Hey y’all! For those of you lucky enough to be in the presence of Beyoncé as she performed at SoFi Stadium last weekend, I hope it was everything and more that you could have ever dreamed. Special shoutout to those who went to her birthday concert, where she brought out Kendrick Lamar AND Diana Ross!! How does it feel to be living my dream… 😭😭😭 I hope you’re walking into the weekend with the same confidence Beyoncé struts the runway.

Beyoncé’s storytelling of the Black experience is iconic. Periodt. So, it’s fitting that this week’s featured story is from AfroLA’s In Living Color series. If you missed the first episode, In Living Color is a multiplatform storytelling series created for and by Angelenos, through their unique voices, views, and perspectives. The first and latest stories are part of a collaboration with a local high school to highlight audio storytelling work produced by journalism students.

I hope you enjoy today’s listen over a cup of coffee. ☕

-Shwetha

FEATURED STORY

Invisible Battles: How autoimmune disease affects a family

by Madison Henderson

In this episode, Madison speaks with her sister Kendal and her mom, Neka, about what it is like living with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that causes weakness in the skeletal muscles. Neka’s symptoms included extreme weight gain, loss of eyesight and trouble with balance.

Neka was shocked by the lack of communication between her doctors, who didn’t know how her symptoms were interconnected, and she had to visit multiple doctors to eventually get a diagnosis. But, even after 15 months without a diagnosis, Neka said that her story is actually on the better end of the spectrum and the timing was actually quite fast.

Madison and Kendal say the silver lining of their mom’s diagnosis is how it brought their family closer together. 

Watch the full story for more about how autoimmune disease presents challenges for families—and how one family overcame them.

Leaving for greener pastures: Why South San Francisco High School teachers move to neighboring districts

by Julietta Bisharyan

Teachers from South San Francisco High School are finding themselves in a difficult position: settling for less pay or moving to neighboring school districts. Many teachers are leaving, pointing to systemic deficiencies in the state’s education funding that lead to inequities for both teachers and students. A flawed funding formula resulting combined with an unaffordable housing market is forcing teachers to weigh the opportunity cost of staying for the benefit of students versus equitable pay.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

L.A. County doesn’t have enough teachers. Low pay and burnout aren’t helping the problem

by Julietta Bisharyan

A growing number of Los Angeles teachers are facing a tough decision––to leave their jobs or quit the profession altogether because they can’t afford to stay. Low, stagnant salaries that fail to keep pace with the region’s soaring living costs are responsible for high teacher turnover and a shortage of teachers to fill thousands of open positions. Moreover, burnout is making the profession unsustainable in the long term, especially as teachers of color are also expected to address the racial and ethnic disparities in student achievement with very little support.

We hate to ask…but we absolutely cannot provide quality journalism without your support. We really see the value of what we're highlighting in our community, and we hope you do, too. If you enjoy our content and want to support local news, please donate to AfroLA. You won’t regret it. (Pinky swear.)

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