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Our new monthly music-themed crossword puzzle is created and brought to you by Montecito resident Pete Muller and runs in the Washington Post and the Montecito Journal. Thank you, Pete, for playing with your home team! What is a Meta Crossword Puzzle? A meta crossword puzzle provides the ultimate “aha” moment, challenging the solver to come up with a single answer somehow hidden in the puzzle. Hints to the answer can come from the title, the theme entries, the clues, or the grid. If I’ve done my job as a constructor, once you get the meta, you’ll know it. If you’re thinking, “Hmmm…maybe this is it,” you probably haven’t found the meta yet! Pete Muller has enjoyed solving crosswords since he was a teenager. He started creating them in 2005 Metas are well-suited to contests, since it’s hard to cheat on a meta. An obscure crossword clue like [Nickname for President Van Buren, from his birthplace] can be answered in a second using Google and published his first NY Times puzzle in 2006. While Pete is known for his innovative and tricky puzzles, he (“OLD KINDERHOOK”), but you can’t do the same for a meta. While googling is considered cheating places primary importance on creat(to some) in solving a crossword, googling is encouraged in solving metas. ing a fun experience for the solver.

The meta answer will usually be reasonably well-known to most solvers. If it’s not, it will definitely be accessible via a web search.

For more information or to submit an answer, please go to https://pmxwords.com. Those submitting correct solutions before the contest deadline (8pm PT, Sunday August 9) will be eligible to win a free MMMM mug. August 2020 Playlist Omission by Pete Muller Playlist Omissions Mull http er Monthly ://www.pm Mus xwor ic ds M .c e o ta m

ACROSS

1 Hitting 6 Stan on the sax 10 Bon Jovi of Bon Jovi 13 Derek's backers, in early rock 15 ___ sting (try to 46-Down someone) 16 Linkin Park song wth the lyric "Weep not for paths left alone" 18 Touchdowns: Abbr. 19 Georgia and others, once, for short 20 Menzel of "Frozen 2" 21 Ricky Van Shelton song with the lyric "To honor the million tears he's cried" 24 "That's surprising!" 26 Big picture: Abbr. 27 "Who, me?" 28 Sting song with the lyric "Angels will run and hide their wings" 36 Mil. organization 38 Like many long shots 39 River of monsters? 40 Susan Tedeschi song with the lyric "You were the best man I ever had" 43 Percentage 44 "Lost" co-star Daniel ___ Kim 45 Senator moves designed to mislead? 47 Theory of a Deadman song with the lyric "She's naughty to the end" 54 A big spread 55 Cockeyed 56 "Uno, dos, ___, catorce!" (words shouted at the beginning of U2's "Vertigo") 59 Frank Sinatra song with the lyric "Won't go to Harlem in ermine and pearls" 62 Insignificant ones 63 Bike with poor suspension, slangily 64 Santa syllables 65 Marchers in a Dave Matthews song 66 Imitation

DOWN

1 Mach3 precursor 2 Avenger from Asgard 3 Abides 4 Augments

1

13

16

18

24

27

36

40 2 3

25 21

47

54

59

62

64 48 49 4 5

14 6

22 19 7

37

44 28

41 29

38 30 31

60

63

65 50

55 51 8 9

32 23

26

52 53 17

20 15

42

45 39

46

61 56 10 11

33 34

43

57

66

The meta for this puzzle is the Bruce Springsteen hit that completes the puzzle's playlist.

5 Breaks in the action, briefly 6 Kitchen knife brand 7 Word before nous or vous 8 Unarmed figure? 9 Half of a famous Hungarian? 10 Schoolyard character in a Paul

Simon song 11 Balanced bridge bid 12 Tennis great known for his powerful second serve 14 Requirement 15 Warning sign 17 Morsel 22 Expression upon encountering extreme cuteness 23 "___ cold, ..." 24 "Hocus Pocus" actor Katz 25 Riot 29 Troll, maybe 30 Hectic MD workplaces 31 Mil. designation 32 Place to find cookies 33 "Pink Moon" singer 34 This, for example 35 Grub 37 Weaponized sticks 41 Former first family forename 42 WWII general 46 See 15-Across 47 Cookie collection 48 Blessed sound? 49 Remnants 50 Apply, as paint or a guilt trip 51 Knife blade material for early man 52 "Bread and ___" (Judy Collins album) 53 Suicide Squeeze and

Hopothermia, for short 57 30-Down part: Abbr. 58 Adjective for a 70-year-old polevaulter 60 AKA, for companies 61 Charlamagne ___ God 6 – 13 August 2020 © 2020 Pete Muller

Bob Hazard House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the use of federal marshals as calling in “Stormtroopers.” The media says “camouflaged stormtroopers in unmarked Mr. Hazard is an Associate Editor of this paper and a former president of warrant.” The use of the word “kidnapping” alleges that federal agents had Birnam Wood Golf Club. committed a crime. However, no court or judge had said that was the case. In Looters Attack More Than a Courthouse M any in Montecito are conflicted. The senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has jarred 100 percent of us into re-examining the fight for equal rights and justice under the law. Unfortunately, while our at least one case, federal officials have said they put someone in an unmarked van for questioning because they believed that person had committed a crime. Oregon Governor Kate Brown accused the president of “a blatant abuse of power by the federal government.” Was the federal action legal? Yes. The US Marshal’s Service is specifically instructed to provide security and law enforcement services to all federally owned and leased buildings. Some 100 federal country attempts to come together in its search for racial justice, a highly visible officers, mostly from Portland, were assigned to the courthouse defense. minority of violent rioters and anarchists has hijacked Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy of peaceful protest to wreak havoc and destruction on innocent victims in the name of social justice. The War on Law Enforcement Has Dangerous The media insists that America is becoming more “systemically racist,” ignoring the enormous progress made since the 1960s. Calls for defunding or Unintended Consequences abolishing police, redirecting funds to social programs and requiring all officers Vicious attacks on law enforcement by the press branding police as racists, to undergo training to combat racism and white supremacy, have become the and elected officials, scrambling to avoid taking personal responsibility, have new norms for police reform. left law enforcement increasing reluctant to intervene in legitimate calls for

Terrified of being branded as racists, many of us mumble that we are all for racial assistance in cases of assault, domestic violence, drunkenness, robberies, rapes, justice and peaceful protest, but not for violence and anarchy. Unfortunately, we physical beatings, arson and looting. Is that an outcome that citizens support? are seeing more violence, more anarchy, and less willingness to rationally examAre we fearful that if we speak up, we will each be labeled as a racist? ine the destruction and chaos that accompanies social justice reform. In a display of professionalism, most law enforcement officers are reporting The Spread of Violence in America riot-torn neighborhoods, faced with stolen and looted merchandise, burned out stores which may never re-open and personal physical violence, praise police

When a community turns on and pillories its own police force, officers for their courage and pray for their elected officials to show some backbone. become more risk-averse, and crime rates soar. According to CNN, New York Closer to home, Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo took a knee during the City has seen its homicide rate for the first half of the year jump 23 percent Pledge of Allegiance to show her support for “Black Lives Matter.” That is not over 2019, led by a huge spike in recent violence. In Chicago, murder capital a “Profile in Courage” moment for our Mayor, or her City Council, in the eyes of the US, homicides jumped 39 percent during the last week of June and the of many war veterans who honor our flag, police officers who are uniformly first week of July compared to the same period last year. Los Angeles has seen accused of racism and those who want an end to violence as a prerequisite to double-digit rises in homicides for the past two months. good faith negotiations.

The leading cause of death for young Black males is homicide. The threat to Black lives from street crime in ghetto neighborhoods is massively greater than any threat posed by police misconduct. Every year, approximately 7,500 Black Defund the Police Americans are victims of homicide, and the vast majority of Black victims, In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio slashed $1 billion from the largest police around 90 percent, is killed by other blacks, mainly by gunfire. force in the country with an operating budget of about $6 billion. The cut effecUnsafe in Seattle and shifted school safety deployments and homeless outreach away from the NYPD. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to cut as much as $150 million

On June 8, Seattle allowed rioters to establish a police-free CHOP zone that was part of a planned increase in the police department’s budget. dubbed by the Mayor as the new “Summer of Love.” When it spun out of Demonizing and defunding law enforcement agencies is dangerous. When control, Seattle police retook its Capitol Hill Precinct on July 1. On July 25, the media paints all police officers as racists, law enforcement officers across “peaceful protestors” in Seattle gathered outside the juvenile court and detenthe country retire at record rates, convinced that elected officials do not have tion facility, set fire to portable trailers and smashed the windows of nearby cars their backs. and businesses. An explosive device gashed an eight-inch hole in the police 3rd precinct building. Fifty-nine officers were injured throughout the day. Seattle Councilwoman Lisa Herbold suggested firing all the white officers in the Law Enforcement Presence Seattle Police Department. Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best ripped into the Mayor and City Council for creating an environment that makes police officers vulnerable at the Democrat National Convention to harm when stripped of basic crowd control techniques, such as tear gas. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, with less than three weeks to go before the Peaceful Protests in Portland reputedly pulled out of an agreement with Milwaukee police to provide adequate security after being told that tear gas and pepper spray cannot be used, if

Each day peaceful protestors marched in Portland. Each night, for two necessary, to control large crowds. months, a mob of organized rioters laid siege to Portland’s Mark O. Hatfield Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales asks, why would police departfederal courthouse and the Multnomah County Justice Center in a hellbent ments want to knowingly send their officers into harm’s way without every tool attempt to burn them down. Federal law enforcement officers were systematat their disposal? Why would police departments want to guard and protect the ically attacked by angry mobs pelting officers with rocks, bricks, frozen water very individuals that are trying to abolish their profession? If Democrats believe bottles, canned goods, slingshots with ball bearings, incendiary devices, mortar the police should be defunded or abolished, they should have no problem holdfireworks, and balloons and bags filled with urine, bleach, and fecal matter. ing their convention without law enforcement being present.

Surrounding the courthouse was a relatively small number of federal law

cars were whisking kidnapped innocent victims off the streets without a for duty despite increased risk to personal safety. Small business owners in tively canceled a 1,200-person police recruiting class, curtailed overtime spending Democratic National Convention, some 100 law enforcement agencies have enforcement personnel (about 100) charged with protecting the courthouse from being overrun and destroyed by protestors armed with hammers and What Should Be Done? baseball bats. When the perimeter fence was breached, law enforcement pushed Everyone supports the First Amendment right to peacefully protest, but to back demonstrators several blocks. What unfolded nightly around the courtignore destruction and anarchy is to abandon the basic rule-of-law stability house cannot reasonably be called a peaceful protest. It is by any objective meathat is needed to unite us during this politically divisive time. At the very least, sure an assault on the government of the United States. Conspicuously missing we should be able to agree as a nation that there is no place in this country for in action was adequate protection of the federal buildings by city and state law armed mobs that seek to establish autonomous zones beyond government conenforcement. trol, or tear down statues and monuments that law-abiding communities chose

The riots in Portland started on May 28, three days after the death of George to erect, or destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners. Floyd and continued through August 1. It was not until the July 4 weekend that The most basic responsibility of government is to guarantee the rule of law, so deputies from the US Marshal Services and Homeland Security were called in. that its citizens can live their lives safely and without fear. •MJ 6 – 13 August 2020 • The Voice of the Village • MONTECITO JOURNAL 27

The Great Arch at the Courthouse

Board president Tony Vallejo, President of Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club David Bolton, CEO Michael Baker, and Executive Vice President of Advancement Laurie Leis, uniting the two clubs

cents an hour, they asked for a raise. Their wage was increased to 50 cents an hour.

The Spirit statue is an allegorical expression of Santa Barbara’s closeness to the sea. Sadly it was carved from very porous sandstone that began to crumble. The Courthouse Legacy Foundation raised about $731,000 to carve a replica. Nick Blantern and his team of five British stone carvers worked on the Courthouse lawn where everyone could watch. I’m told that the model, Maya, used to bring her chair, set it up on the lawn and tell folks that she was the one who had posed for the original when she was young. It took about a year to complete.

The grand arch was inspired by

President of the United Boys and Girls Club board Tony Vallejo, Roger Aceves (former “club kid”), and CEO Michael Baker at the Boys and Girls Clubs uniting ceremony

Roman triumphal arches and the

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“The Plumber with a conscience” As president of the board of the United Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa *May not be combined with other discounts Barbara County Tony Vallejo said, “The clubs have been a safe and fun Payment must be made at time of service to receive discount place for the children of our commu(Limit one coupon per customer) nity (myself included!) for a very long time. Our mission to help the children 28 MONTECITO JOURNAL “I’m paranoid. On my stationary bike, I have a rear view mirror.” – Richard Lewis of our community, especially those that need us most, has never been more important than now in these difficult times. It will help us unite this generation of club kids from across the city through joint programming.” Tony was a club kid and his son was too. It will help youth, no matter where they live, to have the same opportunities.

“Today, in a world of rising costs of operation, a merger like this makes so much sense and this coming together will benefit all area youth in regard of programming and services,” said David Bolton, president of the board Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara. “All of this would not be possible without the generous support of so many, from Carpinteria to Goleta, from Montecito to Hope Ranch and from Santa Barbara to Santa Ynez and Lompoc. These are truly our community’s clubs.”

Michael Baker will continue as CEO of United. Laurie Leis, who has served as the executive director of the Downtown Club for three years, has joined United as its executive vice president of development.

At the opening, all these folks gathered in front of the Boys and Girls Club on Canon Perdido under an arch of blue and white balloons in early July to make their uniting official. Instead of cutting a ribbon, they tied ribbons together – uniting. •MJ 6 – 13 August 2020

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One of the things I’ve always appreciated about our little hamlet is how considerate most people are. When driving we think twice about flipping someone off, if for no other reason than the high odds of running into that same bad driver at the post office. When businesses are in trouble, we have a Cash Mob. When there’s a debris flow, we help dig out each other’s homes or raise funds to put debris nets on the mountain. We’re not perfect, but certainly there’s a long tradition here of people actively taking great care with one another. So what does all this have to do with Donald Trump?

Whatever you think of our President, whether you think he has made America great again, or worse than ever, the one thing I have not heard refuted by anyone is that Donald Trump (and many of the responses to Donald Trump) have lowered the level of discourse and civility in this country. And, yes, there are plenty of Dems that have been happy to roll around in the muck with him. I know way too many people who lamented the passing of John Lewis and the lofty ideals he represented but voiced a sense of schadenfreude when notable anti-masker Herb Cain succumbed to the coronavirus.

I personally found no satisfaction in the passing of Herman Cain. I find it sad, even tragic, that Science has so fallen from its vaunted position that easy practices that could be taken to stop the spread of COVID are ignored and even flouted by so many – and most of the public remains simply confused about these harmless practices they could implement to save their own lives.

Think about this irrefutable fact: in just the last 100 years, life expectancy in this country has gone from 54 years in 1920 to about 80 years today. That’s a 50% increase in just 100 years. I’d say that’s pretty remarkable. Humans didn’t get better – those extended lifespans are because of Science. Medical science, nutritional science, agricultural science. Yet more and more, scientific facts have somehow become just more noise in the loud, distorted boom box that is our national discourse.

Certainly this trend pre-dates our current President, and has been accelerated by social media. But Trump is “better” at media and messaging than any of us. He seems to have been built for it, and has more ability to dominate it than anyone else on Earth. And, as with COVID, no one has come up with a magic bullet or even pontoons to bring the level of discourse back up.

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Even in such dark days as the McCarthy era, US Army Chief Counsel Joseph Welch finally was able to derail the McCarthy juggernaut in one fell swoop with his famous “Have you no shame?” speech that captured the country’s attention and changed the narrative of the red scare by appealing to the better angels of our nature.

So where is our era’s Joe Welch? And if such a person existed and had the courage to call out, would we listen? With all of the noise, would we even be able to hear them?

It has become acceptable to be nasty, to bully, and to race-bait. And I’m not just talking about the President and some of his supporters. I’m saying the President provides the cultural marinade we all soak in. And once you’ve soaked in that brine, it’s very hard to get the smell out.

“Even in such dark days as the McCarthy era, US Army Chief Counsel Joseph Welch finally was able to derail the McCarthy juggernaut in one fell swoop with his famous “Have you no shame?” speech that captured the country’s attention and changed the narrative of the red scare by appealing to the better angels of our nature. So where is our era’s Joe Welch?”

I actually believe we need to actively take back our civil discourse. And It’s got to start with each one of us trying to be more tolerant. Less entitled. More open minded. Less quick to judge. Just plain kinder.

When I first joined the MUS School Board (2010) it was a particularly turbulent time in the district’s history. One of the first things we did as a new Board was to develop “norms and values.” That short list of expectations we created helped us build a productive and cohesive Board that, I believe, resonated throughout the school community for years to come.

The norms were not so much simple as elemental and included things like: “assume best intentions, be open, respectful and responsive, board members should feel free and safe to express their opinions and beliefs, maintain a sense of humor…”

I’d like to propose some community-wide norms and values to which, at least in principal, we all agree. I’m not suggesting a “good behavior” mob, just some sensible standards to which we all aspire. Do you think that’s a worthy endeavor? Please send us some of your ideas for what those norms and values might be. And please see Mimi deGruy’s interview with Parker Matthews for another disturbing and thought-provoking story that points up the need for us to be better (page 11). And remember, everyone is fighting a massive battle you know nothing about. So be kind. •MJ

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ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 16) started on this before the George Floyd into the play? killing. What prompted you to undertake The central character speaks in a your adaptation of such a famous work? way that she would be judged for not

A. I’d been asked before about using the King’s English. She has her doing an African-American version own vernacular in which she’s very of Pygmalion, which I thought might musical in her language. What class be kind of interesting because at the do we assume she is when we hear her time there was a lot of discussion speak and she’s not putting the adjecabout how hip hop was destroying tives, verbs, and nouns in the corlanguage and the moral character of rect order? My sense was to explore Black youth. Especially how the culhow we do speak up with power, tural signifiers of how we dress and and continue to speak out when we how we speak has people deciding are attacked. That’s what’s going on what kind of class you’re in. It was right now, with young people being very ripe to look at those issues that very brave and getting out there with were happening in the Black commutheir signs and their slogans and their nity. But I didn’t really crack it back protests, while some of the older genthen. So when Risa asked me if I had eration are fearful about that. The anything to work on for the summer, character of Higgins, called Herbert in this came to mind because it would my play, is a professor and he has his be interesting to revisit it right now in sense of what is a Black person with these times. dignity. He has an attachment to that

Meaning the protests increased awareOur initial discussion with the cast ness of racial issues that have come since today was so interesting because George Floyd? everybody comes from very different

When people are saying no lonbackgrounds, but said that at some ger are we going to be silent, we’re point they have struggled with that, going to speak, because in our culor still are. It brings up code switchture sometimes we get muted by ing, where you speak a certain way power structures. The idea of actuwhen you’re with one population, ally speaking up for your rights, of and a different way with your family, feeling that there’s not going to be and maybe another one when you’re some backlash because you did. The at work. That’s something people of theater is one of the places that is color are often expected to do. very, very biased. Women and people appropriated whiteness. of color are always worried whether Hearing that, I’m curious about what they’re going to be the only one in your intention is with “Elocutia.” Is it a season, for example. When I first meant to educate or enlighten and/or started out, there would be maybe entertain? Do you want to speak to all three for the entire country. So you audiences? Or maybe how you want it twist yourself into a pretzel to get to land? your work done authentically, have With any work I do, I look first and it be respected, and then get another foremost at what am I really concerned chance at the table. Oftentimes, that about? That’s how I start. You always has caused people to be silent, to be want to be entertaining, but you also in their own oppression with their want to raise questions even if you silence. But now people are saying no don’t have all the answers. Our job as more of that. And if you’re going to a dramatist is not to have the answers be an ally, your silence when you see or even to judge what I’m writing but wrong being done is just as destructo reflect the world as we see it back tive. to the world, ask some questions and have people engage with that. And

How did that help you find your way then maybe they don’t feel so alone,

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or they feel challenged, or feel like maybe they learned something and might look at things differently.

But I also think people are going to find it rather funny as well as disturbing in parts because it does hit close to the bone. There are some things that are quite wrong. I think that whatever their history is, what they bring, is how they’ll experience it. The beautiful thing about theater is that we tend to experience it communally and then hopefully leave there and talk about it. We don’t have a lot of institutions where we get that chance.

That brings me to Zoom for a moment. How does all that translate to an online format?

The one thing I will say is that it’s difficult to do comedy, because it’s all about timing, picking up cues, and being able to see the other person. So it’s a bit of a challenge, but we’ve got great actors and I think you’ll get a sense of where I might be going even though it’s nowhere near a complete work yet. And Zoom also lets us work with actors who don’t have to come to Santa Barbara. So we can get Chuck Cooper, and also Irwin Appel, and those two together are just hysterically funny.

How is the work itself being shaped by the process with Launch Pad?

Yesterday, we were working on a scene and when we took our break I asked for twenty minutes instead of just five because the actors taught me so much in that one moment that I wanted to rewrite on the spot. They’re so skilled you can see where you’re dipping and diving. I knew what exactly to do after hearing them read it. They help in shaping the piece, and raising the stakes by asking very good questions about what I was intending, which makes me re-examine where I was going and what I meant. I love actors because they can really teach you what you intended, or how to make something clearer. They can be lightbulb moments.

I’m grateful for Launch Pad because you get to be away from the pressure. Working with students who have so much energy, you’re also helping the next generation who are going to be practitioners out here. It’s a very nonthreatening environment, and some

You contributed three pieces to Alone, Together which I imagine was a different experience since those short works were written to be performed on Zoom. I am curious not so much about that experience itself, but more about if it in any way shaped you as a playwright or communicator to have that restriction. I know that for me structure can often provide an opportunity for more creativity within the confines. Has what you learned doing your Zoom plays shown up in other ways?

When Risa asked me to get involved, I was having a very difficult time concentrating and focusing on anything. I had several rewrites to do but wasn’t getting work done. But she said it was 10 minutes or less, so I thought maybe I can handle that. For whatever reason doing that helped unlock whatever else was going on and I’ve been writing ever since. Also, it’s such a different medium because you have to be patient, and maybe listen differently, which might not be a bad thing. But what I love about artists is that we find a way to continue to work. Toni Morrison said it best: “When things are tough, it’s no time to wring your hands in despair. That’s when artists get busy.”

Fiesta Comes to Montecito

Virtually all of Old Spanish Days’ annual celebration of the city’s heritage have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. But apparently even a deadly disease can’t rain metaphorically on the most popular events in the five-day Fiesta as the 2020 El Desfile Historico has been reimagined as the Caravan Fiesta Parade. As always, the parade takes place on Fiesta Friday, which this year falls on August 7, and starts at 12 pm. But rather than drawing thousands of people from town and far beyond to downtown State Street for a cavalcade of floats, marching bands, flamenco dancers, cheerleaders, and more, the pandemic parade will feature classic cars and decorated vehicles traveling with a police escort through Santa Barbara and Montecito

ENTERTAINMENT Page 364

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