The City of Watsonville will welcome a new poet laureate at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, continuing its commitment to the arts.
Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter will read a proclamation honoring Dr. Victoria Bañales as the city’s second poet laureate. The mayor will also recognize Bob Gomez, Watsonville’s first poet laureate, with a separate proclamation.
Bañales, a professor at Cabrillo College, is the founder of Journal X, a social justice literary arts magazine. She is also a member of Writers of Color Santa Cruz County. Bañales has been published in various journals and anthologies. She is working on her own poetry book and a novel titled Candelaria, which she describes as a blend of memoir, magic realism, and speculative fiction. Bañales holds a Ph.D. in feminist studies from UC Santa Cruz and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.
The poet laureate position was established in 2022 by the Watsonville Public Library Board of Trustees. The role aims to promote poetry and celebrate literary arts in the city. The poet laureate serves for two years, representing Watsonville at literary and cultural events and reading at ceremonies.
Gomez was selected as the first poet laureate in 2022. A longtime Watsonville resident, he marched with Cesar Chavez in the 1970s and worked for 26 years as a migrant and bilingual resource teacher in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Gomez has also supported youth as a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County, chaperoned middle schoolers on trips to Watsonville’s sister city, Kawakami-mura, Japan, and directed music for the Watsonville Buddhist Temple’s Kokoro no Gakko Cultural Summer Program. He is also a singer and guitarist.
In addition to the poet laureate, Watsonville has a youth poet laureate position. The current youth laureates are Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez Rodriguez, both teens from Watsonville.
In other council business, outgoing Mayor Quiroz-Carter will be honored with a ceremonial gavel. Watsonville’s mayor and mayor pro tempore serve one-year terms, with the mayor pro tem ascending to mayor at the end of the previous mayor’s term. The next mayor will be Maria Orozco, the current mayor pro tem and representative of District 3 since 2022.
The City Council will meet at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in the Watsonville City Council Chambers, 275 Main St. The meeting will start with reports on the citywide lighting assessment and a potential homelessness task force, followed by a series of consent agenda items. The council will meet in closed session at 5 p.m. to discuss legal matters and reconvene publicly at approximately 6 p.m. for the remainder of the meeting.
