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Bold Directions

Cover Stories

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May 13, 2026

On the eve of its 30th anniversary, and a mega-gala to celebrate it with plenty of rock’n’roll dazzle, MAH staked its claim as the cultural concept and action center of Santa Cruz. Polishing its image, its welcome, and its reach, MAH now prospers under the leadership of Ginger Shulick Porcella, Executive Director and leading firecracker. Author, curator, transformative arts leader, workaholic, she brings degrees from Columbia University and DePaul University to her busy schedule. Porcella has been on the job for only one year. Her hair color changes with the tides, and her body decoration proclaims her unconventional optimism. Radiating energy and a pro-active spirit, Porcella charms everyone in her path. The results of her packed agenda are already creating a ripple effect, from lowering MAH’s deficits to ramping up its memberships. An award-winning communicator, Porcella tells her own story best in her own words.

How would you characterize the leadership style you bring to this arts organization?

GINGER SHULICK PORCELLA: One of my strengths in forming a vision for the MAH is first recognizing that it’s not just my vision, but rather the collective vision of the Santa Cruz community, distilled through deep listening and community engagement. The MAH is truly by and for the people it serves, and I would be remiss to state that my vision and my ideas are the best. I take my job as a civic leader very seriously, and only by embedding myself in this community and building trust can I lead the organization towards its North Star.

What strengths do you bring to the directorship of MH?

One of my strengths is in fostering empathy and bringing unexpected communities and audiences together who have been historically underserved to share and learn from each other. Museums thrive at the intersection of community and culture, and I saw that the MAH was already at the forefront of this work. The MAH has deep-seated relationships in the various communities it serves, whereas I see work at other museums being very transactional. I also have extensive experience in helping museums diversify and grow their fundraising streams and building audiences. These were two of the areas where the MAH was most in need of support.

What in your educational background and personal interests helped prepare you to direct non-profit organizations?

From a young age, I always knew that I wanted to be around people who thought differently about the world, so I always surrounded myself with artists, musicians, and people of different cultures, backgrounds, and belief systems. While I have a somewhat traditional educational trajectory, it is still rare that you find someone from my socioeconomic background at the head of a museum. I grew up incredibly poor but was able to go to high school and college on fully-funded academic scholarships. This upbringing shaped me indelibly, and I’ve made it my mission to use my privilege and platform to elevate and amplify the voices of those not well-represented in our nation’s cultural institutions.

I have been working since I was 11 years old, picking strawberries and doing manual farm work. I worked full-time through college and graduate school, and I think this work ethic prepared me for the day-to-day realities of running a nonprofit.

What was the big challenge you immediately saw in the MAH appointment?

While I’m drawn to big challenges, I knew that I wanted to stay in Santa Cruz long-term and didn’t need to fix everything overnight. None of the MAH’s “big challenges” were insurmountable. Many of the challenges facing the MAH are the same challenges facing the entire museum/library/university “industry” right now – federal funding cuts, evolving audience needs/interests, and relevancy in the face of AI. My biggest goal the first year was stabilizing the organization financially, building audiences, and reengaging with donors who hadn’t been cultivated through the COVID years. I’m happy to say that the MAH has only a minor amount of debt remaining to be paid, our attendance and donor base are on the rise, and people are feeling motivated and engaged with the museum’s programming.

Do you thrive on working miracles?

I love a big challenge, absolutely. The status quo simply doesn’t interest me. Why be average when you can be exceptional? I’ve always thought of my needs. My whole life has been a big challenge, and for the first time in a long time, I’m able to relax into a role that really feels tailor-made for me.

As a curator and arts leader, I’ve always said my job is to find a way to make the impossible possible. That’s why I love working with artists – give me the most bizarre idea, and I can make it happen. I’m a big picture thinker, but I understand every little detail that goes into making that vision happen. I look for the same in the staff I hire; I want people with great ideas, but who can also execute those ideas. I give my staff a lot of freedom to experiment and try new things in a supportive environment. That’s what psychological safety is in the workplace, and that’s the number one thing I try to impart to my staff.

How is Santa Cruz unique in terms of its social ecology?

Santa Cruz is unlike most places I’ve ever lived; aside from New York, Santa Cruz is the only place that has felt like “home” to me. I lived in NY for about 10 years, in Bensonhurst, close to Coney Island. I would spend a lot of my free time at Coney Island, cruising the boardwalk, riding the Cyclone, also built by Arthur Looff. I already have an annual pass to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and I pop in all the time to play pinball, eat tortas, and of course, ride the Giant Dipper. But my favorite thing of all is the Cave Train. I think it’s the best art installation ever made.

But truly, I think I fit in in Santa Cruz because I don’t really fit in anywhere. It’s a place where its okay for the director of the museum to be a self-proclaimed art witch and have turquoise hair and tattoos. Plus, I grew up totally in love with the West Coast skate and punk scene, and some part of me always thought I’d end up in California. I believe you create the world that you want to live in, and the world I wanted to live in was Santa Cruz. It’s really got it all…maybe could use some better dim sum.

Your wish list for the MAH?

I want the MAH to be around for at least another 30 years, to continue providing awe-inspiring experiences and exhibitions that span art and history. The MAH is respected nationally and internationally as a pioneering museum with a co-curatorial model, and while I think our audiences feel what that means, they may not understand how rare or important that is. Unlike most museums with a singular, curatorial voice, the MAH co-creates its exhibitions and programs with our diverse community partners. And these are some of our most successful exhibitions – “Princes of Surf”, “Sowing Seeds”, and our current “Honoring our Relatives” are indicative of this.

The MAH is a small museum with an incredible impact, and I hope more people in our community would help invest in our future, which is truly the future of free and critical thinking in the age of AI. Centers of learning are under attack and we will only be successful if our community continues to visit, support, and donate.

What’s exciting on the horizon?

Oh jeez, we have so many exciting things on the horizon! We just celebrated our 30^th Anniversary year with a huge gala with headlining artist DJ Spooky and Ben Stokes/Dimensional Holofonic Sound from Meat Beat Manifesto. Interactive art, installations, and music all night long!

Also, in 2027, I’ll be curating some of my first exhibitions at the MAH. In particular, I’ve been working on an expansive exhibition on occult and spirituality in Santa Cruz, spanning indigenous practices to practices of today. It’s part art, part history, interactive, program-heavy, and VERY Santa Cruz. ◼

Secret Projections

A&E
Film

Mat Weir

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May 13, 2026

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It’s almost midnight. I’m quickly cleaning up the bar I work at and putting everything away as fast as possible. Every once in a while, I glance at my phone for the time in some half-baked attempt at either slowing it down or speeding myself up. I rush out the door and into a line formed outside the Del Mar Theater in Downtown Santa Cruz. Hundreds of people of all ages, some with blankets and pillows, many dressed in their comfiest pajamas, head towards the main room. Some stop to grab a Nutella sandwich or croissant. Personally, I go for the chocolate-covered espresso beans and a nice, hot cup of coffee. Later I’ll go back for another cup and maybe some cereal, after all it’s going to be a 12-hour haul.

Nutella sandwiches? Coffee after midnight? Cereal? Blankets? Staying up way longer than any normal, sane person should? These are just some of the things one experiences at the annual Del Mar Secret Film Festival happening at 11:59pm on Saturday, May 16th to noon on Sunday, May 17th.

“It’s a completely different tone than a regular shift,” says Del Mar employee Mikka Luke. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Luke has worked at the theater for the past two years.

“I like the audience and the crowds that come,” he continues. “It’s a lot of familiar faces.”

So what is the Secret Film Festival?

Founded in 2005, it’s an annual (with the exception of 2020-2022), 12-hour movie marathon–showing mostly pictures from indie film companies like A24, IFC Films, and Magnolia Pictures, to name a few–not for the faint of heart. What makes it secret? First, every movie shown is making its Santa Cruz debut. These are all films that will later play at the Del Mar throughout the year but have not been shown commercially in town.

Second–and this is the fun part–audience members don’t know what the movies they’re about to watch are going to be. Instead, a Del Mar employee (usually festival curator Scott Griffin) will give a vague synopsis of the movie before it’s screened, but that’s it. No names, no full descriptions. A purely blind adventure in the age of being able to look up anything.

In the spirit of cinephile camaraderie, everyone piles into the main theater for the first film. After the brief introduction, the movie begins, usually around 90 minutes long.

Once the initial showing is over, the host returns and gives a brief synopsis of the next main theater movie, along with a synopsis of what’s playing in the upstairs theater. Not only does this make the festival a fun, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure for movie nerds, it also adds in a much-needed stretch and/or bathroom break. Trust me, this becomes a godsend somewhere around 4 to 6am.

The movies are then staggered in this manner until the final showing. By that point, the weak have been culled from the strong, and those remaining movie warriors meet back up in the main room for the final film.

Over the years, I’ve seen a number of excellent films I’ve loved and later recommended to friends. Blackberry–a biopic on the rise and fall of the smartphone precursor and the people who created it– American Animals–a docudrama about the 2004 book heist at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky–and In Fabric–the 2018 British horror comedy about a possessed dress that kills its owners filmed in the style of 1960s and 1970s Italian giallo films– come to mind.

“The curation of the films is always incredible, even if they weren’t something that was in my wheelhouse,” says Jordan Fickel, a Secret Film Fest pro with five (“maybe more”) under his belt. He’s also the first person to introduce me to the festival.

“I get stuck in the kind of movies I watch–like sci-fi or really specific types of art movies,” he continues, “But I saw some there that I never would’ve watched otherwise, and I’m pretty happy I did, like American Animals.”

Which brings us to a key point when attending the Secret Film Festival: don’t judge a book by its cover. Or, in this case, by its vague synopsis. For example, in 2023, the description given for one film was along the lines of “It’s about a girl who deals with the death of her brother.” Ok, normally that isn’t a theme I’d be into, but something told me I should check it out.

People–always trust the gut instinct because it ended up being The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster, a modern take on Frankenstein with themes of social inequality, systematic racism, and survival on the streets mixed with gory effects and suspenseful horror. Since then, I’ve watched it multiple times and still recommend it to friends.

For Stu Adamson, the discovery of new movies mixed with another way for him to support one of his favorite downtown landmarks is what keeps bringing him back.

“I love me a big ‘ol fashioned 1920’s and 30’s flat floored, classic cinema,” he says. “I go to the Del Mar almost once a week if they’re playing something good. I’ve got a regular habit there.”

Adamson is a veteran of four different Secret Film Festivals, two of which he has made it through the entire 12 hours. When asked about his survival tips, this cinematic commando whipped out an entire list.

◼ Del Mar Secret Film Festival, begins at 11:59pm on Saturday, May 16th, continuous until 12 noon on Sunday, May 17th.

STU ADAMSON’S HANDY DANDY GUIDE TO SURVIVING 12 STRAIGHT HOURS OF CINEMA MAYHEM

Take a nap. “A power nap on Saturday is the only way you’re going to get through it,” he says.

Reapply deodorant before you go into the theater. “Whatever you apply on Saturday is going to fail you on Sunday and those theaters get ripe.”

Thermos it! For people like Adamson, sometimes the lobby coffee isn’t enough, so he brings his own espresso. “I do buy their chocolate-covered coffee beans, but I need espresso-strength coffee.”

Along with buying from the concession stand, Adamson says to bring non-sugary snacks like rice crackers or a banana to avoid the crash-out halfway through the night.

Sit close to the aisle. This should probably be the fourth tip because once you drink the coffee from tip number three, bathroom breaks are inevitable and “climbing over 15 people is super inconvenient,” as Adamson says.

Bring a neck pillow! Why bother lugging around your clunky bedroom pillow when you can have the convenience of having it around your neck from the start? Plus, let’s be real, bringing your home pillow around hundreds of your new best friends for the night then putting it back on your bed sounds. . .questionable.

Comfy clothes! This one is just a no-brainer. Like Adamson, I love the Del Mar’s beautifully vintage aesthetic, but the seats are not the comfiest. So, be smarter than the chair and dress appropriately.

It’s ok to leave and come back. “I’ve got one secret weapon to add to the survival,” Adamson says. “The selections at 6am tend to be the most dire. Zachary’s opens at 7am. So retain your ticket, go get an omelette, a short stack and some diner coffee. That’s powered me to the end [of the festival] both times.”

Also, I’m going to add one of my own to the mix: it’s ok to tap out and go home. Just be prepared for time dysmorphia, walking out of a dark theater into a brightly lit, busy Sunday morning on Pacific Ave.

After all, even the employees sometimes have a hard time doing the 12-hour gauntlet.

“I usually don’t watch the movies because I’m scared I’m going to fall asleep,” laughs Luke.

However, Fickel might just have the best tip of all.

“It’s always better if you have a buddy,” he says. “That’s what makes the theater a better experience in general. It’s not just about the movies you see, it’s the story of this fun, weird event.”

Mind-altering Music

Music

Christina Waters

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May 13, 2026

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You probably haven’t encountered music composed for harp and percussion. But that’s why you can thank New Music Works for putting the “new” back into the whole idea of exploratory composing. Last month the genius of William Winant joined forces with over-the-edge harpist/composer Zeena Parkins for a program that surfed beyond the barely possible, forcing us to listen with open ears at the same time enjoying with great relish. Live performance doesn’t get any edgier.

Using her huge multi-stringed instrument in ways almost incomprehensible, New York-based composed/performer Parkins reworked our understanding of music. And she had chosen the perfect collaborator in legendary Winant, a man who is fearless in using hands, mallets, exhaled breath, violin bows, you name it to make the sound required by Parkins’ stunning concept. Performing primarily on a unique set of gamelan-adjacent bells, gongs, and tubes built by Lou Harrison, Winant played with, against, and around the provocative string work of Parkins, who often moved to the other side of Winant to help him with sonic distortions of extreme beauty. Here are a few of my descriptive notes to give you some idea of what I, and a small crowd of NMW stalwarts, heard: fairytales from a lost culture in an unknown language; scifi soliloquys, sonic stories without a plot; lost planet gamelan; nameless emotions; cries and whispers. It was an incredible, yes, psychedelic array of musical ideas, concept and variations, absolutely mesmerizing.

Virtuoso house concert

What a treat to gather in the great hall at at Irene Hermann’s Westside digs, along with familiar faces and fellow string quartet aficionados for a house concert of works by Haydn and Beethoven. Santa Cruz is graced with more than one private home venue offering such choice opportunities to sit close to the performers, to watch the stunning technique while savoring some incomparable sounds. Hermann’s multi-instrumental skills are widely known to Bay Area audiences, but it’s still a rare occasion to hear her perform classical music on cello. The repertoire was string quartets, Op,.77,#2 by Haydn, and Op. 18#4 by Beethoven. Such opulent programming was distinguished by the virtuosity of Danny Cher’s lightning violin (that’s a metaphor), and the burnished bronze depths of Irene Hermann’s cello, with excellent work by Erica Buurman on violin and Mark McAuliffe on viola. The Haydn involved, as Cher described it, “a lot of notes” and feisty variations as we listened to the dawn of string quartet composition by a master. The Haydn required every ounce of energy and ability of each performer. Dazzling. The Beethoven was simply, profoundly moving. Everyone in the room was left unable to breathe for long moments after the last string stopped vibrating.

Espressivo wraps up its season on June 6

And the programming for the intense chamber orchestra sounds delicious, especially the original version of Aaron Copland’s orchestral suite Appalachian Spring, scored for 13 instruments. Wildly successful from its 1944 debut in collaboration with Martha Graham’s choreography. The piece won a Pulitzer Prize and continues its reputation as the apex of quintessentially American music. Angular, muscular, yet undeniably tender, the music parallels the growth of modernism in abstract visual art, the gritty black and white photography of Dorothea Lange and minimalist explorations by John Cage and Paul Bowles.

Composer and conductor extraordinaire Michael McGushin will lead this program of music by the elite musicians of Espressivo, in this their final concert of the 2026 season. Also on the program are an important tone poem by Jean Sibelius, a symphony for strings by Felix Mendelssohn (written when the composer was a prodigy of 13), and a chamber symphony by Darius Milhaud, a prolific modernist composer and teacher of Philip Glass, Dave Brubeck and Karlheinz Stockhausen, among others. Not to miss!

Sat June 6 4pm Peace United Church of Christ & Sunday June 7, 4pm, First Presbyterian Church of Monterey. Information and tickets at espressorch.org

PS: Kudos to the Santa Cruz Symphony for what everyone agrees was a spectacular penultimate concert, including the cross-genre work of tech musician Jaron Lanier and finishing with Beethoven’s 9th. Maestro Daniel Stewart held nothing back to sweep listeners up into the very heart of the Western classical repertoire. Time to order next year’s season tickets.

Teen’s Four Novels

Literature

Todd Guild

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May 13, 2026

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Olive D. Wilson discovered her love for writing early in life, chronicling her thoughts, experiences and ideas the way many writers do. Over time, that practice evolved.

What emerged from that reflective work, she realized, was both a story that needed to be told and the first step toward her life’s calling.

“All of a sudden, I had a 400-page manuscript,” she said.

That manuscript became the seed for her first novel, which she self-published at 15. It was the first in a three-book series — the “Misfits of Morality Trilogy” — about four teens who band together to overcome the pressures placed on them.

The books are available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and through online retailers such as Walmart,Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Her fourth book, “Our Tragic Legacy,” will be released July 10.

The novel examines the pressures teen athletes face from coaches, parents and peers — a “shake it off” culture so embedded in sports that it is accepted even when it becomes abusive, she said.

“With coaches, it would be reasonable and rather normal, I found, for them to make you run until you throw up or something like that,” she said. “If a teacher did that or anything comparable, they would be fired.”

Wilson said she temporarily quit playing basketball to research and write the book, which centers on the children of intense sports parents.

“It’s about these children who maybe originally loved the game but are forced into it by parents and coaches and pressured to become good,” she said. “And it’s about their lives.”

Her research included interviews with Erin Wilson, an Olympic athlete and founder of Canada-based AthletesCAN; Indra Eliasson, a Swedish sports professor who specializes in coach abuse; and physician Charles Yesalis, an expert in performance-enhancing drugs.

“I had questions after quitting, like why are coaches and parents allowed to do so many more things than, say, teachers are allowed to do in the context of sport,” Wilson said.

She pointed to a study by AthletesCAN that found 60% of athletes experienced psychological abuse, 24% suffered an eating disorder and 18% engaged in self-harm.

“That led me down a rabbit hole of research where I was trying to find out why abuse is more prevalent in sports,” she said. “My job as a writer is to turn those statistics into emotion.”

Wilson hopes to help readers see beyond the idealized facade of sports into a largely unseen world where pressure from coaches, parents and peers can harm athletes.

Many athletes also fail to report such behavior because they fear repercussions from coaches or a loss of playing time, she said.

“My goal is to get people to actually care about this issue,” she said. “Because right now, as an athlete, it seems like they don’t. I think it’s that they don’t really understand how prevalent it is, and they also don’t understand how it affects athletes.”

That lack of awareness can extend to teen athletes themselves, who may not recognize abuse.

“They think that’s what love looks like,” she said.

After graduating from high school, Wilson hopes to attend Columbia University and land an internship with The New York Times as she pursues a career in writing.

“I always wanted to write with a purpose — to uncover something — like a modern-day muckraker,” she said. “I want to bring my books to a larger audience and gain the resources to learn more about communities that don’t have a voice, so I can help give them one through my writing.”

Going Big

Dining Reviews

Mark C. Anderson

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May 12, 2026

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Say it with me: Freedom tastes good.

Mom-and-pop Switch Bakery & Bistro (1016 Cedar St., Santa Cruz), which debuted earlier this year with the tagline “We love your guts,” is liberating those with ingredient sensitivities to elements like gluten and dairy in delicious ways.

The inspiration for Joshua and Amanda Bradley arrived at home in the form of a dad with a celiac diagnosis and a baker-chef-mom who wanted to navigate the resulting restrictions while still keeping four daughters interested in what was on the plate.

The returns were too good not to share.

Now the popular items in the welcoming, colorful and airy downtown space include a flagship vanilla cake with raspberry Swiss meringue, indulgent cheesecake, chocolate-lovers cake, marshmallow brownies, focaccia pizza, fresh breads, and a rotating lunch menu with sandwiches, samosas, more pizzas and soups.

For a Surf City food community that’s long been one of the more progressive in the country, this feels like a crucial—if not outright incredible—addition.

switchbakery.com

MASSIVE BARGAINS

Bruno’s Bar & Grill (230 Mt. Hermon Road, Scotts Valley) has to be one of my favorite discoveries of the year, and not just for their signature ⅓-pound burgers (like The Heat Meister and The Bad Boy) and legendary Bloody Marys (including The Big Bastard, a 40-ounce banger decorated with a half chicken, among other accouterments, for six people minimum), though those are a sight to behold. What keeps locals coming back on a weekly basis—helping create a Cheers-like vibe—are insane values, made all the more helpful when gas is hitting atmospheric price points. On Wings and Whiskey Wednesdays, for instance, a basket of wings runs $7 (instead of $18 normally) and Jameson, Jim Beam and Jack Daniels are $7 too. Meanwhile husband-and-wife owner-operators Rogelio and Joanna Guzman stock a ton of daily and weekly specials (starting at $10)—on top of a relentless entertainment schedule.

If that all wasn’t enough, they’ve also got a rooftop lounge, speakeasy space, pool table and a big screen TV that helped it earn Best Sports Bar from Good Times readers (on top of Best Burger – Scotts Valley, Best Patio Dining – Scotts Valley, Best Restaurant – Scotts Valley, Best Bar Food, and Best Bartender for Richie Mann). In a word: Wow. brunosbarandgrill.com.

TAP WISDOM

Bay Area Brewers Guild Executive Director Sayre Piotrkowski is foaming up at food reporters (again), asking for more insightful coverage of industry acquisitions, and he’s got a great point to make. The key thesis of his latest “Beer & Soul” Substack: “Most beer coverage treats the industry as either a business beat (mergers, acquisitions, expansion) or a trend piece (non-alcoholic, slushies, whatever is ‘next’).

Neither is inherently wrong, but both tend to miss the underlying dynamics that shape how people actually engage with beer,” beerandsoul.substack.com…The awards lunch for the first ever Santa Cruz Vegan Chef Challenge happened at La Posta (538 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz) after Good Times went to press, but I’ll have a look at the winners here next week…

One of my favorite nearby/far-out wine regions gets its close up this weekend as Paso Robles Wine Fest flows May 15-17, pasowine.com…The Santa Cruz Warriors’ Swishes for Dishes initiative, in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente and The Athletes’ Corner, donated 84,365 meals to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County through this season, the team just announced, after increasing donations from 10 to 15 meals per point scored in their sixth year of the program, santacruz.gleague.nba.com…American Protestant clergyman and academic leader Douglas Horton, preach us out: “While seeking revenge, dig two graves—one for yourself.”

Italian I Scream

Andrew Steingrube

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May 12, 2026

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The actualization of what they call a “wild dream” of theirs since going to gelato school in Italy eight years ago, husband and wife team Luciana and Sandro Costanza opened Gran Gelato Caffe in March.

They began by looking for a proper space, and after the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans, finally found the perfect spot in downtown Santa Cruz. Their goal was to build a place that transports guests to a small oceanside town in Italy.

The design scheme of light blues and greens with old-school Mediterranean touches blended with a modern vibe does exactly that. The traditional artisan Italian gelato headlines the menu with around 12 rotating flavors as well as staples of pistachio, hazelnut, chocolate, salted caramel and black cherry panna cotta.

Rotating picks include Irish cream coffee, German cookie-inspired Biscoff, orange marzipan and Dubai-style chocolate. When it comes to the owner’s fave flaves, Sandro loves the tiramisu and Luciana is partial to the mixed berry crème brulée. In addition, they have vegan sorbet in strawberry and pineapple, and cone options of sugar, waffle and soon-to-be gluten-free. They also offer handmade cannolis, tiramisu and Italian cakes, a full espresso bar and a small savory lunch menu.

Tell me more about this gelato school.

LUCIANA COSTANZA: Sandro and I attended an artisanal month-long gelato-making course in 2018 at a culinary school in Italy that is also a gelato manufacturer. There, we learned how to make truly authentic Italian gelato. We first learned on hundred-year-old machines, producing gelato in an old-world style. The course was very thorough and comprehensive. They make you learn everything about gelato, which also includes a lot of tasting and palate training as well.

What’s the deal with the lunch menu?

SANDRO COSTANZA: From 10am-2pm we offer lunch items along with our gelato. We offer three paninis on our handmade focaccia bread: a tri-tip broccolini, a mortadella/burrata/pesto and a vegetarian option with grilled vegetables, pesto and pepper jack cheese. We also offer three salads such as a Caesar and crostinis, like our most popular one with smoked salmon, sour cream and green onion. This summer, we plan on expanding our hours and offering a dinner menu as well.

525 Cedar Street #10, Santa Cruz

Freeze the Frame

Wellness

Elizabeth Borelli

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May 12, 2026

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May is mental health awareness month. There’s a reason so many people are talking about mental health right now. Between burnout, loneliness, political division, and doom scrolling, life can feel overwhelming.

Luckily, psychology researcher Shawn Achor says the answers may not be found in pushing harder, but in changing the beliefs that shape how we experience the world.

Achor, best known for The Happiness Advantage, has spent years studying the science of happiness and resilience, from Harvard classrooms to Fortune 500 boardrooms. His new book, The Power of Beliefs, explores what he calls the “Great Drift”, a cultural slide into anxiety, disconnection, and emotional exhaustion. Rather than offering quick-fix positivity, Achor argues that the beliefs we hold about stress, possibility, connection and purpose directly shape our mental health and our future.

It’s an idea that feels especially relevant in Santa Cruz, where wellness culture often collides with real-world pressures: rising housing costs, climate anxiety, caregiving fatigue and the quiet isolation that can exist even in beautiful places. We’re surrounded by yoga studios, organic food and ocean air, yet many people still struggle to feel grounded.

One of Achor’s core messages is that happiness is not something that shows up after everything else falls into place. In fact, research in positive psychology suggests the opposite, that cultivating small moments of mindful attention improves resilience and well-being.

That doesn’t mean ignoring pain or pretending life is perfect. It does mean recognizing that the brain responds to what we repeatedly focus on. And thanks to a biological bias, much of the time it’s negative.

The good news is, we have the power to change our beliefs through small daily habits, simple tools like breathwork and mindfulness can subtly shift the nervous system toward greater stability.

Rethinking habits

Thought patterns are habits, just like brushing teeth or checking iPhones. And negative thinking habits keep us “stuck in a rut”, not realizing we have the power to rethink our way out. I’m not saying it’s simple; habit change never is. But it is possible to shift your focus when your brain is stuck on doomscroll.

While there are endless ways to do this, they all begin with mindful self-awareness.

Name it to tame it

You can’t change what you don’t see. So the first step to easing a worried mind is to notice what’s going through it. Are you replaying a worst-case scenario, one that you’ve so far only imagined?

If so, take a moment to stop, freeze the frame and notice the feeling behind the thoughts. Maybe you name the feeling of pending doom as worry. You can even say it out loud, preferably not in a crowded elevator. Worry is normal, but over worrying, or rumination, doesn’t solve problems and does lead to anxiety. I know, it can be hard to let go of, but is all that worrying really going to fix things?

Shape shift

Once you’ve named your emotion, turn your attention to your body. Take a moment to lengthen your spine, relax your shoulders and breathe more deeply into your belly. Are you clenching your fists or your jaw? Are you hunched over, shoulders slumped?

Now shift back to your thoughts. If you’re still stuck in rumination, you need a simple intervention to shift your mind out of the thought loop.

Breath to the rescue

That restless mind isn’t going to slow down on its own. So give your brain something to latch on to. Start silently counting your breath cycles, using the words “breathe in” to match your slow 3-4 count inhale. Now silently use the words “breath out slower” to extend your exhale to counts of 4-5. In fact, any words will work here; the goal is to keep the mind occupied while slowing your breathing pattern.

This isn’t about solving your problems. It’s about managing mindset and building resilience, so worried thoughts don’t consume you.

And perhaps that’s the real takeaway this Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health isn’t just about diagnosis or crisis intervention. It’s also about the small daily practices, habits and beliefs that have the power to make us feel hopeful or doomed.

Sometimes healing begins with therapy (more on that next week). Sometimes with community. Sometimes with a reminder that your nervous system was never designed to take on the weight of the world. Nor to ignore it. But to stay present enough to recognize the difference.

Failure to File

Todd Guild

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May 12, 2026

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One of the candidates for the hotly contested 4th District seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Felipe Hernandez, has filed his financial statements late for three years, a violation of campaign law.

According to Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, Hernandez submitted his most recent form on April 27, along with six filings covering the past three years.

He missed a Jan. 31, 2024, deadline for the July 1-Dec. 31, 2023, reporting period, submitting that form April 27 as well. His Form 460 covering July 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2025, was due Feb. 2.

“Voters deserve transparency, organization and accountability — not just in what campaigns say, but in how they operate,” said Tony Nuñez, one of his two opponents in the race for the southern-most district of 53,878 people, which includes Watsonville.

Incumbent Hernandez is seeking to retain his seat against Nuñez and Elias Gonzales, both of whom filed campaign reports on time. The district includes 43,185 people who identify as Hispanic. Hernandez won his seat in 2022 with 5442 votes over challenger Jimmy Dutra’s 3959 votes.

The job pays a $139,548 base salary with benefits, including medical insurance and 120 hours of vacation a year.

The primary election is June 2. Unless one of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to the November 3 election.

The recent donor forms revealed how much the candidates have raised and who supports them.

Hernandez has received $22,310 this year, according to his Form 460, with contributions from 40 donors.

While most contributions came from individuals, Hernandez also received support from unions, including Dignity CA SEIU Local 2015 and Sacramento-based Laborers Local Union 270 PAC, which each contributed $1,000, and Teamsters Local 853, which donated $550.

Barry Scott, an outspoken advocate for the rail trail project, contributed $500.

Hernandez did not respond to requests for comment. But in a statement to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he acknowledged that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has opened an inquiry.

“We have submitted all our filings,” he wrote. “We are responding to the inquiry and will have further comments once we receive a response from the commission.”

Candidates and elected officials must file Form 460 if they control a campaign committee or if they raise, spend, or expect to raise or spend $2,000 or more in a calendar year related to seeking or holding office. The form is also required when $2,000 or more is raised or spent during the year at the request or direction of the candidate or officeholder.

Webber, the county clerk, said candidates who file late can face fines of $10 per day, but added that the county rarely seeks penalties, preferring to help candidates comply rather than punish them.

“The fines are discretionary at the local level, and our office has historically not fined because we want to work more with making sure that they get done rather than making it a punitive thing,” she said.

The state’s FPPC, however, can require candidates who repeatedly violate filing rules to attend a compliance course.

Candidates who fail to comply after that can be assessed fines up to $5,000 per violation in serious cases, or a maximum of the amount stated in the late report, whichever is greater.

Nuñez has raised $21,498.18 from 57 individual donors, all of whom contributed between $55 and $575. More than half of the donors are from South County and the Pajaro Valley, he said.

Nuñez said that more than two dozen contributions were under $100, putting his campaign ahead of the field in small-dollar donations, which he called “a clear sign that this campaign is being powered by regular residents, working families, small business owners, and community members who want Watsonville and South County to have a stronger voice.”

Nuñez also noted that he filed his Form 460 one day early.

According to the Santa Cruz County Clerk’s Office, Gonzales reported $7,878 in contributions from 17 donors between Jan. 1 and April 18, along with $4,567 in expenditures.

His donors include several individuals, as well as two separate $125 donations from an organization called Santa Cruz for Bernie.

“Our support to date has come from individuals I have personal relationships with, including family, friends, former colleagues, and community members,” he said in a prepared statement. “I am grateful for their support and proud to be running a community-driven campaign.”

Hernandez has served in local elected office for more than a decade. He served on the Watsonville City Council from 2012 through 2020, including a term as mayor in 2016. He later joined the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees, serving from 2021 to 2022 before stepping down after being elected 4th District supervisor.

Nunez works as communications and marketing director at Community Bridges and serves as board chair for the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, which oversees Watsonville Community Hospital. He was previously an editor at the Pajaronian and Good Times.

Gonzales has a long history in community organizing, working with the City of Watsonville, Community Action Board and, most recently, the MILPA Collective, a nonprofit focused on leadership development, social infrastructure and Indigenous fellowship.

PQ The primary election is June 2. Unless one of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to the November 3 election.

Music to Save Humanities

Sean Rusev

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May 12, 2026

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UC Santa Cruz’s Center for the Middle East and North Africa (CMENA) hopes its free concert at Woodhouse Blending & Brewing Friday can showcase a part of the world that doesn’t get enough attention and help save languages at the university.

This upcoming concert is an evening with Santa Cruz artists AZA, who fuse North African musical traditions such as Ahwash, Rwais, and Gnawa with contemporary global influences.

Lead singer and banjoist of AZA Fattah Abbou, a dual American and Moroccan citizen for 20 years, performs in his native Tamazight dialect, and uses it to describe what it’s like touring in these fraught times.

“Tsemmum,” he says.

“Sour” in English, here it means closer to disequilibrium. Abbou says people worldwide had operated on a belief in “classical politics,” that leaders could be relied upon to act with “sobriety and decorum.” He fears the American shift toward treating essentials like education and healthcare as “commodities.”

“If you’re educated and healthy, then you can innovate,” he says. “You can move a nation forward.”

Professor Muriam Haleh Davis, the director of CMENA, hopes the show will help bolster support for the interdisciplinary center.

“The countries that used to be colonized by France – Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria – are often, for somewhat problematic reasons, studied as a unit,” she says.

“In the Anglophone academies or in the U.S. and UK, when people do the Middle East, they focus on Egypt, Palestine, Iraq,” she says. ‘“All areas strategically important for the U.S. during the Cold War.”

Instead, Davis was “delighted” by the holistic possibilities in UCSC combining them.

“It’s really rare to have this cluster of colleagues with similar interests who work on the Middle East and on the Maghreb,” she says, meaning western and central North Africa.

The humanities are “under siege,” said historian Helena Rosenblatt on The Ezra Klein Show.

“Given that federal funding for Middle East studies has been completely cut off, it’s a pretty delicate time to keep the center running,” says Davis, in her second year fronting the program, which started in 2019.

Davis is grateful to Woodhouse for hosting the event for free.

Two recent CMENA teamups with the Film and Digital Media Department, screenings with panel discussions, were so popular that they filled their hundred-person cap and turned an unknown number away.

The first examined the ramifications of surf tourism on Morocco and gentrification in surfing at large, with input by Moroccan activist Soufiane Belmkaddem of Black Surf Santa Cruz.

The second concerned revolutionary thinker Frantz Fanon, born on the French colony of Martinique and serving in the Algerian Liberation Front, whose written works inspired Oakland’s Black Panther Party.

“When I was in graduate school,” Davis says, “I decided I wanted to study somebody else’s colonial past. Working on my own was, I felt, too close to home.”

Her mother came from Northern India, and her family now lives in Pakistan, so Davis’s mother tongue was Urdu. But she’s fiercely protective of other mother tongues. She watched Farsi be cut last year at UCSC. Arabic is conceivably next.

“For many students from the region, having either Arabic or Farsi has been really meaningful given their feelings of isolation and grief, especially after October 7th, and now the war in Iran,” Davis says.

If those cuts feel ideological, the German language classes had the same fate. What was pandemic became perennial, with the University of California system joining schools across the country embracing online education as a cost-saving measure. Languages are bearing that shift.

Launched in fall 2025 by UC humanities deans, the Global Language Network initiative consolidates language instruction online for UC students to take remote courses via any UC campus on “less-taught languages” before it expands to include all. According to their website, this will facilitate “global citizenship, deeper cultural understanding, and academic pathways that might otherwise remain out of reach.”

The rollout has so far been glitchy, with low enrollments and missing courses needed to ensure continuity of instruction. At least one professor received a Notice of Dismissal before their language was officially cut.

Davis’ faculty group is wary that moving language learning online is not being decided on a case-by-case basis, and assumes all languages can be learned the same way.

“If anybody’s ever tried to learn Arabic online, it’s a disaster,” Davis says.

The right-to-left script is notoriously difficult. But mastering pronunciation is an awkward stage, she argues, especially one with complex guttural sounds, and requires an instructor’s warm hand.

Glowing student testimonials for Arabic professor Abdelkader Berrahmoun make clear that’s the kind of safe environment he fosters, impossible in the micro-delayed void of Zoom.

Like the Sciences, “language just needs a small group of people in a room together to build camaraderie,” Davis says. “Certain flagship campuses like Berkeley and UCLA will continue to have in-person instruction.”

Her faculty group has drafted a request in the Academic Senate to devise a funding model that protects languages at UCSC. The faculty union has issued a letter expressing discontent with the cuts and with the subsequent increased workload and undermined shared governance.

At this rate, Davis says, “there’s a possibility that Hebrew, funded by a variety of endowments, will be the only language taught at UCSC for Middle Eastern studies next year.”

Lydia Barrett, a South Carolinian sixth-year PhD candidate in Cross-Cultural Musicology, says this would be “an enormous disservice to the course of study.”

“At the center we support folks interested in a Middle Eastern North African minor,” she says. She sees language as an essential ingredient to education, when “learning about a place” alchemizes into “becoming part of a place.”

Davis says there are plenty of themes connecting the region CMENA covers to California and Santa Cruz, even if it can feel like “this very far away, random, and irrelevant place.”

Abbou says the kinship gets uncanny.

He’s always seen Essaouira, near where he grew up, as a “sister city” to Santa Cruz for its surfers, music, art, and “progressive vibe.” But where he interviewed from, Agadir, just three hours down the coast, had a different name after Portuguese colonization in the 1500’s.

“They called it Santa Cruz.”

CMENA Presents: AZA is at 7:30pm on May 15 at Woodhouse Blending & Brewing, 119 Madrone St., Santa Cruz. Admission is free. More info can be found at woodhousebrews.com/events/.

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

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May 12, 2026

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GOOD WORK

I am glad you got Street Talk with John Koenig up again. Maybe he took a vacation or something, but it’s the first thing I read in the Good Times…then, the letters.

Nick Royal | Santa Cruz

HOT SEAT

Felipe Hernandez is on the hot seat not only for not disclosing his campaign donors form 2023-2025, but now for leaving in the middle of a Board meeting for 30 minutes unexcused TO GET LUNCH, which he brings back and eats during the meeting. Does he have ANY CLUE??!

Phoenix Artemisia | Watsonville

THANKS

Mark C. Anderson: I just wanted to send you a thank you for the great article on us in the Good Times! We really appreciate you taking the time to do an article on what we are building at The Cruz Room and helping spread the word.

We are trying to create something unique and community-focused for Santa Cruz, and it means a lot to have thoughtful local coverage.

Thanks again and hope to see you back at the Cruz Room sometime soon!

Matisse Selman | Santa Cruz

CAPITOLA IMPROVEMENTS

This summer, the City of Capitola is proud to open the doors to a transformed Jade Street Park. After more than a year of construction, two landmark projects at 4400 Jade Street are soon to be completed and open to the public: Treasure Cove, Capitola’s first Universally Accessible Playground, and the fully renovated Capitola Community Center. The City is thrilled to welcome the community to a grand opening celebration on Wednesday, June 17, at 1pm, for speeches and appreciation of this amazing community space.

Designed by Verde Design with direct community input, Treasure Cove replaces aging equipment that no longer met accessibility standards with a vibrant marine and shoreline-themed play environment where children of all ages and abilities can play side by side.

Distinct play areas are set over colorful rubberized surfacing and feature a wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round, cozy domes, sensory play structures, swings, spinners, slides, and climbing zones. This project was made possible by an extraordinary partnership between the City and County Park Friends, who spearheaded an 18-month capital campaign raising over $1 million for Treasure Cove; a goal achieved thanks to more than 1,500 private donors.

Opening alongside Treasure Cove, the renovated Capitola Community Center has been transformed inside and out. The 5,792-square-foot building, a neighborhood fixture since the 1980s, features structural repairs, a new roof and siding, modernized meeting spaces, an additional single-user restroom, upgraded kitchen, and new HVAC, electrical, and lighting systems.

Designed by Architects from Boone Low Ratliff, coastal touches inspired by the Capitola Wharf (like textured concrete, fiber cement board, and wooden accents) represent Capitola’s unique character. Plus, new patios and improved pathways directly link the Community Center to Treasure Cove Playground. Funding sources include $475,000 from the City of Capitola, a $4.2 million HUD Community Development Block Grant, and a $1 million state grant through the California Natural Resources Agency, championed by Assemblymember Dawn Addis. The facility continues to serve as home to recreation programming, city services, and emergency shelter for residents.

Chloé Woodmansee | Assistant to the City Manager

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

Failure to File

Music to Save Humanities

Secret Projections

Mind-altering Music

Street Talk

Free Will Astrology

Going Big

Italian I Scream

Bold Directions

Secret Projections

STU ADAMSON’S HANDY DANDY GUIDE TO SURVIVING 12 STRAIGHT HOURS OF CINEMA MAYHEM

Mind-altering Music

Virtuoso house concert

Espressivo wraps up its season on June 6

Teen’s Four Novels

Going Big

MASSIVE BARGAINS

TAP WISDOM

Italian I Scream

Freeze the Frame

Failure to File

Music to Save Humanities

Letters

GOOD WORK

HOT SEAT

THANKS

CAPITOLA IMPROVEMENTS

Bold Directions

Secret Projections

Mind-altering Music

Teen’s Four Novels

Going Big

Italian I Scream

Freeze the Frame

Failure to File

Music to Save Humanities

Letters