Conversations

Mayor Eric Garcetti says that for Los Angeles homelessness is the “the moral and humanitarian crisis of our time.”

A professor of design talks about design in one of the world’s creative capitals, Los Angeles.

Solving homelessness will require good design as well as more housing stock. This designer is working on it.

A long-distance runner describes how her competitiveness helped her not care about pain.

In 1976, prospects for the El Segundo blue butterfly were so dire that the insect was placed on the endangered species list. Since then, community organizations and individuals have worked on restoring the butterfly’s habitat in coastal dunes. But although preservation efforts have produced results, the blue butterfly’s survival remains a concern.

Tom Chabolla’s roots in Catholic social justice and Ignatian spirituality go back to his days on the LMU campus and his exploration of life in the Society of Jesus.

Professional athletes are beginning to openly discuss a long-hidden secret: their mental health struggles and the stigma that comes with them. William D. Parham, SOE professor and director of the National Basketball Players Association Mental Health and Wellness Program, describes the pressures that accompany the glory of life as an elite professional athlete.

Eric Erlandson ’86 discusses “Letters to Kurt,” his book of letters to his friend Kurt Cobain written 20 years after Cobain’s suicide, and the influence of music on his own life.

The modern mythology of Los Angeles is a story of both selling imagination and rewarding creativity. Lynell George ’84 talks with writer Gary Krist about the city he calls the “mirage factory.”

When LMU entered a new era of athletics earlier this summer, the university turned toward a national college athletics powerhouse, the University of Oregon, for its next AD, Craig Pintens.