In Search of the ‘Tomato King’

Finding a Mexican Migrant Politician, Rooted in California Soil

There is only one person more obsessed than I when it comes to the memory of Don Andrés Bermúdez: his son, Andrés Junior. Junior lives with his family in the place where he came of age, a spacious ranch home his father acquired in 1993, on the outskirts of Winters, California, in the western Sacramento Valley.

In a nod to his Catholic upbringing, Junior crosses himself when he passes the town cemetery, where his father is buried. He bought the burial plot adjacent to his father’s, so that he can be …

by Adrián Félix | April 8, 2024

How Valley Fever Brings People Together

Scientific Research Is Famously Siloed, But a Collaborative Community Has Emerged Around This California Disease

by Anh Diep | November 21, 2022

For the last five years, I’ve researched Valley fever at a multidisciplinary lab at the University of California, Merced. This experience has convinced me that for my work to pay …

Murder on the High-Speed Rail

All of the California Leaders Who Claim to Be Saving the Bullet Train Are Prime Suspects in Its Demise

by Joe Mathews | May 24, 2022

“Stop where you are,” declared the short, mustachioed, dandily dressed detective, in a European accent, as he entered the Assembly chamber.

“I am informed there has been a murder, right here …

Activist-Scholar Catherine Garoupa White

I Have So Many Fond Memories Around Madera County

February 25, 2022

Catherine Garoupa White is the executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, working to restore clean air to the San Joaquin Valley. They also teach at CSU Stanislaus …

Why Can’t All Californians Breathe Clean Air?

How Communities and Coalitions Are Working Toward a Future Where Race and Income No Longer Determine Pollution Levels

by Jackie Mansky | January 28, 2022

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously this week to phase out fossil fuel sites and ban new oil and gas wells.

That kind of victory was once inconceivable for California’s …

Where I Go: The Place Where Everybody Knows My Name

Writer Arvin Temkar Traveled to Arvin, California, in Search of the Arvin of It All

by Arvin Temkar | January 19, 2022

I used to wonder: Is there any place where people will know my name?

I’ve always hated Arvin, my uncommon, easy-to-mangle name. For most of my life I didn’t even know …

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