Greetings from What is California? HQ, where our guest this week is Anita Chabria, a California columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Anita travels California from top to bottom, east to west, attempting to tell the massive story of our state one column at a time.
Anita has covered folks on the far right up in way Northern California. She has covered folks on the streets in Los Angeles and around Southern California. She talks in this episode about meeting the mothers of the mentally ill men and women caught up in the criminal justice system—getting to the humanity behind some of the toughest topics in the state, be it crime, or addiction, or homelessness, or again, the epidemic of mental illness, and how it threads through all of those crises.
As a columnist, Anita brings a point of view to her work. She is not delivering hard, straight news to readers of the L.A. Times. But she is an incredible reporter, as you must be to succeed as an opinion columnist covering a state where so many cultures and contradictions and ideologies and challenges intersect.
I’ve known Anita since we were both contributors with Sactown Magazine, the preeminent city magazine here in Sacramento. We both still call Sacramento home, and prior to working with The Times, Anita was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee. She and I also talk in this episode about Sacramento in particular—a city that was hit as hard as anywhere by the COVID exodus from its downtown, as well as some especially damaging protests in the summer of 2020. Anita has some provocative thoughts about if or how Sacramento can rebound, and where else in California is having the kind of post-Covid renaissance that the rest of the state can look to.
Heads-up that this episode was recorded in late August, so we do not talk about the midterm election or ballot measures, and I don’t think Gavin Newsom’s name comes up once. We do, however, talk about hallucinating dogs and Anita’s choice for her favorite Californian—one of the most revelatory selections I’ve heard to date on What is California?
Programming note: This is the final episode of What is California? until after the Thanksgiving holiday. This Friday, Nov. 18, we’ll send out a “Weekend Links” newsletter, and then we’ll be back in your feeds after Thanksgiving. I hope you and yours have a terrific holiday.
If you have any thoughts or feedback or questions about What is California?, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at hello@whatiscalifornia.com.
Thanks for listening! Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻 ❤️
Episode Notes
Anita Chabria is a California columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
"I don't think you have to align with someone politically to tell a fair story. I just think you have align with the truth."
Notes and references from this episode:
Episode 7: Erika D. Smith - What is California?
@anitachabria - Anita Chabria on Twitter
Anita Chabria story archive - LA Times
“Are pooches in San Francisco getting high off meth-laced poop? Conservatives hope so,” by Anita Chabria, LA Times
“Armed and mentally ill: Is deadly force the only treatment left?”, by Anita Chabria, The Sacramento Bee
“‘No treatment until tragedy’ is our mental health system. CARE Court could change that,” by Anita Chabria, LA Times
“Threats, videos and a recall: A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county,” by Anita Chabria, LA Times
“SF’s prototype trash cans have landed. One costs $20,900,” by Will Jarrett, Mission Local
Clara Shortridge Foltz biography - Wikipedia
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Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale
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