Something big is going on here. It's all very mysterious and secretive, but it appears I'm going to be part of the "inner circle" of what' ever it is.
What Gloria whispered to me that night what if I wanted to talk to someone about the problems here I should call Eric Ventura but not to mention her name. Eric is a master woodworker. His wife Lori is the owner of the Katani Falls Day Spa and Beauty Salon. I knew that like everyone else their business has been off for them, but what I didn't know was that not long ago they decided to let their house go and move into Julie Williams's house with her, her children, Rachael Kline and her children.
I know some of you don't now all these people, so let me provide a brief introduction. Julie has always been our nurturing Earth Mother. Her husband Cody was the head ranger with the Forest Service until he was stricken with prostrate cancer. Julie started a cleaning service, which she still runs, to help pay off Cody's medical bills. When Cody lost his battle with cancer last year Julie and Rachael combined households.
Rachael was the wife of one of my husband Mark's buddies at his golf club in LA before we moved up here. She was an artist with a promising career she had to abandon after an unfortunate divorce. When we moved here I invited her to bring her three kids up for a visit. At the time were living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in Studio City. She had returned to her pre-marriage field working the swing shift as a nurse at an ER in Glendale while the kids slept over at her mother’s twenty miles away in Canoga Park.
Just like Mark, she fell in love with Katani Falls the moment she arrived. When the Clinic opened, she took the position as Mark's head nurse. She'd been renting a house, but when the owner went into foreclosure, Julie gladly opened her home to Rachael and the children. It was a perfect solution for them all, because the Williams have a huge home way up on Altos Lane. That's about as far up the mountain as our community goes, at around 6000 feet.
I'd known all that. I also knew Julie's two oldest kids and Rachael's oldest boy, along our son Jason, had left Katani Falls this past summer to join the US Forestry Youth Service at the Mojave National Preserve. They're all working for room and board. It's a cool program the Forest Service set up after their funds were cut to the bone and they had to lay off most of their professional personnel. lt's sort of a forestry boarding-school, job experience, and professional training program all rolled into one.
I didn't know Eric and Lori had moved in with Julie too. I guess with the kids gone there was extra room in the house, but why do that? When Eric first mentioned it on the phone I thought he and Lori must have lost their house. But I don't think that's what happened.
Eric was most friendly when I first called. We chatted about his move, how cold it's getting, how beautiful the early mornings are when the fog creeps down the valley, how the Clinic is going. But when I mentioned I was worried about the state of things here and thought we should organize to be more self-sustaining, his demeanor changed.
"Well, yeah," he said in flat matter-of-fact tone. "That would be good. What do you have in mind?"
I told him about the Transition Handbook and your blog. He wasn't familiar with either of them, but then he didn't say anything else. So I kept talking. Reminding him of how involved we had all been before, but that the others from our old group didn't seem interested now. I mentioned all the great plans we'd once. Lori's idea for a Commerce Development Committee. The Forest Youth Corps for teenagers Codi spear-headed that was adopted statewide last year. The volunteer Meals for Neighbors program Suzanne and Gloria started for meal-delivery to the homes of people who are ill. The Mountain Arts Gallery he and Megan had opened.
"Now, all that great energy has dissipated," I said, "and we're in more trouble now than we were then."
"Right!" he said emphatically. "Everyone's pretty much gone their own way, haven't they?" There was a touch of anger creeping into his voice and he didn't wait for a reply. "Suzanne and Ned are never here. The Gallery closed after the city folks stopped coming up here for weekend getaways. Now Megan wants to move to greener pastures so Ryan didn't run again for the council. And Ned didn't either since the law firm needs him in town so much.
"But what difference does it make anyway? The Council doesn't want to address anything serious. That's why I resigned. I've got more important things to do than debate how we're going to raise funds to buy more golf carts."
There was plenty of irritation in his voice by then and all I could think of to say "I know, that's what I mean." An uncomfortably long silence followed and I thought maybe the conversation was over. Then he started to talk in that slow, calm voice he always used to when he addressed our group in the past.
"Do you remember once when we talked among ourselves about how when the fabric of a community starts to unravel, we lose our connection to the common bond and fear we'll lose out, so individual agendas take over and community suffers?"
I had forgotten that, but, "Yes," I said, I remember."
"Well, it's happened here again too, despite our sincere commitment to preserving our community. We live close to nature, remote from the city and all the traffic and malls and discount stores. but we're still part of the broader national culture. We're still tied to a culture where everything is based on making and spending money in order to sustain ourselves at even a basic. But, Rose, that culture is crumbling and everyone is being affected.
"Right now there's no new way of being to replace the way we've all come to depend on. Yes, even us. Where do we do all our shopping? Where does most of our business come from? How do most of us earn a living? Not here. We're parasites trying to live off a dying carcass. That's what we have to change, Rose. We have to create a new way of living. That's what we're trying to do."
I was repulsed by his metaphor but excited that evidently something was happening here. "That's what The Transition Handbook is all about doing," I blurted out. Astonished by his statement That's what we're trying to do, I quickly added "That's what who's trying to do? Here?"
He was quiet again. I felt awkward. Finally he said. "Just several of us."
"Oh," I said. I really wanted to know more but it felt like I was prying the top off a congealed paint can. "So what in particular are you all doing?" I asked him, certain it has something to do with his and Lori's decision to move in with Julie. But again he wasn't responding so I added, "Is there some way I could help?"
"Well," he paused, "we're doing this on our own, quietly, a few of us." Another irritatingly long silence. Then, "We're having a little meeting next Monday night, up at our house. Maybe you could come and bring that book you mentioned, but, only if you'd be willing to keep this all quiet until the time is right?"
I asked it there was anyone else I know coming. "Oh, yeah," he replied. Lori and Julie and Rachael would be there and I probably had met everyone else who'd be there but he doubted I knew the rest of them very well. "They're not your usual group."
So, I have a usual group? I knew he meant our old group from before, but the way he said it felt off-putting. Nonetheless I told him I was fine with coming and wouldn't mention it to anyone. But I'm wondering why all the hush-hush, especially when before hanging up he emphasized, "Not a word to anyone in the village."
I haven't mentioned it to a soul here and I won't. Not even to Mark, though I'd love to tell him, and Gloria too, especially since she's the one who suggested I call Eric. She must know something. But both she and Mark had made it clear they didn't want to hear anything on this topic anyway and I've given my word. There must be an important reason.
None of your readers could possibly know anyone in Katani Falls, or even where Katani Fall is, for that matter, but given the solemnity of Eric's tone, could we please keep this just between us on this site until I know more? Thank you.
Until then,
Rose.
To see Sarah's reply, LEAVE A COMMENT FOR ROSE, or read the comments of others, click on the word Comments below. If you're just joining Rose's story, you can catch up by reading Chapter 1 under Labels in the right hand column.
(c) Sarah Anne Edwards, 2008
Posts
Your news is intriguing, Rose. I’m eager to hear what's happening and why it's so hush, hush. Hope the group you’ll be meeting is undertaking the kind of mobilization you've been hoping for.
ReplyDeleteYou introduced Julie Williams and Rachael Kline briefly, but in addition to being a master woodcraftsman, there are other things I'd like your readers to know about Eric Ventura.
Eric used to work on an oilrig in central California where more oil is produced in just one county than in the whole state of Oklahoma. He was pulling in a good income but he hated the work. He especially hated the way he was treated and how much he drank to make it tolerable.
One Sunday he went to a Native American Pow Wow up on the top of Mt. Katani with a friend. Eric is part Chumash and Paiute on his mother’s side, or so he'd been told, but his family had lost their Native traditions before Eric was born. Upon returning from that Pow Wow, he quit his job, moved to Katani Falls and squeezed out a living doing odd jobs until he got his custom woodworking business going.
When Katani Falls' close-knit character as an idyllic mountain community was threatened by a development company with plans to transform it into a glitzy ski resort, Eric was part of a group that included Susanne, Rose, Mark, Gloria, Ned, Megan and Ryan who worked to bring the community together and preserve their way of life.
Before a highly contentious meeting where the residents would determine the course of their future, Eric risked his life climbing Mt. Katani in a raging blizzard to carry out a sacred mission on behalf of the community.
It sounds like Eric may once again be undertaking a roll that could determine the future of Katani Falls.
I look forward to news of your meeting.
Fall blessings,
Sarah
E-mailed comment from a reader
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that the mystery is tantalizing and sets the stage for potential
of great instructive value to unfold...and I can't wait for Rose's next blog!!!
Maybe one day Rose will lead us along a "doable" path to a sustainable future...and you can print up all of her blog posts as a
book to share with the world.
Intrigue in Katani Falls? Why secrecy? Tell us more.
ReplyDelete-- Paul
Response to Rose:
ReplyDeleteHi Rose,
I read about you some years ago and remember your delight of living in Katalani Falls and the beauty and community of the place that attracted you. As I was reading your story, I longed to have nature so close on a daily basis. After contemplating about that for a while, it came back to me why I wasn’t living in a small place near nature: I grew up close to stunning beauty near the foothills of the Alps, but realized that nature alone won’t do. There is money to be earned and people to live with that at least to some degree share something with you.
Seems you got that to some degree, but when the developers tried to change Katalani Falls, there was a first scare, one that you could steer into a direction that your community could accept. Maybe I’m just too pessimistic, but I’m afraid no place is safe from the influences and the greed of the bigger world. Maybe I’m too disillusioned, but in my experience there are no paradises, at least not for long.
But back to your story. What most caught my attention was the paragraph where Eric says “but we’re still part of the broader culture. We’re still tied to a culture where everything is based on making and spending money in order to sustain ourselves at even a basic. But Rose, that culture is crumbling and everyone is being affected,” and you respond “We have to find a new way of living.”
Yeah, I think that is on many people’s mind, but so hard because as Eric said, we’re all part of a broader culture. The people I know who consciously made a decision to live apart from this society are either dirt poor or sooner or later bought into the need of being tied in through some job or other.
Well, I’m very interested how the people in Katalani Falls are going to deal with the new crisis and what the crisis is about.
While I’d like to imagine and dream about is new ways to deal with the economic realities that are awaiting us. There is this sinking feeling in my stomach that things are going to get worse before they’re getting better. And what I afraid of is that building relationships within a small group of people on a local level, as challenging as even that is, doesn’t mean a changed connection to the wider world unless we become some sort of survivalists.
Sorry to sound so pessimistic about economic realities and let me assure you that is not all I think and am about. I tremendously enjoy life, but would like to keep it that way, not only for myself but for others as well.
I’m looking forward to hear more from you and from the people in Katalani Falls.
Christine
I'm sure you are right, Christine, that we are facing a challenge to create a way of life that is somewhere between the material abundance we live in now yet we cannot sustain and a dirt poor survivalist life. There has to be a place between these extremes.
ReplyDeleteHopefully that is what Erik and his friends are working on. I'll be quite curious as to what that would look like for them and how others will respond.
I don't think you are a pessimist for looking squarely at economic realities. It's not pessimistic to heed a tornado or hurricane warning. It's depends on what we do with the information of that darkening clouds are forming forecasting the arrival of forces we cannot control.
Already we see a range of responses in Katani Falls with Mark and Gloria not wanting to deal with the changes their community is facing and others seemingly willing to at least try something.
Thank you for writing to Rose. I know she really appreciates hearing from you and reconnecting.