Art by Autumn Hardwick
Dear Pepperdine,
This Valentine’s Day we, the Graphic, wanted to take a moment and appreciate all the things we love about Pepperdine and Malibu. We know we can be critical of you, from parking to food, but there is still so much we love about our campus and its people.
To begin, we love you all — our readers, our supporters and the people who challenge us and question us. We appreciate your engagement and truly value your readership. You are the reason we do what we do and the reason we tell the stories we tell.
We love our professors, who inspire us, educate us, encourage us and make us think critically and engage deeply. They make Pepperdine a welcoming and inclusive environment, even when they give us a little more work than we want to handle.
We love our administrators, who work daily to ensure our safety and provide a world-class education. They put time and effort into the simple, little parts of Pepperdine that we take for granted every day.
We love our classmates, even if you ignore our content. Without you, we wouldn’t have stories to tell, and without you, we couldn’t enjoy these formative years. You make us laugh, keep us entertained and probably frustrate us a little, but without you, Pepperdine wouldn’t be the community that it is.
We love Malibu, including its warmth and sunshine, sparkling ocean, dazzling sunsets and vibrant small businesses. This beauty and peace far outweighs the Santa Ana winds and lack of nightlife.
We wrote a list of things we love — now it’s your turn.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, maybe we can all learn to choose love instead of hate on campus and in our community.
Instead of posting critical comments on the Freedom Wall, perhaps we could use it for good this week and shout out the things we love. While it is typically used to enact change in the community, it can also be a place to spread love to your peers.
Instead of posting snarky comments on social media, we could lift each other up and acknowledge how someone else may hold a different perspective. While our content is not always sunshine and roses, we encourage healthy dialogue.
Although our opinion pieces and your comments may be critical, we ask of you what we demand of ourselves — for those opinions and comments to come from a good-natured place of love. Both PGM as an organization and our readers would do well to assume our fellow community members want Pepperdine to be a loving place.
Maybe the Caf food isn’t your favorite, maybe your legs hurt by the amount of stairs or maybe you just simply feel overwhelmed with the work you need to get done, but at the end of the day, we are all lucky to call Pepperdine home.
On this Valentine’s Day, we ask that you join us in recognizing that we all have room for growth and improvement, and it may take collective forgiveness, hope and love to kickstart that growth.
XOXO,
Pepperdine Graphic Media
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Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
