This week’s Schola School Chat adventure brought us to an exciting middle school - Animo Jefferson! We spent the day exploring their campus, meeting the staff and students, and playing sports in PE (but of course, anytime playing sports is involved,…

After making the hour-long drive from Los Angeles to Irvine, California, I don’t even have to ring the bell. I slip open the door, take off my shoes, and climb the carpeted stairs. At the top, I’m greeted by an assortment of small dogs seeking…

This year comes with a narrow window to turn things around. As an eighth grade teacher who spent the entire 2020-21 school year teaching remotely, I was eager to return to school in person last year. I was ready for the aspects of teaching that can’t…

During 2020, when the world was coming to terms with COVID and how to manage lockdown, I did a series of interviews for my blog with friends and family. I called it Life During Lockdown. I wanted to see how they were getting by during that difficult…

The start of the new year at the middle school where I teach in South Los Angeles has been stressful; the rapid spread of the Delta variant shook us from the tenuous sense of security we were lulled into over the summer. Fans blow in the hallway,…

Peter Abraham Sep 24, 2020·9 min read Carl and I got to know each other through the running community back when I worked at the LA Marathon, and we both trained with Track Club LA. Carl is a teacher at the Animo-Jefferson Charter Middle School near…

This was one of my favorite assignments as of late. Until I arrived, when I realized I was to do a portrait series in a parking lot. Next to a shed. At noon. When I first heard about the story, I was so excited for all the possibilities for these…

I begin race day by hitting snooze on my alarm. Grumbling about having to be up so early for work, I pull a pillow over my head and fall back asleep. The alarm sounds twice more before my trance is broken and I jerk upright in bed, remembering it’s…

When high school student Kia Reid’s brother was arrested, she withdrew emotionally, missing more than a week of school. But in her absence, Reid didn’t fall through the cracks. Her teachers texted and called to check on her. “They told me [they were]…

Jess Westbrook’s panic attacks began with the birth of his son three years ago. He felt overwhelmed by a lack of sleep and worried about his son’s future. His anxiety relief came in an unlikely place. A friend persisted in taking him fly fishing,…

"Almost 7 months after the 2016 Malibu Half Marathon & 5K I was looking at a picture ofSteve Walker and his guide running the Half Marathon. Stories like his are what help us bereminded to never give up, no matter how big is the obstacle. A special…

The Imprint is tracking key bills on child welfare making their way through California’s legislative session. Below are of the some of the most significant bills being debated. Easing Access to College Financial Aid for Foster Youth In California,…

A new report from the National Council for Adoption highlights American adoption trends, including for infant adoptions, intercountry adoptions and adoptions from foster care. The report, Adoption: By the Numbers, covers findings from the seventh…

Yesterday Ken Berrick, founder and CEO of the Seneca Family of Agencies, received a 2017 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in Sacramento. The award annually recognizes six leaders advancing innovative and effective solutions in addressing…

New Mexico’s Judge John J. Romero, Jr. has accepted an appointment on the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States. In this role, outlined in the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening…

It’s the morning after Thanksgiving. I’ve slept off the slices of apple and pumpkin pie and the extra helpings of both wet and dry stuffing, though I look forward to raiding the tupperware full of leftovers later. I have my cup of coffee with a…

Running culture in Los Angeles is changing, and that change is at the vanguard of the big-picture shifts happening throughout this country: geographic, demographic, generational, technological, social. Traditionally, if you wanted to run with other…

Marine veteran, two-time Ironman finisher, and blind athlete Steve Walker will be running the Malibu Half Marathon on November 6, in preparation to chase a Boston qualifier later this fall. He understands better than anyone that taking control of…