Letters to the Editor

Editor: Isn’t it funny how people react to this nativity scene idea? I used to read my bible at break when I worked at a factory, and it shocked me to see people become angry just by looking at it. I know a guy who wore a shirt with the caption “Jesus loves you” on it. His co-worker complained, and he was called in to his supervisor’s office. He asked his supervisor, “Do you think so-and-so believes in Jesus?” “Well of course not,” he replied. “So why does my shirt bother them? Why does something like this bother so many people if it isn’t real?” John 3:20 That’s why. Don’t back down August, bring back old Sonoma.
Bill Jennings

Tennis should be part of pool plan

Editor: The Nov. 30 Sun article on the proposed community pool depicts five lovely new tennis courts as part of the project. The current four courts would be eliminated by the swimming pool site. Sonomans should be aware that the school district built some new fences this spring, then padlocked the gates so that there is no public access to the tennis courts at all.

The school district is unable to control skate boarders and vandals, so now views the courts as only safe to be used for school classes and high school team practices and matches. Those folks who are unable to play on their own private courts can now only go to Maxwell Park, where a lengthy wait on Saturday or Sunday morning is required. The Larson Park courts are in such disrepair that they are too dangerous to use.

I urge anyone interested in tennis to contact our city council members, and insist that any new courts located on the high school campus be made available for public use on the weekends. Currently the school district requires a $3,000 “use permit” for access to their courts, but many other systems for safe playing could be devised.
“Community pool” is a great project, but “community tennis” should also be part of the plan.
Richard Chadwin

Which man Jack?

Editor: The opera “Every Man Jack” was an event full of great performances by cast and musicians. Unfortunately, the libretto fails badly in depicting Jack London, the man. The opera would have been more accurately titled “Scenes from John Barleycorn,” for all it does is paint Jack London as a man drinking his way through life and dying of alcoholism. For most of the people who attended the performance, and who know very little of London’s life, the opera will only add to the myth that he succumbed to alcohol.

Jack London’s intent in writing the book “John Barleycorn,” aside from making money, was to help prevent young men of America from going down the path he had gone. In his book, London describes himself as having been a chronic drinker in the past, and is writing now in full control of his drinking. London began writing the book while sailing for five months from Baltimore to Seattle. During this period he consumed no alcohol and said he had no craving for it.

In writing about a real person, I believe that the writer has the responsibility to do the proper research to avoid a one-dimensional representation of that person. The opera was non-stop drinking binge from beginning to end. The real man, Jack, who was depicted in the opera as staggering through life, actually wrote 51 books in his last 17 years of life. He also spent almost two years sailing through the Pacific on a ship he helped design. He wrote many essays, delivered countless speeches, traveled widely and began what was to be his greatest focus in life, the building of his Beauty Ranch, a model farm which at the time was at the cutting edge of agricultural development. This was Jack, the man, not the myth shown on stage.

In the past, the writer who did the most damage to London’s image was Irving Stone with his “Sailor on Horseback.” Stone melded fiction with truth to add more impact to what started as a biography, but was quickly subordinated to “A Biographical Novel” in the second printing. Stone wrote that London had committed suicide without having any hard facts to back this conclusion. Because of this, countless people around the world, even to this day, believe that London did indeed take his own life. The facts, for those who investigate, include London planning his next ranch projects on the night before he died, along with writing a letter to his eldest daughter informing her that he would get together with her and her sister before leaving on a trip to New York. This letter rested on his table ready to mail on the morning he was found in a coma. This information does not support the theory of suicide.
I have spent the last 10 years interpreting Jack London history to visitors at Jack London State Historic Park. Dispelling myths has been part of my work. With this recent opera performance, and what has appeared in newspapers concerning the opera and the “dark side of Jack London,” I think that I will be extra busy for a while.
Lou Leal, Docent
Jack London State Historic Park