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In the Village

1/23/2019 ā€”

From the messy desk of Amanda Eichstaedt….

It is said that a village is an assortment of houses and buildings, but it can also be said that a village is the people who live in those houses. West Marin is a scattering of villages. They can be loosely described by the many post offices that serve them. We identify with the village where we live or work.

It has also been said that it “takes a village,” not that there can’t be individual stand-out heroes or champions that accomplish great things. I think of this as being “many coming together for the common good.” There are some overarching shared values, and folks lend a hand to accomplish things. This quality in villagers often comes out during times of duress.

There are great examples of this right here in West Marin during earthquakes, floods, and fires, and we saw heroic examples of this during the recent fires that have devastated so much of Northern California. There are also small examples. A group of villagers recently come together to help move a person out of their home since they had moved on to a care facility and could not do this for themselves. Villagers haveĀ organized a fundraiserĀ for local folks who have close family members who suffered great losses during the Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

Last Wednesday some villagers associated with KWMR worked together during the storm to get KWMR back on the air. It wasn’t epic, nor unexpected, since the winds and weather in a storm like that often cause power outages. I was out of town, and don’t know the specifics, but the following folks got KWMR back on the air. Mike Varley was just wrapping up his program “Running with Scissors,” knowing that Larry Rippee was not coming in due to a power outage in Fairfax. John Roche, an underwriter, was going by and saw Mike out getting the station back on the air, and stopped to assist. Lyons Filmer, Program Director, and her husband Gregory DeMascio, also a volunteer at KWMR came shortly thereafter. Ken Eichstaedt then arrived to assist. Meanwhile Richard Dillman was monitoring the situation from his home/studio on the Inverness Ridge. Needless to say, folks were on the task.

A good chunk of the KWMR staff meeting was taken up in discussion of plans, contingency plans, and backup plans for the contingency, etc. Richard Dillman threw out an Eisenhower quote at the meeting, “In preparing for battle I have always found thatĀ plansĀ are useless, butĀ planningĀ is indispensable.”

I thank those who stepped up, knowing that there are many more at the ready who would assist at the drop of a hat.

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager and Executive Director
KWMR

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