So you think recreation is free of strife?
There are folks who like to watch CNN and there are folks who like to watch Fox News. And, says Stephen Cook, that’s probably what led to the new television policy posted at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center:
“A core part of the mission of the JCC is to be a welcoming place where members and guests feel comfortable regardless of, among other things, their political views. A recent increase in member conflicts resulting from news channels being aired on the fitness floor has forced the Center to reevaluate our use of these TVs. Effective immediately, the ‘public’ TVs over the weight lifting area will no longer be programmed to air news stations. Members wishing to view news stations can do so on the personal TVs on the cardio machines or stream the news on a personal tablet or phone. We appreciate your cooperation.”
Iris Lax, director of marketing and strategic projects, said the change had been made after staffers reported unrest among the news watchers. At issue was not only differing opinions about politics, but also that children could watch the big TVs. As to how the new policy has worked, “people seem to be happy with it. They still have access to all the channels on their personal screens, where they can select the channels they want.”
Theresa Brandner, sailor and medical equipment executive, has been elected commodore of the 90-year-old San Francisco Yacht Club. The first woman ever to hold the position, Brandner defeated an opponent who’d been moving up the ladder toward the post, usually a sure shot for achieving it. An election for commodore hadn’t been contested in more than 20 years, notes The Chronicle’s Carl Nolte, man about the Bay Area.
Overtly, club members are saying little about the election. But “everybody is trying to look forward to a healing process,” one longtime member’s description of the current state of things, says a lot. Brandner takes office on Jan. 9.
At the 9th Street Cafe in Berkeley, Miltiades Mandros overheard a group of people having a workshop about how to teach empowerment workshops.
During intermission at the Dec. 5 San Francisco Opera performance of “Girls of the Golden West,” composer John Adams, Grants for the Arts’ czarina Kary Schulman, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Deborah Cullinan and Jon Moscone, the San Francisco Symphony’s Mark Hanson, Terri Winston of the Women’s Audio Mission and artist Bill Fontana were among those gathered to honor John and Helen Meyer of Meyer Sound. A mayoral citation proclaimed Dec. 7 (which is John Meyer’s birthday) John and Helen Meyer Day, and made note of the company’s collaboration to benefit arts groups all around the Bay Area, as well as its philanthropy. Furthermore, said the citation, Meyer Sound “designs and manufactures all products locally with a company philosophy that values the intertwining of creative thinking, old fashioned craftsmanship and entrepreneurial technology.”
It was Thanksgiving week in Marin when Mill Valley police were summoned, reports Doreen Malin. According to a report from Marinscope: “Police were called about a 50-ish man walking in downtown Mill Valley. Citizen told police the man kicked a traffic cone and clearly doesn’t belong in Mill Valley.”
Art historian/curator Natasha Boas is relishing in filling the role of Judy in Lynn Hershman Leeson’s “VertiGost,” a “Vertigo”-based film at the Legion of Honor. “Judy” is the character who was played by Kim Novak in the Alfred Hitchcock movie. As a high school student, Boas “fantasized about Carlotta” when she worked as an intern at the Legion; eventually, she was married there, too.
And artist Brian McMullen has sent a fascinating holiday catalog of “things I’ve made in 2017,” including a $10 life-size photocopier selfie, which he describes as: “The whole 38-year-old body, placed part by part on a photocopier and rendered page by page at actual size” (11 inches by 17 inches, spiral bound). These 22 images were made in March, he says, and, in case you’re worried about the Anthony Weiner factor, are rated PG. The artist/vendor can be reached at brianmcmullen@hotmail.com.
Dire Warnings Gazette: “The holiday season can be extremely hard for addicts and their families,” says Rehab.com, which claims to offer “unbiased and transparent information” on rehab facilities, and says it is known as “the Expedia for rehab.”
“Move all the way forward. There is no personal space at Disneyland.” Disneyland staffer to visitors, overheard at the Haunted Mansion by Howard Baldwin