Slake is everything the LA Weekly was at its best, without the pages of ads or the listings we never read anyway.

At Trinity Elementary School in Southeast Los Angeles, a group of fifth-grade girls donning wide-brimmed hats sat down for a spot of afternoon tea.

For many, it was their first tea party, but each one knew to place their napkins on their laps and keep their elbows off the table. They even knew how to stimulate [...]

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, [...]

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?

The 333 is a rapid route bus that travels down Venice Boulevard from the West Side, the ocean, the hippies and the medical marijuana stores to downtown Los Angeles. I get on around midday at Centinela, and pay the $1.25 with a moist note and coins hot from my 10 minute wait in the sunshine. [...]