Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Is Local Railroad Track Already Off Course Before It Starts?

I need you to tell me the truth about something. If the county follows through and builds a half a billion dollar train line from Watsonville to Davenport, will you take it regularly? Will you...

Festivals Inspire Santa Cruz Symphony

The exciting March program begins with the Matsuri Overture. Named for the Japanese word for festival the Matsuri Overture was composed in 2017 by Spain’s José González Granero. Now based in the Bay Area, Granero...

Birthday Battle Royale at the Children’s Museum

We’ve had a lot of the usual birthday parties for our 8-year-old son—bowling, the Boardwalk, Blue Ball Park— but nothing topped going to a local museum with Nerf guns locked and loaded to shoot your...

Tips for the Teen Years

It wasn’t that long ago that I was riding the wild, twisty rollercoaster called Raising Teens. I remember countless tense discussions with my son in particular, who often felt the rules and schedules at home...

Prepare Your Kids for Careers in an AI-Driven Future-World

Many parents today never experienced a world where computers weren’t a standard household fixture, let alone a world without the Internet. When the World Wide Web first became available to the public in 1991, it...

Postpartum Doulas Help New Families

Sometimes there’s one miraculous moment of postpartum doula care that seems like a turning point in a new parent’s confidence. But more often it’s a series of small, almost imperceptible moments that together lighten the...

Reaching the Heart Before Reaching the Head

When you became a parent, did you say to yourself, “I’m going to love my child only under certain conditions”? This is called Conditional Love. I’m guessing this was not your goal. I’m guessing your...

Child’s Play

Before I had a grandchild, much of my internet searching started with a headache that quickly escalated to the most common symptoms of a brain tumor, or the discovery that one of the side effects...

Exploring California’s Wildlife Through Printmaking

Stephanie Martin is a well known painter and printmaker based in Santa Cruz. Her beautifully hand-colored etchings depict the wildlife of her native landscape. Martin’s illustrations are part of many Bay Area collections and publications...

Can You Trust College Rankings When Choosing Where to Apply?

Ever wonder how the US News and World Report select which university is the best in the nation? You would hope that the researchers would create algorhythms to consider a wide range of factors to...

Disconnect to Reconnect

In a world where mostly everything we do is ONLINE, how are we making space to connect within and with each other in our community. It is no surprise that the mental health crisis is...