From the Editor

Culture, Dawn Garcia, From the Editor, Issue No. 7

Maya Angelou

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Letter From The Editor: You see, we live in a world that is chaotic and full of hate but then we are given a beacon of light. A human being who does not accept our willful attempts at hate. A human being who looks deeper into humanity and simply watches it behave in order to understand who it truly has become. Mind you, not who it is but rather who it has allowed itself to become. She epitomized the idea that conditioning ones soul to respond in anger or hate is mere choice by which we can make a change. She believed inexhaustibly that life was hope. That dreaming was essential. That caging a free bird was the detriment of ones soul. This woman declared that regardless of what change happens “to her”, it would never reduce her worth, her value, diminish the core of who she was. That woman – that human being – is Maya Angelou.

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Dawn Garcia, From the Editor, Issue No. 4

Living in the NOW

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We try so very hard to live in the moment but in today’s world the moments move so fast its near impossible to even see them before they pass by like a twitter feed.

The JOB.

I have a job that moves quickly, scurries about town, sends me traveling to lovely places and is in a perpetual state of “warp speed”. That said, there are sweet spots in doing what I love and those are the times I revel in. I have met so many artists, worked with some big names, and the one constant is – SO much has changed in entertainment. In hospitality. In the way that we communicate. I live in the age of digital media (even the structure of this magazine relies on it) and social media? My greatest asset. HOWEVER – we have created the land of ADHD with all of the exponential realms of instant gratification.

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Culture, Exclusive, From the Editor

Supporting Journalists in the Field: RISC

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I am re-posting this Year-in-Review by a respected colleague, journalist, Award Winning Author, and Academy Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Sebastian Junger. I am doing so because as a journalist, the support available is limited in terms of those who risk their lives to be on the front lines in order to deliver a story to the masses. I want to take a moment to thank Sebastian for doing an interview in the Magazine earlier this year AND for spending an entire hour with me on my Radio Show. RISC is not only essential to the field of journalism but it’s purpose is infinite.

– Dawn Garcia, Editor-in-Chief

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Culture, Exclusive, Featured, From the Editor

Time to Live

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We cannot predict or possibly fathom what may or may not happen but we can pause long enough not to miss the things happening right now. We can be grateful for a laugh, a smile, a hug, a kiss, an opportunity, an accomplishment, a breath, the birds in the trees, the sound of the ocean frolicking on the shore, the moment your kid says “I love you” and means it. We have for sure only THIS moment and regardless of how hard times may be or the challenges life continues to present, you are strong and you can survive – and you will. Today, think of all of the things happening in this world and I beg you to be in the present moment and find the wonder in that.

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California, Culture, From the Editor, Writing, Writing Tips

Writing Tip: JUST WRITE

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Writing is a craft much like it is a necessity. The art of story telling, of clarifying your ideas, releasing trapped emotion, healing heartfelt wounds, everything left unsaid – somehow the power of being able to sit down with pen in hand, no boundaries, no limitations, no concern for who may or may not read it – it’s liberating. It’s like a secret club. This wonderful place you can run to when talking seems inadequate. The escape for everything we contain inside comes out in words placed onto a vacant screen or an empty notebook or napkin or back of a receipt. Whatever means necessary to harness the release we so crave.

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Art, California, Culture, From the Editor, Los Angeles

A Woman Stripped.

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I am a woman stripped. Stripped of everything that tries to rest on my flesh and make me cringe within the skin that is holding my organs together. I am broken. Broken into a million sharp and jagged little pieces of transparent glass reflecting every experience I have ever had. I am afraid. Afraid to let go and let the world see all of the cracks and faults and frightening truths I am shoving back inside. I am naked. Bare. Exposed. Flawed. I am human. I am – BEAUTIFUL.

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