Sure, Brant prefers a good pair of headphones because it sounds better, but it’s not unusual for him to take phone calls or listen to music and have it play directly in his head. 

“The sound is basically going straight into my brain,” Brant said. “I think about it, and it trips me out. I get a mini existential crisis. It’s like, ‘How does this work?’ ” 

The technology may be complex, but it’s something that occurs through Brant’s cochlear implants, which were surgically embedded about eight years ago to help him hear. He’s used to telling the story. It’s something he often does when he meets a new group of people. It’s one of the first things he did when he moved into North Commons to begin his freshman year at Cal State San Marcos last August. And it’s something his teammates on the Cougars track and field team know. 

Brant was born with what he describes as mild to profound hearing loss. In his case, it was difficult to hear high frequency sounds. Some sounds, like “sh,” he couldn’t pick up at all. 

But Brant learned at a young age to decipher clues in his communications with others, and his lip-reading skills are excellent. He was so adept at it that, despite some speech issues, no one realized the extent of his hearing loss until he had a routine hearing test when he was 5. The results helped explain the speech challenges and the frustration he sometimes showed when he couldn’t convey what he wanted or people couldn’t understand him. 

“When you're younger, elementary school kids can be borderline evil,” Brant said. “I would get made fun of for the way I would speak or how I would say certain things, because I definitely have a unique voice.” 

Those difficulties led Brant to find one of his passions. Reading was among his escapes from the taunts of classmates (it remains a passion and is one of the reasons why he chose to major in literature and writing studies at CSUSM). 

Brant wore hearing aids for about five years, but when he was 10, his family explored cochlear implant surgery. He underwent two separate procedures, one for each ear, in which an electronic device was implanted in his head. The cochlear implant bypasses the damaged areas of the ear and delivers sound to the auditory nerve. Brant then wears external transmitters that are magnetized to attach to the side of his head. The external devices are covered by Brant’s hair, making it virtually imperceptible until he removes one to show somebody. 

The cochlear implants led to improved hearing and speech, but came with a trade-off – he’s now completely deaf if he’s not wearing the external unit. 

“It was worth it,” Brant said. “I have much clearer audio hearing everything.” 

Post-surgeries, Brant needed several weeks of recovery before “activation day,” the moment when his audiologist enabled him to hear through the cochlear implants. 

“It doesn't sound completely normal right away,” Brant said. “I just remember everyone sounding like Mickey Mouse for probably that first day. But it was still really cool to have that set up. I remember just smiling a whole bunch.” 

While the hearing aids Brant wore in his early elementary school days amplified the hearing that he had at the time, the cochlear implants were a vast improvement. 

And with improved hearing and speech came added self-assurance. The difficulties Brant endured in elementary and middle school gave way to increased confidence when it came to making friends and socializing in high school. That included competing in sports. 

In an era of sports specialization, Brant was a three-sport standout at San Diego High School on the baseball, basketball, and track and field teams. 

“As I got to high school, I started talking to more people,” Brant said. “I was still very nervous, but I started to gain a little more confidence. And then I was like, ‘Oh, I can make friends. I can do this.’ ” 

When the pandemic hit, Brant found himself focusing more on track and field. One of the reasons he chose CSUSM was for the opportunity to compete on the track and field team in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. And, already, he is making an impact. 

“The thing that stands out most about Ripley is his attitude and consistency,” said Torrey Olson, CSUSM’s head track and field coach. “He is always attentive, focused and positive in an era where these qualities are tough to come by.” 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

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

The course, titled The British Invasion in U.S. Pop Culture, explores popular literary, cinematic, musical and theatrical traditions in the British Isles. From the 5^th century legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to the modern day television series Game of Thrones, the course analyzes how British popular culture both entertains and satisfies audiences while probing deeper into what that means for American society.

“British popular culture is consumed voraciously in the United States,” said Associate Professor Heidi Breuer, a medieval and renaissance British literature scholar. “We want to tap into that interest and use it to catalyze a scholarly inquiry about exactly why we are so fascinated—what are the things that are positive about it as well as what’s problematic, especially in regard to race, class, gender and sexuality.”

Students will travel first to London, England, where planned excursions include a Tower of London tour, Sherlock walking tour, a visit to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers studio and a James Bond walking tour. From there the course will go to Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales, to explore the folklore and mythology of King Arthur as well as for a Dr. Who interactive experience. The trip will conclude in Dublin, Ireland, with a visit to Trinity College, home to The Book of Kells, a literary pub crawl and tours of film sites from the HBO series Game of Thrones.

“We’ve selected a lot of locations that will do double duty for us,” said Associate Professor Rebecca Lush, an expert on colonial and transatlantic literature. “These places offer some of the strongest, most lasting influential aspects of British culture that we’ve assimilated into our American culture juxtaposed next to 21^st century cultural sites that are important and popular now.”

Both Breuer and Lush have a love for British culture, but aren’t afraid to turn a critical eye to it.

“For me, popular culture is a lens through which to see how the character types and narrative patterns that were invented in the 16th through 18th centuries continue to get recycled to celebrate a new sense of Americanness,” said Lush. “Taking students to these locations in London, Wales and Ireland is a way for them to understand the multifaceted transatlantic undertones that they have always assumed to be American.”

Added Breuer: “We are celebrating the aspects that are fun, enjoyable and satisfying while also looking at how British pop culture perpetuates ideological structures that have gone on for a long time.”

The course, which includes the two-week abroad trip from May 21 to June 2 and an additional two-week online component, satisfies three units of upper-division credit. Open to CSUSM students and the community through Open University, application materials are due Tuesday, Feb. 16.

For more information, visit the CSUSM Study Abroad website.