Photo by Melissa Houston
Things change.
When approaching this Special Edition of the Graphic, there were so many different thoughts in my head that I had to compress and focus to really create something I could be happy with.
I knew I wanted to make it about music, but then what? I couldn’t just ramble about my favorites and least favorites or what I’ve been listening to this past year — I needed to give it a news angle. I wanted to make it diverse and fair, but what did I know about some of these stories?
I thought about my relationship with music and how much it changed. It’s not that the music gradually changed after it was released, but some of my favorite albums are albums I don’t touch anymore, and some music I never would’ve expected to listen to are in my constant rotation.
So what changed? I did. My music reflected the changes that I went through within my own life.
I’m no longer the high school freshman who was barely aware of himself, with an overwhelming amount of thoughts and feelings that I kept to myself while spending hours lost in music.
I’m 22 years old. I’m in my senior year of university, I’ve fallen in love, I started working to be the change I want to see in my community, I’ve visited the country I was constantly told about by my family growing up and I’ve learned how to harness my thoughts and ideas and articulate them through writing.
It’s not just that I changed, it’s that I grew, and it’s an experience I noticed when looking at everybody around me.
I decided to grab seven genres and give it a twist. There’s only so much you could write about your favorite sixteen bars or drum breaks or guitar riffs.
The goal of this Special Edition is to cover the lives of real people in our community. While looking at our community, we wanted to consider both self-discovery and unity, both the internal and external.
Around half the stories in this Special Edition consider self-discovery at an important time for finding out who you really are, the college years. The other half looks at how music helps unity for a society largely affected by isolation culture, as well as a community who went through difficult times with the recent fires.
This Special Edition is about the change and growth that we go through everyday. It isn’t just about music, it’s about you, me, our friends, our families, our classmates and coworkers and everyone. It’s about people.
Sincerely,
Nick
__________________
Follow the Graphic on X: @PeppGraphic
Email Nick Charkhedian: nareg.charkhedian@pepperdine.edu
