Marinations 27 China Camp - Frank Quan

Marinations 28 Frank Quan Interview

First  cable cast on Marin 26 Septermber 15, 2011

This video is unavailable at the moment as the State Park system has ordered it's removal due to a free speech issue.  Until it is resolved, we removed the video since we have no funding to contest this order in court. Since this video was produced as an act of free speech by an individual with no commercial or other institutional support in support of the State Park system receiving continued funding, it is hard to understand their arbitrary order to remove the video from this little blog.

We thought that the interview with Frank Quan not only told an important story about the State Park and California History, but also brought out important information about the declining health of the San Francisco Bay estuary and it's fishery.

We hope to allow Frank to tell his story here in the future.

In the mean time, scientific information about the estuary and it's challenges due to continued climate heating can be found in this journal article:

Projected Evolution of California's San Francisco Bay-Delta-River System in a Century of Climate Change

James E. Cloern^1*, Noah Knowles¹, Larry R. Brown², Daniel Cayan³, Michael D. Dettinger³, Tara L. Morgan², David H. Schoellhamer², Mark T. Stacey⁴, Mick van der Wegen⁵, R. Wayne Wagner⁴, Alan D. Jassby⁶

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0024465
 This article takes a lot of words to say what Frank Quan told in his short interview, but they are both in alignment with the facts about salinity, turbidity and the changes to the life in the ecosystem.

Marinations goes to China Camp to interview Frank Quan, the last in a line of Chinese Americans who fished for Shrimp in the San Pablo Bay (North of San Francisco) as he tells of the history of this small village, and the decline in the health of the ecosystem. This unique California State Park is threatened by budget cuts, but one of the greatest treasures isn't the land, it is Frank Quan. His family still runs the little store, and he still takes out the fishing boat though the fishery is depleted.

Marinations 22 Poetry Multimedia Montage and Conversation with Anna Halprin

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An interview with master choreographer and teacher Anna Halprin following a screening of the documentary "Breath Made Visible" at the Smith Film Center in San Rafael conducted by host Sharon Skolnick-Bagnoli is the first segment. Later a Multimedia piece featuring ; poetry and Marin images by Sharon Skolnick-Bagnoli with music by Jerry Green will delight your senses and lift your mind.

Tags: anna halprin, breath made visible, dance, jerry green, sharon skolnick-bagnoli, marinations, marin

Tragedy of the Commons, Marin Style

The recent announcement by Tom Peters, President of the Marin Community Foundation that they will withdraw support for the Marin Youth Center is a tragic move at this time of economic hardship, removing a commons that was an important beacon of light to our young people. The Marin Community Foundation should add programs such as a job training program to this vibrant center, not shut it down

You'll find more in this Marin Independent Journal article by Jessica Bernstein-Wax  Marin Youth Center in San Rafael closing this month

Closing the Marin Youth Center is a tragedy, and will hurt the youth of Marin. I've seen first hand the work that they do to provide a drug free, alcohol free safe place for young people. They provide programs in media education that are a model for the Bay Area. With the MYC closed, where are young people going to go? Jobs are scarce, After School programs were cut back, but gangs are expanding. The "jobs" program sounds nice, but doesn't need to displace this outstanding program for Marin young people. The MYC also provides important health education to a vulnerable population. The Marin Foundation board should reconsider this ill advised move and keep this vital program - it supports the best amongst us and provides a healthy alternative for vulnerable youth. 

As the Michael Eisenmenger, Executive Director of the Community Media Center of Marin said recently: 

The staff who have fostered the center are truly talented youth facilitators and their departure will be another great loss to the Marin youth and nonprofit community. The youth culinary program was running full steam and it was a marvel to see that youth-run cafe in action - yet another sad loss.

City leaders should be alarmed and concerned at this development. Marin as a whole offers it's youth few creative outlets and virtually no gathering spaces like the MYC that they can call their own. I fear the shortsightedness of this decision will soon be evident in the streets of Marin as youth are dispersed and fragmented in aimless abandon.  In a few short years, city and county leaders will be citing the need for 'youth at risk' programs and  . . . the need for another youth center.

We are thrilled the computer clubhouse survived this wave of cuts - and CMCM will continue to offer our support to that extraordinary program - and to the youth of Marin. We just wish the center as a whole could remain intact - it really is irreplaceable.

Leaf Ecology

 One of my house plants with huge leaves was moved outside to our courtyard a few years ago.  It thrived, and produced vigorous new leaves, living in a shady spot under some bamboos.  I've noticed that as stuff fell from the upper story of the garden, dead bamboo leaves, tree litter that blew off the roof, leaves from the plum tree, etc. the top surface accumulated a bit of a compost pile on the leaf.  A spider used this stuff to support a web, and other small bugs. 

This valley of life on the leaf surface would never have occurred indoors. We let the cottage garden plants intermingle.  Discovering this little community living on the large leaves of the Philodendron was such a nice surprise. 

There is a regular community on each of the large leaf tops now--subject to the occasional dumping if we have a big enough rain. Each assemblage is a bit different.  A typical pile will have leaves from the Black Acacia, Arundinaria and Phyllostachys nigra "Hennon", Otatea acuminata, maybe an oak leaf, and some plum detritus. Spider webs tie it together and trap smaller particles.

   Soon, a layer of composting forms in the cradle of the leaf.  This Philodendron's leaves have holes in them naturally, draining the pile.  I wonder if the host plant derives some nutrient benefits from this arrangement?

The long, needle like leaves are actually from the Otatea acuminata aztectorum bamboo.

 

 

 

  

This spider built his food gathering web around this Papyrus flowers,  with a long groups of  threads extending up  into the draping leaves of an Otatea acuminata aztectorum bamboo growing above the Papyrus

  Once he felt threatened on his main web, he retreats up to the bamboo leaves. Quite a remarkable feat to construct such a resilient and utilitarian structure, a home.   

See more about Philodendron plants here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodendron

One of the gifts that I get when I stretch my energy sometimes is the spiritual lift that comes from being with good people at dawn in nature in a place of power, together in local peace. After a long week of working late, stress and struggle, we got up before 4am and drove to the top of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County to join 91 year old Anna Halprin and a band of intrepid folks on a trek from the parking lot to the summit to see the dawn over San Pablo Bay and San Francisco. Looking toward Mt. Diablo, we hunkered down in awe as the sun rose over the fog covered north bay on one of the longest days of the year.

This Cherokee morning song reminds us of the simple truth, of our connection to the web of life. Later, I'll post more of the sharing from Planetary Dance 2011. Enjoy: Cherokee Morning Song.

As the American Indian elders say: "All life is sacred".

One of the things that I enjoy on Sunday morning is to go to the farmers market at the Marin Civic Center to browse for veggies, herbs and fruit that form the basis for our dinners next week. We are blessed with two viable farmers markets each week, though our Thursday evening market is maybe half the size it was two years ago. Sunday's event is still vibrant, a place to not only buy food, but to encounter other community members, to learn and to enjoy a bit of music with breakfast.  Simple pleasures, money that stays within the community, contact with the growers, and a place for kids and families to wander in a safe place.  Thanks for the opportunity to be in a community that has a farmers market, a community that cooks with local produce and meat, a community where healthy eating is a community value.