Short Takes Short Takes (March 16, 2005)

Get your goddess on

The goddess is afoot at Menlo College next week. On Tuesday, March 22, the exorbitantly titled 8th annual Rites of Spring and Celebration of Peace and the Goddess will be held.

Festivities include a do-it-yourself drum circle and non-denominational Rites of Spring.

If there is a denomination that oversees Rites of Spring, could someone drop Short Takes a line and let us know?

And if that wasn't enough to sell the public on the event, there's this: a screening of the short film poem "Into Being -- The River."

What's it about, you ask? Its description says it blends "the natural sounds and scientific frequencies derived from the molecular world of water in the hope of awakening in our ancient consciousness a cellular memory."

Say hey!

Baseball legend and Atherton resident Willie Mays is scheduled to do a rare autograph-signing session on Saturday, April 2, at the Sports Gallery of Palo Alto.

The event is open to ticket holders only, and tickets don't come cheap -- prices range from $425 for Mr. Mays to sign a bat or jersey provided by the shop, to $175 for his signature on a photo or baseball card from home. Special inscriptions are an additional $75.

For information, call 324-3355 or buy tickets online at sportsgalleryweb.com.

Fit, 50-plus and fast

A handful of local residents made impressive showings at last weekend's Paul Spangler Memorial 8K run, the highlight of the Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness Weekend held at Stanford University.

Isobel Fox, 51, of Menlo Park took second place in the women's race, and Kathleen Martin, 54, of Portola Valley took fifth. Chris Berka, 50, of Portola Valley came in second in the men's, and David Mineau, 58, of Menlo Park placed fourth.

First place in the women's ages 70-74 division was won by Joyce Hanna, 70, of Menlo Park.

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