Reclaiming a playful way of life can help overcome burnout and foster better connections, creativity, and moments of joy. The author shares her own experience and research on the power of play in adulthood, and Eliano's message in a bottle from a child reflecting the play's impact on their life.
makes the case that humans are socialized away from play as they enter adulthood but that approaching life in a playful manner with fluidity, curiosity and aliveness can help you live a better life with deeper connections and more moments of joyThe author collects intimate stories, research and practices to help promote what she says is a playful way of life, and how it contrasts against a “pressured way” of living.
Somewhere between childhood and the corner office, a lot of us are taught that play is something that you outgrow. But what if that trade-off is actually draining us and leaving us feeling stuck? That's the topic of a new book called Author Piera Gelardi argues that reclaiming a sense of curiosity, fluidity and aliveness isn't just fun. It's a path to deeper connection, stronger creativity and even a way to move through hard things like grief.
Gelardi spoke with LAist’s Austin Cross onI had the privilege of growing up in a really playful family, so I got to see what playfulness looked like in adulthood as my parents built businesses, grew their family, navigated grief and illness, and life-lifeing, and I also had really playful grandparents. So playfulness was something that was really woven into my life from a young age.
As a grade-schooler, our family's favorite activity was doing business brainstorms around the kitchen table, but they would be really wild, really absurd. So we would be saying,"Oh, let's start a kids' karaoke club," and then my dad would say,"Ooh ooh, we can call it kidio-ke.
"Moving through my life, I really brought that into building my own business. I brought it into my personal life. And during the pandemic, I was in this big period of transition where I was leaving my company that I'd been at for 15 years. I was navigating the identity transformation of becoming a mom.
I was feeling really stuck. What I ended up doing was leading these play workshops for adults throughout the pandemic on Zoom. It was the most aligned and alive thing I've ever done. People were telling me,"This is helping me with my anxiety, this is helping me with my depression, this is helping me connect to my mom who's on another continent.
" I just became fascinated by why that was, and I did so much research about the power of play in adulthood, and I realized that I was creating this space that was giving adults permission to play. I asked the universe for a sign, and I went for this walk, and first I saw a playground, but it looked like a medieval torture device, and so I decided,"Sorry, universe, not my sign.
" I walked down to the river's edge, and I heard a clinking noise, and I looked down at my feet, and there was a message in a bottle, and I fished it out of the river. I couldn't believe it. It was a message from this 7-year-old, Eliano, and he talked about his love of play. If ever there was one.
His mom's email was on the letter, so I emailed her, and actually, this message in a bottle was a project they did during the pandemic to connect with people through play at a time when we were all so isolated.
"I play a lot of music with my friends. We're all kind of hobbyist, amateur level. What we like to do is we project a guitar tab onto a wall or put it up on the TV so we can all follow along together. Our sessions tend to be fairly unserious and loose and goofy, and we just kinda have a lot of fun toughing our way through different songs, and it's a blast.
""Growing up, it was all about getting out into nature. I'm actually taking my camper van — I've got the refrigerator plugged in, picking up some groceries, and then I'm gonna go rock scrambling. I just turned 68, but you know what? I've still got it.
All it takes for me is taking those beginner eyes out in nature to reignite the joy and the purpose and the reason in life, just getting away from the day to day.
"I think we're in a play recession. As we grow up, we get this messaging that ... play is frivolous, that it's unserious, that it's the opposite of work.
"As we grow up, we get this messaging that ... play is frivolous, that it's unserious, that it's the opposite of work. " We start to pack away those playful qualities, and what that does to us in adulthood is that it makes us less resilient, it makes us less connected, it makes us less joyful. We become play deprived. It's at the root, I think, of a lot of burnout.
I was sitting in meetings. I didn't ask a question because I didn't want to be seen as not knowing. I didn't float big ideas because I didn't want to look unrealistic. I didn't make a joke because I didn't want to seem like a joker.
And as I did that, I started to lose intrinsic motivation. I started to lose the connection to the people around me, and I started to lose the joy in the day-to-day. So it wasn't until I realized that I was overworked and underplayed that I started to weave play back into my day-to-day, that I saw the power of those qualities in my work and in my life. What made you lose track of time?
What were you so passionate about? And then what might be an adult version of that? For me, it was beachcombing as a child, and now I walk around New York City doing wonder wanders with those beginner's eyes looking for delight. A massive marine heatwave off our coast has been with us a year and shows no signs of letting up.
Scientists have been monitoring the unusually high ocean temperatures since last May. It’s likely a sign of how human-caused climate change — driven by the pollution we’ve pumped into our atmosphere — is making natural cycles more extreme, experts say. El Niño is likely to hit our region in the coming months, though it remains to be seen how strong it could be.
It can mean very rainy winters for Southern California. California has had a spate of abnormally large marine heatwaves in the past 12 years.
Typically, they’ve started far offshore in the spring, reached our coast by the fall, then receded by late winter,“The only time you ever see that would be during an El Niño, but we're not in El Niño yet,” said Andrew Leising, an oceanographer with NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. El Niño is likely to hit our region in the coming months, though it remains to be seen how strong it could be.
El Niño is a natural global climate pattern that occurs every three to seven years, when trade winds — the prevailing east-to-west winds that circle the Earth near the equator — weaken, and waters in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific warm up. El Niño is likely to emerge soon and continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2026-27 .
AnIt’s likely a sign of how human-caused climate change — driven by the pollution we’ve pumped into our atmosphere — is making natural cycles more extreme, experts say.
"Approximately 30% to 45% of the affected ocean area is experiencing conditions that are at least six times more likely due to human-caused warming," according to A NOAA expert said the evidence of climate change's effects on ocean temperatures has been growing since 2014. “ How much that is, whether there's feedback with the atmosphere, that's what's really difficult to quantify just because it's never one thing acting on its own," said Elliott Hazen, an NOAA ecologist.
“It's very possible that the long-term change in the atmosphere is what's flipped the switch between fewer and now more heatwaves,” he said. 2014 was a major turning point. That’s when a massive marine heatwave dubbed “The Blob” started, persisting until mid-2016. It caused harmful algae blooms and So far this marine heatwave’s effects aren’t as widespread as The Blob’s. But the current pattern is echoing what led to that devastating event.
An uptick in dead and emaciated seabirds along our coast is one possible sign. Scientists are increasingly pointing to the deaths as related to the heatwave. Why? As birds’ typical food sources move into deeper, cooler waters where birds can’t reach, the birdsFirst, do not approach the animal — maintain a safe distance.
To report sick, injured or abandoned seals or sea lions, call the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles hotline 39-WHALE . The warm waters are unlikely to let up anytime soon with El Niño on the horizon. For us on land in Southern California, that could mean less June gloom, a hotter, humid summer and a dangerously wet winter.
For animals underwater, such as stingrays and juvenile white sharks, those warmer temperatures can be something of a boon — experts are predicting A round stingray, the most common type of stingray living along our shore and the most likely to sting you.that support that life, such heating can be devastating. Just like humans, living in high temperatures for a prolonged period can be deadly for marine plants and animals.
“We might just roll from one thing into the next, and that's really where some of the biggest impacts lie, is that cumulative stress on the animals,” Leising said. That means “less nutrients, and just less total productivity,” Leising said.
“So there's just not as much stuff at the bottom of the food web to feed everything else. ” There’s still a lot unknown about these escalating marine heatwaves, but cuts to NOAA under the Trump administration could jeopardize ongoing research.
“That kind of work is critical to understand how to respond,” Hazen said, “because the longer we take to respond, the more species end up dying, and the more economic consequences too. ”Long in L.A.
's shadow, boosters of the city of Ontario in the Inland Empire want you to know it's got lots to offer. A new baseball stadium, and a minor league team, the Ontario Tower Buzzers, are just a few of the things to experience there. The opening of ONT Field for the Ontario Tower Buzzers minor league team has begun attracting people from in — and outside Ontario. LAist's put together a list of things to do.
's candy making videos have gone so viral on Tik Tok that you need a ticket to watch it in person. For a cultural fix, go toin Ontario and other Inland Empire communities. ONT Field is one of several new entertainment and sports options for residents and visitors.
“The Greater Ontario region is truly the ultimate point A,” said Kelsie Woodward, director of marketing and communications for the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Inland Empire city, 40 miles east of DTLA, has got a new, shiny $100 million minor league baseball stadium, and its own team, the Ontario Tower Buzzers.
“The stadium is gorgeous… it's probably one of the nicest minor league stadiums that I've been in,” said Jonathan Campos, President of the Ontario Mountainview Little League, who has visited half a dozen minor league stadiums. — Jonathan Campos, president of the Ontario Mountainview Little League But even there it's hard to get out of L.A.
's shadow. The Ontario Tower Buzzers are the Single-A affiliate of the most talked about team in Major League Baseball — the L.A. Dodgers. And players on the team high-five each other after a victory while Randy Newman’s “I love L.A.
” plays in the background. I won’t even venture into whether Ontario’s got some kill your father, marry your mother issues it’s resolving outside the therapist’s couch. Ontario officials hope the new stadium brings more visitors to the city, and are on a mission to prove its value as a destination. They point to a whole slew of things to do, both new attractions and beloved long-time offerings..
The home of the Ontario Tower Buzzers, the Dodgers’ single-A affiliate. The team’s roster includes recent high school and college graduates, playing in a stadium with a family friendly wiffle ball park, grassy outfield berm, and playground.opened in 2008 and hosts events from Los Tucanes de Tijuana to Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live. As well as professional sports such as the Ontario Reign hockey team, the Ontario Fury soccer team, and the Agua Caliente Clippers of the Ontario basketball D-League..
California’s largest outlet mall, it’s been Ontario’s big shopping attraction for three decades. Take your pick from more than 200 stores that sell brand name apparel jewelry, sporting goods, and more.opened in 1933, before all the above were even a thing. The shop sells over 200 varieties of candies made on the premises.
The candy making process has gone so viral on Tik Tok that you need a ticket to watch it in person.gives people the thrill of free-fall in a vertical wind tunnel without having to jump out of an actual plane. Arts Festival on October 17If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Six people died in California immigration detention centers over the past year as the crowded sites struggled to provide basic medical care, according to a new state investigation detailing conditions inside the facilities. The 175-page report released Friday offers the most detailed look to date inside the detention centers that are often in remote areas of the state and hard to access for attorneys, families, and advocates.
It documents the highest death toll since the state began conducting inspections of the centers seven years ago. In 2024, there were zero deaths in California detention centers, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association's list of Immigration and Customs Enforcement press releases tracking them, and the Attorney General’s office. In California, four of the deaths occurred at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County.
Two other people died at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility near the U.S.-Mexico border in Calexico. In all four of the Adelanto cases, families of the deceased allege the facility failed to provide adequate medical care, the report states.
Eighteen people have died in facilities this year across the country, around one person a week Six people died in California immigration detention centers over the past year as the crowded sites struggled to provide basic medical care, The 175-page report released Friday offers the most detailed look to date inside the detention centers that are often in remote areas of the state and hard to access for attorneys, families, and advocates. It documents the highest death toll since the state began conducting inspections of the centers seven years ago.
In 2024, there were zero deaths in California detention centers, according toEighteen people have died in facilities this year across the country, around one person a week. Since the start of the Trump administration, 48 people have died in detention. A study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that In California, four of the deaths occurred at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County.
Two other people died at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility near the U.S.-Mexico border in Calexico. In all four of the Adelanto cases, families of the deceased allege the facility failed to provide adequate medical care, the report states.in response to concerns about conditions. Investigators and medical experts did two-day site visits at each facility and interviewed 194 people from more than 120 countries.operating in California in the early months of the second Trump administration.
This year, state investigators drilled in on how the dramatic surge in detainee populations strained conditions and access to medical care at all of the facilities now operating across California. Some detainees described only having beans and bread to eat, which gave them diarrhea, and extremely cold temperatures that caused them to try to turn their socks into extra arm sleeves. At one facility, investigators documented not enough toilets to serve the population, with detainees reporting dirty bathrooms.
Several detainees cried as they relayed the conditions of their confinement in California City to state investigators. Most of the people detained have not been convicted of any crime.
“This is cruel, inhumane, and unacceptable,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, adding that his office “worked tirelessly to shine a light” on the conditions. State investigators wrote that the detention centers had not increased medical staffing to match the dramatic rise in the number of detainees. At a new detention center that opened in a former state prison in California City last year, investigators described “crisis-level” medical staffing that contributed to delays in care.
At the time, the center had only one physician for nearly 1,000 detainees. All of the detention centers are managed by private companies under contracts with the federal government. State investigators wrote that the companies and the federal agency are failing to meet their own standards of care. CalMatters reached out to ICE and the three private prison companies that operate facilities in California.
A spokesperson for MTC, which operates the site in Imperial County, said the company takes the report seriously and is conducting a review of its findings.
"Our focus is on the people in our care, the Imperial-specific findings, and the continued work of providing safe, humane, and standards-compliant care," said MTC spokesperson Emily Lawhead. Christopher V. Ferreira, a spokesperson for the private prison company GEO Group, in a written statement said detainees have access to"around the clock" medical care and other services.
"In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE, including by on-site agency personnel, and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance with ICE’s detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services ICE detainees receive," he said. Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for the private prison company CoreCivic, said"all our immigration facilities where we provide healthcare adhere to federal detention standards, including staffing.
"State investigators also described in their report how the Trump administration rolled back federal protections for detainees. Since January 2025, the federal government has defunded legal programs to inform people of their rights, shut down Department of Homeland Security civil rights oversight offices, and stopped protections for transgender detainees, the report states. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped including congressionally mandated data on transgender people in its biweekly statistical reports in February 2025, the report says.
The agency also removed from its website a policy memo that committed the agency to creating a safe environment for transgender people. Loba, a transgender woman from El Salvador who was detained at California City for six months in 2025, told CalMatters she experienced traumatizing sexual harassment and intimidation from guards while being housed in the male dorms.
She asked CalMatters to only identify her by her first name because she fears retaliation for speaking about the conditions and for her safety in her home country. The situation was so stressful, she said, that she finally decided to sign her voluntary departure paperwork to go back home to El Salvador.
“That is absolutely the reason,” she said. “I have been fighting my immigration case for two years, and then after not being around my community and the lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community inside detention centers, and then being a victim of harassment, it was really intimidating. It was very traumatizing. ”During one incident at Adelanto, a person reported to state inspectors that guards deployed pepper spray in a confined room holding about 50 people.
At the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, investigators flagged concerns about strip-searching. The report states Otay Mesa is the only facility in California that has a policy of strip-searching detainees after every visit they have with someone who is not a lawyer. Women described the searches as “humiliating” and “denigrating” after being searched in front of male officers, sometimes even while menstruating. Both males and females described feeling “violated” by the practice.
One person told inspectors they had stopped visiting their family altogether to avoid the searches. At the time of the investigators’ visits, 6,028 people were held in immigration detention in California. That was up 162% from the 2,300 held during inspections in 2023. California is also home to two of the seven largest facilities nationwide.
Detainees in California were mostly from Mexico, India, Guatemala, El Salvador, China, Russia, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, and Honduras. California Democrats during both of Trump’s terms have adopted policies that were meant to block the detention centers from operating. In 2019, California tried to ban private for-profit detention centers from operating in the state, but GEO Group successfully sued to stop it.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the ban violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by preventing the federal government from conducting immigration enforcement. ICE opened two detention centers in California over the past year, first the one in California City and then one in McFarland called Central Valley Annex. It began receiving detainees in April 2026 while the report was being finalized, but the state says it will begin monitoring that detention center as well.
Both of the sites were previously used to hold state prison inmates under contracts with California’s corrections system. This year California Democrats are carrying a range of bills to push back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. One by Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat,highlighting the city’s “top 100 problem rental properties,” ranked by the number of housing violation complaints they’ve received since 2014.
The top of the list includes some buildings where tenants have mounted significant organizing campaigns against evictions and rent increases:in Sawtelle, where a judge ruled the landlord couldn't use the Ellis Act to evict more than 100 remaining tenants, came in second. It had 166 housing violation cases, according to the City Controller’s Office. The full searchable dataset includes all cases of illegal evictions, illegal rent increases, harassment and more.
It includes more than 115,000 violations citywide and was compiled based on Los Angeles Housing Department It also notes building code citation violations and recent ownership history. L.A. renters can use the database to search for reported housing violations at their own address. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said until now, it’s been difficult for the public to search for housing violation history by address. He said few tenant complaints of harassment and illegal eviction result in real enforcement.
For example, out of more than 23,000 tenant harassment complaints submitted to the city, only one landlord has faced criminal charges, according to the Controller's Office. Mejia said he hopes the new database “will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the city to act. ”
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