Volume 4, Issue 27, Jan. 5, 2024 View as Webpage

Together for Tammi

By JON SILVER

On the afternoon of Dec.17, Kuumbwa Jazz Center hosted an amazing benefit for legendary jazz and gospel vocalist Tammi Brown, who has been courageously battling cancer.

Tammi is a local treasure with an extensive musical repertoire that transcends Santa Cruz. Tammi is the featured vocalist in the award-winning "The Lost American Jazz Book" and has performed with many notable icons, including Quincy Jones, Bobby McFerrin, Stanley Jordan, Joan Baez and Spyro Gyra.

At Kuumbwa, the crowd was moved and excited to see Tammi on the stage as she joined several of the groups to perform and share her amazing news that the cancer in her lungs was in remission. You could feel the community's deep love for Tammi as the diverse lineup of local musicians and good friends came to the stage and performed in heartfelt solidarity with Tammi. They included Stanley Jordan, James Durbin, Attune, Lauren Monroe Band, Mokili Wa, Dylan Rose, and others.

The evening was so moving I wanted to share some of the video clips I spontaneously captured that night. https://vimeo.com/898576425

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Giant spools of used agricultural plastic sit on the side of a field on McGowan Road just outside of Watsonville.

Plastic Pollution in the Pajaro Valley and Beyond

By SARAH RINGLER

If you ever feel righteous turning down a plastic straw at you local bar or cafe, according to Rob Jordan of Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, plastic straws are less that one percent of the problem.

The United States is one of the world's largest generators of plastic waste according to 2016 data from a 2020 National Geographic article by Laura Parker, and ranks third in coastal nations for "contributing litter, illegally dumped trash and other mismanaged waste to its shoreline." Also, according to Parker's article, less than 10% of our plastic waste is recycled.

California Senate Bill 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, signed into law by Governor Newsom on June 30, 2022, is suppose to reduce plastic packaging by 25% in 10 years by requiring certain packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, according to a press release from the Office of the Governor. With respect to food, however, the law appears to apply only to how food products are sold to consumers, not how they are produced.

That leaves massive amounts of unrecycled plastic slowly breaking up into the environment, like agricultural plastic in the photo above; it is only used for planting one crop of strawberries in the Pajaro Valley, then discarded. In conventional berry farming, heavy-duty plastic tarps are used to retain poisonous fumigants in the soil in order to kill soil organisms and promote higher yields. Both conventional and organic farmers may use plastic film to inhibit weed growth, keep moisture in the soil to save water use, shade crops from the sun and cold and in the case of conventional farmers, to keep poisonous fungicides in the soil to promote higher yields. When the plastic is removed, the gases disssipate into the air.

Last year's flood revealed curtains of torn plastic littering Corralitos and Salsipuedes Creeks before they meet and flow into the Pajaro River, finally heading into the Pacific Ocean.

Focusing on plastic food packaging is important because it constitutes 60% of the world's plastic use, although nations' rates vary. Things made out of plastic are 20% of the world's use, agriculture 16%, fisheries/aquacultre 3% and forestry .3%, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Introduced in the 1950s, it is now literally everywhere, not just from plastic bags and water bottles but in microscopic particles in the soil, oceans, animals, and in our bodies.

The California Marine Sanctuary Foundation (CMSF) is currently monitoring agricultural plastics in the Monterey Bay and working to support recycling these products when possible.

Regenerative agriculture replaces plastic with organic mulches, and uses compost, hedgerows, and other techniques to support soil health, beneficial insects and wildlife. Goals are to grow healthy food, reduce pesticide use, protect our environment, and sequester carbon. For information, check out the Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA) HERE.

Meet Barbara Lee for U.S. Senate Jan. 8

By SANTA CRUZ NAACP

While the NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch leadership is busy planning the next week's MLK events (see below), we encourage members to join the Silicon Valley Democratic Club's "Meet the Candidate" event via Zoom featuring Congresswoman Barbara Lee at 7pm on Monday, Jan 8.

This is part of a series of "Meet the Candidate" events sponsored by SVDC. Click here to register and submit questions in advance and here for more information on the series.

Join Us for MLK Youth Day and March

By SANTA CRUZ NAACP

NAACP Santa Cruz County Branch will honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with Youth Day on Jan. 13, see poster above, and the MLK March for the Dream Jan. 15, see poster below

We invite community groups to join both events. Click here to sign up to table at Youth Day. Click here to sign up your group for the March.

We still need volunteers to help staff the traffic barricades and keep the march moving. Click here to volunteer.

The MLK, Jr. Planning Committee is seeking sponsors for these events. We invite individuals, businesses and organizations to help with the costs of holding these events. Click here for more information on sponsoring the 2024 MLK events.

Please email us with questions: santacruznaacp@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support and see you at Youth Day and the March!

Help the Warming Center - It's Cold Outside

By SARAH RINGLER

The Warming Center is back in action with Warming Wednesdays. From 12-3pm at the levee-side of 150 Felker St. in Santa Cruz, people can access blankets, jackets, tents, clothing, shoes, hygiene supplies, as well as cold and wet weather support gear. Our Homeless Emergency Information Hotline 246-1234 will be updated with weather news and info regarding emergency shelters and how to access them.

Donations are needed from money to street clothing, shoes, all rain and cold-weather gear, blankets, tents, etc.

Donation Barrels are located at:

REI Sports, on Commercial Way (next to Marshall's)
150 Felker St., Santa Cruz

To donate money online: Click Here. Mail money to: Warming Center Program, PO Box 462, Santa Cruz, 95061 Office is at 150 Felker St. Santa Cruz. Our Website.

The Holy Land

By WOODY REHANEK

"And how can we even speak of peace,

when arms production, sales, & trade

are on the rise?" --Pope Francis

The tra-la-las & fa-la-las have faded

& now Bethlehem's a pretty dead town.

Only a few souvenir shops are trading.

A manger made of rubble draws crowds.

In Israel there's blood on the land

from the river to the sea. No two-

state strategy. "This is why you

cannot have nice things" in Gaza:

85% of Gaza's two million people have

been driven from their homes; half

are starving. Even in the camps there's

no place to go but Heaven/Jannah/Eden

in clouds of ash & smoke...or down

to bloodstained shrouds in the cold

calculus of collateral damage. Now

Gaza is a killing field for families.

Pope Francis laments & lambasts

arms dealers as merchants of death:

Smith & Wesson won't go to heaven.

OMG, it's high time to press PAUSE:

Slow down, take stock, breathe deep,

give thanks, say prayers. Be kind in

troubled times. Listen. Problem solved.

Nurture common ground. Break bread.

Old-fashioned, deep-rooted values--

patience, compassion, forbearance--

are in short supply. Now, more than

ever, we need PEACEMAKERS to piece

together our flawed & fragile world.

******************

"If we are to teach real peace in this

world, & if we are to carry on a real

war against war, we shall have to begin

with the children... An eye for an eye

makes the whole world blind."--Gandhi

***********

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

A rare sighting at the Rio Del Mar beach two weeks ago, a black headed gull. In the winter, this bird is usually found in northeast North American and eastern parts of Asia.

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Rt Numbers Rising

By SARAH RINGLER

The California Department of Public Health and Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county as well as information on influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Mpox. Since cases of Covid are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.

At-home Covid-19 test kits that were sent free from the government earlier are now expiring. The program that started in Jan. 2022 has distributed 600 million test kits. If you still have those tests, before using, check the date on your box or go HERE to get information. Go HERE for free tests.

The three graphs below give a picture of what is happening as of Jan. 3. The first graph below shows the Rt Number. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing.

The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county.

The third graph below shows hospitalizations.

The vaccination data for the county has stayed fairly constant increasing very little over time. Go HERE for new information on vaccination records, treatments, vaccines, tests, safety in the workplace and more.

Photo Tarmo Hannula

Fashion Street - Stylish winter garb on the streets of Watsonville.

Labor History Calendar - Dec. 29 - Jan. 5, 2024

a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget

Jan. 5, 1869: 1^st Black Labor Convention.

Jan. 6, 1882: Toronto Labor Council supports equal pay for equal work.

Jan. 6, 1970: West Virginia miners wildcat to protest murder of union reform leader.

Jan. 7, 1918: Police fire on striking metal-workers, kill 5. Begins Semana Tragica in Buenos Aires.

Jan. 7, 1939: Tom Mooney freed after 22.5 years in San Quentin.

Jan. 8, 1811: 500+ enslaved sugar cane workers march on New Orleans chanting “Freedom or Death.”

Jan. 8, 1883: Trail of Intl. Workers Association members in Lyon, France.

Jan. 8, 1892: Anarchist revolt in Jerez, Spain.

Jan. 9, 1905: Revolution in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jan. 9 1939: Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union leads Missouri highway sit-down of 1,700 tenant families.

Jan. 9, 1973: Brick strike starts strike wave by Black workers in Durban, South Africa.

Jan. 10, 1859: Birth of Francisco Ferrer, libertarian educator.

Jan. 11, 1908: General Strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Jan. 11, 1912: IWW Bread and Roses strike begins in Lawrence, Mass. and ends March 14.

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

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk,

if you can't walk then crawl,

but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Californian Taco Salad

By SARAH RINGLER

This dish is so California. Tortilla chips, in fact, were first commercially made by the El Zarape Tortilla Factory in East Los Angeles. This came about because they were also one of the first to use a tortilla-making machine, which turned out tortillas twelve times faster than could be made by hand. The machines often turned out folded and misshapen tortillas that could not be sold as tortillas — thus the tortilla chip was born.

One day in the late 1940s, Rebecca Webb Carranza, who with her husband Mario, owned the El Zarape Tortilla Factory, took some of the misshapen tortillas home from the factory, cut them into wedges and fried them up to take to a party. They were such a hit that she started bagging them up and selling them for ten cents a bag at the factory with the tortillas. They were called Tort Chips and by the 1960s they were the only products El Zarape was making. In 1994, she received the Golden Tortilla award for this clever and very popular contribution to the Mexican food business. She died at age 98 in 2006.

Rebecca Carranza was born in Durango, Mexico, on Nov. 27, 1907. Her mom was Eufemia Miranda and her father was an engineer from Utah named Leslie Webb. Rebecca lived with her parents and five brothers during the time of Pancho Villa when Americans were not real popular in Mexico. Her father’s mining company relocated the family to El Paso, Texas in the 1920s and eventually, after her mom and dad divorced, the family moved to Los Angeles where she met Mario. They married and in the early 1940s opened one of the earliest automated tortilla making factories.

I like one-dish meals with the protein, vegetables and carbohydrates all together. It saves time and dishes. You will need a big bowl for this salad.

This recipe is made with ground beef but it can easily be left out.

Taco Salad

1 pound ground beef

1 cup chopped onions

2 minced garlic cloves

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 7-ounce can of Herdez Salsa Casera, Salsa Verde or any salsa (about 1 cup)

1 3/4 cups drained and cooked kidney beans or one 15-ounce can – black and pinto beans also work well

salt and pepper

head of lettuce – romaine or butter lettuce

one half of a large bag of fresh, salted tortilla chips (about 6 big handfuls)

1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced

In a large fry pan, heat the cooking oil. Add the onions and cook until soft. Remove the onions and add the ground beef. Cook the beef until browned. Add the onions, chopped garlic, cumin powder and mix well. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the salsa and stir and cook some more. Now add the beans. Cook slowly for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Wash, dry and tear the lettuce into bite size pieces. Place in a large salad bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Grate the cheese and cut the avocado into slices. Open the bag of chips – you will need about a half of a large bag.

Taste the meat and bean mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then, add the red wine vinegar and taste again. Add more vinegar, salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, take the lettuce out of the refrigerator. Spread about half a bag over the lettuce. Then pour the bean-meat mixture over the chips and lettuce. Spread the grated cheese over that and finally add the avocado slices. Take to the table, toss the salad and serve. Serves four.

Send your story, poetry or art here: Please submit a story, poem or photo of your art 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 this is a political issue. Submit to coluyaki@gmail.com

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Thanks, Sarah Ringler

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.