Part 3: The Band Bus Quarantine

This episode contains references to mental health challenges, including eating disorders.Joanna Lopez, the high school senior we met in our first episode of Odessa, has turned inward: staying in her bedroom, ghosting friends and avoiding band practice. But playing with the marchi ...  Show more

In 1988, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, was so good that it became the inspiration for a book, movie and, eventually, the television series “Friday Night Lights.” And in the decades since, as West Texas has weathered the unsettling undulations of the oil industry, ...  Show more

Odessa is a four-part series. All episodes of the show released so far are available here. 
Last fall, as Odessa High School brought some students back to campus ...

This episode contains strong language.

Infected with the coronavirus and separated from their peers in special dorms, some college students have taken to sharing their quarantine experiences on TikTok.

In some videos posted to the social media app, food is ...

In Florida and Virginia, Governors Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin are bolstering the right of parents to defy school mask mandates. While some parents are celebrating, others are filing lawsuits opposing the policies that make mask-wearing in schools optional. There are a lot of ...  Show more

In Part 3 of our series on schools and gun violence, audio producer Sabby Robinson chronicles the tragic outcome of Huguenot High School’s graduation – which was supposed to mark a moment of cathartic celebration for the school but ended in gunfire.

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