AIN’T NO THANG: Between reporting daily news, working on a dissertation, and raising his 9-month-old son, Santa Barbara Independent staff writer Brandon Fastman managed to craft this week’s cover story on Santa Barbara Bank & Trust. Sifting through a mountain of SEC filings and financial statements, Fastman put together a feature piece brimming with finance speak and figures that, you’ll find, doesn’t induce instant brain freeze. “What interested me about the bank narrative,” said Fastman, “is that it’s almost archetypal: the brilliant success, then the eventual fall.”