All Events
Cup of Culture
quwa’ & Saving the Foothills- Land Back and Restoration in Santa Barbara
Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, Marianne Parra, and Robyne Redwater and Professor Summer Gray, moderator)
MCC Theater
A special film screening event featuring quwa’ and Saving the Foothills, two documentaries highlighting Chumash history, land preservation, and the contemporary LandBack movement. quwa’ explores the story of a lost Chumash island in Goleta Slough, followed by Saving the Foothills, which chronicles the community effort to protect San Marcos Foothills from development.
A Q&A discussion, moderated by Professor Summer Gray, will follow the screenings with Chumash community members Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, Marianne Parra, and Robyne Redwater. Afterwards, enjoy dinner and conversation with fellow attendees.
- Ernestine Ygnacio-DeSoto is a well-known and respected Chumash Elder for the Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Montecito areas. She is recognized by the Santa Ynez Reservation, where her family’s photo is displayed in the cultural hall. She is the daughter of Mary Yee—the last native speaker of the coastal Chumash language and a renowned Chumash storyteller. Ernestine’s grandmother was Lucretia Ygnacio. Her mother, Mary Yee, worked closely with John Peabody Harrington to document and preserve the Chumash language and culture. Ernestine’s nephew, James Yee, holds a master’s in education and is currently pursuing a PhD in Chumash linguistics. Ernestine herself worked for many years as a mental health nurse and has authored several books. One of the stories she grew up hearing—the “Sugar Bear Story”—was later turned into a book that she both wrote and illustrated. She remains active in speaking her native language and practicing Chumash basketry. Ernestine’s 4X great grandfather was Chief Yanonali. Ernestine Ygnacio-Desoto’s family is one of the oldest documented Chumash families to still reside on ancestral lands.
- Marianne Parra is Chumash with lineage to Santa Ynez, Goleta, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Ventura.
Marianne spent many years from early childhood to late teens on the Santa Ynez Reservation with family, learning and practicing culture and being connected with elders. Family and building connections within her communities have always been very important. She has a lengthy background in the medical field and doing volunteer work with domestic violence survivors. Her education in forensic psychology is on hold while she explores Chumash ethnobotany and other areas. Marianne is the granddaughter of a Chumash healer/medicine woman who first shared stories with her regarding pygmy woolly mammoths in the area long before any had been discovered - Robyne Redwater
- Summer Gray is an interdisciplinary social scientist focused on coastal adaptation and the inequities that arise in response to climate change. Her book, In the Shadow of the Seawall, examines the social and environmental implications of seawall construction on coastal communities, providing a critical analysis of adaptation strategies that often deepen existing disparities. As a cinematic sociologist, she uses documentary filmmaking to explore environmental values and systemic injustices, combining in-depth interviews with visual storytelling.
Co-Sponsors: AiiCRC and AiiSA
Trauma-Informed Community Care Workshop
Macala “Kala” Lacy, LMFT & CYT
MCC Lounge
What is trauma-informed care, why does it matter, and how can it be applied in our relationships? We all want safe communities, but they aren’t created by chance. We need tools and practices that produce deep understanding, intention, and care. Join us for a workshop facilitated by Macala “Kala” Lacy from The Well Healing, where we’ll explore key principles of trauma-informed care and how to use them authentically to cultivate our communities. This workshop will support participants' conceptualization of trauma, its impacts, and the application of intentional approaches to build safer spaces.
Macala “Kala” Lacy (pronounced kay-uh; pronouns: she/they) is a licensed yoga-psychotherapist (licensed marriage & family therapist and certified yoga teacher) and one of the founders of The Well Healing, with her ancestors as the other co-founders. Kala wholeheartedly believes that she was given this life to support the healing journeys of LGBTQ+ Black and people of color. She uses her knowledge and experience as an LMFT & CYT to provide resources for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness to historically oppressed communities across the nation. Kala considers it her responsibility to provide, fight for, and challenge conceptualizations of care in oppressive spaces. They remind us that by centering our individual and collective health, we ensure sustainable resistance in a world designed to destroy and disconnect us from ourselves and each other.
Cup of Culture
Nope
MCC Theater
After our inaugural Beyond the Lab! STEM Week last fall, we’re taking time this winter quarter to slow down, nourish ourselves, and continue building the community we fostered. To encourage connection and creativity, we’re excited to host a sci-fi horror film screening—a fun chance to relax, connect, and explore new imaginative spaces together.
Join us for our screening of Nope (2022), directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer. It follows siblings OJ and Emerald Hayward, who inherit their father’s California horse ranch after his death. When they discover an unidentified flying object abducting their horses, they hatch a plan to capture footage of the UFO to make money. This effort brings them into conflict with both the otherworldly entity and their neighbor, Ricky "Jupe" Park, who is exploiting the same phenomenon for his theme park. A thrilling critique on spectacle and exploitation, Peele’s feel for the harrowing is unmatched; Nope unsettles and thrills, usually at the same time.
Stay after the screening for a post-film discussion and late-night pizza.
Spiritual Care Club
MCC Lounge
Spiritual Care Club is a recurring space where members will learn how to use and trust divine and intuitive tools for their healing and care, identity development, and dreams and goals formation. It will be an intentional space where we can experience personal and collective growth, joy, and care in a safe and
encouraging environment.
Thursday Mar 5 2:00-3:30 pm MCC Lounge
