Dedicated to all the high school seniors who, come September, will be leaving their hometown. Everyone at the party was four freeways away from home, but just one Instagram away from fame. We were born at UCLA. Or Saint Johns. Or Kaiser. We took our first breaths and...
Rayna Berggren
A provident young person back for the future
We’re all a little touched: the Salton Sea
1 When they look at a map of the Golden State, even without any identifying text, Californians can identify the green of the redwoods far up north, the watery veins of the San Francisco Bay, the expanse of the central valley, and the packed chaos of Los Angeles...
On the importance of the personal statement
I put an Annie’s Mac and Cheese in the microwave. The machine appears to be sentient and judgmental. I back away and sit on a hard Ikea chair, noting that I have two minutes available to think about the things left undone in my life. Why do you do the things you do?...
Baptism of political activism
"Meet at 8 p.m. and we will go from there." At the steps of L.A. City Hall, a pig effigy is raised above the crowd. Two men climb a stoplight and release a Mexican flag to ripple in the wind. “Sí se puede,” the congregation yells up to it. A middle-aged man holds up a...
A faint but lingering stench
The center is holding. A parking lot replaces a non-profit art and music venue, a fashion house co-opts a culture and a city is taken from its future. Much of Los Angeles is excluded from teenagers. All-ages venues were already scarce when a "Notice of Demolition"...