• domestic violence santa cruz
    June 2019

    The Worst Day for a Family Lawyer, Addressing Domestic Violence

    The Worst Day for a Family Lawyer, Addressing Domestic Violence By Bob Derber and Judge Paul Marigonda At times, being a Family Law attorney can really suck.  Today is one of those days. What do you do when a parent threatens the health and safety of their child?  Where does the other parent turn for help? The challenge can be drug or alcohol addiction, physical violence, sexual abuse, or neglect.  The child can be 4 or 14.  The result is often not obvious but is always devastating.  The mental and emotional impact of abuse on a child can last a lifetime.  And yet to the child, the offending parent is…

  • screen time for kids santa cruz
    June 2019

    Screen Time in Summertime: Ask Nicole June 2019

    Screen Time in Summertime: Ask Nicole June 2019 By Nicole M. Young, MSW When I was a young child, the only TV shows my parents let us watch were Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, or anything else on PBS. Occasionally, we watched The Brady Bunch, until my mom declared the show off limits. She was convinced that the more my siblings and I watched The Brady Bunch, the more we fought with each other. I remember being upset at her decision – how could life, and my mom, be so unfair?!? Now that I’m a parent, I can understand she was doing her best to keep four kids busy, healthy, and…

  • June 2019

    June Coloring Page

    June Coloring Contest There is so much to discover under the Santa Cruz Wharf in this drawing by Trisha Wolfe. Want to win Beach Boardwalk tickets? Color this in, send it to Box 3505, Santa Cruz, CA 95063 or email it to [email protected] and sign up for our newsletter and we will select five winners for the passes.

  • stars therapy services
    June 2019

    Stars Therapy Services: Supporting Children and Families

    Stars Therapy Services: Supporting Children and Families The relationship between you and your child is at the heart of our intervention services. We focus on parent education, family involvement, and natural routines to encourage a child’s growth across the five areas of human development. The staff at Stars Therapy Services are on a mission to empower and support parents because parents know their unique little one best. When your child feels safe and loved, they grow and learn! Social and emotional development describes children’s ability to experience and express their feelings, form relationships, and explore the world around them. Social and emotional development is the foundation for all other learning.…

  • Sophia Park Santa Cruz
    June 2019

    Looking Down on the World From Up High: Extreme Adventures June 2019

    Looking Down on the World From Up High: Extreme Adventures June 2019 By Kevin Painchaud You ask most people what they are afraid of, the most common answer is heights.  Most people tend to get a bit of vertigo when standing on a tall ladder or peering over a bridge.  For 15 year old Sophia Park, she has no fear of heights — In fact, she craves it.  For the last four years, Sophia has been a competitive rock climber.  This has lead her to compete all over California and Nevada.  Sophia has won many competitions and consistently ranks high in the standings for her age division.  Last year in…

  • santa cruz teachers
    June 2019

    Potential and the Value of Sitting on the Bench

    Potential and the Value of Sitting on the Bench By Lisa Catterall I would never have thought I was capable of sitting on the bench as the number two man. And it showed me that you can really achieve everything in life, even the unthinkable, as long as you’re willing to work on yourself a little bit. – Oliver Kahn Some of my students were particularly distraught today because a friend of theirs quit a varsity sports team after one of the biggest games of the season. There was a speculative consensus that this students’ reaction was because they felt slighted by the coach for being on the bench too…

  • not wanting kids
    June 2019

    No Kids Wanted

    No Kids Wanted I’ve never wanted to be a father, but sometimes I wonder, ‘What if?’ By John M. Glionna I might seem an outsider among all you Santa Cruz parents, an unlikely voice for these pages, because I hail from a foreign tribe: those who have chosen not to have children. While I’m not a father, I am an uncle to nine nieces and nephews, aged 4 to 40. I cherish each of them on their own terms and, along with their parents, am celebrating the adults they have, or soon will, become. But I still grapple with my decision not to have my own children. For many years, it was an easy call, this…

  • parasites in pets santa cruz
    June 2019

    Parasites Punching this Summer: Talking Pets June 2019

    Parasites Punching this Summer: Talking Pets June 2019 By Dr. Nichole Brooks Those creepy, crawly blood sucking parasites are popping up everywhere! Its tick season around here and everyone needs to be ready. What is a tick? Ticks are considered an arthropod ectoparasite and are an arachnid. They are related to spiders, mites and even scorpions. They feed exclusively on the blood of the animal they land on. On the central coast of California the type of ticks most often identified are the American dog tick (dermacentor variabilis), the Brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus), and the Western Blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus). In brief, the tick has a relatively short life…

  • santa cruz healthy eating
    June 2019

    You Can Bypass a Lot of Medicines if You Feed Kids Healthy Food

    You Can Bypass a Lot of Medicines if You Feed Kids Healthy Food By Kris Holden As a parent, we strive to keep our kids safe and healthy. When our kids are young we’re able to feed them (or at least attempt) pretty much what WE want them to eat; fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, etc… But as they get older, and they get introduced to (in school, friend’s houses, etc…) processed foods, fast foods, candy, and those neon-colored cupcakes, their taste buds seem to change. I’ve always tried to feed my kids “healthy” food at home. Now “healthy” can be defined in many different ways and look different from…

  • brad kava growing up in santa cruz
    June 2019

    Letter from the Editors: June 2019

    Letter from the Editors: June 2019 Dear Readers, Game of Thrones is over and Summer is Coming. That opens up a whole world of possibilities that don’t include dragons or beheadings. We’ve got some new features that should make Santa Cruz brighter for you. Check out our new Talking Pets column where a veterinarian will answer your questions and help make life better for your animals. Nichole Brooks’ first topic, timely and important is…ugh, gross…ticks. It has what you need to know. Next up is a new regular feature by Kris Holden, who specializes in healthy eating for kids, with recipes that will make good eating also fun eating. On…

  • dna comedy lab santa cruz
    June 2019

    Keep Santa Cruz Laughing: A Movie Theater Turned into a Comedy Venue Plans to do Just that

    Keep Santa Cruz Laughing: A Movie Theater Turned into a Comedy Venue Plans to do Just that By Jimi Gleitsman A middle aged man in a cheap suit sweats profusely as he dances and jerks his body spasmodically, screams declarations of self love and rips stuffed animals to pieces while high energy ‘80s dance music shakes the room, like some sort of deranged preacher on an exercise television program. Photo by Kevin Painchaud TESTING, TESTING Comedian DNA, yes, that’s his name, has all the ingredients for a great live entertainment venue downtown. That’s the kind of scene you might find if you stroll in late to a show at DNA’s…

  • cabrillo college summer camp
    June 2019

    Cabrillo Offers a Free Summer Camp for Students to Spark Early Interest in Technology

    Cabrillo Offers a Free Summer Camp for Students to Spark Early Interest in Technology By Teresa Ruiz Decker Who says tech camps have to be expensive? Cabrillo’s Cybersecurity summer camp offers local youth the chance to learn new skills and dive into a growing tech field early — all for free! Ahhh summer time. Cabrillo College is giving students in grades 6 to 12 the chance to learn cyber security for free in its summer camp program. What a way to start a career!!! The idea of endless sunshine, ice cream cones, and days spent at the beach can have both kids and parents counting down the days till school…

  • fatherhood santa cruz
    June 2019

    Celebrating Fathers and all Partners

    Celebrating Fathers and all Partners: Birth Matters June 2019 By Laura Maxson, LM The birth experience can create uncertainty for birth partners exploring a role of impending parenthood, often perceived of that as protector/provider. With pressure to be a labor coach, some can forget that above all the partner’s most important role is to love their partner with all their heart. A partner’s most valuable expertise as a labor coach isn’t memorizing the stages of labor, it’s knowing how to love the laboring person.  Be the protector, not from the pain and work of labor, but from all things that interfere with labor and distract from being able to cope.…

  • bike theft santa cruz
    June 2019

    How to Protect You Bike from Theft: Top 10 Ways to Avoid this Bicycle Bummer

    How to Protect You Bike from Theft: Top 10 Ways to Avoid this Bicycle Bummer By Karen Kefauver It feels terrible when your bike (or part of it) is stolen. First, there’s bewilderment: “Wait! Didn’t I park my bike there? You look around, hoping maybe you locked it somewhere else. Then it hits: your bike really is gone. The robbery leaves you sad and mad because having your bike ripped off is like losing a dear friend. In some cases, you’ve also lost thousands of dollars on a major investment. Regardless of the cost, it’s a major bummer. Unfortunately, living in Santa Cruz since 1993, I know this cycle all…

  • volunteering in santa cruz
    June 2019

    Volunteering in Santa Cruz County: County Scoop June 2019

    Volunteering in Santa Cruz County: County Scoop June 2019 By County Supervisor Zach Friend Recently, the Board of Supervisors recognized some of the remarkable volunteers in our county. Volunteers that dedicate thousands of hours to our local animal shelter, helping with forensics and vacation checks at the Sheriff’s Office, restoring native landscapes at our parks, working with disadvantaged youth and more.   We all know volunteering is good for our community and great for the people who receive help. Researchers have been discovering that regular volunteering – as little as two hours a week – is great for the person volunteering as well. Youth who volunteer are more likely to…

  • giant dipper santa cruz beach boardwalk
    June 2019

    Santa Cruz Landmark Turns 95: Always Amused June 2019

    Santa Cruz Landmark Turns 95: Always Amused June 2019 By Erik Chalhoub In early 1924, Calvin Coolidge became the first U.S. president to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios had also been founded that year and was well on its way to dominating Hollywood. Meanwhile, a 50-man crew was hard at work on the beach in Santa Cruz, hammering away at a wooden structure that would become not only the most iconic landmark in the city, but something that would one day be recognizable across the world. Ninety-five years later, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Giant Dipper is still shaking, rattling and rolling its way into…

  • trash santa cruz county
    June 2019

    Try a Trash Challenge: Green Living June 2019

    Try a Trash Challenge: Green Living June 2019 By Meredith Keet of The Zero Shop We first discovered the Zero Waste movement about 6 years ago when we heard about Bea Johnson and her family of four producing only a mason jar of trash over the course of a year.  Our minds were blown!  How in the world did they accomplish that? We began to puzzle over every aspect of our lives and what changes we could make to lessen our trash. We started with a week-long challenge to see how little trash we could produce.  We found a jar (ahem, a large one!) and kept it on our kitchen…