Benicia Magazine August 2010

BUSD Parcel Tax Survey Analyzed Community Garden Grows Second Location Expanding Experiences: Wine, Art & Altruism

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Benicia Magazine

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15

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13

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Features 6

Happening in August

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A Little Old-fashioned Step Back into the Future

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beniciamagazine.com

Contributors

Photographer Graphic Design

10 13

BUSD Survey Uncovers Interesting Notions

14

Looking Back: Historical Museum Continues Celebration

14

City Fact: Benicians Helping Benicians

15

Fashionista Goes to London

16

4

An Interview with Solano Youth Theatre’s Robin Stanton

“Expanding Experiences” to Offer Wine, Art and Altruism

Benicia Magazine

Samuel J. Adams Anne Cardwell Mary Marino Christina Strawbridge Sue Sumner-Moore Jerry Bowles Margaret Bowles

Editor

Jeanne Steinmann

Publisher

Polygon Publishing

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Benicia Magazine

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Happening in 8/3

AUGUST

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Benicia Magazine

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Expansion Considered at Benicia Community Garden

By Samuel J Adams

A Little Old-fashioned Step Back into the Future Even though you can see Nations and Baskin Robbins and the Police Station over its vine-shrouded white fence, the Benicia Community Garden is easy to miss. It’s on a small hill tucked back from the road, and walking there feels not unlike trespassing through a churchyard. But the garden’s secrecy has nothing to do with exclusion; one would be hard pressed to find an arena in town more welcoming toward strangers.

Soon after I enter the garden gates, Judy Sullivan, a Benicia Community Garden member, pulls me a few sprigs of lemon verbena, and instructs me on its uses. “I just hang it upside down in a north-facing window. I dry it but I also use it fresh for tea.

You just shuck it like you would a thing of corn.” The plant has a soft papery feel and smells mysteriously of lemonheads.

Mrs. Sullivan is soft-voiced, silver-haired and considerate enough of my amateurism to spell out V-E-R-B-E-N-A. She came here with her husband Sam, a well-tanned man watering the tomatoes, arugula and Swiss chard in their lot. Both garden here regularly, and in doing so they belong to a motley but select club whose membership includes a trained biologist, four homeschooled children, and a retiree in her eighties. And their ranks are growing: two recent members have been learning how to garden with upside-down tomato bags.

“We call it an oasis,” says Community Garden Board member Marilyn Bardet. “We’re in the busiest intersection in Benicia, full of car traffic and fumes, and we have a picnic on the first of every month, religiously, rain or shine…it’s a little old-fashioned step back into the future.”

As we crunch our way over a woodchip path that runs past rosemary bushes, squashes and serpentine tomato plants, the paradoxical phrase rings true: a healthy and palpable sense of atavism pervades the place. Here, old knowledge is being unearthed for explicitly modern purposes.

“We’re trying to recover lost arts,” says Bardet. To her the art seems to have been lost in the late fifties and early sixties, when the national reverence for things grown was buried under a giant tomb of meatloaf and Wonder Bread, when highways and cheap

fuel eliminated the meddling meddlin of the seasons, and when the delicacies of horticulture gave way to readymade meals and preserved foods that seemed never to go bad, even if they never tasted good to begin with.

Bardet recalls those days with a smile that winces. “My mother actually has a cookbook by Peg Bracken called The I Hate to Cook Book.”

But the work members do amounts to more than a personal hobby and culinary advantage: gardening is serious business, and with the looming ecological and economic troubles facing humanity, it wouldn’t take too great a shaking of the world’s foundation to make one’s relaxing hobby turn into a vital means of sustenance, much like the victory gardens were for citizens in WWII. “Five years ago I felt like I was hit by the cosmic meatball when I really began reading seriously about the energy crisis and what the future holds. I don’t believe that the future’s going to resemble the past. There’s going to be a need for people to know basic things.”

Such statements suggest something Bardet readily acknowledges. Seclusion and intimacy notwithstanding, she sometimes wishes this private oasis were a little more like a public plaza, a low-pressure environment people regularly visit to garden, talk shop or just enjoy the company of the vegetative world. Lucky for her, and for Benicia, her group might soon come into a second property capable of fostering such an atmosphere.

A Plot to Make a Better World Members of the Benicia Community Garden have had discussions with Estey Real Estate, who manages the property, about acquiring a lease on a prime piece of land located at theapex of downtown’s pedestrian traffic. The lot is located at 1st and D Streets across from the Union Hotel and, in the

twenty four years Bardet’s lived in Benicia, it’s never been sold.

The owners have occasionally leased it for Christmas trees, pony rides, and even for a small nursery. Now only weeds grow, and they grow there so abundantly that it has to be mowed every month to comply with city fire code. With so many talented gardeners willing to mow it for free, pursuing the property seemed a logical step.

“If we pay them a nominal fee and eliminate their monthly mowing charge we could have a beautiful garden that could be ripped out if anybody ever wanted to buy the land,” says Bardet.

The Presbyterian Church charges $1 for their current property, and to get the project off the ground, BCG may have to dip into the $20,000 they received from the 2010 settlement agreement between the Good Neighbor Steering Committee and Valero.

Though a second garden would be larger than the current one, the group’s inclusive policy wouldn’t change. BCG’s only rules are the minimal ones of common sense and neighborly conduct. Each person maintains their own bed and contributes to water costs. If people leave their beds fallow in winter, gardeners will sometimes ask them to use that bed to plant fava beans, something that gives nitrogen back to the soil. Sharing is strenuously encouraged; hassling is not. And it’s all organic.

Continued on page 14

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By Sue Sumner-Moore Robin Stantonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life changed while watching a musical on Broadway. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I spent three years in New Yorkâ&#x20AC;Ś I went there thinking I was going to become an actress,â&#x20AC;? the Benicia resident says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But when I saw Evita, I knew I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be an actress.

Not like my friends, who all wanted to be Patti LuPone. I was interested in the whole show, and I realized I wanted to be director. I was interested in the whole picture.â&#x20AC;?

That realization launched a career thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taken Robin to regional theaters in Texas, Chicago, Spokane, and now the Bay Area.

Along the way, she discovered her love of nurturing new plays into production and earned several honors for her directing skills.

She moved to the Bay Area six years ago to launch a play development program for Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. In 2005, she expanded her repertoire to include producer, artistic director and operations manager when she became program director of Solano Youth Theatre, a division of the Solano College Theatre. Robin remains affiliated with Aurora, where she currently is directing Trouble in Mind, which opens this month.

In her role with Solano Youth Theatre, Robin runs a program that serves more than 500 students and puts on four shows plus summer workshops each year. The students work on stages in Vallejo, Vacaville and Suisun, and twice a year high school students in the program join Solano Community College students, community members and professionals in a musical. The goal is to prepare students to enter the Solano College Theatre program and then move on to four-year colleges and conservatories.

As program director, Robin chooses the plays, hires the behind-the-scenes professionals and does the marketing, plus manages a budget thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been dramatically affected by state budget cuts.

The support of the SCC board, sacrifices made by theater program employees and restructuring the program has enabled the youth theater and overall college program to continue, she says. Some jobs were lost, several employees took unpaid leaves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but the show will go on.

An Interview with Robin Stanton What differences will W a audiences see due to the t budget cuts?

None â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the point. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all magic. It needs to remain point magic. For example, (last season) we asked the set designer of Bye Bye Birdie if she could use the materials for the set of Thoroughly Modern Millie but it couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look like Bye Bye Birdie at all. We were surprised that she was able to use the majority of the set and reconfigure it in a way that it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recognizable. It was an amazing feat. â&#x20AC;Ś The bottom line is that the kids have a wonderful time. All these other problems are the challenges of producing.

What drives you to do this in the face of these challenges?

As funding has been cut in public school systems, these kids want and need a way to experience team building, decision-making, a place to be heard. Theater provides that, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to me to give them the opportunity to develop skills so they can tell others what they think, what they want, what their dreams are.

Our mission is to end that old saying â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Children should be seen and not heard,â&#x20AC;? something we heard all the time while we were growing up. Our mission is to make sure that behavior is not prevalent in this generation.

Christine Mani (drama teacher) does a remarkable job at Benicia High. But not all communities are as lucky as Benicia. We want all kids to have the opportunity to participate in theater if they want to.

(laughs) I spent nine months with a MacArthur Foundation mentor, who taught me her specialty: organizational structure.

I learned all about board development, fundraising, overall organization. Her tutoring really has been a blessing.

Had you worked with youth theater before coming to the Solano program?

When I was in college, Lou Diamond Phillips and I worked on a project together that was a kids theater show. After that I directed Jack and the Beanstalk (in Dallas).

In Chicago, when I was with the Chicago Dramatists, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d go to the most dangerous, high-risk neighborhoods and we would install professional playwrights who taught playwriting at the schools in English classes.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d pick the top two or three and then weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d hire professional actors to go in and perform a full staged reading of those plays.

So my life has intersected with youth theater throughout the years.

Have you had to increase fees?

Fees went up $25 at beginning of last year (2009-10). It was a very hard decision to make because we knew the general public was suffering, too. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to deny the program to anyone. We feared it would hurt the scholarship program, that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d

I thought it was strange, too. I read the job description and I thought it would be very odd if I got this job, but it was producing and I love producing. I thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a producerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job at a college â&#x20AC;&#x201C; how unique.â&#x20AC;?

When I was being interviewed, one of

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How do you divide your time between the two theaters?

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in a lucky position that I get to balance these two lives. I just work constantly at both.

(Aurora Artistic Director)Tom Ross said the other day that to direct two shows in a row here is really a challenge. He asked if I was tired, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that way. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m blessed to be able to do in my life what I love. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a message we hope to carry through to the kids. Find out what you love and immerse yourself in that, and life will be an adventure, not a labor. So, no, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m never tired.

How did you ďŹ nd Benicia and what convinced you to move here?

When I was offered the job at Solano, I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s half-way between Berkeley and there?â&#x20AC;? I looked at a map and found this little town on the water called Benicia. I drove over here and it was just so beautiful and serene, and now I live next door to the mayor. I just love it here.

What do you do to relax?

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure a youth theater director should be known as a poker player, but I love playing poker. We used to take family trips to Las Vegas, and my niece and nephew introduced me to Hold â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Em Poker. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been seen at Cache Creek, and I like the Mirage, the Bellagio, in Las Vegas. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a very conservative player â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I only play low-limit games. I grew up playing cards, but I never realized how fun poker was until my family got me involved. B

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the people on the panel asked me why I was here, why would I leave Aurora Theatre for this job. I said I have no intention of leaving my association with Aurora and immediately thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a bad response.â&#x20AC;? But it turned out it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I guess they were looking for a professional to run the program.

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Benicia Magazine

When you were starting out in the theater, did you realize how much time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d spend raising money? Do they teach fund-raising in theater programs?

Why did you apply for the job at Solano Youth Theatre after years working with adults?

Together We Can Make a Difference In the Life of a Child

10

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Benicia Magazine

Community Survey Shows Strong Support for BUSD; Low Parcel Tax Amount

By Samuel J Adams Last month, the Benicia School Board commissioned the Center for Community Opinion to conduct a feasibility study. The study’s primary aim was to assess the chances of passing a parcel tax and a bond for solar retrofitting, but in order to frame the data, the survey asked participants a series of general questions about their perceptions of the school district. Their answers offer an interesting picture of the values of local voters, their opinions of the public school system and the peculiar difficulties supporters of the parcel tax face in the coming months.

The agency completed 403 randomized phone surveys, a number that takes in 2% of the voting population, the threshold number necessary to reach a statistically safe 4% margin of error. The study showed that at $98 the parcel tax would not receive the necessary two-thirds to pass; only a $58 tax appeared viable, and its chances dropped when it was paired with a bond for solar-retrofitting. The solar bond appeared unfeasible even as a standalone issue.

The survey asked respondents to grade the quality of public schooling and the district’s ability to manage its finances, to evaluate the quality of the facilities, and to answer a series of more specific questions.

Overall the news was good. When asked what grade the Benicia schools deserved, nearly 60% gave the schools an A or B grade, while 12.9% gave them a C. With 24.1% of voters considering themselves unable to evaluate the issue, the numbers of informed voters who favorably rate the schools jumps up dramatically. Only 2.5%, or about ten people, failed the schools.

All this measures up quite favorably against a national survey called the “Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitude Toward Public Schools.” In that survey, in which only 3% considered themselves unable to evaluate, 10% of respondents gave their schools an A (compared to Benicia’s 18%), the majority gave B and Cs, and a full 13% failed their schools.

Not bad for a district that’s third from last in per pupil revenue—and this in the state of California, a state that, according to Education Week, ranks 47th in what it

spends on each student.

At the meeting, the Center’s presenter Brad Senden commended Benicia on having a very healthy voter profile. When I asked how we compared against other Bay Area schools he surveyed, we ranked below Menlo Park and Orinda, but above Milpitas.

But a healthy voter profile hardly assures the successful passage of a parcel tax, and it doesn’t make handling the budget any easier. This became evident in the survey’s final question, which yielded a response that should have bolstered the esteem of board members, but which, in an economically uncertain climate, left them more confused than cheered. When asked what they would change about the district, respondents paid the district a very high complement: 32.3% said they wouldn’t change anything.

But it’s the second highest answer that’s more fascinating, and which best illustrates why determining the community’s highest priorities is an arduous task.

Basically, everyone has their hobby horse. 9% said the quality of teachers needed changing, 6% said improving finances should be a top priority, and, despite being a high-profile issue, only 2.9% rallied against class sizes.

The remaining 31.5% of respondents gave reasons too miscellaneous and scattered to chart.

So there you have it: on the one hand, no substantial problems; on the other, too many little problems to count.

“In a way,” Senden suggests, “these answers indicate basically the same thing: the public has no overriding problems with the district, and that’s a good place to start.”

Further, the answers respondents gave to other questions show that their values match the district’s.

When answering questions that framed the parcel tax as specifically saving certain areas of public education, respondents most supported the tax when it was protecting math and science. Math and sciences are part of a core program that the district considers impervious to cuts: to lose it, or to shrink it substantially, would require nearly apocalyptic circumstances.

But the voter’s second highest priority—retaining

the number of teachers working with struggling/at risk students—is certainly in jeopardy. The board has already eliminated summer school for elementary school students, decreased the number of before- and afterschool intervention programs across the district, and increased class sizes despite the reluctance of parents and board members.

Other areas are likewise endangered. Sports and extracurricular programs could get a pounding, Early Bird might forever miss its worm, and the already shortened year might lose a few more days.

The specific concerns respondents voiced will soon be transcribed in full, and the Board and superintendent eagerly await the results. “I was pleased overall with the results of the survey. It gave us a chance to hear from the public in a different way. I look forward to the many opinions voiced by Benicia Community members,” says Board President Rosie Switzer.

At the Board meeting where the Center presented its survey, educators and community members provided public comments. High school VP Ron Wheat suggested rephrasing the $98 tax into more palatable daily, weekly or monthly sums. This tactic helps somewhat, says Senden, but opponents of the tax can demand that it appears as an annual amount.

Such maneuverings seem to already exasperate President Switzer. “It would come out to less than five dollars a month added to their property tax bill—you can’t even buy a good burger for that. I don’t really feel that it would be a burden.”

She believes the tax will find sufficient community support, even among traditionally tax-opposed senior citizens. “Senior citizens have the option of being exempted when they’re sixty five, and a lot of seniors I know would not only vote for it, they would feel it their duty to pay that tax, even though they’re exempted.”

When it appears on the November ballot, the tax will mark Benicia’s third attempt at passing a parcel tax. They’re hoping the third time will prove a charm, and that Benicia will become the first district in Solano County to successfully pass such a measure. B

Benicia Magazine

13

Looking Back

Benicia Historical Museum Celebration Continues

By Mary Marino, Benicia Historical Museum In the expectation of the 25th anniversary year at the Benicia Historical Museum, the Board of Directors and other volunteers planned a celebration, and we are celebrating.

Starting a year in advance, honors, activities, exhibits, lectures and concerts were discussed, moved around on the calendar and anticipated. It has been hard work, but fun.

It's heartwarming to have visitors â&#x20AC;&#x153;pop inâ&#x20AC;? in from Kansas, Minnesota, Connecticut, and right here from Cooper Drive or one of our east or west â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;letter or numberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; streets. Enriching a visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s knowledge of Beniciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique history through the displays in our buildings is the reason volunteers have worked for over twenty-five years to preserve it, and continue working

City Fact

to enhance the ways in which it is shown. New exhibits, interactive displays, a top-notch website (www.beniciahistoricalmuseum.org), ongoing docent education, and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s programs keep our interest piqued and ready us for visitors.

In this second half of the year, we celebrate our members (and welcome each of you to become a member) with an old-fashioned picnic, annual membership meeting, continuing garden concerts, recognition of local authors and annual December holiday get-together.

Our only fundraising event of the year, a gala costume ball on October 31, is not to be missed. It will be an opportunity for you to have an elegant evening and support our museum.

Five more months of celebrationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;stay with us! B

Benicians Helping Benicians

By Anne Cardwell The City of Benicia Human Services Board is working hard at getting the word out that there is a quick and easy way for Benicia residents to help support local human service organizations. On your water bill there is a form that allows for a one-time or ongoing donation of any amount to the Human Service Fund, which funds grants to a number of organizations providing support to those in need in our community. Grantees include the Community Action Council, Families in Transition, the Community Garden, Catholic Social Services,

the Children's Nurturing Project, Reach Out, and the Special Friends program offered in the local elementary schools.

Each of these organizations works hard to fulfill a variety of needs in our community. The Human Services Board wants to remind Benicia residents that the City provides a convenient method via the water bill for Benicians to help Benicians. For additional information on how to make a donation, please contact the City of Benicia at 707.746.4200. B

Continued from page 8 Whatever adulterants enter the soil will likely be inherited by the next gardener, so pests meet their end by soap sprays and lady bugs.

There would be one significant change though: the new garden, should it move forward, wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have costly raised garden beds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Instead weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d build rounded mounds, and irrigate them by putting straw down to keep down the weeds and create a definition between the path part and the garden,â&#x20AC;? says Ms. Bardet. But she wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say much beyond that, not because she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to speculate, but because she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to impose. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatever anybody wants,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not saying what this garden should be. What we need is to get the word out.â&#x20AC;?

She hopes the new garden would be more than just the public face of the organization, and starts a movement that causes satellite gardens to sprout up around the city. She has been keenly

following San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovations in urban gardening, where every nook is fair game for growing and, â&#x20AC;&#x153;even median strips are being planted.â&#x20AC;? The BCG would aim to increase membership with a second location, but more than that they want to spread their wisdom as far as they can. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an ebb and flow here. People come and learn and they stay a couple of years and then they might leave the garden and we get someone new in. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a training place. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re growing gardeners. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of our motto.â&#x20AC;?

Those interested in gardening, or in donating their shoulders, tools, or supplies to BCG can contact Marilyn Bardet at mjbardet@sbcglobal.net. Novices and fans are also encouraged to visit the garden on Wednesdays from twelve to two to learn the tricks of the trade, says BCG co-founder and master gardener Meg Grumio. B

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Fashionista in Benicia

Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Carnaby Street Fifty Years Later Story and photo by Christina Strawbridge wbridge Growing up in the 60's, my fascination cin inat nat atiion fo for or fa fash fashion shiio sh io was centered on what was coming out off L ion London, ond on ndo don,, E England. n laand ng nd. IItt was not like anything I had seen before, re, with styles that were young and hip. hipp. Skirts Skkir irts rts were were really reaally "mini" "minii" and and designs desiign gnss were weeree w brash and innovative. Color playedd a big role in defining thee lo look look. ook o . Th T Thee mu mute muted t d an te aandd pastel pa palette alettte te ooff the fifties ga gave ve way s.. to bright, bold colors and geometricc patterns.

The Brits set the tone and the world orld ld followed. foll fo oll llow ow wed ed. From From London, Lon on ndon, the the mod mod look l spread spread re to the re th he globe's globe's fashion centers. ceent n er e s.

Carnaby Street, located in London'ss Soho district, wass where wheree both both h mod mood and hippie hipppie ie styles originated. origginated. No geography was more famous for swinging boutiques ues than Carnab Carnaby abb Stre aby Street eet and nd K Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s i gâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Road. in Carnaby Street is less than 200 yards rds d from end en nd to end, end nd, nd d and an nd in n 1960 1960 was filled with with h independent indepen ndent fashion boutiques boutiq J hn Stephen, Jo Ste tephen n, whoo started s ar st arted the hipster-trousers hipster-trouseers and floral-patterned oraall-ppatt owned by designers and entrepreneurs. John shirt trends for men, was the first to establish a fashion hio ion n store fo for afflfluuent ent nt teenage customers customers. rs.. An Anot Another oth well-known name associated with the 60's is Mary Quant, who popularized larizedd the the swinging swing n ing sixties sixt xtie iess look lo k and brought the miniskirt to the mainstream.

Besides boutiques, there were underground music bars nd m usiic bar ba ars rs where h the Beatles and the Rolling Stones appeared. When they weren't playing, they were shopping and hanging out in the coolest of fashion destinations.

During the 60's the fashion revolution was youth-oriented and youth-driven, and began in the streets rather than the old-line couture houses. The Baby Boomers were coming of age.

My favorite icon of the era was Twiggy, dubbed "The Face of 1966." Twiggy dominated the covers of fashion magazines. She was also featured on the covers of Time and Newsweek with stories related to Swinging London. I was all of 92 pounds and often mistaken for a boy. I even competed in a Twiggy lookalike contest. I didn't win, but still have the photos that were taken by my dad with his Polaroid camera. I learned how to apply false eyelashes and paint lashes below my bottom lid. I even got the gamine look down with a cropped haircut and pouting lips.

Fifty years and fifty-plus pounds later, I re-visited the street of the 60's.The curved sign welcoming people to Carnaby Street is still there, along with interesting shops and English store fronts. A few chains have infiltrated the scene, but the independents still reign with stores whose names shout outrageous like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;David and Goliathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Marshmallow Mountainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sweaty Bettyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fur Coat No Knickersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

After a half a century, Carnaby Street remains one of London's best-known shopping destinations with stores still making a go of it with one-of-a-kind fashion on a street that still has a really cool vibe. The British Invasion was such a part of my life from style to music, and this girl from the Midwest took it and made it a lifetime of fashion independence. B

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Benicia Magazine

15

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expanding Experiencesâ&#x20AC;? to Offer Wine, Art and Altruism to Benicia Residents

By Samuel J. Adams This September the Rotary Club of Benicia is banding together local business people, artists, and Liberty High School students to produce â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expanding Experiences,â&#x20AC;? an open studio and wine tasting event held at Arts Benicia to raise money for Liberty High.

The event, now in its seventh year, will feature vintages from more than a dozen different Northern California wineries, an opportunity drawing for various gifts, and finger food courtesy of several local restaurants. The finger food will be served by Liberty students, who will show up impeccably dressed after receiving a crash course in catering mores from Randyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant staff members. There are plans for live music too; in the past, this has come from musical groups made up of current and former Liberty High faculty.

Attendees will also get a chance to see those rare birds, artists, display their works in their native environmentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although, thanks to the free disposal services provided by Allied Wasteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trucks, that environment might be a little tidier than usual. Allied Waste, Valero Refinery, and Raleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foods are the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest sponsors.

The revenue raised at the event will go towards two funds set up by the Rotarians to support arts education, vocational training, and other necessary services.

Because almost all art programs were eliminated from Liberty High, most of the revenue from the event goes in that direction. Rotarians feel Arts education is crucial for Liberty High students. Because many students have failed core academic classes, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vital to offer programs that give students a chance to display their talents and develop the sort of life skills that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be learned from the bubbles on a Scantron sheet. Liberty Principal Jane Abelee agrees, and mentions the popular African drumming class as an example. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not only is it a chance for them to learn a musical instrument, it teaches collaborative teamwork,â&#x20AC;? she says. The money will also help fund the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yearbook, athletics program, and culturally enriching field trips.

Liberty High has long benefited from the support of the Rotarians. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since Liberty is such a small school and many of the kids come from troubled family circumstances, the Rotarians have really been like a PTA for the school,â&#x20AC;? says Superintendent and Liberty neighbor Janice Adams.

In addition to providing financial support for arts and cultural enrichment programs, the Rotarians help students learn about the world beyond the classroom by arranging regular interactions with people whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve succeeded in it. Throughout the year, Liberty students talk face-to-face with pastors and police chiefs, winemakers and educators, who come to Liberty to inspire students to succeedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and to disabuse them of any notions that success comes easily.

The club also helps with career week, job shadowing programs, and transporting students to extracurricular events.

The events give kids a snapshot of the adult world, and a chance to consider career paths and ambitions previously unknown to them. But it also gives the adult world a snapshot of Liberty kids, an impressive one that shatters the continuation school stereotypes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The people

who attend are bowled over by the kids â&#x20AC;Ś they show up to work, and they work,â&#x20AC;? says Rotarian Jim Trimble, who co-chairs the event with Beverly White. Many of Libertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students are behind in credits, and low on feelings of professional competence, so the event does wonders for the kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; confidence and sometimes it does more than that: some students displayed such tact and maturity that employers hired them on site.

Above all, the event is a high-profile meet-and-greet, a fun party and place for Benicians to come together to celebrate the unique institutions that lend this town its distinct character. Rare is the place where continuation students, artists, winemakers, and professionals of all stripes mingle in the same room; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an odd mix, but hardly a chaotic one.

This year, event organizers hope to attract three hundred people, a crowd large enough to secure necessary funding, but still manageable enough to circulate through the buildings in an unhurried manner. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an event like none Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen before,â&#x20AC;? says Abelee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It pulls all the local artists together for a good cause, and everyone seems to have a wonderful time.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expanding Experiencesâ&#x20AC;? takes place on Wednesday, September 15th, in Beniciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Arsenal Area on Tyler and Jackson Streets. It costs $35 and runs from 6-8:30pm. B

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