(W) Pablo Fajardo (A) Damien Roudeau Oil waste was everywhere - on the roads, in the rivers where they fished, and in the water that they used for bathing, cooking, and washing. Children became sick and died, cases of stomach cancer skyrocketed, and women miscarried or gave birth to children with congenital disorders. The American oil company Texaco extracted crude out of the ground in Amazonian Ecuador - and left behind millions of gallons of spilled oil and more than eighteen million gallons of toxic waste. Ecuadorian lawyer and activist Pablo Fajardo gives his first-hand account of Texaco's involvement in the Amazon, as well as the ensuing legal battles between the oil company, the Ecuadorian government, and the region's inhabitants. Crude brings to light one of the least well-known but most important cases of environmental and racial injustice of our time.

(W) Hannah Chute (A) Espe Bastien is eight years old, and his mother is ill. She often has what his father and grandparents call "episodes." She screams and fights, scratches and spits, and has to be carted away to specialized clinics for frequent treatments. Based on the creator's own childhood experiences, The Parakeet is the story of a boy whose only refuge from life's harsh realities lies in his imagination. In his eyes, we see the confusion and heartache he feels as he watches his mother's illness worsen and the treatments fail. Through his eyes, we see how mental illness can both tear families apart and reaffirm the bonds of love.