Los Angeles Times

Commentary: What elephant seals taught me about parenting my adult son with psychosis

An elephant seal moves up the beach along the Piedras Blancas Light Station Elephant Seal Boardwalk in Ragged Point, California, on Jan. 2, 2023.

The ranger directed me to New Year’s Creek Beach for my shift as a docent naturalist at Año Nuevo, a state park in Northern California. It was winter of 2018 and an injured elephant seal had hauled in. He lay amid the driftwood littering the sand after the previous night’s storm. A patch of silvery-black skin on his back had been bitten clean away by a cookiecutter shark, leaving a deep pink wound that made me shudder.

I looked down at my phone. I had no bars. Nobody could reach

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times10 min read
Ben Gibbard On That Glow-up Of A Haircut And His Love-hate Relationship With LA
LOS ANGELES — Twenty-one years ago, Ben Gibbard's life changed twice in the span of eight months. In February 2003, the frontman of Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie released "Give Up," the first (and only) album by his electro-pop side project the Posta
Los Angeles Times5 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
Doctors Saw Younger Men Seeking Vasectomies After Roe V. Wade Was Overturned
Kori Thompson had long wrestled with the idea of having a child. The 24-year-old worried about the world a kid would face as climate change overtook the globe, fearing the environmental devastation and economic strain that could follow. He had been t
Los Angeles Times3 min readAmerican Government
Sen. Bernie Sanders Endorses 2 California Ballot Measures, Including Rent Control Expansion
LOS ANGELES — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who remains popular in California after winning the state's 2020 Democratic presidential primary, on Wednesday announced he is throwing his support behind two ballot measures related to rent control and restrictions

Related Books & Audiobooks