Plus Letters to the Editor
Santa Cruz County enjoys the fall season. Often, it feels as if there are too many events you just can’t pass up. Last weekend, it was the 8th Annual Gourmet Grazing on the Green, as well as the Santa Cruz County Fair. This weekend, it’s the Ethnic Dance Festival and FashionArt Santa Cruz. In other words, load up on carbs and have plenty of water on hand—it’s best to have sustenance before embarking out this weekend. Learn more about the Ethnic Dance Festival, as well as other dance-related matters, including the new things unraveling at Motion Pacific/Motion at the Mill. And, like many others eager to witness living, breathing, catwalk-walking art, take note of FashionArt Santa Cruz on Saturday, Sept. 24.
From dance and fashion, we move to photography, and the mindbending journey local photographer Jana Marcus found herself on more than seven years ago, when she decided to embark on a creative mission to shed more light on transgenders and their journeys. The result was the award-winning photography show, “Transfigurations.” Now, the show has been made into book form, and Marcus is set to speak at several local booksignings in the coming weeks, including a Capitola Book Café talk on Thursday, Sept. 29. Dive into this week’s cover story to learn more about Marcus’ journey and the evolution of her work.
In the meantime, in News this week, News Editor Elizabeth Limbach caught up with PETA president Ingrid Newkirk for an insightful conversation. It’s illuminating, to say the least. Also in News, learn how one local woman is surprising all by living (well) with a debilitating blood disorder that has some baffled.
Speaking of health … October—arriving sooner than you can blink—is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Find out more about that and other issues at womencaresantacruz.org.
Thanks for reading. Have a
healthy week …
Greg Archer | Editor-in-Chief
Letters to the Editor
Sovereignty After All?
After reading the Raw Food Sovereignty article (GT 9/8) I was in agreement with Mr. Coonerty. If you have a family and the land, why should the government have the right to tell you if you can have animals or grow a garden? As a child my family needed the garden to feed us in the winter when my parents were unable to get to work due to weather. And large families need all the help they can get. More now than in the ’60s and ’70s.
Seems to me that the government has to have their fingers into everything, even our private lives. Where is our freedom of choice in what we do if we are told we can’t have herd shares for those who want them?
If the government is so good at planning, why are we at such a high employment rate and the cost of everything is so high that some of us have to do without, or choose between food, shelter, or clothing? These are my private feelings. I use a system at the libaray because I live on less than $800 per month. Can you?
S. Empson
Santa Cruz
Missiles and More …
Thank you for allowing Debra Ellis to correct what she claims was a misquote (GT 5/15). The bottom line though is that more than 10,000 rockets and missiles have been fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza. Some are homemade from material that could be used for construction and some are imported from Iran and elsewhere. Ms. Ellis must know that if there was no naval blockade, even more weapons would reach the hands of Hamas terrorists. Subsequent to her misadventure, the United Nations Palmer Report concluded that the blockade is legal under international law because of the attacks from Gaza. She might not be aware of a claim that weapons are being sent by sea but that just might confirm the effectiveness of the blockade. After all. she must be aware of Iranian promises to arm Hamas with missiles, or perhaps the human rights agencies neglected to tell her.
Gil Stein
Aptos
Best Online Comments
On ‘Undoing Racism …
America offers opportunity to make dreams come true. Why some people get lost in the process many times is their own fault. I know a Mexican woman who is 35 years old and going on child number seven as we speak. Why someone has to procreate so much is beyond my comprehension—not in these times, not with this economy, it doesn’t make sense. If you ask her opinion about life, she ether gives you some divine excuse for what she is doing or she blames others for not “helping her enough.” It doesn’t matter how much taxes we pay, there isn’t going to be enough at this rate. The list goes on. They just think of the moment but never see the big picture to see the future of these kids they are bringing [into the world]. Are they going to become good or bad people? Are they going to become bitter and resentful or will they be able to grow and learn and be successful? People don’t want to change their ways, they just want others to change for them.
—Vivariva
Everyone talks about this race problem and says that this “race” problem will be over when the Third World pours into every white country and only into white countries. Everyone says the final solution to this race problem is for every white country and only white countries to “assimilate,” that is, inter-marry, with all those non-whites. According to the UN, this is genocide. They claim they are anti-racist, but what they are is anti-white. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
—Tom Leggett
On the Ohlones and ‘Looking at What’s Sacred’ …
This is all so Santa Cruzish typically hypocritical. Find one body and it’s sacred? Oh please. Talk to any contractor who has built for years in the county, they can tell you stories. Seven bodies were taken out of Capitola Vacatican court. The knoll is about as sacred as Cache Creek.
—Realist
