At a time when the strength of labor unions and protests have been devalued by a federal administration that extols dictators, it’s never been more important to ponder the moments when, in Patti Smith’s words, “people have the power.”

Four decades ago in Watsonville 2,000 workers—mostly women and mostly immigrants from Mexico—walked off their jobs for 18 months to protest low wages, a daring move for people who were already struggling and trying to make a better life for their families.

Todd Guild’s cover story previews two documentaries about these events, Daughters of the Strike (2024) and Watsonville on Strike (1990), both by director Jon Silver, who brings the struggle and its aftereffects to life. The first film looks at the children of the strikers, the ones who suffered during their parents’ struggles.

They will be shown March 8 as part of the Watsonville Film Festival, the area’s largest film festival, which runs March 6–25. This important festival has grown significantly under the leadership of Consuelo Alba and her team and it proudly puts Watsonville on the international map.

 It features 50 films in 11 venues, a diverse aggregation with local and worldwide interest.

Making its California premiere is “The Long Valley,” a short film about the people and sights of Salinas Valley’s agricultural region. That film is fresh off successful showings at the Sundance and SXSW festivals.

Featuring local residents Mas and Marcia Hashimoto, “The Vanishing Japantown” focuses on Watsonville’s historic Japantown and the closure of its last Japanese-owned business.

For all the listings, go to watsonvillefilmfest.org.

On the food front, we’re happy to see Andrew Steingrube’s Foodie File about Panda Inn in Aptos. We stumbled onto that place with its new owners and were delighted to taste authentic Szechuan spices and recipes, comparable to the area’s other great newer restaurant, Special Noodle. So nice to have Asian cuisine with zing.

One of the best meals I’ve ever eaten was my first one in the city of Shenzhen at a cheap noodle house where my mouth exploded with new flavors. I’ve been looking to repeat that experience ever since and am so glad to have found it here.

We’ve got plenty more treats inside this issue.

Thanks for reading.

Brad Kava | Editor

PHOTO CONTEST

BUGS R US “It looks like St. Joseph Church has new colors. God must have loved bugs. He made so many of them.” Photograph by Russ Levoy

GOOD IDEA

Cabrillo Gallery presents Our Earth, Our Future, an exhibition of artists sharing a common interest in promoting environmental sustainability and stewardship.

In this exhibition you can immerse yourself in a room-sized deep blue cyanotype printed on fabric by Tanja Geis that depicts future ocean life adapting to life amongst a sea of garbage; encounter a human-scale nest of kelp; and witness a conversation between a pelican and an Ohlone woman about dying kelp forests in a short film, among other exhibits.

The exhibit runs March 17 to April 18. It will be closed for Spring Break March 31 to April 4.

GOOD WORK

California State Parks and Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, in partnership with the Monterey Bay Living Shoreline Program and Groundswell Coastal Ecology, will be hosting a community planting day at Rio del Mar State Beach to support the Rio del Mar Living Shoreline Pilot Project.

Planting will be March 15, 9am to noon. Space is limited and volunteers are encouraged to preregister on Eventbrite.

They will be planting native dune plants in an area of the beach adjacent to the Rio del Mar Esplanade. The plants selected are well-suited to the local coast, helping to stabilize loose sand and trap more sand over time to keep the dunes intact.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” —Thomas Jefferson