAPD at 1-877-527-3247.

Hannah’s family continues to hold onto hope while urging vigilance from the public, emphasizing her possible destination toward the redwoods of Northern California.

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FOOTBALL: SONOMA VALLEY, UKIAH, PETALUMA among local teams hunting for spots in NCS championship games

Nine local teams will be playing in the semifinal round during what’s set to be a wet and rainy weekend across Northern California.

by Gus Morris

Nine local teams will be playing in the semifinal round of the North Coast Section prep football playoffs during what’s set to be a wet and rainy weekend across Northern California.

Weather will almost certainly be a factor as teams look to punch their tickets to NCS title games on Thanksgiving weekend.

Coming off a marquee win over Marin Catholic last week, Cardinal Newman (10-1) travels to NCS powerhouse San Ramon Valley (10-1) in the Open/Division 1 semifinal round. That will be The Press Democrat’s Game of the Week and a full game preview will be out Thursday.

Also keep an eye out this week for a preview of Elsie Allen’s upcoming NCS title game appearance. The Lobos, in the midst of their best season in program history, have a chance to capture the NCS eight-person Division 2 title on Friday against Cornerstone Christian in the East Bay.

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Division 4: No. 1 Ukiah (8-3) vs. No. 5 Redwood (7-4), 7 p.m. Friday: There may be no game this week where rain will be a larger factor, since Ukiah plays on a grass field. Head coach Paul Cronin said that the school is going to cover the field throughout the week to attempt to minimize the impacts of the weather, but a mud bowl should be expected nonetheless.

The Giants will head to Mendocino County as winners of four in a row, while the Wildcats have won three in a row and six of their last seven.

Ukiah proved earlier this season that it can succeed despite the elements after beating Maria Carrillo 40-14 in a rain-soaked game at the start of the month.

Last week’s 35-0 win over Alameda was Ukiah’s first playoff win since 2018 and a win this week would send the Wildcats into their first NCS title game since 1999 — the only year they’ve won a section title.

CalPreps computer projection: Ukiah 28, Redwood 14

Press Democrat predictions:

O’Doherty: Ukiah

Morris: Ukiah

(The Press Democrat)

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MISPLACED BLAME

by Mark Scaramella

We’ve known for years that Mendocino County department heads do their own budget tracking and reporting and that those reports have been requested by Supervisor Williams periodically, with no support from his colleagues. We recently learned more details about those reports which, contrary to the Board’s false claim, puts the blame squarely on then-CEO Carmel Angelo and current CEO Darcy Antle (formerly Angelo’s budget point person).

For years, the CEO has required that departments provide her with detailed quarterly budget projections to the end of the fiscal year on June 30 with explanations for any variances of 5% or greater. These reports are not provided to the Supervisors or the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector or the public. These reports are the most meaningful management reports available and are much more useful than any of the financial reports generated by the Auditor’s office which are by necessity months — and sometimes years — behind. They also show how much the departments are being charged for various overhead costs (the so-called “A-87” costs: insurance, utilities, facilities maintenance, vehicles, etc.) which the departments often privately gripe about since they have no control over those costs.

CEO budget staffers have had access to these reports ever since the County financial system (“MUNIS”) has been in place and which lately is working in near real-time.

Of course, there are lag times in some of the numbers, but the biggest expense, salaries, is easy to track in a timely manner, varying primarily by staffing percentages, hiring freezes, resignations, transfers, and the like — all of which the Supervisors and the public should be kept informed about since there’s a direct correlation between staffing, workload, backlog and service delivery.

Other actuals, such as department-specific revenues (fees, grants, etc.) and expenses like pending purchase orders/invoices can be handled with budget notes. (Basic tax revenues are tracked by the Auditor/Tax Collector’s office.)

The point here is that 1. The CEO has no excuse for not providing departmental budget reports to the Board or the public, and 2. The Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector isn’t and should not be involved in departmental budget tracking.

The abbreviated budget report from the current Auditor presented to the Board on November 5 which shows a suspiciously high budget surplus (after years of claiming they had no money) was for the previous fiscal year (ending on June 30, 2024) which was recently “closed” as usual, several months after the fiscal year ended. (But is it really closed when large projects are underway such as the Psychiatric Health Facility and the Jail Expansion which are incurring ongoing multi-year costs?)

For years the Supervisors blamed former Auditor Chamise Cubbison for not providing budget reports while the reports they should have received but never got were those departmental reports right under their noses but which they never demanded them their CEO. Instead, the Supervisors consciously blamed Cubbison time and again for not providing reports that she had no involvement in, knowing, as Supervisor Williams occasionally even reminded his colleagues, that they should be getting the departmental reports.

In the months leading up to Cubbison’s “suspension” last October Cubbison often tried to explain these budget realities, but the Board steadfastly ignored her as CEO Antle sat back and never offered to provide the Supervisors with the departmental reports that Antle should have provided, knowing that the Board was more interested in their misguided and costly “Get Cubbison” project than in the actual reports. Antle also knew that by withholding the reports she wouldn’t have to answer any pesky questions about budget variances.

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ED NOTES

THE GOOD NEWS is that Americans buy more flowers than Big Macs. The bad news is that the cut flowers we buy are a lot like Big Macs. Unnatural. They’ve mostly had their natural scents removed to make them last longer in the vase, and most of them are now imported from the usual array of unhappy countries where growing them for starvation wages in unhealthy conditions is the norm.

NOT THAT THIS BOOK is a 300-page bummer. How could it be? The subject is flowers. No sir, ‘Flower Confidential — The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful’ by Amy Stewart, who lives and gardens in Eureka, is a book whose fascinating content I nearly neglected to explore because I was put off by its pulsating orange cover.

BOOK COVERS used to be minor works of art — remember the Modern Library editions of the 1940s and 50s? — but these days a book display tends to look more like a popsicle shop than reading material, and the jacket of this one looks like something Oprah could get behind. Which Oprah should, because when I looked inside I was immediately hooked.

FLOWER CONFIDENTIAL contains more information, and so many fascinating anecdotes, including an affecting one about an Arcata eccentric who developed a unique lily, and all of it written in good, clear often funny prose, that I read it straight through.

MASS PRODUCTION of cut flowers, we’re informed, has led to a mass assault on the way flowers are propagated and, as we’ve all noticed but haven’t known why, the disappearance of their natural scents. Of course we flower lovers grow our own, and we always go for the real thing, not these neutered imports, these botanical invasions of the body snatchers, but at one time or another most of us are compelled to resort to a florist for the random bouquet of steel-belted red roses flown in from Colombia or somewhere.

EVEN if you don’t know a rose from a violet, and when’s the last time you got a whiff of a natural violet? you’ll enjoy ‘Flower Confidential.’

IN OTHER LITERARY NOTES, a reader writes: “I, too, read Them Old Cowboy Songs. I was drawn right into it. But, by the end, I regretted the seduction. I think this is my last Annie Proulx story — ever! She creates the most wonderful three-dimensional characters and she makes us care about them. (I loved the vignette about the prospector’s earring.) Then she kills them off, one by one, in the most horrible ways imaginable.

”I'M SURE life in the Territories in the late 19th century was hard, but do we have to have our noses rubbed in it? If you liked this story, you would love the one in Open Range about the rancher’s son who goes back east and is involved in an automobile accident. His brain is damaged, but not his libido. He eventually returns home and begins menacing other ranchers' daughters. The neighbors try to explain the damaged kid's problem to the father, but their complaints fall on deaf ears. So they solve the problem themselves — with a broken beer bottle.

”OF COURSE Proulx doesn’t let the story end there. The boy lives for a while, but becomes horribly infected. That was the penultimate Proulx story I will read. Her novels I can handle just fine. I very much enjoyed ‘That Old Ace in the Hole.’ And I sent you a copy of ‘The Shipping News’ years ago. Perhaps I like the novels better than the short stories because she has to keep her characters alive for future chapters.

”I AM the other way around with T. Coraghessan Boyle. I sometimes enjoy his short stories, but consider his novels a waste of time, especially ‘East is East,’ which was mentioned years ago by an AVA reader as ‘one of the three funniest books’ he had ever read. The other two were ‘Catch 22’ (I agree) and ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ (I strongly disagree — the author struck me as suicidal, even before I learned that he had, indeed, killed himself shortly after finishing the book.)”

ANNIE PROULX does tend to the dark view, but the dark view has always seemed to me just basic realism, and her fiction conveys more of the reality of frontier America than tons of 19th century histories, few of them managing to convey how tough it and its people really were.

THE FUNNIEST BOOKS I’ve read include Heller’s ‘Catch 22;’ ‘The Magic Christian’ by Terry Southern; ‘The Ginger Man’ by J.P. Donleavy; and everything by Evelyn Waugh. There’s also lots of funny stuff in Ulysses, not that you’d know it from the way the book killers go on about how highbrow it is (and if I’m reading it it’s definitely not highbrow). Much of ‘Dance to the Music of Time’ is hugely comic although an Anglo-Irish writer, educated in the U.K., told me ‘Dance’ was “too Etonian” for him, a criticism irrelevant to an American reader who wouldn’t know Etonian from Devonian, just as if I said to an Englishman that I thought a lot of modern American fiction was “too NPR” or “too Oprah,” which American fiction tends to be, if you get my drift.

’DANCE’ had me laughing throughout, and I recommend it to the max and as a fascinating picture of upper middleclass England between the great wars.

TC Boyle seems to me kinda like a male version of Joyce Carol Oates, another prolific writer who always seems about half there. I kinda liked Oates’ Marilyn,’ the fictionalized life of the tragic and perhaps murdered movie star, just as I kinda liked ‘Tortilla Curtain’ and ‘Budding Prospects’ by Boyle, the only books of Oates and Boyle I could get all the way through. (The marijuana brigades might enjoy ‘Budding Prospects,’ a funny, realistic treatment of marijuana gardening set right here in the Emerald Triangle, and ‘Tortilla Curtain’ is an effectively sympathetic if overdrawn account of the immigrant Mexican experience gone as wrong as it can go.

THERE’S DIM SUM and then there’s the dim sum at the Tong Palace on Clement between 10th and 11th, easily the most comprehensive dim sum selection in all of Frisco. They just keep bringing it on in a copious variety unique in my experience which, to be candid, is not what anyone would call vast. I’m not one for two hour meals and related chi chi excess. Get in, get it down, get out, I say, and on to the next chapter in life’s adventure or whatever it is.

THIS TIRESOME BUSINESS of swishing wine around for an hour prior to the grand presentation of four bite-size lamb chops on a tiny decorated la la plate that looks like it came off the wall of the SFMOMA is not my idea of a night out. Let alone a meal.

BUT THE TONG, with its stained red carpet and aquariums of half-dead fish scrambling to elude ancient crustaceans is a can’t miss dining experience. You hear me? Can’t miss! Ten of us had lunch there a couple of Saturdays ago and, no exaggeration, 30 different dishes! And the Chinese slave girls, as I suspect, were still bringing new edibles out when we finally staggered away from the table.

THAT feast totaled for all ten of us came to $88. Do the math, beat the deal! I hadn’t got a restaurant bargain like that since I was a starving student eating at a place on Jackson in Chinatown where, for less than a dollar, you got three pork chops, half a head of boiled cabbage on a platter of rice and gravy. I used to go for weeks on that one meal a day. Lately, I’ve become a more adventurous diner, which is how I found the Tong when a gourmand friend and I walked in one Saturday not knowing the place even did dim sum, which they don’t except Saturdays and Sundays. I’ve been doing my sums in the Tong’s dim ever since.

JIM GIBBONS IS A NATIONALLY RANKED RUNNER who lived in Willits for a long time before relocating to Hawaii. Jim writes: “Bruce Anderson once accused me of winning the Beer Run that was at the Fairgrounds in '83 or '84, I think, because I was coaching cross country then at Willits High and I seem to remember taking some of my high school runners over in the District station wagon. After we all did the Boontling Classic, we heard there was a Beer Run and everyone encouraged me to do it. Why not?, I thought, without thinking. I finished second, but the winner puked, thereby, according to someone, meant he was disqualified. Which made me the winner, and after a hearty breakfast and several cups of coffee at the Horn of Zeese, I drove my students back to Willits.” (Er, Jim, excuse me, but the beer run was at night.)

TURKEY VULTURES TAKE NOTE. Watch what you eat! According to a recent article in ‘Nature,’ India’s vultures have declined from millions and millions to just tens of thousands and are now considered endangered because they are ingesting trace amounts of a veterinary drug used to reduce fever and treat lameness in the dead farm animals they feed on. Conservationists first thought the deaths of the Indian vultures were caused by a new bird plague, but an international research team found chalky deposits in the birds’ internal organs, showing the birds were dying of kidney failure. After checking livestock pharmaceuticals for those harmful to birds, researchers have placed blame on the drug Diclofenac. Used extensively in Pakistan and India, Diclofenac is “not as popular” with veterinarians in the United States. It is, however, a common treatment in the US for arthritis and pain in humans. The vulture decline is also affecting the health of India’s residents because, until recently, vultures quickly consumed animal carcasses, helping to prevent the spread of anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease. One of the veterinary researchers said he was “increasingly concerned about the vast amount of drugs that end up in the environment one way or another.” … “I think what it actually says is that we really need to look systematically at the use of pharmaceuticals for veterinary purposes. It raises a question of whether we should be looking more closely at the trace chemicals from human use.”

THIS BUMPERSTICKER spotted in Cloverdale neatly sums up the argument: “Would intelligent design have created you?” Of course not, but a kind, if indiscriminate intelligence might have, not there’s much evidence of that.

CHILLING FACTOID claims that San Francisco high rises, old and new, are still anchored to the ground, much of it bay fill, the same old way that destroyed them in ‘06. Worse, the new high rises are often built from inferior, imported steel, which is cheaper but much weaker than the best stuff made right here in the USofA.

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT regularly editorializes about water. “Drying out —Water conservation orders are coming, so start saving now.” But the paper doesn’t dare state the obvious. Which is? Which is that the 101 corridor is tapped out. No more water can be diverted through the hand-dug-by-Chinese-100-year-old tunnel from the Eel River to the upper Russian River at Potter Valley down into Lake Mendocino, which is already depleted this plentiful rainy season because Sonoma County’s wine growers routinely take almost half of the flow released from Lake Mendo into the Russian in the spring to frost-protect their grapes. No sir, the Eel River can’t send anymore water through the decrepit old 1,000-yard long tunnel the size of a tall fat man because the Eel needs the water for its own imperiled fish and its own communities at places like Rio Dell and Fortuna. The Press Democrat doesn’t say that Sonoma County could divert more water to Sonoma County from Lake Sonoma but why should it when Sonoma County already owns most of the water piled up behind Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino; it’s a lot cheaper to suck up water which you in turn sell to consumers as far south as Sausalito if you already own Lake Mendocino than it is to pipe the water up and down 101 from behind Warm Springs dam along pipes you’d have to spend a lot of public money to build. And the Press Democrat doesn’t say that its wine industry is sucking up a dangerous amount of the Russian River which, as already stated, draws all of its summer flow from Ukiah to Healdsburg from the diverted Eel via Lake Mendocino. Nor, of course, does the Press Democrat ever mention that it’s way past time for an end to the spread of urban Santa Rosa from Cotati to Cloverdale. There isn’t enough water for endless urbanization from the Russian River which, in its natural state before 1904, dried up altogether in the summer months all the way to Windsor.

AS RACHEL OLIVIERI of Willits has pointed out, “Japan mandates that all development retain 80% of all the rainfall in the development area. But today in California there are more than 1200 non-federal dams and 181 large federal dams silting up and evaporating 42 million acre feet of the state’s 74 million acre feet of total runoff sending water to places there isn’t water that’s not caught like it is in Japan. That’s 4.2 million acre feet in evaporation alone that benefits absolutely no one and leave behind heavy salt concentrations that otherwise would be distributed throughout the river system mixed with sediment and organic material to create new soils.”

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT is due, in this case for Therese Brendlin who designed that spectacular, and spectacularly beautiful fence that Doug Johnson has erected on 128 at Navarro, already a local landmark.

ANTHRO INQUIRY. Every so often there’s a flurry of media stories claiming new evidence of human life somewhere in the United States more ancient than previously known. The stories invariably cite the “land bridge from Asia” over which America’s very first settlers traveled to settle from Yakima to Tierra del Fuego. Mendocino County’s Indians — all Indians — presumably originated in Asia, humping it over the frozen Bering Straits and fanning out over the Americas. What I don’t get is why would these presumed waves of Asian settlers keep on heading south, then east? Why would some stop off in the frozen north to become Eskimos when they could have kept on going to become Pomos in a temperate place like Cloverdale? Did these alleged migrations have to keep going south because the more hospitable areas were already occupied? The whole show was accomplished in less than 20,000 years? Isn’t it more likely that the first peoples arrived by some other route, some other means to have become so dispersed, then so entrenched in such advanced settlements?

GAZING out my office window high atop the Farrer Building in central Boonville a few years ago, I watched a middle-age couple of the tourist type, arm-in-arm, as they ambled in the direction of Ledson’s tasting room where they paused in front of the then-closed brewpub. The man had glanced upward. Something had caught his eye. He suddenly bent down, picked up a rock and hurled it at a crow perched on the power line above him. The crow was undisturbed. The couple re-entwined themselves and continued their walk, as if their assault on the crow wasn’t a totally nutso thing to have done.

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148 YEAR-OLD GOWAN’S HEIRLOOM CIDER PROVES YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO INNOVATE

A small-time experiment earned Gowan’s Heirloom Cider First Place at the Great American Beer Festival.

by Sarah Doyle

When Sharon Gowan suggested combining apple cider with Pinot Noir, her family thought she was nuts.

It was after a Sunday dinner in the Anderson Valley household, and the group had settled into the living room for some cozy conversation.

“The general consensus was ‘absolutely not,’” said Gowan, co-owner of Gowan’s Heirloom Cider in Philo. “Their argument was — ‘why ruin two perfectly good drinks?’”

But Gowan, whose husband Don’s family founded the company in 1876, was curious. Soon, she emerged from the kitchen with two experimental wine and cider blends.

“They all rolled their eyes, but were willing to humor me,” Gowan said. “Everyone ended up loving them.”

Straight To The Top

This month, Gowan’s Rosé Applewine Cider won a gold medal and Best of Class at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival — the first year the Denver competition included cider.

A blend of Gowan’s hard apple cider and Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, the rosé-hued effervescent beverage was a big hit with the judges.

“We really wanted to highlight the beautiful red fruit notes Pinot Noir is famous for — like raspberry and plum — then marry that with apple cider and a little bit of spice,” said Gowan. “The Pinot was aged in French Oak, so that adds a touch of vanilla.”

With over 100 varieties of organic heirloom apples on their 200-acre property, choosing the right ones for the rosé cider was an exercise in balance.

“The Sierra Beauty (apples) add subtle spice notes, while the Fall Pippins pump up the acid,” she said. “The Jonathans have this really nice depth, with caramel notes and a natural rose flavor. True Golden Delicious rounds out the blend.”

At this year’s beer festival, Gowan’s Heirloom Cider was the only California cidery to win any awards. In total, they walked away with a trio of medals, including the Rosé Cider’s gold, a gold for their Classic Dry Cider in the Tannic Cider division and a silver for their Macintosh Cider in the Single Varietal category.

“To be honest, I was a little hesitant to enter the ciders in a beer competition because I wasn’t sure how they would be judged,” said Gowan. “Some beer judges don’t understand the nuances or tannins in cider. We were stunned to receive three medals.”

As it turned out, the Rosé Cider’s victory was extra special.

Not only had it clinched Best of Class at the Great American Beer Festival (the nation’s largest beer competition), it won the same at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (the nation’s largest wine competition) and the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (the world’s largest cider competition).

In other words, Gowan’s Rosé Cider has earned the cider equivalent of a Triple Crown.

A Six-Generation Company

Located on bucolic Highway 128 in Anderson Valley, Gowan’s Heirloom Ciders is a worthy complement to a region best known for wine.

Founded in 1876 by Daniel Studebaker (of the Studebaker wagon family), the company initially sold apples and other produce throughout Mendocino County.

Today, the company is owned and operated by Don Gowan — Studebaker’s great, great grandson — and Gowan’s wife, Sharon.

While its uncertain exactly when the family began making juice or cider, the apple press on the property is at least 100 years-old. But in 2015, the Gowans introduced hard cider to the market and currently produce seven flavors with more on the way.

“We’re one of the only estate cideries in the country,” said Gowan. “We grow 100% of the apples on our property. We harvest and press them, then package the cider. We do everything from tree to bottle.”

Gowan expressed her frustration that some cider producers “make the coattail claim they’re from California,” even though they purchase apples outside the state.

As an apple grower and a cider producer that’s hit her hard.

Gowan’s used to sell apples to Manzana Products Co., the 102 year-old Graton-based apple processor moving to Washington in 2026.

In the last few years, Manzana Products Co. has trucked in the majority of its apples from Washington to its Sonoma County processing plant. But the high cost of doing business in California is affecting the company’s bottom line.

“Companies like Manzana want to get the lowest price on apples, and those prices haven’t supported local farmers for many years,” said Gowan. “Now, these large, ‘local California’ cideries are buying cheap apple concentrate overseas or apples from Washington. I don’t think that’s fair to consumers.”

At one point, she tried to rouse interest in developing a “Real California Cider” logo — akin to “ Real California Dairy” — for ciders made with apples grown in the Golden State.

“I tried to get people to work together, but all of the big cider companies were very opposed,” Gowan said. “They don’t understand a ‘Real California Cider’ logo would give the products more value.”

From Rosé To Frozé

At Gowan’s Heirloom Cider in Anderson Valley, visitors are welcome to partake in a cider tasting at the outdoor bar or in the orchard among the apple trees — some of which are more than 150 years-old.

Seven ciders are available for tasting, including Classic Dry, Gravenstein, Spiced Apple Macintosh and more, as well as Gowan’s Triple Crown-winning Rosé Cider.

A few years ago, Gowan purchased a slushie machine and turned the Rosé Cider into frozé, a refreshing icy treat. Offered at the tasting bar, the frozé arrives dusted with Gowan’s own plum Tajin powder, which adds a salty, tangy punch.

“Some people see the word ‘rosé’ on the menu and say ‘I don’t like rosé,’” said Gowan. “I tell them, ‘you don’t have to taste it — just smell it.’ About 99% of the time, they say ‘oh, that does smell good!’ They like it.”

Tastings at Gowan’s Heirloom Cider are $20 per person and include six samples. The ciders are also available for purchase on the company’s website.

Location: 6320 Highway 128, Philo

Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday-Monday

More information: 707-205-1545, gowansheirloomcider.com

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

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TACOS & TUNES at the Boonville Brewery.

Live Music with Clay Hawkins Due and Boonmex Tacos will be at the Brewery on Friday, November 22.

Live music and our local food truck is all dependent on this storm. The taproom will stay open as long as we have power. The taproom will be a warm, dry place to connect, even if we do not have music or BoonMex.

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A FEAST FOR THE EYES

You Are Invited: Open Studio

Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30, 11am - 5pm

bring your family and friends.

Rebecca Johnson's studio is more than a place. It is a multi-dimensional experience, transformative and inspiring. Come see for yourself.

The renovated studio barn is filled from hayloft to threshing floor with contemporary art. The big barn doors swing open to a stone sculpture garden graced by a grand oak tree surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards.

It is not just a place it is a destination.

Blue Eyed Barn, bird’s beak roof, 34 x 34 x 2 inches

My barns are made of salvaged barn wood, plaster and paint. They are records of the past, reconstructed in a contemporary, contemplative, minimalist perspective.

Rain Collection Forged in Fire

Presenting Sculptures made of cast bronze and glass

One of the constant themes in my work are bodies of water. Drought and huge fires of the past years have compelled me to focus on the drop, a form so simple and metaphorically powerful that I have carved it in stone, cast it in bronze and painted rain and rivers on small and large canvases.

Big River, acrylic paint on wood panel, 48 x 48 x 1 inches

1200 HWY 128, Navarro, CA, mile marker 15.08. Look for a redwood barn with sculptures in the meadow, about a mile east of the Navarro Store

My art embodies the terroir of Northern California

Website: RebeccaJohnsonArt.com

Email: rebecca@rebeccajohnsonart.com

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PART 5: CLOSING THOUGHTS

A Fisherman’s Point of View for The Restoration of the Eel River Watershed Project

by Roy Branscomb

In ending this, I feel that what I have written is pretty accurate and down to earth as far as identifying the problems facing our Eel River salmon. The damage done to our streams that will be around for years to come as well as our weather patterns are the main culprits. I do not see where the fish can overcome these on their own. I realize that there are people who want our streams to be free and wild, and I can appreciate that, but we cannot overlook the facts that our rivers and our weather are not natural for the fish to continue on the way they used to. I believe that the best parts of the river system need to be used as an incubator for holding young fish until they can return to the ocean. It always took unimaginable amounts of young fish in the system so a very few could make it. I feel like the genetics issue should remain a concern but I feel that there are ways to increase the numbers of fish we have and keep the genetics and diversity issues in check. I have read some of the plans to restore the Eel River. They are important but seem not to address the issues that I have mentioned.

People at all levels need to know and understand that the fish we know and love are not the same fish of the 1850s. This will not be a popular thing to say but from 1897 to 1942 these fish are now a species mixed with the Sacramento River strain with around 1,000,000 young fish per year planted in the Eel River through those years.

The adult fish need help and we are the only ones who can help them. Everyone needs to bend a little in our strong beliefs. We need to be open-minded and learn from past mistakes to improve and create a new method of restoring our fish population. All of us, as well as the fish, now live in a world that is different from the past. We have no choice but to adapt to the changes.

The last thing I want to add is that in my opinion the removal of Scott Dam and Van Arsdale Dam will open up an additional 30 miles of river and allow the river to be called “wild and scenic.” But “wild and scenic” is a feel good statement just turns another 30 miles of river into what the other 270 miles of river already are.

We have a huge problem and need to start dealing with it in additional ways that need to be well thought out and implemented. Not in twenty to thirty years, but now. I would like to be a part of that conversation as I have ideas that have been in my mind for 40 to 50 years and they are only getting stronger the more I learn. I think my ideas will help to expand our current efforts.

Thank you for reading and allowing me to express my thoughts.

(Jim Shields comments: Can’t express how much I enjoyed Roy’s “Fisherman’s Perspective” on our watershed and fish issues. It’s a valuable piece of history that’s really entertaining and informative. Roy’s sister, Karen Branscomb Milam, a historian in her own right, also assisted with editing the series. Great jobs by the both of them!)

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WILLITS ACTIVIST FEATURED IN DOCUMENTARY

by Steve Hellman

Famed political activist and long-time Willits resident Sally Gearhart is featured in a documentary film “Sally!” directed by Deborah Craig and showing at the Willits Community Theatre on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. Known for her warm wit and fierce advocacy, Gearhart became an inspiration in the women’s rights and gay rights movement in the 1970s.

The film traces her early roots in Virginia to her teaching in Texas, and ultimately to her major role in Bay Area politics as a lesbian activist, teacher and writer alongside luminaries like former San Francisco Mayor Harvey Milk.

In the mid-1970s Gearhart and several close friends bought property in Brooktrails, which eventually became a gathering place for her community. She later retired to Willits in the early 90s and become a familiar figure around town.

Director Craig says she interviewed Gearhart extensively toward the end of her life for the film, which took six years to make. “She was a charismatic and complex person, welcoming everybody she encountered,” Craig says.

“She wasn’t someone you could easily peg. She lived in the woods and worshipped the trees and the animals, and she ate bacon and Twinkies. She embraced people who were different than her and she counted many men among her friends.”

The film is presently on a festival run, with showings in San Francisco, Chicago, Winston Salem, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Rochester New York, Vienna Austria, and Geneva Switzerland. The 1.5-hour film is Craig’s first feature-length effort .

Craig will be on hand at the Dec. 1, 2 p.m. showing at the WCT playhouse, and will host an open audience dialogue afterward. Tickets are $20 and available online at: www.wctperformingartscenter.org or at the door. Season sponsors for Willits Community Theatre are the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, NC Financial Group, Sparetime Supply, KZYX Radio and Jerry Drew Painting.

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SHERIFF KENDALL:

“Why Alonzo sold out and moved to the coast is a question best left to Matthew Kendall’s family to answer…”

Alonzo Burnham Kendall was my father’s Great Grandfather. He left Kendall City (Boonville area) when he was diagnosed with a breathing disorder (likely asthma) and moved to a ranch in Manchester which was on both sides of the Garcia River. His son Courtney lived on the South side where the Point Arena High school is now. My father, Alonzo Burl Kendall and my grandfather, Alonzo Francis Kendall were both named after him. Old AB’s twin sister Melissa Kendall married JD Ball and remained in Anderson Valley where they planted and farmed the apples. Alonzo Burnham passed on to his rewards about the same time my father was born (1930s).

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RON PARKER: Welcome to downtown Boonville Mendocino County. 10-23-1909 McGimpsy and Whipple Meat Market and J T Farrier and Son Gen Merc Left - Antrim Dry Goods and Groceries to right.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, November 20, 2024

MATTHEW ADAMS, 38, Willits. Engaging in three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct with child under 14 in not less than three months.

CRYSTAL BRODEUR, 39, Fort Bragg. Tear gas, cruelty to child-infliction of injury.

JOSHUA FOX, 26, Ukiah. Unloaded unpermitted handgun without registration number not registered owner, disorderly conduct-alcohol, felon-addict with firearm, unspecified offense.

ESTEBAN GAETA, 28, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

DOMINGO PALACIOS-GARCIA, 31, Gilroy/Ukiah. DUI.

MATT STRAUSE-SCOTT II, 22, Lucerne/Ukiah. DUI.

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STEVE TALBOT:

If you like political intrigue, Vatican drama, and fine acting, I recommend "Conclave." It's a movie for adults. A thinking person's thriller. Cloistered and intense. Ralph Fiennes leads a terrific cast. Just give him the Oscar nomination now. P.S. "Conclave" is also one of those rare indie films for grown-ups that actually is selling tickets and making money. Always a welcome occurrence in the movie business. Support your neighborhood movie theater!

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GETTING WHAT WE DESERVE

Editor:

For a long time, i.e., since I learned to think for myself, I’ve had little respect for our undemocratic system. But I’ve been able to blame progressive failures on the two-party system or the silly and arbitrary rules of the Senate or the politicization of the courts or the Electoral College. But there’s always been the sanctuary of the popular vote — the truly democratic system of one-person, one-vote. Until now. We truly deserve what we get.

J. Chris Kuhn

Santa Rosa

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WHEN FISH ARE FREE:

Hundreds of salmon are now spawning in Klamath River and tributaries after dam removal completed

by Dan Bacher

Hundreds of fall-run Chinook salmon are now spawning on the Klamath River and its tributaries both above and below the former sites of the four PacifiCorp dams — now that the removal of those structures is finally complete.

Craig Tucker, Natural Resources Consultant for the indigenous Karuk Tribe, made a trip to Spencer Creek in Oregon three days ago. He reported counting more than 100 Chinook in Spencer Creek and around the mouth of the creek.

“Salmon are coming back to the Upper Klamath Basin!” Tucker stressed.

The indigenous Yurok Tribe also reported that “hundreds of salmon” are now spawning in the river and tributaries above the former Iron Gate Dam, emphasizing the key role this fish plays in the Klamath’s ecosystem.

“Within eyesight of the fish, the Yurok Revegetation Crew is hand-sowing millions of native plant seeds along the previously inaccessible upper mainstem Klamath and four tributaries,” the tribe observed. “Hundreds of salmon are spawning in this area for the first time in 60 and 112 years. Like all Pacific salmon, these Chinooks will perish after they reproduce and their bodies will provide nutrients for the newly planted vegetation as well as saplings and shrubs established earlier this year. The restoration of the flow of marine nutrients from the ocean to upper basin is one of the many benefits of dam removal.”

The tribe added, “In addition to fertilizing plants, salmons’ corporeal remains will provide food for other fish, birds and mammals, including resident trout, bald eagles and black bears. Salmon is one of the most nutritionally dense food sources for native wildlife in the region. Much more work is needed to get to a point where the reservoir reach is producing large numbers of juvenile salmon: It has only been five weeks since the conclusion of deconstruction component of the dam removal project.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has documented a combined total of 5,660 adult Chinook Salmon and 10 adult Coho Salmon returning to the Shasta River, Bogus Creek, Scott River, Jenny Creek and Shovel Creek, all Klamath tributaries, within the agency’s Klamath Project Adult Fish Counting Facility In-season Update. That report was released on November 8.

The Shasta River station reported 4,625 adult Chinook Salmon and 0 adult Coho Salmon through November 3, 2024.

The Bogus Creek station reported 293 adult Chinook Salmon and 0 adult Coho Salmon through October 30, 2024.

The Scott River station reported 413 adult Chinook Salmon and 10 adult Coho Salmon through November 5, 2024.

Jenny Creek Weir reported 245 Chinook Salmon, 0 Coho Salmon as of October 30, 2024.

Shovel Creek Weir reported 84 Chinook Salmon and 0 Coho Salmon as of October 29, 2024.

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THE MISSING BANANA SLUG THAT HAS A CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY OUTRAGED

With sadness, local police told SFGATE, 'Our poor banana slug is gone'

by Matt LaFever

The Humboldt County community is rallying to find a cherished piece of local art. Morris the Banana Slug, who has stood guard outside of Eureka’s Morris Graves Museum of Art since the summer, was stolen earlier this month in a nighttime heist that has stumped local authorities.

On the night of Nov. 2, the Morris Graves Museum of Art welcomed 800 community members for its monthly arts celebration and town art walk. After the festivities ended and staff locked up, they unknowingly said their last goodnight to Morris: Sometime between 9 p.m. and 11 a.m. the next morning, according to the museum curator, thieves broke into the Melvin Schuler Sculpture Garden, cut the lock and pried Morris — who was secured to the garden’s brick walkway with construction-grade adhesive — from his spot before vanishing with the beloved ceramic icon.

“We are devastated by the theft of our beloved Morris the Slug,” said Jemima Harr, the curator of the Morris Graves Museum of Art. “Art is meant to connect the community and bring us together. In such a divided time, it is art that can unite us, and that is what Morris was intended to do.”

Adding to the heartbreak, a local school group was set to visit the museum just days later to see Morris, only to be told the iconic banana slug would not be there to greet them, Harr said.

It’s been nearly three weeks since Morris was stolen, but the investigation has been slow-going. Laura Montagna, a public information officer for the Eureka Police Department, told SFGATE that the department has no leads at this time. Investigators are still waiting on surveillance footage from two nearby businesses and have received no tips from the public. "We do not have much to go on," Montagna admitted.

She summed it up simply: “Our poor banana slug is gone.”

The museum is also at a loss. “While we have had a lot of community support since Morris went missing, we have not received any public tips as to his whereabouts,” Harr said. In the meantime, funds from the Humboldt Arts Council have been diverted to increase 24-hour surveillance of the museum and its sculpture garden, she said.

Morris was created by Shannon Sullivan, an 18-year art professor at the College of the Redwoods. Sullivan teamed up with Jessica Swan, a local ceramicist, in the summer of 2024 to craft 16 ceramic banana slugs for the Eureka Street Arts Festival. The slugs, spread across 13 locations around Eureka, quickly became symbols of community creativity.

But Morris was special, Sullivan explained. “Morris was the only banana slug installed where someone could walk up and touch it. All of the other ones were placed high up. We used boom lifts to install them way into the architecture, kind of out of harm's way.”

She added, “With Morris, we wanted one that could be a little more interactive, with an accessibility factor. Someone with limited sight could feel the enlarged banana slug, and kids could touch it.”

For Sullivan, the humble gastropod is more than a quirky local mascot — it’s a true emblem of California’s North Coast. “The banana slug is a place-based icon,” she explained. “If you live on the coast in Humboldt County, you can’t step into your backyard without seeing one. They are completely of this place.”

When Sullivan learned Morris had been stolen, she couldn’t believe it. “We were really scandalized when he went missing,” she said. “It was a heist. I’m assuming there was a getaway car — but I could be wrong.”

For years, Sullivan has reassured students who had their art stolen, telling them it was actually a form of praise. “I’ve had students over the 20 years I’ve been teaching at College of the Redwoods who occasionally have their work stolen out of the studio,” she said. “And one of the things I always tell them is, ‘Listen, I know this sucks, but it’s the highest form of flattery when someone steals your work’.”

So when her own artwork was taken, Sullivan was surprised to receive a message from one of those students. They sent a photo of their own series with a piece missing, along with a message: “You were the one who told me that having your work stolen is the highest form of flattery. I hope you’re feeling okay right now.” It was a gesture that meant a lot to Sullivan, she said: simple, but sweet.

The story of Morris the Banana Slug has captured attention far and wide, with newspapers across the state covering the tale. Sullivan believes the story resonates deeply because it reminds people that, in small towns, even the smallest things can matter. “People are genuinely sad about it,” Sullivan said, adding, “Morris really was special.”

The Eureka Police Department is urging anyone with information about the case of Morris “Morrie” the Banana Slug to call 707-441-4044.

(SFgate.com)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Are there even any bands anymore? I grew up loving the likes of country music legends Alabama and the Oak Ridge Boys. Rock bands like Bon Jovi, Van Halen and Aerosmith. Where are the bands? The new entertainers usually can't even play an instrument and need auto tune software to carry a tune. Totally fake. Totally unreal. Offensive.

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1969 M3/7 USMC

We got two C-rat meals a day, if we got resupplied. When we worked the Que Son Mts we were often in the clouds and supply choppers could not land. They did air drops but by the time we found then all that was left was an empty pallet, no rations or parachutes. I can't imagine how the VC found them so fast unless they were all around us. We didn't have Tabasco as we were in the bush, never near a PX and it didn't come in our C-rations which were from the 50s. I've seen some guys say they heated them with C-4 torn out of Claymores. Our Claymores were too valuable to destroy plus the rats came with heat tabs. We never got water on resupply. Ours came from creeks, rice paddys or bomb craters. They gave us Halizone tablets to put in our canteens but I didn't always give them time to work. The damn worms gave you the screaming shits.

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THEY FEED THEY LION

by Philip Levine

Out of burlap sacks, out of bearing butter,
Out of black bean and wet slate bread,
Out of the acids of rage, the candor of tar,
Out of creosote, gasoline, drive shafts, wooden dollies,
They Lion grow.

Out of the gray hills
Of industrial barns, out of rain, out of bus ride,
West Virginia to Kiss My Ass, out of buried aunties,
Mothers hardening like pounded stumps, out of stumps,
Out of the bones’ need to sharpen and the muscles’ to stretch,
They Lion grow.

Earth is eating trees, fence posts,
Gutted cars, earth is calling in her little ones,
“Come home, Come home!” From pig balls,
From the ferocity of pig driven to holiness,
From the furred ear and the full jowl come
The repose of the hung belly, from the purpose
They Lion grow.

From the sweet glues of the trotters
Come the sweet kinks of the fist, from the full flower
Of the hams the thorax of caves,
From “Bow Down” come “Rise Up,”
Come they Lion from the reeds of shovels,
The grained arm that pulls the hands,
They Lion grow.

From my five arms and all my hands,
From all my white sins forgiven, they feed,
From my car passing under the stars,
They Lion, from my children inherit,
From the oak turned to a wall, they Lion,
From they sack and they belly opened
And all that was hidden burning on the oil-stained earth
They feed they Lion and he comes.

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"I have the right ideas, but my words are too… complicated. I need to simplify them, so that people won’t get lost in the dark when they see and hear them. I want them to shine like beacons of light in a world of overly complicated darkness. One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."

― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

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THE SIMPLE TRUTH

by Phillip Levine

I bought a dollar and a half's worth of small red potatoes,
took them home, boiled them in their jackets
and ate them for dinner with a little butter and salt.
Then I walked through the dried fields
on the edge of town. In middle June the light
hung on in the dark furrows at my feet,
and in the mountain oaks overhead the birds
were gathering for the night, the jays and mockers
squawking back and forth, the finches still darting
into the dusty light. The woman who sold me
the potatoes was from Poland; she was someone
out of my childhood in a pink spangled sweater and sunglasses
praising the perfection of all her fruits and vegetables
at the road-side stand and urging me to taste
even the pale, raw sweet corn trucked all the way,
she swore, from New Jersey. "Eat, eat" she said,
"Even if you don't I'll say you did."
Some things
you know all your life. They are so simple and true
they must be said without elegance, meter and rhyme,
they must be laid on the table beside the salt shaker,
the glass of water, the absence of light gathering
in the shadows of picture frames, they must be
naked and alone, they must stand for themselves.
My friend Henri and I arrived at this together in 1965
before I went away, before he began to kill himself,
and the two of us to betray our love. Can you taste
what I'm saying? It is onions or potatoes, a pinch
of simple salt, the wealth of melting butter, it is obvious,
it stays in the back of your throat like a truth
you never uttered because the time was always wrong,
it stays there for the rest of your life, unspoken,
made of that dirt we call earth, the metal we call salt,
in a form we have no words for, and you live on it.

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LEAD STORIES, THURSDAY'S NYT

Who’s Laughing Now? Banana-as-Art Sells for $6.2 Million at Sotheby’s

House Republicans Block the Release of an Ethics Committee Report on Matt Gaetz

Federal Inquiry Traced Payments From Gaetz to Women

Johnson Says He Will Bar Transgender Women From Capitol Bathrooms

Democrats Split as Senate Rejects Bills to Block Weapons Transfers to Israel

As French Rape Trial Nears End, Wife Speaks of ‘Banality’ and ‘Cowardice’

U.S. Proposes Breakup of Google to Fix Search Monopoly

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant: Israel-Hamas War Live Updates

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ONE LOOK AT THE TAWDRY SCANDAL BEHIND MORNING JOE HOSTS Mika and Joe's marriage tells you why MSNBC must now fire these smarmy hypocrites

by Maureen Callahan

The left-wing media is truly two-faced, and those two faces belong to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

What smarmy charlatans they are, spending the entire election cycle defaming Donald Trump as Hitler, as a fascist, as someone who needed to be stopped at all costs because he is 'killing women' along with democracy.

So what did these haughty hypocrites do after the election? Scoot over to kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago, of course.

If MSNBC wants to retain a shred of credibility, Joe and Mika — who reportedly did not inform their bosses before going — should be fired.

But network execs probably won't cut them loose — not immediately, anyway. After all, aside from fellow hysteric Rachel Maddow, these two are the only so-called 'stars' they've got.

Besides, Mika has a perfectly rational explanation.

'Joe and I realized it's time to do something different,' she told their rapidly declining audience on Monday, 'and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him.'

Right. Because, after having spent the past few months screeching and weeping about Hitler reincarnate, who wouldn't ask for a tete-a-tete at Nazi HQ?

Mika's never been that bright. Her incessant on-air sighs and eyerolls are meant to imply that she's far above the buffoonery on 'Morning Joe', but really, those tics belie an intellectual lightweight afraid, or more likely unable, to say anything serious.

No wonder she loved Kamala Harris. Mika, who peddles her ridiculous 'Know Your Value' summits and books and online courses to unsuspecting women, ironically comports herself like someone in way over her head.

As for her equally odious husband – well, Joe Scarborough has always been a self-impressed, dead-eyed liar who seems to think his folksy accent can push any prevarication or insult over the finish line.

'F*** you,' he told his audience in March, defending his No.1 fanboy, Joe Biden, against rumors that the president was non compos mentis. Scarborough knew better, because, as he often informed the great unwashed at home, he and Mika are — well, were — BFFs with the Bidens.

'We have known him a long time,' Scarborough said in July. 'Mika and her family' — Mika the nepo baby, her late father having served LBJ and Jimmy Carter — '[are] extraordinarily close to the Bidens.'

That is exactly the reason Joe and Mika had no business covering the Biden presidency. But Scarborough loooooves to brag about his proximity to power — you know, the kind of stuff any actual, self-respecting journalist finds disgusting and unethical.

After informing his disciples in March that he had just spent 'a couple of hours with Joe Biden, sitting, talking, going around the world as far as talking issues', Scarborough said that Biden is 'far beyond cogent… He's better than he's ever been intellectually, analytically.'

That didn't age well.

Four months later, Scarborough plunged the knife in Biden's back, exhorting him on-air to withdraw from the race.

Mika, meanwhile, took her vaudeville act to 'The View', where she camped it up as an overwrought progressive who just wants abortion!

'We're in crisis,' Mika said.

The sighs were heavy, the tears were brimming, the voice a-tremble. Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, she preached, was beyond the pale.

'Nobody gets a pass trashing America,' she inveighed. 'Nobody gets a pass threatening his enemies with using the military against them.'

Almost forgot that whopper!

Anyway, if you win the US presidential election, it turns out you get a huge pass from Joe and Mika. So off they trotted to Mar-a-Lago, Mika telling their disenchanted viewers that she and Joe needed to 'restart communications', as if this were a bilateral negotiation among warring but equal nations.

Ha! Not so fast. Here was Trump on Truth Social: 'This morning, "Morning" Joe and Mika, who owe their careers to me, went on their show and claimed to have met with me. They made it sound like we had a summit. The truth is, Joe begged to meet with me after our Big Win, and when I finally agreed, he approached me like a scolded dog. He should consider himself lucky that I didn't have him thrown out of beautiful Mar-a-Lago.'

Joe and Mika owe Trump in more ways than one. During his 2016 run, Trump was a boon to Morning Joe's ratings and relevancy, appearing on the show constantly.

And years before that, it was Trump who, among others, helped cover for the worst-kept secret in cable news: Joe and Mika, each married to others, had been enjoying a lengthy affair.

Mika even reportedly called over to the Death Star – aka the Fox News building – in 2013 to personally lobby the network's then-CEO Roger Ailes to kill a story about their relationship, which he did.

Once Trump won the nomination, however, Mika and Joe turned on him. Not very smart.

Trump's tweet, dated August 22, 2016: 'Some day, when things calm down, I'll tell the real story of @JoeNBC and his very insecure long-time girlfriend, @morningmika. Two clowns!'

Now there's an observation that's aged well.

Mika and Joe are but the apex of the crisis facing corporate liberal media, who have lied to their audience for so long, and so brazenly, about Donald Trump.

In fact, parent company Comcast is reportedly now planning to put MSBNC, along with other declining assets, up for sale.

A betrayed audience is finally questioning shameless, transactional, empty mouthpieces like Joe and Mika: so-called truth-tellers devoid of any moral compass, who seemingly care only about scoring that next interview, keeping their celebrity intact, and getting invites to the next state dinner.

An audience now made to feel foolish, if not stupid, for believing and parroting everything these two and their compatriots ever said.

Naturally, Scarborough has doubled down, claiming on Tuesday that, 'Yesterday, I saw for the first time what a massive disconnect there was between social media and the real world, because we were flooded with phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, all very positive, very supportive, "I understand what you did," et cetera.'

Joe: Your own ratings contradict you.

Data obtained by Mediaite shows that 38 percent of viewers in the crucial 25 to 54-year-old age group switched off after their little Trump-meeting disclosure on Monday. 'Morning Joe' then kept shedding eyeballs hour by hour.

Meanwhile, MSNBC is in revolt, with colleagues calling the meeting 'disgusting', 'cowardice' and 'frankly unsurprising… [Mika and Joe] are just opportunistic.'

No kidding. A marriage born in deceit gives way to a morning show built on lies. Who would have thought?

Yet a source close to 'Morning Joe' – Shmika, perhaps? – defended the meeting, saying it 'was f***ing worth it'.

Better be. Or these two may, in fact, find themselves out of a job.

(dailymail.co.uk)

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ANGRY YOUNG MEN FOR TRUMP

by Liz Mermin

On the morning of the US presidential election, my twelve-year-old son told me that Trump was going to win: ‘All the influencers back him, and he’s all over social media’ (this although my son has no social media accounts and is not supposed to go on YouTube). “Harris is all over social media too,” I said. “Not the same,” he said. He was right. I should have known better.

I spent most of 2023 uncomfortably immersed in dark, angry corners of the internet for a documentary feature (Doom Scroll) on the infamous misogynist and long-time Trump fan Andrew Tate. Our working assumption was that the design of social media platforms, the way their algorithms are tuned, made the success of someone like Tate inevitable. Tate himself was just the loudest, most dogged or luckiest of the thousands of grifters striving to be the world’s most influential influencer by taking on the ‘woke mob’ with a professed return to “traditional values.”

Many people refused to talk with us. They said that by giving Tate more attention we were serving his ends. The idea that a television documentary would have any influence at all on Tate’s enormous popularity is, unfortunately, laughable; the idea that ignoring him will make the problem go away is wishful thinking. What we hoped the film might do was help viewers understand that social media companies churn out addictive, unhealthy products – like junk food or tobacco – with no concern for the effects they have on consumers.

The violence of Tate’s misogyny led to a ban by all the major platforms in August 2022, but his content spread even further: at his prompting, an army of followers clipped and posted his videos so that they continued to dominate the feeds of boys and young men on TikTok, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels. The platforms made periodic and ineffective attempts to clear him off (except Elon Musk, who welcomed him back to Twitter, where he went from zero to one million followers in 24 hours). They could have done more, but why would they? Tate served their bottom line.

The popularity and success of such a ridiculous and disgusting character prompted some useful self-reflection: in this case, urgently needed discussions about some of the challenges facing boys and young men. But calls for healthier male role models and images of positive masculinity ignored the way that social media algorithms work: positive messages simply can’t compete with negative ones. Tribalism, conflict and extremism provoke responses and are therefore rewarded by the algorithms. Moderation, compromise and nuance suppress engagement and are demoted. Michelle Obama’s mantra “when they go low, we go high” is a losing strategy on social media.

The platforms’ algorithms are content agnostic: their goal is to keep hold of your eyeballs for as long as possible so they can collect your data and sell you ads. If we lived in a world where more of us engaged with Fellini than serial-killer docuseries, the wealth of material freely available online might lead to a new enlightenment. But anger, resentment and fear are what keep us engaged the longest. This is win-win for someone like Tate: those who love him engage because his content is angry with others (feminists, liberals) and those who hate him engage because they want to prove him wrong. Tate taught students at his online “university” the adage that it doesn’t matter if they hate you or love you, so long as they’re talking about you. He figured 60% negative to 40% positive reactions was the sweet-spot.

One of the most striking post-election statistics was the rise in support for Trump among the young. Many of us were shocked, though we shouldn’t have been. Trump’s content was being pumped at young men at a greater rate even than Tate’s. He did the rounds of manosphere podcasts, where he made tasteless jokes that landed well with the people who also laughed at the offensive remarks made about Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally at the end of October. There really is no such thing as bad publicity on social media. So the election result should not have come as a surprise to anyone.

(London Review of Books)

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