MCAD Sustainable Design Beach Retreat - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series.
→ Read Part 1

Author: Angelina Malizia '22 is a consultant, designer, and community builder based in Portland, Oregon. Her work centers on circular systems, material reuse, and the human connections that make sustainability tangible.

The Shape of the Days- Part 2

The tides set our schedule. On Friday morning, we woke early for the low tide at Seal Rock. The ocean had pulled back its blue curtain, revealing small worlds at our feet. With care, we harvested a few mussels for dinner, each of us remembering that to take is to enter a relationship.

Later that day, we followed the smell of damp soil into the woods and found the hillside glowing with chanterelles. Their buttery orange caps pushed through the duff in quiet abundance. I never tire of that small thrill of discovery, especially watching others spot their first mushroom.

Chanterelles, like a handful of their mycological kin, resist commodification. They cannot be farmed or mass-produced; they only thrive in relationship with a thriving forest. Perhaps fittingly, the patch that has returned most vigorously is closest to our human activity. Even here, after the forest was clear-cut in the 1980s, they came back strongest where we thinned, tended, and let the light in. Reciprocity is made visible: we care for the forest, and the forest flourishes in return.

Late into the afternoon, bundled in rain slickers and armed with crab pots and slightly rancid chicken, we found ourselves on the pier at high swing tide. We settled in among hundreds of locals, tourists, families, and friends. For a few damp, glowing hours, everyone was part of the same community, sharing snacks, petting dogs, and swapping crabbing stories. We pulled up two Dungeness and a handful of red rock crabs, enough for a feast.

That night, we filled ourselves with seafood pasta, crusty bread, and wine, talking late into the night. Our conversation moved easily between dreams, philosophies, and laughter. If joy makes us resilient, it is these unguarded moments, among those who share a common language, that strengthen my resolve and sense of purpose.

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