The Ohlone Way is a classic work that makes a wonderful effort to imagine and understand the indigenous people who inhabited these central California dunes, rocky outcroppings, redwood forests, chaparral, grasslands and river deltas for thousands of years before the European conquest.  Malcolm Margolin produced a work that remains fresh, a good aid to comprehending and honoring what has gone before and what, as it turns out, continues to and through this day.

Research for The Ohlone Way began in 1974 and publication was in 1978.  In 2003, an afterword was added to reflect the author’s assessment of his effort.  Now, in 2014, a new preface reflects his desire to maintain a context for the book.  The book itself is reissued without changes.

Malcolm Margolin will join us, together with Vincent Medina, to present this familiar and affecting work.  Margolin, through Heyday Press and the magazine News from Native California, has certainly proven true in the past 40 years to his promise of engaged and insightful, but also respectful and humble, inquiry — and his commitment to supporting native voices, experience and convictions.  His co-presenter, Vincent Medina, is a member of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, assistant curator of Mission Dolores, a dedicated worker in the revitalization of his and other indigenous languages and cultures.

This evening’s presentation and discussion make for an exciting opportunity to listen in on, and participate in, a profound ongoing cultural reality.