Pretty Compelling

YES, GOOD CITY MAGAZINES ARE PRETTY. They’re glossy. They’re tasteful, and they’re chic. And San Diego Magazine gives you more than its fair share of all that this month.

Check out fashion/beauty director Heather Eubanks’ gorgeous spring fashion spread—featuring upscale resort wear photographed at Rancho Valencia by Odessy Barbu.

Catch an eyeful of the stunning mid-century modernist design of veteran architect Homer Delawie—perfected in the ultra-sleek Feller residence of Point Loma —in our San Diego At Home feature.

Savor dining critic David Nelson’s review of Del Mar’s reborn Epazote Oceanview Steakhouse. (And for an appetizer, sample the morsels in Nelson’s monthly Dish column.)

But then a real city magazine is more than good tastes and a pretty face. Its job also is to educate and enlighten. To reflect the full spectrum of life in the region— the issues, the people and the challenges they face. In that vein, spend some time with Lillian Cox’s wide-ranging overview of San Diego’s North County—or “San Diego North,” as some prefer. Her stories cover everything from history to economics, politics to lifestyles—a full-on northern exposure.

An engaged city magazine brings you the good, the bad and, occasionally, the ugly. Which brings us to s.d. liddick’s compelling investigative feature, “Stopping Traffic,” an unflinching look at the trade of human trafficking—the so-called “white slavery” that attaches itself to the underbelly of cities across the United States, including our own.

In liddick’s story, you’ll meet Monica, a 17-year-old former prostitute who worked the mean streets of San Diego, and learn what she says about the pimps who stole her youth. You’ll read about 12 Mexican nationals, trapped between two worlds, ensnared in a forced-labor operation with no easy out. You’ll hear from folks like Marisa Ugarte, whose Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition seeks to bring to justice the lowlifes who’ve enslaved them. And Kathi Hardy, whose Freedom From Exploitation organization has been saving young girls from the same circumstances that entrapped her three decades ago.

Nothing pretty, chic or glossy about the victims of human trafficking—or the predators who profit by their exploitation. But they are San Diegans among us. And a real city magazine must pay attention to them.

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