Despite the Valley’s first “proper” rain for several months hitting Boonville around kick-off time last Wednesday (Sept 24), it was clear that the Panthers were far more concerned with the impending match against Roseland Prep,…
Posts published in “Essays”
Turning 25 years old is a big deal for a community radio station created by a band of dreamers in the Anderson Valley, operating on a shoestring, and broadcasting 24 hours a day – music, news and public affairs, both local and national — to nearly all parts of far-flung Mendocino County.
Participants in the ambitious ten-day First Annual Sebastopol Village Building Convergence (VBC) painted murals on streets in this small Northern California town and filled the Grange Hall, the Permaculture Skills Center, and other sites from…
On an August Saturday night 54 years ago, Mendocino Sheriff’s Deputy Erwin ‘Butch’ Carlstedt was on patrol in downtown Point Arena when he received a call from Sonoma County dispatch advising that a home invasion…
The Albion was on 16th Street in the Mission district, on the corner of an alley called, yes, Albion Street. This was when the Mission was a largely Latino, relatively inexpensive, hip (as opposed to "hipster", which is the opposite), and sometimes dangerous part of town. But it was really only risky if you were a jerk to some local vatos or tried to walk home or to your car drunk at 2am closing time, when the predators did come out for easy prey. Otherwise, it was just a cool neighborhood for almost every kind of person with the best food options in town, even if quite dirty in places.
In some circles of this country, citizens understand that 600,000 billion tons of CO2 poured into the atmosphere since 1750 has shifted Earth’s natural greenhouse effect and set in motion changes in climate. Seeing California, and in particular Mendocino County, as breeding grounds of awareness, I presumed I lived in a hotbed of activism.
Since early in High School, I have been involved with a variety of social issues. However, prior to moving to Mendocino County in 1999 those efforts were limited to non-working hours. My first full-time job was as a communications technician for AT&T in the Bay Area. Twelve years, and lots of experience later, I left AT&T as a Manager of State Government Affairs for California to become the second member of a consultancy firm that focused on working in telecommunications reform and regulation on a more national level. During that time I moved to Mendocino County.