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What literature belongs in today’s classroom? 5 L.A. high school teachers weigh in
On a recent summer day at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, students ambled through yawns, braces and acne into their creative writing class. The day’s lesson tackled “style,” that elusive, ultra-subjective choice of expression. “Who was the first author you encountered to do something different on the page?” asked the teacher, Clarke E. Andros.…
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Blood and Soil Aren’t What Binds America Together
As he reached the end of his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 2024, J. D. Vance’s tone became more intimate. He began to speak of a cemetery in Kentucky where five generations of his family are buried, and where he hopes he and his children will be buried too. The cemetery matters…
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‘Coriolanus’ in Griffith Park: Indie Shakes conscripts Shakespeare’s haughty warrior
“Coriolanus” has never been one of Shakespeare’s more popular tragedies. And for understandable reasons, it’s never been a favorite of outdoor festivals either. The title character disdains the common folk, and the play’s complicated political discussion and harsh, jagged poetry aren’t what most picnicking playgoers are after. It’s hard to love “Coriolanus,” but it’s equally…
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Gen Z socialist who ousted 15-term Colorado incumbent has cutting message for Hakeem Jeffries: ‘Dead serious’
Melat Kiros, the 29-year-old anti-Israel socialist who stunningly defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) in Tuesday night’s primary race, said she will not support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the party leader. “I’m not supporting anyone for leadership who takes corporate PAC money. I’m dead serious about this issue. We have to start…
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The Young Republicans Who Think Trump Hasn’t Gone Far Enough
In the 2024 election, no group swung harder toward Donald Trump than young men. Today, no group feels more betrayed than the activists who helped make that shift happen. As part of my work leading the Young Men Research Project, an organization that studies how young men engage with politics, I’ve spent the past several…
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Theodore Roosevelt, the ‘melting pot’ and the meaning of America
On Columbus Day 1915, a crowd of nearly 2.000 people crammed New York’s Carnegie Hall to hear Theodore Roosevelt explain what it meant to be American. Although the nation shared ties of blood and culture with many lands, the former president explained, “we are a new and distinct nationality.” Possessing its own “culture and civilization,”…
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Joby Aviation creates a joint venture with Toyota to build air taxis
The race to bring air travel to the sky is heating up as Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation and Toyota launch a joint venture to commercially produce air taxis. The companies said in a news release Tuesday that they will work together on productivity, quality and costs and move toward mass production of Joby’s electric vertical…
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Meet Melat Kiros, the Democratic Socialist Who Won Colorado’s Primary
—Courtesy of Melat Kiros Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Democratic Socialist, defeated Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado in Tuesday’s primary election, ending the Denver congresswoman’s nearly three-decade hold on the seat. Kiros’s victory over DeGette and fellow challenger Wanda James marked the latest sign of the progressive wing’s deepening influence over the Democratic Party. Read ore:…
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The Vultures Arrived Before the Rescue Teams
Big earthquakes flatten buildings into rubble the same way everywhere. Last Wednesday, when back-to-back quakes of magnitudes 7.5 and 7.2 rocked a large part of my native Venezuela, I found some dark consolation in the thought that such tragedies are impartial to place. The tectonic plates deep below had exerted their formidable powers because this…
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Wait, it’s a candle? Her beeswax fruit and veggie ones look so real, you’ll want to take a bite
Jessica Gonzalez hustles behind her booth at the recent Renegade Craft Fair, frantically ringing up sales, answering questions and packaging her beeswax candles. It’s hot on the grounds of the Los Angeles State Historic Park in April, but 35-year-old Gonzalez and her fiancé, Jordan Colindres, keep their cool as a crowd gathers to admire her…