For decades, Natural Bridges State Beach has attracted monarch butterflies and crowds eager to glimpse their delicate beauty. Their numbers are now dwindling — down 99.9% since the 1980s — and the iconic orange and black insects are coming in smaller numbers to Santa Cruz. Longtime resident and writer Claudia Sternbach remembers trips with her in-laws, her Montessori class and the day the Loma Prieta earthquake solidified her love for the colorful, winged visitors. She also helps us think about what small acts we can do to help them survive.
More from Claudia Sternbach
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What to do when even a soothing stroll at the beach begins to feel political?
Claudia Sternbach has lived in Aptos for 40 years and walks her beloved Seacliff State Beach almost every day. She recalls the beach of her childhood as a place of sun, fun and surfers, “those magical creatures celebrated by The Beach Boys.” She never considered the beach “feeling political.” But lately, she’s seen flags and shirts supporting the Second Amendment displayed prominently along her daily walk, which includes a memorial to her late sister. “Do I have a right, a duty even, to speak out? My gut instinct says, hell yes!,” she says. “My liberal, Santa Cruz mentality (after taking a deep breath) says no.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why I Live Here: I bought my Aptos house for $100K in 1981. Friends tell me I’m lucky; I don’t agree.
Claudia Sternbach landed in Santa Cruz County by chance in 1981, when she and her husband, Michael, were idealists searching for a way to make a life close to the water. Today, their Aptos home is worth 10 times what they paid, but people she has known for decades are leaving, unable to afford the soaring home prices. Her daughter can’t afford to live here. She wonders aloud what Santa Cruz is becoming and what will happen to adventure-seeking young people today.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Fear was never part of the school day, but this is the country we live in now
Claudia Sternbach used to be a teaching assistant at Santa Cruz Montessori, and writes that she is horrified and furious at Tuesday’s school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Eighteen-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 21 people, 19 of them children. Sternbach has a grandson in second grade in Los Angeles and says that fear should not be part of the school day. She demands action from Republican lawmakers on gun violence.