High School Sexical

Students in the drama program at Santaluces High School wanted attention — just not this kind.

On his MySpace page, a current student wrote, "I have come to a realization. When you are standing in a place you love, and... to the right is a newspaper stand on the outside and Joseph Pulitzer's office on the inside, in front of you are 816 people standing and cheering for you, and you are surrounded by about 40 people you love, you can't get any closer to heaven without dieing."

The student was clearly referring to the Santaluces production of Newsies, a Disney musical... full story»

The King of Spin

It was December 1978, the darkest period in Cleveland history.

Just a year earlier, 31-year-old Dennis Kucinich had been elected mayor. Now the city was in bankruptcy. Six hundred jobs had been slashed, including 400 policemen and firefighters. The neighborhood development corporations, once the backbone of Cleveland's renewal, had been drained of their funding. And City Hall had been overrun with an army of novitiates, whose qualifications began and ended with their loyalty to the mayor.

The man charged with averting disaster was the city's 24-year-old finance director,... full story»

American Toxic

Dennis Davis thought maybe his family was cursed.

In early 1998, his uncle Don developed an aggressive skin cancer that devoured his face. Several months later, his brother Dale died suddenly at age 46 from stomach cancer. A few weeks after that, his granddaughter Makayla was born with severe birth defects.

Davis started thinking about the other families in his small town that he knew had serious illnesses—the cancers, the brain tumors, the babies born with cleft palates.

He went from house to house in his neighborhood and was stunned to find that nearly... full story»

Life Skills Offers Last-Chance High

Justin Martinez missed school — again — on November 2. But this time, the nineteen-year-old's absence was excused. He had to go to Pueblo to see his father. In the morgue.

Justin's parents had split when he was just a kid. Justin and his brothers stayed with their mother in Denver; his father wound up in Pueblo. Although Justin had spent summers with his dad when he was younger, he hadn't seen him much lately. But none of his uncles would go identify their brother's body, so the job fell to him. Since he was too upset to drive, his godmother drove him down; Justin's... full story»

The Strange Drawings of Brian Brooks

The gallery at 111 Minna teems with hipsters and yuppies slurping beer, laughing aloud, and making small talk over the blare of punk rock. In walks Oakland artist Brian Brooks, with long, stringy brown hair and a kinky six-inch beard. He is looking for a place to hide.

"The art thing is for a very small group of people," says the rail-thin 35-year-old. "It's for the artists and the hipsters. It's a lot of schmoozing and looking over your shoulders and watching what other people are wearing. I stopped caring what other people were wearing a long time ago."

Ten of Brooks' most recent... full story»

Toxic Town: Cancer and Birth Defects in Somerville

Dennis Davis thought maybe his family was cursed.

In early 1998, his uncle Don developed an aggressive skin cancer that devoured his face. Several months later, his brother Dale died suddenly at age 46 from stomach cancer. A few weeks after that, his granddaughter Makayla was born with severe birth defects.

Davis started thinking about the other families in his small town that he knew had serious illnesses — the cancers, the brain tumors, the babies born with cleft palates.

He went house-to-house in his neighborhood and was stunned to find that nearly every... full story»

The Underdogs of Southeast

His only goal as he fielded the kickoff was not getting leveled before his first step.

Reggie Johnson's team, the Southeast High School Knights, had just given up another touchdown. The Grain Valley Eagles led, 27-0. And the second quarter had just started.

As Johnson caught the kickoff, he could already see blue Eagles uniforms pounding down the field toward him. He was a head shorter than most of the opposing team. The Southeast junior, with closely cut black hair, stands around 5 feet 6 inches... full story»

All Things Art Basel 2007

This week Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) gathers 200 elite galleries at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Half a billion dollars is poised to change hands during the next frenzied four days, as our fair city becomes an international Opa-locka/Hialeah Flea Market for art swells. Soon there will be more private jets than turkey buzzards flying over downtown's Miami-Dade County Courthouse.

Close to 1,000 galleries and dealers have taken stalls at the 20-plus piggyback fairs doing business on the Beach and across the bay. They open eager arms — and empty wallets — to the... full story»

Target Practice

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio have long felt justified in doing whatever it takes to push their political and personal agendas.

If political opponents, employees, businesses, or even ordinary citizens cross them, these enemies must be eliminated. Some — like this newspaper's founders, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin — have been jailed. Others have been smeared and harassed.

Former County Attorney Rick Romley and the sheriff were never on the same page, but Arpaio and Thomas have joined forces to capitalize on the biggest controversy of our day:... full story»

Flipper Fanatics

Darkness makes it difficult to see the addresses of the few places of business off Highway 111 in South Roxana, Illinois. There's a bar and an American Legion post, and somewhere under the looming smokestacks of the Shell Oil refinery, there's a pinball arcade. Inside a windowless brick building, lights flash from 32 pinball machines arranged in three long columns. A din of missile-like sound effects almost drowns out the clatter of hand flippers. The scenes depicted on the games provide a tour of popular culture since the 1980s. There's Pin•bot, Tales from the Crypt and Family... full story»