It’s generally easy to be a Muslim in Santa Cruz, except when it’s not, Erica Aisha Charves writes. People often look at me strangely because I wear a headscarf. Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, which ended Sunday, reminds me to be patient and empathetic, and to continue to educate our community about Islam. It’s easier when I have coffee first.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
It’s election season: Let’s respect our public figures and their privacy at home
Donna Meyers spent a year as mayor of Santa Cruz and had angry protestors surround her house and scream profanities at her family. She wants the public to be more respectful of the public-private divide and remember that our behavior reflects our values as a community.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Justin Cummings for 3rd District Supervisor: Santa Cruz needs diverse and experienced leadership
Justin Cummings wants to be the first Black person on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. A former Santa Cruz mayor and a member of the Santa Cruz City Council since 2018, he believes he has the experience, dynamism and personality to get the job done. He says he will bring needed diversity and scientific expertise to the role.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Ami Chen Mills for 3rd District Supervisor: We need new ways of thinking and climate expertise
Ami Chen Mills wants to “bring climate and resiliency leadership” to Santa Cruz County. She is a climate advocate, mental health educator, social justice and pro-democracy radio show and podcast host, author of three books, journalist and mother of two. She says she can bring new forms of dialogue to our political processes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson for 3rd District Supervisor: The times call for an immigrant’s tenacity
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson says the compassion, courage and resilience her Iranian family instilled in her, combined with her tenacity and experience, make her an ideal candidate for 3rd District Supervisor. It’s time, she says, for a woman to serve.
Posted inInside Lookout
Today, we launch Community Voices
It’s Lookout’s opinion section for the many challenges of the 2020s. Let’s meet them squarely, rounding up and debating the best ideas among us.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Ernestina Saldaña knows Santa Cruz can do better
Ernestina Saldaña thinks Santa Cruz County needs to do more for people with disabilities. Here, in Lookout’s inaugural opinion video piece, she invites us to join her in her wheelchair for a five-minute experience navigating her Live Oak neighborhood.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Community Voices is here: Dive into Santa Cruz’s new opinion forum
Santa Cruz lives the challenges facing the nation. Our issues of affordability, water use, homelessness, climate change, racial inequality, generational equity, impartial justice and friction over growth mirror those faced across the country. We’re also a community that cares about beauty, art, books, poetry and living a rich, meaningful life. We have much to say, and much to say to each other. This is a space to say it.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Community Voices guidelines
What kind of pieces Community Voices is looking for, how to send them to Lookout and guidelines for writers.