Zócalo Public Square: Recent Episodes
Zócalo Public Square
With the largest population of public school students in the country, and an even larger workforce, California has a lot riding on educating its future workers. Pressed by economic and technological shifts and facing enrollment declines, how will the state think outside the box—employing non-traditional learning approaches to remain competitive? Will this mean reimagining the state’s mission to provide quality public higher education, or devising new ways to leverage “cradle-to-career” data to drive student and worker success? Will AI be student, teacher, or aide in our classrooms? And how will regions like the Inland Empire forge strong career pathways for future workers who want to join booming healthcare, manufacturing, and green technology sectors? Health workforce manager Vicky Bocanegra, higher education and workforce policy leader Su Jin Jez, and Growing Inland Achievement president and CEO Ashish Vaidya discuss how best to prepare California’s students for the big, bright world ahead. Moderated by Adam Echelman (Higher Education and Workforce Reporter, CalMatters)Co-presented by Zócalo Public Square and Inland Empire Community Foundation, in partnership with California Humanities, with generous support from The James Irvine Foundation. This program is part of Zócalo's series “What Connects California?,” marking the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood.
Climate debates are going nowhere. Highly ideological, they end in gridlock more often than solutions. And younger generations, long worried about living on a warming planet, are moving from anxiety to frustration, feeling like they’re left with all the problems but no decision-making power. The world needs a new approach. What new climate narratives, and which media messengers, will bring us together to effect progress across politics, state lines, national borders, and vast oceans? Featured guests:Carlos Curbelo (Former Florida U.S. Representative) Heela Rasool-Ayub (Director, Planetary Politics at New America) Kate Yoder (Senior Staff Writer, Grist)Moderated by Uwe Jean Heuser (Journalist and 2026 Thomas Mann Fellow) This program is co-presented by Thomas Mann House and Zócalo Public Square, in partnership with ASU Global Futures Laboratory and Palisadian-Post. Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs, interviews and essays.
The 2026 Zócalo Book and Poetry Prizes are co-presented with The Jar, and generously sponsored by Tim Disney.Americans love building walls, and not just on our international borders. Our houses are bigger and more fortress-like than ever before. We drive cars and trucks designed like mobile suits of armor. We consume media that reflects our point of view back to us, closing off dissenting voices. What are these walls doing to our country, our communities, and our minds? Can we stop building them, or even break them? And what might we put in their place?Johns Hopkins University anthropologist Anand Pandian, winner of the 2026 Zócalo Book Prize for Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life, and How to Take Them Down, visits Zócalo to share what he learned from talking to people across the country about what divides us and how we come together.Featuring:Anand Pandian, anthropologist and author of Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life, and How to Take Them DownMike Madrid, political strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln ProjectPoetry reading by Deborah Ager, winner of the 2026 Zócalo Poetry PrizeTimestamps: 00:00 - Introductions 02:37 - Poetry reading by Deborah Ager08:23 - Lecture by Anand Pandian 23:57 - Conversation with Anand Pandian and Mike Madrid
As an economic powerhouse, California charges forward. The benefits, though, are distributed and felt unequally, especially in places like the Central Valley. Here, thousands of farmworkers feed the nation while facing food insecurity themselves, rural communities struggle to access adequate health care, the housing market is in an affordability crisis, and neighborhood inequality persists. But the region is changing: with steady population growth, reformed labor union legislation, the promise of California High-Speed Rail, and burgeoning arts and culture scenes. And it’s shifting California power dynamics with it, away from the coastal cities and into the Valley’s major cities like Fresno, Bakersfield, Merced, and Stockton.How are leaders in Fresno harnessing these changes to transform their region for the better? And what does it mean for the Central Valley and for California?Featured guests: Danielle Bergstrom (Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Fresnoland) Betsy McGovern-Garcia (Vice President, Self-Help Enterprises) Joe Prado (Director, Fresno County Department of Public Health) Gurdeep Shergill (Radio Host, “Shaan Punjab Di” and City of Fresno Planning Commissioner)This program is co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, Fresnoland, and Arte Américas, with generous support from The James B. McClatchy Foundation, Central Valley Community Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation, with media partner KVPR.This program is part of Zócalo's series “What Connects California?,” marking the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood.
: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m000c1FCDdY This is the fourth and final program in “What Can Become of Us?”, a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences.Timestamps:00:00 - Intros03:00 - Panel: Tomás Jiménez, Ahmed Badr, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Janina Jeff Ringo Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
Museums tell America’s story. Exhibit by exhibit, they acquire, study, preserve, and interpret art and artifacts for the public, offering proof to bolster thoughtful interpretations of our national truths. But they haven’t always done so freely. What can museums do when the state imposes revisionist history on them? Can curation be a form of self-censorship? Is censorship ever good? And what have museums done to protect their freedom of expression and the separation between art and state? Featured guests: Devon Akmon (Director, Michigan State University Museum and Chair of the Board, American Alliance of Museums)Ann Burroughs (President and CEO, Japanese American National Museum) Hamza Walker (Director, The Brick and Co-Curator, MONUMENTS) Moderated by Elizabeth Larison (Director, Arts and Culture Advocacy Program, National Coalition Against Censorship) This program is co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, Japanese American National Museum (JANM), and The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs, interviews and essays.
Government team, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU) This program is co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, LA Local, and the ASU Mechanics of Democracy Lab. Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs, interviews and essays.
Salt, as part of Zócalo’s series “What Connects California?,” marking the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood.
Timestamps: 00:00 - Intros 04:23 - Panel: Robeson Taj Frazier, Tara DeVeaux, Detavio FrazierVisit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
A panel featuring Stanford IAJS faculty co-director Brian Lowery, James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and Jewish cuisine expert Joan Nathan, community organizer and immigration activist Power Malu, and food studies scholar Krishnendu Ray explores how what we eat, and where it’s from, shape our sense of identity.This program is inspired by "Speak Sing Shout: We, Too, Sing America" (2025) by Pakistani American artist Sarah K. Khan. The piece is commissioned by Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies, and will be on view at BRIC in Brooklyn from October 7 to December 23, 2025.Visit Zócalo's Youtube channel to watch a performance by artist Sarah K. Khan: https://youtube.com/live/ztRolqNFXoQ This is the third program in “What Can Become of Us?”, a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences. Timestamps:00:00 - Intros04:17 - Panel: Brian Lowery, Power Malu, Joan Nathan, Krishnendu Ray Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
Zócalo Public Square presents two back-to-back panels moderated by Zócalo’s California columnist Joe Mathews to ask: How exceptional do we want California to be? The first panel features expert voices in fields shaping California’s identity: business advocate and public affairs specialist Brooke Armour Spiegel, Caltech astrophysicist Konstantin Batygin, and immigrant rights advocate Yliana Johansen-Méndez.The second panel features youth leaders who are inheriting the state: trans rights organizer, budget advocacy and policy expert Michaé De La Cuadra, community organizer and housing justice advocate Aidan Lin-Tostado, and Tongva, Chumash, and Xicano artist and environmental advocate Isaac Michael Ybarra.This program is presented with generous support from Latino Community Foundation, the Karsh Family Foundation, and Snap Foundation.Timestamps:00:00:00 - Intros00:03:18 - Panel 1 (Expert Voices): Brooke Armour Spiegel, Konstantin Batygin, Yliana Johansen-Méndez 00:43:02 - Panel 2 (Youth Leaders): Michaé De La Cuadra, Aidan Lin-Tostado, Isaac Michael Ybarra Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
It used to be that Spanish-language artists had to perform in English to succeed in the U.S. Today, they can sing in their native tongue and top the charts. But with increased visibility, does increased industry equity follow for Spanish-language artists? In an era of division over immigration—when so many love Latin music that crosses borders, but question Latin people who do—can music bring America together? Activist, musician, and Chicanx-Latinx studies professor Martha Gonzalez and "La Banda Elástica" magazine founder and publisher Emilio Morales discuss how Latino music transcends borders. This program was co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, The Skirball Cultural Center, and Grand Performances.Timestamps:00:00 - Intros04:00 - Conversation with Emilio Morales and Martha GonzalezVisit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
This program is inspired by "So, I told her I was half-Indian" (2025) by Chicanx and Punjabi American weaver Kira Dominguez Hultgren. The piece, multiple looms woven together as a suspended sculpture, is commissioned by IAJS and will be on view at Zhou B Art Center from August 12 to September 12, 2025.Artist Kira Dominguez Hultgren and guitarist and Chicago Immigrant Orchestra co-director Fareed Haque discuss the work’s larger themes, including how race plays out across generations, how public memorials help make hushed histories visible, and how new technology reveals outdated stereotypes.Then, a panel featuring Stanford IAJS faculty co-director Brian Lowery, Yale historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner David W. Blight, historic preservation leader Bonnie McDonald, and creative consultant and fashion designer Siying Qu explores how migrant communities help stitch together our ideas of American life.This is the second program in “What Can Become of Us?”, a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences.Timestamps:00:00 - Intros06:40 - Artist Talk: Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Fareed Haque27:40 - Panel: Brian Lowery, David W. Blight, Bonnie McDonald, Siying QuVisit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series.Follow Zócalo on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
Medusa, the “Godmother of West Coast Hip-Hop,” and reparations advocate and business manager to the stars Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad aka Friday Jones, discuss the role of women in hip-hop. Hip-hop is a conversation across communities. But power and privilege exert control inside this industry as they do outside. It is all interconnected. Many talented female hip-hop performers have fallen prey to fear and exploitation, and continue to fight for recognition while battling abuse and stereotypes imposed by industry insiders and general audiences. Meanwhile, streaming and predatory contracts have opened the doors for new modes of financial manipulation in the fine print, impacting royalties and devaluing artistry. What do reparations for these unfair practices look like? How can women in the industry support the next generation and build pathways for their success? And how can hip-hop respond to the changing political climate? This program was co-presented with Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles. Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Jean-Martin Bauer is the author of “The New Breadline: Hunger and Hope in the Twenty-First Century” and the winner of the 2025 Zócalo Public Square Book Prize. He’ll visit Zócalo to explore the role hunger plays in our world today, and what it takes to help people come together and feed one another. This discussion is moderated by Ertharin Cousin, Food Systems for the Future CEO. Zócalo Public Square is proud to award the 2025 Zócalo Poetry Prize to Jennifer Blackledge for her poem "Mt. Trashmore." The 2025 Zócalo Book and Poetry Prizes are generously sponsored by Tim Disney.Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
This program is inspired by "Coatlicue & Las Meninas: The Stanford Edition" (2007/2025) by Mexican American artist Pedro Lasch, commissioned by IAJS and on view at Asheville Art Museum from April 16 to July 13, 2025. Asheville Art Museum associate curator Jessica Orzulak and artist Pedro Lasch discuss the work’s larger themes, including how mirrors encourage viewers to reflect on the movement of people, ideas, and objects across time and space. Then, a panel featuring Stanford IAJS founding faculty co-director Tomás Jiménez, philosopher and ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah, immersive journalism and extended reality (XR) pioneer Nonny de la Peña, and immigrant integration advocate Federico Rios will discuss the ways Americans, old and new, see ourselves in each other.This is the first program in “What Can Become of Us?”, a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intros 04:06 - Artist Talk: Pedro Lasch, Jessica Orzulak 32:11 - Panel: Tomás Jiménez, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Nonny de la Peña, Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ for more programs and essays in the series. Follow Zócalo on X: https://x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square/
America’s high-poverty cities and counties have suffered for decades, enduring skyrocketing inequality, the opioid epidemic, rising housing costs, and widespread disinvestment. Governments have offered a variety of failed solutions, from luring wealthy outsiders to slashing public services. But four communities are turning inward instead: Stockton, California; rural Josephine County, Oregon; Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Detroit, Michigan. In these diverse places—all of which went broke in the wake of the Great Recession—locals are building networks and trust in one another and their institutions, to promote health, wealth, and opportunity. In Stockton, this meant designing organizations to help residents cope with trauma. In Josephine County, people convinced freedom-loving, government-averse voters to increase taxes. Lawrence is building a new model to secure living wages. Detroit is battling to stabilize low-income housing.What did these strategies look and feel like on the ground? How can other struggling places borrow from their playbooks? And what can the rest of the country do to support towns as they try to help themselves? Stanford Law School’s Michelle Wilde Anderson, winner of the 2023 Zócalo Book Prize for The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America, visits Zócalo to talk with Alberto Retana, president and CEO of South L.A.’s Community Coalition, about how a place with the odds against it can draw on historic strengths and resilient residents to thrive.Zócalo Public Square is proud to award the 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize to Paige Buffington for her poem "From 20 Miles Outside of Gallup, Holbrook, Winslow, Farmington, or Albuquerque."The 2023 Zócalo Book and Poetry Prizes are generously sponsored by Tim Disney.Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from the Arizona State University California Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA: As coalitions, partnerships, and allegiances shift and emerge, Zócalo and an alliance of partners convene two back-to-back panels to discuss how we might best ally to survive this moment in history. The first panel explores how alliances are rebuilding Los Angeles in the wake of January’s fires, and features Altadena business owner Nadeerah Faquir, Center for Cultural Innovation president and CEO Angie Kim, climate action strategist Nina Knierim, and California Community Foundation president and CEO Miguel Santana, moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.The second panel explores state, national, and global governance as a new U.S. administration takes power, featuring American diplomat Nina Hachigian, immigrant rights advocate Angelica Salas, and global democracy expert Laura Thornton, moderated by Zócalo columnist and Democracy Local founder Joe Mathews.This program was co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, ASU Mechanics of Democracy Lab, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, California Humanities, Los Angeles Local News Initiative, LA2050, KCRW, and Los Angeles Times.
Live from the Natural History Museum Commons Theater in Los Angeles, CA: Artist Tanya Aguiñiga, paleobotanist and curator Regan Dunn, climate mobility scholar Liliana Gamboa, and New Nomad Institute co-founder Badruun Gardi discuss what it would take to build a more interconnected, resilient, and nomadic world on the international, community, and individual levels. Moderated by New York Times international correspondent Simon Romero. This program is co-presented by Zócalo Public Square and Carnegie California, in partnership with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Flavors from Afar. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. X: https://x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zocalopublicsquare/
Actors and athletes alike dress up and stage plays to entertain large audiences. Why is queerness so readily exhibited and accepted in the theater and still so taboo on the field? Can history show us how song and dance can break through the rigid heterosexuality ubiquitous in American sports? What if we made sport a place to play with gender and sexuality, and give voice to our authentic selves—to who we are as a people, community, nation, team?Theater-maker Taylor Mac and former NFL player, LGBTQ+ advocate, and singer Esera Tuaolo join Zócalo and ASU 365 Community Union for a conversation around song, sports, and making queer history. This program was co-presented by Zócalo Public Square and ASU 365 Community Union.
Live from the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, CA: Child Care Law Center executive director Maisha Cole, child care worker and administrator Juanita Gutierrez, National Domestic Workers Alliance president Ai-jen Poo, and Child Development Consortium of Los Angeles executive director Lisa Wilkin visit Zócalo to discuss what a good job looks like in the field right now, and their vision for a more sustainable and nurturing future. This discussion is moderated by Rebecca Gale, staff writer with the Better Life Lab at New America.This is the last and seventh program of the “What Is a Good Job Now?” series, co-presented with the James Irvine Foundation. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Follow along on X: https://x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from the Arizona State University California Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA: A panel of civically engaged Gen Zers and young millennials from across the political spectrum visit Zócalo to stand up and speak for themselves: progressive political digital media specialist Annie Wu Henry, youth civic engagement advocate Ava Mateo, and former Iowa State representative Joe Mitchell, moderated by Christian Paz, senior politics reporter at "Vox." This program was co-presented with LAist 89.3, Los Angeles Local News Initiative, Boyle Heights Beat, and CalMatters, with generous support from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Support Zócalo: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/support-zocalo/Follow along on X: https://x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
This program is in Spanish. For a version with English audio interpretation, please visit: https://youtube.com/live/A9zQSsOYdhkZócalo Public Square y la Universidad de Guadalajara transmiten en vivo desde la feria de libro LéaLA en la LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes en el centro de Los Ángeles. Únete a una conversación moderada por Alfredo Corchado, editor ejecutivo del PUENTE News Collaborative, con Irasema Coronado, directora y profesora de la School of Transborder Studies de Arizona State University; Anita Herrera, artista, curadora, y consultora cultural; y Víctor Zúñiga, profesor de sociología en la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.Visita https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ para leer nuestros artículos y aprender más sobre próximos eventos. X: https://x.com/thepublicsquare Instagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/zocalopublicsquare
Live from the Arizona State University California Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA: Zócalo convenes two back-to-back panels moderated by KQED correspondent and co-host of “The California Report” Saul Gonzalez to discuss when and how protest makes a difference. The first panel features scholars and thinkers who can offer larger context for the current moment: urban journalism professor Danielle K. Brown, constitutional law professor and former director of the ACLU LGBT Project Matt Coles, and First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh.The second panel features practitioners who have engaged in historic protests in Los Angeles and beyond: co-founder of the day laborer band Los Jornaleros del Norte Pablo Alvarado, Los Angeles Police Department former assistant chief Sandy Jo MacArthur, and immigrant rights and labor justice activist Victor Narro. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/zocalopublicsquare#farmworkers #agriculture
Live from Sherwood Elementary in Salinas, CA: Agriculture worker and student José Anzaldo, agricultural consultant James Nakahara, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas executive director & co-founder Mily Treviño-Sauceda, and retired farmworker attorney Juan Uranga visit Zócalo in “America’s salad bowl” to discuss what it would take to make life in California sustainable for the people whose work helps sustain us all. This is the sixth event of the “What Is a Good Job Now?,” co-presented with the James Irvine Foundation. This discussion is moderated by Los Angeles Times staff writer Rebecca Plevin.This program is part of Zócalo's series "What Is A Good Job Now?" supported by the James Irvine Foundation.Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Follow along on X: https://x.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zocalopublicsquare #farmworkers #agriculture
The Inland Empire exemplifies an ongoing tension between hate and resistance, harboring grassroots movements that have banned lessons about race in public schools at the same time as it celebrates the opening of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. This duality makes the region a perfect place to grapple with the history of hate in California, and understand past and present efforts to strike back and fight for justice. Can the region’s battles against discrimination chart a path forward for the rest of the state, and nation?California State Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson, Mapping Black California project director Candice Mays, and ACLU SoCal Senior Policy Advocate and Organizer Luis Nolasco discuss hate’s impact on the Inland Empire, and highlight efforts to resist. This program was co-presented with California Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, United We Stand, UCR Arts, and UCR College of Humanities and Social Sciences.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Is “Latino” a race or an ethnicity? Is it European or American? Is it a source of strength or of subjugation? And does it bring people together—around shared histories of migration and resilience—or is it born from racial ideas about “the other,” borders, and national identity? Journalist and novelist Héctor Tobar is a professor of English and Chicano/Latino studies at UC Irvine, a native Angeleno, and the son of Guatemalan immigrants. He is the winner of the 2024 Zócalo Public Square Book Prize for Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino,” which wrestles with these questions and many more around identity, history, and culture. Tobar visits Zócalo to discuss the epic journey the book took him on—across the country, to Guatemala, and back again—and the epic American journeys that define the “Latino” experience. Zócalo Public Square is proud to award the 2024 Zócalo Poetry Prize to Melanie Almeder for her poem “Coyote Hour.”The 2024 Zócalo Book and Poetry Prizes are generously sponsored by Tim Disney.Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from the CalMatters Ideas Festival in Sacramento, CA: XPRIZE Foundation CEO Anousheh Ansari, Public Policy Institute of California president and CEO and retired Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, and Ian Klaus, founding director of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace California Center, visit Zócalo at the CalMatters Ideas Festival to discuss the state of new ideas in the Golden State. This discussion was moderated by Joe Mathews, California columnist & democracy editor at Zócalo Public Square. This program was presented in partnership with CalMatters.Visit www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from the ASU California Center Broadway in Los Angeles, CA: Artist and sculptor Charles Dickson and Destination Crenshaw founding lead historian Larry Earl visit Zócalo to discuss Dickson’s sculpture, “Car Culture,” which will be on permanent display in Sankofa Park, and how monumental public art projects and cruising scenes throughout Southern California can bring people together across zip codes. This discussion was moderated by Destination Crenshaw’s Director of Public Art Projects Heather Heslup. Presented in partnership with Destination Crenshaw, with generous support from Supervisor Holly Mitchell and Akieva and Martin Jacobs.Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Follow along on X: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from the Crenshaw High School Performing Arts Center in Crenshaw, CA: Architect Gabrielle Bullock and Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson join Destination Crenshaw senior art advisor V. Joy Simmons on the Zócalo stage at Crenshaw High School to discuss Destination Crenshaw’s genesis and design. This program was presented in partnership with Destination Crenshaw, with generous support from Akieva and Martin Jacobs and Supervisor Holly Mitchell.Follow along on X: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA: Artist and Bloom & Plume founder Maurice Harris, sports agent and former NFL player Jacques McClendon, and poet aja monet visit Zócalo and Kinsey Collection at SoFi Stadium to discuss what one of the world’s largest private collections of Black art and historical objects is doing at one of the world’s grandest football stadiums, why it matters, and where similar efforts are scoring big. This discussion is moderated by Khalil Kinsey, curator of the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection.
Live from the New Parkway Theater in Oakland, CA: Gig worker and advocate Sergio Avedian, Gigs founder and CEO Allen Narcisse, and the Workers Lab chief research officer Shelly Steward visit Zócalo to help us understand how we might make gig work good work. This is the fifth event in Zócalo's series “What Is a Good Job Now?,” co-presented with the James Irvine Foundation. This discussion is moderated by CalMatters reporter Levi Sumagaysay.Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
Maxwell L. Stearns, constitutional law professor and author of the new book Parliamentary America, visits Zócalo to outline a three-part plan to turn the United States into a multi-party parliamentary democracy that could make our politics less maddening, more collaborative—and perhaps even more fun. What are the legal, constitutional, and political steps needed to modernize American democracy and reignite civic zeal and joy? And how different might the U.S. look if governed by a parliament of multi-party coalitions? This program is co-presented by the Los Angeles Times, and is moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith. This program is part of Zócalo’s inquiry, “Can Democracy Survive This Election Year?,” an editorial and event series about voters’ experiences around the world in 2024, the biggest election year in history.
What are the best ideas and models for finding good jobs for the formerly incarcerated? How can we improve the low pay and challenging working conditions in those industries that are most likely to employ people who have been in the system? And what policies and economic changes would open more possible career paths and economic opportunities for this population?Amity Foundation president and CEO Doug Bond, Root & Rebound executive director Carmen Garcia, and Anti-Recidivism Coalition executive director Sam Lewis visit Zócalo to discuss how to build better career pathways for formerly incarcerated people. This is the fourth program in Zócalo's series “What Is a Good Job Now?” supported by the James Irvine Foundation, and was presented on January 24, 2024. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events. Follow Zócalo on X: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Artists across disciplines have harnessed generative AI as mind-extenders, expanding the possibilities of their work, and unleashing new ways to see the world. But as bots get more adept at human-like thought, writers, actors, and others protest in lawsuits and on picket lines, asking: What’s left for artists? Should tech companies be allowed to use existing art to train AI engines? Who gets credit—and paid—for AI-assisted creative work? What do we lose when machine brains take over aspects of our creativity, once a defining feature of humanity? And, tantalizingly, what do we gain?LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab program director Joel Ferree, Concept Art Association co-founder Nicole Hendrix, Writers Guild of America AI working group member John Lopez, and interdisciplinary artist Sarah Rosalena join Zócalo, Arts for LA, the ASU Narrative and Emerging Media program, and LACMA to discuss whether AI heralds the end of humans making art to make sense of the world, or a new key to being and seeing. Moderated by Anuradha Vikram, art curator and author of Use Me at Your Own Risk. This program was co-presented with Arts for LA, the ASU Narrative and Emerging Media Program, and LACMA on November 28, 2023. Follow Zócalo:X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
How are institutional leaders navigating the warring tides of politics and public opinion—tides that may steer them toward uncertain futures? Can organizations help artists, patrons, and the public find common ground, or productive ways to discuss their differences, in this moment of deep democratic and cultural conflict? And, even as they themselves struggle to stay afloat, how do arts institutions serve as spaces of civic engagement, community, and inclusion?MOCA director Johanna Burton, Center Theatre Group artistic director Snehal Desai, former Oregon Shakespeare Festival executive artistic director Nataki Garrett, and Whitney Museum director emeritus Adam D. Weinberg discuss how the culture wars have impacted their work, and where they see institutions, and the arts at large, going next. Moderated by Kristin Sakoda, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.This program was co-presented with the Thomas Mann House and Los Angeles Review of Books as part of “Arts in Times of Crises: The Role of Artists in Weakened Democracies,” on November 18, 2023. Follow Zócalo:X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Can artists shield themselves from the demands of politics and polarized discourse or—in places and periods where activism puts their life and liberty at risk—from bodily danger? Does all their work, in a moment of crisis, have to address that crisis? And how can they know when that moment has come?Two women artists—social-practice artist Suzanne Lacy and photographer Catherine Opie—discuss the role they see themselves, their work, and their peers playing in sustaining, enhancing, or even strengthening democracy when it feels like everything is going up in flames. Moderated by Karen Mack, Founder and Executive Director of LA Commons. This program was co-presented with the Thomas Mann House and Los Angeles Review of Books as part of “Arts in Times of Crises: The Role of Artists in Weakened Democracies,” on November 18, 2023. Follow Zócalo:X: twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: www.facebook.com/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Environmental activist and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco), L.A. LGBT Center communications officer and former editor-in-chief of Out magazine Phillip Picardi, and “On Being” founder, executive producer, and host Krista Tippett visit Zócalo to discuss how society might draw strength and coax vision from the shortcomings and failures of its collective past, moderated by University of Pennsylvania historian and author of Hattiesburg, William Sturkey. Featuring a special live performance by the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arktet. This is the final program in Zócalo's series, “How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?,” supported by The Mellon Foundation. Find all essays and previous programs in the series here: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/feature/societies-sins-mellon/Follow Zócalo: X: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
The state of California has some of the nation’s strongest legal protections for workers. But Californians continue to suffer from various forms of abuse by their employers—from unpaid overtime to dangerous working conditions; from wage theft to racial, ethnic, gender discrimination. What are the biggest challenges for agencies and communities as they seek to turn pro-labor legislation into better workplace realities? To what extent do our systems—from the courts to workers’ compensation to federal and state labor enforcement—create obstacles to realizing California’s promises to workers? And what steps could state and local governments, and workers themselves, take to make jobs safe from discrimination and abuse?California State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, warehouse worker Sara Fee, and California Labor Commissioner Assistant Chief Daniel Yu talk with Zócalo on the Capitol steps in Sacramento to discuss how to make jobs more fair for workers. Introductory comments by Don Howard, President & CEO of The James Irvine Foundation.This program is part of “What Is a Good Job Now?”, a series supported by The James Irvine Foundation, focusing on workers in the low-wage sectors of California’s economy, in communities across the state. Public programs and essays, grounded in workers’ experiences and realities, will explore how to make the hardest jobs more rewarding, and make life better for those who do them.
Early this year, an uncrewed Chinese-operated high-altitude balloon floated across U.S. airspace, stoking anxiety and fascination among Americans, who assumed it was spying on them, and ultimately provoking President Biden to order the Pentagon to shoot it down. Just as alarming as foreign espionage, though, is the fear of information-gathering turned inward. American anxieties around the “surveillance state” have only grown since the Watergate scandal; with the post-9/11 passage of the USA PATRIOT Act; and with revelations that federal agencies sift through ordinary Americans’ phone and email communications, financial information, and Internet usage. Add in the rise of artificial intelligence, and our addictions to smartphones and sharing personal data, and pressing questions arise: Is Big Brother watching, and do we like it? What is the role of surveillance in our democracy, and to what ends do government and business use it? Does being watched keep us safe, or are we being snookered into becoming our own unwitting informants? What standards for digital privacy do we even want? ArtCenter College of Design art and tech scholar Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, Brennan Center government surveillance expert Faiza Patel, and ACLU SoCal attorney Mohammad Tajsar—experts working in and thinking deeply about surveillance and what it means for our 21st-century public and private lives—visit Zócalo for a timely discussion moderated by Ramesh Srinavasan, tech and society scholar at UCLA and director of the UC Digital Cultures Lab.This discussion was co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, ACLU of Southern California, and The Progress Network.
We know cooking best as an act of nourishment, love, and tradition—but it can also cut as sharply as the knives that chop an onion. In Sinaloa, Mexico, a group of relatives of desaparecidos (the tens of thousands of people who have disappeared from the country), have banded together to fight back against government indifference and complicity. Dubbed Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte, the members’ main method of resistance is to search for the bodies of those they love. But they have also brought their battle to the kitchen, where they cook missing family members’ favorite dishes, preserving their memories and reminding the world of the void their absences create. What makes feeding people an act of protest? How do the families of the disappeared continue to find communion, hope, and joy at the table? And where else can cooking be a potent weapon in the face of a fight that feels never-ending?An exhibition based on Recetario para la memoria, a cookbook that collects recipes and remembrances from these families in collaboration with photographer and creator Zahara Gómez Lucini, is currently on view at LA Cocina de Gloria Molina, a first-of-its-kind museum dedicated to Mexican gastronomy. Zócalo and LA Cocina host Gómez Lucini and culinary historian and Hungry for History podcast co-host Maite Gomez-Rejón to cook pozole in the museum’s demonstration kitchen and discuss what happens when the kitchen becomes a battleground.This program was co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, LA Cocina de Gloria Molina and California Humanities.
Benjamin W. Rawlins Professor of Communication Andre E. Johnson, Monument Lab co-founder and artist Ken Lum, and reparations leader Robin Rue Simmons join Zócalo and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to discuss what repair looks like, and how different people and places have stumbled and succeeded in its pursuit. This program was co-presented with the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN and is the third program in Zócalo's series "How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?" supported by the Mellon Foundation.
Public health professor Helda Pinzón-Perez, health care workforce researcher Janette Dill, and in-home supportive services provider Martha Valladarez visited Zócalo to discuss how to build a healthier health care workforce. This discussion was moderated by KVPR News Director Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado at The Fresno Center in Fresno, CA on Thursday, August 23. This is the second program in the "What Is a Good Job Now?" series, presented in partnership with The James Irvine Foundation.
Boxing is a sport of contradictions. Known as the “sweet science” because of the technical skills its fighters need to succeed, it is also incredibly brutal. Boxing has provided a creative outlet and a path out of poverty for generations of California strivers, forging cultural and individual identity, promoting dignity, pride, and agency, and delivering million-dollar paydays for some. But the sport has also destroyed some of its most talented practitioners, seemingly abandoning them to post-career bankruptcies and grievous injury.
What accounts for boxing’s disconnects? Boxers themselves, who take epic risks with few safety nets? Promoters, agents, and managers who forget clients once they’re past their prime? The industry’s structure and sanctioning bodies, that allow abuse and neglect? California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster, former middleweight champ Sergio “the Latin Snake” Mora, and Kali “KO” Mequinonoag Reis, professional boxer and actress, visit Zócalo for a panel discussion, moderated by sport and ethnic studies scholar Rudy Mondragón, to reflect on boxing’s future—as an athletic endeavor, as a business, and as a cultural force—in California and beyond.
Beyond debates over keeping statues up or tearing them down and changing the names of schools and streets lie more fundamental questions at the intersection of personal and public memory. We know how to honor and memorialize idealized heroes; we know less about remembering complicated, real people, who did extraordinary things—let alone how to remember historical figures who changed the world for the better but also contributed to systems of oppression. And we struggle to lift up the people and places that don’t appear in history books, or fit in with the bigger narratives of our shared past. How do we decide whom we remember and how? What do we owe those who lived before us, and those who will come after us? How can we expand our definition of monuments to include not just physical, public works, but other types of remembering?Civil rights historian Daphne Chamberlain, visual and performance artist Richard Lou, and Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, visit Zócalo to discuss what public memory looks like in the 21st century, and how future generations might experience the act of looking back.
There is a long and global tradition of artists—visual, performing, and literary—creating arresting, even beautiful works that address the horrors of war. How is art used as a form of protest, to change minds as well as hearts? What happens to its meaning over time—as war persists, and as new battles erupt? And what does it say about us all that war has inspired acclaimed works from artists as diverse as Pablo Picasso, Pussy Riot, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie?In 1932, amid Hitler’s rise to power, the German choreographer Kurt Jooss created The Green Table, a ballet subtitled A Dance of Death in Eight Scenes. As the Paul Taylor Dance Company brings this work to The Music Center—as part of its Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center series—join us for a panel discussion, moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Can such art help us now, in a moment of many international crises? And how do warmongers and politicians co-opt and commission art as propaganda?Panelists included Gelare Khoshgozaran, artist, filmmaker and writer; Khalil Kinsey, COO, chief curator and creative director for the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection; Michael Novak, artistic director, Paul Taylor Dance Company; and Nadya Tolokonnikova, creator, Pussy Riot. This event took place on April 25, 2023 at The Music Center and was moderated by novelist and professor Viet Thanh Nguyen.
Live from The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture at the Riverside Art Museum: One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman, hospitality expert Lesley Butler, and restaurant worker Ralph Prado IV visited Zócalo to discuss the future of tourism and hospitality work in the Inland Empire and throughout California. This event was presented in partnership with The James Irvine Foundation and moderated by freelance journalist Elizabeth Aguilera.Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Recorded live from ASU California Center at the historic Herald Examiner Building: Artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, and essayists and novelists Laila Lalami and Pankaj Mishra visited Zócalo to discuss why the English-speaking world can’t seem to fully absorb one of the central events of the recent past, and what it all means for our collective future. This event was presented in partnership with UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public and moderated by international relations expert Kal Raustiala. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
The headlines that make breaking news in the art world most often concern a piece’s financial worth, which nearly always means how much a private collector paid for it. But for most of us, the value of art has very little to do with a dollar amount. Rather, art provides an avenue to a diverse range of critical discussions, evokes a feeling or a memory, helps us process deep emotions, or calls us to action—and the stronger the response, the higher the value. Where do these economic and non-monetary forms of value meet? How can art world movers and shakers—artists, curators, museum professionals, and nonprofits—continue to leverage the money and attention around blue chip artists into support for social change and community building? And what larger, deeper questions posed by art does our obsession with skyrocketing price tags obscure?The week before the international art fair Frieze Los Angeles descends upon Southern California, contemporary artist and activist Andrea Bowers; artist, cultural organizer, and co-founder of Meztli Projects Joel Garcia; and LAXART director Hamza Walker visit Zócalo to consider the value of art beyond a financial investment.
Live from ASU California Center at the historic Herald Examiner Building. Tech entrepreneur Nonny de la Peña, author Charlton McIlwain, and internet activist Ethan Zuckerman joined Zócalo and Future Tense to ponder human decision-making’s impact on the digital world–and the ways that code, in turn, has impacted humanity. This event was hosted on January 31, 2023 and was moderated by Torie Bosch, editor of "You Are Not Expected to Understand This”Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from ASU California Center at the historic Herald Examiner Building: Iran analyst Holly Dagres, artist Sahar Ghorishi, and anthropologist Pardis Mahdavi joined Zócalo to discuss if young women hold the key to a just future for Iran. This event was recorded on December 6, 2022 and was moderated by Porochista Khakpour, author of "Brown Album"Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Live from ASU California Center at the historic Herald Examiner Building: The night began with Beau Sia performing “We Voting,” and Sekou Andrews and Steve Connell performing “Water Stained Black,” followed by a conversation with the poets about the ways artists engage with politics, and fuel democracy. This event was co-presented with Da Poetry Lounge and moderated by poet and art organizer Alyesha Wise. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.Follow along on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepublicsquareInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepublicsquare/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zocalopublicsquareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/z-calo-public-square
Everybody loves a debut novel. The thrill of discovering a new literary voice, the culmination of years of solitary work, and the possibility of so much more to come will always be catnip to publishers, reviewers, and of course, readers. First-time novelists often pour much of themselves and their family experiences into these works—lending a particular richness and depth. Emerging from a diverse, dynamic place like Los Angeles, debut novels invite us to step into unknown neighbors’ hearts, minds, and milieus, and offer us new ways to behold and understand our city and our world. What is the experience—creative, intellectual, emotional—of writing a first novel, and how is it different than working on a short story, poem, or screenplay? When first-time novelists explore the world in a place like L.A., can the city—its mood, its vastness, its populations—become a crucible for forging new visions and ideas? And how do these writers approach perhaps the most daunting question: What’s next? Debut novelists Fatimah Asghar, Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi, and Ryan Lee Wong visit Zócalo and ALOUD to read from their books, and to discuss the excitement and challenges of putting out a first novel, what inspires their craft, and why Los Angeles had to be a part of it all. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA on Thursday, November 10, 2022 and was moderated by Zócalo Public Square editorial director Eryn Brown. Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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Los Angeles City Council member Mitch Englander went to prison for taking gifts from casino interests. Jose Huizar turned his city council office into a criminal enterprise, an indictment contends. Mark Ridley-Thomas faces charges of taking bribes from USC. And three more councilmembers conspired with a top labor official to influence redistricting—spewing racism and hatred on tape and disgracing themselves. Often, such scandals seem like the only times Angelenos hear about their councilmembers. Is the L.A. City Council—overshadowed as it is by the mayor, five county supervisors, and powerful state and national politicians—still worth the trouble and embarrassment? Can the body be saved by reforms, or by making it bigger? Or should L.A. replace its council altogether and turn instead to innovative methods of government decision-making—from lottery-selected citizens’ panels to the online environments used to govern cities from Madrid to Montevideo? Public Access Democracy director Leonora Camner, California 100 executive director Karthick Ramakrishnan, L.A. city councilmember Nithya Raman, and Weingart Foundation president and CEO Miguel Santana visit Zócalo to discuss where things went wrong, and imagine new futures for L.A.’s city council.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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The pandemic was bad for schools. It was even worse for rural schools, which are often the centers of daily life, culture, and economy in their communities. Poor internet connections made remote learning inaccessible and downright impossible in many cases. Attendance dropped. Rural schools, which struggle to attract and keep staff even in good times, hemorrhaged teachers and administrators; staff who remained were exhausted and prone to leaving. How can rural schools and districts recover from such damage—and how can state and regional governments best support them? What sorts of changes must rural schools make to adapt to the environmental, economic, and technological threats to rural communities? And what will it take for rural education to survive the 21st century?
California Collaborative for Educational Excellence assistant director of systems of support Julie Boesch, Cal Poly Humboldt executive director of initiatives Connie Stewart, and Small School Districts’ Association executive director Tim Taylor visited Zócalo to explore how rural schools can prosper. This event was streamed live from Bakersfield, CA, on Thursday, November 10, 2022 and was moderated by KQED correspondent and co-host of “The California Report” Saul Gonzalez.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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Since the beginning of time, people have gazed up at the stars and wondered: Are we alone in the universe? Now, this question is stoking controversy as the U.S. military continues its release of videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena”—about which former President Barack Obama admitted, “We don’t know exactly what they are.” It’s time we put together a game plan—preferably one we can all agree on—to guide us when extraterrestrial guests ultimately do arrive. What will contact with a new intelligent lifeform mean for humanity’s future? Can the close encounters Hollywood has imagined help us plot our way forward? And, is it possible that humanity will find unity in how we present ourselves to the new arrivals?
Senior operations specialist Corey Gray of LIGO Hanford Observatory, ASU astrobiologist and theoretical physicist Sara Imari Walker, and Afrofuturist poet, fiction writer, and editor Sheree Renée Thomas visited Zócalo–not to discuss whether there is life out there, but to reflect upon how we should prepare to meet it. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA, and was moderated by New York Times national security reporter Julian E. Barnes.
This event is a part of Experience ASU, a month-long series marking Arizona State University’s expansion in California.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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It sometimes feels like we will never laugh again, and that levity’s moment has passed. But comedians have always grappled with difficult topics in difficult times, helping the rest of us better understand ourselves—and let off a little steam in the process. Comedians dare to go where others can’t. Satire, stand-up, and skits can take on the topics that most divide us: race, nationality, gender, religion, class. What is the relationship between dissent and comedy? Is there civic virtue in laughter? Are there any issues that it is “too soon” to joke about? Should comedians around the world draw inspiration from American humor? And can comedy break through apathy, discontent, and division in a democracy under pressure—serving as release valve, remedy, and respite?
Political satirist Bassem Youssef, and playwright, actor, and performance artist Kristina Wong visited Zócalo to discuss the current comedic zeitgeist, and why the joke can be mightier than the sword. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA, and was moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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It’s easy to pin responsibility for war on political leaders or soldiers who commit the worst atrocities, from rape and torture to bombings of civilians and ethnic cleansing. But experts note that, because of technology and other factors, modern conflicts in particular “[blur] the lines among soldiers and civilians, winners and losers.” And the injuries that accompany war—moral as well as mortal—reverberate for generations and create far-reaching ripple effects. What responsibility do citizens living in a democracy hold for a war enacted in their name? Does the burden change if they were born or immigrated after a war began? Or if they themselves served in the government, supported the government, or protested the government?
Lieutenant General (ret.) Robert E. Schmidle, Jr., Air Force veteran and social worker Noël Lipana, and Farnaz Fassihi, journalist and United Nations Bureau Chief at the New York Times, visited Zócalo to discuss what it means to bear responsibility for war and its atrocities, and why that matters. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA, and was moderated by William Sturkey, University of North Carolina Historian and Author of Hattiesburg.
This is the first event of a two-year editorial and event series “How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?,” supported by the Mellon Foundation. Blending scholarly essays and personal stories, we will explore how societies around the world collectively remember their transgressions and make attempts at repair, and how we might imagine new paths forward.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3PAWd9H
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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Will Americans Ever Be In This Together? with Heather McGhee
From tax cuts and voting rights to healthcare and labor coalitions, middle- and working-class Americans frequently vote for politicians and support policies that go against their interests. The reason, argues economic and social policy scholar Heather McGhee, is racism. Prosperity and success, as the majority sees it, is a zero-sum game: Whatever benefits Black Americans, as well as immigrants and other minority groups, costs white Americans. In reality, explains McGhee, the opposite is true—whether it’s draining public swimming pools after integration, disinvesting in public education, or deregulating banks. These policies have had a disproportionate effect on Black and brown communities, but they hurt middle- and working-class white people, too. How have politicians and corporations pitted Americans against one another since before the country’s founding? Why is it so difficult for groups to come together across racial lines, even in the 21st century? And how are communities, from fast food workers in Kansas City to African immigrants and longtime residents of Lewiston, Maine, building new models for solidarity? Heather McGhee, winner of the 2022 Zócalo Book Prize for The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together and the former president of Demos, visits Zócalo to discuss the racial roots of American inequality, and what it will take to grow a better nation, together. Zócalo Public Square is proud to award the 2022 Zócalo Poetry Prize to Chelsea Rathburn for her poem “8 a.m., Ocean Drive.” The 2022 Zócalo Book and Poetry Prizes are generously sponsored by Tim Disney.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway:
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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Mayoral candidates in Los Angeles love to offer plans and make promises. But in L.A., City Hall is more likely to follow than to lead. Change here has always come from Angelenos themselves, and the ways we interact with each other and cope with the accidents, disasters, and ongoing challenges that define life in L.A. Before June’s first-round mayoral election, Zócalo tunes out the politicians and asks the people: what do we want for Los Angeles, and how might we get it? What will it take to improve our diminishing quality of life, reduce the cost of living, and improve our schools? And what are people prepared to do to make Los Angeles more just, safe, healthy, beautiful, and equitable?
USC political scientist Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro, Green Qween co-founder and CEO Taylor Bazley, and CSUN government and community relations assistant vice president Rafael de la Rosa visit Zócalo to imagine what an L.A. of the people, by the people, for the people could look like. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA on May 26, 2022 and was moderated by Janaya Williams, Host of KCRW’s All Things Considered.
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Direct democracy is supposed to be a people’s process, allowing everyday citizens to enact their own ideas for laws or constitutional amendments. But does California’s system live up to that promise? Qualifying a measure for the ballot costs so many millions of dollars that only the richest people and interests can bring their proposals forward. Elected and appointed officials have considerable sway over the process, and routinely use it for their own aims. And voters have little information, and few opportunities to deliberate, as they make decisions about complicated proposals that, once approved, are very difficult to fix or change. How should recall and ballot initiatives change, and what reforms does the state seem likely to enact?
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Public Policy Institute of California president Mark Baldassare, and Initiative & Referendum Institute president John Matsusaka, author of Let the People Rule, visit Zócalo to explore what it would take to bring more democracy into California’s direct democracy. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA on May 11, 2022 and was moderated by Nathan Gardels, Editor-in-Chief of Noēma Magazine and Co-founder of Berggruen Institute.
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Food, art, culture, weather, beaches, mountains—and people, from all over the world and with a broad range of talents and dreams—make Los Angeles an amazing place to live. A homelessness and housing crisis, drought, traffic, inequality, and political dysfunction can make Los Angeles an impossible place to live. The county is home to areas with the lowest and highest rates of child poverty in the state; innovative tech companies and broadband dead zones; and some of America’s best infrastructure to support green energy as well as poor air quality and deeply entrenched, polluting industries. Los Angeles has a serious gap between its potential and its reality. How are individuals and organizations working to harness L.A.’s many resources to solve its worst problems? What would the best possible Los Angeles look like, and how can the entire city come together to create a shared vision?
Gloria Gonzalez, Youth Development Coordinator at Youth Justice Coalition, and Sissy Trinh, Founder and Executive Director of the Southeast Asian Community Alliance, visit Zócalo to discuss the efforts that inspire them—from mutual aid to policy change—and what they think it will take for Los Angeles to live up to its full potential, for all Angelenos. This event was streamed live from Los Angeles, CA on May 4, 2022 and was moderated by Meztli Projects Director Joel Garcia.
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In 1933, Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg immigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles; he would spend the rest of his life writing music and teaching composition at USC and UCLA. Following him, in 1940, came Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor Stravinsky, who settled in Hollywood after making the move from France. Then, in 1942, fellow Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff arrived in Beverly Hills. These immigrants—and others who followed them—fused L.A.’s free-spirited culture with the traditions they brought with them from their homelands.
A string quartet of four Los Angeles Opera musicians—cellist Evgeny Tonkha, violist Erik Rynearson, and violinists Roberto Cani and Ana Landauer—visits Zócalo to perform the music of L.A.’s immigrant composers, from Schoenberg to contemporary Indian American composer Reena Esmail, who continues in this proud tradition today by merging the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. This event was streamed live from the ASU California Center in Los Angeles, CA on April 28, 2022 in partnership with Artistic Soirées and the ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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Growing homelessness has fueled bitter conflicts in hundreds of neighborhoods across California. The drought is renewing generations-old local wars over water. Schools have become political and cultural battlegrounds, with parents and teachers at odds. And fights over pandemic response, from Shasta to Orange Counties, have escalated into violent threats between citizens and local officials. Why are so many Californians falling into fights with their neighbors? How much do social media and our polarized national politics contribute to local divides? And what are the best strategies to extract ourselves, and our neighbors, from intense conflicts so that we might work together to solve problems? “High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out” author Amanda Ripley, UCLA sociocultural anthropologist Kyeyoung Park, and mediator and former California Superior Court judge B. Scott Silverman visited Zócalo to discuss how we can stop contentious disputes from escalating and taking over our communities. This Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event, co-presented with the Natural History Museum of LA County, was streamed live from the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum on April 13, 2022 and was moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith.
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California is turning away from mass incarceration. After generations of opening prisons and increasing the number of inmates inside them, the state government now plans to close a number of institutions. But many state prisons are located in struggling rural communities that depend on the jobs and health care infrastructure these facilities provide. The Newsom administration’s announcement of its intention to close the California Correctional Center in Susanville this year has sparked questions about the resulting effects on the Lassen County community. How do the economies and civic spheres of our prison towns really work? What is the relationship between these institutions and their communities? And what assistance, if any, should the state provide to towns that lose their prisons? Lassen Community College President Trevor Albertson, Parlier mayor and retired correctional officer Alma Beltran, and University of Wisconsin sociologist John M. Eason, author of Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation, visited Zócalo to discuss what the end of prisons will mean for neighboring communities. This event was streamed live from Susanville, CA on April 7, 2022 and was moderated by Marshall Project staff writer Keri Blakinger.
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Survey after survey suggests Americans strongly support immigration. Yet fear dominates the politics around immigration. Elected officials and pundits routinely use the rhetoric that immigrants are threats to culture, public safety, and jobs—not only to justify restrictions on migrants’ rights, but also to divide communities and gain power at the expense of democracy itself. What makes this fear-mongering so effective, and is there any way to fight it? How have communities, organizations, and governments successfully reconciled differing views on immigration over the past few years? And could immigration inspire unity rather than conflict and crisis?
National Immigration Forum president/CEO and ASU Social Transformation Lab fellow Ali Noorani, author of Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants, visited Zócalo to examine how new policies, stories, and responses to immigration can be used to build a more cohesive and welcoming nation. This Zócalo event was streamed online on Thursday, March 24, 2022 and moderated by New York Times national correspondent Miriam Jordan.
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To leave your birthplace behind and make a home elsewhere is to cross any number of boundaries—national and linguistic, religious and spiritual. While loss is an inevitable part of this journey, it’s not just about displacement; it is also a story of cultural change and celebration. Migrants and immigrants find new ways to balance assimilation and tradition—and to create entirely new identities. This reinvention happens at home and out in the world, and cuts across religion, food, and art. Its impact is as personal as it is global. How do people who are separated from their homelands reinvent cultural practices in their new communities? How does cultural identity change across generations and over time?
Ragamala Dance artistic directors, choreographers, and principal dancers Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, writer and Science Fiction Poetry Association president Bryan Thao Worra, and USC Institute of Armenian Studies director Shushan Karapetian visited Zócalo to discuss how they are reimagining what home means. This event was streamed live from The Soraya at California State University, Northridge on March 16, 2022 and was moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.
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Live from the ASU California Center: Legal scholars Jody David Armour of USC and Eugene Volokh of UCLA, attorney Jean-Paul Jassy, and Battinto L. Batts Jr., dean of the ASU Cronkite School, visit Zócalo to discuss how we might protect free expression while also protecting our society from the misuse of that freedom. Tonight’s event is moderated by Los Angeles Times editorial writer Carla Hall.
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The struggle to limit carbon emissions often pits sustainable energy against fossil fuels. But does it have to be this way? As Kartikeya Singh writes in a new essay for Issues in Science and Technology, India’s carbon-heavy government ministries have shown a surprising ability to engineer deep change: the nation brought electricity to over half a billion citizens between 2009 and 2019, then presided over a grid where wind and solar became cheaper than power from coal. Could these ministries—which employ 20 million people—transform the country’s energy sector to be ecologically and economically sustainable? Instead of pinning all our hopes on technology, entrepreneurs, and politicians, what can the world accomplish by harnessing fossil fuel bureaucracies for the future? Center for Strategic and International Studies senior associate Kartikeya Singh visits Zócalo to ask how bureaucracies might embrace obsolescence and reinvent themselves to address today’s most urgent problems. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology event was streamed online on Thursday, February 17, 2022 and moderated by Issues editor-in-chief Lisa Margonelli.
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While smog in Los Angeles and wildfire smoke in San Francisco dominate headlines, California’s rural communities are also besieged by a constellation of forces that foul their air. In the San Joaquin Valley, one of the most polluted parts of the state, one in six children have asthma, and the impacts of air pollution cost the region $3 billion annually. Air quality is a statewide issue—more than half of California’s counties fail to meet federal pollution standards. But the burden isn’t evenly distributed: Black and Latino people are exposed to about 40 percent more fine particulate matter from cars, trucks, and buses than white Californians, and low-income communities about 20 percent more than their higher-income counterparts. What would it take for the more privileged parts of California to reduce air pollution that disproportionately affects low-income and rural communities around the state? What political and economic strategies have succeeded in improving air quality locally and statewide? And can people and organizations fighting for clean air find inspiration from coalition-building and organizing efforts in other arenas? Former California Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition executive director Catherine Garoupa White, and USC sociologist and “Solidarity Economics” author Manuel Pastor visited Zócalo to discuss how we can help all Californians breathe easier. This event was streamed live from the ASU California Center in the historic Herald Examiner in downtown Los Angeles on January 27, 2022 and was moderated by KQED correspondent Saul Gonzalez. Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
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It feels like it’s time for something new. Facebook and Kanye just changed their names. More than half of Americans want to change jobs, and one-third want to switch careers. Businesses are reinventing the way they operate. And social movements are trying to create new systems that are anti-racist and sustainable. Isn’t all this easier said than done? Even after confronting the challenges of the past year and a half, we are finding that our old ways are more deeply entrenched than we expected.
What do we need—individually and collectively—to start new chapters and rebuild? Which rituals and practices have societies around the world used to successfully start over? And what sort of new beginning does this current moment require of all of us? Artist and co-founder executive director of Homeboy Art Academy Fabian Debora, TransLatin@ Coalition president and CEO Bamby Salcedo, and UCLA distinguished professor and psychology department chair Annette L. Stanton visited Zócalo to explore the best ways to make a fresh start. This event was streamed live from the ASU California Center in the historic Herald Examiner in Downtown Los Angeles on December 7, 2021 and was moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.
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Pretty much every dinosaur skeleton you see has been painstakingly excavated from rock by people with precision, skill, and creativity. What they don’t have are paleontology degrees, and what they don’t get is money or credit. In fact, fossil preparators are mostly enthusiastic volunteers who come from all different backgrounds and receive their training on the job. Their unsung work creates the foundation of scientific knowledge about life, environment, and evolution. This veritable army of citizen scientists has a great deal to teach professional researchers, who are struggling to connect with the public. Could studying and emulating the paths these technicians take to the lab help make scientific disciplines more inclusive? Why are fossil preparators outliers in serious scientific research? And might adopting outreach efforts akin to the glass-walled natural history museum labs where preparators work help build public trust in science?
University of Virginia social scientist Caitlin Donahue Wylie, author of “Preparing Dinosaurs: The Work Behind the Scenes” and a new essay on the topic, visited Zócalo to talk about the power of looking beyond Ph.D.s and publications to recognize and connect to all who contribute to scientific knowledge. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology event was moderated by Issues editor-in-chief Lisa Margonelli.
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Calls are growing for the dismantling of the meritocracy—educational systems and economic structures that claim to elevate individuals based on merit, but instead favor those with wealth or racial privilege. As elites turn against the very merit-based systems that elevated them, governments, corporations, schools, and other entities are extending old policies—like affirmative action—and embracing new initiatives for equity and inclusion. But as we rid our society of standardized tests, “gifted” schools and programs, and traditional corporate hierarchies, finding new methods of evaluation and promotion is proving difficult. What value, if any, do the ideas of merit and merit-based decision-making retain in this moment of reassessment? What were the origins and intentions of those who created merit-based systems for scholarships and federal employment, and how have those systems fallen short? Do today’s profound social inequalities reflect a fundamental failure of the idea of meritocracy, or a corruption of an ideal that needs mending?
“The Aristocracy of Talent” author and The Economist political editor Adrian Wooldridge, Columbia University sociologist Jennifer Lee, and Malissia R. Clinton, vice president, general counsel and secretary at The Aerospace Corporation, visited Zócalo to explore whether there is any merit left in meritocracy. This Zócalo event was moderated by New Yorker staff writer Nicholas Lemann.
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We are failing Americans without college degrees. Research shows that up to 30 million workers without four-year degrees are drastically underpaid, and have the skills to earn 70 percent more than what they’re currently making. What accounts for this failure of the labor market? One problem is that traditional resumes don’t show or verify the full range of a worker’s skills—including those gained in the military and volunteer work, not to mention family businesses and caretaking. But there’s a promising digital fix that could help: learning and employment records. LERs are digital profiles that allow individuals to document their knowledge and skills, no matter how they were acquired—and have the potential to transform hiring while fueling innovation. What is an LER, and how can it be used to record everything you’ve ever learned? How can this technology be designed and implemented to create more jobs with good wages? And what will it take to design and implement LERs that make the labor market fairer to all workers instead of reinforcing existing social, educational, and digital divides?
Workcred senior director of research Isabel Cardenas-Navia, co-author of a new essay on LERs, visited Zócalo to talk about reconstructing credentialing around a system that recognizes—and even encourages—non-traditional learning and diverse career paths. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology event was moderated by Issues editor-in-chief Lisa Margonelli.
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Over the past year, directors of cultural institutions across Los Angeles have announced their retirements, which means a new generation of cultural leadership is upon us. But despite a desire for change that seems nearly universal, new directors must still answer to many of the same funders and face the same pressures as their predecessors—to raise money or sell tickets, to scale up, to stay relevant—all while navigating post-pandemic reopenings and reckonings around race and inclusion. What does Los Angeles need from its new guard of cultural leaders? What obstacles do their institutions face, and how can these new faces surmount them? Will all of the city’s culture centers even survive?
California African American Museum executive director Cameron Shaw, Inner-City Arts president and CEO Shelby Williams-González, and MAK Center for Art and Architecture director Jia Yi Gu visited Zócalo to discuss the change they plan to be and want to see in one of the world’s most vibrant cultural capitals. This Zócalo/Helms Bakery District event was streamed live from Helms Design Center on September 29, 2021 and was moderated by architecture and design journalist Frances Anderton.
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To merely open a bank account or secure a driver’s license, people around the world face one common barrier: paperwork. Americans, in fact, spend 11.4 billion hours a year on federal paperwork alone. Harvard legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has a name for this kind of drudgery: sludge. Sludge, he argues, doesn’t just cost time, money, and dignity—it does an immense amount of damage to society’s most vulnerable people. Bureaucratic red tape—“volokita” as it’s known in Russian—hinders everything from gaining access to food to securing healthcare. How could less paperwork help the least wealthy, least healthy, and least educated improve their station in life? Have any countries or institutions figured out what it would take to make this happen?
Sunstein, author most recently of “Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It,” visited Zócalo to talk about eliminating the piles of paperwork obscuring our path to a more equal world. This Zócalo/Pacific Council on International Policy event was moderated by New York Times assistant metro editor Nikita Stewart.
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The United States has more firearms (390 million) than people (325 million), routinely experiences mass shootings, and suffers rates of gun violence far higher than other wealthy countries. California has touted itself as a safer model, with the most gun regulations in the country, the 44th lowest rate of gun violence among the 50 states, and a 9 percent decrease in gun deaths over the last decade, compared to an 18 percent increase nationwide. Has California—with its diverse mix of dense urban centers and rural communities—found strategies that could reduce gun violence around the country? How vulnerable are California’s laws and strategies to federal judges bent on rolling back gun controls, including the state’s longstanding ban on assault weapons? And what can California—which has seen gun ownership and deaths rise amidst the COVID-19 pandemic—do now and in the future to reduce gun injuries and deaths even further?
California Assemblymember Phil Ting, UC Davis Medical Center emergency medicine physician and Violence Prevention Research Program director Dr. Garen J. Wintemute, and Hope and Heal Fund executive director Brian Malte visited Zócalo to examine the most effective ways to keep Californians and Americans safe from one of the leading causes of death in the nation. This Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event was moderated by Guardian senior reporter Lois Beckett.
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Laboratories around the world are under fire for their lack of diversity, a culture of harassment and bullying, rigid hierarchies, and research that cannot be reproduced. Is the entire research system to blame? Our model of funding individual scientists encourages cutthroat competition rather than a cooperative infrastructure better tailored to solving our biggest problems. In a recent article for Issues in Science and Technology, NASA mission lead and ASU professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton argues for a radical restructuring of the way we do research—divesting from big names and instead deploying teams to focus on big questions and ambitious goals. Can egalitarian, interdisciplinary groups of experts reshape research for the better? How will breaking away from the current model open the floodgates for more invention and discovery?
NASA’s Psyche mission principal investigator and ASU Interplanetary Initiative vice president Lindy Elkins-Tanton and Issues in Science and Technology editor in chief Lisa Margonelli visited Zócalo to talk about untethering the academic research model from the cult of personality in order to take on humanity’s biggest problems. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology online event was moderated by Issues editor in chief Lisa Margonelli.
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South Los Angeles, one of the West Coast’s last great working-class places, has been a destination point for two great migrations: African Americans arriving from the South and East, and, more recently, Latin Americans immigrating to Southern California. While media have long dwelled on examples of interracial and interethnic conflict there, the everyday reality of South L.A.’s ever-changing neighborhoods has revolved around Black-Brown co-existence, cooperation, and innovative multiracial organizing. How have South Central’s diverse residents managed to find solidarity in unsettling and polarizing times? What new and shared place-based identities have emerged from the area’s mix of histories and cultures? And what can the rest of L.A., and the U.S., learn from South L.A.?
USC sociologists Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Manuel Pastor, co-authors of South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A., and Corey Matthews, chief operating officer of Community Coalition, visit Zócalo to explore the lessons of South L.A.'s struggles and successes. This Zócalo/Esperanza Community Housing event was streamed live from Mercado La Paloma on July 27, 2021 and was moderated by Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor for culture and talent Angel Jennings.
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When Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926, she beat the record of every man who’d attempted it before her—by two hours. And she did it in a two-piece bathing suit that she’d fashioned herself, eschewing the bulky wool dress, stockings, and shoes expected to be worn by women swimmers for modesty’s sake. Before Title IX’s 1972 passage, Ederle, and pioneering sportswomen from Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias to Wilma Rudolph to Billie Jean King, began the work of breaking down cultural norms around sex and sport, as well as race and class—while making history in the process. In what ways has the world changed since women were denied the opportunity to compete because of their biology? What forgotten feats by trailblazers, on and off the turf, have been relegated to the footnotes of history? And how have earlier fights for gender equality laid the groundwork for today’s debates over equal pay, anti-trans legislation, and other issues?
LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame member Amy Alcott, ASU sports historian Victoria Jackson, and sports attorney Jill Pilgrim, who has represented the LPGA and USA Track and Field, visited Zócalo to discuss how Title IX transformed sports for women, and its unfinished work leveling the playing field when it comes to everything from equal pay to equal opportunity. This Zócalo/ASU Global Sport Institute online event was moderated by writer Lindsay Gibbs, host of the “Burn It All Down” podcast.
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California’s smaller cities are pitied, when they’re thought about at all. Media coverage of towns, especially in rural areas, emphasize their poverty, their lack of amenities and people, or their supposedly clannish cultures or peripheral politics. But the reality is that small towns stand at the center of California’s biggest challenges—climate, energy, inequality, public health, education, water, broadband access, and homelessness. And some smaller and more remote places have found clever solutions to problems that bedevil big cities. What is it like to govern a small California town in the third decade of the 21st century? And what lessons can the rest of California learn from the struggles and successes of its smaller settlements?
Gonzales city manager Rene Mendez, Coachella councilmember and civil rights attorney Megan Beaman Jacinto, and former West Sacramento mayor Christopher Cabaldon visited Zócalo to discuss what makes a good small town. This Zócalo/Cal Wellness online event was moderated by Los Angeles Times staff writer Diana Marcum.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3qazOo7
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Today, more than one-quarter of all unsheltered people in the United States live in L.A. County. And of all Angelenos experiencing homelessness, more than 70 percent are sleeping in the streets, or in makeshift structures, tents, or vehicles. Homelessness has always been a public health and humanitarian crisis, but the crisis has been exacerbated by the continued lack of affordable housing and the global pandemic. Policy changes and unprecedented housing investments, including Projects Roomkey and Homekey—converting hotels into housing—and the federal American Rescue Plan, haven’t been able to keep up with rising evictions and housing costs. Meanwhile, the issue is bitterly dividing neighbors and becoming a source of intense conflict in local politics. And elected officials, organizations dedicated to helping unsheltered people, and other stakeholders cannot agree on whether to put their resources toward local, interim housing or creating more permanent housing solutions. What should the city do to ease the crisis right now—and are many of the quick fixes being proposed truly sustainable? What sort of civic will and capacity must L.A. muster to respond to the many different fronts on which the battle against homelessness is being fought? And how much would L.A. have to change itself—its governance system, its economy, its housing, its laws—to end homelessness in the long-term?
In conjunction with the publication of new reports on homelessness from United Way and the Committee For Greater LA, UCLA California Policy Lab executive director Janey Rountree, Enterprise Community Partners vice president Jimar Wilson, L.A. resident Shawn Pleasants, Chair of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform Sarah Dusseault, and United Way of Greater Los Angeles Homelessness Initiatives director Carter Hewgley visited Zócalo to discuss what it would take for L.A. to shelter all its people. This panel discussion, presented by Zócalo, United Way, and the Committee for Greater Los Angeles, was moderated by Anna Scott, housing and homelessness reporter at KCRW.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3q4jyot
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Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political, and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series ends with “Can We Still Find the Good in the World?” It feels like such a dark time. The planet is burning with hatred, disease, and environmental degradation. And, between the confusing nature of our societies and our own biases, traumas, and privileges, it’s become increasingly difficult to be sure we will know the good when we see it. What does it mean, when the bad urgently demands our attention and action, to spend precious time looking for the good, in the world and in ourselves? What are the roots of the human attraction to goodness, and what roles does our pursuit of goodness fill in our lives and communities?
Central European University president Michael Ignatieff, author of “The Ordinary Virtues,” visited Zócalo to examine whether the human search for the good is itself still good. This online discussion was moderated by Joe Mathews, California & Innovation editor at Zócalo Public Square.
Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3pIYeF5
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As Los Angeles emerges from pandemic and tumult, Angelenos are looking for new and bigger visions of the city’s future. But where will we find ideas and practical methods for transforming institutions, reimagining public policy, or reinvesting in communities? Business leaders are consumed with recovery. Elected officials aren’t trusted, because they have long failed to deliver on their biggest plans and promises. So why not turn to L.A.’s most creative visionaries, and tap our abundance of artists? The pandemic and racial reckoning of the past year have changed how artists work, and how they see L.A. What aspirations and dreams do artists—professional and youth, visual and performing—have for a more resilient and inclusive Los Angeles? How are they putting those dreams down on canvas, on walls and sidewalks, and on our screens?
LA Commons CEO Karen Mack, artist and designer Rosten Woo, and John Malpede, artist and founding director of Los Angeles Poverty Department, visited Zócalo to discuss the change they want to see in Los Angeles, and how they might lead it. This Zócalo/LA Commons online event was moderated by arts and culture writer Catherine Wagley.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/2RvVA8R
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Boyle Heights may be divided up by L.A. freeways and thoroughfares, but its people have a remarkable record of maintaining solidarity across racial and ethnic lines. What explains the ability of Boyle Heights residents to stick together while constantly integrating immigrants and incorporating newcomers? How has Boyle Heights kept its distinctive identity in the face of social upheaval, political transformation, and waves of gentrification? And what can a more diverse America, and a more globalized world, learn from the history of this magical and multiracial neighborhood in the center of Los Angeles?
Josefina Lopez, author of “Real Women Have Curves” and Founding Artistic Director of CASA 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights, joined USC professor of American Studies, ethnicity, and history George J. Sanchez, author of “Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy,” at Zócalo to examine whether the neighborhood that birthed him might point the way to a better future for the United States. This online event was moderated by Hector Becerra, city editor at the Los Angeles Times.
Event introduced by Zócalo board member Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and former member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/34zNEXf
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The year 1924 was a watershed in American immigration. A victory for the eugenics movement, the Johnson-Reed Act established race-based quotas that succeeded in limiting the entry of Jews and Catholics from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as strengthening restrictions already in place barring the entry of Asians and Africans. It would take an extraordinary political window following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to overhaul the quota system through the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. By giving preference to family reunification and skilled workers, the legislation changed the demographics of the country, making it less European and less white. At the same time, it imposed the first numerical cap on Western Hemisphere immigration, making the U.S. less accessible for people coming from Mexico and other Latin American countries.
What lessons can we draw from these two historic shifts in American immigration? Has the United States ever been the nation of immigrants that it purports to be? And in our polarized times, can we fashion a new national identity that embraces immigrants and their families?
New York Times national editor Jia Lynn Yang, winner of the 11th annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize for her debut book, “One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965,” visited Zócalo to discuss how immigration laws have changed the American population, our communities, and the country’s sense of itself. This online event was moderated by Tomás Jiménez, professor of Sociology at Stanford University and author of “The Other Side of Assimilation: How Immigrants are Changing American Life.” Read more about Yang here: https://zps.la/3n7tKuY
Angelica Esquivel, winner of the 10th Annual Zócalo Poetry Prize, delivered a public reading of her winning poem, “La Mujer,” prior to the lecture. Read more about Esquivel here: https://zps.la/3xgB6Rq
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3wnxps2
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“I intend to live forever, or die trying,” said Groucho Marx. Distinguishing between life and its end may be easy for comedians, even immortal ones. But the task has proven surprisingly hard for biologists, who know too much about nature’s bewildering diversity. Modern science, for all its breakthroughs, has yet to produce a standard definition for life. What does it mean to be alive—and how have our answers to that question evolved over time? What roles do cells, genes, evolution, chemistry, and information play in determining life? And what does it really mean to create and protect life in our age of apocalypse and artificial intelligence?
Sir Paul Nurse—Nobel Laureate, director of the Francis Crick Institute in London, and author, most recently, of What Is Life?—visited Zócalo to discuss the search for the meaning of life. This event was moderated by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Caltech developmental biologist and author of “The Dance of Life.”
This Zócalo/CaltechLive! event was part of the CaltechLive! “Behind the Book” author series.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3oavO63
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The Atlantic senior editor Ronald Brownstein, author of the new book Rock Me on the Water: 1974- The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics, visits Zócalo to examine the complicated relationship between pop and politics. Tonight’s online event is moderated by Sandy Banks, columnist at the Los Angeles Times.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For live captioning, please turn on the video’s caption feature.
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Every year scientists who have made great inventions receive Nobel Prizes recognizing their “benefit to humankind.” Yet for all the profound ways scientific progress has impacted our lives, many inventions have affected the world in ways that their creators did not imagine. Some innovations, created for peaceful purposes, have been used in war; others have had unintended environmental or health effects. More recently, the seemingly beneficial blue LED light has been found to interrupt sleep patterns and make roadways unsafe for senior drivers. What is it like to be an inventor? Are inventors responsible for the societal ramifications of their creations? And how could a more holistic approach to innovation lead future scientists to create change with fewer unintended consequences?
Ainissa Ramirez, a scientist who did research at Bell Labs before writing “The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another,” and Issues in Science and Technology senior editor Lisa Margonelli visited Zócalo to discuss why great breakthroughs demand greater understanding. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology event was originally streamed on April 13, 2021.
For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/2QnHN3s
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Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political, and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series includes “How Do Our Cities Prepare for the Post-Apocalypse?”
It’s too late to prevent the apocalypse. Because it’s already here. A virus spreads globally, creating a pandemic, as yet uncontrolled. Climate change accelerates, and hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, and floods grow deadlier. Nuclear weapons and disruptive technologies proliferate, and economic dislocation and record mass migrations destabilize cities. Is it reasonable to expect urban centers, which are particularly threatened by many of these global phenomena, to do much more than mitigate the damage? And if world-altering disasters—from climate change to mass social breakdown—are inevitable, what can we do now to give our densest and most vulnerable communities a better chance of recovering from these apocalypses, and perhaps even thriving again in the centuries to follow?
University of Toronto professor and urbanist Richard Florida, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Forensic Architecture Senior Researcher Samaneh Moafi, and Serge Dedina, Mayor of Imperial Beach, CA and Executive Director of WILDCOAST, visit Zócalo to discuss how cities around the world might prepare for the post-apocalypse. This Zócalo/University of Toronto online event was moderated by Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter at the New York Times.
Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/2PJAeUD
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A new, bold generation of women leaders is ascending in America. They haven’t entirely ditched the pantsuit, but they have embraced eye-catching colors, up-and-coming designers, and statement-making clothes and accessories. Which means these women have also opened themselves up to the risks—and rewards—inherent in such choices. This past election cycle had no shortage of iconic fashion moments, from Vice President Kamala Harris accepting victory in suffragist white to Michelle Obama's "VOTE" necklace (by Los Angeles designer BYCHARI) going viral. Meanwhile, the fashion industry itself is being called on to take stronger political stances and right wrongs, past and present, particularly when it comes to issues of race, labor, and gender. Are we entering a new era of intertwined fashion and politics—and if so, what does it mean for these industries and institutions, and for the rest of us? What can the history of women and fashion in the political arena teach us about the perils and potential of statement-making—and sometimes barrier-breaking—style?
Studio One Eighty Nine co-founder and president Abrima Erwiah, fashion designer Bibhu Mohapatra, and fashion historian and author Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell visited Zócalo to discuss the past and present of women’s fashion in American government, and what’s next. This Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles panel discussion was moderated by Vanessa Friedman, fashion director and chief fashion critic at the New York Times.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3tBT4v3
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Global security depends on everyone having enough food. Scientist Molly Jahn started her career inventing squashes and melons. But that work led her to wonder and worry about the security of our global food supply in the face of changing climate, growing population, and new forms of war. What does “food security” really mean in the 21st century? Why hasn’t food security been a bigger part of national security debate and planning? And what would you do if you realized, as Jahn did, that the long-term food security of the nation was not assured and that no one at the highest level of government was working on the problem? Jahn, who is now at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Issues in Science and Technology editor-in-chief Daniel Sarewitz visited Zócalo to discuss the possible paths to a future where food enough for all is assured.
For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3ePH70M
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Over the last 500 years, 755 animal species and 123 plant species have gone extinct. One species can take primary responsibility for this mass annihilation: homo sapiens. From hunting and fishing to factories and farming, humans (with the assistance of diseases and other natural disasters) have managed to decimate large swaths of the planet. But beginning in the late 18th century, one group of people has managed to slow, and in some cases even reverse, the disappearance of many endangered species. From William T. Hornaday—the first director of the Bronx Zoo—to Rachel Carson—who helped launch the environmental movement—conservationists have fought an uphill battle to protect animals and habitats around the world. What drives humans to save species—some majestic (bison and bald eagles) but others decidedly less charismatic (desert tortoises and perch)? What lessons can we learn from conservationists, past and present, as we confront the growing threat of climate change to all species?
Science journalist Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, visited Zócalo with Cynthia Barnett, author of Rain: A Natural and Cultural History to discuss how the history of conservation might help us change the future. This Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.
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2020 was the year that women emerged indisputably as the world’s most successful leaders, from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s COVID responses to German Chancellor Angela Merkel saving the eurozone and minimizing damage from Brexit. But perhaps more important was the growing success of transnational feminist movements. For more than a decade, networks of women have been sharing resources, media know-how, and strategies across mass movements. Now this transnational work is producing policy breakthroughs and societal shifts, including greater protections for survivors of sexual violence in Guatemala, more reproductive rights and legalized abortion in Chile and Argentina, the decriminalization of homosexuality in India, a crackdown on sexual harassment in South Korea, and the Greta Thunberg-inspired youth movement for stronger climate response everywhere. What is next for these movements, especially in many Middle Eastern and African countries, where progress for women has been incremental? What setbacks have the pandemic and authoritarianism caused for women and social movements?
Pardis Mahdavi, dean of social sciences in Arizona State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, visited Zócalo on International Women’s Day to discuss the most promising opportunities right now for transnational women’s movements to save our world. This Zócalo/ASU Center on the Future of War panel discussion was moderated by Mi-Ai Parrish, managing director of ASU Media Enterprise.
With an introduction from Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America.
Co-sponsored with the ASU Global Human Rights Hub.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/2N91Kd2
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Men have been running the free world since men invented the term “free world.” But from the success of Jacinda Ardern and Angela Merkel at combating the pandemic to the ascension of Kamala Harris to the White House, women are demonstrating their strength as leaders more visibly than ever before. And over the past seven years, Sweden, Canada, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico all have adopted or pledged to implement what they call a “feminist foreign policy.” To that end, these nations have sought to place gender and women’s advancement at the center of every diplomatic decision, from trade agreements to treaty alliances, and from foreign aid to ambassadorial appointments. For these countries, feminist foreign policy also has had costs, including in diminished trade with nations like Saudi Arabia. What can the U.S. learn from countries that have adopted an explicitly feminist foreign policy? How might such a policy change America’s positions and priorities on climate change, migration, and military intervention, and tilt the balance of power around the world?
Scripps College professor of politics Nancy Neiman, Foreign Policy Interrupted CEO and co-founder and New America fellow Elmira Bayrasli, Chief Advisor and Foreign Affairs Coordinator for Mexico City Diana Alarcón González, and Melanne Verveer, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues and Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, visited Zócalo to explore what a feminist foreign policy would look like for America and the world. This Zócalo/Scripps College panel discussion was moderated by Alisha Haridasani Gupta, gender reporter at the New York Times.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/2OlDvIR
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Between 1975 and 2007, incarceration rates in the United States increased nearly fivefold. But over the last decade, California has slowly turned away from mass incarceration, reducing its prison population and changing criminal sentencing and other law enforcement practices to give more people more second chances. What has California done right in this transformation, and where has it fallen short? How are criminal justice system reforms changing our economy, our schools, our housing markets, our health systems, and our politics? And what would a truly just criminal justice system look like?
UC Berkeley public policy professor Steven Raphael visited Zócalo to examine criminal justice reform in California and how ending mass incarceration might change our communities. This Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation online event was moderated by Abbie VanSickle, California reporter at The Marshall Project.
Co-Presented with UC Center Sacramento.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3sta1Yd
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Surely, every debate about Abraham Lincoln has been had, and every story told—from his childhood splitting rails and his battle with depression to his cabinet of former rivals and his assassination. Yet over 150 years after Lincoln’s death, new details about Honest Abe still emerge to surprise us—and even stir up some contemporary controversy. A new exploration of a little-known 1864 episode shines a light on Lincoln's authoritarian side and his manipulative relationship with the press. With the Union mired in a bloody war with no end in sight, two New York newspapers published a presidential proclamation declaring an unpopular new draft. Lincoln declared it a forgery and shut down both outlets, threatening and imprisoning telegraph operators, editors, and reporters. But ultimately, there was more truth to the proclamation than Lincoln admitted, and the real culprits were never brought to justice. What lessons can this history teach us about the relationship between politics, media, and national security in today’s America? And to what extent should this story, and other more critical examinations of Lincoln’s behavior, change how our society understands—and honors—its 16th president?
Elizabeth Mitchell, author of "Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House" visited Zócalo with "Break It Up" author Richard Kreitner to discuss all things Lincoln in honor of Presidents Day 2021. This Zócalo discussion streamed live on Twitter on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3dkHSOK
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Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political, and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series continued with “What Would a New Cold War Mean for the World?”
Civilization faces existential threats—pandemics, climate change, nuclear proliferation, runaway technologies—that seem to require international collaboration. Meanwhile, China and the United States are engaging in greater conflict with each other, and embracing unilateralism in matters of trade, technology, national security, and the sovereignty of their neighbors. To what extent will nations, businesses, NGOs, and individuals across the globe have to take sides if the U.S.-China contest becomes a new Cold War? What are the perils of the bitter competition between China and the West over 5G networks and artificial intelligence? And is it possible to create a collaborative and resilient international order to solve big problems, or are we headed toward a decoupling of East and West?
University of Toronto historian and author of “War: How Conflict Shaped Us” Margaret MacMillan, FSI Center fellow at Stanford University and American Enterprise Institute defense and foreign policy fellow Oriana Mastro, and UCLA Anderson distinguished professor Christopher S. Tang visited Zócalo to contemplate how the world, and our lives, would change during a new Cold War. This Zócalo/University of Toronto online event was moderated by New York Times associate managing editor Philip P. Pan, author of “Out of Mao’s Shadow.”
Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.
Read more about our panelists here: https://zps.la/3cjL6OA
For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3b4KaP0
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The inauguration of Kamala Harris was a moment of many firsts—the first woman, the first Black woman, the first woman of color, the first person of South Asian heritage, even the first California Democrat to become vice president. But this moment has been punctuated by an eruption of hatred and violence, and further evidence of America's bitter divisions, making it difficult to celebrate Harris's rise as evidence of national progress. How has the country shifted over the past four years—and over the course of Harris's career—to make her election possible? What does the elevation of a career prosecutor mean at a moment when many Americans want the criminal justice system to be less punitive? And how well is the vice president positioned to help change American attitudes about race, gender, diversity, and representation? The veteran California journalist Dan Morain, author of the new biography “Kamala’s Way,” and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, co-founder of Higher Heights, an organization building the collective political power of Black women, visited Zócalo to discuss how Harris got to the White House, what we might expect her to accomplish there, and what it can tell us about our nation and the current moment. This Zócalo discussion streamed live on Twitter on Thursday, February 4, 2021.
For a full report of the program, check out the Takeaway: http://zps.la/3jrk9NJ
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Social media polarizes us. Political propaganda deluges us. And misinformation and disinformation seem to spread as quickly as COVID-19. So where can we go to find stories, analysis, and messengers we can trust? Scholars say that high-quality, fact-based local news organizations—based in our own communities and staffed by diverse and responsible journalists who are also our neighbors—can inoculate us against the toxicity that inundates us via screen, airwave, and print. But such local media are dying; more than a quarter of the country’s newspapers have closed in this century, and thousands of communities no longer have their own news outlets. So how can local, community-based information messengers be made viable again—and how do we know that they are committed to being part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem? What strategies and institutions are already working to restore the trust in information, and in one another, that provides the foundation of a healthy civil society?
American Journalism Project chief executive Sarabeth Berman, Voice Media Ventures founder and “Black Voice News” publisher Paulette Brown-Hinds, and UC Berkeley law professor and former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel visited Zócalo to explore how local media might help bring Americans together. This Zócalo/Center for Social Innovation online event was moderated by Joanne Griffith, managing editor of California Newsroom.
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Robotic trucks are beginning to roll out, carrying cargo and promises of revolutionizing freight hauling, reducing traffic, and lowering pollution. But previous waves of automation have eliminated millions of jobs in the United States. And a transformation in truck driving could come with big costs for the 3.5 million truckers who toil in one of America’s most enduring occupations and play an outsized role in our nation’s economy and road-heavy culture. Will driverless trucks become cramped and lonely “sweatshops on wheels” maintained by poorly paid attendants? What would it take to make this highly visible shift to automation serve society by creating good new jobs, making roads safer, and even helping the planet?
University of Pennsylvania sociologist and former truck driver Steve Viscelli, author of The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream, and Issues in Science and Technology senior editor Lisa Margonelli rolled into Zócalo to consider how automated trucking might transform American life. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
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America’s higher education system faces a crisis of legitimacy. Colleges and universities, while promoting themselves as forces for social mobility, have stacked the deck against their neediest students. Rising college costs, skyrocketing student debt, and increasingly out-of-touch curricula are leading more Americans to question the fairness and value of higher education. What is right, and what misses the mark, in these mounting critiques of our colleges and universities? Can institutions be forced to make sweeping changes to tuition structures, endowment spending, and affirmative action—or are these changes destined to produce more conflict? And what would it take for higher education to transform itself to better serve society?
Arizona State University President Michael Crow, co-author of The Fifth Wave: The Evolution of American Higher Education, Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr, and California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro visited Zócalo for an in-depth discussion of how to make American higher education a stronger force for equity and innovation. This panel discussion was moderated by Jennifer Ruark, deputy managing editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series began with “What Would Society Look Like Without Police?”
All over the world, law enforcement violence and corruption have reignited anti-racism movements that seek the reform and defunding of police—or even their outright abolition. Advocates of defunding the police say it would open up possibilities for addressing social challenges, from improving mental health and developing more sustainable neighborhoods and economies to repairing the damage from centuries of discrimination and state violence. How would such a transfer of resources play out, especially in communities with a highly visible police presence? Who would replace police in their core work of emergency response, violence prevention, and crime investigation? What would it mean for a 21st-century society to dismantle, or even eliminate, its policing?
University of Toronto Faculty of Social Work Dean Dexter Voisin, Harvard University professor of criminal justice Sandra Susan Smith, and Rachel Harmon, director of the Center for Criminal Justice at University of Virginia Law, visited Zócalo to explore what our communities would look like without traditional cops. This panel discussion was moderated by Jamiles Lartey, staff writer at The Marshall Project.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/378nHQs
Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.
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Since World War II, the United States has famously funded research to advance all fields of science and innovation. The resulting wave of discovery and knowledge has benefited Americans by creating new disease-fighting drugs, increasing economic productivity, and sparking an information revolution through advances like the internet and GPS. Yet not everyone has benefited from innovation equally, and our society remains bedeviled by a host of problems—from healthcare disparities to income inequality and structural racism. Can discovery and invention really fix the entrenched inequities and deep divisions that ail America? What does it take to create society-changing leaps forward in innovation and technology? Two experts in American innovation—former DARPA director Arati Prabhakar, who is now CEO/founder of the nonprofit Actuate, and Issues in Science and Technology editor-in-chief Daniel Sarewitz—visited Zócalo to consider the promise and pitfalls of innovation as the nation attempts to emerge from one of the most challenging periods in its history. This Zócalo/Issues in Science and Technology discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
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One hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, Zócalo and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County present When Women Vote, a three-event series that concluded with “What Are Today’s L.A. Women Fighting For?”
Women have made Los Angeles one of the nation’s most progressive cities, fighting for their own rights as well as those of children, laborers, immigrants, and other underrepresented groups since well before they gained the right to vote over 100 years ago. The city, which has the lowest gender pay gap of any American metropolis, has been a leader in creating policies designed to create wealth for working-class women in particular, from passing legislation to create the country’s first public bank to raising the minimum wage. But women in Los Angeles—particularly lower-income and Black and brown women—still face a number of challenges, including health disparities, housing struggles, and human trafficking. What battles are the women of Los Angeles fighting today, and what are the plans to win them?
California State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, artist and Social and Public Art Resource Center co-founder Judy Baca, Social Venture Partners Los Angeles executive director Christine Margiotta, and civil rights activist and lawyer Connie Rice, co-director of the Advancement Project, visited Zócalo to discuss what all the women of Los Angeles need to truly thrive. This panel discussion was moderated by Angel Jennings, assistant managing editor of Culture and Talent at the Los Angeles Times.
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If you commit murder in the United States, there’s a 40 percent chance you’ll get away with it. That shocking statistic belies other realities; you have better than even odds of getting away with murder if you kill people who are poor, powerless, or non-white, or if you do your murdering in less wealthy and developed places. Why are Americans willing to tolerate such widespread failure to achieve justice for murder victims? To what extent are the nation’s social problems and inequalities reflected in how authorities seek to prevent and investigate homicide? And what are the costs and consequences of this widespread impunity for families, communities, cities, and the country as a whole?
BuzzFeed News West Coast investigations editor Jessica Garrison, author of The Devil’s Harvest: A Ruthless Killer, a Terrorized Community, and the Search for Justice in California’s Central Valley, visited Zócalo to examine the American way of murder through the case of Jose Martinez, who killed three dozen people over three decades. This Zócalo online event was moderated by Judy Campbell, co-host/producer of KQED’s The Leap.
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“What do we do now?” asks Robert Redford at the end of “The Candidate,” the 1972 political satire that ends in an election upset—and existential despair. After a presidential election defined by an international pandemic and rampant misinformation and a post-election period that seems destined to be marked by bitterness and conflict, America must ask itself the same plaintive question. What comes next for the American republic, its discontents, and its enemies? Can the United States rebuild vital government agencies, including in public health, national security, and intelligence, that have been at the center of our angriest political disputes? Is there any hope for reviving our ideal of “E pluribus unum”?
Yale national security law scholar and former FBI counterintelligence agent Asha Rangappa, also a CNN commentator, visited Zócalo to discuss the way forward after one of the most traumatic elections in our nation’s history. This Zócalo online event was moderated by Julian E. Barnes, national security reporter at the New York Times.
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Few Californians pay attention to state government (much less visit the state Capitol), and few of us even bother to vote in elections for our weak local governments. So our officials are often elected by the campaign dollars of rich people, powerful developers, and a handful of labor unions. But when crisis hits California—as it so often does—we are quick to demand action and to lash out at politicians whose names we barely know. What can we reasonably expect from California leaders when crisis strikes this sprawling, dysfunctional, and disengaged state? What are essential demands in an emergency, and what is too much to ask? And what lessons do previous crises—giant recessions, earthquakes, wildfires, blackouts, the 1992 riots—hold for today’s leaders?
Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as speaker of the California state Assembly from 1998 to 2000 and as mayor of Los Angeles during the Great Recession, visited Zócalo for a blunt back-and-forth on why leaders falter in crises, and how they might succeed. This Zócalo online event was moderated by Saul Gonzalez, KQED correspondent and co-host of The California Report.
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The conventional American narrative since the civil rights era has been that states tend to violate our rights, and the federal government intervenes to protect people. But much of American history runs the other way, offering numerous examples of states acting to protect the rights of their people—notably Indigenous peoples, African Americans escaping slavery, and undocumented immigrants—from federal authorities. What’s more, state constitutions, which are relatively easy to amend, typically grant citizens far more rights than the much more difficult-to-amend U.S. Constitution. Are our state capitals better suited than Washington, D.C., to defend our freedoms? What will happen if a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority turns more debates over rights into questions for individual states? Do today’s bitter disputes over election and voter suppression at the state level suggest that it’s time to revisit the Voting Rights Act of 1965—or finally add the right to vote to the U.S. Constitution?
UC Riverside Center for Social Innovation founding director and "Citizenship Reimagined" co-author Karthick Ramakrishnan, Cornell University government professor Jamila Michener, and Cynthia Buiza, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, visited Zócalo to consider the past, present, and future of human rights in the 50 United States. This Zócalo/Center for Social Innovation online event was moderated by Richard Kreitner, contributing writer at The Nation and author of "Break It Up."
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The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 proclaimed that celestial objects are “the province of all mankind.” But so far, space travel has been a costly and exclusive province (fewer than 600 people have been in orbit). Today’s headlines about space are dominated by billionaires who dream of escaping their Earth-bound lives or providing new tourist thrills. And the biggest space travel successes in recent memory belong to robots rather than humans. How can we better use space exploration in service of all humanity, not just a favored few? What sorts of social structures and governance practices might make possible greater exploration or even colonization of space? And how might the challenges of traveling through the void of space help us survive an increasingly inhospitable climate here on our home planet?
Analog astronaut and geoscientist Sian Proctor, designer and co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture Melodie Yashar, and Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the NASA Psyche Mission and director of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, visited Zócalo to discuss the next generation of space exploration and its implications for Earth. This Zócalo/ASU Interplanetary Initiative event was moderated by Lisa Margonelli, senior editor at Issues in Science and Technology.
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Many Americans of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian heritage have thrived in the U.S. through perseverance, resilience, education, and upward mobility, despite waves of discrimination both overt and hidden. Now, COVID-19 has escalated xenophobia and anti-Asian prejudices—from references to “Kung Flu” or the “Chinese virus” to acts of violence across the country. What strategies and tools can help combat this new wave of racism and help prepare the nation for the next wave, which will also likely be triggered by a moment of fear or panic? Can we find inspiration for preventing anti-Asian violence and building a more inclusive culture from diverse communities within the U.S. and around the world?
United States Senator Mazie Hirono, Chinese for Affirmative Action Executive Director Cynthia Choi, USC historian and Two Faces of Exclusion: The Untold History of Anti-Asian Racism author Lon Kurashige, and Karthick Ramakrishnan, political scientist and director of the UC Riverside Center for Social Innovation, visited Zócalo to contextualize pandemic-inspired racism and share new ways of fighting back against it. This event was moderated by Sewell Chan, editor of the editorial pages at the Los Angeles Times, and was presented in partnership with the Daniel K. Inouye Institute.
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The United States—once revered for its political stability—now seems gripped by political mania. American discourse, particularly around government and elections, is full of conspiracy theories, paranoia, xenophobia, and overheated denunciations. Such hysteria might be the product of more recent economic dislocation, failed wars, the digital revolution, or divisive elected officials. But perhaps it has deeper roots in America’s imperial history, and the contradictions within the country’s concept of itself. What explains the demented politics of the United States, and other countries in the West? Are the leading thinkers and policymakers of the West, who portray themselves as fighting political fanaticism, making any real progress—or are they making things worse?
Essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra, author most recently of Bland Fanatics: Liberals, Race and Empire, visits Zócalo with Ronald Brownstein, Atlantic senior editor and author of The Second Civil War, to discuss whether the United States has lost its political mind.
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Across the world, elite politicians, militaries, and powerful business and political groups appear to have a monopoly on representative democracy. By exploiting the resulting discontent, populists and authoritarians have created an international narrative of democracy in decline. But in many regions and countries, including some ruled by autocrats, citizens are collaborating with local and provincial officials to expand participatory and direct democracy so that residents can make decisions themselves. What is the relationship between the seemingly opposing trends of authoritarian nationalism and stronger local democracy? How are people using participatory tools to change their communities, and the world? And what are the future possibilities and perils of direct citizen decision-making?
Participatory Budgeting Project executive director Shari Davis, political scientist and “Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy” author David Altman, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy senior fellow and former Taiwan foreign vice minister Michael Kau, and Mexico City-based youth participation expert and Ollín president Greta Rios visited Zócalo to consider how direct and participatory democracy might counter autocracy. This Zócalo/Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy online event was moderated by “Noema Magazine” Executive Editor Kathleen Miles.
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For a full report on the live discussion, check out the Takeaway: https://zps.la/3n7Evgo
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Since 1964, more women than men have voted in every United States presidential election. Yet we still don’t have a woman president or vice president; California, one of the first states to give women the right to vote, is one of 20 states that still hasn’t had a female governor, and Los Angeles has never had a female mayor. Why do women remain much less likely than men to run for office, despite the fact that they win elections at comparable rates (and that in some cases, women have an edge)? What would it take for women to achieve political power equal to that of men both locally and nationally?
One hundred years after the U.S. ratified the 19th Amendment, which was meant to guarantee American women the Constitutional right to vote, Johns Hopkins University historian Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, Institute for Women’s Policy Research president C. Nicole Mason, California State Senator and author of the California Fair Pay Act Hannah-Beth Jackson, and Rosie Rios, the 43rd Treasurer of the United States, visited Zócalo to discuss the impact a century of women voting has made on representation in America, California, and Los Angeles. This discussion was moderated by KQED correspondent Marisa Lagos, and was co-presented with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on September 16, 2020.
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Imagine a society where truth and knowledge have no value, people are glued to their screens, and world war feels imminent. Or think of a place enraptured by the seductive promises of a carnival-hawker con man. Sound familiar? The first, of course, is the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451, the story of a firefighter charged with burning books in order to destroy knowledge. The second is the fictional Green Town, Illinois, the setting of Something Wicked This Way Comes, the story of a sinister traveling carnival leader and the young boys who thwart his plot to enslave their home. They are two of the most famous novels by one of the most brilliant and beloved science fiction writers of all time: Ray Bradbury. The author, who saw the dangers inherent to the modern world, used a variety of genres, including fantasy, horror, and science fiction, to illuminate pressing issues like censorship and xenophobia.
Author Lilliam Rivera, Arizona State University Center for Science and the Imagination professor Michael Bennett, and Jonathan R. Eller, Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University, visit Zócalo in honor of what would have been longtime Angeleno Bradbury’s 100th birthday, to discuss what he would make of 2020, and what his work can teach us in the current moment. This discussion was moderated by ZYZZYVA managing editor Oscar Villalon, with opening comments by actor Joe Mantegna, and was co-presented with the Fowler Museum at UCLA on August 27, 2020.
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There are few forces of nature more formidable than a group of women fed up with the status quo. From the French Revolution—which was sparked in part by a 7,000-woman march from Paris to Versailles—to Black Lives Matter—which was founded by three women—some of the most important protest movements in global history have been women-led. In addition to organizing many of summer 2020’s continuing marches, over the past century women have taken to the streets to rally for voting and equal rights, to condemn sexual and gun violence, and to stand against the sitting president. But protest has taken other forms too, including the #MeToo movement, anti-colonial mobilizations from Ethiopia to Southeast Asia, women taking the wheel in Saudi Arabia to demand the right to drive, and boycotts and strikes like the Women’s Political Council Montgomery bus boycott. How have women risen up collectively to create change—and influenced broader movements in the process? What has made women particularly effective protesters, and what ideas have women come up with that have changed the art of protest?
USC labor historian Francille Rusan Wilson, Northeastern University feminist sociologist Valentine Moghadam, UCLA gender studies professor Ju Hui Judy Han, and Rinku Sen, co-president of the Women’s March Board of Directors, visited Zócalo to discuss the power of women saying “no” throughout history. This discussion was co-presented with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and streamed live on August 20, 2020.
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What is the relationship between American economics and American racism, and can it be severed? How will systemic racism, past and present, slow our emergence from the current downturn? New York Times journalist Eduardo Porter, author of the new book American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise, visited Zócalo with historian and writer Cynthia Greenlee to discuss economic disparities that have been centuries in the making. This discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.
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From Australia to the Amazon to the American West, megafires—wildfires that burn more than 100,000 acres of land—have grown so frequent, large, and deadly that they’ve forced a reevaluation of how human societies coexist with fire. In a warming world, governments are confronting whether we must retreat from certain places to survive in a fierier world. Have fires become too big for people and the planet? How are fire management techniques—both old (such as “cool” or prescribed burns used by some Indigenous people) and new (digital technology that maps fire hot spots)—being employed against megafires? And how can citizens and their communities learn to live, build, and plan for a future of firestorms? Historical ecologist Jared Dahl Aldern, CSU Long Beach American Indian Studies professor Theresa Gregor, and Fernanda Santos, The Fire Line author and Professor of Practice at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, visited Zócalo to examine how and whether human beings can coexist with megafires. Moderated by NPR national desk correspondent Nathan Rott, this Zócalo/Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West event was held on Zócalo’s YouTube and Twitter channels.
On Wednesday, June 24, the latest UCLA Anderson Forecast predicted a difficult economic future for California and reported that the U.S. economy is in a "Depression-like crisis." What does this mean for California’s pressing long-term problems, especially housing? Could this depression offer opportunities to make housing more affordable in an expensive state? Jerry Nickelsburg, economist and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, visited Zócalo with Erika Aguilar, director of podcasts at KQED, to explore what a post-COVID economy means for California communities. This discussion streamed live on Twitter on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
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What is the history behind the president’s style of rhetoric, and what does the past tell us about how to counteract it? Jennifer Mercieca, historian of rhetoric and author of Demagogue for President, visited Zócalo with William Sturkey, historian and author of Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White. They traded questions and insights into the history behind the president’s words, live on Twitter on June 16, 2020.
The conversation touched on the history of presidential rhetorical strategies, such as reification and paralipsis, as well as the difference between history and memory in Americans' understanding of the Civil War. The talk also explained “law and order” rhetoric, its recent history in the U.S., as well as its roots in ancient history, and discussed why it continues to appeal to certain voters.
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The Summer Olympics are the one time every four years when millions of people tune into track and field and swimming; stars from rival basketball and soccer clubs come together to represent their respective countries; and people learn (and then forget) the rules of synchronized swimming and the difference between platform and springboard diving. But the Olympics are also fraught with problems, from corruption to doping to the costs and impacts of hosting, including environmental damage, displacement, and intrusive policing. And the Games can be a stage upon which racism, homophobia, and sexism play out. Can the Olympics be rebuilt? What lessons can we take from the history of the modern Games?
Olympic gold medalist and activist Greg Louganis, Olympic medalist Lashinda Demus, athlete and ASU sports historian Victoria Jackson, and Donna Lopiano, athlete and former CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation, visited Zócalo to discuss possible futures for the Summer 2020 Olympics.
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Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a city of opportunity for African Americans. Leaving the surrounding cotton fields behind, they built churches, schools, clubs, and businesses; they were tied together by Friday night football games, dance halls, a newspaper, and charitable organizations. At the same time, Hattiesburg, like the rest of the South, was a place of systemic segregation and violent racism. How did Hattiesburg’s African American residents forge deep bonds amidst institutional oppression—and why did many of those bonds fail to survive after segregation was outlawed? What lessons can communities facing seemingly insurmountable inequality and discrimination draw from Hattiesburg today? University of North Carolina historian William Sturkey, winner of the 10th annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize for Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White, visited Zócalo to discuss the community Hattiesburg built, how it helped birth and bolster the Civil Rights movement—and why those successes may ultimately have destroyed it. Following his lecture, Professor Sturkey was interviewed by historian David W. Blight, Yale historian and author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. This event was held on Zócalo’s YouTube channel.
“in times like these / to have you listen at all, it’s necessary / to talk about trees.” So wrote Adrienne Rich in her poem “What Kind of Times Are These?” Human beings, when faced with difficulty and uncertainty, seek meaning, connection and perspective in cooking, faith or music. But in the most challenging situations, poetry plays a special role, helping us name our deepest feelings—or just “talk about trees.” What is it about poetry that allows us to escape our greatest anxieties, find space for introspection, or even achieve catharsis? What is it about the poetic combination of meter, rhyme, and carefully chosen words that hits us so hard in hard times? Why, when faced with uniquely modern problems and pandemics, do we reach for this oldest of art forms? Former United States Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and author Inez Tan, and Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos visit Zócalo to consider how reading and writing poetry can save us when all seems lost. Moderated by Carla Hall, editorial board member at LA Times, this event was held on Zócalo’s YouTube channel.
More than half of our nation’s fruits and vegetables are produced by California workers—who often risk their health to put food on our tables. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, farmworkers have been designated “essential workers” along with doctors and nurses. Yet most farmworkers lack health care coverage, even as they face health hazards including noise, heat, harmful chemicals, and musculoskeletal injuries. As they maintain our consistent food supply during the disruptions of our COVID-19 responses, farmworkers are potentially exposed to the virus while struggling with long hours, low wages, polluted air, overcrowded housing, and frequent relocations. What do Americans owe to the laborers who put fruits, vegetables, nuts, and milk on our tables? How are changes in technology and immigration enforcement reshaping the nature of farm work and its health—including mental health—concerns? What progress has been made in protecting the health of farmworkers, and what important steps are regulators or the agricultural industry refusing to take? Organic farmer and artist Nikiko Masumoto, Huron Mayor Rey León, health researcher Chia Thao, and Tania Pacheco-Werner, co-assistant director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute, visited with Zócalo to consider how to make farm work healthier. Moderated by Alice Daniel, News Director, KVPR, this event was held on Zócalo’s YouTube channel.
A quarter century ago, neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote of a young patient whose brain tumor appeared to have cost him his memory—until the music of his favorite group, the Grateful Dead, brought him back to reality. Today, scholars in the field of neuromusicology suggest that music can be a tool to improve our brains—helping children develop faster, improving the performance of athletes and computer programmers, and even reducing the number of mistakes made by physicians. What does listening to or making music do to the different parts of our brains and the chemicals that help us think? And what potential does music have as a treatment for conditions from anxiety to Alzheimer’s? Songwriter and actress Mary Steenburgen, research psychologist Assal Habibi, and Mark Jude Tramo, neuroscientist and director of the Institute for Music & Brain Science, visit Zócalo to explore how music transforms our brains.
Native American artists have long used explorations of the future as a way to reflect on the present. Contemporary Native artists, from the Mohawk sci-fi multimedia artist Skawennati to the Navajo photographer Will Wilson, have been using innovative techniques to create visual art, literature, comics, and installations to build on that tradition and reframe it in a modern context. Often described as “Indigenous Futurisms,” this movement has reconsidered science fiction’s colonialist narratives in ways that place the Native American experience at their heart. What are the inspirations for this wave of futuristic work? How does it build on the many traditions of Native American art forms? And to what extent does this art suggest ideas for addressing civilizational threats like climate change, plagues, inequality, and mass violence? Harvard historian and Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract author Philip J. Deloria, visual and performance artist Kite, and writer and Sweet Land librettist Aja Couchois Duncan visited Zócalo to explore the future through the art of today. Moderated by Manuela Well-Off-Man, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, this Zócalo event took place at Cross Campus in downtown Los Angeles.
Even in a city where people dare to be different, Zev Yaroslavsky stands out. Zev, now director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Department of History, has packed several lives into one lifetime, reshaping himself along with his fast-changing city. The child of immigrants from what is now Ukraine, Zev first drew notice as a UCLA student activist on behalf of Soviet Jews, before earning election to the L.A. City Council. Later, as a longtime member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, he was a leader in making far-reaching changes, involving everything from mass transit to healthcare to the Hollywood Bowl, in a county that he once compared to a “Soviet-style system ... with too many people only sort of in charge and no person sufficiently at the helm to take responsibility.” What lessons has Zev learned about how to get things done in Los Angeles? How can art, culture, and politics shape each other here? And what sort of city is Los Angeles now in the process of becoming? The incomparable Zev Yaroslavsky visited Zócalo to reflect on the past, present, and future of his hometown. Moderated by Joe Mathews, Editor and Columnist at Zócalo Public Square, this Zócalo event took place at Cross Campus in downtown Los Angeles.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since the current administration took office. Majorities of Americans, across all demographics, say race relations have worsened and reports of hate crimes are soaring. Are these trends the short-term product of an angry era, unregulated digital media, and divisive political leadership? Or will the resurgence of white supremacy lead to a deeper shift in how Americans relate to each other? Harvard University sociologist Lawrence D. Bobo visited Zócalo to examine how the white supremacy of today is forging the America of tomorrow. Moderated by L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks, this Zócalo event took place at Cross Campus in downtown Los Angeles.
In 2016, Californians voted to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. But three years later, the very basics of regulating legal weed remain uncertain, and the new markets for marijuana have become another confounding California mess. It’s unclear how much marijuana can be consumed before police can make an arrest for driving under the influence, or whether the state can guarantee that marijuana being sold is safe and effective. Vaping—popular yet controversial—confuses the issue further. How can local and state governments bring more clarity to the new world of legal marijuana? Why is the black market for marijuana surviving, and even thriving, during the transition to legalization? And what regulations will ensure that legal weed delivers on its promises of crime reduction and increased tax revenue? UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative clinical psychiatrist Tim Fong, executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation Cat Packer, and UCLA criminal justice and drug policy scholar Brad Rowe visited Zócalo to discuss the regulatory challenges of bringing a black market into the light. Moderated by Rolling Stone columnist Amanda Chicago Lewis, this Zócalo event took place at Cross Campus, in downtown Los Angeles.
Earlier this century, President George W. Bush’s administration sought to celebrate the U.S.-Mexico border as America’s front door. But in the years since, the border has been widely portrayed by politicians as a source of problems. Today most news is about illegal immigration, abuses of migrants by Customs and Border Protection, or President Trump’s family separation policy. This deluge of negative coverage obscures the fact that the border region is not only a place where millions of people live, work, and go to school; it is a region whose residents must negotiate the same challenges—from globalization to climate change to healthcare—that other Americans face. What, if anything, is distinctive about the routine experiences of those who live on the border? And, in a country that seems to be turning inward, do Americans who live on the border grapple differently with the world than those of us who live in the country’s interior? El Paso-based correspondent for the Dallas Morning News Alfredo Corchado, Albuquerque Journal staff writer Angela Kocherga, and cultural anthropologist and journalist Cecilia Ballí visited Zócalo to go beyond the headlines and examine the realities of everyday life along the U.S.-Mexico border. Moderated by the New York Times national correspondent Simon Romero, this Zócalo event took place at Cross Campus, in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles leaders have developed billion-dollar plans to boost services and build housing for the homeless. But such plans are now stuck in political quicksand, with neighborhood activists blocking shelters and new housing. Meanwhile, living in a city with a homelessness emergency is an everyday struggle, and there is no guidebook to dealing with sidewalk squalor or witnessing human suffering on your street. What’s the best way for Angelenos to engage with our homeless neighbors? What can we contribute to make a real difference in their lives? And who, if anyone, should we call when we perceive a threat, or see someone in crisis? UCLA sociologist Randall Kuhn, Social Venture Partners Los Angeles executive director Christine Margiotta, executive director of the California Policy Lab at UCLA Janey Rountree, and Chris Ko, Managing Director of Homelessness and Strategic Initiatives at United Way of Greater Los Angeles, visited Zócalo to discuss how everyday Angelenos can best respond to the challenges of homelessness. Moderated by Los Angeles Times editorial board member Carla Hall, this Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event took place at the Downtown Independent.
The history of modern Hawai‘i has been defined by immigration, from the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Puerto Ricans imported to work on 19th-century plantations, to the Filipino, Korean, and Micronesian migrants who make possible today’s growing tourism and hospitality industry. Arrivals from around the world have shaped and reshaped the islands’ economy and culture, and made Hawai‘i a global crossroads. But some arrivals have faced ostracism and discrimination. To what extent does contemporary Hawai‘i embrace its immigrant past and present? Have Hawai‘i residents generally been welcoming to newcomers? And what part will immigration play as the state struggles with inequality in a changing world? Former Hawai‘i attorney general Doug Chin, Yale University historian Gary Okihiro, former Pacific Gateway Center deputy director Terrina Wong, and immigration attorney Clare Hanusz visited Zócalo to discuss the role that immigration has played in the past, present, and future of Hawai‘i. Moderated by Hawai‘i Public Radio’s “The Conversation” host Catherine Cruz, this Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Talk Story” event took place at Artistry Honolulu.
No sector in the state of California relies more on immigrants than health care. One-quarter of the health workforce—from nurses to pharmacists to home health aides—and nearly one-third of all doctors and surgeons‚ are foreign-born. And, according to some studies, patients of foreign-trained health providers actually do better than patients who rely on native-born Americans. How have immigrants working in health care changed the standards and culture of our hospitals and clinics? Do cardiologists from India handle patients with high blood pressure in different ways? Might a geriatric specialist trained in Latin America approach end-of-life issues with a distinct perspective? And how have immigrant providers shaped the poor and rural California communities where they are more likely to practice? Former director of the Central California Center for Excellence in Nursing Pilar De La Cruz Samoulian, and Michelle Bholat, co-founder and executive director of the UCLA International Medical Graduate Program, visited Zócalo to examine how immigrants are changing the way medicine is practiced. Moderated by Kaiser Health News California news editor and columnist Emily Bazar, this Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event took place at The Red Zone at Gensler, in downtown Los Angeles.
More than 17 million adults in America—7 percent of people 18 and older in the U.S.—have at least one major depressive episode annually. An estimated 15 percent of all people on Earth are expected to experience depression during their lifetimes. In 2015, UCLA launched a campus-wide initiative to cut the global burden of depression in half by 2050. Are we suffering more from depression than we used to? What is the balance between genetics and life experience in determining who suffers from this disease? How have the excesses, technologies, and even toxins of 21st-century life contributed to this epidemic? And what 21st-century tools might end it? UCLA Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics director and psychiatrist Nelson Freimer, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Shelli Avenevoli, and psychologist and director of UCLA’s Anxiety and Depression Research Center Michelle Craske visited Zócalo to discuss modernity’s role in the global epidemic of depression. Moderated by Amy Ellis Nutt, former science writer at The Washington Post, the Zócalo/UCLA event took place at the House of Sweden in Washington, D.C.
Margaret Wertheim, “Space Versus Spirit: Why the Battle Between Science and Religion Is Driving Us Crazy”
Science and religion are often viewed as two competing and utterly opposed worldviews–one based on faith, the other on reason. Yet both are systems that attempt to make sense of the world and of humanity’s place within a wider cosmological scheme. Religions usually posit that the material realm is just one part of a larger whole that also includes an immaterial spiritual domain, while modern science speaks only of a physical realm. But at the birth of modern science in the seventeenth century no one imagined that science was articulating the whole of reality. Los Angeles-based science writer Margaret Wertheim will trace the history of how any notion of a spiritual realm was written out of Western science. She will examine the social, psychological, and cultural effects of this transformation and urge us to acknowledge the intellectual gifts we derive from both sides of this maddening divide.
Last May, Michael Tomasky published an essay in The American Prospect, the respected liberal opinion magazine he edits, that set Washington on its ear. "Party in Search of a Notion" was Tomasky’s call for the Democrats to rise above the politics of interest-group particularism and become the party of the common good. The influential essay got front-page treatment in The New York Times and is one of the most widely quoted magazine essays of the past decade. Tomasky will discuss his ideas, his critics, and the new historical opportunity for progressive politics.
The razor thin margin of its recent presidential election has left Mexico deeply divided and the future of its democracy in question. Mexican political scientist and columnist Denise Dresser visits Zócalo to discuss candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s challenge to the election’s outcome and the credibility gap that a Felipe Calderón presidency would inevitably face. Known for her bold, insightful, and unbiased commentary on Mexican politics, Dresser will share the backstory of this long and winding presidential campaign as well as deliver the definitive analysis on its historic outcome.
The subject of social class may the last taboo. No one likes to talk about it, but we spend a lot of time thinking—and worrying—about where we fit into the culture of conspicuous consumption. But is “class” really a matter of money? What do tastes and values say about our relationship to our own social class? Does anyone really believe America is a “classless society”? Does Los Angeles still subscribe to the theory of “you are your car” or has the cult of real estate become our primary mode of aspiration and personal expression? Join three of LA’s wittiest and most insightful social observers–L.A. Times columnist Meghan Daum, filmmaker Nicole Holofcener (“Friends With Money,” “Lovely & Amazing”) and author/performer Sandra Tsing Loh (“Mother on Fire,” “A Year in Van Nuys,”)– for a frank and provocative discussion about social class in Los Angeles and beyond.
Acclaimed actress, Amy Brenneman, creator and star of CBS’ hit series “Judging Amy,” and Brad Silberling, director, writer and producer whose films include “City of Angels” and “Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”, visit Zócalo to discuss what role morality plays in the creative process. Husband and wife and occasional coworkers, Brenneman and Silberling will compare notes, assess the state of their industry, and welcome audience input as they explore what kinds of responsibility artists have to both their audience and themselves.
One of America’s most formidable intellectuals, Francis Fukuyama, visits Zócalo to discuss his new book America at the Crossroads and to explain his very public break with neoconservative foreign policy. Always brilliant, incisive, and compelling, Fukuyama will outline his vision of a “Realistic Wilsonianism” that he thinks ought to guide America’s future relations with the outside world.
Are private foundations doing enough to help improve the quality of life in Los Angeles? Robert K. Ross, M.D., President and CEO of The California Endowment, the state’s largest private health foundation, will visit Zócalo to discuss the challenges the philanthropic community faces in LA.
Historian William Deverell, the director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, visits Zócalo to deliver a groundbreaking lecture on the role that the American West played in healing the wounds inflicted by the Civil War. After all, it was questions about the future of the West that provoked the war in the first place. Unable to reconcile antagonistic positions regarding the expansion of slavery into western territories, North and South capitulated to four years of catastrophic warfare. Then what? Did the post-war American West become a region in which to heal the wounds of disunion? Deverell explores themes of reunification through stories of the convalescence of individuals and the re-fashioning of what it meant to be an American after the Civil War.
Moderated by Jon Healey of the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board
Dan Glickman, the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), joins us to discuss the state of the film industry at a pivotal moment in its history. As Hollywood’s point man in global capitals from Washington to Beijing, Glickman works to open markets to the studios’ goods, battle piracy and promote the movie industry. In a wide-ranging interview, he will discuss everything from box office trends and the advent of high-definition home video to the challenge posed by bootlegged DVDs. He will also talk about the opportunities presented by the industry’s experiments with digital cinema as well as Hollywood’s ongoing battle to access movie screens around the world.
Is the Age of Gutenberg finished? Has the Internet now become so widespread as to render books obsolete? Are publishers dinosaur institutions? Is the crisis of American literacy also a crisis of American democracy? Does it matter? Steve Wasserman, former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, will argue that books will survive as long as the human species is defined by its opposable thumb and its obsessive need to tell each other stories.
Moderated by Andrés Martinez, Los Angele Times Editorial Page Editor
Immigration may be a national issue, but its economic implications are felt locally. Is it true that immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S.-born Angelenos? Or do those who come across the border take the work that Americans just won’t do? Join Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, civil rights attorney Connie Rice, Fernando J. Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, and Times op-ed columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan as they discuss the economics of immigration and how they affect local politics and race relations.
Greg Critser, “Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies” by Zócalo Public Square
Scientists have demonstrated that climate change is real, but polls show that 30 percent of Americans disagree. Scientists have shown that genetically modified foods pose no threat, but, according to one survey, half the country sees such foods as dangerous. And despite scientific assurances about vaccine safety, the number of very young children who don’t get vaccinated has quadrupled in the past two decades. Why are so many Americans ignoring—or rejecting—broad scientific consensus on these and other questions? Can skepticism about scientists be blamed entirely on the internet, the media, or ideological polarization among both conservatives and liberals—or do scientific institutions themselves bear some responsibility? And what are the broader consequences of this decline in belief in science as our society becomes ever more dependent on technology and discovery? Caltech historian of science and co-author of Merchants of Doubt Erik Conway, UCLA sociologist Jeffrey Guhin, and Cary Funk, director of science and society research at Pew Research Center, visited Zócalo to explore Americans’ changing attitudes towards science. Moderated by Usha Lee McFarling, Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist, the Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County event took at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
If state projections prove right, the sea level along California’s coast will rise 55 inches by the end of this century. That increase, which will be even higher during tidal floods and Pacific storms, would threaten the economies of the coastal counties that 85 percent of Californians call home. And it could spell doom for water sources, major roadways, hazardous waste facilities, military installations, power plants, airports, and seaports. How will this sea level rise change coastal communities, coastal industries from fish to oil, and postcard settings from Big Sur to San Diego? What can be done to mitigate the effects of rising seas and save California treasures? Or will California have to abandon many of its coastal and low-lying areas? Atmospheric physicist and director of the UCLA Center for Climate Science Alex Hall, California Coastal Commission member Effie Turnbull Sanders, and Sean B. Hecht, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law School, visited Zócalo to detail the extent to which California could lose its signature coastline. Moderated by Rosanna Xia, environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event took at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
Twenty-first century visions of the future now seem drawn from Hollywood horror films. Runaway climate change portends the wholesale destruction of economies and species. Scientists fear new mass epidemics. Old technologies are breaking down and new technologies are used for oppression and social control. The deluge of digital information makes it hard to separate truth from fiction. What are the risks of human society of entering a darker, less civilized age? Do the rise of authoritarians and political extremists portend greater barbarity in how our societies are governed? Even if we all agreed that we’re close to the apocalypse, do humans have the capacity to save themselves? University of New South Wales global biosecurity scholar Raina MacIntyre, SCI-Arc speculative architect and futurist Liam Young, and RAND Corporation defense policy researcher and former U.S. Marine Jonathan P. Wong visited Zócalo to examine whether the future will take us backwards. Moderated by Edan Lepucki, novelist and author of California, this Zócalo/Getty event took place in Los Angeles at the Getty Center.
We tend to think of women’s liberation as starting in the 19th century and of feminism as originating in the 20th century. But women throughout the ages have found ways to advance themselves and protect their rights even under the most oppressive circumstances. How did women in ancient societies, from Greece to China to the Yucatán Peninsula, carve out roles for themselves, resist misogyny, and defend themselves against discrimination? Which societies, if any, were open to the participation or even the leadership of women in matters of ritual and law, and which societies were the most exclusionary? And what thinkers and leaders from the ancient world proved to be ahead of their time when it came to women’s rights? UC Santa Barbara classicist and scholar of ancient Greek literature Helen Morales, University of Miami archaeologist and editor of Ancient Maya Women Traci Ardren, and Cal State LA historian of premodern China Ping Yao visited Zócalo to consider how ancient women empowered themselves long before contemporary movements. The Zócalo/Getty Villa event, moderated by Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took place at the Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades, California.
Eh braddah, howzit? Did you hear that a pidgin word—hammajang—made the Oxford English Dictionary? Wait, you missed it? No worry, beef curry. Pidgin remains one of the strongest and most distinctive elements of culture in Hawai‘i, used in everyday conversation and local advertising. What does the popularity of pidgin say about the history, culture, and class structure of Hawai‘i? How has contemporary immigration changed the ways in which it’s used? And what explains its persistence in a nation and a world where so many other local dialects have died? Former Hawai‘i Governor John D. Waiheʻe III, co-director of the University of Hawai'i Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies Katie Drager, comedian Andy Bumatai, and California-based sociolinguist and scholar of American pidgins Sarah Roberts visited Zócalo to examine pidgin’s past and present—and how long it will survive. Moderated by Noe Tanigawa, arts & culture reporter for Hawai‘i Public Radio, this Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute "Talk Story" Event took place at Artistry Honolulu in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
When it comes to picking the country’s presidents, the richest and most populous state hasn’t much mattered. Because their primaries are held earlier and they are swing states in the general election, smaller and colder places—like New Hampshire, Iowa, and Ohio—have an outsized influence on who occupies the White House. But could 2020 be different? California has moved its presidential primary to an earlier spot on the calendar, and American politics is changing in ways that make California’s technology, celebrity, and money even more important. Could that help California candidates or even fuel a Republican challenger to Trump? And if California does have a central role in the 2020 presidential drama, how might the Golden State shape the agenda of the next president? Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Gary Segura, vice president of the American Association of Political Consultants Rose Kapolczynski, and Latino Decisions co-founder and UCLA political scientist Matt Barreto visited Zócalo to discuss whether Californians will pick the next president, and what kind of president we might pick. Moderated by Zócalo’s California & innovation editor Joe Mathews, the Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
How Did the American Conquest of the Southwest Shape New Mexico’s Future? by Zócalo Public Square
History often blames genocide solely on murderous demagogues and military campaigns. But more often than not, the forces that unleash ethnic cleansing arise slowly and during peacetime, and stem from seemingly everyday interactions in places that are home to diverse peoples. What sorts of exchanges and social conditions unleash genocidal behavior? How do people who long lived together as neighbors come to turn on—and kill—each other? And can we teach ourselves to spot the early steps towards genocide so that we might prevent it in other countries or even our own? Brown University Distinguished Professor of European History Omer Bartov, winner of the ninth annual Zócalo Book Prize for Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz, visited Zócalo to share lessons from his mother’s hometown about how easily communities can slide into mass killing. The event took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles
“Economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions,” Nobel-winning economist Paul Samuelson famously joked. But recessions do eventually arrive, and when the next one hits, the United States may not be well-positioned to fight back. Instead of building up surpluses that could stimulate the economy in a downturn, the federal government has cut taxes and run up trillion-dollar annual deficits and a $21 trillion national debt. The Federal Reserve is still unwinding the actions it took to battle the Great Recession. And most Americans are unprepared for bad times, with only half saying they could come up with $400 in an emergency. How would Americans, their companies, and their many levels of government respond to a new economic downturn? Are U.S. social safety net programs up to the challenges of another recession? Could Americans overcome widening inequality and bitter political stalemates to take decisive action if the economy goes south again? UCLA Anderson Forecast director Jerry Nickelsburg, UC Riverside economist Gloria Gonzalez-Rivera, and UCLA Anderson economist and statistician Ed Leamer visited Zócalo to gauge the country’s readiness for recession. The Zócalo/UCLA Anderson School of Management Event, moderated by Los Angeles Business Journal managing editor Erica E. Phillips, took place at The RedZone at Gensler.
Today, Americans wring their hands about the systematic lying in politics, and media claim to be fighting to uphold the principles of truth and the existence of verifiable facts against unprecedented challenges. But the very idea that 'fake news' is a new problem is itself 'fake news.' Way back in 1710, Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” And lies, slander, and libel were central features of politics, public discourse, and other human enterprises long before Swift. How did previous generations deal with the prevalence and power of falsehoods? How has art, by embodying a different kind of truth, served as both a party to and a shield against lies? And does misinformation pose a bigger problem now because of the speed at which it can spread digitally? New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, Boston University philosopher and author of Post-Truth Lee McIntyre, and Jennifer Kavanagh, RAND Corporation political scientist and co-author of Truth Decay, visited Zócalo to explore humanity’s longstanding devotion to lies and whether we’ll ever develop a healthier respect for the truth. The Zócalo/Getty event, moderated by former Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks, took place at The Getty Center.
The Mueller Report promises to clarify what happened in the 2016 election and its aftermath. But that document may only add to the confusion over a broader question: What does it take to fire an American president? In recent months, critics of Donald Trump have discussed removing the president by impeachment, indictment, and the 25th Amendment. But no president has ever been impeached and convicted by the Senate, and the Department of Justice may preclude a president from being indicted. If impeachment is impossible, what methods exist, legally, for removing a president? Why do we have special prosecutors if they can’t prosecute? Is the American president, for all practical purposes, above the law? UCLA constitutional law scholar Jon D. Michaels, Wake Forest political scientist and author of The Special Prosecutor in American Politics, Katy Harriger, and Joel D. Aberbach, political scientist and former director of the UCLA Center for American Politics and Public Policy, visited Zócalo to examine the historical, customary and legal precedents that protect our presidents. The event, moderated by Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
Before the digital age, museums were places where people went to acquire knowledge. But now most of the information and images contained in museums are available on your smartphone. So how can museums stave off obsolescence? Can populist shows and attention-getting architecture keep museums relevant and pull today’s audiences away from their devices? Are some museums succeeding in redefining their purpose as providing “experiences” and at least the semblance of authenticity, like touching mastodon bones or reading directly from the pages of Lincoln’s diary or Gutenberg’s Bible? And what happens when museums try to use social media and other technology to connect visitors to exhibits—and to each other? Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County president and director Lori Bettison-Varga, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center director Lisa Sasaki, and Nicole Ivy, George Washington University public historian and former director of inclusion for the American Alliance of Museums, visited Zócalo to discuss the threats and opportunities that new technologies create for some of our most durable institutions. The event, moderated by Gregory Rodriguez, publisher and editor-in-chief of Zócalo Public Square, took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy.
2018 was the seventh straight year of record tourist arrivals to Hawai‘i. Visitor spending has grown rapidly too, generating historically high tax receipts and new jobs. But as more tourists crowd the islands and slow traffic, it’s time to ask: How much tourism can Hawai‘i really handle? Should more priority be placed on diversifying the local economy? What effect has catering to tourists had on Hawai‘i’s culture and environment? And what can Hawai‘i learn from other popular destinations about how to preserve infrastructure, culture, and identity in the face of mass tourism? Executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel Martha Honey, public policy researcher and former president of the Hawai‘i Economic Association John Knox, cultural tourism specialist and former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Peter Apo, and Frank Haas, marketing consultant and former vice president of tourism marketing at the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, visited Zócalo to consider the perils of overtourism for the Aloha State and the world. The Zocalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” event, moderated by Hawaii Public Radio’s Catherine Cruz, took place at Artistry Honolulu.
Health involves both measures, like taking our blood pressure, and perceptions—the ideas we hold in our heads about what it means to be healthy. As California attracted a more diverse cross section of people from around the world, those ideas began to change, and once-risky enterprises—from acupuncture to eating very spicy foods or drinking a glass of wine every day—are now recognized as paths to wellness. How have immigrants and their families influenced the way we understand health? What lessons are we learning—about everything from birthing to diet to meditation—from global Californians? And what is the connection between immigration and today’s greater emphasis on a holistic sense of health, which includes the quality of our relationships with neighbors and family? Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine David Hayes-Bautista, journalist and author of The Immigrant Advantage Claudia Kolker, and UCLA medical anthropologist Marjorie Kagawa-Singer visited Zócalo to examine how Californians now understand wellness. The event, moderated by CALmatters health and welfare reporter Elizabeth Aguilera, took place at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco .
A Saudi journalist living in the United States is murdered by agents of a government to which America provides arms. President Trump openly favors autocratic rulers from Russia to Hungary to the Philippines, and even expresses “love” for North Korea’s dictator. What does it mean when the president of the United States, a country long cast as a defender of freedom, sides with repressive regimes and even withdraws from democratic alliances? Is American financial and rhetorical support for autocrats really responsible for the decline of liberal democracy, or are other factors driving the rise of authoritarianism globally? And what specific U.S. actions strengthen authoritarians around the world—and which policies and institutions might frustrate or weaken them? Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations Kal Raustiala, Washington Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah, and UCLA political scientist Richard D. Anderson visited Zócalo to examine how America’s turn away from promoting democracy abroad influences governments around the world. The event, moderated by Carol Giacomo, editorial board member of The New York Times, took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
The United States is envied around the world for its unparalleled wealth. But its riches would not have been possible without what Alan Greenspan has called America’s “unique tolerance” for the messy effects of capitalism’s creative destruction. What is so special about our brand of capitalism that generations of Americans have been willing to endure so much wrenching change in its service? What moments in history have shaped America’s complicated relationship with capitalism? And how have Americans tried to balance our tolerance of economic inequality with our nation’s long-stated principles of fairness and justice? On January 24, 2019, The Economist’s political editor Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of “Capitalism in America: A History,” visited Zócalo to examine America’s enduring affection for an economic system that produces so much pain alongside its gains. The event, a conversation with Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
It’s age-old wisdom: Every single new justice creates a brand-new U.S. Supreme Court. But some legal scholars suggest that the court taking shape now, with a conservative majority established by President Trump’s second appointee, could make especially broad changes in the law. Long-established precedents on matters of race, sex, religion, and privacy could be overturned. And the basic structure of our government—the power of the presidency, the limits of regulation, access to the court system itself—could be transformed. If the highest court in the land is about to make major legal history, in what ways will Americans feel the effects? What aspects of our economy, our culture, our work, and our lives are most likely to be disrupted? And if this Supreme Court defers to the most powerful people and institutions in society, will their decisions threaten American democracy—or inspire its revival? UCLA specialist in constitutional law Adam Winkler, University of Chicago legal scholar Justin Driver, and UCLA Law School’s Beth Colgan visited Zócalo to examine how a changing high court could change America. The occasion was a Zócalo/UCLA Downtown event, “How Will the New Supreme Court Change America?” The event, moderated by Jess Bravin, Supreme Court correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
The pursuit of happiness is foundational to the United States, and happiness has become an international obsession as nations seek to measure happiness and enact policies to increase it. But this is also an era of disruption, dislocation, and great unhappiness; in the U.S., half of all adults suffer from anxiety, according to some estimates. Are the meanings and measures of happiness changing as the world is transformed by the digital revolution, climate change, and populist politics? Which factors—from job satisfaction and free time, to wealth, personality, and the quality of our relationships—have the biggest impact on our happiness? And what strategies allow us to find happiness even in the midst of uncertainty, conflict, and unwanted change? UCLA Anderson marketing scholar Cassie Mogilner Holmes, UC Riverside social psychologist and author of The How of Happiness Sonja Lyubomirsky, and UCLA Anderson behavioral psychologist Hal Hershfield visited Zócalo to discuss how people can find happiness in difficult times. The occasion was a Zócalo/UCLA Anderson School of Management event, “Can Individuals Be Happy in an Unhappy Time?” The event, moderated by Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took place at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
Americans treat crime as a public scourge. And we attack it via public systems—our prisons, probation departments, and school and youth programs—to intervene before people go wrong. But what if crime isn’t a public problem, but rather an intensely private issue tied to families? Just five percent of American families account for half of all crimes, and 10 percent of families account for two-thirds. And new research suggests crime is a family tradition passed on through multiple generations, even to great-grandchildren. Why does crime run in families? How can we help, treat, or punish families to break their cycles of crime? And what should this reality of crime mean for efforts to reform incarceration and law enforcement in the United States, home to one-quarter of the world’s prison population? Former New York Times national and foreign correspondent Fox Butterfield, author of In My Father's House: A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family, visited Zócalo to explain how crime really works and to explore the best ways to fight it. He spoke with Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” at a Zócalo/KCRW “Critical Thinking with Warren Olney” event at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
The Aloha State is on the front lines of climate change. The seas surrounding Hawai‘i already have risen as much as 3.5 inches since 1960. Long-term forecasts anticipate massive beach erosion, higher average temperatures, prolonged droughts, heavy flooding linked to volatile trade winds, and increased ocean acidity that could bleach coral and disrupt marine migration. But Hawai‘i also is on the front lines of scientific experimentation that could mitigate the harsher effects of global warming. What can the world learn from this research and the state’s experience with climate change? How can Hawai‘i set an example for sustainable living that other states and countries might emulate? University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa geologist Chip Fletcher, RAND Corporation scientist and contributor to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Robert Lempert, Honolulu chief resiliency officer Joshua Stanbro, and moderator Catherine Cruz, co-host of Hawai‘i Public Radio's "The Conversation" took part in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” event at Artistry Honolulu to discuss how Hawai‘i can help the world survive and thrive amid environmental disruption.
In the United States, a large country defined by its greatest natural wonders, engaging with nature is considered essential to good health and civic virtue. But African Americans, while representing 13 percent of the U.S. population, make up just 7 percent of visitors to our national parks; Latinos and Native Americans are similarly underrepresented among park attendees. The leaders and staffs of America’s major nature organizations—from park services to foundations to public agencies—are much whiter than the country as a whole. And studies show that non-whites rarely show up in media images of people in the outdoors. What explains this phenomenon? How much of the problem lies in a lack of access to the wild and to parks, and how much involves historic and present-day barriers? And what changes must be made before the people enjoying America’s natural beauty actually look like America? REI marketing executive Myrian Solis Coronel, Latino Outdoors founder José González, North Carolina State University environmental sociologist Myron Floyd, and writer and hiker Rahawa Haile visited Zócalo to participate in a Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County panel discussion on how to diversify access to the natural world, held at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Parents dress their children in bee costumes, and the ant has its own Hollywood movie franchise. But the lowly termite has long been best known for causing billions in annual property damages. That might now be changing. Around the world, as scientists try to figure out biology’s underlying rules and harness them to solve problems, they are looking to termites—and their guts, full of rare microorganisms—for guidance on how to transform the way we design new technologies. Can termites show us how to power our cars without worsening climate change? Do the ways termites organize themselves offer insights for creating new communication systems? Do the genes of termites suggest paths to designing new fuels or substances that might allow humans to live with a lighter footprint on Earth? Lisa Margonelli, author of Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology, visited Zócalo with moderator Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” to chew over the potential of a bug with the power to make, or unmake, the world. The event took place at The RedZone at Gensler in downtown Los Angeles.
American intelligence services have unanimously concluded that the Russian government intervened in the 2016 U.S. elections, and seeks to meddle again. One of Russia’s methods is to use social media to distribute disinformation. What’s the big-picture strategy behind this style of attack, and how badly is it damaging our society and politics? Does disinformation have lasting effects on how voters engage with democracy? What vulnerabilities in American society did Russia exploit in its disinformation campaign? And how can the U.S. best fight back? Former FBI counterintelligence special agent and Yale senior lecturer Asha Rangappa, film producer and Russian Media Monitor founder Julia Davis, Virginia Commonwealth University behavioral scientist and media researcher Caroline Orr, and moderator Warren Olney host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” visited Zócalo to discuss the power and peril of weaponizing information, in a Zócalo/Japanese American National Museum Event, held at The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
Women might have more control over their own destinies today than at any previous time in history. But in the great game of geopolitics, contemporary women rulers hold little sway. Even Angela Merkel, often referred to as the world’s most powerful woman, is merely the head of a weak coalition government in Germany, home to just one percent of the world’s people. To find women who truly dominated vast swaths of the planet requires a journey to the past—to the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, Britain’s Queen Victoria, the 16th-century African warrior Queen Aminatu, China’s Empress Wu. And no women in history have had more power over the known world than the ancient Egyptian rulers Cleopatra and Hatshepsut, who presided over her country’s busiest building era. How did these most powerful of women rulers succeed in a man’s world? And what lessons might their histories offer for a 21st-century world where women remain so badly represented in the uppermost ranks of societies? UCLA archaeologist and author of The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt Kara Cooney, University of Manchester Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley, author of Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, and moderator Bettany Hughes, a historian and documentary filmmaker, took part in a Zócalo/Getty panel discussion titled “Did Women Ever Rule the World?” on Aug. 8, 2018 at The Getty Center, to examine the legacies of the women who actually ruled the world.
Since its adoption in 1868, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has inspired advances in legal rights by guaranteeing U.S. citizens and people in the country “the equal protection of the laws.” Except when it hasn’t. From Jim Crow to the World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans, from racist police corruption to bans on interracial and same-sex marriages, American governments– federal, state, and local–have repeatedly and systematically discriminated against people despite the amendment’s clear promise of equality. How can we defend equal protection when our governments won’t? What does the Amendment’s “equal protection” really protect us from, when equality remains so elusive? And—as this summer marks the 30-year anniversary of the U.S. government’s “Redress” apology and compensation for the incarceration of Japanese Americans—how can we best remember the lessons of past violations of the 14th? Go for Broke president and CEO Mitchell Maki, Johns Hopkins legal historian Martha S. Jones, National Immigration Forum executive director Ali Noorani, constitutional law scholar Garrett Epps, and moderator Madeleine Brand, host of KCRW’s “Press Play,” took part in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute Event that examined the difficulties of enforcing equal protection. The event, at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown L.A.’s Little Tokyo, began with an introduction by Irene Hirano Inouye, reading from U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s keynote address to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Relentless verbal attacks on Mexican immigrants and Muslims by President Trump and nativist pundits are one piece of a larger phenomenon. Media, academic, and law enforcement surveys point to a rise in racist rhetoric against immigrants in this country and around the world. The effect of such rhetoric on social media has been a subject of study, but less is known about its broader social impact. Do racist words translate into violence? Does such rhetoric inhibit targeted minorities from participating in civic life, interacting with law enforcement authorities, or obtaining the services they need? And what does it mean for children—and for their health, education, and self-esteem—to grow up in an environment where such rhetoric is routine? Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA School of Medicine David Hayes-Bautista, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dean Hansell, UCLA psychologist Patricia Greenfield, and moderator Simon Romero, National Correspondent for The New York Times, visited Zócalo Public Square on July 17, 2018, to discuss the social costs of the racist rhetoric that surrounds us.
As they confront pollution and climate change, environmentalists have had to grapple with the demands of capitalism. Some see markets and corporations as obstacles to saving the planet, while others seek to weaken the capitalist system through government regulation, litigation, and appeals to the public to limit consumption. But so far, curbs on capitalism have had limited success in mitigating climate change, or producing transformational reversals of environmental damage. How can you change the consumption habits of billions of people? Does human nature require people to see personal benefits–to their health, finances, or status—before they choose to live differently? UCLA Anderson School of Management business economist Magali Delmas, author of The Green Bundle: Pairing the Market With the Planet, visited Zócalo to explain how a revolution in sustainability might be achieved by harnessing the natural human urge to consume, in a conversation moderated by Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point.”
At $20 trillion, the national debt of the United States is already bigger than the American economy and rising fast because of $1 trillion annual budget deficits. Political brinksmanship around government shutdowns and extending the country’s debt ceiling has greatly raised the risk of default. So what would happen if the U.S. actually went off the fiscal cliff, and was unable to pay its debts? To answer that question, we have one historical data point: the great debt default of 1933-1935, when Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress, and the Supreme Court agreed to wipe out more than 40 percent of America’s public and private debts. What were the consequences of that debt default for America and the world? What roles did gold, banks, and the Federal Reserve play in that crisis? And what does this history tell us about the risks and realities of an American default today? UCLA Anderson international economist Sebastian Edwards, author of American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle Over Gold, and moderator Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” visited Zócalo to explore the threat of American financial peril in a Zócalo/UCLA Anderson event titled “Could the United States Ever Go Bankrupt?” at The RedZone at Gensler in downtown Los Angeles.
Is there any canyon on earth wider than the gap between rhetoric and reality when it comes to the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico? The rhetoric is all about separation—with Americans proposing giant border walls and denigrating Mexican migrants, Mexican leaders condemning U.S. bullying, and each country accusing the other of being a source of violence. But the reality is two neighbors becoming even more intertwined in economic, cultural, and personal relationships. Today, San Diego and Tijuana share a single international airport, Guadalajara and Silicon Valley jointly develop technology, and a more educated and prosperous Mexico has more influence than ever on the food Americans eat, the jobs Americans do, and the entertainment Americans consume. To what extent are the U.S. and Mexico becoming one entity? Do today’s populist politics threaten to reverse the trend of deeper integration, or is a true North American community inevitable? Migration Policy Institute president Andrew Selee, author of Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together, visited Zócalo Public Square to explain how and why the U.S. and Mexico keep getting closer, in spite of themselves. He spoke at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
The poke craze that has swept across the U.S. is only the latest sign that Hawaii’s food holds a strong fascination for mainlanders. In recent years, high-profile chefs and experimental restaurants have popularized not only poke, but also Hawaii-nurtured Pan-Pacific dishes like Filipino pork and loco moco—which now can be enjoyed at a food truck in Topeka or a Tiki restaurant in Scottsdale. Although much of the islands’ signature fare (including pineapples) was actually imported during the colonial period, Hawaii conjures mouthwatering images of homegrown Kona coffee and macadamia nuts. And the traditional Hawaiian Luau has become a universal emblem of savory hospitality. Why is the mainland so enraptured by Hawaii’s cuisine? What role does its culinary bounty play in Hawaii’s tourist industry, and what will be its next five-star food export? Is there any downside to the mainland’s embrace—and sometimes kitschy, carb-heavy reimagining—of authentic island dishes? Chef, restaurateur, and television personality Sam Choy, food writer and author of The Poke Cookbook Martha Cheng, corporate executive chef of Foodland Super Markets Keoni Chang, Hawaii native and San Francisco restaurateur Jordan Keao, and moderator Noe Tanigawa, Arts & Culture Reporter for Hawai’i Public Radio visited Honolulu on May 31, 2018 to take part in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” discussion at Artistry Honolulu titled “Why Is the Mainland So Fascinated by Hawaii's Food?”
The conventional wisdom is that America’s rural communities and small cities are sliding into decline, despair, and disconnection. Anger, frustration, and insularity in such places are widely seen as the fuel behind President Trump’s election and a rise in white nationalism and racism. But a more nuanced look at cities like Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Eastport, Maine; Columbus, Mississippi, and Clarkson, Washington can reveal a very different picture, with local communities often demonstrating robust civic life. Are these places really so desperately disconnected from the 21st-century economy—or do they feel closer to the rest of the world through growing trade and advanced technology? Are they turning their backs on a changing nation, or demonstrating how to live together as the country diversifies? Why doesn’t the media cover more of their stories of innovation and renewal? James Fallows and Deborah Fallows, co-authors of "Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America," visited Zócalo to discuss what they found in their travels across the U.S. in a single-engine prop airplane. The event, titled “Are Small Towns Reinventing America?” and held at The RedZone at Gensler in downtown Los Angeles, was moderated by Joe Mathews, Zócalo’s California and Innovation Editor.
Eadweard Muybridge, who made the first motion pictures, was a murderer. Ezra Pound and T.S. Elliot were both rabid anti-Semites. And Picasso was a brutal misogynist who drove both his wife and his mistress to suicide. Great artists have never been angels. But as we learn more about the crimes and misdemeanors of today’s artists, to what extent can we still separate appreciation of great art from celebrating its compromised creators? Does an artist's bad behavior diminish the quality of their artwork? What does it mean for arts institutions to reject art on moral grounds? Cultural historian and film critic Neal Gabler, USC popular culture scholar Todd Boyd, Notre Dame art historian Ingrid Rowland and moderator Amanda Fortini, a contributing writer to The New Yorker, took part in a May 16 Zócalo/Getty panel discussion titled “Can We Appreciate the Great Art of Bad People?” at The Getty Center to examine how, and whether, we can value the art of rogues and criminals.
Ancient peoples and thinkers had sophisticated ideas about living in harmony with nature. From Greek city-states to Maya civilization, people thought that what humans did—how they planted, how they worshipped, how they conducted themselves—could influence both the Earth’s behavior and their own fate. When droughts or volcanic eruptions threatened crops, rulers had to manage panicked citizens while explaining the cosmic reasons for nature’s revolt. Many ancient societies adopted ecological practices emphasizing individual civic responsibility for the benefit of all, and some ancient thinkers developed such ideas as well. What can the ancients teach us about how collective moral values and social habits can connect citizens to the world around us? What were the blind spots in ancient orders that sometimes led to ecological catastrophe? How can understanding ancient mythologies and philosophies about nature help us rethink our own? Princeton political scientist Melissa Lane, author of "Eco-Republic: What the Ancients Can Teach Us About Ethics, Virtue, and Sustainable Living," archaeologist and director of the UC Santa Barbara Mesoamerican Research Center Anabel Ford, Yale historian of Ptolemaic Egypt Joseph Manning, and moderator Scott Tong, Sustainability Correspondent for Marketplace, took part in a Zócalo/Getty Villa Event panel discussion at The Getty Villa to explore what ancient civilizations can teach us about how to live with nature today.
The United States is moving toward more protectionist policies—abandoning a system of free trade that America itself had built. Nationalists in the White House and labor unions are embracing tariffs to protect older industries, like steel and aluminum, while some economists encourage trade protections for America’s intellectual property and new technologies like artificial intelligence. What does greater protectionism look like in 21st-century America? Are there advantages to raising tariffs? And in what ways will American businesses, workers, and consumers feel the consequences of protectionism and resulting trade wars? UCLA Anderson economist Ed Leamer, Former U.S. Treasury Department senior coordinator for China affairs David Loevinger, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade and Compliance in the Obama Administration Michael Camuñez, Director of the University of California Agricultural Issues Center Daniel Sumner, and moderator and reporter for The New York Times Natalie Kitroeff, took part in a Zócalo/UCLA Anderson event at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles to discuss how a newly protectionist America will affect Americans.
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther has done more than flex international box-office muscle while earning critical raves at home and overseas. The superhero blockbuster also has shaken up Hollywood’s long-held myth that big-budget popcorn flicks about black people, with largely black casts, couldn’t pull in crowds in places like Asia, Russia, the African continent—or even white American audiences. Despite the proven crossover appeal of movies like Beverly Hills Cop and The Color Purple, and the global fan base of stars like Will Smith, Angela Bassett, Denzel Washington, and Samuel Jackson, the major studios too often confined black talent to a celluloid ghetto of stereotyped storylines and clichéd characters. But writer-director Ryan Coogler’s film has become not only one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, across all audiences, but also a significant cultural event, inspiring storytellers of many different types and sparking debate among activists and scholars about the politics of its underlying themes and messages. What will be the long-term impact of this phenomenon? Is this just old school commercialism with a new face, a tectonic shift in cultural representation and opportunity, a one-time aberration, or something else? Black Panther executive producer Nate Moore, UCLA Dean of Social Sciences and author of UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report Darnell Hunt, Duke cultural historian and host of the webcast Left of Black Mark Anthony Neal, and Afrofuturist novelist and screenwriter Tananarive Due discussed the film and these questions in a Zócalo/UCLA event titled “Will ‘Black Panther’ Really Change Hollywood?” at the ArcLight Hollywood.
Democracy can mean very different things—majority rule, self-governance, the way we vote for our favorite contestants on TV dance competitions—to different people and in different places. Our lack of a shared definition of democracy adds to the confusion in times like our own, when we hear warnings of grave and growing threats to democracy. What does “democracy” really mean now in a world where almost every country purports to be democratic? Oxford political scientist Stein Ringen, Brookings Institution/Robert Bosch Foundation fellow and former Clinton Administration foreign policy advisor Ted Piccone, Mélida Jiménez, program officer at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and moderator Warren Olney, host of KCRW’s “To the Point,” took up that question in a panel discussion titled “What Does Democracy Mean in the 21st Century?” a Zócalo/KCRW Berlin Event in partnership with the Daniel K. Inouye Institute and Villa Aurora/Thomas Mann House, held at the CIEE Global Institute in Berlin, Germany.
Authoritarian populists have seized power—from Turkey to Poland, and India to the United States—and things may get worse. Trust in democracy is wilting in many societies, to the point that rising numbers of people in Western democracies prefer military to representative rule. Yascha Mounk, author of The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It, argues that stagnating living standards, corruption, social media, and a backlash against multiethnic governance are driving the public’s disenchantment with democracy. What sort of actions can be taken to restore the public’s commitment to self-government? Mounk, a Harvard lecturer, visited Zócalo Public Square and spoke with Zócalo columinist Joe Mathews about how the people can be convinced to love democracy again.
California has exited a long period of high immigration, during which it struggled with whether and how to welcome newcomers. But other parts of the United States are still in the midst of reckoning with immigration and the questions it poses. What did California get right—and what did California do wrong—during its immigration wave? How many of the Golden State’s successes in integrating immigrants were a result of government and policy, and what is the product of our open culture and laissez-faire attitude about so many things? UC Immigrant Legal Services Center executive director Maria Blanco, Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly, California state director of Immigrant Integration Daniel Torres, and moderator Foon Rhee, a columnist and associate editor for The Sacramento Bee, discussed these issues in a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event titled “What Can California Teach America About Immigrant Integration?” at Sacramento’s Capital Center.
American mass shooters. Islamic terrorists. Vengeful nationalists. Racist presidents. Social media misogynists. In today’s world, paranoid hatreds—and the wrath of the people who spread them—is inescapable. Where does all the rage come from? Pankaj Mishra, author of "Age of Anger: A History of the Present," locates the answer, paradoxically, in modernity’s successes. As the world has become more closely linked via mass politics and technology and the pursuit of wealth, those unable to enjoy the fruits of progress have been cast adrift, uprooted from older traditions. Many have responded by lashing out. Mishra visited Zócalo to explore the paradoxical perils of freedom, stability, and prosperity, in a conversation titled “Why Is the Modern World So Angry?” moderated by Gregory Rodriguez, founder and editor-in-chief, Zócalo Public Square, at the National Center for the Preservation for Democracy, in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles.
Where do we find answers to the world’s growing plagues of chronic illnesses—from diabetes to high blood pressure and from cancer to depression? In childhood. Surveys and research show a connection between ill health in adults and adversity in childhood—including divorce, substance abuse, neglect, and various other forms of emotional and physical abuse. And research shows that high stress levels during childhood change our neural systems in ways that can last a lifetime. What is the nature of the connections between childhood stress and health? How can we better assist unhealthy adults whose problems are rooted in childhood trauma? And how can we make children more resilient? Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician, and founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, and author of The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, and Carol S. Larson, president and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, took part in a Zócalo Public Square event titled “Does Childhood Trauma Live in the Body Forever?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. They explored the newest thinking on how people can overcome childhood trauma and avoid its long-term ill effects.
Is the Trump Administration restoring American greatness, as its fans claim? Or is it a threat to American democracy, as its critics fear? E.J. Dionne, a leading American political journalist and Washington Post columnist, suggests a third option: that the Trump administration, by trampling so many norms and so thoroughly shaking up the system, could inspire a wave of participation, activism, and national soul-searching that leads to a democratic renewal. Dionne took part in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” panel discussion titled “Will the Trump Administration Renew American Democracy?” at Artistry Honolulu in downtown Honolulu. He was joined by Colleen Wakako Hanabusa, the Democratic U.S. representative for Hawaii’s 1st congressional district, and a candidate for governor of the Aloha State, and moderator Bill Dorman, news director of Hawai’i Public Radio.
The “Mexicanism” of Los Angeles, wrote Mexican poet and onetime L.A. resident Octavio Paz, “floats, never quite existing, never quite vanishing.” L.A.’s historical connections to Mexico and the rest of Latin America are well known, and its human connections—in a city of immigrants and their progeny—are obvious. Mexicans and Central Americans in particular have shaped Angeleno identity for generations. But how Latin American is L.A. really? Comedian and art collector Cheech Marin, Univision anchor León Krauze, and The New York Times national correspondent Jennifer Medina, and moderator Gregory Rodriguez, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Zócalo Public Square, joined in a Zócalo/Getty “Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA” panel discussion, “Is L.A. Really Part of Latin America?” to examine the bridges and walls between Los Angeles and the world to its south.
Depression is the world’s greatest health problem and leading source of human misery. One in four women and one in six men suffer from depression, which has a devastating economic impact since those afflicted often can’t work. Depression is also the strongest risk factor for the world’s 1 million annual suicides—a total that outnumbers deaths from war, natural disasters, and murder. And while new research is identifying the various biological, cognitive, and environmental factors associated with depression and thus offering the promise of progress, the prevalence of the disease grows and it remains hard to treat. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, National Alliance on Mental Illness policy director Darcy Gruttadaro, and UCLA behavioral geneticist Jonathan Flint, came together at a Zócalo/UCLA panel discussion to examine “How Can We Reverse the Depression Epidemic?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
Barack Obama was president of the United States for eight years, and the broad outlines of his story—his Hawaiian birth, his fatherless childhood, his education at elite institutions, his work as a community organizer and politician in Chicago—are now familiar elements of American history. But even today, Obama retains a remarkable mystique, and can seem unknowable. All leaders must create narratives around themselves, but Obama’s is especially dense and complicated. Who is Barack Obama? How did he construct his own identity—and what did that construction mean for the way he governed America? David J. Garrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, sat down with Warren Olney at Zócalo to unpack the peculiar origin story of the American president in a Zócalo/KCRW “Critical Thinking with Warren Olney” event titled "How Did Barack Obama Create Himself?" at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
By many measures of personal happiness, job satisfaction, and pride in their communities and their state, Hawaii residents rank near the top among all Americans. Yet this doesn’t translate into high levels of civic engagement. Hawaii consistently sits near the bottom in participation in national elections, and ranks low in charitable giving and volunteering. Dean of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy Pete Peterson, director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association Randy Perreira, and Barbara Ankersmit, president of research at marketing and communications firm Anthology, joined moderator Gina Mangieri, a KHON2 investigative reporter, in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” Event panel discussion titled “If We Love Hawaii So Much, Why Don’t We Vote?” on Nov. 29, 2017 at Artistry Honolulu.
As America retreats from global leadership—blowing up trade agreements, questioning longstanding security alliances, dropping out of the Paris climate accord—China is stepping into the void. Yet for all its advances, China remains a developing country itself, with one of the world’s most repressive governments. UCLA Anderson economist Jerry Nickelsburg, biotech executive Yiwen Li, UCLA Anderson business administration scholar Christopher S. Tang, and UC San Diego political economist Ruixue Jia, along with moderator Julie Makinen, former Beijing Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times, on Nov. 16, 2017 took part in a Zócalo/UCLA panel discussion titled “Is China Prepared to Lead the Global Economy?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
North Korea test-fires intercontinental missiles that may be able to reach the U.S. West Coast. Kim Jong Un threatens Guam, tangles with China, and conducts a nuclear test of what his country claims is a hydrogen bomb. And in America, a dysfunctional and internationally unpopular White House answers North Korean provocations with threats of “unprecedented fire and fury.” How close is the world to a calamity on the Korean peninsula? UCLA Korea historian John Duncan, senior advisor at the nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation collaborative N Square Paul Carroll, cultural researcher at UCLA film school Suk-Young Kim, CEO of Liberty in North Korea Hannah Song, and moderator Jean H. Lee, former Pyongyang Bureau Chief of the Associated Press, visited Zócalo on Oct. 24, 2017 to discuss the looming threat, and potential aftermath, of a renewed Korean war in a Zócalo/UCLA panel discussion titled “Is War With North Korea Inevitable?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown Los Angeles.
Housing never has been more valuable than it is in today’s California—the average Golden State home is worth nearly a half-million dollars, more than two-and-a-half times the national average. But what are the hidden costs of this over-the-top home equity to California, its economy, and the aspirations of longtime residents as well as newcomers? What kind of pressures do soaring housing costs place on Californians—from young families struggling to buy first homes and achieve financial security, to older working people who want to retire but fear whether they can afford to keep living here? How much of a factor are housing prices in the decisions of Californians to live farther from their jobs or depart the state entirely? These and other questions were discussed by California Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, AARP housing policy expert Rodney Harrell, executive director of Housing California Lisa Hershey, and dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Gary Segura during a Zócalo / AARP event, titled “Are Housing Prices Destroying the California Dream?” on October 12, 2017 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles.
America’s college campuses have become crucial testing grounds—and, at times, battlegrounds—as the country grapples with rapidly changing modes and mores of sexual behavior and expression. Fraternities are being scrutinized for promoting a culture of alcohol-fueled male privilege and presumption. Lecture halls and quads ring out with passionate debates about how to set the ground rules for sexual consent. Academic officials are being called to act as judges and arbiters over some of the most intimate aspects of students’ lives. Vanessa Grigoriadis, contributing editor at The New York Times Magazine and author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus, explored these trends, as well as the written and unwritten rules of sexual engagement, at a Zócalo event, “Are College Campuses Rewriting the Rules of Sex in America?” on October 11, 2017 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles.
From Benedict Arnold’s defection to the McCarthy hearings to the Edward Snowden affair, the American public and the U.S. political system have wrestled with the meaning of treason—legally, morally, and politically. And in our own complex era of digital eavesdropping and online secret-sharing, definitions of treason have become still grayer and more elusive. What does it mean to contemporary Americans to betray one’s country? Who gets to decide and pass judgment on what constitutes treason—juries, politicians, the mass media, social networks? And have traditional ideas about treason kept pace in a world where many people’s sense of their duty to country may conflict with other deeply held allegiances, identities, and ethical convictions? Those and other questions were taken up by UCLA legal scholar Eugene Volokh, UC Davis legal scholar Carlton F.W. Larson, and Yale senior lecturer and former FBI counterintelligence special agent Asha Rangappa at a Zócalo Public Square / KCRW “Critical Thinking With Warren Olney” event titled “What Does Treason Look Like?” on October 10, 2017 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles.
The Republican Party should be the dominant force in American politics. GOP politicians now control the White House, 33 governorships, and hold majorities in the U.S. House, Senate and 32 state legislatures. But in spite of the party’s electoral success, the rise of Donald Trump has raised difficult questions about the party’s long-term future. Does Trump’s flirtation with white nationalism threaten to taint the party of Lincoln and permanently alienate younger and more diverse generations of Americans? Can the GOP survive the rise of anti-establishment forces on the right that reject old-guard conservatives who remain its financial base? Moderator Christina Bellantoni, Assistant Managing Editor, Politics, for the Los Angeles Times, was joined by Mike Madrid, a Sacramento GOP political consultant and partner at GrassrootsLab, Cassandra Pye, a public affairs strategist and founder of 3.14 Communications, and Leslie Graves, publisher of Ballotpedia, to consider whether the Republican Party is stronger or weaker than it looks, and whether its main rival, the Democratic Party, is in better or worse shape.
Donald Trump has said that many immigrants are criminals and security risks, and that in response he is pursuing an “America First” agenda of deporting and banning those migrants whom he claims could pose threats to public safety. What does that mean for Los Angeles County, where more than one-third of residents were born in another country? How has life changed for L.A. immigrants—from the undocumented, to green card holders, to longtime naturalized citizens—as a result of Trump’s rhetoric and policies? These questions took center stage at a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event titled “What Does Trump Mean for Immigrant L.A.?” at The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Moderator Jennifer Medina, a reporter for The New York Times, was joined by Roberto Suro, director of USC’s Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, James McDonnell, the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Stephen Cheung, the president of World Trade Center Los Angeles, and Cinday Carcamo, who covers immigration for the Los Angeles Times, to discuss how the Trump administration’s aims have affected daily life for immigrants in Los Angeles.
Hawaii’s geographic isolation, unique volcanic topography, complex colonial past, and vibrant ethnic mix keep it at a certain distance from the broader American historical experience. How does Hawaii's fierce sense of exceptionalism influence its place in American culture? What’s happening to this sense of identity as more Hawaii residents leave and integrate with the world beyond its shores? Those were among the key questions taken up at a Smithsonian/Zócalo “What It Means to Be American” event titled “Does Hawaii Have America’s Strongest Identity?” before a packed house at Artistry Honolulu in Honolulu. Moderator Lee Cataluna, a metro columnist for The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, was joined by Jasmine Trias, singer and American Idol finalist, Kurt Osaki, graphic designer and founder of Osaki Creative Group, Lawrence Downes, journalist and former editorial board member of The New York Times, and comedian Augie T to discuss the 50th state’s strong, but rapidly evolving, sense of itself.
The abstract, everywhere-and-nowhere space of the “global art world” actually consists of thousands of local artists and local arts organizations that are building bridges with other localities by tapping into common human experiences. How can local artists and arts organizations, especially those with limited budgets, create these types of connections with localities both near and far-flung? This was a crucial question of a keynote speech, “How Do the Arts Appeal to Local Crowds in a Globalized World?” delivered by The Asia Society’s vice president for global arts programming Boon Hui Tan at Zócalo/Irvine Foundation conference, “What Can the World Teach California About Arts Engagement?” on June 25, 2017 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Arts organizations have crunched much data and spent many fortunes in search of new ways to engage younger people and those who previously did not spend much time at concerts or in galleries. Their cutting-edge strategies are about meeting people where they are, and delivering more of the arts they want. But does the public even know what it wants? Have all the investments in outreach, digital displays and technology produced results? Or are we learning that attracting audiences is itself less a science and more an art? These were some questions posed at a panel discussion, “What Does the Public Want From the Arts?” at a Zócalo /Irvine Foundation conference, “What Can the World Teach California About Arts Engagement?” Speakers on the panel included moderator Chris Jones, the chief theater critic for the Chicago Tribune; Randi Korn, founding director of museum planning specialists Randi Korn & Associates, Mexico City-based performing arts curator and consultant Cristina King Miranda, and Japanese American Cultural and Community Center president Leslie A. Ito.
Where are the most creative ideas for pulling people into the arts, and into the lives of their nations, their cities and their neighborhoods? Which specific programs have attracted new audiences? Those questions were raised in a panel discussion on “How Is the Art World Innovating to Reach Broader Audiences?” at a Zócalo Public Square Conference titled “What Can the World Teach California About Arts Engagement?” on June 25, 2017 in downtown Los Angeles. Moderator Seth Porges, a technology writer and television personality, led the panel comprising New Orleans-based visual artist Brandan “BMike” Odums; Rosa Ferré, exhibitions chief at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona; and Berlin-based opera director Lydia Steier.
What is the nature of the relationship between embracing the arts and participating in the life of a community? When and under what circumstances do the arts bind people and places together—and when do they divide us? And what do we need from the arts at a moment when many people are more isolated, and our civic life more polarized? These questions were discussed during a panel, “Does Art Really Make Us Better Citizens?” at a Zócalo/Irvine Foundation conference, “What Can the World Teach California About Arts Engagement?” moderated by Suse Anderson, co-host of Museopunks and Assistant Professor of museum studies at George Washington University. The speakers included Middle East Institute Arts & Culture Program director Lyne Sneige; Arts and Humanities chair of Mexico’s Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Lerma, Luz María Sánchez; global arts consultant Gail Dexter Lord; and cultural historian and chair of Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Lynne Conner.
Some studies consistently have shown that attendance is declining for “benchmark” arts events, the kind that take place in concert halls and formal theaters and don’t ask audiences to do much more than show up, watch and listen, and applaud on cue. But, at the same time, a profusion of relatively inexpensive DIY digital technology is allowing millions of people to participate in the arts in new ways, by creating and curating their own cultural experiences. Will the net result encourage arts engagement or hinder it in the long run? Those and other questions were taken up by Steven Tepper dean of Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and the author of Not Here, Not Now, Not That! Protest Over Art and Culture in America, during a Zócalo Public Sauare Conference titled “What Can the World Teach California About Arts Engagement?” on June 25, 2017 in downtown Los Angeles.
Even as digital technology has grown more sophisticated, accessible, and integral to our lives, social inequality has cast a deeper shadow across the United States in recent decades. Getting a quality education has become ever more essential for individual success and fulfillment. But can tech-enhanced education help break down—or perhaps even erase—our widening social divisions? That question was unpacked by a panel at a Zócalo/Arizona State University event titled “Can Digital Learning Dismantle the American Class System?” at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Moderator Goldie Blumenstyk, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, was joined by retired superintendent of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Darryl Adams, college provost at the University of Maryland University College Marie Cini, Arizona State University president Michael Crow, and Google chief education evangelist Jaime Casap to discuss how digital education can create connectivity and opportunities for people across social classes.
What defines glamour, and why do we need it? Bloomberg View columnist Virginia Postrel, author of The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion, offered her thoughts on what makes up this elusive quality—as well as her thoughts on what glamour is not—at a Zócalo/Getty Center event.
KCRW Good Food host Evan Kleiman talks with a panel of people who look at food from different angles--UCLA epidemiologist Alex Ortega, food blogger Javier "The Glutster" Cabral, and former Bon Appetit editor Barbara Fairchild--about what L.A. is eating right now. Los Angeles is a city of two food worlds, richer and poorer. We're home to many farmers markets and world renowned restaurants. But a million people here go to bed hungry, and obesity is a large problem.
Delta farmer Russell van Loben Sels, PPIC senior fellow Ellen Hanak, deputy operating officer for the Santa Clara Valley Water District Joan Maher, and executive officer of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy Campbell Ingram talk with San Francisco Chronicle deputy editorial page editor Lois Kazakoff about a major source of California's water supply, the California Delta, at a panel co-presented by Occidental College. Will the Bay Delta Conservation Plan work? What are the biggest problems facing the Delta today? And, what do Californians need to know about this part of our state?
For years, Rupert Murdoch has been “the most influential and important media figure in the English-speaking world,” according to National Public Radio media correspondent David Folkenflik, author of Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires. Folkenflik spoke with L.A. Observed publisher Kevin Roderick about how Murdoch has changed journalism not just at his own holdings but around the world at a program co-presented by ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism.
A new law in Arizona requires the state to fail— and hold back—third graders who haven’t learned to read. An estimated 1,500 students will be held back this year. Why are so many 9-year-olds struggling with literacy, how can schools and teachers best help them? Arizona Republic education reporter Cathryn Creno talks with ASU literacy education scholar Frank Serafini, City of Phoenix youth and education program manager Tim Valencia, and Phoenix elementary school instructional coach Daniela Robles about the state of Arizona elementary education and whether this policy can work at a panel co-presented by the ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, have spoken by phone. It appears that Rouhani, a moderate, wants to negotiate and change the two countries’ relationship. Does Iran actually want a rapprochement, and will this be possible? How do Iranians feel about the United States? How do Americans--our leaders and the public alike--feel about Iran? Occidental College political scientist Hussein Banai, Asia Society vice president of global policy programs Suzanne DiMaggio, and Occidental College historian Thaddeus Russell talked with former NBC correspondent George Lewis about the future of U.S.-Iran relations at a panel co-presented by Occidental College.
Wildly famous. Frequently scandalous. Speakers of truth to power. Action heroes. Acclaimed by the people. Romantic, rebellious, charismatic, inspirational. These were just a few of the ways saints were described at a Zócalo/Getty panel that asked a group of scholars of art, history, and religion, “Why Do We Need Saints?” Documentary filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez speaks with Cabrini College folklorist Leonard Primiano, UC Riverside medieval art historian Conrad Rudolph, and University of Notre Dame theologian Candida Moss about how the cult of saints came to be, and what saints offer those who love and pray to them.
The debate over gun rights is so contentious in America that it often seems the two sides are speaking different languages. The fight continues, bitterly—and yet nothing seems to change. At an event co-presented by the California Wellness Foundation, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, USC legal scholar Jody David Armour, and Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Executive Director Robyn Thomas offered their thoughts to a standing-room-only crowd at the RAND Corporation on what, if anything, might end this deadlock.
Joe Mathews, California editor of Zócalo Public Square, talks with Westlands Water District Chief Deputy Manager Jason Peltier, Chance of Rain publisher Emily Green, environmental attorney Peter Culp, and Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization, about how much water should cost. In a time of scarcity, this is the most important question, and it's one that's being wrestled with all over the world today.
Occidental College biologist Gretchen North, RAND Corporation senior scientist Robert Lempert, and UC Irvine hydrologist James S. Famiglietti talk with Occidental College historian Thaddeus Russell about the different ways water is threatening humanity today. Drought and finding clean water have always been issues in different parts of the world, but climate change is making the wet parts of the world wetter and the dry parts drier, which is complicating the search for solutions.
Los Angeles Times water and environmental reporter Bettina Boxall talks with Southern California Water Committee executive director Richard W. Atwater, Maven's Notebook publisher Chris Austin, and Reason science correspondent Ronald Bailey about how Californians are learning to live with less water. They explained what Californians, and the institutions that govern us, can do to decrease our consumption and usage of water.
Just one woman in Los Angeles is currently an elected city official; we're one of the most progressive places in the country, and in 2001 we had a total of five women on the council. What's happened, and is there a way to change this trend? Los Angeles News Group opinion editor Mariel Garza spoke with Robin Kramer, former chief of staff to Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Richard Riordan, KPCC politics reporter Alice Walton, and former deputy mayor and mayoral candidate Linda Griego about gender and politics in L.A. today.
Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson talks with New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina about the past, present, and future of American unions, and their relationship with the American left. Labor is struggling to stay relevant, but by bringing in people who aren't in unions and by forming alliances with other organizations, the movement can again have power in American politics.
We know them when we feel them, or when we hear them blowing through the trees--and we can quote L.A. writers Raymond Chandler and Joan Didion on their power to inspire murderous thoughts and unease. But what exactly are the Santa Ana winds? How do they wreak destruction on Southern California? And why have their legends persisted? UCLA meteorologist Robert Fovell, L.A. County Fire Captain Drew Smith, and novelist Janet Fitch talked with Libros Schmibros founder David Kipen about the myths, history, and science of the Santa Ana Winds
Zoobiquity coauthor Kathryn Bowers talked with Natural History Museum environmental educator Lila Higgins, City of L.A. wildlife specialist Greg Randall, and Beth Pratt, the California director of the National Wildlife Federation about the biodiversity hot spot that is Los Angeles. We share our city with mountain lions and bears, as well as amphibians, snails, and songbirds--and it's time we learn to appreciate these wild neighbors.
Los Angeles Times transportation reporter Laura J. Nelson talks with LADOT bicycle coordinator Nate Baird, director of advanced mobility research at Art Center College of Design Geoff Wardle, and Move LA executive director Denny Zane about whether the bicycle will ever become Angelenos' primary method of transportation. Even if that doesn't happen, though, the panelists agreed that it's time for a truce among bicyclists and drivers in Southern California. It's time, too, they said, to secure funding, build new infrastructure, and remake our city's culture to include more modes of transit.
The 2013 decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court settled some questions: Federal discrimination against same-sex marriages is now unconstitutional. California must now reopen marriage to same-sex couples. But the decisions have also raised broad new legal and political questions—not to mention literally thousands of technical questions about how to apply existing statutes and regulations to same-sex marriages. L.A. Times federal courts reporter Maura Dolan talks with UCLA Williams Institute research director M.V. Lee Badgett, San Francisco chief deputy city attorney Therese Stewart, and UCLA Williams Institute legal director David Codell about the future of marriage rights in America.
As much as social scientists have learned about what drives people’s decision-making, we still haven’t found a silver bullet for changing people’s behavior. Yet at a panel co-presented by UCLA at MOCA Grand Avenue and moderated by The Atlantic contributing editor David H. Freedman, L.A. County Director of Public Health Jonathan Fielding, University of Minnesota social psychologist Traci Mann, and UCLA health economist Frederick J. Zimmerman agreed that it is possible to get people to make better health choices—if you give them time, and you engage them on several fronts.
Former Intel CEO and president Craig R. Barrett and Arizona State University president Michael M. Crow discussed what comes after the computer chip, the past 50 years of technological change, and what the United States needs to do to stay at the cutting edge of technology innovation.
Stanford University economist Anat Admati, author of The Bankers' New Clothes, argues that the roots of the 2008 financial crisis lie in the excessive debt the banking industry takes on. But the reforms that have been put in place over the past few years are woefully inadequate. If we can regulate the amount of money banks borrow, we might be able to prevent the next crisis.
Even a century after Richard Nixon’s birth, his life and political career are still almost always considered in light of his demons and dark side. But former New Yorker editor Jeffrey Frank, author of Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, chose to dissect Nixon in an entirely different context—that of his relationship to his boss and eventual in-law, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for whom Nixon was a two-term vice president. In a conversation with former Nixon Presidential Library director Tim Naftali, he explained how this relationship may have influenced the rest of Nixon's life and career.
Television and the Internet are pushing entertainment and journalism closer together than ever. Should journalists fight the trend of news as entertainment, or can responsible reporters find ways to embrace it? New York Times Hollywood correspondent Michael Cieply, former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, TMZ co-executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere, and Zócalo California editor Joe Mathews discussed how best to strike the balance between political journalism and entertainment.
How much does math matter? In a New York Times op-ed last summer, political scientist Andrew Hacker suggested that the answer is not very much. Algebra, contended Hacker, isn’t necessary for all high school students—and it’s a barrier to graduation for some. But Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, The Calculus Diaries author Jennifer Ouellette, Southern California math teacher Sarah Armstrong, and workforce expert Caz Pereira expressed a very different point of view.
Should we just adapt to climate change? The question raises the hackles of environmentalists and global warming deniers alike—yet it’s one we should be asking sooner rather than later. That was the consensus of New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin, UCLA climate scientist Alex Hall, and UCLA environmental historian Jon Christensen during a panel discussion at The Actors’ Gang, an event put on in partnership with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and with Environmental Humanities at UCLA.
In three decades of covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse wrote about 2,700 cases. Greenhouse—now the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence at Yale Law School—spoke with fellow legal journalist turned scholar Henry Weinstein, a professor of law and literary journalism at UC Irvine, about some of the court’s landmark cases throughout history and its role in American life today.
Since the January 2010 earthquake, Hollywood celebrities, like so many Americans, have given their money and loaned their faces and voices to Haiti. But are they helping the country? In conjunction with the Fowler Museum at UCLA exhibition “In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st-Century Haiti,” this question was posed by journalist Amy Wilentz to a panel of people who have worked in Haiti and philanthropy: Generosity Water CEO Jordan Wagner, UCSB black studies scholar Claudine Michel, and Giving Back Fund president Marc Pollick.
It’s an exciting time to be studying, thinking, and dreaming about space, with the NASA Curiosity rover’s exploration of Mars and the rise of private companies like SpaceX. But as we tighten our belts here on Earth, there have also been questions about whether space exploration is worth an annual investment of billions of dollars. At an event sponsored by the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation at the Petersen Automotive Museum, NASA Mars Curiosity rover flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, Planetary Society co-founder Louis Friedman, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne vice president John Vilja talked about what we lose if we don’t go to space - and what we gain by going there.
In California, the end-of-life care you receive may have more to do with where you live than what you want. Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the New America Foundation Health Policy Program, discusses what’s behind this variation, and what can be done to make sure all patients get the care they want and need - rather than the care dictated by where they live.
Critic Camille Paglia, author of Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art From Egypt to Star Wars, believes that art in America is in crisis. Paglia, who has taught in art schools (she is currently a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia) for 40 years, is concerned about most of her students’ lack of exposure to art. But she's also been alarmed to hear the conservative denigration of artists and contemporary art on conservative talk radio. She believes Americans need to move toward a recognition of the spirituality of art.
We tend to think that both democracy and diversity are good things; many of us even say that diversity is a strength. But others have argued that our polyglot nation is too big, too complex - simply too diverse - to boast a healthy and vibrant democracy. The Almanac of American Politics author Michael Barone, University of California Irvine sociologist Jennifer Lee, and City University of New York scholar Richard Alba examined America's divisions in a Zócalo/Cal Humanities event moderated by Zócalo California editor Joe Mathews.
Sang Yoon, chef and owner of the Father’s Office and Lukshon restaurants, sat down with KCRW Good Foodhost Evan Kleiman to talk about entrepreneurship, inspiration, burgers, and, of course, ketchup (or rather the lack thereof at his Santa Monica and Culver City gastropubs) at a Grand Park event in partnership with the Music Center.
Mickey Edwards, a former Oklahoma Republican congressman and author of The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans, visited Zócalo to talk about how America's two political parties are hurting the nation--and what can be done to fix our ailing system.
Can the next U.S. president make public universities more affordable - and can the federal government do anything to support crucial research that takes place in these institutions? Yes, said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, and Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian, in a panel co-presented by UCLA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that was moderated by David Leonhardt, Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times.
How much are elections costing America? Zócalo's Joe Mathews talked with political scientist Samuel L. Popkin and campaign finance expert Richard L. Hasen about America's election dysfunction--and election reform--campaign finance, fundraising, and how candidates talk about money.
Studies show that happier, more optimistic people live longer, perform better in work and school, and lead healthier lives than their unhappy, pessimistic counterparts. But what can we do in our everyday lives to make ourselves both happier and healthier? "The Happiness Psychiatrist" Sheenie Ambardar and life coach Cynthia Loy Darst talked with Southern California Public Radio healthcare reporter Stephanie O’Neill about why it’s good to be happy, and how happiness can be achieved.
Will downtown L.A. ever work? It’s already working, said a four-person panel of architects, planners, and designers who’ve been closely involved with downtown over the past decade. At an event in L.A.'s Grand Park, landscape architect Tony Paradowski, urban designer Melani Smith, SCI-Arc's Hernan Diaz Alonso, and architect Alice Kimm spoke with moderator Christopher Hawthorne, the Los Angeles Times architecture critic, about why they feel downtown has at last arrived and what the future might hold.
Time magazine's Michael Grunwald, author of The New New Deal, explains why, contrary to popular opinion, President Obama's 2009 stimulus has been a tremendous force for change in America. It created millions of jobs and lifted the nation's economy out of a free fall. But it is also transforming healthcare, energy, education, and the country's infrastructure.
Novelist Lisa Zeidner, memoirist Jeanne Darst, critic Heather Havrilesky, and Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum discussed how humor differs between the sexes in its creation and reception. They agreed that the debate about whether women are as funny as men are is tired, but there are still a number of obstacles that face women who are creating comedy.
According to UCLA legal scholar Kal Raustiala, coauthor of The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation, copycats and imitators—legal and illegal—not only fail to hurt creative industries but sometimes help drive them. In a talk at the Goethe Institut Los Angeles, Raustiala explains why a lot of what we think we know about intellectual property is wrong, and how certain industries—like fashion and food—still manage to thrive despite a lack of copyright protection.
The directors of three Los Angeles art museums--Ann Philbin of the Hammer, Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Timothy Potts, the new director of the Getty--discussed with Los Angeles Times arts reporter Jori Finkel the state of the city's museums and their hopes for the future. It's an exciting time for the L.A. art world, but although the museums have a great deal of potential they also face obstacles in cultivating a larger donor base, bringing in diverse audiences, and satisfying their many different constituencies.
We’ve all heard the dismal facts about the American healthcare system: high spending, low-quality treatment, poor delivery, and spotty access. But biomedical innovator, businessman, and physician Patrick Soon-Shiong—who is also the richest man in Los Angeles and a Lakers part-owner—says the problems aren’t intractable. Far from it. Instead, we’re on the cusp of a more personalized, more accurate, and less error-prone era in American medicine. He talked with Arizona State University President Michael Crow about what the future of molecular and wireless medicine holds for us all.
Californians and their leaders need to move beyond longstanding battles over minor policy changes and begin new, broad debates about how to transform the state’s economy and educational system, argued Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom during an interview with NBC4 Los Angeles' Conan Nolan.
What if there were a drug out there that cost nothing to produce, required no prescription, and made people live longer, feel happier and less stressed, and sleep better? There’d be a run on the pharmacies. But this wonder drug isn’t a drug. It’s altruism and compassion, a team of experts in the benefits of helping others--bioethicist Stephen G. Post, neurosurgeon James Doty, and Big Sunday founder David Levinson--told a crowd at an event co-presented by Kaiser Permanente and moderated by KQED's Lisa Aliferis.
For much of American history, newspapers held an exclusive role as democracy’s watchdog, sounding the alarm at any sign of corruption and abuse from those in power. But today there are fewer journalists than ever before, which means fewer people keeping watch. What does the death of newspapers mean for holding powerful institutions accountable? Voice of San Diego CEO Scott Lewis, Reportero director Bernardo Ruiz, and investigative journalist Carrie Lozano talk with Zócalo's Joe Mathews about who will become the guardian of democracy.
We all know we’re going to die, but we don’t want to talk about it—or plan for it. As a result, we take—and ask our healthcare providers to take—extraordinary measures to prolong our lives and those of our loved ones. Doctors, however, don’t take these same measures. Because they encounter death more often than most people, and because they know the quality of life that follows CPR, ventilators, and feeding tubes, physicians are better prepared than the rest of us to die in peace without a pointless fight. City of Hope Senior Research Specialist Shirley Otis-Green, Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Executive Director Judy Citko, and Dr. Ken Murray, author of “How Doctors Die” talk with San Jose Mercury News reporter Lisa Krieger about what doctors can teach us about a good death.
The key division in American politics and economics right now isn’t between liberals and conservatives, says Michael Lind. It’s between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians. What does this division mean now, what is its history, and how did America’s economy get into the current mess? Lind, a public intellectual, co-founder of the New America Foundation, and author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, tries to answer these questions.
Where’s heaven? What’s it like? Who gets in? And what tortures await those of us who land in the alternative destination? In a panel moderated by documentary filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez, UCLA Buddhism expert Robert Buswell, religion historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, UCLA anthropologist and expert in Pueblo Indian beliefs Peter Nabokov, and Martin Schwarz, curator of the exhibition "Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages" at the Getty Museum explore the ways different societies have imagined and depicted the afterlife and what the images we create of heaven and hell say about life on earth.
Like the Internet, knowledge today is inclusive and overwhelming, unsettled and messy, and linked, says David Weinberger, author of Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room. The demise of the Encyclopedia Britanica and the uncertain future of the newspaper and libraries demonstrates that the Internet is destroying knowledge as we have always known it. But according to Weinberger, we shouldn't fear these changes but rather embrace them.
UCLA cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and UCLA writing lecturer Kathryn Bowers, authors of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Health and Science of Healing, talk with Los Angeles Times science writer Eryn Brown about what they think is medicine's next frontier: collaboration between human and animal doctors. Animal and human diseases across the spectrum--from eating disorders and psychiatric maladies to certain types of cardiac arrest and cancers--overlap. And by working together and sharing knowledge, doctors and veterinarians might be able to better treat patients of all species. Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers share many of their discoveries, from the possibility that jaguars share the BRCA1 gene mutation that's common in Jewish women, and increases susceptibility to breast cancer, to a chlamydia epidemic in koalas in Australia.
How do you make an American poet? California’s new poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, answered that question with laughter, singing, storytelling, and poetry as he recounted his life and work in a conversation with KPCC News Editor Oscar Garza. Herrera grew up all over California, and he spoke about how his itinerant childhood influenced his work. He also talked about why he believes Latino writers in the 21st century are able to write as writers--no prefix needed.
At a Zócalo/Cal Humanities "Searching for Democracy" event, Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley Henry Brady, the Institute for Civility in Government's Cassandra Dahnke, Arizona State University communications and performance scholar Jennifer Linde, and economist and anthropologist Meenakshi Chakraverti, who leads the Public Conversations Project in San Diego, discussed whether the lack of civility in American politics is a problem--or if civility is indeed overrated.
According to New Republic editor Timothy Noah, author of The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It, America is in the midst of two significant divergences that are causing increasing wealth disparity. The first is between people with college or graduate degrees and people with lower levels of education. The second is between the 1 percent (people in the financial industry and leaders of corporations) and the 99 percent (everyone else). He explains how both divergences have their roots in the late 1970s, and what we can do to stop the gap between rich and poor from growing.
L.A. has the largest population of Iranians of any city outside Iran. If reform were to come to Iran, would life change for the hundreds of thousands of Iranian-Angelenos who call Southern California home? Writer and activist Amir Soltani, entrepreneur and philanthropist Sharon S. Nazarian, and acting director of Iranian Studies at UCLA M. Rahim Shayegan joined moderator Shiva Falsafi, UCLA lecturer in women's studies, to discuss what reform in Iran could mean for the city known as Tehrangeles.
U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine joined Sacramento Bee editorial page editor Stuart Leavenworth in Fresno to discuss whether social isolation is a threat to democracy. In a wide-ranging conversation they discussed poetry, Levine's youth in Detroit, the community he came to love in Fresno, and the future of American democracy.
LAPD Chief Charle Beck, Pepperdine University economist Angela Hawken, and UCLA political scientist Mark Peterson joined moderator Mark Kleiman, a UCLA public policy analyst, to discuss the legacy of the late political scientist and long-time Southern California resident James Q. Wilson. How did Wilson's broken windows theories change our cities? Where did his greatest influence lie? And what made him special?
Black Swan choreographer Benjamin Millepied--Natalie Portman's husband and a recently retired New York City Ballet principal dancer--talks with Amanda Fortini, a contributing writer to The New Yorker, about why he loves L.A., his plans for his new L.A. Dance Project, and the making of Black Swan. Millepied plans to take advantage of the city's vibrant arts culture to collaborate with many different kinds of artists, and to incorporate his own background--his classical ballet training as well as the African and modern dance he performed in his youth--into the company's work.
Cardiologist Eric Topol, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine, believes that digital technology has the potential to change healthcare as we know it--but only if consumers demand change from doctors and the medical establishment. Healthcare is currently population-based, and thus wasteful, expensive, and inefficient. Wireless technology and genomics can build a new, individualized paradigm for healthcare that can help patients and save the nation billions of dollars.
KCRW "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman talks with journalist Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating, about McMillan's journey from farm fields to Wal-Mart to Applebee's--doing some of the most menial jobs in the American food system to find out what it would take for everyone to eat well. Is it possible to eat well on minimum wage? Not really. For all of us to eat well, said McMillan, change needs to come not just on our plates and in our shopping carts but in getting everyone easy access to good food.
In the story of China's aviation industry, The Atlantic's James Fallows, author of China Airborne, found a window into the country's struggles and contradictions, as well as where it might be going next. Chinese companies aren't going to be overtaking Boeing and Airbus any time soon. But the pace of China's aerospace modernization--100 airports are being built there right now--is astonishing.
In the 2012 Zócalo Book Prize lecture, sociologist Richard Sennett, author of Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation, discusses how today's diverse societies can learn to cohere. Cooperation is a craft, he argues, that we can learn--but we must develop certain skills in order to do so: dialogical listening skills, using the subjunctive voice, and practicing empathy rather than sympathy.
The New Yorker's Steve Coll, author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, explains how America's largest corporation wields its power within and without, and how it has stayed on top for over a half century. After the Exxon Valdez spill, the corporation placed an intense focus on rules and regulations, trying to eliminate the possibility of human error. At the same time, many of its operations take place in the world's least stable and poorest countries. Coll explains how ExxonMobil negotiates the tension between risk and profits--and how its energy policy has become American energy policy by proxy.
The world is moving faster than ever, and democracies are struggling to keep up. Meanwhile, China's rise has been facilitated by the heavy hand of its one-party leadership. In a conversation moderated by Zócalo California editor Joe Mathews, Deng Xiaoping biographer Ezra Vogel, attorney and activist Christine Pelosi, and civic participation expert Janice Thomson discuss whether the EU and the U.S. could use a little more authoritarianism.
The Central Valley is one of California and America's unhealthiest regions. What is causing problems like asthma, obesity, and diabetes--and what can we do about it? According to California Endowment Central Valley Program Manager Sarah Reyes, Central Valley Health Policy Institute Executive Director John Capitman, and San Joaquin Valley Rehabilitation CEO Edward C. Palacios, the answers lie in improving education, access, and addressing inequalities.
What if we repealed the 14th Amendment, and no one could become a citizen because of birth alone? Civic entrepreneur, author, and former Clinton speechwriter Eric Liu imagines an America where we don't take the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship for granted. He argues that we need to re-Americanize Americans in order to revitalize civics and strengthen our citizenship.
Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum interviews Cheryl Strayed, author of WIld: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, about the perils and pleasures of memoir-writing, and the 1,100 mile hike that changed her life. Strayed reveals why she loves redemption but not redemption stories, how to walk the line between making confessions and telling the truth, and the physical and mental hardships she faced on the trail.
Americans are trading places, according to urbanologist Alan Ehrenhalt, author of The Great Inversion and the Future of American Cities. The more affluent are moving into city centers, and the lower classes are being displaced to the suburbs. This demographic inversion is going to change our concepts of cities, suburbs, and urban mobility. And it will even change our most sprawling cities, like Phoenix and the rest of the Sunbelt.
Slate Magazine's Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf, and Dana Stevens discussed Mike Daisey's monologue on Apple in China--and Ira Glass's retraction of the story on This American Life and Zooey Deschanel's role on the television show The New Girl. Actress Elizabeth Banks joined the conversation to talk about The Hunger Games movie, and playing the villain Effie Trinket.
At the Café Revue in Fresno, a panel of healthcare providers and journalists discussed the future of rural medicine. Moderator Michelle Levander, the director of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, Fresno-area clinician and family doctor Marcia Sablan, community health reporter Rebecca Plevin, and Herrmann Spetzler, CEO of Open Door Community Health Centers in northern California, discussed doctor shortages, improving access, the problem of transportation, and the possibilities of telemedicine and technology at an event co-presented by the California Wellness Foundation.
We are on the verge of becoming a society of breadwomen--where women out-earn men--which will change society on many levels. Journalist Liza Mundy, author of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, explains why this is a good development for men and women alike.
At an event co-presented by Kaiser Permanente, NYU psychologist Gary Marcus chronicled how he learned to play guitar as an adult after being inspired by the video game Guitar Hero. Marcus explained how adults can learn new skills, what music does to our brains and bodies, and what teaching methods work best for musicians of all ages and skill levels.
In a conversation ranging from the effects of global warming on wine production (the English countryside may be the new Champagne region) to the aged carrots served at Copenhagen's Noma restaurant,The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik and L.A. food critic Jonathan Gold discussed the pleasures and perils of foodies and food culture. Fine dining ultimately gives us pleasure, builds community, and can even make us healthier people.
UCLA political scientist Michael Ross, author of The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations, explains why oil wealth is bad for developing countries: because of the extraordinary power and kinds of revenue it generates for governments, and because of the industry's lack of transparency. It's not a coincidence that the world's most volatile countries are rich in oil, he argues.
A panel moderated by KNBC's Conan Nolan featuring Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, UCLA football coach Jim Mora, Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer, and UCLA sports economist Lee Ohanian agreed that professional football will return to Los Angeles. They debated which team will come, where will the stadium be located--and whether Angelenos will care--at an event co-presented by UCLA.
Former CNN Tokyo and Beijing bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom, argues that governments and corporations around the globe are taking away our online freedoms--without the average citizen's knowledge. Her discussion moves from China to the Arab world to the battle over SOPA and PIPA in the U.S.
Washington Post writer Anne-Marie O'Connor, author of The Lady in Gold, explores the artistic and cultural ferment of Vienna--driven in part by women and Jews--at the turn of the 20th century. This was the setting in which Gustav Klimt painted his famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer--a painting that was then stolen by the Nazis, renamed "The Lady in Gold," and displayed for decades in Austria's national Belvedere Museum. After years-long lawsuits, Bloch-Bauer's heir, Los Angeles dressmaker Maria Altmann, won the painting back.
A panel moderated by KCRW's Warren Olney, featuring energy journalist Lisa Margonelli, UC Berkeley energy expert Daniel Kammen, SolarCity's Jim Cahill, and LADWP general manager Ron Nichols discusses the future of solar energy in California. They agreed that solar energy has the potential to change the way the state is fueled, but that the financial and political policies need to catch up to technological advancements
A panel featuring KQET's Sarah Varney, the Bayview Child Health Center's Nadine Burke Harris, San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center director Katie Albright, and Robin Karr-Morse, author of Scared Sick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease, discussed what childhood trauma is, how it can be treated and prevented, and its effects on the health of adults. Children who experience chronic exposure to abuse, neglect, and violence are at greatly increased risk for illnesses ranging from heart disease and hepatitis to addictive behaviors like IV drug use.
KCRW's Kim Masters, Homeland and Cold Case writer and producer Meredith Stiehm, the Boston Globe's Joanna Weiss, ex-TV executive James Andrew Miller, and Occidental College historian Thaddeus Russell debate whether we're currently living in the golden age of television--or if more choice means more mediocrity. Their lively conversation encompassed the merits of Cupcake Wars and American Idol, the debt contemporary shows owe to Hill Street Blues, diversity onscreen, and what makes today's critically acclaimed shows great.
Getty Trust President and CEO James Cuno explains why museums matter today more than ever in a talk at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Cuno shares the museum's 18th-century Enlightenment origins and responds to critics who have called the encyclopedic museum elitist and imperialistic.
Historian Olivier Zunz, author of Philanthropy in America: A History, explains why philanthropy is such a powerful force in American politics, economics, and society by explaining the history of the institution.
Leaders of four major research universities--USC President C.L. Max Nikias, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, ASU President Michael Crow, and Rice University President David Leebron--discuss the role of urban universities in their communities with the Chronicle of Higher Education's Jeffrey Selingo. They agreed that while universities alone cannot save dying cities, but they can contribute a great deal to the cultural, economic, and intellectual lives of their cities.
At a panel as part of the Pacific Standard Time art initiative, New York University historian Thomas Crow, UCLA historian Eric Avila, Huntington Library curator Jennifer Watts, and Kirse Granat May, author of Golden State, Golden Youth, discussed the allure of Los Angeles imagery through the decades. In a conversation about Disneyland and dream houses, freeways and film, they moved from the 19th century through the postwar years.
Why is the U.S. the only western country that can't agree on healthcare? Sociologist Paul Starr, author of Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle Over Health Care Reform, explains our bitter war over healthcare through its history from the early 20th century--when the American Medical Association and other groups used xenophobia to defeat the first healthcare bills--up through President Obama's 2010 reforms.
Panelists with extensive experience in local, regional, and state government offered arguments for and against splitting California into more than one state in a conversation at the Fresno Art Museum. They agreed that the state is not fulfilling its promises to its citizens, but while some argued for a North-South split (or even a three-state division), others felt that reform, not secession, is needed.
America's public schools are failing--in a large part because the teacher's unions and the bureaucracy don't put students first, according to media mogul Steven Brill, author of Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools. Brill explains his journey through the country's public school system, where he discovered heated wars over charter schools, teachers struggling to succeed without burning out, unions that protect their members at all costs, and a culture that is too often complacent with failure.
Five leaders in e-government--technology consultant April Manatt, senior management analyst for the city of Carlsbad Greg Hermann, executive director of California Common Sense Dakin Sloss, Intellitics, Inc.'s Tim Bonnemann, and executive director of the National Conference on Citizenship David B. Smith--joined Irvine Senior Fellow Joe Mathews of the New America Foundation to discuss whether technology can save California's government. They discussed how local governments are using technology to connect to citizens, and envisioned a future with more information-sharing, transparency, and communication between public officials and their constituents.
In a panel moderated by The New York Times' Marc Lacey, former Arizona House Minority Leader Art Hamilton, Arizona State University political scientist Jennifer Steen, and Tom Zoellner, author of A Safeway in Arizona, discuss how the state became the front lines of America's biggest cultural and political battles, from immigration to gun control.
Economist and New York Times columnist Robert Frank, author of The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, proposed a radical plan to save America's economy--grounded not in conventional economic theory but in the work of Charles Darwin, which turns Adam Smith's invisible hand on its head.
Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant and his good friend, architect Brad Cloepfil, visited Zócalo to explore why they live in Portland, what influences their work, and how they get inspired. They talked about how Portland provides a refuge away from New York and L.A., traced back their careers to the beginning, and discussed where their precise moment of inspiration comes from.
In an event sponsored by the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University's Washington Center in Washington, D.C., Colin Woodard, author of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, talked with Zócalo editorial director Andrés Martinez about America's divisions. Since the founding of the nation and into the present, 11 regional cultures--as distinct in many ways as different countries--have clashed over politics, economics, and values.
Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, visited Zócalo to answer the question, "Is Energy Security Possible?" He discussed the innovation and technological development that are shaping our future, from shale gas to oil sands to electric cars, how conservation is our single best source of energy, and how California led the way in the development of zero-emissions vehicles.
Patrick French, author of India: A Portrait, answers the question, "Is India rich or poor?" India is both rich and poor, he explained to a large crowd at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. It's such a large country and is changing so rapidly that it is creating its own paradigms about what it means to be rich, and confounding the world's expectations when it comes to global economic development. Telling stories of individuals in contemporary India, reaching back into the history of the country in the 20th century, and debunking the myths and assumptions of the West, he cut through the hype to create a fascinating and surprising narrative of the New India.
With the 100th anniversary of direct democracy upon California, some of the state's keenest political minds gathered to discuss whether the system works, and how it can be improved.
A panel from California with ties in L.A. and the Bay Area debates which half of the state rules--or whether the real power struggle ultimately will be between the east and the west.
Randall Kennedy, Harvard professor of law and author of The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, shares some of his critiques of the president.
Ever since Americans first likened Cuba to a damsel in distress — two hundred years ago, when the island country was under threat from imperial Spain — we have seen Cuba as less of a country than an idea. The neighboring nation appears alternately innocent and menacing, culturally exotic or repressed by government, an edenic place to escape or a retrograde regime from which refugees flee. With travel restrictions in place since the Cuban revolution, images and impressions have become even more powerful, as the rare legal way to see the land: the poor but vibrant Havana of Walker Evans; the cigars and bars of Ernest Hemingway; contemporary shots of streets brimming with decades-old cars and bordered by centuries-old buildings. As the Getty opens its exhibition, “A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now,” Zócalo invited a panel of photographers and scholars of Cuba — including musician and Cuban music expert Ned Sublette; photographer Virginia Beahan, who has worked extensively in Cuba; and professor of Cuban history Lillian Guerra — to ask how images of the country have shaped and complicated its relationship with Americans.
From the tender age of 20, when he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Julian Bond has been at the forefront of civil rights activism in America. Now, more than 50 years into his civil rights career, he serves as an elder statesman for the movement. In between, he served for two decades in the Georgia State Legislature, chaired the NAACP from 1998 to 2009, worked as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, taught at several major universities, published four books and dozens of articles and poems, narrated theEyes on the Prize documentary and hosted Saturday Night Live in 1977. Bond visited Zócalo to discuss his life's work and the evolution of the civil rights movement over the past six decades.
Mentoring programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters have been highly touted as a way to keep troubled kids off the streets. But can an outsider who has never been homeless or been recruited into a gang actually help a kid who knows those experiences all too well? A quarter-century ago, John Prendergast, now one of the most prominent activists on human rights issues in Africa, took on a 7-year-old “little brother,” Michael Mattocks, who lived in a dangerous neighborhood of Washington. They’ve both confronted violence and tragedy since: Prendergast in the war zones of Africa, Mattocks through his life as a drug dealer in the nation’s capital. They got together occasionally but never fully confronted the monumental challenges each faced until nearly 25 years after their relationship began. Now, each man names the other as a profound influence on his life. Prendergast, author with Michael Mattocks of Unlikely Brothers: Our Story of Adventure, Loss and Redemption, visited Zócalo to discuss his relationship with his “little brother” and how a mentorship can change two lives.
We like to think we have choices, but when it comes to health care in California, geography is destiny. If you live in Clear Lake, you are ten times more likely to have an elective cardiac stent or angioplasty than if you live in nearby Sonoma -- whether or not that's the right treatment for you. Women who live in El Centro are 22 times less likely than women who live in Greenbrae to have a vaginal birth after C-section. Men living in San Luis Obispo have the highest rate of prostate surgery in the nation. When facing a decision about elective surgeries and tests, patients need two things: honest information they can understand, and doctors who make sure their patients receive the treatment they prefer. Yet all too often, patients don't understand their choices, or they leave the decision up to their doctor in the mistaken belief that "doctor knows best." Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, visited Zócalo to discuss how these disparities happen, and what individuals can do to make sure they get the treatment they want and nothing more, what they need and nothing less.
The new maps that will create boundaries for California’s political districts will be certified in August, but will they actually change the state’s political landscape? Zócalo invites a panel including Kathay Feng, director of California Common Cause and one of the authors of the 2008 redistricting reform bill; Steven Ochoa, national redistricting coordinator for MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Joe Mathews, senior fellow at the New America Foundation; and Dan Schnur, director of University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics to discuss whether regular Californians can expect any effects from the latest round of redistricting.
Conflicts between Mexican national character traits and the current state of the country are abundant, former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda argues. As Mexico sits at a crossroads, with its future path very much undecided, Castañeda says those paradoxes must be resolved. He visits Zócalo to discuss what makes up the national character, and how it can determine the nation's fate.
Many stories from Mexico -- from the high poverty rate to the flourishing economy to the booming cultural scene -- don't get much media attention because drug trafficking and related violence take up so much of reporters' energy. Mexico City-based news producer Susana Seijas, Belo TV border bureau chief Angela Kocherga, Dallas Morning News Mexico City bureau chief Alfredo Corchado, Los Angeles Times arts and culture reporter Reed Johnson and Imagen News host Ana Maria Salazar discuss the challenges of portraying the real Mexico.
The number of prominent people who lie under oath has reached epic proportions, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James B. Stewart. For wealthy, successful people like Barry Bonds, Scooter Libby, Martha Stewart and Bernard Madoff, the risks of perjury far outweigh the possible benefits, yet they lie anyway. Stewart visits Zócalo to discuss why they do it and what it means for the rest of us.
Most people agree that California’s political system is broken, and experts say one major hurdle to fixing it is citizens’ disengagement. The voter registration rate is among the lowest in the country, and just one-third of residents report talking about politics at least a few times a week – putting the state 46th nationwide. Zócalo presents a panel of experts including Pete Peterson, executive director of Pepperdine's Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership; political scientist R. Michael Alvarez; education professor and founder of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education and Access John Rogers; and Alliance For Innovation president Karen Thoreson to discuss why Californians don't talk about politics, and what can be done about it
Poverty and low social status have long been shown to correlate with shorter lives among many groups of Americans. The inequities have important consequences for California and the nation as a whole, but what can we do about it? Zócalo presents a panel including Larry Adelman, creator and executive producer of the documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?; Tony Iton, senior vice president for healthy communities at The California Endowment; and urban planner Ryan Snyder to discuss what these challenges mean for California's future and how we can solve them in a way that improves health outcomes and the quality of life for everyone.
Humans rely on trees for oxygen and food, but also shade and beauty, creating a tension that imbues the relationship with meaning. Trees are part of every aspect of human life and are amply represented in literature, music and art. Farmer David "Mas" Masumoto, artist Jennifer Steinkamp and environmental studies professor Nadlini Nadkarni discuss the many facets of that connection in a panel moderated by Sierra Magazine editor Bob Sipchen at the Getty Center.
Many scholars and activists have raised alarms about the world getting worse, but economist Charles Kenny disagrees. In his new book Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding -- And How We Can Improve the World Even More, Kenny catalogs several measures -- literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality and more -- that have improved globally. Kenny visits Zócalo to discuss his research and argue that the world isn't as bad as we fear.
Gandhi's impact on his native India is unquestioned, but Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld argues the Mahatma's biographers have not sufficiently explored how his 21 years in South Africa shaped his philosophies and strategies. Lelyvled, the former executive editor of The New York Times and author of the new book Great Soul, visits Zócalo to discuss what Gandhi learned in South Africa and how he applied it back home.
When a neighbor killed his wife and himself in 2000, Peter Lovenheim decided he needed to get to know the people living around him. He started with meetings at Starbucks and moved up to spending a night at each of their homes. The result was his book In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time, which was chosen as the winner of Zócalo Public Square's first annual book prize. Lovenheim visited Zócalo to discuss his project and what he learned about good neighbors.
Journalist and author Doug Saunders has spent years studying what he calls "arrival cities" -- the ramshackle neighborhoods on the outskirts of the world's biggest cities that are often the place new immigrants land. Arrival cities are often kept down by physical and bureaucratic barriers, he says, but their residents' drive to succeed makes the neighborhoods valuable to the urban area at large. Saunders visits Zócalo to discuss the arrival cities -- including those in Los Angeles, Istanbul, Cairo and many other urban centers and the challenges and opportunities they pose.
Less than 70 years after the official end of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned all immigration from China, Chinese American culture is all around us. Yet many of the leading examples -- from the the Charlie Chan detective novels of the 1920s to Amy Tan's bestseller The Joy Luck Club and Bruce Lee movies -- are insufficient to capture the full Chinese-American experience. Historian Mae Ngai moderates a Zócalo panel about efforts to tell those stories over the years. Panelists include University of California at Santa Barbara English professor Yunte Huang; Suellen Cheng, curator of El Pueblo Historical Monument in downtown Los Angeles; and Franklin Odo, former director of the Asian Pacific American program at the Smithsonian.
Neither hard power nor soft power will be the key to winning the race for prosperity or global influence tomorrow. Rather, says, Joseph Nye, author of The Future of Power, successful nations will deploy “smart power.” President Obama's decisions on Libya are a good example of smart power, he says. Nye joins Zócalo to discuss how power balances have changed in the global age, as new nations take their place among the most influential and non-state actors become a larger part of the conversation.
James Gleick, biographer, author and journalist, discusses his latest book on Information Theory entitled The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood.
Yale Law School professor John Fabian Witt tells the hidden story of how in 1847 and 1848, on the road from Veracruz to Mexico City, the United States army invented the concept of the war crime as we know it today.
Award-winning writer, Susan Jacoby, most recently the author of Never Say Die: the Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2011), discussed the uncensored realities of growing old with an audience at The Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles. As the youngest baby boomers turn 65 this year, Jacoby warned that clinging to false hope about the future of aging leaves us unprepared to deal with the financial and medical woes destined to afflict the swelling ranks of the elderly.
Evgeny Morozov is a Stanford visiting scholar, Net Effect blogger, and the author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. He visited Zócalo to lecture on the ways authoritarian regimes manipulate New Media, noting trends in Iran, Egypt, China and even the United States.
Artist Shengtian Zheng, USC School of Architecture Dean Qingyun Ma and New York-Shangai-based artist Wenda Gu share a panel at the Getty Center to discuss the "New China", and the ruins of the old. Moderator Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum in New York, set up the evening as a historical narrative, weaving together politics and artistry to approach the issue.
games, and how to harness humanity’s creative potential for global improvement. Her new book is called Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Penguin Press, 2011).
“The same idea in your head can be represented along with its contradiction.” At least that’s what Robert Kurzban, author of Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind, believes. Kurzban is professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He joins Zocalo to explore the psychological causes of hypocricy, focusing on the specialized mind and the evolutionary benefits of ignorance.
As the Superintendent of Finance for the rebel American government, Robert Morris instituted debt financing as the best means to pay for the costs of fighting the Revolution. But he was challenged by the refusal of many Americans to pay taxes. How can the U.S. pay for its policies without losing the support of Americans? Charles Rappleye, author of Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution, visits Zócalo to explore the life of a man who shaped the financial system during the Revolution, and the significance of his work in our current economic climate.
For every commissioned piece of public art there are countless unlawful works — scrawled spray-painted initials, cheeky visual pranks, massive murals soaring up buildings and across rail cars, shrines tucked into unused corners. Street artists have become figures of global recognition, even acceptance. Artist collectives in Berlin take over buildings; London-based Banksy puts on pop-up exhibits around the world and debuted a film at Sundance; Shepard Fairey papered the U.S. with his Andre the Giant sticker campaign and went on to create a much-copied campaign poster for Barack Obama. But street artists also remain the subject of controversy, forcing cities to consider what art is acceptable, who should be allowed to create it, and where. In conjunction with the Fowler Museum's exhibition of Larry Yust’s photographs of street art in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Paris, Zócalo invited arts writer Jori Finkel, Fowler Museum curator Patrick Polk, Aaron Rose, co-curator of MOCA’s forthcoming street art exhibit, street artist Retna, and artist and curator Man One to ask how street art humanizes cities.
From a Persian queen’s brutal mastectomy in the fifth century BC to the 19th century recipients of primitive chemotherapy, humans have long tried to beat cancer. But even as we routed other scourges like cholera and tuberculosis, launched ambitious public health campaigns, exposed the dangers of chemicals like nicotine, and survived ever more rigorous treatment regimens, cancer remained as deadly and mysterious as ever. Cancer physician and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, visited Zócalo to tell stories of a disease we’ve lived with, died from, and tried to conquer for thousands of years—and what it was like to write about it.
Teachers are among the biggest influences on a student’s education. Most parents and educators would say teacher performance should be evaluated. Yet no one agrees on how to do it. From a teacher’s method in the classroom to his or her willingness to spend extra hours with individual students, attaching a number to teacher performance isn’t easy. Some favor a “value-added” teacher ranking system, which measures instructors by whether or not their students beat expectations, while others argue the system is unfair. Does it work, and can a teacher’s effectiveness truly be measured? Zócalo and the California Community Foundation invited a panel of education specialists including education reporter Louis Freedberg, Los Angeles Unified School District Deputy Superintendent John Deasy, UCLA Center X Director of Research Karen Hunter Quartz and Families in Schools Vice President Oscar E. Cruz to ask whether teacher rankings work, how we should create them, and whether they make for better schools.
California’s rate of births to teenage mothers has hit a historic low. For years, rates were on the decline around the country, throughout the sex-obsessed 1990s — when parents rallied around the V-chip, fretted about Internet obscenity, and shielded impressionable eyes from strutting pop starlets. Credit went to many factors, from increased access to contraceptives and improved sex education to teens simply waiting longer to have sex. But in recent years, as the pregnancies of political daughters and TV stars have brought broad attention to the subject once more, teen pregnancy rates have started rising everywhere except California, which has pursued robust state-supported teen pregnancy prevention efforts. What changed around the country, and what is California doing right? Zócalo invited a panel including moderator Emily Bazar, sociologist Mark Regnerus, author of the forthcoming Premarital Sex in America, Connie Kruzan, director of Adolescent Services at North Hollywood's Valley Community Clinic, and Francisca Angulo-Olaiz, a research scientist at the Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, to discuss what the country can learn from California’s progress on teen pregnancy.
British writer Christopher Isherwood arrived in Los Angeles after a long, slow bus ride from New York, where he had emigrated with his friend W.H. Auden. After unforgettably chronicling the underworld of interwar Berlin, Isherwood settled into L.A. and its circle of European émigrés, writers, painters, and spiritual seekers — Aldous Huxley, Truman Capote, David Hockney, and Don Bachardy, who would become Isherwood’s longtime partner after a chance meeting on Valentine’s Day on the beach. Isherwood wrote for Hollywood — and unlike so many novelists, enjoyed it — translated Hindu scripture, hung out at Musso and Frank’s, and captured L.A. in some of his most acclaimed works, like A Single Man. To celebrate the release of Christopher Isherwood’s The Sixties: Diaries:1960-1969, Zócalo hosted a panel with Don Bachardy, artist Peter Alexander, and Huntington Library curator of manuscripts Sara Hodson to consider the life, work, and legacy of Christopher Isherwood in Los Angeles.
Humans have long struggled to explain the trait that makes us human: self awareness. Ancient Greeks and Christian theologians posited a soul separate from a body. A long line of philosophers have argued that we’re defined by our thinking human minds, distinct and higher than our physical selves. Scientists today see evidence of something like minds and cultures in social animals, but they still seek to explain why human consciousness rises to become knowledge of a self, why we have been able to create such complex identities and cultures. How did we come to be our selves? Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, director of the USC Brain and Creativity Institute and author of Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, visited Zócalo to argue against the long-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, presenting compelling new scientific evidence that consciousness is in fact a biological process created by living organisms.
The latest innovations in medicine seem like the stuff of science fiction: edible pills that can sense, monitor, and report on vital signs from within the body; a stick-on heart monitor that communicates wirelessly with patient and doctor; robotic surgical tools that reduce or eliminate invasive procedures. Medical advances past — from the discovery of antibiotics to the development of organ transplant procedures — certainly transformed the practice of medicine, but today’s technologies could revolutionize care, taking it out of hospitals and doctors’ offices. How will new technologies change the way we manage, receive and conceptualize healthcare, and are doctors ready for the change? Zócalo invited a panel including moderator Sarah Varney, Proteus Biomedical’s Greg Moon, USC bioethicist Michael Shapiro, and Leslie Saxon of the USC Center for Body Computing to explore the vanguard of medical technology, and how it will transform our health. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.
In the last 20 years, the Internet has transformed the way we live, easing communication, speeding connections, spreading information, and spurring activism. But its power has prompted governments and corporations to seek to control its uses and limit access. If they succeed, it wouldn’t be the first time a new technology has revolutionized the world before being clamped down. From telephones to radio to television, information mediums have long been consolidated and regulated, often in ways that limit how we communicate and connect. Could the Internet be next, and what would it mean for our lives, our jobs, and our economy? Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires, visited Zócalo to trace the century-long struggle between flowing information and corporate control, and to ask whether the Internet will stay free.
Many of us turn to Google at the first sign of sickness, and over the past few years, more and more doctors have started to meet us there. Boutique practices promise easy e-mail correspondence with doctors — along with unlimited in-person access — for a flat fee of a few grand. Kaiser guarantees 24-hour response times for any inquiries made to doctors online. And countless websites, from WebMD to ailment-specific chat rooms, offer easy medical advice, sometimes over webcams. But for all the ease of access — and the improved care it could bring to rural or poor patients — most doctors don’t get paid for online consultations, and medical advice sites aren’t clearly regulated. What are the opportunities and dangers of online care? Zócalo invited a panel including Health 2.0 co-founder Indu Subaiya, co-chair of the Society for Participatory Medicine and e-Patients.net blogger Dave de Bronkart, One Medical Group Founder and CEO Thomas Lee, and MedSimple founder Francis Kong to consider how the Internet is changing the way we care for ourselves. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.
Only eight days after German tanks rolled into Paris, silent and deserted in the summer of 1940, France accepted defeat and foreign occupation. But even though a swastika flew over the city, cultural life survived and even flourished. Maurice Chevalier and Edith Piaf sang for French and German audiences. Pablo Picasso painted in his Left Bank apartment, even though his work was officially banned. Over 200 French films were produced, including the classic “Les Enfants du Paradis”, and thousands of books were published by authors as politically divergent as the anti-Semite Céline and the anti-Nazi Jean-Paul Sartre. But as Jews, including artists, fled or were deported to concentration camps, many French intellectuals began to join the resistance and debate the role of artists in war. Were artists saving or betraying their country by continuing to work? Journalist Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris, visited Zócalo to explore the life, work, and moral responsibility of artists in times of war.
American maps of the modern world centrally and prominently locate the global powers of the 20th century, and the arenas of their wars: the U.S. and Western Europe, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But the 21st century has already begun to see a shift in geopolitical focus to an area generally relegated to the edges of our maps: the Indian Ocean. From the Horn of Africa to the Indonesian archipelago, the Indian Ocean region is home to a striving new middle class, young populations tempted by extremism, weak governments and infrastructures, not to mention nuclear weapons. The struggles for world power, democracy, energy independence, and religious freedom will be won or lost there. Atlantic national correspondent Robert Kaplan, author of Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, visited Zócalo to ask whether the U.S. is ready for the rising challenges of the next century.
Over the next 20 years, hundreds of millions of people will move to cities, demanding the economic opportunities and material comforts of urban life: air conditioning, personal computers, rich diets, cars, cell phones. In 1950, only 30 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas; by 2030, that figure will rise to 60 percent. While cities have long propelled economic growth and brought prosperity to their residents, how will they fare as populations increase, temperatures rise, natural disasters threaten, and resources grow scarce? In an event co-presented with the UCLA School of Public Affairs Luskin Center for Innovation, UCLA Luskin Scholar and professor at the School of Public Affairs Matthew Kahn, author of Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future, visited Zócalo to explain what Los Angeles will look like in a few decades and how we can best prepare for the urban future.
When George W. Bush declared the Iraq War finished in May 2003, it was far from over. Over the next several years, terrorism and sectarian conflict continued and American troop levels increased. Now, after Barack Obama’s own speech declaring the combat mission complete, conflict wears on. As the U.S. turns its forces toward Afghanistan, how can America learn to bring conflicts to an end? Driven by ideology or constrained by domestic politics, presidential administrations throughout the 20th century have botched postwar planning, and successive leaders have failed to learn from the past. In an event co-presented with the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs and author of How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle, visits Zócalo to chat with Burkle Center director Kal Raustiala and explain how to conclusively and effectively end our wars.
Over the past 50 years, religion in America has radically transformed. The 1960s saw a drop in religious observance and spurred a conservative reaction that, over the next 20 years, created the Religious Right. In the 1990s, younger generations, put off by the deepening link between faith and conservative politics, began to abandon organized religion altogether. Because it has long inspired volunteerism, philanthropy, and community engagement, the decline of religion threatens to impoverish civic health. But despite these trends, religious tolerance seems to be on the rise: up to one-half of all American marriages are interfaith; even deeply religious Americans believe people of other faiths can go to heaven; and one-third of Americans have switched religions. Where does religion stand today, and what does it mean for our civic health? In an event co-presented with UCLA’s Center for Civil Society, groundbreaking political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone and the forthcoming American Grace, visited Zócalo to chat with UCLA’s Bill Parent and ask whether Americans can get past the new religious divide, and what the future holds for religious life in America.
Americans may worship success, but we’re also good at failing. Nearly three-quarters of all Americans have considered starting their own businesses — compared to fewer than half of Europeans. Silicon Valley executives highlight rather than bury their collapsed start-ups on their resumes. Our corporate and personal bankruptcy systems are the most generous in the world, and New Deal-era financial safeguards let banks collapse without destroying sound institutions or personal wealth. But has the latest economic crisis left us longing for a failure-free system — one in which some organizations are too big to fail, and one that is immune from the natural and corrective cycles of the market? New America Foundation fellow and Atlantic magazine business and economic editor Megan McArdle visited Zócalo to explain why failure — and the ability to do it gracefully — is an essential part of the American economy.
Over the past few years, Americans have heaped blame for the financial crisis on hedge funds. These mysterious but powerful organizations have, in just a few decades, invented previously unheard-of financial instruments, created new markets, and rewritten the rules of capitalism. By studying everything from economics to physics, hedge fund managers also seemed to accomplish the impossible — beating the market, and surviving repeated financial panics, from the stock market slump of the early 1970s to the bond market downturn of the 1990s to the dot-com collapse in 2000. How will hedge funds — and the controversial, commanding men and women who run them — pull through the latest crisis, and how will they determine the future of finance? Sebastian Mallaby, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and author of More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite, visited Zócalo to reveal the hidden history and workings of hedge funds, and the way they’ll shape the future booms and busts of our economy.
For 80 years the Los Angeles River has been less a river than a flood control channel winding from Simi Valley to Long Beach. Its concrete-lined course seemingly carries little more than a trickle of water, and its banks lie largely fallow and off limits despite long-running efforts to restore public access to and green spaces along its edges. Now, an ambitious plan to turn 125 acres of an under-utilized downtown rail yard into a thriving public space could transform not just the river but the entire city, uniting its residents as well as its urban and natural environments. As architects and planners grasp the rare opportunity to work on a site in the heart of the city, they’re focusing on a broader question: what would an integrated, healthier city look like? Zócalo invited a panel including Cal Poly Pomona’s Michael Woo, Marc Salette of Chee Salette Architecture, Jim Stafford of Perkins+Will, Mia Lehrer of Mia Lehrer + Associates, and Michael Maltzan of Michael Maltzan Architecture to discuss the promise of a revitalized Los Angeles, and how to build it.
Unscrupulous lenders, mysterious new financial products, and shadowy banks might have taken most of the blame for the economic crisis, but the problem begins with a type of business that has troubled the U.S. since its founding: the monopoly. Over the last 30 years, regulation of monopolies has eased, leaving the companies commanding governments, courts, wars, resources, and even patents to the human genetic code. As consolidation proceeds largely unchecked across every sector — crushing entrepreneurs, stifling innovation, and inflating prices — monopolies threaten our economy and our democracy. Financial Times contributor Barry C. Lynn, author of Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction, visited Zócalo to illuminate the workings of monopolies and how they might be stopped.
Hospitals and clinics are not generally considered well-designed places for today’s healthcare needs. Work spaces for doctors and nurses can be crowded, too close to patient treatment areas, and missing new technology that would streamline care. At hospitals, patient rooms often lack windows or privacy. They can be cramped and far from waiting areas and cafeterias, making it more difficult to visit easily with family. But a growing number of hospitals and clinics are taking design and architecture into consideration with an eye toward patient outcomes and quality of care. The shifts have been shown to aid recovery, boost morale, decrease hospital-caused infections that can cost billions of dollars a year, calm patients, and create better communication between doctors, nurses, families, and patients. They have also helped clinics expand their services beyond primary care. Could good design make for good health, and save money in the process? Zócalo invited journalist Dana Dubbs, James Theimer, principal architect and founder of the Redding firm of Trilogy Architecture, Robin Orr, a board member of the Center for Health Design, and Mary Dee Hacker, Vice President of Patient Care Services of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, to explore how medical care environments harm us, and how they could help us.
Chefs have always had a knack for fame — from Julia Child to Napoleon’s personal chef, who published lucrative cookbooks and invented the tall white chef’s hat. But today, thanks in part to the Food Network, several seasons of "Top Chef" and "Hell’s Kitchen," and a burgeoning foodie culture, chefs are full-fledged celebrities. Besides running top restaurants across the country, they publish enough books to overwhelm the shelves — and abilities — of most any home cook. They host TV shows that rely on outsized personality as much as inventive recipes. And they lend their names and talents to chain eateries and bottled grocery-store sauces. Are celebrity chefs over exposed and over extended, and how have they transformed food? Pulitzer Prize winning LA Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold visited Zócalo with a panel of star chefs — including Nancy Silverton of Mozza, "Top Chef" Season Two winner Ilan Hall, and "Top Chef Masters" stars Ludovic Lefebvre of LudoBites and Susan Feniger of Border Grill and Street — to find out what makes a celebrity, and whether TV helps or hurts chefs and the way we eat.
After a long and bruising legislative battle, President Barack Obama signed national healthcare reform into law. The plan promises coverage to the uninsured, lower healthcare costs for small businesses, and tighter regulation of insurance companies, preventing them from denying care to the sick. The reform comes at a crucial time for California. The economic crisis has left the state considering cuts to its healthcare programs, particularly for the elderly and the disabled. With nearly one in four of its residents lacking access to care, California has the highest number of uninsured people of any state. What does national healthcare reform mean for California? Zócalo invited the L.A. Times’ Duke Helfand, the California HealthCare Foundation's Marian Mulkey, Jan Spencley of San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage, Small Business Majority Founder and CEO John Arensmeyer, and Lucien Wulsin of the Insure the Uninsured Project to consider how reform will help Californians, how it will impact local businesses, insurers, and hospitals, and how it might fall short. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.
Salomón Huerta is known for revealing identity by obscuring it. He has painted collections of finely detailed portraits of the backs of heads, florid but unemotional masked lucha libre wrestlers, and unassuming suburban homes stripped of individuality. Huerta, who was born in Tijuana and raised in Boyle Heights, has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, the Gagosian Gallery, and LACMA, and is beginning to paint new works with no unifying theme. But Huerta remains committed to his unusual creative process — destroying each piece several times with a sander, and then repainting on the same canvas. In an event made possible by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, Huerta visited Zócalo to discuss with art critic David Pagel his method and what it says about art, ego, and creativity.
From translucent slivers of sushi to simple weeknight salmon dinners, seafood is a staple of the American diet, considered both healthy and luxurious. But what if there really aren’t more fish in the sea? Our craving for high-on-the-food-chain tuna and salmon bred nearly as big and thick as torpedoes is destabilizing ocean life and polluting the sea. Even as some chefs and suppliers aim to serve environmentally safe fish, others plate shark and whale. How sustainable is seafood? Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold visited Zócalo along with Providence Executive Chef Michael Cimarusti, Santa Monica Seafood’s Logan Kock, and Heal the Bay President Mark Gold to discuss how our eating habits hurt the environment, and whether there’s a way to eat what we want without doing harm.
After launching his architecture career in Los Angeles over 20 years ago, Michael Maltzan quickly distinguished himself with socially conscious buildings that depart from the hulking luxury structures of celebrity architects. His housing projects for the homeless – including the Rainbow Apartments on San Pedro, the recently completed New Carver Apartments on 17th and Hope, and the forthcoming Star Apartments at Sixth and Maple – provide protection, beauty, and services for a community more accustomed to unadorned and blocky shelter. His Inner-City Arts campus, designed inventively and built cost-effectively, provides children a place to learn in the heart of Skid Row. And he transformed the Hammer Museum’s courtyard into a more inviting and open space with the Billy Wilder Theater and café. Maltzan visited Zócalo to talk with KCRW’s Frances Anderton about his work, whether good design can be affordable, and how architecture shapes our lives. This event is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
No matter how many Silicon Valley-bound software engineers, Texan-imitating call center operators, or Pepsi-endorsing movie stars it produces, India retains a promise of untrammeled, ancient spirituality. But how is modernity changing some of the country’s oldest traditions? Children of businessmen and engineers disobey their parents to join obscure, exacting religious orders; holy men hold work-a-day jobs; Sufi mystics struggle in Talibanizing provinces. Historian and travel writer William Dalrymple, author of Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, visited Zócalo to explore where modern meets ancient in a transforming country, and the constant human pursuit of the divine.
Iraq isn’t the first war that began with an overestimation of American power. Woodrow Wilson and the pro-war progressives believed World War I would transform the world. Lyndon Johnson and the Camelot intellectuals thought America could stop any communist movement from taking power anywhere on earth. George W. Bush and the neoconservatives imagined they could usher in their very own 1989 in the Middle East. Why does success produce hubris, and can tragedy produce wisdom? In an event sponsored by the UCLA Burkle Center, journalist Peter Beinart, author of The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, visited Zócalo to chat with The Atlantic's Ben Schwarz about why it’s so difficult — and so crucial — to acknowledge the limits of American power.
Barack Obama rose to the presidency at a critical time in American history. Propelled by a galvanized left, admired for his cool temperament and high intellect, challenged as inexperienced, and provoking fierce and often racially-tinged opposition, the young Senator from Illinois took the oath of the highest office amid celebration despite the challenges ahead. The country faced its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression; troops fought seemingly unwinnable wars in two countries; tens of millions of Americans needed healthcare. How did the Obama administration survive its first year, and how did it fare? Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter, author of The Promise: President Obama, Year One, visited Zócalo to tell the inside story of the disciplined, self-aware president and the colorful team that aims to see the country and the world into a new era.
Wilbert Rideau spent 44 years in one of the country’s most infamous prisons, Louisiana’s Angola penitentiary. After killing a woman in a moment of panic following a botched bank robbery, Rideau was sentenced to death at 19, later amended to life imprisonment. From within Angola, long the sight of prison reform activism because of its brutal living and working conditions, Rideau worked to transform the criminal justice system. Though the brutality of earlier decades is largely gone, prisoners at Angola and around the country still suffer mistreatment and overcrowding due to harsh sentencing laws. Rideau, author of In the Place of Justice, visited Zócalo to reflect on his time, his work, and why lifting censorship rules is the key to prison reform.
The Hoover Dam was once thought to be a remote regional project, approved as an afterthought by a Republican president before the stock market crashed. But by the time it was completed, and in the 75 years since it was dedicated, the Dam has come to symbolize American resilience and ingenuity at one of the worst times in our history. Construction at the height of the Depression employed thousands and spurred development of urban centers in the West, transforming the political balance of the country and shifting its governing philosophy from rugged individualism toward collective enterprise and social support. What is the legacy of the Hoover Dam today, particularly as Americans face a deepening water crisis and the worst economic downturn since the Depression? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik, author of Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century, visited Zócalo to explore the epic story of the Hoover Dam and how it transformed the country.
Zurich and Los Angeles share an intriguing political distinction: each is the largest city in the world’s two greatest centers of direct democracy. California and Switzerland use initiatives and referenda more often than any place in the world, and have for more than a century, when Los Angeles followed Zurich’s model and instituted the first municipal system of direct democracy in the U.S. But direct democracy has been challenged in both places, particularly when it seems that financing, populism, misinformation, or sheer complexity — rather than well-informed voters turning out in strong numbers — make or break initiatives. How democratic are Zurich and Los Angeles, what challenges does each city face, and how might they improve their political processes? Zócalo Public Square and the Swiss Confederation invited journalist Joe Mathews, Swiss National Parliament member Andreas Gross, Swiss journalist Bruno Kaufmann, attorney George Kieffer, who led the 1999 Los Angeles Charter revision, and California Common Cause Executive Director Kathay Feng to consider which is the most democratic city, and what each could learn from the other. The event was co-sponsored by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Los Angeles, and made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.
With internationally acclaimed novels that sell millions of copies in 45 countries and 30 languages, Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a writer for a global age. Zafón, born in Barcelona and living in Los Angeles, where he first came to write screenplays, cites as his influences the 19th century British, Russian, and French giants — Dickens, Tolstoy, Balzac. But he also takes inspiration from the great American crime fiction — including the Los Angeles noir master Raymond Chandler — and Hollywood movies, which help him visualize the rich worlds he creates in his novels. Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind, and most recently of The Angel’s Game, visited Zócalo to chat with The Agony Column’s Rick Kleffel, to discuss his life and his art.
To the Western world, women’s rights and political Islam can appear incompatible. Deeply ingrained social norms and particular interpretations of Islamic law leave women in most Middle Eastern countries without legal protection from domestic violence or spousal rape. Women generally have fewer rights than men when it comes to education, work, divorce, and daily life — from dress to driving to being alone outside the home. But a budding grassroots reform movement has seen women begin to demand their rights within an Islamic framework, rather than against it. In the last two decades, more women have begun pursuing education — including college, advanced degrees and even religious education — and participating in politics, business, and the media. Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Isobel Coleman, author of Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East, visited Zócalo in an event co-sponsored by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations to discuss Islamic feminism, the women behind the movement, and why their success is crucial to fighting extremism and creating progress and stability in the Islamic world.
In his most recent novel, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, Geoff Dyer creates the character Jeff Atman. Much like Dyer, he’s a writer charged with attending and covering the 2003 Venice Biennale. Jeff ignores various masterpieces, stumbles upon one particularly moving piece only by accident, takes in a major light installation while hung over, and participates in a toast to the Bellini—the cocktail—as the best art at the festival. Though Dyer’s views on art and experiencing art don’t exactly match Jeff’s, he uses his character to examine art and place. Geoff Dyer visited Zócalo to discuss his experience of a particular piece of art.
As college degrees become an ever more essential qualification for earning a living, students are going further than ever before to get them — and creating a new and rapidly changing worldwide marketplace for higher ed. Nearly three million students leave their home countries to pursue college degrees, a 40 percent increase since 1999. American institutions have set up shop in over 40 countries and are accepting more international students than ever before — with USC leading the pack in matriculating foreigners. College rankings are internationalizing, which could mean American universities won’t stay at the top of the heap. How will worldwide competition for the best minds transform education as we know it, and does it mean the end of American leadership in the field? Education expert Ben Wildavsky, author of The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping Our World, visited Zócalo to explain what globalized education means for students, the U.S., and the world.
From the invention of the suburb to the birth of Home and Garden Television, homeownership has long been a central part of the American dream. Americans build ballooning mansions, hunt for hidden architectural gems, drop thousands of dollars per square foot of urban condo or seaside shack, endlessly renovate fixer-uppers, and carefully outfit interiors. Why are we so desperate to own? Meghan Daum, author of Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House, visits Zócalo to recount her search for a place to call home and to explain the pleasures and perils of believing that only a house can make you whole.
Before travel shifted to the highways and the skies, the railroad connected Americans and developed the country. Trains built the Eastern seaboard cities, connected the distant coasts, populated and glamorized the West, determined the outcomes of wars, and, when regulated and subsidized, shaped our ideas of government and economy. Today, barring some commuter rails and urban subways, trains are underutilized across the country, particularly in California, where discount airlines are cheaper and faster, and cars run everywhere on any schedule. But with the promise of high-speed train technology to connect California, buzz about L.A.’s subway to the sea, ever-more crowded roads, and federal and state governments ready to fund job-generating infrastructure projects, rail seems ready for a comeback. Is rail the future of transit, or is it a waste of resources? Zócalo invites a panel of experts — including KCET’s Val Zavala, L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Authority Board Member Richard Katz, Gloria Ohland of Reconnecting America and Adrian Moore of the Reason Foundation — to consider the rise, fall, and potential return of rail.
John A. Pérez, a former labor leader and the first openly gay Speaker of the Assembly in California, ascends to the seat at a particularly challenging time for the state, and with only a year's experience. Not only has California been struggling with a devastating budget crisis, but federal policies expected to assist the state might fail. Transportation and education dollars slated for California haven't been able to blunt layoffs and service cutbacks; and national healthcare reform, whatever its merits, could hurt the state budget. How should Pérez and the legislature address California's problems? Pérez, who represents Los Angeles and is a cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, visited Zócalo to discuss his plans for the state.
Internet commerce has boomed in the last decade. Americans alone spend over $150 billion in online transactions, and over 50 million U.S. households bank on the web. But how safe are the sites computer users around the world trust with their most sensitive information, and how precarious is the system? Isolated cases of identity theft and computer viruses fail to capture the vast risk crime poses to the way we use the Internet, and a real public debate has yet to begin. Exploiting systemic security holes and a Wild-West-style lack of governance, supported by governments bent on cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare, and rarely thwarted by law enforcement agencies, organized crime has made the web its main operation, compromising more than half the world’s computers. Journalist Joseph Menn, Technology Correspondent for the Financial Times and author of Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet, visited Zócalo to explain why organized crime threatens the Internet as we know it.
One hundred sixty years ago, California, newly independent from Mexico, chose statehood. Since then, California has spurred change around the country. Its progressive policies inspired other states to follow suit, and the innovations sparked in Silicon Valley and fueled by venture capital — more of which is invested in California than in the other 49 states combined — have transformed the way we live. But the rest of the country often gives the Golden State the cold shoulder. Californians are considered flaky, superficial latte-drinkers. The state receives only about 80 cents in return for every federal tax dollar it pays, and its requests for aid during the current fiscal and political crisis have gone mostly ignored by the Obama administration. Would California be better off as its own country? Zócalo invites the New America Foundation’s Joe Mathews, PoliPoint Press editor Peter Richardson, political consultant Darry A. Sragow, writer and blogger David Dayen, and Global California author Abraham Lowenthal to explore whether the state would have done better on its own, and how more control over its foreign, trade, and immigration policies may be help.
Oil may make more headlines, but water is the world’s most indispensable resource, and a dwindling one. Water’s scarcity spawns war, epidemic diseases and the collapse of states across parts of Africa and Asia; its faltering supplies imperil the rise of China and India. What should we do about water? Journalist Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization, visits Zócalo to trace the history of water from ancient times to our dawning age of scarcity.
Since the devastating economic crisis of 2008, new regulations have aimed to reign in the big banks that helped bring down the world economy. But six “megabanks” still rule the financial markets. They are bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever before. They control assets amounting to 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. And their rise from the ashes of the Great Recession is only the latest Wall Street triumph in a long history of showdowns between American government and finance, dating back to Thomas Jefferson. How did this come to be? Simon Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, visited Zócalo to explain why big banks and the ideology of unfettered finance still endangers us today, and what we can do to avoid another meltdown.
Photographers have turned their lenses on food since the invention of their art. Early images captured simple, soft arrangements that showcased seasonal bounties — fruits and vegetables in vases and bowls, like still-life paintings. Photographed still lives — whether elaborate or bare — evoked not only taste and appetite, but the experience of a meal, the process, the drama, the company. Shots of markets captured commerce and abundance. Decades later, technological and aesthetic advances transformed the food photograph into its own art that set off all the senses. As the Getty opens its exhibit, "Tasteful Pictures,” featuring food photographs from the Getty collection, Zócalo invites a panel of experts — including KCRW’s Evan Kleiman, Artbites’ Maite Gomez-Rejón, photographer Charlie Grosso, and Gastronomica founding editor Darra Goldstein — to explore the origins of food photography and why we like to look at what we can’t eat.
Well before the rise of political evangelicalism, Americans have blurred the church-state divide, whether for spurring major social movements like women’s suffrage or civil rights or for hitting the campaign trail. But how well does democracy mix with God? As Europeans and Americans worry about radical Islam undermining Western-style liberal democratic government. Journalist and scholar Ian Buruma, author of Taming the Gods, visited Zócalo to argue that religion — and particularly the passions it inflames — must be calmed to make democracy work.
Americans celebrated the election of Barack Obama as a “triumph over race.” But in major U.S. cities today, the majority of young black men are locked behind bars or labeled felons for life. Jim Crow laws may have been wiped off the books decades ago, but an astounding number of African Americans today, much like their grandparents before them, are trapped in a permanent second-class status — unable to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits. Is a new Jim Crow system emerging and thriving in the age of Obama? Scholar and activist Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, visited Zócalo to explain what she calls our new racial caste system.
Roads bind our world. The dense patchwork of an urban grid, looping and soaring city highways, long and straight country trails and narrow, curving mountain passes connect people everywhere with goods, knowledge, disease, and each other. Roads define the way we speak — our careers run in the fast lane; our integrity takes us on the high road; our fates follow paths less traveled — and underpin our stories. What tales do roads tell? Ted Conover, author of The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today, visited Zócalo after traveling through Peru, India, China, Africa, and the Middle East to explain how roads shape our cultures and our lives.
Steve Westly is founder and managing partner of The Westly Group. Mr. Westly previously served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California, chairing the State Lands Commission and serving on 63 other boards and commissions. During his term, Mr. Westly led an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments. Mr. Westly is a former a Senior Vice President at eBay and author of two books on alternative energy and utilities.
California has long led the country on environmental initiatives — the state has pledged to produce a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Today, California has an estimated 159,000 green jobs, and over the last 13 years, green jobs have grown by 36 percent, while Californian jobs in general have grown by 13 percent. But despite these forward-looking trends, how can policymakers ensure that the green boom doesn’t quickly go bust, or that the boom benefits all Californians, not just those who can buy Priuses? Zócalo and the New America Foundation invite Collaborative Economics' Tracey Grose, Fresno Sustainability Manager Joseph Oldham, Kaiser Permanente's Kathy Gerwig, Spring Ventures Founding Partner Sunil Paul, Michael P. Wilson of the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, and Lisa Margonelli of the New America Foundation to consider how best to develop the economy and preserve the environment in the long run.
Violence affects young African American men more than any other group. Homicide is the leading cause of death for black men between the ages of 15 and 34. In every major U.S. city, black men are more likely than others to be shot or stabbed. But what about the psychological wounds of trauma? Like victims of combat violence or sexual assault, victims of urban violence often suffer post traumatic symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks and loss of the ability to feel emotions. How does trauma change the lives of these men and feed the cycle of violence? John A. Rich, a MacArthur Fellow and author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men, visited Zócalo to discuss how to prevent and heal the hidden wounds of violence.
Americans have long been fascinated by Cuba. A mere 90 miles divide the two countries, and their histories have been entangled since the turn of the last century, when the U.S. occupied Cuba after the Spanish-American war. The countries’ relations only grew more complicated from there. Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959, building a one-party Communist state that controlled land, the economy, and the media. He leaned toward the Soviet Union, spurring everything from near-catastrophic confrontations to comical assassination attempts. Several surges of refugees landed on Florida’s shores, building a vocal presence and political opposition to Castro within the United States. And successive American presidents maintained strict economic and travel sanctions and couldn’t budge the stalemated diplomatic process. Barack Obama has made few concrete changes, despite proclaiming the Cuba policy a "failed” one. What do Americans need to know about Cuba, and what’s next for Cuba and the U.S.? Julia Sweig, author of Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know and a senior fellow and director for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, visited Zócalo to explain recent shifts in Cuban politics, its difficult relations with the U.S. and where both countries should go from here.
Is it possible to envision the next economic boom while we’re still in a bust? Gregg Easterbrook does exactly that in Sonic Boom, arguing that when we pull out of the current recession, the next period of economic growth will be unlike any we’ve seen before. The trends that have drastically changed our world in the last few decades — the lowering of trade barriers and the expansion of financial markets, the vast technological leaps that speed communication and exchange, the worldwide migration of jobs and job-seekers — are still in their early stages, and have yet to fulfill their transformative power. Gregg Easterbrook visited Zócalo to discuss the next great economic expansion and explain why it will increase interconnectedness and prosperity, while making the world a much less secure place.
In a little over two decades, the Internet has gone from a singular invention to an indispensable part of human life. Its rules — requisite anonymity, the free posting of information, and the power of the hive mind — have rapidly become norms that are rarely questioned. But much of the web’s standard design, functions, and assumptions rely on decades-old programming decisions that may not make the most sense for users today. Why is the Internet the way it is, and should we change it? Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto and a longtime Silicon Valley innovator, argues that the Internet’s design — and the nearly religious commitment some technologists have for it — have made for a web that hurts the middle class, contributes to economic crisis, and denigrates intelligence and individual judgment. Lanier visited Zócalo to discuss the flaws and the future of the Internet.
After 70 years of setting the standard for epicurean living, Gourmet magazine ceased publication in October at the order of its parent, Conde Nast. The magazine cultivated its exalted reputation by a devotion to lush photography, lengthy writing by famed authors, and finely crafted and often complex recipes. The commitment to such quality, and the name of the magazine itself, made it an aspirational and indulgent read for generations of gourmands who understood that food—eating it, cooking it, reading about it—was an art. Despite the subsequent rise of many other food magazines and blogs—often more focused on quick, simple, low-cost recipes than on literary food writing—Gourmet built a strong and diverse brand with books, websites, and television shows, and boasted nearly one million subscribers. Zócalo invites former Gourmet editors Ruth Reichl and Laurie Ochoa, former Gourmet writer Jonathan Gold, and KCRW’s Good Food host Evan Kleiman to look back at the history of Gourmet, the culture it sparked, and the future of the Gourmet brand and American food writing.
Keeping our elderly parents healthy, particularly when they have a chronic illness or disability, can be a demanding full-time job. Though 70 percent of all elderly are cared for by family and friends, assisted living and nursing homes fill the gap in care in cases too challenging for even the most devoted families. Long-term care can require close medical attention multiple times a day, combined with assistance performing the basic tasks of daily life, like dressing and bathing, and providing mental health support. Nine million men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care this year; by 2020, that number will rise to 12 million. The elderly will have a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home, and about 10 percent of those will stay five years or more. These men and women and their families will face the difficult decision of where to seek and how to manage long-term care. They often have to make these decisions without reliable information about what types of care are available and appropriate, or which facilities and services offer the highest quality care. With the California HealthCare Foundation’s newly-launched ratings website making it easier to find quality long-term care, Zócalo hosted a panel of experts including — Debra Saliba of UCLA, California Culture Change Coalition Executive Director Bonnie Darwin, Gary Passmore of the Congress of California Seniors, and Gretchen Alkema of the SCAN Foundation — to discuss what we should do when we, or our parents, need help making these decisions. This event was made possible by the California HealthCare Foundation.
It’s easy enough to characterize a Southern writer, whether by origin or style, by a character’s audible twang or a novel’s focus on regional history. There is even, perhaps, a certain voice that is distinctly New York or Midwestern. But what makes a Los Angeles writer — birthplace, genre, theme? As part of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Zócalo invited a panel of writers — Laurie Ochoa, Yxta Maya Murray, DJ Waldie, Gary Phillips, and Jonathan Gold — to explore the city, its writers, and its stories. This event was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Of all the many immigrant communities that have come to the U.S., Mexicans may have the most unusual experience.
The Census Bureau is fundamental to American democracy — its ten-year counts determine representation in Congress and in the Electoral College, and influence federal and state funding for health, education, transportation, and more. Americans of all political leanings have strong preferences for whom and what they want counted, and obstacles often prevent the Census from making full counts, particularly of minority groups. Some, recalling the Census' history of providing information on various groups for national security reasons, regard the count with skepticism and mistrust. With the 2010 Census looming, Zócalo invites a panel of experts -- including UCI's Jennifer Lee, UCLA's Paul Ong, Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, Arturo Vargas of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and Steve Padilla of the Los Angeles Times -- to consider how the Census works, how it might improve, and why it is relentlessly controversial.
Every president since Harry Truman has struggled with universal healthcare; the last major victory toward it came over 40 years ago, when Lyndon Johnson created Medicare and Medicaid. Since then, presidents’ efforts either made small advances or suffered overwhelming defeat, as Bill Clinton did. This year, as healthcare reform returns as a number-one issue, James A. Morone, co-author of “The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office,” visited Zócalo to explain universal healthcare reform and how to get it.
Zócalo’s panel — including Stanford’s Tomás Jiménez, USC’s Dowell Myers, Peggy Levitt of Wellesley College, and Richard Alba of the State University of New York — explored to what extent immigrants are expected to abandon, or adapt, their native cultures and languages, and what it means to be American.
Luis Alberto Urrea’s fiction and nonfiction works chronicle the Mexican immigrant experience. Urrea, who now teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago, visited Zócalo to explore the experience of moving from south of the border to the Midwest, and the people he meets there.
Zócalo invited a panel — including Tamar Jacoby of ImmigrationWorks USA, Gary Gerstle of the University of Maryland, Associate Director of the National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities Jose Luis Gutierrez, and Duke University's Noah Pickus — to discuss how immigrants come to feel at home in the U.S., and what the native born can do to help.
The landscape that defines Los Angeles also threatens it. For decades, the mountains and hills that encircle the city have trapped pollution in its basins and valleys, leaving low-hanging brown clouds. Teeming with cars, home to the nation’s largest port complex and the world’s seventh largest airport, and trailing behind other cities in annual rainfall, Los Angeles has always been uniquely vulnerable to pollution, and uniquely poised to fight it. Fifty years ago, Angelenos rallied against air pollution, and the city ambitiously began to reduce it. Today, pollution levels are lower than they have been in more than 75 years, but challenges remain as the world begins to confront the specter of climate change. Though Los Angeles has launched an aggressive effort to address global warming, how will the city survive a future of droughts and rising oceans? Zócalo hosts a panel of experts — including CalTech Professor of Environmental Science Tapio Schneider, UCLA Associate Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Alex Hall, Pulitzer Prize winning environmental writer Usha McFarling, and moderator Paul Wennberg — to discuss the challenges Los Angeles faces as temperatures rise, what we can do to address global warming now, and to ask, if Los Angeles and the world continue on their current path, how the city might survive a hotter future. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation of Los Angeles.
Between 1993 and 2001, President Bill Clinton joined his friend of over 30 years Taylor Branch for a series of confidential interviews. Keeping much of his staff in the dark, Clinton recorded 78 sessions, each totaling 90 minutes and taking place at night, in the quiet of the White House Treaty Room. The White House diary project, transcribed, ran several thousand pages and became the basis for The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President. Branch’s work is filled with intimate observations from the president on the day-to-day, the nature of the job, and the major events of his tenure — the war in Bosnia, the effort to reform healthcare, Whitewater. Branch visited Zócalo to talk about the chronicling of his friend’s presidency, the Clinton legacy today, and the importance of keeping the public square alive.
Medical care and convenience don’t usually go together. But the retail clinic aims to change that by doing away with long waits at the doctors’ office and complicated insurance requirements and forms, all while bringing better care to the uninsured and underserved. But critics argue that retail clinics need better regulation and a stronger presence in low-income neighborhoods, and still others suggest that they could be detrimental in instances where patients need more serious attention Zócalo invited a panel of experts -- including Pro Publica’s Charlie Ornstein, Cynthia Stamper Graff, President and CEO of Lindora, Inc.; Mary Kate Scott, founder and CEO of Scott & Company and a professor of health care business and consulting at USC; and Dev Gnanadev, president of the California Medical Association and chief medical officer at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center -- to discuss the retail clinic’s unique model of care and its implications for doctors, insurance companies, and consumers.
James Ellroy, the author of the bestselling L.A. Quartet novels — The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, and White Jazz — has just concluded another high-selling set of novels: the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy. Like the prior two volumes, American Tabloid and The Cold Six-Thousand, Ellroy's latest, Blood's A Rover, captures the explosive 1960s, placing Ellroy's strange characters — a Klan-raised, Yale-educated FBI agent, an ex-cop and heroin runner, and a wheelman for divorce lawyers — in the middle of that decade's fierce battles over race, sex, and crime. The great Ellroy visited Zócalo to ballyhoo, consecrate, deconstruct and ridicule his bestselling new novel, and to reflect on the nature of his historical fiction and the America it invents. He chats with his girlfriend, writer Erica Schickel.
Ned Sublette is the author of two books elucidating New Orleans, a city with a uniquely complex history of cultural intermingling. The World That Made New Orleans explores the city’s first century, and the forthcoming The Year Before the Flood takes up Sublette’s personal history with the city, along with the strange final year for the city as we knew it. Sublette discusses the character and culture of New Orleans, then and now. Sublette delivered this keynote address at Zócalo’s conference on Race and Immigration in Post-Katrina America, generously sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Before the massive demographic shift prompted by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was a black and white city with an African-American majority city council. Across the country, with Latino immigrants increasing in numbers and making up a key swing population, Zócalo’s panel — including University of New Orleans professor Andre Perry, Syracuse’s Jamie Winders, Stanford’s Laura López-Sanders, and urban and population geographer Anita Drever— considers whether the nation’s newest residents upset the black-white balance and what it means for the country. This is the second panel from Zócalo’s conference on Race and Immigration in Post-Katrina America, generously sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
News media around the country have scrutinized the relationship between African Americans and Latinos, particularly hints of economic competition and racial tension and violence. Zócalo invited a panel — including journalist Oscar Garza, Duke political science and African American studies professor Paula McClain, Betina Cutaia Wilkinson of Louisiana State University, and USC Annenberg professor and immigration expert Roberto Suro — to focus on the relationship between the groups to see exactly where tensions lie, where cooperation exists, and how it’s changing race in America. This is the first panel from Zócalo’s conference on Race and Immigration in Post-Katrina America, generously sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Jonathan Gold chats with Cedd Moses of 213 Downtown, Providence chef Michael Cimarusti, Copa D’Oro bartender Vincenzo Marianella, and the Varnish’s Eric Alperin about the uniquely American art of the cocktail.
Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way. But each is touched by what’s known as the resource curse — the power of oil to harm rather than help the countries that possess it. Around the world oil vastly enriches small ruling classes, degrades the environment, and destabilizes political and economic institutions as prices fluctuate. Peter Maass, New York Times Magazine writer and author of Crude World, visits Zócalo to explore the consequences of gas-guzzling, the paradox of plenty, and how to cure our addiction to oil.
Since the 1960s, the U.S. prison population has increased fivefold. Prisons today hold one inmate for every one hundred adults — a record rate in American history, and one unmatched by any other country. But despite the high prison population, crime has stopped falling. Punishments can seem random in their severity and implementation, minorities and the poor still disproportionately become victims and inmates, and enforcement — particularly of probation and parole — is haphazard. How can crime be controlled? UCLA Public Policy professor Mark Kleiman, author of When Brute Force Fails, visited Zócalo to offer a new strategy for cutting crime, reducing the prison population, and still enacting swift, certain, and fair punishment.
Traffic can seem like a law of the universe: an ever-present, incontrovertible, inexplicable force. Back-ups simply happen, the other lanes always move faster, and nearby drivers are consistently inept. But traffic has a comprehensible logic — particular physical dynamics rule the flow of cars; psychology governs drivers’ assumptions and actions; and laws and technology underpin attempts at efficiency and safety on the road. Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do and What It Says About Us, visits Zócalo to explore how human nature, our relationship to our built urban environment, and a host of other complex physical, psychological, and social interactions create the phenomenon of traffic.
As an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, Carlos R. Moreno sits on one of the country’s most innovative and followed state courts. Appointed in 2001, Moreno, the court’s only Democrat and a son of immigrants, has, as The New York Times put it, carved out principled yet empathetic positions that have won him high regard on the left and the right. He has upheld the right of counties to ban gun shows on county property, the right of consumers to sue corporations, and he has confirmed sentences in most death penalty appeals. And only days after he was being considered a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, Moreno issued the lone dissent in the Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. Moreno visits Zócalo to discuss with UCI School of Law professor Henry Weinstein his work on the court, his advocacy on behalf of foster children, and his rise from the Solano Avenue neighborhood to the highest court in the state.
As healthcare costs rise and job losses leave many uninsured, Americans turn abroad for medical care. Is globalized medicine an efficient way to provide care at lower costs? And what does the trend say about our healthcare system, and how it might improve quality while increasing affordability? Zócalo hosted a panel of experts—including Arnold Milstein, U.S. Health Care Thought Leader, Mercer, John A Gillean, senior vice president and chief medical officer of CHRISTUS Health, Elizabeth A. Martinez, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Peter Hayes, health benefits strategist at Hannaford Bros. Co—to discuss the future of medical tourism. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.
It could be said that Los Angeles has too little history and Berlin has too much. Los Angeles sits on the western edge of the New World, barely inhabited until a population boom this century, but the historical home to a series of seekers — from colonizers to immigrants to would-be movie stars and oil prospectors — who made homes in the city as they erased its past, particularly its Mexican roots. Berlin sits in the center of the Old World, the site of centuries of conflict, the most recent of which left the city divided, in ruins. But both cities today are in a moment of transition. Berlin is still being built, or rebuilt, after reunification two decades ago as the center of a newly united Europe. Los Angeles has recently faced a major wave of immigration, a sprawling eastward expansion and downtown renaissance, and a severe economic bust. How should Berlin and Los Angeles — where residents daily encounter and interact with the vestiges of history, the ghostly sites of demolition, and the clatter of construction — build for the future? Zócalo hosted a panel of historians and architects — including moderator Peter Tokofsky of the Getty Museum, Roger Sherman of Roger Sherman Architecture & Urban Design; urban historian Greg Hise; GRAFT Architects Founding Partner Wolfram Putz; Dorothee Brantz of the Technische Universität; and Niklas Maak, architecture critic for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung — to discuss what to preserve of the past, what to pave over, and how to plan and build civic identities for two notoriously changing cities. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation of Los Angeles.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called California’s looming budget crisis a fiscal armageddon waiting to strike. Now, as major cuts are inevitable, doomsday seems to have come to California, particularly to its poorest. The one-million-plus Californians on CalWorks, the state’s main welfare program, could lose monthly income. Support for those who care for disabled Californians is set to be slashed. MediCal programs, children’s welfare payments, and student financial aid have all been proposed targets for cuts, severely impacting Californians who were struggling even before the recession hit. Zócalo invites a panel of experts -- including journalist Marta Russell, Mike Herald of the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Michelle Wolf, a parent of disabled child, Gloria Rodriguez, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, and State Senator Gil Cedillo -- to discuss with moderator Joe Mathews the long-term effects of the Armageddon budget cuts on the neediest Californians, and on the state’s overall health.
Pete Wilson’s California wasn’t too different from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s. The state’s education system lagged behind the rest of the country, interest groups had a tight grip on Sacramento, healthcare costs were rising, and the economy was the worst it had been since the Great Depression. While Wilson may be best remembered for his more controversial stances—like supporting Proposition 187, which sought to refuse services to illegal immigrants—he also managed to pass budgets and break partisan stalemates, ultimately leaving his successor a budget surplus. Ten years after he left office, at a time when many claim California is ungovernable, Pete Wilson visited Zócalo to chat with moderator Joe Mathews about budgets, interest groups, and how he might address the problems the state faces today.
Mexico and the United States share a centuries-long history, a dynamic border region and a vibrant economic relationship. The interconnectedness of the U.S. and Mexican economies is undeniable. When the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented on January 1, 1994, the two neighbors, along with Canada, created one of the world's richest and largest trading blocs. Mexican-Americans are an influential and prominent part of U.S. society and presidents of both countries have encouraged good neighborly relations. But the flow of undocumented immigrants from Mexico has provoked sharp controversy, prompting the U.S. to fortify its southern border and crack down on workers and employers as lawmakers in Washington stalemate on comprehensive immigration reform. Unprecedented bilateral cooperation on border security and intelligence since 9/11 has been overshadowed by the struggle both countries are waging against drug-related crime as Mexico in particular leads an intense fight against organized crime. In the early 21st century, Mexico and U.S. are as important to one another as ever before. At a time when greater collaboration is vital, Arturo Sarukhán, Ambassador of Mexico, visits Zócalo to examine this unique relationship and discuss shared challenges and opportunities of the future.
Swine flu, a contracting economy, rising unemployment, a wild and bloody conflict with drug traffickers, the constant threat of natural disasters and ransom kidnappings—Mexico faces several serious challenges. Since the contested 2006 presidential election there, the country has suffered crisis after crisis, constantly testing the Mexican people’s ability to realign their everyday lives. Some seek economic refuge in the United States, but most remain home, adapting, tuning out, dancing with Death. Daniel Hernandez, a former Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly writer who has spent the past 18 months blogging Mexico City, visits Zócalo to share his insights on that sprawling capital, its youth culture, and the alternately defiant and detached, resigned and resistant approaches of Mexican people to threats always looming.
From sleek laptops to shiny new cars, objects enthrall us. Objects seem capable of manipulation and seduction, building and sustaining a desire for design, even over performance, function and a fair price. Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum London and author of The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects, visits Zócalo to explore the power of design and what it means for art and commerce.
Is God good or bad? In both the Bible and the Koran, God’s mood seems to swing randomly between belligerence and benevolence. But the scriptures, read carefully, reveal a subtle pattern in these moods, a pattern that is key to understanding the evolution of the great monotheistic faiths. In an era when the perceived divisions between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam spark violent conflict, understanding the deep parallels between the faiths--and the forces that can move them to a higher moral plane--is crucial to building a peaceful world. Robert Wright, a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and the just-published The Evolution of God, visits Zócalo to discuss the birth and growth of the Abrahamic God.
Forty years ago, California's higher education system was the envy of the nation. It´s bold strategy welcoming any resident who wanted to learn led to a doubling of enrolled students, and sparked similar efforts across the country. California ranked high among other states for its share of working adults with a bachelor´s degree. But that figure has declined sharply in the decades since. According to new research by the Public Policy Institute of California, by 2025, the state will fall nearly one million college graduates short of serving its economic needs. With dire California budget crunch, vast demographic shifts including the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation and the influx of immigrants, and the ongoing struggle for stronger secondary education, California needs to recall and possibly adapt its long-heralded higher education vision. What prompted California´s fall from higher education excellence, and how can it be reversed? Zócalo and the Public Policy Institute of California host a panel including Los Angeles Times editorial pages editor Jim Newton, Campaign for College Opportunity Executive Director Michele Siqueiros, UCLA professor Gary Orfield, and PPIC Associate Director Hans Johnson on the history and future of higher learning in California.
Los Angeles is the homeless capital of the nation, with 73,000 homeless men, women and children living on our streets on any given night. Though the number of homeless in Los Angeles has declined over the last few years, it has not declined as sharply as populations in other cities, like New York, which has fewer homeless but has devoted more funding to the cause. What can Los Angeles learn from cities like New York and Washington D.C., which have both reduced homelessness by emphasizing housing first and providing comprehensive care to address root causes? Zócalo hosts a panel of experts -- including United Way of Greater Los Angeles president Elise Buik, Mike Alvidrez, Executive Director for Skid Row Housing Trust, Becky Kanis, Director of Innovations for Common Ground in New York, and Chet Grey, Homeless Services Director of the Washington D.C. Business Improvement District -- on the question of whether homelessness is solveable, and if so, how Los Angeles can get its homeless population off the streets.
Though both Iraq wars aimed to reign in Saddam Hussein, and both were run by men named Bush, the two conflicts were drastically different in planning and implementation. The first was a necessary war of limited scope that won broad international support and was well-executed. The second was a war of choice. Its ambitions were broad, its strategy poorly conceived and implemented. Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars, draws on his experience as a senior-level strategist during both Iraq wars to explain the lessons these wars have taught us..
Will a new model or medium rise to do what newspapers have aimed to do for decades--pursue accuracy and objectivity, doggedly investigate stories, act as a check on power? Or will the demise of newspapers mean a radical shift in what we know and how we know it? Zócalo hosts a panel--including former Washington Post managing editor Steve Coll, Slate founder Michael Kinsley, San Francisco Chronicle executive vice president and editor Phil Bronstein, and National Public Radio media correspondent David Folkenflik--to discuss the decline of print media and the future of journalism.
Tens of thousands of American soldiers have suffered injuries in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, and mental health problems. Zócalo hosts a panel of medical and military experts -- including Jennifer Sinclair, sister of an Army captain who served in Iraq, Army Major Gen. (Retired) Paul E. Mock, David Webb, chief of environmental and military medicine at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Long Beach, and Los Angeles Times veterans affairs reporter Jia-Rui Chong -- to discuss how to heal the minds and bodies of returning soldiers.
Los Angeles and Las Vegas are cities founded on fantasy—narratives of youthful glamour, the languor of palm and pool dotted landscapes, the ease of private automobile transport, the promise of self-invention and easy fame and power. They share city plans designed according to car culture. And they grow toward each other as they expand into the Mojave Desert. But reality has hit both cities: water grows scarce, space is tighter, cars clog roads and pollute the air, and money is disappearing. Zócalo hosts a panel of experts—including William L. Fox, Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, architect and University of Washington assistant professor Nicole Huber; writer, curator and former director of the Las Vegas Art Museum Libby Lumpkin; and educator, author and architect Ralph Stern—to discuss the two parallel cities.
From his first concert piece, written when he was 17, to his expansive, 19-movement, 4,000-measure opus “Epitaph,” Charles Mingus built a remarkable legacy as a jazz bassist, band leader, and composer. Thirty years after his death, Zócalo hosts a panel -- featuring music and culture journalist Oscar Garza, music producer Hal Willner, writer Emory Holmes II, Mingus contemporary and friend William "Buddy" Collette, and the jazz great's son Eric Mingus, also a musician -- to discuss the jazz great.
The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. The continent is more dynamic and its problems more intricate than that, blocked by bottlenecks at the international, national and individual levels. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai—founder of the Green Belt Movement, author of The Challenge for Africa and longtime environmental and democracy advocate—visits Zócalo to discuss her life’s work and her vision for Africa.
Despite proclamations of a flat world, the utility of soft power, or the start of the post-American era, power still matters. It’s still about carrots and sticks, and the U.S. still has it. Washington has wisely used its power at critical moments over the last 50 years to preserve American and global security, and the U.S. today remains an indispensable leader because it alone can galvanize coalitions to solve major international problems. President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations Leslie H. Gelb, also a former New York Times correspondent and author of Power Rules, visits Zócalo to explain how American power works, and how it should be used in a tumultuous world.
Discovering John Fante is like tasting garlic for the first time. He is a quintessential Los Angeles writer. H.L. Mencken, John Steinbeck, Charles Bukowski, Robert Towne and Francis Ford Coppola number among the many fans who swear by Fante, who might have turned 100 this year. A panel of fans and scholars -- including Fante biographer Stephen Cooper, KCRW’s Frances Anderton, Esotouric co-founder Richard Schave, and Fante’s children Victoria Fante-Cohen and Jim Fante -- visited Zócalo along with moderator David Kipen to celebrate the work of John Fante.
craigslist.org may be the only site where you can get anything you need for life cheap, or even for free. The free community classifieds service, launched as an email listserv for San Franciscans in 1995, helps over 50 million monthly users find homes, jobs, cars, stuff, spouses, friends and flings. The site's simple design and old age (in Internet company years) hasn't kept it from being at the pulse of online life. Founder Craig Newmark visited Zócalo to talk with moderator and L.A. Times editorial writer Jon Healey about how craigslist grew, and how internet access and participation can change the way our country runs.
craigslist.org may be the only site where you can get anything you need for life cheap, or even for free. The free community classifieds service, launched as an email listserv for San Franciscans in 1995, helps over 50 million monthly users find homes, jobs, cars, stuff, spouses, friends and flings. Founder Craig Newmark visited Zócalo to talk about the web and social change, net government transparency, and political causes like supporting veterans and building a stable environment for peace on the West Bank.
We live in an age of obsession. To be obsessive is to be American; to be obsessive is to be modern. But obsession is not only a phenomenon of modern existence: it is a medical category — a pathology. Its current form, known as OCD, has been cited by the World Health Organization as the fourth most common mental disorder in the world. How did OCD reach epidemic level when a mere 45 years ago it was considered extremely rare? University of Illinois at Chicago professor Lennard Davis, author of Obsession: A History, visits Zócalo to explain obsession’s growth, its treatment, and its complex origin and deep cultural roots.
Students of means have always had an advantage getting into college — they attend the best high schools and study under the best teachers — but have the scales become too imbalanced in favor of the wealthy? As the economic downturn crimps the student loan market and makes college even harder to afford, a panel of higher education experts -- including Los Angeles Community College District Board President Kelly Candaele, Inside Higher Ed Editor Scott Jaschik, UCLA professor Patricia M. McDonough, author of Choosing Colleges: How Social Class and Schools Structure Opportunity, and Bruce Poch, Dean of Admissions at Pomona College -- visited Zócalo to discuss whether higher education has become inaccessible to all but the rich.
From blind faith in ever-rising housing prices to fearful mistrust of capital markets, powerful psychological forces seem to be endangering the global economy. Are so-called “animal spirits” — the term John Maynard Keynes used to describe the gloom that led to the Great Depression and the psychological shift that pulled us out of it — behind today’s financial crisis? George Akerlof, a Nobel laureate, and Yale University economics professor Robert Shiller visit Zócalo to discuss overconfidence in capitalism, modern snake-oil salesmen, and how to fix the economy to ease the influence of each.
If any single mood characterizes the emotional climate of the 21st century, it’s anger, particularly media rage—indignant cable news pundits, rancorous bloggers and the apoplectic comments they engender. Our society appears to be choking on the bile of its own discontent. Dick Meyer, author of “Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium,” and Time magazine writer Lev Grossman visit Zócalo to discuss the new anger.
Following up on last year's panel on the Writers Guild of America strike, Zócalo’s panel of Hollywood and high-tech experts -- including AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, actress Kathryn Joosten, actor Ron Ostrow, UCLA’s David R. Ginsburg, Veoh Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Dmitry Shapiro and TroyGould entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel -- explores how Hollywood will handle negotiations and divide revenue during its transition to the digital age.
Despite tallies of Facebook friends or Evites in inboxes, loneliness happens. It can strike us while we’re dining at a table of one, taking a long solo journey, or even while we’re with family and friends. The lonely feel more depressed, more deeply addicted, and are more easily angered. Why does loneliness hit and why does it hurt? Humans have evolved, thanks to the long period of abject dependency of our offspring, as social beings, with brains wired for communication and empathy. Forming and maintaining social connections—from romantic partners to families, communities, cities, and civilizations—is essential to our survival. John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and co-author of Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, visited Zócalo to discuss the evolutionary basis of human relationships and why they matter.
It's all but certain that the state government will run out of money this year. Even if the legislature and governor somehow reach an agreement on budget cuts or tax increases, any solution likely will come too late to prevent a cash crunch. This is uncharted territory for California. What happens if the state goes broke? A panel of California’s top fiscal and economic experts — including State Controller John Chiang, New America Foundation Senior Scholar Mark Paul, and Peter Taylor of Barclays Capital— visited Zócalo to discuss with moderator Joe Mathews how this quasi-bankruptcy will impact state finances, public services, and Californians.
After the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers worked to heal one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods by planting a garden, letting families grow their own food and rebuild their community. But the fourteen-acre site became the subject of a fierce and ongoing dispute between the mostly immigrant farmers and the developer who bought the land below market price and planned to build a warehouse on it. Capturing the story of the country’s largest urban farm, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, producer and director of the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Garden,“ visits Zócalo to screen his work and discuss with actress and environmentalist Daryl Hannah and South Central Farmers activist Tezozomoc the crucial issues it raises about development, environment, power, money and race in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has been leading the force for more than twice as long as he served in the same capacity in New York, the city where he firmly cemented his reputation as “America’s Top Cop” and put himself on the short list for high-level law-enforcement jobs around the world. Bratton’s time in L.A. has given him the chance to move beyond being a "turnaround" specialist, putting longer-term plans into place that have led to consistent and significant reductions in crime. Bratton visits Zócalo to talk about his tenure and its impact on the LAPD, the agency’s goals and challenges, and his plans for the future.
Forget superpowers. Hyperpowers are what count, dominating not just their part of the world but the entire breadth of it with their military might and cultural range. The U.S. is the seventh hyperpower in history. Yale Law School’s John Duff Jr. Professor of Law Amy Chua, author of Day of Empire, visits Zócalo to discuss the extraordinary hyperpowers of the past and the fate of the American power in the 21st century.
Not all fiction by contemporary female authors concerns itself with stiletto heels, Martini glasses, or wedding gowns. But in the last decade, material written by women--particularly white, middle-class American women--is increasingly assumed to be a lesser literary endeavor than similar projects by men. From the shocking dearth of female bylines in magazines like Harper's and The Atlantic to novels that are automatically deemed "beach reads" because they feature female characters, we seem to be in the midst of a troublingly sexist cultural moment. Are women the victims of a male-centered world of letters, or do they purposefully choose stories that lack philosophical or sociological heft? Authors Elisabeth Robinson and Laura Zigman visit Zócalo to talk with Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum about whether women could do more to close the literary gender gap.
Barack Obama is said to be the fulfillment of King's dream, the post-racial candidate perfect for helping the country transcend the divide between black and white. But Louis Chude-Sokei and Robin D.G. Kelley beg to differ in their Zócalo dialogue. Hear Chude-Sokei, author of The Last "Darky": Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora, and Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, discuss King's still unfulfilled legacy, and what Obama's election does mean for the country.
In the face of global competition and rapid technological change, the American economy will soon face its most severe test in nearly a century--one that will make the recent turmoil in the financial system look like a modest setback by comparison. Matt Miller, host of KCRW's "Left, Right & Center" and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, visited Zócalo, arguing that our leaders have failed to prepare us for what lies ahead because they cling to old truisms about how a modern economy works. Exploring themes from his new book, "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas," Miller discusses what he considers the greatest threat to our economic future: the things we think we know--but don’t.
Like nearly everyone else, those working in non-profit organizations are concerned with the bleak economic forecast: a diminished public purse, shrunken private foundation portfolios and donor wallets slapping shut. Yet in the fretting corridors outside conference centers, community rooms and local meeting halls nationwide, it’s actually possible to detect a heartening and persistent belief in the resilience of the non-profit sector. What causes some leaders, social entrepreneurs, community activists and service providers to possess such impertinent optimism and to entertain bold ideas and possibilities when the economy appears so grim? A panel of experts--the Weingart Foundation's Fred Ali, California Black Women's Health Project founder Frances E. Jemmott, United Way's Alicia Lara, L.A. Health Action's Yolanda Vera and USC's Adlai Wertman—chatted with moderator Paul Vandeventer at Zócalo to discuss what lies ahead for nonprofits and how they can survive.
The Statue of Liberty’s pedestal lays claim to "world-wide welcome," but U.S. immigration policy has, since its inception, been a muddle of conflicting attitudes towards immigrants and their place in American society. While our nation does not demand ethnic homogeneity, we are deeply divided over how newcomers should assimilate and offer little support to arrivals eager to become American. Tomás Jiménez, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, sits down with Alfonso Aguilar (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), José Luis Gutiérrez (Illinois Office for New Americans), Laureen Laglagaron (Migration Policy Institute), and Urban Planning Professor Dowell Myers (USC) to ask what government should do to bridge the gap between immigration and integration. Should we offer immigrants more help in adjusting to their new country? Or does the American dream need to be strictly self-service?
Before National Geographic, before the Discovery Channel, Carleton Watkins set the standard for sweeping panoramic photographs of the American West, from vast Yosemite to booming San Francisco. Bob Sipchen, editor of Sierra magazine, leads a panel discussion based on the groundbreaking Getty Center exhibition, "Dialogue among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California." Panelists include Getty Research Fellow Ken Gonzales-Day, UCSD historian Nayan Shah, and Matthew Garcia from Brown University. They explore the dynamic relationship between nature, immigration, and development. How does California's physical environment attract inhabitants and how has it been re-shaped by their efforts to build communities they can call home?
Within weeks of winning the presidential election, Barack Obama has begun to assemble his administration, starting with those charged with addressing the economic crisis and national security. But he still has several key appointments to go. Three former Clinton administratoin officials -- former Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy deLeon, former Deputy Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste, and former Deputy Assistant to the President John Emerson -- join moderator Eric Garcetti at Zócalo to discuss the decisions Obama has made so far, what difficult choices await, and how his transition signals what sort of president he will be.
We can be forgiven for thinking of Dashiell Hammett as a San Francisco writer. The Maltese Falcon takes place in Northern California, where Hammett somehow transformed himself from a tubercular detective for the Pinkerton Agency into a novelist for the ages. But Hammett’s roots in Los Angeles run deep. Here, in the 30s, he worked on several pictures while under contract to the studios. Here he began his lifelong affair with Lillian Hellman. And here he returned frequently over the years to visit his beloved daughters. Zócalo and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs brought together a panel of writers, family members, and scholars to culminate L.A.’s month-long celebration of this great California novelist. Among the mysteries discussed, if not solved: Why did Hammett fall creatively silent for the last three decades of his life? Why is there no movie version of ‘The Red Harvest’? How did he influence the L.A. Noir scene? And the ultimate, unanswerable question: Hammett or Chandler?
Europe has received a wave of immigration from the global south in recent decades, similar in scope to the US—but very different in its results. Many immigrant and second-generation communities, particularly those hailing from the Muslim world, have astronomical unemployment rates and a thin connection to European identity. Some have produced riots and terrorism. If Europe has an Islam problem, whose fault is it? Is Islamic belief and culture incompatible with Western institutions? Or is there such a thing as “Islamophobia,” poisoning immigrants’ efforts to integrate on European terms? Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Weekly Standard, visits Zócalo to talk about themes from his upcoming book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.
Thanks to medical advances, we now live longer, but living longer doesn’t necessarily make death any easier when it comes. Forget the good life, what in this world makes a good death? How does culture affect our choices? Palliative care offers some relief to suffering, yet it is our uncertainty about the end of life that keeps our dread alive. Experts visit Zócalo to share first-hand accounts and clinical insight: Dr. Susan Stone, the Director of Palliative Care at the Los Angeles County Medical Center; Dr. Betty Ferrell of the City of Hope National Medical Center; and moderator Dr. Michael Wilkes, Vice Dean for Medical Education at UC Davis, join us for an evening of big questions that demand courage, compassion, and a dash of wit. (This event is made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.)
The Republican Party is facing extinction. Movement conservatism is intellectually exhausted, the evangelical right feels ignored if not betrayed, and younger voters have embraced the Democrats as the party of the future. How can the GOP get back in tune with the aspirations of American voters? Reihan Salam, associate editor at The Atlantic and co-author of Grand New Party: How Conservatives Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, visited Zócalo to explain how and why the Republicans must break out of their demographic box.
Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, most of Africa remains as desperate today as it was half a century ago. That's because much of that aid is lost to the grabbing hands of corrupt governments and destroyed through clashing warlords and civil strife. Edward Miguel, U.C. Berkeley economist and co-author of Economic Gangster: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations, visited Zócalo to explain how the twin evils of violence and corruption keep nations in poverty. He argues that before we can help poor nations, we must first understand the violent, lawless thugs who have wrought havoc throughout the developing world. And to understand these gangsters, he says, we must first get inside their heads.
Shamim Sarif brings her award-winning debut novel, "The World Unseen," to the screen for a sweeping tale of forbidden love in unforgiving times. Inspired by her grandmother's stories of 1950s South Africa facing the birth pangs of apartheid, Sarif introduces the fiercely free-spirited Amina who disregards the rules of her own Indian community and runs a café for apartheid's misfits, the ones who, like her, are neither simply “white” nor “black.” When she and the married, traditional Miriam find themselves powerfully attracted to each other, the possibilities for both love and tragedy are cast in the conflict that surrounds them. Distributed by Regent Releasing on November 7th, "The World Unseen" offers what the British Film Institute has called "a rare combination of intricate character study and engaging narrative" along with a compelling statement about the individual's quest for fulfillment against a backdrop of social coercion, violence, and pain.
Novelist and literature professor Philippe Claudel makes his directorial debut with the powerful yet subtle “I’ve Loved You So Long,” about secrets and the possibility of being reborn. In perhaps her most nuanced and soulful film performance to date Kristin Scott Thomas sets the tone for the story that focuses on two long estranged sisters who are trying to reestablish a relationship. Smart, intense, psychologically textured, and clearly written with a novelist’s eye, “I’ve Loved You So Long” (to be released by Sony Pictures Classics on October 24) is a story about the power of forgiveness and the universal need to reach out beyond ourselves.
When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989—or 11/9—many Americans turned their attention away from foreign policy, and only re-awakened to world affairs on 9/11, even though trends that led to that day—failed states, religious extremism, terrorism—were brewing during the happy-go-lucky, self-congratulatory 1990s. Derek Chollet, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and James Goldgeier, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, brilliantly mapping the forces that shaped the post-Cold War era, discuss how the legacy of the 1990s is vital to understanding the challenges faced by the Obama administration, and why foreign policy is more difficult when it doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker.
The garment industry provides more than 50,000 jobs in Los Angeles County, including many that are tied to a commercial underground where safety rules don't apply, there's no minimum wage, and a labor pool of illegal immigrants keeps quiet about violations out of fear of deportation. Legitimate garment makers, meanwhile, face a disadvantage in battling underground competitors who skip workers compensation payments and other safety standards, and often shift locations suddenly in order to stay a step ahead of the state’s handful of inspectors. How big and dangerous is this floating world of the garment underground? Miguel Morales of the Garment Worker Center, a Downtown-base advocacy group, Garment Contractors Association Executive Director Joe Rodriguez and T.A. Frank, New America Foundation fellow and editor at The Washington Monthly, visit Zócalo to sort it out. (This event was sponsored, in part, by The California Wellness Foundation.)
Worldwide, there are more slaves today than ever before, and as the first person in recorded history to witness negotiations for the sales of human beings on four continents, journalist E. Benjamin Skinner has gone inside the modern slave trade like no one else. In his book, A Crime So Monstrous, Skinner weaves a vivid narrative of slaves, traffickers, survivors and liberators. With years of reporting in such places as Haiti, Sudan, India, Eastern Europe, and The Netherlands, he has produced a vivid testament and moving reportage on one of the great evils of our time. His journey led right back to the United States, where some 50,000 are slaves—including countless numbers held in hidden bondage right here in Los Angeles. At the heart of the story are the slaves themselves. In his Zócalo lecture, Skinner bears witness for them, and for the millions who are held in the shadows. (This event was sponsored, in part, by The California Wellness Foundation.)
Baby, I’m Bored: When Did Motherhood Become a Career and Is It a Professional Disaster?
Marjane Satrapi's widely-heralded graphic novel "Persepolis" uses seemingly simplistic black-and-white drawings to capture vast emotional and political landscapes, following the author's young self as she struggles through the Iranian revolution and emigrates abroad. Satrapi's story, with its film-noir-style shadows and starkly expressive black-framed faces, is now an Oscar-nominated, Cannes-Jury-Prize winning animated film featuring the voice of Catherine Deneuve. Marjane Satrapi visits Zócalo to discuss Iran, the graphic novel, and the art of memoir after a screening of “Persepolis” (released by Sony Picture Classics).
"The Jane Austen Book Club": A Screening and Conversation with Director/Screenwriter Robin Swicord by Zócalo Public Square
Historian and LA Times columnist Max Boot visits Zócalo to discuss how innovations in weaponry and tactics have not only transformed how wars are fought and won but also have guided the course of human events, from the formation of the first modern states 500 years ago, to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the coming of al-Qaeda. The award-winning author of The Savage Wars of Peace, and the recently published War Made New, Boot will put forth a new intellectual framework for understanding contemporary geopolitics as well as examine what America must do to survive and prevail in the Information Age.
Moderated by Andrés Martinez, Los Angeles Times Editorial Page Editor
Niall Ferguson courts controversy. One of the most brilliant economic and military historians of his generation, the British Harvard professor and L.A. Times columnist has written books comparing the “per kill” cost of World War I armies, and praising the British empire. Ferguson’s The Pity of War was a sensation in Britain for its assertion that the country would have been better off staying out of World War I. A prolific contributor to such publications as Time and The New Yorker and author of several books–including the recently published The War of the World–Ferguson visits Zócalo to discuss everything from Günter Grass’s past to the amateurish American empire.
Can Hollywood Survive the Internet? A Discussion with the Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages by Zócalo Public Square
Patty Stonesifer, “All Kids College Ready: What Will it Take to Ensure that Our Public Education System Prepares All Children?”
Does the American Middle Class have a Future? A Conversation with Eli Broad and Richard Riordan
MICHAEL BARONE, “Life, Liberty, and Property: How 9/11 Changed the American Political Landscape”