Nathan Vived’s 2024 Year in Review
Copy Editor Nathan Vived Shares Some of His Favorite Stories of the Year
It’s that time again for our annual year in review series, when we look back on the year of writing that was, and share some of our favorite stories with readers.
Hey all! I have had the pleasure of working as a copy editor (and web builder) on both the Independent’s print and web sides, so I get to see every single story before it gets packaged up and shipped out to the rest of the community. As one of the few Independent employees who lives outside of Santa Barbara County, that has been an enormous blessing to keep up to date with one of the best places on Earth by reading the words of some of the best people I know.
With that all out of the way, here’s my highlight stories:
Baby Great White Shark Spotted in Wild for First Time Ever off Santa Barbara Coast, Researchers Believe by Callie Fausey — I’m a huge shark nerd, especially for great whites, so my affection for this piece shouldn’t come as a surprise. Doubly so since nearly everything related to the species’ reproduction is shrouded in mystery. Seriously, for as famous an animal as the great white shark is, we know next to nothing about how they make more little sharks, and any new information is amazing.
Flying Like an Eagle by Nathan Vived — Feels a bit like shilling to rank one of my own pieces, but to be fair, it was one of the only stories I wrote this year, and I was able to have an amazing experience alongside it. I cannot recommend Eagle Paragliding enough, and if you think Santa Barbara is beautiful on the ground, get a load of the view from the sky.
And So It Begins … by Starshine Roshell — Not gonna lie, November was a rough month. A prelude to a rough four years, it seems like. Roshell’s piece is both beautifully written and absolutely chilling in its content. Though written for women, I think it’s invaluable for men to read it too. This is how a vocal portion of our population makes the other half of the human race feel, lads. It’s important we keep that in mind as life gets increasingly more difficult for whole leagues of people, not just us. At the end of the article, Roshell reminds us to not lie down and die, but to stand up and fight. The opponent may seem like an immovable monolith, but Americans have fought and won against those odds before. Let’s treat this piece like Paul Revere’s lanterns, eh? The incels are coming; the incels are coming.
Holy Hell, Ramadan, Easter, and Passover by Nick Welsh — Everyone wants to be the good guy. Why wouldn’t they? To stand upon the moral high ground is to act as you see fit and escape the consequences. The only issue is that the moral high ground is more often than not a bloody, filthy swamp. That’s why I think this particular edition of the Angry Poodle column deserves some recognition. With the powder keg that is the Middle East finally showing some sparks, it’s all too easy to fall back on the classic “I’m the good guy” speech and demonize and dehumanize the other side. To say, “I was attacked first; I’m just defending myself.” It may very well be true. In that instance. The unfortunate thing is that the present is informed by the past, and the past always collects its dues. Nick’s Poodle goes into some of that history, the twisting and turning roots fraught with knots and dead ends and paths that diverge a thousand different ways. All too often in war, no one is the good guy. Everyone is dead.
