When I enter Frank Dunnivant’s office, I am greeted by a plethora of plants, some towering to the ceiling. He’s wearing a purple tie-dye shirt and sitting criss-cross applesauce in a swivel chair....

First-year Jessie Brandt spent much of her gap year backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail: a simple, low-maintenance life. When Brandt came back to her Sebastopol, California, home for the winter to...