Upbeat Times 17th


Annual Spring Guide 2016


UPBEAT TIMES, INC • May 2016 • 9


WORDPLAY Umbellularia Californica: JOKES & Humor # 4 InnerView with Attorney Anthony Cohen


by Marcia Singer • lovearts@att.net


Santa Rosa. CA. ~ . [Oom- bel-lu-lar-i-a cal-i-for-ni-ca]. Sometimes you feel like a nut, and if you’re Anthony Cohen, you feel like a pep- perwood tree nut (AKA the Cali- fornia bay laurel). T e Press Demo- crat (12-18-15) ran a feature story about Tony and his passion for this indigenous nut, and for help- ing the Kashia [Ka-shy-a] Band of Pomo In- dians create economic develop- ment opportunities. Apparent- ly there’s a commercial demand for pepperwood nuts -- a tra- ditional Kashia food (“Bayhem Behe” in their language). But only a few of our local trees reliably bear nuts in any given year. No one knows why yet. Being the wild


forager that I am, I headed out to try my luck at fi nding some pepperwood nuts, described as tasting like unsweetened mocha when roasted. I found several nut-bearing trees across from Shiloh Regional Park – fi rst try! I bagged a few, leaving


the rest for the squirrels. Smil- ing broadly, I headed home. But my bagged prize ended up stored in the fridge; I was uncertain about their quality. Lucky for


me, an email I sent to Tony Co- hen about In- nerViewing him yielded a posi- tive reply.


--then realizing he could follow in his attorney dad’s footsteps, AND fi nd a useful way to be of service to others that would be true to his own conscience and style –even eccentricity. When I asked Tony how he


found his unconventional path, he spoke about his spiritual awakening --key to all that fol- lowed.


First he mentioned a He


lived nearby: we agreed to an im- promptu meet-


ing. Tony brought samples of his roasted nut ‘candy.’ Over cups of my wildish ‘elixer’ re- spiratory tea, he fi lled my ears with tales about his Path: how he came to be a tribal attorney, how he fell in love with the pep- perwood tree nuts. My guest’s stories spanned a life- time.


I learned of


his Chicago child- hood, open-mind- ed parents who supported him


following his dreams; his early affi nity with Native American cultures; his rebel-gonna-do- my-own-thing style;


his col-


lege years (nearly dropping out completely); trying a few diff erent trades to make a buck


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few early infl uences, including Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, (“T e Psychedelic Experience, a Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead”) and Para- mahansa Yogananda (“Autobi- ography of a Yogi”). T en Tony explained that he’d experienced a transcended state on two sig- nifi cant occasions. T e fi rst was via a friend, vicariously, and the second, directly. Entering that altered state, Tony transcended identifi cation with personality,


ego or the physical, mundane world. He experienced a vast, spiritual realm –perhaps what sometimes is called I Am, nirvana, samadhi. It was life-changing. Tony tries to re- main aware of that state as he leads his daily life. And, he says of course, that’s what led him to pepperwood nuts -! I’m moved by how clear-


ly Tony Cohen’s life reveals a purposeful, underlying pull towards vocation.


Hindsight


may reveal that we each have such a destiny, how each fork in the road, every choice and deci- sion is part of this ultimate path through life. Tuning in is key. OK, so what’s the latest scoop


about eff orts to commercialize the nut? Cohen’s pleased that the Kashia recently expanded its


... continued on page 16


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“You are happy when you are enthusiastic and


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UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • May 2016 • 9


A guy walks into a bar with a piece of tarmac under his arm.


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