2. Tuolumne River Trust - take part in whitewater rafting, kayaking, and more
3. TRT and elementary school clean up Palo Alto Baylands
4. Save Knowland Park continues battle for democracy
5. Green Connections Walk & Talk this month
6. WALC's annual celebration and fundraiser May 19
7. Dinner Gathering to benefit Beyond Searsville Dam
8. Joint hearing on Beach Chalet Athletic Field soccer complex May 24
9. Cast your online vote for Sutro Nursery
10. Watershed Nursery expands open days
11. Wild Photo Context - submit your photos of the wild
12. What To Remember When Waking by David Whyte
13. Desert solar bill passes. Desert “forsaken of most things but beauty and madness and death and God"
14. Rilke: All will come again into its strength
15. Feedback: solar energy/martinet examples/disc golf in McLaren
16. Invasive Spartina at Bolinas Lagoon lecture May 16
17. Honeybees (and wild cousins?) disappearing/how biodiversity keeps Earth alive
18. SF Natural History Series: San Bruno Mtn May 17
19. Richard Feynman on physics/a math conundrum
20. Humor miscellany
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold. -Leo Tolstoy
1. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission continues its dishonest propaganda in its monthly water bills. It has been strenuously working at deceiving the public by a drumbeat campaign of calling water which comes from the Tuolumne River, Hetchy Hetchy water. The Tuolumne is one of the great California rivers, starting at the Sierran crest around Mt Lyell, Tioga Pass, and points north, flowing many miles through tree-lined meadows, undulating cascades and mini-waterfalls, eventually calming down in the celebrated Tuolumne Meadows, thence downstream into dramatic canyons carved by glaciers through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, eventually into Hetch Hetchy Valley--in Yosemite National Park!!--where San Francisco had the chutzpah to stop its exhilarating, playful, and poetic grandeur by plugging a narrow defile in this grandest of rivers. Why? To store its water! Store your water elsewhere, San Francisco. Have you no shame?
This month's water bill contained a blurb from the PUC with picture of a poodle drinking from a cup clearly labeled "Hetch Hetchy Tap Water".
PUH - LEEZ!!
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2. Tuolumne River Trust
This summer, Paddle to the Sea has new options for getting out to the river. If the Tuolumne River is a little far from where you live, this year you can also join Paddle to the Sea on the immensely popular American River!
With easy access from Sacramento and the Bay Area, the American River puts several excellent paddling trips within reach.
Whitewater Rafting the South Fork American River
The most popular whitewater run in California, the South Fork is a fun and adventurous Class III. No whitewater experience needed, your boat will have an expert guide. Day trips on June 2 and 3, with free camping available courtesy of Camp Lotus. This is an incredible deal for whitewater and these trips are filling up fast - just a few seats left!
Kayaking the American River Parkway
The beautiful lower American River runs right through Sacramento, though you wouldn't know it from the water! This is a fantastic river for flat water kayaking through an amazing city park. We at the Trust have modeled our vision for a Lower Tuolumne Parkway off this place - come and experience it for yourself! Boats and shuttle provided. Day trips on June 9, 10, 17. Perfect for beginners.
Sea Kayaking the San Francisco Bay
The Tuolumne River and American River teams will meet up to kayak through the Delta, and then the will be joined by more sea kayakers in the Bay! Come along for the end of the trip on an adventure along the iconic San Francisco waterfront! Day trips June 25 and 30.
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3.
Tuolumne River Trust has partnered with Haman Elementary School in Santa Clara to clean up trash from a beautiful section of the Palo Alto Baylands next week. It's a great way for us Bay Area folks to get together and help make a difference in our local watershed.
We hope you can join us!
When: Thursday, May 17. Cleanup will be from 9:00 - 11:00 am, free BBQ lunch from 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Where: Byxbee Park, 2375 Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto
What To Bring: Water, work clothes, work gloves, and rubber boots if you have them
Please email karen@tuolumne.org to RSVP or with any questions. We hope you can make it!
In other news, Paddle to the Sea is three weeks away! Thinking of joining us? Click on the email address for more information.
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4. Dear Knowland Park Supporters,
Still no news back from the judge as to the ruling in our legal case, but there was other news this week: The Zoo is planning to ask Alameda County voters to vote for a new tax for the Zoo. This means that contrary to all the blithe assertions we heard before from our elected officials about the Zoo's expansion development all being paid for, "a done deal," it actually isn't. In fact, the Zoo wants Oaklanders to keep paying-- and paying and paying-- through several different ways: through the Oakland city subsidy, already being paid even though the city is laying off workers and reducing essential services; through Measure WW funds which already support parks AND the Zoo; and now through this new grab for money to support its grab for land.
Interestingly, as pointed out in the latest blog post on our website (www.saveknowland.org), the measure would also include money to pay lawyers if citizens challenge the measure. This means we would not only be paying the Zoo to take over our most beautiful park and develop its theme park on top of precious natural resources--we would also be paying the Zoo's lawyers to defend it if we, as citizens, challenge it.
See the post http://www.saveknowland.org/2012/05/11/its-your-zoo-youre-paying-and-paying-and-paying-for-it/
Please forward the post to your friends, family, and neighbors. Clearly, the citizens of Oakland have once again been misled by their elected officials and now the Zoo has the County doing the same thing. Is destroying threatened species and rare plants in Oakland's most intact park really the best and highest use of tax funds in a time when schools are closing and crime is increasing? Let your elected officials know how you feel about this--see the information on our website.
Meanwhile, the legal bill for the month has arrived with the BIG expenses from preparing for the hearings last month and we really do need your help. Please help by donating on our website with PayPal or by sending a check made out to CNPS to our Treasurer, Lee Ann Smith, 111 Shadow Mountain, Oakland, CA 94605. I know we just keep asking, but our board members have really stepped up to keep us going on last month's bill and we need to all share in this effort. We are counting on all of you to come through again. You have never let us down before and somehow against all odds we have managed to keep going for almost five years now. And Knowland Park isn't developed yet--so please help us keep going. Every bit of your tax deductible donations goes for our legal fund. Nobody on the board gets paid a penny, or even gets reimbursed for their out of pocket costs.
We CAN do it--change CAN happen, it just takes time and determination. Help us help the animals and plants that call Knowland home.
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5.
Walk & Talk with Us this Month!
Green Connections Walk: Green Hairstreak Butterfly - A Walk Through an Ecosystem Corridor
Date: Sunday May 20, 2012
Time: 12pm - 2pm (bring a bag lunch and a pen)
Meeting location: 14th and Rivera (Bottom of Hawk Hill)
Leaders: Melanie Trelles and Deidre Martin
Nearby Transit Routes: Muni Bus: 6, 48, 66
Note: Please contact us for accessibility information.
Green Connections Talk: What Are Our Streets For?
Date: Wednesday May 23, 2012
Time: 7:30pm - 9:00 pm
Location: CounterPulse, 1310 Mission Street (between 9th and 10th streets)
Nearby Transit Station: Civic Center Station (BART and MUNI)
Info: Emerging visions for public thoroughfares challenge the 20th century paradigm of automobile-centric streets. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and wild critters are all demanding their own ways to cross the city. San Francisco's "Green Connections" project seeks to integrate these new visions into San Francisco's urban grid. Join Andy Thornley (SF Bike Coalition), Peter Brastow (Nature in the City), Elizabeth Stampe (Walk San Francisco), and the Planning Department's Kearstin Dischinger, to critically evaluate these competing and complementary visions of a reconfigured San Francisco.
Green Connections Walk: Holly Park to Alemany Farm Butterfly Walk
Date: Saturday May 26, 2012
Time: 12pm - 3pm (bring a bag lunch)
Meeting location: Bocana St. and Holly Park Circle
Leader: Liam O'Brien
Nearby Transit Routes: Muni Bus: 24
Note: Please contact us for accessibility information.
Can't make it? We'd still like to hear from you. Five minutes is all you need to fill out our survey.
Green Connections will increase pedestrian and bicycle access to parks, open space and the waterfront, by re-envisioning City streets and paths as ‘green connectors’that can be built over time.In the first year of the project, the focus will be to map a citywide network. The second year will build on this framework to design green connections in the following six neighborhoods: Bayview-Hunters Point, Chinatown, Potrero Hill, Tenderloin, Visitacion Valley and Western Addition.
Get involved! The project team will host many public events to engage communities in developing Green Connections. Visit the project web site below for project information, events and meetings. Also, sign up for the Green Connections mailing list to keep receiving future e-mail announcements.
http://greenconnections.sfplanning.org
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6. Wilderness And Arts Collaborative's annual celebration and fundraiser - Saturday 19 May
It's that time of year again! WALC's annual year-end celebration and fundraiser will be held on Saturday, May 19 from 2-4 pm in the Downtown High
School cafeteria (693 Vermont Street between 18th and 19th in Potrero Hill).
This year, our art teacher, Sherry Bass is retiring from teaching after thirty years of service to San Francisco's youth and thirteen years of service to the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative. In recognition of her tremendous contributions to WALC, we will be dedicating a portion of our annual year-end celebration and fundraiser to Ms. Bass.
In addition, we will be having a huge sale of all the artwork Sherry has facilitated over the years in WALC. We do not want this beautiful body of artwork to go to waste, so framed poster-sized prints will be sold for $20 plus, if you buy one, you get one free. Work on canvas will also be available.
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7. A Dinner Gathering to benefit Beyond Searsville Dam coalition.
Get your tickets here. Space very limited.
At Pizzaiolo Oakland, CA
Sunday May 20th 5-9pm
The evening will include:
*A Local Feast by chef Charlie Hallowell and the folks at Pizzaiolo.
*Update on the movement to remove the dam by guest speaker Matt Stoecker.
*Live Music by Xocoyotzin Moraza and special guests.
*Silent auction including pieces by local artists, Patagonia gear and more
*Sneak Preview of 2 new film from Woodshed and Patagonia.
More info and tickets at www.undam.wordpress.com
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8. TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK:
ACTION ALERT!
Joint Hearing on the Beach Chalet Athletic Fields project (soccer complex)
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
3:00 p.m. to (early evening?)
City Hall, San Francisco
The Planning Commission will vote on certifying the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Recreation and Park Commission will vote on approving the soccer complex.
Please attend this hearing to voice your concerns about the proposal to put over 7 acres of artificial turf and 150,000 watts of sports lighting in the western end of Golden Gate Park!
· Sign up here to attend the May 24th Joint Hearing at City Hall !!!!!
Attend this hearing to let the Commissioners know that Golden Gate Park is the wrong place for this project! Let us know that you will attend this hearing! The hearing may go into the early evening -- let us know what time you can arrive. Write to us at: sfoceanedge@earthlink.net .
· Read the Final Comments and Responses and Environmental Impact Report
You can download them from the Planning Department website. http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=1828 (Scroll down until you reach Project2010.0016E.) Look for responses to your own comments and decide if they have been addressed. We will have more background information on our website in a few days.
You have two ways to submit your comments:
1. Submit to the Planning and Rec and Park Commissions before the hearing, so that Commissioners can read your opinions and consider them before the hearing.
2. Submit comments AT the Joint Hearing. NOTE: If you want your comments to become an official objection and part of the basis for an administrative appeal or lawsuit, you must submit them in person at the May 24th Joint Hearing.
· Questions? Write to us, and we will do our best to answer them. sfoceanedge@earthlink.net
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9. Dear Friends,
I need your support to help the Sutro Nursery and our stewardship program receive $10,000 Odwalla Grant for a tree planting project.
We are currently in 17th place and need to finish in the top 10 to bring the money to San Francisco!
Our project is unique and hugely beneficial to the long term health and sustainability of Sutro forest and surrounding open space areas. The trees we will purchase are from a short list of dwindling natives that once covered the San Migual Hills here in San Francisco. We will plant these trees than use the seed and cuttings for propagation in the Sutro Nursery. The stock we grow will be reintroduced in our open space areas.
Please take a minute to cast your vote for the Sutro Stewards Tree Planting Project at the Odwalla website.
Vote Here--by June 1: http://bit.ly/IBx0pH
Share this with your friends and network too, every vote counts!
I am grateful for your support.
Craig Dawson
Executive Director, Sutro Stewards
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10. We announce our new expanded days. We will now be open Tuesday - Sunday from 10 am - 4pm. We will only be closed on Mondays and holidays.
The Watershed Nursery, 601-A Canal Blvd., Richmond
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11. Wild Photo Contest!
The only thing we enjoy more than actually visiting California's wild places, is to see great photos of them. We at the CWC just love it when our members share their photos and adventures with us. As we head into summer, we are holding a photo contest to highlight YOUR favorite wild places here in California. The winning photos will be featured on our Facebook page and website and will be shared with our members. Plus, we’ve got some prizes for the winners!
To enter, send your digital photo to info@calwild.org. Your photo could be from a family camping trip, a hike in the woods, a fishing trip, or a scenic drive...the possibilities are endless! So, dig through your photo files and send us your favorite wild California photo
California Wilderness Coalition
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12.
WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN WAKING
In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.
What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.
What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.
To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.
To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.
You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.
Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?
Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?
~ David Whyte ~
(The House of Belonging)
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13.
The bad desert solar bill, AB 1073, passed through the Assembly 56-10 yesterday.
Some notes regarding the roll call of the final Assembly vote:
The 10 who voted no: Ammiano, Butler, Chesbro; Feuer, Galgiani, Hill, Huffman, Monning, Nielsen, and Yamada
Dems that were there but not voting: Atkins, Beall, Blumenfield, Brownley, Lowenthal, Mitchell, and Skinner,
Members that we had hoped to vote No that voted Yes: Allen, Davis, Dickinson, Fong, Gatto, Gordon, Ma; Wieckowski. Speaker Perez also voted Yes.
Disappointingly, both Dickinson and Gatto spoke in support of the bill. Only Chesbro spoke in opposition.
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Desolate as their reputation remains among people who are looking for a handy place to test weapons or dispose of nuclear waste, American deserts have had as allies an impressive bunch of talented, passionate writers. Among these lyrical defenders I’d include Wallace Stegner, Cactus Ed Abbey, Ellen Meloy, Ann Zwinger, Leslie Marmon Silko, Charles Bowden, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Terry Tempest Williams. And at the headwaters of this dry river of sparkling prose I’d place Mary Austin, the early-twentieth-century writer who once described arid landscapes as “forsaken of most things but beauty and madness and death and God.” We don’t need to agree on what God might be to recognize how powerfully this expresses the exhilarating experience of desertness. In her 1903 book The Land of Little Rain, Austin writes of the desert that “There are hints to be had here of the way in which a land forces new habits on its dwellers.”
Rants from the Hill - Michael Branch in High Country News
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14.
All will come again into its strength:
the fields undivided, the waters undammed,
the trees towering and the walls built low.
And in the valleys, people as strong and varied as the land.
And no churches where God
is imprisoned and lamented
like a trapped and wounded animal.
The houses welcoming all who knock
and a sense of boundless offering
in all relations, and in you and me.
No yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond,
no belittling of death,
but only longing for what belongs to us
and serving earth, lest we remain unused.
~ Rainier Maria Rilke ~
(Rilke’s Book of Hours:Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)
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15. Feedback
James Osborne:
Big Solar is very controversial (as is the concept of small scale "sustainable" nukes of the kind Stewart Brand proposes). It's not black and white. While you and I try to reduce our carbon footprint, our children and our neighbors and our "content providers" just keep burnin'. It comes back to E.F. Schumacher's concept: "Small is beautiful". If the population keeps growin', each member of that population has got to "speak softly,and be less gaseous"...(China-bashing won't do it)
ANYWAY, who wrote the appeal to stop Calico Solar? Your readers may want more info!
It came from the California Native Plant Society office in Sacto. I was in great haste when I put the newsletter out this morning, because I had to dash off to my weekly weeding party.
Unfortunately, the notice said to telephone, not email--I don't know why, and didn't have time to research. So I don't know whether the effort was wasted or not.
(The bill passed, btw, 56-10. See results above.)
John Boseley:
Hi Jake-
I very much enjoy the nostalgia for the Bay Area your Nature News evokes here in Baltimore, along with frustration over not being there to engage in the many, many worthwhile activities to hang on to some remnants of a sane environment that the newsletter mentions.
Your funny story about your long-ago encounter with the martinet while in the Navy reminded me of a story one of my college chums told, about their Scoutmaster in Maine. Apparently this guy had been a military officer of some type and he ran his Boy Scout troop like a military unit. My friend said he was booted and carried a swagger stick, and all those trimmings.
Well, a few of the Scouts (as boys will do) went AWOL from their camp near the Maine coast and went swimming--a forbidden activity. (I think the Scouts who were involved were about 12 or so years old--my friend was 12.) Another forbidden activity was building any camp fire without the Scoutmaster's supervision. This concern had a basis in a real threat--the pine woods where the camp was had a thick layer of dry pine needles on it, and even if the fire was built in what appeared to be pure beach sand, there were enough pine needles mixed in with the sand for a fire to smolder into the tree line and flare up.
So--the boys, chilled from their swim, did the natural thing; they built a fire to warm up. And indeed it did creep to the edge of the woods and break out a bit. They were sensible enough to raise the alarm and the Scout troop extinguished the little fire with no real damage.
The martinet, however, was livid--and in his element. He formed the Scouts up into ranks and had the culprits take the dreaded "one step forward" out of ranks. He then cut off their merit badges, and the Boy Scout buttons and any other official insignia of Scout-hood from their uniforms. Having done so, he also had them turn their uniforms inside out and paraded them past their (former) "comrades" on the way out of the camp to the bus station, where he sent them home in disgrace to their families. All that was missing was the drum!
That was of course the last Scouting activity that my chum participated in, so he never learned whether any of the families may have begun to think the Scoutmaster was just a little bit over the top....
Best regards from Baltimore, where we're fighting our own battle to keep the Chesapeake Bay able to sustain crabs and oysters.
Hooboy, John, that was rich. Beats my story. In fact, beats Colonel Jean Martinet. We have a new word now--just tell me the scoutmaster's name and it will enter our lexicon. Only thing missing was the ceremony of stripping their epaulets. Oh yah, scouts don't have epaulets, I guess.
Good to hear from you again, John. Glad to know you're trying to keep them honest in Baltimore. That's where Nancy Pelosi learned politics, so we have an inkling of what Baltimore is like.
Jake, I wish the Scoutmaster's name wasn't lost in the mists of time--he deserves some recognition in history books.
Yep, Nancy D'Alessandro Pelosi comes from a line of pros and hard-ball players. Our current politicians are amateurs and as gullible as heck. Latest "scandal" (at least the Sun paper is spinning it as a scandal) is that the Governor is too cozy with his law school classmate who's corporate counsel for the Perdue factory chicken farming industry on the eastern shore--a huge Bay polluter with nitrogen from chicken shit. Of course they use indentured small farmers to grow their chickens so they say "Not our problem--we're not responsible for these farmers, even though we are their only buyer." Another nice way of capitalizing gains and socializing the environmental damage.
On May 9, 2012, at 11:42 AM, Tony Holiday wrote:
Jake,
This is in regard to that nasty idea of adding more golfing space to McLaren Park. I have sent this to the email in your post:
Do NOT let them put up another golf course area. They have enough as it is - in fact, FAR too much of some of our parks are dedicated to golf courses. This city does not NEED another golf course. It amazes me that anyone could even take them seriously!
Golf courses take away valuable natural areas that could better be used for NATURAL scenery -- not manmade golf courses that destroy trees and wildlife habitat. It is increasingly important that we protect the natural resources we already have.
NOT ONLY does it take away even MORE from our natural resources, but it causes hassles to people who are trying to walk in the area.
I am especially resentful of golf courses myself. Especially in the Presidio, Lake Merced, and Lands End. Walkers do not have enough ways to walk through one of these monstrosities. I've been admonished several times by snobby golfers that walkers weren't allowed in the area. Idiots. I was simply moving along, not standing in the middle of their oh-so-sacred putting area -- just trying to get to one or another park trail.
So let us not allow them to further wreck McLaren Park also! STOP this dangerous trend of destroying our land and wildlife to developers and stuckup golfers. They have PLENTY of golfing room as it is -- way more than they need. McLaren is a treasure not to be further tampered with!
Tony: This is not a regular golf course; it is a disc golf course. You throw frisbees at baskets attached to trees. It is much less damaging, consumes less space, and is not resource intensive.
However, I am not trying to convince you it's all right--it isn't, for reasons I won't go into here. McLaren folks are for the most part opposed, I think, and I would be surprised if it is eventually approved.
HAH -- Those disc things are almost as bad in my experience! As in, I've experienced trying to walk trails thru Golden Gate Park and running into that disc course, people playing around me, afraid I was gonna get beaned.
Thanks for replying. I wasn't aware that it wasn't a regular golf course and I am, of course, glad to hear that it is much less damaging, etc. as you say. And I am very glad the McLaren people are opposed.
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16. Bolinas Lagoon Restoration Project Presents Community Lecture:
Invasive Spartina at Bolinas Lagoon!
Wednesday, May 16th, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Bolinas Fire Department, 100 Mesa Road, Bolinas
Come find out how the presence of invasive Spartina vegetation affects Bolinas Lagoon, and learn about ways to control it. Katy Zaremba and Drew Kerr from the SF Estuary Invasive Spartina Project will be presenting about the history of Spartina in the Bay Area, its presence and threat to Bolinas Lagoon, and the Bolinas Lagoon Restoration Project's methods for control and eradication.
For more information, contact:
Kate Bimrose, Bolinas Lagoon Restoration Project Coordinator
(415) 970-5245 kate.bimrose@noaa.gov
Bolinas Lagoon Ecosystem Restoration Project
Sponsored by Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, and Marin County Parks
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17.
NEWS: Hive and Seek: Domestic Honeybees Keep Disappearing, but Are Their Wild Cousins in Trouble, Too? [Slide Show]
Is colony collapse disorder just the visible part of a "global pollinator crisis"? The answer is surprisingly murky. To help answer the question, scientists have created an inexpensive, nationwide wild bee monitoring program
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=49&ms=MzkxODUxNTES1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTQyNjg4MzM5S0&mt=1&rt=0
NEWS: How Biodiversity Keeps Earth Alive
Species loss lessens the total amount of biomass on a given parcel, suggesting that the degree of diversity directly impacts the amount of life the planet can support
http://links.email.scientificamerican.com/ctt?kn=37&ms=MzkxODUxNTES1&r=NTM5NzIzNTA1NgS2&b=2&j=MTQyNjg4MzM5S0&mt=1&rt=0
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18. San Francisco Natural History Series - NEXT LECTURE
Our speaker for May 17th, Ariel Rubissow Okamoto (The UNnatural History of San Francisco Bay) had to postpone her talk due to some unforeseen circumstance. Dave Schooley has graciously offered to step into the gap. The new details for the talk are below:
Saving San Bruno Mountain: Past, Present, & Future
Guest Speaker: David Schooley
7:30pm, Thursday, May 17th, 2012
FREE at the Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA
Saving San Bruno Mtn. Past, Present, & Future - David Schooley has been leading hikes focusing on the nature, history and native culture of San Bruno Mountain for thirty years. He is one of the founders of San Bruno Mountain Watch, an environmental activist group dedicated to saving the mountain from development.
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MAY LECTURE NOTES by Adrian Cotter
Drawing the Place We Live
As I was handling the computer while they talked, my notes are a little sparse, but hopefully I captured something of their talk below. Some images can be found here: http://sfnhs.com/2012/04/30/drawing-the-place-we-live/
Artists Nancy King & Mary Swanson met in an art class not too long ago. They became fast friends and embarked on a singular project to draw a natural cross section of San Francisco.
The 16' long panoramic drawing shows nine of San Francisco's habitats with their birds, animals and plants, from sea to bay: ocean cliffs, cypress forests, marsh, meadow, rocky hills, grasslands, oak, coastal scrub, and tidal wetlands.
Drawing all this in "plein air" is not always a comfortable thing, and Nancy & Mary were often cold, wet, hot, thirsty (probably often in the same day, given SF weather!). They persevered carrying their sketchbooks, water color paper, pencils, and water color, and they kept drawing for over a year. Nancy and Mary would sit down and sketch — divvying up the background, drawing half of scene, and sketch, and sketch all the wildlife they saw.
In all of this they felt they came to understand the place a lot better, by paying attention to the ebbs and flow of the nature around us. From being watched by curious corvids on the cliffs, to coming across grazing goats near Heron’s Head park, to watching the beautiful courtship rituals of Grebes, they were always coming across surprises.
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FUTURE TALKS
http://sfnhs.com/upcoming-speakers/
Jun 21 – Above and Below SF Streets - Glenn Lym
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19.
11 May 1918 - 1988 Richard Feynman
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."
--Richard Feynman
___________________
JS: In a physics class several years ago someone said that if you put a belt around the Earth's equator (approx 25,000 miles/8,000 miles diameter), then add six feet to the belt, that it would raise the belt one foot higher above Earth's surface. The teacher, and all the students, including me, ridiculed the statement; then the teacher did the calculations and said, "yes, it seems to be true". I came home and did some calculations and, yes it did seem to be so, although I'm unsure I did the math right. Both those calculations were seat-of-the-pants, and I have not returned to try it again.
You math junkies: Can this possibly be true? I think there was a slip in there somewhere. It just can't be that a mere six feet could raise the belt a whole foot. Help me, somebody.
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20. Miscellany
To Wisconsin, where state authorities are fining Kraft Foods for making hot dogs that were too skinny. Inspectors found 24 packages of "short weight Oscar Meyer products." Kraft will pay about $40,000 in penalties. A spokeswoman told the Wisconsin State Journal that corrections have been made to avoid skinny hot dogs. Or as she calls them, "unplanned and unwanted variances."
***
"As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption." W.H. Auden
***
What ever happened to Tony Blair? Is he still alive?
I sent that question to Guardian Weekly's Notes & Queries, and they printed it. I had a double motive for asking: 1) I really wanted to know, since he seemed to just disappear from public sight, and 2) I was sure that it would elicit some witty, even biting, sarcasm. The latter happened, but I never did find out what really happened to him. Do any readers of this newsletter know?
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Squib from The Economist: Many tributes have dwelt on his personal contradictions. They describe a boundless immodesty redeemed by self-mocking wit--on being accused of name-dropping, St John-Stevas is said to have sighed: "The queen said the exactly same to me yesterday."
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Four stages of man, according to Garrison Keillor:
Youth
Young man
Middle age
You're looking good (the age when your health insurance pays off)
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Zsa Zsa Gabor changed husbands with the frequency of other people changing cars. "I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house." (excerpt from Guardian Weekly item)
Zsa Zsa Gabor's 8th husband: "I know what to do, I just don't know how to make it interesting."
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