My New Stud

Ahh the wonders of self mutilation. Hey Starshine - I am dissappointed that you are so insecure in your self-esteem that you feel the need to accessorize the very attractive face that God gave you.

Even though you may teach college kids, YOU AREN'T IN COLLEGE. AND, if you have done this, why not plop in a little rose on your breast, start short stem because in a surprisingly short period of time it will become a long stem rose. brahhahaa.

But seriously, how about tatoos? a big flower on your face.

Say it isn't so.

Couldn't you just use a clip-on?

zzzzzzzzzzzz,

Starshine -- I saw you yesterday & I think you look cute and edgy with your new stud! Obviously, the guys just don't understand...

Which came first: the desire for a hole in your nose or the desire to write a column about putting a hole in your nose?

Aren't you embarrassed to be teaching a creative non-fiction class at our local college when this is the drivel you produce week in and week out?

All your friends with their warnings about your nose-ring, and not one of them could warn you that NOBODY CARES whether you pierce yourself or not?

One thing is Marianne hiring every cast-off from the News-Suppress to tweak Wendy, but what with your "syndicated" column (syndicated where, on your website?), the "available" podcasts of you reading this tripe and now SBCC's inexplicable decision to expose impressionable young aspiring journalists to your "expertise," you seem to think you are really a writer.

Make no mistake, "Starshine," you ain't no writer. You ain't even no Sandy Banks, to whose inanities you appear to aspire, and, like, hello-o (hate to be the one to break it to you, girlfriend, but since you probably don't know Marianne that well): if you hadn't been Wendy fodder you wouldn't have this little gig helping to drag the Independent further down into the gutter of TV-zombie vacuousness.

Not very nice "Independent_from_what". Guess what -- you don't have to read the Independent if you don't like it. You probably didn't know that... I would urge you -- no, BEG you -- not to read it anymore. Thanks so much.

I quite enjoyed this column, as did my significant other. And one man's drivel is another's drive.

Pardon me, but what was that you said, i_f_w? It was tough to hear over the sound of all those axes grinding.

so who are all the people the independent hired after the NP? Starshine (is she even a staffer?), Barney, and who else? where are all the cast-offs that i_f_w is talking about? pray tell, because it seems the indy could have hired a lot more.

The Independent had a chance to rise to the occasion and become a real newspaper -- THE real newspaper in town after Wendy's implosion. They didn't drop the ball; they never picked up the ball.

Hiring Barney Brantingham and his fluff was one thing. The man is popular and his column is a valid part of a community newspaper. This woman Roshell is a joke, however, and John Zant may be an experienced sports editor but since when has the Independent covered sports? Nope, this was just a cheap and dirty way to try to steal some of the N-P's readership without actually having to do what the N-P once did: report the news to the community.

Axe to grind? Yep. I wrote hard news for the Independent for more than five years, and when I left it was in mutual disgust as the paper was booming economically and in page count, and rather than making more space and resources available for news, chose to downplay downplaying news for columns on horses and such. Degeneration continues: now there's "Peeps" for chrissakes, as well as a 'Cito blurb, one for horses, lesbians, independently wealthy world-traveling surfers, on and on.

The Indy could have risen at least to the level of other "alt-weekly" papers (check out any one, from SLO to Monterey to OC or just about anywhere), and if it had the gumption, to become the real newspaper of record in SB. Instead it's more of the same: unpaid interns, fluff columnists who'll take $50 a column because they get their real kicks from seeing their name in print, and news and news reporters be damned.

Ukelelegirl, I know I don't have to read the Independent. I don't -- or at least, I read the content that interests me in 5 - 10 minutes. But that doesn't mean I can't mourn its failure to live up to its responsibility as a so-called provider of information to our town. With the plethora of zombie media available to you from your Cable TV tuner to the blogosphere to the pages of "Hello!" or "Parade" magazine, couldn't you turn elsewhere to get what you obviously want and let the newspaper print news?

I don't hate "Starshine" Roshell -- I simply find her writing insipid, vacuous and a waste of space that could have some information in it one could use. And that she is now imparting her wisdom and experience to teenage journo students at SBCC does not, let's face it, bode well for greater availability of serious news reporting in Santa Barbara.

Sounds like you should start your forward-thinking, thoroughly appropriate, righteous newspaper today, Independent_from_what!!!

With your sunny, generous outlook it's sure to be a success!

You are a born leader, and your prose is so persuasive... and I can't wait until this town has TWO self-serving imperious newsletters!!!

Last time i checked, the indy had the biggest newsroom in town, I_F_W, so it seems that they are dedicated to news. They churn out a handful of small articles every week, at least 20 reported blurbs, and then some online stuff throughout the week too. And there's the occasional longer news feature as well.

Look around and you;ll find it has one of the biggest weekly newspaper staffs in the country, and is one of the most financially successful too, because it doesn't marginalize itself as some wacko left-wing rag. A lot of those so-called "alt-weeklies" are indeed weak, have some lame axe to grind, and/or are owned by a corporate conglomerate called New Times/Village Voice. Is that what you want the Indy to do, sell out? Become some predictably liberal mouthpiece? It would be serious shame if they did.

Sure, we'd all like more investigative work, but that takes time and money, and the indy will deliver a few times a year on that. Some years are better than others, but last year there was welch on the priests, ethan stewart on the medical marijuana, sadler on education, meagher on stabbings, frimpong, and other crime, and some other stories of note.

What is is that you want, I-F-W?

I suppose next you'll get the ass antler tatoo, or did you already do that?

I'd like you to remember the other issues from last year. Oh, that's right, you can't, because they were fluff like "Spring Fashion Preview" and "Fall Fashion Preview" and "Made in Santa Barbara" and "Summer Camp Guide" and "Surfing Issue" . . . etc. etc.

That you can list from memory the serious stories produced in a year by what you say is one of the biggest staffs in its field speaks for itself, don't you think?

What I want is a local newspaper that reports the news. Everybody bags on Wendy and the N-P because she turned it into her shill rag: what, pray tell is the difference between that and the Independent? The bottom line is that neither the N-P nor the Indy comes close to fulfilling its duty to be a community resource, and the community is the worse for it.

Doesn't being a community newspaper mean representing what the community is, not just appeasing to hardcore, insatiable news wonks? Believe it or not, i-f-w, many Santa Barbarans are into fashion, many (if not most) are into surfing, many are into knowing what was invented here, many are into food and wine, many are into the funny life of a spunky mom like Starshine, many send their kids to summer camp, many want to know what's happening in Montecito and Goleta, many like going to events and seeing their pictures in the paper a la Peeps. It's unfortunate that some sour grapes don;t like the current successful blend.

Well just putting in my 2 cents worth. I agree that both papers lack depth and quality writing and even decent editing skills. There is serious stuff happening and neither paper is dealing with them or investigating. Maybe they can't spend the money it takes to get good talent. aybe they dont know what talent is?

No, I'm not a writer, so dont tell me to put up or shut up. Perhaps a real paper like the LA TIMES will come by and spend some resources to capture theis weak market.

I remember sitting in class last month and noticing your little stud. I also recall wondering, "Is that new or has she always had that?"
It's subtle but it adds a little flair, and looks great on you.
By the way, I used to have my nose pierced and I can still precisely remember the pain I felt whenever it caught on washcloths as well as any other item that could possibly snag it. While it can be quite painful at times, it is definetely worth it.

Wow! You are the bravest mom on the block.... you rock!