From the published poet, UCSC writing teacher and mother of two, a pair of poems about modern life.
PG&E Installing Smart Meters This Month
PG&E will be installing smart meters throughout Santa Cruz County starting at the end of June. The wireless meters, used to measure electricity consumption, are the subject of some controversy, and critics are vowing civil disobedience to prevent the installation.
Ten Questions for Tiffany Harmon
The Seahorse Swim School instructor writes us back.
Watsonville Rodeo Gets Reluctant Nod from Supervisors
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to back a rodeo slated for the County Fairgrounds near Watsonville. The event, proposed for October, is being promoted by the Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriffs Association. It would be the county’s first rodeo since the 1970s.
Police Find Car Involved in Cyclist’s Death
Officers with the California Highway Patrol have located a 1998 burgundy Nissan Maxima they believe struck cyclist Zachary Parke, 25, in a fatal hit-and-run. CHP Officer Sarah Jackson expressed gratitude for leads submitted by the public that led to the identification of the vehicle.
A Clean, Dimly Lit Place
After the movie, late at night, when the spouse is away and there’s no place to go but home nor any reason to, you like to retreat to a certain restaurant steps from the bay where the Aztec Zen feng shui is serene and the margaritas reliably brisk and limey.
City To Tourists: Right This Way
Peter Koht, the city’s economic development coordinator, has lived in Santa Cruz since 1996. He jokes that he didn’t find out which way was west until about 2003. “For all of its natural beauty, there isn’t an intuitive way to get around,” says Koht of this south-facing coastal town.
PLATED: The Great Outdoors
Celebrating its 30th anniversary and its third ginormous al fresco dinner market, Kelly’s invites everybody in the known world to dinner next Saturday. “Bring everything you would need for a picnic—except the food,” chuckles Kelly’s co-owner Mark Sanchez of the BYO plate-and-utensils affair. “We just love doing this. It’s sort of like a big block party.”
Jazz Legends At The Civic
I know all of the complaints about Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Hell, I’ve made many of them myself. The organization is too conservative. It doesn’t reflect the dizzying stylistic diversity of the New York scene. It largely ignores the masters associated with the free jazz movement of the 1960s and later improvisers inspired by the avant garde legacy. There’s some truth in all of these charges, but every time I see Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra perform I offer silent thanks for the trumpeter and his extraordinary ensemble.
Slow Gherkin Reunites
By the time Slow Gherkin broke up almost a decade ago, ska was the epitome of uncool. Even the band itself had given up on it by their last album, 2002’s Run Screaming. This despite the fact that through the late ’90s and into the new century, Gherkin’s explosive, hypersmart brand of ska had made them the most popular Santa Cruz band of their generation.
