Eduardo’s favorite stretch of woods is the winding road of pines and majestic sequoias at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California. He fell in love with the outdoors when he was a kid, traveling every summer to his family’s farm in Jalisco, Mexico, and going camping in Yosemite.
In this 2013 feature story, I write in first person for Land+People magazine about My Perfect Park Day in Sacramento, Calif., the place I now call home.
Researchers at Stanford University released a report in September 2012, saying there was “little evidence of health benefits from organic foods.” But a day of reporting at the Chavez Farmers’ Market in Sacramento revealed that many farmers and shoppers believe the study misses the point.
Ulf Witasp, 46, was just a kid when he started obsessing over “mopars” – that's American muscle cars outfitted with Chrysler’s special line of motor parts. “When I was 10, there was illegal street racing in my town, Rättvik,” he said. “It was a ‘68 Hemi ‘cuda, which is very, very rare. And the other car was a ‘71 Charger RT. Both mopars. So, then I became a mopar man.”
"Angie in Sweden" is a 14-part travel-doc series. Join Angie as she learns to speak Swinglish, visits 17th century castles, basks in Midsummer, explores immigration, walks with zombies, covers classic car culture, seizes medieval Visby, and savors fika!
The first time Jaime Carr called the cops on herself, she was in the middle of a psychotic delusion. It was early 2007 and pop star Britney Spears was in the news for having shaved her head. Convinced she had morphed into the famous singer, Carr feared that the gardener, mail carrier and upstairs neighbors were watching her every move. Even the paparazzi, she thought, were hiding out, waiting to snap her picture.
"Whether a creator or connoisseur of the art form—no matter if you rap, deejay, spray paint, breakdance, design apparel or promote events—hip-hop demands that you do it in a way that is true to the best part of who you are. It assumes, in true American form, that everyone has a voice. For Fil-Ams fighting a mentality designed to erase individuality and silence voices, hip-hop is an obnoxiously loud vehicle in which they can’t help but to be seen." —Excerpt from, "Being Filipeanut-American," a magazine story about the life of amateur rapper Albert Balbutin, Jr.
In San Francisco's Fillmore District, some high-density housing is going up. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency is building 32 units of affordable townhomes and flats as part of the historic jazz district's revitalization. Lucky applicants will be selected on Oct. 19. But some of those applicants were displaced from this now trendy part of town when the district went through redevelopment back in the 60s. And they are supposed to have a head start.
Meet Pinay b-girl Sharon "Shaboogie" Mendoza, 35. The San Diego native moved to the Bay Area in 1998 to get down on its famous dance floors. As the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, Mendoza struggles to find time to practice her b-girling skills, a must for any breakdancer who expects to be taken seriously in the game.
Ashley Jones was set on becoming a professional soccer player, but by the end of a summer health camp for teens, she was chasing a career in nursing. Jones, now 21, participated in the first annual Camp ECHO (Exploring Careers in Healthcare Organization). The five-day summer immersion program is now in its sixth year at Saint Agnes Hospital. It exposes Maryland high schoolers to the many sides of the health-care profession.
After more than a year juggling the family finances to handle the expense of battling breast cancer, Ronda Badiang was surprised a few months back when she found she was unable to pay a $1,000 deductible for her treatment. She was even more surprised when the Red Devils stepped in to settle the bill, no questions asked.
Durban, South Africa boasts some of the most beautiful beaches and busiest ports in the country, but the country is also known for its staggering HIV rate among women and children. In March 2009, I traveled to South Africa to report on the innovative ways that researchers and public health experts are helping HIV-positive mothers breastfeed their babies without transmitting the virus. This video examines the pros and cons of a PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) method called "flash heating," as told by experts and a 34-year-old HIV-positive mother of one, Nosipho Hilda-Dludla.
An internship at 94.1 FM KPFA Radio News in 2007 resulted in stories about The National Day of Action Against Big Box Chain Stores, The United Nations' UNiTE to End Violence Against Women Day, a nationwide rally against global warming and a San Francisco protest against U.S. government support for what some Pakistani Americans are calling a military dictatorship in the South Asia country.
In 2000, when Gary Erickson, founder and owner of Clif Bar and Co., told reps from Quaker Oats - the fourth largest consumer goods company in the world - that he needed to go for a walk before signing over his company for $120 million, they thought he was bluffing to secure a larger payout.
Sipping imaginary tea and locking horns over un-heeded weekend curfews is over for mother-daughter duos Liz and Julie Stevens, Paula Stewart-Felix and Kishna Suterfield, and Jacalyn Evone and Nicole Scott. Together they've successfully turned a lifetime of shared experiences into partnerships steeped in the love, trust, and friendship of the mother-daughter bond.
