The Game of Life

Soccer Decides to Swap Mellow Fatalism for a Review of Goal-Line Calls

So much for the idea of the summer doldrums. July has instead been a month to reevaluate our most basic assumptions and beliefs. Higgs boson explains the universe! TomKat over! Fatalism and serendipity torpedoed globally!

Wait, you say, what’s that about fatalism and serendipity taking a hit? No, I’m not talking about the Libor scandal. Didn’t you see? FIFA, soccer’s global ruling body, announced that at long last it will allow the deployment of goal-line monitoring technologies. International soccer has taken the whistle out of the referee’s hands and entered the …

Dinosaurios in the Lead

Mexico Looks Poised to Vote for the Past

It’s taken a dozen years, but Mexicans have reached the same conclusion that Russians came to in the 1990s and that Egyptians came to after their recent elections: Democracy is …

Has Obama Given Up On One America?

A Federalist Approach To Gay Marriage May Be Fashionable. It’s Also Sad.

The main news event of today has clearly been the Supreme Court’s forceful Equal Protection decision in the DOMA case. Many view it as a prelude to a future decision declaring a …

The Mexican Who Would Be Dickens

Late Literary Lion Carlos Fuentes on L.A., London, and the Book He Wished He Could Have Written

When the Mexican novelist and essayist Carlos Fuentes, who died May 15, visited Zócalo for an interview with Andrés Martinez in the fall of 2007, he talked about place, and …

Don’t Leave All the PR Work To Colombian Prostitutes

Latin America Has More Good Reasons Than Ever to Be Noticed—And Taken Seriously

“The only thing that matters in the world is China, Russia and Europe. Latin America doesn’t matter. Consciously. People don’t give one damn about Latin America now.” That was the …

Maria’s “Fruta Fresca” Stand

Where the Perfect Mango Comes with Lime Juice, Chili Powder, and a Dash of Nostalgia

Maria’s “Fruta Fresca” stand is usually parked on Wilshire right outside Zócalo Public Square’s global headquarters in K-Town. The smiling but inscrutable Oaxaquense always manages to have the perfect mango, …