Tag archives: covid

A (Virtual) Kiss from a Roses
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2020

Santa Barbara healer-dancer-actress Teagan Rose’s mission is to support people in connecting more deeply to their sense of home in their body, to their truth, and to their primal creativity. Her Embodiment and Voice Activation sessions and workshops specialize in emotional liberation and integration, self-love and self-understanding, energetic balancing and clearing, embodied trauma release, and […]

Authentic Relating Games (Virtual Edition)
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2020

Carpinteria resident Damian Gallagher has been hosting Authentic Relating Games in person at Yoga Soup for more than a year, eager to share his practice and expertise in the relational field with the local community. By his own accord, AR games have allowed him to push his edges and find deeper and more meaningful ways […]

More Meetups in Motion
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2020

Santa Barbara Spiritual Growth Meetup Group founder Kelsey Cordle doesn’t want to let the novel coronavirus curtail connection any more than necessary. So, she writes, “In light of what’s going on in the world, I’d love for us all to still ‘get together’ virtually.” Among the possibilities on the menu for the gathering over Zoom […]

Horse Sense for Healing
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2020

Rebekah Powell grew up outside of Nashville, aka Music City, USA, where her family’s business, not surprisingly, was songwriting. Her father, Monte Powell, was a longtime collaborator with Keith Urban, and other artists who recorded his songs include Tracy Byrd, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Collin Raye, and Restless Heart. Rebekah’s older sister, Suzannah Powell, […]

With TP Scarce, Will the Bidet Finally Make it Across the Pond?
By Les Firestein   |   March 26, 2020

For a smart species, humans can also have bizarre gaps in their logic. For example, the wheel was invented around 3500 BC… but wasn’t affixed to the bottom of luggage till 1970. In a similar brain fart of civilization, people have been duking it out over toilet paper at Costco, when, a few aisles over, […]

Love the Ones You’re With
By Jane Orfalea   |   March 26, 2020

Regular grooming shows love to your pet, and it also helps keep your house clean. That recently became more challenging since we’re now all working and studying from home. For Paws Salon, a locally owned pet grooming business in Montecito and Santa Barbara, plans to keep both locations open. They will now provide curbside or […]

Montecito’s Bucket Brigade Goes Shopping
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

Not even an epic coronavirus pandemic can slow down Abe Powell. The founder of the Bucket Brigade who became a local hero in Montecito after the 1/9 debris flow, when he led local residents in an impromptu effort to dig out their neighbors’ homes, is now taking a front-line role in educating the public about […]

Spring Baby Season Adds Urgency to Wildlife Rescue
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

Although for humans it might seem like life has come to a complete stop, the cycle of life and rebirth in the natural world around us continues. This pattern is never more striking than during spring, however, which to wildlife rescue experts has another name: “Baby Season,” which is when mammals produce the bulk of […]

Pet Fostering in a Pandemic
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

Summerland resident Lee Heller has lived in Santa Barbara County, including Montecito, for the past 23 years, and has been active in animal services for another few decades before that. She’s also a longtime volunteer with the cat-centric Animal Shelter Assistance Program, or ASAP, which is based in Goleta. According to Heller, animal shelters throughout […]

The Solo Joy of Sunrise Summitting
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

One person who has no problem practicing social distancing in Montecito’s front country is Andrea Strand, 42, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner who gets up well before dawn each morning to ride her bike up various paved inclines, especially Gibraltar Road, with the goal of reaching the top by sunrise. “I’m the unofficial hill […]

Social Distancing Now Mandatory on Montecito’s Trails
By Nick Schou   |   March 26, 2020

Despite mounting fears over the COVID-19, aka the “coronavirus,” on March 24, the U.S. Forest Service officially declared that the extensive trail network in the hills above Montecito will remain open for recreational activities until further notice. The news came as a relief to Ashlee Mayfield, president of the Montecito Trail Foundation (MTF), in part […]

Finding Opportunity in a Shutdown: How Santa Barbara’s Wine Industry is Taking on Coronavirus
By Gabe Saglie   |   March 26, 2020

The grinding halt wrought by a virus sprinting across the globe has certainly not spared the Santa Barbara wine industry. These are businesses that depend on foot traffic, on one-to-one connections, on personalized experience. Shut that down, as the recent mandate by Governor Newsom (understandably) did, asking all wineries and tasting rooms to temporarily close, […]

Five Acts of Social Solidarity
By Montecito Journal   |   March 26, 2020

Some credit to Émile Durkheim, the pioneering French Sociologist, with originating the concept of social solidarity which he defined as the “the interdependence between individuals and across groups.” In fact, the description served for Durkheim as a synonym for the normal healthy state of society, what holds society together, an essential tool for combating infectious […]

Living in the Age of Social Solidarity
By Mitchell Kriegman   |   March 26, 2020

Within the social distancing guidelines, as inconsistent as they are across the country, it’s already become odd to see people in Netflix movies holding hands, walking together, gathering at concerts, hugging and being close. Press conferences where the experts stand shoulder to shoulder seem unnerving. If you’re not one of the oblivious, Covidiot Spring Breakers, […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   March 26, 2020

At Home in the Age of Corona, March 19, 2020 I am looking out my window at a grey and dripping sky, reflecting upon our new reality. Like millions of people everywhere in the world, I am at home. I am lucky to be in a nice warm house, and to have my wife and […]

Three Women and a Condo
By Ernie Witham   |   March 26, 2020

I leaned over the small round Dot with the pulsating ring of light. She was breathing rhythmically. Waiting for me. Waiting to hear my most domineering voice command her to do my bidding. “Alexa… my love… play ‘I Am the Walrus’ from the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour album. Full volume.” “Playing ‘I Am the Walrus,’” […]

Through Rain, and Wind, and COVID-19
By Leslie Westbrook   |   March 19, 2020

Since Summerland does not have mail delivery to homes, the Summerland Post Office 93067 has been the unofficial heartbeat and spot to bump into your neighbors. Not much bumping allowed anymore, unless it’s your elbow. Here too, where everyone knows one another, neighbors are helping neighbors. Postal clerk Bert Vega knows everyone as well and […]

Closing Time
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2020

Among the spiritual centers choosing to close at least through the end of the month is Sunburst Sanctuary and Retreat Center, although the Lompoc center’s spiritual director and office staff are available by phone and email at (805) 736-6528 or [email protected] for those seeking support. Meanwhile, Unity of Santa Barbara’s Sunday services have migrated to […]

Meetups Still Meeting
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2020

Going to gatherings in the great outdoors appears to be safe as long as people maintain appropriate space for “social distancing.” So Ascension Academy will still be hosting Kundalini Yoga to Balance the Chakra System and Restore Inner Peace from 10 to 11 am every Saturday at the Mission Rose Garden (420 Plaza Rubio), where […]

Weininger Winds Her Way to the Web
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2020

Radhule Weininger is cancelling in-person meetings to help stop the spread of the virus, but instead of scaling back, the veteran meditation teacher is upping the ante and actually adding meetings to its slate of online offerings. So the Zoom schedule now includes Mondays at 7 pm with Weininger, Tuesdays at 7 pm with Stacy […]