Leading up to Election Day, advocacy groups were predicting — or at least hoping — that California voters would elect record numbers of women and LGBTQ people to the Legislature.

Based on the results so far, it appears that history will be made — and that the state Assembly and Senate will look more like California than ever before.

With eight openly LGBTQ candidates winning, including four potential new lawmakers, plus four holdovers, the Legislature is on track to have at least 10% LGBTQ representation for the first time ever, according to Equality California. If that happens, California would be the first state to achieve proportional LGBTQ+ representation in its legislature — and the number could go as high as 14 of the 120 legislators.

And the number of female lawmakers is headed toward at least 43, a record, and as many as 52, according to Close the Gap California. This past session, women made up 39 of 120 legislators — up from a recent low of 26 seats in 2017.

The likely surge in diversity is partly due to new districts and open seats that created a window of opportunity for new candidates.

In the June primary, an unprecedented 113 women ran for legislative seats, 38% of all candidates, and 80 made it to November. In districts without an incumbent, 61% of female candidates advanced out of the primary — nearly double the success rate of 33% in 2020, according to Close the Gap, a political advocacy group that works to elect Democratic women. Nine legislative races on the Nov. 8 ballot featured two women running against one another, including Jasmeet Bains, a Democratic state Assembly candidate in Bakersfield, who would become the first South Asian woman in the Legislature.

“The reality is women win just as often as men when they run,” said Susannah Delano, Close the Gap’s executive director. “What we’re seeing now is more women running, therefore competing on the field and getting elected in equal numbers.”

Also this year, a record number of LGBTQ+ candidates ran for office in California — 178, more than any other state, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. That wasn’t by chance, said Samuel Garrett-Pate, managing director of external affairs for Equality California, a political advocacy and civil rights group. It spent the past two years working to recruit and support LGBTQ+ candidates, and pushing for new districts that would empower LGBTQ+ voters.

‘Representation is power’

More women in the Legislature will help shape policy priorities, which Delano believes will include reproductive health care, pay equity and family economic issues. More than half of the projected new class will be women of color, and the vast majority will be Democrats.

“Representation is power,” Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, said in a statement.

Garrett-Pate said that the shift in the Legislature will impact “any number of issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community.” This past session, the LGBTQ caucus successfully pushed landmark legislation to make California a refuge for transgender health care.

“There’s a lot of work for us to do to achieve full equality. It’s not as simple as just passing civil rights protections,” Garrett-Pate said. “It’s tough work that takes a long time, but we know that we can make greater progress when we have more people in the room helping make these decisions.”

In the new representation, there would be a host of firsts.

Those leading in their races include Palm Springs City Councilmember Christy Holstege, a Democrat who would become the first out bisexual woman to be elected to the Legislature, representing Assembly District 47.

There’s also Democrat Corey Jackson, about to become the first Black openly LGBTQ+ person elected, who is ahead in the Assembly District 60 race. A member of the Riverside County Board of Education and founder of a nonprofit focused on youth services, Jackson said he has a “double-marginalized perspective,” since African Americans are often also marginalized within the LGBTQ+ community.

He said his priority will be to uplift the “most historically marginalized and oppressed.” “California still has a humanity problem in which we believe that there are some of higher quality, some of lower, some thought of as more human than others,” Jackson told CalMatters. “My goal is to do my darndest to put a stop to that.”He also led the fight in Riverside County to declare racism a public health crisis. And the California Nurses Association is counting on his support for single-payer health care — a priority for progressives that has failed to make much progress in the Legislature.

Jackson said he faced numerous whisper campaigns that cast him in a negative light for his sexuality, but was able to overcome them because of his public service: “People don’t say, ‘Oh look, there’s Corey, he’s gay. They say, ‘This is Corey. He’s one of our leaders in the community. He’s one of our fighters or civil rights leaders.’”

Caroline Menjivar, who is leading in an all-Democratic race for a state Senate seat, would be the first ever out LGBTQ+ legislator to represent the San Fernando Valley. She’s also a military veteran and Salvadoran Latina.

She said her intersectional identities allows her to bring in “the voices of other groups” and look at issues “through other lenses.”

Caroline Menjivar, candidate for state Senate.

That’s been helpful, she said, in a race competing against Daniel Hertzberg, also a LGBTQ candidate and the son of outgoing state Sen. Bob Hertzberg. “The door was shut on me so many times,” Menjivar told CalMatters. “People didn’t want to give money because, well, ‘Bob is my friend. Well, you know, you’re running against my friend’s son. Oh, you know, Bob would be so mad at me, no.’ Everything was ‘Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.’”

“Not once was it, ‘He’s a better candidate.…’ So it was as if I was running against an incumbent, without running against an incumbent.”

Menjivar plans to use her background as a social worker to try to increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement for mental health services and to address workplace burnout for mental health workers. She also intends to apply her experience of being evicted to addressing the state’s housing shortage.

“Legislators need to hear these stories, to be able to be pushed towards … a vote,” Menjivar said.

The increases in diversity from the 2022 election aren’t guaranteed to last, but could also grow.

Largely due to 12-year legislative term limits, enacted in 2012, Delano expects at least 24 seats to turn over in 2024, and another 20 in both 2026 and 2028. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins of San Diego, the first openly gay Senate leader, is among those terming out in 2024.

Though women will have to wait for parity in the Legislature, Delano said this election is a “huge step forward.”

“Women are really just getting started,” she said. “We’re just beginning to see the kind of transformation that we’ll have.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

One rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “Am I having a good time doing this?” If you’re not enjoying yourself when you’re engaged in what seems important to you, if you can’t find spontaneous pleasure and joy in it, then there’s likely something wrong.

-- Haruki Murakami in Novelist as a Vocation

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After last week’s column on my love affair with books, a couple of people have asked me about the actual process of creating a book, so for anyone interested, here’s a brief summary.

Way back when (early ‘90s), I managed to have a couple of book proposals bought by subsidiaries of the mega book-publishing firm McGraw-Hill … that was easy, kind of. Book proposals are a whole world unto themselves, but once I had one accepted (after submitting to 20-odd publishers) and I had a contract, all (1) I had to do was write it, find illustrations, get copyright approvals, and (2) send off the whole package. This was not quite pre-internet (we had “Mosaic” and Compuserve email and weekly CDs from AOL — remember them?), but this was definitely pre-“Jimbo” Wales’ Wikipedia and pre-Larry+Sergey’s Google, pre- online digitized photo collections, pre- practically everything. Endless hours at the library, many, many letters requesting photos and permissions, dozens of hours on the phone interviewing, asking dumb questions. (Kids have it easy now!)

Once all that was done, I sent off a big package with text in MS Word both on diskettes and physical print-outs; actual photos; and stick-figure diagrams…and the publisher would magically do the rest. A couple of months later, I’d get back galley proofs, correct them, send ‘em back, and next thing (several more months) my book was on booksellers’ shelves across the nation. Everyday Wonders, Encounters with the Astonishing World around Us (which took about 18 months of my life), sold about 12,000 copies without me lifting a finger. That’s not quite true — I sent off dozens of copies to talk-radio stations, and would do interviews over the phone, usually about 4 a.m. for morning shows on the East Coast. It’s still there on Amazon, out of print but available used.

That was a halcyon time when a half-assed writer who knew a bit of physics and astronomy, and (mainly) had the perseverance to do the legwork, could get a “science-lite” book published by a big publisher. No longer. These days you have to be well known, have a Ph.D. at least (I managed a bachelor’s — just! — in civil engineering) in quantum physics or relativity theory, probably tenured, with a few dozen published papers under her or his belt (I have none). And/or a weekly blog (ditto). Having controversial views always helps: the multiverse many worlds theory (Sean Carroll) or a universe from nothing (Lawrence Krauss) or ETs are real (Avi Loeb). Having “God” in your title is a good selling point, too.

So nowadays, from my very limited point of view, the way to go is self-publishing. (Not the same as “vanity press”!) These days, (a) I love writing, so long as (b) my pieces are less than about 800 words. (Short attention span, you know. And getting shorter.) So when I’ve got enough essays written (my mainstays are my biweekly Field Notes columns in the North Coast Journal), I assemble them out in a page layout program (I use Serif’s discontinued, but still available, PagePlus software, which I love), drop in photos and captions, and when I’ve got something — not a finished book, but enough of one that I’m ready to see how it will look and feel and smell — send it off, in PDF format, for a single draft copy to be printed by Lulu (lulu.com) for—get this—about $10, including shipping! (Printing-on-demand revolutionized the industry and my life.) 

This is true: Having an actual, physical book in hand is the best possible inspiration to finish it. There’s a huge psychological boost that comes from seeing a work-in-progress: it just calls out for completion. Once it’s done (for me, after going through four or five drafts while correcting, editing, adding), I sell my books locally, through our bookstores and stores in Eureka and Arcata, and odd places throughout the county. The Humbook (70 essays about Humboldt lore: history, geography, fauna and flora) has sold over 500 copies in the past 12 months, and it’s still doing well — look out for Humbook Two next year!

If you’ve written a book with more than local interest, you can go the Amazon distribution route via Lulu or Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Want to know more? Both of these have excellent DIY guides.

Hope this helps any wannabe authors. You won’t get rich, probably — keep the day job—but you’ll have a ton of fun going through the process. If not, see Murakami’s epigraph, above.

9:05 a.m. From the rooftop terrace, you could hear all around the city the horns blasting, even from the ships in the Bosphorus. Down in the streets below, someone was playing “Taps” on a melancholy trumpet. And finally, the stirring, majestic sounds of the Turkish national anthem rippled like wind through proud flags in the cold November morning. Nearby, a few of my Turkish colleagues stood silently, with solemn, reflective faces.

The incessant fervor lasted a several minutes, but seemed longer, the great city – and the nation beyond – pausing as it does every year on this day at exactly this time – to remember the life and work of the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, or “Father Turk.”

Ataturk! Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia.

Having lived here for many years, I’ve long grown accustomed to this annual display of mourning and honoring the legacy of Ataturk. It was at this time: 9:05, on 10 November 1938, that the great leader passed on at the untimely age of 58.

As a yabancı, it is always an arresting event, even after so many years, to see and hear the nation stopping to collectively remember the passing of the man who many here feel, to paraphrase one historian, singularly picked up the exhausted Ottoman Turks and all but lifted them into the 20th Century. From the battered remains of a defeated empire, Ataturk envisioned and crafted a leaner, fitter republic, equipped and guided it into the modern age.

I made it a point of learning more about Ataturk upon my arrival in Turkey more than a decade ago. How could you not? More than 80 years after his death, his visage can still be seen everywhere, his portraits hang in nearly every establishment, and some youths even bear his signature or famous quote as tattoos on their arms. “Happy is the one who can say, ‘I am a Turk!’” is one of the most-oft recalled, underscoring the pride that Ataturk innately grasped, instilled and harnessed in his people.

Those who aren’t familiar with the late Mustafa Kemal, and who are interested in modern history, would find the story of his life well worth their time. In the first World War, he was a soldier, and though the Ottomans (who fought with Germany) eventually lost the war, Kemal was the only Ottoman general who never lost a battle. After the war, with the empire in ruins, the Bosphorus under the control of the victorious Allies, the lands of Anatolia themselves in danger of being split apart, it was Ataturk who reassembled the army from the ranks of the people. It was Ataturk who rallied this army to fight yet another war, this time a War of Independence, against the Western-backed Greeks. After winning this war, Ataturk forced the Allies to the negotiating table and re-established Turkish control of the Bosphorus.

By 1923, the empire was gone, as were the sultans and Caliphate that had ruled the country for centuries, and a new republic was born and, like his historical ancestor George Washington, the victorious general became the republic’s first president.

Like Washington, Ataturk in the years of his presidency sought to build and develop his young nation. He negotiated a series of peace agreements with Turkey’s neighbors, a far-reaching policy of “Peace in Turkey, Peace in the World,” that had its intended effect: ıt kept Turkey out of the second World War, which Ataturk had foreseen. Indeed, when one reflects on the current war to the north, Turkey’s role as mediator in the conflict traces its roots at least in part back to the policies of Ataturk.

This admittedly isolationist, but self-preserving policy allowed Turkey to focus on modernizing its industries, public infrastructure as well as its education system. For the first time, women were allowed to attend university, to work outside the home, to pursue careers. Furthermore, desiring to link his country with the West, Ataturk ordered the country to adopt the Latin alphabet, and called upon all citizens to learn this new alphabet in three months. Three months! All newspapers, books, etc, were essentially changed overnight.

The importance of Ataturk’s life and work, especially in terms of the future NATO alliance, was recognized long after his death. In a 25-year commemoration speech, then-President John F. Kennedy called Ataturk “one of the great men of the 20th Century:”

“It is to the credit of Ataturk and the Turkish People that a free Turkey grew out of a collapsing empire and that the new Turkey has proudly proclaimed and maintained its independence ever since. Certainly there is no more successful example of national self reliance then the birth of the Turkish republic and the profound changes initiated since then by Turkey and Ataturk.”

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To be sure, not all of Ataturk’s reforms have aged well. For instance, his ban on the headscarf for women who wish to attend university or work in public jobs has since been lifted. Women can now choose to wear or not wear the headscarf and still attend university or hold public office.

In fact, one could even say the legacy of Ataturk has become in recent years somewhat divided (what has not become at least “somewhat divided” in this day and age?). The current administration in Turkey has been in power for nearly 20 years, and its leader, President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan, is seeking yet another term as president. How and why, critics ask, can one party hold power for so long in a so-called democracy?

The answer, some would say, lies in arguably unintended consequences of the reforms undertaken by Ataturk. That for decades, traditional, conservative Muslims felt persecuted, unwanted, sidelined in favor of their more “progressive, modern” colleagues. Imagine being a young Muslim woman and having to take off your headscarf (hide your beliefs) to attend your classes? Or not being offered a position solely based on your beliefs? For his many supporters, especially in the more conservative inlands of Central and Eastern Anatolia, Erdoğan and his AK Party remain popular and valued because they are seen as having restored and safeguarded Muslim traditions, after being treated (in their eyes) as second-class citizens in their own country for so long.

(Others would say that it was not animosity towards religion per se that was at the root of Ataturk’s great reforms, but rather against the Ottomans and their leadership, which he felt was responsible for the decline of the empire and Turkey having fallen behind the West, of having become “the sick man of Europe.”)

I offer the above not as a criticism of Ataturk, but rather as a different perspective, especially for those outside of Turkey and who know little about the country’s modern history and present-day situation. Yes, inflation is above 80 percent – rent and food prices, energy costs, in fact everything – is expensive. The country houses countless refugees, from Syria, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine and Russia. There is a general feeling of uncertainty, of what next?

Which is perhaps what gave such resonance to the chilly morning air this past Thursday morning, when I witnessed and heard so many, a nation so to speak, stopping its routine to pause and reflect, wanting to remember. What were they remembering? Greatness? Or perhaps it was the stability, the reassurance, that remembrance of great events and great people bring.

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And why did I stop and reflect? Was it some kind of veiled response to the mid-term U.S. elections? Some oblique commentary on the murky, divided state of affairs today, here and in much of the West? A muted word of caution on the rise of fascist forces in the East?

Was it some cry for unity, for clarity in today’s world, a world that some describe as in “permacrisis,” besieged by pandemic, by war, by inflation, by threats both real and perceived? Is there something in the story of Ataturk and his nation that we can all benefit from hearing?

Perhaps I was just moved by the sights and sounds of 9:05 a.m., by the majestic tribute to a remarkable man. After all, my wife is Turkish, and our son is Turkish-American. Would such a union have been possible without the legacy of Ataturk? Do I not also owe a debt of gratitude?

Perhaps it is important for me to remember that much of the best we have in this world, the world we have inherited, is the direct result of remarkable people. The ground we stand on was ploughed, and the grain raised from it, so to speak, by firm, strong and sure hands. We need to remember them. “The biggest battle is the war against ignorance,” as Ataturk himself said.

Thankfully we do still have a world about us, and surely we still possess remarkable people. I hope so: for then, now and always, we need them.

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James Tressler, a former Lost Coast resident, is a writer and teacher living in Istanbul.

On this week’s edition of the EcoNews Report, host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by three fisheries experts to talk about how we count fish in the Eel River.

Tune in to hear from Wyatt Smith from the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Dave Kajtaniak from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Charlie Schneider from California Trout as they discuss DIDSON cameras installed throughout the watershed and what data collected from these monitoring stations tells us about salmon and steelhead populations in the entire Eel River. This data can help influence conservation decisions as we work to meet recovery target population numbers for species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The data we discuss in this episode is specific to the mainstem Eel River, so it is not reflective of entire populations in the watershed, but rather a helpful indicator of just how many fish are out there.

LINKS:

• Redwood Empire Trout Unlimited
• Friends of the Eel

Did you know the world’s No. 1 downhill street luge competitor lives right here in Humboldt County? 

Ferndale resident Ryan Farmer took first place in the men’s finals for downhill street luge in the 2022 World Skate Games World Championships in Argentina this week, making him the top competitor in the world.

“[During the] finals, I waited until the fastest section of the course and drafted my way to an outside pass on Italian racer Roberto Marascar in the final corner,” Farmer told the Outpost. “I didn’t expect to win here and would have been incredibly happy with anywhere on the podium. … The gold medal is a great surprise and I’m so happy for the support from all, worldwide and especially from my local Humboldt County community.”

Farmer credits the local cannabis community for introducing him to downhill skateboarding and sparking his interest in downhill street luge.

“Street luge is faster and more about technical precision and the fastest possible way down a hill,” he said. “The skate community [are some] of the most supportive and loving people and the drive to be my best motivated me to chase points and fight for the world championship.”

Farmer’s exciting win comes just days after he lost his luge while traveling from the United States to Argentina. “When I arrived, my bag carrying my board and other equipment was not on the plane,” he said. “My teammates went far out of their way to bring me a second board and, unfortunately, the airlines lost that one upon arrival.”

A week went by with no word from the airline. Farmer spent two days of practice sharing another teammate’s board. “Where everyone else got 13 or so practice runs, I got six,” he said.

Then, at the eleventh hour, Farmer’s luge was miraculously returned.

“We got notice of the bags being found and my coach rushed to the bus station to pick up the bags,” he said. “I got my board just moments before time trials began and still managed to get a silver medal with a time of 1:14:27. The top spot was 1:14:20 so I was seven hundredths from gold. When racing began today I was able to play it safe and move up through the quarter and semi-finals, winning both.”

Click on the video below to see Farmer accept his gold medal!

Self-taught documentarian Ray Olson is back with another edition of his eclectic local travel series “Humboldt Outdoors.”

In today’s episode, Olson takes us on a tour of the Timber Heritage Association’s up-and-coming rail and logging museum on the Samoa Peninsula. 

“The Humboldt County-based Timber Heritage Association has been working for more than 10 years with a corps of incredibly dedicated volunteers to create what they intend to be a world-class museum featuring Humboldt County’s rail and timber history,” Olson says in the video. “One of their board members [Joseph Oliver] has offered a behind-the-scenes tour of all the work they’ve done so far.”

Click the video to watch Olson and Oliver explore Samoa’s historic Roundhouse, built by the John Vance Mill and Lumber Company in 1893, and discuss the ins and outs of restoring a 100-year-old executive passenger train car.

PREVIOUSLY:

Fredricka (Snookie) Sue Baskette, 79, of McKinleyville, passed away October 28, 2022.

You will always be remembered no matter what.

Your presence, love, and kindness will forever be with us.

Rest now until we meet again.

At Snookie’s request, no services will be held. A celebration of life will also not be held.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Snookie Baskette’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.