Biography
On cold Cleveland days, young Sandy Banks had an after-school routine: Shed lie on the floor, put her feet on a heating vent and read Ann ...
When middle school is too late for sex ed
February 6, 2010
The latest salvo in the morality freighted battle over sex education landed this week, giving a boost to the beleaguered abstinence-only camp.
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A new take on black history
January 23, 2010
My visit to the California Science Center's black history exhibit this week was intended as rainy day relief; an emotional lift and respite for me from those relentless images of Haitian grief.
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Having the good sense not to be a quick draw
January 16, 2010
Maybe it was supposed to be a joke when NBA player Gilbert Arenas displayed a gun in the team locker room last month to goose a teammate into paying a gambling debt. But the Washington, D.C., authorities apparently don't share his sense of humor.
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It's not Harry Reid who should be apologizing
January 11, 2010
Harry Reid doesn't owe me an apology.
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Making a stand in a place where the status quo is violence and death
January 10, 2010
In any other part of town, it would be considered a blood bath: Five men shot to death in six weeks in one neighborhood.
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Passing along life's lessons
January 9, 2010
As a woman who hasn't managed yet to thank her Facebook friends for last year's birthday greetings, it seemed odd to be online this week making arrangements to let them know when and where my funeral will be.
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A real L.A. gift: light holiday traffic
January 6, 2010
I had to work almost every day during this holiday season, but I enjoyed a vacation of sorts, thanks to those of you who didn't.
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Donald Sterling is generous, impolitic and eager to be liked
January 3, 2010
I walked into the penthouse reception prepared to skewer Donald Sterling. But I had barely gotten through the door when I wound up in a group hug with the Clippers' owner and the NBA's top draft pick, heartthrob Blake Griffin.
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A voice from the past resonates in the present
January 2, 2010
In my life, 2009 was a year of milestones. I sent my last child off to college, started over again with a new puppy and became eligible for the senior citizen specials at Denny's.
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Celebrating everyday generosity
December 25, 2009
Maybe you're reading this bleary-eyed after a late night playing Santa for your kids or over breakfast at the deli or while you're waiting for the Lakers' game to begin.
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A theft inspires holiday gifts
December 22, 2009
Within an hour after my column about Mirna Gonzalez was posted on The Times' website Friday night, a dozen e-mails offering gifts and cash had landed in my in-box.
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A woman in need gives back
December 19, 2009
Marianne Hill feared the worst last week when she was summoned from her office to the lobby of MEND, a Pacoima charity crowded with families in line to sign up for the Christmas boxes the group gives out each year.
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A tough approach to drug-using mothers
October 17, 2009
It was painful to read our stories Sunday about two abused teenagers who died after spending years bouncing around Los Angeles County's child welfare system.
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Utopia is a hard sell in Jordan Downs
August 22, 2009
Ronald Perkins and his neighbors were nearly outnumbered by the consultants and architects who showed up at the Jordan Downs community center.
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Is all this really for the children?
May 16, 2009
One thing I've learned in 30 years of covering education is that every dispute, demand or decree rests on one claim: We must do this for the children.
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Chris Brown and Rihanna: a lesson for teens
March 5, 2009
For weeks, as rumors flew and details trickled out, I struggled to find a lesson to share in the violent incident/altercation/lovers' quarrel -- even the media didn't know what to call it -- between teen music idols Chris Brown and Rihanna.
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What do students mean to LAUSD superintendent?
December 6, 2008
I remember the moment in 2003 when I realized that my daughter was in good hands at her Los Angeles Unified middle school.
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Where whiteness meets race
November 11, 2008
The Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere was fired up at its conference in downtown Los Angeles last month.
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Metrolink spokeswoman formed a human link
September 16, 2008
Somehow, her tears made me feel better.
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Metrolink tragedy puts parenting in a new light
September 15, 2008
If I ever thought an "empty nest" at home meant an end to parenting, as I said in my newspaper column Saturday, the stories emerging from this weekend's coverage of the deadly Metrolink train crash painfully put that notion to rest:
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Teenagers have mixed views on gays -- and they're OK with that
June 17, 2008
Kye D'Aguilar doesn't have a traumatic story to tell about coming out. The 18-year-old said he's always known that he is gay. "My mother told me she knew when I was born."
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It's the nightmare before Halloween
October 30, 2007
I wish there were a "bah, humbug" expression for Halloween.
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Life in fire zone carries on close to normal
October 22, 2007
It has been hard to escape the fires and windstorms this week. Turn on the radio or television -- or just step outside and breathe -- and it seems as if all of Southern California is in danger of burning up or being blown away.
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