Object Lesson

Sneakers, for some of us, are an identity statement. Exclusive one are collectors’ items. To London James ’13, they are wondrous works of ceramic art.

In the long, empty hours between the horrific battles of World War I, soldiers sometimes turned their attention to making works of art, now known, and valued, as trench art.

A lock of hair: symbol, simultaneously, of life and death. It will outlive you, and it may tell stories after you’ve gone.

Today, animated films are usually done on computer — but LMU wants its animation students to learn the old-fashioned way. Fortunately, the School of Film and Television owns a 35-mm still camera to teach them how.

The chest is leather-bound and rust-colored. The leather pulls away from the metal frame in places and frays in others. The chest’s dimensions are 15 in. x 21 in. x 14 in. It has a metal hasp and buckles, which once helped keep it locked. Union Army markings identify it as a Civil War container.

A century ago, the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a 223-mile ribbon of water, slaked the thirst of an expanding City of Angels. Southern California was transformed, as was the Owens Valley, the water’s source. Click here to see images from the Owens Valley collected by J.D. Black.

Few things would make Dan Hyslop, M.D., happier than plunging a syringe into about 9,000 arms.

Coyotes — our wild neighbors — live an accommodating lifestyle along the bluff and in the nearby wetlands. They may be adapting to the natural surroundings better than the humans.

Thanks to a generous campaign donation, LMU now owns a full-size reproduction of The Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten, hand-illuminated bible created since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago.