NAVIGATING YOGA > Try this wide-angle seated forward bend

Here it goes, our first post in a weekly series that will spotlight different yoga poses. This week, we are focusing on Upavista Konasana—a wide-angle seated forward bend or seated angle pose. Practice this asana for a greater openness in the hip flexors, a glorious stretch for the entire back side of your body as well as your inner thighs, and to strengthen your spine. To accomplish this, move through it slowly. Move into the posture from Dandasana (seated staff pose), by sitting upright, lengthening through your spine from your tailbone and out through the crown of your head. Open up your legs at about a 90 degrees angle or as far as you are able. Root down through your sit-bones and feel your hips externally rotate away from you so that your knees and feet are flexing skyward.

SLUG REPORT > Lead poisoning in California condors still to be resolved

In the March 2011 Good Times article “Will Hunters Have to Bite the Bullet?” we reported that nearly all of the free-flying condors in California have had lead poisoning at least once, and that researchers have confirmed that lead ammunition from hunting is the most plausible source of exposure to the birds. Now, more than a year later, UC Santa Cruz researchers have concluded that lead from this type of ammunition is indeed the culprit.

SANTA CRUZ > Local chapter of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign kicks off with a bake sale

In the days of unlimited, anonymous corporate cash funding the political campaigns of both major parties, what could be more folksy, community-based and transparent than a bake sale? Such is the reasoning of Harvey Dosik, a key organizer of the local chapter of Obama For America 2012, the president’s official re-election campaign organization.  

While nodding to the conventional wisdom that California is considered a solidly blue state in the upcoming presidential election, and will probably not see the flood of television advertising that will saturate “battle ground” states, Dosik says there is still much for local volunteers to do to help President Barack Obama get reelected, starting with baking or buying some cookies at the “Bake For Barack” tables that will be set up across the county on Saturday, June 30.

“Tabling is a way to create relationships, to talk one-on-one with people, and we’ve been tabling all over the county for many weeks,” Dosik says. Dosik is expecting nothing less than widespread “spontaneous participation” across the county with the Bake for Barack event. “I’m expecting at least a dozen or so tables in strategic locations around town on June 30,” Dosik says, ”with several others hopefully just jumping in and spreading the word of the campaign.”

WATSONVILLE > Local nonprofit saves pregnant mares from pharmaceutical ranches

As president and founder of the nonprofit Pregnant Mare Rescue (PMR), Lynn Hummer devotes the extra time she has between her family, her day job, and her love for horses to doing some important work for the large, majestic animals. “I’ve been a horse lover all my life and I’ve ridden all my life and I just wanted to give back,” Hummer says.

PMR, which is based at Hummer’s ranch in Watsonville, works to rescue mares and foals who were victims of pharmaceutical testing, with the fate of being sent to slaughter.

Premarin, a drug used to treat menopause in women, is the primary culprit, says Hummer. Premarin ranches in the United States take mares, impregnate them continuously, use their urine in the drug’s manufacturing process, and then send their offspring to slaughter.

SLUG REPORT > Two baseball bloggers stand out from crowd

+PLUS: Their predictions for the 2012 Giants season

Being a sports blogger might not be the most original thing to do, especially considering the dull roar of fanboy adulation that surrounds the San Francisco Giants. But Thomas Todd and Daniel Zarchy stand out from their black-and-orange compatriots with a well-produced podcast (“Two Guys, a Glove and a Coke Bottle”), a thriving website (GiantsPod.net) and a team dynamic matched only by their subject matter.

Both UC Santa Cruz alums, Todd and Zarchy, who graduated in 2009 and 2010, respectively, met when they both worked at student publications (Fishrap for Todd and City on a Hill Press for Zarchy). From there, everything just seemed to fall into place for the pair.

“The podcast came about when we spent the whole football season talking about baseball,” says Zarchy. “At some point, we decided that there might be other fans out there who want to talk Giants, so we decided to record it and see what happened.”

Riders rally America for MS

“I’m somewhere in Missouri,” Don Fraser tells me. As we speak, the program director for the organization “Bike the US for MS” is on his way to rendezvous with a group of fellow bicyclists.

After college, Fraser wasn’t quite sure what his next step should be. One thing he did know was that he wanted to bike across the country. Living with a mother who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Fraser started planning how he could make a difference via bicycling for her and others who suffered from the same health issue.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY > Big Brothers Big Sisters celebrates 30 years

In 1982, just 40 “littles” were matched with “bigs” in Santa Cruz County. Now, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County (BBBS) has placed more than 4,500 youths (called “littles”) in positive mentoring relationships with adult volunteers (called “bigs”).

The organization turned 30 on Thursday, June 14 and celebrated with an event that showcased the relationships created over the years. Julie Munnerlyn, coordinator of the 30th anniversary event, says the goal of BBBS is to create lasting, caring relationships that have a positive influence on both the big and the little involved.

The 1950s Santa Cruz surf lifestyle is back—at least for a day this coming weekend.

On Saturday, June 23, 200-plus antique wood-bodied cars from across the country will come together for their 18th annual reunion on the Santa Cruz Wharf. The group will include an enormous variety of pre-1952 woodies.

In addition to showing off an impressive array of vintage cars to sizable crowds, the annual event brings back a feeling of nostalgia for many of its owners, as well as Santa Cruz locals. Don Iglesias, founder and “Club Kahuna” of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the National Woodie Club, says the event takes him back to his childhood—revisiting the vehicles recalls the feeling of being “a little boy peeking over the seat” in his parents’ old woodie, he says.

SANTA CRUZ > Local nonprofit plans community meetings on the economy

“Doing something constructive always makes us feel much better about this mess in which we find ourselves, currently, in this nation,” says John French, founder of local nonprofit Article V for Our Children’s Future.

The organization looks to put heads together in Santa Cruz County, with the goal of discussing recent news in Washington, D.C. related to the declining job market in the United States. French hopes to make progress on the creation of jobs by bringing the community’s thoughts together with local and regional congressional representatives and economic experts.

To accomplish this, French is planning a series of virtual town hall meetings. Dubbed “e-town hall” meetings, the events will consist of Internet-based video conferences that will be taped in the Community Television Studio and streamed live online. Meetings will include a call-in number to help with widespread audience participation. French says the meetings will focus on subtopics of the main issue–like the best ways to create jobs–and will aim to reach a consensus among participants, representatives, experts, and citizens of the county regarding next moves.

Locals learn to love running in an unconventional program

According to Maggie Ellis, “If you think you hate running, [or] if you couldn’t run a half mile to save your life,” the Hate to Love Running Program is right up your alley.

Ellis is a certified health counselor and the director of The Hate to Love running program, which is now in its third year. Ellis was inspired to start the program by her own relationship with running: through a gentle progression of exercises, running transformed from a chore she hated doing into a true passion. Her program is geared toward beginning runners, and aims to help train them in a manageable way with the goal of completing a 5K run by the program’s end.