Sevy’s Kitchen & Bar is an ideal spot for indoor and outdoor dining. Recently redecorated, it’s a revamped and welcoming place for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The casual bar comes with an upbeat vibe, and is a great gathering spot for a glass of wine or tasty cocktail. Situated in the Seacliff Inn in Aptos, Sevy’s is a hive of bustling energy and action—hosting many featured music gigs and public events.
Heading there recently for dinner, we were delighted with the quality of the food and excellent service. Executive Chef Kenneth Drew has a wealth of experience, and has certainly made his mark at Sevy’s with eclectic and popular menu selections.
I took along a bottle of La Crema’s 2024 Russian River Valley Red Wine Nouveau(corkage is a reasonable $15). This easy-drinking red wine ($35) comes with lighter tannins and fruit-forward flavors—and pairs well with a variety of cuisine. “This wine charms with a radiant expression,” says La Crema of their superbly made wine. “It woos us to submit to the joy of this very moment.” Lacrema.com
Sevy’s Kitchen & Bar, 7500 Old Dominion Court, Aptos, 831-688-8987. Sevysbarandkitchen.com
Family Farmed
Farm Fresh To You is a collection of California family-owned farms. They grow sustainably, and protect soil resources, water resources and farm workers. They also do a weekly harvest and box up a variety of fruits and vegetables—and then bring them to your home as often as you like. Artisan farm products, such as fresh eggs, dairy, pickled veggies, honey and jams, can also be added to your organic produce box. Contact Farm Ambassador Matthew Harnack at 669-234-9529 for more info. For $10 off your first box, visit farmfreshtoyou.com and use Harnack’s promo code: MTOCMHAR.
Even in this age of shamelessness, it’s been astonishing to watch business leaders bend the knee to Donald Trump as he prepares to take office.
Newspaper owners like the Los Angeles Times’ Patrick Soon-Shiong and the Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos, after years of staying mostly hands-off, have suddenly forced their journalists to move in a pro-Trump direction.
CEOs of companies including Apple (Tim Cook) Uber (Dara Khosrowshahi) and Amazon (Bezos again) have written million-dollar checks to Trump’s inaugural committee, forsaking their basic human dignity in return for government perks including, perhaps “not going to prison.”
But no mogul has debased himself more than Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (whom Trump has threatened with a life sentence). He cut the check. He bent the knee. But he also publicly and explicitly signed on with Trump’s authoritarian cause, declaring in the name of “free speech” that the fading social-media service he started as a way to rate the attractiveness of college women will now allow all kinds of bigotry and dangerous conspiracy theories to be posted unchecked. (While he was at it, he ordered that tampons be removed from the company’s men’s rooms. Really.)
And yet, if you search on Facebook (or Instagram, or Threads) for “cannabis,” you’ll be out of luck, and if you mention weed, you still might be censored. That was really weird even before all this, but it’s far weirder now that Facebook users are allowed to say, for instance, that Covid vaccines might kill you or that being gay or trans is a symptom of “mental illness.”
The company isn’t talking outside of issuing statements and having its weird, pallid CEO go on Joe Rogan to say all kinds of loopy shit, like how American business needs more “masculine energy.” But it appears that, as before, Facebook still considers cannabis an illegal “drug” and will continue to block searches and even censor content (albeit in a haphazard, impossible-to-predict fashion). In its announcement of the policy changes, Facebook stated that it will “continue to focus on tackling illegal and high-severity violations, like terrorism, drugs, fraud and scams.”
So, presumably, you can tell people to inject bleach or declare that their sexuality is a sickness, but don’t go talking about how high you got last night, or (more to the point, really) how weed helped get you off fentanyl or relieved chronic pain.
“Haphazard and impossible-to-predict” is a wild understatement. Facebook’s content “moderation” has always been something of a joke. And there is a ton of weed-oriented stuff on Facebook, including whole pages and groups dedicated to the topic, that goes entirely uncensored, often for years. At the same time, though, other weed content is subject to being vaporized, and nobody knows what the criteria are.
But the bigger problem is that searches for cannabis content are blocked by keyword. The cannabis-policy news site Marijuana Moment took note of the continued censorship last week. Reporter Ben Adlin reported that “even when searching for accounts that merely regulate state-legal marijuana, engage in political advocacy or simply report news related to the issue,” you can’t find them via Facebook search. “A query for ‘Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission,’ ‘Marijuana Policy Project,’ or ‘Marijuana Moment,’ for example, yields no results and instead displays a notice encouraging users: ‘If you see the sale of drugs, please report it.’”
It should be noted that you can find those pages via Google.
All of this mess highlights how difficult it is to moderate content on a large social-media site, even when you have the best of intentions, as Facebook once pretended it had. But it also highlights how terrible Facebook in particular has always been on this score. It has changed moderation strategies so often over the years that it ultimately became impossible to gauge their effectiveness beyond concluding that it wasn’t very effective at all.
But if you still need a reason to abandon Facebook and all of Meta’s social-media sites, the fact that you can’t search on “cannabis” but you can search on the N-word should be enough.
In medieval Europe, beekeepers made formal reports to their hives of significant events in the human world, like births, deaths, marriages and departures. They believed the bees needed to be continually informed so as to ensure robust honey production. The practice was called “telling the bees.” Let’s make this an inspiring story for you in the coming weeks, Aries. I invite you to keep your community fully apprised of what’s happening in your life. Proceed on the assumption that sharing your plans and changes with others will generate harmony and support. Like the beekeepers, you may discover that keeping your community in the loop will strengthen your bonds and sweeten your endeavors.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
A regular guy named Jesse Ronnebaum bought an old painting at a yard sale for 50 cents. For the next ten years, it hung on the wall in his living room. Then he noticed a dim inscription on the painting that suggested maybe it was more valuable than he realized. Consulting an art dealer, he discovered it was an unusual composition that featured the work of seven prominent artists—and was worth a lot of money. Ronnebaum said, “Years of struggling, barely making bills, and the whole time there’s $50,000 hanging over my head, literally.” I am predicting metaphorically comparable events unfolding in your life during the coming months, Taurus. Hidden value will no longer be hidden. You will potentize neglected sources of wealth and finally recognize subtle treasures.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
In Namibia’s arid grasslands, fairy circles periodically emerge. They are highly regular rings of bare land encompassed by vegetation. What causes them? Supernatural entities, as believed by the local people? Sand termites or hydrogen-loving microbes, according to a few scientists? As yet, no definitive explanation has emerged. I love that! I cherish mysteries that thwart attempts at rational explanation. In accordance with astrological omens, Gemini, I invite you to specialize in tantalizing and unsolvable enigmas in the coming weeks. Your soul needs rich doses of provocative riddles, mysterious truths and fun puzzles. Exult in the liberating declaration, “I don’t know!”
CANCER June 21-July 22
Wherever you wander, be alert for signals that remind you of who you used to be. This will stimulate your creative speculation about who you want to evolve into during the next few years. As you ruminate about your history, you will get inspirations about who you want to become. The past will speak vividly, in ways that hint at your best possible future. So welcome clues from people who are no longer alive. Be receptive to old allies and influences that are no longer a central part of your world.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
“Crown shyness” is a phenomenon seen among some trees like lodgepole pines. In forests, they grow big and strong and tall, yet avoid touching each other at their tops. This creates canopies full of pronounced gaps. What causes this curious phenomenon? First, if branches don’t brush up against each other, harmful insects find it harder to spread from tree to tree. Second, when winds blow, branches are less likely to collide with each other and cause damage. There’s a third benefit: More sunlight penetrates to the forest floor, nourishing animals and other plants. I propose that you adopt crown shyness as a metaphor for your use, Leo. Express your beauty to the max—be bold and vivid and radiant—but also provide plenty of space for your allies to shine. Be your authentically amazing self, but create boundaries that allow others to be their amazing selves.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Some astrologers assert that you Virgos suffer from an ambition deficit. They authoritatively assert that a fiery aspiration to achieve greatness never burns hot within you. But in the coming months, I will work to show you a different perspective. Let’s start now: Many of you Virgos are highly skilled at being self-sufficient. But sometimes this natural strength warps into a hesitancy to ask for help and support. And that can diminish your ability to fulfill your ambitions. My goal will be to celebrate and nurture your self-sufficiency even as I coach you to be dynamic about gathering all the assistance you can.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Life is not fair. In the coming days, you will be odd proof of this fact. That’s because you are likely to be the beneficiary of uncommon luck. The only kind of karma that will be operating in your vicinity will be good karma. X-factors and wild cards will be more available to you than usual. Your timing will be impeccable, and your intuition will be extra incisive. You may even be tempted to theorize that life is conspiring to bring you an extra supply of meaningful experiences. Here’s the clincher: If anyone in your sphere is prone to feeling envy because you’re flourishing, your charm will defuse it.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Here are three questions to ruminate on: 1. What resources are you afraid you will run out of or squander? 2. What if your fear of running out or squandering these resources obstructs your ability to understand what you need to know and do so that you won’t run out or squander them? 3. How can you dissolve the fear and feel confident that the necessary resources will keep steadily flowing in, and you will use them well?
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Most stars have at least one companion star, sometimes two. Our sun, which is all alone, is in the minority. Astronomers have found evidence that our home star once had a companion but lost it. Is there any chance of this situation changing in the future? Might our sun eventually link up with a new compatriot? It’s not likely. But in contrast to our sun’s fate, I suspect that 2025 will offer you a significant diminishment in your personal loneliness quotient. If you crave more camaraderie and togetherness, the coming months will be a favorable time to seek them out. Your meditation question: What’s the opposite of loneliness?
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
In the coming weeks, your authenticity will be your greatest strength. The more genuine and honest you are, the more life will reward you. Be alert for situations that may seem to demand camouflage when in fact they will ultimately reward your complete transparency. You will be most powerful and attractive as you allow yourself to be fully seen. You can even use your vulnerability to your advantage. Be openly, clearly, unabashedly yourself.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
As I envision your life in the coming weeks, I am moved to compare you to certain birds. First, there will be similarities between you and the many species that can literally perceive Earth’s magnetic fields, seeing them as patterns of shadow and light overlaid on their regular vision. You, too, will have an uncanny multi-dimensional awareness that helps guide your travels. Secondly, Aquarius, you will be like the migrating songbirds that recalibrate their internal compass every day when the sun sets. In other words, you will make steady efforts to ensure that your magical ways of knowing are grounded in earthy rhythms.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
In some Polynesian cultures, there is a belief that one’s mistakes, including excessive anger, can cause physical sickness. Hawaiians traditionally have employed a ritual remedy for such ills called ho’oponopono. It includes acts of atonement, forgiveness and correction. It may even involve a prayer conference where all the people involved talk about their mutual problems with respect and compassion, seeking solutions and restitution. The coming weeks will be a fantastically favorable time for you to carry out your own version of ho’oponopono, Pisces.
Homework: Make two promises to yourself: one that’s easy to keep and one at the edge of your capacity to fulfill. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
Extreme photojournalist Alekz Londos, and his most recent content of Los Angeles burning, garnered him a spot on Fox News, where his videos went viral, with millions of views.
“Fox let me know that I couldn’t talk about climate change or politics,” Londos said from his home in Santa Cruz. “If I could have, I would have talked about the erratic wind speeds, climate-related disasters and weather-related anomalies.”
Londos spent eight years at Cabrillo College studying fire technology courses, and learning all he could about disaster survival. In the case of LA, Londos is quick to relate his studies to the still-happening catastrophe.
He and his cameras have covered 60 forest fires, seven hurricanes and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He also went to Nepal after an earthquake, Ghana during the Ebola outbreak, and volunteered in Syrian refugee camps. During Hurricane Hugo, he slept in a windblown parking garage while others fled New Orleans.
But, according to Londos, LA was different.
“It’s so hard to even comprehend what it’s like. It’s like a war zone. It’s literally like a war,” Londos says. But in this case, the enemy is fire, and the firefighters are the soldiers. Unlike the CZU Lightning Complex fires, this wasn’t about saving 637 homes. In LA, over 10,000 homes have been lost, so far.
“What’s flammable? All the paints, all the lacquers, the siding, the fossil-fuel-derived roofs, and all of the different components that go into the building of a house. The insulation is flammable, most products in the house are petroleum-based, and we love to live amongst trees, even in a severe drought. People are living outside their means,” Londos says.
Londos doesn’t hold back on his praise of the response of the firefighters. “They’re constantly just trying to save the homes they can, and unfortunately the reality is that they spend their time, and their limited resources, protecting the homes that have a higher chance of being saved.”
FIRE’S AFTERMATH In the split-second decisions that firefighters have to make, homes are saved or lost. PHOTO: Aleks Londos
Maybe the homeowner had more defensible space, or home hardening techniques, or they didn’t stack wood piles next to the side of the house. And in the split-second decisions that firefighters have to make, homes are saved or lost. Combine this with there not being enough trained humans to make their way safely through neighborhoods to spot in advance for the firefighters, just to let them know that a savable house is just around the corner.
“As a journalist,” Londos begins, “I have reign of the entire area in the disaster zone. I’m already driving around and getting my content. And I saw a house that could be saved. I filmed it, drove around the block and found some firefighters, and showed them the video. They figured out the address, called it in, and the house was saved, no questions asked. I did that three times.”
Important to note that Londos is trained, experienced and follows protocol. But even the most experienced disaster chaser can be overwhelmed. “I was driving through one neighborhood, probably seven city blocks. Homes were on fire, other homes were already destroyed. I did not see a single firefighter. It just overwhelmed everyone, so fast.”
Londos is hoping to be able to reach out to young people through his social media (@envirolize), and has an urgent piece of advice.
“Expand your education, preferably at a community college, and try to diversify your information, so that you can learn more about people, animals and the world. Try to get a good grasp on what this world is about and how things work. And then you’ll be able to make more of an informed decision with how you spend your money, how you vote with your money, how you spend your time, and the direction that you choose to go in life.
“I think everything has to do with making informed decisions, and that also requires personal sacrifices in one’s life. Rather than watch that soap opera, spend more time trying to do things that improve your life. Make more calculated decisions of how you think about everything. Weigh out the pros and cons. Will your decisions help people and animals? Think about how you can help your family and the future generations of the world. Manifest the life that you want to create, and how you can help this society that we live in. And think about how you can find your place in that,” Londos concludes.
Back in Santa Cruz for a breather, Londos was still packed when the Moss Landing fire started and he headed out again.
After a meeting that began Jan. 15 evening and stretched into the early-morning hours of the next day, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees agreed to cut more than $5 million from the budget including mental health workers and assistant principals.
The first round includes $750,000 from the District Office and $600,000 from academic coordinator positions, also called assistant principals. It also included $1.3 million from elementary school release positions, the teachers who fill in while other teachers are doing paperwork or prep.
That passed 5-1, with Trustee Gabriel Medina dissenting. The Trustee Area 1 seat formerly occupied by Kim De Serpa has not yet been filled.
The trustees made $500,000 cuts to intervention teachers, mental health clinicians and socio-emotional counselors. It passed 4-2, with Medina and Trustee Jessica Carrasco dissenting.
The need for the cuts comes from the loss of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which the state provided during the Covid-19 pandemic to help students with issues related to online instruction.
Those dollars are sunsetting this year, and PVUSD must now “right-size” after using the one-time funds to pay for ongoing expenses such as hiring new staff.
PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras warned that waiting to make the cuts—or failing to make them—would force the district to deficit spend, and face possible eventual state takeover if the budget picture worsens.
It would also make future reductions more difficult, as the district is predicted to lose $10 million next year due to declining enrollment, Contreras said.
“Reducing the budget by cutting essential services like social-emotional support is shortsighted, and will cost us more in the long run,” said Medina. “Failing to invest in these critical programs now means we risk higher expenses later as we address the long-term effects of untreated bullying, anxiety and depression.”
Students are recovering from the 2023 floods, he said, which compounds the challenges they already face. “Without adequate support, we risk higher dropout rates, decreased attendance and increased disciplinary issues—all of which carry significant financial consequences for our district. We must prioritize the well-being of our students to build a stronger future for both them and our community.”
Carrasco agreed.
“I can’t vote for these choices, because I ran a campaign on empowering students, and I don’t see these choices doing that,” she said.
It is unclear how many positions will now have to be cut. Contreras said that district officials will bring a resolution to the board at either the Feb. 12 or March 5 meeting.
Contreras said that the district hopes to offset reductions to mental health services by looking to other agencies that provide similar services through their own grants.
Still, dozens of people addressed the board, most of them expressing concern that the loss of mental health clinicians and socio-emotional counselors will have a dire effect on students.
“Cutting funding to mental health will absolutely put our students’ lives at risk,” said Watsonville High School history teacher Bobby Pelz.
Instead, Pelz said, the district should cut the School Resource Officer program, which places armed law enforcement officers on campuses with a mental health clinician.
“I think it sends the wrong message that we would rather invest in control than invest in support,” he said.
Aptos High School senior Corbin Joao Bettencourt urged the board not to cut mental health services, predicting that the need for such services will likely increase as the conservative-leaning government increasingly attacks the LGBTQ community.
“As someone who has had depression and nearly tried suicide, I find it insulting, disrespectful and infuriating that you would even suggest taking away mental health services from my school and those who need it,” he said. “The mental health professionals at my school helped me a lot. In fact, if not for them I would be dead.”
Renaissance High junior Yareli Garcia agreed, saying that her school’s clinician helped her with her own struggles.
“Mental health clinicians have to be here for me, for our students and for many other people in our future,” she said.
Socio-emotional counselor Christina Souza said she was excited to come to the district when she learned of its focus on mental health services for students.
She says cutting the services will affect many aspects of their lives, asserting that “research is overpowering” on the impacts a social and emotional learning) program has on “academics, on college-going, on test scores. … It goes on and on. If a student is not well, they cannot learn; if they don’t feel safe, they cannot learn; if they don’t have a person, a community, somebody at the school they know will be there for them, they can’t learn.”
Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers President Nelly Vaquera-Boggs joined many in the room who said that the nearly $2 million that goes to Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance would be better spent with the district’s own mental health professionals.
“This district is deciding to make these austerity measures on the backs of our students,” she said. “PVPSA doesn’t serve all our students.”
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will hold a special study session on March 28 to discuss the district’s ethnic studies curriculum, the board voted on Jan. 15.
The discussion is not an action item, and there will not yet be a vote to reverse an earlier decision to cancel the contract with Community Responsive Education (CRE), a company that provides ethnic studies training for teachers and school district administration.
Still, the vote was a significant step in a saga that began with the October 2023 vote not to renew the contract.
It is also the first—and most unambiguous—indication of how the new board members will govern differently than their predecessors. Of seven seats, five members are newly elected or appointed.
The reason for the board’s rejection dates back to a 2019 pilot ethnic studies curriculum that was developed for the California Department of Education, portions of which were deemed antisemitic by members of the Jewish community, educators and lawmakers.
One of the authors of the rejected curriculum, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, also created CRE.
While the ethnic studies courses are still being taught at the district’s three comprehensive high schools, the cancellation meant that there was no ongoing training for educators or administrators.
Since the decision, hundreds of students, teachers, parents and community members have attended board meetings, demanding the contract be renewed.
Watsonville High school history teacher Bobby Pelz said he was glad the issue will be discussed, but that he was disappointed that the contract will not be reconsidered.
But he said that that won’t stop him and others from continuing to attend the meetings.
“We are going to bring back CRE, because if you haven’t figured it out yet, we aren’t going anywhere,” Pelz said.
Trustee Misty Navarro said that everyone agrees that ethnic studies is important.
“I think there are so many stories in Pajaro Valley of communities that have been marginalized and discriminated against,” she said. “Those stories need to be shared and taught.”
Trustee Danny Dodge Jr. said he wants to see many cultures represented in the district’s ethnic studies curriculum—Chinese, Filipino, Mexican, Ohlone—as well as lessons on the history of Japanese internment and the Monterey cannery strikes.
This story is part of Good Times’ Health & Fitness issue. Also this week: stories on stick yoga and an essay on one man’s decision to get a simple operation with complicated ramifications.
January is well known for fresh commitments to wellness. Gyms are packed, hiking trails are hopping and the juice bar line is wrapped around the corner. And with everything going on in the world, a renewed focus on self-care couldn’t be more timely—unless overwhelming professional demands make it seem out of reach.
For those whose job is to provide critical support to others—often behind the scenes—self-care can be the hardest thing to prioritize. So, the question is: who’s taking care of the caregivers?
When I was asked by our illustrious editor to check out “this hippie place up in the mountains called 1440,” I replied, based on personal experience, “I wouldn’t call it a hippie place”—recalling the redwood-encased infinity pool, next to the Redwood Auditorium.
What I was soon to discover is this woodsy Shangri-La is much more than a place to pamper the top 10%. In fact, many of its programs are focused on people who most need some reprieve: healthcare workers.
SHANGRI-LA Health care workers from all over attended workshops and therapy sessions at 1440 Multiversity like this one with yoga teacher Jessica Fajans. Photo: Kevin Painchaud
Winding trails lead through a forested landscape where sunlight filters softly through ancient branches, casting golden hues across tranquil footpaths. The air carries the scent of pine and earth, offering calm with each breath.
Founded by philanthropists Joanie and Scott Kriens, the nonprofit Scotts Valley campus opened in May 2017. Formerly occupied by Bethany University, the site is designed to provide a space where people could cultivate relationships and achieve personal growth.
Today 1440 offers an environment for individuals and organizations to explore, learn, reflect, connect and reenergize.
Yet the work began well before the first beautifully recrafted buildings were open for business. When it launched in 2010 as the 1440 Foundation, the focus was philanthropic grant-making, supporting individuals and organizations dedicated to fostering personal growth and stronger relationships.
Minute By Minute
The 1440 mission statement reads, “creating hope for living well with the 1,440 minutes we have each day.” At the Multiversity, that sentiment comes to life as a sanctuary where visitors can engage in personal growth against the timeless backdrop of a redwood forest.
And since the early days of the Covid pandemic, the needs of our behind-the-scenes heroes—healthcare workers—have become a top priority in this nurturing environment.
Currently the campus hosts two custom-designed programs for those whose work is to put others first. One is Healing Our Healthcare Heroes, which caters to a broader range of healthcare job functions. The other, Healing Our Nurses, is specifically tailored to nurses with a focus on the public health sector.
I meet Executive Director Katey Kennedy over Zoom, and we have a lively conversation with Julie McKay, 1440’s director of philanthropic programs and partnerships. Both have had boots on the ground since day one, and they can explain how 1440’s programs for healthcare workers evolved.
Through a separate 1440 Foundation program, Canopy Cancer Collective, the team was exposed to the challenges that healthcare workers faced.
Kennedy explains, “We had been working with physicians and advisors on that team, and it was also right at the beginning of Covid and the doctors we were working with were telling us just how beat up and exhausted the healthcare system was. They were our partners in this, and so I started brainstorming this with one of our doctors about what we could potentially do to support the medical professionals that he was seeing.”
Kennedy continues, “He was on the East Coast, so we were just talking sort of in general. We presented a proposal to our board and said, ‘We think we have an opportunity here. We think there’s a serious need to support the healthcare workers who are overwhelmed as a result of Covid, and we have a campus available.’
“And we said, ‘Why don’t we try and figure out how we can support them with some mental health and well-being initiatives to reduce their stress?’” Kennedy says. “Because if we don’t take care of our healthcare providers, who are the most stressed, we’re not going to have anybody left to take care of us when we need it.”
Kennedy adds, “We realized we could use the campus to support healthcare providers, and then Julie developed this amazing curriculum.”
In April 2020, McKay interviewed nurses, social workers, physicians and leadership in healthcare to learn what the most pressing stress-induced needs were. The program was developed based on those interviews and continues to shift to address the issues health care systems are navigating, while one unique element endures. The concept of “moral injury” is a term used to describe a common emotion among medical professionals responsible for administering lifesaving treatments.
“A moral injury is when you go against your own personal value system, whether it’s through a personal act or an act that you were directed by leadership,” McKay explains. “So it came up in the pandemic often. Because healthcare workers are having to make really difficult decisions about things like equipment, or family members not being present for the death of a patient.”
As a result, healthcare workers became the primary focus of the program. Ellie Kriens soon joined the 1440 Foundation as a program officer. All sessions are led by physicians, psychologists and other experts, including a chaplain. Each facilitator provides a series of tools which are introduced over the course of the three days.
McKay describes one challenge that comes up often during sessions is moral injury. “Self-compassion is a key theme in resolving the issues surrounding moral injury and grief. It’s a common thread, and that’s why the group dynamic is important to understanding and connecting in community.”
The opportunity to share what they might be experiencing is cited as a valuable part of the in-person group sessions. Other tools provided throughout the whole program are mindfulness and healthy eating.
“Food is an important part of the program,” McKay says. “We’ve had sessions on food as medicine in the past. If you look at the agenda, you’ll see every single element of the program, there is a tool to support their wellbeing. There are many opportunities that the hope is that you’ll walk away with at least one or two tools that resonate with the participant.”
At the close of the program, attendees make commitments to one another to follow through. Because they attend in cohorts, a sense of community helps provide reinforcement after the program ends. Sometimes, the cohort is a department; other times they’re from different departments. But the groups—which range from 45 to 140 people—are usually from the same healthcare system.
“Some of the healthcare systems have expanded this into their leadership,” McKay adds.
I ask the team to share a particularly memorable example of a transformative experience during the program. Julie replies, “That’s a hard one for me to pick just one, and I’m sure for Katey too. We’ve had the extreme from people who had suicidal ideation upon arrival and came to us later and said, ‘I feel so much relief.’”
Coach Eliza Ramos recalls a participant who came up in tears and “Thank you for creating such a safe space for us to speak our truths.” Others shared such comments as “I realized I don’t give myself permission to actually rest” and “I wish all nurses could experience this program. It has been life changing. I’m so grateful.”
The team has learned how defining and naming individual feelings can really be helpful for people. McKay says, “I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘I don’t feel so alone.’
“We sit in the back of the room and you can just feel the stress kind of peeled off layer by layer as they hear everyone talking about all the same issues that they’re managing,” she adds.
The team notes how healthcare workers are known for feeling it’s their job to just tough it out, so it is a relief to realize they’re not alone. To receive the support from others that they’ve been providing is a benefit they list among the most transformational aspects of the program.
I had the opportunity to witness this firsthand when I sat in on a recent session. I learned that more than 55% of healthcare workers will experience burnout in the coming year. And when the facilitator asked how many of the 50 people in the room had even been on a retreat, only five or six raised their hands. This number matters more to all of us than may be immediately obvious. Burnt-out workers leave jobs and are neither easy nor cheap to replace.
Creating a safe space in a group setting like this is critical, and I watched as the facilitator began the session by creating a set of agreements to abide by throughout the weekend. Participants agree to confidentiality, deep listening and non-judgment. Yet before anything else, the program begins with a sense of fun and connection. The first night is dedicated to laughter and dancing and building community.
The team discovered the difference during their pilot programs. Some groups were happy when leadership was in the room. One time a particular group was having struggles with their manager. They came up after the opening and said, “We can’t show up if they’re in the room.”
Upon learning this the manager left right away, and now during the planning calls it is determined if leadership should participate.
I ask, “What about the space itself? How do you think that lends to the healing and efficacy of the program?”
In response, Kennedy describes a recent session a healthcare manager was observing with the idea of bringing the program to their own campus. After being at 1440 for the two and a half days, the manager decided, “This container that you guys have built for these healthcare healers is an essential part of the program.”
The team agrees the space is perfect for this work. “We’ve had so many different healthcare groups. Julie and I were talking before the call. I think we’re at nearly 5,000 healthcare staff that have come through this program, so the container that we’ve created, it’s the whole thing.
“It’s the space, facilitators, even the food,” Kennedy continues. “We have really meticulously thought through the food choices and the classes, the sound healing, the nature walks and how it all contributes to this amazing experience for the healthcare workers to really feel that they can let go and take care of themselves.”
While the three of us sat in Kitchen Table, the stately community dining room, over a locally sourced and exceptionally satisfying breakfast, a markedly cheerful man approached. I learned he was Dr. John Chuck, chief wellness officer at California Northstate University. A member of the 1440 faculty, he was eager to share his opinion of the Healing Our Healthcare Heroes program.
“We know that lots of hard work goes into nurturing and growing the program. I just want to make sure you know that it’s working,” he asserts. “Guests arrive in all states of being, many struggling. The deep hospitality coupled with the comprehensive wellness programming meets those guests where they are, and takes them to a better place, a place where they claim reality-based hope for the many aspects of their existence.”
I note, “It sounds like it just came together almost in a serendipitous kind of way where it was timing and need and the facility and everything came together.”
Kennedy nods. “We had all the right ingredients and then we thought, let’s see if we can launch it and do some good. Initially because this was brand-new and it was a pilot, 1440 agreed to fund a significant portion of the cost. Pretty soon we had a couple healthcare systems step up and then it just blossomed from there.”
As the program has grown in both size and scope, it’s now funded by participating healthcare systems. The focus has also shifted toward public healthcare systems that often don’t have private foundations or financial backing. Through a combination of 1440 Foundation grants, scholarships, and private and healthcare system funding, all costs for the participants are covered and the individual doesn’t pay anything, which was the initial goal.
HEALTHY CARE A group of health care workers after receiving training at 1440. Photo: Kevin Painchaud
For healthcare workers who are not part of a systemwide program, 1440 provides a scholarship portal. They explain they’re constantly reviewing those applications to fit people in where they can. So, if they have a program that has five extra spots, if the contracted healthcare system agrees, they’ll pick five scholarship recipients to go into that program.
The last two programs have been fully funded by the Foundation, including one which began early this month. Santa Cruz County and Monterey County sent a whole cohort of hospice workers. For a group often struggling with secondary trauma, the program was especially transformational. “They loved it. Their grief session was extremely impactful, particularly for that group. It was a pretty powerful experience,” McKay says.
This month marks the beginning of a health improvement partnership with Santa Cruz County. And the team says it’s just the beginning. “We’ve touched nearly 5 000 lives with this program but there is one healthcare system I know of in Santa Clara Valley that has 8,000 employees. So it’s expanding to reach more and more people. Julie is great at taking the program and morphing it based on needs,” Kennedy acknowledges.
McKay adds, “We’ve worked with almost anyone who comes forward because we know how important it is. We’ve helped them secure funds. We’ve been to board meetings to explain the program. I’ve co-written grants to help get them funding. We will continue to advocate and support for all frontline healthcare workers to come through the program as need arises.”
Using the Tools
I save the best for last and ask the team whether their personal perspectives on work life, balance and self-care have changed since launching this initiative.
“Great question,” McKay says. “Well, I will share that I have watched it probably 40 times because I’m always in the room. I really want to see what the flow is, how the faculty are doing. And every single time that I’ve seen this program I’ve learned something new.
“We practice the tools we offer in these sessions,” she continues. “It’s part of our DNA as an organization. We started with mindfulness and meditation as sort of the core message that we were taking to educators. So as a group, we meditate, and we try to reinforce the behaviors that we’re sharing with the healthcare workers, too. That doesn’t mean that we are great at it—we rely on our community to support these habits.”
I had one last question for the team: “What is one takeaway from the program that you hope participants remember and apply when they return to their demanding roles?”
The response was unanimous. “That their own care for themselves matters, that they put their oxygen mask on first. That sounds so simple, but it’s really so hard to remember. I think for all of us.”
Kennedy continues: “I don’t think Scott [Kriens, 1440 co-creator] would be mad at me for quoting this because he says it all the time. This last week, I heard him say it to the group on opening night. He said, ‘You know, you healthcare workers are really great at taking care of other people, but you’re really terrible at taking care of yourselves. So, you are here for the next two and a half days—let us take care of you and please accept it.’”
This sage advice could apply to so many of us. And as the 1440 experts remind us, it’s a mentality we need to revisit again and again.
Healthcare professionals or organizations can learn more about the program or sign up through an application at1440.org/philanthropic-programs.
“Walking is the most basic living activity. Walking correctly is a dying art.”
As a kid, he grew up playing stickball in Brooklyn. Now as an adult, he leads Stick Yoga classes in doctors’ offices, yoga studios and classrooms statewide. Santa Cruz chiropractor Dr. Faygenholtz—or “Dr. Arthur” as he is known—is the “Father of the Stick Yoga® Method,” which he developed as a “new paradigm for wellness” to improve balance, flexibility and coordination for people of all ages and abilities.
“It’s a whole system of being more comfortable with your whole body,” Dr. Arthur says. “It adds a safety, a balance and other benefits as well.”
Faygenholtz describes Stick Yoga as “radical self-healing” best practiced barefoot in nature. Since most people are not touching the earth any more, we are losing touch with a primal magnetic charge. “We as a society are generally walking in an insulted environment, connected to the earth by plastic-soled shoes, sitting in cars on rubber tires,” he said. “Most people do not ground anymore.”
He traces the roots of stick walking back to ancient evolution. “Throughout history, man’s leaders had a staff,” or stick, Faygenholtz said. “When the ground touches you, you feel all that.”
An offshoot of Nordic pole walking, Stick Yoga was something Faygenholtz first developed in 1997, inspired by skiing. For the off-season, he noticed skiers needed conditioning to stay in race form for the warm months when there was no snow.
“This is what skiers do in the off season,” he says. “If you add poles, now you have 4-Wheel Drive.” When you walk without poles, you activate muscles below the waist. But when you add poles, you activate all of the upper body muscles as well.
Walking with poles can help maintain an upright position, which in turn will improve posture, prevent back pain, help with breathing and of course burn calories. As pole walking became popular in Canada, health insurance companies were even paying for trekking poles, he points out.
Faygenholtz first discovered Stick Yoga while working in wheelchair physical therapy at Sonoma State University. “When I was in chiropractic college I started teaching in Portland, Oregon, in 1974,” he said. “That’s when I started working with sticks. I taught stick stretching at Portland Community College.”
He trademarked his innovative system as a chiropractic approach, combining sticks with elements of tai chi form and the flowing movements of traditional hatha yoga. “You can apply isometric principles, discover traction, develop left and right hemispheres and leg strength.”
Stick Sessions
Dr. Arthur has taught Stick Yoga seminars for more than 20 years, from Sacramento to Los Angeles. He taught locally at Breath+Oneness studio, Eden yoga studio and open-air workshops at Ocean View Park and Nisene Marks State Forest, and he currently holds monthly seminars and workshops at 1440 Multiversity.
In the workshops, Faygenholtz shares techniques to build core muscle, improve posture and enrich both left and right hemispheres of the brain. “It’s teaching the brain to be in sync with both sides of the body,” he says.
Whereas many sports are one-sided, such as golf and tennis, stick work is symmetrical. For those training for a sport, this bilateral movement will enhance the sport, he adds. “When you’re using both hands, both hemispheres are in a relationship using 100 percent of the brain,” he explains.
With the stick as a tool, one can be more relaxed or stable while working through different movements. “The stick is your dance partner,” Faygenholtz says. “You can squeeze it or push it or pull it to add more strength.”
Adding a second stick opens up a whole new set of movements. “You can use the ground. You can use other parts of the environment to support different stretches,” Faygenholtz says. “But the main thing is your healing yourself. There’s a lot of benefit to having a ritual, a routine.”
The Science of Nature
Stick Yoga and Stick Walking are helping people get back to basics by practicing the simple art of walking in nature—bare feet encouraged. When doing the work on the beach or in a forest, the benefits grow exponentially with every breath of phytoncides.
Phytoncides, present in the salt air, help the body neutralize inflammation as negative ions neutralize positive ions. “The beach is an adult sandbox,” Faygenholtz says. “You are healing yourself, reducing inflammation when you ground yourself.”
The forest is another ideal environment, as trees have a particular protection around them, a phytoncide that protects them from fungus, Faygenholtz explains. “It’s a protection that kills to help the tree live,” he said.
Phytoncides not only protect trees from harmful insects, bacteria and disease; these little molecules can also benefit forest visitors.
“It’s the alchemy of the forest. You’re bathing in your senses. Cedar, pine, eucalyptus…all the different smells and sounds and tastes,” he says.
According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, phytoncides found in forests include pinean, myrcene, camphene, limonene and sabinene. Benefits from these natural forest substances offer anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and analgesic effects and serve as natural anti-depressants.
Faygenholtz compares the forest to a pharmacy. “Everything is symbiotic, nurturing,” he says. “As we breathe all of that in, we’re enriching our immune system. Even just going in the forest sitting on a rock,” he says. “It opens you up to being connected. More organically, it’s a closed kinetic chain. It’s self-care.”
Phytoncides are also the science behind the current trend of “forest bathing” as exposure to phytoncides and essential oils from trees have medicinal benefits that go far beyond aromatherapy. Just as people in Japan partake in social outings as a form of forest therapy, we owe it to ourselves to reap the benefits of walking in nature, rather than a room or a building. By exercising outside, we are giving ourselves an “interior celebration,” Faygenholtz says.
It doesn’t matter whether you use one stick or two, whether you’re pole walking barefoot or practicing Stick Yoga on grass or on sand. The bottom line is that working with sticks opens up a greater connection with the earth and its elements. “You are influencing your electrical system in a very positive way,” Faygenholtz says. “The stick is something to hold onto, and you can feel that you’re connected.”
BYO Sticks
With a little bit of DIY and a trip to the hardware store, you can improvise a pair of walking sticks for less than $20. “If you don’t have poles, you can’t pole walk,” Faygenholtz says.
He prefers rattan wood because of its light weight and flexibility, whereas bamboo has been known to fracture or crack from exposure to temperature and humidity. Recently he has been getting into polycarbonate sticks, which he developed and uses on the beach.
The grip is also a very important piece of working with a stick. “The quality of your grip is directly linked to your circulation,” Faygenholtz says. Just like acupunture can test your pulse, a good grip will enrich isometric strength, he notes.
Straps are not necessary but can serve a function for the wrists as students advance in their technique. “In the beginning you just want to test the water,” Faygenholtz said. “It’s like four-wheel drive, and you’re a machine. You’re like a toy soldier walking with good posture and awareness. You can’t slouch because you’re using the ground to benefit and push off and on.”
If you feel a sudden urge to inhale some natural forest phytocides right now, two good places to start are Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and the Forest of Nisene Marks. So why not grab a friend and a pair of poles? “When you’re walking with other people you are raising your social EQ,” Faygenholtz says. “All those things are there with pole walking.”
For more information about workshops and seminars, call 831-688-0361, email fa*********@gm***.com or visit StickYoga.com.
I’ve never wanted children. The first time I attempted a vasectomy (under doctor supervision, don’t worry), it was 2018.
At a San Diego Planned Parenthood, I learned what the procedure was like (small incision, long-term decision) and that I’d be subject to a 30-day waiting period to prove no coercion. I signed forms saying I understood the procedure’s permanence. This was the consultation.
But at the front desk, I was floored to hear they didn’t have availability for months. A scarcity of surgeons, I was told. It was August, and they gave me a number to call in November.
Wouldn’t you know it, November rolled around and I looked at the crush of the incoming holidays and my service industry availability, and didn’t feel like integrating the procedure into either. So I balked.
It took a future November’s arrival to change that: November 5, 2024.
I had watched my country’s theocratic shift with mounting dread, Dobbs splintering us into state rules on a draconian sliding scale. But with the full conservative sweep of two branches of government (and, arguably, the third) I knew it was time to book a return appointment. All men owe women concrete action demonstrating their health is our health.
Imagine my surprise when the doctor brought out the same forms, saying sterilization consent expires after 180 days.
”Well, couldn’t it just be that I took six years to make a very considered decision?”
It couldn’t.
I’d need to wait another 30 days. I thanked her for her time and immediately booked an appointment from the parking lot with a urologist in my HMO. At that consultation, he told me he could do it after three days. His version differed: two punctures; draw the vas deferens out through each; cut and cauterize; dissolving stitches. He promised minimal recovery and scarring.
“You’re aware this procedure is forever? Reversals are performable but not guaranteed effective.”
I thought of great loves who wanted children and I didn’t, the catalytic reason we parted.
I signed the form.
The day of, I shaved the incision area and took my generic Valium. I’d chosen local anesthetic so I could be conscious.
The nurses prepped me, bathing my genitals in warm iodine cleanser. They drew a curtain across my abdomen so I’d experience the entire surgery blind.
The doctor came in and made eye contact for final confirmation I understood the procedure’s permanence, then the wizard disappeared behind the curtain.
He announced everything before he did it, which was a comfort. A stick when the anesthetic went in. Pressure from the clamp before each puncture, an eerie discomfort running through my lower abdomen to my kidneys when the vas deferens was drawn out, like plucking a guitar string inside me. The heat of the cauterizing instrument.
Afterward, a nurse put mesh underwear on me to hold the packed gauze in place, warning me the iodine stain could mislead me that the gauze was bloodier than it was. They pulled my spandex bike shorts over that, the most supportive underwear I own.
I alternated ice on/ice off every fifteen minutes for the rest of the day. They told me to sleep with it on, with a towel as buffer. I took the prescribed pain meds and slept soundly.
Recovery completely depended on supporting the area and keeping everything as motionless as possible. Also, weight distribution: I was much more comfortable with my penis on its side, rather than between my testes. I had little passive pain, spiking only when I got up or sat down too fast. I took Tylenol in the daytime, the stiffer stuff after dinner.
The first encounter with real pain was during my first permitted shower on Day Three. Left to the mercy of gravity, the absence of support made everything so tender.
The second time was more acute, when I accidentally fell asleep on the fifth night naked. I woke up queasy, pain shooting to both kidneys. It immediately recalled the times I was crotch-kicked as a soccer goalie. Back in my bike shorts, the pain subsided—how I’d sleep until Day Ten.
I packed a diminishing amount of gauze daily to catch blood seepage from the no-scalpel incision, now on Day 20 a scab with a dime-size swollen knot beneath. I return in three months for an analysis to prove all my swimmers swam their last swim.
I hope my account demystifies the vasectomy and its recovery. Experience and pain tolerance may vary.
You only have to look southward at the flames and poisonous smoke coming from Moss Landing to know what deregulation looks like.
We have a new president promising to deregulate industry and make America more profitable. But at what expense?
The Moss Landing fire is terrifying, not just because it can’t be put out, but because the hazardous chemicals coming from it are landing on the country’s richest agricultural salad bowl and the surrounding protected Elkhorn Slough and Marine Sanctuary.
It’s a serious quandary. On one hand, the battery units are designed to store solar and wind energy and move away from fossil fuels, an environmentalist’s dream. On the other hand, chemicals in the batteries are so toxic and unstable, there is no way to quench them when they burst into flames, which has happened four times already.
Why should we care? There are three more of these units proposed in Santa Cruz County near hospitals and schools.
Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church noted that the Moss Landing battery operation by Vistra Energy was approved with no arguments.
“When I took office two years ago, I accepted several tours of the Vistra facility, including a tour inside the building that burned,” he wrote. “The facility and its safety systems appeared impressive. I was personally given the guarantee that a fire similar to the one that occurred in 2022 at the neighboring PG&E/Tesla operation could not happen at Vistra. We know that is not true. This disaster is worse.”
He added: “With this being the fourth fire incident in a little over five years in Moss Landing, it is obvious that this technology is ahead of both government’s ability to regulate it and private industry’s ability to control it…
“…Both battery storage facilities initially passed the county permit process, including public hearings, with little to no opposition. Vistra got its first permit in 2020. It was approved by the Planning Commission and never appealed to the Board of Supervisors. It was that uncontroversial at the time.”
Conclusion? We don’t need deregulation, we need careful, intelligent study and regulation.
On the positive front: check out our Health and Wellness stories in this issue for important tips on keeping fit.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
SUNSET SEASON Twin Lakes Beach wins this week’s picturesque sundown. Photograph by Cole Leonard
GOOD IDEA
Waste Free Santa Cruz is teaming up with 37 local coffee shops to launch the Just Bring It—BYO Coffee Cup Campaign, a community-wide effort to reduce the environmental impact of single-use coffee cups. Starting Jan. 18, the campaign aims to inspire residents, students and visitors to bring their own reusable cups when buying coffee, with a goal to cut single-use cup waste by 20% within three months.
An estimated 10,000+ coffee cups go to the landfill daily in Santa Cruz.
Participating businesses will offer rewards to customers who bring their own reusable cups. Go to JustBringIt.org for a map of all locations.
GOOD WORK
The Santa Cruz City Council has taken steps to help businesses at the Municipal Wharf after last month’s collapse of part of it. There will be free two-hour parking on the wharf through February; rent relief for wharf tenants during the closure period; and they will spend $50,000 in promotional efforts to highlight the wharf as a vibrant destination and up to $25,000 in financial assistance for impacted wharf employees through partnerships with Community Bridges and the Community Foundation.
There will also be a free concert series on Wednesdays from 6–8:30pm, Jan. 22–Feb. 26, featuring James Durbin, Alex Lucero, DJ Monk Earl and more. Details: Eventsantacruz.com.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Cutting funding to mental health will absolutely put our students’ lives at risk.” —Bobby Pelz, Watsonville High School history teacher
