Santa Cruz Good Times

Thursday
Jun 20th
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

GT Columns

Astrology

Facilitating the Great ReSkilling

Facilitating the Great ReSkilling

During Libra (Sun) and with Saturn entering Libra (Oct. 29), we contemplate and assess what we know, don’t know and need to know. Libra distributes Ray 3 (intelligence). Having intelligence allows us to choose the two paths Libra offers. Libra skillfully prepares us for the great tests in Scorpio (the times to come). In Libra we learn the nature of polarized energies (s/he loves me, s/he loves me not) and we learn more about ourselves through others. Libra’s Ray 3 asks us to become more adaptable and skillful and to teach each other what we are skilled in.

And so, on Saturday (Libra new moon), Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., sponsored by Transition Town Santa Cruz, there will be a ReSkilling Expo (many small workshops) at United Methodist Church, 250 California Street, Santa Cruz. ReSkilling is a term used in Transition Towns describing a process of (re)learning skills we haven’t learned, forgot to learn or don’t remember we learned from parents, grandparents or great-grandparents on how to maintain, preserve, uphold, sustain (and create resiliency in) our lives on practical levels. ReSkilling helps us respond successfully and practically to the uncertain coming times. (Saturn opposite Uranus transit is still to come. The Great Revolution.) It provides a sense of empowerment through the practical solving of problems, and a sense of belonging (community) by working alongside others. (read more about Transition Town, Reskilling, new moon, Celestial Events at nightlightnews.com).

Read more...
Local Talk

What’s your solution to the zombie's on Pacific Avenue?

What’s your solution to  the zombie's on Pacific Avenue?

A lot of the people have certain needs that aren't being met and they go to Pacific Avenue either for attention or perhaps to get money. If we could find another way to meet those needs, it would be good. It is a problem, but I don't know if we could have a simple sound bite solution.
Richard Snow
Santa Cruz | Substitute Teacher

Read more...
Editors Note

This Week's Editor's Note & Letters to Good Times

This Week's Editor's Note & Letters to Good Times

Plus Letters to the Good Times Editor...
Good Grub
Quick On Her Feet

I had to chuckle when I read something from local Jim Rosenstein, who is part of a fascinating venture surrounding Climate Action Day. At the bottom of one of his notes was this tagline: “The planet doesn't give a damn about politics.” Gotta love that. On the flipside, do we give a damn about the planet? Now that we’ve endured the political and economic roller coasters of the past year, are we giving enough attention to more pressing concerns ... as in the health of the planet? That’s where Rosenstein and others who are part of the Climate Action Team come in. Mark  Saturday Oct. 24 on your calendars. That’s the day that you, and others in the area, can take part in a global campaign to raise the level of awareness on just how dire our state of enivironmental circumstances are—and will continue to be—if action isn’t taken right now.

Read more...
Opinion

Mardi Wormhoudt Faces Her Most Serious Battle

Mardi Wormhoudt Faces Her Most Serious Battle

They say that journalists should not reveal their sources. But as is so often true, Santa Cruz does things differently. Sources and journalists here can be metaphorically in bed together for years at a time, and the relations between the newsmakers and news reporters sometimes run deep. Once in a while, people even become friends.

Such is my relationship with Mardi Wormhoudt, former Santa Cruz mayor, former dominating presence on the county Board of Supervisors and one of my most indispensible friends.

Mardi now is battling melanoma, and those close to her say the long-term prognosis is not good. She remains an active presence in Santa Cruz, but her medical situation gives us pause to consider what she has meant to the community.

Read more...
Astrology

Capitalism – A Love Story

Capitalism – A Love Story

In the Libra sky each night, as of this writing, Jupiter (Ray 2, Love/Wisdom) and the Moon (veiling Uranus, Ray 7, new world) have been companions. They are the rulers of Aquarius (Age of Knowledge), the planets that are seeding humanity to bring forth the new culture and civilization. Knowledge we must have in our world today. We must have knowledge and intelligence in order to reach the Soul, which is the only vehicle that can observe, understand, and choose to stand against the forces of darkness, obstruction and materialism. Libra tells us we must no longer be blinded to the dangers among us. It is important to know our country has been educationally dumbed-down with 40 percent of our citizenry functionally illiterate. When we are illiterate we cannot discriminate (Virgo) or make choices (Libra), the task for humanity this month.

Although he often looks hapless and disheveled (he seeks comfort—Taurus Sun), filmmaker Michael Moore is an unrelenting (Sun, Vesta, Venus in Taurus) force (Pluto in Leo in the 1st) to be reckoned with. Casting his wicked humor that sheds light into the darkness, Moore gives us hope as he knocks on doors and enters offices where many “fear to tread.” Moore’s film reveals corporate injustice, cruelty, unfairness, prejudice, inequality, bias, wrongdoing, disparity and ultimately the self-indulgent greed ruling our present centralized world and that has directed us all quietly and subtly into the “Matrix.”

As his films uncover the hidden and controlling realities that have led to humanity no longer owning its food sources, seeds, soil, farms, money, banks, homes,  education or minds, Moore lends each of us the strong arm of knowledge and a dose of reality. Within his truth-telling, we are invited to stand against the forces that quietly and cunningly continue to oppress. Moore’s latest film (his work is a love story), Capitalism : A Love Story opening in a thousand American theatres this week asks us to “Rise up”, to take back our days and nights, our farms, families, soil, seeds money, banking, local towns and cities and above all our education.

And so, during Libra, which each gives us a month to make a great life decision, Moore’s film informs and illumines our minds (and hearts) assisting us to choose which side we are on. It’s the Arjuna Experience once again with Krishna bidding us to take up arms. Where do each of us stand? Pacifism, in the light of our present world dangers, is not a choice. (See Moore’s chart at nightlightnews.com)

Read more...
Local Talk

What would be the most fun, yet healthy food item added to children’s school lunches?

What would be the most fun,  yet healthy food item added to children’s school lunches?

I think a homemade version of yogurt would be really great, where you just put unsweetened yogurt with granola and maple syrup and fruit together and shake it up in a bag and eat it from the bag.
Rachel Zack
Santa Cruz | Planner

 

Read more...
Editors Note

This Week's Editor's Note & Letters to Good Times

This Week's Editor's Note & Letters to Good Times

Plus Letters to the Good Times Editor...
Food For Thought
Endless Wars

Dance is hot. Take one look at some of the offerings on television and it’s easy to see that’s true. But beyond reality shows, there’s a fascinating reality that one local woman is living. Her name is Ruby Vasquez, she lives in Watsonville and she’s doing everything in her power to keep a Mexican tradition alive. Vasquez is the subject of this week’s cover story (page 14), where writer Leslie Patrick explores the local’s passion for dance, its value and the importance of honoring it. Read on.

 

Read more...
Opinion

He’s the First Bi-racial President

He’s the First Bi-racial President

So much was made about Barack Obama being the first African-American president, that more subtle—and more important—issues were ignored.

Obama, at 48, is decidedly not a Baby Boomer. He wasn’t part of the raging segregation debate of the ’50s, nor was he an adult during the tumult of the ’60s—black power, white rage, all the rest.

Obama’s election was instead a triumph of a new generation, one that is more comfortable about diversity than the generation that came before. Nowhere is that more obvious than the recent public discussion of whether the rude outburst by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican. A number of columnists, and no less an observer than former President Jimmy Carter, almost reflexively maneuvered themselves to an allegation of racism.

Read more...
Astrology

Libra and Right Relations

Libra and Right Relations

We are under the influence of Libra—ruling relationships, marriage and economics, seeking balance between polarities. We presently see polarities between governments, leaders and nations but especially experience polarity within relationships. Always when there is polarity and tension. Tension creates “attention.” In relationships, under the jurisdiction of Libra, polarities, if not integrated (male/female, etc.), create conflict and with conflict a new harmony within relationship is being called forth—difficult yet a process of learning. Out of conflict there will be harmony, but we don’t know what the New Harmony will be while experiencing the phase of conflict. Feeling chaotic is the first step in creativeness. Relationships are not only battlegrounds. They are schools where we learn how to interact, how to cooperate, love and serve each other. In relationships we learn how to be in relationships and we learn who we are.

Read more...
Local Talk

What’s your best tip to making your home your haven?

What’s your best tip to making your home your haven?

Do things in your home that you love to do.
Michael Orick
Santa Cruz | Library Guy

Read more...
 
Page 67 of 70

Share this on your social networks

Bookmark and Share

Share this

Bookmark and Share

 

Silent Dilemma

An inside look at body image and eating disorders. PLUS: Why ‘fat’ is not a feeling. My earliest memory of “feeling fat” was when I was about 12 years old. Up until that time, I was not all that aware of having a body; I was pretty much just in my body, doing the things that kids do. I had not yet learned that I was supposed to look differently than I did. I had not yet downloaded the program that some foods were “good” and others were “bad.” I did not yet have exercise and movement linked up with calorie burning or self-worth.

 

Field to Vase

Open house provides opportunity for residents to meet their local flower growers Valentine’s Day is a high point of the year for those in the cut flower business. So when, one year in the late ’90s, the bouquet-riddled holiday failed to deliver for Kitayama Brothers Farms, the family behind the decades-old rose-growing business knew something was wrong.  “It was the writing on the wall,” recalls Stuart Kitayama, operations manager for the Watsonville-based company. “Those of us who had been hoping things would just get better finally said ‘it’s time to change.’”

 

The Price of Safety

The city's proposed budget addresses public safety needs The City of Santa Cruz’s pocketbook has come a long way since 2009, when an $8 million shortfall loomed. According to City Manager Martin Bernal, the proposed general fund budget for 2013-2014 is healthier than it has been since the beginning of The Great Recession in 2008. Armed with this returning stability, the proposal puts one of the community's top concerns—public safety—front and center.

 

Community Studies 2.0

After a controversial suspension, a new incarnation of the unique UC Santa Cruz major is reinstated The UC Santa Cruz community studies lounge is a great place to have a conversation.  Housed on the second floor of a faculty building in Oakes College, just down the hall from a whiteboard that reads “COMMUNITY STUDIES LIVES,” the room has a big round table, couches and chairs, and shelves stacked with past senior “capstone projects.”

 

North Pacific String Band

Jeff Wilson, who plays banjo for North Pacific String Band, loves being part of original music experiences. “What I like about the music we play is that it’s fairly unique and kind of hard to put your finger on,” Wilson says. “We’re not just trying to do bluegrass or country or folk. It’s a mixture of those things and we try to add in a lot of musicality to all of that.” Originality and musicality aren’t ideas which are limited to the band’s exploits either.

 

Peace in the Middle East

New dance-concert explores Palestinian-Israeli conflict Inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, local choreographer Karl Schaffer’s “Mosaic” is a dance-concert featuring Jewish Diaspora and Arab music from the women’s choral group Zambra, singer Fattah Abbou and a troupe of local dancers. In between rehearsals for the show, which runs June 21-22 at Motion Pacific, Schaffer shared the story behind its creation.

 

Muscle-Bound

Valiant cast battles loud, ugly action for the soul of 'Man of Steel' Early in Man of Steel, fourth-grader Clark, the boy who will be Superman, is cowering in a broom closet at school, eyes screwed shut, hands clapped over his ears. He can't control his super powers: his X-ray vision shows him the skulls and skeletons under everyone's flesh; unfiltered noise—dogs, traffic, heartbeats—assault him from all sides. Rushing to school, his mom kneels outside the door and asks what's wrong.

 

CYNDI

On the eve of Cyndi Lauper’s Mountain Winery gig, we dissect the woman, the icon, the creative beast. Plus: Her thoughts on the music industry, equal rights and those sparkling ‘Kinky Boots’ Few performers possess the kind of fierce, she-bopping tenacity Cyndi Lauper has become famous for. Equal parts free spirit, civil rights activist and Grammy-winner, Lauper is one of the few creative artists able to successfully marry her cutting-edge verve with a heart-of-gold panache. It certainly has helped fuel the remarkable career resurgence she has been experiencing lately.

 

Making the Grade

The quest to identify sources of high levels of bacteria at Cowell Beach continues With straight As on Heal the Bay’s annual “beach report card” for 10 out of 13 Santa Cruz County beaches—Main Beach, Seabright, and even Cowell Beach at the Stairs, to name a few—it would seem that Santa Cruz boasts a high coastal GPA. But in recent years, one Santa Cruz beach just can’t seem to pass: Cowell Beach west of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf.

 

Summer Solstice, Full Moon, Mercury Retros

Early morning Wednesday Mercury, star of communication and conflict, turns stationary retrograde (23 Cancer). We all know by now what not to do. And what to do—through July 19.
Sign up for Tomorrow's Good Times Today
Upcoming arts & events

Latest Comments

 

A Sustainable Culture

The popularity of old world yogurt is surging, and it’s easy to make at home Yogurt is a product of the ages. With a name originating in Turkey and probiotic benefits touted by the health food industry. A fondness for Greek-style yogurt has taken the country by storm, resulting in a tripling of the number of yogurt factories in New York State, and a $2 billion a year industry. What sets this Mediterranean yogurt apart is straining. Other cultures refer to the product as “hung” yogurt. Stirred yogurt is placed in a fine mesh strainer which has been lined with cheesecloth and suspended over a deep container. Watery whey seeps out, resulting in a thicker, denser yogurt with more protein by volume. It makes a lovely base for a stiffer tzatziki cucumber-garlic dip and spread.

 

The Power of Conversation

Local author Cecile Andrews emphasizes importance of community engagement in newest book Cecile Andrews, author of the new book “Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good,” probably wouldn’t get along too well with Larry David’s character from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, known for hiding his face and avoiding communication with anyone he runs into on the street. Andrews is a longstanding part-time Santa Cruz (part-time Seattle) resident who says something that’s struck her about this town over the years is people's willingness to participate in a practice she’s dubbed the “Stop and Chat”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

 

Is Edward Snowden a patriot or a traitor?

He's a patriot. Anyone who stands up for the rights that we stand for as a country, that is real democracy. That would be in my book—somebody who is a patriot. Leah WeissSanta Cruz | Therapist

 

Best of Santa Cruz County

The 2013 Santa Cruz County Readers' Poll and Critics’ Picks It’s our biggest issue of the year, and in it, your votes—more than 6,500 of them—determined the winners of The Best of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll. New to the long list of local restaurants, shops and other notables that captured your interest: Best Beer Selection, Best Locally Owned Business, Best Customer Service and Best Marijuana Dispensary. In the meantime, many readers were ever so chatty online about potential new categories. Some of the suggestions that stood out: Best Teen Program and Best Web Design/Designer. But what about: Dog Park, Church, Hotel, Local Farm, Therapist (I second that!) or Sports Bar—not to be confused with Bra. Our favorite suggestion: Best Act of Kindness—one reader noted Café Gratitude and the free meals it offered to the Santa Cruz Police Department in the aftermath of recent crimes. Perhaps some of these can be woven into next year’s ballot, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the following pages and take note of our Critics’ Picks, too, beginning on page 91. A big thanks for voting—and for reading—and an even bigger congratulations to all of the winners. Enjoy.  -Greg Archer, EditorBest of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll INDEX | Shops | Food & Drink | Arts & Entertainment | Health & Fitness | Professionals | The Rest |

 

Serene Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

There’s always an upbeat vibe going at MJA’s tasting room on the Westside. On a recent visit, the very sociable owner Marin Artukovich was busy pouring for a roomful of oenophiles having a good time. With the help of staff members, Artukovich makes sure that nobody waits too long to sample his fine wines, while also keeping track of every person’s flight.

 

Paying it Forward

Pianist Benny Green wants jazz’s past to continue to inform its future I can honestly say I’m still learning.” Hearing such an admirable, humble statement from someone like Benny Green—a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and band leader whose 30-plus year career includes performances and recordings with jazz luminaries like Oscar Peterson, Art Blakey and Betty Carter—might be surprising at first. But Green’s insatiable desire to keep learning has served him well. That desire—and his deep love of jazz—is something he wants today’s younger musicians to feel, too.

 

Good Morning Maui

Goodness, righteousness, virtuousness and fairness are some of the four-score English words that attempt to describe the Hawaiian essence of pono, whose use in the state motto translates to “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

 

Exposed

David Cay Johnston’s new book explains how big companies rob us blind In his late teens David Cay Johnston started to ask questions. “Why do we have these guys in uniforms with guns driving around in cars all day?” “Why is the Santa Cruz County Courthouse being built in such an unusual shape?” He wrote an article, while still living in his hometown of Santa Cruz, proving that the off-kilter courthouse building, which officials had promised would save money, actually cost more than a conventional building.

 

What’s your secret to avoiding the summer swarms?