Former California Superior Court Judge B. Scott Silverman

I’m Not a Very Controversial Person

B. Scott Silverman is a former judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County and currently practices as a mediator, private judge, and arbitrator. Before taking part in “How Can Our Communities Escape Polarizing Conflict?,” a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event, co-presented with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Silverman joined us in our green room at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum to talk 1900s Fresno, why he’d get rid of cars in Los Angeles, and the first conflict he mediated.

October 21, 2022

UCLA Anthropologist Kyeyoung Park

What’s Greater Than Teaching Human Beings?

October 21, 2022

Kyeyoung Park is a professor of sociocultural anthropology and Asian American studies at UCLA and the author, most recently, of LA Rising: Korean Relations With Blacks and Latinos After Civil …

Investigative Journalist and Author of High Conflict Amanda Ripley

Don’t Write People Off. Ever.

September 9, 2022

Amanda Ripley is an author, an investigative journalist, and the host of the Slate podcast “How To!” She’s also the co-founder of Good Conflict, a company that creates workshops and …

The 2023 Zócalo Book Prize Honors Explorations of Community

We’re Looking for the Best Nonfiction Books on Human Connection

September 8, 2022

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the U.S.-published nonfiction book that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness …

The 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Celebrates Poems of Place

No-Fee Contest Submissions Accepted November 2022–January 2023

September 8, 2022

Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is currently accepting submissions. The deadline …

Where I Go: The Specter of the Cinema Cafe | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where I Go: The Specter of the Cinema Café

My Favorite Diner Became a Casualty—and a Warning—of Merced’s ‘City on the Rise’ Ethos

by Anh Diep | July 21, 2022

Merced is a place for dreams and new beginnings. At least that’s how it was advertised to me when I moved there from the Bay Area to attend college at …

Get More Zócalo