Ariella is a former intern for the California Report Magazine. Before that, she helped mobilize freelance journalists with Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and made radio features for KALW. Ariella loves investigative reporting, personal stories that interrogate power, and spicy vegan cooking.
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10524648/between-homelands-canoe-connects-a-tongva-woman-to-her-tribe\">Cindi Alvitre\u003c/a> is an indigenous mother, grandmother, weaver, writer, storyteller and traditional singer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Tongva descendant of the Moompetam (Salt Water) Clan – the original people of Los Angeles and the southern Channel Islands – she teaches American Indian Studies at Cal State Long Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her new children’s book, “\u003ca href=\"https://heydaybooks.com/waaaka/\">Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love With The Sun\u003c/a>,” gives new life to a traditional story with a timely message about community, climate change and the danger of making selfish choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alvitre spoke with The California Report Magazine’s host Sasha Khokha. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 954px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"954\" height=\"1208\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut.jpg 954w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut-800x1013.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut-160x203.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cover of ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On Dedicating the Book to her Father\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>My father Bernard Alvitre was a skin diver, an abalone diver. He taught us about the connection to everything that lived among us, how everything has a story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seaweed, the seagulls, the water, the sand, the sand dollars, everything had a history and a story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He cherished that. That was his way of teaching. It was through us and and the ability to be able to to memorize these stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1573px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1573\" height=\"977\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut.jpg 1573w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-800x497.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-1020x634.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-1536x954.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1573px) 100vw, 1573px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A Pre-Human Tale of Community Responsibility\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The pre-human characters had to find a way to get Tamet, the sun, up into the sky. Because every day he was growing larger and larger and larger, hotter and hotter, and was impacting and affecting all the life. The trees were beginning to shrivel, the water was beginning to dry up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waa’aka’ is the other main character. She is a black-crowned night heron. And she has a very vain streak about her. She found out that if the sun was with her, she could see her reflection [in ponds of water] and just gaze at how fabulous she was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853895\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 936px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853895\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"936\" height=\"1208\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut.jpg 936w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut-800x1032.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut-160x206.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The sun was growing hotter and hotter. The council decided they would toss him up into the sky. Waa’aka’ becomes very anxious about it because she’s realizing she will no longer be able to gaze at herself. She decides she’s going to ruin this whole plan, because when they toss him up into the sky, she’s going to grab the net and break it, and he’s going to fall back to Earth and be with her forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grabs the net. The sun explodes into what he is today – this immense ball of fire and light and heat. She collapses as a burned bird back to the earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853893\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 984px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853893\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"1214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut.jpg 984w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut-800x987.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut-160x197.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rest of the community scolds her because she actually endangered everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her punishment is to forever stay in darkness and never see the light of day or see her reflection again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s left with black streaks on her head, and she juts her head forward in shame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11854506\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11854506\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/Screen-Shot-2021-01-08-at-1.48.44-PM-e1610751672338.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"1164\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who Fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On the Lessons the Story Has for Today:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, we have to sacrifice to provide and to extend generosity to others, so as to continue life and to give life to everybody else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a very important message. Right now as human beings, not to exert our power or authority over the natural world, but to take care of [it].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the indigenous philosophy: We ‘Take care of.’ We need to practice that – not to model it, not to understand it, not to intellectualize it, but to practice it. To take care of each other. Take care of those things that give us life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853894\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853894\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindi Alvitre, author of ‘Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love With the Sun’ \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Arts and Culture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The only way we’re going to be able to push forward in a very healthy and collective way is to come together. To acknowledge that these these entities in the natural world, how important they are to indigenous people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We cannot separate our relationship from these the sun, the nature, the birds, the medicinal plants, the Mother Earth, the water, the air. They are very much a part of us and they all have their own stories. They have their own lineage and their own genealogies, and they are their own tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alvitre also just finished working on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacountyarts.org/experiences/memory-and-futurity-yaangna\">art installation in response to the removal of the statue of Christopher Columbus in L.A.’s Grand Park.\u003c/a> In her artist’s statement, Alvitre wrote: “It is imperative that those concerned with social justice strip away that veneer of objectivity to challenge, interrogate, and sometimes invert the social relations and structures of power immortalized in public art and monuments. To re-signify public spaces is to conjure new opportunities to imagine something different. Something better. Something more intimately inclusive of the land and all of its people — past, present, and future\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A new children's book from Tongva author Cindi Alvitre, 'Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love With The Sun,' holds lessons about community and climate change.",
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"title": "'Sometimes, We Have to Sacrifice': Indigenous Legend Teaches Kids Community Responsibility | KQED",
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"headline": "'Sometimes, We Have to Sacrifice': Indigenous Legend Teaches Kids Community Responsibility",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10524648/between-homelands-canoe-connects-a-tongva-woman-to-her-tribe\">Cindi Alvitre\u003c/a> is an indigenous mother, grandmother, weaver, writer, storyteller and traditional singer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Tongva descendant of the Moompetam (Salt Water) Clan – the original people of Los Angeles and the southern Channel Islands – she teaches American Indian Studies at Cal State Long Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her new children’s book, “\u003ca href=\"https://heydaybooks.com/waaaka/\">Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love With The Sun\u003c/a>,” gives new life to a traditional story with a timely message about community, climate change and the danger of making selfish choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alvitre spoke with The California Report Magazine’s host Sasha Khokha. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853897\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 954px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"954\" height=\"1208\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut.jpg 954w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut-800x1013.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46502_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.47.53_am-qut-160x203.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cover of ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On Dedicating the Book to her Father\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>My father Bernard Alvitre was a skin diver, an abalone diver. He taught us about the connection to everything that lived among us, how everything has a story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seaweed, the seagulls, the water, the sand, the sand dollars, everything had a history and a story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He cherished that. That was his way of teaching. It was through us and and the ability to be able to to memorize these stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853898\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1573px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853898\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1573\" height=\"977\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut.jpg 1573w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-800x497.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-1020x634.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46501_Screen-Shot-2021-01-06-at-10.31.14-AM-qut-1536x954.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1573px) 100vw, 1573px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A Pre-Human Tale of Community Responsibility\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The pre-human characters had to find a way to get Tamet, the sun, up into the sky. Because every day he was growing larger and larger and larger, hotter and hotter, and was impacting and affecting all the life. The trees were beginning to shrivel, the water was beginning to dry up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waa’aka’ is the other main character. She is a black-crowned night heron. And she has a very vain streak about her. She found out that if the sun was with her, she could see her reflection [in ponds of water] and just gaze at how fabulous she was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853895\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 936px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853895\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"936\" height=\"1208\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut.jpg 936w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut-800x1032.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46504_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.48.46_am-qut-160x206.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The sun was growing hotter and hotter. The council decided they would toss him up into the sky. Waa’aka’ becomes very anxious about it because she’s realizing she will no longer be able to gaze at herself. She decides she’s going to ruin this whole plan, because when they toss him up into the sky, she’s going to grab the net and break it, and he’s going to fall back to Earth and be with her forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grabs the net. The sun explodes into what he is today – this immense ball of fire and light and heat. She collapses as a burned bird back to the earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853893\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 984px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853893\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"1214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut.jpg 984w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut-800x987.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46505_screen_shot_2020-12-11_at_9.52.05_am-qut-160x197.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rest of the community scolds her because she actually endangered everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her punishment is to forever stay in darkness and never see the light of day or see her reflection again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s left with black streaks on her head, and she juts her head forward in shame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11854506\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11854506\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/Screen-Shot-2021-01-08-at-1.48.44-PM-e1610751672338.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"1164\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excerpts from ‘Waa’aka’: the Bird Who Fell in Love With The Sun,’ illustrations by Carly Lake. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Heyday Books)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On the Lessons the Story Has for Today:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, we have to sacrifice to provide and to extend generosity to others, so as to continue life and to give life to everybody else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a very important message. Right now as human beings, not to exert our power or authority over the natural world, but to take care of [it].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the indigenous philosophy: We ‘Take care of.’ We need to practice that – not to model it, not to understand it, not to intellectualize it, but to practice it. To take care of each other. Take care of those things that give us life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11853894\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11853894\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/RS46506_cindi_alvitre-qut-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindi Alvitre, author of ‘Waa’aka’: The Bird Who Fell in Love With the Sun’ \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Arts and Culture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The only way we’re going to be able to push forward in a very healthy and collective way is to come together. To acknowledge that these these entities in the natural world, how important they are to indigenous people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We cannot separate our relationship from these the sun, the nature, the birds, the medicinal plants, the Mother Earth, the water, the air. They are very much a part of us and they all have their own stories. They have their own lineage and their own genealogies, and they are their own tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alvitre also just finished working on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacountyarts.org/experiences/memory-and-futurity-yaangna\">art installation in response to the removal of the statue of Christopher Columbus in L.A.’s Grand Park.\u003c/a> In her artist’s statement, Alvitre wrote: “It is imperative that those concerned with social justice strip away that veneer of objectivity to challenge, interrogate, and sometimes invert the social relations and structures of power immortalized in public art and monuments. To re-signify public spaces is to conjure new opportunities to imagine something different. Something better. Something more intimately inclusive of the land and all of its people — past, present, and future\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Music Was Our Language': Grammy Award-Winning Producer Turns the Mic on His Sister",
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"headTitle": "‘Music Was Our Language’: Grammy Award-Winning Producer Turns the Mic on His Sister | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Musician Ian Brennan was born in Oakland and made a name for himself performing in live shows at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.mtv.com/news/350127/barbara-manning-joins-colorful-mix-on-laundromat-cd/\">Brainwash Laundromat in ‘90s San Francisco\u003c/a>. He went on to become a producer, working with artists like Lucinda Williams and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brennan is best known for his field recordings. Along with his wife, photographer and filmmaker Marilena Delli, Brennan has recorded musicians around the world, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2016/11/09/501463338/zomba-prison-project-on-world-cafe\">inmates at Zomba Prison\u003c/a> in Malawi and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2696103780\">genocide survivors in Cambodia\u003c/a>. He won a Grammy Award for the production of the album \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/arts/music/tinariwens-tassili-desert-blues-recorded-on-site.html\">Tassili\u003c/a> from the band \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/05/17/478372649/watch-tinariwen-perform-tin-ihlan-live-at-pickathon\">Tinariwen\u003c/a>, which has roots in Mali and Algeria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839064\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt='Ian Brennan working with \"The Good Ones,\" a musical group in Rwanda.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-536x402.jpg 536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan working with “The Good Ones,” a musical group in Rwanda. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More recently, Brennan has worked closer to home, producing an album called \u003ca href=\"https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/producer-taps-voices-of-oaklands-homeless-community-for-new-album\">Homeless Oakland Heart\u003c/a> in 2019, which features recordings of unsheltered people on the streets of West Oakland — singing, rapping, reciting poetry and playing instruments, including a broken, nylon-string guitar one man had in his tent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Brennan has turned his mic on his older sister, Jane Brennan, who was born with Down syndrome. She and her companions at an adult care facility in Contra Costa County call themselves “The Sheltered Workshop Singers.” They released their first album, \u003ca href=\"https://shelteredworkshopsingers.bandcamp.com/album/who-you-calling-slow\">“Who You Calling Slow?”\u003c/a> this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839062\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839062\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt='The album \"Who You Calling Slow?\" produced by Grammy Award-winner Ian Brennan, captures the voices and improvised songs of his sister, who has Down syndrome, and her companions.' width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The album “Who You Calling Slow?” produced by Grammy Award-winner Ian Brennan, captures the voices and improvised songs of his sister, who has Down syndrome, and her companions. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brennan sat down recently to talk with California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha about recording the album. Here are some highlights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Growing Up With Jane\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Jane was and is one of the biggest factors in my life. The most significant individual growing up really in my whole world was her. We’re only 14 months apart. And for better or for worse, she took care of me and she took care of the rest of us and the family. And it was because of her that we that we stayed together as a family. I don’t know that we would’ve made it without her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839063\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-800x1384.jpg\" alt=\"Ian Brennan with his older sister, Jane Brennan, in the 1970s.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1384\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-800x1384.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-1020x1764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-160x277.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-888x1536.jpg 888w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut.jpg 1184w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan with his older sister, Jane Brennan, in the 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Brennan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I started playing guitar when I was five. I don’t really remember not playing music. I only really remember music as a part of everyday life, as a way to connect, a way to communicate. For my sister and her peers, it was dance — the freedom that they express themselves with — was always so extraordinary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ian Brennan, music producer\"]‘We used some of the singers’ own devices — the wheelchairs, the canes. There was a yoga ball. It’s 100% live.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jane has old vinyl records of mine and some other folks. And she’s played those records until they’re unplayable or continues to play them when they’re barely playable. I’d say she’s, with great certainty, the only person left on the planet Earth, if ever there were many, that listens to any of my music. She still embraces it. I think for her, probably a lot of it is the memories that surround the music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839065\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839065\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-800x513.jpg\" alt=\"Ian Brennan performing in the '90s at the Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-800x513.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-1020x653.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-1536x984.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan performing in the ’90s at the Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Brennan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Jane’s Musical Abilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Well, my mother played a little piano as part of her therapy, but Jane would play it and she would bang away on it — again, without any reservation. Music was our language of communicating with one another. I was verbal before my sister was verbal, though she was older. She taught me a way of listening: to listen not to the words, but the spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beautiful thing about her is that she is mostly nonverbal, but she knows the words to every song — she just makes them up as she goes along. And there’s not that self-consciousness. It’s not a performance. It’s instead just an expression of her state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we listen to each other more carefully, we learn and we have so much to learn from each other. What I learned from my sister is that she may be developmentally delayed, yet her emotional intelligence is higher than almost anybody I’ve ever met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-800x855.jpg\" alt=\"Jane Brennan with her late father, James Brennan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-800x855.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1020x1090.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-160x171.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1437x1536.jpg 1437w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1916x2048.jpg 1916w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Brennan with her late father, James Brennan. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Producing ‘Farewell Father’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We had an idea about doing a recording with Jane and her peers for years. My father was 85, and we realized that if we were going to do it, we needed to do it now. My father had been diagnosed with less than a year to live. Jane is now 55. The life expectancy, unfortunately, for her generation with Down syndrome is 60.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did the recordings with three generations — my three-year-old daughter and my father were present. So were Jane and her peers, many of whom I’ve known their entire lives. On the song “Farewell Father,” you can hear Jane singing to my father and telling him goodbye. And, in fact, he passed away two months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Recording His Family After Recording Around the Globe\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It felt like literally coming home. It really came full circle musically because the music for me really started with her. It’s been deeply rewarding to hear those voices and to see that there are no amusical people. Music is everywhere. It’s necessary for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I really evaluate a record based on: is it unique? Is it different? Does it have a reason to exist for that reason alone? I think that the voices here are unlike any others. The things that are expressed are real. This recording is comprised of instant compositions with people that had never written songs before, sung into a microphone before or played instruments before. Nonetheless, the results were stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the Recording Techniques Used\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We used some of the singers’ own devices — the wheelchairs, the canes. There was a yoga ball. It’s 100% live. What you’re hearing is something that happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On most recordings nowadays, what we hear is something that never happened. It’s a simulation of an event that never actually occurred. I am invested in trying to represent a place and time and a moment in time that can connect people to reality in such a way that they can hear better.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the Album’s Message\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>What I’ve always learned from Jane and her peers throughout my life is perseverance and tenacity and acceptance. It’s not a surrender, but an acceptance of limitations, working with them and beyond them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People on this album make up these incredible melodies that are very intricate and unique and complex. Some people have heard them and they say, “What language is that in?” And it’s easy. It’s in the language of music. It’s the universal language. There are no words to those songs. The meaning is embedded in the music itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/embed/q-hvvuGQTUM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Musician Ian Brennan was born in Oakland and made a name for himself performing in live shows at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.mtv.com/news/350127/barbara-manning-joins-colorful-mix-on-laundromat-cd/\">Brainwash Laundromat in ‘90s San Francisco\u003c/a>. He went on to become a producer, working with artists like Lucinda Williams and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brennan is best known for his field recordings. Along with his wife, photographer and filmmaker Marilena Delli, Brennan has recorded musicians around the world, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2016/11/09/501463338/zomba-prison-project-on-world-cafe\">inmates at Zomba Prison\u003c/a> in Malawi and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2696103780\">genocide survivors in Cambodia\u003c/a>. He won a Grammy Award for the production of the album \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/arts/music/tinariwens-tassili-desert-blues-recorded-on-site.html\">Tassili\u003c/a> from the band \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/05/17/478372649/watch-tinariwen-perform-tin-ihlan-live-at-pickathon\">Tinariwen\u003c/a>, which has roots in Mali and Algeria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839064\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt='Ian Brennan working with \"The Good Ones,\" a musical group in Rwanda.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut-536x402.jpg 536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44995_goodonesrwanda-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan working with “The Good Ones,” a musical group in Rwanda. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More recently, Brennan has worked closer to home, producing an album called \u003ca href=\"https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/producer-taps-voices-of-oaklands-homeless-community-for-new-album\">Homeless Oakland Heart\u003c/a> in 2019, which features recordings of unsheltered people on the streets of West Oakland — singing, rapping, reciting poetry and playing instruments, including a broken, nylon-string guitar one man had in his tent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Brennan has turned his mic on his older sister, Jane Brennan, who was born with Down syndrome. She and her companions at an adult care facility in Contra Costa County call themselves “The Sheltered Workshop Singers.” They released their first album, \u003ca href=\"https://shelteredworkshopsingers.bandcamp.com/album/who-you-calling-slow\">“Who You Calling Slow?”\u003c/a> this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839062\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839062\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt='The album \"Who You Calling Slow?\" produced by Grammy Award-winner Ian Brennan, captures the voices and improvised songs of his sister, who has Down syndrome, and her companions.' width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44993_B1pbRKRg-qut.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The album “Who You Calling Slow?” produced by Grammy Award-winner Ian Brennan, captures the voices and improvised songs of his sister, who has Down syndrome, and her companions. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brennan sat down recently to talk with California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha about recording the album. Here are some highlights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Growing Up With Jane\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Jane was and is one of the biggest factors in my life. The most significant individual growing up really in my whole world was her. We’re only 14 months apart. And for better or for worse, she took care of me and she took care of the rest of us and the family. And it was because of her that we that we stayed together as a family. I don’t know that we would’ve made it without her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839063\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-800x1384.jpg\" alt=\"Ian Brennan with his older sister, Jane Brennan, in the 1970s.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1384\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-800x1384.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-1020x1764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-160x277.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut-888x1536.jpg 888w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44994_OKxtShvw-qut.jpg 1184w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan with his older sister, Jane Brennan, in the 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Brennan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I started playing guitar when I was five. I don’t really remember not playing music. I only really remember music as a part of everyday life, as a way to connect, a way to communicate. For my sister and her peers, it was dance — the freedom that they express themselves with — was always so extraordinary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jane has old vinyl records of mine and some other folks. And she’s played those records until they’re unplayable or continues to play them when they’re barely playable. I’d say she’s, with great certainty, the only person left on the planet Earth, if ever there were many, that listens to any of my music. She still embraces it. I think for her, probably a lot of it is the memories that surround the music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839065\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839065\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-800x513.jpg\" alt=\"Ian Brennan performing in the '90s at the Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco.\" width=\"800\" height=\"513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-800x513.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-1020x653.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut-1536x984.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44996_hotelutah-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Brennan performing in the ’90s at the Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ian Brennan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Jane’s Musical Abilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Well, my mother played a little piano as part of her therapy, but Jane would play it and she would bang away on it — again, without any reservation. Music was our language of communicating with one another. I was verbal before my sister was verbal, though she was older. She taught me a way of listening: to listen not to the words, but the spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beautiful thing about her is that she is mostly nonverbal, but she knows the words to every song — she just makes them up as she goes along. And there’s not that self-consciousness. It’s not a performance. It’s instead just an expression of her state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we listen to each other more carefully, we learn and we have so much to learn from each other. What I learned from my sister is that she may be developmentally delayed, yet her emotional intelligence is higher than almost anybody I’ve ever met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11839264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11839264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-800x855.jpg\" alt=\"Jane Brennan with her late father, James Brennan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-800x855.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1020x1090.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-160x171.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1437x1536.jpg 1437w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut-1916x2048.jpg 1916w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44999_DadandJanerecording-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jane Brennan with her late father, James Brennan. \u003ccite>(Marilena Umuhoza Delli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Producing ‘Farewell Father’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We had an idea about doing a recording with Jane and her peers for years. My father was 85, and we realized that if we were going to do it, we needed to do it now. My father had been diagnosed with less than a year to live. Jane is now 55. The life expectancy, unfortunately, for her generation with Down syndrome is 60.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did the recordings with three generations — my three-year-old daughter and my father were present. So were Jane and her peers, many of whom I’ve known their entire lives. On the song “Farewell Father,” you can hear Jane singing to my father and telling him goodbye. And, in fact, he passed away two months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On Recording His Family After Recording Around the Globe\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It felt like literally coming home. It really came full circle musically because the music for me really started with her. It’s been deeply rewarding to hear those voices and to see that there are no amusical people. Music is everywhere. It’s necessary for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I really evaluate a record based on: is it unique? Is it different? Does it have a reason to exist for that reason alone? I think that the voices here are unlike any others. The things that are expressed are real. This recording is comprised of instant compositions with people that had never written songs before, sung into a microphone before or played instruments before. Nonetheless, the results were stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the Recording Techniques Used\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>We used some of the singers’ own devices — the wheelchairs, the canes. There was a yoga ball. It’s 100% live. What you’re hearing is something that happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On most recordings nowadays, what we hear is something that never happened. It’s a simulation of an event that never actually occurred. I am invested in trying to represent a place and time and a moment in time that can connect people to reality in such a way that they can hear better.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the Album’s Message\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>What I’ve always learned from Jane and her peers throughout my life is perseverance and tenacity and acceptance. It’s not a surrender, but an acceptance of limitations, working with them and beyond them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People on this album make up these incredible melodies that are very intricate and unique and complex. Some people have heard them and they say, “What language is that in?” And it’s easy. It’s in the language of music. It’s the universal language. There are no words to those songs. The meaning is embedded in the music itself.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/q-hvvuGQTUM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/q-hvvuGQTUM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Dr. Jessica Zitter specializes in critical and palliative care medicine and practices at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where she helps people with serious illness talk about how they want to live, all the way to the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter says those are conversations we all should be having with our loved ones — even if we’re healthy and young. She is the author of \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/GEp6CyPmRxsNByzzfZXprl?domain=jessicazitter.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life,\u003c/a> and her work has been featured in the documentary \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/80106307\">“Extremis”\u003c/a> on Netflix, as well as the forthcoming film \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/YsLqCzpn0ysRjmppUXnBtw?domain=caregiveralovestory.com\">“Caregiver: A Love Story.” \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are three stories about her patients, followed by some concrete tools you can use for planning and talking about the end of your life with loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Michael Thomas: ‘Enjoying Every Moment’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Michael Thomas is 64 and has COPD, a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. He has already been in and out of the hospital several times this year and is particularly vulnerable if he were to get sick with COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Zitter talked with him over Zoom this spring, she asked him what he wanted most. His answer? To be with his children and grandchildren in Ohio. But he also said he didn’t feel a sense of urgency to visit them, because he believed he had plenty of time left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838731\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838731\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Thomas' family visits him in an Ohio hospital.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Thomas’ family visits him in an Ohio hospital. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michael Thomas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You are a more confident person than I am about myself!” Zitter told him. “I want to be totally frank with you, because I think you deserve that. I’m concerned you may not have as much time to live as you think you do. If someone told me, ‘Michael is going to die within the next six months,’ I would not be surprised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter said she has to steel herself to deliver this kind of news. But she believes her patients deserve to know the truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know you have some serious goals, and they include being with family,” she told Thomas. “I would hate for you to miss that opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dr. Jessica Zitter, critical and palliative care specialist\"]‘This is really what palliative care is all about. It’s about how people want to live their lives. That informs how people want to die. But it really starts with how they want to live.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas has since moved to Ohio to be close to his family — a decision sparked by his conversation with Zitter and Highland Hospital’s chaplain, Pastor Betty Clark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t want to come home. I didn’t want my family to see me in the condition that I’m in,” Thomas told Zitter over zoom after his move to Ohio. “That’s why I was hesitant to come. But then I know they love me so much. And here I am today, enjoying every moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just shows that if we can just bring ourselves to just face our mortality and plan for it, we can get what Michael got,” Zitter said. “We can get this precious time with the people that he loved the most or whatever it is that’s most important to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838351\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838351\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Jessica Zitter with a patient at Highland Hospital in Oakland. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Zitter with a patient at Highland Hospital in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jessica Zitter)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Evelyn Jarillo: ‘It Makes You Think About Others’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Evelyn Jarillo is a grocery store worker in Los Angeles who got sick with COVID-19 in March. She recovered, but her husband, who has diabetes, also tested positive and is still suffering from health complications. She’s also worried about her 22-year-old son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re sick and you’re feeling the way you feel, it makes you think about others,” Jarillo told Zitter when they spoke by Zoom recently. “It made you think about what happens if my son gets sick, what happens if he doesn’t make it? No mother will be able to deal with [talking to] their kids about, ‘Son, if you die tomorrow, what do you want me to do?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wait, let me make sure I understand,” Zitter said. “Are you saying you can’t ask your son, ‘What you want me to do if you got COVID and you were in the hospital on a ventilator?’ You don’t feel like you could talk to him about that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t,” Jarillo told her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Evelyn saw something that most of us don’t get a chance to see,” said Zitter. “She saw the potential for death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of us, when Jarillo thought about members of her family dying, she faced a mental block, Zitter said. It seemed easier for Jarillo to share her thoughts about flower arrangements for her own funeral than to think about tough topics like a do-not-resuscitate order or discussing it with her children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"end-of-life\" label=\"related coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter had a similar conversation with her own son on his 18th birthday by playing a game called \u003ca href=\"http://www.gowish.org/\">Go Wish\u003c/a>. The game helps families talk about their preferences around death and the important things they want to hold on to throughout the course of their life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like Evelyn, the last thing I want to do is think about my children dying,” said Zitter. “It’s just grim. It’s horrifying. It feels in some ways like not what a mother does, right? A mother is supposed to focus on the positives, the weddings. We’re not supposed to focus on the deathbed moments of a child. But asking open-ended questions is something you can and should do with your family. Just leaving space for more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter has conducted workshops on death and dying with teenagers. Just like sex education, she says, there should be a place for death education in high schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Andrew Rich: ‘This Is Where I Want to Die’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838192\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838192\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-800x803.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"803\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut.jpg 1904w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Rich with his dad, Neville Rich. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andrew Rich.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Andrew Rich traveled to Sonoma early in the pandemic to celebrate his dad’s 92nd birthday. During the visit, his father got sick. They didn’t realize it was COVID-19, and when his father had great difficulty breathing, the family decided to bring him to an emergency room. He spent two weeks on a ventilator and then died alone in the hospital, because COVID-19 rules meant no one could visit him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rich said that was not what his dad had planned when he imagined his death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could rewind the clock two weeks to that Sunday morning when he collapsed, if we could have put him back in bed and said, ‘Dad, there’s the high likelihood that you have COVID and you’re 92, what do you want to do?’ He absolutely would have said, ‘Leave me here. This is where I want to be. I want to be in this bedroom looking out in the valley. And if I die, this is where I want to die,’ ” Rich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The best-laid plans can get completely upended in the face of fear and illness and symptoms and your family not being there with you,” said Zitter, who recommends that families talk proactively about their wishes. “These conversations have to happen early and frequently. We have to get over the fear of talking about it and make it part of our family’s conversations around the dinner table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter said that she is “very much committed” to critical care medicine and said that it is “in some ways miraculous.” But Zitter says the medicine that keeps us alive should not distract us from the truth of our mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve watched the rise of the hospital and the intensive care unit to the point that we’ve become enamored of the many interventions and treatments that we consider to be the offerings of our modern medical system,” she said. “We’ve really lost the discriminating power and allowed ourselves to get completely distracted from making the preparations we need to face death, from thinking about our deaths and how we want to live, right to the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really what palliative care is all about. It’s about how people want to live their lives,” Zitter said. “That informs how people want to die. But it really starts with how they want to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Here are things you can do to prepare, no matter your age or health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Play “\u003ca href=\"http://gowish.org/\">Go Wish\u003c/a>” with your loved ones. The game helps people start talking about what is most important to them in terms of health and life.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Have a conversation about death at the dinner table. The interactive website \u003ca href=\"https://deathoverdinner.org/\">Death Over Dinner\u003c/a> can help you plan your conversation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Write up an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhpco.org/patients-and-caregivers/advance-care-planning/advance-directives/downloading-your-states-advance-directive/\">Advance Directive\u003c/a> and give it to your doctors and your loved ones. This document should be reviewed whenever your medical condition changes or you learn new information about an illness or condition.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>People with advanced illness who are considered to be at risk for a life-threatening clinical event should talk to their doctor about completing a \u003ca href=\"https://polst.org/form-patients\">POLST\u003c/a> form. A POLST form is a medical order that documents a person’s preferences for receiving or not receiving certain types of medical interventions (for example, chest compressions, a feeding tube or a breathing tube).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If needed, execute a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/california-financial-power-of-attorney-31871.html\">Durable Financial Power of Attorney\u003c/a>, a simple way to arrange for someone to handle your finances, such a bills or insurance matters, if you are unable to do so yourself.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Write your \u003ca href=\"https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/steps-to-writing-a-will\">last will and testament\u003c/a> and/or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nextavenue.org/do-you-need-a-trust-for-your-estate-plan/\">revocable trust \u003c/a>to clarify and determine how your assets are distributed after death.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider what your preferences are for a memorial ceremony, and discuss it with your loved ones.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJiY8duVgz0\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Dr. Jessica Zitter specializes in critical and palliative care medicine and practices at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where she helps people with serious illness talk about how they want to live, all the way to the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter says those are conversations we all should be having with our loved ones — even if we’re healthy and young. She is the author of \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/GEp6CyPmRxsNByzzfZXprl?domain=jessicazitter.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life,\u003c/a> and her work has been featured in the documentary \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/80106307\">“Extremis”\u003c/a> on Netflix, as well as the forthcoming film \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/YsLqCzpn0ysRjmppUXnBtw?domain=caregiveralovestory.com\">“Caregiver: A Love Story.” \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are three stories about her patients, followed by some concrete tools you can use for planning and talking about the end of your life with loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Michael Thomas: ‘Enjoying Every Moment’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Michael Thomas is 64 and has COPD, a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. He has already been in and out of the hospital several times this year and is particularly vulnerable if he were to get sick with COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Zitter talked with him over Zoom this spring, she asked him what he wanted most. His answer? To be with his children and grandchildren in Ohio. But he also said he didn’t feel a sense of urgency to visit them, because he believed he had plenty of time left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838731\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838731\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Thomas' family visits him in an Ohio hospital.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44913_Michael-Thomas-with-family_cropped.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Thomas’ family visits him in an Ohio hospital. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michael Thomas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You are a more confident person than I am about myself!” Zitter told him. “I want to be totally frank with you, because I think you deserve that. I’m concerned you may not have as much time to live as you think you do. If someone told me, ‘Michael is going to die within the next six months,’ I would not be surprised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter said she has to steel herself to deliver this kind of news. But she believes her patients deserve to know the truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know you have some serious goals, and they include being with family,” she told Thomas. “I would hate for you to miss that opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This is really what palliative care is all about. It’s about how people want to live their lives. That informs how people want to die. But it really starts with how they want to live.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas has since moved to Ohio to be close to his family — a decision sparked by his conversation with Zitter and Highland Hospital’s chaplain, Pastor Betty Clark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t want to come home. I didn’t want my family to see me in the condition that I’m in,” Thomas told Zitter over zoom after his move to Ohio. “That’s why I was hesitant to come. But then I know they love me so much. And here I am today, enjoying every moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just shows that if we can just bring ourselves to just face our mortality and plan for it, we can get what Michael got,” Zitter said. “We can get this precious time with the people that he loved the most or whatever it is that’s most important to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838351\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838351\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Jessica Zitter with a patient at Highland Hospital in Oakland. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44911_Jessica-Zitter-Evan-Rusoja-with-patient-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Zitter with a patient at Highland Hospital in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jessica Zitter)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Evelyn Jarillo: ‘It Makes You Think About Others’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Evelyn Jarillo is a grocery store worker in Los Angeles who got sick with COVID-19 in March. She recovered, but her husband, who has diabetes, also tested positive and is still suffering from health complications. She’s also worried about her 22-year-old son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re sick and you’re feeling the way you feel, it makes you think about others,” Jarillo told Zitter when they spoke by Zoom recently. “It made you think about what happens if my son gets sick, what happens if he doesn’t make it? No mother will be able to deal with [talking to] their kids about, ‘Son, if you die tomorrow, what do you want me to do?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wait, let me make sure I understand,” Zitter said. “Are you saying you can’t ask your son, ‘What you want me to do if you got COVID and you were in the hospital on a ventilator?’ You don’t feel like you could talk to him about that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t,” Jarillo told her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Evelyn saw something that most of us don’t get a chance to see,” said Zitter. “She saw the potential for death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of us, when Jarillo thought about members of her family dying, she faced a mental block, Zitter said. It seemed easier for Jarillo to share her thoughts about flower arrangements for her own funeral than to think about tough topics like a do-not-resuscitate order or discussing it with her children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter had a similar conversation with her own son on his 18th birthday by playing a game called \u003ca href=\"http://www.gowish.org/\">Go Wish\u003c/a>. The game helps families talk about their preferences around death and the important things they want to hold on to throughout the course of their life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like Evelyn, the last thing I want to do is think about my children dying,” said Zitter. “It’s just grim. It’s horrifying. It feels in some ways like not what a mother does, right? A mother is supposed to focus on the positives, the weddings. We’re not supposed to focus on the deathbed moments of a child. But asking open-ended questions is something you can and should do with your family. Just leaving space for more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter has conducted workshops on death and dying with teenagers. Just like sex education, she says, there should be a place for death education in high schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Andrew Rich: ‘This Is Where I Want to Die’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11838192\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11838192\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-800x803.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"803\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44908_Andrew-Neville-smiling-qut.jpg 1904w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Rich with his dad, Neville Rich. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andrew Rich.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Andrew Rich traveled to Sonoma early in the pandemic to celebrate his dad’s 92nd birthday. During the visit, his father got sick. They didn’t realize it was COVID-19, and when his father had great difficulty breathing, the family decided to bring him to an emergency room. He spent two weeks on a ventilator and then died alone in the hospital, because COVID-19 rules meant no one could visit him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rich said that was not what his dad had planned when he imagined his death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could rewind the clock two weeks to that Sunday morning when he collapsed, if we could have put him back in bed and said, ‘Dad, there’s the high likelihood that you have COVID and you’re 92, what do you want to do?’ He absolutely would have said, ‘Leave me here. This is where I want to be. I want to be in this bedroom looking out in the valley. And if I die, this is where I want to die,’ ” Rich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The best-laid plans can get completely upended in the face of fear and illness and symptoms and your family not being there with you,” said Zitter, who recommends that families talk proactively about their wishes. “These conversations have to happen early and frequently. We have to get over the fear of talking about it and make it part of our family’s conversations around the dinner table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zitter said that she is “very much committed” to critical care medicine and said that it is “in some ways miraculous.” But Zitter says the medicine that keeps us alive should not distract us from the truth of our mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve watched the rise of the hospital and the intensive care unit to the point that we’ve become enamored of the many interventions and treatments that we consider to be the offerings of our modern medical system,” she said. “We’ve really lost the discriminating power and allowed ourselves to get completely distracted from making the preparations we need to face death, from thinking about our deaths and how we want to live, right to the end.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really what palliative care is all about. It’s about how people want to live their lives,” Zitter said. “That informs how people want to die. But it really starts with how they want to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Here are things you can do to prepare, no matter your age or health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Play “\u003ca href=\"http://gowish.org/\">Go Wish\u003c/a>” with your loved ones. The game helps people start talking about what is most important to them in terms of health and life.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Have a conversation about death at the dinner table. The interactive website \u003ca href=\"https://deathoverdinner.org/\">Death Over Dinner\u003c/a> can help you plan your conversation.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Write up an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhpco.org/patients-and-caregivers/advance-care-planning/advance-directives/downloading-your-states-advance-directive/\">Advance Directive\u003c/a> and give it to your doctors and your loved ones. This document should be reviewed whenever your medical condition changes or you learn new information about an illness or condition.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>People with advanced illness who are considered to be at risk for a life-threatening clinical event should talk to their doctor about completing a \u003ca href=\"https://polst.org/form-patients\">POLST\u003c/a> form. A POLST form is a medical order that documents a person’s preferences for receiving or not receiving certain types of medical interventions (for example, chest compressions, a feeding tube or a breathing tube).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If needed, execute a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/california-financial-power-of-attorney-31871.html\">Durable Financial Power of Attorney\u003c/a>, a simple way to arrange for someone to handle your finances, such a bills or insurance matters, if you are unable to do so yourself.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Write your \u003ca href=\"https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/steps-to-writing-a-will\">last will and testament\u003c/a> and/or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nextavenue.org/do-you-need-a-trust-for-your-estate-plan/\">revocable trust \u003c/a>to clarify and determine how your assets are distributed after death.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider what your preferences are for a memorial ceremony, and discuss it with your loved ones.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "From Prison Crew to Pros, the Firefighters Who Beat the Odds — And Are Giving Back",
"title": "From Prison Crew to Pros, the Firefighters Who Beat the Odds — And Are Giving Back",
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"content": "\u003cp>In 2012, Brandon Smith was three years into serving a prison sentence at Wasco State Prison. Smith grew up in Altadena, nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains, but says that he never really thought about firefighting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then a prison counselor asked if he wanted to go to fire camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the highest paying job [in prison],” Smith said. “You'd have to be tripping to deny it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wouldn’t be behind four concrete walls. His family could visit him at fire camp. The food would be better. He’d make a $1.65 a day — the rate has since increased to as much as $5 a day — plus an extra dollar an hour during fire emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, California has relied on prisoner hand crews, typically made up of 12 to 16 trained inmates who perform grueling work, to hack through brush in oppressive heat while creating containment perimeters around a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after leaving prison, many people who worked on fire prison teams couldn't find work as professional firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think that's the egregious part of this,\" Smith said. \"You have this labor pool of people that are just sitting here and underutilized only because an issue of perception.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are several barriers. For instance, EMT certification excludes people with \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastalvalleysems.org/resources/pdf/cert_accred/100214excerpts.pdf\">certain felonies and misdemeanors\u003c/a>. Qualified, trained inmates also can't start right away even once released because applications are due many months in advance. Once released, some parole requirements won't allow people to travel, making wildland firefighting in remote areas impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering whether to sign \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2147\">a new law\u003c/a> that would allow people who served on prison fire crews to have certain crimes removed from their record so they can qualify to become firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside>\u003cstrong>If signed, Assembly Bill 2147 would allow people who work on prison fire crews to:\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>have certain crimes from their record expunged\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>qualify for EMT certification\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>reduce time spent on probation, parole or supervised release\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>To be selected for a fire crew as a California inmate, you have to clear a psychological evaluation. Also, you can’t be incarcerated for something like arson, murder or rape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11836415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith poses, in his element, against a smokey California backdrop. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>'It Gave Me a Sense of Purpose'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2012, Smith qualified. He was sent to Jamestown, to a training camp in the Sierras. He still remembers his first fire, off the side of the road in Idyllwild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just kicked in action once that adrenaline got in,” he said. It was a shock at first. But the more he worked at it, the more he learned to love how fighting fires made him feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being incarcerated, folks don't necessarily have the best views of you out there, right?” he said. “After finishing a 16-hour shift, riding down in the buggies, and everybody's out, holding signs like, ‘Thank you, firefighters.’ They’re talking to us as well. It helped me reconnect back with the community. It gave me a sense of purpose.”\u003cbr>\n[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Brandon Smith\"]\"It helped me reconnect back with the community. It gave me a sense of purpose.\"[/pullquote]\u003cbr>\nThe California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation found in \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/2012%20Outcome%20Evaluation%20Report%20-%20Parolee%20Recidivism%2C%20CDRA%2C%202012.pdf\">a 2012 study\u003c/a> that people who serve on prison fire crews are less likely to commit another crime than the general population. However, people on prison fire teams still had a 50% recidivism rate. Smith said that being able to work would help keep people from ending up in prison again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Royal Ramey has a similar story. He’s from Highland, just across the valley from where Smith grew up. In 2008, Ramey was sent to serve his sentence in the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, but was transferred to Mississippi. He was offered a chance to come home to California if he would fight fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started fighting fire, I was like I was a horrible hiker,” Ramey laughed. “I'm a great runner, I can lift weights. But when you’re actually hiking on hills, it’s a whole different animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramey and Smith met at the Bautista Adult Conservation Fire Camp in Hemet in Riverside County. They immediately clicked. They were both “sawyers,” which means they were the ones in the front of the hand crew, holding the chainsaw. And they got kind of competitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t let him say he was better,” Smith said. “I was faster on the chainsaw.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were passionate about the saw,” Ramey remembered. “We would talk strategies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That rivalry grew into a deep friendship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We talked about life, trying to come out the situation with a better attitude, with a better position,” Ramey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Years-Long Quest to Go Pro\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith was released eight months before Ramey, in March 2014. Both of their sentences were reduced because they worked on a fire crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Altadena, Smith told his parole officer that he wanted to find work as a wildland firefighter. The parole officer said “good luck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith spent 18 months going to fire stations, turning in applications. But he wasn’t going far. Many positions required EMT training. Paid positions, not volunteer, were few and far between. He had to meet with his parole officer often, so he couldn’t apply for non-local positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Ramey was released, he and Smith decided to pursue one last option. They enrolled in a fire academy in Victorville. It felt like starting off at square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836405\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836405\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-800x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-800x480.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-1020x612.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-160x96.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut.jpg 1242w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith and Royal Ramey pose together at Victor Valley College Wildland Firefighting Academy. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There, they met a fire chief from the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said, “I remember pulling her to the side and saying, ‘Hey ma’am, here’s the situation. I just want to be up front. I've kept trying to hop into this space I can't find a way in.’ ” The fire chief told him that if he kept working at it, she may eventually have an opening for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year later, Smith and Ramey graduated at the top of their class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the summer of 2015. Hundreds of fires were burning across the state. So that fire chief called them — and recruited them to fight the Lake Fire, near Big Bear. And suddenly they were fighting their first fire professionally.[aside postID=\"science_1968728,science_1967141,news_11686212\" label=\"Prison Fire Teams\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s running the chainsaw now, and I’m helping him out,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a moment that Brandon credits to divine intervention, he and Royal’s crew interacted with a prison fire crew — and they recognized some of the guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was talking to a fella who was like, ‘Oh, you guys are professional firefighters? Help us out!’ ” Ramey said. The incarcerated men hadn’t ever interacted with anyone like Ramey and Smith — people with their background working on a professional hand crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fighting the Lake Fire opened the door to new opportunities. Ramey got a job with the Forest Service in San Bernardino. Smith, in Sonora.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Smith, commuting to work was a struggle all on its own. “This dude didn't even have a car!” Ramey said. “He didn’t let nothing stop him. One of the biggest things that me and Brandon, we both hold deep in our souls is: Don’t make excuses for yourself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was coordinating rides with coworkers to fight fires — sometimes traveling hours each way. And on top of that, he was volunteering: going to prison fire camps and talking to incarcerated firefighters about how to find jobs in the Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith speaks in front of a group of incarcerated women about careers in firefighting. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Clearing the Way for Others\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith and Ramey made it as professional firefighters through their tenacity, perseverance and luck. But they say they don’t want other people in their position to go through what they did, without structural support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Smith and Ramey founded a nonprofit organization called \u003ca href=\"https://www.forestryfirerp.org/about-us\">The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They partner with local governments like Los Angeles County to give paid on-the-job training for people who were formerly incarcerated, and help with state firefighting applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2015, they’ve helped more than 100 people find work in the Forest Service. Folks who graduated from their program are fighting the fires across California as engineers, leading crews, flying helicopters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836407\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith (center) celebrating one of the Forestry Fire Recruitment Program's graduation ceremonies. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Ramey, Smith and the people they help through their nonprofit persevered through a system that put them in potentially life-threatening situations for below minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a country, we have a heavy dependence on the use of incarcerated people as laborers,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith emphasized that California passing AB 2147 is a step in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, of course, it’s just a step. Smith said the state is reliant on prison retention to handle the ever-raging wildfire season. He wants the state to create a new pipeline, one for former inmates to get a living wage on the fire lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get the same training, more experience than the firefighters out here,” Smith said. “But when folks come home from prison or come home from these fire camps, they're not able to utilize the skills that they’ve learned.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In 2012, Brandon Smith was three years into serving a prison sentence at Wasco State Prison. Smith grew up in Altadena, nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains, but says that he never really thought about firefighting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then a prison counselor asked if he wanted to go to fire camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the highest paying job [in prison],” Smith said. “You'd have to be tripping to deny it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wouldn’t be behind four concrete walls. His family could visit him at fire camp. The food would be better. He’d make a $1.65 a day — the rate has since increased to as much as $5 a day — plus an extra dollar an hour during fire emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, California has relied on prisoner hand crews, typically made up of 12 to 16 trained inmates who perform grueling work, to hack through brush in oppressive heat while creating containment perimeters around a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after leaving prison, many people who worked on fire prison teams couldn't find work as professional firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think that's the egregious part of this,\" Smith said. \"You have this labor pool of people that are just sitting here and underutilized only because an issue of perception.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are several barriers. For instance, EMT certification excludes people with \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastalvalleysems.org/resources/pdf/cert_accred/100214excerpts.pdf\">certain felonies and misdemeanors\u003c/a>. Qualified, trained inmates also can't start right away even once released because applications are due many months in advance. Once released, some parole requirements won't allow people to travel, making wildland firefighting in remote areas impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering whether to sign \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2147\">a new law\u003c/a> that would allow people who served on prison fire crews to have certain crimes removed from their record so they can qualify to become firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside>\u003cstrong>If signed, Assembly Bill 2147 would allow people who work on prison fire crews to:\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>have certain crimes from their record expunged\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>qualify for EMT certification\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>reduce time spent on probation, parole or supervised release\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>To be selected for a fire crew as a California inmate, you have to clear a psychological evaluation. Also, you can’t be incarcerated for something like arson, murder or rape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11836415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44650_54510955_2564866656861333_1292932311761941842_n-qut-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith poses, in his element, against a smokey California backdrop. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>'It Gave Me a Sense of Purpose'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2012, Smith qualified. He was sent to Jamestown, to a training camp in the Sierras. He still remembers his first fire, off the side of the road in Idyllwild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just kicked in action once that adrenaline got in,” he said. It was a shock at first. But the more he worked at it, the more he learned to love how fighting fires made him feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being incarcerated, folks don't necessarily have the best views of you out there, right?” he said. “After finishing a 16-hour shift, riding down in the buggies, and everybody's out, holding signs like, ‘Thank you, firefighters.’ They’re talking to us as well. It helped me reconnect back with the community. It gave me a sense of purpose.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nThe California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation found in \u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/2012%20Outcome%20Evaluation%20Report%20-%20Parolee%20Recidivism%2C%20CDRA%2C%202012.pdf\">a 2012 study\u003c/a> that people who serve on prison fire crews are less likely to commit another crime than the general population. However, people on prison fire teams still had a 50% recidivism rate. Smith said that being able to work would help keep people from ending up in prison again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Royal Ramey has a similar story. He’s from Highland, just across the valley from where Smith grew up. In 2008, Ramey was sent to serve his sentence in the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, but was transferred to Mississippi. He was offered a chance to come home to California if he would fight fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started fighting fire, I was like I was a horrible hiker,” Ramey laughed. “I'm a great runner, I can lift weights. But when you’re actually hiking on hills, it’s a whole different animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramey and Smith met at the Bautista Adult Conservation Fire Camp in Hemet in Riverside County. They immediately clicked. They were both “sawyers,” which means they were the ones in the front of the hand crew, holding the chainsaw. And they got kind of competitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t let him say he was better,” Smith said. “I was faster on the chainsaw.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were passionate about the saw,” Ramey remembered. “We would talk strategies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That rivalry grew into a deep friendship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We talked about life, trying to come out the situation with a better attitude, with a better position,” Ramey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Years-Long Quest to Go Pro\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith was released eight months before Ramey, in March 2014. Both of their sentences were reduced because they worked on a fire crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Altadena, Smith told his parole officer that he wanted to find work as a wildland firefighter. The parole officer said “good luck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith spent 18 months going to fire stations, turning in applications. But he wasn’t going far. Many positions required EMT training. Paid positions, not volunteer, were few and far between. He had to meet with his parole officer often, so he couldn’t apply for non-local positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Ramey was released, he and Smith decided to pursue one last option. They enrolled in a fire academy in Victorville. It felt like starting off at square one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836405\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836405\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-800x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-800x480.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-1020x612.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut-160x96.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44648_smith-ramey-work-1-qut.jpg 1242w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith and Royal Ramey pose together at Victor Valley College Wildland Firefighting Academy. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There, they met a fire chief from the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said, “I remember pulling her to the side and saying, ‘Hey ma’am, here’s the situation. I just want to be up front. I've kept trying to hop into this space I can't find a way in.’ ” The fire chief told him that if he kept working at it, she may eventually have an opening for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year later, Smith and Ramey graduated at the top of their class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was the summer of 2015. Hundreds of fires were burning across the state. So that fire chief called them — and recruited them to fight the Lake Fire, near Big Bear. And suddenly they were fighting their first fire professionally.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s running the chainsaw now, and I’m helping him out,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in a moment that Brandon credits to divine intervention, he and Royal’s crew interacted with a prison fire crew — and they recognized some of the guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was talking to a fella who was like, ‘Oh, you guys are professional firefighters? Help us out!’ ” Ramey said. The incarcerated men hadn’t ever interacted with anyone like Ramey and Smith — people with their background working on a professional hand crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fighting the Lake Fire opened the door to new opportunities. Ramey got a job with the Forest Service in San Bernardino. Smith, in Sonora.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Smith, commuting to work was a struggle all on its own. “This dude didn't even have a car!” Ramey said. “He didn’t let nothing stop him. One of the biggest things that me and Brandon, we both hold deep in our souls is: Don’t make excuses for yourself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was coordinating rides with coworkers to fight fires — sometimes traveling hours each way. And on top of that, he was volunteering: going to prison fire camps and talking to incarcerated firefighters about how to find jobs in the Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44649_malibu-qut.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith speaks in front of a group of incarcerated women about careers in firefighting. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Clearing the Way for Others\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Smith and Ramey made it as professional firefighters through their tenacity, perseverance and luck. But they say they don’t want other people in their position to go through what they did, without structural support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Smith and Ramey founded a nonprofit organization called \u003ca href=\"https://www.forestryfirerp.org/about-us\">The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They partner with local governments like Los Angeles County to give paid on-the-job training for people who were formerly incarcerated, and help with state firefighting applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2015, they’ve helped more than 100 people find work in the Forest Service. Folks who graduated from their program are fighting the fires across California as engineers, leading crews, flying helicopters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11836407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11836407\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/RS44644_ffrp-grad-qut.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon Smith (center) celebrating one of the Forestry Fire Recruitment Program's graduation ceremonies. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Brandon Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Ramey, Smith and the people they help through their nonprofit persevered through a system that put them in potentially life-threatening situations for below minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a country, we have a heavy dependence on the use of incarcerated people as laborers,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith emphasized that California passing AB 2147 is a step in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, of course, it’s just a step. Smith said the state is reliant on prison retention to handle the ever-raging wildfire season. He wants the state to create a new pipeline, one for former inmates to get a living wage on the fire lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get the same training, more experience than the firefighters out here,” Smith said. “But when folks come home from prison or come home from these fire camps, they're not able to utilize the skills that they’ve learned.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-love-new-podcast-explores-growing-up-both-black-and-brown-in-la",
"title": "'California Love': New Podcast Explores Growing Up Both Black and Brown in LA",
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"headTitle": "‘California Love’: New Podcast Explores Growing Up Both Black and Brown in LA | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/podcasts/california-love.php\">California Love\u003c/a>,” a new podcast released last month by \u003ca href=\"https://www.laiststudios.com/\">LAist Studios\u003c/a>, is an audio memoir from writer Walter Thompson-Hernández about growing up in Los Angeles — and coming back. He left L.A. and became a New York Times writer, traveling the world, writing about race, identity and belonging. Thompson-Hernández joined \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\">The California Report Magazine\u003c/a> host Sasha Khokha from his home in Los Angeles to talk about this “love letter” to L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kca8Bjj7MQo\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On L.A. as a Lens to Explore Belonging\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’ve always asked questions about what it means to belong. As a child of a Black father and a Mexican mother, I’ve been in this space where I have questions about identity. I have questions about race, questions about the environments I grew up in. As a \u003ca href=\"http://www.wthdz.com/\">New York Times writer\u003c/a>, I was really interested in asking people who belong to different subcultures similar questions, asking people what it means to both belong and not belong. But eventually, I had this yearning to come back home and learn more about myself at home, about my family, my mom and also about the city of L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Blurring the Lines Between Journalism and Memoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is my first time working in the podcast space. So for me as a journalist, the lens has sort of always been on someone else or a community around the world. It was such a new experience for me to really center my own experience as both a narrator and as a subject. I really had to confront a lot of things in my own life. I had to ask myself questions about what it meant to grow up in L.A. in a certain time. It’s both a piece of art, but it’s also an experience that really combines a lot of elements of sound and sound design and journalism. It also feels like an audio memoir at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the one hand, as a journalist, it was this investigation into a certain time period in my life that was really formative for me as a teenager. I was reconnecting with old friends and even an old nemesis. On the other hand it was a really tough experience because it really forced me to to confront a certain time period in my life that was relatively traumatic. It was really important for me to reckon with the past and make sense of a time that was really formative in my own life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833415 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork for “California Love” by Théo Lambert\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Why Thompson-Hernández’s Story is Also the Story of L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My story, in terms of how I identify as both a Black and brown person in L.A. who grew up in the ’90s, I hadn’t really seen the stories that we’ve presented in this show. I’ve never seen a story about graffiti told from the experience of someone who was both a graffiti artist and also someone who can document it. Or about the party line that all us teenagers used to call growing up. Or about the Compton Cowboys in this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think oftentimes people who come to L.A. to tell stories are transplants, and tell stories about the city that to me feel really voyeuristic. People are just parachuting into a city that I love and respect so much and extracting information and knowledge from communities of color. I think for me, as a person of color, it’s very important to create something that really resonated with the people who I love the most — my friends and my family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it’s really cool that when you hear my show, you really don’t hear a sort of traditional podcasting voice. I sound like someone who everyone knows. I sound like someone’s cousin, someone’s neighbor. That was a goal. I think we succeeded because of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Making an Episode About the ‘P Line,’ an Anonymous Phone Chat Room Frequented by Youth in the ’90s\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The P Line was one of the early forms of communication [for us], predating social media and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. The P Line was a place where we could go to escape. People who could become someone else and lead this double life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was essentially a safe space. Growing up in L.A. at that time, there was a lot of gang violence in the streets, a lot of turmoil and tension. For a lot of us, it was either being in the streets or being at home on the P Line. And a lot of us chose the P Line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833458\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833458 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork for ‘California Love’ by Théo Lambert.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Making an Episode About his Mom, Eleuteria Hernandez, Who Migrated From Mexico to the U.S. as a Teenager\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oftentimes, we only know our parents as our parents. We forget that before us, they had these rich lives. I really wanted her to talk about her migration experience and what that meant for her. These were questions she and I have never really discussed. There’s oftentimes fear for folks who migrate here, like a culture of silence. Speaking about the process of migration or leaving home can really lift up old traumas. I’m really grateful that she was able to to open up to me in a way that was really honest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833421 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter’s mom, Eleuteria Hernandez, is featured in one of the podcast episodes. Artwork by Théo Lambert \u003ccite>(Artwork by Théo Lambert.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mom’s relationship to me was really interesting because she had me when she was about 21. She was a junior at UCLA. I really felt like both of us sort of grew up at the same time. She was a mom. She was a sister. She was a friend. She was a mentor. She was a father. She was so many different things to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really important to remember how I started writing, what inspired me. The books that I read were essentially her books. For a young boy to see that and to experience her grad school life at such a young age, it normalized that experience for me. It really let me know that women of color and people of color can be in grad school and can get Ph.D.s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On the “Compton Cowboys” Episode, and Exploring the History of L.A.’s Black Cowboys\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.comptoncowboys.com/\">Compton Cowboys\u003c/a> are a group of 10 childhood friends who ride horses in a horse ranch in Compton called the Richland Farms. They have a really special story. I grew up about five minutes away from Compton. But I didn’t grow up with the images of Black men and women on horses until I saw them riding around in Compton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833376\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833376 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony, one of the riders from the Richland Farms, showing his horse to young students in Compton. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Walter Thompson-Hernández)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I think on the surface, we see Black men and women on horses and we imagine that they ride horses for love and for practice and very competitive reasons. Those are all true. There’s also something deeper. Black men and women in Compton often have to ride horses to stay alive, to not get policed, to not experience discrimination by Compton’s police department. Part of that is really creative and beautiful. But also it’s kind of tragic. Trying to understand that in the context of this larger Black Lives Matter movement is really important for me. It lets me know that over time and space, Black folks have had to find creative ways to survive. And in Compton, Black folks often have to ride horses to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On How He Hopes “California Love” Will Resonate for People Outside L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m really hoping that a show like “California Love” can unpack a lot of the stereotypes and tropes about a city like L.A. — palm trees and Hollywood and the beaches. All those sorts of areas exist. But there [are] so many layers. And my version of L.A. is mostly people of color. And it’s folks who have immigrated to this country. It’s Black folks who have been in L.A. for four to three generations now, who have also been displaced. This show for me was really a love letter to both my friends and family who have chose to stay in L.A. despite gentrification, despite the increase in housing costs. It was also for a lot of my friends or family who have been forced out of L.A., forced out of their homes and communities. There is a lot of nostalgia in this show and there’s also a lot of grief and sadness — and joy. I’m hoping that people can experience all of that in a way that’s both hyper-specific to L.A., but also universal.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong> On What He Loves Most About L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To me, L.A. is this crash site for so many different worlds and experiences and languages and cultures. If you grew up in L.A., you’ve essentially grown up in it in a really global city. So to me, living and understanding L.A. is really a way of understanding the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of hope for folks in my generation. A lot of us have lived outside of L.A., [or] traveled a bit. A lot of us are bent on coming back home and preserving the community experience that we all had growing up. I’m hoping this show can inspire us to keep on doing that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To hear more about “California Love” tune in for an Instagram live on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 3:30 p.m. with Walter Thompson-Hernández and Tonya Mosely, host of the KQED podcast “Truth Be Told.” Check out the event page \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/events/116679659001\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/podcasts/california-love.php\">California Love\u003c/a>,” a new podcast released last month by \u003ca href=\"https://www.laiststudios.com/\">LAist Studios\u003c/a>, is an audio memoir from writer Walter Thompson-Hernández about growing up in Los Angeles — and coming back. He left L.A. and became a New York Times writer, traveling the world, writing about race, identity and belonging. Thompson-Hernández joined \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\">The California Report Magazine\u003c/a> host Sasha Khokha from his home in Los Angeles to talk about this “love letter” to L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/kca8Bjj7MQo'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/kca8Bjj7MQo'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On L.A. as a Lens to Explore Belonging\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’ve always asked questions about what it means to belong. As a child of a Black father and a Mexican mother, I’ve been in this space where I have questions about identity. I have questions about race, questions about the environments I grew up in. As a \u003ca href=\"http://www.wthdz.com/\">New York Times writer\u003c/a>, I was really interested in asking people who belong to different subcultures similar questions, asking people what it means to both belong and not belong. But eventually, I had this yearning to come back home and learn more about myself at home, about my family, my mom and also about the city of L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Blurring the Lines Between Journalism and Memoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This is my first time working in the podcast space. So for me as a journalist, the lens has sort of always been on someone else or a community around the world. It was such a new experience for me to really center my own experience as both a narrator and as a subject. I really had to confront a lot of things in my own life. I had to ask myself questions about what it meant to grow up in L.A. in a certain time. It’s both a piece of art, but it’s also an experience that really combines a lot of elements of sound and sound design and journalism. It also feels like an audio memoir at the same time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the one hand, as a journalist, it was this investigation into a certain time period in my life that was really formative for me as a teenager. I was reconnecting with old friends and even an old nemesis. On the other hand it was a really tough experience because it really forced me to to confront a certain time period in my life that was relatively traumatic. It was really important for me to reckon with the past and make sense of a time that was really formative in my own life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833415 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44338_Main-Tile-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork for “California Love” by Théo Lambert\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Why Thompson-Hernández’s Story is Also the Story of L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My story, in terms of how I identify as both a Black and brown person in L.A. who grew up in the ’90s, I hadn’t really seen the stories that we’ve presented in this show. I’ve never seen a story about graffiti told from the experience of someone who was both a graffiti artist and also someone who can document it. Or about the party line that all us teenagers used to call growing up. Or about the Compton Cowboys in this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think oftentimes people who come to L.A. to tell stories are transplants, and tell stories about the city that to me feel really voyeuristic. People are just parachuting into a city that I love and respect so much and extracting information and knowledge from communities of color. I think for me, as a person of color, it’s very important to create something that really resonated with the people who I love the most — my friends and my family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it’s really cool that when you hear my show, you really don’t hear a sort of traditional podcasting voice. I sound like someone who everyone knows. I sound like someone’s cousin, someone’s neighbor. That was a goal. I think we succeeded because of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Making an Episode About the ‘P Line,’ an Anonymous Phone Chat Room Frequented by Youth in the ’90s\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The P Line was one of the early forms of communication [for us], predating social media and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. The P Line was a place where we could go to escape. People who could become someone else and lead this double life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was essentially a safe space. Growing up in L.A. at that time, there was a lot of gang violence in the streets, a lot of turmoil and tension. For a lot of us, it was either being in the streets or being at home on the P Line. And a lot of us chose the P Line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833458\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833458 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/Pline.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork for ‘California Love’ by Théo Lambert.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On Making an Episode About his Mom, Eleuteria Hernandez, Who Migrated From Mexico to the U.S. as a Teenager\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oftentimes, we only know our parents as our parents. We forget that before us, they had these rich lives. I really wanted her to talk about her migration experience and what that meant for her. These were questions she and I have never really discussed. There’s oftentimes fear for folks who migrate here, like a culture of silence. Speaking about the process of migration or leaving home can really lift up old traumas. I’m really grateful that she was able to to open up to me in a way that was really honest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833421 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44394_Ellie-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter’s mom, Eleuteria Hernandez, is featured in one of the podcast episodes. Artwork by Théo Lambert \u003ccite>(Artwork by Théo Lambert.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mom’s relationship to me was really interesting because she had me when she was about 21. She was a junior at UCLA. I really felt like both of us sort of grew up at the same time. She was a mom. She was a sister. She was a friend. She was a mentor. She was a father. She was so many different things to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really important to remember how I started writing, what inspired me. The books that I read were essentially her books. For a young boy to see that and to experience her grad school life at such a young age, it normalized that experience for me. It really let me know that women of color and people of color can be in grad school and can get Ph.D.s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On the “Compton Cowboys” Episode, and Exploring the History of L.A.’s Black Cowboys\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.comptoncowboys.com/\">Compton Cowboys\u003c/a> are a group of 10 childhood friends who ride horses in a horse ranch in Compton called the Richland Farms. They have a really special story. I grew up about five minutes away from Compton. But I didn’t grow up with the images of Black men and women on horses until I saw them riding around in Compton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833376\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11833376 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/untitled-223-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony, one of the riders from the Richland Farms, showing his horse to young students in Compton. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Walter Thompson-Hernández)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I think on the surface, we see Black men and women on horses and we imagine that they ride horses for love and for practice and very competitive reasons. Those are all true. There’s also something deeper. Black men and women in Compton often have to ride horses to stay alive, to not get policed, to not experience discrimination by Compton’s police department. Part of that is really creative and beautiful. But also it’s kind of tragic. Trying to understand that in the context of this larger Black Lives Matter movement is really important for me. It lets me know that over time and space, Black folks have had to find creative ways to survive. And in Compton, Black folks often have to ride horses to do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On How He Hopes “California Love” Will Resonate for People Outside L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m really hoping that a show like “California Love” can unpack a lot of the stereotypes and tropes about a city like L.A. — palm trees and Hollywood and the beaches. All those sorts of areas exist. But there [are] so many layers. And my version of L.A. is mostly people of color. And it’s folks who have immigrated to this country. It’s Black folks who have been in L.A. for four to three generations now, who have also been displaced. This show for me was really a love letter to both my friends and family who have chose to stay in L.A. despite gentrification, despite the increase in housing costs. It was also for a lot of my friends or family who have been forced out of L.A., forced out of their homes and communities. There is a lot of nostalgia in this show and there’s also a lot of grief and sadness — and joy. I’m hoping that people can experience all of that in a way that’s both hyper-specific to L.A., but also universal.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong> On What He Loves Most About L.A.\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To me, L.A. is this crash site for so many different worlds and experiences and languages and cultures. If you grew up in L.A., you’ve essentially grown up in it in a really global city. So to me, living and understanding L.A. is really a way of understanding the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of hope for folks in my generation. A lot of us have lived outside of L.A., [or] traveled a bit. A lot of us are bent on coming back home and preserving the community experience that we all had growing up. I’m hoping this show can inspire us to keep on doing that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To hear more about “California Love” tune in for an Instagram live on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 3:30 p.m. with Walter Thompson-Hernández and Tonya Mosely, host of the KQED podcast “Truth Be Told.” Check out the event page \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/events/116679659001\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In August 1972, a Chicano-rights group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding that its almost 42,000 acres of undeveloped land be turned into housing. I grew up on Catalina, but only recently learned about this slice of history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I did know about this cliff overlooking the ocean, with enough space to pitch a few tents. It’s beautiful in a down-to-earth way, with all this sparkly broken glass and carved initials in the breezy eucalyptus trees. Locals call the spot “Burrito Point,” and I heard stories as a kid that there was an occupy movement that happened here in the ’70s, but never anything more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832119\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832119\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Burrito Point” overlooking Avalon Harbor. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, I’m back on the island in my hometown of Avalon, and I wanted to dig up some local scoops. I googled it, and stumbled upon this radical history that I never learned about in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, my town was conservative, defined by tourism — and it still is. It’s still encouraging visitors during a pandemic. Most residents are Latino, but white people are the ones who run the local government, businesses and are the landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1972, the mayor of Avalon wrote in a newspaper editorial that “Avalon’s reputation on the mainland” is “a place of fun and recreation, not politics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet politics found its way to Catalina Island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Mexican Americans, OK. Those are the people that were shortchanged more than anybody. And we continue to get shortchanged,” said David Sanchez, who still leads the Brown Berets full time. Sanchez founded the group, and he orchestrated the occupation. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, he confronted gang violence, police brutality, racism and discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how I survived it, but I did survive,” Sanchez said. “It just made me aware that America was not the Disneyland that I thought it was supposed to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wanted to create an alternative to joining a gang — an organization that champions cultural pride, unity, education and advocacy: the Brown Berets. The group was born in 1967 in an East L.A. coffee house that was hopping with radical activity called La Piranya. They started using it as a headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The coffee wasn’t very good,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes it was two days old. But nonetheless, our main point was to organize the community. That was our hidden agenda.” And that they did. They recruited members from local universities, local neighborhoods and even from gangs like Primera Flats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832126\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832126\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut.jpg 1392w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Fred Lopez, David Sanchez, Carlos Montes and Ralph Ramirez in Los Angeles, who were leaders of the Brown Berets in 1968. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of UCLA's LA Times Photographic Archives Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lot of people joined the movement, and chapters of the Brown Berets started popping up across the country. Sanchez estimates they had about 5,000 members nationally in 1972.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=famNeiosTVk\">student film\u003c/a> called “Chicano Moratorium” chronicled the movement in the streets of L.A. The Brown Berets helped organize mass protests against the disproportionate number of Chicanos dying in the Vietnam War. They were known for direct action against police violence, showing up outside police departments whenever a cop killed or brutalized someone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832124\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832124\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-800x552.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-800x552.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-1020x704.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut.jpg 1270w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brown Berets march in the Chicano Moratorium movement in August 1970. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of \"Chicano Moratorium\")\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One fateful weekend, Sanchez decided to hop on the SS Catalina — strictly for vacation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was just very beautiful. You had the beaches, the ocean, you had the hills, the sky, the flying fish … it’s really a really, really nice place to go,” Sanchez said. “I’d like to retire there some day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something about the island stuck with him. He rented an apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the weekends, I would go out there and I just really got to know the people and the people from Tremont,” he said. “And I’d party with the locals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tremont is Catalina’s only public housing option. His new friends told him about how hard it was to afford housing on the island. They said the city council had passed a measure that limited household sizes to five people. Alongside discrimination and high rents, folks struggled to make a living. So Sanchez had an idea: to occupy the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was inspired by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13870041/alcatraz-occupation-50\">Occupation of Alcatraz\u003c/a> that happened just three years earlier, but also by \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo\">the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo\u003c/a>. The treaty ended the war with Mexico in 1848 and gave a huge chunk of land to America. To Sanchez, the treaty is proof Indigenous and Mexican people were systematically disenfranchised and stripped of their land rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To top it off, neither Catalina Island nor the Channel Islands were explicitly mentioned in the treaty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Mexican government ended up discrediting their claims, Sanchez said the idea was: This land should belong to the people, not the landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Occupation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 30, local newspaper The Catalina Islander reported that “a group of young Brown Berets were discovered encamped on the bluff above the Casino, on Santa Catalina Island Company property.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Brown Berets decided to camp on this elevated point overlooking the ocean, which Sanchez planned as a strategic location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832120\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832120\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-800x514.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets salute at their camp on Catalina Island. \u003ccite>(Maria Marquez Sanchez, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They always say ‘take the high land!’ It fortifies you from people who want to harm you,” Sanchez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They put up the Mexican flag, and called the spot “Campo Tecolote.” They didn’t have the resources to stay long — but Sanchez figured he’d wing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832128\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 416px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"416\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a.jpg 416w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a-414x270.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets pitch tents on ‘Campo Tecolote.’ \u003ccite>(Maria Marquez Sanchez, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I went over there with $800. That’s all I had for the whole operation,” Sanchez said. In total, 26 Brown Berets came for the occupation. “We bought food and, you know, a lot of the Mexican American girls came to our camp, they would bring us enchiladas and beans.” And burritos. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one version of how “Burrito Point” got its name. John Regalado Jr. remembers a racist version of the origin story. He said that “The way I remember ‘Burrito Point’ getting it’s name was because the locals began calling the occupiers the ‘Brown Burritos’ instead of the Brown Berets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals like Maria Lopez were the ones bringing them food. She was a teenager that summer, working at the local beach stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many townspeople were going crazy, but I got to talk to them. I got to know David (Sanchez) … Being part of that on a small island was pretty cool. Though we did get a lot of backlash from all the white people here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Brown Berets were technically squatting on private property, but the mayor of Avalon, Ray Rydell, didn’t get law enforcement involved for the first few weeks. He wrote that “a mass arrest would have a very poor effect on Labor Day weekend,” and that “they wanted to be arrested … their ACLU attorneys would be ready to defend them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many white locals did not see the Brown Berets as guests. The mayor referred to the occupation as “an invasion.” He accused them of “using the Big Lie propaganda techniques of Nazi Germany — fabricating a big story that fits your purpose” regarding the Brown Beret’s treaty claim. He wrote that “in the real democratic community of Avalon, there are no hyphenated Americans — no Irish-Americans, no Norwegian-Americans, no Mexican Americans — just Americans … Don’t let these racist Brown Berets confuse you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11833047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_3229-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Lopez and David Sanchez reunite after 20 years when Sanchez visited Catalina Island this August. \u003ccite>(Ariella Markowitz/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I posted about the occupation in the local Facebook community discussion forum. A handful of people nostalgically remember bringing the Brown Berets food and hanging out at Burrito Point. But others remember plotted violence against the outsiders from East L.A. As the Facebook comments detail, some residents felt like the Brown Berets overstayed their welcome and wanted to take matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Schatan wrote: \u003cem>“The Brown Berets were an early version of the ANTIFA/BLM gangs of today. They camped out up there with no toilets, water, etc. and soon developed strong body odor. It was awful standing anywhere near them in the grocery store line. What really pissed off the local fathers was when they started talking up local girls with romantic revolutionary garbage. By then it had been a couple weeks or longer and everyone was sick of them. I don’t remember what it was that set off the locals but a bunch of the men in town met up at the golf course with baseball bats, golf clubs and such and were all ready to go up and pound the idiots.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Clayson wrote: \u003cem>“It was a big deal in a tiny town there was no violence. I never felt threatened.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pas Lopez wrote: \u003cem>“I was bummed that some of Our ‘Good Citizens’ were armed with handguns, intent on raiding a camp of unwitting Young People.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Catalina Islander reported that the mob, which consisted of anonymous residents, had even “brought a chartered boat for the purpose of transporting the Brown Berets to the mainland.” They met at the country club. That “vigilante-type” meeting — which Mayor Rydell attended and wrote about — didn’t end in violence. According to the local paper, Sheriff Jack Vaughn told the mob to bide their time and to let law enforcement handle the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But David Sanchez said someone tried to come and take down their Mexican flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He got stuck in the cactus bush,” Sanchez said. “We were defended by nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After three weeks, on Sept. 22, Los Angeles County policemen arrived to enforce an illegal zoning ordinance. Since the Brown Berets were rooted in principles of nonviolence, they didn’t resist and were escorted off the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832127\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"616\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut.jpg 500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut-160x197.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets are escorted off the island by the LA Sheriff’s Department. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the National Brown Beret's Website)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayor Rydell wrote that “the departure of the Brown Berets was observed by most residents of the Island. Cabrillo Mole was packed with islanders obviously relieved to see the group leave. While the departing group chanted ‘Chicano Power,’ those on the shore sang ‘God Bless America.’ ” No islanders I spoke to confirmed that this happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rydell also wrote, “living in the same town with these soggy, chocolate soldiers for three weeks was not pleasant for anybody,” which reflects the casual, unchecked racism of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The occupation didn’t end with more housing on Catalina, it left my community divided, but it made national news. So I asked Sanchez: Do you see it as a success?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a success because it marked history,” he said. “The problem was that the police began to attack the organization on the mainland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez says the FBI’s \u003ca href=\"https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro\">COINTELPRO\u003c/a> targeted the group, attacked their supply lines and caused chaos within the organization. Sanchez disbanded the Brown Berets in 1973 for the members’ protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occupying Catalina Island was their last act, for a long time. So Sanchez switched gears. He got his Ph.D. in communications and became a teacher and a drug and alcohol counselor. “I think I’ve done what I had to do and I continue to, to stand for the rights of the people,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11833053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Sanchez in 2020, visiting Catalina Island. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of David Sanchez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sanchez started the Brown Berets up again in the mid-1990s. These days, they organize vigils and demand justice for victims of police violence in Los Angeles, and have protested outside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office during the recent Black Lives Matter protests. And they’re going to be gathering for the 50th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium protests later this August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Sanchez and the Brown Berets did 50 years ago on Catalina Island lives on in the impact it made on people’s lives. The story that stuck with me the most was Ana Meza Araiza’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza lives in Ukiah, but she immigrated to Catalina Island with her family from Juarez, Mexico, when she was 4.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832121\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 745px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"745\" height=\"745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut.jpg 745w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Meza Araiza in the 1960s at Burrito Point, with her dad, grandmother and brother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ana Meza Araiza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was a teenager when the Brown Berets came to the island. She remembers her white classmates talking about wanting to “kick the Brown Berets off the Hill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though she called the island home, she says she felt invisible. There was no Chicano pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t OK be Mexican. Mexican was like a dirty word,” Meza said. “You had to be white. But to me, I belonged there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recalls meeting one of the members of the Brown Berets and spending the afternoon with her. And that moment stuck with Meza, even after her protective dad forbid her from talking to them again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, she left the island and had a long career organizing farmworkers and helping domestic violence survivors. She credits her life trajectory to those seeds planted by the Brown Berets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An earlier version of this story was reported for KCRW’s radio race and was co-produced by Carly Sabicer.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In August 1972, a Chicano-rights group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding that its almost 42,000 acres of undeveloped land be turned into housing. I grew up on Catalina, but only recently learned about this slice of history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I did know about this cliff overlooking the ocean, with enough space to pitch a few tents. It’s beautiful in a down-to-earth way, with all this sparkly broken glass and carved initials in the breezy eucalyptus trees. Locals call the spot “Burrito Point,” and I heard stories as a kid that there was an occupy movement that happened here in the ’70s, but never anything more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832119\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832119\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_2860-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Burrito Point” overlooking Avalon Harbor. \u003ccite>(KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, I’m back on the island in my hometown of Avalon, and I wanted to dig up some local scoops. I googled it, and stumbled upon this radical history that I never learned about in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, my town was conservative, defined by tourism — and it still is. It’s still encouraging visitors during a pandemic. Most residents are Latino, but white people are the ones who run the local government, businesses and are the landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1972, the mayor of Avalon wrote in a newspaper editorial that “Avalon’s reputation on the mainland” is “a place of fun and recreation, not politics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet politics found its way to Catalina Island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Mexican Americans, OK. Those are the people that were shortchanged more than anybody. And we continue to get shortchanged,” said David Sanchez, who still leads the Brown Berets full time. Sanchez founded the group, and he orchestrated the occupation. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, he confronted gang violence, police brutality, racism and discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how I survived it, but I did survive,” Sanchez said. “It just made me aware that America was not the Disneyland that I thought it was supposed to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wanted to create an alternative to joining a gang — an organization that champions cultural pride, unity, education and advocacy: the Brown Berets. The group was born in 1967 in an East L.A. coffee house that was hopping with radical activity called La Piranya. They started using it as a headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The coffee wasn’t very good,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes it was two days old. But nonetheless, our main point was to organize the community. That was our hidden agenda.” And that they did. They recruited members from local universities, local neighborhoods and even from gangs like Primera Flats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832126\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832126\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44242_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-8.49.25-AM-qut.jpg 1392w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Fred Lopez, David Sanchez, Carlos Montes and Ralph Ramirez in Los Angeles, who were leaders of the Brown Berets in 1968. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of UCLA's LA Times Photographic Archives Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lot of people joined the movement, and chapters of the Brown Berets started popping up across the country. Sanchez estimates they had about 5,000 members nationally in 1972.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=famNeiosTVk\">student film\u003c/a> called “Chicano Moratorium” chronicled the movement in the streets of L.A. The Brown Berets helped organize mass protests against the disproportionate number of Chicanos dying in the Vietnam War. They were known for direct action against police violence, showing up outside police departments whenever a cop killed or brutalized someone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832124\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832124\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-800x552.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-800x552.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-1020x704.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44246_Screen-Shot-2020-08-06-at-9.11.18-AM-qut.jpg 1270w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brown Berets march in the Chicano Moratorium movement in August 1970. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of \"Chicano Moratorium\")\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One fateful weekend, Sanchez decided to hop on the SS Catalina — strictly for vacation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was just very beautiful. You had the beaches, the ocean, you had the hills, the sky, the flying fish … it’s really a really, really nice place to go,” Sanchez said. “I’d like to retire there some day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something about the island stuck with him. He rented an apartment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the weekends, I would go out there and I just really got to know the people and the people from Tremont,” he said. “And I’d party with the locals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tremont is Catalina’s only public housing option. His new friends told him about how hard it was to afford housing on the island. They said the city council had passed a measure that limited household sizes to five people. Alongside discrimination and high rents, folks struggled to make a living. So Sanchez had an idea: to occupy the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was inspired by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13870041/alcatraz-occupation-50\">Occupation of Alcatraz\u003c/a> that happened just three years earlier, but also by \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo\">the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo\u003c/a>. The treaty ended the war with Mexico in 1848 and gave a huge chunk of land to America. To Sanchez, the treaty is proof Indigenous and Mexican people were systematically disenfranchised and stripped of their land rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To top it off, neither Catalina Island nor the Channel Islands were explicitly mentioned in the treaty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Mexican government ended up discrediting their claims, Sanchez said the idea was: This land should belong to the people, not the landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Occupation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 30, local newspaper The Catalina Islander reported that “a group of young Brown Berets were discovered encamped on the bluff above the Casino, on Santa Catalina Island Company property.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Brown Berets decided to camp on this elevated point overlooking the ocean, which Sanchez planned as a strategic location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832120\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11832120\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-800x514.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c3-mm-012-a_orig.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets salute at their camp on Catalina Island. \u003ccite>(Maria Marquez Sanchez, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They always say ‘take the high land!’ It fortifies you from people who want to harm you,” Sanchez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They put up the Mexican flag, and called the spot “Campo Tecolote.” They didn’t have the resources to stay long — but Sanchez figured he’d wing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832128\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 416px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"416\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a.jpg 416w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/csrc-laraza-b12f4c2-mm-005-a-414x270.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets pitch tents on ‘Campo Tecolote.’ \u003ccite>(Maria Marquez Sanchez, La Raza photograph collection. Courtesy of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I went over there with $800. That’s all I had for the whole operation,” Sanchez said. In total, 26 Brown Berets came for the occupation. “We bought food and, you know, a lot of the Mexican American girls came to our camp, they would bring us enchiladas and beans.” And burritos. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one version of how “Burrito Point” got its name. John Regalado Jr. remembers a racist version of the origin story. He said that “The way I remember ‘Burrito Point’ getting it’s name was because the locals began calling the occupiers the ‘Brown Burritos’ instead of the Brown Berets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locals like Maria Lopez were the ones bringing them food. She was a teenager that summer, working at the local beach stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many townspeople were going crazy, but I got to talk to them. I got to know David (Sanchez) … Being part of that on a small island was pretty cool. Though we did get a lot of backlash from all the white people here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Brown Berets were technically squatting on private property, but the mayor of Avalon, Ray Rydell, didn’t get law enforcement involved for the first few weeks. He wrote that “a mass arrest would have a very poor effect on Labor Day weekend,” and that “they wanted to be arrested … their ACLU attorneys would be ready to defend them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many white locals did not see the Brown Berets as guests. The mayor referred to the occupation as “an invasion.” He accused them of “using the Big Lie propaganda techniques of Nazi Germany — fabricating a big story that fits your purpose” regarding the Brown Beret’s treaty claim. He wrote that “in the real democratic community of Avalon, there are no hyphenated Americans — no Irish-Americans, no Norwegian-Americans, no Mexican Americans — just Americans … Don’t let these racist Brown Berets confuse you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11833047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_3229-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Lopez and David Sanchez reunite after 20 years when Sanchez visited Catalina Island this August. \u003ccite>(Ariella Markowitz/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I posted about the occupation in the local Facebook community discussion forum. A handful of people nostalgically remember bringing the Brown Berets food and hanging out at Burrito Point. But others remember plotted violence against the outsiders from East L.A. As the Facebook comments detail, some residents felt like the Brown Berets overstayed their welcome and wanted to take matters into their own hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Schatan wrote: \u003cem>“The Brown Berets were an early version of the ANTIFA/BLM gangs of today. They camped out up there with no toilets, water, etc. and soon developed strong body odor. It was awful standing anywhere near them in the grocery store line. What really pissed off the local fathers was when they started talking up local girls with romantic revolutionary garbage. By then it had been a couple weeks or longer and everyone was sick of them. I don’t remember what it was that set off the locals but a bunch of the men in town met up at the golf course with baseball bats, golf clubs and such and were all ready to go up and pound the idiots.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Clayson wrote: \u003cem>“It was a big deal in a tiny town there was no violence. I never felt threatened.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pas Lopez wrote: \u003cem>“I was bummed that some of Our ‘Good Citizens’ were armed with handguns, intent on raiding a camp of unwitting Young People.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Catalina Islander reported that the mob, which consisted of anonymous residents, had even “brought a chartered boat for the purpose of transporting the Brown Berets to the mainland.” They met at the country club. That “vigilante-type” meeting — which Mayor Rydell attended and wrote about — didn’t end in violence. According to the local paper, Sheriff Jack Vaughn told the mob to bide their time and to let law enforcement handle the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But David Sanchez said someone tried to come and take down their Mexican flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He got stuck in the cactus bush,” Sanchez said. “We were defended by nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After three weeks, on Sept. 22, Los Angeles County policemen arrived to enforce an illegal zoning ordinance. Since the Brown Berets were rooted in principles of nonviolence, they didn’t resist and were escorted off the island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832127\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"616\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut.jpg 500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44240_notesfromaztlan-qut-160x197.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Brown Berets are escorted off the island by the LA Sheriff’s Department. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the National Brown Beret's Website)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayor Rydell wrote that “the departure of the Brown Berets was observed by most residents of the Island. Cabrillo Mole was packed with islanders obviously relieved to see the group leave. While the departing group chanted ‘Chicano Power,’ those on the shore sang ‘God Bless America.’ ” No islanders I spoke to confirmed that this happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rydell also wrote, “living in the same town with these soggy, chocolate soldiers for three weeks was not pleasant for anybody,” which reflects the casual, unchecked racism of the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The occupation didn’t end with more housing on Catalina, it left my community divided, but it made national news. So I asked Sanchez: Do you see it as a success?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a success because it marked history,” he said. “The problem was that the police began to attack the organization on the mainland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez says the FBI’s \u003ca href=\"https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro\">COINTELPRO\u003c/a> targeted the group, attacked their supply lines and caused chaos within the organization. Sanchez disbanded the Brown Berets in 1973 for the members’ protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occupying Catalina Island was their last act, for a long time. So Sanchez switched gears. He got his Ph.D. in communications and became a teacher and a drug and alcohol counselor. “I think I’ve done what I had to do and I continue to, to stand for the rights of the people,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11833053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11833053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/david-on-catalina.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Sanchez in 2020, visiting Catalina Island. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of David Sanchez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sanchez started the Brown Berets up again in the mid-1990s. These days, they organize vigils and demand justice for victims of police violence in Los Angeles, and have protested outside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office during the recent Black Lives Matter protests. And they’re going to be gathering for the 50th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium protests later this August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Sanchez and the Brown Berets did 50 years ago on Catalina Island lives on in the impact it made on people’s lives. The story that stuck with me the most was Ana Meza Araiza’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meza lives in Ukiah, but she immigrated to Catalina Island with her family from Juarez, Mexico, when she was 4.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11832121\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 745px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11832121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"745\" height=\"745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut.jpg 745w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/RS44239_117105354_10164326229560434_1838334830026982622_n-qut-470x470.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 745px) 100vw, 745px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ana Meza Araiza in the 1960s at Burrito Point, with her dad, grandmother and brother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ana Meza Araiza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was a teenager when the Brown Berets came to the island. She remembers her white classmates talking about wanting to “kick the Brown Berets off the Hill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though she called the island home, she says she felt invisible. There was no Chicano pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t OK be Mexican. Mexican was like a dirty word,” Meza said. “You had to be white. But to me, I belonged there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recalls meeting one of the members of the Brown Berets and spending the afternoon with her. And that moment stuck with Meza, even after her protective dad forbid her from talking to them again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, she left the island and had a long career organizing farmworkers and helping domestic violence survivors. She credits her life trajectory to those seeds planted by the Brown Berets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An earlier version of this story was reported for KCRW’s radio race and was co-produced by Carly Sabicer.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-lot-of-trust-was-lost-what-losing-its-only-hospital-meant-to-an-east-bay-community",
"title": "'A Lot of Trust Was Lost': What Losing its Only Hospital Meant to an East Bay Community",
"publishDate": 1596238160,
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"headTitle": "‘A Lot of Trust Was Lost’: What Losing its Only Hospital Meant to an East Bay Community | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/trulyca/3185/bay-area-hospital-closure-impacted-explored-in-documentary-the-desert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Desert”\u003c/a>, a documentary film recently released as part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/trulyca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KQED’s Truly CA\u003c/a> series, looks at the ripple effects in a community after a hospital closes. Doctors Medical Center operated for 60 years, serving western Contra Costa County from its location in San Pablo, north of Richmond in the East Bay.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>When it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/24993/san-pablos-doctors-medical-center-to-close-tuesday\">closed in 2015\u003c/a>, after failing to bridge a stubborn $18-20 million annual deficit, it left nearly 250,000 mostly low-income residents more than a half-hour drive away from the closest hospital.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#film\">The film\u003c/a> was produced and directed by Bo Kovitz, who spoke with The California Report Magazine. Interview excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11830990\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11830990\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bo Kovitz produced and directed ‘The Desert’ as her thesis film while at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Bo Kovitz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On what inspired her to make the film\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I had gone to a public forum about the planned closure of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in South Berkeley. And there was a lot of discussion at the time about how we would lose another emergency room on a critical corridor of the Bay Area. There was reference to a hospital that had already closed in Richmond. It was sort of glossed over. It really piqued my interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We really take for granted this idea that we all have a hospital in our neighborhood. I thought, what does it look like to live in a community where there isn’t a hospital? I approached this wanting to hear from the doctors, the frontline workers, the patients, about what the tragedy was. They were never quite heard. And I wanted them to drive this story. I wanted them to be the storytellers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt that the reporting and the knowledge around the closure of Doctors Medical Center was never really in the hands of the people who were living and breathing the impacts of what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On following patients who must plan a whole day around a hospital visit\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I think there’s been a lot of focus about the loss of (Doctors Medical Center) through the prism of emergency services and not having an emergency room in West Contra Costa County. But there’s another enormous deficit, which is specialty care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a cancer center at Doctors Medical Center. Epigmenio Mayo and Angelica Lopez are a couple, both battling cancer. At the time the film was shot, they regularly made a trip where they would take three different buses to get to the county hospital in Martinez, where both of them were receiving cancer treatment. For them, this trip is an absolute necessity, but it’s something that they have to plan their entire day around. They are winded by the time they even show up to their appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the film, the sun is already set. It’s a full day trip. They’ve talked a lot about how there’s no other option. As they say in the film, they prepare their minds and bodies for the trip because they know they have to take it. This is how they survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11830987\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11830987 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Epigmenio Mayo and Angelica Lopez ride three buses to get to the hospital for their cancer treatment. \u003ccite>(Bo Kovitz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the urgent care clinic now across the street from the former Doctors Medical Center site\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>They’re serving the same population with just a quarter of the staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People like Millie Callen worked at Doctors Medical Center for more than a decade. She was one of the coordinators in the E.R., which is one of the most important roles. She’s making sure that everything’s moving smoothly, bringing people in, bouncing them to their doctors, making sure their insurance is covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the hospital closed, Millie was caring for her own loved ones and understood the before and after of what it’s like to lose a hospital. Her mother has a heart condition. The urgent care where Millie now works is much busier with the spike of COVID-19 cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11831438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11831438\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Millie Callen worked at Doctors Medical Center, and now works at the urgent care clinic across the street from the former hospital site. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Bo Kovits)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a while, they were one of the few locations that were doing COVID-19 testing. Not only are they answering a lot of patients needing primary care, but they are also dealing with an additional load of patients who were experiencing or showing symptoms of COVID-19. And then there’s that added stress of how do we sequester that person away from the rest of our patients? They had set up a tent in the back parking lot and they were running back and forth.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the firefighters and paramedics she follows in the film\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There isn’t a Richmond paramedic company. There’s no West Contra Costa County paramedic company. So the firefighters take on the role of being the first to arrive on scene. Firefighters can get on scene, but they’re limited in what they can do because in certain advanced or complicated cases, the ambulance and the paramedics are the ones who need to show up and then transport the person and have specialty training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are times of the day where highways are really, really congested. Wait times for the paramedics to show up can be up to 30 minutes depending on the day. And then those paramedics are often forced to transport patients outside the city or county for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11831441\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11831441\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-800x419.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-800x419.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-1020x534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-1536x804.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trevor Rogers and his fellow firefighters often care for critically ill patients — many of their calls are for health care emergencies, not fires.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the paramedics that I had the opportunity to film with is Aimee Skaggs, and she has been in the community for years. She was around when Doctors Medical Center was there and brought a lot of patients there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aimee describes something that I think is unique to low income communities where 911 calls are really treated as primary care. Emergency responders are the ones who essentially are doing triage on the spot. They are having to navigate so many different layers of what it means to make the best decision for a patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s more than just ‘what’s the closest hospital?’ It’s ‘what makes the most financial sense? Where is going to be the closest place that the family can come without it being a hassle?’ And in cases where the issue is something really time-sensitive, paramedics like Aimee have to bring in another dimension to the decision making: how to get them somewhere fast when highways are clogged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some hospitals may not take them. Where do they go that is not going to also leave the patient riddled with hospital bills in the aftermath? [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"— Trevor Rogers, firefighter medic\"]‘If we happen to have three calls and there are three critical patients that need critical care, now you have three ambulances that are outside of our city… And that essentially depletes the city of our resources.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On how hospital closures are playing out throughout the state\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are more hospital closures that are happening in California. They’re mostly in rural communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the closure of Doctors Medical Center represents an accelerating trend in urban communities. Regions that are concentrated areas for Medi-Cal, Medicare or uninsured patients are losing hospitals because hospitals and ERs are trying to consolidate in urban centers where there are more privately insured patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the burden of shouldering COVID-19 patients now that the hospital has closed\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Right now, Bay Area hospitals haven’t been overwhelmed so far with COVID-19 cases — which is lucky. But if things were to get really over the top, I think people will wish Doctors Medical Center was there. There’s definitely concern about capacity. There’s also a concern that many people — especially those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension or asthma — may not be getting seen for illnesses that need to be managed right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We may never know how many people are in West Contra Costa County who may have died, who did not seek emergency care or did not seek health care, because they were afraid of being exposed to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Doctors Medical Center closed, a lot of trust was lost among the community. A community that has historically been marginalized from the health care system now feels further marginalized because they lost a resource. They lost an institution that represented a lot of trust in the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke about this with the ambulatory director at the county hospital in Martinez, Dr. Gabriela Sullivan. She says that health care is often left with the job of trying to plug all these holes that are in the social fabric of our country. And that if we are trying to leave social issues on the doorstep of health care, that’s a recipe for failure. A lot of people in the years leading up to the hospital closure said it will take a public health crisis of extreme proportions to reveal how essential Doctors Medical Center and other safety net hospitals are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think with this pandemic, it’s not just that Black and brown communities are dying and are more impacted. There’s also going to be a downstream increase of morbidity and mortality for years to come. There is a real worry that they’re holding back the dams right now in terms of acute care. The realities of the disparity are going to last far beyond this pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca id=\"film\">\u003c/a>Watch the full documentary here:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bjKcfSmVxU\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "'A Lot of Trust Was Lost': What Losing its Only Hospital Meant to an East Bay Community | KQED",
"description": "'The Desert' documentary reveals the physical and mental ripple effects on West Contra Costa County when Doctors Medical Center, the only hospital for 15 miles, shut down in 2015.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/trulyca/3185/bay-area-hospital-closure-impacted-explored-in-documentary-the-desert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“The Desert”\u003c/a>, a documentary film recently released as part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/trulyca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KQED’s Truly CA\u003c/a> series, looks at the ripple effects in a community after a hospital closes. Doctors Medical Center operated for 60 years, serving western Contra Costa County from its location in San Pablo, north of Richmond in the East Bay.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>When it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/24993/san-pablos-doctors-medical-center-to-close-tuesday\">closed in 2015\u003c/a>, after failing to bridge a stubborn $18-20 million annual deficit, it left nearly 250,000 mostly low-income residents more than a half-hour drive away from the closest hospital.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#film\">The film\u003c/a> was produced and directed by Bo Kovitz, who spoke with The California Report Magazine. Interview excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11830990\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11830990\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44121_Kovitz_Headshot-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bo Kovitz produced and directed ‘The Desert’ as her thesis film while at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Bo Kovitz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On what inspired her to make the film\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I had gone to a public forum about the planned closure of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in South Berkeley. And there was a lot of discussion at the time about how we would lose another emergency room on a critical corridor of the Bay Area. There was reference to a hospital that had already closed in Richmond. It was sort of glossed over. It really piqued my interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We really take for granted this idea that we all have a hospital in our neighborhood. I thought, what does it look like to live in a community where there isn’t a hospital? I approached this wanting to hear from the doctors, the frontline workers, the patients, about what the tragedy was. They were never quite heard. And I wanted them to drive this story. I wanted them to be the storytellers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt that the reporting and the knowledge around the closure of Doctors Medical Center was never really in the hands of the people who were living and breathing the impacts of what happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On following patients who must plan a whole day around a hospital visit\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I think there’s been a lot of focus about the loss of (Doctors Medical Center) through the prism of emergency services and not having an emergency room in West Contra Costa County. But there’s another enormous deficit, which is specialty care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a cancer center at Doctors Medical Center. Epigmenio Mayo and Angelica Lopez are a couple, both battling cancer. At the time the film was shot, they regularly made a trip where they would take three different buses to get to the county hospital in Martinez, where both of them were receiving cancer treatment. For them, this trip is an absolute necessity, but it’s something that they have to plan their entire day around. They are winded by the time they even show up to their appointments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the film, the sun is already set. It’s a full day trip. They’ve talked a lot about how there’s no other option. As they say in the film, they prepare their minds and bodies for the trip because they know they have to take it. This is how they survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11830987\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11830987 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-912x912.jpg 912w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-550x550.jpg 550w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut-470x470.jpg 470w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/RS44118_desert_03-qut.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Epigmenio Mayo and Angelica Lopez ride three buses to get to the hospital for their cancer treatment. \u003ccite>(Bo Kovitz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the urgent care clinic now across the street from the former Doctors Medical Center site\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>They’re serving the same population with just a quarter of the staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People like Millie Callen worked at Doctors Medical Center for more than a decade. She was one of the coordinators in the E.R., which is one of the most important roles. She’s making sure that everything’s moving smoothly, bringing people in, bouncing them to their doctors, making sure their insurance is covered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the hospital closed, Millie was caring for her own loved ones and understood the before and after of what it’s like to lose a hospital. Her mother has a heart condition. The urgent care where Millie now works is much busier with the spike of COVID-19 cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11831438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11831438\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_still_06-copy.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Millie Callen worked at Doctors Medical Center, and now works at the urgent care clinic across the street from the former hospital site. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Bo Kovits)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a while, they were one of the few locations that were doing COVID-19 testing. Not only are they answering a lot of patients needing primary care, but they are also dealing with an additional load of patients who were experiencing or showing symptoms of COVID-19. And then there’s that added stress of how do we sequester that person away from the rest of our patients? They had set up a tent in the back parking lot and they were running back and forth.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the firefighters and paramedics she follows in the film\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There isn’t a Richmond paramedic company. There’s no West Contra Costa County paramedic company. So the firefighters take on the role of being the first to arrive on scene. Firefighters can get on scene, but they’re limited in what they can do because in certain advanced or complicated cases, the ambulance and the paramedics are the ones who need to show up and then transport the person and have specialty training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are times of the day where highways are really, really congested. Wait times for the paramedics to show up can be up to 30 minutes depending on the day. And then those paramedics are often forced to transport patients outside the city or county for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11831441\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11831441\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-800x419.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-800x419.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-1020x534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide-1536x804.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/07/desert_04-wide.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trevor Rogers and his fellow firefighters often care for critically ill patients — many of their calls are for health care emergencies, not fires.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the paramedics that I had the opportunity to film with is Aimee Skaggs, and she has been in the community for years. She was around when Doctors Medical Center was there and brought a lot of patients there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aimee describes something that I think is unique to low income communities where 911 calls are really treated as primary care. Emergency responders are the ones who essentially are doing triage on the spot. They are having to navigate so many different layers of what it means to make the best decision for a patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s more than just ‘what’s the closest hospital?’ It’s ‘what makes the most financial sense? Where is going to be the closest place that the family can come without it being a hassle?’ And in cases where the issue is something really time-sensitive, paramedics like Aimee have to bring in another dimension to the decision making: how to get them somewhere fast when highways are clogged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some hospitals may not take them. Where do they go that is not going to also leave the patient riddled with hospital bills in the aftermath? \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If we happen to have three calls and there are three critical patients that need critical care, now you have three ambulances that are outside of our city… And that essentially depletes the city of our resources.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On how hospital closures are playing out throughout the state\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are more hospital closures that are happening in California. They’re mostly in rural communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the closure of Doctors Medical Center represents an accelerating trend in urban communities. Regions that are concentrated areas for Medi-Cal, Medicare or uninsured patients are losing hospitals because hospitals and ERs are trying to consolidate in urban centers where there are more privately insured patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>On the burden of shouldering COVID-19 patients now that the hospital has closed\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Right now, Bay Area hospitals haven’t been overwhelmed so far with COVID-19 cases — which is lucky. But if things were to get really over the top, I think people will wish Doctors Medical Center was there. There’s definitely concern about capacity. There’s also a concern that many people — especially those with chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension or asthma — may not be getting seen for illnesses that need to be managed right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We may never know how many people are in West Contra Costa County who may have died, who did not seek emergency care or did not seek health care, because they were afraid of being exposed to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Doctors Medical Center closed, a lot of trust was lost among the community. A community that has historically been marginalized from the health care system now feels further marginalized because they lost a resource. They lost an institution that represented a lot of trust in the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke about this with the ambulatory director at the county hospital in Martinez, Dr. Gabriela Sullivan. She says that health care is often left with the job of trying to plug all these holes that are in the social fabric of our country. And that if we are trying to leave social issues on the doorstep of health care, that’s a recipe for failure. A lot of people in the years leading up to the hospital closure said it will take a public health crisis of extreme proportions to reveal how essential Doctors Medical Center and other safety net hospitals are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think with this pandemic, it’s not just that Black and brown communities are dying and are more impacted. There’s also going to be a downstream increase of morbidity and mortality for years to come. There is a real worry that they’re holding back the dams right now in terms of acute care. The realities of the disparity are going to last far beyond this pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca id=\"film\">\u003c/a>Watch the full documentary here:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/1bjKcfSmVxU'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/1bjKcfSmVxU'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "‘We Always Had A Bond’: Remembering a Dad Lost to COVID-19",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gaspar Gomez first came to this country from Mexico City when he was 16 years old. He lived in the San Fernando Valley and worked as a day laborer in construction for most of his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 3, he died of COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was 51 years old. His daughter, Lucia Gomez, said they've sometimes had a difficult relationship, but they’ve always had a special connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez said banda music was a big part of her dad’s life — he loved listening to Chalino Sanchez’s \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xmtm8W1FN0\">El Pavido Navido\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He loved dancing and I did too,” said Gomez. “We would go to this place, it's called La Perla,” which used to be located in north Los Angeles on Vanowen and Sepulveda. “Him and I would just have dinner and have our dance. We’d love to be happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lucia Gomez\"]'I saw my dad again, you know, I saw who he's always been — a happy soul, loving towards his family.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez’s parents split up when she was about 8 years old. Her mom moved with the kids to the Fresno area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like that really hurt my dad because he really loves his family,” said Gomez. “He really was a family guy. And to not have his family … it made him get into a worse path in his life. He looked into drugs, and he went in and out of jail for a few years because he just was so lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gomez tried to stay in touch with her dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always tried to stay by his side and make sure that he tried to follow his path and better his life,” she said. “But unfortunately, I spent so many years trying to make that happen, and it just wouldn't.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez and her dad stopped talking for three years. Then she started hearing from friends and family that he was doing better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He had met someone,” said Gomez. “Elba, his wife, really helped him to get on a better path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825196\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825196\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-800x1061.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1061\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-800x1061.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-160x212.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaspar Gomez with his second wife, Elba Regalado. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lucia Gomez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, her father's wife Elba Regalado called Gomez. “‘Look, Lucy, your dad really has changed,’” Gomez said Elba told her. “‘Give him another chance, you know, and you'll see, you know, that he is doing a lot better and maybe you guys can bond again.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez agreed with Regalado to meet with her dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and my husband met with them at a Denny's,” said Gomez. “I saw my dad again, you know, I saw who he's always been — a happy soul, loving towards his family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lucia Gomez\"]'Even though he is gone, I know he will always be in our hearts. So Happy Father's Day, dad. Until we meet again.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez said she's shared many more good moments with her dad since they reconnected. Two years ago Gaspar held a quinceañera for his stepdaughter, Janet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We got to dance once again,” said Gomez. “And who would have known that that was going to be the last time we were going to get to dance, but I'm very grateful that we did and thankfully we have a video of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve-v3KUMVd8\">La Loba Del Mal\u003c/a>,” another classic Chalino Sanchez song, is playing in the background of the video, as Gomez and her dad tear up the dance floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I get sad or when I think of anything sad about him not being here, I look at that video and it just brings me back to reality that, at least, even though our life was tough, we at least most of our life always had a bond with each other,” said Gomez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825200\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 418px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-11825200\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-800x1052.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"418\" height=\"549\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-800x1052.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-160x210.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaspar Gomez celebrating Father's Day last year. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lucia Gomez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Before he passed away, he understood that I never held a grudge on him and that I forgave him for anything\u003cb> \u003c/b>that I felt he did wrong to us in our life,” said Gomez. “He left with that peace of mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez isn’t sure how her dad contracted COVID-19. But Gaspar was also able to reconnect with his other children before he passed away in Holy Cross Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. After a few weeks of treatment, the doctors told Regalado to choose whether or not to take her dad off life support. But Regalado wanted Gomez to make the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we keep him, it's us being selfish because it's going to hurt us to lose him,” said Gomez. After talking to the doctors, Gomez made the decision to let him go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though he is gone, I know he will always be in our hearts. So Happy Father's Day, dad,\" Gomez said. \"Until we meet again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez has set up a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-will-always-miss-you-dad\">family gofundme\u003c/a> for memorial and hospital expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gaspar Gomez first came to this country from Mexico City when he was 16 years old. He lived in the San Fernando Valley and worked as a day laborer in construction for most of his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 3, he died of COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was 51 years old. His daughter, Lucia Gomez, said they've sometimes had a difficult relationship, but they’ve always had a special connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez said banda music was a big part of her dad’s life — he loved listening to Chalino Sanchez’s \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xmtm8W1FN0\">El Pavido Navido\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He loved dancing and I did too,” said Gomez. “We would go to this place, it's called La Perla,” which used to be located in north Los Angeles on Vanowen and Sepulveda. “Him and I would just have dinner and have our dance. We’d love to be happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez’s parents split up when she was about 8 years old. Her mom moved with the kids to the Fresno area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like that really hurt my dad because he really loves his family,” said Gomez. “He really was a family guy. And to not have his family … it made him get into a worse path in his life. He looked into drugs, and he went in and out of jail for a few years because he just was so lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gomez tried to stay in touch with her dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always tried to stay by his side and make sure that he tried to follow his path and better his life,” she said. “But unfortunately, I spent so many years trying to make that happen, and it just wouldn't.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez and her dad stopped talking for three years. Then she started hearing from friends and family that he was doing better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He had met someone,” said Gomez. “Elba, his wife, really helped him to get on a better path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825196\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11825196\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-800x1061.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1061\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-800x1061.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut-160x212.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43665_IMG_5410-qut.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaspar Gomez with his second wife, Elba Regalado. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lucia Gomez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, her father's wife Elba Regalado called Gomez. “‘Look, Lucy, your dad really has changed,’” Gomez said Elba told her. “‘Give him another chance, you know, and you'll see, you know, that he is doing a lot better and maybe you guys can bond again.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez agreed with Regalado to meet with her dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and my husband met with them at a Denny's,” said Gomez. “I saw my dad again, you know, I saw who he's always been — a happy soul, loving towards his family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I get sad or when I think of anything sad about him not being here, I look at that video and it just brings me back to reality that, at least, even though our life was tough, we at least most of our life always had a bond with each other,” said Gomez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11825200\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 418px\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-11825200\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-800x1052.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"418\" height=\"549\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-800x1052.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut-160x210.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/RS43664_IMG_5404-qut.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaspar Gomez celebrating Father's Day last year. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lucia Gomez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Before he passed away, he understood that I never held a grudge on him and that I forgave him for anything\u003cb> \u003c/b>that I felt he did wrong to us in our life,” said Gomez. “He left with that peace of mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez isn’t sure how her dad contracted COVID-19. But Gaspar was also able to reconnect with his other children before he passed away in Holy Cross Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. After a few weeks of treatment, the doctors told Regalado to choose whether or not to take her dad off life support. But Regalado wanted Gomez to make the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we keep him, it's us being selfish because it's going to hurt us to lose him,” said Gomez. After talking to the doctors, Gomez made the decision to let him go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though he is gone, I know he will always be in our hearts. So Happy Father's Day, dad,\" Gomez said. \"Until we meet again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez has set up a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-will-always-miss-you-dad\">family gofundme\u003c/a> for memorial and hospital expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "'A Cycle That Needs to Be Broken': A Fresno Activist Speaks Out",
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"content": "\u003cp>As Joshua Slack stood before a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/post/fresno-crowd-3000-protests-peacefully-solidarity-george-floyd-black-lives-matter\">crowd of 3,000 people\u003c/a> in front of Fresno's city hall, he had a strongly worded message for his audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“White supremacy has gone on far too long,” he said, in a May 31\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YwdXI3WsEAo\"> speech \u003c/a>posted to YouTube. “The pandemic of white supremacy has plagued our collective consciousness to the point where a Black body’s worth is nothing more than just a hashtag. … Black rage and anger is 100% justified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack had been living in Los Angeles but went home to stay with family in the nearby town of Lemoore when the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders were announced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, the video of George Floyd's killing came out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The next day, the riots start to happen,\" said Slack. \"I just felt this urge that like something in Fresno or something in the Central Valley just needed to be organized.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack, 24, first got involved with activism as a student at California State University, Fresno. There, he was president of Fresno State Black Students United. He studied theatre arts as part of the school's Black Theater Contingent and graduated in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He reached out to D’Aungillique Jackson, president of the Fresno State chapter of the NAACP and a close friend. While they were strategizing, they came across social media postings for planned protests. They started reaching out to the organizers to see how they could help and found that while many were people of color, none of them were Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were feeling a sense of just, frustration because the danger of labeling it as a Black Lives Matter march and something happens and like there's no Black people involved ... we would still be the ones that would get kind of like the bad rap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824316\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11824316\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"A crowd of about 3,000 gathered in Fresno for a peaceful protest against police violence on May 31, 2020.\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-800x514.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-160x103.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd of about 3,000 gathered in Fresno for a peaceful protest against police violence on May 31, 2020. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They held a video meeting with the organizers and expressed their concerns, and the groups joined forces. Slack said there's a lot of frustration among folks in the Central Valley when it comes to injustice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[It's] very agricultural country,” said Slack. “Topics like Black Lives Matter or topics like racial injustice are really kind of pushed to the sideline … you don't talk about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack pointed to the Fresno Police Department’s track record, including former police chief Jerry Dyer being \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11736095/the-chief-the-remarkable-sometimes-shocking-career-of-fresnos-top-cop\">sued multiple times\u003c/a> for discrimination. The city paid $300,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit alleging Dyer sang the plantation song “shortnin’ bread” when referring to Black officers. The department has also been repeatedly sued by family members of people shot and killed by officers. Dyer was recently elected mayor of Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"george-floyd\" label=\"related coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, it's just such a bizarre, bizarre experience,” said Slack. “It feels like that we are literally in a police state at this point. I'm trying not to get too angry because this is such a dominating force and almost suffocating the life out of the minority groups out here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack said that the police presence in Fresno often feels suffocating — and is overlooked due to Fresno’s rural location. “You can't go anywhere or do anything without them there,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They're continuously getting funding. Our tax dollars are going towards that. It's a cycle that needs to just be broken,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack and the other organizers of the Fresno protests have issued a set of demands, including firing racist police officers and establishing a council where Black and Latinx people have a say in hiring the next police chief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/FS_NAACP/status/1267720833415254017?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack first noticed this absence of diversity when his family moved to the Central Valley from Virginia when he was ten years old. His mother was with the Coast Guard and was stationed in Lemoore, where only 5% of the population is Black. Slack said it was a shock to go from a place where there were many other people who looked like him, to a place where he was one of the few Black children in his school — and the only one with an afro or braids. The curriculum was different, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had learned so much about Black history growing up there and when I came out to Lemoore, it felt almost as if that had been watered down,\" he said. \"I was losing a sense of my identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His father, a film professor, noticed his son struggling with his identity and began showing him movies that reflected the Black experience, culture and history. Slack recalls one of the first was Alex Haley's classic miniseries, \"Roots.\" “I was kind of being exposed to a different side of history than I was being taught. A more graphic version of it,” said Slack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then came Spike Lee’s biopic, \"Malcolm X,\" starring Denzel Washington — another chapter in history Slack didn’t learn about in school. Knowing he was interested in acting, Slack's father also showed him the 1963 film \"Lilies of the Field,\" starring Sydney Poitier, as an example of a Black actor of historical significance. He said those three films hold special significance for him, and watching films with his dad inspired him to become an actor and \u003ca href=\"https://www.jslackimages.com/\">photographer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824287\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 666px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11824287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A portrait of photographer, actor and activist Joshua Slack.\" width=\"666\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait.jpg 666w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait-160x162.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of photographer, actor and activist Joshua Slack. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joshua Slack)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When shelter-in-place restrictions ease, Slack said he plans to return to acting school in Los Angeles. He said he wants to be part of the progress he’s seeing in the theater and on film, and play Black characters that are three-dimensional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would really like to be part of something that's inspiring in a way that doesn't require Black trauma to be seen as powerful,” Slack said. “The struggle of being a Black actor is that that is a lot of what we get.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As Joshua Slack stood before a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/post/fresno-crowd-3000-protests-peacefully-solidarity-george-floyd-black-lives-matter\">crowd of 3,000 people\u003c/a> in front of Fresno's city hall, he had a strongly worded message for his audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“White supremacy has gone on far too long,” he said, in a May 31\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YwdXI3WsEAo\"> speech \u003c/a>posted to YouTube. “The pandemic of white supremacy has plagued our collective consciousness to the point where a Black body’s worth is nothing more than just a hashtag. … Black rage and anger is 100% justified.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack had been living in Los Angeles but went home to stay with family in the nearby town of Lemoore when the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders were announced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, the video of George Floyd's killing came out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The next day, the riots start to happen,\" said Slack. \"I just felt this urge that like something in Fresno or something in the Central Valley just needed to be organized.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack, 24, first got involved with activism as a student at California State University, Fresno. There, he was president of Fresno State Black Students United. He studied theatre arts as part of the school's Black Theater Contingent and graduated in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He reached out to D’Aungillique Jackson, president of the Fresno State chapter of the NAACP and a close friend. While they were strategizing, they came across social media postings for planned protests. They started reaching out to the organizers to see how they could help and found that while many were people of color, none of them were Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We were feeling a sense of just, frustration because the danger of labeling it as a Black Lives Matter march and something happens and like there's no Black people involved ... we would still be the ones that would get kind of like the bad rap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824316\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11824316\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-800x514.jpg\" alt=\"A crowd of about 3,000 gathered in Fresno for a peaceful protest against police violence on May 31, 2020.\" width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-800x514.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-160x103.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno-1020x655.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/BLM-Fresno.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A crowd of about 3,000 gathered in Fresno for a peaceful protest against police violence on May 31, 2020. \u003ccite>(Alex Hall/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They held a video meeting with the organizers and expressed their concerns, and the groups joined forces. Slack said there's a lot of frustration among folks in the Central Valley when it comes to injustice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[It's] very agricultural country,” said Slack. “Topics like Black Lives Matter or topics like racial injustice are really kind of pushed to the sideline … you don't talk about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack pointed to the Fresno Police Department’s track record, including former police chief Jerry Dyer being \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11736095/the-chief-the-remarkable-sometimes-shocking-career-of-fresnos-top-cop\">sued multiple times\u003c/a> for discrimination. The city paid $300,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit alleging Dyer sang the plantation song “shortnin’ bread” when referring to Black officers. The department has also been repeatedly sued by family members of people shot and killed by officers. Dyer was recently elected mayor of Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, it's just such a bizarre, bizarre experience,” said Slack. “It feels like that we are literally in a police state at this point. I'm trying not to get too angry because this is such a dominating force and almost suffocating the life out of the minority groups out here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack said that the police presence in Fresno often feels suffocating — and is overlooked due to Fresno’s rural location. “You can't go anywhere or do anything without them there,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They're continuously getting funding. Our tax dollars are going towards that. It's a cycle that needs to just be broken,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slack and the other organizers of the Fresno protests have issued a set of demands, including firing racist police officers and establishing a council where Black and Latinx people have a say in hiring the next police chief.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Slack first noticed this absence of diversity when his family moved to the Central Valley from Virginia when he was ten years old. His mother was with the Coast Guard and was stationed in Lemoore, where only 5% of the population is Black. Slack said it was a shock to go from a place where there were many other people who looked like him, to a place where he was one of the few Black children in his school — and the only one with an afro or braids. The curriculum was different, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had learned so much about Black history growing up there and when I came out to Lemoore, it felt almost as if that had been watered down,\" he said. \"I was losing a sense of my identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His father, a film professor, noticed his son struggling with his identity and began showing him movies that reflected the Black experience, culture and history. Slack recalls one of the first was Alex Haley's classic miniseries, \"Roots.\" “I was kind of being exposed to a different side of history than I was being taught. A more graphic version of it,” said Slack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then came Spike Lee’s biopic, \"Malcolm X,\" starring Denzel Washington — another chapter in history Slack didn’t learn about in school. Knowing he was interested in acting, Slack's father also showed him the 1963 film \"Lilies of the Field,\" starring Sydney Poitier, as an example of a Black actor of historical significance. He said those three films hold special significance for him, and watching films with his dad inspired him to become an actor and \u003ca href=\"https://www.jslackimages.com/\">photographer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824287\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 666px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11824287\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A portrait of photographer, actor and activist Joshua Slack.\" width=\"666\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait.jpg 666w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Joshua-Portrait-160x162.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of photographer, actor and activist Joshua Slack. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joshua Slack)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When shelter-in-place restrictions ease, Slack said he plans to return to acting school in Los Angeles. He said he wants to be part of the progress he’s seeing in the theater and on film, and play Black characters that are three-dimensional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would really like to be part of something that's inspiring in a way that doesn't require Black trauma to be seen as powerful,” Slack said. “The struggle of being a Black actor is that that is a lot of what we get.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "'I’m Fighting for My Home': On Being a Radical Teenage Activist in a Time of Unrest",
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"headTitle": "The California Report Magazine | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>At one point, during last week's massive youth-led San Francisco protest against police brutality, Simone Jacques stood on top of a vintage yellow school bus to address the thousands of young people flooding the streets of the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The United States’ agenda has always been to profit off Black and brown bodies,” she shouted to the crowd, who had gathered by the thousands, galvanized by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. “We are here to acknowledge the Black people who built this country against their will, the Black women who birthed this country. … We call on your spirits to protect us and propel us through this march and the beginning of this revolution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Simone Jacques\"]'I see myself taking freedom with other Black and brown people and protecting my right to happiness. I think the most radical thing as Black and brown people that we can do is be happy.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, 17, and her friends organized the march through an Instagram platform she created called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nojusticenopeacesf/\">NoJusticeNoPeaceSF\u003c/a>, which has over 10,000 followers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love my community so much and I love the people around me so much that I never want them to have to lose somebody they love or one of them get hurt,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, a junior in high school, is the proud daughter of immigrants: Her mother is from Mexico, her father from Haiti. ”All of them have had situations dealing with police brutality and being victims of police brutality, and I’m fighting for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges the differences between the fight for Black and brown liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The solidarity between Black and Latino people is still as strong as it's been since the Civil Rights era,” she said. “When it comes down to discrimination, though, our discrimination is unique. It seems that we are both fighting a battle against oppression in our own unique ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques said she is also fighting for the Mission, San Francisco's historically Latino neighborhood, where her mom and grandparents settled in the 1960s. Today, gentrification has turned many of the historic panaderias and botanicas into hipster coffee shops and restaurants, forcing brown and Black families out of their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m fighting for my home. Like I'm fighting for my human rights and my ability to breathe air into my lungs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques said it can be hard to explain to the Mexican side of her family what her experience is like as a young Black woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up, there was a flip-side of being Afro-Latina and people getting surprised when I speak Spanish. I still experience hella racism or hella anti-Blackness in my communities and my family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824346\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11824346\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters.jpg\" alt=\"Simone Jacques (left) with fellow protesters during a march she organized in San Francisco on June 3, 2020.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1326\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-160x111.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-800x553.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-1020x704.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simone Jacques (left) with fellow protesters during a march she organized in San Francisco on June 3, 2020. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"george-floyd\"]Jacques' mother and her grandmother, who she still lives with, are also both \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.calle24sf.org/en/simo-padilla-maria-padilla-and-simone-jacques-organizer-of-mission-protest/&sa=D&ust=1591923459654000&usg=AFQjCNHB-cR34zivCpGxKd9MFOr_5J7JFA\">community activists\u003c/a>, and for years have helped organize the local Carnaval parade and celebrations for Mexican Independence Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ideas that my generation believes in are a lot more radical,” Jacques said. “I don't have faith in our political system at all. I don't have faith in politics at all because these systems were not built for us. They were built on top of us. ... Why would I go through the system when I want radical change?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, like many of her fellow protesters, is also demanding San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2020/06/09/california-reacts-to-calls-to-defund-the-police/\">defund its police department\u003c/a>. “We do not need police,” she said. “We are tearing down this entire system that was built on indigenous people, that was built on Black people, that was built on immigrants and making a decolonized system that is built for us. That means changing our curriculums. That means building our own schools with money that is taken from the police department and taken from the military.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques said she sees a radical horizon for herself and her generation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see myself getting the education that I'm deserving of as a Black woman,” she said. “I see myself taking freedom with other Black and brown people and protecting my right to happiness. I think the most radical thing as Black and brown people that we can do is be happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, 17, and her friends organized the march through an Instagram platform she created called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nojusticenopeacesf/\">NoJusticeNoPeaceSF\u003c/a>, which has over 10,000 followers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love my community so much and I love the people around me so much that I never want them to have to lose somebody they love or one of them get hurt,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, a junior in high school, is the proud daughter of immigrants: Her mother is from Mexico, her father from Haiti. ”All of them have had situations dealing with police brutality and being victims of police brutality, and I’m fighting for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges the differences between the fight for Black and brown liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The solidarity between Black and Latino people is still as strong as it's been since the Civil Rights era,” she said. “When it comes down to discrimination, though, our discrimination is unique. It seems that we are both fighting a battle against oppression in our own unique ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques said she is also fighting for the Mission, San Francisco's historically Latino neighborhood, where her mom and grandparents settled in the 1960s. Today, gentrification has turned many of the historic panaderias and botanicas into hipster coffee shops and restaurants, forcing brown and Black families out of their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m fighting for my home. Like I'm fighting for my human rights and my ability to breathe air into my lungs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques said it can be hard to explain to the Mexican side of her family what her experience is like as a young Black woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up, there was a flip-side of being Afro-Latina and people getting surprised when I speak Spanish. I still experience hella racism or hella anti-Blackness in my communities and my family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11824346\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11824346\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters.jpg\" alt=\"Simone Jacques (left) with fellow protesters during a march she organized in San Francisco on June 3, 2020.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1326\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-160x111.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-800x553.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/06/Simone-Jacques-and-fellow-protesters-1020x704.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simone Jacques (left) with fellow protesters during a march she organized in San Francisco on June 3, 2020. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Jacques' mother and her grandmother, who she still lives with, are also both \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.calle24sf.org/en/simo-padilla-maria-padilla-and-simone-jacques-organizer-of-mission-protest/&sa=D&ust=1591923459654000&usg=AFQjCNHB-cR34zivCpGxKd9MFOr_5J7JFA\">community activists\u003c/a>, and for years have helped organize the local Carnaval parade and celebrations for Mexican Independence Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ideas that my generation believes in are a lot more radical,” Jacques said. “I don't have faith in our political system at all. I don't have faith in politics at all because these systems were not built for us. They were built on top of us. ... Why would I go through the system when I want radical change?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacques, like many of her fellow protesters, is also demanding San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2020/06/09/california-reacts-to-calls-to-defund-the-police/\">defund its police department\u003c/a>. “We do not need police,” she said. “We are tearing down this entire system that was built on indigenous people, that was built on Black people, that was built on immigrants and making a decolonized system that is built for us. That means changing our curriculums. That means building our own schools with money that is taken from the police department and taken from the military.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "'In Solidarity, People!': Activist With Autism Works to Ensure Nobody in Community Left Behind",
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"headTitle": "The California Report Magazine | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>For Héctor Ramírez, routine is important. He has rituals that are comforting to him, like taking his service dog on two walks every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to say hello to people,” Ramírez said. “And I have like a certain number, like 30 people, I have to say hello. And so when I'm walking around, I do that with my neighbors. So everybody thinks that I'm really sociable, but I'm actually very introverted. I'm actually really shy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramírez has a round, expressive face and kind eyes. He is autistic and hard of hearing. He’s 45, and he lives with his mom in a rent-controlled mobile home park in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11819502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11819502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-536x402.jpg 536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance Héctor's home, Sunburst Park, where many disabled and elderly people live. \u003ccite>(Héctor Ramírez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, because of social distancing, there’s no one to say hi to on his walks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So I just had to really make new routines and remember my cultural values of respecting my elders and community. And, you know, just holding on to those things in every way that I can,” Ramírez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, he waves to his neighbors out the window. And he leaves peanut butter outside at night for skunks. He said the animals represent humility in his indigenous Tongva culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Serving His Community During a Crisis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many of Ramírez’s neighbors are elderly and disabled. So late in March when Californians were starting to panic about the coronavirus, he posted fliers on folks’ doors, asking them to reach out if they needed food delivered. Ramírez posted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXd-RWPWcw8\">video on YouTube \u003c/a>where he’s in his living room, showing the fliers and explaining the food insecurity affecting his community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11806414\" label=\"Related coverage\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With everybody hoarding and panicking right now, they made things a lot more difficult for people who are more vulnerable right now, which is our seniors and our disabled,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing, instead of panicking — which I am — but this is how I’m working with my anxiety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramírez said that he doesn’t like feeling helpless. Before the pandemic, he often volunteered at his neighborhood food pantry. He’s on the board of directors for the National Disability Rights Network and for Disability Rights California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11819503\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11819503\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Héctor Ramírez (far right) with his fellow pantry volunteers. \u003ccite>(Héctor Ramírez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But now, his work is focused on the people around him. Many of his neighbors responded to his fliers saying they couldn’t get to the grocery store. So he’s delivering meals to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what I’m doing to take care of my family and my community. In solidarity, people!” Ramírez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Overcoming an Isolated Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At first, sheltering in place weirdly reminded Ramírez of his childhood, growing up in Camarillo State Mental Hospital in Ventura Country. He was sent there when he was 4 years old. Then, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications/rula-rights-under-the-lanterman-act-complete-manual\">Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act\u003c/a> became California law in 1977, and it \u003ca href=\"https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications/rula-rights-under-the-lanterman-act-complete-manual\">stated\u003c/a> that people with developmental disabilities have the right to services so they can live an independent life. Because of this law and changing attitudes about autism, Ramírez was able to transition back to living with his family when he was 14 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Héctor Ramírez\"]'I think this is one of the ways in which we contribute to society. We show people that even as we keep going, they have to keep going.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, that building that was once the mental hospital is California State University Channel Islands. And Ramírez and his mom are living together, navigating their relationship in close quarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We've ridden a roller coaster of emotions and moods,” Ramírez said. “There're days and times where we both cope with it really good and there's times where we both really struggle to the point that, you know, we can lose our tempers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 22, Ramírez sent me an email that said, \"I feel so crappy right now, my aunt died yesterday afternoon bc of this horrible virus.\" Now, as he is mourning a loss, Ramírez is grateful he and his mom get to spend this time together — time that was taken away from him as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Disabled and an Essential Volunteer\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ramírez said the disabled community is often left behind when it comes to disasters, citing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11784435/how-pges-power-shutoffs-sparked-an-east-bay-disability-rights-campaign\">PG&E power shutoffs\u003c/a>, wildfires and pandemics. But for his whole adult life, Ramírez worked as an activist, lobbying for better access and social safety nets for people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is one of the ways in which we contribute to society,” Ramírez said. “We show people that even as we keep going, they have to keep going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CROWRDREAM/status/1261315787484131328\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, Ramírez went to downtown Los Angeles to be tested for COVID-19. He told me that on the way to the bus stop he was anxious, but then he saw eagles flying above his house, which reminded him of his ancestors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramírez had been feeling sick, and he wanted to know if he had the virus. A few days later, his COVID-19 test came back negative. For him, it’s a sign: to keep helping people.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For Héctor Ramírez, routine is important. He has rituals that are comforting to him, like taking his service dog on two walks every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to say hello to people,” Ramírez said. “And I have like a certain number, like 30 people, I have to say hello. And so when I'm walking around, I do that with my neighbors. So everybody thinks that I'm really sociable, but I'm actually very introverted. I'm actually really shy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramírez has a round, expressive face and kind eyes. He is autistic and hard of hearing. He’s 45, and he lives with his mom in a rent-controlled mobile home park in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11819502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11819502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut-536x402.jpg 536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43256_IMG_20190517_084046146-qut.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance Héctor's home, Sunburst Park, where many disabled and elderly people live. \u003ccite>(Héctor Ramírez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, because of social distancing, there’s no one to say hi to on his walks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So I just had to really make new routines and remember my cultural values of respecting my elders and community. And, you know, just holding on to those things in every way that I can,” Ramírez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, he waves to his neighbors out the window. And he leaves peanut butter outside at night for skunks. He said the animals represent humility in his indigenous Tongva culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Serving His Community During a Crisis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many of Ramírez’s neighbors are elderly and disabled. So late in March when Californians were starting to panic about the coronavirus, he posted fliers on folks’ doors, asking them to reach out if they needed food delivered. Ramírez posted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXd-RWPWcw8\">video on YouTube \u003c/a>where he’s in his living room, showing the fliers and explaining the food insecurity affecting his community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With everybody hoarding and panicking right now, they made things a lot more difficult for people who are more vulnerable right now, which is our seniors and our disabled,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing, instead of panicking — which I am — but this is how I’m working with my anxiety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramírez said that he doesn’t like feeling helpless. Before the pandemic, he often volunteered at his neighborhood food pantry. He’s on the board of directors for the National Disability Rights Network and for Disability Rights California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11819503\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11819503\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-632x474.jpg 632w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/05/RS43254_1-Food-pantry-4-25-2020-qut-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Héctor Ramírez (far right) with his fellow pantry volunteers. \u003ccite>(Héctor Ramírez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But now, his work is focused on the people around him. Many of his neighbors responded to his fliers saying they couldn’t get to the grocery store. So he’s delivering meals to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what I’m doing to take care of my family and my community. In solidarity, people!” Ramírez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Overcoming an Isolated Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At first, sheltering in place weirdly reminded Ramírez of his childhood, growing up in Camarillo State Mental Hospital in Ventura Country. He was sent there when he was 4 years old. Then, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications/rula-rights-under-the-lanterman-act-complete-manual\">Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act\u003c/a> became California law in 1977, and it \u003ca href=\"https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications/rula-rights-under-the-lanterman-act-complete-manual\">stated\u003c/a> that people with developmental disabilities have the right to services so they can live an independent life. Because of this law and changing attitudes about autism, Ramírez was able to transition back to living with his family when he was 14 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, that building that was once the mental hospital is California State University Channel Islands. And Ramírez and his mom are living together, navigating their relationship in close quarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We've ridden a roller coaster of emotions and moods,” Ramírez said. “There're days and times where we both cope with it really good and there's times where we both really struggle to the point that, you know, we can lose our tempers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 22, Ramírez sent me an email that said, \"I feel so crappy right now, my aunt died yesterday afternoon bc of this horrible virus.\" Now, as he is mourning a loss, Ramírez is grateful he and his mom get to spend this time together — time that was taken away from him as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Disabled and an Essential Volunteer\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Ramírez said the disabled community is often left behind when it comes to disasters, citing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11784435/how-pges-power-shutoffs-sparked-an-east-bay-disability-rights-campaign\">PG&E power shutoffs\u003c/a>, wildfires and pandemics. But for his whole adult life, Ramírez worked as an activist, lobbying for better access and social safety nets for people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is one of the ways in which we contribute to society,” Ramírez said. “We show people that even as we keep going, they have to keep going.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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