Tag archives: new normal
Three and a half years ago (April 2020), I wrote an article “What is Normal?” It was the start of the COVID pandemic and people were asking for a return to “normal.” I asked: “Is that what we really want?” Is it “normal” that tens of millions of Americans have no access to health care? […]
I know that many people are now touting that 70 is the new 60 and 40 is the new 30. Does that mean that 10 is the new fetus? They also say that telecommuting is the new work standard. Does that mean we should all get water coolers with life-size computer screens so we can […]
We can’t succeed without a comprehensive national program for COVID testing “Testing Insanity” – Bill Gates, Global Pubic Square What exactly was Bill Gates trying to communicate when Fareed Zakaria interviewed him recently on his CNN GPS show? Zakaria is a serious interviewer who pries information out of his guests. And Gates, well what can […]
A bit of uncertainty can be exciting. A script with a surprise ending has intrigue. Embracing the unknown is part of the artistic process. But when the reliable routines of everyday life have been scrambled, it’s a whole different story. Negotiating the new normal of social distancing, working at home, and Zoom classrooms has challenged […]
The two original sins of this nation are the systematic genocide of Native Americans and slavery. Both were the result of overt racism which has become so imbedded in our culture that we’re now left with only this choice: either be racist, or be anti-racist. There is no longer any middle ground. It’s not going […]
Montecito may oddly benefit from California’s post-COVID grand reopening. Coast Village Road may be one of the few dining, shopping, and hotel areas that is elegant, energetic, and well designed for the next new normal. You know the Pandemic New Normal – that’s the normal after the Debris Flow New Normal and that other new […]
As I write this article, people are asking for a return to “normal.” Is that what we really want? Is it “normal” that tens of millions of Americans have no access to healthcare? That millions of Americans are homeless? That 11 million children in the U.S. literally do not know where their next meal is […]
When Brandon Ristaino and his partner and wife Misty Orman started The Good Lion bar on State Street, no one believed there was a market in Santa Barbara for a stand-alone drinkery featuring the fine art of mixology. Five years later with three local establishments, including Test Pilot in the Funk Zone and Shaker Mill on […]
Powers that Be Just read Jim Buckley’s letter “Uglification of Montecito” and I definitely agree with his comment on the ruination of our beautiful community other than his placing some concern with the Montecito Association. The County and City ‘powers that be’ have control, I understand. Jean Von Wittenburg Restarting Santa Barbara Today I went […]
On Friday, March 13, it was announced that all 20 school districts within Santa Barbara County would close indefinitely in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving over 67,000 students – and their parents – left to begin a homeschooling program. Administrators and teachers from both of Montecito’s public schools have been working around the clock […]
Last week, an overflow crowd turned out at the Granada Theatre for a community conversation titled “Drought, Fire and Flood: The New Normal” sponsored by the UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, the Santa Barbara Museum of National History, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and the Community Environmental Council. Moderating this Town Hall event […]
It looks like our “New Normal” is to be the evacuation of upwards of 30,000 residents who live below the Thomas Fire boundary from Carpinteria to Goleta, where the now bare soil has been completely upended and exposed to drying winds and constant desiccating sunshine. Every time a hint of precipitation shows up on a […]
Please, let’s keep as many boulders that have clobbered our community as possible; place them someplace in Montecito (Manning Park, Toro Canyon Park, the Cold Spring area, the lot we traded with the Y next to MUS) and build a big, big awesome (think Awahnee) community stone house recreation center. Have several big outdoor stone […]
