WATSONVILLE — Watsonville’s commitment to artistic expression will continue with the ushering in of a new poet laureate at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter will read a proclamation recognizing Dr. Victoria Bañales as Watsonville’s second poet laureate while also honoring the city’s first poet laureate, Bob Gomez, with a separate proclamation.
According to her website, Bañales is a professor of various studies at Cabrillo College and the founder of Journal X, a social justice literary arts magazine. She is also a member of Writers of Color Santa Cruz County, has had poems published in various journals and anthologies and is working on a poetry book of her own as well as a novel titled “Candelaria,” which she describes as a mix of memoir, magic realism and speculative fiction. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and had a Ph.D. in feminist studies from UC Santa Cruz.
The Watsonville poet laureate position was established in 2022 by the Watsonville Public Library Board of Trustees with the goal of elevating poetry and celebrating literary arts in the city. The poet laureate serves for two years as the city’s poetry representative, attending literary and cultural events and also reading at ceremonial events.
Gomez was selected as Watsonville’s first poet laureate that same year. According to the Watsonville Public Library website, he marched with Cesar Chavez in the ’70s and has lived in Watsonville since 1984, working as a migrant and bilingual resource teacher in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District for 26 years. He also has supported youth as a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County; served as a chaperone for middle schoolers to Watsonville’s sister city Kawakami-mura, Japan; and helped direct the music for Watsonville Buddhist Temple’s Kokoro no Gakko Cultural Summer Program. He is also a singer and guitarist.
Additionally, Watsonville has a youth poet laureate position which is currently held by two teen residents: Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez.
In other business, the council will honor outgoing Mayor Quiroz-Carter with a ceremonial gavel and comments. Per the city charter, Watsonville’s mayor and mayor pro tempore are appointed for a one-year term in descending order by district, with the mayor pro tem ascending to mayor at the conclusion of the previous mayor’s term. The next council member to serve as mayor will be Maria Orozco, the current mayor pro tem and representative of District 3 since 2022.
The council will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday on the top floor of the Watsonville City Council Chambers, 275 Main St. The meeting will begin with reports on the citywide lighting assessment and a potential homelessness task force followed by a bevy of consent agenda items. The council will meet in closed session to discuss legal matters starting at 5 and reconvene publicly at approximately 6 for the rest of the meeting.