Tag archives: human rights

Rock ‘N Roll Heaven
By Gwyn Lurie   |   October 27, 2022

There were many COVID casualties, beyond the loss of precious life. Like ceremony. So many of us were forced to say goodbye to loved ones without the spiritual and emotional closure that comes with gathering closely with community to celebrate the lives that were lost. One such loss that hit hard here was the passing […]

Shifting Directions: Human Rights Watch Now Following an Inclusive Path
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 10, 2021

For more than 40 years, Human Rights Watch has enjoyed an international reputation for taking on and often accomplishing its mission to scrupulously investigate abuses to widely expose the facts and then relentlessly press those in power, ranging from governments to armed groups to businesses — all in the name of change. Its ability to […]

Developing Inclusivity and Community Go Hand-in-Hand
By Kalyan Balaven   |   May 6, 2021

Inclusion is not a special interest; it is a human right.  For the educator in me, this is a mantra that safeguards the term inclusion from how it trends currently in our discourse. In the rhetoric of our time, it has lost both its efficacy and meaning. It has become threadbare in its overuse and […]

What are the Root Causes of the Border Crisis?
By Robert Bernstein   |   April 22, 2021

“Radical” is often used to disqualify an idea as “extreme.” Did you know that it comes from the same origin as “radish” and means to “go to the root” of a problem? Every night, the news is full of the crisis at the US-Mexico border. The “analysis” is limited to the immediate humanitarian issues along […]

Barbara Tellefson
By Montecito Journal   |   February 4, 2021

1936-2020 Immigrant daughter from humble beginnings internalized her family’s “Lessons to Live By” and became a community hero by dedicating her life to serving people in crisis Unity Shoppe lost our matriarch and founder, Barbara Tellefson, after a brief bout with an aggressive illness. She was 84. Barbara’s singular focus and half-century of devotion to […]

Letters to the Editor
By Montecito Journal   |   June 11, 2020

Gratitude for Gwyn My wife and I have been reading the Montecito Journal with pleasure since Gwyn became CEO and Executive Editor. You have greatly improved the overall editorial content of the paper (which I, for one, seldom read under the editorship of your predecessor) and your Editor’s Letters have been uniformly thoughtful and well […]

International Women’s Day
By Lynda Millner   |   March 26, 2020

Direct Relief (DR) was a bustling place for International Women’s Day. Over one hundred folks gathered to learn and to help pack 2,000 hygiene kits for women. To begin the morning there was a baker’s delight of sweets and fruits of many kinds along with a variety of coffees all organized by Kelly Walker and […]

Un-Tied Nations
By Ashleigh Brilliant   |   September 26, 2019

The United Nations Charter of Human Rights guarantees everyone a nationality – whether they want one or not. In “HMS Pinafore” (Gilbert & Sullivan) the Chorus sings the praises of being English: “For he might have been a Rooshan A French or Turk or Prooshan, Or perhaps Eye-tal-eye-an – But, in spite of all temptations  […]

Voices Carry
By Richard Mineards   |   November 23, 2017

A record 560 guests packed into the ballroom at Fess Parker’s Doubletree when Human Rights Watch held its 11th annual Voices for Justice dinner which raised a hefty $950,000 for the nearly 40-year-old nonprofit, which is a leading defender of fundamental freedoms, the activists who uphold them, and vulnerable people worldwide in 90 countries globally. […]