family

The beauty of Italy’s Lake Garda

Lake Garda gave us one of the most memorable and unexpected family holidays yet. We hired a car and headed from Milan to Unesco-listed Peschiera del Garda and the family-focused apartment we found on Airbnb. A gentle 15-minute walk to the lakeside restaurants and gelaterias, this was the perfect base for exploring the beautiful town. Special mentions go to: Gelateria la Romana, with its wonderful ice-cream; the boat trip to Sirmione, an old town with thermal springs on a narrow peninsula; and, further up the lake, picturesque Malcesine and the cable car to the top of Monte Baldo to watch paragliders and to take in the amazing views.
Alex

Scandi simplicity in the Åland Islands

The Åland Islands are an unsung – and, we found, surprisingly sunny – gem nestled in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. We stayed with a baby and a toddler in one of the many simple, comfortable cabins in the woodlands, complete with private beach, boat, sauna and barbecue. The pint-size capital, Mariehamn, is no bigger than a market town and easy to explore with kids. People mostly speak Swedish, although the islands are an autonomous region of Finland. There are not a lot of “attractions”, but if you want to get back to nature without the crowds and enjoy Scandi simplicity and unrushed time with the family, this is the perfect place. Cabins and ferries can be booked at visitaland.com.
Martha Fogg

Something for all generations in Brittany

Last summer I piled eight people from four generations of my family into a campervan and crossed from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo, an affordable and fun way to get a large group to the beaches of Brittany. We headed to Bénodet, which is warmer than Cornwall but not as stiflingly hot as the Med, so the kids didn’t get irritable and the grandparents didn’t grumble. At Port de Plaisance campsite, we found water slides, natural swimming pools and sports, plus nightly karaoke for parents to embarrass themselves, while Grandma took on the locals at petanque. The sandy beaches have lifeguards so are great for sunbathing, swimming, picnics and walking for all ages.
Peter

There was nothing to do in Menorca – great!

A friend told us about Es Grau in Menorca, and he wasn’t joking when he warned that there was nothing to do. But the village has its own beat, and by day two we had settled into the local routine. When we weren’t eating or sleeping, we were kayaking, sea swimming and playing soccer with the kids on the municipal pitch. We had hired a car but hardly used it.
Kieran

A Devon dinghy holiday

Sailing is a fantastic and diverse sport, with the skills learned laying foundations for a lifetime. Our children gained tremendous experience as young teenagers and returned for years to dinghy courses in Salcombe, Devon. They loved their summers of fun learning so much they graduated to Royal Yachting Association instructor level. Both became Atlantic sailors later! Tenacity and perseverance in all weather are qualities that other family adventures can’t touch. We loved sailing with them, too.
David Innes-Wilkin

Zipping around in Pembrokeshire

Bluestone national park resort in Pembrokeshire is a firm favourite with my family. We went in May this year and booked four bedrooms for four nights for £540. There’s a brilliant pool and a mixture of indoor and outdoor fun, including zip lines and guided ebiking in the woods, perfect for our two young boys. There were lovely forest walks and soft play areas. We also enjoyed the golf buggies in which we whizzed between the well-maintained lodge and activities.
Abby Samuel

Winning tip: family heaven in the Netherlands

Holidays in the Netherlands have impeccable family-friendly credentials. Our young family loved Madurodam, a miniature version of the Netherlands in The Hague, which has buttons galore for tiny fingers to work bridges, trucks and boats. The railway museum in Utrecht is the best of its kind, with a VR train ride and an actual rollercoaster (there are vintage trains too). We ended with a visit to Linnaeushof, one of Europe’s largest playgrounds, near Haarlem, for a day of self-powered rides and slides. Not to forget the joys of city trams and pancake restaurants. Family heaven.
Morag

More than 20 years after Michael Jackson was acquitted on charges of child molestation — and two months since the global superstar’s record-breaking biopic skirted any mention of abuse allegations — a new Netflix docuseries brings his trial and the aftermath to the foreground.

“Michael Jackson: The Verdict,” a three-part documentary directed by Nick Green and released Wednesday, chronicles his 2005 trial in Santa Maria that began with a search raid of the pop star’s sprawling Neverland Ranch and ended with a jury finding him not guilty on 10 counts, including four counts of child molestation. At the center of the case was Gavin Arvizo, a then-15-year-old cancer survivor from Los Angeles.

Because recording was not allowed in the courtroom, the documentary relies heavily on archival footage from media surrounding the trial and firsthand accounts of key figures involved, including prosecutor Ron Zonen, Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman, journalist Diane Dimond, two trial jurors, and friends and supporters on both sides of the case.

The episodes also delve into the 2003 documentary “Living With Michael Jackson,” in which the pop star is interviewed by British journalist Martin Bashir, that sparked questions about his behavior, leading to the charges against Jackson. Jackson’s historically questionable relationships with children, the media circus surrounding the trial and the effect it had on fans, the family at its center and Jackson himself are explored, too.

Here are six key takeaways from “The Verdict.”

Jackson allegedly had his personal assistant order child pornography

One of the docuseries’ most revealing interviews came from Vincent Amen, a former Jackson associate who worked at Neverland Ranch from 2002 to 2003. He said he was put in charge of taking care of the Arvizo family during their stay at the property following media backlash from Gavin Arvizo’s appearance in “Living With Michael Jackson.”

At that time, Amen said, he “wholeheartedly” believed in Jackson’s innocence, especially because Jackson’s friend Frank Tyson, also known as Frank Cascio, a member of the family who filed a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate in April detailing alleged sexual abuse, vouched so strongly for him. Cascio, who met Jackson when he was 5 years old and later became his personal assistant, told Amen, “Michael would never do this with a child.”

Amen’s conviction shifted, however, after he discovered a disturbing magazine that apparently belonged to Jackson in Cascio’s possession.

“Frank cleaned out his house of anything that came from the Neverland Ranch. And he hands me a Nike bag,” Amen said in the docuseries. “I took the bag and I’m driving home, and I felt, ‘Something’s a little suspicious.’ And I said, ‘Let me take a look in this bag.’ I start taking videos to document this. I open the bag. I start looking, and I see a magazine.”

The series shows shaky footage of Vincent apparently finding a nudist magazine called “Naturally.” He flips to a video ordering section with titles circled in black marker, including videos called “Nudist Youth Weekend” and “Euro-Nudist Family.”

“I confronted Frank, I said, ‘Frank, what is this magazine? Because, you know, there’s circles around videos with naked children,’” Amen recounted. “He said, ‘That’s just a phase that Michael and I went through. He circled the videos that he wanted, I ordered them, and it was a phase that we went through.’ They watched them together.”

The Arvizo children called Jackson ‘daddy’ and had their own bizarre nicknames

Along with footage of the nudist magazine, Amen held on to other evidence of his time with Jackson and the Arvizo family, including a set of Polaroid pictures featuring Gavin’s mom, Janet, and younger brother, Star.

In one, Star points directly into the lens. It’s captioned, “You my daddy Michael.” Another photo of a smiling Janet and Star includes a handwritten caption from Janet that says, “Dearest loving Michael, we appreciate you being our family. What God brings together, no man can undo. We love you.”

Under a photo of Star with a cross-eyed expression, he wrote, “I love you, my daddy Michael. Your son, Blowhole.”

“These are the nicknames that Michael would give these young boys,” Amen said.

Bashir documentary marked a pivotal shift in the perception of Jackson

Martin Bashir in “Michael Jackson: The Verdict.”

(Netflix)

Though the first allegations of child molestation against Michael Jackson emerged in 1993, it was footage from Bashir’s “Living With Michael Jackson” that ignited public concern about Jackson’s relationship with Gavin.

In a pivotal scene from the 2003 documentary, Jackson brings Gavin in as an example of a child with cancer that he helped. Gavin, 13 at the time, leans his head on Jackson’s shoulder and holds his hand. Jackson tells Bashir that the two often share a bed at the Neverland Ranch, though in another scene he stresses that it’s not sexual.

“I realized that we had something that was hugely significant, but I didn’t realize the extent of the bombshell until the broadcast,” Bashir recalled in “The Verdict.”

“You can see it. You can look at that moment in the Martin Bashir documentary and you can actually pin the end of his life to that very moment,” J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackson’s childhood friend and biographer, said in the docuseries.

Given Jackson’s stardom, news and tabloid media swarmed the scene of the trial along with droves of dedicated fans (and a much smaller contingent of detractors). And the archival footage from “The Verdict” shows the extent to which fandom and media frenzy influenced the proceedings.

Jackson’s fans stationed themselves throughout the route he’d take to the Santa Maria courthouse with signs showing their support, sometimes standing and shouting and other times driving alongside him and honking. Jackson had his director of security, Kerry Anderson, film these drives while he waved and engaged with supporters.

As many as 1,000 fans showed up on the first day of the trial, and many would line up starting at 5 a.m. for raffle tickets that would allow them to enter the courtroom. One fan interviewed for the docuseries, Sheree Wilkins, said she quit her job as a preschool teacher to move to Santa Maria for the trial. When the “not guilty” verdicts were announced, she fainted and had to receive medical attention.

TV news stations from around the world, including Taiwan, Japan and Mexico, sent crews to cover the trial.

Even inside the courtroom, where cameras were not allowed, enthusiasm for Jackson’s music could not be contained. Attendees recalled everybody, from the jury to the judge and even the prosecution, “swaying in their seats” when songs played as part of an evidence display.

“I remember me moving in time to his music,” prosecutor Ron Zonen said. “At one point Tom [Sneddon, the District Attorney leading the prosecution] jabbed me and said, ‘Would you stop moving your foot?’ ”

Jackson’s mental and physical health deteriorated

Mark Geragos briefly served as Jackson’s defense attorney.

(Netflix)

According to numerous interviews in “The Verdict,” Jackson’s substance use was problematic before and during the trial.

Jackson was not at Neverland during the raid that predated his charges. According to journalist Dimond, her sources said he was in Las Vegas “having wild parties.”

“There were cigarette burns in the leather couches and chairs. There were empty liquor bottles on every table. And this is where Michael Jackson had been for several days, entertaining young teenage boys, who all spoke German,” she said.

Later, Jackson’s well-publicized physical pain became the catalyst for controversy when he was hospitalized overnight, where he was allegedly given enough pain medication “to tranquilize an elephant,” and failed to show up on time for court the next day. The judge threatened to issue a warrant for his arrest if he didn’t make it to the courthouse within the hour, leading Jackson’s team to speed there at 90 mph.

Throughout the trial, stress took an enormous toll on Jackson, defense attorney Mark Geragos said in the docuseries.

“I watched him just disintegrate, literally disintegrate. The ingestion of substances was just astronomical. There was a time when I actually saw him in the fetal position on the floor, and I thought, ‘What do we do?’ I mean, you don’t want his death to be on your hands because you took some inaction,” he said. “We had genuine concerns whether he could even withstand a trial — physically, mentally.”

The prosecution’s case fell apart at the hands of key witnesses

“The Verdict” lays out, step by step, how the trial ended in Jackson’s full acquittal. One major contributor, the docuseries seems to argue, is the downfall of the prosecution at the hands of its own witnesses.

Defense attorney Tom Mesereau was an expert at discrediting witnesses, subjects told the filmmakers, but certain key witnesses, like Janet Arvizo, struggled to connect with the jury on their own.

“I called her Janet from another planet,” admitted juror Melissa Herard. “Sorry, but that’s just how she acted.”

Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe was meant to take the stand as a smoking gun for the prosecution but instead revealed no new information and came to Jackson’s defense.

The prosecution also partially hinged its case on past allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson, but conflicting testimony caused these efforts to backfire. A former Neverland employee claimed to witness Jackson molest Wade Robson when he was a child, but Robson took the stand and denied anything happened.

“It’s hard to convince a jury when the subject of the act itself said it didn’t happen,” Zonen said.

In 2013, Robson reversed his stance and filed a lawsuit against the Jackson estate alleging sexual abuse. His allegations, along with those of James Safechuck, were the subject of the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland.”

The children were asleep in the little tent behind us, wrapped in two sleeping bags, each with an extra helping of wool blankets. Earlier, all I could see were their little faces half-lit by torchlight as I read them a book about rivers to the sound of rain on canvas. They fell asleep as fast and thick as the fog pooling in the valley below.

My partner and I sat outside, huddled together under a waterproof coat, cheek to cheek, perched on our daughters’ foam swim vests because the ground was saturated. We were laughing. As parents, absurdity and beauty make for familiar bedfellows.

Just a few days earlier, it had seemed impossible we would go anywhere; every affordable campsite, yurt and cottage was booked up for the Easter holidays. Then I remembered how last year, tagging along with the Right to Roam crew, I ended up sleeping on the floor of the Beeches, a former Quaker residential community house in the village of Bamford, on the edge of Derbyshire’s upper Derwent valley. Its new stewards had amazing plans – a space for community health, social justice and ecological regeneration, all in collaboration with local people and grassroots groups.

I pinged them an email – “Can we stay on your land for one night?” – and, feeling inspired, contacted a few other initiatives, too.

We were in luck. Our hosts, Vanessa and Max, welcomed us into the Beeches, which was just as beautiful as I remembered. At the end of a wildflower path, past allotments and woodland, are two outbuildings: sheds on the outside, cosy cabins on the inside. “A family of deer lives here,” Vanessa said to my daughters, five and three, holding one hand each.

By the firepit, we unloaded still-hot pizzas, still-cold beers and marshmallows for roasting. As the dark set in, the children set the ends of sticks on fire, drawing shapes in the air.

In our cabin, candles, fairy lights and a wood-burning stove cast flickering shadows. The sofa beds were pushed together to make one giant bed. As I told the kids a story beneath the covers, I felt I was in a story myself.

By morning, we were a tangle of limbs. Light filtered through egg-patterned curtains. A train rumbled past and the sound summoned adventure. I opened the doors to birdsong while my partner prepared instant coffee and porridge. “I wish today would never end, Mama,” said my eldest.

We ate lunch at the nearby Anglers Rest, Bamford’s community-owned pub, with a cafe and post office in the same building. I dropped my sacred local texts, Wild Swimming Walks Peak District and The Upper Derwent: 10,000 Years in a Peak District Valley by Bill Bevan, on to the table. There was so much to explore – reservoir, ruin, gritstone edge – but the sun was calling.

The River Derwent was just down the road, its banks dotted with bluebells, cow parsley, clover and stitchwort. A mandarin duck watched from a patch of brambles as we quickly changed into our swimming costumes. Wading in upstream from the stepping stones at Bamford Mill, I was instantly ecstatic, while the children sat in the shallows, covering themselves in river mud.

That evening, we followed a winding road up into the hills above Ladybower reservoir. Lockerbrook Farm Outdoor Centre is a hill farm now run as a residential education centre by Woodcraft Folk, a national youth charity promoting education for social change. “We will make an exception,” they explained in their email, “because the camping field is empty.” They don’t usually rent camping pitches to individuals who are not on their courses, but have a cottage on the site available for rentals.

The friendly warden showed us around: field, sink, toilet, the most stupendous view of the high moorlands and deep cut of Derwent valley. The field was on an incline and, while we set up camp, the children bickered over which molehill was theirs. A group of cyclists passed above: “You’re very brave!” shouted one, and I thought he meant the children until my partner pointed out the dark clouds bruising the horizon.

“I’m hungry, Mama!” I went to light the camp stove. It didn’t work. Drizzle turned to rain. The packet of macaroni cheese said it would be edible with cold water. It wasn’t. I ran to beg the warden for boiled water and found a scene of pure bliss – young people cooking together in a warm cottage. One hot flask, two pots of apology-porridge and countless-kisses later, the children were asleep.

And so, this is how my partner and I found ourselves pressed together outside the tent in the dark, in the rain. “Next time we must bring a waterproof blanket to sit on,” he said.

“And an umbrella,” I said.

“And test the stove,” he laughed. “And then maybe we’ll be ready for a wild camp!”

We were giggling, shushing one another, when a female tawny owl screeched, quickly answered by the male, echoing from what seemed to be all the trees: ke-wick hoo-hoo, ke-wick hoo-hoo.

The next morning, we packed up early and drove down to Fairholmes car park, where the Refreshment Kiosk was waiting with hot drinks and pasties. From here, there’s a family-friendly trail featuring carved wooden creatures on the shores of Ladybower reservoir. I told the children about the lost villages beneath its waters. They were already there, one foot always in the imaginary.

We smelt of mildew, wildflower, woodsmoke, river water and sweat. Dandelion seeds were caught in my daughter’s curls. I blew the wishes free.

The Beeches has cabins sleeping four from £125 a night; camping £10pp per night. Lockerbrook Farm is predominantly for large groups, but the Warden’s Cottage sleeps six from £33pp per night. The weekend is accessible from Bamford train station for those who love hiking: the Beeches is a 15-minute walk; pub and wild swimming 20 minutes; Fairholmes is two hours; and Lockerbrook Farm a further 30-minute uphill hike from there.

At the state track and field championships, Jayden Rendon of Carson was in the lead of the 300 intermediate hurdles on Saturday when he struck the final hurdle and fell to the ground. So ended his opportunity to repeat as state champion.

Did he pout? Did he lose his composure? Did he blame something or someone?

Absolutely not.

“You live and learn,” he said. “It does no justice dwelling when I can do so much more.”

He’s headed to USC, and what a student athlete he will become. He was honored on Tuesday, receiving a $1,500 scholarship from the City Section for his academic and athletic commitment. He wrote an essay on how schools in the Southern Section were trying to convince him to leave Carson.

He said absolutely not.

“Growing up in the track world since I was 8 years old, I watched many of my friends and teammates make a decision to attend schools outside of their community,” he wrote. “Their reasoning was based around sports because they believed that the CIF Southern Section schools were more competitive and would give them more opportunities for success. When I was in middle school, my family moved to Long Beach from Carson, which made my home school Long Beach Poly. The majority of my youth team friends decided to attend LB Poly, and I was often questioned on why I chose to stay in Carson instead of following the crowd. My parents and I were told that I would never reach my full potential in the City Section.

“My decision to stay in Carson and compete for the City Section was not just about competition, but about connection. While preparing to compete in the multi-events at the Junior Olympics, when I was 10, I had to run the hurdles. Coach Jojo coached hurdles at Carson so my mom asked him if he would be willing to train me in the summer. I grew a bond with Coach Jojo and developed a love for the hurdles. Both my mother and grandmother went to Carson but it was Coach Jojo who showed me what it truly meant to be part of the Colt family. Besides my family, he was my biggest supporter, he believed in me and made me feel like I belonged to something bigger: a legacy. I didn’t care what anyone said, I knew that if I had Coach Jojo by my side and if I set my mind to it, I could be successful.

“I never would have believed that from the start of my freshman year, the sport that I love, would hit me with life: In January 2023, just a few months before my first high school track season began, I lost Coach Jojo to cancer. After being a pallbearer for my beloved Coach Jojo, I made a promise to him to finish what we started. The way I saw it, I had two choices, I could feel sorry for myself or I could push through the pain and stay focused on my goals of becoming a USC Trojan.”

Rendon fulfilled his promise to his coach and community.

“I wanted to stay in the City Section,” he said. “It was my roots. I wanted to be the hometown hero. I didn’t think I needed to move to be great.”

He was right again.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Peabo Bryson, a Grammy-winning R&B singer known for his duets from Disney classics “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast,” has died. He was 75.

His family confirmed to The Times that he died Tuesday in Marietta, Ga. The cause was complications from a stroke he suffered over the weekend.

“We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” the family shared. “While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”

Bryson was a fixture on the R&B scene for decades, scoring with such hits as “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” and “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again.”

Peabo Bryson, pictured performing in Washington, D.C., in 2016, won Grammy Awards in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.

(Teresa Kroeger / Getty Images)

In a career peak in 1992, the singer was featured on recordings that topped four separate charts: “A Whole New World,” a duet with Regina Belle from the Disney animated movie “Aladdin,” topped the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts; “The King and I” album, featuring Bryson, was No. 1 on the Classical Crossover charts, and Kenny G’s “Breathless” album, featuring Bryson on “By the Time the Night Is Over,” topped the Contemporary Jazz charts.

He nabbed two Grammy Awards back to back in 1993 and 1994 for his performance of “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion, and his performance of “A Whole New World” with Regina Belle.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do,” Bryson told The Times. “I see myself as a true Renaissance man. I don’t like one-dimensional concepts of myself.”

Robert Peapo Bryson was born on April 13, 1951, in Greenville, S.C. He grew up attending concerts his mother would bring the family to, and by the time he was in high school, he knew he wanted a career in music.

In 1978, he told David Nathan, an editor for Blues & Soul magazine, that his mother wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of him chasing his dreams in the rhythm-and-blues biz and worried he’d get into trouble.

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been into music,” Bryson said. “It’s all I ever wanted to really deal with. … I had to make that decision, when I was around 14, as to what I was going to get into, career-wise. Well, I’d thought about being a doctor or something like that, but I really felt that music was my thing.”

He cut his teeth as a backing vocalist in various groups, but none of his bandmates could properly pronounce “Peapo,” his French West Indian name, so he changed up the spelling to make it simpler. The stage name Peabo was born. In the late 1960s, he linked up with “My Elusive Dreams” hitmaker Moses Dillard. “I started out just singing, although I progressed into percussion, guitar and, much later, playing piano — that was basically when I started getting into songwriting,” he told Nathan.

In 1967, he signed his first record deal, with Bang Records, and in 1976, he made his solo debut with the single “Underground Music” and his eponymous album, “Peabo.” The next year, he hit it big time and signed with Capitol Records, where he put out back-to-back gold-selling albums: “Reaching for the Sky” in 1977 and “Crosswinds” in 1978.

Peabo Bryson performs at the Centennial Olympic Park’s Fourth of July Celebration in Atlanta.

(Robb D. Cohen / Invision / Associated Press)

By the ’90s, Bryson was at a career high, collected Grammy nominations and became the definitive voice of Disney duets. But the music scene was changing, and Bryson wasn’t keen on the new direction. He told The Times in 1994 that MTV had stopped considering talent as the criteria to be played on the music channel and that he thought mainstream music had taken a hostile and negative turn.

“I guess I [tick] people off because I don’t go away,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m like a tenacious forest fire — you snuff me out over here, and I’m still burning down the back 40 just when you think it’s over. I have a great faith in God, and because of my great faith in God, I have faith in the self.”

Fortunately for legions of fans of the soulful balladeer, Bryson was right and he wasn’t going anywhere for another couple of decades. The Grammy winner continued to grace stages with his flashy blazers and smooth baritone, and recently performed a concert with Jeffrey Osborne at Trilith Live in Fayetteville, Ga.

The event in early May was a standalone performance, apart from the crooner’s Golden Touch tour, which he announced last year, amid his celebration of 50 years in the music industry.

In recent years, Bryson said he had been hitting the gym and prioritizing his health after a scare seven years ago when the artist suffered a heart attack at his Georgia home. He told the Soul Train Cruise 2020 that he flat-lined for nearly 30 minutes, “long enough to make friends on the other side.”

“It turns out that dying is not that hard,” Bryson said. “Didn’t hurt that much. It’s the living afterwards that’s the really difficult part. I mean, why are you still here? You have to ask yourself those hard questions: Are you a good father? Are you a good husband? Are you a good friend? Are you a good brother? Are you a good human being?”

Bryson said he was able to answer yes.

“Then you have to ask yourself the question that makes the answer null and void — can you be better?”

Bryson is survived by his wife, Tanya Boniface Bryson; son Robert Bryson (who goes by Kit); daughter Linda Bryson; and three grandchildren.

Memorial arrangements will be announced at a later date.

52-year-old Ryan McFarland killed six of his family members and later took his own life when confronted by the police in Muscatine in the US state of Iowa.

The Strictly Come Dancing star learns of her ancestor’s devastating fate in a new episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

Amy Dowden discovers a shocking family tragedy as she delves into her ancestry.

The Strictly Come Dancing icon has taken part in BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? where she learns about her lineage.

At one point, Amy is left in tears as she hears of a family member who suffered from breast cancer and died at a young age, leaving several children behind.

The Welsh dancer is left devastated, as she reflects on her own cancer battle, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2023 and suffering health setbacks as she underwent treatment.

Elsewhere during the programme, Amy learns of a 13-year-old who was shot dead in an awful accident.

After hearing of a rumour of a murder from her mum’s side of the family, Amy begins her journey in west Wales, where she seeks to find out if her ancestor was the victim or the perpetrator.

“Was there a murder, was one of my family involved? Detective Dowden on a mission,” Amy declares.

She meets her distant cousin Wyn at his home in Ceredigion, where he shows Amy a family Bible that belonged to her three-times great-grandfather.

Inside it, she reads the name Elinor Jenkins, with information revealing that she was shot dead by the “cruel man Offley Owen” in November 1888, when she was just a teenager.

“Why would somebody want to shoot a 14-year-old girl?” Amy wonders, shocked to hear the distressing news of her ancestor’s murder.

“When I heard of this mysterious death, I didn’t think it would be somebody within our family who was killed, I assumed one of our family members shot somebody. I was not expecting this and not expecting a child,” she says.

Elinor was Amy’s three-times great aunt, and was killed at a nearby farm, Berthlwyd, where she worked as a servant.

The dancer meets historian Dr Angela Muir, who confirmed that Elinor was actually aged 13, and was working at the farm with a 17-year-old boy called Offley Owen.

She reads newspaper reports that detail what happened, revealing that Elinor had been sent to fetch water before a witness heard Owen saying “I’ve shot Nelly dead”.

Owen had taken up the gun “with a purpose of showing her”, but was unaware it was loaded, and was supposedly being playful.

He did, however, tragically kill her, with Elinor being shot in the mouth.

“This is awful,” Amy says. “That would have been an instant death.” The historian agrees, saying: “It’s quite horrific.”

However, Amy finds it difficult to believe the death came about as an accident. She wonders: “He obviously had intention to use that gun,” adding: “To me, this was planned.”

Amy hears about the coroner’s inquest that took place after Elinor’s death, leaving her “confused”.

The reports eventually confirmed that Owen was charged with manslaughter, and would have been tried in the assizes court in Carmarthen.

“I’m horrified by what I’ve read, it’s going to take a little time to process it,” Amy admits.

In Carmarthen, Amy meets another historian who explains that Owen pleaded not guilty at court and the prosecution announced they would call no witnesses.

She’s stunned to discover that Owen was discharged, which would often happen in cases like these during those times, as the court took into account that he had never been in trouble with the law before.

“Some part of me is not satisfied with this,” Amy says, hearing that the victim’s family didn’t get justice after the tragedy.

Seeking comfort after hearing of the outcome, Amy travels to a church in Blaenpennal, where Elinor was laid to rest.

She says: “At first when I heard that he was found not guilty, I was like, how did the family move on? How did they start to process the grief? But it does seem like it was an accident and I guess, after time, they started to forgive.”

She learns that Elinor was remembered “as a young person of more than ordinary ability”, and also that a valley near the farm where she lost her life is now named after her.

Amy says: “I never realised that a member of my family has landscape named after her, I think that’s something quite special, really touching.”

Amy Dowden’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? airs on Tuesday 2 June at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer

Joe Swash says discovering family history has made him complete after taking part in Who Do You think You Are? for the BBC

Joe Swash says he feels “galvanised” after learning about the Italian roots of his family. The actor and husband of Stacey Solomon appears on Who Do You Think You Are? hoping to learn more about his family tree.

Former EastEnders star Joe, 44, tells the programme he lost his own dad Ricky when he was aged 39 and Joe was just 12 which had a big impact on his upbringing.

He explained: “My house was full of life and life. And then, when my dad died, for a long time, it was a house full of sadness and grief. So, you know, a lot of the time it was just trying to get through that period. Growing up in London, I was quite vulnerable, not having a father figure, and I had dyslexia and ADHD that wasn’t diagnosed, so I do struggle when I read something, and a lot of the time I was misunderstood as being quite naughty and mischievous.”

Joe says thanks to some “strong women” in his life he stayed on track, and that he feels like he has got some “Italian traits” including wearing his heart on his sleeve. His mum Kiffy tells him that on his father’s side his great grandmother’s part of the family tree were Italian.

At this stage Joe doesn’t know anything beyond his grandad Charlie but his parents were Joe’s great grandad also called Charlie Swash and Maria Raimo. A 1921 marriage certificate shows Maria living at home in Lox Gardens in London with her parents, Giuseppe, Italian for Joseph, and Rosa, Joe’s great great grandparents.

Joe’s great great grandfather Guiseppe Raimo moved from Italy to London and worked his way up from a street performer in poor living conditions to a job crafting Street pianos. He also spoke alongside Sylvia Pankhurst in 1923 at a Communist Workers’ Movement meeting in London. A letter in his name was published in weekly newspaper The Worker’s Dreadnought, condemning the brutality of the fascist regime.

Historian Alfio Bernabei said: “Giuseppe wasn’t simply attending the meeting, he was actually speaking alongside Sylvia Pankhurst. He could see what was going on, he was following events in Italy, and everything was leading towards a catastrophe. Giuseppe would have run terrible risks had he been in Italy, and he was running terrible risks in London.”

Hearing this detail, Joe said: “It really does fill me with a great, great deal of pride to think that he was struggling through life anyway, being Italian, living where they were living, but he still was concerned about what was happening in the world and fascism, so he must have been a man with great moral compass, someone that really stood by what he thought.

“I had so much pride when I found out about him. The journey he went on, the morals and the things he stood up for, the people he rubbed shoulders with, and the way he got out and worked through poverty to make himself and make his family’s life better, just shows real tenacity. Learning about his speech was emotional, it was a total surprise. I think in that moment I felt really close to my relatives, to Giuseppe. It was such a lovely thing to find out.”

Joe also goes to Naples and traces his ancestors back to his five times great grandfather Donato who was born in 1762 and was living in the now largely abandoned but picturesque mountainous town of Senerchia. The family were peasant farmers but did have a brush with crime after being wrongly linked to the Italian brigands in 1867 during the Italian rebellion.

Back in the present day Joe also finds a ‘Raimo bar’ nearby to Senerchia, and is delighted the family name lives on in Italy. Reflecting on everything, Joe said: “For a lot of my life, I’ve never really known who I am, what I am, where my roots are. I don’t know if that’s due to losing my dad at a young age, but being on his journey, it really has sort of like galvanised who I am, where I’m from, the people that made me, how strong they are, they never give up. Hopefully a bit of that tenacity has come down the line to me.”

He added: “I think what I’ll carry with me from this experience is just the importance of where you come from and knowing who you are. As well as the things that I found out about my relatives, especially about Giuseppe. Traits and things from them that I hope I have as well, or that I’d like to introduce into my life, you know. It just made me feel a lot more attached to my heritage, which I’ve never really felt attached to. I very much knew nothing about it before, but after this journey, I feel like I’m part of something.”

* Who Do You Think You Are? With Joe Swash airs on BBC1 at 9pm on Tuesday June 9. The series is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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R&B singer Peabo Bryson, well known for his duets from beloved Disney classics “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast,” suffered a stroke over the weekend.

A representative for the artist told The Times that the singer is undergoing treatment but provided no details about his condition.

“Two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and balladeer, Peabo Bryson — the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney songs ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Whole New World’ — has suffered a stroke and is currently under medical care,” the representative said in an emailed statement. “At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together. The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated.”

Bryson recently performed a concert with Jeffrey Osborne at Trilith Live in Fayetteville, Ga., in early May. The event was a standalone performance, apart from the crooner’s Golden Touch tour, which he announced last year, amid his celebration of 50 years in the music industry. In April, the Grammy winner turned 75 and posted photos on Instagram from a birthday bash showing him surrounded by friends and family. In early May, he posted a video of his son, Kitt, performing a Michael Jackson dance routine, writing “Super proud Dad moment from last nights Gig in Atlanta.”

Soul and funk band Maze, which was fronted by the late Frankie Beverly, shared some love for Bryson on social media.

“The entire Maze The Music Forever family sends our heartfelt prayers, love, and support to Peabo Bryson during this time of healing,” read the post. “Peabo’s extraordinary voice, timeless artistry, and unwavering contributions to music have touched millions around the world. We pray for God’s healing hand, renewed strength, comfort, and a full recovery.”

A DISNEY legend has been rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke, leaving his nearest and dearest concerned.

The musician, known for films such as Aladdin and Beauty and The Beast, is currently under medical care following the scary incident.

Paebo Bryson is best known for songs such as Aladdin’s A Whole New World and the titular track for Beauty And The Beast, a duet with Celine Dion.

The family of Peabo, who is now 75, have shared that he suffered a stroke this week in a worrying ordeal.

In a statement shared with Variety, they said: “Two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and balladeer, Peabo Bryson — the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney songs ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Whole New World’ — has suffered a stroke and is currently under medical care.

“At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together.

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“The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated.”

Hailing from South Carolina, Peabo is married to singer Tanya Bryson (née Boniface) and a dad to eight-year-old son Kitt and older daughter Linda.

Peabo has had a lengthy music career with numerous accolades under his belt.

In 1992, his performance of Beauty and the Beast with Céline Dion won him a Grammy award in 1992.

A Whole New World, which he performed with Regina Belle, also bagged him the gong the following year.

Alongside his Disney hits, R&B star Peabo has a string of solo hits across the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

Songs If Ever You’re in My Arms Again, Can You Stop the Rain and Feel The Fire all hit the top end of the charts.

Back in 2019, he suffered a mild heart attack and was hospitalised.

At the time, his family assured doctors expecting Peabo to make a full recovery, with his health appearing in check up until this new scare.

FOSTER Sylvers, child star and member of a family R&B group, has tragically died.

The standout singer from the 1970s ensemble was just 64 years old.

His brother, Leon Sylvers III, confirmed his death following a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, TMZ reported.

The star died in hospice.

Leon said further updates would come from their sister, Pat Sylvers.

Following the announcement of his death, Foster’s daughter Erin posted a touching tribute to social media.

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“Rest well, Daddy,” she wrote.

“I love you so much.”

Her heartbreaking post to Facebook was accompanied by a photograph of the pair together.

Foster rose to fame during the 1970s when he performed alongside his family in their band The Sylvers.

The group had a string of hits including Fool’s Paradise, Boogie Fever and Hot Line.

Foster performed with his siblings James, Edmund, Ricky and Angie.

And he played the bass and supported artists including Dynasty and Evelyn “Champaign” King, as well as releasing solo music.

His brother Edmund died in 2004 from lung cancer.

Their other brother Christopher – who was their youngest sibling – died in 1985 when he was just 18 years old from hepatitis.

The remaining Sylvers siblings are Olympia, Leon, Charmaine and James.

They formed the original quartet known as Little Angels, alongside Joseph, Ricky, Angie and Pat.

Over their careers, the group of siblings released 10 albums, all issued during the 1970s, and were regularly compared to the Jackson family.

Foster was just 10 years old when he recorded his first solo project in 1973.

Due to his considerable popularity, he went on to appear on multiple television programmes, including American Bandstand and Soul Train.

I come from a family of priests and devoted Catholics. Catholicism is the blood in my veins. My father was not a disciplinarian, but if you lived under his roof you went to church. Saturday evening or Sunday morning, didn’t matter, you went. My four siblings and I were not miscreants, but we drank beer and sneaked out, and I was once cited for stealing liquor. I can’t recall my father ever yelling at me for anything other than missing Mass.

My great-uncle Dan was a diocesan priest at St. Charles Borromeo in Drexel Hill, Pa. Dan was a fire-and-brimstone hard-liner. Every Thursday we’d gather as a family for a roast beef dinner at my grandmother’s house. Dan would drink Manhattans — plenty — and if someone expressed a view of God contrary to his own, he’d say, “It’s awfully hot down there.” “There” meant hell. My uncle Ed, my mother’s eldest brother, was an Augustinian. Patient, compassionate, inclusive, Ed’s God was very different from Dan’s. While discussing God, Ed would quote Michael Himes, “There is nothing we can do to make God not love us,” and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “Mercy, within Mercy, within Mercy.”

Sports was in my family too — basketball, specifically — and I came to view Dan and Ed as head and assistant coach, respectively. The head coach shouting harsh critiques from the sideline, the assistant coach there to put his arm around you when you made it, crestfallen and ashamed, back to the bench. I loved them both, but I aligned with Ed’s view of God. Dan passed away a decade ago. Ed has since left the priesthood and married a kind and patient woman named Kathy. Over the years, Ed’s views on God have changed drastically. We meet for dinner once a month to talk about life and faith, and it was during one of our conversations that “Task” was born.

Mark Ruffalo in “Task.”

(Peter Kramer / HBO)

Tom Brandis, played by the singular Mark Ruffalo, is a former priest-turned-FBI agent who has lost his faith. Everything he held as truth in his life has come crashing down in the wake of a family tragedy. Tom believes he was called by God to adopt two children, Emily and Ethan. Adopting these children has resulted in the death of his wife, Susan. Matricide. What kind of God allows that? I have struggled with my Catholic faith over the years, but nothing has perplexed me more than the idea of suffering. The poet Archibald MacLeish wrote, “If God is God, He is not good / If God is good, He is not God.” The message is clear: If God is God, the author of everything, then He created evil and suffering and therefore cannot be good.

In “Task,” I wanted to explore a crisis of faith with honesty and without easy answers, because that is exactly how I have found my own faith journey — arduous and circuitous. I believe in God, but I find that belief tested daily. Faith and religion are separable. Tom’s journey in “Task” is a journey of faith. In the fifth episode, Tom is kidnapped by the criminal Robbie Prendergast, played by the brilliant Tom Pelphrey. During a long and tense car ride to the Poconos, Robbie tells Tom that he doesn’t believe in God. Never has. God is an idea conjured to make life bearable. “There’s nothing after this life,” Robbie says. Tom doesn’t argue. His own beliefs have veered in that direction. The car pulls into a secluded, wooded area. Facing death, Tom suddenly wants to call his son, Ethan, and forgive him. Robbie doesn’t allow it. Instead, he walks Tom to the edge of the woods, tells him he’s a decent man, and sets him free. Because Robbie has his own plan: to sacrifice his life in the hopes of providing a better one for his family. It’s through Robbie’s act of mercy that Tom regains faith. He believes in goodness again.

Brad Ingelsby.

(Ian Spanier / For The Times)

In the final episode, Tom finds himself taking care of a young and suddenly parentless boy, Sam. Sam reminds him of his own son, Ethan. Sam wants to live with Tom. And Tom desperately wants Sam to stay with him. But Tom also recognizes that Sam would be better served in the care of a young family capable of meeting his needs. Sam shouldn’t be stuck with an old man like him. Tom lets Sam go; he believes the boy will be taken care of. That is Tom’s act of faith.

When Ed and I met for dinner last month, we talked about how his idea of God has changed over the years. He no longer sees God as a bearded white man tallying our sins and waiting to judge us in heaven. He thought God was everywhere, all the time. The love that exists between people. He thought he could feel God right then, among us at the table as we laughed. We talked about Camp Mystic. The young girls swept away. Why, God? They were there to serve You. We didn’t have any answers. We never do. But the food and wine were good, and we talked about great-uncle Dan, about how he was so different from us but how much we loved him anyway, and how, when he drank Manhattans — plenty — he could turn harsh and opinionated, but it didn’t matter because he loved God. He loved Him with his whole heart, and we thought about the unimpeachable dignity of that and what an amazing gift it would be — to believe and never doubt.

Matt Brown, who starred with his family in the Discovery reality television show “Alaskan Bush People,” was found dead in the Okanogan River in Washington state, law enforcement officials said Sunday.

Brown’s body was discovered Saturday by a group of private citizens who were conducting a search, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Brown’s brother, Bear Brown, said in a video posted Saturday on social media that fellow brother Noah had been with the search team, helped pull the body out of the river and identified him.

The official cause and manner of death is still to be determined by the coroner, the sheriff’s office said. But the Brown family believes Matt Brown died by suicide, Bear Brown said in the video.

Witnesses said they saw Matt Brown in or near the river and that he “took his own life,” Bear Brown said on social media.

“I would have never suspected he would hurt himself, honestly,” Bear Brown said in the emotional video. “He struggled for a long time.”

Bear Brown said his brother had battled with alcohol and drugs and that Matt Brown told him in their last conversation that he had “fallen off the wagon.”

The Brown family and their life in the Alaskan wilderness were the subject of the reality TV show “Alaskan Bush People,” which ran on the Discovery Channel from 2014 to 2022.

WASHINGTON — The congressman returned home last Fourth of July to startling stories in Southern California as immigration patrols swept through communities, and one constituent told him about starting to carry a passport as proof of the right to be in the country.

Rep. Mark Takano, whose American-born parents were both incarcerated as young children with their families during the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, could not help but see the parallels between that chapter of American history and this one.

“I do feel like there’s a similarity of circumstance of my own 2-year-old father and my 1-year-old mother being labeled as enemy aliens and they’re considered a danger to national security,” the Riverside Democrat told the Associated Press in a recent interview.

“They’re put into these incarceration camps,” he said. “Similar arguments have been made by this administration — that immigrants pose a grave danger to our country and it’s for the security of our country that we’re doing this.”

Echoes of history

President Trump’s campaign to achieve the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history is at an inflection point. Americans are seeing what it looks like to round up, detain and deport thousands of people, particularly in the aftermath of the deaths this year of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens protesting the federal crackdown in Minneapolis.

The White House changed the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security as it reframes its approach. New Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep the department off the front pages.

But Trump is also under mounting pressure from conservative groups not to let up on the goal of deporting 1 million people a year. The president’s Republican allies in Congress are fueling the immigration and deportation actions with billions of dollars in special funds.

Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has drawn from his own family history — and the country’s eventual redress to Japanese Americans who were detained — to challenge Trump’s approach.

“We look back on that era of history as a shameful one, as a time when our political leaders failed the Constitution, failed the American people,” he said.

One family’s story among many

A high school history teacher before being elected to Congress in 2012, Takano grew up in Southern California and came to understand the family stories.

His grandfather Isao Takano arrived in the U.S. from Hiroshima and married Kazue Takahashi, a U.S.-born citizen. Together they settled in Bellevue, Wash., and started a business growing tomatoes, strawberries and chrysanthemums for the marketplace in Seattle.

When the U.S. entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they were among some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, immigrants and those born in the U.S., forcibly relocated.

His father, William, was 2 years old when his family was sent in 1942 to the incarceration camp at Tule Lake in Central California. His mother, Nancy Tsugiye Sakamoto, born in California to American-born parents, was a year old when she was relocated to the detention facility in Heart Mountain, Wyo.

Then, as now, he said, people are being swept up in the anti-immigrant detentions.

“Will Americans generations from now visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and think to themselves, how could our government do this?” Takano said during a House floor speech, referring to the Trump administration’s immigration detention facility in Florida.

“These future generations of Americans will look to us, the Congress, to see what we did to try to stop it.”

A Reagan-era law seen as model

Takano remembers his father taking him to see the land the family once owned. He learned about his great-uncles who served in the Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese American soldiers; one was killed in action in Italy. He recalls his own father later collected donations for the national redress campaign.

In 1988 Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which sought to apologize for the “grave injustice” that had been done and provide $20,000 to each person detained. President Reagan signed it into law.

Takano’s parents were among those who received a letter of apology from the federal government, he said, and a payment.

Talks are underway among some in Congress, he said, for a similar redress to the people who have had their car windows smashed in, their homes raided and livelihoods upended as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement operations.

“Remarkably the country did come to realize the mistake,” he said. “I believe we’re living through one of those eras of mistakes, and I believe we can come out of this moment stronger.”

Mascaro writes for the Associated Press.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker William D. Caballero won the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression for his intensely personal, multimedia feature debut, “TheyDream.” During his acceptance speech, he made a powerful statement.

“In case ICE were ever to harm me or kill me, this film will serve as the truth of who I am, and who my family is, before Fox News or this administration ever makes us out to be the villain[s],” he recalls paraphrasing during a recent interview.

Blending live action footage with different animation techniques — as well as the 3-D-printed miniatures that have been a fixture of Caballero’s work for more than a decade — “TheyDream” honors the filmmaker’s Puerto Rican loved ones, particularly his mother, Milly.

She collaborated with him in the making of this one-of-a-kind portrait of loss, resilience and shared healing. Their heartfelt exchanges throughout this process are also shared on-screen.

“Seeing her light up and become transformed throughout was just invigorating, because it allowed us to talk about heavy things and bond throughout the process of creating a story that’s personal [for us] both,” Caballero says. “It’s like, ‘Let’s guide each other and instead of me taking your stories and making magic with them, let’s make this magic together.’”

The brilliantly unconventional piece of autobiographical storytelling will screen as the closing night film of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) on Sunday. Recently, John Leguizamo and Ben DeJesus joined the film as executive producers.

Starting with his 2013 short film “How You Doin,’ Boy? Voicemails From Gran’pa,” Caballero has used miniatures to immortalize his loved ones. That bite-sized introduction to his Boricua grandfather’s humorous wisdom evolved into the HBO Latino show, “Gran’pa Knows Best.”

“When I started working on ‘Gran’pa Knows Best,’ I knew that 3-D printing was this new technique,” he says. “But I’d never seen anyone that looked or sounded like my grandfather in it. I realized that it could be a really creative method to preserve his voice and his story. “

Then came the 2017 short “Victor & Isolina” about his grandparents’ relationship, and more recently in 2022, he debuted “Chilly and Milly,” which focused on his parents. Some of the sets from these shorts, tiny replicas of places familiar to Caballero, and a few of the miniature characters were reused in “TheyDream.”

“Being able to create these things in miniature is almost like getting back in touch with the idea of play,” Caballero explains. “As a child, you invent lots of stories all the time. But now as an artist, I’m able to tell stories that touch upon reality and painful memories, but also hopes and dreams in a way that hearkens back to the innocence of childhood.”

Filmmaker William D. Caballero will screen “TheyDream” on Sunday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).

(William D. Caballero)

“TheyDream” is a culmination of the eclectic and nimble artistic practice that Caballero has developed since he studied digital art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

“I’d always just been attracted to new ways of expressing myself and expressing stories. And I say this both in a way that brings me pride, but also brings me a bit of a headache, because I don’t think I’ll ever be a conventional filmmaker,” he says, laughing.

Still, working outside the margins of traditional moviemaking requires great adaptability.

When Caballero received funding for “TheyDream” in 2021, the money wasn’t enough to conceive it as he had originally envisioned it: entirely told with 3-D-printed figures in physical sets. The lack of resources forced him to rethink his approach, and he opted for hiring two Puerto Rican animators, Julisse Tinoco and Frank Martinez, each of whom animate in distinct styles, to help him create some of the sequences needed.

“This all goes back to the resourcefulness that I learned when I was young,” Caballero says. “When you’re born Latino and low-income in this society, you can’t let yourself be written off or you’re already defeated before you even begin.”

Caballero grew up in housing projects in New York City, and later in a trailer in his grandmother’s backyard in Fayetteville, N.C. Both of his parents were disabled.

Filmmaker William D. Caballero poses as his father for a reference shot in the making of his 2026 film “TheyDream.”

For Caballero, he says the arts have provided an escape that he “needed in order to survive and not feel weighed down by American consumerism, by poverty and by feeling trapped.” Whenever grief has perturbed him, Caballero has processed it through creativity.

With “TheyDream,” he wished to extend that vehicle for self-reflection to his mother. The film addresses complicated familial bonds and his mother’s experience caring for others.

“Throughout the years, we’ve lost several of my family members that we were both close to, but my mother especially,” he says. “She feels their absence much stronger than I do. I live in Los Angeles, my mother still lives in North Carolina. Knowing that she was alone in the mobile home, it just made me feel like, ‘That can’t be good for her.’”

His mother, he says, deals with self-esteem issues because her identity has for so long been reduced to being a caretaker for elderly relatives, who, inevitably, pass away — leaving her feeling like a failure. In reality, it was thanks to her devotion that they added years of life.

Caballero’s mother was at the Sundance premiere of “TheyDream,” where she witnessed how others saw her through the film she helped her son craft.

“I wanted her to feel like, ‘Mom, look at all these people that are clapping for you. They’re clapping for you because you are a hero. You deserve to hold yourself high and be strong and know that there’s something incredible in your story that’s indicative of the stories of many low-income Americans, regardless of race,’” Caballero says, visibly moved.

A prolific and highly regarded artist (he is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow), Caballero has several other projects in the works that he’s trying to shop around. One of them is an episodic series titled “Second Fiddle,” about a 15-year-old Latino boy who gets accepted to a prestigious summer youth orchestra camp — and whose overbearing mother decides she’s going to stay in the camp with him.

Caballero’s mother, Milly, got the animated treatment in “TheyDream.”

“I never saw a Latino playing violin on TV or the big screen. I didn’t see any quirky, nerdy, artsy Latino kids like I was,” he says. “And I felt in my core that [it] was just wrong and something that I could change.”

Another project, “Raúl Playing Game,” is “an adult version of Pixar’s ‘Inside Out,’ ” that takes place in the mind of a closeted bisexual man. Caballero himself is bisexual. In 2022, “Raúl Playing Game” was selected for the LALIFF Inclusion Fellowship, which provided support for a short film version that serves as proof of concept for a potential TV show.

“I always wanted to make sure that I was telling authentic stories even if not necessarily always positive stories,” he says. “I’m very happy that I never lost track of that. Because I do believe that we need to tell our own stories, in our own unique voices, before someone else does it for us.”

Few players are driven to club soccer practice by a national team player. But then few players have two sisters who play for the U.S. women’s team.

Also Zoe Thompson is just 14, so you can’t expect her to drive herself.

But here’s the thing that truly sets Zoe Thompson apart. Although eldest sister Alyssa, 21, has already played in a World Cup and middle sister Gisele made 38 NWSL appearances and played four times for the national team before her 20th birthday, Zoe may actually be the best of the three.

“She’s better technically,” said her father Mario Thompson, who coached all three.

“I think she’s the combination between Alyssa and Gisele,” said Carlos Marroquin, owner of the pre-professional women’s team that gave Alyssa and Gisele their start.

So maybe there should be a line of coaches, teammates and family members waiting to drive her to practice or to her debut with Marroquin’s team, the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, on Saturday evening at The Master’s University.

The Santa Clarita Blue Heat coach Leonardo Neveleff, center, talks to his team before a practice at Valencia High. Zoe Thompson makes her debut with the team Saturday.

The team, which competes in USL W league, has long been a summer proving ground for elite college players and aspiring pros with alumni that includes Venezuela’s Deyna Castellanos, once a finalist for FIFA’s world player of the year award; World Cup veterans Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez; former Chelsea and Atlético Madrid star Ana Borges of Portugal; and Natalia Kuikka, a five-time Finnish player of the year.

This year’s roster includes more than two dozen Division I college players, meaning Zoe Thompson will be playing with and against women much older than her.

Did we mention she’s still in middle school?

“She’s always having to get out of her comfort zone, no matter what,” said Mario Thompson, whose job as Zoe’s father is to both nurture and protect his daughter’s talent.

Zoe has followed a different path than her sisters. Alyssa and Gisele were born less than 13 months apart and grew up playing together, practicing together and pushing each other. Zoe, born seven years later, grew up watching them, imitating them and wanting to be them.

But she had to do the work alone.

“It’s a unique dynamic where Alyssa and Gisele had each other,” their father said. “It wasn’t just Alyssa by herself. She always had a partner.”

Zoe, however, observed a lot by watching.

“I feel like their mistakes helped me,” she said. “But at the same time, there are some mistakes that I’ve made that they haven’t. I’m learning differently, but I’m more learning from them.”

Zoe Thompson hugs her father Mario Thompson after practice at Valencia High.

Still, this is uncharted territory. No family has ever had a trio of siblings play for the women’s national team, and the pressure of having to match the success her sisters have had will be inescapable, if unfair, for Zoe.

It’s a level of pressure that has the potential to be crushing.

“She kind of has this expectation that’s put upon her already that ‘oh, she’s going to be like her sister,’” Gisele said. “But it’s her own life.”

And Mario Thompson, an elementary school principal who has been intimately involved in all his daughters’ careers, is having to negotiate all this on the fly.

“Everyone sees the glam and the glitz of Alyssa and Giselle, but people don’t really understand it’s a lot of pressure,” he said of the sisters, who will both be heading to Brazil with the national team next week. “They see all the great stuff, but it’s also their job.”

Mario Thompson faced some of the same issues with Alyssa, the second-youngest U.S. woman to play in a World Cup, so he limited her media interviews and tried to let her be a teenager — albeit it an exceptionally talented one. Zoe faces the additional burden of having do all that while following in her sisters’ footsteps.

“I’m very mindful and aware of that,” he said. “She’s already in the spotlight without having to be in the spotlight. It’s that pressure. I want her to love the sport, love this journey. That’s kind of how I raised all three of them.”

Zoe Thompson during a practice session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

For her part Zoe, mature well beyond her tender age, dismisses the hype with a shrug.

“There are going to be comparisons,” she said. “But we’re such different people that I think it’s unfair. At the same time, they can have those comparisons, they can have those opinions, but I’m not them. So it’s not going to be any different, how I play.”

Plus, having two accomplished sisters has its advantages. In the spring Zoe trained with the youth teams at Chelsea, where Alyssa now plays, and this summer she says she’ll train with Angel City, Gisele’s team. But the drawback of being a (much) younger sister is Alyssa and Gisele had each other to lean on growing up. Zoe has had to go it alone and that, she said, has made her stronger.

“Mentally, it is harder. But seeing my sisters and where they are, it’s kind of a motivation for me,” said Zoe, who has already been called in three times by the U-14 national team. “They were kind of at the same place I am. And it’s just very motivating to see them where they are. That’s just kind of where I want to be.”

If there’s been one constant in the girls’ soccer careers it’s been their dad, who has been intimately involved in with all three, drilling them in the backyard of their Studio City home or walking them down the street to a park, where they shared the lumpy grass with softball players and unleashed dogs.

They were often, but not always, willing participants since the family didn’t have a TV when the girls were growing up.

Zoe Thompson controls the ball during a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

And while the hours and hours of practice certainly honed the sisters’ skills, their parents can’t explain where the girls got their immense physical gifts. Mario played football and basketball and ran track at Occidental College with modest success while his wife, Karen, an occupational therapist, played basketball and ran cross-country in high school, hardly the pedigree that could be expected to produce three world-class soccer players.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in their unique DNA, a mix of Mario’s Black and Filipino background and Karen’s Italian and Peruvian roots.

“It was never the plan, ‘Hey, let’s have some soccer players’,” Mario said.

But once the sisters decided that was their plan, the parents had to adjust. The girls had rare talent, Mario Thompson quickly realized, and it had to be developed. So Alyssa and Gisele began playing with an elite boys’ team while they were still in high school and passed up scholarships to Stanford to sign lucrative contracts with Angel City while their were teenagers.

Zoe has chosen another way, playing with Tudela FC, an all-girls team that practices near her home, and with the Blue Heat, where she’ll be facing stronger, more mature players for the first time. Mario Thompson hopes those aren’t the only differences, although he said the road his youngest daughter takes will ultimately be up to her.

“My hope is she goes through college and just goes a different pathway, different journey,” Mario Thompson said. “It’s a roller-coaster ride and so for [Zoe], I think she sees that roller-coaster ride and I don’t know if it’s a rush to let me get to that. She wants to eventually be a pro, but I don’t think it’s ‘I need to get there as soon as possible.’”

“It’s Zoe, what do you want?” he added. “It’s not like you have to be here, you have to do this. It’s none of that. It’s about, ‘Hey, Zoe, this is your journey.’ We want you to enjoy it, have fun with it, be happy with it.”

She appears to be accomplishing all three of those goals. She’s also both confident and comfortable in her abilities and believes she’s already ahead of both her sisters despite the weight of expectation.

Zoe Thompson with head coach Leonardo Neveleff at the conclusion of a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team. Thompson, 14, is the younger sister of U.S. women’s soccer players Gisele and Alyssa Thompson.

But she’s also well aware of the pitfalls ahead, having seen Alyssa and Gisele occasionally stumble into them.

“Yeah, it is a lot of pressure but I feel like we just had different paths,” she said. “They didn’t really know they were going to do soccer. They didn’t know that was their sport. But I feel like that path was set for me.

“It was just like I grew faster. I kind of took the understanding of what they were doing, and then I did it a little faster.”

There are other differences as well. Gisele is a defender and Alyssa a forward, but Zoe plays in the midfield. And while it was sometimes difficult to get anything more than a giggle from Alyssa in an interview even after she turned pro, Zoe already gives complete, thoughtful answers to most questions.

Zoe’s game is also different; while Alyssa and Gisele are both exceptionally fast, Zoe relies more on her skill.

“Zoe’s more technical than her sisters at this stage,” her father said. “She’s better on the ball, she has a better understanding of the game. A lot of their game was because of speed. Hers is more thinking, hers is more of the ball on her feet.

“Technically, she’s better and understands the game at this age.”

Gisele, the sister who chauffeurs Zoe to practice in Santa Clarita, agrees. But, she adds, Zoe’s greatest strength may actually be her desire.

“She just has so many great qualities that me and Alyssa don’t have,” she said. “At her age, she wants it way more than we did. She loves soccer with a passion. Me and Alyssa didn’t love it as much as she does.”

And if that passion translates to performance, Zoe will someday join her sisters on the national team. By then she may even be in the driver’s seat.

Santa Clarita Blue Heat team owner Carlos Marroquin talks to Zoe Thompson after a training session at Valencia High.

Jamie Vardy had left Cremonese after one season with them relegated from Serie A and his time in Italy a struggle for the family in terms of finding schools and home comfort foods.

Pensive Rebekah Vardy admits the future for her family is up in the air after their return from Italy – as her husband weighs up where to play football next.

The Mirror told yesterday how Jamie Vardy had left Cremonese after one season with them relegated from Serie A and his time in Italy a struggle for the family in terms of finding schools and home comfort foods.

On their future she joked: “Is there ever a f**king plan?” Before she went on to say she did not see Jamie returning to Leicester City. Other reports suggest he could join Sheffield Wednesday or go to play in the Netherlands or even return to the Premier League.

In an interview with the Times to promote their new ITV reality series about their time in Italy, Rebekah spoke of her public persona after losing the Agatha Christie trial against Coleen Rooney.

She said: “I accept that I am very Marmite. I’ve been portrayed as a villain since I met Jamie — they called me a gold-digger and said I’d leave when his football career ended — and to an extent I’ve played up to being that villain.

“I don’t do emotions; that’s genuine. Someone once said I have a ‘resting bitch face’ and I ran with it. It gets me into trouble because my face doesn’t portray the feelings I have inside. I am not a bitch. I find it hard to show vulnerability because of my childhood [Vardy’s family were Jehovah’s Witnesses], and the church forces you to suppress how you feel.

“That cycle is hard to break. So yes, I do come across as cold, but when you look at the bigger picture there’s a reason. At the same time, I am not a victim. I will not play the victim card.”

She also says abuse from trolls and losing the court case against Coleen, leaving her with legal bills of millions of pounds, have taken their toll in the past.

Rebekah added: “There were times when I questioned the point of existing. I didn’t want to be here any more. It was a horrendous time. What got me through was the life we have together and our children. Always the kids. They are our world.”

ITV will next week profile the family’s time in Italy in three-part series The Vardys. The new ITV documentary was supposed to celebrate a great new chapter in their life.

But instead the cameras show Rebecca struggling to find accommodation and schools for their children; Olivia, six, Finley, nine, Sofia 12, Taylor 16.

It was not the Italian dream they hoped for and lasted less time than expected. Once positive is Rebekah will get Jamie at home this Summer as at 39 he is too old to make it into the England squad.

And she insists she won’t miss not being at the World Cup. She said: “It’s actually quite lonely. You go to support your husband or boyfriend but you don’t get to be near them very much. And Russia was terrifying. It was not an easy place to be.”

* The Vardys airs at 9pm on Tuesday June 2nd on ITV1 & ITVX. All three episodes will be immediately available to stream as a boxset online.

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AS captain of actor Danny Dyer’s beloved West Ham United, Jarrod Bowen was seen as the perfect match for his daughter Dani Dyer.

But May 2026 will go down in history as a devastating time for the Dyers, after Bowen captained West Ham to relegation from the Premier League – for the first time in 15 years – which has put his and Dani’s future up in the air, and has broken his father-in-law’s heart.

Just two days before the Hammers’ relegation, Jarrod suffered more devastation when he missed out on a place in England’s World Cup squad, and insiders have now told us just what this might mean for him and Dani going forward, and how ex-EastEnders star Danny is coping.

Rivals actor Danny once famously joked he was probably “more in love” with Jarrod than his own daughter was, and he has previously been spotted singing an X-rated chant about Dani alongside the West Ham faithful: “Bowen’s on fire, and he’s s****ing Dani Dyer.”

Jarrod certainly rose to the occasion in June 2023, when he netted a last-minute winner in the Europa Conference League final to secure West Ham their first major European trophy for 58 years.

A day after the historic moment, Danny told talkSPORT: “I just didn’t think I could love a man anymore.

“It’s always a weird thing because it’s your daughter, they fall in love with people you don’t usually like, but she brought home Jarrod Bowen.

“I think I love Jarrod more than anyone, more than me own wife! I’m a bit jealous of my daughter.”

Since meeting in 2021, Jarrod and former Love Island star Dani welcomed twin daughters, Summer and Star, both three, in 2023, and two years afterwards, the couple married in late May 2025.

However, one year on from their big day, the pair have a crossroads to navigate this summer.

A source told us: “Dani has enjoyed a dream romance with Jarrod so far, made even better that he is the captain of her dad Danny’s beloved West Ham United.

“But part of that dream has turned into a nightmare this season after West Ham crashed out of the Premier League.

“Jarrod is one of the best players at the club, but, as captain, he has to take a lot of responsibility for the Hammers’ downfall.

“Die-hard West Ham fan Danny is absolutely devastated about his side dropping down to the Championship, and it could have major repercussions for the Dyers.

“Jarrod could do no wrong in Danny’s mind three years ago when he effectively won West Ham the Conference League.

“But that moment is a distant memory now.”

Following West Ham’s relegation, Bowen’s future at the club is up in the air.

He is under contract at the London Stadium until 2030, but that doesn’t mean a lot in football.

West Ham could cash in on their star man, and there are fresh concerns from Hammers fans after Bowen was revealed to be a client of a brand-new football super agency – Gersh.

He has been linked to several Premier League clubs in recent months, including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester United.

A move to the north west of England would be particularly upsetting for Dani, because it would no doubt mean relocating from their Essex home, which is just down the road from her parents, Danny and wife Joanne Mas.

The source said: “West Ham’s relegation could have a huge impact on Dani, too.

“Jarrod missed out on a place in England’s World Cup squad this summer, and manager Thomas Tuchel even suggested West Ham’s poor form could have hampered Jarrod.

“He is desperate to win his place back in the England squad, with a European Championships on home soil scheduled for 2028.

“Jarrod has been heavily linked with a move elsewhere, and he is keen to keep testing himself at the very top.

“But this could be devastating for Dani, because they might have to relocate.

“Danny would also be gutted, because a West Ham with Jarrod has a much better chance of returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking than a West Ham without their star man.

“The Rivals star is desperate for Jarrod to remain at West Ham, and he has been dropping hints to Jarrod to stay and help guide his beloved Hammers back to the top flight.”

Danny recently lobbied England boss Tuchel to take Jarrod to the World Cup, telling FourFourTwo his son-in-law “will damage any team” on the pitch.

But the Football Factory star’s plea fell on deaf ears when the England squad was announced on May 22nd – two days before West Ham’s relegation on the final day of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Bowen scored in West Ham’s final game, a resounding 3-0 victory over Leeds, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Hammers up due to Tottenham’s final-day win over Everton.

Following West Ham’s last Premier League match for some time, Bowen was asked about his future, saying in his post-match interview: “I’m under contract here. I’ve been here six-and-a-half years. I’ve had some really high moments, and this is a low moment that will outweigh everything.

“There’s going to be rumours, there’s going to be talk. Ultimately, what I see is getting this club back in the Premier League because that is where it deserves to be.”

A few days ago, he took to Instagram to write a lengthy apology to the West Ham faithful.

Bowen admitted winning the Conference League was the “best night” of his career, but being relegated with West Ham was his “worst”.

While the emotional statement may have provided some solace for die-hard Hammers fans, there was a notable omission.

He didn’t pledge his future to the club, signing off by saying: “One thing I know about this club is that it has the desire and fight to bounce back from this. This club belongs in the Premier League and deserves to be back there as soon as possible.”

But will this desire and fight to return to the top flight happen without their leader, Bowen?

Danny has previously said on his and Dani’s Sorted With the Dyers podcast that West Ham is his “one true love” and he loves the football club “more than anything else on this planet”.

He will be fiercely hoping his son-in-law can lead West Ham to further glory in the future, and while Dani no doubt wants this, too, remaining in Essex is one of her top priorities.

Relocating from Essex might also make it difficult for Dani to shoot more episodes of her and dad Danny’s popular Sky TV show The Dyers’ Caravan Park, which is filmed in Kent.

A source added: “One compromise for Jarrod could be a move to Tottenham, who he has been linked to for years.

“That would be OK for Dani, because Jarrod would still be playing for a London team.

“But it would leave a sour taste in Danny’s mouth, considering Spurs were the team that remained in the Premier League at West Ham’s expense.

“Jarrod has a massive decision on his hands this summer, which will have a huge impact on him on and off the field.” 

With families growing faster than bedroom numbers, an intriguing trends in staycations sees friends meet in the middle with their families instead of having each other to stay

“I’d love to get together, but we just have no room for you all.” Sound familiar? It’s certainly true for me. And I’m by no means alone. As longtime friends grow their families, leading to limited space for guests in their own homes, a rising staycation trend is emerging that sees both parties meet in the middle at a holiday rental. Dubbed “nesting holidays”, the idea is simple. No space? No problem. Families avoid the squeeze by booking somewhere big enough for everyone at an equidistance from both homes.

I’m a mum to two girls, and I came across the idea of a nesting holiday by chance when trying to book in my best friend Emily to stay with us. She’d recently had twins, adding to her brood to take her tally up to three children. Along with her husband Mike, they were a family of five – too many for our small spare room. And with them in the middle of a house renovation, there was no room at the inn for our family of four there either.

Just what were a pair of Millennial mums to do? “Why don’t we meet in the middle?” I offered. “Somewhere wipe clean…” And, reader, I found the perfect place. Browsing Sykes Cottages, I came across Bears Court in Little Rissington in the Cotswolds. On first glance, I’ll admit looks a bit soulless. A plant wouldn’t go amiss…

It’s a newly built complex of holiday houses, each one identical to the next. There’s nothing traditionally “Cotswolds” about them. But – and it’s a BIG but – boy oh boy is there method in their madness. Where Bears Court lacked in country charm it made up for it in spades with space and amenities. And for parents looking for a wipe-clean “nesting holiday” they are nigh on perfect.

Set overlooking the stunning Cotswold countryside, albeit with fences too high to see any of it from the garden, they are slap bang in the middle of the action. It’s close enough to all the bustle of local villages, like Stow-on-the-Wold, for easy exploration, but remote enough for complete and utter peace. Five minutes in the car will take you into Bouton-on-the-Water to paddle in the low river, and feast on local ice cream.

15 minutes in the car will take you to The Plough Inn at Ford, a brilliant pub with an even more brilliant pub garden with kids menu and adventure playground. And right out of the front door are public footpaths to take you through the fields and meadows that surround the complex. Within seconds you are in nature. The Cotswolds Way is yours for the taking if you fancy a scenic hike.

The house itself (we had number five Bears Court) is minimal to say the least, but has everything you need for a relaxing weekend away as a group: big table, large lounge area, four bedrooms, multiple toilets, a ping pong table, dart board and – everyone’s highlight – a hot tub in the yard. The cavernous downstairs area was big enough for all five children to run around in, and the yard area was nice and secure with a bolted gate. There was nothing for the children to break or destroy, yet everything we needed from plentiful towels and a washing machine, to a fully equipped kitchen and picnic-style bench outside.

“Dare I say it, I feel relaxed,” said Emily as we sat in the sun with a cold beer and had our first face-to-face conversation in months. I couldn’t help but agree. Wipe clean and wonderful. As two tired parents in need of a natter, we couldn’t have asked for more.

*Seven nights at Bears Court starts from £1,722.

Mogadishu, Somalia- Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage period.

It is the second major holiday in the Islamic calendar after Eid al-Fitr, which follows the holy month of Ramadan.

In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, families and communities gathered across the city on Wednesday to celebrate the occasion.

The holiday is typically marked by communal prayers in the morning, family visits, festive meals and outings for children.

Popular locations for the city’s residents include Lido Beach, the Darus Salam Zoo, and Maka al-Mukarama Road, the central business district.

More broadly, Mogadishu has been tentatively emerging from the waves of violence that have rocked the city over recent decades.

Since 2006, the government has been battling al-Shabab, a local affiliate of al-Qaeda, for control of the country – a conflict that has made Mogadishu one of the world’s most dangerous capitals.

But improving security has led to a surge of investment in the city, alongside the emergence of new cafes, restaurants and other recreational spaces.

At an Eid speech at the Islamic Solidarity Mosque, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said, “We see the change that has happened in Mogadishu’s security,” and called on the public to protect the city’s peace. Ali Jimale Mosque, the country’s largest, usually draws the biggest crowds and serves as a gathering place for the city’s residents.

Central to Eid al-Adha is the ritual sacrifice of livestock, commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son before God provided a ram in his place.

The meat is traditionally shared among relatives, neighbours and people in need, reflecting the festival’s emphasis on charity, community and devotion.

Costs for livestock have soared in recent months in Somalia due to failed rains and drought, with a United Nations hunger monitor warning of famine risk in parts of the country.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has said 6.5 million people in Somalia are facing “high levels of acute food insecurity”, a crisis worsened by the country’s ongoing armed fighting and a political standoff that has persisted since the president’s term expired on May 15.

A funeral has been held for Mohammed Odeh, believed to be the leader of Hamas’s military wing, who Israel said was killed in a strike on a busy area in Gaza City on Tuesday. Odeh’s family has reportedly confirmed his death, despite no official comment from Hamas.

Attention screenwriters, producers and agents: The Jonah Jeovany Vasquez story continues this weekend in Clovis, and it’s giving off Disney-like vibes.

The senior at Cathedral High is running in the 1,600 at the CIF state track and field championships on Friday at Buchanan High. He had never stepped on a “squishy” surface, otherwise known as a track, before this season.

“I never even knew what a track felt like,” he said. ”Everything was new to me.”

For three years, he attended Alliance Leichtman-Levine, a small Los Angeles charter school near his home in South Los Angeles. He ran cross country on his own with little coaching.

“They would hire a random coach off the street and we’d play flag football,” he said.

His training was jogging on a treadmill for two miles and maybe getting eight to 10 miles a week.

He finished third at the 2024 City Section Division V finals in 16:48 as the only representative from his school. In the state final, he finished 76th in Division V with a time of 16:58.60. That experience gave Vasquez motivation.

“Seeing so many people pass me bothered me,” he said. “I promised myself I was going to train hard so it wouldn’t happen again. I wanted to prove to myself I could run with the top guys.”

Jonah Jeovany Vasquez of Cathedral is on the podium after finishing second in the Division 3 1,600 at Moorpark.

(Cathedral)

He transferred to Cathedral last May, and coach Martin Farfan aggressively trained him to make up for lost time. Vasquez ran 15:35 on the state championship course in Fresno. But two weeks before the state championships, he was struck by an E-bike during a 10-mile workout running along the L.A. River. He went flying and had a gash on his knee.

“It was traumatic. I was at the peak of my power. I was super fit and faster than I had ever been,” he said.

He iced the knee and stopped training. He still ran in the CIF prelims. “I had no fitness,” he said. “I was like a deer in the headlights.”

Farfan started calling coaches telling them he had a talented runner but the recruiters were unimpressed. They took to the internet and couldn’t find a single track time for Vasquez. Farfan had a ringer about to try track for the first time.

Two weeks ago at the Southern Section divisional championships, he finished second in the Division 3 final in a personal-best 4:08.44.

Vasquez is healthy and eager to be the one passing runners with his late kick on Friday and Saturday night. He also has a scholarship waiting for him at Long Beach State.

“I’ve always had natural endurance,” he said. “I’ve been active since I was little. I honestly believe when I’m in college, I’m going to do some great things. I have that spark in me not every athlete has. I have the drive to be the best I can possibly be. Maybe not by my freshman year, but I will develop. I will not stop until reaching my goal. It’s all I want. When I sleep or do activities with my family, all I think about is running.”

His father immigrated from Nicaragua. His mother has family in Guatemala. They’ve supported Vasquez as running became his passion.

“I honestly believe I have a 4:04 or 4:05 in me,” he said.

Never doubt what can happen when a teenager finds something they love and devotes time and energy to achieving their dreams.