Conceived in 1990 as a catalyst to help people get off the streets and turn their lives around, the Homeless Garden Project has, over the last 20 years, given hundreds of people a foothold on a better life.
Students Take to the Forest
Students from five high schools across Santa Cruz County got to experience the forest firsthand on Tuesday, learn about the sustainable harvesting of wood and inspect the damage caused by the Lockheed Fire last year. The all-day program, called the Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge, was first launched in 2003 to give students a better idea of forest management and stewardship. This year it was sponsored by Big Creek and Redwood Empire. Students visited the Davenport lumber mill and gained an appreciation of the science behind forestry management.
Fluoridation Comes to Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz County has long avoided the fluoridation of its tap water. People are wary of adding the chemical to the water they drink and bathe in, even though fluoridation has long been proven to help prevent dental problems. Too many people don’t believe that, though, and suspect that health officials are “lying.”
Santa Cruz AIDS Ride Afterparty A Blowout
Over the past decade, the Surf City AIDS Ride has raised more than $100,000 for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, thanks to bicyclists willing to submit themselves to impressive 30-, 60- or 100-mile treks around the county. It’s a journey that offers its own rewards, but this year there will be something a little extra at the finish line—a music festival that brings together some of the city’s brightest musical talents.
The Exhibitionist: Eike & Sheila
In “Sex & City” at the Mill Gallery, prepare to meet favorite body parts, some exuding steamy essence, perhaps in closeup or on figures in interlocking embrace; extended tongues in cheeky gestures; a neon phallus; red vinyl lips. If it all becomes exhausting, there are twin bathtubs inviting visitors to step in, relax, lean back on the cushions, hold hands and—what are these pills? A twisted torrent of limbs—swans wearing the torsos and legs of ballet dancers— tumbles down two stories at the center of the space. Indeed, this exhibition of work by Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz screams SEX. It doesn’t mean it. The works are erotically posed but not erotic. They are stories circling a central idea. “Sex & City” is not an exhibition of art objects. The exhibition is the artwork, and the subject is living passionately.
Reviving Spirits, Soquel to Sonoma
If all goes well, Dan Farber’s grandchildren will raise a glass and toast him for a job well done. That’s a long way off. His kids are still in grade school and he doesn’t have any grandchildren yet. But Farber, 48, is working for the ages. The fruits of his labor are meant to outlast him.
Fred Eaglesmith, Back in Santa Cruz
After 30 years of ramshackle, redneck storytelling about cars, guns and booze, Fred Eaglesmith has found his soft side. Cha Cha Cha, the prolific, under-the radar songwriter’s 18th album, is a swampy, noirish landscape of minor keys, rattling percussion, female backup singers and a far more subdued iteration of Eaglesmith’s signature rasp. His lyrics are lonesome, pleading for departed lovers to return and quell his inner torment. Even to diehard Fredheads, as his legions of fans call themselves, the record is a complete curveball, departing radically from the rollicking, good-natured Eaglesmith of old.
NextSpace To Scout Santa Cruz-Area Entrepreneurs
Two years after opening its doors as an innovative co-working habitat, NextSpace is making a small but crucial shift from provider of workspace and wi-fi for freelancers to talent scout and mentor for budding entrepreneurs. As part of a new partnership with Menlo Park-based firm Wavepoint Ventures—its first tango with venture capital— NextSpace will identify and coach four to six entrepreneurial concerns each year from the Monterey Bay area. A small but as-yet-undetermined number of those will be selected by Wavepoint for funding, wildest-dreams-come-true-making, etc.
More Gun Violence in Santa Cruz
After a violent weekend that left one dead and two injured, the SCPD are now looking for a man who fired into a home near Woodrow Avenue and Walk Circle on Monday evening. According to police, the suspect, a short, bald Latino man of about 23, fired three shots from a revolver into the house at about 6:40 pm, and then fled the scene on a mountain bike.
Rise of The Santa Cruz Moderates
The news shows on Kristina Quilici’s television have been saying the same thing for months: “Voters are angry.” “Incumbents are in danger.” “Democrats are done.” She’s watched the rise of the Tea Party and the ouster of longtime pols in brutal primaries. But when she turns off the TV and steps out of her Bay Street home to talk about what issues are important to her locally, pragmatism trumps ideology. What matters to her is what kind of education her three children will get and what jobs will await them when they graduate. It’s the same for Bridget McNeil, Mark Statson and Kathy Donovan, three more working Santa Cruzans. Respectively they list “jobs,” “public safety” and “social services” as their top issues.
