New at Zócalo

  • Essay

    Who Is the Real Monster in Frankenstein?

    Mary Shelley’s Novel and Its Many Adaptations Challenge Us to Explore Bias and Belonging

    by Daniel A. Olivas |

    In 2022, I found myself reaching back to my childhood’s favorite monster for literary inspiration.

    That year’s midterm elections had brought with them another round of angry MAGA candidates promoting the …

  • Connecting California

    Don’t Draw Conclusions From the Flags Mrs. Alito and I Choose to Fly

    This Columnist Believes in the Right to Freely Choose What Flies in Front of One’s Home

    by Joe Mathews |

    Early last year my city councilmember, who likes to walk his dog through our neighborhood, stopped me as he strolled by.

    “Are you Mexican?” he asked.

    “Nope, I’m Scots Irish,” I replied. …

  • Where I Go

    Where I Go: Reading Among Readers

    In India, Weekly Reading Clubs Offer a Sense of Community and Belonging

    by Ankush Pal |

    I entered the Lodhi Gardens through Gate 1, as I’d been instructed, and approached the monument. A city park spread over 90 acres in New Delhi, the gardens contain the …

  • Poetry

    Given To

    by Dorothy Barresi

    “Exide Battery-Recycling Plant Contaminates 10,000 Homes in Poorest Los Angeles
    Neighborhoods, Nets No Jail Time”
                    L.A. Times

     
    If you are lucky in this life, only …

  • The Takeaway

    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 …

  • Essay

    A Yearbook to Remember

    We Can’t Hold Time in Our Hands, But We’ll Always Have Signed Messages, Funny Photos, and “Most Likely to …”

    by Milissa Joi |

    I lost my first year of high school to Zoom in 2020. Not just my first day, or first week, but the entire first year. This jarring start to a …

  • Essay

    How Two Chicana Nerds Wrote Their Way Back to Oxnard

    Michele Serros and I Did Everything We Could to Escape Our SoCal Hometown—Only to Find It Lived Within Us

    by Cristina Herrera |

    Growing up as a Chicana nerd, I never thought I’d write a book about myself, much less about Oxnard, where I grew up. This humble city on the Southern California …

  • The Takeaway

    What If We Saw Cars Like Rolling Sculptures?

    The Automobile Represents an Engine of Possibility for Black L.A., Said Panelists at “Is Car Culture the Ultimate Act of Community in Crenshaw?”

    by Jackie Mansky |

    Where Crenshaw and Leimert boulevards meet, the silver glint of artist and sculptor Charles Dickson’s “Car Culture” is beginning to take shape. One of Dickson’s largest public artworks to date, …

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