First Friday is upon us and once again, one of Santa Cruz’s more festive monthly events promises to impress. You can peruse the First Friday pages (27-29) for information, but here’s a shout out to Santa Cruz Pedicab. The local entity will be on hand to shuttle art gazers between various First Friday hot spots. Fun.
In the meantime, in between all the folly, turn your attention to this week’s cover story in which GT’s Jenna Brogan shines a bright light on a serious matter: blood donation. In her talks with locals and the Red Cross, we learn that continuous blood donations are essential. Read on and find out why.
More serious matters befall the homeless in the area. In News this week, there’s word on what steps are being taken to provide just the right amount of services to the county’s homeless. But what other services are needed? Also in News, financial woes may thwart this year’s Japanese Cultural Fair.
Elsewhere, with two weeks until Valentine’s Day, I was asked recently if I thought people really know how to kiss. (Or, maybe I asked the question—I can’t keep it all together sometimes: too blond, too Polish, too emotional, too much!) In any case, the consensus is: No. Few people really understand the art of good kissing. From the eager puppy dog kissers out there to the curious bunch who make the inside of your mouth feel as if it’s trapped inside of a washing machine, there’s a shortage of panache when it comes to kissing. It was proposed to me (or maybe I made the proposition, I can’t keep up) that this should be the year of the Luscious Kiss—real, visceral, passionate. It’s 2013, after all. We don’t have to time to waste being unsatisfied with any aspect of our lives. Ponder it all in the coming weeks. (And speaking of V-Day: here’s a shout out to Tuck and Patti, who hit the Kuumbwa for some spirited crooning.)
Carry on. More next week.
Greg Archer | Editor-in-Chief
STILL SURFING FOR CHANGE This shot of local surfer Kyle Thiermann was taken on the filmmaker’s recent jaunt to Nicaragua.
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GOOD WORK
Kyle Thiermann: Still Riding a Good Wave
Kudos to local Kyle Thiermann (see above), whose short film, Surfing For Change: Travel Guide To Nicaragua, premieres on Feb. 6 at Patagonia in Santa Cruz. Thiermann, ever the intrepid activist, took a creative posse to Nicaragua last year to spotlight a group of young surfers from an organization dubbed Project WOO, which is working with Nicaraguans to create a whole new model of surf-tourism in Gigante, Nicaragua.
GOOD IDEA
Fashion Meets Digital Art
There’s increased buzz for the Fashion and Digital Art Night at Santa Cruz’s Museum of Art & History. Fashion + digital art? Sounds intriguing to us. The lowdown: About 18 artists in UCSC’s Digital Arts and New Media Program merge with a fashion show organized by local Tina Brown, and artists Rose Sellery and Tobin Keller also factor into the mix. It’s just another inventive idea, among a long list, that MAH has generated and/or hosted.
Letters to the Editor
Unbelievable!
I recently attended a meet-and-greet Democratic event at the county building where Bill Monning, Mark Stone and a representative of Sam Farr’s office came to talk and mingle with the very folks that got them elected. There were perhaps 120 people crammed into the corridors, on the third floor, all local Democrats coming to speak with and listen to our representatives. I arrived early and listened to the conversations of friends that flowed around me and to hear what Monning and Stone had to say. Never once in the hour and a half I was there did I hear the word “Obama” mentioned. Not from old-time Democrats or savvy women activists. It was as if the reelection of the most liberal president since FDR and Johnson never happened. What is this cone of silence in Democratic circles about? It’s as if it is not cool to even utter his name in progressive Santa Cruz.
Listening to the president’s inauguration speech was like a liberal’s wet dream. He spoke of using his executive powers to address global warming, immigration reform, gun violence and more and yet not a nod or a wink let alone a thank you from Santa Cruz Dems. Mind-boggling.
Harvey Dosik
Santa Cruz
Not Jazzed About Film Review
I never take the time to write a magazine, newspaper or any publication but I had to after reading Lisa Jensen’s recent review of the movie Zero Dark Thirty. Enough with your liberal thoughts. If you want to proclaim to be a reviewer of movies, it is imperative to provide a nonbiased analysis. And to have the audacity to take such a view when some people, that I happen to know personally, literally risk their lives to rid the earth of the scum that continue to kill innocent people, not only in their country but ours as well, is insulting.
War is not pretty. Sometimes there are rules that are not followed. And unless you are on a need-to-know basis you will never know the what and why. If you want to lay out your personal thoughts write an op-ed about the decision to go to war and the modalities by which we as a person and country decide to partake in this act. You can inject your moral views at that point.
Here’s a link that will assist you in providing a non- biased review of a movie.
C. MacIntosh
Online Comments
On “Fracking,” an FYI: It is not a “new” thing and has not recently boomed because of new scientific drilling techniques as stated in your article. It’s been around for decades and the recent boom has mostly been based on changes in policy (see 2005 Energy Act and intellectual property rights law) and increasing cost of oil and other international trade pressures.
Lisa Stephens
On “Fracking” … Lisa, horizontal hydraulic fracturing is new compared to vertical drilling, which I am assuming you are referring to. I’m not sure how the increasing cost of oil has anything to do with this since the amount of gas produced wouldn’t supply the U.S. long enough to produce an economic surplus. While it is true that the 2005 energy policy opened the Haliburton Loophole, it is truly recent legislation, such as public utility status, that has allowed the boom in Pennsylvannia to happen. Thank you.
Kara Zambricki
