Cover Story
No matter where you go around the globe, chances are there’s someone there who knows the eight-clap.
DELAN BRUCE | COLLAGE ART BY JABARI JACOBS
Plus: 12 Hungry Bruins
At Dinners for 12 Strangers, a Bruin tradition for five decades, guests arrive as mutual unknowns but depart as friends, full of both delectable food and a new appreciation for the ties that bind the UCLA family.
BRIAN DAWSON
Features
Where Is the Economy Really Headed? Ask Them.
For the past 70 years, the UCLA Anderson Forecast has supplied critical insights on the economy. In these volatile financial times, its brand of analysis is proving more vital than ever.
MALCOLM BURNLEY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEVI BROWN
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Justina Blakeney ’01 turned a passion for all things bold, bright and beautiful into a retail home design empire. But it was her years at UCLA that proved an artful foundation for her amazing creative journey.
TERRIE COLLYMORE
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The Issue That’s Tearing America Apart
UCLA’s new Initiative to Study Hate represents a critical effort to root out what’s causing the alarming rise in hate across the country – and what we can do to stop it.
LISA FUNG | ILLUSTRATIONS BY ERIK CARTER
Plus: Is Kindness Contagious?
That’s what UCLA’s Bedari Kindness Institute wanted to find out. The answer may surprise you.
JESSICA WOLF | ILLUSTRATION BY ERIK CARTER
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How UCLA became a cool setting for a new crop of fiction.
JOHN HARLOW AND UCLA MAGAZINE
Departments
CHANGE AGENT
With Bruin blood running through his veins, Walter Thompson-Hernández is bringing amazing chronicles to the world, one medium at a time.
CHRISTINE SPEER LEJEUNE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUSSEIN KATZ
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FORWARD THINKER
From the Count Basie Orchestra to BTS, Duane Benjamin is bringing a jazzy sensibility to modern music.
NANCY GONDO ’92 | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KOURY ANGELO
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LIFE SIGNS
The ideal of respectful political discussions seems more out of reach than ever. How can we rekindle the art of meaningful dialogue?
DAN GORDON ’85 | ILLUSTRATIONS BY BEN KONKOL
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HAIL TO THE HILLS
Chancellor Franklin Murphy looked at a gravel parking lot and saw a vision: verdant, landscaped sculpture grounds that would become a haven of beauty at UCLA.
MARY DAILY | ILLUSTRATION BY MARIA RABINKY
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BIG PICTURE
Students living on the Hill face the daunting challenge of ascending staircases with names like the “Death Stairs” and the “Awkward Steps” on their journeys to and from campus.
KARENNA MEYER
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AT ISSUE
The War We Must Win
The interdisciplinary UCLA Initiative to Study Hate seeks to eliminate identity-based bigotry and discrimination from American culture.
UCLA CHANCELLOR GENE BLOCK
Quick Takes
A new biography explores the forgotten legacy of Kenny Washington, the Bruin who broke the color barrier in the NFL.
MIKE FRICANO
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How COVID has unraveled our sleep.
JOHN HARLOW
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In a new documentary, a UCLA professor says L.A. needs to rethink its relationship with water.
JOHN HARLOW
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A new biography pays homage to a brilliant master of anime.
ANNE PAUTLER
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The federal government knows its web services are in desperate need of ingenuity. Is it any surprise it turned to three Bruins for help?
MADELINE ADAMO
