Page 762 | Good Times

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology July 18-24

Rob Brezsny

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July 17, 2018

Free Will astrology for the week of July 18, 2018.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic.” Whenever that quote appears on the internet, it’s falsely attributed to painter Frida Kahlo. In fact, it was originally composed by poet Marty McConnell. In any case, I’ll recommend that you heed it in the coming weeks. You really do need to focus on associating with allies who see the mysterious and lyrical best in you. I will also suggest that you get inspired by a line that Frida Kahlo actually wrote: “Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are a bourbon biscuit.” (If you don’t know what a bourbon biscuit is, I’ll tell you: chocolate buttercream stuffed between two thin rectangular chocolate biscuits.)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here’s what author Franz Kafka wrote in his diary on Aug. 2, 1914: “Germany has declared war on Russia. I went swimming in the afternoon.” We could possibly interpret his nonchalance about world events to be a sign of callous self-absorption. But I recommend that you cultivate a similar attitude in the coming weeks. In accordance with astrological omens, you have the right and the need to shelter yourself from the vulgar insanity of politics and the pathological mediocrity of mainstream culture. So feel free to spend extra time focusing on your own well-being. (P.S.: Kafka’s biographer says swimming served this role for him. It enabled him to access deep unconscious reserves of pleasurable power that renewed his spirit.)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Am I delusional to advise a perky, talkative Gemini like yourself to enhance your communication skills? How dare I even hint that you’re not quite perfect at a skill you were obviously born to excel at? But that’s exactly what I’m here to convey. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to take inventory of how you could more fully develop your natural ability to exchange information. You’ll be in robust alignment with cosmic rhythms if you take action to refine the way you express your own messages and receive and respond to other people’s messages.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Self-described skeptics sometimes say to me, “How can any intelligent person believe in astrology? You must be suffering from a brain dysfunction if you imagine that the movements of planets can reveal any useful clues about our lives.” If the “skeptic” is truly open-minded, as an authentic skeptic should be, I offer a mini-lecture to correct his misunderstandings. If he’s not (which is the usual case), I say that I don’t need to “believe” in astrology; I use astrology because it works. For instance, I have a working hypothesis that Cancerians like myself enjoy better-than-average insight and luck with money every year from late July through the month of August. It’s irrelevant whether there’s a “scientific” theory to explain why this might be. I simply undertake efforts to improve my financial situation at this time, and I’m often successful.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Here are some of the fine gifts you’re eligible for and even likely to receive during the next four weeks: a more constructive and fluid relationship with obsession; a panoramic look at what lies below the tip of the metaphorical iceberg; a tear-jerking joyride that cracks open your sleeping sense of wonder; erasure of at least 20 percent of your self-doubt; vivid demonstrations of the excitement available from slowing down and taking your sweet time; and a surprising and useful truth delivered to your soul by your body.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): During the last three months of 2018, I suspect you will dismantle or outgrow a foundation. Why? So as to prepare the way for building or finding a new foundation in 2019. From next January onward, I predict you will re-imagine the meaning of home. You’ll grow fresh roots and come to novel conclusions about the influences that enable you to feel secure and stable. The reason I’m revealing these clues ahead of time is because now is a good time to get a foreshadowing of how to proceed. You can glean insights on where to begin your work.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A reader asked Libran blogger Ana-Sofia Cardelle, “How does one become more sensual?” I’ll ask you to meditate on the same question. Why? Because it’s a good time to enrich and deepen your sensuality. For inspiration, here are some ideas that blend my words with Cardelle’s: “Laugh easily and freely. Tune in to the rhythm of your holy animal body as you walk. Sing songs that remind you why you’re here on Earth. Give yourself the luxury of reading books that thrill your imagination and fill you with fresh questions. Eat food with your fingers. Allow sweet melancholy to snake through you. Listen innocently to people, being warm-hearted and slyly wild. Soak up colors with your eager eyes. Whisper grateful prayers to the sun as you exult in its gifts.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “If people aren’t laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.” So says bodybuilder Kai Greene. I don’t know if I would personally make such a brazen declaration, but I do think it’s worth considering—especially for you right now. You’re entering into the Big Bold Vision time of your astrological cycle. It’s a phase when you’ll be wise to boost the intensity of your hopes for yourself, and get closer to knowing the ultimate form of what you want, and be daring enough to imagine the most sublime possible outcomes for your future. If you do all that with the proper chutzpah, some people may indeed laugh at your audacity. That’s OK!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): This mini-chapter in your epic life story is symbolically ruled by the fluttering flights of butterflies, the whirring hum of hummingbird wings, the soft cool light of fireflies, and the dawn dances of seahorses. To take maximum advantage of the blessings life will tease you with in the coming weeks, I suggest you align yourself with phenomena like those. You will tend to be alert and receptive in just the right ways if you cultivate a love of fragile marvels, subtle beauty, and amazing grace.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I swear the astrological omens are telling me to tell you that you have license to make the following requests: 1. People from your past who say they’d like to be part of your future have to prove their earnestness by forgiving your debts to them and asking your forgiveness for their debts to you. 2. People who are pushing for you to be influenced by them must agree to be influenced by you. 3. People who want to deepen their collaborations with you must promise to deepen their commitment to wrestling with their own darkness. 4. People who say they care for you must prove their love in a small but meaningful way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You will never find an advertisement for Nike or Apple within the sacred vessel of this horoscope column. But you may come across plugs for soul-nourishing commodities like creative freedom, psychosexual bliss, and playful generosity. Like everyone else, I’m a salesperson—although I believe that the wares I peddle are unambiguously good for you. In this spirit, I invite you to hone your own sales pitch. It’s an excellent time to interest people in the fine products and ideas and services that you have to offer.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Would you do me a favor, please? Would you do your friends and loved ones and the whole world a favor? Don’t pretend you’re less powerful and beautiful than you are. Don’t downplay or neglect the magic you have at your disposal. Don’t act as if your unique genius is nothing special. OK? Are you willing to grant us these small indulgences? Your specific talents, perspectives, and gifts are indispensable right now. The rest of us need you to be bold and brazen about expressing them.

Homework: Tell a story about the time Spirit reached down and altered your course in one tricky, manic swoop. Freewillastrology.com

Review: Santa Cruz Shakespeare Dazzles with ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

A&E
Stage

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July 17, 2018

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Review: Santa Cruz Shakespeare Dazzles with ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

An orgy of English! A barrage of wordplay! An excess of wit! Shakespeare is back. And if this season’s opener is any gauge, Santa Cruz Shakespeare has entered the big leagues. Love’s Labour’s Lost—a daring choice—is nothing less than a showcase for some of the finest actors working in this country today.

Director Paul Mullins (director of Hamlet and 39 Steps in past seasons) polishes, energizes, and then unleashes his exceptional cast on one of Shakespeare’s most challenging works. Mullins had confidence in what has to be the most diverse cast this side of Hamilton. Good thing he did, since Labour’s is packed top to bottom with extravagant wordplay, historically dated asides, and the sorts of linguistically dense speeches that can leave lesser acting companies mumbling in the dust. This is a tricky play to get right. But because we can understand what the actors are saying—and because the cunning bits of stagecraft reinforce the words’ meanings—there are no dead spots. Everything moves, flows, and often astounds. Terrific staging from start to finish.

The story is quintessential Shakespeare: the King of Navarre (Lorenzo Roberts) has gathered three of his noble friends to join him in a utopian experiment. The men take an oath, albeit reluctantly, to forswear women and retreat from the world for three years. Alas, that very evening the Princess of France and her three noblewomen arrive on a political mission. As you can imagine, the men immediately ditch their pact and fall madly in love. Love letters are written, disguises are donned, and mischief is afoot.

Ribald counterweight to noble declarations of love is provided by pompous Spanish knight Don Armado (played to the hilt by Tommy A. Gomez), who is smitten with a country wench called Jaquenetta (Clea DeCrane). Enter a clueless bumpkin Costard (a terrific Vincent Williams), who also loves Jaquenetta. Kudos to Kailey Azure Green as the resourceful Moth. The interplay between the realms of noble court and real world are pitched to illuminate the deceit in each. Over-the-top declarations of desire and distress (Gomez rules!) provide dizzying slapstick. “Sweet smoke of rhetoric!”

What we have is ingenious comedy that doesn’t gloss over the nuances of love’s bitter sacrifices and compromises. “All delights are vain,” swears one of the hapless lovers. The entire ensemble ripples with invention, wit, and inspired play.

One of Shakespeare’s early comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost casts its spell with puns, double meanings, riddles, and other juicy language games. High language and low are braided together, each exposing the hypocrisy—and power—of the other. Every word, every inside joke, every crisp consonant was clearly spoken, heard, and understood. No muffled garbling, no unintelligible speechifying, and no amateurish shouting.

When the four noblemen, united in their determination to woo the princess and her women, disguise themselves as visiting Russians, ridiculous accents are added to the hilarity. The stage becomes a master class in dueling dialects, attitudes, and displays of the endless flexibility of the English language. That flexibility is pushed to its limits by Paige Lindsey White, who simply tears up the entire stage as a Latin-conjugating schoolmistress.

Brian Ibsen’s Berowne is masterful. Smooth, stylish and unerring in diction, Ibsen is a class act. As Boyet, eagle-eyed companion of the princess, Patty Gallagher has found the perfect part for her brilliant bag of tricks. Navarre’s other conspirators, Dumaine (Taha Mandviwala) and Longaville (Noah Yaconelli) are deliciously adroit. And as feisty Rosaline, Nia Kingsley smartly matches wits with Ibsen’s Berowne.

So much disarming and effective stage movement ignites this production that we are charmed just when we’d expect to disengage. Dashing, dancing, posing and prancing, the four men are utterly charismatic. Ably matched by the female players, who relish their clever game to confuse the men (this is Shakespeare), the company is ravishingly costumed by Nikki Delhomme. Everybody looks like a million dollars. Men in linen suits, tuxedos, and silly costumes for the play within the play, women in elegant traveling outfits and glittering ball gowns—all bearing a turn-of-the 19th century stamp. The set design by Erik Flatmo functions handsomely as a platform for endless antics. A musical finale, sung by the entire company, brings the unconventional tale of love, desire, and linguistic pretension to an enchanting close.

How we talk about love might or might not interfere with how we feel and how we act. Shakespeare knew enough about this to spark revelation a full five centuries later. Love’s language, in all its depth and silliness, is explored without mercy in this charming production of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ runs through Sept. 2, at the Grove in Delaveaga Park. santacruzshakespeare.org.

Preview: Rhye at the Cataylst

A&E
Music

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July 17, 2018

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Is Rhye the most romantic artist working today?

Take a look at his performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk from earlier this year, where he and his band sit around a ridiculous number of dimly lit candles, playing cool, low-key sensual R&B meets ’70s soft rock, with his gentle, falsetto soaring above the music. You will be in the mood. This video may be more Barry White than Barry White.

It’s not exactly indicative of his normal live shows, which tend to be much bigger, higher energy productions. But they can really vary, depending on the space he’s in.

“I make the live show a lot bigger, almost harkening back to an era of the ’70s,” says Rhye, whose real name is Mike Milosh. “There’s no formula I do every night. If it feels like it’s a very gentle crowd that wants to be a little more emotionally introspective, I try to keep it that way. If it feels like it’s a crowd that wants to let loose a little more, we try to let loose a little bit more.”

Even at his liveliest, there’s an easygoing quality to Milosh’s music. You can really hear it on his slow-burner sophomore album Blood. You can even sense it just when you talk to him over the phone.

“I think as a person I move at a slower tempo in a way,” Milosh tells me. “I don’t get that angry or stressed out. I’m definitely expressing much more sensual things with my music.”

His music has really developed in the past five years between the release of his debut album, Woman, and his long-awaited follow-up, Blood—which is a crisper, more emotive album. He and his band have played hundreds of shows, touring the world several times over.

Going into the writing of Blood, he thought about his band a lot, and thought about what these funky jams would sound like with his band playing them.

“I’ve gotten to the place where I’m writing thinking of the fact that it’s going to be a live show. I know what everyone is capable of,” Milosh says.

It was a completely different story when he wrote his debut album, Woman. Back then, it was primarily a collaboration between him and producer Robin Hannibal, and the music was made for the most part on Hannibal’s laptop. The songwriting is similarly R&B style love songs, but doesn’t have quite the tender touch of his new album.

As his project grew more popular, Milosh assembled a band for live shows and fell in love with the live experience of instruments.

“We don’t have any laptops on stage. What’s going on right now in music is a lot of people have backing tracks, so they’re playing the exact same show every night. That’s not what I’m doing,” Milosh says.

The relentless touring schedule that would follow was a result of issues he was having with his record label. They weren’t moving forward on working with him on a sophomore album. They only way he could release one was if he bought his contract back. To generate that kind of income, he needed to tour, a lot.

Oddly enough, the nonstop touring is what cemented his resolve to go 100-percent live. He liked, in particular, the flawed beauty of a real instrument that was typically ironed out on computers.

“One of my favorite sounds is the pedals of the piano, like right before you hit a note, you push the pedal down. I don’t want that out. I’m actually saying, ‘let’s put the mics in a place where we hear that,’” Milosh says.

The new music for Blood wasn’t even written during that mass-touring time period. He wanted to wait until he knew he was capable of releasing it.

“The five-year gap was kind of forced upon me. It wasn’t a lack of content or even a creative decision. It was simply fiscal—I had to buy them out,” Milosh says. “I was frustrated at the time but in the end I’m like, ‘You know what? Maybe it was the way it was meant to be.’”

When he recorded the album, he ended up playing a lot of the music, including all the drums, keyboards and lead vocals. There’s some collaborations with other artists, and some other players on the record. But he just assembles who he needs to make the particular song good, and then live he does the same.

“I think that’s why I’m not identifying what Rhye is to anyone. It’s like this entity,” Milosh says. “It’s me at the helm, but it’s morphing as I work with different people in the studio that have nothing to do with the live show. It’s very malleable.”

Rhye performs at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, July 25 at the Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $28/adv, $33/door. 429-4135.

Local Treasure Sabieng Delivers Phenomenally Spiced Classics

Food & Drink

Christina Waters

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July 17, 2018

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Local Treasure Sabieng Delivers Phenomenally Spiced Classics

In honor of the young Thai soccer players during their underground ordeal, we decided on carry-out from Sabieng Thai Cuisine. So convenient, so inexpensive—we’ve loved Sabieng since the dawn of time. One of the pleasures of bringing home dishes from Sabieng is that we can kick back and enjoy one of our favorite white wines—Birichino Chenin Blanc is our summer go-to—along with the complex spicing of Sabieng’s classic dishes.

So what do we like? Always, always a curry. In this case the wonderful Spicy Green Curry ($10.75) with its slow after-burner of spice, its thick veggies, plump shreds of chicken, and basil-coconut sauce. For balance, we split an order of the magical bean thread noodles laced with fat prawns, ground pork, lime juice, cilantro, micro-onions, red peppers, and whole cashews ($8.95). Bite for bite, I’d have to say that this dish is my all-time favorite Thai specialty. A third dish added plenty of texture excitement, roast duck (which leans toward a duck confit as far as I’m concerned) nestled on a crunchy bed of wok’d cabbage and spinach ($15.95). A little container of pickled peppers—not kidding—in a haunting black bean vinegar, comes with the dish. And we splashed it all over everything.

Creamy curry, fiery cellophane noodles and rich duck with greens. All these wonderful dishes went brilliantly with, 1) the crisp, chilled wine, and 2) Sabieng’s outrageous brown rice ($2.25) which must be the chewiest, most delicious rice on the planet. I do not say that lightly. All of the above, minus the wine, was ours for $41. Two meals, and one lunch. Sabieng’s spice-laden foods make even more sense on hot days. Don’t know why. There’s probably a physiological explanation. Doesn’t matter. Sabieng Thai Restaurant—A local treasure!

1218 Mission St., Santa Cruz. 425-1020. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Not by Bread Alone

Change happens. Gayle’s Bakery no longer delivers its signature breads to local restaurants, groceries or other retail shops. Rita and I were stricken when lunch at Avanti no longer provided that outstanding francese we’d come to adore. We needed to know why. So I emailed Gayle Ortiz, founding matriarch and co-owner of the entire shebang. Here’s what she had to say.

“Like so many other businesses, we are suffering a lack of all types of employees. A combination of low unemployment and housing costs have made it difficult to find good, qualified staff, especially drivers.” She also confessed that they’ve thought about ending wholesale “for many years even though it was good to have our name out in the community. Plus, we love our wholesale accounts, some of whom have been taking our bread for over 30 years.” Ortiz acknowledged that it was a difficult decision, “But owning a business is getting more and more stressful with regulations and laws being what they are in California. So the we decided to focus on the mainstay of our business … the customers who come in the door each day.” You know where to go to get your fix of Gayle’s breads. Gayle’s!

504 Bay Ave., Capitola. gaylesbakery.com.

Ewe Tube

Love sheep? Love sheep cheese? You can help subsidize the pampered dairy sheep out at Rebecca King’s Monkeyflower Ranch. For $500 you’ll receive regular shipments of all-natural lamb, as well as a selection of aged cheeses, yogurt, feta, and fresh sheep cheeses.

Or consider a Pork Package? Or a Wool Package? Each $500-package covers the costs to feed and care for a naturally raised dairy sheep. You receive in return roughly $600 worth of farm products from July through December.

gardenvarietycheese.com/adopt-a-ewe.

Review: ‘Leave No Trace’

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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July 17, 2018

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Complex family relationships seem to fascinate filmmaker Debra Granik. In her absorbing 2010 thriller, Winter’s Bone, a young woman in the Ozarks backwoods desperately searches for her wayward, absent father before the family property can be seized. The mood is outwardly more calm and reflective in Granik’s new film Leave No Trace. Yet the tension builds steadily between a reclusive father determined to live off the grid, in the wilderness, and the loyal teenage daughter he means to shield from the complications of civilized life.

Adapted by Granik and co-scriptwriter Anne Rosellini from the novel My Abandonment by Peter Rock, the story begins in a lush green forest preserve on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. Tom (a poised and poignant Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), now 13, has grown up in the woods with her father Will (Ben Foster). A wary war vet mistrustful of the noise and skewed values of modern society, Will has taught his daughter all the woodcraft skills she needs to survive, as they live off the land, under the radar.

Their base camp—tent, cookware, tools and supplies—is well concealed under the foliage. They canvass the woods with their backpacks, foraging for food, and make occasional expeditions over the bridge into town to stock up on necessities like eggs. But in general, they keep a low profile and practice drills in the forest to see how fast they can run and hide themselves should their camp ever be discovered.

One day, a passing jogger reports them, and their camp is invaded by police with dogs. They are taken into protective custody and turned over to Social Services, where a dismayed Will undergoes psychological testing (profound existential questions that must be answered “true” or “False”). Tom is taken under the wing of sympathetic counselor Jean (Dana Millican), who is surprised that Tom’s reading and comprehension skills surpass those of most schoolgirls her age. Still, as Jean explains, “it’s not a crime to be unhoused, but it’s illegal to live on public lands.”

Thus begins Will and Tom’s attempt to play be society’s rules. Reunited, they’re given shelter in an empty worker’s house at a Christmas tree farm, in exchange for Will’s labor. Tom finds she rather likes running water, electric lights, and the fellowship of other kids at the nearby 4H Club. But while Tom never says a word about it, we see how soul-numbing it is for this expert nature lover to take part in cutting down trees, lopping off branches, and wrapping them in plastic for the marketplace. Pretty soon, father and daughter are on the run again.

It’s not exactly a rift, but what begins to complicate Tom’s relationship with her father is his fierce need to live independently from society verus her budding desire for community. Until now, she’s been perfectly happy being her dad’s companion in their wilderness adventure, reveling in dewy spider webs and wild mushrooms and the glories of the unspoiled natural world. But once she’s gotten a taste for the companionship of other humans, she might not be as willing as her dad to turn her back on them.

There are no villains in this story, nobody with an evil agenda; indeed, the opportunities for shelter, friendship, and purpose keep presenting themselves to a degree that feels a bit too easy—opportunities that many “unhoused” people rarely get in real life.

But this is a family drama, not a Social Studies discourse, and in that respect, it succeeds with quiet grace. McKenzie carries the brunt of the drama as her curious Tom slowly awakens to the possibilities of an alternate life. And Foster (who’s come a long way since he played Angel in the early X-Men movies) turns in a performance of aching, simmering reserve as taciturn Will.

LEAVE NO TRACE

*** (out of four)

With Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie and Ben Foster. Written by Anne Rosellini and Debra Granik, from the Peter Rock novel My Abandonment. Directed by Debra Granik. A Bleecker Street release. Rated PG. 109 minutes.

Beauty, Tragedy and Meaning in America’s Southwest

Georgia Johnson

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July 16, 2018

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Beauty, Tragedy and Meaning in America’s Southwest

Tomomi Hanamure had a deep, insatiable love of American landscapes.

Hanamure made several trips from Japan to the U.S., trekking across the Grand Canyon, visiting Wounded Knee, and learning the painstaking art of Navajo basket weaving. But it was Hanamure’s deep connection to American landscapes and Native American history that ultimately lead to her tragic murder in May of 2006.

It was Hanamure’s 34th birthday and she was treating herself to a solo trip in Havasu Falls, Arizona. Her adventure ended when 18-year-old Havasupai tribe member Randy Redtail Wescogame stabbed her 29 times. Hanamure’s murder would go down in history as the most brutal murder ever in the Grand Canyon. Journalist Annette McGivney covered the murder extensively for Backpacker Magazine, where she currently serves as Southwest editor. But even after her 8,600-word article was published in 2007, the story felt somehow unfinished.

McGivney shared Hanamure’s love of nature, the vast open space of the Southwest, and the Grand Canyon in particular. After finishing the article, McGivney would spend a decade writing about what happened for her book Pure Land, which came out last year. The book chronicles the murder, as well as the stories behind it that McGivney wasn’t able to include in her original article. But the book also includes a twist, with McGivney including threads of her own history—which made the project not only more personal, but also more challenging.

“I thought I was just diligently researching, and next thing I know I’m in a mental health facility,” says McGivney, who will be talking about her book at the Santa Cruz Downtown Public Library on Sunday, July 22. “It took at least a year from that time that I started to feel like I could write about my own experience at all.”

From the start, she had felt a connection to Hanamure’s passion and determination. She notes that she might very well have passed Hanamure on a trail one day, since they frequented the same places and loved the same landscapes. As McGivney delved further in, she found herself also identifying with Wescogame, the 18-year-old killer, who had endured a harrowing childhood. McGivney experienced flashbacks to her own long-repressed memories of abuse at the hands of her father.

Wescogame was a drug addict who came from a broken and abusive home on the Havasupai Indian Reservation. McGivney understood Wescogame in a way others didn’t, since she, too, came from a dysfunctional and psychotic home (her mother, for instance, would drop McGivney and her two sisters off at school while wearing a gas mask). She sympathized with him when she read notes from his school teachers explaining what a problem he was.

“I felt a connection to him and felt a desire to stand up for the child that he was in an effort to show people that if he was in an environment where he could have gotten help, Tomomi would still be alive,” McGivney says. “When we take people and say ‘He’s a sociopath and we have nothing in common with him,’ that doesn’t do anything to help stop the cycle of violence that causes people to keep killing other people.”

Up until she wrote the book, McGivney’s life had been one of endurance and repression. An avid hiker and backpacker, a teacher and mother, she explains that she was always the shoulder others cried on, the self-proclaimed robotic journalist who does everything to get the story right.

“There was a lot of reluctance to make myself part of the story, because not only am I a journalist, but I am a journalism teacher, and I give people bad grades for putting first person in their stories,” laughs McGivney, a teacher at Northern Arizona University. “I was kicking and screaming the whole way, putting myself in the story. It was a gradual process.”

McGivney attributes her lifelong sense of independence to her freedom as a young child.

“I am so glad that I wasn’t a girl growing up in a home where I was being bossed around all the time, especially by men, and made to feel like I wasn’t capable of making my own decisions. Or that if I didn’t allow the men in my life to take care of me, I would be unsafe,” McGivney says. “As a woman, it gives you a sense of ‘I don’t need you to tell me what to do, I can handle this myself.’”

It was a similar independence and security that gave Hanamure the freedom to explore nature, especially coming from a culture where women often weren’t independent, McGivney adds. She remembers that when she was reporting on the story, law enforcement rationalized Hanamure’s murder as something that “happens when women hike alone.”

“For me, that was so repulsive. I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Women should be able to hike alone in the same way that men hike alone,” McGivney says. “The problem is that we are living in a world where women are being assaulted in the wild. We have to keep pushing back against this culture that preys on women.”

Pure Land was first and foremost a promise to Hanamure’s family. McGivney promised Hanamure’s father, Tetsushi, that she would write it to tell Hanamure’s story and preserve her memory. Unfortunately, Tetsushi, who lives in Yokohama with Hanamure’s beloved dog, cannot read the book because he doesn’t speak English. McGivney had a chapter translated for him, and says that, because he is reeling over his daughter’s murder, reading about her life in America made him “very, very sad.”

“They don’t have the resources to translate the book,” McGivney says. “I’d love to have a dialogue about it—there is so much about Tomomi that they didn’t know, about her life in the United States.”

McGivney has created the nonprofit the Healing Lands Project to help youth who have experienced domestic abuse or violence. In partnership with Grand Canyon Youth and Northern Arizona University’s Arizona Child and Adolescent Survivor Initiative, she most recently took a group of eight on a transformative river trip in San Juan.

“It’s boots on the ground that restores this connection that’s at the center of who we are as a species,” McGivney says. “It’s only within the last couple hundred years that we have become so disconnected from nature, and that might be the root of so many problems, this disconnect from the natural world.”

McGivney will be talking about Pure Land on at the Santa Cruz Downtown Public Library. 1:30- 3 p.m. Sunday, July 22. 224 Church Street Santa Cruz. Free.

Matt Twisselman Loves the Food Vendor Life

Jacob Pierce

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July 16, 2018

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Matt Twisselman Loves the Food Vendor Life

Matt Twisselman has a few favorite times of day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

One is the morning, when, save for the waves crashing on Cowell Beach, everything is calm and quiet. There are also Friday nights, while there’s a band rocking onstage, and September, when the crowds start dying down. And then, of course, there are busy summer afternoons, when the whole scene is bustling with people. “You see people speaking all different languages, and everyone is having a good time. That really feeds me,” says Twisselman, who co-owns four Boardwalk concession stands with his wife, Paula.

At their four food stands—Board Wok, California Wraps, Hot Dog on a Stick, and World Grill—the Twisselmans have prioritized real food and fresh ingredients. Twisselman says that on the day that California Wraps first opened in 1997, a customer walked up to the stand, glanced at the menu, threw her hands up and screamed, “Finally, something I can eat at the Boardwalk!”

Twisselman, who eats at his stands every day, first worked at the Boardwalk at age 15. His family has been in business there for 84 years.

What’s your favorite thing to eat here?

MATT TWISSELMAN: Usually I get some chow mein with some fresh chargrilled chicken, put some vegetables on it. We make our own sauces as well. My absolute favorite is the spicy peanut sauce.

Favorite ride?

I love the Giant Dipper. I honestly don’t ride the rides much anymore. I avoid the spinny rides, but when they bring a new ride in, I always go on it, and then I think I shouldn’t have done that three times in a row. You get to a certain age, and you lose your equilibrium.

What’s the best band coming this summer?

I love the Fixx. That’s my genre. Blue Oyster Cult is fun. It’s a big draw. I like the big draws. We’re looking forward to Los Lonely Boys. They’ve never been here before, and they’re good.

I just ate three Hot Dogs on a Stick. How long should I wait before I go on the Fireball?

At least an hour.

beachboardwalk.com.

Opinion July 11, 2018

Opinion

Steve Palopoli

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July 12, 2018

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EDITOR’S NOTE

I’m old enough to have gone to some of Danny Scheie’s productions for Shakespeare Santa Cruz (for newbies, that’s what Santa Cruz Shakespeare was called back when it was affiliated with UCSC). There was some pretty radical stuff being put on stage at the Festival Glen back then. But each SSC play seemed self-contained—some were traditional, some were totally out-there—and it never seemed like a movement toward a different vision for Shakespeare as much as it did a series of experiments.

But I remember reading Christina Waters’ glowing review of SCS’ Hamlet a couple of years ago, in which the title character was played by Kate Eastwood Norris. It made me rush out to see it the first chance I got, and I too was impressed at how the gender flip had been given deeper resonance in the production—it wasn’t just a gimmick. Last year, I marveled at the gender switching in SCS’ fantastic Measure for Measure. But I never put together exactly what SCS was building here.

Wallace Baine’s cover story this week on the group’s new season makes it clear: this is a different vision for Shakespeare, and it’s being handled in such a brilliant, thoughtful way that it makes what is actually pretty radical seem obvious—even necessary. It’s great to see that that the long local tradition of exploring Shakespeare has been turned into something truly progressive that will continue to develop with each new season. Santa Cruz Shakespeare is truly more Santa Cruz than ever.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Next to Nothing

I found Virgina Blake’s letter (GT, 6/27) asserting that Greenway’s trail proposal doesn’t add up curious. Why would so many private individuals put their money, time, and energy into promoting a wide, multi-use trail in the rail corridor? Is it because after talking about a train and a narrow, segmented trail adjacent to the railroad tracks since the ’80s, next to nothing’s been done? (Oh right, they’re getting ready to start construction on 1.2 miles of trailway at double the originally projected cost.)

Contrary to Virginia’s assertion regarding studies, oversight, etc., yes, there’s a county study (the Uniform Corridor Investment Study–UCIS) as well as other professional feasibility studies, the construction funding is already voter-approved by Measure D (and estimated to be a fraction of the cost proposed for the narrow trackside trail with the on-street detours), and the oversight? Our own Regional Transportation Commission, who are responsible for where we are today–hundreds of thousands of dollars in studies and conversation over 30 years, and I see neither a train, nor any trail (although I hear one tree was cut down by mistake).

The “pitch,” as Virginia calls it? Maybe county citizens decided it was time to make something happen. As for “elite cyclists,” seems like a lot of those riding as well as complaining about the new fluorescent e-bikes around town would be grateful for a wide, safe, multi-lane, off-street corridor in which to ride. In short, I’m not sure what Virginia saw as the “bait,” but switching to the Greenway proposal only seems like good sense to me.

Ira Davis
Capitola

Re: E-bikes

Great article which perfectly summarizes all the advantages and issues. I personally think that electric bikes and electric skateboards are part of the future and the cities need to adapt to this fact. Thanks for sharing!

— Tim

Re: Libraries

According to the consulting architect’s own cost estimates, the only option studied by the Downtown Library Advisory Committee that came in under the $23 million budget for the Downtown Branch Library building was the Partial Renovation (Option A in the DLAC Report to the City Council). (See Noll & Tam Project Cost Model, 10/25/17.) The other three options studied by the DLAC were estimated to cost 3.7 to 26.3 million dollars over budget.

— Michael Lewis

Re: Progressive Rail

The RTC has not given up any rights to run commuter service, and freight service does not preclude commuter service. If and when the RTC decides to implement commuter service, freight will be run when commuter service is not running. That is how SMART in Sonoma County combines commuter service and freight service on the same single track. I rode SMART in Sonoma County recently with the Mayor of Watsonville, a Capitola Councilman and the Executive Director of the RTC, and saw first hand how freight and commuter service can coexist on a single track and maintain a 100-percent on-time record.

I spoke with many passengers on the train, and what I found the most striking was how much SMART passengers loved riding the train and the positive impact it has had on their lives.

What the RTC gains from the agreement with Progressive Rail is the ability to maintain the freight easement, service the freight customers and comply with Prop 116 funding for passenger rail.

— Howard Cohen

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

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

Calm Point

An event on Thursday, July 12, will attempt to provide some answers to big questions that many locals ask themselves on the streets each day. The Santa Cruz Police Department’s event “De-Escalation Preparedness Training For Civilians in Crisis Intervention: What Would You Do?” is a free seminar from 1-5 p.m. on Thursday, July 12. The event will educate and empower attendees with information to help them recognize, prepare for, and respond to a person in crisis. Pre-registration is required. To register, email cj****@*************uz.com.

GOOD WORK

Paws Button

The local pet rescue group Four Paws to Love has launched its first GoFundMe campaign to help with its mission of saving homeless cats from otherwise overcrowded shelters. As of July 9, the group has raised $1,500 toward its goal of $10,000, that would be used to purchase two Intensive Care Units. Those machines would be able to give the most vulnerable and tiniest kittens a fighting chance. The fundraiser ends Sunday, July 15. For more information, visit fourpawstolove.org.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good—in spite of all the people who say he is very good.”
-Robert Graves

Review: ‘Three Identical Strangers’

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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July 11, 2018

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Truth is definitely stranger than fiction—and a lot more sinister—in Three Identical Strangers. Filmmaker Tim Wardle’s engrossing documentary follows the true story of three young men who met by chance and discovered they were triplets, separated from each other and their birth mother as infants. None of them had any idea that the other two existed. How this happened—and the darker question of why—makes Wardle’s movie as gripping as any thriller.

As in fiction, we begin with a single protagonist whose adventures draw us into a larger story. In 1980, on his very first day of community college in the Catskills, 19-year-old Bobby Shafran couldn’t figure out why people he’d never seen before kept greeting him so warmly. Looking back, the adult Bobby recalls, he just thought it must be a friendly place. The weird thing was, everyone kept calling him “Eddy.”

On a hunch, one of his astonished fellow students asked Bobby if he was adopted, which he was. This student also knew the mysterious Eddy Galland, who was also adopted, and the two men took a two-hour drive to Long Island to meet him. “The door opened,” Bobby recalls, “and there was me, standing there.” The two strangers had the same curly hair, the same wide, toothy grin, the same build—and the same birthdate, at the same hospital. They were identical twins.

The human-interest story about the twins who found each other by sheer chance got some press in the local tabloids, and that’s when things got even more bizarre. David Kellman, a student at Queens College, saw a newspaper story about the twins, and recognized his own face—and his birthdate. Also raised by adoptive parents, David called the Gallands and reached Eddy’s mom. “Oh my god,” she remembers thinking, “They’re coming out of the woodwork!”

Using archival footage and some reenactment, this first section of the movie is played for larky good cheer, as the ingratiating triplets, now inseparable, make the rounds of talk shows and nightclubs, coasting along on the fumes of their amazing story and sudden celebrity. In time, they even open a NYC restaurant together, called—what else—Triplets.

But things begin to take a darker turn when all three sets of adoptive parents—none of whom was ever told about the other two boys—-go en masse to visit the adoption agency, Louise Wise Services, to get some answers as to why the babies were split up. Besides appearance and mannerisms, what the triplets have in common is that each was raised in a household with one other adopted sibling. Each one also vaguely remembers regular visits from strangers when he was a small child who gave him tests and filmed his play. And was it sheer coincidence that the boys were placed in such a cross-section of economic households—one working-class, one middle-class, and one well-to-do?

But nothing in this story is coincidental. While the agency’s so-called answers to the parents are “elusive,” we learn that major players included an Austrian geneticist, two of his research assistants (one slightly less ethically challenged than the other, in retrospect), and a journalist writing a story for The New Yorker whose research confirms that all three boys and their adoptive families—without their knowledge or consent—were part of a scientific study that went on for decades. But the study was never published, and David goes online to discover the documents have been sealed in a vault at Yale until 2066.

As each new revelation is unearthed, Wardle keeps his focus on the long-term effects on the triplets themselves. (As babies, their adoptive mothers report, each boy went through a head-banging phase from being separated from each other at such an early age.) Even their reunion is ultimately haunted by tragedy.

None of these participants knew they were in an experiment; they thought they were having lives. The callous indifference of the researchers and their enablers is chilling.

THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

*** (out of four)

With Eddy Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran. Directed by Tim Wardle. A Neon release. Rated PG-13. 96 minutes.

Love Your Local Band: Joe Kaplow

A&E
Music

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July 11, 2018

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Joe Kaplow grew up on a farm in rural New Jersey, playing music, but not really knowing what to do with it. Eventually he went on a nine-month U.S. tour. Santa Cruz was one of the spots on that venture. He liked it so much that he now calls it home.

In describing this long tour, he jokingly refers to it as his “farm-to-table” tour.

“I left the farm, and now I’m playing at your table,” he tells me.

Not only did he immediately like Santa Cruz, but living here had a major impact on his creativity. For starters, it motivated him to get into a studio and record an EP, which happened months after he relocated here. This first self-titled EP, which he recorded in a single day, was released on Sept. 9, 2015.

“I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn’t an active scene in music. I was essentially a bedroom musician up until then,” Kaplow says. “Things like making records and having websites were foreign to me. When I moved here, I saw this is what people are doing.”

The record showcases his stripped-down singer-songwriter approach to music. After being actively involved in this scene, and continuing to tour, he decided that he really wanted to take his time and make a record he felt really proud of, so he took most of 2017 off from touring and focused on creating this record, Ain’t That Much of a Smoker, which he did in his home, with as much time as he possibly needed.

“It was unbridled creativity,” Kaplow says. “I had all the time to explore any idea or any arrangements, so that lends itself to having a lot more instruments on the record.”

For the most part, Kaplow no longer plays as a solo artist because he used a band to create the music on this record. His current live lineup includes Elliott Kay on guitar, Kai Kopecky on bass, Mikey Whalen on drums, and Rob Armenti on keyboards. The album will get released in November. This coming show at the Crepe Place he will release its first single, “I Said I Was Going and I Went.”

INFO: 9 p.m. Friday, July 13. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

An American Pickle

Running for Mayor

Mountain High

Alien Arrival

The Editor’s Desk

Letters

Summer Swell

Low-Key Lux

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology July 18-24

Review: Santa Cruz Shakespeare Dazzles with ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

Preview: Rhye at the Cataylst

Local Treasure Sabieng Delivers Phenomenally Spiced Classics

Not by Bread Alone

Ewe Tube

Review: ‘Leave No Trace’

LEAVE NO TRACE

Beauty, Tragedy and Meaning in America’s Southwest

Matt Twisselman Loves the Food Vendor Life

Opinion July 11, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Review: ‘Three Identical Strangers’

THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

Love Your Local Band: Joe Kaplow

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology July 18-24

Review: Santa Cruz Shakespeare Dazzles with ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’

Preview: Rhye at the Cataylst

Local Treasure Sabieng Delivers Phenomenally Spiced Classics

Review: ‘Leave No Trace’

Beauty, Tragedy and Meaning in America’s Southwest

Matt Twisselman Loves the Food Vendor Life

Opinion July 11, 2018

Review: ‘Three Identical Strangers’

Love Your Local Band: Joe Kaplow