Under the new ordinance, Greenway Compassionate Relief and Santa Cruz Patients Collective (SCPC), the two existing medical marijuana dispensaries, will be permitted to operate a cultivation facility up to 3,000 square feet, which must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The new ordinance specifically bans any new dispensaries from opening, and it also specifies that the entire city is off-limits for dispensaries, except for two industrial zones in the Westside and Harvey West area. Read More and View Photos

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To start the day, students, faculty, and workers gathered at 5am at UC Santa Cruz to protest the privatization of public education in California. They used their bodies to block the streets at the intersections of High & Western, Hagar & Coolidge, and the west entrance of campus.

UCSC was shutdown throughout the day, with traffic prevented from going up to campus. As of 7am, hundreds of students, faculty and workers had gathered at all entrances to campus.

Thousands participated in the actions throughout the day, including rallies at the base of campus at 9am, noon, and a 5pm general assembly that decided to mobilize the protest to downtown Santa Cruz. Read More and View Photos

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The rally began with music by La Sangre. High School students, parents, teachers and union members spoke at the rally. A symposium was held in the Watsonville Cabrillo College Forum and featured John Silver, a filmmaker and video director for the New Teacher Project. Read More and View Photos

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The recipe was right for an amazing night of poetry and performance at SubRosa. UC Santa Cruz is back in session, we’re in a new decade and it was the first Open Mic in a few weeks. For these reasons and others beyond our understanding, some of the freshest and finest artists in Santa Cruz came together to realize an incredible evening of Open Mic talent.

The night was hosted by the legendary Jack, who also entertained with some lines he brought together in his notebook. I don’t know if the artist lineup was planned out or if it came together by chance, but it was a graceful blending of poets woven between musicians and singers. Each performer was alloted five minutes on stage.

As I walked in, a vocalist and guitarist were singing a beautiful song that I didn’t understand in French. Another womyn intermixed poetry with singing backed by a beatboxer in the audience. One persyn played guitar while singing about the friends she misses and a two week romance.

A womyn of small stature brought a large keyboard, and a French accent, through the crowd and onto the stage. Two stools and a scarf were used to support the keyboard as the modest performer melodically sang and played harmonica.

The final performer of the night strummed a guitar and sang about his friends whose lives were heading in a bad direction. Before getting started, he noted that the prior act was a tough one to follow.

The second to last performer began by brushing her teeth on stage, lauding dental hygiene, and lamenting the reality of life without insurance. Then she spoke bluntly about not being intimate with a partner in some months and requested a volunteer. The two began kissing on stage as people blushed, cheered or turned away. Then another volunteer was plucked from the audience for an additional round of kissing. A half dozen people of varying genders took turns making out on stage with the performer.

Attending the Open Mic is a fun way to find friends and locate creative artists. It is also a way to support the only public all-volunteer radical space in Santa Cruz. More information can be found about the weekly Open Mic and SubRosa at http://subrosaproject.org

This article was published to Indybay.org

Several people inquired about the motivation behind Santa and the elf, assuming there was an organization or cause seeking publicity and donations. However, the motivation was solidarity and mutual aid within the community, and it was accomplished through direct action. There was no involvement, or ulterior motives, from any charity, non-profit or civic organization. Read More and View Photos

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