Understanding housing | Mayor’s Update
By Rebecca J. Garcia, Watsonville Mayor
Soon after I was elected to the Watsonville City Council I had the opportunity to visit several farmworkers’ housing conditions. What I found was five adults and four children living in a 2-bedroom duplex, eight adults living in a...
Letters to the Editor, Sept. 4
First Lady was sincere, dazzling
I felt that First Lady Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention was completely sincere and her words were bursting with dazzling light. She strikes me as being a person who truly and deeply cares about the wellbeing of...
Loving past the division
Memo from Pastor Rene:
There they were, side by side, helping to feed evacuees in our church parking lot last week: A true red-state conservative and a deep blue Democrat. I knew this about the two men from previous conversations, but as I watched them...
Local actions matter in battle with climate change
By Felipe Hernandez, Watsonville City Councilman
We face a sobering reality. For those of us who came of age in the 20th century, the existential threat of climate change that we debated theoretically and at great length will be lived by the children being born...
Evacuated!
Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson
“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.” (Psalm 62: 1-2, NRSV.)
The question is whether we really believe it.
A priest and...
Cultural Shift
MEMO FROM REV. SHINSEKI
“There are causes for all human suffering, and there is a way by which they may be ended, because everything in the world is the result of a vast concurrence of causes and conditions, and everything disappears as these causes and...
What name as a replacement for Cabrillo? Here are some options
By Steve Trujillo
In consideration of a badly-needed name change for Cabrillo Community College, there are three considerations that should be paramount:
1. If it is to be an individual, what personal characteristics and accomplishments make the individual worthy of putting that name to a community...
Words matter: From stigma and apathy to empathy and action
By Denise Elerick, of the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County
Substance use disorder is now widely recognized in the medical community as a chronic illness which responds to treatment. Similar to other chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease, remission and recurrence...
On My Mind: In the line of fire
Last week my wife Sarah and I took our first short vacation since the pandemic and lockdown took over. We drove north to Lassen National Volcanic Park and stayed in an old logger’s cabin at the Mill Creek Resort. The night before we left...
Letters to the Editor, Aug. 28
A novel idea for the rail
A friend and fellow rail advocate came up with the following idea:
Following the terrible and tragic wildfires that have devastated North Santa Cruz County, there will be a need to bring in materials such as lumber as the rebuilding...
What Makes Watsonville Community Hospital—and America—Great
Thirty-three years ago, while my family was preparing for a birthday party, I decided to arrive early. My mother was shopping for a cake...