Feature Archives

When local activist Wes Modes accepted a misdemeanor plea deal in December 2009 for his part in defending the Farmer's Market Drum Circle, he figured that would be the end of it. A year suspended sentence and some community service. No problem, he thought. Now the Santa Cruz District Attorney is saying that Wes violated his plea agreement by organizing the Last Night DIY parade.

Over 150 unauthorized copies of a poster were hung in BART trains in the early morning of March 31st, replacing the usual advertisements. The stark black and white poster showed a woman clinging to an olive tree with a soldier lurking behind her in a jeep. The poster's tagline read “US Funded Israeli Apartheid.”

Army Spc. Marc Hall, who had been jailed in Georgia county jails since December 12, 2009 for producing an angry hip-hop song about "stoploss" was placed on a military flight bound for Iraq on the night of February 26, 2010. The Army has made it clear that Marc will face a General Courts Martial that could result in years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. Local musicians, artists, and GI rights supporters are coming together in benefit of Marc Hall on Friday, March 26th in Scotts Valley.

On March 21st, Congress approved legislation designed to extend health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and crack down on some insurance company abuses. Members of Direct Action for Single Payer, who continue to push for a system where everyone in America would receive comprehensive medical benefits under a government run organization, pointed out that the bill falls far short of addressing some of the worst abuses of the insurance company industry. They protested inside the building at Anthem Blue Cross offices in San Francisco just days before the legislation passed.

Chapter four of this series is Peter M’s profile of Oakland's Favianna Rodriguez. By any measure she is a successful poster artist, businesswoman and organizer. She organizes other progressive artists into projects, such as the mural that went up last year on the side of the Oakland Museum. She is a role model for up-and-coming Latina artists, proving in her life that sí se puede — yes it can be done.

The Diversity Center in Old Branciforte proudly hosted the art of Julia Elizabeth Lonergan, a local artist-activist-writer, called "Mexico-California in Pictures". The show has 12 Sufi, Saints, Native American Indians, and a Welch princess all protecting Capitola's Magnolia Rose Hotel. The show, which ran through March, features Lonergan & A. Guerioli's new book, The Haunting of Mission Santa Cruz, Mexico, 1708 to 1876, which deals with the California "land grabs" by a group of Radical Puritans and the real history of Santa Cruz and Branciforte when it was Mexico.

The Resource Center for Nonviolence, la Liga de la Comunidad, the ACLU of Santa Cruz, and other local organizations will host a special screening of the new documentary film, "The 800 Mile Wall," on Friday, February 26, at 7pm at the First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz; at 7pm on Saturday at the Lutheran Community Church in Watsonville; and, at 2pm on Sunday at the Peace Resource Center in Seaside. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s director, John Carlos Frey and the film’s producer, Jack Lorenz.

"The 800 Mile Wall" highlights the construction of the new border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and the lethal effects on migrants trying to cross into the United States. Migrant deaths have soared since enforcement and security measures were implemented by the U.S. beginning with Operation Gatekeeper in 1994.