Year In Review: Arts, loss and grand returns
How do you wrap up the year without saying Covid 100 times? It spills across nearly everything.
But the world keeps turning and things happen.
For me, the following topics we covered have left a lasting impression:
‘Watsonville Brillante’
Another giant mosaic from Watsonville artist Kathleen Crocetti and...
Stuck inside a courtroom with the Telone blues again
In the labyrinthine nature of pesticide reincarnation, it’s hard to know where to begin. 1,3-D (Telone) originated as a byproduct of oil refining.
In the 1930s, Hawaiian pineapple plantations were being decimated by nematodes in the soil; Shell Oil had on hand some barrels of...
Ask Nicole: Tips for dads and father figures
I have many happy childhood memories of my dad playing the guitar and singing, instigating competitive croquet tournaments (which he usually won), and teaching my siblings and I how to use tools then creating a “workshop” in the garage so we could experiment with...
Welcome to Watsonville, Pastor John
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...
Sandy Lydon: How Cabrillo College was named and helped unify the county
In August 2020 a group of faculty, students and community members approached the Cabrillo Board of Trustees and stated that the college’s namesake, the 16th-century navigator and explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, was no longer appropriate to be on the college. He represented, they said,...
For the Love of Flicks: Chazelle does it again with ‘First Man’
Two things are at the essence of emotionally moving and thought-provoking films: sights and sounds. Damien Chazelle wholeheartedly understands this. It was apparent in “Whiplash,” his directorial debut in 2014, and only further confirmed with 2016’s “La La Land.”
Letters to the Editor, March 17: Watsonville kicks big tobacco in the butt
Letters to the Editor, March 17, 2018
This week in Pajaro Valley’s Past, March 5
Compiled by Steve Bankhead
25 years ago on March 4, 1996
Watsonville High teacher Kathy Anderson was named Santa Cruz County’s Teacher of the Year for her work in the Interactive Mathematics Program. She sought help from the Packard Foundation and received a $150,000 grant to...
Gaslighting the effects of tariffs
President Donald Trump continues to “gaslight” the country about the effects of his ever shifting tariff policies.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation designed to intentionally mislead someone. When used over a considerable amount of time, we begin to doubt ourselves, believe an...
Mordechai Ben-Menachem, Aug. 17: Woe to exigencies of false scholarship
Free speech is one of the most basic articles-of-faith for existence of a democracy; vigorous debate of public polices is an integral part of free speech. Both of these values lie at the core of everything “Western Values” stand for and need to be guarded assiduously by us all.
Letters to the Editor, April 24-30
Keeping our eye on the Clock
My father, an Air Force fighter pilot, and our family, were stationed in Yokohama Japan in 1947 as part...

















