Have you ever felt like our politicians in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. are never getting anything done? It’s gridlock baby and it’s our own fault.

There is a deep-seated human need to identify with a group and see other groups as the enemy. We haven’t evolved much from the Stone Age. It's one of the reasons sports are so popular—I have my team to cheer for and everybody else is the opposition to be defeated.

The duopoly that we call our political system today with the Democrats and Republicans fits cleanly into this deep psychological need that we have. Sadly, it has devolved into something akin to sport or even warfare. And the Internet, with the anonymity of attacks, has sharpened the edge of the divide.

This is traditionally such a busy and chaotic time of year for so many of us. Regardless of whether or not you align yourself with any particular spiritual or religious path and its seasonal celebrations, it seems that the general pace picks up all around us, and we’re often caught up despite our best efforts. And wouldn’t you know it, right in the thick of it comes another poker in the fire. I don’t know if you heard or not, but this weekend is kind of a big deal, and it pretty much blows everything else out of the celebratory water.

According to the Mayans (the formerly living Mayans—there are not any actual Mayans left), Friday is the end of the world! This Friday—Dec. 21.

Editor’s Note: In the wake of the elementary school shooting that took place on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn.,  Rev. Deborah L. Johnson, founder of Inner Light Ministries, has issued the following statement:

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut is a tragedy. Inner Light Ministries and I extend our condolences and join in the chorus of prayers around the world. Flags on our government buildings fly half-mast as the nation grieves. Yes, we are all deeply saddened, but we must do more than mourn. We must act in accordance with a sense of purpose to be a voice of both compassion and action. It is time to call forth the best in our creative genius to create the world we want to see, the world that honors life as sacred and empowers people to be all that they can be. 

The character of Downtown Santa Cruz has pretty much been under discussion for as long as I can remember.

Longtime Santa Cruz residents love the tradition of what was once known as The Pacific Avenue Garden Mall, and that pride continues into its post-earthquake years.

But there’s an equally strong anti-downtown feeling from those who don’t like the so-called “social problems”—the panhandlers and groups of street people who line the sidewalks.

When they told me I needed glasses, I did what most 11-year-olds do. I plea bargained. “How about a monocle?” “You need both eyes corrected.” No problem. “Two monocles!”

A week later, I tried out my new glasses and decided they were uncomfortable and made everything look screwy, so I didn’t wear them. I only needed them to see things in the distance, and most of a child’s world is the near field, where the comic books and snacks and televisions are. There’s no need to read freeway signs at night or to check out hot people from a safe distance. When I needed to see those unimportant things farther away, like blackboards, I could bring them into focus using an affordable, all-natural technique called squinting.

The “Occupy” political movement is one of the most fascinating developments in recent years, as frustrated, self-described regular folks are stepping up to demonstrate just how furious they are with Wall Street.

They’re calling themselves the “99 percenters” and they’re focusing their antipathy towards the “1 percent” that they see as nearly taking down our economic system.

Time is a flirt, the little bitch. Time says, “I’ll always be here for you.” And you come to believe it, and get used to it, and then suddenly you really need Time, and then Time is nowhere to be found. You panic, you scramble, and somehow you learn to cope without it. Then there’s a knock at the door, and it’s Time with a bottle of wine and some sweet talk, and all you can remember are the good days.

It’s fall, and fall is procrastination season. For one thing, school has started. School is where we encounter our first deadlines and decide how we will fight their power. Will we finish the assignments early and thereby defuse the tension? Prudent, but bo-ring. Procrastinators such as myself prefer to live on the edge, racing toward deadlines with steely nerve in a temporal game of chicken to see who will flinch at the last second. Sometimes due dates get extended, and we get a sense of relief the Prudentarians will never enjoy, but more commonly we find ourselves paying the price with an all-nighter. Though we may be criticized for our sub-standard work, we can hold our heads high and say, “Sure, but considering I did a two week project in one night, not too shabby!” It may not be the best way to get our money’s worth out of an expensive education, but it gives us time to focus on other important fall things, like ... the holidays!

My grandmother had so little interest in the past that it used to frustrate me beyond belief. Here was a woman who was born in the era of horse-drawn carriages and she lived long enough to witness man’s landing on the moon.

I longed to hear her stories about horses delivering ice in San Francisco, or even what it was like to prevent her son—my father—from an early death in the influenza epidemic of 1919. Or anything at all from her rich background

But she had no interest in the “good old days.” Instead, she preferred to talk about how she didn’t trust Richard Nixon, or even more—why I wasn’t getting better grades in college.

The Mayor and City Council, in my view, have demonstrated that a progressive, pro-environment City of Santa Cruz can also have a strong, serious economic development policy, and that it can all come together in a project such as the La Bahia proposal that was in front of the California Coastal Commission in mid-August.

The project was a decade in the making—which means negotiations with the city, various segments of the community, and lengthy discussions with the Coastal Commission staff—and resulted in a 6-0 vote at the City Council, and a recommendation for approval from the Coastal Commission staff.  Typically, it was not a walk in the park at either venue.