Opinion

February 27, 2025

An Ode to the Out-of-State Struggle

By Opinion Editor

When I flew back to school from my home in Colorado to start my sophomore year, my sister began to cry in the plane seat next to me. As we gazed over the Pacific, preparing to land in sunny Santa Barbara, she looked at m...

February 20, 2025

U-Mail: Advice from a wise 7-year-old

By Nina Rossi

I’m looking at my jewelry rack when suddenly my gold bracelet, which I coined as my “dayge bangle,” begins to look a little weird. It appears to have turned into a dolphin-shaped Sillybandz. Here we go again. I...

February 13, 2025

(Not an) AITO: Can you find love in Isla Vista?

By Kira Logan, Jack Dindia

Finding love in Isla Vista: Yes you can! By Kira Logan I know, I know. Yes, I’m talking about the same Isla Vista that is seemingly infested with almost every non-committal person to walk the earth. The same Isla Vista...

February 6, 2025

Ask AJ: Advice for first years (and everyone navigating winter quarter)

By Nina Rossi

MIP, DUI and that damn curb — keeping your record clean As a Gaucho, you or one of your friends may get a Minor in Possession in these next four years, but what does this mean, and how does it affect you? A Minor in ...

January 30, 2025

Grief makes me a time traveler

By Kira Logan

I am 9 years old. I am sitting on my grandfather’s magenta-turned-lavender rocking chair with him, and we are watching Sunday Night Football. My mind jumps to a 14-year-old version of myself, inconsolable in the John...

January 28, 2025

The rearview mirror: Things I’d say to my former self

By Emily Yoon

I often think about my high-school self: avid lover of Holly Warburton paintings and musical theater, writer of prose and poetry and a girl with a rebellious streak convinced, in true teenager fashion, that nobody unders...

January 16, 2025

There are fires at home, and I’m not there

By Lauren Chiou

This article was written on Jan. 12. The information regarding the fires is subject to change, given that the fires are still developing. There are fires at home, and I’m in Santa Barbara, Isla Vista to be exact, sitti...

January 14, 2025

U-Mail: Oh Euro-trash, my Euro-trash

By Lucy Dixon

To: <eurotrashclub@eumail.paris.fr> From: Lucy Dixon <lucydixon@umail.ucsb.edu> Subject: Oh Euro-trash, my Euro-trash Dearest Euro-trash club, I always knew I would miss the inescapable aura of the Euro-tra...

January 4, 2025

U-Mail: The Art of Giving a Fuck

By Nina Rossi

To: Whoever Needs to Hear This The moment finals ended, I felt an unfamiliar sensation. It was the nonchalant version of me spiriting away. Then again, maybe it was never there, and I never noticed under the mountain of ...

November 21, 2024

U-Mail: Where on Earth did I put my bike?

By Lauren Chiou

To: <bike@umail.ucsb.edu> From: Lauren Chiou <laurenchiou@umail.ucsb.edu> Subject: Where on Earth did I put my bike? Dear Bike, Whenever I lock you at the on-campus bike racks, I lose you. I could leave you t...

November 21, 2024

U-Mail: An ode to long distance friendships

By Amitha Bhat

Dear Future Me, M is currently in Spain. She periodically texts me things like “need advice” and “pick one,” referring to an array of photos that she is deciding between posting on Instagram. She’s in her fourt...