The CrossFit Mystique

There’s a reason why it must be called “CrossFit.” You’re going to get fit, and you won’t be bored—you’ll be zigzagging through all types of fitness regimens, trying something new, in essence a cross section of exercise, every day (or as often as you workout). In Scotts Valley lies one of these updated gym experiences called Santa Cruz North—a CrossFit center. Santa Cruz North co-owner John Larson explains that CrossFit is really a way of exercising that is for all people, all shapes and all sizes.

Bruce Willey's gripping Santa Cruz holiday tale

Verily, verily, I say unto you that when you were young you girt yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another shall gird you and lead you where you would not go.  —John 21:18

With campus expansion in full swing, the UCSC trailer park lives out its years as the quintessential banana slug community

Filmdom’s titan of the unconventional is ready to expose himself to Santa Cruz audiences. We tell you why

A few weeks ago I was a John Waters virgin—pure, untouched, unscathed by the 59-year-old filmmaker. But then we met one day. In one hand I gripped a thin pencil, its eraser head erect, its lead point ready to be unleashed. In the other hand I held firmly on to a giant cup of green tea. I was nervous. I was about to be deflowered by John Waters.

I’d never imagined that sex with John Waters would be like this: Two people thrashing around on a bed, blood spewing, with a chicken between them as they—to use a Johnny vernacular—“fucked.”

Thankfully, my only interaction here was as a voyeur, a bystander watching bestiality on screen—just one sexual moment of many, featured in Waters’ controversial, groundbreaking if not highly praised and criticized 1972 film, Pink Flamingos. I figured I’d get the full service experience with Waters right off the bat. I’d start with his hardest ride.

Giving is the new receiving ... again. Our four spotlighted Community Fund nonprofits, and how they make Santa Cruz County a better place with your help.

The illusion tells you: ‘times are tough.’ But the reality is, without local contributions to the area’s nonprofits, the ‘times’ could be worse.

Local production company revs up the green movement

Big Bertha is sexy. She’s got voluptuous curves, smooth skin, and trust me, the guys gawk when she takes to the streets. And that’s the point. Big Bertha and her “son,” the Green Machine (also interchangeably called the Green Monster) aren’t what you’d expect—literally. Bertha is a purple hot rod made from a fire engine. Her creative offspring  is a hot rod created from a 1952 Peterbilt semi-truck tractor. The two vehicles were created from and run on green materials, making them not only leaders in the green industry, but just plain titillating to look at and drive around in.

The most important and interesting presidential race of our time, dozens of local candidates and issues ... but don't forget those propositions! Good Times gives you a clear look at the 12 choices facing all California voters on this enormous ballot.

Vote No on Proposition 8

Thirty years ago, The Briggs Initiative (California Prop 6) hit the state ballot, creating a ripple effect in the human rights movement. The proposition, spearheaded by conservative state legislator John Briggs, who was based in Orange County, would have banned gays and lesbians from working in the state school

Santa Cruz Next is on a roll. But can it lure in enough young people to become more prominent in local civic life?

On a warm Tuesday night in Santa Cruz, as the season turns to autumn, dozens of Santa Cruzans are gathered at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center to watch Barack Obama and John McCain bicker with each other and interrupt moderator Tom Brokaw in the second televised presidential debate.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson ignites the UCSC summer stage with ‘Burn This’.  Plus: We raise the curtain and look inside Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s boldest season yet.

Sometimes, it’s the story behind the story that’s just as interesting as the story—maybe even more.

It’s hard not to think that that is the case after walking away from a conversation with Lanford Wilson. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is in the spotlight locally this summer, thanks to Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Wilson’s soul-stirring play, “Burn This,” is one of the two contemporary works unfolding in this year’s festival—the other is “Bach at Leipzig” by Itamar Moses. Presented in repertory with William Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” and “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “Burn This” not only offers audiences an opportunity to connect with a brilliant work, but also to the living playwright responsible for creating it.