50 Up Senior Guide

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50 Up Senior Guide

A guide to resources in Santa Cruz County:

Living Facilities

There are many types of senior housing options, ranging from residential facilities and assisted living homes to independent living and retirement communities. Learn more about the differences and search for options near you at eldercare.gov (800-677-1116) or seniorfacilityfinder.com. 

Alexandria Victoria 

226 Morrissey Blvd., Santa Cruz, 429-9137.

Dominican Oaks

3400 Paul Sweet Rd., Santa Cruz, 462-6257, dominicanoaks.com.

Golden Age Convalescent Hospital

523 Burlingame Ave., Capitola, 475-0722.

La Posada

609 Frederick St., Santa Cruz, 429-9230, laposadaretirementcommunity.com.

Maple House

410 Pennsylvania Ave., Santa Cruz, 423-6347, themaplehouse.com.

Oak Tree Villa

100 Lockewood Lane, Scotts Valley, 205-7363, brookdaleliving.com. 

Pacific Coast Manor

1935 Wharf Rd., Capitola, 476-0770, covenantcare.com.

Paradise Villa 

2177 17th Ave., Santa Cruz, 475-1380, paradisevillaelderlycare.com.

Sunshine Villa

80 Front St., Santa Cruz, 459-8400, sunshinevillaseniorliving.com.

Twin Lakes Manor

777 Volz Lane, Santa Cruz, 477-1100, twinlakesmanor.net.

Valley Haven 

2266 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, 818-8372, valleyhavencare.com. 

Valley Heights

925 Freedom Blvd., Watsonville, 722-4884, valleyheights.com.

Westwind Memory Care

160 Jewell St., Santa Cruz, 440-8795, westwindmemorycare.com.

Classes & Activities 

Academy of Martial & Internal Arts

1570 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, 475-1429, reelingsilk.com.

Awakening Chi

1060 River St., Ste. 111,Santa Cruz, 334-7757, awakeningchi.org.

Bridge Of Hope

P.O. Box 576, Soquel, 464-2362, bridgeofhopefoundation.org.

Chair Yoga with Suzi

Yoga Center Santa Cruz, 428 Front St., Santa Cruz, 234-6791, suzimahler.com.

City of Capitola Recreation Department

4400 Jade St., Capitola, 475-5935, cityofcapitola.org/recreation.

City of Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department 

323 Church St., Santa Cruz, 420-5270, cityofsantacruz.com.

Dominican Hospital’s Personal Enrichment Program 

1555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, 462-7709, dominicanhospital.org.

Lenz Arts

142 River St., Santa Cruz, 423-1935, lenzarts.com.

Santa Cruz County Parks Department 

979 17th Ave., Santa Cruz, 454-7901, scparks.com./adult_senior.html.

Simpkins Family Swim Center

979 17th Ave., Santa Cruz, 454-7960, scparks.com.

Watsonville Community Hospital

75 Nielson St., Watsonville, 724-4741, watsonvillehospital.com.

Adult Mental Health Services

Santa Cruz: 1400 Emeline Ave. Bldg. K, Santa Cruz, 454-4170, santacruzhealth.org.

Adult Protective Services (Human Services Department)

1400 Emeline Ave. Bldg. K, Santa Cruz, 454-4101, santacruzhumanservices.org.

Family Service Agency of the Central Coast

104 Walnut Ave. Ste. 208, Santa Cruz, 423-9444; 11 Alexander St. Ste. D, Watsonville, 728-9970 (24-hour multi-lingual crisis line), fsa-cc.org.

Hospice of Santa Cruz County

940 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, 430-3000, hospicesantacruz.org.

Mental Health Client Action Network

1051 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz, 469-0462, mhcan.org.

Santa Cruz Vets Center

1350 41st Ave. Ste. 102, Capitola, 464-4575, santacruzhumanservices.org, va.gov.

Women’s Crisis Support—Defensa de Mujeres (Monarch Services)

1685 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz, 425-4030; 233 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville, 722-4532, (888) 900-4232 (crisis line), wcs-ddm.org.

Financial Services

Bay Federal Credit Union

Multiple Locations, 479-6000, bayfed.com.

Countryside Financial 

464-6464, countrysidefinancial.com.

Edward Jones Investments

Multiple locations, edwardjones.com.

Main Street Realtors 

2567 Main St., Soquel, 462-4000, mainstrealtors.com.     

Pacific Inland Financial Inc.

5161 Soquel Drive, Soquel, 475-2600, pacificinland.com.

Santa Cruz Home Finance

1535 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, 425-1250, santacruzhomefinance.com.

Santa Cruz Community Credit Union

324 Front St., Santa Cruz, 425-7708, scccu.org.

Terry Ballantyne/Sereno Group Real Estate 

2407 Porter St., Soquel, 588-8485, terryballantyne.com, navigatingolderhood.com.

Food and Nutrition 

Agri-Culture

141 Monte Vista Ave., Watsonville, 722-6622, agri-culture.us.

Grey Bears

2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, 479-1055, greybears.org. 

Carnation Cafe Senior Lunch at Louden Nelson Community Center

301 Center St., Santa Cruz, 427-0901, cityofsantacruz.com.

Cindy’s Celebrations, Inc.

320 Carrera Circle, Aptos, 479-7509, cindyscelebrations.org.

Community Bridges Adult Care Food Program 

236 Santa Cruz Ave., Aptos, 688-8840, communitybridges.org.

Elena Baskin Live Oak Senior Center

1777 Capitola Rd., Santa Cruz, 476-3272, liveoakseniorcenter.com.

Highlands Senior Dining Center at the Senior Center of San Lorenzo Valley

8500 Hwy. 9, Ben Lomond, 336-8900.

Human Services Department

1020 Emeline Ave. Bldg. B, Santa Cruz; 18 W. Beach St., Watsonville, (888) 421-8080, santacruzhumanservices.org.

La Manzana Community Resources

521 Main St. Ste. Y, Watsonville, 724-2997, communitybridges.org/lmcr.

Live Oak Family Resources 

1740 17th Ave., Santa Cruz, 476-7284.

Meals on Wheels for Santa Cruz County

Contact Community Bridges for meal times, locations and drop-off information: 464-3180, communitybridges.org/meals.

Mountain Community Resources 

6134 Hwy. 9, Felton, 335-6600, communitybridges.org/mcr.

Pajaro Rescue Mission 

111 Railroad Ave., Royal Oaks, 724-9576, teenchallengemb.org.

Second Harvest Food Bank

800 Ohlone Parkway., Watsonville, 722-7110, thefoodbank.org. Food hotline: 662-0991.

Scotts Valley Senior Center 

370 Kings Village Rd., Scotts Valley, 438-8666.

Watsonville Senior Center

114 E. 5th St., Watsonville, 722-1333.

Healthcare & Health Resources

Aimée Gould Shunney, ND

Licensed Naturopathic Doctor. 740 Front St. #130, Santa Cruz, 465-9088, drshunney.com.

Alzheimer’s Disease Care Center at Elderday 

100 Pioneer St. Ste. C, Santa Cruz, 458-3481, communitybridges.org.

Arthritis Foundation Great West Region

90 New Montgomery St. Ste. 710, San Francisco. (415) 915-2862, arthritis.org.

Cabrillo College Stroke & Disability Learning Center

6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos, 477-3300, cabrillo.edu/academics/strokecenter.

Cancer Detection Program: Every Woman Counts Central Coast Regional Contractor: Community Health Partnership

1401 Parkmoor Ave., Ste. 200 San Jose, (408) 556-6605, dhs.ca.gov/cancerdetection. 

Carol Shwery, DC CCN

831 Bay Ave. Ste. 1E, Capitola, 476-6906, drcarolshwery.com.

Central California Alliance for Health

1600 Green Hills Rd. Ste. 101, Scotts Valley, 430-5500, ccah-alliance.org.

Dakota Health Center

111 Dakota Ave. Ste. 2, Santa Cruz, 429-1188.

Diabetes Health Center

85 Nielson St. Ste. 201, Watsonville, 763-6445, pvhealthtrust.org.

Dominican Hospital

1555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, 462-7700, dominicanhospital.org.

EyeCare America Seniors Eye Care Program

(877) 887-6327, eyecareamerica.org.

Health Projects Center

1537 Pacific Ave. Ste. 300, Santa Cruz, 459-6639, hpcn.org.

Hearing Aid Helpline

(734) 522-7200 ext. 2, ihsinfo.org.

Hearts & Hands, Post Acute Care & Rehab Center

2990 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, 479-9000. 

Holistic Pelvic Care

515 Broadway, Santa Cruz, 431-3826, kelleylinn.com.

Homeless Persons Health Project

115-A Coral St., Santa Cruz, 454-2080, santacruzhealth.org.

Horsnyder Pharmacy

1226-A Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, 458-1400, horsnyder.com.

Katz Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital

3150 Mission Drive Fl. 1, Santa Cruz, CA, 462-7770.

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

100 W San Fernando St. Ste. 365, San Jose, (408) 490-2666, lls.org.

LifeCare Management & Caregiver Referrals

200-1870 or 650-714-6377, lifecaremanagement.com. 

Medi-Cal

18 W. Beach St., Watsonville, 454-4036, medi-cal.ca.gov. Also, see Central California Alliance for Health.

Medicare

(800) 633-4227, medicare.gov.

Natural Foundations

4450 Capitola Rd. Ste. 105, Capitola, 325-0202, naturalfoundations.com.

Optimage Health Inc.

930 Mission St., Santa Cruz, 421-0197, optimagehealth.com. 

Orthonorcal

4140 Jade St. Room 100, Capitola, 475-4024, orthonorcal.com.

Pacific Pulmonary Services

440 Westridge Drive, Watsonville, 722-3001, ppsc.com.

Parkinson’s Support Group in Santa Cruz

477-9412, 708-2906, parkinsons.stanford.edu. 

Physicians Medical Group of Santa Cruz 

100 Enterprise Way Ste. C110, Scotts Valley, 465-7800, pmgscc.com. 

Rejuvenate Medi Spa

304 Lincoln St., Santa Cruz, 226-2108, navigatormedical.com.

Santa Cruz AIDS Project

542 Ocean St. Ste. 1, Santa Cruz, 427-3900, scapsite.org.

Santa Cruz Core Fitness and Rehab

317 Potrero St., Ste. C, Santa Cruz, 425-9500, santacruzcore.com.

Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group

1555 Soquel Drive, Education Bldg., Santa Cruz, 462-7770, scprostate.org.

Santa Cruz Naturals

9077 Soquel Drive, Aptos, 688-7266, santacruzcannabis.com.

Side By Side Memory Care

687-8121, sidebyside.info.

Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz

2900 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, 477-2200, sutterhealth.org/smscsc.

Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

413 Laurel St., Santa Cruz, 458-9766, vistacenter.org.

Watsonville Community Hospital

75 Nielson St., Watsonville, 724-4741, watsonvillehospital.com.

Watsonville Pharmacy Medical Supplies and Gifts

1433 Freedom Blvd., Watsonville, 728-1818, watsonvillepharmacy.com.

Westside Pharmacy Medical Supplies and Gifts 

1401 Mission St., Santa Cruz, 423-7175. westsidepharmacyrx.com.

WomenCARE

2901 Park Ave., Ste. 1A, Soquel, 457-2273, womencaresantacruz.org.

Housing

Bay Avenue Senior Apartments

750 Bay Ave., Capitola, 464-6435.

Habitat for Humanity, My House My Home

469-4663, habitatmontereybay.org.

Homeless Services Center

115-A Coral St., Santa Cruz, 458-6020, santacruzhsc.org.

Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County 

2160 41st Ave.. Capitola, CA, 454-9455, hacosantacruz.org.

Mobile Home Commission

701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, 454-2772, sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/mhc/index.html. 

Mobile Home Ombudsman’s Office

(916) 263-6928, hcd.ca.gov.

Senior Housing Finder

462-1433, seniornetworkservices.org.

The Shelter Project of the Community Action Board

501 Soquel Ave., Ste. E, Santa Cruz, 457-1741; 406 Main St. Suite 207, Watsonville, 728-4634, cabinc.org.

Valley Haven

2266 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, 818-8372, valleyhavencare.com.

In-Home Services 

Care from the Heart Home Service

3143 Paul Sweet Rd., Santa Cruz, 476-8316, carefromtheheart.net. 

ComForcare Home Care

100 Doyle St. Ste. F, Santa Cruz, 427-1553, comforcare.com.

Companion for Life /Lifeline Project

234 Santa Cruz Ave., Aptos, 688-9217, seniorscouncil.org/programs/companionforlife.

Dominican Home Health

8030 Soquel Ave. Ste. 104, Santa Cruz, 465-7988, dominicanhospital.org.

Familiar Surroundings

2901 Park Ave. Ste. C3, Soquel, 480-3990, fshomecare.com.

Helping Hands Senior Home Repair Program

427-5070, scvolunteercenter.com/programs/elderly-disabled/helping_hands.

Home Helpers

343 Soquel Ave. #100, Santa Cruz, 477-6265, homehelpers.com.

Home Instead Senior Care

3912 Portola Drive Ste. 3, Santa Cruz, 476-9500, homeinstead.com.

Heartland Hospice

824 Bay Ave. Ste. 40, Capitola, 476-2158, heartlandhospice.com.

Hospice of Santa Cruz County

940 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, 430-3000, hospicesantacruz.org.

In-Home Support Services (IHSS) Public Authority

1400 Emeline Ave. Bldg. K, Santa Cruz, 454-4101; 12 W. Beach St., Watsonville, 763-8800, santacruzhumanservices.org.

Lifespan Care Well-Being Program

600 Frederick St., Santa Cruz, 469-4900, lifespancare.com.

Safe At Home Senior Care

820 Bay Ave., Capitola, 462-3500, safeathomeseniorcare.com.

Senior Network Services Registry

1777-A Capitola Rd., Santa Cruz, 462-1433, seniornetworkservices.org.

Visiting Angels

5274 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, 430-0616, visitingangels.com/centralcoast.

Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Santa Cruz County

2880 Soquel Ave. Ste. 10, Santa Cruz, 479-6620, santacruzvna.org.

Volunteering

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County

1500 41st Ave. Ste. 250, Capitola, 464-8691, santacruzmentor.com.

Grey Bears

2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, 479-1055, greybears.org.

CASA

813 Freedom Blvd., Watsonville, 761-2956, casaofsantacruz.org.

Dominican Hospital Volunteer Services

1555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, 462-7740, dominicanhospital.org.

Seniors Council of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties

234 Santa Cruz Ave., Aptos, 688-0400, seniorscouncil.org.

Suicide Prevention Service

104 Walnut Ave. Ste. 208, Santa Cruz, 459-9373, fsa-cc.org.

Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County’s Retired Senior Volunteer Program

1740 17th Ave., Santa Cruz, 427-5070; 349 Main St. Suite 208, Watsonville, 722-6708, scvolunteercenter.org.

50 Up: The Power of Jana Marcus’ ‘50 Over 50’ Portrait Project

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50 Up: The Power of Jana Marcus’ ‘50 Over 50’ Portrait Project

Jana Marcus has made a lot of women cry—in a good way. And all she had to do was show them what they look like.

When she started doing her “50 Over 50” project—portraits of 50 women over the age of 50—out of her photography studio in Santa Cruz this year, she quickly got into a pre-Covid rhythm: consult with each woman to design the shoot; bring them into the studio for makeup, hair and wardrobe; and then take the pictures.

But that isn’t the end of the process, and the most powerful moments inevitably come afterward.

“What I usually do in non-pandemic times is I invite them back to the studio about a week after our shoot, and I put 20 of the best images up on the wall for them to look at,” says Marcus. “And most women come in and start crying. They can’t believe it’s them. They’re like, ‘Oh my god, it’s me! I look good!’”

Now, of course, she’s doing the unveiling process on Zoom rather than in person—but that doesn’t stop many of the women from shedding tears when they see the images.

Marcus isn’t really surprised. It’s a reaction she first got a few years ago when doing portraits of transgendered women for her photography book Transfigurations.

“It was while I was shooting that that I realized the power of photography,” she says. “It’s not that I didn’t know that before, but I had these transgendered women who, when they went to the exhibit and saw the pictures of themselves on the wall, would start to cry. And they were like, ‘Oh my god, you captured the way I feel inside that I never thought I looked like on the outside.’ I realized how transformational photography can be in a person’s life.”

After that project, she took her studio full time and was trying to think of a portrait project that would get it noticed and bring people in, but that she also felt a personal connection to.

“I started thinking about how all of us women in our late 50s are in the second half of our lives—and we’re probably at our best,” says Marcus, who is 58. “We’re fully conscious and aware of our power, what we’ve lived through. But a lot of us don’t like how we look, because we don’t look like we did when we were in our 30s and 40s. I thought, ‘You know what, I want to do this for women. I want to photograph women. I want to give them a day where they can feel like a rock star and come to the studio and have a makeover and a fabulous photo session totally designed around them. Whatever they want represented of themselves—have them celebrate exactly who they are right now, whether they’re 50, 60, 70, 80, whatever they are.”

Once she started offering the 50 Over 50 package, she quickly had three times that number of women wanting to be a part of it. She planned to have finished the project by now, but thanks to Covid-19 she has only done about half. Her studio is currently closed, but she plans to open in September and is booked through November.

She has also been asking each of her subjects to write a few words about aging, or advice they would give their younger selves.

“Women are so all over this, because there is no representation in the media of women over 50. We’re invisible, like we don’t exist anymore. So they are loving this opportunity to be seen and to say a few words.”

Most of her subjects have never been professionally photographed, Marcus says, and while there’s a strength and confidence that shines through in the photos, it’s often her job to bring that out.

“Every single one of them is nervous before they come in,” she says. “I have a Zoom consultation with them before they come, and we talk in detail about how they want to be photographed, what they’re going to wear, and they’re all nervous, and they all are like, ‘Oh my god, get rid of this, and this, and this, and this.’ I’m like, ‘OK, I can airbrush whatever you want, but this is about photographing you right now, as you are.”

As the shoot goes on, the women being photographed inevitably get more comfortable, and Marcus says most of the best shots come near the end. The project itself seems to be gaining swagger as it goes on, too.

“They’ve started to bring props with them. People are wanting to say something about what they do in their life with the pictures,” says Marcus. “I had a florist who brought in flowers, and we photographed her with all these flowers. I had one woman who brought everything but the kitchen sink—she brought a bicycle and a fly-fishing rod and life-saving equipment! She had all this outdoor stuff that represented her life as an active person. And then when we were shooting in the studio, she said, ‘I also have these gowns from the 1940s that were my grandma’s.’ So I said to her, ‘Put the gown on.’ We made her all glamorous, and then we put her with all her outdoor stuff around her. It sounds crazy, but it’s the coolest picture, and she actually looks like a warrior woman holding the staff of the fishing rod.”

Currently, Marcus is planning her latest round of 50 Over 50 shoots, which will include Santa Cruz’s Ethel Lewis, the 90-year-old great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman. She hopes someone in the community will host an exhibit of the project in January, health orders permitting.

Marcus has always embraced the unusual and countercultural—from her 1997 book In the Shadow of the Vampire, about Anne Rice fan culture, to her award-winning 2004-2005 photo series “After Midnight: Youth Subcultures of New York City” to Tranfigurations (which won an Independent Publishers Book Award for Best LGBT Non-Fiction Book of 2012) to this summer’s Line of Blood: Uncovering a Secret Legacy of Mobsters, Money and Murder. With this project, too, she’s ready for anything.

“I had my first senior tell me she wanted a nude,” she says. “I hadn’t shot any nudes! So I said, ‘Well, what do you want?’ and she said, ‘I’m a free spirit, and I think everybody should love their body.’ I was like, ‘Ok!’”

Jana Marcus Photography can be found at janamarcus.com.

50 Up: A Boomer in Lockdown

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50 Up: A Boomer in Lockdown

It has been three days since I last cleaned the horse stalls and I believe I have finally dug all the manure out from under my toenails. On day one of lockdown, March 16, I scored a job taking care of nine Arabian horses on the Corralitos farm where I live in my Airstream trailer. It’s a good job—it’s a stable job.

There is no time clock; my day starts at dawn. I push my cart to the horse pens loaded with their hay and grain as the horses paw the ground in anticipation. While the outside human world descends into madness to fight over masks on their faces to prevent infection of their lungs, it’s my job to put fly masks on the horses’ faces to prevent infection of their eyes. The horses do far better with masks than the humans.

The horses can see through their eye masks, but it is still an intimate maneuver for me to reach under their necks and lift the mask over their faces, adjust it over their eyes and fasten it with Velcro. My first two weeks on the job, I am terrified of the 1,200-pound Arabian named Moose. You could put a half-dollar in his nostril. A few years ago Moose was abused by a man and injured. Moose is not mean, but because I am a large man, the minute I come through the gate his eyes go wild, ears go back and he runs in circles, kicking and snorting. I am scared, and he knows it.

By April, I get my breath under control and announce my intention to Moose. I stand still and he comes closer. I whisper to him that I am here to protect his eyes and that’s why we are going to put his mask on. He lowers his nose to my nose and I feel the powerful suction as he inhales me. He lets me scratch his neck and lifts his head with pleasure. He leans into my hands so that I will scratch him harder and it nearly knocks me down. Then he lowers his head to receive the mask.

Laughus Interruptus

Moose and I connect through breath. Air connects every one of us on earth. I have read that atoms from Julius Caesar’s last breath are in every breath I take, so I’m glad to hear that the big guy didn’t die of Covid-19. It turns out he had a bad day in the senate. Some things never change.

For my generation’s mantra of “We are the generation of sex, drugs and rock and roll,” I have a punchline: “any one of those three can lead to a hip replacement.” Coronavirus has made my joke obsolete. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll? Any one of those three can kill you.

As a small boy, I knew that I was born to perform in vaudeville but had arrived 40 years too late. Then I discovered standup comedy, and I got to be who I was born to be after all.

Standup is a call and response dialogue with the audience. It’s not intellectual, you feel their response. My body knows where the audience will let me take them; it’s not a calculated transaction, it’s emotional intelligence. When I am doing my job well, I am as sensitive as a horse.

I’ve gone all in on committing to make rooms of drunk people laugh. This is who I am, it’s what I got good at, and I’ve done it 3,000 times. I did my last live show on March 15 at Michael’s on Main in Santa Cruz, and it felt like the crowd was desperate to laugh. There was doom in the room. On March 16, the calls started coming in from agents and bookers—all my clubs, casinos and theaters had closed. By 5pm, my live performance career was over.

I feel obsolete. If I’m not a comedian who makes people laugh, then who am I? I start doing Zoom shows and build my YouTube Channel, Richard Stockton Comedy. At first I love the zero travel time and Zoom seems like the answer for isolation. But Zoom family meetings seem vacuous, and Zoom comedy shows have a built in delay that makes us feel more separated. Computer dating is great if you’re a computer.

I begin smoking weed and binge-watching the news. Starting with CNN, I pour over every news story. Hours pass. When I finally do push myself away from my computer, I am spent and cannot remember 95% of what I read. The news is an intravenous drip of fear into my blood. I walk toward Safeway without my glasses and think I see Trump rising out of the sidewalk. I get closer and see that it is an orange safety cone half buried in gravel. I hold my breath until I can get back on the farm to talk things over with Moose.

I do see news that inspires and lifts me, as even the Statue of Liberty is taking a knee. We thought the times were a-changin’ in the ’60s, and then they didn’t. But this feels different, as people of all colors march for racial equality. I hear from my kids who protest at the capitol in Sacramento. The image of my children running from rubber bullets terrifies me, but it makes me so proud of them. I pray they wear their goggles and masks while my heart soars to hear how they are finding their defining moment; they could be the generation to bring equality home.

Family Time

My two kids and I become a family again. Before the pandemic I was estranged from my children, but when the disease spread they came back to me. This is the best thing that has happened to me since their birth. There is nothing like an apocalypse to bring a family together.

I succumb to the cheap thrills of Google and read The Dangers Of Letting Your Lawn Go To Seed! And How Not To Let Your Cannabis Go To Seed! What I want to know is how to keep myself from going to seed. I have stopped shaving and stopped addressing ear hair, nose hair, and eyebrow hair. I lose the will to remove the manure from under my nails. I call Julie and tell her that I have turned into a sloth and she sends me a video of a sloth scratching his ass. As I watch this video, I find myself scratching my ass.

For financial reasons, Julie and I shelter in place 500 miles apart. I’m afraid that I’ll never work again, and on the farm I do have a job. So Julie gets a puppy, I get nine horses, and the animals keep us alive. We have experienced being apart for a month before, so we thought a few weeks would be easy. Turns out that the coronavirus did not decide to take a summer vacation.

I am crazy about this woman. Julie is half-Italian and half-Chardonnay. We are Weedo and Wino. Julie is a scientist and she says that moving at the speed of light is when you take a wine bottle out of the refrigerator before the light comes on. I find a substitute for my horse job and plan our wild weekend. Julie asks me to quarantine for two weeks before I drive down. I consider boiling myself.

I came of age during the glorious experiment of Free Love, before HIV and herpes and just three years after the arrival of the pill that unlocked sex and marriage. A woman with several lovers was considered “popular.” And now 50 years later I have to quarantine for two weeks before I see my wife. I always thought the apocalypse would somehow be more exciting.

Sick Days

Back in the trailer on June 19, I come down with the symptoms of Covid-19: fever, cough, sore throat, aches, weakness, and the onset is like a fire hose running through my alimentary canal. One end just loses its steam in time for the other end to take over. This continues until I am completely empty Monday morning.

I sleep all day, through the night and Tuesday morning my throat is so sore I cannot swallow. I try to coax water down but my throat squeezes shut. I keep my EpiPen handy.

Tuesday night my delirium turns into scenes where I kill my friends with disease. I hallucinate living through Revelations as a horse of the Apocalypse. I have done bad things in my life, but I have never killed anyone. Kind of a low bar I know, but I’d like to be able to take that one with me.

When I wake Wednesday morning, I feel like days have passed. I think it’s Friday. I look at my laptop, “What? No way!” Surely a timer got switched on, it says Wednesday! I look at my phone, “My phone is wrong, too!”

Then my head starts spinning, the walls of the trailer whirl to the left, I realize I’m losing it and push off my kitchen sink to fall backwards onto the bed. That’s the beautiful thing about passing out in the Airstream—the soft landing.

I pull out of the sickness, but have to take two weeks off from the horses. I obsess over how I intend to make a living. I have been offered performance opportunities at outdoor wineries, but wonder if this is the time to gather people to drink alcohol.  Laughter does heal in ways, but I doubt that hospital nurses are shouting down the halls outside of ICUs, “Somebody quick! We need to get a comedian in here!”

Off the Clock

Now I have a new appreciation of time. I go to bed early and get up at dawn because I am in alignment with the sun. Moose doesn’t care what day it is, he cares about getting fed at daylight. I feel like I’m living in an earlier human time, in rhythm with the animals and the sun, a time when it is natural to stay home.

Since we got off the clock we have enjoyed the glorious experience of living with less pollution and we may see a path to our survival. Civil rights seems to be at a tipping point and we may see Harriet Tubman’s picture on the twenty dollar bill. And if I ever do get to stand in front of a comedy crowd again I will be a better comic when I breathe them in like Moose.

50 Up: Poet and Playwright Patricia Grube Pushes Back Against Conventional Ideas About Aging

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50 Up: Poet and Playwright Patricia Grube Pushes Back Against Conventional Ideas About Aging

Five years ago, at the age of 92, Patricia Hernan Grube was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. For many people of her advanced years, surgery would not be a viable option, but the neurologists decided that in this case, the patient was strong enough to survive it. They were right.

“When the surgeon was cutting into my head,” remembers Grube, “she said, ‘I need a stronger saw. This woman has a hard head.’ And all my kids said, ‘Yep, we all knew that.’”

At 97, Grube is still recovering from the trauma of brain surgery. But, in keeping with her hard-headedness, she’s not exactly slowing down.

A longtime Santa Cruz-based playwright and poet, Grube is having a high-profile 2020, having released two books this year: a new collection of poems, many of them about the frustrations of being an elder in a culture that often ignores elders, called Then and Now; and a memoir of her family’s experience living for two years in the African nation of Zambia in the early 1970s titled Chickens in Africa.

Grube has spent most of the second half of her life as a writer, particularly as a playwright. She has been involved in the Santa Cruz-based Actors’ Theatre for more than 30 years and has seen several of her plays produced, both 10-minute short plays in the theater’s 8 Tens @ 8 festival, and full-length plays. Her play Relative Shades—featuring three incarnations of the same woman at different stages of her life—was considered one of the best plays of the year when it debuted at Actors’ Theatre in 1994.

“I enjoy writing plays more than anything else,” she says. Before the pandemic, Grube had been negotiating to have another of her plays produced. What Is the Question? is a play about the final years of writer/critic Gertrude Stein during World War II.

“Someday it will be done,” she says. “But I may not see it.”

In the meantime, Grube is celebrating the release of her latest works. The new book of poems, elegantly designed by Grube’s daughter Alice Hughes, features a few previously published poems, but mostly it’s new work, on a theme: what it’s like to be seen as an old person.

“Older people are not very much loved these days,” she says. “At a certain point, you end up being seen as just an old person with nothing to say. And the reason that there’s nothing to say is that no one ever asks.”

Friends and fans have responded most to a poem called “The Gift,” which is about the very real phenomenon of older people being literally overlooked in public places, such as standing in line at grocery stores and movie theaters:

Now I know I have a knack, a talent,/ an ability to become invisible./ The disturbing thing is that/ I have no control over the time or place./ Sometimes this is annoying, sometimes amusing.

“I’ve read that several times at different events,” she says. “Everybody’s laughing. But I remind them, ‘Someday this will happen to you.’ And some in the audience are, ‘It already has!’”

Chickens in Africa is an absorbing account of the Grube family’s two-year odyssey living in southern Africa from 1970 to 1972. Grube and her husband Lester had seven children, five of whom went to Africa with them (the other two were adults by that time). Lester Grube went to Zambia to help the newly independent government there establish a poultry industry. Zambia was subject to British colonialism for decades, until it gained its independence in 1964.

“Colonialism was just another form of slavery,” Grube says. “Instead of bringing the people to you to be slaves, they go and enslave the people where they are. When the colonials left, there was no one to handle the business, because no one had been trained. That’s what people like my husband were doing, training the people there to take over.”

Most of the book was written in 2013, before Grube’s brain-tumor battle. She gathered together old letters she had written and sent to her mother, as well as others sent to a friend, at the time.

“Letters were almost like a journal,” she says. “All I had to do there was take care of the kids and answer letters.”

At the same time, she had discovered an old audio recording of Lester Grube talking about the Zambia experience. The complete transcript is part of the new memoir. There is also a chapter written by each of the children, written from their memories of the period, as well as many family photos.

“I sat down to write some stories (of the period), but it was not very big, not enough to make a book. Then I thought I’d ask the kids if they wanted to write something. They all contributed, even the ones who had only come to visit us.”

“My parents were doers,” writes Stephen Grube in the new book, and indeed, the book outlines the efforts of Lester and Patricia Grube in the early farm workers movement in California in the 1960s, before moving to Ndola, Zambia. It also provides anecdotes and background stories of what it was like for a white American family to come face to face with the legacy of European colonialism in Africa, and the uncomfortable realities reflected in the cultures there.

But Chickens In Africa is not the end of Patricia Grube’s writing about her life. Even at 97, she’s readying another book for publication, this one called Generations. “It goes back to my childhood,” she says. “I’ve got stories about my father, and things about my grandmother and how she taught me to do things. There’s some letters I found from some great-greats. It should be out by next year.”

She would also still like to tell the world about her late husband, the Peace Corps idealist and World War II veteran. “He did more things in his life than anyone I know, working for racial justice, working with farmworkers. I shouldn’t be writing about myself. I should be writing about him. He was a person who loved everybody and everybody loved him. I don’t think he would have believed it if someone said they didn’t like him. Me, I’ve always been just the opposite.”

An Unpretentious Trinity Rosso 2018 from Soquel Vineyards

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An Unpretentious Trinity Rosso 2018 from Soquel Vineyards

When you come across a bottle of good local wine for under $20 in the Capitola Trader Joe’s, the best thing to do is snap it up. 

A major store like Trader Joe’s carrying a Santa Cruz wine is simply wonderful—and this would be Soquel Vineyards’ 2018 Trinity Rosso. It is available in many other local stores, too, and at the winery’s tasting room, where a drive up Glen Canyon Road takes you to their bucolic spot. An abundance of lush vines and panoramic ocean views await you—as well as their terrific wines—and it’s an ideal location to host a special event.

Proprietors Peter and Paul Bargetto and Jon Morgan make wines to suit all pockets—and their Trinity Rosso 2018 is very affordable at $16. A blend of Petit Sirah, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s a “trinity” of lush aromas and flavors. It’s what Peter, Paul and Jon call “Paradise, my friend—a little bit of heaven on the California coast.” Judges at this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition awarded it a double gold, so I would say you’re getting your money’s worth for what the winemakers call “a very good but unpretentious wine.”

Awash with dark and generous blackberry and plum flavors, this everyday drinking wine comes with a handy screw cap.

Soquel Vineyards, 8063 Glen Haven Road, Soquel. 831-462-9045. soquelvineyards.com. 

Once Again Almond Butter

Growing up in England, two things I never came across were peanut butter and almond butter. I also lived in Greece for more than a decade but never saw these two foods on supermarket shelves. When I came to reside in the States many years ago, that all changed. I am now a die-hard fan of both—particularly of almond butter. 

The latest brand I tried, made by Once Again, is crunchy almond butter with unsweetened organic roasted almonds without salt. It’s also gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, kosher, non-GMO, and paleo—and simply delicious. Once Again also makes a creamy version.

Local stores Staff of Life, Aptos Natural Foods and others carry Once Again. 

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 2-8

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Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 2-8

Because many in-person events across Santa Cruz County have been canceled or postponed during the pandemic, Good Times is compiling a weekly list of virtual events hosted by local nonprofits, artists, fitness instructors and businesses. To submit your virtual event, send an email to ca******@*******es.sc. 

ARTS AND MUSIC

EXHIBITION OPENING: COMMUNITY IS COLLECTIVE CARE Celebrate the opening of the MAH’s first outdoor exhibition, “Community is Collective Care,” to imagine individual and collective pathways toward healing alongside new work by Irene Juarez O’Connell. Stroll through between noon and 6pm to check out the new exhibition and collectively imagine what health and wellness could look like in our community. The exhibition is located in the Secret Garden tucked behind the MAH and Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz. “Community is Collective Care” is on view and free to visit Sept. 4 through July 25, 2021. In addition to this opening event, we are hosting a donation drive for the Campesinx Womb Care Project. Support local farmers by donating much needed care products, which can be found here: santacruzmah.org/events/ccc-opening. Also as part of this event, drop in for an outdoor guided meditation from 5-6pm on envisioning equality led by Yasmina Porter of Insight Santa Cruz. Please bring a journal or paper, and a writing tool. Show your support for your collective wellbeing and please wear a mask. Your mask protects me, and my mask protects you. 

MOVIES AT THE MAH: HEARTS BEAT LOUD Catch movies under the stars in Abbott Square with a new monthly film series created in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (the MAH), Westside Video, the Diversity Center, and the Watsonville Film Festival. For our first screening, we’ve teamed up with Westside Video to present “Hearts Beat Loud,” a feel-good family drama about a community coming together through creativity and music. Space is limited to the first 100 attendees to allow for adequate physical distancing on the patio. There is no pre-registration required; drop-by when you can but, if possible, we recommend you arrive early to ensure you have a seat. Saturday, Sept. 5, 8-10pm. 

TOP DOG SCREENING We are excited to announce a Virtual Screening of Top Dog. The Top Dog Film Festival was launched in 2017 to showcase the incredible bond between dogs and their people through independent films. Touring annually, the Top Dog Film Festival screens over two hours of the most inspirational, heartwarming and entertaining films related to dogs and their human companions from independent filmmakers around the globe. Including a carefully curated selection of films of varying lengths and styles covering topics relevant to dogs and dog lovers. A portion of ticket sales benefits Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter. Sponsored by Pacific Paw, Santa Cruz Waves, Pet Pals and Community Mobile Vet, Dr. Hannah Good, D.V.M., and Santa Cruz Film Festival.

THE DANCER’S JOURNEY: VIRTUAL STORYTELLING ACROSS BORDERS On Sept. 5 at 6pm, Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center will return with a third Virtual Theater installment: The Dancer’s Journey, a collage of compositions from professional and pre-professional dancers, and a live Q&A with Virtual Theater commissioned artist, Nathan Hirschaut. This performance portrays the cross-cultural stories of young dancers from Santa Cruz and from Final Year BFA students in Kingston, Jamaica, who have reflected on their strengths, vulnerabilities, desire to change the world, and their own artistic sensibilities and vessels. The Dancer’s Journey is a powerful palliative for this isolating and unsettling moment. As we head into the end of the year, TWDCC needs support to continue pushing forward. The Dancer’s Journey is the launch event of the TWDCC End of the Year Fundraising campaign, and is a call to action for the community to aid in this reformation of Santa Cruz’s Best Cultural Center of 2020. Tickets for The Dancer’s Journey will be sold online through the TWDCC website on a sliding scale. Attendees will also have the option to donate throughout the duration of the performance. The evening will be presented through Zoom webinar. Attendees will be directly emailed the Zoom link to attend. Ticket sales end at 5:30pm on September 5. In response to the recent damage done from the CZU Lightning Complex fire, 50% of the funds raised through this event will be donated to TWDCC community members impacted by the fires and to local organizers and support groups. Learn more at tanneryworlddance.com/virtual-theater.

CLASSES

65-HOUR TRAINING Community members may participate in a Monarch Services virtual training to become California state-certified peer counselors for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking. The training will be held Aug. 24-Oct. 14 during these times: Mondays 1pm-3:30pm, Wednesdays 1pm-3:30pm, Thursdays 1pm-3:30pm. Register by emailing al********@********cc.org. 

NAMI FAMILY-TO-FAMILY CLASS NAMI’s Family-to-Family class is an eight-week educational program for family and friends of adults with mental health challenges. Learn about how to support your loved one, gain valuable communication and coping skills, and become educated on the latest mental health research. Class is led by two trained volunteers with lived experience caring for someone with mental health conditions. Sign up online and learn more at namiscc.org/family-to-family.html. Mondays and Wednesdays at 6pm. 

CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION WEEKEND EXPRESS CLASS This Saturday and Sunday virtual class is intended for expectant mothers and their labor support team. Focus will be on the birth process, including the stages of labor and when to go to the hospital. Non-pharmaceutical coping techniques for pain, including breath work, mindfulness practices, supportive touch and positions for labor and birth, along with standard hospital procedures, pain medication options, medical interventions, cesarean birth, postpartum recovery, newborn procedures and breastfeeding basics. In this class, we will actively practice positions and coping techniques for pain, so please be dressed for movement. Please register for the PEP class session. Only after you have completed this process, the Zoom meeting information will be provided to you via email prior to your class. Classes run 1-5:30pm on these days: Sept. 26-27, Oct, 24-25, Nov. 14-15, Dec. 19-20. 

SALSA SUELTA IN PLACE: Free weekly online session in Cuban-style Salsa Suelta for experienced beginners and up. Contact to get a Zoom link. Thursdays at 7pm. salsagente.com.

COMMUNITY

VIRTUAL WALK-A-MILE Our annual Walk-a-Mile fundraiser is going virtual this year! The walk will take place on Saturday, Oct. 3, to coincide with the first weekend of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Between now and event day, participants can sign up online individually or as a team, create a personalized web page and outreach to their networks to fund their walk. Through our event site, social media networks and teams, we will raise awareness and build support for the movement to end violence in our community. All funds raised through this year’s Walk-a-Mile event will go toward meeting the immediate needs of survivors (housing support, food, transportation, etc.), violence prevention programming for youth and teens, as well as outreach to those most at-risk of violence during this time. Learn more at monarchwam.funraise.org. 

LUMA BOOK CLUB This is a time of seismic shift, and yet also one of opportunity. Luma Yoga is a community center operating on principles of inclusion, compassion, and, yes, reflection, but make no mistake—also of action. The first step in effective action is gaining knowledge. To this end, Luma is hosting a book club on the topic of racism and social justice issues. The reading groups will be held remotely (for now) over Zoom Thursday nights 7-8:15pm. The purpose of the groups is to learn the endless shapes oppression can take in the world, to recognize our own biases within ourselves, and to move from discomfort to action in support of Black and non-white POC. The groups will be facilitated by Steven Macramalla, a professor of psychology at SJSU. The Club will work on a 3- to 4-week cycle, reading one book per cycle, with several chapters covered each week. For more info visit lumayoga.com. Thursdays at 7pm. 

TALES TO TAILS GOES VIRTUAL Beginning Aug. 10, SCPL’s early childhood literacy program, Virtual Tales to Tails, is moving to a new time slot: Mondays, 3:30-4:30pm. At the end of your school day, hop online and have fun reading at your own pace to an audience of therapy dogs, cats and other guest animals. Have math homework? Good news! Your furry audience would also love to learn how to count, add and subtract. Register online. Registrants receive reminders, links to the live program, and fun (educational) activities to complete and have showcased on future sessions Learn more at santacruzpl.libcal.com/event/6764938.

GROUPS 

VIRTUAL YOUNG ADULT (18-30) TRANSGENDER SUPPORT GROUP A weekly peer support group for young adults aged 18-25 who identify as transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, agender, or any other non-cisgender identity. This is a social group where we meet and chat among ourselves, sharing our experiences and thoughts in a warm, welcoming setting. Our meetings will be held on Discord during the shelter-in-place order. For more info, contact Ezra Bowen at tr***@*************er.org.

LGBTQNBI+ SUPPORT GROUP FOR CORONAVIRUS STRESS This weekly LGBTQNBI+ support group is being offered to help us all deal with stress during the shelter-in-place situation that we are experiencing from the coronavirus. Feel free to bring your lunch and chat together to get support. This group is offered at no cost and will be facilitated by licensed therapists Shane Hill, Ph.D., and Melissa Bernstein, LMFT #52524. Learn how to join the Zoom support group at diversitycenter.org/community-calendar. 

OUTDOOR

EVERGREEN AT DUSK: CEMETERY HISTORY TOURS Discover the shadows and secrets found within Evergreen Cemetery, one of the oldest public cemeteries in California, on a self-guided tour of the grounds. Bring your curiosity (and maybe some flashlights) as you explore the final resting place of Santa Cruz’s early settlers. The 45-minute tour is a self-driven adventure uncovering the stories and tombstones of the people who made Santa Cruz what it is today. Designed for daring, curious, and history-loving households, this tour is great for all ages! Registration is limited to one household per tour to ensure plenty of spacing as groups individually explore the cemetery. Each tour should take 30-45 minutes to complete. The time you select is when your group/household tour starts, we recommend arriving 5-10 minutes early to ensure you can begin right on time. Dates and times vary. You will be able to select the date and time of your tour when purchasing tickets.

ANNUAL COASTAL CLEANUP For over a decade, Save Our Shores has regionally hosted Annual Coastal Cleanup in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. This year, to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Save Our Shores will not be hosting cleanups at organized sites on one particular day. Instead, you can conduct your own local cleanup with those you have been sheltering in place with on any Saturday during the month of September. These individual, close-to-home cleanups will protect our oceans beginning at our own front doors. Learn more and find out how to participate by visiting saveourshores.org/coastal-cleanup-2020. 

Opinion: Sept. 2, 2020

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Opinion: Sept. 2, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE

In the spring, when we had so much news about the coronavirus on our website goodtimes.sc that we worried readers would lose track, we started a live blog so it would be easy to find all of our updates. Then when the Black Lives Matter protests began in Santa Cruz, we had so much news about those that we realized we needed to start a live blog for it, as well.

When the fires hit Santa Cruz County last month, we wondered, “Do people really want another live blog on this site?” But it seemed like the easiest way for locals to find the most important information, which was changing almost hourly at the time, so we created one. On just one day, Aug. 21, more people visited goodtimes.sc to read those fire updates than any story in the history of the site, so I guess it was a good call. We’ll continue to provide that coverage as long as it’s needed; check our site regularly to see what stories we’re posting there.

While we’re doing the daily reporting our community needs right now, we haven’t lost sight of the bigger cultural stories that GT is known for. Wallace Baine’s cover story this week on the plight of artists in the age of Big Tech is an example of that. It’s a fascinating read that takes on an important and difficult issue, and tells the story of artists right here in Santa Cruz (and beyond) that are dealing with it in a very real way. So support our artists, and our evacuees, and our firefighters … OK, there’s a long list right now, so let’s just all support each other.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Major Decision

While we are in the grips of a worldwide pandemic and currently distracted by political and economic chaos, global warming silently continues to threaten all life on this planet. According to NASA,19 of the 20 warmest years on record have all occurred since the year 2000. Scientists recently reported Canada’s last intact ice shelf has collapsed where temperatures from May to early August have been 9 degrees warmer than the 1980 to 2010 average. Right here in California, 2017 was one of the worst fire seasons in history only to be followed in 2018 by another devastating fire season, which included the Camp Fire, the most deadly fire in state history that destroyed the town of Paradise. Global warming is directly harming the physical and mental health of local farm workers, who as a group are central among residents least able to escape the heat and smoke.

In the midst of all this, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is about to make a critical environmental decision: whether to use the rail corridor for passenger rail transit or for buses. This once-in-a-lifetime transportation decision is an environmental decision because transportation accounts for about half of all global warming carbon emissions in our region. The RTC’s 2019 Unified Corridors Investment Study (UCS) shows that compared to buses, trains on the corridor will save 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide every day. Removing that much carbon pollution is the equivalent of planting 61,000 one-inch diameter trees—a veritable forest of carbon cleaners—every single year, year after year.

 The UCS also predicted putting trains on the rail corridor would double the use of public transit from its current 5 million to 10 million annual users. That is a lot fewer car trips, and fewer car trips will make for safer, less congested roads for everyone.

Using cost data from the UCS, it is also plain to see passenger rail transit is a much better investment of taxpayer money. The cost to upgrade the rail corridor for rail service is about $12 million per mile, but to tear up the tracks and pave the corridor for buses would be about $29 million per mile, more than double the cost. Furthermore, bus service would cost twice as much to operate as commuter rail service per passenger mile, according to the National Transit Database compiled by the Federal Transit Administration.

Not only is passenger rail less expensive to build and operate in the rail corridor, passenger rail service paired with interconnected local buses would create a robust public transportation system allowing many two-car households to give up one of their cars. According to the UCS, going from a two-car household to a one-car household would save at least $500 per month and that would be a big help buying food and paying bills.

 Consider that in 2018, CalTrans published the State Rail Plan (SRP) committing the state to fund railway expansion, not highway expansion. The SRP includes funding for Around-the-Bay regional rail transit connecting Santa Cruz to Monterey and to the larger state rail network. Our southerly neighbors, the Transit Agency of Monterey County, have embraced the SRP. Right now, they are upgrading their rail system to begin Salinas-to-Silicon-Valley commuter service in 2023.

Taking action sooner is essential to avoiding the heat. Rail service could be up and running in 10 years. Because switching to buses would require many extra years to settle easement issues and redo existing plans, bus service on the rail corridor would be delayed 20 years or more, leaving us farther behind in the fight to reverse global warming.

Let’s join our neighbors and use our rail corridor for rail service, not bus service. It’s time to tell the Regional Transportation Commission that we want to leave an enduring environmental legacy for the benefit of the next generations.

 

Felipe Hernandez, Watsonville City Councilmember

Donna Meyers, Santa Cruz City Councilmember

Nancy Faulstich, Watsonville

Bob Elledge, Corralitos

Joanne Noce, Capitola

Grace Voss, Live Oak

Ross Clark, Santa Cruz

Mark Mesiti-Miller, Santa Cruz

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Images of dancers or sculptures don’t leap to mind with the mention of climate change. But artists are increasingly using the carbon conundrum as a creative lens, using their mediums to design cultural moments that bring people together. As storytellers, artists are reaching people on a deeper and more emotional level than the cerebral facts and charts often used to shape the climate narrative.

Can art reach and activate people on climate in new and compelling ways? How can art convey the joy of nature and the grief of how humans are destroying it? Join us for a conversation about art, beauty and humanity in the age of climate disruption with celebrated choreographer Alonzo King, whose new dance is inspired by the beauty and tragedy unfolding in the Arctic. Also joining is senior curator Nora Lawrence, whose 2018 exhibition, Indicators: Artists on Climate Change, at New York’s Storm King Art Center was one of the first major museum exhibitions to address climate change.

This program is generously underwritten by the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.

GOOD IDEA

FARM LIVING

Farm Discovery at Live Earth is offering Fall Farm Care three full days a week and Youth Farm Immersion one day a week. In response to continued distance learning at Santa Cruz County schools, Fall Farm Camp will include distance learning support for students. It will also include a variety of Farm Discovery lessons pulled from the Watsonville-based group’s summer camp, field trip and farm immersion programs in Earth science, natural history, nutrition, environmental stewardship and more. For more information visit farmdiscovery.org/fall-farm-care or email ed*******@***********ry.org.

GOOD WORK

TWICE THE RESPONSE

“We are now dealing with twin disasters,” Community Foundation Santa Cruz County CEO Susan True recently said in a press release, citing the CZU Lightning Complex that continues to rage while the Covid-19 pandemic ravages the community. Since the announcement of pandemic-related school closures on March 13, the Community Foundation has given out a total of $8.5 million in response grants. To donate to the Community Foundation’s Covid-19 Response Fund, visit cfscc.org/donate/COVID. To donate to its fire response fund, visit cfscc.org/fire.

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Somehow, the French got this idea of the starving artist. Very romantic, except it’s not so romantic for the starving artist.”

-David Lynch

How Artists Are Being Squeezed Out In the Age of Big Tech

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How Artists Are Being Squeezed Out In the Age of Big Tech

Daniel Ek wasn’t born until a dozen years after The Who released the rock anthem “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” But at the end of July, when the Swedish-born billionaire and Spotify CEO—Billboard’s pick for the music industry’s most powerful individual—spoke to the media about Spotify’s robust Covid-era growth, the music world rattled with the song’s most immortal line: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

In his remarks, Ek essentially said that musical artists are just going to have to adapt to the world of streaming and the stark economic realities that Spotify created. In remarks to the website Music Ally, Ek said that artists can no longer “record music once every three or four years and expect that’s going to be enough.” He said that those successful in streaming are those “putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping up a continuous dialogue with your fans.” He cited Taylor Swift, the recording industry’s 800-pound gorilla, as an example of how to succeed in the streaming age.

Ek’s viewpoint didn’t go over well among musicians. “Everyone realized that this guy had no clue about artists and about how people actually value music,” says Allen Clapp, frontman of the veteran indie band the Orange Peels, which is now based out of Boulder Creek. “He’s just an engineer who wants to make as much money as he can.”

The music industry is rife with anecdotes of puny revenues generated by streaming. The rapper known as Sammus, for instance, earned a little more than $6 for 14,000 streams of his song “Weirdo.” Rosanne Cash—daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash, and a star performer in her own right—attracted 600,000 streams of one album, for which she was paid $104.

These figures are included in a new book with the lapel-grabbing title The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, by William Deresiewicz. Ek’s remarks could have indeed served as a kind of publicity campaign for Deresiewicz’s book, a big-picture narrative drawn from interviews of about 140 artists across a variety of artforms that attempts to map out the daunting prospects for making a living as a creative artist in today’s tech-dominated world.

The book’s overarching argument is that although artists have always struggled to build viable careers and have always been exploited by moneyed elites, the economic muscle of Big Tech has gutted the middle class of artists, destroyed once-stable careers and created an ecosystem that has driven the price of creative work to close to zero.

The world of the arts, in other words, reflects the larger culture of the mainstream when it comes to increasingly extreme inequality. But, says Deresiewicz, the numbers are even more grotesque.

“We think of the 1% getting about 23% of all income,” he says. “In music, closer to 80% of all revenue goes to the top 1%.” (In fact, 2014 statistics from the research firm MIDiA reveal that 77% of all recorded music income goes to the top 1% of performers).

The Death of the Artist examines four realms of the arts—music, writing, visual arts and film/television—and concludes that the mid-list author, the full-time indie musician and the moderately successful artist are all being pushed into extinction. The starving artist is making an unwelcome comeback.

There are, says Deresiewicz, two narratives fighting for dominance when it comes to the life of the artist in the 21st century.“One comes from the industry that’s given us all these developments, Silicon Valley,” he says. “And that argument is: ‘There’s never been a better time to be an artist. Because of the internet, you can go directly to the audience. You don’t have to ask for permission or deal with gatekeepers. You can put your stuff out there and make an immediate connection with your audience, which you can then use to monetize that connection and make a living.’ I don’t disagree with any of that. It’s just not the whole story. And what you’re hearing from artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, is yes, you can put your stuff out there online, but it’s going to be very difficult to get anyone to pay you for it.”

Peeling Back the Years

The Orange Peels have been around long enough to know how the music industry used to be. Back in the 1990s, when the band first started, “labels and music publishers used to act as a bank,” says Clapp. “They would basically invest money in you.”

The good news was that a band with no resources could depend solely on their talent and market potential and the label would do the work of manufacturing, distributing and publicity. The bad news was that bands, even popular ones with albums on the charts and songs on the radio, often would not see any profits until they had earned back their investment.

In the late ’90s, the rise of the file-sharing service Napster changed everything by undermining labels’ ability to sell music the way they had before. Eventually, that meant artists had to take on new responsibilities. When the digital mp3 began to rival the CD, record sales became an unreliable means to making a living for many mid-level musicians.

“We’ve never really made a living off of record sales,” says Clapp, “though occasionally, we’ve made a living on the music.” He is referring to three separate incidents in which the band was able to license its music to advertisers and corporate sponsors (including an instrumental song for the 2002 Olympic Games). “Licensing is great,” he says, “but it’s not repeatable. You can’t predict it. The right song gets heard by the right person at the right time, and the stars align.”

Building a large fan base online is possible, though the nature of the internet often makes it impractical to capitalize on that popularity. “Our audience has been international from day one,” says Clapp, “which means they’re scattered across the globe. If we had a single hotbed of people who love us, we’d always go there.”

Veteran South Bay musician/writer Eric Victorino, frontman for both Strata and The Limousines, says that professional musicians are constantly pushing against stereotypes that they’re living a gilded rock-star lifestyle.

“I’m always tripped out by the assumption that people have that if you’re standing on a stage, you must be rich. I come from a world where in lots of bands, the guys on stage are making less money than the guys handing them their guitars or driving their buses.”

Victorino stresses that while the economic model pre-Napster was terrible in its own right—“indentured servitude,” he calls it—it did present a kind of filtration system by which good musicians could rise according to their talents. 

Today, he says, labels have given up many of the jobs they used to do, including promotion, merchandising and career development, yet they still exploit the musician’s desire to “get signed.”

“There’s a myth you’re sold as a young artist that you’re not really good until you sign with a label. Even though it’s really hard to even answer the question, ‘Well, what does a label do?’ there’s still this glamour attached to getting signed that it doesn’t deserve.”

In his book, Deresiewicz asserts that streaming emerged as a kind of “protection racket: if the labels didn’t make their music available for free, people would just steal it anyway.”

“It’s not that people don’t want to pay for stuff online,” says Marc Zegans, a creative development advisor for professional artists based in Santa Cruz. “It’s that they won’t if they don’t have to. That distinction is important. The early theory that content would be king went out the window, because content became disposable and rewarding only for the people setting up the channels and the portals.”

“Streaming is the next evolution to make music smaller and more convenient for people,” says Clapp. “Streaming has turned music into a utility. It’s like a faucet in everyone’s house. You turn it on and the entire collected musical history of the world comes out. It’s become so convenient that I worry whether people even value it anymore.”

Goodbye to the Mid-list

The literary world has experienced a similar capsizing of its economic model. Twenty years ago, Oakland-based writer Constance Hale had achieved a moderate level of success as a mid-list author, having released two well-received and popular books on language and usage, Wired Style and Sin and Syntax. But in 2013, she says, she had a “moment of crisis” when she realized that her career, despite its successes, was being destroyed by the publishing industry’s new dynamic.

In the late ’90s, she received a $125,000 advance to write Syntax, which sold well in the following years, enough to justify that investment. “That’s a middle-class living wage for a writer,” she says, noting it took her about two years to write the book and she had to pay her 15% agent fee from the advance as well. “So I thought, ‘Great, this is my new career.’”

A decade later, her publisher approached her to write another book on language. This one got an advance that was less than half of her previous advance. When the book was released, the publisher marketed it indifferently, and predictably, it failed to sell much.

At the same time, Hale scored another career pinnacle when the New York Times asked her to write a series of articles on writing. The Times contract called on her to write eight columns at 1,200 words a piece. In return, she was offered $150 per column for what she determined was about four days of work per piece.

“I called the editor and said, ‘Hey, is there a zero missing here?’” she says. “This was the New York Times, the most prestigious assignment of my writing life, and I was getting paid 30 cents a word, less than I had been paid in 20 years.”

When it comes to book publishing, Deresiewicz says that there is only one player that matters, that company named after a South American river.

“In music, you still have a few different actors: Spotify, Apple and YouTube, which is Google,” he says. “In book publishing, there’s only one: Amazon, which now controls about two-thirds of the book industry. When there’s only one purchaser in a market, that’s not a monopoly. That’s called a ‘monopsony.’ And when you can only sell your stuff to one person, they’re not your customer. They’re your boss.”

“A lot of writers who are successful have lawyer husbands or trust funds,” says Constance Hale. “The truth is, if you really ask around and look under the hood, a lot of writers have alternate means. They don’t need the big advances. They can hire a top publicist to get a lot of attention, can throw a fancy book party and can buy a whole bunch of copies of their own book to spike their numbers. You can buy a degree of success in the book world.”

The current economic paradigm can work quite well for certain personality types. Artists who are naturally entrepreneurial or extroverted, with exceptional organizational skills, who enjoy the social-media sphere, have big advantages. Consultant Marc Zegans, who is also a published poet himself, says this “law of the jungle” atmosphere comes at a great price both to those who aren’t inclined to it and to the culture at large.

“Some of the people who are going to contribute the most to our culture and in the most valuable ways are highly sensitive, or withdrawing, or introverted,” Zegans says. “But they have really original perspectives, great talent and devotion to technique at the highest level. And they shouldn’t be assaulted for their natures when their natures are the source of their finest contributions.”

Doubling Down

The exception that proves the rule, says Deresiewicz, is television, where artists are creating strong and vital art, and generally getting paid what they’re worth. “The reason television is flourishing, and the reason that people who work in television are at least doing OK, is because we pay for it (through subscription services like Netflix and Hulu).”

But the Golden Age of Television is as subject to market forces as anything else, and there are more players looking to get in the streaming game. Just this year, Disney introduced Disney+ and NBC debuted Peacock.

“The services are out there fighting tooth and nail for share,” says Zegans. “Eventually, share is going to be consolidated among a smaller number of players and then one would expect the investment (in programming) to drop. So you see in the entertainment industry cycles of ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ followed by economic consolidation. I imagine that will happen in television as well.”

“If someone figures out how to do to television what Napster did to music,” says Deresiewicz, “this Golden Age we’re living through right now will disappear in an instant. Maybe then people will realize what’s really going on.”

In The Death of the Artist, Deresiewicz stresses that the roles artists have been assigned in society have changed radically over the years.

“We have these ideas about art and artists that we think are eternal—like ‘Artists speak truth to power,’” he says. “That’s not true. The image we have of the artist is a product of the 17th and 18th century, the beginning of the period we know as modernity. Art has always played an important role in articulating new truths, leading us to new stages, new recognitions in society. It’s all wonderful. But it’s important to know that this comes from a historically specific moment.”

Of the four artistic arenas that Deresiewicz covers in The Death of the Artist, that of the filmmaker/videographer is most tied to digital technology.

Santa Cruz filmmaker Denise Gallant got her start making music videos in the heady days of the early 1980s in Los Angeles and was a pioneer in the use of digital video effects. She built a successful career, she says, because she not only pursued her artistic passions, but she kept deeply engaged with technology as it transformed her industry.

“If you knew the technology, you could survive doing the art, too,” she says. For filmmakers, today’s world has a lot of advantages in terms of distribution and production—Gallant says back in the ’80s, she spent as much on a video editing deck as she did on the purchase of a new car. She now shoots video for real-estate agents and winemakers, but “I certainly wouldn’t know how to make money these days in the new world. The ’90s worked out pretty well for my generation. But once that ended, the party was over. You better have saved and bought your house by that point.”

Still, Gallant has advice for aspiring artists: “Whatever your art is, make it as technical as possible, and make money that way.”

Art and the market will also negotiate new relationships, and supply of art—good, bad or in-between—will always outstrip demand.

“The vast majority of people who are connected to the arts will not be able to make their full-time living in the arts,” says Zegans. “But what we can do is build opportunities for talent to emerge, for people who are enhancing the cultural conversation, and to bring back that stratum of the mid-list writer and mid-level artist. That’s really vital to the life of the culture, and to the diversity of our experiences as audiences.”

Still, there’s a critical difference between recognizing that the free artist is many times the starving artist, and pushing middle-class artists into starving.

“What’s different about this situation,” says Deresiewicz, “is that now the audience is complicit in it. We need to be more responsible consumers.”

“I look at it as a celebrity culture,” says Hale. “It’s not just book publishing, but across the arts. It’s a star system. If you’re a star, a celebrity, you’re in. My worry is not cultural. My worry is not even about mid-list writers. I’m privileged. I have a voice. I’ve had some successes. My worry is for people of color, marginalized people, people writing really different stuff.”

Eric Victorino of Strata says there are things fans can do to provide maximum benefit for musicians. “People need to realize that your dollar is your vote, and you can make a big difference by how you spend your money. If you’re on Spotify, maybe consider going over to Tidal, which pays their artists more. Consider buying a T-shirt, or (check out) Band Camp, which is a great platform because it allows you to give to artists directly.”

In his book, Deresiewicz calls for the break-up of Big Tech to give markets breathing room so that mid-level artists might survive. He calls for increased funding for the arts. But mostly he calls for a transformation for society beyond the arts.

“We need to make it possible for not only artists to make a decent living, but everybody,” he says. “That means affordable health care and higher education, allowing gig workers to unionize, all of it.”

Even as their livelihoods grow more precarious, artists continue to produce the only way they know how. Constance Hale, a native of Hawaii, wrote a coffee table book about hula. The Orange Peels, leaning more and more into the vinyl market, are putting the finishing touches on a new double album.

“It seems like a really terrible idea,” says Allen Clapp, but when he mentioned the double-album idea to a friend who was a recording engineer, the friend told him that he’s been asked to master more double albums in the last few months than in his entire career before.

“People are fighting back, and doubling down,” says Clapp. “This whole situation doesn’t make art less important, it makes it more important.”

Revisiting the Report That Warned About the County’s Wildfire Risk

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Revisiting the Report That Warned About the County’s Wildfire Risk

Rich Goldberg has several air filters running at full blast in his Santa Cruz Mountains home, but that hasn’t been enough to stop him from developing a cough from the CZU Lightning Complex fire nearby.

Goldberg, foreperson for the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury, predicts that people will be talking about how to reduce fire risk long after crews extinguish the current blaze.

This past June and July, Goldberg and his fellow grand jurors released 10 reports, including two on the topic of fire safety, as previously reported by GT (“Turning Up the Heat,” 7/15). One of those reports highlighted reasons the county was at risk for a serious wildfire.

Goldberg will be the first to admit that it’s too early to know whether the issues highlighted by the Grand Jury contributed to the devastating CZU Lightning Complex fire.

“I would never engage in ‘I told you so,’” says Goldberg, who watched the evacuation orders closely and was relieved not to be one of the 77,000 forced to leave. “But clearly, these issues are going to be top of mind going forward.”

So far, firefighting crews have contained 43% of the CZU Lightning Complex fire, which has charred 85,218 acres as of Tuesday morning. The fire has burned 1,453 structures, making it the ninth-most destructive blaze in California history, and investigators are still surveying the damage.

HOT SEAT

In an era when hot temperatures and drought conditions are spreading wildfire more rapidly than ever, fire departments are relying on new technology for a helping hand.

Wildfire detection cameras can keep an eye on forests, often catching fires as soon as they start. One problem, as noted by the Grand Jury report, is that the Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit (CZU) only had one such camera for Santa Cruz County. Perched in Bonny Doon, the camera faced toward San Mateo County, not Santa Cruz County, and it was not capable of rotating to scan the area.

Cal Fire CZU Chief Ian Larkin says he isn’t sure if the crews got any good information off the camera in the early days of the current conflagration, while the fire started and spread. That fire quickly destroyed the camera on Wednesday, Aug. 19. The last image it took was a red blur, as flames engulfed the tower where the camera stood.

Since then, Cal Fire has added two new ALERTWildfire cameras, and Larkin says he can rotate them remotely to scan the mountainside. Plus, he says Cal Fire has initiated conversations with the city of Santa Cruz about placing a wildfire camera on the Municipal Wharf, facing back toward the mountains, to watch for future incidents.

The Grand Jury report also revealed that many local fire districts need to improve their response times, and additionally, it laid out the ecosystem of 10 separate fire districts in Santa Cruz County—home to about 273,000 residents. Other counties, like Contra Costa and Los Angeles, have one unified fire chief for their entire region. The report argued that Santa Cruz County’s more complex framework creates a confusing web of bureaucracy, an unclear chain of command, various inconsistencies and little accountability.

Larkin, who disagrees with those findings, says there are many ways to organize fire departments, and he doesn’t believe Santa Cruz County’s arrangement is inefficient or problematic.

He stresses the unprecedented nature of the situation. The state of California saw more than 10,000 lightning strikes—many of them unaccompanied by rain—over the course of three days, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The strikes started several large fires on the Central Coast and in the Bay Area. (The second- and third-biggest wildfires in state history are still burning in counties nearby.) Firefighters were already fighting a fire in southern California, leaving them thinly stretched across the state. “It delayed us getting any resources to us because they simply weren’t available,” Larkin said.

The Grand Jury requires written responses from 16 government agencies, officials and elected bodies. It’s requesting responses from nine more. All those responses are due Oct. 1.

A report from Joe Serrano, executive officer of Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), agrees with many Grand Jury findings about the inefficiencies and limited oversight among the county’s fire agencies. LAFCO is planning a comprehensive service review of all fire districts in Santa Cruz County due in October of 2021. 

LAFCO will discuss the Grand Jury’s findings on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 9am.

BURNING POINT

The Grand Jury report didn’t lay blame solely at the feet of government officials. The general public in the county, the report argued, was woefully unprepared for the fire risk and did not show an appropriate level of concern about the havoc that wildfires can wreck.

It’s a topic that Cal Fire officials, like Larkin, have hammered home over the past two weeks. Larkin says it has been much easier to save houses where residents cleared dead brush and flammable objects from being anywhere near their homes.

Larkin says he’s seen homes where the owner took proper precautions to protect their homes interspersed with those that did not. Oftentimes, he says, those who protected their homes also protected their neighbors. But at the same time, those who ignored rules about clearing flammable material, he adds, endangered the homes of their neighbors.

“You have the house that didn’t do defensible space burn down; it burned down the house that did all the work; and the house that did all the work protects the house next to it that doesn’t have the defensible space,” he says. “And there are many examples of that throughout the community that are affected by that now.”

https://twitter.com/CALFIRECZU/status/1299759781209542656/photo/1

California’s defensible space laws are especially strict for the 10 yards surrounding each home. For starters, California law requires that homeowners remove dead or dry leaves and pine needles from your yard, roof and rain gutters, and within 30 feet of their houses, homeowners should remove dead plants, grass and weeds. To firefighters, all this is considered fuel for a potential blaze. There are many other regulations, some of them extending to a 100-foot radius surrounding each house.

Cal Fire CZU, in its capacity as the Santa Cruz County Fire Department, does local defensible space inspections throughout the year. Larkin says he and other local Cal Fire leaders have determined that it’s best to deal with violations by working with the homeowner. Issuing citations doesn’t do much good, he says.

“If you look at the areas that don’t have defensible space, I think it would overwhelm the DA’s office with a bunch of misdemeanor fines,” he says. “We try to just gain compliance through the inspections and working with the communities. But I’ll be honest, I think we can do a better job. And after this incident is done, I think it’ll be a rude awakening for a lot of folks. We have fire here. We have a history of fires here.”

Many observers over the past couple weeks have pointed out the perfect storm of fire conditions—dry lightning strikes accompanied by heavy wind. But lest anyone assume this is a once-in-a-generation event, it’s worth considering that recent fire conditions could have been even worse—or at the very least that Santa Cruz County could be primed for a perfect storm of entirely different conditions in the future.  

For instance, although the initial days of the CZU fire were hot and free of fog, a heavy marine layer did eventually set in, helping with the fight against the fire on the ground—a cooling event that can’t always be counted on.

Not only that, but the Grand Jury report notes that most Santa Cruz County residents live in what’s known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI), which is at particular risk for wildfire. That means that wildfire risk isn’t confined to Bonny Doon and to Boulder Creek, where much of the current CZU fire is burning. The WUI stretches throughout the entire region. Santa Cruz County is the only county in the state with the majority of its land in the WUI. Also, according to a joint analysis by USA Today and the Arizona Republic, several local communities have very high wildfire risk—the highest among them being Lompico, which was spared from the nascent flames and which recently had its evacuation orders lifted.

Even the city of Santa Cruz—most of which is not in the WUI—is not immune from threat. It is home to several large groves of non-native blue gum eucalyptus trees, known to be particularly flammable, as noted in the report. The city has, however, made investments in clearing out fuel buildup in overgrown areas, like DeLaveaga Park, in recent years.

In general, Larkin stresses that it’s important to remember that Santa Cruz County does have the potential to burn.

“We don’t have that frequency of large fires. We have a lot of small fires that we’re able to contain,” Larkin says. “We meet our mission of keeping them under 10 acres 90% of the time. We get the nice Mediterranean climate. We get the cooling coastal influence, but people don’t realize that this area is primed to burn. We are in a drought situation, and we haven’t had significant rainfall in our winters for many years. And even when we’ve had significant rainfall, we’ve still had fires those years. We dry out very quickly here.”

For information on LAFCO’s Sept. 2 meeting, visit santacruzlafco.org.

Follow continuing in-depth fire coverage here and in our live blog.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology: Sept. 2-8

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Rob Brezsny’s Astrology: Sept. 2-8

Free will astrology for the week of Sept. 2 

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “A new idea is rarely born like Venus attended by graces. More commonly it’s modeled of baling wire and acne. More commonly it wheezes and tips over.” Those words were written by Aries author Marge Piercy, who has been a fount of good new ideas in the course of her career. I regard her as an expert in generating wheezy, fragile breakthroughs and ultimately turning them into shiny, solid beacons of revelation. Your assignment in the coming weeks, Aries, is to do as Piercy has done so well.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Every day I discover even more beautiful things,” said painter Claude Monet. “It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all. My head is bursting.” That might seem like an extreme state to many of us. But Monet was a specialist in the art of seeing. He trained himself to be alert for exquisite sights. So his receptivity to the constant flow of loveliness came naturally to him. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I think that in the coming weeks, you could rise closer to a Monet-like level of sensitivity to beauty. Would that be interesting to you? If so, unleash yourself! Make it a priority to look for charm, elegance, grace, delight and dazzlement.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Author Renata Adler describes a time in her life when she began to notice blue triangles on her feet. She was wracked with fear that they were a symptom of leukemia. But after a period of intense anxiety, she realized one fine day that they had a different cause. She writes: “Whenever I, walking barefoot, put out the garbage on the landing, I held the apartment door open, bending over from the rear. The door would cross a bit over the tops of my feet”—leaving triangular bruises. Upon realizing this very good news, she says, “I took a celebrational nap.” From what I can tell, Gemini, you’re due for a series of celebrational naps—both because of worries that turn out to be unfounded and because you need a concentrated period of recharging your energy reserves.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak,” proclaimed Cancerian author Lillian Hellman. I feel the same way. So often people have nothing interesting or important to say, but say it anyway. I’ve done that myself! The uninteresting and unimportant words I have uttered are too numerous to count. The good news for me and all of my fellow Cancerians is that in the coming weeks we are far more likely than usual to not speak until we are ready to speak. According to my analysis of the astrological potentials, we are poised to express ourselves with clarity, authenticity, and maximum impact.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Of all the mournful impacts the pandemic has had, one of the most devastating is that it has diminished our opportunities to touch and be touched by other humans. Many of us are starved of the routine, regular contact we had previously taken for granted. I look forward to the time when we can again feel uninhibited about shaking hands, hugging and patting friends on the arm or shoulder. In the meantime, how can you cope? This issue is extra crucial for you Leos to meditate on right now. Can you massage yourself? Seek extra tactile contact with animals? Hug trees? Figure out how to physically connect with people while wearing hazmat suits, gloves, masks and face shields? What else?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Like any art, the creation of self is both natural and seemingly impossible,” says singer-songwriter Holly Near. “It requires training as well as magic.” How are you doing on that score, Virgo? Now is a favorable time to intensify your long-term art project of creating the healthiest, smartest version of yourself. I think it will feel quite natural and not-at-all impossible. In the coming weeks, you’ll have a finely tuned intuitive sense of how to proceed with flair. Start by imagining the Most Beautiful You.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I propose we resurrect the old English word “museful.” First used in the 17th century but then forgotten, it meant “deeply thoughtful; pensive.” In our newly coined use, it refers to a condition wherein a person is abundantly inspired by the presence of the muse. I further suggest that we invoke this term to apply to you Libras in the coming weeks. You potentially have a high likelihood of intense communion with your muses. There’s also a good chance you’ll engage with a new muse or two. What will you do with all of this illumination and stimulation?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Each of us has a “soul’s code”: a metaphorical blueprint of the beautiful person we could become by fulfilling our destiny. If our soul’s code remains largely dormant, it will agitate and disorient us. If, on the other hand, we perfectly actualize our soul’s code, we will feel at home in the world; all our experiences will feel meaningful. The practical fact is that most of us have made some progress in manifesting our soul’s code, but still have a way to go before we fully actualize it. Here’s the good news: You Scorpios are in a phase of your cycle when you could make dramatic advances in this glorious work.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Life is the only game in which the object of the game is to learn the rules,” observes Sagittarian author Ashleigh Brilliant. According to my research, you have made excellent progress in this quest during the last few weeks—and will continue your good work in the next six weeks. Give yourself an award! Buy yourself a trophy! You have discovered at least two rules that were previously unknown to you, and you have also ripened your understanding of another rule that had previously been barely comprehensible. Be alert for more breakthroughs.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “If you’re not lost, you’re not much of an explorer,” said rambunctious activist and author John Perry Barlow. Adding to his formulation, I’ll say that if you want to be a successful explorer, it’s crucial to get lost on some occasions. And according to my analysis, now is just such a time for you Capricorns. The new territory you have been brave enough to reconnoiter should be richly unfamiliar. The possibilities you have been daring enough to consider should be provocatively unpredictable. Keep going, my dear! That’s the best way to become un-lost.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Dreams really tell you about yourself more than anything else in this world could ever tell you,” said psychic Sylvia Browne. She was referring to the mysterious stories that unfold in our minds as we sleep. I agree with her assessment of dreams’ power to show us who we really are all the way down to the core of our souls. What Browne didn’t mention, however, is that it takes knowledge and training to become proficient in deciphering dreams’ revelations. Their mode of communication is unique—and unlike every other source of teaching. I bring this up, Aquarius, because the coming months will be a favorable time for you to become more skilled in understanding your dreams.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In June 1876, warriors from three Indian tribes defeated U.S. troops led by General George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana. It was an iconic victory in what was ultimately a losing battle to prevent conquest by the ever-expanding American empire. One of the tribes that fought that day was the Northern Cheyenne. Out of fear of punishment by the U.S. government, its leaders waited 130 years to tell its side of the story about what happened. New evidence emerged then, such as the fact that the only woman warrior in the fight, Buffalo Calf Road Woman, killed Custer himself. I offer this tale as an inspiration for you Pisceans to tell your story about events that you’ve kept silent about for too long.

Homework: Maybe sometimes it’s OK to hide and be secretive and use silence as a superpower. Example from your life? freewillastrology.com.

50 Up Senior Guide

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50 Up: A Boomer in Lockdown

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50 Up: Poet and Playwright Patricia Grube Pushes Back Against Conventional Ideas About Aging

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An Unpretentious Trinity Rosso 2018 from Soquel Vineyards

Find this wine at many local stores or at the winery’s bucolic tasting room
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Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 2-8

Coastal cleanups, Top Dog Film Festival, and more things to do
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Opinion: Sept. 2, 2020

Plus letters to the editor
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How Artists Are Being Squeezed Out In the Age of Big Tech

New book examines daunting prospects for making a living as an artist in a tech-dominated world
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Revisiting the Report That Warned About the County’s Wildfire Risk

A Grand Jury report called out several factors in wildfire risk
Read more

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology: Sept. 2-8

Astrology, Horoscope, Stars, Zodiac Signs
Free will astrology for the week of Sept. 2
Read more
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