Wow, has it been a year already? This weekend, San Francisco is the place to be when the Wondercon invades the Moscone Center once again. Three days packed to the brim with toys, celebrity guests, and your favorite artistic talent popping in to hype up what to look forward to in the world of comic books for the next year. Think of it as sort of a Burning Man for nerds, only without the drugs and more clothes (well, sort of ).
This spring break, 50 California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) students took to the beach to draw attention to plastic pollution and to encourage banning polystyrene. Beach cleanups were held at many of the tour’s seven stops (including in Santa Cruz on March 23), along with meetings with public officials and press conferences, where students and community leaders talked about the threat plastic pollution poses to our oceans and why they believe the answer lies in a statewide ban on single-use, polystyrene take-out containers.
UCSC graduate training program is awarded $2.1 million by the NSF
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” —Albert Einstein
Tips for local bands on how to book a show at The Crow’s Nest
Sun in your face, salt water in your hair, hundreds of summer lovin’ people ready to shake what their mamas gave them and become your next biggest fan. This isn’t a dream, just a typical Crow’s Nest beach party. Limited to a select few bands every Thursday night during the summer months, the beach party is a coveted gig that has helped transform many a casual listener into a follow-you-anywhere-fan. Like all good things, this gig comes to those who wait.
CALPIRG students travel the coast to ban Styrofoam
This spring break, 50 California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) students took to the beach to draw attention to plastic pollution and to encourage banning polystyrene. The “Wave of Change” tour kicked off Sunday, March 21 with a beach cleanup at San Diego’s Ocean Beach Pier, and will end in Sacramento this Thursday, March 25.
New local design store celebrates its one-year anniversary
About a year ago, Stripe opened its doors at 107 Walnut Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz, and pretty soon after, I walked in, browsed around, and bought something. And so became my weekly habit of visiting the store, and looking for original and fashionable finds that only a handful of other people in Santa Cruz might own. That's part of the enchanting allure of this store that Obsessive Beauty is quite frankly obsessed with. When owner Suna Lock and buyer Dana Norrell launched the store in 2009, they envisioned something based on the model of Anthropologie, a leading national women's clothing, accessories, and home store, that offers unique, eclectic, and romantic-inspired items—sort of a one-stop-shop. And Stripe has indeed built this brand, with a store that carries the flavor of Anthropologie, with a heavy dose of modern elements, and a vintage flair. It's a store that Santa Cruz has never seen before, and as a result, it's continuing to garner more and more attention.
Surrounded by air and birds and pecks and cockle-dos, I am bursting green as the new energy thrusts itself and there is no return to the dormant days of winter. “You can feel it in the air,” they say.
My favorite day of the year is the day the clocks change and the promise of light overcoming darkness is real. I pay little attention to that dark January day marking the end of plastic holiday frenzy. I prefer, karmastyle, to mark the New Year on that surprising Sunday, off kilter from the start with a new time and fresh light. Such a sudden change, it seems … a reminder of the power of light to change our earth … and us.
For 2010 the official Karmastyle New Year’s Day was March 14th and I am emerging in this new light of my home.
