By Sojin Kim
Guest Curator and Producer, "Rites of Passage"
Curator, Japanese American National Museum and organizer of Big Drum: Taiko in the United States

There are many minute and momentous transitions punctuating the journey between childhood and adulthood. This period – in particular, the teen years – contains dramatic shifts in external expectations and personal desires. It is a time when mature aspirations and responsibilities loom close; and when the urge for autonomy is pressing, but dependence on or subordination to adults is still the order of the day.

In this issue we highlight the energy and potential that accompany the inevitable passage forward from who we are to who we might become. Through the words and images of contributors who grew up in the Southland, the featured stories reflect how youth survey and challenge the boundaries that define their lives.

From the widely circulating representations of life in the 'hood, life in the barrio, life on the beach, life in the valley, life in Beverly Hills, life in the O.C., who doesn't entertain some image of what it might mean to be young in Southern California?

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