Spoken Love
This is my face / Framed by my short coarse hair that I started loving too late / Sparse eyebrows sit insecurely above puzzled eyes / My mouth, barely wider than my nose / My ears, home to seven of the nine holes on my...
The Things We Keep
From baby shoes to human teeth and puppets to old letters — these are the objects we hold dear. People collect souvenirs to mark their journeys and to remember specific moments in their lives. These keepsakes say as much about the moment as they do...
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…
On the Westside of Santa Cruz, florists buzz around Shay’s Flowers and Gifts. The shop is packed to the brim with roses, tulips, daisies and orchids. It’s a week before Valentine’s Day and orders have poured in as shops all across town prepare to deliver...
It’s in the Cards
As a kid, Valentine’s Day might mean buying a box set of Scooby Doo or Kim Possible cards and handing them out in class. The night before was spent signing every card and taping candy hearts on the inside of them, maybe sneaking an extra...
The Scream Heard Across the World
Before entering the third floor gallery at the Museum of Art and History (MAH), the elevator doors open and an enormous graphic of a clenched blue hand with outstretched fingers and tensed tendons in the wrist — the Screaming Hand — greets you. The mouth...
A Tribute for Social Change
A hip-hop mix of Mariah Carey’s “Shake It Off” echoed through the loft of The Catalyst as a projector flashed video clips from classic ’90s and early 2000s television shows like Lizzie McGuire, content from Obama’s last days as president and clips of Mariah Carey...
Taking Creative Action
A banner reading “Imagination is power,” in bright yellow and red, shined through the clouds as it led hundreds of students through the UC Santa Cruz campus on Jan. 20. “Art can convey a lot of things you can’t just say,” said attendee and second-year...
Putting the Fun in Fungus
The Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz (FFSC) transformed the Louden Nelson Community Center into a mushroom wonderland this weekend. The Santa Cruz Fungus Fair is the largest fungus fair in the country, with everything from a kids’ room with stamp making, tie-dying and face painting,...
Safe [Space]
On campus, there is an open gallery for students to display their work, free of charge. The catch is, it is in such high demand that there is a lottery — it changes each week and it’s only for graduating art students. It’s called the...
Getting “Word Drunk” for the First Time
Everyone was getting word drunk. Eleven poets took the stage to compete at last Wednesday’s poetry slam. It only took about an hour for the audience to start getting giddy, a term slam poets have coined as “word drunk.” As the night went on, the...