Gail Pellerin — who is running for California State Assembly District 28 — had an abortion when she was 26. She told her daughter, Emily, her story just before Emily left for college. It was hard for the then-Santa Cruz County Clerk to make herself that vulnerable. But her openness changed their relationship and made Emily more willing to talk to Gail about her sexual assault a few years later. In a Community Voices opinion piece, they talk about their mother-daughter bond, their fury over the end of Roe and the fight that lies ahead to secure abortion rights for women.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Conversations with Jody: An OB-GYN talks life post-Roe and why Santa Cruz could soon see more late-term abortions
Laetitia Oderman is one of two Santa Cruz doctors who provide second-trimester abortions. In this first “Conversations with Jody,” feature, she talks to Community Voices editor Jody K. Biehl about the end of Roe and what bans on abortions in dozens of states will mean for California, Santa Cruz and for her personally.
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
Santa Cruz wages are so low, some of us live in our cars; city workers need raises, protection and respect
Santa Cruz’s 600 union workers — the people who collect the city’s garbage, test water, maintain parks and roads — are fed up with what they see as low wages and disrespect from public officials. Five months into bargaining with the city, they write, the talks are going nowhere. They want higher salaries, more on-the-job safety, and more respect. They say they are paid 15.3% less than average long-term workers and 8.7% less than in nearby cities. As a result, some Santa Cruz city workers are living in cars, maxing out credit and camping in the very parks they maintain.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
One Friday in the new, post-Roe America: How losing abortion access changes us all
Soon, the Santa Cruz area’s Planned Parenthood’s offices will see 250 to 500 more patients per week, out-of-state refugees pushed west by Friday’s Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. But those are only the ones who have the money and connections to get to us. Jessica Dieseldorff, a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in Watsonville, writes about our new reality, both for those coming to California and for those of us here.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Motiv nightclub needs to change dress code; Santa Cruz ‘isn’t noticing or calling out its own latent racism’
Motiv nightclub in downtown Santa Cruz has a dress code that prohibits visible tattoos, “gang-affiliated” colors, excessively baggy clothes, sandals and flip-flops. UC Santa Cruz student and Black Lives Matter activist Faith Brown writes that the policy is an “invitation to racism.” Motiv refused to talk to Brown, but told Lookout its dress code is not regularly enforced.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
‘I had to hurt my body’ to get around campus: UCSC should improve access for people with disabilities
Amanda Quirk wants UC Santa Cruz to improve its access for students with disabilities. She spent five years as a Ph.D. student in astronomy and astrophysics and struggled to navigate the campus’ hills, rocky paths and roads without sidewalks. The university and city, she says, need to do better. Already, too many talented students choose to go elsewhere.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Reduce stress! Find your groove! Play your cat’s food container!
Jim Greiner, master percussionist, thinks we are all too stressed. He implores us to find our inner child and offers quick techniques to connect with our individual life rhythms. He also teaches us how to transform cat food into a musical instrument.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Jim Greiner shows us how to drum with common household items | Community Voices
In this video, Jim Greiner gives us a mini lesson in how to use household objects – including a plastic container of cat food – as percussion instruments.