It was in the ’80s that reggae started to gain a wider, more international audience.
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Echo Street
Something in the Water
San Lorenzo Valley students to try new kind of farming
Gut Instinct
Science is confirming many of the beliefs about digestion that ayurveda has made for centuries
Happy Birthday, Manny
Manuel’s turns 50, farmers market steel head pairs with Pinot, and a Birichino Malvasia
Witty Snicket
When he’s not writing immensely popular books for children, Daniel Handler turns his irreverent strangeness to novels
Best Slaid Plans
Give Slaid Cleaves a decade, and he’ll tell you how you feel
School Daze
As applications pour into UCSC, the university gets more selective
Two Fish Bound by a Golden Cord
Until March 20, (Spring Equinox), Earth and her kingdoms (mineral, plant, animal, human) experience the influence of Pisces, sign of the World Savior. Whereas the task of Aquarius is as world server, the Pisces task is saving the world—tasks given to the two fishes. Pisces never really enters matter, and as the last sign of the zodiac includes all the signs. During Pisces, having gathered all the gifts of the previous 11 signs, it is a good time to prepare for new initiating plans when Aries (sign of beginnings) begins. No wonder Pisces, like Scorpio, is so difficult (both are ruled by Pluto, planet of death, new life, regeneration, transformations). Both signs (with Scorpio drowning in dark and deep waters) find life on Earth a hardship, disorienting (from the spiritual perspective), at times feeling betrayed. Life is a paradox, especially for Pisces.
Each zodiacal sign represents and distributes a different phase and facet (12) of the Soul’s diamond light, Pisces is the “Light of Life itself, ending forever the darkness of matter.” It takes two fish to complete this work (creating eventually an extraordinary human being). One fish turned toward the material world (in order to understand matter), the other fish toward the heavenly world. Around the two fish is a silvery cord binding them together. The two fish are forever bound until all of humanity is redeemed (lifted up into the Light). This is the dedication of all world saviors (Buddha, Christ, the NGWS). Thus the sacrifice and suffering experienced by Pisces. Knowing these things about Pisces, let us help them all we can. Sometimes all of humanity is Pisces.
From The Editor
Plus Letters To the Editor
Echo Street
It was in the ’80s that reggae started to gain a wider, more international audience. That was also when—for the most part—reggae stopped evolving. Locals Echo Street, who fiddle with funk, soul, and rock elements, consider themselves first and foremost a reggae outfit, even though their sound is very different than just about any other reggae...
Something in the Water
San Lorenzo Valley students to try new kind of farming While soil has replaced marine life in today’s conventional agriculture, the ancient farming practice of aquaponics may be making a comeback, and now local youth are rolling up their sleeves to learn how it’s done. Aquaponics combines aquaculture, or fish farming, and hydroponics, or growing plants...
Gut Instinct
Science is confirming many of the beliefs about digestion that ayurveda has made for centuries This winter’s round of colds and flus was a brutal one, characterized by illnesses that dragged on well past the average seven-to-10-day cold duration. I watched my coworkers drop like flies around me, and before I knew it, I, too, was...
Happy Birthday, Manny
Manuel’s turns 50, farmers market steel head pairs with Pinot, and a Birichino Malvasia Like many food lovers—and wine lovers—in town, I miss Manny and Alice Santana. Manny was an Olmec-huge, sexy guy who adored life and all the good things in it. Alice was a smart and funny woman, loaded with exquisite taste and enough...
Witty Snicket
When he’s not writing immensely popular books for children, Daniel Handler turns his irreverent strangeness to novels What happens when a writer’s creativity can’t be contained by one identity? Best-case scenario: he or she finds success under a pen name. Just ask Daniel Handler, or rather, Lemony Snicket, the beleaguered writer and narrator of A Series...
Best Slaid Plans
Give Slaid Cleaves a decade, and he’ll tell you how you feel When Slaid Cleaves started writing songs, he would just come up with new verses to Hank Williams’ tunes. Once he had three or four verses, he would change the melody slightly, and— voilá—he had a song. “I used to feel guilty about that,” Cleaves...
School Daze
As applications pour into UCSC, the university gets more selective Nearly 55,000 hopeful students sent in undergraduate applications to UCSC this year—a record number, and a sign the university is a hot ticket for students looking for a world-class college experience. This year’s lucky students will begin getting letters of acceptance on March 15. Yet despite...
Surf Safari
Santa Cruz’s Gary Conley on chasing the swell around the entire African continent on his Suzuki motorbike
Two Fish Bound by a Golden Cord
Until March 20, (Spring Equinox), Earth and her kingdoms (mineral, plant, animal, human) experience the influence of Pisces, sign of the World Savior. Whereas the task of Aquarius is as world server, the Pisces task is saving the world—tasks given to the two fishes. Pisces never really enters matter, and as the last sign of the zodiac includes...
From The Editor
Plus Letters To the Editor In Anne-Marie Harrison’s story this week about Gary Conley, the Santa Cruz environmental consultant who became a globetrotting adventurer, Conley calls surfing a “medium of connection with people.” It’s an unorthodox description, and yet one that gets closer to the soul of surfing than “sport” or “hobby” or any of the...