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Healing Yourself, Healing the Planet

Healing Yourself, Healing the Planet

Economic Anxiety Got You Shaken?
Whether it's your job that you are worried about keeping or a house with a large mortgage or the daily news of an ever-worsening economy-it's a hard time for many to stay cool and, as we say in Santa Cruz, grounded.  I have been treating many people over the last few months for anxiety and there are a number of steps that you can take to calm your mind and stop your heart from pounding with worry.  
see full blog...



Where I write

Where I write

My creative writing process begins with a connection between my right hand, specifically the fingers, a sanford uniball onyx micro blue pen, and a cool looking notebook.  For some reason, the notebook is of great importance. I prefer writing creatively in a notebook as opposed to the legal pad attached to the clipboard that I cart around with me containing my list for the day as well as some scribbles of ideas.  blog_yoga.jpgSomehow I trust my writing style and content most when it is on the pages of a ‘Moleskine." The moleskin is "the legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers," and has been around for over 200 years. (www.moleskineus.com ).  They say that the moleskine was used by Ernest Hemminway, Vincent van Gogh, and others of noteworthy fame who were tortured artists, but brilliant and good company to be part of, as I see it.  I prefer the lined notebooks for writing, but have been know to pick up a plain paper book for quick sketching.

Bookshop Santa Cruz (www.bookshopsantacruz.com ) carries these notebooks in hardcover, soft cover, plain, lined and as monthly planner.

 

Ahhhhhhh.......poppies

Ahhhhhhh.......poppies

Driving through the alpine valley so close to the Tahoe Forest, I am taken over by the calm and beauty of the stillness and connection I feel to this beautiful planet.  There are cows everywhere.  Not milking cows, but "meat cows," I am told. Such irony in this vegetable world.  There is even a sign by the side of route 89 that says, "try beef."  In the distance, I see some bright blue squares which turn out to be the blog_karma.jpgroofs of Sierraville Hot Springs, a resort on 700 acres which includes natural hot springs guided into incarnations of warm pools, hot pools, cold plunges and a dry sauna. Pretty calming, once I get used to my body out there in the open.   And to top it off, a small field of poppies welcomes me in to the main lodge.  There are a number of rooms to rent, as well as camping, which is popular.   Yoga, too.  (full disclosure: my daughter is the resident yoga teacher and massage therapist.) www.sierrahotsprings.org

Batman Returns

Batman Returns

In DC's most recent major crossover series: Final Crisis , readers were stunned to witness hardcore super villain Darkseid send Batman straight to that big, batcave in the sky by way of his omega effect (a weapon you have to read about to believe) - and while historically the word "death" in comic books almost always deserves to carry quotations (cough*Captain America*cough), until Bruce Wayne makes his inevitable return, we've got a serious problem:

Who will step up to don the cape and cowl in his absence and take out Gotham City's trash?
 
BLOG_XRAYbatmanaN.jpgThis question was the crux of writer/artist Tony Daniel's 3-issue mini series: Battle for the Cowl . A tale which chronicled the criminal cluster-you-know-what to capitalize on the dark knight's absence while members of the bat family struggled to maintain order until a decision could be reached about just who is the most deserving, let alone qualified to assume the mantle of the bat. Toss in a vengeful former side-kick and a potential new major threat to the city and you've got a story which culminated in the crowning of an all new Batman and Robin and an all new self-titled series.

This is when it gets really good. Enter Grant Morrison yes !, who along with semi-regular collaborator Frank Quietly handling art chores, steps up to the plate to knock out a whole new era for the caped crusaders. Just take a look at their previous work together in All-Star Superman, We3 and their  X-Men stuff and you'll notice that these two have a serious knack for bringing out the best in each other, making this book something truly special and more than worth your attention.

One thing I can say for certain is that if the first issue is any indication (it's easily one of the single best issues of any comic I've read so far this year), with fresh faces under the masks - resulting in the incredibly intriguing role reversal of a lighter Batman and darker Robin - this duo with a whole new dynamic is definitely one to be excited about.

Neighborhood Meet and Eat

Neighborhood Meet and Eat

A Community-Building "Dinner Market", as envisioned by Kelly Sanchez of Kelly's French Bakery, will be held on the evening of Saturday June 27 at Swift Street Courtyard.

Like a farmer's market, eleven food vendors including local restaurants, caterers, and organic farms will sell ready-to-eat entrées.  Choose from quiche, rosemary chicken, grilled artichokes, St. Louis pork ribs, Italian Pork Sandwiches, Corralitos sausages, wild steelhead salmon, crab and artichoke lasagna and much more.

blog_quikbites.jpgA 100-foot table will be set up in the parking lot. Live music from Klezjazz will be featured from 7pm to 8:30pm. Many of the adjacent wineries will sell their wares as well. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet your neighbors as well as local food and beverage purveyors.

Please bring your own dishes, utensils, glasses and napkins.

Dinner Market, Saturday June 27, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Swift Street Courtyard, corner of Swift and Ingalls St. For more information, please call 423-9059 ext 102.

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News Ticker

FOUND KEYS ON 7/1/09 at Rockview beach please contact Randi at 588-4988

Wednesday, July 1

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City Employees Downsize Work Week

Tuesday, June 30

City employees are currently taking a 10 percent furlough in an effort to solve $4 million of the city’s $9 million deficit for the 2010 fiscal year. As a result,...

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Mayor Declares June ‘Derby Girls Month’

Tuesday, June 23

The Santa Cruz Derby Girls are on quite a roll this season – from selling out the Civic Auditorium time and time again to finally realizing their goal of becoming...

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The government is broken
Good Times - Cover Stories
Written by Cosmo   

cover01.jpgHere’s the blueprint for fixing the mess that is California
The California Constitution is no work of art.  It’s more like the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Lots of little rooms, stairs that lead nowhere, doors that open onto blank walls and windows set into the floorboards. “We keep adding rooms, but the hallways don’t connect together,” says state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, of our state’s constitutional house of mystery. “There’s not a lot of thought given to the overall architecture.”  Since 1879, the state constitution has been amended 512 times. Compare that to the U.S. Constitution, which you just don’t mess with. Its 27 amendments are straightforward principles concerning the essential function of government and the rights of the governed.
see full cover story...

 
New Movies just out
Movies - Reviews
Written by GTstaff   
THE GIRL FROM MONACO - Romance (foreign), Reviewed by Lisa Jensen
WHATEVER WORKS - Commedy, Reviewed by Lisa Jensen
PUBLIC ENEMIES - Action
click title to see times, reviews and movie trailers
FILM_whatever_works.jpg FILM_public_enemies.jpg
 
Mr./Ms. Right?
A-E - Theatre
Written by Leslie Patrick   

AE_cabrillo.jpg
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
at Forum Building 450 - Cabrillo College: Erica Schilling Forum, Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA

Through July 26.
This hip, witty and hilarious musical comedy explores the absurdities of relationships.
For Mature audiences only.
see full review...

 
Capitola Crêpes
Dining - Reviews
Written by GTstaff   

dining_SweetPea.jpgSweet Pea’s Café offers an alternative to fast food near the Capitola Mall. The younger sister of a downtown Los Gatos establishment, and almost hidden in an office and retail building between Highway 1 and Clares Street (adjacent to Burger King), they serve a freshly prepared medley of wholesome nourishment.

see full review...
 
Healing Yourself, Healing the Planet
Blogs - FeelGood
Written by Rachel Carlton Abrams, M.D.   
Economic Anxiety Got You Shaken?
Whether it's your job that you are worried about keeping or a house with a large mortgage or the daily news of an ever-worsening economy-it's a hard time for many to stay cool and, as we say in Santa Cruz, grounded.  I have been treating many people over the last few months for anxiety and there are a number of steps that you can take to calm your mind and stop your heart from pounding with worry.  
see full blog...



 
MOUNT EDEN VINEYARDS Chardonnay 2007
Dining - Wine
Written by Josie Cowden   

dining_winebottle.jpgLife is not all plain sailing. My car broke down outside of Reno after a 4,000-mile trip across country. It was a Friday night, with all car repairs shops already closed, so after getting towed by AAA to Mercedes of Reno, I just had to temporarily wave goodbye to my car. My husband and I picked up a rental car from Reno Airport and drove home the next day.

Another glitch happened when we tried to return the car to the rental place downtown Santa Cruz. We were too late for the Saturday noon closing time, so we headed to Monterey Airport to return it there.  see full review...

 
What are your thoughts on public transportation in Santa Cruz?
Columns - Local Talk
Written by Matthew Cole Scott   

localTalk_jamesC.jpg

 

Considering the size of the city, we actually have pretty good public transportation. I used to take it all the time. In fact, I was one of the first riders on the first bus that went up to the university.
James Craft
Santa Cruz | Retired

more local talk...
 

 
Mariel’s Kitchen with recipie for Roasted Tomato Soup
A-E - Literature
Written by Christa Martin   

AE_HemingwayJeffKatz.jpgAuthor and actress Mariel Hemingway visits Bookshop Santa Cruz

This is the kind of cookbook that grabs my attention. I’m not much of a cook; I’m busy, and frankly, cooking is absolutely boring to me. So, to find a book that offers simple and healthy recipes is a boon. That’s what I recently found with the book, “Mariel’s Kitchen,” written by Mariel Heminway, actress/model/green activist/cook and granddaughter of legendary writer Ernest Hemingway.

“Mariel’s Kitchen” is Hemingway’s third foray into the literary world. Her previous books include “Mariel Hemingway’s Healthy Living From the Inside Out,” and “Finding My Balance.”

The recipes in her new cookbook are exquisite, enticing and best of all, for any cookbook haters out there, everything in “Mariel’s Kitchen” seems relatively easy to make, contains simple ingredients, and is thoroughly healthy. It’s not a diet fad cookbook, but a combination of the tastiest, good-for-you, speedy foods you can make.  see full interview.. .  Photo credit: Jeff Katz


 
Budget Crisis
News - Town Hall
Written by Assemblymember Bill Monning   

bill_monnig.jpgWhat is the difference between the Democrat’s budget proposal that failed passage last week and Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal?  

The irony about the Democratic budget that failed passage last week is that 45 percent of the proposals we voted on were the exact same proposals as those in the governor’s May revise.  Of the remaining portion of the budget proposed last week, at least 93 percent contained a portion of the governor’s budget proposals.  ( It may be ironic, but I doubt readers will applaud how aligned with the governor the Dems are. Best not to draw attention to the similarities, since most people seem to loathe the governor’s proposal right now.

see full column...

 
Worth the Wait
Dining - Reviews
Written by KAREN PETERSEN   

dining_Lillians.jpgLillian’s Italian Kitchen celebrates its second birthday
In a nightly ritual, anticipative patrons relax in wooden folding chairs outside of Lillian’s Italian Kitchen, the darling of the Seabright neighborhood. Voted the best new restaurant by Good Times readers in 2008, it is the hospitality extended by patriarch Joseph Moreno, son Matt and the servers up front, along with home-style Italian specialties marvelously executed by son Chris in the kitchen that has garnered this cozy eatery a loyal following. see full review...

 
Green or Greenwashing? Announcement from Home Depot sparks enthusiasm and controversy
News - Business
Written by Amy Coombs   

news_homedepot.jpgAn eco-conscious approach to pest management is now up for debate thanks to a memo recently released by a Home Depot senior executive.

After a year and a half of persistent negotiations with the Santa Cruz nonprofit Ecology Action, Home Depot released a memo in early May that supports integrated pest management. The approach uses low-toxic methods to curb the critters that munch on garden veggies and dash across the kitchen counter. see full article...

 
Community Brew AgroEco Coffee links Santa Cruz and Costa Rica
News - Business
Written by Anna Merlan   

Coffee is no mere drink. It can be a crutch, sometimes a drug, a social lubricant and a cash cow, the tissue of many a first date and a multitude of jittery sleepless nights. Throughout history, it’s been both banned and consecrated, outlawed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shunned by many Seventh-Day Adventists, and elevated to a sacrament by 16th century Sufi mystics. It’s one of the most traded commodities in the world, as well as one of the most valuable, second only to petroleum. see full article...

 
A Deeper Need for the Print Newspaper
Columns - Opinion
Written by tom honig   

tomhonig.jpgThe story line is a direct one: newspapers are dying. Big city dailies? Dying. Small-town papers? On their way. Free dailies? Hovering over the abyss.  If indeed newspapers are critically ill, their fate has to be one of the most heavily covered stories of this or any century.

Did the railroads get this kind of treatment? Did blacksmiths get to read daily about how nobody is any good with an anvil anymore? Were there daily accounts about how nobody wants ice delivered to their door anymore?

I declared my journalism career over about a year and a half ago when I quit my job as editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Obviously, as these words appear here, I’m backsliding a bit, but much of the decision to leave revolved around the fear that things were only going to get worse. see full column...

 
Moving Forward with Sensible Transportation
News - Transportation
Written by Samantha Thompson   

Survey Results Show Downtown Workforce is Ready to Use Alternative Transportation During March, April and May of this year, the Campaign for Sensible Transportation along with help from People Power, a group that advocates the use of non-motorized transit, like bicycles over automobiles, released a survey to downtown businesses in order to determine current commute habits and whether or not workers would be open to trading in some of those habits for greener ones. see full article...

 
Caffe Lucio!
Columns - GTv
Written by GTstaff   

Mangiamo! Digging into the mystique of Caffe Lucio! A GTv exclusive.
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

 
Coming Downtown: Bumblebee-Costumed Minimum-Wage City Hosts
Cournalist - Local News
Written by Daniel Wilkinson   

So the word on the street is that come July 1, an out-of-state company will hire a dozen or so city hosts, dress them up like bumblebees and have them patrol Pacific Ave. daily. Seriously.

Their mission is to thwart illegal, annoying and disruptive activity on the strip in hopes of rejuvenating the bottom line for local businesses.

Their price tag is a jaw-dropping $130,000, which will be paid out to Service Group, Inc., a company based in Pennsylvania, by the Downtown Management Corp. see full story...

 
New Website to take Santa Cruz budget-fix suggestions
News - City Development
Written by GTstaff   
news_budget.jpgThe five ballot measures designed to help balance California's finances went down in defeat putting the Santa Cruz budget $8 million is a chasm.  The strains on our city government financing mean there are limited resources to provide the services that the community has become accustomed to.  A new web site has been set up to seek ways to raise funds, save money and be more efficient .  The community is being asked to get involved by submitting your ideas.

Some recent suggestions include:
Sliding scale pay cuts - 15% 10% 5%
Convert the Palomar to hotel/condos w/redevelopment funds
Increase online services for greater efficiency

The site was designed and provided for free by Shane & Peter Inc . and Rob Knight . 
Take a look and let your voice be heard at www.budget.santacruzcityca.gov
 
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