John Broesamle and his wife Kathy moved to Ojai more than 40 years ago, where they both rolled up their sleeves and got involved, especially on environmental issues. They have been at the forefront of fights against uranium and gypsum mines, freeways criss-crossing the valley, landfills, double-trailer trucks laden with gravel rumbling past our public schools, and, more recently, fracking permits in upper Ojai.

A retired history professor, John's deep context for current challenges gives him insight and understanding that makes him a formidable activist. When he noticed that Ojai faced an existential threat about every decade, John and a few others banded together to form the Ojai Valley Defense Fund, which just published a hard-bound art book of photographs and essays about Ojai's startling natural beauty. With the help of professionals like Heather Stobo and Lisa Casoni, Misty and Logan Hall and dozens of Ojai's finest photos from its finest photographers, the book is a celebration as well as a persuasive argument for preservation. It's available at Porch Gallery or online at ovdf.org.

We also talked about the birth, growth and future of the environment, of FDR's visits to Yosemite, and how the forming of the Civilian Conservation Corps, with its ethos of teamwork and camaraderie, prepared a generation of young people for the twin challenges of the Great Depression and World War II. The tragic election of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction was also discussed, and how it led us to this fraught present era.

We did not talk about the Westminster dog show, the lethal Zulu assegai swords or octopuses.