Editor’s note:  This week’s Poetry Corner features Javier Zamora, who was born and raised in La Herradura, El Salvador. At the age of 9, he emigrated to the United States to be reunited with his parents. He’s attended various writing conferences, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and one at The Frost Place. His chapbook, “Nueve Años Inmigrantes,” won the 2011 Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook Contest.

Californian gets taste of the Big Apple while taking in a culinary conference

On street corners, pedestrians swiftly dance by each other on a matrix of finely spaced perpendicular paths. It was the first time my feet had felt the pavement of Manhattan.

And what better place for the assemblage of the International Association of Culinary Professionals for its 34th annual conference? This city, known for diversity and creativity in the realm of cuisine, offers a juxtaposition of two extremes.

Dietzman & Co. examines heartbreak in debut showcase

It all started with a rough break up. Well, two actually. “Literally we were offered the show, my partner and I broke up a week later, and then I moved to Santa Cruz,” says Sierrah Dietz, co-director of “It Just Is,” an upcoming dance showcase. The performances run April 13-15 at Motion at the Mill.

Dietz’ longtime friend and fellow choreographer, Molly Katzman, was also experiencing a difficult breakup at the time when the pair was given the opportunity to direct the production. “When we were questioning what this show was going to be about, it was so clear that that was where I was,” explains Dietz. “I couldn’t vocalize anything that was going on for me and I just needed to get it out somehow.”

Montessori families look to build school within existing district

Supporters of bringing a charter Montessori school to Santa Cruz slowed their roll on Tuesday, April 3, when the group of about 90 families voted to give working with Santa Cruz City Schools (SCCS) officials a shot.

District officials had recommended building the school into the existing alternatives offered in the city and resisted signing a charter. Months of negotiations—which began in July 2011 after the group Maria Montessori Charter School Families (MMCSF) formed—had created a tense working relationship. The most buzzed about moment came in the fall, when MMCSF released a video that intended to promote the advantages of the schools. Public school supporters saw it as a hit piece aimed at discrediting traditional public schools.

Residents concerned over future of UCSC’s Family Student Housing

Brynda Zeller is a single mother and full-time student at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC). She says living at Family Student Housing (FSH), an on-campus housing unit that offers lowered rent and assistance to families with children, is the sole reason she is able to juggle parenting and her education.

“I can walk to classes and my daughter goes to the childcare center here,” she says. “Aside from convenience, the sense of community is really great here. … If [FSH] hadn’t been available, or had been any more expensive, I wouldn’t have come here. I would have just stuck with my associate degree and gotten a job or looked into other places.”

“Obamacare,” as conservatives have dubbed it, is currently under question at the Supreme Court. What do you expect to come from this case?

The Supreme Court will not announce its decision on the Affordable Care Act until June, but nevertheless that has not stopped the multitude of speculation.

Depending on where you get your news, the results may vary and the predictions cover the spectrum of positive to negative. But despite the uncertainty, one thing is clear—the Supreme Court’s decision will mark a historic point in our nation’s efforts to reform our healthcare system.   

SANTA CRUZ > Former mayors rally for vote on water options

About 40 desalination plant critics gathered on West Cliff Drive on Saturday, April 7 to demand the right to vote on the proposed project. Santa Cruz Water Department officials estimate the plant will cost between $70 and $140 million, which will be largely financed by bonds. Right To Vote On Desalination (RTOVD) spokesperson Paul Gratz says that local residents should have the right to vote any time tax dollars are used to construct or maintain the plant.

NASA technology is making its way into luxury gyms across the country in the form of an anti-gravity treadmill known as the AlterG. The treadmill allows users to walk or run with as little as 20 percent of their body weight. The technology was originally developed by Dr. Robert Whalen for NASA as a way for astronauts to exercise effectively, both in space and when they return home.This space-age machinery is ideal for people who are recovering from injuries or recent surgeries, or for those whose excessive weight makes traditional treadmills near impossible.

Fractured fairy tale ‘Mirror Mirror’ goes for the yuks

Did you hear the one about Snow White and the Seven Stooges? That’s the prevailing sensibility in Mirror Mirror, the first of two dueling Snow White movies due out this spring. (The second, Snow White and the Huntsman, opens June 1.) Directed by the sometimes-brilliant Tarsem Singh (The Fall), Mirror Mirror tells the oft-told tale with plenty of visual pizzazz and the grrrl power element that’s become de rigueur in updated fairy tales. Unfortunately, the emphasis on campy slapstick—especially among the dwarfs—is almost as fatal as a poison apple to the project.

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