The South Shore community has again been granted the privilege of producing the Eve Ensler production “The Vagina Monologues”.

A casting call and volunteer meeting for all men and women interested in participating is Dec. 19 at 6:30pm at the South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center, 2941 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

For those who are interested, call Natalie Yanish at (775) 843.7142 or email natalie@realtordeb.com for more information about how to get involved and what to expect at the casting call, as well as performance dates and details.

V-Day is a worldwide organization spreading awareness, raising money for local organizations, and fighting violence against women and girls.

People are needed to:

Act

Publicity and marketing

Art coordinator

Volunteer coordinator

Production team

Volunteers: If you do not have much time, but would like to help in the production and fundraising, help would be appreciated.

Five reasons why men should participate in the production:

Your mother, sister, girlfriend, wife and daughter.

V-Day’s three core beliefs:

Art has the power to reach, transform, and inspire to act.

Empowered women are unstoppable leaders and lasting social and cultural change is spread through their experience.

You cannot end violence against women without looking at the intersection of poverty, racism, the environment and war.

V-Day dreams of a world in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather then merely survive.

Rocco is an energetic 8-year-old husky mix who has very good manners.

He likes to sleep in bed with his people at night, and he likes other dogs and small children, but his new home shouldn’t have any small animals or cats.

He loves to go for hikes and car rides.

Rocco is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.

He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

Winter White was the theme of Tahoe Regional Young Professionals’ inaugural holiday party which raised more than $3,000 for Tahoe Youth & Family Services.

“So many businesses in the community came out not only to support the event but gave of their services and gifts for our raffle and silent auction,” Rebecca Wass, TRYP founder and president said in a press release. “Then, all of a sudden the crowd’s voices picked up and there was a donation match, between Matt Wiggins’ from Corporate Nevada, Ltd., Erik Watada State Farm Insurance Agency, Maggie Wattle and Alisa Ashbaugh from Big Blue Spa Service and Repair and Todd Poth with Getaway Reno/Tahoe. It was so exciting.”

More than $2,000 was given to TYFS from just the gift match.

The goal of the young professionals was to raise money to help one family. Enough was raised that TY&FS said more than 60 teens and 15 families will be assisted, with money for other programs.

Tahoe Regional Young Professionals is a group of forward thinking individuals who believe in giving back to the community that has provided an inspirational place to work, live, play and prosper – Lake Tahoe. By connecting Tahoe’s next generation to help better their community, the young professionals organize and participate in charity FUNdraisers, networking events and provide career opportunities to help support Tahoe residents and businesses.

By Teri Mizuhara

The recent wind event that caused more than a dozen fires in Amador and El Dorado counties found many people without power for three or more days. Those who were prepared did well, but those who did not prepare had a far more difficult time.

“As emergency responders we encourage residents to be prepared to be without water or power for a minimum of 72 hours. Power outages are an occasional fact of life living in the foothills and anyone who hasn’t prepared themselves needs to do so right away,” says Chief Kelly Keenan of the CalFire Amador-El Dorado unit.

“In the fire service, we prepare for the worst case, we train constantly and when the call comes we respond immediately but we can’t be everywhere all the time,” Keenan said. “In a situation where emergency services are being stretched, you may find yourself on your own for a three days. Can you really sustain your family for three days? During the winter months when outside temperatures are dipping into the 30s?”

If you have answered “no”, you now know that you and your family aren’t prepared. You need to begin planning now. Take the first step today and line out a plan so over time you can implement your entire families disaster preparedness plan and rest easy that no matter what, you and your loved ones will be okay.

Here are some key items you will need to think about:

•  back-up generator with a transfer switch at your electrical panel to supply power to your home
•  generator for your well pump or
• a minimum of 1 gallon of water per day per person properly stored
• non-perishable food and can opener if you need one
• radio, flashlights and extra batteries for both
• medications
• first aid kit
•  cash
• supplies for your pets (food, water, medicines, etc.).

Depending on the type of disaster (wildfire, floods/mudslides, snow storm, hazardous materials incident, etc.) and time of year, your needs will change. If you have an infant or elderly or a disabled individual who resides with you, can their specific needs be met without power, running water or heat?

Disaster preparedness begins and ends with you.

You can find more information at our website, through FEMA, and the Humane Society.

Teri Mizuhara works out of the CalFire office in Camino.

Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will present Mendelssohn in the Mountains featuring Elizabeth Pitcairn, violinist, performing Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor on the legendary Red Stradivarius Violin. The Symphony Chorus will be featured in Part 2 of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Performances are:

Jan. 19 7pm at the North Tahoe Hebrew Center in Tahoe Vista

Jan. 21 at 3pm at St. Patrick’s Church in Incline Village

Jan. 22 at 3pm in St. Theresa Church in South Lake Tahoe

Jan. 24 at 7pm in Trinity Church in Reno.

Tickets are available at the door or online. General admission to all concerts is $30 adults, $25 seniors, $5 students, and preferred seating is $40.

There are special room and dinner/concert combinations at the Resort at Squaw Creek. Call (530) 581.6615 for information on these packages.

For information or preferred seating, call (775) 313.9697, or email ToccataTahoe@gmail.com.

By Betsy Morais, Atlantic

A 48-year-old high-school biology teacher from France, Alexis Jenni, won the country’s top literary prize this year, the Prix Goncourt. When he received the honor earlier this month, Jenni told reporters, “I didn’t even think that I would be published, so I could hardly dream of the Goncourt. I was a little resigned to anonymity.”

Jenni’s winnings are, officially, a symbolic check for 10 Euros, and, unofficially, a boost in sales for his 600-page novel, L’art français de la guerre (The French Art of War). In the recent past, Goncourt winners have gone on to sell around 400,000 copies of their books. But Jenni, a father of three, said he has no plans to give up his day job as a science teacher at Le Lycée Saint Marc in Lyon. He intends to remain, as he has been, “a Sunday writer.”

The astounding honor that plucked Jenni from his humble weekend scribbling to rank him among the French literary elite—past Goncourt winners include Marcel Proust, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, and Georges Duhamel—is the rare acknowledgement of a former “nobody” as a “somebody.” Since completing his education in his twenties, Jenni had been writing this and that. He sent a manuscript off to some editors, and they all rejected it. Another he did not send at all. L’art français de la guerre was mailed only to one publisher, Gallimard, which decided to give it a go. Upon Jenni’s receipt of the prize, Le Lycée Saint Marc posted félicitons on their website under the banner: “Un Prix Goncourt au Lycée Saint-Marc.” It was, perhaps, their win as much as his own.

It’s the stuff of dreams: proof that those evenings spent hunched over a desk, typing furiously might, just might, not be in vain; that Paul Giamatti’s character from Sideways does not represent an undiscovered middle-aged writer’s inevitable fate. Or, as Jenni put it, “It’s not because you don’t do concerts that you can’t play the piano.”

In the Alexis Jenni school of thought, a writer may be someone, anyone, with a compulsion to scrawl or the conviction of having something to say. A writer is not defined by his career, but the simple act of writing regularly. And authors who found success through the muck of making ends meet have taken that approach for some time now, in practice at least.

Franz Kafka was a legal secretary at the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague (later: In the Czech Lands), where he wrote reports like “Accident Prevention in Quarries,” and rose to a top office position, Obersekretär. Though his bureaucratic labors bore literary fruit—providing context and imagery for his fiction writing—Kafka came to feel bogged down by the daily grind. “Writing and office cannot be reconciled, since writing has its center of gravity in depth, whereas the office is on the surface of life,” he wrote to his fiancée in 1913. “So it goes up and down, and one is bound to be torn asunder in the process.”

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

MEYERS – Embracing and celebrating what they have. That’s what Meyers is doing.

“Our little niche out here is we are a recreation Mecca,” Rene Brejc said.

“We are celebrating Meyers tonight,” Kim Wyatt said.

“Our 10-year plan is to be one of the top 10 outdoor places in Outside magazine,” Josh Welch said.

Santa is escorted by sheriff's Deputy Damian Frisby Dec. 9 to all the waiting children in Meyers. Photos/Kathryn Reed

These three people live and work in Meyers. For them, and many others who call this hamlet at the base of Echo Summit home, Meyers is already on the map. They don’t struggle with who they are, what they want to be, or why they live and work where they do.

For others, though, Meyers is merely where the bug station is, the first or last gas stop in or out of the basin, or just another place to slow down before going 55 on Highway 50 again.

That is about to change.

Friday night was the first event put on by what is loosely being called the Meyers Business Group. Brejc of Got it Real Estate & Development Corp., Wyatt of Bona Fide Books, and Welch of Safe Haven Chiropractic are the backbone of a grass roots movement to unite the business community, while at the same time sharing with others just what it is Meyers has to offer.

On Dec. 9 they attracted about 300 people to the parking lot of Divided Sky for the inaugural tree lighting. (About 75 more were warm inside.) It may have been the first time locals caused a traffic jam in Meyers.

Three-year-old Kylee Caudillo had one of the best seats of the night – atop her grandpa Jon Kolb’s shoulders. He has been on the South Shore for 42 years, most of that time in Meyers, and can’t remember a time when there was a tree lighting.

Savannah Caudillo, 9, of Meyers was giddy in anticipation of seeing the “special surprise” – aka Santa’s sleigh.

The crowd went wild as the hum of a helicopter could be heard coming from the north. Ah … that would be CalStar with Santa onboard. After all, when Santa was asked where his reindeer were, he told all the boys and girls that the animals were home resting for the big event later this month.

As the helicopter circled the area a few times looking for a spot not filled with a vehicle, the pilot decided to land in the lot neighboring where everyone had gathered. Kids and adults ran through the field to greet the helicopter. His special elves, aka law enforcement, made sure the little ones didn’t rush the chopper.

Under escort by an El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy, Santa was led to the decorated Lake Valley fire truck to talk to every child who wanted to whisper in his ear.

Clutching free cups of hot cocoa to ward of the bitter cold 28-degree Tahoe night, (or is that Meyers night?), adults could be overheard saying what a wonderful event, why didn’t it happen sooner, and they hoped more events are planned.

More are is the works.

When the snow begins to fly and enough is on the ground, a snowman, woman, family, village – (depends how much white stuff there is) – will be created in a communal effort.

The Meyers Business Group intends to focus on art, culture, recreation, and health and wellness.

Events are one thing, but creating a more cohesive sense of community is another goal. Sprucing up some of the dilapidated buildings is on the to-do list.

Brejc wants to continue the “wow factor” of being at the top of Echo Summit all the way through Meyers.

While Brejc, Wyatt and Welch know plenty of reasons to stop in Meyers – each of their businesses, the restaurants, the yoga-Pilates studio that just opened, among other reasons – they want more people to see Meyers as a place to go to, not drive through.

For the Dec. 9 event all but one business that was asked to donate money did so. Collaboration and cooperation seem to come naturally to folks in Meyers.

As a gateway to Desolation Wilderness, an area with road and mountain biking, rock climbing, bouldering, backcountry skiing, cross country skiing, fly fishing and other sports – Meyers is the outdoors – not a gateway to it.

A logo and tagline are in the works for the group. The idea is there will be more ways to unify Meyers.

Brejc is the person to contact for anyone wanting to know more about the Meyers Business Group – (530) 577.7111. The group also has a Facebook page – search Meyers Community.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

STATELINE — Twenty-seven South Shore organizations are sharing $100,000 thanks to the annual American Century celebrity golf tournament.

Livestrong – Lance Armstrong’s charitable foundation – has long been a partner with American Century and for the past few years a presence at the golf event in Stateline.

At the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority meeting Dec. 8 representatives from the 27 local groups were on hand to receive their checks. For the picture, some held photos of the celebrities who played this past July – an acknowledgement that they had something to do with the money raised.

South Shore groups received a total of $100,000 Dec. 8 from the celebrity golf tournament sponsors. Photo/Provided

In keeping with the Livestrong focus of cancer research, $15,000 was distributed to Barton Foundation and the Cancer League.

The Boys & Girls Club and Christmas Cheer each received $10,000.

Recipients of $3,000 to $5,000 included Douglas County Parks and Recreation-Kahle Community Center, Whittell High School, Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center, Tahoe Magic, Family Resource Center and Tahoe Youth & Family Services.

Contributions of $500 to $2,500 were awarded to Friends of the Library-South Lake Tahoe Branch, Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra, Clean Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, Lake Tahoe Track Club, Lake Tahoe’s Shining Stars, South Tahoe High School Performing Arts Booster Association, Bijou Community School-Two Way Immersion Program, Tahoe Senior Plaza, Barton Foundation, CASA El Dorado, American Youth Soccer Organization, Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation, Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation, South Lake Tahoe Police Activities League, Tahoe Arts Project and Tahoe Community Church Food Pantry.

In 22 years of the American Century Championship, more than $3.5 million has been distributed to national charities and local organizations.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Celebrate winter at the free Family Science Day on Jan. 5 from 2-5pm at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Science.

There will be hands-on winter-themed science activities for kids ages 8 and older. Families are invited to explore the mysteries of snow and ice, conduct scientific experiments to discover what snowflakes look like under microscopes, what wind chill actually is, and why some animals hibernate, among many other activities.

For details, contact Andrea Wilkins at alwilkins@ucdavis.edu or (775) 881.7560, ext. 7474.

The center is at 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

Numerous lovable and healthy pets are available for adoption from Placer County’s animal shelters, and coupons covering half of the adoption fee are still available at the shelters in order to place as many adoptable animals into caring homes as possible.

This promotion continues through Dec. 15.

Placer County Animal Services is able to offer the half-off coupons because of charitable contributions and the support of A New Hope Animal Foundation. The coupons are available for all adoptable animals in Auburn and Tahoe Vista.

Residents need only to arrive at a shelter, select their new pet, get a coupon on the spot, and pay half of the usual fee. The half-off fee is $56 for dogs and $46 for cats.

The Auburn animal shelter is located at 11251 B Ave., Auburn, and the Tahoe Vista shelter is located at 849 Shelter Road, Tahoe Vista.

Additional information is available by calling Placer County Animal Services at (530) 886.5540.