With all the bad news around—and there is more than enough—it was a pleasure to read a story about people working on healing in high schools.
Our cover story by Addie Mahmassani about poets helping students find the power of healing in their own voices is just the relief I needed. Good things are happening here, and I didn’t have a clue until I read her work.
“We scattered across the county with pocket-sized notebooks, sample poems and prompts designed to coax teenagers toward the page,” Addie writes. “Our methods and classes varied a great deal, but we shared the same goal: to give young people in Santa Cruz the tools and permission to consider themselves poets.”
Adds school superintendent Dr. Faris Sabbah: “High-quality instruction in poetry offers students a powerful vehicle to name their experiences, speak their truth, and transform their lives and communities.”
Students know poetry, much of it in the form of lyrics and raps. There’s a point in the story when they are asked to identify a great quote and the students assume its a hip-hop artist. Nope, it’s Shakespeare.
What a great way to get students involved in reading the classics and then creating their own. Enjoy this story: it’s our holiday gift.
I wish journalism would get an infusion of energy like this. We need it as much as we need poetry. Schools barely teach news coverage anymore, and a way to investigate and present the truth has never been more needed.
This week has other holiday treats: International Academy of Dance is gearing up for The Nutcracker, as Mathew Chipman reports. And theater reviewer Christina Waters examines Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s A Christmas Carol.
New French pastry over at the Capitola Mall; the return of rock band Snail; and an important article on protecting yourself from holiday scams.
Enjoy and have a great week.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT With all that glimmer, here’s a 2025 Santa Cruz Lighted Boat winner. Photograph by Ali Eppy
GOOD IDEA
The City of Santa Cruz encourages public participation in local government through its advisory bodies. These are boards, commissions, committees and task forces that deal with a variety of issues and make recommendations to the City Council. Unless otherwise noted, applicants must be city residents and/or city voters.
The deadline to submit applications is Jan. 11.
Appointments will be made at the regular City Council meeting on Jan. 27, 2026. Includes: Arts Commission, Board of Building and Fire Appeals, Children’s Fund Oversight Committee, Downtown Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission, Sister Cities Committee, Transportation and Public Works Commission, Water Commission and County Latino Affairs Commission.
Applications are available in the City Clerk’s Division, 809 Center St., Room 8, Santa Cruz. Phone: 831-420-5030. City advisory body information, current openings and an application form are also available on the City’s Advisory Body web page.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘People don’t realize how quickly they become active teenagers.’
—Amber Rowland, about young cats and dogs
