.From The Editor

Plus Letters To the Editor

This week, we look at a wide spectrum of innovators in Santa Cruz. First there are the artists, designers and organizers of FashionART Santa Cruz, who are truly on the edge of style locally. Anne-Marie Harrison gives us a walk-through of their greatest hits last year, and a preview of what we can expect from some of the returning fashionistas.

Meanwhile, Aric Sleeper explains why the new group Santa Cruz Works could change the face of tech employment in Santa Cruz. To paraphrase Charles Dudley Warner (not Mark Twain, by the way), everybody talks about the local technology brain drain, but nobody does anything about it. Bob Cagle and Frank Humphries, however, finally have, and their strategy for hooking tech talent up with local companies has a lot of promise.

Felicia Gilman has cut her own path, too—literally—and the local artist has attracted a cult following doing it. Christina Waters’ intriguing profile of Gilman this week is one more example of how her ArtFiles column is shining a light on the talent in our thriving art scene that even locals often don’t know about.

Lastly, check out the article this week by first-time contributor Sergio Hernandez, whose very personal tribute to mole puts this weekend’s Mole and Mariachi Festival in a whole different light.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Butter backlash

As a female biohacker and author of a book on reproductive health and body composition featuring butter coffee/tea for women, I found the “facts” and lack of basic research disheartening at best in Maria Grusauskas’ “Fat Chance” article (GT, 9/10).

First, butter coffee is not a fad. As detailed in my book, “No Fail Fat Burning for Women,” it’s been a staple of Tibetan, Indian and Southwest Chinese cultures since the 10th century. They mostly use yak butter. The butter and caffeine provides high caloric energy for nomadic peoples and those who labor at high altitudes, like Sherpas. This is where Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof Executive (whom you egregiously misrepresent in this article) first tried yak butter tea on a Himalayan expedition.

Second, the only source you seem to have spoken with (Dr. Dawn Motyka) is incorrect in stating, “He’s not giving you the full story physiologically, and what he’s leaving out is really important.” She’s referring to ingesting carbohydrates on a high-fat diet. If the author of this piece had bothered to even look at Dave Asprey’s website (or any other progressive paleo/biohacking book) rule number one states: no carbohydrates during the day on a high fat diet. Moreover, Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof diet, my No Fail Fat Burning Diet, John Kiefer’s diet, JJ Virgin’s diet are all basically centered around the same thing: high-fat, moderate protein, minimal carbs except at the right times. When you’ve flipped the fat-burning switch in your body with butter coffee, you’re sated throughout the day while burning fat and fueling your brain. Your body doesn’t want carbohydrates.

Skye St. John | Author,“No Fail Fat Burning for Women”

Maria Grusauskas responds: Dr. Dawn Motyka is hardly going out on a limb in warning of the potential risks, especially in conjunction with sugar and carbs—a simple Google search reveals other health practitioners have stated the same. In this country, the butter-coffee combination is absolutely a fad (just look at its search history for proof), and Mr. Asprey’s recipe page and marketing videos fail to properly address that the American diet is entirely different from that of the Sherpas and nomadic peoples of Tibet. It’s patently unscientific to dismiss the possible dangers of this for-profit enterprise.

ONLINE COMMENTS

Re: Goodyear Gulch
I remember a neighbor family returning to clean up their yard after they had been out of the area for a few years, and the house was a long-term rental. These people started throwing their green waste into a ravine adjacent to their property. The neighbors who had worked hard clearing that ravine from the 20-plus-year accumulation were a bit irritated by this, but the family thought what they were doing was legal and could not understand what everyone was in an uproar about. The point is, times change and values change. There are good reasons to clean up those tires—regardless of their original intent.
— Elizabeth Thorne

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SONG OF THE ENDLESS SUMMER Shot in front of our former digs,
with some perfect timing. Photograph by Phoenix Rose.
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Guzzle for Good
Couch Distributing announced it contributed $10,000 this year to the Surfrider Foundation’s Santa Cruz chapter through its 19th annual “Save Our Surf Campaign.” The fundraiser pledges a nickel to Surfrider for every case of Budweiser
and Bud Light sold between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

March Local First
This Sunday marks a massive march in New York City to raise awareness about climate change, in advance of a United Nations summit. But hey, flying all the way out there to join would burn fossil fuels! That’s why Santa Cruz activists are organizing a march starting at 11:30 a.m. at the Clock Tower on Sunday, Sept. 21, in solidarity.

“Art is not a thing, it’s a way.”
— Elbert Hubbard