Irene van der Zande spreads the word about personal safety in ‘The Kidpower Book’

Anxiety does not make children safer,” says Irene van der Zande. “Fear does not make them safer, and neither does worry. What makes them safer is knowledge and skills.”

That message is at the heart of van der Zande’s new book, “The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence and Advocacy For Young People.” An expert in personal safety, with more than two decades of experience, and the founder of Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International—a local nonprofit dedicated to teaching people how “to use their power to stay safe, act wisely and believe in themselves”—van der Zande’s book is directed toward parents, teachers, and all adults interested in promoting the safety of children.

On brink of closing, Capitola Book Café launches campaign to save store

When Capitola Book Café employees Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Melinda Powers, Janet Leimeister, and Richard Lange became co-owners of the shop in 2007, the four booklovers had an inkling of the rough road ahead.

“The book business was already in decline at that point, but the decline sharpened deeply about a year after we took over, and then in 2008, the bottom fell out of the economy,” says Mayer-Lochtefeld. “So, our timing was not terrific. … [but] we were still in a good position to weather that storm until it sort of turned from a storm into a hurricane.”

Author Terry Tempest Williams discovers the gift of mystery in her mother’s journals

A blank page can be a daunting prospect to begin with. But what if that’s all there is left in the end? On her deathbed, Terry Tempest Williams’ mother bequeathed all of her journals to her only daughter, with the caveat that she wouldn’t look at them until after she was gone. She told the then-30-year-old author, naturalist, and conservationist where to find the clothbound books. A week later, she died.

Local theater troupe presents poetry and prose of Patricia Hernan Grube

Despite a late start, Patricia Hernan Grube’s writing career has been fruitful. Marriage and World War II interrupted her education at UC Berkeley, and raising a family left little time to pursue a lifelong love of writing. But at age 50, she finished her studies at UC Santa Cruz and began writing regularly. Eventually, she began to call herself a poet and a playwright.

Editor’s note:  This week’s Poetry Corner features Javier Zamora, who was born and raised in La Herradura, El Salvador. At the age of 9, he emigrated to the United States to be reunited with his parents. He’s attended various writing conferences, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and one at The Frost Place. His chapbook, “Nueve Años Inmigrantes,” won the 2011 Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook Contest.