“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and souls of its people. No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” Gandhi
How do you celebrate your culture?
One of my family’s favorite pastimes when we’re together is tracing our genealogy. We’re serious about it. We have a private website where we can post lineage stories and bits of histories. We have binders and notebooks and even a master poster board outlining the main line all the way back to the 1200’s. Along with names and places, we also study the cultures and customs of our heritage both passed down and gleaned from cultural sites on the internet.
One of my favorite things to do is share my culture with my friends and learn more about theirs. With such a melting pot of different races and cultures here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s easy to find events and museums to explore. Whether you take a stroll in Chinatown or Japantown, visit Yerba Buena Gardens and the Martin Luther King Tribute Fountain, or take in the International Art Museum, there are hundreds of places to explore interesting cultures.
This Fall issue, we’ll traverse the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, cultural cooking in Mexico, and learn how to cook a Moroccan meal. Come explore with us and if the mood rises, share your culture with us at searchmagazine.net.
Emerian Rich / Editorial Director
The sea has always been a mystical and hypnotic entity beckoning us to play. From the early explorers called to the edge of the Earth in search of treasure to deep sea divers excited by new species, mankind can’t help but be mesmerized by its power, bounty, and beauty.
A brisk walk along B Deck led us to the infamous Room B340 where the stage was set, complete with crystal ball, tarot deck, and Ouija board. The Commodore’s tales of B340 were eerie and its reputation was such that the room, until recently, has been unoccupied and out of use for years. But new guests are in luck! The newly renovated space is now available to the public and you can book your own stay in the haunted B340. During its earlier years of occupancy, sleeping guests awakened to find the covers flown back and figures of people standing alongside the bed. Housekeeping reports include making up the room, only to return moments later to tousled spreads and sheets and everything in disarray. Our group, while exploring the dimly lit room, complained of vertigo and headaches and the stalwart Commodore confessed his own extreme discomfort. “I would never spend a night in this cabin,” he added.
Commissioned in 1936, the Queen Mary was a state-of-the-art luxury cruising vessel, one of the grandest ocean liners ever built. During World War II, with resources being scarce, she was retrofitted as a troop ship, nicknamed the “Grey Ghost”, and began service to the allied forces. After her return to civilian life, in the late 1940’s, she again spent a number of years in the luxury liner industry, but travel was a changing landscape and more and more people took to the air. The Queen Mary was tired, weathered, and no longer in demand. In 1967, finding a resting place in Long Beach, California, she’s become an iconic landmark that everyone should attempt to see.
Ruth Bancroft Garden is a tranquil garden in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Walnut Creek. Nestled behind a fence line, it’s an oasis full of succulents. The garden is a place where you can view exotic and endangered plant life year around, meditate in nature, or view local artist sculptures at one of the many annual events they host each year. Most residents of Contra Costa County have never heard of Ruth Bancroft Garden or what she accomplished with her collection of exotic succulents. Bancroft is not just a street tying Concord, Walnut Creek, and Pleasant Hill together. It’s a landmark dedicated to a great woman who was fascinated by succulents.
I was not always a gardener. I’d lived in dorms, apartments, and rented a house without ever noticing the plants around me. Once I owned my own house, I became excited at the possibilities for the sad, weed-riddled plots circling my yard. I wanted my kids outdoors, riding bicycles and playing tag. A neighbor kindly took me under her wing, perhaps inspired by the view of my yard through her front window, and opened my eyes to the many annuals, perennials, herbs, and evergreens. I found every plant interesting and soon brought home dozens of plants with every kind of foliage and flower.
Since then, my landscaping has calmed down. I’ve learned to arrange the same plants in groupings so they’re more noticeable and easier to maintain, and to appreciate the strength of a good shrub instead of spending money on perennials that flower for a week and do nothing the rest of the year. My gardening fever has calmed, but the joy of seeing new life never ends.
