Summer 2017

COVER STORY

Virtue Reality

If the question “Why am I here?” is the most foundational question humans ask themselves, then “What is sin?” must be second. The Seven Deadly Sins have been with us for centuries. Their guise may change, but their appeal never weakens. Here we examine the Seven Deadly Sins — they’re still with us, as deadly as ever.

PODCAST

Lisa See ’79

Lisa See is the author of 10 novels and a nonfiction book that explore Chinese and Chinese-American experiences in the United States. Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch talks with See about her new novel, “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane,” and her days as an LMU undergraduate, when she was certain she’d never be a writer.

American Limbo

An alumna who came to the United States as a 10-year-old writes about the importance of the DACA program. To shield her from possible deportation if DACA is rescinded, her identity is purposely being withheld.

What You See

What happens to a representative political system when truth and reality become contested, or even subverted, by actors within the institution itself?

Leaving Home

Lisa See’s“The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane” is a story of separation in China’s Yunnan Province and its impact on lives thereafter. Read an excerpt here.

Beast of Burden

Gerrymandering, the drawing of boundaries of electoral districts, is shaping up to be one of the most contentious issues in politics for the next several years. Here’s a quick guide.

Heart of Comedy

Jim McDermott, S.J., a Jesuit who has tried his hand at stand-up comedy gives talks about his top ten comedians who feed the spirit along with the need to laugh.

Chinatown

Lisa See ’79 spent lots of time in her grandparents’ family story in L.A.’s Chinatown. Here she remembers being entranced by Chinatown’s sights and aromas.

Origins: Meghna Singhvi

The origin story of Meghna Singhvi, professor of accounting in the College of Business Administration, started in Udaipur, India, and, after stopovers in Ohio and Kentucky, it brought her to her home in Los Angeles.

Colton Plaia and Life in the Minors

Colton Plaia, who finished a stellar baseball career at LMU in 2013, was drafted by the New York Mets and now plays for Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Mets’ Double-A affiliate. Check out his thoughts on life in the minors.

A Conversation With Demian Willette

Demian Willette, a biology instructor in the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, and his students study fish fraud — the mislabeling of fish species — as a way of improving the traceability of fish in the food supply chain.

Midfielder: Sarina Bolden

Sarina Bolden’s standout play during the 2016 LMU women’s soccer caught the attention of U.S. Soccer and earned her an invitation to a U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team training camp this past spring.

Hiding Love

When Bryant Verador ’06 proposed marriage to Shalimar Zabanal ’06, he devised an elaborate plan to turn the occasion into a unique game of hide-and-seek.

Scholarship Initiative

LMU’s five-year Scholarship Initiative, launched in October 2012, successfully ended earlier this year by topping its $100 million goal by $3 million, a “record-setting achievement,” said President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.

Fish Fraud

A diagram of the path fish may take, from the moment caught in the ocean to processing, transshipment, port arrival, distribution, retail and the table of your favorite restaurant.

The Contester

George H. Dunne, S.J., ’26 was a prominent voice in the U.S. Catholic Church for integration, ecumenism and economic development in developing nations.

LMU Announces Playa Vista Campus

LMU Playa Vista Campus will house graduate programs for the School of Film and Television and provide space for academic and creative activities and events. Opening in fall 2018, it will be located in The Brickyard Playa Vista.

Private: English Professor Paul Harris Reads His Poem Greed

His poem, Greed, is in a form of creative writing known as constrained writing, in which the author chooses to write within a constraint. Here, the choice to use only one vowel (called monovocalism) was suggested by the titular word — the long e sound of greed expresses its sense.