Local author offers anti-bullying strategies for parents and children Every day, 160,000 kids in this country stay home from school because they’re afraid of being bullied. The pain can be overwhelming—stories linking suicide to cyber-bullying pop up with alarming regularity. Many of us can recall being teased or bullied in school. Santa Cruz resident Anita Telle—whose...

Kristin Wiig runs wild—and transcends her sketch comedy roots—as a truly strange character ‘Welcome to Me’ In her new dramady Welcome to Me, Kristin Wiig transcends hilarity, crossing over into a twilight zone between sketch comedy and performance art. It’s recommended viewing for people who adore Wiig and her soulful embodiments of extremely strange women. The...

Witty, influential 93-year-old fashionista profiled in ‘Iris’ Less is definitely not more for Iris Apfel. A fixture on the New York City design scene for more than 60 years, the 93-year-old doyenne of style proves that fashion has no expiration date, adorning her frail-seeming body with a riot of prints, patterns, feathers, bangles and beads. With...

Pizza with an artisan twist comes to Aptos Beach Jeanne Harrison is kind of a miracle worker. After managing Cafe Rio in Aptos for 20 years and watching it go out of business for two of those years, she had a chance to buy it three years ago, and revived its heyday of great seafood on...

From folklorist field recordings to whisper-quiet folk, the man behind Hiss Golden Messenger is anything but conventional MC.. Taylor, the man behind the indie-folk project Hiss Golden Messenger, is well acquainted with folk tradition. A professional folklorist by trade, Taylor has traveled throughout Eastern North Carolina documenting traditional music. But he says that defining the term...

Seven years ago, Angi Lemucchi had a notebook full of lyrics and chords and a desire to turn them into songs. She met Jon Havens and Dave Cohen, who liked what she had written. In no time, the three of them evolved into something much more than what Lemucchi imagined: the emotive, moody six-piece Santa Cruz/San...

Dog owners and UCSC officials may not be so far apart on Long Marine Lab policy Last month, dog owners who have been walking their pets for years at the beachfront Long Marine Laboratory grounds on the Westside rallied at a UCSC meeting in protest of a new no-dog policy set to begin in June. The...

Will GMO forests save resources or destroy the ones we have? Scientists all over the world are working on “Super Trees” they say will help the environment by capturing more carbon dioxide and help farmers make more profits. But environmentalists worry that the genetically modified forests of the future could do more harm than good. That’s...

Local man looks to develop herbal remedy for post-traumatic stress disorder Ten years ago, John found himself experiencing extreme anxiety in social situations and having trouble sleeping. When he did sleep, he was waking up with night terrors. He was 23, and fresh out of a five-year stint in the U.S. military, including six months in...

Squash & Blossom’s artisanal alternative-flour delights, beet kvass from Cafe Ivéta, and the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival Adding spice to Mutari’s already piquant chocolate and pastries menu is Squash & Blossom. I spied some of these unusual “alternative-flour” pastries made by Michelle Minor—former artisanal baker and head cook for River Cafe—on my maiden voyage to Mutari...