Plus Letters To the Editor
When we started planning this 40th anniversary issue, we quickly had more ideas than would fit in one cover story. So we made room for 10 cover stories, as you can see this week in what ultimately became GT’s most ambitious commemorative paper yet. The scope expanded from trying to trace the history of just Good Times itself (although Dan Pulcrano provides a huge amount of insight into the controversy that originally surrounded the paper in his previously unpublished 1980 interview with founder Jay Shore) to the history of all Santa Cruz weeklies (in which Michael S. Gant explains how GT frustrated and confounded its alt-press contemporaries) to an examination of many factors that have shaped Santa Cruz over the last 40 years.
Geoffrey Dunn takes an in-depth look at the 1970s Santa Cruz culture out of which Good Times was born, from music to politics to beach fires and bookstore basements. Cat Johnson elegantly explains how the LGBT community transformed the identity of Santa Cruz, while Anne-Marie Harrison traces the growth of the feminist movement here. Christina Waters writes about how she found her way into food writing and shares her memories of the dining scene, and Sarah Isenberg tells how she started her tech career bundled up in a refrigerated lab and ended up at home on a laptop—and lays out the history of the tech industry here along the way.
Finally, in celebration of UCSC’s own anniversary, you’ll find a few offbeat facts about the home of the Slugs, and a classic article that addresses the 7.1-magnitude elephant in the room, and reminds us how Santa Cruz recovered from the biggest catastrophe of the last four decades.
There are 40-year retrospectives to be found in other sections of the paper as well; for instance, this week’s Arts & Entertainment section features Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld’s celebration of the great writers that have come from and through Santa Cruz, and Lisa Jensen’s memories of the local movie beat (plus a tribute to her career as a critic, as well).
I’m extremely proud of the work everyone did on this issue; it’s a fitting tribute to the place Good Times has been lucky enough to call home for the last four decades. Thank you, Santa Cruz!
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
KUSP Memories
Every time you turn around these days your favorite live FM Radio station has gone to the land of pre-recorded broadcasting. As the forgotten News Director of KUSP, 1978 to 1981, I ran KUSP’s Wireless News. I showed up as a summer college intern for then-News Director Debby Berringer; the show’s format was already built. The “wireless” part because we were not affiliated with APR (Associated Press Radio,) or any other wire service. As a journalism student, I was green as the grass used to be and only interned for a month before Debby went to work for KSBW’s local broadcast TV news.
Gretchen Goldstein was station manager; Lance Linares, program director; and the other staff members were Bruce Larsen, Charlie Hoffman, and John Mills. I was handed the job for $300 per month, and got a $50 raise after a year. I didn’t do it for the money. I did it for the experience, and thought I could lend a seemingly unbiased hand in all changes the liberals were up to. All the programmers used vinyl and two turntables back then.
I was probably offered the to job to placate the 100 or so volunteers, but when interviewed I addressed what I’d learned—the need for objectivity to prevent lawsuits. I did not know then that KSCO’s owner, Vernon Berlin—KUSP’s Darth Vader—had filed a lawsuit against KUSP claiming “thanking a sponsor” was a commercial. Vernon lost, and I went on to get KUSP’s name out there with APR calling me for a story on the arrest of Huey Newton in Aptos. I was the only reporter to get tape on Huey and once I got cozy with the APR I started doing regional and national stories on environmental issues, the first beach cleanup by Save our Shores, the restoration of the California condor and many more. It was the best years of my life, and in a small way I hope I helped Santa Cruz become the city it is today. Don’t give that opportunity away, Keep KUSP here, in our community, where it belongs.
Dave Hack, KUSP News Director, 1978-1981
Earth Day and Eating
Just in time for the 45th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has made it official: consumption of animal products is not environmentally sustainable. Their conclusions match those of a massive 2010 United Nations report, which concluded that a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and climate change.
Carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, is emitted by burning forests to create animal pastures and by combustion of fossil fuels to operate farm machinery, trucks, refrigeration equipment, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. The much more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are released from digestive tracts of cattle and from animal waste cesspools.
Moreover, animal agriculture contributes more pollutants to our waterways than other human activities combined. Principal sources are animal wastes, soil particles, minerals, crop debris, fertilizers, and pesticides from feed croplands. It is also the driving force in worldwide deforestation and wildlife habitat destruction.
In an environmentally sustainable world, just as fossil fuels are replaced by wind, solar, and other sustainable energy sources, animal foods must be replaced by vegetables, fruits and grains. Our next trip to the supermarket is a great starting point.
Preston Daniels
Letters Policy
Letters should not exceed 300 words and may be edited for length, clarity, grammar and spelling. They should include city of residence to be considered for publication. Please direct letters to the editor, query letters and employment queries to le*****@gt******.com . All website-related queries, including corrections, should be directed to we*******@gt******.com .
SKY’S THE LIMIT Capitola Beach in silhouette. Photograph by Rebekah Jacobson.
GIVE IT
AWAY NOW
Last year, some 1,000 volunteers contributed nearly $2 million in volunteer labor in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center. The City Council held an award ceremony on April 14 to honor Santa Cruz’s most dedicated givers of their time and talents. Among them, Qigong instructor Gene Ervin received an Outstanding Volunteer Award for his “Baby Boomer Qigong” class, which he has taught for more than three years at Louden Nelson Center. “I’m stoked! I feel like I’m giving back to the community that I love so much,” says Ervin.
TREE AT LAST
Organizers involved with the Santa Cruz Redwoods National Monument are working hard to make their dream a reality. The team is encouraging people to sign a petition at santacruzredwoods.org to show support for making a national monument out of the Coast Dairies land on Highway 1 near Davenport. Project planners hope to include a long list of endorsements in a presentation to President Barack Obama in October.
“You’re only as good as your last story.” — Helen Thomas
