Page 40 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2017

Happy New Year! Let’s all say goodbye to 2016. Lots to fret and worry about for 2017, but...let’s not. Let’s just leave it in the rear view mirror and make 2017 better. This might be where I wax ponderous and pompous, to pontificate with dark and serious countenance upon the evils of the day. Nah, I’m just a rude mechanical. But I do wish Mr. Shakespeare were around to write a five-act tragi-drama about presidents past and future. What fools we mortals be! You’ll have to forgive me for bumming from the bard. Shakespeare is on the TeeVee right now and it’s impossible not to be caught up. Watch or read any of the King dramas and realize that not that much has changed. We live in interesting times, and we always have.
The rain is pitter-pattering outside my window, the heater is on, and the Christmas lights strung along the deck are twinkling. It’s winter now, really and truly. I’ve converted to wearing only sweaters. It’s a wonderful time of the year, when the leaves are electric green on the
evergreens and everything is shiny and dripping. The air is fresh and awake, the air sippy. I love this time of year. This year, I especially love it because I’m hearing back from colleges, getting back admissions decisions. For some, I guess this could be a damper on the fun, if you’re getting back rejection and not acceptances, but I’m lucky. So far, I’ve heard back from Boston College and Northeastern University, and I got in to both! For me, that has imbued this holiday season with some extra cause for cheer, and I’m hopeful and excited about what next year will bring. That’s this month’s theme, actually
: Hope for the New Year. I have my own personal hope, which is helping me feel hopeful for the new year in a larger sense. In the spirit of both hope and New Year’s Resolutions, here are some of my hopes/proposed resolutions for the new year. This year, however, instead of publishing ones for myself here, these are for Occidental.
Signs by the Road
Let’s deal with the sandwich board sign problem. We have so many signs that they all have become meaningless. Maybe we could dedicate a single portion of the sidewalk to signs, or say that only four signs could be up at a time, and impose a two-week sign limit, so the signs would rotate. Maybe we could say no to all signs that aren’t for speci c events. I, personally, think that all the signs are starting to look a little trashy, and I don’t think Occidental is a trashy town. Email me your solutions to the sign problem!
Build it and we will come
Let’s make some visible progress on the Community Center building. We’ve been talking about it for a long time, and we have lots of good ideas, so let’s get started on enacting them.
DON’T walk on by
Let’s all resolve to pick up trash when we walk by it. We all can chip in to make Occidental prettier. Similarly, if you see an illegal trash dump on the side of the road, call the Sonoma County Roads Department at (707) 565-5100 to report it.
You CAN do this
Also this year, let’s all start exercising by going to West County Bootcamp. They have classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 8am, Tuesday and Friday at 7am, and Friday 9am. I won’t be there, because I have school during those times, but you should be! The classes are HIIT style – that means High Intensity Interval Training, but it’s for all levels, so don’t be intimidated by the name. Go to their website, westcountybootcamp.com for more information on pricing and how to sign up.
Creative theater
On Saturday, January 21st, from 8 to 10 in the evening let’s all go see ZipLine Improv at the Occidental Center for the Arts. They’re a new, local improv troop with a focus of storytelling. It’s going to be great fun, so you should de nitely go to their show – it might not be what you think! Actually, let’s all resolve to get out and see at least one to see of the Occidental Center for the Arts’ shows – they have a great track record and it’s always fun to see live music, theater, and other types of art. Also remember to check out the art showings, the OCA has great gallery shows every year.
LOTS going on locally
As always, check out occidental-ca.org/calendar.html for weekly events and classes o ered all throughout Occidental.
Keepin it REAL
My last, and largest resolution for Occidental, and California in general, is that we hold on to our identity and ideals through whatever is about to come with the new year, and our new president.
One thing I do find gently ironic about the recent national election (I promise I will stop yammering. Just give me one more paragraph, then on to local politics). We read much postmortem about flyover country, about simple country folk giving a rude gesture to out of touch coastal elites. Isn’t that how we have felt
in West County for donkey’s years? The out-of-touch county elites over there on County Center drive? Or should I call it the Red Keep in King’s Landing? We don’t call them courtiers now, we call them lobbyists and liaisons. The players may get new uniforms, but the game remains the same. Good luck to Lynda Hopkins as she dons the Mr. Smith costume and heads to Washington. She’ll need every bit of that Jimmy Stewart charisma.
Wishing & Hoping
Having said that, I am cautiously optimistic that the County will continue
to improve the local roads. They’ve gotten to some of the worst ones – Irwin Drive outside Sebastopol is now smooth and pothole-free. I’m hoping Bohemian Highway is somewhere on the schedule – it gets bone-rattling over there near Monte Rio, and there are some curves locally that have bumps and holes in just the wrong places for a car carrying maybe a little too much speed into the corner.
Also on our county docket is the new fire ordinance. I have nothing new to report, but I will mention it from time to time to see if you’re paying attention. The fire danger has dropped to nothing for now, but it’s going to get hot and try again. Now would be a good time to look at your defensible space. We hope there will be a chipper program to help you with your dead tan oaks, but the devil can be in the details. Our Park and Rec Board has done good work in this regard, but I’m quite sure they can use some help with legwork and communication with County Fire. Maybe even some volunteer liaison work.
Tell ‘em what’s on your mind
That’s where County politics just might depart from the King’s Landing model. Because the scale is local, the odds are slightly better that a small group of citizens can make their voice heard. West County might still be a bit of an underdog with the freeway folks who make up most of the votes and the money in Sonoma County, but if the right points of leverage are found, we can punch above our weight. How? Go to the Park and Rec board meetings. Speak of issues of concern to you. Ask questions. Volunteer your time. If you don’t know who to call or what window in what building to line up at, there’s a pretty good chance that Gary Helfrich can tell you. The man is connected. He’s been inside the belly of the beast.
Only locals know...for sure
Look at me. I promised I wouldn’t, then rabbited on about politics the whole time, didn’t I? Get me started, and I just don’t stop. Ah well – all the world’s
a stage and all that. You are reading this in the New Year. You survived the holidays once again! Have a cup of hot cocoa and toast yourself. Put on some warm socks and sit on your porch in the cold, misty quiet of Camp Meeker in January. Let them city folks in the freeway belt make their Damp Sneaker jokes – those of us who are in on the secret know that in many ways cold, dark, damp January is the best time of all to be here. There’s an energy in the air as the forest draws us into itself – for healing. For rejuvenation. For rebirth. Yeah. You know.
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