Opinion

It is so easy, ridiculously easy, to simply point at someone else and say, “He’s not in our group.”  Ever felt that way? I know I have, but I confess I’m not proud of it.  Even churches make that mistake. Arthur Herman’s book “How the...

For Michelle Martinez Kamalani and her mother, Judy Martinez of Watsonville, Memorial Day meant setting time aside to visit Valley Catholic Cemetery.  With an electric weed-whacker, a whisk broom,  hand clippers and two bunches of fresh flowers, the pair wandered through the rows of flower-festooned...

Editor’s note: Zen Weaver is a junior at Aptos High School. This is his second story for The Pajaronian. We welcome contributions from aspiring young journalists. Email [email protected] In an era where headlines spread faster than facts, Santa Cruz County residents, politicians, and community leaders...

Watsonville mayor's update, November 2017

One year after announcing a new research and development partnership to grow strawberries indoors, Watsonville-based Driscoll’s and Plenty Unlimited Inc. are building a new indoor vertical strawberry farm.  Together, the companies aim to accelerate the growth of Driscoll’s top crop by using Plenty’s growing platform. According...

Now, let’s say the levees that protect your home from flooding are old and deficient. They could fail during the next big storm, causing a major flood. The federal and state government offer to pay $400 million for new and improved levees. The only...

Editor’s note: this is the final installment of our pre-election coverage, as voters mull their mail-in ballot and make their decisions. A story on Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s  Green Party opponent ran on Feb. 8. Republican challenger Jason Michael Anderson did not respond to a...

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson Composer Meredith Willson once told the story of a band whose music so pleased a king of long ago that he opened his royal treasury to the musicians. He invited them to walk in and to fill their instruments with as...

When my wife Laurie and I teach at marriage retreats we often refer to the work of Dr. John Gottman. In his famous “glass house” at the University of Washington, Gottman has studied thousands of married couples over decades of research to see what...

Memo from Pastor Rene In my last column I wrote about how a constant focus on grim news actually changes the way your brain works, because you’re in constant threat analysis mode. Higher reasoning is diminished. You’re more prone to emotional instability.  Yet there is a...