Thirty-four years after Christo’s  Running Fence snaked across the North Bay’s coastal landscape into the Pacific, the unique and short-lived artwork is still fondly recalled by most of those who played a part in its creation.

The large and unexpected projects envisioned and executed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude may not fit some conventional definitions of art, says documentary filmmaker Wolfram Hissen, but they certainly strike a chord with a huge number of people.

Some of the friendships that developed during the Running Fence project proved to be deep and enduring, Hissen discovered, despite the broad differences between the artists and the ranchers.

After the Running Fence was taken down, each landowner got to keep the materials that had been part of it. Some used the poles and  hardware in other construction projects, while the thousands of yards of while canvass was generally harder to reuse. One exception ot that was this jacket, made by Amelia Bruhn, and shown at the 33 year anniversary gathering in 2009 that became a substantial part of Wolfram Hissen's new documentary. See the trailer for the film below:

In addition to the showing tonight in Occidental, The Running Fence Revisited will also be screened on the evenings of June 24 and 25 at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

From the extinct California Grizzly to the omnipresent California ground squirrel, a carefully chosen 12 animal species are featured in the small, reflective and beautifully illustrated new book,  A California Bestiary.

Rebecca Solnit drew on both personal experience and background knowledge, focused field trips with illustrator Mona Caron, and some updated research to prepared for writing this book.

Two of the dozen species featured in the Bestiary, are insects—both butterflies. Solnit says she chose the Monarch and the Mission Blue as a minor study in contrasts.

The full list of animals included in A California Bestiary is as follows:

Acorn Woodpecker

Bluebelly Lizard

California Condor

California Grizzly

California Ground Squirrel

Chinook Salmon

Desert Tortise

Elephant Seal

Misson Blue Butterfly

Monarch Butterfly

Mountain Lion

Tule Elk

In the additional illustrations by Mona Caron shown below, note how the background includes the human-created obstacles that have become a part of the landscape for the native species.

The Israeli occupation of The West Bank and Gaza Strip has clearly been a hardship for the Palestinian people there, but activist Dorothy Naor (left)   believes it has also inflicted deep costs on Israel as well.

Dorothy Naor (bio below) will present a talk titled “The Cost of Colonization and Occupation to Israelis and Palestinians,” May 27 at 7:00 pm at the Glaser Center, 547  Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Dorothy Naor (bio below) observes that each generation in Israel grows up amidst a near-constant series of preparations for warfare, something she sees as shaping the character of the nation in some undesirable ways.

The continuing expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza (such as those enclosed by the protective wall in the photo at right) is not just condoned by the Israeli government, Naor objects, but heavily subsidized, too.

Dr. Dorothy Naor lives in Herzliah, near Tel Aviv. An activist with he Israeli dissident groups New Profile, an Israeli feminist and anti-militarist group, she participates in virtually all activities having to do with occupation policy and civil rights in Israel. Most recently, she has become involved in the Israeli Committee for Residency Rights (ICRR), an ad hoc committee working on residency rights for Palestinians and for allowing entry to the West Bank. Dorothy takes people on informal tours to the West Bank and is one of those who responds to the many calls of distress from people in the West Bank who are stuck at checkpoints, need medical care in Israel, etc.

Dorothy was born in San Francisco but immigrated to Israel in her early 20s, in 1958. She has lived in Israel for most of the past 50 years.  She worked for many years as a teacher of English and has a PhD in Education. One of her main concerns is the effect the occupation is having on Israeli society, i.e., increase in domestic violence and violence in general, brutalization of the young, increase in mental illness, etc.

While the Disney animation studios were churning out hit films like Who Shot Roger Rabbit and Beauty and the Beast, there were backstage battles between artist and management, backbiting executives, and other industry intrigues playing out. Those stories are told in the new documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty.

Although their relevant experience had been in animation, Schneider (sen at left in his Disney days) says it was not a big stretch to create a documentary.

Disney has gone on to further animated success since 1994, but Schneider says that segment of the film industry looks a lot different—and a lot more populous—now.

Producer Peter Schneider will answer questions about Waking Sleeping Beauty  following the 7 pm screening on May 20 at the Rialto Cinema’s Lakeside.  See the trailer for the film below.