Noe Valley Voice October 2012
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Short Takes

 

November Propositions Deconstructed

Confused voters can find clarity on state propositions when the residents’ group Upper Noe Neighbors holds its Oct. 10 meeting at Upper Noe Recreation Center, 295 Day St.

A speaker from the League of Women Voters will present the pros and cons of local and state propositions, including Propositions 30 and 38, two dueling tax measures that seek to bolster public schools either through sales tax or income tax. There will also be discussion of Proposition 37, which requires genetically modified food to be labeled as such.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that helps voters understand election-day issues. They will give a neutral presentation on the measures, which will be followed by discussion.

The program, which starts at 7:30 p.m., is co-hosted by Friends of Noe Valley Recreation Center to support educational resources for voters.

In addition, Upper Noe Neighbors will convene its quarterly meeting and introduce Belinda Kerr, the new owner of ­O’Greenberg’s bar at the corner of 29th and Dolores streets.

—Heather World

 

Odd Itinerary

You can journey from the Middle East to the Midwest without leaving the comfort of Phoenix Books on 24th Street when the Odd Mondays series resumes in October.

Loss and love share the stage Oct. 15. Teacher and author Nitza Agam will read from her memoir, Scent of Jasmine. The book describes the loss of Agam’s fiancé during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In addition, Sarah Isaias will read from her crosscultural novel about an Arab-Israeli relationship, A New Song.

You can learn a foreign language on Oct. 29, when former journalist Paul Hustedler reads from his memoir, titled Never Felt Better, Looked Worse, Nor Had Less: Growing Up Off Center in the Middle West. Hustedler describes the book as “sort of Armistead Maupin meets Prairie Home Companion.” The story is told in a series of vignettes from his life as the youngest of three boys living near Kansas City, and it is peppered with phrases not heard in San Francisco, like “Good gosh all hem stitch!”

All Odd Mondays events are free and start at 7 p.m. at Phoenix Books, 3957 24th St. The evenings are preceded by a no-host supper at 5:30 p.m. at Haystack Pizza, 3881 24th St. For more information, visit www.oddmondays.com.

—Heather World

 

Artists Open Their Doors


The images that Noe Valley artist Ellen Little paints from nature will be on display Oct. 27–28 as part of SF Open Studios.

Noe Valley artist Ellen Little doesn’t have to travel far to find inspiration for her watercolors and oil paintings. She merely has to stroll through the backyard garden at her Jersey Street home.

Little’s paintings of butterflies, flowers, and moths will be on display this month as part of SF Open Studios, an annual event organized by the nonprofit ArtSpan.

Little is among some two dozen artists in Noe Valley who will open their living rooms, studios, and garages to art patrons, collectors, and the curious on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 27 and 28, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Showing that same weekend will be hundreds more artists living in the Mission, Bernal Heights, and the Castro.

In total, more than 900 artists across the city will participate in the free, month-long Open Studios showcase, which starts Oct. 13-14 and ends Nov. 3-4.

The event will be the second Open Studios appearance for Little, 53, who shuttered her graphic design firm, Little Design Studio, in 2010 to devote full-time to painting.

She says her “loose and spontaneous” paintings, which have their roots in abstract expressionism, range in price from $50 to $2,500. To see more of her work, visit www.ellenlittle.com.

For images and information about all the artists in SF Open Studios, go to www.artspan.org.

—Corrie M. Anders