What Happens When Windy City Culture Mingles with the Sun Belt’s Hot Breeze?

An Uprooted Chicagoan Found a Surprising Midwestern Community in Phoenix

This much has always been true: When you’re a kid, the experience of moving to a different city and leaving behind friends and familiar places can feel like something approaching death. But in the 21st century, there’s a new twist: It’s easier to take your old hometown with you.

I didn’t know that when I was 11 years old, and my world was rocked by a series of events. My parents got divorced. My mom decided to get remarried. And to accommodate my soon-to-be stepdad and his stable, pre-Great Recession job, …

When Life Gives You Lemons, Go Back to School

Divorced, Looking for Purpose, and Finding Myself in the Same Classroom as My Daughter

Walking into the college classroom on the first day of the semester, the young woman in front of me introduced herself to those sitting around her and smiled. She then …

I Was Struck by Venice Lightning

My Friends and I Were Relaxing in the Water. Then Our Sunday Afternoon Turned Shocking, Chaotic, and Surreal.

On Sunday afternoon, I was knee-deep in the ocean, right next to the Venice Pier, when the deadly lightning bolt hit the water. This rare bit of weather would kill …

You Can’t Fight Infotainment

Journalists Figure Out The Brave New World of Celebrity, Politics, and the Internet

Joe Mathews, Zócalo California editor and author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger And the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy, learned about the perils entertainment culture can hold for political journalists …