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Cultural differences and animosities run deep in the Middle East. But a yearly gathering of girls from varying backgrounds is working to counter their conflicts by helping them to get to really know each other as individuals.
Anna SimsonThe annual Building Bridges for Peace camps are specifically and exclusively for younger teenaged girls, explains former counselor Anna Simson. She adds that boys are not included for some very sound reasons.
The girls who attend the camp all apply to be there, and most arrive with a vague idea of what they will be doing, Simson says. Only after they begin the process do they realize it won't be as easy as many of them expect.
The camp program includes several years of follow-ups, tracking how the girls make use of their camp experience. Sometimes, Simson says, it inspires the young women to greater activism. But not always.
The documentary film My So-Called Enemy will be shown at Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa on Saturday evening, Jan. 21 at 7:15. The screening is free and open to all, with donations gratefully accepted. Anna Simsom will introduce the film and lead a question and answer session after the screening. The event is sponsored by the temple's Social Action Committee.
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Wall Street was an obvious and iconic focal point for the Occupy movement as it began. Tomorrow, a nationwide series of coordinated protests will target the legal system's enabling of corporate influence. They're calling the actions "Occupy the Courts."
David Cobb of Eureka, founder of Move To Amend, says the date of the nationwide Occupy the Courts demonstrations was chosen very deliberately.
Although considerable time and energy has gone into planning and organizing the Occupy the Courts protests, Cobb says they are also looking ahead, with further actions to come in the months leading up to November's election.
See more from David Cobb below.
The "Switch to Local" informational action being staged by Occupy Healdsburg on Saturday is their second such event. The first, held December 14th, was held outside a new Healdsburg branch of Chase Bank. Organizer Karl Hilgert says he received mostly positive feedback afterward, with one notable exception.
The demonstration at Wells Fargo in Healdsburg will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21, 9 am to 2 pm. The bank's local branch is located in the Vineyard Plaza Shopping Center on Vine Street.
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There's nothing close to a vacuum at the former Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, but volunteers working to restore the property must still contend with what Nature does when left unchecked.
A central feature of the Western Hills property is the scenic pond near its center. Garden Manager Stacie Miller details some of the challenges involved in trying to restore it.
More information about current and upcoming developments at the Western Hills Garden can be found on their website.
The picture below is of an unusual gazebo-like structure that, somewhere along the way, took on the name "Folly." As seen here, it is in the process of being reclaimed from the overgrowth and restored.
A major attraction for plant lovers and gardeners in the hills of Western Sonoma County is now in the process of being restored.
Maggie WychThe creators of Western Hills Nursery were able to develop their site for more than 25 years, reports longtime friend and current volunteer Betsy Flack of Sebastopol. But the property's subsequent history has been more varied.
The common star fish uses a distinctly uncommon internal mechanism to mitigate its exposure to warm air at low tide. Understanding that may unlock clues to how temperature changes in both the oceans and the air above them may affect aquatic ecosystems.
Eric SanfordAlthough sea stars are ubiquitous—some 1800 species inhabit all of the world's oceans-- Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory researcher Eric Sanford says there's still quite a lot we don't know about them.
Sea stars also come in a veritable rainbow of colors—even the familiar ochre sea star common to the Pacific coast—but why or how those varied colors occur is not yet understood.
A lone sea star makes an obvious impact on the mussel bed covering this rock near the tideline.
