New Arts and Crafts Center Opens in Coulterville California

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The Big Picture –

By Glynn Wilson –

COULTERVILLE, Calif. – So you thought it could not be done?

It’s not a good idea to underestimate us and the power of positive thinking.

Since moving all the way across the country from Greenbelt, Maryland to Coulterville, California eight months ago, I’ve been astonished at an entrenched attitude against progress and change for the better in this lovely historic Gold Rush era town in the Sierra mountain foothills.

While it’s to be expected from some members of a small community with scant resources and a broken communications system, there are smart, educated people around here with significant resources who could do more to help us change the culture and the conversation who seem content to sit back and wait to see what happens, unwilling to jump in and help.

If you want to change the culture, many experts agree, “start by changing the conversation.” Culture isn’t sculpted in policy documents. It’s shaped in the daily dialogues between leaders and their teams. Every question you ask, every story you tell, every recognition you give reinforces what matters most.

So it is as I told the interesting and interested delegation from the Consulate General of Vietnam’s office in San Francisco in a presentation on a big screen on Sunday in the former Gazzolo Saloon and Dance Hall building on historic Main Street, we have been covering news and playing music online here for more than six months now.

But even when I talk to the cool people at the Old Johnny Haigh Saloon on Friday nights sometimes, it becomes obvious that in this era of Social Media and the coming Artificial Intelligence age, some people seem to have a mental block about simply typing in the domain name YosemiteRadio.Org and LOOKING at what we have been doing for the past six months. Maybe it’s in part because most people now hate news websites, which are often blocked by popup ads and paywalls.

Sorry, but that’s not my fault – and neither is the partisan divide. I’ve never used popup ads or a paywall since I first started publishing on the web in 1998. And I’ve been covering both sides of the story for 45 years, nearly half a century. We also don’t use “cookies” to track users. We do have a built in traffic counter, so we know how many people are clicking on the site and consuming the content.

Social Media

Making matters worse, there is apparently so much fear in the air that it seems hard to get anyone to share the links and help promote what we are doing. The nation, the world, and many communities, are in turmoil due to current economic conditions.

You can’t please everybody no matter how hard you try. We will do what I have always done in the news business: Simply tell it like it is and let the chips fall where they may.

Fīat iūstitia ruat cælum – “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

But let’s face facts. Some folks just seem hard to help.

Secret Vistas: A River Runs Through It (Three)

Jump on the Opportunity Bus

Every time in life when I get a little dejected, however, someone shows up willing to Jump On The Bus and help with hope for the future.

This past week, when I had offered to book a big name band and bring a lot more people and activity to town for the Memorial Weekend, to broadcast it live and record it for posterity in our archives – and some had discouraged it for fear of competition – I got an email message from artist and art teacher Erica Wolfsen.

“Hi Glynn,” she said. “Do you need help this weekend?”

“Sure,” I said.

She and I have been talking for weeks about collaborating on oral history interviews and audio books for the museum in town, the Northern Mariposa County History Center.

The Smithsonian is looking to help in this effort, as Erica and I both wrote.

Smithsonian Institute Brings Museum Expertise to Mariposa County, California

A Promise of Community Collaboration Emerges From Visit to Yosemite

A contract for audio and video work would also help support the new radio station, studio and website, and we could promote this historic place – the birthplace of America’s Best Idea of protecting national forests and parks, the best entrance GATEWAY to Yosemite and the original John Muir horse and wagon road – by publishing and sharing this content with the world on the web.

Why does this concept seem so hard to grasp for some? Mariposa and Groveland both have more of a budget to promote their GATEWAYS to Yosemite. So what? We have a new radio station dedicated to promoting the route through Coulterville. You think the Crazy Coyote Saloon, Coulter Cafe and other local businesses might benefit from that? Of course.

New Arts and Crafts Center

Meanwhile, Erica and I had also talked about using the recently abandoned thrift store space next to the Gazzolo for an arts and crafts center. She doesn’t want me to use the pretentious word “gallery,” and in fact, the business model for this CENTER will be as different as our non-profit model for the radio station.

We don’t have any corporate or government bosses to answer to here. So we can be creative and do what we want based on our combined experiences and with a collaborative inspiration.

That would seem to be in keeping with the libertarian spirit of this place, if you will allow me that political indulgence.

So I told Erica that we had already started cleaning up the very nice real estate space with a broom and a mop, and by taking all the screws out of the walls left by the previous tenant. We cleaned up the front of the building too.

She showed up with spackling and a putty knife and started filling in those holes. After it dried overnight, she showed up the next day with drop clothes, paint, brushes and rollers and began to paint the walls in the main (gallery) room white. I helped by taping the baseboards and electrical outlets and did some rolling and cutting in too.

On Memorial Day, while some people were still passing through town visiting the Vietnam Veterans Traveling Memorial Wall up the hill, Erica brought over some of her own paintings from the old Haigh Ranch and began hanging them on the walls.

Related: Memorial Day Weekend in Coulterville California

You can see the result in the pictures. So now we are asking other artists and crafts people to also jump on the bus and show up to help.

The working name will be the Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center for now. We will have meetings of the board soon and open it up for suggestions, just as we will do for the community garden out back.

Related: Community Garden Underway in Coulterville California

Because of her education, experience, willingness to help and enthusiasm, and our shared freedom, we made her the new Art Director. I will happily act as her “yes man.” I like everything about her plans for the place, (even if it becomes an art space on the way to a real estate listing for a tenant willing to pay a California rate for rent).

Help Us Help You

Are you an artist or crafts maker who would like a place to showcase your work around here? Hey, show up and pickup a paint brush and paint the next wall in the other rooms. I’ll be around to help anyone who wants to help us help you.

The plan is to periodically change the art on the main wall with work from a different artist, who would then work the space on the weekend and be there to sell arts and crafts when the tourists are passing through town on the way to and from Yosemite. This will spread the work around and not require too much from anyone.

The landlord and the radio station non-profit will take a cut from the sales to pay the utilities on the space.

We are also planning to have parties on the weekends, with music, to bring people interested in changing the culture to this town for more social networking and a new kind of conversation. We know how to spread the word about this on social media. But we sincerely need your help.

We just added share buttons on the stories on the site, and we will be sharing the links with photo and headline memes whenever possible. If you want to change the culture and the conversation, please share the links all over social media. Thanks 🤠

Post Script

The theme of underestimating an adversary appears everywhere in literature, war stories, crime dramas, and epics. Here are some strong examples:

Classic Literature

The Art of War

Sun Tzu repeatedly warns commanders against misjudging opponents. One core lesson is that arrogance blinds leaders to danger.

Moby-Dick

Captain Ahab underestimates the destructive power of the whale — and the consequences of obsession.

The Count of Monte Cristo

The men who betray Edmond Dantès underestimate both his intelligence and patience.

Dune

House Harkonnen and the Emperor underestimate Paul Atreides and the Fremen.

War and Strategy

On War

Clausewitz emphasizes friction, uncertainty, and the danger of assuming an enemy is weak or incapable.

The Killer Angels

At the Battle of Gettysburg, commanders repeatedly misjudge the resolve and capability of the opposing side.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Shows how American leaders underestimated Japanese military intentions before Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Crime and Thriller Films

The Usual Suspects

Nearly everyone underestimates Verbal Kint.

No Country for Old Men

Characters underestimate Anton Chigurh at terrible cost.

Die Hard

The criminals underestimate John McClane because he appears isolated and ordinary.

John Wick

A classic modern example: gangsters dismiss a quiet retired man without realizing who he is.

Fantasy and Epic Stories

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Sauron cannot imagine that someone would seek to destroy the Ring rather than use it.

Game of Thrones

Many powerful houses underestimate characters like Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, and Jon Snow.

Star Wars

The Empire repeatedly underestimates the Rebels.

Historical Example Often Discussed

Vietnam War

Military historians frequently argue that American leadership underestimated the endurance and political commitment of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces.

A recurring lesson across these stories is that people tend to underestimate adversaries who appear weaker, quieter, poorer, unconventional, or morally constrained — until it is too late.