Sunday Reads: A handcrafted eco-lament, blasting Santa Cruz’s ‘performative activism’ & latest news quiz

‘Goodbye Bonita Lagoon’: Peter and Donna Thomas bid farewell to a beloved natural landmark with a beautiful new art piece

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

With the tiny body of water that sits between their Black’s Beach home and the Pacific Ocean disappearing, Donna and Peter Thomas have lovingly crafted what they call a papermaker’s elegy, made with paper literally created from the various plants surrounding Bonita Lagoon. Go inside the book in Wallace Baine’s Sunday column.

➤ MORE FROM THE LOCAL LIT SCENE: Surf City Lights: Bad Animal’s grand ambitions to become the world’s next great bookstore

I’m a Mexican-American UCSC student and I’m sick of the performative activism in Santa Cruz County

(Via Sebastián Valdez)

Sebastián Valdez crossed the U.S-Mexico border every day starting at age 13 to go to school in the U.S. It cost him time and took a toll on his mental health. It also made him wonder what made a successful future hard to find at home. Now a sophomore at UCSC, he is frustrated with the “performative activism” he sees in Santa Cruz and with how misunderstood people like him are. “I want to be a catalyst,” he writes. “I want to encourage others to use their own voices and tell their own stories. An accurate historical record, told by those who lived it, is the only way to reinstate dignity in our communities and break racist misconceptions about who we are.” Read his Community Voices opinion piece.

➤ MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: Submit a letter to the editor and read what Santa Cruzans are saying about local issues

Test your newsy knowledge with this week’s Lookout news quiz

How closely do you follow Santa Cruz County goings-on? Our 10-question quiz based on stories from Lookout correspondents and contributors puts you to the test. Click here to see how you fare.

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