Pepperdine Graphic 10.14.2022

Wilt

It has been over a year since the Hub for Spiritual Life officially launched at Pepperdine — and as the Hub continues to change its structure and programs,

members of the Pepperdine community said they are concerned about changes in positions and programming.

Since this summer, three previous chaplains — Sara Barton, Rachel Col lins and Shaya Aguilar — have all tran sitioned out of the Hub and into other departments on campus. Danny De

Walt, vice president and chief of staff, is leading the Hub, as the Hub hires new additions for its team. Barton previous ly led the Hub as University Chaplain and associate vice president of Spiritual Life, according to the August 2021 staff announcement on Pepperdine’s web site, and now is still University Chap

lain, but in the Office of the Provost.

“Never have I experienced the envi ronmental stress that I’ve experienced the last couple months,” Robinson said.

The changes have sparked concern from some community members over

Remembering Conner Budge: An optimist who always had a smile

Sam Torre News Editor

Abby Wilt Managing Editor

An optimist and a student with the biggest smile — this was Conner Budge. Conner died unexpectedly Sept. 24, and members of the Pepperdine community shared memories of him as they mourn his loss.

Conner was a senior at Seaver College studying Creative Writing, and he was ex pected to graduate in spring 2023. The Hub for Spiritual Life hosted a memorial at Elkins Auditorium on campus Oct. 8, to celebrate and honor Conner’s life.

“He was a caring soul, a creative spirit, a gentle person who loved people and who is loved and returned by many,” Conner’s father Michael Budge said.

Conner grew up in North Hollywood with his brother Ian and his parents — Michael and Karen. Ian said he looked up

He

was a

much time

He

made a huge impact

And being around him made me

to be a

to his brother and wanted to be just like him.

“He was always there for me [Ian] for any activity or problem,” Michael said, on behalf of Ian at the memorial. “His advice is precious and I [Ian] loved how much he cared for me [Ian]. He was the best man I’ve [Ian’s] ever known.”

Conner was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and worked at Geof frey’s in Malibu. His friends described him as a selfless friend and a caring per son.

“He always lit up the room and made conversations more enjoyable,” senior Ja cob Seals said. “It seemed that Conner lived life freely. He always had a very pos itive outlook on all situations.”

Seals said he met Conner in their firstyear housing at Fifield. The two went on to join Sig Ep together their first year at Pepperdine.

better friend.”

Seals said every conversation with Con ner was enjoyable, and he always noticed Conner living life with an optimistic spirit.

“It became very apparent how charis matic he was,” Seals said. “His personality was truly something that I admired.”

Matthew Harvill, Conner’s friend and roommate at Drescher, said he knew Con ner since their first-year Italian class, but they grew a deeper relationship this year.

The class was over Zoom in spring 2020, and Harvill said Conner would email him after class to go over lessons. Conner was easy to talk to over Zoom, and when on campus, would always take the time to say ‘hi.’

Harvill said Conner was a listener — always putting hours of his day aside to simply listen to his friends and family.

Jacob Seals Pepperdine Senior

“He really was a great person,” Seals said. “And I enjoyed spending so much time with him. He definitely made a huge impact on my life. And being around him made me aspire to be a better man and a

“He was an amazing listener,” Harvill said. “No matter what we as roommates were going through or what Conner was going through himself — he always made time to listen and to talk to his roommates

Conner

Phi Epsilon brothers on the Malibu

at Pepperdine.

Good News: Treat Yourself

For many people, different seasons bring different emotions. For some, summer is when they thrive — enjoy ing the sun, surf and warm summer nights. Personally, I feel my best in the fall and winter months.

There is something so wonderful about snuggling up in a blanket with some Lipton tea and a good book or movie. That is when I feel my happi est.

Maybe being an Angeleno has given me a different perspective on what a “true” fall is. Nevertheless, I enjoy the seasons I have. It gives me the opportunity to indulge and be a home-body — a desire that has only increased post-quarantine.

My love for fall has prompted a re cent purchase I am extremely excited about. Last spring I saw a picture of a girl on Pinterest wearing mini-Ugg boots. I have owned many pairs of Uggs in my life but never in this style. I felt by mid-spring it was too warm and impractical to wear them, but I kept them in the back of my mind.

Flash forward a few months, I was shopping for something else on Nordstrom Rack and found the very Uggs I had seen on sale. I was elated and immediately purchased them. A number of my friends laughed at the fact that I was buying Uggs in July, but I knew, come late September, I would be very glad I had bought them when I did.

After the intense heat wave that plagued Malibu, I finally had the op portunity to wear my Uggs. It may sound silly, but I was so excited and received several compliments on them throughout the day that it even influenced a friend to purchase her own pair.

Not only were they so comfortable and, in my opinion, fashionable, but they represented the start of a sea son I really enjoy. It made me realize the importance of those little indul gences. College life can, and often is, stressful and overwhelming. Having a little something that makes you hap py, even if it’s as simple as a pair of shoes, can end up making a big dif ference.

Part of the transition into adult hood is becoming the primary regu lator of your own life in most areas — like health, time management and financial decisions. I am not advocat ing for constant unnecessary spend ing, as this can go sideways very quickly, but this experience taught me that those silly purchases do something for us. They provide some happiness and excitement, which ulti mately is good for us.

If you are contemplating a miniUgg purchase I highly recommend it. What might be my mini-Ugg pur chase is someone else’s concert tick et, slice of cake, new bag or massage. Whatever it may be, big or small, if it brings a smile to your face, I say go for it. You deserve to treat yourself.

1 2 3

President Jim Gash provided campus updates on upcoming events like Pepperdine Gives, "Into the Woods" and the Or chestra concert.

President Jim Gash introduced Gregory Curtis, a shuttle driv er, as the staff spotlight for his services to the Pepperdine community.

Provost Jay Brewster interviews Laura Estes, Religion profes sor, who started teaching in 2021-22, about "adapting to life as a professor."

fizzes of the month

You Had One

Oct.

Blue and Orange Madness

the Firestone Fieldhouse

lot from

Village, an event filled

carnival games and rides, food, giveaways and

The night continues in Firestone Fieldhouse

UPCOMING EVENTS Oct. 14-16

Waves Weekend

Families of students and alumni reunite while they can meet with faculty, staff, fellow parents and their student's new friends.

Preserving Family Treasures

Join Kelsey Knox in Payson Library in the Kresge Reading Room from 3 to 4 p.m. for a workshop about how to protect family treasures, like letters,

Black Attorney Movie Series and Discussion

Oct.

Pepperdine Gives

entire Pepperdine family together

and

CORRECTION:

Waves. The simplest

the Sept. 16 print edition of the Graphic, Lisette

name was mispelled. It has been corrected

[Parking]

Highlighting bad parking on Pepperdine’s campus.

Fiona Creadon

Rho Parking Lot

Photos by John Storrs

Photo by Liza Esquibias

Pepperdine community remembers Conner Budge

roommates and even more his friends.”

Harvill said one memory that stood out to him was when Conner shared ad vice and told life stories to both Harville and their other roommate one night in Drescher. He said their Residential Ad visor, junior Courtney Wisniewski, was over that night, and everyone in the room noticed Conner’s joy and light.

“Conner could always bring joy to the room and I think it was part of his purpose,” Harville said.

Wisniewski said she first met Conner during move-in day at Drescher this se mester. She said he was immediately welcoming to her and wanted to be her friend, rather than just her resident.

“The way that he spoke to everyone was just so amazing,” Wisniewski said. “He spoke to everyone like they were his best friend.”

Conner was always smiling and find ing the silver lining of any situation. He turned any bad situation into some thing good, Wisniewski said.

“He was so smiley — like always smiling about something,” Wisniewski said. “He never failed to make anything, even if it’s negative, a positive thing.”

Conner loved food, Harvill said, making frequent late-night trips to the HAWC and one night the two made grilled PB & J’s together.

Conner also loved “Game of Thrones,” Harvill said, and loved tradi tions with his roommates — like watch ing “House of the Dragon” together every Sunday.

“Conner loved film, TV and especial ly cartoons,” Harvill said. “Every night there was always almost something on the TV that we all watched together. And we would laugh or think deeply depending on what we were watching.”

The tradition began on the first night

the two roomed together, Harvill said. Conner invited him to his room and of fered him a pillow to lean on. Conner kept his room neat, with hanging lights and a row of hats he liked to wear lined up.

Harvill said he made Conner watch Westworld, and Conner would make comments and predictions on what would happen next — he was usually right.

“No plot twists for him,” Harvill said.

English Professor Lisa Smith said she had Conner in her creative writ ing class last spring. The class was filled with deep conversation, laughter and good-natured teasing of Conner, who completed the class entirely on his phone. Smith said he didn’t use a

notebook or a laptop — simply just his phone to do all of his assignments.

“I was really quite impressed with his device dexterity,” Smith said.

Smith said if she had one word to de scribe Conner, it would be gentle.

“Conner seemed to me to be the kind of person with whom others felt comfortable with — they felt seen and felt supported and believed in and that’s saying something these days when there’s so much judgment and polarization and division,” Smith said. “Conner felt safe.”

Michael Marrone, a friend of Con ner’s since the third grade, shared his memories with Conner. Marrone said he and Conner became fast friends and bonded over a shared love of food.

“Over the past 13 years, Conner

wasn’t just someone I knew,” Marrone said. “He was a business partner. He was a friend. He was a brother. He was someone I could rely on for the rest of my life.”

Being friends with Conner taught Marrone to stick up for himself, he said, as Conner was the type of person to “go to war” for a friend. Conner was some one who took risks, Marrone said.

“In middle school, he was always on top of a presidential award, and I couldn’t even touch my toes,” Marrone said. “He’s motivated — it’s motivating to see just what he would do through out the years.”

Marrone said he was creative, had a good sense of humor and had an adven turous spirit — all traits Marrone said he will remember forever. Marrone said he saw Conner this past summer, and he was happy to see Conner was doing what he loved.

“He was finding himself and find ing who the right people were, knowing where he wanted to go in life, and I’m just glad that he was in the right place,” Marrone said.

Conner leaves a legacy as always be ing a light, especially in Harvill’s life, he said, and the lives of others.

“I believe his purpose was fulfilled by showing us all how to be better people,” Harvill said.

Conner and his Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers pose for a picture on Malibu Pier. Conner was a part of Sig Ep as a student.

Photos Courtesy of Sigma Phi Epsilon

From A1: The Hub for Spiritual Life

Editor’s Note: Christina Littlefield, professor of Re ligion and Journalism, is also the adviser of Currents Magazine, with Pepperdine Graphic Media. Her opinions do not reflect the opinions of the Graphic staff. In addi tion, the Graphic reached out to all sources for in-person interviews, but five of these sources only participated in email interviews.

who should lead Spiritual Life and public worship services at a University affiliated with the Churches of Christ.

DeWalt has served as the in terim leader of the Hub since February 2021 while the Hub looks for an associate vice pres ident, DeWalt wrote in a Sept. 26 email to the Graphic.

These changes come af ter a previous shake up to the spiritual life department at Pepperdine — including the

elimination of convocation, the introduction of Seaver 200 and the first restructuring of the Spiritual Life staff.

“When three female chap lains — deeply respected and deeply educated — particu larly Sara Barton, but Rachel Collins and Shaya too, all step aside in one summer, some thing’s wrong,” said Christina Littlefield, professor of Reli gion and Journalism, who has publicly critiqued the recent changes to the Hub and De Walt’s role in spiritual life at Pepperdine in early September.

Restructuring of the Hub

Barton moved from the Hub for Spiritual Life to the Office of the Chaplain during the summer, according to a Sept. 6 email to the Pepperdine community from the Hub for Spiritual Life.

Barton now works under Provost Jay Brewster, where she will continue to serve as University Chaplain, but with new criteria. Under the Pro vost’s office, Barton will over see prayer and worship ser vices, provide pastoral care — such as prayer and counsel — and lead workshops primar ily for faculty and staff, Barton wrote in a Sept. 13 email to the Graphic.

now case managers for the Stu dent Care Team and Title IX under Student Affairs.

New Additions to the Hub

The Hub added DeWalt, Cameron Gilliam, Hope Dease, Jordan Holm, Allison Jadovitz, Lily Salanty and Di amond Longs to the official Hub for Spiritual Life staff list for the 2022-23 academic year, according to the email from the Hub.

Despite the widespread re structuring, The Hub added only one official new job this semester — a half-time posi tion for social media and com munications, DeWalt wrote. DeWalt did not state who will fill that position.

“There is only one new halftime position on the team, but we made adjustments to ti tles and responsibilities as we learned from our first-year ex perience,” DeWalt wrote in a Sept. 27 email to the Graphic.

Even with the changes in positions, the Hub is still a re source for students to come to for pastoral care, one-on-one meetings, encourage ment or a listening ear, Gilliam wrote.

Changes of Titles in the Hub

Robert Williams, divisional dean and professor of Political Science, commented on Little field’s post that he was grateful for the discussion surrounding spiritual life at Pepperdine.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the likely impact of the shift we’re all witness ing,” Williams wrote. “It’s trou bling.”

In an interview with the Graphic, Littlefield expanded on her concerns. She said she had no doubt these new hires love Jesus, but did not know if they were equipped to handle the needs of students who come to the Hub with issues such as death of family or friends, seri ous sickness, self-harm, suicid al thoughts, sexual assault or questioning of religion.

Zac Luben is the only staff member within the Hub, be sides DeWalt, who has an ad vanced degree in theology. Parker King is currently work ing on his master of Divinity.

Amy Henegar, alumna (‘92), former minister at the Manhattan Church of Christ and parent of two current Pep perdine students, said if she

had to tell her children where to go for pastoral care on cam pus, she wouldn’t know where to send them because she does not trust the current leadership of the Hub.

Henegar graduated from Pepperdine with a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Mu sic, then earned her master’s of Divinity from Fuller Theolog ical Seminary in 1996. Later, she earned her doctorate in Ministry from New York Theo logical Seminary in 2018.

“Most of the people in the Hub for Spiritual Life have very little theological educa tion,” Henegar said. “This is a huge problem. Those of us who have done years of education — master’s level, doctoral level — have not only learned a lot about the Bible and church his tory, but we have also learned about how to take care of peo ple who are hurting.”

Henegar comes from a fam ily with strong ties to Pepper dine — as her dad, Tom Bost, served as the chairman for the Board of Regents in the early 1980s and as a faculty member and interim dean of the law school.

The

alongside Rachel Collins

Shaya Aguilar

In May, the Hub began its first evaluation of year one, DeWalt wrote, and noticed two themes — the work was very demanding of the Hub staff, and the role of pastoral care was unsustainable last year, due to the staff members’ large amounts of responsibility.

Barton proposed the idea that she focus on the pastoral care for faculty and staff, while the Hub focuses on the pasto ral care for students, DeWalt wrote. This is what led the Hub to move the University Chap lain position out of the Hub, he wrote, and into the Office of the Provost.

Barton clarified in an Oct. 6 letter to the editor that she pro posed the idea after numerous discussions, but did not origi nally plan on making the move.

The

Barton’s

Danny DeWalt

“I offered alternative ideas that were not accepted,” Bar ton wrote. “And as I recognized the significant implications of the changes being presented, I then proposed a new role that would allow me to continue serving this community I love in a capacity that is important.”

Operations Manager Angie Lemley also moved from the Hub to the Office of the Chap lain with Barton, according to the email from the Hub.

As the Hub contin ued to form and add new positions through out year one, they also changed the names of previous positions and moved employees around within the Hub.

Concerns about the Hub

Littlefield released a statement on her per sonal social media in early September about her concerns regard ing the restructuring of the Hub and the na ture of the Hub’s spir itual practices, such as baptism and evan gelical worship at The Well. The statement has 1,087 views on the document, as of Oct. 2, and 32,000 impres sions on Twitter, as of Sept. 28.

HUB STAFF AT START OF AUGUST

Sara Barton

Chaplain

Rachel Collins Associate Chaplain

-master’s

-master’s

on

Shaya Aguilar

Assistant Chaplain

Zac Luben

Chaplain for Partners

Christin Shatzer Roman

of Community Engagement and Service

Olivia Robinson

Director of Community

Robinson, assistant

for Community

In addition to Barton’s move, the two other previous chaplains — Collins as asso ciate and Aguilar as assistant — now no longer work in the Hub, according to the Sept. 6 email from the Hub.

Both Collins and Aguilar are

Littlefield holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Reli gion, a master’s degree in Religion and Com munication from Pep perdine and a doctor ate degree in Church History from Cam bridge University.

The post has 35 comments as of Oct. 2, ranging from Lit tlefield’s friends, to Pepperdine alumni, to Pepperdine faculty.

Parker

Ko Ku

Worship Chaplain

Ang ie Lemle y

navigates concerns and changes

school. Henegar’s mom, Sheila Bost, served on the Board of Regents until last spring and she and two of her siblings at tended Pepperdine as under graduates. Now two of her sons attend Pepperdine, Henegar said.

The Well

The Hub also puts on and leads The Well every week — a worship service on Thursday nights designed for students to worship, pray, listen to a mes sage, occasionally do baptisms and grow in a community, ac cording to past Graphic report ing. The Well has been a Uni versity tradition since 2014.

As of Sept. 16, The Well av eraged a weekly attendance of around 400 individuals, Gilliam wrote.

Gilliam and Dease have bap tized eight students at The Well — three students Sept. 1, four students Sept. 8, and one stu dent Sept 15. There were not any baptisms Sept. 22, Sept 29 and Oct. 6.

“Our desire is to help them [students who were baptized] form a vibrant relationship with Christ and meaningful con nections with others who are seeking to follow him,” Gilliam wrote.

This year, The Well has also raised concern — namely the evangelical-style worship, the call for baptisms mid-service, emphasis on the Holy Spirit and the leadership at The Well, Littlefield said.

Littlefield wrote in her pub lic social media post she at tended The Well on Sept. 1, and was concerned about seeing the “evangelical, charismatic ser vice” the Hub put on. She said she was also concerned for stu dents who were baptized on the

HUB

spot, not knowing if they were receiving any follow-up care.

“The baptisms left me feel ing deeply torn — so grateful that those students found God’s love in that moment, so worried about how much the emotion al nature of that night impact ed their decisions,” Littlefield wrote.

Gilliam wrote after the Hub baptizes a student on a Thurs day night, the Hub gives them an NIV Bible, pairs them with a trusted spiritual mentor to walk with them and guide them in their faith and invites them to join a small group to further grow their faith. Gilliam did not state if the mentor and small groups were part of the Hub.

Affiliation with Churches of Christ

The University’s founder, George Pepperdine, was a life long member of the Churches of Christ, according to Pepper dine’s website, and the Univer sity has been affiliated with the Churches of Christ ever since.

As of fall 2021, 8% of under graduate students identify with the Churches of Christ, while 49% are Christian or Protes tant, 15% are Catholic and 14% are undeclared, according to the fall enrollment census. The University has not updated the census for fall 2022 at the time of publication.

Currently, all full-time fac ulty in the Religion depart ment are active members of the Churches of Christ and hold a doctorate degree in their field, according to Pepperdine’s web site. The University President and chairman of the Board of Regents must also be members of the Churches of Christ, ac cording to past Graphic report ing. Not all of the Hub staff is

affiliated with the Churches of Christ.

This year, with Barton’s new role, the Hub does not have someone from the Churches of Christ leading student spiritual life on campus — something Henegar said was a problem for a school that is affiliated with the Churches of Christ.

In addition, Littlefield said the Hub and The Well now ap pear to be an extension of Vin tage Malibu Church — a local church she said many Pepper dine students attend. Vintage is a non-denominational church, valuing Word and Spirit, inti macy with God, Biblical faith

fulness, sacrificial service and deep community, according to their website.

DeWalt served as the interim pastor at Vintage from Septem ber 2021 to March 2022.

Next Steps

Littlefield called on the Hub, in both the interview and her statement, to be transparent with their restructuring and for the Board of Regents to act swiftly to make sure spiritual life at Pepperdine is theologi cally sound.

The Board of Regents is the legal governing body of the University, and they have the ability to shape the policy and direction of Pepperdine. They are the only ones who have the power to fully step in, Littlefield said.

“They can also remove Dan ny DeWalt from spiritual life, which I do think they need to do,” Littlefied said.

Littlefield said DeWalt is also not a member of the Churches of Christ — something she said she thinks the leader of the Hub should be associated with.

Henegar said she would also like to see transparency from the Hub about Barton’s move, the new hires and the Univer sity’s Churches of Christ roots.

“I’d like to see some hon esty about what is going on,” Henegar said. “And I really would like to understand what it means if Pepperdine is still a Church of Christ University, or is that something that they

START OF OCTOBER 2022

Christin Shatzer

Cameron Gilliam

Parker King

Lily Salanty

Ko Ku

Allison Jadovitz

Jordan Holm

Zac Luben

Hope Dease

Diamond Longs

I’d like to see some honesty about what is going on, and I really would like to understand what it means if Pepperdine is still a Church of Christ University, or is that something that they are abandoning?

Amy Henegar

former minister, and parent

Danny DeWalt

OLIVIA ROBINSON’S

Armenian students call for action

Tanya Yarian News Assistant

Editor’s Note: The writer, Tan ya Yarian, is an active member of the Armenian Student Associa tion at Pepperdine. She joined the organization in August 2020.

In 1915, the Armenian Genocide — which the Otto man Empire carried out — re sulted in the death of almost 1.5 million Armenians. In 2020, more than 5,000 soldiers and 143 civilians died in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. In 2022, more than 200 sol diers have died in the Armenia and Azerbaijan border conflict.

The history of conflict be tween Armenia and Azerbaijan has placed soldiers and civilians at the forefront of the fighting, according to Amnesty Interna tional. Dispute over land is not new to the two countries, but the 2022 fighting at the border of Armenia has brought atten tion to what this means for Ar menians.

In the past, Pepperdine’s Armenian Student Associa tion has created petitions over the years in order for Pepper dine to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide. In 2018, SGA passed a resolution rec ognizing the Armenian Geno cide, but the University took no action, according to Graph ic reporting. The 2022 conflict has reignited the call for ac knowledgment.

Siran Iskanian, sophomore and vice president of Pepper dine’s Armenian Student As sociation, said she has family who lives in Armenia and she is scared for them and of the war spreading further throughout Armenia.

“My uncle has years of mili tary experience there, so worse come to worse and there’s a draft, they’re gonna take him,” Iskanian said. “My cousins, my family, they’re all in danger. Their lives are in danger.”

In 2020, fighting began in the Nagorno-Karabakh terri tory, which sits between Arme nia and Azerbaijan. Armenia claims this land — Artsakh — but the disagreement led to war, according to BBC News. The fighting caused the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of thousands more. Protests broke out over the country with both sides claiming the land as their own.

In Los Angeles, residents started fundraisers to send money and aid back to Arme nia. The hashtag #Artsakh Strong was trending over social media apps. The Armenian National Committee of Amer ica, Western Region raised awareness on their website with call-to-action information.

Pepperdine’s ASA took ac tion on social media in October 2020. They posted a statement on the war and in-depth infor mation on what was happen ing. ASA hosted a forum Nov. 4, 2020 on the Artsakh War

and had guest speakers such as Glendale City Mayor Ardashes Kassakhian and Business Pro fessor Zarik Boghossian. The Graphic explained the impor tance of bringing awareness to this conflict in a Staff Ed on Oct. 20, 2020.

A six-week long war eventu ally ended with Russia prompt ing a ceasefire, according to BBC News. But now, almost two years later, the fighting between the two countries has begun once again. This time, the attack occurred along the border of Armenia.

“There’s a lot of conflict in the world, obviously, and we have a tendency to shut a lot of it out and I don’t think we should,” said Robert Williams, dean of social sciences.

Armenia’s Ministry of De fense stated in a tweet Azer baijan was at fault for the fighting. He wrote they used artillery and large-caliber fire arms against Armenian set tlements — Goris, Sotk and Jermuk. Azerbaijan’s military agreed to the initial attacks but said Armenia planted mines to impact supply routes and Yere van denied this, according to the Washington Post.

Alexander Badoyan, SGA freshman senator and ASA member, said Armenia has re ceived a fraction of the media attention Ukraine got.

ASA President, senior Ar thur Akopyan, said history is repeating itself, and the more people care about an issue, the more will be done.

“My hope is that media sources, at the very least, will take the facts, pictures, and videos of lives being affected and remain neutral in present ing these rather than support ing the actions of aggressive nations,” Akopyan said.

Akopyan said he wants peo ple to know about this issue. Iskanian said this year, ASA plans to organize another Ar menian Heritage Week, which will focus on bringing aware

ness to Armenian culture and the Armenian Genocide.

“As a Christian University, I’m very surprised that Pep perdine does not acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, be cause we were the first Chris tian country,” Iskanian said. “There’s a big group of Arme nians here, and it’s hurtful that they refuse to acknowledge an event that happened that a lot of other campuses do recog nize.”

The first Christian country, Armenia, adopted Christianity in 301 AD, according to BBC News. There are churches and various historical sites that date back to this time period in Ar menia that prove this.

The Graphic reached out to IMC and there was no re sponse to the request for com ment.

Badoyan said as an SGA senator, he is drafting a bill for Pepperdine to formally recog nize the Armenian Genocide.

“I think that’s the most baseline thing the school can do to help us out, because the UC system has formally recog nized it,” Badoyan said.

Badoyan said it would be great if Pepperdine students spread the word about the con flict.

“Unfortunately, if you’re not in the scene where the aggression is happening, you can’t really do much outside of spreading the word, donating and just simply bringing it up in conversation,” Badoyan said.

Williams said in internation al relations they have talked about irredentism — coming from an Italian word, “irreden to,” which means unredeemed.

“This refers to those situa tions where there is a group of people belonging by culture, by nationality, to a state that they’re not in, and that’s ex actly the situation that exists of course between Armenia and Azerbaijan and has for a long time,” Williams said.

Williams said when there is a mix of populations who feel strongly about a territorial ba sis for their identities — such is the instance with enclaves with an Armenian population

surrounded by Azerbaijan and vice versa — it may be a tough situation to solve.

“It seems to me that this is not going to be solved over night, it’s not going to be easy,” Williams said. “But what we know is that it always gets more difficult every time the shoot ing starts, every time people start dying along the borders.”

Williams said he thinks the U.S. and the United Nations should take action in trying to help people on both sides of the conflict feel secure. He said peacekeeping can stabilize the situation until diplomats can take action, but it can take a long period of time — more than 15 years. Peace building is a long-term process, according to the UN.

Congressman Adam B. Schiff serves the 28th District of California, one of the dis tricts with the largest Arme nian-American population.

Congressman Schiff intro duced the House Resolution on the recognition of the Arme nian Genocide that the House eventually passed. President Biden formally recognized the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2021. He is the first U.S. President to recognize the Ar menian Genocide, according to The Guardian.

On Sept. 13, Congressman Schiff introduced legislation to the House of Representatives condemning Azerbaijan’s un provoked attack on Armenia. Akopyan said U.S. involvement in this issue is very important.

“As a world power, whatev er the U.S. decides has a huge impact on the opinions of the rest of the world [and] the ac tions of the rest of the world,” Akopyan said. “If the United States decides to stop funding Azerbaijan, that funding is po tentially being used to attack Armenia by military weapons, then it can make a big differ ence.”

Williams said both Turkey and Russia have a strong in terest in this region, as Turkey is interested in the identifica tion with Azeri population of Azerbaijan and Russia has a historical interest. Turkey has

armed Azerbaijan and Russia has armed both sides, Williams said.

“They’ve been making con flict when it breaks out worse, more destructive,” Williams said. “So it seems to me that there’s a need to kind of de-es calate and that starts with con vincing Russia and Turkey to, not know that we can get them to back off necessarily, but at least to stop pouring gasoline on the fire.”

Badoyan participated in the Rising Leaders Program for ANCA in 2022, and said ANCA has a tool people can utilize — entering in your name, address and more and ANCA will send a message to the local Congressman.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, visited Armenia on Sept. 17, and met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashin yan and other officials. Since Armenia’s independence, Pelo si is the first U.S. official to visit Armenia, according to Pelosi’s staff’s press release.

Iskanian said she is happy Pelosi did not cancel her vis it because of the war and that Pelosi was not afraid to address the aggression toward Arme nia.

Pelosi and the Congressio nal delegation to Armenia held a press conference in Yerevan, Armenia and Pelosi stated, “We strongly condemn the at tacks, we and our delegation, on behalf of the Congress, which threatens prospects for much needed peace.”

Leaders from both Arme nia and Azerbaijan met Oct. 6, as the tension between the two countries continues as this conflict is developing, accord ing to AP News.

“I think one of the most important things is that this has been a conflict that has destroyed civilians’ lives and property and has resulted in a lot of human suffering,” Wil liams said. “So whether by ac cident or by design, every time the conflict flares up, there’s civilians being killed.”

Armenian Student Association members pose for a picture in the student amphitheater during Heritage Week from April 10 to 14, with dancers from Heritage Dance Studio. ASA planned this performance to spread Armenian culture through many things such as food, history and dance.

Photo Courtesy of Ellie Mezhlumyan

As a Christian University, I’m very surprised that Pepperdine does not acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, because we were the first Christian country.

Siran Iskanian Vice president of Armenian Student Association

Pepperdine puts up with pesty pests

Mary Elisabeth Staff Writer Victoria La Ferla Staff Writer

tle to no dust mites.

“It was difficult to sleep all those nights and I wish the process was faster for me to move, but compared to other

Art By Denae Pitts

an eye on common household products such as bathroom products, which have sucrose in them and can attract ants.

Sustainability and

buildings where there were lit

I think we’ve all had a shared experience about the sustained heat wave with ants, and that was a record-breaking event.

Marilyn Koziatek Director of Department of Facilities Services

Graphic by Samantha Torre,

‘Heartbreak High’ affirms neurodiversity

Joshua Evans Staff Writer

series “Heartbreak High” brings authentic autistic representation to Netflix. Autistic advocate Chloe Hayden treats the audience to what some consider to be the new gold standard for television neurodiversity representation and teen dramas, according to Rhianna Malas for Collider and Jonathon Wilson for Ready Steady Cut.

TV

Hayden portrays Quinni Gallagher-Jones as an optimistic neuroqueer teenage artist. In the series, the audience gets a view into her classroom, home, romantic, friendship, creative, cosplay, cognitive, emotional and sensory life. Viewers get to watch a wholistic portrait of what her life is like from both an interior and exterior lens.

Early into the second episode, Gallagher-Jones discloses she is autistic. Instead of the all-too-com mon ableist tropes we see typically in the Netflix portal, Hayden portrays Gallagher-Jones a popular teenager with a close circle of friends who is a power ful force for social inclusion at her school.

Writers of the show do not present her as an outof-touch savant as often happens in media depictions of autistic characters, according to the Organization for Autism Research. Gallagher-Jones does not fall into the socially awkward “Good Doctor” or the “Big Bang Theory’s” Sheldon Cooper tropes of exception al abilities or Albert Einstein-like genius.

Instead, the audience meets a genuinely autis tic person playing an autistic character with depth, empathy and advanced social skills. Gallagher-Jones gives her friends pragmatic life advice and mentors them to successfully repair their faltering relation ships.

Her emotional intelligence shines in practical ways which helps both her and others around her. For ex ample, in one scene Gallagher-Jones helps her friend script a way to get his girlfriend to forgive him, which ultimately restores the relationship.

Gallagher-Jones also has her own relationship challenges. These mostly involve sensory dissimi larities between her and her neurotypical girlfriend. Gallagher-Jones resolves this through her honesty and the strength of her social skills.

These sensory issues first appear in a crowded restaurant scene where the atmosphere is very noisy and harshly overwhelming for Gallagher-Jones. The director shot the busy and loud setting using visual and audio effects from Gallagher-Jones’ viewpoint.

This production choice gives the audience a win dow into what it is like to be autistic from the view of Gallagher-Jones. It makes the series an excellent educational vehicle for those seeking to understand an autistic sensory perspective.

The first date is a bust, but once Gallagher-Jones discloses she is autistic and explains why the sensory experience at the restaurant was not an ideal first date, the woman she likes understands and relates. The two become a couple who has the usual high school relationship hiccups — for example, one loves fantasy books and the other loves loud parties.

The show diverging from typical heteronorma tive teen relationship tropes and showing a loving lesbian high school relationship is a strength of the series. Additionally, it is a welcome departure from a tendency in the media to present autistic peo ple as straight or asexual and a better reflection of LGBTQ+ autistic people’s lived experiences.

Popular media tends to either erase the sexuality of autistic people or depict it in heteronormative ways, according to Toby Atkinson. Yet, autistic people are more likely to be LGBTQ+, according to the Autism Research journal, despite that type of autistic representation rarely making it to television.

Instead, there is a crop of ableist heteronormative representations of mostly male emotionally stunted straight or asexual autistic characters portrayed in childlike or immature ways such as in “Atypical,” ac cording to Teen Vogue and Time, and Sia’s “Music,” according to Teen Vogue, Varsity and The Guardian.

Those representations are so widespread that looking for authentic autistic female representation becomes a challenging quest, according to Neuro Clastic.

The “Heartbreak High” script writers criticize

Stella Engel | Staff Artist

ableist caricatures of autistic people in the media through a quick jaded reference to Sia’s “Music.” There is an ironic moment in the show when another character says something ableist to Gallager-Jones and she claps back with, “OK, Sia.”

This is a reference to the cringe-fest that was musician Sia’s demeaning representation of autism. In the movie a non-autistic actor is depicted as an ableist representation of an autistic girl, which offended many members of the autistic community, according to research from USA Today.

Fortunately, “Heartbreak High” represents an au tistic person’s sensory needs in a more balanced and realistic way. The series serves not only as riveting television, but also as a teachable window for those wanting to understand the sensory sensitivity some autistic people have.

Additionally, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ in dividuals will likely see themselves in this series and feel seen and affirmed. The ensemble cast is some thing all can appreciate — featuring diverse repre sentations of races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations.

“Heartbreak High” is heartwarming because there is true representation of diverse teenage experiences. Neurodiversity shines in the forefront within it in a positive, educational and affirming way.

THE EDITOR

Letters to the Editor must bear the writer’s name, signature, class stand ing, major, address and phone number (except in some circumstances determined appropriate by the Graphic). Letters must be fewer than 300 words and will be edit ed for syntax, grammar and brevity. Letters can be mailed to student publications or emailed to peppgraphicmedia@ gmail.com.

See letter to the editor on A12.

Letter to the Editor: Sara Barton responds

Editor’s

Note: Opinions ex pressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represent an endorsement of any opin ions published.This space is provided to allow public response and commen tary on articles and issues which are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership.

Thank you for highlighting spiritual life at Pepperdine in your article earlier this week. It is such an important part of our identity as a University, and it is close to my heart. Given my direct involvement in what the article ad dresses, I want to clarify a few things mentioned. I will limit myself to three.

First, I want to say something about last year’s Hub for Spiritual Life team that I was privileged to lead. Regarding the sustainability of the team’s work load mentioned in the article: Last year was challenging for everyone at the University, and for the spiritual life staff this included the ongoing effects of the pandemic, adjusting to reorga nizations, responding to three student deaths, being equipped for rising

mental health concerns and more. In all this, the team excelled in providing spiritual care and service leadership, as documented in our year-end reports. I am especially proud of the team for this work. In late April, I led the team in our annual retreat, during which we reviewed the year’s work, encour aged one another and were refreshed. We ended the year united and excited about our ministry plan for the 202223 year.

Second, numerous inquiries have come to me about whether the change in my leadership role at the Hub for Spiritual Life was my own initiative. I have not been able to respond to them all, so I will try here. The short answer is yes and no. I proposed the change after a flurry of emails and discussions that took place over the course of a few days in May, but it was not something I was planning before that. My super visor at that time presented an idea for a reorganization of spiritual life that I was concerned would be counterpro ductive for the team and our work in the community, especially in light of the many organizational changes to spiritual life and service that had al

ready taken place. I offered alternative ideas that were not accepted, and as I recognized the significant implications of the changes being presented, I then proposed a new role that would allow me to continue serving this community I love in a capacity that is important.

Third, much is said in the arti cle and in surrounding discussions about Pepperdine’s affiliation with the Churches of Christ, and I can imagine there is some confusion. I cannot clear up all the confusion, but for now, I will simply say this: More than group loyalties or worship styles, I think Pepperdine’s Church of Christ heritage is important because of the tradition’s historic emphases on unity — not uniformity — and ecumenism — not homogeneity — as well as collaborative leadership. While Churches of Christ have often fallen short, the ideals are still worth pursuing and have histor ically allowed Pepperdine to be both rooted in a specific heritage and also ecumenical. This vision is part of what drew me to Pepperdine in the first place nearly a decade ago. It also guid ed my approach to chaplaincy, includ ing decisions to hire staff and students

from a variety of backgrounds, to ensure diverse programs and worship opportunities and to lead ministries that model the hospitality of Jesus. I pray that Pepperdine’s hospitality will not be compromised by any singular or sectarian vision.

I greatly miss my former team and leading spiritual life for students, and I am deeply grieved that all this has become divisive in our community since spiritual life is what should bring us together. It’s my prayer that this letter will provide clarity as I continue serving this community, and especially our amazing faculty and staff, as Uni versity Chaplain — now housed in the Provost’s Office. I will continue to pray for unity at Pepperdine, for our leaders, for our faculty and staff and for our students to flourish both academically and spiritually.

Prayerfully, Sara G. Barton University Chaplain

Staff Editorial: Rest is all that we need

needs to be a compromise.

Imagine this: You’ve just fin ished a grueling day of classes and hours of homework, and you’re about to crash because you are exhausted.

Except you can’t.

Your neighbors are blasting music at 1 a.m. Two hours later, you wake up to people playing basketball on the court, dribbling the ball and shouting at each oth er. Then, around 8 a.m., you’re awoken by construction noises.

This has now affected your ac ademic performance because you simply don’t get enough sleep, but you just don’t know what to do.

Luckily, the Graphic staff has come up with some possible solu tions.

If there will be noise during quiet hours, students should know. The official quiet hours on campus are from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., according to the Housing and Residence Life Code of Con duct Policy.

Although there are clear guide lines on the Housing and Res idence Life Code of Conduct Policy, it doesn’t mention limits on when construction workers must start and end their shifts. To clarify this, Pepperdine should notify residents clearly of poten tial disruptions.

The current Pepperdine policy suggests for students to call their residential advisors or the Depart ment of Public Safety to make noise complaints.

If students are worried their peers might judge them for “snitching,” there is an Anony mous Tip Hotline, according to Pepperdine’s Public Safety web site.

In addition, this policy does not mention noisy construction work

at all, including the operation of heavy machinery such as bulldoz ers and dump trucks. Pepperdine administration should commu nicate more clearly about poten tial disruptions. The University should inform students of con struction hours, so they can plan accordingly. When construction starts at 8 a.m., it’s increasingly frustrating for students living in dorms because quiet hours are still occurring.

The Graphic staff is grateful for the effort of construction workers to provide more parking spaces on campus, but if the workers have different hours that clash with the University’s quiet hours, the students should know.

It’s also important to be con siderate. Everyone should have basic human respect for others, but some students aren’t be ing mindful of their noise level. Everyone who lives in on-campus housing signs a housing agree

Amber Shin | Staff Artist

ment and is aware of quiet hours, so they need abide by them.

No one wants to be overly strict, but there are consequences for not following the quiet hours outlined in the housing agree ment.

“Repeat offenders will be fined a minimum of $25 for each occurrence and face disciplinary sanctions up to and including the loss of housing privileges,” according to the Housing and Residence Life Code of Conduct Policy.

This policy should be enforced.

Students require ample time to sleep, according to NHLBI. After a long day, students need time to recuperate and decompress. Not only is this a reasonable expecta tion, this period of rest is neces sary for student performance and health.

Many students have late nights or early mornings. Not everyone’s schedule is the same, so there

Having more realistic hours in study places could be a solution. Instead of studying in the dorm, students can flock to the Payson Library and fitness center.

At the moment these locations have limited hours. For example, the Payson Library opens at 7:30 a.m., and closes at midnight, from Monday through Thursday. On Fridays and weekends, the hours are even more limited.

Similarly, the fitness center is only open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday, with lim ited weekend hours and is closed while many students are awake and active. If Payson and the fitness center close a couple hours later, students have places besides the dorm to study and work out, and they are less likely to disrupt students who are sleeping.

In addition, students who find noise disrupting their sleep can wear earplugs or noise cancelling headphones and turn on a fan to lessen the noise pollution. If the source of the disruption is known, they can speak directly to their roommates, suitemates or house mates.

Let this message push for change to the community to be considerate of one another and find creative solutions together.

Graphic Staff

Rant

Anezka Liskova Assistant News Editor

Wlhen

the fall season starts, all I can hear is people saying, “OMG! The pumpkin spice latte is back!”

The first time I tried the PSL in Starbucks, I was scared of the color — it was bright orange. But more importantly, the taste of it was noth ing phenomenal. To be honest, it tastes like the smell of a fall candle from Bath and Body Works that is overpowered with a sweet and soupy smell. I love to smell it, just not eat it.

When I have pumpkin desserts, they don’t taste like pumpkin, they just taste sweet with a little bit of spice. It’s also never a consistent taste. Every pumpkin product somehow tastes different. Muffin, cookies, ice cream, scones, coffee — there’s no consistency.

The most annoying part of it all is when I walk into any grocery store, restaurant or cafe during the fall season, all of my favorite desserts and drinks have pumpkin added to it. I just want my usual order.

A perfect example of this is when I went to Trader Joe’s recently and wanted to get the cin namon bread I love. I could not find it because they replaced it with pumpkin spice bread for the season. If you are going to add in seasonal items, at least keep the originals.

I feel like seasonal items in general, don’t need to be a thing. If a customer really does love something, why not just make it an all year occurrence? Then, everyone would be happy.

People can love pumpkin spice, but it does not deserve all the hype it gets every time fall comes around.

Pumpkin flavor

Flall

Rave

Sam Torre News Editor

is a season like no other.

The weather is cooling down, the leaves are changing colors and there is a resur gence of delicious pumpkin-flavored items.

Pies, breads, lattes, chocolates and more — the pumpkin possibilities are endless and the flavor adds even more comfort to an already amazing dish.

Whenever people eat pumpkin bread or sink their teeth into a pumpkin cream cheese muffin, it can evoke memories of the Charlie Brown Hal loween Special or trick-or-treating.

The smell of warm, pumpkin-flavored goods is like nothing else. A mix of spices, all coming together with a hearty squash to create a pastry can make any room instantly comforting.

Pumpkin snacks also come in a wide vari ety. Trader Joe’s boasts seasonal overnight oats, bisques, ale, ice cream, ravioli, samosas and more.

There is nothing like drinking a pumpkin spice latte to start the morning off right.

Sure, the pumpkin spice lattes get a bad rep as basic, but perhaps the reason everyone is drinking them is because they really do taste good.

Popularity is a beacon of quality food — also, the trend of pumpkin-flavored treats has lasted several years. At this point it’s a fall staple.

Embrace the trend. Embrace joy. Embrace pumpkin-flavored cuisine.

Students should prioritize sleep to succeed

Ashley York Staff Writer

For first-year students at Pepper dine — myself included — col lege is completely uncharted territory.

I moved to Malibu a little over a month ago, and since then every deci sion has suddenly become my own. A whole new realm of possibilities and opportunities came my way, and as you could imagine, sleep quickly became quite low on my list of priorities.

I started finding myself wide awake well past midnight, talking to new friends and exploring new places. My schedule consists of 8 a.m. classes four days of the week, which meant I got no more than five hours of sleep a night for many consecutive days.

I knew this wasn’t sufficient, but I decided this was better than the FOMO associated with staying in while my friends went out. When I began to no tice uncomfortable changes happening in my body and mind, I realized this was unsustainable.

Along with headaches, low energy levels and a decreased attention span, I was irritable and quick-tempered. My mother always encouraged a

decent sleep routine back home, and I wondered if the move to college and changes to that schedule had been the reason for my distressing days. I picked up a book by Matthew Walker at Payson Library called “Why We Sleep,” to get to the bottom of this.

I quickly learned how important sleep is to maintain our mental and physical health. “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep,” and “the shorter you sleep, the shorter your life,” Walker wrote.

This book changed my perspec tive almost immediately. Previously, I thought of sleep as a chore — some thing I dreaded because it felt unpro ductive. I could be sleeping, or instead I could be doing something like studying or homework. It turns out the best way to get where I want to go is to regard sleep as a crucial variable in this equa tion.

The body undergoes various vital processes while we are asleep. The brain processes new memories and informa tion, cells are replenished and hormones are regulated, according to Healthline. Our bodies are indeed “machines,” that require food, water and sleep to proper ly function.

It is easy to slip into a pattern of irregular and inefficient sleep. “Hustle Culture” is a term people use in pres ent day society that refers to nonstop working, according to PopSugar. While hustle culture can entice young adults by promising a successful life, it can also promote unhealthy habits and be harmful to mental health.

Working hard remains a very im portant principle in my life, and by no means am I straying from that value.

Rather, I have reevaluated my priorities and decided I need to regard sleep high er. A sufficient night’s rest increases my productivity for the following day and ultimately leads me toward a greater quality of life.

As a college student, there may be nights where I must stay up past my usual bedtime to get an assignment done or squeeze one last hour of studying in. Studies have shown even quick 30 minute naps can enhance one’s alertness and task performance, according to WebMd. Naps are also more beneficial to the body, rather than supplementing lack of sleep with

Autumn Hardwick | Assistant Art Editor

artificial energy-givers, such as caffeine, WebMd wrote.

I now look forward to cuddling up in my bed by 10 p.m. with no shame. I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the new experiences and new adven tures the day will bring.

So, Pepperdine student, Malibu res ident, fellow reader, what have you — I encourage you to ensure you’re sleeping tonight. Give your body the necessary break it needs to recharge, and you will wake up the following morning reset and ready to live your best life.

sam.torre@pepperdine.edu

Amber Shin | Staff Artist

Disagreement is necessary for peace

Madison Luc Staff Writer

The world is full of contention and hostility. Social media and a hy per-connected digital community make this even more apparent. However, that does not mean one should shy away from conflict out of fear.

“Avoid conflict! Keep the peace! Don’t rock the boat!”

People often warn others to stay away from conflict with one of these phrases. Certainly, unnecessary conflict should be avoided — but sometimes, conflict is needed.

When people fear conflict, they stifle discussion and meaningful discourse. It’s natural to disagree with one an other, and that disagreement causes tension. People need to be willing to face that everyone will not affirm their ideas — and that is OK.

Once people eradicate their fear of conflict, they can ask themselves when conflict is appropriate.

Similar to when a country’s gov ernment decides to declare war, individuals too must have principles to determine when they should en gage in conflict. There are time-tested truths acting as a foundation for these principles.

Augustine of Hippo, a fourth cen tury Christian philosopher, developed principles for just war, according to the BBC. For Augustine, the purpose of conflict is ultimately to seek peace. Thus, when people face conflict in interactions with their peers, they too should desire peace. This mindset is critical to resolving conflict.

“We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace,” Augustine said in the Summa Theologica. “Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace.”

Instead of quarreling and exchang ing harsh words with one another, every person can approach different perspectives with respect and humility. God created each individual uniquely, and everyone provides a valuable per spective to the world. While these dif ferences are beautiful, they sometimes make it difficult to have understanding and empathy. Nevertheless, striving for

Stella Engel | Staff Artist

understanding allows people to rec ognize and appreciate those who hold contrasting opinions, according to an APA podcast.

In Ephesians 4:14-15 (NIV) the Bible says, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cun ning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to be come in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

Through a shared quest for truth, people can find both their commonal ities and differences. By seeking peace first, as mentioned in Psalm 34:14, you

can avoid hateful, emotional outbursts and are free to speak truth in love.

There is no doubt people will often disagree on controversial topics. However, before responding to that hot topic, stop and consider if peace is your goal.

Anyone can see the ocean from Pepperdine’s campus. These waves are actually created through conflict. Waves form as a result of continuous friction between wind and the ocean, according to the National Ocean Service.

This conflict is not only natural, but creates desirable effects. You can run, surf and play in these waves. Delight ful seashells and hidden treasures are swept to shore for you to admire. Sci entific studies have also shown that the sound of ocean waves helps you relax, destress and calm our minds, accord ing to Phys.org.

Like a wave, conflict can feel daunt ing and overwhelming. You may feel like the current is pulling you out to the sea. Just like it is a challenge to find your balance on a surfboard, it can be a struggle to find your balance when addressing conflict — but it is possible.

Sometimes, conflict is necessary. Even when you try to flee from it, conflict is unavoidable. It can be scary to be the one to rock the boat, but you can do so with confidence when you are seeking peace. While it can be difficult to discern when and how to address conflict, you can, like Christ, desire the peace and welfare of those around you.

madison.luc@pepperdine.edu

Polarization is dangerous for democ racy

Ryan Linney Staff Writer

In less than two months, millions of Americans will head to the ballot box to decide which party will control Con gress for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s first term in office.

Political advertisements will be on screens soon, many intentionally targeting “the other side,” according to the Brookings Institute. Designed to evoke emotions, they can be both effective and incredibly harmful to public discourse.

There are signs of such rhetoric having a significant impact on people’s views of each other. 42% of Democrats claimed Republicans were more dis honest than other Americans, and 33% said Republicans were less intelligent, according to a 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center. Conversely, in the same study, 47% of Republicans said Democrats were more immoral and 45% said they were more dishonest.

In a more recent study, 57% of Democrats said talking about politics with people they disagree with is stress ful and frustrating. Likewise, 49% of Republicans said the same thing, both shown in another 2018 poll by Pew Research Center. For many, there’s already more than enough stress to go around nowadays.

This gridlock is harming the United States’ ability to govern well and pass legislation. In fact, the 116th Congress from 2019 to 2021 only passed 1.36% of all new bills introduced into Con gress — the lowest percentage ever

recorded, according to Attucks Adams.

Partisan identity strength, or how much people correlate our identity with a party, can cause conflict to esca late, according to Frontiers in Political Science. If people associate a party or group to be part of their identity, then often disagreements can become personal, fueling hatred, according to the same article.

The Founding Fathers and past leaders of the U.S. even shared fears of polarization, as seen in Federalist 10. In this document, President James Madison notes “violence of faction” is within the very nature of man, but the Constitution aims to curb the effects of these harmful groups. More recently, President John F. Kennedy said, “Let us not seek the Republican or Demo crat answer, but the right answer.”

This is not to say disagreement is bad, or everyone must all agree on one specific policy or plan. Disagreement is not only healthy, but necessary to democracy, according to the Greater Good Magazine.

In fact, sometimes compromise is unnecessary or simply not feasible. If one side wanted to build a ladder, but the other did not, a ladder that re quired only half the size would be un necessary and frivolous. Disagreement can also boil over into illogical fallacies, rising tensions and in-fighting.

Potential Solutions

There are a number of actions just one person can take that will have far-reaching consequences. For

starters, it is important to consume balanced media, as tools like Media Bias Charts show. Consumers of fair media can guide friends and family to balanced sources or at least seek new opinions that extend beyond political echo chambers.

As a responsible citizen, people can also practice civil discourse and argument, according to the Brookings Institute. People will disagree — it happens and it’s healthy. Regardless, disagreeing in a respectful, mature way, without using straw man arguments or insulting the other side is the healthiest way to go about it.

Take action. Voting for candidates who will work with those across party lines, joining organizations fighting for unity or spreading the word about a new initiative is crucial, according to

Amber Shin | Staff Artist

the Wall Street Journal.

Political polarization is a dangerous, daunting issue. For many, it’s been around since birth, and continues to accelerate, according to a Brown Uni versity study.

Regardless, it’s not too late to act. By just practicing one or two of the solutions listed above, people can start making a real, positive change. This change won’t just be limited to Ameri can government, but rather to the very way people interact with one another, serving as a model for generations to come. The worst thing to do is give up hope, because a better future starts now.

Jiujitsu increases women’s confidence

Madison Luc Staff Writer

As a 5-foot-tall woman, people are astounded when they hear I can take down a man twice my size and weight. It’s not because I have super-strength or amazing athletic abilities. What allows me to do this is simple — I know jiujitsu.

Besides the fact jiujitsu is a physical activity that helps improve my physical health, learning jiujitsu has also boosted my mental health. From my per sonal experience, I’ve found training has helped me build confidence, awareness and self-control — not only of my own body but also of those around me. I can defend myself against potential attacks, as well as the danger of sexual assault.

I first started learning jiujitsu when I was 8 years old because my mom wanted me to know self-de fense.

At first, I wasn’t enthused — I refused to partici pate in lessons and watched from the sidelines. After attending several classes and seeing my friends and my brother practice, I felt more comfortable trying it for myself.

Through the patient tutelage of my professor and support from family and friends, I continued my journey. Many times, it was a struggle. Yet, I’m glad I had the opportunity and I’m grateful for the personal growth I’ve experienced.

In practicing jiujitsu, I became more confident in expressing myself — both on and off the mat. By learning self-defense, I feel more empowered to re spond to threats in a calm and collected manner.

Jiujitsu, pronunciation: joo-jit-soo, means “gentle art” in Japanese, according to Encyclopedia Britan nica. Jiujitsu is a martial art that is “gentle” in the sense that it uses no weapons and relies on manip ulating an opponent’s force against them, according to Britannica. For these reasons, it is a great form of self defense. It can be practiced on the street, but is also a competitive sport — utilizing a combination of self-defense, grappling, wrestling and judo.

Jiujitsu originated in Brazil, according to jiujitsu school Gracie Barra’s website. Mitsuyu Maeda, a skilled Japanese fighter who wanted to train others in the Japanese martial art, brought it to Brazil in 1914. One of his first students was Carlos Gracie. At only 14 years old, Gracie was a quick learner and began to master the art and teach his brothers.

Hélio Gracie, one of Carlos’s brothers, is a prime example of how jiujitsu techniques can overcome physical force. He was chronically ill, smaller and weaker than most of his opponents, which put him at a disadvantage, according to BJJ Heroes. Using techniques stressing timing and leverage, he became a renowned fighter worldwide, competing in many fights and UFC matches, according to BJJ Heroes.

I’m motivated by Hélio’s courage, determination and perseverance that forged him into a fearless fighter. In matches, I’m often at a physical disadvan tage because of my smaller stature but Hélio showed me jiujitsu can be effective, even against the strongest opponents.

Women who are college-aged students are four times more vulnerable to acts of violence such as sexual assault than the general population, according

to statistics from RAINN. In the event of an attack, it is essential for women to know how to defend them selves. Women who equip themselves with self-de fense techniques can lower the risk of rape more than 80%, compared to those who did not, according to a study from the National Institute of Justice.

Ultimately, society needs improvement in aware ness, education and other preventative measures to address the pressing concern of sexual assault on college campuses in the U.S., according to an article from APA. It is not a woman’s responsibility to stop sexual assault from happening.

Learning jiujitsu is just one way women can protect themselves and work toward actively arming themselves against assault, according to the Nation al Criminal Justice Reserve System. Unfortunately, while women are not responsible for the actions of predators, they are often left to find ways to fend off attackers on their own, according to the Guardian.

Because this danger exists, I propose more women should learn jiujitsu. Many of my female peers ex pressed to me they would love to try jiujitsu but feel unwelcome. From personal experience, most classes I’ve attended have predominantly male participants and instructors. This atmosphere can make one feel uncomfortable and intimidated to join.

To encourage more women to participate, I suggest having women-only classes that are taught by at least one woman instructor. Promoting be ginner-friendly classes with a curriculum centered around self-defense would also attract more women to participate and make the learning environment more welcoming according to Omega Jiu Jitsu.

If you are interested in trying jiujitsu after reading this article, Pepperdine offers a Jiujitsu Fitness Class, free of cost to all students. The class meets Wednes days at 1:30 p.m., and is located in the Harilela International Tennis Stadium Fitness Studio.

madison.luc@pepperdine.edu

Waves Weekend brings back warm memories

Abby Wilt Managing Editor

For many years, the question, “Who’s playing at Waves Weekend this year?” has been a common one in my family. What started as a simple inquiry for me turned into a running joke, as I asked over and over again, every year, who would be the star performer.

Clearly, before I was even a student, I was a fan of Waves Weekend.

My first Waves Weekend was in 2014 when I visited my sister during her first year at Pepperdine. I sported my Pepperdine sweatshirt the whole weekend and followed my sister and all of her friends around — thinking I was very cool.

My sister didn’t seem to want to take part in all of the Waves Weekend activities, but my dad and I thought there wasn’t a better way to spend our time. We had to make the most of it.

I remember a few of the activities, but nothing was as memorable to me as Saturday night — the night of the concert.

Plain White T’s opened, singing their classics “Rhythm of Love” and “Hey There Delilah,” as the sun set on Alumni Park. Andy Grammar then took the stage, performing “Honey I’m Good” while overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I remember telling my mom we just had to move to the front of the crowd for that one.

This moment was my idea of perfec tion, and the Waves Weekend concert became my favorite family tradition. Even if we didn’t go every year, I was always invested in who was playing.

I even wrote about my love for Waves Weekend in my college appli cation — stating I wanted to come to Pepperdine to sing along to a per former with my friends and family on Alumni at my own Waves Weekend concert.

Last year, I experienced my first Waves Weekend as a student, and the same joy came right back to me. I got to watch it from the eyes of a report er as I covered the weekend for the Graphic — a very full circle moment for me, as I was doing what I loved, at a school I loved, on a weekend I adored.

senior year next year.

I do love the Worship Summit and the Pacific Sounds Music and Art Festival, but these events just aren’t the same — no families wandering about, no students introducing their families to their new friends and, of course, probably not any little sisters stand ing on Alumni in awe of their future school.

was

I will say, it was missing one very vital part — the concert. Why don’t we have my beloved Waves Weekend concert anymore?

I have been blaming it on the pan demic, but now I am getting slightly concerned it will not be back for my

Waves Weekend to me is more than just a concert, more than the free food and more than Blue & Orange Mad ness.

It’s a chance to reconnect with fam ily and friends and bring the people you love to the places you love. It’s a chance to show your family what makes Pepperdine special for you.

Vivian Hisa | Art Editor

For me, it was a chance to go visit my older sister and make memories at a place that would become my future home.

If you’re on the fence about Waves Weekend this year — go and make the most of it. Soak up a few more cheesy activities, ride the ferris wheel with your family or friends and cheer on the Waves during all of the sporting events throughout the weekend.

You might make a few new mem ories, and, along the way, you might convince a few more little siblings that Pepperdine is their home.

HeeJoo Roh | Staff Artist

Audrey Geib Life & Arts Assistant

Roots. Leaves. Branches. Ashes. Decay.

Each of these words are associated with either life or death through the idea of trees. Trees have a way of telling generations about history, and their symbolism can be found in many religious origin stories, according to the To Bough and To Bend’s website.

The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art unveiled a new exhibit, “To Bough and To Bend,” on Sept. 10, and it will remain open until March 26.

The exhibit focuses on the power of trees to tell a story. From giving life in major world religions to displaying evidence of disaster — trees contain sto ries of the past. Bridge Projects curated the gallery, which fea tures work from 30 artists who sought to offer their interpreta tion of trees and their various properties through their work.

Senior Lauren Chivers worked the front desk at the museum for about a year be

and To Bend’ – trees tell stories

fore this exhibit made its de but. Chivers said viewing the art in the exhibit does not merely stop at being something to admire — but instead, the art calls on the viewers to think deeper about the world we live in.

“I like that the exhibit has a sort of call to action,” Chivers said. “It talks about climate change and nature preserva tion and conservation. I think you can’t help but feel like there’s something that you per sonally can take away from the piece and implement in your own life.”

Senior art minor Sydney Se gura attended the exhibit with her peers. The University host ed a reception at the exhibit for art history and art majors and minors to mingle while explor ing the various works, Segura said.

One piece of art on display Segura said caught her atten tion was Katie Paterson’s “Fu ture Library.” The work is part of a collection of stories called the “Future Library Project.”

In May 2014, Paterson

planted 1,000 trees in a re gion of Norway. These trees will become a book of stories, where each year a writer con tributes a story to a trust that will be locked away until it is published in 2114, according to their website.

“I thought it was a super cool concept, where it’s an an thology of texts that are writ ten every year, and it won’t be released until 100 years in the future,” Segura said. “It will be printed on paper that has been made from a forest that was planted at the very beginning of the project.”

Senior Avery Engleman at tended the exhibit with her bi ology class as part of their lab science course. Engleman said she underestimated how much the artwork would connect to what they were learning.

“We’ve talked a bit about the importance of the cell cycle and photosynthesis and things in the realm of environmental ism,” Engleman said.

Engleman said as an Eco nomics major she is drawn to the research and scientific

methods included in Jarrett Mellenbruch’s Redwood Pre serve Project.

“It was really interesting because not only was it an art piece, but it also was kind of a project that the artist was working on,” Engleman said.

“To create a kind of Bitcoin, like a cryptocurrency, related to saving the California red woods.”

Engleman said this project stuck with her even after she left the exhibit because of the connection the artist made to bridge the gap between eco nomics and art.

“Tying environmentalism to economic incentives through the medium of art was really cool,” Engleman said.

As a Sustainability major, Chivers said she finds the top ics and the specific pieces par ticularly impactful.

“It’s really impactful for me thinking about the piec es that are about preserving the redwoods or the intersec tion between race and climate change,” Chivers said. “I think that the art is very provocative

and impactful in that way.”

Chivers said a particular piece that strikes her is the 2010 photograph captured by Tal Shochat titled “Rimon” (Pomegranate). The staged image shows a tree donned with pomegranates against a pitch black background.

The themes within this particular piece of art parallel ideas similar to those found in the stories of Genesis and Song of Psalms as well as the novel “Paradise Lost” by John Mil ton. The tree displayed in this artwork alludes to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, according to the artwork’s de scription.

“I like looking at that piece and thinking about the way that we discuss biblical sym bolism and fruit of desire in my classes and then how it shows up in my on-campus job,” Chivers said.

Lucian Himes | Photo Editor

Review: McCurdy book details abuse

Timothy Gay Staff Writer

Former actor and author Jennette McCurdy released her memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Aug. 9, revealing expe riences she faced in the enter tainment industry.

McCurdy is known for her role as Sam Puckett on Nick elodeon sitcoms “iCarly” and spinoff “Sam & Cat.” Mc Curdy admits in her story she dealt with pressure from her mom and toxicity from a male figure, referred to as “The Cre ator,” while on these shows.

“Throughout the years, I’ve slowly learned that the entertainment business is one where what’s being said is rare ly what’s being talked about,” McCurdy wrote in her book.

Acting was never Mc Curdy’s dream — it was her mom’s. McCurdy wrote her mom forced her to act at a young age, emotionally manip ulated her when she wanted to quit and belittled her passion for writing.

These instances show her mom only cared about fulfill ing her own passions vicarious ly through McCurdy and never cared about her feelings.

McCurdy explains in the book how “The Creator” con tributed to her trauma as a child actor. She first pointed out he made her try on biki nis for a wardrobe fitting on set — which made her feel un comfortable because she didn’t want to appear sexual at age 15.

Actor Daniella Monet, who played Trina Vega on another

one of “The Creator’s” Nick elodeon shows, “Victorious,” spoke to Business Insider about how she also felt some of the costume choices weren’t appropriate for young actors. She spoke about a scene she thought was too sexual, where she ate a pickle while applying lip gloss.

McCurdy wrote she had similar feelings toward “The Creator” as she did about her mom. She always felt self-con scious around him and had to be careful not to make one mis take.

“I’ve seen ‘The Creator’ make grown men and women cry with his insults and degra dation,” McCurdy wrote. ‘The Creator’ knows how to make someone feel worthless.”

McCurdy revealed “The Creator” got angry with her for not having enough head move ment when she kissed co-star Nathan Kress for an “iCar ly” episode. She also wrote he pressured her into drinking alcohol when she was 18 and gave her a shoulder massage without asking.

Her claims express the fear and difficulty for young people to stand up against inappropri ate behavior in the workplace when an abuser holds all the power.

Former “Zoey 101” actor Alexa Nikolas protested out side Nickelodeon’s headquar ters in Burbank on Aug. 25, claiming she didn’t feel pro tected as a child on the net work. Nikolas said in an In stagram video of the protest that the same “Creator” made her feel physically tense on set,

yelled at her and made her cry at the former building Nickel odeon on Sunset.

“The Creator” also broke several promises with Mc Curdy, according to the book. He was supposed to give Mc Curdy her own spinoff show called “Just Puckett,” but it ended up being a co-lead sit com with singer Ariana Grande from “Victorious” called “Sam & Cat.”

McCurdy agreed to “Sam & Cat” because “The Creator” promised she would get to di rect one of the episodes — her true passion. However, during the table read for the final epi sodes, the producers didn’t list her name on the schedule to direct, she wrote.

“I’ve shown up to work ev ery day, been a professional, swallowed my anger and car ried a show for almost 40 epi sodes,” McCurdy wrote. “Now that [the producers] got what they wanted out of me, they’re taking away the very reason why I was doing all those things in the first place.”

McCurdy’s directing inci dent indicates the reality of her toxic work environment. It shows no matter how much of a good Samaritan she was, “The Creator” and producers were using her — not caring about her own well-being and wishes.

McCurdy also wrote the network lied when they said they canceled “Sam & Cat” over jealousy she had toward her co-star’s pay. She claimed the real reason was due to a sexual harassment allegation against one of the producers.

Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 in hush money to never speak publicly about her experiences on the network, according to the book. This proves how some companies can care more about protecting their business than the mental health of their employees.

McCurdy wrote she turned down the offer out of moral in tegrity.

Had McCurdy taken the money, she wouldn’t have been able to reflect on her traumat ic experiences in this articulate

and detailed biography. This book helps her readers under stand the truth that goes on behind the scenes of entertain ment — not shown on televi sion screens.

“I’m Glad My Mom Died” is available to read on Kindle and to listen to on Audible.

Photo courtesy of Simon & Schuster

timothy.gay@pepperdine.edu

Jennette McCurdy holds a pink urn on the cover of her new book. McCurdy describes years of abuse in her memoir.

Students record and release music

Emily Chase

Amid busy class schedules and rising piles of work, college musicians at Pepperdine said they carve out time to pursue their passion for music.

Rising bands and artists — Byrdhouse, Nolan Harvel, Jor dan Palani, Jackie Ferrari and Oliver Westover — said they made it their mission to pursue and succeed in their music ca reers.

“What makes musicians so connected is we’re always chas ing excellence, always wanting to grow, and we always want to push the envelope and prog ress,” Harvel said.

Byrdhouse

Indie pop-rock group, Byrd house, said they paved their way through the trappings of a big music industry. Junior lead singer and keyboard play er Josh Nash, junior guitar ist Garrett Podgorski, senior drummer Thomas Lowe and

Los Angeles area soon.

“Our favorite part of doing music is performing live,” Pod gorski said. “We love seeing the enthusiasm in the crowd and seeing people sing our music back to us. It’s the best thing.”

Podgorski said the band is hopeful for the future, and their collective goal is to be able to make a living with mu sic and be able to sustain it. The band has two songs out on all streaming platforms, “Left and Gone” and “King of Love,” and are working on an EP.

Nolan Harvel

Nolan Harvel is a senior Music Performance major with an emphasis on classical guitar. When he started at Pepperdine, Harvel said he never thought to make his own music, but after COVID-19, that all changed.

“I started creating music during COVID,” Harvel said. “I turned my room into a mu sic studio and just started pro ducing and writing music on my own.”

with the sound of the artist be ing interviewed,” Harvel said.

A friend referred him to the podcast position last fall, Har vel said. From then on, he said he has been writing music for the show since season two and is still working with them now.

In addition to his work with the podcast, Harvel said he has scored four student films. Har vel’s most recent project was when he composed music for film major Kelly Needleman’s short film, “Eaglewood.”

With various musical en deavors and interests, Harvel said there is more he still wants to explore. He is unsure where he wants his music to take him but said he is steadfast in his drive to succeed because of what music does for the world.

“I have so many interests in the musical world that it’s diffi cult for me to say just one thing I want to pursue,” Harvel said. “I make music because music is a universal language, and in the current time we live in, it is the only thing anyone can agree on that brings us together.”

Jordan Palani

Not all of Pepperdine’s ris ing musicians are music ma jors. Graduating this semester, Sports Administration major Jordan Palani said he has been involved with music all his life but just recently started mak ing his own music.

“As a kid, my dad managed a few reggae artists from San Diego, Calif., and growing up, I saw those guys as my role models,” Palani said. “They’re the reason I started singing.”

rently on a short hiatus from classes to refresh and recenter her focus without the pressures of outside influences.

Since 2007, Ferrari said she always wanted to be involved with music. Now, her goal is to be able to build a music busi ness around her work and tell a story with the sounds and lyr ics she creates.

“I use music to tell the story

Ferrari said. “Balancing the five things can be hard, but I’m learning to really delegate things more and focus on the things I’m best at.”

Oliver Westover

Business Administration major Oliver Westover is a ris ing pop musician who began singing at the age of 4 and writ ing music at 16.

“I would say that my mu sic is definitely pop, but it has many influences spanning from Maroon 5, to Coldplay, to Mi chael Jackson and even Sugar Ray,” Westover said. “I try to incorporate organic elements like the guitar or piano in the instrumental and overall focus on the melody of the song.”

From a young age, Westo ver said his older brother’s courage to pursue music and create songs inspired him. If it wasn’t for his brother, Westover doesn’t think he would have been able to do this.

Now, Westover said the two are living in L.A., creating mu sic together. A significant rea son Westover chose Pepperdine is its proximate location to the music capital of the world.

“I am super grateful to have my brother, for he has made many of these connections and has introduced me to many in dustry people,” Westover said. “Pursuing a career in music can be quite daunting, espe cially with all of the competi tion. There are days where you feel like nothing is working, and you want to give up, but I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

Pepperdine alumus Ben Blau farb (‘22) make up the band. The four musicians said they have been able to start their ca reers and grow in exposure in the past year.

“It was just Josh and I at first last September, and it’s still just us writing the lyrics and songs,” Podgorski said. “But, last spring is when the four of us came together and started doing shows and playing.”

Since then, Byrdhouse’s fol lowing has increased to 2,245 followers, as of Oct. 4, on the band’s Instagram. Podgorski said they are on an uphill tra jectory. Being beginners in the music industry can be daunt ing — but the four said they are finding their way.

“It’s definitely overwhelm ing, but I feel like we’ve all been musicians long enough that we know it never feels perfect in the beginning, but we just gotta keep our heads up,” Podgorski said. “I think we all know that, if we keep trying and going at it, something will come of it.”

Podgorski said the band has played a few live shows over the past few months and is working on more in the near future. He said they hope to be playing regularly around the

Now, Harvel is a senior working for a Pepperdine-run podcast, “Centered On The Arts.” In the podcast, different artists and industry profession als are interviewed about their work, and Harvel said his job is to emulate the style of the artist.

“On the show, I write about four to five tracks per episode

Palani said he uses his mu sic to express himself, and he is now becoming the person his younger self only dreamed he could be. He wants his music to inspire kids who were in his position to be bold and go for their dreams, he said.

“My goal with music is to inspire others to be creative and do what they want in life,” Palani said. “I know there are people out there who are dis couraged or never pursue a passion or hobby they have due to some reason. I want people to know that if you love something, why let anyone else tell us that we can or can’t do it?”

Over the past two years, Palani said he has been lucky to create music more seriously. Although, being a beginner in the music industry has induced a lot of disappointing outcomes — such as sleepless nights and self-doubt.

Despite this, Palani said he is proud and grateful for the progress he has made for his band, “ForgetxTomorrow.”

Palani said one day he hopes music is the only concern he will ever have.

Jackie Ferrari

Advertising major Jackie Ferrari has been pursuing mu sic seriously for the past six years. Ferrari said she is cur

that God is writing in my life and help others know they’re not alone when they’re going through pain,” Ferrari said.

Her involvement in music started as an interest but grew into a deeper dedication, Fer rari said. She makes music, not only for fun, but as an outlet for her pain. Ferrari said God has helped her overcome many obstacles, and she wants to share that through music.

“I make music because it helps me process the painful things I have dealt with in my life, and I really want to share my story,” Ferrari said. “I want to let people know that God can use your pain to strengthen you rather than to break you.”

Ferrari said she has put out about 10 or 11 original songs over the past three years and is anticipating her very own EP early next year.

“I love producing, writing, singing, rapping, perform ing and playing instruments,”

Westover said he has writ ten dozens of songs with his brother. He plans to continue writing music and hopes that his pursuit of music will have an impact on listeners and fu ture fans.

“Ultimately, my goal is to make music that projects a feeling — songs that make the listener feel a certain way — maybe a way they have never felt,” Westover said. “I want to make a positive impact with my music. It could be for five peo ple, or it could be for millions. Either way, I just want to bring joy to people’s lives.”

Byrdhouse members Ben Blaufarb, Josh Nash, Garrett Podgorski and Thomas Lowe pose and flip in an April photoshoot on Alumni Park.

Photo Courtesy of Byrdhouse

Nolan Harvel poses in his home studio in Tennessee with his guitar last year surrounded by speakers, a monitor and other instruments.

Jackie Ferrari sings in the re cording studio for her original song last year.

Oliver Westover gazes up at the camera while posing for an old album cover in September 2020.

Photo Courtesy of Nolan Harvel

Photo Courtesy of Jackie Ferrari

Photo Courtesy of Oliver Westover

Jordan Palani in early 2022 re cording a song in the studio, the place where he says his music comes to life.

Photo Courtesy of Jordan Palani

Understand the phenomena of boy bands

Jackie Lopez Staff Writer

In 2011, “What Makes You Beauti ful,” by One Direction, climbed to No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 music chart upon its release. The success of the sin gle signified One Direction’s status as a rising pop artist and serves as a recent example of the reign of boy bands.

The term “boy band” originated in the 1980s, but the idea of male singing groups has been around for decades, ac cording to Billboard. Since then, groups like New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC and the Backstreet boys emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. Pepper dine students who grew up as fans of boy bands said they love the groups and desire to look into the evolution and phenomena of the bands.

“I feel like, ever since I was little, I’ve just been drawn to music and boy bands,” junior Kaila Crouch said.

Settling on a true definition for boy bands is its own challenge. In a 2014 NPR segment, host Jason King said he defines them as an all-male vocal group whose songs are typically written for them and who don’t play instruments.

“I do think that there’s a difference between a boy band and a band of boys,” junior Caroline Pennington said.

The Beatles, who gained popularity in the 1960s, stand out in the boy band evolution, King said. Although they played their own instruments, King said their style can be seen as a template for modern-day boy bands.

The Beatles’ fanbase revolutionized audience craze over musical groups. The band created a cultural reaction, known as “Beatlemania,” of overwhelmingly ecstatic female fans both in the UK and the United States, according to History. com. The fans would scream and faint

at concerts as a result of their adoration for the Beatles and their music, accord ing to the Museum of Youth Culture. This shift in fan behavior served as a gateway for other groups and boy bands to receive similar attention from their fans.

Following the era of the Beatles and proceeding groups, Pennington said the 1990s is an important decade for boy band history.

“There were some groups after in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but I think there was a resurgence in like the ‘90s,” Penning ton said. “You think of Backstreet Boys and MTV, televising and all that kind of stuff.”

As the Backstreet Boys’ popularity trickled into the new millennium, more bands, such as the Jonas Brothers and One Direction, paved the way for the continued resurgence of boy bands, ac cording to research by Tamia Braggs in 2019.

The majority of a boy band’s fanbase is comprised of young females, accord ing to Vice. Young females are drawn to boy bands for several reasons, Hub pages writer Michelle Liu said. These include mob mentality, overexposure to the music on the radio, addicting catchy music and teenage hormones. Johnson said she remembers becoming a boy band fan around fifth grade.

“Through puberty, you start to have crushes on boys, and then you’re inter ested in boyband bands and stuff like that,” Johnson said.

In these bands, PennLive wrote it is common for the boys to adhere to spe cific archetypes to compose a distinct but lovable group of singers. The band and television show Big Time Rush serves as an example, according to Tu lane Magazine. The audience meets Logan, the smart one, James, the pretty

one, Carlos, the funny one and Kendall, the glue of the group.

The excitement surrounding boy bands made them especially success ful in their concerts and tours, accord ing to Vivid Seats. Irish Mirror wrote One Direction made $282 million in ticket sales during their “On the Road Again” tour for their fourth studio al bum, “Four.” Crouch said she attended a concert during this tour as well as 5 Seconds of Summer concerts.

“You can just feel all the energy, and it’s really fun because you’re with a bunch of people who feel passionate about those bands as well,” Crouch said. “It’s a really good time.”

On an international level, K-pop boy band BTS remains one of the biggest groups after their 2013 debut album, according to Grammy.com. Four of BTS’ albums landed on the charts fast er than any group since the Beatles and have broken 25 Guinness World Re cords.

Today, the popularity of boy bands has decreased as solo pop artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift be come more popular, according to The

Stella Engel | Staff Artist

Irish Times. Pennington said with time, her music taste shifted — but she still has love for the boy bands that shaped her childhood.

“I just became more appreciative of what goes into music and the process of making music, and I think boy bands are a little outside of that circle,” Pen nington said. “But, I still think it’s fun, and I’ll still listen to One Direction ev ery now and then.”

Despite the rising lack of interest in boy bands, groups such as the Jonas Brothers, Big Time Rush and even the Backstreet Boys recently made a come back, according to PlanetRadio. Stu dents said, as dedicated fans, they still follow the careers of their favorite boy band members. Johnson said she still listens to Harry Styles, the most suc cessful solo artist to come from One Direction.

“I was a huge One Direction girl all of middle school — I went to a con cert,” Johnson said. “I still love Harry Styles to this day.”

jacqueline.lopez@pepperdine.edu

Adapt to film: Recent stories and what is to come

Beth Gonzales

“A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us,” author Franz Kafka said.

In the world of technolo gy and streaming, one is of ten overloaded with options to consume. This year, many new TV shows and movies are based either exactly or loosely on their novel counterparts. Some new actors and adapt ed stories have already hit the screen, and some new beloved tales are coming soon.

Released in mid-June, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” author Jenny Han served as the executive producer for her old er book series, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” on Amazon Prime. This show adequately follows the books and showcas es protagonist Belly Conklin’s coming of age as well as the whimsical escape to an endless summer in Cousin’s Beach.

This incredibly breezy teen age show is a stand-out due to the cast of fresh faces. This cast includes Lola Tung, playing Belly, and Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno playing the “dreamy” Fisher brothers that form a love triangle with their childhood best friend. The show is widely known for its music direction by Liza Rich ardson and featured songs such as “When The Party’s Over”

by Billie Eilish and “Can’t Do Better” by Kim Petras.

Also on Amazon, “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” debuted Sept. 1. The new series is the first television adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s famous sto ry. The series will be set in the Second Age of Middle Earth and will serve as a prequel to the events in the major motion pictures.

Other new shows in the ac tion/sci-fi realm include Net flix’s “Anatomy of a Scandal” and “The Sandman.” The television adaptation of Sar ah Vaughan’s popular mystery novel “Anatomy of a Scandal” stars Sienna Miller and Mi chelle Dockery and follows the plot of an aristocratic British woman whose life is sent into a frenzy when she finds out her husband’s biggest secret.

“The Sandman” series fol lows the 1989-1996 comic book series by “Coraline” au thor Neil Gaiman. Although the series received mixed re views such as “boring” and “not being able to bring Gaiman’s world to life,” one must understand that some fa natical worlds come across best in our mind.

Page-to-screen might not always work, but according to Frontier Economics, films adapted from books generate 53% more revenue than orig inal screenplays, and 70% of

the world’s Top Grossing films are based on books.

Netflix and HBO Max also released LGBTQ+ dra ma “Heartstopper” and crime drama “Tokyo Vice” this year. “Heartstopper” is a four-vol ume comic book series writ ten by Alice Oseman who also wrote the debut TV show. This story follows the love, loyalty and friendship of Charlie and Nick who meet one fortunate day in class.

“Tokyo Vice,” starring “The Fault In Our Stars” actor Ansel Elgort, follows the true tale of newspaper noir and Japanese crime from an American inves tigative journalist who desires to “pull back the curtain.”

“Bullet Train” and “The Black Phone” also made their way into the theaters this year, both dark thrillers and ac tion-packed book-to-screen ex periences. “The Black Phone” written by Stephen King’s son who goes by pen name “Joe Hill,” received a high score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and told the story of finding inner confidence for young boy, Fin ney, while maintaining a horror theme. “Bullet Train” racked in some big stars such as Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock. Written originally in Japanese, the film is loosely based on the original plot — the 2010 novel “Maria Beetle,” by Kōtarō Isaka.

In terms of films one can

look forward to, Michael Gran

dage’s LGBTQ+ love story, “My Policeman” starring su perstar Harry Styles comes out Oct. 21. The film is based on the 2012 novel by Bethan Roberts in which two lovers are torn apart, and three lives are destroyed. This will be Styles’ second film of the year following his Sep. 23 “Don’t Worry Darling” release, star ring alongside the experienced Florence Pugh.

Netflix will also release “Blonde” Sept. 16, based on Joyce Carol Oates’s 2000 nov el which is a fictional telling of icon Marylin Monroe’s life. Ana De Armas plays Monroe, and while the film stunned with a 14-minute standing

ovation at the Venice Film Festival, many fans are upset by its NC-17 rating — due to the over-sexualization of a star who has not been able to live, or rest, in peace.

Stories such as “Where The Crawdads Sing” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” have come to screen — and films such as “My Policeman” and “The Wonder” are ones to look forward to. With many new sto ries on the horizon, whether a book or film, it is one’s imag ination that brings stories to life. Some may argue that high, can be found nowhere else at all.

‘Don’t Worry Darling’ rises above drama

Beth Gonzales Life & Arts Editor

Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” shows Hollywood’s overglamorization of the 1950s — the all-American dream with an underlying nightmare.

First playing in theaters Sept. 23, the psychological thriller focuses on conforming to society, gender norms and the nuclear family — while using the star-studded cast, electrifying score and a hectic third act to distract the viewer from a few inconsistencies in the plot. The themes are unapologetic and at times distressing, but they work on a narrative level.

“Darling, I’m with you all the time / Can’t you see I long to be with you all the time?”

These lines from the song “With You All the Time” repeat throughout the film and perfectly capture the essence of a troubled household with a secret.

The film focuses on Harry Styles and Florence Pugh — who play Jack and Alice Chambers. They live in an old-fashioned desert-style home in what seems to be paradise, filmed in Palm Springs, Calif.

Chris Pine plays Frank, who leads a neighborhood community, the “Victo ry Project.” When a few of the women, including Alice, start to question what the men are actually doing at work, eerie circumstances start to occur.

Uniformity is a highlight of the film represented through the same breakfast every day. This includes montages of coffee poured, eggs cooking and bacon

sizzling. Alice continues to question her reality as she and the audience visi bly see “cracks” in their society.

Through dream sequences and intimate moments between characters, the audience starts to see Alice’s men tal health unravel before learning the jaw-dropping twist.

Following her last directorial project, 2019 comedy “Booksmart,” Wilde does an impressive job taking the viewer on the ride with Alice while sympathizing with her along the way.

In terms of acting, Pugh is a force to be reckoned with and proves she can carry the intensity of a film as the lead. Pugh has staggering range and, such as in “Midsommar,” plays a character who is being manipulated.

In only his second film, Styles holds up against experienced actors and has some emotionally-intense scenes. The

odd, quirky and at times awkward way he plays his character makes sense to the viewer when the shocking end is revealed. He has impressive chemistry with Pugh and does his job conveying emotion through his character.

The supporting cast is criminal ly under-appreciated. Those such as Gemma Chan, who plays a stone-cold wife to somewhat cult leader Frank, do not get much screen time. Even so, Chan carefully constructs her beautiful and empowering arc revealed toward the end.

The movie doesn’t fully begin until we meet the vilified leader Frank, who is layered and dangerous.

Wilde also plays an on-screen role as Bunny, neighbor to Jack and Alice. As an unexpected hero, Wilde’s quality acting helps bring forward a character with arguably the saddest ending.

This film is one to experience in the theater because of the intense atmo sphere it aesthetically creates — along with the film’s drama-filled back ground.

Some of the stories included bad blood between Wilde and Pugh and a leaked video of Wilde trying to get Shia LaBeouf back on the film after he reportedly quit his role as Jack Chambers, according to NPR. Wilde also started dating Styles soon after the film had a prominent social media presence.

Off-screen stories also included the hostile incidents with the cast during press — including Pugh refusing to at tend any promotion or panels at events such as the Venice Film Festival.

Overall, this film is by no means perfect — but it is not meant to be.

The film shows a woman escaping patriarchal control, and one cannot help but root for the protagonist as she longs to escape control and oppression.

The viewer will leave with questions they can easily discuss with friends or one of the many fans invested in this film’s phenomena. One can understand some loose ends somewhat logically after the satisfying twist — such as the eggs with no inside yolk or walls clos ing in on Pugh physically displaying her claustrophobia.

This film will leave the viewer enter tained, at the edge of their seat, overall satisfied and oddly uplifted.

Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers

Collage by Beth Gonzales | Life & Arts Editor

Experts, students advocate to end animal test ing

Beth Gonzales

In the United States, more than 50 million animals are used in experiments each year — most commonly cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigs and rabbits, said Mary Hilley, pro gram coordinator of animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States.

In the past 20 years, the United States has made pro gressive decisions regarding banning cosmetic testing on animals, such as state-wide bans on the sale of these prod ucts, according to the HSUS. With programs such as the Leaping Bunny providing com passionate shopping guides, many students and staff said they watch what they buy and have a heart for contributing to the end of animal testing.

“There is a reason com panies don’t tell you about it and why people don’t typically go looking for it on their own — because we all know deep down that once we know what is going on, you know that it is not right and not something you want to be a part of,” ju nior Sustainability major Izzie Agee said.

Basics of Animal Testing

The term animal testing re fers to procedures performed on living animals for research and testing the safety of con sumer and industry products such as cosmetics, food addi tives and more, according to Humane Society International.

The Food and Drug Admin istration defines cosmetics as, “articles intended to be applied to the human body for cleans ing, beautifying, promoting at tractiveness or altering the ap pearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions,” according to the FDA. Any in gredient in these products such as lotion, lipstick, perfume and more also fall under this defini tion, according to HSUS.

Animal testing is not re quired in the U.S., yet some brands still choose this method to assess the safety of new in gredients. Even still, the Unit ed States is in the top three animal testing countries in the world and one of the top users of dogs and monkeys, accord ing to Cruelty Free Interna tional.

Many animals, such as mice and rats, are also “pur pose-bred” — and tests can last from months to years, end ing in death, with no pain relief provided, according to HSUS.

Hilley said testing occurs on birds, mice and rats because the Animal Welfare Act does not cover these animals. This means laboratories can use as many mice, rats and birds bred by Class A breeders for re search with no regulation. Test ing is also common on dogs, specifically beagles due to their docile nature, Hilley said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture licenses and in spects Class A breeders. Class B breeders are those who have acquired animals from auc tions, ads, shelters and more. Although, according to HSUS, random Class B breeders have not been allowed to operate since 2015, when Congress passed legislation to prevent their licensing.

“The numbers and statis tics alone will shock you, but think, there are millions more animals used [those not cov ered by AWA] that are not even counted, unfortunately,” Hilley said.

Most animals in experi ments are euthanized, and laboratories are not required to report euthanasia numbers. Tests often include skin and eye irritation tests, force-feed ing medical substances and “lethal dose” tests, forcing large amounts of chemicals to determine the dose that causes death, according to HSUS.

“One bright thing about California is that you have passed a law that will give dogs and cats at laboratories, once their time has ended, a chance at adoption, instead of auto matic euthanasia,” Hilley said.

“It can be difficult, but there are also some really good suc cess stories of them fitting right in and feeling love for the first time and being happy.”

Animal Testing Alternatives and Human Accuracy

There are thousands of products on the market with a history of safe ingredients that do not require additional tests, according to HSUS. Compa nies have the option of using existing non-animal tests or in vesting and developing non-an imal tests for new ingredients. Around 50 non-animal tests are already available, and many more are in development, ac cording to HSUS.

Hilley said around 90% of drugs fail once they pass the animal trial and make it to the human trial. She said encour aging the government to invest in non-animal alternatives is not only better for the animals but better for humans.

“We have to ask ourselves, well why are we still doing this if it is not working?” Hilley said.

Some alternatives Hilley said exist include “Organson-chips,” which are small 3D chips made of human cells that can function as miniature hu man organs. They are used to test human reactions to specif ic drugs and what happens in infection or disease.

Formulated decades ago, animal tests and their new practices have limitations. New ideas can be more beneficial as they closely mimic human reactions more efficiently and cost-effectively, according to HSUS.

“If we can use a better way

to achieve results for human health faster and more effi ciently, why wouldn’t we do that?” Hilley said.

Brands and Products

In the U.S., nine states have banned animal testing, ac cording to Bunny Army. These states are California, Nevada, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Maine, Hawaii, New Jersey and Louisiana. This ban also states a cosmetic manufacturer cannot import or sell any prod uct developed or manufactured using an animal test conduct ed after a specified date — this also includes any supplier of the manufacturer, according to Bunny Army.

Senior Sustainability major Ariel Wilson said she is veg an and supports cruelty-free brands. Wilson watched 2018 animal agriculture documen tary “Dominion” and decided to go vegan. She uses resources such as website Happy Cow to help find vegan and vegetarian alternatives to food, products and more.

Wilson said she does not normally wear makeup but gravitates more toward skin care. Her favorite brands are Drunk Elephant, Wishful and products from Trader Joe’s.

While Wilson said cruel ty-free, vegan and clean prod ucts can be more expensive, she tends to save in other areas by thrifting clothes, for exam ple, so she can splurge on eth ically conscious skin products.

“I feel that every living crea ture on earth is super import ant and has intrinsic value,” Wilson said. “Just because we’re humans and we have the tools to be able to exploit them [animals] doesn’t mean that we should.”

Caroline Decker, Interna tional Programs office spe cialist, said she is passionate about supporting cruelty-free brands — such as her favorites Lancer and Biossance. Bios sance works to end the market of shark squalene, which has led to livering — cutting out a shark’s liver and throwing the shark back into the sea — and overfishing, according to Bios sance’s website.

Decker said when she makes a larger investment in expensive skincare, she is more likely to do research on the background of the product. She feels it is important for brands to em phasize sustainable ingredients because it can be counterintu itive when a brand advertises saving animals and is sent with plastic packaging, Decker said.

“As the world evolves, we’re learning more about it and how harmful some of the things we’re putting in and on our bodies are to ourselves and the world around us,” Decker said.

“It was shocking to me how horrific those conditions are and what those poor animals have to go through,” Agee said. “I have gotten rashes and stuff

Vivian Hsia | Art Editor

The recreation of the Leaping Bunny program logo is commonly used to acknowledge cruelty-free products.

from deodorants I’m allergic to, and it hurts and is annoy ing, and those animals are go ing through way worse every single day just so we can put products on our skin — that we don’t even have to make the choice to buy.”

Hilley said resources such as Leaping Bunny are most helpful. Their compassionate shopping guide lists compa nies from A to Z that do not test their finished products, formulations, or ingredients on animals.

Brands that are on Leaping Bunny have met the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics rigorous and inter nationally recognized cruel ty-free standard, according to HSUS. Leaping Bunny is also available as an app, and its logo can be found on products in most grocery and department stores.

Hope for the Future and Consumer Involvement

With many non-profits, or ganizations and companies working and remaining cruel ty-free, Hilley said the voice of the public makes an exception al difference.

Not only can one donate through organizations such as HSUS, but Hilley said she recommends writing to legis lators, even with some of the templates provided on the HSUS website.

Hilley also said one can start a club at school brainstorming ideas about how to make an impact on animal testing.

“With fresh minds and fresh ideas, you may think of things we have not even thought of, and those can make a differ ence as well as volunteering and interning with animal groups,” Hilley said.

Hilley said what makes the biggest difference is looking out for labels and supporting brands that match one’s per sonal ethics. Hilley said, if you are spending your money on cruelty-free products instead of non-cruelty-free products, that is going to make a difference in the long run.

Governor of California Gavin Newsom signed a bill Sept. 26, PET, Prohibiting Ex traneous Testing, that prohibits toxicity testing on dogs and cats for pesticides, chemical substances and other products, according to CA.gov. This in cludes exemptions for products intended for use in dogs and cats and medical treatments. Hilley said while the progress in this field can seem slow, she is hopeful every time she sees a victory such as this.

“Do I think there is an end?” Hilley said. “Yes. I don’t think I would work here if I thought it was totally impossible. When I see things like that [PET bill] it re-encourages me, and I know there is an end in sight. Not right now. Not tomorrow. Not next year. But eventually, yes. I am still hopeful.”

Sammie Wuensche |

Students share their fall starter packs

Emma Ibarra Staff Writer

The last few weeks of sum mer, before autumn, allow stu dents to prepare for the school year and acclimate to returning to classes. Now, as midterms slowly creep up, students said they are looking forward to ditching swimsuits and shorts for chilly nights in cozy cardi gans.

“Fall is my favorite season of the year, so I am very, very excited for it to get chillier and for the leaves to turn different

vibes,” Henrie said.

Junior Courtney Wisniews ki also said she is fond of the fall, and her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Wisniewski said she loves that the color orange is everywhere during the season and enjoys all of the vibrant changes in nature that autumn brings.

“I grew up in the south, where seasons are very pro nounced,” Wisniewski said.

“People start to get ‘fitted,’ the air smells crisper and the fun fall foods come out. I es pecially love when Trader Joe’s

the start of a colder season where we can cozy up inside, start wearing more layers and drink some hot cocoa.”

Despite conflicting feelings about the changing of sea sons, many students acknowl edge the importance of the beloved pumpkin spice latte. The seasonal flavor is a favor ite among students like Reyes and Wisniewski.

“I always have to drink a consistent amount of iced pumpkin spice lattes in the fall before they take away the pumpkin flavoring,” Reyes said.

For those who don’t drink coffee, Henrie said she rec ommends an iced chai with pumpkin syrup — her goto order for the fall. Henrie also said she enjoys baking seasonal desserts like Pills bury pumpkin sugar cook ies and pumpkin bread.

“I love chai tea or pump kin spice anything,” Wisniews ki said. “If pumpkin spice was served all year, I would be hap pier than ever.”

While pumpkin permeates students’ fall favorites lists, some prepare for autumn with their favorite shows and movies. Ortega said she loves watching classic children’s Halloween movies like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Monster House.”

Other students said they enjoy films that remind them of past fall seasons. Henrie recommends the “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” series for autumn — and Reyes said her favorite show for the fall is “Gilmore Girls.”

mate, mate, cozy autumn aesthetic, and there are some songs that feel like autumn, Ortega said.

These are students’ top five songs that get them into the fall spirit:

Courtney Wisniewski: “Cardigan” by Taylor Swift

“505” by Arctic Monkeys

“Dark Red” by Steve Lacy “Pluto Projector” by Rex Orange County “Beige” by Yoke Lore

Samantha Ortega: “Drunk on Halloween” by Wallows “First Love/Late Spring” by Mitski

“The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” by Death Cab for Cutie

“Can I Believe You” by Fleet Foxes “Hallucinogenics” by Matt Maeson

bright colors,” sophomore Fatima Reyes said. “I just love the constant smell of pumpkin and cinnamon all around.”

Senior Aubrey Henrie said she loves the comfortable at mosphere of autumn and all the anticipation for the fall hol idays.

“Fall time to me is all about the comfy and cozy

moves to their fall line.”

Though many students are excited about autumn, the sea son is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Senior Samantha Ortega said she has mixed feelings about the fall season.

“Fall is not my go-to or favor ite season, however, I do still en joy it,” Ortega said. “I like how it is

“‘Gilmore Girls’ is prime fall for me and always feels very nostalgic,” Reyes said. “I also love watching all the ‘Hallow eentown’ movies because it’s reminiscent of the early Disney days.”

Students said they look for ward to local fall festivities like the Calabasas Pumpkin Fes tival and the City of Malibu’s annual Halloween carnival at Malibu Bluffs Park. Students said they enjoy many hor ror-filled opportunities around Southern California to cele brate Halloween, such as the Oogie Boogie Bash at Disne yland’s California Adventure and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Holly wood.

“I’m not one to like scary things, but since my friend is working there, I hope to go to Horror Nights at some point,” Ortega said.

Others prefer to keep the scares to a minimum and cel ebrate the season in their own ways. Henrie and Wisniewski said they look forward to dec orating their apartments for the spooky season and plan on hosting fall movie mara thons for Halloween.

Students said music can also set the mood for any autumnal activity. Playlists are essential to cultivating the ulti

Autumn shows itself more subtly in Malibu than in most places — the leaves on main campus turn brown, and the sun sets earlier. Students said they look forward to days of warm sweaters and cooler weather and are celebrating the season as much or as little as they please.

Fatima Reyes: “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer “Betty” by Taylor Swift “Cigarette Daydreams” by Cage the Elephant

“Cherry Wine” by Hozier

“Red” by Taylor Swift

Aubrey Henrie: “Sweet Creature” by Harry Styles

“Ivy” by Taylor Swift

“From Eden” by Hozier

“For Emma” by Bon Iver

emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu

“Sunrise” by Norah Jones

Photos by Sammie Wuensche | Assistant Photo Editor

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Records

Photo courtesy of RCA Records

Landed: Staying rooted in faith and community

Lauren Goldblum Staff Writer

Faith, culture and fruitful ness — students in Landed have been exploring the signifi cance of these topics as they re late to life both in Malibu and around the globe, junior Colin Wiese said.

Landed is a faith-based community at Pepperdine where students are able to re flect on and implement the spiritual growth from their time abroad, Wiese said.

“We meet with the intention of having just a small group discussion and lead into how we can live in Malibu trans formed rather than just step ping back into old habits and patterns,” Wiese said.

Wiese is the spiritual devel opment intern for the Interna tional Programs office. After studying abroad in London during his sophomore year, Wi ese said he is now the director of both Landed and the Seaver 200 breakout group, Take Off.

While Take Off is designed to help prepare students’ minds and hearts for studying abroad, Landed serves as a stepping stone to help students integrate from life abroad back into the Malibu community, Wiese said.

“No matter where you are

in your faith or religious walk, it’s very beneficial in process ing those cultural experienc es and learning how you can grow from them,” junior Kaila Crouch said.

Crouch is a new member of Landed and spent the spring 2022 semester abroad in Lon don. Reflecting on her first meeting in Landed, Crouch said students shared insightful comments on how God is us ing their experiences abroad to positively impact the Malibu campus.

“No matter where you are in your faith or religious walk, it’s very beneficial in process ing those cultural experiences and learning how you can grow from them,” Crouch said.

Landed held its first meeting of the semester Sept. 26, and will continue to meet on a sixweek consecutive basis to dis cuss the theme of fruitfulness in-depth and how the impacts of studying abroad can be used to bear good fruit, Wiese said.

“I always love hearing peo ple’s stories and getting encap sulated by experiences people have had,” junior Jackson Buck said.

Buck said he studied abroad in London for both semesters of the 2021-22 academic year. Because of Pepperdine’s small er population, Buck said it can

be tempting to cling to people you’ve grown close to while abroad. However, Landed pro vides the perfect opportunity to meet students from various programs while embracing faith and leadership, Buck said.

“It’s a relaxed environment where you can reflect on expe riences you’ve had, share some wisdom you’ve learned and learn from others too,” Buck said.

Wiese said a typical meeting for Landed begins with an ice breaker activity followed by a brief message on the topic for the evening. In the first meet ing, students discussed the overall theme of fruitfulness, according to related biblical scripture. Crouch said one way she is achieving this is through involvement in Intercultural Organizations such as Black Student Union and Latinx Stu dent Alliance to increase the cultural awareness she gained while abroad.

Students then have the op portunity to share any initial thoughts or feelings before splitting up into breakout groups. This allows students to delve into the message through discussion questions and the security of a small group envi ronment. Afterward, the group will reconvene to share what they learned, Wiese said.

Landed students spent their first meeting engaging in worship and community at the Lighthouse patio Sept. 26. Previous student in tern Kailey Schaneberg and Karl Kalinkewicz, assistant director of marketing and student development, started Landed in 2015.

“We talked about just sit ting in His presence and really listening to Him and discern ing what his calling is versus checking things off from what we want to do or what we think is good to do as a Christian,” Crouch said.

Students interested in join ing the Landed community are welcome to stop by the Light

house patio on Mondays at 7 p.m. or email Wiese for more information.

lauren.goldblum@pepperdine.edu

Disability scholar joins Pepperdine programs

Hope Lockwood DEI Assistant Editor

Alumnus Chad Iwertz-Duffy (‘08) said he is joining the Humanities and Teacher Education Division as faculty for the 2022-23 academic school year. Duffy studied Writing and Rhetoric and Religion at Seaver.

Duffy said his research is on the intersection of disability studies and emergent digital technologies. This re search led him to Pepperdine, where he now teaches portions of the Social Ac tion and Justice Colloquium.

“As a professor, I want to have a genuine connection with my student that isn’t mediated through someone or something else just because that stu dent is deaf,” Duffy said. “We can find a way to still communicate, and we did. That’s where [my interest] started.”

The field of disability studies emerged in the 20th century as part of the Civil Rights Movement but reached its height during the ‘80s and ‘90s, ac cording to JSTOR Daily. It is primarily concerned with examining the physical and abstract barriers people with dis abilities face.

“We have banners that say, ‘You be long here’ and ‘You’re welcome here,’ but what is the actual space commu nicating?” Duffy said. “What does the University communicate, and how do students, the community and I change that to focus on relationship building and accessibility?”

While teaching a college writing course at Oregon State University, Duffy said he encountered a student who is deaf who used the accessibility program TypeWell. TypeWell is a ser

vice that transcribes conversations in real-time while also allowing the user to edit any potential typos or add addi tional notes.

Duffy said this made him curious about the other programs students with disabilities are using.

After earning his master’s degree, Duffy said he attended Ohio State Uni versity’s English doctoral program to study under disability studies scholar Margaret Price.

“Price wrote the book ‘Mad at School,’ which is one of the first books to deal with the rhetorics of mental dis abilities in academic life,” Duffy said. “They just had some great stuff happen ing in their disability studies program, which was what guided me there.”

While his interest in disability stud ies began after Pepperdine, Duffy said studying at Pepperdine inspired him to seek ways to bridge the gap between learning about social justice and enact ing it.

“Lori Goodman [from the English department] and the religion depart ment focused on getting [students] out of the classroom, getting into the com munity and learning about what people in L.A. experienced in their daily lives,”

Duffy said.

The website says, while enrolled in SAAJ, students will participate in com munity service, learn about the history of activism and examine how to inte grate activism into their majors or pro fessions.

He is excited about teaching SAAJ and seeing how his students can make changes at Pepperdine. Recently, he led his class in designing and completing an unofficial disability audit of campus.

Duffy said the goal was to get students thinking about how the University’s claims of belonging hold up against the actual accessibility of campus.

First-year Julian Moghaddasi wrote in a Sept. 27 email to the Graphic his time as one of Duffy’s SAAJ students has been eye-opening.

“I have already learned so much, and Dr. Duffy does a great job teaching us and getting us to think,” Modhaddasi wrote. “I think that the work we are do ing is important because it puts us in other people’s shoes and gives us more to think about than just ourselves.”

Moghaddasi wrote he believes Duffy’s work is important because stu dents deserve to learn about people’s different experiences and should be able to help implement equity.

“What Duffy is teaching and doing research on is very important to our society because we don’t want to leave people out just because they look or act different,” Moghaddasi wrote. “I think it’s all very important.”

Duffy and his students are coordinat ing to invite the L.A. Spoonie Collective to present to the school. The collective is made up of LGBTQ+ artists and ac tivists of differing abilities who seek to educate on disability justice.

“We have work to do on campus, and being a junior faculty member coming in with training on accessibility for peo ple with disabilities, this is what I want to help with,” Duffy said. “Disability counter-culture exists everywhere, and the more I hear about the culture at Pep perdine, the more I want to do to help ed ucate and eventually lead to acceptance.”

Duffy said he hopes to establish more academic interest in the field through

Alumnus Chad Duffy smiles in front of the Applebee Center. Duffy is teaching SAAJ and rhetoric this semester for the Hu manities and Teacher Education Division.

his SAAJ and rhetoric classes.

“The field of disability studies is such a beautiful area of study because there’s so much excitement, pride and just good things coming out,” Duffy said. “I feel really fortunate to have found it and to be with colleagues and friends who are all wavering towards justice.”

Mary Elisabeth | Staff Photographer

Photo courtesy of Pepperdine

SPORTS

Location, money and conference play

Why Pepperdine doesn’t have a football team

Jerry Jiang Sports Editor

Fall is a signal of many things, but for some colleges, it’s football season.

Out of the 350 Division I schools in the NCAA, 112 schools do not have a football program, including Pepper dine, according to NCAA Sport.

Even with the various difficulties in creating a football team — such as lo cation, money and conference play — President Jim Gash wrote in an Sept. 16 email to the Graphic he would not rule out anything with certainty in regard to the creation of another football team.

“I suppose it is possible that another president and another Board of Regents down the road will evaluate things dif ferently, but I honestly can’t conceive of us adding a football program at any time in the foreseeable future,” Gash wrote.

Location, Money and Conference Play

There are several reasons Pepper dine doesn’t have a football program anymore, including location, money and conference play. The school had a football program in the 1940s that at one point was undefeated.

This was possible due to one factor: the South L.A. location, said John Wat son, professor of Sports Administration and former director of Athletics from 1998 to 2010.

“We actually had a football field and didn’t have a city with other stadiums around,” Watson said. “We had a very successful program.”

Pepperdine discontinued the South L.A. campus’ football program that ran from 1946 to the 1960-61 academic year primarily because of the institu tion’s financial needs, Watson said. The football program was struggling to sur vive, Watson said.

In terms of location now, Watson

Additionally, football is an expensive sport — even at the Division III level, Watson said. Azusa Pacific University had to cancel its football program be cause it was too expensive, according to Azusa Pacific University.

When it comes to Pepperdine’s Ath letic budget, although the Athletic De partment has not evaluated the cost, Gash wrote he is “confident it would be at least tens of millions of dollars.”

Another factor the University had to consider is conference play. Pepperdine has been a long-standing member of the West Coast Conference — which in cludes nine private, faith-based schools — since the 1956-57 season, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Creating a new football team would raise scheduling concerns, Watson said.

“Who would you play, and where would you play?” Watson said. “I think the whole logical reason is not that I don’t think there’s a lack of interest in the program, it’s just not that pragmatic

Gash wrote if Pepperdine decided to play football, they likely would join an other conference or be independent like

opportunity to play, according to Title IX’s website.

“If you don’t eliminate some of your men’s sports, that means you are ethically required to add some female sports,” Watson said.

The NCAA requires “reasonable op portunities,” like athletic scholarships, for each sex, according to U.S. Depart ment of Education.

At Pepperdine, 112 student-athletes are male and 189 are female, according to collegefactual.com.

Adding a complete football roster at Pepperdine would increase the male athlete participation by up to 125 new athletes, according to a website for sports news called Scott Fujita. This matters because it would mean the number of male athletes would have to increase the number of female athletes at Pepperdine.

Depending on the institution, schol arship opportunities for female and male athletes would change, Watson said.

sports in college, and he thinks more people would go out to football games than any other event.

“I definitely want to go to [foot ball games],” Jones said. “I’ve been to UCLA, USC games. [So I] kind of just miss out on the whole function part of the day, part of like a Saturday after noon.”

Watson said having a football pro gram expands the opportunities for school spirit because it’s a fall sport.

“It increases the likelihood that new students coming to campus would in fact become more entrenched with the athletic experience,” Watson said.

Having a football program also af fects the recruiting circuit, Watson said.

When he was athletic director, Wat son said he wouldn’t talk about the football atmosphere because he knew Pepperdine couldn’t offer them this.

“If you’re looking for a quality edu cation, a quality commitment to your athletic program in your sport, you’ll get it here,” Watson said. “But, if you’re looking for that overall fall football experience, obviously we don’t have that.”

Design by Betsy Burrow

BYU and University of San Diego are the only two schools in the WCC that have a football program. USD is a member of the Pioneer Football League, while BYU plays in the FBS In dependent League, according to ESPN.

Potential Barriers with Title IX

Logistically speaking, Pepperdine wouldn’t have to leave the WCC to have a football team. But, adding another athletics program would create further questions involving Title IX, Watson

Title IX requires equal opportuni ties for men and women to participate in sports and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, according to the NCAA. It does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal

“It’s whatever the cost [of making a] Division I program,” Watson said. “Staffing elements, the scholarship as sociated with that, the number of schol arships allowed by the NCAA. You got your travel costs, you’ve got your equip ment costs [and] you have your facili ties costs.”

The Struggle of School Spirit

American football remains one of four most popular sports, according to World Population View.

With thousands of people watching football, sophomore Sam Jones said the sport brings people together.

“It’s kind of dead on campus [on the weekends at Pepperdine],” Jones said. “I feel like if Pepperdine had a football team, there would be a little bit more campus community on the weekends.”

Jones said he has gone to basketball and volleyball games at Pepperdine, but said football is one of the biggest

Watson said there are numerous reasons students aren’t as involved in attending games.

“A lot of students would much rath er be in the comfort of their room or be with their friend somewhere in the world than hiking down the hill and back up the hill,” Watson said.

To combat that problem, Watson said the development of The Mountain is going to be a tremendous asset for athletics and for students in general.

“It provides not only a recreation al center in their living environment, but also an event center in their living environment, which will, I hope, build a community that interacts with one another in a variety of ways, not just athletically,” Watson said.

Tari Frahm Rhokus Field shines on the Pepperdine Malibu campus Sept. 29. Pepperdine is one of 350 Division I schools that doesn’t have football.

Colton Rubsamen | Staff Photographer

I suppose it is possible that another president and another Board of Regents down the road will evaluate things differently, but I honestly can’t conceive of us adding a football program at anytime in the forseeable future.

Jim Gash President

Hot Shots: The 49ers season is over

Jaan Jafri Staff Writer

San Francisco 49ers franchise quar terback Trey Lance fractured his ankle while playing against the Seattle Se ahawks on Sept. 18, heartbreakingly ending the game and the season for the second-year signal caller. Former 49ers starter and current backup quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, trotted onto the field with a smile big as can be to finish the game for the 22-year-old Lance.

The New England Patriots traded Garoppolo to the 49ers midway through the 2017 season. He took over as the starter through last season, taking the 49ers to two NFC championship games and a Super Bowl during those five years.

Despite the team’s success during his tenure, Garoppolo’s play has been sub par, costing the team valuable wins and forcing management to trade three firstround picks to draft Lance in 2021. His inability to play football well has sacri ficed the Bay Area a Super Bowl, and Lance’s injury means he will continue to disappoint 49ers fans for the remain der of the season.

The 49ers are an extremely talent ed team, playing seven members of the NFL Top 100. These members in clude offensive tackle Trent Williams, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, defensive end Nick Bosa, linebacker Fred Warner, safety Jimmie Ward and fullback Kyle Juszczyk. The developments of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and safety Talanoa Hufanga have also been very promising for the Bay Area football team.

Despite the talent on the 49ers’ ros ter, simply playing Garoppolo will be detrimental to the team. He has sin gle-handedly lost games in the past, and all signs point to him continuing to do so.

Garoppolo and the 49ers lost to the Denver Broncos 11 to 10 in his first game returning as starter.

During this game, Garoppolo com mitted one of the most atrocious blun ders I have ever witnessed in a football game, throwing a pick-six and pulling an Orlovsky on the same play.

through the endzone and out of bounds before the throw, gifting the Broncos two points and the ball.

The safety canceled out the intercep tion, but the 49ers still only lost by one point. The quarterback’s mistake fixed his other mistake, yet still cost the team the game. Garoppolo is so bad at foot ball that his inability to play well some how made him better.

Garoppolo’s limitations have result ed in even bigger losses for the 49ers in the past.

In 2020, doubt surrounding his skill set trickled in, after the 49ers lost Super Bowl LIV. The 49ers entered the fourth quarter up 20 to 10 and managed to keep it that way until the Kansas City Chiefs scored three unanswered touch downs in the last six minutes and 13 seconds of the game.

Garoppolo looked solid until the fourth quarter, where he threw for a mere 36 yards, only completing three passes out of 11 attempts. He also add ed an interception and took a sack on a fourth down during the quarter.

Garoppolo has negatively affected the franchise off of the field, as well. The 49ers were supposed to trade the quarterback during this past offseason in order to move onto Lance, but Ga roppolo elected to have shoulder sur gery, preventing the deal from finishing.

valuable starting guard Laken Tomlin son and almost lost Samuel because of contract disputes.

Garoppolo’s lack of ability has wast ed a 49ers’ Super Bowl opportunity, and his offseason decisions have forced the franchise to make compromised personnel changes, leaving the roster weaker than it potentially could have been. With Lance out for the year, Ga roppolo will continue to disappoint the 49ers and their fans, with no hope to be seen until next season.

Art by Denae Pitts

Snapping the ball on the 49ers’ own second yard line, Garoppolo scrambled to the sideline, only to throw an inter ception that was run back for a touch down. But, he also turned and sprinted

There was a deal in place to send the Eastern Illinois alum to the Washington Commanders, which fell apart after re ports of the procedure came out. This forced the 49ers to retain Garoppolo and his $26.96 million salary. As a re sult, the team was unable to bring back

The MLS Playoffs: The hidden gem of the fall

Joseph Heinemann Staff Writer

This fall is chock-full of great sport ing events with the start of the NFL, the NBA and the World Cup. Despite all the hoopla for these tremendous sport ing spectacles, I care to offer an unsung hero of autumn — the MLS playoffs.

The MLS grew steadily in popular ity over the past years, with the league making over $90 million per year off of its lucrative media deal since 2015.

With the rise in funding, the league dedicated its money to invest in the next generation of soccer fans. The youth academy league, MLS Next and the development league, MLS Next Pro, are examples of this goal, as the league grows its market beyond the traditional MLS base.

The growth in the U.S. soccer-watch ing market is having a positive impact on the league as a whole. The MLS incorporates new teams into the fold constantly with the addition of Austin FC in 2021 and Charlotte FC in 2022. The momentum is not dying down ei ther, with new expansion teams joining in 2023 and beyond.

All of this expansion has led to an exciting upcoming playoff season where more big-name players and teams are ramping up to face off.

One of these upcoming squads is the Philadelphia Union. The Union made a dramatic rise over the past two years, going all the way from 20th in 2020 to first in 2022. The leaders of this startup squad include the Hungarian mid fielder Daniel Gazdag, who is the

Art by Denae Pitts

third-highest scorer in the league, and German left back Kai Wagner, who is a shutdown player for the Union’s de fensive front. The club dominated the league statistics, ranking first in goals per match, clean sheets and intercep tions per match.

Philadelphia’s rival and longtime MLS team, CF Montreal, is using con sistency to stay at the top of the league standings. Despite being 18th in clean sheets and 25th in interceptions per match, the team carved out a place at second in the Eastern Conference and four wins above the third-place team.

CF Montreal is the old west sheriff of the MLS. They may not be new or flashy, but they know how to impose law and order on the rest of the league. This law bringer isn’t a bad shot either, with Montreal always winning in a shootout.

The last big team in the Eastern

Conference is New York City FC. New York is the reigning champion from last year and hopes to repeat its success this season. While they haven’t been nearly as dominant compared to 2021, NYC FC utilized their strength at goalkeep ing to push them to victory.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to beat a team you can’t score against, and the only other team that equals them in de fensive stopping power is the Philadel phia Union.

While the Eastern Conference is generally full of consistency and big statistics, the West chooses to be big on star power.

Los Angeles is home to two teams — Los Angeles FC and the LA Galaxy. While LA has struggled to be a big hub for new teams and sports, the MLS’ ex pansion and growth have been quite the exception. The two teams perfectly uti

lized the merging of star talent, enter tainment and of course, weather. LAFC boasts a cast of worldwide superstars, including one of the greatest Welsh footballers of all time Gareth Bale and the legendary Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.

The Galaxy isn’t a team to be up staged, and since these big LAFC sign ings, the LA Galaxy has worked on add ing some dynamic players as well.

The Mexican national team hero Chicharito has been a huge highlight for the team since his signing in 2020, and things have just gotten better with the team bringing in Riqui Puig from Bar celona FC. These are both great teams to root for, but fair warning — the Gal axy is close to being knocked out of the playoffs, so keep a close eye on them.

Regardless of who you choose to root for, this MLS playoff season should be one for ages. It not only marks a big change for the U.S. sports industry but for the development of soccer all across the U.S. and Canada. Happy watching, and may the best club win.

Opinion: ‘Linsanity’ inspired Asian Americans

Jerry Jiang Sports Editor

On Sept. 20, HBO Max announced the development of a documentary detailing the rise of then-New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. With Lin’s journey to superstardom, the Knicks were able to squeeze into the playoffs as the No.7 seed.

The documentary is set to release Oct. 11, and I, for one, will sign up for HBO Max just for that reason.

“Linsanity” is one of the best types of stories in the world of journalism — the underdog story. It’s a story that describes someone’s journey from obscurity to fame.

Sometimes the story takes a while to develop. Other times, it happens overnight.

The story of “Linsanity” is the latter. In February 2012, days before the Knicks threatened to cut Lin and shatter his NBA dreams, Lin rose to fame and beat the odds.

In a seven-game stretch, Lin lit the NBA world on fire and averaged 26.8 points, scored a total of 136 points — the most in NBA history for a play er’s first five starts — and put NBA legend Kobe Bryant on notice when he torched the Los Angeles Lakers with a 38-point performance.

The cultural impact “Linsanity” had on the Asian community in particular was unlike any other.

During “Linsanity,” I remember my eyes were glued to the television. I was far from a Knicks fan, but after hearing Lin’s miraculous story and the fact he is a product of the Bay Area, just like

me, gave me more reason to watch.

To see an Asian American on an NBA court was highly unusual and historic. Fans would remember NBA legend Yao Ming and his run with the Houston Rockets in the early 2000s, but this was different.

Ming was born and raised in Shanghai, China and was drafted No. 1 overall by the Rockets. Ming estab lished himself as a low-post presence and became a well-known powerhouse from the get-go. He was an eight-time All-Star and had respect from his peers, such as NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

In contrast to Ming, Lin went un drafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, and, although he had a short stint with the Golden State Warriors, Lin fizzled out of the NBA in 2011 and played in the NBA G League.

When a reporter asked Bryant if he was following the “Linsanity” story before their Feb. 10, 2012 matchup, Bryant answered, “Who?”

A fact many fail to realize or choose to ignore is Ming is Chinese whereas Lin is Taiwanese — a very big dif ference. Either out of ignorance or laziness, people would often not under stand the significance between the two due to cultural stereotypes.

Each had their own unique impact on the game of basketball. Ming spread popularity of basketball in China and eventually became the Chinese Bas ketball Association president in 2017, according to Bleacher Report.

Lin inspired Asian Americans in the United States and as an Asian American myself, watching “Linsanity”

sparked something lost in the game of basketball for me — hope.

The average Asian American is 5’7”. I don’t think it takes a genius to guess why there are so few Asian American basketball players professionally.

To see someone who looked like me playing the highest level of basketball was inspiring and motivating. Most Asian American hoopers will tell you about the basketball stereotypes Asians face on a daily basis.

On the blacktop, from my own per sonal experiences, I have been on the receiving end of stereotypes consistent ly. If there was another Asian person playing, the other players would joke and say, “Oh wait, now we don’t know who to pass it to.”

Whenever I would commit a turn over, someone would almost always yell, “Open your eyes, man!” Each stereotype was demoralizing, and I would always ask why minorities were getting tossed around like a punching bag when we were trying to do some thing we loved.

Pepperdine Men’s Basketball gradu ate student guard Jay Yoon said he also experienced stereotypes last spring, before senior night.

“Whenever someone looks at you from the outside perspective and sees an Asian American on a Division I basketball program, they’re like ‘Oh this guy. Who is this dude?’” Yoon said. “But, I never really minded much about that.”

The “Linsanity” story garners ap proval on the basketball court now that they know an Asian American made it that far — and that goes a long way.

The story of “Linsanity” is more than another success story.

It’s a cultural phenomenon that changed the course of Asian American basketball, according to Nets Daily. More and more people are inspired by Lin’s story, and there has been a rise in the coverage of Asian American athletes in general.

Amazn HQ is a digital sports platform that covers Asian American athletes across the country run by Pranav Iyer. North South Basketball is a tournament highlighting Bay Area hoopers and recently held their annual tournament in San Jose, Calif.

Ten years after “Linsanity,” I’m still in shock and amazed by the feat Lin pulled. For seven-straight games, Lin commanded the attention of the basketball world. The top price for a Knicks game ticket during “Linsanity” was about $4,000. The average price before Linsanity was $204.

Everyone wanted to tune in and support the overnight sensation.

The story of Lin taught us the lessons of perseverance, dedication and spawned the next generation of Asian American hoopers.

Thank you, Jeremy Lin, for teach ing us what the heart of a champion looked like.

jerry.jiang@pepperdine.edu

Women’s volleyball 3-1 victory over St. Mary’s College

Tony Gleason

No. 20 Pepperdine’s Wom en’s Volleyball beat Saint Mary’s College in four sets at Firestone Fieldhouse on Oct. 8. With this victory, the Waves have won five consecutive games, are undefeated when playing at home and are 12-4 on the season.

The Waves came out ready to compete, winning the first set 25-17 and the second set 25-19. Freshman outside hitter Emily Hellmuth played a big role during the first set with six kills and would go on to have 12 in the whole game, with a total of 13.5 points. Junior middle blocker Meg Brown, who leads the team in points with 189, also played a key role in the victory with 12 kills and 15 points.

Brown stepped up toward the end of sets two and four, as she had three kills in each set after the Waves scored their 14th point. Additionally, soph

omore outside/opposite hitter

Grace Chillingworth contrib uted to the offense with 10 kills and 14.5 points. During this game, Pepperdine’s 56 kills are the most they’ve had in a match since they had 58 kills against the University of San Diego on Sept. 22.

Brown said after coming off two losses against BYU and San Diego, it was nice having the team’s wins on their back to build their confidence a little bit as they grind and grow.

On the defensive side, grad uate student libero Riley Pat terson, coming off a game with 16 digs, added 21 digs to her team leading total which is now at 284. Meanwhile, defensive specialist Kayleigh Hames had 11 digs. Senior setter Isabel Zelaya, who is averaging 10.14 assists per set, had 34 assists which was a major contribution to the Waves’ offense. Fresh man middle blocker Vanessa Polk was also key on defense as she had 4 blocks, increasing her team leading total to 76.

Coming off wins in the first two sets, the Waves fell behind 6-0 and ended up losing the third set.

“We needed to refocus and

really get after the task at hand which was Saint Mary’s, a team that was playing really well,”

Head Coach Scott Wong said.

“We just needed to be a little better and focus on that.”

The Waves heeded Wong’s message. After the third set started off 5-5, the Waves pulled away from Saint Mary’s. The Waves went on a run of scoring nine points, while only letting up one, and ultimately won the set 25-14 which completed the 3-1 victory.

Chillingworth’s two kills and service aces, as well as Hellmuth’s three kills, highlighted the final set.

“We weren’t happy with how we played in the third set and we were looking for a clean sweep,” Hellmuth said. “A lot of our mentalities was to come out and really just show we shouldn’t have dropped that third set, we’re a much better volleyball team, and just show our competitiveness and our ability to recover from failure.”

This victory has allowed the Waves to remain undefeat

ed at home with a record of 6-0 when playing at Firestone Fieldhouse.

“I think it has a lot to do with being in our own gym,” Brown said. “I think if you could tell there were a few balls that were a little whacky in the ceilings that gives us a little bit of an advantage. Just being more comfortable at home, having our home crowd is al ways so much fun to play with and seeing familiar faces. It’s a really cool environment to play in.”

After two games at home, Pepperdine has a three game road trip where they play divi sion rivals Loyola Marymount, Portland and Gonzaga.

Hellmuth said the team is ready to get back into the men tality of coming into someone else’s house and having to prove themselves.

The Waves come together at Firestone Fieldhouse on Oct. 8 after scoring a point for their team. Fresh man outside hitter Emily Hellmuth and junior middle blocker Meg Brown each had 12 kills and two blocks for the Waves in their 3-1 victory over Saint Mary’s.

Colton Rubsamen | Staff Photographer

Sophomore

Colton

Polo fights back against San Jose State

Alec Matulka Assistant Sports Editor

No. 11 Water Polo completed a 13-10 comeback win against San Jose State at Raleigh Runnels Memo rial Pool on Oct. 9. The win moved the Waves to 11-9 overall and gave them a 1-0 start to Golden Coast Conference play.

Graduate student attacker Dennis Blyashov led the Waves with three goals and three as sists, while junior attacker Chris tian Hosea, junior center Travis Reynolds and junior center de fender Nico Tierney all contrib uted two goals. Senior goalie Spencer Tybur, a halftime sub stitute, made four saves to secure the win.

“This was a really import ant game just to get back in our flow,” Ho sea said. “Our team really needs wins like this going into our first games of confer ence, so this one was really important for sure.”

Pepperdine’s last game was at home against UCLA on Oct. 2 — a contentious exchange that ended in a 10-8 victory for the visiting Bruins. But as the Waves prepared to take on the Spartans, Blyashov said the UCLA game was the furthest thing from their minds.

“I don’t even remember the loss,” Blyashov said. “This was a conference game, so this was the only game we were focused on. ‘First game of the season’ is what we’ve been saying every game.”

San Jose State started the game with energy — the Spartans grabbed the opening possession in the first three quarters. Sophomore utility player Laszlo Szieben opened the scoring on the Spartans second possession with a rocket of a shot through the Waves defense.

Hosea responded with a goal at 6:02. After Spar tans sophomore utility player Bende Pardi scored his first goal of the game at 5:38, Hosea tied the score at 2-2 with his second strike of the quarter. The Waves and Spartans closed a hectic first period tied 3-3.

The Spartans took control in the second quarter through Pardi and freshman attacker Javi Ibanez. The pair combined for four goals, doubling the Waves at tacking output in the quarter.

“They have some great shooters,” Head Coach Terry Schroeder said. “We let those big shooters hurt us a bit early on. We made some adjustments, and we didn’t let those guys hurt us so much later on.”

Defensively, the Waves clamped down after half time — only two more Spartan shots found the back of the net in the entire second half. Schroeder said the team changed their strategy in the second period, and prioritized team defense over individual duels.

The Waves gave themselves a hefty hill to climb in the third quarter. At 5:25, Pepperdine was down 9-5.

“Being down 9-5, it didn’t look so good there,” Schroeder said. “No matter what the score is, we’ve got to keep fighting.”

a 13-10 lead with less than a minute to play.

As the game slipped away from the Spartans, the contest turned chippier. Referees handed out three yellow cards in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter to Spartan sophomore utility player Bence Szabo, Blyashov and San Jose State Head Coach Bruce Waston. Hosea said the Waves didn’t let this rattle them.

“Our coach has just been telling us to stay com posed since day one,” Hosea said. “All the calls might not go your way, but you just gotta keep fighting for your brothers.”

Pepperdine continues GCC play on the road Sat urday, Oct. 15, when they travel to Stockton, Calif., to take on University of the Pacific.

tion goal.

Tierney, Reynolds, senior center Austin Smit, Tier ney again, redshirt senior center Nicholas Fichman, freshman attacker Sandor Gal, Blyashov, Reynolds at the double — the announcer had little time to catch his breath between goal announcements, as Waves names echoed repeatedly through the foggy air. When the dust settled and the water calmed, the Waves held

Freshman attacker Sandor Gal hurls the ball toward the San Jose State net in Pepperdine’s 13-10 come-from-be hind victory in Malibu on Oct. 9. The Waves out-shot the Spartans 35 to 24.

Hot Shots: MLB Playoffs get underway

Tony Gleason Staff Writer

After a long 162 game season, postseason baseball is officially getting started with the American League and National League Wild Card series. An extra team now makes it to the playoffs, which will only add to the excitement.

For the past 10 years, there wasn’t a Wild Card Series. Rather, it was a winner-takes-all single game played between the four and five seeds in each respec tive league in the MLB. But, in 2022, an extra team was added to the postseason in each league. Now the No. 3 plays the No. 6 and the No. 4 plays the No. 5 seed in a best of three game series.

For the American League, the No. 3 Cleveland Guardians will be taking on the No. 6 Tampa Bay Rays. Additionally, the No. 4 Toronto Blue Jays will be taking on the No. 5 Seattle Mariners, Seattle’s first trip to the postseason since 2001.

As for the National League, the No. 3 St. Louis Cardinals will be taking on the No. 6 Philadelphia Phillies, their first time in the postseason since 2011, along with the No. 4 New York Mets taking on the No. 5 San Diego Padres.

Here are my predictions on who has the best chanc es in this year’s postseason.

Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Guardians

Prediction: Guardians win in 3

This is probably the most even series, as both the Rays and Guardians have some of the best pitching in all of baseball. The Rays have an elite arm in starting pitcher Shane McClanahan while the Guardians have an elite arm in starting pitcher Shane Bieber. Addi tionally, each team has quality arms coming out of the bullpen as the Guardians have Emmanuel Clase,

James Karinchak and Trevor Stephan and the Rays have Pete Fairbanks, Jason Adam and Brooks Raley.

The Guardians will end up on top. The Rays have a handful of injuries—causing the Guardians to have a deeper lineup.

Seattle Mariners @ Toronto Blue Jays

Prediction: Blue Jays win in 2

The Seattle Mariners have been one of the best stories in baseball this year as they have finally end ed their 21 year long playoff drought, but their return to the postseason will be short lived. They head to Toronto to take on an elite offense consisting of first basemen Vladimir Guerrero Jr., centerfielder George Springer, designated hitter Alejandro Kirk and right fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Not to mention, the Blue Jays will have AL Cy Young candidate starting pitcher Kevin Gausman and starting pitcher Alek Manoah on the mound.

While the Mariners do have guys like Rookie of the Year candidate centerfielder Julio Rodriguez, third baseman Eugenio Suarez and first baseman Ty France along with a nice starting pitching one-two of Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray, it likely won’t be enough to take down the Blue Jays.

Philadelphia Phillies @ Saint Louis Cardinals

Prediction: Cardinals win in 3

This is what I believe to be the most interesting series. The Phillies are a very top heavy team, as they have have an elite one-two starting pitching combi nation of Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler, along with some of the best power-hitters like reigning MVP pitcher Bryce Harper and NL home-run leader Kyle Schwarber. However, their rotation and lineup lacks the depth that the Cardinals have. While the Cardi

nals lack a clear ace, they have four quality starters they could send out, including starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, who has 114.1 innings pitched in the postseason.

As for their lineup, the Cardinals have star power in MVP candidates Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arena do. Cardinals also have a deeper lineup as the Phillies lineup depth falls off after their No. 4 hitter. Not to mention, the Phillies have one of the worst defenses in baseball with -32 defensive runs saved.

This series could go either way, and I could see the Phillies brute forcing their way to a series win. Ulti mately, the Cardinals will win due to their depth.

San Diego Padres @ New York Mets

Prediction: Mets win in 3

The 10.5 game division lead the Mets had is gone, but they’re still a force to be reckoned with. They have the best starting rotation in baseball, consisting of elite arms Jacob Degrom and Max Scherzer with another quality arm in Chris Bassitt behind them.

In the bullpen, the Mets have elite closing pitcher Edwin Diaz. But, you can’t count the Padres out as Ja cob Degrom hasn’t been himself in recent starts. The Padres also have a couple of elite hitters in right fielder Juan Soto and third basemen Manny Machado.

Designated hitter Josh Bell, second baseman Jake Cronenworth and first baseman Brandon Drury will aid in the lineup, to go along with a strong starting pitching rotation of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell. It’s going to be an interesting series, but ultimately the Mets will end up on top.

Lucian Himes | Photo Editor

Pepperdine surf team finds balance

Jerry Jiang Sports Editor

Club sports athletes differ greatly from NCAA Division I.

Though these are a lot of similari ties, like watching film, having multiple practices a day and grueling work of balancing hectic schedules, club sports athletes are committed to the love of the game. Club sports athletes don’t receive scholarships or any benefits, either, said Coordinator of Recreational Sports Ju lian Baker.

Club sports athletes are committing to the team and the sport because of their passion, sophomore Natalie Al derton said.

“[Surfing’s] one of my biggest pas sions, and it brings me joy,” Alderton said. “I surfed most mornings before class. So, regardless of whether or not we have surfing practice, I’m pretty much going every day just because it’s one of my favorite things in the world.”

Recruiting for Players

The surfing team is among six club sports teams on campus. Baker said re cruitment for players has to start early in the school year when the energy is high.

“Some of their past success helps with our recruiting efforts,” Baker said. “I think our location helps with that surfer community. It’s maybe not as much of a struggle to kind of find surfers out there and I think now hav ing a really committed and like-minded coach, it’s really solid leadership.”

Senior Jeff Proodian said then-team manager Tajuki Masuda recruited him to the surf team as a first-year. Proodian joined a Pepperdine surf team practice when he was a senior in high school and knew Masuda through mutual friends, Proodian said.

Proodian said it was tough to decide whether or not he could surf collegiate ly, but decided he would focus on edu cation and pursue surfing as a passion.

“I would still be surfing competitive ly, just not Division I,” Proodian said. “We compete with a bunch of different schools. I mean, it’s not on paper Divi sion I, but it’s pretty close.”

Both Proodian and Alderton said they started surfing at a young ages. Proodian started when he was 10-yearsold and Alderton has surfed as long as she can remember.

Proodian said although he disliked surfing at first, he gave it another try and realized and it was something he loved. Surfing is a pretty

frustrating sport, Proodian said. Though he couldn’t really get up on his board for the first couple of times, Proodian kept on trying, he said.

“I finally did [get on my board], but even when I did, I was like, ‘Oh my God, like this is just crazy how long it took,’” Proodian said. “As I got older, I was like, ‘OK, I can do this.’ I started getting a lot better and progressing and doing well. Now I’m here.”

Introducing the Team

Head Coach Joseph Rickabaugh is going into his second year as head coach. Rickabaugh and Baker connect ed in the summer of 2021 and Baker saw his vision, energy and passion for the sport of surfing, Baker said.

“I think, really, what stood out to us was his ability to connect with stu dents,” Baker said. “It’s different with club sports. The way that [athletes] need to be guided and coached, it’s not the same as the NCAA.”

The team recently completed try outs, and Baker said the surfers have optimism for this season.

Baker said the team was missing two of their best surfers last year when they were abroad, and half the team are re turners and a lot of them are first-years. However, the team still has strong lead ership, Baker said.

“I’m really excited to see what they can do in the water this year,” Baker said. “We’ve got a couple competitions coming up and we’re excited.” One of the biggest chal lenges he faced throughout his time with the surf team has been with the coach ing turnover, Proodian said.

“That was definite ly something that was challenging,” Proodian said. “Not because of their coaching abilities, just more so getting used to how they coach and being able to tie that into how we surf com petitively, but it worked. It worked out really well. We were able to adapt and

we really like our coach now.”

Like the rest of the athletics world, COVID-19 provided another challenge to collegiate teams. Because of the changing schedules and competitions, it was harder to schedule practices to prepare, Alderton said.

Favorite Memories with the Team

Both Proodian and Alderton said their favorite memories on the surf team come from bonding during road trips. Though the team doesn’t tend to travel out of state, they do venture as south as San Diego, Calif., and as north as Santa Cruz, Calif., Proodian said.

competing, Alderton said.

“I really enjoyed that and getting to hang out with people on the beach and read up for everybody,” Alderton said.

Looking Forward at the Season

Baker said the club’s biggest goal is to continue building cohesiveness with in the team.

“I think last year some of our players had the feeling that they were robbed of some of their feats,” Baker said. “That’s sports, that’s sometimes it’s just how it happens. But, I think this year, we’re looking for a few better finishes out of some of our surfers.”

“Even those just little little car jour neys are pretty fun just being with the team and then staying all together,” Proodian said. “Living with each other for the weekend, and just being able to root for each other while competitions are going on. It’s just a different expe rience each competition and it’s always been really fun.”

Alderton said another good memory originated from the NSA Ventura Com petition in fall 2021.

The team actually had a lot of mem bers make it pretty far into the competition against all of the other California colleges that were

Baker said in the 2021-22 academic year, the new surfers had a lot of really raw talent. Rickabaugh’s main goals are to get better competition surfers and also seeing them grow, Baker said.

The surfing team starts their season Oct. 29.

Members of Pepperdine Surf Team poses for a picture after the NSSA Ventura Harbor Contest on Nov. 7. Alderton said this was her favorite memory so far being part of the surf team.

Senior Jeff Proodian catches a wave during the Huntington Beach Pier Competition in July. Proodian joined the Pepperdine surf team when he was a senior in high school.

Photo courtesy of Natalie Alderton

Photo courtesy of Jeff Proodian

Design by Betsy Burrow