Posted on July 29 at 10:58 p.m.

thanks, dad.
thanks audrey,
and thanks jaymie.
i love you all forever.
melissa

On Remembering Jaymie Rose Darrow

Posted on July 25 at 2:41 p.m.

thanks for the story, amy. good job :) just to clarify, and this is only because i know that jaymie is reading this wherever she is, she wasn't a self proclaimed hippie vegan (she's probably laughing about that). it was more of a hippie-at-heart kind of thing. i actually hired her based off of my favorite comment ever... "my roommates said that i'm not hippie enough to work at the Food Co-op"... thanks for the memories, jaymie darrow. i knew you'd change everything. you did. miss you, girl. love you always. and like i wrote on your facebook, if you decide to grow dreadlocks in heaven, i won't tell ;)

On UCSB Students to Remember Deceased Classmate

Posted on July 9 at 3:30 p.m.

at this point in these commentaries, i just want to say, as one of the Isla Vista residents that partied here as an unaware student and now live in the community as a tenant, tenant representative, cooperative business owner, community gardener, and general lover of most things isla vista... the general demographic of my town is most certainly young, immature, and overprivilidged. and that shouldn't come as either insult or surprise for anyone even somewhat connected with isla vista. it's not a bad thing or a good thing... as someone pointed out in comments further back, college is a learning time, and most people are here, using isla vista as a beautiful backdrop of learning in so many ways, academic and life. that's why some of us chose to return to iv... to be teachers. this article has done its job more than i ever thought it would: whether it is or isn't good journalism, it sparked a whole lot of thought and commentary. isla vista has long been a victim of negative press, inaccurate press, and mostly just unfair press. this article was a little bit of all of that, whether meant to be or not... but i know that i'm going to keep fighting my fight to make isla vista more than just a drunken college town remembered. and from my conversation with nicki, the author of this column, it sounds like she wants isla vista to be seen in more lights than the one that she chose to shine on the community in this article. i guess that she's learning, too... at least it made everyone think about isla vista a little bit more critically. this town has so much to offer, and there's so much happening here beyond the party scene. i just hope that those of you out there who won't look beyond the bottle as an identifying logo of this town will someday find the time to come to isla vista and find one of us real life people, making a permenant life in this transient town full of perpetual 18-22 year olds. we really do exist, and we really are happy to be here.

On I.V. Responds to the Gap Fire

Posted on July 8 at 3:18 p.m.

my indignation is straight from the inside. i was a second year when david attias ran down those 4 souls, and boy, that totally affected that whole year in isla vista. everybody slowed down. i came back to this town to live and work, mostly because i realized that people within this town needed more advocates from within. i feel like this article had a lot of promise, but it was overrun with misquoted, factual innacuracies, and laughable "anecdotes" that make isla vistans look a lot more idiotic than they really are. i know firsthand how many people weren't partying, but were packing their cars instead. Where were the thoughts of these people rather than the dudes getting gas and weed in the same trip (nothing against saving gas, but did we need another viewpoint from this perspective yet again?) my overall irritation is the publication of yet another article that dumbs down and lumps all of isla vista into the same category of people, mostly when those who really do want to effect positive change in the community are written into the story, antagonists to the "party". that's all.

On I.V. Responds to the Gap Fire

Posted on July 8 at 11:51 a.m.

Just for the record, I'd love to clarify that I don't think that it was "rude" that Isla Vistans chose to light off M-80's and bottle rockets on the nights leading up to the 4th of July... I thought that it showed a lack of sensitivity to those who were dealing head-on with this fire. Including the two people who were evacuated and staying at my home on sueno. I was misquoted in this article, and I again want to clarify, as an 8-year resident of Isla Vista, that we all know this town has the capacity to party-on into the end of time, regardless of what's happening in the world outside of the bubble. This was never the issue. The issue is that some things deserve hightened conscientiousness, and I implore all Isla Vistan's to think beyond their comfort in times like these.. whether or not the fire is or was heading in our direction. And, again, these comments are in no way reflective of the feelings of the IV Food Co-op toward Isla Vista. We are a community-inspired resource that takes no sides. We just want you all to know that when the power goes out, we have to close our doors for the sake of the safety of our customers. Thank you all for patience while we've dealt with these outages.

On I.V. Responds to the Gap Fire

Posted on August 9 at 10:52 p.m.

it's sometimes hard for people to understand why i'd live in isla vista for all these years after graduating ucsb. it's sometimes hard for myself as well, a long-term community member now rather than a temporary resident, to understand how such a lack of communication between all the different residents of isla vista could be so pervasive for so long.
isla vista has changed a lot in the past 8 years that i've been a resident, but one thing is certain: people still care. you just have to get at them the right way. residents, both long and short term, are very prepared to be engaged about their community, just on vibrantly different levels.
the presence of a food co-op in isla vista, a destination for many people from all sides of town, is invaluable. this store is starting to serve as a real center of the community, in a community that desperately needs a center. the search for food in isla vista is one of the most ubiquitous quests. it seems lucky, then, that a place to buy food can become something so extraordinary and powerful. students, professors, old-timers, professionals, baby boomers, children, babies, hippies, punks, every-language speakers from every-wheres, homeless wanderers that need a place to drink cofee and sit in the shade and be treated like real people while they do the crossword with that guy from friendship manor retirement home...
let's make more spaces like the food co-op in isla vista. our town really needs it.

On Braving Isla Vista