Zach Friend and Erica Padilla-Chavez: PVPSA helping young people thrive
For more than 25 years, an important nonprofit has been quietly working in our community to support our schools, students and their parents — Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance (PVPSA).
Mind your head
Memo from Pastor Rene
“Mind your head.” When visiting our daughter in England I noticed those words posted over the many tiny doors in old buildings (were people that much shorter in those days?). Even with those warnings I constantly brained myself on the low...
Letters to the Editor, March 18
We stand with LGBTQ+ people
We are a group of LGBTQ+ and allies in fifth through eighth grade at Watsonville Charter School of the Arts, and are members of our Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs. We were very upset to learn about the hate crime...
Johanna Miller, Feb. 13: Making amends with Valentine’s Day
I was supposed to be born on Valentine’s Day. About eight months into my mother’s pregnancy, her doctor announced that Feb. 14 was her most likely due date.
Chaos as a political strategy
Donald Trump’s approach to governance is frequently analyzed through chaos theory, where calculated unpredictability, disruption, and rapid, impulsive shifts are used as strategic tools to manage, dominate, or reshape political environments.
This tactic aims to keep opponents off balance, control the agenda and overturn established...
Letters to the editor Oct. 24-30
Teachers are educators, not activists
In a recent opinion piece, the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers expressed concern on being silenced in the classroom. PVUSD teachers need to be reminded that they have a civic role to be educators. The concept that they are change...
Erica Padilla-Chavez: We are the Food Bank
What is normal? I thought things would return to normal following the three-year Covid pandemic and devastating Santa Cruz Mountain fires. I thought we’d survived the worst. But nothing could have prepared me for the first three months of 2023 and the meteorological disasters...
Watsonville Works
Over the past year, the County has made significant investments in South Santa Cruz County. From the purchase of a new South County Service Center so residents of South County can have access to County services in a way never previously afforded, to setting...
Guest View: Measure Q is a better option
It is time for us voters in the City of Watsonville to decide on Measure Q and Measure S. I read several articles related to the measures including “City Council places competing initiative against Measure U renewal” by Tony Nuñez in the Pajaronian on...
Aptos duo awarded top honors for stellar play on the pitch...
Aptos High seniors Ivan Zavala and Daniel Lozano each were recognized as two of the top players in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League...


















