During a rainy year—that is, a good year for fish—adult steelhead salmon swim in from the ocean and up the San Lorenzo River between December and March to lay their eggs in gravel on the river bottom. After hatching in early spring, the juvenile fish linger in the river for at least a year (and sometimes two or three), feeding and maturing. When they’re finally ready, the smolt, or teenage steelhead, head downstream into a lagoon, a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet for oceanbound young salmon.
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Santa Cruz Poets, Santa Cruz Inspiration: Joe Stroud
From the laureled poet, who divides his time between Santa Cruz and the Sierras, a poem titled “Spring in the Santa Cruz Mountains With Li Po.”
The Exhibitionist: Ursula O’Farrell
It’s long past time to break out the bubbly on behalf of the success of Aptos painter Ursula O’Farrell, whose star was already swiftly ascending when I was introduced to her work in 2008 in the provocative “Visual Politics” exhibition juried by revered art scholar Peter Selz at the Santa Cruz Art League. Seared into my memory was O’Farrell’s painting Flying into It, a moment caught like an intake of breath as a cataclysm erupts skyward, while in the foreground people innocently engaged in park pastimes bear witness. This dramatic work represents what I have come to see as the distinctive hand of O’Farrell: the bold, expressionistic brushwork, juicy color upon unlikely color alluding to depth and foreground; figures and their relation to each other suggested by compositional distance and direction, all creating meaning by intimating a gesture, an atmosphere, a mood.
Dream Inn Hotel Workers Keep Bennies
The owners and operators of Santa Cruz’s Dream Inn can rest easy now that the unionized employees at the hotel have finally ratified a contract following nearly a year of negotiations and union demonstrations. The employees, represented by UNITE HERE Local 483, voted to accept a new four-year contract last Tuesday, Nov. 30.
Santa Cruz Poet Up For National Award
The first poem Robert Sward ever published was about a dog, so it’s fitting that the verse that got him nominated for one of poetry’s top honors also concerns Canis familiaris. On Tuesday, Nov. 30, Sward got an email from Joseph Zaccardi, editor of the Marin Poetry Center Anthology, telling him the Center had nominated his poem “Inter-Species Healing A Specialty,” which features a dog taking humankind to task over its narcissism and neuroses, for a Pushcart Prize. (Poem reprinted below.)
Watsonville Nurses Stonewalled Again
Relations between Watsonville Community Hospital nurses and hospital management have been ailing since January, when the two parties entered into contract negotiations. Things heated up in October, when a one-day walkout turned into a three-day lockout and strike. Talks were slated to start back up Dec. 10, with a bargaining day that the hospital offered nurses shortly after the strike. But days away from the planned meeting, the situation needs life support.
Sheriff Under Scrutiny in Hiker Incident
Debra Collins is safe and recovering from her six traumatic days in the woods. Now attention is turning to the Sheriff’s Department, which did not launch a search for her. She was eventually found by a neighbor and his son, who followed a route she liked to run in the Fall Creek unit of the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. The Sheriff’s Office reportedly asked State Parks rangers to search only one of her favorite running routes, in the main part of Henry Cowell, saying at the time there is little likelihood of finding a missing person by conducting random searches over a large area. Today the Sentinel reports that Chief Deputy Don Bradley said, “Having the luxury of hindsight, we would get our search and rescue director involved earlier.”
Ainsworth to Be Charged with Attempted Murder
Maurice Ainsworth, who attempted to escape from prison during a medical procedure last week, will be charged with attempted murder for shots he fired during his escape attempt.
Felton Woman Found Alive
Debra Collins, 58, was found alive by neighbors in the Santa Cruz Mountains early Saturday morning, Dec. 4. She had left her Felton home on Nov. 28 to go for a run and was reported missing on Nov. 30. A neighbor and his son who saw the fliers reporting her missing set out on a search for her and found her in a ravine in Fall Creek State Park.
How Green Is Your Sidewalk?
Everyone knows the generation of electricity is the largest source of greenhouse gases. What fewer people know is that the runner-up is cement. On average, the amount of CO2 emitted by the cement industry is nearly 900 kg of CO2 for every 1000 kg of cement produced. If you consider how much cement is out there, you start to wonder how it isn’t number one. The CO2 emissions have two main sources: 40 percent comes from burning fuel used in the manufacture of cement, and 50 percent comes from the chemical process used to actually create it.
