VLVL(6) - Pepperdine and Coll. of the Surf

[Kathleen Fitzpatrick]

At 7:23 AM -0800 12/3/98, Gary Thompson wrote:
>Maybe Kathleen has a little closer view.

Funny you should say this.  I've seen the Pepperdine campus -- astonishing
views; these carefully manicured green lawns extending right to the edge of
cliffs overlooking the Pacific; Malibu's a heck of a place -- but only
once, and in passing.  I'm a good 40 miles inland here, in an utterly
surf-free locale.  Pomona, however, also has religious origins (though the
connection has been broken).  It was founded by Congregationalists, this
bunch transplanted from New England, and their response to SoCal was to
build a small New England town in the foothills.  Seriously: this is my
first fall here, and I was astonished to discover that Claremont has a
change of seasons, due to all the non-native trees.  It really is
Connecticut without the snow.

The irony, however, is that after I got this job, my chair back at NYU kept
introducing me as "Kathleen, who just got a great job at Pepperdine."  When
I finally managed to mention that it was Pomona, not Pepperdine, she merely
waved her hand at me, saying "oh, well, it's somewhere wonderful."

>Personally I'd go with a combination -- Pepperdine for locale, but perhaps
>a private college (Occidental?) or smaller state U. for atmosphere.

This is exactly what I've always pictured.  Pepperdine is clearly the place
original, but the school itself does smack of Oxy.

K.

***********************
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Department of English
Media Studies Program
Pomona College
kfitzpatrick at pomona.edu
***********************