I think the Mostly British Film Festival is better than ever this year, and I'm grateful to Maxine Einhorn!  This weekend the stand-out films for me were "Tina," which I chose both because a friend drew it to my attention and because I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga, and Tongans and Samoans are very similar in many ways including in their a cappella singing, sometimes featured in this film.  Edna O'Brien was as much "her own person" as the self-sacrificing son in "Four Mothers" was not.  I loved the film in spite of not believing that a son could be that self-sacrificing or a mother that selfish and clueless --unless she was demented, which apparently she was not supposed to be.  It shows a lot about the demands of caregiving.  May we all managed to be grateful for whoever helps us when we can't help ourselves--and may that time not come until after death!

 

Reading Peter Hartlaub’s beautiful and heart-felt defense of SF (Boston radio hosts branding SF as “a zombie apocalypse”), I was grateful both for Peter Hartlaub and a Boston friend now staying in SF who has not failed the empathy test.  In fact,  at the end of his article, Peter Hartlaub says “Start at the Ferry Building….then take a public ferry (anywhere!)”  That’s exactly what my Boston friend suggested when the ferry we had planned to take to Treasure Island February 3^rd had mechanical problems and couldn’t take us there.   It was a toss up at Gate B:  Tiburon or Sausalito.  The ferry to Sausalito came first, and we were aboard it, both happy to explore a bit of Marin and return to the lovely skyline of SF.

 

After Beethoven! presented by Calvary Music & Art,

Patty signed the petition

I see that Chris Larsen is listed first as OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS on the petition to get Connect Bay Area Transit on the ballot. How much did he give?

Chris Larsen is listed as a major early funder for the 

Connect Bay Area Transit initiative, which has raised approximately $3 million to support signature-gathering efforts for the November 2026 ballot. 

While specific individual donation amounts for this exact transit measure are often not broken down in initial news summaries, Larsen's status as the lead "Official Top Funder" on petition disclosures typically indicates he has provided a significant portion of that $3 million total. 

His recent high-profile contributions to other Bay Area and state initiatives include:

• $5 million to Grow California, a political initiative he co-launched in late 2025 to reshape state politics.
• $5 million for the revitalization of the Larkin Street corridor in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
• $9.4 million in combined gifts (including free office space) to create a new technology hub for the San Francisco Police Department.
• $2 million previously donated to support San Francisco shopping districts like Union Square. 

Larsen's support for the transit measure is part of a broader push by regional business leaders and labor groups (including Genentech and SEIU 1021) to secure a long-term sales tax to prevent service cuts for BART, Muni, and Caltrain.