Feature Archives

Disorientation Guide Collective writes: The UC Santa Cruz Disorientation Guide is an annual student publication to incite critical thought and action through radical grassroots education. This is an introduction to the side of this school that you might have heard about but won't find in your glossy orientation materials. This guide is designed as a resource, inspiration, and catalyst for you as you discover and get involved in the creative, radical communities and projects that thrive here in Santa Cruz.

Occupy Santa Cruz, a local convergence in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, held it's first General Assembly on October 4th at Laurel Park in Santa Cruz. Hundreds of people gathered in the park and decided by consensus to launch an occupation at San Lorenzo Park starting Thursday, October 6th at 10am. A general assembly is scheduled for 6pm, and a march is tentatively planned for 3:30pm that day as well.

12,000 prisoners across the state of California are on hunger strike in resistance to their inhumane treatment, especially in the so-called "special housing units." On Saturday, October 8th, demonstrators in Santa Cruz will meet at 6:30pm at Louden Nelson Park. After a march through town to distribute information, there will be a noisy demonstration at the county jail to let the inmates hear that they are not alone.

Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM, a pirate radio station celebrating 16 years of unlicensed broadcasting, was recently shutdown by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 12th when agents served a “notice of unlicensed radio operation” to the owner of the house from which the station had been broadcasting from for the last year. The commercial-free, community station continues to air on the internet 24/7 at freakradio.org while programmers search for a new home to host the transmitter and antennae.

Alex Darocy writes: Public officials from the past and present filed into the Museum of Art and History Monday night [September 19] as Mike Rotkin and Cynthia Mathews, describing themselves as part of "the Sustainable Water Coalition," hosted a private, invite-only informational meeting in support of the proposed desalination plant project. The desal project, which so far has cost $6 million dollars to be studied, has been aggressively promoted by officials, and this private meeting has brought up issues of governmental transparency. This meeting punctuates a new era of suspicion concerning local politicians: during the planning of the desal project there have been conflicts of interest, including the selection of the URS Corporation to author the EIR [Environmental Impact Report], as well as recent ethics violations on the part of city officials.

Occupy Santa Cruz writes: We will gather to hold our first meeting and general assembly at 5pm on Tuesday, October 4th in Santa Cruz to bring together energy, ideas and skills/interest to help shift the movement forward in our local area. Let's show the big corporations that we do not accept their ownership of our nation and show Occupy Wall Street that we support them to the end.

It has been over a month since KB Home contractors unearthed the skeletal remains of a young Ohlone child at the Branciforte Creek construction site in Santa Cruz. On August 25th, 75 people marched in downtown Santa Cruz to the City Council meeting in an action organized by the Save the Knoll Coalition. One person maintained an indigenous chant throughout the march, many people carried signs and banners, and several distributed educational flyers.