Will Granny Flats Replace Green Lawns in California’s Backyards?

Historic Deregulation Is Freeing Homeowners to Build in Hopes of Easing the Growing Housing Crisis

A snarky reader, annoyed at some praise of California’s governor in this space, recently asked: Where exactly do I keep my shrine to Gavin Newsom?

My answer: In the same place everyone should—the backyard.

My little shrine’s location honors one of contemporary California’s crazier contradictions. Even as state government regulates more and more of our lives and livelihoods—even the straws through which we drink—it has embraced a historic deregulation of the spaces behind our homes. And even as Newsom has intruded more deeply into daily realities than any previous governor, he has …

The Arts Can Do for California What Politics and Big Business Can’t

The Cultural Sector Retains Its Credibility, Imagination—and Ability to Bring People Together

Can the arts save California?

On every public policy challenge other than climate change regulations, the state seems stuck. We can’t transform our underfunded and underperforming education system to meet the …

Why California Will Need Its Own Weed Cartel

The Legalization of Recreational Pot Is Doomed Without a Corporate Middleman

If California is going to transition successfully to full legalization of cannabis, our state is going to need its own cartel.

For the record (and to reassure my friends in federal …

In California, Diversity Keeps Bad Times From Becoming Even Worse

An Invasive Monoculture Is Leaving Us More Vulnerable to All Kinds of Disasters

Californians like to brag about our diversity, how our mix of people of all races, ethnicities, and origins produces a vital culture and economy. But we rarely talk about the …

I, Bigfoot, Am One Frightened Californian

Sasquatch Used to Instill a Healthy Fear of the Wild, Now He’s Crowded out of His Favorite California Haunts

I’m so famous for keeping a low profile that some people doubt my existence. So I’m here to tell my fellow Californians that I’m proudly one of you.

I travel …

California Stoners Are Stressing Me Out

In Transition From Prohibition to Legalization, Are We Putting Too Many Expectations on Weed?

California tokers, why are you trippin’ so hard?

You keep saying that marijuana is supposed to help manage anxiety. But those of you who work in or partake of the …