From the Streets to Yosemite

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:00:00

From the Streets to Yosemite

Mauricio Escobar, photo by Sandy Wright

This is the time of year when kids in summer programs and scout groups converge on state and national parks. Mauricio Escobar is one of the people working to get kids in and teach them something about the outdoors. As he tells Janet Babin, he himself was transformed by such a program.

Mauricio grew up in war-ravaged El Salvador and South Central L.A. He says he lived life never thinking about his future because he had a hard enough time surviving day-to-day. He was 16 when he stumbled upon a summer program that took him out of L.A. and into the California wilderness. That experience, he says, is what finally gave him the ability to think about and plan for a better future.

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Listen to the entire song "Leaving L.A."

Urban Explorer

Jim Griffioen >>More

Economic decline has left Detroit with many abandoned buildings. Jim Griffioen lives in the city and has been documenting the destruction of some of those buildings by "scrappers," people who strip abandoned buildings of valuable metals.

Jim is most interested in schools. He's taken photos of trees growing through books and other things left behind. Recently Jim has gone beyond documenting what he sees and is reclaiming what he finds. He collects abandoned library books and other school supplies and gives them to community centers. Jim talks with Dick Gordon about his explorations and how his view of the city has changed. This program originally aired on April 14, 2009.

Find out more about Jim's urban explorations here and here.
Explore the "fabulous ruins of Detroit" at the DetroitYES Project.

- From the Streets to Yosemite

From the Streets to Yosemite

From the Streets to Yosemite

Urban Explorer