"Nature" Painting by Watsonville artist, Elizabeth Williams.

Songs of Social Significance

With David Rovics, The Healer Trio - featuring Gail, Claire & Karen - and Russell Brutsché

Resource Center for Nonviolence - 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz

Free but $7 donations are appreciated.

SPONSOR: Veterans for Peace Chapter 11, Santa Cruz

You can catch David Rovics on Youtube--a high-energy topical songwriter in the tradition of Phil Ochs or Tom Lehrer. This will be a great gathering!

Victor Navasky, R.I.P.

By LARRY BENSKY

One fine day in the Winter of 1958, two oddly dressed men appeared in the narrow doorway of my office in the Yale Daily News building.  The office was small, despite my grandiose title of Managing Editor.  But my responsibilities were large:  I had to “manage” over a hundred writers, editors, proofreaders, and photographers. I had to open dozens of envelopes with press releases, essays, letters to the editor, and suggestions for columnists.  I had to coordinate with the advertising department on the floor below about how many ads had been sold. These determined our “news hole.” 

Then I had to communicate with reporters about when their stories needed to be submitted so as to avoid late night jams when there wouldn’t be enough time to typeset. We had only recently gone from “hot type” to “cold type,” and mechanical breakdowns were endemic.

The two guys in the doorway - one very tall, the other very short, were Larry Pearl and Victor Navasky.  Pearl went on to a lifetime as a widely recognized judge in Washington.  Navasky went on to become THE Victor Navasky, longtime editor and publisher of The Nation, author of “Kennedy Justice,” a historical biography of Robert Kennedy, and “Naming Names,” an in-depth narrative of the Hollywood blacklist, as well as memoirs and interviews that now fill volumes.

Pearl, as I recall, did the talking, his eyes darting around the room as other people frantically sought my attention.  Navasky smiled and mumbled a few words.  Pearl handed me a small pile of oddly shaped, stapled together papers, with a title on the first page in bold letters, “Monocle.”  He asked  if  the “News”  might do a story about it.

I don’t remember if we ever did.  But a few days later Pearl called me.  There was going to be a “hot” lecture in the Law School auditorium that afternoon, which he thought the News should cover.  The speaker, Law Professor  Vern Countryman, had been attacked by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s super-nationalists. They wanted him fired from his tenured Professorship.  His crime was to have spoken and written in support of the activists, including Martin Luther King, who had begun what would become the 60’s Civil Rights movement. .Yale would have risked a school-wide uproar had it tried to fire Countryman, a tenured Professor,  for his politics, so the protests against him went nowhere.

I went to Countryman’s  speech.  Before leaving, the Law School where a packed audience had given Countryman a standing ovation, I spotted Pearl – easy to do, he was well over 6 feet tall, with a distinctive drawn, thin face, not unlike the haunting countenances of concentration camp survivors, whose images  people of our generation had grown up with.

With Pearl was Navasky.  They asked me to stay for dinner in the Law School Dining Hall. I pointed out that I had come from my residential college five blocks away, and would have to run back and get a coat and tie, which were required for admission to college dining halls.  They laughed!  This isn’t a kindergarten they said.

And it wasn’t.  It was a mind-blowing room full of guys without coats and ties (women weren’t admitted  to the Law School until much later) loudly arguing and laughing, waving their arms, jumping up and down.  And the food was edible, with as many seconds and desserts as you wanted.  Unlike the college dining hall where we in our coats and ties were offered a plate of “mystery meat,” gravy covered mashed potatoes with boiled carrots and peas.  No seconds, 

Victor and I turned out to have a lot in common.  We came from immigrant families.  We knew the Lower East Side.  We knew about the Holocaust and its traumatized survivors.  We had mothers and grandmothers and aunts who held families together.  And we read enormously:  newspapers, magazines, leaflets.  We hung out in Jewish delis and bagel shops.  We were New Yorkers.

And we both wound up in our native city – he with his law degree from Yale, after a couple of  less than fulfilling years  in the military; me with my prestigious B.A. from Yale, after a lonely year as a graduate student in English at the University of Minnesota.   Although Victor had grown up in the middle class, largely Jewish, Upper West Side and I was a native of middle class, largely Jewish central Brooklyn, we both knew who ran this country and its media.  And since we both wanted to work in media.  (not for the money, but for a “right livelihood”) New York was our place.

But it turned out that although we shared a common deep dislike for reactionary political views and politicians, we were very different kinds of people.  Victor was a born, and then very well trained,  as a detail hound. (See the recent documentary “Turn Every Page”’  for other exemplars, Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb,  of this practice.  

Victor was quiet of voice.  You had to pay attention to see how he was funnier and friendlier than I was.  And he thought Big Name Places could be influenced from within.  I  already suspected, and had my suspicions confirmed by working at two of them, The New York Times and Random House that  they weren’t going to change quickly enough and profoundly enough to a part of the solution, rather than a big part of the problem. 

But we continued to be in touch, sometimes saw each other at parties or rallies.  I never wrote for The Nation, the few times I tried brought me into conflict with their frustrating editorial process.  The “underground” press, in New York and later San Francisco, was much more to my liking.  You wrote, you submitted, they printed.  I now wish Monocle had grown into what it never tried to be, a mass circulation publication like the New Yorker.  

We needed, when Victor and I were starting out, a strong voice against injustice, bigotry, materialism, and selfishness.  Victor led an exemplary life, with a wonderful family, countless friends and acquaintances, endless awards, and much sadness that he is no longer among us. Down to the days of his passing, the country and the planet we worked all our lives to improve remain mired in deadly and dangerous conflicts. The political system in our beloved New York and our wider country remain fractured and sick. 

We needed, and need, many more Victors with much longer lives.

Larry Bensky can be reached at LBensky@igc.org

LA Times Critiques Santa Cruz News Media

By SARAH RINGLER

Tuesday, I opened an email from my sister in north San Diego County, San Marcos, to the photo on the left. I was surprised and wondered how the biggest city newspaper in the state, the LA Times, would carry an article on the state of the media in our very small county, at 446 square miles, second smallest only to San Francisco at 47 square miles. However, population wise, we rank 19th largest out of 58 counties.

The main focus of the story was on Ken Doctor, an author, consultant, analyst, speaker who spent 21 years with Knight Ridder ranging from managing editor to vice president of their digital division; the San Jose Mercury News is a Knight Ridder paper. Doctor, who at 17 years old, came to University of California Santa Cruz during its early years, returned to start an online news source, Lookout Santa Cruz, with a mission to “help better the lives of all who live in Santa Cruz County.”

According to LA Times’s reporter James Rainey, it hasn’t been easy for Doctor. In his article “Santa Cruz ‘news desert’? An industry guru’s digital startup challenges local rivals.”  Rainey reports, however, that Doctor says his company is on track to make a profit this year and he hopes that with his model of investors, subscribers and advertising, he can expand into other communities as well. He is committed to creating a community news source that can make a profit. 

Rainey does an excellent job examining the news business in Santa Cruz including the Sentinel, Good Times and Santacruzlocal.org. Jobs in journalism have nearly collapsed. The Sentinel went from 40 newsroom jobs twenty years ago to seven now. Lookout employs more with 10 journalists. Rainey also reports that in the US, newspaper editorial employees went from 74,000 in 2006 to 31,000 in 2020. Many journalists that I know have gone to writing press releases for private businesses or government, if they are writing at all.

The Watsonville Register-Pajaronian, a Pulitzer Prize winning paper started in 1868, now called The Pajaronian after being bought by Good Times, currently occupies a small office where 20 years ago it occupied a building that had held a Safeway. 

A lot of that has to do with computer technology where so many tasks are now digital. The Pajaronian had its own press, dark rooms and collating rooms. Now it gets the paper printed over the hill and has one editor that it shares with four other papers in the area, as well as two reporters, one photographer and one office worker. They have run my recipe column since 2011. 

I personally think that the ‘news desert’ is in the content. The day after reading Rainey’s article, I opened the Sentinel’s front page to read the rallying headline, “Locals Unite to ‘Save West Cliff.’” In a county that is facing a severe housing crisis and still recovering from fires from a few years ago and floods a few weeks ago, it is deflating to read about a campaign to save a few blocks of eroding cliffs, that although a beautiful place to walk, drive and bike, is not the community’s biggest issue. Few homes along this stretch are primary dwellings anymore. This kind of grandstanding for the elite frustrates those of us who have fought city council and county supervisors for many years over building more affordable housing and over not providing resources for locals who have lost their housing; in the last Point in Time Homeless Count in Feb. 2022, 74% of our homeless lived in the county before they lost their homes. 

The Sentinel, with its frequent surfing and beach images, has long provided subscriber paid support to real estate investors and the tourism industry who want Santa Cruz associated with beaches and fun. Tourists don’t want to hear about the ugly problems but are also not subscribers to local news; residents are. 

Serf City Times is unabashedly progressive. Progressive means promoting causes that make the community better, healthier, and wealthier for most of the people. It makes no pretense of being nonpartisan; we also make no profit and have a small readership although surprisingly to me, according to Rainey’s story, our roughly 200 free subscribers are about 17% of Lookouts who pay around $17 a month or $180 a year. I need to do more advertising. 

Countries around the world have newspapers that are partisan and people buy their news because of they have built a credible and trustworthy reputation. In the US, Victor Navasky’s The Nation, is a successful example as is CounterPunch, Grayzone and others. It’s depressing to pay for news that has nothing to do with your life or your concerns. 

Photo By SARAH RINGLER

The local community checks out information booths last Saturday at the Watsonville Plaza for National Transit Equity Day, created to call attention to the importance of good, reliable transportation for all.

Free Bikes!

By LANI FAULKNER

If you know of a family who can't afford a bike, there are two places that can help. In south Santa Cruz County, the Community Bike Collective in Watsonville repairs and provides free bikes to families in need. Alex Ponic is the person who runs that organization and you can find more information and contacts HERE.

In downtown Santa Cruz there is a place called the Bike Church and they help kids and all people repair their own bike to save money. They may also have a program to get bikes to kids for free or low cost. They are a great resource.

Equity Transit - Tránsito de Equidad 831-278-1007

New Date: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-

By ELAINE JOHNSON

Edited by SARAH RINGLER

The NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch will commemorate the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a march and commemorative service on Mon., Feb. 20. The march begins at 10am at Pacific Ave. and Cathcart St., and ends at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. At 11am we will remember the accomplishments of the past and acknowledge the “fierce urgency of now” in forming a more just America.

This year is the 60^th Anniversary of the 1963 "Jobs and Justice" March on Washington where Dr. King gave his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech. 

Now, more than ever, we seek to uphold the dream of Dr. King in establishing the Beloved Community that will ensure political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all persons and which will eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. 

We invite all organizations and people who support the dream of Dr. King to come out and march with us. As Dr. King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Keisha Browder, CEO of United Way of Santa Cruz County, will MC the program. Presenters will include NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch President Elaine Johnson, Rev. Curtis Blue, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, renowned local gospel and jazz singer Tammi Brown, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings, Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El, Erica Aisha Charves, County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Faris Sabbah, Dr. Jen Hastings, Professor Emeritus John Brown Childs, Executive Director of the Resource Center for Nonviolence Silvia Morales, and Professor Emeritus David Henry Anthony III.

Cosponsors for this event are the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Temple Beth El, Housing Santa Cruz County, and UC Santa Cruz’s John R. Lewis College.

We invite organizations to register for the March by clicking on this LINK. And we invite individuals to sign up to volunteer by clicking HERE.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA 

An elegant tern, with a typical 34-inch wingspan, darts across the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz.

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. There were no new deaths in the county over the past week.

Because of the availability of home testing I don't report on changes in the active cases in the county. The Health Department is now collecting data for Covid and Mpox from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county. See webpage HERE. The first chart below shows the latest county data. The fourth chart below shows wastewater projections.

The county's Effective Reproductive Number is now above 1.0. See the second chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. The chart, released from the California Department of Public Health below shows several predictions from different agencies. For information, click here.

The third graph below shows hospitalizations. Click to see more information on hospitalizations HERE.



The county has finally altered vaccination data for the county. It has divided the data into three categories with the percentages inoculated: Primary Series, 77.1%, Primary Series and Boosted, 61%, and Bivalent Boosters, 32.3%.

This webpage also has a link where you can get a digital copy and scannable QR code of your vaccination record. Keep track of your four-digit code because that is your access to the site.

To get information on COVID-19 testing locations around the county visit this site. You can make an appointment for a Rapid Antigen Test here.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Fashion Street - A solo flute concert outside the MAH in Santa Cruz.

Labor History Calendar - Feb. 10- 16, 2023

a.k.a Know Your History Lest We Forget

Feb. 10, 1932: CNT general strike in Spain followed by insurrection.

Feb. 10, 1990: 800 loot Rio food store as striking guards watch in Brazil.

Feb. 11, 1913: IWW-led rubber strike begins in Akron, Ohio.

Feb. 11, 1919: Seattle General Strike ends.

Feb. 11, 1937: 48,000 GM workers end sit-down strike.

Feb. 11, 2011: Strikes topple Egypt’s government. 

Feb. 12, 1817: Frederick Douglass born. 

Feb. 12, 1877: US rail strike against pay cuts begins.

Feb. 12, 1967: 60 burn draft cards in New York.

Feb. 13, 1917: Strikes and meetings in St. Petersburg plants launch Russian Revolution.

Feb. 14, 1903: Western Federation of Miners strike for 8-hour day.

Feb. 14, 2011: Egypt military takes charge and orders end to strikes and protests. 

Feb. 15, 1839: Labor journalist Dyer Lum born in New York.

Feb. 16, 1916: Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control in New York.

Feb. 16, 2011: Sick-out closes Wisconsin schools as teachers protest union-busting legislation. 

Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at

the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to

incur my own abhorrence."

Frederick Douglass

Happy Birthday Feb. 12

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Lemon Rice and Pakora

By SARAH RINGLER

Spicy little fried vegetable fritters called pakora are often served as appetizers at Indian restaurants. I occasionally serve them as a main dish with rice, sautéed greens, yogurt and mango chutney. The heavenly and homey scent of cinnamon, cumin and turmeric mixed with basmati rice cooked in butter takes your home and transports it into another time and place, all without the use of a time machine or going through airport security. 

Garbanzo flour has a unique but not overpowering taste that could add a new flavor to your taste repertoire. Although it is not widely used in American cuisine it is in India, the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. In this time of globalization, why not experiment?

All the spices here are native to India, but are used in cooking elsewhere in the world. Coriander seed, when planted, yields the fragrant leaf called cilantro used in Mexican, Vietnamese and Thai cooking. The seed does not taste like the leaf. It is muskier and blends well with cinnamon and cumin. Strangely, it is also the predominant spice used to make hot dogs. 

Make the rice first.

Lemon rice

1 cup basmati rice

2 tablespoons butter or ghee

¼ teaspoon cumin seed

¼ teaspoon ground coriander seed

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups water

Juice of 1 lemon

Heat the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. As the butter starts to bubble, stir in the rice, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric and salt. Keep stirring and cooking until the rice begins to slightly brown. 

Add the water. Turn down the heat a bit if necessary. The rice should be done in about 20 minutes. Add the lemon juice and serve. Serves about 4. 

Pakora

1 cup garbanzo bean or chickpea flour

1 teaspoon ground cumin seed

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon crushed chilis

¾ teaspoon baking powder

about a cup of water

ghee or high heat oil for deep fat frying

Assorted cut vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, green pepper strips, zucchini slices, carrot slices, eggplant strips, onion rings, etc. Vegetables should be thinly sliced and about 2 inches long. 

Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in all the spice, salt and baking powder. Mix well. 

Get the ghee or oil ready to fry. Use a special fryer, wok or rounded bottom saucepan. Have a slotted spoon ready that you will use to get the pakora out of the oil. Put a strainer in a bowl to put the pakora as they come right out of the oil or ghee. Then cover a cookie sheet with a few layers of paper towel. This will drain off any additional oil.

Heat the oil over medium high heat. Do not go all the way to high. Do not leave the stove while you are deep fat frying.

Add the water to the flour-spice mixture. You want a nice thick coating on the vegetables but not lumpy. Add more water if it is too thick.

To test the oil, drop a small amount of batter into the hot oil. The dough should bubble and rise. Do not start cooking the pakora until the oil is at the right temperature. You want to cook the vegetables and have the outside turn golden at the same time. 

When the oil or ghee is ready, dip the vegetables into the batter and then into the oil. Cook in batches until done. I usually cook the denser vegetables, like carrots, first, because they take a little longer. Serve while hot with yogurt and mango chutney. 

Welcome to Serf City Times Our county has problems and many people feel 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 © 2023 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved