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Santa Barbara Dissed by Los AngelesTimes List

By Cheri Rae

A few weeks ago I wrote about an LA couple who told me they would never come to Santa Barbara again, after several unsettling and downright frightening encounters during their last weekend in America’s Riviera. They headed to La Jolla instead, where they did not have the up-close and personal encounters with homeless people that made them unwilling to spend their time and money here.

The Sunday Los Angeles Times contained a major article that—by omission—seemed to give credence to their concerns. It was one of those round-up pieces in the Travel Section that the paper often runs; this one was about Weekend Escapes for 48 Hours of Fun.

(I’ve written them myself, many about Santa Barbara: bargain shopping, bed-and-breakfasts, garden spots. Back in the day, Santa Barbara was always at the top of the list.)

But this LA Times piece ignored Santa Barbara completely. It focused on the wine, mission, brews and views of Ventura; the old California authenticity and good food in old San Juan Capistrano; the gilded age glamour of Rancho Mirage and sophistication by the sea in Del Mar.

Uh-oh, where was Santa Barbara in this survey of the best places for a weekend escape?

What’s disturbing to me—as a longtime Santa Barbara resident with a strong sense of pride of place—is that plenty of other lovely places have worked diligently to become special destinations and weekend playgrounds. And while they’ve been getting more appealing, many parts of Santa Barbara have gotten shabbier, tackier and even threatening at times.

The tourism industry has been a mainstay in this community forever, but we may have slipped a bit, figuring we could rest on our laurels, smug in our collective belief that Santa Barbara would always be top of mind for tourists.

I’m thinking Our Town may disappoint a lot of those seeking a weekend escape.

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Planning to Make a Difference: The School District’s Strategic Plan Takes Shape

By Cheri Rae

Less than a year on the job, Dr. David Cash, superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District, is in the process of making big plans to move the district forward. And he’s been joined by several community leaders in the process.

Specifically, the district’s Strategic Planning Task Force has been drafting a Strategic Plan, and they’re ready for input and open to discussion. At a public meeting held Thursday night at Santa Barbara High School, Dr. Cash led a group of parents and others interested in education and the local community in a review of the task force’s first draft of the blueprint that will substantially move the district into the 21st century.

It couldn’t come at a better time, since the last plan for the district lasted from 1998 through 2002. So it’s been a decade since there’s been a strategic plan in place for this large bureaucracy that affects and shapes the lives and opportunities for so many.

The first draft of this new plan lists six aims:  Continue Reading →

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Over-Stuffed: Too Much of Too Much

By Cheri Rae

For the second time in less than six months, I’ve cleared out a home for a loved one who has passed away. In both cases, what was left—besides a lot of memories—was a lot of stuff.

Kitchen cupboards full of expired ingredients; mysteriously gunky glasses gathering dust; long-forgotten appliances, utensils and more pots and pans than anyone needs; closets full of old clothes, old bedding, old Christmas ornaments and so, so much more. A bunch of furniture, cartons of books, and papers; miscellaneous jewelry, coins and artwork collected over the years.

Over a long period of years all of this stuff was selected, paid-for and brought into their homes. And in the end, most of it was given away, donated, or even thrown out, its usefulness no longer important to anyone else.

There is a limit to sentimentality—and what feels important enough to hold onto after the dear one has departed. For me it’s the simple stuff: a picture, a favorite book, an embroidered hanky, a framed cartoon that’s a treasured keepsake. Continue Reading →

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Tour the Little Neighborhood that Could: Bungalow Haven

By Cheri Rae

A decade ago, there was no such thing as Bungalow Haven. Located roughly between Victoria and Micheltorena, Laguna and Alta Vista, the area was known officially to the city as a part of the Lower Riviera, to local residents as a great place to live. Just six blocks from State Street, this small section of well-kept, modest-sized homes built nearly a hundred years ago; most with front porches, nice yards and distinctive features that make them enjoyable to live in: built-in cabinets and bookcases, stained-glass windows and window seats.

It is the embodiment of the sustainable, “not-so-big-house” in a walkable neighborhood—an important kind of housing in this community long before those now-green terms were coined and applied to so-called “smart growth.”

It’s where my husband and I scraped together every bit of cash we could to purchase our 1912 Craftsman-style bungalow way back in 1993. It was so tough to buy a home back in those days, we even made the real estate section of the News-Press, a profile of a happy couple with a toddler who were thrilled to have Made Good by qualifying for a mortgage for a nice, old house in a nice, old neighborhood.

The place is even nicer now—with a fine group of caring neighbors who have become great stewards of a special place to live. In the past decade, alarmed by the possibility of losing the intact historic neighborhood to development interests, we began to meet regularly; we identified—and communicated—what makes it worth saving. We educated ourselves, learned the language of bureaucracy and transformed ourselves from residents into neighborhood activists.

In the process, we’ve gotten a lot accomplished: We’ve worked with the city to develop official architectural design guidelines, we worked with the Planning Commission to save three fine bungalows on Laguna Street that were scheduled for demolition—and incorporated into the new condo development instead—and we’re working now with the venerable Pearl Chase Society as the location for its upcoming Historic Homes Tour.

The Pearl Chase Society, which has often featured huge, grand homes in its annual tours, has recognized and embraced the enduring appeal of the humble bungalow—and has created a unique opportunity for Santa Barbara to celebrate the Craftsman ideals of simplicity, natural materials and fine design. The tour, scheduled for May 20, 11-4, includes eight homes, among them several small bungalows, an English Farmhouse, a Queen Anne Victorian cottage and the unique, Asian-inspired Pagoda House.

The tour allows for a glimpse into the daily lives, hobbies, collections and good taste of a diverse group of residents—including an architect, a teacher, a nurse, a craftsman, a doctor, a couple of artists and several small business owners—reflecting much of the same demographic that has always lived in, and appreciated, this neighborhood built to last.

The purchase of a ticket for the tour supports the efforts of the Pearl Chase Society, as its primary fund-raiser of the year. The organization regularly donates to multiple local preservation efforts, including the Courthouse; the restoration of the Douglass Parshall mural at Santa Barbara Jr. High and the portrait of Pearl Chase at the Carrillo Recreation Center, and even the Land Trust of Santa Barbara County for the purchase of Hot Springs Canyon.

For more information about the Pearl Chase Society or to sign up for the upcoming Historic Homes Tour: http://www.pearlchasesociety.org/.

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Regarding the Homeless: Santa Barbara’s Loss, La Jolla’s Gain

Hot Topic Reset: Originally Published on April 25, 2012, by Cheri Rae

While in a Los Angeles home recently for a family event, I had a conversation with the couple next door who for years frequently visited Santa Barbara for a weekend getaway. These hard-working people of modest means saved up for their favorite splurge and, in typical tourist fashion, always enjoyed staying in our nice hotels, shopping, dining and strolling the waterfront. I had often given them suggestions about where to go and what to see, and they always reported back to me on their Santa Barbara adventures.

But never again. They told me that after their last trip a few months back, they will not return.

La Jolla, CA

They were shocked and offended to encounter homeless individuals trying to take their food at a sidewalk café, pawing through trash cans, and wafting their strong aroma as they passed by. “I am sorry for their situation,” said the woman. “But I am afraid and upset to deal with it during my little vacation. I don’t know what to do to help them.” From now on, reported her husband, they’re going to La Jolla. “It’s just as nice as Santa Barbara,” he said, “but we don’t have to deal with the homeless there. I can’t imagine what Santa Barbara is thinking, letting a nice place like that get completely ruined.”

When I told them about the shelters, the parking program, the RV campers, the lawsuits, the many housing projects built to house the homeless, they just shook their heads, and he noted, “It doesn’t make any sense for an expensive place like Santa Barbara to even try to take care of so many homeless people.”

One couple, one conversation, one conclusion.

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On Boxes and Thinking Outside of Them

By Cheri Rae

If you aren’t one of the 5 million people who have taken a look at the video known as Caine’s arcade, stop reading now and spend the most inspirational 10 minutes of your day—if not your week—watching it.

It’s the inspirational story of a bright little boy’s creative vision—one that turned a bunch of cardboard boxes into a wondrous amusement park. And it’s about a couple of wise adults with an appreciation for a child’s strengths of resourcefulness and tenacity—in the face of limited resources—and how, with a little help, he has stepped onto his pathway to success.

And it’s a reminder that not all learning comes from books or in school. Continue Reading →

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On Working Moms and Mommies who Work

By Cheri Rae

Of all the dumb political sideshows, did we really have to go back to the issue of mothers, children and the value of work? If there was every any meaningful dialog on the subject, it might be worth it, but as so often happens, there was far more heat than light, too much righteous indignation, too many false assumptions and accusations, and no progress made at all.

But we clearly need to focus on the home front—and the families who live and work there.

As a self-employed, freelance writer and editor for the two decades of my motherhood, I often balanced diapers and deadlines, scheduled interviews around an infant, and felt driven to distraction on a school field trip when I should have been in my office researching a story. Thankful for the internet, I have learned to worked late into the night when it’s finally quiet and I can put in a full, focused shift.

The time spent taking care of my kids and taking care of my career started with the birth of my first child and continues to this day. There are trade-offs, benefits and sacrifices on both sides of the equation.

I didn’t exactly plan it this way; it’s just how it turned out. All the pre-baby ideas we had about bringing our darling bundle of joy into the office—where she would sleep peacefully for hours—went out the window when she was way more interested in the fax machine than dreamland. So I stayed at home and took care of her, and created an office where I worked for pay—and was lucky to have that opportunity, for her, for me and for my career.

But I admit I often felt like I was losing my grip on the world of ideas, although I was working, writing, editing, harder than ever. And when that little darling [finally] went off to Kindergarten I went back to work.

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A New View: Santa Barbara from a Visitor’s Perspective

By Cheri Rae

Every once in a while it’s good for jaded Santa Barbarans to play tour guide in our little city by the sea, and take a fresh look at what makes this place so special to so many—visitors and residents alike.

This past weekend, my dear friend Lisa arrived for her annual springtime sojourn to America’s Riviera, where she gets a recharge from her long days as a teacher in Los Angeles. She stays at the same B&B each time, visits many of the same shops (with Chaucer’s # 1 on her list), and dines at many of the same restaurants (Paradise and Palazzio are two favorites).

And always, on these trips, we take a couple of long walks downtown and in the neighborhood to catch up on the latest—and to take in the changes in the town she loves to visit, but wouldn’t want to live in. Until now.

I always try to change up the experience and provide some new insights for her to enjoy, away from the tourist track. On Easter Sunday, we left the crowds at the Mission Rose Garden and visited the Stations of the Cross instead. The mosaic stations—relocated here after they stood for years at St. Anthony’s Seminary—are extraordinary pieces of art with great religious significance for the faithful. The gardens were in full bloom, fragrant and simply beautiful.

We then toured Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden and enjoyed the pond teeming with life, the families in their holiday finery and a large group of 20-somethings playing a mean game of Frisbee—Santa Barbara at its most relaxed, fragrant and lovely.

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Opening Day: Santa Barbara’s Baseball Legacy

It’s opening day for Major League Baseball… to celebrate, and for all the new readers, here is an article from the Vintage Vault. Originally published in 2011 by Cheri Rae.

cheriSanta Barbara has a long and colorful past as a baseball town, dating back more than one hundred years. Some of the greatest of all baseball legends appeared here—including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. Ted Williams regularly visited his Hispanic relatives who lived here; and Santa Barbara was the hometown of the great Hall of Famer, Eddie Mathews, whose name graces the Santa Barbara High School Dons’ baseball field.

Even baseball writers have made Santa Barbara home—from Ernest Lawrence Thayer, the poet who wrote “Casey at the Bat,” to Ron Shelton, who penned the baseball-themed “Bull Durham” and “Cobb.” (Even Kevin Costner, who starred in “Bull Durham,” maintains a home in Santa Barbara.) The witty voice of the Foresters, Jim Buckley, is a prolific author of baseball books for children through his own Shoreline Publishing Group.
laguna park001

Longtime Santa Barbarans hold golden memories of their very own field of dreams, Laguna Park (pictured above). By all accounts, the big-league size ballpark, designed by legendary architect Winsor Soule, and built by the WPA in 1939, was a one-of-a-kind stadium. Over the years, it hosted an array of teams—from youth PeeWee and PONY League to big-league farm teams run by the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. The Santa Barbara team set the California League attendance record of 93,000 in 1947. Sadly, the magnificent ballpark was leveled by bureaucrats in 1970 to make way for a place to park the city’s buses. Its loss is truly part of Santa Barbara’s Hall of Shame—and it has yet to be replaced, although many promises were made to the citizens of Santa Barbara.

Enthusiasts of all ages congregate at East Beach Batting Cages; and kids are back to practicing on Cabrillo Ball Field, and playing Santa Barbara

Youth Baseball at good ol’ MacKenzie Park. Goleta Valley South and Dos Pueblos Little Leagues are going strong, and there’s even a Challenger League for children with disabilities at Girsh Park. A number of local all-star and club teams represent Santa Barbara at tournaments throughout California and far beyond, and the city’s high school rivalries are as strong as ever. Play Ball!
baseball team001

Historic Photos provided by Michael Redmon
Director of Research, Santa Barbara Historical Museum

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Santa Barbaran Wins American Independent Film Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival

By Cheri Rae

Independence just runs in some families: For years, the voice of the independent Earthling Bookshop was young Dorien Davies who recorded weekly radio commercials for the shop owned by her parents, Penny and Terry Davies.

Today she’s grown from the independent book store to an independent filmmaker—and now the winner of an independent film award.

Cleveland is a long way from Santa Barbara—but both places are important destinations on the film festival circuit. The Tower City’s 36th annual film fest just wrapped, with great news for Santa Barbara native, actress Dorien Davies, and her colleagues. Their independent film, “Missed Connections” generated great buzz to sold-out audiences—with several added showings—and won the American Independent Film Award at the festival Saturday night.

The romantic comedy, which stars Davies and her screenwriter/husband Kenny Stevenson, was shot on weekends—allowing them and their colleagues to pursue their weekday work. The couple raised more than their goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter for the project, and convinced director Eric Kissack and producer Lisa Rudin to work with them, along with other talented friends and longtime colleagues.

The festival’s artistic director observed, ” This movie is why I stay in this business…Every once in a while, a movie comes along that makes it all worth while. I really loved this movie.”

It’s the typical story about “overnight success”—there are years of work behind it, lots of work that had nothing to do with filmmaking. But it all leading up to a triumphant appearance in a Midwestern town, a dream come-true With upcoming screenings at the Boston International Film Festival and in Colorado Springs, Davies and crew hold out hope that “Missed Connections” will connect for a spot in the Santa Barbara International Film Festival—where the hometown girl first got her start and returns to recharge and reconnect with family and friends every chance she gets.

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Deep Roots and Family Trees: The Trayvon Martin Story Hits Home

By Cheri Rae

A bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea will never look the same—not since the news of the tragic loss of Trayvon Martin’s life. The African-American young man may just have well been my brother-in-law, my nephew, my cousin who know all-too-well the dangers of simply walking the street or driving the car, and considered suspicious for the color of their skin and the style of their hair and the clothes they wear.

When my sister married an African-American man, decades ago, it sent shock waves throughout my mostly conservative family, rooted in the Catholic Church on one side and the Southern Baptist on the other.

No one in the Sicilian immigrant families that arranged my grandparents’ marriage ever imagined that the family tree would branch out and join up with another race (somewhat ironic, since Sicily has been a crossroads of civilizations for centuries). They—and the rest of the family elders—were mortified, embarrassed and unwilling to accept their granddaughter’s, their daughter’s, choice for a husband, or the children of that union.

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Reflections: Not Fit to Print

Re: Not Fit to Print by Cheri Rae

Although today I write primarily opinion based on fact and research, I’d like to add to the discussion about responsible journalism policies and procedures, and how far they’ve strayed from the ideal. Earlier in my career, one of my primary responsibilities as assistant managing editor at Runner’s World magazine was to spend literally days on each issue, vetting each and every story with a lawyer at a high-powered law firm on retainer. The fact-checking was required on everything from minor stories on healthy foods and training methods all the way to the White House for an annual series on politicians who were runners on Capitol Hill (the late Lee Atwater was my liaison there, then a low-level staffer). It was both time-consuming and expensive–and it required seasoned professionals asking pointed questions to understand the work. This was in a running magazine, with very high standards. No story ever made it into print unless it passed through fact-checking and then an extensive editing and proofreading process with a top-quality team of savvy, well-educated editors who proofed and re-proofed and proofed again. Of course a monthly magazine has a much longer lead time than a daily or even weekly newsroom to get it right, but still, none of those facets of fact-checking—which served as the basis of getting it right and maintaining credibility—are deemed as valuable and worthy of investment in today’s approach to journalism as they once were, most particularly in the local paper of record.

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Not Fit to Print

Weekly Column By Cheri Rae

Every once in a while, I’m reminded why reading the local daily newspaper makes about as much sense as the Newt Gingrich campaign for the presidency.

Both are untrustworthy shells of their former selves—now bloated with a sense of their own entitlement due to massive amounts of money that allow them to exist—and each exhibits a penchant for gross exaggeration, ugly misrepresentations and the willingness to assert anything without regard for the consequences.

Their self-indulgent, narcissistic actions hurt individuals and institutions as they plod on, refusing to abide by even the most commonly accepted policies and procedures that would lend credibility to their claims—like conducting research, checking the facts and using critical thinking skills.

Last week, the Santa Barbara News-Press published a story that portrayed Santa Barbara Open Alternative School in a way that bears absolutely no resemblance to the way the school has successfully taught students for more than three decades.

Blazed across the front page, the daily ran a one-sided account about a father who charges: “My son’s being taught to be gay.”

What really occurred several weeks ago is that a student arrived at school with painted fingernails and another began to laugh and make fun of him. When the teacher heard the laughter, he initiated a discussion about bullying (this is known as a “teachable moment” and is completely in-line with the school’s chartered philosophy). He added that he would be painting his own nails in solidarity with the student who had been bullied for it. A number of students joined in during break time, painted their own and each other’s nails and learned the lesson that it was no fun to be singled out and laughed at. They all had a great time in support of their friend. Teachable moment captured, lesson learned. Move on. End of story.

But not with the News-Press.

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Building Skills—and Adirondack Chairs

Order a Chair, Help a Student, Enhance a Program: By Cheri Rae

“Out of the current confusion of ideals and career hopes, a calm recognition may yet emerge that productive labor is the foundation of all prosperity.”–former Santa Barbara electrician, Matthew B Crawford in the NY Times Bestseller, Shop Class as Soulcraft

In a time when silence reigns and screens glow in every classroom, this one is a throwback to another day; it’s the scent of fresh-cut pine, the whirr of heavy-duty machines, students wearing protective eye goggles as they set about completing their day’s work. Instead of reading and writing, they’re working with wood.

It’s Mr. Squires’ woodshop class at Santa Barbara High School, two periods of the daily schedule. Two hours a day when students have the opportunity to engage their hands, hearts and heads, using tools of the timeless trade of woodcraft, to create items of enduring value and utility.

While his 54 students are just learning the value of planning ahead, developing skill, and working together on a project, Squires has decades of experience in the world of wood, dating back to his own high school days in Santa Rosa where he learned the art of cabinet-making and made a good living at it. Eventually, he decided to return to school to become a teacher, to combine his love of wood-working with his natural ability as a caring instructor who knows how to motivate kids.

He successfully combines an easy-going attitude with total command of the class; it’s a necessary blend of leadership skills in a professional workshop staffed by amateurs—where safety is Priority One.

Squires—who has taught at Santa Ynez High School and San Marcos High School—has seen more than one woodshops close down and programs come to an untimely end. The phrase is usually some variation on: “It’s not feasible to continue woodshop in the current economy…”

But thanks to a Federal grant from the Carl Perkins Foundation secured by the Santa Barbara Unified School District and assistance from the local Tradart Foundation, Santa Barbara High School’s woodshop program is up and running once again.

One glimpse of the array of power tools—saws, drills, lathes—is enough to make some parents faint-hearted at the very notion of their little darlings anywhere close, while others would love to roll up their sleeves and get to work. But the old woodshop on the edge of the campus is a marvel of machinery and vintage tools in a modern, well-maintained, sawdust-free environment.

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Getting Rushed

Weekly column by Cheri Rae

So the big bully finally apologized, but the damage is already done. And it’s not just to the one person he singled out for his latest rants, rage, and speculation, but to the commons, the culture—and just as important, the children we’re trying to raise to become good citizens.

The blowhard bully has been well-rewarded for his vile insults and crude pontification. He signed a $400 million contract extension in 2008—and that doesn’t count the speaking fees, books and the generous perks have come his way. Not to mention the level of respect he has managed to gain from a significant portion of our population.

His success model of gleeful negativity undermines the efforts of good, decent citizens just trying to make a living, maybe make a difference, and working to raise their kids in a decent environment to do the same.

It’s not just Rush—he’s just the biggest, loudest, wealthiest of the media celebrities who have taken over the airwaves with the belief that the more outrageous the better. And we’re now witnessing full-on political campaigns based on nothing but tearing down the other guy—supported by donors with millions of dollars.

When Rush finally went too far, his so-called apology was parsing, grudging and a real giveaway that he will do and say anything. And while several long-time advertisers have cancelled their contracts, we just have to ask, “What took them so long?”

This latest go-round over Rush just makes me sad. As the daughter of a far-right wing dittohead, this demeaning talk is all too familiar. As a mother, it’s all too depressing.

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