New at Zócalo

  • Poetry

    by T.William Wallin-Sato

     

    Last night I read Lorca in the bathtub
    Three candles and an incense lit
    My cigarette blending with steam and bubbles
    Lavender and Epsom sinking to the bottom
    The eucalyptus …

  • Glimpses

    The Hmong Dolls We Lost, and the Story I Found

    I Couldn’t Save These Hand-Sewn Heirlooms From a Fire, But I Could Preserve Their History—And Maybe Even Part of My Heritage

    by Jer Xiong |

    The dolls were a seemingly trivial loss in the larger scheme of what went up in smoke when a fire burned through my neighborhood in the summer of 2020.

    My family …

  • The Takeaway

    A Feminist-Led Uprising Brings the World to Iran’s Fight

    This Time Around, Social Media and Youth Fuel the Call for “Women, Life, Freedom”

    by Talib Jabbar |

    Last night, a quartet of Iranian women took the Zócalo stage to discuss the uprising in Iran, where a general strike has entered its third day and protests persist after …

  • Connecting California

    All California Kids Want for Christmas Is a Tutor

    Forget Naughty or Nice, Every Student Should Get the Gift of Academic Support This Holiday Season

    by Joe Mathews |

    Tutor us, Santa baby.

    And don’t bother bringing Californians another four lords-a-leaping or eight swans-a-swimming, St. Nick. What we need this year are nearly 5.9 million tutors—one for each and every …

  • Essay

    Iran’s New Revolutionary Figure Is Feminist

    The Women at the Heart of the Movement Offer Potent Visions of Social Change

    by Catherine Sameh |

    The feminist uprising in Iran—sparked by the beating, arrest, and death in police custody of Mahsa (also known by Jîna) Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman accused of “improper hijab”—is …

  • Essay

    How the Pandemic Changed My Time in Prison

    An Inmate Reflects on Nearly Three Years of Shifting Health Protocols and Halted Rehabilitation Efforts

    by David Medina |

    Intense debates about the role of government interventions in public health became the norm during the pandemic. When do the benefits of prevention and containment policies aimed at stopping COVID’s …

  • Sketchbook

    Artist and illustrator Giulia Donati works under the moniker Pennepasta. Born in Italy and now based in London, she creates her pieces with calligraphy brush and India ink. For her …

  • Essay

    How Germany Developed a ‘Policy on the Past’

    A Constellation of Days Has Emerged to Remember the Holocaust and Its Victims

    by Theo Schiller |

    Germany does not have a traditional, centuries-old national holiday, such as July 14 in France or July 4 in the United States.

    But Germany is carefully attuned to dates, and how …