Hi, everyone. I’m back from paternity leave and reviving my newsletter, except now it’s called The Backstory, a column about the things that sometimes get hidden between the lines. Thanks for reading.
My head is killing me. Not from all the caffeine. Not from the jackhammer next door. Not even from worrying what kind of world our boy will grow up in. (That’s more of a heartache.) No, my head hurts from banging it again and again against UCSB’s wall of silence.
The wall, to be fair, doesn’t block all information equally. UCSB’s Office of Public Affairs, which has 14 writers and staffers and qualifies as one of the biggest “newsrooms” in Santa Barbara County, publishes an article or two a week about the research university’s latest accolades and breakthroughs. Communications about sports, arts, and lectures are also constant, and the alumni association never misses a chance to reconnect.
