Elizabeth McKenzie’s Dog of the North—part vision quest, part scavenger hunt—delivers on the previous mayhem of the celebrated author’s The Portable Veblen.
In this tale of one woman’s search for personal stability, hapless divorcée Penny Rush survives a series of extended family catastrophes before heading to Australia to track down her missing parents. Armed with poor judgment and a heart of gold, the young Millennial sets out to rescue her childhood from the hands of neurotic relatives. Yet it quickly becomes apparent that she needs saving, often literally, as during a flight to Sydney accompanied by her 93-year-old gin-swilling grandpa Arlo. A precarious protagonist, Penny delivers us into a thicket of neo-hippie losers, brilliant crackpots, and utopian ex-pats, each sweeter and more exasperating than the next. McKenzie has an impish gift for names: Pincher, Sherman, Boaz, Gaspard, Bram, Dale and others. Think Eat Pray Love crossed with On the Road plus a dozen episodes of “Seinfeld.”
“If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” Those iconic lyrics from Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” could be sung by McKenzie’s Penny Rush.
Never afraid to pepper the mundane with the sparkle of magic realism, McKenzie is on her firmest literary footing yet with Dog—the title refers to a funky live-in van lent to our narrator by a family friend. When we meet Penny, she already has a sober sense of her own failings. Her life is in shambles, yet they pale compared to the failures she meets on her escape to Australia. Vehicles, animals, step-relatives, rendezvous, ancient geology—all begin to go woefully south.
Applying her genius for sensory detail, McKenzie notices everything, every tiny, innocuous, and disgusting bit of avoidance behavior comprising the early 21st-century human animal. No bodily function eludes her attention. Every sordid detail of gastrointestinal malfunction or age-related infirmity aims squarely at the reader’s need to be entertained, even enlightened, similar to the passive-aggressive comedy of Groucho Marx and Steve Martin.
A first-person narrator, Penny is immediately appealing. It’s impossible not to love a protagonist who can barely negotiate a traffic stop. “It was strange to think that only a week ago, I’d started my day at the run-down Westward Ho! Motel in Santa Cruz, completely out of money, about to give up the keys to my Chevette to a man named Delbert Winkle who would tell me a long story during the transaction about having beaten up a kid who was torturing a cat and subsequently spending the last six month in jail.”
The eye of this literary storm, Penny is surrounded by a Dickensian bevy of weird, strange, deranged, opinionated, narcissistic and physically challenged individuals who make her seem as normal as a Norman Rockwell illustration. We encounter a wayward toupee, a dog with an unpronounceable name, a psychotic pediatrician, and the mythic poetry of the Australian outback. “It could not be easy to be a man with spidery red eyebrows and many rust-colored double chins,” Penny muses of her first encounter with Burt Lampey, whose van/crash pad starts the initial flood of unfortunate incidents.
The conclusion of Dog of the North is a perfect and satisfying acceleration toward a possible happily ever after, balanced by moments of psychological darkness. It exudes a woozy Coen Brothers aura, perfumed with dark humor and top notes of absurdist tragedy. Under all the colorful mania are a tender heart and a hero of post-modern persistence. Dog of the North is a lot more than simply an effortless read. Penny Rush stops at nothing to rewrite the family mystery and, in the process, stumbles upon something even juicier.
Elizabeth McKenzie appears in conversation with Karen Joy Fowler on March 14, 7pm, at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free. bookshopsantacruz.com
The Cabrillo College Foundation received the largest estate gift from Tom Sourisseau, a former faculty member who died at the end of 2021.
The anatomy instructor left $2.5 million in his estate plans that will support biology scholarships and faculty and staff grants to fund staff-driven projects on campus.
Cabrillo College held a dedication ceremony on Wednesday at the Aptos campus’ Allied Health Building to name the building in his honor.
“Tom was a beloved anatomy and physiology instructor who taught many of the current healthcare workers in this community,” Interim Vice President of Instruction Robin McFarland says. “He was a strong presence at Cabrillo and was deeply committed to the college. When [Sourisseau] wasn’t teaching biology, he was teaching county lifeguards. Personally, he was an inspiration—he helped me buy my first wetsuit and swam in the ocean with me, helped me train for my first half marathon, and invited me to a book club which he participated in until the end of his life. He was a respected and valued colleague and friend.”
Sourisseau dedicated more than three decades of his career to teaching at Cabrillo College, where he established a human anatomy program, preparing students for careers in healthcare. Beyond his teaching, Sourisseau demonstrated his dedication to Cabrillo and his students through his leadership roles as Faculty Senate President and Biology Department Chair.
He was a lifelong learner, consistently enrolling in diverse courses at Cabrillo College, including Spanish, chocolate making, dance and wine classes through the Culinary Arts program.
He received his degree from UC Berkeley in 1968, followed by a two-and-a-half-year service with the Peace Corps in West Africa. He possessed a passion for travel and was fluent in seven languages. He was a lifeguard and trained others in the profession. He often rode his bike to work, loved swimming in the ocean, and was an avid runner.
“Tom will always be remembered for his contributions to Cabrillo and our local community,” Cabrillo College Foundation Executive Director Eileen Hill says. “This gift will be a permanent endowment, ensuring student support for generations to come. I think he would be very proud to make such a lasting contribution to the education of students, especially those walking through the doors of the Sourisseau Allied Health Building.”
When renowned artist Juan R. Fuentes graduated from Watsonville High in 1969, Chicanos couldn’t take fine arts classes. But that didn’t deter Fuentes. It was a source of inspiration he’s carried throughout his prolific career, which will be showcased at Pajaro Valley Arts in his new exhibit, “Resilience: Works of Strength and Dignity 2023.”
The exhibit features over 50 works—woodcut, linocut, screen-print, plus more than two dozen posters—spanning Fuentes’ work from the 1970s to the present.
“I feel so honored to have the opportunity to exhibit such a large body of work for the community of Watsonville,” Fuentes says. “Having grown up here, it was my personal contacts from Watsonville High School that propelled me to attend San Francisco State University in 1969 as part of a new wave of students of color admitted through the Educational Opportunity Program.”
Exposure to the struggles through ethnic studies programs at San Francisco State and the anti-Vietnam War, Chicano and United Farm Worker movements also influenced Fuentes’ ongoing commitment to social and cultural activism and the fight for equality, all common themes in his work.
“It was just down the street from [the Porter Building] where I had my first job at the Western Auto Parts store on Main Street while I was a student in high school,” Fuentes says. “There, I learned to change tires on cars, and I also did most of the new bicycle assembly.”
Valéria Miranda, executive director at PV Arts, says Fuentes is a crucial local figure in the community because of his connection with Galleria de la Raza in San Francisco, among other Latino-focused organizations.
“You can tell when you look at the images that there is so much content that relates to our area, especially farmworkers and various political movements supporting farmworkers, like the Braceros,” Miranda says. “These are such important pieces of art.”
Fuentes’ poster work has become synonymous with the Chicano Poster Movement. In 2020, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. included his posters in “¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now,” which traveled throughout the country.
Miranda says the new exhibit features many of Fuentes’ posters inspired by political movements in Nicaragua, El Salvador, South Africa, Mexico, Palestine and more.
“I like [Fuentes’] political approach to image making, the use of bold colors and flat shapes also used by other international artists like Rene Mederos of Cuba,” artist and SF State professor Rupert Garcia says.
Co-founder and executive director of the Watsonville Film Festival, Consuelo Alba, initially suggested that Fuentes’ new exhibit open during the festival. The 11th annual WFF opens tonight with the world premiere of Eugenia Rentería’s 2023 short film, Strawberry Picker, a documentary about Fuentes’ leading up to local artist Kathleen Crocetti’s “Watsonville Brillante,” a sprawling collection of massive mosaic murals blanketing the Civic Plaza parking garage in downtown Watsonville. The first mural that went up was Fuentes’ “Mayan Warrior,” featuring a farmworker picking strawberries, hence Strawberry Picker.
The “Resilience: Works of Strength and Dignity” opening reception happens Sunday, March 5, at 1pm at PVA Porter Building, 280 Main St., Watsonville. pvarts.org; ‘Strawberry Picker’ screens at the 11th Watsonville Film Festival on Friday, March 3, at 7pm at the Mello Center, 250 E. Beach St., Watsonville. Free (donations appreciated).watsonvillefilmfest.org
On Feb. 24, the Watsonville Police arrested a 17-year-old Pajaro Valley High School student after he was found to have a loaded gun.
According to Watsonville Police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido, school officials called police just before 11am with a report that a student was possibly armed.
The School Resource Officer assigned to Watsonville High gathered information and coordinated additional officers to respond to the PV High campus.
Within minutes, the SRO located the student, detained him, and found a loaded gun in his backpack. The case is still under investigation.
“We’re thankful that our partnership with the school district resulted in a safe resolution to this incident,” Pulido stated.
PVHS Principal Consuelo Mason contacted the PVUSD Superintendent’s office when she learned about the student from a teacher and initiated the school’s Threat Assessment Protocol.
“Please know that our campus is safe, and instructions resumed as normal,” Mason wrote in a letter to parents. “Your child’s safety is extremely important to the PVHS staff, and we will continue to investigate all possible threats on campus and involve law enforcement when necessary. Campus safety continues to be a priority for us, and we take every incident seriously.”
Campus safety and the placement of School Resource Officers have been an issue in PVUSD since July 2020, when the Board of Trustees eliminated the program. Trustees Georgia Acosta and Daniel Dodge Jr. voted against the move.
At the time, supporters said that uniformed police officers on campus focused on minority students and contributed to the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
But a year later, a student was killed on the Aptos High School campus in a violent stabbing attack that many said might have been avoided had there been an SRO.
The incident prompted the board to reinstate the program at Aptos High, and Watsonville High followed suit. The Watsonville Police Department is currently evaluating its staffing levels to determine if it can also support the position at PV High.
The PVUSD Board of Trustees will discuss the SRO program at the second meeting in March, but no action will likely be taken since it will not be an action item.
Teacher Kevin Cordova says he’s frustrated about the lack of information from the district about the incident and wonders why there were seemingly no safety measures during the arrest. He says that eight officers came onto campus during break and arrested the student on the crowded campus.
“Even if we weren’t supposed to be on lockdown, I think I would like to know why that is,” Cordova adds. “We haven’t had any active shooter drills or even a lockdown or fire drill this year. I do hope our community understands that we were lucky today. Very lucky.”
Anyone with information regarding a possible threat in school can use the STOPit app.
MEG BAIRD AND CHRIS FORSYTH Philly native Meg Baird began as a potent piece of the City of Brotherly Love’s indie rock scene; she’s worked with Kurt Vile and co-founded psych-folk rockers Espers. Outside Philly, Baird has worked with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Sharon Van Etten. “It always felt pretty organic,” Baird said of the Philly music scene before a show in Big Sur about 10 years ago. “It’s all about people who love music and help each other out.” Baird’s 2023 release, Furling—co-produced and recorded with Charlie Saufley, her partner and Heron Oblivion bandmate—marks the singer-songwriter’s first solo album in eight years. The piano-centric LP is hypnotically contemplative. Fellow Philly musician and experimental guitarist Chris Forsyth—known for his work with Solar Motel Band—blasts off as a confident frontman on his 2022 record, Evolution Here We Come. $18 plus fees. Thursday, March 2, 8pm. The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. folkyeah.com
EDDIE 9V WITH FLYPAPER BLUES “I’ve seen a trend in modern recording,” guitar prodigy Eddie 9V said. “There’s no soul. I took inspiration from Albert Collins, Otis Rush and Mike Bloomfield. All those great records were done live with their buddies and no overdubs. I wanted the playing to be spot-on—but even if we made a mistake, we kept going.” Eddie’s 2021 release, Little Black Flies, comes full circle: the kid who once loitered outside the clubs of Atlanta is now leading Georgia’s most significant players into the studio. The rocker aims to pass that spirit on to everyone who hears the record. “It makes my day to please someone after they work all day,” he says. “My job is to make them smile and let the music make them forget—or remember.” Flypaper Blues, meanwhile, is self-described as “a little whiskey, coffee grinds, 2-in-1 oil and a whole lot of fiddle, driving drums and bass rhythms.” $15/$20 plus fees. Thursday, March 2, 8pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. moesalley.com
NICK COLLETTI (FULLY SEATED) Online, Nick Colletti has amassed a fanbase of nearly a million, with whom he regularly engages. With his “natural charm and raw talent,” Colletti quickly emerges as “one of Hollywood’s most dynamic and sought-after comedians and personalities.” He currently stars alongside Jimmy Tatro in Facebook Watch’s hit comedy “The Real Bros of Simi Valley,” which is set to begin production on its third season. Colletti plays Duncan in the pseudo-reality show that centers on four best friends navigating life in Simi Valley. $25/$30 plus fees. Friday, March 3, 9pm. The Catalyst Atrium, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.catalystclub.com
THE DESLONDES WITH DESIREE CANNON From bluegrass and R&B to gospel and folk-rock, the Deslondes’ sound is a gumbo of influences—like many New Orleans bands—spanning the genre mill. Dan Cutler (vocals/stand-up bass), Sam Doores (vocals/guitar), Riley Downing (vocals/guitar), Cameron Snyder (vocals/percussion) and John James Tourville (fiddle/pedal steel) equally partake in the songwriting process. The outfit’s widely touted self-titled debut continues to elicit praise. “Their debut introduces a band that sounds confident and fully formed,” Pitchfork wrote. “Every song contains some new flourish or some new idea to distinguish it.” Following a five-year hiatus, their 2022 record, Ways & Means, is even better, which is hard to fathom. Somehow, a group of all lead singers has found a way to synchronize more while mixing in some experimentation a la sprinklings of psych-rock to their perpetual mix of musical influences. $30/$34 plus fees. Friday, March 3, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com
POPOVICH COMEDY PET THEATER The World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater is a family-oriented blend of the unique comedy and juggling skills of Gregory Popovich and the talents of his furry costar. There are more than 25 pets in the show; each one has been rescued from animal shelters and given a new leash on life! They love to perform their skills and stunts on stage. Gregory Popovich has shared his expertise in raising, training and living harmoniously with pets in two books: You CAN Train Your Cat and Doggy Gone Good. Gregory has also produced and starred in a feature film now available for purchase. “Popovich and the Voice of the Fabled American West” has already won several awards, including the “Audience Choice Award” at the Dances With Films Festival in Los Angeles and International Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Popovich has been voted “Entertainer of the Year” in Las Vegas. $15/$30 plus fees. Sunday, March 5, 4pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. riotheatre.com
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world. For 60 years, South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award winning group has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies and signature dance moves. The late former South African President Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world,” a title the members carry with them with the highest honor. In 2018 the group received two Grammy Award nods for two separate albums, a first in the history of the World Music nominating category. These two recognitions brought their career total to 19 Grammy nominations. One of these albums, Shaka Zulu Revisited, won Best World Music Album, the group’s fifth Grammy win and the most for any world music group. Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions, singing a message of peace, love and harmony.$42/$63 plus fees. Tuesday, March 7, 7:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
COMMUNITY
SANTA CRUZ WARRIORS VS. Cleveland Charge You might not get the same dazzling show that you’d expect from a Golden State game amongst 18,000 riled-up fans cheering on Stephen and Draymond at the Chase Center. But the Santa Cruz Warriors—and whoever they play—are far from where the not-quite-good-enough-for-the-NBA players are sent to die. Nearly 50% of the NBA is composed of former G leaguers this season. It wasn’t long ago that Jordan Poole was suiting up for games at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. Now, he’s considered one of the top guards in the NBA. $27.20-$275. Thursday, March 2, 7pm. Kaiser Permanente Arena, 140 Front St., Santa Cruz. santacruz.gleague.nba.com
HISTORIC RANCH GROUND TOUR This groundbreaking dairy ranch is a window back in time. The hour-long tour includes visiting the 1896 water-powered machine shop, barns and other historic buildings. Free with $10 vehicle day-use fee. Sunday, March 5, 1pm. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz. santacruzstateparks.as.me
“Our first, natural reaction was, ‘How do we continue?’ and then we realized we have to continue,” Mike Belitsky explains.
The drummer for Canadian alt-country rock band the Sadies describes their persistent desire to continue the music and legacy of their former frontman, Dallas Good. Good died suddenly on Feb. 17, 2022, at only 48, following a recently diagnosed heart condition.
For many groups, this would be the end of the line. Yet for the Sadies—in their 29th year—it’d be a crime against Good’s memory to stop. Especially considering they’re touring on their 20th album, Colder Streams—a psychedelic mix of folk and the Zombies—recorded before his death and released last July.
“It’s cathartic,” Belitsky continues. “It’s the only thing we know how to do and the only way we know how to deal with grief: head on.”
After almost three decades of constant touring, it’s virtually unimaginable that the Sadies aren’t a household name. Chalk it up to most Americans’ knowledge of Canada consisting of the word “eh,” cheap prescription drugs and hockey. Regarding entertainment, “Letterkenny,” “The Kids in the Hall” and Strange Brew—for you older hosers—come to mind. But as far as lasting forces in the music world—Nickelback doesn’t count—there’s Neil Young, Rush and the New Pornographers.
But the Sadies should be part of that group. Google them, and journalists like Vish Khana claim they’re the best band ever. In 2017, Vice called them “Canada’s Greatest Living Rock Band.” From famed producer Steve Albini to Sloan, Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive/the Guess Who) and members of the Sheepdogs, Tweets rang out abundantly following Good’s passing.
For those who know, the Sadies have a massive, well-earned cult following. They’ve played and collaborated with hitmakers like John Doe, Kurt Vile, the late Justin Townes Earle, Neko Case (who once said her “favorite Sadies experience is the live Sadies”), John Spencer and—yes—even the man himself, Neil Young.
“The Sadies have always been able to work with—and forged relationships with—other musicians,” declares Belitsky. “But I think we’ll tour hard for a couple years on this record and then step back to think about what we want to do.”
Formed in 1994 by Good and bassist Sean Dean, they soon recruited Good’s older brother, Travis. The Goods grew up in a musical family; their dad and uncle are two components of the Good Brothers, a bluegrass-folk band who’ve played with the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Grand Funk Railroad and more. Belitsky joined in the late ’90s and became a full-time touring member in the early 2000s.
Four months before his death, Dallas Good wrote the bio—or anti-bio, as he put it—for Colder Streams. He opens by claiming the record, “is, by far, the best record ever made by anyone. Ever.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek testament to Good’s sense of humor, but he spends some quality time with this record, and it becomes hard to disagree. Produced by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Perry (who also appears on backing vocals for three tracks), it’s undoubtedly the best thing they’ve ever recorded, which—with their credentials and discography—is a hell of a thing to say.
Unlike other Sadies records, often recorded in days or weeks between tours, Colder Streams was started before the 2020 lockdowns. During the pandemic, the band recorded separately from each other, sneaking out of their respective houses, breaking curfews and driving six hours each way to hit the studio.
“That being said, during the pandemic, there was nothing else to do,” laughs Belitsky. “So, driving 12 hours to do some recordings versus—what? I hadn’t left my house in months. Like, ‘sure, I’ll do anything!’”
The songwriting is an important reason Colder Streams stands out as a milestone in the band’s repertoire. Tracks like “Message to Belial” and “So Far For So Few” are dreamy, psychedelic dances with romantically profound lyrics anchoring the listener from floating too far into space.
Then there’s “More Alone Than Alone,” a haunting song about loneliness and loss—with a touch of eerie foreshadowing—penned by Dallas the day after Justin Townes Earle’s overdose in 2020.
“I paid my respects to a close friend I lost yesterday/ I’ve learned to accept that there’s nothing that anyone could say/ It hurts me to think about what could’ve been and everything that won’t ever be/ He died all alone, but he was never alone.”
“It speaks to so many different aspects of our shared tragedy as a band,” Belitsky says. “You can hear that song and—without knowing about Justin—think Dallas was writing about his own passing. I feel more connected to it now.”
The Sadies perform Wednesday, March 1, at 8pm. $28 plus fees. The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. thecrepeplace.com
Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Santa Barbara poet laureate (2019-2021), and Danusha Laméris, Santa Cruz poet laureate (2018-2020), are widely published and renowned. They teach classes and workshops worldwide, so they were ready when Good Times asked them to reflect on the key ingredients to a life of poetry.
Increasingly it seems the job of a serious poet involves teaching and offering workshops to help grow the next crop of poets. Do you enjoy guiding the craft of making poems?
DANUSHA LAMÉRIS: I do enjoy mentoring poets. The process of teaching has changed my own poems, attuning me to what I most love on the page. My students have taught me so much, often by asking good questions. What I don’t know becomes a rabbit hole I go down in search of an answer. I teach through Pacific University’s Low-Residency MFA Program, and it’s like having an old-fashioned correspondence, poet to poet.
LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR: I agree with the great majority of poets who say that you cannot teach someone to be a poet—but you can certainly teach the many craft elements that go into making a poem a successful one. Also, I am lucky to mostly teach poets at the MFA level or adults who are motivated and interested in learning the crafts elements that go into writing poetry. And it’s the conversations I have with the poets I mentor or MFA students I teach that teach me so much about our art—every time!
Does teaching tend to be the “day job” for a practicing poet? And do day jobs add more frustration than support to your practice?
DL: The hardest part of being a working poet for me is scheduling and filling out forms! Teaching is one of the pleasures.
LB: Teaching has indeed been my day job, and this for decades. And teaching, talking, analyzing, revising, discussing, and discovering poetry is what makes me happy to get up every day. How lucky can one be to teach what one loves best? Are there some less successful days than others? Of course, there are—but name me a job that doesn’t have its ups & downs.
How often do you sit down and work on poems? Daily? At airports? Coffee shops?
DL: I do try to visit with poetry daily. That can mean reading poems, writing poems—at my desk and in cafés—and editing work I have in progress. My shelf of poetry books is a great treasure in my life. I love that the poet Naomi Shihab Nye says that even if she couldn’t write a poem––she could always be a fan! There are so many wonderful poets to savor and celebrate.
LB: I love early mornings at home best or in hotel rooms when I travel—when the mind is still fresh and sometimes surprisingly rich in metaphors—and even rich imagery—after a good night’s sleep. I also love to write while listening to music. Mostly without lyrics, of course, so piano music, cello, or even movie musical scores. I find that certain movie soundtracks create a kind of “narrative space” I love as background “noise.” My favorite composer right now (I change often!) is Rachel Portman, who composed the soundtrack of Chocolat and The Cider House Rules, but I also love the music of Nigel Westlake and James Horner.
Does the Poet Laureate honor bring increased visibility and opportunities? Does it lead to an unexpected workload?
DL: All I know is that’s how I started the Hive! (With the help of my co-founders). The laureate position is an opportunity to expand one’s love of poetry into the larger community. A vehicle. It’s like the SUV of poetry.
LB:Being Poet Laureate is an incredible honor and occasion to share with as many people as possible. As Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, I wanted to invite young and old poetry lovers from all walks of life to send their poems, not only “professional” or widely published poets. So, I put together an anthology of poems by Santa Barbara city and county poetry writers, with lovely poems written by nine-year-old Chumash poets as well as by a 93-year-old grandma and a poet who had never sent out a poem before I asked him. The anthology is entitled While You Wait, published by Santa Barbara’s Gunpowder Press. I’m deeply convinced that if more contemporary poets of all ages and provenance, languages, and origins were taught in schools, the studying of poetry and the reading and writing of it would become much more popular.
What poets or writers inspired you to try your first poems?
DL: My first poetry loves included a wide range: my grandfather and his poet friends in Barbados. The poet Tony Hoagland taught a group of five young poets at my high school. Rilke, Yehuda Amichai, Jane Hirshfield, Dorianne Laux and Lucille Clifton. To name a few!
LB: I was raised in Belgium and only moved to the U.S. in my late 40s. So, it’s French and Dutch poets who very much influenced me, such as the Flemish poet Herman de Coninck. My husband, the late poet Kurt Brown and I translated it into a book entitled The Plural of Happiness—and in French, the poets Louis Aragon, Francis Carco, Boris Vian, and Guillaume Apollinaire influenced me greatly.
What currently practicing poets do you admire?
DL:So many! And I always pick up new work by Leila Chatti, Maggie Smith, Ada Limón, and John Murillo, to name a few. Plus, we are blessed with a rich community of local poets, many of whom have a national and even international presence—not to mention the marvelous Laure-Anne Bosselaar!
LB: Honestly, I can’t answer this question without mentioning at least 50 poets! All equally loved and admired. But I can, however, name the three teachers I worked with as I studied for my MFA in Poetry: Larry Levis, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, and Thomas Lux, as well as my husband, the poet Kurt Brown who patiently taught me how to write in English—alas, all are deceased.
If you weren’t writing and teaching poetry, what would you want to be when you grow up?
DL: I would be an antiques dealer/jewelry designer. My Caribbean side is made up of writers and teachers, and my Dutch side is engineers and dealers/designers of objects. I carry both loves.
LB: Without hesitation: part of a large choir—which would, of course, allow me to write and especially read poetry “on the side”!
The Hive Live! Featuring Danusha Laméris and Laure-Anne Bosselaar happens Tuesday, March 7, at 7pm. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free (registration required). bookshopsantacruz.com
You’ll see “community” and “connection” several times in this week’s cover story. Community and connection are the foundation for the Watsonville Film Festival. When Consuelo Alba—WFF co-founder and executive director—discusses the event, she radiates an infectious glow.
“We realized we didn’t have a place to tell our stories or share our films,” Alba says. “That was the beginning of the Watsonville Film Festival.”
Those looking for something akin to Sundance should look elsewhere; WFF isn’t about glitz, glamor and Louis Vuitton swag. The community will remain front and center; nobody will ever be turned away.
In its 11th year, Alba has stood by her word. Screenings and special events are open to all—donations are appreciated but not required. This year, most of the festival screenings will be available online, too.
The WFF’s ongoing commitment to curate a roster of films that showcase Latinx cultures, traditions, creativity and resilience is stronger than ever. The 2023 WFF is the biggest yet; it “celebrates actors and activists: inspiring stories about beating the odds.” The 40-plus films include shorts and features, many with local connections; there are films about migrants navigating the U.S. legal system, international musicians who are community activists, a poet/musician forced into exile during Nicaragua’s Sandinista Revolution. On opening night, March 3, WFF welcomes Pepe Serna, a Latino Hollywood icon whose career spans 50 years and hundreds of films. Additionally, WFF is co-hosting the opening of renowned local artist Juan Fuentes’ retrospective, “RESILIENCE: Works of Strength and Dignity.” watsonvillefilmfest.org
Adam Joseph | Interim Editor
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
Snow fills the base of an aloe plant near the Hwy 17 summit. Photograph by Debra Brender.
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GOOD IDEA
After the weather extremes in the past few months, the importance of water infrastructure systems has never been so relevant. Yesterday, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District’s (SLVWD) Board of Directors moved forward with two projects that will repair water mains. The first will replace water mains, fittings, valves and fire hydrants along the Lyon and Big Steel Pipeline off Hwy 236. The other project will replace water mains and improve residential water service along Country Club Drive and Woodland Drive in Ben Lomond. slvwd.com
GOOD WORK
Congrats to the Santa Cruz High School Cardinal Regiment band, which has been chosen to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City this month. The band is one of the six high school groups nationwide to participate in a festival. To ensure all 85 students can go, a fundraising campaign has been launched to cover expenses: $2,450 per student. Donations accepted at cardinalmusic.org
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Foisting an identity on people rather than allowing them the freedom and space to create their own is shady.”
As a kid, Juan R. Fuentes liked to hang around with the braceros close to his Castroville home. These farmworkers would spend hours picking, plucking, snipping, cutting, digging and watering fields laden with DDT; some had threadbare bandanas to cover their noses and mouths. Fuentes was inexplicably drawn to these men. He recalls watching a man carve a bird from a wood block.
Eugenia Rentería’s 2023 short film Strawberry Picker—the world premiere happens Saturday, March 4, at the Mello Center with special guests Juan Fuentes, director Eugenia Rentería and producer Maria Cano—captures Fuentes reflecting on that moment with intimacy. It happened in the early ’60s, but it was the epiphany of a lifetime.
“It was magic to me,” Fuentes says through tears. “Because I love to carve.”
Fuentes began working in those same fields when he was in middle school. It was the only life he and his 10 siblings had known.
Watsonville High didn’t allow Chicanos to take fine arts classes, so Fuentes had to wait until college to delve into his passion.
“I had no idea what the hell I was going to do; I just knew this was my place,” Fuentes recalls. “I could do something here.”
The “here” Fuentes speaks of is the arts building at San Francisco State, where he found a new and wonderful reality. He was able to carve as much as he wanted.
Strawberry Picker starts with the beginning of Fuentes’ life. Still, it centers on the artist’s contribution to “Watsonville Brillante,” a 12,500-square-foot mosaic mural installed on the exterior of the Civic Plaza parking garage in downtown Watsonville. Spearheaded by local artist Kathleen Crocetti, the massive public artwork features several artists, but Fuentes’ “Mayan Warrior,” one of four vertical 1,200-square-foot pieces he designed, was the first. A Mayan god is depicted on the top. Below, a young man, hunched over, works in a field picking strawberries; though the face is strategically shadowed, Fuentes says it’s “almost a self-portrait.” A line of barbed wire runs across the horizon above the fieldworker’s head, denoting “the border” and “our people’s migration from Mexico” to the United States. “Mayan Warrior” mirrors the struggles and reliance of Fuentes’ life and the Chicano community—the line between art and life is blurred; it’s autobiographical, political and symbolic.
“People can see [the mural] and make their own connections,” Fuentes says. “It’s not only for my family, it’s for the people [in Watsonville] to reflect on.”
Strawberry Picker is a 20-minute portrait of Fuentes and his seminal mosaic mural, but it also embodies the spirit of the Watsonville Film Festival.
“It’s important to select inspiring films that connect with what’s happening in the community,” says Consuelo Alba, co-founder and director of the WFF.“We select films about ordinary people overcoming significant obstacles to do the extraordinary.”
Alba looks back on last year as one of the event’s most poignant iterations yet. In addition to celebrating its 10th anniversary, it also marked a time when the world was slowly coming out of the pandemic and returning to in-person events. The festival’s hallmark event featured a showing of Real Women Have Curves for its 20th anniversary. The film’s screenwriter Josefina López spoke about the importance of the movie as a landmark—the film was accepted into the National Film Registry shortly after the festival.
“There was electricity in the room,” Alba recalls. “So many people, women specifically, can relate to the story; the film was ahead of its time regarding body acceptance and positivity. [López] said Watsonville was the first festival to honor [the film].”
Comments like that are the payoff for Alba. WFF is painstakingly intentional about every selection it makes and ensuring everyone has access to the films, which is why this year, the entire festival is available on a pay-as-you-can basis.
“We want to make sure the entire community can see this amazing program,” Alba says. “WFF uplifts Latino voices, Latino stories and Latino artistry.”
Megan Martinez Goltz’s ‘Oaxaca en Santa Cruz’ features three parts: ‘Comida,’ ‘Medicina’ and ‘Música’ (pictured). Each 10-minute short shows how a specific element helps uplift all aspects of life.
Forever Serna
Pepe Serna doesn’t like to say “no.” Even if his name doesn’t ring a bell, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him in a few of the 400-plus film and television appearances he’s made over the last 50 years. In Scarface, Serna played Tony Montana’s Cuban drug dealer buddy, who meets his gory demise on the wrong side of a chainsaw. In Car Wash, Serna appeared alongside George Carlin and Richard Pryor and in the comedy classic The Jerk, he played “Punk #1” in an early scene with Steve Martin. The prolific character actor played Edward James Olmos’ brother on the run in The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez—Serna also joined OImos in the cult classic American Me.
There have been some awards, too. Serna scored a special Screen Actors Guild Heritage Achievement Award for all the character roles he played “when Latino actors didn’t make it into Hollywood films.” He also received the prestigious Estrella Award for Arts & Culture from the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
At 78, Serna says he’s experiencing a “rebirth.” He recently wrote and performed a one-person show and planned to take it on the road. Serna also has a couple of movies in the can and begins shooting another film this month.
“The [filmmaker] asked, ‘Do you work on Saturday and Sunday?’” Serna says. “I said, ‘Every day [I’m working] is Saturday, Sunday or Christmas!’”
While he’s in town, Serna will also teach some improv classes to Pajaro Valley Unified School District students.
Over the last 50 years, Pepe Serna has appeared in over 400 movies and television shows. Though he’s still active in Hollywood, he wants to focus more on teaching improvisational acting.
How do you teach improvisation?
PEPE SERNA: We’ve all been doing [improvisational acting] since we were born. We don’t know what our next step will be or what the next word out of our mouth will be, depending on who we are talking to. We don’t know what question the teacher will ask or what a friend will ask or tell us, so we’re already improvising every day.
In Oaxaca, [Mexico], they shake hands by sticking their hand out and not touching the other person’s hand; they just keep it an inch apart. They feel the energy between them. So, we start with that [in my class], then I go into “the mirror exercise.” [Students] stand 12 to 20 inches apart and stare at each other. It’s hard not to laugh if they’re kids or uncomfortable. They just look at each other for as long as they can, then one [person] starts a movement—if I move my right hand to my chest upward, my partner will move their left hand; we’re mirroring movements, slowly, not fast, we have to be in sync. There are a lot of different games.
What was the most challenging role of your career?
The toughest was creating my one-person show, [El Ruco Chuco Cholo Pachuco], and all the characters I created. Even though I wrote them, I have to remember everything I wrote: El Ruco Chuco Cholo Pachuco, a zoot suiter who got railroaded into prison in 1942. Then, all his imaginary offspring go to prison, every different generation. So, I had to write and then perform all those different characters and different times.
What inspires you?
I was born to do this. I love performing and enticing people into conversations. If I’m at the mall, I’ll jump into a family’s conversation, especially if they have kids, and say something that triggers me as I pass by—something usually that has humor, something that’s going to lighten their load. I love to do that. And it usually works. In improv, it’s called the “Yes/And Adjustment,” which means keeping an open mind to new ideas. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
How does Hollywood treat Latinos in your personal experience?
We don’t really get treated at all. I disprove that statement because I’ve done so much, but I didn’t get to do many of the stories I could have done when I was younger because they didn’t tell our stories. And if they did, they had a Caucasian guy writing the story, not somebody that knows or lived our story, breathed it, eaten it, slept with it, woken up with it.
You’ve been married for over 50 years. What’s your secret?
George Harrison’s wife, Olivia, was asked how she stayed married, and she said, “It’s easy; you just don’t get divorced.”
For us, we’ve been very compatible. [Diane] created me as a visual artist. I didn’t know I could do that until she encouraged it. She saw my doodling and art that I started while shooting a film in Santa Fe. I got some watercolors and acrylic paints and started painting. And she loved it. How do you encourage? By encouraging people with the “Yes/And,” you can create miracles. We’re not in a contest. Even with our spouses. It’s not 50/50; it’s 100/100. You have to be willing to give it all, all the time. We’re all different. We’re together all the time. It’s going to be 54 years on March 18. They took me to her door the second day I got to Hollywood. My friend from Acapulco was there with me, and he was a friend of hers. Six months later, she came to one of my [improv] workshops and invited me home. I never left.
It’s all about being kind to each other and waking up the next morning, not worrying about anything negative that happened the day before.
You’re in Flamin’ Hot, a movie due out this year about the origin and popularity of Hot Cheetos directed by Eva Longoria.
It’s a feature-length film, and I play the grandfather. I couldn’t do as much as Eva wanted me to—she’s from my hometown in Corpus Christi, Texas. I’ve known her since she started, and now, she’s running her own company. It’s incredible what she’s done.
It’s a small part, but I’ve never looked at parts as being small. There are no extras in this life. Everybody is just as important as everybody else. Not that I hate the star system, but maybe I do. I don’t like what it pretends to be. Everybody’s just as important as everybody else. That’s my mantra to the kids: You’re not in competition with anybody else. Your race is only with yourself.
What’s one of the most difficult decisions you’ve ever made?
I’ve been pretty lucky, but I had to turn down a part in Desperado that would have had me working with Robert Rodriguez. I had just finished two [television] series with Jennifer Lopez, “Second Chances” and “Hotel Malibu.” I played her father.
What’s one thing you haven’t done that you hope to do in your lifetime?
Have universities and schools come after me for my [improv acting] workshop. I have my memoirs and the documentary—I want to show all the people I’ve worked with how I’ve done it, and how I’m still doing it and still have that same passion I did as a three-year-old when I got my first applause.
With the Academy Awards coming up, what’s your favorite film of 2022?
I am in the Academy. I just love films. I really liked The Whale—it’s amazing what [Brendan Fraser] did. It’s exciting to see Latinos getting nominated, like [Ana de Armas] from Blonde. But we have a long way to go. [Latinos] are at the Academy Awards, but we’re still serving the food and parking the cars. I want to see more [Latinos].
Opening Night: Honoring Pepe Serna (screening his documentary Pepe Serna: Life is Art and new short film Abuelo; director Luis Reyes will join Serna) Friday, March 3, at 7pm. Free (donations appreciated). Mello Center, 250 E. Beach St., Watsonville. watsonvillefilmfest.org
Carlos Perez Osorio’s excellent documentary, ‘Los Tigres del Norte: Historias que contar,’ showcases a band credited with writing 600 songs, selling more than 60 million records and being dubbed the “greatest grupo norteño of all time.”
World Premieres
Oaxaca en Santa Cruz: Comida, Medicina and Música – Directed by Megan Martinez Goltz (2023) While finding ways to recover during the COVID-19 post-pandemic era, indigenous elders share how accessing traditions from their homelands in Oaxaca is vital for healing themselves and their communities in Santa Cruz, California. This three-part series explores elements of food, medicine and music and how each carries specific traditions helping to uplift all aspects of life. (10 minutes for each part; Spanish with English subtitles; all ages)
Influenced – Directed by Alondra Zamudio (2023)When Sam, a 17-year-old influencer, quits her online persona, she must grapple with the harsh realities of life. As she navigates the difficulties of her mother becoming ill again, Sam is also in turmoil with her best friends, Emily and Marisa. (13 minutes; English; all ages)
Living In Exile: Carlos Mejía Godoy – Directed by Jon Silver(2023) Forced into exile and living in California, Carlos Mejía Godoy is a legendary musician and poet of Nicaragua’s Sandinista Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Mejía Godoyshares his music, poetry and paintings as he reflects on Nicaragua’s historic fight for liberty and the betrayal of the original Sandinista Revolution. (14 minutes; Spanish with English subtitles; all ages)
Los Tigres del Norte: Historias que contar – Directed by Carlos Perez Osorio
The legendary Norteño band came to San Jose with nothing in the 1960s and rose to sell more than 60 million records, winning six Grammys and 12 Latin Grammys along the way. Co-presented by the Mexican Consulate of San José. (105 minutes; Spanish with English subtitles; ages 13+)
Megan Martinez Goltz’s ‘Oaxaca en Santa Cruz: Comida.’
Local Connections
Sansón y yo–Directed by Rodrigo Reyes (2022) Award-winning documentary film presenting a vibrant portrait of a friendship navigating immigration and the depths of the criminal justice system while pushing the boundaries of cinematic imagination to rescue a young migrant’s story from oblivion. The family members of the protagonist live in Watsonville.(83 minutes; Spanish and English with English subtitles).
Santos: Skin To Skin – Directed by Kathryn Golden(2022) A film portrait of community activist and seven-time Grammy nominee John Santos, a “keeper of the Afro-Caribbean flame.” Rich in musical performances, Santos links the rhythms of his ancestors to contemporary struggles of identity and social justice. Co-presented by Kuumbwa Jazz, Santos premiered at SXSW and won the Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Award.(75 minutes; English; all ages)
Eternidad – Written and directed by Gabriel J. Medina (2023) In this local short film fusing horror and magical realism, a disoriented woman stumbles into an eerie bar and accepts an odd challenge from a blind man. She then finds herself trapped in a performance that may never end. Produced by Watsonville filmmakers Alejandro Santana Jr. and Shadé Quintanilla at El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. (8 minutes; English)
The Watsonville Film Festival in-person/online screenings and special events begin March 3 and run through March 12. Free (donations appreciated). watsonvillefilmfest.org
Adam Spickler, who uses the pronouns he/they, has worked in local government for over a decade.
As some do over the years, Spickler grappled with their evolving identity. But unlike most, this personal inquiry was fast-tracked and made public.
In 2009, Spickler worked in a county building. During this time, they were reevaluating how they relate to gender. Because they were more masculine presenting, various issues arose when they would use the women’s bathrooms.
“It’s ironic that it stemmed from bathroom use because so much of the political issues currently facing the trans community nationwide is around bathrooms,” Spickler says. “But it kind of dawned on me, realizing that I’ve been putting off making a decision for myself, and it wasn’t serving me in a lot of ways, and I was watching it play out in this professional setting.”
Spickler came out to their proactive boss and together they crafted a letter sent out throughout the department to explain Spickler’s name change, including the new pronouns.
In 2009, the discussion around pronoun choice and being non-binary was relatively new. Spickler says they were lucky to have an accepting workplace and that they have friends who underwent a similar transition with more devastating outcomes.
But in 2023, this conversation has hit the mainstream: it’s common to include pronoun choice in email signatures and social media bios, and high-profile celebrities use they/them pronouns.
In recent years, there has been a push to bring inclusive language to the workplace and update policies to reflect modern realities. In 2020, the Supreme Court made the landmark decision that employment discrimination includes discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status. In some instances, misgendering or using improper pronouns in workplaces can be considered harassment.
Following this trend, cities and counties are trying to modernize the language in the documents that rule our local political offices. Referred to by different names, some as city charters, some as code of ordinances, these documents are what one official called a local government’s “constitution.” Arguably the most critical city document, the charter outlines the roles and responsibilities of elected officials and city employees and serves as a foundational piece of the legal structure of the city.
But even as local cities try to update their codes and policies to be more inclusive, the constitutions are still littered with outdated gender stereotypes, a living relic of our exclusive past.
Watsonville’s charter uses only masculine pronouns when referencing city officials; Santa Cruz’s uses a combination of gendered pronouns and sometimes inclusive pronouns; Scotts Valley’s uses gendered pronouns and sometimes only masculine pronouns.
For Spickler, who now works as a senior administrative analyst at the county and serves on the Cabrillo Board of Trustees, being misgendered doesn’t send them spiraling. But they know that’s not the case for everyone, and they stress the importance of inclusive language in official government documents.
“I think it’s really important for the government to lead the way to show that these are things that matter and to normalize our having conversations about it,” says Spickler. “I know it’s not an easy thing at times for the government to accomplish, but just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean it’s not right.”
Local Efforts
For the past few years, the state has been pressuring local municipalities to make the governing language more inclusive.
In 2017, the state passed the Gender Recognition Act, which updated state codes to
recognize a third gender option on California state-issued documents. The following year, the legislature passed a bill that ensured gender-neutral pronouns and gender-inclusive language when drafting state legislation and called on local governments to use gender-neutral pronouns when drafting policies, regulations and other guidance. But according to Santa Cruz city attorney Tony Condotti, there’s no legal imperative to do so, and it’s ultimately up to a city’s prerogative whether to update to incorporate inclusive language in governing documents.
So far, the county, along with Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, is implementing a slowly-but-surely approach to updating their city documents, removing gender-specific pronouns in their respective municipal codes as they pass ordinances.
For Scotts Valley, this happens once or twice a year as a new code is added or updated. For Santa Cruz, this happens more frequently every time the council adopts a new ordinance.
But updating a charter falls outside solely elected officials’ authority. The only way to comprehensively update a local government’s constitution to use inclusive language is to bring that issue to the voters.
The last time Santa Cruz amended its charter was last June when the city transitioned to district elections. The new language drafted for this amendment provided a rare opportunity for the city to use gender-neutral language. Still, Condotti says that while the city tries to be thoughtful about pronoun choices, inclusive pronouns weren’t implemented consistently during this amendment.
“We don’t always get it right,” Condotti says. “We overlooked a couple of instances of gender-specific pronouns and didn’t make that change. But it’s been a fairly recent practice to incorporate gender-neutral language into our codes, so our track record isn’t perfect.”
Watsonville is the only local city considering removing gendered pronouns altogether from its constitution and expecting to bring the issue to its voters in the next year. The process would involve creating a committee to advise the council on how to proceed, collecting public input and all the usual effort and time involved in putting issues on the ballot.
“Charters set the foundation of your local government,” says Watsonville city manager Rene Martinez. “Something as straightforward as the use of pronouns, if it makes it more inclusive in our constitution, then that’s the message we’re sending. Utilizing resources is not really the question or issue the way I look at it.”
For Watsonville, though, the issue of updating its charter extends beyond efforts to use more inclusive language. A lot needs to be updated, given the city hasn’t updated its charter since the mid-2000s, says Watsonville Mayor Eduardo Martinez. The trick, he says, will be balancing what to bring to the voters so as not to overwhelm them. For every update and amendment to the charter, the law requires that it be presented as its own measure to voters.
But being inclusive is top on the list for Martinez. He says he wants to take it further than just the pronoun issue and has been wondering if it’s possible to translate the charter to Spanish. Condotti says he doesn’t think the translation would require voter input since that is more of an administrative function and agrees that would signal a more inclusive, thoughtful city.
In terms of whether any legal action could be taken based on pronoun technicalities, Watsonville city attorney Samatha Zutler says she has never seen anything of the sort and doesn’t expect to. Zutler has provided legal advice to cities for most of her career and says the likelihood that legal issues could evolve from the charter because specific rules are restricted to only masculine pronouns is slim.
“I had never seen case law based on that set of circumstances,” Zutler says. In Watsonville’s charter, a provision says all rules that use masculine gender also apply to women.
Oakland’s Example
Cities across California are joining the growing efforts to modernize their constitutions. Just last year, Oakland was one of the latest cities that brought a measure to voters that focused on updating the gendered language in its charter. In November, the measure passed.
Prior to the measure, Oakland had a policy to update the charter through new ordinances, similar to the process that Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley use. But city council members wanted to take their commitment to diversity one step further by updating the charter.
According to Oakland’s city attorney’s office, the updates have already been completed, with the only staff time involved in the process being two attorneys from the city department. But Spickler says they’re sympathetic to the time and diligence that goes into the updating process and that they favor focusing on government documents outside the charters and getting the language right as amendments are made.
Our elected officials are there for a reason; residents trust them, so let them do their job and continue making the charter gender inclusive as new ordinances are added. Bringing it to the voters might just backfire or delay the process.
“Taking every single piece of work that we do at the governmental level and putting it on display for voters and having a vote on every piece of work, I think, is where you start to get into really bad gray areas,” Spickler says. “You vote for your lawmakers. You don’t vote for the work that they do, which is why I wouldn’t advise taking the charters to voters directly. What if the voters decide that, you know, separate but equal makes sense to them? It’s too risky, in my opinion.”
