The airy, funky beat that kicks off “Sycamore,” the first single from Brooklyn’s Space Captain, has a low-key, not-quite-but-almost-danceable quality about it. In the song, lead singer Maralisa Simmons-Cook recounts a story told to her by her dad about a love triangle he was involved with, and how he was ultimately betrayed by people close to him.
“It’s not an upbeat topic, but sonically it’s probably the most pop track on the album,” she says.
Details in the song are obscured, but it has multiple layers, and while it’s one of the more lighthearted songs on their debut album All Flowers In Time, it also hints at the record’s larger thematic concerns.
“The album has kind of a double meaning. Mostly it’s referring to the unraveling of different tales: betrayal, heartbreak, love songs. It’s a mix of my own stories and other people’s stories,” she says.
There’s also a very diverse sound to the record. At times it’s lighthearted pop, like “Sycamore”—other times, it gets much darker and more experimental. The main ingredients include R&B and synth-pop, with a hint of jazz, but goes off into some interesting territories like Bossa Nova and straightforward rock ’n’ roll.
The group worked on it for more than a year, going into the studio, recording, editing, changing and re-recording. It’s an interesting coming together of the group’s debut double-single release Easier/Remedy, which was made up of fairly typical R&B love songs, and the follow up EP In Memory, a nearly structureless, sonically overwhelming psych-electropop record.
“‘Easier’ and ‘Remedy’ were very basic three-minute R&B songs. We wanted to see what we could make if we weren’t putting ourselves in that box. I think of the EP as just one mood, one piece,” says Simmons-Cook. “When we were making this album, we were making a conscious choice to come back to making pop music as best we could, but not in a commercial way.”
Really, In Memory was the first step of Space Captain being a band. When the singles were recorded in 2013, it was more of a recording project between Alex Pyle and Simmons-Cook, plus some other friends. British label Tru Thoughts found the first singles on Bandcamp and asked to re-release them, so Simmons-Cook and Pyle put together a live band, which currently fluctuates between three to seven members, depending on the show.
Pyle’s musical interests had changed somewhat by that point, and were more in the realm of D’Angelo and J Dilla. The addition of second guitarist Mike Haldeman, who was a math rock and Radiohead guy, led the way to lots of soundscape overdubs. It’s chaotic, but in a good way. Simmons-Cook took the opportunity in these new complex songs to explore what she was going through at the time on In Memory, which ended up being a much darker record than the new one.
“It really is a dramatic switch from writing love songs to writing about something real and negative. That changed the mood up a lot,” Simmons-Cook says.
There are moments where the new album goes into similar territory as the EP, but its strength is in its embracing of structure. It gives Simmons-Cook more room to dig deep into herself, and sing about her relationships and personal experiences with more nuance. The album’s second single “Blue” explores the feeling of numbness after dealing with emotional trauma for an extended period of time, and how it can close you off to your feelings.
On this record, the group found that they didn’t always want to go dark. A few love songs even snuck onto the record.
“It’s funny, ’cause I wrote these songs and then I was like, ‘none of these have anything in common.’ But then I saw how little chunks of love songs were interacting with other songs about anxiety and trauma,” Simmons-Cook says. “I’m hoping people like that, and it keeps them on their toes so it’s not all one sound.”
Space Captain performs at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $8. 429-6994.
As far as I’m concerned, the sinfully irresistible Kouign Amann from Companion Bakeshop is a holiday occasion all by itself. For the uninitiated, this beautiful creation sparkling with sugar is made of layers and layers of buttery, sugary pastry formed into something like a fist-sized four-leaf clover. Upon baking, the ingredients caramelize into a cascade of textures from soft and chewy to crisp, flaky and crunchy. A rich golden hue, the K. Amann is a daily possibility at this busy Westside bakery and coffeehouse, where I often indulge in a double macchiato and whatever looks good (lately my main pastry squeeze is the aforementioned Kouign Amann).
Companion acknowledges the seasons with a revolving offering of tarts, pinwheels, and tea cakes, and right now the season calls for pastries involving pumpkin (such as the Seasonal Fruit Pinwheel, which is filled with pumpkin and dusted with pumpkin seeds). The Vanilla Seasonal Tea Cake currently offers one’s taste buds a delicious balance of plums and ginger embedded within a moist but substantial cake. If you can get past the Honey Apple Galettes you’re a stronger woman than I, and on especially glutenesque days I can be found calling for one of those outrageous walnut boules which I slice up at home and slather with English countryside butter (from Shopper’s) and that Stonewall Kitchen Peach Amaretto jam. Breakfast of champions!
Unexpected Pleasures
Pizzeria Avanti is a bustling go-to destination for enlightened pizzas by the looks of its steady stream of to-go patrons. But we like to dine in and always (always!) begin with whatever the salad special is that night. Last week we fell under the spell of a mix of market greens, avocado, Bosc pears, and chèvre lightly tossed in an exceptional shallot vinaigrette ($8). The key to P. Avanti’s salad success is balance. Nothing jumps out of sync, every bite offers an imaginative blend of flavors and textures. Kudos to Hugo and company!
Muns at Home
Mary Lindsay of Muns Vineyard was pouring a few wines for Linda Ritten, wine buyer and co-owner of Home Restaurant in Soquel. As sun filled a corner table accessorized with bottles of 2009, 2012, and 2013 Muns Pinot Noirs, I thought back on the many meals I’ve had in this room over the years when it was Theo’s and Ethan Hamm roamed the dining rooms making sure everyone was enjoying his charming restaurant. Turns out, in a bit of poetic irony, Home’s chef Brad Briske recently hosted a lunch custom-created for Ethan and his wife Greta’s 50th anniversary. A sweet bit of nostalgia—the original owners being celebrated by the new owners. As I hoped, the 2009 Muns Pinot Noir remained definitive of Santa Cruz Mountains terroir, loaded with style, black cherries, and elegant tannins. The 2012, a rich garnet hue, was still enjoying big tannins—this wine will age on and on. I was very impressed with Muns 2013 Pinot Noir (like all these wines made from the estate’s Dijon clones). This beauty offered itself more immediately than the 2012, exuding fruit and an appealingly rounded mouthfeel. These wines would go brilliantly with Briske’s bold meat-intensive menu. Then we got a sample of the 2013 Syrah, from a single acre grown on the 10-acre Muns estate. Antique leather and tobacco perfumed this robust creation. A long cassis finish implied perfection partnered with barbequed meats and complex winter stews. Muns’ 2009 Pinot Noir is set to show up on Home’s expanding wine list, and Vino Cruz (practically across the street) is currently running a vertical of Muns Pinot Noirs. The essence of our region. homesoquel.com.
Someone once told Marc Okrand that his best shot at radio broadcasting was to mount an antenna on a trash can. And he believed them—it made sense, since the surface area of the metal can theoretically yield a stronger signal than the antenna alone.
It was 1967, just two years after UCSC was founded, and first-year student Okrand and a few others hijacked a trashcan and mounted it on a plumbing pipe atop Stevenson Dorm 2. He attached the makeshift antenna, but before they could try it out, the university’s administration came along and made them take it down, citing fire hazard.
“I remember saying we would paint the pipe brown and the trash can green to look like a tree and blend right in. But they didn’t buy that,” Okrand says, laughing.
Once the administration approved their pirate radio gig, the students were granted temporary custody of the basement in Dorm 2 to broadcast under the assumption that they would eventually get Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved. They used a ham radio-like transmitter perched atop Dorm 2 (sans trash can) and fastened egg cartons to the wall for soundproofing. Thus KZSC was born—although cofounders Okrand, Rick Laubscher and Larry Johnson named it KRUZ back then.
Around 15 DJs brought their own records and played music or hosted talk shows. Laubscher remembers playing one-hit wonder Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermint” so many times the record broke, though that didn’t keep them from playing it. Like most of UCSC at the time, the project was a complete experiment at no cost to the students. It was a means to prove that Santa Cruz had a thriving rock scene and to tell stories of underrepresented communities.
That is, until the FCC showed up.
KRUZ began broadcasting on AM frequency 1580, which interfered with a shared station broadcasting from San Jose. When that station’s Santa Cruz listeners complained, the FCC got involved.
“They came literally knocking on my dorm door,” says Laubscher, who went on to work in both radio and broadcast television before becoming the president of San Francisco’s Market Street Railway. “I wasn’t yet 18, so it was pretty startling, and in the federal law there were big penalties for being a pirate radio station.”
They quickly shut down their operation and abandoned the basement. Soon after, UCSC installed wiring and cable TV hookups throughout the dorms, and KRUZ began broadcasting from the communications building as a direct, closed-circuit carrier station.
“Hardly anyone listened to FM back then, FM played elevator and classical music and had four listeners,” Okrand says. “Over time, more people started to listen to FM and fewer to AM because you could play album cuts that lasted more than three minutes.”
But before UCSC’s upstarts could file with the FCC, the original KRUZ call letters were taken by another station, and they were forced to change the name to KZSC. The station eventually received FCC approval to broadcast as KZSC 88.1 FM eight years later.
“It was fun, it was experimental, it was a bunch of kids in the redwoods just trying to get something new going on a campus that had no traditions,” Laubscher says.
Don Mussell, the original radio engineer for KZSC and also an engineer for KUSP and KAZU, remembers helping set up the original 10-watt antenna. But 10 watts only covered the campus, and soon after, the staff decided that it wasn’t enough—their voices, they believed, should reach into Santa Cruz. Soon after, UCSC students voted to allocate $100,000 to fund the KZSC building and radio tower on the other side of the campus.
They were permitted to use an old music building in Crown College as their new headquarters, and Mussell found a nearby knoll suited for the radio tower. They had all of the materials shipped in and poured the foundation, but ran into trouble when then-Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer disapproved of some of the shows.
“I remember the chancellor saying, ‘I am not going to allow these jiggity jigs on the air,’” Mussell said, referencing an Irish music show. “But the students already voted for it, so I wrote him a letter saying it was going to cost more if it was delayed … and he eventually changed his mind.”
They worked through the winter, and the tower was finished in February 1979.
“The students were suddenly being heard all over Santa Cruz,” Mussell says. “They loved it, and I did too.”
Station Shake Ups
UCSC’s student-produced radio station is now celebrating its 50th year on the air. KZSC has swelled into much more than the original “10-watt titan”—its 20,000-watt reach spans three counties and with the potential to reach up to a million listeners daily.
CHAIR OF THE BOARD Station Manager Morgan Corona on the air. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
“It’s the most hands-on, practical thing I’ve done in college,” says current station manager and third-year student Morgan Corona. “There’s no communications or journalism major at UCSC, and if you’re interested in media there is no place to get audio production and broadcast skills other than KZSC.”
KZSC is first and foremost a student resource and education platform. But it also serves the community at large and has a handful of disc jockeys who are longtime community members. The intent in including community members was to both diversify the station and have experienced mentors for students, says former Station Manager Michael Bryant. In the early 2000s, Bryant says, there was a larger percentage of community-members-to-students on the air, which made student staffers upset, considering it’s mostly student support that drives the station.
“The concerns made sense to me—number one it’s on the campus, and two it’s an educational opportunity for students,” Bryant says. “More than anything, we would get the very best of the community members who were willing to work with and mentor the students who stayed.”
Currently KZSC maintains a 70:30 student-to-staff ratio and has a waitlist for non-students. Corona says that ratio seems to work, though she sometimes gets emails from upset community members saying they are “kicking out” non-students.
“A lot of people have this misconception,” Corona says. “First of all, we’re not kicking anyone out. Second of all, it’s not that we aren’t accepting non-students, there is just no more room in our ratio right now. I calculate it every quarter, and if there is space we open it up.”
When Maggie O’Grady walked into the station in the mid ’80s, she found a wastebasket full of beer cans and students who were, she says, somewhat less than professional. O’Grady, the new station manager and broadcast advisor at the time, threw the cans out and prepped for some major changes. “When we party, we party hard, but not here,” she told them, according to a 1988 Santa Cruz Sentinel article.
O’Grady was at the station for 10 years, and was present for some of the biggest events, including the 1991 protest against the Iraq war, which KZSC broadcast live, and the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
It was a miracle the station survived the earthquake, in retrospect. The building is on stilts, and the crash of hundreds of records should have taken the floor out. Art O’Sullivan was broadcasting at the time, and was blocked in the broadcasting room during his show after it hit.
THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES KZSC’s staff in 1978.
“Alive and alone, I did the only thing that occurred to me,” he recalls in a post on KZSC’s blog. “I cued up a record, took a deep breath, turned on the microphone and ad-libbed.”
Along with KSCO, KZSC was one of the only stations able to broadcast across the Bay, and it served as a primary news source for locals following the quake. The station still hasn’t been seismically retrofitted, and is slated for a major renovation as soon as June. With more than six tons of vinyl on the shelves, “earthquake” is a taboo word in the building, and both the station and neighboring Cantu Queer Center are sitting ducks. The building was meant to be retrofitted 40 years ago, but there was never the time or funding. The station has been anticipating a move for years, and even removed most of the posters on the walls in preparation. Now the station is both naked and uneasy. But the show must go on.
“They say it’s cheaper to knock the building down and rebuild than brace the current building,” Corona says with a shudder. “It’s more like a demolition.”
Radio of the Future
The Crown College building has been KZSC’s home for more than 30 years, and it’s accumulated memorandums and materials to show for it. The move won’t be easy, and will have to be quick—though no one really knows yet when it will be. UCSC News and Media Relations Director Scott Hernandez-Jason says it’ll have to take place before December 2018, though staffers are crossing their fingers for as early as June 2018 since fall is prime recruitment time and is crucial for retention.
“It’s starting to be a major concern that the move time will slip back,” says KZSC Broadcast Advisor Keith Rozendal.
DISC LOCATIONKZSC’s Alumni Coordinator Maelin Rose (left) in the stacks with Corona. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Temporary housing ideas have not yet been discussed, though Rozendal says that since KZSC cannot broadcast from temporary trailers, they will likely be displacing others during the construction. The project would likely cost at least $7 million, with an earliest projected finalization of winter 2020, Hernandez-Jason says, though the numbers are theoretical and nothing will be finalized for a couple of weeks. Around half of the project funding will come from student fees.
The station hopes to get a facelift and new amenities in the renovation process. Since there’s no elevator for disabled folks, they are hoping to make it ADA accessible. They want to create a larger computer production space and have a larger area to host live bands.
“We have a lot of bands on the air, almost every weekend, and there’s just no space,” Rozendal days. “Everyone will be in the lobby and the drummer will be in another room.”
In its day, the building wasn’t meant to be a radio station and wasn’t even retrofitted for internet, let alone the continual power draw that the station demands. The grafted, exposed wiring gives them internet and power issues semi-regularly.
“The rats knocked out Cruznet a while ago,” Rozendal adds blatantly.
The renovations come on the heels of the 50th anniversary celebration, which KZSC is planning for April during UCSC alumni weekend. Though the details are still being ironed out, they are hoping to include an alumni aircheck and documentary as well as variety show in the Quarry Amphitheatre. Current staffers are also working on revamping the station’s website and app, redesigning their logo and beefing up the news department in anticipation of the next 50.
SHOW OF SHOWS A board in the station office keeps track of KZSC’s programming schedule.
Over the years, KZSC has made its name with a plethora of eclectic music and talk shows. From the station’s longest-running shows, like the women-produced “Breakfast in Bed” and “It’s All Good” to the experimental “Insect Agony” and cyperpunk talk show “Cybersoykafe,” there is really something for everyone. But along with the hits, there have been some misses.
“One show that didn’t work out so well was called the ‘Heavy Metal Wake Up Call’ and it was on from 6-9 a.m.,” Bryant says. “As far as I know, they only had one listener, which was a UPS driver and we got a lot of complaints. Picture your alarm clock going off in the morning and you hear something far beyond Metallica just thrashing away.”
A cornerstone of the station’s programming is still Friday morning’s “Bushwackers Breakfast Club,” named when George H. W. Bush still held office. And no Santa Cruz-based station is complete without a Grateful Dead show—in this case, Art O’Sullivan’s “Golden Road,” which Bryant says helped to get the Grateful Dead Archives established at UCSC.
Notably there was also Rose Lobel’s “What’s New,” which ran for nearly 30 years. Lobel has cerebral palsy, and though it was often difficult for listeners to understand her, Rose’s show was known for great music and her wicked sense of humor.
“She is such a fine person, and so strong,” says John “Sleepy John” Sandidge, who hosts “Talkabout” on Wednesday nights and co-hosts “Bushwackers Breakfast Club.” He introduced Lobel to KZSC. “She has such a great story, that’s something that the station is very proud of.”
In the early 2000s, Jane Mio and musician Del Rey temporarily took over “Talkabout.” They focused primarily on independent, pioneering women and issues around town at a time when there weren’t many women broadcasting on the air.
“It was really fun to feel like we were in control. It gave me a good backbone, but the equipment was really bad, oh my god,” Mio says. “We would have white air, because all of a sudden it would decide not to broadcast. They have really upgraded their equipment since, but that used to happen fairly often.”
KZSC also boasts some accomplished alumni, including This American Life and Serial producer Julie Snyder, and NPR’s Jesse Thorn, who started “The Sound of Young America” at the station. KZSC has received numerous awards, including recognition as one of Huffington Post’s “Top 5 College Radio Stations in America” in 2010.
Though much has changed in half a century, the core values of the station are by and large the same. Students still teach and mentor each other and use the platform as a learning opportunity to gather critical professional skills.
“Free expression, with an emphasis on free, is extremely important,” Laubscher says. “Of course, it’s impossible not to have a little nostalgia for the egg cartons and pirate radio transmitter.”
“It’s doing exactly what we hoped,” Okrand says. “I think it’s brilliant.”
For more information about KZSC, visit kzsc.org or tune in to 88.1 FM.
Update 12/11/17 12:29 p.m.: A previous version of this story misreported that KZSC reaches one million listeners daily. They have the potential to reach one million listeners daily, though have no way of calculating the exact number. We regret the error.
Free Will astrology for the week of December 6, 2017.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may get richer quicker in 2018, Aries—especially if you refuse to sell out. You may accumulate more clout—especially if you treat everyone as your equal and always wield your power responsibly. I bet you will also experience deeper, richer emotions—especially if you avoid people who have low levels of emotional intelligence. Finally, I predict you will get the best sex of your life in the next 12 months—especially if you cultivate the kind of peace of mind in which you’ll feel fine about yourself if you don’t get any sex at all. P.S.: You’d be wise to start working on these projects immediately.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The members of the fungus family, like mushrooms and molds, lack chlorophyll, so they can’t make food from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. To get the energy they need, they “eat” plants. That’s lucky for us. The fungi keep the Earth fresh. Without them to decompose fallen leaves, piles of compost would continue to accumulate forever. Some forests would be so choked with dead matter that they couldn’t thrive. I invite you to take your inspiration from the heroic fungi, Taurus. Expedite the decay and dissolution of the worn-out and obsolete parts of your life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’m guessing you have been hungrier than usual. At times you may have felt voracious, even insatiable. What’s going on? I don’t think this intense yearning is simply about food, although it’s possible your body is trying to compensate for a nutritional deficiency. At the very least, you’re also experiencing a heightened desire to be understood and appreciated. You may be aching for a particular quality of love that you haven’t been able to give or get. Here’s my theory: Your soul is famished for experiences that your ego doesn’t sufficiently value or seek out. If I’m correct, you should meditate on what your soul craves but isn’t getting enough of.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The brightly colored birds known as bee-eaters are especially fond of eating bees and wasps. How do they avoid getting stung? They snatch their prey in mid-air and then knock them repeatedly against a tree branch until the stinger falls off and the venom is flushed out. In the coming weeks, Cancerian, you could perhaps draw inspiration from the bee-eaters’ determination to get what they want. How might you be able to draw nourishment from sources that aren’t entirely benign? How could you extract value from influences that you have be careful with?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The coming months will be a ripe time to revise and rework your past—to reconfigure the consequences that emerged from what happened once upon a time. I’ll trust you to make the ultimate decisions about the best ways to do that, but here are some suggestions. 1. Revisit a memory that has haunted you, and do a ritual that resolves it and brings you peace. 2. Go back and finally do a crucial duty you left unfinished. 3. Return to a dream you wandered away from prematurely, and either recommit yourself to it, or else put it to rest for good.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The astrological omens suggest that now is a favorable time to deepen your roots and bolster your foundations and revitalize traditions that have nourished you. Oddly enough, the current planetary rhythms are also conducive to you and your family and friends playing soccer in the living room with a ball made from rolled-up socks, pretending to be fortune-telling psychics and giving each other past-life readings, and gathering around the kitchen table to formulate a conspiracy to achieve world domination. And no, the two sets of advice I just gave you are not contradictory.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In accordance with the long-term astrological omens, I invite you to make five long-term promises to yourself. They were formulated by the teacher Shannen Davis. Say them aloud a few times to get a feel for them. 1. “I will make myself eminently teachable through the cultivation of openness and humility.” 2. “I won’t wait around hoping that people will give me what I can give myself.” 3. “I’ll be a good sport about the consequences of my actions, whether they’re good, bad, or misunderstood.” 4. “As I walk out of a room where there are many people who know me, I won’t worry about what anyone will say about me.” 5. “I will only pray for the things I’m willing to be the answer to.”
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): To discuss a problem is not the same as doing something practical to correct it. Many people don’t seem to realize this. They devote a great deal of energy to describing and analyzing their difficulties, and may even imagine possible solutions, but then neglect to follow through. And so nothing changes. The sad or bad situation persists. Of all of the signs in the zodiac, you Scorpios are among the least prone to this disability. You specialize in taking action to fulfill your proposed fixes. Just this once, however, I urge you to engage in more inquiry and conversation than usual. Just talking about the problem could cure it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As far back as ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, people staged ceremonies to mark the embarkation of a new ship. The intention was to bestow a blessing for the maiden voyage and ever thereafter. Good luck! Safe travels! Beginning in 18th-century Britain and America, such rituals often featured the smashing of a wine bottle on the ship’s bow. Later, a glass container of champagne became standard. In accordance with the current astrological indicators, I suggest that you come up with your own version of this celebratory gesture. It will soon be time for your launch.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You may feel quite sure that you’ve gotten as tall as you’re ever going to be. But that may not be true. If you were ever going to add another half-inch or more to your height, the near future would be the time for it. You are in the midst of what we in the consciousness industry call a “growth spurt.” The blooming and ripening could occur in other ways, as well. Your hair and fingernails may become longer faster than usual, and even your breasts or penis might undergo spontaneous augmentation. There’s no doubt that new brain cells will propagate at a higher rate, and so will the white blood cells that guard your physical health. Four weeks from now, I bet you’ll be noticeably smarter, wiser, and more robust.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You come into a delicatessen where you have to take a numbered ticket in order to get waited on. Oops. You draw 37 and the counter clerk has just called out number 17. That means 20 more people will have their turns before you. Damn! You settle in for a tedious vigil, putting down your bag and crossing your arms across your chest. But then, what’s this? Two minutes later, the clerk calls out 37. That’s you! You go up to the counter and hand in your number, and amazingly enough, the clerk writes down your order. A few minutes later, you’ve got your food. Maybe it was a mistake, but who cares? All that matters is that your opportunity came earlier than you thought it would. Now apply this vignette as a metaphor for your life in the coming days.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): It’s one of those bizarre times when what feels really good is in close alignment with what’s really good for you, and when taking the course of action that benefits you personally is probably what’s best for everyone else, too. I realize the onslaught of this strange grace may be difficult to believe. But it’s real and true, so don’t waste time questioning it. Relish and indulge in the freedom it offers you. Use it to shush the meddling voice in your head that informs you about what you supposedly should be doing instead of what you’re actually doing.
Homework: In your imagination, visit the person you’ll be in four years. What key messages do you have to convey? Freewillastrology.com.
Wednesday is the feast of St. Nicholas, Greek bishop, healer, Wonderworker, and model for today’s Santa Claus.
After the dramatic tests and trials and Scorpio’s deep waters, Sagittarius is a breath of fresh air with a simpler task of riding over hill and dale on a white horse seeking endless adventures, foreign lands, foods and cultures, eyes on the mountaintops of Capricorn. Over time, Sagittarius realizes that a different test is taking place. A tempering and a fire to burn away all distortions hiding the truth. The Sag disciple must be able to see clearly. In Sag, the mind is being refined, sharpened, prepared, new teachings are presented. Much is demanded. The Disciple must demonstrate a one-pointed, focused mind containing clear visions and goals.
The eyes of Sag are always on the Path ahead, all motion (horse, rider, arrow) is toward a spiritual target. Truly, this is the sign of the archer, bow and arrows in hand. At some point, with appropriate tension of the bow, the Archer fires an arrow through space and time and into the future and all things of the past fade away.
This is the task of the present world disciple. Day by day we see our present culture and civilization collapsing. And as they do, the eye of the Disciple, with its pointed, directed focus, sees with inner vision the direction humanity is to take.
Sagittarius is the sign of Truth, removing the veils hiding the eyes of Lady Justice, allowing all that is no longer useful to shatter and fall away. The keynote of Sagittarius each day is, “I see the goal, I reach the goal and then I see another.”
Hanukkah’s first night is next Tuesday, Dec. 12. The first menorah candle is lit. Next to the menorah is the Advent wreath and candles. Both have lit candles—the light in our darkness. St. Lucia’s feast day is next Wednesday. She wears a crown of light.
ARIES: Something expansive occurs with money or things you hold in common with others. Also, your wound displays a Pisces flavor—an act of surrender, a revelation, or a feeling of being behind a curtain or veil. You will remember the way your mother (or grandmother) spoke with, tended and cared for you. You will attempt to recreate her food. You will finally praise and thank her. Quietly.
TAURUS: Hopefully you’re home, with intimates, family and friends and have access to things that nurture, like gardens and nourishing things. You will ponder upon previous work groups and interactions. You will remember a time when you felt life was bountiful, the path clear and bright ahead of you. It still is. Know this. Do get some peace and quiet amidst all of the work you’ll find to do.
GEMINI: You’re working more than ever, both internally and externally. Relationships take center stage these days. In the months to come, it will be important to ponder on future plans and goals. It is also most important to create cooperation between yourself and those around you, balancing your self-interests with those of others. Allow no conflict to arise between life at home and life at work. They are one.
CANCER: It’s important to assess your values—what you value, who you value, and if you feel valuable yourself. You may be hungrier than usual, and a bit more temperamental and touchy. Watch for impressions, vivid ideas, thoughts that lead to more independence, further resources, and a set of disciplines that make you feel more safe and secure. It’s inner structure coordinating your outer life. What creative endeavors are calling to you?
LEO: There is a new focus on self-identity and self-improvement … on all things for and about the self. In the meantime, organize all financial information, keep up to date on taxes and insurances, check investments, tend to debts (monetary, emotional) and always save 10 percent for yourself and tithe 10 percent. Remain close with family, sharing your ideas, plans, and even fears. They care for you. Be kind in your speech. Then magic occurs.
VIRGO: Spend time with loved ones and those close to you. Compromise, cooperate and have the intention for Goodwill. It brings forth Right Relations. As you extend gratitude to all and everything in your life, be forgiving in areas where you judge yourself. Remember there is no failure. There are only successive stages of learning. Work calls. Maintain discipline.
LIBRA: Tend carefully to finances; try not to spend on things not needed. Save resources for a family member or emergency. An innovative idea will occur to you concerning how to better save and how to build monetary safety for the future. Think about family wealth (not only money but information, land, etc.). Research silver and gold and work toward being ready when the economic reorientation occurs. Begin now.
SCORPIO: After giving profound thanks for all that you have (and all that’s packed away for some eventful later time) and for your enlightened mind, it may be time to give some attention to your finances and slow down on any new output of monies till the old debts are paid. Abundance will continue. Something needs to be sold. And some things given away.
SAGITTARIUS: You’re a bit vulnerable at this time. Usually, you aren’t, but now you are. Everything seems new and bright and possible. When we are vulnerable, great ideas appear. Record them. They contain a power and magic for the future. Your creative work is tuned to humanity so all of your ideas are what humanity seeks. From the deepest recesses of yourself ideas stream forth. You are expanding beyond all limitations.
CAPRICORN: Give thanks for all hidden things in your life, things you don’t know yet that are bright and beautiful and arriving in the future. Give thanks for all life experiences and people that shook you up and transformed you. Give thanks for those things that made you weary. Something new enters your world. Tend to everything close to home with care and awareness. Good things come with gratitude.
AQUARIUS: Create a journal of hopes, wishes and future dreams. As you write, goals will appear, then more and more goals. Tend to what is most important around you. Clean and clear away what seems confused, unkempt, untidy, disorganized or incomplete. Change will occur in the new year. Uranus prepares us for a future that is quite unexpected. I hear the sound of freedom
PISCES: Gratitude propels you forward, releases the past. You can be grateful for knowing this. There is a ladder you’re seeking. Know that you are a true leader, that you will eventually, if not now, turn and serve humanity in ways you better understand. For now, it’s time to rest, and ponder on your plans. Refine them. Concentrate on love and kindness in relationships. Laugh more.
Santa Cruz’s 161-year-old daily newspaper will have a new editor starting tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 1.
Don Miller, the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s editor for the last ten years, is leaving, ashe announced in a Thanksgiving column. Kara Meyberg Guzman—currently the paper’s digital editor—will be taking over his responsibilities, and she sounds surprisingly optimistic, even saying that she’s excited about the possibilities.
“This is turning over a new leaf for the newspaper,” says Guzman, a former contributor to GT. “I am not only the first woman, but also the first person of color taking on this role. On top of that, I’m under 35. I’m young. I’d like to focus on attracting younger readers who look like me.”
Although casual observers may not see younger Americans as big news readers, a recent Nielsen Scarborough survey found that readership among millennials has been growing.
Guzman’s official title will be managing editor, and she’ll work only for the Sentinel, whereas Miller also served as editor for the Monterey Herald in recent years. The two papers are owned by the same group, Digital First Media, which is turn owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Tom Honig—the paper’s former editor, prior to Miller—says that it’s a blow for the newspaper to lose someone with Miller’s years of experience.
“There aren’t any older people in the room now, with Don leaving,” Honig says. “There was a lot of wisdom handed down from the older people in the room, and that layer has just been lopped off.”
Miller says he picked Guzman as his successor because of her integrity, curiosity, perseverance and sense of community. “She’s going to need that spirit to survive the headwinds that are rocking the newspaper industry,” he says.
Guzman had been a reporter for the Sentinel before leaving in 2015. She returned as a digital editor in March of 2017, after longtime city editor Julie Copeland, who could not be reached for comment, left due to reasons that the paper’s human resources declined to discuss on the record.
The Sentinel has shed considerable staff in recent years, even as its parent company Alden Global Capital rakes in handsome profits from Digital First Media. ASeptember story in The Nation detailed how the hedge fund’s cruel cost-cutting at Digital First—America’s second biggest newspaper group—is making an already tough journalism market much worse. The article details how Alden’s founder and chief of investments went on a 2013 spending spree, buying up $52 million worth of Palm Beach mansions, while his company gutted newsrooms—downsizing venerable papers like the San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune, which has been combined with the Contra Costa Times into a conglomeration called the East Bay Times.
Guzman is reluctant to share her long-term strategy, as she hasn’t had time get into depth with her reporters about what’s next, but she hopes to help reporters take on more investigative pieces and “deep dives”—something she believes journalists can do with a little time management guidance. And she wants to drive more readers toward the website. “It involves having a print product that’s different from our online product,” Guzman says.
Honig remembers when the Sentinel had 42 people in the newsroom, although that included positions that many papers no longer hire, like newsroom clerks and even copy editors. The Sentinelwebsite’s “Contact Us” page lists 24 employees, including in advertising and marketing.
Honig—who retired amid an earlier era of financial strain in 2007—says there’s no way to compare the paper back then to the current Sentinel, although he says he admires the work the reporters crank out with limited resources.
““I could see the handwriting on the wall,” Honig says, “but I didn’t expect this many cuts.”
Guzman know it’s “no secret” that the local daily has shed its share of jobs, especially in the past three years.
“That’s what happens when you’re owned by a hedge fund,” she says. “But I’m worried that people see this change, with both Wallace and Don Miller leaving at the same time, as a sign of turmoil. But I also see this as an opportunity.”
Andy Weir seems to have the kind of fairy-tale story of which every aspiring author dreams. In fact, when you read in Steve Kettmann’s cover story about how Weir’s success unfolded—spoiler alert, he starts off with a blog and ends up with a hit movie based on his book—the first word that might come to mind is lucky.
Certainly, Weir, who’ll you’ll discover in Kettmann’s story to be as self-deprecating as they come, would agree with you.
But how much of his story really was luck? Kettmann takes a closer look at Weir’s writing in The Martian and his new novel Artemis—which he’ll be in Santa Cruz this week to talk about—to explain the real secrets of Weir’s success. That’s my favorite thing about this story—as much as we all marvel at the idea of a lottery-winner-type triumph, the story behind that story about how a self-made artist blazes his or her own path is even more interesting—and important.
I also want to remind everyone that Santa Cruz Gives is on its way to being our most successful effort yet to raise money for the most innovative nonprofit projects in Santa Cruz County—but we need your help. Read the story in our news section this week about one of the SCG nonprofits, Senderos, and then go to santacruzgives.org to contribute to their efforts, and discover all of the other worthy groups we’re asking you to support this holiday season. With more than $100,000 dollars raised in just two weeks, we’ve had a great start toward our goal of $250,000 by Dec. 31. Keep that momentum going, and be a part of the positive change in our community!
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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GOOD IDEA
LOCK STEP
Warming Center director Brent Adams has announced that his local program will assist in cleaning up the San Lorenzo Park encampment from Wednesday, Nov. 29, through Friday, Dec. 1. Adams says that he and fellow volunteers will also help Santa Cruz park rangers with the storing of homeless campers’ personal belongings. Adams says that immediately afterward, the Warming Center will help to open new storage lockers for the homeless at 1220 River St.—part of the recommendations the Homelessness Coordinating Committee unveiled this past spring.
GOOD WORK
GIFTED PROGRAM
Twin Lakes Church in Aptos has announced results from a two-month “experiment in radical generosity,” as senior pastor Rene Schlaepfer termed it. The church raised more than $286,000 for Second Harvest Food Bank—the equivalent of 1,145,000 meals. Parishioners gave 2,300 children’s pajamas to underserved youth and more than $50,000 toward immediate fire and flood relief. Others gave time, volunteering to clean windows, paint curbs and maintain local school buildings. For information on the Food Bank’s holiday giving campaign, visit thefoodbank.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I don’t believe in astrology—I’m a Sagittarius, and we’re skeptical.”
When Santa Cruz’s Dyane Harwood gave birth to her second daughter Marilla, she looked into her baby’s eyes and felt elated. After a pain-free birth to a healthy child, her happiness was understandable, but within hours her mood took a disturbing turn. Wildly energized, she talked nonstop while her thoughts raced. Even though she was exhausted, she felt little need to eat or sleep.
After she got home from the hospital, she began to display signs of hypergraphia, writing incessantly on her computer, in notebooks, on her arm, and on the wall, even while her baby needed her undivided attention. Harwood knew something was wrong, but as she tried to focus on her daughters, she downplayed what she didn’t realize were symptoms of mental illness. Harwood had become hypomanic, and soon these symptoms would threaten everything she cared about.
In her new memoir, Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder, Harwood lays out the frightening reality of an often-unrecognized illness. One or two cases of postpartum bipolar disorder occurs for every 1,000 live births, according to the National Institute of Health. But in 2007, when her disease was triggered, even postpartum depression—which we now know occurs in at least 15 percent of new moms—was considered an outlier. According to the American Psychological Association, it’s still underdiagnosed by clinicians, along with other postpartum mood disorders, such as anxiety, panic, OCD, post-traumatic stress, and psychosis. Symptoms may appear at anytime during pregnancy or in the first year of motherhood.
Harwood believes her bipolar disorder was latent, triggered by a combination of pregnancy, labor, hormones and genetics. Salle Webber, who was Harwood’s postpartum doula, agrees.
“When these things occur, much of it has to do with hormonal changes in the body, chemical changes in the brain, and the demands on mothers to suddenly be in complete service to a tiny human being,” says Webber, author of The Gentle Art of Newborn Family Care: A Guide for Doulas, which includes a chapter on mental health and postpartum mothers. “Their whole physiological being is disrupted.”
As for genetics, Harwood points to her father, a professional violinist and Fulbright scholar, who suffered from bipolar disorder, which infused her childhood with a sense of fear and sadness. She remembers calling him when she was first hospitalized. “He started to cry when I told him about my diagnosis,” she says, “because he didn’t want me to go through the misery that he’d been through.”
Harwood, who will discuss her book at a Dec. 7 event in Ben Lomond, says her experience was a worst-case scenario causing prolonged hardship.
“It took me seven years to stabilize. That’s a long time. I had to be hospitalized seven times,” she says. Then when her father died in 2009, the major event triggered suicidal thoughts, and Harwood opted for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a controversial procedure that she credits with saving her life. She tried tapering off lithium medication in 2013, as many people with bipolar disorder do, she says, but it launched her into a deep depression. She turned to ECT again for help, and it worked.
The biggest impact for her, she emphasizes, has been finding the right medication. She now takes what she calls an “old school” combination of drugs—lithium and a monoamine oxidase inhibitor called Parnate. “They’re often written off,” she says, “but for me, they ended up changing years of symptoms in three days.”
Webber says that one of Harwood’s biggest gifts to her readers is showing the simple power of asking for help. “So many women aren’t able to do that, and they’ll benefit from Dyane’s courage,” Webber explains. “If there’s ever a time when a woman should ask for help, it’s when she’s given birth.”
As she recovered, Harwood searched for lifestyle changes to help her heal. Her Scottish collie, Lucy, has been “a huge comfort,” she says. “I encourage everyone to get a pet. Even a fish,” she says.
Harwood has also embraced forest bathing, a practice developed in Japan that promotes spending time outside surrounded by trees as a way of healing. “Being in the redwoods and getting all these wonderful natural chemicals—the smell, the beauty, it’s helped me a lot.” And Harwood swears by regular exercise, something she used to do “for vanity,” she concedes. “But what motivated me in the calm after the storm of my bipolar experience is how much it affects brain health and stabilizes mood,” she says.
Harwood believes simple changes in pre- and postnatal care, like better observation and screening practices, could further improve the lives of many young families and make everyone safer.
“Simply screen women who are or want to become pregnant to find out if there’s a family history of mental illness,” she says. “If there is, pay closer attention during and after pregnancy. It’s getting better, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Harwood says she’s grateful that her marriage and the family she loves have remained intact in the face of extreme challenges. She’s also proud of her accomplishments in the wake of serious personal struggles. She’s founded a local chapter of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, which facilitates free support groups.
Harwood has also written articles about postpartum bipolar disorder, in addition to her book. “As a reader, I couldn’t find anything out there about what I was going through,” she says. “Writing it gave me a sense of purpose, because I felt like this could really help people.”
Harwood will talk about postpartum bipolar disorder during a book signing on Thursday, Dec. 7, at Park Hall Community Center, 9400 Mill St., Ben Lomond. The event is sponsored by Valley Women’s Club and the Santa Cruz County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. For more information, visit dyaneharwood.com.
“Good waves, or work that I care more about.”
James Galvin
Director of Operations
Santa Cruz
“Sea shanty party. It’s when you call in sick for work, hang out with your friends, drink rum and toast the Kraken, and sing sea shanties.”
Ryan P
Musician
Santa Cruz
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