Judge calls conservatorships a 'celebration of family'

LA Times - 1 hour 11 min ago
In a unique collaboration of L.A.-area institutions, 15 families are awarded limited conservatorships for the protection of adult children with disabilities.

For 18 years, Dora Sanchez Hernandez has fiercely protected her son.


Categories: Newspapers

Juan Felipe Herrera's 'Inside the Jacket'

LA Times - 1 hour 11 min ago
I remember, many years ago


Categories: Newspapers

Congress pulls plug on Pell Grants; thousands of students affected

Mercury News - Sun 20 May at 10:36 PM
About 65,000 students nationwide will lose federal Pell Grants on July 1 because they lack a high school diploma or GED certificate. Other cutbacks will affect hundreds of thousands more.
Categories: Newspapers

Parents make appeals before webcam case sentencing

Mercury News - Sun 20 May at 10:36 PM
Roomie who taped gay kiss faces up to 10 years in prison
Categories: Newspapers

Some gay rights advocates oppose jail time in Rutgers case

Mercury News - Sun 20 May at 10:36 PM
Some gay rights advocates oppose prison time in Rutgers case
Categories: Newspapers

Mercury News wins 26 Peninsula Press Club awards

Mercury News - Sun 20 May at 10:32 PM
Mercury News wins 26 Peninsula Press Club awards
Categories: Newspapers

L.A. Unified a rare haven for health teachers

LA Times - Sun 20 May at 9:11 PM
The school district still has dedicated health classes while many others have ended theirs, largely for fiscal reasons.

As if on cue, all faces turn alertly toward the front of the classroom where Bridget Brownell has set up a slide show at Taft High School in Woodland Hills.


Categories: Newspapers

A totally Californian poet laureate

LA Times - Sun 20 May at 8:55 PM
Juan Felipe Herrera, 63, is the son of migrant farmworkers and plugged in to modern culture. He'd like to make the entire state a democratic, virtual poetry workshop.

Wearing jeans, green sneakers, a hipster straw bowler and a Buddhist symbol around his neck, the new poet laureate of California opened his weekly poetry workshop at UC Riverside with stretching and breathing exercises.


Categories: Newspapers

Pell Grants plug pulled for thousands of students

Mercury News - Sun 20 May at 6:23 PM
About 65,000 students nationwide will lose federal Pell Grants on July 1 because they lack a high school diploma or GED certificate. Other cutbacks will affect hundreds of thousands more.
Categories: Newspapers

Parrotfish

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 4:55 PM
Parrotfish
by Wittlinger, Ellen

 Angela McNair is a boy! Oh, to the rest of the world she's obviously a girl. But the transgendered high-school junior knows that she's a boy. And so, bravely, Angela cuts her hair short, buys boys' clothing, and announces that his name is now Grady and that he is beginning his true new life as a boy. Of course, it's not as simple as that; Grady encounters an array of reactions ranging from outright hostility to loving support. His initially bewildered family rallies around him; he finds a champion in a female gym teacher; he loses but then regains a best friend while falling in love with a beautiful, mixed-race girl.
Categories: Organizations

A Really Nice Prom Mess

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 4:46 PM
A really nice prom mess
by Sloan, Brian

Gay high school senior Cameron Hayes endures a disastrous prom night when forced to take a girl as his date, and after fleeing the dance in disguise, he finds himself involved in a surprising on-stage performance, a high-speed police chase, and unexpected revelations.
Categories: Organizations

The Arizona Kid

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 3:45 PM
The Arizona kid
by Koertge, Ronald

Insecure, height-conscious Billy Kennedy doesn't know what to expect when he arrives in Arizona. For the most part he's pleased with what he finds. His gay uncle Wes is honest, funny, caring, and very human (his stereotypic gay ``style'' notwithstanding); Billy's job at a local racetrack is hard but fun; he likes his coworker (despite the survivalist rhetoric Lew spouts and the bizarre maneuvers he undertakes with his fanatical father) and is attracted to moody Cara Mae, who introduces him to sex.
Categories: Organizations

Boy Girl Boy

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 3:35 PM
Boy girl boy
by Koertge, Ronald

Elliot, Teresa, and Larry have been friends forever. As they approach graduation, they plan to run away to California to live, escaping their small-town, narrow-minded friends, and overbearing, annoying parents. Yet each teen begins to doubt the wisdom of the plan. Mary Ann helps Elliot realize that he has been overshadowed by his two friends; Teresa realizes that she wants a romantic relationship with one of the boys (she likes them both), but they see her as only a friend; and Larry realizes that his homosexuality will eventually lead him away from the trio. Koertge deftly balances the heavy issues with respectful humor. After a crisis and its immediate resolution, an undercurrent of foreboding remains, reminding readers that, even as they mature and become individuals, crises will continue to threaten and relationships will continue to strengthen and evolve
Categories: Organizations

Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 3:20 PM
Tips on having a gay (ex) boyfriend
by Jones, Carrie

Belle is a high school junior who expects to marry her long-term boyfriend one day, until he tells her and their entire small Maine town that he is gay, and both face prejudice and violence even as they enter new relationships and try to remain friends
Categories: Organizations

My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, & Fenway Park

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 1:57 PM
My most excellent year : a novel of love, Mary Poppins, & Fenway Par
by Kluger, Steve

Three bright and funny Brookline, MA, eleventh graders look back on their most excellent year-ninth grade-for a school report. Told in alternating chapters by each of them, this enchanting, life-affirming coming-of-age story unfolds through instant messages, emails, memos, diary entries, and letters to celebrity divas and to a deceased mom. T.C. (Anthony Conigliaro) Keller, whose mother died when he was six, is in love with baseball and Alejandra (Ale) Perez. She and Augie Hwong, who is gay and in love with Andy Wexler, are passionate about the stage and screen, and Augie and T.C. have been "brothers" since they were six. The teens mount a fabulous talent show, launch a couple of grassrooots political movements, and bring hope and love to a deaf, six-year-old foster child.
Categories: Organizations

Totally Joe

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 1:49 PM
Totally Joe
by Howe, James

Meet Joe Bunch. Lovable misfit and celebrity wannabe from Paintbrush Falls, New York. Like his longtime best friends Addie, Skeezie, and Bobby, Joe's been called names all his life. So when he's given the assignment to write his alphabiography -- the story of his life from A to Z -- Joe has his doubts. This whole thing could be serious ammunition for bullying if it falls into the wrong hands. But Joe discovers there's more to the assignment -- and his life -- than meets the eye. Especially when he gets to the letter C, which stands for Colin Briggs, the coolest guy in the seventh grade (seriously) -- and Joe's secret boyfriend. By the time Joe gets to the letter Z, he's pretty much bared his soul about everything. And Joe's okay with that because he likes who he is. He's Totally Joe, and that's the best thing for him to be.
Categories: Organizations

Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-sucking Brain Zomblies

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 1:27 PM
Split screen : attack of the soul-sucking brain zombies
by Hartinger, Brent

Two books in one tell of sixteen-year-old friends Russel, who is gay, and Min, who is bisexual, as they face separate romantic troubles while working as extras on the set of a horror movie.

Attack of the soul-sucking brain zombies -- Bride of the soul-sucking brain zombies.
Categories: Organizations

Geography Club

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 1:14 PM
Geography Club
by Hartinger, Brent

Russel Middlebrook is a sophomore at Goodkind High School. He has a secret crush on a baseball jock, Kevin Land, and soon discovers that Kevin is also gay. The boys become friendly outside of school and set up the "Geography Club" with three other gay students, one of whom is Russel's closest friend, Min. The club members relish the opportunity to discuss their lives and to relate to one another openly and honestly. Eventually, however, intense peer pressure and insecurity take their toll. Russel's relationship with Kevin ends, but the "Geography Club" becomes the "Goodkind High School Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance," and the protagonist gains new insight into himself and his place in the world.
Categories: Organizations

The Last Exit to Normal

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 11:12 AM
The last exit to normal
by Harmon, Michael B

Yanked out of his city life and plunked down into a small Montana town with his father and his father's boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Ben, angry and resentful about the changed circumstances of his life, begins to notice that something is not quite right with the little boy next door and determines to do something about it.
Categories: Organizations

Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about the Grapes of Wrath

Fresno Library - Sun 20 May at 11:03 AM
Two parties, one tux, and a very short film about the Grapes of Wrath
by Goldman, Steven

Mitchell Wells may not survive eleventh grade. He really only has one friend, his best friend, David. His normally decent grade point average is in limbo due to a slightly violent, somewhat inappropriate claymation film. And girls . . . well, does hanging out with his sister count? When David tells Mitchell he's gay, Mitchell's okay with it--but it still seems to change things. Since David's not out to anyone else, the guys agree to be set up with prom dates. Then , one of the most popular girls in school decides she must date Mitchell, and he's gone from zero to two girlfriends in sixty seconds. From his pending English grade, to his floundering friendship, to his love life--the one thing that's taken a bizarre turn for the better--Mitchell is so confused, he'll be lucky if he lasts another week in high school! And then there's the prom
Categories: Organizations