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| Laguna Blanca Elementary student Mirabel S. and Melinda Palacio |
Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025
Two months ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by a 4th-grade student, Mirabel S., from Laguna Blanca Elementary. Through email her mother explained that her daughter’s class held a citizenship breakfast to honor community leaders and role models. The program is in its 15th year, Of course, I agreed. I was honored that Mirabel had chosen a Poet Laureate. In addition to being poised and eloquent, Mirabel is an impressive nine-year old. She is also a poet. The Independent featured her poetry in this column last month. Here it is in case you missed it.
Program leader and Fourth Grade Instructor Susanne Richter explained that the fourth graders are the oldest students in Laguna Blanca’s lower campus in Montecito. As older students on campus, they are leaders to the younger students and they look to the community for role models and good citizens. “You have elevated the lives of these children,” she said to the eighteen community models of good citizenship.
The array of good citizens included police officers, firefighters, doctors, veterinarians, Environmental Defense Center Chief Counsel Linda Krop, Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, Carey Bradshaw Executive Director of Therapy Dogs, Dojo Master Alex Rodriguez, and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Godmothers Bookstore Cofounder to name a few. Students either had a personal connection to their chosen citizen and/ or an admiration for the work they do. Each student gave a speech about their chosen role model.
Of me, Mirabel said that I had an amazing quality of citizenship. “She has good citizenship because she helps other people express their feelings in their poetry,” Mirabel said. “She also inspires young poets.” Mirabel did not share her speech with me or her parents ahead of time. It was a lovely surprise to hear all her kind praises. When a child understands what you’re passionate about, it’s extremely gratifying. I am touched and honored. All of the speeches were thoughtful and well delivered, thanks to Associate Teacher Ademola Oyewole-Davis who worked with each student and was on hand to make sure their mic was at the right height and to offer some encouragement.
I was somewhat surprised that there were no parents at this event, but it was during school hours when most parents are at work. The citizenship breakfast offered an impressive spread, including quiches and pastries, coffee, juices, and fruit. Students also displayed what they’ve learned about citizenship through their art. Their posters provided a perfect backdrop for their thoughtful speeches.
This week’s poem comes from novelist Mona Alvarado Frazier who is shining a light on Oxnard with her award-winning young adult novels, set in her hometown: The Garden of Second Chances and A Bridge Home.
Mona Alvarado Frazier
Beneath wet lashes
the moon, round with longing,
floated towards heaven
a luminous orb
An arc against an indigo sky,
embroidered with crystals,
radiance ascended, a soft glow
caressing a night of sighs
Ardent light beckoned
to the miracles of hope
until the tears dried
and the sun rose again
Good Girls Don’t Wear Red Panties
Mona Alvarado Frazier
Voices ebb and flow
Hello? Mom?
Nurse?
Sweat puddles
into a damp swamp
of twisted sheets
Harnessed by machines
Fluids drip, drop,
bloody crook of arm
Free me
from this web
Please
My armpits stink of panic
A twist and a yank
The gown gapes
Mom appears,
frowns
“Good girls don’t wear red panties.”
Mona Alvarado Frazier is the award-winning author of "The Garden of Second Chances" and "A Bridge Home," winner of the 2025 Southwest Book Award in YA and the Paterson Prize for Young Readers. A proud Californian born and raised in Oxnard, she writes with heart and humor, seeking to amplify the voices of young Latinas while celebrating their resilience and stories. Mona came to writing later in life but brings all the richness of lived experience to the page—proof that it’s never too late to follow the story that’s been waiting inside you.