Local rock icon, deejay and novelist Greg Kihn died Tuesday, Aug. 16 at the age of 75, according to an announcement on his web site.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Greg Kihn, an iconic figure in the realm of rock music. Greg lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease,” the announcement written by Skyler Turtle said.
“Known for his magnetic stage presence and unique storytelling that captivated audiences around the globe. He was not merely a musician but a cultural phenomenon whose influence will resonate for generations to come.”
Kihn was an accessible figure locally. He delivered a hilarious talk to the San Jose Rotary Club, supported the nonprofit San Jose Rocks and played Music in the Park. He was consistently voted as best deejay in Metro’s Best of Silicon Valley issue, and showed up at a South San Jose bowling alley for Metro’s Best of party one year.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Kihn achieved recognition with the release of the self-titled LP Greg Kihn on Beserkley records in 1976. He was a key part of the San Francisco Bay Area musical scene in the late 1970s and rose to worldwide fame in the 1980s with a string of hits.
He toured the world and won a number of awards for his hit songs “Jeopardy,” “The Breakup Song,” “Remember” and “Lucky.”
He was well known to Bay Area audiences as the morning radio host for KFOX for 17 years. Kihn was also a storyteller and novelist with six published novels in addition to short stories.
Greg is survived by wife Jay Arafiles-Kihn, son Ryan Kihn, daughter Alexis Harrington-Kihn, son-in-law Samora Harrington, grandsons Nate Harrington-Kihn and Zuri Harrington-Kihn and sister Laura Otremba.
Get ready to rock out to old-school vibes and guitar-driven originals as San Diego–based Electric Mud makes their Santa Cruz debut. Named Best Rock Band in the San Diego Music Awards, Electric Mud has played the legendary Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Belly Up in Solana Beach, and even opened for the Rolling Stones this past May at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
How did that happen? “The Stones get local acts for wherever they’re going to play,” says guitarist Colton Cori, who grew up in Prunedale. “It was a little bit of family connections and their checking out our music and wanting to have us.”
Started in 2008 with brothers Matt and Marc Hansen, hailing from Staten Island, NY, the band started jamming with Cori while all were in the U.S. Navy and stationed in San Diego, where Cori was assigned to the same ship as Matt, the drummer. Cori officially joined the band in 2013. The bass player is the Hansens’ cousin, Matthew Sorena. (Speaking of relatives, their aunt is Patti Hansen, who just happens to be married to Stones guitarist Keith Richards.)
Just as the Stones were named in tribute to Muddy Waters, the band’s moniker pays tribute to Waters’ first album. “It’s kind of how the Stones wanted to pay homage to the blues guys before them,” Cori said. They list other influences, such as Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, Tom Petty and Waylon Jennings.
Presented by SoulGood Entertainment, the show kicks off at 6pm on Sat., Aug. 17 with an acoustic set by Colton Cori and openers the Birdcalls. Woodhouse Blending & Brewing, 119 Madrone St., Santa Cruz, 313-9461. Ticket: $25 via EventBrite.
Santa Cruz humorist Sven Davis is driving our clown car this morning, the other clowns being Laurence Bedford, Sleepy John Sandidge and me. We stop at the entrance kiosk to the world-famous Henry Cowell Old Redwood Grove Park in Felton and observe their sign: “Entrance fee $10, small bills please.”
The park attendant smiles brightly, but Sven looks crestfallen and his head sinks: “I’m so sorry. We don’t have the small bills, we only have the regular sized ones.” The attendant’s eyes move to her left and dart up and down like a malfunctioning robot unable to scan something that computes. Sven hands her a ten-dollar bill and we drive into the parking lot. We meet up with more of our hiking buddies, the legal power couple Tamara and Ben Rice, and Katherine Beiers, former three-term mayor of Santa Cruz.
About 150 feet from the parking lot we saunter into the 0.8-mile loop of the Redwood Grove of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, home of the old-growth “virgin” Coast Redwood trees that extend into the 1,400- to 1,800-year-old-range. They can live more than 2,000 years. The walking trail passes within a few feet of some of the tallest trees in the world. The largest tree in the grove has a diameter of more than 17 feet and a height of 280 feet. They pull more carbon out of the air than any other tree species.
It is noon Wednesday and families, school groups and couples walking hand in hand pad slowly through the loop. I can imagine on weekends it would be crowded with the free, guided walks led by docents.
There is a nature center with stuffed local animals like a coyote and a mountain lion, and native plants. The center tells us about our coast redwoods: native with growth and longevity enhanced by proximity to the ocean and its fog, with a free-flowing, year-round stream to replenish these giants. Even the thick bark, 6 to 12 inches, is laden with tannin and offers protection from damage by wildfires and insects. It is the tannic acid that creates the red color.
We learn the trees were born before 1066, when the Battle of Hastings began all the Norman hijinks in England. My last name is Stockton, an old English name derived from “severed tree-trunk.” My hiking companions are pillars of the community. I am a stump.
Former Santa Cruz Mayor Katherine Beiers, 92 years young. Coast redwood, 1,800 years old. Photo by Richard Stockton
The Unbelievable Lightness of Being Katherine Beiers
One of our community pillars is Katherine Beiers, and there is no other way to state her age than to say she is 92 years young. This woman’s physical feats are astonishing.
As we walk, Katherine tells me about walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago in 2017. It starts in France, goes up the Pyrenees mountains and then across the north of Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
“Compostela” means field of stars, based on the stars of the Milky Way, and has been followed by pilgrims for a millennium to reach St. James’ tomb. The Camino de Santiago hike follows the pilgrim’s path, the hikers walking between six and 20 miles a day, staying in hostels at night.
Katherine says, “We walked almost all the way, but one day it rained hard for four hours and we went into a bar and after an extended drinking session we called a cab to finish the last 5 miles. I make friends on these Camino de Santiago hikes [she’s done it twice] that I get together with to this day. Two of them are coming from New York to visit me in Santa Cruz this weekend.”
She tells of one man who was walking the Camino de Santiago to kick his alcohol addiction. He had been struggling with his AA 12-step program. I like it: If the 12 steps are too hard, take 1,000,000 steps. Katherine says that he would not drink on the trail, but he would eat bags of candy—big bags every day—to satisfy his sugar craving.
Katherine says for the entire 500 miles she would meet new people on the hike who would always say, “Oh, you are the 84-year-old.” The next year, at 85, she ran the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon.
The Boston Globe ran a photo of her running through Newton, wearing a garbage bag to shed the pouring rain. The Globe reported, “Despite the near-freezing temps, heavy rain, and furious winds, Katherine Beiers crossed the finish line in seven hours, 50 minutes. Beiers ran her first marathon in 1984 in Napa, California, and has run the Boston 14 times.”
In her age category, Beiers has come in first every time. To prepare for it, she ran 45 miles per week around Santa Cruz. She ran the Boston Marathon with her son, who told CBS News that she always enjoys a postrace beer. Katherine says, “A beer is my recovery drink.”
More About the Redwoods
The loop can be completed in under an hour, and on summer weekends there are free docent-led walks. According to the park’s website, standout redwoods include one with albino growth lignotubers and the John C. Fremont tree (a tree hollowed out by fire that was once used as a resort honeymoon room).
Next to the entrance kiosk, all three known types of redwood trees—the coast redwood, the giant sequoia and the dawn redwood (the latter two are not native to our area)—are planted together, providing an opportunity to compare and contrast the members of the family.
Different habitats at the park include riparian, sandhill community, mixed evergreen and redwood forests.
How to get there: Redwood Grove Loop Trail is just south of Felton. Access begins off the Meadow Trail. The trailhead is located in the day use parking lot near the nature center.
Walk up to a total stranger on the street and ask them any question on a topic that sparks your curiosity. What would it be?
Would you do it? Could you do it?
That was the assignment I was offered in June of 2023 when I was the lucky journalist who visited the office of Brad Kava, the new editor of Good Times. One of Brad’s first decisions was to bring back Question of the Week, a popular feature that had not been seen in years, and I wisely (and impulsively) accepted his offer to make it my responsibility.
It was a daunting assignment for this fledgling journalist, asking random people on the street for their answers to questions that I happened to think might be fun or important to ponder for five minutes out of the day.
I almost gave up on day one. A few polite rejections and a case of cold feet were enough to awaken my long-dormant social anxiety. I said, “I don’t think I can do this.” But Brad wouldn’t let me back out, not without turning in my interviews at least once.
I have been grateful for that push ever since, for 58 consecutive weeks of Street Talk and meeting the most kind, thoughtful, surprising, and articulate people on the streets of Santa Cruz County.
I’ve made real friends and formed lasting memories—learned a lot, laughed a lot, and more than once cried. I’ve vicariously enjoyed the delight of visitors discovering Santa Cruz for the first time, heard stories of Santa Cruz past, and learned of the hardships of our street people.
I discovered that far from being the all-white enclave some may perceive Santa Cruz to be, our community is very much ethnically diverse—a beautiful reality that I strive to display with the neighbors who appear in Street Talk.
I shivered to hear stories of UFOs and the supernatural.
Lindsy Valdez recounted a bonfire gathering visited by an eerie hovering light, and Kamran Aghevli, 11, believed aliens are “thinking of a chance to strike soon, waiting for when we’re vulnerable.”
I laughed as Phillipe Cartin recalled Bruce Almighty, his favorite Jim Carrey movie.
Lindsy Valdez
Kamran Aghevli
Phillipe Cartin
I was amazed to learn that Leila Hakimi finds her inner peace in wrestling, as does Van Swanson in sword fighting.
Leila Hakimi
Van Swanson
I loved hearing Watsonvillers’ deep affection for their City Plaza, their pride in their many festivals and their connection to history and heritage.
I learned that composer Bela Bartok owned a curved piano, that we once had a downtown music venue called Palookaville, and that a woman, Bertha Benz, drove the first long-distance test of an automobile.
We weighed in on the Otter 841 Affair, on COVID, and we rethought the slogan “Keep Santa Cruz Weird.”
And our Street Talkers were prescient when they agreed across all demographics that Joe Biden had become too old to be President.
Thanks to all for the time to talk, and your time to read. Street Talk returns in its usual format next week.
Do you have a favorite question or answer from the past year of Street Talk?
Do you have a suggestion for a question in the year ahead?
Post to the Good Times Facebook page, or email us at le*****@go*******.sc.
Since long before states started legalizing weed about a dozen years ago, the default assumption has been that cannabis use among young people, specifically teenagers, would surely increase.
This came mostly from two cohorts: prohibitionists who tend to look under rocks to find reasons why weed is bad, and the much larger group of people who came to that conclusion via “common sense.”
If something is legal, the thinking goes, it’s more readily available, so of course more people are going to use it, including those for whom it remains illegal. In this case, teenagers. But as is always the case when “common sense” is invoked, a deeper look is warranted.
Last week, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration issued a report that teen cannabis use actually declined slightly between 2022 and 2023. Over the past decade, meanwhile, reported use among people aged 12 to 17 has plunged 18% (the measure was of people who had ever tried cannabis). The rates of people in that age group reporting use of cannabis in the past month and past year have also fallen over the past 10 years.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the rate of cannabis use among all adults has fallen over the past couple of years, though it remains somewhat higher than it had been before legalization started sweeping through the states.
The takeaway: the legal status of weed might have an effect on whether some people will decide to use it, but it seems to have little aggregate effect on usage rates in either direction.
And pot being legal might actually make teens less prone to use it. One hypothesis for this is that some teenagers use weed, in part, as an act of rebellion, and the fact that it’s legal for their gym teachers to use might make it seem less rebellious to them, or even straight-up uncool.
About a quarter of all Americans say they have used “illicit” substances, including cannabis (which is still illegal federally and in several states) cocaine, heroin, meth and others.
That figure hasn’t changed over the past two years, and cannabis is by far the most popular of those substances. Just under 9% of respondents said they used an illicit substance other than cannabis in the preceding year, according to the survey.
The longer-term data was collected in the ongoing National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Officials note that the survey’s methodology has changed. That yields better data, they say, but it also makes longer-term comparisons somewhat less reliable.
Meanwhile, there have been some studies indicating that pot use in legal states has risen slightly among teens and other cohorts, along with others that more-or-less comport with the SAMHSA study. But all of them indicate that, contrary to so many predictions, there has been no substantial increase in cannabis use among young people resulting from legalization.
The SAMHSA findings show that the “sensational claims” that legalization has encouraged more young people to use cannabis “are simply not backed by reliable data,” said Paul Amerntano, deputy director of NORML, the nation’s leading advocate for reforming pot laws.
The relatively few remaining prohibitionists seem befuddled as to how to spin this data. “These drugs aren’t safe and they aren’t medicine,” said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, as quoted on the website Marijuana Moment. “This latest round of data should make it even more apparent that marijuana doesn’t meet the criteria to be rescheduled by the federal government.”
Of course, the latest round of data shows precisely the opposite.
Marijuana Moment also checked out SAM’s social media thread about the study where the increasingly flailing prohibitionist group said nothing about falling cannabis use among young people, and instead focused on the fact that more people of all ages use pot than was the case decades ago (which, duh).
It also warned, irrelevantly, about “new products engineered for addiction [that] have built an industry that will likely soon overtake Big Tobacco as America’s vice of choice.”
Independent station KPCR-LP, known as Pirate Cat Radio, is back in Santa Cruz for the first time in more than a year, when the station moved to Los Gatos. Pirate Cat recently added KMRT-LP 101.9 FM to its list of frequencies, allowing Santa Cruz listeners to once again tune into everything Pirate Cat has to offer.
KPCR-LP is licensed by the Central Coast Media Education Foundation, whose mission is to provide educational resources for journalism and media creation. Pirate Cat follows the foundation’s mission by building community through sharing the knowledge possessed by artists with local audiences.
“What Pirate Cat radio with KPCR is doing is bringing a very specific format of alternative subgenres mixed in liberal arts radio, radio with interviews of makers and creators, and hosts who are those makers and creators,” says Daniel Roberts, founder of Pirate Cat Radio.
“We are not just being like Fresh Air, giving an interview with somebody doing something,” Roberts explains. He provides artists with radio programs “so they can share their wealth of information, not just a one-off, but every week at the same time. Plus, we get to bring some cool and different sounds that you really wouldn’t get anywhere else.”
One of the community services Pirate Cat Radio provides is giving artists a resource to talk to hosts who have found success in a specific genre or scene and gain information on how to move forward and grow as artists. Roberts feels that the information provided in radio shows is essential to not only artists but can be applied to our day-to-day lives.
“One of my personal music heroes—Mike Park, who is the singer of Skankin’ Pickle, founder of Asian Man Records—just launched his radio show on the station last week on Wednesdays from 8 to 10. One of the pieces of information he gave a band last week was, ‘Do not ever play in the bar. Create a scene of your own.’”
Creating a scene of their own is exactly what Roberts and Pirate Cat Radio are doing with alternative radio in the Bay Area. Tune in at KPCR-LP 92.9FM in Los Gatos and KMRT-LP 101.9FM in Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz schools are on a mission to change the way your kids think about vegetables.
For the first time ever, five county school districts jointly participated in a culinary training program designed to present a fresh take on produce to the standard school lunch.
Farm to table came to life last week as lunch staff from Pajaro, Live Oak, San Lorenzo Valley, Soquel and Santa Cruz school districts met at Del Mar Elementary school, where, under the tutelage of a CIA-trained chef, they spent five days in an intensive culinary training bootcamp at the Live Oak District Central Kitchen.
Yes, the school cafeteria has evolved since the days when ketchup counted as a vegetable. Today’s school lunches are balanced according to federal nutrition guidelines, and in Santa Cruz most of the produce is organic. Healthy meals are made and served up by the Child Nutrition experts formerly known as lunch ladies.
Flavorful food can seem an afterthought in schools bound by a highly regulated system built on consistency, federal nutrition requirements and scalability, to name a few. Yet Santa Cruz County schools are flexing within the system by improving the way they treat the food that comes into their kitchens. And more importantly, the people who prepare it.
Directors on hand for the first-ever multidistrict training were enthused about the benefits they’d already witnessed among the participants. The combination of skill building and opportunity for connection with fellow district colleagues brought a new level of engagement to work not always recognized.
By training culinary staff in preparing new large-scale recipes, schools can offer fresher food from a network of local farming partners. The produce is high quality, and the meats are grass fed and free of hormones and antibiotics. But the big benefit to kids and parents is a school lunch staff devoted to tickling developing taste buds.
The mastermind behind this grant-funded training is Cathy Powers, MS, RD, LD, a founding partner in Culinary Nutrition Associates and CIA-trained chef turned trainer. She developed this program, eight years ago, for the state of Indiana.
She explains, “We did it in Santa Cruz twice last year and they brought us back they loved it so much. The best thing to see is how the nutrition experts transform. They increase their confidence.”
The training begins with culinary basics. “So yesterday, they were learning how to use a shelf knife, practicing different techniques,” Powers says. “Today is all about vegetable cooking. The staffers form teams, they’re assigned to a different vegetable and they do it three ways—, a steamed, a roasted and a cold. They learn there’s so much you can do with vegetable, because really the key for a healthier generation is helping our students learn to love vegetables.”
Powers continues, “Today is about creating vegetable lovers because, really, that’s what we’re missing. Kids are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. While this program is not vegetarian, it’s heavily focused on making vegetables delicious. I like to say to the class, ‘if a student’s first experience with the vegetable is negative, you might have created a vegetable hater.’
Because if they tasted the broccoli and it wasn’t seasoned, you know, they may never try broccoli again. However, if you create delicious vegetables, you might create vegetable lovers. And tomorrow we’ll do the same thing with grains. We have sorghum, we have quinoa and couscous, we have brown rice and each team will have a different grain to work with.”
Since high volume cooking is so different from single-meal cooking, even chefs with a lot of culinary experience need specialized training to manage these large-scale recipes. After this week, the nutrition experts will decide which recipes they want to bring to the cafeteria menu.
They may only adopt one or two to start with, but as Powers says “we’re not teaching them recipes, we’re teaching them techniques. So whether it’s roasted broccoli, or roasted cauliflower or roasted brussels sprouts, the technique is the same. They’re learning how to use seasoning. So, whether its cumin roasted broccoli or ranch roasted carrots, they’re learning the techniques that they can implement according to their students’ palettes.”
And how do the nutrition experts know whether the kids like the food? New recipes are announced with cards containing a QR code placed on the lunch tables in some schools, so kids can scan to access a form where they can share their opinions.
In the words of Amy Hedrick-Farr, “The combination of nutrition education and outreach allows us to bring our Life Lab grown foods into the classroom and cafeteria. Thanks to our grant funding, we’re able to combine all three very successfully.”
The ’60s left a lasting mark on our city, sparking a love-hate relationship that still sizzles. Today Santa Cruz remains a hotspot for those chasing an altered state, with edibles, smokables and sippables galore.
But you can also find a natural high here, minus the hangover. New research suggests finding your bliss can be as simple as hiking a scenic trail, grooving to your favorite tunes, or indulging in a tasty treat—just as satisfying as a trip to your local dispensary without the hefty price tag.
No doubt you’ve heard of dopamine, a hormone and chemical messenger made in our brains that helps us feel pleasure, just like the name implies. It’s a big part of our unique human ability to think and plan. It helps us focus, work toward goals and find things interesting.
Feel-good moments, from a relaxing bath to a thrilling adventure, fire up your brain’s reward center, flooding it with dopamine. The extra hit latches your brain onto the experience like a cat to a laser pointer. As a result, that strong memory of the pleasure you felt is enough to prompt you to want, even crave, that experience again and again.
Dopamine’s role in reinforcing the brain’s quest for pleasure can associate it with addiction. But the shift from simply enjoying an experience to becoming obsessed with it is complex and not fully understood.
The good news is all kinds of behaviors can trigger a natural high. Things like a beach walk, yoga, hiking in the redwoods or dancing with friends are enough to get feel-good hormones going, with the dopamine release ready to seal the deal.
A study published in March in the Journal of Physiology describes how acute physical activity has been shown to trigger dopamine release in the brain. It’s also been shown to boost brain function. Even walking briskly for 40-plus minutes is enough to do the trick, as the study shows.
But when time is tight, there are more immediate options for that dopamine rush.
Certain treats unleash the flood of pure pleasure that comes from surfing that perfect wave. For those with a sweet tooth, biting into dark chocolate from Ashby Confections might do the trick.
Friends of cheese know the protein casein has the power to boost dopamine levels through a fascinating process known as casomorphin production. Luckily, cheese is (arguably) not addictive in the same way as street drugs; researchers say the dopamine hit is likely mild and doesn’t have any adverse effects.
If cheese isn’t your jam, try snacking on foods rich in tyrosine, the protein used to make dopamine—including nuts, seeds, avocados, bananas, and soy products—the next time you need a happiness boost.
The researchers note that “listening to the music you love will make your brain release more dopamine, a crucial neurotransmitter for humans’ emotional and cognitive functioning.”
Yet one more reason to brave the parking and trek to Capitola for the Wednesday evening Beach Twilight Concerts, or to one of the many weeknight brew pub jams.
Too little dopamine can lead to a variety of health issues. Doctors may prescribe dopamine supplements or dietary changes to treat conditions caused by dopamine deficiency, including anxiety disorders, mood swings and depression. Lifestyle choices—such as overdoing the drinking or smoking, or even an imbalanced diet—can lead to a decrease in dopamine levels.
I’d be remiss to discuss dopamine without mentioning celebrity neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman’s work at Stanford University. His research revamps our understanding of dopamine from a pleasure hormone to a “motivation molecule” driving us toward goals and rewards.
Rather than just fueling the pursuit of pleasure via cravings, Huberman describes a three-part dopamine formula for achievement, simplified here as the process of setting incremental goals, celebrating small wins and balancing effort with rest.
Ultimately, where you seek pleasure is solely your business. But it’s nice to know we live in a place where the natural highs are as free and plentiful as a hippie culture dream come true. And what better way to stay motivated than with your favorite music, a little extra movement and a wedge of fresh brie?
Years ago, when I worked as a postal delivery person in Santa Cruz, California, I mastered my route quickly. The time allotted to complete it was six hours, but I could easily finish in four. Soon I began to goof off two hours a day, six days a week. Many great works of literature and music entertained me during that time. I joined a softball team and was able to play an entire game each Saturday while officially on the job. Was what I did unethical? I don’t think so, since I always did my work thoroughly and precisely. Is there any comparable possibility in your life, Aries? An ethical loophole? A workaround that has full integrity? An escape clause that causes no harm?
TAURUS April 20-May 20
From an astronomer’s perspective, Uranus is huge. Sixty-three Earths could fit inside of it. It’s also weirdly unique because it rotates sideways compared to the other planets. From an astrologer’s point of view, Uranus symbolizes the talents and gifts we possess that can be beneficial to others. If we fully develop these potentials, they will express our unique genius and be useful to our fellow humans. It so happens that Uranus has been cruising through Taurus since 2018 and will mostly continue there until 2026. I regard these years as your best chance in this lifetime to fulfill the opportunities I described. The coming weeks will be especially pregnant with possibilities.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
Mountaineer Edmund Hillary is renowned as the first person to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. It happened in 1953. Less famous was his companion in the ascent, Gemini mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. Why did Hillary get more acclaim than Norgay, even though they were equal partners in the monumental accomplishment? Was it because one was a white New Zealander and the other a brown Nepalese? In any case, I’m happy to speculate that if there’s a situation in your life that resembles Norgay’s, you will get remediation in the coming months. You will receive more of the credit you deserve. You will garner the acknowledgment and recognition that had previously been unavailable. And it all starts soon.
CANCER June 21-July 22
As an American, I’m embarrassed by the fact that my fellow citizens and I comprise just four percent of the world’s population but generate 20 percent of its garbage. How is that possible? In any case, I vow that during the next five weeks, I will decrease the volume of trash I produce and increase the amount of dross I recycle. I encourage you, my fellow Cancerians, to make a similar promise. In ways that may not be immediately imaginable, attending to these matters will improve your mental health and maybe even inspire you to generate an array of fresh insights about how to live your life with flair and joy.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
The coming weeks will be a wonderful time to waste time on the internet. If you are properly aligned with cosmic rhythms, you will spend long hours watching silly videos, interacting with friends and strangers on social media, and shopping for products you don’t really need. JUST KIDDING!! Everything I just said was a dirty lie. It was designed to test your power to resist distracting influences and mediocre advice. Here’s my authentic counsel, Leo. The coming weeks will be a fantastic phase to waste as little time as possible as you intensify your focus on the few things that matter to you most.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Scientific research suggests that brushing and flossing your teeth not only boosts the health of your gums, but also protects your heart’s health. Other studies show that if you maintain robust microbiota in your gut, you’re more likely to avoid anxiety and depression as you nurture your mental health. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to focus on big-picture thoughts like these, Virgo. You will be wise to meditate on how each part of your life affects every other part. You will generate good fortune as you become more vividly aware and appreciative of the intimate interconnectedness that underlies all you do.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
The official term for the shape of a single piece of M&M candy is “oblate spheroid.” It’s rounded but not perfectly round. It looks like a partially squashed sphere. An Iraqi man named Ibrahim Sadeq decided to try the difficult task of arranging as many M&M’s as possible in a vertical stack. He is now the world’s record holder in that art, with seven M&M’s. I am imagining that sometime soon, Libra, you could achieve a comparable feat in your own domain. What’s challenging but not impossible?
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
I’ve heard many people brag about their hangovers. The stories they tell are often entertaining and humorous. One of my best laughs emerged in response to two friends describing the time they jumped on the roof a parked Mercedes Benz at 3 am and sang songs from Verdi’s opera Falstaff until the cops came and threw them in a jail cell with nothing to eat or drink for ten hours. In accordance with astrological omens, Scorpio, I ask you to not get a hangover in the coming weeks, even an amusing one. Instead, I encourage you to studiously pursue extreme amounts of pleasurable experiences that have only good side effects.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Most famous musicians demand that their dressing rooms be furnished with specific amenities. Beyoncé needs rose-scented candles. Rihanna expects her preparatory sanctuary to have dark blue or black drapes topped with icy blue chiffon. Eminem insists on a set of 25-pound dumbbells, and the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd wants Super Soaker water guns. Since the coming weeks may be as close to a rock star phase of your cycle as you’ve ever had, I recommend you create a list of your required luxuries. This imaginative exercise will hopefully get you in the mood to ask for exactly what you need everywhere you go.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Sleep deprivation is widespread. I see it as a pandemic. According to some studies, over half the people in the world suffer from insomnia, don’t get enough sleep, or have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Most research on this subject doesn’t mention an equally important problem: that many people aren’t dreaming enough. And the fact is that dreaming is key to our psychological well-being. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your relationship with sleep and dreams. I encourage you to learn all you can and do all you can to make your time in bed deeply rejuvenating.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Only 47 people live on the volcanic Pitcairn Islands, which are located in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific Ocean. Pollution is virtually non-existent, which is why the honey made by local bees is the purest on the planet. In accordance with astrological omens, I’d love for you to get honey like that in the coming weeks. I hope you will also seek the best and purest of everything. More than ever, you need to associate with influences that are potent, clear, genuine, raw, vibrant, natural and full-strength.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Many Indigenous people in North America picked and ate wild cranberries. But farm-grown cranberries available for commercial use didn’t appear until 1816. Here’s how it happened. In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a farmer discovered a secret about the wild cranberry bog on his land. Whenever big storms dumped sand on the bog, the fruit grew with more lush vigor. He tinkered with this revelation from nature and figured out how to cultivate cranberries. I recommend this as a teaching story, Pisces. Your assignment is to harness the power and wisdom provided by a metaphorical storm or disturbance. Use it to generate a practical innovation in your life.
No one likes to see homeless people camping in public places, not even those of us who are sympathetic to their plight. It’s time to try a solution that would benefit us all: a campground, with sanitation and hygiene, social services and basic employment, in the little-used Sycamore Grove area of city-owned Pogonip at the bottom of Highway 9. With easy access to homeless services on Coral Street, they would have an incentive to keep it clean and safe or risk losing it. We should get state and federal money to support it, and it could be a national model.
This problem is not going away. Let’s do something realistic to deal with it.
Steven Robins | Felton
NOT A MONARCH
Hi, your photo contest caption last week is incorrect. This is not a monarch butterfly.
Laura Woliczko
OR WAS IT A TRICK?
This week’s photo is a trick question! There is no Monarch in the photo…
It is a Gulf fritillary, Agraulis vanillae!
However, the Monarchs are beginning to arrive for another spectacular migration season.
Welcome Monarchs!
Fiona Fairchild | Monarch Activist
PRESCHOOL FUNDING
I’m writing to thank our state representatives for their support of childcare legislation and increased funding. I urge them to continue this vital work by supporting Assembly Bill 2292 and related provisions in the California State Budget Act 2024. AB 2292 would establish the Classroom Planning and Implementation Grant Program, providing crucial funding for new childcare centers and state preschool classrooms.
This addresses the urgent need for high-quality childcare, especially for infants and toddlers. The proposed enhancements will benefit spa-poor families and ensure more children access to early education.
The California State Budget Act 2024 includes provisions to set new subsidy payment rates and continue funding for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children. Investing in childcare infrastructure is essential for our children’s well-being and families’ economic stability.
I urge our representatives to support these measures, ensuring all California children have access to quality care and early education.
Doreen O’Donovan | AAUW Santa Cruz County President
In his online column Take A Hike with Richard Stockton, the author explores the redwoods with various hiking buddies—including Katherine Beiers, a former three-term mayor of Santa Cruz.
Walk up to a total stranger on the street and ask them any question on a topic that sparks your curiosity. What would it be?
Would you do it? Could you do it?
That was the assignment I was offered in June of 2023 when I was the lucky journalist who visited the office of Brad Kava, the new editor...
Independent station KPCR-LP, known as Pirate Cat Radio, is back in Santa Cruz for the first time in more than a year, when the station moved to Los Gatos. Pirate Cat recently added KMRT-LP 101.9 FM to its list of frequencies, allowing Santa Cruz listeners to once again tune into everything Pirate Cat has to offer.
KPCR-LP is licensed by...
ARIES March 21-April 19
Years ago, when I worked as a postal delivery person in Santa Cruz, California, I mastered my route quickly. The time allotted to complete it was six hours, but I could easily finish in four. Soon I began to goof off two hours a day, six days a week. Many great works of literature and music...
