Page 203 – Good Times

The Editor’s Desk

Letters to the Editor

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September 6, 2023

Editor’s Note

Santa Cruz California editor of good times news media print and web — Brad Kava | Good Times Editor

When I saw the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006, about global warming, climate change or the worst horror in the world, depending on your choice of words, I thought, “It can’t happen here. We’ll figure a way out of it.”

Now, I’m reading a cover story about devastating fires, while looking out windows everywhere I go or where my friends and family live, and seeing a devastating truth. It’s happening. Now. All over. Just as predicted.

For about a decade deniers from Rush Limbaugh to Franklin Graham told their followers it wasn’t happening, or don’t worry, God’s in control. Some told us that alternative fuel sources were worse for the environment, while others claimed the economy was more important than our delusions of climate change.

Well, here it is. Not to ruin your day, but where do we go from here?

The most depressing line in our cover story was from our Governor: “We live in this new reality,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a recent Cal Fire event, “where we can’t necessarily attach ourselves to some of the more predictive models of the past because of a world that is getting a lot hotter, a lot drier and a lot more uncertain because of climate change.”

I’m serious here: I have no good answers. We are Good Times and as such, often try to be positive. We are also a community voice. Why don’t you let us know how you are handling this more than inconvenient truth, this devastating world change. Drop us a line and we’ll save a page for your answers.

What do you tell your kids? What are you doing to make positive change? Do you have hope and if so, why? How do you not give up? And is there any hope for the world to come together and fight this beast, like they do in science fiction movies with happy endings?

Send your thoughts. Let’s share them with the whole Santa Cruz community. Extra credit for anyone who sees something good in all this.

Good Idea

Beginning September 1, 2023, the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (SCMTD) will accept applications to fill two vacancies on its METRO Advisory Committee (MAC). Applications must be submitted by September 30, 2023 to be considered. The MAC operates in an advisory role to the SCMTD Board of Directors on policy issues related to customer service, bus operations, strategic planning and community needs, among other topics. The Committee meets quarterly and appointees serve a four year term. Please visit scmtd.com/mac to learn more or submit an application. For questions, contact METRO at (831) 426-6080 or email at ma*@***td.com.

Good Work

In light of the recent devastating wildfires that blazed across Maui, Hula’s Island Grill and Pono Hawaiian Grill locations are raising funds to support Maui victims. At Hula’s, all proceeds on Mondays through October will go to Hawai’i Community Foundation. Meanwhile, Pono is selling Mauia merch, with 100% of funds going to that same foundation. Stop by either establishments to learn more.

Santa Cruz METRO will drive you free to the Watsonville Fairgrounds for the County Fair from Sept. 13-17.

METRO has created a special route, Route 79F, that will provide free daily service to the Watsonville Fairgrounds.

Service will depart from the Watsonville Transit Center on the hour from noon – 10pm on weekdays and 10am – 10pm on weekends and will offer a return trip from the County Fair at :25 past the hour from 12:25pm – 10:25pm on weekdays and 10:25am – 10:25pm on weekends.

For more information on taking METRO to the County Fair visit https://scmtd.com/en/routes/county-fair or for details.

Photo Contest

**LIGHT ON** Iconic Harbor Lighthouse taken on June 27. Photograph by Ross Levoy.

Quote of the Week

“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” –John Kenneth Galbraith

An Air of Mystique

Literature

Aiyana Moya

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September 6, 2023

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Megan Kamalei Kakimoto’s short story collection, “Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare,” is immersive. Each story is set in Kakimoto’s homeland Hawaii, where the sticky ocean breeze and the smell of smoke from pork cooking in the kālua linger thick in the air.

Kakimoto doesn’t shy away from anything: instead, she plunges into the uncomfortable.

Her storytelling exposes the subtle and overt consequences of colonialism on Native Hawaiians, examines the intersectionality of womanhood for women of color and reminds us how actions of the past haunt the present.

Kakimoto weaves in elements of her Native Hawaiian and Japanese roots throughout the collection. She uses Pidgin and Hawaiian language and incorporates the traditions and rituals of daily island life. She stretches the boundaries of reality by blending Hawaiian superstitions and mythology into each story, lore that plays a natural yet significant role in each characters’ life.

Her characters are diverse in experience, situation and age. But there is consistency in their complexity and the ways each must navigate womanhood and their indigenous identity on an island shrouded in colonization.

Ahead of her interview at Bookshop Santa Cruz, we sat down with Kakimoto to talk about her book.

Good Times: Hawaiian mythology and superstitions played such a huge role in your book. I loved how you used them to explore ideas of womanhood. Were there certain myths that you grew up being told that informed you of womanhood in some ways?

Megan Kakimoto: We call it mo’olelo, which is the stories and tales of our people in our culture. A lot of the female goddesses in our theology are incredibly powerful. They’re always feared and revered. And they have a lot of power. I think of Pelehonuamea in particular, who is constantly talked about and who is way more powerful than her male counterpart, and I always found that really fascinating. Especially when presented against or beside contemporary women and contemporary women’s stories. A lot of women in these stories and in my own personal life have had to wrestle with finding our identity, claiming our power and our place, living in our bodies that often have violence visited upon them by men, whether it be physical violence or emotional violence. And just that juxtaposition with these incredibly powerful and awe-inspiring goddesses in our history and culture really struck me.

GT: In one of your stories, your main character is a writer. She is having a conversation with her grandmother, who says, “don’t try too hard to make writing accessible to white people.” Throughout this book you chose to use a lot of Hawaiian words and landmarks, myths. What is it like, balancing that line between making your writing accessible to people without losing the natural flow and staying true to your culture, identity and what you want to write?

MK: It’s a very hard balance to strike. I think it helped that I tried really hard not to think about my audience, I kept it very private and very personal. I think my dream for the collection was always to have Hawaiian people and Hawaiian women especially, have their stories at the forefront, have them feel seen. And sometimes that means, you know, compromising on a little bit of accessibility for a different audience.

GT: I loved how you wrote about and incorporated food throughout your stories. It’s clearly such an important part of Hawaiian culture: the ritual of preparing the dishes, the way it brings people together, the types of cuisines.

In one of your stories, the main character feels a lot of tension around food: desiring it, being judged for wanting it. You used food to explore such a huge part of womanhood: having our bodies perceived and our own hyper-awareness of our bodies as a result, which starts at such a young age. What role did you want food to take on in your stories?

MK: Yeah, food and communal eating plays a huge role in history. It’s still a huge kind of touch point of how we come together now, a lot of local families and Hawaiian families. I was also just interested in food as its own form of desire. I feel like there’s a lot of different avenues of desire that I was interested in exploring in this piece. I also think that food often gets wrapped up in the perception of a woman’s body, and how a woman feels and belongs in her body. It can be really complicated to sort of navigate your own body under the best of circumstances when you don’t have any outside voices intruding, but I think a lot of the stories are interested in sort of how a woman has to be in her body, with that sort of noise and the intrusion of thoughts, opinions and feelings from outside people. It was a very natural tie-in to some of these other ideas of desire and consumption that I was interested in exploring.

GT: What does it mean to you to be an indigenous Hawaiian writing stories of Hawaiian life?

MK: Reclaiming space is something that I am really passionate about. There’s a lineage and a history here, I feel like it is important to hear from those people, from our own people. And the stories that are passed down to us, I think there’s all this richness in Hawaiian culture that people just don’t know about and aren’t really familiar with. I’m trying very much to focus on writing that is invested in Native Hawaiian representation and Native Hawaiian lives. My own single experience that sort of informs these stories will hopefully carve out space for more indigenous Hawaiian stories to be championed and platformed and published.

Megan Kakimoto will be at Bookshop Santa Cruz to discuss her new short story collection, “Every Drop Is A Man’s Nightmare,” on Monday, Sept. 11 at 7:00PM.

To learn more, visit: bookshopsantacruz.com/megan-kamalei-kakimoto

Things to do in Santa Cruz

Things To Do This Week

GT Staff

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September 6, 2023

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Week of September 6, 2023

WEDNESDAY

SOUL

SURPRISE CHEF For my money, the 1970’s were one of the best times for music because every genre was exploding with new sounds, especially soul. Jazzy rhythms, funky bass lines and interstellar exploratory melodies defined ‘70s soul music with artists like Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Earth Wind & Fire. Australian five-piece R&B group, Surprise Chef conjures these artists, along with a little Stevie Wonder “Superstition” vibes and some Latin flavors, for their mood-invoking blend of motherfunkin’ soul. This Melbourne act has been grooving since 2017 and have hit their golden stride with the last few releases over the past two or three years. MAT WEIR

INFO: 8pm, Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. $17. 704-7113.

THURSDAY

PSYCH-ROCK

KING DREAM Oakland native’s Jeremy Lyon is the man behind the psych-rock band King Dream. He celebrates the release of their latest album, Glory Daze, Vol. IV, this Thursday. King Dream delivers dive bar anthems with heart— think Bruce Springsteen-tinged lyrics with an experimental edge. Songs like “U + Me (Vs. the Human Race)” evoke the exuberance of youthful love, while also inviting the joyful chaos of an audience sing-along. JESSICA IRISH

INFO: 8pm, Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $20/door. 831-479-1854.

FRIDAY

REGGAE

KABAKA PYRAMID With a name that combines the Ugandan word for “King” with reference to some of the most enduring man-made structures of all time, Kabaka Pyramid aspires to nothing short of longevity, revolution and love. The Jamaican artist blends the sunny tones of reggae with the socially conscious lyricism of hip-hop to create an innovative sound. In February of this year, he won his first Grammy for Best Reggae Album for his sophomore record, The Kalling. His well-deserved, Rastafarian victory lap comes to Santa Cruz this weekend, with shows on both Friday and Saturday night. ADDIE MAHMASSANI

INFO: 9pm, Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $30/adv, $35/door. 479-1854.

SATURDAY

INDIE-FOLK

JULIE BYRNE Julie Byrne’s phenomenal otherworldly folk record, The Greater Wings, comes six years after her previous LP. She began work on The Greater Wings, her third record, almost immediately after Not Even Happiness, but partway through the recording, her longtime producer/collaborator/close friend Eric Littmann unexpectedly passed away. Though much of the record was written prior to Littmann’s passing, The Greater Wings feels like a meditation on his passing. And the musical arrangements are some of the best and most nuanced of Byrne’s career. The gentlest of folk songs with just the right touches of strings, harps and piano flourishings. AARON CARNES

INFO: 8pm, Felton Music Hall, 6275 HWY 9 Felton. $20. 704-7113.

COMEDY

TONY CAMIN Since its launch in 2019, DNA’s Comedy Lab has become a formidable hub for live entertainment in town, hosting hundreds of hilarious events and stoking at least a million laughs. Their Saturday series Laughternoon is going strong this fall as Tony Camin steps into the spotlight—make that sunlight—in London Nelson Park. With roots in the ‘90s Bay Area comedy scene, Camin brought some California to New York City in 2004 with his co-created off-Broadway performance The Marijuana-Logues and went on to co-host the live late-night show “Broin’ Out” via the famous Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. AM

INFO: 4:30pm, London Nelson Park, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz. $20. 420-6177.

FILM

OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL Now in its 10th year, the Rio Theatre welcomes back the Ocean Film Festival World Tour. For the past decade this festival has been one of the leaders in independent oceanography filmmaking. This year, the two and a half hour fest will feature hand-picked films that dive into topics from the bond humans and animals can form (“Casey the Octopus”) and understanding the connection animals have with each other (“Sounds of a Generation”) to the importance of conserving the planet’s ice shelves (“In Search of a Frozen Ocean”). Sponsored by local nonprofits and companies such as Event Santa Cruz, O’Neill Wetsuits and the Good Times, a portion of this year’s ticket and beer sales will be donated to Save Our Shores. MW

INFO: 7pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $21. 423-8209.

SUNDAY

STONER ROCK

BRANT BJORK There aren’t many more deserving of the title, “California Desert Rock Ambassador,” than Brant Bjork. As the drummer and founding member of the seminal stoner rock group, Kyuss, Brant helped put the Palm Desert scene on the map. Even after he left the band, Bjork continued to push the California, fuzzed-out stoner jam sound with Josh Homme on the latter’s Desert Sessions recordings, Mondo Generator and Stӧner with Nick Oliveri, Fu Manchu, Fatso Jetson and even had a stint in Santa Cruz playing in LAB with former B’LAST! members. Earlier this year he announced a tour with his new band, the Brant Bjork Trio featuring Fatso Jetson bassist, Mario Lalli, and Stӧner drummer, Ryan Güt. Dust off the jean vest, cause this one’s for the heshers. MW

INFO: 8pm, Catalyst Club, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $17adv/$20door. 713-5492.

MONDAY

JAZZ

BIRÉLI LAGRÈNE & MARTIN TAYLOR At the age of seven, most people were learning their times tables. The precocious Biréli Lagrène, however, was already on his way to becoming a jazz icon, spending his days learning the improvisational guitar stylings of the mythic Romani-Belgian composer Django Reinhardt. That was approximately five decades, 26 albums and seven live concert films ago. Put shortly, the French child prodigy quickly became the globe-trotting, reigning king of Gypsy jazz guitar. This Monday, he brings his beloved fusions of swing and post-bop into musical conversation with Grammy-nominated Martin Taylor—a virtuoso jazz guitarist in his own right—for a concert for the ages. AM

INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $52.50/adv, $57.75/door. 427-2227.

TUESDAY

POETRY

THE HIVE LIVE Poetry will always have a place in Santa Cruz, which is due to all the hard work of the many people in town that care deeply about the artform. One group that should be regularly celebrated is The Hive Poetry Collective. They have a weekly show on KSQD 90.7 FM, but they also throw live events. This Tuesday, they are bringing some excellent poets to Bookshop Santa Cruz: Danusha Laméris and Laure-Anne Bosselaar. They’ve both published notable books and received much deserved acclaim for their work. AC

INFO: 7pm, Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. Free. 423-0900.

Street Talk

Street Talk

John Koenig

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September 6, 2023

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Question of the Week: “What does it mean to be an American today?”

A current candidate for President has claimed that if you ask a citizen “What does it mean to be an American today” you will get only a blank stare in response. Good Times decided to find out. It proved to be a thought-provoking question, but as always, Santa Cruzans had thoughts and feelings to share.

“There’s a duality. Americans do amazing things to be proud of, and then there’s this legacy of the government that is really shameful. This country bombed my father’s country, El Salvador — and there hasn’t been a collective responsibility, at least not in the government.”

“I’m proud to be from here, but at the same time it’s very disappointing. There’s so much conflict going on and people are focusing on the wrong things. But at the end of the day, I’m proud because it’s still my home and I want to see my people succeed. I’m really praying for things to get a lot better.”

“It means having a sense of hopeful weariness. Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”

“Being American means we support each other. Freedom for all as long as you’re not hurting anybody. Just the foundation, the actual meaning of what being an American is. That is how I live, and how I hope.”

“Being American means you have the opportunity to make a better life and do many things. You go step by step and find opportunities to make your life better.”

“I’m not proud to be an American when it means supporting imperialism in the Congo where people die mining cobalt and lithium for Teslas and iPhones. What the founding fathers intended, limited government, power to the people, doesn’t exist now. We get comforts but lose freedoms, and don’t realize we’re lambs in the chute. Lambs fear the wolf, and don’t realize it’s the shepherd that will eat them.”

Room for Shrooms

News

Dan Mitchell

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September 6, 2023

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Psilocybin legalization may be right around the corner with new ballot measure

It’s becoming more likely that California voters next year will get to decide whether to legalize psilocybin—“magic mushrooms”—the same way they voted on cannabis legalization in 2016 when they approved Prop. 64.

The state attorney general’s office has approved the language for a measure to appear on the ballot in November 2024 that would legalize the possession and sale of psilocybin for adults 21 and over. It would also create a framework for the regulated use of the substance in therapeutic settings. Now, advocates must gather enough signatures to actually get the measure before voters.

This would be at least the third such attempt to do so, but it will be a bit easier this time thanks in part to voter apathy: the number of signatures needed is based on voter turnout in the previous general election. This time, advocates must collect 546,651 signatures, or 76,561 fewer than last time, when about 2 million fewer voters showed up to cast ballots in the most recent general election in 2022. That was when Gavin Newsom retained the governorship, beating out Republican Brian Dahle. The turnout wasn’t surprising, given that few people had even heard of Dahle and everybody was fatigued by the previous year’s insane recall vote.

The main advocate for the ballot measure is Decriminalize California, which has attempted, and failed, twice before to collect enough signatures to get such a measure before voters. The group is much more optimistic this time around, according to campaign director Ryan Munevar. In a newsletter statement announcing the attorney general’s approval of the ballot measure, Munevar cited the Covid pandemic as the main reason for the effort falling short in 2021 and 2022.

“Now that the plague is over we can take advantage of all the summer festivals and fully activate our college teams for tabling days when they are back in session in late August and September,” Munevar wrote. Advocates have until Jan. 10 to collect the needed signatures.

The measure would also seal the criminal records of people with past psilocybin-related convictions. It would create an “independent professional certifying body,” according to the attorney general’s language, to oversee therapeutic use of psilocybin in healthcare settings.

Unlike with cannabis, there would be no possession limit. Sales would be allowed in retail settings, at public events and at farmers’ markets, “whether or not for profit.” Also, unlike with cannabis, there would be no state taxes imposed and local governments could restrict sales only if such restrictions were approved by local voters. Psilocybin used for regulated therapeutic purposes would not be taxed.

The California Assembly, meanwhile, is considering a bill, which passed the Senate last spring, to legalize a range of psychedelics including psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline. In a move that surprised even the bill’s sponsor, Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, the Assembly’s Health Committee passed the measure last week in a 9-2 vote.

The momentum behind legalizing psychedelics is building, especially in California. The Berkeley City Council last week voted to deprioritize enforcing laws against psychedelics, mirroring similar moves by Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

“Research shows that these substances can have significant benefits particularly for people experiencing mental health and addiction challenges,” Wiener told the Assembly Health Committee just before it voted to pass the measure along. “This research started in the 1960s and unfortunately, it was completely shut down by the war on drugs. Over the last decade, the research has started again and it is extremely promising.”

Booze and Buds

Cannabis

Dan Mitchell

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September 6, 2023

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Alcohol and cannabis relations

In the lead-up to the legalization of weed, the liquor business generally sided with the prohibitionists. In 2011, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors donated to the effort to oppose the first—failed—voter initiative to legalize weed in California. In 2016, similar groups opposed legalization efforts in states like Arizona and Massachusetts, as well as California.

Right around that same time, big liquor and beer companies warned investors that the burgeoning legal-pot industry might pose a threat. This approach might appear to make sense: pot and booze seem like they’re natural competitors. But, of course, that’s not really true—lots of people use both at the same time.

As the years passed and it became more obvious that legal pot wasn’t hurting liquor sales, the booze industry began tempering its messages. It began going beyond simply accepting the situation by asking, “how can we get in on this?”

Some beer and liquor companies are introducing cannabis-infused beverages, or are acquiring makers of them. Just last month, cannabis giant Tilray expanded its beer portfolio by purchasing eight “craft” beer brands from Anheuser-Busch, including well-known names like Redhook and Widmer Brothers.

NORML, the leading advocate for legal weed, issued a warning in 2021. Liquor, tobacco and other industries now lobbying on cannabis issues “have pushed for statewide limits on the number of licensed cannabis producers and retailers, in an effort to keep prices and supply artificially limited,” NORML pointed out. The organization believes in “the right to personal cultivation and mandates low barriers of entry to the cannabis market so that every American who wishes to benefit from legalization can do so.”

Last month, the law firm Feuerstein Kutrick warned that the highly concentrated liquor business might want to pattern the cannabis industry after itself. “At a minimum,” it noted, “a shift towards a regulatory structure that more closely resembles the alcohol industry would change the paradigm for a cannabis industry that has developed in a decentralized manner (out of necessity) over the past several decades.”

The question now is: is the cannabis industry willing to play along with Big Booze?

Miches and Ceviches

Foodie File

Andrew Steingrube

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September 6, 2023

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Mariscos Magníficos

Perla Pineda has been passionate about cooking since she was a little girl, growing up with the perspective that food is a way to connect with family, friends and culture.

Three years ago, she and her husband Sergio wanted extra income and a way to have fun. Although they each had full-time jobs and had never worked in the restaurant industry, they decided to start a food business on the weekends.

Miches and Ceviches was born and launched through social media. By exceeding their sales goals and help from their families, they purchased a food truck and expanded their business.

The authentic Mexican seafood and beverage favorites are currently being served at Off the Hook Deli on 41^st Ave., with plans to re-launch the food truck and expand the menu soon.

The ceviche de camaron is a best-selling family recipe favorite, and the other dishes are Pineda’s creations inspired by other women in her life and visits to Mexico. Popular examples include the ceviche de pescado and the shrimp taco stuffed with mozzarella cheese.

Good Times: How did your business start?

Perla Pineda: Our initial goal for our first day of sales was 20 ceviches, and we ended up selling 99. Per client’s requests, we had a second day of sales and it went even better. And then it was after our third day of sales, my husband and I sat on the couch, looked at each other and said, “Holy crap, we might have something here.”

GT: What does Miches and Ceviches mean to your family?

PP: I have three kids aged 18, 14, and 2. Aside from the income, the business has impacted our family in such a positive way. It has really united us and brought us together, and allowed us to be more present in each other’s lives.

743 41^st Avenue, Santa Cruz, 831-421-2247; michesandceviches.co

Free Will Astrology

Astrology

Rob Brezsny

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September 6, 2023

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Week of September 6

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov says war is “more like a game of poker than chess. On a chess board, the pieces are face up, but poker is essentially a game of incomplete information, a game where you have to guess and act on those guesses.” I suspect that’s helpful information for you these days, Aries. You may not be ensconced in an out-an-out conflict, but the complex situation you’re managing has resemblances to a game of poker. For best results, practice maintaining a poker face. Try to reduce your tells to near zero. Here’s the definition of “tell” as I am using the term: Reflexive or unconscious behavior that reveals information you would rather withhold.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Raised in poverty, Taurus-born Eva Peron became a charismatic politician and actor who served as First Lady of Argentina for six years. The Argentine Congress ultimately gave her the title of “Spiritual Leader of the Nation.” How did she accomplish such a meteoric ascent? “Without fanaticism,” she testified, “one cannot accomplish anything.” But I don’t think her strategy has to be yours in the coming months, Taurus. It will make sense for you to be highly devoted, intensely focused and strongly motivated—even a bit obsessed in a healthy way. But you won’t need to be fanatical.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini author Ben H. Winters has useful counsel. “Every choice forecloses on other choices,” he says. “Each step forward leaves a thousand dead possible universes behind you.” I don’t think there are a thousand dead universes after each choice; the number’s more like two or three. But the point is, you must be fully committed to leaving the past behind. Making decisions requires resolve. Second-guessing your brave actions rarely yields constructive results. So are you ready to have fun being firm and determined, Gemini? The cosmic rhythms will be on your side if you do.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Journalist Alexandra Robbins was addressing young people when she gave the following advice, but you will benefit from it regardless of your age: “There is nothing wrong with you just because you haven’t yet met people who share your interests or outlook on life. Know that you will eventually meet people who will appreciate you for being you.” I offer this to you now, Cancerian, because the coming months will bring you into connection with an abundance of like-minded people who are working to create the same kind of world you are. Are you ready to enjoy the richest social life ever?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author Kevin Kelly is a maverick visionary who has thought a lot about how to create the best possible future. He advocates that we give up hoping for the unrealistic concept of utopia. Instead, he suggests we empower our practical efforts with the term “protopia.” In this model, we “crawl toward betterment,” trying to improve the world by 1% each year. You would be wise to apply a variation on this approach to your personal life in the coming months, Leo. A mere 1% enhancement is too modest a goal, though. By your birthday in 2024, a 6% upgrade is realistic, and you could reach as high as 10%.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In honor of the Virgo birthday season, I invite you to be exceptionally distinctive and singular in the coming weeks, even idiosyncratic and downright incomparable. That’s not always a comfortable state for you Virgos to inhabit, but right now it’s healthy to experiment with. Here’s counsel from writer Christopher Morley: “Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” Here’s a bonus quote from Virgo poet Edith Sitwell: “I am not eccentric! It’s just that I am more alive than most people.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do you sometimes wish your life was different from what it actually is? Do you criticize yourself for not being a perfect manifestation of your ideal self? Most of us indulge in these fruitless energy drains. One of the chief causes of unhappiness is the fantasy that we are not who we are supposed to be. In accordance with cosmic rhythms, I authorize you to be totally free of these feelings for the next four weeks. As an experiment, I invite you to treasure yourself exactly as you are right now. Congratulate yourself for all the heroic work you have done to be pretty damn good. Use your ingenuity to figure out how to give yourself big doses of sweet and festive love.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio novelist Kurt Vonnegut testified, “I want to stay as close on the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge, you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed-of-things—the people on the edge see them first.” I’m not definitively telling you that you should live like Vonnegut, dear Scorpio. To do so, you would have to summon extra courage and alertness. But if you are inclined to explore such a state, the coming weeks will offer you a chance to live on the edge with as much safety, reward and enjoyment as possible.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Where there is great love, there are always miracles,” wrote Sagittarian novelist Willa Cather (1873–1947). In accordance with upcoming astrological aspects, I encourage you to prepare the way for such miracles. If you don’t have as much love as you would like, be imaginative as you offer more of the best love you have to give. If there is good but not great love in your life, figure out how you can make it even better. If you are blessed with great love, see if you can transform it into being even more extraordinary. For you Sagittarians, it is the season of generating miracles through the intimate power of marvelous love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author Alexander Woollcott (1187–1943) could be rude and vulgar. He sometimes greeted cohorts by saying, “Hello, Repulsive.” After he read the refined novelist Marcel Proust, he described the experience as “like lying in someone else’s dirty bath water.” But according to Woollcott’s many close and enduring friends, he was often warm, generous and humble. I bring this to your attention in the hope that you will address any discrepancies between your public persona and your authentic soul. Now is a good time to get your outer and inner selves into greater harmony.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In 1963, Aquarian author Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, a groundbreaking book that became a bestseller crucial in launching the feminist movement. She brought to wide cultural awareness “the problem that has no name”: millions of women’s sense of invisibility, powerlessness and depression. In a later book, Friedan reported on those early days of the awakening: “We couldn’t possibly know where it would lead, but we knew it had to be done.” I encourage you to identify an equivalent quest in your personal life, Aquarius: a project that feels necessary to your future, even if you don’t yet know what that future will turn out to be.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: All of them make me laugh.” Piscean poet W. H. Auden said that. After analyzing the astrological omens, I conclude that laughing with those you love is an experience you should especially seek right now. It will be the medicine for anything that’s bothering you. It will loosen obstructions that might be interfering with the arrival of your next valuable teachings. Use your imagination to dream up ways you can place yourself in situations where this magic will unfold.

Homework: What message has life been trying to send you but you have been ignoring? Newsletter: FreeWillAstrology.com

Strong Public Support For Hospital Tax Measure

News

Todd Guild

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August 31, 2023

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Strong Public Support For Hospital Tax Measure

A recent survey of potential voters signals strong support of a property tax that would allow for the purchase of Watsonville Community Hospital and upgrades to its facilities.

The question for now Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHCD) is how much to ask for and whether to place it on the ballot for the March 2024 election, or wait until the November general election.

“It’s very good news out of the gate,” said John Isom, whose company Isom Advisors is helping PVHCD determine the feasibility of bringing a bond measure to the public to help raise money for the $40 million purchase.

Isom presented the information during the Aug. 30 PVHCD meeting..

The survey of 400 people gauged their attitude toward PVHCD, tax rates in general and their opinions on a wide range of projects a bond measure would pay for.

Gathering such information in advance is important, Isom said, since tax measures require 67% to pass.

With 75.5% of those surveyed indicating they would vote yes–and another 2% saying they were leaning that way–PVHCD has a good chance of passing one, Isom said.

“This is about perception, and ultimately this is about an ask of the community,” he said. “And if the community is willing to support you, they tend to do so more if they like you and if they think you’re doing a good job.”

In the survey, 85% said they want to see the emergency department expanded and renovated, while a majority also said they support upgrading the imaging systems.

Respondents also strongly support purchasing the building and its grounds, a move that would save $4 million per year.

“I thought that was pretty monumental, because that would be a game-changer for the district,” Isom said.

The survey also showed likely voters want the roofs, HVAC and plumbing systems updated.

Respondents were somewhat less enthusiastic when asked about specific numbers.

Just 54% said they would support paying $24 per $100,000 of assessed value on their property tax bills, while 61% showed support when that number decreased to $19.

“So far, they love the project, they love the idea of doing a measure,” Isom said. “They would be supportive of it. They like the hospital and they like the Health Care District. But there is a little bit of tax sensitivity when talking about a dollar amount on an annual basis.”

The next step, Isom said, should be engaging with the public and delving deeper about their attitudes toward a ballot measure and when to bring it forward.

Barbara Lee Visits Watsonville

Breaking News

Tarmo Hannula

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August 31, 2023

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Congresswoman Barbara Lee visited Watsonville Monday evening as part of her campaign to gain the seat of outgoing U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

After an introduction by Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, Lee took to the podium at Jalisco’s restaurant where more than 100 people welcomed her.

Representing California’s 12th District since 1998, Lee is the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic Leadership.

Lee, who described herself as an activist, started out by asking for a moment of silence to respect the victims that have been killed “by these horrific gun violence acts in Orange County, Jacksonville and all over the country.”

“I am happy to come here to Watsonville,” she said. “I am running for the United States Senate and I would love your endorsement. I am a Democrat from my heart and my soul and I have always fought to try to make the Democratic Party more inclusive and more representative and more democratic. I helped start the Poverty Caucus, the Peace Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and I’m at all the meetings; I do my resolutions…This is the most progressive party we’ve ever had.”

Lee was born into segregated El Paso, Texas. Lee said she found her political strength when she was a 15-year-old student at San Fernando High School in southern California.

‘’I really wanted to be a cheerleader, but I didn’t make the criteria of what a cheerleader should look like because I was Black,'” Lee said. After taking her concerns to the NAACP, she said she was able to organize the student body and a handful of administration staff and “we were able to change that system of selection to an election.”

Only then did Lee become a cheerleader.

Now, as a California legislator, Lee has authored 67 bills and resolutions that were signed into law covering such issues as public safety, education, healthcare, and environmental protections. In the legislature, Lee was an early supporter of LGBT issues and authored the 1995 California Schools Hate Crimes Reduction Act.

“I have to dismantle and disrupt systems that are discriminatory,” she said.

Lee also touched on the climate crisis, pollution, environmental justice, cost of living, and the 20 million people in California that are living one check away from poverty.

“Wages have not kept up with the cost of living in the golden state of California,” Lee said.

She explored minimum wage and “a living wage for everybody,” housing and people living on the street, unsheltered people.

“Since 1789 there have been two African American women elected to the U.S. Senate. In the Senate, representation does matter,” she told the crowd. “Whenever there is injustice, you don’t tinker around the edges: You have to go in there and you have to shake things up and you have to build something new that is just and fair. And that’s who I am. I’m doing this not for Barbara Lee, but for you.”

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