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Nuz
Seems the range of perspectives is shrinking over at Community Perspectives, the weekly talk show airing on Community Television of Santa Cruz (Channel 71). First, conservative co-host Jeanell Montero was removed--or quit, depending on whom you talk to. Then liberal co-host Becky Johnson was demoted--or quit, depending on whom you talk to. So, who's left manning (and we mean this literally) the fort? Charles Reid, last surviving co-host and--surprise!--executive producer of this highly entertaining slice of local life.
According to Johnson, Reid got upset over a segment to air about the River Street Refugees. "He was upset over the choice," Johnson recalls. "He went back in the control room and yelled at people." She says when she called him the next day, the subject veered toward the recent departure of Montero. "I have completely different viewpoints than Jeanell," Johnson says, "but I believe she was forced off the show just because of Charlie's personal problems with control. So when he said she left the show voluntarily, I said I was getting two different stories, so [I said to him], 'One of you must be lying.' " Johnson says that Reid called her back the next day and said he was removing her as host because she had called him a liar.
Not surprisingly, Reid's version is slightly different. According to a faxed response from the embattled producer, Johnson had taken it upon herself to throw out the welcome mat for a guest--in this case, Hizzoner Mike Rotkin--without consulting Reid first. But, according to Reid, "other issues arose prior to this." And, like Montero, Johnson was given a choice, says Reid. "I indicated that I would like her to continue working on the news team and with special projects. Becky viewed my decision as a demotion." Adds the lonely co-host, "I'm sorry Becky chose to leave the program ... but I have to think about the program as a whole and assign tasks accordingly. ... I wish her all the best."
Dubious Conceptions
The Santa Cruz Public Library is still holding its own as one of the last bastions of free speech. This month's exhibit in the front display case is hosted by Voice for Life of Santa Cruz County, complete with heartwarming pictures of fetuses and a brochure warning "Abortion Kills."
Needless to say, comments scribbled angrily in the accompanying notebook indicate many library patrons don't necessarily agree, to put it mildly. What these comments do illustrate is the public's stunning inability to read the library's plainly posted policy regarding such exhibits. So, for the many commentators who denounce the library for exhibiting such politically incorrect material, reference librarian Fred Ulrich will patiently explain. Again.
"The month-long exhibits book on a first-come, first-served basis," Ulrich says, adding that some display cases are reserved a year in advance. Subjects have ranged from the innocuous (postcard collections and rocks from the Gem and Mineral Society) to the inflammatory (Big Creek Lumber's recent love fest for loggers, and a neo-Nazi attempt to dispel the "myth" of the Holocaust). "We don't endorse any display," Ulrich adds. "But, we do try to represent all sides of an issue." So, mark your calendars for upcoming exhibits. Don't forget the Repressed Memory Syndrome exhibit in July, and be sure to broaden your horizons by viewing the one about Women's History Month.
Stamps of (Dis)approval
It's a perfect gift for the conspiracy theorist in your household: Drink in hand, Richard Nixon mingles with CIA bigwigs as they plan JFK's assassination. Just paste in that Nixon stamp and the postal service will deliver this controversial scene to your friends in Dallas. Then there's the envelope for the corresponding hempster: a red barn, framed against rolling green fields and distant hills, and in the foreground, your 32-cent Old Glory flies proudly over a field of cannabis.
You guessed it. Nixon envelope creator Thom Zajac is at it again. On Feb. 1, he's introducing five new envelopes tailored for specific stamps. Zajac's Tricky Envelopes company has Louis Armstrong playing his heart out for an appreciative, if inebriated, crowd in a smoky jazz club. And, of course, there's that classic Marilyn Monroe atop the steam grate envelope.
Zajac has even circumvented the most obvious limitation on envelope possibilities: How can you make fun of someone like Newt Gingrich, whose status as a living person precludes his being memorialized on a stamp? That's easy--put him on the envelope instead. Zajac enlisted Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Tom Toles to draw up a "NEWtSPEAK" envelope proclaiming Pain Is Love (USA32). "It's supposed to be a takeoff on [Orwell's] 1984," Zajac explains.
The Santa Cruz Comic News publisher made national news himself shortly after Nixon's funeral, when he came up with a custom envelope that put "Tricky Dick" Nixon's 32-cent mug in jail, where it should have been circa Watergate. The idea was an instant hit. Zajac has sold nearly 500,000 of his original design, and the soft-spoken publisher stood convinced he'd come up with a viable business idea. In addition to Toles, Zajac recruited local artists Tim Eagan (Monroe), Peter Bartczak (Armstrong) and former Santa Cruzans Paul Garvey (hemp field) and Mark Zepezauer (JFK conspiracy) to draw up the envelopes in exchange for a 10 percent cut.
The new envelopes have the best effect when the stamp's white borders are removed. (This does not invalidate the stamps, adds Zajac, who checked with the postal service.) If the post office is out of stamps, no problem. Zajac sells those, too, at face value. "I think I'm probably the biggest orderer of Nixon stamps in the U.S.," Zajac says. "I've bought about $50,000 worth of them."
Zajac is selling envelopes for six bucks a dozen. As with the original Nixon envelope, Zajac plans to do most of his business by mail order, although the new designs will be available at local shops including Paper Vision, Bookshop Santa Cruz and Aries Arts. "Trying to break into retail outside Santa Cruz is a tougher nut," says the envelopeur, who wisely included a phone number, mailing address and Web site address on the back of each of his new babies.
To get a catalog, send $1 to Tricky Envelopes, P.O. Box 8543, Santa Cruz, 95061.
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From the Jan. 25-31, 1996 issue of Metro Santa Cruz
Copyright © 1996 Metro Publishing and Virtual Valley, Inc.