February 2023 - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Heroes of the Storm

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:25:27 +0000

While you and your family were sheltering from torrential rains, Manuel Rodriguez, 50, and his brother Joel, 58, were digging underground conduits to help restore power to Aptos. Not only was the work torturous in horrid conditions, but the two were far from their homes in San Luis Obispo County working six days a week, staying in a mobile home in Watsonville and driving back south for one day to see their wives and children. And, to make matters worse, the retaining wall around Joel’s house in Atascadero had collapsed and friends there were helping him out with sand bags. He figures there was at least $15,000 to $20,000 of damage. “The best part of the job is that you are helping people,” said Manuel, who was with a team completing the conduit on a Saturday after the storm had cleared. “And you are in a different place every day. You’re not stuck in one place every day. You travel all the time and you do something different every day.” They work for MGE Underground, of Watsonville, which subcontracts for PG&E, part of the thousands of heroic workers who showed up in Santa Cruz to help with the devastation. There was a PG&E crew that worked 10 hours New Year’s Eve on top of poles in biting rain on Clubhouse Drive in Aptos after a Eucalyptus tree knocked out power for 4,500 people and destroyed a pickup—a photo of which was picked up by the New York Times and illustrated the storm around the world. “I was so impressed they were out and they didn’t stop until the power was back and it was pouring, really pouring,” said Santa Cruz County’s Probation Chief Fernando Giraldo, who watched the work from his window. “I thought we would be out of power for days. I sleep with a CPAP machine, so it was very concerning to me. I was shocked they came and did it so quickly working on top of those poles for hours. The endurance! That’s a young man’s job. They were great.” In Lompico, Comcast went the extra mile to restore internet access. Most of them already had power because they had generators, but the internet was gone because the company requires commercial power to operate over a large area—and many Comcast employees have homes there and had already suffered in the CZU fires. The employees solved the problem for their neighbors by creating a temporary network by running fiber over the canopy provided by tree tops—keeping those who were already cut off by flooded roads and no electricity able to work and study from home, and stay up on the most important news. Some of the homes still don’t have power, but they have internet, while they await a more permanent solution. “This will be my 29th year with Comcast and 25 in the Network department, so working during storms is nothing new to us here,” said Engineering and Network supervisor Ron Poole, who worked from December 27 to January 20 with no break. “At first, the thought was that we are actually going to get some much-needed rain. The first storm hit and we had expected damage to our plant, then the storm fronts just kept coming. Aside from the CZU Fire in 2020, this has been the biggest event we have had that impacted our outside plant structure.” The crews feared mudslides and falling trees, which were happening all around them, but there was a silver lining. “It felt great to see all of the modems come online, and service restored. People were thanking us the whole time. We truly felt bad for them and knew that commercial power wasn’t going to be restored for 10-14 more days.” Verizon also stepped up, to the relief of the Zayante Fire Protection District. “Verizon has arrived!” they posted on Facebook. “They have brought with them this portable cell tower which will help support communications in Lompico Canyon and Lower East Zayante. You might start seeing better signal on your cell phones so give them a try. “Should be set up and running in two hours. Thank you to Verizon and the County of Santa Cruz for making this happen in our community! Note: these are limited range units and we have a lot of trees. But we figure it’s worth a try and anything is better than what’s available now.” You could barely see Capitola’s beachfront, one of the busiest tourist attractions in the county, after the rains flushed down thousands of trees. Organized by Save Our Shores, dozens of residents donned gloves and filled a giant dumpster with driftwood, barely scratching the surface of the work still needed to be done. “We had close to 100 people show up to clean up Capitola Beach,” said city councilwoman Yvette Brooks, who was out there working. “For two hours volunteers picked up debris and created a human conveyor belt to haul larger logs into a green waste dumpster. “I am so proud of Capitola, its residents, community volunteers and staff. Although our city was hit hard with damage to infrastructure that will cost us millions of dollars, our village is strong and it’s moments like this when I know Capitola shines bright with resiliency.”

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Community Comes Together

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:17:43 +0000

If there’s a silver lining to all the storms we’ve faced—besides fighting back on the long drought—it’s the way our community has come together. People have taken both big and small steps to help each other. Big corporations, once considered the Evil Empire around Santa Cruz, have rushed forward to help bring service to so many people stricken by the floods, often not seeking publicity for their efforts, but thanked by residents nonetheless. While everyone praises first responders from police and fire departments, we rarely see enough credit given to workers who climb poles in torrential rains to bring back electricity, cable and phone service. We’ve tried to call out some of them in our article about Heroes of the Storm. We know there are many more and would love to print your thanks to them in a column next month. So send them to editor@growingupsc and we we may used them in print. We also loved the way volunteers have stepped up, from big groups cleaning beaches, to individuals carrying bags on their daily walks and filling them with plastics. Some beaches, such as those between Rio del Mar and Manresa are almost spotless already. And we love the individual efforts, such as the person who left out donuts and plastic bags, asking people to take one and fill the bag with plastic. We can only express our gratitude at your thoughtfulness and the hope for the future you bring to Santa Cruz County and those growing up here. You are true role models for our kids. We appreciate President Biden for showing up. Yes, it cost a fortune in expenses and fuel to bring him here. But we saw the pride he brought to the school kids who saw his flyover and stood out along the roads to greet him. Yes, it’s symbolic, but we think it was worth it, just for what it brought to the kids and to the struggling businesses. It was a big ray of hope that someone in Washington cares and was a big contrast to a previous executive who blamed our problems on not raking leaves or controlling the forests—which, by the way, were on federal land and under his jurisdiction. We are feeling so grateful to have January sunshine without the fear that it’s deepening the drought. And we are hopeful that this climate event will open paths to future initiatives to meet the threat of climate change. It’s not just coming…it’s here, right before our eyes. We have to take steps to stop it, whether it’s by building alternative transportation, like the bicycles the rest of the world favors, switching to solar powered electric vehicles, cutting down on all that plastic and moving to truly recyclable packaging.Growing Up will be taking on those issues throughout the years and highlighting your efforts to make our world safer and cleaner. Thanks for reading Brad Kava, Editor and Publisher

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How You Can Help the Storm Cleanup

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:12:26 +0000

The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz is organizing storm cleanup efforts in Felton Grove for the next several weeks. To sign up to be an emergency response volunteer, request flood clean-up assistance, or donate to the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County and support its efforts, visit scvolunteercenter.org. For more information call 831.427.5070. This Google Map set up by Coastal Watershed Council leader Laurie Egan has a number of contacts for area cleanup supervisors: bit.ly/3j37NjfThe Community Foundation Santa Cruz County has launched a disaster fund to help residents and small business owners. The money will go to nonprofits serving vulnerable populations. Donations will also go to small businesses in coordination with local business improvement districts. Donations can be made to the Santa Cruz County Disaster Fund at www.cfscc.org/disaster. To get FEMA help, for Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, storm victims can apply online for federal aid at DisasterAssistance.gov, call FEMA at 800.621.3362 or download the FEMA app.

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Out & About

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 08:23:46 +0000

Open Houses

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:43:58 +0000

Nothing Like the First Grandchild

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:31:30 +0000

My first grandchild arrived seven months ago. A little girl (at least for now) called Grace. I’ve wanted to be a grandmother for a long time. I always thought I’d be a young grandmother. I had my children when I was young, and my mother was only forty-six when she became a grandmother. So, becoming a grandmother at sixty seems old to me. Still, I am surprised, or maybe just disappointed, that no one is shocked to learn that I am a grandmother. I have yet to hear the words “you look too young to be a grandmother!” On the upside, having a grandchild has taken the sting out of turning sixty. Because you are just getting to know me, I should tell you that I have always been a worrier, a worst-case scenario type. And even though my journey through grand mothering has just begun, I predict many of my musings will have a nervous nellie bent. I was that way as a mother, and I will be that way as a grandmother. But I also have perspective, which is something I did not have when I was raising my babies. Then every decision was monumental, and I know now that was a monumental waste of my time and energy. So even though I will worry about my grandchild choking on solid food for the rest of my life, I now have a sense of humor and levity that I didn’t have back then. I feel so fortunate to live down the street from my son and his family and am thrilled to babysit regularly. I may not always feel this way, but for now it’s just right. I consider myself a natural with babies, but my skills have not been tested for a long time. Turns out, babies are the same, but the rules and the accessories are not. My babies slept in pajamas with a blanket and a sheet and maybe a stuffed animal (Actually I can’t remember what was in their crib, the point is they survived it.) Grace sleeps in a funny sleeping suit that keeps her from moving around too much and nothing else. To be clear I am not saying this is wrong, I’m all for anything that keeps the baby safe. I’m just saying it takes some getting used to. And some pride swallowing. It turns out pride is a major choking hazard! Also, the fact that I’m “good” with babies is irrelevant. It turns out no one wants my opinions about parenting. By no one, I mean the parents of my grandchild. This was not news to me, I learned this in the first chapter of Grandparenting for Dummies and from every grandparent I have ever met. Still, it’s hard to take it when your son corrects you on your diapering technique. And then there’s all the newfangled equipment (now there’s a phrase that will date a person). But the hard truth is that everything has changed from which side the baby sleeps on (spoiler alert, it’s the back side) to the stroller that converts to a car seat; a bassinet; a highchair and a floatation device! Along with my fear of choking I have a fear of dying in a stupid household accident and I’m pretty sure the legs attached to that sleek highchair in my kitchen are going to be the death of me. The legs spread out in four directions like a tent (maybe we could throw a sheet over it and use it as one. Oh, wait, she’s not allowed to have bedding in her bed. Never mind). I know it’s designed to keep the chair from tipping over but what good is that if grandma is face down on the floor? Also, the highchair I had back in the day, with the regular legs never tipped over, I’m just saying. By Sarah Savasky

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Supporting Mental Wellness

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:27:54 +0000

I’m grateful for the little moments that start to feel like pre-pandemic life. Before 2020, I never thought that going to a grocery store or a friend’s house without being afraid to touch things or breathe air was cause for a celebration. But after nearly two years of the pandemic, these “small” things make a big difference. While I’m hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is over, I’m deeply concerned about the extent of the pandemic-related emotional and behavioral health challenges faced by many children, youth, and adults. The holidays can be a challenging time anyway for mental health, so it’s even more important that we care for ourselves and each other at this time of year. This monthly article provides tips for families raising children, based on the world-renowned Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, available to families in Santa Cruz County. If you have a question for a future column, please email triplep@first5scc.org. Dear Nicole,I’m worried about my children’s mental health (they’re 8 and 13). They used to enjoy being around people at home and school, but now they isolate themselves in their rooms and don’t want to go anywhere, especially school. It’s a daily struggle to get them to go to school. I’ve tried talking with them to find out whether there’s a problem with teachers, other kids, or their schoolwork, but they don’t want to open up to me. Do you have any suggestions?Priya Dear Priya,You’re not alone. The emotional and behavioral health of children and teens was of concern before COVID, but the pandemic-related stress, fear, grief, and uncertainty has intensified mental health challenges for kids of all ages. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, emergency department visits for mental health emergencies increased between March and October 2020 by 24% for children ages 5-11 and 31% for children ages 12-17. In early 2021, there was more than a 50% increase in emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts among girls ages 12-17, compared to 2019. As a result, pediatricians, psychiatrists, and children’s hospitals recently declared a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health. So you are wise to pay attention to changes in your children’s moods and behaviors. Here are some tips that may help your family: Continue checking in with your kids. Have “casual conversations” about things your children are interested in—food, sports, clothing, music, social media, their friends, or other hobbies. Keep the lines of communication open, ask questions, and encourage them to express their thoughts and feelings. This can lead to more in-depth discussions about their moods, eating and sleeping patterns, changes in social relationships, difficulties at school, or other issues that are weighing on their minds. Validate their feelings. If your kids open up, then listen, acknowledge their feelings, and thank them for sharing—even if you don’t share the same interests or agree with their opinions. Hold off on trying to reassure them that everything will be fine or telling them the situation is not as bad as it seems. Remember that kids are more likely to believe those words once they feel someone believes them. Simply saying, “I can see you feel strongly about that,” or, “That’s a big emotional weight to carry,” can have a calming effect. Do “family stress busters” together. Go on a walk, spend time in nature, have a family game night, watch a movie, exercise, read, play music, take naps, or do mindfulness exercises together. Do things that make you laugh or just appreciate being with each other. Spending quality time together is a Triple P parenting strategy that builds positive, loving family relationships, which helps “buffer” kids from the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression. Seek help and support from other sources. Schedule a health check-up for your kids with their medical provider. This can help identify any physical, mental, or behavioral health concerns and connect your children to helpful resources such as counseling. Many schools also offer counseling and other resources that teach children and teens tools to manage stress and other emotions. Remember to seek support for your own mental health, too. FINAL THOUGHTS: Life is stressful, even overwhelming at times. If you or your children find that these tips aren’t enough to cope with mental health challenges, contact professionals in your community for additional support. If someone is in immediate distress or in danger of hurting themselves, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line (HELLO to 741741). Nicole Young is the mother of two children, ages 19 and 22, who also manages Santa Cruz County’s Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, the world’s leading positive parenting program. Scientifically proven, Triple P is made available locally by First 5 Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency (Mental Health Services Act) and the Santa Cruz County Human Services Department. To find a Triple P parenting class or practitioner, visit triplep.first5scc.org, www.facebook.com/triplepscc, or contact First 5 Santa Cruz County at 465-2217 or triplep@first5scc.org.

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The Excavators on the Playground

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:16:20 +0000

I spent three years involved in writing and defending the California Preschool Foundations. State-sponsored preschool is a marvelous concept, and there were hundreds of well-intentioned people who needed to have a say in what the curriculum ought to be. The meetings required microphones and convention centers to accommodate everyone who knew about preschool. I was proud of the results, and very happy that all preschoolers in my state would have strong art, science, physical education and SEL (social-emotional learning). Years later, specialists in our county were making a learning plan for my preschool daughter with special needs. They pulled out the books I helped write to decide what her goals should be in all eight subjects deemed necessary for preschool. I had just come from watching my other daughter at her private preschool. She had not let me take her home until I tasted her pizza. The pizza was an old plate with a carefully smoothed down pat of mud. She took it out of a faded plastic play oven, and she and her friends carefully added rocks and grass for toppings. “Mmmmmmm, pizza! Thank you so much. May I pay you?” They nodded. I solemnly handed them a leaf.Up the embankment on the playground, there was a happy buzz floating up from a small group of preschoolers digging and sculpting mud on the slope. They had buckets of water and some old play trucks, and occasionally, they would drive the trucks over their tiny world and dump water down their carefully sculpted river. “They are my little excavators. They love the rain – this time of year is wonderful for kids,” advised their teacher. I thought about the cleanup she might have to do before their parents came to pick them up and I was quite impressed. I thought about the years I taught college preparatory physics and eighth grade physics. When I got to the coefficient of friction, I would always ask kids to picture playing with a toy car or truck. “You know, when wheels turn, there’s no sliding. There’s a new static surface every second. So. You have to picture that play when you choose which equation to use.” What if kids stopped playing? In high school chemistry, there’s a big difference between solutions and suspensions, and special math about how light goes through colloids.I watched my daughter as she skipped happily over to her mud kitchen and began to mix me a dirt smoothie. The sunlight shot through swirling motes of dirt in her play cup. I was writing a new curriculum last month to find new and exciting ways to have kids learn the Next Generation Science Standards in elementary school. One of the most difficult units I encountered was about erosion. It’s something fourth graders are supposed to learn, and schools must impart more knowledge of the changing earth than I learned in my college geology class. I thought about the excavators and the pizza makers, sliding cakes of dirt and mud around for fun. There is no manual we wrote for preschool that gives instructions for play. And yet, I’ve never seen anything to make me think it isn’t the single most important thing to support for preschoolers. Play that is independent, creative, free, and safe. I wonder sometimes if the best use of funds for state preschools might have been spent keeping the ratio of teachers low and the play-yards and classrooms beautiful, safe, natural, and full of interesting and imaginative ways for a small person to investigate their world independently. Educator and historian Diane Ravitch famously said that to improve American education, give every child a musical instrument. I wonder if we should give every preschooler a messy hill full of mud, a shovel, other children, and a kind and watchful adult. I know that all of that curriculum we wrote has enormous value, but I know that children also need to explore the world with all of their senses on their own terms. It’s not easy for an institution or a government to see the connections that something like mud play makes to how humans learn later in life. The best preschools, however, seem to do it all. There are letters, numbers, art, science, and vocabulary for the taking, but there is plenty of time and space for messy, unstructured play. No matter what, young children never stop learning, no matter where they go or what they do.Lisa Catterall teaches STEAM, math, science, and art at Mount Madonna School and is a senior associate of the Centers for Research on Creativity. She lectures and trains teachers and administrators on innovation in education in Beijing, China. Lisa has five children and lives in Santa Cruz County.

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Teen Twins Fight Water Pollution at TEDxMeritAcademy

growingupsc — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 06:19:42 +0000

Kids these days! We’ve left them holding the bag of unintended consequences of our own indulgences, yet our children are still vested in righting our wrongs. What solutions might they find if given the opportunity and resources?Ishan and Alisha Bhatia are twins. People ask: Do you think alike? You could say so. Both tackled the same global crisis: water pollution, each from a unique perspective. Before they were out of high school, each had discovered viable solutions and showcased them in talks at TEDxMeritAcademy. Here’s what they have to say: Ishan Imagine a contagion that popped out of nowhere, threatening 385 million lives with cancer, birth defects, and DNA degradation. It travels through the air, through our food, and even worse — through water. Seemingly innocuous streams meander along, spreading this contagion everywhere. Unfortunately, this is our reality. Every year, 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used worldwide, contaminating our water and food supplies.After years of research, I discovered an alternative to deadly commercial pesticides that’s just as powerful yet completely safe: Cordyceps militaris. This is a mushroom specialized to kill insects, using spores that breach their exoskeletons, disarm their immune systems, and extract nutrients until the critters die. Only 8% survive the mushroom, versus 5-10% against conventional pesticides.But to you and me, Cordyceps militaris is a friend, used for thousands of years as a health supplement. That’s as safe as it comes for a pesticide.At TEDxMeritAcademy, I encouraged gardeners to use Cordyceps militaris to rid their plants of common pests like aphids. You can do the same, just by visiting my website, cordyceps-pesticide.com, for instructions for making your own Cordyceps militaris spray.Try it! Let me know which insects and plants it works with. Let’s identify all the insects that Cordyceps militaris can attack, and start replacing toxic pesticides today. There’s a role for each of us in making our food and water safe. Will you join me? TEDx Talk: bit.ly/3CXXFyW Alisha Flames spew from a garden hose and smoke permeates the sky. Laughter-filled playgrounds become toxic cemeteries of childhood memories. In 2015, there were 300,000 hydraulic fracturing wells in the US. Today, there are over 1.7 million. Noxious fracking fluid infiltrates our aquifers. Communities unknowingly ingest water with over a thousand of volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, and bacteria. The result: cancer, neurological disorders, organ failures, and high-risk pregnancies. Starting in middle school, I channeled my hope into devising an affordable water filter specialized to capture fracking toxins. I developed a prototype using a pump sprayer, activated carbon, an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid resin, and a 0.2 micron filter. My filter significantly removed total organic carbon, copper, and microorganisms, though I plan to continue fine-tuning the design.I was just getting started. Energy companies were still recklessly drilling. The cries of people petitioning for clean drinking water were lost in a sea of corporate control. Poisoned families were targeted with public ridicule and relocated from their homes under gag orders, preventing them from exposing the deadly truth about fracking. My years of research culminated in my TEDxMeritAcademy talk, We Have a Big Fracking Problem!. I exposed the companies responsible, sounded the alarm over fracking-induced fatalities, and detailed my water filter solutions. Wanting to do more, I developed America Is Fracked Up, a national organization. Through its website, www.americaisfrackedup.com, people can locate fracking wells, learn more about commercial water filters, and sign a petition to make gas companies provide them. Instead of spending millions to fight the truth, companies must channel their resources to repair the damage they’ve done and provide Americans with clean drinking water. Will you join me? TEDx Talk: bit.ly/3HeRSHD We count on our young people to see the world with fresh eyes. Four million teens in this country start high school every year, each of them brimming with potential. Imagine if all students had the opportunity Ishan and Alisha did to start projects and discover practical solutions to the challenges we face. How much more would these students learn? How much more self-assured would they be, knowing what they’re capable of? And how much better off would we all be, as beneficiaries of their powerful contributions?

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About the Cover

growingupsc — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 19:30:00 +0000

Everyone has been affected in one way or another by this winter’s devastating storms. This includes the youngest of Santa Cruz County’s community members. Our Natural Bridges Children’s Center preschoolers have been coming to school every day talking about their own family experiences and through play have been processing the beautiful ways in which they have seen community helpers, neighbors and complete strangers working together to rebuild their town. This photo captures our kind and thoughtful Lily clearing a road so that she and all of her tricycle riding friends and classmates could get home. This embodies everything that we stand for and believe in at NBCC: Inspiring Learning ~ Creating Community ~ Building Bridges About the photographer: Our awesome photographer and fabulous Pre-Kindergarten teacher Courtnay Schmidt while documenting children’s play, captured this special moment of Lily truly modeling NBCC’S mission statement; inspiring children’s play (inspiring learning) while gathering her friends (creating community) and rebuilding their NBCC town (building bridges). About the Cover

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