Event highlights for the week of January 24, 2018.
Green Fix
Watsonville Wetlands Restoration
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in for ours, with seasonal restoration work and time for birdwatching. Sturdy shoes, shade and reusable water bottles are recommended. All ages, no experience necessary.
Maryjo Koch doesn’t overlook the little things. When it comes to painting birds nests and honeybees, every little twig and hair matters. With acute attention to detail and precision, Koch is one of the world’s most accomplished naturalist painters around. Her hyperrealistic specimens are often found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Koch works. She has illustrated 18 books, and her work has been featured across the globe.
INFO: Wednesday, Jan. 24-Friday, March 16. Opening reception Wednesday, Jan. 24, 4-7 p.m. UCSC’s Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 11 Cowell Service Road, Santa Cruz. 459-2953. cowell.ucsc.edu/smith-gallery. Free.
Urinetown is a critically acclaimed Broadway classic about, er, a town that doesn’t have private toilets. In an attempt to regulate water consumption, Urinetown has outlawed the use of private facilities, and people must use public, pay-per-use amenities owned and operated by Urine Good Company, a malevolent corporation run by the corrupt Caldwell B. Cladwell. Will Urinetown’s residents be ever be free to pee? There’s only one way to find out.
INFO: Shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Hawks’ Nest Theater at Mount Madonna School, 491 Summit Road, Mount Madonna. 408-847-2717. mmsurinetown.bpt.me. $16 adults, $11 18 and under.
Saturday 1/27
Laura Hecox Day
Honor the Museum of Natural History’s founder with a day of activities, including tidepooling and a beach clean-up. Hecox was the first Santa Cruz lightkeeper and a naturalist who shared her profound love of the environment and marine life with the world through her curated exhibits. Before passing away in 1916, Hecox donated her collections to the city; they became part of the Santa Cruz’s first public museum. Celebrate Hecox’s legacy while enjoying the beauty of our own rocky coast. Layers, comfortable shoes and reusable water bottles are recommended.
INFO: Beach cleanup 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Seabright Beach, intersection of East Cliff Drive and Mott Ave., Santa Cruz. To register contact vo*******@*************um.org. Free.
Guided tidepooling 1-2:30 p.m. 511 41st Ave., Santa Cruz. Pre-registration is required, register online at santacruzmuseum.org/public-programs. $10 general admission, $5 members, children free.
Are Zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Why do giraffes have blue tongues? And how on Earth did baboons get the best butts? Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom might have answers to these and many way more important questions. Their new presentation “Into Africa” captures the wonders of wild African landscape and wildlife. The lecture is based on Frans Lanting’s landmark photo exhibition of the same name, produced as a partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society. Proceeds will benefit the marine science education and conservation programs at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
INFO: 3 and 7 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 459-3800. seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. $20/$45.
They say you have to know the past to know the future, and that’s true for music, as well. Santa Cruz Symphony’s “Songs of the Past, Present, and Future” features works from Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Michelle Bradley. After the intermission, Rimsky Korsakov rounds out the evening with “One Thousand and One Nights” inspired by Scheherazade and featuring concertmaster Nigel Armstrong.
INFO: 7:30-10 p.m. Jan. 27: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. 420-5260.
2-4:40 p.m. Jan. 28: Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts. 250 East Beach St., Watsonville. SantaCruzTickets.com. $29-$85.
Mary Maleta Wright had already proven herself a serious competitor on the Soquel High School cross country team when Melissa McConville joined their sophomore year, sparking a longtime friendship.
Since then, they’ve kept in touch—and kept running too, through pregnancies, moves to college and various careers. Wright ran on Division 1 teams at UCLA and Cornell University. McConville, who ran independently while at UC Santa Barbara, still competes in marathons. She’s also the creator of the popular she.is.beautiful race series, which takes place each year in both Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.
Together, the two started shopping around for a running club a couple of years ago, but struggled to find the right fit.
“None of them really appealed to us. We were looking for something all-women,” McConville remembers. “We’ve run with men in the past. But there’s a different kind of energy, a camaraderie [with just women]. We both love men. We’re married to them. But men get egotistical when you’re beating them or running at the same pace as them.”
Gathering feedback from other runners, they launched their all-women team, which they called Arete, in 2016 with 20 members. The team has already grown to 80 members in Santa Cruz, with other chapters springing up around the Bay Area and beyond.
McConville can’t help feeling in awe of the club’s quick expansion. Less than two years in, she and Wright are already thinking about taking the club national.
“It’s huge. We had our first meet-up in spring of 2016. We had a goal, and it was an investment in time and money. We said we had a goal—that this would be worth it if we have 20 people,” Wright explains. “In 2017, we decided it would be worth it if we have 50 people. In 2017, we had 150 people.”
Some of the group’s secrets lie in its name—pronounced ahr-i-tey, a Greek word for virtue—that reflects the group’s philosophy. Michelle Kern, 53, who has been running with the group since its first year, sums up the meaning of the word as “Excellence in fulfillment, living up to one’s full potential.” The group’s runners believe that competitors must develop mind, body, and soul in order to achieve arete.
The idea of an all-women’s team for experienced and intermediate runners is a new one. Wright says the current national atmosphere—with sexual harassment grabbing headlines—may have fueled interest in building and seeking community. Women on the team who must run in the dark of early mornings to fit it into their schedules always run in a group of five or six and feel safer in the streets together.
Wright and McConville, both 32, each bring their own unique perspectives to the club. Wright, a certified running coach, is an expert in training, conditioning, and running techniques, whereas McConville is more plugged into the running community and trends.
More than 60 members competed in the recent California International Marathon held in Sacramento, with all top 10 Arete members finishing in under three hours and 20 minutes, a 7:37-per-mile pace. Included in that group was 62-year-old Karen Kunz from the Sacramento chapter, who set an age-group course record of 3:15:06. Becky Lavelle, 43, a former reserve on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team, ran a time of 2:56:55. That puts her within 12 minutes of the qualifying standard for the Olympic Trials.
Certain club members who’ve reluctantly moved away have since started Arete teams in other locations. Other supporters found the club online, mostly through Instagram, and there are now chapters in Santa Barbara, Oakland, Sacramento, and Chico.
Arete, which just surpassed 200 members, is having its Santa Cruz Season Launch Party this Saturday. Wright and McConville are up front about the club not being right for any rank beginner. “Must be able to run six miles continuously” is the requirement listed on the website, and there are race time levels, “Open,” “Intermediate” and “Advanced” for athletes to aspire to.
The joy of that aspiration is right there in the group’s name.
“It’s just the idea of making improvements in all aspects of your life,” McConville says, “while, still feeling grateful for where you are.”
Arete Women’s Running Club is holding its 2018 season launch party at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, at New Brighton Middle School. There will be a fun run, complimentary coffee, brunch, physical therapy, and an info session. For more information, visit runarete.com.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter months of renovations, Motion Pacific Dance Studio welcomed hundreds of excited visitors on Jan. 17, 1998. They were asked to leave their shoes at the door, and a few pairs quickly turned into a mountain of hundreds of shoes. Those who couldn’t get in overflowed into the parking lot or peered in through the window.
“We had no idea how much interest it had generated,” Motion Pacific co-founder Molly Heaster said of the new studio. “When we had our grand opening, we had over 700 people show up. It was crazy. I was hiding in the office. We thought, ‘Oh god, our brand new sprung Canadian maple floors—we should have people not wear their shoes!’ It was unbelievable.”
Before opening, the building needed new bathrooms, showers and ceilings. Perhaps the most memorable renovation, Heaster says, was installing fire sprinklers, since it involved an entirely new waterline installation that spanned across the street.
“The city made us pay for it,” she remembers. “It was $17,000, and every time I pass that section I feel like that’s my waterline.”
Twenty years, two locations and a new waterline later, Motion Pacific has bloomed into much more than just a dance studio. It’s a community space. The studio offers more than 1,500 dance classes annually and more than 20 dance workshops while hosting annual events like Santa Cruz Dance Week, the Stockings Cabaret, the Incubator Project and the max10 performance laboratory to bring the community together around dance and dialogue.
After the All The Right Moves dance studio unexpectedly closed in the mid-’90s, many local dancers and performers were without work and a place to practice. Together, Heaster, Carmela Woll and Greg Favor opened Motion Pacific to fill the creative hole and provide a permanent place to embrace dance of all kinds, for all ages.
Motion Pacific has always been a dance melting pot. Even early on, the ambitious class schedule listed ballet, belly dancing, tap, jazz and, of course, hip-hop and breakdancing. Motion Pacific’s original building, now the Sherwin Williams paint store, was right next door to the Santa Cruz Dance Gallery—today known as the 418 Project. Together, Motion Pacific and the 418 were like a downtown dance hub, each establishing a rich legacy of dance and arts in Santa Cruz.
“Dance has the potential to push us to go deeper. It can provide us an opportunity to cultivate community engagement, self-reflection and expression, compassion and human connection,” says current Motion Pacific Director Abra Allan. “I believe that people feel that potential when they are in the studio, or in the street for Dance Week, and that’s what attracts people to Motion Pacific and keeps people coming back.”
Dropping the Boom
Motion Pacific was the foundation for much of the breakdancing and hip-hop movement in the ’90s. Local dancer and Motion Pacific instructor Gary Kendell founded the Boom Squad, a dance group made up of seven members (including Woll and Heaster) learning hip-hop and synchronized breakdancing—something not at all common at the time, especially for girls.
Motion Pacific dancer and instructor Melissa C. Wiley teaches youth classes. PHOTO: CRYSTAL BIRNS
“People understand hip-hop now as independent from what they did at that time,” Heaster says. “Back then, hip-hop was associated with a lot of negativity, and gangster rap. People would say, ‘Isn’t it promoting guns and violence?’ And we would say no, there’s a lot more to it than that.”
The Boom Squad performed around the Bay Area, frequently holding shows in Santa Cruz. They were wildly popular and won awards for their performances. Kendell left Motion Pacific and the Boom Squad a couple of years after it opened and went on to create the Jabbawockeez dance group before passing away in 2007. Many of the Boom Squad members went on to own their own studios, including David Bortnick, owner of Santa Cruz’s Pacific Arts Complex, and Ryan Curren, who owns Truckee Dance Factory.
True to the nature of Motion Pacific, Heaster says that there was also an educational and community aspect. There were often multiple other dance groups along with the Boom Squad, and Heaster recalls there being 13 different groups at one point, and members would often be part of more than one. She and other dancers would go to local schools, homeless children and women’s shelters and recovery centers to teach hip-hop and dance.
“One school we went to, there were weeks of parent protests and concerns and letters before we even got there,” Heaster recalls of the controversy around hip-hop in the late ’90s. “We went in and there were more parents and administrators in the room than there were children.”
Heaster says people were often surprised to learn about the positive message of their project.
“When we started the studio, we wanted a place to be able to dance, and I didn’t feel that hip-hop needed to be in a separate studio the way it had been,” Heaster says. “You’d find hip-hop classes in fitness studios and gyms, it wasn’t considered an art in the dance community. Now people understand that there are foundations just like in ballet and flamenco.”
The Bunheads and the Breakers
But Motion Pacific was founded as more than just a hip-hop dance studio. Heaster herself had been trained as a tap and ballet dancer, too, and the dozen or so teachers she hired came from various dance backgrounds and specialties.
“I remember sitting in the first staff meeting and looking around the circle and being so impressed with the teachers and faculty they had,” says longtime ballet teacher, studio manager and Motion Pacific board member Rebecca Blair. “There were hip-hop, yoga, fitness, tap, jazz, and ballet teachers. It was a full plate, they had a huge plan to have everything at this one studio and they were really pursuing that.”
She explained that not many places offered strong teachers and classes across a broad range of dance at that time. It was new to have one place with everything from a high level of ballet and technical street dance to fitness classes for all ages.
“Molly and Carmela said their dream was that the bunheads and the breakers would warm up together in the same lobby, and it happened,” Blair recalls. “Within a couple weeks, I’m in a lobby with people that I otherwise had no access to know. That was such a sweet opening in my life, and I feel a responsibility to pass that onto my students.”
Incubating Talent
Motion Pacific quickly gained a high profile locally for the neo-burlesque Stockings Holiday Cabaret and the Santa Cruz Dance Week parade events where hundreds of dancers and spectators dance in the streets of downtown Santa Cruz. When Heaster was still the owner of Motion Pacific, she says the company was best known for its annual anniversary shows every January. Renowned artists came out for these shows, like Blanche Brown’s Afro-Haitian group, Christy Hernandez’s tap dance group, and Ballet Folklórico de México. Motion Pacific dancers would also participate in holiday parades and dance at the start of the AIDS Walk each year, where they would wake and warm up participants on chilly mornings.
Molly Heaster (left) and Carmela Woll (right) founded Motion Pacific with Greg Favor in 1998 as a dance studio for all ages and experience levels.
With community roots in mind, the studio has amped up its approach to inclusivity and giving back, especially to young choreographers and performers. Within the last five years, the newest introductions of the Incubator Project and max10 performances have given dancers and artists the opportunity to push the envelope and experiment outside of their comfort zone.
“That’s really a lot of what we have been spending our time doing since,” Allan says. “Building and sustaining a thriving educational program while building as much presenting opportunity for our artists locally and regionally as we can.”
The Incubator Project is a biannual residency program that caters to new and emerging choreographers and gives early stage dancers the opportunity and support to create a large-scale professional show over several months.
“The Incubator Project enabled me to further develop ideas that I had and put them into practice in ways that I didn’t know where possible,” says former Motion Pacific dancer and teacher Eli Weinberg, who was also one of the first people selected for the Incubator Project when it began. “I didn’t quite understand how to be making work in the community outside of that educational school setting, so there was a lot of learning about how you make performance work in the real world. That was really profound, to have that kind of support coming out of college.”
Weinberg’s show, “This Land is My Land,” involved at least six months of work integrating music, theater and dance into an hour-long historically based show that drew hundreds.
“I found this woven community at Motion Pacific, and it didn’t feel like you were necessarily sacrificing any other opportunities or spaces to be there,” Weinberg says. “I had a rich history of people who were investing in dance-making and teaching over a long period of time, and it almost felt like you were a step in a larger generation of what was going on.”
Around the same time, Motion Pacific adopted max10, a series of 10 short, 10-minute shows aimed at experimental new work. The “performance laboratory” idea was created in Venice, California by local choreographers David King and Cid Pearlman and brought to Santa Cruz, where the triannual show is wildly popular.
“These are opportunities for people to come and express their Santa Cruzness, express themselves, and do that with the support and connection to the larger audience and community,” says Cabrillo College Dance Department Chair and former Motion Pacific board member David King. This is the type of show, he says, that makes Motion Pacific such a unique gem within Santa Cruz.
“There has never been a time when there has been a greater need, and recognition of what’s different about dance and physicality,” King says. “We live in a swipe right/left world, but when we are face-to-face and in the room sweating together, it’s a very different way, a much richer way, of being with each other than through screens.”
Changing Hands
Under the stress of annual rent increases, the start of the recession, and a decrease in class enrollment, Motion Pacific moved to the Arts Center on Center Street in 2008. Now the Actors’ Theatre location, it was the only place Heaster could find at the time. It was comparably much smaller and didn’t have a sprung floor. It was a temporary solution to their problems, but Motion Pacific lost some teachers and students because of it.
After the move, Heaster was the last of the three co-founders to bow out. She didn’t want the studio to close after 11 years, so she made a short list of people she trusted. Allan remembers getting a call from Heaster out of the blue, asking if she would take over Motion Pacific.
“I had no idea Molly was thinking about letting it go,” Allan says. “It was a pretty quick yes for me—it wasn’t on the phone call that I said yes; in my head I was like, ‘No, you cannot say yes immediately when somebody asks that.’”
Allan took over Motion Pacific as the owner and director in the fall of 2009. She made getting out of the temporary space an immediate priority, and began searching for new locations. After looking at a couple of other downtown spots, the current 4,000-square-foot space (originally a Yellow Cab storage building) in The Mill became available. Framed by auto body shops and car dealers, the industrial area and proximity to downtown was a perfect place to relocate.
“It was a monster project,” Allan says. “Start with the idea of what people say about a kitchen remodel and multiply it by 100.”
The new facility opened just over a year later in the spring of 2011. Allan also moved to have the company become a nonprofit organization, allowing for more contributed income and restructuring the organization of Motion Pacific to include a board of directors. The studio was able to operate previously under a fiscal sponsorship umbrella of Dancers Group San Francisco, though nonprofit status has since allowed them to move into their own fiscal support system.
Along with the financial shift, Allan envisioned the studio as a more performance based elements, since she says there was a definite lack of dance performances in town.
“Once we were at this facility, it became about starting to build and present programming,” Allan says. “There was a lot of discussions with my advisory board about presenting programs that supported artists at every level of their development, both people that had never performed and people that had been performing for decades.”
Staying Long Term
It’s no secret that rent and the high cost of living in Santa Cruz often drives out some of the best and brightest, and the dance community is no exception. The cost of living in Santa Cruz is more than double the national average, and Allan says Motion Pacific has lost many teachers and artists because of it. In the last five years of the Incubator Project, Allan says all of the participants have left town after completing their residency and relocated to begin a professional career.
“Of course our job is to incubate and support artists wherever they decide to go, and really the end game is to support artists to live and work here locally in Santa Cruz,” she says. “The cost of living is something that is discussed constantly.”
Interestingly, the cost of living hasn’t deterred other creative outlets from opening. Allan says that though the number of studios has gone up, the number of potential young dancers is going down because of the comparatively high cost of raising a family in Santa Cruz.
“Since we opened this space in 2011, we have had two new studios open within a mile and a half of us,” Allan says. “We are having to take that into consideration and find our niche while honoring our history.”
Though Santa Cruz is an expensive place to live, it’s also recognized as a creative hub of the Bay Area. Motion Pacific has always been a valuable resource for UCSC and Cabrillo dancers, since the performance options are more limited in college. Between Motion Pacific, the 418 Project, the Tannery and much more, Santa Cruz is an attractive creative destination, if you can afford it.
“We aren’t interested in just presenting dance,” Allan says. “We want the impact to be bigger.”
For more information about Motion Pacific, visit their website at motionpacific.com.
In celebration of 20 years, Motion Pacific will be announcing free community classes, family dance parties and special performances throughout the year.
Feb. 3 Scott Wells & Dancers
Feb. 22 max10
Feb. 23 E&C Dance
Feb. 25 Junior Company Solo Show
March 16, 17 Incubator Artists, OVA
April 19 Dance Week Kick Off
May 19 Spring Showcase at the Civic Auditorium
June 2 Teen and Junior Company Self Produced Show
July TBA.CabaGay—A benefit for Motion Pacific and the diversity center
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ust weeks into cannabis legalization, Santa Cruz County’s dispensaries are licensed and open for business, and SC Labs is licensed to conduct the now state-required testing of all products for a roster of chemicals that will grow from 12 to 66 come July.
But without a license, growers and manufacturers can’t enter their product into a distributor’s inventory, and a slow trickle of temporary state licenses is just beginning to reach the small pool of cultivators and manufacturers who were in a position to apply.
As all await a new cannabis ordinance that may or may not be able to include them, there is talk among the industry that the environmental impact report, which cost taxpayers $451,689 and serves as the informational foundation of the ordinance, could be scrapped entirely—a hypothetical that County Supervisor John Leopold says is “too early to tell.”
A public meeting and panel discussion on the Future of Cannabis is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 at the Resource Center for Nonviolence—co-hosted by Cannabis Advocates Alliance, WAMM, the SC Veterans Alliance, and GreenTrade, a coalition seeking to promote an environmentally responsible cannabis trade in Santa Cruz County.
Next week, the county will hold two public meetings to present a path forward for the establishment of legalized cannabis cultivation and manufcaturing in the county. The meetings are 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 on the fifth floor Board Chambers in the county Governmental Building and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Felton Community Hall. At 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 5, the public is also invited to a meeting in which county staff will present its recommendations for the new ordinance to the Board of Supervisors.
Colin Disheroon of Santa Cruz Naturals, like many dispensary owners in the county, says he stocked up on product in anticipation of this interim period. But his inventory is quickly shrinking, and he’s disappointed by the selection and pricing offered by the now-mandatory distributors that have approached him.
“The cost of edibles has almost doubled,” he says, adding that the available flowers are of commercial grade quality—not ideal for a dispensary whose mission has been, for the last seven years, to prioritize organics.
“It’s a lot of monocrop product coming from big corporate greenhouse grows in Salinas Valley, and there’s a good amount of product coming from far Northern California,” says Disheroon. “There’s almost zero local product coming from local farmers.”
The issue, of course, is not that Santa Cruz farmers aren’t already growing a significant portion of the state’s cannabis—with many farmers priding themselves in high-quality and heirloom strains. The problem, rather, is that as of Jan. 1, the gray market that fueled dispensaries for years is now obsolete.
“It’s black and white again,” says Disheroon. “I know a number of growers—growers that we have been working with for years—who are saying that their only option is to turn to the black market to stay in business. I think that we’re going to see that the black market is going to be producing nicer, higher-quality product than the legal market, and it’s going to be cheaper because of all the taxes.”
Cloudy Futures
Although Leopold cautions that we’re only a few weeks into legalization, and the county is working hard on drafting an ordinance that brings folks into compliance, it’s clear that not everyone will be able to comply with the new regulations.
“I don’t think that there was any delusion by policy makers at the state or local level that pure legalization would eliminate a black market,” says County Supervisor Zach Friend. “There’s a black market in all kinds of legal things now. So, that doesn’t surprise me. And when you get the commercial players in, what you may see is actually some of the early players unable to sustain from a price standpoint just because of competition statewide.”
Adding to the uncertainties is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ rescinding of the Obama-era Cole Memos earlier this month, which protected cannabis-legal states from federal interference. And just two weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors in California’s Calaveras County, which had its cannabis ordinance already in place, voted to ban commercial cannabis, giving growers 30 days to cease operations. The ban came after the county had collected more than $3 million in licensing fees, and more than $10 million in tax revenue.
Echoing a mounting distrust within the industry of the revenue-focused powers that be, Disheroon doesn’t mince words: “We’re heading down the same path,” he says.
Bottle Neck
Who survives—or at least who will have a shot at it—in the new era of regulated cannabis will largely be determined by the conditions of the county ordinance. The rules, as of yet, seem like they may suit large-scale greenhouse growers on the Pajaro Valley floor—many with no prior experience growing cannabis.
A bud of the indica-dominant strain Dos-Si-Dos, ideal for relaxation, for sale at Santa Cruz Naturals in Aptos. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
County and state tax revenues will pour in regardless of who and where cannabis is grown, and anonymous sources within the industry fear a bureaucratic ban on rural cannabis—as several stipulations in the draft ordinance make it infeasible for rural commercial farms, like the ones in the hills and mountains, to continue legally. In an October Board of Supervisors meeting, the board confirmed that “somewhere around” $1.4 million of its estimated annual $2.5 million in tax revenue would be used for enforcement of noncompliant operations. Santa Cruz County’s Cannabis Licensing Manager Robin Bolster-Grant says there will be a transition time before enforcement begins.
“Our standards have always been that if you are doing something egregious, if you are hurting the environment, we care about the impacts,” she says. “If folks are doing what they’ve been doing, there’s going to be a transition time, just like the state has given folks six months before they’re really focusing on track and trace [laws].”
During 2016’s open season of registration, 760 applicants paid the $500 fee to register. In retrospect, many could have held on to that payment.As of print time, around 80 requests for letters of authorization, which show good standing with the county—a required accompaniment for temporary state license applications—had been filed, according to Bolster-Grant.
“It’s an extremely small number. I would have expected close to a thousand, if everybody who is truly involved in commercial cannabis production was trying to obtain the state license,” says Dan Peterson, who resigned after nine months from his position as cannabis licensing manager in June of 2017, citing ethical reasons.
“I felt that it was a disservice, and unethical to be accepting money from people for their applications to get a license, and additional monies to have their cultivation sites inspected as a pre-licensing inspection, when we didn’t even know what the rules were or how they could come into compliance,” says Peterson of his reasons for leaving. “When I started to do the digging, because my job was to figure out how these people were supposed to become compliant and then help them become compliant, I quickly realized it couldn’t be done.”
As of print time, 49 letters of authorization had gone out, resulting in roughly 110 temporary state licenses, says Bolster-Grant by email, noting that the disparity in numbers is because the state has more categories than the county.
Bolster-Grant notes that many of the initial 760 registrants were speculative—attorneys throwing their hats into the ring and never following through, for instance. Only about 150 continued the process and opened a Cannabis Business Tax—a prerequisite for seeking a state license made public in November of 2016. But the narrowed pool of potential licensed cannabis businesses could also signify that people are pulling up stakes and moving their cultivation or manufacturing businesses out of county, quitting entirely, or hanging back until the 11th hour to see if they can comply with the ordinance. Small mom-and-pop businesses may also still be working to raise enough money to request their letters of good standing, which require county fees of $2,500 for a pre-licensing inspection, as well as $800 for each letter—with manufacturers who also cultivate paying that fee twice.
The county says that it’s cleared up a permitting snafu that sent license-seekers, including its 14 dispensaries, back and forth between the planning department, which would not issue a permit without a license, and the licensing department, which would not issue a license without a building permit, but other disincentives exist in the draft ordinance that may make it hard for anyone not on ag land to pull a license.
“I think that there are a lot of obstacles for the folks in some of the more remote areas, and fire regulations could be one of those things,” says Bolster-Grant, “but if you look at the state regulations and what they are requiring in terms of energy conservation, water conservation, a whole host of other things, those things in combination with what we already have on the books about environmental protection will certainly make it difficult or not feasible for folks in the mountains.”
She adds that the authorization requests came from all areas of the county, and will be considered on a parcel-by-parcel basis. Totaling around 40,000 square feet, the pending plots average about 2,000 square feet and range from 540-square-foot specialty grows to large South County parcels of 20,000 or 30,000 square feet, including two family farms in the cut flower industry.
“From a regulator’s perspective, I want everyone to be regulated and do well, but from my perspective, the [ag] farmers may not be perfect stewards of the environment or with pesticides, but they at least know how to be regulated, and how to file the necessary applications, pesticide use, water use. It gives them an advantage, and there is less of a learning curve,” says Bolster-Grant.
Peterson notes that those in commercial ag land in Watsonville—who were not required to pay a registration fee—also have the advantage of capital, legal representation, and immunity from a myriad of permitting obstacles required of rural plots. Most problematic is a Factory Industrial, or F-1 fire code, which was addressed in public comments to the EIR. The code, which includes manufacturing of airplanes, electric generation plants and hemp-fiber products, does not apply to any other rural greenhouses or agricultural buildings in the county; California Fire Code groups wineries, orchards and other small farms in rural residential areas under Group U.
Unlike Group U, F-1 requires a holding tank of 120,000 gallons of water and a 20-foot access road—a dealbreaker for many in the mountains because, “You can’t build a 20 foot access road because you’re in timberland area which is regulated by Cal Fire and you can’t remove trees,” says Peterson.
“For those folks that can’t make a go with it, the regulations are just too onerous, we are looking at what are the alternatives, and how do we establish a pathway,” says Bolster-Grant. “We have learned from this industry that they are very creative. You find an obstacle and they find another way to do it. I suspect that we’ll see some pretty interesting ideas about how to use what they’ve learned over these years to figure out how to continue.”
Organic Gathering
One such creative idea brewing among the industry is to write a ballot initiative, something advocacy group Association for Standardized Cannabis (ASC) is actively discussing. The initiative’s goals would be to lower taxes and straighten out the process to allow a thriving economy—especially if the ordinance adopted by the county makes compliance infeasible for many. The general public is advised to speak with local dispensary owners for information on how to support such an initiative.
GreenTrade is focusing on elevating the Santa Cruz brand and appellation—a crucial move, says board member Christopher Carr, if Santa Cruz wants to survive in competition with large corporate grows in Salinas, Monterey and Humboldt. Carr has received his county letter of good standing for Grateful Gardens—a 5,000-square-foot garden on a family farm in the mountains—and is awaiting state approval.
“There are many bigger operators around the county—guys and girls, families, that are still holding out, and I’m hoping that if I can do this as a small farmer, and set the precedent and continue to try to educate and shed light, I would hope that our leaders can get behind that effort in good faith too,” says Carr.
Carr says the next action will be ensuring that Santa Cruz has a voice in Sacramento, to find a way to reduce the state’s 15 percent excise tax. At a local level, says Carr, “We just want to use what’s available to get things done—it’s a democracy, Santa Cruz can figure this out, Santa Cruz can organize.”
Updated 1:53 p.m., Jan. 25: County meetings previously uncomfirmed have been confirmed, with dates, times and locations detailed in the fouth paragraph.
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]mmersed in the art world from an early age, Ralph Joachim brings a historic legacy of abstract painting to bold artworks created in his tiny beach cottage studio at Pleasure Point.
Tall and lanky, with an easy smile and kind hands, Ralph Joachim is fully devoted to his lifelong passion—painting. Though his painting career was interrupted by his successful practice as a Bay Area attorney raising a large family, Joachim plunged back into studio work 20 years ago when he moved to Santa Cruz full-time.
“My father, grandmother, and uncle [the celebrated geometric abstractionist Ilya Bolotowsky] were all painters, so I grew up with painting in my blood,” he says, framed by a wall full of his bold canvases, on the eve of his 80th birthday. “Art was all around me, like breathing air. I’d been exposed to it for so long that it was only a question of developing my own work. And I also enjoyed good health and good fortune.”
“In painting geometric abstractions, I emphasize the universal elements of shape, design, color, and space relationships that are free from the limitations of realistic subject matter.” — Ralph Joachim
Admitting that he wanted to develop “some singular, expressive work,” Joachim early on turned away from figurative painting and began experimenting with precise, geometric abstractions himself. Starting with Mondrianesque grids of black and white, he began to explore more expressive angles and shapes with vibrant color accents. And those led to the large-scale, richly colored pieces he has exhibited recently at the Blitzer Gallery.
“In painting geometric abstractions, I emphasize the universal elements of shape, design, color, and space relationships that are free from the limitations of realistic subject matter,” he explains. As he leads me through his personal gallery and studio space, Joachim admits to aiming for something of a Platonic ideal of pure shape, “to explore the underlying geometry of nature, the beauty of pure physics.”
His large abstracts display the extreme discipline required to adhere to non-representational images. Think Mondrian and Kandinsky and you’ll have some idea of the rigorous color shapes Joachim explores, especially in his more recent circular panels. “Who knew that Home Depot would have these plywood rounds,” he says with a grin, as he points to recent studies, done—as is all of his work—in brilliant acrylic paint. Diagonals of yellow pierce slow curves of purple, white and black. “These need a very large wall,” he says, pointing to a lofty double triptych in black and white. “I envision a very large conclusion as I work, similar to a mural. I’m experimenting all the time—enjoying seeing where I can push abstraction.”
Joachim works solely in acrylics. “They’re fast-drying, and for geometric abstraction, that’s important. I can achieve perfect, flat volumes and edges. No uneven shading, that would interfere with the harmony. The volumes must be smooth and precise.” Plus, he says, “acrylic paint cleans up well.”
Confined by the size of his studio, he has designed large artworks made of many panels, “focusing on the whole.” The modular design allows him to create manageably sized pieces that ultimately fit together into monumental artworks with metaphysical themes, such as the Creation, space, and the universe.
“You can’t ever capture the Absolute,” he says, “but you can begin to approach visual insights that apply universally.”
Transfixed by the ocean just outside his double Dutch front door, Joachim is nothing if not persistent. “I’m willing to keep experimenting to create something original, and not let myself be distressed by individual failures,” he says.
Coming out West for law school, Joachim stayed and built his family, and now a satisfying art practice. “Art and nature are powerful connections,” he says, “and this is a beautiful place.”
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here’s no shortage of dark and dreary songs in the canon of early American music. Tales of lost love, death, sickness, war, and despair run through roots genres, including bluegrass, blues, gospel and folk music.
Ryan Boldt grew up listening to these songs, soaking in the depth, beauty, sadness and hope inside them. Songwriter and frontman for Deep Dark Woods, an alternative country band from Saskatoon, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Boldt was raised Mennonite. One of his core musical influences was his grandparents, who were in a group that performed country gospel music.
Though the songs he listened to tackled hard topics, Boldt doesn’t see them as being dark. Rather, he says, they provide an honest glimpse into people’s lives.
“It was just the way people wrote back then,” Boldt says. “Singing songs was a way to feel better, and a lot of the things people were singing about were their mother dying or their loved ones passing away. I don’t consider it darker, it’s just something people did.”
Boldt embraces that same tradition of tackling life’s hardships through song. His appreciation for early American traditional music started early and has only grown since his teen years, when he started writing in that style. In addition to folk music, he’s influenced by gospel, sacred harp singing, Anglican hymns and “that sort of thing.”
Boldt’s understanding of vintage roots is immediately apparent in his music. The Deep Dark Woods—which formed in 2005 and recently released its sixth album,Yarrow—embodies the timelessness of folk and roots traditions while infusing them with electric guitar, drums and a rugged, rock ’n’ roll flair. In a foundation of traditional styles, he finds an authenticity and structure.
Boldt’s appreciation of things crafted and real extends to his hobbies outside of music, as well. He is a stonemason and enthusiastic gardener, and is, as he explains, “obsessed with curing meat.”
“I grew up eating a lot of that sort of thing,” he says. “I became interested in how it was made and figured it out on my own. Now I just do it myself rather than buying meat at the supermarket.”
Boldt takes the same approach to writing songs as he does to any of his other crafts: learn how something is done and where it came from before you start doing it yourself. A self-acknowledged history buff, he’s interested in world history, the history of cooking and music history—including how to structure a song. He sees a clear connection between his hands-on hobbies and his music.
“I think it’s really important when you’re creating something to know how it’s made before you make it on your own,” he says. “Painters knew how to paint a classic painting. They went out and created their own style, but they knew the history of it.”
For Boldt, knowing the history of songwriting, and how a song is crafted, is vitally important to his own work and he advises other songwriters to study the craft before they take it up themselves.
“You have to know how it works,” he says. “It’s like any other trade—you need to know how to lay bricks before you lay them.”
On Yarrow, Boldt puts his understanding of song structure and music traditions to good use. The album is a quiet standout of the contemporary roots and alt-country landscape. It blends classic country, early rock grooves à la Roy Orbison, a Nick Cave-like moodiness, and a grungy folk sound infused with gothic macabre. The whole thing is topped by haunting background vocals by Kacy Anderson of folk duo Kacy & Clayton. Woven throughout the album, Anderson’s harmonies add depth and emotional complexity to Boldt’s already emotionally charged songs.
The album sees Boldt telling tales of murder, prison, floods, sickness, loss and heartache over reverby guitar. His smooth, crooning vocals seem to echo through from another time. It’s familiar territory for the artist, who admits he doesn’t know if he could sing happy songs—even while he doesn’t see his music as being dark.
“Even if the subject is about dying or losing someone, there’s never hopelessness in the songs,” he says. “There’s always a bit of hope in the songs I sing.”
The Deep Dark Woods will perform at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 28. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $15/door. 429-6994.
Free Will astrology for the week of January 24, 2018.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Anders Haugen competed for the U.S. as a ski jumper in the 1924 Winter Olympics. Although he was an accomplished athlete who had previously set a world record for distance, he won no medals at the games. But wait! Fifty years later, a sports historian discovered that there had been a scoring mistake back in 1924. In fact, Haugen had done well enough to win the bronze medal. The mistake was rectified, and he finally got his long-postponed award. I foresee a comparable development happening in your life, Aries. Recognition or appreciation you deserved to have received some time ago will finally come your way.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In 1899, Sobhuza II became King of Swaziland even though he was less than five months old. He kept his job for the next 82 years, and along the way managed to play an important role when his nation gained independence from the colonial rule of the United Kingdom. These days you may feel a bit like Sobhuza did when he was still in diapers, Taurus: not sufficiently prepared or mature for the greater responsibilities that are coming your way. But just as he received competent help in his early years from his uncle and grandmother, I suspect you’ll receive the support you’ll need to ripen.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In my ideal world, dancing and singing wouldn’t be luxuries practiced primarily by professionals. They would be regular occurrences in our daily routines. We’d dance and sing whenever we needed a break from the numbing trance. We’d whirl and hum to pass the time. We would greet each other with an interpretative movement and a little tune. In schools, dance and song would be a standard part of the curriculum—as important as math and history. That’s my utopian dream, Gemini. What’s yours? In accordance with the astrological omens, I urge you to identify the soul medicine you’d love to incorporate into your everyday regimen. Then go ahead and incorporate it! It’s time for you to get more aggressive about creating the world you want to live in.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Psychology pioneer Carl Jung believed that most of our big problems can never be fully solved. And that’s actually a good thing. Working on them keeps us lively, in a state of constant transformation. It ensures we don’t stagnate. I generally agree with Jung’s high opinion of our problems. We should indeed be grateful for the way they impel us to grow. However, I think that’s irrelevant for you right now. Why? Because you have an unprecedented opportunity to solve and graduate from a major long-running problem. So no, don’t be grateful for it. Get rid of it. Say goodbye to it forever.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Between now and March 21, you will be invited, encouraged, and pushed to deepen your understanding of intimate relationships. You will have the chance to learn much, much more about how to create the kind of togetherness that both comforts and inspires you. Will you take advantage of this eight-week opportunity? I hope so. You may imagine that you have more pressing matters to attend to. But the fact is that cultivating your relationship skills would transform you in ways that would best serve those other pressing matters.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In December, mass protests broke out in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. Why? The economy had been gradually worsening. Inflation was slowly but surely exacting a toll. Unemployment was increasing. But one of the immediate triggers for the uprising was a 40-percent hike in the price of eggs. It focused the Iranian people’s collective angst and galvanized a dramatic response. I’m predicting a comparable sequence in your personal future, Virgo. A specific irritant will emerge, motivating you to stop putting up with trends that have been subtly bothering you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the late 1980s, Budweiser used a Bull Terrier to promote its Bud Light beer in commercials. The dog, who became mega-famous, was presented as a rich macho party animal named Spuds MacKenzie. The ad campaign was successful, boosting sales 20 percent. But the truth was that the actor playing Spuds was a female dog whose owners called her Evie. To earn money, the poor creature, who was born under the sign of Libra, was forced to assume a false identity. To honor Evie’s memory, and in alignment with current astrological omens, I urge you human Libras to strip away any layers of false identity you’ve been pressured to acquire. Be your Real Self—to the max.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The giant panda is a bear native to China. In the wild, its diet is 99 percent bamboo. But bamboo is not an energy-rich food, which means the creature has to compensate by consuming 20 to 30 pounds of the stuff every day. Because it’s so busy gathering its sustenance, the panda doesn’t have time to do much socializing. I mention this, Scorpio, because I want to offer up the panda as your anti-power animal for the coming weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you should have a diversified approach to getting your needs met—not just in regards to food, but in every other way as well. Variety is not just the spice of life; it’s the essence.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’re the star of the “movie” that endlessly unfolds in your imagination. There may be a number of other lead actors and actresses, but few if any have your luster and stature. You also have a supporting cast, as well as a full complement of extras. To generate all of the adventure you need, your story needs a lot of dramatis personae. In the coming weeks, I suggest that you be alert for certain minor characters who are primed to start playing a bigger role in your narrative. Consider the possibility of inviting them to say and do more to advance the plot.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Thirty-five miles per hour is typically the highest speed attained by the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. That’s not very fast. On the other hand, each ship’s engine generates 190 megawatts, enough to provide the energy needs of 140,000 houses, and can go more than 20 years without refueling. If you don’t mind, I’m going to compare you to one of those aircraft carriers during the next four weeks. You may not be moving fast, but you will have maximum stamina and power.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The pawpaw is a tasty fruit that blends the flavors of mango, banana and melon. But you rarely find it in grocery stores. One reason is that the fruit ripens very fast after being picked. Another is that the pollination process is complicated. In response to these issues, a plant scientist named Neal Peterson has been trying to breed the pawpaw to be more commercially viable. Because of his work, cultivated crops have finally begun showing up at some farmers markets. I’d like to see you undertake metaphorically similar labors in 2018, Aquarius. I think you’ll have good luck at developing rough potentials into more mature forms of expression. You’ll have skill at turning unruly raw materials into more useful resources. Now is a great time to begin.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): An iceberg is a huge chunk of ice that has cracked away from a glacier and drifted off into the open sea. Only nine percent of it is visible above the waterline. The underwater part, which is most of the iceberg, is basically invisible. You can’t know much about it just by looking at the top. This is an apt metaphor for life itself. Most everyone and everything we encounter is 91 percent mysterious or hidden or inaccessible to our conscious understanding. That’s the weird news, Pisces. The good news is that during the next three weeks you will have an unprecedented ability to get better acquainted with the other 91 percent of anything or anyone you choose to explore.
Homework: Imagine that you’re still alive in 2090. What’s your life like? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
Named for two third-century Christian martyrs who rubbed the Roman Empire the wrong way, Valentine’s Day is to restaurateurs what Steph Curry is to Under Armour. Smart lovers (an oxymoron, perhaps?) plan ahead for that special Valentine’s dinner. On Feb. 14, smile at your sweetheart from across some of these romantic tables.
Gabriella—now that’s a no-brainer if ever there was one. Everyone feels attractive and flirtatious in these charming rooms, bathed in the glow of Prosecco and something beautiful from the kitchen of chef Gema Cruz. A plate of prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, or some grilled quail—and whatever you do, do not pass up one of the exciting desserts from pastry chef Krista Pollack.
One of the corner tables at La Posta down on Seabright might be the perfect spot for a Valentine’s dinner tryst. Share a few appetizers, an amusing bottle of Nebbiolo, and one of chef Katherine Stern’s unexpected pastries or gelati to finish.
Over in that South County village-in-progress, better known as Aptos, lovers adore the enduring Cafe Sparrow, whose sheer coziness offers instant romantic vibes. And there are a few choice tables at Shadowbrook that encourage significant eye contact, such as the one next to the enormous redwood that grows straight through the restaurant. Or the tiny two-top perched in the stairway alcove of the great stone fireplace dining room. You know the one. Ask for it when placing your reservations, and keep your fingers crossed! Shadowbrook is running a special Valentine’s menu the entire week surrounding the holiday.
The dining room at Hollins House feels like Valentine’s Day all year long, and the menu created by John Paul Lechtenberg will put you in a romantic mood from the first bite. Do not fail to split one of this restaurant’s sensational desserts! As true lovers know, any place can be a romantic dining spot—the beach, Lulu Carpenters, the plaza of Abbott Square Market—as long as imagination is involved. Use yours, and see what happens.
Ultimate Salad
If you had told me that one of the best salads in town is available every night at one of the top pizzerias in town, I might have questioned your culinary intelligence. But I know better. At Pizzeria Avanti on Mission, the house reigning genius blows us away every visit with special salads of local seasonal ingredients. Invariably fresh harvests of baby lettuce, dotted with some fruit, avocado, and cheese form the main concept. Last week it got even better when the evening salad featured tender butter lettuces tossed in the outstanding house shallot vinaigrette, dotted with avocados, shaved fennel, bits of mandarin citrus, and shreds of Dungeness crab. Fabulous! Always refreshing and invigorating to the palate, Pizzeria Avanti’s salads are the perfect set-up for one of the stellar house pizzas.
Soquel Gold
Congratulations to the winemakers of Soquel Vineyards, whose outstanding Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noirs—plus one Chardonnay, all from vintage 2016—took a half dozen Gold Medals at the recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Two of these wines took Double Golds! the 2016 Soquel Vineyards Pinot Noir from Estate grapes, and another from Partners’ Reserve Lester Family Vineyard. Congratulations to winemakers John Morgan and the Bargetto twins, Peter and Paul. And to viticulturist extraordinaire Prudy Foxx, the guru of Lester Family Vineyard, among other plots of great grapes, for another award-winning vintage. Cannot wait to taste these wines! Look for these outstanding examples of our Santa Cruz Mountain appellation at your favorite wine emporium, or at the panoramic winery itself on Glen Haven Road, above Soquel. Open for tasting Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. soquelvineyards.com.
We have a complex week coming up, preparing us for the super blue moon total lunar eclipse on Jan. 31. Lunar eclipses mean the moon’s light/energy is hidden; something in form and matter disappears, it’s work completed. The moon represents our past, that which must be left behind so we can create the new world. This very same lunar eclipse occurred 19 years ago. Where was everyone, what was occurring, what happened then with each of us? Who remembers?
During this week of preparations, we have Saturn in Capricorn (discipline), Mars entering Sagittarius (we undertake a new journey, the veils hiding the eyes of Lady Justice will continue to drop) and on the full moon day, lunar eclipse. Mercury enters Aquarius, reminding us that we are on the cusp of the Aquarian Age with its Aquarian laws and principles. The focus at all full moon times (full moons are timing mechanisms) is the Sun’s light. The Sun receiving and dispensing information from one of the 12 signs, each sign and information is different each month.
On Jan. 31, the Sun (light) of Aquarius—sign of the new culture and civilization, sign of humanity, and of humanity’s hopes, wishes and dreams—streams into the Earth and her kingdoms. The lunar eclipse informs us that the past is disintegrating, moving deeper into its shadows. And that the future now depends upon our dreams, our visions and our creative imaginations. What is our personal vision? What is our collective vision? Do we have one?
ARIES: You’re exploring profoundly what your right work in the world may be, what you are to do that will serve to uplift our culture and civilization and bring you to the recognition needed so that others follow. Continue your internal inquiry. There are no answers yet, not for months. They depend upon your ability to focus on the questions your heart poses.
TAURUS: New ideas, concepts, school, study, traveling, the art of archery, horseback riding or horse husbandry, publishing, and studying ancient philosophies catch your attention. Many recognize your gifts, talents and qualities. You’re called to governance and leadership. Listening is your best way of understanding what others need. Remain attentive. Philosophical answers will not be heard.
GEMINI: There is a focus on money held in common with another as well as investments and in this critical time of change and monetary reorientation it’s required to be aware of the world’s finances. The best place is solari.com/blog for exceptional understanding of the world and our country’s economic situation. One can also become a Solari subscriber. Of all of the financial advisors in the world, this one’s the best. Share this with partners and friends.
CANCER: Relationships this month will be on your mind—all types, levels of closeness, friendships and intimacies. It’s good to review how you are in relationships, if you are attentive, caring and sharing. Are you nurturing, generous, and do you ask for help when needed? Add forgiveness (of self and others) to your list of daily tasks. Forgiveness liberates our heart for further love encounters.
LEO: There is a continual emphasis on your daily occupation and the environments you find yourself in. Something shifts at work, some discipline or rule or structure or timing causing a phase of fine-tuning to occur. During this time, strengthen your support for others, aligning with them. This will ensure your success should you suddenly be in charge of everything and everyone. Blend your Ray 1 (Will) with Ray 2 (Love/Wisdom). Come from the heart.
VIRGO: You must begin to loll about a bit, think of a way to create relaxation, pleasure, fun and perhaps a bit of romance (there are many kinds). Plan each week to attend musical or film events, to stroll downtown with friends, to have lunches and dinners, little parties, tête-à-têtes, perhaps a small salon. Art is most important. Who is your favorite (artist, musician, dancer, actor)?
LIBRA: These are times of reconciliation, reunions, understanding leading to rapprochement, times of kindness, consideration, and thoughtful and perceptive realizations that each of us (including you) is a character, everyone’s doing their very best and everyone’s on their Path toward a more enlightened way of being. Is there some sort of suffering or sadness in your life at this time? We will pray with you.
SCORPIO: You’re edgy, agitated, restive, restless with somewhat anxious feelings, including wanting to go anywhere that is not here. However, there’s nowhere to go. The planets are creating a stellium (gathering) of impatience and over-sensitivity. All you can do is visit things from the past, people, events, ideas, work. It’s not easy and there are no quick answers. Who from the past needs to be contacted?
SAGITTARIUS: Read Gemini first and investigate the Solari website. I suggest a financial investor and information on finances because two major planets (Saturn and Pluto) are influencing your money, finances and resources, seeking to transform how you’ve handled yourself in these areas. Are you generous or challenged to be generous? Do you maintain a budget and balance finances? What are your worries regarding money? Know that you always have enough.
CAPRICORN: Every once in a while, others truly notice Capricorns (the unicorn), offering compliments and praise for jobs well done, for Cap’s help, presence and nurturing. They notice the care taken with how you appear in the world. You may be asked to lead a function of a group endeavor you’re a part of. You’re the very best for this position. Radiate goodwill to everyone and remember to recognize those who have courage. You have it.
AQUARIUS: Aquarians continue to be self-focused as they are in a stage of great self-development. An important growing stage. Eventually you will begin to look outward, onto humanity and its needs, noting humanity is suffering. This is when Aquarians begin to serve. It is time for you—to help others, to see their needs, to offer support and resources, time and money, care and attention. Then you, too, become one who receives.
PISCES: It’s important to be part of a group. It’s important to not be isolated. You need a balance of being in retreat and being social. Being social is sometimes difficult. You sense the depths within others. You see how others serve and how “love underlies the happenings of the times and all events.” Love happens to be the nature of Pisces, too. You may not feel it at times, but love’s surrounding us all the time. Our heavens are made of it.
Five years ago, Santa Cruz pickleballers like Terrance Long were limited to a single court at Louden Nelson Community Center in downtown Santa Cruz. Today, because of the hard work and passionate lobbying efforts of Long and other members of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club (SCPBC), there are 28 designated pickleball courts scattered throughout Santa Cruz County.
”The growth of Santa Cruz pickleball has been tremendous in the last four years,” says the 59-year-old Long. “The game is a great way to get some exercise and to have fun at the same time. It’s easy to learn, and even easier to get good quickly.”
A cross between tennis, badminton, and ping pong, the explosive growth and popularity of pickleball—in Santa Cruz County and across the nation—has been astounding.
There are an estimated 2.46 million pickleball players in the United States, and even though the sport (in its earliest form) has been around since 1965, most of its growth has occurred within the past decade. Often touted as the country’s fastest growing sport, the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) in its annual “Listings of Places to Play” report, estimates that 76 new pickleball courts are being constructed each month in the U.S. and Canada, with a current total of around 3,748 courts in the U.S. The Santa Cruz Pickleball Club (SCPBC) boasts more than 200 active members, and the unmistakable pick-pock of the whiffle-like pickleball can be heard across the county each and every day of the week.
As a founding member of the SCPBC and an official ambassador for the USAPA, the youthful-looking Long has seen his “little fringe sport” blossom into a full-on recreational craze. He and his wife Karen Long, now president of the SCPBC, have been instrumental in bringing and promoting pickleball within county lines.
“We have an awesome group of players,” says Long. “A mix of ages, genders, and ethnicities that continues to grow. It’s easy to learn and it’s really getting popular.”
In a Pickle
On a cool and cloudy Friday morning in late December, Brommer Park swarmed with pickle ballers of all shapes and sizes. Eight courts, four players to a court, were filled completely, and 15 people stood eagerly in the wings, waiting for a chance to play their favorite game.
Experienced picklers happily hit with pickleball neophytes, offering helpful tips, suggestions, and encouragement. The mood was light, airy, jovial, and totally welcoming. After each game, tired and sweaty pickle ballers approached the net and tapped paddles in good spirits.
The “sport that no one’s heard of” is actually a pretty big deal here in Santa Cruz County. Pickleball regulars do their best to explain their passion: “It’s much like being a ping pong player on the surface of the table,” some say. Other players just throw in the towel, and say “it’s four dudes with paddles hitting a ball.” Most diehards have a ready answer for the incessant and inevitable “what the hell is pickleball?” question, though, which they follow with an encouragement for newbies to try the sport for themselves.
So what the hell is pickleball?
Here are the basics: Pickleball is played on a court measuring 20 by 44 feet—the same size as a doubles badminton court—and players (singles or doubles) use aluminum/graphite paddles to hit a ball (similar to a wiffle ball) over a 34- to 36-inch net. The paddles (usually ranging from $80-$150) are smaller than a tennis racquet, but larger than a ping pong paddle. The game isfast-paced, even though the white or yellow wiffle-esque ball travels at only a third of the speed of a tennis ball.
Like in tennis or ping pong, players serve cross-court, but underhand, to bring the ball into play. The “double bounce rule” ensures the serving team lets the ball bounce when returned. The court is striped similar to a tennis court, with left and right service courts, but with no alleys. There is a 7-foot non-volley “death-zone” in front of both sides of the net, affectionately known as “the kitchen.” Much of the fast-paced action occurs at the net, and the kitchen equalizes the power players from the not-so-strong players.
The first team/individual to 11 points wins, though they must win by two points.
It really only takes one session to grasp the game’s nuances and funky scoring, and to remember to stay out of the bloody kitchen.
Ball for All Ages
Even though the sport was officially invented for kids—three fathers created the game to entertain their hell-raising sons in Seattle in the summer of 1965—most pickleball players are, interestingly, senior citizens.
The USAPA estimates that 66.1 percent of pickleballers are above the age of 60. Seniors say they enjoy the sport for the social aspect, low-impact exercise, and because there is not as much running around as there is in tennis. The learning curve is fairly mild as well; pretty much anyone who’s ever played a racquet sport can pick up the game easily.
Jerry Louis is 70. Now an expert 5.0 player, Louis says his physical and emotional health improved markedly once he started to play pickleball regularly.
“The social aspect is fabulous,” Louis says. “Many older people have no real social interaction. It gets you out of the house to do something physical, and the health benefits are enormous. After just a little while, you feel better.”
Louis and a huge number of ex-tennis-playing seniors have switched allegiances, abandoning tennis for pickleball. Their reasons are both physical and mental. Pickleball is a sport that can be enjoyed at any level of intensity, and the perfect form/amount of physical exercise for anyone healing from overuse injuries. It’s proven to be less strenuous, requires less running and most importantly, the people are much, much chiller.
“It’s the most welcoming group of any sport I’ve ever been involved in,” says Louis. “And in my 70-71 years I’ve been involved in a lot.”
This sentiment is echoed by pickleballers across the nation. The people who play pickleball are just nicer. Maybe it’s the funny name or the silly wiffle ball. Maybe it’s the sage wisdom of an older generation—but no matter where you play, pickleball courts are always full of laughter, hope, joy, and encouragement.
That’s a far cry from tennis, say many.
Long admits that “tennis is a game with too much etiquette. No laughing, no helping each other out with tips, no smiling. With pickleball you can laugh and joke around. People exchange phone numbers. It’s a community. That never happened with tennis.”
Long believes that the social part of the game is the reason so many people are abandoning tennis in favor of pickleball. “Pickleball is welcoming to all,” he says.
Not everyone is happy about the meteoric rise of pickleball, though. The “country’s fastest growing sport” has drawn the ire of tennis players across the nation, especially here in Santa Cruz County.
Many tennis players have become increasingly weary of the up-and-coming sport of pickleball—and of losing precious tennis courts throughout Santa Cruz County. A vicious battle between the SCPBC and disgruntled tennis players has raged for years. Both sides have sent numerous letters to the Board of Supervisors, and have accused each other of wrongdoing and outright lies. The debate of whether or not to build four permanent pickleball courts at Brommer Park became especially divisive. Pickleball uses a different kind of net than tennis, and Brommer Park is the only court with pickleball nets—at other courts, players set them up for each match. Websites and social media posts like “Santa Cruz Pickleball Club: Lies by the Truckload” were met with claims from the SCPBC about the benefits of pickleball, the county’s need for more courts, and its growing popularity.
“For some, change is hard,” says Long. “We show up at city council meetings in large numbers. Peaceful and respectful, but with a story.”
The SCPBC’s steering committee has been actively working with the city of Santa Cruz, the County, and Scotts Valley. Their numbers at City Council meetings dwarf those of tennis players.
“There has been animosity with tennis players. We’ve been battling them for five years,” says Louis wistfully. Louis points to the rise of pickleball and equates it to that of snowboarding.
When snowboarding first began, skiers didn’t want people snowboarding on their ski slopes.
“Now there are more snowboarders than skiers,” says Louis. “I think that’s what’s going to happen with pickleball and tennis.”
Event highlights for the week of January 24, 2018.
Green Fix
Watsonville Wetlands Restoration
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in...
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in for ours, with seasonal restoration work and time for birdwatching. Sturdy shoes, shade and reusable water bottles are recommended. All ages, no experience necessary. 
Maryjo Koch doesn’t overlook the little things. When it comes to painting birds nests and honeybees, every little twig and hair matters. With acute attention to detail and precision, Koch is one of the world’s most accomplished naturalist painters around. Her hyperrealistic specimens are often found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Koch works. She has illustrated 18 books, and her work has been featured across the globe. 
Urinetown is a critically acclaimed Broadway classic about, er, a town that doesn’t have private toilets. In an attempt to regulate water consumption, Urinetown has outlawed the use of private facilities, and people must use public, pay-per-use amenities owned and operated by Urine Good Company, a malevolent corporation run by the corrupt Caldwell B. Cladwell. Will Urinetown’s residents be ever be free to pee? There’s only one way to find out. 
Honor the Museum of Natural History’s founder with a day of activities, including tidepooling and a beach clean-up. Hecox was the first Santa Cruz lightkeeper and a naturalist who shared her profound love of the environment and marine life with the world through her curated exhibits. Before passing away in 1916, Hecox donated her collections to the city; they became part of the Santa Cruz’s first public museum. Celebrate Hecox’s legacy while enjoying the beauty of our own rocky coast. Layers, comfortable shoes and reusable water bottles are recommended. 
They say you have to know the past to know the future, and that’s true for music, as well. Santa Cruz Symphony’s “Songs of the Past, Present, and Future” features works from Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Michelle Bradley. After the intermission, Rimsky Korsakov rounds out the evening with “One Thousand and One Nights” inspired by Scheherazade and featuring concertmaster Nigel Armstrong. 
