Opinion

Both my great-grandfathers immigrated to Watsonville in the 1850s. Not long after they first arrived, they were introduced to one of our region’s greatest threats to lives and livelihoods: flooding from the Pajaro River and its tributaries. Soon after arriving, my great-grandfather Stephano Martinelli,...

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.” - Ephesians 1:4 This is a Yiddish story of “Mr. Goldberg the Tailor.” There once lived Mr. Goldberg,...

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...

Several community leaders and community members gathered at MacQuiddy Elementary School Tuesday evening to call on Driscoll’s, Reiter and other companies to stop using toxic pesticides around schools. “Choosing to farm organically is a decision based on hope and a deep understanding of our interdependence...

Letters to the Editor, Feb. 8, 2019

Mid-January is one of my favorite times of the year. The NFL playoffs are just getting started, and my San Francisco 49ers don’t stink this year, which is a plus. The weather is starting to heat up to the perfect temperature in which I...

Mother’s Day tribute Among the residents of the Central Coast exists a mother whom I remain in awe of and hold deep reverence and respect for. Her capacity to “mother” far exceeds what any normal person is capable of.  Since 1989, she has tirelessly both mothered...

In the 2020 election, my Watsonville family was energized and held its very first voting party. Local candidates competing for the same office visited, my cousins and I offered to translate and research for our elders, and many drove together to City Hall to...

It’s an old story. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. A young soldier fighting in Italy during World War II managed to jump into a foxhole just ahead of a spray of bullets. He immediately attempted to deepen the hole for more...

How quickly we forget. Recent activity centers around the levee system on the Pajaro River. Yet, the first flooding in 2023 was in Watsonville, when the Salsipuedes and Corralitos Creeks overflowed. There are lessons from that flooding that need to be applied to those...