Sunday Reads: Diversity in storytelling and a plea for Zoom inclusivity

A new puzzle with familiar flair

Last Sunday, we announced our new obituaries section, a new addition to our Sunday Reads newsletter. Today, we’re letting you know of yet another new weekly feature: the WordroW puzzle.

We’ve heard from many of you — and see in our metrics — that our Santa Cruz Puzzle Center has been a great compliment to your daily news consumption. While the mini crossword, word search, Sudoku and custom Santa Cruz puzzles have been hits, WordroW helps fill in the pop puzzle gap.

Similar to a kind of puzzle you’ve likely played before, WordroW relies on a series of guesses to solve a two-word phrase. You can play our very first one (hint: It’s a Santa Cruz County location) by tapping the puzzle below.

We hope you enjoy WordroW as a new, regular feature of the Sunday Reads newsletter. Let us know what you think by replying to this email.

Santa Cruz’s Writers of Color tell stories we might otherwise never hear

Twenty-two local writers share their own shared, and distinct, experiences as the new group host an evening of poetry and music at the Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz on Oct. 6. Wallace Baine has the preview for his Sunday column.

I’m an autistic person and I preferred life on Zoom. Do we really have to go back to living like it’s 2019?

(Via Megan Kalomiris)

Megan Kalomiris, a science writer and 2022 UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program graduate, has autism and struggles with social interaction. For her, in-person meetings, small talk and socializing feel like “exams I could never study for or pass.” COVID-19 gave her a break, a chance to feel more “normal.” “For the first time, neurotypical people were feeling a bit of what I regularly experience: a world not built for your needs,” she writes. Now, with restrictions mostly lifted, she makes a plea to keep the inclusivity she so cherished. Read her op-ed here.