Nicole Cabell from the 2012 Face Of Ventura series by Johanna Spinks.

by Susan Scott Executive Director

“Nicole Cabell is an American soprano.” So begins her formal bio, but I have a sense Venturans would write it differently – something like: “Nicole Cabell is a ‘hometown hero,” a local girl from a modest family who took the opera world by storm when she won the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2005.”

Nicole debuted at The Proms in London the next year (a very big deal) and her career from there would take her to opera houses throughout the world, like Covent Garden, Lyric Opera in Chicago, The Met and more. And – in the midst of this career rocket – she closes the 2008 Ventura Music Festival in a sold-out performance staged at Ventura High School, her alma mater, and follows it with a master class for 500 students the next day. This weekend was a very big deal for Ventura and the town went crazy. They loved Nicole and she loved them.

The appearance became even more mythic when she came down with laryngitis the night before she was to perform. She couldn’t sing at rehearsal the next day either and found her voice only that night when she opened it to sing on stage – a veritable (operatic) cliff-hanger.

Fast forward, I catch up with Nicole in July where her Pandemic experience has her in the middle of a long cross-country move and home remodel. She’s relocating from Chicago to Rochester NY to take up her new position as Assistant Professor at the prestigious Eastman School of Music. I congratulate her, and she agrees to participate in Music Connects. She’ll think about what music to connect with as she completes the move.

Nicole decides on the song version of Langston Hughes’ poem, Kid in the Park, because she thinks it reflects the mood of the deepening cultural awareness in the country. I think it does too and I think you are going to love the video and the music.

Gina Reyes (City of Ventura), Mary Thompson (Vice President Olivas Adobe Historical Interpreters-AKA docents) with Glenda the doggie, Frank Shugart (Olivas Adobe Historical Interpreter) and Kathryn Dippong Lawson (City of Ventura) sprucing up Olivas. Photo by Richard Lieberman

by Richard Lieberman

The Olivas Adobe, an adobe structure, was built in 1841 by Raymundo Olivas on the north bank of the Santa Clara River. While the home was built in 1841 it was expanded in 1849 to include a second story which made it unique at the time. The land had originally been part of a grazing area for the cattle herds of Mission San Buenaventura. Olivas and his wife and twenty-one children lived at the site until 1889. It later became Max Fleischmann’s hunting lodge and after his death, his foundation donated the land and the house to the City of Ventura.

Two city workers and two volunteers took advantage of the city ordered temporary closure of the site to make needed repairs and perform routine maintenance.

Kathryn Dippong Lawson, Public Arts and Historic Sites Manager for the city of Ventura said, “Parks and recreation oversees Olivas Adobe and normally at this time of year Olivas Adobe is full of concerts and rentals and we don’t have the time to do a lot of maintenance.” She also added, “We decided in this time we would take care of some things that we wanted to take care of. Our Ramadas (small wooden carts) that are in the courtyard get moved around during an event and we decided to replace the top of them.”

“The tops are replaced with branches found in the river bottom which are difficult to find.” Said Frank Shugart a volunteer on the project.

“We decided to do this while the site was shut down this was just a good time to do it.” Said Gina Reyes Historic Site Coordinator for the city. “We have been working on this for three weeks and hope to finish by the end of the week,” said Gina Reyes. Gina oversees all the historic sites which includes the museum and runs all cultural tours and excursion programs.

“This time of year, we have a stage up every weekend making it difficult to accomplish any of the normal maintenance needed,” said Frank Shugart a volunteer for the project.

Mary Thompson, Vice President of Olivas Adobe Docents and historical interpreter is also a member of the Board of Directors. Mary in addition to her many duties at Olivas Adobe is also on staff at the Ventura Breeze and has been for many years. Mary is also responsible for decorating the outside of the venue for the Christmas Holidays. “I also plan events and field trips,” Thompson said. “I have been volunteering here for the past eleven years,” she added. Mary goes back a long way on her journey to becoming a docent and general volunteer “I first came here on a school field trip when I was in the fourth grade,” “My sister was also married here in 1977,” she said.

Hopefully we can all look forward to a time when the Corona Virus is better controlled and Olivas Adobe will once again be open to the public.

Leaving plenty of room on a wave at C Street in Ventura.

by Amy Brown

Years ago in the Bay Area I remember just learning to surf, paddling back out to the lineup with an ice cream headache and what little strength I had left after yet another humiliating wipeout, when a surfer rode a wave straight towards me. I didn’t know what to do to get out of the way, so I froze. I had a vague plan that combined hoping that the oncoming surfer would steer around me, with some ambiguous idea that if I remained motionless, maybe they wouldn’t be able to see me being so stupid, like in Jurassic Park. I was wrong. It is the responsibility of the paddler to get out of the way, and in doing so, avoid going right in front of someone riding towards you—you go behind them, or speed up and get out of the way to avoid being run over.

Surfing is an incredible way to experience the ocean—gliding down the face of a wave, feeling the combined peace and power of the ocean propelling you—it’s no wonder that surfers have a reputation for being laid back. However, the fastest way to see just the opposite from the lineup is to paddle out without knowing and following surfing etiquette. This code of conduct is for everyone’s safety and enjoyment, and if you are out there without adhering to it, you are in danger of hurting someone, or at the very least drawing the ire of the entire group.

All surfers started out as beginners, so there is some tolerance for the learning curve, but it is the beginner’s responsibility to learn the basic tenets and avoid being a kook—a pejorative term for someone who is either disrespectful or seriously (and often dangerously) ignorant. So whether that’s waxing the underside of your board or having fins the wrong direction, or—infinitely worse—taking off on waves that aren’t yours, learn how to avoid this label and you’ll have a better time, and so will everyone else. Check out Kook of The Day on Instagram for some cautionary tales. Thankfully Instagram didn’t yet exist while I was trying to teach myself to surf, otherwise I could have been featured on that site with shocking regularity.

Right of way and wave priority are the touchstones of surfing etiquette rules. The surfer with the closest proximity to the wave peak has the right of way. If they pass on the wave, or miss it, the right of way goes to the next in line. And speaking of priority—don’t snake, or cut the lineup by paddling around someone waiting to position yourself in a priority position. And for the love of all things holy, don’t drop in—if someone has the right of way or is already riding a wave, do not take off in front of them. This is incredibly dangerous and incredibly rude.

Another safety mandate: don’t ditch your board. You risk cutting off a surfer riding towards you, or hitting others paddling out and causing injuries. You are responsible for having your board under your control. Now, this doesn’t mean if you catch a wave and wipeout that you have to grab your board midair—ditching refers primarily to abandoning it when paddling. So, if you see a giant wave breaking as you’re sitting on your board or paddling—resist the urge to ditch your board and dive down to escape the impact zone—grab the rails as tight as you can and roll over (turtle) or duck dive if you are using a shortboard.

Acknowledging a mistake will go a long way towards restoring the vibe after you make the wrong call, and if you’re new, that’s bound to happen. Take a lesson, there’s plenty of local pros to help you learn. And don’t forget to respect others, and respect the ocean and beach that provides all this amazing surfing—and leave it cleaner than when you arrived.

Take a virtual visit.

Channel Islands National Park has developed a new digital app to enhance the visitor experience in the park that can also be used to take a virtual visit. The new mobile app is free and available at the App Store or on Google Play.

Features in the app include exploring the islands through stories, sites, self-guided tours, and interactive maps, or finding favorite places, trails, and topics of interest. Visitors can use the app to create a collage of the images from your visit or to track a calendar of current conditions, events, or ranger programs. The app is fully accessible with audio description and alternative text for images. To learn more go to NPS Channel Islands App.

Visitors to Santa Rosa Island will discover a new coastal trail on the marine terrace that boasts stunning views of Carrington and Skunk Points, Water Canyon Beach, and the Torrey pine forest. This short route from the pier to the campground provides a welcome glimpse of the magnificent marine and terrestrial resources visitors will encounter during their stay.

Island Packers, the park’s boat transportation concessioner, has expanded options for day and overnight trips to each of the islands. Popular trips this summer include non-landing whale watch excursions in search of blue and humpback whales and multi-island same day landings at both Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island and Anacapa Island. Marine wildlife sightings this past week included 14 blue whales, several humpback whales, and thousands of common dolphins.

Kayak concessioner Santa Barbara Adventure Company is providing kayak tours out of Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. They will resume snorkel and kayak tours at Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island when the new pier construction is completed in the fall.

The National Park Service has more than 20,000 National Park Service employees who care for America’s 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.

Learn more at www.nps.gov.