Student Artwork Goes Public Kathleen Crocetti and her Students Collaborate on Public Art Projects By Elaine Ingalls The Water Street and Soquel Av- enue Bridges are more than a route of travel, thanks to Kathleen Crocetti and her students. They are art. Crocetti has been the lead artist for 20 public art projects in Santa Cruz, including mosaics on the Water Street Bridge and the Soquel Avenue Bridge. Her students have worked on 16 of these projects. The Water Street Bridge features endangered species of the San Lorenzo River. She made mosaics with her students in class and took walking field trips to install them. Crocetti teaches sixth, seventh and…
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Dangers Imagined and Real: Always Amused February 2019
Dangers Imagined and Real: Always Amused February 2019 By Erik Chalhoub You’ve loaded the family in the car, driven a few hours, and you’ve gotten through the main gate. All that built-up excitement and anticipation upon entering a theme park can be overwhelming, especially for younger children: which ride do you hit first? What time do the shows start? Where should we get lunch? But, you should be focusing on one thing above all else: safety first. Sorry to be a buzzkill. From all my years visiting theme parks, I’ve seen some crazy things, all of which were the fault of the guest, not the park. I’ve seen kids dive…
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Reporting Issues to the County From your Smartphone
Reporting Issues to the County From your Smartphone: County Scoop February 2019 By Zach Friend, County Supervisor With the recent rains, roadway issues (including potholes) are starting to pop back up. Additionally, non-emergency tree trimming needs, sign damage and more become more common.Did you know that many of these issues, and more, can be reported directly from your smartphone through the County’s free Citizen Connect mobile app? Available for download on iTunes and Google Play (or right from the county’s website – santacruzcounty.us), the app connects residents to their government through smart phones and other mobile devices, allowing you to report issues and receive updates on the status of these…
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Teaching Kids Healthy Habits: Ask Nicole February 2019
Teaching Kids Healthy Habits: Ask Nicole February 2019 By Nicole M. Young MSW My family loves food. Our activities revolve around where and what we plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snacks in between. We try to eat healthy foods more often than not, but we have our guilty pleasures – the foods we love and shouldn’t eat too much of but end up overdoing it anyway. Mine is cheese. Most of the time it’s not an issue, but when my kids were on a recent break from school, we all spent more time eating, looking at screens, and lounging around. It was fun while it…
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Downtown Santa Cruz Parking Price Changes Effective in January and February 2019
Downtown Santa Cruz Parking Price Changes Effective in January and February 2019 The City of Santa Cruz is implementing three downtown parking price changes that were approved by City Council in 2018 to: reduce/sunset the Parking Deficiency Fee paid by businesses; increase hourly and permit parking fees; and use parking funding for alternative transportation options in alignment with the Go Santa Cruz program. The current Deficiency Fee paid by businesses has been reduced 20 percent per year. This started on Jan. 1. The fee will be fully eliminated by Jan. 1, 2023. Monthly parking permit rates will increase to $45 per month. Regarding user fees, hourly and daily parking rates…
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Letter from the Editors: February 2019
Letter from the Editors: February 2019 Dear Readers, It’s almost a reflex: we see a couple with a toddler and the question pops out. Where are you going to send them to preschool? We feel like ants, rubbing antennae to exchange information. Are they nice? What do they teach? Are they strict? Are they fun? Do the kids love it? Do they enjoy it? Is there food? Is there diversity? Is it multilingual? We’ve heard tales of one preschool where the owner never looked up from a cell phone during the entire drop off. That one is out of business, to no one’s surprise. Then, there’s one where the teacher…
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What is the Most Popular Name for Boys Over the Past 100 Years?
What is the Most Popular Name for Boys Over the Past 100 Years? Make your guess before clicking on the article below. Henry? Sam? Edward? Nope. This Is the Most Popular Baby Name of the Past 100 Years
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Watch the Eclipse Tonight!
Watch the Eclipse Tonight! If by any chance we get clear weather Sunday night, take your kids out to look at the skies. A few hours after moonrise, the moon should turn red and disappear, all across the U.S. Only two other eclipses have been visible across the entire U.S., in 1968 and 2001. And Sunday’s will be the first total lunar eclipse since July 27, 2018 (which was only visible in parts of Africa and Asia) and the last one until May 26, 2021. You can find more information, along with a live stream of the eclipse (if weather conditions are cloudy where you live), on NASA’s website. You can also…
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Good News for Crime Fighting in SC
Good News for Crime Fighting in SC The Sheriff’s office has hired a host of new deputies, including many women. That’s good news for our county, where current response times can be as slow as a kid finishing a plate of broccoli. We talked to Sheriff Jim Hart, who says crime is actually way down in the county, despite the feeling that it is worse. We’ll have a story about that in GUISC soon. Meanwhile, here’s the good news in the Sentinel: https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2015/07/21/six-rookie-sheriffs-deputies-hit-the-pavement-in-santa-cruz-county/
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Santa Cruz Gets New Local Radio Station
Santa Cruz Gets New Local Radio Station It’s been years since KUSP went bankrupt, but thanks to the hard work of many of the community programmers there, Santa Cruz is about to get a great new radio station that is really local and reflects the community….and, oh yeah, there will be shows aimed at families and kids. We are so excited about this and have to salute Rachel Goodman for chairing the effort. Have a look at www.ksqd.org for some of the programs. Growing Up’s Brad Kava will have a show there. More details coming. Here’s an article in the Sentinel announcing the station: https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2019/01/11/ksqd-radio-for-the-people-by-the-people-of-santa-cruz/
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Cabrillo College Has Added a Sustainable Agriculture Degree
Cabrillo College Has Added a Sustainable Agriculture Degree Cabrillo College has added a sustainable agriculture degree, something that fits right in with the values of Santa Cruz County. Sustainable Agriculture Technology students study horticulture and plant science curriculum and develop their skills in a broad range of agriculture technology topics including: data management, GIS mapping, networking technology tools on farm, producing plants in nutrient film technique, deep raft, ebb and flood, and substrate hydroponic production systems, electrical and hydraulic engineering basics, soil moisture sensing, and energy and water conservation. For more information, check http://www.cabrillo.edu/academics/horticulture/agtech.html
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Film Maker’s Video: What Pregnancy Did to My Body
Film Maker’s Video: What Pregnancy Did to My Body New mothers will definitely want to check out this film by Bronwen-Parker Rhodes. New York Times article
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“Expired” Medicine May Still Be Good
“Expired” Medicine May Still Be Good Here’s something we’ve always wondered about and we’re glad the folks at ProPublica did an investigation. Are those drugs in your medicine cabinet with expired dates useless or dangerous? Not so, says this investigation, which found just the opposite. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-myth-of-drug-expiration-dates Please tell us your experience and opinion in the comments section.
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Study Shows Why Kids Need Outdoor Time
Study Shows Why Kids Need Outdoor Time Kids spend at most 7 minutes a day outdoors and 7 hours a day in front of electronics. Here’s an article about a book suggesting kids need to be saved from “nature-deficit disorder.” It’s well worth a read! Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature
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Tips for Shelter in the Stock Market Meltdown
Tips for Shelter in the Stock Market Meltdown Is the stock market meltdown messing with your kids’ college funds: here’s what to do. This article on the Fatherly website suggests parents using 529 accounts to save for college should put the money in funds that adjust and get more conservative as the children get closer to college age. Or they can borrow the money when the market is down and pay themselves back from the account when it goes up. Here’s a good advice story
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Dominican Hospital Welcomed Santa Cruz County’s First Baby Born in 2019
Dominican Hospital Welcomed Santa Cruz County’s First Baby Born in 2019 Little baby boy Alexander Joseph Rodriguez was born at 1:03 a.m. this morning to proud parents Veronikka Velez and Alejandro Rodriguez-Duarte of Watsonville. He was the first baby born in the new year in Santa Cruz County. Members of his extended family arrived at the hospital soon after and were delighted to meet him.
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Around Town January 2019
Around Town January 2019 SPRING HILL SCHOOL: Second grader Erik Huemer, 7, sold surprise Pokemon characters with his dad, Peter Huemer, who owns user Friendly Computing. GOOD CAUSE: Spring Hill School sixth grader Odessa Pearce came up with the idea for a craft fair to raise money for local charities and the whole school got behind her. They sold food, arts and crafts, jewelry, ornaments and more raising $1,330 for organizations including SPCA, Save Our Shores, the Homeless Garden Project and CASA. Photos by: Brad Kava
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Dance Like Everyone is Looking
Dance Like Everyone is Looking A Mom Raises the Ballet Barre for the First Time By Ramona Pursley As we enter a New Year, I reflect on what I’ve accomplished during the past year both personally and as a parent. One of the best things I did in 2018 was stepping out of my regular Mom Role and trying a challenge I’d wanted to try my whole life—to learn ballet, a real challenge at the age of 57. As older parents of young children, my husband Bob and I find our selves running from one after school activity to another. Our two children ages 11 and almost 13 are involved…
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Thinking Twice Before You Take Family Matters to Court
Think Twice Before You Take Parenting Matters to Court By Bob Derber So there’s drama with your parenting relationship on how to raise your children. You have both lawyered up and are headed to court. BUT LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP! This often occurs after the holidays. Drama abounds when you navigate who has the children on Christmas, care over school breaks and scheduling winter trips. If you are reading this, you survived, but possibly not unscathed. When parents collide, you may ask a judge to make decisions on matters best left to parents. The judge has no intimate knowledge, as you have, about your children. At your first court visit,…
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Options in Homeschooling
Options in Homeschooling: Umbrella Programs Share Some of the Burden By Suki Wessling January is Growing Up’s Independent Schools issue, and you can’t get much more independent than homeschooling. In California, any family can homeschool simply by declaring their home a private school on a state form. That’s a pretty low barrier to entry, but after the simple form come the complex challenges. I refer to homeschooling as “the ultramarathon of parenting.” You’re not only raising children (a hard enough job) but also educating them and taking full responsibility for their social and emotional growth. Although many families succeed at homeschooling independently and love doing so, another way that Santa…
