Back To School nights aren’t just a way for parents to learn how their child is performing anymore. At local schools, they have also become a chance for teachers to post wish lists of essential supplies, including paper and printer ink that the school can’t afford to buy.
Teachers wish the situation were different. But because state contributions to the k-12 system have plummeted 18 percent in the last three years, and because more bad news is expected in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012-13 budget, they say they have no choice but to seek out donated supplies.
Many teachers even resort to paying out of pocket to keep their lesson plans rolling forward.
“I have always liked to supplement textbooks with handouts, but there have been times over the last few years when the administration has said ‘We’re out of paper,’” says Mark McConnell, a math teacher at Soquel High School.
GT rides along with the SCPD to test acclaimed new policing program
Is it realistic to predict crime and stop it before it happens, or just a science fiction-esque impersonation of Minority Report? This was one of the questions I pondered on a recent ride-along with Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) Deputy Chief of Police Steve Clark. Little did I know I was about to witness a poignant first-hand example of how the “predictive policing” method can be successful.
The department’s adoption of the technology-based predictive policing program has received national and international attention in recent months, with a reporter from Popular Science jetting to Santa Cruz to see it in action and a nod from TIME magazine, which named the fledgling program one of the Top 50 Innovations of 2011. GT set out with these accolades in mind to see for ourselves the result of the department’s six-month evaluation of the predictive policing program, which wrapped up in January.
A conversation with queer author, activist and filmmaker Eric Stanley
There is a rather unsettling folder on Eric Stanley’s computer.
For about six years now, he has filed away “hundreds and hundreds” of cases of violence against trans and queer people in that folder. Many are instances of extremely gruesome murders involving what he calls “overkill”—dismemberment, decapitation, elaborate staging and other malicious actions that go beyond simply killing.
For Stanley, who is a 33-year-old post doctorate candidate in UC Santa Cruz’s history of consciousness program, this trend shows that crimes against LGBT people are more than random.
“It’s possibly about killing that person, but it’s also about killing a certain history or possibility or threat,” Stanley explains. “It’s bound up. … If you’re going to kill, and then do many other things to a person—all of the overkill, the pageantry, the setting the stage—it makes us understand these kinds of violence as something different.”
Stanley started the research (which, he concedes, “is emotionally taxing”) because he couldn’t find the information anywhere else. Along the journey, he has become a leading expert and activist on the subject of trans and queer violence, a filmmaker (he co-directed Homotopia in 2006 and, more recently, Criminal Queers), and the editor of “Captive Genders,” an anthology that explores LGBT issues within the prison industrial complex. The latter will the subject at hand for the Friday, Feb. 10 UCSC event, “Prison Abolition, Legal Violence and Trans Politics: A Conversation between Dean Spade and Eric Stanley.”
Spade is a trans activist, attorney and educator at the forefront of gender identity discourse. The pair will discuss issues the LGBT population faces in the prison system, including proportionately high incarceration rates and high rates of sexual abuse behind bars, as well as what criminalizes them in the first place.
“The way trans and queer people are routinely kicked out of their houses at young ages, forced to work in informal economies, like sex work [and] selling drugs, [means] then you’re outside of the formalized education system, you get stuck in the system of being criminalized and in systems that aren’t meant to help you and, instead, actually hurt you,” explains Stanley, whose own experience living on the streets feeds into this understanding.
He hails from Richmond, Va., where, as a queer youth, he ran into violence and homophobia. He was kicked out of school at age 14, and “didn’t really live anywhere” again until he was 18. It was in that window of time that he found himself camping on the side of the road just north of Santa Cruz on Highway 1.
His first-hand familiarity with homophobic violence stuck with him over the years and led to his desire to study the subject. “The first moments when I became interested [in violence against LGBT people] was from personal experience,” he says. “Later on, through activism and through school, I was given more language and tools to think about it more systemically.”
Stanley is also an active prison abolitionist, and argues that the criminalization of and violence against trans and queer Americans can only be addressed through a fundamental shakedown of the system at large.
“We have the contemporary moment of gay politics—marriage, military and hate crime legislation,” he says. “As a group of people that have historically been highly criminalized, why is it that we are turning to the same system that has harmed us to seek liberty? Hate crime legislation, as a tentacle of the prison industrial complex, will never make us safer. If we’re interested in queer liberation as a project of freedom we need to think about ways that the prison industrial complex equally has to be undone.”
Stanley plans to wrap up his eight years of doctorate work at UCSC this year, after which he’ll finish work on Criminal Queers and release it to wider audiences over summer. Queer issues and rights will remain entwined in what he does, but he’s also itching to tackle other topics, including prison escapes.
“The kind of overarching narrative, if there is one, of my work is that liberation or freedom—whatever you want to call it—is never going to be given to us through the state,” he says. “It’ll be through collective projects that we have to work on together.”
As for that grisly folder on his computer? He’ll keep adding to it, hoping all the while that it will someday be unnecessary.
“Most of these cases are totally underreported or misreported, [and] you can see the sloppy journalism,” explains Stanley. “Really what I’m doing is trying to put back together what happened.”
“Prison Abolition, Legal Violence and Trans Politics: A Conversation between Dean Spade and Eric Stanley” will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 in the Oakes Mural Room at UCSC’s Oakes College. The event is free and open to the community.
A bike ride along West Cliff with a stop at Kelly’s Bakery to grab some food. Then continue on to Wilder Ranch to enjoy a sunset picnic. Sean James Santa Cruz | Drummer—Tater Famine
Hamadi Organic’s tagline, “Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals,” says two important things about the hair care line off the bat: one, it’s ethical and, two, it’s good enough for the stars. Indeed, the likes of Scarlett Johansson, James Franco and Eva Mendes rely on Hamadi creator Jamal Hammadi to tame and style their tresses with his eco-friendly concoctions. (And, yes, the creator’s name has two m’s and the company’s name only has one.)
SANTA CRUZ > The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is undertaking more than a few infrastructure projects. To help get the word out to the public, they’re trying something a little unconventional for a government agency: a television series.
The RTC’s Transportation Café series tackles a different issue that affects Santa Cruz County residents with each new episode. The series began as a quarterly event in September 2010, but a new episode now premieres every other month.
The White Lotus Wellness Center is a new Downtown Santa Cruz gem—or at least it will be, someday, once it has a chance to settle in.
The itsy spa has only been open in its new location for a few weeks (it was formerly a one-room operation in Capitola), and is still pretty barebones. It’s located in an unassuming office building near the San Lorenzo River and the interior is sparse and unfinished. The space is more akin to an accounting office than a day spa (for instance, it has carpet flooring instead of wood or stone), but don’t be fooled by the modest façade—the services are relaxing and effective, and the owner, Danielle Kriege, makes it a lovely and special experience for every customer.
SANTA CRUZ > Local 3D modeling company, MakersFactory, wants to breed new innovators
On Wednesday, Feb. 1, MakersFactory, a new printing and modeling company that features state-of-the-art 3D technology, celebrated its ribbon cutting ceremony. The event was officiated by Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, Vice Mayor Hilary Bryant, and Councilmember Lynn Robinson.
Chris Yonge and Dave Britton originally founded MakersFactory back in November 2011. The company specializes in providing the Santa Cruz community with the technology necessary to laser cut card and wood, print three-dimensional objects, make vinyl graphics for windows and vehicles, create computer animation, and even build robotic devices.
SCOTTS VALLEY > Local nonprofit hosts upcoming dog adoption event
When volunteers found Rina wandering the streets of the Mexican island Cozumel in September, her paws were severely wounded, her fur was matted and dirty, and she was afflicted with an eye infection and a case of heartworm. Thanks in part to the Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE), the small dog is now happy, healthy and living with a foster mom in Santa Cruz.
Schools dig through sloppy budget for solutions Back To School nights aren’t just a way for parents to learn how their child is performing anymore. At local schools, they have also become a chance for teachers to post wish lists of essential supplies, including paper and printer ink that the school can't afford to buy. Teachers wish the...
GT rides along with the SCPD to test acclaimed new policing program Is it realistic to predict crime and stop it before it happens, or just a science fiction-esque impersonation of Minority Report? This was one of the questions I pondered on a recent ride-along with Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) Deputy Chief of Police Steve Clark. Little...
A bike ride along West Cliff with a stop at Kelly’s Bakery to grab some food. Then continue on to Wilder Ranch to enjoy a sunset picnic. Sean James Santa Cruz | Drummer—Tater Famine Watching the sunset on the beach wrapped in a big comfy blanket. Olivia Bulan La Selva | Student Nighttime hikes through the redwoods under a...
Hamadi Organic’s tagline, “Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals,” says two important things about the hair care line off the bat: one, it’s ethical and, two, it’s good enough for the stars. Indeed, the likes of Scarlett Johansson, James Franco and Eva Mendes rely on Hamadi creator Jamal Hammadi to tame and style their tresses with his eco-friendly concoctions....
SANTA CRUZ > The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is undertaking more than a few infrastructure projects. To help get the word out to the public, they're trying something a little unconventional for a government agency: a television series. The RTC's Transportation Café series tackles a different issue that affects Santa Cruz County residents with each new...
The White Lotus Wellness Center is a new Downtown Santa Cruz gem—or at least it will be, someday, once it has a chance to settle in. The itsy spa has only been open in its new location for a few weeks (it was formerly a one-room operation in Capitola), and is still pretty barebones. It’s located in an unassuming...
SANTA CRUZ > Local 3D modeling company, MakersFactory, wants to breed new innovators On Wednesday, Feb. 1, MakersFactory, a new printing and modeling company that features state-of-the-art 3D technology, celebrated its ribbon cutting ceremony. The event was officiated by Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, Vice Mayor Hilary Bryant, and Councilmember Lynn Robinson. Chris Yonge and Dave Britton originally...
SCOTTS VALLEY > Local nonprofit hosts upcoming dog adoption event When volunteers found Rina wandering the streets of the Mexican island Cozumel in September, her paws were severely wounded, her fur was matted and dirty, and she was afflicted with an eye infection and a case of heartworm. Thanks in part to the Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Center for Animal...
Schools dig through sloppy budget for solutions 
GT rides along with the SCPD to test acclaimed new policing program 
A conversation with queer author, activist and filmmaker Eric Stanley 
A bike ride along West Cliff with a stop at Kelly’s Bakery to grab some food. Then continue on to Wilder Ranch to enjoy a sunset picnic. 
Hamadi Organic’s tagline, “Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals,” says two important things about the hair care line off the bat: one, it’s ethical and, two, it’s good enough for the stars. Indeed, the likes of Scarlett Johansson, James Franco and Eva Mendes rely on Hamadi creator Jamal Hammadi to tame and style their tresses with his eco-friendly concoctions. (And, yes, the creator’s name has two m’s and the company’s name only has one.)
SANTA CRUZ > The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is undertaking more than a few infrastructure projects. To help get the word out to the public, they’re trying something a little unconventional for a government agency: a television series.
The White Lotus Wellness Center is a new Downtown Santa Cruz gem—or at least it will be, someday, once it has a chance to settle in.
SANTA CRUZ > Local 3D modeling company, MakersFactory, wants to breed new innovators 
SCOTTS VALLEY > Local nonprofit hosts upcoming dog adoption event
