A World of Worms
THANK YOU FOR THE article on the benefits of recycling ("How to Recycle Virtually Anything," Cover Story, June 14). I was happy to see composting included as a waste-busting strategy. One great resource you failed to mention was the County of Santa Cruz Composting Program, www.compostsantacruzcounty.org. Web-weary folks can access the program by calling the Rotline, 831.423.4327, or the Worm Doctor, 831.427.3452. The County program includes instructions, resources and workshops for backyard and worm composting as well as an abundance of programs for businesses and schools. From the coffee grounds next to your kitchen sink to dumpsters full of restaurant food scraps, this is the place to find a solution that works. Keeping it out of the landfill and improving the soil in out own backyard--what could be better than that?
Karin Grobe, Santa Cruz
A Can of Worms
I SEEM TO HAVE OPENED up a veritable can of worms with my initial criticism of RvB's review of The Da Vinci Code (Letters, June 21)! This week we have Michael Cotter's mea culpa and Gary Hoffman's kind offer to subject movie reviews to statistical analysis. Intriguing, but probably unnecessary.
The point I was trying to make (obviously unsuccessfully!) in my initial letter, was that in a mass circulation newspaper--which is basically what Metro Santa Cruz is--a movie review should make some attempt to review the movie. Call me old-fashioned, but I actually read reviews to decide whether or not to bother going to see the film. Am I in a minority? I have a fairly limited budget for entertainment, I usually go to the movies on Friday night after a stressful week at work, and faced with a choice of 6 or 7 possible films to watch, I'd just like to know some essentials as well as the reviewer's personal obfuscations. Is the film scary, funny, erotic, dull, overly long, badly acted, poorly scripted or just plain tedious?
I've written my fair share of pretentious movie reviews. I keep them well hidden on the Internet Movie Database, where, should you be interested, you can find my not very scholarly analysis of The Da Vinci Code (I gave it 5 out of 10) plus many other movies I've loved, hated or yawned through. But I'm not writing for a mass audience on IMDb. I doubt anyone is going to use my reviews as a basis for spending their money.
Oh yes: In my defence I did go to college (science too, Mr. Hoffmann). But not in this country. Perhaps that's why I don't quite "get it?"
Isabelle Herbert, Aptos
Arrested Development
ON BEHALF OF MANY of the students at UCSC we are writing to express our views regarding the University's Long Range Development Plan. A great many of the students at UC-Santa Cruz are strongly opposed to the proposed Long Range Development Plan and are extremely concerned about the probable environmental and social repercussions of this plan. We understand that the proposed LRDP could potentially harm and deplete the Santa Cruz water table, increase pollution in the Monterey Bay, destroy the forest in the upper part of the UCSC campus, and impact or destroy the habitats of two endangered species. It could potentially increase the cost of living in Santa Cruz, create huge traffic problems, increase air pollution, and be taxing to the sewage systems and dumps. These are only a few of the problems the Long Range Development Plan may produce. As students at UCSC we feel it is important that the Santa Cruz community understand that we do not support our administration's development plans and are gravely concerned for the health of the Santa Cruz ecological and human communities. We hope to be able to work with concerned members of the Santa Cruz community towards the common goal of preserving our environment and minimizing the development of UC Santa Cruz.
Rain Miner, Amy Rhine, UCSC Students Against War, Julia Heiser, Elliot Kuhn, Chloe Lavender, Jason Peng, Adrienne Parker, Josh Fox, Coby Wilson, Matthew Lovik, Ryan Hoffman, Bjorn Berg, Justin Alexander, Seyon Alahany, Sean Monterastelli, Dharmishta Allison Rood, Andrew Rich, Bryan Schatz, Julian Nicholas Wong, Leoni Rohlfs, Emily Ann Peck
Can't We All Get Along?
I THOUGHT EVERYONE DISCOUNTED the Sentinel's pre-election open season on Democrats, so I was disappointed to see Metro Santa Cruz regurgitate the story of the 3rd-district race using the Sentinel's inflammatory language ("Chris Did What?," Nüz, June 14). As a longtime member of the county's environmental community and a proud Democrat, I've had the pleasure to work with Neal Coonerty, Chris Krohn, Bill Malone, Bruce Van Allen, their campaign staff and many of their volunteers. We owe our quality of life to these people who have the courage to step into the public arena, almost always as volunteers. Let's take the target off everyone's back.
Barbara Graves, Capitola
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