East Bay Magazine March/April 2023

The methods of science writer

Mary Roach

WOMEN OWNED & OPERATED!

School My of ‘Sti ’

From cetacean behavior to sex, death and the afterlife

As an undergraduate studying marine biology, I became aware of the droll reality of scientific pursuits too late. I’d like to blame it on that one chemistry class I had to retake three times. Or my somewhat mundane, often-disturbing toxicology lab work on campus. Regurgitating the script of fun marine mammal facts as a volunteer docent to visitors of the university’s seaside research center did little to satisfy my Jacques Costeau-esque ambitions.

I spent a lot of time at the school’s grandiose science library, where I began experiencing nerdy FOMO. There, locked into reading my assigned textbooks (usually chemistry; see above), I wondered what intellectual mysteries I might be missing out on. I

began to realize how the success of my graduate work would necessarily rely on its specificity, and that no matter how important I believed that study to be, I wouldn’t be able to continue investigating other realms. To follow my many curiosities, scientific and otherwise.

The marine bio dream o cially died on Maui, where the magnitude of my student loans deterred me from accepting another unpaid gig as a tour guide on a humpback whale-watching boat. As I pondered taking on the expense of graduate school, I made a life-changing discovery: reading and writing as a pathway to greater learning. I accepted a proofreading job at the local paper, which quickly turned into a reporting and editing position.

It was around this time that I read Mary Roach’s Sti : The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003). It opens thusly: “The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far o from being on a cruise ship.” Entranced by her irreverent humor, I then devoured Spook: Science Tackles the A erlife (2005) and later, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008). In each, Roach is our indefatigable guide through the wild and wacky world of the macabre, incredulous and utterly fascinating— exceeding my own musings from that campus library long ago.

I’m so thankful to her for showing me how much awe and wonder there is to uncover. And that great treasures await where you least expect them. No science education required.

—Samantha Campos, Editor

WHALE SONGS Like many Gen Xers, our editor once wanted to be a glamorous marine biologist.

PHOTO BY WIKIIMAGES FROM PIXABAY

JEFFREY EDALATPOUR’s writing about arts, food and culture has appeared in SF Weekly, Metro Silicon Valley, East Bay Express and KQED Arts.

LOU FANCHER has been published in the Diablo Magazine, the Oakland Tribune, InDance, San Francisco Classical Voice, SF Weekly, WIRED. com and elsewhere.

MICHAEL GIOTIS is a Bay Area based poet and author with a professional background in ecological entrepreneurship.

JANIS HASHE regularly contributes to the East Bay Express and other Bay Area publications.

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Weird

Science

Acclaimed Oakland author Mary Roach on the state of her art, methods and curiosities

BY Lou Fancher PHOTOS BY Franklin Avery

Curious about what makes six-time New York Times bestselling science writer Mary Roach tick?

Many people are, especially after reading the Oakland-based author’s quirky, meticulously researched and critically acclaimed books that include Sti : The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Six Feet Over (originally titled Spook): Science Tackles the A erlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Packing for Mars:

The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War and her most recent book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, released in September 2021.

Roach has been decorated with awards—including a lifetime achievement award well before her span of years is over—and her books have been published in 21 languages. She has written for National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times Magazine and the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, among others. Roach

was an Osher Fellow with the San Francisco Exploratorium and a winner of the American Engineering Societies’ Engineering Journalism Award, a category for which, as her website jokes, “let’s be honest, she was the sole entrant.”

The self-deprecating comment is trademark Roach, whose lively words and phrases tumble out spontaneously during a conversation. With Roach, it’s like listening to a top-tier jazz musician on a roar who has improvisational

QUITE CONTRARY Awardwinning, bestselling science writer Mary Roach was once ‘aimless’ and watched a lot of television.

brother and I would set up treasure hunts for each other when I was a kid. I still recall the clue I stumped him with. It said ‘Grrrrr oil.’ The clue was hidden under a can of Lion Oil. What my dad was doing with this industrial product, I have no idea. Funny the things one recalls.”

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spree rips and leaps across notes and rhythmic passages unpredictably while never losing direction or audience. Underscoring the fun, there’s solid technique, training, rehearsal, years of experience and refinement.

Similarly, behind the words and phrases that sing on the page in Roach’s books are comic wit and humor; poetic flare with language; scholarly attention to detail and context; a joyful, exuberant, near-giddy kid-like curiosity leading to one-can’t-ask-that style questions (and fascinating answers from experts); and a drill sergeant’s discipline and dedication when it comes to delivering robust facts and real science.

Even so, after having written about and spoken with Roach multiple times since 2013, it’s always possible to discover something new. Each conversation with Roach is like a treasure hunt: her words a string with little clues tied to it. On the way to finding at the end the big kahuna reward, a hunter or huntress receives tiny puzzles that add up to an “I recognize this animal and why it growls

or purrs” realizations. What are a few of the tantalizing, zany tidbits, one is asking? Here goes:

About her childhood years, she has said, “I used to say I was normal. But I didn’t like dolls, and I used to have a Barbie that I’d pull the head off, and I had 10 seconds to get it back on. So maybe I wasn’t so normal.” In high school, she got all As, but wasn’t a big reader and watched a lot of television. “I could tell you the lineup for CBS, NBC and other networks. If we played trivia and the topic is 1970s television trivia, I’d slaughter you,” she once boasted.

As a celebrity science writer, she is often asked what food or snacks she’d like to have backstage in the Green Room before a public appearance. In Seattle, she told them, “Slim Jims and purple Peeps.” She was astonished when, a year later, she showed up for the event and sure enough, there were Slim Jims and purple Peeps. “They thought I actually was serious,” she remarked.

And then there’s her most recently shared story that tidily and literally fulfills the treasure hunt metaphor: “My

All of this leads to the obvious question of how a Barbie doll destroying, television addicted, faux junk food fetishizer who’s into greasy chemicals led a kid to a career in science writing. Roach said she didn’t set out with ambition to be a writer. The closest to desire for a certain career she’d ever been was during a temporary veterinarian phase. “I didn’t even have pets. I think it was probably just based on having stuffed animals. I really didn’t have a career plan or any passions for anything. I just didn’t think about the future. I was aimless and clueless,” she remembered.

Roach earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. “All the way through my senior year at Wesleyan, I never went to the career development office. I just thought, the world is this big place. How do I know what I want to do? So I thought, let’s just go see what’s out there,” she said. “I was a liberal arts major graduating in the middle of a recession. Not a lot of jobs, and what can you do? You can string a sentence together.”

Roach moved to California “because that’s what you did if you didn’t have a couch to sleep on in New York,” according to her. She took temp and catering jobs and even a job for

‘I used to say I was normal. But I didn’t like dolls, and I used to have a Barbie that I’d pull the head off, and I had 10 seconds to get it back on. So maybe I wasn’t so normal.’

— MARY ROACH

« a telemarketing research firm, for which she asked people how they felt about flavored non-dairy creamers. Roach tried copyediting and proofreading positions, but quickly discovered she was not well-suited for the detail-oriented work.

“It seemed like writing the stuff might be easier than cleaning it up,” she said. “So I started freelance writing, which I enjoyed a lot. I wrote for Hippocrates, which became Health Magazine, and that led me to writing a lot of fun things about health, medicine and the human body. Quirky things that let me travel all over the world; it was the heyday of magazines, and they had budgets.

“An editor from Discover magazine asked me to write for them, which I did, writing for both magazines and others all through my 20s and 30s. That’s how it happened: It was kind of a fluke,” Roach said. “I actually started with San Francisco Magazine Image, which no longer exists, and the editor from there went to Hippocrates, and I went along. So basically, I was just riding around on editors’ coattails, surfing.”

Although she said her dislike for nitpicking through a text to make sure the punctuation or capitalization of a person’s title in Chapter 3 matches that in Chapter 10 means she’s “not detail oriented,” Roach quickly corrected herself. “That’s wrong. I love details, but I’m not big on focusing on tiny consistencies like forms of address, the minutia of copyediting. But the things I’m reporting on: Oh, I live for detail,” she confessed.

Roach typically keeps banker’s hours (9-5) when researching and

writing a book, perhaps to offset the improvisational, wing-it-when-awing-appears approach she brings to interviewing the experts, scientists, zealots, advocates and practitioners of a given subject. “I do some prep before I meet somebody and read a bunch of their work so I’m not a complete idiot. But I don’t come with a list of questions written out because I’m a print person, not a radio or a podcast person, where the order and presentation matter. Essentially, it’s not interviewing them so much as it is using them as unpaid tutors,” she explained.

If she knows a secret method to getting the best stuff, it’s hanging around for several days, listening

intently and letting the story unfold in real time. “We let the conversation wander because until I spend time with the person, I don’t really know what makes them tick. (She affirms, it’s all about the ticking.) I’m absorbing things, but not trying to direct it, unless it’s going so far afield there’s gotta be a course correction,” she noted. “Things grab my attention, and I say, ‘Wait, wait, let’s talk about that. Wow! Can we go do that? Can I stay another day?' I’m just sort of a sponge.”

During the worst years of the pandemic, essential, in-person access to her sources was obviously impossible. Luckily, she had completed all but one reporting trip—it was canceled—and spent the months editing Fuzz, working on an adaption of Packing For Mars for young readers and updating Stiff. “I could have been derailed, if I’d been halfway through Fuzz,” she admitted.

Asked if she considered writing about the pandemic itself, Roach said no, because it was already happening, and she writes while on the frontlines of a topic. She would have wanted to be embedded at the CDC or a similar entity in 2020, if not earlier. When a dramatic, critical, life-or-death science event is at its peak, it’s not a good time to contact people and say, “Hey, can I follow you around for three months?” she noted.

Roach added: “Also, for the way I work, my ways are a little quirky, a little goofy. COVID, it’s not either. Plus, it’s been very well covered. I read one book, Until Proven Safe, by Nicola Twilley and Geoff Managuah, about the history and future of quarantine. They cover a »

MAN VS NATURE Roach’s latest book, ‘Fuzz,’ explores the curious science of human-wildlife conflict.

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broad range, and they were working on that 10 years before COVID hit. Michael Lewis had a pandemic book come out. He’s always really good. And there are other good books, so it’s a crowded room.”

Another not-gonna, but intriguing topic? Madness and psychosis: the history and how they are dealt with. Said Roach, “I’ve given thought to that. But there are already such wonderful voices in that world too. Oliver Saks for one. And David Eagleman, the (Stanford University) neurologist who’s a beautiful writer. I tend to want to leave it to people like that.

“To get up to speed on the brain, on neuroscience, I think is even tough for neuroscientists. The brain is a complicated system, and I don’t even have a B.S. There are some science topics I’d be diving in, and it would be over my head. I’m always diving in, but with the brain, I might never make it back up to the surface. I would drown, is what I’m saying,” she continued.

The glimmer of caution expands to a larger shaft when it comes to being sensitive to language in contemporary times. Terminology acceptable in the past may be outdated or no longer tolerated.

“I’m a cavalier writer,” Roach said.

“I just dump it onto the page. I now spend more time going back over things. I have to take a spin through it through the eyes of anyone who might be sensitive. Euphemisms have changed. You don’t say words that were said in 2001 anymore. It’s good to think about those things. When I’m writing, I’m just putting it out and picturing readers who look like me, like that John Malkovich movie where everybody looks like him, and that’s not a wise thing to do. I’m definitely more considerate about that stuff now, and it’s good.”

Briefly, before the time is up, the conversation touched on ChatGPT and AI and its impact on the writing industry. Roach said it’s interesting, super complicated and terrifying. The sophistication is mind-blowing, and the potential for misuse, misinformation and abuse is frightening, she added.

“At the core of it, it’s terrifying to me. Sometimes terror is an extreme form of neophobia. I’m no expert, but I find it a little depressing. When we don’t need artists to paint and writers to write, when we can do a facsimile of art by machine, what’s the point?” she questioned.

There’s no terrific answer, and the question remained, dangling like a ghost on the treasure hunt string. The conversation moved to fun things,

like what Roach might write if it were something other than a nonfiction book on science.

“It would be interesting to explore memoir, especially because I had a dull childhood,” she said. “I didn’t keep a journal. It would be interesting to contact people I know and ask them about myself as if I don’t know who I was. I kind of don’t know, because it was so long ago.”

Writing more books for young readers is also an attractive idea for Roach, but not poetry or fiction. “I don’t have that kind of imagination or poetic brain,” she confessed. “What I love about what I do is the gathering of information. The people whose world I get into, the people I meet and the places I go. To strip that away and make it all up doesn’t appeal to me. It’s not that I wouldn’t be good at that; it’s just not what I love to do.”

This then, is the grand kahuna treasure at the end of the hunt: the promise of more science books to come. Oh, and there’s one last item to add to the “what makes Mary tick” list: Don’t Google her. She never Googles herself and said, “There’s weird shit on there.” How does she know it’s weird if she never looks?

“My husband has a Google alert on me. Most of what he says comes up are obituaries for old women of Irish descent who have croaked. Why obituaries and Irish? Roach is a common Irish name, and nobody has been named Mary since the ‘50s, so the Marys are all getting old and dying,” she explained. “A lot of that stuff on Google is based on nothing. Everybody who's anybody, it has bullshit about their income.” From which the hint is taken: Drop off social media and pick up the real deal—a book by Mary Roach. ❤

‘What I love about what I do is the gathering of information. The people whose world I get into, the people I meet and the places I go.’

– MARY ROACH

Discovery Bay Golf & Country Club

The Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre is revving back into action in 2023 with a full season of live performances. After the pandemic shutdown halted theater activity across the country for nearly two years, managing director Tom Parrish says cultural workers are the nation’s second responders.

“Doctors, nurses, paramedics, grocery and restaurant workers; they were first responders,” says Parrish. “Now, it’s our role to re-knit the community, to remind people to get out of their homes and rebuild the community fabric.”

Responders

How Berkeley Rep is helping to rebuild culture and provide community healing

BY Lou Fancher

Is theater uniquely positioned to provide the healing and connection so desperately needed? At this company founded in 1968 that is most often referred to simply as Berkeley Rep, the answer is emphatically “yes.”

In 2023, the artist-sourced “medicine” comes through deeply theatrical storytelling that is representative and respectful of this country’s increasingly diverse population. That means the scale and scope of the stories offer, on the most fundamental levels, masterful playwriting, direction, acting, lighting, sound, scenery and other production and

artistic elements. On a higher plane, deep theatricality projects intimacy, spectacle, relevancy, challenge, affirmation, humanity and the sheer joy that comes from experiencing theater as a group.

Parrish in late January 2023 highlights two upcoming productions as examples of directions and priorities for Berkeley Rep. “There are two works that can only be fully experienced live: Cambodian Rock Band and Let the Right One In,” he says.

Cambodian Rock Band was developed in the company’s Ground Floor new-play development program and tells the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor

PHOTO BY CHESHIRE ISAACS

ON STAGE Berkeley Rep’s managing director, Tom Parrish, believes that live theater is essential and must be inclusive.

» returning to Cambodia after a 30-year absence—during the exact moment his daughter is about to prosecute one of Cambodia’s infamous war criminals. Let the Right One In is a supernatural thrillerchiller billed as “part brutal vampire myth and part coming-of-age romance.”

Parrish says, “Collectively, they have humor, music and movement. The work we’ve been producing like these expands the boundaries beyond a simple play. They fire on so many cylinders. One thing we learned during the pandemic is the place theater satisfies: It’s the live experience, people in 3-D, high production levels, music, dance, and creating memorable experiences people will share and carry with them.”

During the pandemic, most theaters launched alternative initiatives such as online live streaming or video-ondemand, and special add-on features including backstage interviews or scriptin-hand podcast readings. With the return to live theater, Berkeley Rep, like most companies, plans to hold on to some pandemic-related programs—and is relieved to see others drop away.

“We’re continuing to experiment with delivering educational content digitally,” says Parrish. “We’re introducing young folks in schools with full or partial access to performances. Secondly, there were

Zoom discussions and ways of getting people together to discuss theater—for staff, artists and audiences—and these are things we will continue.”

As their theater doors reopen, Berkeley Rep is seeing a noticeable decline in people accessing digital opportunities to view shows. “I’m pleased we’re back in the theater again and having it confirmed that live theater is essential. We believed all along that digital streaming was not where the future is, so that was good learning that came out of COVID,” he says.

Another big push during the last three years was addressing the industry’s longtime equity, diversity, inclusion and access (DEIA) issues. Many theater organizations developed antiracist statements, established DEIA departments, and when located or performing on Indigenous land, issued land use acknowledgments. It was and remains a trend. But how do Berkeley Rep audiences know it is genuine?

“We know younger generations are the most racially diverse we’ve had to date,” Parrish says. “They care about equity, community and the world, so we make sure we create an environment that welcomes and includes all audiences.

“What’s hard in this work is to try to create cultural change in a way that some folks don’t feel excluded or that they are

losing something. A lot of our work has focused on whose stories are being told, by whom, for whom?” says Parrish. “There’s also awareness of scarcity in support for the arts. That has created uneven playing fields as people scrap for survival.

“During the pandemic, pay equity was examined carefully. How can we pay living wages, and is pay equitable across all of the people working here? How are various departments staffed in terms of racial profile, gender and age? We make sure we’re recruiting as diverse a group of prospective candidates as possible,” he says.

Berkeley Rep is by no means finished questioning itself, and most nonprofit theaters occupy especially challenging times. Parrish says audience numbers have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels and that the season subscriber ticket base is about 70% of what it was before COVID-19.

Expenses related to inflation, such as labor costs and sourcing artistic talent, have escalated. The changes enacted to rectify inequity have raised the payroll. While the return of Broadway and more touring productions is improving, the runway in 2023 is still too short for what might be called “take off and fly” in the industry. Fortunately, honoring practicality doesn’t prevent a managing director from dreaming. “When you go into the theater, you experience something mind-altering. I dream of theater that helps people see the world in a new way and is so inclusive that everyone can see themselves in it,” says Parrish. “Culture is the most powerful force in the world. The stories we tell define reality, shape how groups of people think, act and feel. The stories and people we have in our pipeline have potential to build the American theater canon and to create a better world in which people are more generous and empathetic.” ❤

‘One thing we learned during the pandemic is the place theater satisfies: creating memorable experiences people will share and carry with them.’

– TOM PARRISH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BERKELEY REP

‘A Return toAuthenticity’

Aurora Theatre Company stages plays of deep cultural relevance

BY Lou Fancher

Reformation and transformation are on the mind of Aurora Theatre Company artistic director Josh Costello in early 2023. Swiftly to follow are immediacy, relevancy and stability, as well as alliances leading to Community Partner programs he initiated at the intimate Berkeley-based theater, which was founded by Barbara Oliver and a consortium of professional Bay Area theater artists in 1992.

“I started the partner program just before the pandemic,” says Costello. “Coming out of COVID and returning to regular live performances, we paired

the recent Pho production with the AAPI Youth Rising group that is all student-led and introduced our first Affinity Night.”

Colonialism is Terrible, but Pho is Delicious, a play by Dustin Chinn, launched the company’s 31st season and enjoyed an extended run before closing in December of 2022. The play addressed topical issues such as gentrification, cultural appropriation and authenticity. Taken as a representative model of “signature Aurora,” the work placed special emphasis on meticulous attention to language; supremely compelling storytelling; and a rich brew composed of comedy leaning to satire or farce, layered irony and serious

drama, and deep, reverberatory political and social commentary.

“We had the kids who run the AAPI organization at a post-show discussion, and instead of actors talking,” says Costello, “we had two of the AAPI founders, Mina and Charlee, on stage with the playwright talking about the play and what it meant to them.”

Aurora was led by Oliver for 12 years before the artistic directorship was assumed in 2004 by Tom Ross, who had been with the company since its inception. Ross introduced a number of innovative programs, most importantly, a new play initiative that led to dozens

PHOTOS BY SCOT GOODMAN (LEFT, RIGHT) AND KEVIN BERNE (MIDDLE)

BRIDGE BUILDING Artistic director Josh Costello (left, right) partnered with the AAPI Youth Rising group for the recent ‘Colonialism is Terrible, but Pho is Delicious’ production (middle).

» of commissioned and developed works and offered new and established playwrights a vital platform for building the contemporary theater canon.

Costello succeeded Ross in 2019, stepping up after serving as literary manager and artistic associate since 2012. He subsequently introduced associate artistic director Dawn Monique Williams, who oversees the new Community Partners program.

Building the bridge to re-establish live theater as a vital, essential part of life in the post-shuttered/locked-down era will mean achieving stability. Because of continued uncertainty in the industry and with personnel shifting fluidly as some people leave theater permanently and new faces arrive, Costello says clear expectations for staff, the board, budgets, ticket sales and every facet of the organization are crucial.

“Our society has changed its relationship to work, to the arts and entertainment,” he says, “which means another priority is living up to the value statement we adopted in 2020.”

The statement, like that of many organizations, issues a declaration of commitment to championing racial justice; embodying anti-racist practices; and dismantling racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, xenophobia and religious intolerance. It recognizes Aurora’s location on

Chochenyo Ohlone land and promises equity in pay and contract negotiations, excellent productions and plays that “move today’s conversations forward.”

Costello is transparent in his comments about the theater’s history. “We’ve been a theater with white leadership. That goes for staff and patrons in the past, too. Now, we’re doing work to make sure everybody belongs and going deeper in authentic relationships with other organizations,” he says.

“The decision was made that all new board members would be BIPOC,” says Costello. “We sought board members who would provide those diverse voices in terms of gender, race and more. Our percentages had been highly white and male, and we changed that measurably. Similarly, I am white, and because of that, I have implicit bias, and yet I’m the one who chooses the plays.

“I made a commitment that at least half of the plays will be written by BIPOC playwrights. It means I’m reading plays I might not have read before. It’s harder work, but it’s worth it because people want to see themselves reflected onstage. And I want theater to be a part of the community and so relevant that you come because you don’t want to miss out on the conversation,” he says.

The upcoming adaptation by Costello of Cyrano, a treasured classic that

nevertheless was written by French poet Edmond Rostand, a white European playwright, and will be directed by Costello, begs the question of how it represents more diverse voices. Certainly, classics belong to everybody, and Cyrano has beautiful language and heart and emotion that’s universal and palpable.

“I will not have an all-white cast,” says Costello. “We use color-conscious casting, and in rehearsals the cast will talk about what it means for whatever ethnicity they are to be playing a person in this play. It’s a fact that many of the people in this play about the 17th century wouldn’t have been white, after all, so it’s actually a return to authenticity to have that multiracial [element] portrayed and visible on stage!”

Costello says the two years during which live performances were forced on hiatus were “soul destroying” for theater artists. Despite appreciation for the collaboration with Flying Moose production company to produce highquality videos and ongoing metrics that show audiences continue to be interested in viewing from home, rights issues with holders of scripts remain complex, and it’s not always possible to secure the rights.

What has kept Costello’s theater engine burning and the flame bright at Aurora is largely tied to his entry point to theater. “When I was in high school, I fell in love with the art form, with the visceral connection between actor and audience,” he says. “My dream is to continue to make theater-going integral to growing up in the Bay Area; it’s just what you do. Theater is just as viable, culturally relevant and accessible as seeing a movie. Gathering in person to share the imaginative act of storytelling, it makes a community stronger, tangible. To me, theater is home.” ❤

‘I want theater to be a part of the community and so relevant that you come because you don’t want to miss out on the conversation.’

– JOSH COSTELLO, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, AURORA THEATRE COMPANY

Wonder Panorama of

For 15 years as a professional ballet dancer, Gianna Davy pirouetted and leapt across Bay Area stages. Raised in Oakland and at the age of eight beginning her training at the school of the Oakland Ballet, Davy had the city’s stunning, opulent, downtown Art Deco theater, The Paramount, as her playground.

As an only child, Davy says in an interview, the family vacations with her mother, a vivacious preschool teacher, and her father, a thoughtful and curious videographer, were “ever and always” camping trips to national and regional parks in California and along the West Coast. There, the awe and grandeur witnessed on large and small scale—sweeping, mile-long vistas cast into orange-pink glow and purple-blue shadows during sunsets, or the silvery sheen of light suspended in a dewdrop on a leaf or flower petal—provided room for not just her body, but her imagination to roam.

BY Lou Fancher

Onstage professionally at age 16, Davy established herself as a dancer of deep humanity. Expressive

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Oakland ballet dancer turned author Gianna Davy releases debut children’s picture book, ‘No One Owns the Colors’

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UNIVERSAL RAINBOW Author Gianna Davy wrote her book while raising her two sons and noticing how gendered the world is.

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in character-driven or narrative ballets, she embodied joy, grief, rage, comedy, envy, wickedness, tenderness and compassion. In abstract works, the architecture of her body as it dismantled or constructed the choreography left behind indelible impressions and, despite a dance being primarily about form or rhythm or time duration, the mystery of human love floated like angel dust in the atmosphere her dancing traced, the memories of which lasted long after the curtain came down.

Upon retiring from the stage, Davy and her husband, Gabe Froymovich, moved approximately 70 miles north of the East Bay to Healdsburg. The couple now has two children: Bensi, age 10, and Oberon, 7. When the family is not outside soaking up nature on California’s coastal shore or frolicking in the Bay Area hills and redwood forests for “the ultimate decompression,” Davy teaches movement, creates jewelry, reads unrestrictedly and sings spontaneously. Meanwhile, she is enrolled in a

distance-learning program at New York University and is six months from completing a masters in speechlanguage pathology.

All of which makes it simultaneously remarkable and expected that the always-busy Davy in February became a published children’s book author. Her debut picture book, No One Owns the Colors (The Collective Book Studio), follows an unnamed lead character on a spirited, nature-filled romp through a panoply of colors and sentient beings.

The songlike, occasionally rhyming text and illustrations by Brenda Rodriguez introduce a vibrant, biological and environmental panorama: children, animals, birds, insects, marine life, trees, leaves, flowers, rainbows, fire, planets, stars and oceans. Throughout, children whose skin, hair color and clothing display a full spectrum of colors and hues cavort in playgrounds, cluster around glowing bonfires, create art, dance and make music. They delight in worldwide wonders, such as sunsets and moonshine and their individual

identities—all things that are meant to be shared and never owned.

“Growing up in Oakland formed my entire being,” Davy says. “It’s incredibly diverse culturally, and it’s so alive for the arts. The architecture itself is beautiful, old, new, complicated. It created my baseline for life. My mom was always pointing out the bay and saying, ‘Look at it—aren’t we lucky?’ That appreciation of what was there every day makes me say I won’t accept anything less than this diversity, culture and beauty.”

Those high standards play out in raising her children. An experience her older son had as a preschooler explains what caused her to write her book.

“I teach my kids to see the world and appreciate the beauty we have around us,” says Davy, “especially the ability to see things that are right in front of you in a new way. Honestly, the reason I wrote this book is because while raising my two boys, I started to notice, to ‘resee’ how gendered the world is. My son was having to defend that any person could be or like or choose any color

‘Growing up in Oakland formed my entire being. It’s incredibly diverse culturally, and it’s so alive for the arts. The architecture itself is beautiful, old, new, complicated. It created my baseline for life.

I won’t accept anything less than this diversity, culture and beauty.’

— GIANNA DAVY

« they wanted to. I tried to help by pointing out to him that sunsets are pink and blue is in the ocean, and kids of both genders can like either one or both. Colors don’t belong to girls or boys; they belong to everyone.”

In the text, a choice between colors—pink, blue, chartreuse, silver, charcoal, magenta, bronze, gold, green, violet, peach, turquoise, butterscotch and more—is also never right or wrong, although it can feel bold, shy

or brand new because “no one owns the colors,” she says.

Although Davy actually sat down and wrote the text from beginning to end in one day, the process consisted of months of reading poetry, list-keeping of random words and thoughts, and after the oneday writing spree, repeated drafts and edits to refine the language and pacing. A suggestion from a friend led her to partner-style publisher Collective Studio.

“They’re based in Oakland and are

women-owned,” says Davy. “I thought about self-publishing, but it’s a lot of work, and I’m not well-connected in that world. They are, and everyone there has tons of experience with publishing. Because of their partner model, I got to be more involved, and I still own my content.

“I got to work closely with the editor, Summer Laurie, who was a dream. She gently and kindly suggested things that made sense. She understood what I really wanted and helped me get there. They also helped me find the illustrator. They sent a site with illustrators, and I picked a style of what I was looking for. I felt considered through the whole process,” she continues.

Deeply and most satisfying is providing children with a book encouraging them to live true to their nature, to accept that same free expression in other people, and to experiment, explore, create and play as they seek to define who they are and who they may become. With another book “already brewing,” Davy reminds herself—and everyone—that life is full of infinite possibility, if only they drop filters and ownership and re-see the beauty right in front of them. ❤

OAKLAND ROOTS For ‘No One Owns the Colors,’ Davy partnered with Collective Book Studio, a women-owned publishing company based in Oakland.

No N d to Ju Meander and

Hurry… Enjoy

Kensington Circle is a perfect day-cation

Like the serene and regal oak that stands in its center, the Kensington Circle community has seen many changes over the years, endured and flourished. Though most online searches list the small, neighborly village as “Berkeley,” it lies where Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito and unincorporated Kensington share borders. Colusa

BY Janis Hashe

Avenue makes a ring around the oak, then continues on in both directions, and the village also extends a little way into connecting Oak View Avenue. A leisurely stroll will introduce many great finds.

When the Kensington Farmers’ Market set up tents 12 years ago, it quickly established itself as a resource for fresh, locally grown produce, and

has since expanded to host up to 40 vendors, selling everything from seafood, poultry and meats, to bagels, French pastries, cheeses and foods to go. Live music makes the market a party every Sunday from 9am to 2pm.

(Note: Many other local merchants are not open on Sunday, or not open until later in the day.) 379-389 Colusa Ave. www. kensingtonfarmersmarket.org

Fitness, Wellness, Rejuvenation

Fuse Fitness, where co-founder Pascha Brown and fellow trainers teach clients of all ages and fitness levels, o ers classes every day. Drop-ins are welcome to book online. They o er full-body training, focusing on strength, mobility and balance, using TRX suspension weight

training, bosu balls, rowing machines, bands, squat racks and more. Private and semi-private training is also available, but a consultation must be booked in advance. “We love our clients, and really get to know them,” said Brown. 370 and 377 Colusa Ave. thefusefitnessstudio.com

At Nubo Spa, clients find cuttingedge skincare, rejuvenation solutions, injectables and more under the

guidance of founder Jen Guthrie. This physician-owned med spa prides itself on blending science, art and medicine in its treatments, along with a focus on superb service. 379 Colusa Ave. nubospa.com

“Ancient meets avant-garde” at Natura Health & Wellness, where owner Jane Gajano-Blythe is a licensed acupuncturist, and the studio

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NAN PHELPS PHOTOGRAPHY, KENSINGTON FARMERS’ MARKET , FUSE FITNESS

BODY ROCK Clients at Fuse Fitness studio get access to TRX suspension weight training, bosu balls, rowing machines and more.

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Kensington Farmers’ Market hosts up to 40 vendors with live music every Sunday.

LIT UP A serene and regal oak stands at the heart of Kensington.

specializes in “functional medicine” for skincare and overall wellness. Chinese medicine treatments are available, along with hydrafacials and an extensive apothecary product selection. 396 Colusa Ave. hellonatura.com

Fleurs and Galleries

Owner Janet Johnson of Freshly Cut florist was a mainstay in Berkeley for decades before moving her business to

Kensington a year-and-a-half ago. No “paint-by-number” arrangements here; she creates custom floral designs with seasonal flowers. In March, she’ll feature tulips, lilacs, peonies, plum and quince blossoms, and more. One may drop in for an onsite-created bouquet, or order online for special occasions. 378 Colusa Ave. freshlycut.com

Walking into Nan Phelps Photography, one can see that the quality of the blackand-white, gelatin silver prints on the

wall makes a statement. Phelps explains that she uses museum and archivalquality paper, printing her own images for the family, mother-and-child, solo and pet portraits that often become family heirlooms. “I love photographing people in their homes,” she said, and enjoys documenting a family’s evolution, from new babies to grandparents. “There is a lifetime of learning in photography,” she noted, “the mystery of people and animals, the infinite personality of

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NAN PHELPS PHOTOGRAPHY, FRESHLY CUT, PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLYN HIERSOUX

PICTURE PERFECT Nan Phelps enjoys documenting a family’s evolution, from new babies to grandparents.

FLEUR DU JOUR Freshly Cut features the season’s tulips, lilacs, peonies, plum and quince blossoms for custom bouquet creation.

CLAY ART Although ceramicist Carolyn Hiersoux is no longer creating new work, her daughter, Karen, sells her remaining pieces.

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« light, the nuances of the camera and the darkroom.” 398 Colusa Ave. nanphelps. com

Ceramicist Carolyn Hiersoux is no longer creating new work. But according to her daughter, Karen Hiersoux, her Hiersoux Gallery is continuing to sell her remaining pieces, as well as a book documenting her 60 years of clay artworks, Herein Lies the Magic ($95). Hiersoux is known for her woodfired sculptural pieces, using Japanese techniques. The gallery space is also being used for exhibits of other artists’ work. On March 4, a show by watercolor painter Pam Johnson opens. Open Saturdays noon-5pm, or call Karen Hiersoux for an appointment, 510.517.8596. 437 Colusa Ave. hiersoux.com

Where the Eatin’ Is Good

For those strolling around the neighborhood during the day, they may stop into bakery Semifreddi’s for an almond croissant, or a ginger cookie and a take-out coffee. The tiny shop has no inside seating, but there are benches nearby. One won’t be able to resist taking home one of their sourdough loaves, and maybe also a bag of kalamata olive croutons. Closes at 3pm. 372 Colusa Ave. semifreddis.com

Another option for daytime noshing is Benchmark Portavia, the “grab-and-go” outlet opened last September by the owners of nearby Benchmark Pizza. Here one will find prepared sandwiches, soups and salads, alongside a range of Italian cooking essentials. 380 Colusa Ave. benchmarkportavia.com

For evening pub grub, one may head straight for Kensington Circus Pub. Alongside classic Brit fare such as bangers & mash and shepherd’s pie, they also feature entrees such as fish tacos, New York steak and an assortment of pastas. Drinks motto is “Best of Britain and Ireland On Tap.” Adventurous? One may try a “Black Velvet,” made from Guinness and cider. On Friday and Saturday nights, the pub rocks out with live music. It’s sure to be extra-lively on St. Patrick’s Day, with music by the Missing Man Quartet. 389 Colusa Ave. kensingtoncircuspub.com

Benchmark Pizza has been widely praised by critics and foodies for its innovative takes on pizza and other time-honored Italian dishes. Personal experience recommends the Fried Sage Pizza, made with fresh mozzarella, brown butter, lemon and shaved garlic, while sipping a very European Aperol

Spritz. Or one may choose from a wide range of salads and entrees, which change weekly, according to co-founder Melissa Swanson, who describes the restaurant’s food as having a “true sense of terroir.” Benchmark is a Certified Green Business, using 100% renewable energy. 1568 Oak View Ave. benchmarkpizza.com

Last, but certainly not least, one may stop in at the Colusa Market for a taste of what neighborhood markets used to be, and still are inside this homey store, which has served locals for more than 35 years. Organic produce nestles next to a fine selection of Asian noodles and sauces, alongside carefully chosen meats and poultry. It’s one of those places shoppers walk in for one thing, and come out with five… or 10. And go back to, just like the Kensington Circle neighborhood itself. 406 Colusa Ave. No website; 510.527.7035. ❤

GREEN PIE Kale Squash Pizza from Benchmark Pizza, a Certified Green Business praised for its innovative food with a ‘true sense of terroir.’

Living Yoga

Stretching

BY Michael Giotis

Although yoga is practiced avidly throughout the west, practitioners are often unwittingly perpetuating a misconception of yoga that may actively cause harm, according to some yoga teachers. Considering that the root of the very word yoga is to unite, to integrate—and by extension not to cause harm—it is worth taking a closer look at ways in which anyone’s contemporary yoga practice can be brought more in line with the roots of yoga. »

one’s practice as well as one’s body

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In the typical yoga class, instructors lead the class through a series of postures called asanas. In some disciplines, the postures are standardized and repeated in each class while in others a series is tailored for each session to focus practice on a variety of benefits, from core strengthening to anxiety reduction. Sometimes yoga postures are combined with fitness-oriented approaches like aerobics and pilates.

What often gets forgotten is that asanas were created as preparation for meditation through defined forms of breathing and contemplation as a means for spiritual growth in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

Tejal Patel is the co-host of a podcast which challenges the limited version of yoga that has come to prominence in the predominately white-run yoga classes found at gyms and studios. Called Yoga is Dead, the podcast pulls no punches.

“Yoga is really about [setting daily] intentions for your thoughts, for your feelings, and the way you take action with yourself and with others in the world,” said Patel, herself an American yoga instructor who trained in India. She challenges fitness-oriented practitioners of yoga to ask themselves why they exclude the spiritual component of the practice. “You need to ask yourself, ‘How do I incorporate something into every thought and breath and movement in my life if I don’t actually believe it to be a spiritual practice or a cultural practice?’ That investigation can help you to live your yoga.”

»

PHOTO BY ROBERT ALCANTAR (@BRANDROBEAR)

BEYOND ASANA Co-host Tejal Patel challenges listeners of the podcast, ‘Yoga is Dead,’ to consider the impacts of their yoga practice.

Benefiting Without Being

up yoga classes at the local gym, many people have found flexibility and release of chronic pain that seemed out of reach before.

myself more and more as an individual. Different from others. That’s a loss.”

The first episode of Patel’s Yoga is Dead podcast is “White Women Killed Yoga.” That intentionally provocative title is meant to challenge listeners to consider the impacts of their yoga practice and how yoga practiced holistically can help address some of the inequities that exist in yoga classes.

»

“There is not a bad reason for doing yoga, but there are some reasons that are better than others,” said Ramanand Patel, a yoga instructor based in Dublin who emanates seriously wise yogi vibes. “If I’m doing yoga just so it helps my back, it’s not a bad reason. It’s a good reason.”

“‘How is my practice as a person who studies or teaches or practices yoga contributing to some of these systemic issues?’” is a question Patel suggests to all who practice yoga in any form. “‘Where do these practices come from?’ ‘Who am I learning from?’ ‘How does their practice relate back to the roots, if at all?’ ‘How does the bookshelf I have on yoga show racial [and] ethnic diversity in terms of the authors, the lineage or the topic material?’”

Benefits of Being

While the roots of yoga in South Asian culture may be too often obscured, the benefits of asanas themselves do seem undeniable. Through the stretching, balance and strength exercises that make

Still, treating yoga as simply stretches and asanas without a further spiritual investigation leaves the point of yoga out of the practice. The subtle harms that may result are consequential for the goal of mutual understanding that is the intent of yoga.

“If somebody practices yoga for some reason [other than spiritual growth], it’s not wrong. That’s where they are at. Someday pain will come, in the physical or psychological, which will force them to look at what they are doing,” said Ramanand Patel. “And [when] people never look at it, they get into trouble.”

“If I practice just for physical benefit,” he continued, “even if I get the physical benefit, it’s going to raise my ego. Which means I begin to think of

Ry Toast is an owner of Funky Door in Berkeley, which offers bikram hot yoga, one of the styles often accused of being physical while neglecting the spiritual, something that Toast is mindful of. “We practice [the postures] in the studio with our body, but it also has these energetic ripple effects out into our lives. [M]aybe you’re ignoring a place in your body and you are also ignoring an area in your life and there’s this parallel, where if you start paying attention to that tight spot that you keep avoiding, all of a sudden something in your life starts to expand and open up. That’s what living yoga is to me right now,” said Toast.

This effect is obvious in yoga studios when excellence of posture and body tone becomes a point of pride and exclusion. Living the yoga lifestyle through deep posturing in weekly classes turns out to be very different from actively pursuing unity by “living yoga.” It is when individuals in a community work together to recognize their essential unity that yoga becomes an integrating practice that attempts to help to make the world a safe place for all. ❤

‘There is not a bad reason for doing yoga, but there are some reasons that are better than others.’ – RAMANAND PATEL, YOGA INSTRUCTOR

Vitality Surge

A mini-directory of local acupuncturists

Many have dealt with baffling or chronic health problems that Western medicine seems unable to help. Those who have suffered through hormonal imbalances, insomnia, joint pain, migraines and other ailments—as well as folks seeking preventative maintenance or stress relief—often find acupuncture to be the salve, and in many cases, the savior. Below is a selection of licensed acupuncturists, with the intention to support any healthcare regimen and restore physiological balance.

ROOT & STEM INTEGRATIVE CHINESE MEDICINE

Led by Dr. Jessica Parker, L.Ac, DAOM, Root & Stem is housed on the lower level of a grand 1914 house. Inside the warm and cozy office, Parker and her team utilize acupuncture and Eastern medicine to treat patients and holistically address wellness through integrative programs. Root & Stem also offers community acupuncture Tuesdays and Fridays 3-5:30pm.

3515 Grand Ave., Oakland, 510.519.3413, oaklandrootandstem.com.

OAKLAND ACUPUNCTURE PROJECT

The Oakland Acupuncture Project (OAP) provides affordable communitycentered health care. OAP ensures more folks have access to Chinese medicine through its sliding scale program at two locations. Treatments are individualized, and the communal setting is clean, quiet and cozy.

OAP Laurel Avenue, 3576 Laurel Ave., Oakland, 510.842.6350; OAP Grand Avenue, 3535 Grand Ave., Ste. 1, Oakland, 510.999.4627, oaklandacupunctureproject.com.

ALAMEDA ACUPUNCTURE

Those close to downtown Alameda may benefit from the integrative health care provided by the husband and wife team of Dr. John Nieters, L.Ac, DAOM and Dr. Jennifer Nieters, L.Ac, DACM. Patients can opt for traditional acupuncture, trigger point dry needling, orthopedic massage, herbs, nutrition support and laboratory testing.

2258 Santa Clara Ave., Ste. 1, Alameda, 510.814.6900, alamedaacupuncture.com.

NATURA HEALTH & WELLNESS

Founder Jane Gajano-Blythe, M.S., L.Ac, specializes in prevention, anti-aging and longevity medicine. Her services at Natura Health & Wellness range from acupuncture and investigative medicine for chronic pain to hydrafacials and whole body rejuvenation.

396 Colusa Ave., Kensington, 510.863.0333, hellonatura.com.

INTEGRATIVE WELLNESS CENTER

Dr. Heidi Kao, DAOM, L.Ac and Eve Wang, L.Ac discuss cases and treat patients as a team, engaging in acupuncture, herbal medicine, dietary modification, lifestyle coaching and tui na (bodywork). Patients also appreciate Kao’s guidance on myriad women’s health issues and fertility journeys.

430 40th St., Oakland, 510.844.0095, heidikao.com.

PIN POINTS Dr. Jessica Parker works with patients to optimize their health and vitality using lab work and traditional Eastern medicine.

Downstairs Upstairs

Acre Kitchen & Bar honors the history of its Oliveto predecessor with ‘homey’ and ‘celebratory’ cuisine

BY Jeffrey Edalatpour

For nearly four decades, Oliveto was the central anchor point in Rockridge that held both sides of College Avenue in place. Located on the corner directly across the street from BART, Bob Klein and Maggie Blyth Klein’s restaurant was impossible to miss. It felt like it had always been there and always would be.

FAMILY SPIRIT With its toplevel dining room and groundlevel café, Acre re-establishes itself as a Rockridge community cornerstone.

If a neighborhood develops a personality over time, Oliveto was an essential, stabilizing ingredient in bringing Rockridge to life.

During the pandemic, the Kleins started sending out signal flares, warning longtime diners that they were readying to close the doors at their Italian restaurant. Following at least one postponement, it was announced that Chef Dirk Tolsma would be taking over. A couple of months ago, Tolsma opened Acre in Oliveto’s place. After a night out in the refurbished dining room, the thoughtful transition appears to be going smoothly.

Tolsma and his team decided to retain Oliveto’s upstairs-downstairs approach. The formal dining room is still upstairs, but the entire menu is available to the casual table settings in the downstairs cafe, too. The warming flames that emanate out of the stone hearth downstairs inspire a pub-like coziness. Risotto, pizza and gnocchi are on the menu, along with the feeling that intimate conversations, epiphanies and revelations are taking place at every table.

Acknowledging the fact that he has inherited a nearly mythical space, Tolsma said, “There certainly is a lot of humility that comes when you step back and look at the history that Oliveto’s carries.” The chef/owner at Acre is grateful for the opportunity to step into the famed kitchen. But the weight of that history makes him want to be a better chef every day he shows up to work. “We talk a lot about the history here with our staff. We take a step back when we’re putting dishes together, and that’s a motivating factor for us,” he noted.

While Tolsma serves a couple of Italian dishes, Acre has pared down the menu. The cafe menu includes small and medium plates, plus six different pizzas. These starters are essentially meant to be shared with an accompanying glass or bottle of wine. The wines are, by and large, from California, France and Italy. The main dinner plates range from lamb sugo to roast chicken and fish, a ribeye steak and a mushroom dish for vegetarians.

I’ve noticed homemade milk bread and dinner rolls reappearing on Bay Area menus. Acre’s version is Starter Bakery pull apart rolls with aleppo butter and lava salt ($8). The trend intends to transform those dry, plastic packaged rolls into something charming and fulfilling in their own right. I could eat them morning, noon and night.

The bitter caesar salad ($13) prompted the recurring debate I have with my friend about the right amount of dressing. For her, the caesar was perfectly dressed. For me, it was under, and the

croutons lived in that nowhere land where they’ve been cooked well beyond a satisfying crunch.

Of the more substantial dishes, the garlic shrimp ($27) revisited scampi with a lighter, Californian touch. A bowl of saffron risotto ($21) incorporated a slightly strange combination of nduja sausage and thinly sliced, sautéed kumquats. I understood the principle: Add citrus to brighten the risotto. But I wanted some green vegetable to really light the dish up, asparagus perhaps, peas or even pea shoots. The potato gnocchi ($18) with turnips was hearty and comforting, but I would like to try it again when spring vegetables start arriving in farmers’ markets.

When I spoke with Tolsma, he’d just done a lunch product tasting. “We go through some of the new dishes to make sure they’re working,” he said. Tolsma mentioned the tasting included a smoked salmon dish, some poached chicken for a salad and a new dessert. “The inspiration is a Mexican flan. This one was vanilla,” he explained. The pastry chef at Acre has a background in Mexican pastries and puts a different spin on traditional desserts. Even as the restaurant gets busier, the cuisine at Acre is still being fine tuned on a weekly basis. “People appreciate the homey aspect. The feedback we’ve gotten so far is that the food doesn’t feel fussy,” Tolsma said. “But we also want to feel celebratory, so we’re working on a few things that would end the meal with a little more fireworks.”

Acre, Restaurant: Sun to Wed 5–9pm, Thu to Sat 5–9:30pm. Cafe: Sun to Wed 11am-9pm, Thu to Sat 11am-9:30pm. 5655 College Ave., Oakland. 510.250.3790. acrekitchenandbar.com.

REFINED COMFORT Chef Dirk Tolsma fine-tunes his unfussy, Mediterraneaninfluenced dishes.

Rosenblum cellars · yoshi's music venue and japanese restaurant · FORGE PIZZA

Plank · Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine · Heinold's first and last chance saloon

seabreeze on the dock · Noka Ramen · Waterfront Café & Bar · Timeless Coffee

Coming Soon Mia · Kuidaore Sushi · Dragon Gate

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Jack London Square is located at the south end of Broadway, on The Oakland Waterfront. 472 Water Street, Oakland, CA 94607

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