Some Thoughts on Water: photo - r. whittaker As an experiment, a few years ago I began asking friends if they had any memorable experiences with water. I was surprised by the blank looks I got.      “Do you remember any experiences of swimming or playing with water when you were a child?” I'd ask.      That question worked a little better.      “Oh, yes! When I was a child my parents always took us to a cabin on a lake on summer vacations. I remember swimming there.”      “So is that ... Feb 22, 2021, 3952 reads

Three Bird Stories: Ronald Hobbs photo - r. whittaker For the better part of twenty-three years I found myself running a bird store in San Francisco. It was a small storefront, the space inside narrow and deep —maybe sixteen feet wide by seventy deep, about 1200 square feet in all.        Imagine, simply, this place with cages and flight cages running along the walls, some pegboards, of course, and a few shelves for books. It is not exactly beautiful, not a “birdie boutique.” The walls are stark white. There are some paintings and second-rate bird ... Jul 15, 2007, 9095 reads

Lucidity: A Conversation with Irene Pijoan: [photo by Irene's husband, Craig Nagasawa] Did I know Irene Pijoan? Artist Squeak Carnwath was asking me. (I didn’t). Pijoan was a much loved member of the art faculty at The San Francisco Art Institute for some twenty years. She and her work had become well known in the Bay Area.      “You should interview her,” Squeak said. “She doesn’t have long to live.” The abruptness of this stunned me.      However, there are people one listens to. Carnwath was one of them. So I gathered myself, ... Jan 1, 2006, 24895 reads

A Miracle Cure: Interview with Richard Lueker, M.D. I met cardiologist Richard Lueker at Karma Kitchen one Sunday afternoon in Berkeley where he was doing service as a volunteer waiter. The moment I'd stepped into the restaurant, that day's volunteer maitre d', Viral Mehta, said, "It's great that you showed up today. We were going to call you because there's someone here we want you to meet. Be sure to ask him about his story."       I looked around the restaurant—always lively on the Sunday afternoons it's taken over by Karma Kitchen volunteers—and ... Dec 25, 2009, 136517 reads

Interview: Wavy Gravy : Saint Misbehavin’ One day I got a note from ServiceSpace founder, Nipun Mehta offering me tickets to a new documentary movie about Wavy Gravy. Would I like to go?      I would.      Although I was aware of Wavy Gravy as a cultural icon, I really knew very little about him. The film is a eye-opener. Michelle Esrick’s loving documentary, Saint Misbehavin’ - ten years in the making - is an intimate introduction to this remarkable man. Like so many others, I'd never heard about Hugh Romney, the man who later became famous as Wavy Gravy. ... Dec 21, 2010, 106722 reads

Conversation with Denise Zabalaga: We Are All the Other June 19 2008 San Rafael Photojournalist Denise Zabalaga grew up in Switzerland with her Italian mother and Bolivian father. Italian and Spanish were spoken at home. When Denise was sent to school she didn’t know the German spoken there, an experience that gave her a lifelong feeling for, and identification with, the outsider. The experience brought with it the gift of being free from the projection of fear and mistrust upon the stranger. Instead of fear, Zabalaga has a deep interest in people of other cultures and has been able to look past the media coverage of the ... Jul 6, 2008, 20907 reads

Three Hours of Free Time in Berkeley: I dropped my wife off at SF’s International Airport and headed home for two weeks of life on my own. While she was in Macedonia visiting medieval Greek Orthodox churches to study icons, I’d try to find some adventures of my own. I’d already thought of one. It involved a chore I’d been putting off for weeks—taking our car to the dealer for routine maintenance. The very next day on a chilly overcast morning in downtown Berkeley, I found myself standing at a counter in the dealer’s service bay. It was 8:30 a.m. I noticed the man writing ... May 17, 2022, 2649 reads

Threshold Choir: An Interview with Kate Munger: February 27, 2010 Inverness, California As I drove up to Inverness on a Saturday morning a light rain fell intermittently and as I neared town, the clouds began to break up a little. Turning off Sir Francis Drake soon I was on Vision Road. Following my jotted notes, the roads became smaller and then the pavement ended. I faced a steep dirt road and wondered if the car could manage it in the rain. And where was I? The car did climb the road and it wasn't long before I was walking up a driveway hidden among the moss-covered trees.       I first heard about Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir ... Apr 17, 2010, 40179 reads

Conversation: Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee: Deep Water   Most of us in the west take clean water for granted. And generally we're equally asleep to the profound role water plays in our lives. In an interview with Sam Bower of greenmuseum.org [issue #18] I brought up the question of water. He mused, "If you think of what we are, I mean we're made up of cells and each little cell contains a drop of seawater. In some ways, all the little creatures that emerged from the seas found each other, bound together and found a way of collaborating and sharing the recipe over and over with helpful modifications, and here we are ... Jun 13, 2011, 54140 reads

A Conversation with Joan Di Stefano: The Action of Light It was a Saturday open house at John Toki’s Leslie Ceramics, a mecca for Bay Area clay artists of all kinds—an all-day affair with demonstrations, exhibitors, raffle prizes, hot dogs, socializing and the good cheer that seems to accompany all those who work with clay. John had given me my own table to display copies of works & conversations. There must have been ten or fifteen such tables and people had been circulating, cross-pollinating and having a good time. And now the party was starting to wind down.          ... May 11, 2012, 114098 reads