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Sep

And Now For Something Completely Different—The Big Sur Fashion Show

by Meredith Mullins on September 10, 2018

Jamie Oksas dances in a fashion made of netting, rope, crayons, and shoe laces—a cultural encounter with community spirit at the Big Sur Fashion Show. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The Big Sur Fashion Show is so much more than a fashion show.
(Designer, model, and dancer: Jamie Oksas)
© Meredith Mullins

A Cultural Encounter with the Spirit of Community

The Fashion Week buzz is brewing in Paris, New York, and London, where unsmiling models will soon walk briskly on catwalks with haughty disdain. But we, on the California Coast, are thousands of (metaphoric and real) miles away.

We’re at The Big Sur Fashion Show—a vibrant and unconventional celebration of artistic imagination. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 10 Comments

Cultural Encounters/USA

Sep

Shaking Up Cultural Traditions By Seeking Silence

by Meredith Mullins on September 3, 2018

View of Pacific coast from the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a place where seeking silence is the norm and where the cultural traditions of Labor Day can be challenged. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The view from the New Camaldoli Hermitage on the Pacific Coast of California
© Meredith Mullins

A Memorable Labor Day Celebration

Happy Labor Day —the unofficial end of summer and, for many folks, a transition to the action-packed days of autumn.

School. New friends. New adventures. A farewell to lazy beach days. TV season premieres. Fall fashion trends. Back to work. NFL kickoffs in the U.S. The rentrée (return) in France. A change in weather. A change in light.

A time of new beginnings. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 14 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/USA

Aug

Nature Watch: California Sea Otter Savvy

by Meredith Mullins on August 13, 2018

A California sea otter, reminding us to be on nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Protecting the Southern Sea Otter

Who wins the coveted “Most Adorable” award in the marine mammal yearbook year after year?

The California Sea Otter—hands down (or paws up, depending on your perspective).

If you travel to the California Central Coast and look to the Pacific Ocean or its estuaries (or visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium), chances are good that you will see some playful Southern Sea Otters. And you’ll fall in love.

Meredith Mullins 4 Comments

Nature Discovery/USA

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