March for Everything

Today is, in some ways, like every other day — we wake up and think of friends and colleagues and the concerns we share for the oceans and beaches. But, since today across the planet there will be thousands of people joining together for events and Marches for the Ocean, we feel a extra special affinity. We have received multiple announcements about Chris Jordan's Albatross screenings and the roll out of his extraordinary gift to the planet. We are grateful for his clear and deeply creative responses to the environmental crises we face. The mark he has made is oh, so, beautiful and oh, how it hurts. We bow in respect and rise in inspiration when we think of his steady and years-long commitment to making the film exactly right. And now, it is his time. We were excited to be witness to the power of his presence on the UN World Stage and since we could not be there we tuned in via WEBTV UN. 

Closer to home, in Fairfax, it was not just a March for the Oceans it was a March for Everything. From Grandson Jude with a pot on his head to the Marin Alliance for Marijuana Dispensary team with pot in their heads and along the way there was politics aplenty (Solidarity Sundays) and the politics of pleasure with dazzling hula-hoop routines. Politics?We affirm the reality of the TAO, that great philosophy of "Is you is or is you ain't, and even if you ain't, you is."

The Grand Marshalls were Pete and Pat Arrigoni. In 1975 the Marin Mammal Center opened in Sausalito due to the successful work of Pat and two friends, Paul Maxwell and Lloyd Smalley.  Pat then published the story:  “The Marine Mammal Center: How It All Began. Recollections of One of the Founders”. We're pretty pleased that our Ghost Net Monster at the Center was extended from a six-month stay to going on four years now. 

Fairfax is for us, out-of-the-valley "over the hill." When we say "going to town" we mean Fairfax. Along with having most everything we need — library, grocery, hardware/building supplies, in that order, the community has long been a leader in the sustainability movement. By passing a pesticide notification ordinance, forming the open space committee, limiting chain stores and adopting styrofoam-free and nuclear free ordinances, Fairfax is making a difference at our local level. When Richard moved to Cali in 1974 Fairfax was a musical Valhalla and a palpable garden of Eden. With six live musical venues you never wanted for entertainment and with the European tradition of planting fruit trees as a primary gesture of settlement, in summer and fall, you could walk the sidewalks picking all the overhanging pears, figs, apples and... you could stuff in your face...

The parade began with the siren call of fire engines and Jes Richardson's Ghandi had the last word: 

RESIST THROUGH NON-VIOLENCE