When we talk about California, we tend to look not to the future but the past. We refer to writers who have long since died (or who have returned to New York). We reminisce about the greatness and growth of the postwar years. We discuss the mass migration of the 1980s. And we bemoan the political and social tumult of the 1990s. But what does California look like now, where are we going next, and who is telling the stories that will shape our future? Zócalo’s Joe Mathews is the author of a weekly column that seeks to connect California’s diverse people, communities, and institutions. He’s taken on the voice of a Central Valley dairy cow, talked with street musicians and government officials, climbed the state’s three greatest mountains, and explored contested places ranging from a Sriracha plant to the Delta, one of California’s main water sources. Mathews, co-author of The California Crackup and author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy, visits Zócalo to explain what our places and people have in common, and why, if we want to keep them together and help them flourish once again, we need to start forging a new California story.

Photo courtesy of Chris James.