Cece Tarahteeff found her “escape, – somewhere I can be without judgment” in the bricks of clay, spinning wheels, and buckets of glaze she uses to make her greatest passion: ceramics. “Pottery puts me in a meditative state of mind, in another headspace. I could be having a bad day, but I go into the studio and leave feeling amazing.” Cece, is a 22-year-old born and raised Santa Cruzian, who discovered her love of pottery when she was 14, while attending Santa Cruz High under the guidance of her teacher, Iver Hennig. His influence was particularly influential for Cece, as “he allows you to have the freedom to explore and…
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Homework Routines Are Your Friend
My children are young adults now, but I still have “homework battle scars.” I remember feeling like our lives revolved around due dates for homework assignments and school projects. I’ll admit I wasn’t always successful at staying calm, especially when I was tired from working and they needed hands-on help from me or procrastinated on starting projects. But as my kids grew older and learned to manage their time and study habits independently, the light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter. My kids learned they were responsible for completing their homework (I wasn’t going to save them), and I learned to trust they would get the work done…even…
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The Art Factory Studios Reopens in Aptos
By Suki Wessling Art Factory owner Yvette Contois, 52, stands at the entrance to her big, bright new studio in Aptos. She’s beaming. “We love our memories of the first eleven years in our little art cottage, and now we’re truly grateful to be starting the next chapter: Art Factory 3.0 in its new home,” she says. ”We couldn’t ask for a more fantastic space to celebrate our fifteenth year in Aptos!” This reopening has been a long time coming. Yvette’s former onsite business, housed in a little fairytale cottage in the redwoods, was a pandemic casualty. Even with everything going online, it was hard to leave the charming location,…
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A Closer Look at Discipline
When I talk about the parenting classes I teach using the Positive Discipline approach, parents are shocked to hear that the style of parenting I advocate for does not include punishment or rewards. This seems like a horrible idea to most parents…but it’s not! In fact, not choosing punishment or rewards as parenting tools and instead focusing on discipline is a pathway to create incredibly responsible, respectful adults who call their parents to chat and stay connected to their families. Isn’t that what we all want from our kids? In last month’s edition of Growing Up in Santa Cruz, a Positive Discipline colleague of mine, Hannah Stubblefield, explored how punishment…
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That Girl and Her Mom Phenomenon – ‘Better Together’
Terry deDiego and Cheryl deDiego-Carlson are a mother-daughter team who have been teaching fitness classes at Toadal Fitness, Live Oak, for the past sixteen years. Their lively, vibrant and playful teaching style has garnered somewhat of a cult following. They’re particularly renowned for their killer Barre and Zumba workouts as well as for their endearing, enthusiastic and unique mother-daughter combined approach to teaching classes. “When we started sixteen years ago we were referred to as ‘That Girl and Her Mom’… everywhere we went,” Cheryl recalls, but “now we’re the ‘Dynamic Duo’. We love teaching together; we are just better together.” Terry, the ever-enthusiastic athlete, raised her daughters in her world…
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Banned Books Week Panel: “Let Freedom Read”
Banned Books Week is back, and it’s time to celebrate the freedom to read while shedding light on the ongoing and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For over four decades, this annual event has united the entire literary community in unwavering support of the right to explore and express ideas, even those that may challenge the status quo or be deemed controversial. In 2022, the American Library Association (ALA)’s Office for Intellectual Freedom recorded a staggering 1,269 demands for the censorship of library books and resources. This marked the highest number of attempted book bans since the ALA began tracking censorship data in libraries over two…
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Should I Stay or Should I Go?
For Mike Holton, it was love at first sight.Boulder Creek was supposed to be just one stop on his road trip with his daughter. As they drove Highway 9’s winding roads, the town that appeared before him called to him in a way he had never felt before.Like so many others, Holton immediately felt captivated by this quaint, rustic town of wild west-esque wooden buildings nestled within mystic redwood forests. That day, he was overwhelmed as he breathed in the natural splendor and decided there and then to make it his home.“It’s just heaven on earth … a majesty of all of your senses: the visuals … of the mountains…
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Fall Family Fitness, Food and Fun
School is back in session and as the new routine picks up, some self-care gems can go out the window. This article will share with you a few of my favorite tips to ensure you can get your entire family on board for fitness, healthy foods and lots of fun this fall. Earlier alarms, homework and all the shifts can cause stress and affect each family member differently.The first step in fall family self care is to give everyone a “grace” period. For the next 30 days be realistic about all the changes happening from the weather to adjusting to all the new things on your to-do list after a…
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Coloring Contest Winners
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Baby Photo Contest Winners
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Out & About in Santa Cruz
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How Do You Know Fall Has Started?
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Coloring Contest
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Latest Con Job May Kill Us All
They conned us again and this time might be the worst. First, they told us cigarettes were safe and even healthy, all the time knowing they were killing people. With grassroots efforts, we quashed that. Then, they ignored the fact that thousands of people were dying from drunk driving. They ignored it until Mothers Against Drunk Driving launched a nationwide effort to solve that problem by getting more enforcement and stricter laws. Now they have covered up the incredible harm plastics are doing to the Earth, acting like recycling will solve the problem. NO IT WON’T and they know it. Reporter Susanne Rust kept a record of all the plastics…
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Look Lively, There’s a New Kid’s Store Downtown
As the bright, mid-morning light streams through the Lively Kid’s storefront windows, owner Kayti Mata thoughtfully puts the finishing touches to her picture-perfect store. Surrounded by her hand-embellished furniture and snap-shots of her kids and their elementary school peers grinning down from the walls, Mata is completely in her element in the store of her dreams, located in the heart of her hometown. A third-generation Santa Cruzian, Mata always wanted to raise her two young children here, where they could have the same hometown experience she adored growing up. “There are so many roots here for our family… Santa Cruz was [always] the main option for us,” Mata said. “I’ve…
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How Can We Make Colleges Accessible to All Students?
In my previous article last month, I addressed how affirmative action really affects college admissions by creating substandard classes and dumbing down our best universities. Instead of giving free passes to students who meet ethnic and socioeconomic numbers, let’s level the playing field so all students have similar opportunities to compete for admission based on merit. We need to start teaching academic skills in preschool and offer cutting-edge courses in K-12. Remember there are over 4,000 colleges in the United States, and most will accept all applicants. For the sake of this article, we are only addressing the super selective colleges with acceptance rates below 10%. Academic preschool for all…
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Keeping the Airwaves Alive
“Our motto at the station is ‘Serve the Community First’,” said Tina Davey, station manager and co-founder of KBCZ Boulder Creek Community Radio Station, 89.3 FM. Every day since the station’s inception in 2013, Davey and her fellow DJs enter their small booth in downtown Boulder Creek, ready to share news updates, personal insights and community-based interviews with local listeners. Born in the UK, Davey originally moved to North Hollywood to pursue a career in rock music and eventually worked in television production in the 90’s. However, after visiting Boulder Creek with her husband, the pair resolved to move to the area. They packed up their instruments and moved here…
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Becoming a Great Grandmother
An old adage says the best thing about being a grandparent is that you can give the baby or toddler or teenager back to the parents when you’ve had enough. That might be true, but for me it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. Plus, I don’t always want to give my granddaughter back to her parents when my time with her is up. Of course, I always do, because that would be kidnapping and kidnapping is bad.For me one of the best things about being a grandparent is that I know I’m not going to mess up or mess her up. As I mother, I wasn’t so…
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How Do You Feel About Going Back to School?
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Coloring Contest Winners
