Tag archives: masks
Kifwebe is a word meaning “mask” for the people of the Congo River basin, the Luba and Songye tribes. High-ranking, ruling elite men in a tribal secret brotherhood called Bwadi Bwa Kifwebe would wear these masks in a ritual dance, complete with a disguise of a woven, tight-fitting net-like costume, animal pelts, and long, thick, […]
Dennis McFadden, a respected architect and member of UCSB’s Design Review Committee, has resigned from the Committee in protest over the university’s proposed Munger Hall dormitory project. As a long-time Santa Barbara architect, community resident, and fan of UCSB, I am writing to add my objections to the Munger Hall “Mega Dorm” currently proposed for […]
Molly’s a grand pooch – astute, alert, intuitively obedient. So, I immediately took umbrage when we found ourselves confronted by a masked stranger over the simple act of taking an afternoon stroll together. The two of us often take walks around the cliffs overlooking Coal Oil Point. It’s a safe, bucolic, and familiar environment, and […]
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh The other day, with this topic in mind, I initiated a socially distanced conversation in the parking lot with an anthropology student. We spoke of masks and how they alter non-verbal […]
I have a new respect for superheroes, bandits, and anyone else who wears a mask for a living. For one thing, it’s not easy to smell things while wearing a mask, which is probably a good thing for those performing gastro-intestinal surgery. For the rest of us just trying to keep COVID-19 out, we miss […]
There’s an old saying, “If you don’t plan on doing it right, you’d better plan on doing it again.” As I write, Governor Newsom has just stepped way out ahead of the federal government and ordered sweeping rollbacks of businesses in 30 counties across California, including our own. In Santa Barbara, not so long ago […]
Calling all Montecito business owners and employees! Clothing boutique Johnny Was is seeking to donate hundreds of face masks to local business owners and workers as part of a larger donation program taken on by the retailer. “Like many retailers, we began to pivot when the pandemic began, and started manufacturing face masks,” said Montecito […]
The cover of this week’s Sunday New York Times was stunning in its simplicity, yet powerful in its portrayal of the gravity of this moment. The headline: “U.S. DEATHS NEAR 100,000, AN INCALCULABLE LOSS” loomed above a thousand names of human beings, in tiny print, one after another, row after row – a newsprint version […]
During normal times, Appleton Partners, the architecture firm founded by Marc Appleton and based in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, uses 3D printers to build models of custom houses as well as individual design features. But in mid-March, as news began to build of the health dangers posed by the looming coronavirus pandemic, the firm […]
Our town’s local premium consumer goods brand Nomad Goods, Inc., founded by Noah Dentzel and Brian Hahn, took on the COVID-19 urgent need of single use masks for frontline workers on March 18, and have ramped production to over a million masks per week with shipping in two to three days worldwide, utilizing their iPhone […]
A decade ago, after working at Nordstrom for several years, Ellen Sztuk took a lunch break one day and called up her husband, telling him she was going to quit her job. That night, when she came home from work, her husband asked her what she could possibly be thinking. “I told him that I […]
Note to Readers: In 2007, when I wrote about the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic in Santa Barbara, I never thought its story would ever be timely and relevant to today. I am sorry to have been wrong. I offer it again for your curiosity, instruction, and hope. They got through it then, and we’ll get […]
