Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco)

Kendrick Lamar Would Appreciate My Grandmother’s Chilaquiles

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco), or X, is an advocate, activist, and hip-hop artist. Recently named one of Time magazine’s Next 100, X been an activist since the age of 6. Before joining the panel for the Zócalo program “How Does Confronting Our History Build a Better Future?”—the final event of our Mellon Foundation-supported series “How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?”—X stopped by our green room and chatted about St. Louis-bred artist Jordan Ward, how he unplugs, and kinship between Indigenous peoples.

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

On Being’s Krista Tippett

The Word ‘Civil’ Remains So Fraught

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times-bestselling author. After studying theology at Yale Divinity School, she launched the weekly public radio …

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

L.A. LGBT Center’s Phillip Picardi

I Let Passion Rule My Life

Phillip Picardi is the chief marketing and communications officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. His previous work in media includes digital editorial director at Teen Vogue, founder of them, …

The Foundation for a Shared Tomorrow Is Built on Hard Truths

Panelists for ‘How Does Confronting Our History Build a Better Future?’ Help Us Imagine How to Pave a Hospitable Path Forward

Confronting America’s history is like fixing or maintaining an old home: acknowledging the parts that are in disrepair, and those that are rotten to the core. This is the metaphor …

Finding a Good Society in the Mud of Burning Man

Humans Are Human—And Governments Need to Help Them Achieve Self-Reliance and Avoid Panic in the Face of Disaster

Since leaving Burning Man, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the role that principles play in a society, and what to do when people don’t live up to …

Our Favorite Essays of 2021

At a Moment Where There Are No Easy Answers, Zócalo Contributors Asked Unexpected, Tough—and Sometimes Quixotic—Questions

It felt like 2021 was a year of firsts—the first rollout of new vaccine technology; the first insurrection in Washington, D.C.; the first female U.S. vice president; and the first …