Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Demonstrators meet outside Santa Cruz City Hall to again ask for humane treatment for people living without a house.
Revolutionary Lawyering, Homeless Self-Organizing and Systemic Change, Apr. 23
By SARAH RINGLER
A powerful group of national attorneys and homeless union leaders, including local Santa Cruz Homeless Union president, Alicia Kuhl, will speak on Zoom, Apr. 23 at 4pm to discuss our national housing crisis and what is being done around the country. Anthony Prince, General Counsel for the National Union of the Homeless who has assisted locally with San Lorenzo Park residents will moderate. Homeless Union representatives from Sausalito/Marin, Chicago, Sacramento and New York as well as attorneys from Denver, Mobile and San Diego will speak. Special guest will be Jeanne Mirer, President of International Associaltion of Democratic Lawyers. To sign up for the event and more information, see this poster.
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Earth Day Santa Cruz
Saturday, Apr. 24, 1-5pm
Farmers Market Lot, Cathcart and Cedar Streets
Speakers: Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, and more
Music: Anthony Arya, Russell Brutsché, Michael Levy, Elie Mabanza and Gina René
Art: Prints from the Earth Day Photo Contest • Hands-on chalk art to transform pavement with thousands of leaves • Paintings by Russell Brutsché • and more
Fun for all: Activities, tables, and information. This event is free.
Bring your own water bottle! Bring your own chair! Bring your celebration!
Social distancing and masks required
The Commons is a space that is loved and protected. Designed and used by the community, it reflects the heart of downtown. We meet there every Wednesday, strolling between aisles of vegetables, fruit, and flowers, with the rare sense of wellbeing that comes from being together. Organized by Downtown Commons Advocates and the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
About 100 people from around the county came out to the Watsonville Plaza Apr. 17 to protest hate and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
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Grant Wilson will read from Tom Scribner's autobiography by the Scribner sculpture, May 1, at 2pm accompanied by music by Jimmy Kelly.
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UCSC's African American Theater Arts Troupe and its director, Don Williams, will be featured Apr. 25-28
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"COVIDs Hidden Toll," a film by Daffodil Altan examines how Covid has effected some of the most critical workers in our economy. |
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Celebrate 30 years of UCSC's African American Theater Arts Troupe and May Day with the Reel Work Labor Film Festival
By SARAH RINGLER
Colorized engraving in Harper's Weekly by
Thure de Thustrup of the Haymarket Riot, 1886
More exciting and pertinent films are coming your way from the 20th annual Reel Work Labor Film Festival. Currently showing is "Sweat," a 2015 play by Lynn Nottage that tells the story of a group of friends who spend their lives working and socializing together only to find themselves torn apart over factory layoffs and picket lines.
Also to be shown are snippets of memorable performances and recollections from our local African American Theater Arts Troupe. The films will be available for streaming Apr. 25-28. Join the online discussion Apr. 27 at 7 pm that will feature Don Williams, Director of the AATAT. Click here to register for film and zoom meeting links.
May 1st, International Workers' Day, will be celebrated with a public reading by Grant Wilson of the autobiography of local IWW member and saw player, Thomas Jefferson Scribners. Scribner died in 1982 and is immortalized in a bronze statue in front of the Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave. where the reading will take place at 2pm. Nationally famous labor musician Jimmy Kelly will perform and all are invited to attend. Wear union shirts and bring banners. A march down the Pacific Garden mall with follow.
May 1 at 8 pm, there will be an online discussion by Dana Frank, Labor Studies Professor Emeritus at UCSC and Adrain Prawica, filmmaker of "Haymarket." All working people should know the history of Chicago's 1886 Haymarket Affair and learn about the sacrifices that have been made and the future challenges that sometimes look a lot like the past. Link to the film will be available April 28. See schedule for link and for online discussion.
Coming next is "COVID's Hidden Toll," a film by Daffodil Altan that shows how some of the most critical workers in our economy, the ones who provide us with food, have been hurt the most under the pandemic. Forced to go to work or starve, and with little support sometimes because of their immigration status, they still are proud of the work they do. The film can be watched here. An online discussion with filmmaker Daffodil Altan, Assemblymember Robert Rivas, local organizer for SMART Local 23 James Sandoval and members from Líderes Campesinas will occur May 4, 7pm. Join us. Register here.
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"We white people might, on some level, like living with annihilated social and historical memories -- we might like to think that the present can be innocent of the past that produced it. We might like to think, though we're ashamed to admit it, that we don't need to tell or hear the painful stories of the actions that created the world we live in. That feeling, of wanting to be people unmoored from history, of endorsing the pretense that we have nothing to do with the past that constitutes our material conditions and our most intimate subjectivities, is a feeling that defines us. The social organization of forgetting means that our actual histories are lost, and it means that we have a feeling of acceptance and normalness about living with a lie instead of an unforgetting."
Alexis Shotwell
Canadian philosopher
on the historical illiteracy of the American population.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
A black-necked stilt works the water at the bottom of the San Francisco Bay near Alviso.
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Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report
By SARAH RINGLER
The Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly releases data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county. As of April 22, there were 15,719 cases that tested positive. That is a 2% increase from the previous week. Deaths increased by one to 203. There were no significant changes in all the categories.
Santa Cruz County moved into the Orange Tier on March 30. For information, go here.
The county's Effective Reproductive Number is staying below one. See chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing.
To get tested without a doctor’s request, call 1-888-634-1123 or go online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting. Other testing sites that may have restricted access can be found here.
For vaccine information in Santa Cruz County, click here.
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% deaths by ethnicity/% of population:
White - 56%/58%
Latinx - 35%/34%
Black - 0/1%
Asian - 7%/4%
American Native - 0/not available
% deaths by gender/% of population:
Female - 51%/50%
Male - 49%/50%
Other - 0
Under Investigation - 0
Deaths by age/202:
30-39 - 2%
40-49 - 3%
50-59 - 2%
60-69 - 13%
70-79 - 21%
80-89 - 31%
90+ - 28%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 21%/12%
North county - 20%/60%
South county - 58%/29%
Under investigation - 0%
Weekly increases in positive tests:
June 12-19 - 7%
June 19-26 - 23%
June 26 to July 3 - 22%
July 3-9 - 23%
July 9-16 - 40%
July 16-23 - 20%
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July 23-30 - 27%
July 30-Aug. 6 - 13%
Aug. 6-13- 12%
Aug.14-20 - 16%
Aug.20-28 - 10%
Aug. 28-Sept. 3 - 10%
Sept. 3-10 - 6%
Sept. 10-17- 8%
Sept. 17-24 - 7%
Sept. 25- Oct.1 - 5%
Oct. 1 - 9 - 4%
Oct. 9-15 - 4%
Oct. 15-22 - 5%
Oct. 23-29 - 4%
Oct. 30-Nov. 5 - 6%
Nov. 5-12 - 10%
Nov. 12-19 - 11%
Nov. 19-26 - holiday
Nov. 19-Dec. 3 - 29% 2 weeks of data for this week only
Dec. 3-10 - 16%
Dec. 10-17 - 17%
Dec. 17-24 - 14%
Dec. 24-31 - 19%
Jan. 1-7 - 13%
Jan. 7-14 - 14%
Jan. 15-21 - 11%
Jan. 21-28 - 5%
Jan. 28-Feb. 4 - 5%
Feb. 5-11 - 2%
Feb. 11-18 - 2%
Feb. 18-25 - 1%
Feb. 25-March 5 - 1%
March 5-11 - 1%
March 11-18 - 2%
March 18-25 - .5%
March 25- Apr. 1 - .7%
Apr. 1-8 - 0.1%
Apr. 9-15 - 1%
Apr. 16-22 - 2%
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street
By SARAH RINGLER
Captain Jhond Golder Torstenson, lead colonizer of Pogonip Libertad, is out on the Pacific Garden Mall, nattily dressed in his floral best topped with an earth toned jacket and a crushed leather hat.
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Labor History Calendar for April 24-30:
April 24, 1913: 80 IWWs arrested in Denver free speech fight.
April 24, 1916: Irish Easter Rebellion
April 24, 1999: ILWU halts West Coast shipping in solidarity with framed
journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
April 24, 2013: 1,129 killed in Bangladesh factory collapse.
April 25, 1969: Ralph Abernathy and 100 others arrested for picketing
Charleston, SC hospital to support unionization.
April 26, 1937: Basque town of Guernica destroyed by German bombing in
Spanish Civil War.
April 26, 2018: Arizona teachers strike to protest funding cuts and low pay.
April 27, 1825: First strike for the 10-hour day by Boston carpenters.
April 27, 2018: Colorado teachers strike against inadequate funding.
April 28, Workers' Memorial Day - established to recognize workers who
died or suffered from exposure to hazards at work.
April 28, 1997: Nike shoe workers protest wins wage hike in Indonesia.
April 29, 1911: Magonistas launch revolution in Baja California, Mexico
April 30, 1899: 1,200 arrested in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho miners' strike one day
after Bunker Hill mill dynamited, allegedly by WFM strikers
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Creamy, Spicy and Sweet Tofu, Cashew with Snap Peas
By SARAH RINGLER
Three easy to make dishes are separately cooked then scooped up and combined on your plate as one creamy, spicy and slightly sweet tofu and vegetable dinner.
This recipe is from Yewande Komolafe and was featured in the New York Times. Komolafe grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and came to the U.S. for college where she worked in bakeries, restaurants and test kitchens. Along the way she started trying to create her native Nigerian food. Pepper is an important component of Nigerian cooking. Komolafe says, “Pepper is not meant to overburden your palate, but to stimulate it with an interplay of flavors, and to bring your mouth to life.” This recipe substitutes hard to find Nigerian selim and alligator peppers with black pepper and red pepper flakes.
The hardest part of the recipe was finding fresh snap peas. The first time I made this dish, I used frozen ones from Staff of Life. It was good but the second time, after a trip over hill to 99 Ranch Market, where I found fresh ones, it was even better. There are eight 99 Ranch Markets in the Bay Areas within 50 miles of Santa Cruz and always an adventure to visit. They specialize in
Asian food and have a large selection of fresh meats, vegetables and fruits as well as many bottles and packaged items too.
If you chose to use rice, your meal will be ready in the time it takes to cook it. Jasmine rice is perfect. Noodles, quinoa, would also work well.
14-ounce block firm tofu, drained
3 tablespoons high heat frying oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
¾ pound snap peas
2-inch ginger, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves minced
1 13-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk, shaken
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon molasses or dark brown sugar
½ cup toasted cashews
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
4 green onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup mint leaves, torn
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups cooked rice, noodles or other grain
Slice tofu in half horizontally and vertically so you have 4 thin squares of tofu. Put the squares between a dishcloth to absorb excess liquid.
Cook the rice, noodles or grain. Set aside.
Mince the ginger and garlic. Thinly slice the green onions and tear the mint leaves. Get all ingredients near the stove. Shake the coconut milk can before you open it.
Season tofu squares with black pepper and Kosher salt. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. When oil shimmers, add the tofu squares. Let them fry without moving them for about 4 minutes. If the pan was hot enough, the tofu will not stick. Turn one square over to check if it is golden brown. When done, flip over and cook the other sides for about 4 more minutes. Move to a plate and cut in to smaller squares when cool.
Return the same skillet to medium high heat and add another tablespoon of oil. When oil shimmers, add the snap peas and cook and toss until they are blistered and tender, in about 3 minutes. Put in a small bowl. You will add a little dressing before serving.
With the same skillet, add another tablespoon of oil over medium high heat. When oil shimmers add minced ginger and garlic. Stir fry for about 30 seconds until you can smell them. Add the shaken coconut milk, soy sauce and molasses. Turn down heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce deepens in color and thickens in about 6-8 minutes. The sauce is done when it coats a spoon. Stir in cashews and smaller cubes of tofu. Remove from the heat, taste and adjust flavors but adding salt, pepper or soy sauce if necessary.
Toss the snap peas with rice vinegar, green onions, mint and red pepper flakes.
Take the three dishes and place them next to each other on one large serving plate or on individual plates. Serves four.
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YOUR STORY OR ART HERE: Please submit a story that you think would be of interest to the people of Santa Cruz County. Try and keep the word count to around 400. Also, there should be suggested actions if possible. Submit to coluyaki@gmail.com
If you are enjoying the Serf City Times, forward it on to others. We need readers, artists, photographers and writers.
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Welcome to Serf City Times. Over time, our county has grown more stratified and divided with many people feeling left out. Housing affordability, racism and low wages are the most obvious factors. However, many groups and individuals in Santa Cruz County work tirelessly to make our county a better place for everyone. These people work on the environment, housing, economic justice, health, criminal justice, disability rights, immigrant rights, racial justice, transportation, workers’ rights, education reform, gender issues, equity issues, electoral politics and more. Often, one group doesn’t know what another is doing. The Serf City Times is dedicated to serving as a clearinghouse for those issues by letting you know what is going on, what actions you can take and how you can support these groups.This is a self-funded enterprise and all work is volunteer.
Copyright © 2021 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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