The Canyon Chronicle- March 31, 2023 (Vol. 4, No. 6) -www.thecanyonchronicle.com

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Spirit Abounds

I’vebeen exploring my religious roots of late. The Topanga Christian Fellowship Church is conveniently close, just two miles down the road, and the Chabad of Topanga is within walking distance up the other way. When I was growing up, we had four churches—Methodist, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian (my church), Presbyterian and a Jewish temple—in the middle of our town, a rustic little village surrounded by the Ramapo mountains, 30 miles west of New York City. Not unlike Topanga nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains just out of earshot of another thriving metropolis.

We asked for messages from both of our local places of worship because they are here and thriving and maybe helping us believe in and revere what we can’t see.

Michelle Klein, with her profound knowledge of the Bible, wrote about Jesus’ passion, the crucifixion and resurrection, and her own passion as a believer. Her husband, Pastor John Klein brings the Bible alive in his weekly messages at the Christian Fellowship Church, at 11:00 a.m. every Sunday now. (Page 8)

Rabbi Mandi Piekarskyof Chabad of Topanga, offered wisdom of the ages derived from millennia of testimony through the Word of G-d and the reason bitter herbs are served at the Passover Seder. Life has never not been a struggle. (Page 9)

The Spirit of Topanga also rules during this time. It’s Spring! Nature never doubts itself and appears more or less on cue, much like “Topanga Time.” The spirit also abides in secular events like the Topanga Community Center’s annual egg hunt and small, local treasure hunts for the children. (See Events, Page 14)

Sarah Spitz has an interesting review of The Braid: No Jewish Story Untold (Page 10), followed by Kathie Gibboney’s “Corner of the Canyon,” with her teenage experiment with psychedelics into realms unknown. (Page 11).

In the News (Pages 4-7), We catch up with our local Resource Conservation District. Have they ever been busy! It’s a great volunteer opportunity. Eric Fitzgerald is back, not with his “Fernwood Rain Report,” but a deeper look into the science of the Atmospheric Rivers we’ve been experiencing. (Page 6) Chris Conway is back with the first of what could be an ongoing series about the many facets of industrial hemp. It could be an important player in diverting climate change. (Page 7) Finally, realtor Tanya Starcevich gives us some perspective on the housing market.

Thank you, all.

Publisher / Editor

Flavia Potenza

Creative Director Nira Lichten

Senior Reporter

Annemarie Donkin

Advertising Manager

Jenise Blanc-Chance

Creative Consultant

Eiffel Nazaryan

Contributors

Linda Ballou

Joel Bellman

Pablo Capra

Kathie Gibboney

Sarah Spitz

Paula LaBrot

Kait Leonard

Amy Weisberg

Kim Zanti

Copy Editor / Distribution

Ellie Carroll

Contact US editor@thecanyonchronicle.com

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The Canyon Chronicle is an independent community newspaper published bi-weekly by Canyon Media, Inc.©2020. All rights reserved. thecanyonchronicle.com

—Flavia Potenza

“Bunny Bungalow” by Valerie Walsh is a painted paperscape created for The Canyon Chronicle. A celebration of the secret life of creatures in the canyon. Happy Spring to everyone! Valerie has created art for Microsoft, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Justin Vineyards, Geffen Records, Dallas Children’s Hospital and many other projects and private commissions for more than 40 years.

Flavia Potenza, Birdie, Tom Cat

Photographer Carl Grooms caught a moment suspended in time of his beloved companion, Frannie, enthralled with the “Sunset Moon.” What a sense of peace it conveys.

Catching up with RCDSMM

We haven’t heard much lately from our local Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM), but Angelica “Jelly” Kahler, Education & Communications Specialist, who leads environmental education field programs, classroom science programs and coordinates a host of RCD outreach, reports on what they’ve been up to.

By Angelica “Jelly” Kahler

RCD’s Clark Stevens to Lead Design Team for Next Wildlife Crossings. After the successful launch of the now famous Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in 2022—California’s largest crossing to date, enabling mountain lions and other Santa Monica Mountain species to safely traverse the 101 Freeway—California is ready to announce the initiation of the next wildlife connectivity project.

This time, in a region known as the I-5 Newhall Pass Wildlife Passage, the project will help wildlife navigate the I-5 and I-14 Freeways. The design project began in December of 2022 and thanks to funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board, it will be completed by the end of 2026. The project will initially analyze a five-mile-wide section of the Rim of the Valley Habitat Linkage Zone to identify all potential crossing sites. The RCD is thrilled to announce that its own Executive Officer, Clark Stevens, will once again lead the design teams from the connectivity analysis phase with Stillwater Sciences to identify appropriate crossing alternatives at multiple sites along the I-5 Freeway through final design. RCD looks forward to the coming years as both these innovative crossings at two of our most formidable freeway barriers link critical landscapes and serve as vital steps towards long-term protection and preservation of California’s unique sensitive species.

RCD adds Landscape Design Consultations to its Home Ignition Zone Evaluations in Wildfire Preparedness Training programs. Most homes that are damaged by wildfires are ignited by wind-blown embers. Luckily, simple maintenance of your house and landscape is one of the best ways to protect your home from wildfires. Since September 2020, RCD has offered nearly 500 free Home Ignition Zone Evaluations, providing specific home hardening and defensible space recommendations. We’ve added a follow-up Defensible Space Landscape Design Program to provide more in-depth information. People often ask for fire-protected plant lists, but the truth is, we encourage people to focus on spacing and care of selected plants rather than the species themselves. Our contracted landscape designers will help you arrange plants on your property to improve your home’s resilience to wildfire. These Landscape Designs are free and available to anyone who has received a Home Ignition Zone Evaluation.

To contact or sign up for RCDSMM programs: The office is located at 540 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290; (818) 597-8627; Rcdsmm.org; outreach@rcdsmm.org; @rcdsmm.

Transferring Tidewater Gobies Up PCH

Sometimes biologists spend their days reviewing lengthy scientific papers or spending long hours

sitting behind a computer or a microscope. At other times biologists get to be in the field, methodically capturing hundreds of tiny, endangered fish to take them on an adventure up an iconic highway. This is exactly how some members of our biology team spent a bright September morning last year.

Thanks to partnerships with CA State Parks, US Fish and Wildlife Service and Dr. Brenton Spies at UCLA, we were able to successfully translocate 500 federally endangered tidewater gobies from Topanga Lagoon, where the population has remained the most stable in the Santa Monica Bay since establishment in 2001, to Malibu Lagoon, where numbers have dwindled, but conditions appear ecologically suitable. After years of studying population fluctuations, biologists from each of these organizations worked together to translocate these resilient fish from one lagoon to the next. This translocation involved ensuring water temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen levels were suitable, securely strapping down a cooler enclosure which housed our sensitive tiny travelers and ultimately transporting them to their new Malibu home.

Biologists are hopeful that selecting these genetically distinct and exceptionally resilient populations, originally transplanted from the Ventura River in 1991, will encourage the population in Malibu to recover.

Trippet Ranch Oak Care Events

Enter a New Era

One rainy morning in January of 2019, over 80 community members and RCD partners

gathered at Trippet Ranch in Topanga State Park to plant 50 young coast live oak trees. In the four years since, the RCD has had the privilege of welcoming more than 910 dedicated community volunteers at over 67 events to plant, care for and learn about the 350+ newly planted trees.

While this project has brought immeasurable joy and helped preserve a mighty keystone species unique to our Southern CA ecosystem, the grant supporting this project came to an end at the close of 2022. Thanks to our partners at TreePeople and CA State Parks, volunteer opportunities will continue for now in the form of corporate events. Please reach out to volunteer coordinators at TreePeople and stay up to date on this and other volunteer opportunities by following us on socials! (volunteer@treepeople. org)

Each summer when temperatures rise, the RCD will continue to launch our innovative community-based effort to ensure oaks continue to receive care despite ever fluctuating grant funds through the Adopt A-Pal Program. We are incredibly grateful to our community for the ongoing support throughout this project that has maintained a 78% survival rate, and look forward to its continued success under new coordination. (rcdsmm.org)

Thanks to you, a portion of your local oak woodlands has remained resilient in the face of funding and climate instability. Restoring local ecosystems through grassroots projects continues to be one of the most effective ways you can have meaningful impact. We hope you continue to join efforts like these in the future!

RCD biologists transferred endangered tidewater gobies from Topanga Lagoon where they are flourishing to Malbu Lagoon where numbers have dwindled.

Beginning in 2019, RCD partners planted 50 young coast live oak trees.

New Faces at Topanga’s Local RCD

By Angelica “Jelly” Kahler

In 2022, Dr. Daniel S. Cooper to the Biology Department, joining Rosi Dagit as one of now two Senior Conservation Biologists. Dan has also agreed to serve as our first Deputy Executive Officer, a position designed to support our growing organization. Dan holds degrees from Harvard and UC Riverside, and recently achieved a Ph.D. in

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. As author of “Important Bird Areas of California” (Audubon California 2004), he is recognized as an authority on California bird ecology and maintains a strong background in native plants, herptiles and mammals, specifically those found in the Santa Monica Mountains. Running his own ecological consulting business for nearly 20 years, Dan has overseen numerous monitoring projects and assessments for public agencies, consulting firms, private landowners and nonprofit organizations throughout Southern California, and has taught courses on local ecology at Loyola Marymount and UCLA. We look forward to the contributions he

April 1st Begins Poetry Month. Submit your poems to: editor@thecanyonchronicle.com

The Challenge Space

Awakened by the Challenge Space –

To assess the dreams of life.

The space between art and audience. Between art and self.

The last gap between the sea ahead and shore –Through and into Paradise or Hell.

Man is a ship sewing its own sailsFinding the wind in search of home.

Alive in the course!

Balanced and sleek through all matterConscious of the rules of seamanship and salesmanship.

Doing the work -

Feeling the Sun and knowing the Stars.

There is a beauty in learning the ropes -

Tying and untying necessary and unnecessary knots.

Those moments the hull lifts above the water

With frictionless ease

Only to face the waves, the currents, the storms.

Then look at the sailor’s hands –Ropy and knotted, themselves.

Tools worn of the work done and still to be doneBeneath the bluest heaven and the whitest clouds.

For it’s not the destination after all –

But the journey and the ride

That make a man a sailor

Beneath all kind of skies.

will be able to offer our expanding district.

RCD’s Newest WSP Member, Nate Kamm. Driven by his passion for watershed science and the State of California, Nate Kamm joined the RCD team in October as our 2022-23 Watershed Stewards Program (WSP) Member, a hybrid AmeriCorps and CA Conservation Corps organization.

Nate holds a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University New Orleans and has a variety of experience in plant ecology and entomology, watershed science, and studying California wildlife like the CA Spotted Owl and Goshawk populations. From evaluating avalanche conditions before a back-country ski

adventure to backpacking in search of breathtaking trout streams to fly fish, Nate’s passion for the outdoors is evident even outside the office. Nate chose to serve at the RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains because he is excited to help people rediscover that the beauty of the outdoors can always be found throughout dense urban areas. During his term, Nate is most eager to facilitate restoration volunteer events, engage with students, and work with researchers to better protect endangered Southern Steelhead Trout. We look forward to what the rest of Nate’s term of service has in store for him and cannot wait to see what exciting perspectives he will bring to our ever-growing team.

—Alan Adler / 3-24-23

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATE KAMM

Nate Kamm joined the 2022-2023 Watershed Stewards program last October.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN COOPER

Dr. Daniel S. Cooper joined Rosi Dagit as one of now two Sr. Conservation Biologists.

As our sphere of influence grows, so too does the list of services we are able to provide our community, thus inviting new staff onto our team.

Oak Woodland Restoration to Begin at Topanga Elementary

In the spring of 2020, five acres of mature protected oaks and native pollinator plants were cut down by the LAUSD without permits. After three years of protest against the action, restoration is underway.

By Chronicle Staff

Thedestruction of the Oak Woodlands at Topanga Elementary was discovered by parents and students in May of 2020. After hiking the trail leading to the upper campus, it appeared the damage also extended into L.A. County lands that are part of the Backbone Trail of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area and part of the National Recreational Trails system.

Among the horrified parents of Topanga Elementary students were Alisa J. Land and her husband, Kent L. Hill, who wrote letters to the LAUSD:

“It was observed that the action by LAUSD led to destruction of many mature, live oak trees, despite the legal protected status of these oaks and their critical role in supporting regrowth of young oaks and many additional species of flora and fauna native to this region,” they wrote. “Moreover, the action destroyed hundreds of mature native coastal chaparral plants as well as more than 650 newly planted, native pollinator support plants. These pollinator plants were part of an award received by the TECS Science Committee of 1,600 native plants from the Xerces Society for the Conservation of Invertebrates in 2018, with the aim of supporting habitat building for endangered monarch butterflies and educating students.”

LAUSD officials initially claimed they would work with the school community and appropriate environmental experts to mitigate damages and rehabilitate the oak woodland.

However, after many weeks of nonresponsiveness by the district, the damages moved to the purview of L.A. County regulatory authorities.

Lack of Permits

“To our knowledge, no permits were sought or obtained for cutting protected live oaks, or destruction/endangerment of native habitats,” Land and Hill wrote in another letter to the District. “Note that, according to what we’ve found as the LAUSD Board of Education Office of Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) protocols, LAUSD did not even follow their own protocols.”

“All tree trimming and removal conducted on District property is required to adhere to the procedures described in the LAUSD OEHS Tree Trimming and Removal Procedure. Compliance with this Procedure will ensure that District activities will not conflict with any tree preservation policies while ensuring the protection of breeding and nesting habitat of protected birds. Written approval from the Director of OEHS, Director of Maintenance & Operations, Local District Superintendent, and School Principal is required before any protected tree is relocated or removed. For more information, please contact OEHS at (213) 2413199 or the District Arborist at (213) 745-1422.”

“To our knowledge, the approval from TECS principal (Kevin Kassebaum) was not obtained and we do not know if the other required authorizations were obtained,” they concluded.

Mitigation Opportunities

“After the damage was discovered by TECS students and parents, we worked diligently with

relevant members of L.A. County Regional Planning Commission, the Coastal Commission, the Fire Department, the U.S. Forestry Service, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, LAUSD and regional experts from the Topanga Town Council to determine appropriate measures to mitigate the damage and rehabilitate the area,” wrote Land and Hill. “We also pointed out that this destruction of native species, if followed with appropriate mitigation response, could be used as an opportunity to engage school children in the rehabilitation process as a learning experience in environmental stewardship.”

Restoration Plans

Yet, help is on the way, thanks to the Resource Conservation District (RCD).

“We are hoping to move this as fast as possible so we can get restoration on the ground going ASAP,” wrote Rosi Dagit, Sr. Biologist for the RCD. “Stand by for updates as we get more information and develop the plan. [We are] grateful for all your efforts to keep the pressure on LAUSD to do the right thing.”

Dagit wrote in an email that “as of February, Architerra (the LAUSD lead vendor) and RCDSMM staff (we are a subconsultant to Architerra) met with LAUSD staff to restart the contract that was closed in 2021.” According to Dagit, LAUSD requested assistance from the RCD to:

• Complete preparation of all documents required to submit a Conditional Development Permit (CDP) to LA County to resolve the outstanding violation. (This includes completing the native tree report and adding mitigation recommendations, updating the Biological Assessment, preparing the fuel

modification and restoration planting plan, and preparing the Mitigation Monitoring and Management Plan)

• Assist LAUSD in preparing and submitting the CDP application.

• Assist LAUSD in developing a plan with state parks regarding long-term management of the property adjacent to the Backbone Trail and State Park property.

“We have started our tree survey updates, and met briefly with Principal Kevin Kassebaum to discuss how we can work with the students to have them assist with monitoring once these efforts are further along,” Dagit wrote. “We set up the required vegetation transects the week of March 20 and hope to complete the tree survey updates.

“We will be meeting with the Architerra folks to coordinate the fuel modification plan and restoration plan updates and have reached out to State Parks and Regional Planning to further coordinate things. The goal is to have all these documents pulled together so LAUSD can submit their CDP application to Regional Planning no later than this summer. Fingers crossed, we can then hope to implement restoration actions next fall/winter.”

TECS Parents Respond

“We are so glad to hear that this special site will be rehabilitated,” said Land and Hill, who helped keep the pressure on to restore the decimated woodland. “We are also delighted that RCD will be able to collaborate with our current science teacher, Jeffrey Esparza, to ensure the students will be able to support this restoration and the stewardship of this environmental resource.”

PHOTO BY KENT HILL

In May 2020, parents at Topanga Elementary Charter School discovered an Oak Woodland had been clear cut by LAUSD without permits and against its own policy. Students will assist in the restoration process slated to begin later in the year as part of its Science program.

Industrial Hemp is Rapidly Expanding in America

By Chris Conway

In a time long forgotten, somewhere in a valley surrounded by mountains a seed sprouted. From the seed grew a tall, strong plant with wild-looking leaves and a peculiar scent. It must have caught the attention of humans and due to its special traits, it became one of the world’s first domesticated crops. It’s a fast-growing annual plant with distinct palmate leaves that produces stalks with strong fibers and a woody core, fragrant flowers coated with resin glands that produce a highly medicinal oil and nutritious oil-rich seeds. It’s story goes back farther than recorded history.

Hemp is the name given to varieties of Cannabis Sativa plants that lack the intoxicating properties it’s notorious for, as well as for any products made from their material. As an extremely rare dioecious annual plant, it has both male and female plants each with the lifespan of just a single season. The species’ survival naturally depends on successful sexual reproduction by the end of every growing season. With male and female plants with different appearances that exhibit different traits, we have developed plenty of uses for its stalks, leaves, seeds and flowers.

Evidence of cultivation of this plant is linked to some of the world’s first civilizations. How and why we first started growing this special plant are not completely known, but without hemp, the civilization we know today wouldn’t exist.

For much of human history its strong durable fibers have been used to make paper, canvas, and rope. Hemp canvas sails and hemp ropes were used to power ships before engines had been invented, allowing for growth of the global trading network we rely on today.

Before the oil industry provided fuel for farming equipment, hemp ropes guided plow animals to increase production on farms. As industry grew and replacements for typical hemp uses sprang up hemp production decreased. With the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, rules restricting hemp production created an obstacle for

farmers and the crop’s products were replaced by pollutive substitutes.

Hemp’s Comeback

In December 2018 the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 was included in an update to the United States Farm Bill. This change allowed farmers to grow hemp, as long as it contained less than 0.3% THC, the intoxicating compound commonly found in Cannabis. The change resulted in a rapid expansion of the CBD industry. Cannabidiol, or CBD is a therapeutic resin found on hemp flowers that’s used for many conditions including inflammation, anxiety, and seizures.

CBD from hemp crops is extracted and used to create a wide range of products including tinctures, lotions, and gummies. Because of the dioecious annual nature of the plant, rapid progress was made in selective breeding programs and a large number of varieties or strains rich in CBD have been developed. With high profit margins and rapid growth in popularity, CBD is the most popular use for hemp right now, but this is just the beginning of hemp’s revival.

Hemp is one of the world’s fastest growing crops and its growth removes large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, sequestering carbon

in the products made from the plant. This, along with the replacement of more pollutive products is helping the earth heal from decades of destructive policies.

Hemp crops can be grown for seed, fiber, or CBD and each requires different cultivation techniques. As the industry matures and processing capacity increases we will see many new and innovative products created from American-grown hemp.

Industrial Hemp will offer an ecofriendly option to replace many products responsible for polluting the earth, including plastic, fiberglass, steel, concrete, timber and cotton.

Companies are already beginning to create new products using industrial hemp, and as America’s hemp industry expands so will the options. For anyone concerned for the health of the planet, Hemp is an obvious choice for the future.

The Promise of the Resurrection of Jesus

By Michelle Klein

This coming Easter I am reflecting on the words of Jesus as He spoke to Martha when she ran to meet him in sorrow, saying that her brother Lazarus had died four days before. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

As many of you know, Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and had the stone rolled away. He prayed to His Father, “Thank You, that You have heard Me,” and when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus come forth!” And he who had died came out, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them, “Loose him and let him go.”

This is one of three resurrections, where Jesus brought the dead to life, but the most amazing of all was that of His own resurrection. After suffering the horrific crucifixion on the cross (1 Cor. 5:7, “Christ our Passover Lamb was sacrificed.”), Jesus was laid in a rich man’s tomb, and on the morning of the third day, He rose to life from the grave. He was seen first by Mary Magdalene, in whom He had cast out seven demons, then Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and other women with them, who told the apostles that Jesus was seen by Mary and the others, and said the tomb was empty.

To the disciples it seemed like idle tales. Even so, the apostle Peter ran to the tomb along with John, and they saw for themselves the tomb was empty. Later that day, Jesus appeared to Cleopas and another disciple as they walked seven miles on the Road to Emmäus. but disguised Himself as He opened up the scriptures to them and, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. When they came to the village, Jesus indicated that He would have to leave, but still not knowing it was Jesus, they did not want Him to leave and invited Him in. As He sat at the table with them, He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight.

[C]onfused, they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road while He

opened the Scriptures to us?”

So they rose up and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven disciples and those who were with them gathered together. As they were speaking, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit. But Jesus said to them, “Behold My hands and feet, that it is I, Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and blood as you see I have.”

Jesus walked on the earth for 40 days, and was seen by over five hundred men and women at once. Before He left into heaven, He told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father and said to them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” After He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

While they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, they beheld two men in white apparel who stood by them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

So all believers in Jesus have this profound promise that Jesus is coming back again

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17): “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then, we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we always be with the Lord.”

(1 Th 4:17)

Michelle Klein livestreams her profound knowledge of the Bible online to her International Women’s Bible Study, Mondays at 9 a.m. (Link to: meet.jit.si/ drinkfromthewellwithmichelle). Her husband, Pastor John Klein broadcasts his message every Sunday Morning at 11:00 a.m., live from Topanga Christian Fellowship, 269 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga, CA 90290; (310) 455-1028.

PHOTO BY DAVE LICHTEN

The Secret Message Behind the Bitter Herb

By Rabbi Mendy Piekarski

The holiday of Passover is approaching. It is a time of remembrance and reflection, a time to celebrate freedom from slavery and the right to practice religion. One of the customs during this eight-day holiday is to eat Marror, a bitter herb that serves as a reminder of the tears and hardships of slavery.

But why would we want to relive such a painful memory? Consider this:

Imagine a young boy who is bullied and harassed by his classmates every day. He never did anything to deserve this treatment, but it continues to escalate until he falls into a slight depression. His parents eventually take him out of school and provide him with therapy, and he is able to transition to a new school where he becomes popular and successful.

The parents are thrilled with their son’s progress and decide to throw a big party to celebrate. However, in the middle of the party, the doorbell rings, and it is the bullies from his old school. They come in and start sharing embarrassing stories about the boy, causing everyone to feel uncomfortable. The parents eventually escort the bullies out of the house, and the party continues.

Now, imagine if the parents had actually invited the bullies to the party. That would have been incredibly rude and insensitive, as it would have disrupted their child’s celebration with bad memories from the past.

At first glance, this is similar to what happens during the Passover celebration when we eat the bitter herb. We are taking a break from celebrating our freedom to remember the trauma of being slaves. But why do we need to remember this painful memory?

The answer lies in how we approach it. We aren’t revisiting slavery as victims or survivors but rather as heroes. We can look back at all challenges in our lives in two ways. Either as an obstacle or as an opportunity that helped us grow.

The best way to deal with a challenge is to approach it as an opportunity to deepen our faith and our commitment to G-D. True, it may be a painful experience, but even painful experiences can help us grow. This is why we eat the bitter herb during Passover. It allows us to revisit slavery from a new perspective, a perspective of growth. Slavery didn’t destroy the Jewish people. It was a painful, yet necessary step, that led them to growth and eventually freedom.

As we approach Passover this year, I encourage you to ponder the following questions:

• What challenges have I overcome in my life?

• How did those challenges help me grow into a stronger and better person?

• How can I help others who may have a similar challenge?

By thinking about these questions, we can rediscover how past challenges are really springboards for growth. Wishing you a Happy Passover!

Rabbi

Rabbi

David & Dina Weiss

Mendy & Chana Piekarski

The Passover Seder with Chabad Of Topanga takes place Wednesday, April 5, 7:00 p.m., and Thursday, April 6, 8:00 p.m. RSVP required. For more information and to RSVP to the Passover Seder: Chabadoftopanga.com, (310) 455-1597.

Chana and Mushka Weiss getting ready for Passover, when they were children.

THE BRAID: No Jewish Story Untold Out & About

Reviewed by Sarah Spitz

Female, male, gay, non-binary, trans, black, Latino, Chinese, Persian: what do they have in common? At The Braid (formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre—JWT) they’re all Jewish and they all have personal stories to tell via a unique art form the company developed called “salon theatre.” For more than 15 years and 75 shows, this diverse group of writers, actors and directors endeavors to leave no Jewish story untold.

JWT was founded in 2007, when Artistic Director Ronda Spinak convened a group of women over a pot of coffee around a kitchen table to figure out how to tell Jewish women’s stories in an authentic way—a group that’s been marginalized, stereotyped and portrayed unfavorably onstage. JWT’s 2013 show, Oh, Mother, debunked the negative stereotype of “the Jewish Mother.”

At first, literally a company of wandering Jews, the actors, dressed in black holding binders in hand, began performing Salon Theatre in 2008 in people’s living rooms, reaching 487 audience members in the first season. While initially stories about women, now all colors, all genders and all ethnicities are having their Jewish voices heard and stories told.

In its Bat Mitzvah Year (#13)

Now The Braid has achieved global reach, both in-person and on the virtual stage with most of its recent growth coming as a consequence of the COVID pandemic. It forced them to get even more creative, starting with mobile phone videos, then using the Zoom screen more effectively, later filming actors in their homes for live shows about how they were coping with the pandemic, reaching exponentially larger audiences than the theater could hold. They pioneered “virtual camera,” directing and acting techniques that created a uniquely personal experience between audience and performer. Partnering with other digital platforms they succeeded beyond their expectations.

They have since expanded their mission to include training the next generation of Jewish writers, performers and directors and creating the NEXT Emerging Artists Fellowship to provide paid fellowships to work at The Braid.

Daphna Shull came in with the first class; now she’s Creative Producer and NEXT Coordinator, as well as producing Out Loud, stories from the Jewish queer community. “We were tasked with putting on a Braid Salon, teaching how to create a show from the ground up: from picking a theme, to finding submissions, adapting the material, directing actors, putting it up on stage and running the whole Salon show. It’s been a beautiful

process of growth and evolution for me within the organization, and it’s been a great professional development opportunity.”

Joshua Silverstein, The Braid’s consultant on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, writes and performs as part of True Colors, stories written by Jews of color, which he calls “a marginalized group within a marginalized group.” He’s Black, his wife is Mexican, and while they’re agnostic, their children are Jewishly religious. He’s also performed in Out Loud. “These shows leave the audience with an overwhelming sense of openness,” he says. “The stories are for anybody, not just about being Jewish but about being human and that’s a way to deconstruct prejudice.”

Communications and Marketing Manager David Chiu is an Asian American Jew. Silverstein performed David’s story about being forced to laugh at a joke being told using a fake Chinese accent. “I was concerned because I was being quite frank about this racist experience,” Chiu told me. “It was surreal for me; watching Joshua perform; you’d swear it was his own story. And I was surprised to see how wonderfully it was received.”

Vicki Juditz, renowned for her solo show, Sacred Resistance, tells a story for Out Loud about

obsessively cleaning her adult child’s apartment. “My kid is non-binary and all genders and plays bass in an indie band touring the U.S. I worried about their safety in conservative states, performing songs such as ‘Wish You Were Gay.’”

The others were all born Jewish, but Juditz says, “I chose Judaism. As different people [including her late husband] came into my life I would drift away, come back and finally went through the conversion program at what used to be called The University of Judaism. Christianity is all about getting into some imaginary heaven, and that never worked for me. I’m about ‘Tikkun Olam,’ healing this world and choosing to be of service in it.”

Upcoming performances of True Colors and Out Loud theater salons, along with other Braid productions, are scheduled in the month ahead, and in May, a new series, “What A Surprise!,” will take place in-person and virtually. For dates and locations, visit The Braid at the-braid.org

Sarah A. Spitz is an award-winning public radio producer, retired from KCRW, where she also produced arts stories for NPR. She writes features and reviews for various print and online publications.

HOTO BY JAN BURNS

Performer Vicki Juditz worried about her non-binary and all genders adult child who plays in an indie band touring the U.S. and performs songs such as ‘Wish You Were Gay.’”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID CHIU Communications and Marketing Manager David Chiu, is an Asian-American Jew, whose story is part of Out Loud.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAPHNA SCHULL Daphna Shull, Creative Producer and NEXT Coordinator, as well as producing Out Loud, stories from the Jewish queer community.

PHOTO BY DAVID CHIU Joshua Silverstein, writes and performs as part of David Chiu’s True Colors, stories written by Jews of color.

Saints and Poets

The following contains the description of a psychedelic experience. Let it be known that I do not condone teen drug use especially in these dangerous times when the scourge of fentanyl stalks our country. My story was from a long-ago time, with different drugs. Please be safe and wise, dear children.

By Kathie Gibboney

Each Spring, there is a brief time in the afternoon when the sun graces the kitchen window, perfectly setting aglow our red kitchen cabinets. The whole room is suddenly lit up in an enchanting, inviting bath of warm ruby radiance. I wish it could always be thus for the rest of the year. The funky red paint job I applied, rather than cleaning the old white cupboards, looks, I fear, a bit like something from a dilapidated carnival like the song, “Send in the clowns, don’t bother they’re here.”

Unable to stop the earth from its orbit, to hold it forever frozen so the sun slants just there through my kitchen window, I can only appreciate the illumination as a passing gift, a phenomenon, a celestial event like the green flash at sunset. Of course, some good psychedelics might produce a similar dazzling affect.

I am currently reading a book by, T. C. Boyle, author of the popular “Tortilla Curtain.” This recent book was published in 2019 and titled, “Outside Looking In.” It’s a fictional account of the early psychedelic drug discovery by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann working for Sandoz Laboratories in 1938 and later, LSD trials and experiments in the ’60s conducted by Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, and Richard Alpert, that began as “The Harvard Psilocybin Project.” The trials were in association with the school’s Psychology Department including professors and graduate students, in hopes of finding cures for emotional disorders, addictions, schizophrenia, as well as expanding the mind and even experiencing spiritual enlightenment. The book captures what it must have been like to be a group of youthful pioneers exploring a new, unknown substance in pursuit of opening the Doors of Perception.

Hovering between research and recreation, with a touch of free love thrown in, a core group of jazzloving, martini-drinking, acidtripping young adults’ quest for a new trusting, communal, open-minded

way to live, and all this just as the first Beatles album was released. Ah, but on this earthly plane, unlike the Beatles, Nirvana can’t last forever. I suspect the free love was the undoing.

I can’t help remembering my own long-ago ventures with psychedelics. Yes, word around Grant High School was that LSD was the way to go. Everyone had heard the stories about freakouts, flashbacks, and the boy on acid who jumped from a 30th floor window.

“You’ve got to try it,” advised a girl in my Homemaking Class. “You won’t believe the colors!”

Being intrepid Valley Girls (before there were vapid Valley Girls), we should!!! Or at least we did. Cindy’s parents were going to Palm Springs. The older brothers would be home in case any of us decided to jump off the roof. Four of us, best girlfriends since the fourth grade, gathered in Cindy’s frilly bedroom waiting to “come on.”

“Do you feel anything?”

“No, do you?”

“Not really. Maybe this stuff isn’t any good.”

We played some records, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, compared the cute guys on the covers. Maybe smoked a few cigarettes. Then we started to laugh. We laughed at everything. We laughed at locker combinations (as if anyone would ever want to steal a math book), at picket fences, at Robbie the Robot saying, “Warning Will Robinson!” We laughed at Cindy’s wallpaper, at Mr. Glickberg, our least favorite teacher, and the time Timmy Mead threw up on Glickberg’s shoes. We laughed about boys we loved and hoped to love and if Romeo and Juliet could only have called each other on a payphone the whole tragedy could have been avoided. We laughed so much we glowed, just being together in that bedroom seeing everyday things as we may not have seen them before, and water tasted wonderful. Maybe, just for a minute, out of the corner of your eye, there were colors.

We were inspired to create our

own art with some glow-in-the-dark chalk. Beneath a black light we drew on the walls of the brothers’ room, neither of whom seemed to mind our scrawling abstract designs, peace signs, a heart declaring, “I love Eric Burdon,” happy faces, stars, wishing wells, flowers, “Make Love, Not War,” even a quote from “The Little Prince.” We all signed our names and stood back admiring our great work. The beauty of the thing was that if you turned off the black light the chalk completely disappeared. Thank God, Cindy’s mother was spared the sight of her graffitied walls. For years those valley parents never knew that above their boys’ neatly made twin beds was an invisible, sprawling, psychedelic mural.

By the time the sun was coming up, my mouth hurt from smiling, my eyes had seen too much, the sight of

a sliver of a silver moon reflected in Cindy’s pool was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My heart felt so much joy at just being alive on this blessed, spinning planet with best friends, there on the street where we lived with the impossible name of Hartsook. I couldn’t hold on to it. The euphoria was too much. We mere humans could never contain so much happiness without dissolving into stardust. I felt like Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town , who looks back at her life and can only say, “Oh earth, you’re too wonderful for anyone to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it, every, every minute?”

The answer comes, “No. The saints and poets, maybe they do some.”

For a brief time I was amongst them. And it was enough.

Photo by Miriam Geer.

Atmospheric Rivers and Other Meterological Misconceptions

By Eric Fitzgerald

Itshould come as no surprise to anyone that the popular media often sacrifices scientific accuracy on the altar of enticing clickbait entertainment. Perhaps one of the best examples of this expediency can be found in the notion of your TV’s “weatherperson.” The main qualification for this position seems to be a youthful attractiveness and an engaging personality. How the weather is presented on our screens is the result of a motive to promote an audience and this motive is often in conflict with the accurate portrayal of the science.

People tune in because they want to know if it is going to rain on tomorrow’s picnic, for example. I often hear people say things like: “The weatherman said it was going to rain today and he was wrong.” This is correct as far as it goes. The weatherman may have said it was absolutely going to rain, but a true meteorologist would never present the information that way.

A meteorologist would forecast a probability of rain. Many people have trouble with the concept of probability which explains Powerball and a certain city in southern Nevada. If a true meteorologist forecasts a 60% chance of rain and it doesn’t rain, it bears noting that this isn’t enough information to determine if the meteorologist was right or wrong. If, after say 100 forecasts of a 60% chance of rain, it rains 60 times, then we know the forecast was correct. A 60% forecast of rain obviously means a 40% chance that it won’t rain. Not, as I’ve heard some people say, that 60% of the area will get the wet stuff.

So, this now brings us to the current buzz-phrase Atmospheric River. Popular media presents this as if it is a newly discovered idea or inherently the result of climate change. However, this is just the current phrase for a longstanding meteorological concept.

People think of rain as a cloud that blows in from various places on the surface of the Earth to other places bringing rain. However, precipitation is really the confluence of three basic elements. These three essential elements

form and dissipate as they coincide and cease to coincide.

Like the fire triangle of fuel, heat and air, rain requires all three of these elements to occur. First, there needs to be a relatively warmer, moister, usually lower layer of air. Second, there needs to be a colder, generally higher layer of air and lastly, there needs to be enough dynamics or turbulence to cause these two layers to interact. Remove any one of these three basic elements and no rain.

The newly-minted buzz phrase, “Atmospheric River,” refers to the first

element—the warmer, moister layer. The long-standing concept of a “fetch” are at the heart of this idea. In oceanic terms, a fetch refers to the distance a wave travels unhindered across open water. In hydrological terms a fetch is the distance that relatively warmer, moister air travels over water. Usually, the longer a warm air current of air moves over water, the longer the fetch and the more moisture it will entrain.

Meteorologists talk about storm systems that have no meaningful fetch because the would-be moist layer is traveling mostly over land and is therefore “moisture starved.” Such a system is unlikely to produce anything more than sprinkles. In general, our winter storms are produced by a warm fetch up from the southwest in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands and a cold layer roughly out of the Gulf of Alaska. Add in some turbulence and, voila, rain!

Back in the 1980’s the buzz phrase was “The Pineapple Express” for this moist fetch up from the southwest. Now the imagination-capturing “Atmospheric River” seems to be all the rage. Same phenomena, new century.

A great place to get good online information from real meteorologists doing the real science of weather forecasting is at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) discussion page in our regional National Weather Service office located in Oxnard.

The page is intended to be a discussion between meteorologists in the adjacent offices and is a good look at the real science of weather forecasting. Despite popular opinion, modern weather forecasting is remarkably good once understood. The latest computer models are truly what’s new and amazing in the science of weather. Find this page at: weather.gov/wrh/ TextProduct?product=afdlox.

Eric Fitzgerald is a graphic artist and designer working in the motion picture industry. Born in Santa Monia and raised in the Santa Monica mountains, Fitzgerald has had a life-long curiosity about the world around us all. Fitzgerald has been keeping meteorological records with a Davis Instruments weather station since 1996 from Ferwood.

Perspective on the Housing Market

Because you may be getting your information from the news or limited sources, it’s time to look at the stats over the last five years: We are in the second biggest jump in pricing in the history of the home sale industry.

By Tanya Starcevich

Between 2021 and 2022 we had the second largest drop in history in home sales and ended 2022 closing around 5 million transactions.

In January 2022 there was a massive high housing market with prices at an all time high and the government looked up and said, “It’s time to hit the brakes.” Since inflation is the number one enemy—because those who have more get more and those who have less lose out—the government in U.S. and Canada decided to stop it.

It’s important to remember that economists are projecting 4.2 to 4.3 million home sales for 2023 and while we don’t have a crystal ball, we hope it will get better by the second half of the year. These projections and numbers will put us at the bottom of the Great Recession!

The Silver Lining Economic pressures over time kept real estate gains on a 4% trend line. If we look at 2005 and 2006 we were 20% above the trend line and eight years above the trend line. When we look at today, we are only 12% above the trend line of 4%, so relatively speaking it really isn’t as expensive as it was in ‘05 and ‘06. We expect to see this downward trend with a year-over-year decline in the first half of the year and then we expect things to pick up in fall of 2023.

Investing in real estate is always a long gain;

there’s no get-rich-quick scheme. Over the past few years consumers were saying, “This is unbelievable! Cheap money and low interest rates.” But getting rich quick usually happens when you inherit money or you’re adopted! The most provable way to get wealthy, for sure, is if you invest and hold for long term. The person who didn’t own real estate is the one missing out right now and they have missed out over the years. Paying rent has never gained anyone equity in their home or a nest egg.

Expect 2023 to be the Third Best Year in the History of Real Estate

There’s still pressure from supply and demand; we have so little supply and very few new home builds. The Fed is strapped because of the low supply so they can’t lower the rates yet. They expect that prices may skyrocket if they drop the rates. Since inventory is still low it’s a great time to list your home for sale. When buyers have less to choose from they will often pay more and pick your home.

Whatever you do, buyers will come to the realization soon that if they are waiting for mortgage rates to drop back to 3% or even 4%, they may not see this in our lifetime. In fact, you may not see below 5%, so don’t wait for the rates to drop. With the current banking scare buyers are now encouraged to qualify with one or two banks and not trust that their current lender will be able to come through.

When interest rates were low, home prices were more affordable. Now that affordability has changed tremendously and prices are up, it makes it harder for first-time homebuyers, although lenders are getting creative and sellers are offering concessions to help.

Buying residential real estate is historically the best way to build wealth. The second prices go

up on houses, most landlords will raise the rent when people can’t afford to buy and start renting more, so why pay someone else’s mortgage?

Looking at the U.S. Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP). When Covid hit in 2020, even though the year recovered in 2021, people spent their money sitting in their homes and shopping online. They looked at houses, they looked at where they could live and the shift went from buying goods to buying services because they adjusted to the pandemic. Today, Amazon and other companies are readjusting; They don’t need as many employees so there are layoffs.

We ended 2022 with the lowest number of unemployed. People are spending money although unemployment is predicted to rise this year to 5%. All the layoffs we are hearing about—the NASDAQ employs only 4% of the people in the U.S. and of that 4% only 1% were laid off—makes us think everyone is getting laid off when we listen to the news, but it isn’t clear when the news is reported; it may not be as current as you think.

The government doesn’t want inflation. It will still be a rocky ride through 2023 because it is trying to get control and it’s a delicate balance.

Remember the primary reasons to own a home: job related, retirement, death in the family, marriage, closer to family and friends, desire for a smaller home, financial security, and building wealth.

For more information or questions contact:

Tanya Starcevich, Realtor

Ranked Top 10% Keller Williams

Palisades | Malibu | Topanga

C: (310) 739-4216; F: (310) 774-3801

canyoncoastalestates.com

DRE 01864259

April Events

April 1-2 at 2 p.m., Third by Wendy Wasserstein. Topanga Actors Company (TAC) invites you to attend their next staged reading of Third, a drama-comedy about a student-teacher face-off that examines how we cope with those with whom we appear to have nothing in common. Free at the Topanga Library. topangaactorscompany.weebly.com

All following events will be held at the Topanga Community Center

Sunday, April 2, 3 p.m., 41st Season of Topanga Symphony Free Concerts. Music Director and Conductor Jerome Kessler will perform Laszlo Varga’s arrangement of the Cello Sonata in F Major by Richard Strauss, with guest conductor Michael Stanley. Beethoven’s Symphony #3 in E flat, Op. 55 (“Eroica”) is also on the program.

Saturday, April 8, 9-11 a.m., Bronco Bunny is on his way to host Topanga’s Annual Egg Hunt. Kids of all ages are invited to bring their baskets to the Topanga Community Center ball field. If you would like to help with hiding the eggs please sign up and be at the TCC at 8 a.m.

Saturday, April 15, 9 a.m. To 4 p.m., TCC Spring Cleaning Yard Sale, “Cake Walk Edition”. Sign up for a booth online at topangacommunitycenter.org. 7:30 a.m. load-in for vendors. The Topanga Community Center, 1440 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290.

Friday, April 21, 4:30 - 8 p.m., Food Truck Fridays! TCC’s First Food Truck Friday of the year will be on Earth Day. As our treat to you the TCC will be providing a Silent DJ (nothing says earth day like eliminating air pollution!). Come on out, get ready to dance and embrace the return of FTF. We will be hosting: Tropic Truck, Bollywood, Heritage Kitchen, Drizzle Truck.

The Topanga Community Center is located at 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290

PHOTO BY JUSTIN OPPMAN

SOLD

Exquisite Custom Mediterranean Oasis on Approx. 11 acres

Exquisite custom Mediterranean oasis on approx. 11 acres overlooking the majestic boulders of Red Rock Park and offering complete gated and fenced privacy with lush landscaping, fruit trees, vegetable garden, and large outdoor usable spaces with private hiking trails on the property. This newly built custom home features 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths in the main house, a spacious detached three car garage with separate office/gym/guest room and half bath below. All bedrooms are en suite with access to outdoor patios, large closet space and stone floors in bathrooms. There is a complete chef’s kitchen with oversized center island, quartz counters, custom cabinetry and Viking appliances. The modern open floor plan incorporates the kitchen, family and dining room with a separate living room great for entertaining. The home includes long plank oak floors, vaulted wood beam ceilings and Loewen windows which maximize your beautiful mountain and rock formation views. The outdoor patios are on opposite sides of the home, each with their own separate serene seating areas overlooking the property and mountain views

Offered at $3,295,000

Gayle Pritchett

(310) 748-1580

DRE# 00585628

Lacey Rose Gorden (310) 383-1848

DRE# 02122031

Horseshoe Drive 4 Bed | 3 Bath $1,875,000

Chryssa Lightheart - (310) 663-3696

This mountain view home boasts floor to ceiling windows and captures Topanga State Park. Located at the end of the quiet cul-de-sac. The open floor plan has sliding glass doors from the living and dining room to the entertainer size decks to drink in nature.

Chryssa Lightheart - (310) 663-3696

California Dreaming where Palm Springs meets Topanga. An elegant one story midcentury home in the Viewridge Estates with resort-like grounds. Close to shopping and dining and steps from the trails. Amazing views to the south and west.

Valley View Drive 2 Bed | 2 Bath $1,500,000

Kirsten Bohman - (310) 403-4818

This little Fernwood charmer is the perfect place to escape from it all. Currently set up as a single family 2 bed 2 bath, the upstairs and down can easily be separated to create 2 separate units. The possibilities and the views are endless.