Jesse Phelps, media coordinator for the Lakota Peoples Law Project, part of the Romero Institute, has found his work more important than ever during the Covid19 outbreak. The Lakota and Oglala peoples in South Dakota have formed mutual aid efforts to screen people coming into and their reservations for the virus. Given their poverty and lack of access to quality medical care, it is imperative  for them to prevent the virus from getting to them in the first place. However SD Governor Kristi Noem disagrees and is trying to shut down their health-screening checkpoints.

This media strategy — petitions, phone calls, social media posts — are being crafted and implemented right here in Ojai. Phelps, a veteran writer and journalist, has been busier than ever at his home in Ojai. Working with Native American leaders Madonna Thunderhawk (one of the greatest names ever) and Chase Iron Eyes, he is helping these beleaguered peoples stand their ground as threats — pipelines across their sacred sites, diseases of poverty, and now, a pandemic — become existential. Phelps has been working for half a decade with the LPLP and Romero Institute. The effort started when Lakota grandmothers sought out famous Iran-Contra scandal investigative attorney Daniel Sheehan to help with the cultural genocide that was taking place when native American youth were being taken from their families to be raised by Christian white families until very recently.

We talk about growing up in Ojai with hippie parents and friends, with a freedom unimaginable to many of today's helicopter-parented children, the hangouts and the mischief that was the daily routine. Jesse also talks about Michael Jackson's visit to the Ojai library during the height of his fame, and Jesse's efforts to get Jacko to do a public service announcement for the National Library Association, based in his "Read It" libretto, written to the beat of "Beat It." Didn't happen, but Phelps did get a sweet and thoughtful letter in reply. And a wonderful story for the Ojai Quarterly. 

Phelps talks about the incredible opportunity presented by the current crisis to make a societal shift toward sustainable energy, as well as the energy of today's youth and their ability to transcend the "politics as usual" that plagues the present day. 

We do not talk about "The Last Dance," about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Jesse's love of film and of John Paul Jones' naval victories for both the American Revolution and the Russian empire.

Robin Gerber, a well-known author, attorney and president of the Committee for Replacing Oil & Gas, talks about how her group received a $50,000 grant (the first yet) from the Ojai Valley Defense Fund to represent Ojai's interests as Ventura County moves forward with its General Plan.

Robin says that fracking, the imminent threat that caused CFROG to form, isn't on the horizon yet, but the situation bears watching.  We talk about Upton Sinclair's book, "Oil," from which the Paul Thomas Anderson film "There Will Be Blood," is based and which was set in southern California including Santa Paula. Gerber told us that the rest of the county is working to overturn Ojai's Five-Pound Rule for emissions in favor of their 25-pound rule. She is arguing the other way around, that our stricter standard should be adapted for the rest of county.

We talk about the historic opportunity for the country to shift toward sustainable energy during this pandemic as we go through a society-wide "Hard Reset." And how cultures can have big shifts — such as that which happened with gay marriage and marijuana legalization — in a very short period of time.

Gerber wrote a book about Ruth Handler, the inventor and president of Mattel Corp, who invented the Barbie Doll more than 60 years ago, after seeing sex fetish dolls in Europe based on a cartoon character. Handler was a pioneer in "demand marketing," going over parents' heads to appeal directly to children through ads on "The Mickey Mouse Club."

Gerber talked about her fascination with Eleanor Roosevelt, which has led her to write two books and a series of lessons in leadership. She had been writing for newspapers and magazines (including a legal affairs column for Readers Digest) and had "helped found the Leadership Academy for woman and underrepresented people." Gerber talked about Allenwood boarding school for girls headmistress Madame Souvestre, who had a profound influence on Eleanor's development, teaching her confidence and the skills necessary to make the world a better place. Gerber said that it only takes one person to make a difference in someone's life. Eleanor's tragic upbringing, no love from her mother, orphaned at age 10, never feeling like she was loved,

"The Princess Diaries," starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, was what gave Robin the idea to write about Eleanor, because Anne's character has in her room a pillow cross-stitched with Eleanor's famous quote: "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Robin has also written a counter-factual history called "Eleanor V. Ike," a "what if" chronicle of Eleanor's bid to become president in 1952 after Adlai Stevenson dies of a heart attack. She is now working on an Eleanor-inspired set of courses, "Leadership for Turbulent Times."

We also talked about Robin's one-woman play about Kitty Graham, "The Shot," which was accepted into the prestigious Ojai Playwrights Conference, a two-week intensive workshop experience. Sharon Lawrence was set to star in a performance of the play in Los Angeles in early March, but the pandemic arrived. We talk about the amazing Kim Maxwell, who leads the youth portion of the conference, "teaching them to be unafraid."

We don’t talk about Megan Thee Stallion’s latest romantic misadventure or Russian slap fighting.

Chamber CEO Jamie Fleming joins us to talk about the chamber's role in managing SBA loans and disaster relief during the pandemic. From his extensive surveys of local businesses, he's optimistic that Ojai will gradually reopen this summer, and that the majority of member businesses will weather this storm in one form or another. He's part of a group dealing with responses through the city council and the Ojai Valley Inn, as well.

Fleming also talks about the influx of Los Angeles people coming to Ojai for our hiking trails and beautiful backcountry, and how that might play out as stay-at-home orders are lifted for the 20+million people within a two-hour drive. Those interactions will be carefully managed, with social distancing and face masks, as Ojai, with only 7 cases reported, has been a model for the rest of the state.  "It's a Catch 22," Fleming said, about managing the city's reopening in a safe way that allows commerce and allows the city's tax base to recover. 

With decades of marketing and technology experience in the entertainment industry, Fleming spent most of his career at Disney Corporation and Universal Studios. One of his jobs was managing Mickey Mouse appearances, including one aboard a Navy Destroyer. He was also behind-the-scenes of Universal Studios Florida theme park, when inclement weather close ride after ride in what he called "a rolling disaster."  He worked with a lot of film stars, such as Orson Welles and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (former Ojai resident). He also talks about how he ended up responsible for all 5,000 computers at Universal, during the Y2K debacle, "holding our breaths" as the clock ticked over into the new millennium. Another disaster he witnessed was the 2008 fire that destroyed the backlots at Universal. 

He and his wife Asunta came to Ojai for their daughter's education. A dance prodigy, she was badly injured and shifted her career to fashion modeling, becoming a famous influencer on social media, as well as establishing a career as a singer-songwriter, now living in Nashville. Asunta has graced local stages, most recently at the Art Center's production of "Mamma Mia!" Before becoming the Chamber CEO, Fleming was the executive director of the Ojai Film Festival. He's also involved with a firm called "3rd Brain Technologies," a multi-directional streaming tool for artists.

We don't talk about the fiasco that were the Peninsular Wars, the sci-fi works of Philip K. Dick or the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."

In this episode of "Ojai: Talk of the Town," we check in with Ojai's Rotie's co-owner and chef, Claud Mann. A wonderful storyteller, Claud talks about being on the front lines feeding Ojai residents during this pandemic, trying to keep as many of his talented staff employed as possible. Claud talks about the business of restaurants, the low-profit margins, the hard work, and that moment when a chef realizes who he's cooking for, and why. We talk about what Ojai might look like after the stay-at-home order is lifted and millions of Los Angelenos, cooped up for months, are looking for an escape.

We talk about how so many people are baking during this quarantine, and the chef makes a generous offer — contact him at Ojai Rotie and he will teach you about sourdough, with some training and a simple recipe.

After growing up in the Bay Area — training as an actor as well as learning his way around a kitchen — Mann fed AIDs victims, before moving to Los Angeles, meeting the love of his wife, the renowned singer Perla Batalla, then getting out of the restaurant business to raise his family. 

When a new opportunity came knocking, he was ready, developing with Turner Broadcasting Systems and their vast film archives, a show called "Dinner & A Movie," pairing Chef Claud's creations with comedian-hosts.  The show ran 900 episodes from 1995 to 2011. But when it became clear that the network wanted to him to pitch unhealthy food products, it was time to move on to the next stage of his life, developing healthy nutrition programs for Santa Barbara County students, funded by the Orfalea Foundation.

We also talk about Mann's obsession with the Memphis Barbecue Festival, where after being introduced to it as a correspondent for Southern Living, he was inspired to put together a crew to take on the world's best pitmasters. Listen for the surprise ending to that story. Next year, second week of May, there may be well an Ojai barbecue crew in Memphis.

Reading and watching recommendations from our conversation include Harold McGee's classic, "On Food & Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen." And the Mandarin language show on Netflix, "Flavorful Origins."

We agree that small-town life is the best. That his wife's  career has really taken off since we moved here, and how wonderful it was to see his wife and daughter singing their hearts out on stage at Libbey Bowl. What connects his kitchen skills and his wife's singing skills is that they are both gifted people, and they are sharing their gifts with Ojai.

In the ending monologue, I talk about my encounter with Pulitzer-prize winner Jonathan Gold, and how he taught me that food is at the heart of a culture.

We do not talk about the Sumerian cuneiform, the CA-25 district congressional race or the creation of the Oxford English dictionary.

We check in with Michael Addison, distinguished Shakespeare actor, director and producer, former artistic director of the California Shakespeare Festival and founder of the Bell Arts Factory.

In 1603 and 1613, the Globe Theater (and other theaters) in London were closed an astonishing 60 percent of the time due to plaque-related quarantines. It is believed that some of Shakespeare's finest works, King Lear among them, were written during these extended periods of isolation. Addison reminiscences about Angus Bowmer, founder of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, which began as an interlude for a boxing match. We talk about John Reed's conflict journalism, and his insights into the miracle and mystery plays of rural Mexico and how you could spot the seeds of what Shakespeare and his contemporaries Philip Marlowe and Ben Jonson turned into great works of art. We talk about the Groundlings and the ladies of the night plying their trade in the audience, of how Shakespeare and his players were the great celebrities of their age. Far from being dusty classics on the shelf, those plays were the pop culture of their day.

Harold Bloom's masterwork, "The Invention of the Human," gets a shout out, as does Bloom as a modern age Falstaff. Addison also talks about the epiphany he had while watching a production of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesmen," as the yarmulke-wearing mourners toss dirt on the grave.

We talk about how astounding it is that so many talented people live in our small town, and the critical mass of creativity it represents - not unlike - albeit on a smaller scale - than the burgeoning artistic culture of Elizabethan England. Addison and Bradigan talk about Kim Maxwell's famous maxim, "The more specific something is, the more it applies to everyone." Michael Chekhov and Marilyn Monroe also get a mention, through the Ojai game, "two degrees of Iris Tree."

In Bradigan's monologue he talks about the six years he spent as a gravedigger and how that relates to Shakespeare's deep humanism.

We do not talk about Trent Reznor, medicinal herbs or Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.

In this episode, we talk with Ojai's Mayor about the local response to the pandemic, the shock to the economy and the subsequent strain on the city's "rainy day" fund. We also talk about the dilemma of promoting social distancing and healthy activities such as hiking in our beautiful backyard, as well as pockets of resistance, herd thinning and his "embers" metaphor linking the pandemic to the Thomas Fire. We talk about our new favorite oxymoron, "disciplined freedom," and the concept of social insurance. We talk about the probable impacts of the pandemic on the elections this coming November.

We also talk about the lessons of Henrik Ibsen's play, "Enemy of the People," Plato's parable of the cave, the invasion of Los Angeles hikers, my son's bout with the novel coronavirus, Johnston's stage management of the OJ Simpson "trial of the century," as a courts administrator in Los Angeles, as well as his pension battles as the chief executive officer of Ventura County. Then the discussion takes several discursions into Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, General Grant's differing opinions on Robert E. Lee (overrated) and Joe Johnston (underrated, who could have achieved the Confederacy's goals had he not been fired by Jefferson Davis), and the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020. 

In the monologue, Bret Bradigan talks Johnston's stint as city manager in the early 1970s, and the existential threats to Ojai that cropped up every month or so during that time, which leads into Stephen Pinker's "Enlightenment Now's" counter-intuitive premise that things are better now than they ever have been.

We do not talk about Ventura River's once-abundant steelhead runs, the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 or the Strokes' new album, "The New Abnormal."

In this episode of "Ojai: Talk of the Town" we check in with Dr. Morse about the Ojai Unified School District's mobilization in light of the school closure in March. We talk with her about the enormous social needs of the 2,400 students, including basic food and shelter, the district staff's heroic efforts to meet those needs, including providing 650 meals a day. The district is also struggling with technology gaps, getting thousands of students online, the challenges of learning while older students are caring for their younger siblings, the cancellation of such important events in the lives of students - and the community - such as sports games and graduation ceremonies.

She talks about the cooperation and collaboration between schools in the county as administrators and teachers share best practices and learn from each other during this crisis, and how to incorporate those lessons going forward.

We also talk about her PhD thesis on different approaches to teaching math to middle schoolers - managing that crucial transition between concrete and abstract thinking. She talks about her experiences as a young teacher, realizing that middle schoolers "are my people - I could really identify with them." We also talk about why school is for girls, not boys, and what she plans to do about it, which includes smashing up television sets and building hoverboards.

We also talk about Sebastian Junger Witts' "Tribes," and the documentary, "Identical Strangers," about a bizarre social experiment in the late 1950s in which a set of triplets was each placed with a family from three different socio-economic backgrounds, only to reunite accidentally as young adults.

We do not talk about Yankee clipper ships, ancient Egyptian monetary policy or Taylor Swift v. Kanye.

We talk with Dr. Pops about the state of readiness of Ojai for the Covid-19 crisis. We talk about Ojai Valley Community Hospital's imminent opening of their continuing care center, acute care center and the community's tremendous support of health care initiatives. Dr. Gus Iwasiuk's incredible surgery to save the life of a man who was skewered by a length of rebar was also remembered fondly. The hospital is also excited to resume the "perfect knee replacements" that are done in Ojai at the new surgery center.

Our wide-ranging talk includes the development of a wide-spectrum, universal vaccine; John Wayne's final days, John Wooden asking if his mother knew what he did for a living, Alexander Fleming and moldy petri dishes, Ignaz Semmelweis' genius that led to saving millions of lives through the simple, yet controversial-in-its-time act of hand-washing.

In the "Thinking Out Loud" segment, Bret Bradigan talks about his mother's incredible kitchen skills and his father's green thumb, a perfect pairing for a food fanatic.

We do not talk about 19th century baseball players, the Glass-Steagal Act, Roman shipbuilding practices or the Apache Wars.