On Dec. 14&15, the Ventura Harbor celebrated the season with its 42nd Annual Holiday Parade of Lights & Fireworks.The 2018 theme paid homage to all things 70’s. It featured a very colorful Boat Parade and Harbor Village festivities!
All posts by admin
Vol. 12, No. 6 – Dec 19, 2018 – Jan 2, 2019 – A View from House Seats
by Shirley Lorraine
Escape to the islands with South Pacific
Some theatrical experiences just stay with you. The current production of South Pacific on the Rubicon Theater stage is one of those. I grew up on the songs of this show, listening to my father singing in the living room. It is the show that endeared me forever to the theater. And it has not lost its appeal. Apparently, others feel the same, judging by the full houses and sold out shows.
First premiered on Broadway in 1949, the timeless musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein still resonates with passion and emotion. The play, based on James Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific”, weaves its magic through two love stories set in and around an exotic island during World War II.
South Pacific deals with sensitive subjects involving prejudice, acceptance, forgiveness and yearning, all as pertinent now as they were when the material was first written.
This production, deftly directed with insight and depth by Katharine Farmer, features a two-keyboard accompaniment by Brent Crayon and Jen Oikawa.
Ben Davis as Frenchman Emile de Becque and Madison Claire Parks as Navy Ensign Nellie Forbush make a formidable pair in the lead roles. They deliver in fine fashion the beautiful Some Enchanted Evening, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair and more.
The enchanted young lovers Lt. Joseph Cable and Liat are played by Alex Nee and Jamie Yun to youthful perfection. Nee’s Younger Than Springtime is heartfelt and poignant. Jodi Kimura’s Bloody Mary is tuned to a fine edge. She entices Lt. Cable with the haunting Bali Hai, leading him to paradise.
Dealmaker sailor Luther Billis is given a well-crafted comic touch by Kirby Ward. He puts his all into There is Nothing Like a Dame and the hysterical Honey Bun numbers. Ward is surrounded by an athletic cast of sailors/dancers who fill the stage with spitfire. Likewise, Nurse Forbush is aided throughout by a bevy of talented nurses/dancers to keep the sparks flying and the toes tapping.
Emile’s children, played by Isabella De Los Santos and Ian Nunney, are both excellent. They deliver their song Dites-Moi and French dialogue with confidence and conviction. Both have participated in the Rubicon’s Stinky Feet Youth Theatre and learned well. They are each a talent to watch in the years to come.
Key Navy personnel Captain Brackett and Commander Harbison, played by Andy Umberger and Joseph Fuqua, display the crisp demeanor one associates with an officer.
The multi-use set pieces easily transform the scenes, backed by scenic projections which bring the audience onto the islands with the players. The compact stage seems to expand, and contract as needed to accommodate the large cast as well as the intimate scenes.
There are reasons South Pacific has long been an audience favorite. The music and lyrics are eloquent and meaningful. The characters and situations face familiar life hurdles. The energy, passion and sincerity are palpable. Even if you’ve seen South Pacific many times before, you will want to see it again. But hurry, seats are filling fast.
South Pacific runs through December 23. Performances are Wednesdays at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Rubicon Theater, 1006 E. Main St, Ventura. www.rubicontheatre.org or (805) 667-2900 for tickets. Prices vary. Make reservations soon as many shows sell out.
Audubon events January 2019
January 5: Ventura Audubon Christmas Bird Count – Leader: Frank DeMartino 856-906-8733 or you may call one of the Section Leaders listed on website.
Birders of all skill levels are encouraged to participate. The more participants we have, the more areas we can cover and we can cover them more thoroughly. Sector Leaders usually start at 8:00 or 8:30 although some of the more ambitious leaders may start earlier!
January 6: 8:00 a.m. Hedrick Ranch Nature Area – Work day Leader: Sandy Hedrick 805-340-0478.
Arrive at 8:00 for self-guided birding which usually yields some interesting birds. Work from 9am – noon. Long pants and boots or closed shoes are required. Bring water, gloves and sun protection.
January 8: 7:30 p.m. VAS Monthly Program: Ventura Seabird Restoration on the California Islands… with Annie Little (USFWS) at the Poinsettia Pavillion – 3451 Foothill Road.The presentation will highlight restoration efforts for seabirds on the Channel Islands and Baja California Pacific Islands, including invasive species removal, habitat restoration, and social attraction.
January 12: 8:30 a.m. Ormond Beach Leaders: Cynthia Hartley 805-795-4115 & Adele Fergusson 805-415-4304. Join us at this excellent coastal location, where we will look for a variety of waterfowl, such as Willets, Whimbrels, Black necked Stilts, Black bellied Plovers and other interesting birds. We will also look for Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Peregrine Falcon, and Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers. Please bring a scope if you have one.
January 19: 8:30 a.m. Soule Park Leader: Linda Easter 818-519-2833
Situated in east Ojai, this large park offers grasslands, large deciduous trees and riparian habitat that bring out winter feeding flocks of sparrows, bluebirds, and warblers and year round habitat for thrashers, woodpeckers, raptors and more.
January 27: 8:30 a.m. Canada Larga Leader: David Torfeh 805-794-5334
Meet near the beginning of the road off Hwy 33. We will carpool from that location as we walk and drive this long county road. Target species will include Barn Owl, Western Bluebirds, Lark Sparrow, Roadrunner, Phainopepla and various species of swallows.
People of many faiths come together for SOS!
“First we pray, then we act for justice.” So the Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford opened the Interfaith Prayer Vigil at the “Sunday of Solidarity with Refugee Families” in Ventura on December 9th. It was held at the corner of Victoria and Telephone at the Ventura County Government Center.
Dr. Stapleford is a Unitarian Universalist minister in Santa Paula and co-chair of Ventura County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-Ventura County), convener of the event.
Dr. Stapleford welcomed the large crowd present and continued, “On this Sunday of Solidarity we have gathered to draw strength from each other and from those who have traveled so far, only to languish at our Southern border but with the hope of claiming asylum in the United States.”
Anne Ward, a member of the North Oxnard United Methodist Church and part of the organizing committee, said, “People of faith are frustrated. We cannot accept the fact that those seeking asylum are being treated so poorly and our asylum laws are not being followed. We cannot allow such cruelty to continue in our name.”
“Judeo-Christian scripture tells us repeatedly to welcome the stranger,” said event co-chair the Rev. Melissa Campbell-Langdell, pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church in Oxnard.
Stories of some of the migrant asylum seekers were read. Prayers were said for the migrants and for the people there to strengthen their resolve to call for changes to policies now hurting would-be asylum seekers. The vigil concluded with a call to action emphasized by the blowing of the Shofar, the Jewish ceremonial ram’s horn, by Rabbi Lisa Hochberg- Miller of Temple Beth Torah in Ventura.
Those present were charged with taking actions to ameliorate the situation at the border: contacting elected representatives, serving at the border, and donating to organizations that are supporting the migrants.
Event co-sponsors included: Indivisible Ventura, Democratic Moms of Camarillo, Indivisible Ojai, Buen Vecino, and Coastal Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy (CA– USE).
CLUE-Ventura County is on the web at www.cluevc.org and can be reached via email at [email protected].
.
# #
We are healthcare advocates
by Jolene Bibian
I’m part of a committee planning a local 5k in Ventura scheduled for January 12th, 2019.
This event is our first attempt at our goal of raising $10k to get a Children’s Dream Racer Car built for VCMC Pediatrics unit. These cars are built by Mark ‘Smitty’ Smith who worked on NASCARs in the 90’s. He sold his shop in 2008 to use his talents in building Children’s Dream Racer cars for children in hospitals receiving care. They are designed to help ease the anxiety of children going through treatment and help them “just” be kids in an otherwise scary situation.
I’m the president-elect of “Ventura County Association of Health Underwriters”. We are not underwriters, but rather healthcare advocates. VCAHU proudly serves our community with a vision of providing access to private sector solutions for health insurance through the unbiased advice of local agents and brokers.
Incoming presidents of the local association are encouraged to lead an event within the association prior to their term as president. Typically, these are aimed at our own industry by way of professional development. This time around, we decided to do an event that was community facing. If we meet our goal, and get that car to the kids, we will be the first west coast chapter of our national association to do so! We would love for our VCMC kids to have one of these cars and for our community to be a part of making that happen! The power of play is a vital resource for the healing process.
Registration is open for the 5k and readers of the Breeze can use a promo code BREEZE to receive a discount.
We encourage registering before Dec 12th to help in planning efforts.
People can donate and register online: https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Ventura/VCAHU5k
We are also actively looking for community members to fill our sponsorship spots or include their raffles prizes for the morning of the 5k.
MERITO Foundation: Inspiring our youth to become environmental stewards
Volunteers sorting the debris they picked up…some is trash and some are recyclables. Photo courtesy of MERITO Foundation
Sustainability Now News
by Maryann Ridini Spencer (@MaryannRidiniSpencer)
“We all deserve to live in a world with clean air, clean water, and abundant, healthy food sources and it’s all our responsibility for the care of our planet,” said Rocio Lozano-Knowlton, MERITO Foundation’s Founder and Executive Director. “Research has shown that the best time to influence children and reinforce healthy habits is from a young age. At MERITO Foundation, we’ve made it our mission is to teach children how to think, act and live sustainably.”
MERITO (Multicultural Education for Resources Issues Threatening Oceans), established as a not for profit in 2014 after being a program of Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary for nine years, educates youth about ocean health and environmentally friendly practices through education programs, hands-on conservation, and in-the-field citizen science experiences.
“We work to provide opportunities to demonstrate to students first-hand how their actions can impact the environment,” said Lozano-Knowlton. “During field retreats, students learn about our watershed as well as collect field data that contribute to ongoing scientific research.” In our in-classroom educational outreach programs, they engage in the development of environmentally-friendly products as well as spearhead projects and activities that help reduce their school’s carbon footprint and utility costs.”
MERITO’s two main programs feature MERITO Academy, a comprehensive hands-on Earth, and ocean science education program that provides educators with the tools to teach students about current issues facing our ocean and coastal environments. The EECCOA Program (Energy Efficiency to Mitigate Climate Change and Ocean Acidification), is a project-based science education program that provides energy, climate, and ocean literacy services and products to 8th-12th-grade teachers and their students. Every year the program culminates with a public award ceremony honoring event winners with cash prizes. Both MERITO Academy and EECCOA are aligned to the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core Standards (CCSS).
“The teachers can select certain components of our programs based on their needs (i.e., curriculum, field experiences, student projects, etc.). Our only requirements are that teachers instruct 10-15 lesson plans through the school; allow us to administer pre and post-program evaluation to their students, and to guide their students to deliver an end of year projects,” continued Lozano-Knowlton.
With MERITO programs, teachers choose when and which lessons to teach, as well as if they would like to have their students participate in MERITO’s field experiences.
MERITO works with a host of top educators and environmental and ocean science professionals to help develop their bilingual curricula, field activities, instructional guides, and educational videos, and to date, MERITO’s teacher training workshops have trained 413 educators working with school districts across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
“Through our programs, students get exposed to careers in science, technology, engineering,” added Lozano-Knowlton. “The knowledge they gain helps encourage them to pursue careers related to the ocean, the environment, as well as art-related fields, all with the intent and a passion for preserving our precious natural resources.”
“When we take students out into the field or expose them to issues impacting our natural environment, we’ve found the kids love to come up with ideas and solutions that make a difference,” said Lozano-Knowlton, “Engaging in environmental problem-solving and contributing possible solutions excites and empowers them.”
The MERITO Foundation has educated 14,581 students to date in understanding our watershed, ocean, and climate change sciences programs at over 25 public schools in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Help support MERITO Foundation’s mission, donate or volunteer. Find out more about MERITO’s programs and events. Visit www.meritofoundation.org or email [email protected]
Cabrillo Middle School brings home robotics honors
The Riptide Robotics team from Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura recently participated in the First LEGO League Los Angeles Area Championship Tournament, after winning the Champion’s Award at the Ventura Regionals. They came home with the coveted First LEGO League Research Project Award for the work they did on their project, the “Veggie-Sphere.”
This year’s theme “Into Orbit” allows teams to build and compete with their robots but also expands the challenge and asks all teams to develop a project that would allow for humans to stay alive, healthy, and happy while living and working in outer space. This team took the problem of growing food in space and developed the “Veggie-Sphere.”
“Finding a way to grow food in the dark, without gravity, and very little soil was a hard problem to tackle. Through many tries and failures we think we developed a way that would allow astronauts to grow vegetables in these conditions,” stated team member Sam Quiroz.
“We were provided with the opportunity to talk with NASA Engineers in Florida, we took a tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs and worked with engineers at Sessa Manufacturing who assisted us in developing our prototype,” stated team member Connor Upham.
Coached by JD Sessa, the Riptide Robotics team is made up of ten students; Alicia Ali, Alexander Blomquist, Olivia Blomquist, Emiliano Ferro, Matheus Gamble, Sam Quiroz, Burton Sessa, Conner Upham, and Scott Vreeland. The team is currently fundraising and looking for additional sponsors to assist them with project/robot costs and the purchase of two new laptops. Individuals can donate to their GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/help-cabrillo-robotics-blast-off and companies who wish to sponsor can reach out to fundraising committee member and team parent, Marieanne Quiroz at [email protected].
FIRST LEGO League is an international program for 9 to 16-year-old children (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult Mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS® and create an innovative solution to a real-world problem as part of their research project.
Museum of Ventura County names new Library and Archives Director
The Museum of Ventura County has announced Deya Terrafranca as its new library and archives director. Terrafranca will be responsible for managing all aspects of the regional special collection and historical research library, including collection development and supervision of more than 20 volunteers.
Terrafranca’s appointment follows the retirement of Charles Johnson, who came to Ventura County nearly 30 years ago to take the position as librarian and became the Museum’s longest serving staff member.
The library houses more than 170,000 items relating to Ventura County’s history including maps, photographs, newspapers, books, periodicals, manuscripts, oral histories and video tapes, including many rare and one-of-a-kind, articles of incorporation and other county records.
“One of the Museum’s goals is to increase the public’s accessibility to the full breadth of the incredible library collection that has been amassed under the leadership of Charles, the Museum’s Accessions Committee and its many volunteers,” said Elena Brokaw, the Museum’s Barbara Barnard Smith executive director. “Deya’s experience working with Charles on this goal will help maintain continuity in moving it forward.”
In addition, Terrafranca will spearhead the Museum’s commitment to ensure that all at-risk collections are conserved and properly cared for, and that the entire collection is housed in one consolidated, climate controlled and ADA-compliant space that allows discovery, instruction, research, and collaboration.
Terrafranca has worked at the Museum for nearly two years in a variety of positions from visitors’ services and administrative support staff to advancement director, responsible for cultivating corporate and individual donor opportunities, increasing membership and developing and promoting the museum’s diverse programming, events and exhibits. Terrafranca holds a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and a bachelor’s degree in sculpture and political science from Concord University in Athens, West Virginia.
In her library experience Terrafranca has worked in administration, cataloguing, reference, research, circulation, and programming. She has served as programs coordinator, supervising city librarian and assistant director of library systems in Ventura and West Virginia. In those roles she launched library renovations and new programs including collections reorganizations and building renovations.
“As a librarian, my experiences in libraries have ingrained a deep respect for a sense of place; I believe our history can help us connect to that sense of place and create a sense of belonging. I think belonging is critical to active engagement in our community’s life and future. The first-year plan for the library is to increase the public’s access to the full breadth of the incredible library collection which has been amassed under the leadership of former librarian Charles Johnson, the Museum’s Accessions Committee, and many additional volunteers. My goal is to ensure that all at risk collections are conserved and properly cared for, and that the entire collection is housed in one consolidated, climate controlled, and ADA compliant space that allows discovery, instruction, research, and collaboration. That goal is several years out but we are getting jump start on it! The community’s access to this rich cultural history has to be expanded and that will take place through a consolidated catalog, online access to the collection contents, and digitization of items like maps and photographs.”
“We are thrilled to have someone with Deya’s qualifications take over the role of library and archives director,” said Kate McLean, the Museum’s board chair. “Her extensive knowledge and library expertise, coupled with her first-hand experience with the Museum, makes her an ideal person to step into the role. We will support her efforts in every way possible.”
Vol. 12, No. 6 – Dec 19, 2018 – Jan 2, 2019 – Forever Homes Wanted
Say hello to Ripley! This gorgeous girl is friendly, playful, and loves affection. She knows some commands and is a great learner! Her favorite activity is fetch and she is quite the pro at it. Not only is she easy to walk, but she is also easy to bathe! She loves to get scrubbed during baths and doesn’t give her volunteer friends any trouble. She has wonderful manners and can’t wait to find a loving family that will appreciate her many wonderful qualities. Ventura County Animal Services – Simi location – 670 W. Los Angeles Ave Ripley A690403
Hi: I’m Anakin a 7 year old Labrador mix who is in need of a new home as I started not getting along with my litter mates. I have a great personality – active, affectionate playful and outgoing. I know basic commands and I’m good on leash. I’m house and crate trained, know how to use a doggie door and will let you know if I have to go outside. I’m good with older children, but have never been around younger ones. I just want to be loved. Canine Adoption and Rescue League C.A.R.L.
The Ventura Film Society is about to be reborn.
The Ventura Film Society 2.0 hosted a reception at the Museum of Ventura County on December 7th to preview its 2019 season. Commentary from past VFS members and introductions from past VFS director Lorenzo Destefano, along with new Executive Director Mike Miller were presented.
The Ventura Film Society is about to be reborn. Founded by Ventura-based filmmaker Lorenzo DeStefano in 2008, the VFS brought over 400 films to discerning audiences before going on hiatus in 2016 so that Lorenzo could produce and direct his film, Hearing is Believing. He has just completed his play Shipment Day which opened in Hawaii.
By video Lorenzo congratulated the new VFS Team of Mike Miller, Braedon Freeland, Gina Nemo, John-Arthur Ingram and Justin Viar as they embark on the next generation of bringing independent films and filmmakers to Ventura. He also thanked all who have supported the Society and asked for their financial support as well.
“Please support their efforts in the coming months as they continue on their own path of celebrating Film as Public Art and bringing people together in the dark.” stated Lorenzo Destefano, Founder & Former Director, Ventura Film Society.
The Ventura Film Society’s mission is to provide a foundation for our community to grow and thrive through the art of film with imaginative and compelling cinematic experiences in our city.