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The oTher side Wash away 2020 with shinrin-yoku

How is it possible to be thankful in 2020, the year that’s seen the death of an icon in Kobe Bryant and many other musicians and celebrities.

It is a year with a global pandemic infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands, a lockdown, a recession, panic buying, small businesses dying and food insecurity?

We’ve had another year of calamitous California wildfires and other climate-worsened weather-related devastation. We’ve seen the horrible murder of George Floyd and the tremendous protests for social change, armed militias, incredible social division and a nation in political distress. What to do? In 1982, Japan’s forest ministry made “shinrin-yoku” or “forest bathing” part of it’s national public health program. What

Kelvin Wade is forest bathing? It’s taking a walk or sitting in the woods among the trees and meditating. No, it doesn’t involve removing any clothing. Researchers have found what humans have known for centuries: Being in nature surrounded by fresh air, trees, grasses, plants and wildlife enhances tranquility, de-stresses the mind and rejuvenates mood.

In 2016, the Bay Area Forest Bathing Club formed with guides taking groups through parks and woods to meditate and recharge.

Now I’ve never been the outdoors type. I’m usually far more comfortable inside at a desk, in front of my laptop with my iPad Mini in my hand and a glass of Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey nearby. But 2020 has caused all of us to tire of being indoors. And last year, Cathi and I escaped to a campground in the foothills that was a game-changer for us.

That’s where I’m typing this from. Yes, I’m inside an RV in front of a laptop with a glass of whiskey beside me, but outside this trailer are towering redwoods, majestic oaks and prickly pines. There are lakes nearby teeming with fish. There are fat squirrels scurrying about while geese honk overhead. And there’s the ever present deer; bucks, does and fawns strolling right through your campsite.

When I go out, I always have apples and cabbage in a baggie to hand-feed the deer.

The silence is unlike anything you can experience in a city. And at night, the landscape is unpolluted by human light so it’s inky black. And stars one could never see from your driveway stretch across the night sky. And here there is no WiFi. No internet. No cell service. You have to drive to find a signal so this place has a way of forcing one to let go and embrace nature.

In this setting is where I let go of the wretchedness of 2020. In this garden of Eden is where we will celebrate Thanksgiving. No, I’m not roughing it. We’ll cook a Butterball turkey. Cathi will make her famous sage, sausage and raisin stuffing. We’ll do a nice spread in our 38-foot travel trailer.

I haven’t been able to spend much time with my family or friends this year but that just makes me more thankful for them. It’s a reminder to never take them for granted.

It’s easy to be thankful if you’ve managed to avoid Covid-19, if your refrigerator is full, if you’ve got a roof over your head and an income that pays the bills. If you come home to people who love and care about you and you have a loyal dog or an inquisitive cat that adores you and keeps you company then that’s something.

If you have enough to share with others, to give back to people who are struggling then that’s one of the greatest ways to give thanks this holiday season. If you don’t have enough and you still share, you are a gem among humankind.

You don’t need a fancy RV or a faraway campground to forest bathe and dispel the bad vibes of this fustercluck of a year. You can do it in a park. In a backyard.

Sure it helps to be away from the noise of a city. But if you’re mindful and you let all that extraneous baggage we carry with us every day go for a little while and just focus on nature, you’ll be surprised the calm you’ll feel.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Peace.

Kelvin Wade, a former Fairfield resident, is the author of “Morsels” Vols. I and II and lives in Sacramento. Email him at kelvinjwade@outlook.com.

solano Voices

The Color Purple: Sliding backward into Covid peril

It seems like an eternity we enter the winter months. Our frontline workers are grateful since we received the first We face a very sobering for donations received since the patient known to have con- situation, a turning point. But beginning of this pandemic – from tracted the coronavirus we have in our hands – each meals to PPE to free car washes. Now, though community trans- and every one of us – the what we need most is for everyone to mission back in February. power to do what is right. wear a mask, wash their hands, social

It was disheartening to see That’s why I’m asking you to distance and avoid social gatherings Solano County and 40 others be even more vigilant. during the holidays. in California backslide into the The last several months It’s now a matter of life and death. purple tier Nov. 16, reverting to the most restrictive level B. Konard Jones have given our hospitals time to increase inventories of A vaccine, which seemed in March or April a distant possibility, is on its that will impede businesses and everyday life for all of us. The trend was evident in the weeks leading up to the announcement: Cases of Covid-19 were steadily rising in our community, hospital beds were filling, whatever we were doing was not enough to slow the spread of the virus. So here we are again, much like in the spring, when we believed the virus had reached its pinnacle. Solano County has experienced less than 100 deaths so far, which relative to other counties is a low personal protective equipment (PPE) and create plans to flex our capacity. What we cannot stockpile are the highly skilled health care workers at NorthBay Healthcare. Our dedicated care teams, and all those who support them, are exhausted. They’ve been at it for 10 months. They work in difficult conditions, putting on and taking off protective garments, heavy hoods, self-contained breathing apparatus. Some believe it is annoying – or worse, unconstitutional – to mandate that we wear a face covering for way. But that is no reason to loosen our vigilance. Having two effective vaccines – Moderna and Pfizer, pending FDA authorization – is a huge step forward. Having them less than a year into the pandemic is a historic achievement. But getting enough doses and distributing them poses difficult logistical hurdles. We probably won’t return to anything like normal life until next summer, at the earliest. In the meantime, do the right thing. That will be the quickest way to reopen all businesses, get our children back to school, rebuild the number. That is little consolation, 20 minutes while in the supermarket economy and save lives. however, to the families of those or hardware store. Consider what it is individuals who lost their loved one. like for health care providers to B. Konard Jones is the president and Now we are confronted with the wear PPE for an entire eight- or chief executive officer for inevitable climb in the human toll as 10-hour shift. NorthBay Healthcare.

calmaTTers commenTary Poll confirms Californians’ sour mood on higher taxes

Proposition 15 would also disinclined to accept pleas week’s unexpected projection of a have been the largest from other Democratic $26 billion state revenue windfall tax increase in Cali- politicians, including Gov. undercuts pro-tax increase advofornia history and its Gavin Newsom, for higher cates even more. defeat this month was, by taxes. The UC Berkeley Poll didn’t probe any definition, a huge setback More importantly, voters’ further into why voters believe taxes for its sponsors, primar- sour attitude about taxation are too high, but a contributing factor ily public employee unions. isn’t confined to Proposition may be the seemingly endless reports

They had been yearning for 13 and property taxes. of official incompetence. decades to crack Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot measure Dan Walters “In addition, the poll found that an historically large The managerial debacles at the Department of Motor Vehicles and the that limits property taxes, and convinced themselves that singling out commercial property for new taxes would be a winner, especially in a high turnout presidential election. After Proposition 15 was defeated, its advocates tried to place a positive spin on the outcome, hinting that they would try again to persuade voters to pass new taxes of some kind on someone or something. However, the notion that Californians really want to raise taxes was destroyed last week in a new poll from the UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. The poll, conducted just before the election, found that by 53% to 19%, voters still support Proposition 13, which explains, in large measure, why Proposition 15 failed so badly. The opposition campaign’s own polling obviously found the same sentiment and used it effectively to warn voters that its passage would be proportion of voters (81%) now feels the level of state and local taxes paid by the average Californian is high, while just 19% consider taxes in the state to below or about right,” poll director Mark DiCamillo said in his analysis. “In previous statewide surveys dating back to 1977, the only other times that greater than three in four voters described the level of state and local taxes as being high were in 1982 and 1991, both years in which the state was experiencing an economic downturn. By a nearly 5-to-1 margin (78% to 16%) voters also agreed that taxes in California were already so high that they were driving many people and businesses out of the state.” Proposition 15’s defeat and the UC Berkeley poll are huge headwinds for those who earnestly believe that Employment Development Department are spectacular examples, but certainly not the only ones. Just last week, the state auditor, Elaine Howle, issued a report that said lack of coordination between the state’s four housing agencies and other administrative failures had squandered $2.7 billion in funds meant to build affordable housing. Two days later, she issued another report that added to the employment department’s image as an agency that is failing to provide timely benefits to millions of unemployed workers. The new report said that despite warnings, the department is still putting Social Security numbers on communications with clients, putting them at risk of fraud. If Californians believe their taxes are already being misused, they’ll never be inclined to shoulder more. only the first step toward repealing Californians’ tax burden, one of the CALmatters is a public interest the 42-year-old property tax limit. nation’s highest as a percentage of journalism venture committed to

Thus, while California voters gave personal income, should be increased. explaining how California’s state Democrat Joe Biden a nearly Additionally, when he endorsed Capitol works and why it matters. 2-to-1 victory over Republican Proposition 15, Newsom specifically For more columns by Dan Walters, go President Donald Trump, they were rejected an income tax hike. And last to calmatters.org/commentary

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