14 | November 11, 2020 | MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS MALIBUmalibusurfsidenews.comFROM THE EDITORPOSTED TO malibusurfsidenews.comMoving beyond the fire by looking into it4DAYS AGOSCOTT STEEPLETONscott@malibusurfsidenews.comEric Myer madesome movingimages of peoplewho lost everything in theWoolsey Fire, includingalmost two dozen of hisneighbors.His project, “MalibuAfter,” at malibuafter.com, encompasses fourthemes from that deadlyblaze — portraits, panoramics,vestiges andabstracts — and describedby Myer as “high-resolutionlarge-scale panoramicenvironmental portraits ofindividuals and families”along with artifacts rescuedfrom the blaze andpost-fire abstracts from 42destroyed homes.The eyes of his subjectsgrip your soul, their facestouch your heart. Manywear street clothes, whileone family is in whatcan best be described ashazmat gear.The placement of someof the subjects is intendedto draw you into theirworld, while for othersit’s simply to show whattheir world had becomebecause of the fire.“Vestiges I” focuses onhands cradling a varietyof objects dug from therubble, including a 35 mmfilm camera obliteratedby the flames, diamondwedding set and a babyBuddha.“I wanted to ‘bear witness’to this catastropheand through my photographycapture its profoundphysical and emotionalimpact,” he says in theartist statement accompanyingthe portfolio. “Ifelt that it was importantto reveal the authenticMalibu that I have knownfor 35 years.”As someone forcedfrom home for monthsbecause of the ThomasFire three years earlier,I was brought to tearsby the panoramic titled“Trancas Highlands Rainbow— Tallal Residence.”Here, Myer captured arainbow over the rubble ofthe home of Malibu FilmSociety’s Scott Tallal andwife Jimy Tallal.In it, I see the rainbowconnection.The piece reminded meof just how badly vendorsbungled our repairs andhow poorly the insurancecarrier treated us, takingme back to momentswhere I stopped believingin rainbows and what’s onthe other side because, fora time, neither existed.On Instagram (@ericmyerphoto),Myer adds tothe stories. For instance,accompanying a shot ofMary Pritchett and threeneighbors standing amida razed home is this captionfrom Pritchett: “Webrought Champagne tothe photo shoot becauseenough time had passedthat we wanted to celebratelife instead of loss.”Had the shoot takenplace earlier, Pritchettsays, “it would’ve been atotally different vibe.”If you’ve already seenthe photos, take a lookagain. If you haven’t,you’re missing out on animportant piece of Malibuhistory.MalibuSurfside NewsSOUND OFF POLICYEditorials and columnsare the opinions of theauthor. Pieces from 22ndCentury Media are thethoughts of the companyas a whole. Malibu SurfsideNews encourages readers towrite letters to Sound Off.All letters must be signed,and names and hometownswill be published. We alsoask that writers includetheir address and phonenumber for verification,not publication. Lettersshould be limited to 400words. Malibu SurfsideNews reserves the right toedit letters. Letters becomeproperty of Malibu SurfsideNews. Letters that arepublished do not reflectthe thoughts and viewsof Malibu Surfside News.Letters can be mailed to:Malibu Surfside News,P.O. Box 6854, Malibu, CA90264. Email letters news@malibusurfsidenews.com.SOUND OFFBoard spars over Malibu’s charting new course for schoolsDrati email called‘deeply offensive, wildlyhypocritical’CRAIG FOSTEROpen Letter to Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School DistrictSuperintendent Ben Drati:Dr. Drati, your recent emailto all school district parents wasequal parts deeply offensive,wildly hypocritical and completelyinappropriate.The city of Malibu recentlychose to withdraw from fruitless,never-ending negotiationswith SMMUSD and, instead, totake its grievances to the properauthorities. That is not bad faith,that is common sense after fiveyears of constantly receding goalposts in what has become an utterlyselfish, bordering on narcissistic,school district bargainingposition. Please spare us your talkof “equity” when your district andours and any combination thereofwill have more money per studentthan 99.9 prcent of California’s1,000 school districts. You want“equity?” How about you give$4,000 per student to ComptonUnified right now to create “equity”where it really means equity.What you mean is extortion:Malibu gives you $4 billion overthe next 50 years for the right towhat every other school district inthis state has by law: contiguousborders and local control.This is not an abstract politicalexercise. Under Santa Monica’srule, Malibu’s lost 35 percentof our students in six years. Our100 percent Santa Monica schoolCritic of superintendent‘very harsh, inflammatoryand unfair’sion of the facts. As board members,we feel compelled to set therecord straight by addressing thefactual inaccuracies and baselessassertions raised in the letter.JON KEAN, LAURIE LIEBERMAN,RICHARD TAHVILDARAN-JESSWEINFirst, Dr. Drati serves as the superintendentfor all 9,700 studentsin SMMUSD, not just the studentsA letter written by Craig Foster, who live in Santa Monica. To implyanything else perpetuates aone of our colleagues on the SantaMonica-Malibu Unified School fallacy that is dragged out everyDistrict Board of Education, levelssome very harsh, inflammatory andunfair accusations at SuperintendentBen Drati concerning recentdevelopments about “unification”(separation of Santa Monica andMalibu schools into two separateand distinct districts).In this day and age, it is increasinglycritical to our discourse thatwe acknowledge over and overagain that everyone is entitled to anso often by Malibu residents whosupport separation from SMMUSDand actively seek examples of theirperceived mistreatment by the districtto justify that action. In fact,over the past few years, significantprogress has been made to enhanceMalibu schools’ local control overfundraising, construction and curricularchoices. Dr. Drati has beena leader in helping SMMUSDachieve these very interests. ThePlease see FOSTER, 35 opinion, but not to their own ver-Please see CRITIC, 35
malibusurfsidenews.com MALIBU SURFSIDE NEWS | MALIBU November SURFSIDE 11, 2020 NEWS | malibusurfsidenews.com| November 11, 2020 | 15THANKSGIVING SIDESYou’ve got the turkey; we’ve gotthe supporting cast, Page 22MAN OFMANYWORDSPepperdine University ProfessorDr. John Struloeff is Malibu’s newpoet laureate, Page 16An avid traveler, Dr. John Struloeff realizes that to write aboutthe world, one must get to know the world. SUBMITTED PHOTOwww.sorenityrocksmalibu.comDonatingtoCharitiesUp to 50%Mommy& MeCrystalSeries@SORENITYROCKSMALIBU • (310) 589-ROCKmalibuparkatcrosscreek.com@MalibuParkatCrossCreekmalibuparkatcrosscreek
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