Musings on a sunny Santa Cruz weekend.
Articles by Traci Hukill
UCSC Profs Win Chopra Award
The message came last fall from a secretary at the Chopra Foundation in Carlsbad, Calif. Deepak Chopra wished to speak to them. Would it be all right if he called? UCSC lecturer Nancy Ellen Abrams and professor Joel Primack—she’s a philosopher, he’s an astrophysicist—aren’t your standard readers of Chopra, whose 60–odd published books include titles like Ageless Body, Timeless Mind and Manifesting Good Luck Cards: Growth and Enlightenment. Chopra, however, had become a reader of Abrams and Primack. Their books on cosmology, The View from the Center of the Universe and The New Universe and the Human Future , had made an impression on him, and he wanted to get the word out.
The Top 5 Cookies in Santa Cruz
That heavenly hand-held creation that starts with butter, sugar and flour is one of the greatest gifts to mankind, and Santa Cruz has some excellent examples of it.
Ten Questions for Lucy Martin
The Felton artist, whose work appears at this year’s Fungus Fair, speaks of mushrooms, leaf blowers and finding your true path later in life.
Corny Fun and Good Harmony in ‘Plaid Tidings’
Not everything went well for Mom on this holiday trip out West. First there was the missed flight, and then there was the other missed flight, and then the fellow passenger who blabbed all the way to Chicago. But Saturday night at the Cabrillo Crocker Theater, things started to look up. That’s when the four stars of Plaid Tidings launched into “Strangers in Paradise,” followed closely by “Sh–Boom,” “Mambo Italiano” and a slew of jazzed-up holiday numbers as only a quartet of clean-cut fraternity brothers from 1950s middle America could perform them.
Scott Kennedy: A Peaceful Warrior
Right up to the sudden end, Scott Kennedy was a fount of energy and ideas about how to make a better world. Last Friday, Nov. 18—just hours before his death early Saturday, most likely of a heart attack—he spent a long lunch talking with Mark Primack, his old ally on the Santa Cruz City Council.
Credit Unions See Boost from Bank Transfer Day
As we steam toward Bank Transfer Day this Saturday, Nov. 5, local credit unions are staffing up and making extra copies of their application forms. Indeed, it seems that L.A. art gallery owner Kristen Christian’s initiative—to dump your lyin’, cheatin’, extra-fee-chargin’, bailout-hoardin’, refi-refusin’ corporate bank and cast your lot and your shekels with a locally owned bank or credit union—is already yielding some results locally.
PRFF: Fantastic Voyage
It looks serene in the footage, the long slender fiberglass canoe and its outrigger slicing through sapphire water or filmed from below, silhouetted against the clear green of the shallows. The oars move in rhythm, the paddlers bend their broad backs to the task. And it is, in fact, quiet—if not exactly peaceful.
Skyline to the Sea with the Pac Rim Film Fest
Twenty-three years ago, Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was at the top of the charts and George Herbert Walker Bush was about to sweep the presidential election on the strength of Willie Horton ads, a thousand points of light and America’s willingness to read his lips and find no new taxes there.
Le Grand Prix-Fixe: Santa Cruz Restaurant Week
Just what we’ve always dreamed of: an excuse to eat out every single night of the week. All of the following fine eateries are offering $25 prix-fixe menus Oct. 5-12 as part of Santa Cruz Restaurant Week. Just call ahead, since some are closed Sundays or Mondays.