Speakers

Why do river otters matter? To you, to all of us, and most importantly, to the waters and land we share and depend upon? How do we connect every community in Marin (and beyond) to conservation? Part of the answer lies in the positive message of the return of river otters after decades of absence. I will talk about how River Otter Ecology Project aims to leverage otter charm to show that we humans are able to correct past mistakes for a better future. And I am interested in your thoughts and experience with community efforts to support conservation, and will leave time for that discussion.

William Henry Mauldin was an American editorial cartoonist and served in World War II. He was best known for a series of war cartoons know as Willy & Uncle Joe cartoons. 

Our speaker, Peter Mellini, a member of Marin Sunrise, will show and discuss Mauldin's cartoons and the war stories behind them. Peter was born in Los Angeles in 1935 and educated in L.A. public schools, then Exeter College, then the U.S. Army in Germany, and then Stanford University. He taught European and World History at Stanford, Sonoma State and San Francisco State for a total of 34 years.

Gareth Loy, half of the Tenaya Guitar Duo, will play music of Bach and others, performed and recorded earlier by himself and playing partner, Jonathan Braun. He will provide commentary on the music. 

Gareth is a musician and award-winning composer. He has published widely and, during a long and successful career at the cutting edge of multimedia computing, has worked as a researcher, lecturer, programmer, software architect, and digital systems engineer. He is President of Gareth, Inc., a provider of software engineering and consulting services internationally.

From Bordeaux, France to San Francisco, California: Janis' talk follows a Franco-American couple and their two young sons across the Atlantic Ocean and into a 10-year journey overseas. Through their adventures and misadventures, tragedies, and glories across four continents, the Couvreux Family rarely had a dull moment living on the water. Janis chronicles in vivid and lively detail how they fended off a midnight intruder, sailed to the microscopic St. Peter and St. Paul rocks on the equator, explored the jungles of French Guiana and Devil's Island, and sailed through Cuba during the turmoil of the late 80s. Their adventure was not without hardship, however, as Janis recounts battling medical emergencies that required sending her husband across the globe for treatment (twice), leaving her to single-handedly orchestrate a Panama Canal passage amid pre-war chaos. While living in the vclose quarters of their 42-foot sailboat, the Cowabunga, the Couvreux family was able to maintain sanity and a normal routine of cooking, schooling and sleeping at sea, knowing all the while that something unexpected might be waiting around the next peninsula.