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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Today, Education Week featured my series on the children of immigrants in California. “Breaking Through” tells the stories of a number of naturalized immigrant children who are fighting for social ascension against a number of barriers. The stories are based in Los Angeles and the farm-worker city of Delano in the San Joaquin [...]

It’s obvious that poverty can be a negative force for developing children. But what is lesser known is that poverty — in a wider context — can also be a catalyst for motivation. Of course, this is just a personal theory, which I’m going to name “I-need-to-get-the-hell-outta-here” syndrome.

BREAKING THROUGH: The children of immigrants in California carry the legacy of their parents’ sacrifices and the promise of a better future for themselves and the state. But breaking free of cycles of poverty is a debilitating struggle, as we see among Latino youth in both Los Angeles and Delano.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Last night I went to visit the Rodarte family in Delano, CA., for dinner and conversation about Mexico, farm working, immigration, and the merits of struggle as a motivational force.

OPINION: It is a rising theory that “Americanization” or “assimilation” to the negative aspects of American culture plays its part in impeding social upward mobility for second generation immigrants. Becoming “American,” then, becomes the opposite of what many immigrants envisioned for their children: a detrimental rather than beneficial force.

It’s still amazing to me that a place so completely different from Los Angeles can exist a mere two-hour drive away.