The Sundance Film Festival went virtual this year and featured seven days of premieres, events, artist talks and cutting-edge XR exhibitions. Bakersfield Life Magazine's Ema Sasic got a front row seat to some of the year's upcoming films and has the ones you should put on your watchlist.

A community-based shop focusing on culture and Bakersfield natives has found its home inside the Valley Plaza Mall.

» It’s hard to believe we’re approaching a year of COVID-19 restrictions, shutdowns and fatigue. It’s definitely been a rollercoaster of a ride.

As this month’s issue shines a light on Go Red for Women, let us look back on how the community of Bakersfield has cared for the hearts of its people.

At age 25, after graduating from Stanford University, Judy Jordan launched J Vineyards with some help from her father, Tom, founder of Jordan Vineyard and Winery. Beginning as an early Sonoma County sparkling wine producer, Jordan spent nearly 30 years building the impressive J Vineyards por…

Most people resemble their parents on looks, and sometimes even have many of their personality traits.

Creatives everywhere have had to find new ways to spread their artistic talents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When you enter Thai House in southwest Bakersfield, you immediately get the sense that you're walking into someone's home. It makes sense after all — mothers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins all make up the staff, and family trinkets and dishware are featured in a…

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If you’re nuts about appetizer foods just as much as I am, these hasselback waffle potatoes are the perfect dish to share with your friends or family. It can also easily be a side dish to any fancy meal for any occasion. I promise you, these potatoes will change your life — they’re crispy, b…

If you are wishing away all the countless cooking and endless cleaning, and find that you feel worn down by the monotony of routine, you might need a little more creativity in your life. You are not alone if you are sick and tired of boredom.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that life can change dramatically, seemingly overnight. And for many survivors of heart disease and stroke, they have another point in time they can circle on a calendar where they experienced a life altering change. Fortunately, there is hope and wisdom …

For many students, school represents structure, security and care, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, it altered their daily lives.

Women continue to blaze trails in the 21st century, influencing world events, politics and businesses near and far.

BL: How did Bratcher Home & Design begin?

According to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, making healthy habits makes a difference in one’s life. With their data, individuals who maintained a healthy diet, drank alcohol moderately and did not smoke lived longer than those who didn’t make changes in their lifestyle.

“Night Stalker” (Netflix): If you’re a true-crime junkie, this documentary series has to be added to your must watchlist. This limited documentary focuses on the efforts to catch serial killer Richard Ramirez in California during the 1980s. Ramirez was convicted of 13 counts of murder, in ad…

Do this, do that, hack this, hack that and then let’s see if it all pans out to leave you feeling happy and whole. Sometimes the advice and opportunity for personal physical improvement can be overwhelming. Where does one start in order to become happy and whole? The abundance of tips and tr…

A year into the pandemic, we are still stuck in neutral it seems. Our social lives and essential interactions with others are all on pause. People remain laser-focused on their immediate needs, making it difficult to absorb much else, including keeping friendships afloat that have gone adrif…

BL: Why did you begin My Sister’s Scrub? What was the idea behind it?

Farming has always been Annie Florendo’s calling — from observing her own grandparents raise a farm to even raising her own for decades now. Florendo knew the benefits of eating fresh produce and eventually wanted to spread her knowledge throughout California.

JJ's Legacy has served our community through education and outreach about the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation since 2010. The organization inspires people to sign up to save lives and comforts local families touched by donation.

Creatives everywhere have had to find new ways to spread their artistic talents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sometimes you want all the sweetness that comes with a dessert but not all the calories and added sugars. Lucky for you, you get the best of both worlds with this mango chia pudding. Blending sweet mangos with creamy coconut milk gives you a tropical flavor explosion that makes you forget it…

The 2020-2021 school year is certainly one for the history books, and while students face the challenges of school via Zoom, one thing that has not changed is the care and determination of teachers to rise to the task of this recent reality. Although Teacher Appreciation Week is celebrated i…

Classrooms and school hallways have been quiet the last few months, missing the young minds that make them flourish.

Graduation season can be an exciting time for college students. As their time draws to a close, students may be anxious to put their education to use and enter the workforce.

Educators will likely remember 2020 for the rest of their lives. It was the year when they had students in classrooms one day and had to transfer everything online the next. Many thought distance learning would last for a few weeks, but school reopening dates continued to be pushed further b…

Celebrating Valentine's Day might look a little different this year, but you can still count on Sonder to make the day special.

Griselda Cormier, 43, mental health therapist, care coordinator, MSW

Dehydrated skin is among the many causes of facial wrinkling, which also can be caused by smoking, environmental factors and UV exposure. Aging skin doesn't produce as much collagen and elastin, which allows skin to spring back into place, as it once did. Treating dehydration and dryness may…

“Someone Great” (Netflix): “Someone Great” stars Gina Rodriguez as Jenny, a music journalist who lands a big job at Rolling Stone that requires her to move across the country, which leaves her boyfriend of nine years, Nate, to break up with her, rather than pursue a long-distance relationshi…

Amid difficult times, Wine Spectator magazine has recently released its Top 100 Most Exciting Wines of 2020. No list is perfect, but Wine Spectator’s criteria is complex and values cost and accessibility as well as taste.

2020 was a year like no other for everyone, and for students it meant their school year ended abruptly.

The coronavirus pandemic doesn’t have to cancel romance. In a time of uncertainty, it's important to find an escape and feel a moment of relief and fun. It can be difficult to find date ideas that allow for social distancing and fun activities with most businesses closed. Whether we’re going…

America long has been described as a melting pot. People from all cultures, continents and walks of life have blended together to paint the canvas that is the United States.

BL: Can you tell us about yourself and your business?

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things…

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February is all about hearts and flowers, and our magazine this month is sending a lot of love to our local unsung heroes: teachers.

Love is in the air, plastered all over the stores, but love truly lives in our hearts. There are different kinds of love but all true love is rooted in you — it begins with you. Love may look like respect, acceptance, honoring one’s self and all things, curiosity and faith. What words come t…

Morayo Olujumu’s journey to a brighter future began when she was crowned Miss Kern County in 2019.

If you’re single, there’s a chance that you’ve either tried online dating or you haven’t convinced yourself enough to sign up. There are a number of popular dating apps available, such as Bumble, Tinder, Plenty of Fish and Hinge, but there’s always a common factor when you’re swiping for you…

It is often said that it is the people who distinguish our giving community from others. Generous to a fault, their oversized hearts see a bigger picture and seek to fill a void, even when their plates are already piled high. Add Charles and Tina Heard of Bakersfield to this list of remarkab…

Finding "the one" is never an easy task, and a pandemic, which has made going out and meeting new people almost impossible, doesn't help either.