Over the last five years, I’ve reviewed all the case files of murdered children with a pending Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigation. In November 2017, I sat in on the murder trial of the stepfather of a young boy. In March 2020, I appeared in a Netflix docuseries about the case, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. It became clear to me, this is about more than just one murder, and there’s more than just one culprit. My creative dissertation: The Redacted: is a critical experiment concerned with child fatalities within LA County’s foster care system. I am also a former ward of LA County.

The Redacted website can be found here.

For the dis/rupted voter, McSweeneys

How Angeles Crest Creamery Are Recovering After Bobcat Fire, LAist

Hansel and Gretel In L.A. County, NYRB

The Archive, Paris Review

The Forgotten Babies, Alta Magazine

The Cold Violence of Compliance, adi magazine

Where The Light Is Different, NYRB

Honey Bees, Worker Bees, and the Economic Violence of Landgrabs, Longreads

Now Is The Time For Equity Journalism, lithub

This Wanting Business: On The Cost of Labor and Writing, Lithub

Literary Ambition. Fabulous Parties. A Hidden Past. Who Is Anna March?, L.A. Times

The Food Of My Youth, NYRB

Counting To A Hundred, NYRB

The Wounded Parts of People, Shondaland

The Human Cost of The Ghost Economy, Longreads

Discovering The Radical Possibility of Love, Shondaland

Feminist Fiction From the Philippines, Written Fifty Years Ago, NYTBR

Mothers Who Leave Their Children, lithub

The Destructive Force of Rebuild L.A. , Curbed

Why Casino Driven Development is a Roll of the Dice, Citylab

If You’re In The Fight, Get Ready To Do The Work, DAME

On Payment, BLARB

Every Year The Tree, Lenny Letter

The Readiness Assessment, Proximity Magazine (contest 2nd Runner up)

Inside A South LA Union Hall, Zocalo Public Square

The Gay Rodeo: Stories From Inside the Scene, KQED

The Girl In The Cabinet (I Read What You Wrote And I Hate You), Electric Literature

“Who Gets To Break The Rules In America,” Jezebel and EHRP

The Animal In Us: A Collaboration with Lauren Eggert-Crowe for Women Who Submit

Vidaweb Report From The Field: Aswang

Resilience Is Futile: How Well-Meaning Nonprofits Perpetuate Poverty (Jezebel and EHRP)

“Submission Blitz: Finding Courage At A Writer’s Conference,” Poets & Writers

“How Fostering Resilience Keeps Low Income Communities Down,” Al Jazeera America

“Is It Worth Risking Women’s Pregnancies For Your Flight To Be On Time?,” The Guardian

“The Secret Lives of Airport Workers,” Jezebel

“Is a Joke Just A Joke When It Causes Real Pain?,” dame magazine

“How to Grieve For A Life That Never Began,” Buzzfeed

“Ask The Freelancer,” ongoing column at daily dot

“Drop Me Off The Cliff,” The Rumpus

“Home/Ward,” Tin House blog

“I Prayed My Mom Would Leave,” Salon

“Banks Booting Families and Leaving Homes to Rot:..” Alternet

“Here We Are Becoming Champs” The Rumpus

“Hunger Strikes, Marches, and More,..” Alternet

“Diva Boy,” The Nervous Breakdown

“The Dress Doesn’t Make The Priest,” The Rumpus

“It’s No Longer a Secure Place to Work,” Alternet

“The Throwaways,” The Rumpus