Details Published: 01 January 2020 Written by Melissa Hartman - Staff Writer/melissah@latc.com

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Friends of the Library volunteers congregate outside the 330-square-foot portable theyve been using to sort books since they were displaced from the Hillview Community Center by construction there. The portable is located beside the Hillview Soccer Field in the Los Altos Library parking lot.

The Los Altos City Council last month granted the ad hoc committee charged with finding space for Friends of the Library of Los Altos more time to come up with a solution that will allow the nonprofit group to continue operations while the new community center is under construction.

Friends whose volunteers sort, store and sponsor used-book sales to raise funds for the libraries worked out of 1,000 square feet of classroom space at Hillview Community Center for 44 years, before the center was razed in October to make way for the new Los Altos Community Center, expected to be completed in December.

City officials informed Friends of the Library in 2018 that there would be no space for the group at the new center.

The ad hoc committee comprising two city staff members, two council members, librarian Marlene Iwamoto, two Friends representatives and a representative of the Los Altos History Museum found a short-term solution for the nonprofit group, which contributes approximately $150,000 annually in books and gifts to the Los Altos main and Woodland Branch libraries.

Friends volunteers and board members proposed two sheds on approximately 500 square feet of land at the Los Altos Civic Center between the police station and the History Museum, but city staff, led by City Manager Chris Jordan, recommended that Friends be allowed to place only one portable approximately 330 square feet in size near the Hillview Soccer Field. After the Los Altos City Council approved Jordans proposal, Friends appealed to the Santa Clara County Library District, which operates the Los Altos Library, for extra storage and sorting space. County administrators approved the temporary setup.

City officials asked the ad hoc committee to return to the council by the end of 2019 with a long-term solution for Friends, a group that has been around for more than 60 years. Since July, the committee has met five times and failed to reach a consensus. Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins wondered why.

Mayor Jan Pepper and Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng, who both serve on the ad hoc committee, differed in their opinions on the state of the committees progress.

Lee Eng said the committee agreed that Friends could change its business model by considering space that is not at the civic center for a new, permanent location. Pepper took issue with Lee Engs assertion, denying all members shared that perspective and noting that Friends members have consistently lamented that moving from the civic center campus would require overhauling the way the group operates.

A major part of the discussion, Pepper said, centered on how to fairly assign space at the civic center given competing interests, as well as how to encourage the entities represented on the committee to continue to do good work.

Or how to pick our favorite child? Bruins summarized, acknowledging that Friends request for civic center space conflicted with the museums interest in placing a garage with glass doors to showcase three historical cars.

Pepper and Lee Eng represented two opposing camps on the committee, according to a committee member affiliated with Friends who asked not to be named. He told the Town Crier that Pepper favored a committee vote on a recommendation, but Lee Eng was nervous that her plan to advise Friends to change its business model would not garner a majority vote and therefore would not win.

To put that in the context of winning, whos winning in (this situation)? he said.

To break the impasse, Pepper requested that the committee make a chart outlining the Friends operation: preprocessing, pricing and sorting, warehousing and sales. Red lines with arrows showed the tasks Friends believed would be difficult to complete offsite, such as transporting books from the Woodland Branch to the donation closet approximately 5,000 books are received a week, the unidentified Friends member said. The majority of Friends volunteers are retired, and many active members are seniors. Moving operations across town would necessitate hiring employees and purchasing a truck to haul materials from location to location costs that, including preparation of the new site, could add up to $450,000.

Friends has money, the committee member said, but if the group were hit with such fees, it would not be able to contribute to the library at all, which would mean no funding for speakers, workshops and stocking the best-seller shelves.

We offered many times to have them come on over, well show you what we do, but no (staff or council) ever picked us up on that, he said.

At the ad hoc committees December meeting, members debated four options: two on-site spots (leaving Friends where it is near the soccer field or placing a portable on the Los Altos Youth Center patio) and two off-site spots (Rosita Park or the Woodland Branch).

Suzanne Epstein, director of the Friends executive board, is looking ahead at finding a permanent home for the organization, but she cant help but look back at decisions made last year in preparation for Hillviews closure.

She alleged that Jordan and his staff asked Friends not to request classroom space in the new community center, assuring members that space would be allocated somewhere else on the civic center campus. In an effort to be supportive, Friends didnt challenge Jordans plan, Epstein said, but members began to worry when they heard nothing from him and meetings with his office were postponed.

A few months before the center was demolished, Jordan met with Friends and told members that after more than four decades at the civic center, they were out of luck.

When reached by the Town Crier, Jordan said he never made Friends any promises.

That argument aside, Friends is struggling in its current space. The portable is not heated most volunteers wear gloves to protect them from the winter cold and its crowded. The allotted space inside the main library is also small, and losing that space would mean approximately $1,500 less in ongoing book-sale revenue each week, according to Friends members.

By doing all this, its kind of creating kind of ill feelings amongst some people working there, Epstein said of Friends volunteers. We are driving away some really dedicated people.

A handful of longtime Friends volunteers have already walked away, Epstein said, feeling betrayed by the city for not providing on-site space like every other city in Santa Clara County. Jordan contested that, noting that the Friends of the Saratoga Libraries is housed in a different building (the Saratoga Historical Park, a six-minute drive from the main library).

The ad hoc committee is slated to meet again Jan. 17, but Friends has scheduled its own meeting Jan. 8 in the Orchard Room of the main library, open to all, to solicit feedback on how to prepare for relocation, whether off-site or on the civic center campus.

I believe we could make it work off-site, but it would not be nearly as enjoyable, said Margaret Brooks, president of the Friends executive board. Its a hell of a lot more work for a lot less money.

In advance of the meeting, Friends sent the Town Crier an embargoed letter that will go out to members Thursday weighing the pros and cons of courses of action to take if the council votes to place the group off-site. The possibilities range from accepting the new location, investing in facilities and equipment, and continuing operations by hiring employees to transport books to transferring all funds to the Los Altos Library Endowment and terminating the Friends.

We are doing preparatory work to (determine) if we fold, if we try to have a smaller operation or what, Epstein said. Theres a serious question of, Wow, is this the end of the Friends of the Library?

Friends members formed a communications team to help educate members and encourage an informed dialogue. All hope is not lost, Brooks said.

To weigh in on the Friends options for relocation, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Won't you be my neighbor?: Friends of the Library asks to stay at civic center after committee fails to agree on long-term plan - Los Altos Town Crier

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Keeping your Brain Healthy with Meditation...Virtually | Health/Wellness - East Bay Express

Heather Doney leads her Utah neighbors in a socially-distanced Zumba workout. USA TODAY

Editor's note: Part 15of USA TODAY'sWorking Out From Home(#WOFH) seriesfocuses on getting some exercise while having fun with Zumba. Sign up forGood Sports, our weekly newsletterthat will bring you more home workout tips and the best stories of the good throughout the world of sports:

With a bullhorn in her hand, Heather Doney instructed a group of friends through a Zumba class. They all danced to the music that blared over a boombox. They followed her lead on various stretches and exercises. And they all appeared invigorated with escaping out of the house.

We need to get outside and get some fresh air, Doney said. We need to see each other.

Yet, no one needed to be near each other. Because of social distancing rules stemmed from the novel coronavirus outbreak, Doney hosted a Zumba workout from her friends backporch in her Saratoga Springs neighborhood in Utah on March 17. About 20 neighbors joined the workout through two ways. Some stood on their respective porches or balconies. Others stood in a backyard that is blended together between the 13 houses.

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Heather Doney teaches a Zumba class to her neighbors. A video of her class went viral after it was shared by celebs such as Demi Lovato.(Photo: Courtesy: Heather Doney)

More than just the neighbors viewed and participated in the workout. Doney then edited and posted the workout video on Youtube before sharing it on her Instagram and Facebook accounts. Soon enough, singer Demi Lovato and reality television star Khloe Kardashian shared the video on their social media channels, too. Storyful, a social media distribution agency, contacted Doneys next-door neighbor after seeing it on her Twitter account and worked out a deal with Doney so they could distribute the video as well. That video then appeared on Facebook's NowThis News and ABC's "Good Morning America."

Overall, Doney estimated a combined 30 million people watched the workout video through those various channels. Since then, Doney hosted seven more workouts, including two outside and othersvia live streaming in her basement. She has more planned onTuesdays (10 a.m.MT), Thursdays (10 a.m.) and Saturdays (9 a.m.). Both nearby neighbors and far-away viewers told her how much the classes have invigorated them.

I like to entertain. I like to make people laugh. I like to inspire, Doney said. So to have something go viral like that, its been on my bucket list. But I didnt know it would happen. I didnt think it would be like this.

Doney had taught Zumba and a dance-fitness class for 6 1/2 years with a dance studio and her local church. She stopped teaching two years ago after experiencing undisclosed health issues. She rediscovered her passion again shortly after the NBA suspended it season on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

Erin Stewart, a neighborhood friend, texted Doney and suggested she should teach Zumba classes somewhere outside. Stewart had seen footage of Italian residents singing outside on their balconies, and hoped Doney could bring their neighborhood together in a similar way with her classes.

So, Doney led her neighbors through a 50-minute workout from home. She stood on Stewarts porch because that had a better view of her neighbors houses. She instructed the class with a megaphone she joked her husband regretted buying for her one year for Mothers Day. She started with a warmup that included some light stretching and cardio exercises. With the aid of two speakers, Doney then guided them through choreographed dances to various songs. She mixed in arm and leg workouts. She then ended itwith stretching exercises.

Its nice to be outside and get that fresh air. Just the smiling and seeing each other and then those endorphins, those are pretty much self-made anti-depressants," she said. "It makes us happy when we can move. Theres just something about dancing that gets those endorphins moving. They loved it.

So much that others wanted to join the class. Doney then considered hosting the workout at a parking lot of a nearby church. Each person would follow social-distancing rules by exercising within designated parking stalls. But she nixed the idea.

I was afraid that would get frowned upon by people driving by thinking that people are not really social distancing, Doney said. I didnt want it to turn into something negative and have somebody post something that these people are not social distancing. So I just decided Ill do it in my home.

Doney remains aware that not everyone has the same amount of space to exercise at home. Others might want to work out in their home or apartment, but feel weary of confined space or becoming disruptive to neighbors.

So for her online classes, she has outlined various options to allow them to exercise within a confined space. She has reminded viewers to drink water in between exercises. At the end of the workout, she has encouragedviewers to have a protein-heavy diet.

Thisdefinitely makes me want to keep teachingagain, Doney said. It made me realize how much I missed it.

Follow USA TODAY NBA writer Mark Medina onTwitter, Instagramand Facebook.

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Working Out From Home: How Utah instructor went viral with her Zumba workout - USA TODAY

Photo: Erick Madrid / Special to The Chronicle

This may seem as silly a question as asking, Are grapes vegan? Of course, they are, but some argue that the answer for wine enters gray territory. Dont fret that bacon-y character flavor you taste in your favorite Syrah isnt actually bacon. But to be vegan or vegetarian, a wine must meet certain requirements during the production process just like wines with official labels like organic, biodynamic or kosher. Unlike organic wines, however, vegan and vegetarian wines are not governed by a certifying body.

So what would make a wine non-vegan or -vegetarian? It has to do with a winemaking procedure called fining.

One of the final winemaking steps before bottling, fining requires the use of various agents to help clarify to a wine. The brilliant luminosity youll observe in a glass of golden Chardonnay or the polish you might admire in the deep ruby hue of a Merlot that precision of color is thanks to fining. Beyond clearing any haziness, fining can also soften harsh tannins. The processing aids are often compared to a magnet: Various particles stick to the fining agents like Velcro and can then be easily removed.

The majority of common fining agents are animal-derived, which is where the vegan question comes in. The most traditionally common fining agent is egg whites, often used for more tannic red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties. Wines fined with egg whites would be considered vegetarian, but not vegan, as would those that see casein a milk-derived protein employed in some whites to remove oxidative characters. Conversely, fining agents like gelatin (derived from pigs) or isinglass (coming from sturgeon bladders) would render a wine neither vegetarian or vegan but would get it crystal clear.

If a winemaker wants to fine a wine but doesnt want to use an animal product, one common solution is bentonite clay. Nonetheless, many vegan and vegetarian wines may just simply forgo fining altogether. Some winemakers criticize the practice of fining, arguing that it values color over flavor that it scrapes off some of the good along with the bad. While vegan and vegetarian wine is unrelated to the natural wine movement, most natural wine nonetheless defaults to being vegan and vegetarian as theyre typically bottled unfined (and unfiltered).

While some wineries might advertise vegan or vegetarian on their back labels, many dont. When in doubt, you can ask the tasting room staff, or check Barnivore, a directory of vegan and vegetarian beverages.

But its important to know that fining agents are not ingredients, and no one consumes egg whites or fish bladders in a wine that was fined with them. The fining agents are removed by the time of bottling. Its a completely different effect than having a cocktail with Clamato (clam juice) or a shot of pechuga, a type of mezcal distilled with chicken or other meats. Still, its not impossible to imagine that trace residue might make it into the final product.

Then again, true skeptics might even point out the insects that inevitably make their way into a grape destemmer which get cleaned out during fermentation positing no wine can be truly vegetarian.

Ultimately, as with all food choices, whether or not to consume wines fined with animal products is a personal decision. Luckily there is no shortage of excellent wines around the globe that meet most criteria of being vegan or vegetarian. Here are six from California worth visiting.

Domaine Carneros

One of Californias pioneering producers of traditional-method sparkling wine, Domaine Carneros is partly owned by Taittinger, a pedigreed Champagne name. While the classic combination of bubbles and caviar is an option for visitors, so is a flight of Asian-influenced bites an experience that can accommodate other dietary restrictions, such as veganism and vegetarianism.

Foursight

Foursight Wines, in Mendocinos Anderson Valley, was one of the first American wineries to label its bottles as suitable for vegans and vegetarians. While best known for its Pinot Noirs, its also one of the few Anderson Valley producers to bottle Sauvignon Blanc. The Boonville tasting room offers a casual, leisurely visit, and guests staying the night can also rent out one of the guesthouses.

Frogs Leap

Perhaps the most obvious companion to Napa Valley Cabernet is a big hunk of red meat. While creative pairings abound, one option for vegetarian dishes might be to choose a Napa Cab with a lighter touch as is consistently the case with the ones coming from Frogs Leap, as well as the rest of their portfolio, which happens to be vegetarian and largely vegan-friendly. Its also difficult not to be charmed by the setting a bucolic red barn more in line with a Winslow Homer painting than Napas palatial tasting locales.

Stolpman

Syrah can smell like bacon. Sangiovese might give the impression of dried meats. Stolpman makes some of the best of each in Santa Barbara, but their wines are purely vegan. Their Ballard Canyon tasting room offers a glimpse into the countys impressive diversity of wine beyond their signatures Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Make sure to ask about their mother block, an experimental project that replicates the historic vineyard planting techniques of pre-19th century Europe.

Big Basin

One of the most dynamic producers in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Big Basin bottles its wines unfined and unfiltered and thus vegan. Their Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays are among the regions very best, but perhaps their most distinctive contribution is their suite of Syrah and Rhone-style wines. Guests can either visit the tasting room in downtown Saratoga, or drive out to the more remote winery after a morning hike at the neighboring Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Broc

An early spirit leader for the American natural wine movement, Broc Cellars appropriately bottles all of its wines vegan. Its in Berkeley, so it wont be hard to find a vegan meal nearby either. The lineup is ever-changing, filled with idiosyncratic bottles that offer an entirely different perspective to California wine. Make sure to try their Angelica, a dessert style mimicking the Golden States very first wines made from the Franciscan monks that climbed the West Coast.

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Is your wine vegan? - The Press

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Meditation with Tea Tasting: Rare, Premium Teas | Universal Chan: Buddhist Zen Center | Culinary Events, Religion/Spirit - East Bay Express

Studies confirm that mortal terror amplifies support for Trump Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

In a recent experiment, American participants were asked: Please describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you and Write down as specifically as you can what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are dead. Moments later, those who had been asked to contemplate their mortality reported more negative attitudes towards immigrants, greater opposition to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood, and a greater likelihood of voting for Donald Trump for president.

What could possibly explain these findings?

In The Denial of Death (1973), cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker argued that while humans share a basic biological predisposition towards self-preservation with all life forms, we are unique in our capacity for symbolic thought, including self-awareness. This gives rise to the unsettling realisation that death is inevitable, can occur at any time, and that we are ultimately no more significant or enduring than turtles or turnips.

The unvarnished awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating existential terror, which humans manage by embracing cultural worldviews for example, a religious identity such as Christianity, or a national identity such as Englishness. These worldviews confer a sense that one is a person of value in a world of meaning, and hence eligible for immortality (either literally, through the heavens, afterlives and souls central to most religions; or symbolically, by being a member of a great and enduring tribe or nation, having children, amassing great fortunes or producing noteworthy works of art or science). People are therefore highly motivated to maintain faith in their cultural worldviews as a psychological bulwark against existential dread.

Becker then argued that because cultural worldviews are essentially symbolic, they can never completely overcome the terror of death. There is always residual death anxiety, a rumble of panic underneath everything. This free-floating panic settles on to those we regard as different to ourselves, as possible threats. Having assumed material form, this fear can at least be managed: in our minds these people become repositories of evil. They are then denigrated, demonised, dehumanised and, in some cases, destroyed.

Immigrants, including those who practise different religions, such as Muslims and Jews, have historically served as these scapegoats, as living embodiments of our existential dread.

Experiments carried out under the rubric of terror management theory the framework I and my fellow researchers used for understanding these behaviours corroborate Beckers account. They illuminate the existential underpinnings of hostility and disdain toward designated outgroups. After being reminded of their mortality (by answering the questions above, being interviewed in front of a funeral parlour, or subliminally exposed to the word death), Christians had more favourable impressions of other Christians and more negative impressions of Jews; Germans sat closer to Germans and further away from Turkish immigrants; Iranians were more supportive of suicide bombings; and Americans advocated using nuclear, chemical and biological weapons against countries that posed no direct threat to the US.

After being reminded of their mortality Christians had more favourable impressions of other Christians and more negative impressions of Jews

But how can these ideas help explain why death reminders increase support for Trump? The German sociologist Max Weber theorised that in times of historical upheaval, when existential anxieties are salient, people embrace charismatic political leaders. In 1951, moral philosopher Eric Hoffer, in The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, added that the primary impetus for populist movements is economic and psychological insecurity, leaving people in desperate need of something to live for.

Authoritarian populist leaders, Hoffer argued, need not be intelligent or original. Rather, the primary qualifications seem to be: audacity and a joy in defiance; an iron will; a fanatical conviction that he is in possession of the one and only truth; faith in his destiny and luck; a capacity for passionate hatred; contempt for the present; a cunning estimate of human nature; a delight in symbols (spectacles and ceremonials) the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world [and] some deliberate misrepresentation of facts.

They transform followers fears into rage and righteous indignation directed toward designated outgroups for political purposes. For example, Trump campaigned for president by inflaming animosity towards Mexicans and Muslims. After the 2016 election, Trump admitted in calls to then Mexican president Enrique Pea Nieto that Mexico needed to pay for the wall to fulfil his campaign promise, and to Malcolm Turnbull, then prime minister of Australia, that he would look foolish if he honoured a previous agreement to allow refugees to come to the US.

Studies confirm that mortal terror amplifies support for Trump. Prior to the election, participants reminded of being in pain had more favourable impressions of Hillary Clinton than Trump. However, impressions of Trump improved significantly if participants were reminded of their mortality. Moreover, Americans asked to think about the construction of a mosque in their neighbourhoods, or immigrants moving nearby, showed higher levels of nonconscious death thoughts thus demonstrating that persistent efforts to demonise Muslims and immigrants had been quite successful. Americans also rated Trump more favourably after being asked to imagine a mosque or immigrants in their neighbourhoods.

People do not respond monolithically when existential concerns are aroused. For example, in response to a death reminder, French and US participants who scored high in rightwing authoritarianism characterised by submission to authority, moral absolutism, and punitive intolerance made more pejorative assessments of immigrants. However, participants who scored low on rightwing authoritarianism had more favourable impressions of immigrants after pondering their demise. Additionally, negative reactions to immigrants following death reminders were reduced when participants were also encouraged to think of universal human experiences shared by people from diverse cultures.

These findings suggest the hopeful possibility that we can encourage the development and maintenance of cultural worldviews that emphasise commonalities rather than differences between individuals and foster tolerance of such differences.

It is also important to acknowledge that support for Trump in the US, and similarly rightwing, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim populist movements in Europe, is not solely a defensive reaction to mortal terror. A host of complex political, economic, psychological and cultural considerations contribute to ones political predilections. However, the fact that fleeting death reminders have a potent effect on political preferences conflicts with the democratic ideal that electoral outcomes result from rational deliberation.

Perhaps the best approach to fortifying those democratic ideals is to monitor, expose and oppose efforts by all candidates to exploit existential anxieties for personal and political gain.

When politicians claim we should vote for them because they are uniquely qualified or divinely ordained to eradicate evil, we should actively combat the inclination to allow mortal terror, rather than cogent assessments of candidates qualifications and positions on issues of importance, to determine our choices. Fearmongering mendacity would then become an electoral liability, rather than a potent political advantage.

Sheldon Solomon is a professor of psychology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. He is co-author, with Jeff Greenberg & Tom Pyszczynski, of The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life

Read more:
The secret to Trumps success? Its sheer existential dread - The Guardian