Affectionately known to the locals as “Marijuana Man,” he spends his days sitting on the grass verge along the Boardwalk. His friends - too - are cardholders; each one of them seeks relief in that centuries-old “wonder drug.” Today, he has a few myths to debunk - from the equivalency of pharmaceutical drugs, to societal [...]

It’s almost 6am, and the earliest I have ever boarded a bus in Los Angeles. The world outside is dark. Inside, we’re all sleepy. The school girl is sleepy. The man with the headphones is sleepy. The people at the back of the bus, although I’m too tired to turn my head and [...]

There was a man staring out of the window, sitting alone, miles away from anything. Occasionally, he smiled, or spoke, and his words drifted out to the world without an ear to hear them. His dark eyes were bloodshot. His limbs twitched. Every few minutes he would close his eyes and succumb to the feeling, [...]

Today is the last day for Brits to buy their way to victory. By midnight GMT, that’s 4pm PST and only a few hours from now, the votes will all have been cast. At this point, it could go either way… the Rage Against The Machine group states that “some indications are putting us BEHIND by 10,000 copies”. Others claim the opposite. Tom Morello told the Sun newspaper: “This really does seem like the biggest ‘which side are you on?’ moment in the history of UK music.”

* This is, of course, entirely fictional.

British health care gets unrepentantly demonized. It’s called “filthy.” It’s accused of having low standards. It’s labeled “socialized medicine” and snubbed.  Rarely do we even take a second look.

If we did, we might realize that what separates the U.S. from the U.K. in terms of our health care systems is ideology. What “socialized medicine” stands [...]

While reporting for KPCC’s Town Hall Journal, I had the pleasure of visiting Homeboy Industries and talking to staff - and participants - at the tattoo removal clinic. It’s a free program, thanks to donations and doctors willing to sacrifice their time. And for many ex-gang members looking to start anew, it’s an essential [...]

A new adventure begins: seeking creative writing about South LA. This is part one.

There’s no place like home. And with the technology of wide-screen televisions, Internet streaming and High Definition, in-home entertainment has never been more spectacular. So why are people still visting the movie theater?

A man in a cowboy hat sits alone on a bench beside Echo Park lake. The foreground is dark, and the man is shrouded in the shadow of a tree. He seems isolated, lonely. His face is lowered just slightly enough to suggest despair. His jacket and upturned collar are a strange juxtaposition against the [...]