Walkin' with Joaquin

The California Writers Club's annual literary picnic, "A Blanket and a Basket of Chow," was blessed this year by the first good rain of the season.  The last time, and every other time, writers have gathered in this space, we've been shaded by tall trees. This January, they fell like dominos in the devastating New Year's storm. It cost the city six thousand dollars to have all the wood removed.  Ten months later, the meadow looks as if it's always been open, the light is welcoming, and an enormous stump remains, a natural stage in its own right. Our event, which overlapped with the Friends of Joaquin Miller Park annual meeting, was the perfect occasion to re-christen the Fire Circle as the California Writers Circle . Plans are afoot to re-configure the Fire Pit, which was erected some time in the 1960s or 1970s, guessing from the modular cement design, but until then, a makeshift stage will do.  Three panels were constructed from reclaimed wood by a volunteer,

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day! This is a reprint of my Medium article from 2021, when the Biden administration just went ahead and did the right thing.