Cover Stories

Jerry Garcia performing through paired B&K microphones in 1974

The Days Between

August 5, 2026

Three decades after Jerry Garcia’s death, the Grateful Dead’s legacy keeps expanding through musicians, scholars, archivists and generations of Deadheads—with Santa Cruz still caught in the center of its psychedelic orbit.

Fighting Fire

After five years on call day and night, Ryan Masters looks back on the danger, trauma and consuming commitment of serving as a Zayante volunteer firefighter.

We the Dreamers

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music invites audiences to imagine a more expansive future through Philip Glass, Rita Dove, Leilehua Lanzilotti and other visionary artists.

Keeping the Bard Fresh

The directors behind Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth and Fences reveal how collaboration, casting and close attention to the text keep classic plays alive.

The Aging of Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz County has California’s fastest-growing senior population, raising questions about housing, affordability, youth culture and the city’s changing identity.

Too Young?

Santa Cruz County senior and social centers offer dances, tech help, fitness classes, gardens, meals, day trips and community for adults 50 and older.

Freedom of Expression

DNA profiles Dennis Bartok, the new executive director of The 418 Project, whose life in film, avant-garde art and cultural programming could reshape Santa Cruz’s creative scene.

Can Food Improve Mood?

UCSC professor Andrea Cook explores nutritional psychology, an emerging field studying how food, mood, stress and mental health influence one another.

Finding Super Foods

Elizabeth Borelli explores how Santa Cruz County farmers’ markets offer fresh, local superfoods—from berries and mushrooms to beans, olive oil and dark chocolate.

Protein Obsession

Elizabeth Borelli examines America’s protein obsession, arguing that most people get enough protein while fiber remains the more urgent dietary gap.

A New American History

Santa Cruz writer Wallace Baine’s debut novel, Founding Daughter, imagines a startling alternate history in which the Declaration of Independence’s most famous ideals come not from Thomas Jefferson, but from a brilliant teenage servant girl with everything at stake.

GOALLLLL

Santa Cruz County is getting ready for the 2026 World Cup with beachside watch parties, youth soccer clinics, restaurant fan zones, MAH events, Watsonville tournaments and a massive Main Beach celebration beneath the Giant Dipper.

Don’t Sleep on This

With the 2026 World Cup arriving in North America, Thomas Brew argues that soccer’s beauty, global reach and democratic spirit make it worth watching—even for Santa Cruz fans who haven’t caught the fever yet.

Who Got Out to...

Seedlings of Inspiration

Expanding the Frontiers of...

Sunny is Coming Home

Smoke or Vape?

Free Will Astrology

Secret Identities

Peak Dumplings