Page 450 | Good Times

Bantam Reopens; Michelin Recognizes a Pair of Santa Cruz County Restaurants

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August 24, 2021

Bantam Reopens; Michelin Recognizes a Pair of Santa Cruz County Restaurants

Bantam’s chef/owner Benjamin Sims was kept busy last Thursday with a full house, inside and out, at his Westside dining spot. Jenny and I scored one of the al fresco booths, surprisingly cozy on a balmy evening, and dove into what was to be a delicious experience.

Along with a slab of the house bread and butter sprinkled with flake sea salt ($5), we sampled a Navarro Vineyards Chardonnay—light and refreshing—and a Viño Ijalba Tempranillo (both $9). I need to stress this: don’t ever stop at Bantam without ordering the insanely delicious bread.

I went back and forth on entrees, loving the idea of prawns with cornbread and Jimmy Nardellos, but eventually ordering my Bantam fave, the pork belly with veggies and something incredible called chili butter ($25).

My dinner partner already had her order in mind: pizza! And yes, Bantam and its wood-fired oven do a killer job with pies. She opted for a simple Marinara pizza, which arrived lightly topped with tomato, garlic and oregano, maybe a hint of chili too ($13). Gorgeous, fragrant, and lightly charred on the bottom, which we both agreed added lots to the rustic flavor. All around us, happy Bantam diners—plus a few kids and well-behaved canines—were all digging into their dinners. A very pizza-intensive crowd, from the looks of it. And the reason is that Bantam’s pizzas completely seduce and satisfy your pizza craving.

I, on the other hand, enjoyed my beautiful plate of roasted potatoes, zucchini wedges, oven-blistered green beans, and dice of eggplant, on top of which sat a slab of pork belly. The Tempranillo was the perfect partner here. The plate had been sauced with pleasantly spicy chili-infused butter, into which I dipped every bite. Pork belly is playful food. Pulling apart the shreds of meat from the flavor-inducing strata of fat is the whole point. And yes we did save room to share a generous bowl of warm from the oven nectarine crumble topped with hazelnuts and brown-sugared oats, plus a large scoop of subtle sweet corn ice cream ($10). Plenty for the two of us to share. Bantam, 1010 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. 5-9pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Michelin Kudos

Two Santa Cruz area restaurants, Mentone and Alderwood, have been tagged by the Michelin folks for new designations. The famed guide to dining excellence is expanding its reach prior to the launch of the 2021 Michelin Guide California. Michelin spokesperson Lauren McClure explained that the upcoming designations “are new to the Michelin Guide, and a preview of the full selection to be announced next month. They are currently listed as ‘new’ on guide.michelin.com website, and could be Bib Gourmands or Stars of tomorrow,” she told me by email.

“By revealing some of the new additions made by our inspectors throughout the year, we enhance our ties to food lovers,” said Gwendal Poullennec, Michelin’s international director.

Mentone’s David Kinch (whose Manresa has three Michelin stars) agreed that this new category was “hard to figure out, but being mentioned the California Central Coast guide is a great honor.” Kinch speculated that it could mean, “a Bib Gourmande label, which is a recommendation for more casual restaurants.” It might mean the restaurant would be recommended, but with no designations like a star or a bib. “This is an honor as well,” he said.

Or it might mean the restaurant is up for a coveted Michelin star. “I don’t know what to expect for Mentone,” Kinch admitted. “My guess is it could be one of the three, but a star being least likely. We are completely honored. If we got a star, I would be surprised—but man, I would be thrilled.”

Outdoor World Closing Final Store

Todd Guild

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August 23, 2021

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Outdoor World Sporting Goods, which has sold camping supplies in Santa Cruz County for more than a half-century, will soon close its last location in the Capitola Mall.

Company president Chris Thomas says the closure comes after Covid-19 restrictions took a major bite out of business.

A large part of this comes from supply chain issues, he said.

“There is a lot of merchandise I can’t get from the factories because they don’t have it to ship because their factories don’t have it,” he said.

He adds that the difficulty of doing business in California played a role.

But Thomas also says that he is nearing retirement age, which also factored into the decision.

“It’s been great for the family, and great to offer Santa Cruz the recreational activities we offer. but with all things considered it’s just become time,” he said.

Thomas says the company opened its first store on Pacific Avenue in 1969, at a time when the U.S. was beginning its push to build a nationwide series of interstate highways, and Americans were discovering the country’s national parks.

This meant that more people were seeking camping gear, which at that time was only available in military surplus stores.

“My father was a hunter-fisherman and so as a family, we went to a lot of national parks,” Thomas said.

The company opened in 1969 as Peninsula Surplus. It was rebranded as Outdoor World in 1978.

At its height, the company had stores in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Seaside, the latter of which never reopened after the closures in March.

The company tried for a fourth location in Pleasanton and Modesto, and had one in Felton and Gilroy for a time, Thomas says.

The Santa Cruz Location on River street closed recently. The final one in Capitola will stay open to sell its last merchandise, Thomas said. It’s not yet clear when that store will close.

The store is open during mall hours, Monday through Saturday 11am–7pm and Sunday 11am–6pm.

Can Gov. Newsom Keep His Job? A Recall Effort in California Shows a Dead Heat.

The New York Times and GT Staff

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August 23, 2021

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Can Gov. Newsom Keep His Job? A Recall Effort in California Shows a Dead Heat.

By Shawn Hubler and Jill Cowan, The New York Times

President Joe Biden sent an urgent message last week to the most populous state in the nation: Keep Gov. Gavin Newsom “on the job.” On the airwaves, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the prominent progressive from Massachusetts, has been repeatedly warning that “Trump Republicans” are “coming to grab power in California.”

Text messages — a half-million a day — are spreading the word on cellphones. Canvassers are making their case at suburban front doors. As some 22 million ballots land in the mailboxes of active registered voters this week in anticipation of the Sept. 14 recall election, Newsom — a Democrat elected in a 2018 landslide — has been pulling out all the stops just to hold on to his post.

The vote is expected to come down to whether Democrats can mobilize enough of the state’s enormous base to counteract Republican enthusiasm for Newsom’s ouster. Recent polls of likely voters show a dead heat, despite math that suggests the governor should ultimately prevail.

Less than a quarter of the electorate is Republican. Newsom has raised more campaign cash than all four dozen or so of his challengers put together. And the governor’s most serious rival is talk radio host Larry Elder, who has called global warming “a crock,” says the minimum wage should be “zero-point-zero-zero,” and gave Stephen Miller, the hard-line Trump administration immigration adviser, his first big public platform.

But the coronavirus pandemic has not been particularly governor-friendly. Polls this month show that approval for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is sagging as the state writhes under spiking deaths and hospitalizations.

And Newsom’s supporters are encountering a striking degree of ambivalence and distraction.

“I think he has done as well in the job as any governor could have, given the last year of the pandemic, but I’m not a fan,” Anamaria Young, 53, said recently in El Dorado Hills, east of Sacramento. Removing the governor more than a year before the end of his first term feels undemocratic, Young, a Democrat, said, but she also dislikes his lack of progress on homelessness and his deference to teachers unions.

“When my ballot comes,” she said, “I really don’t know how — or if — I am going to vote.”

Initiated by Republicans who took issue with Newsom on the death penalty and immigration, the once long-shot effort to recall the governor gained improbable traction as the coronavirus persisted. First, pandemic-related shutdowns prompted a judge to extend the measure’s signature-gathering deadline, and then word leaked that the governor had dined unmasked with lobbyists at an exclusive restaurant after imploring Californians to cover their faces and stay home.

If a majority of voters decide to recall Newsom, the new governor will be whoever among his 46 challengers gets the most votes, even if no rival gets a majority.

Critics of the state’s recall rules have long worried that 49% of the electorate could vote to keep an incumbent, only for a tiny plurality of voters to choose a replacement. On Friday, a lawsuit was filed in federal court challenging the recall’s constitutionality, based on that argument. Newsom has been urging Democrats to vote no on the recall and not even bother to answer the second question, which asks who should replace him. Among likely voters, recent polls show support for Elder, the current front-runner, at around 20%.

“No intellectually honest analysis” would predict the governor’s defeat, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of the bipartisan data firm Political Data Inc. in Sacramento. But state lawmakers in February extended pandemic-related accommodations to voters through the year, dealing a wild card.

The rules allow voting by mail at a scale comparable only to the 2020 presidential election — which is seemingly a Democratic advantage, although off-year participation is harder to forecast. Only one other attempt to recall a California governor has come to a vote, and 18 years have passed since the state replaced Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mitchell noted.

“The swing voters in this campaign are not the usual ones choosing which party to vote for,” said Nathan Click, a former spokesperson for the governor who is now campaigning to defend him. “They’re Democrats who are choosing whether to vote.”

Elder, 69, a Black “small-l libertarian” lawyer who rose to national stature from Los Angeles, where he has been a talk radio fixture for decades, said he was not “some wild-eyed radical,” and that he entered the race at the behest of “normal people” such as his barber and dry cleaner as well as like-minded friends such as Dennis Prager, his right-wing broadcast mentor. His priorities — public school choice, high housing costs and rising crime — transcend party labels, he said.

He said his opposition to abortion was irrelevant in a state that supports abortion rights as much as California, and his view that a minimum wage deters job creation is mainstream economics. Remarks such as the one he made in 2008 on “Larry King Live” discounting global warming were merely to criticize “alarmism,” he said, acknowledging that climate change is happening but adding, falsely, that “nobody really knows to what degree” it is caused by humans.

He said he has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since the 1970s, not just Donald Trump.

“Why bring up Stephen Miller? Why bring up abortion? Why bring up minimum wage?” Elder said. “Because Gavin Newsom cannot defend his record.”

Polls indicate that majorities of Californians approve of Newsom’s policies, but when surveys are narrowed to the most likely voters, his margin thins.

A statewide poll in mid-July by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, found that likely voters were almost evenly split over whether to oust the governor, with 47% saying they would vote to recall him and 50% saying they would retain him, an edge that just barely exceeded the poll’s margin of error. Subsequent polls have affirmed those results.

So Newsom has spent big to turn out his party’s 46% share of the voters. His recall defense campaign received some $46 million in contributions through July, far more than Elder ($4.5 million); Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego ($2.1 million); John Cox, the businessman campaigning with a bear ($9.4 million, mostly self-funded); the reality television figure and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner ($750,000); or any other candidate.

The mere reminder that ballots are heading for mailboxes should turn many tuned-out Democrats into likely voters, Click said, and teams of supporters have been texting some 500,000 Democrats daily. Rep. Barbara Lee, co-founder and the co-chair of the group Women Against the Recall, said the national Democratic Party is looking to such grassroots efforts as a potential model for future campaigns.

But Sonja Diaz, director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Democrats seemed to be playing catch-up as the delta variant preoccupied voters.

“People have been procrastinating,” she said, comparing the governor’s team to overconfident students failing to study for a final. “Delta has made it clear you’re not prepared for the exam.”

Northeast of Los Angeles, in Palmdale, canvassers for an immigrant advocacy group pitched the governor to voters last week.

Ashley Reyes, 27, a registered Democrat who was watching her toddler and his cousins play in her gated driveway, said she did not realize the recall had qualified for the ballot. Her parents and in-laws were immigrants, she said, adding that she would vote to keep the governor.

Peering into 101-degree heat through his metal screen door, Edgar Robleto, 62, a Republican, replied “I want him gone” when the canvassers mentioned Newsom. The state GOP, which represents 24 candidates, voted last weekend against endorsing one contender, lest any Republican opt not to vote.

Experts predict a slugfest. “Negative partisanship is the biggest driver of political decision-making right now,” said Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican adviser.

David Townsend, a Democratic consultant, agreed: “This is going to be totally tribal.”

“This is not going to be about Newsom,” he said. “It’s going to be about whether Democrats want Trump to have a governor in California.”

It’s ‘Back to That Isolation Bubble’ for Workers Pining for the Office

The New York Times and GT Staff

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August 23, 2021

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It’s ‘Back to That Isolation Bubble’ for Workers Pining for the Office

By Kellen Browning, The New York Times

Before the pandemic, Roya Joseph’s days at the office were defined by interaction. She looked forward to casual conversations with co-workers, mentorship sessions with managers and periodic, freewheeling chats — known as “teatime” — in the office kitchen.

All that was swept away when Joseph, a water engineer for Black & Veatch, an engineering firm, was sent home from her Walnut Creek, California, office along with the rest of her colleagues as the coronavirus began spreading through the United States last year. She jumped at the opportunity to return when her office reopened to some employees in June.

But two weeks ago, the rug was pulled out from under her again. Black & Veatch shut its offices as virus cases rose nationwide, driven by the contagious delta variant.

“It’s depressing,” Joseph, 32, said. “I feel like we’re being pushed back to that isolation bubble. I feel like, mentally, I’m not ready to face that again.”

While workers who want to stay at home forever have been especially vocal about their demands, a silent majority of Americans do want to get back to the office, at least for a few days a week. But as the latest coronavirus surge has led employers to delay return-to-office plans, that larger group is growing increasingly glum.

In a national survey of more than 950 workers, conducted in mid-August by Morning Consult on behalf of The New York Times, 31% said they would prefer to work from home full time. By comparison, 45% said they wanted to be in a workplace or an office full time. The remaining 24% said they wanted to split time between work and home.

Morning Consult surveyed workers from a variety of industries, so white-collar office workers were represented alongside those working in other fields, like retail. The data intelligence company’s findings echoed recent internal surveys by employers like Google and Twitter, as well as outside surveys by firms like Eden Workplace.

Among those craving the routines of office life and cubicle chatter: social butterflies, managers, new hires eager to meet colleagues, and people with noisy or crowded homes.

Veronica Polivanaya, an account manager at the public relations firm Inkhouse, quickly realized just how loud San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood could be when she started working from home. There was the distraction of her boyfriend’s daily routine — sometimes he got up from his own work to make lunch or get water and ended up in the background of her video calls. Then there were the neighbor’s barking dogs. Package deliveries. Construction noise.

“That’s been a hard struggle for us,” Polivanaya, 30, said. “I feel like I don’t have a good space to focus in.” She was able to return to the relative quiet of her office for a few days a week starting in July, but she worried that the surging virus could send her back to her hectic work-from-home life.

Certainly, some people have thrived in their new remote work lives. They saved time and money, and sometimes increased productivity. The degree to which employees have embraced permanent remote or hybrid work models has been “stunning” to company executives, said Tsedal Neeley, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied remote work for decades.

But for others, Neeley said, it has removed needed barriers between work and home life, increased a sense of isolation and led to burnout. “Some people just dislike the screen — their physicality and their proximity to others is a big part of what work looks like,” she said.

Many workers are back in offices already. Just 13% of Americans worked from home at some point in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated, down from a pandemic peak of 35% in May 2020. And some workers have said the delta variant has not changed their employers’ return-to-office plans.

But an increasing number of high-profile companies, like Hollywood studios, Wall Street banks and Silicon Valley tech giants, have delayed their returns. For the pro-return-to-office crowd, the fits and starts have been excruciating, Neeley said.

“We are in this perpetual state of waiting, and that now has been extended with more uncertainty,” she said.

David Pantera, an incoming assistant product marketing manager at Google, said the company had decided to turn the September orientation for him and other new hires into a virtual event because of rising COVID-19 cases. Google’s process, known as “Noogler orientation,” is usually a social, community-building event meant to acclimate employees with one another and the company’s culture.

Pantera, a 23-year-old recent college graduate, said he was eager to start his new job but worried about whether missing out on that in-person experience would hinder his career prospects.

“If we don’t get a really solid foundation at this company in our first six months, our first year, what foot does that leave us on for the rest of our time at the company?” said Pantera, who lives in San Francisco. “What if that disillusions a lot of really bright, passionate, smart people from the industry?”

For Michael Anthony Orona, 38, starting a new job during the pandemic was isolating. He was thrilled to finally meet his colleagues at Blue Squad, a company that provides tech tools to progressive political candidates, when its office in Austin, Texas, reopened several months ago.

Then his 10-year-old daughter caught COVID, forcing Orona, his wife and his two children to hole up at home. He found juggling the job and caring for his children to be nearly impossible to manage. Sometimes he had to cancel meetings to make sure his 2-year-old son got down for a nap.

“I’m with our 2 1/2-year-old all the time, and I try to cram in a couple hours of work around that,” he said. “And then when we get him down for bed, I work into the middle of the night. It’s awful.”

He caught COVID, too, but recently tested negative and returned to work, and his children are back at school and day care. But he expects additional quarantines.

“It feels like we’re never going to get out of this,” Orona said. “For people who are working, both parents, it’s totally unsustainable.”

In Toronto, Alethea Bakogeorge is counting the days until she can return to her job at a musical theater company. Working from home, she said, has “eroded the boundaries between workspace and home space,” even causing her to occasionally skip meals to avoid spending more time in the kitchen, which doubles as her office.

Bakogeorge, 25, has cerebral palsy, a condition that causes chronic pain. Her daily walking commutes to the office, she said, provided a form of mild exercise that helped her cope.

“I didn’t realize how much of an impact that had on my physical health as a disabled person, and how much I missed it when it was no longer there,” she said.

But the spike in coronavirus cases has dashed her hopes of a summer return.

“In May, I thought we might be trending in a direction where I could go back to the office,” she said. “Now, with the delta variant being what it is, I think it is far less realistic for me to hope for a return to the office anytime in the near future.”

FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

The New York Times and GT Staff

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August 23, 2021

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FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

By Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, The New York Times

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for people 16 and older, making it the first to move beyond emergency use status in the United States.

The decision will set off a cascade of vaccine requirements by hospitals, colleges, corporations and other organizations. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be sending guidelines to the country’s 1.4 million active duty service members mandating that they be vaccinated, the Pentagon announced Monday.

United Airlines recently announced that its employees will be required to show proof of vaccination within five weeks of regulatory approval.

Oregon has adopted a similar requirement for all state workers, as have a host of universities in states from Louisiana to Minnesota. In New York, the FDA’s approval also brought into force a requirement announced in May that all students attending in-person classes at State University of New York and City University of New York schools be vaccinated.

The approval comes as the nation’s fight against the pandemic has intensified again, with the highly infectious delta variant dramatically slowing the progress that the country had made over the first half of the year. President Joe Biden addressed the nation Monday afternoon, saying he hopes the development will motivate many of the roughly 85 million unvaccinated Americans who are eligible for shots to get them. He told corporate, state and local leaders: “Do what I did last month. Require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements” such as frequent testing.

“While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting FDA commissioner, said in a statement. “Today’s milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S.”

Pfizer said it presented the FDA with data from 44,000 clinical trial participants in United States, the European Union, Turkey, South Africa and South America. The company said the data showed the vaccine was 91% effective in preventing infection — a slight drop from the 95% efficacy rate that the data showed when the FDA decided to authorize the vaccine for emergency use in December. Pfizer said the decrease reflected the fact that researchers had more time to catch people who became infected.

A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been tracking public attitudes during the pandemic, found that 3 of every 10 unvaccinated people said that they would be more likely to get vaccinated with a shot that had been fully approved.

But the pollsters and other experts warned that percentage could be exaggerated.

“I think that is a vanishingly small number of people in real life, ” said Alison Buttenheim, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on vaccine hesitancy.

More important, Buttenheim said, would be the effect of requirements.

“Mandates simplify things for people,” she said.

The regulatory action gives doctors more leeway to prescribe a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to patients, but federal officials strongly discouraged people from seeking extra shots until regulators decide they are safe and effective. Pending regulatory clearance, the federal government plans to start offering booster shots for adults next month.

The vaccine will continue to be authorized for emergency use for children ages 12-15 while Pfizer collects the necessary data required for full approval. A decision on whether to authorize the vaccine for children younger than 12 could be at least several months away, and Woodcock said no child that age should be given any COVID-19 vaccine because regulators lack safety data.

So far, more than 92 million Americans — 54% of those fully inoculated — have gotten Pfizer shots. Most of the rest received Moderna’s vaccine.

Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, said the Pfizer vaccine’s licensure followed a rigorous review of hundreds of thousands of pages of data and included inspections of the factories where the vaccine is produced.

“The public and medical community can be confident that although we approved this vaccine expeditiously, it was fully in keeping with our existing high standards for vaccines in the U.S.,” he said.

He said that federal health agencies would continue to monitor the vaccine’s safety and that the FDA would require Pfizer to continue to study the risks of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart, including the long-term outcomes for recipients. The FDA in June attached warnings to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines noting possible increased risk of those conditions after the second dose.

Although Pfizer is now free to market the drug under the name Comirnaty, the company said only the federal government will distribute doses in the United States.

Health experts and state officials welcomed the development. With the delta variant driving up caseloads across the country, “full approval could not come at a more important time,” said Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He called on schools and businesses to require vaccination before allowing people to congregate indoors.

Less than two months after it appeared to have curbed the spread of the virus, the U.S. is now averaging around 150,000 new cases a day and more than 90,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. An average of about 1,000 a day are dying of COVID-19 — a toll that federal health experts recently dismissed as highly unlikely, before the delta variant fully took hold. Many children under 12 are also becoming infected.

Vaccination rates have also been rising in recent weeks, in part because of more fear of the virus. Providers were administering about 837,000 shots a day, a substantial jump from earlier this summer.

Some experts have estimated that full approval might convince just 5% of those who are unvaccinated to get shots. Even if that’s so, “that’s still a huge slice of people,” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the chief health officer for Mississippi, a state that is particularly hard hit by the delta variant. He said licensure will help “shake loose this false assertion that the vaccines are an ‘experimental’ thing.”

Marks cited a series of other myths about the vaccines as a major impediment to fighting the pandemic, including false claims that the shots would cause infertility, foster rather than prevent COVID disease or had led to thousands of deaths.

“Let me be clear. These claims are simply not true,” he said.

The FDA is in the midst of a decision-making marathon related to coronavirus vaccines. The next major one looming for regulators is whether to authorize booster shots. The Biden administration said last week it plans to offer third shots to adults who got the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines eight months after their second injection, starting Sept. 20. Third shots are already authorized for some people with immune deficiencies, but the risk-benefit calculus is different for the general population.

Federal health officials said that both Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which rely on similar technology, wane in potency over time. That trend, they said, is converging with the rise of the particularly dangerous delta variant, making those who completed their vaccinations at the start of the year increasingly vulnerable to infection.

Some health experts have challenged the decision to recommend booster shots as premature, saying the data shows that the vaccines are holding up well against severe disease and hospitalization, including against the delta variant. Boosters would only be warranted if the vaccines were failing to prevent hospitalizations with COVID-19, some of those experts have said.

Regulators are still reviewing Moderna’s application for full approval of its vaccine. That decision could take several weeks. Johnson & Johnson is expected to apply soon for full approval.

Organization Aims to Integrate Beneficial Songbirds on Farms

Johanna Miller

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August 23, 2021

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Organization Aims to Integrate Beneficial Songbirds on Farms

For more than 20 years, Watsonville-based organization Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) has aimed to find a sustainable balance between conservation and agriculture.

Established by a like-minded group of wildland proponents and ecological farming advocates, WFA’s primary goal is to bring nature back into the industry.

“As the planet warms, and the biodiversity crisis deepens, it’s really important for farmers to look towards nature, and hopefully benefit from it too,” said Jo Ann Baumgartner, executive director of WFA. “We want to help find that balance.”

One of WFA’s biggest projects is to reintroduce songbirds onto farms, and show farmers that many of them can be beneficial, not just destructive. Just as predatory raptors such as hawks and owls can help control rodent populations, certain songbird species can do their part by eating smaller pests, such as insects that prey on crops.

Baumgartner said she’s been interested in the topic for years. In the 1980s and ‘90s, she and husband Sam Earnshaw, a technical service provider with the National Resource Conservation Service who also runs Hedgerows Unlimited, began looking into sustainable agriculture. This led them to researching the impacts of birds on farms, with Baumgartner going back to school to study how the creatures affected apple orchards.

Over the years, the organization’s focus on birds grew. They began working on a publication on the topic, compiling first-hand stories, studies and experiments conducted across the U.S. The booklet, which was released in 2019, shows how the presence of birds can reduce farm pests while increasing crop yields and/or cost-savings.

“Supporting Beneficial Birds and Managing Pest Birds” has changed the way that farmers engage with WFA, Baumgartner said.

“There are plenty of studies out there showing that birds are doing something bad,” she said. “Once our book came out, farmers wanted to talk about it. And not just about birds who eat what they are growing—which does occur, but it’s only certain species. There are lots of birds that are partly, or very beneficial to a farm.”

*Jo Ann Baumgartner, executive director of Wild Farm Alliance, photographs birds at Blue Heron Farms. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian*

WFA has worked closely with a number of scientific experts. This includes Daniel Karp, assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. Karp has been involved in a long-term study on strawberries, trying to quantify the amount of damages associated with birds.

He’s found that yes, birds eat insects—many of them ones that eat crops. But certain birds also eat the insects that eat smaller pests.

“So there’s a real balance there,” he said. “There are benefits and drawbacks.”

The primary concerns from farmers, he said, are about food safety issues; questions about whether birds or other animals could be bringing food borne diseases onto farms, leading to outbreaks. If you’re a farm of a certain size, auditors are routinely sent out to make sure you have met certain standards.

“There’s incredible pressure on farmers to discourage wildlife from coming onto the fields in fear of them spreading these diseases,” Karp said. “What we’ve done is study all these things at once. We see what the farmer does to manage that farm; how that affects the wildlife, and how that in turn affects all of these issues.”

Some of the industry standards, Karp said, are “vital” and important in keeping consumers safe. Others, such as the complete removal of habitats around farms, are less science-based and can sometimes lead to more issues.

“Growers are often caught in the middle,” he said. “It can be tricky.”

This past winter, WFA and its partners held a series of Virtual Field Days, where they visited farms to do demonstrations and discuss their findings. Many were held at farms that had installed songbird nest boxes, either independently or through WFA.

“Sometimes farmers are just super busy… it’s not easy to sell to them bringing nature back to their farm,” Baumgartner said. “But putting in a bird box is super easy.”

At Blue Heron Farms in Corralitos, Baumgartner said that owner DennisTamura has installed 32 songbird boxes on his farm. This has attracted species such as western bluebirds and tree swallows, which has resulted in good pest control against beetles.

“It’s also just delightful to see the parents feeding their young,” Baumgartner said. “A lot of farmers are just enjoying seeing these birds, while also benefiting from natural pest control.”

Farms can be added to WFA’s Songbird Farm Trail, which highlights farms and landscapes that are supporting beneficial birds by installing the boxes.

“It’s great, because people have been encouraging each other to use them,” Baumgartner said. “We’d love to see a million of these boxes go up, and more vegetative habitats, riparian areas and hedgerows put in. We want to be a resource for people who want to do these things.”

For Karp, it’s all about looking for win-win situations for both farmers and the environment.

“Farmers are very smart, and know their land better than I do,” he said. “We don’t want to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. We’re feeling more win-win these days, which is great. We’re seeing that there can be really cool examples of ways to integrate conservation into farming.”

Added Baumgartner: “We need to start thinking of agriculture as not only growing our food, but also supporting nature—which in turn, supports everything in the end.”

For information about WFA and their work, visit wildfarmalliance.org.

Local Author to Release First Prose and Poetry Collection

Literature

Johanna Miller

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August 23, 2021

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Local Author to Release First Prose and Poetry Collection

Author Olga Rosales Salinas remembers clearly the folklore and myths she heard growing up in Watsonville.

The Mexican legends of La Llorona and El Cucuy in particular stuck with her; stories themed around fear and often used to teach difficult lessons.

“I’ve often thought about what these myths mean,” Salinas said. “They’ve always kept in my mind.”

Now, Salinas is set to publish her first prose and poetry collection centered around La Llorona, putting a new spin on a traditionally horrifying tale.

“La Llorona: Prose and Poetry” is a mixture of short stories and poems, following the character as if she were a mortal woman who once lived in Watsonville. Each section of the book includes letters, giving insight into how she views and now haunts the town.

**LOCAL TIES** Author Olga Rosales Salinas was born and raised in Watsonville. PHOTO: Contributed

“Writing this book, I looked at the themes of the La Llorona figure,” she said. “I imagined her as being a real woman, who suffered from postpartum psychosis. It’s been a real exploration of fear and anxiety.”

Salinas attended local schools, including Amesti, Rolling Hills and Aptos High. She began writing from an early age, starting with poems as far back as second grade, and dabbling in prose by fifth.

“My passion has always been writing. I was an ESL kid… at first, I saw poetry as a break from strict grammar rules… though now I understand it’s really hard,” she laughed.

Salinas left Watsonville in 1997 and got into radio, working in traffic management until 2014. Now, married with two sons, she writes full time, including recurring columns on topics such as anxiety and toxic masculinity.

All proceeds of “La Llorona Poetry and Prose” will go toward the Rosales Sisters’ Scholarship, which Salinas and her five sisters started in 2019. The scholarship aims to support first generation and immigrant students at Aptos High, which they all attended at one point.

“We all grew up as first generation… our parents were undocumented at that time,” she explained. “Going to an affluent school like that, being there, was very challenging. We want to give back to those kids who are in that situation.”

The scholarship has taken off. In their first round of funding, the sisters raised $800. The most recent round was close to $16,000.

“First our focus was on first generation and immigrant students, but if we see that there’s a very strong need… we’re going to select them,” Salinas said. “We want to continue giving and make an impact.”

Read more about the scholarship at rsscholarship.com.

An event to celebrate the release of “La Llorona: Poetry and Prose,” as well as raise more money for the scholarship is scheduled for Aug. 27 at Pajaro Valley Arts, 37 Sudden St., from 6-8pm.

A lineup of entertainment includes sets by local visual artist Jaime Sánchez, poet and filmmaker Elizabeth Gomez, and writers Martin García, Dr. Victoria Banales and Mireya Gomez-Contreras. A live musical performance will feature the trio of Belinda Elvia Cabrera, Miguel Carero and Jorge Mariscal.

Salinas will close out the show.

More fundraisers are planned for Sept. 18 at Habitat Hair Salon in San Francisco, and in Oakland on Oct. 23.

Salinas said she was eager for her book to be released and enjoyed by readers.

“It’s my first collection,” she said. “I’m very excited.”

For information and to order a copy of “La Llorona Poetry and Prose,” visit olgars.com.

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Aug. 18-24

GT Staff

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August 18, 2021

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A weekly guide to what’s happening.

ARTS AND MUSIC

BANFF CENTRE MOUNTAIN VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL Travel to the most remote corners of the world, dive into daring expeditions and celebrate some of the most remarkable outdoor achievements, all from the comfort of your living room. Films are available for purchase individually or as a bundle. Banff will also screen Award Winners: Monthly Film Series. The program features past Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival award winners. The recently-announced Encore Classic Films include audience favorites spanning the last 10 years. Programs screen until Oct. 24. Visit riotheatre.com for more information. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.

MOTIV SUNDAY: SHEDM: THE FEMALE CREATORS OF DANCE MUSIC DJs mix in the darkest bass beats by their favorite female and LGBT producers. Don’t miss guest DJs every week. Motiv Nightclub is now open and fully remodeled, boasting new bathrooms and state-of-the-art dance floor lights. Sunday, Aug. 22, 9pm. Motiv, 1209 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.

COMMUNITY DRUMMING WITH JIM GREINER IN PERSON Percussionist/educator Jim Greiner’s next monthly Third Friday community drumming sessions series at Soquel’s Inner Light Center will be in person. Jim makes it fun and easy for people from all walks of life to play drums and hand percussion instruments. It helps release stress, uplift, energize and reinforce positive life rhythms. Masks and social distancing honored. $10. Friday, Aug. 20, 7-8:30pm. Inner Light Center, 5630 Soquel Drive, Soquel.

LA BOHEME SANTA CRUZ An original play with music and drama, portraying the lives of residents at Carmelita Cottages in the 1880-90s. When Henry Thompson (aka Enrico de Tomaso) returns to Santa Cruz after seven years in opera, he meets a young piano teacher, Lottie Dame, and his life begins to change. Joshua Hughes, a bass-baritone from Palo Alto, performs the lead role. Additional cast members are UCSC students. Space is limited, so please reserve your free seat. Donations are appreciated. Saturday, Aug. 21, 4pm. Carmelita Cottages, 321 Main St., Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ SHAKESPEARE: RII The story that sets England’s Wars of the Roses in motion, Jessica Kubzansky’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard II tells the story of that king’s ill-fated reign using just three actors. What is our responsibility when a bad leader rightfully occupies the throne? This exploration of divine right, capricious leadership and bloody insurrection is packed with contemporary political relevance. L.A. Times critic Charles McNulty hailed the Los Angeles Boston Court Theatre debut as a “feat of ingenious stagecraft.” Santa Cruz Shakespeare performances take place in The Audrey Stanley Grove (The Grove) at Santa Cruz’s Upper DeLaveaga Park. Covid safety protocols include a revised seating layout, ensuring adequate space and comfort. For more information, visit santacruzshakespeare.org. Due to limited capacity, purchase tickets early. Wednesday, Aug. 18, 7:30-9:30pm. Friday, Aug. 20, 8-10pm. Saturday, Aug. 21, 2-4pm. Sunday, Aug. 22, 7-9pm. The Grove at DeLaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ SHAKESPEARE: THE AGITATORS This play tells the story of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. Over 45 volatile years, they were friends, allies and adversaries. Their hopes and dreams for equality led to both common grounds and political battlefields. As agitators, they were not content to let either our nation or each other rest in complacency, and their respective fights for racial justice and gender equity continue to this day. For more information, visit santacruzshakespeare.org. Thursday, Aug. 19, 7:30pm. Saturday, Aug. 21, 8pm. Sunday, Aug. 22, 1pm. The Grove at DeLaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz.

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL SANTA CRUZ COMEDY FESTIVAL (OUTDOORS) The Santa Cruz Comedy Festival showcases a different nationally-known headliner each week with a new all-star line-up. Bring blankets and beach chairs, enjoy the array of vendors and food trucks and get ready to laugh! Saturday, Aug. 21, 4pm. Laurel Street Park, 301 Maple St., Santa Cruz.

TOBY GRAY HIGHWAY BUDDHA COMBO AT STOCKWELL CELLAR Cool and mellow, with a repertoire of beloved songs and fun, heartfelt originals, Toby Gray pays tribute to some of the founding voices of jazz, Motown, R&B, country and rock. Great music and engaging stories of touring with It’s a Beautiful Day, Dick Clark and many characters from the San Francisco and L.A. music scenes of the 1960s. Friday, Aug. 20, 5:30-8:30pm. Stockwell Cellars, 1100 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz.

STRINGS AT CABRILLO COLLEGE FALL 2021 Beginning string classes—violin, viola, cello and bass—with string ensemble components are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning Aug. 24. Open to adults and high school students. Instruments provided for classroom use. Register now to secure a place. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 11am. Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos.

COMMUNITY

BUILDING WITH PURPOSE PART ONE: PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING 101 Housing Matters is building a five-story permanent supportive housing building in Santa Cruz County. This building will include 120 new units of low-income housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness, as well as an expanded recuperative care center and medical clinic. In part one of this two-part webinar series, Director of Programs Tom Stagg and Assistant Director of Programs Evyn Simpson, will discuss permanent supportive housing as a solution to homelessness and why this approach works. For more information and registration, visit eventbrite.com. Wednesday, Aug. 18, 4-5pm.

BUILDING WITH PURPOSE PART TWO: HOUSING MATTERS’ NEWEST HOUSING PROJECT Part two of this two-part webinar series will discuss the specifics of Housing Matters’ newest 120-unit permanent supportive housing project in Santa Cruz County. This webinar will be led by Housing Matters’ Executive Director, Phil Kramer. For more information and registration, visit eventbrite.com. Monday, Aug. 23, 10-11am.

COMMUNITY PILATES MAT CLASS This in-person community Pilates Mat Class in the big auditorium at Temple Beth El in Aptos is in session once again. Please bring your own mat, a small Pilates ball and a TheraBand, if you have one. You must be vaccinated for this indoor class. $10 suggested donation per class. Thursday, Aug. 19, 10am. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 10am. Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WEBINAR Communication is more than just talking and listening – it’s also about sending and receiving messages through attitude, tone, facial expressions and body language. As people with Alzheimer’s and similar ailments progress in their journey and the ability to use words is lost, families need new ways to connect. Explore how to communicate with someone who has Alzheimer’s; learn to decode the verbal and behavioral messages of someone with dementia; identify strategies to help you connect and communicate at each stage of the disease. The Effective Communication Strategies program of the Alzheimer’s Association was designed to provide practical information and resources to help caregivers learn to decode verbal and behavioral messages from people with dementia. Register at alz.org/crf or call 800-272-3900. Thursday, Aug. 19, 10-11:30am.

GREY BEARS BROWN BAG LINE Grey Bears are looking for help with their brown bag production line on Thursday and Friday mornings. Volunteers will receive breakfast and a bag of food if wanted. Be at the warehouse with a mask and gloves at 7am. Call ahead for more information: 831-479-1055, greybears.org. Thursday, Aug. 19, 7am. California Grey Bears, 2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

INTRO TO EBIKES WORKSHOP Want to learn more about eBikes and how they can help with commuting, saving time and money? From hauling kids around to arriving at work sweat-free, this workshop explores eBike options for diverse lifestyles and budgets. Ecology Action staff will provide an overview of eBikes, covering technology, cost, environmental benefits and whether eBikes can replace cars. Free bike lights and helmets will be distributed to attendees, but you must be an employee of a business in the Downtown Santa Cruz Parking District. This workshop is offered to all downtown Santa Cruz employees as part of GO Santa Cruz, a transportation program that provides downtown employees with commute alternatives. For more information, visit cityofsantacruz.com/gosantacruz. Thursday, Aug. 19, Noon-1pm.

GROUPS

ENTRE NOSOTRAS GRUPO DE APOYO Entre Nosotras support group for Spanish-speaking women diagnosed with cancer meets twice monthly. Registration is required. Please call Entre Nosotras at 831-761-3973. Friday, Aug. 20, 6pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

S+LAA MENS’ MEETING Having trouble with compulsive sexual or emotional behavior? Recovery is possible. The small 12-step group meets Saturday evenings. Enter through the front, go straight down the hallway to the last door on the right. Thursday, Aug. 19, 6pm. Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, 2900 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM WomenCARE Arm-in-Arm Cancer support group for women with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cancer meets every Monday at the WomenCARE’s office. Currently, the groups are held on Zoom. All services are free. Call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 to register. For more information, visit womencaresantacruz.org. Monday, Aug. 23, 12:30pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE MINDFULNESS MEDITATION Mindfulness Meditation for women with a cancer diagnosis meets on the first and third Friday of the month. Currently, the groups are held on Zoom. Please contact WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 to register. Friday, Aug. 20, 11am-noon. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE TUESDAY SUPPORT GROUP WomenCARE cancer support group for women newly diagnosed meets every Tuesday. Currently, the groups are held on Zoom. Call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 to register. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 12:30-2pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE: LAUGHTER YOGA Laughter yoga for women with cancer meets every Wednesday on Zoom. Please call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 to register. Wednesday, Aug. 18, 3:30-4:30pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

OUTDOOR

BOTANICAL BEAUTIES OF SANTA CRUZ A selection of digital photographs of plants and blossoms shot throughout Santa Cruz County by Marlene Mirassou displayed at the Ugly Mug Coffeehouse. They are shown during regular business hours: 6:30am-3:30pm from Aug. 1 to Aug. 28. The Ugly Mug, 4640 Soquel Drive, Soquel.

CASFS FARMSTAND Organic vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers are sold weekly at the CASFS Farmstand through Nov. 23. Proceeds support experiential education programs at the UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems. Friday, Aug. 20, Noon-6pm. Tuesday, Aug. 24, Noon-6pm. Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn, Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz.

CASTRO ADOBE TOURS Join this free tour of Castro Adobe State Historic Park to learn about the history of the California Rancho Period. Explore the 170-year-old, two-story adobe hacienda to see the restoration work. To pre-register for a tour, visit cognitoforms.com/FSCSP1/CastroAdobeTours. Sunday, Aug. 22, 11am-3pm. Castro Adobe State Historic Park, 184 Old Adobe Road, Watsonville.

GUIDED COASTAL WALK Explore the plants, animals, and geology of our coastal bluffs on this 2.5-mile, family-friendly walk. Bring water, a hat, closed-toed shoes, layered clothing and binoculars, if available. Meet next to the park map in Wilder Ranch’s main parking lot. Vehicle day-use fee is $10. Space is limited, and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing required during all programs. For more information, call 831-426-0505. To register, visit santacruzstateparks.as.me/schedule.php. Rain cancels. Saturday, Aug. 21, 11am. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz.

HISTORIC RANCH GROUND TOUR Discover what life was like a century ago on this innovative dairy ranch. The hour-long tour includes the 1896 water-powered machine shop, barns and other historic buildings. Vehicle day-use fee is $10. Space is limited and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing required during all programs. For more information, call 831-426-0505. To register, visit santacruzstateparks.as.me/schedule.php. Saturday, Aug. 21, 1pm. Sunday, Aug. 22, 1pm. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz.

NATURAL BRIDGES LITTLE RANGERS Participants are invited to play games, listen to stories and songs and learn about nature. Activities and games vary week-to-week but always cover a topic relevant to Natural Bridges. Meet at the side porch of the visitor center. Parents or caregivers are required to stay and encouraged to help facilitate the fun and games. We can’t wait to see you again! Day-use fee for vehicles is $10. For more information, call 831-423-0871. Masks and social distancing are required for all programs. Although pre-registration isn’t required, this program has a class capacity and operates on a first come, first serve basis, so make sure to arrive early. Monday, Aug. 23, 10-10:30am. Natural Bridges State Beach, Swanton Blvd. & W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

NEW BRIGHTON JUNIOR RANGERS This fun one-hour program offers kids, ages 7-12, an opportunity to earn prizes while learning about birds, sea life, and local park animals, playing games, and doing arts and crafts. Meet at the campground Ramada. Spaces are limited, and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing are required. For more information, call 831-685-6444. To register, visit santacruzstateparks.as.me/schedule.php. Friday, Aug. 20, 3pm. Saturday, Aug. 21, 3pm. New Brighton Beach, 1500 Park Ave., Capitola.

PARKS & REX POOL PARTY Everyone will have a blast at this end-of-summer celebration, which will include great food (vegetarian options available), music and fun in the pool for adults, children and dogs, too! Join Santa Cruz County Parks Department #SCParksDept and the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter #scanimalshelter for the Sixth Annual Parks & Rex Pool Party Fundraiser. All proceeds benefit county parks youth programs and animal shelter programs. Saturday, Aug. 21, Noon-4pm. Simpkins Family Swim Center, 979 17th Ave., Santa Cruz.

SEYMOUR CENTER OUTDOORS! Hone your observation skills and watch animals, such as sea stars, sea urchins and hermit crabs, gracefully move during tide pool investigating. Explore the pathway of giants and find nine outdoor objects hidden around the Seymour Center during an outdoor scavenger hunt. Why do baby fish look so different from adults? What kinds of strategies do fish use for raising their young? And what kind of fish live in Monterey Bay? Find the answers to these questions in five secret containers located throughout the Coastal Science Campus. Grab a selfie with one of our life-sized wooden marine animals at the Marine Animal Selfie Station. $10 suggested donation per household. Purchase a membership, and become a sustaining supporter of the Seymour Center. To learn more, visit seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/visit. Saturday, Aug. 21, 11am-2pm. Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz.

SUNSET BEACH BOWLS Experience tranquility, peace, and calmness as the ocean waves harmonize with the sound of crystal bowls raising vibration and energy levels. Every Tuesday, an hour before sunset at Moran Lake Beach. For more details, call 831-333-6736. Tuesday, Aug. 24, 7:15-8:15pm. Moran Lake Park & Beach, East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

WEST CLIFF FOOD TRUCK SUMMER SERIES 2021 The Food Truck Summer Series returns to the West Cliff Lighthouse parking lot for its third season of stellar local food trucks, live music and magnificent views. It’s a great excuse to get outside and taste delicious cuisine. The free event is quickly becoming a favorite for locals and tourists. There are several picnic areas to relax and take in the scenery. Friday, Aug. 20, 4-8pm. Lighthouse Point Park, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

WEST CLIFF OUTDOOR MARKET 2021 The one-of-a-kind West Cliff Outdoor Market features unique artisans and local food trucks spread out in two parking lots along West Cliff Drive. The popular spot for locals and tourists overlooks the famous surf spot, Steamers Lane. Enjoy the fresh air, stroll among many artisan booths, and munch on an assortment of specialty food while taking in the view. See you on the cliffs! Free. Saturday, Aug. 21, 10am-6pm. Lighthouse Point Park, W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

Aptos’ Lea McIntosh’s Releases Debut LP ‘Blood Cash’

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August 18, 2021

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Aptos’ Lea McIntosh’s Releases Debut LP ‘Blood Cash’

Aptos singer-songwriter Lea McIntosh has always lived with the pain of childhood trauma. Growing up, she experienced emotional and physical abuse, and her mother was murdered when she was 11 years old.

It’s only in the past four years that she’s begun working through these experiences, using her music as an outlet. The result is her debut album, Blood Cash, which comes out on Aug. 20.

“I spent most of my life an absolute workaholic,” McIntosh says. “By the time I was in my mid-30s, I had this profound a-ha moment. I had been keeping myself so busy, so I wouldn’t give myself the time to think about [my past trauma] and process it at a high level.”

She slowed down her work schedule to fulfill her dream of having a child, but raising him triggered memories of the abuse and trauma she had experienced as a kid. But she was ready to face her feelings, and music provided her with an outlet. McIntosh began honing her skills as a singer-songwriter.

When she was 14, she sat in her father’s truck listening to Kathy Mattea sing her hit song “Where’ve You Been?” and was brought to tears. At that moment, McIntosh knew that music would be her greatest means of expression.

“I knew I wanted to do that someday,” McIntosh says. “It was so powerful.”

When she was 20, she started classical voice training.

“I was training as a dramatic soprano in hopes to be ready to perform on the grand operatic stages by my mid-30s to 40s,” McIntosh says.

Eventually, she started to dabble in bluegrass for fun. In 2016, she went to Aptos Guitar Company and picked up a ukulele. Frank Male, AGC owner at the time, talked her into joining a small Friday night jam at the store. There, McIntosh met some local musicians and became familiar with styles she hadn’t paid much attention to before, including classic rock, blues and jazz.

Myron Dove, one of the musicians she got to know, encouraged her not to sing “clean,” but rather have some grit in her voice. He encouraged her to listen to Chaka Khan and Big Mama Thornton, among other artists. It wasn’t just their voices that moved her. McIntosh fell in love with the blues.

“He made me listen to all the nuances of their voices and the way they were emoting,” she says.

Over the past few years, she worked with Dove and Travis Cruse, who helped bring her songs to life. These songs were born out of the blues.

Blood Cash is all about her childhood, except for “Fantasy Woman,” which was the first complete song she wrote, back in 2018. Most of the other tunes detail her early life traumas.

During the pandemic, she felt like she was afforded more time to explore the lyrics and work with different layers to bring the songs to life.

It was important to her that the trauma described in these songs was not overwhelming to listeners. She wanted them to be songs of healing—and not just for herself.

“I realized that I could write that song from the perspective of a grown woman, not from a child’s eyes,” McIntosh says. “That has been a gift. Having gone through so much through these years, if I could tell anyone that being able to change the perspective, look at the perspective of the players. There are so many reasons why things happen. It’s common to think it was your fault, especially when you’re younger. You were just a pawn in their whole game.”

For more information, check out leamcintosh.com.

Letter to the Editor: Oversight For Sheriff’s Office, Too

Letters to the Editor

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August 18, 2021

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Letter to the Editor: Oversight For Sheriff’s Office, Too

Re: “Fired Up” (GT, 7/7): All of us deserve the benefit of basic human rights, but many of our jailed community members do not have these protections. People in our Santa Cruz County jail have experienced abuse, neglect and violence, including sexual assault at the hands of jail staff. The Sheriff’s Office, which is responsible for operating our jails, has a $90 million annual budget, but no public oversight or accountability. In June, the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury issued a report that described numerous deficiencies in management, resourcing, and efficient oversight. More transparency is needed to improve standards in our jails and rebuild trust with the public.

Join us in demanding that people in custody are treated with dignity and care. Email or call your Supervisor to request that they implement a Sheriff Oversight Commission and/or an Inspector General position. Go to Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) in Santa Cruz County’s website at surjsantacruz.com/act-now for details.

Angelee Dion, Natasha Fraley, and Nicole Reynolds | SURJ Santa Cruz

This letter does not necessarily reflect the views of Good Times.To submit a letter to the editor of Good Times: Letters should be originals—not copies of letters sent to other publications. Please include your name and email address to help us verify your submission (email address will not be published). Please be brief. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Send letters to le*****@*******es.sc.

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Summer Swell

Low-Key Lux

Bantam Reopens; Michelin Recognizes a Pair of Santa Cruz County Restaurants

Outdoor World Closing Final Store

Can Gov. Newsom Keep His Job? A Recall Effort in California Shows a Dead Heat.

It’s ‘Back to That Isolation Bubble’ for Workers Pining for the Office

FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

Organization Aims to Integrate Beneficial Songbirds on Farms

Local Author to Release First Prose and Poetry Collection

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Aug. 18-24

ARTS AND MUSIC

COMMUNITY

GROUPS

OUTDOOR

Aptos’ Lea McIntosh’s Releases Debut LP ‘Blood Cash’

Letter to the Editor: Oversight For Sheriff’s Office, Too

Bantam Reopens; Michelin Recognizes a Pair of Santa Cruz County Restaurants

Outdoor World Closing Final Store

Can Gov. Newsom Keep His Job? A Recall Effort in California Shows a Dead Heat.

It’s ‘Back to That Isolation Bubble’ for Workers Pining for the Office

FDA Grants Full Approval to Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

Organization Aims to Integrate Beneficial Songbirds on Farms

Local Author to Release First Prose and Poetry Collection

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Aug. 18-24

Aptos’ Lea McIntosh’s Releases Debut LP ‘Blood Cash’

Letter to the Editor: Oversight For Sheriff’s Office, Too