Page 968 | Good Times

Love Your Local Band: Kat Factor

A&E
Music

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April 27, 2016

Gifted with both a powerful voice and a name fit for the stage, Kat Factor sings from a place that she describes as “spontaneous, fun, and deep.” Drawing inspiration from Sarah Vaughan, Factor’s smoldering vocals are well-suited for the jazz-fusion she performs both as a solo artist and with her folk band, Abalone Grey.
When she first moved to Santa Cruz, Factor lived out of her ’89 Honda Accord, busking on Pacific Avenue before teaching children’s choir at Cabrillo College for three years. Now, in between getting her doctorate in Medical Anthropology at UCSC and raising a 4-year-old daughter, the singer finds time to write and perform her own music while booking and promoting the monthly Swing Night show at the Crepe Place. Not one to be pigeonholed, Factor is taking her sound in a completely new direction this summer with the release of a full-length electronic album.
But despite her various endeavors, Factor’s “master plan” isn’t music-related: she hopes to one day open a medical clinic in her family’s hometown of Aloneros, in the Quezon province of the Philippines.
After visiting Aloneros in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, Factor was struck by the devastation: “Seeing the poverty in the Philippines made me realize, ‘Ok, if I’m onstage, it has to be for a larger purpose … I have a voice, I have a public platform. People are listening. So what do I want to be telling people, if they’re listening?’”

INFO: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 29-May 1 at Camp Krem, 102 Brook Lane, Boulder Creek. $45-$120. 204-0751. doitourselvespresents.com/events

Bartolo Wines

Josie Cowden

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April 27, 2016

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Fiano is a white Italian grape that not all winemakers rush around to get their hands on. But expert winemaker Barry Jackson loves to produce anything that contains the noble grape, and he turned some splendid Fiano fruit from Mann Vineyards in Gilroy into a notable libation.

A high-quality white Italian grape variety grown mostly in the Campania region of southern Italy, Fiano is a pretty strong-flavored white wine with intense floral aromas and notes of honey and spice. I first happened to try Jackson’s intriguing Fiano 2014 when in his tasting room to sample his Equinox sparkling wines.
I always enjoy a glass of wine when I’m cooking, and absolutely loved a pouring of the Fiano before I paired it with some baked halibut, sautéed potatoes and green salad—quite a delicious match, I might say. Fiano can be nutty and rich, and some people find it piney and herbaceous. Jackson’s well-made Fiano is extremely flavorful with a lovely smoky minerality. And why not venture out and try lesser-known food and wine? At Andre’s Bouchee in Carmel a couple of weeks ago, we had an amazing tartine with bone marrow, snails on toast, wild mushrooms, garlic, bee balm, and black radish—a culinary feat by Chef Benoit Petel, and an exciting blend of flavors.
The Fiano sells for $26 a bottle and you can find it at the Equinox/Bartolo tasting room on the Westside. Jackson and his wife Jennifer recently moved into the busy Surf City Vintners complex from their previous location on Swift Street. They’re right opposite Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing.
Equinox/Bartolo, 334 Ingalls St., Unit C, Santa Cruz, 471-8608. equinoxwine.com

Eat Like A Greek

What!? You’ve never tasted fasolatha, papoutsakia, pastitsio or youvarlakia? Well, now’s your chance. All these dishes and more can be found at the Eat Like A Greek Food Faire as you listen to the Spartan Band playing melodic Greek music. This three-day event proudly serves authentic Greek food, which is not easy to find elsewhere, and the Greek taverna offers imported Greek spirits, wine and beer, and local selections. So mark your calendars for May 13, 14 and 15 and head to Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Santa Cruz. Admission is free. Visit livelikeagreek.com for more info.

Game Changer

Local News

Anne-Marie Harrison

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April 27, 2016

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You’re out of shampoo. So you grab your coat and keys, and head down the street to the closest grocery store. Whether you end up safely back home, terrified in a jail cell, or zipped up in a body bag has everything to do with your race.
At least, that’s the premise of &maybetheywontkillyou, a game designed by Akira Thompson to shed light on what it’s like to be black in America.
Thompson, a UC Santa Cruz Games and Playable Media graduate program alumnus, took the name from over a dozen tweets sent by writer and activist Ijeoma Oluo in December 2014. Oluo’s dispatches came in response to the Department of Justice’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Don’t wear a hoodie and maybe they won’t kill you,” one tweet said.
“Don’t ask for help after a car accident and maybe they won’t kill you,” read another.
In Thompson’s game, the player experiences the trip to the store as a young, poor black man. Walking down the street, someone locks their car door as you, the player, walk by. A cop car slows down and shines its light on you. In the store, the store owner follows the character down every aisle. In every situation, the player has the option to say something, in which case the scene could dramatically change and end with the police. Or they can choose to “say nothing” and watch their “Frustration Counter” go up and up.
“That frustration—it can only be pushed down so far until it explodes, and the further down it gets pushed, the more crazy and huge the explosion will be,” says Thompson, who is African American.

Thompson channeled his skills into something that could create empathy in people who may have never experienced racism first-hand.

UCSC literature professor Kimberly Lau says Thompson’s game forces people to understand what it feels like when frustration over racism starts to snowball.
“What is it like, that burden of people constantly being vigilant around you—always being under surveillance, unable to speak against that system?” says Lau, whose recent work includes examining masculinity in the popular “World of Warcraft” game.
Thompson formulated the idea for &maybetheywontkillyou the day that his professor, renowned game designer Brenda Romero, showed the class her board game “Train,” which has never been available for sale and explores complicity in horrible crimes. In it, players have to put as many people onto a train as possible. It isn’t revealed until the end that they’re being shuttled to a concentration camp.
That day in class was the same day the court decided not to charge Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown.
“It didn’t feel like justice was being properly served. It didn’t feel like the problem was being addressed in a meaningful way,” says Thompson, who recalls many of his Facebook friends worrying about the rioting and destruction in the aftermath. “When people riot, that is a long-term build-up from some issue that isn’t being addressed, and people feeling so disempowered and disillusioned that they feel like they have no other recourse.”
Thompson channeled his skills into something that could create empathy in people who may have never experienced racism first-hand. To play the game in person, the player must wear a black hoodie and hold the Frustration Counter. A moderator holds a large binder, called the Resolution Penal Code, and asks the questions.
A similar online model, available on Thompson’s company website, Rainb.ro, features simple black letters against a white background.
Thompson has presented the in-person version of the game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the International Festival of Independent Games (IndieCade), the XOXO Festival and a handful of others.
Reactions to the game, Thompson says, have differed depending on race. Sometimes he’s met with staunch disbelief, he says, because these people live so far removed from his world that it’s difficult to grasp. He’s got the numbers on hand to back him up.
An analysis by the ACLU of New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy found that nine out of 10 New Yorkers stopped were innocent, according to the NYPD’s own reports. Fifty-four percent of those stopped were black, according to the same report.
According to a Washington Post investigation, 990 people were shot and killed by police nationwide—9 percent of them were unarmed. Whites made up 50 percent of the people who died, and African Americans, who account for 13 percent of the country’s population, made up 26 percent of the total group.
Thompson grew up across the river from Matt Hale’s white supremacist World Church of the Creator in Peoria, Illinois, where he and his siblings and a couple of other kids made up the school’s entire black population, he says. Luckily, he managed to avoid blatant or extreme racism outside of microaggressions.
After high school, he enrolled at Columbia College in Chicago and served in Iraq before working with Seamus Blackley, one of the creators of Xbox, at the Creative Artists Agency, and later as a production coordinator at Walt Disney Imagineering. Disney’s resources were ample, Thompson says, but after a while he wanted to create something of his own, and dove into USC’s Cinematic Arts department in Los Angeles before making the move to UCSC. Thompson was drawn to Santa Cruz because of Romero and her husband, John Romero, who were both professors in the digital media department at the time.
Thompson’s newest release, Stop! Thief! was recently made commercially available on iPhone systems and explores how crimes like robbery are perceived when compared with major white-collar crimes. The larger the scale, Thompson says, the less likely the person is to serve time.
Lau, who was excited to read about &maybetheywontkillyou, but has yet to play the game herself, says that society’s inequalities were carved out of a history of white supremacy, and that’s what his game conveys.
“He’s using the fact that games have a structure to get at the fact that racism also has structure—that there is institutional racism that operates through certain rules, maybe unspoken, maybe unknown or unfair,” Lau says.
Those structures reach deeper than day-to-day encounters, says Thompson. “It goes to believing it,” he says, “having self-worth issues and thinking, ‘Well, society views me this way and everything in society is telling me that this is my value, so this is my value.’”

When it comes to finding a mate, what’s a total deal maker?

Columns

Matthew Cole Scott

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April 27, 2016

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When it comes to finding a mate, what’s a total deal maker?

“A sense of humor.”

Amanda Forster

Scotts Valley

Physical Therapist

“Physically fit and active.”

Regan Chang

Mountain View

Designer

“Likes to do fun outdoor things.”

Lynn Hardwick

Sunnyvale

Registered Nurse

“A good listener.”

Joan Wattman

Massachusetts

Sign Language Interpreter

“A beard.”

Erin Johnstone

Santa Cruz

Dog Watcher

Opinion April 4, 2016

Opinion

Steve Palopoli

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April 27, 2016

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EDITOR’S NOTE

There’s so much happening in Santa Cruz County every week that it’s pretty much impossible to give everything its due. Even an event that’s proven itself year in and year out as an important contributor to the cultural scene can get overlooked, and that’s often how I’ve felt about the Reel Work Film Festival. It’s gotten some ink here and there, but certainly not what it deserves, considering it’s now in its 15th year.
This week’s cover story by John Malkin will hopefully go a long way toward correcting that, and it’s an ideal time to do so, as this year’s festival features a very timely documentary and discussion on drones. Malkin spoke to former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who’ll speak on the topic at the screening of director Tonje Hessen Schei’s Drone, and his insights into the state of our country’s intelligence gathering are sobering.
Also in this issue is a tribute by Lisa Jensen to Nancy Raney, the founding co-owner with her husband Bill Raney of the Nickelodeon Theatres, and the undisputed grande dame of the local film scene. I was saddened to hear of the passing of a woman who—with her humor, smarts and passion for indie culture—to me represented everything that makes this community great, and Jensen’s testament is truly moving.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Drought and Diet
Last week’s cover story “Is The Drought Over?” (GT, 4/20) brings to light a huge misunderstanding by the general public about our water supply. This problem affects our welfare and even life itself. After this winter’s rains, many people thought, “Thank God the drought is over, let’s get back to building more homes and using water in our many (wasteful) ways.”
Kara Guzman’s article concludes, “We can’t solve this problem through conservation,” which is only partially true. It will take a paradigm shift in what we consume water for before we will be safe from the coming disaster. The article correctly states that 85 percent of our water is used for agriculture. What it doesn’t mention is that, in California, 48 percent of that water is used to raise and slaughter cattle (mostly for irrigating feed crops).
Californians use about 1,500 gallons of water per day, per person. Close to half of that is associated with meat and dairy production. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef, 477 gallons to produce 1 pound of eggs, 1,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk, and even the hamburger you had for lunch required 660 gallons of water to produce!
Home water use requires only 5 percent of the total water we consume. In the U.S., 55 percent of our total water is used for animal agriculture. Consider that 1.5 acres of land can produce 37,000 pounds of plant-based food, while the same 1.5 acres will only produce 375 pounds of meat. A person eating a vegetarian diet saves 1,000 gallons of water per day!
There is a long-term, permanent solution to our looming water crisis; reducing our meat consumption—or, better yet, becoming a vegetarian. Will people do this? Most will not until they turn on their faucet one day and there is no water.
Bill Meade
Watsonville
While it’s not the central point of Mr. Meade’s letter, I should point out that the line about conservation to which he refers was not a conclusion made by the article’s author, but rather a snippet of a quote from Ron Duncan, the manager of Soquel Creek Water District. When read in its original context, it referenced the need for action by administrative agencies, not a dismissal of conservation efforts. — Editor

Online Comments
Re: Spiritual Awakening
“… a few well-thought-out custom cocktails congruent with the gastronomic culture of the restaurant. Probably a superior and judicious selection of classic aged spirits …”
A classic John Lockism. This is actually how John Locke speaks. All the time. A Santa Cruz classic, this gentleman!
— Dave Chambers
Re: “Cuts Loom For Metro”
Buses should work like public transit works in many other countries. The bus station replaces most big buses with 8-16-seat mini-buses. People sign up for a bus to their zone and are alerted five minutes before the bus leaves via cell phone. The mini-bus takes them all the way home. The charge is by the mile, with any special discounts like senior citizen already factored. The buses run 24 hours a day based on capacity loads, not on schedules. At unpopular hours, a driver’s range for drop off expands. I suggest piloting this with the five least popular bus routes: No. 34 (South Felton), No. 8 (Emeline in Santa Cruz), No. 33 (Lompico in Felton), No. 54 (Capitola, Aptos and La Selva) and No. 42 (Davenport and Bonny Doon), according to 2013 data. Dedicated routes are like land lines: antiquated and expensive.
— Uber Driver

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.

GOOD IDEA

MOTHER LOVERS
No one wants to let down his or her mom by forgetting about Motherâ€™s Day and simply gifting her a last-minute candy bar with a sheepish shrug. Thatâ€™s why Live Oak Community Resources is hosting its second annual Motherâ€™s Day Gift Fair one week before Motherâ€™s Day. The fair is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 at Live Oak Elementary. Proceeds go to Live Oak Community Resources, a division of Community Bridges that strengthens local access to resources.

GOOD WORK

CREDIT CART
Staff of Life Natural Foods donated more than $23,000 to Santa Cruz County community charities through its Sharatoken Program and GivBack Community Program in 2015. Through the programs, a cashier gives a shopper a token every time he or she brings their own bag. Recipients included Bike Santa Cruz, Encompass Support Services, Familia Center, Hospice of Santa Cruz, Kid Quest, Native Animal Rescue, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Save our Shores, WomenCare, and Womenâ€™s Crisis Center.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

â€œTo the United States, a drone strike seems to have very little risk and very little pain. At the receiving end, it feels like war. Americans have got to understand that.â€
-Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal

Queen of the Scene

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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April 27, 2016

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She never actually made a film, but Nancy Raney was the undisputed godmother of the Santa Cruz movie community. When she took her final bow last week, surrounded by her loved ones, it was truly the end of an era.
As co-owner of the Nickelodeon Theatre with her husband, Bill Raney, who opened it in 1969, Nancy was the theater’s one-woman publicity department. As soon as a movie was booked, Nancy was on the phone to get the word out, not only to us ink-stained wretches of the press, but also to anyone else in town she could think of who might be remotely interested in the film, or its subject—schools, service groups, foreign language societies, politicians, surfers, artists, musicians, you name it.
She was also a tireless cheerleader for arts and culture in Santa Cruz. She attended, promoted, or otherwise supported such local institutions as Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Symphony, Pacific Rim Film Festival and Santa Cruz Public Libraries, among others. An avid reader, she loved to organize cross-promotions with Bookshop Santa Cruz or Capitola Book Café anytime a movie came out with a literary pedigree.

I remember being worried about a potential conflict of interest: heaven forbid I should let myself get too chummy with the proprietors of a local movie house. Ha! I found I couldn’t maintain a sense of aloof, professional decorum for very long with Nancy. She was way too much fun.

But perhaps Nancy’s most indelible influence on our arts scene—besides her buoyant personality—were the advance press screenings she organized at the Nick so local scribes could get their reviews in print the same week a movie opened. I was only a lowly stringer at Good Times in 1976 when Nancy first invited me to a screening. She greeted us in the lobby and ushered us into the auditorium, exuding her usual warmth and good humor. She had my life story out of me in no time (granted, at age 22, my story was pretty short). It’s not that she pried, exactly, but she was always so interested in other people, and we all found her interest irresistible.
As I inherited the job of full-time film critic, Nick screenings became a weekly event in my life. At first, I remember being worried about a potential conflict of interest: heaven forbid I should let myself get too chummy with the proprietors of a local movie house. Ha! I found I couldn’t maintain a sense of aloof, professional decorum for very long with Nancy. She was way too much fun.
It was never held against me when I wrote a negative review—and I wrote plenty. Nobody laughed about the stinkers more uproariously than Nancy. When I once revealed to her that I kept a mini-bag of M&Ms in my purse to keep me awake if a movie dragged, she gave me a family-sized jar of M&Ms for Christmas.
We both loved British history, Charles Dickens and period books and movies of every stripe. And Nancy was fascinated by nuns, as only a Midwestern girl with a good Nordic Protestant upbringing can be. She had migrated out West in the first place to attend Stanford, which she also loved, and she kept in touch with a close-knit sisterhood of fellow Stanfordians for the rest of her life.
When I married Art Boy (yes, Nancy was one of the few people in town I knew even longer than I’ve known him), he and I started hanging out with Nancy and Bill regularly at the Raneys’ mountaintop retreat above Happy Valley, enjoying Nancy’s great dinners, telling stories, and always laughing like crazy. Our friendship continued on after they sold the Nick to Jim Schwenterley.
When we started hosting Oscar Night parties for local film folk, Nancy and Bill were at the top of the A-list. (Nancy always in a fetching negligee, since our guests were given the option of dressing up or wearing jammies.) And pretty soon, Nancy and I were taking field trips together that had nothing to do with movies—the Stanford Shopping Center; the Barbie Museum in Palo Alto (she knew about my weird fetish for dressing up my vintage childhood Barbies as the Best Actress nominees for those Oscar parties).
A trip we once took to the city turned into Nancy’s Swanky Public Restroom Tour of San Francisco. Upscale department stores, uber-plush restaurants and hotels, she knew them all. Then there was the time that Nancy, the instigator—in cahoots with Stacey Vreeken, one of my favorite ex-Good Times editors—sprung a surprise 50th birthday party on me, featuring just about everybody I knew in town.
When I took my first halting steps into fiction writing, Nancy was there to cheer me on. She read all of my unpublished novels in manuscript form (talk about a trooper), and when I finally got one into print, she made sure her book club read it.
Nancy was no mean hand at writing, herself. A veteran traveler, she and Bill favored remote destinations—Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories; Papua New Guinea; African safaris—and she wrote some fine travel pieces for the alternate alt-weekly. (In a photo in the Raneys’ hallway from one of her last trips, Nancy is beaming down from the back of a camel.)
To my undying admiration, she once journeyed along the Trans-Siberian Railway (by herself) to St. Petersburg to visit the Hermitage Museum. For years, I was helping her edit her memoir of this astonishing event, but her life was always so full, I don’t know if she ever had time to finish it.
It’s hard to imagine Santa Cruz without Nancy Raney. I loved her pretty much from the minute I met her in the lobby of the Nick, and that never changed. We were as close as family—closer than most—but now it helps to imagine her perched on that camel, off on her next adventure.

There will be an open house in memory of Nancy Raney from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Nickelodeon on Saturday, June 4.

Panic ‘Room’

A&E
Film

Steve Palopoli

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April 27, 2016

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With the release of his breakthrough revenge thriller Blue Ruin in 2013, writer-director Jeremy Saulnier earned himself comparisons to early Coen brothers and even Hitchcock by demonstrating a flair for brutal suspense and dark humor. Fans of the indie hit were undoubtedly expecting something along the same lines for his follow-up, but while his new film Green Room delivers all of the things that made Blue Ruin great—in spades—it’s a whole other animal entirely.
While not exactly a horror film, Green Room shares a lot in common with the mumblegore movement that is producing some of this decade’s most exciting filmmakers. 2012’s V/H/S anthology was more or less the wellspring from which it sprung, making a name for filmmakers like the directorial collective Radio Silence, who went on to be part of last year’s best horror movie, Southbound, and director-writer team Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett. Like Saulnier, whose debut was the 2006 no-budget horror film Murder Party, Wingard and Barrett move easily between genres with equal doses of humor and intensity, unleashing the horror-deconstructing You’re Next in 2013 before the even better 2014 crime thriller The Guest.
Saulnier may be the most promising young talent of all. Green Room’s completely out-of-left-field story of a punk-rock band trapped in the back room of a small club by a gang of vicious neo-Nazis could have been a laughable mess in less capable hands. But under Saulnier’s direction, it’s a tense, violent thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
That’s partly because of the talented cast that quickly establishes a reason to care about this story: not just Patrick Stewart, who seems to love playing against type as a chilling White Power mastermind, but especially the young actors in the punk band, like Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the Star Trek reboot films) and Imogen Poots. And also because, as in Blue Ruin, the plot has a long line of twists, surprises and just plain smart touches that subvert convention at every opportunity.

GREEN ROOM ***1/2 (out of four) With Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots. Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier. Rated R. 95 minutes.

Another Way

Local News

Jacob Pierce

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April 27, 2016

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Possibly the highest-profile supporter of making Pacific Avenue one-way all the way has now backed off.
The board for the Santa Cruz Downtown Association (DTA) has rescinded its support of making the downtown street run one-way southbound. The board’s initial vote to back the traffic change had caught business owners on streets like Walnut Avenue off guard.
“There wasn’t as much outreach as was warranted,” says Chip, executive director of the DTA.
DTA officials now say more study would need to be done before they would support a two-year pilot program of the switch, which would require also a direction change on Lincoln Street and Walnut Avenue, where four parking spots would be lost.
“This is going to destroy Walnut Avenue. We should be trying make all the other streets like Walnut,” says Mia Bossie, co-owner of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
The one-way Pacific plan, which has the backing of both the Downtown Commission (separate from the DTA) and the Transportation and Public Works Commission, heads to Santa Cruz City Council next month. Supporters have wanted to make the street more navigable for locals and tourists alike, hopefully even leading to a boost in retail. Some thought the pilot program looked like a no-brainer, but enthusiasm was lukewarm at best.
“There was not a huge opposition, but there also wasn’t anyone that was hugely enthusiastic,” says Vice Mayor Cynthia Chase, who says things changed when people looked into the details and the Walnut businesses got more involved.
“It does make sense that we pump the brakes on this, so to speak,” she explains, “and get some more analysis about how one-way would affect downtown.”
Patrice Boyle, the owner of Soif, which is across the street from 99 Bottles, says the one-way proposal felt like it was rushed through, along with wayfinding signage improvements and possible contra-flow bike lanes—changes that could instead be done one at a time.
“There are a lot of people in town who are interested in giving the whole concept a really thorough look,” Boyle says. “The benefit of all this is it might create a broader base coalition of people to do that.” JACOB PIERCE

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology Apr 27—May 3

Rob Brezsny

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April 27, 2016

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Free Will Astrology for the week of April 27, 2016.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The oracle I’m about to present may be controversial. It contains advice that most astrologers would never dare to offer an Aries. But I believe you are more receptive than usual to this challenge, and I am also convinced that you especially need it right now. Are you ready to be pushed further than I have ever pushed you? Study this quote from novelist Mark Z. Danielewski: “Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You’re in a phase of your cycle when you’ll be rewarded for your freshness and originality. The more you cultivate a “beginner’s mind,” the smarter you will be. What you want will become more possible to the degree that you shed everything you think you know about what you want. As the artist Henri Matisse said, if a truly creative painter hopes to paint a rose, he or she “first has to forget all the roses that were ever painted.” What would be the equivalent type of forgetting in your own life?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Am I still a hero if the only person I save is myself?” asks poet B. Damani. If you posed that question to me right now, I would reply, “Yes, Gemini. You are still a hero if the only person you save is yourself.” If you asked me to elaborate, I’d say, “In fact, saving yourself is the only way you can be a hero right now. You can’t rescue or fix or rehabilitate anyone else unless and until you can rescue and fix and rehabilitate yourself.” If you pushed me to provide you with a hint about how you should approach this challenge, I’d be bold and finish with a flourish: “Now I dare you to be the kind of hero you have always feared was beyond your capacity.”
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible,” declares psychotherapist Thomas Moore. I agree. Our mental health thrives when we can have candid conversations with free spirits who don’t censor themselves and don’t expect us to water down what we say. This is always true, of course, but it will be an absolute necessity for you in the coming weeks. So I suggest that you do everything you can to put yourself in the company of curious minds that love to hear and tell the truth. Look for opportunities to express yourself with extra clarity and depth. “To have real conversations with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion,” says Moore, “but it involves courage and risk.”
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I watched a video of a helicopter pilot as he descended from the sky and tried to land his vehicle on the small deck of a Danish ship patrolling the North Sea. The weather was blustery and the seas were choppy. The task looked at best strenuous, at worst impossible. The pilot hovered patiently as the ship pitched wildly. Finally there was a brief calm, and he seized on that moment to settle down safely. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you may have a metaphorically similar challenge in the coming days. To be successful, all you have to do is be alert for the brief calm, and then act with swift, relaxed decisiveness.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Show me a man who isn’t a slave,” wrote the Roman philosopher Seneca. “One is a slave to sex, another to money, another to ambition; all are slaves to hope or fear.” Commenting on Seneca’s thought, blogger Ryan Holiday says, “I’m disappointed in my enslavement to self-doubt, to my resentment towards those that I dislike, to the power that the favor and approval of certain people hold over me.” What about you, Virgo? Are there any emotional states or bedeviling thoughts or addictive desires that you’re a slave to? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to emancipate yourself. As you do, remember this: There’s a difference between being compulsively driven by a delusion and lovingly devoted to a worthy goal.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Everyone who has ever built a new heaven first found the power to do so in his own hell.” That noble truth was uttered by Libran philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and I bet it will be especially meaningful for most of you during the rest of 2016. The bad news is that in the past few months you’ve had to reconnoiter your own hell a little more than you would have liked, even if it has been pretty damn interesting. The good news is that these explorations will soon be winding down. The fantastic news is that you are already getting glimpses of how to use what you’ve been learning. You’ll be well-prepared when the time comes to start constructing a new heaven.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Zugzwang” is a German-derived word used in chess and other games. It refers to a predicament in which a player cannot possibly make a good move. Every available option will weaken his or her position. I propose that we coin a new word that means the opposite of zugzwang: “zugfrei,” which shall hereafter signify a situation in which every choice you have in front of you is a positive or constructive one; you cannot make a wrong move. I think this captures the essence of the coming days for you, Scorpio.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “We have to learn how to live with our frailties,” poet Stanley Kunitz told The Paris Review. “The best people I know are inadequate and unashamed.” That’s the keynote I hope you will adopt in the coming weeks. No matter how strong and capable you are, no matter how hard you try to be your best, there are ways you fall short of perfection. And now is a special phase of your astrological cycle when you can learn a lot about how to feel at peace with that fact.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): How do plants reproduce? They generate seeds that are designed to travel. Dandelion and orchid seeds are so light they can drift long distances through the air. Milkweed seeds are a bit heavier, but are easily carried by the wind. Foxglove and sycamore seeds are so buoyant they can float on flowing water. Birds and other animals serve as transportation for burdock seeds, which hook onto feather and fur. Fruit seeds may be eaten by animals and later excreted, fully intact, far from their original homes. I hope this meditation stimulates you to think creatively about dispersing your own metaphorical seeds, Capricorn. It’s time for you to vividly express your essence, make your mark, spread your influence.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” said philosopher Simone Weil. I hope that prod makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, Aquarius. I hope it motivates you to get busy investigating some of your vague ideas and fuzzy self-images and confused intentions. It will soon be high time for you to ask for more empathy and acknowledgment from those whose opinions matter to you. You’re overdue to be more appreciated, to be seen for who you really are. But before any of that good stuff can happen, you will have to engage in a flurry of introspection. You’ve got to clarify and deepen your relationship with yourself.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education,” said writer Mark Twain. That’s excellent advice for you to apply and explore in the coming weeks. Much of the time, the knowledge you have accumulated and the skills you have developed are supreme assets. But for the immediate future, they could obstruct you from learning the lessons you need most. For instance, they might trick you into thinking you are smarter than you really are. Or they could cause you to miss simple and seemingly obvious truths that your sophisticated perspective is too proud to notice. Be a humble student, my dear.

Homework: Describe how you’ve fought off the seductive power of trendy cynicism without turning into a gullible Pollyanna. Freewillastrology.com.

Risa’s Stars Apr 27—May 3

Risa D’Angeles

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April 27, 2016

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Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
Mercury (the wing-footed Hermes) retrogrades Thursday at 23 degrees Taurus (until May 22). Mercury is in Taurus, sign of values, resources, investments (time, money), possessions. Mercury has us rethinking, reassessing, re-evaluating, reviewing values, money and possessions. What, where, and how are they? During Mercury retro, humanity, events and Earth’s kingdoms collectively enter into retreat (except for those born with Mercury retrograde).
As Mercury governs our thinking, communication, interactions, and transportation, when in retro (moving in reverse), there’s confusion, everything works backward, sideways or not at all. Everyone’s driving without thinking, looking in a rear-view mirror, and concentrating on inner realities. With Mercury retro we do not move forward easily, destination routes are obstructed and all actions must be re-thought-out, re-done, re-kindled, re-worked, re-assessed, re-envisioned, and re-arranged. It is a time for all words beginning with “re” (meaning to do it again).
During Mercury (and all retrogrades) we’re forced into an interval of doing things differently, a lull to rest and recuperate in. It’s good to consciously make use of Mercury’s three weeks of retrograde—to consider the retro as sanctuary, a haven of quietude and place of refuge. Businesses need to think this way. But this new way of thinking and utilizing the energies of the planets and stars, understanding their relationships with us, must begin first with each individual.
Mercury retrograde actually creates a time of mental relief. When it begins, Mercury is alerting us that our minds are filled to capacity with information gathered (Gemini task) since the last Mercury retro. Mercury retro gives us time to review, assess, order and organize (Virgo tasks—Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo) mental information, making room for new information offered over the next three months (till the next Mercury retro). During Mercury retro we have revelations which allow for deep inner understandings. Mercury is the mind, the “illuminating principle” in our lives. Mercury is the Messenger, i=offering us the “Raincloud of Knowable Things.”

ARIES: What are your financial realities and perspectives, how are they faring? Are they safe, budgeted? Do you tithe? These are some of the monetary questions coming into focus in the next three weeks. Also of importance is the questioning and reviewing of your values. What and whom do you value? Are you also valuable? How valuable? The retro sheds light upon your deep values. You see them change.
TAURUS: There could be confusion in communication with close friends, lover(s), intimates. There could also be confusion or questions concerning your values, possessions you consider important, and their maintenance. It’s possible someone close may not agree. There won’t be any compromise. Your life changes through the decisions you make, through what you can’t see.
GEMINI: During this time you will be returning to the past, to friends and/or family close to you, those you love and cherish. Our family is our first and foremost group where we grow, experience and learn life’s lessons. Should sad or grievous thoughts appear, think on them with offerings of forgiveness and asking to understand your part (what you said yes to before birth). Then in your revelations, you will be “doing your part.”
CANCER: Revelations may appear as your mind has an inner focus, quite compassionate, yet it could turn quickly to a Virgo criticalness. Be aware of this. Study the religious and/or spiritual. Alice Bailey’s book Ponder on This is good at this time. Have the intention for fairness, for nonjudgment, clarity and the mantram from long ago, “Let reality guide my every thought and Truth be the Master of my Life.”
LEO: Communication confusions could occur at work, with colleagues, superiors and others working around you. Awareness of this allows you to make concessions when speaking with others. The focus for three weeks will be on noncritical judgments concerning your work and other people’s work, everything professional, and most importantly your life path. Do you know the Soul Invocation?
VIRGO: What are you thinking about in terms of legal affairs, education, travel, and past communications? Be prepared for delays in all areas of your life but especially with any sort of travel. Have discussions concerning the legal system. You find yourself asking where is justice? Tend to things forgotten. You will be hidden for a while. Your actions must be explained to others so they understand. Use few words.
LIBRA: Be careful with money, finances and resources. Be acutely aware of where your money is being used, how and when it’s coming in, what you’re doing with it. Neither provide for nor ask others for loans. Investments at this time are not suggested either. Hold still with your money so you can assess its use when everyone’s mind is clear. Intimacy is renewed in the clear light of day. Be in touch with those you’ve tried to forget. Be forgiving.
SCORPIO: One-on-one communications need care, awareness and kindness. Previous partnership issues concerning constancy, safety, money, and security, arise once again for re-evaluation. Messages are mixed. Be aware of this. Disputes call for negotiation. Perhaps this is too difficult at this time. Make no decisions for three weeks. Simply observe. Misperceptions may occur. Follow your ever-present intuition.
SAGITTARIUS: You’re more sensitive than usual. Is that possible, you ask? Yes. Healthwise, for the next three weeks, it’s best to create daily routines that strengthen your well-being. You must maintain a nonjudgmental response to co-workers, lest falling into old criticism occurs. Criticism separates, then an existential loneliness emerges. Read everything over three times as errors are missed in retrogrades. Rest within silence for a while.
CAPRICORN: If you have children, observe them during this Mercury retro in Taurus. Children and elders are especially sensitive to transits. In your observations, what do you see in terms of their ability to communicate, maneuver their world of friends, school and studies? It’s good to create a Mercury retrograde journal for later use. Observe yourself during these times, too.
AQUARIUS: Something occurs concerning home, where you rest your head each night. It has its roots many months ago. What happened? What domestic issues are reoccurring now? This is a time for assessment, review, re-evaluation, and revelations concerning what you need, and where and what home means for you. Continue each night to write down what you want and need. Always be grateful for what you do have. Have faith and hope.
PISCES: Only patience assists you at this time. It seems that emptiness has appeared in all parts of your life and may be difficult to understand. Stand within that emptiness, become empty yourself, allow life to flow through, cleanse, clear and empty out of you. Many will not understand this part of your life. It’s an Initiation, very valuable, extremely difficult. You stand alone. No matter your actions, the emptiness remains. Expect nothing. Be still.

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