Rebel Yell – Editor’s Letter Issue 1, 2026
This issue of Cali Mag marks a full-circle moment for me.
Our cover feature, Ryan Sawtelle: Rebel with a Cause, is not just a profile, it’s a mirror. Ryan represents something this country desperately needs right now: principled resistance, civic courage, and the refusal to accept decline as inevitable.
That spirit is the same force that pulled me into political activism more than a decade ago, long before journalism became my vocation.
My first foray into activism began in 2011 with the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project. What was presented as an environmental effort quickly revealed itself to be something else entirely, a case study in how power, money, and politics quietly override community voice. My involvement in that project led me straight into Malibu politics, where I learned firsthand how decisions are often made for communities, not with them.
Out of that experience, I created 90265 Magazine, initially as a way to document the idyllic Malibu lifestyle that few people ever get to see, and to tell the stories of the community’s non-celebrities who truly define this coastal utopia. But along the way, I realized something fundamental: my deepest passion wasn’t simply chronicling a zip code or curating a lifestyle. It was using my voice to demand accountability, insist on transparency, and push for lasting change.
That realization gave rise to The Local Malibu, an activism-based
publication first distributed in print.
It was unapologetic, community-centered, and disruptive by design. It also led me to unexpected rooms and conversations, including meeting Alex Villanueva during his 2018 campaign for sheriff, a race he ultimately won against the establishment.
That chapter reinforced what I had already learned: local voices matter more than they are ever given credit for, and grassroots narratives can reshape outcomes.
Today, those two lives, the journalist and the activist, have fully merged. The Current Report and Cali Mag
represent an expansion of both reach and responsibility.
The mission remains the same, but the lens is wider: to examine power, expose erosion of public trust, and amplify voices that refuse to go quietly.
Today, those two lives, the journalist and the activist, have fully merged. The Current Report and Cali Mag represent an expansion of both reach and responsibility. The mission remains the same, but the lens is wider: to examine power, expose erosion of public trust, and amplify voices that refuse to go quietly.
That mission feels especially urgent now. Malibu is not the same place it once was. The Woolsey Fire stripped away more than homes, it fractured a sense of continuity and belonging. The Palisades Fire deepened that loss. What remains is a community still rebuilding, still grieving, and increasingly at risk of losing its soul to forces that see land, not legacy.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for questioning. And thank you for being part of a community that understands that real change never starts at the top, it starts with people who refuse to be silent.
What's Your Reaction?