Are our cosmetics safe? Some people say no. Increasingly, experts are looking to the chemicals in make-up for the answers to cancer rates and other health problems. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about–especially if you don’t wear make-up every day–but a group of teenagers in Marin disagrees with me. They think we should all think about what exactly makes up (heh) our make-up. I wrote about this issue in the most recent issue of the Pacific Sun. Excerpt:

Just when you start to feel that you’re getting a handle on all the environmental hazards around you, another one pops up like a toxic bubble.

In fact, a group of young women from Marin worries that hazard might actually be a toxic tube of lipstick. Those girls want everyone to be aware of the possible dangers of cosmetics, and they aren’t stopping until teenagers nationwide join their cause.

Teens for Safe Cosmetics started in 2005 as a division of Search for the Cause, a nonprofit agency devoted to understanding Marin’s high breast-cancer rates. As Teens for Safe Cosmetics approaches its third anniversary, it’s showing no sign of slowing down—it now boasts hundreds of members, a fledgling branch in New York and its own product line to be distributed by Whole Foods this fall.

Read the rest here.

I also have a piece of satire coming out in the upcoming issue of the Wittenburg Door. Keep an eye out for it.

My book review of Marya Hornbacher’s Madness: A Bipolar Life is up at PopMatters. Excerpt:

In 1998, Marya Hornbacher wrote Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, about an eating disorder so severe, she whittled herself down to 52 pounds and was given a week to live. The book stands out in its ability to dig inside the mind of someone with an eating disorder. Hornbacher, who was 23 when she wrote the book, hadn’t yet gotten distance from being sick, and that, combined with copious research, made Wasted a particularly unflinching look at anorexia and bulimia. …

Now, a decade later, Hornbacher has written a follow-up: Madness: A Bipolar Life. The book picks up where Wasted leaves off, covering the last 10 years of Hornbacher’s life, when she discovers that her real problem all along has been bipolar disorder. Everything else—starving herself, drinking, cutting, throwing up—was just a means to control the roller coaster of her moods. As with her eating disorders, Hornbacher ignored the diagnosis for as long as possible, descending into an ugly hole of self-destruction.

Go take a look.

I have the cover story in the Pacific Sun this week. I interviewed novelist Anne Lamott and playwrights Laurel Graver and Ann Brebner about the adaptation of Lamott’s novel, Hard Laughter, into a play. I really enjoyed writing this one–all three ladies were just delightful to talk to.

In another article, I interviewed Albert Flynn DeSilver, the first Marin County Poet Laureate. As part of that, I got to go to see Billy Collins read some poetry at the Marin Academy High School.

I lead a good life.

Read about Hard Laughter here, and the poet laureate here.

I have a new cover story in the Pacific Sun. It’s about a group of moms starting an “EcoMom” movement–an attempt to get moms from all over to share tips on what they can do to help Global Warming. The group has EcoMom Parties, where they encourage moms to get together and talk about the environment, kind of like a Book Club or Tupperware Party. Here’s a snippet:

“When I saw Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth, I lay awake all night worrying about it,” Katie Tuttle tells a group of Marin moms. “When I woke up the next morning, I had my first gray hair. Then my husband said that instead of complaining so much about it, I should do something.”

Tuttle is speaking at an EcoMom Alliance meeting. The group wants moms all over the country to become more environmentally aware and is working to give them the tools to live a greener lifestyle. The meeting is at founder Kimberly Danek Pinkson’s San Anselmo home—a small, rented bungalow. Sitting around her cozy living room are “EcoMom Leaders,” women who have volunteered to help with the burgeoning movement.

Also at the meeting is Peter Bick, a filmmaker who is making a documentary on global warming. Bick, whose films have won awards at festivals like South by Southwest in Austin, is part of a wave of interest in EcoMom Alliance. Since The New York Times wrote a piece on the organization in February, Pinkson has been contacted by everyone from The Today Show to 20/20.

More here.

Did you hear that the FDA decided that cloned meat and milk are safe to eat? I looked into this issue for my newest article in the North Bay Bohemian.

Excerpt:

THE Food and Drug Administration may think cloned animals are ready to enter our food supply, but some local ranchers and dairy farmers do not. In fact, they are concerned that this new technology may put our food supply at risk. And once that happens, it’s hard to go back.

Opponents say that it’s just too soon for this new technology to enter our food supply. After researching and writing this article, I’ll say I tend to agree with them. Although I understand the FDA’s argument that cloned meat looks and acts like all other meat and it’s therefore logical to assume it’s safe, I found myself wondering what the rush is here. Allowing cloned meat and dairy isn’t even something the ranchers particularly want at this point–although those companies coming up with the cloning technology certainly do.

This article was also picked up in the Metro Silicon Valley.

I have the cover story in the Pacific Sun this week. It’s an interview with David Roche, who has written a new book called the Church of 80% Sincerity. I really enjoyed the conversation I had with David. Here is an excerpt:

“I am facially disfigured,” writes David Roche. “Woven through the left side of my face, head and neck, extending into my soft palate and airway, is a benign congenital tumor consisting of my own engorged and tangled veins and capillaries. My left cheek is tuberous and misshapen. My dark bluish-purple tongue is twice the normal size.”

So begins David Roche’s book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, which is being released this month by Penguin Group. Roche, who lives in Mill Valley, now makes a living off of his face. He tours around the world giving motivational speeches about what it’s like to be facially disfigured.

Read more here.

Check out my new article in the Pacific Sun on Coast Miwok death ceremonies:

When a person died in a Coast Miwok village, everything went quiet. People spoke in whispers and moved gently, hushing their children and cringing at every dog bark. The village was flushed with silence, but the people were quiet out of more than just respect for the grieving family.

“They were afraid that if they made a noise, someone would come to poison them,” Maria Copa, a Coast Miwok, explained in a 1931 interview.

The Miwoks feared that if you laughed or shouted while another family was mourning, they might be so offended, they would get a sorcerer to poison you.

“In the 18th century, it wasn’t clearly understood what caused illness,” says Betty Goerke, author of Chief Marin: Leader, Rebel, and Legend, published by Heyday Books earlier this year. “They believed there were sorcerers in the village that were paid to cause people to die, and they were fearful of bringing illness upon themselves. So they were cautious.”

Miwoks had other kinds of silences surrounding death as well. After someone died, his possessions were destroyed and his name was never spoken again. His memory remained in the confines of people’s heads, passing away completely with each generation.

Read more here.

My book review on I Heart My In-Laws by Dina Koutas Poch is up on PopMatters.

When I read I Heart My In-Laws by Dina Koutas Poch, I was a little worried that my mother-in-law would see the book lying around and think I had some unspoken issues with her. I’ve heard stories about other people’s in-laws that range from horrible to downright nightmarish, so I didn’t want to do anything to suggest there are any lurking problems. Even in a healthy relationship, it’s not good to rock the boat.

But I needn’t have worried. Poch’s book has as much for those who like their in-laws as those who don’t. After all, any time two families mesh, there’s bound to be some friction, even if it’s just when getting to know each other.

More here

Check it out: This week’s issue of the Bohemian has my restaurant review of Le Bistro in Petaluma.

Le Bistro

By Joy Lanzendorfer

I had heard a lot about Le Bistro in Petaluma. After all, the restaurant, sitting unobtrusively on Petaluma Boulevard South a few blocks from downtown, has been there for 19 years. When people talk about Le Bistro, they mention owner and chef Corey Basso. Many call Basso a first-class chef, even a genius, but note that he is particular about how Le Bistro is run. One woman on the reviewing website Yelp compared him to the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. It all sounded a little intimidating, like I was going to a restaurant run by some sort of brilliant culinary dictator.

Read more here

UPDATE: I re-posted this entry because the comments were broken before. It’s a long story. But now you can comment on it.

Last month, I spent time talking to video game developers in Marin County. I got to go to their offices, ask them about their games, and think about having fun a lot. It was, well… fun.

The resulting article is this week’s cover story in the Pacific Sun.

Here are the first few paragraphs to whet your appetite:

When it comes to video games, those who make them are similar to the die-hard fans who play them.

In both cases: mostly young men bending over glowing computer screens exploring every detail of the game.

They stay that way for days sometimes, not coming up for fresh air or food that hasn’t come via delivery driver. At last, they finish the game and emerge from their caves, blinking in the light of day. Almost immediately, they begin to think of the next game to tackle.

The difference, of course, is that the developer is struggling to meet a deadline to get the game into stores. The fan just has too much time on his hands.

Read the rest here.