See the Sweet Life in SF... at Picasa Web Albums, c/o username: jackbarry99.

The Culture Club December, 2011 Meeting

Sunday, 12 18, 2011.... Noon to 2pm...at the 1736 Ninth Ave Meeting Hall... Please join us.

The Bill of Fare:  Roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetable dip plate,  two pies, and juice.

Your cost:  ZERO.

Only for members of SHARP, the Sunset Heights Association of  Responsible People...

Dues, $10 per year, can be paid at the door..


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Also, we will be honoring our three senior membersL

102 year old Marian Olsen.

95  year old Hal Gilliam.

94  year old  Vern Waight..


Our resident Professor, Lowell Pratt of Menlo College..will interview  these stalwarts.


All in all, a  Day to Remember.

Do come.

Cheers,...

Jack Barry and May Pon....hosts.

The next D5 supervisor | San Francisco Bay Guardian

Malcolm Yeung is ,,,,,,The next D5 supervisor | San Francisco Bay Guardian

You can bet your house on it, or your whatever, if you can't afford a house.

jack barry

Jeremy Friedlander, cousin of Woody Allen. ???

Folks, here is what I get, when I ask our SHARP board member, and State of Cal. Attorney General  staff attorney, Jeremy Friedlander, for a "blurb" to describe the substance of his upcoming talk about his day at the  U.S. Supreme Court:

"Jeremy Friedlander, a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, argued a criminal case in the United States Supreme Court in October 2008.   He says it was like pitching a game in Yankee Stadium without a major league fastball.   He did not get knocked out of the box, but a few line drives came close to his head.  In conversation with Lowell Pratt on Monday evening, November 14th, 2011,..... he will discuss the experience in layperson's terms, with particular emphasis on how the Supreme Court is unique. 


 If you want to hear about felony murder, he can talk about that too.   "......


My comment:
Does it seem like Jeremy is a fan of Woody Allen, if not  the intimidating scene that is the U.S. Supreme Court.  ?   


Come to the Sunset Heights Culture Club,  at 1736 9th Ave, Monday, 11 14 2011 at 7pm.
Learn how to "win the battle" on days when you don't have your best fastball.


What is to be inferred about  U.S. culture, from how the U.S. Suprem Court is run?


How much of Jeremy's success does he attribute to living here in Sunset Heights?   


Bring your friends with you.....
jack barry:  jackbarry99@gmail.com




Where/when: Monday, 11 14 2011, 7pm,  1736 9th Ave,  above Moraga Street, S.F.


presented by SHARP board member,  Jack Barry.  Hosted by SHARP.
 (Sunset Heights Assoc. of Responsible People.)  <sharpsf.com> 


   

S.H.A.R.P. Board Mbr. in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jeremy Friedlander, Esq..... is a member of SHARP's board, and its Secretary, and is a staff trial attorney
for the California Attorney General's Office.

A few years ago, Jeremy represented the  Attorney General Office before the US Supreme Court.
He won the case. ... On Monday, November 14, 2011...Jeremy will be our guest subject, for the November Meeting of the Inner Sunset Heights Culture Club, at 7pm, at:

The SHARP Meeting Room,  1736 Ninth Avenue, between Moraga and Noriega. Admission: Free.

Jeremy will be "In Conversation with Professor Lowell Pratt.  After the interview there will be questions from the audience.

Tell your neighbors and friends who have any interest in how the highest court in the land works, and how it is different than the lower courts.

presented by Jack Barry, and hosted by SHARP, your 110 year old Neighborhood Association, which has ITS regular public meeting, this month on 11 21  2011.

Friends:  Here is the report by Jonathan Farrell of the Sunset Beacon and Richmond Review.... , and the on-line publication, .The DIGITAL JOURNAL....  He has given us his permission....    <run a Google check of this reporter's other writings.... He is tops

from THE DIGITAL JOURNAL:

Set in 1957 Indiana, "The Swan" a novel by Richmond District author Jim Cohee is receiving good reviews. And, this is much to his surprise especially when the novel was set aside by Cohee for over two years; until his wife pulled off the shelf and told him to submit it.

Professor, Lowell Pratt of Menlo College interviewed Cohee before an audience of over 15 people on Oct. 10 at a meeting of the Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People.

"My first novel 'The Nineteen Steps to Whatever' was rejected 50 times," Cohee said. The audience laughed when he noted that he was beginning to wonder if it was 'karma' coming back to haunt him as he had been an editor, often the one who sent out the very type of rejection letters, he got. "I wrote ‘The Swan’ in five months; working seven days a week,” Cohee told Pratt that Monday evening at the SHARP clubhouse on 9th Ave & Moraga. Cohee said that he read and researched a lot, at least more than a dozen novels, as well as other materials to get a sense of direction and context for his novel. Cohee said that the Midwest is magic for storytelling. Yet interestingly, "The Wizard of Oz" was not on his list. Among the novels he read that Cohee said helped him along in the process, besides classics like Jack London's "Call of the Wild," was "Dr. Sax" by Jack Kerouac. This according to Cohee was the ‘book idea’ that he had in his head most of the time while writing the "The Swan." Like Kerouac's “Dr. Sax”, Cohee weaves a story concerning a traumatic incident. The main character in “The Swan” is ten-year-old Aaron Cooper. Because Aaron witnessed the death of his younger sister, Pookie, the trauma has left him unwilling to speak. Aaron copes with life's challenges by disappearing into his own imagination. He envisions being captain of the Kon Tiki, driving his sled in the snowy Klondike, and tiger hunting in India. Aaron is guarded by secret friends like deposed Hungarian Count Blurtz Shemshoian and Blurtz's wonder dog who protect him from the creature from the Black Lagoon-who hides in Aaron's closet at night. The tales he constructs for himself, the real life stories he is witness to, and his mother's desperate efforts to bring her son back from the brink, all come to a head at an emotional family dinner. Structured upon childhood memories of Cohee’s own growing up in Indianapolis, The Swan is a fictional memoir about enduring love and the weighty nature of mortality. Cohee also said in his chat with Pratt that he used “benchmarks from the 1950’s throughout the story.” “Howdy Doody” “Slinky” and cap guns, that those of the Baby Boomer generation would recall. Reference to the Cold War is one of the benchmarks which lend itself to Aaron’s “secret agent” type of capers in his imagination. Cohee read passages from the book, which pleased the audience.  Among them was local writer/journalist Steven Winn. “I do think it's a very delicate and complicated matter to take on the voice of a young boy and channel adult sensibilities through him,” said Winn. “That's a great and worthy achievement,” said he.

 When asked later, if The Swan could be brought to the screen like Stephen King’s novel “Stand By Me,” that also is a recollection of a childhood set in the 1950’s, Cohee replied, “I don't know about The Swan as a movie: most of the novel takes place in the boy's head.” “Aaron is tiger hunting, driving dog teams, sailing log rafts, etc. and that might be hard to film,” Cohee said. But, “If a producer is interested, I'm interested,” Cohee said. He also pointed out it's not a coincidence that the publisher Indiana University Press is in Indiana, the book is set in Indiana. That is something he is very pleased about. Yet even more so was that, “it was my wife Linda Kay Smith who rescued the project, insisting that I send it out and recommending Indiana University Press. For more info visit web site http://www.iupress.indiana.edu or call (800) 842-6796.

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http://sharpsf.com/building/sharp-front%20200w.jpg

1736-1738 9th Avenue, San Francisco, Ca. 94122....  (sharpsf.com)


Here is the facade of the new SHARP Building, on Ninth Avenue, between Moraga and Noriega...  The SHARP Meeting Room, site of the meetings of
the Inner Sunset/Sunset Heights Culture Club....  occupies all the space behind the garage.   This gorgeous building also contains two residential units, above, and a
lovely backyard, planted all with native plants.

Come to the SHARP monthly membership meetings, on the 4th Monday, or the Culture Club Meetings, on the 2nd Monday, both at 7pm.

...jackbarry... (jackbarry99@gmail.com)

 Diamonds on the soles of your shoes.

Oak Stairs, tile. mahogony.

Before the Interview.

Very comfortable chairs

18 attendees.

Soundproofing on the walls

Dear Reader...
To give you a taste of  "The Swan"...here are two comments, lifted from Amazon, where you can scan thru the book...  Come to "The Club", 10 10 2011, 7pm... meet the author, In Conversation with  Professor Lowell Pratt.

Two Readers:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem of a Book, September 2, 2011 By  Geoff Hiller - See all my reviews This review is from: The Swan: A Novel (Break Away Books) (Paperback) The Swan by Jim Cohee is a gem of novel. From the first page Cohee transported me to Indiana circa 1957 and what a trip it was. His protagonist may have been mute but Cohee can't contain himself. His recollections of the Cooper family and the adventures of Aaron are both hilarious and deeply moving. The writing has a jazz like quality to it- at times sounding like a Charlie Parker alto solo but always tight and well crafted. Nothing feels phony or gratuitous. The Swan is the real thing. I read The Swan a couple of weeks ago and it still resonates in me. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment 5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary, September 2, 2011 By  Linda Sladek (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Swan: A Novel (Break Away Books) (Paperback) I loved this book. I was immediately drawn into the world of the child narrator, amazing how the author accomplishes so much with so few words. The stories told in snippets, like Japanese brush strokes, create a fully realized universe. The language is poetic and funny, with an undertow of deadpan seriousness. The writing is so enjoyable that it's tempting to read too fast, but it is a work to be savored. Magical, transformative, the book packs a wallop. Highly recommended. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment

I am an Expert, and humble, too. "The Swan" is the next "Stand By Me."

September 14, 2011ARTS & CULTURE » BOOKS

Subject of the 10-10-11 Sunset Heights Culture Club, at 7pm, 1736 9th Ave.

Child's Play with Jim Cohee 

With The Swan, the 67-year-old debut novelist writes from the perspective of a child.

By Ellen Cushing

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Like many novelists, Jim Cohee had literary ambitions from a young age. But unlike many novelists, he gave up the ghost fairly quickly; although the San Francisco resident dreamed of writing fiction for a living in high school, soon enough, "life intervened." He married young, had two sons, went to graduate school, and fell into trade publishing as an editor at Sierra Club Books. But in his fifties, now working part-time and with the kids out of the house, Cohee rediscovered the passion to pursue the career he'd wanted as a kid. Well, sort of: Cohee's first novel was rejected fifty times, even by people he knew in the publishing industry. After that, he wrote his next book, The Swan -- about a young boy in 1950s Indianapolis who stops speaking in the aftermath of his sister's death -- mostly as a labor of love, never expecting it to see the light of day. It was only until his wife pulled the novel off the shelf and urged him to try his luck once again that he gave it a second thought. Two months later, he got an e-mail from an editor at Indiana University Press that opened with the line, "I love this novel." Last month, Cohee, who reads on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Mrs. Dalloway's (2904 College Ave., Berkeley), saw his first novel published. He's 67 years old.

The Swan proves that age is no limitation: that a sexagenarian can get a debut novel published -- or, indeed, that a ten-year-old can be a compelling narrator for a novel. Nowadays in adult contemporary fiction it's not hard to find stories told from the perspective of a child, but it's a conceit that can easily collapse in on itself and become plot-obscuringly precious. Staggeringly few of these stories work, but The Swan succeeds because Cohee uses the constraint to draw out the tensions inherent in his approach: There's something ironic, compelling, and deeply sad about hearing a story of mortality and unspeakable loss unfold in the chirpy, attention-deficit, occasionally hilarious voice of a fourth-grader. As Aaron Cooper stays silent and continues to cocoon himself in his imagination, it becomes clear just how much his life has been shaped by the fear and sadness of growing up in a family wracked by tragedy, and, more abstractly, in a nation entrenched in the Cold War. In Cooper's world, brought to life through Cohee's evocative prose, refrigerators turn into sharks and writhe around the kitchen; pythons masquerading as dinner guests eat housecats under the cover of night; and grown men are killed after being caught in bamboo finger traps. And somewhere in there, you begin to realize that this is not a novel about plot or linear motion. It's about exploring what Cohee called "a wilderness of dreams" -- less a line than an exceptionally detailed dot. "The point of The Swan is to examine the fantasy life of a child, and the joy of The Swan is following the crazy path of this boy's dream life," Cohee said. "It's a story that can only be seen through this child's eyes." The voice isn't a gimmick -- it's the point of the book, and it works brilliantly. Not bad for someone who thought he'd never have a novel published.

October 10 Culture Club Meeting

Place: 1736 9th Ave, Upper Sunset, aka:  Sunset Heights.  Free... to the public.


At Seven pm on Monday, October 10,  we will have our next "Author Nite"

Inner Richmond Resident, Jim Cohee, age 67, has  published his first book.

"The Swan" is a novel written in the voice of a  ten year old boy, about his life.

Local Professor, Lowell Pratt, will interview the author about his career, book and life Mr. Cohee will read some selections from his book, and take audience questions....     (See Google to learn more details of the story, and how it is getting  excellent reviews.

Bring your friends and children who like books told in their voice.....

________

This Culture club is sponsored by SHARP, in whose Meeting Hall the event occurs.  (between Moraga and Noriega, at 1736 Ninth Ave.)

Jack Barry, of the SHARP board, brings you this, for this reason:

"Ars Gratia Artis"...

 write to him with encomiums, brickbats, and so on.:
jackbarry99@gmail.com

SHARP CULTURE CLUB. September 12 Meeting

SHARP'S  CULTURE CLUB MEETS NEXT MONDAY, 7PM,  9-12-2011

1736 Ninth Avenue.SHARP Meeting Room 

WE WILL  HAVE A LECTURE AND  Q & A ON  HOW TO PROTECT AND GROW YOUR $$ ASSETS.

" SHARP MONEY NIGHT"  ...... Ray Meadows of Berkeley Investment Advisors will present his views on “Investing and Risk Management – achieving superior results by understanding and managing risk”.  Ray will dissect the key sources of risk, and explain how to manage them so you can earn better returns with less risk.  His talk will include a discussion of the impact of emotions on trading: how to avoid mistakes and profit from the market’s mood swings.

ALSO:  HERB MEIBERGER, A LONG TIME ELECTED MEMBER OF THE SF RETIREMENT SYSTEM, WILL  EXPLAIN HOW HE HAD THE FABULOUS "INVESTMENT TRACK RECORD", THAT HE HAD,...FOR SO MANY YEARS.  HERB IS NOW AN  INSTRUCTOR AT SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY..

This meeting will be a truly enriching experience.....   Admission is open to the public... Seating is limited to 30 .

jack barry, host.  415 235 7897cell.

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Herb's bio.... < full disclosure:  I have followed this man's work for 20 years.>

 Herb Meiberger, CFA
Commissioner
City & County of San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System

Herb Meiberger was first elected to a five-year term on the Retirement Board in 1992, and has served for 18 years in that capacity.    The Retirement Board oversees the $14.0 billion (6/30/2010) Defined Benefit pension fund and the voluntary $1.8 billion Defined Contribution fund.  Mr. Meiberger was hired by the Retirement System in 1986 as a security analyst and has worked in several capacities, including directly managing and overseeing the fixed income portfolios, monitoring compliance of the asset managers and working on the alternative investment portfolio.  He retired in 2006 after twenty years of service.  He earned a B.A. in mathematics and chemistry from the University of South Dakota and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California at Berkeley.  He was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1987, and currently teaches CFA review courses for the Stalla/Becker Educational program. In addition, he teaches corporate finance and investments at San Francisco State University and at Hult International University

Learn about Classical Music and Opera...8-8-2011

If you have ever wanted to discuss music composition and, in particular, opera composition...  This coming Monday, at 7pm... is your opportuntiy!

Come to the Sunset Heights Assoc. of Responsible People headquarters.:

1736,1738 9th Ave, between Moraga and Noriega Streets.   This has the appearance of being an ordinary, new, two residential unit building...  There is a discrete sign on it that says  "SHARP Headquarters and Meeting Hall : ground floor, back of the garage.  Public Welcome, when meeting is in session.

The short name for our club...is the acronym, "SHARP"...

"SHARP" has been around since 1900, and  built this beautiful new structure in 2010, as the old , one story Clubhouse was falling apart, due to age.

Dr. Christopher Fulkerson, Ph.D.  is a friend
of one of the SHARP directors, and he is donating his time, for the pleasure of talking about classical music composition, and Operas, in particular..

So,  do drop in for some great "SHARP Talk" about the topic of music.

Dr. Fulkerson is full of fascinating  stories, such as that the composer, George Handel, and the American musician, Jimi Hendrix, were neighbors!  Does that
pique your curiosity?  Send us an email, for any further details.:
jackbarry99@gmail.com...... or see you Monday, between 6.30 and 7pm. We will begin  "At 7, SHARP!"