COLLAGE BY BRINDL MARKLE, BACKGROUND PHOTO OF POINT REYES SEASHORE BY ROBERT VENTE
FLOWING GREEN
This year’s water-themed Geography of Hope conference will make a splash with its first film festival, plus lit events and appearances by Annie Sprinkle and El Radio Fantastique.
A ripple of ‘Hope’ The Stegner-inspired art and lit conference dips its pen into water by Dani Bu rlison
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hose with quick and easy access to the 850 miles of coastal California often imagine, as they stare out to the sea in awe, a bottomless reservoir of unscathed tides pushing and pulling for miles into underwater valleys. Freshwater streams appear to have sprung from holy conceptions, housing endless spawning pools and croaking frogs that captivate even the most logical and scientific minds with childlike wonder as they watch them flow west to the Pacific. Here, there is always enough safe water to drink. There is always access to this magical element that helps our food grow. And it will forever be a fresh place to submerge when the sun beats down and sends us scrambling for cool relief. “What better location to hold a waterthemed event,” Geography of Hope co-founder Steve Costa points out over breakfast in Point Reyes Station. “We have so much water here!” And he’s right. The water in and around Point Reyes is as rich and varied as the com14 PACIFIC SUN FEBRUARY 4 - FEBRUARY 10, 2011
munities that depend so much on it. Aside from the obvious proximity to the vast Pacific Ocean, the Point Reyes National Seashore is home to lagoons, estuaries, creeks, ponds and miles of untamed wetlands. This habitat makes it easy to forget that the planet is experiencing an overwhelming water crisis. It is in this biologically abundant community that Steve Costa became inspired by the words of the late author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner: “We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” Motivated by the simplistic and heartfelt beauty of this statement, Costa decided to create the first Geography of Hope conference in 2008, which focused on rural living. Today, he’s working diligently on another engaging and thought-provoking event for 2011—this year’s conference revolves around all things water. It also now includes a film festival and art shows in addition to
the literary conference. Co-sponsored by Costa’s Point Reyes Station biz, Point Reyes Books and the Tomales Bay Library Association, Geography of Hope works closely with Marin Agricultural Land Trust and Marin Organic. Several local businesses offer discounts on purchases and accommodations for festival attendees as well, keeping things as local as local can be. “Geography of Hope really celebrates this place and who we are as a community,” says Costa. “Its purpose is to provide an intersection of place and community, using the arts as a form of expression.” According to the event’s Outdoor Art and Film Festival coordinators John Mueller and Jane Sullivan, there is very little emphasis on water-soaked doom and gloom in the activities they have planned. “We wanted to share participatory, interactive art,” says Mueller of the 10 outdoor public art installations that will be popping up throughout Point Reyes Station at the end of the month. “We want to provoke people to think and engage in conversations with each other.” Mueller and Sullivan have included a variety of Marin and Sonoma County artists in the public art portion of the festival, including sculptor David Best, who has received international attention for building—and burning down—his immense temples at Black Rock City’s annual Burning Man Festival. For this event, however, Best won’t be building a temple, but will instead create a contemplative space with a water-themed sculpture he is currently constructing at his Petaluma ranch. Sullivan, who worked with the Santa Cruz Film Festival for eight years, brings an eclectic and bilingual approach to the films she has selected for the festival. The films are not limited to preachy documentaries, but instead provide alternative and creative ways of thinking about the importance of water in our lives in both literal and metaphoric ways. Along with both short and feature-length screenings, Sullivan has organized panels with filmmakers, including special guests such as “sexuality advocate” Annie Sprinkle, activist and performance artist Reverend Billy and an afternoon of film and Jungian analysis of water themes in film. “We want to provide a space for participants to hear and share stories and points of view about individuals that have made, and continue to make, a difference,” says Sullivan. “What’s more inspirational than that?” Throw some live music in from Marin’s El Radio Fantastique and this is sure to be one of the most mind-bending and perspective-shifting weekends Point Reyes has ever experienced. But the fun and intrigue doesn’t stop at the end of February’s film festival. In March, Geography of Hope holds a weekend of literary events that include field trips to area water sources, local organic meals and panel discussions along with intimate conversations with authors who write from their scientific, spiritual and poetic voices on the subject of water.
Included in the literary conference—which is co-chaired by award-winning poets Robert Hass and Brenda Hillman—is Bay Area writer and Mother Jones magazine’s environmental correspondent Julia Whitty. Deep Blue Home: An Intimate Ecology of Our Wild Ocean, Whitty’s latest book, shares an up-close and personal look at the life rarely seen beneath the ocean’s ever-threatened tides. Though Whitty’s expertise lies in all things ocean, she points out that the fate of the sea is affected by the quality of freshwater right here. “We live in an enormous agricultural zone,” she says from her Sebastopol home. “The fresh water carries pollutants and accelerators [fertilizers] into the ocean. And the underwater issues continue to grow with climate change.” Still, Whitty remains positive and in alignment with the heart of Geography of Hope’s philosophy. “There is an aura of fatalism that makes people turn away. We all need to stay open and awake and take heart to the phenomenal accomplishments we’ve made and the problems we’ve solved.” Event organizers estimate that the local economic impact of Geography of Hope will be a positive one, with nearly $100,000 flowing into Marin County’s economy, and that the awareness raised will contribute to further the preservation and restoration of West Marin’s ecosystem. But what does a local event have to do with reclaiming water safety and awareness on a global level? One can dream that with the success of creative, grassroots events like Geography of Hope, ripples are sent out as examples and reminders of what is possible when perspectives shift and priorities are rearranged—sending waves of positive change all the way from the remote, lush oasis of Point Reyes to the rest of America and beyond. It all starts with a ripple. ✹ Refresh Dani’s email at dburlison@pacificsun.com
GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE Tickets for the following events can be purchased at Point Reyes Books or online at www.ptreyesbooks.com •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Film Festival: Feb. 25-27; $100 for the weekend’s events. Tickets for individual screenings also available. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Literary Conference: March 18-20; $250 includes field trips, conference and local organic meals. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Art Installations: Feb. 24-May 31; free •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Gallery Shows: Dance Palace: Feb. 16-March 28 Gallery Route One: Feb. 25-April 3 Marty Knapp Photo Gallery: March 18-20 Toby’s Gallery: March 4-29