Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach is sometimes surprised at the gray wave sweeping Santa Cruz. On her regular beach walks, she sees “more and more older folks out catching some rays.” Census data confirms the trend; the county’s 65-84 age bracket grew by 81% between 2010 and 2020. Sternbach, in her 70s, shares her thoughts as she grapples with her own age-related ailments and “being transported to this other existence.”
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Could Dave have talked HAL into opening the pod doors if HAL was an advanced AGI?
Doug Erickson, Santa Cruz tech guru and founder of Santa Cruz Works, helps us understand artificial intelligence by taking us back to 1968’s cult classic “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Could that fictional scenario of machines taking over for people happen with today’s AI? He leads us through some scenarios.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Living with your 40-something children isn’t for everyone, but it’s trending in Santa Cruz
“I tease them that they have taken over my whole house, which is not far from the truth, but the trade-off for me is that they are wonderful, healthy cooks who make dinner for me nearly every night,” Jeannie Herrick writes of her adult daughter and her daughter’s partner, who moved into Herrick’s Aptos home after leaving Los Angeles amid the pandemic. “I am definitely getting spoiled.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Metro’s harassment safeguards, Santa Cruz’s ‘creep problem’ and the need for outreach: A veteran bus driver’s view
Rhiannon Axton, who has been driving buses for Santa Cruz Metro since 2005, responds to a recent op-ed by a Lookout intern about harassment on her commute from Watsonville to Santa Cruz. Axton outlines the safeguards Metro has in place to protect riders, says she’s had plenty of experience with the county’s “creep problem” and laments missed opportunities.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Remember Measure D? Santa Cruz train planning has now left the station
Lookout political columnist Mike Rotkin gives us an update and a timeline on the Regional Transportation Commission’s work to establish an electric rail line and trail between Watsonville and Santa Cruz. One year ago, the community was still recovering from the divisive ballot initiative Measure D that tried to replace the rail-trail option with a trail-only plan. Rotkin serves on the RTC board.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I lost my longtime friend to suicide. I’ll never recover.
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach is mourning the loss of her friend of almost four decades, who took his own life last month. Here, she shares her grief, sense of helplessness and hope that her friend has found “some kind of peace.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I spent 15 days as an inpatient at Dominican Hospital; the staff made all the difference
Linda Bookout, 76, spent 15 days at Dominican Hospital fighting first pneumonia and then a blood irregularity. She had a miraculous experience — not only because her health inexplicably improved, but also because of the kindness the staff showed her. She thanks many — by name — here. Health care workers, she reminds us, are crucial to community well-being.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
My father went to prison when I was 10 — I’m one of 2 million children with incarcerated parents
When Jeri Ross was 10, her father disappeared. Her mom and grandmother told her he was at a “training school,” but really, he was a notorious drug trafficker who was sentenced to life in prison. She and her sister spent three decades visiting him in various penitentiaries across the country. In 2019, Ross — a Santa Cruz resident for close to 50 years — published a memoir about her complicated relationship with her dad. Here, she reminds us that 2 million children in the U.S. have incarcerated parents. Speaking out, she says, “offers hope and healing.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I’m 16 and got sexually harassed on the Santa Cruz Metro — why aren’t there safeguards to protect me?
Izabella León, 16, was sexually harassed on a Santa Cruz Metro bus during her regular commute between Watsonville and Santa Cruz. No one stepped in to help her, and she is frustrated by the lack of safety measures in place for youth and women. “Metro wants more youths like me to ride the bus,” she writes. “It has even put in ‘Youth Cruz Free,’ which lets us ride for free. But it has little in place to make sure we are safe — and to protect us when we are not.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why won’t our state pesticide regulators keep us safe from Telone? Why won’t they follow the science?
Farmworker activist and organizer Yanely Martinez says the Department of Pesticide Regulation is “environmentally racist” and not following science in its latest draft of pesticide regulations. The draft, released July 25, allows farm owners to spray the carcinogenic pesticide Telone at levels state scientists have determined are dangerous, she says. The impact of the guidelines will “establish a standard of protection for Latino and Indigenous farmworker communities that is 14 times weaker than for other communities,” she writes. Here, she pens an open letter asking the DPR director to reduce Telone use in Santa Cruz County. DPR is scheduled to make a final decision on Telone regulations on Nov. 7.