Mesa Refuge Welcomes New Board President

The Mesa Refuge’s Board of Trustees is pleased to welcome a new president, San Francisco author Elaine Elinson. Peter Barnes, Mesa Refuge founder and former board president, steps down but will remain on the board.

“Elaine is a splendid example of the kind of person who truly benefits from the Mesa Refuge,” Barnes said. “She worked on her important book while she was in residence. Since then, both as an alum and a board member, she worked to increase the diversity of residents and board members, and chaired two successful fundraising campaigns. I know the Mesa Refuge is in great hands and look forward to working closely with Elaine in the coming years,” he said.

Elaine served as communications director of the ACLU of Northern California and editor of the ACLU News for more than two decades. Her book (co-authored with Stan Yogi), Wherever There’s a Fight:  How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California (Heyday), won a Gold Medal in the California book awards in 2010.

She is a book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Review of Books, and a researcher and writer of civil rights history for the National Park Service. She co-authored Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines, which was banned by the Marcos regime. Her articles have been published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, Poets and Writers, and numerous other periodicals. Elaine, a San Francisco Public Library Laureate,  was a resident at the Mesa Refuge in 2007, 2009, and 2017, and has served on the Mesa Refuge board since 2017.

“When I first arrived as a resident at Mesa Refuge, I felt fortunate beyond belief that I could write in a wooden shed, overlooking Tomales Bay, watching the egrets fly by,” said Elinson. “I was even more astonished by the amount of work I was able to accomplish in this serene and beautiful space. Though it is impossible to fill Peter’s shoes or match his innovation and generosity, I am honored to have been elected president of the board. I look forward to working with our excellent Mesa Refuge staff, board and advisors to cultivate and support new voices,” she said.