Photos: Hank Tovar/picturesthatmove.com
West Is Eden
Ken McAlpine’s latest book “Together We Jump” was praised by Sunset Magazine as “lyrical, evocative and deeply moving … a luminous American novel.” He is also the author of the novel “Fog” and the non-fiction works “Off Season: Discovering America on Winter’s Shore” and “Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization.” His magazine articles have earned three Lowell Thomas awards, travel writing's top award. He is based in Ventura, California.
West Is Eden:
Each time I see Two Trees they whisper the same thing to me. If your town has an icon -- and I'm betting it does -- you understand.
West Is Eden:
These kinds of people, they reside in the places that last. In our character. In our choices. In our minds and our hearts.
West Is Eden:
How often do we step ahead when standing still is what matters?
West Is Eden:
Starving sea lion pups are washing up on Southern California beaches in record numbers -- at a rate five times the norm. It has gotten so bad the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared an "unusual mortality event."
West Is Eden:
What happened to us? When did we become so elevator-silent, so dour, so proper, so scrunch-faced, so mature?
West Is Eden:
The words just kind of snuck up on him. Words can do that. Depressing, inspiring, uplifting, unsettling, erotic. Life-changing.
West Is Eden:
In these graduating times, cause for celebration and remembering: smeary handprints won't forever stay messy or small.
West Is Eden:
We all crave reassurance, the knowledge that a scrap of us will last beyond the flare of our life.
West Is Eden:
College shouldn't just be about how much money you should make. The questions are far grander. What barrier will I break? How can I change the world?
West Is Eden:
Sex. Anger. Lust. Now I know you'll read.
West Is Eden:
We are a strange and sometimes beautiful species.
West Is Eden:
We all know what happened to New England cod and, before that, the great whales. The oceans are not what they used to be.
West Is Eden:
On March 5th I will raise my glass to Channel Islands National Park and my friend James, who have both reminded me of a simple but infinitely valuable lesson.
West Is Eden:
I looked down at my son and I lied. "Sometimes things are meant to die and there's nothing you can do."
West Is Eden:
Mist blew in. I tasted salt on both our lips.
West Is Eden:
There's a new Walmart in Simi Valley. It's the second Walmart there -- on the same street, miles away. What do all these big boxes in Ventura County mean?
West Is Eden:
It's the people you never hear of who really make a difference. And the boys from New Jersey and the California surfboard shaper fit that bill.
West Is Eden:
I do worry about the children. How do they see a bulletproof backpack? What do they think about a playground fenced off on the weekend? What does this look like to someone who still believes in Santa Claus?
West Is Eden:
There is no place I'd rather be than here in salt-laced, downy-soft nightfall. There aren't words for this sort of happiness. It is like falling in love. Huell understood.
West Is Eden:
What is right, wrong, innocence, guilt?
SoCal Focus is a daily blog about the people, places and issues in and around Southern California.
I Am Los Angeles: Strings of Success
Sasha is content just to be living his life on his own terms, doing something he thoroughly enjoys: building and playing guitars.
Watch
