A famous stage direction in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale reads: “Exit, pursued by a bear.” A bear has to be introduced at this point, but it’s up to the discretion of the theatrical director to figure out how to do it. In his wilderness survival/revenge movie The Revenant, filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu takes the direct approach. A giant grizzly bear rises up out of the underbrush behind star Leonardo DiCaprio and runs straight at him—and the audience. But this bear does not merely pursue; a savage mauling commences, every moment of which we get to watch in excruciating detail for many long minutes.
As a piece of filmmaking, it’s an extraordinary sequence. But in dramatic terms, while the scene is as visceral and horrifying as it needs to be for the purposes of the story, it’s hard for the viewer (OK, me) to quell that nagging voice in her head that wonders: how the heck did they do that? We’re caught up in the spectacle, not the drama.
And that’s just the beginning of this literally blood-soaked tale of brutality, loss and revenge. Like most of Iñárritu’s films (Amores Perros; Babel; Birdman), it’s a morality play, although morality is slippery in the world of rival American and French fur trappers encroaching on native lands, native tribes defending their turf from the white men and each other, unforgiving nature (and of course, that bear), in which The Revenant takes place. It’s more like a post-morality play in which greed, commerce, violence, and villainy are so deeply entrenched that no one emerges with his soul unscathed.
In the American frontier of the 1820s, a party of trappers from a distant fort are out in the wilderness collecting pelts under the command of the youthful but conscientious Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). Their tracker, loner Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), lived with an Indian tribe for years—until white soldiers burned the village and killed his native wife. Now he’s been hired to lead trappers through the forest with his teenage son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck).
When a band of Arikara (or “Ree”) warriors attack their camp, only a few men escape to their boat. They’ve ditched the boat downriver as a decoy and are heading back to the fort on foot when Glass has his close encounter with the bear. There’s barely enough of him left for Henry (who’s had some medical training) to stitch back together. They drag Glass along on a litter for awhile, until the captain finally makes the fateful decision to leave the dying Glass behind with two trappers to give him a decent burial.
But the designated caregivers are Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), a shifty opportunist with a half-scalped pate who’s already had run-ins with “Injun-lovin” Glass, and Bridger (Will Poulter), a green youth Fitzgerald knows he can bully. The trappers’ odyssey back to the fort plays out against a Ree chieftain trading their stolen pelts with the French trappers for guns and horses on his own mission of vengeance. Meanwhile, Glass claws his way back from the brink of death using all his Junior Woodchuck skills, motivated by one thing: revenge on the dastardly Fitzgerald.
Gruesome bloodletting mostly ensues. While the bear is instinctively protecting her cubs, the human animals are more vicious, according to their separate agendas—and the moral decisions they (may or may not) choose to make. Still, Iñárritu handles other passages with quiet lyricism. Glass’ fever dreams are beautifully staged, particularly those involving the haunting presence of his unnamed wife (Grace Dove), and a crumbling, highly symbolic Spanish mission. Landscapes are vast and uncaring, and many establishing shots of sky-scraping treetops echo his wife’s parable that “A tree with strong roots will not fall.”
A lone Pawnee brave whose village has been massacred by the Sioux befriends Glass, and in the one moment of levity, they catch snowflakes on their tongues. This man delivers the moral of the story, that vengeance is in the hands of the Creator, although it takes a lot more killing, knifing, maiming, and bleeding before the characters and the filmmakers remember it.
THE REVENANT
**1/2 (out of four)
With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Domhnall Gleeson. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Rated R. 156 minutes.
Not to be confused with solitude, health practitioners define loneliness as the perception of social isolation—a perception that has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. In a six-year study published in 2012, 43 percent of Americans over the age of 60 reported being lonely, according to the study’s author Carla Perissinotto, MD., assistant professor in UCSF’s Division of Geriatrics.
But that number becomes even more profound when considering its impact on health: loneliness is a proven social determinant for serious health problems, including shortened lifespan.
“The lonely half of Americans have a 45 percent increased mortality at six years compared to the other half, and a 60 percent increased rate of disability, or rate of losing your activities in daily living,” says Dr. Paul Tang, vice president and chief innovation and technology officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
While the U.S. spends about 18 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on medical intervention, we continue to score among the unhealthiest of OCED (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.
“We have this real disparity between what we get versus what we pay for,” says Tang. “And one of the other factors is that all of the other countries but the U.S. spend more on social service than on medical service, and I think that’s a big part of it.”
“Only 10 percent of health and well-being is attributed to medical intervention,” says John S. Williams, marketing communications specialist at PAMF’s innovation center. The rest of health and well-being can be attributed to genetics, behavior, and the social and community aspects of a person’s life.
While the desolate, empty feeling of loneliness is not something typically addressed in a doctor’s visit, PAMF’s innovation center identified it as a recurring theme while interviewing the elderly population. As one woman described it to Tang, “Your world dies before you do.”
In an effort to combat loneliness as a root cause for illness, PAMF developed a program called linkAges, a multigenerational time-bank-like service-exchange program. Formed in Mountain View in 2010 under the direction of Tang, the program brings together individuals in the community who probably wouldn’t have otherwise interacted.
“In American culture, which is a young culture compared to Asia or Europe, we value professional work, autonomy and mobility, and all of the things that make America great. But it also leaves us less supported as we age out of the workforce,” says Tang. “You view yourself in the context of what you contribute in a professional vein, and when you retire, that sort of recognition goes away. You don’t think as highly of yourself, and often feel like you’re a burden to everybody, including your family, and that leads to a downward spiral.”
LinkAges expanded to the Bay Area in 2013, and just a few months ago took root in Santa Cruz, with partners including the Live Oak Senior Center, Cabrillo College, Santa Cruz Libraries, and Museum of Art & History, which has pledged to open up space for artistic collaborations between linkAges members. It is free and open to anyone 18 or older who passes a criminal background check. (See tagline at the end of this article for a membership code.)
“Once people join the system, they are able to post a request or offer services on the website platform,” says Williams. “Somebody might say ‘I need a ride to my doctor’s appointment, I don’t have a car,’ and it takes them two hours round trip. That gets recorded, and then [the driver] uses that time later, likely with someone different, to play chess or learn photoshop, or any number of things.”
Since its inception, more than 3,000 hours have been exchanged among linkAges’ 760 members, and its potential impact in the Santa Cruz community is greatly anticipated—with 26 local members already signed up.
Patsy Gardner, a linkAges member who recently moved to Santa Cruz, looks forward to offering knitting, fiber arts and babysitting as a service to other local linkAges members. She recently attended a Tech Day at the Live Oak Senior Center. “I learned how to take pictures on my iPhone and it helped me with my tablet a little bit, too” says Gardner. “I think most of us get all these ‘toys,’ and we know the basics, but I can’t do everything that they do.”
Tang agrees with Jennifer Acher of the Stanford Business School that the three major components of happiness are meaning, connectedness, and being part of something bigger— and linkAges interactions often touch on all three, says Tang.
The largest category of exchanges seen in linkAges are in what Tang calls the enrichment group, where members are sharing something they know, from ukelele playing to knitting or cooking. “One of the things as you get older is you have experiences to pass on,” says Tang. For example, there was the 84-year-old retired professor’s Scrabble game with a 28-year-old woman, and the woman living in a retirement home who threw her arms up in happiness when she met a dog owner at the park, fulfilling her wish to just walk a dog again.
“Based on our initial experience with time bank and the stories we get back, there is a lasting effect of just feeling like you are valued or contributing. And I think as we age, the importance of that just elevates,” says Tang. “American health care of course is reimbursed for doing things to people, and this is not one of those things, but under the Affordable Care Act, we’re moving to a world where you get compensated to improve the health of the communities that you serve, so this fits in really well with that.”
MEETING AND MOVING
But there’s more for Santa Cruz to look forward to: Under the umbrella of linkAges is the Meet and Move program, a support network that links family caregivers of all kinds with other caregivers to simply walk and talk—and for every hour used in the Meet and Move program, members are given one hour of time to use in the linkAges program.
With an orientation at 11 a.m.-noon on Feb. 11 at the Senior Network Services Building in Soquel, Meet and Move is also free and open to anyone who passes a background check. “Anyone can come as long as they are a caregiver who is not being paid,” says Cyndi Mariner, project coordinator for Meet and Move. “People come, and they can talk if they want or just walk, they can laugh, cry, scream, and it’s all fine. Whatever you gotta do, we’re all about supporting each other on this journey.”
Mariner, who joined the program while caring for her 84-year-old mother, says that Meet and Move changed her life, giving her an outlet for support and a small block of time to exercise. Caregivers are often under a lot of stress, often forget to take care of themselves, and can also suffer from social isolation, Mariner explains.
“As a family caregiver, your time gets eaten up so quickly,” says Mariner, “and suddenly you’ve got weeds growing over the backyard and you need help weeding the garden, or you need someone to run out and get groceries for you. The linkAges platform gives that help right to you.”
To sign up for the linkAges timebank, visit linkages.org, click “sign up” and use the membership code ‘goodtimes.’ The next linkAges orientation is 2-3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18, from 2-3 pm at the Museum of Art & History. Register by emailing ti******@******es.org. For more information on Meet and Move, visit linkages.org/meetandmove.
Graced with the elegant energy of three top Santa Cruz Mountains vineyards, Nicole Walsh’s debut Pinot Noir under her own Ser label, has got my attention. A seasoned winemaker for Bonny Doon Vineyard, and vineyard manager for Randall Grahm’s San Juan Bautista estate vines, Walsh has put her signature spin on the 2012 harvest from Lester Family Vineyard in Corralitos, Byington and Lilo Vineyards. By many accounts, the 2012 harvest was one of the best in memory for our appellation, and Walsh’s 2012 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir underscores that opinion. From its opening nose of mint, licorice, and earth, to a central core of red fruit, this lovely Pinot Noir is completely loaded. The wine blends raciness with a balance of tannins and fruit, and the finish unfolds into cherries, orange peel and something like dark strawberries. From start to finish, the wine reflects Walsh’s belief that wine “has an ability to move us, to create an emotional reaction,” she says.
This wine has already put the rock-star winemaker (my friend Laura Ness’ apt description) on a prestigious map, taking a Double Gold at the recent Pinot Noir Shootout in San Francisco. Walsh is dedicated to preserving the true varietal character of the wines she’s begun making under her own label—ser means “to be” in Spanish.
The appellation’s unique terroir, the essence of the grape-growing region, guides Walsh’s intent “to allow the wine to express where it comes from,” she says.
Walsh has also recently released a 2014 Coastview Vineyard Chardonnay, a 2013 Coastview Syrah and a 2013 Lilo Vineyard Pinot Noir. We found her memorable 2012 Ser Pinot Noir at New Leaf Market ($29), but I urge you to look at your favorite market or wine store. This exciting vintage from the hand of Walsh is well worth sampling. serwinery.com
Ch-ch-ch-changes
You will need to get your hot chocolate fix elsewhere (may I suggest Chocolate?) now that the highly niched Mutari Chocolate Bar has closed. Same for the longtime Chinese culinary favorite Little Shanghai on Cedar Street (now home of Mandarin Gourmet) and Taqueria Vallarta at the lower end of Pacific Avenue.
But there are also new tasting opportunities, including a new sister cafe to be opened by the Westside favorite Cafe Ivéta on the UCSC campus, in the Quarry Plaza location that once housed Joe’s Pizza and Subs. “The space is under construction now, and we plan to open in early February,” Ivéta owner John Bilanko told me last week. Bilanko says that the new shop will offer a breakfast and lunch “similar to what we do here at the Westside Ivéta, but we will also be open in the evening.” Good news for students whose appetites don’t stop at 4 p.m. “We’ll do a limited lunch menu of fresh items, hot entrees and burgers, too. They wanted burgers. So, it’s a little different,” Bilanko says.
The new UCSC Ivéta will also serve beer and wine in addition to a full espresso bar. The former Chicagoans, John and Yvette (Ivéta) Bilanko brought their successful pastry recipes to Santa Cruz 16 years ago and opened the Delaware Avenue cafe in 2010. (Thank you, thank you.) Now, their popular blend of irresistible breakfasts and pastries, plus signature salads and outrageously delicious sandwiches will add texture and flavor diversity to the UCSC campus.
West Cliff Wines
Run out and grab a bottle of the 2012 Syrah from the hand of Andre Beauregard, now available at Shopper’s Corner for $21. This is one stand-up Syrah, loaded with spice, tannic attitude, and just a joy to drink with bold-flavored foods.
Revolution is in his blood, says Mat Callahan. After all, the singer-songwriter was born on the 14th of July—Bastille Day—the opening battle of the 1789 French Revolution. Now Callahan is in California for a 14-city tour to perform songs written by Irish labor organizer James Connolly, whose books include Socialism Made Easy and Songs of Freedom.
If the name James Connolly doesn’t ring a bell it may be because his anti-Capitalist ideas didn’t have much of a shelf life in American history books. But in Ireland, Connolly is widely remembered as the founder of the Irish Citizen Army (1913), a leader of the Easter Rising (1916) and a Socialist songwriter whose life ended in 1916 at the age of 48 on the receiving end of a British firing.
If you have heard of Connolly maybe you recall John Lennon quoting him on TV in the early ’70s: “The female worker is the slave of the slave,” said Lennon, who transposed the sentiment with Yoko Ono into, “Woman is the nigger of the world.” GT recently spoke with Mat Callahan about Ireland, revolution and the Songs of Freedom book/CD (2013, PM Press) that Callahan helped assemble from Connolly’s lost writings and lyrics. GT: James Connolly moved to the United States in 1903 and brought revolutionary ideas with him. Why did Connolly come to this country? Callahan: Connolly was one of the many impoverished workers who came to the U.S. looking for a means of a livelihood. That was part of the reason he came. But Connolly already had essays and articles published in the United States under the auspices of the Socialist Labor Party of America. He couldn’t work in Ireland because he was too well known as a labor organizer. To support his family he came to the U.S. and was immediately embraced by the labor movement in New York. In 1905 he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W) at its very founding. Connolly wrote, “Civilization cannot be built upon slaves, civilization cannot be secured if the producers are sinking into misery.” What’s most important to you about spreading the message of his ideas and songs?
The bottom line for me is to get people to read what he actually wrote. He was a Marxist and influenced by the Second International as well as the Wobblies (I.W.W.). Here was a guy from the lowest depths of the working class who managed to teach himself to read, to think and to articulate in an eloquent way the noblest ideals of humankind. That includes not only trying to improve the lot of the working class, but also he was a leader of the whole idea of fighting for self-determination, which was a major theme of the 20th Century. Connolly was also a feminist, wasn’t he?
Connolly’s statement that John Lennon quoted on the Dick Cavett Show many years ago was, “Woman is the slave of the slave.” Connolly was writing about the role of women in history, but also imagining a Socialist Workers Republic of Ireland and what the role of women would be in liberating Ireland’s working class. Connolly helped to form and lead the Irish Citizen Army. Does armed resistance resonate now metaphorically or literally?
The Irish Citizen Army was organized in 1913 to defend the workers of Dublin against employers using the police to attack them. The workers did not get any of their demands but one lasting effect of the 1913 Dublin Walkout was the formation of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA). This army was originally to defend the workers but it led up to the Easter Rising. This was not an underground organization. They did march and drill openly in Dublin. This was obviously symbolic because there were not enough of them to actually take on the Brits in direct armed conflict. But they did play a pivotal role when the decision to do the Easter Rising took place. To a certain extent it was a forerunner of Vietnam, Cuba or China; people fighting for national liberation and a working class republic. I’m not advocating the formation of the Irish Citizen Army, or even think that particular form of struggle is suitable for today’s conditions, but I nonetheless support what it represented for liberation in general throughout the 20th century. We certainly have something to learn from it in terms of our current dilemma. Connolly dedicated himself to the struggle to “liberate humanity from all forms of slavery.” How successful have we been in moving toward this goal?
Connolly came along at the end of a century full of revolution starting with the American, French and Haitian revolutions of the late 18th century. The 20th century had several French Revolutions and a feeling that “workers of all countries unite” really had a future. At the moment it seems like that great wave of human liberation has been turned back. But Connolly’s determination was steeled in struggle itself; that the problems of the world cannot be solved through talk. It requires active engagement, whether its labor organizing or organizing a food co-op or playing in a band. Once you’re engaged you see the process in a different way than if you’re on the sidelines. My own optimism comes from being involved as opposed to just reading the news.
Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore will be performing modern adaptations of Connolly’s revolutionary tunes at The Poet & The Patriot at 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 22 and at San Jose’s Caffe Frascati on Jan. 28.
Elizabeth McKenzie weaves wildly divergent stories and themes through her story of dysfunctional Silicon Valley love in ‘The Portable Veblen
Elizabeth McKenzie’s new novel, The Portable Veblen, defies one of the first laws of bookselling: easy categorization. Instead, it comes together like a strangely compelling tapestry woven from threads that should clash, but somehow don’t.
The title refers to Veblen Amundsen-Hovda, the thirtysomething namesake of famed economist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the term “conspicuous consumption.”
Joyfully eccentric and in agreement with much of his scorn for “the leisure class,” Amundsen-Hovda lives in a ramshackle bungalow on the fringe of Palo Alto, works temp jobs in Silicon Valley, translates obscure texts from Norwegian for fun, and feels a connection to the squirrel living in her attic. She’s engaged to Paul Vreeland, an ambitious neurologist who has invented a device for treating traumatic brain injury that interests both the pharmaceutical and defense industries. He thinks the squirrel has got to go.
The two of them embody the Bay Area’s yin and yang: Veblen embracing the natural beauty and diverse path that speaks to our progressive tendencies, while Paul craves the innovative yet corruptible course that operates like a high-speed rail. As they stumble toward the altar after only three months together, they’re also attempting to break away from the grasp of their difficult families. Veblen’s mother is a narcissistic hypochondriac, and Paul’s parents are passive-aggressive hippies who have pushed his needs aside to care for his intellectually disabled brother. The question is, in all the turmoil, will this fledgling couple find their way back to each other?
McKenzie currently edits the Catamaran and Chicago Quarterly literary magazines. This is her third novel, and it’s getting rave reviews. She lives in Santa Cruz and we talked recently about her work. There are so many wide-ranging elements in this novel. How did you bring them together?
Elizabeth McKenzie: It took years. I just allowed myself to follow different threads of interest. I didn’t know if they were going to meld or not, but I thought that would be my challenge, to make it work. I figured if they’re all in me, they must fit together somehow. What’s with the squirrels?
They’re kind of emblematic of what’s left of the natural world that we come into contact with, and we don’t really control them even though they’ve made a lot of sacrifices to adapt to us. It’s amazing how polarizing they are. People either love them or hate them. For Veblen, the squirrel is an emotional investment, like an imaginary friend. The military plays a surprising role in this book. What sparked your interest?
I didn’t feel like I’d been in close contact with people in the military growing up, yet my own father, stepfather and grandfather had all been in WWII. Because everyone in their generation was involved, they didn’t think much about what it meant. It’s not like we all have someone in the military now. I started to realize there were things that happened to my father, who served in the Navy, that accounted for how the rest of his life unfolded. He was fired upon, injured and shell-shocked, and though it wasn’t talked about as I grew up, his behavior was there, and it had a strong effect on me. I realized that veterans’ issues had touched my life in a way I hadn’t thought about before, and I developed a kind of obsession with them as I wrote this book, reading war memoirs and following the news about V.A. scandals. I became fascinated with current issues in the military, like clinical trials and marketing. There’s a lot going on there that you don’t see in everyday life. I like your exploration of parenthood.
It’s a preoccupation of mine, the effect of one’s parents. It’s something I keep writing about, almost without thinking about it. What are you working on now?
After such a long period writing a novel, I’m happily writing short stories. It feels great to finish something quickly. What advice do you have for aspiring novelists?
It’s hard, but don’t hurry the thing you’re working on. Let it accrue all the depth it can. Elizabeth McKenzie will read from her new book at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free.
LOCAL GEM Santa Cruz novelist Elizabeth McKenzie will read from her new, critically acclaimed book ‘The Portable Veblen’ at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
Keith McHenry of Food Not Bombs faces charges after protest
More than two years ago, Santa Cruz city officials painted 61 color-coded spaces on downtown sidewalks—yellow for performers, red for vendors, and blue for both—in response to complaints from downtown business owners and shoppers.
The plan was largely seen as a compromise between locals who wanted a quieter downtown and artists who were tired of getting busted for breaking loitering laws, having not known where they were allowed to set up. Then, last year, after the Santa Cruz City Council voted to remove half of the spaces, local activist and co-founder of the international group Food Not Bombs Keith McHenry decided to protest. One night in August, he repainted the boxes that the city had removed.
“I decided I would do it without hiding,” McHenry says. “I’m publicly saying I’m against the policy. Put back the boxes and encourage more artists to flourish on Pacific Avenue.”
McHenry, who’s 58, is now facing charges of felony conspiracy to commit a crime and felony vandalism for his November arrest.
McHenry paid his $5,000 bail. “The main thing is that I wanted to give hope to the people on the street, that it would empower them to stand up for their rights, and I think that really happened,” he says. “People really got excited. They had been getting depressed.”
Two months later, while protesting with the Freedom Sleepers, a group of homeless advocates who camp out in front of city hall, McHenry was charged with offensive words and failure to obey a police officer. While serving food at the October sleepout, he says he called a city staffer “chickenshit”—something he now regrets, he says, “because there’s really no sense in being negative.” Later, he allegedly jaywalked when an officer told him not to, which he denies.
“I perceived the removal of the boxes, the stay-away ordinance, and the cutting of services at the Homeless Service Center as being a widespread attack on low-income and homeless people,” says McHenry, whose next hearing takes place at 10 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Assistant District Attorney Archie Webber, who could not be reached for comment, offered McHenry a plea deal that would have dropped the charges if he pleaded guilty to vandalism. The offer included two months in jail and a year’s stay away from Pacific Avenue, but McHenry isn’t interested.
“I won’t take a deal that interferes with my right to protest,” said McHenry, who will represent himself in court.
His first hearing took place Dec. 8. Joining him was Abbi Samuels, an activist, member of FNB and his partner, who was with him during the blue box incident, although she says she did not participate. Vice Mayor Cynthia Chase attended the hearing, curious about their status.
“We’re trying to create a balance downtown between free expression and downtown business. This [case] brought attention to that,” Chase tells GT. She says the city manager’s staff is in the process of researching how other communities find this balance, and expects a report to the council by the end of February.
Bomb-free
“I live very marginally, my personal expenses are about $500 a month. To make that, I speak at colleges,” McHenry says, sipping tea in the back corner of Saturn Cafe, his usual spot. “Anything after $500, I donate to Food Not Bombs.”
McHenry has written three books, his latest, The Anarchist Cookbook, teaches people how to cook affordable group meals with the purpose of feeding the hungry.
In 1988, McHenry says, the FBI classified him as a terrorist; they also classified Food Not Bombs as a terrorist group. The FBI told him it will review his case, he says, but that it would take 45 years. He considers himself a nonviolent person who was targeted for his activism.
It all started one day when, as a college activist in 1980, McHenry noticed a poster that spoke to him and changed his life. The poster read, “Wouldn’t it be a beautiful day if the schools had all the money they needed and the Air Force had to hold a bake sale to build a bomber?” The poster would help inspire the creation of Food Not Bombs.
McHenry and eight buddies bought military uniforms from a surplus store in Boston, and held a bake-sale, acting as generals trying to buy a bomber. The money went to a friend’s legal defenses, and it was largely successful. This bake sale held on May 24, 1980, is now celebrated by Food Not Bombs, which has since been recognized by Amnesty International for its work on human rights. At the time, McHenry was working at a grocery store and took the food daily to the housing projects in Boston.
Left Coastin’
McHenry moved to San Francisco in 1988 to start Food Not Bombs’ second chapter. He says he was arrested his first day for not having a permit for feeding people at Golden Gate Park.
He served a total of 500 days in jail between 1988 and 1995, he says, racking up 47 felony conspiracy cases. “Every time we would get arrested there would be more groups popping up,” he says. “It shocked people’s consciousness seeing and hearing about the police beating and arresting people for feeding people.”
Today, there are an estimated 1,000 Food Not Bombs chapters worldwide. The group has three principles that other chapters must recognize. The first is that food must be vegan or vegetarian and free to anyone drunk or sober. Second, there are no leaders or headquarters, and each chapter is autonomous, making its decisions as a collective. Third, members of the group do not consider it a charity, but rather a group dedicated to taking nonviolent action to change society.
“If you want to end hunger, rather than just feed people, it’s better to change the conditions and make a world where everyone has access to food,” he says.
McHenry had visited Santa Cruz as a young man, but chose to stay in 2013 during one of his tours of “Squash Hunger Smash Poverty,” where he met Samuels. He fell in love with Samuels and the community, deciding to make Santa Cruz home.
Samuels says she was impressed by his nonviolent creative strategies and attitude of never giving up the effort to make the world a better place. “He had this undeterred idealistic view of how much better the world could be,” she says, “if more money went to helping others instead of killing them.”
McHenry says that with his recent protest, he was just trying to support people whose voices may otherwise be forgotten along Pacific Avenue. “I did water colors out there in the ’70s. It’s such an artist town,” he says. “It seems like an effort to drive poor people out of town, and that’s where poor people make their money.”
TABLE THIS Activist Keith McHenry helps feed people downtown and shares information about Food Not Bombs during weekend afternoons. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Wearable technology is changing how we exercise, and even how we live—but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet
We live in an age where technology is intertwined into almost every aspect of our lives. Perhaps the only place it hasn’t yet completely conquered is our own bodies. That may be why mainstream culture greeted certain wearable technology like Google Glass with distrust and even outright hostility—after all, once technology is on us, isn’t it only a matter of time before it’s in us, or simply is us?
But Philippe Kahn, best known as the inventor of the camera phone, and now CEO and founder of Santa Cruz-based Fullpower Technologies Inc., thinks that attitude is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. More and more consumers are embracing gadgets like FitBits, smart watches, smart beds, and even fitness-tracking smart shoes for their potential to revolutionize the fitness and health care industries. These wearables can track every aspect of daily life, from sleep patterns to steps taken to heart rate, calories burned, body weight, and time spent standing.
Meanwhile, Kahn’s company is already working on all sorts of ideas that will help usher in the next era of wearable tech. Why is he betting the industry will continue to grow? Because knowledge is power. When it comes to improving our health and lifestyles, extremely individualized data can go a long way. And when we decide to make a change and do something about it, wearable technology can provide immediate feedback on our progress.
“It’s simple and amazingly efficient,” Kahn tells GT. Wearable technology provides the kind of information that can get results fast, he says, which feeds its popularity. “Without any other changes, if Ms. and Mr. Everyone are just a little more active and sleep just a little more, health immediately improves.”
Whereas current fitness wristbands and watches collect data mainly through an accelerometer that tracks step-related movements or lack thereof, devices of the future will be able to distinguish among many different and diverse types of exercise, as well as provide data about blood sugar, hydration, hormone levels, and beyond. Additionally, whereas a current concern among wearable technology users and makers is a lack of privacy, the wearable tech of the future will use authentication techniques that are unique to every individual, such as heart rhythm.
Current wearable fitness trackers are fairly limited in the types of exercise they can track, and this is especially true if the exercise doesn’t involve taking steps. The next generation of wearable tech will not only be able to “learn” and measure new exercises performed by the wearer, it will also be able to more accurately track activities like weight lifting, swimming, and even something like playing an instrument that while usually performed stationary is nonetheless a legitimate workout for the upper body. Future fitness wearables will also be able to instantly access the wearer’s diet and medical history and even be able to “critically think” and provide advice. Smart sports gear is also just around the corner, such as a basketball that has an implanted computer and can track made baskets and provide feedback on shooting form, or a football that can help aspiring quarterbacks throw a tighter spiral.
PICTURE OF HEALTH
Exercise and sport aren’t the only frontiers for wearable technologies. They show even greater potential to improve personal health on a large scale because they provide a larger amount of more accurate data to a doctor or health care provider. As long as the patient consistently wears his or her health-and-fitness-tracking wearable technology, a doctor can easily use the data from the device to get a more accurate picture of the patient’s lifestyle. This will allow doctors to make better decisions and diagnoses than ever before. Eventually, wearable technology will allow doctors to treat patients remotely, without having to see them in person—transforming health care for travelers, those who find it difficult or impossible to visit a doctor’s office, and pretty much everyone else.
Some examples of cutting-edge health care wearable technology include body-worn sensors and contact lenses that monitor blood sugar levels and could revolutionize the care and management of diabetes, an increasingly common condition in America. Companies are also developing smart bras that track breast health, as well as wearable technology that could help a person quit smoking by detecting cravings and then releasing medication before the smoker falls off the wagon and lights up a cigarette. There is even ingestible technology being developed that is powered by stomach acid and could monitor the timing and consistency of when a person takes their medications. This could provide doctors with unprecedented information about the adherence to and effectiveness of prescribed therapies.
FUZZY DATA
Wearable technology, however, is still in its infancy, or, at most, its toddlerhood. And there are plenty of growing pains.
One challenge is the drive to constantly improve the accuracy of the data these devices provide. When current wearable technology can only provide estimates on steps taken, calories burned, or anything else, it simply isn’t good enough. This can be a major problem, especially if health care providers are basing recommendations for medication, exercise, diet, and lifestyle on the accuracy of this data.
“Accuracy is important, as that is key work that Fullpower focuses on more than any other company on the planet,” says Kahn. But for most current applications of wearable technology, he believes this issue shouldn’t be overblown. “Remember that the benefits come from being more active and sleeping a little longer, not necessarily understanding every detail of everything.”
At this point, there is little industry regulation and no governing body to make independent verifications of wearable technology data, and to make sure standards are upheld. Greater industry regulation with independently verified data will go a long way toward legitimizing the entire industry. “We sure hope this happens soon, as it will make Fullpower’s technology shine even more,” says Kahn. “My understanding is that there are a couple of labs who are evaluating the business opportunity.”
There is also the issue of interpretation of all this data—without it, the information is basically useless. “It’s not just quantified self-measuring, it’s using big data science to give meaningful insights,” explains Kahn. “For example, Fullpower’s new Sleeptracker® Smartbed will soon start being deployed by major bedding manufacturers and will provide lots of insights and tools to improve sleep.” Kahn says the insight the smart bed provides is based on data from more than 500 million nights of detailed recorded sleep, and calls it “the greatest sleep study ever.”
Wearable technology not only needs to be stylish, in Kahn’s view, it also needs to be at least somewhat invisible or at least seamlessly integrated into a person’s “look.” Making a one-size-fits-all product that also has universal aesthetic appeal is no small challenge. Just consider how many different companies sell widely diverse products that are all essentially either a shoe, a shirt, a hat, or anything else wearable.
“We believe that wearable tech and fashion are tied at the hip. We are focused on making non-invasive technology that is green, invisible and beautifully discreet,” says Kahn.
Battery life is another challenge. “Fullpower is working on energy harvesting off the host. It’s no different than getting solar energy to work in the home,” says Kahn. His company recently launched the Movado smartwatch that can run for over two years without a charge. Whether it’s using body heat, body movement, or some other source, renewable energy is a big part of the future of wearable technology.
WEARABLE FRONTIERS
As bright as the future may be for wearable fitness technology, the possibilities for merging man and machine on a larger scale may be even more astounding. For example, Lockheed Martin has developed an unpowered exoskeleton that makes heavy tools feel almost weightless, as if they are being used in zero gravity. This kind of technology could revolutionize many industries including construction, demolition, disaster cleanup, and first-responder situations. Still other exoskeletons are being used to help paraplegics regain the use of their legs and walk again. There is even wearable technology being developed that turns sound into patterns of vibration felt on the skin from a garment that, with training, can help the deaf “hear” the world around them in a similar way to how Braille turns letters and words on a page into tactile representations that allow the blind to “see.” Some people are even pushing the boundaries of our senses by implanting magnets into their fingertips in order to be able to “feel” electromagnetism.
The incredible neuroplasticity of the human brain allows for all of this remarkable technology to be seamlessly integrated into the brain’s representation of the body over time. For example, ask any experienced surfer where the body ends and they will all tell you that eventually the surfboard becomes an extension of the self. To them, the body does not end at the foot, it ends on the wave.
All of this seemingly space-age technology being closer to our doorstep than most of us thought begs the question: How much technology is too much technology? But the reality is that technology is in many ways the ultimate embodiment of everything it means to be human, showcasing our ingenuity, ambition and creativity. Wearable technology is only the latest expression of an age-old truth: We have always been natural born cyborgs, using technology to transcend ourselves and our biology.
How technology is rapidly changing our bodies, and what we can do about it
Technology is everywhere: It’s in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s, glowing in the dark after bedtime, tempting us while we’re stopped for a red light—it even creeps into our bathrooms while we’re sitting on the toilet.
But what is our attachment to our phones doing to our bodies and brains? Well, let’s start with the latest medical phenomenon you should probably know about: text neck.
“Think of it as whiplash at zero miles an hour,” says local chiropractor Michelle Bean, co-founder of the Santa Cruz Challenge. “It’s the shortening of certain [neck] muscles, [while] muscles on the other side of the body get inhibited or elongated. If they’re chronically elongated and inhibited the body turns them off at some point.”
So how relevant is this to anyone who relies on texting as their main form of communication with friends?
“I look around all the time and see people with their heads hanging over their shoulders and it’s sad. I worry,” says Bean. “What’s going to happen with this next generation coming up?”
To experience the healthy, all-too-rare sensation of a straight spine while reading on a mobile device eye, or other screen for that matter, we should raise it up to eye level.
“With text neck, you’re constantly looking down at your tablet or cell phone, and nodding, sitting on the couch, on a chair. You do it hundreds of times a day over the course of years and suddenly your body’s breaking down,” says UCSC’s Campus Ergonomist Brian MacDonald.
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy recently brought the text neck concept—also referred to as iHunch or iPosture—into the national discussion with her Dec. 12 article in the New York Times, which presents this previously underreported fact: “When we bend our necks forward 60 degrees, as we do to use our phones, the effective stress on our neck increases to 60 pounds.”
“That extra weight will either go directly into their neck or transfer down, often to a weak link in the spine,” Bean says. “Sometimes they’ll feel it all the way down their back into the hips.”
The problem is growing, and fast—a 2013 study on the health effects of smartphones and portable devices in 1,049 people found 70 percent of adults and 30 percent of children surveyed reported musculoskeletal symptoms in the body, according to the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association, which collaborated on the study.
Spinal Tax
The physical effects of the now ubiquitous iHunch can creep up slowly, and sometimes people don’t realize that the jaw, wrist, elbow or lower back pain they develop is caused by poor posture in the neck and shoulders.
“What it ends up doing is putting a lot of load on the [spinal] discs,” says Bean. “The disc is designed to absorb load when you put stress on it, and it ends up kind of moving the stress to the front of the disc, squeezing the disc so you can get cracks in the disc or a herniation, disc bulges, bone spurs.”
And that’s just talking about the spine, says Bean. “Other things like lung capacity gets bound because you’re closing down the lung space. Problems with digestion is one we really see. You’re also squeezing down on the abdominal cavity,” says Bean.
The saddest thing about these negative physical impacts is that they’re so easily preventable, says Bean. Most people aren’t yet cognizant enough of the problem to make a change.
Bean and MacDonald both report seeing text neck affecting young people, in a way never seen before, and that there’s a significant gap in education on how to maintain good posture—both at school and in the workplace.
Bean works on patients who come into her practice with complaints of pain, once things like text neck have already set in, while MacDonald’s focus as an ergonomist is to try and prevent those injuries from forming.
MacDonald and the UCSC Environmental Health & Safety Department try to encourage supervisors and managers to report physical effects of equipment as they arise, in order to get funding for ergonomically sound furniture. There’s an altruistic and financial motivation for businesses to do this, too, he says—healthy employees create a happier work environment, but from a financial standpoint, keeping employees in good posture decreases the cost of an injury or hiring and training someone new.
“In the late ’80s, late ’90s, computers started showing up in a big way. Before then it wasn’t recognized that office work was risky,” says MacDonald, who worked as a chiropractor for 20 years before beginning ergonomics consulting.
“But since around 2000, even in the last five years, we’re experiencing an industry-wide shift,” says MacDonald. “For the first time new employees—young people in their early 20s—showing up within in the first few months experiencing these injuries because they’ve been looking at their cell phones, tablets—and they’ve been doing it since they were 3 years old. We’re seeing a new epidemic of young people with these injuries.”
Straightening up in your chair can help, and guess what, there’s an app for that. The Text Neck Institute—yes, that exists too—launched the Text Neck Indicator app for Android phones to notify cell phone users when they’re holding their device at an unhealthy height.
MacDonald also points out that employers are legally responsible for making workplaces ergonomically safe. The California Code of Regulations stipulates that if one or more ergonomic-related injuries takes place on the job, the employer must institute training, an evaluation and controls to minimize the risk of injury.
Necks Generation
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, good posture was a status symbol—a social signifier of good breeding and etiquette. Most baby boomers were also nagged by their parents to sit up straight, too, perhaps while dialing a rotary phone or opening a piece of mail. But then there are those who grew up with the Internet—millennials with the last remaining memory bridge to the dial-up past—and those born after, into a world of Wi-Fi. Teenagers and young adults have often had bad posture, says Bean, but there’s now far less education about how critical good posture is.
“If you’ve ever seen a one-year-old or two-year-old they’ve got [good posture], because they’re influenced by one thing, and that’s gravity,” Bean says. “Gravity is the number one influencer on the body, so they sit with really good posture, they bend over with really good posture, they stand up with good posture. Those are natural instincts.”
The change occurs when kids reach around 7 or 8, says Bean. These days, that’s the age when children are starting to really use technology, especially for school and homework.
The good news is that there are ways to prevent the effects of bad posture from leading to chronic problems, especially if children start changing their posture habits at an early age. Bean recommends that in order to maintain good posture while seated, bring the shoulder forward, up and back for a roll motion. The goal is to elongate the body, not just pop the chest out, she says.
“You can just get up and walk around the desk, it’s going to make a huge difference,” says Bean. “For people that commute a lot, set the rearview mirror getting into the car and get in a good postural position—and then don’t move it.”
For workstations, MacDonald recommends that all furniture be adjustable, especially the chair and desk, that everything be in close reach, and that the monitor is at a height that maintains a neutral neck position. Listen to music while you work, dance a little—any sort of movement to break up the stagnation helps.
Body of Trouble
While our mental state can often affect our posture, poor posture can also affect our mental state. In 2010, the Brazilian Psychiatric Association found that depressed patients tend to slouch with the whole body folding more inwardly than non-depressed people. Meanwhile, a study published last year in Health Psychology showed how the moods of non-depressed participants can become much more negative when sitting in a constantly slouched position.
And then there’s the damage to our eyes.
“The eye didn’t develop to stare at a fixed distance for eight hours in a row,” says Santa Cruz Optometric Center optometrist Laura Prisbe.
The problem is so pervasive that the Vision Council even came up with a name for it: Digital Eye Strain. And with nearly four out of 10 millennials spending at least nine hours on digital devices every day, it’s something to pay attention to, says Prisbe.
“That muscle that controls focusing, by being locked in the specific distance, gets really fatigued staring at the same distance,” Prisbe says.
That’s how people who aren’t genetically nearsighted or farsighted end up with symptoms of those conditions. But that’s not even the half of it. Prisbe says that staring at one spot also causes us to blink less—increasing eye fatigue—and that the glare from a computer screen coupled with the ubiquitous aesthetic atrocity that is overhead fluorescent lighting is the ultimate recipe for eye exhaustion.
New research coming to light over the last few years details the effects of “blue light”—that familiar glow on most screens—on the human eye. According to the Vision Council’s 2015 Digital Eye Strain Report, the band of blue-violet light thought to be most harmful to retinal cells falls between 415 to 455 nanometres (nm). Some of the “most favored digital devices and modern lighting” typically start at around 400 nm.
Prolonged exposure to blue light can lead to macular degeneration, especially if you have a family history of it, says Prisbe. “It’s the loss of your central vision. Your macula is the center part of your retina, what you use when you look directly at something,” she says. “With macular degeneration, you get a blind spot in the center of your vision.”
It’s a scary prospect, says Prisbe, who, like Bean, worries most about children spending unprecedented amounts of time looking at screens when the long-term effects are not yet known.
One thing parents can do to avoid future problems, says Prisbe, is make their kids go outside more.
“There’s research that supports that your eye continues to grow if you’re reading up close in poor light—that’s what nearsightedness is, the eyes grow too much,” she says. “With kids who are in natural daylight, they found that having exposure to outside reading was the key in not developing myopia, or nearsightedness.”
For cubicle dwellers, Prisbe recommends anti-glare screens, using artificial tears, and making sure the screen is at least an arm’s length away, the font is at a comfortably large size, the illumination is not at its brightest, and the screen is just below eye level. For those fighting fluorescent lighting, she even suggests wearing a hat or visor. Also worth looking into: a coating for glasses that blocks blue light, and computer-specific glasses to help the focusing muscle relax. For most people, the most important rule to remember is the 20-20-20 rule, says Prisbe: every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds and spend it looking away from your screen at something at least 20 feet away.
“This field is evolving with the research being done,” says MacDonald. “Technology is providing us with new challenges, many people now aren’t working in front of a desktop computer, but they’re looking at their tablet and cell: that provides a new set of static prolonged postures.” NEXT UP: Where It’s At – Wearable technology is changing how we exercise, and even how we live—but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet
Plus Letters To the Editor
Text neck, iPosture, iHunch—the names for these new physical conditions are so evocative they don’t even need a description. The fact that I can feel a little twinge in my spine just reading them is a sign that I—like everybody else—have become far too accepting of how today’s technology is twisting my body into knots.
Perhaps the most radical thing Anne-Marie Harrison’s cover story on the subject suggests is that it doesn’t have to be that way, even in our hyperconnected world of instant communication and blue light. Knowing we don’t have to take some untenable stand against technology—that even a few small adjustments can vastly improve how our bodies relate to it—is a huge revelation.
But that’s only half of how we consider the relationship between technology and biology in this Health and Fitness issue. Andrew Steingrube also takes a look at the rapidly advancing field of wearable technology. While checking in with famed Santa Cruz inventor Philippe Kahn—who developed the first camera phone technology, and is now pioneering the wearables industry with his local company Fullpower—Steingrube examines some of the surprising possibilities in the technology’s future for advancements in fitness and other aspects of our lives. STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Giving In
I want to share our thanks for launching the first ever Santa Cruz Gives program in 2015. All of us here at the Coastal Watershed Council (CWC) are so grateful for your support, forward thinking and perseverance in getting this program off the ground.
And what a success! As Karen Delaney of the Volunteer Center said at the wrap-up meeting, no one thinks that when you launch a new program you’ll exceed your fundraising goal by over 25 percent, but we did just that—thanks to you. CWC brought in lots of new donors big and small, and reached the top five of the young donor category, which we’re very proud of.
We heard from some of our new young donors that Santa Cruz Gives was the mechanism with which they gave their first-ever philanthropic gift. They thought it was innovative and exciting and it inspired them to give not only to CWC, but to others in the community.
A big thank you to Good Times, Volunteer Center, Community Foundation and Santa Cruz County Bank for making it all happen.
Laurie Egan
Outreach and Development Manager, Coastal Watershed Council Time to Unplug
Re: “Digital Detox”: I want to thank Rachel Anne Goodman for sharing this important story about her Mass Communication class assignment at Cabrillo College. She assigned her class to a four-hour fast from all digital media, books, magazines, radio, video games, Internet, and smartphones. After the assignment was completed, over half of the students “likened the urge to use media to an addiction.”
Recently, I was at restaurant for lunch when a family of four walked in and sat at a table near me. The waitress gave them their menus and a short time later they placed their order. At that point, as if it were synchronized, each family member pulled out their smartphone. The rest of the time they sat side-by-side, not saying one word to each other. They all stared down at their smartphones, finished their lunch, and left. It really struck me how sad it is that a family could be with each other sharing a meal and not say one word to each other. They truly missed out on some important quality time together. Our society as a whole could use some digital detox.
Sid Thompson, Santa Cruz ONLINE COMMENTS Re: “Scenes from a Moviehouse”
Thank you for this great piece Lisa Jensen. The Nick/Sash Mill is one of the great Santa Cruz institutions, and has been a hugely influential part of my childhood and growing up in Santa Cruz.
Nearly every Friday, my father, the poet and film critic Mort Marcus, would take my sister and I to a film, and often it was at the Sash Mill or the Nick. From the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to Inglourious Basterds (2009)—one of the last films I saw with my father before he passed away. Seeing great films on the big screen created big memories, helping to shape me as an artist and a patron of the arts, and for that I am truly grateful.
— Valerie Marcus Ramshur Re: ‘River Revival’
Thank you for recognizing Greg Pepping as a great leader in our community. The San Lorenzo River deserves much attention.
— Tina Slosberg Re: Hot Seat
Why are Monterey Republicans like Jeff Davi endorsing Panetta, a Democrat?
— Sam Adams
Knowing and working with Jimmy [Panetta] before I retired, I was struck by his professionalism, dedication to see that justice was served fairly, and his dedication to the people of Monterey County.
— Tony Gutierrez
Letters Policy
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PUTTING THE WILD IN WILDER A mountain lion photographed at Wilder Ranch on Jan. 3. Photograph by Melissa Cara Rigoli.
PARK AND PROVIDE
For the second year running, the city of Santa Cruz donated all of the money from its parking meters during the week before Christmas to charity. Parking for Hope raised $30,000, far exceeding last year’s number of $21,000. The city used to offer free holiday parking all day, but beginning in 2014, the City Council voted to instead begin collecting the revenue and donating it to Hope Services, which provides training and support to people with developmental disabilities who help keep the city clean.
BED TIME
Under a new state law, Santa Cruz County residents can now dispose of old mattresses and box springs for free at local landfills. The law requires mattress manufacturers to create a statewide recycling program for mattresses, and the county’s new program helps meet a local objective to reduce illegal dumping in rural areas. The program is funded by a new state-mandated $11 surcharge on mattress purchases. Visit santacruzcountyrecycles.org for more information.
Elegance is achieved when all that is superfluous has been discarded and the human being discovers simplicity and concentration. — Paulo Coelho
Santa Cruz Gives, GT’s new holiday giving program, bolted across the finish line at midnight on Dec. 31 to top its goal by 32 percent. The $92,688 raised was distributed to 30 participating local nonprofits.
GT debuted Santa Cruz Gives in partnership with the Volunteer Center, and with the support of Community Foundation Santa Cruz County and the Packard Foundation, all of whom jumped right in to nurture this infant project.
What did we learn? First, Santa Cruz gives. Even more notable than total dollars was the 545 donors—a strong showing for a first-year program—demonstrating that SC County gets it: every little bit counts.
Second, most of the funds raised were from individual donors giving to multiple nonprofits. That is, while some donors were driven by a desire to support a single, favored organization, it was clear that top donors did some one-stop philanthropic shopping on the website (santacruzgives.org). Each nonprofit had its own info page to browse, and donors used the online shopping cart to click wherever inspiration led.
“This form of fundraising on one convenient website is new to our community and truly can create a network of donor participation we haven’t seen before,” said Karen Delaney, executive director of the Volunteer Center. “I am really enthusiastic about its potential.”
A few donors especially warmed our hearts. Two brothers held a bake sale at the Santa Cruz Montessori School, and showed up at the Volunteer Center to deliver 26 $5 donations plus 35 cents for the Teen Kitchen Project. Puppy Breath Boutique allowed Birchbark to hold a bake sale on site that raised $97. And a man in a wheelchair made his way up to the third-floor GT office with two $10 bills for Shared Adventures.
Late on Christmas Eve, after the GT staff had gone home, hopefully already having chowed down a few sugar plums, the last staffer was packed up and ready to lock the door for a few days off, when a pretty young woman walked in with a folder full of cash and checks.
Amanda Tran collected the funds from her co-workers at wearable technology company Fullpower as a holiday gift to their CEO Philippe Kahn and his wife Sonia Lee. Kahn apparently presides over a 10-dog office (sounds much warmer than a three-dog night), and every year the staff donates in his name to a nonprofit that serves animals. Tran was delighted to see that animal organizations were included in SC Gives, and chose Unchained.
“If you do this again next year, we’ll do it again, too!” she said, with a gleam in her eye. I believe I heard her exclaim as she danced out of sight, “And to all, a good night!”
Elizabeth McKenzie weaves wildly divergent stories and themes through her story of dysfunctional Silicon Valley love in ‘The Portable Veblen
Wearable technology is changing how we exercise, and even how we live—but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet
How technology is rapidly changing our bodies, and what we can do about it
Plus Letters To the Editor
