New at Zócalo

  • Poetry

    by Saleem Hue Penny

    after Tommye Blount’s ‘The Suit’

     

    Rookie,   this shift blows–still,   wear your tie, though
        in time   you’ll goddamn the   Southside. Lord   knows

    I’ve spilled   …

  • Essay

    Can Los Angeles Elect a City Council That Reflects Our Values?

    It’s Hard to Legislate Decency—But Changing Demographics and New Technologies Require New Ethics and Rules

    by Michael Woo |

    Politics is full of high-stakes battles and strategies concocted behind closed doors. But that’s no excuse for the level of venality, toxicity, self-aggrandizement, condescension, hubris, and racism exposed in the …

  • Connecting California

    Why Gambling Can’t Really Lose in California

    Indian Tribes and Online Gaming Companies Have Two Big Measures on the Ballot—But They’ve Already Hit the Jackpot

    by Joe Mathews |

    You can’t miss the brand-new casino on Highway 99 in the southern Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove. It’s the size of a Costco, with the look of a new mall, …

  • Essay

    Sherman’s March Toward Reparations

    A Little-Known Civil War Story Illuminates America’s Broken Promise to Black America

    by Bennett Parten |

    Americans get Sherman’s March all wrong. Ask anyone who’s seen Gone with the Wind, and they’ll tell you that U.S. General William T. Sherman’s roughly 250-mile march from Atlanta to …

  • Poetry

    by Eva Griffin

    Six girls in as many months. Talk of Ouija boards, a ghost hand lifting them in turn to rope. How else could they read the air and think …

  • Essay

    What Do Mining Claims and National Parks Have in Common?

    America Enacted Two Environmental Laws 10 Weeks Apart in 1872. One Encouraged Drilling Into Public Lands—The Other Tried to Conserve Them

    by Adam M. Sowards |

    If you know where to go in Death Valley National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve, Glacier Peak Wilderness, or Bears Ears National Monument, you might come across the remnants …

  • Sketchbook

    Miriam Castillo is an illustrator, graphic designer, and muralist who divides her time between New York City and the Mexican Caribbean.

    Castillo draws upon her favorite climate—the tropics—for this month’s Sketchbook. …

  • Uncategorized

    Introduction by Leila Hamidi |

    The question of how a society should remember its transgressions carries with it substantial weight. How does one begin such work? Is the act of remembering, in and of itself, …