Plus Letters to Good Times
When you grow up in a Polish household, food—God, sometimes a lot of it—is a major part of your upbringing. Stuffed cabbage, peirogis, Polish sausage, sauerkraut, beet soup, and special, fat, fluffy donuts you can’t find anywhere else but in your mother’s hot, steamy kitchen—all filled with tasty berry jam. Needless to say, my wonderful Polish mother and I had to purchase my clothes in the “husky” section of the boy’s department at Sears. Still, being a foodie gave me keen senses—and adventurous taste buds—so it seemed absolutely fitting for me to attend a rather unconventional local food festival last week, one I never would have imagined ever attending: The Young Farmers and Ranchers Annual Testicle Festival. So, there I was, with our GTv camera crew, deep in the heart of the county’s rich agriculture community out at Crocetti Ranch—which, in and of itself, has an amazing history—when a young rancher asked me to try his testicles. Bull testicles. Eight years ago I began Bikram Yoga and became mostly a vegetarian. Could I? Should I? But, for the sake of exploring this “cowboy cavier,” I took one for the team. Watch it all on GTv this week at goodtimessantacruz.com. Beyond the balls, though, I have to say, the excursion out into ag country made me especially appreciative of what all of the county’s young farmers and ranchers actually do here. We live in an agricultural mecca and I was grateful to be reminded of all that bounty—even with the bull balls. (Tip: they go down better with a beer chaser.)
Onward … Food and other delicacies of the heart are actually some of the main themes spotlighted in this week’s cover story (page 14), where my conversation with best-selling author Geneen Roth (“Women Food and God”) reveals that there is a direct correlation between what is on our dinner plate and our deepest held beliefs—about life, living, relationships and spirituality. Roth lived in the area for 13 years and what the former Cruzan has to say about our relationship to food is downright fascinating. Kudos to this hometown gal and her success. Dig in.
In the meantime, have a great week exploring what’s on your plate. More soon ..
Greg Archer | Editor-in-Chief
Cheers to the ‘Community’
Thanks to you for your timely heartwarming Community in Action series. I have seen Jack Sparks and his “Little Brothers” make presentations before our company’s Charitable Contributions Committee with great success. I am convinced that without Jack’s mentorship, these young men could not comfortably stand in front of a group of adults and articulate what the experience has met for them. Jack is clearly changing the world for the better—one Little Brother at a time.
Chuck Hewitt
Soquel
‘Community in Action’
A Big Help
Thank you for your continued series highlighting all the beneficial organizations and individuals throughout our community. It certainly raises awareness, not only about the many great public services available, but also brings to life all those who sincerely work from the heart to make it happen. The hardest thing for many such organizations is to adequately thank all their volunteers for their great effort. This series helps us all feel proud to participate. All this effort is truly a gift that keeps on giving. Thank you.
Linda Levy
Santa Cruz
Are SmartMeters Smart?
Responding to “Best of the Online Comments (StareClips),” all wireless radiation ia harmful to health. Increasing the amount from all the houses, schools and businesses of pulsed microwave to a wireless network will create a dangerous experiment. PG&E is forcing this against local moratoriums. It is not our choice. For more information, attend Freedom Forum’s “Are PG&E SmartMeters Really Smart?” at 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 15 at Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Avenue.
Ramona Andre
Aptos
That War Thing
As the machines of war rolled out of Iraq and across the border into Kuwait, I was so happy, yet thought, ‘How many more years in Afghanistan?’ They interviewed a retired army officer who said, “We should never again depend so heavily on our citizen army to fight wars.” Not only depend on, abuse. Three to four terms at the front, one can only guess the havoc that created on families and now they must tend to healing those wounded mentally and physically. Some soldiers blown to smithereens were literally sewed back together limb by limb. These casualties would not have survived in previous wars, but will they survive the future? Oh Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, may your souls rot in hell. For now, bravo.
Kathy Cheer
Santa Cruz
Best of The Online Comments
On ‘SmartMeters’ …
The RF waves of Smartmeters have not been thoroughly tested. The test that PG&E quotes is given as average waves and doesn’t give peak waves. Peak waves could be a problem: For those living in rural areas, these peak waves are 300,000 more powerful than a cell phone. Consider also in multi unit buildings having multiple meters 3x over for gas, electric, and water for some cities. I’d say pity the person who’s abode is right next to this array.
Enough people with SmartMeters have complained about higher bills with same usage, to give warning onto itself. Each meter also costs $500 to be paid by the consumer. That’s $1,500 each household will be paying. I’d personally rather pay someone checking our meters.
When I say forced that means PG&E plans to have most of these 3 meters in place in 6 months. Doesn’t that sound like railroading? Something is fishy. I’d rather deal from working knowledge so I’ve protested twice. PG&E says over and over this metering will show peak usage hours that consumers can choose to lower their bills. Choose? That doesn’t sound right given PG&E is forcing these meters on us. It’s more likely PG&E will be using this peak hour info to charge the consumers more.
Frank McGinness
On ‘Rearranging Rape’ …
Oh, what a shame! Gillian is all that’s kept UCSC from sweeping the rape problem under the rug all these years. Sifuentes, Scott and their accomplices should be ashamed of themselves! As a parent, I would think twice about sending my daughter to a campus that believes the best way to deal with rape is to cover it up.
M.T.
I used to be a student at UCSC, and I know that rapes happen far more often than anyone admits. I guess the administration figures if nobody’s paying attention, they can pretend it doesn’t happen.
D.T.
Of course the UCSC administration once again does their dirty work during the summer, so the students aren’t around to protest. How do these people sleep at night?
D.D.
