KYM HOUGH, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
The concept behind The Lodge at Piner Road is to make life both easier and more enjoyable for residents. They will enjoy an independent lifestyle with supportive care available for activities of daily living such as shower assist, dressing and or medication management. Rich amenities range from fresh gourmet meals and housekeeping to laundry services and socializing activities. This facility features a theater, salon, pizza oven dining experience, spa, and outdoor deck experience for memory care.
NORTHBAY
AGE IS ALL THE RAGE
A Letter From
Our Editor 4
LIVE AND LET DIE The Living/ Dying Project 6
GREEN IS THE NEW GOLD McEvoy Ranch
olive oils 10
ZINFANDEL ROYALTY Winemaker
Carol Shelton 14
THE IMPRESARIO
Tom Gaffey of Petaluma’s Phoenix Theater 20
REBEL, REBEL
Author and activist
Joel D. Eis 28
CEO & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Dan Pulcrano
PUBLISHER
Rosemary Olson
EDITOR
Daedalus Howell
COPY EDITOR
Suzanne Michel
CONTRIBUTORS
Isabella Cook
Michael Giotis
Brooke Herron
Don R. Lewis
COVER PHOTO Courtesy of McEvoy Ranch
PRODUCTION OPERATIONS MANAGER
Sean George EDITORIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Phaedra Strecher
SENIOR DESIGNER
Jackie Mujica
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Lisa Marie Santos
OFFICE MANAGER
Liz Alber
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGERS
Karen Klaber, Danielle McCoy, Mercedes Murolo, Lynda Rael
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supernatural beauty treatments (and murderous subplottings) eventually find them a pair of catty zombies who require the efforts of “Ernest” (an alcoholic, put-upon former plastic surgeon played by Bruce Willis) to keep them in good repair.
The film’s denouement flashes forward 37 years to Ernest's funeral, where we learn he has made much of the intervening years and died a redeemed and beloved philanthropist. As the eulogist quotes him, “Life begins at 50.”
I was 20 years old when I first saw the film upon its original release in 1992, and all these years later—especially this year— the words still resonate with me. In the ’90s, I was already a prodigal son, if not an outright profligate, and took comfort in the promise of an eventual St. Augustine-like reformation. “If life indeed begins at 50,” I reasoned, “why not wait out the next three decades as a louche libertine and then, you know, begin?”
Well, I’m 50 now and, frankly, I’d rather continue “spending thoughts on nature’s appetites” (ditto the deeds), despite St. Auggie’s recommendations against the idea. Because, as it turns out, life does begin (at least again) at 50. All experience prior to the mid-century mark is merely practice for making all the same moves but with greater mastery and—here’s the best part— not giving a shit about what other people
think. “Dance like nobody’s watching” goes the naif’s proviso, which is wrong. It should be “Dance like everybody’s watching and preferably naked.”
Now, that’s redemption.
When I asked artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT how it might introduce this edition of 50Up, the first idea it suggested was a name change: “Seasoned.” I have to admit, it nailed the theme and frankly, it might have a better sense of our market segment, which now includes me. Because, frankly, I don’t feel 50; I feel well-seasoned, salty, in fact, and deliciously reckless in a manner that’s— if not libertine—liberating. This is the inflection point—life either begins again or it begins to end, and I don’t think death becomes any of us.
DAEDALUS HOWELL , EDITORMore than thyme is on your sideVINTAGE Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep in ‘Death Becomes Her.’
In William Faulkner’s most revered work, As I Lay Dying, he writes, “...the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”
This sentiment is not only echoed but also practiced in The Living/Dying Project, a nonprofit founded by Marin local Dale Borglum. The Living/Dying Project operates under a single mission: to ease the
BY ISABELLA COOKtransition between living and dying, both for those who will soon pass and for the loved ones they will leave behind.
“I was not working with dying people because I’m Mother Theresa,” explained Borglum. “I’m working with dying people because I want to wake up and know that my time here is limited, and each moment is precious. The fact that I may die makes me want to open my heart to these beings, and I see caregiving as my spiritual
practice. It’s not just glorified nursing or social work, but my spiritual practice integrated into my life.”
Borglum has now been working with terminally ill patients for the past 30 years. The path that led him toward becoming the founder and executive director of the Living/Dying Project began during his time at university. While Borglum was earning his bachelor of science degree from the University of California,
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Berkeley, followed by his Ph.D. from Stanford University, he met and fostered relationships that would shape the course of his life and many others’ deaths.
“I’m old enough that I was actually going to college during the psychedelic and counterculture revolutions in the late ’60s and early ’70s and, at Stanford, I met a guy who was an acquaintance of Ram Dass,” explained Borglum. “When Ram Dass came to California, he would stay across the street from me, and we became drinking buddies, and I thought I was a pretty lucky yogi at that point. He put into language, readily understandable by westerners, this deeper wisdom of Buddhism and, in a very eclectic and psychologically sophisticated way, explained this in a way that made sense to me.”
Dass, born Richard Alpert, was famous in his own right as a spiritual teacher, a yogi and a psychiatrist with a Ph.D. from Stanford—he is also known for his involvement in Harvard’s psychedelic drug experiment, which Alpert participated in alongside Timothy Leary. Alpert’s name change to Ram Dass occurred during his subsequent pilgrimage to India.
“Ram Dass was friends with Aldous Huxley, who wrote Island, in which there’s a utopian community where there was a center for conscious dying: basically being awake and conscious as you’re going through the dying process,” explained Borglum.
After returning from India, Dass set out on a mission: to spread the concept of conscious dying and to teach others to, through spirituality, approach death without fear. He was joined by Stephen Levine, an American author and poet, who taught meditation for the movement.
During this time, Borglum had also traveled to India and, on his return to the states, joined Dass and Levine in teaching others to approach death with gratitude for life. These lectures and workshops were met with trepidation, as western society held (and still holds) a deeply-ingrained fear of anything to do with the concept of death.
This reticence toward accepting the shared human condition of mortality did not dissuade Dass, Levine and Borlum, however, and they continued to fight against what they perceived to be the main cause of imbalance in western society. Fear of death and the subsequent refusal to acknowledge and live in the truth of its inevitability, to them, was synonymous with the root of many societal problems, such as greed, disregard
for the climate and abuse of power.
“We’re living in a time, collectively, of great imbalance,” said Borglum. What’s going on in the climate, politically, economically, pandemics, wars…it’s a time of great chaos and upheaval and…until we confront the fundamental fear of death from which all these imbalances come, the world will continue to be out of balance. Whether you’re this race, that religion or this gender, realize we’re under one collective experience, and we’re all going to live, then we’re all going to die.”
The Dying Project, predecessor to the Living/Dying Project, began in the ’70s when Levine founded the nonprofit as part of the Hanuman Foundation (another nonprofit foundation started by Dass).
“Hundreds of thousands of people showed up for Stephen’s and my lessons, and we thought it would be a good idea to get a physical location,” said Borglum. “So, we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to start the Dying Center. But Stephen disappeared into his marriage and Ram Dass disappeared into being Ram Dass, so I founded and directed this facility in 1981, and it was the first of its kind in America to promote conscious dying in that way.”
Borglum spent three and a half years running the Dying Center, after which he returned to the Bay Area right before learning that his father was dying. Naturally, Borglum helped his father through the process, then turned his sights once again toward dispelling the deep fear of death in western society.
“Dying doesn’t cause suffering; resistance
to dying causes suffering,” explained Borglum. “Often, it’s a relief to die because there’s pain in the body…so when they do die, it’s a blessing and a relief that they’re getting out of this body that’s not able to function.”
Borglum’s life experiences, his education, the people he had met, the places he had traveled and the lives and deaths he had touched, cumulated to become The Living/ Dying Project. The project is available online with a complete site that offers a guide to conscious dying, conscious grieving and conscious compassion. They offer free-of-charge one-to-one emotional and spiritual support for those who are grieving and those who are dying. The Living/Dying Zoom most recently had an audience of 433 attendants, a number that continues to grow.
“The country is hungry for this—the baby boom generation is at the certain age where their parents are dying, some of them are dying and our society is still not that comfortable with dying or conversations about dying,” concluded Borglum. “We’re all going to die, and we don’t know when, so let’s try to be kind to each other.”
For more information about the Living/ Dying Project, visit their website at livingdying.org, send an email to info@ livingdying.org or call 415.456.3915. The Living/Dying Project relies on donations that may be made through services such as Paypal or by checks posted to P.O. Box 357 in Fairfax.
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McEvoy Ranch has a well earned reputation as a producer of some of the finest olive oils this side of the Adriatic Sea. Now the company is about to supplement that esteemed tradition with a new line of products that brings their refined sense of olive oil from the rarified into everyday use.
One of the leaders in the efforts to expand the reach of McEvoy Ranch into home kitchens is Kym Hough, the company’s chief marketing officer. Hough learned the lessons of great products early.
“My grandpa and grandma were Sicilian. As a child, my parents would drive my sister, brother and me in our woody station wagon to Glendale, California and leave us for two months with family,” said Hough.
“Grandma made homemade bread and pasta sauce using only the freshest ingredients,” she recalled. “Everything had olive oil in it. [She] would take the warm bread out of the oven, cut a line down the middle and pour olive oil down it, then she would add a bit of salt and pepper. It was the best thing I had ever eaten.”
A large bottle of Italian extra virgin olive oil was always present on the kitchen countertop. Hough’s grandfather grew figs and herbs in the garden. The experience connected her to the emotional power of quality foods. That connection became a driver in her career.
“Grandma Celestino gave me a genuine love of authentic cooking with the freshest ingredients possible. I love marketing a high-quality, delicious and good-for-you product,” said Hough. “I get up each day knowing that I am contributing to the health and well-being of people. It’s an incredible joy to bring such an exquisite product grown and produced in the Bay Area, where I have lived my entire life, to the market.”
The connection to family well-being is central to McEvoy Ranch’s mission. The company’s shift to a more everyday-use oil is rooted in the same vision of that big old bottle of EVOO that Hough grew up with. When discussing the advantages of the solid agricultural foundation in the long term sustainability of the producer, she emphasized the company’s responsibility to employees and their families. “[Our] agricultural stability will allow McEvoy Ranch to be a strong contributing member of the North Bay community and a great employer that supports families for many years to come,” she said.
A lifelong Bay Area native, Hough’s direction in work has been shaped by the characteristic love of food and drink in the region.
“I am passionate about this area's lifestyle and culture, where the culinary world
takes center stage,” said Hough. “We are a curious group in the Bay Area. We love discovering how a product is made, where it’s grown, and who produces it. We care about what we are eating and want it to be interesting, delicious and healthy, especially when we are sharing food with friends and family.”
That curiosity led Hough to a 40-year career which spans iconic Bay Area delicacies like chocolate, wine and coffee. “Over the past 15 years, I have worked for Ghirardelli Chocolate, Peet’s Coffee and McEvoy Ranch. You can say that my career so far has been delicious,” she noted.
Based on a family-owned ranch in the western hills of Petaluma, McEvoy has been producing its Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the land for more than 30 years. The 12 new products are produced further afield, while still retaining the heart of what makes McEvoy special.
“[We produce] Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 12 different olive oils—including our Agrumato Method flavored olive oils—and now Extra Virgin Cooking Olive Oil. We
aim to give our customers a variety of ways to cook healthy with vibrant, fresh and unique flavors,” said Hough.
The most exciting new product may be the simplest. “Our Extra Virgin Cooking Olive Oil gives our customers a more accessible olive oil to cook with every day. While it is still a premium, highquality, California-grown and estateproduced olive oil, we have worked with a community of farming partners to acquire high-quality olives grown in California’s Central Valley,” said Hough.
“Their warmer climate makes growing olives more economical, and we have passed those cost savings on to consumers with our everyday olive oil. This olive oil has a subtle olive taste that still delivers the beneficial health properties and delicious flavor,” said Hough. The cooking oil is a more versatile option, while the traditional olive-forward oil McEvoy Ranch is known for is perfect for stronger flavor profiles. “We love providing home cooks with both options,” Hough added.
McEvoy Ranch’s line of flavored oils is not like the infused oils that are commonly found on grocery shelves.
“We mill all of our olive oils in our frantoio (“mill” in Italian) in the heart of the ranch,” explained Hough. “Our flavored Agrumato Method olive oils are co-milled with herbs, spices and fruit simultaneously with the olives. This Old World method creates a balanced, fresh, olive-forward taste and allows the unique flavors of the additional ingredients to shine through. It is far superior to infused olive oils.”
On the McEvoy Ranch website, Hough’s profile begins like this: “To Kym, the four Ps of Marketing stand for Passion, Passion, Passion and Passion,” a play on the “Four Ps” of marketing taught in business school. In her every communication, that call of passion comes through loud and clear. It has guided her through a long, vibrant career that was not always clear from the beginning, as is so often the case with careers.
Hough would not change much, but she did have some words of wisdom when asked what she would tell her younger self.
“I would tell my 20-year-old self, don't worry; you are on the right path. It's good to take a chance and risk; you've got this,” said Hough. “Follow your passion; it won't let you down.”
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With over four decades of professional winemaking experience and more than two decades of running her own winery and brand, Carol Shelton (aka the Queen of Zin) isn’t slowing down yet.
Shelton is best known for zinfandel, especially her Wild Thing Old Vine Zinfandel and her single vineyard zins. She’s also a big fan of Rhone and makes a handful of Rhone varietal wines, including viognier, a white Rhone blend, carignan and a grenache blend.
When asked about what her zinfandel “aha moment” was, Shelton recalls a 1980 Clos du Bois zinfandel that she and her eventual husband, Mitch, drank in 1984, when they met.
“We both really liked this wine. It didn’t have the vegetal aromas of the bordeaux varieties that were becoming so popular, but neither was it like a cheap, sweet
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wine. It was fruity but also had great body and structure. This is what sort of got us started on tasting more zinfandels,” says Shelton, who was also making zin at Windsor Vineyards and eventually joined Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP), a trade group for the varietal.
“I saw that zinfandel wasn’t commanding the same amount of respect as other varieties like cabernet, but I loved its unpretentiousness and range of flavors,” Shelton recalls. “I firmly believed that it had the potential to be one of the great American wines and to show terroir in a way that people weren’t yet really thinking about when it came to zin.”
After almost 20 years of making wine at Windsor Vineyards, Shelton struck out on her own—with her partner, Mitch—to launch her own winery with a focus on terroir driven zinfandel. Their first vintage was small, and ended up in bottles, thanks only to selling barrel futures to raise funding to finish the bottling and labeling process. But the seed was planted—and the brand continued to grow and to attract passionately loyal customers.
In 2005, just five years after launching Carol Shelton Wines, Shelton was named one of eight Pioneer Women Winemakers
of Sonoma County. Since that time, her wines have consistently earned awards and accolades, from Gold Medals at the Harvest Fair and San Francisco Chronicle competition, to making Wine Enthusiast’s “Top 100” list.
In her mid 60s now, Shelton recalls her early days in the wine industry, as a young female professional in the vineyards and cellar—areas in which men weren’t accustomed to seeing many women.
“The perceptions and/or treatment of women in wine back then were… let’s say… ridiculous, from the belief that a woman could carry a yeast infection into the cellar and infect the wine, to the shenanigans male vineyard workers and cellar workers pulled with female counterparts, because they knew they would not face any repercussions for their actions,” says Shelton. “The men in the business were ok with women looking pretty and selling wine or working in hospitality, but they didn’t know what to do with women in the vineyard, cellar or lab and definitely didn’t treat us as equals.”
Comparing those days to today, Shelton points out that there is a lot more
accountability today in the wine industry. “People can’t get away with what they could back then or they will be called out for their behavior. It is much more likely that they will face consequences for their actions,” she says.
Shelton admits that things were different when she was a young woman working for other businesses than when she became a business owner. Especially now, as a female entrepreneur and business owner who has been running her own business for over 20 years.
“When I first started out in business for myself, there was so much I didn’t know and that I had to figure out on the job. I also lacked self confidence and security in the beginning. I can remember getting so flustered in meetings that I was brought to tears more than once,” says Shelton. “Now, I’m both much more experienced as well as older, both of which have led to my becoming more confident and self assured. That confidence comes with years on the job—years of accruing that experience as a business owner.”
Shelton also credits husband Mitch
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for cheering her on and encouraging her to bet on herself and the brand.
“I’m not a natural risk taker and haven’t always been as confident in my own abilities as I should be, but Mitch is and has always believed in me and my abilities,” she says. “I’m a seasoned business owner now, with a couple of decades of running my own business under my belt. I’m not easily manipulated, I know how to ask for and get what I want (a far cry from where I was in my 30s), and I don’t shy away from a challenge.
“I’ve tackled a myriad of challenges in business and overcome them. I’ve bet on myself and the brand we’ve built (Mitch and I), and this has paid off. At this age and stage of life—personally and professionally, I’m confident that I can handle whatever comes my way,” she continues.
At 66, Shelton is ready to design a winery and have her own, larger winery and custom crush business. She and her husband are currently in the
process of making this dream a reality.
After decades of running their business (out of an industrial business park space), Carol Shelton Wines has reached the point where they aren’t just ready for growth, but they need to grow to remain competitive. They’re also finally at the stage where they are comfortable taking on this kind of financial commitment and are confident in their ability to make the new venture a success.
“We know we’ve built a strong brand and business, and we know we are capable of dealing with and overcoming challenges as they arise,” says Shelton.
Currently, Carol Shelton Wines is in the process of getting a building permit approved for an ambitious new project in Windsor: a winery custom crush facility, restaurant, tasting room and residences (for themselves, employees, club members or distributors, etc.). They’ve already obtained the use permit approval, and are standing by for approval of their building permit so
that they can approach investors, secure financing and break ground.
“If all goes as planned, we hope to be able to break ground by July,” says Shelton.
Next, the project will progress in phases, with the custom crush facility and tasting room being the first phase, and the restaurant, kitchen, on-site apartments, etc. being the second phase. The whole project will probably take between one and two years.
Shelton’s goal with the custom crush space, beyond working with custom crush clients, is to work with and mentor female winemakers (though the custom crush facility will not serve only women). These may be women who are working in the local wine industry or women who are working for her at the winery who would like to start their own wine brands and need help from someone who has been in their shoes.
“I remember what it was like starting out on my own,” says Shelton. “The learning curve was huge. I want to help other female winemakers navigate this process.”
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Tom Gaffey, founder and manager of Petaluma’s Phoenix Theater, has made something very clear as we sit down for an interview.
“I don’t want to talk about myself; I want to talk about the theater,” says Gaffney.
In his classic resigned, yet serious tone, Gaffey elaborates, saying, “PBS was just here, and they said they were doing a story about secret spots in Petaluma, and an hour later, all we
talked about was me. I don’t want to do it.”
Seemingly not realizing that Gaffey and the ad hoc community center Phoenix Theater have become synonymous, it’s a writer’s job to respect their subject whenever possible so, we went ahead with the interview, promising not to talk about Tom Gaffey.
Earlier in the month, a standard Friday night was unfolding at the Phoenix. A punk rock show featuring Right to Remain, a newer punk band with not-so-new-tothe-scene members, was playing a show at the Phoenix alongside bands with names like Speed Wobble and Warning?. Right
to Remain songwriter and bassist Eddie “Picnic” Walsh (47) is back where it seems he’s always belonged as he hangs in the semi-crowded lobby amongst a collection of skater, emo and punk people of all ages.
“The first time I entered the building must’ve been 1986, when Stand by Me came out. I saw part of the movie before my dad found me and made me leave because I was too young to watch it,” says Walsh, harkening back to a time when the Phoenix indeed was a movie house some nights and live concert venue others. Gaffey elucidates, “We really couldn’t get enough people to get first-run movies anymore, and in 1986 or ’87, we did a sold-
out show with the Violent Femmes, and I realized we could make it as a concert venue.”
With this fledgling idea, the Phoenix started booking headlining acts like The Ramones, X, Blue Öyster Cult, Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as any and all local bands that wanted to take the stage. This nearly four-decade long experiment is impressive because throughout that time, with very few exceptions, the Phoenix has been an all-ages venue that doesn’t sell alcohol which cuts deeply into profits.
In fact, until recently, the theater wasn’t even a registered 501c3 non-profit organization that allowed for tax
deductible donations, which, says Gaffey, they gladly accept. While Gaffey himself shies away from asking for donations, he admits a 2018 fire sprinkler and roof upgrade that cost upwards of $250,000 wouldn’t have happened had the community not stepped up.
Gaffey is also reluctant to ask bands that cut their teeth on the Phoenix stage before becoming worldwide stars to come back
and pay homage to where it all began. He notes that Green Day’s “Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool come in and bring their kids; they show them the building and say hello. I won’t ask them (to play).” Other bands and members that got their start at least in part due to the Phoenix include Primus, NOFX and Mr. Bungle. In 1991, Metallica launched the tour for their breakthrough Black album at the theater with two sold-out
nights. All of them, never to come back.
When asked about any changes he’s seen in the theater throughout the years, Walsh says, “The Phoenix for the most part has stayed the same, but with some cosmetic changes.” Knowingly, he adds, “The spirit of the Phoenix will never change as long as Tom is there.” But again, we’re not talking about Tom Gaffey here, in this profile of Tom Gaffey, per his request.
Sitting for said not profile, Gaffey relaxes in his corner office. As we talk, no less than 10 young people ages 12 and up stop into the office to grab spray paint in order to practice graffiti on the back parking lot walls, plug in their phones for a quick charge, grab their backpacks before heading home or say “Hi, Tom!” It’s honestly touching to see so many young people, many of whom might be pigeonholed as truculent, angsty teens who want nothing to do with adults, just come in to touch base and make their presence known.
Gaffey always offers his signature smile and a “Hey, kid” before they rush off to skateboard on the open theater floor or join some friends at an impromptu painting and drawing session at a nearby table. After one young person blunders in and grabs their skateboard, Gaffey grins and says, “Phoenix kids are scrappy.”
As if on cue, 14-year-old Gabe A. steps into Gaffey’s office to inquire about an upcoming show; he’s among the crew of the theater and has been running the stage
monitors for nearly two years. “My older brother brought me here a few years ago; he knew I’d like it,” says the demure skater kid. “On Sunday, there’s a jam, and I was hanging around the sound board. I was interested in it, so I asked. The head sound engineer started teaching me about it.”
Gabe A. now mixes onstage sound for every local band show at the Phoenix. As has always been the case with Gaffey and the Phoenix, pretty much any (safe) idea or opportunity is up for grabs merely by asking.
As we walk around the theater, Gaffey peeks in on the Teen Health Clinic staffed by an RN in a side room where anyone can access free nursing advice, receive medical tests or grab some condoms. A newly opened skateboard shop sits in another corner operated by young, local entrepreneurs who saw a need and an opportunity.
Upstairs in the former film projection room, a drum lesson takes place on the two in-house kits that are set up. The space is
also available as a recording studio. There are the aforementioned Sunday night jams at the theater, open to all. “We get kids 14, 16 years old on guitar; we have people 30, 40 years old jamming, I sing sometimes. Everyone is welcome,” says Gaffey.
Since Gaffey doesn’t want this to be about him, we have no choice but to let Walsh have the last word. “Generations of kids call the Phoenix their home away from home, and I am one of them,” he says. “As I got older and traveled to many different places around the world, I realized that no other place has a Tom Gaffey or a Phoenix Theater, and that it’s something unique and special. Tom has done so much for so many and never expects anything in return; he is the most selfless person I have ever met.”
He concludes, “The Phoenix is a place for everyone, and it’s a place to create music, art and a place to heal; it’s a place to break bread and to see local musicians blossom into worldwide acts. I appreciate Tom and the Phoenix more than words can describe.”
This nearly four-decade long experiment is impressive because throughout that time, with very few exceptions, the Phoenix has been an all-ages venue that doesn’t sell alcohol which cuts deeply into profits.
Joel D. Eis doesn’t need a weatherperson to know which way the wind blows.
The activist, author and bookseller’s new memoir, Standin' in a Hard Rain, The Making of a Revolutionary Life: Lessons from the Last Revolution, proves he not only knows where from come the prevailing winds of change but also his Dylan lyrics. »»
In its essence, Eis’ book is a bildungsroman that follows his development from a suburban Jewish kid to a committed lifelong radical, having cut his teeth in the kaleidoscopic hurly burly of ’60s social and political upheaval.
Throughout, Eis is present at a variety of cultural inflection points, when moments become movements—whether it’s with the Freedom Riders in the Deep South to the 1968 student strike at San Francisco State University, Eis’ experience reads like, as comedian and columnist Will Durst observed, “Forrest Gump for the 1960s, only it’s real!”
Asked when his interest in radical politics was first piqued, Eis deadpans, “In utero.” Several decades later, after years of regaling friends with stories of his radical heydays, he was motivated to heed their insistence to collect them in a book when Donald Trump received the GOP nomination for president. Six years later, the results were released as a 440 page paperback by World Beyond War, a publisher and anti-war organization.
Among those encouraging Eis was Rosa del Duca, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and author of Breaking
Cadence: One Woman's War Against the War. She observed that Eis’ book “...passes the torch to the next generation. He's not only rooting for you, he's counting on you.” Indeed, the book is not just a memoir but also a primer on how to be an effective activist.
“You can't change people's minds by throwing a brick through a window. You change people's minds by going into the bank, for example, and talking to the people who work there about what their bank is doing,” Eis says. He reminds that a bank is more than merely a building but part of a complex series of systems that ultimately has a human face. “The bank is an activity carried on by people. Understanding how you make your energy constructive and practical is really important,” he adds.
Not all of Eis’ advice is as politesse. In one of his book’s later chapters, he writes: “In your organizing, always play hardball with The Systems. If you make it clear you’re willing to go to jail, the more likely the authorities will be to want to resolve your issue some other way, but don't count on it. They get off on fucking with you. The whole situation is based on having the power to determine your life. Nevertheless,
avoid arrest if you can. It involves more hassle than glory.”
Unique to Eis’ book is straight talk about what the radicals of his era endured after the relative chaos of the ’60s. Some were able to channel their energies productively; others, notably Abbie Hoffman and Eldrige Cleaver, fell into addiction and eventually died prematurely.
“How do you transition and take your progressive values into a productive life? A lot of people became teachers, they became NGO organizers, they became medical practitioners. They went into law or productive, what I would call, humanist occupations,” says Eis, who became a bookseller and runs San Rafael’s Rebound Books (which he calls an “inherently progressive institution”).
In reflection, Eis is proud of what his generation accomplished. “It’s been the bedrock of the culture that we have today—which, you know, people are certainly taking for granted,” he says with a wry smile, “But it's a more benign world.”
Joel D. Eis’ ‘Standin' in a Hard Rain’ is available wherever quality books are sold.‘You can’t change people's minds by throwing a brick through a window. You change people’s minds by going into the bank, for example, and talking to the people who work there about what their bank is doing.’
— Joel D. Eis.
