Top of your stack

My Nemesis (fiction- hardbound) by Charmaine Craig

Tessa is a successful writer who develops a friendship, first by correspondence and then in person, with Charlie, a ruggedly handsome philosopher and scholar based in Los Angeles. Sparks fly as they exchange ideas about Camus and masculine desire, and their intellectual connection promises more—but there are obstacles to this burgeoning relationship. Compassionate and thought-provoking, My Nemesis is a brilliant story of seduction, envy, and the ways we publicly define and privately deceive ourselves today.

Women are the Fiercest Creatures ( fictionpaperback) by Andrea Dunlop

Set in the wealthy enclaves of Seattle’s tech elite, the lives of three women grow entangled as longheld secrets are forced to the surface, threatening to destroy their families. Written with razorsharp intelligence and heart, Women Are the Fiercest Creatures is a searing look at the complexities of family and the obstacles women navigate in every aspect of their existence.

What Napoleon Could Not Do (fiction - hardbound) by DK NNuro

America seen through the eyes and ambitions of three characters with ties to Africa are highlighted in this gripping novel. When siblings Jacob and Belinda Nti were growing up in Ghana, their goal was simple: to move to America. For them, the United States was both an opportunity and a struggle, a goal and an obstacle. Their desires and ambitions shed light on the promise and the disappointment that life in a new country offers. How each character comes to understand this and

how each learns from both their dashed hopes and their fulfilled dreams lie at the heart of what makes What Napoleon Could Not Do such a compelling, insightful read.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, March 15 @ 6 pm (free, Corte Madera store) Kate Zernike, author of The Exceptions Zernike is the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who broke the story about the inspiring account of sixteen female scientists who forced MIT to publicly admit it had been discriminating against its female faculty for years, sparking a nationwide reckoning with the pervasive sexism in science. The Exceptions is a powerful yet all-too-familiar story that will resonate with all professional women who experience what those at MIT called “21st-century discrimination”—a subtle and stubborn bias, often unconscious but still damaging.

Thursday, March 16 @ 6 pm (free, Corte Madera store) Andrew Sean Greer in conversation with Sarah Ladipo Manyika, author of Between Starshine and Clay: Conversation from the Black Diaspora

In a series of incisive and intimate encounters, Ladipo Manyika introduces some of the most distinguished Black thinkers of our time, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka, and civic leaders first lady Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker. She searches for truth with poet

ARIES (March 21–April 19)

There couldn’t be a better time to start, or up-level, your meditation practice. Set your alarm, and create a discipline around communing with the power that makes the earth turn and your heart beat. This is the start of a brand-new cycle! The slate is clean.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20)

Elisa Quinzi

Every one of us has a tendency to fall back on our emotional autopilot setting, which is to say, to think, feel, and act from our unconscious childhood fears. Some version of not feeling good enough plays out in every corner of our lives. If we are reading this astrology column, we are open enough to the possibility of a higher intelligent order, or force, in the universe. The intersection of our fears, and this higher force, is where our attention is needed. The planets indicate that we need to mature spiritually. Individually, and as a collective, the only way to truly face our fears and overcome challenges is with a real trust in the intelligent force that runs the cosmos.

Elisa Quinzi is a certified professional astrologer who brings a strong spiritual perspective, as well as over 20 years of experience, to her work with clients. Contact her at futureselfnow@gmail.com or at 818-530-3366 with your exact birth time to schedule or to ask questions.

Step 1) Allow yourself to dream again. Step 2) Remember that all of the power of the universe is pressing to come through you. Step 3). Put your dreams into physical form by making a vision board. Your practical nature can find that your feet and heart have grown heavy, so the act of seeing your vision in pictures every day can activate the magic of life that you may have lost touch with.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20)

You have a reputation of being interesting to talk with, fun to have at a party, and often having your senses plugged into the buzz of culture. The truth is you’re more than all that, but even you are guilty of neglecting your deeper waters. Higher forces now bring you opportunities to develop your compassion and to recognize your unity with all beings. Keep your heart open and honor any shifts in direction your life may want to take.

CANCER (June 21–July 22)

Your sensitive nature makes you particularly vulnerable to the frequencies of the world around you. What you place faith in can make or break you. If you find yourself despairing, and disillusioned, it’s likely you’ve cut yourself off from the superpower that is your intuition. Plug back into it and trust it to lead you to a direct experience of the magic and mystery of life.

LEO (July 23–August 22)

The planets prompt you to take a deep dive within. Signs are pointing toward the need for you to take radical responsibility for your feelings. In myth, this is when you slay some dragons. Face your underlying fears, and surrender to a larger force that you are right now suspended in. The point is the development of reliance on this force rather than on any one person. Doing so will allow you to be more vulnerable with the people who trigger you.

VIRGO (August 23–September 22)

This coming period will emphasize and encourage you to cultivate greater compassion for your fellows. Before retorting that you’re already plenty compassionate (which you are), consider the ways your inner-critic has its way with you, and the way that comes out as judgment toward the people you love. Your soul is ready for an advanced heart-opening class, and it starts now.

Claudia Rankine and historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. She discusses race and gender with South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole and American actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. She interrogates the world around us with pioneering publisher Margaret Busby, parliamentarian Lord Michael Hastings, and civil rights activist Pastor Evan Mawarire—who dared to take on President Robert Mugabe and has lived to tell the tale.

Sunday, March 19 @ 2 pm (free, Ferry Building store)

Adele Bertei, author of Twist: An American Girl https://www.bookpassage.com/

Through the eyes of her alter ego Maddie Twist, Bertei threads together the tapestry of an extraordinary, troubled childhood in the 60s and 70s. It begins with her beautiful mother, whose delusions of grandeur bring both wonders and horrors to the Bertei home. In frank prose without an ounce of self-pity, Twist is an episodic survival of the fittest, navigating the crooked rivers of poverty, race, sexuality, and gender. It is a world of little girl gangsters, drag queen solidarity, wild roller-skating, and magical thinking. With Twist, Bertei gives us a story of violence and madness, of heartbreak and perseverance, and, ultimately, redemption.

LIBRA (September 23–October 22)

Do not confuse politeness with humility. Librans are famous for their social graces, but it’s important to get real about the ways you can improve yourself. Not only will you be better able to be of service to the people in your life, but you’ll also feel happier making disciplined effort toward personal growth.

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21)

It’s time to get serious about your creativity. Take that half-written script off the shelf, blow the dust off, and make the artist in you show up for the work. Something in you will feel good when it’s expressed, and it won’t fully come out until you show up to give it a chance to move through you.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 21)

Your ideas about belonging and security have a chance to deepen and mature. Commit time and effort to some self-exploration. Root out the parts of your family myth that don’t serve you, and strengthen and develop a feeling of security that is personal to you and to who you’ve become.

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 19)

Most Capricorns value security above all else, and as such are naturally wired to acquire it, particularly materially. And so, when physical assets appear to be lacking, Capricorn’s fears can overwhelm. The antidote to this fear of material loss is awareness of the greater permanence of the spiritual realms. It’s this awareness that you are to lean into now. There is great wisdom in you, and more than any financial legacy, it is your wisdom that your loved ones need to inherit from you most.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18)

You have access to universal truths that can unite humanity. You also have an underlying vulnerability to withdraw from society and live off the grid, away from the masses. Living in isolation won’t satisfy your soul, as one of your fundamental needs is to share your ideas with a group. Make room for the mystical, as it will sustain you in your work with others.

PISCES (February 19–March 20)

Pisces are the mystics and the shamans of the zodiac. You see past the veil into other dimensions that are as valid as this physical one we inhabit. Some would say more valid. But often Pisces hangs back in a womb-like existence, waiting for the next life, depriving the world of your much-needed gifts. The time has come to share with the world what you see and sense, and bring your wisdom and experience into form. Face your fears of unworthiness and make an allout effort to start living your full potential as you intended before you came here.

SISTER DANA (continued from pg 26) https://www.koshercomedy.com/

(NY), Carla Clayy (SF), and “The Geduldig Sisters”—producer/ comic Lisa Geduldig and her 91-year-young mother Arline Geduldig (Florida). Lockdown Comedy has been running every 3rd Thursday of the month on Zoom since July 2020. Since the monthly shows still cater to audiences of some 30–50 people monthly throughout the U.S. and some internationally, and since the pandemic is not yet over, the show will continue on Zoom for the foreseeable future.

Sister Dana sez, “The English professor in me needs to stress that the word ‘woke’ is a verb, and is the past tense of ‘wake.’ It is NOT an adjective. Please stop using it incorrectly! Wake up!” https://www.sfplayhouse.org/

Based on the iconic 1985 film—which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game—CLUE is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery comedy. At a remote mansion, six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. As the body count rises, Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, and Wadsworth, the butler, race to find the killer. Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cultfans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?!

Mysteriously playing now through April 22, SAN FRANCISCO PLAYHOUSE, 450 Post Street, Floor 2M.

Sister Dana sez, “I said it once, and I’ll say it again: Let’s hope they really ‘Gay It Up’ at the OSCARS on March 12!”

THE SAINTS COME MARCHING

IN is a benefit for us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on March

19, 4–7 pm at the Edge bar, 4149 18th Street. Hosted by our saints, with emcee Mark Paladini and music by DJ Jimmy Strano. Live performers. Beer/Soda Bust.

The 58th Anniversary of BLOODY SUNDAY in Selma, Alabama was commemorated on March 5 when President Biden visited the historic site of Edmund Pettus Bridge where civil rights protesters were senselessly, violently, brutally attacked. On March 7, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and soon to be Congressman John Lewis led hundreds in a peaceful protest across the bridge to Montgomery for the right to vote—but were cruelly assaulted. This public display eventually led to passage of the VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 five months later. Then in 2013, all that was sadly, unfairly diluted by the radical right and Supreme Court.

Sister Dana sez, “We need to bust the filibuster and pass the JOHN LEWIS VOTING ACT!”

Sister Dana sez, “We need to rename the bridge that was named after a KKK Grand Dragon U.S. senator—to become the John Lewis Bridge!”

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in this country. According to a report from the ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, anti-Semitic incidents have reached a record high of 2,700 acts of assault, vandalism, and harassment, up 34% from 2020 to 2021, the highest level since tracking began in 1979.

Sister Dana sez, “The Radical Right is attacking our rights: attacks against media, Black voters, libraries, teachers, LGBTQ people, Jewish people, immigrants, trans kids, women’s choices, free enterprise, drag, and bloggers.

Welcome to AmeriKKKa the autocracy!”

FARMERS’ MARKET (continued from pg 34) biting into a big ripe peach or tomato that’s just been harvested.

A bonus to eating with the seasons is that it is less expensive overall, and with the cost of living increasing, we need all the help we can get! It’s cheaper to buy something that’s in season when quantities and varieties are readily available. An additional benefit to eating in season: research has shown that the produce is more nutritionally dense because it’s had time to ripen naturally. Eating with the seasons and eating foods from local farms is also better for the environment. Fruits and vegetables taste better when they don’t need to catch a flight or cross the ocean to get on your plate!’

The bottom line is, eat with the seasons as much as you can. We’re not saying don’t have a tomato in March if you want one. Just remember it won’t taste as good as a tomato, fresh off the vine, in July. Buy from your local farmers’ market often and you will be rewarded with the best tasting produce you’ve ever had, while helping local farmers bring you the finest of what they’ve grown. Happy munching!

If you have questions you’d like us to answer about your farmers’ market, please send them to deardeb@pcfma.org

Debra Morris is a spokesperson for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association (PCFMA). Check out the PCFMA website for recipes, information about farmers’ markets throughout the region, and for much more: https://www.pcfma.org/

KRAMER (continued from pg 27)

Gary M. Kramer: I know you coach rugby, and the film’s sports scenes have a real sense of authenticity. Can you talk about staging them? And did you cast actors who could play rugby, or did you find rugby players who could act?

Matt Carter: All the actors are actors, but during the casting process we said anyone who had prior sport or rugby experience was a plus. Most played in school, but a few never played. We wanted performance first. I coach, so I could bring people up to speed. I teach beginners to learn the sport in 8 weeks to make newbies match-ready. I did a boot camp. But it’s a movie, so it’s choreography, and we don’t expect the actors to do much other than pass the ball and look confident. There is genuine rugby happening in the film, and we did lots of set pieces. So, we showed the best bits of what we filmed to make it authentic. Rugby is a complicated sport, and you can bore an audience if you ask them to follow any game, but we do care about characters, so we focused on characters’ faces and what they were feeling.

LIAM (continued from pg 31)

James Beard and Michelin restaurants like Wahpepah’s Kitchen, Millennium, Jo’s Modern Thai, Horn BBQ, and more. We celebrate every chef and restaurant in Oakland.

Liam P. Mayclem: Why are chefs and restaurants leaving other cities for Oakland?

Peter Gamez: Aside from the simple fact Oakland is beautiful, vibrant, and very inclusive, the culinary scene in Oakland is ever evolving and growing every day. The culinary community in Oakland is very unified and proud. The restaurateurs and chefs support and celebrate each other every day. This true sense of community is felt by all who visit and that makes the Oakland experience very special.

Liam P. Mayclem: How diverse is the food scene in Oakland?

Peter Gamez: 125 languages are spoken in The Town. That diversity is strongly represented in our culinary scene. Here in Oakland, you can enjoy food from around the world including Ethiopian, Indian, Mexican, Native, Chinese, American, and so much more. You can also experience more than 20 plant-based restaurants along the Oakland Vegan Trail.

Liam P. Mayclem: The LGBTQ+ community no doubt adds to the diversity?

Peter Gamez: Yes, our LGBTQ+ chef scene is also very vibrant. We have a number of LGBTQ+ owned restaurants and bars including Shakewell, Port Bar, and Port Bar’s soon-to-open sister bar FLUID. It is scheduled to open this June.

Liam P. Mayclem: What are your favorite Oakland restaurants in the following categories and your favorite menu item at each spot?

Peter Gamez: It is impossible to pick a favorite because I love them all. But I will share a few suggestions:

Breakfast

• Home of Chicken & Waffles - Need I say more?

• Grand Lake Kitchen, for their Savory French Toast

Gary M. Kramer: I really appreciated the camaraderie of the teammates and that you took time to define the characters. What can you say about creating that in the script and with the cast?

Matt Carter: There are about 15 speaking roles in the film, and it can be very easy to get them mixed up, so we had to give them personalities and connections—who are they friends with, or do they not get along with? We are dropping [viewers] into a world that already exists. It’s a rugby family, and you don’t always get along, but you put up with and tolerate and love each other in their way. The B-team story is almost as important as the central relationship is and it’s the stage the relationship takes place. They affect each other.

Gary M. Kramer: Let’s talk about the love scenes and making a gay romance with more romance than sex.

Matt Carter: Adam Silver, my cowriter, and I had a discussion from the start that we would not have any gratuitous sex. Anytime sex is used it

Lunch • Agave Uptown - Everything they prepare is super fresh, authentic, and simply delicious.

Food Truck

• Guadalajara Oakland - They have a brick and mortar and a great food truck out of our Fruitvale neighborhood. It’s a very popular truck in The Town.

Date Night

• Duende - They have great sharable entrées, amazing cocktails, and often live music. It’s a great place to dine before a show at the historic Fox Theater, making for a perfect date night.

New Restaurant

• Left Bank for their Steak Frites

• Occitania for the Escargot

• Parche for the cocktails and appetizers

All the food is great at these spots. They are all beautiful spaces and great additions to The Town.

[is done so as] a storytelling device. There are only two scenes where the characters are actually having sex: a scene in a bathroom and after the Cardiff match. They are turning points for the characters. It’s really showing how they start to fall for each other. The sex is more lovemaking and them falling harder for each other. It shows they have a physical attraction.

Gary M. Kramer: The film is really about body blows—getting hurt physically on the pitch and emotionally with heartbreak or hurting others. Can you talk about that aspect of your film?

Matt Carter: It is about how you hurt your head and you hurt your heart. The tagline one of the actors came up with, which is used on the poster, is: Love is a contact sport.

© 2023 Gary M. Kramer

Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer

Bar Food • Sobre Mesa for their amazing cocktails. I also love the Empanadas and Tostones (fried plantains).

Signature Oakland Experience

• Fentons Ice Cream for the ice cream tasting. It is so much fun!

Liam P. Mayclem: How can we find out more about ORW and make a resy?

Peter Gamez: Oakland Restaurant Week takes place March 16–26. For a list of participating restaurants and more details go to https://tinyurl.com/m8h4kxs4

Emmy Award-winning radio and television personality Liam Mayclem is regularly featured on KPIX as well as KCBS, where he is the popular Foodie Chap. Born in London, Mayclem is now at home in the Bay Area, where he lives with his husband, photographer Rick Camargo. For more information: https://www.bookliam.com/