Feature Archives

February 3rd marked the first night of Kinetic Poetics Project, a five day poetry and spoken word festival at UCSC's Porter College Theater. Each night, the Kinetic Poetics Project provides a space for local and student poets to showcase their work for the community and highlights an established poet. As a supplement to the featured poets' performances, the Kinetic Poetics Project has arranged free poetry and writing workshops facilitated by the poets themselves.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 contract with the University of California (UC) expired on January 31st. AFSCME members (custodians, food service workers, gardeners, maintenance workers, shuttle drivers, and medical center workers), students, teachers, and community allies rallied at UCSC's Baytree Plaza on January 31st, then marched to the Chancellor's Office at Kerr Hall to demand justice for UC's lowest wage workers.

On Friday, February 1st, UC Berkeley's "Activism Right There" festival will culminate with an event that aims to catalyze a student community dedicated to cross-cultural organizing, political engagement and service. The festival will involve over thirty different student organizations and communities, as well as youth and community organizations from throughout the Bay Area.

In the week leading up to the January 11th national day of action against torture, student organizers with World Can't Wait and the Bay Area Revolution Club spoke in classes and distributed orange armbands at several Bay Area high schools. Larry Everest was invited by students at Leadership High to give a presentation about the abuses that are taking place at Guantanamo Bay. After the presentation, the Administration sent a letter home to all parents of students who attended the event-- stating the school's intention to teach the "other side" of torture, which one of the teachers described as the "Bush Administration's point of view." In addition, school administrators threatened to take students' orange bandanas.

On January 12th and 13th the first APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) Youth Encuentro was held in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Mexico. Among the many plans of action agreed upon by the diverse group of young folks, was a march on January 15th for the liberation of political prisoners in Oaxaca, in particular David Venegas Reyes, an APPO council member and member of VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom).

Free Skool Santa Cruz is a completely grassroots effort, a bunch of individuals deciding to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network. Spring Quarter runs March 1st to May 31st. The Free Skool Spring Quarter teacher registration deadline is coming up February 10th.

On January 12th, two University of California police officers used pepper spray to disperse about 15 people gathered below an occupied redwood tree on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz. One of the officers proclaimed that the group was trespassing and then both officers began pepper spraying people in their faces.