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MONTECITO
A mindful re-emergence CVN
FLY BY F R A N D AV I S Two shots in the arm a needle’s distance between fear and facing what remains.
In spite of so much bad news, or maybe because of it, real estate is enjoying a field day. In the north, wealthier homeowners fleeing the Bay Area are buying up houses in Sierra foothill developments. My niece’s sweet family of five, who lived TOP, Allbrother I can say in is “this is where wewas live.” We near my Sacramento, are blessed. priced out of the market a dozen times before locating a home Folsom, now ABOVE, As the storm near passes through our little a booming town, thesuburb. sky becomes a canvas of color. An identical shift has occurred in my old hometown of Summerland. Wellheeled buyers fleeing Covid-central Los Angeles are snapping up houses at record rates. On my street, Whitney Avenue, where we still own a house, 13 homes sold in the last year. Recently my book group, seven women I’ve known for 40 years, met face to face for the first time in many months. Maskless, giddy, we hugged and laughed open-mouthed, light-headed with freedom.
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I write a poem pretty much every day as an exercise in mindfulness. Narrowing Coastal View News 2021 COASTAL VIEW NEWS the task and keeping the words flowing One good thing: The view ahead when helps me rein in an anxiety that continues all of us will gather again safely and without fear. to feel global. My husband Roger and I got the shots with a small sigh of relief. Released from a Fran Davis has been writing for CVN for over year of Instacart grocery deliveries, we still 25 years. Now wielding her pen from Goleta, didn’t rush out to shop and dine. It’s been she shares her thoughts on the vagaries of life difficult to leap suddenly free after a hard- and the times we live in. An award-winning ABOVE, Carpinteria farmers market eggs writer and freelance editor, she has published grained year habit grounded in fear. are a of thing of beauty and freshness. We live in Encina Royale, an older work in magazines, print and online journals, LEFT, Come on with in andamake yourself condo development small golf atanthologies and travel books. home. course and club house (both off limits for months). It was built in the 60s, HawaiRIGHT, A winter sunset at Carpinteria’s ian style with upturned roof ends, lots Fourth Beach. of palm trees and exotics. It’s not a bad place for a long sequester, with plenty of winding walks and small plazas around gnarled old olive trees. I seldom see anyone on my walks, my neighbors, mostly older, sequestered in their safe spaces. I like to stand under a small redwood grove at the corner and look over the perimeter fence at the world going by, cars rushing, gas station prices in red neon, a McDonald’s. BY INGRID BOSTROM For many months I longed to be out there, conducting whatever business was For many, this past year has still possible. But a year of lockdown has been a reminder that Carpinteria made me wary. Now that my personal has a deeply rooted culture fear has been largely alleviated, there is of caring. In week five of her still the challenge of facing what remains. What remains is on so many levels 10-week series, photographer catastrophic. There’s a shot for the virus, Ingrid Bostrom captures but the economy is a ragged wreck for portraits of some of Carpinteria’s which there is no quick fix, and for some LYNN MENICUCCI most compassionate citizens. no fix at all. So many stores, businesses, restaurants are gone with for lease signs PAT BEALS AND LYNN MENICUCCI were nominated by Jennifer Mackie, in the windows. Carol Tokar and more. On the brink of Covid-19 outbreaks in February I watch the cars line up in the Good 2020, Pat Beals began making masks for her friends and family. Within Shepherd church parking lot next door, weeks, there was a frantic demand for masks for essential workers, waiting for bags and boxes distributed by vulnerable groups and the general public. Without hesitation, Beals the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. responded by organizing volunteers in Carpinteria to rapidly produce This is the Foodbank’s drive-through as many masks as possible. Her goal was to offer a free face covering to option, and they operate 20 monthly every adult in Carpinteria. mobile food distribution sites plus pickBeals’ neighbor and good friend, Lynn Menicucci, witnessed how overup spots at community centers, parking loaded she was and joined the operation as the delegated mask distributor. lots and farmers markets two or three Word was out about their masks and Lynn handled the time-consuming times a week. work of responding to calls and emails, along with mask delivery. Food insecurity is what they’re calling “Volunteers from all over our little town came out of the woodwork it now. The terrible word hunger replaced with generous hearts and a fighting spirit, ala Rosie the Riveter. Often by something easier to stomach, I guess. the seamstresses, upon joining us, would express their feelings that they The Foodbank distributes 131,500 pounds were so relieved to actually find a way they could fight back against this a month of food to 21,804 individuals in deadly pandemic,” Beals said. underserved areas – 19.5 million pounds With time, there were over 70 volunteers and thousands of masks were of food in the past year. Food insecurity distributed for free. The project was named “Neighbor to Neighbor” and is not vanishing with the virus. A $1 truly provided for the entire town and beyond – from essential workers, donation can provide eight meals. Go to to elderly care homes, to shipping masks to Mexico. foodbank@sb.org and give what you can. Beals, a retired costume designer and producer, ran Neighbor to NeighThis has been a year of profound bor like the business woman she is. She consulted with Cottage Infection chronic stress. But many of us, the lucky Control multiple times for a review and safety critique of the masks. The ones who have homes, jobs and economic mask designs evolved with these consultations, as information about the security, have muddled through. I know virus’ transmission became more clearly defined. artists who have continued to paint, Their work has been tireless and costly, yet they both describe a sense writer friends who have kept on writing. I PAT BEALS of purpose and gratification from their efforts. The pair wish to acknowlfinished a novel long in the works and am edge the many volunteers involved, including a 103-year-old friend who now confronted with the task of finding ironed each mask with care. an agent. It’s about a small Central Valley Know someone who is giving back in a powerful When I met Beals and Menicucci, I was gifted an assortment of colorful town awash in McCarthy era paranoia. Its way or bringing joy to others? Send nominations to masks that fit perfectly and reminded me that loving and selfless hands themes – division, suspicion, violence— ingrid@ingridbostromphotography.com. created them. resonate with issues we face today. A recently crafted Malibu ghost.
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