If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that government alone cannot solve all our problems or foresee every disaster. But we can at least expect they will recognize their own inherent limitations or as the saying goes, “Lead or get out of the way.” Last week in A.L. Bardach’s MJ cover story “Santa […]
Just hours into what is hopefully our final lockdown order, it’s deja vu all over again. I’m worried about my mother in Los Angeles and my in-laws cooped up in assisted living at Maravilla. As we head into the holidays, I’m missing my family and friends, I’m feeling bad for my kids, and I’m concerned […]
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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, even if it wasn’t the raucous family-packed affair we’re all used to. Hopefully by next year it will be safe for all of us to return to that long-cherished tradition of gathering with loved-ones even if we dread being seated next to that one random cousin with whom […]
There are certain holidays I appreciate less for their historical importance, than for the opportunity they afford us to stop and reflect upon our lives, and to feel gratitude for all we have been given. As well as all we are able to give back. At the risk of retreading well-travelled terrain, I won’t go […]
The 2020 political season is over. Mostly. But like California’s fire season, once reserved to only certain months of the year, election cycles now seem to be with us 24/7-52-365. I guess there’s no rest for the weary. So let me be the first to welcome you to the early days of the next important […]
The election is finally over. Or maybe it isn’t. But one thing is clear: for some of us this moment brings exhilaration, joy, relief. For others, this moment is profoundly disappointing and downright hard to take. American Democracy has arrived at a crossroad. If you listen to almost any news outlet, down one road lies […]
By the time we go to press the long-anticipated election will be over, but as I write this letter, I’m in the dark as to what that will mean. What I do know is this past year has been like no other I’ve known; and I suspect I’m not alone. 2020 has moved us from […]
My friend’s mother used to say: “Just because you’re the loudest, doesn’t mean you’re right.” From time to time I invoke this during vociferous dinner table debates amongst members of my family. But in a world where facts go unchecked on social media platforms, where vocal minorities can represent anything as truth, it can be […]
Who we vote for, in many ways, determines how, and how well, we live. This has never been more obvious than it is right now. And not just at the highest levels of government; from the ballot’s top to bottom it matters. The dangerous perspective that a single vote does not make much difference allows […]
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As people flee crowded cities to more peaceful and less congested towns like ours, places like Santa Barbara become less peaceful and more congested themselves. The fact is, as urbanization and population reach unprecedented levels, and road congestion has become a daily tax of tedium. And it doesn’t just grind at our psyches. Heavy traffic […]
Sometimes life’s big questions come with choices, not right or wrong answers. History is kind or unkind to these choices which are evaluated through the lens and luxury of Retrospect. MUS’s then-newbie superintendent, Anthony Ranii, was acutely aware of this on January 8, 2018 when he made what turned out to be one of the […]
by Gwyn Lurie As scores of people flee various pandemic-claustro places for the sunny hills and shores of Montecito, it is time to ask ourselves the inescapable question, “Whose Montecito is it?” This point was underscored by local reaction to last week’s issue of this newspaper which gently poked fun at tabloid culture and expressed […]
For a few decades before and one decade after the Millennium, there was a well-known restaurant in New York named Elaine’s, known as the “it” celebrity hang-out and “the private place where public people go to be private in public.” There was a rigorous selection process to get in (which was conducted by Elaine herself). […]
In recent weeks, sharks have been circling the waters off the coast of Santa Barbara. It is a scientific fact that certain species of shark must always move forward, constantly feeding, or else they will die. This is true of Mako sharks. It’s true of hammerheads. It is true of Great Whites. My big question […]
