What My High School Taught Me About Sex

At the Clinic, Teens Learn to Grapple With Difficult Choices About Their Own Bodies

The Hollywood High School Wellness Center is tucked away, far from the famous mural painted on our auditorium, which depicts alumni such as Dorothy Dandridge, Laurence Fishburne, and Cher. My high school’s free health clinic quietly operates behind a series of iron gates just beyond our football field, in a community room so nondescript that students are sometimes oblivious to its presence. But it is actually one of 14 such clinics located on Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, and it is a crucial resource for the many students in …

By Destiny Wiley-Yancy | July 23, 2015

A Eulogy for a Delano Farmworker

For 50 Years, Esteban Nuño Took Great Pride in Helping to Harvest the Food That Fed Our Nation

By Dorothy Johnson | July 20, 2015

When they lowered the coffin into the ground, it wasn’t yet 11 a.m., but already the hot sun had forced many mourners to seek refuge. Some stood in the shade …

Parks are a Public Health Issue

In Cities Like Fresno, CA, the Lack of Green Space Threatens Residents' Well-Being

By Xavier Morales | July 8, 2015

Every year, the Trust for Public Land analyzes the 75 largest U.S. cities and gives them a score based on how well they are meeting the need for parks. This …

California, Where Brown and Gray America Collide

Two of the Country’s Fastest Growing Populations Are Learning How to Embrace Change

by Fernando Torres-Gil | June 24, 2015

It was like being in a foreign country. Having never lived anywhere but California, I arrived at Brandeis University in the 1970s to study gerontology and geriatrics. I was a …

My Immigrant Kids Don’t Test Well—But They’re Learning

In This High School Classroom, Resilience Is as Important as Textbooks

by Anne Raeff | June 22, 2015

My mother immigrated to the United States when she was 16, in May of 1943. Though she didn’t know English when she arrived, she claims that by the fall she …

A Nonprofit That Teaches Law to Those Who Need It Most

In San Jose, California, Families Are Encouraged to Join Their Loved Ones’ Defense Team

by Raj Jayadev | June 17, 2015

When I heard about the suicide of Kalief Browder, a teenager who was charged with stealing a backpack and served three years in brutal Rikers Island until the charge against …

Reimagining California