Feature Archives

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 fm interviews Stephanie Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign about the Montana state and the federal government practice of capturing wild buffalo on public lands and slaughtering them or transporting them hundreds of miles. In the last two weeks in Montana state and federal authorities planned to slaughter 300 wild buffalo, including calves and their mothers. In the last 7 years the government has trucked 2,000 wild buffalo to slaughter, 1,000 last year alone.

From now until July 15, the work of Miguel Zafra will be on display at Alma Gifts and Culture in Santa Cruz. Zafra is a gifted artist who works in black and white and hand-colored black and white. He has also mastered infrared film. Zafra is of Mixtec background from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. He says he picked up a camera for the first time at the age of 20, but began dreaming in black and white as a child.

On Wednesday, May 30, black student activist Alette Kendrick and the administration of the University of California, Santa Cruz reached a landmark deal ensuring Alette’s future at the school. While the administration had previously announced their intention to suspend Alette for 3 years, she will now only be suspended for the Summer and Fall Quarters – returning to UCSC next Winter. Acting Vice Chancellor, Jean Marie Scott signed off on the deal Friday, June 1.

On May 22nd, University of California workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, announced that a settlement has been reached with the University of California to address the wage equity fight for custodians at UC Berkeley, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz and to end the practice of outsourcing groundskeepers at UC Irvine. The settlement includes an immediate initial wage increase of $1.25 per hour for custodians at UC Berkeley, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. This wage increase is retroactive to April 2007 and will be additionally increased by $.50 per hour in October, 2007.

Ethnic Studies Committee writes: On May 3rd, the Ethnic Studies Committee planned an informational meeting to inform the community about the battle for Ethnic Studies at UCSC and the state of the movement today. The program included a timeline of our struggle accompanied by 5 testimonials (given by a UCSC professor, graduate student and 3 undergraduate students) and a guest motivational speaker along with a short clip of the TWANAS hunger strike in 1981 (in support of Ethnic Studies).

However, the program was unintentionally altered; intruded upon when Oakes Provost, Pedro Castillo, took it upon himself to barge in and take for himself the power to say what he felt. As a coordinator walked up to the stage to introduce the next speaker, Pedro Castillo followed her and insisted that he be heard. After invading this space, he was still treated with respect. He went on to relay his satisfaction at seeing such an event, and applauded the students that had come. Then, he started expressing his feelings about Ethnic Studies at UCSC, which completely contradicted his general rhetoric and the overall purpose of the event. He went on to scorn students, questioning their involvement by naming specific ethnic-based classes he had taught at UCSC and asking who had taken them. Read More

previous coverage: The Need for Ethnic Studies

On March 18th, Shannen and Patricia of the group DobaDoza performed in San Francisco at the International ANSWER rally and demonstration to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Both Shannen and Patricia are members of the Watsonville Autonomous Chapter of the Brown Berets. They were joined by a young member of the Berets, a middle school student who also DJ's, raps and sings for fun in his free time.

Grey water activists and editors Laura Allen and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine celebrated the release of the book, Dam Nation: Dispatches From The Water Underground, and facilitated an interactive workshop, Future Water Solutions, on May 24th in Santa Cruz. People took a look at what individuals, communities, and municipalities are doing to reconnect to water cycles, and there was a discussion of local and global issues.