LOS ANGELES _ Walk north on Riverside Drive on the edge of Silver Lake as cars barrel by in steady succession.
Pass the elementary school and follow the steel fence, bent and broken. There may still be silk flowers tied to its frame. Or a banner bearing the photo of a young woman's face.
Keep going.
Turn at the stoplight and head up the onramp, the one that only locals know. The highway will appear. On the right are pine trees, dirt, discarded bottles, bits of trash. At the top of the embankment rests a small wooden cross.
Bree'Anna Guzman's bruised body was found here.
And this is the path her mother takes on anniversaries she wants people to remember: the day Bree'Anna was born. The day she went missing 22 years later. The day police told a mother that the dead girl in the brush was hers.
It is not a joyful trek, but Darlene Guzman has found it can be peaceful.
After years of raging at the world, blaming herself, withering inside _ a deliberate, public walk feels honest and loud and productive.
When your daughter is killed, you've got to find ways to survive.
