The future of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal program that provides internet access to low-income families, is in limbo. Unless Congress steps in to fund it, over 23 million households will be cut off from the program by April of this year, when funding is expected to run out.
In Santa Cruz County, out of 40,454 households eligible for the benefit, 11,322 are enrolled. The end of the ACP means uncertainty for low-income students needing to stay connected to the internet, some of whom had to camp outside businesses to do their school work during the pandemic.
The program provides up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and up to $75 for eligible households on tribal lands.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the ACP will stop accepting new applications and enrollments on Feb. 7. Households that are approved, enrolled and are receiving the program’s monthly discount by Feb. 8 will continue to receive it until the money runs out.
The ACP was created in 2021, after the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, allocated $14..2 billion for the FCC to create a program to bridge the digital divide. After the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, schools switched to remote learning, which highlighted disparities in internet access for low-income families.
Locally, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership is focused on providing accessible, reliable broadband internet in the tri-county area. This includes San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
The MBEP is concerned about the ACP’s ending, and urged local governments and internet service providers to spread the word.
“Access to affordable and reliable internet is essential to the quality of life and economic well-being in the Monterey Bay region, but too many households struggle to afford monthly broadband service,” said MBEP president and CEO Tahra Goraya in a press release.
However, local groups are not the only ones concerned about the implications of ACP’s end. In a Jan. 16 letter to Congress, the U.S. Council of Mayors urged senators and representatives to extend the service.
“Having quality and affordable broadband has become essential in America. High speed internet is a necessity for almost every American, connecting people to educational opportunities, telemedicine, and of course, opportunities for work and entrepreneurship,” it said.
Comcast, the nation’s largest home internet service provider, has also raised concern over what the end of ACP will mean to the stability of low-income households.
Comcast’s Project UP is its digital equity initiative that appropriated $1 billion to help connect low-income families to programs like ACP. The company recently commissioned a report by Benenson Strategy Group which found that “75% of ACP Participants fear losing access to important healthcare services, like online appointments or prescription medicine refills.”
The report also found that 81% of parents in families receiving the benefit feared that their children will fall behind in school if they are unable to have internet access.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education is working to keep students connected after the ACP ends by lining them up to local programs, according to COE director of communications and engagement Nick ibarra.
“Ensuring families have access to high-speed internet is a priority, and we will continue working with local partners through the Equal Access Santa Cruz initiative with the goal to provide broadband to all families,” he said.
For five years beginning in 2015, Santa Cruz County’s Sobering Center was a place for detainees who were under the influence of drugs, first-time DUI suspects and publicly intoxicated to sober up.
That program freed up jail space, allowed arresting officers to get back on the street quickly and kept the suspects out of emergency rooms.
But the Coronavirus pandemic–and a fire–forced the center to close in 2020. But on Thursday, county officials gathered with law enforcement and jail personnel to cut the ribbon on the new Sobering Center, located at 265 Water St., just a stone’s throw from the Main Jail.
The new facility is staffed with medical personnel trained to direct drug-addicted clients into the treatment they need, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart. That’s important in a time when the opioid Fentanyl is killing growing numbers of people, he added.
“When you look at what’s killing people in this community, it’s drugs and alcohol,” he said. “We have never seen the number of overdose or drug poisonings that we’re seeing now.”
According to Hart, 81 people died in 2023 from car accidents, homicide and suicide. But a staggering 133 people died from drug overdoses.
“These numbers are off the charts,” he said. “It’s one of the highest overdose death rates in the state for a county, and it’s not getting better. It’s still surging.”
County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios said that thousands of people were diverted from the jail thanks to the previous facility. He estimates that as many as 200 people will be served by the new one.
“This facility represents a more humane way of treating those suffering from addiction,” Palacios said. “We allow them to be diverted from the jail and connected to treatment.”
The facility will be run by Janus of Santa Cruz , which provides substance use disorder treatment.
Janus Board of Directors Chair Edison Jensen said the new center will also help lessen the burden on court dockets, which are clogged with people accused of minor offenses such as being drunk in public.
“We’ve got to stop this,” he said. “We cannot continue to burden the judiciary, we cannot continue to burden the Sheriff’s Office and the jails, and we simply cannot let this public health crisis continue.”
While the $1.5 million allocated by the Board of Supervisors has been built into the county’s budget, Janus is hoping that clients’ insurance providers will help lessen that amount, says Janus CEO Amber Williams.
What got you out of your warm house and into the storm?
Joe Hoffmann, 69, Retired Carpenter
I want to feel the fresh air. I’ll be 69 in April, and there may come a day when I have to stay inside — so I like being outside no matter what. —Joe
Melodie Cameron, 41, College Counselor, and Bryan Cameron, 46, Lucid Motors
We were shopping at Costco, but the power went out! So, we got coffees at Coffee Conspiracy on Locust St, and then breakfast at Walnut Café. —Melodie and Bryan
Mary Jo Aloi, 56, Integrative Healthcare
I went to Bookshop Santa Cruz for a mushroom book, because this is mushroom weather. When I’m hiking I see mushrooms and I’m super curious about them. —Mary Jo
Amy Ujcic, 34, former bartender at Red Room
I have to walk my dog Casper, he’s my only reason to go out in the storm. It’s fun, but a little scary at the same time. Even Casper was like, let’s go back inside! —Amy
Matthew Blakeborough, 20, UCSC Psychology major
I want to go shopping at the bookstore, because I don’t have much free time to do that because of my studies. —Matthew
Jenna Courtney, 20, Barista at Lulu’s / UCSC Environmental Studies major
It’s dark and windy and cold, but I had to get to work. An Uber driver in a Tesla drove me, or it would have been hard getting here. —Jenna
Wasabi Sushi in Scotts Valley wants to create a “Good Times” roll … but what to put in it? Would love your input.
Kipp
BIKES NOT TRAINS
Let’s consider the common sense of implementing a genuine best way upon the transportation corridor which would finally provide a safe place for bikes and pedestrians. This should have been completed by now to at least allow proven efficient electric bicycles with 30 MPH capability to remove slower moving cars from the nearby roadways.
Generations ago the escalator was introduced, and its asynchronous ability proved that it could transport many more people faster between a few floors than an elevator (synchronous implementation) which sometimes required passengers to queue up in groups to have to wait multiple full transport cycles.
It is now obvious and many situations that have only a few floors feature escalators to expeditiously transport people between floors while relegating infinitely patient freight to the less expeditious elevator.
The advantages of asynchronous transportation was why the car became so popular. Unfortunately, this has become so popular that we now constantly end up with congested freeways during rush hours, yet amazingly this car convenience factor is still worthy enough to warrant getting continually involved with such wasteful stop-and-go traffic.
As an engineer (retired) I grew up favoring trains but am 100% certain that implementing the Santa Cruz County version of Rail-Trail would be a mistake.
Unscrupulous opportunists focused upon diverting endless taxpayer funds into their own pockets are promoting a sham. Attempts to just resuscitate a single track that was intended over 100 years ago for only slow-moving freight and tourist trains is already known to cost taxpayers endless millions. A single track restricted to a linear configuration is not a favorable foundation for an active commuter train that has to allow travel in both directions at the same time on the same track!
The Santa Cruz County version of Rail plus Trail is obviously a sham being perpetrated by a slow-moving tourist organization that has been deceiving residents that they will go out of business unless they are allowed to expand their novel 10 MPH-on-a-single-track-monopoly throughout the rest of Santa Cruz County.
Let’s avoid getting railroaded by NOT putting Supervisors in place who are at the mercy of those who are backing their election. Getting railroaded has happened to so many so much that it has been known as forcing something that was not wanted:
If a landowner was in the way, by hook or by crook, the railroads usually managed to put the tracks where they wanted them. The landowners felt they had been “railroaded.” It turns out, the word still applies in the 21st century.
This Valentine’s Day, local podcasters, sexpert-preneurs and now authors Amy Baldwin and April Lampert (the team behind the Pure Pleasure Shop and theShameless Sex podcast) have some advice for those of you trying to get to the pleasure point.
They want you to take the pressure off of sex (episode 311). They think you should fuck first, before dinner,(Episode 358) so you don’t load up on food and wine at the Shadowbrook and pass out in the tram car. Amy and April believe you can revive a sexless relationship (episode 263), plus, they hope those of you who are single or don’t fit into neat boxes can F the dating myths and live your own love story (episode 365).
For many years, Amy and her mom ran the Pure Pleasure shop we all know so well from downtown Santa Cruz. Known for their compassionate, pragmatic take on sex information, they are on a mission to divest sex from shame. To that end, their new book, Shameless Sex: Choose Your Own Pleasure Path to Unlock the Sex Life You’ve Been Waiting For. invites people of all genders and sexual orientations, in all types of relationships, to benefit from their treasure trail of knowledge and experience.
Our overall culture is fairly attached to shame. April and Amy know this firsthand, and guide the reader through the rough terrain of self-forgiveness by modeling gentle, validating conversations with themselves, each other and their audience about the ways sexual shame has shaped us, and how to break free. It’s not an easy task.
It is socially acceptable to wallpaper over the shame we feel from those experiences and memories that make us want to sink into the floor. But not these two. Whether it’s living with STIs, overcoming guilt, reframing negative programming or accidentally getting poop on your lover’s hand, Amy and April make the listener feel like it’s ok that it happens, and furthermore, it’s probably happened to them; and when they tell you about it, it’s going to make you feel less alone.
MAKING WAVES The Shameless Sex podcast promotes waves of guilt-free pleasure and confronts myths and taboos with playful openness. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
THE BOOK
“One thing you are going to get from our book that you won’t get from the podcast is the structure,” says April.
“The podcast is based on what guests we could book at the time and our conversations went all over the place, which is great, but this book has the benefit of a very well-thought out format.”
The book, which took about a year for the pair to write, “was definitely a labor of love,” says April.
“Yeah, people are already asking if we are going to write another one,” laughed Amy, “never say never, but that was a lot.”
The structure is what they call “Choose Your Own Pleasure Path,” kind of like “Choose your own adventure,” but for sex. The beginning of the book presents a lot of the interpersonal and intrapsychic work they recommend before setting out on sexcapades–sexy things, like healing past trauma, finding the right therapist and unpacking negative programming about sex. In all seriousness, to quote the Mandalorian, this is the way. From that base of honest and loving communication, the book guides the reader, depending on where they want to go from there, to various other chapters.
The different parts of the book cover A LOT. This is not your average sex book. They have managed to capture so many nuances of sex and relationships that are appropriate for singles, couples, non-monogamous folks and pretty much any type of intimacy configuration. Written in a frank, refreshing way, the book dissolves stigma with each kind word.
MODEL MOGULSApril Lampert (left) and Amy Baldwin created a successful online business, betting on our desire to accept our desires. Photo: Tarmo Hannula
During my own time as a private practice psychotherapist specializing in non-monogamy, alternative lifestyles and relationships, I would have saved myself time and my clients money if I could have given every one of them a copy of this book.
When people are anxious about their perceived limitations or flaws, or when they are ashamed of something, they can put up a front that they have nothing to learn about sex when, well, they do. Some of us were socialized to put our pleasure aside, while others were told it wasn’t manly to discuss feelings and check in with a partner.
Some of us were led to believe that a hot body was all you need in order to have good sex and still many others of us were told that our body would never be hot enough for someone to really want us. This book meets all of us where we are, on our own island of weirdness.
Amy and April are the mermaids willing to swim out to that island, and gently guide us to the oceanic experience of trust and pleasure. With obvious-yet-nevertheless-still-revolutionary ideas such as talk to your partner, learn new things in order to get better at sex and masturbate so you know more about yourself, the book validates people at any and all parts of the journey, reminding them to slow down and enjoy the water.
THE TEAM
April and Amy last sat down with Good Times in 2018, where they discussed their origin story: the two best friends went into business together in the sex toy and adult products sphere.
To promote themselves, they were guests on the famous Sex With Emily podcast, and had such a great time that they started their own podcast, and the Shameless Sex brand was born.
At the time of the 2018 interview, they had recorded 36 episodes of the Shameless Sex Podcast, and boasted 70,000 downloads total, with an average of 4000 a week. Today, those numbers have jumped to 366 episodes, 19 million downloads and over 350,000 listeners a week.
Last year, Shameless Sex ranked in the top 1% of all podcasts and has maintained an impressive, trusted presence in a glutted sex information space.
Last November, Amy and April crossed another milestone and released their book.
At the end of January, they won adult industry trade publication XBIZ’s coveted “Sexpert(s) of the Year 2024” award, recognizing “outstanding contributions of individuals playing a pivotal role in shaping the pleasure industry.”
In lay (heh heh) person’s terms: they got the equivalent of a Teacher of the Year award in a big community of sex teachers, along with the folks who make the playground equipment.
In a moment that I’ve come to recognize as “so April,” Ms. Lampert quoted Maya Angelou in her acceptance speech for their award: “‘When you know better, you do better,’” and asserted, “That’s what sex education is all about. Let’s keep spreading the word, breaking down taboos and making sex education not only informative, but fun as fuck.”
“I never thought in a million years that I would be doing this as my life’s work,” says April,, fixing the Zoom camera with a cornflower blue-eyed gaze, perfectly framed by adorable brunette bangs. Her presence is somehow earnest and fierce at the same time.
Originally from Wisconsin, she grew up in a blue-collar, conservative household where she was chastised for bringing up the word “sex” when she was just a little kid who didn’t know what the word meant (she thought it was food and asked her brother to pass the sex.) April has come a long way from the days that she referred to her genitalia as her “no-no zone.”
In the forward to the book, she writes that she knew she wanted to change the world, but didn’t know how. Her petite features, impassioned speaking style, and Midwestern warmth remind me of a kinky, modern-day Norma Rae, fighting for non-violent communication and radical pleasure, with a better haircut and cuter shoes.
The other half of the successful sisterhood is lanky and droll Amy Baldwin, an equally gorgeous and brilliant sex educator. She grew up here in Surf City, with a blond mane and Nor Cal drawl to match. She started on this path through academics: absorbing everything she could from her college human sexuality classes despite the dry (womp womp), boring presentation of the professor.
A lifetime learner, her introduction to Good Vibrations and the woman-and-femme centered sex education space changed her course from academic sexuality education to on-the-ground sexuality education, where the rubbers hit the road (I had to). She and her mom brought April–a born educator and the type of salesperson that’s so good she doesn’t seem like a salesperson– into their pleasure-industry retail business (Pure Pleasure).
The podcast provides the opportunity to highlight sponsors that sell products carried by the sex shop, utilizing the trust they have built as popular retailers and influencers, as well as leverage their relationships with other educators, inventors, clinicians and brand ambassadors by way of bringing them on the podcast as expert guests.
IT TAKES TWO Suddenly popular in sexting, the strangely suggestive eggplant joined the sexy perennial peach. It was voted the “Most Notable Emoji” of 2015 by the American Dialect Society. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
These best friends, known to their circle as “Chip and Dip,” generously share their own experiences, good and bad, and how they overcome shame. Their willingness to be vulnerable in interviews, podcasts and their book gives the listener/reader permission to be vulnerable. Their growing, global listener count seems to bear out that this approach is appealing and liberating, even as we live in an increasingly shame-driven world committed to slut-shaming, controlling and downright ruining our attempts to have healthy relationships.
For those who are ready to do the tough job of healing shame, Amy Baldwin and April Lampert deliver pearls of wisdom. The thing about metaphorical pearls is; It’s anyone’s choice whether to clutch those pearls or dive for more. They try not to allow any swine who might catch a stray pearl to bother them.
“Go ahead, Judge Judy, knock yourself out and shame the Shameless Sex duo,” they write in the section of their book called STI’s Happen. “But, if you’re ready for a reality check, it might be time to put down your gavel because guess what? STI’s are very common! Your judgment is likely just a reflection of everything you’ve been told is dirty and wrong with people who have sex with multiple partners–or with sex in general. This could even be a reflection of how you feel about your own perceived flaws, or your shame, trauma, and insecurities about sex and relationships.”
(Mic drop.)
Just like the book, Amy and April are the real deal, encouraging readers and listeners to feel and heal our Inner Judge Judies instead of sucking it up (perhaps literally) and doing something we don’t want to do and ignoring the voice of shame, or repressing both trauma and desire.. That’s why they’ve started the book with a two-chapter punch that is not whips and chains, nor “masculine” and “feminine” but–Am I Normal and Am I Broken? followed by the ultimate knockout punch for anyone who is struggling with shame: What Do I Want in the Bedroom?
The formula works.
And they work as a team. I find myself loving everything about them 30 seconds into our Zoom: Their obvious, solid friendship. Their business savvy. The way they approach being influencers. Their charisma, riding the waves of a healthy dose of down-to-earth.
Their clothes.Their couch. Their straight talk. April’s dog. The way they seem just as curious about me as I am about them.
Most of all, I appreciate how normal and approachable they seem while still carrying the validating banner of “there is no normal.” Amy and I bonded over our shared knowledge of therapeutic healing modalities (she’s trained in Hakomi and Somatic Studies, plus we have the same certification in sex education from the same place, San Francisco Sex Information.) She thanked me for my work in my other profession–mental health–during an interview celebrating her.
I can see why they work so well together on-air and off in their “non-sexual life partnership”: April is the treble to Amy’s bass; vocally as well as energetically, and the way they riff of of each other is the product of real friendship and can’t be faked.
THE PODCAST
Over the last five years, the podcast has evolved to host listener questions, a wide array of expert guests on topics that include medical care, gender studies, sex toys, physiology, psychology and human behavior, relationships, solo sex and community care, to name a few.
Their on-air dynamic in that first Sex With Emily podcast was so fun for all involved that it prompted them to start the Shameless Sex podcast in the first place.
It feels like you are in the room with two good friends, talking about the things you only feel comfortable discussing with very few, if anyone. They feel like the girlfriends I wish I had in high school, the fun aunts who tell you the things you need to know but your mom is too embarrassed to say, the beautiful women you meet at a party that intimidate you until you talk to them, and then they are so cool that you end up with a crush. In short, they inspire trust. I’m guessing that presence is why they were voted Sexperts of the Year.
AWARD WINNERS The adult industry trade publication XBIZ chose the Shameless Sex hosts to win the “Sexpert(s) of the Year 2024” award. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
Podcast topics run the gamut from maintaining erections to codependency. They maintain a good balance of focusing on the guest while still interjecting their own knowledge, facilitating discussion and keeping things entertaining. By choosing sponsors that they know from the industry whose products they believe in, they have kept the podcast free to listeners but with funding that doesn’t taint (ha ha) their purpose.
That can be really hard (snort).
Podcast listeners appreciate that they speak to a diverse audience of all genders and backgrounds and with guests reflecting that diversity.
One of the most excellent things about their work–on display in the pod–is that they divulge the ins and outs (I’ll be here all week!) of things everyone wants to know but is too embarrassed to ask–like how to have sex when your body is changing due to age, injury or disability; or the many, many different tips and tools for people interested in visiting someone’s pleasure cottage through the back door.
THE BIZ
April and Amy are business leaders because of their ability to pivot, their innovative approach to marketing toys, and the value they provide with education that is free in the podcast or for the small price of a book. They are a reference desk as well as retailers. They also maintain separate, but related sex industry business ventures while collaborating on the book and the podcast.
Amy Baldwin has a sex and relationship coaching practice combining her education in Hakomi (body centered counseling and psychotherapy) as well as the Somatica method of sex and relationship coaching as well as additional certifications in sacred sexuality. At some point in our interview she began a sentence “The other day when I was teaching this very sweet, shy guy how to (consensually) throw his girlfriend up against the wall–”
Wait–you can teach that?
Amy is also the lead educator for the personal lubricant brand Uberlube. The sex store that she runs with her mom, Pure Pleasure Online Shop (they sold the brick-and-mortar store a few years back) is still a big part of her business.
April co-owns a sex toy brand Hot Octopuss, where she is the Chief Sales and Partnerships Officer. Identified early on by Amy as someone who has a gift for explaining to people how to use things, April uses her acuity in providing clear, detailed, no-nonsense instructions to not only sell these toys but evangelize the message of the pleasure revolution.
Together, they leverage not only different life backgrounds, but also complementary business and communication skills. This affords not only a platform for sex education but also their growing empire, which includes classes and retreats.
Pure Pleasure as an online boutique can promote Hot Octopuss products not only because it is good synergy but also because they believe in these products and put their money where their mouths are (well, I’m not totally sure about that one, but if you want to know more about where to put mouths, check out episodes 273 and 329).
With all of the products and practices they talk about on the show and in the book, it only makes sense to go with a lube recommendation that will do the heavy lifting (easy sliding?) for all of them.
Santa Cruz is a tough town to sustain a business, yet these two have gone against the tides and have built a sustainable set of international nesting online businesses and a book to build multiple streams of income that allow them to continue providing a huge value.
“You can definitely ruin your chance when it arrives,” says Brian Aubert. “So you have to keep your eyes open when luck is staring at you.”
The lead singer, guitar player and co-founder of the Los Angeles rock band–Silversun Pickups–is talking about the merits of hard work, luck and being brave enough to take chances outside of one’s comfort zone.
“How do you know what to say ‘no’ to when you don’t say ‘yes?’” he ponders.
The indie quartet returns to the Catalyst this Saturday, Feb. 10 with New York trio, Hello Mary. Their sixth studio album–Physical Thrills– was only released in August 2022, but this time around the band is digging into their back catalog as well.
“We’re going to really rotate all of our songs,” he says. “When we go out this time it will be more about the band and less about the record.”
No strangers to Santa Cruz, the Silversun Pickups make the Catalyst a regular stop whenever they tour. Part of that has to do with Aubert’s father-in-law being a fellow Santa Cruzan. Yet, Aubert’s ties to Surf City go back even further and include some local legends in the music scene for those of who know.
“I used to go to Santa Cruz with my friends when they played punk shows at house parties,” he reminisces. “I remember staying at this guys’ house who was in a band called The Huxtables.”
He pauses then adds with a laugh, “We all stayed inside their Dungeons & Dragons attic!”
The Silversun Pickups’ journey has been unconventional from the start.
It was 30 years ago on a flight from Los Angeles to England that Aubert met his bandmate-to-be Nikki Monninger, who was covertly stealing alcohol from the aisle cart. The two quickly became friends but it wasn’t until they were back home in the City of Angels six years later in 2000 that they formed the band.
They started out like most groups, tinkering around in their practice space. However, that’s when chance stepped in.
“It literally got ripped away from us,” says Aubert.
People immediately started booking shows for them before they even had enough songs. Aubert relates that time as their “trial by fire,” having to learn the band’s identity in the same, real time as the audience.
“We thought we were foolish, ya know?” he admits. “But we’re getting support from people–who are very nice people–that see something we’re not seeing, so we thought we should figure this out. “
After the original drummer and second guitar player left in 2002, Aubert and Menninger recruited Christopher Guanlao on drums and keyboardist Joe Lester, who remain in the band today.
The Pickups’ early work is predominantly in the shoegaze category. Their ethereal melodies, droning riffs and distorted feedback create a curtain of dark matter begging the listener to take a peek behind the scenes. However, with each release they branched out into other genres of music, incorporating whatever elements they wanted.
In 2012 their Neck of the Woods record continued to build on their alternative/shoegaze sound with layers of vocals, guitars and even drum machines. Their 2015 album, Better Nature, took the electronic elements a step further with less droning distortion. Two years later they released Better Nature (Revisted) which featured straight-up electronic remixes of some songs.
Today,24 years, six albums, multiple Billboard hits and one Grammy nomination later, the Silversun Pickups continue to evolve, saying “yes” to new opportunities. Nowhere is that more evident than on Physical Thrills.
The latest endeavor is their second album produced by the legendary Butch Vig (who not only produced albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind and Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins but is also in Garbage). It captures the essence of their sound, mixing the sonic range and heaviness of their early days–like opening track, “Stillness (Way Beyond)”– with some of the poppier elements of their last decade of work (e.g. the catchy “Empty Nest.”).
Yet, despite how unconventional the Silversun Pickups’ journey might’ve been, Aubert gives an artists’ traditional answer when asked if he’s working on any new material.
Author Laurie R. King began her ingenious literary take on the world of Sherlock Holmes in 1994, centering on the retired crime-solver, now a country beekeeper who accidentally joins forces with the bright young Mary Russell. Three decades later fans of King’s award-winning Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series will gather at MAH for a celebration of 30 years of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. A rare opportunity to spend time with the prolific author herself, the event is loaded with talks, fun, games, demonstrations, and delicious catered meals—a day-long foray into the world of the intrepid mystery-solving duo. The weekend also launchesthe publication of The Lantern’s Dance, the latest Russell & Sherlock adventure exploring the 100-year-old puzzle of Sherlock Holmes’ ancestry. The Bookshop Santa Cruz launch of The Lantern’s Dance on Friday 7pm, February 16, and book talk with author Laurie R. King is FREE but requires advance registration.)
________________________
I caught up with the author, busy planning her whirlwind national tour for the 30th anniversary of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and over a cup of tea we revisited her literary odyssey.
GT: How did the Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes stories come about?
LK: I don’t think I had read any Sherlock Holmes stories since high school when I started writing. But the Granada Television series with Jeremy Brett was on around that time. And I think I must have seen some of those because the character Holmes was in my mind in a way that he wouldn’t have been otherwise.
It seemed that he was a character who was given a huge amount of credit for doing stuff that in a woman would be just counted as female intuition. And I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of what would that mind look like in a different setting? So instead of having the brilliant mind in this middle aged Victorian male, what would it look like if it were in a young female? A feminist obviously in a 20th century version And, and that’s where Mary Russell came from.
GT: At what point did you realize that you had something that clicked?
LK: When I wrote that first line, I found that her voice was there. My kids were at school and I sat down and wrote “I was 15 when I first met Sherlock Holmes.” And that voice really just stepped forward in a way that writers always hope that characters do. And they don’t always. But I was very lucky with Mary Russell. I could hear her from the beginning.
GT:: You let her speak in the first person voice.
LK: That was really necessary because you need to watch this young woman growing up into her potential. It just wouldn’t have worked in third person. They’re structured as memoirs. It’s also interesting because the limitations of first person are occasionally really striking. How do you let the reader know that there’s another point of view? Very awkward when you’re writing a mystery. How do you have the other character give information that only he knows? It’s much easier to insert chapters from his point of view. And that meant too that I could follow him as a character. We see what he’s doing and what he’s thinking and that allows him to develop in ways that he wouldn’t have.
GT: There are 18 books so far. Why is this series so popular?
LK: For one thing I think that a lot of women, especially young women, love the idea that Russell gets the better of Holmes. Holmes is this masculine icon of superior cleverness, and to have her outsmart him from their very first meeting, is deeply satisfying. It’s a way of thinking about what women can do. I didn’t have a young audience in mind necessarily, but from the beginning it had feet in both worlds YA and adult readers.
GT: Did you find it surprising that suddenly she goes from being the teenage apprentice to becoming Mrs. Holmes?
LK: I’m not an outliner. I don’t plan a story arc or a series arc, which means that somewhere in the back of my head something is keeping an eye on this stuff. Looking back I’m not sure I would have planned it. If it were set in modern times, it would be more difficult. The first World War turned British society on its head. A third of the young men in the country were either killed or rendered unmarriageable. And it meant that for a decade or so you had a lot of marriages that were not what you would normally find. My husband was 30 years older than I was and it never felt the least bit odd to me. We didn’t get together until I was no longer his student and so there was not any of that power dynamic which I think is the real problem of professor/student relationships. Not so much the age, as it is taking advantage of a situation. It neve felt odd to me to have my husband be 30 years older, partly because he was from India and as far as the things that were different about him, age was fairly low down on the list. [laughter].
With Mary and Holmes, they too have their differences, but age is not really part of that.
GT: Readers wanted them to be together, didn’t they?
LK: It had to be a partnership, and it just felt odd to me to have a partnership that was not a full partnership. And at the time, I think without realizing it, I was headed for reshaping Holmes.
Because, you know, he gets sort of the short end of the stick out of Conan Doyle, because he doesn’t really have any relationships. His main friendship is with a man who really is not his intellectual equal. Dr. Watson has many strengths but cleverness is not one of them. And he then gets to the First World War and Conan Doyle can’t see any place for him in British society anymore. So he retires him—just says he’s off, raising bees. And it just seemed like that was selling him short. Because you have this extraordinary mind. And you’re just telling me that he he couldn’t find a place for himself in the post war world? I thought that was unfair to Holmes.
GT: You currently work on other mysteries, including the Kate Martinelli books. Why jump from one series to another?
LK: I love telling stories, but I do find it difficult to live with the same characters year in and year out. If I were to do a Sue Grafton and write the same characters all the time it would make me crazy. I like to trade off. I’m very fortunate that my publisher is willing to let me do different things. It’s a two-pronged problem in having a successful series, in that publishers want you to that and nothing else. But I’ve never had them tell me I couldn’t do something. If I had to do only the Russell books I would go crazy, and then I would hurt my characters. [laughter]
GT: Do you actually enjoy the process of writing?
LK: I do, to some extent. If I’m not not having a good time, if I’m working away and all of a sudden I want to go clean the oven or something, it generally shows that there’s some problem that’s cropping up that Im not seeing. So I’ll go clean the oven and come back and read what I already have there and I’ll see ‘ ah! it’s taking me a certain way and that’s going to be problematic. For the most part I enjoy writing and exploring new things with the characters.
GT: Did writing mysteries save you from a career in academia?
LK:I think that if Noel, my husband, had not been on the brink of retirement, I might have continued on in graduate school. Instead I was a stay at home mom, because if you go away every summer with your academic husband there’s not too many jobs that will say oh sure we’ll see you in September. [laughter]
So with my kids in school I sat down and started writing as an experiment to see if maybe I could earn enough to supplement our income.Fortunately I sold the first book before I had to go out and get a real job. The first sale was actuallythe third one I had written, a Kate Martinelli book set in a contemporary San Francisco Police Department. And my then-editor at St. Martin’s Press said, well what else do you have? Mary Russell was there on the shelf and she fell in love with Mary. And I kept writing.
GT: And the next Mary Russell book?
LK: It took me about a month to feel my way around the situation at the end of Lantern’s Dance and find out where they were going. Eventually they have to go to England. The last several books have had a kind of subtext of her difficulties with his brother, who is something big in the Britis government—a spy master. And his power and his ability to manipulate things is creating problems in a number of ways. At some point there’s a confrontation that’s going to happen and I wasn’t ready for that. So I had to play around with other things, so I came up a more likeable character to work with.
GT: Have you ever thought of having them divorce?
LK: No, but I could see her murdering him! [laughter]
GT:: With this national tour with the 30th anniversary of Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes, you’re still on the circuit?
LK: Yes, but I have the feeling this may be my last year. As you can see I use a cane and I have joint stuff. Travel is no fun. And the publishing world has changed.
When I started I had a conversation with the editors, asking what the would like me to do, and they said you just write the books and we’ll do the rest. And then there was a shift, especially when things went online and they expected authors to sell, and promote themseleslve and create a brand. And it was now on the back of the writers. Same with touring. I think there was over-saturation of book events, and under-participation of publishers. The old way of selling books just isn’t there anymore.
GT: What will we discover in the 30th anniversary events?
LK: We’ve put together four day-long events. Each of the four has elements of the stories that I basically know nothing about. So that’s why we’ll have someone coming in to teach lock picking.
The characters are really great at picking locks, but while I know the theory of it, but I’ve never actually done it. So we have a lock picker. At the one in D.C. we have a woman coming to show to demonstrate knife throwing skills, because Mary Russell, you know, throws her knife at various points. But can I throw? [laughter]
Robert (Bob) Gómez began his career as a teacher in the Pajaro Valley Schools in 1984, working as a migrant and bilingual resource teacher until his retirement in 2010. He currently volunteers with his wife Denise at the Castro Adobe State Historic Park in Watsonville and has served as a chaperone for seventh- and eighth-graders to Watsonville’s Sister City Kawakami-mura in Nagano, Japan. Since 2015 Gómez has directed the music program for the Kokoro no Gakko Cultural Summer Program at the Watsonville Buddhist Temple.
The son of an American mother and a Mexican-American father, his work as a troubadour, he says, is to entertain and bring the community together to pursue peace and justice. He began his term as Watsonville Poet Laureate in January 2022 and will hold this post until the end of this year.
Bob’s accomplishments as Poet Laureate so far include his appearance at well over a dozen events in 2022-2023.
Some highlights include: a collaboration with former Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate David Sullivan on the Agents of Change exhibit at the Santa Cruz Public Library from June to August of 2022; participation in a Catamaran/phren-Z virtual reading with local poet Claudia Ramírez, with their music and poetry becoming “a poetic dialogue between artists and poems.
He also did a reading at Mesa Village Park in Watsonville for the Poetry in the Parks series;seeing his work published in Cabrillo College’s Journal Xinachtli;readings at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History featuring Writers of Color Santa Cruz; and Ourselves We Sing: Hispanic American Voices at Pacific Grove Library, where he presented poems, songs, and recitations on race and manifest destiny as a critical response to Walt Whitman, alternating between free and rhymed verse in Spanish and English with original songs.
He is thrilled to be a participant in a California Impact Grant which will bring the Grammy-winning Mariachi Divas to Watsonville High School´s Mello Center on May 10; and has initiated a partnership with Robinson Jeffers’ Tor House in Carmel to bring young poets into that historic space.
Bob admits that one of the greatest joys in his new post is meeting and connecting with other local poets, young and old, emerging and established. In 2021 he joined Writers of Color Santa Cruz which includes poets Shirley Flores-Muñoz, Shirley Ancheta, Victoria Bañales, Vivian Vargas, Nikia Chaney, Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, Ekua Omosupe, Adela Najarro, Maddie Aliah, Elbina Rafizadeh, Delia Lee and many others.
Bob now serves as a Poet-Teacher with the California Poets in the Schools program (www.californiapoets.org). As Area Coordinator, he seeks to mentor local poets who want to teach poetry in county schools.
Bob was the featured reader for the Poets’ Circle Poetry Reading Series in February 2022—a long-running event that takes place at the Watsonville Public Library and honors distinguished poets and emerging voices, supported by the Friends of the Watsonville Public Library and produced and hosted by this writer.
In 2023, Bob conceived and inaugurated the Watsonville Youth Poet Laureate program. His enthusiasm for poetry definitely includes a vision for nurturing youth voices. His goal with the Youth Poet Laureate position is to get students writing, reading and publishing their works, thus serving as role models for other young poets.
The first term Watsonville Youth Poet Laureates were chosen by a committee made up of local poets, instructors and Watsonville Library board members. The two Youth Laureates are Eva Sophia Martínez Rodríguez and Rachel Huerta. They will be appearing with Bob at Poets’ Circle on Feb. 8, along with student poets from Watsonville High School.
Youth Poet Laureate Rachel Huerta (Home-School/Cabrillo College) is a 17-year-old songwriter and poet who is currently working on a young adult novel and a collection of freestyle poetry. She plans to pursue a BA in creative writing.
“I can’t imagine a world in which I am not writing; beautiful words are my oxygen and poetry is the kindling for positive change,” she says, with a fire and warmth that she is “honored” to bring to her community. Rachel has an extensive history of community service — including being a worship leader in Santa Cruz, working with children, and volunteering years to online literary forums such as LibriVox Audiobooks and The Young Writer’s Workshop.
Born in Mexico, Youth Poet Laureate Eva Sophia Martínez Rodríguez (Aptos High School) moved to the United States when she was 7. This experience, she says, “Brought me a new perspective of the world…Giving me the opportunity to say twice as many words…” She says she hopes “to empower those who have a passion for poetry… to bring light and diversity into the poetry world in such a small community…”
Gómez says he has three goals when he gives a reading: To include some music (when reading publicly he has his guitar at the ready), employ multilingualism (reading in both Spanish and English), and most recently memorization and recitation, which he says “are very powerful for the poet and the audience…these [methods] can transform the work…bring it to life…there is no page.”
His greater goal is to use poetry “to make a connection that is beyond poet and audience, envisioning a much larger universe that we can connect to through the best poems…a deep connection that is about the values we share and the world we want to see.” These “communal moments” he explains, are ever more important today.
Of the youth writing and reading their poetry, Bob says, “Young poets need to see themselves as equals with other speakers in the public sphere. Adults need to listen to those young people’s voices to know what future they seek to create in their lives.”
Monarcas
A song for Consuelo Alba-Speyer
Monarch in the summer/Monarch in the fall
Migrating together/Half a million strong
California winters/Keep us safe and warm
Or in Mexican mountains/Happily we swarm
Our beautiful colors/Glorious for everyone to see
Across generations/Flying we are free
Monarca del aire/Y migrante soy
Montañas y millas/Cruzando me voy
Ya en la primavera/Siento el calor
Renovando el ciclo/Que es nuestro labor
Llegando el invierno/Entre mis compadres descansar
La sombra de un árbol/Es mi libertad
We are not illegal/Borders we shall cross
No sólo migrantes/Somos mucho más
Cambiando el clima/Nosotros también
Will humanity save us/Show us how and when
Our beautiful colors/Glorious for everyone to see
Yo soy mariposa/Y tu porvenir
–Bob Gomez
Bob Gómez will read with Watsonville Youth Poet Laureates and Watsonville High School Students at the Poets’ Circle Poetry Reading Series 2024 kick-off event, Thursday, Feb. 8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Watsonville Public Library.
Magdalena Montagne is a poet and teacher who facilitates drop-in writing workshops, Community Poetry Circles, at libraries in Santa Cruz County. She produces and hosts Poets’ Circle. www.poetrycirclewithmagdalena.com
In honor of the Valentine season, and in accordance with astrological omens, I offer you a love letter from an unpublished novel by an Aries friend. Consider saying something similar to a person who would be thrilled to hear it. Here it is. “We will seize the sexiest joy we can conjure. We will turn each other into boisterous deities in quest of liberation from all unnecessary limitations. We will tenderly shock each other with mysterious epiphanies and rivers of bliss. ‘Wild’ will be too mild a word for the awakenings we provoke in each other’s futures.”
TAURUSApril 20-May 20
“The greater the fool, the better the dancer.” Composer Theodore Hook said that. Poet Edwin Denby agreed. He said, “There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.” Choreographer Martha Graham added, “Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.” I bring these thoughts to your attention because the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to get freer, more sensuous, and more unconstrained. Dancing your inhibitions into oblivion will be an excellent way to pursue these goals. So will doing everything with a dancer’s abandon, including love-making.
GEMINIMay 21-June 20
Years ago, Salon.com asked various critics to name the most preposterous sex scene to appear in a recently published novel. I was honored that one of the vignettes selected was from my book The Televisionary Oracle. As I read the critic’s review of my wild, funny, and crazy erotic story, I realized he was a pedantic macho prude who thought sex isn’t sex unless it’s dead serious and joylessly intense. The characters of mine he regarded as preposterous were in fact playing, laughing, and having goofy fun. In the spirit of my novel’s kooky lovers and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to pursue uproarious amusement while enjoying the arts of intimacy—both in and out of bed. (PS: Playwright Rose Franken said, “Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.”)
CANCERJune 21-July 22
A psychic told me that in one of my past lives, I was Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. It’s an intriguing theory that could help explain why my horoscopes are popular in Italy. What about you, my fellow Cancerian? Is there an aspect of your reincarnational history that aids your current destiny? Or are there past events in your current life that are becoming more influential? The coming weeks will be a good time to meditate on these possibilities. While you ruminate on your history, check in with the spirits of your ancestors and departed allies to see if they have any inspirational messages for you.
LEOJuly 23-Aug. 22
Kevin Kelly wrote the book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier. There he observes, “Listening well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them ‘Is there more?’ until there is no more.” Dear Leo, this is excellent advice for you in the coming weeks. I urge you to specialize in gathering the deep revelations of those you care for. Opening yourself to them in unprecedented ways will boost your soul power and enrich your wisdom.
VIRGOAug. 23-Sept. 22
Imagine you are walking on a hill at night. You are headed to meet a person you adore, who awaits you with champagne and chocolate. The weather is balmy. The moon is full. You are singing songs you both love, announcing your arrival. The songs tell stories about how much you two love to yearn for each other and how much you love quenching your yearning. When you arrive, dear Virgo, what will you tell your beloved to make them feel supremely understood and appreciated?
LIBRASept. 23-Oct. 22
Has your approach to togetherness become infused with habit or numbness? When was the last time you got extravagant for the sake of love? Has it been a while since you tried a daring romantic move or two? I bring these questions to your attention, Libra, because now is an excellent time to rev up your imagination as you upgrade intimacy, companionship, and collaboration. I hope you will authorize your fantasy life to be lush, unruly, and experimental. Spur yourself to dream up departures from routine that intrigue your close allies.
SCORPIOOct. 23-Nov. 21
Author W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) testified, “My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world with surprise and horror.” Is that true about you, Scorpio? Even if it is, I’m guessing the horrifying aspects will be nonexistent in the coming weeks. There may be surprises, yes. There may be entertaining interludes. But from what I can tell, everything will at least be educational and colorful. What are your most exotic erotic fantasies? Now is a good time to ask a willing partner to explore them with grace and good humor.
SAGITTARIUSNov. 22-Dec. 21
The Valentine season is looming, and many of us are receptive to advice about togetherness. I’ll offer some principles that I believe are essential to you Sagittarians as you nourish ALL your close relationships, including your romantic bonds. They are from novelist Graham Joyce. He wrote, “Two people in love don’t make a hive mind. Neither should they want to be a hive mind, to think the same, to know the same. It’s about being separate and still loving each other, being distinct from each other. One is the violin string, one is the bow.”
CAPRICORNDec. 22-Jan. 19
Lately, I have been intoxicated a lot. Not because I’ve ingested drugs and alcohol. Not because I have been doing three-hour meditations or studying sacred texts. I’ve felt so wildly free and euphoric because life has been dismantling some of my fears. Once it happened when my psychotherapist spoke just the right curative words at a pivotal moment in our session. Another time, I came upon a very large hare while strolling in the woods and had an epiphany about how to heal a painful trauma in my past. On another occasion, I dreamed of a priestess doing a banishing ritual to exorcize my abandonment fears. There were three other similar events, as well. I bring this to your attention because I suspect you may soon also get intoxicated through the loss of fears.
AQUARIUSJan. 20-Feb. 18
Reading through the annals of famous authors’ quotes about love, I’m horrified by the relentlessness of their sour assessments. “Love is merely a madness,” wrote Shakespeare. “Whoever is not jealous is not in love,” said St. Augustine. “General incivility is the very essence of love,” declared Jane Austen. “It is impossible to love and be wise,” moaned Francis Bacon. “Real love always has something hidden—some loss or boredom or tiny hate,” says Andrew Sean Greer. I am allergic to all that dour noise! Personally, I have been entangled in a lot of romantic love during my time on Earth, and most of it has been interesting, educational, and therapeutic. I am deeply grateful for ALL of it, even the heartbreaks. Any wisdom I have developed owes a great debt to my lovers. What about you, Aquarius? Where do you stand on these issues? I suspect the coming months will provide you with ample reasons to embrace my attitudes.
PISCESFeb. 19-March 20
Have you discovered all there is to know about your sexual feelings and proclivities? Have you come to a complete understanding of what turns you on and how you might express it? I hope your answer to those questions is “no,” Pisces. In my view, all of us should keep evolving our relationship with eros. There is always more to discover and explore about the mysteries of our desires. Always more to learn about what excites and inspires us. The coming days will be an excellent time for you to enjoy this research.
Navigating the partisan politics of cannabis can be challenging because there are Republicans and Democrats on both sides of most reform initiatives. That makes cannabis politics almost unique in these days of Republicans automatically opposing any reforms that might be deemed “liberal,” or that might help Democrats win or keep office.
This has led some reform advocates to support, or at least normalize, Republicans like Matt Gaetz, the Florida congress creature who is awful in nearly every way but who supports federal legalization and other reforms. Make no mistake though: the opposition to sane cannabis policy comes overwhelmingly from the Republican side of the aisle, and when it comes, it’s often irredeemably stupid.
As if to prove the point, three of the most prohibitionist Republicans in Congress have decided to exploit a tragic death with “Randy’s Resolution,” which would call for more research into the supposed dangers of high-THC cannabis products, as well as the creation of “education” programs on the topic. The proposed resolution is sponsored in the House by Andy Harris of Maryland and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, and in the Senate by Pete Sessions. The trio promoted the resolution alongside the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
There already is research into those products, of course, but generally not the kind that is aimed at creating a moral panic. To be sure, more research is needed: while there’s no indication that high-THC products are particularly dangerous (especially in relation to alcohol and many other substances), that doesn’t mean they’re totally safe, and we still don’t know enough about their effects to create sound policy around them. The stuff can be mind-bending, especially for the uninitiated.
On the other hand, if “mind-bending” is the only criterion, maybe we don’t need any specific policy at all. Or maybe we do, since there are some indications that pot with a THC content greater than 10% might play a role in the development of psychosis, among other potential problems.
But either way, Randy’s Resolution is based on nonsense and heartless exploitation. The proposed resolution (which wouldn’t actually create any law or policy) makes a bunch of claims that are dubious at best, such as the assertion that “adolescent and teen marijuana abuse increased by 245% from 2000 to 2020.”
That astonishing number, which runs counter to the many studies indicating that cannabis use among young people hasn’t risen much, if at all, in recent years, comes from a study published in 2022 by the journal Clinical Toxicology. But it didn’t measure cannabis use, or even “abuse” (as the study’s own authors incorrectly stated); it measured cannabis-related reports to poison control centers aggregated by the National Poison Data System.
Not surprisingly, the greatest increase in reports of cannabis “poisoning” came in recent years, after legalization led to huge increases in sales of edibles and high-potency concentrates. That is surely an issue of concern, but the fact is that most people who call poison control centers due to cannabis are parents of kids who accidentally ingested edibles, or people who unwisely or accidentally ingested too much weed, and freaked out. In all cases, after they came down, they were fine, because that’s just how it works.
Randy’s Resolution is named for Randy Bacchus, a 21-year-old who apparently had mental problems and committed suicide in Colorado in 2021. His Minnesota-dwelling parents blamed his weed consumption, particularly the high-THC products he was using. It’s possible that cannabis contributed to those problems, but there is zero hard evidence that they did.
Not only have craven politicians latched onto this tragic story, but so have media outlets. Every story I could find about Bacchus’s case credulously blamed pot for the guy’s suicide, such as the one by a local Fox News affiliate with the headline “Too High: Family Lost Son to Suicide, Cannabis.” Even more responsible outlets failed to question the thesis: The non-profit MinnPost flatly declared with no supporting evidence that Bacchus’s suicide was a result of “cannabis-induced psychosis.”
Given that Randy’s Resolution, if passed, wouldn’t have the force of law, all of this would seem like an empty exercise except for the fact that the lawmakers who introduced it are some of the most effective and successful blockers of cannabis reform in Congress. The sad fact is that this stuff works.
What got you out of your warm house and into the storm?
I want to feel the fresh air. I’ll be 69 in April, and there may come a day when I have to stay inside — so I like being outside no matter what. —Joe
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This Valentine’s Day, local podcasters, sexpert-preneurs and now authors April Lampert (left) and Amy Baldwin (the team behind the Pure Pleasure Shop and the Shameless Sex podcast) have some advice for those of you trying to get to the pleasure point.
Author Laurie R. King began her ingenious literary take on the world of Sherlock Holmes in 1994, centering on the retired crime-solver, now a country beekeeper
ARIES March 21-April 19
In honor of the Valentine season, and in accordance with astrological omens, I offer you a love letter from an unpublished novel by an Aries friend. Consider saying something similar to a person who would be thrilled to hear it. Here it is. “We will seize the sexiest joy we can conjure. We will turn each...
Navigating the partisan politics of cannabis can be challenging because there are Republicans and Democrats on both sides of most reform initiatives. That makes cannabis politics almost unique...
