California, Keep Your Schools Open. No Matter What

Floods, Fires, Strikes, and More Cause Closures—And Students Are Hurting

We may have very good reasons to close our local K-to-12 schools for a day or two, or even for a week.

But we should keep them open anyway.

That’s because, in California, we are closing schools so routinely that we’re harming children who are already in crisis. We’re also further diminishing trust in public education and reinforcing low expectations and encouraging continuing disinvestment in the state’s future.

The closures aren’t just a hangover from the pandemic, when our communities, backed by state government and unions, kept schools closed far longer than most …

More In: Connecting California

Why California and I Both Need a Jubilee

The Golden State (and Your Columnist) Should Embrace the Biblical Tradition of a Reset Every 50 Years

Ye shall hallow the 50th year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every …

Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, dressed in a suit, stares intensely at a robot, left, from the Terminator movies.

In California Politics, You Must Find Your Inner Terminator

Your Winning Initiative Requires More Sequels Than Governor Schwarzenegger’s Movies

Running for office in California is a tough job, but ultimately temporary. The election happens, you win or you lose, and life goes on.

But sponsoring a ballot initiative is forever.

That …

Should California Fight for or Against Silicon Valley? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Should California Fight for or Against Silicon Valley?

The Growing Federal War on ‘Big Tech’ Poses a Quandary—and Exposes Our Hypocrisy

Which side should California be on in the coming federal war against Silicon Valley?

The question feels less hypothetical after the State of the Union address, when President Biden blasted “Big …

The Colorado? Call It the California River

The Golden State’s Power Should Be Used Not to Protect Its Water, But to Solve Western Water Problems

Why do we still call it the Colorado?

Sure, the river begins in the Colorado Rockies. But in law and practice, the waterway making headlines is clearly the California River. And …

How California Made a Polish Poet Great

Exiled to Berkeley, Czesław Miłosz Explored the Margins of Alienation, the Horrors of His Past, and Visions of the Future

Want to become a signature voice of your troubled nation? Perhaps you need a decades-long exile in California.

It worked for Czesław Miłosz, who entered the pantheon of Polish poets thanks …