Page 735 – Good Times

Five of Science’s Newest Health Breakthroughs

Cover Stories

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January 17, 2018

Five of Science’s Newest Health Breakthroughs

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e all want to know about the latest advancements in health. But the avalanche effect of scientific and technological advancement means that groundbreaking innovations, revolutionary creations, and pioneering discoveries are occurring all of the time—and it’s not easy to stay on top of them. So in case you were otherwise distracted during 2017, here are some interesting breakthroughs you may have missed in five different health-related fields.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Burgeoning with discoveries and innovations, the impact that the field of nanotechnology may have on the future of mankind cannot be minimized. Particularly when it comes to medicine and the treatment of disease, nanotechnological advancements are taking place at breakneck speed, and are highly specific to the disease being treated. For instance, as reported recently in the journal Nature Materials, scientists have recently developed microscopic particles (nanoparticles) that selectively seek out and destroy specific viruses, like the human papillomavirus and the herpes simplex virus.

In 2017, researchers published a paper in Science magazine describing a scientific breakthrough that could one day lead to a game-changing drug that may defy the normal aging process. The discovery centered on a metabolite known as NAD+—found in all living cells—that plays a key role in DNA repair.

Traditionally, viral infections have been difficult to treat with medicine, but these new designer nanoparticles are capable of actually destroying the virus, representing a potential paradigm shift in how they are treated. Similarly, recent research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society demonstrated that researchers have developed nanoparticles capable of tricking cancer cells into essentially killing themselves. And, unlike with traditional chemotherapy, these nanoparticles only target the cancer cells, while leaving normal and healthy cells unharmed.

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

“Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world’s most pressing public health problems,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s website. It occurs when bacteria find a way to evade and survive the effects of antibiotics—even if only a small number do this, the ones that do can multiply, leading to an army of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that becomes more and more difficult to treat. One stark example of this is Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks that produces symptoms like headache, fever, fatigue, and often a bull’s eye skin rash, and if left untreated can have serious, lifelong neurological side effects. A recent study of primates led by researchers at Tulane University found that Lyme bacteria could survive a 28-day course of antibiotic treatment. Even more concerning was that some of the subjects in the study actually tested negative for Lyme disease based on an antibody test, even though the bacteria were still present in their bodies and had invaded organs like the heart and brain. This finding illustrates how difficult it can be to treat bacterial infections when antibiotics aren’t effective, and may help explain why people treated with them for Lyme disease often still report symptoms.

MENTAL HEALTH

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about one in five U.S. adults experiences mental illness, and one in 25 U.S. adults experiences serious mental illness, every year. Additionally, 6.9 percent of U.S. adults had at least one

health breakthroughs MDMA treats depression — The FDA has announced it will allow MDMA to be studied medicinally.

major depressive episode in the last year, and 18.1 percent experienced an anxiety disorder. But one exciting field of study that may help with this epidemic is that of psychopharmacogenetics, which is essentially using a person’s specific genetic makeup to prescribe medications and doses, instead of taking what basically amounts to a shot in the dark. Many antidepressants work only slightly better than a placebo in many studies and they are often wildly inconsistent in terms of effectiveness and type and severity of side effects. It turns out that this may be due to genetic differences among people whose bodies either break down the medications very rapidly or very slowly. In the case of the former, not enough of the drug reaches the brain to be effective, and in the case of the latter, too much of the drug builds up in the system and causes severe side effects. A better understanding of psychopharmacogenetics may lead to highly individualized and more effective treatments for all sorts of mental health conditions. Or perhaps simply try the quirky and counterintuitive approach of sleep deprivation (typically conducted in controlled, inpatient settings), which a recent meta-analysis covering more than 30 years and 66 studies found to rapidly reduce depressive symptoms in about half of the patients. Even more encouraging was that these results seemed to be independent of age, gender and medication status.

ANTI-AGING

It is said that Father Time is undefeated, so the idea of hanging an “L” on him and turning back the clock has always been a deeply seductive human pursuit. In 2017, researchers published a paper in Science magazine describing a scientific breakthrough that could one day lead to a game-changing drug that may defy the normal aging process. The discovery centered on a metabolite known as NAD+—found in all living cells—that plays a key role in DNA repair. Mice given an NAD+ booster called NMN showed an improvement in their cells’ ability to repair DNA damage caused by old age, and the research is so encouraging that human trials are set to begin soon. Another type of anti-aging treatment known as senolytic drugs are also being championed for human trials by researchers. These drugs work by killing off old and damaged cells called senescent cells that hang around and wreak havoc in the body, and are implicated in many chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and diabetes.

PSYCHEDELICS

In August, the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) granted what it called “Breakthrough Therapy Designation for MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD” for phase 3 trials, thanks in large part to the research and advocacy of Santa Cruz-based MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). That the FDA is allowing MDMA—a schedule 1 drug defined as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse—to be medicinally studied this extensively is truly a breakthrough. The announcement comes on the heels of encouraging results from phase 2 clinical trials, and researchers look forward to teasing out just how effective MDMA-assisted psychotherapy might be when tested using the gold standard of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. It also represents somewhat of a full circle moment for MDMA, which was originally used in the psychotherapy community in the 1970s to much success and acclaim—but when the drug became associated with the recreational party scene, it got fast-tracked to criminalization. The FDA’s announcement may also have an opening-of-the-floodgates effect with respect to other psychedelics being studied in a similar manner. In particular, drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine, and ketamine have all shown some level of effectiveness in treating other mental issues like depression, anxiety, and addiction, and are all good candidates for further research.

Tom Killion’s “California’s Wild Edge” Now at MAH

A&E
Art

Georgia Johnson

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January 17, 2018

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Tom Killion’s “California’s Wild Edge” Now at MAH

Like many Californians, Tom Killion has topophilia. It’s defined as a strong sense of place, which often becomes mixed with a sense of cultural identity. Killion expresses his love of the California coast through centuries-old Japanese Ukiyo-ë style woodblock printing—think Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.”

Last Friday, his newest exhibit, “California’s Wild Edge,” opened at the Museum of Art and History (MAH). Killion’s fascination with the California coastline is nothing new; he first published his illustrated book The Coast of California in the late ’70s. No stranger to Santa Cruz, he has been in and out of town since graduating from UCSC in 1975. In fact, judging from turnout for the opening event, he has made quite an impact.

In a room filled with elbow-rubbing, sandal-clad MAH members, his work evoked a cathartic familiarity, as evidenced by the number of people thrusting their faces near the glass boxes and framed prints in the hope of recapturing a distant memory. Statements like “I remember that beach” and “honey, it’s Wilder Creek” were heard frequently.

Killion begins his work by sketching his surroundings and taking notes. He then traces the image and begins carving the Japanese shina wood. The process hasn’t changed much in 1,000-plus years, and is just as laborious and difficult as you’d imagine.

Killion’s exhibit is a welcoming journey that you can begin in Southern California; from there, the room swings to the right and wraps around a corner to the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur and Point Lobos. Most visitors were instinctively drawn to what they knew: Natural Bridges, Davenport, Año Nuevo. The show continues on to Killion’s current Point Reyes locale before melding into the Northern California coastline finale.

Born and raised in Mill Valley, Killion’s obsession with the California landscape spans the entire coast, extending from below the Santa Monica Mountains to the North Coast’s picturesque beaches and beyond. An avid backpacker and hiker, he spends the majority of his time outside. He says he began printmaking almost accidentally when he broke his leg in a bicycle collision.

“I would have never become a printmaker if I hadn’t been hit by a car,” Killion says.

In school, he studied African history, eventually travelling to Africa where he worked in Sudan as administrator of a medical relief program in a camp for Ethiopian refugees. His time abroad inspired his 1990 book Walls: A Journey Across Three Continents, which was published five years before he returned to California and began teaching at San Francisco State University. He has since published multiple illustrated books on California’s landscapes.

Killion begins his work by sketching his surroundings and taking notes. He then traces the image and begins carving the Japanese shina wood. The process hasn’t changed much in 1,000-plus years, and is just as laborious and difficult as you’d imagine. Some prints require as many as 12 separate blocks, and that’s before the printing part has even started. If the print is in color, as the majority of his work is, each color requires its own block and run through the press.

Along with Killion’s work, the show includes poetry and excerpts from poets and writers like Jane Hirshfield, Jack Spicer, Jaime de Angulo, and Pulitzer winner Gary Snyder. Snyder and Killion are long-time friends and collaborators, and worked together on his California Coast book. The poetry is in both English and Spanish.

Part of the fun, Killion says, is that he never really knows how a print will turn out.

“There is always a surprise,” Killion says. “That’s the great joy of printmaking. It takes part of the construction of the image out of your hands and puts it out into this magical space.”

California’s Wild Edge is on exhibit until Sunday, April 22. Museum of Art and History 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. santacruzmah.org. General admission $10, free on First Fridays.

Preview: Mynabirds to Play Catalyst

A&E
Music

Aaron Carnes

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January 17, 2018

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The night Barack Obama was elected in 2008, Laura Burhenn was living in Washington D.C. and had an amazing night. “I drank champagne on the street with strangers in front of the White House,” she says. “Joan Baez was randomly there next to me.”

It was the complete opposite in 2016, when Donald Trump won the election. Burhenn was on a solo tour, and on election night she was in Portland, Oregon, in shock. She finished out her tour over the next month in a zombie haze, trying to understand what exactly happened.

“I felt tired and traumatized. I’m sure that’s how most people felt even if they were at home. I thought, ‘I don’t know what to do with this,’” Burhenn says. “I felt like I was feeling not only my own feelings, but everybody else’s feelings as well.”

It was in January, after watching the inauguration and experiencing the Women’s March in L.A.—where she now lives—that everything really clicked for her. She spoke with a friend of hers, Patrick Damphier, about recording an album for her group Mynabirds. Over the course of two weeks, she wrote and recorded the passionate, New Wave-inspired indie pop record Be Here Now, which was released on Aug. 25 last year.

“I felt like I was a journalist in making this record, where I was making a record of the time. But it wasn’t like, ‘here’s the facts.’ It was like, ‘here is how everyone is feeling.’ The album to me sounds like a mood ring,” Burhenn says.

Trump’s horrific presidency continued to fuel her record even as she was making it. She recalls being in the studio when he announced the Muslim ban, and the airport protests that shut it down. The song that came from that, “Hold On,” spoke about the issues facing refugees in these times. She even enlisted a Burundian refugee choir to sing backing vocals on the song.

“In those two weeks, America changed in ways that didn’t seem possible. There were all of these executive orders being passed,” Burhenn says. “I thought, ‘oh my god, I’ve got to write a song for refugees.’”

Writing and recording an entire record of material in such a short period of time was a first for Burhenn. Although she had addressed political issues on her albums before, she had never written something so immediate. She didn’t want this material to become dated while she waited for a label to release it. She instead opted to release the album as a couple of EPs as quickly as possible, before releasing the album in its entirety later in the year.

“I didn’t really care about making money on this. I didn’t even know if I’d tour it,” Burhenn says. “I was afraid that if we don’t get these songs out now, they’re not going to be timely. They’re going to be totally irrelevant in a month or two, which is hilarious wishful thinking looking back on that now.”

The feel of the music jumps around from song to song because the feelings that Burhenn was going through at this time were so complex. The title track “Be Here Now” is an optimistic call to action inspired by her experience at the Women’s March.

“I expected to feel a unity of anger. But instead, what happened was this overwhelming sense of joy. That’s where the song ‘Be Here Now’ came from. That was the greatest party I’ve ever been to. It was complex. My experience wasn’t just one particular emotion. It was an overwhelming relief,” Burhenn says.

It’s hard for Burhenn to believe that she recorded the album not even a full year ago—so much has happened since the inauguration, it feels like hundreds of years ago. Looking back now, she can’t help but laugh at the urgency she felt to get the songs out. One line in “Golden Age” mentions “punching a Nazi.” She was referring to Richard Spencer, who’d been recently captured on film being punched in the face.

“I didn’t know that Charlottesville was going to happen. I didn’t realize what a part of our dialogue white supremacy was going to become,” Burhenn says.

She’s also still processing the meaning of the album, in the middle of the Trump administration.

“I think with this record, I tried to just sit with each feeling. That’s why I called it Be Here Now, to get to that Zen principle of meditating to let thoughts and feelings come and go, and just recognize that feelings are fleeting,” Burhenn says. “That feeling doesn’t define us. And finding wisdom amidst chaos is a matter of sitting with the emotion and letting it turn into whatever it will.”

The Mynabirds play at 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $14/door. 429-4135.

Neo-Craftsman Dining Room Stands Out at Persephone

Christina Waters

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January 16, 2018

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Neo-Craftsman Dining Room Stands Out at Persephone

From a gleam in the eyes of an entrepreneurial family to the handsome neo-Craftsman dining room that has emerged, Persephone is a good-looking newcomer to the Aptos scene.

Completely transformed from its past as a pizza parlor, Persephone offers deep banquette nooks, white tablecloths, and polished wood floors to pamper its guests. The remodel is the handiwork of architect Dennis Britton, who created a light, high-ceilinged space for the cooking of chef Cori Goudge-Ayer and her pastry chef/mother Karen Potter. Such a beautiful dining room deserves an ambitious menu. And Persephone certainly has one. The wine list is as long as the dinner menu is short, and from a handful of wines by the glass, we chose a finely-structured berry-bright Broccardo Dolcetto d’Alba ($14) and an Italian Vino Rosso made from a dozen varietals ($15). The house sourdough focaccia arrived in a linen-lined basket, along with olive oil and a complex garlic spread. Soft and toothsome, it made a low-key accompaniment to our meal. Melody and I took our time scoping out possibilities on the menu, which offers several prix fixe variations starting at $54, so that new patrons can source out a wide range of flavors.

First courses arrived swiftly, mine a half order of Truffled Tortiglioni ($11/half) sauced with a very mild artisanal cheese sauce and dotted with a slice of truffle. Melody’s was a gorgeous bowl of butternut squash soup ($12), ringed with a green herb cream and topped with crispy fried spaghetti squash. The soup was a lovely creation, both richly flavored and elegantly creamy. The pasta delivered little flavor and cried out for more aggressive seasoning. Of our two entrees, we both preferred the generous portion of strip loin steak ($32), sliced across an aromatic cushion of cipollini onions, crisp potatoes, mushrooms, and squashes in an appealing red wine sauce. A more flavor-intensive cut of meat, however, might have justified the hefty price. From the menu’s four entrees I had chosen the only fish option—seared ling cod ($28). The fish was moist and mild inside an expert crisp crust accompanied by a host of flavor ideas. Braised fennel, mysteriously cold confit of tomatoes, a sensuous puree of parsnip, tasty buds of romanesco, and a caper-dill yogurt sauce. There was more—crispy bits on top which were identified as shallot, and a slick of watercress oil. Any two of the above adornments might have been sufficient to flatter the mild-flavored fish. This is not a kitchen, thus far, devoted to minimalism.

The dessert menu here is equally ambitious and wide-ranging. A flourless chocolate bundt cake with many sauces and a persimmon and grape pannacotta were on offer, but we went with a shared order of apple tart ($12) and a glass of excellent Birichino Muscat Canelli ($8). The deconstructed tart was organized into a tower of flavors. From a small pastry base arose a little “cake” of baked apples with a scoop of caramel ice cream on top. The ice cream was dotted with black sea salt that made all the flavors pop. A tuile perched on top. This modestly proportioned dessert we finished up quickly, except for the uncrisp pastry. Our check arrived as we were still consuming dessert, which, frankly, made us feel rushed—and at $117 for dinner, before tax and gratuity, we wanted to enjoy the surroundings.

I anticipate another visit to the evolving Persephone in the near future, hoping for an expanded menu of choices in this very attractive dinner house.

Persephone is at 7945 Soquel Drive, Aptos. Open 4:30-9 p.m.Wednesday-Sunday.

Bitcoin Takes Off in Santa Cruz

Local News

Hugh McCormick

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January 15, 2018

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In the universe of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, Sarah Blincoe says she’s one of a kind.

Her hair pulled back tightly through a black Callaway hat as she sits at the head of an ornate wooden table, Blincoe tells her largely male audience on the second floor of NextSpace in downtown Santa Cruz that “girls in bitcoin are like unicorns.”

She isn’t the only woman in the room, though. First-timer Karen, a massage therapist, shyly tells the group that she’s a “non-technical person trying to do this.” Christina Prince, who attended the meetup with her husband, is curious about the “mysterious bitcoin” she’d been hearing about.

Blincoe looks happy to see Karen and Christina at the meeting, and makes sure they feel comfortable. As an industry vet and CEO of her own cryptocurrency company—Dual Stream Technology Inc.—the under-35 co-organizer of the monthly Santa Cruz Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Meetup says her main goal for 2017 “was to get more women involved in bitcoin.” She succeeded.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are going mainstream, attracting millions of people and billions of dollars. And since that August meeting, which drew 18 people, bitcoin has begun making bigger and bigger headlines. It broke through the $4000 barrier for the first time later that month—which, at the time, was a historic high.

Four months later, the price of a single bitcoin has more than quadrupled, briefly rising above $18,000 before stabilizing around $13,500, where it sits today. The attendance of the Santa Cruz Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Meetup has also quadrupled, overwhelming the medium-sized conference room at Nextspace. The group’s 45th official meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 at NextSpace.

Bitcoin, the world’s first decentralized cryptocurrency, has jumped more than 1,300 percent in value in the past year. Almost overnight, it has gone from an obscure speculative investment idea to a mainstream phenomenon and coveted commodity; a $50 investment made in 2010 would be worth be worth several million today. The total market capitalization for bitcoin now exceeds $231 billion, and the total global market value of all cryptocurrencies is more than $700 billion.

More than 1,000 merchants accept Bitcoin, including Microsoft, Overstock.com, New Egg, Expedia and Dish Network. Some companies, like Starbucks, let customers switch the currency onto what’s called a “Gyft Card,” while others convert cryptocurrencies to dollars for a fee. The currency is far from perfect, however, as certain fees run high, and it can take hours for a single transaction to go through.

The rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has mirrored the growth of Santa Cruz’s cryptocurrency meetup.

“Interest is coming in from all over the place,” Blincoe tells GT in a recent email. “Healthcare, investing, distributed systems, nonprofits, financial institutions, and average everyday people join us each month. We are an extremely diverse group, with ages ranging from 9 years old to 80.”

There are no age limits on bitcoin, and one teenager invested birthday money from his grandmother six years ago. Now at 18, CNBC has reported that he’s a millionaire.

NextSpace’s intimate second-floor conference room, which hosted more than three years of pizza- and wine-fueled gatherings, can now barely hold the ever-growing meetings. Blincoe says she would love to host meetings in a new space that can hold a couple of hundred people, and do beginners sessions to help educate the people Santa Cruz County.

When Sean Gilligan co-founded the Santa Cruz Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Meetup with his two friends in July of 2014, he says he could have never anticipated the sudden explosion of interest in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, or his Meetup.

Locals, Gilligan tells me, are starving for good information about bitcoin and other digital, virtual or alternative currencies. Beginners have begun to overwhelm his monthly gatherings, and he gladly welcomes “crypto-newbies,” as he calls them.

The majority of attendees, says Gilligan, are still those with technical backgrounds, like computer science, engineering and web development. But activists and those hoping for economic change are begun to come to the monthly meetings in large numbers as well. The fastest growing group at the Santa Cruz Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Meetups, he says, are investors, traders, and speculators.

“Seasoned cryptocurrency specialists and the crypto-curious are all more than welcome to the group,” Gilligan explains in an email.

Part of bitcoin’s value is that only 21 million will ever exist, a decision that was largely made to prevent inflation. Each coin’s divided into 10 million smaller parts, called Satoshis. The Satoshi is named for the mysterious creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. The secret identity of Nakamoto, the man who designed and launched the world’s first cryptocurrency in 2009, remains a growing legend. On exchanges like Coinbase or GDAX, investors or speculators can buy any percentage of a bitcoin that they wish, and have exposure to the cryptocurrency without having to pony up the more than the $13,000 it costs to buy an entire coin.

As bitcoin has soared in popularity, so has its notoriety. Skeptics have noted that bitcoins aren’t regulated like normal money. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz called for it to be outlawed for its “lack of oversight.” Others have decried bitcoin’s exorbitant energy use and called into question its volatility, the motives of its creators and its ability to remain insulated from fraud, but it’s been garnering more respect from economists.

The topic of fraud is one that comes up in the weekly meetings at NextSpace. There are many other intricacies to digital currency that Blincoe and Gilligan explore, like legal issues, fees, tax laws, where to buy cryptocurrencies, and setting up digital wallets.

“The future will be so much fun, and cater to a wide span of people no matter their exposure to technology,” writes Blincoe. “We are just getting started!”

Santa Cruz Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Meetup will be held from 6:30-8:30 for “Q&A Night and 2018 Kickoff” on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at NextSpace at 101 Cooper St., Santa Cruz.

Blumenthal Says UCSC Should Study Growing to 28,000 Students

Local News

Jacob Pierce

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January 12, 2018

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Blumenthal Says UCSC Should Study Growing to 28,000 Students

[This story was originally published on Jan. 12, 2018 and updated with additional reporting on Jan. 17, 2018. ]

John Aird had a feeling UCSC leaders were preparing to make a big ask.

Aird is the co-founder of the Coalition for Limiting University Expansion (CLUE), which has been relatively quiet in recent years. He admits to wishing he hadn’t supported a 2008 settlement agreement that allows UCSC to grow with a few stipulations limiting its impact. These days, Aird’s serving on one of three new groups that will provide input on the university’s next Long Range Development Plan.

“I expected that the university was going to present this committee with their case to grow. I expected that. You would have to be blind not to realize that the process to reach out to the community was part of an effort to avoid the backlash that happened last time,” he says. “What I didn’t expect was an increase that large. This is a 50 percent increase.”

UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal officially announced Friday, Jan. 12, that local government and community leaders should explore the idea of expanding the UCSC campus to accommodate 28,000 students as early as 2040. That’s an increase of nearly 10,000 additional students over the school’s enrollment totals from last year.

“It’s just the reality of the world we live in. There’s no doubt about that. The notion that we’re going to cap enrollment is simply not realistic,” Blumenthal told a private gathering of local media the day before his announcement. “It’s a pipe dream.”

The school’s new goal, he says, is in line with UCSC’s values of embracing diversity and supporting social justice, while the state’s population grows and California’s prestigious public universities become even more competitive for already qualified students.

UCSC is currently embarking on its new LRDP, and will study the feasibility of the 28,000 number Blumenthal has suggested. He stresses that there will be a long list of unknown factors over the next 22 years, and he says he’s open to hearing what the community has to say. He hopes community members feel the same way about hearing his ideas.

City Councilmember Cynthia Mathews, who serves on the Community Advisory Group, says there was a “collective gulp” at Friday’s meeting—followed by concern about Santa Cruz turning into a “company town.”

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty says he was hoping the university would announce that it would not be growing at all. In the coming days, he expects the community to have grave concerns about “the big three” issues where UCSC has an impact on the city of Santa Cruz—housing, traffic and water.

“It only reinforces the city and county’s position that UCSC shouldn’t grow, that we’re already overly impacted, and that if we do grow, they need to put all that growth on the campus, so it doesn’t affect our local housing supply, which is in crisis,” says Coonerty, who also serves on the Community Advisory Group.

Of all the impacts, Coonerty says the biggest issue is housing, because rents are already so high and because housing growth affects the other major issues, like traffic and water.

As Santa Cruz mayor in 2008, Coonerty worked with Blumenthal on the agreement for the previous LRDP. That plan allows UCSC to grow to 19,500 students as early as 2020, and the campus agreed to limit its impacts. For instance, the agreement promised that UCSC would house two-thirds of all new enrollment growth.

Blumenthal is optimistic that UCSC can make a housing commitment like that again in this LRDP, although he says that the university isn’t legally obligated to.

“That’s something that has to come out of the process,” he says. “I’m just getting up here and telling you what is the charge that I gave to the LRDP committee to think about. Now, they may come back and say we should house three-quarters of our students. They may come back and say we should house all of our new students. They may come back and say, ‘This is not sustainable.’ I don’t think they’ll do that. This is just the beginning. I wanted to set a number and a timeframe so that people can start to plan and think about, ‘What would you have to do in order to make this work?’ We’re not prepared to make a commitment one way or the other.”

Coonerty says that the effects of campus growth will always be more important than the enrollment number itself, but he feels it’s hard to imagine growth of this magnitude working for Santa Cruz at all.

“I’m open, as always, to working with the university on reducing the impacts,” says Coonerty, who represents District 3, which includes UCSC. “I always think it’s helpful to focus on the impacts, rather than the number. But at the end of the day, we can’t have that much growth on a community this small.”

Blumenthal stresses that the university is not announcing that it will, no matter what, grow to 28,000 students. But he still believes “it’s better to pick a number that’s expansive.” He says that this number did not come down from the University of California Office of the President, although he says administrators would be “unhappy” if UCSC tried to cap expansion.

“I made a choice to give [a number] that I thought was not an unreasonable one to consider,” he says. “Is it magical? Did I have a mathematical formula that got me there? Of course not. But I think it’s quite reasonable. And we have to study it. We have to understand what it means.”

The school is also planning to build a new housing development with a public-private partnership, and Blumenthal hopes that, if the project becomes successful, it will provide a model going forward for new housing developments on campus that lessen UCSC’s impacts on the city.

Listening to Blumenthal’s explanations, it’s hard to make out what the future of the school will be in the next few years, let alone two decades into the future. He says that if the campus grows at a rate of 400 students a year between now and 2040, that would allow it to grow to about 28,000 students, and he explains that there are plenty of unpredictable unknowns over the next 22 years that may offer exciting solutions.

At the same time, Blumenthal says that the university is at capacity right now—not just in terms of housing, but also when it comes to classrooms and basic infrastructure. Blumenthal doesn’t know when UCSC will even reach its target of 19,500 students, which it can legally do in a couple of years.

“I honestly don’t know. We’re getting closer. We’re now over 18,000 students. We are getting closer, but we don’t have the capacity to grow today like we had in the past. Inevitably, our growth has to slow down,” he says. “We don’t have the facilities. We don’t have the classrooms. We don’t have the laboratory spaces. It isn’t a question of getting a bigger shoehorn to shove everybody in. We just plain don’t have the seats. I don’t know. There will be certainly some pressures to grow. If you look for instance at what’s being planned for the UC system for next year, there will be more growth in the UC system than there will be in Santa Cruz.”

Opinion January 10, 2018

Steve Palopoli

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January 11, 2018

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EDITOR’S NOTE

I think we all know Santa Cruz isn’t entirely as liberal as its reputation. Which isn’t to say it’s not generally progressive, but rather that we deal with the same problems as any other city around most issues. And racism is certainly one of them.

Too often, our problems around racial issues are obscured by a certain amount of denial, which the city’s overwhelming whiteness has fostered for decades. Those demographics are shifting somewhat, but even more importantly, people of color in our community are calling out Santa Cruz and making their voices heard. Georgia Johnson’s cover story this week takes a look at what they’re saying about race and racism here, and it’s full of insights that we haven’t gotten in the mainstream media. With a big MLK Day celebration coming up this week, I hope we can all read this week’s story and ask what we can do to further his dream.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

March for Justice

As civil rights marchers crossed the bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965, they were met by police in riot gear. This Jan. 15, at 11 a.m., Santa Cruz Police and the Santa Cruz chapter of the NAACP will march shoulder-to-shoulder as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King—the man who inspired that Selma march and ignited a transformation of American society.

Our officers are proud to co-host this year’s march with the NAACP, welcoming all who strive to move us closer to realizing our American ideal of equal rights, opportunity and even-handed justice. We gather not to celebrate the end of injustice, but as a sign of hope that we can unite around common goals of fair treatment and universal human dignity.

Those who want more than sentimental affection will lock arm-in-arm and walk to push Dr. King’s dream forward, even if in a small way. I invite you to join the SCPD and the NAACP in a march that demonstrates how a city can push beyond its comfort zone and support Dr. King’s principle of actionable love.

I believe our city is ready for this push. Santa Cruz understands that standing for justice on behalf of the most vulnerable uplifts us all. There is not a white or black, poor or wealthy, religious or secular Santa Cruz, but a dynamic community where social justice is embedded in our very DNA. Santa Cruz is a city that stands for those whose voices are minimized, whose posture is bent by the weight of status quo.

Let this march be a place to surpass sentimental affection and make justice the goal in how we police, create law, hold court, provide education, and house the homeless. Let us live our ideals, treating even our most troubled brethren as unique and deserving individuals.

While in jail, Dr. King wrote to his fellow Christian pastors. They were concerned that his protest was “untimely.” The protest, they believed, would make some community members feel uncomfortable. Dr. King wrote, “Our destiny is tied up … with the destiny of America.”

During this time of national turmoil where discussions rage about race, immigration and religion, I cannot think of a better time for Santa Cruz to show the country how one community can unify in love that satisfies justice without hope of political agenda or personal gain. Come. Join us.

Chief Andy Mills | SCPD

Transparency for UCSC

Kudos to the City and County of Santa Cruz for being recognized for their efforts to improve transparency and accountability in the budgeting process (GT, 1/3). It would be great if UCSC would follow and make its budget documents more accessible in an online budget tool. The community of UCSC comprises about one-third of the population of the City of Santa Cruz. Some benefits that accrue to an organization from budget transparency are public trust, a more engaged and informed community, improved labor negotiations and lower borrowing costs from lenders for openness to real-time financial information.

The recent state audit report of UC’s finances found that it did not disclose $175 million in reserves. UCSC’s chancellor George Blumenthal revised his survey sent to the auditor after the UC Office of the President pressed him to cleanse it of critical comments. This type of behavior creates distrust and an unengaged community. Some of my past requests for public records from both UCSC and the Metro have been met with resistance and obstruction, but looking forward, the City and County have raised the bar to improved transparency in this new year. With the informed readership of GT holding them accountable to budget transparency, maybe UCSC and the Metro can earn an award as well.

Kevin Parks | UCSC Alumnus ’06

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

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GOOD IDEA

FLU IN
The county’s Health Services Agency announced last week that flu activity has taken off in recent weeks, according to information from Santa Cruz County health care providers, the state Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even though this year’s vaccine hasn’t been effective against all strains, county officials say that everyone six months and older should get vaccinated, especially pregnant women, young children and the elderly.

GOOD WORK

PATH FORWARD
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) has completed two trail reroutes in Santa Cruz’s Pogonip open space. Sections of both the Ohlone Trail and the Lookout Trail had been so badly eroded that city workers and volunteers had to redesign and reroute them to make them more sustainable. Amanda Schaper, marketing and events director for MBOSC, says volunteers worked a total of 69 hours to finish the reroute, which makes for a more enjoyable walk, too.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

How do you define value?

Columns

Matthew Cole Scott

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January 11, 2018

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“Plain and simple: if it’s got heart.”

Amy Wolfe

Santa Cruz

Business Owner

“Something important enough for you to do something about it.”

Christopher Allen

Santa Cruz

Artist

“I would imagine that most people would describe it as having something. For me, it’s being. ”

Bill Larkin

Santa Cruz

Retired

“When you couldn’t do a better job yourself.”

Tyler Meine

Santa Cruz

Mechanical Engineer

“The Pericos taco at Taqueria Los Pericos. It’s like $3.60 for an amazing taco and some chips. You could eat that every day and be satisfied. ”

Michael Baba

Santa Cruz

Photographer/Designer

Hallcrest Vineyards’s Versatile Chardonnay

Josie Cowden

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January 11, 2018

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Hallcrest Vineyards’s Versatile Chardonnay

Founded in the 1880s by the Hall family, Hallcrest Vineyards has been a local fixture for a long time. John Schumacher bought the property in 1987, and now has more than three decades of winemaking under his belt. His 2015 Chardonnay ($36) reflects the experience of a seasoned grape-grower—the wine first reveals a bouquet of Bartlett pears, honey, applesauce, and nectar, followed by a palate dominated by white pepper, minerals and figs. Schumacher says it’s a very versatile wine when it comes to food pairing.

On a visit to Hallcrest last September with my Wild Wine Women group, we all took our own lunch and enjoyed a tasting of Hallcrest wines. Schumacher showed us warm hospitality—giving a talk on his winemaking methods around huge containers of fermenting grapes. Not wasting a minute, he was punching them down at the same time.

Hallcrest is well worth a visit. They have a cozy tasting room nestled in the redwoods, and you are welcome to bring a picnic and take in the lovely surroundings. As well as their many varietals of wine, Hallcrest also produces Santa Cruz Scrumpy hard cider, made from 13 different varieties of organically grown apples. The cider has no added sulfites, sorbates or preservatives, and is also vegan and naturally gluten free. Besides apple, other cider flavors include pomegranate, cherry, prickly pear, and hopped and spiced.

Hallcrest Vineyards/Organic Wine Works, 379 Felton Empire Road, Felton, 335-4441. hallcrestvineyards.com. Open daily noon to 5 p.m. Tasting fee is $10 which is waived if you spend $50 or more.

The Philosopher’s Stoneground

All hail the Philosopher’s Stoneground products, which include sprouted almond butter straight from heaven. This is some of the best almond butter I have tasted, and it’s made in Santa Cruz. Try the Ostara Stone Ground Coconut Butter and the Ostara Stone Ground Cocotella (chocolate coconut butter)—you won’t believe these flavors. Tim Richards is the “Chief Philosopher and Nut Alchemist,” so we have him to thank for these delicious creations. Visit thephilosophersstoneground.com.

Hanloh’s Fresh Take on Thai Street Food

Food & Drink

Lily Stoicheff

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January 11, 2018

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Despite menu items listed in both English and curly Thai script, Hanloh chef and creator Lalita Kaewsawang isn’t necessarily trying to make authentic Thai food. While her menu of Thai street food and home cooking pays homage to the flavors she fell in love with while growing up in a small city outside of Bangkok, a closer look reveals other experiences and influences layered like the flavors in a curry—attending high school in Alice Waters-ruled Berkeley, college at an East Coast liberal arts school, and post-grad kitchen stints in culinary meccas New Orleans and Chicago before returning to California to cook at Michelin-starred Manresa.

“It was never about being super authentic,” explains Kaewsawang. “It also has to taste good, to taste clean, while using what’s in season and local products as much as possible.” So whether or not it’s Thai, “If it’s good, it’s good.”

And wow, is it good. Whether her ever-changing menu offers eggrolls that crackle and shatter under tooth; yolk-colored Vietnamese crepes stuffed with sausage and decorated with shredded carrot, mint and cilantro; fried curried catfish with crispy basil and cucumber quick pickles; or a comforting bowl of Panang curry, her lineup is nearly always infallible.

Kaewsawang’s recipes evolve with the season and location, which means Hanloh’s menu, like most pop-ups, changes all the time. Thankfully, my favorite dish, Thai fried chicken or gai tod, seems to be a mainstay. Using the whole wing from shoulder to tip, Kaewsawang marinates them overnight in “an overwhelming amount of lemongrass. I feel like it needs quite a bit for the flavors to get through the skin,” she says. Plus cilantro, garlic, coriander, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Right before frying, she dredges the wing in a thin gluten-free rice flour batter so that the skin, rather than the batter, touches the oil and gets super crispy.

It’s hard to overstate how heavenly the bright lemongrass steam that fills your nostrils is as you crunch through crispy skin to juicy chicken, and the accompanying sauce made from fish sauce, tamarind and caramelized palm sugar is the perfect balance of tangy, sweet and sour. Some may wonder, is it Thai? To which I would retort, as I grab a second wing, who cares?

Hanloh’s next pop-up is at the monthly Night Market at the Food Lounge on Friday, Jan. 12 from 4-9 p.m. Pop-up calendar at hanloh.com.

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MENTAL HEALTH

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EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Amy Wolfe

Santa Cruz

Business Owner

Christopher Allen

Santa Cruz

Artist

Bill Larkin

Santa Cruz

Retired

Tyler Meine

Santa Cruz

Mechanical Engineer

Michael Baba

Santa Cruz

Photographer/Designer

The Philosopher’s Stoneground