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Editor's Note Spring 2022
OJAI MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022
Laura Rearwin Ward
Editor/publisher Ojai Magazine
— Network 1976. (The “Silent Generation”)
Will there be a revolution generation? Ojai filmmaker, Rebecca Tickell, is part of the Millennial generation, and does not see her values reflected in the world she lives in. Together with her husband, Josh, she makes movies to motivate others to work towards change for our broken systems. Every paradigm that exists is under critical review — consumption, fuel, housing, agriculture, education, health, industry, and information ... to name those most salient in Ojai. The Tickells look at the big picture, and we at Ojai Magazine applaud their latest Big Picture Ranch film, Revolution Generation (page 56).
Another fearless local couple, Jim and Camilla Becket of Becket Films at last released their eight-year passion project The Seeds of Vandana Shiva at the Ojai Film Festival and beyond, growing the audience of global eco-activist Vandana Shiva, herself a Boomer, as a voice for agricultural sanity. She sees free seed preservation and small farms’ health as the great hope to heal the planet. When she visited the Oak Grove School for Earth Day in 2016, she talked about the stupidity of spraying poisons on our valley, submitting that, “Love for the planet and love for the future is one love” (page 18).
Voices are rising from Generation Z (born 1996 to 2010, and generally children of Gen X) and, soon enough, Generation Alpha. They are wondering how, with such a local concentration of bomb-diggity change-makers in Ojai, doing so many awesome things, why the world hasn’t progressed further. Some complain it is constructed of a society and education system which enculturates them into carrot-and-stick robots to feed them the same broken paradigms of consumption and caste. Will these generations become resigned or furious? The sacrifices made by Gen Z and Gen Alpha (under 13 years old) during the pandemic have costs yet to be realized. Will they be the ones to rise up against the current social contract since the odds seem stacked against them? They might just demand a reshuffling of the deck.
Enormous change comes out of enormous pain, and we can expect turbulence to follow a rejection of the traditional narrative of profit over people. The question of who and what we are and what we want to become is on the table. Incremental changes may not be enough.
The seeds of change have been sown by all these generations. How will our land be protected from pollution, and our water resources be divided? How will we invest in humanity and infrastructure, yet preserve our town’s neighborly culture? The youth are our best investment in the future; let’s listen to them and plan to share the Ojai-lifestyle opportunity. Let’s keep our minds open, question our own beliefs, listen. We can’t make Ojai great again. We will have to move forward. Believe that Ojai can be better, through vision and intentional change … Edward Libbey 2.0.
Our roots, and the spirit of our time, can be found in these pages. Stay close to Ojai’s longest running magazine, a part of our 130-year-old community journal of record, the Ojai Valley News.
With affection,
Laura Rearwin Ward
EDITOR / PUBLISHER
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Georgia Schreiner
ART DIRECTOR
Paul Stanton
WRITERS
Karen Lindell • Perry Van Houten Grant Phillips • Kerstin Kuhn Jessica Ciencin Henriquez • Mimi Walker Robin Goldstein • John Foster Valerie Freeman • Steve Sprinkel • Will Ryan
CIRCULATION - PRODUCTION
Ally Mills • Tori Behar
DIRECTOR OF SALES
Linda Snider
CONTACT
Ojavalleynews.com 206 N. Signal St., Ste. G Ojai California, 93023
805-646-1476 @ojaimag
Becket Films presents The Seeds ofVandana Shiva
Cover photo: ©2021 The Seeds of Vandana Shiva
vandanashivamovie.com
Ojai Girls Cover photo: ©Betina La Plante
www.betinalaplante.com @betinalaplante
©2022 Ojai Media LLC
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