EDITOR’S NOTE
I generally find ’90s nostalgia even more baffling than ’80s nostalgia, but I’ll concede that the end of the century did give us a few worthwhile things, like the rise of alternative culture. The riot grrrl movement was a truly revolutionary part of punk’s breakthrough decade (think of what a different world we’d live in if Bikini Kill had made it big instead of the Offspring), and one of its accomplishments was flipping the male gaze back on itself and giving women a new way to reclaim how their bodies were looked at.
The subsequent burlesque revival, with its emphasis on empowerment, wasn’t the most important thing to come out of that, maybe, but it was fun. What I like about Anne-Marie Harrison’s cover story this week about burlesque is that it explains how that revival has continued to evolve in unexpected ways (embracing, for example, the LGBTQ community). It also charts the earlier history of the art form, and how the showgirls who performed in a decidedly different time are celebrated today as pioneers. Enjoy!
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Read the latest letters to the editor here.
Bumpy Ride
Re: “Building Up”: Between the Housing Element, the General Plan 2030 and the upcoming Corridor Plan to create sacrifice zones, there is no need to have community input and neighborhood knowledge. The actual community is officially locked out. The poster of corridor high-density housing, 1111 Ocean St., gives us units of approximately 600 square feet rented at over $2,000 a month.
The public hearing on 1800 Soquel was another rubber stamp event by and for and about the city and developers to get revenue for the city and profit for the developers.
All the city needs is more bulldozers!
In the name of affordability, there is insignificant affordable housing in the pipeline. In the name of real transportation, the Metro will no longer be offering real transportation for workers and students; however, dense high-story buildings are counting on buses, as they are allowed fewer parking spaces. And it sounds like there is no responsibility or learning about damage done from the city on unintended consequences of their approved and built developments.
We, the actual community, are having a bumpy ride into the vision of our elected officials, city department heads, planning commissioners and developers, who probably all live in a single-family residence in the sacred zones.
So please pass the speed bumps! And click on your safety belt! We are all on a bumpy ride.
Patricia Schroeder
Santa Cruz
Judge for Yourself
I am very surprised and disappointed with the “virtual” review of Vaxxed. You wrote a long scathing review of a movie that you never watched. Why? The professionals who made this movie and were in the movie are risking their careers to speak out against a CDC/Big Pharma cover-up. The least you can do is go see it and judge for yourself. I found the movie to be very informative. It held my attention as it revealed the cover-up.
Dondi Gaskill
Aptos
As it explicitly stated, the write-up in question was not a review, because the film was not screened in advance. As with all our previews—with which our regular readers are all-too-familiar—the purpose is to provide hype-free and irreverent context for those unfamiliar with the film and filmmaker. — Editor
Sustainable Notion
Thank you for the accurate, succinct article “Fast Food Notion” (GT, 5/4). It is hoped the message prompts individuals to do further research in order to make sustainable, healthful, and ethical choices.
Laura Parks
Bonny Doon
Online Comments
Does anyone else find it funny this guy wants 33 to 55 bucks from everyone to hear him talk about how great socialism is for a few hours? Maybe everyone should bring a W2 and pay based on their income level.
— Rex
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
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
DONOR BACKING
The Backpack Project has started taking collections for the 2016-17 school year. In addition to accepting school supplies, the group is taking donations, with a goal to distribute 850 backpacks. Each $25 donation fills one bag. Drop-off spots include The True Olive Connection, Felton Nails and Scotts Valley Market. Donors may contact ki***********@gm***.com
with questions or PayPal donations. Mailed donations go to P.O. Box 97, Mount Hermon, CA 95041-0097.
GOOD WORK
DECKED OUT
A new urban planning trend of “parklets†is all the rage in West Coast cities like San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. Construction crews re-appropriate parking spots to put in patios. Sometimes it takes Santa Cruz a while to catch up to the bigger cities, but we now have our own parklet too, located on Cathcart Street at Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room. There will be a ribbon cutting at Hula’s at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 13.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.â€
-Dita Von Teese
Your burlesque story is misleading. While I love sex and want nothing censored, I also believe those who choose this “entertainment†might consider that there are unforeseen repercussions that nobody wants. The line between prostitution and stripping is increasingly blurred, and the amount of physical contact between exotic dancers and customers has increased, along with verbal abuse, sexual harassment and physical assault of women in strip clubs. As former stripper Taylor Lee explained: “The sale of sexuality through stripping also leads to the customer’s impression that he has bought the right to touch, grab, slap or otherwise violate, degrade, or devalue the woman stripping.” *
Why pretend the sex industry is benign, because some performers claim to CHOOSE it? Nothing exists in a vacuum. Females do not live in a secure bubble where we have burly bouncers, (as Cyn has at the Catalyst) to ensure our level of consent. Th men thrown out of her burlesque show, after yelling “show me your boobs†will land right on Pacific Ave. both angry and aroused. Is women’s safety really of no concern? Every 107 seconds a woman is raped. Everyday at least 3 women are murdered by their intimate partners.
As a community paper why not report on the complexity and harm that this industry brings to all who live around it? We need to work together to promote and model the fact that every human is worthy of dignity and respect, no matter their age, race, gender, class or sexual orientation.
*https://againstpornography.org/stripping.html