GET HAPPY, GET WISTFUL: For those with a healthy curiosity, love of a rugged view, and a sturdy constitution, the sweetest route from Santa Barbara to Monterey is along the twisting, twining ribbon of Highway 1. Surviving the long slalom section, entering the Big Sur wonderland, you’re rewarded with Nepenthe Restaurant, with one of the most life-affirming views in America. A beer for luck and you’re on your way.
HOPE YOU GOT KISSED: When I pick up the morning newspaper, I like the jokes to stay where they belong-on the funny pages. But now that even the comic strips have become an ideological minefield, I suppose everything’s fair game.
Most of us non-native Santa Barbarans end up here largely because we love being outside. Whether it’s hiking, surfing, rock climbing, or suntanning we can’t live without, there are few willing to battle Santa Barbara’s housing market without a stake in the great outdoors. Ironically, it is this very attachment to outdoor activities that sometimes separates us from nature. We use the front country’s easily accessible trails for our daily jog or walk of the dog; the beach becomes just another place to party or go on a date or pine after someone else’s tan; our relationship to the ocean is defined by how good the surf is. For many of us, the outdoors risks becoming just another playing field in our drive to succeed.
Jake’s brother Sam, his cousin Lucas, and five of his close friends-including my son-recently came together at the Boysels’ house to reminisce. In their words, Jake was “a funny, long-haired, easy-to-have-fun-with, easy-to-make-friends-with person with a big heart. He was good at everything, but always found time for fun. He was always laughing, always about anything and everything, and he’d all of a sudden find ways to make other people laugh.
Adrive along the South Coast reveals many things, not the least of which is that this region is home to many nurseries. Fields of potted plants stand in regimented rows, and bowed or pitched roofs of greenhouses cover many more acres. One of the biggest contributors to this nursery industry is the growers of orchids. Cymbidiums in particular abound. There is good reason for this, as this genus finds our mellow climate just to their liking.
A majority of the surf films coming out these days are shameless acts of self-promotion or glorified navel-gazing sessions cut to the tunes of Jack Johnson or some other guitar-strumming “friend of the industry.” The aforementioned films have less than nothing to do with the average surfer’s genuine experience. Can you imagine watching 50 minutes of Ron Jeremy’s greatest moments in porn with a Top 40 emo-punk soundtrack and then feel inspired to make sweet love to your better half?
My name is John Kevin Hines. On September 25, 2000, I tried to kill myself by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I believe that by God’s hands I failed. This wasn’t the first time that I tried to commit suicide; it was my second attempt and this time I was determined to succeed. I had felt lost since I was 16 years old. I was chronically ill with bipolar disorder and severe depression; I heard voices echoing in my head, “Jump now, you must die, you are a bad person.” And I believed them. I went out to the bridge because I, in my distorted reality, thought I was a burden to those whom I loved.
Amy Goodman is one of very few American celebrities who owes her stardom to her role in the independent media movement. Thanks to the success of her radio program Democracy Now!, Goodman’s voice is currently heard on more than 500 public radio and television stations. With her self-titled theory “trickle-up journalism” and her show’s slogan “steal our stories,” Goodman’s modesty and tenacity color her commitment to uncover buried stories and air silenced voices.
Barney gets to the bottom of why Leah Etling resigned, how Elements chef Paul Becking is celebrating Bo Diddley’s Monday show, and where to go to support the 23 and counting News-Pressers who’ve left the building.
