SLO LIFE Magazine Apr/May 2015

Anthony Brizzolara

Portfolio Manager

Vice President

Financial Advisor

755 Santa Rosa St., Suite 200 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805-549-2400

anthony.brizzolara@morganstanley.com www.morganstanleyfa.com/ anthony.brizzolara

The distant future needs your immediate

attention.

Successful people are often the busiest people. The day-to-day demands of their careers usually leave them little time to focus on their investments. And that’s where I come in.

With more than 38 years of experience as a Financial Advisor, I can work with you to look at your goals and create a detailed strategy to help you reach your objectives. Call me today and let’s talk. Your financial future is worth the time.

Q&A

San Luis Coastal Unified School District Superintendent, Eric Prater, stops in to answer our burning questions.

On The Rise

San Luis Obispo High School senior Ethan McSwain shares his purpose, passion and sense of style.

Out and About

Jeanette Trompeter learns that our local grapes our producing more than wine.

Now Hear This

Self-described “ethereal folk pop” band Shadowlands shares their harmonious sound on the Central Coast.

Special Feature

From the perspective of Cal Poly students, we take a fresh look at the current housing crisis and offer a new way forward.

Explore

There’s a new playground on the Central Coast and it’s built to thrill and challenge adults and kids alike.

Dwelling

The build of this Avila Beach charmer brings the Bettencourt family full circle.

Real Estate

We share the year-to-date statistics of home sales for the city and county of San Luis Obispo.

Art

With years of travel under her belt Debra Seivers takes us along her journey as an artist.

Health

While Kombucha has been around for decades, it’s popularity in main stream culture has reached an all-time high and we discover why it’s become a drink for the masses.

Kitchen

Most famlies have their favorite version of meatloaf, and lucky for us Chef Jessie Rivas shares his.

Happenings

Check out the inspiring volunteer efforts behind the upcoming Special Olympics World games, then flip to the calendar to discover the fun-filled events around the Central Coast.

The Last Word

With a focus on community building, Roberto Monge shares his thoughtful ideas for reclaiming the village.

Kombucha

A few months ago I was roaming around the grocery store when a label caught my eye. I had heard bits and pieces here and there about a drink called “Kombucha,” so despite the hefty four-dollar price tag, I decided to drop one in my cart.

As I finished up loading the groceries into the fridge, I carefully twisted counterclockwise on the top, and a slight burst of carbonated air shot out as fizz bubbled up through the amber-colored liquid. I brought the bottle to my lips and took a healthy swig. “Wow, that’s good stuff,” I said to myself. The taste was unusual, unlike anything I had experienced before. I quickly polished off the rest of the contents. The whole thing was incredibly refreshing, but it was how I felt hours later that sent me to my computer to ask Google about this mysterious liquid.

According to the World Wide Web, Kombucha has been around for thousands of years. And during much of that time, it has been prized by many different cultures as a sort of magical elixir. I told my wife what I had learned and that she ought to give it a try. Although skeptical, she sampled the brew. The next day I was surprised to find that two more bottles of Kombucha appeared in the fridge. “Well, that was thoughtful,” I said to myself as a cracked open my second bottle, this one a new flavor dubbed “Cosmic Cranberry.” I was now officially hooked, and so was my wife. But that price tag, ouch. At $4 a bottle, if we each had one a day, that would be a $3,000 per year Kombucha habit!

Luckily, I found out that you can make the stuff at home for about a $1 a gallon. Since I have had some small-time experience brewing beer at home, I figured that this would be a slam dunk. It turns out Kombucha is really just the by-product that comes about after this crazy looking disc-shaped mushroom-like thing, eats the sugar in sweet tea. The SCOBY, which is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, arrived via UPS on my doorstep the day after I ordered it. A handwritten note included in the packaging thanked me for bringing more “peace, love, and happiness to the world” by taking this important step toward enlightenment. Additionally, a photocopied sheet provided the instructions—my favorite, Step 7, “sing to your SCOBY and set your intentions” was particularly helpful. A week later, I decided to pull the one-gallon Mason jar from the top cabinet to have a look. From the side, I could see that the SCOBY had spawned another SCOBY, which was good. The Kombucha homebrew place told me to expect that, so everything was on track. They also cautioned not to be alarmed at the appearance. But I will tell you, there was someone who was decidedly alarmed by the appearance: my 11-year-old daughter, Geneva, who went full-on tween the first time she laid eyes on my precious SCOBY’s. “Dad, that is disgusting!” she exclaimed, wild-eyed and covering her mouth as if trying not to scream. “This, my little pipsqueak, is Kombucha,” I explained. “Dad,” she said, half laughing, half gagging, “just keep that stuff away from me!” As I dipped my straw into the concoction to swill my first sip, she looked on in utter horror. “Ah, yes, there’s a fungus among us.” I declared dramatically.

Everything went fine with that first batch. But, then I got cocky with Round 2. This time, because the SCOBY’s had doubled in population, so had my production. The following round, each SCOBY would then spawn another SCOBY, so my brew house would be growing exponentially. Round 2 would be two-gallons; Round 3 would be four-gallons; Round 4, 16-gallons; Round 5, 256-gallons; and Round 6, 65,536-gallons! This time I strayed from the photocopied instructions. In addition to completely skipping Step 7, I freestyled on the ingredients [for the actual recipe, turn to page 80]. We ran out of white cane sugar, so I substituted brown sugar, and the careful blends of recommended tea were not available so I just tossed in some green tea. I can say now, unequivocally, that brown sugar and green tea are not even remotely close to being complementary flavors.

I involuntarily twisted my face up in the same expression offered by my daughter just a week earlier as I sucked in a sip of Round 2. For the first time in my life I literally shuttered. It was beyond horrible. And the SCOBY’s were clearly not happy—I suspected a mutiny was underway. They looked like something from a sci-fi movie, you know where the aliens are growing a bunch of baby aliens in their own little test tube-like jars? I wondered to myself if I was violating some sort of Kombucha law by dumping a batch but, most of all, I wondered if the SCOBY’s would come find me after they continued to spawn exponentially. Is it possible that millions of ticked off SCOBY’s could form a SCOBY army? It was a chance that I was going to have to take—I had made my Kombucha; now I had to live with it. In the meantime, I grabbed my phone and called my wife. “Hey, Sweetie, would you mind picking up some Cosmic Cranberry on your way home? This batch, uh, didn’t turn out quite right.”

I would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to everyone who had a hand in producing this issue of SLO LIFE Magazine and, most of all, to our advertisers and subscribers—we couldn’t do it without you.

Live the SLO Life!

Tom Franciskovich tom@slolifemagazine.com

Elder Placements guides you through the difficult decision making process.

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PUBLISHER

Tom Franciskovich

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Sheryl Disher

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jeanette Trompeter

Paden Hughes

Dawn Janke

Jessie Rivas

Roberto Monge

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chris Bersbach

Trevor Povah

Lisa Kimberly

CONTRIBUTIONS

Have some comments or feedback about something you’ve read here? Or, do you have something on your mind that you think everyone should know about? Submit your story ideas, events, recipes and announcements by visiting us online at slolifemagazine.com and click “Share Your Story” or email us at info@slolifemagazine.com. Be sure to include your full name and city for verification purposes. Contributions chosen for publication may be edited for clarity and space limitations.

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NOTE

The opinions expressed within these pages do not necessarily reflect those of SLO LIFE Magazine. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR info@slolifemagazine.com 4251 S. Higuera Street, Suite 800 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Letters chosen for publication

A SNEAK PEEK

BEHIND the scenes

BY CHRIS BERSBACH

This shoot was unusual in that Aubrie had a vision for the set. We met in the alley next to SLO Brew on Garden Street. Her idea was to juxtapose a dirtier sort of “street” setting against a more refined, put together look. This concept has been done before, of course, but it carried special meaning when she shared bits and pieces of her story with me. We ended up in the parking lot, the one behind SLO Brew and in front of Big Sky Café, where we continued shooting. Normally, I choose a private setting but the people walking by did not seem to faze her at all. The more we talked during the 90 minutes we were together the more amazed I was at how quickly she turned her life around. I mean, she really did rebuild herself completely.

My challenge with Aubrie was quite a bit different than it was for other Meet Your Neighbor subjects. Right out of the gate she said, “I love being photographed.” Usually it is just the opposite. In some ways this made it easier, but in other ways it was harder because I’m looking for something subtle. I want to see their innate personality. Since we do shoot so tight for the cover everything is revealed. For example, if you and I were having this conversation and our faces were really close together, you would know right away if I were bored or annoyed. Of course, if I were sitting further back, it would be harder to tell. There is no hiding it when you are that close up.

”

You said it...

MEET

Really well written PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE and most important, balanced magazine covering so many debated articles. Good issue this month with many other interesting articles. As to the skiing, almost identical experience for myself. Accompanied a seasoned skier to Mammoth Mountain some years ago. Fell on the t-bar, fell on level slope, fell just trying to get on the chair as well as off, then on the sixth day, he insisted I go up to the top of the mountain and work my way down. Lost control, fell and broke my collar bone, had the basket take me down, and that was it. Yes, I learned how years later, but the lesson was, never push anyone past their level in skiing until they’re ready. They’ll know when better than you. Keep up the good writing.

— GARY PEDERSON

“ ”

Just a little love note. I realized that I had been enjoying your magazine free of charge for a while, so I subscribed to pull my share. I love your magazine and I admire its integrity. It’s such a rare thing today. Thank you so much for all you do for our community.

— ODILE AYRAL

Wow, thank you, Odile, you made us blush! Support from our subscribers means a lot to us. We’re often asked how to subscribe, so we’ll go ahead and mention it here: the easiest way is to go to slolifemagazine.com/subscribe or you can call us at (805) 543-8600.

I read every word of GETTIN’ LUCE [Dec/ Jan 2015] to understand the decades of issues behind our city. I came in 1966 to attend Cal Poly; lived at Tropicana for three years walking or taking their bus before marrying and commuting from Shell Beach for last my last two years. A classmate in ’66 lived in a home near Ramona Drive area that her parents purchased for her years at Poly. I didn’t have a car and she did. The same contrast exists today, nearly 50 years later. Housing on campus or “just across the tracks” so students walk or ride a bike is the ideal! Since my Poly days I’ve lived in neighborhoods where students now also live with mixed results/experience. My mother has students living next door to her in Los Verdes Park II and she occasionally must “mother them” reminding them of the rules for living among families. Also, I never had disposable income to go out for a meal let alone drink at bars!!! I worked weekends to earn money for laundry and personal items. Now after working, raising children, and retired what has changed??? I see spoiled rich kids feeling it’s their “right” to party, create disruption, and vote … then leave us to the mess created. Poly needs its students close, held accountable for on and off campus behavior (aka Poly Royal no more), study like you really want your education and buckle down and do it in 4-5 years (degree dependent). My daughter needed 5 years with Civil Engineering. She worked as a motel maid and at the library, lived at home but needed a car when living at Los Verdes Park, was a member of the Cal Poly Band playing oboe, member of SWE, etc. It can be done and with respect on both sides.

It is my hope that the Cal Poly president, all of us alumni, and the state push for on campus housing or near campus housing instead of more parking lots and empty busses.

I want to remain here because I love living in SLO! I have to chuckle that I began my life in SLO at Tropicana Village and I may end it at The Villages! THE SAME FACILITY!

— ELIZABETH MEHLSCHAU POTTER

& OPPORTUNITY

RUSS LEVANWAY FAMILY, CONNECTING

Tom Franciskovich nailed it, almost perfectly [ GETTIN’ LUCE Dec/Jan 2015]. The core of the city’s complex housing crisis: insufficient oncampus housing to meet current much less future campus enrollment plus people who choose to profit from those students’ off-campus congestion and party-energy. He is absolutely right that the city cannot build its way out of this crisis. Cal Poly must house all its students. That would free up the housing stock and bring down the price in our existing established neighborhoods, making the city again affordable for workforce families. And he offered a creative solution for Cal Poly to make that to happen.

I say “almost perfectly.” As it turned out, he should have resisted saying “If you’re reading this now, it’s already too late.” As it turned out the City Council has not yet voted on the question of risking a lawsuit by Cal Trans. As it turned out the newest Council member, Dan Rivoire, chose wisely to ask for a delay so he could take more time to consider the liability risks of the City’s over-rule of the Airport Land Use Commission’s finding that the whole LUCE was inconsistent with the Airport Land Use Plan. [Editor’s note—Rivoire did vote to approve the LUCE, which passed 4-1 with Dan Carpenter voting against, a week later.]

I also appreciated the deep background historical analysis you did of the Dalidio property, going back to the early 1900s, and the local politics of development beginning in 1991. I moved back to the city in 2008, so my understanding of all of that was pretty shallow and mostly hearsay.

I was a member of the LUCE-Task Force. I was proud to have been selected to serve. But I quickly saw that my perspective was a minority one; I was more into focusing on the problems of deteriorating current residential neighborhoods, citywide, than rezoning them and developing land for more commerce and housing at the expense of our rural zones.

Keep up your excellent journalism!

— SHARON G. WHITNEY

We have had so much response about the housing situation in San Luis Obispo that we decided to explore the matter further through our college student population’s perspective. Turn to FAIR STUDENT HOUSING on page 64 to read more.

Letters to the editor are always intriguing to read, and I appreciate your including Kathy Bergman’s in your February/ March issue. No doubt her criticisms of SLO Life were not easy to take, but I do think she makes some valid observations about the magazine’s appearing to be geared mostly to “up and coming elites.” But that can be fixed. How about more stories featuring residents who’ve called SLO County home for a long while (some for generations, as Bergman points out), or folks who are working two jobs so that

they and their families can live on the beautiful Central Coast, or what “life in the SLO lane” means to a broad range of citizens in the various communities around the area? You have lots of good material to work with out there, and I look forward to seeing more diversity in your pages.

Thanks for listening, and with best wishes for continued success from a committed subscriber.

— MISSY WILLIAMS JERSEYVILLE, IL

You showed

FEEDING HILLS, MA

— LAURA HEIDEN

WALL FLOWER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LISA KIMBERLY

A few months back, three photographer friends from San Diego decided to take a road trip. After visiting Yosemite and Big Sur, the trio ended up in San Luis Obispo where they stayed overnight at the Madonna Inn. Following a couple of drinks at the bar, the self-described “photography nerds” completely “geeked out” while taking turns shooting each other in the San Francisco room. Time sailed by, and before they knew it the clock had struck 2:30am, about the time that this shot was taken.

For Lisa Kimberly, this night was a culmination of a passion that first revealed itself in 2008 when she and her husband, who is in the Navy, were living on a military base in Spain. While Kimberly had always enjoyed snapping photos, it was not until her husband gifted her with a new DSLR (digital single lens reflex) that things started happening. She quickly moved from photographing flowers and landscapes to people. And, that is when it stuck. Portraiture, she realized, was her thing. Today, she works professionally capturing memories for young families. But, on this night she and her friends were looking to push the envelope.

Having stayed in the iconic pink palace once before, Kimberly knew it would be the ideal place to take her shutterbug companions. And the Madonna Inn, with its regal kitsch, was the perfect choice, just as it had been for generations of weary travelers. During the heyday of “motor hotels” in 1958 Alex and Phyllis Madonna welcomed their first guests on Christmas Eve. Demand was higher than expected, and the property expanded the following year from 12 rooms to 40. In 1966, the motel’s original units burned to the ground in a massive fire. Undaunted, the couple quickly rebuilt. Today the inn boasts 110 rooms, each with its own unique theme. While Alex Madonna, a gifted entrepreneur, recognized the cost-effectiveness of creating cookie-cutter rooms, he was often quoted as saying, “Anybody can build one room and a thousand like it.” But credit for executing the vision is due to his wife, Phyllis, whose flair for fashion and penchant for pastels has shaped the property into the quixotic San Luis Obispo icon that it is now. To Kimberly and her friends that late night, the San Francisco room with its big, bold colors and lively textures was an explosion of visual stimulation, eye candy—just as Mrs. Madonna had intended. SLO LIFE

Around the County

2/3

After a bit of a dust-up at the County Board of Supervisors meeting, Debbie Arnold was elected chairwoman and Lynn Compton became vice chair. While some accused the board of sexism for earlier passing over Arnold, others, such as Bruce Gibson and Adam Hill, called it partisanship and not gender bias. The move ensures that the conservative bloc remains in control for the remainder of the year.

FEBRUARY ‘15

Santa Margarita residents, many of whom held orange signs with the words, “Please don’t override our community,” sat anxiously in a County Planning Commission meeting where a vote was cast deciding whether a 500,000 ton per year gravel mine would be approved which would result in an average of 273 trucks passing through its downtown each day. By a 3-2 vote the permit was denied, but the mining company, Las Pilitas Resources, promptly appealed the decision, leaving the project in limbo.

2/11

Apple unveils an $850 million plan to build a solar farm just north of San Luis Obispo County near Cholame. Named the California Flats Solar Project, the massive facility, which is intended to power its company’s operations will span 2,900 acres of Hearst Corp’s Jack Ranch and is expected to create 500 jobs during the 18-months it is under construction. The announcement preceded the news a few weeks later that the Topaz Solar Farm was fully complete and operational with its 550-megawatt facility on the Carrizo Plain.

2/19

Three teenaged tourists, Dominic Mandarino, Hunter Morrison and Trevor Ziminsky, are rescued late in the afternoon when they became stuck on their quest to climb Morro Rock. After extracting them from the 581-foot volcanic plug, authorities issued citations and asked why they had put so many lives at risk. “Because it looked fun,” one of them replied. A month earlier, a 17-year-old, Jody Walker, of St. Helena fell to his death while attempting the same illegal climb.

2/20

San Luis Obispo rancher Bill Ostrander, an advocate of campaign finance reform, announced that he will run as a Democrat for the seat in Congress vacated by the retiring Lois Capps. At the same time, Jordan Cunnigham, a former deputy district attorney who resides in Templeton, said he will run as a Republican for the 35th District Assembly seat, currently held by Katcho Achadjian who has reached the limits of his term. A month later, SLO City Councilman Dan Carpenter revealed that he will oppose Supervisor Adam Hill and former Grover Beach Mayor Debbie Peterson for Hill’s seat on the Board of Supervisors next year.

MARCH ‘15

3/4

Superior Court Judge Martin Tangeman ruled that the lawsuit filed by residents of the Nipomo Mesa can move forward to trial. The residents had filed the complaint against the Off-Highway Division of State Parks, as well as San Luis Obispo County, also owners of the land there, over the unhealthy air created by the recreation vehicles in the Oceano Dunes. Despite a million-dollar dust mitigation effort, including wind fences, the air quality continued to fall well short of state standards, which has contributed to illnesses such as asthma and other lung problems, as well as cardiovascular disease.

3/3

After its leadership in 1990 as the first known city in the world to ban cigarettes in restaurants and bars, the city of San Luis Obispo followed up 25 years later to outlaw e-cigarettes in public places, as well. Although council members were unanimous in their decision, community members were split evenly during their public comments concerning the dangers presented by smoking e-cigarettes, or “vaping,” as it has come to be known.

Cal Poly makes national news after a massive party in a residential neighborhood adjacent to campus leads to a collapsed roof and nine injuries. The party, dubbed “St. Fratty’s Day,” was designed to circumvent police enforcement and the more stringent fines that come during St. Patrick’s Day, as it began early in the morning and reached a crescendo when 50 students who had climbed on top of the roof came crashing down at 6:20am. Jan Marx, San Luis Obispo’s mayor, called the 3,000-person party an “affront to the city” and an “assault on the neighborhoods” [for more, see Fair Student Housing on page 64].

3/19

In response to the release of PG&E’s four-year study claiming that its nuclear power facility would be able to withstand all known seismic events locally, a state-appointed independent panel, which included local geologists Sam Blakeslee and Bruce Gibson, expressed doubts. The scientific back-and-forth came a month after an investigation concluded that PG&E yielded “pervasive” influence over the state Public Utilities Commission, which is charged with its regulation. The cozy nature of the relationship revealed emails that had joked about the 2010 gas pipeline blast that had killed 8 people and leveled a San Bruno neighborhood.

Cognitive Shift

Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan as the child of a graduate student, ERIC PRATER, was introduced to the world of academia early when he tagged along with his father, an environmental chemist, during his experiments on the waters of the Great Lakes. Today, he is five years into his tenure as Superintendent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District. We sat down to shoot the breeze with him recently…

You’re a big sports fan. Did you play in college?

I was offered a walk-on basketball scholarship at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. I tried it for a week, but quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be getting any playing time. I couldn’t jump like the other guys. They were living at the rim and I was lucky to touch the rim. I deliberately shifted my focus to studying the martial arts, specifically Okinawan Karate. Some people go to college and they join a fraternity and go that route. I went to college, but I lived in this world of Asian arts. And it was through that world that I learned about who I was; I learned about the world around me; and I developed a very strong sense of spiritual existence—the idea that there is more to life than just what we see. And it was through that commitment that I started a karate studio while I was trying to find out who the heck I was going to be. When the kids showed up for karate class and I was their teacher, it just filled me up. From there I just knew, I knew that I needed to do that work. Not necessarily as a karate instructor, but as a teacher. I’m here, in large measure, because of that experience.

So, how do you transition from the dojo to the classroom? In order to complete the program at the graduate School of Education at Saint Mary’s, one of the requirements was that you had to go to a job fair. I had every intention of returning to Bend, Oregon where I had been living. I had a home there and there was an elementary school just down the way. It would have been a perfect life. So, one of my professors at Saint Mary’s said, “Eric, just go through the job fair process.” I put my resume together in order to complete this final assignment. There were long lines everywhere, but there was a really short line at this little booth with a sign over the top of it that read, “Byron Union School District.” I’d never heard of it, but the line was short and I knew that I had to get this last assignment completed before I could graduate and head back to Oregon. So, I walked up and met this really nice person and had a conversation with her so that I could get her to sign my form proving I had gone through a job fair, and I gave her my information. I didn’t think anything of it. The next week the superintendent in Byron called and said, “We would love it if you came and interviewed for a fifth grade teaching position.” I got the job and started three weeks later and have not looked back since. I was a teacher there first, then a principal, then the superintendent. Never made it back to Oregon. Tell us about how you met your wife, Sherri, who was also a teacher at Byron. At the start of the school year the new teachers came a week early to set up their classrooms. So I was in the staff lounge with my construction paper trying to figure out this die cut

machine—you know, those things you use to stamp-cut a big, oversized letter so you can spell “Math Wall” in colorful letters, for example. Anyway, I was in there and I didn’t know what I was doing and I couldn’t get it to work. I’m pressing down as hard as I can on this thing when I hear, “Can I help you with that?” I look up and this woman has this expression, which was like “let me help you with that, step out of the way.” She took out half of the stack of papers and handed them back to me and said, “You can’t put more in than two or three at a time.” We became friends immediately. And, she hasn’t changed a bit. Who I fell in love with, she’s that same person three kids, several dogs, and a few cats later. She is a balance to me because I really do have some tremendous desires to do big things. And, she’s about slowing it down, taking a deep breath, smelling the flowers, basically, to this day, still reminding me to not stuff so many sheets of construction paper into the die cutting machine at one time.

And how are classrooms different now than when you were teaching? There’s tremendous stress out there if you are an educator because we’re asking teachers to change how they have always taught, and to move their focus to where they become more of a facilitator with the kids at the center of figuring stuff out, as opposed to lecturing from the podium. It’s evolving from, “Here, let’s do the problems on the board. Okay everybody, here’s the worksheet.” That no longer is the model. It’s now becoming a matter of helping students create visual models for solving a problem, and coming up with multiple strategies for solving that problem. So, it’s not really about, “Show me three ways to solve 4 x 6.” That’s really not what we are after.

What are you after? What we’re looking for is a cognitive shift. How can I think about that problem differently? The visual models actually come from a different part of your brain. It is something that has not come easily. It’s not, “Write the answer at the bottom and hand it in to me.” It’s, “Defend your answer.” That’s what the classrooms of our future look like. It’s more of a Socratic method where you come up with a solution based on very logical progressions, then you are making an argument and defending your thinking. It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s about who has the stronger argument. And can you link that to your best thinking? So, when you think about the world that is out there today, if you have that resilient, confident, structured thought process, then what will end up happening is that we’re going to be creating kids who are leaving our high schools with this intellectual capacity that no amount of worksheets could ever give you.

Out of Darkness Comes Light

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS BERSBACH

Three years ago, following her struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, AUBRIE HILSTEIN LUIZ, began a journey of sobriety. She now helps others who are fighting her old, familiar demons, while she also works toward obtaining various counseling degrees as a student at Cuesta College. In her free time she is writing a book, a candid memoir, which is intended to help others break the stranglehold of addiction. She is now happily married and has found her voice while discovering a new passion serving others. Here is her story…

Let’s start from the beginning, Aubrie. Where are you from?

I was born and raised here in San Luis, in the old General Hospital. My dad opened the Drum Circuit when I was a baby, and I remember going to a lot of his gigs when I was a little kid. I remember being out at Olde Port a lot and watching him play in his band. My parents divorced when I was three. My dad actually ended up moving out on my third birthday. I’ve noticed now throughout my life I struggle with my birthday, and the day afterward. I always notice that the morning after my birthday, I’m kind of uneasy. When I had slumber parties growing up, I would always run away in the morning, go down the block and hide in a tree or something. After my parents split up, I mostly lived with my mom and saw my dad every Wednesday and every other weekend. My mom—and I love my mom— but she didn’t know how to handle me.

What do you mean? What were you like?

I was a really wild child. She didn’t know how to have that firm discipline, and so I became really rebellious. To me, it was a great childhood because they spoiled me, which, looking back on it now, was a problem. I smoked one of my mom’s cigarettes for the first time when I was twelve. And, a few months later I had my first drink. I got into the liquor cabinet and mixed a bottle of apple cider with some hard liquor. I remember thinking, “Wow, I really like this.” It made me feel good.

Aubrie, seriously, you came from a good family. What happened? Around this time in my life there was a real shift, and my dad even says now how I just changed overnight. I just became really dark and depressed, and I had anxiety. That’s around the time I became a cutter, too. I sliced my arms with knives and razor blades, whatever I could find. For me, it was like a release. It was like an expression of anger and, at the same time, it was a cry for help, although I wore long sleeves so that nobody would find out. It was more of a subconscious cry for help. But, now I just look at it as part of my testimony, and it’s another thing that I can use to relate to other people who have the problems I had. When I was trying to get sober I was putting Mederma on my scars, and they started to fade away. Then I thought, “Wait, I want these. I don’t want them to go away.” I want to be able to say to people, “Hey, I know what you’re going through because I’ve done that, too.” So, in a weird way, I kind of like my scars now.

Okay, tell us more about growing up.

In my sophomore year I started doing coke, and I did meth. I did a lot of pills like Valium, and Klonopin, Xanax, all that kind of stuff. I was just really curious as to how these different things would make me feel, and it was fun. I just wanted to party and have fun and do whatever I wanted to do, and nobody was going to tell me otherwise. But, when I found heroin I was like, “Oh, my God, this is what I’ve been looking for my entire life.” I remember the first time I shot up. I was working at Westside Auto Supply, and I went to a friend’s house on my lunch break. We were snorting OxyContin when a guy there started shooting up. I said, “I want to try that.” I had never experienced anything like it before. So, from that point forward heroin became my drug of choice. But, I also did meth. There was a long time where I used meth every day, especially in high school; those were my big meth years. I mean San Luis High was an open campus, so at lunch I would go to my grandma’s who lived down the street from the school. I would use her tin foil to smoke meth on my lunch break. I would do it in the morning before I went to school and when I got out of school. That’s all I would do all day; smoke meth.

Who were you hanging out with during this time?

I eventually dated this guy who was a few years older than I was, and we were together for around a year. I had definitely seen some glaringly obvious red flags—really, really obvious. He looked like a convict. He was this tall skinny skinhead dude with tattoos all over him, and he would do things like break my car windows, and slam me up against the wall. I was so frustrated with myself because I knew better. But I thought somehow, that if I loved him enough, he would change. So, the night that he attacked me, he was actually supposed to be at an anger management class for stuff he had already done to me. We were at his apartment and I said something like, “Okay, do you want to go downstairs and watch Will and Grace?” He was drinking, and he didn’t respond, he just stormed up the stairs and yelled, “What the f- are you doing!?” Then he chucks the phone at my head. I ducked, and it left a hole in the wall behind me. I knew immediately that this was bad, really bad. I walked to the bathroom to gather up my things and started putting my stuff in a little makeup bag when he says, “Where the f- are you going!?” I said, “Dude, I’m leaving. I gotta go.” He charged me. The next thing I know I was on the bathroom floor while he was strangling me. It’s really like the craziest thing being strangled because you’re just paralyzed. People asked me later, ”Why didn’t you fight back or call for help?” I remember trying to move my mouth to say, “I can’t breathe.” But my lips couldn’t move—it was terrifying.

Wow.

Then things started to go dark, and I thought, “I’m going to die.” Just then, he let go. I started to get up, and he grabbed my hair from behind and ripped a clump of it out. He pulled me into the bedroom and then threw me down to the ground and hit me a few times, and then strangled me again. The room was dark, but there was a little bit of light coming in from the hallway—the doors on the closet were, you know, those fulllength mirrors—and I remember looking over and seeing myself in the reflection as he was punching me in the face over and over. And then he would strangle me again. I lost consciousness for a little while and then I kind of came to, and he was standing over me. I remember seeing this crazy, monstrous, villainous look in his face, and then there was this switch like a light bulb turned on; he just changed and his face was like, “Oh, my God, what did I do?” There was blood everywhere. And then we heard sirens. He grabbed me and stuffed me in the closet and he said, “Just stay here.” So I whispered to myself, “Please come find me, please come find me.” I remember the door creeping open, and there was a cop with a flashlight—I couldn’t believe it, it was Jerry Lenthall. I had waited on him when I worked at Franks Hot Dogs. I had to tell him who I was because he didn’t recognize my pulverized face. He said, “Oh my God, Aubrey!” I said, “Yeah, it’s me.” I just cried and hugged him. Later at the trial I testified, and he was convicted of attempted murder.

So, what was life like for you afterward?

I would just drink around the clock. I’d go drink and do drugs. Go to rehab. Come out of rehab and drink and do drugs. It was an endless cycle. I just couldn’t deal with how much I hurt people. And I was also very resentful thinking, “Don’t you get that I’m hurting!” I drank every day. I’d buy a bottle of 151 every day, and I would drink it until I passed out. I blacked out all the time. I drove drunk all the time, and I just wanted to drink all day and do drugs—that’s all I wanted to do. I would wake up in the morning and hope there would be a little bit left in the bottle. And if I didn’t have any, I had to go get more. I’d look terrible, and my hair would be matted, and I would go to the store and I would shake when I was holding the bottles in line. I’d get to the counter and try to smile and play it off by saying something to the clerk like, “Oh, we’re having a cocktail party later—getting started early.”

Ironically, this was around the time you met your future husband, correct? Yes, that’s right. I was seventeen when I met Paul. I was working for Westside Auto, and I was driving around drinking, and shooting up heroin, and doing whatever else. I remember pulling up to his shop for the first time and I just thought, “Whoa, that guy is really good looking.” For a long time I tried to flirt with him, but he was not picking up what I was throwing down. He was a good guy and said, “You’re way too young and crazy. No, thank you.” Later, in my early twenties, I ran into him at Concerts in the Plaza. This time I basically took him hostage. [laughter] I just liked him. He was different. He was solid and stable and honest. And he was just like this solid rock. He was just a different kind of guy than I was used to. He was more like my dad, you know, a good guy. So, I kept in contact with him through the years until I finally won him over. And then I became a sort of periodic drinker where I could put together maybe three or four days of sobriety, and then I would binge drink for a week. It got really ugly there where he was pulling me out of drug dealers’ houses at like three in the morning. After a few months together he said, “I can’t do this with you anymore. You have to leave. Get out of my house—just go.” I was packing up when I had the realization that I was either going to die or go to prison. I had nowhere to go. I think that it’s very important for people to not enable addicts because I had to be absolutely desperate and broken with nowhere to go, nobody left to turn to, and I was terrified.

What was going through your head?

I was just so sad as I reflected on my past fourteen years or so. I just thought, “This is miserable. Hasn’t this gone on long enough?” I so desperately wanted to stop drinking and doing drugs, but I couldn’t. I did not know how to stop. So, once again, I started a recovery program. I asked for their help, and for six months I was sober. I was doing so well that I figured I no longer needed to attend the meetings. I ended up going to a party and what started off with “just one little drink,” ended with me doing coke and smoking weed. The next day I woke up late and remembered that I was supposed to go hangout with my grandma and take her shopping. I just completely stood her up. That’s when it finally sunk in. That’s when I finally understood that my life was so good, but that just one slip-up, one night, could take everything away. I said, “This is not what I want.” And that was the last time I drank, which was three years ago.

How are things different now?

A lot of amazing things have happened in my life since I got sober. I’ve started singing. I’ve been singing since I was little, and I’ve always loved it. I used to record my songs in my dad’s recording studio. But, when I was around the age of seven somebody laughed at my singing, and I never got over it. I just thought, “My voice is terrible, and I will never sing in front of anyone ever again.” And I never did. When I was in one of the rehabs, this one was in Pasadena, I remember some girl came in and told us how she had written in the back of her journal the things she wanted to do in her life. And I thought, “Wow, the thing I really wanted to be able to do is sing.” So, it was a couple of years ago now that a friend of mine talked me into singing just for a second at their house. I had never sung in front of people before. I had sung in choir my whole life, but there is safety in numbers because nobody can really hear me. Later he pulled out a recording of my little solo on his cell phone, and he played it back for me. I heard it, and I >>

started crying. I said, “That’s what I sound like? I had no idea.” Even my dad said, “Aubrie, that’s you?” And I was like, “Yeah, Dad, that’s me.” Since then, I’ve joined the Vocal Arts Ensemble, and I’m the singer for this little local garage band. I sang at my wedding. I actually sing in front of people all by myself! It’s crazy; it’s something I thought would never happen. Sometimes at band practice I just kind of sit back and take it all in.

Deep down, is there a part of you that misses the drinking and the drugs? No. It’s different now. I have a new perspective. I never thought I would have the life that I do now. It’s way better than I imagined it could be. I just didn’t know that being a good person and having integrity would feel so good. I get so much more out of just being a good person and being of service to other people than I ever did out there. And now I can go downtown, and go dancing and I’ll have probably more fun than anyone down there. And I get to walk in with my dignity, and when I leave I take it with me. I don’t leave it at the bar, and it’s so cool. I just have so much fun. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything anymore. The fun that I have now is what I was looking for when I was drinking. The personal connections I have with people now are what I was looking for, what I was missing.

Speaking of “personal connections,” how’s married life? [laughter] Honestly, it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. But, I feel like that’s also what makes it so special. When you work for something, you really value it. And I feel like we’ve worked through a lot of stuff together. Paul was with me through some very dark times, and we still work on stuff. But it’s really good. That man really, really loves me. I love him. I’m just so lucky I found him; he’s been so supportive. Now I just feel like it’s my calling and my purpose to help other people overcome the same issues I have dealt with. So, now I’m going to Cuesta to get my degree in drug and alcohol counseling. I just got my registered recovery worker card, which allows me to work as a drug and alcohol counselor while I obtain my certificate. I just became certified in domestic violence counseling. And I’d like to go on from there to keep going to school and become a licensed clinician of some sort. There is this drive in me now where I just feel compelled to do that, to help, to serve. Someday I would like to own or operate a recovery home here in San Luis; that’s my dream; that’s my goal. I know that I can make a difference because I’ve been there and know what people are going through—and I’ve got the scars to prove it.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Ethan McSwain

Eighteen-year-old San Luis Obispo High School senior and the big brother to siblings Sean and Sonia, ETHAN MCSWAIN, is excited to head out into the world on his own.

What sort of extra-curricular activities are you involved in? I run cross country and track and field—the 800 mainly, but also the 4x400 relay and the mile. My best mile time is 4:45, which is third on our team. I’m involved in the Poetry Out Loud competition, and I play clarinet in the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony.

What recognition have you received? I was selected to represent SLO County at the State Poetry Out Loud competition where I had to memorize and recite three poems—I placed third overall. Also, my Cross Country team took 5th in the State and 3rd in the CIF last fall.

What are your interests?

I enjoy running and playing music—jazz, classical, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, guitar, and piano. I took some swing dancing classes last year and have been doing that, too. I also like to dress up and look good. That started back in middle school.

What would surprise people to know about you? I started on the freshman football team. Now I’m a skinny, scrawny runner!

What is your favorite memory of all time? When I ran The Hump, which is pretty much all uphill through the forest, for the first time at the 2012 Sequoia Running Camp. It was grueling, almost a spiritual experience as you push through the pain to finish.

Who or what has influenced you the most? My coach, Steve Boaz, because he showed me what it means not just to run, but to make yourself accountable for life decisions, and to be able to push through adversity.

If you could go back in history and meet anyone, who would it be? Benny Goodman, so I could get a clarinet, big band jazz lesson.

What is going on with you now? Track season just started, and I just returned from the Poetry Out Loud State Competition. I’m currently waiting on college admissions and am enjoying the coming end of Senior year.

What is it that you look forward to most? Graduation and college—I’ve put so much work in, and I’m excited to go out into the world on my own and take it head on.

What schools are you considering for college? Pomona College in Claremont is my top choice. I love the way the school is structured with small classes. I would also be interested in the University of Chicago, Berklee College of Music, and some of the UC’s.

What career do you see yourself in someday? I have no idea where I’ll end up, and am trying to keep an open mind, but I’m up for anything mathematical and/or musical.

SLO LIFE

Know a student ON THE RISE ? Introduce us at slolifemagazine.com/share

TASTING

Winemakers are proving grapes can serve as the base not only for great wines, but tasty vodkas and gin, as well.

BY JEANETTE TROMPETER

Distilling Spirits in Paso Robles

You can count on sampling some great wines when you pay a visit to Villicana Winery, but now, should you choose, your tasting experience can be a little more high-octane. Owner Alex Villicana and his wife, Monica, are finding an interesting use for one of the bi-products of their wine-making process: making distilled spirits out of grapes.

Alex likes to concentrate on limited production, intensely concentrated wines, and in that quest, he bleeds off juices prior to fermentation to change the ratio of juice to skins, consequently intensifying flavors in the wine. He’s using those free-run juices he bleeds off as a base to make vodka and gin.

The Villacana’s started making spirits about three years ago. Today RE:FIND vodkas and gins are sold at restaurants and stores all over California, in Tennessee, Missouri and Nevada. But Vodka from grapes? Alex says the reason most distilleries use grains is costs. It’s a lot cheaper than using high quality grapes. But he’s re-purposing raw product from his winery that was otherwise going to waste.

“The only reason this juice is being thrown away is the winemaker is trying not only to start with the best material, but further enhance it and make the wine even better than just the raw materials that are being given to him. And so I’m getting grapes that if you farmed here in Paso Robles you’d

pay $3,000 to $5,000 a ton for these grapes,” says Villicana.

Alex says if he had to pay that much for a product to make vodka, it wouldn’t pencil out. “But because this juice is coming off and being thrown away, I can get it at a reasonable price that I can actually put in a bottle and make a great product from.”

He says learning to be a distiller really came down to learning how to use a different piece of equipment. He is transferring his skills as a winemaker of 22 years to produce flavorful vodka and gin without putting them through the numerous filtering processes most high-end spirits go through.

“My philosophy as a winemaker is you really shouldn’t have to filter wine unless there are issues—like you have residual sugar, or there’s a stability issue, or a clarity issue, or something like that.”

The high level of alcohol in vodka and gin means stability isn’t a factor like it is with wine. Yeast won’t be growing in something that is 40-percent alcohol. “And so, I’m like, OK, it’s not a stability

issue that I’m filtering. So if I’m running it through a carbon filter, there’s only one reason I would do that—because you’re removing aromatic qualities.” Alex believes that the reason so many spirits are filtered so many times is to get rid of bad flavors that were part of the initial product. He says he doesn’t have to do that with his base product of high quality grapes. “For me if they’re beautiful aromatic qualities, why strip them away?” So the real answer to that is probably a lot of these products have bad aromatic qualities that, if you filter, you can get rid of them.”

Alex explains that gin is really a flavored vodka— the same product but infused primarily with juniper berries and to add flavor, “Our gin starts as a vodka, and the last step we do is a final distillation where we infuse it with seven different botanicals.”

They also infuse local farmers’ market cucumbers into vodka and make a Limoncello using lemon zest. They are experimenting constantly. “Craft spirits are really in their infancy, and I think it takes people who really want to take the time and do their job right the whole way through. That can really take spirits to the level where you see wines and beer currently,” says Alex.

Fortunately a lot of his experiments are proving fruitful, which means more tasting opportunities for you the next time you pay a visit to Villicana Winery and RE:FIND Distillery. And, there are other distillery operations opening up locally.

Krobar Distillery, owned by winemaker Steve Kroener and Joe Barton, is getting up and running. So the next time you’re Out & About, be sure to squeeze spirits into your tasting session.

JEANETTE TROMPETER, KSBY News anchor and reporter, hosts the “Out and About with JT” series every Tuesday evening at 6pm.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

BY DAWN JANKE || PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARRY GOYETTE

Check out Shadowlands at an upcoming show:

Friday, April 3, at Painted Sky Studios in Harmony

Saturday, April 18, at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo

Sunday, May 31, at D’Anbino Vineyard & Cellars in Paso Robles

Saturday, June 20, at Live Oak Music Festival in Santa Ynez Learn more about the band at shawdowlandscalifornia.com

Synergy took over when singer-songwriters Karoline Hausted and Mark Davis met local power duo Bob and Wendy Liepman. After a few hikes together and a lot of jam sessions, Shadowlands emerged. Two years later, with the release of their debut eponymous album, the band is swimming in the beauty of SLO synchronicities

The Liepmans, who have been performing music together on the Central Coast since they moved to San Luis Obispo in the late ‘80s, met Hausted and Davis two years ago right after the couple relocated from LA. Wendy starts, “Brett Perkins runs these international songwriter retreats.” Bob adds, “We did a couple shows for him in Pasadena. So when Mark and Karoline moved here, Brett put two and two together, literally.” Davis chimes in, “With the four of us we automatically had a little band.”

When Wendy and Hausted initially got together, their joint songwriting organically developed. Hausted recounts, “‘Witness Me’ was the very first song we wrote together, and when we started writing it, it was like a new writing chapter for me. I was really excited.” Wendy reveals that she hadn’t heard anything like Hausted’s music before, and working with Hausted has opened up “this whole other musical palette” for her.

Shadowlands label their genre as “ethereal folk pop,” and according to Bob, the band is “a vocal group of threepart harmonies with a cello.” Hausted describes the band as a constellation that stirs the songs within them. She explains, “the song ‘Fallen Star’ [a song she and Davis originally wrote back in 2002] came to life again when we arranged it with the cello and harmonies.” Davis says, “We come from these different places, and we are at a place now where we want to create a combination of all of us—the cello is our fourth voice.”

The combination of all of them carries with it the individual parts that make up Shadowlands. The Liepmans have released seven albums as a duo; Davis has two albums, including his self-released album “You Came Screaming,” which won the LA Times Album of the Year in 1995; and Hausted has a thriving music career in Denmark where she has released four albums and earned a Danish Grammy nomination.

Hausted moved from Denmark to California about three years ago to be with her partner, Davis. After a year together in Los Angeles, they knew they wanted to get out of the big city. Davis decided to make a transfer with his company; they learned online about the town of San Luis Obispo and decided to go for it. “It just made sense on some level, and we loved it as soon as we got here,” says Davis.

After Shadowlands formed, it was Steynberg Gallery that really made a difference for the band. “Steynberg allowed us to do a residency, and we got to showcase our new songs as we were writing them,” explains Bob. He goes on, “[Local photographer] Barry Goyette heard us do a set there early on, and he pulled me aside after and

said, ‘You guys have something special here, and you need to do something with this.’”

The band had already recorded four songs at Laurel Lane Studios with Damon Castillo, but with Goyette’s encouragement, Shadowlands launched a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising enough money to produce a full-length album. “Barry did the Kickstarter video for us, and sure enough we exceeded our goal,” says Bob. Davis adds, “We actually met our goal in half the time; we even hit our stretch goals, and that says a lot about the community here: very generous.”

Castillo co-produced and engineered the album, and Shadowlands performed two sold-out album release shows at Steynberg Gallery in January. When I joined the crowd for one of those shows, I had no idea what to expect from the band. What I walked away knowing was that their “three-part vocal, one-part cello” harmony is both soothing and powerful, and they do indeed hover in ethereality. Shadowlands’ individual talents build on one another so seamlessly—it’s hard to tell where one’s stops and another’s begins.

Reminiscing about the past two years, Hausted muses, “I remember listening to Bob and Wendy and other local songwriters when I first arrived here. Performers in LA had a different style of songwriting. Up here people sing about the starlit sky, coyotes, the forest—that was a big change, a shift for me.” She continues, “I think there is an amazing community here—people stick together and are supportive of each other’s work, and that is all so relieving.”

Davis concurs: “There’s a lot of songwriters that I am inspired by here. But we also have people like Celeste Goyer and Jim Cushing—they’re both really great poets. And the restaurants host local artists.” Hausted adds, “We have this little town with a radio station, a record store, and venues for live music.” Wendy chimes in to include Art after Dark to the list, and Hausted concludes, “It really is special here.”

“An underlying theme about this band” proclaims Bob, “is that none of this was planned for. We spend all of our

time planning what we’re gonna do tomorrow, next week, next year, and this thing just landed in our laps.” Davis furthers, “Really, what are the chances?

Karoline and I did not know one person when we moved here, and look at us now. I often feel like I am riding a great, poetic wave.”

Shadowlands clearly reflect the harmonies of living the SLO Life. When you get a chance, paddle into their wave.

DAWN JANKE directs the Writing & Rhetoric Center at Cal Poly and keeps her pulse on the Central Coast music scene.

COMING

Life never works in straight lines and uninterrupted stories. And no one understands this better than Ron & Sharon Bettencourt. With an enduring legacy spanning 50 years of love and laughter, they have finally come full circle.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREVOR POVAH

Perched high atop a hill overlooking the blue-green waters of the San Luis Bay is the manifestation of a life-long dream. And, Ron and Sharon Bettencourt, having celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last November, bounce around in the telling of their stories, alternating between good times and bad, but mostly marveling at how it all unfolded. “My dad moved us down here to become the superintendent of the San Luis Obispo Country Club golf course,” Sharon recalls. “He was then chosen to oversee the development of the Avila Beach Golf Resort.” She goes on to recount the history of the golf course, but mostly smiles to herself when she considers that after a long and winding path,

she essentially ended up back where she started. With the Avila Beach Golf Resort just down the road from the Bettencourt home, Sharon shares her father’s advice to her many years ago, “Gosh, if you kids can get down here, try to live in Avila Beach because it has the best weather.”

The couple, who had just stepped out of their car after a long road trip visiting family in Oregon and Northern California, entered the 2-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home and went straight to the family room, which is the focal point of the house. After having a seat on the sofa with the best view of the ocean, Ron walks over to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows and clicks a lever. He >>

then pushes one entire side of the window-wall into a concealed pocket. With minimal effort, he does the same thing on the right-hand side. As he rejoins the conversation, the outside melds with the inside as the sounds of birds chirping in the Coast Live Oaks frame the sailboats gently bobbing up and down in their moorings past the Cal Poly Pier off in the distance. “We’ve taken note of things we like over the years and this was definitely one of them,” Ron explains.

Also, at the top of the list was extensive use of natural and indirect lighting. Creative placement of solar tunnels can be found throughout the

Mediterranean-style home, and it becomes apparent that considerable thought went into how the light would play throughout the structure. The subtleties of the appearance of the rooms, which vary slightly during the course of the day, appeal to the artistic sensibilities of Sharon, who displays her sketches in an art room. As we wander into the kitchen, normally a great source of pride in a recently constructed home, Sharon points out a painted tile displayed on the counter that reads, “The only reason we have a kitchen is that it came with the house!” As the couple bursts into laughter, Ron claims to have built the house so that it would

encourage his wife to cook. The good-natured, self-deprecating banter continues, just as it had over the past 50 years as they move on through the home.

Stopping at a bookcase, designed and constructed by Nick Barnick of Arroyo Grande, Ron reaches in to pick up a coffee table book published by XXX Magazine. “This one was a best-seller,” he thumbs through the pages of photographs depicting beautiful landscapes. After a ten-year run as the controller of that company, the business was sold, and Ron stepped into a real estate career. Together >>

with a contractor partner in Auburn, California, where the couple had been living at the time, the pair set out to build spec homes. Those projects led to larger projects and before long they were constructing apartment buildings designated as affordable housing. While Ron, “the

numbers guy,” was busy making deals and analyzing spreadsheets, his wife was lending an artistic touch and a creative eye. It was 15 years ago, however, when the couple began thinking about retirement, that the lot became available to purchase. The normally slow and methodical Ron did not hesitate to make an offer on the little sliver of land he would dream about until it became a reality.

With the help of Mark Sullivan Construction, the home took a year-and-a-half to complete. And it is built with the long haul in mind, including an elevator for some day when the stairs between the first and second floors

become too much. But most importantly, their two young granddaughters will always have a place to stay when in town, including a private entrance to the guest room so they can pop out for a quick run to the beach anytime the feeling strikes. Even the kitchen is perfect for a non-chef, like Sharon, who pauses at the sink to jokingly tell her husband that she was going to be cooking dinner that night. “Really?” he inquires. “No way—let’s go down to the Custom House instead!” Without hesitation, they turned toward one another, simultaneously bursting into laughter, exactly as they have throughout their 50 years together.

TREVOR POVAH is an architectural photographer here on the Central Coast.

the numbers

laguna lake

tank farm

cal poly area

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

2014 7 733,843 712,428 96.85 83

+/42.86% -3.30% -3.79% 0.21% -37.35%

2013 6 738,133 723,166 98.16 48

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

country club

Total Homes Sold Average Asking Price Average Selling Price Sales Price as a % of Asking Price Average # of Days on the Market

down town

foothill blvd

2013 11 654,082 644,954 98.70 43

2013 2 1,060,000 1,012,500 96.02 206

2014 1 685,000 675,000 98.54 21

+/-83.33% -7.20% -6.66% 0.38% -56.25%

2014 9 438,156 427,244 97.84 59

+/-18.18% -33.01% -33.76% -0.86% 37.21%

2014 1 1,125,000 890,000 79.11 31

+/-50.00% 6.13% -12.10% -16.91% -84.95%

2013 5 790,800 770,600 97.88 52

2014 5 859,000 826,400 98.41 23

+/0.00% 8.62% 7.24% 0.53% -55.77%

2013 10 639,260 621,905 97.15 43

2014 8 728,863 708,750 97.78 34

2015 10 709,600 685,420 97.06 52 by

2014 12 570,917 550,300 96.39 39 johnson ave *Comparing 1/1/14 - 03/20/14 to 1/1/15 - 3/20/15

+/-20.00% 14.02% 13.96% 0.63% -20.93%

+/100.00% -16.67% -15.48% 1.13% -65.79%

SOURCE: San Luis Obispo Association of REALTORS®

379 WORDS Debra Sievers

I loved to read when I was young. I would read a couple of pages then illustrate whatever I had just read. In my generation—and my parents were old-fashioned, they were from the Midwest—they said to me, ‘Don’t go to art school. That’s silly. You need to get a degree in something; but the main reason for you to go to college, which is different than your brothers, is to meet a lawyer or doctor or dentist to marry and then you can afford to have your little art hobby on the side.’

“I love to walk down the street and stare at the ocean, but I never thought I would paint it. I started drawing it with pen and ink for some reason, because that’s really hard to do; there is so much movement. But, I just wanted to freeze a moment and get it in ink. It started to become more familiar. I began to see the patterns. And I came to expect certain things, so I just felt comfortable. After a year I said, “I need to paint this, I need to get these colors.” I wanted get the colors coming through because here in Shell Beach— and I’ve lived in Hawaii, and Greece, and some other beautiful ocean places—but I’ve never seen waves get colors like they do here.”

“I was working for a newspaper when a friend said to me, ‘What are you doing? You need to paint!’ He actually hired me to paint a trompe l’oeil mural in his kitchen. That style of mural, which translates to ‘deceive the eye,’ was very popular at the time. It turned out really well and it was a lot of fun, so I decided that I was going to move to New York and become an artist.”

“After a few years, I was going by taxi from one high rise to another. It was rainy and dreary and I hadn’t done anything creative in a while—by then I actually had people working for me—I said, ‘I just need to get away and paint.’ I moved to a small Greek island called Poros. I found my creative soul again. It was like being reborn. I knew I was supposed to be there.”

Abercrombie & Fitch abercrombie.com

The Apple Store apple.com

Bali’s Yogurt 805-594-1172

Banana Republic bananarepublic.com

Barnes and Noble barnesandnoble.com

Bull’s Tavern facebook.com/bullstavernslo

California Pizza Kitchen cpk.com

Cal Poly Downtown calpoly.edu

Chico’s chicos.com

Chronic Tacos eatchronictacos.com

Express express.com

GAP gap.com

Ian Saude Gallery iansaude.com

Jamba Juice jambajuice.com

Moondoggies Surf Shop moondoggies.com

The Movie Experience themovieexperience.com

Open Air Flowers openairflowersslo.com

Palazzo Giuseppe palazzogiuseppe.com

Papyrus papyrusonline.com Pizza Solo pizzasolo.com

Pottery Barn potterybarn.com Powell’s Sweet Shoppe powellsss.com

Salon Lux-Aveda salonlux.com

Sal’s Paradise slosals.com

Sephora sephora.com Shoe Palace Coming Soon

SloCo Pasty Co. slocopastyco.com

Solstice Sunglass Boutique solsticesunglasses.com

Starbucks starbucks.com

Splash Cafe Seafood & Grill splashcafe.com

Sunglass Hut sunglasshut.com Urban Outfitters urbanoutfitters.com

Victoria’s Secret victoriassecret.com

White House Black Market whitehouseblackmarket.com

LEASING INFORMATION: Therese Cron Therese@copelandproperties.com 805.785.0511

FAIR STUDENT HOUSING

When Cal Poly students show up for their freshman year, the odds are good that they will be one of three assigned to a two-person dorm room. After moving off-campus, they enter an ultra-competitive rental market where they are often forced to settle for crowded and at times unhealthy living conditions, all while paying obscenely high rents. We decided to ask the tough question—is it fair?

BY TOM FRANCISKOVICH

with my two boys. As another one of my jumpers rattled out of the rim and ricocheted down the street, I ran out to retrieve the ball. That’s when I saw the first car enter our little cul-desac. Then another. Then another. Then another. Soon hordes of college students were heading toward the student rental across the street, one of the three out of the seven homes on our block. Amid what appeared to be well over one hundred kids, each arriving in groups of five every 10 minutes or so, it became clear that the home was up for rent again. Later that day, the Bay Area-based landlord headed toward her car parked in front of our house. I took the opportunity to ask her how this year’s crop was looking. She said, “You know, these kids are so desperate for housing, it’s just crazy. They don’t want to be on campus because they can’t drink and have fun. Some of them were literally begging for me to rent to them.” She clicked the alarm off in her car and with a “beep, beep” opened the door and sped northward. And, the whole thing got me thinking…

Cruz also initiated litigation in a frustrated attempt to stick up for its residents and regain control of its city. In short, it was a mess. But the real problem, according to the administrator at the time, was that living on campus was not considered “cool.” He then shared with me that the university needed a “culture change” to solve the problem. That, he said with a wink, “and a hell of a lot more on-campus housing.”

Twenty years ago I was a bootlegging college student living in the Crown-Merrill Apartments deep into the hills on the far backside of the UC Santa Cruz campus. Tucked away in my closet was my latest IPA, gently percolating as the barley and hops continued to ferment. Within a week, I would have another 5 gallons of production, and I would invite everyone over to share in the bounty. As a group of my neighbors gathered in the clubhouse at the center of our apartment complex, we sipped my creation, talked about the upcoming midterms, and played some foosball. Our resident advisor (RA), who was responsible for supervising us, stopped by at some point, and I poured her a frothy pint. As was usually the case, she had some business to discuss. Someone had been overstuffing the washing machines in our complex’s laundry room, and it was important to scrape the grates of the barbecues in the courtyard after we used them. Then, as she finished off the homebrew, she mentioned that the UCSC Student Housing Office was offering a paid internship.

Although I had no idea what was involved, I decided to interview for the position. The pay was great—actually, any pay at all was great in those days—and I would be receiving some course credit toward my Politics degree. When I sat down with the administrator, he provided some background concerning student housing. At the time, there was a housing crisis in Santa Cruz. Available rentals were few and far between. Students were living eight to a house, many settling for a garage or shed. Residents were mad as hell about the disintegration of their once quiet neighborhoods and had been filing lawsuits against the university. The City of Santa

In many ways, UCSC and its host city, Santa Cruz, in 1995, and Cal Poly today with its host, San Luis Obispo, are remarkably similar. Both are public institutions. Both are similar in size (UCSC has 15,000 undergrads to Cal Poly’s 20,000) relative to the population of its host city (62,000 in Santa Cruz and 46,000 for San Luis Obispo). Both sit on a hill just outside of the city limits (UCSC was referred to as the “City on the Hill”), yet both rely heavily on their respective host cities for the marketing of their institutions. When wide-eyed high school seniors take the tour of UCSC’s campus, it’s the walk around West Cliff that closes the deal. Just as it is for the prospective students at Cal Poly, a stroll down Higuera Street and they become a Mustang. The similarities do not end there. Both rely heavily on its host city’s resources, in terms of housing, emergency services, water, transportation, and infrastructure. Both own massive swaths of open, buildable land. Yet, the cultures of the respective campuses and host city residents are quite a bit different.

The bounce house guy had just left my backyard and his gigantic blimp of a castle, complete with a slide, nearly blocked out the view of the “P” on the hill a few miles in the distance. My son was turning six

Amonth ago I was out in our driveway shooting baskets

years old, and a handful of his kindergarten classmates were on their way to celebrate. As the student rental next door got its first round of “beer pong” started that day, my phone vibrated in my pocket. The text was from a relative out of state and read, “Heard what happened. R U OK?” I clicked on the link she included to an NBC News story. As the details began to emerge throughout the day, we learned that fifty or so Cal Poly students had climbed on top of a roof on Hathway Street where a 3,000-person party had started sometime around 5 o’clock that morning. The roof collapsed and eight students and one visitor were lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries. Although our local hospital emergency rooms had quickly staffed up for what they had anticipated as a mass casualty event, no fatalities occurred. Similarly, SLO PD was caught by surprise and was quickly overwhelmed by the unruly crowd and was forced to call in support from Highway Patrol, the Sheriff’s Department, and neighboring cities. Police Chief Steve Gesell observed that we were lucky to have averted a riot. In the wake of the St. Fratty’s Day debacle, San Luis Obispo Mayor, Jan Marx, took out her frustrations on Facebook. “Consider how intelligent applicants to Cal Poly must be to get admitted, and how unintelligent and irresponsible some of them become in just a few months of party-hardy culture, out of control drinking and herd mentality,” she said.

Over the years, as I have personally struggled with my feelings about the growing number of Cal Poly students living in our neighborhood, I have thought back to my Psychology 101 class. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote a book about grieving called “On Death and Dying.” In the classic text, she outlines that there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (DABDA). I know it may sound melodramatic to compare the disintegration of a neighborhood to losing a relative, but the truth is that I love my neighborhood, and it is painful watching it slip away. Over the past two months, we have lost three more young families (one of them moved to a neighboring city, the others are moving across town). Those families have kids who play with my kids and sell lemonade on the corner. They are gone. In each case, to paraphrase their rationale for leaving, “We’re sick of the college kids.” And, in each case, their homes have become college rentals, making it that much more likely to put pressure on the remaining permanent residents to leave the neighborhood, likely creating more student rentals, thereby accelerating the trend. As we have witnessed this steady erosion in our neighborhood, two-and-a-half miles from the Cal Poly campus, my family has moved through the five stages: denial (there’s really not that many students); anger (seriously, guys—it’s 3am!); bargaining (can you at least turn the music down?); depression (this sucks); and, finally, acceptance (let’s call a realtor—we’re outta here).

The DABDA phenomenon in San Luis Obispo’s neighborhoods, particularly those neighboring Cal Poly, has grown in proportion to the university’s enrollment increase. It’s simple math, the more students there are without a place to live, the more impacted our neighborhoods become; the rent goes up due to supply and demand, and more locals get crowded out. The second “D” in DABDA has become more widespread, especially as the city of San Luis Obispo has abandoned “neighborhood wellness” as one of its top priorities for the 2015-2017 budget cycle. And, while Cal Poly continues work on its Master Plan, a document which will outline its growth over the next 20 years, it has given permanent residents little hope so far in the way of new plans for on-campus housing [Cal Poly declined to comment on the status of new housing for this article]. Despite its administrations many apologies for the St. Fratty’s Day fiasco, there has been very little dialog with the citizens of San Luis Obispo for how to move forward. Compared to Santa Cruz residents, who piled lawsuits on top of UCSC during its housing crisis, the townspeople of San Luis Obispo have remained remarkably docile and exceptionally tolerant.

It turns out that I was hand-picked for Special Ops, and would be going deep into Recon. The UCSC Student Housing Office recognized that I had a unique skill set and nearly unlimited capacity to gather intelligence from my fellow college students; that is, I brewed beer. Armed with a clipboard, I began randomly surveying hundreds of Banana Slugs. >>

That’s right, the rumors are true!

Dr. Daniel’s orthodontic practice has relocated just around the corner from SLO High School at 1356 Marsh Street.

Although it’s a new address, they are still providing the same excellent care as they have for years.

“What do you like about living off-campus? What do you not like?” After just a few conversations, it became clear, perhaps obviously, that there would be an overriding theme to the responses. Most all of the answers came back this way: “I don’t like living off-campus because I pay a ton of rent to live in a garage. Also, it is super inconvenient to get to class. I like living off-campus because I can get away and do what I want, have fun with my friends, and drink.” After many, many hours of conversations, that is what it came down to. Beer.

Wearing a tie at UCSC was more uncommon than not wearing anything at all. But, I was asked to present my survey data to the on-campus housing marketing committee, and I wanted to dazzle. I figured an 80’s-era black skinny tie would do it. My hands were shaking nervously as I wrote the word, “Beer,” on the whiteboard and circled it. Nervous laughter filled the small conference room as my awkward attempt at dramatic flair fell flat. My prepared speech soared with references to JFK, something about a “rising tide lifting all boats,” and closed by ominously equating access to alcohol with civil rights. In my twenty-one-year-old brain, it was an inspired performance. I sat down to a smattering of clapping that varied between supportive and sarcastic. We then dug into the pile of pizza-stained survey responses. While my soaring prose may not have persuaded the committee, the data certainly did.

UCSC was built in the 60’s, during the heyday of war protests and widespread civil disobedience, particularly in Berkeley where university leaders and their architects were taking note. Wanting to avoid massive mobs of protesting students, UCSC was designed in a highly decentralized, fragmented fashion. Made up as a series of smaller colleges (there are ten currently), the university has no clearly identifiable central location. There is no clock tower such as at UC Berkeley. Instead, each college is made up of its own unique village, complete with on-campus housing and other amenities, such as cafés. Distinct identities and cultures have since grown out of the design. It could be likened to the federation that is the United States—while we are Americans, we take unique pride in the fact that we are also Californians. The same could be said of Santa Cruz where everyone is a Slug, but those that live at Stevenson College have a culture of their own that is separate and unique from those living at Merrill or Kresge. The smallness of it all breeds a sort of community-oriented spirit because there is a sense of belonging, and just as importantly, a feeling of freedom, a taste of adulthood. Because the individual colleges were so far apart from each other and from what could be considered the hub of campus, such as the book store, it felt like you were living off campus. Which brings us back to beer.

During my time at UCSC, the university continued to relax and refine its policy toward alcohol on campus. There, students can consume alcohol responsibly so long as they follow a set of easy-to-understand rules that fit neatly into a short paragraph. For example, kegs are prohibited, and large gatherings serving alcohol require a permit from the chancellor’s office. Open containers in public areas, just like in the city, are not allowed, but there are plenty of informal gathering areas green-lighted for causal, responsible consumption. The restaurants on campus sell alcohol, so long as you are 21 years old, you are free to buy it just as you would in town. The penalty for violating rules on alcohol are stiff: you get yourself kicked out. Fortunately, my speakeasy operation was approved. The matter did come before a special committee of students and RA’s as an agenda item before a sort of home owners’ associationlike governing body. Through a very mature, deliberative democratic process, the majority decided that it was acceptable for me to continue churning out my amber gold, so long as I kept it under 5 gallons at any one time, and no kegs.

It was Winston Churchill who is quoted as saying, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” If that is true, is it appropriate to continue to stuff eight kids into a little three-bedroom house in the middle of a family neighborhood far from campus? Or, three kids to a two-person dorm room on campus? Shouldn’t Cal Poly, whose School of Architecture ranks tops in the nation, boast equally impressive housing? What if it were to follow the UCSC model, creating a series of villages away from the heart of campus but connected by a network of shuttle and bike paths. Imagine the magnitude of learning that could come from that effort. Students could design each village in collaboration with separate and distinct architecture. Rather than continue with the monolithic structures at the heart of campus, Cal Poly could re-imagine its vast land holdings to accommodate a type of federation of villages each housing a couple thousand or so students, who become deeply ingrained in those communities. That sense of connection with their peers, who largely self-regulate with the help of RA’s, will create more opportunities for exposure to different people and different ideas.

Learn by Doing is the perfect philosophy for this approach. Students in the viticulture program could have a small working winery with a tasting room at one of the villages. A student-run farm-to-fork restaurant could be managed and operated in a joint venture between the Agriculture and Hospitality departments. And, micro brewing is big business now, so what about a student-managed brew pub? While it may sound like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum, let’s think about it. Giving students responsibility in a controlled environment should be an integral part of education. In short, treat them like adults and they will act like adults. What is happening now, clearly is not working. The fact is that students need a better housing option, an option that will allow for them to have some fun and blow off steam, but in a responsible way. They need an option that will put them closer to campus resources, while also taking stress off of San Luis Obispo’s neighborhoods. Yes, it is about changing the culture as Mayor Marx articulated, but it is also about changing the environment so that the culture can change. >>

The UC Santa Cruz Model

In order to settle a lawsuit brought by the City of Santa Cruz over the burden its neighborhoods were bearing on behalf of the university, UCSC agreed to the following:

Enrollment not to exceed 17,500. On-campus housing to accommodate 67% percent of students (it is working toward this goal, currently housing 50%.)

UCSC must pay for additional fees for new water supply. A formula was created to account for incremental water use. This is a subject in our drought-stricken region that has yet to receive much question as it pertains to increasing Cal Poly enrollment. In other words, “Where will the water come from?”

The university is required to pay a fair-share with regard to city transportation improvements. As part of this agreement, “average daily trips” to campus are capped at 3,900, meaning students living off-campus have to find alternatives to driving their cars back-and-forth.

The City of Santa Cruz agrees to enact an ordinance regulating residential rental properties to make on-campus housing more attractive to students, and UCSC is required to contribute matching funds for two full-time compliance officers to enforce the ordinance. What

THE RUSH

Adrenaline Junky

Sometimes facing fears can be exhilarating— like challenging yourself on a ropes course or flying down a hillside strapped into a harness and zip line. Ready to test our mental toughness, we set out for the first of its kind, side-by-side adventure and zip line park, Vista Lago Adventure Course.

BY PADEN HUGHES

SLO County’s first free stranding aerial challenge course offers high ropes course and zip line experiences to locals. Everyone knows about Lake Nacimiento, but many forget about the much closer recreational lake: Lake Lopez. Just 30 minutes from San Luis Obispo and about 20 minutes from Pismo Beach, the location is perfect for a half-day excursion with your loved one or a group of friends.

I’ll admit my husband and I are not afraid of heights and love outdoor adventures, so we rallied a group of friends to see what the new ropes course just outside of town could offer us adrenaline junkies. It was an amazing way to spend two-and-a-half hours.

We were quickly impressed with the obvious value the owners place in quality from courses full of unique elements to the high level safety equipment we quickly became confident in using. The team members also reflected the passion for adventure and joy of working outside. Amy, their office manager left her radio job after 25 years to run this adventure course. When asked what she loves about it, she said, “Vista Lago Adventure Park brings families together for some incredible outdoor excitement. We have the best team. The community was in need of something thrilling and [the owners] did exactly that.”

She was right. The excitement was electric during out two-and-a-half hours on the upper course and zip lines. Always tied into a harness, you walk out onto a course constructed entirely on standing poles. We completed over 40

different challenges from swinging tireto-tire, to walking across a long log, to trying to balance across hanging small wood platforms. In between each element you stand up on what they call sky bridges, high platforms with enough room to stand and watch someone in front of you try to gracefully complete a seemingly complicated challenge.

Vista Lago is truly a family-oriented place, providing lower, more secure elements to begin with and increasing the intensity only if someone is interested in going to the next course which is harder than the last. By gradually building the intensity and increasing the height, Vista Lago eases even the most nervous adventurer into the confidence they need to take it to the next level. On other courses I’ve been to, the staff can rely on peer pressure to push a customer outside of his or her comfort zone, which usually ends with them feeling stranded out in the middle of an element 40 feet above ground, scared to death. But at Vista Lago, there is no pressure, only options. Some of our group were satisfied with their experience by completing the yellow and green courses (intermediate levels), and enjoyed watching the rest complete the blue and black courses (advanced levels).

The zip lines were an incredible way to finish the adventure. Soaring through the air over 750 feet across, was exhilarating and a great contrast to the intense focus needed to complete the ropes course. This part was almost relaxing as you leaned back looking up in the sky, while zipping through the air.

At Vista Lago you pay for the level of challenge you’re interested in and the combination of zip lines. For example, their most popular experience is $70 for two-and-a-half hours at the upper course (featuring four courses of increasing intensity) and as many runs on their four zip lines during the time you pay for. Several in our group kept going back to the upper course to try to complete a second pass before the clock ran out on our time.

Vista Lago does offer group rates, which is perfect for parties or team-building events. Kids are welcome and can participate at the lower course, or depending on their height, go all the way through the black diamond course. One member of our group went all the way through the upper course. If she got stuck she put on her zip line equipment and zipped to the end of the element. We were impressed to say the least.

Vista Lago Adventure Course plans to continue to expand and add new features. Rumor has it next winter they plan to add two more zip lines, and build out the course beyond what we can currently imagine.

DIRECTIONS: From San Luis Obispo, take Broad street, continue

it becomes Highway 227. Turn left onto Lopez Drive, then follow Lopez Drive onto Grizzly Drive.

PADEN HUGHES is co-owner of Gymnazo and enjoys exploring the Central Coast.

RISING TO THE TOP

Kombucha

Known as the “Immortal Health Elixir” by the Chinese and originating in the Far East around 2,000 years ago, Kombucha has a rich anecdotal history of health benefits like preventing and fighting cancer, arthritis, and other degene rative diseases.

Made from sweetened tea that’s been fermented by a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), Kombucha had not gained prominence in the West until recently.

In the first half of the 20th Century, extensive scientific research was done on Kombucha’s health benefits in Russia and Germany, mostly because of a push to find a cure for rising cancer rates. In Günther Frank’s book “Kombucha, Healthy Beverage and Natural Remedy” he relates an amazing but true story of Russian scientists who discovered that entire regions of their vast country were seemingly immune to cancer and hypothesized that the Kombucha, called “tea kvass” there, was the cause. They

began a series of experiments which not only verified the hypothesis, but began to pinpoint exactly what it is within Kombucha which was so beneficial.

German scientists picked up on this research and continued it in their own direction. Then, with the onset of the Cold War, research stopped and development started being diverted into other fields.

While there has yet to be a clinical study of human Kombucha consumption, studies have shown benefits in animals. In one 2010 experiment published in the journal Food & Function, researchers fed Kombucha to

mice with stomach ulcers and found that black tea that was fermented for four days with a Kombucha culture was as effective in treating the ulcers as the control medication, Omeprazole. And in 2003, researchers administered Kombucha to rats who had previously received doses of lead acetate. They found that the tea helped improve the rats’ immune systems, which were suppressed as they tried to process the heavy metal.

Although a limited amount of research exists on the beverage specifically, there has been plenty of research done on many of the nutrients and acids it contains in large quantities (such as B-vitamins, antioxidants, and glucaric acids).

DETOXIFICATION AND LIVER SUPPORT

Detoxification produces healthy livers and aides cancer prevention. One of Kombucha’s greatest health benefits is its ability to detox the body. It is rich in many of the enzymes and bacterial acids your body produces and/or uses to detox your system, thus reducing your pancreatic load and easing the burden on your liver. Kombucha is very high in glucaric acid, and recent studies, such as those by Zbigniew Walaszek, have shown that glucaric acid helps prevent cancer.

JOINT CARE

Kombucha contains glucosamines, a strong preventive and treatment for all forms of arthritis. Glucosamines increase synovial hyaluronic acid production. Hyaluronic acid functions physiologically to aid preservation of cartilage structure and prevent arthritic pain, with relief comparable to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Hyaluronic acid enables connective tissue to bind moisture thousands of times its weight and maintains tissue structure, moisture, lubrication and flexibility and lessens free radical damage, while associated collagen retards and reduces wrinkles.

IMMUNE BOOSTING

Kombucha is naturally high in antioxidants and supportive of the immune system. Again, there is no magic pill or silver bullet when it comes to immune function—it is best to support the body in its natural immune process. Kombucha contains a compound called D-saccharic acid1,4-lactone (or DSL for short) that has amazing antioxidant properties. This compound is not present in unfermented teas (though many teas are high in other antioxidants). DSL has been specifically identified as beneficial for cellular detoxification.

IMPROVING DIGESTION & GUT HEALTH

The research is still out on the specific way Kombucha affects digestion, but we do know that it contains probiotics, enzymes and beneficial acids which have been researched for their benefits. Harvard Medical School explains that a healthy gut will have over 100 trillion microorganisms from 500 different identified species. In this sense, we truly are more bacterial than human. There has been a lot of emerging research on the dangers of an overly sanitary environment and how overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial soaps and products is literally changing the structure of our gut. Drinks like Kombucha, kefir, and fermented foods like sauerkraut contain billions of these beneficial bacteria, enzymes and acids that help keep the gut in balance. As such, it’s noted for fighting candida (harmful yeast) overgrowth, improving mental clarity and mood stability, as well as reducing or eliminating the symptoms of fibromyalgia, depression, and anxiety.

KOMBUCHA

1 gallon filtered water pre-made Kombucha tea blend (or 8 black tea bags, 2 white tea bags, 1 green tea bag, 1 yerba maté tea bag)

1 cup organic sugar 1 SCOBY (get one either from a friend or find them online) ½ – 1 cup Kombucha (use either the liquid that comes with your SCOBY or store-bought raw/unpasteurized kombucha) large wide-mouth one-gallon glass jar tea towel large rubber band

Heat the water and add the tea bags. Steep for about 5-10 minutes and remove the bags. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. When the sweetened tea is cool, pour into the one-gallon glass jar. Add about ½ cup of Kombucha. With clean hands, place the SCOBY in the jar. Place a tea towel or double layer of paper towel on top and secure tightly with a rubber band. You want it to be able to breathe, but you also need to keep debris out.

Place jar in a relatively warm, dark shelf. Allow your mixture to sit for about a week. To test it, slip a straw into the liquid and put your finger over the top. This will hold a

TIPS

small amount in the straw so you can taste it. If it is very sweet, leave it a bit longer. It should be slightly sweet, tangy and slightly effervescent. If it tastes off at all, start over. It could take two weeks depending on fermenting conditions, but shouldn’t be much more.

Once the taste is to your liking, you can remove the SCOBYs (you will have two now) and ½ – 1 cup of the Kombucha. Set this aside and use it to start another batch of Kombucha.

Bottle and refrigerate the rest or enjoy right away.

Just as with any home food preparation, there is the danger of contamination, so please, sanitize wisely.

Add Some fruit or ginger. When adding flavor, let everything sit in a clean canning jar for a few days to infuse, then strain and enjoy or bottle and refrigerate for later.

COMFORT FOOD

MEATLOAF

I love to cook all types of foods, but dishes like meatloaf and mashed potatoes bring me back to my childhood and remind me why I became a chef. When making meatloaf, keep it simple. Use this recipe as a guideline and feel free to add any vegetable or any combination of meats to your loaf—bacon is always a great option. Use ingredients you already have in the refrigerator, just keep the ratios about the same. And remember, don’t go too lean or the loaf will crumble apart.

BY JESSIE RIVAS

JESSIE’S TIP:

When pairing sides with the meatloaf, think local and seasonal. Brussels sprouts baked and tossed with local honey or brown sugar with salt and pepper will surprise even the gourmet in the family.

MEATLOAF

1 ½ lb ground beef 1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground sausage (7 Italian raw sausages) 1 cup small diced carrots 1 cup small diced celery 1 cup small diced yellow onion ¼ cup sundried tomatoes in oil (minced) 1 Tbs Italian seasoning 1 Tbs minced garlic 3 eggs ¼ cup milk (2%)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbs kosher salt 2 tsp ground black pepper

Dice carrots, onion, celery and mince garlic. Sautée vegetables and garlic with small amount of oil until tender, about 5 minutes and let cool.

Soak breadcrumbs in milk until thoroughly saturated, about one minute.

In a large bowl add all ingredients, mix well with your hands and bring together to form a loaf.

Cover cookie or ½ sheet pan with foil or parchment paper and place meatloaf on top. Cook for 30 minutes at 375°.

Remove from oven and spread glaze over meatloaf. Turn oven to 400° and finish cooking meatloaf until your meat thermometer reads 155°-160°. Let cool for 10 minutes. Slice and serve over your favorite mashed potatoes or creamy polenta.

GLAZE

1 cup ketchup

1 tsp ground black pepper 1 Tbs Paprika

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl until well combined.

JESSIE RIVAS is the owner and chef of The Pairing Knife food truck which serves the Central Coast.

INSPIRATION

SPECIAL FORCES

Law enforcement officers from around San Luis Obispo County, led by SLOPD’s Bill Proll, are very quietly playing a key role in supporting the Special Olympics World Games, which are coming to Los Angeles this summer.

ops are notorious for their even-keeled demeanor. Partly due to training and partly due to the realities of the work, stoicism is just part of the territory. But, when Lieutenant Bill Proll clicked “play” on a video he had queued up at his desk deep in the bowels

of the San Luis Obispo Police Department there was a noticeable shift. His posture lightened, and his eyes moistened—both obvious “tells” that a rookie officer could identify—as he narrated the scene. On an exceptionally cold early spring day in Idaho in 2009, Proll and XXX representatives around the world proudly carried the Special Olympics torch, along with

The Special Olympics torch will be passing through San Luis Obispo on Friday, July 17th. The next day, Saturday, July 18th, it will continue south as it travels through Pismo Beach and Santa Maria.

This year’s Tip-A-Cop Dinner will take place at the Madonna Inn Expo Center on Wednesday, May 20th at 5:30pm and 7:00pm. Tables are available for $500. Call (805) 781-7369 for tickets and information.

XXX athletes whom they were celebrating, across the border where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were waiting.

When the Mounties took the torch and started trotting northward up the road with a handful of Special Olympians in tow, Proll clicks off the video and returns to the conversation. “You can see what a difference it makes,” he says as he describes the various interactions with “lifelong friends” he had met that freezing cold day. But, it’s the work that goes on behind the scenes, often for years at a time, that makes days like those possible. This summer, the Special Olympics World Games will be held in Los Angeles. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, and Proll has been selected as a team leader to carry the Olympic torch in the final leg leading up to the Games. As a show of solidarity, he will be joined by eight other law enforcement officers hailing from Canada, Taipei, Gibraltar, as well as Hawaii, Nevada, Kansas, and Maine. The torch run alone has required two years of planning.

When the Games begin on July 25th, Southern California will be hosting 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing 177 countries. San Luis Obispo County, which is designated as part of the southern region, will be hosting the delegations from Bangladesh and Cambodia. It is being billed as the single largest event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games. And, for the first time ever, the Special Olympics will be televised live on ESPN. Of course, a

production of this magnitude requires money, lots of money.

Proll is quick to defer credit, insisting, for example that “You really ought to do this story on the four staff members here locally, Jody Watty, [the Regional Director for the Special Olympics in San Luis Obispo County] in particular, instead of me.” But, it is hard to look past the energy and effort Proll has put into fundraising on behalf of the organization. The annual Tip-A-Cop Dinner is the crown jewel for the Games locally, and when Proll began participating all those years ago, revenue topped out at about $6,000. Today, through the effort of so many, as Proll adamantly states, the event last year brought in $90,000. The effort in San Luis Obispo County dwarfs many of the other regions where a $2,000 to $3,000 mark is typical. By all measures, Proll and his law enforcement colleagues are, for lack of a better term, kicking butt.

The team effort is evidenced by the fact that an impromptu program, backed by Sheriff Ian Parkinson, has resulted in the placement of a bumper sticker on the back of area squad cars showing support for the Games. Still, every movement needs a leader, and that guy is Lieutenant Bill Proll, who will be running through San Luis Obispo with torch in hand on its way to Los Angeles. “The whole thing has just been so rewarding,” he reflects. “There has been so much personal satisfaction in helping to change the lives of these athletes; but, the truth is, they are changing our lives, too.”

APRIL

ROLL OUT THE BARRELS

The entire month will offer a variety of winery adventures and activities on an a la carte basis, organized by weekly themes such as “Taste the Coast,” “Farm to Fork” and “Sustainability & Heritage.” Meet the people behind the wines and discover the history, diversity, sustainability and farm-to-fork lifestyle that encompasses our coastal wine region.

April 1 – May 3 // slowine.com

EROICA CALIFORNIA

Tuscany’s famed Eroica vintage bike ride will be coming to the United States for the first time in its nineteen year history this spring. Eroica’s unique premise is that participants may only use a bicycle that was built before 1988, with many riders using two-wheelers built prior to World War II.

April 11 – 12 // eroicacalifornia.com

MOM & APPLE PIE

Moms, preheat your ovens and rev up your rolling pins. Idler’s Appliances is searching for the next award-winning apple pie during the 30th Annual Mom & Apple Pie contest.

April 11 + 18 // May 2 idlers.net/momandapplepie

From Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald Margulies, this insightful drama focuses on Sarah and James, a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent trying to

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TEXAS HOLD ‘EM FUNDRAISER

Support the arts and enjoy a Western themed evening of poker, auction, food and drinks for the 21 and over benefitting Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo. May 2 // civicballetofslo.org

FLAVOR OF SLO

Enjoy an afternoon at the beautiful and historic Jack House and Gardens in downtown San Luis Obispo while sampling some of the best food, wine and beer the Central Coast has to offer. Each year this event raises thousands of dollars to benefit United Way of San Luis Obispo County. May 3 // flavorofslo.com

SPAGHETTI WESTERN

Ready for some great grub? Enjoy the annual Spaghetti Western fundraiser including Cafe Roma-style spaghetti and tasty Western BBQ, movies, games, and a silent auction.

May 9 // slorotary.org

YOUTH SYMPHONY CONCERT

Over 160 young musicians, aged 7-18, in five different ensembles perform orchestral music. All ages welcome, including babies in arms.

May 10 // pacslo.org

GREAT MOMENTS IN OPERA

Members of OperaSLO join with SLO Winds in thrilling selections from Grand Opera such as “Marriage of Figaro,” “Flying Dutchman,” “Nessun Dorma” and “Un Bel Di.” May 31 // slowinds.org

OPINION

Reclaiming the Village

I was born into a small village of thirty houses near Suchitoto, El Salvador. The houses were positioned in a circle around a field called “polvason” (dusty field) and the milpas (corn fields) were a short distance from the village heart. There were no fences between the houses and the kids ran between them, picking fruits as they played. The favorite sport was soccer, and kids of all ages were involved while laughter and dust filled the air. Every evening, the families would gather, say thanks for having food that day, eat, tell stories, and sing songs around a fire (sometimes a lantern because it could be scorching hot in the evenings). When someone was sick, the young kids from other families would be sent to deliver tortillas, eggs, or chicken soup to the sick family. The kids aged seven to ten were sent to help the older aunties gather wood or cook. The older kids worked in the fields and hunted or fished to help their parents. The kids walked to school together, unaccompanied by a parent, and the older kids mentored the younger in the dangers and joys of life on their daily four kilometer trek to the one-room schoolhouse.

I hadn’t realized how much the stories of the village had affected me until I had children. I can remember when my wife, Valerie, was pregnant with my daughter and I woke up one night panicked that she would not have a village around her, people to mentor her, or people who knew her story. I began to ask my aunts and uncles more details about village life and began thinking of how this ancient wisdom could be applied to modern-day culture. A few core truths emerged: 1) Having a gathering place walking distance from your home is really important; 2) Gathering in those places, telling stories, eating and singing with your neighbors and friends is very important; 3) Kids should run around in multi-aged groups and mentor each other and have adventures in nature; and, 4) The village should listen to the stories of the adventures on a regular basis.

During my search to reclaim the village I discovered the work of Mark Lakeman, cofounder of City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon (cityrepair.org). He is one of the most eloquent voices surrounding the idea of turning our physical neighborhoods into villages. We had the honor of hosting him here in SLO at the new Pomegranate Plaza at the Jewish Community Center in February. About 70 people gathered and we had a fireside chat about Mark’s experience. The project started with the simple idea that most cities are laid out in grids that are designed to keep people apart. He shared that the US has the least number of gathering places of all developed nations. His architecture design skills were very handy when he set out to create a gathering place in his neighborhood. He also realized that the design required community involvement. He and his neighbors hosted many potlucks where they all got to know each other better. The first few gatherings they mapped out the skills of the people in the neighborhood and soon realized what a diverse and interesting neighborhood they lived in. One older neighbor mentioned that she could not afford to pay anyone to paint her house and the group decided to paint her house for her. After many meetings they agreed to build a community tea house so that they hold community meetings. Someone else suggested a kiosk where they could post activities in the neighborhood, another suggested a children’s play house, and the famous “leave one, take one” library started in this little emerging village in Portland.

People actually talked to each other regularly and asked each other, “How do we make this neighborhood better, safer, and more fun?” They also decided that public property should be for the public and painted their intersection with a beautiful mural. At first the city transportation

BY ROBERTO MONGE

department was very upset and said, “You can’t do that on public property.” Mark and his friends pointed out that they were the public and that it was their neighborhood. Soon the mayor and city council got involved and realized that these community-driven projects were building identity, creating civic engagement, creating resilient communities that were financially self-sufficient, lowering crime, raising property values, and generally making these neighborhoods healthier and happier.

Portland now has thousands of neighborhoods that have gotten together and taken back a little bit of their public space so that they could gather and discuss what their neighborhood needs. The City of Portland has developed very simple and clear ordinances that allow for these projects as long as the neighborhood can agree on what is going to be built. You may be glad to know that SLO City Planning Community Development folks are proposing a Neighborhood Matching Grant pilot program to help out with projects that enhance neighborhood wellness and neighborhood identity.

The attendees of the event in SLO spanned various local organizations, including Outside Now, SLO Permaculture Guild, SLO City Farm, HopeDance, Cal Poly students, Cal Poly Community Staff, City Planning, children, JCC, and many more. It warmed my heart to see such inter generational mixing. Everyone was lit up and ready to bring some of these tools to their neighborhood. The Monterey Heights Neighbors group is hosting regular community potlucks. They had community t-shirts made and have created Facebook groups to keep in touch. They found out that they have a famous author as a neighbor and there were many remarks like, “I’ve lived here for 20 years and haven’t met as many of my neighbors in all those years as I have today.”

My neighborhood, Cerro San Luis Foothills, discusses issues like keeping the kids safe on their bike rides to school, a yearly Halloween Walk, and how to handle the initiation of new college students. The neighborhood has been fairly well established with 23 generation families, but lately many houses converted to rentals, which has made the family clashes with late night party go-ers more common. It’s a difficult topic to try to solve individually, but maybe as a community we can make it so everyone’s voice can be heard.

The recent developments of the “St. Fratty’s Day” events make it clear that we need to watch over our neighborhoods. Maybe if each neighborhood felt more like a village we would see more respect all around. Maybe if we meet once in a while the elders won’t be lonely and the children will be able to climb up on the elders’ fruit trees and share the harvest. Maybe the college neighbor who is throwing the loud party will say, “Sorry about that, we’ll turn it down,” when you knock on their door at midnight. Maybe we’ll be healthy and happier if we turn off the TV and connect face to face. If you are interested in this topic please join the City Repair SLO Facebook group. Host a neighborhood potluck, mentor a child, or create a village gathering place.

If you would like to have THE LAST WORD email us your 1,000 word opinion to info@slolifemagazine.com

ROBERTO MONGE graduated from Stanford University and technical solutions manager