Point of View

UNITED STATES—The recent incident involving Harambe, the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, being fatally shot by zoo officials after a 4 year-old boy fell into the gorilla’s environment has raised a vital question for many in the public sphere: just how safe is the zoo. This is a question beforehand that was always in the back of my mind, but...

LAUREL CANYON—Tara was my best friend. People always said our age difference didn't matter because I was wise beyond my years and she was chronologically beyond hers. We made a perfect pair! We were twins. We thrived doing girly things. We loved hiking, dieting, and fawning over adorable animals. We both had curly, waist-long hair that we sometimes put in 100...

UNITED STATES—It has been said time and time again, driving is a privilege not a guarantee, yet so many people think they have a ‘right’ to be behind the wheel of a car. I recall vividly the days of taking driver’s education after school. We were shown those videos of how dangerous driving under the influence can be. We were...

UNITED STATES—Oh, jeez, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the price of gas slowly, but surely falling to unbelievable rates. I mean it was only 5 to 6 years ago, where the epidemic of high gas prices had every working American strapped. For anyone, not in the know, go back to 2008, it was right in...

Editor's Note: This is Part Four of a four-part series. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 are instrumental in understanding this article. MALIBU—We were getting closer by the day to reversing brain damage in my father. Although I felt magically guided in some ways, I found myself hitting my head against the wall in others. It was months of witnessing a miraculous statin cure in...

UNITED STATES—As we approach Christmas, and ultimately say au revoir to 2015, it appears the time to give will disappear as well. I’ve always noticed that as Americans we are 10x more likely to give during the fall season than any other time of the year. What is it about the months of November and December that opens our...

UNITED STATES—I’m certain by this point, you all have heard the scandal if you want to call it that regarding NFL star and San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick and his refusal to participate in the country’s national anthem. This has caused plenty of conversation in America with celebrities, coaches, players, the media and even presidential candidate Donald Trump...

Editor's Note: This is Part Two of a Three-Part Series. Click here to read Part One. LAUREL CANYON—As expected, Tara's mother contacted me that Saturday morning, but our conversation didn't go as expected. She asked if I was with Tara and I told her that I wasn't but had been expecting her call. We were both confused, as it was Tara had...

UNITED STATES—Last week the craziness surrounding Sony Pictures Entertainment and their movie “The Interview” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco hit the fan. Amidst threats from online hackers who labeled themselves ‘Guardians of Peace,” Sony decided to remove “The Interview” from its Christmas release. Yep, a movie studio caved into the demands of what some are calling a terrorist...

LAUREL CANYON—My mum used to say, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" Of course, she was being facetious. Her intention was to get me to think for myself and not follow my friends’ poor choices, or more specifically, the modern American culture. People thought I copied everything Tara did. She had a tattoo on her wrist. My mum...