Today we have Andrew Alden on the show. Alden is a geologist and geoscience writer who has worked for the US Geological Survey and reported for KQED and Bay Nature. Long fascinated with rocks and landscapes, Alden found inspiration for his debut book, Deep Oakland, in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which, as he writes, “ripped the city open and revealed to us its heart and character.” Through his writing Alden raises awareness for what he calls the deep present: the appreciation of the ancient underpinnings that shape the modern-day surroundings of daily life.

Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City book link

In this final episode, we discuss the end of the Civil War, and I recommend some further reading. 

Today, we have Mas Masumoto on the podcast. A farmer, writer, and a repository of memories of the valley, Mas is a central voice in the region. I am so excited to have him on the show to talk about farming, memory, writing, agrarian ideas, glyphosate, real estate development, tell intimate family stories, mental illness, pickled peaches, and much more. Please enjoy my conversation with Mas Masumoto.

In this episode, we discuss social and political patterns during the Civil War in California. 

I have a special episode for you that I thought was lost. Sometimes when I record podcast episodes, audio files can get corrupted or go missing. This is one of those situations. But luckily, I was able to recover it.

Today, I have for you Maggie Paul. Maggie is the author of Scrimshaw, Borrowed World, and the chapbook Stones from the Baskets of Others. Her poetry reviews and interviews have appeared in the Catamaran Literary Reader, Rattle, the Monterey Poetry Review, Porter Gulch Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Frenzy, Salt, and others.

She is a poet and a nonfiction writer in Santa Cruz, California. Our focus in this conversation is twofold. First, we cover some of her famous conversation interviews with poets and writers from across California. We also discuss the history of California poetry. It was a wonderful conversation.

I know you'll love it. Let's go meet Maggie Paul.

In this episode, we continue our series by discussion the Long Walk of the Navajo people and its connection to the Greater Reconstruction. 

Today we have Chris McGilvray on the show to talk about his new documentary film Eden, a beautiful story about the succession of a historic winery in the Santa Cruz mountains. Jeffrey and Ellie Patterson dedicated 40 years of their lives to Mount Eden vineyards and their children are wrestling with whether to carry on their family business or go off to pursue their paths away from the mountain. 

The film “Eden” will premiere on March 9 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the San Jose Cinequest film festival at the historic California Theater. Tickets are available for $14 here. Following the screening, join the Pattersons and the filmmakers at a Mount Eden party happening at the nearby Westin Hotel. Tickets are available here for the after-party at $50 and include wine and appetizers. If you’d like to view a trailer of the film, click here. And here is a link to the film’s website for more information.

Today, we have Ann Wolfe on the show, the Nevada Museum of Art’s chief curator and associate director to discuss the new exhibition: Sagebrush and Solitude: Maynard Dixon in Nevada, which will be on display at the Nevada Museum of Art March 2 – July 28, 2024, and which is the first comprehensive exhibition to document Dixon’s early wanderings and extended visits to Nevada and the Eastern Sierra.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a major 250+ page book co-published by Rizzoli and  Electra in New York and the Nevada Museum of Art.  Sagebrush and Solitude: Maynard Dixon in Nevada which is edited by Ann M Wolfe, our guest today. Please enjoy our conversation.

Link to the exhibition

Today we have Alexander Hamilton Cherin on the show. Cherin is an award-winning journalist whose work has been recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club where he was nominated as Journalist of the Year in 2020. A lawyer by training, his articles have appeared in the OC Weekly and Mr. Cherin has been a featured panelist on National news networks including CNN and Fox News. His new book is a fictional portrayal of an actual Radio contest in the 1980s in Los Angeles, with a hidden treasure and a cast of characters searching for the fortune for disparate but connected reasons. Please enjoy our conversation.

In this episode, we continue our story of California and the Civil War by introducing the major conflict in the southwestern theater: Union Forces and Indigenous Tribes.