Award-winning Los Angeles journalist Celeste Fremon will discuss her book "G-Dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles" with Father Boyle during a Nov. 5 talk in Johnson 200 on the Occidental campus. The 7 p.m. presentation is free and open to the public.
Twenty years ago, Boyle began seeking alternatives to gangs and rampant violence in East Los Angeles with the creation of Homeboy Bakery where at-risk youth, some of whom were once rival gang members, could gain work experience and be a part of a positive, productive community. Today Homeboy Industries’ nonprofit economic development enterprises include Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café. Boyle is executive director of Homeboy Industries, which is recognized as the largest gang intervention program in Los Angeles County.
Fremon’s book recounts Boyle’s work mentoring at-risk youth, steering individuals away from gang affiliation and channeling their energy into creating a positive and sustainable future.
Fremon is now working on a new book, "An American Family," about the life of a parolee, his wife and kids, during his first four years out of prison (based on her LA Weekly series of the same name). She’s a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism, the co-director of the Homeboy Stories Project, on the Board of Directors for PEN USA, and a Pereira Visiting Writer at UC Irvine where she teaches literary journalism as it relates to social justice.
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This event is sponsored by Intercultural Community Center (ICC), Neighborhood Partnership Programs (NPP), MEChA/ALAS, Department of Critical Theory and Social Justice, Sociology Department, Community and Government Relations, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Circulo de Mujeres, the Community Literacy Center and the Remsen Bird Fund.
