Photo by Juan Ocampo.
Katherine Stone, a professor at UCLA School of Law, is a leading expert in labor and employment law in the United States and author, most recently, of Rethinking Workplace Regulation: Beyond the Standard Contract of Employment. Before joining a Zócalo/UCLA panel discussion in Los Angeles asking “Does Globalization Only Serve Elites?” she spoke in the Zócalo green room about the joys of reading, yearning for a better memory, and finding inspiration in everyday people.
What’s the last book you read?
Stoner, a 1965 novel by John Mitchell. It’s about an English professor living in the early 20th century who grew up in a rural area and sort of stepped into the academic world. He’d planned to study agronomy but wound up being drawn to literature.
If you could live in any other time, past, present, or future, when would it be and why?
I think the present time, because there are many more opportunities for women than there were in the past, and there’s a lot more openness to new ideas and to people choosing their own paths and not being locked into conceptions of what their lives should be like. I find that very exciting.
What do you do to clear your mind?
Sometimes I take long walks. Or just sit someplace pretty where I can just take in some kind of beautiful landscape.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I don’t think I had any idea. I really don’t.
What superpower would you most like to have?
A perfect memory.
What inspires you?
People around me. My family. My students, my friends. People I meet at events like this, or when I’m giving talks, or just even in the course of walking down the street.
What’s your favorite place in Los Angeles?
My house.
How would you describe yourself in five words or less?
Resourceful, curious, loving of my family, adventurous.
What would you do if you had one more hour in the day?
Read more.