NORTH COAST, Calif. – The North Coast Resource Conservation & Development Council is holding its inaugural “Cultivating Commerce Poetry Competition” with the themes of agriculture and natural resources, including farm and ranching life.
Submission fees are $10 per poem, and the first prize is $100.
Poems of any length and style may be submitted, and contestants may submit an unlimited number of poems.
The competition ends Sept. 30.
The proceeds from this competition will be used to further the group's mission of improving pollinator habitat, enhancing agritourism, supporting eat local/grow local gardens and fostering sustainable biomass energy production.
In addition, the funds will be used for the new initiative Cultivating Commerce which will provide entrepreneur support for business start-up or expansion in agricultural and natural resource areas.
The council is a nonprofit organization serving Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Marin counties.
Founded as a grassroots organization in 2003 to support sustainable agriculture and resource use, the council has worked on local projects ranging from constructing rainwater collection systems at local schools – including the catchment tank for the Fort Bragg High School Learning Garden rainwater collection system – and funding a pollinator planting at Salmon Creek School in Occidental, with native species for pollinator use.
The council has held educational workshops throughout Sonoma and Lake counties with landowners to increase pollinator habitat, help create and expand community gardens, educate landowners to prevent the spread of sudden oak disease, prepare detailed feasibility studies for biomass-to-energy production in Fort Bragg and the Mendocino County area, and has conducted workshops with ranchers and farmers interested in adding an agritourism element to their operations.
Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.
South Dakota poet Leo Dangel has written some of the best and truest poems about rural life that I’m aware of. Here’s a fine one about a chance discovery.
The Fargo Brothers will perform at the Soper Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, Calif., on Friday, October 21, 2011. Courtesy photo.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. the Soper Reese Community Theatre presents veterans of the stage, Michael Barrish and the Fargo Brothers.
Third Friday Night Live continues to bring live music to the community. So bring your dancing shoes and make your way to the Soper Reese Community Theatre.
The Fargo Brothers have been burning up stages since 1979.
Veterans of well over 4,000 live shows from California to the Canadian border, these four seasoned professionals deliver a brand of roots Rock and Roll with a fire and intensity that only three decades together can bring.
Known for their vocal harmonies and tight ensemble playing, The Fargo Brothers always put on a show that is not to be missed.
Michael Lester Adams rocks the vocals and guitar while Russ Whitehaed provides vocals and plays the Bass.
Joost Vonks keeps the beat with drums and back up vocals while “Mojo” Larry Platz tickles guitar strings and sings along.
The group says they have fun performing and the audience can feel it.
Opening for the Fargo Brothers is Michael Barrish, a lifelong musician, has been writing songs for over 30 years.
The songs cover a variety of styles from cowboy songs to the blues.
After playing in various cover bands, Barrish has been promoting his own material performing music in a sing/songwriter format for the last five years.
He is a past winner of the Best Performance Award for the West Coast Songwriters, San Luis Obispo County.
In 2006 Barrish made his debut CD entitled “The Old Adobe” which includes 12 songs showcasing his abilities as a songwriter and performer with the help of his friends Chris Hillman, David West, and Tom Ball on selected tracks.
All seats for “Third Friday Live” are $10.
Get your tickets online at www.SoperReeseTheatre.com or at the Theatre Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport or call 707-263-0577.
The box office is open on Thursdays and Fridays, 10:30 am to 5:30 pm, and on the day of the show for two hours before show time. Look for updates on upcoming headliners and opening acts at www.soperreesetheatre.com. Get ready for a night of grooves and moves, see you at the theatre.
Michael Barrish will open for the Fargo Brothers at the Soper Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, Calif., on Friday, October 21, 2011. Courtesy photo.
After watching “Contagion,” I may never again grab a fistful of nuts from a bowl sitting on a bar counter. It’s also not a good idea to shake hands with a butcher.
Many life lessons are to be found in the scientific thriller “Contagion,” the story of the fast spread of a deadly global plague.
The well-known actors that play pivotal characters are essentially accessory to the central story, and in some cases they prove expendable to boot.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Beth Emhoff, based in Minneapolis, travels the globe for her business. We spot her in Hong Kong, hobnobbing with executives at a party.
On her return to the states, Beth has a layover in Chicago, which has personal ramifications, but nothing central to the epidemic plot.
It’s upon her return home to her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) and young son that Beth’s health rapidly declines. She goes from feverish sweating to a brain hemorrhage and quick death in relatively short order.
Though the virus quickly takes the life of Beth and then Mitch’s son, it appears that Mitch is somehow immune to the disease and maybe the same holds true for his older daughter.
Meanwhile, reports are coming in from around the world, from major metropolitan cities to provinces in China about a lethal flu-like virus.
The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, supervised by Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne), is the command center for coordinating emergency response teams around the country.
Kate Winslet’s Dr. Erin Mears is dispatched to Minneapolis to investigate the mysterious death of Beth Emhoff, the apparent first victim.
On the other side of the world, the World Health Organization dispatches Dr. Orantes (Marion Cotillard) to Hong Kong, which is suspected as the point of origin for the fast-spreading toxic disease.
Back in the states, Dr. Cheever is put in the unenviable position of dealing with news media reports which call into question his integrity after it is learned that he advised his wife (Sanaa Lathan) to get out of Chicago before it is quarantined.
Adding to the public turmoil is the involvement of a popular but annoying blogger named Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) who stokes fear and confusion with his unfounded conspiracy theories.
Is the rabble-rousing Alan serving a public purpose to alert everyone to the immediate dangers or are his motives steeped in opportunity to cash in for a big payday?
As panic takes hold, the inevitable chaos and mayhem follows. Looting and vandalism occur in markets and convenience stores. Riots break out when the government runs short on medical supplies. The nightmarish scenario seems all so plausible.
Director Steven Soderbergh does an excellent job of building tension with the lingering sense of trepidation that grips the public and medical community.
Matt Damon plays a masterful role as the persevering, resolute symbol of the common man trying to make sense of the world shattering and crumbling all around him.
As a matter of fact, CDC director Dr. Cheever and his staff are also doing their level best to race to find a cure amidst the usual bureaucratic bickering.
“Contagion” plays out a rather plausible scenario for a global pandemic, even if all of its parts are not entirely convincing. Moreover, it entertains as an unsettling medical thriller.
When somebody starts coughing in a nearby row at the theater, you may find it sensible to think about moving away to a safe distance.
Yes, “Contagion” should engender panic, fear and loathing, and even hypochondria. In recent memory, we have SARS, the swine flu and bird flu to thank for that.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
Since we are on the topic of thrillers this week, it is an opportune time to note that the action-packed “Hanna” has been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Saoirse Ronan stars as Hanna, a 16-year old girl raised in the desolate, icy wilds of Finland by her ex-CIA agent father Erik (Eric Bana) and trained to become the perfect assassin.
Every moment of Hanna’s childhood and adolescence has been spent building up the strength, stamina and survival instincts she needs to prepare for the day she must strike out on her own.
That day has now come; armed with the skills her father has imparted to her and the mantra “adapt or die,” Hanna must cross Europe and face her family’s longtime enemy, lethal intelligence operative Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett).
Both the DVD and Blu-ray feature an alternate ending and deleted scenes, along with commentary from director Joe Wright.
Naturally, the Blu-ray edition has more bonus features, including a look at the Chemical Brothers’ creative process of writing and scoring all of the music in the film.
In the spirit of Alan Krumwiede, let me just say there is a conspiracy to put the better bonus features on the Blu-ray editions, so that you’ll buy the more expensive product.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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