The first guy I dated in LA was a stereotypical “California Boi.” He also was the embodiment of all of the flaws I’ve encountered dating as a millennial. I met Jake at a Lil’ Dicky show, I probably should

My first show in LA was at an intimate venue in Echo Park, called Vega’s Meat Market. It felt more like some friends playing music in an empty living room than a show. I saw Genevieve, the singer of the

I’m what you’d call a survivor. I’ve lost multiple family members and friends to suicide. I’ve had three major depressive episodes in my life where I contemplated suicide. Here are my thoughts on the

Each day I get to know myself a little better, almost too well. I learn things no one wants to know about themselves. No one wants to look into the mirror and see all your demons staring back. I master

It’s a stereotypical Southern California day, not a single cloud blemishes the electric blue sky. Her intoxicating beauty seems to stretch infinitely in all directions. I try to capture this moment with

I found a home at a really great charter high school in Los Angeles and spent two years working there alongside many passionate teachers and administrators. We didn’t necessarily get the highest test scores,

I left my job at the elementary school for a temp job that sent me to different schools, still doing behavioral intervention. My first assignment was in South Los Angeles, not far from Compton. After I

My first job in LA was as a behavioral therapist in an elementary school near Van Nuys. It was a small school, consisting of a few bungalows scattered on a concrete slab, along with a basketball hoop,

Dear class, You were the bane of my existence for the first few months of the school year, but over time you transformed my thoughts of you from a bunch of disrespectful, rude little jerks, who think rape

I’ve worked in many schools in different cities, with various ages and diverse populations, of disparate amounts of luck and chances. They all shared one thing. Every morning, every school recites the

When you think of California, what comes to mind? Beaches of blue crashing against a jagged cliffside, long legged, big breasted blondes in bikinis scattered across the white sand? Playing volleyball,

We didn’t make it to our campsite in Yellowstone National Park, since we were in South Dakota at dusk. Nothing was going quite as I had planned, but Ari and I were enjoying the views. The enchanting mountains,

“You’re gonna die!” Grandma yells. “It’s too dangerous! Two girls, alone on the road?!” She gets upset often these days. “Why?! Why do you have to go?!” “We’re going to see so many incredible things.”

I wanted to be a psychologist since I was a junior in high school. One day, the therapist didn’t show up for a group therapy session at the mental hospital I stayed at for a month, so I ran the group.

There once was a precious, courageous, little girl. Her big blue eyes never missed a bat. She could see farther and deeper than most adults. When she would outsmart them, from deep in her belly would roar

I’ve always considered myself a feminist. Over the years my ideas, as well as society’s, about what feminism means has changed greatly, but I still proudly profess my feminism. As a young girl, I was fixated

We are all guilty of judging things from the surface. We see something and we just conclude that is how it is. While growing up, there was this song I learned of a movie, and it was in my local language.

“Equality, as understood by the American Founders, is the natural right of every individual to live freely under self-government, to acquire and retain the property he creates through his own labor, and

Her glowing, porcelain face protruded from the brick background, then faded into the blue stage lights. Every stroke of her features, handmade with care. She hasn’t been used much, barely taken out of

Every week I drive to therapy in West L.A. I drive down Vine, through Hancock Park, near West Hollywood. I see perfectly paved streets, no gaping potholes, no trash seeping out of the gutters, no rotting