A Year in Ukraine

Graham & Ellen – Graham Duncan may have a business partner with his new space in the old Pierre Lafond bistro, P.10 Warren B. Ritter II – An interview about leadership, diversification, and creating the local Black-owned businesses list, P.12

A Point-in-Time – The Hands Across Montecito team does a point-in-time count of the houseless in Montecito, P.16 Program Funding – Advocate Lang Martinez questions the millions spent each year on funding programs for homelessness, P.18

SERVING MONTECITO AND SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA

www.montecitojournal.net

A YEAR IN UKRAINE

As the Russian-Ukrainian war hits its one-year anniversary, ShelterBox USA president Kerri Murray speaks to us about the conditions and the past year of ShelterBox’s work supporting Ukrainians in the ongoing crisis (Story starts on page 5)

World Telehealth Initiative is connecting medical experts to where they’re needed, including the frontlines of Ukraine, page 24

Pet Protection

Urgent Veterinary Care of Santa Barbara is opening soon and provides immediate pet support for when it is needed, page 6

Pinot Party

The 23rd World of Pinot Noir returns to town with a whole new variety of events for the beloved varietal, page 28

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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A Year in Ukraine – ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray speaks with us about the Ukrainian crisis and their ongoing efforts in the country

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Village Beat – The Montecito Planning Commission meets in person for the first time since the pandemic, and the Urgent Veterinary Care of Santa Barbara opens soon

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On Entertainment – A new take on Swan Lake, the silent film era finds its voice on Westmont’s stage, plus other music, films, and happenings

Tide Guide

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Letters to the Editor – A concerned citizen comes to the defense of ousted commissioner Susan Keller

The Optimist Daily – Garment recycling is challenged when the fabric composition can’t be identified, but these invisible fiber barcodes are trying to help sort it out

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Montecito Miscellany – Ellen DeGeneres with Graham Duncan, Prince Harry’s children, Ted Nash debuts with SB Symphony, An American Dream, and more

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Our Town – A frank conversation with Warren B. Ritter II about Black History Month and how to provide more support locally

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Your Westmont – Feb. 23 talk examines street art, college hosts Math Field Day, and basketball teams enter postseason tournaments

Hands Across Montecito – The team sets out for this year’s point-in-time count for people experiencing homelessness in Montecito

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Community Voices – Homelessness advocate Lang Martinez asks you to question how public money is being spent on housing solutions and programs

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Voting Matters – The 2024 presidential election is heating up, and these are the two contenders being talked about

Brilliant Thoughts – From natural forces to the forces of war, these are the forms of destruction found in the world Robert’s Big Questions – It’s all tax cuts and coal when the Two Santa Claus Theory fills the nation’s stocking

WORLD OF PINOT NOIR MARCH 2-4, 2023

Held at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, the seaside celebration of Pinot Noir will feature more than 150 wineries, tastings, seminars, and delicious pairing dinners.

Use code: MONTECITO23 for discounts on Grand Tasting tickets.

DISCOVER. INDULGE. CELEBRATE. worldofpinotnoir.com

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The Giving List – The World Telehealth Initiative and their work in Ukraine, including their recent medical conference in Kyiv

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Foraging Thyme – While the weather is still cool, try this nutritious and delicious roasted cauliflower fennel soup Santa Barbara by the Glass – It’s a world of fun and wine at this year’s World of Pinot Noir taking place at the RitzCarlton Bacara on March 2-4

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In Passing – Remembering the lives of Martine Marie Daniel and Roger Arlen Phillips

Calendar of Events – Popovich’s circus menagerie performs, Salty Strings return, The Fab Four tour, and more

Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads

Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Local Business Directory – Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer

A Year in Ukraine A Word (and Shelter) from Kyiv

by Gwyn Lurie and Zach Rosen

I’ve long thought the most important and interesting work being done in Santa Barbara County, by far, is taking place in the nonprofit realm. I cannot think of a stronger example than the critical work currently being done by ShelterBox, which annually helps provide emergency shelter and essential items to more than 400,000 displaced people around the world.

Kerri Murray, president of this global relief organization that responds to the world’s worst disaster and crisis situations, spoke to us from her hotel room in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she warned us that if an air raid siren were to go off, which happens several times a day, she would have to rush to a bomb shelter and call us back when she could.

As Zach Rosen reports in his piece, coming up on the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Murray filled us in on work being done by ShelterBox’s highly skilled team in this war-torn country, their fifth operation there in a year of war that has seen the fastest-growing displacement crisis since World War II, with 13 million people having been displaced. Which is to say nothing of the tens of thousands of people who are sheltering in place in their badly damaged/destroyed homes. Sometimes their work involved providing temporary living structures, and sometimes it’s things like mattresses, thermal blankets, and hygiene kits for people sleeping in collective centers, simply so they can get some sleep and keep from freezing in the dead of winter.

Ukraine is just one disaster zone that ShelterBox is working to provide life-saving support to displaced human beings around our troubled globe. The post-earthquake disaster zones in Turkey and Syria are another.

More details in Zach’s piece, but if your heart breaks like mine does for the millions of people around the world who really just want to go home, and you’d like to send your support, please do so at the ShelterBox page at TheGivingList.com. Click on Santa Barbara.

Gwyn Lurie

Finding Shelter in the Storm

The 1/9 storm at the beginning of the year saw the entire Montecito community evacuated, but we were at least able to return home safely after the storm had passed. With the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the millions of displaced citizens will not have that luxury.

For the past year, ShelterBox has been helping Ukrainians with the resources they need to maintain some sense of home, wherever they have found shelter. The ShelterBox teams are “always boots on the ground,” physically working alongside a group of partnering organizations in the regions they are assisting. ShelterBox USA president Kerri Murray and I had originally spoken after her first visit to Ukraine at the onset of fighting. Now, as we hit the one-year mark of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gwyn Lurie and I wanted to speak with Murray to hear how the situation has evolved, where ShelterBox is currently focusing their efforts, and what new needs are arising.

For years, ShelterBox has focused on “long, protracted conflict situations” in areas like Syria and Yemen, providing emergency shelters and life-sustaining essential supplies for displaced communities and areas affected by natural disasters. But with an always changing world, they have had to adapt to the new challenges found around the globe. “The fastest-growing piece of our work over the past five years has been responding to conflict situations, and so we responded immediately when the war started,” said Murray. She was part of the initial team that landed in Poland to assess the situation as Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. In the past year, ShelterBox has been able to provide support for 37,000 people so far with plans to assist 30,000 more over the winter months.

Their initial arrival and situational assessments resulted in three programs. The first immediate one was the distribution of thousands of mattresses to churches, schools, and other collective centers so those fleeing would simply just have a place to sleep, along with thermal blankets and hygiene kits to support them. The second program was directed toward eastern and central Ukraine. In addition to core support like thermal blankets, water containers, and solar lights, this program supplied their shelter repair kits so those sheltering in place could fix windows, walls, and roofs with tools, tarps and plastic sheeting,

Gwyn Lurie is CEO and Executive Editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group

Village Beat Montecito Planning Commission Meets

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

At the first hearing of the year of the Montecito Planning Commission (MPC), the commission was back in person for the first time since before the pandemic. Chair Ron Pulice thanked former Commissioner Susan Keller for her nearly 10 years of service on the commission; it was decided that election of the 2023 MPC Chair, First Vice Chair, and Second Vice Chair would wait until the vacancy left by Keller is filled, which could be as soon as next month.

The commission had a busy agenda, beginning with a presentation by Public Works reps Scott McGolpin , director, and Chris Sneddon, and Walter Rubalcava, deputy directors. The trio outlined the impacts and recovery efforts following the storm on Jan. 9.

Storm impacts are estimated to cost $71 million, with 139 impact sites on local roads and 64 impact sites being managed by Flood Control. These impacts included wash outs and road closures on East Mountain Drive from Coyote to Cold Spring and Cold Spring

to Ashley, on Bella Vista from Romero Canyon to Ladera Lane, and a bridge closure on Padaro Lane. Twenty bridges needed a range of debris removal, slope protection, and abutment repairs. This is in addition to 124,000 cubic yards of material filling up our local debris basins and debris impacting culverts and creeks.

McGolpin reported that the Randall Road Debris Basin worked exactly as designed, protecting properties below Highway 192, as well as the freeway. “We were close to the system breaking,” McGolpin said. “It bent but it held up. We are pretty proud of that.” There were 1,500 truckloads of material that fell in the Randall Road Debris Basin, with the National Guard helping to clear out the debris. As of last week, 75% of the material had been removed.

The team reported that the rainfall event on Jan. 9, 2023, was considered a 25- to 50-year event in Montecito, and a 50- to 100-year event on the San Marcos Pass. We received 0.7-inches an hour in Montecito during the worst of the storm, totaling 20 inches in Montecito this year, which is 200% of a normal year.

Lake Cachuma went from 35% to 81% in 48 hours, and to date, it is near 100% full, along with Jameson Lake and Gibraltar Reservoir. More rain is still needed to recharge the groundwater basins.

Rubalcava reported that while the majority of the county, including Montecito, fared relatively well during the event, the issue is that there is still a potential for significant flooding during a 50- to 100-year event, even when the basins and creeks are fully maintained. “Floodplain management has to continue to be the priority in Montecito,” he said, adding that North Jameson Lane has flooded eight times in the last 60 years, including on Jan. 9 of this year.

The county is working on a feasibility study to look at potential projects on San Ysidro Creek, both upstream and downstream from the 101, and FEMA is currently updating flood mapping for our area, which could determine the possibility of adding sound walls to the 101 in the future.

Sneddon noted that the resources the county invested in recovery following the 1/9 Debris Flow in 2018 added more resiliency to Montecito roads. “We built it back better and more resiliently, but there is still a massive amount of work that needs to be done to damaged roads,” Sneddon said.

To view the presentation, visit www. youtube.com/watch?v=4N6uVHeXDoA.

In Business: Urgent Veterinary Care of Santa Barbara

Social media is already abuzz with a new business that is slated to open in early spring: Urgent Veterinary Care of Santa Barbara, the first urgent-care clinic in our area intended to bridge the gap between a general veterinary practice and an emergency hospital. The facility is the brainchild of local veterinarian Dr. Addie Crawford and her husband, local realtor Dan Crawford. Earlier this week,

A new veterinary urgent care facility, the first of its kind in Santa Barbara, is set to open in the coming months

BDI OFFICE FURNITURE ON SALE NOW!

Above: The BDI Corridor Executive Desk.

On Entertainment Dancing Along Swans, Industry, and Finance

by Steven Libowitz

In the early days of the pandemic, Angelin Preljocaj, the French choreographer famed for creating contemporary classics, dove into developing his distinctive version of Swan Lake, perhaps the most iconic ballet in the canon. Transforming the timeless tale of love, seduction, betrayal, and remorse into a modern cautionary story of ecological tragedy and societal failure, Preljocaj propels his 26-member company into phrases that have been praised for nuance, precision, and a palpable sense of emotion. The work premiered virtually in 2021 and is now traveling the world.

Preljocaj shared his thoughts prior to the pair of performances on Feb. 25-26 at the Granada Theatre, part of a handful of West Coast stops for the stirring piece.

Q. What sparked your desire to create a new version of Swan Lake in 2020, at that particular point of your career and the company?

A. In 2018, I was commissioned by the Diaghilev Festival to pay tribute to Marius Petipa. I then created a short piece on

pointe called Ghost, where we are projected into the choreographer’s imagination at the time he came up with the idea for his Swan Lake. That’s how I started working on the lake. That’s what made me want to go on and tackle this Everest.

What was the impetus for you to reimagine the story as a clear clash of urban life/ development with the natural worlds, as well as with the resultant anxiety? Is it meant to be taken as a lament or warning about climate change?

Our period underlines this great gap between a somewhat terrifying world (especially as creation took place during the COVID pandemic) and a desire for something else. When I see the world in which my daughters live, a world where 600 species have disappeared in the space of 30 years, I wonder what kind of world we are going to leave to our children. Will our children’s children know what a swan is? I’m not sure.

I wanted to transpose the tale into the world of industry and finance. But it was not possible to make a Swan Lake without keeping this mysterious dimension, where water takes on a particular meaning. The original symbols, the erot-

icism of the swan for example, are things I wanted to play with. But at the same time, I wanted to reconnect them to our societal issues.

Given that Swan Lake is such an iconic ballet, what was your process for balancing … maintaining existing visual phrases from Petipa and Ivanov with your own contemporary movement preferences?

From the original libretto, I kept the love story, the bewitching tale linked to the transformation of a woman into a swan. On the other hand, I have completely changed the place of the parents – here they are very important, they dance a lot, because they have an impact on the relationships of the protagonists. Siegfried’s father is a tyrannical man, prone to abuse of power, while his mother is more protective. Rothbart is always there, a very ambiguous character who can represent exploitative businessmen or industrialists who are harmful to our societies and a sorcerer in his spare time.

I found it interesting to rely on certain choreographic features as if I were building a new city on top of old buildings. I had a lot of fun with certain parts, especially in the white act. These are quite jubilant demonstrative moments, which I kept as little numbers and tried to reappropriate. But the choreography is also completely rewritten. It is perhaps the best tribute to pay to Marius Petipa to enter into his creative process, to reinvent things.

I was struck by a quote from you that “Dance is showing the soul with your body – it’s sacred.” For me, language always falls short of conveying inner experience – how close do you think you are to bridging that divide with body and movement?

According to the idea developed by Spinoza that the soul is a thought of the body: “It is the body that produces the soul.” The soul is really a thought, an outpouring of the body. For me, as a choreographer, this is the most brilliant sentence ever. But yes, what interests me is to question the movement, the body.

Visit www.granadasb.org for tickets and more information.

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

Fun Flying to the Westmont Stage

If Diamond to Dust: A Flying A Fantasy is even half as much fun as interviewing the principals who dubbed themselves “good whiskey collaborators” in a conference call, audiences are in for a heckuva ride. This screwball comedy from the pen of actor/director/UCSB Theater professor Michael Bernard will have its world premiere at Westmont this weekend under the direction of longtime theater stalwart John Blondell . The play grew out of a professional collaborations-turned-personal friendship between Blondell and Bernard that found the pair checking out an exhibition at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum marking the 100th anniversary of Flying A –the early movie studio in downtown Santa Barbara that was the epicenter of filmmaking in the silent era before it closed in 1920, ceding its primacy to Hollywood.

“We were just wandering around the museum, and I turned to Michael and said, ‘You should write a play about this. I would really love to direct it,” Blondell said. Which went over just fine with Bernard, who recalled thinking “Why doesn’t everybody know about this? It’s such an incredible story.”

Executive Editor/CEO | Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

President/COO | Timothy Lennon Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen zach@montecitojournal.net

Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Administration | Jessikah Fechner

Administrative Assistant | Valerie Alva

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Nadel, Bryce Eller

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

Contributors | Scott Craig, Ashleigh Brilliant, Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Sharon Byrne, Robert Bernstein, Christina Favuzzi, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye

Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Claudia Schou, Gabe Saglie

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Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC

Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

Swim through a reimagined Swan Lake at the Granada on Feb. 25-26

Letters to the Editor Regarding Susan Keller letter, “In Response to the MPC Removal” (Montecito Journal, Feb. 9-16, 2023)

Imust add my protest to Susan’s arbitrary removal from the Montecito Planning Commission (MPC).

As a 20-year resident of Montecito, who recently had an issue important to us and our neighborhood before the MPC, Susan Keller was one of two commissioners who took the time to listen to us, actually visit the site, and to ask the hard questions we needed her to ask. That she would be summarily dismissed by others on the MPC panel because she “took up too much time,” is, to me, ludicrous. The growth and development issues facing Montecito are serious and should not be rushed through the process. A cursory treatment of these projects can threaten the peace and character of

what Montecito is all about.

That others on the panel, or on the County Board of Supervisors, can summarily dismiss her without any public process at all (!) is outrageous. She has been a public official for years, and one the community has relied on for judgment and understanding of the community. All the while, another MPC commissioner, who is not a resident of Montecito, stays on and helps with her dismissal. I thought that being a resident of Montecito was a requirement of serving on the MPC –so how is that being blatantly ignored? This whole affair seems to be a total defiance of a genuine public process –a disgrace.

Valerie Aroyan, Montecito Resident

Could This Invisible Label Revolutionize Textile Recycling?

It’s no secret that garments are thrown out at an alarming rate, due to fast fashion and the rapid-fire cycling of trends. Furthermore, we are doing a poor job of recycling textile waste. In the United States, less than 15 percent of the 92 million tons of clothes and other textiles are recycled each year, resulting in approximately 17 million tons of textiles being disposed of in landfills.

Much of the problem stems from recyclers’ inability to determine what exactly the item is made of, making these mountains of fabrics exceedingly difficult to sort. Tags are frequently ripped off or washed until they are illegible, while tagless (printed) information is prone to fading. Missing or incorrect information about an item’s fiber composition makes textile recycling expensive.

To address these problems, a team led by the University of Michigan (U-M) is working on a method to make a tag composed of low-cost photonics fibers that describe the textile that is woven into the cloth and remains invisible until it needs to be read.

“It’s like a barcode that’s woven directly into the fabric of a garment,” said Max Shtein, a materials science and engineering professor at the U-M and the study’s corresponding author. “We can customize the photonic properties of the fibers to make them visible to the naked eye, readable only under near-infrared light or any combination.”

The intrinsically recyclable, low-cost labeling system is made up of drawn photonic fibers woven into fabrics and “characterized by near-infrared spectroscopy and shortwave infrared imaging,” according to the study’s abstract.

Various fabrics, like different polymers, have distinct visual characteristics. However, as lead author Brian Iezzi says, those signatures don’t aid recyclers enough because so many fabrics combine elements.

“For a truly circular recycling system to work, it’s important to know the precise composition of a fabric—a cotton recycler doesn’t want to pay for a garment that’s made of 70% polyester,” Iezzi explains. “Natural optical signatures can’t provide that level of precision, but our photonic fibers can.”

Although what we truly need is fewer clothes to recycle in the first place, if weaving in a specific fiber can help textiles enter a circular recycling system, then we’re all for it. As of now, the team has applied for patent protection and is considering commercialization options for the concept.

Montecito Miscellany

Ellen Joining Duncan Partners in Ex-Pierre Lafond Space?

by Richard Mineards

Could former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres be entering the restaurant business, having been a serial real estate flipper for years?

DeGeneres was spotted with hedge fund titan Graham Duncan, who has taken over the former Pierre Lafond bistro space in the upper village, in photos in the London Daily Mail, for whom I used to scribe in the 1970s.

Yale graduate Duncan, 48, as I revealed here, has taken over the space under the name East Valley Kitchen LLC.

Wendy Foster, Lafond’s widow, tells me Duncan, co-founder of East Rock Capital, hopes to open the eatery, which closed in July 2021 and has been empty since then, in March or April.

Local Children to Attend School

Prince Harry and former actress wife Meghan Markle are eyeing entering their two children, Archie and Lilibet, at a local private school, I can exclusively reveal.

The Riven Rock twosome were spotted inspecting an institution’s campus last week, bringing them one-step closer to a decision.

School fees in our area range from $6,000 to $50,000+ for older grades, with most of the institutions having 100 percent of students going on to attend four-year colleges.

An Evening of Transformation

Ted Nash, a regular figure of Jazz at Lincoln Center led by Wynton Marsalis, made his debut with the Santa Barbara Symphony, under conductor Nir Kabaretti, premiering a new orchestral expansion of his work Transformation at the Granada.

Nash also performed with a trio led by Los Angeles-based pianist Josh Nelson. A short film also showed Nash’s son, Eli, revealing to his father that he was now transgender.

Dohnányi’s “Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25” based on the 19th-century lullaby “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” launched the show with resident pianist Natasha Kislenko. It also included Richard Strauss’s “Death and Transfiguration” and wrapped with Ravel’s rousing “Boléro.”

Earlier in the week, major supporters of the symphony gathered at the Sage Hill Ranch of real estate investor John Whitehurst in the Goleta foothills for the latest in the organization’s Concert Aperitif series celebrating its 70th anniversary featuring Nash and the tony musical triumvirate in an Evening of Jazz featuring

Miscellany Page 264

Nancy Golden, Kim Kebler, Kristen Lee Sergeant, and Eric and Anne Capogrosso (photo by Priscilla)

Musician/composer Ted Nash and host John Whitehurst (photo by Priscilla)

Pianist Josh Nelson, maestro Nir Kabaretti, singer Kristen Lee Sergeant, and bassist Luca Alemanno (photo by Priscilla)

Our Town Black History Month

Feature Interview Part 2: Warren B. Ritter II

by Joanne A Calitri

As we near the end of Black History Month, hopefully all of us have given ourselves the opportunity to explore and experience Black history, culture, contributions, and successes.

row, the NextHome real estate franchise has been ranked #1 across all franchise types nationwide!

Three

Charles Lloyd 85th Birthday Celebration

NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd felt that the world needed more tenderness and invited pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade to join him in making an offering to humanity. This super group of musical genius will have its World Premiere at the Lobero during the celebration of its 150th anniversary which, serendipitously, coincides with Charles’ 85th birthday!

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. writes, “Carter G. Woodson and his co-workers were many, ranging from college presidents and government officials, to celebrated poets and philosophers, to everyday folks in rural hamlets, who worked to change African American History from being treated as a negligible factor in U.S. and world history. Today, it is clear that Blacks have significantly impacted the development of the social, political, and economic structures of the United States and the world. Thus, let us think of Black History Month the way our nation honors its greatest moments and greatest people.” [ref: https://asalh. org/about-us/our-history/]

While interviewing Warren B. Ritter II for our special news feature on Black History Month, I couldn’t help but wonder, that the focus of Black history and contributions to our locale, and the issues to address are viewed not as questions of why, rather of how, as Joseph McClendon III suggests. How can we attract and support Black-owned businesses so they thrive and contribute equally; how can we ensure there are stores to supply the everyday needs of Black people, such as skin and hair salons, groceries, designers of clothing, fabrics, and art; how can we have a Black History Museum in our town; how can we ensure there are health care providers who specialize in Black health and well-being; how can we make it safe for Black people here?

My list goes on. How about yours?

Ritter II, though not by self-admission, is a true business leader and supporter of the SB community, in all its colors and cultures. He is executive director of the Common Table Foundation, and served prior as a financial advisor of Wealth Management Strategies SB and Small Business Relationship Manager at Wells Fargo SB. His most current work in the nonprofit sector includes board member for the Endowment for Youth Committee; Board of Directors president, SB Young Black Professionals; county commissioner for SBC on human service policies; board member, New Beginnings Counseling Center SB for the homeless and low-income; and board member SB Education Foundation.

He holds a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.

Ritter is a classically trained pianist since age 3, preferring jazz and blues, slow tempo – “Anything that you can really feel. My family is full of musicians, so it really is a family thing.”

His day starts with a morning meditation, intention setting, 10 minutes of gratitude for being awake, visualizing what he wants to get accomplished, and how he wants his energy to feel, then coffee. He stays fit with basketball and gym workouts, and hiking.

Ritter reads books to challenge his current perceptions and takes on diversity, equity, and inclusion (IDEA = inclusion, diversity, equity and access).

Here is our interview:

Q. In your words, why is it important to celebrate Black History Month?

A. It is important to celebrate BHM because without knowing where you’ve been, it’s extremely difficult to get to where you want to be. So many people, groups, and institutions have devoted their resources for my generation to be where we find ourselves. It is important to celebrate our history (that includes the time that predates slavery), because we live in a society that does not always accept or even acknowledge all the richness that comes with being Black.

Please comment on “We need White leaders to understand the experience of being a Black leader in an organization.”

The idea I want them to embrace is being different is ok. Being different is not going to throw off your bottom dollar, if anything, it’s going to add so much more to your business.

It’s ok for people to be different, it’s OK if you don’t understand. If you can

with Jason Moran, Larry Grenadier, and Brian Blade

Warren B. Ritter II is the executive director of the Common Table Foundation and helps with many other organizations (photo courtesy of Ritter)

Your Westmont Talk Explores ‘Street Art

by Scott Craig

Now’

College Hosts Competition of Mathletes

2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc.”

This year’s T-shirt design has a picture of the Fibonacci spiral, as well as a formula for the nth Fibonacci number.

“Using squares of side lengths given by the Fibonacci numbers, you can draw a Fibonacci spiral, which approximates the golden spiral, a prominent shape found in nature and art,” Aboud says.

G.

James Daichendt, art critic, curator, art historian, and dean of the colleges at Point Loma University, examines how street art is changing the art world and how we engage art in a free public lecture, “Street Art Now,” on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art.

The museum is currently hosting an exhibition by Madeleine Tonzi and Graffiti Against the System (GATS), Entangled: Responding to Environmental Crisis, which is open through March 25.

Daichendt, co-host of the podcast Two Degrees of Art and the founding editor of the academic journal Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art, says the street art movement is a genre of art-making that’s arguably more relevant and visible than any other since Pop Art.

His presentation will overview the field while focusing on several Californiabased street artists, such as GATS, and highlight issues of legality, success, and where it enters our own communities.

He has written several books, includ -

La Cañada High School ran circles around the competition in Westmont’s 34th annual Mathematics Field Day on Feb. 11 in Winter Hall. About 100 regional high school students matched math wits in the event on the eve of the Super Bowl, but it was La Cañada that was the Overall Winner for 9-10th grades and 11-12th grades.

John Chung from Oaks Christian won Chalk Talk, a 10- to 12-minute presentation on the topic of Fibonacci numbers, which was chosen because it’s the 34th year of the contest and 34 is a Fibonacci number.

“The sequence of Fibonacci numbers starts with 1, 1,” says Anna Aboud, who chairs Westmont’s mathematics department. “After this, each subsequent term is obtained by adding the two previous terms. Thus, the sequence continues with

Oaks Christian won the Written Team Exams for both 9-10th graders as well as 11-12th graders. The College Bowl competition, complete with buzzers modeled after the 1960s TV show College Bowl, was won by Cate School in the 9-10th grades division, while La Cañada claimed the 11-12th grades contest.

Other competing teams included Dos Pueblos, Providence, Santa Barbara, Laguna Blanca, and San Marcos.

The evening concluded in Westmont’s

ing Robbie Conal: Streetwise: 35 Years of Politically Charged Guerrilla Art , The Urban Canvas: Street Art Around the World , Kenny Scharf: In Absence of Myth , Shepard Fairey Inc.: Artist/ Professional/Vandal , and Stay Up! Los Angeles Street Art Daichendt won a 2021 Lifetime Achievement award from the Office of the President of the United States for his service to the arts community.

Make your money work for you.

G. James Daichendt (courtesy)

Mathematics Field Day (photo by Anna Aboud)

BE MORE YOU .

Join

Hands Across Montecito

The Hands Team Takes on the Point

by Sharon Byrne

We’ve written in these pages before about how the Hands

Across Montecito project is a solid outreach team that helps people leave homelessness in our area. In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required every jurisdiction to perform a point-intime count of the people living unsheltered to allocate funding for homeless services and housing.

The Hands team met at the Franklin Neighborhood Center to deploy on a cold January at 5 am. We were given a map of our terrain, gift cards, and hygiene kits to distribute to the people we interviewed. Joining me were Montecitans Tracey Willfong and Ron Sickafoose, and Melissa Placencia, our outreach worker from City Net.

We parked at the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge and made our way up a trail at the Los Patos Way exit up onto the railroad tracks. We had to use flashlights, and Ron had a great headlamp. We found several camps between the railroad tracks and the freeway. This area is in the City of Santa Barbara.

When we encounter a camp, we hope to interview the individual using a phone-based tool that asks basic questions. Sometimes people refused, and we logged that information as well. The goal is to gain a snapshot in time of how many people are experiencing homelessness in a jurisdiction. This count was conducted by volunteers across the county and across the country.

In the 2022 Point-in-Time count, one surprise was the dramatic increase in homelessness, particularly in people living in their vehicles. We have seen that too, in Montecito, in the Vons parking lot overnight, and along Butterfly Beach.

The team moved past the cemetery, the Sanitary District, and the Butterfly Lane Tunnel, all the way down past Olive Mill Road. We were dismayed to see camps with items in them, but which weren’t occupied, strange for 5 am. Some individuals have been keeping a couple of camps, as there is a bit of friction between a group near the bird refuge and those just on the other side of the bridge over Cabrillo Boulevard. They’re moving back and forth between these camps.

degrade.” — Frederick Douglass

Hands Across Montecito Page 184

Hands Across Montecito volunteer Ron Sickafoose heads down the tracks toward the Montecito Sanitary District

Hands Across Montecito volunteers Tracey Willfong and Ron Sickafoose interview DJ. The Hands team has been working to move him out of homelessness.

City Net’s Melissa Placencia inspects a new camp near the Butterfly Lane tunnel

Chronic Vagrancy vs. Homelessness And The Millions of Dollars Being Spent

by Lang Martinez

As a person who has experienced homelessness as a former addict living on the streets of Ventura County, I have come to understand how chronic vagrancy gives homelessness a bad name. For the last four years I have made the choice to wake up clean and sober so I can advocate for others like me and enlighten the public how the definition of homelessness is blurred by chronic vagrancy. Without transparency it’s easy to overlook and difficult to recognize how resources are oftentimes misdirected under the blanket of “homeless” resources. The public needs to understand that most of the visibly unhoused people are unable to accept the wealth of outreach and services being offered in the name of homelessness. This specific population is considered to be “Service Resistant” with successful outcomes being few and far between. Being homeless and being a vagrant are two completely different sets of problems and need to be treated as such so that resources can be appropriately focused to those who truly need them and have the potential to benefit most.

I have two anecdotal opinions on this matter. The first example is the government’s Housing First Model which I don’t see as a comprehensive solution. Statistics have already proven that the model has had a less than desirable outcome for sustaining an individual in a long term permanent housing solution. Regardless of whether a person is experiencing an unhoused situation or if they are living a life of addiction on our downtown streets, the public needs to start questioning how and IF their tax dollars are being allocated to reduce the overall impacts homelessness and vagrancy. The time has come for an audit so that the public can understand whether or not the millions being spent annually are in fact making a change the public would like to see. In my estimation, the funds being allocated to address homelessness lack public scrutiny and transparency. I often question myself if homeless funding has become just another bureaucratic line item bringing service providers an annual money trough that lacks any tracking, meaningful evaluation or measurable outcomes.

Another example that begs for better governance of homeless services was the statewide funding allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of dollars from the state of California flowed to the emergency program, Project Room Key. Los Angeles issued the biggest need to house people in the state to stop the spread of the virus. Statistics showed that L.A. County had 68,000 homeless individuals with an emergency allocation to house 15,000 people immediately. Since that time, studies show that less than 6,000 people were housed with this emergency funding. I consider this a failure and a clear indication of the misdirection of public funds not appropriately addressing the difference between homelessness and vagrancy. On the

We’re finding the folks we’re encountering are more difficult to assist than previously. Substances are involved and for the willing, treatment queues are long. We got some great news this week: One senior gentleman we’ve worked with through 2022 finally has a housing voucher and might be moving indoors soon!

As the sun came up, we ended on Coast Village Road, where we interviewed a man at the Chevron. Many neighbors are concerned about a woman who has lived at the bus stop there. We’ve consistently engaged with her, and deployed every resource there is, from Behavioral Wellness to Adult Protection Services to offering a hotel room and reunification with her sister, and more. We’d very much love to see her happily living indoors, but that is not what she wants for herself. The Governor’s Care Court may help us but will not be rolling out in our county until 2024.

Some Good News

All-Saints-by-the-Sea, a Montecito landmark since the early 1890s, donated $65,000 to Transition House, a nonprofit that assists women, children, and families with leaving poverty and homelessness. The donation was to support Transition House’s Three Stage Housing Program for 2023. Seventy-six percent of families that enter the program succeed in transitioning to stable housing. Director Kathleen Bauschke said the funds will be used to “bolster our children’s programs, weekly sack lunch program, and revitalize our kitchens. Together, we are positively impacting lives by addressing the trauma of homelessness.” The check was presented on Feb. 13 at Transition House.

All-Saints-by-theSea presented a $65,000 check to Transition House, a nonprofit that assists women, children, and families with leaving poverty and homelessness

Sharon Byrne is executive director of the Montecito Association

Hands volunteer Tracey Willfong and Melissa Placentia interview a man experiencing homelessness at the Chevron

Voting Matters

Picking the President in 2024

by Bob Hazard

Political pundits still predict a polarizing presidential prizefight in 2024 between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It seems inconceivable that voters of either party want a rematch between two tired octogenarians. Trump would be 79, Biden 82. John F. Kennedy was 43 when elected to the Oval Office. How does one choose between the divisiveness and boorish behavior of Donald Trump, and the senility and incompetency of Joe Biden?

Gov. Ron DeSantis vs. Gov. Gavin Newsom

The stage is set in 2024 for a more intelligent race between Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA). Voters are hungry for a problem-solver president who can work across the aisle and find solutions that appeal to moderates in both parties. Democrats hold a major advantage with 48 million registered voters, or 39%.

Republicans lag at 36 million registered voters (29%), while registered Independents have soared to 35 million voters (28%) in a virtual tie with GOP voters.

What Will Be the Issues in 2024?

Hopefully, in 2024 voters and the two major candidates—one red and one blue—will be looking at the same set of facts and offering realistic solutions to fund economic growth; reduced inflation; lower unemployment; downsized national debt; a stronger military; greater trust in government; creation of a rational border security system; and reduced drug use and crime. Add in a willingness to address a reliably funded Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare and a fiscally responsible welfare and entitlement system.

State governments will have to boost budgets for needed infrastructure, improve education, support school choice, offer reliable and affordable energy that addresses climate change, solve homelessness, compromise on abortion and ensure election integrity.

California vs. Florida

Fortunately, 2024 voters will have a public record of how Newsom and DeSantis have governed in the living laboratory of their respective states:

Cost of Living: The cost of living in California is the 3rd-highest in the nation, behind Hawaii and tied with New York. Florida is much less expensive; the cost of living is just one percent higher than the national average.

Cost of Housing: In California, the median single-family home price in 2021 was $898,980, according to Statista. Much of the blame for excessive costs is attributed to California’s punitive regulation environment. The median home price in Florida in 2021 was $348,000. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is $2,000 per month; in Florida it is $1,670.

Cost of Gasoline/Transportation: At Thanksgiving, AAA reported that Florida motorists paid $3.41 per gallon for gasoline, 18 cents below the national average of $3.59. Conversely, California motorists paid $5.11 per gallon, second-highest to Hawaii at $5.19 per gallon, and 42% above the national average price of $3.59 per gallon, according to CBS News. Californians pay 72.4 cents per gallon in state and local taxes and fees, the highest in the nation. A monthly public transit pass costs $67.83 in California and $50.97 in Florida; 33% higher in California.

Taxation: Florida is the place to go if you want to keep more income. Florida has no state income tax, a big draw for retirees. California residents pay some of the highest taxes in the country, with a state personal income tax that peaks at 13.3%. According to the Tax Foundation, California has an average state and local tax burden of 13.5% that ranks 46th out of 50 states; Florida has a 9.1% state and local tax burden that ranks No. 11 in the United States.

Sales and Use Taxes: Florida has a state sales tax of 6% with an option for local governments to add up to 1.5%. This brings the combined sales tax in the Sunshine State to 7.058%, about average for the nation. California levies a 7.25% sales tax, the highest statewide rate in the nation. Local governments are permitted to levy an additional 2% sales tax, creating a combined average sales tax rate of 8.82%.

Business Taxes: California had an 8.84% corporate income tax rate in the year 2022, according to the Tax Foundation. California ranked No. 48 out of 50 states, slightly ahead of New York (49) and New Jersey (50) in business taxes. Conversely, the flat 5.5% Florida business tax ranked fifth-lowest in the U.S. If you’re planning to start a business, Florida offers a better deal.

For a limited time, earn a guaranteed interest rate with a CD (certificate of deposit). A $10,000 minimum balance is required.

To get started, contact the Preferred Banking Office nearest you or scan the QR code to learn more.

1 O ffer is subject to change without notice and applies for one term only. Annual percentage yield (APY) is effective as of publication date. Penalty will be imposed for early withdrawal. $10,000 minimum balance required. Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender

Swan Lake

Ballet Preljocaj

Angelin Preljocaj, Artistic Director

Two Performances!

Sat, Feb 25 / 8 PM / Granada Theatre

Sun, Feb 26 / 3 PM / Granada Theatre (matinee)

Combining Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with new arrangements, choreographer Angelin Preljocaj reinvents the timeless tale of love, betrayal, seduction and remorse into a modern ecological tragedy.

Dance Series Sponsors:

2023 Grammy Award-winners

Attacca Quartet

Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee

Sun, Mar 5 / 4 PM

Hahn Hall, Music Academy

Tickets start at $10

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte, Evergreen , and additional compositions for string quartet

“Classical music observers say we’re living in a golden age of string quartets. It’s hard to disagree when you hear the vibrant young players in New York’s Attacca Quartet.” NPR

Santa Barbara Debut

Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Bob Feinberg, Ellen & Peter O. Johnson, Barbara Stupay, and Sheila Wald

Scan to watch trailer

President of the American Psychological Association

Dr. Thema Bryant

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

Fri, Mar 3 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (Registration recommended)

“Dr. Thema Bryant is teaching people how to come back to themselves and handle challenges along the way of self-discovery.”

– Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

Co-presented with Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara

Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Song of the Cell : An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

Wed, Mar 8 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

“Mukherjee has a storyteller’s flair and a gift for translating complex medical concepts into simple language.” The Wall Street Journal

“If you are not already in awe of biology, The Song of the Cell might get you there. It is a masterclass.” The Guardian

U.S. Premiere

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

FRAGMENTS

Fri, Mar 10 / 7 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall / Tickets start at $20

“Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.” The Telegraph (U.K.)

“Weilerstein’s Bach was a true model of the meaning of mastery. Her command of the cello, of its sound and of Bach, was consummate.” – Mark Swed, LA Times Enjoy Bach as you never have before in this wholly original and immersive audience experience from Alisa Weilerstein. FRAGMENTS weaves music old and new in a dramatic journey that elevates the senses to provide an opportunity to go deeper into the music. An Arts & Lectures Co-commission Special Thanks

Scan to watch trailer

Brilliant Thoughts Destruction

by Ashleigh Brilliant

As we all know only too well, nothing lasts forever, especially the good things. I somehow find this illustrated by a supposedly true anecdote, about W.S. Gilbert, of “Gilbert and Sullivan.” He is said to have been at a concert, seated next to a gushing woman, of the kind he hated. One of the names on the program was Bach and she asked, “Is he still composing?” – to which Gilbert reportedly replied, “I think, madam, he’s in the process of de-composing.”

Alas! Everything in the universe, including us, is in one of these stages. And we have opportunities all the time to witness things under con-struction or de-struction. Depending on circumstances, observers can find both processes fascinating. The demolition of buildings is particularly interesting. You can see videos of sturdy structures collapsing all at once from the setting off of an array of wellplaced explosives.

But all that is as nothing compared with the deliberate destruction which has accompanied modern warfare. There has as yet, however, been no more enthusiastic devastation than that of both sides in World War II, climaxing, of course, in the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In its earlier stages, that war featured airplanes called “bombers,” which were actually built to carry large loads of explosive devices to be dropped, usually from high in the sky, upon the enemy, often upon civilian targets. The theory was that, if the ordinary people could be made to suffer enough, they would force their leaders to surrender or at least to negotiate.

But this never seemed to work. The people in Britain and Germany, who were the most reachable victims of airborne destruction, were somehow only toughened by having their homes, businesses, loved ones, and even their own lives, put in constant danger.

Over time, almost everything, to say nothing of everybody, gets destroyed anyway. Of all of the wonders of the ancient world – and those ancient people were often remarkably adept builders – only one has survived more or less intact into our own time. That is, of course, the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Everything else has crumbled as a result of earthquakes, fires, storms, and various other natural disasters, plus wars, invasions, revolutions, and other forms of human conflict.

The Great Pyramid is still there, only because even its parts were too big to be carted off – and because its very shape made it peculiarly resistant to the destructive forces of man and nature.

But life itself is a destroyer. Every living

thing can keep living only at the expense of other once-living creatures. Purely as examples, think of the beaver, whose lifestyle involves killing trees – or the grizzly bear, who makes short work of beavers.

Sometimes being able to destroy something relatively harmlessly is a good release for feelings of anger and aggression. Hence, the popularity of breaking dishes. There used to be plenty of other cheap breakable objects lying around which could also suffer the same fate: pencils, vinyl records, paper manuscripts. But modern technology has done away with many of those destructibles. In many conflicts, it all seems to have come down to a matter of computers or robots attempting to destroy one another.

Nature has its own way of recovering from destructive forces. If you’ve ever accidentally or intentionally demolished an anthill, you may have experienced a sense of fascination to watch those industrious little critters scurrying about to repair the damage you have inflicted upon their dwelling. No wonder they have flourished here on this Earth of ours since long before our own species made its first appearance, and that they will probably survive us for future eons.

But the greatest natural destructive force is probably the one simply called “erosion.” Things get worn away. The best place to see this process in action is any seashore, with waves crashing onto the land, eating into the bottom of cliffs until they fall, and turning big rocks into little grains of sand. As it says in a stanza of one of my favorite inspirational poems, called by its first line, “Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth,” by Arthur Hugh Clough:

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

Or, as one of my own epigrams has mused:

Even the most ambitious little pebble will never grow up to become a big rock.

Robert’s Big Questions Two Santas?

by Robert Bernstein

In recent years, it has become a ritual for Republicans to threaten to shut down the government and crash the U.S. economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. This is like finishing your meal in a restaurant and refusing to pay the bill. These childish tantrums are in direct violation of the 14th Amendment: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.”

The debt ceiling was invented in 1917 to allow the Treasury to issue bonds without having to get Congress to do so each time. In 1979, Dick Gephardt was a new member of Congress, tasked with the drudgery of getting the votes to raise the debt ceiling. He solved the problem by getting the “Gephardt Rule” enacted: The debt ceiling is automatically raised to match the spending already approved by Congress.

This worked just fine, until Newt Gingrich took power in 1995 and eliminated the rule. Hence, the endless unconstitutional questioning of the debt ever since.

But the real root of the problem came in the 1970s from a right-wing propagandist you probably never heard of: Jude Wanniski. He is the guy who invented the nonsense term “supply side economics,” a concept refuted by every economist. That led to the Reagan-era tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for millions of ordinary citizens.

Wanniski also invented the Two Santa Claus Theory: That Democrats started playing Santa Claus during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, giving out goodies like Social Security and unemployment insurance and later Medicare. Republicans played the role of Scrooge, always trying to “shoot Santa” in his words. This led to Democratic victories for decades.

He urged Republicans instead to have their own Santa: The Tax Cut Santa. Most of the tax cuts would go to the wealthy Republican donors. A few tax-cut scraps would be thrown to working people –often temporary, with a sunset. Massive PR would hype the minute cuts for workers.

the Union, he pointed out that Donald Trump and his Republican Congress ran up the largest debt in U.S. history. He did this by giving massive permanent tax cuts to his wealthy donors, and by writing millions of stimulus checks with his name boldly displayed. And a small temporary tax cut for workers that would end after his term ended.

In the past 40 years, every Republican administration from Ronald Reagan to Trump increased the deficit. And every Democratic administration lowered the deficit. Bill Clinton even lowered the total national debt. Clinton also shot the Democratic Santa by throwing millions of children into poverty by “ending welfare as we know it.”

Here are some wise words by a former president: “The Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it” and “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.”

That was written by Republican President Eisenhower in 1954. He was far more liberal than the Democratic presidents from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, who naively stopped playing Santa. Biden is wisely reviving the Democratic Santa and calling out Republicans for trying to shoot that Santa.

You may ask whether we can afford Santa. Wrong question. It all depends on what Santa is giving and who he is giving to. Tax cuts to the wealthy go into creating stock-market bubbles like those in the Roaring ’20s and the late ’90s. The results were devastating crashes as the bills came due.

However, investments in education, child nutrition, health care, public works, and sustainable transportation and energy have a positive return. Social Security and disability payments go in the hands of people who worked for those payments and who will spend that money back into the economy.

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

But there was another “benefit” for Republicans: By cutting taxes, this raised the deficit and debt, which allowed them to scream that there is no money for “entitlements” that the Democratic Santa was giving out. The Republican Santa essentially would shoot the Democratic Santa.

Reagan’s budget advisor David Stockman admitted this was a conscious plan called “starve the beast.” Republicans have no actual interest in balancing the budget. They just use this story to prevent Democrats from playing Santa with benefits for workers.

In President Biden’s latest State of

Full disclosure: Thanks to radio host “professor” Thom Hartmann for the education about the Two Santa Claus Theory.

Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. Passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook.com/ questionbig

“I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.” — Rosa Parks

embrace other people different from you, that’s a good thing.

I do not feel we need White leaders to understand the experience of being a Black leader within an organization at all. If we are being honest, there is no amount of “understanding” that can make up for a learned versus lived experience.

To me, the more important piece to focus on is that White leaders should realize that the metrics that historically mark success within organizations were not designed with Black people in mind, and that with different lived experiences than our White counterparts, methodologies and strategies will differ. In my opinion, when our White leaders begin to understand that part, it makes for a more harmonious existence among us all.

There is no amount of teaching, master’s or Ph.D. education work that you can do that can teach what the Black experience is, if you are not a Black person, and to explain the pure, unfiltered amount of times the microaggressions happen that Black people experience. Examples happen daily in our town of unconscious things that people are not aware of. White leaders come from this point of view: I know everything there is to know, I’ve studied this, I’ve been in this position for a number of years, I know what this is about.

Black leaders come from a whole different set of religious views, moral views, and cultural views, and we come to the work environment with those views. A lot of the time, Black employees are held to standards created by people who did not have Black people in mind. So, how is that truly an equal way of doing/ viewing things?

When I think of White leaders in the business world that I am in, a lot of times they have trepidation – “I don’t want to step on their feet” – and when work is not done to their expectations, they really fall back on – “It’s a Black man” – which is so detrimental.

I think it happens because all the ideas of what success is, is all White-centric.

To find a solution goes deeper than a bullet point policy and operating procedure of the workplace. Defining what is the culture of the workplace, the culture of acceptance, the culture of being able to shift your perception, the culture of admitting that, “OK, this is not good for everyone,” are those human things that we

can do to make things better before we go to the spreadsheet changes.

Why is diversification in a wealth management portfolio or nonprofit development strategy considered beneficial in both shortand long-term success, yet diversity of people in a business model is still an issue?

For the long-term diversification of your assets, you have to trust that it’s going to happen. You have to trust that your portfolio is going to pay out in the long run when you invest in it. In the current business scenario, I don’t think White leaders are trusting of Black leaders, because they don’t understand, because they’ve never experienced it, so they can trust the asset Black leaders bring.

How did the list of Black-owned businesses come about?

The listings that you find on the SB Tourism website and other websites, especially during Black History Month, I actually assisted in creating with the help of some other like-minded persons of color. We researched businesses from Guadalupe to Thousand Oaks over the course of a year to create the list.

What that experience highlighted for me was that the culture, specifically of Santa Barbara, is not designed to be accepting of Black businesses, there is no infrastructure to truly support the people that make up the 2 percent.

I helped co-found SB Young Black Professionals. One of the biggest issues that we ran into was that, yes, a place might open their doors for us to do an event, but it was not very welcoming. It was difficult. Why can’t we just be considered regular patrons?

When people come into town and they’re looking for Black businesses, yes, they can get in touch with myself and other Black leaders for direction, but the City of Santa Barbara has historically not been very supportive unless there is something for them. The infrastructure of SB is not designed to support Black people and their daily needs and businesses.

Black businesses here need the allyship of the movers and shakers like the Towbes Foundation, the HuttonParker Foundation, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and similar foundations, who have the dollars and community support to give Black businesses what they need to thrive in SB, along with these businesses receiving support in business and news publications.

What keeps you on track in the face of constant daily microaggressions?

It’s got to be internal, because the world will beat you down. You have to be solid within yourself first and foremost. I start my day with my intentions and get my energy right within myself. You’ve got to be good with yourself, and then nothing can shake your peace with that. Gratitude goes a long way; you have to respect the people that came before you.

Your top goals for 2023 in your current position and/or on the boards you presently serve?

Top goals: visibility and collaboration.

What is the motivation of your leadership?

I just want to be fully present and be an example to others to challenge what they look at as what “success” means. I want to be an example of what it looks like to challenge what this idea society feeds us as “happiness.” My ultimate motivation is that I strive to show up authentically in every situation I am in and be a person who makes meaningful changes within my community.

While I do view myself as a leader, I also understand that a leader doesn’t necessarily need to lead from the front. I pride myself on having people around me who may have talents, thoughts, connections, and perceptions that I do not. Sometimes one of those individuals needs to be the person in front, and I play a supporting role. Sometimes I need to be the person bringing up the rear. I believe in putting the mission first and whatever it takes to get that done, I am all for it.

The hardest decision you’ve had to make?

Hardest decision I have made is actively choosing to set boundaries on how much I can put on my plate. I naturally want to assist folks, so it’s difficult for me to say no to people. I had to prevent burnout, but it’s still very hard.

Resources you tap for inspiration and support?

Colleagues. I ask for their advice, reading materials, etc. I also listen to my friends to make sure I am nurturing all parts of my life, not just the professional career. When you have people around

you who will tell you the honest truth and that hold you accountable for your actions, it helps to keep me grounded.

Advice you have for students to decide their own paths?

There is not just one path to get to where you want to go. But in order to get to where you want to be, you have to know where you want to go. People don’t plan to fail but they often fail to plan. The journey and path will be filled with pit stops, detours, and brick walls, but if you have a plan, you can always pivot and ultimately always move closer toward the end goal.

In supporting local businesses, MJ thanks Jason Shotts, Manager of Paradise Springs Winery Funk Zone, for the location of this interview. www.ParadiseSpringsWintery.com

411: www.commontablefoundation.org

Joanne A. Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com

Warren B. Ritter II is a true business leader and supporter of the SB community, in all its colors and cultures (photo courtesy of Ritter)

The Giving List World Telehealth Initiative

by Steven Libowitz

It took a little while to reach Sharon Allen of the World Telehealth Initiative (WTI) to arrange an interview last week. That’s because the cofounder and executive director of the barely 5-year-old nonprofit was over in Ukraine, in the midst of a weeklong visit to the war-torn country as part of a special expansion of World Telehealth’s mission to provide sustained, quality health care through state-of-the-art technology to the world’s most vulnerable communities.

Normally, the organization’s outreach is geared toward more remote places such as Malawi, Bhutan, and Nigeria as the main thrust of its work to bring specialists to patients in areas of need throughout the world where the nearest cardiologist, neurologist, pediatric surgeon or other specialist might be hundreds of miles away, with no means of transportation for patients to get there. Healthcare inequity is a massive problem, and other laudable nonprofit organizations around the world are trying to address it by either delivering medical supplies to the locations or coordinating periodic philanthropic visits by health care experts.

WTI’s method is to create something more sustainable by leveraging telehealth using highly advanced diagnostic and robotic equipment from the world-renowned, locally located Teladoc paired with numerous humanitarian physicians who volunteer their time and expertise remotely, both to examine patients from thousands of miles away and to train the local medical personnel.

“We use medical grade equipment that’s diagnostic enabled, a robotic device that is in the clinic or hospital in these remote locations,” explained Allen. “The devices transmit imaging and more in real time to one of the doctors encompassing 50 different specialties who volunteer to help these communities through upskilling the local providers.”

The experts are supporting the local physician, asking questions, making suggestions, and providing direction as they view the exam in real time.

“The equipment is amazing,” Allen exclaimed. “You can zoom in 26 times, so a remote physician in the U.S. or U.K. or wherever they may be in the world can clearly see what’s happening with a patient. If they put a stethoscope on the patient, you hear it on the headphones at home. Or if they hook up an ophthalmology camera or an ultrasound, we get the images on your screen. You can’t touch the patient, but you can see all of the diagnostic information. It’s as if you’re in the room, but you operate it from a laptop, even an iPhone.”

What were Allen and cofounder Yulun Wang, the board chair and head of R&D at Teladoc Health, doing in Kyiv in the middle of February? In a word: Putin.

The World Telehealth Initiative started working with medical professionals there at the start of the invasion a year ago this week, aiming to reduce casualties from the conflict, Allen said.

“They have amazing physicians in Ukraine, but they hadn’t been prepared for combat trauma, which is a very different thing,” she said. “Normally we take a long time in developing these relationships with our partner hospitals and clinics, but the Ministry of Health reached out to us and asked for help. We had experts who are ex-military special forces doctors who developed the protocols for the U.S. Department of Defense, go to Ukraine a couple of times and do training, but the need is so great, they wanted to support their colleagues there via telehealth.”

The nonprofit shipped 16 Teladoc robotic devices that were rapidly placed in hospitals throughout the country, then augmented those with Microsoft Surface Pro tablets, which can use software to provide remote images and sound.

“The idea for those was to use them on the trains that transport soldiers who get hurt on the front lines, who may have been stabilized by medics but need care in more special-

ized hospitals in the interior cities,” Allen said. “With the devices, the experts can weigh in on those patients while they’re still hours away on the train, which gets much better results.”

Allen and Wang spent Valentine’s Day hosting a conference in Kiev to expand the program to other medical personnel who haven’t been as quick in adopting remote technology, to share the successes and do some extra training for the physicians.

“It was to incentivize and motivate them to turn the corner on this and be able to use telehealth as the terrific tool that it can be, so simple to use and so effective,” she said. “Renowned neurosurgeons and trauma surgeons were so humbled and appreciative, and were strategizing on the best way for them to support their colleagues that are closer to the front lines and deliver the best for patient care.”

Making it to Ukraine, which involved lots of flying and then a 19-hour train ride from Poland, took a bit of bravery for the WTI team, too. The conference was initially planned for last October but was postponed with little notice when Russia changed military tactics and launched a huge escalation of bombing.

Four months later, the bombing is still happening but on a regular schedule that makes planning possible, she said, though they had a bit of a scare in the country.

“The morning of the conference, we’re running around setting everything up and a siren goes off, but we notice everyone is just going about their business even though there’s an ambulance outside. That seemed a bit weird. Then a doctor came up to us and said there’s no need to be frightened, because they have an app that issues an alert whenever a flight leaves a Russian airfield, and as soon as it crosses the Ukrainian border, they can tell if it is loaded with a missile and where it’s heading. The app updates every 15 seconds, so nobody panics unless they get word that a bombing flight is headed to Kyiv. He said if that happens, we’ll have at least 20 minutes to get to the shelter. But get going, because we’re in the city center and that is the target.”

Fortunately, there were no air attacks, and the conference went off without a hitch, allowing WTI to cement its relationships with its Ukraine partners, which should provide dividends long after the war ends.

“It was incredible to experience that and see what they’re going through living with war every day, and how they keep putting themselves in harm’s way to help, and how grateful they were that we left sunny Santa Barbara to come work with them,” Allen said. “It certainly made me believe in the goodness of people.”

It’s the benevolence of World Telehealth Initiative’s partners and supporters that allows its work to continue, Allen said, with donations going directly to support the cause with little overhead, though the development wing could use a bit more attention.

“Thankfully, the technology and physicians’ time is donated, so it’s just really about shipping and running the operation,” she said. “But to tell the truth, we have focused too much on doing what we’re doing and not enough on the fundraising.”

World Telehealth Initiative

Sharon Allen, co-founder and executive director Erin Goldfarb, chief development officer (818) 687-3700

www.worldtelehealthinitiative.org

From specialists to personnel training, the World Telehealth Initiative is helping remotely connect medical professionals to the areas they’re needed most

Eli

To support complex pediatric patient care, the Hematology/Oncology team is located at the Grotenhuis Pediatric Clinics next to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, in the Medical Office Building at 5333 Hollister Avenue. Our Pediatric Hematology/Oncology services are led by specialists Asneha Iqbal, MD, and Shivani Upadhyay, MD, both of whom are certified in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology by the American Board of Pediatrics. Learn more at cottagechildrens.org

1903 COYOTE CIRCLE MONTECITO, CA

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Marissa, Eli’s mom

Eli suffered from excruciating abdominal pain and was admitted to Cottage Children’s Medical Center where he was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney cancer. He underwent surgery to remove a two pound tumor. After 7 months of chemotherapy, Eli is now cancer-free. He’s now happy, healthy, full of energy and loves playing football, basketball and video games.

“We are forever grateful for all of the care Eli received at Cottage.”

LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. Equal Housing Opportunity. Information not verified or guaranteed. If your home is currently listed with a Broker, this is

Filharmonie Brno

Philharmonic at the Granada

Aging Cossack Taras Bulba reigned supreme when Filharmonie Brno Philharmonic, the Czech orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, per-

works by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Henry Mancini, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Given it was Mardi Gras, guests noshed on Cajun cuisine, including crab cake, hush puppies, and New Orleans-style beignets, while quaffing mint juleps and wine.

Among the musical throng were Janet Garufis, Fred and Nancy Golden, Eve Bernstein, Dan and Meg Burnham, Sybil Rosen, Gretchen Lieff, Cody Westheimer, NancyBell Coe, Dick and Marilyn Mazess, and Mark Whitehurst and Kerry Methner.

An American Dream in Santa Barbara

Man’s inhumanity to man was vividly on display with Opera Santa Barbara’s (OSB) latest one-act production An American Dream by Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo at the Lobero.

The moving 70-minute work, that premiered at the Seattle Opera in 2015, is set in Puget Sound in the 1940s, intertwining the fates and tragedies of

two disparate families, one of incarcerated Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor and a German-Jewish woman fleeing the perils of Nazi Germany and waiting for news of the fate of her parents left behind.

A five-minute montage of Japanese Americans affected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which approved incarceration of more than 120,000 U.S. residents, two-thirds of them American citizens, started the show conducted by Eiki Isomura with moving scenic and projection design by Yuki Izumihara, and lighting design by Helena Kuukka.

The five principal players – Ben Lowe, Audrey Babcock, Nina Yoshida Nelsen, Janet Szepi Todd, and Paul Chwe MinChul

An – conveyed the tensions of the age, spanning a three-year time period, well.

It was originally planned to stage just one performance, but artistic director Kostas Protopapas says OSB felt it important to add another show so that as many people as possible could experience it.

After the opera, major supporters were treated to a bash featuring Japanese cuisine in the theater’s rear courtyard.

formed at the Granada, part of CAMA’s international series.

The Leoš Janáček work, a three-part rhapsody for orchestra based on the 17th-century historical novella, concluded the first half on a high note after Martinu’s “Sinfonietta ‘La Jolla’” with the maestro’s wife Maki Namekawa on piano.

The entertaining concert concluded with Dvořák’s “Symphony No.6 in D major.”

The orchestra, founded in 1956, may only come from a relatively small metropolis of 379,000 residents, the second-biggest city in the Czech Republic after Prague, but the sound was larger than life...

Mardi Gras at the Carriage

Baubles, bangles, and beads reigned supreme at the colorful, energized second annual Mardi Gras bash presented by La Boheme dance group founder Teresa Kuskey and social gadabout Rick Oshay at the Carriage and Western Art Museum.

The fun fête was so popular that more than two dozen would-be guests had to be turned away because of fire regulations, but the 200 allowed in as the Michael Gantz Mardi Gras Band and the Lollipop Pole aerialist dancers – Caroline Byrne and Katya Baty – entertained, with ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri emceeing, certainly had a night to remember.

Add to that the Mariano Silva AfroBrazilian Dance, King Bee, the drag queen Belladonna , Nilay EnginWheat’s belly dance, trombone comedy from Madelenna Frossetti, guitarist Maitland Ward, and Joey Souza as DJ, and you get the picture as the Mardi Gras King was crowned, along with Bacchus and the Goddess of La Boheme.

Among the Carnaval mob, noshing on the Creole cuisine of gumbo and jambalaya prepared by the Big Easy Catering Company, were Gretchen Lieff and Miles Hartfeld , Larry Gosselin, Donna Reeves, Peter Hilf,

Josh Nelson, Ted Nash, and Luca Alemanno perform (photo by Priscilla)

An American Dream is a moving tale of WWII and the incarceration of Japanese American families (photo by Zach Mendez)

Dennis Russell Davies leads the Filharmonie Brno Philharmonic (courtesy photo)

Teresa Kuskey, Richard Payatt, Gretchen Lieff, John Palminteri, and Tracy Lehr (photo by Priscilla)

Outgoing Mardi Gras King Adam McKaig with La Boheme’s Teresa Kuskey and producer Rick Oshay (photo by Priscilla)

Solstice Parade Executive Director Penny Little participating in the Mardi Gras parade (photo by Priscilla)

Adam McKaig , Lisa Osborn , Scott Topper, Mark Whitehurst and Kerry Methner, Monte and Maria Wilson, Melissa Borders, Richard Auhll, and Martha Smilgis

Stepping into Campbell Hall

Step Afrika!’s Campbell Hall performance Tribute paid homage to the African American step show technique combining the distinct styles from different African American fraternities and sororities, blending them together in an energized, exuberant and frenzied 90-minute show, part of the popular

UCSB Arts & Lectures program. It included all the exciting elements of “stepping,” with the use of props, floor

work, creative formations, and enthusiastic audience participation.

In “Indlamu,” a traditional dance of the

Zulu people, the nine-member troupe, which was founded in 1994, dressed in native garb, carrying shields and assegai, and performed works learned through a long-standing partnership with the Soweto Dance Theater.

Step Afrika! brought 90 minutes of elaborate stepping performances (photo by David Bazemore)

In another work “Isicathulo,” the gumboot dance, a tradition created by South African workers who labored in the oppressive mining industry of then-apartheid South Africa, the miners translated their rubber boots into percussive instruments to not only entertain, but communicate, given the considerable variety of dialects

Miscellany Page 354

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Foraging Thyme

Winter Whites

by Melissa Petitto

Well, readers, it’s still cold out side and a nourishing soup is on my mind. This week, I was pondering the white vegetables in the farmers market and their often overlooked brilliance. These vegetables, which are lacking in pigment, have a phytonutrient, or plant chemical, known as anthoxanthin.

Vegetables such as garlic, onion, fen nel, potato, turnip, cauliflower, jicama, parsnip, and mushrooms all fall into this category. These vegetables have some powerful health benefits such as being fiber, potassium, and magnesium rich. These nutrient-dense vegetables have been shown to help protect against hypertension and perhaps even improve bone health.

The two vegetables I am singling out today are cauliflower and fennel. Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable that is naturally high in fiber and B-vitamins, and has been shown to protect against carcinogens. Fennel is a fiber-, folate-, potassium-rich vegetable that has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, great for skin health, and heart-healthy.

Please join me in making this heartwarming roasted cauliflower fennel soup.

Roasted Cauliflower Fennel Soup

Yield: Serves 8

3 each fennel bulbs, fennel fronds saved for garnish

4 cups cauliflower florets

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup Miyoko’s vegan butter, salted

1 cup sweet onion, diced

2 tablespoons garlic paste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup vegan heavy cream

1 tablespoon orange or mandarin zest

Santa Barbara by the Glass

Party for Pinot: 23rd World of Pinot Noir Event Makes

Triumphant Santa Barbara Return

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. Thinly slice the fennel and arrange on the baking sheet, along with the cauliflower florets. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer to the oven and roast for 20 minutes or until golden brown and tender.

4. While the vegetables roast, add the Miyoko’s vegan butter to a large heavy-bottomed pot. Melt over medium heat.

5. Add in the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent and lightly caramelized. Stir in the dried thyme.

6. Add in the roasted fennel, cauliflower, and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

7. Turn off the heat, transfer to the Vitamix, add the heavy cream and orange zest, and blend until smooth and creamy. Adjust the seasonings.

8. Serve garnished with fennel fronds.

by Gabe Saglie

“The practices we use to do business today, from a sustainability standpoint, are the same ones my grandfather used 95 years ago,” vintner Steve Sangiacomo told me this week. “How we farm, how we treat our employees – it’s all about responsibility.”

Sangiacomo Family Wines is a premium wine brand in Northern California – they manage 14 vineyards across 1,600 acres of wine grapes in areas like Carneros, Sonoma County, and the Petaluma Gap. The family grew pear trees for many decades until turning to viticulture in 1969. “My dad was one of the first to plant pinot noir in our area,” says Sangiacomo.

a terroir element that’s the key to pinot noir and its expression.”

Today, aside from the Sangiacomo label, more than 20 top-tier pinot makers source grapes from Roberts Road.

Melissa Petitto, R.D., is an executive chef and co-founder at Thymeless My Chef SB, was a celebrity personal chef for 16 years, just finished her 10th cookbook, and is an expert on nutrition and wellness.

This pioneering lineage will be spotlighted during this year’s World of Pinot Noir (WOPN), the annual international gathering of wine producers and wine consumers that returns to the RitzCarlton Bacara on March 2-4. The weekend features myriad tastings, seminars, and culinary offerings. The “Discover Roberts Road Vineyards Dinner” takes place Saturday night and takes guests on a tasting tour of one of the Sangiacomo’s family’s most revered vineyards.

“This was an undiscovered site in the Petaluma Gap that my dad found in the late ’90s during one of his weekend drives,” recalls Sangiacomo. A property that sees fog push in from the Pacific each night and, often, linger well into the afternoon, it was considered too risky an investment by previous potential buyers. Was the site too cool for grapes to fully ripen?

What sold the Sangiacomo family were the rich soils – they were prime for grape-growing just as they were. “It’s the only site we’ve ever purchased where experts didn’t recommend any amendments,” says the third-generation farmer. In fact, “there’s a wonderful Burgundian theme to this site, thanks to a creek that meandered across the property for centuries and that created

The Saturday, March 4, dinner will explore the expressive potential of this vineyard, featuring eight Roberts Road pinot noir wines from a trio of producers – Sangiacomo, Saxon Brown, and Black Kite. “Guests will get to taste the same vineyard fruit through the minds of three different artists,” says Steve Sangiacomo. The fête, which starts at 7 pm in the Bacara Rotunda, costs $275. The Sangiacomo family will be there, as well as winemaker James MacPhail –he’s made more than 100 different pinots and chardonnays with 90+ scores, making him one of only a few members of Sonoma’s so-called 90+/90+ Club.

An exclusive code, SANGIACOMO23, shaves $75 off each ticket pair when you buy them at www.WOPN.com

Pinot for Dinner

All the dinner experiences at WOPN are immersive, aimed to impress, but also aimed at taking the pinot-curious deep into the grape’s uncanny knack to match food. Also on Saturday night – the Burgundy Dinner ($500), to feature a palate-blowing curation of French masterpieces by the event’s somm team; this event will present five courses inside the Angel Oak wine cellar.

On Friday night, a single-vineyard pinot noir dinner of EnRoute winery from the Russian River Valley is sold out. But a few seats remain in what is sure to be a spectacular feast honoring Josh Jensen, the pioneer of luxury California pinot who passed away last June. Jensen founded Calera Winery in 1975 and grew it into one of the most revered pinot noir producers in the world, while also spearheading the establishment of the Mt. Harlan AVA in 1990. The Calera Winery Dinner ($350) will be hosted by winemaker Mike

The Roberts Road Vineyard is in the spotlight during this year’s WOPN

Waller and will feature select bottles, with intimate stories about Jensen to match.

The two Grand Tastings – on Friday and Saturday afternoons, from 3:30 to 6 pm – are the flagship events of WOPN, of course, and the ultimate chance to sip and mingle with other pinot aficionados. Sprawled across Bacara’s Grand Ballroom, the access to phenomenal pinots is unmatched – hundreds of special bottles to choose from, and a chance at each table to chat with winemakers and gain first-hand perspectives. The Grand Tastings run $190, but here’s a tip – that SANGIACOMO23 code will knock $45 off this price, too.

Pinot Around the World

Various seminars throughout the weekend provide intimate insights – these are limited-seating events that put you faceto-face with wine world luminaries, such as Santa Barbara’s own Greg Brewer Brewer’s two-hour Friday morning seminar ($125) will spotlight the 2020 and 2021 vintages and comparatively taste through single-vineyard, cool-climate pinots from both Brewer-Clifton in the Sta. Rita Hills and southern Australia’s Golden Steps brand. Both are part of the Jackson Family Wines portfolio.

“We’ll be looking at areas that are geographically disparate but that share a certain energy and cadence,” Brewer told me this week. The two growing regions, both renowned for producing world-class pinot noir grapes, are quite literally a world apart – different hemispheres, opposite growing seasons. But both brands make pinot “in a very natural way,” continues Brewer.

“They both started around the same time, in the mid ’90s, and their approach is comparable. So, a lot of constants, except for the vast difference in geography. So, we’ll also be looking at unity, at what unifies these wines. It should be a pretty fascinating discussion.”

Brewer, who was named Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year in 2020, has been making pinot noir in Santa Barbara County since 1991. To him,

an annual international affair dedicated to the elegant and nuanced Burgundian grape makes sense. “It’s so singular and noble and distinctive and site-transmissive, and there are so many beautiful aesthetics and versions of it from all over the world,” he muses, “that it really captivates and captures people’s attention.”

Here are three other WOPN highlights –events you can attend as single, one-off experiences or that you can weave together into your own, personal pinot noir adventure:

Opening Night Party ($150): Best Thursday night fête in town, officially launching WOPN’s 23rd year. Held in Bacara’s airy Ballroom foyer and underthe-stars terrace, and starting at 7 pm, this party features top somms pouring, edibles from the Bacara kitchen, and tunes by Dante Marsh & The Vibe Setters. Winemakers from around the world show up – they’re all in an especially fun mood, in anticipation of a weekend brimming with camaraderie. And wine.

Translating Terroir Through Bubbles ($150): This two-hour seminar begins at 9:30 am and is an exploration of the role pinot noir plays in bubbly. A

retrospective tasting of sparklers from Champagne, Willamette Valley, Sonoma, Monterey, the SLO Coast, and Santa Barbara is enhanced by insight from industry leaders like J Vineyards winemaker Nicole Hitchcock and Domaine Carneros winemaker Zak Miller

The Pinot Party Luncheon ($175): One of four midday feasts offered across the weekend, this one, on Sunday from noon to 2 pm, brings together pinot noirs from top California growing sites. Labels include Chalk Hill Estate from Sonoma, The Four Graces from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and Foley Estates from Sta. Rita Hills, top-tier producers all. Fun food – such as Santa Maria-style barbecue sliders and wood-fired pizzas – and lawn games round out a super-special gathering.

Look for the WOPN Online Silent Auction to open up before the end of this month, with access to a wide range of rare wines. Part of the WOPN proceeds fund nonprofit projects and scholarships aimed at elevating the appreciation of pinot noir around the world.

The VIP Passport for all-access, all weekend costs $1,925. If still available, a package that includes the VIP Passport as well as a two-night stay in one of the Ritz-Carlton Bacara’s Ocean View Suites runs $8,850.

See you there!

Vintner Steve Sangiacomo (left) and winemaker James MacPhail are part of the Sangiacomo Family Wines team

Josh Jensen, who passed away last year, will be honored during one of the dinners at this year’s World of Pinot Noir Event at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara

Santa Barbara’s own Greg Brewer, considered one of the industry’s premier pinot noir makers, will lead one of WOPN seminars

Global Leadership Center with dinner, an awards ceremony, and a keynote speech from Erik Lucero , site lead of Google Quantum A.I. in Santa Barbara, who talked about how a passion for math led to building a quantum computer.

Women’s Hoops Enters Playoffs

The No. 5 Westmont women’s basketball team was led by its seniors in the final regular-season game of the 2022-23 season on Feb. 18. The Warriors (23-2, 16-2 GSAC) beat Golden State Athletic Conference foe Jessup (81-44) on the shoulders of Stefanie Berberabe and Sydney Brown . Berberabe produced her third triple-double of the season and the fourth of her career, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Brown notched a double-double of 13 points and 18 rebounds, 11 of which were

from the offensive glass. It was Brown’s fifth double-double of the season. With the win, Westmont claimed sole possession of the GSAC Regular Season Championship, the No. 1 seed in this week’s GSAC Tournament in Atherton, and an automatic berth into the NAIA National Championship Tournament.

Westmont men’s basketball (17-10, 10-8), which has won five straight games, competes in the GSAC quarterfinals at Hope International in Fullerton on Thursday, Feb. 23.

we were given a tour of the upper De La Vina Street facility, which has been remodeled significantly to prepare for the opening.

After spending the last seven years of her career in emergency veterinarian medicine, Dr. Crawford said she saw a need for a facility to be the middle ground between a general veterinary practice and an emergency room. “With sometimes a month’s wait to get into a general practice, and sometimes a six- to eight-hour wait in an emergency hospital, there needs to be a place for people to bring their pets with urgent but not life-threatening needs,” she said. “It’s similar to human care: Sometimes you can’t wait to be seen by your regular doctor, but it’s not necessary to go to the emergency room. We offer that middle ground, but for pets.”

As it stands now, an uptick in pet adoptions during the pandemic has led to general veterinarians in the area being solidly booked for weeks or even months, which has put pressure – and long wait times – on the two local emergency veterinary emergency hospitals, Dan said. “We saw a need to open a walk-in type facility that can treat patients pretty quickly, and if we can’t, we’ll refer them to the emergency vet.”

Urgent but non-life-threatening issues could include gastrointestinal issues, coughing, torn nails, foxtails, allergic reactions, bite wounds, lacerations, and more. The clinic will not provide treatment for teeth, administer vaccines, or conduct healthy puppy checkups. “Those are all things you would still see your regular veterinarian for,” Dr. Crawford said, adding that the clinic will not carry flea and tick medicine or pet food. The clinic is intended to primarily treat cats and dogs.

The 2,800-square-foot space will offer a serene waiting room, three exam rooms, a large treatment area, staff offices and break room, radiology suite for X-rays, and a surgical suite for surgeries for special situations such as removing a foreign body from a pet’s stomach. The hospital will have its own lab to be able to process samples quickly. There will also be a comforting room for humane euthanasia. “When that time comes, you don’t want to wait longer than you should,” Dan said. “Unfortunately, euthanasia is part of the business and we want to provide a serene place here.” The clinic is centrally located in Santa Barbara near coffee shops and restaurants, and has ample parking.

“Our goal for the clinic has always been built on two pillars: alleviating congestion at the local emergency hospitals, and providing a comfortable work environment for veterinary professionals,” Dan told us, explaining that emergency veterinary care takes its toll on medi-

cal professionals with high stress and emotional situations, overnight shifts, and staffing issues. “We want this to be a place where our team is happy to work, and is compensated fairly,” Dr. Crawford said. The hospital will not be able to accommodate overnight care, so employees – which includes doctors, kennel assistants, Registered Veterinary Technicians, and receptionists – will not be working overnight shifts. The facility will be locally owned and operated by the Crawfords, rather than by a corporation.

Both Dan and Addie were born and raised in Santa Barbara. Dr. Crawford attended Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where she worked as an emergency student assistant at the hospital’s emergency department. She completed a general rotation internship at Veterinary Specialty Hospital in San Diego before returning home to Santa Barbara, where she spent five years working as an emergency veterinarian at a local emergency vet and has traveled throughout California working at various specialty hospitals.

“We are really excited to bring this new facility to Santa Barbara residents and their beloved pets. I really think it will fill an important need in our community,” Dr. Crawford said. The hospital is scheduled to open in mid-March to early April. The facility will be open every day from noon to 8 pm and is located at 2821 De La Vina St.

For more information, visit www. urgentvetcaresb.com.

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

Stefanie Berberabe (photo by Brad Elliott)

Dr. Addie Crawford and her husband Dan, a local realtor, are the owners of Urgent Veterinary Care of Santa Barbara on De La Vina Street

Kelly Mahan Herrick, also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond.

foam sealants, and other materials to help patch up damage to their homes or shelters.

The third program focused on assisting the refugees being externally displaced by the war and centered on supporting Ukrainians in small countries such as Moldova that may not have had the resources and infrastructure needed to meet the influx of refugees. ShelterBox provided hygiene kits and other basics but was also able to support refugees with small stipends to help with food, prescriptions, health care needs, and additional essentials.

With conditions always evolving, they have now focused all of their efforts within Ukraine. “You have now a year later, 13 million people who have been displaced by the war, and that’s over eight million people who have been externally displaced – it’s like a country – then five-and-a-half million people who have been internally displaced,” said Murray. “The other thing that I should mention is that there’s 17-anda-half million people in Ukraine that need humanitarian assistance, so it’s nearly half of the population. That stays true one year later.”

ShelterBox is currently working on its fourth program, with a fifth one soon to launch. “We started evolving aid as the seasons changed,” said Murray, “and now we’re in the midst of winter, so we’re here right now delivering probably the most important programs we’ve done in the past year, which are helping people survive the winter.” Both programs will run concurrently and are distributing similar resources but are differentiated by geographical regions, beneficiaries, and other logistical nuances.

“We have a very customized set of aid items that are based on the assessments that have been done, what people have asked for, and what they need right now,” said Murray. For the freezing Ukrainian winters, this means they are focusing on the distribution of high thermal blankets and sleeping bags, shelter repair kits, solar lights, water carriers, and especially wood-fired stoves that allow individuals and families to keep their space warm. “A lot of the air strikes are targeted to power infrastructure, so you’ve had: One, a lack of power in so many areas, but then you also have rolling outages all the time. That affects not just electricity, but then there’s no heat and then there’s no running water,” said Murray.

“Some people are in dormitories, if they’re coming from Donetsk. We toured one today that people are going to move into next week. It’s 110 people and they’re very tiny, tiny rooms, but each tiny room might have four little single beds next to each other.” Murray told us about one family she had just met that had 15-minutes to flee their home. Initially, they went to a basement with 60 people but only one heater. That family was fortunately able to find a small, single apartment for themselves to rent, but with no heat or power, the stove, thermal blankets, and solar lights were vital for helping them stay there.

A Worldwide Team

With operations around the world, it takes an array of experts and specialists to help with logistics and distributions so they can quickly respond to these areas. “The team that I’m with is, I would say, some of the most highly skilled people in all of emergency response,” said Murray. Along with logistics professionals, there are security details, as well as monitoring and evaluation professionals that help make the systems operate efficiently and safely. Of course, that doesn’t count the many supporting locals and organizations that help make their work possible. “When we’re here on deployment, we don’t drive. We always have a local driver who is really your fixer, and who speaks the language, translates – a lifeline to be able to do aid work.”

In Kyiv, Murray was part of a five-person team, though she mentioned ShelterBox has a larger team currently in Syria and Turkey, responding to the emerging crisis after the devastating earthquakes. “Our work in Syria is the longest in our history in 11 years. We’ve brought emergency shelter to over half a million people. We also work in Turkey and a lot of what we make is in Gaziantep, which is affected by the earthquake.” The ShelterBox team in Turkey had just experienced two aftershocks the day we spoke and had to move from their eighth-floor hotel space to sleeping on the lobby floor for the night. “We’ve already done an airlift with Turkish Airlines of tents to Turkey. We had a lot of aid supplies, blankets, and children’s clothing already in Syria for our winter distributions that we’ve diverted to families who have been affected by the earthquakes.” Whether it is Ukraine or Syria and Turkey, many of these areas have ongoing needs and will take years to recover and rebuild. In Ukraine, that recovery can only truly begin once the fighting has stopped. From now, to that moment and beyond, ShelterBox will be there, helping provide the resources needed to maintain some sentiment of home.

Zach Rosen is the Managing Editor of the Montecito Journal. He also enjoys working with beer, art, and life.

Child Care Costs: Childcare is one of the biggest expenses for working parents. In over half of states, full-time care for an infant can cost more than college tuition, according to Child Care Aware of America. Childcare in California costs 11.7% of a married couple’s income, fifth worst in the nation. Childcare in Florida is more affordable at 8.3% of a married couple’s income.

Government Regulations: California consistently ranks last, 50 out of 50 states, for the ease of doing business. Florida consistently ranks among the best states for business, thanks to its pro-business state policies, competitive costs of doing business and a streamlined regulatory environment. Florida’s regulatory agencies and local governments provide quicker, less costly, and more predictable permitting processes for significant economic development projects.

Homelessness: California reports a homeless population of 161,548, highest in the nation. Florida reports a homeless population of 27,487, almost six times lower. However, California has a total population of 40 million, almost twice the size of Florida at 22 million. If Florida had 40 million residents, not 22 million, its homeless count would be 49,976 compared to the 161,548 homeless in California. San Francisco and Los Angeles are the poster children for high-visibility garbage-strewn tent cities with their associated panhandling, drug addiction, mental issues, public intoxication, and public urination.

Unemployment Rate: Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.5% in December 2022, a full percentage point better than the national average of 3.5%, despite enduring two hurricanes in late 2022. That is fourth-best in the nation behind Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota. California’s unemployment rate for the same period was 4.1%, 39th-best in the country, but better than New York (4.3%), Illinois (4.7%), and District of Columbia (4.7%).

Illegal Immigration: California wholeheartedly embraces illegal immigration and supports open borders, amnesty, sanctuary cities, and state and federal benefits paid to illegal aliens. Newsom not only wants to extend healthcare and other government benefits to illegal aliens, but he has no interest whatsoever in complying with federal immigration law. Florida, like President Barack Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address, vowed to send illegal immigrants “to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.” DeSantis says that Florida has a responsibility to stand up for the rule of law on immigration. He calls Florida “a refuge of sanity and a citadel of freedom.”

Demographic Growth: In 2022, Florida became the nation’s fastest-growing state with a 1.9% population increase, due to a healthy blend of net domestic in-migration, net international in-migration, and natural born increases. Florida has experienced positive growth every year since 1946. At the other end of the scale, California ranked dead last in net migration; 300,000 people moved out of California in 2022, the most of any state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This was the third-consecutive annual decline for California. In the last 10 years, California has lost 1.625 million residents to other states.

Make the Choice

Should public elementary schools teach critical race theory of racial and ethnic class conflict? California says yes, Florida says no. Should gas be $4 a gallon? California says yes, Florida says no. Should homeless people be allowed to turn public spaces into tent cities? California says yes, Florida says no. Should biological males be allowed to dominate girls’ sports? Florida says no. California not only says yes, but it is punishing Florida by forbidding California employees to take state-funded trips to Florida, as well as 16 other states.

To win, Newsom must dominate his natural constituencies — the powerful liberal media, teachers’ and other public and private sector’s unions, the education establishment, government workers, Hollywood, progressives, socialists, and big corporations seeking to buy protection and favored status.

To win, DeSantis needs to win the support of working-class voters, recapture the vote of suburban women who hated Donald Trump, and make greater inroads with minorities and marginalized groups.

Civility in Political Discourse

LA Times Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial correspondent Michael Hiltzik recently labeled Florida Republican Gov. DeSantis, as “the tin-pot thug of Florida politics.” That seems a bit harsh to describe the man who in November 2022 carried the Florida governor’s race by the largest margin in 40 years with wins in 62 of 67 Florida counties, including normally Democrat-controlled Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties.

Last summer, in a cross-country shouting match, Gov. Newsom said of DeSantis: “We are as different as daylight and darkness.” The California governor called DeSantis a bully, a fraud, an authoritarian, a fake conservative, a betrayer of Ronald Reagan’s legacy, and several times “DeSantos.”

In November 2022, Newsom carried the California governor’s race by winning 25 of 58 California counties. Big pluralities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego sealed the outcome. By dominating the coastal communities, which make up 68% of California’s population, Newsom won convincingly. Both DeSantis and Newsom are rising stars in their respective parties.

Let the race begin… but keep it clean!

street accounts from L.A. and Ventura counties revealed to me that there were many unreported incidents of people who died from an overdose or suicide while living in a hotel supplied by the Project Room Key program. This is a sad and underreported commentary for a program that was intended to save lives as the state of some individuals’ mental health and their substance abuse was either ignored or forgotten.

With millions of dollars being spent on programs like the Housing First Model and Project Room Key, it’s become an expensive and ineffective endeavor to address homelessness and vagrancy simultaneously. Do the administrative costs and salaries to pay service providers give taxpayers realistic results? Are we blindly funding approved solutions without fully knowing how complex of a crisis we are facing?

The homeless situation overall is in crisis. Service providers have exposed that in many cases there are no fundamental outcomes toward resolving the problems impacting the public. Communities are stressed and overwhelmed by the negative impacts of chronic vagrancy. Encampments, trash, and unlawful behavior have now become normal yet remain unacceptable. Federal and state governments continue to allocate millions of dollars into cities, yet nothing is changing. Studies show that a majority of the homeless population in California are refusing or unable to overcome their unhoused situation. Whether it’s addiction, mental health, or a combination of both, services today should be focused on aggressive treatment practices and relieve law enforcement and emergency medical responders from having to redundantly care for the chronic vagrancy issues the public faces on a daily basis.

The public has a right to understand how complex homeless issues are impacting funding initiatives and do not always provide significant changes for the homeless population. The public needs to start asking harder questions directed at funding and programs that use the Housing First model and the results of Project Room Key. The public needs more transparency because finding solutions that work are truly the public’s responsibility. How much longer can we stand by and not question the lack of measurable outcomes associated with the millions of taxpayer dollars that are being spent? Most if not all homeless services are free. However, we are not seeing any significant return on the public investment to say outcomes are working.

I’m asking the public to involve themselves in understanding the complexities associated with homelessness. Many government meetings are available on TV or online. There, the public has access to learn how funding is being approved and being proposed to solve homelessness. At a recent Inter Neighborhood Council meeting for the City of Oxnard, a public speaker asked how the Homeless Services Department intends to address the negative impacts of chronic homelessness? The Housing Director responded with vague phrases instead of providing concrete solutions. This clearly demonstrates that governments and service providers struggle with addressing chronic vagrancy and should start thinking about treatment-oriented approaches to minimize the current impacts we are seeing on our city streets.

In conclusion, I propose for a task force to be convened where local governments, community stakeholders, service providers, and interested citizens can organize a formal ad hoc committee to evaluate local government funding for homeless services. As a result, the committee would provide feedback and recommendations to improve outcomes. A committee would provide the public with the transparency needed in order to know why the current funding practices are not fixing the problem.

We already know that millions of dollars have been spent on homelessness over the past five years. Local governments and the service provider community must be held accountable for the taxpayer money being spent to address this public crisis. It’s time for the public to get involved.

Lang Martinez is a homeless advocate in Ventura County; lhoughmartinez@gmail.com

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Villa De Montecito, 1934 N. Jameson LN, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. The Montecito Villa Association, 7 W. Figueroa St., STE 300. Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000348. Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following

person(s) is/are doing business as: Santa Barbara Piano School, 1070 Fairwar Rd, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. Seungah Seo, 743 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 7, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL).

Barbara, CA, 93105. Tim A. Deran, 21 Betty Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 27, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000213.

Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FBN No. 2023-0000330.

Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as:

T.D Services, 21 Betty Drive, Santa

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Plateful, 205 Oceano Ave, Apt 7, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109. Miriam C Burroughs, 205 Oceano Ave, Apt 7, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109.

IN

Martine Marie Daniel: July 16, 1963 – January 5, 2023

Martine Marie Daniel, 59, of Coarsegold, California, passed away on Jan. 5, 2023, surrounded by loving family.

Martine was born July 16, 1963, in Frankfurt, Germany. The daughter of Leota A. Robb and Darwin F. Daniel moved to Germany from the United States in the late 1940s, for the purpose of helping to rebuild Germany after WWII. As a young child growing up in Europe, Martine enjoyed many ski vacations with her family in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Lech and Kitzbuhel, Austria. Family memories include Easter parties in England, visits to Sweden with good friends, or just staying home and always having dinner by candlelight. In 1975, Martine moved with her family to Santa Barbara, Calif.

After graduating from Bishop Garcia Diego High School in 1981, Martine went on to Long Beach and San Francisco State College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design.

On Dec. 5, 2015, Martine married Leonard Paul Estrada in Monterey, Calif., with Clergy officiating. Martine is survived by her husband, Leonard, daughter Olivia Wilms, and her sister, Nicole Daniel.

Martine worked as an office designer for the government out of college and worked for many other firms during her career working in the South Bay Area.

Martine especially loved art, music, animals, and cooking.

Leonard’s favorite memories of Martine was her love of life and traveling with her to any and all destinations, be it Paris, Spain, Mexico, and San Miguel Allende. Martine loved going to concerts and if there was any room to dance, we were there right up front – San Francisco (Los Lobos) and Murphy’s (Doobie Brothers) Hollister amphitheater. I especially loved the family meals that we cooked together.

Olivia’s favorite memories of her mother include playing card games and Scrabble in Hollister, taking long walks at Campbell Park, and going ice skating in the winter. She also taught Olivia to draw and paint, care for animals and make special bonds with her animals. Martine had a vivid imagination and keen sense of humor and storytelling. One of her greatest joys was cooking with her family while listening to music. She saw the world through an artistic lens and was an expressive and original free spirit.

Remaining to cherish Martine’s memory are spouse Leonard; child Olivia Wilms; sister Nicole Daniel; brother-in-law David Catalfimo; niece and nephew Cosmo Catalfimo and Ella Catalfimo; and her close friend Carol Anne Demachkie

A memorial for Martine will be held on March 4, 2023, at 1 pm on Butterfly Beach in Montecito. Martine’s ashes will be given to the ocean here at her favorite location on the coast.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 12, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000082. Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Ivonne’s Mexican Art Boutique, 420 Old Coast Hwy Unit A, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103.

Maria Ivonne Zarate, 420 Old Coast Hwy Unit A, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was

Roger Arlen Phillips: 1934 – 2023

Roger Arlen Phillips, 88, beloved and devoted husband, father, and friend, passed away quietly surrounded by love in his home in Montecito on Jan. 19, 2023.

Roger was born in 1934 to Paul Edward and Lela Belle Phillips of Bakersfield, Calif. When he was a young boy, his family vacationed in Santa Barbara, where he fell in love with the architecture, theaters, culture, and landscape. At 17, his architectural drawing instructor and author of Santa Barbara Adobes, Clarence Cullimore, submitted – unbeknownst to Roger at the time – an architectural drawing and model project to the 1952 Ford Motor Company Industrial Arts Awards contest, and won a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Detroit and Dearborn for Roger and Clarence. His entry “was judged superior to any of the several hundred other entries from the 48 states, Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands.”

Roger obtained his degree in architecture from UC Berkeley in 1958 and soon after began work with Howell Arendt Mosher Grant Architects on Sola Street in Santa Barbara until returning to Bakersfield, meeting his wife who had come from Connecticut to teach in the fall of 1959, and beginning his family. In 1964, Roger and his new family moved to Santa Barbara, where he returned to the same firm with the updated name of Arendt Mosher Grant Architects on Micheltorena Street. Roger became a partner in 1975, with a further update of the firm name to Grant Pedersen Phillips in 1982. The firm name continued to evolve with new principals, and Roger retired from architecture in 2007. The firm now practices under the name of 19six Architects to honor the founding year of the firm, one of the oldest and most established firms in California.

Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Roger designed and was involved with numerous projects that have served and enriched our community here in Santa Barbara and the south-central coast including, the City and County of Santa Barbara, UCSB, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, Metropolitan Theatres, and the Music Academy of the West. Two of his most cherished projects were the Vista de las Cruces Elementary School in Gaviota and the renovation of the Granada Theatre. The small, beautiful school and grand historic theater are completely different in scale and use, yet both required the ultimate expressions of his expertise, drive, sensitivity, character, and force as a man and architect.

Roger was a vital and present member of the community. He was a member of The American Institute of Architects as well as a Rotarian, where he served as president in 1987. He served on the Montecito Board of Architectural Review and other architectural review boards throughout the years.

filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 23, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000161. Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 22CV04680. To all interested parties: Petitioner Neal Stuart Mazer filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Neal Stuart Hiken. The Court orders that all persons interested

in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed January 18, 2023 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: March 15, 2023 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published February 8, 15, 22, and March 1, 2023.

Roger also served on the board of CAMA, The Community Arts Music Association, for a number of years and passionately enjoyed their concerts throughout his lifetime. He was a great lover of music, acoustics, and instruments in both practice and appreciation. During his involvement with the restoration of the Arlington Theatre in the ’70s and ’80s, he promoted the inclusion of a rare Wonder Morton theater organ. He played Piano Rags by Scott Joplin and jazz on the ukulele, of which he had an impressive collection. The last concert he attended was at the Granada Theatre, where Jake Shimabukuro performed in December 2022.

Roger was unequaled in spirit and mind. He possessed a rare combination of knowledge, creativity, and vision, coupled with grace, charm, wit, and diplomacy. He was eloquent, positive, and constructive. He was a man of great faith and awed by the magnificence of our planet. He was grounded and grateful for his life. He was devoted to his family, whom he considered his greatest treasure.

He is survived by Diana, his adored wife of 62 years, his sister Suzi Specht, daughter Kimberly Hayes, son Marc Phillips, and their respective families. A memorial service will be

held at El Montecito Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 11, at 1:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, please remember CAMA.

Martine Marie Daniel loved art, music, animals, and cooking

Roger at his wedding to his wife of 62 years, Diana

Roger Arlen Phillips was an impactful architect and lover of the arts, especially CAMA and its performances

But while Flying A made nearly 1,000 silent films during its decade in town, “All Michael and I did was talk about it,” Blondell said. That’s because, Bernard said, after doing a lot of research and working on a few scenes with his improv group in L.A., he got stuck working with an early draft and shelved the project.

Hearing a podcast about Hollywood history rekindled Bernard’s interest, and he started anew on the play, coming up with a fictional plot about real characters, partly because only about two percent of the movies, series, Westerns, and shorts Flying A shot here survive in any form. The play revolves around the two most famous Flying A projects, The Diamond from the Sky and Damaged Goods , and the multimedia work includes screening scenes of the cast filming the first movie, at least re-imagined by the creative team.

“These are all real people, but everything that happens is made up and I take extreme liberty with the history,” Bernard said. “It’s definitely not a documentary.”

But much of the studio’s ethos of the multi-genre approach is woven within Diamond to Dust, Blondell said.

“It’s jam-packed with different influences but knit together into something that is really unified – a screwball comedy but so seamlessly written that it feels like a classic American comedy with contemporary energy.”

It doesn’t hurt that local silent-movie accompanist Michael Mortilla created an improvised score for the play and filmed sequences and set design to place

Diamond to Dust: A Flying A Fantasy takes the audience on a comedic journey through the silent-film era and the famous local movie studio (photo by Erik Rodkey)

Tickets and details at (805) 893-3535 or www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

The Carsey-Wolf Center’s Black Hollywood series screens Gina PrinceBythewood’s The Woman King, a historical action-epic set amidst the brutal African slave trade in the 1800s that stars Viola Davis and was strangely snubbed by the Oscars this year. Production designer Akin McKenzie does the Q&A thing after the Feb. 28 screening.

the piece in its era; even the publicity photos are in black-and-white.

Blondell called the play “a kind of Valentine to Santa Barbara,” one that imagines the mindset of those early filmmakers from a century ago. “I’ve wondered about their artistic trajectories and desires as they looked out at that same ocean and purple mountains we still see today. We’re all just storytellers.”

Diamond to Dust: A Flying A Fantasy performs at Westmont’s Porter Theatre Feb. 24-March 4. Visit www.westmont.edu/ boxoffice for tickets and more information.

Focus on Film: Segueing From SBIFF

After hundreds of screenings and appearances by more Academy Award-hopefuls (and likely winners) gathered in one place this side of the Oscar luncheon, the 38th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival wrapped last weekend. But there’s still plenty of movie magic around beyond the cineplex and streaming.

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ annual visit from the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour alights at the Arlington Theatre for the 31st time to screen 17 of the world’s best short films and videos on mountain subjects, ranging from extreme sports to mountain culture and environment, over two different programs (Tuesday, Feb. 28, and Wednesday, March 1). Entries come from all over North America and around the world, and range in length from Continuum, Canada’s two-minute meditation on flow, to Switzerland’s Wild Waters, which runs 45 minutes and was actually edited for the tour.

“I ’m the longtime MJ arts editor and Giving List columnist. After 17 years in my rental cottage downtown I now need to relocate. Ugh!

I’m looking for a solo space (cottage, apartment, guest quarters, etc.), locally, with rent in the low $2Ks, available by the end of February-ish. Nonsmoker, no pets, great references. Might you know of something?” Call Steven at (805) 837-7262 or email sml.givinglist@gmail.com .

Finally, SBIFF itself dives right back into the film-and-filmmaker fray on Sunday, Feb. 26, with a Riviera Theatre screening of We Have a Ghost, which began streaming on Netflix two days earlier. Writer/ director Christopher Landon, who previously helmed Freaky, will be interviewed on stage after the credits roll on the film about a family becoming internet sensations and the targets of a shadowy government agency after finding a ghost with a murky past haunting their new house. The event is part of the Cinema Society series but open to the public for free. Info at www.sbiff.org.

Head for the Hills: Classical Concerts off the Coast

Due for a day trip but desiring to hear chamber music at your destination? Here are a couple of concerts to consider. Over in Ojai, the Chamber On The Mountain presents the Neave Piano Trio, featuring violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura, who have been praised for “eloquent phrasing and deft control of textures” by The Strad magazine and earned plaudits around the world. Grammy-nominated for its latest album, 2022’s Musical Remembrances, the trio will play a vivacious varied program featuring Gabriela Lena Frank ’s “Four Folk Songs,” “Five Melodies for Piano Trio, Op. 59, No. 1” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Frank Martin’s “Piano Trio on Irish Folk Songs” and Smetana’s “Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15.” Show time is 3 pm on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Logan House at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts. Visit www. chamberonthemountain.com.

Heading north, the Santa Ynez Valley Concert series continues its season of Music Academy-related programming that has boasted former Marilyn Horne Vocal Competition winner baritone John Brancy, ex-VP of programming/saxophonist Patrick Posey and faculty artists, Takács Quartet, now turns to fellow faculty member Conor Hanick for its next recital at St. Mark’s in-the-Valley Church in Los Olivos on Wednesday, March 1. The pianist will perform Beethoven Sonatas No. 30 & 31 sandwiched around Sonatas No. 2-5 by Galina Ustvolskaya, comparing and contrasting the two composers who employed the piano sonata as a long-lasting laboratory for exploring musical ideas. Visit www.smitv.org/ syv-concert-series.

Book ’em: Chaucer’s Choices

The midtown bookstore goes local for author events on three successive days to mark the end of the month, beginning Sunday, Feb. 26, with Shaunna and John Stith’s Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day. With Earth Day 2023 barely a month away, the Stiths’ first children’s picture book uses fictional schoolgirl Sam to trace the 1969 oil spill off our coast that sparked a new wave of environmental activism…

Monday, Feb. 27, brings Ichak Adizes Ph.D., the developer of Organizational Therapy, who has advised Fortune 100 companies and leaders of countries. After publishing 25 books, Adizes has penned a personal memoir called The Accordion Player: My Journey from Fear to Love. The book reveals how the author has learned to see challenges as opportunities for growth, from a childhood marked by imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp to his career as a thought leader who aids organizations in creating a culture of trust and respect….

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, Jarrell Jackman, who worked for the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation for 35 years as project administrator and CEO, talks about his new book Santa Barbara’s Royal Presidio, giving the historical property its due alongside the Mission and the Courthouse. Jackman chronicles the Presidio’s adobe construction and its place as the last Spanish fort founded and built in Spanish North America, in the process honoring the community that came together to ensure its preservation and faithful reconstruction. Details for the free signing events at www. chaucersbooks.com/event.

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

“Don’t agonize, organize.” — Florynce Kennedy

and languages.

It was certainly a show with a difference. A step up from the norm....

Montecito Style at the MClub

To the historic Santa Barbara Club for a talk by local writer Lorie Dewhirst Porter, author of the fascinating coffee table tome Montecito Style: Paradise on California’s Gold Coast with 250 colorful photos by Firooz Zahedi, whose work has been seen in Vanity Fair , Interview, Town & Country, Time, and Architectural Digest

Zahedi, a 74-year-old Iranian, also lives in our rarefied enclave with his wife, Beth Rudin DeWoody, who I used to see frequently in New York with an old acquaintance, Peter Brown, who used to manage The Beatles.

The lecture by Porter, who studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, as well as UCLA and USC, covered myriad architectural styles and the many architects, including George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs.

“It took me about a year to write and was made so much easier given all the downtime caused by the pandemic,” she told me when we sat next to each other at the lunch for 44 guests organized by

the MClub, a travel club for Montecito Bank & Trust premier clients, run by Maria McCall

Among the tony throng were Toni Amorteguy , Hiroko Benko , Anne Luther, Dana Hansen, Hildegard Gray, Erin Graffy, and Brendon Twigden

An Uplifting Summit

Prince Harry is going to be a guest speaker at an “intensive two-day summit” in San Francisco next month.

The Riven Rock resident will attend the event, with tickets costing $995, in his role as chief impact officer for BetterUp.

The summit, Uplift, is being billed as an event where business executives “can connect with industry icons, renowned researchers, and world-class coaches to share experiences, ideas, and inspiration needed to move their businesses forward.”

The Duke of Sussex, 38, is billed as “a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist.”

The Leslie Ridley-Tree Estate

The former Birnam Wood home of uber philanthropist Leslie Ridley-Tree, who died in October at the age of 98, has hit the market for $7.95 million.

The 4,900-square-foot, single-story home on 1.06 acres, which I last visited for Leslie’s Christmas party, is just a tiara’s toss from the tony enclave’s clubhouse.

Her extensive 700-piece wardrobe, including top labels such as Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Christian Lacroix, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, and Gucci, is also coming up for auction, organized by the Moving Miss Daisy’s Consignment and Auction House at La Cumbre Plaza.

I confidently predict Leslie’s considerable collection of Hermès silk scarves, a favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth, will fly off the auction block.

Off to a New Horizon

Could Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner be leaving his hit Paramount Network TV show Yellowstone?

The Oscar-winner reportedly wanted to limit his filming time to just one week shooting the second half of the fifth season as he works on his own passion project.

Costner, who just won a Golden Globe for his role on the show, is now directing and starring in his own Western epic, Horizon, which he co-wrote with Jon Baird with Sienna Miller, Luke Wilson, and Sam Worthington among the cast.

It has been picked up by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.

But, according to Deadline, network executives declined Costner’s offer and are instead moving forward with a spin-off series starring Matthew McConaughey Stay tuned…

Undergarments in Different Pools

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry’s British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom has stripped down to his underwear for a revealing new magazine shoot.

The 46-year-old Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean star is on the cover of Flaunt and talks about his relationship with the former Dos Pueblos High student.

“We’re in these very different pools,” he admitted. “Her pool is not a pool that I necessarily understand, and I think my pool is not a pool that she necessarily understands.

“Sometimes they are really, really, really challenging. I won’t lie. We definitely battle with our emotions and creativity.”

But he added: “I think we’re both aware of how blessed we are to have uniquely connected in a way that we did at the time that we did, and there’s definitely never a dull moment.”

Mountain Nomenclature

Carpinteria actor Ashton Kutcher wanted to name a mountain after his actress wife Mila Kunis

The Your Place or Mine star told British TV host James Corden that while exploring the South Pole, he climbed a remote mountain no one had ever ascended before.

“We climbed the mountain, we got to the top and the guide said, ‘You’re the first person that has ever climbed this mountain. You get to name it.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay it’s Mount Mila’ and he was like ‘No, no, no. It’s bad luck to name it after another person,’ so I didn’t do that.”

Instead, Kutcher, 45, decided to name the peak after the Russian word for “awesome.”

Raquel Welch Remembered

On a personal note, I remember actress and legendary 1960s and ’70s sex symbol Raquel Welch, who died at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 82.

I got to know her well when she was married to her third husband, French TV and film producer Andre Weinfeld , for 10 years from 1980 to 1990 and they were leasing singer Barry Manilow ’s Central Park West penthouse in Manhattan.

We would often eat at the Eurofluff hangout Le Relais, where she would frequently irritate the waiters, always ordering food that wasn’t on the menu.

The tony twosome invited me to a number of parties they hosted at Manilow’s aerie. I last saw her at a bash at the Beverly Hills Hotel thrown by publisher Jason Binn, owner of Hamptons, Ocean Drive, and Palm Beach magazines.

Welch’s career was indeed a Fantastic Voyage from her days as a San Diego beauty queen to international stardom, a Golden Globe award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Sightings

Actress-game show host Jane Lynch perusing the shelves at Homer Montecito on CVR...Warbler Katy Perry frolicking on the beach in Oahu, Hawaii...Singer Lady Gaga at the Rosewood Miramar.

Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than a decade

Erin Graffy, Jill Nida, Gary Simpson, Maria McCall, Danuta Bennett, author Lorie Dewhirst Porter, Katherine Murray-Morse, and Brendon Twigden (photo by Priscilla)

Maria McCall and author Lorie Dewhirst Porter (photo by Priscilla)

Patricia Kaplan, Toni Amorteguy, Hildegard Gray, Sandra Stingle, Barbara Toumayan, and Raye Haskell (photo by Priscilla)

Leslie Ridley-Tree’s house and vast wardrobe up for grabs (photo by Brad Elliott)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25

Popovich’s Perky Pets – The instigator and star of Gregory Popovich ’s Comedy Pet Theater comes by his circus-style show via family roots, as he grew up as the child of Russian circus performers Alex and Tamara Popovich. His parents were not only jugglers but also dog trainers, and young Gregory early on formed a special bond with animals. Before long, he was assisting in the dog act on stage, and by 14 he’d already fashioned a solo act of juggling on a free-standing ladder. Three years later, he joined the renowned Moscow Circus at age 17. Nowadays, Popovich has expanded the animal act, blending physical comedy and juggling feats with a plethora of performing pets including Diamond the Shetland Pony, house cats and dogs (all rescued from animal shelters), geese, white doves, goats, and parrots. All are trained using positive-reinforcement techniques that enhance their natural abilities. Popovich, who has also been an America’s Got Talent finalist, has presented thousands of shows in more than 20 countries and is currently in his 15th season at the Planet Hollywood Resort/Casino in Las Vegas, where Comedy Pet Theater was voted “Best Family Show” in town. Popovich and his pets return for a repeat performance in town this afternoon.

WHEN: 4 to 6 pm

WHERE: Marjorie Luke Theatre, Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St.

COST: $10 to $40

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or https://luketheatre.org/event/

Salty Strings at SOhO – The locally based bluegrass-loving quintet that features not only banjo, dobro, mandolin, guitar, and upright bass but also cello, have gigged all over town, from the Farmers Market and the Natural History Museum to Fig Mountain, M. Special, and Santa Barbara brewpubs. Not surprisingly, given their name, their favorite place to play and where many of its fans first heard the band, has been on the bluffs overlooking the ocean at Douglas Preserve on the Mesa. After four years together, two bandmates moved out of state, two others took extended trips to French Polynesia and Alaska, and the shows have stopped. But not knowing when they’d be regularly playing together again, the group recorded its first (and maybe

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Rodriguez Rollicks Flamenco – As one of Spain’s leading flamenco guitarists-composers, José Antonio Rodríguez has enjoyed a highly versatile career. He has performed and collaborated with an impressive array of artists including Paco de Lucía, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Astor Piazzolla, Joan Baez, George Benson, Arturo Sandoval, John McLaughlin, Rita Moreno, and Bobby Kimball of Toto, among others. While still in his 20s, Rodriguez became the youngest flamenco guitar professor at the Conservatory of Music in Cordoba, when he also composed music for orchestra, ballet, TV, and films. Rodriguez has released nine albums dating back to 1988; the latest, Adios Muchachos, in 2019, while La Sonanta has also published the guitarist-composer’s prolific work in a master series of books and DVDs. Tonight, Rodriguez is joined by fellow guitarist Andres Vadin and percussionist Nacho Arimany in the latest show from SBAcoustic.

WHEN: 8:30 pm

WHERE: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, 1221 State St., upstairs in Victoria Court

COST: $25 general, $70 includes dinner and preferred seating

INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27

LL Cool Keys – Time was, the world-renowned pianist Lang Lang performed regularly in Santa Barbara in both recitals and as a soloist in touring symphony orchestras. Once heralded by The New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet,” Lang Lang has become one of the world’s most influential and committed ambassadors for the arts in the 21st century, one who has played for billions of viewers at the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing, and for a few hundred children in the public schools. For his first local appearance in eight years, Lang Lang is tackling one of the most challenging compositions in the repertoire, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a hyper-expressive performance that represents a significant milestone in his stellar career. The powerful pianist will also perform Schumann’s “Arabesque in C major, Op. 18,” in Santa Barbara’s grand and glorious Granada Theatre.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: 1214 State St.

COST: (sold out)

INFO: (805) 899-2222/www.granadasb.org or (805) 893-3535

only) Salty Strings album, band-on-the-run style, over two-and-a-half days in someone’s garage, with the walls and floors covered in makeshift soundproofing to capture the fidelity of the record’s 11 songs – nine of which are originals. There are four different lead vocals, five-part vocal harmonies, and instrumental solos by each of the members over a mix of bluegrass and other genres. All of which can be heard back in the live context tonight as the boys are back for a one-off CD-release show at SOhO, another frequent former Salty Strings stomping ground.

WHEN: 8:30 pm

WHERE: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, 1221 State St., upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $15

INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

Further Adventures of the Fab Four – There are so many Beatles tribute bands working the land that it’s safe to say the copy artists have collectively performed many thousands of times more than the actual band ever did. But don’t blame The Fab Four, as the lads have been doing their thing for more than a quarter-century since forming in SoCal in 1997. They grew from shows at a club in Fountain Valley to recreating the Broadway show Beatlemania in Las Vegas, playing six nights a week in the mid-2000s. Since then, the band has brought back the biggest band of the British Invasion worldwide, including shows in Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Brazil, where the The Fab Four continue to do their utmost to deliver uncanny, note-fornote renditions of such songs as “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Yesterday,” “A Day In The Life,” “Twist and Shout,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Hey Jude.” Back in 2013, the group even won an Emmy Award for their PBS special, The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute . So, moose up your own moptop and bring your dancing shoes to Santa Ynez to experience the iconic sound of the most influential band of all time.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Chumash Casino Resort, 3400 E. Highway 246, Santa Ynez

COST: $29 to $59

INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Montage at Marjorie Luke – Less than a year after the UCSB Department of Music first brought its free sampler presentation downtown as an all-access event for the community, the pandemic put a pause on the program for 2020-22. But today, the concert is returning as a fast-paced affair, featuring a variety of solo pieces and chamber music ensembles. Curated by UCSB flute professor Jill Felber , the one-hour show starts with Felber conducting the

Montecito

“There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.” — Michelle Obama

THURSDAY,

Luck Be a Ladysmith –

Although it wasn’t until Paul Simon ’s landmark 1987 Graceland album that Ladysmith Black Mambazo was introduced to the world, the South African a capella vocal harmony group had already been performing for more than a quarter-century. While the members have obviously evolved over the decades, the ethos if not the song remains the same as when the late Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world,” for their uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves, and charming onstage banter that have warmed hearts worldwide. Owners of five Grammys among 19 nominations, both topping any World Music group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo continues to travel the world singing its irresistible message of peace, love, and harmony.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $36, $46, & $106

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com

UCSB Gaucho Flauto flute septet for Ian Clarke ’s Within followed by Felber, famed faculty soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and guest harpist Ellie Choate performing Ancestral Songs of Childhood, a newly commissioned arrangement of a collection of rare songs gathered from various regions of Armenia. Two UCSB doctoral students then take on Maurice Ravel’s La Valse for piano four hands followed by the world premiere of Sarah Gibson ’s Breath’d back, again , featuring the composer, a former UCSB faculty member, on piano, and tenor Ben Brecher , the current department chair, in a modern take on poems by Thomas Moore. The all-student Young Artists String Quartet bows its way through a movement of Haydn’s “String Quartet Op. 76,” before the concert closes with Nuñes Scholarship Woodwind Quintet playing Luciano Berio’s lighthearted, theatrical Opus Number Zoo . Co-presented by CAMA and sponsored by the Elaine F. Stepanek Foundation, the event also boasts multimedia and special lighting – what Felber calls a “musical circus or freak show in 60 minutes” to enhance the accessibility to attract families and other younger audiences.

WHEN: 4 pm

WHERE: Marjorie Luke Theatre, Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St. COST: Free

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or https://luketheatre.org/event/

THURSDAY, MARCH 2

Miró Miró in the Hall – A decade after forming, the Austin-based Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Eighteen years later, the foursome remains one of America’s most celebrated string quartets, one famed for its verve and versatility. Tonight, the quartet comes to the most intimate venue in the area, performing Haydn’s “Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 64, No. 3” and Antonin Dvořák’s “Quartet in G major, Op. 106” sandwiching Microfictions from one of the great modern composers of our time, Caroline Shaw

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St.

COST: $25 general, $20 museum members

INFO: (805) 963-4364 or www.sbma.net

Now open through Apr 30, 2023

Influenced by the pictorialist movement of the early twentieth century, Edward S. Curtis set out to create a photo and ethnographic record of Indigenous peoples living in Western regions from the Mexican border to Alaskan shores. 100 years later, Native people still contend with “Indian” stereotypes that are consequences of Edward Curtis’s vision.

This exhibit endeavors to present his breathtaking photogravures within the context of American colonialism.

Sponsored by Jerry and Elaine Gibson, Knight Real Estate Group of Village Properties, First Republic Bank, Kathleen Kalp and Jim Balsitis, Kelly and Tory Milazzo

“Replastering a Paguate House,” 1925, Edward S. Curtis

ESTATE/SENIOR SERVICES

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EDUCATION

BARN OWL box class coming soon! Learn BO biology then build your own barn owl box! Learn how and where to install it. 4-hour class to be held at the La Lieff winery in cooperation with Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. Register today for late Feb. early March class. Call Tom 760-445-2023

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TRESOR

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RENTAL WANTED

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ITEMS FOR SALE

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REAL ESTATE DOMAIN NAMES FOR SALE

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and the BHHS symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.

and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC.

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LIC#

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