Dean Quarnstrom died in 2021 and his son Evan has spent the year since traveling the world, mourning and reading his dad’s journals, which chronicle his days hovering on the fringes of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters in 1960s Santa Cruz. Dean describes the Pranksters as “pretentious,” “untrustworthy” and a “bunch of a–holes.” As he reads his father’s writing, Evan relives the counterculture generation — including his dad’s stories about Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and Hells Angels — and gets to know a side of his father he never knew.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Stop watering your cactus! Why succulents matter and how to stop killing them
Martin Quigley, director of UC Santa Cruz’s Arboretum & Botanic Garden, is back with more tips on climate-friendly planting. This time, he tackles succulents, everyone’s favorite office and garden plant, and outlines why they are excellent choices for our Mediterranean climate. And he takes us backstage at the Arb to show us how he “makes” plant babies. You can do it, too.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
From warring yard signs to national vitriol, election season has pre-Civil War feel
Election season is in the air. For Claudia Sternbach, the constant vitriol and opposition she sees online, in the news and even in warring Santa Cruz County yard signs is disturbing. Worried about our current divisions, she headed to her local bookstore and bought two new novels on the Civil War — “Booth” by well-known Santa Cruz author Karen Joy Fowler and “Horse” by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks. Both, she writes, speak to us today as we edge toward Nov. 8.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Happy 30th birthday, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Here’s to long life and continued good health!
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary celebrated its 30-year anniversary Sept. 17 with a Santa Cruz gala that was a who’s-who of local leaders, celebrities and activists. Missed it? Watch our video to get a glimpse of the celebrations — including a bevy of blue and green ball gowns and some adorable sea creatures.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
‘During my incarceration, I was screaming for help’: How I went from incarcerated woman to advocate
Crystal Ross spent six of the past 10 years in jail in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. In this, the second part of a “Conversation” with Lookout Community Voices editor Jody K. Biehl, Crystal talks about the addiction that led her to go to jail and lose her daughters and about “hitting bottom” and finding her way out by advocating for herself and other women in jail. She begs Santa Cruz County to do better, to offer more services and “more compassion” for those with addictions and mental health disorders in our jails. She says Gemma House, the transitional treatment program she is now in, offers a clear model.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Conversations with Jody: ‘I have never had such a horrible experience as I did this past year in the Santa Cruz jail’
Crystal Ross has spent six of the past 10 years in the Santa Cruz and Monterey county jails. She describes her experiences here in a lengthy “Conversation with Jody,” which offers a peek at life “inside.” She describes women wailing to see their children, “unhygienic” facilities, rampant untreated addiction and mental health issues and a system unprepared to meet people’s needs, despite all the money we have thrown at it. Hers is not an easy read, but it’s an important one. Sober now and free since Sept. 17, Crystal says she is working to be an advocate and a voice for others still in jail.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I failed at surfing, but Elkhorn Slough’s otters changed my life
Marisa Messina, an MBA student at Stanford, wanted to be a surfer, but could never quite get vertical on her board. She stumbled into kayaking and fell in love with the harmony she observed among the creatures at Moss Landing’s Elkhorn Slough. Here, she takes us on her journey and urges us to imitate and learn from the animals, plants and algae that surround us.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Remembering Deborah Pembrook, Santa Cruz’s anti-trafficking matriarch
Santa Cruz — and the world — lost a “matriarch” of the anti-human-trafficking movement when Deborah Pembrook died suddenly in April. Pembrook, a survivor of child sex trafficking, escaped years of continuous exploitation by heading west and settling in Santa Cruz in 1989. She made a life out of helping survivors — including those in Santa Cruz — and devoted her time to pushing the nation to rethink how trafficking is approached. Jess Torres, a survivor who considers Pembrook a mentor, writes about her legacy and the work still to do.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s applaud Santa Cruz city leaders for finally tackling homelessness
The City of Santa Cruz has finally adopted a real plan to address homelessness, which is a change from past practice. The city has a three-year plan to help transition people into housing and clear city streets and parks of encampments. Mike Rotkin, longtime mayor of Santa Cruz, wants us to give our city leaders credit for trying to tackle this longtime issue. He also wants us to use our votes to fund city taxes that fight homelessness, he writes.