CONTRIBUTORS

Yuval Levin is the founding editor of National Affairs, director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and a contributing editor of National Review. He is the author of five books on public policy and political theory, including “The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism.” In 2020, he published his latest book, “A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream.”

Naomi Schaefer Riley is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on issues regarding child welfare. She is a former columnist for the New York Post and a former Wall Street Journal editor and writer, as well as the author of six books. Her latest, “Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America,” was named an editor’s pick by The New York Times Book Review.

Nancy French is a five-time New York Times bestselling author. She’s also written opinion pieces for The Washington Post, USA Today, and National Review. In 2012, with her husband David French, she ran “Evangelicals for Mitt Romney” for the Romney campaign.

Michael J. Mooney is a New York Times bestselling author. He writes for ESPN, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, GQ, and Popular Mechanics. His stories have appeared in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Crime Reporting.

Thomas Griffith is a former federal judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before his appointment to the bench he was Senate Legal Counsel, the chief legal officer of the United States Senate.

Pierce Thiot is an art director and creative director based in LA and finds time to work between surfing sessions and daily Disneyland attendance. He has worked with agencies internationally and won an Emmy.

Weston Colton is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer based in Utah. While his photography frequently covers everything from lifestyle to product, he especially enjoys photographing people in their own unique, personal environments, combining portraiture and architecture.

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BY ERICA EVANS

Brittany Watson Jepsen learned how to sew from her grandmother — Dorothy Bradshaw — who had dedicated an entire bedroom in her mid-century Los Angeles home to hems, backstitches, and finish seams. To Jepsen, now 38, it was a sewing room of wonders. There was a cabinet filled with fabrics from all over the world. There were trims and ribbons scattered everywhere. Each piece turned into a patchwork of memories in Jepsen’s mind. Her grandmother’s hands taught her how to create with her own — guiding her around the sewing machine and placing thimbles on her fingers as she attached buttons to cream-colored dresses.

Jepsen, who learned how to make bags, ornaments, Halloween costumes, blankets, dresses, party decorations and more, has since turned these memorable lessons with her grandmother into a thriving brand and creative services studio — The House That Lars Built. The site itself has hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and serves as a lifestyle blog, design studio and shop with collections of licensed product lines. The House That Lars Built is in fact built upon skills passed down through the generations of her family as a foundation for her own success.

Lifestyle bloggers like Jepsen are in the business of taking the knowledge and love for the creative that was passed down generation by generation in families and sharing it with the whole world. What was once domestic is now a career.

If you scroll through Jepsen’s website, you’ll see posts dedicated to DIY quilted coats, stepby-step instructions on how to create your own wreaths, and roundups of Andy Warhol-inspired home décor. Jepsen is an internet-age tastemaker using timeworn traditions to shape modern aesthetics. “My mom was also instrumental in showing what types of things I could dig into and not limiting creativity to one thing,” Jepsen recalls. “She would say, ‘a creative mess is better than tidy idleness.’”

Through that maternal encouragement — and a tendency to take up all offers of digging in and making messes — Jepsen became fascinated with learning and creating. During one particular creative phase, a pre-teen Jepsen spent hours pouring over a 5-inch thick book that detailed her family tree. She followed the records of each branch, reaching back to Denmark, Norway, and Ireland — and read the first-person accounts of difficult journeys west. These real life tales of adventure inspired her to keep dozens of journals herself. Eventually — as all things seem to do — her journals found a home on the internet. And a blog was born. “I could record experiences and projects influenced by my past,” Jepsen says. “And I found people were interested in them. A lot of the projects I make now are derivative of things I grew up with.”

It’s a delightful spin on the adage that “everything old is new again.” Jepsen has a knack for bringing the past into the present with addictively whimsical originality. One holiday season, she turned black and white photographs of her ancestors into heirloom Christmas ornaments by printing them on linen and stuffing them with cotton to form tiny pillows. Then, using a needle and thread, she outlined elements in the photos like bows, hats, blushing cheeks and bicycle wheels with a cross stitch to add a quaint pop of color. “It gives them a classic, old but new feel,” Jepsen says. “That’s something l like to do with everything.”

Laura Knapp Alviso, 29, is also in the business of making old things new again. Her blog and Instagram account — Knapp Time Crafts — has gained notoriety for refurbishing thrift store finds and creating upcycled décor from items that would otherwise be thrown away.

Alviso’s inspiration comes from her mother, Dianna Knapp. Alviso remembers her mother constantly creating — whether it was cooking, making her own soap or bedecking the house. During one particularly festive project for a church youth conference, Alviso watched in awe as her mother transformed their entire California home into Whoville — wrapping feather boas around styrofoam balls to create colorful Dr. Seuss-style trees and creating a snow-capped Mount Crumpit out of papier-maché. To Alviso, it was like watching her mother make magic. But it wasn’t magic. It was simply her mother’s rendition of inventively using practical knowledge passed on from her father, who was a carpenter. “The first time I made something, it was horrible,” Knapp, who hired a fellow church member to come to her house and teach her to sew, says with a laugh. Knapp didn’t know she had to wash the fabric first before sewing a green floral jumper. “I made the outfit and then it shrunk all cattywampus.”

But that didn’t stop Knapp from mastering a multitude of skills and passing them on to her three daughters, including Alviso. One of the early projects was teaching Alviso how to crochet a scarf. “Mom would sit down next to me while she was doing the same thing or watching TV, and periodically she would peek over and say, ‘That’s wrong, let’s fix it,’” Alviso says.

“My girls grew up knowing if they wanted to do something, they could come to me and we could figure it out,” Knapp says.

Their combined imaginations came up with designs for coasters made from ink stamps baked into tile and wedding invitations etched into individual pieces of thinly cut wood. Many of their endeavors, such as sewing beautiful gowns for infants, were motivated by a desire to provide — with flair.

The same is true for Karli Bitner, 28, who lives in a town of 250 in northern Utah. But instead of making dresses or repurposing credenzas, she reimagines food. Her blog, Cooking with Karli, gets close to a million visits per month from people interested in her Instant Pot recipes and decadent dessert posts. “Sharing my food is one of the biggest ways I show people I love that I care about them,” Bitner says. “That has definitely been passed down to me.”

Bitner’s mother — who had seven kids and was famous for her pillowy soft dinner rolls — was her culinary cheerleader, always encouraging her to experiment in the kitchen. “The deal was, if I made something to share my mom would clean up the mess afterwards,” Bitner said. “She was so gracious because I would absolutely destroy the kitchen.”

A hands-off teacher, Bitner’s mother prefers to cook by feel, rather than following a recipe. She taught Bitner to follow her instincts. Today, Bitner encourages the same kind of freedom and creativity among her three kids (with one on the way). Her kids don’t watch TV, but they love to spend time taking care of the family’s cows and goats, or play with the neighbor’s pigs and chickens. And if they’d rather make mud pies than the French silk or apple variety, that’s fine with Bitner — for now.

It’s reminiscent of the simple life Jepsen’s grandparents had decades ago when West Los Angeles was still suburban. They raised goats for milk and made everything from scratch — hardpressed habits forged from the Great Depression.

In that home’s sewing room, piles of tattered clothing were mended by the same hands that made doll dresses and quilted coats out of fanciful fabrics. Recreating memories of the ordinary mingling with the extraordinary has turned into a lifestyle for Alviso, Bitner and Jepsen — one that they want to share with everyone. It seems that although it’s trendy to blog, you might also say that it’s traditional in its own way. But passing on what mustn’t be left behind — well, that’s timeless.

BY ERICA EVANS

hen Abby Huntsman left “The View” to move back to Utah in January 2020, it may not have seemed like she was on her way W to bigger and better things.

Huntsman, daughter of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and granddaughter to billionaire businessman Jon Huntsman Sr., was a rising media star. But after getting a taste of her dream job at “The View” — with celebrities, bright lights and unending demands for her attention — Huntsman wanted out.

A chance to work on her father’s gubernatorial campaign in her home state of Utah was a ticket away from the city. With her husband and three children (all under the age of 4) in tow, Huntsman made the trip back west. But instead of a celebratory homecoming, the year left her family recovering from the coronavirus disease and a defeat in her father’s bid for governor.

Here’s what she learned through it all.

About family: Our whole family was under one roof for a couple months during the campaign — except for my two brothers, who are in the military. We all got sick with COVID-19. I look at my family and everyone is so different — in terms of personalities, careers and even religion. But we would always rally around who was having a tough day and help them. That’s what family is for in tough times.

About losing: The loss was hard on all of us. My dad is the most resilient in our family. When we were all sad, he said, “We are going to be fine. This is the career I got into, and we’re going to keep fighting.” I woke up many days being frustrated and not understanding. But every day I would do that, I thought, “I’m wasting a day here.” You can’t look back with regrets. You just have to be grateful for the opportunity.

About being moderate: I’ve never felt more down the middle and a little lost politically — and there are a lot of people who feel the same way. My advice for people who are feeling anxious is turn off the TV and just be present with whoever’s in the room with you.

About motherhood: Isabel is 3 and the twins are turning 2 in June. They recently started running around, which is a blessing and a curse. I feel like I don’t have enough hands! I’ve had to learn a lot of patience. Sometimes, you just have to chill out and realize things are going to be OK. It’s so magical to see the world through their eyes. My kids can be mesmerized by a flower or a stick. They find joy in the smallest things, and you realize how quickly we lose that.

About adaptability: This year, I quit my job, we lost the campaign, I got COVID-19. You can check the list of how many things didn’t go as planned. But I honestly wouldn’t change it. I think it teaches you resilience. If you never experience failure, you don’t know what it feels like to really succeed.

About careers: Career needs to be something that makes you happy when you wake up in the morning. A year ago, people would say, “You have it all,” and on paper, I did. I went from living in New York and working at “The View” to doing laundry and wiping mac ’n’ cheese off the floor every day. It’s the opposite of where I thought I would be, but I’ve never felt more sure about what living a happy life means. Now, I am so engaged with continues on page 78