Monthly Crossword Puzzle Solution

reputation when it comes to our manners in situations like this,” Terrazas explained.

Before the big trip, he sat down with Daly to learn more about what to expect and how to act. It was successful, as Terrazas was complimented by the hosts for his very non-American ways.

Tribeca and Windsor Castle were big moments in the life of a now 23-year-old, but they could have been disasters without the proper help.

“It would have been an absolute mess, but John made sure I was ready,” Terrazas said. “My outlook on how you should treat a wait staff, or the proper way to do things, has completely changed. When I see rude people, I immediately know I don’t want to work with them, because those actions can easily be turned on me. These are important life skills.”

And sometimes it takes getting personal to get through to a teenager that doesn’t realize they need help.

Daly doesn’t mind self-reflecting, and it paid huge dividends with one of his earliest students, a “gangbanger” that readily rejected The Key Class curriculum.

So, Daly told him that he didn’t have to attend, something the student originally agreed upon.

But then they met each other again at juvenile hall, where the young man didn’t have a choice but to listen to Daly. Yet, Daly didn’t use his new position of power to his advantage, instead telling a group of inmates about his upbringing and how he had struggled.

It changed the young man’s perspective.

“I thought you were just another rich, white guy telling me how I should live my life,” the young man would tell Daly.

They turned a corner, with the young man becoming an advocate for The Key Class, managing to graduate high school.

A couple of years went by, and Daly wondered what had happened to the young man. His phone rang one day, and he was met by a remotely familiar voice.

“I bet you don’t know who this is,” the voice said.

“No, who is this?” Daly asked.

It was the young man.

“I want to thank you for saving my life,” he told Daly.

The young man was headed to the Navy, where he was set to train as a Seal.

“I leave in two weeks, and I had to get in touch with you and thank you for what you did for me. Not only about the manners and stuff, but so much more.”

Tears were running down Daly’s cheeks.

“I’m driving and thinking I really have done it now; I’ve helped somebody. That’s what I think life is all about,” Daly said.

As a product of the Santa Barbara Unified School District, Terrazas believes that The Key Class should be required for any incoming freshman, plus an additional course for seniors that are about to head out into “the real world.”

“It gets you headed in the right direction, it takes obstacles out of the way and makes them strengths,” Terrazas said.

The Key Class is funded 100% by donations, with Daly setting aside a modest amount of money to help make sure that students who need help are never turned away.

But the need continues to grow, and Daly’s vision is one that Terrazas believes is worth investing in — by everyone.

“When you look at donations to some other nonprofits, they are normally one-time aid, like donating food, and we should continue to do those things,” Terrazas said.

“But investing in The Key Class is making an investment in our future. Something that will continue to pay dividends. It’s about paying it forward.” •MJ

Jesus Terrazas has presented with John Daly in talks about The Key Class

411 Website (including donation instructions):

thekeyclass.com Phone: 805-452-2747 Email: johnkeyclass@gmail.com

2021 Puzzle 12: “Can You Make the Time?” Solution

The December MMMM challenged solvers to find a hit from the ’70s. The puzzle’s title, “Can You Make the Time?,” is essential to figuring out the meta. The word TIME (with one letter changed) appears in eight different places in the grid: TIMOR STIPE DON’T HATE ME PRIMES OPTIMA STALACTITE TOMEI TIRES

Reading left to right in the grid, the changed letters used to “make the time” spell O-P-E-R-A-T-O-R, pointing to Jim Croce’s famous 1972 song Operator, technically Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels), this month’s meta answer.

Local Night

Another evening, my friend and native Roman Dr. Alberto Calvieri — who had auspiciously emailed me before I arrived that I was going to gain weight while in Rome — graciously invited me and a friend to dinner. He met us in the hotel lobby, and we dashed out in the pouring rain and into a cab that delivered us to a favorite place of the good doctor’s from his childhood neighborhood once famous — back in the day — for its pizzas. When he ordered, we had no idea he ordered one of these delicioso paperthin crusted pizzas for each of us (!) as well as lots of fried appetizers that included tiny musky octopus called moscardini.

Dipped in a light batter these are not your average calamari, and despite my love for these most brilliant of sea creatures and their rather disturbing teensy, tiny heads and tentacles, they were delicious. Those two dishes were memorable, but even more so was my uncanny encounter with a stranger at a nearby table who stared me down like he knew me from a past life and came over asking for my phone number as soon as Dottore Alberto stepped away to pay the bill! (No, I did not give Gianni my phone number, despite his insistent request!)

One of my favorite lunch meals was in the covered patio at La Limonaia, an indoor-outdoor venue in the park restaurant after a tour of one of Rome’s lesser known villas, Musei di Villa Torlonia (more on that in an upcoming issue!): yummy branzino, the Mediterranean fish that is one of my favorites (by the way, Pane e Vino in our Upper Village does an excellent job with this fish if you can’t make it to Rome). The revamped warehouse ristorante-pizzeria-cocktail bar was a sweet discovery.

Hard to believe, but tiring of terrific pastas, pizzas, gelato, tiramisu, and great Italian wines, a “sotto voce” dinner around the corner from the hotel at a very vintage style Chinese restaurant with spa-like music in the background was a pleasant respite.

It’s always struck me as odd, and sometimes interesting, to have foreign food in a foreign country.

One of our funnier and more memorable dinners had less to do with the food than the conviviality. A large group of about eight of us went to dinner at Pizzeria Emma for their thin crust Roman-style pizza base “engineered” by Pierluigi Roscioli, a fourth-generation baker. Toppings are sourced from the deli counter at Salumeria Roscioli and there is plenty to choose from.

After a couple of glasses of vino, I leaned over to recite to our waiter a dirty ditty that I had somehow gathered from the cobwebs of my memory. It had been taught to me by an Italian suitor from Perugia, long, long ago. It begins like this:

“Aqua fresca, vino puro (fresh water, pure wine)….”

I stopped there, as he knew exactly where I was going.

Our waiter turned seven shades of red and we had a huge giggle. He could barely contain himself, and each time he passed by our table, he gave me “the look” — breaking out in laughter with me at our “inside joke.” It was a highlight (or low light, depending on one’s point of view) of the evening.

This, of course, was at the expense of my fellow diners, who, obviously, had never been versed in this naughty Italian limerick, which I refuse to fully reveal here. If my dinner companions had failed to learn some Italian, who was I to enlighten them?

I won’t share the rest of the X-rated ditty on the pages of this family paper, but ask just any Italian, and they can probably fill you in. Whether they will or not, is a matter of polite society.

My daily rooftop terrace breakfasts at Settimo in the Sofitel Villa Borghese Roma were delightful: church bells peeling, the Vatican standing like a fortress or beacon of life, depending on your point of view, in the distance, and wonderful staff made sure I was fueled for daily adventures. That included one long Sunday stroll to the Vatican, gambols in the nearby Villa Borghese gardens, and even a unique shopping experience and a small private tour of the nearby Villa Borghese. Sunday brunch al fresco on my hotel’s lovely terrace was delightful: great American and Brazilian jazz on the sound system; fantastic service by our waitperson; and a perfectly cooked breakfast accented by a few comments from a visiting pair of seagulls who tried to attack some leftover food at a neighboring table. The dining room and terrace always had guests gabbing in French, but on another day, a solo rooftop lunch was lively thanks to a big Italian family celebrating a baptism. My waitress apologized, but I told her I loved it and felt right at home with the talkative group posing for photos on the terrace. I had an excellent version of Amatriciana, one of Rome’s four famous pastas, the others being Gricia, Cacio e Pepe (the Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara used to make an excellent version), and Carbonara, the night of my arrival.

Despite pastas, pizzas, vinos, insalata mistas, and more, e molto primi, secondi, and dolce courses, a fine chocolate shop, pastry stops, and even a Chinese meal, I actually lost two pounds on my Roman holiday.

Dr. Calvieri was dead wrong.

There are plenty of gelato options in Rome

Chef Paola’s class featured plenty of good eats

How to Cook and Shop Like an Italian

— Book a shopping tour and cooking class (or ask your hotel concierge) with knowledgeable and fun-loving chef Paola Sansalone’s Trustever Tastes (trustevertastes.org). For info, email info@trustevertastes.org or call +39-340-63-03-193. — Sofitel Villa Borghese Roma made the arrangements, part of a terrific program for repeat visitors to the city, that can be accessed by anyone via their Instagram account, @ SofitelRome.

Mille grazie to Paola for these discoveries and suggestions: — Cheese shop: Antica Caciara, www.anticacaciara.it — Small grocery: Drogheria Innocenzi, Via Natale del Grande, 31, 00153 Roma RM; Instagram: @droghe ria_innocenzi_dal_1884 — Eataly: Even if you can’t get to Rome, check out this market/dining destination’s website at www.eataly. net.

Favorite dining spots on my fall sojourn, in no particular order: — Branzino in the garden at Limonaia Via Lazzaro Spallanzani, 1/A, 00161 Roma; www.limonaiaro ma.it. — Known for their great pizzas from a blazing hot wood-burning oven at this old-time establishment and perhaps now, tiny fried musky octopus/moscardini at Da Giggetto il Re della Pizza, Via Alessandria, 43, 00198 Roma; www.dagiggettoilredel lapizza.it. — Delicious dinner and fantastic sommelier and wines at Enoteca Ferrara (“Anytime you hear the word enoteca, GO!” one of our tour guides instructed regarding the word whose Greek roots means “wine depository”). Probably my favorite meal and wines of all in a great atmosphere; enotecaferrara.com/en. — Dining on the rooftop terrace at Settimo in the Sofitel Villa Borghese Roma. Chef Giuseppe D’Alessio does a fine job from breakfast to lunch to dinner. His deconstructed tiramisu was actually one of my favorites even though it had nothing to do with the original version. Via Lombardia, 47, 00187 Roma; settimoristorante.it. •MJ

formances to be canceled and in bringing the show back Revels Santa Barbara founder Susan Keller also took the opportunity to refine the script that she originally co-wrote with local author and historian Erin Graffy.

“We’ve gotten more sensitive to some cultural issues since then,” Keller explained. “But the main thing was taking the exposition of the mouth of the characters and using a narrator instead.”

Played by Joseph Velasco, one of the founders of Boxtales Theatre Company, the Narrator provides the historical setting, describing how the Chumash have been on the land for 7,000 years, tracing the transition to the missions and Spanish and Mexican influence of the time period. “You get a sense of this being an area that has changed hands and it was important to pay tribute to the indigenous people and that this was Chumash land before it was anybody else’s, and their influence still remains and is still very important. In fact, there are parallels between their traditions and some of these solstice traditions that we currently celebrate.”

It’s that latter part that makes it a Revels show, as Keller also created a Mummers play for the piece with a Davy Jones locker theme surrounding a young sailor who is kidnapped, lured by the Sirens, and then rescued by mermaids, signifying the solstice tradition of death and rebirth or the loss and return of light.

Indeed, one could make a case that COVID itself represents a version of that theme, and the fact that Revels has emerged to put on a full-scale show becomes a heartening resurrection on its own. The annual show has become such a lure that nearly all the cast returned to reprise their roles, including a couple of actors who had moved away in the interim.

And the touchstones that are de rigueur in every Revels production are also returning, including the audience singalong to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and the “Lord of the Dance” song and procession that concludes Act 1 with full audience involvement, the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, recitation of the poem “The Shortest Day” — which was written for Revels back in 1977 — and the Sussex Mummers’ Carol that concludes the show.

It’s all part of the process that gave rise to Keller’s long-ago-created catchphrase for Revels: “Join us and be joyous.”

“I see the wonderful change that comes over audiences when they’re invited to participate, an immediate connection between people and performers,” she said. “You can’t get that from the big screen at home. You have to be there.”

Ernestine in The Christmas Revels: An Early California Celebration of the Winter Solstice

Santa Barbara Revels performs The Christmas Revels: An Early California Celebration of the Winter Solstice, at 7:30 pm December 18 and 2:30 pm December 19 at the Lobero Theatre. Visit www.santabarbararevels.org.

Christmas Gets Folked Up, Orchestra Style

Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara founder Adam Phillips was Revels’ music director before he launched the 30-piece ensemble comprised of local musicians covering everything from violins, violas, cellos, and double basses to guitars and mandolins to harp, Scottish small pipes and other bagpipes and even the hurdy gurdy. So, it’s no surprise that FOSB has been dedicated to playing an amalgam of folk and classical music drawn from traditions around the world. Now, five years into the project, the orchestra is offering its first-ever holiday shows, blending traditional music of Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, and the New Year on a globe-traveling program.

“People kept asking me when we were going to do a holiday concert, which I wasn’t in a hurry to do,” Phillips said. “But I figured with the [COVID-caused] ‘Change of All Things,’ why not give it a shot and see what happens. It’s a lot of music that I’ve been playing or singing my whole life and I thought it would be really fun to do it with the orchestra.”

Phillips – who has sung with Quire of Voyces, Opera Santa Barbara, and the Adelfos Ensemble, served as a cantor at the Santa Barbara Mission and a worship leader at El Montecito Presbyterian Church, and currently is the Director of Music and Worship at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Goleta – pulled together a program that intersperses such favorite carols as “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” “Jolly Old St. Nick,” and “O Christmas Tree” with the Ladino Hanukkah song “Ocho Kandelikas” (Eight Little Candles) and “Hanerot Halalu,” plus several surprises.

“I try to pick tunes that I love and would be fun to play with the orchestra,” he explained. “A good mix of the familiar songs that give you warm, happy holiday feelings along with our normal groove of great music that’s out here that you’ve probably never heard before. And I also have to mix in the different instruments that we have access to, find pieces that work well with harp, Uilleann pipes, and mandolins. It’s about finding that good balance.”

The wide-ranging repertoire meant Phillips had to double down on creating arrangements for the ensemble, he said. “There’s no repertoire for us to pull from, so I had to write all new arrangements for almost 10 pieces, new orchestrations just for this show.”

That includes “Hanerot Halalu,” which Phillips said has “a traditional Hebrew Hanukkah melody, and then I gave it this very tribal Nordic solstice vibe with a lot of drumming. It’s a pretty powerful piece now.”

The audience — which will be invited to sing along on a couple of choruses — is likely to include a lot of Folk Orchestra first-timers as the ensemble is playing Saturday afternoon at its usual digs of the Presidio Chapel before stepping up to the Marjorie Luke Theatre, with a seating capacity of five times the chapel’s.

“We’re so happy to be back at our home after more than two years, but it’s also great to be in a larger theater for the first time playing on a proscenium stage. That will be a very different feel for us. It’s exciting.”

Visit folkorchestrasb.com.

All It’s ‘Crack-ed Up to Be

Some folks spend all year looking forward to the holidays just so they can watch The Nutcracker once again. Others don’t care if they never hear

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