New at Zócalo
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In the Green Room
Journalist Elizabeth Aguilera
If I Were in Charge, Los Lobos Would Headline Coachella
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Poetry
We were born
Eleanor Stanford 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
Wildfire Size Doesn’t Matter
To Plan Ahead for Future Disasters, We Need to Prioritize Severity, Community Impact, and Environmental Damage
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, maintains a list of the “Top 20 Largest California Wildfires.” Lately, as ever more massive blazes erupt, it’s become …
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The Takeaway
We Can Solve California’s Service Worker Crisis
Ending Tipping Culture, Implementing a Livable Wage, and Training Future Leaders Can Sustain an Essential Industry
Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to descend on Indio, California, this month for the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
The festival is a banner event for Riverside …
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Essay
A Letter From Brazil: Where a Great Democracy Invention Is Making a Comeback
A Senator Reflects on the Birth, Decline, and Coming Resurgence of Participatory Budgeting
What are the obstacles and opportunities facing democracy today? Zócalo is publishing a series of letters to highlight how the world’s democratic ideals are faring in practice. From Brazil: Senator Humberto …
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Connecting California
Who Will Protect the Global Economy From California?
The Urge to Get Rich Quick Makes the Golden State a Threat to the World
Don’t bank on California, especially when banks are involved.
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is widely discussed as a harbinger of the future, a sign of problems and disruptions in the technology …
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Essay
Why Restaurant Workers Can’t Win
A Powerful Lobby Made Californians Pay for Food Safety Training—Then Spent the Money Fighting Against Raising the Minimum Wage
The story of California’s minimum wage laws is often told as a story of progress. As of January 1, 2023, the state holds the third highest minimum wage in the …
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Poetry
As the Fog Starts Burning Away
Brent Ameneyro 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
Work Is Boring—Use It
Let Your Zoom Ennui Inspire You to Change Your Life, or the World
Work is boring.
I expect many of you will disagree. You’ll offer your job as a counterexample. Or, if yours isn’t much to brag about, you’ll come up with hypothetical scenarios …