by Janine Bedon, Communications Manager at The Good Table

Book Highlight

April is both Earth Month and National Poetry Month, so in honor of these two celebrations, I’d like to share with you a poetry book that contemplates on our ecological legacy to future generations.

Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land, by N. Scott Momaday, is written in free verse and interspersed with art that Momaday created himself. The book is split in two parts: “Dawn” and “Dusk.” “Dawn” is the first part, where he recollects childhood memories in Oklahoma and the earth-centric consciousness instilled in him by his Kiowa heritage. Meanwhile, the verses of “Dusk” lament what was lost and what we will lose if we continue to sever our connection to the earth. Spiritual in its essence, the Kirkus review for the book describes each verse as “almost like prayers to the natural world.”

“Will I give my children an inheritance of the earth?
Or will I give them less than I was given?”

— Earth Keeper, page 40

Earth Keeper is available to buy online or to borrow through the Contra Costa County Library. It is also available as an e-book and as an e-audiobook.

What’s on your Earth/Poetry Month to-read list? Let us know on our Facebook page or through our Instagram!

“Celebrant” by N. Scott Momaday, Earth Keeper page 13

In the Community

The arts have always been important part of any community. Today, we’d like to spotlight two artists in our community that are doing amazing things.

Photo Credit: Susan Wilson

Carolyn North
A remarkable person, Carolyn has given birth to three children, been a midwife in India, sung in a Gospel choir, started a farm, taught her technique of dance healing as a dance therapist for many years, started a hunger organization, Daily Bread, built a strawbale house, written 11 books on matter and spirit and, stayed married to the same man for 58 years until his death in 2015, started the CommonSpace Community Land Trust in Sonoma County, and became a member of the Wild and Radish Community of Northern California (of which our partner org Planting Justice’s Gavin Raders and Haleh Zandi are members) where she is helping design a program for elders aging and dying in community.

As if that weren’t enough, Carolyn “recently donated her Berkeley home valued at approximately $1.3 million — residential property she and her husband purchased in 1966 for $28,500 — to the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. The Oakland-based organization permanently removes residential properties from the mass market through cooperatives and land trusts and creates affordable housing opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and other underserved minority groups. North’s former family home now offers affordable housing, primarily for artists who are people of color.”

Carolyn says:
”I feel I am here to help make the transition from a materialistic culture to a culture that recognizes that we are all connected with each other, with the earth and with the cosmos.

You can read my bi-monthly articles on Musings On The Passing Scene and can follow links to information about my books at About Carolyn’s Books. The latest books are From the Notebooks of Carolyn North: Musings on the Passing Scene (Vol. 1) and its sequel The Living Edge of Dying: Musings in an Era of Breakdown (Vol. 2). They both address the realities of our time with deep seriousness, humor, personal stories and suggestions of how to keep on keeping on.”

Read Carolyn’s interview in SF Classical Voice: Carolyn North

---

Steve Zwetsch

Making musical instruments out of unexpected items is Steve Zwetsch’s particular genius. Five years ago, Zwetsch came across a YouTube video of a guitar made from cigar boxes and wondered if he could craft something similar.

Being a self-taught handyman, Zwetsch gave it a shot and created the instrument in his basement. Before the pandemic, he would make five cigar box guitars a year but after his bakery business was impacted by COVID-19, he created 14 guitars in six months.

“It’s fun to make these things and I’m making them more for the art value than anything else. Then, the fact that it created more art with the music that you can play with it, is just phenomenal.”

— Steve Zwetsch, in profile by ABC News

Read his profile by ABC News here: The Art of Imperfection

by Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table

Artist: Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith

In Our Community

It goes without saying that 2020 has completely changed our way of life, and mostly not in good ways.  Sure, it was novel to bake our quarantine sourdough at first, but as the months dragged on, the lack of social connection and being in community has really worn on all of us.  (It’s also given us insight into and compassion for the everyday life protocols of our immunocompromised community members — but that’s a different article).

Social isolation, the anxiety about our loved ones potentially getting sick, grief for those we’ve lost and the gigantic scale of the pandemic, anger at the current administration for their failure to act… it all adds up.  What do we do about it?  How can we keep ourselves mentally healthy during a time with so few resources?

Resilience, as defined by Merriam Webster, is the ability to recover quickly from stress.  “It's the notion of springing back into shape after being knocked down. In today's world of economic and political turmoil, being able to withstand the related shocks and stresses - for both individuals and societies-at-large - is more important than ever,” says the Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non-profit organization that inspires current and future leaders to shape a better world.

So how do we cultivate resilience?

Artist: Jorge Bejarano

Certainly, therapy, meditation, yoga and other mental health resources can help us find some equilibrium, if we have access to them.  But something that occurred to me this week was that art and creativity may offer us even more.

I was driving around the block, my small children in their carseats in the backseat.  In order to stop the baby from crying, I was driving around downtown Oakland, stopping as little as possible.  As I drove the improvised circles, I noticed that the plywood covering storefronts and businesses had been overlaid with street art.  Intensely colorful murals and impactful statements lined the streets.

Artist: Natty Rebel

The next day, I went back on foot to document some of it.  It seemed important to witness, to document this cultural moment.  As I took pictures, I thought about the motivation to create art: outrage, joy, inspiration, boredom.  Art is a channel for these emotions, a place to contain and express them.

Street art, in particular, is a chance to be in community -- it’s a conversation with the viewer and with the other pieces surrounding it.  The art I saw decried police killings, stood up for black lives, and rejoiced in the community and the diversity of Oakland.  It’s important to witness these voices, understand their truths.

Artist: Unknown (Please get in touch — we’d love to give the artist credit!)

Art can be an outlet for anger at injustice, a voice for the unheard, a signal to rally, a comfort to those who feel alone.  In our contentious and difficult times, it can be a way to release stress, to make something creative, generative.  It can be solace, comfort.  It is the ultimate container for anything we feel.

Do you have an art practice?  What does it look like?  Does art help you cope with the uncertainty we face?  What other ways can you find resilience?  

As we go into 2021, art and community will matter more and more.  I urge you to observe the art around you, and generate your own practice, whatever it looks like for you.  The world needs more art.

***

For more on the street art taking place in Oakland and San Francisco, check out these news articles and organizations:

Open-Air Art Museum
How Oakland Community Organizers Are Preserving Street Art
Painting the Void