Where I Go: My Teacher, the Tomato

How This Beautiful Plant and Its Magic Fruit Guides a Professional Chef in the Kitchen, and in Life

Food can connect us to the earth, our community, and ourselves. But first, we need to open a space to listen to and be in exchange with the ingredients.

As a professional chef, I have spent years learning to do this with the plants I grow and cook with. This practice has profoundly changed the way I think about my work and the world around me.

Looking back, one of my most important teachers on this journey, in the kitchen and in life, was the tomato.

Growing up, I struggled with my relationship …

My Work as an In-Home Caregiver Shouldn’t Be This Hard | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

My Work as an In-Home Caregiver Shouldn’t Be This Hard

Minimum Wage, Unpaid Hours, Tricky Client Dynamics, and No Outside Support Sometimes Make This the Worst Job I’ve Ever Had

As one of the over 550,000 caregivers in the state’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) programs, I am part of a big system that keeps 650,000 disabled, blind, or elderly Californians …

In Praise of a Disunited States of America

The Nation Could Use More Declarations of Independence, and California Should Take the Lead

The further I drove into Oroville, the more disappointment I felt.

I had my passport with me, but no one asked me to show it. American flags still hung from stores …

Yes, Prop. 13 Is Racist

The Infamous Tax Policy Disproportionately Benefits Older, Wealthier, Whiter Californians—But We Could Change That

To most, tax policy is boring—somewhere between the weather and cryptocurrencies. I study, teach, and write about taxes, mostly because I believe they are the price we pay for civilized …

Newsom’s Gun Control Amendment Is the Most Important Idea in U.S. Politics

A Violent Country Desperately Needs Constitutional Protection to Fight This Epidemic. How Serious Is the Governor?

Gavin Newsom’s new campaign for a 28th Amendment is the most important political idea in the country today.

But you wouldn’t know that from reading media reports following the California governor’s …