SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) - “Flying is one of the most exciting and wonderful experiences I have encountered ‘yet’,” Ann grins. Bi-coastal elder Ann Goldsmith has one hell of a resume and she didn’t really start kicking up her heels until she pushed past 50. Now in her seventies, Ann, a teacher, minister and counselor, divides her time between her Aptos home and a rural cabin in Maine.
After decades of being a passenger, Ann is once again spreading her wings and flying into the wild blue yonder as an airplane pilot. The first planes she recalls were a far cry from the small aircraft and controls with which she is now becoming acquainted. “Fighters and bombers going off to war,” were Ann’s first glimpses of air travel.
Goldsmith grew up on the east coast during the 2nd World War. “Friends lost their brothers,” Ann recalls. “Everything was rationed. Newsreels showed deadly scenes, while films made it all romantic. From the age of 7 through 13, my childhood was overshadowed by war.”
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) -- I’ve been using Iveta gourmet scone mixes for years with consistently delicious results. Fast and easy to make, the scones are light and flakey (not dry and crumbly) with the perfect balance of tender dough and generous fillings. Who can resist flavors such as Cranberry Orange, Pumpkin Spice or Cinnamon Chip? In fact, the only thing better than making Iveta scones at home is having someone make them for you! Now lucky Santa Cruzans can enjoy that luxury every day at the new Café Iveta on the Westside.
The Lightning Thief Movie - Disappointing If You've Read The Book
By Mason Kelly, Special to SantaCruzWire.com
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) - When I first heard that a movie version of Rick Riordan's bestselling book "The Lightning Thief" was coming out, I was jumping for joy. I had read the book close to 50 times (no exaggeration!) and knew the story like the back of my hand. But when I saw the movie, I realized the director had distorted and erased many of the best characters and events in the book.
For instance, the movie has no tree of Thalia, no Mr. D, no Cerberus (a three-headed dog-beast), and no fight with the war god Ares. In addition, the actors looked much older than their 12-year-old characters and didn’t seem enthused about what they were doing. (They wore vacant, bored expressions most of the time.) “The Lightning Thief” is a decent movie if you haven’t read the book. But if you have, the movie is a pretty big letdown.
The movie is funny, I have to give it that. Grover, Percy's satyr sidekick, is definitely the funniest character, always making jokes about the underworld, his goat butt, and just about anything else. “Is it just me, or is it raining cows?” Grover says as the Minotaur (a giant half-bull, half-man beast) throws a cow at them.
Non-Violent Critter Control for Buddhists, and Other Gentle Gardeners
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) – When animal pests invade the garden, many homeowners are quick to trap, shoot or poison the creatures undermining their lawns, or pilfering their tomatoes.
But an increasing number of nonviolent gardeners, including vegans, Buddhists and the simply compassionate, are turning to humane traps that confine, but don't kill, the annoying animal. Yet humane trapping, while bloodless, can pose tricky problems of its own.
Once you’ve trapped a live raccoon, for instance, what do you do with it? As it turns out, there are few legal options for relocating your furry captive.
SANTA CRUZ (June 2010) – When I was growing up in the suburbs of Northern California, home gardening was a lethal discipline. Lawns were doused with toxic solutions to keep them green and weed-free, trees were sprayed on a strict schedule, and insects were indiscriminately poisoned –along with whatever birds, frogs and butterflies happened into the line of fire.
Sometimes the firepower was more than metaphorical. I recall the day that my dad loaded his shotgun and stuck the barrel through a bathroom window, waiting with finger on the trigger for a gopher to poke its head out of the soil. This was in a household with six young children, in a yard separated from our neighbors by a couple feet of thin air and a flimsy redwood fence.
Terrifying as it was, all of us survived the shotgun incident – even the gopher. But that episode came to mind recently as I began looking into humane traps for garden pests, and came across a non-lethal box trap for gophers. Gophers. Seriously, I thought, what kind of a gardener is so wishy-washy, so lacking in righteous vengeance that she can’t bear to kill a lousy, rose-killing, fruit-tree toppling gopher?
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) - After the blockbuster hit movie and extremely popular book series, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” author Rick Riordan was hard pressed to write another book anywhere near as good as his previous series. A lot of people thought it couldn’t be done. Well, if you were one of those people, think again, because Rick Riordan’s newest release, “The Red Pyramid” is already starting to look like an enormous hit.
Riordan's newest heroes, siblings Carter and Sadie Kane, make humorous, enjoyable main characters in the first book of the series, “The Kane Chronicles.” Carter and Sadie argue and fight and argue some more. They are a perfect brother and sister.
One of the unique things about the book is that it is written in first person, with the main characters alternately telling the story. They act like they are talking into a tape recorder, the microphone seems to switch between the two of them.
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) - Keep in mind that there are two different kinds of people at UC Santa Cruz: Vegans, and Everyone Else. The dining halls are under the impression that Everyone Else can eat Vegan food, which usually isn't the case. There's nothing like groggily wandering into the dining hall at eight in the morning and accidentally piling your plate with powdered eggs and seitan sausage, instead of the real deal. Apparently Vegans like eating chemicals more than animals. The dining halls do have non-Vegan food as well, but then the dining halls are also under the impression that Salt is an excellent substitute for Nutrition.
You can usually judge how good a visit to the dining hall is going to be before you even step inside by how hard the people who work there try to keep you out. About every third swipe of the ID card used to buy your food causes the cash register to freak out and sulk for five to ten minutes. Meanwhile the poor student working the machine randomly pushes buttons until one of the senior workers shows up and soothes the machine into submission. "Cash Register Whisperers" is what I've taken to calling them. My favorite theory is that they have a secret button in the back that they push whenever the food is more mediocre than usual, to discourage students from even getting inside.
SANTA CRUZ (June 2010) - The special election for State Senate District 15 takes place Tuesday, and expectations for voter turnout are low, due to the inconvenient timing and the fact that there is only a single race on the ballot. But the candidates for this seat couldn’t be more different, and we urge Central Coast residents to take the initiative and vote on June 22.
SantaCruzWire.com has offered the four official candidates free space to air their views on our site, and we are happy to report that Democrat John Laird and Independent candidate Jim Fitzgerald have submitted essays. We hope this helps clarify the issues at stake, and the differences between the candidates.
SANTA CRUZ (June 2010) - Ask where all the money is coming from to pay for all the Robo calls, TV and radio spots. What favors will have to be paid back to the special interest groups and union supporters?
Vote for the person not the party!
Are you tired of re-electing the same people year after year and getting the same results? My name is Jim Fitzgerald and I am running for State Senate. I am an Independent candidate – not a career politician. I will not accept any large donations from special interest groups, corporations, or individuals. I will never sell out on an issue, or trade a vote for a party favor or a campaign donation.
Campaign for the 15th Senate District Down to the Wire
By John Laird, Special to SantaCruzWire.com
SANTA CRUZ (June 2010) - The campaign for the 15th Senate District is down to the last few days
and it’s all about turning out voters—some of whom wonder why they’re
going to the polls again two weeks after the last election. More on
that in a moment.
The district includes the communities of Scotts Valley, Pasatiempo,
Happy Valley, Soquel Hills, Aptos Hills, Rio Del Mar, La Selva,
Seascape, Corralitos, Aromas and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County – and
overall is a classically gerrymandered district running from Los Gatos
and Saratoga in the north all the way to Santa Maria in Santa Barbara
County.
Originally drawn to favor Republicans, the district now trends
Democratic and Barack Obama carried it by 20 points. If no one gets 50%
this next Tuesday, the race continues to August 17. I am running
against Republican Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo and
two minor candidates.
The Governor called the race in a way that causes four elections in five
months on the Central Coast. He didn’t care that it would cost local
cash-strapped counties an extra $3 million, nor did he seem to care that
it would disenfranchise overseas military voters because there was not
enough time to get ballots over and back, given the quick timeframe.
But that overtly political move, designed to favor Mr. Blakeslee, has
backfired.
SANTA CRUZ (May 2010) - Dear fellow vegetable gardeners- it’s not your imagination. May, our traditional planting season here on the coast, really has been unusually chilly, damp and yucky.
Our pain has been confirmed by the National Weather Service in Monterey, where, if it makes you feel better, the weather has been even worse than it is here in Santa Cruz “It’s true, it has been colder than usual,” said NWS Forecaster and Monterey resident Steve Anderson. “Some of our records date back to the late 1800s, and this is probably one of the top ten coolest Mays on record.”
After years of drought conditions, it would be surly to complain about the lingering showers filling our reservoirs and keeping our lawns lush and green. But those tomatoes you optimistically planted in April are probably sulking, if they haven’t keeled over entirely, and that basil … where did it go? Nothing but a few nibbled stems and a slime trail at the crime scene.
Late May is pushing the envelope for getting a summer garden in the ground, but there are a few things you can do to help salvage what is shaping up to be a late, cool growing season.
Unsafe for Swimming - Rotting Kelp Trumps Swimmers at Cowell Beach
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (May 2010) – With its mild currents and wind-damping cliffs, Cowell Beach is widely considered to be the safest beach in Santa Cruz for children and novice swimmers. But this popular family beach, located at the foot of the Municipal Wharf, has been increasingly plagued by bacterial pollution in the water.
The water at Cowell was posted as unsafe for human contact 67 days in 2008, and a whopping 172 days last year. The persistently high levels of bacteria tend to coincide with warm summer weather, and seasonal crowds of beachgoers.
While some noxious bacteria are deposited in the waves by sea lions and other wildlife, county health officials increasingly suspect that piles of rotting kelp on the beach are contributing to the deteriorating water quality at Cowell. Problem is, coastal regulations make it almost impossible to drag the stuff away.
Because decomposing seaweed provides food for flies, sand fleas and other critters at the low end of the food chain, the California Coastal Commission in 2005 forbade Santa Cruz from using machinery to remove the slimy heaps from city beaches between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Music, Drama and Birthday Cake: Cabrillo Celebrates Chopin, Schumann
Written by Tara Leonard
APTOS (May, 2010) - Susan Bruckner, Head of the Piano Department at Cabrillo College, is throwing a birthday party and music lovers of all ages are invited. There will be cake and the playing of “Happy Birthday” just like at other celebrations. But the gift for attendees will be six hours of live performances of the music of Chopin and Schumann. After all, it’s not every year that two of the world's most famous Romantic composers celebrate their second century.
The 200th Birthday Marathon will take place on Monday, May 24, at Cabrillo’s new Recital Hall from noon to 6 p.m. More than 70 performers will play instrumental and vocal solos, duets and chamber works. Plus Cabrillo College theater students will read from the letters and diaries of Robert Schumann and his beloved wife Clara.
A Community Response to Street Gangs in Santa Cruz
by Neal Aronson, Special to SantaCruzWire.com
SANTA CRUZ (May 2010) - For far too long, we as a a society have tolerated gangs, perhaps
because we didn't consider it to be our problem. It was always "those people"
killing each other "over there". We felt sorry for Salinas and Watsonville
and were glad we didn't have their problems. There have been incidents in
Beach Flats and Lower Ocean St., but they felt like isolated events, and it
wasn't our children being attacked. Even though they took place in Santa
Cruz, they weren't happening in our neighborhoods.
Times have changed. In the last year two young men were murdered in
our neighborhoods and a young man, the son of my friend and neighbor,
was wounded while walking his dog on the west side. People are taking
notice and are filled with outrage and fear. How could this happen here? While
we were naively thinking this was someone else's problem, the gangs have
been growing more brazen and are now claiming our streets as their
territory.
Castoffs into Couture - Mission Hill Students Fashion Wearable Art
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (May 2010) - Hand-sewn platform shoes, a man’s “blazer” alight with appliquéd flames, a taco-shaped hat and a handbag crafted from vinyl record albums.
These arresting fashion statements were among 128 student-made garments and accessories created this year at Project Runway for Teens, a school-wide wearable art show organized by Mission Hill Middle School art teacher Kathleen Crocetti.
Almost as unusual as the finished clothing was the source of the artists’ materials. As part of an ongoing partnership between the school and Goodwill Industries, more than 100 Mission Hill students were invited into Goodwill’s Union Street store for a special shopping day and allowed to take home any garment they wanted – for free.
Ready, Set, Register! Time To Sign Up for City-Sponsored Summer Camps
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (April 2010) - The end of school is still two months away, but if your kid wants to spend her summer on the beach learning lifeguarding skills, or playing games under the redwoods, you’d best be "camped" in front of your computer by 7:55 a.m. this Saturday.
Online registration for City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation summer camps and courses opens at 8 a.m., Saturday April 17, and local parents know from experience that the most popular classes fill up quickly. According to Recreation Supervisor Carol Scurich, slots in the city’s Junior Lifeguard programs and day camps for elementary-age children are the first to get snapped up.
“Absolutely, Little Guards is the favorite program, it always fills fast,” Scurich said. “After that, it would be the Junior Guards in general, depending on the age group. Day camps like Super Camp, Camp Spot and Adventure Camp are also really popular.”
Camp Harmon: Where Campers with Disabilities Thrive
Written by Tara Leonard
BOULDER CREEK (April 2010) -- Every parent of a summer camper knows how scary it is the first time you drop off your child. Will he make friends? Will she be able to sleep? Who will take care of him if he gets hurt or lonely? For Jill Winston of Santa Cruz, the experience was the same. “I was nervous waiting in line to check Rozie in,” Winston recalled. “But then I saw a camper in front of us in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank. I just cried. I was so amazed that this person could have a camp experience. I thought if they can handle that child for a week, surely they can handle my Rozie.”
Welcome to Camp Harmon, where children and adults with disabilities play, laugh and learn just like campers everywhere.
SANTA CRUZ (March 2010) - The fast-evolving market for organic meat has caused a shakeup in grocery store meat departments locally, with some stores switching to California-grown organic meats and others adding organics for the first time.
In the past few months, New Leaf Community Markets have begun stocking California-raised natural and organic grass-fed beef, replacing a line of organic meats produced in Uruguay. Staff of Life market has also jettisoned its Uruguayan organic beef in favor of a California-raised brand. Even venerable Shopper’s Corner, which has sold prime conventionally-raised beef for more than 70 years, has recently added a small selection of organic beef to its popular meat counter.
What a change from 2008, when the only organic beef in local stores came from South America or a feedlot in the Midwest, and shoppers who bought organic were mainly concerned about drug or pesticide residues in the meat. Few worried about their burger’s carbon footprint, humane treatment for the animals or how many miles their steak traveled between pasture and market.
DAVENPORT (March 2010) – The mother cow lowed and shifted her hooves nervously as Gordon Claassen stepped carefully toward the calf who curled, sleeping, in a clump of fresh grass beneath a low-slung oak tree.
"Looks like a male, to me, judging from the size of the head," Claassen murmured, crouching a few feet away from the drowsy calf. "He's just a few hours old, brand-new." The calf raised his head briefly, blinked his milky blue eyes, then settled down to resume his nap.
March is the beginning of calf season at Swanton Pacific Ranch, a 3,200-acre teaching ranch located in the coastal hills just north of the town of Davenport. The ranch is owned by Cal Poly State University, and the sleepy newborn under the tree was one of 50 calves expected to be born this spring to a herd managed by the school's natural grass-fed beef production program.
SANTA CRUZ (March 2010) - We’ve added a new service to SantaCruzWire.com – software that allows visitors to comment immediately about stories on our site, and to exchange views with other readers.
Thank you for checking out this new application, and please excuse our mess over the next few weeks as we work out some of the kinks in the system.
We hope this new feature will encourage readers to participate in and expand our ongoing discussion of community issues. We’re looking forward to having more of the amazing conversations we now enjoy with our readers when we meet them at the store, on campus and downtown.
SANTA CRUZ (MARCH 2010) — Maggie Vessey’s first indication she might become a world-class runner came when she was 6 years old. Her much-older cousin had challenged Vessey to a footrace and the two took off running across a practice field at Mar Vista Elementary School. Vessey won easily.
“I felt as tall as she was. It was just effortless,” said the now 5-foot-8 Vessey. “Running was the most pure feeling of being alive. I felt it even as a kid.”
But some of that joy began to leak out of running as word got around about Vessey’s innate ability, and other kids began challenging her to races. “It was a tangled web,” Vessey said as she sipped a bottled water after a recent training run, “because I liked to beat people too.”
Now 28 and about to embark on a series of track races that will take her around the world, Vessey still copes with the yin and yang of her sport: the nerves and insecurities that competition brings against the absolute freedom and joy of running. She has spent the past years working hard to find a balance, she said: not only in track, but also in her life.
Canine Chaos: Why Dogs Don't Belong in Downtown Santa Cruz
Written by Tara Leonard
SANTA CRUZ (March, 2010) - I’m a dog person. My house is littered with slobbery tennis balls, my car stocked with extra leashes and dog treats. Sometimes the very best part of my day is spent tossing a stick for my ridiculously enthusiastic pets who are ceaselessly entertained by the joy of retrieval. It’s impossible not to share their delight in the everyday routine of walks, play and meals (Food? For me? I LOVE you!). In short, I think everyone should have a dog.
Practice Makes Perfect: Music Students Shine at Certificate of Merit Exam
Written by Tara Leonard
SANTA CRUZ (March, 2010) - Eleven-year-old Isabel Corser sat at the upright piano, her blond hair still wet from swim practice, her bare right foot working the damper pedal as she played a lulling rendition of Sparkling Waters by Martha Sherrill Kelsey. Finishing with a confident flourish she said, “That piece is flowing, so it makes me think of a river moving. But my other one is completely different.” Turning back to the keyboard, she launched into a bouncy, happy Little Joke by Kabalevsky. “That one is more staccato,” she explained. “If you were walking, staccato would mean you pick up your feet quickly.”
Corser, along with more than 29,000 music students across
California, is practicing for the annual Certificate of Merit music
exam. For over 70 years CM, as students call it, has been sponsored by
the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC),
a statewide network of professional music teachers. Here in Santa Cruz
County, the exam takes place on Sunday, March 21.
SANTA CRUZ (February 2010) -Amphibians are a scarce sight these days, and their numbers continue to dwindle worldwide. That’s why I was absurdly pleased to discover salamanders living in my downtown garden, years ago.
Our salamanders aren’t much to look at. They’re small and brown, with whiplike bodies and legs so short they could almost be mistaken for worms.
But as a gardener and an environmentalist, the survival of these creatures reassures me. If these sensitive natives can thrive alongside my family, our backyard parties and our kitchen garden, it seems that we must be doing something right.
Luckily, doing right by the salamanders often dovetails with taking the path of least resistance in the garden.
Farewell To The Corn Dog - Santa Cruz Transforms School Lunch
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (February 2010) - Jamie Smith is a friendly guy - he’s just impatient, and very direct. The new food service director for Santa Cruz City Schools is on a mission to evict junk food from district cafeterias, and replace it with fresh, healthy, scratch-cooked meals.
That may explain why, when Smith strides into the kitchen at Gault Elementary School or Harbor High, some staffers greet him with a smile and a handshake, and others get that unmistakable “oh, crap!” look in their eyes.
It’s not clear that Smith notices the occasional look of dismay. He’s stalking the premises, often with a cell phone mashed to his ear, peering into steam trays and coolers, and rummaging through paperwork. But he doesn’t appear to miss much.
On a recent visit to a district elementary, Smith was chatting up a few employees when a deliveryman slapped a receipt on the counter and said “here’s the bill for the ice cream”. Smith gazed at the deliveryman’s retreating back and said mildly, “Ice cream on campus? Oh, my.”
SANTA CRUZ (February 2010) - When Patty Sapone was 20 years old and studying to be a police officer, she took a job working security at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – the first woman ever to hold that position. There wasn’t much of a honeymoon period.
“It was rough-and-tumble,” Sapone said recently, grinning at the memory. “I got in a fight my second day at the job. I’d never been in a fight in my life before I put a uniform on.” Sapone won the scuffle. And she learned something about her abilities as a woman entering a traditionally male profession.
“I learned that I could jump in, and I could prevail physically,” Sapone said. “It’s not so much that you need a certain personality type to succeed (in police work), but you need the realization that you can do these things, and you can prevail.”
Sapone went on to thrive in a profession that is nearly as male-dominated today as it was when she took her first patrol job with the Santa Cruz Police Department in 1980. Sapone retires this month with the rank of Deputy Chief, earned in the course of a 30-year career with the SCPD.
Will Bankruptcy Strengthen the Santa Cruz Sentinel?
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (January 2010) – After more than a year of increasingly urgent rumors, the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s parent company filed for bankruptcy protection January 22, a move expected to vaporize $765 million in bad debt and transfer most of the company’s stock to its creditors.
Losing more than three-quarters of a billion dollars would be considered a grim turn of events for nearly any company. But many media observers say they are cheered by the terms of the MediaNews Group bankruptcy, and expect it to benefit the Sentinel, its workers and news consumers in Santa Cruz County and beyond.
“I see all of this as good news for the papers, employees and debt holders of MediaNews Group,” said Mario van Dongen, a former Sentinel publisher who is now director of sales and marketing at the Portland Oregonian. “Cutting the debt … will give the papers some very important breathing room.”
Three Cups of Tea Fundraiser Back by Popular Demand
Written by Tara Leonard
SANTA CRUZ (January, 2010) -- Moved by the community response to their inaugural tea cup fundraiser last February, Santa Cruz artists Steven and Bonnie Barisof are planning a second annual event on February 11 at the Rio Theatre. Inspired by Greg Mortenson's bestselling memoir, Three Cups of Tea, the event raises money for Mortenson's Central Asia Institute to help build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"If you educate a girl, you educate a community,” Mortenson writes in his new book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books Not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “The
better educated a woman is, the less likely she will be to let her
children join the Taliban…Their greatest fear is not the bullet, but
the pen.” Or in this case, the potter’s wheel!
The Secret Series - Alchemy, Murder and Snarky Laughs For Pre-Teens (and Their Parents)
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ ( January 2010) – The title of the first book in the Secret Series is … well … a secret. So is the identity of the author, the town where the story takes place, and even the names of the heroes.
The first page of book one warns readers to go no further, and hints at the dire consequences of doing so. But the warnings are so overblown, the writing so funny, and the artwork so off-kilter, that you keep laughing and turning pages, despite the prickle of unease creeping up the back of your neck.
The Secret Series, now three books and counting, may not appeal to young children. But it is precisely on-target for the skeptical pre-teen reader who pounces on inconsistency, delivers dead-on parodies of television infomercials, and can sniff out adult hypocrisy at twenty paces. That is to say, most middle schoolers will love these books.
SANTA CRUZ (January 2010) - Organic gardeners know that many types of manure are good for garden soil. We add cow, horse, chicken and even bat manure to our yards, knowing that the breakdown of these products feeds both the soil and the vegetables in our gardens.
Cat manure, on the other hand, should never be added to garden compost or left to decompose in vegetable beds. Cat feces frequently carry parasites that can infect humans, and should be excluded from the garden or removed as promptly as possible.
It is commonly known that pregnant women should avoid cat waste to prevent infection with Toxoplasmosis, a disease that can cause devastating birth defects if contracted during gestation. But Toxoplasmosis, and other diseases spread by cat waste, can infect anyone who comes into contact with contaminated garden soil, and gardeners should take precautions to avoid a possible lifelong infection.
SANTA CRUZ (January 2010) - Cats and gardeners have a complicated relationship, particularly when it comes to kitty’s toilet habits. Cats are known for relieving themselves into neat little holes in the dirt - preferably the nice, soft, cultivated dirt found in garden beds. And most gardeners, even the cat lovers among us, really hate that.
Cat poop in the garden is a health hazard, and finding a ‘buried treasure’ amongst the lettuces can be infuriating and worrisome - even if the culprit is your own beloved pet.
With an estimated 80 million cats in the U.S., banishing all free-roaming felines from your yard is probably not an option. But cats can be excluded from garden beds with a simple wire screen you can make yourself, using concrete reinforcing wire, wire cutters and a pair of gloves.
SANTA CRUZ (December 2009) - Teachers take tests. In addition to all the exams I endured to get through college and acquire a master’s degree, I have taken the CBEST, the CLAD, the CSET, and probably a few others I have forgotten, sweating with a number two pencil in hand, and paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege, all in order to teach high school English.
Teachers give tests. We administer finals, read essay exams, proctor SATs, and enjoy the sadistic thrill of passing out pop quizzes. Although you run into the odd dreamer now and then who says, “those things are meaningless” and insists only on “authentic assessment,” most of us cannot conceive of education without the forced, timed exhibition of knowledge known as a test.
Why then are teachers so reluctant to be paid according to their students’ performance on a test?
LA SELVA BEACH (December 2009) - Custom bike builder Craig Calfee has spent two decades crafting featherweight bicycle frames out of high-tech carbon fiber, and selling them to elite cyclists. But his travels in Africa got him thinking about a different type of building material - and a different type of bicycle rider.
The result of Calfee’s brainstorm is Bamboosero, a line of moderately-priced bikes with frames made of bamboo. The frames are engineered to Calfee’s high standards, but handmade by craftsmen in Africa, Asia and Latin America out of locally-sourced bamboo. While Bamboosero aims to do good, it isn’t a charity – it’s a business partnership with an altruistic edge. Bamboosero aims to bring desperately-needed skilled jobs to developing nations by training workers, helping them set up workshops, and marketing their products in wealthier countries.
“We’re trying to develop a market, and an industry,” Calfee said. “And the way to start is by selling bikes in the U.S. and Europe. By just being good customers we can have a huge impact on people’s lives.”
The Future of Community Websites (And Why You Should Care)
Written by Tara Leonard
SANTA CRUZ (December, 2009) - What is the role of community websites in the ever-changing media world? Is the internet killing journalism or creating a new, more inclusive method of information sharing? And what the heck is an “aggregator”? These are just a few of the questions participants pondered last week at a conference called “Entrepreneurship and the Community Web” sponsored by The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Maria Gaura and I, co-founders of Santa Cruz Wire, joined the creators of fifteen other local or hyper-local websites based in California to discuss the financial, legal and editorial challenges of managing a community based, on-line news source. We were both fascinated and frustrated by what we heard. Because this topic has lasting implications for how news and information will be delivered in the future, we want to share our impressions with SC Wire readers.
SANTA CRUZ (December 2009) - Dennis
Morton leaned across a table at Santa Cruz County’s Juvenile Hall reading aloud
a paragraph penciled by a 14-year-old boy.The topic
was the boy’s first drink and he wrote that the alcohol had felt like “medicine”
for how it made his problems fade away.Morton, a teacher and radio-show host, nodded his head slowly at the
paragraph’s conclusion. “That
was a very full story in six lines,” he said. “How did it sound to hear what
you wrote?”
The boy,
dark-haired and built like a linebacker, dropped his head.“It
sounded good,” he said shyly.
Exchanges like that go on each week in juvenile detention facilities across
the San Francisco Bay Area. They’re at the heart of a program called “The Beat
Within,” which aims to promote literacy and provide positive recognition for
teenagers behind bars. Each week, the program distributes a
thick newsletter featuring writing and artwork from incarcerated teens, along
with essays from men and women doing harder time in prison.
Now a
score of writers – from bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler to novelist Laurie
King – are pitching in to help keep the program alive in Santa Cruz’s Juvenile
Hall.
Trans-Africa Cyclists Rally for Tour of California
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (December 2009) - The Tour of California bike race is an eight-day, 750-mile trek that summits a couple of mountain passes and includes at least one heart-stopping ascent per day. Big whoop. Santa Cruz filmmaker Brain Vernor has ridden a road race that makes Levi Leipheimer’s recent Tour of California victory look like the pony ride at the county fair. And Vernor rode his race lugging a backpack full of camera equipment.
Admittedly, the elite riders in the Tour of California pedal a lot faster than Vernor and the fifty or so other participants in the 7,500 mile Tour D’Afrique, an annual road race that wends from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa. And yes, the ToC athletes put in thousands of training miles preparing for the main event.
But they don’t sleep on the ground for four months at a stretch, they don’t ride for weeks on unpaved roads, and they almost certainly don’t eat stewed camel meat after a day in the saddle. Vernor has done all of the above, and filmed the experience, creating “Where Are You Go”, a documentary of the 2008 Tour D’Afrique.
SANTA CRUZ (November 2009) - The bike path that trisects UC Santa Cruz’s Great Meadow offers spectacular views of Monterey Bay, and an exhilarating free-fall on the downhill ride. But a rash of serious accidents in recent months has campus officials trying to slow cyclists who blast downhill at speeds as high as 40 miles per hour, and sometimes end up in the emergency room.
This month, shortly after another cyclist was carted away in an ambulance, UCSC’s department of Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) posted informational signs along the path, Burma-Shave style, showing some chilling statistics.
“13 solo crashes on bike path in two years,” read one sign. “7 by ambulance, 4 by helicopter, 2 walked away,” read another. Further along, at the top of the final downhill run, a third sign said “Please slow down.”
SANTA CRUZ (November 2009) - The recent funding crisis facing the state Healthy Families program, which provides much needed health insurance to California’s children, highlights an oft-ignored reality; that our failed state budgetary process and ideological entrenchments have a real-world effect on the health of actual children.
SANTA CRUZ (November, 2009) -- It was exactly one day prior to a scheduled event where residents were
set to gather downtown to mark the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta
earthquake when Tyler Tenorio was senselessly murdered. The anniversary event would memorialize the death and destruction that Santa Cruz suffered two decades earlier as a result of a natural catastrophe. More pointedly, the event would also celebrate the remarkable efforts of residents who tirelessly worked together with a sense of optimism to rebuild a broken city.
It is a tragic coincidence that it has taken the murder of a sixteen-year-old boy to catalyze our community to work together again to find solutions to address an entirely different type of challenge – ensuring that Santa Cruz is a safe and sustainable city for future generations.
The Mysterious Benedict Society - Paranoid Tales for Exceptional Children
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (November 2009) - The bestselling Mysterious Benedict Society series opens with a newspaper solicitation: “gifted children” are sought to participate in a special test. The test is not what it seems, however, and the “winners” – four misfit kids - are sucked into a dangerous and frightening quest.
The stage is set for an ominous adventure story that serves up some seriously paranoid subject matter.
The plot of this three-volume series, aimed at children ages ten and up, revolves around subliminal mind control, ineffective and corrupt authorities, cult-like brainwashing camps for children, and other staples of the tin-hat conspiracy crowd. But this anxious tale is not simply Kafka for Kids. The bleakness is leavened with transforming friendship, and the triumph of clever children outsmarting the adult world.
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