SPRING-GLORIOUS

Do you remember reading e.e.cummings in high school? One phrase he wrote, "mud-luscious," stuck with me. Last weekend, instead of mud-luscious, the weather was "spring-glorious." Golden poppies, nasturtiums, apple tree blossoms, and daffodils crowded the hills in the East Bay. The Carquinez Straits between Benicia and Martinez sparkled as tankers moving away from Sacramento through the water out to sea. Early Spring in California. Nothing seems to be wrong when it is Spring in its flourishing best. Blue skies, blue water, flowers covering hills, slight breeze to keep it cool. For a while we could forget the horrendous news that drops into our sight every day.

Since living in a city again, I have lost my sense of direction, which was so easy to determine when I had hills, tree shadows, and changes in the season. In cities, buildings nullify my sense of direction. This week, the sun came through a different window in the morning. The reflection off of the skyscraper windows sent the light not from the east, but from northwest instead. No wonder I am confused.

I find myself having to orient myself when I am walking on a street filled with tall buildings as if I am in a dense forest with nothing to direct me from one direction to another. The buildings' shadows fool me. I often turn in the direction I think I want to go only to discover it is the exact opposite, much like when we lived in Tokyo and I walked out of the Shinjuku subway and would take a wrong turn. There, every street looked alike with small shops packed together and overhead lighting flooding the streets like Las Vegas nightlife.

 The other day, I came out of a bakery on Market Street and turned to my left thinking I was going to head to the Ferry Building. Instead, I found myself facing the opposite direction where Market Street starts to disappear into San Francisco neighborhoods. Market Street runs the length of downtown ending at the Ferry Building near the Bay and in the other direction, wandering past the Castro till it culminates in Diamond Heights to become Portola Drive. I think I should be able to sense my direction, but again the buildings and shadows fool me.

"In a Churchyard Garden"

Portola is a common name in California. Gaspar de Portola was a Spanish Army officer who led the expedition with Father Junipero Serra through the lands of the Washoe, Raymatush Ohlone, Miwok, Pomo, and other indigenious tribes. We all know the effects of Western migration on indigenous tribes whose lands became the United States. The book, Ishi, the Last of His Tribe by Theodora Kroeber, represents the fate of so many tribes across the nation. Ishi was the last know member of the Yahi people. He came to San Francisco early in the 20th Century as a ward of a renowned anthropologist, and soon succumbed to tuberculosis, one of those diseases that white settlers passed on to various tribes. The name Portola, who was long gone before Ishi was discovered, still lingers as place names throughout California and remains a good reminder to understand more of history than just names.

Brass marker with the word in Raymatush for sky.
Raymatush is an oral language and doesn't have a written alphabet.
The plaque designer chose to show the English translation
in a different script from the Raymmatush.

California is a land of immigrants. We can find part of our history by looking for the origins of place names. Many names, such as San Francisco or Figueroa, refer to the Spanish exploration. Other places are words from the indigenous peoples' languages: Napa, the Patwin name for home, Shasta, Inyo, Siskiyou, Suisun, Sonoma (Pomoan for Valley of the Moon), and Tuolumne (cluster of stone wigwams) are a few. In San Francisco on King Street, we can walk on brass plates that form a dictionary of Raymatush words. By knowing the names and the history behind them, we pay silent homage to the tribes that Western exploration displaced.

Check out the list of indigenous names here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_placenames_of_Native_American_origin

****************

Let's pause in honor of these soldiers killed last week in the war in Iran:

Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Ky

Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida 

Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska 

Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota 

Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa

Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa 

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California

 

PEOPLE-FRIENDLY PLACES

Window View February 2026

Wednesday is our day to get out early to explore the City. This past Wednesday we returned to San Francisco's City Hall. Since we moved to the city, we have paid our property taxes in person at City Hall. This small act makes the tax payment seem more real to us. On our first visit, we expected to find a busy, noisy place, teeming with angry people. We glanced at the new statue of former Mayor Ed Lee before we passed through the baggage check. Instead of cacophony on a weekday, the halls were quiet. The sounds of people walking through were muted and echoed against the marble walls. Maybe it was the live wedding music we heard (Pachelbel's Canon in D Major) drifting down from the fourth floor gallery. We've become nostalgic onlookers of wedding parties as they pose for photos on the Rotunda's grand staircase. Several groups waited their turns to approach the wedding hall. Last Wednesday, no one seemed to be in a rush anywhere.

Alcoves on the first floor hold statues of other mayors. Some are familiar to me: Dianne Feinstein, who became one of our U.S. Senators, George Moscone, who was assassinated in his office, and Art Agnos, who was mayor during the Loma Prieta earthquake and led the effort to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway.

by Bill Slavin

The tax collector and accessor offices are located in this elegant Beaux Arts building. We walked into the accessor's office to ask someone to explain the supplemental and escape property tax bills we received this year after buying a condo in the city. We were concerned that we might be paying more now in property taxes than we did when we lived in a big house in Danville. We found the people who work in the tax offices to be friendly, patient, and helpful. The idea that government workers are lazy or rude is a stain on the actual people who work there. We received undivided attention to our questions and walked away feeling good once again that our money (taxes) were an important part of our life in California. And no, we aren't paying more than before.

Leaving City Hall from the opposite entrance from the Civic Center Plaza, we walked past the headquarters for the California Supreme Court, another Beaux Arts design, to Books Inc,  located in Opera Plaza on Van Ness. We can never pass up a bookstore and found a Peet's Coffe conveniently connected to the store. After I purchased Hector Garcia's The Magic of Japan, and we had a coffee and pastry, we walked back through the Civic Center and stopped to watch a group who covered the steps leading to City Hall. They carried numerous signs and were protesting any decrease in funding for the city's environmental protection office. At the moment we were listening to the speeches of local supervisors, I received a text about writing to our representatives about regulating AI technology. Two distinct issues but connected due to lack of regulation to prevent climate change events.

by Bill Slavin

Across the way from City Hall, we noticed a Zumba class moving to music rhythms. We crossed over to walk through the arcade of sycamore trees that stretched across the plaza. The trees, still without leaves, were pruned the old way so that the ends of the branches were like knobs or knuckles. As we ventured through the central plaza, we noticed children playing on structures at the Helen Diller playground near the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. 

At the other end of the plaza a gathering of food trucks offered dim sum and tamales, boba tea and crepes. Workers on their lunch break sat at the benches within the food truck square. Across Larkin Street stands another Beaux Arts building which now houses the Asian Art Museum. On Wednesdays, between the museum and the Main Library, Fulton Plaza is home to a bustling farmers market, where this time of year green vegetables, apples, and mandarin oranges filled the stands. We saw flowers, bunches of Chinese broccoli, and bok choy sticking out of the hand carts that people were using to carry their purchases. Further back from the market at U.N. Plaza, is a skateboard park teeming with young people testing their skills.

by Bill Slavin

We continued our walk towards Market Street. Across from the library, the street in front of the Orpheum Theater was crowded with mostly seniors ready to see "The Notebook" musical.

Europeans long ago figured out how to make the centers of their cities inviting. Skyscrapers won out in the United States and downtowns are often windy, cold places where people rush past each other in the shade of the tall buildings. In San Francisco, the Civic Center, like Union Square and the Embarcadero, invites people to use the space. The plaza at the Civic Center is surrounded by massive Beaux Arts buildings, but the open space allows sunlight and room for people to interact with each other in very different ways. Our visit on Wednesday was a good reminder of what is possible.

***************

Listen to Pachelbel's Canon in D Major:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptk_1Dc2iPY 

Hector Garcia has lived in Japan for 15 years and writes about what he has learned about Japanese culture.Garcia's books, including The Magic of Japan, can be found at Bookshop.org:   https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=hector+garcia

INSPIRATIONS FOUND EVERYWHERE

   

by Martha Slavin

We all have good stories to tell. Some of us are natural raconteurs who delight people with their spoken tales. My Uncle Kermit was one of those who could get a whole room laughing at the antics in his stories. Some of us write down our stories. I returned to writing when our son was born and I wanted to document family history. I asked my numerous Heimdahl relatives to write one memory down. The collection became a wonderful document about generations of Heimdahls. For the other sides of our family, I collected photos and ephemera to put into photo albums.

I then listed events in my life to try to pick out memorable stories. I reached deep into my memories back to one moment when I was standing in my crib and my dad walked into the room to soothe me. While thinking about my past, I also realized some of the influences that led me to life-long interests or led me to try ideas and let them go. I've kept sketchbooks to remind me of places I've been and people I've met.

Last week I asked you to reflect on events that inspired you. I received some wonderful responses to that question.

Here are a few:

"In my house it was reading that influenced my future - even though I started as a drama major - English was a perfect fit for me. My parents both read and my mother was always discussing what she read with her friends - even if they didn't have a Book Club. Once when I had the measles and wasn't supposed to read, she read to me. I was a Louisa May Alcott fan and had read most of them, so she started on one I hadn't read, "Old Fashioned Girl." After about 15 minutes she threw it across the bed, and said, "This is tripe!" It was too goody two shoes for her and the cynic and literary critic in me was born."  M.P.

by Martha Slavin

"We were a comic book family too. Not for drawing, but for inspiration. My favorite strip was "Archie and Veronica." I learned a great lesson for my life from Jughead Jones of that series. It went like this...your brain is full of information in little boxes. If you want to stuff more information in your brain, you need to remove some of the boxes that are cluttering up your brain... I guess I never figured out how to do that and I got stuck when I ran into Physics in high school. I had no more room for science boxes so I had to toss any idea of becoming a doctor. You can learn a lot from comic books!"  Gary R.

Mary cutting paper

"Since I was really young, I have always had an interest in crafts and using my hands to make things.  We have a picture of me at about age 3.5 to 4 years, sitting on the floor cutting up paper.  I would often take excess fabric and try to make outfits for my dolls.  I loved Cracker Jack prizes when I had to put something together.  Hand work of any kind, knitting, sewing, or crocheting always intrigued me. If I expressed an interest of sorts, I was encouraged to stop and visit my Grandma after school to help me with a braided rag rug or a crochet stitch.   My sister Bonnie was definitely my mentor for quilting and we spent many happy hours together trading skills. I feel this interest was something I was born with, a part of my gene makeup.  To this day I love getting lost in projects in my Sewing/Craft room, it’s so good for the soul."

Mary M.

by Martha Slavin

"My mother was a teacher, so I guess I modeled myself after her. I "played school" with my dolls and, occasionally, with my grandfather who lived with us. I was always pretend-teaching the grade that I was actually in at the time...and my students were never unruly! So, I became an elementary school teacher, as did many women at the time, and enjoyed it for the three years before Jill came along. Then, after many years of school volunteering, working with Brownies and Girl Scouts, working on high school committees, I headed back to teaching...this time to junior high...what a different experience. When Jill was in college and Libby on her way there, I developed a wanderlust, wanting to visit the world that I had taught about but never visited. I made a total U-turn, took two years of classes at CSM and went on to become a travel agent. I worked for American Express Ethan Allen Travel in San Mateo and even had an airline computer in my home office. And then, we really started traveling!"  Marcia S.

Two Sisters by Martha Slavin

"Ah, Katy Keene! I had a full page drawing featured in the comic book one time and a small dress design, too, at another time. Loved the Katy Keene comics and wanted to become a fashion designer. Didn't happen, but I always enjoyed designing fashion. Calligraphy was a favorite of my art classes in college." Linda D.

Writer friends have recently published books and essays worth reading. Getting a book published is a major achievement for a writer, harder now than ever. Most of the major publishers look only at established writers. There are smaller publishers who will produce a book, but then leave the details of selling the book up to the author. Self-publishing a book is an option, but it can leave out an important step, the advice of a good editor. We all need good editors, don't we? Take a look. Good Reads!

Terri Hinte, former publicist for Fantasy Records, wrote about a trip to Brazil in Brazilian Christmas. 

Donna Kaulkin contributes to "Vistas and Byways," an online publication from Olli at SF State. One of her good stories can be found on her website:  https://donnatellsstories.com/the-dance-of-love/

Cousin Carrie Classon's book, Loon Point, brings together a cast of characters marooned at a resort during a Minnesota blizzard. Carrie also writes a weekly column called Postscript: 

https://www.carrieclasson.com/info-about-carrie

 

Leah Fisher has been interviewed on KTVU about her book, Marriage Sabbatical, a year-long exploration of the world by herself and the discoveries she made about strengthening her marital relationship along the way. https://www.mymarriagesabbatical.com/articles?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=699cb15542246330f26c6fa0&ss_email_id=699cbbf5b175e24d380f9c27&ss_campaign_name=My+KTVU+Interview+is+Published&ss_campaign_sent_date=2026-02-23T20%3A44%3A00Z

Ellen Newman continues to write interesting travel articles on her blog, Hidden inSite:  https://hidden-insite.com

Constance Anderson has several wonderful children's books. https://candersonart.comThis is her latest:

All the books can be found at https://bookshop.org

FOUNDATIONS

Value Study of old buildings

 Where does inspiration come from? Sitting in a class last weekend with Kristen Doty, a calligrapher and artist, I listened to her tell a story of a Japanese language book that she discovered in her dad's bookshelves. He had brought the book home from Japan after WWII. She was captivated by the kanji characters and went on to study Japanese. The book also became her gateway into calligraphy. She now teaches classes at workshops all over the country and in Europe.

Other members of the class explained how they became interested in calligraphy or other art pursuits. Several of them mentioned the Speedball Textbook, A Comprehensive Guide to Pen and Brush Lettering. That small book taught many lettering artists how to create beautiful lettering. The Speedball book was part of my family's collection too, along with a box of Speedball pen nibs. I spent hours trying  each pen nib to practice different lettering styles I loved in the book.

24th Edition of the Speedball Textbook

I did the same with the two books of anatomy that I found in one of the drawers of my mother's desk. One was a fold-out book with each section showing a different part of the human body's structure: skin, muscles, nervous system, and organs. This thin booklet was my first exposure not only to the body's systems, but to a way of producing a book different than the normal binding. The other book showed drawings and photographs of the muscles, veins and nervous system, and also the human body at various stages through the decades. I was fascinated by how the body changed from infancy with its big head to old age and its enlarged features such as noses and ears.

Contour drawing of feet

My family also collected autumn leaves and insects from our backyard. Studying the wings of the insects and tracing the leaves' veins taught me to focus on details of other objects as well. Mostly, though, I loved sitting in my dad's studio watching him work at one of his two drafting tables. He also set up a table for us to come and draw while he was working. My mom didn't have time to create a full-time studio in our home, but she had an easel in the den. She asked all of us daughters to pose for her. Posing for what seemed like hours gave me a chance to watch her start with charcoal sketches. She would  then mix oil paints and applied them to the canvas until she had a finished portrait.

We were a comic book family and had a stack of books that my day collected of his favorite comic strip artists such as Milton Caniff who drew Terry and the Pirates, Dale Messick's Brenda Starr (my first exposure to a working woman in storybook form), and his own series, Minne Sue and Little Haha. He was drawn to comic strip artwork that used the same dynamic style that graphic novel artists use today, with a deep knowledge of anatomy, bold outlines, and actions portrayed on paper.

Watching both my parents draw encouraged me to do the same. It was part of our family's education along with reading, writing, and arithmetic. With this influence, I began to draw fashion designs, and while still in elementary school, I sent some to Bill Woggins for publication in one of his Katie Keene comic books. Woggins encouraged his readers to send in designs, and he gave credit to them all, whether the designs appeared in his strip or not. He would list designers with their addresses and asked them to become pen pals. Clever marketing at that time where security wasn't such an issue as it is today.

List of fashion designers for Katie Keene comic book. My name is highlighted

Listening to Kristen Doty talk about what influenced her, reminded me of my own. I think of the families of doctors, construction workers, and entrepreneurs who can start out with a foundation in their professions because of their family background. All of us have had something that inspired us. What sparked your interest in your own life-long path?

Early drawings with a poem:
Count your garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall,
Count your days by the golden hours, don't remember clouds at all.
Count your nights by stars, not shadows,
Count your life by smiles, not tears,
And with joy on every birthday, 
Count your age by friends, not years.
(Dixie Willson, possible author)

****************

Check out Kristen Doty, artist and calligrapher, at

https://kristendoty.com

Read about Ralph Heimdahl and his work on Bugs Bunny here:

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/ralph-heimdahl-a-collection-for-the-ages/

Check out this Milton Caniff collection:

https://cloverpress.us/products/terry-and-the-pirates-the-master-collection-vol-10?srsltid=AfmBOorPGsijApesVvhcbLVHu9bwXk73XXZMLJc_FA2RBedla7a_iABe 

FLOURISHING DIVERSITY

Window View -- January 2026

"Celebrate diversity. It's the one true thing we have in common." Winston Churchill

Outside of our windows, one bird has been singing away. It's spring and time for nesting. I finally spotted him with his striped head. I think it might be a black-throated grey warbler. I am not a bird watcher with binoculars and lists in hand, wide-brimmed hat, and camouflage...not yet...but I do like to watch birds as they fly overhead or swoop into a nearby bush. Sometimes, one will sit on the bare tree branches outside our windows. Bill and I wondered how a small bird could find a mate in the middle of a city. This latest bird has been elusive until I saw two birds fly onto the branches. One was singing as loud as he could while the other ducked into the bushes below us. Today could be his lucky day.

The small bird's song helped me notice the change in seasons here in the City. Our condo is located near the Giants ballpark in a former industrial area of the City. We don't have the neighborhood feel of some sections of town such as Noe Valley or DuBose with their rows of well-kept Victorians and parks nearby. Instead, we live in a skyscraper and our view out our front windows is of a cascade of buildings leading to the Salesforce Tower with its changing lightscape at the top. At night, the view is dazzling with lights. 

Sometimes, I write a paragraph and get stuck. Today, I got out of my chair, had a light lunch, and took a walk. I strolled down the dock next to the yacht club's berths. Pigeons fluttered around waiting for a crumb to drop. Most of the time, even on weekends, the sailboats are tied up, and the halyards clang in the wind. Our weather has been unusually warm, reaching in the 70s. Today, there were a few empty slips and sailboats angling out into the Bay. Karl the Fog had been a no-show until the night just as the Super Bowl started. Salesforce Tower disappeared in the mist even though the TV showed a beautiful sunset on the Bay (taken another day, we could only assume.)

Pigeons flock around Fish sculpture on the Embarcadero

The Embarcadero was quiet as I walked towards one of new Fish sculptures that is part of the Art Loop of sculptures that line the waterfront. There were a few runners and a couple or two, but the Super Bowl crowds had dispersed. I remembered that a few weeks ago San Francisco had been flooded with Men in Suits for a convention, the suits an unusual sight these days with all the tech bros who prefer hoodies and tight pants. Unlike the young women in the neighborhood, they haven't changed to roomier pants.

A week after that convention, a memorial march came down Market Street in honor of Bob Weir, one of the Grateful Dead founders. The group's followers invaded the City with their long skirts, tie-dyed t-shirts, and head scarfs.

As I passed the docks and the Spinnaker Sailing School, I looked at Frankie's Java Hut with its garlands of Super Bowl flags surrounding the patio, leftovers from the weekend's celebrations. On Saturday before the Super Bowl at Embarcadero Plaza, Bill and I joined hordes of people walking in Patriots or Seahawks gear, including T-shirts, hats, jackets, and special shoes. We stood out with our normal black, city attire as even fans from other teams, not playing in the big game, came dressed in their team's gear.  

Everyone looked for a connection to the game. They stopped at the scent-immersion experience at the Old Spice trailers, had their photos taken at the large Heart at the cable car turn-around, or went all the way to Moscone Center for the full-on Super Bowl celebration.

San Francisco, a port city, has always had a long history of diverse populations, who have received both positive and negative reactions at their arrival in the City. Usually, diversity equates with ethnicity or language differences, but clothing and cultural interests are other diverse populations too. Last weekend on the Plaza I found a super example of diversity in San Francisco.

"Together, we are America." Bad Bunny

BIRDS' NESTS AND VALENTINE'S DAY

 

Watercolor flowers inside heart-shaped cookie cutter

Valentine's Day began in Ancient Rome as a celebration of Valentine, a martyr. Quite a dark start for a day we think of as a time to honor our loved ones. By the Middle Ages though, Chaucer and Shakespeare helped to turn Valentine's Day around. They believed that February 14 was the day that male birds began to chirp to attract females, built nests, and showed off grand displays of feathers. With these writers' influence, the day became a way to celebrate love instead of martyrdom.

Hearts are a design that people frequently use. A heart may be in place of a dot of an i or as sunglasses or as a pattern on a shirt. We use heart stickers and stamp hearts on envelopes. At this time of year, hearts are everywhere, including  the small cookie cutter shaped as a heart at the top of this post. I have used hearts in stitchery designs too.

I enjoy participating in art challenges when I can. A friend recently showed me the results of an embroidery challenge she did over a year's time. She made a small embroidery piece each week and the results were stunning. Her book made me think of the challenge I had teaching embroidery to middle school kids, which I did for a sewing and stitchery class that I had created. For an example for my students, I made a quilt with six different heart designs, using embroidery stitches, ribbon weaving, needlepoint, and quilting. Looking at my friend's book brough back the memory of working on the quilt and successfully teaching my students some of the techniques.

Valentine's Day in the 21st century is so commercialized and super-hyped that it is hard to find its meaning in all the detritus found in stores during the Winter holidays. Instead, I take the time to make a card by hand, which gives me the chance to reflect on the days spent with that special person.

Here is a simple card structure to make an accordion card:

Accordion Hearts before decorations

Here are some suggestions from my blog in previous years. Click on the link above for Project Directions for more information.

Quilted hanging with stitched heart details

***************

"Many people are not lazy.

Many people are simply tired.

Many people simply are not okay."

Jonathan Jackson, at the National Prayer Breakfast

TWO WORLDS NEVER COMPLETE

While one newsworthy event continues to unfold, another, more full of wonder, has occurred in San Francisco. A young mountain lion has been wandering the city's streets, hiding in a park during the day, visible only at night and early in the morning, lost and frightened by the city. San Francisco's Animal Care and Control and local park rangers responded to citizens who captured the lion on their phones. They arrived to sedate the lion and move it away from the danger of a city. Their professional concern and action delivers a sharp contrast to what we all have watched on media in the last couple of weeks.

I feel scattered from watching the persistent news, as if we are living in two different worlds right now. One life, so normal, filled with laundry, walks, friends, reading, while the other continues to be filled with the horror at the actions of a group of overzealous federal agents.

While all the news continues to tumble out of our TV, a friend asked me for a copy of a small poster I had made several years ago. I took it out, decided to add to the design of the poster and try different lettering versions of the phrase that I had written at the start of the pandemic. The original one said,

"Together: A Word That Means So Much More Today Than Before. 

Together: By Staying Apart, We Find New Ways to Connect."

I made the original in two versions, one using a monoline font and the other with a font created by Ben Shahn, an artist/activist from the 20th Century, most famous for his posters about freedom and justice.

Today, since the pandemic no longer haunts us in the same way, I've changed the wording, dropping the last words after the second "Together." I added photos of the Earth as well.

Draft of new version

I hadn't worked with either font for a while, so I started by practicing with a monoline font using a dip pen with a bent, rounded end. I wanted the color to change as I wrote and so I practiced that. 

"Embrace Life" by M. Slavin

I switched, to Shahn's alphabet, my favorite, quirky lettering. I had studied Shahn's style and read his book, Shape of Content long ago. He, like so many artists, felt deeply about events that occurred in his lifetime and his works reflect that concern. We can think of other artists, such as Jim FitzPatrick, who designed the Che Guevara poster, and Shepard Fairey, who created the Obama and Harris posters in a similar style, and many others who put a stamp on the events that trouble or electrify the whole world.

Reworking this image reminded me that a piece of artwork is never really finished, just put aside for a while, like the circular nature of history. The painter JMW Turner would walk into a gallery showing his work, and paint over parts that he didn't like. When I paint in watercolor, I usually find a good part in any painting, but sometimes the rest I paint over with white gesso, leaving the exposed part ready for further development. 

Gesso over Watercolor , unfinished

Sometime that piece will sit for a long time until something will click, and will develop into something entirely different from the original.  I think of people trying to whitewash our history now and know that the all sides of the story need to be recorded and repeated so that we can learn from our mistakes as well as honor our best actions and beliefs.

Check out Shepard Fairey's work here:

https://www.artnet.com/artists/shepard-fairey/2

Jim FitzPatrick here:

https://jimfitzpatrick.com

Mexican poster artists here:

https://hechoamano.org/show/hecho-a-mano-victoria-selected-political-prints-from-mexico-1910-1960 

Ben Shahn here:

https://www.wikiart.org/en/ben-shahn

Video of release of mountain lion:  

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mountain-lion-release-video-21320397.php?utm_content=hed&sid=654d0f335351ce63aaf87995&ss=A&st_rid=6096cf18-25ea-46af-982f-3673ab33621f&utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=email&utm_term=engagement&utm_campaign=sfcn%20%7C%20membership%20program%20benefits

***************

Words spoken by Alex Pretti at the deathbed of a patient at the VA hospital:

Yesterday, after Alex Pretti’s death, the son of a man Pretti had cared for at the VA hospital published a video of Pretti speaking at his father’s deathbed. “Today we remember that freedom is not free,” Pretti said. “We have to work at it, nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it. May we never forget and always remember our brothers and sisters who have served so that we may enjoy the gift of freedom. So in this moment, we remember and give thanks for their dedication and selfless service to our nation in the cause of our freedom. In this solemn hour, we [give] them our honor, and our gratitude.”