Candidate for
Member, Green Party County Council; County of Alameda; Supervisorial District 5

Arman Matthews has lived in the Bay Area since 1968. He owned and operated a small business in San Francisco in the late '60s and early '70s. He participated in antiwar activities during the Viet Nam era and was involved with Green Peace in the early '70s. He later worked for the Bay Guardian and did free lance writing. He started a tradesmen's cooperative in San Francisco, in 1976, called Synergy Co-op, and in 1978 staged the first New Age Fair in San Francisco, at Fort Mason,called the "Festival of All Species." He moved to Northern California with his family in the Eighties and began teaching in Community Colleges and on the Secondary level. He studied advanced critical thinking under Richard Paul at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State for two years and participated on the Staff at the International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform for five years. He taught adult education, philosopy, comparative religion, and critical thinking at three different colleges over a period of fourteen years. In the '90s, he became politically active in Sonoma County. He started the Campus Greens at Santa Rosa Junior College and stumped for Nader during Nader's first run. He was also on the Sonoma County Green Party Council for two terms. He was active in arranging local political events: Public Debates, Town Hall Meetings for local candidates,Guest Appearences by progressive populists, and money raising activities. In '97 and '98 he assisted in establishing the Green Party County Council in Lake County. During the '90s, Mr. Matthews also participated in many State Plenarys and served on the Platfom Committee. He now lives in Oakland in the Rockridge District. By sending an e-mail request to armanm@sbcglobal.net, he will send a PDF file with his book titled "A Sustainable Livelihood."