New at Zócalo
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Essay
How I Learned to Be ‘Good With Kids’
An Editor of a Magazine by and for Children on What Their Work Has Taught Her About Parenting and Life
When I was a child, the border between the natural world and me was so thin it was transparent. I looked into my dog’s eyes and felt that I knew …
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Essay
The Black Angeleno Who Took on the ‘Problem of Palestine’
Diplomat Ralph Bunche’s UN Work Paved the Way for Israel’s Birth
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, soon to be the first prime minister of Israel, gave the first public reading of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. With an eye toward wooing …
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Connecting California
Why Everyone (Except Donald Trump and Xi Jinping) Loves the Reagan Library
Atop a Ventura County Hill Sits an Institution That Has Succeeded Far Beyond Politics
Here’s a new rule of thumb for Californians: If Donald Trump and the Chinese government both want to boycott a Golden State place, you should get yourself there as fast …
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Essay
Is Puerto Rico a Global Model for Disaster Recovery?
In the Wake of Three Hurricanes—And Centuries of Exploitation—Islanders Turned to One Another for Relief
When Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico on September 18, 2022, the U.S. colony had still not fully recovered from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, in 2017. Collapsed bridges had not been …
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The Takeaway
There’s Power—and Promise—in Talking About Monuments
Doing Better By Future Generations Starts With Breaking Today’s Culture of Silence
“I get the feeling some people don’t want this conversation to happen,” said historian William Sturkey during last night’s public program at Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, Mississippi.
The framing question …
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Poetry
Cityscape With Dysthymia
Despy Boutris Wins a 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award
Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize …
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Essay
Who Are the Anglo-Indians?
Our Small, Enduring Community—Invisible in Most Colonial Histories—Straddles Two Worlds
“I thought they died out,” a woman remarked flippantly to my friend just the other day. She, like many Indians, has long believed that Anglo-Indians ceased to exist when the …
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Essay
What Sharing the Burden of War Could Look Like
A Military Chaplain on How Those Who Fought and Those Who Sent Them Can Hold This Weight Together
This spring, I walked into an old Quaker meeting house on Pocumtuck homeland, now Massachusetts. I had been invited by Ojibwa Elders Strong Oak and Grandmother Nancy to participate in …
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Connecting California
Which Way Are the Winds of Renewable Energy Blowing off the West Coast?
Morro Bay’s Historic Auction for Offshore Developers Shows the Challenges of Making Climate Response Fit Community
Do we care if climate projects make allowances for the communities they impact?
That’s the question posed by the first-ever auction for leases to create giant wind farms in the ocean …
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Essay
A Tale of Two Venezuelan Diasporas
After a Forced Exodus, We’re All Rebuilding Our Lives. Geography, Time, and Class Only Seem to Deepen Our Divides
American media covers only two types of the 7 million-plus immigrants who have left Venezuela in the past decade.
The first consists of the refugees and asylum seekers who walked across …
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Poetry
Trying to Explain What Knafeh Is
Andrew Calis Wins a 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award
Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize …