[ Metro Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]

Faith As We See It

"When I'm dancing out on the Capitola wharf-- where I did for a number of years and I can hardly wait to get out there again--I'd park my car up in the hill someplace and walk down the hill. I'd go out on the wharf and the music would be playing, and I'd start dancing, and the pelicans were above me, and all of a sudden I could see the faces of the people I was praying for. "I can remember this one couple. They came out every weekend. And, finally, this man said they were very intrigued with the expressions on my face, and I told them that I was praying for everybody. And he said, 'That's what we were feeling, that you had a faith that was beyond our belief.' And so I just kept that up, and it became such a part of me, and I extended it with my dance very, very much." ---Virginia Johnson, Santa Cruz's famous "Rainbow Ginger," is a long-time member of Star of the Sea Catholic Community. She is visited by Carmen Sosa of Santa Cruz's Visiting Nurses Association, who braids Rainbow's hair with multicolored ribbons. Continue the photo essay. [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]