People

I sat down with Gaby (at Retrograde Coffee) on April 7. That ended up being a pretty big day for those of us who who were waiting for the overdue appointment to the Supreme Court of a Black woman. Ketanji Brown Jackson (RBG to KBJ) got the nod that day, and we were suddenly in a country a notch closer to Rev. King’s dream of reaching the time when all of us “would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.

Last week, I met JD, an imposing character with a lot on his mind, who had moved his iconic bus to behind the Youth Annex over on Morris Street. The big move over to the SAVS (Sonoma Applied Village Services) property up on 116, was days away. JD wasn’t sure how he’d do with the imposed rules and guidelines the place was going to come along with, but it also seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. 

For a short guy, Gary Weiner sure stands out in a crowd. He’s a distinctive looking man who, in his always all black hipster outfit, with shaved head and Woody Allen-esque glasses, comes across as far younger than the 72+ years he’s at. Gary is an iconic West County character with a lot to say. 

I took Rosie, our usually sweet black lab/pointer out for a walk the other day. Passing the CVS, there was an older gentleman sitting on the ground near the entrance. Rosie went right up to him, and the two really hit it off. The man had a sign about having been recently evicted from his home and was reaching out for some sort of assistance.

The following are excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.

The following are excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.

This is another in a short series of conversations with people in their 20s who have grown up here and left, and then returned, or who may have never actually wandered off. 

There are a few iconic spots around the west county that you may be inclined to take a visitor to. We do it so they can better understand and appreciate the place, and in no small part as a way of showing off. Armstrong Woods, Bodega Head, the schoolhouse in Bodega that was featured in “The Birds,” the Apple Blossom Parade, the Fourth of July celebration on the football field, Mimi’s, Hardcore Espresso, a Peacetown gathering, all come to mind. 

A few weeks ago, while walking the dog around the neighborhood, I ran into an older gentleman on his morning constitutional, who was even more gabby and full of stories than I was. He said his name was Neil, and that he’d lived here his whole life, and was older than dirt. He was happy to yack about just about anything.