Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Aug 11, 2015

• Jerusalem Fire
• Breakfast Burrito
• Documentary Reviews
• Forestry Practices
• Trivia Quiz
• Social Host Ordinance
• Trumping Shills
• Yesterday's Catch
• Summertime Blues
• KMUD Fun
• Dinnerstein
• Poison Medicine
• Silver Spotting
• Conservative Hellholes
• Offer Varies
• Race Myth
• PA Agenda
• Coastal Artists
• Park Concerts

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Weary firefighters in Lake County kept up their fight Tuesday morning against the out-of-control Jerusalem Fire, which doubled in size overnight.

The fire, which broke out about 3:30 p.m. Sunday roughly 7 miles northeast of Middletown, grew from 6,000 acres Monday night to 12,000 acres Tuesday morning and forced evacuations, mirroring the upheaval caused by the separate Rocky Fire.

Firefighters, coping with fierce winds and unpredictable fire behavior, said the Jerusalem blaze was burning in the direction of the Rocky Fire and the two could merge as early as Tuesday.

 

JERUSALEM FIRE UPDATE, CalFire, 7pm, Monday, August 10, 2015:

Now up to 6,000 acres.

Containment forecast for August 17, 2015. No containment percentage declared.

Over 1100 firefighters on scene. 83 engines. 32 crews. 17 helicopters, 23 dozers, 18 tenders.

Firefighting resources are being transferred from the Rocky Fire to the Jerusalem Fire. Erratic winds are contributing to the increased fire activity and promoting high intensity runs with short range spotting. Crews are working aggressively to stop the progression and sustain perimeter control. Residents are urged to stay vigilant and adhere to any changes in evacuations and road closures. Fire activity and direction can change at any time, be prepared and stay informed. With the elevated fire danger, we are asking everyone to use extreme caution, “Ready, Set, Go”. For more information on how to prepare for wildfires, go to www.readyforwildfire.org.

Evacuation Center: The Middletown High School (415) 307-4503

Mandatory Evacuations are in place for the Jerusalem Valley area east of Spruce Grove. This includes Tinilyn Road, Nicholas Way, Jaclyn Road, June Bug Drive, Jerusalem Grade, Jerusalem Valley Road, Jerusalem Road, W Jerusalem Road, Canyon Road, Coon Flat Road and Daly Place.

Advisory Evacuations are issued for Grange Road from Luchetti Ranch Road east to Bucksnort Creek, Butts Canyon Road from Bucksnort Creek east to the Napa County Line, Morgan Valley Road from the Reiff Road intersection east to the Napa County Line and Reiff Road from the Morgan Valley Road intersection east to the Yolo County Line.

Road Closures: Jerusalem Valley Road is closed to all traffic at Spruce Grove Road, Morgan Valley Road from Reiff Road southeast to Napa County Line, Reiff Road from Morgan Valley east to Yolo County Line and Berryessa Knoxville Road closed from Lake Berryessa north (per Napa County Sheriff).

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LOWER LAKE POT GROWER ARRESTED FOR SETTING BACKFIRE NEAR JERUSALEM FIRE (Lake County News):

http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42933:lower-lake-man-arrested-for-setting-backfire-near-jerusalem-fire&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197

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WIFE DEFENDS MAN ARRESTED FOR SETTING BACKFIRE

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Firefighters-switch-to-battling-new-fire-in-Lake-6435082.php

BEST BREAKFAST DEAL in the County? The breakfast burrito at the Anderson Valley Market. Five bucks and you're good until dinner.

EVER SINCE Pasquale DeVino quit dry-farming pesticide free wine grapes in small quantities on the less frosty ridges above Anderson Valley, the contemporary wine industry's image-sanitization scheme of "Fish Friendly Farming" stands as a blatant oxymoron. Who are they kidding? The name itself is layered deception in that the only "farms" involved are wine grape vineyards and for that reason a new FFF promotional video shown at the Grange Saturday night, "Fish Friendly Wine", is, at least, a tad more truthful in name.

WINE'S ALLURE from its introduction in Genesis is in its psychotropic properties. Yet it is a drug which mostly European descendants have made fashionable. Reducing the amounts of siltation and other contaminant run-off by some percent, cutting back water use by some percent, lowering pesticide and other toxic practices by some percent, if it truly happens, is not fish, or environment, friendly. The environment and the fish in it still die. If while you're beating me up you choose to only stab me a few times and not use the gun you have in reserve is that a sign of friendliness?

FISH FRIENDLY FARMING is a myth at best — a dangerous and sad mindset when believed by the perpetrators and masses alike. If you're curious you can find the full 23 minute video on the home page of the Fish Friendly Farming website.

THE SECOND MOVIE presented at the Grange Saturday night was much wiser, albeit somewhat too long. The Russian River: All Rivers — The Value Of An American Watershed takes a deep look at human impacts on our aqueous environment. As might be expected by the focus on the Russian River, the area prevalent wine growing industry is deservedly given the biggest hit. I, along with a few others, could not sit through the whole thing and had to leave early but that doesn't mean that it is not a worthy documentary. $20 or $25 bucks will get you a copy online or maybe film showing organizer (retired judge) Eric Labowitz will be willing to loan it out. (David Severn)

HACK & SNUFF DISCUSSION IN FORT BRAGG

Linda Perkins, Bill Heil & Fire Chief Ted Williams will lead a discussion of Hack & Squirt and other forestry practices on Second Tuesday. That's Tuesday, August 11 at 6 p.m., Town Hall, Main & Laurel Sts. In Fort Bragg.

THE MAJOR was fill-in host for the weekly Trivia Quiz at Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville last Thursday while Regular Quizmaster Steve Sparks is out of the country. Catholic in his interests, the fill-in quizmaster combined a basic citizenship quiz with a true-false round about whether certain song titles were real country songs or not.

The Citizenship quiz asked how many amendments are there to the US Constitution, when the great document was signed, who is the current Supreme Court Chief Justice, who is the area’s Congressperson and so forth.

SOME of the (incorrect) answers to the citizenship questions:

Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Answer: “We’re too young for this shit.”

And these two answers to the question about our current Congressperson:

1. “Krusty the Clown,” and 2. “Dan Hardman,” apparently a krazy mash-up of Dan Hamburg and Jared Huffman.

THE HIGHEST SCORE on the eight-question citizenship round was 4.5 out of 8 questions.

COUNTRY SONG TITLES, True/False (half-point each)

1. I Keep Forgettin' That I Forgot About You.
2. If I Can't Live Without Her, How Come I Ain't Dead?
3. I Didn’t Know She Was My Half Sister.
4. New Bottle Of Whiskey, Same Old Testament.
5. Eighty Proof Bottle of Tear Stopper.
6. I May Be Blind, But I Can See You’re Cheatin’.
7. You Done Stomped On My Heart and Mashed That Sucker Flat.
8. Take Me Drunk, I'm Home.
9. You've Been Talkin' French In Your Sleep Ever Since You Drank That ’Spensive Wine.
10. It’s A Matter Of Wife And Debt.
11. Tell Ol' “I Ain't Here” He Better Get On Home.
12. When the Ship Hits the Sand.
13. You Ain't Much Fun Since I Quit Drinkin’.
14. My Urine is A-Burnin', and You Better Believe I'm Pissed.
15. I Got That My-Woman's-Talking-Liberation Blues.
16. Drop Kick Me, Jesus, Through The Goalposts of Life.

THE LOWEST SCORE on the Country Song Round was 4.5. Yes, the quizzers all scored higher on the Country Song round than they did on the Citizenship test.

ONE PLAYER on Thursday told the Major that he gauges the difficulty the quiz questions like this: “If I know the answer, it’s too easy.”

ONE TEAM was an enthusiastic young couple with a toddler in a stroller. Their team name: “Here till the baby freaks out.” The baby did not freak out, and they tied for second.

STEVE McLAUGHLIN OF THE ICO in Gualala writes in with a timely correction:

Subject: Mendocino County Social Host Ordinance

Anderson Valley Advertiser, Aug 5, 2015: “WE WENT looking for Mendocino County's 'social host ordinance' because it's news to us that we have one, discovering that Mendocino County does not have a social host ordinance.”

It's Ordinance #3968, adopted April 1997, Chapter 8.85 et seq. You can look it up!

https://www.municode.com/library/ca/mendocino_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MECOCO_TIT8PUHESAWE_CH8.85SEALMIEVPRPR_S8.85.010FIPU

Sec. 8.85.010 - Findings and Purpose.

The Board of Supervisors finds that this Chapter is necessary for the following reasons:

(A) Unsupervised parties on private property where alcohol is consumed by minors are not only unlawful but often a cause for disturbance.

(B) Problems associated with such gatherings are difficult to resolve unless the Sheriff's Office has the legal authority to enter the private premises and direct the host to disperse the group.

(C) Law enforcement's ability to abate loud and disturbing gatherings or gatherings where alcohol is served to minors on private property will decrease the abuse of intoxicants by minors, physical altercations and injuries, neighborhood vandalism and excessive noise, thereby improving public safety.

(D) Abatement of large parties, gatherings or events on private property is necessary when such activity is determined to be a threat to the peace, health, safety, or general welfare of the public.

(E) Sheriff's deputies frequently have been required to make return calls to the location of a party, gathering, or event in order to disperse uncooperative participants, causing a drain of manpower and resources and, in some cases, leaving other areas of the County with inadequate police protection.

(F) Accordingly, the purposes of this Chapter are:

To protect public health, safety and general welfare;

To enforce laws prohibiting the consumption of alcohol by minors;

To recover costs of providing law enforcement services to abate parties, gatherings or events.

(Ord. No. 3968 (part), adopted 1997.)

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Sec. 8.85.030 - Unlawful Gatherings on Private Property When Alcohol is Served to Minors.

Except as permitted by Article I, Section 4 of the California Constitution, no person shall suffer, permit, allow or host a party, gathering or event at his or her place of residence or other private property, place or premises under his or her control where five (5) or more persons under the age of twenty-one (21) are present and alcoholic beverages are in the possession of, or are being consumed by, any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years. A violation of this Section shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment for up to six (6) months in the county jail, or by both fine and imprisonment.

Steve McLaughlin, Editor and Publisher
Independent Coast Observer, 38500 S Highway 1
PO Box 1200, Gualala, CA 95445
(707) 884-3501 x 13, FAX (707) 884-1710

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Almost nothing so far can knock Trump down or take him out. Fox News tried in last week’s “debate” — which was not a debate at all, really, but a half-assed interrogation — by trying to set the female half of the public against him for his nasty remarks about women over the years. Of course, the dirty secret of both politics and the media is that the common backstage chatter among pols and TV news producers is every bit as vulgar and hateful as anything Trump said. In case you haven’t noticed, all of America has turned into a verbal sewer, especially the virtual public realm of television. I don’t remember anyone complaining about the comportment of the characters in Tony Soprano’s Badda-Bing Lounge. In fact, awards were heaped on the depiction of that behavior. That’s who we are now.

The rise and persistence of Trump raises a more pertinent question: why are all the other candidates such obvious shills for the implacable engine of grift that is destroying the Republic? Why has nobody with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders, called bullshit on the basic operations of the machine? Why have no other persons of real stature stepped forward to challenge the suicidal dynamic of the age? (James Kunstler)

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 10, 2015

ANNETTE AZBILL, Ukiah. Suspended license.

ANDREA BELION, Stockton/Cloverdale. Domestic assault.

CAMERON BRACKETT, Potter Valley. Failure to appear.

WAYNE CAMPBELL, Redwood Valley. Possession of controlled substance, failure to appear.

DARLEEN CARDIEL, Upper Lake. Purchase of stun gun by felon, unlawful display of vehicle registration.

WILLIAM CLAPPER, Eureka/Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

ADRIANA CORONA-RAMOS, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

BRENT HAAS, Ukiah. Domestic assault, concealed weapon while driving.

TARA LASARGE, Redwood Valley. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale.

SHANE MILLER JR., Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MARCO MOON, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

JOSE PINEDA-MORENO, Sanger/Ukiah. DUI, child endangerment, suspended license, probation revocation.

DANIEL STEEN, Redwood Valley. Pot cultivation, processing, possession for sale.

‘SUMMERTIME BLUES’

Well I'm a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm a-gonna raise a holler

About a-workin' all summer just to try an' earn a dollar

Everytime I call my baby, to try to get a date

My boss says, "No dice, son, you gotta work late"

Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do

Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

 

Well my mom 'n' papa told me, "Son, you gotta make some money"

"If you wanna use the car to go ridin' next Sunday"

Well, I didn't go to work, told the boss I was sick

"Now you can't use the car 'cause you didn't work a lick"

Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do

Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

 

I'm gonna take two weeks, gonna have a vacation

I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations

Well, I called my congressman and he said quote,

"I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote"

Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do

Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

 

Well I'm a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm a-gonna raise a holler

About workin' all summer just to try an' earn a dollar

Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do

Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

 

Yeah, sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do

Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

No there ain't no cure for the summertime blues

(— Alan Jackson)

KMUD, WHERE PUBLIC RADIO IS FUN

Hello KMUD friends and supporters —

My name is Emily Hobelmann, and I am the Underwriting Representative at KMUD. Most of you know me. Some of you I haven’t met. Either way, I want to invite you to KMUD’s upcoming Pool Party & Soul Flow evening of electronic music on Friday, August 21st, right here at the station in Redway.

The KMUD Pool Party features two full-size pools and it runs from noon to 5 p.m. on the 21st. Bring your kids, swim attire, floaties and towels. There will be music, tasty local treats and beverages provided by our sponsor Lagunitas. That’s here at the station on Friday, August 21st, from noon to 5 p.m.

KMUD’s Soul Flow party is the same day, and it runs from 5 p.m. to midnight. Soul Flow features EDM (electronic dance music) with DJs Noel Screech Owl, Tim Coppertone, Marjo Lak and Joe-e. This is a complimentary event, meant to get you moving. All ages are welcome to this outdoor music event sponsored by Butter Music, KMUD, Deep Groove Society and Cold Blue Water Band. No dogs please. And again, that’s here at the station on Friday, August 21st from 5 p.m. to midnight.

The Pool and Soul Flow parties are being thrown as part of KMUD’s Summer Blitz Pledge Drive, which runs from August 17th through the 22nd. Please feel free to stop by anytime, especially during our pledge drive! We just got new flooring installed at the station, and it’s a welcome improvement.

I’ll be here for the parties on August 21st, celebrating KMUD with our staff, board and community. I hope to see you here!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Emily Hobelmann

Underwriting Representative
KMUD -- Redwood Community Radio
Office: 707-923-2513
Cell: 707-362-0734
emily@kmud.org

POT COMMENT OF THE DAY

These issues need further addressing. Currently Marijuana is legal as a medicine 215 in California. However the production of this "medicine " has been done more recently in many instances with little regard for the end user. Pesticides, fungicides etc all get concentrated when it is used as hash or whatever. When people start to realize the wicked nature of these poisons when they are inhaled the game changes radically. That is a significant problem so far unaddressed.

Just because there is a possibility that marijuana may become legal as a recreational drug does not magically make it an agriculture product.

The only real reason the "TRIANGLE" is where it is grown so prolifically now is because of the relative lack of enforcement and the wild west nature of our counties. It is certainly not the soils as is evident by the truckloads that need to be imported. Once other places can grow blue dream, sour diesel, or pink princess I fear we are just going to be left with a giant mess to clean up.

BETSY CAWN WRITES FROM LAKE COUNTY:

Re: Riverwatch – Here’s what Mr. Silver did in Lake County, for what it’s worth. If these measures have been put in place, it is unknown to the general public and unnoticed by our so-called “Clean Water Program.” Oh, but for sure, $65K of public monies went into his pockets and not a peep since!

http://www.ncriverwatch.org/legal/resolved/potw_lake_county_c_03_04552_mjj/c03_04452mjjsttleagrorderlakeco2-4-05.pdf

CONSERVATIVE PLACES LIST

Local news in Denver is all over the big murder-at-the-movies story. Aurora Colorado, by the way, is on the ten most conservative cities in the USA list. Essentially, it's east Denver. Not far to Kansas from there. Look west and see the mountains. To the east, flatlands. Essentially, Kansas. Am I suggesting a connection between "most conservative" and the mass killing? Certainly. Conservative areas have more guns and meaner people. Figure it out. Is this not true? Well, the Koch Bros. must require a lot of armed guards...

Also on the list is Colorado Springs, home of the self-righteous moralist outfit called "Focus on the Family" - and the New Life Church starring pastor Ted Haggard, meth using preacher and patron of male prostitutes. Am I suggesting a connection here as well? Oh yes. Couldn't Pat Robertson have cured him of homosexuality? Ha ha. Severely religious people are almost always hiding something dirty, something they regard as wrong, behind their strident expressions of "faith." Do they really think no one else sees this? It is harder for them to deny than it is for us to see. Want proof? Drive across Interstate 30 in Arkansas sometime. Exhibit One: Every other billboard advertises Jesus and porn shops. One for one. All I can really say to these people is: Stop it. Stop pretending you are morally superior, because you are not, and stop assuming that everyone else is as depraved as you are, and hell-bound if they don't jump on your bandwagon.

That's two out of ten, nationally. Although, while a bit of further research shows some variance, there are no surprises. Every place on every "most conservative" list is a place I would try to avoid anyway. Why Mesa Arizona rather than anywhere else in the grand Phoenix-plex? Why Anaheim CA rather than anywhere else in Orange County, when the whole region is a hotbed of republicans. Homage to Walt Disney, maybe?

Why are there no altar girls in the Catholic church?

Of course, I am messing with some cherished beliefs. The outraged, rabid protests of gun people in the face of the now-everyday killings by police, wild-eyed paranoid crackpots, etc., would be downright comical if not for the severity of the problem. If everyone was armed, there wouldn't be any shooting. Right.

— Jeff Costello

THE MYTH OF RACE

by Lee Simon

A sermon should be a spiritual challenge, and this is one from outside the box. It ties in with Frank Dixon’s wonderful sermon about the gravity of culture. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all white people or to all black people or all Asian people. Biological races do not exist, except in myth.

In 1950 the United Nations opted to drop the term ‘race’ and speak instead of ‘ethnic groups’. The myth is based on the idea that the differences are intrinsic and intrinsically perceptible. They’re not. The cultural gravity with regard to race is heavy, even though all humans share 99.99% of their genetic material and can create offspring.

This universal social myth is deeply held in our psyches. The concept of race originated as a folk idea and ideology about human differences. It was a social invention, not a product of science.

In 1950 the world famous British/American anthropologist Ashley Montagu published the book Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The fallacy of race. It’s available on Amazon.

We are all aware of the horrendous history of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination, lynching, rape, slavery, genocide, oppression, denigration and murder done in the name of the myth of race. Nor am I unaware of how deeply etched into our psyches is the concept of race, with the full weight of the gravity of culture, and how much damage it has done to both the victims and the victimizers of racism.

Yet even the myth changes historically. It used to be said by academics that there are five races, then it became four, now according to today’s anthropologists it’s just three, with 30 racial subgroups. In reality there are none. Folk language says you are white, or black, or Asian. The verb is “are”. That’s not so. You are called white, or black, or Asian. It’s not what you are, it’s what you are called.

However, the horrors will not end unless we all see it as it is, a myth that the differences are intrinsic and intrinsically perceptible. Can a myth be so pervasive? Yes. Myths are more powerful than history. Think of the myth of the Virgin birth and how pervasive that has been for two thousand years, or the myth of the so-called “Jewish race” promulgated by Hitler. Think of how everyone used to believe that the earth is flat, and that the sun revolves around the earth.

Those beliefs were not myths, but people acted as if they were true, even though they had no basis in reality. It was understandable simple ignorance. So is the myth of race. It’s all just in our minds, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy.

The myth of race began, believe it or not, around the year 1100 CE. It was Pope Urban II, recruiting people for the first Crusade.

It was Urban who first used the term race. He wrote a speech. Here is what he said. “On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile Muslim race from the lands of our friends.”

Addressing his audience in French, Urban called the Franks, a “race chosen and beloved by God”. He said to take arms against the Muslim infidels. Urban cursed the Muslims as “a despised and base race, which worships demons.”

That is when and where the idea of race entered the human psyche, about the year 1095. Before that there were tribes and ethnicities and city-states, but no races. A few hundred years ago there were no such entities called nations, and look how deeply that idea has become imbedded in our psyches.

I am going to share with you three concepts that give the lie to the myth of race. Here is the first one.

If you take the entire spectrum of so-called racial characteristics, skin color, hair, eyes, noses, etc. and you create a line, taking skin color for example. On one end is a Caucasian albino, very white. On the other end is an African in central Africa, very black. Historically people have drawn a line, and in different places on the spectrum at different times and geographical places. Nature does not draw any lines. People do, and then group-think kicks in. It is a social construct, created by people, not nature.

If we draw the line near the left side of the spectrum then most of us in this room will be in the black race. If we draw the line near the other end then most of us in this room will be so-called white, even if we are socially placed otherwise. The lines are arbitrary and capricious.

Again, nature draws no racial lines and creates no racial groupings; only people do, in their minds. We might just as well have three races, tall, medium, and short people. Why not? That’s just as reasonable as the three we’ve got. And then where would you draw the lines? Very subjectively. Height is a physical characteristic; so are skin color and hair. Nature didn’t pick which ones to put into groups. People did that. If a person is bi-racial, into which group would you put them? It would depend on where you drew the line.

The second concept is that the diversity within any so-called racial group is as great as the diversity of so-called racial characteristics between one race and another. Intra-group differences often exceed inter-group differences.

There are red headed black people, and quite dark skinned white people, and albino African Americans, and tall Asians, and so on.

It is purely arbitrary as to who puts whom in a particular racial group. Racists always say, “They all look alike”. But they don’t, not at all. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Tibetan, Malayan, Polynesian, Maori, Micronesian, Eskimo, and American Indian people are all in the so-called Asian race, but they do not all look alike.

The third concept is this; humans, homo sapiens, originated in sub-Sahara Africa about 200,000 years ago. That is the basis of the human gene pool. Over the course of a thousand generations, due to migration, natural selection, and adaptation the human species developed a wide range of so-called racial characteristics. But we all, each of us, have that mixture of genes within us.

We are all all of the races genetically, we’re all mixed, just some more than others. Hitler said that if you are just 1/64th of the Jewish “race” you are a Jew. The U.S. Government says that unless you are at least 1/8th Native American you do not quality for scholarships and benefits. To people in the KKK if you have any percentage of so-called “Negro blood” in you, you are sub-human. Nature did not assign those fractions; people did, and arbitrarily; and who gave them the right to assign people to groups? Nobody. They gave it to themselves. Again, three concepts: the spectrum, the intra-group diversity, the gene mix.

So what do we do with this? It is a challenge to our spiritual growth. Here is my idea as to how we can become more in fulfillment of the seven principles of the UU.

It’s all in our heads, so we need to change our perception. Here’s what I mean. When we look at another human being, let’s say when they enter the room we are in, we immediately notice things about that person, in a particular order. Like this: gender-race-age-size-appearance-social status-demeanor-mood. My premise here is that we all see race second. We are trained where we put it by the gravity of culture.

You may rearrange the order after gender and race. But those two are the first two things we see. What we need to do is to train our minds to see some of the others before we see and think race, so we can progress to where we don’t see race at all. That is very simple and not very easy to do. But until we do that, the myth will continue to prevail in our minds. This will take practice and commitment.

Each of the above factors is a fact. Gender is a fact; age is a fact, size is a fact, appearance is a fact; social class is a fact, demeanor is a fact, mood is a fact. Race is not a fact, it’s a mental social construct. We may each of us relate to those facts differently, and perceive those facts differently, but each factor is based in reality. Race is not a fact. It’s a social construct given validity only by our minds. It has no basis in reality.

We often say that perception is reality, and psychologically it usually is, but not with race. If it is a perception of a myth then it is delusion, not reality. With all the other factors, which are factual, it is reality, even if based on our perception of the factor. But since race is a myth, how race is perceived differently by different people is not reality. One’s perception of a myth is still a myth.

There are probably two steps in the process. First we need to place race farther down on the list. To tell yourself to not think about race will not work. You have to think about something else before you think about race.

Then, secondly, after having worked on that successfully, we need to take it off of the list entirely. We’re not fully human until we do.

This goes way beyond racial tolerance, which is admirable and necessary, and it works, sometimes, until it doesn’t. Racial tolerance is necessary, but not sufficient. Why? Because it perpetuates the myth. Also, all of the tolerant people are not tolerant all the time. Tolerance impacts on the symptom, but it does not eliminate the cause, the myth.

Most of us, and maybe all of us see ourselves as not being racist. We are all, to one degree or another, racist. Due to cultural gravity it is impossible to be raised in this culture and not be racist to some degree, myself included; it matters not what racial group we place ourselves in.

This is the spiritual work we all need to do to end the scourge of racism. It’s also the case that much of what we call racial prejudice is really social class prejudice and ethnic prejudice, both of which are also reprehensible, but not racial.

People do not act in anti-social, violent ways because they are black or white or Latino or Asian. They act that way because they are poor, because they have no money and no hope; or because they are deranged and anti-social, and/or because they have been oppressed by those more powerful than themselves. It will be as difficult to end the myth of race as it will be to end the myths of traditional organized religion. But it must be done.

Throughout human history myths come and go. The Greek and Roman myths no longer have any social power. The myths of organized religions are still with us but on their way out, due to modern science.

To end racism in the world we must end it in the home, and to end it in the home we must end it within ourselves. I trust that we can each take a step in that direction. The gravity of culture is only as strong as you and I allow it to be.

©2015, Lee Simon. Virginia

CITY OF POINT ARENA SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA for August 11, 2015

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/cc17f1c6-361b-462c-9f28-40a524f07038

OPEN STUDIOS EVENTS IN MENDOCINO & FORT BRAGG SEPTEMBER 5 & 6

Local artists from Mendocino to north of Fort Bragg are opening their studios in a special event during the holiday weekend, September 5 & 6, 11AM - 5PM. Watch demonstrations at the Artists' Co-op in Mendocino and stroll through extensive collections and selections by well known local artists including Sandy Oppenheimer and John Fisher, Claire Fortier, Eleanor Harvey, Juriaan Blok, John and Judy Hewitt, with guest artist Will Hewitt, Jacquelyn and Christopher Cisper, Virginia Sharkey, and Jessica Jade Norris at the Artist Coop of Mendocino. For a map of the studio locations visit Artists' Co-op, 45270 Main St, Mendocino or look up Open Studios Fort Bragg Mendocino on Facebook.

DOUBLE STANDYRD & TOP SHELF

This Sunday, August 16th in Todd Grove Park at 6:00pm Fowler Auto & Truck Center, The City of Ukiah, KWNE-FM and MAX 93.5 are proud to present the fifth concert of the 24th annual Sundays in the Park concert series with two of Mendocino’s favorite bands, Double Standyrd and Top Shelf.

Starting the evening off will be one of Mendocino County’s newest bands Double Standyrd, a Mendocino County Blues/Southern Rock band. Top Shelf, performing in the second half is the premier rock reggae group in Northern California. A year after releasing their most successful album yet, The Sound, Ukiah, California’s own Top Shelf continues to push their form of rock/reggae to new dimensions, reaching new and old fans alike.