Roundup: The Eye-catching Cuttlefish
Texas eclipse watching, Rotary names teachers of the year, public art poll results, and welcoming a new reporter to our team
A first-time, free Friday night event kicked off the Apple Blossom Festival at Ives Park. It brought a little night music and magic to the festival.
Stan Clark of Astro Botanicals said that he suggested having an evening event because his inflatable forest doesn’t show up the same way in the daytime. Clark who is from Vallejo had been part of an innovative light show in January at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. In Ives Park after dark, people enjoyed walking among the soft, glowing shapes that changed colors.
Loren Crotty brought Sepia Lux, an inflatable animatronic cuttlefish that is mobile and outfitted with a sound system built for Burning Man. Its eyes are video screens with a dome glass cover. A DJ joined Loren inside the rig and filled Ives Park with loud music. With its color changes and moving flippers and mandible, Sepia Lux seemed otherworldly.
(Both Stan and Loren were at Maker Faire Bay Area last October on Mare Island.)
And then the clouds parted
Diane Harnish says that “we’re relatively new residents of Sebastopol.” She and her partner went to Texas to see the eclipse earlier in the month — and she’s apparently the only person willing to tell us about their trip.
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
Kaufman Texas, April 8th, 2024
Wow! We were in Kaufman, Texas, just east of Dallas, under very cloudy skies. There were occasional openings, and we had no way of knowing if we would see totality. For a week prior, we watched the weather reports from Sebastopol and considered not even going. The buildup of tension was inevitable and uncomfortable.
The day was so hot, that after seeing first contact, when the moon started covering the sun, we decided to sit in our car with the air conditioner on, as it would be an hour until totality. As the time got closer, we decide to go lie on the lawn nearby. We got out of our car and were startled to feel how cold it was! We lay down and watched through our special glasses, hoping and praying, the sun poking through and then being obscured. Just at totality, the clouds broke. Suddenly, there it was – a black circle in the darkened sky, surrounded by the corona. I’ve since heard from others who were in different parts of Texas report the same parting of the clouds just at totality. Perhaps prayers DO work!
The clouds had engendered such suspense in me, that when the they parted, tears burst from my eyes - in joy, awe & gratitude. I just kept saying “It’s so beautiful!”
We met folks from Germany, France, Austria, who had somehow found their way to this little town. I was elated by the experience of unity with everyone we met – at the airport, at our hotel, at this eclipse viewing site. No matter our color, race, religion, political party, or nationality – we were all there for the same reason. Everyone was excited, hoping for a break in the clouds, then ecstatic at the revelation. The feeling of collective wonder was palpable and uplifting - especially since here in the U.S., we’ve been living in such a divided state of our union. It was a balm to my soul to feel such oneness.
A little over a week later, my husband and I were in the Valley of Fire, just east of Las Vegas, Nevada. There I found some petroglyphs - including, to my amazement, one of a total solar eclipse! The sense of unity I had felt in Texas now stretched over a thousand years into the past to include my ancestors, who also had experienced such a celestial event. Who knows what meaning they made of it?
This was my third total solar eclipse. The first one was in Kenya in 1974. The local Samburu people thought that the scientists who told them it was going to happen were creating it and ran into their huts in fear. My second total eclipse was in Oregon in 2017, and now Texas, 2024. (I dream of seeing one in Spain in 2026).
The experience of this eclipse still lives in me, in deep gratitude that we had the resources and good health to be able to be there to witness yet another eclipse, and the surprising yet deeply gratifying shared experience. If only eclipses could heal our divisions. Perhaps in some small ways, it has. It did, at least, in Texas, for four and a half minutes!
Thank you, Diane.
Rotary’s Teachers of the Year
The Rotary of Sebastopol in April honored three exemplary and dedicated teachers for the 2023-2024 school year who are making a difference in the education and lives of West County students and community.
They are:
New Teacher: Alma Roman Diaz, Spanish Teacher at Analy High School
Career Teacher: Jacqueline Komrij, Kindergarten Teacher at Apple Blossom Elementary School
Innovative/Collaborative Teacher: Laurie Horner Barzanzini,
Social Science Teacher at Laguna High School
Three Pieces of Public Art
199 people voted in last week’s poll about the three sculptures that were finalists for the entrance to the Joe Rodota Trail. The voting was fairly even but Diego Harris got the most votes.
Bruce Johnson - 29%
Diego Harris - 39%
Michael Per Erik Lindell - 26%
None of the above - 6%
The Public Art Committee met last week and the sculptors presented their work, except Bruce Johnson who passed away last year. (A Zoom recording of that meeting is not yet on the PAC website.) There is a display in the library about the proposals from each of the sculptors and there are forms available there for public comment. The final decision will be made by the PAC at the meeting on May 14 starting at 1 PM, which will be on Zoom as well.
Welcome, Ezra Wallach
This week, we welcome a new reporter, Ezra Wallach. A few weeks ago, Ezra wrote us and said he’s like to write for the Sebastopol Times. We met with him and decided to hire him on the team. One of the important roles that local papers have provided in the past is the opportunity for young journalists to get started and build up a body of work. We’re excited to have Ezra working with us and it’s a big leap forward for Sebastopol Times.
I got my start in journalism with a story on how and why the cafeteria lunch at my public high school in suburban Chicago had gotten so expensive.
It was a simple story, but nevertheless nuanced. It was about a phenomenon that people in the community noticed and had opinions on. Some people wanted an affordable lunch. Some people adored the sushi bar. Both sides had a point.
A few months later, I would stumble upon documents that showed what classroom the juniors at my school were taking the ACT in. By digging through documents posted on my school's website, I was able to deduce that over 24 percent of my peers got an accommodation, a number over four times the national average. (An accommodation could be extra time to take the test or breaks during test, both of which are believed to lead to better scores.)
I put together an article as to why this was the case. That story would, a year later, land me on CNN and in the WSJ.
I was not sure what to make of all of this at the time. I was just a kid following his passions, and I had not yet begun to think about what constructing a career for myself would look like. So I went to college, and told myself I’d figure it out in four years.
Now it is almost five years later, and after freelancing, sailing across the Caribbean and the Pacific, working odd jobs in a few different industries, graduating, interning at Sonoma Media Investments, the parent company of the Press Democrat and the paper I was writing for, the Sonoma County Gazette, I am here with Laura and Dale.
I look forward to collaborating with the both of them and getting to know the stories of people throughout Sebastopol and West County.
I could not be more grateful for this opportunity and it is an honor for me to serve you all. If you ever want to let me know about something crazy or interesting going on around town, or you want to send me a private message about something I’ve written, feel free to email me at ezrawallach5528@gmail.com. Peace!
The Week of April 21-27
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I wondered what that thing was. My group had finished the parade and I was starting to walk back towards Safeway and I saw this weird thing slowly moving. I thought, must have been at Burning Man. It had no names on it. In the daylight it was just white and slowly moving its appendages.