Mm hmm. Sure.

Do you remember your dreams?

Okay, I’ll. I’ll speak about my dream. Dreams of night dreams, which is. I mean, both my parents have passed away, but they come to me in my dreams a lot, which is wonderful. I mean, they were people who really inspired me. I mean, they were very creative, inspiring, unique people. And they. Yeah, they often come to me in my dreams at night. And my mother was just in a dream,

very symbolic dream that that I had just two nights ago.

And but I love that. I love that when you know, the people that you love that are no longer in this world physically can still have things to impart and share. I mean, she was a great teacher and still is.

I was say there are some symbology in it and I don’t know that I figured out the full, you know, content of that symbology I know is descending into an area that was like trees and earth and like a bowl kind of thing.

And it was like a dead end, Like we’d have to come back out of that same.

So I don’t know what that means, but, you know, it wasn’t there wasn’t nothing, you know, scary about it or like, unsettling. It felt comfortable. So I’m not sure I haven’t quite figured out what that means. Yeah.

I have a lot of goals of building community in Santa Cruz like this block sale. That’s an annual thing. I think it’s the 32nd annual Lincoln Street BLOCK sale. It’s, you know, it’s a wonderful event, not just for us all getting rid of the stuff and selling stuff and making a little money.

But really about community and about neighborhood and it’s that to me, that’s a really wonderful thing. And especially these days in the, I guess, post-COVID world, community is still very important. And I think for most people it is, but it’s finding it is sometimes a little more challenging. Yeah. And things like this are wonderful because you realize it does exist and just finding those creative ways where community can happen and just exist for an hour for half a day.

It’s it’s really to me, it’s very important. So yeah, thank you.

What is the most important work you are doing?

I work with people a lot, so. And people with disabilities, mental health issues, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities. Those people are my teachers actually, because they have very different perspectives on the world. Profoundly different. And I feel like there’s a lot to learn from their experiences and their vision from their lives.

I think the fact that the people I work for and with are my teachers to me is an important part of the equation. And that’s a great reward, because, you know, if there’s, like, I work with a man with has Down Syndrome, he’s my teacher.

Like, he teaches me a lot. And I also love that because I think a lot of times people might think, oh, oh, the that poor person in that situation or, you know, he’s developmentally disabled or something, that they are somehow behind the rest of us. But I think it’s a whole other picture. And if you really are honest about who this other human being is.

And so that is a great reward.

I think also being appreciated by other people is certainly a great gift. So I think and that’s a two way street. So I very much appreciate the people I work with and hopefully those people appreciate me as well. I think so.

Challenges? Well, maybe I’ll take the Down syndrome in for an example.

He is a very loving human being and at the same time, he wants the world to orient around him. He wants life to be simple for him. He wants me to go, you know, get the teacup for him or bring him his meals. And sometimes I have to be constantly reminding him, like, No, you can do that.

you can put your dirty dishes in the sink like that’s I can serve you, but to a point. And you also have to be a participant, too. So sometimes things like that are challenging or he might have he has a strong will because he’s been used to getting what he wants for most of his life. So sometimes I need to challenge him of like, No, you need to step up to this and I know you can do it.

this is good exercise for you or things like that. So that’s, that’s maybe one of the challenges.

What is your current opinion of Santa Cruz?

I’ve been in Santa Cruz for close to 40 years, and I think Santa Cruz has always been a place of transition and flux and change.

I think this latest chapter, at least for the downtown of Santa Cruz, is profoundly challenging. I think there’s, you know, of the the developments that are occurring, the demolitions that are occurring, the businesses that don’t exist anymore. It’s it’s definitely profoundly challenging. And I think we’re kind of in the crosshairs of that challenge right now. And I hope that through that we can build and find community and that Santa Cruz will still have some continuity to it and and a real sense of community, because that’s that’s what I love about being here is that, you know.