LOSING A FARMERS MARKET?
You won’t be able to purchase plants from this longtime location soon. The Live Oak Sunday Farmers Market location ends the last Sunday in April. It’s a place I’ve shopped for years where all economic strata meet: suburban and rural; the elderly, the young with families and babies to purchase from the farm cornucopia of Central Coast California presented. A place where acoustic musical ensembles perform and people meet. Without it, the local area becomes a food as well as diminished cultural and social desert. No proactive plan from the well-paid County District Supervisor?
Marc Parry
TAKE A HIKE
I was excited to read Richard Stockton’s recent article “Take a Hike,” anticipating an insightful piece about local trails from a seasoned hiking expert. Instead, I was subjected to the cringeworthy ramblings of a self-important man-child.
At his age, Stockton’s antics are simply undignified; his aggressive harassment of a homeowner is especially embarrassing. He perfectly fits the unflattering stereotypes the outside world holds about entitled, narcissistic Santa Cruzans, especially those of a certain vintage.
Though I have no skin in this game, the political and legal questions around beach access are far from settled, despite his biased portrayal. But Stockton’s self-indulgent need to make the story about himself turned what should’ve been a debut column sharing his wisdom and expertise with the community into a platform for his own projections and political babblings.
And such hypocrisy—we all know full well how Stockton and his “boys” would react if they were subject to their own juvenile behavior—they clearly wouldn’t appreciate strangers walking into what they considered their backyard just feet from their living room, or mocking them as a “Karen” for sticking up for their rights.
Topping it off with his throwaway lines about being stoned and letting his dog run off-leash, this article represents the worst of Santa Cruz boomer narcissism, xenophobia and self-serving delusionalism. In their pot-pickled minds, they think they’re sticking it to the Man, but by their actions it’s clear how much they revel in play-acting as agents of the Man, as a self-ordained Commission Police, gleefully wielding the power of the state as they finger-wag like hall monitors up and down the coast, high off their own supply.
Alex Vartan | Santa Cruz
