“And suddenly you know: it’s time to start something new and trust in the magic of beginnings”
I grew up in a suburb of Baltimore. But if I barely knew you and you asked me, I would claim
that I was from the beach–on the small stretch of resort town on the Atlantic Coast of Maryland.
Since I can recall, I have forever been drawn to the salt air and cursed my fate, day in and day
out, for not living closer than three hours to the shoreline everyday of the nine non-summer
months away from the beach. If it were up to me, I would have staked a hut behind the dunes
when I was five years old and never left.
But you can’t always have your way and life doesn’t always go as planned–HELL, it never does.
But it’s in these moments we define ourselves, we change, we adapt and we make it the best–
maybe even better than what we thought could have been.
Through it all, and through my life thus far, I have always found one thing to stand true. I once
again came to discover that working off of something that inspires you is what produces the
greatest and most satisfying work. And that it is through these things that you will make the most
strides in life.
During this process of creating this book I have absorbed quite a bit of knowledge and made
too many observations to count. I have been overwhelmed with stories of experiences and
images that add wisdom, grit, fear, joy and urgency to my life. I have been inspired. I have been
surprised. I have been excited over everything in this long, grueling process filled with editing,
research, deadlines, hassling, all-nighters and buckets of damn emails.
And now. Here it is.
Within these pages you will find people that are initiators, fearless, adventurous and daring.
The ones who are always after something and who stop for nothing–except maybe to smell the
flowers on the side of Highway 1 every once in awhile or to crack a beer at their local dive with
some old friends. In this issue of Catalyst, they share their stories, their experiences and their
passions that have driven them to the ends of Mother Earth and back. They are students and
surfers. They are world adventurers and pier-obsessors. They are ocean dwellers, photographers,
models and good old fashioned hardworking humans. I hope they inspire you as much as they
have inspired me and ignite a fire inside of you that thrills you. A fire that makes you want to
wake up and attack the day ahead with everything in your soul and chase after every deep
burning passion inside of you. To be too radical to put down on paper and too exciting to ever be
caught in action. Because that’s what the World needs now. The World needs more of these kinds
of people. It needs more Catalysts.
C A T A L Y S T
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