Youth
The first time 19-year-old Alan Zavala went fishing in Marina Bay, he caught a leopard shark. He was hooked. The next day, he went to buy a fishing license. “It’s fun when obviously you’re getting bites and catches,” said Zavala, who’s been fishing for six months. “You also feel adrenaline doing that.” Zavala wanted to try fishing because of videos he saw on TikTok. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, social media influencers have attracted large audiences with content about fishing. Kaitlyn…
Inside the “wellness center” at Rich City Kickback, the air is fragrant with copal incense as people roam from booth to booth at the Richmond Recreation Center, visiting with various healers. “If you come here, it’s like another version of therapy,” said Silver Parker, after finishing her first ever reiki session and waiting for an astrology reading. Silver, 22, said that her generation is struggling to navigate a stressful world and looking for ways to relieve that stress. “You can…
Community organizers are expecting hundreds of Richmond residents to gather, play soccer and celebrate at Lucas Park on Saturday, as part of a community-led “Picnic & Play” event. Since April, multiple community organizations have held weekly free wellness and sports events in an effort to revitalize the park in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood. In October, Lucas Park hosted over 30 events. Bordered by train tracks and a highway overpass, the park has struggled to attract visitors. Saturday’s event will be…
With Halloween fast approaching, it’s not strange to see people toting chain mail armor and a coat of arms. But the knights and wizards running into battle at Marina Bay Park aren’t there to trick or treat. The Duchy of Wyvern’s Spur, a live action role playing group, brings people together from all realms of life to duel and cast spells in Richmond’s Marina Bay Park every Sunday at noon, providing a supportive space for members to be silly and…
There’s a skill to jumping double Dutch. The feet have to move fast, almost instinctively, to the rhythmic patter of ropes hitting concrete. At 12, Ah-Miya Miller has it down. “The thing I like about jumping rope is that it keeps my body moving and keeps us in shape, and when you get the rhythm, you can see it’s not that hard,” she said. “It makes me feel excited to know that a crowd is watching me perform double dutch.”…
The Richmond Work Experience Program is accepting applications for 2024-2025, giving young people job experience and help with career building. What was the Summer Youth Employment Program now offers more opportunities. Richmond YouthWORKS is collaborating with about 164 work sites to give Richmond residents between 16 and 24 years old the opportunity to work up to 300 hours at $17.20 per hour. In 2021, the City Council approved a $1.9 million increase in funding for YouthWORKS as part of the…
At 15, Demaria was arrested for carrying a gun to school and was sent to West County Detention Facility for 10 days. Tall in stature and brusque in manner, Demaria said he remembers the nights there as lonely. “The lights were switched off at 10 p.m., and you couldn’t distract yourself with a book or anything else,” he said. To avoid any chance of returning to juvenile hall, Demaria — whom Richmond Confidential is identifying only by his first name…
A junior at Kennedy High School in Richmond, Willow, a transgender and pansexual student, had experienced a hard time in freshman year, being bullied both verbally and physically. Once, Willow recalled, a boy tried to hurt them by hammering nails upright into their chair. “So I would sit on them and I would obviously poke myself or stab myself on them,” said Willow, who uses the pronoun they. A friend noticed the nails and pulled Willow away. In a shop…
Andrea Pierce, who has lived in south Richmond for more than 60 years, is contemplating moving to a better environment for her grandchildren. “It is just not a good place anymore,” Pierce said about Richmond. “Even though I have been here 60-plus years, I have watched it change.” Many people align with Pierce’s views. According to the National Community Survey released in 2021, only 1 in 4 respondents found Richmond to be a good place to raise children. Though that…