Daniel DeLong lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where packing a chainsaw is often just part of mountain life. His young daughters are as familiar with the gear – ropes, helmets, wedges, mini sledgehammer – as they are with their own backpacks. Unfortunately, The New York Times reporter who interviewed him last week during the storms, was not. “That reporter omits the most important aspect of rural mountain living: preparation. And having neighbors who look out for each other,” he says.
Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Skimboarding might be surfing’s little brother in Santa Cruz, but it’s given me family across the world
Santa Cruz’s skimboarding community “might be relatively small,” writes Evan Quarnstrom, “but our small town plays an outsized role in the history and culture of the sport.” Quarnstrom grew up skimboarding in Santa Cruz and he’s used his passion and skill to meet fellow skimmers across the world. He explains how, and offers a primer on why skimming is harder than surfing.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Mitigating climate change starts with you: It’s time to pay attention to our ocean and its kelp forests
With climate change in the spotlight thanks to the January 2023 storms, local environmental activist Dan Haifley reminds us of the important work happening at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, part of a national network of protected areas that fights climate change and pollution and protects biodiversity. That includes climate change research and preserving iconic kelp forests that reduce coastal erosion and absorb excess carbon from climate change.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
After the storms, let’s applaud those who went above and beyond
Lookout wants to hear stories about Santa Cruz County residents helping each other during the storm siege that began New Year’s Eve and lasted into mid-January.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
A Lookout View: President Biden, please come to Santa Cruz County and visit those who need help the most
Editorial: As the governor and the president visit storm-torn California, where they visit is a meaningful act. Beyond scenic photo ops, it’s a sign of where their attention — and funding — might go. Santa Cruz County deserves a stop — but not just in scenic Capitola.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: What a damn shame to demolish the Circle Church
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. To the editor: To think of the Circle Church being demolished is gut-wrenching to us locals who were brought up around this iconic building. We have seen weddings, church services, baptisms, memorials, child care, schooling and more happenings […]
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
2023 storms lesson: Santa Cruz County needs a better, more inclusive emergency response plan
Community organizer and former Santa Cruz mayoral candidate Joy Schendledecker sees a glaring problem with our community’s emergency response system. It is inadequate and does not, she writes, “include anyone explicitly representing the unhoused, non-English-speaking, elder or disabled communities.” She challenges our officials to do better, to learn from past mistakes, and to work more collectively and transparently to help those most in need. All of us, she insists, might one day need these services.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I’ve spent years being bullied in school, but now I’ve found hope. I want to bring it to others.
Maddy Rutherford is a ninth grader at Scotts Valley High and says she has been bullied since elementary school. Her experiences filled her with self-doubt and made her not want to go to school. This year, her first in high school, she was selected to be in a new program at Scotts Valley High called Hope Squad, which makes her part of a team of students who help students in need of friendship or someone to talk to. Scotts Valley is the only Santa Cruz County school with this program. She thinks that should change.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Yoga improved my life — now I’d like to make yours better, too
Marisa Messina started practicing yoga as a preteen and now, at 29, has become a certified RYT 200 teacher. She continues to marvel at the mental and physical benefits of yoga and wonders why this healing practice is not available more widely, particularly to those who could benefit most. She aims to change that in Santa Cruz.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
How a determined dog and memories of baby red-tailed hawks are getting me through 2023’s stormy start
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach was looking for a sign that 2023 would be a tad brighter than 2022. She found it in a determined dog who, just after the New Year’s Eve storm, had slipped down an embankment and was struggling to “return to its people,” who were standing on a ledge calling to it. Sternbach unfolds the story here — and contemplates the unexpected sense of community that emerges during a crisis.