Self Study

September 14, 2025

Waves of nostalgia

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan can be found at a bench at Anacapa Residence Hall, overlooking the ocean, listening to Arctic Monkeys and being nostalgic. 

July 20, 2025

Who are we without the fear of being perceived?

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan wonders who we are — and if that version of us changes in front of others.

May 15, 2025

The “Gilmore Girls” paradox

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan shamelessly shows off her binge-watching T.V. skills — and her love for her mom.

May 8, 2025

Heartbreak and nature: it works

By Nestor Manzanares

Nestor Manzanares found healing somewhere that heartbreak couldn't reach him: the ocean.

April 17, 2025

What the f*** is a situationship?

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan contemplates the question we're all asking.

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...

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...

October 24, 2024

I just met my seven sisters

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan reminisces on her friendships, and how she lives life on the edge (of a cliff).

September 30, 2024

I can’t let go of anything, ever

By Kira Logan

Kira Logan reflects on all the love she holds onto.

July 29, 2024

Subject: Redoing small talk (or, what’s your favorite color?)

By Elizabeth Lee

Elizabeth Lee answers small talk questions, without all the small talk.

July 23, 2024

Asian American baby girl: On being late to the party – and partying anyway

By Emily Yoon

Emily Yoon reflects on growing up in California and discovering culture then, now, and in the future.

May 9, 2024

My mom lives in Isla Vista with me

By Kira Logan, Ella Conolley

Ella Conolley and Kira Logan discuss their unusual living situations to celebrate Mother’s Day.

February 22, 2024

My mind is not a problem: How noise-canceling headphones helped my adult ADHD

By Lizzy Rager

Lizzy Rager reflects on how discovering a pair of headphones changed her relationship with ADHD.

November 16, 2023

“I want to tell you a Sacramento story”

By Riley Burke

Riley Burke reflects on growing up in Sacramento and her layered connection with Joan Didion.

November 9, 2023

Nostalgia: Who are we and where do we go?

By Michelle Shteynberg

Michelle Shteynberg reflects on nostalgia and how it makes us who we are.