Revisiting California's Battle of Hastings
The 2005 Sacking of the Netflix CEO as State Education Board Chief Looks Different Now
After long days supervising my children in their struggles with the miseries of distance learning and hybrid school ...
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Why Bringing Back the Fairness Doctrine Won’t Cure What Ails Modern Media
The Beloved, If Misunderstood, FCC Rule’s Promise Was Far Greater Than Its Performance
The Fairness Doctrine—the federal communications policy, in place from 1949 to 1987, that required U.S. ...
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A People's Song Upon the Waters
A Familial Examination of the Sea Chantey Lays Out Its African American Roots
The last time I visited my paternal grandfather, Elton Smith, Jr., at his Virginia home, it was 2018, and he ...
New at Zócalo
Where I Go: Transiting Los Angeles
We've Learned to See Our City Anew—One Route at a Time
Long before we started a travel blog, transit was what brought us together. We met as coworkers at an art museum in Los Angeles, and after work we’d take the same train back to Union Station, where we’d part ways and head in opposite directions. Our brief, shared section of our commute home was how our relationship started, joking about the absurdities of the job and sharing our interests. Pretty soon, we were waiting for each other after work to share as many moments on the train as possible. A couple months later, we were officially dating.
We spent a lot of time learning about each other’s favorite places around Los Angeles. Our conversations motivated us to actually investigate the places …
Look Away
On Nazis, Not-Sees, and Singing 'Dixie' in My Middle School Chorus
Obviously, revisionism is a problem. In America, there are real children in real schools reading textbooks that say that black people thought slavery was awesome. But at least revisionism requires some time to go by. Revisionism concedes that reality cannot be altered, and so it exploits the fact that memories fade. There is another phenomenon that makes no such concession. It is not a revision of what one saw in the past; it is a real-time filter that alters what one is seeing before the rest of the brain can even process it.
Circa 1978. It was just another rehearsal at our junior high school chorus until Mr. Faber* passed out the sheet music for the new song.
Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton ...
Dispatches
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A Letter From Santiago, Where Chileans Are Seeking a New Constitution
Hopes Are High for Transforming the Country's Democracy, but the Risks May Be Even Higher
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A Letter From Paris, Where the New Normal Is Less Grouchy Than You’d Expect
Through Three Lockdowns, Parisians Have Read, Biked, and Even Behaved Like Tourists in Their Own Town
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A Letter From Mexico City, Where We're Still Supposed to Be on Lockdown
The Pandemic Might Peter Out Before It's Taken More Seriously
Where I Go
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Where I Go: L.A.'s Arboretum, Where the Peafowl Hunt You in Packs
Butt-Dancing Birds Have Become My Pandemic Icons
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Where I Go: Foraging for Wild Mushrooms
Chanterelles in the Market? $24.99 Per Pound. In the Forest? Priceless
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Where I Go: Coming Together ’Round the Telly
In Praise of TV-Watching, the Pinnacle of Evening Entertainment
Glimpses
Connecting California Joe Mathews
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My Son's Favorite Internet Game Replicates the Paranoia Playing Out in California
Among Us Captures This Awful Moment of COVID-19 and Gubernatorial Recall
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Los Angeles Is Failing California
The County's Pandemic Failures Point to L.A.'s Long-Term Problems, and the Statewide—And National—Urgency of Fixing Them
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An Open Letter to California's Future Queen
How Meghan and Harry's Expected Daughter Could Inspire a New Royal Dynasty—And a Golden State Rebirth
In the Green Room
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Scientist and Author Ainissa Ramirez
3-2-1 Contact Put Me on My Path
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Mexico City Chief Advisor and Foreign Affairs Coordinator Diana Alarcón González
I Learned English by Watching Hawaii Five-0
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Songwriter and Actor Mary Steenburgen
I’ve Made 70 Movies, but People Still Ask Me Most About Stepbrothers
