When that house on Mussey Grade Road in Ramona burned down in the Cedar Fire in 2003, Jennifer Mellow was understandably devastated. In this moment of overwhelming loss, Mellow turned to an activity that has proven to be therapeutic for people throughout history. 

She went out and bought a sewing machine and fabric, and she taught herself how to make a quilt.  

“It turns out that most people get into quilting because of something upsetting that has happened in their lives – they’ve lost a child, lost a spouse, lost a house, lost a job,” Mellow said. “There’s a comfort in repetitive tasks, and quilting is very, very calming. You do the same thing each step of the way, and if you do it just right, at the end, you have something beautiful that you’ve created.” 

Almost 20 years later, Mellow is still working at Cal State San Marcos, where she has been a communication lecturer since 1998. She’s still living on Mussey Grade Road (now with her husband, Mike), where she rebuilt the house on a site that’s so far off the beaten path that Google Maps has trouble navigating there. And she’s still making beautiful things, though she has long since graduated from just that simple sewing machine to an enormous device called a longarm machine that takes up most of her dining room. 

Mellow’s first quilt back in 2004 was what’s called a sampler, which is a project that does not repeat the same quilt block within its layout and is common for beginners. Among other symbols, it featured a sailboat to represent San Diego and a house to represent what she had lost.  

As her passion developed in the early years, she mostly made quilts to give to friends and family as gifts, but recently she has started keeping more of them, displaying some proudly as wall hangings (she tends not to drape them on beds because her two rescue dogs, Leiloo and Lt. Uhura, might damage them).   

Mellow also has been surprised to discover how competitive the hobby can be. Just before the pandemic, one of her quilts was awarded a blue ribbon as the best in its category at the San Diego Quilt Show and was chosen for one of the most prestigious quilt contests in America, the annual competition in Paducah, Ky., home of the National Quilt Museum.  

“I always thought that was weird to be a competitive sewer, but it is very competitive,” Mellow said. “Once you make a quilt that you’re really proud of and you think is really beautiful, you kind of want to show it to everyone.” 

Mellow’s quilting process begins with an idea and a plan. Say she wants to make a quilt to give to someone for Christmas. Do they like traditional, elegant holiday iconography or more playful things? Do they prefer light or dark colors? The answers to those questions might determine what type of fabric, design and pattern Mellow uses, and what time of year she starts helps decide how elaborate she can get.  

The next step is piecing the top of the quilt, which entails assembling and stitching pieces of fabric together, by hand or machine, to make a series of quilt blocks. Then comes the actual quilting, which involves stitching together the three layers of a quilt (the top, batting and backing).  

“You can quilt it edge to edge, which is just one pattern that repeats over and over again,” Mellow said. “Or you can do it where each block has a different design placed in it. Sometimes there are rows between the rows – that’s called sashing.  

“Everything from the color to the fabric to the design says something, and when someone makes you a handmade gift, they put a lot of love into that. When I make a quilt specifically for someone, I think about that person every step of the way.” 

During the school year, Mellow has time to quilt only on the weekends, but in the summer, she does it for about five hours a day. The amount of time each quilt takes depends on the complexity; the more elaborate ones can require three months or longer. She has lost track of how many quilts she has made over the years.  

Mellow says there’s a small but dedicated community of quilters at CSUSM with whom she commiserates about the craft. She displays her work on an Instagram page called Sew Mellow Quilting that she hopes to convert into more of a business when she retires from teaching.  

“I'm not quite sure where this is going to lead,” she said. “I do see myself quilting for a really long time. It's an adventure. After all these years, the thing I still like about it is I learn something new each time.  

“I didn't think it would get me so carried away as it has, but I've enjoyed every minute of the journey.” 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Not much has changed.

“I still think I’m making the NHL,” Perron quipped.

Perron is still wearing his ice skates, too.

While his days are spent at Cal State San Marcos teaching the next generation of scientists and conducting research in his physics lab, Perron joins other weekend warriors at Ice-Plex Escondido for weekly games in an adult ice hockey league.

Perron grew up outside of Toronto playing hockey with his brother and other older kids – “I was the youngest one, so I got beat up and told to play goalie,” he says – before graduating to highly competitive junior ice hockey leagues as a teenager.

Perron’s prowess on the ice earned him a spot playing for Oswego State University of New York, where he earned his bachelor’s in physics and mathematics.

Perron’s first year at Oswego remains his fondest hockey memory. The team enjoyed an outstanding playoff run and advanced to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four, which refers to the final four teams playing for the national championship. Oswego beat Middlebury College in the semifinals before falling to Norwich University in the championship.

“The whole experience was just awesome,” Perron said.

Perron could have given professional hockey a try in one of the smaller leagues – and many of the people he played with joined leagues in Europe and North America – but he knew toward the end of his senior year at Oswego that he was ready to focus on his interest in physics.

“I don’t have any big regrets,” he said. “I think it would have been fun to try playing professionally, but it probably would have derailed a lot of other things I did.”

Perron earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University at Buffalo in 2012, followed by a three-year postdoctoral position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland. Perron was certainly able to get his fill of hockey during his time in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but then came a move to Southern California to join the faculty at CSUSM in 2015.

While Southern California may not carry a reputation as a hotbed of hockey compared to Canada or the East Coast, Perron found he wasn’t alone in his passion for the sport when he started working at CSUSM. In fact, there is so much demand for ice time at Ice-Plex Escondido that the earliest available start time for Perron’s hockey games is 8:30 p.m., and it’s not unusual for him to get home from a game after midnight.

Perron plays in the top level among six divisions in the Ice-Plex adult hockey program, a division reserved for highly skilled players with years of experience.

“There are some really good players in the league,” Perron said, before adding with a laugh, “we’re just all really old. But it’s a blast to go out there and play.

“Most of us who play have some type of junior or college or pretty competitive hockey experience in our background. It’s just getting further and further away in the background. We don’t have the legs and we’re not as fast anymore, but it’s still fun. I just love playing hockey.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Built, in this case, didn’t mean hiring a contractor and writing checks. Hamerly built the house.

From developing a 250,000-step Gantt chart that provided an orderly blueprint for every task to doing the wiring, Hamerly had a hand – quite literally – in nearly every step of the process.

It took four years to complete, far longer than the estimated 18 months, but the result is fit for the big reveal on an HGTV show.

“I wouldn’t recommend anybody ever do it,” said Hamerly, Cal State San Marcos’ dean of the College of Business Administration. “It’s crazy.”

The house is completely off the grid, powered by solar panels that double as roof tiles. Hamerly’s 25 acres of land include a treehouse equipped with a firefighter’s pole and electricity – solar-powered, of course. There is a 70-foot zip line from the treehouse to a nearby tree for his four grandsons, ages 3-8 -- and a fifth was born earlier this month. The older ones recently graduated from the 70-footer to a second zipline that spans 1,000 feet, so long that it’s difficult to see where it ends through the forest.

The property includes thousands of cedar trees, not to mention black oaks, pines and spruces. And, thanks to Hamerly, it includes about 50 sequoias. Much like the house, the sequoias are a labor of love.

Growing a sequoia is an arduous process. You can’t purchase one at the nearest nursery, plop it into the ground and watch as it magically grows 300 feet tall.

“I had a lot of failures,” Hamerly said. “It took me five years before I germinated successfully and grew a tree.

“A lot of people ask me why I stuck through five years to get a seed germinated and actually grown. I’m a very persevering person. Perseverance is my No. 1 trait. I had failures, but then I had small successes. You learn by doing. Now I’m pretty successful.”

Hamerly became interested in sequoias through visits to national parks. While he also has grown redwoods, sequoias were particularly intriguing to him. Once established, they grow well, typically enjoy good health and have no natural predators.

Though some don’t consider sequoias a native species to the area, Hamerly said conditions on Palomar Mountain provide an ideal environment – high altitude, a west-facing slope that provides air movement with plenty of water in the air.

Hamerly began his quest to grow sequoias by first trying to germinate a seed, which is no easy task. The average sequoia generates 4 billion seeds over its lifetime. From that, Hamerly said, only about 10 trees grow to maturity.

The germination process requires storing seeds in a wet, cold environment for six months. Hamerly likes to fold them into a coffee filter with some water and then put them in the refrigerator. Once removed from cold storage, the seeds must be gradually warmed up. Only 10 percent of the seeds that Hamerly puts through the process will germinate. From that group, only 1 percent will be successfully transplanted.

Once in the ground, the trees require constant attention for the first two years. During the five-year process between embarking on the project and actually growing a tree, Hamerly estimates he lost half of his attempts to deer and gophers. It wasn’t unusual for him to plant a tree one weekend and return the following weekend to find it gone. Now, when he plants a tree, he builds a wire cage that extends underground to protect it from deer and gophers.

Of the 50,000 seeds Hamerly has tried to grow, he successfully has germinated about 5,000. From that, he has about 50 sequoias on his property. The largest, which was planted in 2006, now stands 20 feet tall.

Sequoias can grow to be well over 300 feet tall and live for thousands of years. That’s part of the appeal for Hamerly, knowing that he had a hand in something that stands a good chance of being here 2,000 years from now.

“It’s a labor of love and learning,” he said, “and I’ve got a long way to go.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

For some, it may indeed be a once-in-a-lifetime bucket-list ride.

For Cal State San Marcos women’s studies professor Jodie Lawston, it’s all part of her weekly routine.

Lawston has made the grueling climb up Palomar Mountain more than 200 times. Not even a 113-degree day this summer could deter her.

“I was pretty sure I was going to die on that one,” said Lawston, laughing.

Cycling has been Lawston’s passion for more than seven years. If she’s not on campus, there’s a good chance she’s on her bike, recording some of the 180-200 miles she aims to accumulate each week. And those miles usually include 15,000-20,000 feet of climbing.

“I love the challenge of Palomar Mountain,” Lawston said. “It’s never the same twice. There’s just something about it. I can’t imagine my life without it.”

Lawston began cycling in 2010. She and her partner were each working 16-18 hours a day and knew they needed to find more balance in their lives. He suggested cycling.

They bought mountain bikes and … well, it wasn’t an immediate hit. Lawston hated the mountain bike, frequently finding herself flying over the handlebars. But she purchased some skinnier tires for the bike and started riding along Pacific Coast Highway. She loved challenging herself to continually go farther and seeing how far she could push herself.

“I loved seeing the world from the bike,” she said. “You see it from a different perspective.”

Lawston soon switched to a road bike. Not only was she going faster, she quickly developed a passion for climbing.

It wasn’t long before Lawston started competing. She got a coach to help her train and entered a 40-mile road race. She had two goals.

“To not be last and to survive,” she said, laughing.

Having accomplished both goals, Lawston began entering other competitions.

In 2015, she won the women’s division of the Hoodoo 500, completing the 500-mile, three-day event that traverses multiple Utah national parks in 43 hours, 49 minutes.

Lawston completed an arduous task of a different kind earlier this year with the publication of her sociology book “Sociology: Structure and Change,” becoming the first female sociology author for Pearson, the world’s largest textbook company.

While Lawston loved writing the book, completing the project meant spending less time on her bike.

Though she is still helping with marketing and sales of the textbook, she has been able to return to her normal cycling routine.

On July 31, four friends joined Lawston for a 50-mile ride that included 7,400 feet of climbing up Palomar Mountain. Lawston had burned 1,800 calories by the end of the trek, and she would have been happy to make another trip up the mountain if she had time that day.

Lawston has tried to convince some of her CSUSM colleagues to give cycling a try, but when they learn of her typical week, the response is often, “Why would you do that?”

But Lawston isn’t one to give up.

“What I would say about cycling is anybody can do it,” she said. “You don’t have to go out and do 50 miles or 100 miles. You can go out and do 5 miles or 10 miles. You can build up. It’s really a sport that anybody can do. It’s really beneficial for your body. You can see beautiful places. Give it a try. You might surprise yourself.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Acclaimed saxophonist. Leader in arts education. Wang Family Excellence Award recipient.

One achievement that probably doesn’t come immediately to mind?

Skilled boxer.

A longtime professor of music at Cal State San Marcos, Goldberg used to tour around the world as a saxophonist. She is a well-known leader in arts education through programs like ART=OPPORTUNITY, which focuses on providing a meaningful education by improving literacy through the arts. She received the 2018 Wang Award, a prestigious California State University system-wide honor, for her exemplary contributions and achievements.

But it’s a good bet that accomplished boxer is not among the traits most people associate with Goldberg.

“Who would think this 5-foot-1, somewhat middle aged person would get into boxing?” Goldberg said. “But I absolutely love it.”

Goldberg’s introduction to boxing began on a dare. There was a boxing gym between a Sprouts grocery store and a dog groomer. Every time she walked by, she thought to herself, “Oh my God, I think I’d really like to hit something.”

Goldberg never ventured inside until dared to by a friend to try it. She had her hands wrapped, started a class and immediately discovered the similarities between boxing and music.

“The first thing I noticed was it was all rhythm,” she said. “Everything had a rhythm to it. It just immediately appealed to me because it was so music like.”

While Goldberg has plenty of friends who do meditation and yoga, few are into the “Sweet Science.” But as Goldberg quickly learned, boxing has its own community, opening the door to her befriending many people she may not have otherwise met.

Goldberg is typically at the boxing gym four days a week and wouldn’t mind adding a fifth day. She takes classes three days a week and twice a week has individual training sessions, which includes weight training and mitt work.

The mitt work is her favorite part of the workout.

“When you hit a bag you can make a nice sound,” she said. “But when you’re hitting mitts it’s almost like the crack of a bat at a baseball game, which I think is the best part of going to a baseball game. That sound is so wonderful. If you hit correctly, you get that nice, crisp sound. It just feels so good.”

Goldberg spars on occasion, but only with a trainer. She often is asked if she would like to compete. While intrigued by the possibility, Goldberg has decided it’s not for her for two reasons. First, she has been told that she has “heavy hands,” meaning she hits hard and could potentially do some damage to an opponent.

“I would feel awful if I hurt somebody,” she said.

The other reason?

“I don’t want to get hurt,” she said. “I think I’m pretty good and I’ve learned defensive moves, but I think it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to show up to class with a broken nose or a black eye.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

While some might pick up a bottle of wine on the way to someone’s home, Brodowsky arrives with a basket of homemade breads.

“They say man cannot live by bread alone,” Brodowsky said. “Watch me.”

Brodowsky has been a professor of marketing in Cal State San Marcos’ College of Business Administration for more than 20 years. He teaches every summer at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and has been a longtime visiting lecturer at National Cheng-chi University in Taiwan. Among his myriad research interests are global marketing strategy, cross-cultural time concepts and their effects on consumer behavior and country-of-origin effects on product choice.

Though you won’t find “skilled baker” listed on his curriculum vitae, it has been among his many talents for nearly a decade.

Brodowsky has long enjoyed cooking, but it wasn’t until about nine years ago that his mother challenged him to try baking. Brodowsky’s first reaction? He wasn’t nearly exact enough to bake. But his mother persisted.

Not only did Brodowsky give it a try, it has become a passion for him.

Brodowsky started by baking challah, a bread typically eaten on the Jewish Sabbath and other Jewish holidays.

“It was really quite good,” he said. “I was shocked, and I realized it’s not really such a mystery after all.”

Brodowsky’s baking repertoire has expanded to include everything from pumpernickel and rye bread to scones and Mandel bread, which is a cookie similar to biscotti.

While Brodowsky eventually wants to add bagels to his baking résumé – “I haven’t gotten up my nerve to do bagels yet,” he says – he has made knishes, a time- and labor-intensive snack that has a dough exterior that covers a filling such as potatoes. Brodowsky describes them as “carbs wrapped around carbs.”

Brodowsky grew up in Brooklyn and fondly recalls Mrs. Stahl’s Knishes, which churned out legendary knishes for 70 years from a small store located under an elevated train in Brighton Beach.

“Anybody of a certain generation who grew up in Brooklyn knew Mrs. Stahl’s,” he said. “It’s no longer there, but she made the best knishes. I found the secret recipe online for her knishes. They’re amazing.”

Brodowsky has become known for his baking prowess. He has hosted the College of Business Administration holiday party and a CSUSM Jewish Faculty Staff Association dinner at his home and he has conducted baking seminars at local synagogues.

He has even baked as incentive for his students to attend class the day before Thanksgiving. One year he made knishes for the students who showed up, another time it was mini white macadamia nut and white-chocolate raspberry scones.

“We’re talking about 30 or 40 students,” he said. “That’s quite a bit of baking. I remember walking into class that morning and saying, ‘And who says I don’t have the scones?’ ”

Even when he’s in Denmark every summer, a country known for excellent breads and baked goods, Brodowsky will bake.

“It’s a social thing I do,” he said. “Breaking bread together, this is what people have done for ages. There’s just something humble about a plain hunk of bread and some butter – or some cream cheese if you come from where I come from – and it’s a nice thing to share with people.”

Brodowsky has learned many lessons to produce the best possible bread and baked goods, and he says beginners shouldn’t be intimidated. He suggests starting by finding a good recipe online. When kneading the dough – Brodowsky uses a stand mixer – the most important thing is to have the dough “clean” the side of the bowl. He says not to be afraid to add small amounts of flour or water, depending on whether it’s too wet or too dry, to help the dough come together.

Brodowsky also has learned not to let the dough rise too long or it will flatten out. The bread will still taste great, it just may not have the desired presentation.

But the biggest challenge in baking, Brodowsky finds, is figuring out what to do with all the bread. He said most recipes make two loaves, so he typically keeps one and gives the other away. He likes to slice the bread before freezing it – “The best thing since sliced bread is sliced bread,” he says – so he can just pull out what he needs rather than an entire loaf.

“This is just something I’ve done and become known for among my friends,” he said. “They know if there’s a party, nobody has to ask what I’m bringing. I’m the bread man.”