John Craigie has plenty of stories and song material, partly because the modern-day troubadour is always on tour. “I am literally on the road 100 percent of the year,” says Craigie, who hasn’t had a home where he pays rent or a mortgage in six years. “You gotta keep moving. You don’t want to overstay your welcome anywhere.”
Articles by Jacob Pierce
Yoga Poses Reason for Caution
Steven Stewart thought he was doing something good for himself when he took up yoga 15 years ago. He still believes in its benefits. But as he stretched his shoulders during an exercise in 2008, Stewart unknowingly went too far, damaging his rotator cuffs and sending him on a painful path to renewed health. “That was a long recovery,” says Stewart, a 56-year-old chiropractor, adding that he has since resumed his yoga practice.
Soaking Senseless
The inside of a sensory deprivation tank feels exactly the way it sounds: like absolutely nothing. It’s been over an hour and I’m floating at Be and BE Well in a dark chamber filled with water and 800 pounds of Epsom salt—literally as much salt as the water will hold. There is nothing in here to see, hear, smell, taste or even feel.
A Conversation With James Durbin
James Durbin, who started singing in bars at 15, has an edge that even his most ardent fans may have missed as they watched his ride on national television last year. “Being on [American] Idol, you get this stigma of being this wholesome person or else you don’t make it very far,” Durbin said before a secret concert earlier this week.
Santa Cruz Submerged
A team of snorkelers, boogie boarders and life jacket-clad activists will wander Pacific Avenue for an ocean-themed, only-in-Santa Cruz parade this Tuesday, Jan. 24. And it’s all in the name of climate change education. If temperatures continue rising, experts say much of downtown Santa Cruz could one day be underwater. “All of this is very, very hard to imagine because it’s so scary,” says Transition Santa Cruz’s Michael Levy. “One way to think about it is by laughing.”
David Arora Demystified
The moon has just set behind a curtain of 100-foot redwood trees, and David Arora is on his first mushroom hunt of the new year. It didn’t take him long to get around to it. It’s 12:15am on Jan. 1, and the mycologist is craving a large basket of matsutakes to bring home, soak in a rich marinade and eat for dinner the next night. “I’m trying to find at least one matsutake,” says Arora, scanning the path in front of him. “They’re amazing.”
Phase Two For Redevelopment
In its 24-year history, the Santa Cruz County Redevelopment Agency has built 1,385 affordable housing units, miles of sidewalks, the Simpkins Family Swim Center, the Live Oak library and much more. But its work—after it wraps up a slate of expensive projects green-lighted last summer by panicking county supervisors—is over. The California Supreme Court ruled Dec. 29 that the state’s redevelopment agencies are unconstitutional.
The End of The World As We Know It
Inside the Herb Room on Mission Street, home to holistic remedies like Sweet Bee Magic Cream, a beaming man who calls himself Word Smith (and has the business cards to prove it) is working the cash register. Word Smith is taking a special interest in this new year. Not because he’s some crackpot who thinks the world is going to burst into flames on Dec. 21; he thinks anyone predicting the end of the world is missing the most important part of the picture. But those people who think this will be a normal year? They’re wrong too, he says.
Letters to the Editor, Jan. 4-11, 2012
Our readers sound off about the meaning of true friendship and the perils of downtown dog poop.
Homeless of Occupy Look Ahead
On the lawn of San Lorenzo Park hours after police broke up the Occupy Santa Cruz camp, Devin Gonzales, 18 years old and homeless, is sitting on a picnic blanket with his legs crossed. Gonzales gazes across the park’s duck pond toward the collapsed tents of the Occupy camp he had been calling home. “This was finally a safe place to come,” says Gonzales, who had never felt safe sleeping on the San Lorenzo River levee or in the woods of Felton.
