Magazine Story: On-the-Ground Reporting

In 2008 and 2009, California’s San Joaquin Valley faced one of the worst droughts in the region’s history. This is a look at how the drought effected a single town.

Welcome to Mendota, California, which, because of the drought had a 40% unemployment rate during the peak of the growing season. The city and its residents were at the epicenter of a complex and debilitating clash of the lack of rain, environmental concerns, and fragmented and uncertain policy-makers. Michael independently researched and reported this story, which documents the town and its residents during this complicated period.