Cabrillo College in Aptos

I was going to say that the view out here from this country road is magnificent, but that's not quite true. It's not MAGNIFICENT like the Rocky Mountains, it's LOVELY, like the Lilac arboretum in Ewing Park. I am out here in Royal Oaks, California, a town that I had never heard of until I moved here. The area reminds me a lot of Iowa with it's farms, farmers, and rolling hills.

I feel a little more comfortable out here because of it's agrarian atmosphere. However, as in Iowa, I find myself getting restless and sometimes feel the need to drive the fourteen miles to Santa Cruz where one can socialize, party, or people watch.

There is a space between Royal Oaks and Santa Cruz that might have some jewels of interest to the explorer. For instance, two days ago, I ventured over to nearby Cabrillo College and checked out there college bookstore and library. The campus literally straddles busy Soquel Drive. The 69W and 91x buses of the Santa Cruz Metro stop right in front of the Student Activities Center. Classes begin next week and the place was buzzing.

My first impression of Cabrillo College, from a car window driving along Soquel, was that it was an urban campus, like the University of Minnesota. I didn't see any greenery, just buildings and pavement. Also, the campus is split by a large artery called Soquel Drive. On one side of Soquel, you have the Student Activities Center, Library, Cafeteria, Administration buildings. On the other side, you have sports fields, gymnasium, and dance theater.

During this visit, I spent my time roaming the bookstore and library. It was fun roaming the textbook aisles. It's a great way to build a personal bibliography of things to read. The books tend to by factual and authoritative. I ran across a textbook called Women's America. One of the authors was Linda Kerber, a University of Iowa professor. I used to process her reading lists when I worked in the Reserve Book Room at the University of Iowa! Another book that caught my eye was called Mass Media in a Changing World. Lately I've been interested in media because, like words and writing it seems to have the capacity to both reflect our world and be used to change our world. What happens when it's more of the latter but people aren't aware of it?

The library at Cabrillo College is elevated and reached only by climbing what feels like a couple hundred concrete steps. I don't know why but it seems like lately I a always climbing steps! (The public library in nearby Watsonville has two staircases each with 18 steps, leading to their second floor.)

Anyway, I climbed numerous steps to reach the summit that held the Cabrillo library and ventured in. It was a bustling place. The large foyer of the library, just beyond the checkout counter contained study tables and computer terminals teaming with students. Further back, I discovered the bookshelves, some private study carrels, and their video collection. Nearby was a media center housing audiovisual equipment.

After my brief visit to the student bookstore and library at Cabrillo, I hopped on the bus back to Royal Oaks--back to farm country, the goats and the chickens.

St Patricks Day at the Roasting Company

I am sitting at the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company freezing my butt off. It is so cold in here people are wearing their coats. If you go up and ask them to close the front door they say they can't because of some sort of law or ordinance--not terribly customer friendly.

But their coffee tastes swell. I'm swigging down their House blend and have enjoyed their Steve's Smooth French twice in the past.

I am sitting here lamenting about the closing of Borders Santa Cruz. After talking with one of their employees last night, I learned that they were given no warning about the closing, and are not receiving any severance pay. "G", the man I spoke with, has worked for Borders Santa Cruz since it opened 12 years ago, he said. Yet he did not seem the least bit bitter, and minimally sad. He said that up until the last couple years, Borders' was a great company to work for--treated their employees well.



I drop by the closing sale every couple days feeling a bit guilty. First, I feel like a bit of a vulture looking for great sale prices because of their closing. Second, I feel bad about having come here so often and not buying anything. "G" reassured me that the store was probably bound to close anyway, despite my history of sitting in the cafe for hours on end, surfing the internet while sipping a two dollar Izzi. Bookstores everywhere, he said, are going out of business because of the online availability of books and the recent trending of e-book readers and e-books.

Because it was one of my major hangouts here in Santa Cruz, I must begin to find a replacement hangout. During that conversation, I learned that Borders in San Jose's Santana Row shopping district is also closing and I felt a twinge of sadness. It was my haven during my bout with San Jose homelessness at the end of 2009. I spent many hours at that store reaping the benefits of their cool coffee klatsch environment.