ideas

Retired California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye

You Make Your Joy

Tani Cantil-Sakauye was the 28th Chief Justice of the State of California. The first Asian Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice, she is the current president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Before sitting on the panel for “What Makes a Great California Idea?,” part of the inaugural CalMatters Ideas Festival, Cantil-Sakauye joined us in the green room to talk about humor, mediation, and the “Sackamenna Kid.”

Read More

XPRIZE Foundation CEO Anousheh Ansari

In Space, I Felt a Sense of Freedom

Anousheh Ansari is the CEO of XPRIZE, a nonprofit that organizes multi-million-dollar competitions to support scientific innovation that benefits humanity. She is the first female private space explorer and first …

Founding Director of Carnegie California Ian Klaus

Indoor-Outdoor Living Is California’s Most Simple and Wonderful Idea

Ian Klaus is the founding director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace California Center and a scholar on the nexus of urbanization, geopolitics, and global challenges. Before sitting on …

The State of Golden State Innovation | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The State of Golden State Innovation

At “What Makes a Great California Idea?,” Panelists Discussed the Big Ideas—Good and Bad—That Originated Here

by Jackie Mansky |

At the opening night of the inaugural CalMatters Ideas Festival, a two-day event in Sacramento dedicated to discussing solutions to the Golden State’s greatest challenges, Zócalo convened a panel around …

Is Anything More American Than Oklahoma! in Oklahoma? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Is Anything More American Than Oklahoma! in Oklahoma?

Forget Broadway’s Reopening—The Nation’s Artistic Heartbeat Is at Its Center

by Jake Johnson |

If there’s a more rambunctious and promiscuous genre than musical theater, I haven’t met it yet.

Musicals are an everywhere phenomenon. They touch an enormously broad swath of American lives, unapologetically …

In Defense of the Untranslatable  | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

In Defense of the Untranslatable 

There’s Value in the Mystery When Feelings Exceed the Words We Have to Define Them

by Oliver Mayer |

As usual, e.e. cummings was on to something. We feel before we think. Words are a process built to describe—to translate—those feelings into thoughts with agreed-upon meanings. So far, so good. But feelings are anything but a …


By continuing to use our website, you agree to our privacy and cookie policy.

✕

Get More Zócalo

No paywall. No ads. No partisan hacks. Ideas journalism with a head and a heart.

You may opt out or contact us anytime.

×