Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 365

Can Grant McCray carve out role in SF Giants’ outfield in 2025?

SAN DIEGO — All eyes are on the Giants’ contingent of young players this September as they attempt to carve out roles for next season.

And if you ask Grant McCray, good thing folks are watching.

McCray, 23, started the season in Double-A and didn’t reach Triple-A until the middle of June, but in 19 games since getting the call to the bigs, his combination of power and athleticism has made a strong case for him to be a mainstay in the major-league outfield, or at least have a leg up in the crowded competition entering next spring.

“You can’t help but look at it differently,” Melvin said of the Giants’ outfield plans for 2025 after McCray homered twice and drove in five runs Saturday night in their 6-3 win over the Padres. “There’s still some time to go and we want to see as much of him as we possibly can, but you can’t help to think with Jung Hoo (Lee) coming back, too, what it might look like for us in the outfield next year.”

Coming against Padres starter and perennial Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease, McCray’s first home run — with two men on — provided an immediate answer to San Diego’s two-run first inning and gave the Giants the lead for good. His second — a two-run shot — padded their advantage in the ninth against left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui.

Both were no-doubters to right field, traveling a combined 844 feet, coming a day after he slapped a pair of singles the opposite way.

“I mean, one was a breaking ball; one was a heater,” Melvin said. “He’s got a history of hitting lefties in the minor leagues. It’s about putting the bat on the ball and finding a good pitch to hit. When he does it, you’ve seen him go to left field — opposite way — there’s a ton of power there.”

Swarmed by reporters at his locker afterward, McCray might have been the smallest person standing in the scrum. He is listed generously at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, but like starter Logan Webb remarked, “He’s hitting balls a lot further than what his body type would probably say.”

Posed the question directly — how does he generate so much power with such a diminutive frame? — McCray was as stumped as anybody else.

“I don’t know, you tell me, bro,” he laughed. “I don’t know, man. I’ve never really been a power hitter until a couple years ago. It’s all in the hips, man. All in the hips, I guess. I don’t know. The ball just jumps off (my bat).”

Since being called up on August 14, McCray has homered five times in 19 games to go with a triple and three doubles — a .569 slugging percentage that would be higher than any number he posted in four-and-a-half minor-league seasons. Over 162 games, that would put him on pace for 42 homers, a figure no Giant has come close to reaching since Barry Bonds. As a minor-leaguer, McCray topped out at 23 in 2022, when he also swiped 43 bags.

The scorching start to his big-league career has already put him in exclusive company, joining Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Jarrett Parker as the only players in the Giants’ San Francisco era with as many homers in their first 19 games.

“I don’t think he’s going to hit 40 before the year’s over, but he’s got that kind of power,” Melvin said. “I wouldn’t put that number on him. It’s just about pitch quality because obviously he has a ton of power. Just as impressive is when he goes the other way and hits some singles the other way.”

While Melvin said he “never envisioned” McCray reaching the majors this season, the same can’t be said for Webb, who recovered from a two-run first inning to complete his 19th quality start of the season with three runs over six innings in unseasonably hot and humid conditions.

This past winter, McCray joined Webb and Kyle Harrison at the Giants’ Papago Park complex and their private training sessions at nearby Push Performance in Arizona.

“I think I asked him probably every day in the offseason if he got the invite to big-league camp,” Webb said. “He finally did, and I was super excited. He didn’t get to play too much in spring, but getting the experience of big-league camp and being around guys, I for sure thought it was possible.”

Webb had a tougher time envisioning next year’s outfield without Mike Yastrzemski or Michael Conforto, who would have to clear way for McCray to join Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee, though the thought has certainly crossed Melvin’s mind.

Defensively, McCray plays with the same tenacity that led his father, Rodney, to run through a wall attempting to make a catch during his brief big-league career. A natural center fielder with the speed and instincts to handle the position, McCray has already dazzled with a handful of diving catches and showcased his arm strength on a couple of occasions Saturday night.

That said, the Giants have $113 million tied up in a player they signed last winter to be their center fielder of the future.

“I’ve told a lot of people before, if me and Jung Hoo are in the same outfield, it’s going to be a bad day for everyone else coming to our ballpark,” McCray said. “Honestly, I’m a center fielder. I’ve been a center fielder since I was a kid. That’s where I feel most comfortable. But if I’ve gotta play in the corners, I’ve gotta play in the corners.”

The brief look the organization got at Lee before his season-ending injury gave them enough confidence that he can handle the position long-term, allowing Melvin to dream about an outfield alignment of Ramos — who celebrated his 25th birthday — in left, Lee in center and McCray in right.

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“It’s exciting — and athletic,” Melvin said before the game. “I think in our ballpark, that’s really going to play. I think that’s something we need to look at a little bit harder, is how games are played in our ballpark. Maybe we need a little bit more athleticism in different ways, to score, on defense. I think that’s exciting to look at.”

Notable

In the second inning, the Giants announced they traded IF/OF Cavan Biggio to the Atlanta Braves for cash. Biggio, 29, appeared in 12 games for Triple-A Sacramento since signing as a minor-league free agent on August 23.

Up next

The Giants’ series finale against the Padres would have been Harrison’s turn in the starting rotation, but with him on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation manager Bob Melvin has not named a starter against San Diego RHP Joe Musgrove (5-4, 4.09). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

College football: Lobos open season with a 72-point uprising in beating Chabot

MONTEREY — The waves of heat that could be felt coming off the turf did not necessarily have to do with temperatures in the mid 80’s on the field.

That burning sensation under players’ cleats had more to do with Monterey Peninsula College putting together an historic first half in which it scored on eight possessions in erupting for 56 points.

By the time the Lobos put the fire out, the reigning three-time American Golden Coast Conference champions set the tone for what it hopes will be a sign of things to come after a 72-20 win over Chabot at MPC.

Dating back to last season, MPC has won five straight games, with the 56-point first half believed to be the highest point total for a half in school history.

“That was a lot of fun,” MPC coach Ronnie Palmer said. “The offense came out with a lot of fire. There was excitement with a vibe of new players. We put some pieces together.”

In what Palmer called the worst practice of the season on Wednesday, players responded with arguably their best practice 24 hours later, setting the stage for the Lobos highest point total during the Palmer era.

A former linebacker at the University of Arizona, Palmer is 4-0 in season openers since taking the reins at MPC in 2021, having outscored the opposition 172-50.

“I did not know that,” Palmer said.

Having been dropped a division after going 4-26 over the last three seasons in the National Bay 6 Conference, the Gladiators have suffered 14 straight losses dating back to 2022.

Despite having made three straight bowl appearances and having gone 15-1 over the last three years in conference play, MPC did not even earn a vote for honorable mention in the first JC Athletic Bureau Top 25 poll.

“I honestly don’t look at the polls,” Palmer said. “I don’t know if it added juice. I’d say no. We were just excited to play our first game. If you have a pulse, you should be excited.”

Outside of the fantasy type numbers the Lobos put up, their depth was an eye opener as two different quarterbacks rotated in and out in the first half, combining for six touchdowns either through the air or on the ground.

“There is a lot of competitive juices flowing in practice,” Palmer said. “Iron sharpens iron. It’s more about quality than quantity this fall. There is a place for everyone in our system. There will be film to watch where we can learn from.”

Former LSU quarterback Eric Gibson connected with Division I prospect Devin Ellison three times in the first half for touchdowns, while Miekael Brooker had a touchdown pass and two punishing runs into the end zone.

Gibson and Ellison both spent last year at MPC as redshirts.

“Devin is special,” Palmer said. “He’s a talented individual. He was out here every day last year. He was our scout team receiver. He made our DBs better. The eligibility issues weren’t his fault. He’s out to get his this year.”

Coming out with an up-tempo attack, the Lobos moved the ball at will. The only time the offense was stopped came on their opening possession when they fumbled at the 1-yard line.

For all the offensive fireworks through the air that Gibson and Brooker showcased, Kieryus Boone found the end zone twice on the ground, darting 55 yards for one touchdown. He also caught a touchdown pass in the onslaught.

That depth that Palmer raved about before the season was on display on the defensive side as he rotated players in and out. Pacific Grove graduate Noah Garry and Hollister product Jayden Friedt each had picks to set up touchdowns.

Garry was beast at linebacker, anchoring a unit that forced six turnovers, including a pick six from Nick Tsaboukos, staking MPC to a 72-13 lead with 11 plus minutes left in the game.

“I think both sides feed off each other’s energy,” Palmer said. “I’m in the moment. So, I look at us as a team. Special teams was big as well today. Sometimes defense sets up scores. We get a turnover and two plays later we’re finding the end zone.”

The celebration will be brief as the Lobos will get reacquainted with Los Medanos next Saturday in Pittsburg. The two teams haven’t played each other since 2021, when MPC posted a 35-12 win.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 31-16 decision over conference rival Cabrillo.

“It’s a very talented bunch,” Palmer said. “They throw the ball all over the place. They had the best passing offense in our level last year. And they are 1-0.”

 

If Michael Conforto isn’t back with SF Giants, has he proven enough to cash in this winter?

SAN DIEGO — As a pending free agent surrounded by younger, cheaper and some more productive players at his own position, Michael Conforto may not fit into the Giants’ plans for 2025. And yet, on Saturday the veteran outfielder was back in their starting lineup, while Marco Luciano and Luis Matos rode the pine.

“It’s a balance,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It depends on who we’re playing, and we’re playing a lot of teams that are right in the middle of the playoffs. And it’s also a balance of developing guys, too. So there’s going to be a balance to that.”

Even if the Giants find themselves out of contention, if not mathematically eliminated, Melvin shares Bruce Bochy’s mindset that they owe it to the game to put out a competitive lineup, particularly when all of their remaining games come against teams fighting for postseason positioning.

At the same time, the organization acknowledges that the best use of these final three weeks is to evaluate the players they expect to fit into the picture next season.

That may not include Conforto, who doesn’t have a clear spot in the Giants’ crowded group of outfielders between the emergence of Heliot Ramos, the anticipated return of Jung Hoo Lee and the presence of others such as Matos, Grant McCray and Mike Yastrzemski (who himself could be non-tendered if the Giants opt to lean into their youth movement).

“I’m obviously open to (re-signing). I like it here,” said Conforto, a Seattle native who went to college at Oregon State. “But I think a lot of things have to happen in the offseason, and we won’t know how realistic that is until the end of the dead of the offseason.”

When Conforto signed his two-year, $36 million contract before the 2023 season, he was less than a year removed from surgery on his throwing shoulder that cost him the entire 2022 season. He hoped to prove that he was not only back to full health but the same offensive force that posted a 128 OPS+ through his first six big-league seasons with the Mets.

He’s checked off one box and hopes his potential suitors this offseason recognize the progress made toward the second.

“As far as production, no,” Conforto said. “But physically, yeah. It’s crazy to think back on last year and I was just hoping to start the season on Opening Day. This year, it’s like not even a thought. … It’s more about going out and competing and winning games — not hoping to stay healthy.”

While Conforto was first and foremost disappointed with the Giants’ position in the standings and his contributions to that end — a .220 average and .660 OPS with runners in scoring position track with the team’s overall numbers — individually he sees the underlying numbers that indicate there’s more left in the tank.

“I wish I would have played better in some big games for us and feel like there were some hits left on the board,” he said. “But overall I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball harder, doing more damage than last year. So I do feel like a lot of those things are coming back.”

Besides a brief absence with a strained hamstring, Conforto has stayed healthy all season while besting most of his numbers from last year. His solo home run that provided the Giants their only run in Friday’s loss was his 16th of the season, his most since he slugged 33 in 2019, and his 112 OPS+ is also a marked improvement.

His .384 slugging percentage last season matched the career-low he posted in his final season with the Mets, but this season it has jumped to .437 that puts him behind only Ramos and Matt Chapman among teammates with as many at-bats.

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Additionally, his .301 average and .931 OPS against left-handed pitchers are career-highs, and he is making harder contact on average — 90 mph — than all but his first two big-league seasons. His bat speed ranks in the 79th percentile league-wide, in line with the percentage of balls he is barreling up, which ranked in the bottom half of the league last year.

“When he got injured for a while, that set him back some, but he’s driving some balls, he’s hitting lefties, a lot of good things,” Melvin said. “Compared his shoulder last year, I think it’s a little different for him. There’s still some time left and he can accomplish some pretty good numbers.”

After acknowledging that last year he lost his legs in the second half, Conforto said he’s confident he could play deep into October this year, even if the possibility isn’t likely to present itself. He said he’s treating the final three weeks of the season no differently than if the stakes were higher.

“Obviously the circumstances are a little bit different than a couple weeks ago, but in terms of preparing for the game and what I’m in the box trying to do, it’s no different,” he said. “I’m really just trying to finish the season strong and enjoy my time with the guys.”

PHOTO: Nice day for a white wedding (photo)

Carmageddon: Black Friday 1984 and the Monterey Bay Aquarium

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the Monterey Bay Aquarium counts down its 40th anniversary in October, The Herald is doing a series of stories taking a closer look at the history, research work and behind-the-scenes management of the region’s most popular attraction. Today a look at one of the early challenges for Aquarium. 

MONTEREY >> Sure, there were engineering problems in designing a state-of-the-art aquarium in an abandoned sardine cannery. And there were hurdles to clear to get the proper permitting for a property overlooking Monterey Bay. But arguably the most vexing problem was how to handle the hordes of people who would come to visit.

Never was that more apparent than on Nov. 23, 1984, Black Friday.

The Monterey Peninsula Herald’s front page illustrated some of the traffic problems on Black Friday in 1984. (Image courtesy of Monterey Public Library)

“I’ve been in Monterey for 13 years,” Sgt. Frank Sollecito, then watch commander for the Monterey Police Department told the Herald at the time, “and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Traffic was backed up at times from the relatively newly opened Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row to Highway 1, about 3 miles away as more than 40,000 visitors packed the Peninsula that weekend.

Photos of the crowd and traffic backup anchored the front page of the Monterey Peninsula Herald that weekend. Regional news reports asked in the wake of that weekend if handling the dramatically increased number of visitors wasn’t all too much for Monterey.

“It was astounding,” Clyde Roberson, Monterey’s mayor at the time, recently recalled. In the wake of a feasibility study by the Stanford Research Institute, it was estimated there would be 350,000 visitors that first year. That estimate was later revised to 700,000. The aquarium had over 2 million visitors that first year.

“It was a gift-wrapped present that everyone was eager to see what was inside,” said Hank Armstrong, the Aquarium’s first public relations director. “It was like an economic bomb went off on Cannery Row.”

But for some, the hordes of visitors, the ensuing gridlock and lack of parking was the manifestation of their fears.

Impact

The aquarium is a major economic driver for the area, boosting business at local hotels, restaurants and shops to a tune of about $123 million according to the Aquarium’s 2018 Guest and Community Highlights report.

“Before the Aquarium, from November to February, the city businesses and restaurants were struggling,” said Roberson. “The Aquarium is a year-round attraction for which our hospitality and business communities are most grateful.”

Yet parking was a concern for officials from the beginning and the Aquarium was very clear on its stance.

Picture at the opening of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1984 are Julie Packard, who serves as director, and her father David Packard. (Photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium).

As former Monterey Mayor Jerry Frye would later recall to the Herald, he was standing outside after another contentious meeting about how additional parking would be added for the proposed attraction when he spoke to David Packard, who was financing the Aquarium.

Packard had insisted that although he wanted to bring the Aquarium to Cannery Row, he didn’t want to pay for building additional parking. There were suggestions that might be a deal breaker, and the Aquarium might instead be built in Santa Cruz or even Hawaii.

Frye said he told Packard outside the meeting, “You play a hell of a poker game.”

Packard reportedly replied, “I wasn’t playing.”

“My father really felt strongly that most institutions like this, they’re built on city land, or they’re built with city funding, or they have a city subsidy,” recalled his daughter and Aquarium Executive Director Julie Packard recently (David Packard died in 1996 at age 93). “He wasn’t asking for any of that. He said, we’re paying for the property. We’re building the building. We’re not incurring debt for you. We’re going to be a big revenue source for the city.”

No growth sentiment

The Aquarium’s opening came during a time when the community had loudly expressed concern over uncontrolled growth. News reports at the time reflected a general community concern about unchecked construction. There was a fear the city would be dominated by hotels and traffic.

“When I first became mayor, there were a number of growth issues I was concerned about,” said Roberson, who was a city councilman before becoming mayor.  “My constituents shared these same concerns and wanted to keep our small town feeling and not be inundated by over-tourism.”

But most were in favor of the Aquarium, Roberson added.

The community wanted growth, Roberson said at the time, as long as it fit in with the nature of the community.

Sharing the vision

And Julie Packard was at the forefront of evangelizing for the project, giving presentations to local groups, sharing the vision and public good the project would do.

Leon Panetta, who was representing the area in Congress at the time, remembers “I think they did face some opposition, as always. But I also think that by that time, the community really kind of pulled together to say the history of Cannery Row needs to be protected. And this is the best way to do it.”

As documented by the Herald’s coverage of city meetings at the time, finding ways to create more parking and keep people happy was a challenge. Yet progress was made. A private event held before the grand opening went smoothly, with attendees able to find parking, although those who arrived late had their challenges.

At the Aquarium’s grand opening on Oct. 20, 1984, police estimated as many as 30,000 were in the Cannery Row area. The line to get into the Aquarium stretched about half a mile back to the Charthouse restaurant. More than 10,000 toured the Aquarium that day.  Although it was crowded, things appeared to go smoothly. Parking was a challenge, but doable.

The problem exploded the next month.

How to pay for parking

When the Environmental Impact Report came out in 1980, David Packard made his feelings crystal clear. “I’m not going to contribute an aquarium to the community and a parking lot too,” he was quoted in the Herald as saying.

The debate was, as Julie Packard put it, “protracted.”  There were talks of timing, that the Aquarium patrons would be gone in time to make way for those who came to Cannery Row for the restaurants. Additional parking lots were proposed as was a shuttle service. But those were going to cost, something Roberson had top of mind when he met with the Packards after the Black Friday debacle.

A solution to one problem

“We knew we needed more parking,” Roberson said. “The city already owned the parking lot where the 1,000-space structure now stands. I met with David, Lucile, and Julie Packard, and David Packard, before I even asked, offered to finance it at a very favorable rate and payment schedule. Of course, I was very grateful and said ‘Thank you!’ It was a partnership.”

Julie Packard, Pacific Grove Mayor Florus Williams and Monterey Mayor Clyde Roberson, cut the ribbon during the grand opening of the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Oct. 20, 1984. (Monterey Herald Archives)

But the solution was multi-pronged.

“The Aquarium very quickly and wisely established a reservation system where people bought tickets for a specific time throughout the day, spreading out the impacts,” Roberson said. “The completion of the Cannery Row Garage was the culmination of the logistic solutions. The Aquarium and city jointly financed the summer free trolley, another mitigation for traffic.”

In Pacific Grove, parking meters were introduced and restricted parking enforced.

Eventually, the complaints began to quiet, and locals started planning their life around the expected times of visitor crush. And the number of visitors began to stabilize, even dipping the second year to about 1.7 million.

At the Aquarium, “we got much better at learning how to handle the amount of people,” Hank Armstrong said. “It was a bigger challenge than most of us expected.”

49ers-Jets injury report: McCaffrey questionable, Hufanga doubtful

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers aren’t quite ready to give Christian McCaffrey the green light to play in Monday’s season opener, after he was limited in practice by calf and Achilles issues.

McCaffrey is listed as questionable on the injury report while the only 49ers ruled out are defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos and linebacker Dee Winters.

Left guard Aaron Banks (pinky) is also questionable, while safety Talanoa Hufanga (knee) is doubtful to make his return from last November’s anterior cruciate ligament tear, though he’s made an impressive entry into practices the past two weeks.

Coach Kyle Shanahan declined to elaborate whether McCaffrey will be a game-time decision. Kickoff is set for 5:15 p.m. Monday at Levi’s Stadium against the New York Jets.

McCaffrey strained a calf in the 49ers’ penultimate game last regular season, to which Shanahan said: “I don’t know if they’re related but they’re similar”

As for Hufanga, Shanahan said; “I don’t think it’s necessarily too soon (to play). He’s looked great. We’re trying to be safe and smart with him. We haven’t ruled him out in case there is an emergency situation.”

Wide receiver Jauan Jennings (ankle) and running back Isaac Guerendo (groin) are off the injury report.

Injuries from the preseason finale will delay the debuts of Gross-Matos (knee) and Winters (ankle). Gross-Matos established himself as the No. 3 defensive end upon his signing from the Carolina Panthers, and the 49ers will look for second-year end Robert Beal Jr. to serve as their top backup behind Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd.

Winters, a sixth-round pick last year, flashed throughout the offseason and camp, but it appears that De’Vondre Campbell will start alongside Fred Warner at linebacker in the base defense.

SUPER BOWL HANGOVER?

Only three teams have ever lost a Super Bowl one season and then won it the next: The 1970-71 Dallas Cowboys, the 1971-72 Miami Dolphins and the 2017-18 New England Patriots.

That’s the entire list, but it doesn’t carry much significance to tight end George Kittle.

“I’m assuming the stat exists because when you play long into the season, if you’re a team that doesn’t handle it right you might be beat up and sore and discouraged,” Kittle said. “I haven’t felt that by any means. I think our team has a ton of energy and is ready to roll.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t think about until you guys ask me questions and I try not to think about them agan. I probably won’t think about that ever again.”

DEFENSIVE LINE UPGRADES

Bosa noted that he and Kevin Givens are the defensive line’s only holdovers dating back to the 2019 season.

“I really like the new guys and think we’ve improved,” Bosa said. “Leonard brings something to our defense that we haven’t had – a guy who can make plays all over the field and has just a motor where he doesn’t get tired. Having a guy like that who is super long and athletic and can rush and this game is going to bring the best out of him. I’m excited, I really am.”

Although the defensive line bid farewell to Javon Kinlaw (Jets) and Arik Armstead (Jaguars), the additions of Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott have revamped the interior.

Another reason for Bosa’s optimism is the months-long work from this crux of defensive linemen. Last season, the 49ers scrambled to add reinforcements, such as trading for Chase Young and Randy Gregory in October. “In this scheme the details are very important and if you’re not repping through in July and August, you’ll be behind and it shows in your get-off and how fast you’re playing,” Bosa said. “All those details really count. Kris went out and picked guys who he’s seen jump out and play really well. We’ll be more cohesive as a unit.

THE CRAZY UNCLE

Upon rejoining the team following a contract extension worth a maximum of $82.7 million, left tackle Trent Williams spoke of line coach Chris Foerster as a family member, calling him “like an uncle.”

Foerster was a line coach in Washington when Williams was a rookie in 2010. They were together four years, maintained a relationship, and were reunited in 2020 when he was traded to the 49ers.

“Well, if it’s an uncle, it’s the crazy uncle, that’s for sure,” Foerster said.” I’ve watched him grow through the years and we’ve been through a lot together. My son, Micah, worked with us like as a ball boy at camp in Washington. Trent took him in like his own brother. And I think at the time Micah was 10. . And from that time kind of became part of our family.”

NO REDDICK REUNION

Jets coach Robert Saleh called it “fair” to rule out defensive end Haason Reddick, who’s yet to report to the team. Reddick, whose NFC Championship Game sack injured Brock Purdy’s elbow two seasons ago, is entering the final year of his contract ($14.1 million salary) after getting traded in the spring from the Eagles for a third-round pick. “Everyone goes through their own process, and I’ll stand firm that when he gets here – we’re going to welcome him with open arms, we’re going to love him up and he’s going to be part of this football team,” Saleh told Jets reporters.

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SALEH APPRECIATION

Bosa and Fred Warner expressed gratitude to Saleh, their first defensive coordinator during his term from 2017-20 before becoming the Jets’ coach. “He brought me here or had a hand in doing it so I’ll always be thankful,” Bosa said. “He’s a great coach. He worked really well with (defensive line coach) Kris Kocurek and just let Kris do his stuff with us.”

Warner reflected on his 2018 arrival and Saleh’s influence: “I owe a ton to Rob. I wouldn’t call him Robert. Coach Saleh, as I know him. He means so much to me from the moment I stepped in the building, from (pre-draft) visit, showing confidence in me as a player and then obviously to give me the nod as the Mike backer in my rookie year. That takes a lot of guts to give a rookie that power.

“But I’m so happy for him and his success,” Warner added. “I hope he’s not very successful Monday night of course, but man, I owe a lot to him. Just right there with DeMeco (Ryans); he and coach Saleh were huge in my development.”

Staff writer Jerry McDonald contributed to this report

 

In a landslide-stricken California town, life is like camping with no power, gas

RANCHO PALOS VERDES — Nick Mardesic and his family are living off the power grid, so light at night comes from a flashlight, and a hot meal and shower require driving several miles to his parents’ home.

The family is not in a rugged location, but rather on a scenic peninsula on the edge of Los Angeles. And they aren’t off the grid by choice. Their power and gas were cut because worsening landslides from two years of heavy rain are threatening to tear apart scores of multimillion-dollar homes perched over the Pacific Ocean.

Collapsed roads are covered with tarps in a neighborhood damaged by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Mardesic has been fighting for months to keep his home standing. Sections of his front yard have sunk about 3.5 feet (1 meter). Deep fissures snake across the walls of his house and a piece of dry wall fell from his ceiling. The sidewalk and one end of his driveway have caved, creating a gaping hole that has exposed an underground water pipe. His bedroom is on the verge of collapse, he said, so he has been placing wood on a beam under the house and jacks it up. In the past five months, he has spent about $50,000 to keep his home elevated.

“It’s something you see out of a movie,” he said outside the home he shares with his wife and two children, ages 3 and 1. “It’s almost unbelievable … just watching your house sink away.”

The landslides are the latest catastrophe in California, already burdened by worsening wildfires and extreme weather that has swung from heat waves to torrential rains that have caused flooding and mudslides in the past year.

In Rancho Palos Verdes, entire homes have collapsed or been torn apart. Walls have shifted and large fissures have appeared on the ground. Evacuation warnings are in effect and swaths of the community have had their power and gas turned off. Gas service was cut to more residents on Thursday and more were expected Friday. Others are contending with temporary water shutdowns to fix sewer lines.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.

Jill Carlton, who has lived in the community for nearly 30 years, said it is good the problem has finally gotten the governor’s attention.

“They’ve been pressuring him for a long time and hopefully he’ll come down and actually visit us,” Carlton said, but she is disappointed “there’s still no aid to the individuals.”

The declaration instead opens state resources, such as emergency personnel, equipment and services. In an email, the city of Rancho Palos Verdes said it continues to urge state leaders and agencies to ask President Joe Biden to declare a federal disaster, which would trigger resources and possible individual help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Nearly 70 years ago, the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes was triggered with the construction of a road through the area, which sits atop an ancient landslide. It destroyed 140 homes at the time and the land has moved ever since.

But the once slow-moving landslides began to rapidly accelerate after torrential rains drenched Southern California over the past two years. The land that once was sliding at an average of several inches per year is now moving between 9 to 12 inches (22.8 to 30.48 centimeters) weekly.

The rapid movement forced the dismantling earlier this year of Wayfarers Chapel, a historic landmark designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, Lloyd Wright. Scenic roads that wind through the city have been buckling, too. Signs warn motorists of dips and the shifting, disfigured terrain.

“Bicycles and motorcycles use extreme caution,” reads one sign. “Rough road” and “Slide area,” read others.

A home severely damaged by ongoing landslides is seen in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a neighborhood affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Motorists drive along a section of the road affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a neighborhood damaged by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Collapsed roads are covered with tarps in a neighborhood damaged by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A warning sign stands along a section of road affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Cracks in the street are filled with dirt in a neighborhood affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a collapsed hillside due to ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A reporter stands near a home that collapsed due to ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a neighborhood affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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A home severely damaged by ongoing landslides is seen in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Mike Phipps, the city’s geologist, said the average rate of movement has slightly slowed but is still about 4 feet (1.2 meters) a month. “It’s still significant movement. It’s just, we’ve kind of reached full speed and are cruising right now,” he said.

Some residents believe leaks are to blame for the destruction in their community. They argue multiple burst water and sewer pipes that were not quickly or adequately fixed saturated the ground and contributed to the land movement.

Residents recently filed a lawsuit against the city, its water provider and others, alleging in part that negligence and their failure to act were “substantial factors” in the landslide acceleration “and the resulting damage to the homes and lives of the residents.”

The city said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Jeffrey R. Knott, emeritus professor in geological sciences at California State University, Fullerton likened the argument to the chicken or the egg dilemma.

“Did the landslide move and cause the pipe to break? Or did the pipe break and then cause the landslide to move?” he said. “It’s an extraordinarily difficult thing to prove.”

Water leaks would contribute to the acceleration, but their significance is unknown, Knott added.

Last year, the city received a $23.3 million grant from FEMA for a project that officials hoped would slow the land movement by removing trapped water underground and stop rain from percolating into it in the future. But crews recently discovered a deeper and wider landslide.

“It’s like a freight train going down the hill. It’s billions of tons of earth,” Phipps said. “Trying to stop that is extremely challenging.”

Mayor John Cruikshank said finding funding for solutions poses challenges, as does preparing for the forthcoming rainy season.

“The climate is changing, and we’ve got to be more resilient,” he said. “We can’t always rely on old systems like above-ground wire and below-ground natural gas.”

In the meantime, residents are left with difficult decisions.

An aerial view shows a neighborhood affected by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Those with collapsed or severely damaged homes have had to abandon them. Others, like Carlton’s neighbors, left after their utilities were shut off indefinitely. Some are relying on generators to keep the lights on and propane to cook.

Others, like Mardesic, are hoping for relocation assistance and said that without help they are stuck and unable to afford anything in Southern California’s pricey housing market. Mardesic’s house was valued at about $2.3 million before the damage, he said.

“What can we do but keep fixing our home and try to stay here?” said Mardesic, a maintenance supervisor. “We have nowhere to go.”

For now, his family plans to move into the pool house in the back that is less at risk of falling down the hillside.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. 

Can travel transform your life? This author says yes

Mexico City-based writer Daniel Saldaña París has been called “the Mexican Philip Roth” — no doubt not only for his candid and gritty renderings of life, but also for the moving insights found in his writing.

He has published two novels, “Strange Victims” and “Ramifications,” but coming out Aug. 20 from Catapult is the English language translation of his first essay collection, “Planes Flying Over a Monster.” Through 10 personal essays, Saldaña París takes readers through Havana, Montreal, Madrid and other cities, reflecting not only on the character of each place but also on the memories we form and how writing and reading in the process can transform our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. He talked to SCNG Premium through an email correspondence about his reflections on travel:

Do different places allow us to discover, or rediscover, parts of ourselves that would remain dormant if we stayed in familiar locales?

Yes, absolutely. Visiting a new city, a new culture, opens up a whole new set of possibilities for oneself. There’s an alertness in traveling that sharpens the senses, forcing us to pay attention to details that we would otherwise overlook. Even if we carry our own memories, our personal history, the novelty of a different city creates a break in the routine.

Cities across the world of course all have their different characters, but what for you makes a city great, someplace worth returning to?

I like to think of cities as palimpsests: layers upon layers of history, individual stories, and meanings assigned by the fictional representations of that city (movies, books) as well as by its inhabitants. For me, a great city is one in which all those layers are more or less legible or apparent to an attentive visitor. A city that, instead of imposing a monolithic image of itself, invites you to create a personal relationship with it. Thus, a great city, to me, doesn’t hide its contradictions, no matter how uncomfortable these may be.

What is a hack you have learned for navigating a strange place?

Even if I’m in a place for only a few days, I like finding a place to return to — a café, a park, an intersection. Humans also find meaning in repetition, and sometimes it’s worth going back a few times to the same space to create a meaningful relationship with it instead of running around trying to see as much as possible. I also practice walking a block or two at an unusually slow speed, paying attention to the signs offered by the city: its stores, graffiti, architecture and even its trash. I love getting a sense of a place by overhearing conversations and writing them down in my notebook.

“If, as Plato believed, knowing is remembering, then I’ve been remembering Cuba forever…” you write in a memorable essay on visiting Havana. That city is central to your own origin story, and yet you’d never been there, at least as an adult. Is it fair to say that the places we traveled to become part of our personal mythology?

More ‘Ticket to Paradise’This story is part of a collection of stories printed in July 2024.Yaamava’ Resort & Casino is the best way to Vegas without going to Las VegasJourneys by a father and son inspire Healdsburg’s Aperture CellarsHow caring for a sick dog changed our view on travelingDon’t let physical limitations limit your travel. Here’s advice on planning an accessible adventureRead more ‘Ticket to Paradise’More SCNG Premium content

Some of them do, and sometimes it’s hard to say why. I spent 10 days in Port of Spain, Trinidad, some 15 years ago, and I still think of that trip as a defining one for no particular reason. I also think that literature enhances the experience of visiting a place: if you have read books by local authors, you perceive a different, deeper reality, more nuanced. I will always choose literature in translation over tourism.

What are some travel writings that have influenced your own, and that you think any traveler must know?

I love the diaries of filmmaker Jonas Mekas, his sense of place and intimacy. I love the journalistic work of Jon Lee Anderson, the way he can talk to anybody and get something important out of the conversation. I also recommend the travel writings of Belgian explorer Alexandra David-Néel. “Stranger on a Train,” by Jenny Diski, is another favorite of mine.

Do we have to leave home to fall in love with it again?

I often have the feeling that there is no such thing as returning: the person that leaves is never exactly the same as the one that comes back, and the place we come back to has often changed as well. Yet, the distance allows us to look at our home with fresh eyes, to rediscover details of it that we take for granted. We find the exotic in the domestic and vice versa. Love can definitely grow out of that estrangement.

Tech review: Three vacuums to keep your floors clean

Jim Rossman | Tribune News Service

We all have floors, and they all get dirty. How you clean them will depend on what’s on those floors — are they hard surfaces or carpeted?

I’ve used plenty of vacuums, both traditional and robot vacuums, and they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Today we’re looking at three vacuums. Two require work from you and one will take care of things by itself.

Yeedi M12 PRO+ Robot VacuumYeedi M12 PRO+ Robot Vacuum. (Yeedi/TNS)

This is the most full-featured robot vacuum I’ve ever used.

The Yeedi M12 PRO+ ($899.99, yeedi.com) does a great job vacuuming and mopping.

It has a mop head system that can extend out into edges and corners (TruEdge Deep Mopping). The vacuum knows if it is moving over carpet or hard flooring. It will raise the mop heads to keep them from dragging on your carpets.

It has 11,000Pa suction power with a special V-shaped brush with ZeroTangle technology, which is handy for cleaning up after your shedding pets. It also has AI on-board to help with obstacle avoidance and 3D mapping of your rooms.

The vacuum has a home base all-in-one station that serves to charge the battery, offload dirt from the dustbin and clean the mop heads (with heated water and hot air drying). There’s enough room in the base station that you only have to empty the dirt from the base station every few months.

The 5,200 milliamp-hour battery can run the vacuum for up to 290 minutes of cleaning before it needs a recharge. It will return to the base for recharging when necessary, then it will continue on with cleaning if it is not finished.

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless VacuumUltenic U16 Flex Cordless Vacuum. (Ultenic/TNS)

I’ve had a cordless vacuum in the house for several years and it gets way more use than our upright model. They are just handy to grab and go. Take it where you need it, pop on whatever attachment will work best and get to cleaning.

The Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless ($179.99, ultenic.com) has the usual attachments and it has a trick up its sleeve.

The extension tube that lets you vacuum floors has a hinged action to let you reach under tables and other furniture without getting down on your knees. The tube is also adjustable for length.

The powerful motor has 45,000Pa of suction with a battery that can last for up to 60 minutes in ECO mode, 40 minutes in standard mode and 20 minutes in turbo mode. It features a two-stage HEPA filter to clean the air as you vacuum. The dust bin empties easily and holds one liter.

There is a color LED display to show the modes plus how much time remains on the charge.

The brush for floors is anti-static and tangle free, so pet hair should not slow you down. It features a floor-level bright green light that really shows you where dust is hiding on your floors.

The vacuum head has a built-in brush that can be used without any other attachments. It also includes a crevice tool and the flexible floor brush. There are other attachments available for purchase.

It includes a wall-mounted charging rack for convenient storage/charging.

The Ultenic U16 is a good vacuum that is priced competitively.

Vactidy Blitz V9Vactidy Blitz V9. (Vactidy/TNS)

The Vactidy Blitz V9 ($79.99, vactidy.com) is a cordless vacuum that did a great job on my hardwood floors.

It has a battery with a 45-minutes runtime in low-power mode. The motor has 25,000Pa of suction and a one-liter dustbin that empties with the push of a button.

There is a small LED display to show the motor speed (there are two speeds) and the amount of battery charge remaining.

The floor-cleaning brush head swivels up to 180-degrees to let you reach under beds or low furniture.

Attachments include the floor brush, crevice nozzle, 2-in-1 brush and extension tube with an adjustable length.

The motor has a two-stage HEPA filter.

The Vactidy Blitz V9 is the cheapest vacuum I’ve tested, but it performed really well on hard surfaces and low pile carpets. Longer pile carpeting gave the vacuum a harder time. I had to go slow and go slow over dirty areas more than once, but it did finish the job.

Jim Rossman is a tech columnist for Tribune News Service. He may be reached at jrossmantechadviser@gmail.com.

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

If you’re a parent, Lauren Greenfield’s new doc about teens and social media ‘is a horror movie’

Yvonne Villarreal | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield had spent her day with a group of high school students when a startling revelation came up that compelled her to go home and ask her two sons, then about 14 and 20, a question: “Is BDSM really a trend?”

“Oh, yeah, choking is what we’re told girls want,” she recalled one of her sons saying in reference to the risky sexual practice that some teens engage in.

It was 2021 and Greenfield was in the middle of her latest creative frontier: delving into the lives of the first generation raised on social media.

She was interested in unlocking an intimate glimpse of how social media has shaped adolescent minds after seeing her own kids’ distinctive relationship with it.

“They’re different generations,” she said recently from her office in Venice. “My eldest is a reader, my youngest gets his news from TikTok. Just seeing the difference and being concerned about the younger one being on a lot was part of the inspiration for this.”

“Social Studies,” a five-part series which premiered last week at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado and arrives Sept. 27 on FX, is Greenfield’s latest foray into documenting teen life in Los Angeles.

Her body of work, which includes 2012’s “The Queen of Versailles” and 2019’s “The Kingmaker,” has long chronicled beauty, wealth and power — and the damaging toll of it in excess.

But she’s held a perennial interest in youth culture: “Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood” is a collection of photos and narratives of Los Angeles youth in the 1990s; “Girl Culture” captured the effects of American popular culture on young girls; and her short film “kids + money” features L.A. teens discussing money.

“When I did ‘Fast Forward,’ which was my first project, I was in a very different phase of life,” said Greenfield, who attended the private Crossroads School in Santa Monica as a teenager. “I was just out of college, just starting my career. I very much identified with the kids.”

But for “Social Studies,” “I came to this project as a mother, in terms of how the kids see me,” the filmmaker said.

Dependence on devices and time spent on social media rose dramatically during the pandemic, as restless, isolated teens looked for an escape. In 2021, the surgeon general issued a public health advisory on teen mental health; however, research hasn’t found a direct link between the crisis and social media use.

Greenfield’s series explores the everyday pressures teens confront that have been intensified by social media, including bullying, body-image issues and comparison culture.

“‘Fast Forward’ was all about media influence and how kids were being changed and impacted by media influence. I called it the influence of Hollywood because I was specifically looking at celebrity and image culture and materialism,” Greenfield said. “I wanted to come back and explore the same subject but with this new influence of social media. It was similar but amplified. Social media was everything I had looked at throughout my career but on steroids.”

The series was largely filmed in Los Angeles and features teens from 10 schools, including Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles and Hamilton high schools. Greenfield shot roughly 1,200 hours of footage over 150 days — covering the 2021-22 school year and some subsequent months. She also recorded the teens’ phone and social media use.

The teens who open up their phones and their lives include Sydney, who grapples with curating her social feeds with provocative videos and images of herself; Ellie, who had a taste of viral fame after her relationship with actor Jack Dylan Grazer (nephew to mega Hollywood producer Brian Grazer); and Jonathan, who volunteers at Teen Line, the nationwide nonprofit hotline. A filmmaker himself, Jonathan sets out on a parallel journey, making a movie about teen life with many of the same subjects while taking part in Greenfield’s documentary.

The series arrives at a pivotal moment. On Aug. 28, California legislators passed the Phone-Free Schools Act, which would require public schools to create policies to limit or prohibit cellphone use by 2026. The Los Angeles Unified school board already passed a measure this summer to ban phones on campus; it’s expected to take effect in January.

In a conversation last month, edited here for length and clarity, Greenfield discussed how she treated her young subjects as experts, the ease in capturing teens authentically and why parents should watch.

Q: So much of what you’re after is capturing your subject in a raw and authentic way. And when you’re dealing with kids who have grown up in this digital era, where so much of the image they put out there is curated, I imagine it was challenging to know when you’re really getting the authentic piece.

A: Surprisingly, I felt like they really brought themselves. I remember the first group session, nobody dressed up. It wasn’t even like school, which is a bit of a fashion show. It was more like camp. People were not wearing makeup, they were not curating outfits.

I remember a long time ago, somebody told me, “If you spend enough time, you really get authentic selves,” because posing or pretending takes a lot of energy, and eventually, it’s too taxing. That’s always been really important to my work, slow journalism. There’s always a process of people becoming more and more comfortable with you. I also started with a little bit of a bigger group than I ended up with, but the ones whose stories I really followed, we became very close, and I depend on that. They have to let me know something is happening so I can go and be there. And so they opened up more and more. I felt like by the end, they really presented their authentic selves.

For this one, everybody knew we’re looking at social media and its impact, and even in terms of who I selected, the kids had to care about that because it’s a lot to open up your lives. I think a lot of the kids felt a sense of purpose in doing that.

Q: Having conversations with teens, particularly ones you don’t know, can be challenging. In addition to one-on-one interviews, you held group sessions. It felt a little bit like “The Breakfast Club.” Kids who maybe wouldn’t ordinarily talk to each other are in this room together, realizing their commonalities. Did you see that as a way to get your subjects comfortable?

A: I like that you said “The Breakfast Club” because that was a little bit of inspiration. The first seven groups I did, we weren’t even filming them as groups yet. I just wanted to hear what they thought was important, what I should cover, what were the problems. I wanted to be led by them. One of the big impetuses for this is I felt like the kids are the experts. We’ve seen experts talk about this topic, we’ve heard from parents, we’ve heard from tech, we’ve heard from legislature leaders, but I feel like the kids were the experts. One of the things I really tried to do was capture the duality of them being both subjects and experts.

There’s three elements: There’s the verite — where we see them in their lives, sometimes they’re posturing, sometimes they’re presenting, sometimes they’re with friends, sometimes they’re lying. There’s the interviews where they’re just brutally honest, they break the fourth wall, they tell me the truth. That was really interesting, because also we have their social [media screen capture,] so we see the difference between what they’re saying and what they’re showing. And then the third perspective is the group where they’re talking to each other, and there they also were very honest. Sometimes they said it was almost like therapy; it was a place where they could talk about things that were affecting them all the time.

Q: One of the striking elements to the series is that you’ve asked your subjects to screen record their activity on their phone. How important was that piece?

A: So important. I feel like it’s a time capsule of the culture, the stuff that we captured. It’s really shocking to see how the algorithm works, to see how toxic some of the rabbit holes can be and to see the details of it. In the series, I didn’t want to have it be two worlds, like cut to a screen on black. I wanted a lot of the social that we’re seeing to be on top of the live action. I really wanted to show that these worlds are intertwined, intermixed, multitasking, and sometimes they’re opposing each other. Sometimes there’s fiction and nonfiction. I don’t want to give away too much for the audience, but I think there’s a lot of really shocking content.

And my hope for the series, ultimately, is that it leads to some kind of regulation. “Fast Forward” was about the early loss of innocence in the ’90s. Now, there’s no innocence. There’s no childhood. You can’t keep your child from seeing devastating things, and they can’t even keep themselves from it, in the sense that the algorithm is going to take you by the hand, and whatever you’re curious about, feed you more and more stuff, and whatever your weakness is, it’ll pull you further into that. And the companies that are creating the algorithm are not doing it with the kids’ best interest in mind. They’re doing it with the interest of keeping them engaged on the platform.

The other theme that’s gone through all of my work, which came back here with a vengeance, is addiction, because it’s really addictive. I struggled with my own son to give limits. But what I realized when I was doing this is, it’s not fair to ask kids to regulate themselves. It’s like opiate addiction.

Q: With fictional depictions of teen life — whether it’s “Euphoria,” “Thirteen” or even “Beverly Hills, 90210” — it’s easy to say, “That’s the extreme, it’s not really like that for teens.” But the first episode of this series is pretty jarring.

A: When I was doing feedback screenings, I showed [filmmaker] Nicole Holofcener, and after the first episode, she said, “This is a horror movie.” I don’t think it’s a horror movie for kids, though. I think that kids — and also 20-somethings, because I did some feedback screenings with those groups — see themselves. I think the kids are saying: “We need to talk about this.” There’s one part where Sydney’s mom’s like, “I don’t want to go in my kids’ TikTok.” But what I’m trying to do is say, “We need to be in this business. We need to have them share their experience.” What I love is that the kids are the ones who are saying, “This is concerning.” They’re saying, “You need to pay attention.” By the way, the parents — and I’m guilty of this myself — are posting on Facebook, I did this, I did that, but not always realizing how toxic it is.

Q: Right. Sydney’s mother talks about her own social media use, specifically Facebook. How much did you want to hear from the parents?

A: At first, I wasn’t planning on including the parents. I thought it was going to be more like Charlie Brown, where the parents don’t understand and they’re in the background. Sydney’s mother was a really important voice. I feel like the parents are responsible, loving parents for the most part and yet have no idea. It’s not that they don’t want to help their kids, it’s like they don’t know what’s going on and they don’t know how.

With Sydney’s mom, there was a scene that I filmed where Sydney’s mom was like, “Don’t wear that short skirt outside.” She is an enlightened woman who doesn’t like the sexualization, but it’s a really hard thing to come down on because there’s a feeling among girls, and I’ve seen this in my own capturing of feminism and new feminism, where girls feel like showing their bodies is their right and their self-expression and they want to own that. And from my generation of feminism, I feel like that is not your voice and that it may feel like self-expression, but actually, it’s making the body the primary expression of identity. I don’t think it is good for either girls or boys.

I really tried to not fault the parents because I feel like I also did not know what was going on with my kids. Like I said, I have to sit down at the table and be like, “Is BDSM really a trend” to my teenagers? I was sure they were going to say no, and when they said yes, I almost fell out of my chair.

Q: What were those conversations like to get parents of the teen subjects in the film on board?

A: I think a lot of them looked at my other work and could see this isn’t entertainment. It’s purpose-driven, and not everybody opted in, but the ones who did saw it as an interesting opportunity. We started talking to kids and parents in spring 2021 and we didn’t start [filming] until August 2021. I’m really grateful to the kids and the families because it was a lot to ask.

Q: What is the push and pull of wanting to provide this anthropological look at teen life today while, in turn, asking them to put themselves out there on, arguably, a more mainstream platform as a TV series?

A: For one, in terms of choosing kids, of course, one of the big subjects around social media is fame. And one of the things I was looking at was fame as a value and how values have shifted. Even when I was doing “Generation Wealth,” I was really struck by, when you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, they say rich and famous instead of a particular job. So when I was looking for kids, I did try to correct for not bringing in kids that wanted to be in this project to be famous. It wasn’t as much of an issue as I thought, because I don’t think any of them thought that this was a way to be famous.

Q: One of your teen subjects, Jonathan, also felt inspiration to make his own film, and there’s a bit of parallel documenting that happens. What piqued your interest about his approach or his perspective?

A: It’s a big thing when you allow yourself to be in a documentary, so I feel like everybody has to get something out of it. And lots of the kids were makers. Jonathan was the videographer for the school, and that was one of the things that was appealing about him. Plus, he had a different relationship with social media. He wasn’t a poster; I didn’t want everybody being big posters. And he was very serious about his filmmaking. And he wanted to interview kids from our group. He was on this parallel journey with me.

Jonathan offered a lot; he’s a very empathetic person in a time of narcissism and a culture of narcissism, and I think he’s part of what we need. Empathy is another antidote to narcissism and focusing a lot on yourself and being in this feedback loop with yourself.

Q: What do you want audiences to take away after watching this documentary?

A: Empathy, connection. When they say at the end, “Here we are without phones; we’re just talking” — it’s so great. One time when I was watching that, I almost just started laughing because it’s like a revelation— we’re without phones, we’re talking and it’s so amazing.

It’s a really hard time to grow up. I do think kids show resilience and wisdom, but they do that in the face of a really challenging environment, and ultimately, the adults are responsible for this environment. That’s what I hope we take away: We need to do something about it, to protect kids, because it’s just not fair to ask them to protect themselves.

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.