3 Feb 2026
Local AI Input
AI thought leader and Santa Barbara native Zack Kass returned home on Tuesday night for a sold-out on-stage conversation at the Granada Theatre, exploring the ideas behind his new book, The Next RenAIssance. Drawing on his experience at the forefront of artificial intelligence, Kass led a wide-ranging discussion on the societal, creative, and human implications […]
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Two Gardens
Chihuly Garden and Glass: Seattle Recently I visited two gardens: In Seattle, it was one of glass, all brilliant color and eye-dazzling light. In Victoria, British Columbia, it was one of plants, whose patterns of flower and form painted the landscape like an artist’s brush. Mystics speak of a realm that lies beyond human sight, […]
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MOVE-ment on E-Bike Safety and More News Bytes
MOVE Santa Barbara County will bring its E-Bike Safety Presentation Series to Montecito Union School on January 30, educating students on safe riding practices, traffic laws, and shared responsibility on local roads. The presentations, part of MOVE’s education and encouragement program, will reach fourth- and sixth-grade classes throughout the day. Designed to build awareness as […]
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Here’s Looking at Me, Kid
I’ve been wearing the same outfit – a black short-sleeved HEMA® tee-shirt and Levi’s – every day since April 2016. This is a fact. Please note the happy-go-lucky photo parked at the end of my every column. That photo was taken several years ago and I am wearing that tee-shirt or one of its cousins […]
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Beyond Fear
In the 1980s, Reagan was waging wars around the world that most Americans were blissfully unaware of. One of those was in El Salvador. Yes, the same El Salvador that kept delivering refugees to our doorstep. And that Trump lawlessly uses as a torture prison. Our Central America Response Network raised awareness and direct aid […]
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A Career in Code and Connection
As a Westmont student, John Rodkey (‘79) envisioned a career as a missionary doctor in the field. But he discovered a different calling and direction. After majoring in chemistry, he returned to campus in 1981, and Stan Anderson, his former professor, hired him as a chemistry lab manager. Programming the college’s first minicomputer to inventory […]
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Alumna Artist Offers ‘Habitual Curiosity’
Emerging artist and Westmont alumna Chelsea Roberts (’18), who delicately illustrates wildlife and flora with a gentle, compassionate reverence, opens a solo exhibition, Habitual Curiosity, in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum’s downstairs gallery through June 20. Roberts, a scientific illustrator from Danville, conducts extensive research studying her subjects for hours before creating each piece. This forms a […]
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Poetry Reading Honors Stafford
Paul Willis, English professor emeritus and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, hosts the 17th annual William Stafford Reading on Saturday, January 31, at 2 pm at the First Crossing Day Use Area in Los Padres National Forest, across from the old Los Prietos Boys Camp, 3900 Paradise Road. This is the former site of […]
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Montecito at the Movies
Ifn previous years, many of the films in SBIFF have only had something of a tangential connection to the Santa Barbara area, maybe a producer or an actor, or below-the-line production crew. But you can’t get more Santa Barbara, and even more specifically, Montecito, than Relatively Normal. This full-length feature is having its world premiere […]
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Don’t Swat ‘Mosquito’: SBIFF Opening Night Film Is Subtle Charmer
The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival opens on February 4 with a single event at the Arlington Theatre, but the U.S. premiere of A Mosquito in the Ear is not an opening night to miss. The drama with dialogue in both English and Hindu focuses on the international adoption of a four-year-old girl in […]
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Free for All From A&L and More
Several no-cost events are on their way from UCSB’s Arts & Lectures, all with tie-ins to full presentations as part of its current season. The classical corner comes up big this season, first with violinist Nicola Benedetti leading a masterclass on Thursday, January 29, at Geiringer Hall, the morning after her concert at Campbell Hall. […]
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ETC’s Shark Attack
Ensemble Theatre Company continues its new policy of presenting a pay-what-you-can performance of each new production as its first preview before the weekend offering. So you can see the company’s much-anticipated West Coast premiere of the hit Broadway play, The Shark is Broken, based on the now well-known technical mishaps and personality clashes that so […]
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Storyteller
Storyteller has been around for nearly four decades, rising from humble beginnings as a roped off section of Transition House to occupying three distinct campuses collectively serving 150 students, its therapeutic preschools supporting Santa Barbara’s most vulnerable children and their families. The nonprofit focuses on providing high-quality, trauma-informed early childhood education, paired with comprehensive family […]
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