December 18, 2022 – Memorial Grove Update

These three young Monterey cypress trees of the Memorial Grove have been doing quite well. Consequently, there is not much to write about them. Two were installed scarcely more than a year ago. The other was installed about two and a half years ago. All three were dinky seedlings when installed, so are less demanding than larger specimens would have been as they dispersed their roots to get established. Although still young, small and vulnerable, their only minor difficulty has been the partial shade of larger endemic box elder and cottonwood trees that have not yet been pruned for clearance. Such pruning has been delayed until the new trees become established, which they seem to have been doing quite efficiently. Although they lack supplemental irrigation, they would likely appreciate increased exposure to sunlight more than shelter from potentially desiccating warm breezes. I intend to increase clearance for the oldest of the three trees this winter for next year. I should do the same for the other two trees by next winter. Adjacent vegetation will subordinate to these three trees as they mature. They are only rarely irrigated by bucket and even more rarely fertilized. Lack of irrigation promotes deeper root dispersion. Since they are a nearly native species from Carmel, they actually require no assistance now that their roots are adequately dispersed. Unfortunately, I did not get good pictures of any of the trees.

The Steven Michael Ralls Memorial Tree is the oldest of the three Monterey cypress trees within the Memorial Grove. It was installed on May 2, 2020, three years after Steven Michael Ralls passed away. It is now almost six feet tall.

The David Noel Riddell Memorial Tree was installed in conjunction with the David Fritiof Lindberg Memorial Tree a few days after David Fritiof Lindberg passed away on November 13, 2021. It is the smallest of the three trees, so is only slightly taller than three feet. Monterey cypress is coincidentally an ideal species for this particular Memorial, since David Noel Riddell is a direct descendent of some of the first Spanish people to arrive in California. His ancestors have inhabited Monterey continuously since then.

The David Fritiof Lindberg Memorial Tree, as mentioned above, was installed a few days after David Fritiof Lindberg passed away on November 13, 2021. It is about four feet tall now.

These three trees were installed in memory of three members of our Community who, at one time or another, had been unhoused. Actually, this Memorial Grove is coincidentally developing on a former camp site of Steven Michael Ralls. A fourth tree will be installed for another deceased and formerly unhoused member of our Community as more of the endemic vegetation is subordinated. This fourth tree and any subsequent trees may not necessarily be Monterey cypress, but will be evergreen and coniferous, since the Memorial Grove happens to be a component of a landscape that is designed to replace deciduous endemic vegetation with densely evergreen vegetation, and ultimately obscure the view of nearby industrial buildings.

China Town

China Town is not merely one town. It is a designation for particular districts of several Communities throughout the World. Many of such China Town districts were developed to accommodate immigrants from China who were unwelcome to inhabit portions of the same Communities in which they worked. China Town of San Francisco, which is the oldest major China Town in America, originally accommodated immigrants from China as they transitioned from mining and railroad construction to shipping and industrial work within San Francisco.

Such institutionalized discrimination confined development of many China Town districts to regions that were undesirable to others within their respective Communities. The last China Town of Santa Cruz was located within the floodplain of the San Lorenzo River, east of Front Street, mostly between Soquel Avenue and Cooper Street. It developed as a residential neighborhood after a fire destroyed a previous China Town in 1894. For the following half century, it was slowly replaced with more industrial development, until the Christmas Flood of 1955 destroyed the last few remaining residences.

Half a century later, the Benchlands Camp, which is inhabited by many of the unhoused of our Community, developed directly to the northwest of the former China Town, on the opposite side of the same floodplain of the San Lorenzo River. It is just as vulnerable to flooding as the former China Town was, but unlike the former China Town, occupies an area within a public park that is intended to be accessible to everyone of the Community. Very understandably, the Community wants to recover their public park space.

Incidentally, the Benchlands Camp developed as a result of the evacuation of the former Ross Camp to the southwest of the Highway 1 Bridge over the San Lorenzo River. The former Ross Camp was outside of a levee that excluded flooding, on otherwise unused land that is owned by Santa Cruz and California.

Out In Nature

Felton has certainly changed since my grandparents arrived in the early 1940s. So many more homes have been built around their formerly isolated home on Ashley Street. A supermarket and two big drug stores are within walking distance of Downtown. There are more people and traffic here in Felton now than there were in Sunnyvale when they left.

Wow, Sunnyvale has certainly changed as well.

Yet, nature is still natural. The second growth redwoods are getting to be eighty years older than they were back then. So are some of the old oaks and firs. Otherwise, the forest and all the flora and fauna in it function now like they did back then.

It has been slightly more than a year since I wrote ‘Fake Environmentalism‘, about the misconception that homelessness is more detrimental to the environment than domestic lifestyles are. That article was more about how domestic lifestyles affect the environment in ways that few of us give much thought to, rather than the relatively minimal impact of homelessness.

We all have seen pictures of the most horrendous of homeless encampments, which are typically inhabited by those afflicted by functionality compromising mental disorder. Encampments such as these exemplify homelessness no more accurately than the White House exemplifies all domestic situations. They are rare, and still less polluting than average domestic lifestyles.

Most homeless encampments are not much to get pictures of. Many homeless people leave nothing where they sleep for the night, but instead take everything with them when they leave in the morning, even if they return at the end of the day.

I could see no evidence of encampments while walking with Rhody through an area where a few homeless people live. I might have found minor evidence if I had looked for it, but that was not my intention. If I had wanted to see evidence of human habitation, we would have walked on one of the several suburban streets in town.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Dedication of the Steven Michael Ralls Memorial Tree on May 2 brought back memories. That should probably be expected from a memorial. However, the tree is new. The site of the dedication is what we remembered. It was a campsite where Steven temporarily lived while homeless in the autumn of 2012. It has changed significantly since then, but is still recognizable.

Homelessness is generally not a preferred alternative to a domestic lifestyle, at least within local cultures and societies. Otherwise, more of us would be homeless. Those who are experienced with homelessness would not recommend it to those who are not. There are just too many advantages associated with domestic lifestyles. Homelessness is just too challenging and arduous.

Yet, at the Dedication of the Steven Michael Ralls Memorial Tree, we remembered many of the pleasant experiences associated with Steven’s former campsite back in the autumn of 2012. Homelessness really is challenging and arduous, and can be downright oppressive, but it does not necessarily deprive those who experience it of all opportunities to also experience pleasure.

Homelessness can be incredibly enlightening. It can expose the best and worst of humanity; and just might demonstrate how some of the worst is not as bad as it is commonly believed to be. Homelessness is certainly an adventure, which compels participants to formerly unrealized resourcefulness. It really can be the best of times, right in the middle of the worst chapter of life.

It is worth considering that anyone can attend a concert of the Oakland Symphony, and thousands do; but very few were privileged to attend intimate and exclusive solo concerts by Steven Michael Ralls with his tired old guitar, at his dusty campsite where his Memorial Tree was recently installed. Those uniquely privileged few are among the more fortunate of our Community.

Misconceptions – Graffiti

Cave paintings might be considered to be some of the oldest examples of what we now know as graffiti. Alternatively, such ancient forms of self expression might have evolved into the sorts of artworks produced by Lester Johnson, Frida Kahlo, Mary Cassatt and Henri Matisse. Perhaps it all developed from the same primitive origins of more than sixty-four thousand years ago.

That is inconsequential now. Works of renowned artists are exhibited in museums. Graffiti defaces infrastructure until it gets painted over, or merely defaced and obscured by more graffiti. Except for several galleries of very compelling local art, and occasional touring exhibits, there are no formal art museums in Felton. However, there is more graffiti than only a few years ago.

Haters often blame the homeless for graffiti, merely because some of the homeless camp in some of the same places where graffiti is prominently displayed. In other words, the homeless did it because they were there. According to that logic, the haters must be responsible too, since they were also there. Otherwise, they would not have seen enough graffiti to blame others for it.

What makes anyone think that homeless people have any interest in the sort of elaborate graffiti that has been appearing around town for the past few years anyway? Homeless people have many more important issues to be concerned with. Drawing attention to their camp sites is not exactly a priority. Nor is spending limited funds on something as unnecessary as spray paint.

Besides, while graffiti has become more common than it has ever been, homelessness has become significantly less common. There are presently only a few homeless people in Felton. Most are not sufficiently agile to get into the situations where most of the graffiti has been displayed.

For some, blame is easier than logic.

Moving Day II

Trail leading down from the vacated camp site

One would think that moving camp would be easier than relocating from one home to another. In some ways, it is. Obviously, there is less to move. Almost everything in a well outfitted camp can fit into a few large boxes or trash bags. This particular site involved a bit more than that, since it stored extra bedding and clothing for others. Nonetheless, we moved it all with only two partial loads of a tiny station wagon. It was reasonably efficient.

The difficulty is removing the baggage discretely from a location that is not easily accessible, and then relocating it even more discretely to another site that is even less accessible because the trails are not yet cleared. Moving out is of course easier than moving in, not only because the trail is somewhat cleared, but also because discretion is not quite as important. By the time someone complains, and deputies respond, we will be gone.

Yes, there are those who complain while we are moving out. Deputies don’t mind. They are accustomed to it. If they have time, and they know we must park on the side of a busy road, they might even come out to park behind the station wagon with their red and blue lights on for safety. In the past, they have helped carry the baggage to get us off the side of the road more efficiently! Seriously! We have some AWESOME deputies here!

It is more important to be discreet while moving into the new site. We typically wait a few hours before doing so, just because stalking haters like to pursue the station wagon after leaving the abandoned site, in order to identify the location of the new site. Even if the new site is on private property with the permission of the property owner, haters want to know about it, and often trespass onto such properties just for the sake of stalking.

Anyway, we are sort of done for now. We just need to sort through the baggage so that some of it can be put into storage, and only what is necessary can be taken to the new site.

Moving Day

This will be very brief. I must be on my way to collect the belongings of one of our members who is homeless in Felton, put some of it in storage, and relocate some to a new campsite.

This will also lack pictures. I will not show the new site, and will not be going to the former site. I will be collecting what I must nearby, but only as near as I can get the car.

It is always nice when someone who had been homeless moves into a new home. So much of the formerly homeless lifestyle gets discarded and replaced with what goes into a domestic lifestyle.

Moving camp is nothing like that. It involves leaving one bad situation only to move into another. The rush to vacate interferes with the ability to sort and discard what will not be needed at the new site. Everything must be moved collectively, and then sorted later. Organization is very difficult without a home. Bedding is the biggest part of it. Although lightweight, it is bulky. It is not easy to be discrete while schlepping trash bags full of bedding.

Moving into a new site without being pursued by stalking haters is another difficulty. At least they are not as bad as they used to be. Those who merely have issue with homelessness seem to have realized that such behavior does not make homeless people any less homeless. Only those who enjoy the sadistic sport of it continue, even if it involves trespassing onto property that they do not want the homeless trespassing onto.

As unpleasant as homelessness is, the homeless situation here has improved significantly in the past few years. Because more homeless people have found homes than formerly homed people have become homeless, there are fewer homeless people in the Community. The Community is just as generous as it has always been, with the same abundance of resources.

Well, it is nearly 2:30, so I really must be on my way.