Most people would call it a bad night if the drunken stranger they went home with forgot their name, but not Scott Vaughn. For Vaughn, one of the founders of Hero DD, it’s merely an occupational hazard.

It’s an old joke about our state’s consumptive culture that California’s architects can design parking lots that put others to shame. In the case of the newly remodeled Sentinel Building, it’s true, but the joke is on the person who made it. Bio-swale troughs surround the parking lot to metabolize runoff oil, covered bicycle parking and onsite showers are set up for pedal-powered commuters and electric vehicle charging stations wait to be installed—just the start of a long list of sustainable features at the recently re-designed downtown building. With slide show.

Silence is not what Michele Norris is known for. Quite the opposite, in fact—listeners of NPR’s All Things Considered will recognize the smooth timbre of the host’s voice before she even finishes her introductory “...and I’m Michele Norris.” Silence, though, is the topic she’ll address when she appears at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Sunday to read from and sign copies of her newest book The Grace of Silence.