Tom Jacobs Local Artist After nearly two decades of a professional landscape photography career, Tom Jacobs discovered a passion for impressionistic fine art photography. His work expresses the hues, textures and rhythms in the world around us rather than the literal portrayal typically captured by a camera. Once Tom embarked on the path of multiple exposures, camera movement, and blending modes mostly done in camera, he found the creativity of this style to be liberating. The images he creates suggest, rather than tell. They blend what the eye sees into a new vision outside the boundaries of reality. He is inspired as much by painters such as Monet, Picasso, and…
-
-
Contest winners 0921
sponsored by Submit your coloring page for a chance to win tickets to the Boardwalk! Clara | Age 5 Gabrielle | Age 7 Grace | Age 4 Oona | Age 5 Haisley | Age 11 Erik | Age 9 Find More Coloring Pages
-
Summer Days Sept 21
Last Days of Summer Submit your coloring page for a chance to win tickets to the Boardwalk or the Santa Cruz County Fair! Send to [email protected] More Coloring Pages
-
Everything Elderberry
Everything Elderberry by gretchen heimsoth It’s September, and for many of us, we are finding ourselves back to in-person school with our children, as well as most of us back at work in person. One can hardly check in to social media or turn on the television without hearing about the rise of the Delta variant. So I wanted to take a little time and talk about our dear friend, the Elderberry. Talk about Where it grows, its safety, effectiveness, constituents, and how to use it. Elderberry, or Sambucus nigra, Is a deciduous shrub or small tree. It is native from Oregon to Baja and Western Texas. It is rapid…
-
Road Funding
Overview of Road Funding and Where Your Taxes Go by zach friend, County Supervisor One of the most common service requests the County receives centers around the condition of a road or road repair. Often, we are asked, “where do my taxes go?” “Why are the roads in the condition they are in?” After all, many residents pay thousands every year in property taxes and want to know why those funds aren’t being used to repair roads (or repair more roads). Here is an overview of our local roads, the costs to maintain them, their current conditions and where your taxes go. How large is the road network?First, it’s important…
-
Santa Cruz Passenger Rail
Santa Cruz Passenger Rail Show Me the Money By Sebastion “Seb” Frey Normally in this space I write about our local real estate market – but this month’s column focuses on what has become one of the most contentious pieces of real estate in Santa Cruz County: the Santa Cruz Branch Line Rail Corridor.Nine years ago, in October of 2012, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (the RTC) completed the purchase of the rail corridor from Union Pacific Railroad. The corridor had fallen into disuse after the rail line’s sole significant customer, the Cemex cement factory in Davenport, shut down in May of 2010. The tussle over the future…
-
Youth Action
Bringing Youth to Where the Action Is United Way Helps Teens Find Their Voice By Suki Wessling Amanda Gamban Natalia Galdamez Andrea Magdaleno Once upon a time, Andrea Magdaleno was hesitant to get involved with youth groups. Now a student at Cabrillo, she’s a leader in Jóvenes SANOS, a youth group that promotes health and well-being in Watsonville. Natalia Galdamez says she was a “troublemaker” when she joined Salud y Cariño, a girls’ empowerment organization, in the fifth grade. Now she’s a youth leader in three groups who advocates for her community. Both young women are now on the Steering Committee for a new program sponsored by the United Way,…
-
the happening of giroo
Local Business Executive Spreads Message of Kindness What instigated your donation to Tech Feeds Hope? My mother lives in Santa Cruz and saw the long lines of families picking up food donations from Second Harvest at Thanksgiving, with kids in the car awaiting their turn. She suggested that we offer Girroo to instigate fun and healthy family conversation while they wait. I reached out to Susan Lovegren, one of our advisors at #NotMe who is on the board of Second Harvest, with a simple offering. She and the SH board came up with many different ways and places to distribute the book and stuffed animal so that local children could…
-
MusicalMe Turns 25
MusicalMe Turns 25 By Jeanette Prather Within three years we had 500 students, and over the past 25 years we’ve serviced over 75,000 students! “When MusicalMe first started, we had 35 students, then we went to 80 students the following session, and all the way to 150 students the next spring,” said Lizz Hodgin Weihrauch, Director of MusicalMe, Inc. “Within three years we had 500 students, and over the past 25 years we’ve serviced over 75,000 students!” MusicalMe, a local and family-owned business under the parent company Music Together, specializes in offering developmentally appropriate music classes for children from birth through eight years old. “Music Together has communicated its basic…
-
Good Shepherd Success
Story of a School’s Success Good Shepherd School’s Survival During the Pandemic By April A. Muzzio While public schools in the area were forced to close, our Good Shepherd School thrived based on 5 key factors: 1. Pivot The lockdown was mandated on March 13, 2020 and we were ready for full distance learning the following Monday, March 16, 2020. The 13th was a scheduled professional development day and we used that day and the weekend to prepare for distance learning. Our school didn’t miss a beat! Due to the small class sizes, we had a ThinkPad and/or Chromebook for every student!For the 2020-2021 school year, we were able to…
-
Momopoly
By patty benson @pattydrawsstuff More Mom-ing Cartoons
-
Leap of Faith
A Leap of Faith By Lisa Catterall To all parents and caregivers starting the school year with special needs kids and waiting with hope, fear, faith, and some worry that it just can’t possibly work out, I feel you. “Some of the most wonderful people are the ones that don’t fit into boxes.”–Tori Amos Forever burned into my memory is the image I saw this week, of my daughter holding the hand of another little girl and her teacher, walking away from me through the open gates of her new school. I just turned around and started sobbing. My entire family and extended family were there, and all of them,…
-
Buddy lessons
Buddy Lessons Supporting Students’ Learning and Social and Emotional Well-being By Sarojani Rohan With so many parents seeking out positive learning experiences for their children, teachers and administrators are often asked just what it is that sets their school apart. At Mount Madonna School (MMS), located atop a mountain overlooking the Monterey Bay, the inspiring natural environment of 375 acres of redwood forests and oak meadows is one significant and unique offering for students and their families. To enhance its pillars of academic excellence, positive character development and creative self-expression that infuse all of the classes (Pre/K through grade 12), MMS maintains a particularly successful buddy program to support students’…
-
Mental Health and Sports
By Mikayla Shults In July the Olympics started a national conversation about mental health amongst Americans. Michael Phelps has been open about his struggles in the past, but now we are seeing young women speak up. Sha’Carri Richardson is only 21 years old Simone Biles is 24, they’re two black women who are the best in their leagues and the reason for these conversations. They stood up for themselves and spoke up about the challenge of mental health in sports. Julia Bradford she/her Age 16 I have had my fair share of coaches who did not understand mental health and its importance. That being said, the coaches I have for…
-
Cover Story Jimbo Phillips
Parenting 101 for Artists: The Phillips Family Nurtures a Third Generation By Suki Wessling The making of a dynasty might not seem obvious when you’re in the middle of it.“He started off where his kind of art was a little underappreciated, so he wasn’t making very good money when I was little,” says artist Jimbo Phillips of his dad, artist Jim Phillips who is famous for his Screaming Hand and Santa Cruz logos. “He’d be like, ‘You should go to college and be a doctor or something and make good money’.” Good thing Jimbo didn’t take his dad’s advice. The Phillips family has nurtured three generations of artists, so we…
-
Slow Streets Santa Cruz
Slow Streets Santa Cruz By Jeanette Prather I’m continuing to roll out two streets per month in the county. The ones that are up are Nova (off Portola and 41st) , Bain, Adrian, 9th, Moosehead Drive and we had to group them. What’s up with the slow street signs that were in the middle of various residential locations throughout Santa Cruz during the pandemic (and some that have stuck around)? The Slow Streets program is designed to limit through traffic on certain residential streets and allow them to be used as a shared space for people traveling by foot and by bicycle. On these Slow Streets, signs and barricades have…
-
Optimal Cord Clamping
Optimal Cord Clamping BY Laura Maxson, LM Mothers of animals born with intact cords are focused intently on their babies – sniffing, licking (kissing), and nuzzling – stimulating them to breathe and bond. Before birth the placenta does the baby’s breathing (gas exchange), so the lungs are resting and essentially bypassed by blood circulation. The lungs are made up of fluid-filled air sacs surrounded by tiny blood vessels that are tightly constricted due to lack of blood flow. After birth, as the baby begins to breathe, blood circulation changes dramatically and rushes to the lungs as these tiny vessels relax and swell with blood to begin working. This means that…
-
Hallie Green
For Hallie Greene, It’s All About Community Suki Wessling Welcome back to our monthly feature of moms who have faced the task of pandemic parenting while also continuing their work in our community. Research has shown that women have suffered greater economic and personal fallout from the pandemic, losing jobs or having to work while also caring for children. Many people lost homes in last year’s CZU Lightning Complex Fires. Hallie Green lost three. On neighboring Boulder Creek properties, the fire took the home she was living in, her childhood home over the ridge that her parents lived in, and the home nearby where her two daughters’ dad lived. Their…
-
New School Year
Preparing for the New School Year By Nicole M. Young, MSW The back-to-school routine is going to be bittersweet for me this year. I’m excited for my kids, who will experience their senior years in high school and college with in-person classes and activities. They’re excited about returning to a more “normal” routine, but there’s also some hesitation about returning to a regular (i.e., earlier, non-pajamas) school day and busier, crowded environments. As for me, I won’t miss the extra dirty dishes and unstable internet during Zoom meetings, but I will miss their presence during the day and will treasure the extra time we had together. This monthly column provides…
-
Six Minute Abs
Six Minute Abs By Thomas Wynn As one of our greatest philosophers, Alecia Beth Moor*, once said, “I’m coming out, so we’d better get this party started.” Let’s say in the last month you overcame the myriad distractions, of family, work, the Olympics and social media. You flossed every day, did morning yoga, after work cardio and managed to organize your finances. It could happen. In this fantasy world you now have a family budget. In Santa Cruz, the most likely outcome is that after expenses, there is precious little left over for savings. I can’t really change the reality of the high cost of living in Santa Cruz combined…
