Lake Tahoe Community College’s annual Student Art Exhibition’s opening reception is May 17 from 2-5pm. The awards ceremony is at 3:30pm.
This free exhibition will be on display throughout the LTCC campus through June 19.
Paul Baker Prindle will serve as juror for the 17 categories. Prindle is the University Galleries Director at UNR, as well as an accomplished artist and administrative faculty member.
By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times
The display at the Weiser Family Farms’ stand at the Santa Monica farmers market last weekend was sparse, even by early spring standards — potatoes, some green shallots and garlic, a little sprouting broccoli. The lilacs that signal the start of spring for many Southern Californians came and went weeks ago.
But a couple of stalls down, a shopper could find cherries, apricots, and even peaches and nectarines that tasted like midsummer.
That, in a nutshell, is the state of California’s nearly $30-billion produce industry, which accounts for more than half of the fresh fruits and vegetables grown in America.
Fruit has been ripening and ready to pick at almost shockingly early dates. At the same time, some vegetables have been in extremely short supply, resulting in much higher than normal prices. Lettuces are selling at wholesale for twice what they were at this time last year. Cauliflower has doubled just since February.
By Katharine Lane Antolini
One hundred years ago last May, President Woodrow Wilson signed the first congressional resolution and presidential proclamation calling upon all citizens to honor Mother’s Day. The observance of the Mother’s Day holiday may have had an easy birth, but not an easy transition to maturity.
Anna Jarvis, who deserves credit for the holiday’s popularity and organized the first official Mother’s Day services on May 10, 1908, in her hometown of Grafton, W. Va., and in her adopted hometown of Philadelphia, designed the celebration in honor of her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis. As a young girl, she was inspired by a prayer she once overhead her mother give: “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life,” Jarvis remembered her mother saying. Jarvis chose the second Sunday in May to mark the anniversary of her mother’s death and selected Mrs. Jarvis’ favorite flower, the white carnation, as the holiday’s official emblem.
As a single woman in her 40s, Jarvis viewed motherhood simply through the eyes of a daughter. Thus she constructed a child-centered celebration of motherhood for Mother’s Day: a “thank-offering” from sons and daughters and the nation “for the blessing of good homes.”
Commercial industries quickly recognized the marketability in Jarvis’ sentimental celebration of motherhood. Her themes became central to Mother’s Day advertising campaigns. The designation of the white carnation emblem energized the floral industry.
Jarvis, however, considered Mother’s Day her intellectual and legal property. She wished for Mother’s Day to remain a “holy day,” to remind us of our neglect of “the mother of quiet grace” who put the needs of her children before her own.
Jarvis’ attacks on the commercialization of Mother’s Day became legendary. In 1922, Jarvis endorsed an open boycott against the florists who raised the price of white carnations every May. The following year, she crashed a retail confectioner convention to protest the industry’s economic gouging of the day.
The biggest threat to Mother’s Day was another holiday: a more inclusive Parents’ Day. In 1924, New York City philanthropist Robert Spero sponsored his first Parents’ Day celebration on the second Sunday in May. His rallies earned more holiday converts and media attention as the decade progressed. “We want fathers to feel they are more than breadwinners, that when they go off to work they have some responsibility for what goes on in the home,” Spero told the New York Times in 1926.
In 1930, when New York Assemblyman Julius Berg introduced a bill in Albany to legally replace Mother’s Day with Parents’ Day on the state calendar, he was confident that New York state mothers would have no complaints about sharing their day with fathers.
But Jarvis complained, vehemently. Not only did she consider the bill a personal attack on her legal copyright protection; she saw it as a patent, “humiliating” insult to the state’s mothers. For Jarvis, a threat to Mother’s Day was an affront to motherhood and, in turn, to family harmony. Although often criticized by her more feminist contemporaries, as well as modern scholars, for her failure to acknowledge mothers who were active in the era’s social and political reform movements, Jarvis never faltered from her defense of a mother’s preeminent role within the family.
The state and national success that Spero predicted for Parents’ Day never materialized. Berg’s bill failed repeatedly in Albany. And even George Hecht, the publisher of Parents magazine who had once endorsed Parents’ Day, abandoned the movement in 1941 to chair a new national committee on Mother’s Day.
Perhaps the holiday’s lack of broad appeal mirrored the larger cultural recognition of the unequal division of child care — that when contemporary child care experts or social pundits addressed “parents,” they were still really addressing mothers. Although many Americans certainly believed that fathers deserved regard beyond that of breadwinner, most hesitated to equate the maternal and paternal roles. Ultimately, Americans opted to honor fathers in a way that did not threaten the status of mothers or marginalize their role as children’s primary care takers. As the Parents’ Day movement faded in the 1940s, the celebration of Father’s Day grew in popularity.
On a national calendar already crowded with tributes to American fathers — from Presidents’ Day to our “pilgrim fathers” on Thanksgiving — Mother’s Day is the only culturally, commercially popular holiday that explicitly celebrates women. And that explains Jarvis’ protectiveness: “When a son or daughter cannot endure the name ‘mother’ for a single day of the year it would seem there is something wrong,” she implored.
Katharine Lane Antolini is an assistant professor of history and gender studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is the author of “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for the Control of Mother’s Day”. She wrote this for What It Means to Be American, a national conversation hosted by the Smithsonian and Zocalo Public Square.
To honor Virginia City’s mining heritage, the town celebrates with Muckfest: Mining, Whiskey & Cigars.
A full day of activities is scheduled in the Mining Village at the Delta parking lot, including mining demonstrations and exhibits. In the Whiskey & Cigar Lounge, study the old West’s favorite libations by sampling more than 20 whiskeys.
Bring the kids to learn about the mining and reclamation process at the cookie mining station or take them to Virginia City Mining Company where they can test their luck panning for gold or gems.
The event is June 13 from 10am-5pm.
For info, call 775.847.7500.
By Katherine Sayre, Times-Picayune
The co-receivers in Texas who temporarily replaced Tom Benson in controlling some of the feuding family’s assets are asking a judge to approve several payments, including a $109,000 renovation on a house in Lake Tahoe.
A Bexar County probate judge earlier this year appointed former San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and estate lawyer Art Bayern as co-receivers over the Shirley Benson estate trust, replacing Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson as trustee.
The trust, formed after Benson’s first wife died in 1980, holds interests in real estate, Lone Star Capital Bank and auto dealerships.
The 87-year-old’s daughter, Renee Benson, is seeking to have her father permanently removed as trustee, one of several legal conflicts playing out in Texas and Louisiana courts over the billionaire’s amassed wealth.
By Patrick Quinn
Most people collect things, whether it’s casually or compulsively. You might accumulate many pairs of a favorite brand of shoe. Or you might be a Deadhead on a mission to stockpile Jerry Garcia bootlegs.
My own collection consists of unique items that are very personal, though they’re not an actual part of my life. I collect what’s known as “vintage ephemera” — postcards and letters, photographs and newspapers, calendars and maps, baseball cards and paper dolls, and even birth announcements and death certificates. These are written or printed items that, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.”
I offer my own definition that might help to explain my interest: Ephemera are curious and beautiful remnants of the past. One example from my collection is a letter sent by a widow to the officer who was at her husband’s deathbed when he was shot during the First World War.
When someone passes away, we assume that the surviving family will be responsible for their possessions. But often the families are estranged or the deceased leaves behind major debt. In those cases, the belongings are sold at an estate sale, storage units are auctioned to strangers, and the rest ends up on the dusty shelves of the Goodwill. It is not by accident that every thrift store has the same pervasive air of melancholy. I like to think that the objects I collect are being spared that injustice.
My interest in ephemera began when I bought an old photo album at the Rose Bowl swap meet in the early 2000s. As a visual artist, my original intent was to use old photos in my mixed media sculptures. But I found myself fascinated by these windows into another time. A dealer at the swap meet told me about an even bigger treasure trove of these kinds of items at Hal Lutsky’s Vintage Paper Fair, which was in an Elks Lodge in Pasadena at that time. I’ve been going to the vintage paper fair ever since.
These days, the fair features about 40 dealers who set up on folding tables in the Glendale Civic Center’s main room three times a year, including this coming May 16 and 17. Some specialize in one particular type of ephemera, such as restaurant matchbooks or Stereoviews, but most bring a wide variety. The prices can run the full gamut; a box of 25-cent photos might be displayed next to a single framed image worth hundreds of dollars.
Sherry Sonnett is a regular dealer at the fair. She accumulates her inventory of vintage valentines, sheet music, turn-of-the-century nude photo postcards from France, and other items at estate sales and through other dealers. It was through Sherry that I found love poems written by Private Edward Howard for his wife Dorothy every day he served in the Army during World War II. It was in this package of writings that I found a letter addressed to the couple in 1942, just after they lost a newborn daughter a few weeks earlier:
Dear Ed and Dorothy, Florence has just called me on the phone and has told me of the receipt of the telegram telling of the passing of your little baby. I am sure I don’t need to tell you we are both thinking of you constantly and send our sincere sympathy for your loss. Having passed through the same experience while we were living in New York, we know something of the problem that you face. It’s good at these times to have something to hold on to and to be able to know such problems as this do not represent the truth; to know that Life really is without either beginning or ending and that, despite the evidence that is pouring in on you, you really have lost nothing but that your little girl still lives. I know that such things are difficult to see at such times but, despite this fact, they are true — absolutely true.
The letter is a reminder of how harsh reality can be, and that, with all of our social and scientific advancements, the only cure for sorrow is still simple human compassion. Every time I read this letter, it reminds me to appreciate all of the good things in my life.
Steve Bannos has been selling vernacular photographs (photos of everyday life taken by non-professionals) on eBay since 1997. The people who collect vernacular photos are very specific in their interests — they focus on a single subject like shadows, men wearing hats, or photobooth images. Bannos met his wife when she purchased photos of watermelons from his website. One unique image I bought from Steve was a snapshot of an old man standing alone with the words “Whitey – 1948, three years before he went blind” written in the back.
Gail Pine, a Santa Barbara artist who also uses vernacular photos in her artwork, often sits next to me as we methodically dig in the fair’s discount bins. These bins hold thousands of photos or postcards priced at a dollar each or less. Even when they’re slightly out of focus or badly framed, Gail describes the photos she collects as “wonderful random mistakes.” Like many collectors, she wonders about the faces of the people in the photos and if they’re still around. A few years ago, she was in a thrift store in Arizona and found a picture of her own grandfather who had long before passed away. It seems that every dealer or collector has a similar story.
I’ve never come across an old friend or relative in a vintage photo, but I did feel a connection to the man who had saved a package of literary rejection slips that I found. Like that budding (and unsuccessful) author, I submitted short stories to dozens of magazines when I was younger — and was never published. Some of the magazines he was rejected from back then still exist today — and they rejected me, too. Apparently the editors didn’t enjoy my work anymore than they did his.
Fortunately though, the people whose lives I glimpse through my collection have occasionally been blessed with happy endings. Mrs. Cora Taylor of Oxnard must have been heartsick when she received a telegram on March 26, 1967, that informed her that her husband Sgt. Hershal Taylor was placed on the seriously ill list in North Vietnam because a grenade sent shrapnel to his head and chest. “His condition is of such severity that there is cause for concern but no imminent danger to life,” the telegram concluded.
But 10 days later, Mrs. Taylor received a second telegram:
I am pleased to inform you that your husband Sergeant H. Taylor has been removed from the seriously ill list. Since his condition is no longer considered serious, no further reports will be furnished. I share our hope that he will have a complete and rapid recovery.
The telegrams are old and brittle and I have to be careful when I unfold them. I have no idea how things turned out for Sgt. Taylor and his wife. But I every time I read them, I try to imagine her face as she read those words. Not everything I own is sad or bittersweet. There is a lot of humor and nostalgia in my collection. But it’s the hunt for the special things, like the two telegrams, that keep me coming back to the Glendale Fair.
Patrick Quinn is a writer and a mixed-media artist living in Los Angeles. He wrote this for Thinking L.A., a partnership of UCLA and Zócalo Public Square.
By Kevin Freking, AP
WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Forest Service warned Tuesday of an “above average” fire season that could cost the agency more than $1 billion and require shifting funds from programs designed to prevent wildfires.
Tom Tidwell testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee that the fire season is 60 to 80 days longer than it was just 15 years ago, and he didn’t expect any falloff. “These are the fire seasons we’re going to continue to have,” he said.
California and several other Western states are battling severe drought, increasing the risk of wildfires.
Tidwell estimated that the agency’s cost of fighting wildfires this year would be in the range of $800 million to $1.7 billion.
The Forest Service and the Department of Interior can transfer money from other programs once their fire suppressions accounts have been depleted. But Tidwell called that process self-defeating because it requires the agencies to delay work designed to limit the threat of wildfires.
Lawmakers agreed that changes are needed, but they differ on key details that could make consensus difficult. There’s some bipartisan support for the administration’s efforts to make the biggest forest fires eligible for disaster funding. Two Republican members of the committee, Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Barrasso of Wyoming favor an approach that places more emphasis on forest management projects to prevent wildfires, including a speedier environmental review process for those projects.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the committee’s chairman, said residents in her state are worried about the coming fire season. She said she visited Fairbanks recently and couldn’t remember another beginning of May with no snow on the ground.
The ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, called for Tidwell to work with other agencies to improve communications services during a forest fire. Last year’s Carlton Complex fire in her home state left many residents without power and the ability to communicate for weeks due to downed power lines. Police had to drive from town to town and use megaphones to spread word of the threat, she said.
To the community,
On Sept. 30, 2014, the [El Dorado County] Ad Hoc Budget Committee was formed to address a serious budget shortfall of about $18 million. The committee had two open volunteer positions from outside the government. In the hope of learning how the system works, I applied and was accepted as a committee member. The first meeting was in December. Joe Harn outlined the seriousness of the task and Larry Weitzman offered the most likely solution. Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Pamela Knorr directed the meetings and she and Laura Schwartz gave a capsule look at the budget process.
The next meeting Pamela and [Supervisor] Brian Veerkamp directed the group into first developing an “Eldorado County Budget Policies” paper. This took four months (four meetings). No attempt was made with this committee to determine what cuts needed to be made to get to a balanced budget, in spite of the concerns of Joe and Larry.
At the recent Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting on April 28 [Supervisor] Ron Mikulaco expressed concern that the Ad Hoc Budget Committee did not get to the cuts necessary to balance the budget that he thought was its expressed purpose. I, too, thought the purpose of the committee was to deal with the problem, but unfortunately I did not fully understand how the process works and had even less control of county activities.
The CAO working with staff appears to dictate what the budget will be. Per the CAO, the elected BOS only deals with policy issues, not the specific issues that deal with the budget crisis. Pamela made it clear on the April 28 review that she has the duty to recommend an annual budget. The one proposed is $10 million short and reduces some senior programs that no supervisors want cut. On top of that she basically said to the BOS, stay out of my sand box. She will present a budget on June 30, which we already know will carry the deficit over until the 2016-17 budget and beyond. [Supervisor] Shiva Frentzen is not happy with the lack of cooperation.
It appears to me that the tough decisions are being postponed by endless studies. Since Pamela is not making the tough calls, I would hope that the BOS could step in and meet with the department heads directly and solve the problem. Pamela quickly squelched that idea by quoting policy 304C that gives the CAO the power to develop the budget, plus she stated that she does not want to be bothered by the Ad Hoc Committee in this process. On that point I agree, if we cannot deal with the budget issues, then the committee is not serving the purpose I believe it was created for.
Policy 304 also states that the “CAO shall be responsible to the BOS for the proper and efficient administration of such of the affairs of the county”… Proper and efficient is not a $10 million deficit. Perhaps the CAO should be reminded that her position is temporary, and not balancing the budget has consequences.
[Supervisors] Mike Ranalli and Sue Novasel recommended “patience”. Joe Harn, our auditor–controller, is predicting dire consequences from the lack of action on cutting spending. Who do you believe? We need more than two supervisors, willing to take charge of the county.
Paul Freeman, Cameron Park
More than a hundred trained volunteers will continue a 15-year tradition with a one-day hands-on effort to capture a snapshot of the health of Lake Tahoe’s watershed on May 16 at Lake Tahoe Community College.
The League to Save Lake Tahoe will host Snapshot Day on the South Shore with presentations by Richard Booth from Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board and Krissy Harman from Tahoe Resource Conservation District.
South Shore monitoring will complement efforts happening simultaneously throughout the Truckee River Watershed from its tributaries upstream of Lake Tahoe to its end at Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Incline Village General Improvement District will host Snapshot Day on the North Shore, Truckee River Watershed Council will coordinate activities in Truckee, and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection will host monitoring efforts in Reno.
Volunteers will gather at 9am on May 16 at LTCC. To volunteer, contact Savannah Rudroff with the League at 530.541.5388 or savannah@keeptahoeblue.org.
The Sugar Pine Foundation is partnering with Tahoe Donner Forestry to conduct a tree planting as a part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative attempt to set a world record.
Together with 40 groups across North America an estimated 200,000 trees will be planted in one hour. The local goal is to plant more than 200 Western white pines at Tahoe Donner in the old Donner Ridge Fire scar.
Meet at 15024 Glacier Way off Skislope in Truckee at 9:30am May 20. There is a parking lot on the left that ends with a gate. People will carpool with those who bring four-wheel drive vehicles up a dirt road for about 10 minutes. People will be at different locations in groups of 25 to 100.
The planting will be from 10-11am.
RSVP to Martin at martin@sugarpinefoundation.org. For more info, call Maria at 650.814.9565.