At the beginning of the year, I took a trip to Delano, California, to begin reporting on my series about second generation immigrants. This agriculture-based community seemed desolate and empty in the winter months, but now I’m back. It’s June, the sky is a soaring blue and the fields are plush with green.

It’s still amazing to me that a place so completely different from Los Angeles can exist a mere two-hour drive away. On the other side of the Angeles National Forest, the land flattens into an endless expanse of farmland. The radio stations change from Hip-Hop and Indie music to County melodies, Spanish love songs, and Christian rock. Take a turn off the 99, and Delano exists; a hamlet city enveloped by combed rows of green. The north side of town is little more than a freeway stop, with a small K-Mart, a scattering of fast food restaurants and a couple of cheap hotels. On the other side, a few blocks south, is a hospital and a converted bungalow that serves as a community center. But in between, dotted casually alongside the fields where farm workers labor each day under the hot sun, are five public high schools.

These large, gleaming buildings seem out of place in the small-town setting. From my very first visit here, last summer, I was struck by the thought that these schools are somewhat of a means without an end. After all, the dominance of the farm working industry here, coupled with the lack of redevelopment and an unemployment rate double the state average, doesn’t leave much room for career options. The nearest urban center is 32 miles away, and the bus only stops in Delano twice a day: on its way out, and on its way back in. There is no cinema, bowling alley or shopping mall in Delano. Just endless fields and a donut shop where the kids hang out after school.

I watch the sun setting over the vineyards, reds and purples rising in streaks across the skyline. Tomorrow will be a tiring day. I will be heading out to the labor camps, camera and radio kit in tow. The cherry pickers are out in the orchards, some of them sleeping among the trees to save money and time. Quotas have been getting larger over the past year as the farmers try to balance a tough economy by squeezing as much as they can from the labor force. Now the older farm workers are being replaced by younger hands who can work faster and longer. It’s a dangerous game. Last year, nine farm laborers died in the fields from heat stroke, including a 17-year-old girl.

The sky dips into a darker shade of blue, contrasting sharply with the fields and making the green seem fresher and more potent. It is a warm night in Delano.

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