Currents Magazine: Winter 2024

C

U

2024

R

R EN T S MAGAZINE

Vol. CXXI Healing From the Hurt

The Joys of Antique Shopping

Appreciating the Simple Life

Pages 15-18

Pages 53-56

Pages 57-58

Letter

from

LIZA.

T

he creation of this magazine has been the biggest demonstration of love and dedication I have ever seen, and I hope with each turn of a page, you can feel that.

I came to Pepperdine without a declared major or a vision of where my life would go as I entered adulthood.

I found the journalism program my sophomore year and instantly fell in love, but it wasn’t until I joined Currents Magazine as a junior that I realized my passion.

The magazine world is a hidden gem in journalism. To me, magazines feel personal — they have something for everybody, and creating them is such a collaborative experience.

This is what makes Currents so special to me. I watched a team come together to put their passions into one project that will exist forever, and that is something I wish I could relive a million times.

We delayed the release of this edition of Currents — a choice we made as a team following the tragic crash that resulted in Asha Weir, Niamh Rolston, Deslyn Williams and Peyton Stewart losing their lives. We wanted to dedicate our time to grieving, healing and supporting one another, and I didn’t want the magazine to pose a distraction from the space so many of us needed.

We resumed production after a couple of months, and although an unconventional process, each writer, editor, production assistant, designer and photographer jumped back in with such excitement. While this shift was a challenge, we were so grateful to be back together — to display the work and stories of members of our community in a beautiful, thoughtful and fun way.

This edition of Currents is split into three sections: one “For the Thinkers,” one “For the Trendsetters” and one “For the Locals.” I dreamed of a magazine that had a little something for everyone — full of articles with heart and meaning.

For the Thinkers In this section, you can find stories about human experiences. When reading it, I hope you can identify with what others have gone through, and also learn about experiences that differ from your own. Some of these stories bring me comfort and others discomfort, but they all tug at my heartstrings, which is what I appreciate most about this opening section.

For the Trendsetters I am so proud of how our writers and designers brought their interests and style into each article in this second section. I hoped to use these articles to highlight the unique ways in which we express ourselves and find joy in the little things. This section leaves me feeling curious and inspired.

For the Locals After spending the past few years in Malibu, I have realized there is so much more to this beachside town than meets the eye. I also wanted to offer a sense of home in the magazine, so everyone who picks it up can read about the place where we have spent such pivotal years.

This section has made me appreciate the role Malibu has played in my life.

With this magazine, my only wish is for it to touch a place in your heart. I hope each story evokes a different emotion, and allows you to appreciate the things you love in your life.

With love,

Yamillah Hurtado

Assistant Editor

Victoria La Ferla

Production Assistant I

Creative Director

Assistant Lead Designer

Will Fallmer

Assistant Designer

Marley Penagos

Production Assistant II

Photo Editor

Executive Editor

Assistant Editor

Skyler Hawkins

Maximilian Pohlenz

Mary Elisabeth

STAFF

and

Contributors.

Terra Hernandez

Abby Wilt

Christina Buravtsova Madison Luc Beth Gonzales Millie Auchard Kylie Kowalski Nina Adams Joseph Heinemann Samantha Torre Anežka Lišková

Adviser: Christina Littlefield, Associate Professor of Journalism and Religion

Pages

5-8 Joshua Elizondo Becomes a 9-10 Voice For Foster Youth

Uprooted: How People Bring Home Wherever They Go

11-14

Redefining Adulting: Exploring what Adulthood Means

15-18

Healing From the Hurt

19-21

Meaning of Manifestation: Unveiling the Power of Positive Thinking

Forthe

Thinkers

Uprooted How People Bring Home Wherever They Go

Design + Story by Liza Esquibias

Art by Skyler Hawkins 5

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

P

eople often think of home as a place — a physical comfort zone where one eats, sleeps and feels protected from the outside world. In reality, home is a concept with so much nuance; no one can attach an exclusive definition to it.

Graziadio student and Horizon Scholar Dave Montoya grew up without a sense of home, moving around the foster-care system until he was 18 years old.

“Home to me is something that I am trying to figure out,” Montoya said. “You know, it’s almost like something I’m trying to build. I don’t think it’s a physical place.

I always thought, like, ‘Oh, it could be a physical place,’ but I think it’s much, much, much more complex than that.”

For those — like Montoya — who grew up without a traditional home, or for those who moved around often, home can be difficult to define. Students and professors said that as they have grown up, their vision of what home is has evolved, and they have had to find ways to bring home with them as their lives have changed.

Defining Home First-year Adelaide Lowry was born in Texas but grew up primarily in Greece and Macedonia, traveling with her missionary parents to Romani and Middle Eastern refugee camps. Her life lacked external stability, she said, and that uncertainty drove her to redefine what most kids think of as home.

“Truthfully, if I didn’t love Jesus, I would feel so unsettled,” Lowry said. “I think that was definitely my saving grace in a lot of areas. The thing that has remained consistent is that God has always been there for me.”

Lowry’s four years at Pepperdine will be the longest she’s ever lived in one place.

Growing up, she defined home based on internal practices rather than external factors, which led her to not rely on her surroundings to make her feel safe and at peace in her life.

6

Now, Lowry said she enjoys change and transitions in her life, so she doesn’t know how it is going to feel to stay at Pepperdine for four years.

“For some reason, I feel more at home when I’m not settled,” Lowry said.

Terra Hall, associate dean of Student Affairs for Diversity and Belonging, said throughout her life, she has found that her definition of home has changed based on the circumstances she is living under.

“Home could be a geographical place, or it could be the people, it could be the food, the familiarity,” Hall said.

Before moving to California to work at Pepperdine two years ago, Hall defined home as Baltimore, where she lived for over 40 years and started her family. Since the move, Hall said she is still exploring how to make Los Angeles feel more like home.

“I feel like I’m in a study abroad,” Hall said. “You know, you move somewhere completely new and completely different, and you’re still trying to figure it all out — like, how long will we be here?”

With two teenage sons, Hall said she wonders how they will answer when people ask where their home is. She said Baltimore isn’t home anymore, but California also doesn’t feel like home.

“Lots of different things come to mind when I think of home, but I would say it’s more about the people than, for me, the geographical space,” Hall said.

Psychology Professor Anna Penner also didn’t grow up in California — or the United States. Penner’s parents were American missionaries in Japan, where she was born and lived until she went to college at 18-years-old.

“Japan doesn’t feel like — it feels like where I’m from originally — but it doesn’t feel like home,” Penner said. “So it’s a really complicated thing for me to tease out.”

For the first few years of her life, Penner lived in a rural town in Northern Japan before moving to the bustling city of Tokyo in middle school.

Penner spoke English in her house, had a family dog and practiced traditions specific to her family, so she said she detached those elements that shaped her idea of home from the location where they took place. She also attended an international school, where she noticed a pattern of students graduating and leaving the country only to come back as an adult because of its sense of familiarity.

“Enough students had trouble making the transition from Japan to their home country, which didn’t feel like home, right, because they had spent so much time in Japan, and they would end up going back to Japan to work,” Penner said.

This led Penner to notice that home has a different meaning for everyone, and she wanted to discover what it meant to her.

“I promised myself I won’t go back there to work or live until I feel like America’s home,” Penner said.

She quickly realized that the emotional definition of home was where “there’s a peacefulness, like a stillness, within yourself of, ‘OK, I can breathe. I can relax from everything that’s going on around me.’”

While Penner’s idea of home is unconventional, Montoya never knew a home in any definition of the word at all.

Montoya only lived with his mother for a short time before moving in with his grandmother, and, soon after, he entered the foster-care system.

That prompted a pattern of jumping from house to house with different families, few traditions, ever-changing rules and an inconsistent support group.

Montoya is now 39-years-old and a father of three, and he said it wasn’t until he had his children that he realized the word ‘home’ was something he was capable of understanding.

“When I hear the word home, I would say it’s difficult for me to really give a clear answer because I don’t know what that is,” Montoya said.

Despite all the life experience he has had as an adult, Montoya said the trauma of growing up without having a place or people to call home has followed him throughout his life in his relationships, career goals and how he raises his kids.

At the same time, he said being able to define home entirely on his own has been empowering — and he has learned a lot from his kids.

“We’re building what I didn’t have, and I’m excited,” Montoya said.

Curating a Sense of Home Lowry’s parents were preaching Christianity around Europe, but because there were only Greek Orthodox churches where they lived, they had to find their own ways to practice their nondenominational Christianity. With God playing a large role in providing stability, Lowry’s family prioritized that in their home.

“You can’t have a non-Greek Orthodox Church in Greece, so we didn’t have a church that we could go to,” Lowry said. “So we kind of just became a church ourselves, and we ended up having a house church with some Middle Eastern refugees.”

Her faith, paired with her unwavering sense of self and constant support from

7

Dave Montoya Horizon Scholar

When I hear the word home, I would say it’s difficult for me to really give a clear answer because I don’t know what that is.

loved ones, has given Lowry the skills to have a home with her at all times.

“Home to me can be anywhere,” Lowry said. “I feel like I could be thrown into any country with any group of people, and feel at peace because my soul is content.”

When Hall moved her teenage sons and husband to California, she said they brought pieces of their Baltimore home life with them to make the transition more comfortable.

“My mother, who passed away, she collected Black angels. So I inherited those and they have been in every place that we’ve been,” Hall said. “I was intentional about packing them up with care, and then being able to unwrap those boxes that had the angels and artwork — that gave me a sense of comfort.”

At the same time, Hall recognizes that for many — especially college students away from home for the first time — the switch can be scary no matter what one does to avoid feeling unsettled.

She said if people are unwilling to redefine their idea of home with change, they will never fully feel content. “[People] have to become familiar with the unfamiliar and have to be in a situation where they are positioned to develop some new routines,” Hall said.

Lowry said the same. Something she is grateful to have learned while her family often uprooted their lives throughout her childhood was the ability to be friends with anyone. If Lowry wanted to have a sense of home — even if that was only for a short period of time — she had to create connections that brought her a sense of peace and reliability.

“Having to move around a lot has made me really intentional,” Lowry said. “It’s molded a lot of my friendships. I really care a lot about the

people that I’m talking to, and it makes me present because I have to just go the extra level, since friendships aren’t something that was, I guess you could say, instilled into the communities that I had been joining.”

Penner, whose grandfather was Jewish, said one tradition her family took from his faith was Shabbat, a Jewish practice of gathering every Friday for a day of rest. That weekly dinner is something Penner said she has brought into adulthood.

“We started doing Shabbat — the Sabbath meal — Friday at night,” she said. “We started doing that before our big move to Tokyo, and that’s something we did basically every Friday, all through middle school and high school.”

That, paired with having a tight-knit and supportive community of friends and family, allowed her to have a sustainable outlet of joy and calm, which made her feel at home no matter where she was.

“I knew, if I’m having a bad day, I can have that bad day with these people, and they might not love it, but they will love me, and I don’t have to worry about their perception of me,” Penner said.

“Even if it’s not in a specific space, it’s like where I know I have their back, they have my back and I can just relax and know what to expect.”

Montoya is still building traditions with his young kids, with the hope that they will feel that reliability Penner spoke about. He said once a year, he takes his children on a big, days-long Disneyland trip. More regularly, they have a sitdown dinner once a week where he grills on the barbecue and they all leave their electronics in another room.

“I’m the father of three kids, and I think I’m trying to provide that,” Montoya said. “I just try to give them opportunities that I didn’t have as a kid and just be present in their lives.”

Montoya’s primary goal is to be a reliable figure for his children. He said they could be on different sides of the world and he hopes a phone call or text would bring them right back home in their hearts.

“Time is a big thing, you know,” Montoya said.

“I wish that I had parents around — a mom or a dad. I didn’t have either. And so I’ve been very intentional about making sure I spend time with them.”

8

Joshua Elizondo Becomes a Voice for Foster Youth Design by Will Fallmer

Story by Christina Buravtsova

F

or senior Joshua Elizondo, Los Angeles is the home he never had. It’s the city that gave him the opportunity to pursue advocacy and rediscover his passion for entertainment — opportunities he said he feared he would never have.

Growing up in the foster-care system in Detroit, 27-year-old Elizondo said he had to fend for himself in most areas of his life, but he has used his story to inspire others and to advocate for change. He is now part of Pepperdine’s Horizon Scholars Program, an initiative dedicated to supporting current and former foster youth students in their pursuit of higher education, working as a student assistant.

“I’ve chosen to renarrate the things that I’ve gone through to be more positive,” Elizondo said.

Moving From the Foster System to Los Angeles Elizondo entered the foster-care system in Detroit when he was 11 after his grandmother, who raised him, died. He said his birth parents were not able to take care of him, so he was left without a stable living environment.

“It really just put me in a position where in high school I didn’t really form close relationships or bonds,” Elizondo said.

While navigating childhood on his own, Elizondo found himself in five different high schools over five years.

During his senior year of high 9

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

school, at only 18, Elizondo moved to Los Angeles. He said this empowered him and gave new meaning to his life.

“For me, moving across the country really was that step of independence that gave me control over my life,” Elizondo said. “Being in foster care, a lot of your life is dictated and you have decisions made for you.”

When he first moved to Los Angeles in 2014, Elizondo joined California Youth Connections — an organization dedicated to helping foster youth participate in the legislative process to help shape the foster system. Three years later he was appointed to the board of directors.

Elizondo also started his own organization called the Foster Bunch in 2016 to help expose foster youth to the entertainment industry and reshape how the media portrays foster care.

“A lot of times people relate to foster care as something separate from them,” Elizondo said. “Part of what my organization and just my own personal mission in entertainment is to change that narrative.”

Elizondo said he hoped to transfer to Pepperdine after pursuing community college, but obstacles sidetracked his plans. In 2018, everything crumbled.

“I became homeless,” Elizondo said. “I was living in my car.”

While Elizondo said the foster-care system forced him to be independent at a young age, his experience of homelessness at

only 22 years old deepened what a major in international studies President Jim Gash and attended that meant to him. with an emphasis in global politheir first conference last year, the “That was part of really learntics and a minor in social work.

Blueprint Conference. ing a new form of independence He made it his mission while Armstrong said there are curbecause independence doesn’t at Pepperdine to grow the Horirently 37 program participants necessarily mean alone,” Elizondo zon Scholars Program alongside at Pepperdine, five of whom said. “Independence means being Armstrong as a student employee are Seaver undergraduate stuable to advocate for yourself and — hoping to transform Horizon dents. Elizondo and Armstrong understand balance.”

Scholars from solely being finan- said for their oldest participant, Elizondo said he continued to cial services to more focus on a 52-year-old graduate student, attend Santa Monica College community building. and many others in the program, while sleeping in his car, using “When I came to Pepperdine it was their first time sharing their facilities on campus and couch I knew that I wanted to make a stories. surfing for six months.

“They’ve never had a In an effort to serve his commuspace to really come nity, Elizondo also presented together and share and to a UCLA classroom full of know that there’s other social workers — teaching people that have expeabout the importance rienced the things that of including foster they have,” Elizondo youth in efforts to said. improve the system.

“I knew that getAdvocacy Beyond ting out of my car, Pepperdine even though I was I’ve chosen to homeless, would Outside of Pepperre narrate the things Joshua Elizondo potentially impact dine, Elizondo has that I’ve gone through Pepperdine Senior the lives of the 30 continued to make to be more positive. or 40 students in that strides in the greater classroom,” Elizondo said.

Los Angeles area.

“And then the hundreds of Working alongside Calfoster youth in the system that ifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom as an they would eventually go on to difference here,” Elizondo said. “I appointee to the California Comwork with.” said in my application that the munity College Board of Govschool that I went to would not ernors in 2021, Elizondo said he Elizondo Makes a Lasting Impact be the same institution I left.” oversaw 116 California community on the Horizon Scholars Program Armstrong said Elizondo was not colleges made up of almost 2 only knowledgeable about the million students.

After finding out about Pepper- community college system and Elizondo now serves as an opdine’s Horizon Scholars Program wrap-around services for foster erations committee chair to the through a Google search, Elizonyouth, but he also cared deeply L.A. County Board of Supervisors do said he contacted Program about the students and providing on the L.A. County Youth ComDirector Deborah Armstrong to them with necessary support. mission. Elizondo said he, along see how he could join. The two “Joshua would give away the with 15 other youth appointees remained in contact over several moon,” Armstrong said. “He’s all impacted by foster care, juvemonths and Elizondo said they about how can we support a stu- nile probation and child welfare formed a lasting bond. dent while they are going through systems, advises the Board of “She was just so welcoming and school.”

Supervisors on necessary changes so encouraging of being able to Working together, Elizondo and within L.A. County. come here,” Elizondo said. “HavArmstrong secured funding from “When any change is being ing her in my camp of support Pepperdine this past year in addi- made for any population, someand being able to really explain to tion to donor funding for events one from that population needs me what Pepperdine could offer.” and merchandise. Armstrong said to be at the table,” Elizondo said.

Elizondo said he transferred along with the weekly meetings, to Pepperdine in 2021 to pursue participants enjoyed dinner with 10

redefining

ADULTING exploring what adulthood means

Art + Design by Marley Penagos

|

Story by Samantha Torre

T

hink of who you were 10 years ago. Close your eyes and visualize it. Think of how different you were — and the ways that you have stayed the same.

Would your younger self be surprised at you now?

Adulthood is a time of change. People find jobs, graduate, fall in love, deal with loss, feel joy and experience a myriad of other emotions.

Adulthood can be scary — but just because you and the world around you are changing, it doesn’t have to be negative, students and experts said.

“I don’t think it’s bad getting older or aging or reaching adulthood,” senior Pinn Jingkaojai said.

“It’s whatever you feel like and whatever you characterize it as, like at the end of the day, it’s just a characterization. But it’s fun, growing up is fun.”

owning a home, completing education and having a family — are happening later in life.

“Emerging adults, this concept is different because they’re fully grown working people,” Sevareid said. “They’ve had relationships, so it’s not like they’re not in romantic involvements.”

Marriage and other markers have been delayed as much as 10 years, Sevareid said.

“They’re spending more time sort of figuring out their career, relationship, life in their late 20s or in their 30s,” Sevareid said.

Moving the Markers Sociology Professor Eric Sevareid said one can consider adulthood in legal terms — at 18 years old — or as the stage where the brain reaches full development, around 24 to 27 years old.

While people now recognize that human beings mature in stages, historically, the concept of adolescence didn’t always exist, Sevareid said. Society used to treat teens as functioning adults, and today various cultures define adulthood in different ways.

Experts now increasingly use the term “emerging adulthood,” Sevareid said.

“The reason why there’s this young adult versus a full adult now is because the markers for what we consider to be normal adulthood have been delayed,” Sevareid said.

Sevareid said these markers — starting a career,

What is Adulthood Author Kelly Williams Brown said when she decided to write her book, “Adulting: How to Become A Grown-Up in 468 — now 535 — Easy(ish) Steps,” she had been out of school for about five years but remembered the “freeform” feeling that accompanied the lack of structure post-college.

Brown concluded nobody ever really feels like an adult.

“For me, a point of growth has been sort of letting go of ideas of exactly who I think I should be,” Brown said.

Junior Noelle Cottingham said to her, adulthood is the period in life when someone is ready to take on full responsibility for both oneself and other people.

11

“It’s where you can begin to enter into marital or really significant relationships,” Cottingham said.

These relationships can be between friends, family members or — as Cottingham said — a time to solidify one’s relationship with their faith.

“So you should be searching for answers, searching for truth, and learning how to defend your faith so that you can be a means for other people to be brought to God,” Cottingham said.

Cottingham said she is not sure if anyone ever feels like they are an adult, or that anyone even knows what it truly means to be one.

“I do feel as though I can handle responsibility,” Cottingham said.

“And I think in that way, I would argue I’m mature enough to be a candidate for the title. But now I don’t necessarily feel like I’m an adult.”

Jingkaojai said adulthood is simply being one’s own parent.

“That doesn’t only mean making sure I’m on top of things,” Jingkaojai said. “But also making sure I’m taken care of mentally, physically, even socially or spiritually.”

Jingkaojai said she is still preparing for adulthood — learning how to take care of herself best.

There is a difference between being mature and being an adult, Jingkaojai said, and the difference is not just a matter of age or financial stability.

“Once you’re an adult, you’re fully sustainable in a healthy way,” Jingkaojai said. “Like sometimes maturing comes out of something not so healthy. But I think reaching adulthood is when you can fully be self-sustaining.”

Kyle Cajero, Seaver and Pepperdine Graphic alumnus (‘18) and assistant director of communications in the Pepperdine Athletics department, said his experience after graduation did not meet his expectations.

At the time, he was a “naive 22-year-old.” Moving to Sandpoint, Idaho, Cajero was financially independent — a big goal for him.

SOLD!

“That was a pretty adult moment, but I know maturity-wise, I definitely wasn’t an adult,” Cajero said.

Coming from L.A. — and Tuscon, Arizona, where he grew up — Cajero said he was unprepared to live in a small town.

“I was the new hotshot in town from a big private school or from a nice private school and if I were to go back, I would have carried myself a lot differently,” Cajero said.

Pepperdine students are also not used to failure, Cajero said. After graduating, alums might find it frustrating if they have to switch jobs or it takes them a while to find their “spot,” Cajero said.

“The biggest thing that I think seniors need to know is that changing your mind doesn’t equal failure,” Cajero said. “Even changing jobs, that doesn’t mean that you failed, it doesn’t mean that you’ve fallen short of anything. And sometimes when you go through life, an imperfect situation could teach you a lot more than a comfortable situation.”

12

Adulthood Across Cultures Age does not automatically make someone an adult. Across various cultures, life at the same age can look different.

Senior Eric Njuku is from Nairobi, Kenya, and there at 18 people can drink alcohol, drive a car and are considered adults, but also still live with their parents.

“Back home, we are held by our parents until we finish college mostly compared to here where people, when they go to college, they’re mostly adults,” Njuku said. “Some people pay for their own school and do their own thing.”

In the United States, Njuku said, he’s seen people whose parents financially support them through college, but also people who are on their own once they turn 18.

This blurs the lines of adulthood in some ways — with people in the U.S. adulting “faster.”

While young adults are not “babied” in Kenya, Njuku said there is the expectation that their parents will be there for them and show them how to do traditionally adult Kyle Cajero things. This led to a Seaver Alumnus ‘18 culture shock when Njuku began attending college in the United States.

“I didn’t know how to do anything,” Njuku said. “Like insurance, bye, I didn’t even know what insurance was. I don’t even think I had insurance actually.”

In Kenya, Njuku said his dad drove him to and from the ACT standardized test and waited for him there. In the U.S. Njuku said he is expected to get to places on his own — such as the DMV. “[I was] like an egg being carried everywhere,” Njuku said. “But like here it’s like, ‘OK, go to the DMV.’ And I was literally so scared. And it’s like ‘do this.’ You have to take yourself to your road test.”

For international students, when they come to Pepperdine — and the U.S. — there is a steep learning curve, Njuku said, and distance from family may make it hard to get help from them.

Being an international student added a layer of difficulty to growing up because he had to make sure all his documents were in order while balancing 13

with the added nuance of citizen status and race, Njuku said.

“Just making sure you’re doing the right thing all the time,” Njuku said. “You can’t follow everyone because your fate is not the same.”

The U.S. version of adulthood is very different from where Jingkaojai is from — Chaing Mai, Thailand — which is a more collectivist society.

“People live with their parents forever,” Jingkaojai said. “Literally. They bring their families in and they all just live together, they raise their kids together, like it doesn’t have to be separate.”

Jingkaojai moved to the U.S. when she was 16. She said she noticed people tend to rely on themselves to attain their needs in the States, whereas in Thailand, people accomplish tasks through who they know.

In Thailand, rather than asking “what” one wants, it is more common to ask “who” one should go to, Jingkaojai said.

“The ‘who’ is like a fast-track group, and a community that you can lean on, no matter if they’re a stranger or whatever, as long as you’re part of the community, you’re in,” Seniors Jingkaojai said. need to While independence know that changing can be both good and does not equal bad, there is a sense failure. of pride associated with it, Jingkaojai said.

“I don’t think it’s [adulthood] a hurdle,” Jingkaojai said. “It’s just plunging face first into what you want and slowly making your way to getting it.

Like not in a big dream way but more in a cookbook kind of way.”

Adulthood and Community Jingkaojai said she has learned from graduated friends that the first few years after college can be lonely. When searching for community, one needs to be intentional.

“There are ways you can find community even as an adult in the States,” Jingkaojai said. “But you have to look for it.”

While someone’s community can make them happy and be a place where they can express their emotions, there is more to it, Njuku said.

“This side of ‘We are willing to be there for each other,’” Njuku said. “Because if you’re by yourself,

you’re adulting by yourself. Having a community is like — because you can’t do it in this world by yourself.”

These communities exist as a two-way street, Njuku said, where help goes both ways.

“When you’re adults, it’s not like everything is going to go seamlessly,” Njuku said. “You might go through things, you might lose a job, you might lose someone. So having a good community is just good.”

When he first began his job, Cajero said he was unaware of how hard it would be to find a social life outside of work — as opposed to growing up with “built-in friends because of school.”

Since graduating college, Cajero doesn’t think he’s made a friend outside of work or dating apps, which he said was “strange” but “not uncommon.” This is nice because it means many of his friends have similar schedules and are understanding of work problems.

“But at the end of the day, on the other hand, I would like to have a friend group and not talk about work nonsense when we’re out of work, if that makes any sense,” Cajero said.

One’s 20s are about finding oneself, Brown said, and drawing on one’s community to learn how to interact with the world around them. One’s 30 is when they typically learn how to be a part of a community — and take care of other people.

“Community is absolutely crucial and central to who we are as humans and at different times we have different things to offer our communities,” Brown said. “Thinking about what are my strengths and my gifts, and how can I use those to the benefit of people around me?”

Community isn’t tit-for-tat, Brown said.

“The older you get, the more you realize that there is an inherent value just to [being an] ongoing presence in each other’s lives,” Brown said.

“But that doesn’t happen if you can’t forgive and let things go and accept people as they are.

14

As a junior and out-of-state student, Cottingham said she is beginning to think about what and where her future community will be.

“Am I going to stay here and try to be around people that I love now, and I’m really good friends with?” Cottingham said. “Should I go home?”

Because she has grown up with three younger sisters, Cottingham said she has wanted to be a mother since she was a little girl.

She said she will feel that she’s reached adulthood once she can start to take care of others.

“Knowing that love is sacrificial, you orient yourself toward wanting them [the people you love] to be fulfilled and happy,” Cottingham said.

T

here are three certainties in life: death, taxes and heartbreak.

Though heartbreak is inevitable, it is one of the most painful things one can experience. And for college students who are beginning to figure themselves out, heartbreak can be a defining moment in their young adult life.

“We’re all going to experience heartbreak whether we want to or not,” said Dori Lansbach, assistant director of Relationship IQ and adjunct professor of Communication. “The danger is just holding onto that heartbreak and living in the past and allowing it to define you.”

Healing From the Hurt Design + Story by Yamillah Hurtado Photos by Mary Elisabeth

15

Dealing with Heartbreak Junior Cassandra Barron said heartbreak, either romantic or platonic, has been one of the most transformative things she has gone through. Despite this, she said the pain is like no other.

“When I think of heartbreak, I think of lying in bed and not talking to anyone for like eight days at a time,” Barron said. “And eating a lot of ice cream.”

Kelly Haer, director of the Boone Center for the Family, said she has noticed students struggle to validate their emotions when their relationships end.

“Heartbreaks are just like other losses,” Haer said. “It’s important to go through the grieving process to grieve well. We need to both name the loss — use our words, our cognition, to identify and be clear around what is lost.

We want to engage our hearts and our feelings to be able to feel connected with the pain associated with the loss.”

Lansbach said that to heal from heartbreak, one must be willing to reflect on the relationship — what went wrong and what went right — and who they were in the relationship.

“Healing can only happen when you’re willing to do that hard work and take a look inward,” Lansbach said.

Self-reflection has helped Barron in her healing process after losing a friend or partner, she said.

“When a relationship fails, most of the time it’s a two-person effort for the relationship to fail,” Barron said. “So having the maturity to think about it deeply and to reflect on how you were wrong, really helps you grow as a person.”

Knowing that her feelings, no matter how big, are temporary also helped Barron heal from heartbreak.

“You don’t have a choice except to move forward,” Barron said.

Heartbreak in Different Types of Relationships As someone who has experienced both romantic and platonic heartbreak, senior Isabella Joiner said the main difference is what comes after.

Following a breakup, romantic partners can turn into friends — depending on the outcome of the breakup. But, for two people who have decided to end their friendship, Joiner said she wonders what choice they have other than to become strangers.

“Personally, friendship breakups are harder to go through than relationship breakups, because your friends, you pour so much into and they pour so much into you,” Joiner said.

Her healing process after a friendship breakup is longer, Joiner said. In romantic relationships, there typically is a build-up to the breakup that prepares one’s heart for the end. But in friendships, the end often sneaks up and isn’t always clear.

“You do realize it’s [a friendship is] over because you go to

hit send on a meme or something that made you think of them and it’s like, ‘Wait, that’s not where we are anymore,’” Joiner said.

Relationships and Identity

“[I realized] I’m a lot more than the relationships I have with other people,” Alhadeff said.

One of Joiner’s pastors from home shared a message on relationships that has stuck with her ever since.

“Imagine you and this person carrying a chest,” Joiner said. “In that chest goes all of your memories, all of the time spent together and everything that’s been put into that relationship. When the breakup happens, you can put down the chest and you’re able to walk away because you didn’t put yourself in that chest.”

When a relationship ends, one grieves the relationship, the person they lost and the person they were in that relationship. Barron said being in a relationship meant having to mold herself into what someone else expected or needed her to be.

In her breakup experience, Barron said she found freedom in not being defined by another person.

“You don’t have to fit into some type of box or anything like that,” Barron said. “For me, and my personal experience, not having to fit into something that someone needs is liberating.”

In relationships, students said, it’s easy to feel all-consumed.

When one meets someone they have a strong connection with, they become fully enamored with that person. Those two lives become interwoven and can feel as if nothing else or no one else matters, Lansbach said.

“If we tie our identity too strongly to a relationship, we put ourselves at a greater risk for heartbreak and not being able to move on after that,” Lansbach said.

Some students said being overly involved in a romantic relationship has led them to shut out other relationships in their lives and has left them stranded after a breakup.

“I pulled away from my friends and I pulled away from building those deep connections with them,” Joiner said.

As an introvert, sophomore Will Alhadeff said he only confided in his significant other, and once their relationship ended he felt like he had no one. Alhadeff found himself in a pit of loneliness after his breakup because he didn’t know who he was outside of it.

“I thought that that was most of what I had to offer, the fact that I had that person,” Alhadeff said.

Although difficult, going Dori Lansbach through heartbreak Relationship IQ led Alhadeff down Assistant Director a rabbit hole of self-reflection, which he said allowed him to find himself.

16

Healing can only happen when you’re willing to do that hard work and take a look inward.

The Healing Process Healing from heartbreak is not a linear process, Lansbach said.

People move through the stages at their own pace and should take their time grieving a person who has left their life.

In processing heartbreak, Haer said people respond to the pain in one of four ways: blaming, shaming, controlling or escaping. She said it is important for one to pinpoint how they respond to the pain so they can develop healthy coping strategies. “[We] hope a person finds themselves in the blame, shame, control and escape and then invite them to lean into the antidote,” Haer said. “Instead of blaming others, we can nurture others. Instead of shaming ourselves, we can value ourselves.

Instead of seeking control, we can practice balance — give and take.

Instead of escaping, we can stay reliably connected.”

However, Haer said it is important for someone to not let heartbreak paralyze them. Having healthy coping mechanisms is vital for healing from heartbreak, she said.

“It’s helpful to take action to do some type of work whether this is journaling or drawing a picture that represents the pain or the

loss,” Haer said. “Creating some type of monument or something physical that acknowledges the loss as a part of the grieving process.”

The impact of heartbreak depends on the context of a specific relationship, Joiner said.

because it’s very much outside of who I am.”

For Joiner, the feelings of selfworth and selfishness can get muddled and lead to feelings of guilt. When the shame becomes overwhelming, Joiner said she reminds herself why she ended the relationship. “[I] just remember my reasons for it [the breakup], they’re reasons that have helped me become the person that I am,” Joiner said. “Without the breakup, I wouldn’t be who I am.”

Personal Growth

A relationship may be easier to let go of if one decides to end the relationship.

Joiner said she has broken up with people in the past because she has experienced hurt. Thus her decision to end the relationship has been an act of selfworth.

“Growing up, it was always taught [that] you put others before yourself,” Joiner said. “When I have to choose myself, that’s what’s hard and that’s what hurts 17

Transformation is inevitable when going through heartbreak — however, it can take many forms.

Heartbreak can do one of two things. It can build up one’s walls or it can open one’s heart, Lansbach said.

Joiner said heartbreak has impacted her both positively and negatively.

Going through breakups in her relationships has made her approach people more cautiously.

“I’m slower to open up,” Joiner said. “I have found I’m slower to kind of be myself [around new people].”

On the other hand, Joiner said she has become more accepting of the possibility of relationships ending, which has allowed her to let people in more willingly.

“My mom would say this

growing up, ‘Everyone is in our life for a reason, a season or a why,’” Joiner said. “For me, working through that helps me go into new friendships and new relationships.”

One of the important lessons one can learn from failed relationships is what they want out of one and what type of person they want to be in a relationship with.

Lansbach said she has noticed a lot of people jump into relationships without knowing these things.

To avoid jumping into a relationship too quickly, one should use both logic and emotion to make that commitment, Lansbach said.

“There’s a really good balance of following your heart and your head and allowing both of those components to develop your relationship over time,” Lansbach said. “But again, people fall into trouble when they think too much with their heart or maybe too much with their head, and it blows up your feelings.”

Holding Onto Hope One of the keys to healing from heartbreak, Haer said, is clinging to hope. This sense of hope can carry people through the pain they feel in a way that is healthy and empowering, rather than all-consuming and debilitating.

For some students, this hope comes from a relationship with God. “If a student has a relationship with Christ, and knows that God is good, God is in control, God is with them, God has a place for them,” Haer said. “That stability and truth and hope really allows a person to be more honest and open and true and connected with their pain.”

For Joiner, her relationship with God instilled in her a firm belief in His promise.

“There’s beauty in heartbreak and God can still use me,” Joiner said. “He can still use my broken heart, He can still use me even though I feel shattered.”

When Alhadeff was wrestling with feelings of loneliness after his breakup, he turned to God. He began to read the Bible more intentionally and, through that, understood God’s plan for him, Alhadeff said.

“He [God] really cares for us,” Lansbach said. “He cares for the brokenhearted, and He wants to be with us.”

Having a community is also vital to healing from the end of a relationship.

“It’s so crucial to have a good network of people, friends, family, maybe counselors, therapists that really know you well, and know what you need, and also know how to take you through that healing journey because it can be so layered and so difficult to go into and really sit with those feelings,” Lansbach said.

Barron said heartbreak has allowed her to be a solid support system for her friends who have also been heartbroken.

“If you’re able to support them through that and love them through that, it shows how true the friendship is,” Barron said.

Joiner said going through heartbreak taught her many lessons but the one thing she has clung onto is the sense of self-worth she gained from it.

“No matter what happened, how a relationship ends or a friendship ends, I am still worthy of the good and the love and the joy that is in my life,” Joiner said.

“Just because something ends doesn’t mean I no longer deserve to be happy. Just because now I’m in this state of sadness and heartbreak, doesn’t mean that I deserve to stay in it.”

18

Meaning of Manifestation: Unveiling the Power of Positive Thinking Art + Design by Will Fallmer

Story by Victoria La Ferla

M

anifestation is the art of turning one’s dreams into reality through the power of positive thinking and intention-setting.

In a world often filled with stress and uncertainty, manifestation offers hope and a path to shape one’s own destiny. Manifestation has a unique meaning for everyone who practices it.

“I would define [manifestation] as thinking about a goal, but maybe not in the way of a finite goal — more of like, visionary thinking,” first-year Millie Ketcher said. “[It’s] what your future could encapsulate and what you want things to look like and how you hope to be as a person and treat others.”

The Meaning of Manifestation Ketcher manifests by visualizing what she wants to happen — such as a goal in her life, like getting an A on an assignment. She then puts intention and energy into making that happen.

While Ketcher is a Christian, she sees this as a separate practice that harnesses universal energies. While some may use the word “energies” interchangeably with God, others do not.

Ketcher’s emphasis on focusing on the present and taking responsibility for her actions is one that she is still growing to understand and implement, she said.

“Everything has an equal and opposite reaction,” Ketcher said. “It puts certain things in your life that allow you to want to do this or want to do that. Our energies bounce off of each other in a way.”

When first-year Arianna Donnelly manifests, she said she tries to hone a sense of inner peace as she sends her intentions out into the world.

“I try to be very calm,” Donnelly said. “I think about how I want people to see me when I walk into a room, like just what energy do I bring into the environment.”

Manifestation and Athletics In the realm of sports, where mental fortitude can make the difference between victory and defeat,

19

manifestation finds a unique and powerful application for many. Jhanelle Peters, athletics counselor and coordinator, is accessible to all Division I athletes at Pepperdine and shares her expertise on sports psychology and manifestation with athletes.

“The easiest way to think of stuff is thoughts become things,” Peters said. “And so if you keep thinking, and if your thought is something negative, how you’re going to perform and the likelihood of that happening gets bigger.”

Tennis is a very mental sport, said junior Savannah Broadus, a member of the women’s tennis team and executive board member of Waves Leadership Council. She has a routine for how she visualizes her moves during a match.

“I visualize, ‘OK, I’m going to hit the ball here,’” Broadus said. “And in a way, I’m kind of manifesting that, ‘Hey, I’m going to hit the ball here and this is what I’m gonna get back.’”

Peters said the link between mental imagery and achieving goals is important.

“I have written down here for all my athletes, all the time we say, ‘If you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands,’ and that’s the best way to think of manifestation,” Peters said.

Senior Jonathan Flint, president of Waves Leadership Council and captain of the men’s cross country track team, defines manifestation as visualizing what he wants to achieve.

“That pushes me to work harder and know what I’m working toward,” Flint said.

Laying the foundation for manifestation during training highlights the importance of staying focused on the process rather than the outcome, said junior Linus Carlsson Halldin, an executive board member of Waves Leadership Council and a member of the men’s tennis team.

“For me, it’s trying to be in a certain mental state going into a match,” Halldin said. “It’s more kind of trusting what you’ve done.”

For Halldin, visualization and manifestation happen organically during competition, and he places more emphasis on trust in one’s preparation rather than attempting to control a specific mental state.

“I usually say ‘come on,’ but in Swedish to myself or I talk myself through what I just did,” Halldin said.

In swimming, athletes do a lot of visualization before races, said senior Ellie Hendren, spiritual life coordinator of Waves Leadership Council and member of the women’s swim and dive team.

“So I close my eyes and just picture myself doing my race and every little detail of my race the way that I want it to happen,” Hendren said.

Hendren’s key word that she manifests before and during races is “confidence,” she said.

“When I am doing that visualization before I swim, if I kind of have that mindset of feeling confident, I feel very strong and Blue Brasher calm and just very Pepperdine Junior capable of what I have to do,” Hendren said.

As athletes push themselves to the limit, there comes a point in a race where exhaustion sets in, Hendren said.

It’s that moment when doubt can creep in, when the body screams for relief, and the mind wrestles with the seemingly insurmountable task ahead.

“It’s very mental and when you get halfway through a race and you’re really tired, but you still have like half of it to go, I just kind of like manifesting confidence and the idea that I am strong enough to finish it, Hendren said.

Journaling Helps Students Understand Thoughts Broadus said she journals to organize her thoughts.

She emphasizes consistency and progress in her mental preparation in tennis just as much as her physical practice, she said.

“Just write it out,” Broadus said. “Because you don’t know what’s bothering you until you kind of like get it all out on paper. Or even if you’re just talking to somebody things come up and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, I had no idea

that was bothering me.’”

Journaling and talking to someone are effective ways to identify and address mental barriers and develop self-awareness in manifestation, first-year Lala Freeman said.

She journals almost daily, often emphasizing what she is grateful for as an essential component of her manifestation journey.

In this ritual, she said she makes sure to include affirmations that promote self love because that is an important part of the energy she puts out.

“I’m loved, I’m cared for and there are people there for me because sometimes I forget that,” Freeman said.

Manifestation and Christianity History Professor Jonathan Riddle said the historical roots of manifestation strongly tie into the Christian faith. In the late 19th century, there were significant movements like Christian Science and New Thought that laid the groundwork for manifestation.

“Christian Science, led by Mary Baker Eddy, believed that physical realities like sadness and pain were not real, and the true reality was the spiritual plane,” Riddle said.

“New Thought, while similar, didn’t deny the physical existence but emphaManifestation is a mix sized the importance of of aligning yourself with the spiritual or mental what is needed and reality.” aligning the universe While these concepts with what you want. are not specific to practicing Christians, Riddle said they are founded in faith and have become inclusive to everyone in their day-to-day life.

“These ideas didn’t stay confined to their specific religious traditions; they seeped into the culture,” Riddle said. “People who might not identify with a particular faith still picked up on the idea that mentality, faith, or belief could influence one’s physical reality, whether it’s health, success or achievements in various aspects of life.”

Riddle said he doesn’t have an answer to why it works.

“The boundaries between these ideas can be quite blurry,” Riddle said. “Some individuals may view manifestation as a religious experience tied to divine will, while others might see it as a

20

psychological process. This is the nature of this cluster of beliefs — it’s challenging to pin down, and it often depends on one’s personal perspective and experience.”

Given her Christian roots, junior Blue Brasher connects prayer with manifestation.

“Manifestation is a mix of aligning yourself with what is needed and aligning the universe with what you want,” Brasher said.

Brasher said when she manifests, she shares her gratitude and connection to a higher power while also emphasizing the idea of tapping into universal energies with her practice.

“The more you think about it, and the more you feel it, the more you’ll be led to it,” Brasher said.

Lala Freeman

Pepperdine First-year

I’m loved, I’m cared for and there are people there for me because sometimes I forget that.

21

. . . s n o i t a 3 affirm

. . . e v a h I s l a o g 3

SIGN UP FOR THE PIXEL HERE: https://pepperdine-graphic.com/contact/

22

Pages

25-27 Feng Shui: How to Create 29-30 Energized and Balanced Spaces The Art of Vintage Clothing

31-32

Back to the Basics: Curating a Capsule Wardrobe

33-34

100-Day Dress Challenge

35-36 Sophia Zamani Inspires Through 37-38 Music Instagram Aesthetics: Creative Outlet or Competition?

Forthe

Trendsetters

The Art of Vintage Clothing Design + Story by Marley Penagos

I

|

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

RYAN

n one hundred different somewheres, a teenage girl is gleefully rifling through a bag of her mother’s old clothing from the early 2000s. She ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ over intricately beaded dresses and perfectly worn-in sweatshirts emblazoned with sorority letters.

Finally, she pulls out a pair of denim overalls and picks them as her prize.

Later, when she wears the overalls out, someone compliments them.

“Thanks,” she says. “They’re vintage.”

Her mother can’t believe it.

Vintage?

The early 2000s were not that long ago, and she isn’t even 40 yet.

Despite the disbelief from Generation X and some older Millennials, clothing becomes vintage when it is anywhere between 20 and 100 years old, according to “Retail Marketing: Theory and Practice” by David Cook and David Walters.

The feeling of nostalgia plays a role in why vintage shoppers plunder the racks at thrift stores for ’90s denim and celebrity stylists frequently pull archival designer pieces for red-carpet appearances, according to Medium.

Whether the choice to shop vintage is for a love of the old or a desire for a unique personal style, Pepperdine students are curating closets full of pieces that someone once loved in another lifetime.

“These articles of clothing or garments have a story attached to them,” senior Ryan Rooke said.

“They have seen hard times, good times. They have soul attached to them and a spirit within them, and they contain fragments of a lost time.”

Age Before Beauty Junior Steven Cordova said vintage shopping is a way he can get much higher-quality clothing than what is produced today and personalize his style by finding one-of-a-kind items.

Growing up, Cordova said he noticed he disliked the clothing he was buying because he was shopping for the same items as his friends, although his taste was actually much different.

“I adopted this phrase when I was in high school, ‘Wear your clothes, don’t let your clothes wear you,’” Cordova said.

“I wasn’t buying what felt true to me because I wanted to stay on trend. So, I would advise anyone looking to get started [shopping vintage] to block out the trends and overwhelming suggestions from others and just roll with your own flow.”

When it comes to fashion, “taste” denotes preference. Everyone has taste, everyone sees clothing and can differentiate if it is something they like or dislike. “Style” is how one uses their tastes to express themselves through clothing, according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

Cordova said while many modern pieces of clothing fit his tastes, they don’t always fit within his personal style.

25

A

“People need to evaluate their definitions of style and taste,” Cordova said. “Once one has a strong sense of each and the difference between the two, one can fall into an even deeper appreciation for the process of searching for vintage goods.”

Junior Anna Stephens said she shops vintage for better quality, unique style and to lessen the environmental impact of her shopping habits.

As a sustainability minor, Stephens said she prefers vintage over secondhand clothing, because she finds pieces that will last longer.

“Vintage clothing is much higher quality than secondhand clothing that comes from the last few years,” Stephens said. “Nowadays, people will buy fast fashion, and when pieces don’t last, they donate those fast fashion items to Goodwill, and they end up in thrift stores.”

Stephens said that while she could buy those secondhand fast fashion items and try to give them a second life, she prefers to make a longer-term investment in vintage clothing.

“Although the prices are a little higher, you are paying for a quality that will last a lifetime,” Stephens said.

For example, one of Cordova’s favorite vintage purchases is a T-shirt from Beyonce’s

‘The Beyonce Experience’ tour to promote her “B’Day” album, released in 2006.

“My sister and I grew up listening to Beyonce, especially in our early childhood, so now having a piece of that era as an adult is super dope,” he said.

Stephens said she purchased her all-time best vintage piece in Milan, Italy, while studying abroad in Pepperdine’s Florence program during Fall 2022.

While shopping in one of the world’s fashion capitals, Stephens said she found a gorgeous black velvet dress from the ‘90s that immediately caught her eye.

“I tried it on, and it fit like a glove, so I decided I would wear it to our end-of-the-semester final gala,” she said. “It was really fun to wear a vintage Italian dress to our final gala in Florence, and that is what made it so special.”

Sofia

ANGElina

Finding a Needle in a Haystack

Stephens and Cordova both said they have more success finding vintage pieces at stores that curate their clothing selections — Stephens specifically mentioned “Love at Second Sight” in Westlake Village. But senior Sofia Thure said she finds her best pieces at secondhand shops like Goodwill and The Salvation Army.

“I tend to look toward color when I first walk into a thrift store,” Thure said.

She said after color, she searches for quality materials and finds labels in the clothing that helpcommunicate to her the durability of a garment — if it is 100% cotton, for example, or made of linen or satin.

Before choosing a piece of clothing to purchase, Thure said she thinks of the functionality of an item.

While it may fit her tastes, she said, she likes to stop and think about whether she will be able

26

to style it with her existing clothes and get multiple wears out of the garment.

While it takes more of Thure’s time and effort to find true vintage clothing at thrift stores, she said it is worth it for her to “block out her whole day and spend time going through every single piece on every single rack to find the gem.”

Junior Angelina Arevalos said she often mixes up the terms ‘vintage shopping’ and ‘thrift shopping,’ but she differentiates them by how the clothes end up on the racks.

“When I think of vintage shopping, I think of more high-end pieces that were hand-picked by the retailer, while thrift shopping is more donation-based shops that just accept clothes,” Arevalos said.

“I do get my best finds from flea markets, and they are super reasonably priced,” Arevalos said.

Curated vintage stores ‘know their worth’ and sell high-quality vintage items at higher prices, Arevalos said, whereas a seller at a flea market will often price it much lower — at whatever the seller believes it to be worth.

Her favorite vintage find from a flea market comes from a brand called Avant Garde. Arevalos said she only paid $10 for the burgundy leather jacket, which cinches at the waist with a belt.

A similar jacket from the same brand is currently for sale on Poshmark for $55.

“I started having to [go thrifting] because my family didn’t have a lot of money to buy clothes,” Arevalos said. “My mom would always be like, ‘I’ll get 10 beautiful dresses for the price of half of one dress from Macy’s.’”

Arevalos said curating a vintage closet has helped her appreciate the way that fashion has evolved. For example, many of her favorite vintage garments are silky lingerie camisoles and dresses — once considered sleepwear — which Arevalos styles to go out.

“I get a lot of hand-me-downs from my mom and my grandma,” she said. “My grandma is so respectful of what I wear, but she’ll give me her handme-down slip dresses and be like, ‘Here is my pajama that you want to wear out.’”

Some of Thure’s favorite finds include a pair of thick, durable, perfectly baggy overalls she found at Iguana Vintage Clothing on Ventura Boulevard, a ‘groovy’ black, red and yellow halter top from the ‘70s and a black vest covered in colorful embroidery.

Thure said she believes anything currently trending can be found at thrift and vintage stores.

Some of the current items on her list are parachute pants and bolero sweaters — popular in the ‘90s.

Wearing pieces that nobody else has is Thure’s main motivator for shopping vintage, she said.

“The individuality aspect of shopping vintage is what is so appealing to me about it, because you are shopping for pieces that are one of a kind,” Thure said. “So I think a lot of the pieces that I do thrift are pieces that no one else has, so they are personal to me and may not be as popular or as trendy.”

STEVEN She said she often finds great garments that fit the parameters of a “vintage piece” at second-hand shops. She also searches flea markets to source vintage clothing.

27

28

Feng Shui

How to Create Energized and Balanced Spaces

B

Art + Design by Skyler Hawkins

efore she goes to bed at night, sophomore Yuqian Shi said she turns her mirrors away from her because she believes mirrors can suck one’s spirit out while one sleeps.

Growing up, Professor of Chinese Language Helen Wan said her family piano stood in the corner of a room instead of in the center to allow energy to flow freely.

These routines relate to feng shui.

The practice of feng shui is based on the idea of chi and the concept that everything is connected, feng shui consultant

Story by Millie Auchard

Jenny Liu said. Chi is the energy that flows through everything, according to the ancient principles of Daoism.

“You have a certain energy, your environment has an energy, your life and the practices that you do have a certain type of energy,” Liu said.

The practice of feng shui has been in Liu’s family for four generations, she said. Liu is a University of California, Berkeley, graduate with a degree in environmental design, and she also has a master’s in Architecture from University of California, Los Angeles. Liu and her sister, Julie Liu, established Liu Feng Shui Inc. 29

in 2007 to continue their father’s feng shui practice.

“I really wanted to bring it [feng shui] to the Western world and try to kind of merge the best of both worlds,” Liu said.

How People Practice Feng Shui In her feng shui practice, Liu said she examines how a client’s environment and energies affect them before making adjustments based on their needs. She said energies can be categorized into five elements: fire, water, wood, earth and metal.

These five energies can be productive or destructive, she said.

“Sometimes people, without realizing it, have a certain energy that might be more covalent or dominant in one of these five elements,” Liu said.

Under the idea of productive elements that create a cycle of life, watering seeds produces trees and thus wood: wood can be used to make fire: when fire is put out ash is left behind, which enriches the earth: earth can be mined for minerals and minerals enrich water, Liu said.

These elements can also be destructive. A metal axe can chop wood: wood can absorb or deplete the energies of earth: earth can muddy or dirty water: water can put out fire and fire can melt metal, Liu said.

To determine how one is affected by elements and energy, feng shui masters use Chinese astrology, Wan said.

“They will calculate what elements you have in terms of your birth and then they will calculate whether you are lacking certain elements like, for example, water,” Wan said.

Wan grew up in Hong Kong and practiced feng shui during her childhood, but not anymore. She said feng shui is a very common practice in China and many people believe it will bring prosperity, luck, health and happiness.

“If everyone is following feng shui, everyone should be successful or become a billionaire by the age of 20,” Wan said. “Or everyone should be getting A’s and getting into the best university in the world, but it doesn’t happen.

It never happened.”

Wan said the way many people in her life practiced feng shui growing up was by rearranging their furniture at the start of every lunar new year.

“If my working desk is facing south in my room this year then I’ll be able to earn a lot more As,” Wan said. “That’s what they [Chi-

nese people] believed in.”

Chi must be able to flow freely through a space, according to feng shui. Wan said although she does not believe in feng shui anymore, she still practices minimalism, which allows energy to move easily in a room.

“We pay attention to where everything flows, and then it makes you feel good if everything looks spacious,” Wan said.

Students Practice Feng Shui Liu said students can practice feng shui in their dorms on campus. For optimal sleep, one should place their bed up against a wall, away from where their door opens, she said.

“You don’t want to sleep or place a bed directly in front of a door because there’s a line of energy constantly coming in,” Liu said.

Liu also suggested one keep their bedroom as ventilated and organized as possible, allowing natural light to enter for good health and the ability to think and study well.

Shi said she grew up in Beijing and has inherited a feng shui philosophy.

She said when she forgets to turn her mirrors at night she has nightmares. Shi also has plush toys in her room that she never faces due to their human-like features. Because plush toys have eyes, they are susceptible to have spirits enter them at night.

“Some people might argue that it’s just psychological because you’re believing this so that’s why it’s projecting onto you,” Shi said.

“But I really do think that it’s because of feng shui.”

The principles of feng shui aren’t just subjective to domestic environments, Wan said. For example, in Hong Kong, a large Buddha sits outside the airport, and when a plane flies over the Buddha, the 30

plane is thought to be protected from evil forces.

Liu said people can also use feng shui in their classrooms and on university campuses. The layout of a traditional classroom — where a teacher is in the front of the room with a whiteboard behind them while facing students — is not favorable for connection between teacher and students.

“The more a teacher can arrange the classroom so that it allows a clear line of connection between them and the students, then they will find that there’s going to be an energetic connection,” Liu said.

When it comes to university campuses, Liu said she wishes there were more natural environments for students to learn in.

Senior Ariana Badgett said a classroom environment can negatively impact how she feels about a class.

“Opening up the [class]room a little or letting natural light in or having classes in an outdoor setting could help class to be more of an experience that you look forward to,” Badgett said.

Shi said feng shui has endured since the beginning of China’s 5,000-year history for a reason.

“I do believe that other students can also take this practice to make their life better,” Shi said.

Back to the Basics:

Curating a Capsule Wardrobe Art + Design by Skyler Hawkins

F

eeling like one has nothing to wear — despite having an overflowing closet — is a common experience. For some, a capsule wardrobe may be the solution.

A capsule wardrobe encourages individuals to reclaim ownership of their style, make intentional choices and invest in quality pieces. It is a form of conscious consumerism, and a way to both maximize the wearability of one’s wardrobe and minimize the harmful impact of clothing manufacturing and distribution on the environment, according to The Washington Post.

A capsule wardrobe is meant to be personalized, matching an individual’s lifestyle needs and budget. It is filled with well-fitting, higher-quality items that are meant to be worn frequently

Story by Madison Luc

and pair nicely together, instead of many articles of clothing that are rarely used and can only be worn on limited occasions.

“It’s about actually helping you to achieve the images you feel comfortable with,” said Susie Faux, a fashion expert who first coined the term “capsule wardrobe.”

Origins of a Capsule Wardrobe Faux said she grew up in London as the daughter of tailors and has written two books on women’s fashion: “Wardrobe: Develop your Style and Confidence” and “Wardrobe Solutions.” She also ran a shop called “Wardrobe” for 42 years.

Her goal was to make finding professional clothing easier and more affordable for working 31

Photos by Mary Elisabeth women, and she said she wanted to do everything she could to help women achieve their full potential. “[I wanted to] help them spend whatever budget they had on clothes in a way that basically helped them look successful in whatever world they were participating in,” Faux said.

As part of a post-war psyche, Faux said many women were hesitant to spend money on themselves while working men could justify the cost of expensive suits. Acquiring a professional wardrobe was just one more barrier for working women.

“When I started in the ‘70s, it was much more difficult for women to work,” Faux said. “The men would get the jobs because they could go in in a suit and tie.”

Her main concern was typically

a client’s budget, Faux said, so she would advise her clients to purchase well-fitting staple items like jackets, pants and blazers at the highest quality they could afford to achieve a professional look.

“The minimum is one garment and from that garment, you then choose what you can afford to put with it,” Faux said.

Once they had a foundation of well-fitting basics to present themselves professionally, they could mix and match with other, more affordable items.

Tops and skirts could be purchased at a lower price point because they did not need to be as tailored, Faux said. Accessories like jewelry, shoes and handbags could be added to customize a look and create variation.

“They could buy cheaper tops, they could almost economize on skirts, but the one thing you couldn’t economize on actually were trousers because they had to fit well,” Faux said.

With a basic capsule wardrobe, women performed better at work, and with increased salaries, they could later invest in higher-quality pieces, Faux said. Limiting the number of pieces in one’s closet can also inspire individuality.

Capsule Wardrobes at Pepperdine No two capsule wardrobes are the same.

Senior RJ Wicks said his two older sisters inspired him to experiment with fashion.

“They’re very much fashionistas in their own way,” Wicks said. “I always look for them for inspiration to help me out picking a certain outfit.”

Wicks said he has noticed how simple it can be to create new combinations from what’s already in his closet. He also enjoys trying new styles and is currently experimenting with incorporating more colorful pieces to help express his mood, he said.

“It’s not always a necessity to go out and buy,” Wicks said. “Just learning how to mix and match the clothes you already have.”

Senior Avery Lovell said she changes her staple pieces according to the seasons. Eliminating items she no longer wears is one way she keeps her closet tidy and maintains her good basics.

“I try to incorporate a policy in my wardrobe where any time I get something new, I either sell or donate or in some way get rid of something that I have,” Lovell said.

Senior Emi Paulos said she does

not have a lot of 32

time to get ready in the morning.

With long classes and labs, she said comfort is a must — but that does not mean she has to sacrifice style.

“We’re always at school or in the library studying so it’s like you want to be fashionable but comfy at the same time,” Paulos said.

Paulos said her wardrobe is filled with basics and neutrals that she can easily throw together in the morning and still look polished.

“It makes it really easy to not plan your outfit the night before and wake up and just get ready for school really quickly,” Paulos said.

Kindy De Long, associate dean of Seaver College and professor of Religion, said she keeps a capsule wardrobe. One of the benefits of a capsule wardrobe is the simplicity it brings, especially when she is traveling and teaching as an International Programs faculty member.

“Cutting down the decision-making process is just one way to free your mind up to do other things, to focus on the things that are more important in your life than trying to figure out what to wear,” De Long said.

Senior Veronica Boyle said her capsule wardrobe helps bolster self-esteem. When Boyle dresses in an outfit she likes, said she is not only more confident about herself but also more productive in school. She also sees fashion as a means of self-expression.

“If you have a good outfit that makes you feel however you want to feel, pretty or confident or whatever, that can just boost your mood,” Boyle said. “How I feel about myself, I want other people to sort of see that too.”

100Day

Dress Challenge Art + Design by Marley Penagos

|

or 100 days, Pepperdine Campus Minister Falon Barton wore the same simple black dress.

Barton was embracing a sustainability challenge from the clothing company Wool&, which, in 2018, began urging its customers to commit to wearing one of their dresses every day for onethird of the year. Soon, people across the U.S. were participating to make an environmentally conscious choice in their style.

Like the daily routines of brushing her teeth and savoring her morning coffee, Barton said putting on a single black dress quickly became an integral part of her day-to-day routine.

“It's a more holistic way, a healthier way for me,” Barton said. “People can sense anxiety, and being in practices of simplicity, are rooted in their best ways, especially when they are Christlike.”

customers to think thoughtfully about the way that they consume and their wardrobes — about how much we need — and how much we're conditioned and told that we need,” Eby said.

Their dresses are around $138 and are made of 78% Merino wool and 22% nylon. Eby said the brand aims to boost interest in an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

“We do encourage people to wear a slow-fashion company so what that means is we aren't creating new products every two weeks, holding them on our site for a month or two," Eby said.

"We make a really concerted effort to use natural fibers, which the majority of our products are primarily Merino wool."

Many college students living on campus have to deal with sub-par laundry machines, which can be a problem, Eby said, but Wool&’s approach to clothing could help remedy that situation.

“It's so easy to just hand wash in the sink and just hang it up and let it dry overnight,” Eby said.

“You don't need a dryer so it’s fabulous for people that don't have easy access to laundry facilities.”

Barton said her friend, Becky Frazier, missional discipleship minister at Otter Creek Church, in Brentwood, Tennessee, inspired her to do the challenge.

“This is something that I've

F

100-Day Dress Challenge More than 6,000 people have completed Wool&’s challenge, according to their website. The brand is centered around producing clothing that can be worn long-term while also making a social statement, Wool& Community Manager Rebecca Eby said.

“We're just trying to get

Story by Joseph Heinemann

33

|

Photos by Mary Elisabeth been doing for almost four years now,” Frazier said. "So quite a few of my friends have also done the challenge, or done some sort of version of their own challenge, as well. So it's been cool to get to see so many other people participating in something that was really life-changing and inspiring to me."

For Frazier, the challenge is a rewarding expression of her minimalism. She said she always wanted to have a signature, simple wardrobe — like Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck — but she could never find something that worked.

“It seemed so so great to not have to think about every day what you're going to wear,” Frazier said. “But I didn't see any women doing it in a way that I thought I could replicate.”

The uniqueness of the 100-Day Challenge drew Barton in, she said. It was the combination of practicality and consistency that compelled her to make the lifestyle change.

“The specific clothing caught my eye because I've never really enjoyed shopping,” Barton said.

“I've never enjoyed shopping or never enjoyed [fashion], I hate all of it. It's just very stressful. I hate spending money on it.”

When beginning the challenge, Barton said she wondered if anyone would notice her recent

wardrobe change and decided to add different accessories to mix things.

“I didn't wear a ton of dresses,” Barton said. “I wore mostly jeans and T-shirts. So they saw the style change. A couple of people kind of noticed that but even then, most people did not notice at first and I never had anyone ask, ‘Did you wear that dress yesterday?’”

As Barton was completing her doctoral degree in ministry and studying Christian practices of sustainability while doing the challenge, she said she found a deeper sense of purpose and conviction in her decision to make these changes in her life.

“Caring for the Earth is a really important part of that,” Barton said. “It can be really easy to hear a lot of the loudest Christian voices, especially in the United States, unfortunately, are hostile to conversations about environmental justice and caring for the Earth.”

Barton recognized that people may still be interested in expressing themselves through their sense of fashion throughout the challenge, and she said there were many ways she did so during it.

In fact, Barton said getting creative with how she expressed herself through style was an empowering experience.

“If it's an important facet of who they are and their self-expression, then I'm delighted for them,”

Barton said. “There are other actions they can take within sustainability in general and within holding practices specifically that are good, healthy and positive.”

Student Opinions on the Challenge Out of 14 students interviewed, 71% said they would consider participating in the challenge, while 29% said they would not be receptive to it.

Perse Klopp, senior and assistant photo editor at the Graphic, said that they would be receptive to the challenge and what it stands for.

“I’d do it,” Klopp said. “I don't know who I would recommend it to because I feel like you would have to be a certain type of person to do it. But it's interesting.”

Merino wool is a good fabric to use for most activities, like

34

hiking and camping, because of its ability to resist odors, Klopp said.

“The 100-Day Challenge, I feel, is an actual attainable goal that you could truly achieve,” Klopp said.

Sophomore Rini Pattison said the challenge did not appeal to them because they prefer pants.

“I'm not a big dress person,” Pattison said. “I find them very uncomfortable. I feel very exposed and mainly because I like to sit really weird.”

The thought of doing the 100Day Challenge sounded more uncomfortable than invigorating, Pattison said. For people who may feel inclined to participate in the challenge, Wool& offers guides on both the 100-Day Challenge and a more approachable 30-Day Challenge as well.

“When I took the 100-Day Challenge, it was life-changing for me to simplify my life and be able to focus on what mattered,” Eby said. “Things that I didn't even know I needed in my life. So it sounds like such a cliché, but it was so true for me. So for working here, I like that we are positively impacting people's lives.”

Instagram Aesthetics: Creative Outlet or Competition?

Design by Will Fallmer

T

he perfect shot, the best lighting, a clever caption — these are all aspects of a curated Instagram post.

Senior Matt Cannon described the aesthetic of his Instagram profile as eccentric, provocative and colorful.

Cannon features similar colors and shapes across his Instagram to evoke a feeling of unity and cohesiveness.

“My aesthetic incorporates hues you don’t see on a daily basis,” Cannon said. “It makes me stand out, like a diamond in the rough, from other creators.”

Many social media users attempt to develop unique aesthetics to distinguish themselves from other creators, given that most young people are on social media.

Roughly 71% of 18 to 29-yearolds in the U.S. use Instagram as their primary social media platform, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center study. Additionally, Pew found that seven in 10 Americans are on social media platforms, including

Story by Terra Hernandez Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook.

Defining an Instagram Aesthetic Instagram has become a gallery of people’s best photographs and most exciting experiences, Public Relations Professor Klive Oh said.

“Instagram and your aesthetic all falls under digital self-representation and how you are perceived by others,” Oh said.

Oh said Instagram aesthetics are made up of different aspects of someone’s profile, including color scheme, emotional appeal and themes.

Senior Adri Herbert said she utilizes photo dumps as a method to curate her Instagram aesthetic. A photo dump is a compilation of photos or videos that have a common theme, such as imagery, timeframe or composition, according to Vogue.

“I like how Instagram is becoming more authentic and casual, like how

35

Photos by Mary Elisabeth people post [photo] dumps,” Herbert said. “I post whenever I have built up a collection of photos to post and would like to start posting more random and day-to-day content.”

Cannon said he takes inspiration for his Instagram aesthetic from fashion creatives like the late Virgil Abloh and Rick Owens, both luxury streetwear designers. Despite following trends in his personal life, Cannon said he wants to keep his Instagram as authentic as possible in an effort to preserve his distinctive aesthetic.

“As tempting as it is to follow trends, I like to stay genuine to who I am and start my own creative wave,” Cannon said.

Alumna Alisha Harris (‘23), who works as the marketing coordinator at the digital marketing agency Canario Communications, said managing a brand’s Instagram aesthetic is different from managing a personal account.

“When you’re managing your own Instagram aesthetic, you have cre-

ative control and can take the time to figure your creative strategy out,” Harris said. “When you are working with brands, there is a lot more red tape around what colors you can use, what content you can post and what days and times of the week you can post.”

How to Curate a “Good” Instagram Post There are many factors that go into the perfect Instagram post.

Senior Chloe McLeod said she utilizes filters and archived images to curate her Instagram aesthetic.

These techniques ensure the perfect balance between cohesiveness and randomness, she said.

“I’ve gone through phases with filters I like, but right now I just make minimal color and lighting tweaks to make my feed look cohesive,” McLeod said. “Another technique I use is ghost posts, where I post, then archive an image that I don’t want shown on people’s feeds, but still want the image on my profile.”

Aside from ghost posts, McLeod said she also uses the Photos app on her iPad to doodle on various images on her Instagram feed to add more visual interest to the post. She likes to add hearts, smiling faces and emojis on her Instagram photos.

Cannon said he and his friends will have “content days,” where they schedule time in their week dedicated to taking photos for Instagram.

These days will often feature creative and stylish outfit choices, he said.

“I’ll post whatever I want, but will always make sure my outfits are color coordinated across the rest of my feed to incorporate aspects of my

aesthetic,” Cannon said.

Oh said Instagram and the importance of aesthetics have come a long way from the original founding of Instagram, which was meant to share casual photos with friends. He added that many Instagram users try to create an impression of casualness and authenticity with their Instagram aesthetics.

“Whether real or fake, the way you show authenticity is a big part of Instagram aesthetics,” Oh said.

ple are getting more comfortable not talking to each other, sacrificing those interpersonal skills.”

Gulessarian said he sees issues regarding social media use arise when users hyperfixate on social media interactions and metrics.

“The majority of issues are when insecurities are built off of comparing your likes and comments to other people’s,” Gulessarian said.

Psychology Professor Jennifer Harriger said there are risks to one’s mental health due to an obsession on social media images.

“Fixation on the number of followers, likes or comments can lead to a fragile self-image that is not based on reality,” Harriger said.

Social media, however, is not wholly negative, Harriger said.

Maintaining Authenticity on Social Media Senior Cole Gulessarian said he does not partake in curating an Instagram aesthetic — instead, he refrains from posting on social media. The choice to stop posting on his personal social media platforms came naturally during the COVID-19 lockdown, he said.

“I like my pictures and thoughts to be private, within my inner circle of friends and family,” Gulessarian said.

“But I don’t judge those who post on Instagram and other social media platforms.”

Gulessarian said he values faceto-face interaction over social media. Instead of posting on social media, he will show friends pictures in person or over iMessage because he feels that having those direct conversations is more genuine than social media, he said.

“People are so used to having their storytelling platform be through social media, as opposed to in-person,” Gulessarian said. “In-person communication is lacking as the ease of social media means that peo-

36

“Social media is not ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but it is important to learn how to engage with it in a way that does not bring about negative consequences,” Harriger said.

McLeod said she makes a conscious effort not to compare herself with others on social media, and she acknowledges that her social media can come across as a “highlight reel” of her daily life.

“It’s totally normal to not have an aesthetic feed because it’s about what makes you happy,” McLeod said. “This is how I have chosen to share photos as a creative outlet.”

Sophia Zamani Inspires Through Music Design by Liza Esquibias

Story by Kylie Kowalski

37

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

F

or Sophia Zamani, a sophomore indie-folk and country artist, music is all about connection.

In 2022, Bruce Springsteen’s producer, Ron Aniello, discovered Zamani on Instagram, and what began as a digital connection swiftly evolved into a life-changing mentorship.

Now, Zamani is diving into the music industry — a place she feels she truly belongs and where she can have an impact on others through a union of poetry and lyricism.

“Ultimately, we as humans really want something to connect with — whether that’s experiences or people or places — and I think that I’m just trying to do my part to help people connect to something,” Zamani said.

Finding Her Passion With eight solo songs out on Spotify and Apple Music and over 100 others written, Zamani is pursuing her career in music while also earning a bachelor’s degree in advertising.

Music wasn’t always her priority.

Zamani said when she was in elementary school, she actually hated taking music lessons, and it wasn’t until she stopped and began to appreciate various instruments on her own time that she uncovered a love for music.

“At the end of the day, I just try and sit down with my guitar and write about whatever comes to me,” Zamani said.

When Zamani first entered the music industry, she said she quickly realized the importance of coming out of her shell. She moved to New York City during the height of COVID-19 to collaborate with other artists.

“Something that’s been really big for me is becoming friends with other developing artists because we’re at a similar stage and we can really help each other in this time,” Zamani said.

Zamani has written and recorded many of her songs in Woodstock, New York, a place she said attracts many big names in the music industry. Her favorite part of being there is the clarity of mind she gets without the rushed feeling of the city.

“I feel so inspired in Woodstock — I have written so many songs during

my time there,” Zamani said.

“It’s so crazy how such a small town is full of so many insane musicians. The nature, history, people and culture make it such a special place.”

At the end of the day, OriginalBarbra Beaver Sophia Zamani I just try and sit down ly, Zamani with my guitar and Sophomore Artist considered write about whatever pursuing her comes to me. career in New York but ultimately decided to stay in “I love being on the stage and California. She said California’s natural surroundings were a big factor in sharing my music with people,” Zamani said. “The feeling of singing a her decision to attend Pepperdine. song you wrote with other people is “That’s where I ground [myself] a truly magical experience.” and feel like I can connect with myHumans want to connect with self,” Zamani said. people and places, Zamani said, and In learning from other artists, she is trying to do her part to help Zamani said she discovered aspects people discover their passions in of the music industry she didn’t know before. The many steps it takes the same way that she found hers through her music. to find success as a musician can be “I am proud of myself for sticking a complex process. to something that I’m so passionate “We don’t realize how much work about, and really doing everything goes into making a song or making I can to make a career out of it,” a brand, there’s photography, social Zamani said. media development, distribution,” Zamani said.

Building a Career Zamani said she makes sure to have balance in her life between music and school.

Sophomore Noelle Hickey, Zamani’s close friend, said she admires Zamani’s hard work and dedication to her music and lyrics.

“Sophia is by far one of the most talented and driven individuals that I know,” Hickey said. “It’s amazing to anyone who watches her from afar but getting to witness her passion and dreams coming true up close is an unbelievable honor. Her lyrics and music reflect her in the most beautiful way.”

Zamani said she loves the songs she’s already released but also has high hopes for what is yet to come.

She said music has already helped her through difficult times and elevates good ones.

38

Pages

41-42 Paradise Paved: the Evolution 43-47 of Malibu Native Wildlife Struggles to 48-50 Survive in Malibu Malibu Beaches

51-52 The Joys of Antique Shopping: 53-56 Treasures Tell Stories Practicing Simplicity: Appreciating 57-58 the Simple Life in Malibu Hiking Trails 59-60 Malibu’s Local Businesses

Forthe

Locals

Point Dume Beach

El Matador State Beach

Corral State Beach

Ralphs Beach

41

Malibu

Beaches

Design by Yamillah Hurtado

Story + Photos by Mary Elisabeth

Point Dume Beach

Ralphs Beach

P

R

El Matador State Beach

Corral State Beach

E

C

oint Dume Beach Asurfer headed into the water of Point Dume Beach Oct. 18. Locals know Point Dume Beach for its rocky coves and cliffs, as well as a hiking trail, Point Dume Cove Trail. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo used the point as an important navigational marker in 1542. George Vancouver officially named the beach Point Dume in 1793 in honor of Padre Francisco Dumetz of Mission San Buenaventura.

l Matador State Beach Two beachgoers enjoyed the view from one of the many rock formations at El Matador State Beach Sept. 1. Most known for its rock arches and caves, El Matador State Beach is the perfect spot to have a picnic, catch a couple of waves or watch the many birds that call this beach home. Locals know the beach as Malibu's best-keptsecret. Noah and Allie from “The Notebook” debuted the iconic “Say I’m a bird” scene on this very beach.

42

alphs Beach The Pacific Ocean illuminated the sunset at Ralphs Beach Dec. 1.

Pepperdine students nicknamed the beach for being near Ralphs grocery store. Ralphs Beach, also known as Dead End Beach, is located off of Malibu Road. There are at least five different access points for the beach, as it stretches about 2.5 miles long, making it perfect for long, quiet walks.

The first access point to the beach offers the best high tide for surfers and leads to a beautiful sandy cove.

orral State Beach As the tide washed in on Corral State Beach Nov. 21, the sky brightened to purple. Corral State Beach, also known as Dan Blocker County Beach, is located along the Pacific Coast Highway and offers a campground for RVs and tent campers.

Michael Landon and Lorne Greene, actors in the American Western television show "Bonanza," bought the beach in 1979. The state of California donated Corral State Beach to Los Angeles County in 1995.

Paradise

Paved:

the

Evolution of

Malibu Design by Skyler Hawkins

W

aves break audibly on the sand without the noise of highway traffic. The sun shines onto ranch-style homes on sprawling rural properties complete with horses and surf sheds. The sand on the beaches is clean — so clean that it literally squeaks.

It’s a remote piece of paradise on the edge of the world: It’s 1940s Malibu.

It’s the locals’ Malibu. It is not today’s Malibu.

“Malibu used to be this laidback country horse town,” said

Story by Nina Adams

Shannon McKee, 30, a lifelong, third-generation Malibu resident. “My parents would ride all the way from Corral Canyon all the way to Point Dume on horseback. You can’t do that anymore. You wouldn’t even think about doing that anymore.”

The oceanside frontier is now a city of mansions, shopping centers, celebrities and paparazzi. The 2018 Woolsey Fire contributed to rising real estate prices, which are forcing locals out of Malibu.

“That’s not the Malibu I envi43

sioned and that’s not the Malibu I support,” said Jefferson Wagner, former Malibu mayor and owner of Zuma Jay’s Surf Shop. “The Malibu I support is the people that live here.”

Locals fear Malibu as they know it will soon be gone forever.

The History of Malibu’s Growth In the early 1900s, May Rindge, wife of successful real estate magnate Frederick Rindge, owned 22 miles of Malibu. She was strongly against

any form of development and tried to have Malibu declared a forest preserve with herself as its conservator. Rindge started several lawsuits to stop the development of the Roosevelt Highway, now known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

Financial issues forced Rindge to sell sections of her land, and eventually she lost all of her property due to millions of dollars in unpaid property taxes.

In 1941, realtor and developer Louis T. Busch bought the Malibu land. Busch subdivided Malibu and began developing homes along the coast. He quickly knew he had struck gold, and predicted that Malibu would be the biggest real estate development in California history, according to a 1941 Los Angeles Times article.

In the following decades, an influx of farmers, ranchers and families moved to Malibu and created its identity as a country town.

A lack of fresh water supply kept Malibu rural until 1960, when the city announced plans to install water pipelines. Real estate boomed again.

Pepperdine opened its Malibu campus in 1972. Eric Pierson, 73, a longtime Malibu local, said the University’s move to Malibu was a big change.

In 1990, Malibu residents voted for Malibu to become an independent city, and Malibuites gained independence in having their own elected city council and a public high school.

Throughout the ‘90s, more and more celebrities were moving to Malibu. Pierson, who is a stone mason by trade, built many of these celebrity homes — including Barbra Streisand’s Point Dume estate. Pierson said celebrity attention further

publicized Malibu.

“The wealthy people moved in here like Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn Madonna. There are a lot of entertainers and musicians who have moved in here,” Pierson said. “Although they try to keep it kind of quiet, word gets out and paparazzi know where they live and then start publicizing that. So [Malibu] has become more in the eye of people in Los Angeles and around the world.”

The city has since been even further developed, with new major commercial developments such as the Whole Foods Project, the La Paz project and megamansions. Since the 2018 Woolsey Fire opened up lots, more billionaires and weekend vacationers have moved in, pricing out locals. Real estate prices have soared 40%, real estate agent John McNicholas said.

The Woolsey Fire Effect In 2018, the Woolsey Fire burned across 97,000 acres and 1,500 homes across Los Angeles and Ventura County, according to the Los Angeles Times. About 400 single-family homes were lost in Malibu. A loose Southern California Edison electricity wire caused the fire, according to the McNicholas & McNicholas law firm.

Malibu residents had to decide whether to stay and rebuild, or leave their hometown behind. According to the City of Malibu, 150 rebuilt homes have been completed since the fire.

For many longtime locals, the Woolsey Fire and its devastating financial repercussions was the final straw that made them say goodbye to their Malibu 44

life. Many could not afford to rebuild. Some did not want to deal with building permits. And some decided it was time to get out of Malibu after years of trying to preserve it.

Patrick McNicholas, 62, a longtime Malibu resident, attorney and father to John McNicholas, represented residents affected by the Woolsey Fire in a 2018 mass action lawsuit against Southern California Edison. Patrick McNicholas said all of his clients were people trying to rebuild their primary residences in Malibu. The payout from SCE covered the gap between their homeowner’s insurance coverage and the real costs of rebuilding.

Still, some of his older clients, generally longtime locals in their 70s and older, determined it would be too challenging to wait for their homes to be rebuilt, Patrick McNicholas said.

As they sold their lots, newcomers moved in, shifting the town’s cultural landscape.

“In my experience, the people that are leaving are people over 70 and that would definitionally be locals,” Patrick McNicholas said “It changes the landscape literally and figuratively as much that new people will be moving in, there will be new structures.”

After the Woolsey Fire, developers saw the opportunity to buy momentarily less expensive land with easier rebuilding rules.

“People buying on Point Dume got relatively good deals because the values were negatively affected by the Woolsey Fire,” said John McNicholas, 24, who specializes in luxury coastal residential properties.

“If I had to estimate, there was a 10% decrease in value.”

Malibu Historical Photograph Collection, Pepperdine University Special Collections and University Archives

For Howard Spunt, 61, an architect, commercial real estate developer and real estate agent who has lived on Malibu’s Point Dume for 15 years, the fire enabled him to build the Malibu house he’d always dreamed of.

Spunt purchased a corner lot on Malibu Park’s Cuthbert Road for $1.1 million in 2020 from a French couple who kept the property as their second home.

In 2022, Spunt said the value of his burndown lot alone doubled since he originally bought it. Later that year, he completed building a house on the lot and sold it to a professional athlete as a vacation home for $6.4 million.

Spunt said most of the locals he had spoken to were committed to keeping and rebuilding their Malibu land, but some surrendered their rebuilds after dealing with building permits.

“The majority of people who lived here and were part of the Malibu community, I’d say 97%

of them tried to rebuild,” Spunt said. “Of that 97% I’d say about 10% of them just gave up.”

Burndown lots bypass Malibu’s complex building regulations.

Construction permits on burndown lots are expedited, and homeowners capitalized on the city’s flexible permitting laws that allowed for a 10% square footage increase. This increase over the formerly more modest ranch homes is further driving up prices, making it difficult for the blue-collar workers who are doing the construction to afford to live in Malibu.

“The issue is that we’re building ourselves out of our own town,” said Samuele Bassett, 31, a Malibu native who owns and operates Stay Balanced Pool Service.

“As a business owner that works in a construction-style industry as a service provider, a lot of my clients are these new billionaire clients with these new pop-up houses and McMansions that are

45

being built. But at the same time, a lot of my friends are the ones building them.”

Bassett is the son of bestselling self-help author and mental health mogul Lucinda Bassett.

He was raised as a true Malibu kid: nightly star gazing, playing in fields, riding dirt bikes and, of course, surfing.

Bassett said his rugged Malibu upbringing influenced him and some of his childhood friends to pursue blue-collar work, much like the original 1940s Malibu farmers. He said he has few childhood friends left in Malibu after the Woolsey Fire because they could not afford the rise in housing costs.

“They depended on those same locals to rebuild the town and then pushed them out afterward,” Bassett said. “We rebuilt a town that we couldn’t afford to live in.”

Locals Feel Stripped of Community With increasing real estate prices, the biggest threat to Malibu locals is a lack of affordable and available housing, specifically rental units.

This is the case for McKee. McKee’s grandparents moved to Malibu, and her parents met at Malibu High School. McKee was raised in the Corral Canyon home her grandfather built. McKee’s family home withstood three fires but the family sold it before the Woolsey Fire.

“As much as these generational families want to stay in Malibu, the younger generation is getting pushed out because there’s no homes to buy and even the cheaper homes are expensive,” said McKee, who works as a pool service technician and a ranch hand.

Many blue-collar workers in Malibu are highly skilled and

make good money, Spunt said.

The average household income in Malibu is roughly $150,000, according to 2019 Census data.

“We have a lot of people who grew up here that are electricians, plumbers and framers who are making $100,000 a year and they should be able to stay here,” Spunt said. “But that’s not low-income housing, and that’s not market-rate housing. So there has to be a bridge in between.”

Wagner calls Malibu a “land bank,” because homeowners can make more money off of increasing property values than they can through interest on a savings account.

Potential homeowners and renters are coming to Malibu for the commercial amenities more than the beaches and community, John McNicholas said.

“They’re not looking to go surfing,” John McNicholas said.

“They’re looking to have an im-

46

age, a lifestyle and to be close to the shopping and fine dining — to Nobu, Soho House and all the fancy amenities.”

McKee said she thinks that Malibu has lost its sense of community with the increase in tourists.

“You used to walk in the grocery store and everyone would say ‘hi’ to each other. It would end up being one big conversation,” McKee said. “You don’t get that anymore. It’s not really a community anymore.”

Malibu property owners charge anywhere from $175 to $5,597 per night for rentals, according to Airbnb. Locals view these tourists as polluting Malibu’s peaceful lifestyle.

“With the Airbnb you get people that come and just use the town like it’s a complete party town when it’s not,” McKee said.

“People throw house parties and crowd the streets and these are neighborhood streets where

Photo courtesy of Malibu Historical Photograph Collection

kids play. We don’t want that around.”

Airbnb homeowners are making a profitable return on their investment at a cost to their neighbors, Wagner said.

“They have their properties, they’re welcome to invest in any way they can and make what they can on it,” Wagner said.

“But don’t impact the neighborhoods.”

Second homeowners that rent their Malibu homes for shortterm leases or vacations also exacerbate the rental market and price out workers.

Property owners’ return on investment is higher when renting to a short-term tenant, but that reduces the options available to residents, Wagner said.

“We cannot afford the lifestyle that they’re bringing into town,” Wagner said.

Commercial Developments and Tourism

countless commercial developments in Malibu, including the 2019 Whole Foods development in the Malibu Lumber Yard.

Wagner also fought against the now nearly completed La Paz project on the corner of Civic Center and Pacific Coast Highway.

Wagner said these recent commercial developments do not serve the local Malibu community, adding that he is not against outsiders visiting Malibu — it’s just not his idea of Malibu.

“I don’t deny them — that’s their right. Some of them come in here and buy T-shirts and keep me open,” Wagner said.

“But that’s not the Malibu that I grew up in, that’s not the Malibu that elected me to office and that’s not the Malibu that’s supported these large mall projects.”

The Future of Malibu

The growing development of the Malibu Country Mart and its adjacent projects invite vacationers to experience luxury retail and fine dining.

In Wagner’s time as a city councilman, he fought

Locals are divided on their vision of Malibu’s future. Some are optimistic and hope the influx of newcomers learn to embrace their culture. Others are resistant to change and know that the outsiders are bringing it

Shannon McKee’s grandfather building their family home in Corral Canyon, circa 1977.

Three generations of Malibu McKee women in their Corral Canyon family home, circa 1994

Photos courtesy of Shannon McKee

47

to Malibu.

Pierson has long practiced spiritually alongside members of the Chumash tribe and is a believer in energy. He said Malibu sits on the intersection of the planet’s two major energy vortexes.

“It goes right through Point Dume and Malibu,” Pierson said. “So there’s this light energy that emanates here in Malibu, which attracts people of positive virtue. I just hope it can continue along those lines.”

For some, the Malibu they once knew is already long gone.

Wagner misses the squeaky clean sand on Malibu’s once pristine beaches.

“When I was in my early 20s, we would walk down the sand here and it would squeak under your feet because it was so clean,” Wagner said. “It had no emollients, it had no brake dust, it had no tire dust. That squeaky beach moment is something I’ll always remember at Surfrider. If you just took your foot and ran it across the sand as you stepped forward, it would squeak.”

The remains of the home in after the Woolsey Fire, 2018. The family had sold the home before the fire.

Native Wildlife Struggles to Survive in Malibu Art + Design by Will Fallmer

T

he trail to Newton Canyon is uneven and unkempt; a stony vein, narrow and devoid of vegetation. It leads to a dropoff that is only a mild climb down if both hands are free. A river runs through it, teeming with frogs who hop out of volcanic-looking holes in the stone. A waterfall lazily sprays above. A newt, burnt orange muddled with a brown underbelly, clings to underwater vegetation as a garter snake slinks past, trolling the waters for tadpoles.

Places such as this are one of the reasons she loves living in Malibu, said junior Christine Espinosa, a member of the Pepperdine community garden. However, due to recent drought, both the rivers and the wildlife the water attracts are increasingly seasonal.

“It’s so beautiful when all the hills turn green after a rain,” Espinosa said.

Over the past three decades, Lee Kats, interim dean of Seaver College and freshwater ecologist, said he has observed streams in the Santa Monica Mountains that were once consistently active dry up — an unprecedented phenomenon correlated with climate change. This, along with other human intrusions, has caused ecological pressure on local animals throughout the Santa Monica Mountains.

“For my first decade working here

Story by Max Pohlenz in the mountains, I didn’t know any different,” Kats said. “I could go to the same streams; it didn’t matter if it was July or November, and it’d be water flowing.”

Dwindling Water Impacts Wildlife Kats and his team survey a variety of sites within the Santa Monica Mountains, including Newton Canyon, as part of a continuing three-decade old research effort observing the local amphibians, such as frogs.

Much of the life cycle of the frogs Kats studies is dependent on reliable freshwater environments, said Allison Sacerdote-Velat, curator of herpetology at the Chicago Academy of Sciences.

“When you’re trying to reestablish new populations, that increased drought frequency really knocks them back,” Sacerdote-Velat said.

Kats said the pristine freshwater streams in the Santa Monica Mountains are rapidly shrinking.

“It seems to me animals are more stressed,” Kats said. “And I don’t just mean psychologically stressed, I mean physiologically stressed.”

The most powerful example of this was a recent population-wide disease among the native newts, Kats said.

“So what happens is if you’ve got stressed organisms,” Kats said “And

48

then you put an additional stressor on top of that, you see that they’re vulnerable.”

Kats said he compares this experience to people, who tend to get sick when low on sleep or are under stress.

“When you see that the Woolsey Fire happened, and that it dramatically alters the stream bed because silt washes in and ash washes in, that’s got to be stressful,” Kats said.

“This is a correlation.”

The nature of field biology makes it difficult to prove causation between these factors, Kats said. However, he points out incredibly strong correlations between the data.

“Any time people talk about climate they’ll say, ‘Well, what proof do you have?’” Kats said. “It’s hard to connect things directly to climate change.”

Human Activity Impacts Wildlife In addition to the Woolsey Fire, Kats also cites construction projects and human activity near water ecosystems as stressors. One survey site, Cold Creek, has been affected by a golf course upstream, which introduced non-native fish and nutrients from the fertilizer into the water.

“They’re [reptiles and amphibians, such as frogs] also incredibly vulnerable and incredibly sensitive to

things like road salt getting into the the few individuals that remained.” the wildlife overpass in Calabasas,” environment,” Sacerdote-Velat said.

Monzon said in both scenarios, Monzon said. “That wildlife bridge is “Or other forms of pollution that when the remnant band of coyotes very promising because it is likely to might be present.” eventually reproduced, their descen- provide connectivity to many differReptiles and amphibians are not dants only had the limited genetic ent species.” the only animals affected, Biology makeup of that remnant, leading to The bridge, when completed, will Professor Javier Monzon said. Monthe observed reduction in genetic span 174 feet wide and 210 feet long, zon’s research focuses on the impact diversity. said Micheal Comeaux, of urban developments on coyotes.

California Department Typically, coyotes are looked at as of Transportation public a versatile species — they’re information officer. resilient to changes to their “For comparison, if environment — and inthis was a bridge designed for habit suburbs and sierras traffic, for cars and trucks, it is alike, Monzon said. big enough that it could have five “We discovered that or six lanes in each direction,” with greater degrees Comeaux said. of urbanization, The bridge will have a there’s less genetic layer of native dirt and diversity in coyote plant life to integrate That wildlife bridge is populations,” Monit seamlessly into very promising because Javier Monzon zon said. surrounding habitats, it is likely to provide This was in comComeaux said.

Biology Professor connectivity to many parison to populations Threats such as different spaces. in less populated arurban encroachment eas, Monzon said, such are real issues, Kats as Montana and Wyoming. said. The threat of cliThe research painted a picture mate change, however, which of small, fragmented and isolated “In the jargon of population gelooms over the drying streams and bands of coyotes, cut apart by urban netics, that’s called a bottleneck,” the hot summers, Kats said, is far development.

Monzon said. “You take a population more existential. Much like a proMonzon said he envisions two that’s large and it shrinks for some verbial bird smashing into glass, possible scenarios that could have reason, and then it expands later on. local species will continue to find caused the observations. The first After they go through that shrinking themselves hurtling into man-made hypothesizes that the construction bottleneck, the descendants have situations that they are not adapted of Los Angeles and its surrounding much less genetic diversity than the to, Kats said. urban areas displaced coyotes. The original.”

“Birds are not equipped for the current populations, Monzon said, A depletion of genetic diversity most part to deal with glass and would then be descended from the diminishes the ability for a species to that’s why thousands of birds a year, select few coyotes who returned a survive and adapt within a changing probably millions of birds a year, fly generation or so later. environment, according to Moninto glass and die,” Kats said. “That’s “The other scenario is that the zon’s research. Sacerdote-Velat said a conservation question, that’s a bebuilding up of L.A. didn’t displace this bottleneck also occurs with frogs havior question that is connected to coyotes, but reduced their popuwhen sources of water dry up. conservation, because it’s an animal lations,” Monzon said. “The mod“One of the things that I’m really that has a trait that’s not perfect for ern-day coyotes are descendants of excited about is the construction of the environment.”

49

50

IB U ’ S L A M

Local Businesses Design by Will Fallmer

Story by Anežka Lišková

G

eoffrey’s, Howdy’s and Zuma Jay’s are three local businesses with history rooted in Malibu.

For the owners of all three, hard work and passion enabled them to build their businesses. For Jeffrey Peterson, the owner of Geoffrey’s, faith also played a role.

“In life, if you never set goals, you’ll never know if you get to the finish line,” Peterson said.

In 1983, Harvey Baskin opened the oceanfront Malibu restaurant Geoffrey’s. Four years later, Jeffrey Peterson started working there as a busboy.

Now, he is the owner.

When Baskin died in 1997, Peterson was trying to find a way to gather enough money to buy the restaurant. When his church’s pastor told him to ask God for help, Peterson realized it was the one effort he hadn’t made. Then he started to pray.

“Two days later, the family calls me and they say, ‘Do you remember the deal that we said we’d never do? Well, we’ll loan you all the money,’” Peterson said. “So I went from trying to get a piece of the restaurant, to ending up owning the whole restaurant by myself.”

Although it is now a Malibu staple, Geoffrey’s has roots in old Hollywood. It used to be called the Holiday House, which famed silent film director Dudley Murphy opened in 1948.

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

“The rumors were that Marilyn Monroe and JFK used to have rendezvous there at the hotel and restaurant,” Peterson said. “Back in the day, it was such a far drive for people to get out there, it was kind of a secluded spot where people would run to.”

Once Murphy died in the ‘70s, the restaurant fell into financial turmoil, going into bankruptcy soon after. That was when Harvey decided to purchase Holiday House and rebrand it to Geoffrey’s in Malibu. When Peterson later took over the restaurant, he put his own twist on it.

“What I tried to do is create a creative environment that’s beautiful,” Peterson said. “Flowers and gardens and waterfalls. But then on top of that, trying to get great food and really friendly service, which I think sets us apart.”

Geoffrey’s is a place where Peterson said people go for special moments in their lives — whether it’s for a first date or an anniversary. Invested in keeping that meaningful Geoffrey’s legacy alive, Peterson said he has a 25-year plan for the local hotspot.

“People laugh at me and say, ‘Wait 25 years, you’re going to be ancient by then,’” Peterson said.

He said the biggest goal is to open a Geoffrey’s hotel in addition to the restaurant.

“God has a bigger plan for you,” Peterson said.

Howdy Kabrins, the owner of Howdy’s Sonrisa Cafe, is a restaurateur. He opened his first restaurant, La Salsa, in 1979 in West Los Angeles, according to the Howdy’s Cafe website, and by 1986, he 51

owned six locations around L.A. County.

His nephew Silvano Perez said Kabrins had a lot of influence on the restaurant industry at the time.

“He is one of the guys that started to change the way Americans see Mexican food,” Perez said.

Kabrins ended up selling La Salsa in 1992 and opened Howdy’s Taqueria in Malibu in 1995. In the past 28 years, they have gained loyal customers in Malibu — and a big portion of them are Pepperdine students.

Junior Luke Brown first tried Howdy’s when he was visiting Pepperdine, and when he moved to campus, he began eating there regularly.

“The food is very good,” Brown said. “It’s all very high quality. They have steak burritos, sushi burritos, quesadillas, breakfast food, everything you can imagine. The service is also amazing. I’ve gotten to know several people there so it’s always fun to go.”

Perez said it is one of the company’s biggest missions to make sure customers are treated with care, and that is part of the reason he loves having Pepperdine students around.

opening restaurants in Brentwood and Hollywood.

He said they are trying to get back to serving on the Pepperdine campus as well, which Brown said students would be happy about.

“I used to eat there, actually every day,” Brown said. “Now we can’t because Bon Appetit doesn’t allow outside vendors.”

Jefferson Wagner said he was always more of a sailor but didn’t have the budget to open a sailing parts store.

So he opened a surf shop instead.

He said he started surfing at the age of 10, and it quickly became a passion.

“Parents would bring you to the beach and give you $1 and leave you at the beach in the morning and come fetch you in the afternoon,” Wagner said. “That’s how it was.”

Wagner opened Zuma Jay’s in 1968. He started shaping the store in his late teens and opened it in his early 20s by himself. He said for the next 13 years, he slept on the floor and took showers with the hose to afford the shop.

Even though Malibu has grown and changed significantly since Wagner opened his PCH surf shop, he said he remains dedicated to what he has In life, if you never always strived for with his business. set goals, you’ll He said he makes sure the products he is sellJeffrey Peterson never know if ing are the best of the best function-wise, rather Geoffrey’s Owner you get to the than focusing on the looks of them, in comfinish line. parison to Becker Surf by Ralphs and CVS in Malibu.

“They [Becker Surf] “Every time I walk in and Blanca, the cashier, [is send us so much there] she’s like, ‘Hey how are you? How’s your business that they week and school?’” Brown said. have an open Perez now runs the restaurant with his uncle, but account at before Kabrins asked for Perez’s help in the family Starbucks on business, Perez worked for a hotel in Tulum, Mexico, my credit for two and a half years — an experience he said card,” Wagwas very different. ner said. “I’m “It’s much easier to work with these guys, because constantly they already know what they need to do and that rewarding makes everything so much easier,” Perez said. them for In Malibu, Perez recently extended the business sending me and opened a sushi restaurant, Sushi by Howdy, so much next to Sonrisa Cafe, and they are also working on business.”

52

The Joys of Antique Shopping: Treasures Tell Stories Design by Will Fallmer

“M

y apothecary table!”

In the sixth season of Friends, Phoebe explained to Ross and Rachel how important it was for her to have furniture that told a story. This free-spirited fictional character’s love for antiques is something many people said they relate to.

Barbara Beaver, owner of Beaver’s Den Antiques in Woodland Hills, said antiques are what make a house feel like a home.

Story by Beth Gonzales

“These things have survived and the reason why is because of the quality and that they were loved and taken care of,” Beaver said.

“For these things to go on to new homes and be appreciated by young people is wonderful.”

Searching for Antiques Students, faculty and local shop owners said they appreciate the thrill of the hunt, the everlasting quality of antiques, as well as the

53

Photos by Mary Elisabeth

keepsake of history — remembering things locally made with love, not manufactured in 2024’s fastpaced world.

“You can get the same thing [item] at an antique sale and paint it to your heart’s delight, and you will have that piece forever because they’re just so well made,” said Avesta Carrara, office manager of Alumni Relations.

Carrara said she first became interested in antiques by admiring the decor in her grandmother’s house in France. She ended up bringing small pieces of this

house back home with her but had the desire to grow her collection.

She said she started finding estate sales as well as antique markets and moved on to collecting and selling antiques of her own for over 25 years. Other than her sheets and towels, she has no new items in her house.

“If you shop estate sales, you know that stuff is not going into landfills, and a lot of the kids don’t want it,” Carrara said. “A lot of the time either the parents are downsizing or someone has passed away. I have been to more places in L.A. than I ever would have had I not had an interest in antiques.”

Barbara Beaver

Beaver’s Den Antiques Owner

Memorable Finds Carrara’s most prized possession: a pie safe. She said she had been looking for one for years and they were used in the 1800s as a cabinet for food.

She also found a coveted butcher’s block she had been looking for, used to cut meat in old butcher shops.

“I wish they [antiques] could talk,” Carrara said.

“Because if they could talk they could tell me where they have been and who they have been with.”

After losing her home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, Carrara said she had to start her collection over, but that it left space for a bigger and better vision.

“When do you have the opportunity to redo everything and start from scratch as an adult?” Carrara said.

Carrara’s favorite era is anything before 1960, she said, but she really looks for things from the 1800s. She said she is fascinated that older antique 54 54

These things have survived and the reason why is because of the quality and that they were loved and taken care of.

styles are starting to come around — because no one, not even young people, can pass up the homemade quality.

Senior Grace Garrabrants said antique shopping is in her blood because her nursery and childhood room were filled with antiques as a way to both save money and have items with a story.

As she grew older, antiques were all she knew, which helped shape her aesthetic when she decided she wanted to become a fashion designer.

“My mom was always collecting a lot of vintage, I was just always around it,” Garrabrants said. “I’ve always loved antique clothes and decor and when I worked at a thrift shop, people would bring in insane things because California is a very diverse place, you would find anything and everything.”

Her favorite find was a purple Amethyst necklace from the Victorian era, Garrabrants said. She bought it in high school and wore it to school one day. Her mom had warned her she might lose the necklace, and it did in fact fall off.

After days of searching and accepting the harsh reality it was gone, one day at school she saw a shimmer in the bushes. She had found it.

“When I see stuff at an antique store I’m like, ‘Ah that’s so beautiful, that’s so sad it’s just sitting there,’ and I get an emotional connection to the thing,” Garrabrants said. “Artistic people are like that a lot because you value your creations a lot, that you wonder how other people couldn’t value a creation that

55

someone made and you need to take care of.”

Selling Antiques Beaver said her mother started Beaver’s Den Antiques in 1967 and when they moved from Tarzana to Woodland Hills, she loved how small and calm the French Quarter area of Woodland Hills was and how it matched the Southern styles of her items.

Beaver’s Den Antiques specializes in silver and has pieces ranging from $10 to items worth thousands, Beaver said. She loves to help customers pattern match and add single pieces of silverware to an already existing set, she said.

She also sells plates, holiday decor, jewelry, gifts and more. She even had Tiger Lily art on silverware handles from 1901.

“I often have customers come in and say ‘My mom passed away and I have all this stuff, what should I do with it?’ And I say, ‘Use it,’” Beaver said. “‘Let’s use these beautiful things that you have inherited and enjoy them.’”

Beaver said she hopes everyone of every age can find something in her store. Her passion for collecting started when she was a little girl collecting horse statues and watching her mother travel for antique pieces.

“As a woman, having a business at that time was pretty revolutionary, so growing up with it, I loved that passion,”

Avesta Carrara Alumni Relations Office Manager

Beaver said. “My background is theater and that is what I studied in high school and college, and I loved learning about history.”

Santa Monica-based shop jAdis specializes in film props, and even has a whole wall of beakers and supplies rented and used in the summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer,” owner Susan Lieberman said.

Lieberman grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, and came to L.A. when she was 12. She studied art history and started working for different artists and designers, which led her and her partner to open a furniture store with handmade items, she said. This led her to traveling the country to collect pieces for her own antique store.

“I have a lot of favorites in here, but I would say the airships,” Lieberman said. “They are motorized and we found those driving up the coast going to different antique shops, they were made from a couple in Wisconsin and they are really magical.”

She said the joy of

antiques comes from the people she meets in her store. From tourists coming in and becoming overwhelmed with the sheer amount of items, to producers and artists, and kids asking their mom to take them to “the robot store,” due to the extravagant window displays.

“It’s been a really exciting career, the thrill of the hunt, and then going to auctions in the Midwest and flea markets in New England, and just the excitement

56

If they [antiques] could talk they could tell me where they have been and who they have been with.

of you never know what you’re going to find,” Lieberman said.

Many said antiques are about appreciation and the ability to be timeless — to become humble and remember what, and who, are deemed precious.

g n i c i t c a r P plicity Sim Appreciating the Simple Life in Malibu

Design by Marley Penagos

M

any students describe their college experience as a constant cycle of running from one thing to the next without much time to slow down and breathe.

With the busyness of day-to-day life, it can be hard for some to take a moment and appreciate the simple things in life.

Students said these are the things that make their life the sweetest.

With society’s fast-paced culture, students said only some make it a priority to fully slow down.

“It really hit me how fast things are,” junior Emily Luong said. “There really isn’t time to just be. I want to have something that’s entirely dedicated to being slow.”

Story by Abby Wilt

Photos courtesy of Daniel Ramli

Prioritizing Minimalism Luong studied abroad in Buenos Aires her sophomore year, and when she got back, she and her friend, junior Natalia Grogan, decided they wanted to start a business focused on simple living.

Luong and Grogan said they dream of buying a Sprinter van, converting it into a home and selling coffee out of it.

“We wanted to do a mobile coffee shop around the U.S. in a van, but while spreading the love of Jesus,” Luong said.

While in B.A., Grogan said she and Luong had time to meet new friends on the streets and in local shops, and the experience of getting to know their new home simply through

57

taking the time to explore it little by little sparked inspiration.

“I met so many people in the city, just because everyone has that time between things,” Luong said.

“You just meet people walking from place to place and actually become friends.”

The “hustle culture” became more apparent to them upon returning to the U.S., and they said they realized they had no time to be still.

Grogan said she tries to simplify her life by pursuing a minimalist lifestyle — a practice she is beginning before moving into a van.

“I love minimalism — it’s my favorite thing,” Grogan said. “If you see my closet right now, you’d think I don’t have any clothes.”

g

The Van Life Resident Director Daniel Ramli has a similar desire to live simply, and he said he recently decided to buy a van and convert it into a home for him and his wife.

Ramli said he bought a van in May and spent the summer and weekends converting it. His latest task was finishing the electrical portion of the van — something he said he learned how to do on “YouTube University.”

“It’s been a really fun learning process,” Ramli said.

So far, Ramli has been taking the van on weekend trips, but once it is fully converted, he said he wants to fully move into it and travel across the U.S. for at least a few years.

Although there are challenges that come with the van life, he said he is looking forward to the entire experience.

“We won’t even have a shower in the space — so we’ll have to get creative,” Ramli said.

While Ramli said he doesn’t consider himself extremely “simple” right now, he is working on embracing that lifestyle more.

“At this point, it definitely doesn’t feel like simple living because we live in an apartment,” Ramli said.

“And then we spent a ton of money

on the van and are spending a ton of money on the whole conversion process. So right now, it doesn’t feel simple.”

The process of converting the van and anticipating living in it has allowed him to reconsider the purchases he makes and how he can lead a lifestyle focused less on clutter and more on a peaceful state of mind, he said.

He said he and his wife have been prioritizing simplicity by recognizing that material items are not important in the long run — especially when they move into a van.

“We do like the idea of living off of not as much and not trying to fall into the consumerist mindset of more and more,” Ramli said.

Prioritizing Simplicity Sarah Cunin, a Malibu resident who started the Gan Malibu Preschool, said she is mindful about engaging in simple living in her dayto-day life, even if that just means taking a few minutes every day to spend time in nature.

“It’s nice to just know nature is your best friend,” Cunin said.

Cunin has lived in Malibu for 25 years and is raising her kids here in the oceanside town. She said Malibu is a place where she feels her family

58

can stay involved with their activities while also welcoming rest and relaxation.

“We definitely take advantage of the beauty of Malibu and hiking around Malibu,” Cunin said.

Another blessing about the coastal city is that having to stay home and “be bored” can be fun on its own accord, she said.

“Malibu is not a bad place to be stuck, stay home,” Cunin said. “I have a beautiful ocean view. I’m very happy to be just at home or just on our patio and relaxing.”

Senior Natalie Alderton said the same — she finds the most simple moments when she is outside, especially when she is surfing.

“There’s something about it that is still and peaceful,” Alderton said.

She also prioritizes making a conscious effort to appreciate the simplicity of life while taking time out of her busy schedule to be in nature, she said.

“The way to truly be immersed in it is when you’re on the trail and you’re going slow enough that you can see everything around you and you can stop and look at the tiniest little wildflower or you can look up at the views around you,” Alderton said.

“Your progress with the landscape is slowly transformed.”

Hiking

Trails

Design by Yamillah Hurtado

Story by Mary Elisabeth

Corral Canyon Loop Trail

Puerco Canyon Trail

Y

T

Zuma Canyon Connector Trail

Point Dume Cove Trail

S

T

ellow wildflowers blew in the wind next to the Corral Canyon Loop Trail Oct. 13. Locals know this 2.4 mile long trail for being moderately challenging and a very popular area for runners. It is open year-round and is well trodden because trail-goers are allowed to bring their pets. The loop is located off of Pacific Coast Highway, near the Sara Wan Trailhead, and offers great ocean views.

enior Courtney Hancock enjoyed the scenic beauties the Zuma Canyon Connector Trail had to offer Nov. 5. This trail connects Kanan Edison Road Trail and the Zuma Edison Road Trail. It’s accessible from either trail and locals use the out-and-back loop for mountain biking and horseback riding.

The trail is moderately steep but fairly smooth, and offers hikers the chance to see coastal sage scrub and wildlife such as deer, rabbits, coyotes and hawks. It also provides scenic views of the Santa Monica Mountains, as well as Zuma Canyon.

he sky brightened to a periwinkle on Puerco Canyon Trail April 8. This trail is a challenging route due to its terrain and length, about 7.5 miles out-and-back. Many come to the trail to enjoy its quiet atmosphere, as well as its options for bird watching, mountain biking and equestrians. The trail offers gorgeous views of Point Dume and Corral Canyon, as well as rock gardens and coastal views of the Santa Monica Mountains.

he Pacific Ocean glistened as the tide washed in beneath point Dume Cove Trail Sept. 28. Locals know this trail for being quick and easy, while offering breathtaking views of the sandy beaches and ocean from above the mountaintop and rocky bluffs. It is a popular filming location, as well as a popular spot for rock climbing. When following the trail, you will end up facing toward Big Dune Beach and also cross paths with the Point Dume Nature Preserve.

59

Corral Canyon Loop Trail Photo by Abby Wilt

Puerco Canyon Trail Photo by Skyler Hawkins

Zuma Canyon Connector Trail Photo courtesy of Courtney Hancock

Point Dume Cove Trail Photo by Mary Elisabeth

60

Photo by Abby Wilt

61

“There is always light.

If only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

- Poet Amanda Gorman

62

C