Tag archives: covid 19

Metro Theatres Ready to Reopen
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 1, 2020

Normally a designation as a red zone would mean no parking or even stopping. But when it comes to pandemic procedures, the designation is more like rolling out a red carpet, as two weeks of reduced cases means more businesses can reopen. Accordingly, Metropolitan Theatres plans to welcome back moviegoers at two of the Santa […]

Dear Montecito: Stella Vie Peters
By Stella Haffner   |   October 1, 2020

I don’t often meet other people with the name Stella. So not only was it surprising for me when I was put in touch with the author of today’s letter, but it was doubly interesting to learn that this Stella had also dipped her toe into the waters of journalism. Two Stellas, same industry? Stanley […]

The Cure for Nature Deficit Disorder
By Alida Aldrich   |   October 1, 2020

An award-winning, published landscape designer, with over two decades of experience, Alida is well known for designing new gardens, as well as restoring landmark gardens throughout Montecito and Santa Barbara. In the spring of 2021, Alida will be teaching a class in The Principals of Landscape Design through Santa Barbara City College. Between masks, fires, […]

Student Researchers Persevere Over Summer
By Scott Craig   |   September 30, 2020

Twenty-seven Westmont students adhered to strict safety protocols to work with their professors on research projects during the summer. Due to the pandemic, Westmont will skip the annual in-person October symposium, where students present their summer research findings. The work spanned a wide range of topics, including factors that affect the presence of western fence […]

Alumna Provides Music from Bulgaria
By Scott Craig   |   September 24, 2020

The Westmont Music Department continues its popular Friday Concert Series with its first Alumni Spotlight recital, featuring alumna Sarah Shasberger Pfister ’12 and the Carnevale String Quartet from Bulgaria on Friday, September 25, at 7 pm. Listen to the free recital at vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmusic. The performance will include pieces by Bulgarian composer Marin Goleminov, Ennio Morricone, […]

Students Return for Outdoor Classes
By Scott Craig   |   September 24, 2020

Westmont students begin arriving on campus September 23-27 for the fall semester’s first outdoor courses on September 28. Current pandemic restrictions prohibit indoor classes, although state and county guidelines permit some indoor labs and studio courses that adhere to strict safety protocols. “We’ve spent extensive time and resources to get ready to welcome students back […]

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ House Calls: Just What the Doctor Ordered
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 24, 2020

UCSB Arts & Lectures is by far the area’s busiest arts organization, presenting in the pre-pandemic era upwards of 100 public events every academic year, not to mention add-ons in the summer. So, naturally A&L is stepping to the front of the line again as the COVID-19 crisis passes the six-month mark. After transferring its […]

Forging Into Fall with Pandemic Meal Planning and a Dose of Fresh Air
By Claudia Schou   |   September 24, 2020

Grocery chains such as Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres, Whole Foods, Gelson’s, and the newly opened Sprouts (on Milpas) are perfecting the art of gourmet pandemic meals to-go. In addition to offering easy online shopping, you’ll find grocers are evolving their catering departments beyond social events to offer ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat pandemic meal options. No one […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   September 24, 2020

Transmission Lines Need to Go An article by Rinaldo S. Brutoco in the 10-17 September issue of the paper addresses an alternative to P.G.&E’s destructive high voltage transmission lines. His solution is called an “interconnected microgrid network” and it does not need the dangerous transmission lines to operate. There is no question that these lines […]

Simple Birthdays? Nay, we say.
By Ernie Witham   |   September 24, 2020

Our family spends more time planning birthdays than some people spend reading presidential briefs… it’s been said… by many, many, fine folks. We’ve had choreographed dance-offs, whereas we all stand in a large circle and someone does a dance move. The next person has to duplicate it or get eliminated. Out of pity they let […]

Latest from Montecito Association
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   September 17, 2020

At a monthly board meeting last week, the Montecito Association Board of Directors heard from Brett Balint, CEO of Onward & Upward, who presented a very conceptual idea of modifying airspace over Santa Barbara and Montecito. Balint, who was in attendance on the Zoom meeting with Jasenka Rakas, Ph.D., from the University of California at […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   September 17, 2020

Strictly Speaking In response to Mr. Dale Lowdermilk’s erudite letter comparing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and those for skin cancer dangers, just this: The draconic measures described for combatting skin cancers are useful warnings that people can adopt for their own protection. Fortunately, cancer is not contagious. Therefore, everyone has the option of following […]

It Takes a Village
By Montecito Journal   |   September 17, 2020

Earlier this year, as the date of her May wedding was fast approaching and coronavirus cases were rapidly mounting, Anna Burrows did what any sensible bride to be would do: she postponed her nuptials until October. By summer, however, it became evident that a fall wedding would prove no more feasible than a spring one. […]

Dear Montecito: Clare Kelly
By Stella Haffner   |   September 17, 2020

In response to the novel coronavirus, schools around the world rushed to integrate their curriculum into online learning platforms. Concessions were made by students, teachers, and administrators alike to accommodate a novel learning experience that was, to many, the bane of a semester reaching its conclusion. I have heard many accounts of slow Wi-Fi and […]

Cold Spring School Bond Measure Moves Forward
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   September 10, 2020

Earlier this summer, the Cold Spring School Board of Trustees approved a school bond measure on the upcoming November ballot, the first of its kind in 12 years. Measure L2020 is a $7.8M bond that will be used to fund much-needed infrastructure improvements and to fund a new classroom building to replace the dilapidated portables […]

Self-Guided Tours
By Lynda Millner   |   September 10, 2020

The Santa Barbara Courthouse docents just announced a self-guided walking tour of the courthouse exterior starting Labor Day weekend using your cell phone or tablet or to view the tour on a computer anywhere with wifi. The courthouse interior remains closed except for official court business and docent-led tours are suspended due to COVID-19. Docents […]

Dear Montecito: Raleigh Clemens
By Stella Haffner   |   September 10, 2020

My generation needs to be taken down a peg. Those born after 1995 are known as “internet natives” and navigate the digital world with appropriate instinct. It is this same instinct that causes us to giggle when a professor has a hard time working their PowerPoint presentation or, more often these days, struggles to use […]

Play
By Ann Brode   |   September 10, 2020

 “Play is the meaningless moment that makes the day memorable and worthwhile.” – Stuart Brown, MD, author and founder of the National Institute of Play In the first three months of the pandemic there was a lot of COVID-humor in our inbox. We laughed online at ourselves as we coveted toilet paper, binged on everything […]

Not Safer At Home
By Leslie Westbrook   |   September 3, 2020

Quarantine can heighten the risk of domestic violence, but help is available Maria Carbonell gratefully remembers the week she took refuge at a Domestic Violence Solutions safe house eight years ago. “A lot of people didn’t know I went to a safe house. I never shared it with anybody,” says Carbonell, 52, in a recent […]

The Cards COVID has Dealt our Schools
By Gwyn Lurie   |   September 3, 2020

Sometimes life’s big questions come with choices, not right or wrong answers. History is kind or unkind to these choices which are evaluated through the lens and luxury of Retrospect. MUS’s then-newbie superintendent, Anthony Ranii, was acutely aware of this on January 8, 2018 when he made what turned out to be one of the […]