There are some names that keep coming up as we travel around the county, gathering back to the land oral histories: people we just have to interview because they played such a large role in one major development or another.
Anon Forrest is one of those names. You’d know her and her partner at the time as Holy Smokes and Moses, if you were using a CB radio to strategize the next steps of United Stand. That’s the movement that resulted in Class K and still packs the Board of Supervisors chambers when it looks like it might be under attack. Without Class K, the back to the land movement in Mendocino County would be missing a chapter, maybe an entire volume.
Now, at 74, this old warrior lives peacefully with a large rattlesnake that treats the cool spot underneath her outdoor bathtub as a maternity ward. A mountain lion drinks from her koi pond in the hottest part of the summer. In this interview, we’ll hear all about United Stand, how she built her home in the Whole, and how she gets along with the neighbors.