New at Zócalo
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Essay
Is There Such a Thing as a Sustainable Mining Boom?
An Early-20th-Century Copper Company Has Lessons for the Industry Today
In the Western U.S. and the north of Chile, large-scale mining has produced similar landscapes of extraction: open-pit and underground mines, smelter stacks, and large masonry structures. Transportation networks connected …
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Connecting California
This Summer, Let’s Screw Book Bans
We Can Use Censorship as an Opportunity to Get People Reading—and Romancing
Ban this column! Please!
It might seem strange to call for the cancellation of one’s own newspaper column. Besides, who needs to squelch such a piece when media audiences are declining …
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Where I Go
Where I Go: My Teacher, the Tomato
How This Beautiful Plant and Its Magic Fruit Guides a Professional Chef in the Kitchen, and in Life
Food can connect us to the earth, our community, and ourselves. But first, we need to open a space to listen to and be in exchange with the ingredients.
As a …
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The Takeaway
Better Health Care Starts with Better Health Care Jobs
The Industry Needs Higher Wages, More Paid Leave, and Pathways to Advancement
The most important healthcare workers in this country—entry-level workers who do the caregiving and provide preventive services—are often paid poverty-level wages and provided insufficient benefits and supports, said panelists at …
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Essay
Who Cares for Caregivers’ Families While They’re Caring for Us?
A Mass Exodus Looms if the Profession Can’t Offer Workers the Childcare, Wages, and Leave Programs They Need to Stay
In March 2020, when Congress enacted the country’s first-ever federal paid sick time and child care leave policy, it carved millions of people out of the law’s guarantees, …
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Connecting California
Saving Democracy Costs Money. How Do We Pay for It?
Increasing Civic Participation Is Expensive, But a New Idea—Democratic Action Funds—Could Help Raise the Cash
In this time of rising polarization, authoritarian populism, and maddening big-money politics, leaders often say that it’s up to we the people to save democracy.
But democracy costs money. And democracy—unlike …
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Essay
My Work as an In-Home Caregiver Shouldn’t Be This Hard
Minimum Wage, Unpaid Hours, Tricky Client Dynamics, and No Outside Support Sometimes Make This the Worst Job I’ve Ever Had
As one of the over 550,000 caregivers in the state’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) programs, I am part of a big system that keeps 650,000 disabled, blind, or elderly Californians …
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Essay
Let the Kids “BeReal” on Social Media
Restricting Internet Use Is a Violation of Young People’s First Amendment Rights
My best friend’s 13-year-old son recently asked me to friend him on the social media app BeReal.
She had decided to let him download BeReal partially because it lets users post …