Raging Against the Political Machine

The 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles Tells the Story of a City—and Nation—in Transition

In 2000, I ended up in a cage outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in downtown Los Angeles wearing a dark suit, swimming against the current in a sea of pierced protesters, raging against Rage Against the Machine.

As a kid who grew up in Dogtown and Z-Boys’ Venice, back when shops on Abbot Kinney sold cheap crack instead of artisan coffee, I had spent plenty of time raging against the machine. My punk rock youth took place in an alcoholic home, with a father who committed suicide, in a Venice …

The Julián Castro I Knew–And How He’s Changed

The Castro Brothers Are Rosie’s Boys, But They Have a Different Story of America

 

In 1995, as a freshman at Stanford, I watched two Texans two years above me land the highest number of votes in the race for student senate. They were identical …

The Third-Most-Influential Piece You’ll Ever Read About Charlotte

The Democrats’ Convention City Is Big on Banking-and Ranking

 

We hear so much about presidential candidates–and so little about life in the states that elect them. In “Beyond the Circus,” writers take us off the trail and give us …