EDITOR’S NOTE
The coronavirus situation is constantly changing—and changing our lives—here in Santa Cruz County, just as it is around the world. Here at GT, we’re committed to keeping you informed about the latest news that affects locals in this crisis. Not only will you find in-depth stories about the biggest threats to our community—and how it is responding to them—in every issue, but you can go to our website at goodtimes.sc, where we’ve set up a coronavirus page that we are constantly updating with the latest news that affects our county.
In this issue, we take a look at the anxiety that we’ve all dealt with during this crisis, and ask how that can be turned around to help those who are dealing with the worst fallout from the pandemic. Wallace Baine’s fantastic cover story has the answer, as he looks at how we can face our feelings of helplessness by helping the local nonprofits that have been hit hard—despite the fact that their services are more essential than ever.
We also don’t want to forget about the musicians and artists who are struggling right now. Last week, we did a cover story on how the arts scene is being affected. This week we take a closer look at how theater companies are reeling. Even our expanded Love Your Local Band on Jesse Williams gives you a chance to support a true Santa Cruz original, who has lost all of his income during this crisis.
We know many of our readers are really wanting some kind of event they can participate in right now, so we are trying to pull together a calendar of virtual events for next week. If you are giving or participating in an online concert, workshop, talk, meeting or anything else, email me at
st***@go*******.sc
and let me know about it!
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Read the latest letters to the editor here.
Adapting Arts
Re: “Cancel Culture” (GT, 3/18): I am so grateful for this article highlighting the arts. As the executive director of All About Theatre, I am seeing so many families struggling with this new shift of “Shelter in Place.” Kids who are generally so active at dance studios, theater rehearsal spaces, sports and more are now isolated and feel like their community is lost to them. We at All About Theatre are working on an incredibly rich and diverse curriculum—from stage combat to musical theater appreciation, private coaching to group sessions, yoga and mindfulness to Zumba and cardio hip-hop workout routines to DND groups and more for our greater community. We are trying to maintain our natural social behavior as well as physical lives whilst giving pause to the opportunities that this situation has offered us all, to slow down and remember what is truly important to us all: our community. At the heart of this—the arts.
Please check out our website April 1 for these incredible opportunities for your entire family, from 3 year olds through adults.
Lindsey Chester | Executive Director, All About Theatre
We Were Warned—Now What?
Re: “Order of Magnitude” (GT, 3/18): Scientists have been telling the public for over 30 years, as well as big business and our government for 50-60 years, of the dangers of climate change. The predictions are coming true with increased intensity and frequency of storms that damage property and kill people, in heatwaves that kill, and permafrost melt that can be releasing viruses and bacteria that had been frozen in “permanently frozen ice.” I am not qualified to say that permafrost melt unleashed the COVID-19 virus on us. Discovering how quickly COVID-19 can threaten lives, as well as the global economic structure, I am concerned that we may get many more deadly pathogens that will wreak havoc.
While we get through this COVID-19 crisis, we should be getting ready for the next one. That includes fighting climate change in multiple ways, if we want to get to the source of increased disasters of all kinds.
If 1 in 14 people on this planet lowered their carbon footprint 15%, 8 billion tons of emissions would be saved. There are several climate change organizations active in this county. The Santa Cruz Climate Action Network is an umbrella organization that shares events for all of those organizations.
I ask that you be supportive of our government in the need to fund tests and choose which ideas are effective and safe to get CO2 back out of the atmosphere, as well. Dealing with past decades of emissions could be a faster way to address the climate crisis than dealing with current emissions. We have been demonstrably snail-paced at dealing with what we are emitting right now. Getting past emissions removed could restore the climate back to the ideal for life on earth. We are at a point where just dealing with current emissions will not save us—we need both.
Diane Warren | Boulder Creek
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
The razing of the iconic La Bahia Apartments on Beach Street. Photograph by Linda Weyers.
Submit to ph****@go*******.sc . Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
ELBOW ZOOM
Events from the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) are a great place to rub elbows with the area’s movers and shakers. Unfortunately, rubbing elbows is a great way to spread disease. The threat of COVID-19 disease risk is forcing changes for the 2020 Regional Economic Summit. The MBEP has announced the sixth annual event will be going online. This livestreamed incarnation will be cheaper. Tickets will be $39 for MBEP members and $49 for non-members. Speakers will include former U.S. Census Director Vince Barabba.
GOOD WORK
TOUCH ADO
Local governments have begun implementing social distancing for public meetings. That means less seating for the public. In Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting, there were 13 seats available. Otherwise, seating was limited to the overflow Community Room, and everyone else was able to watch online or wait outside chambers.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.”
-Walter Anderson
