Covid-19

Our Favorite Essays of 2020

This Year, While We Were Stuck at Home, Our Contributors Brought the World to Us

Our Favorite Essays of 2020 | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

2020 was not a year that went as anyone expected. Amid a global pandemic, a racial reckoning, and a defining presidential election—not to mention the murder hornets—it’s been an unprecedented trip around the sun. Fortunately, taking measure of a moment like this is terrain that we at Zócalo pride ourselves on traversing.

So, while we may all have been stuck at home this year, we endeavored to publish new work designed to take you across the world—and the space-time continuum.

The Zócalo essays of 2020 explored the ideas that animate who we …

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The Street Vendors Who Make Christmas for New York City | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The Street Vendors Who Make Christmas for New York City

With COVID Bearing Down, Gotham’s Neighborhood Tree Sellers May Be More Important Than Ever

by LinDa Saphan and Kevin Cabrera |

It’s hard to imagine New York without Christmas, but what will Christmas look like in a city gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic? Gotham’s Christmas streetscapes are legendary: the towering 75-foot …

Why Delivering COVID-19 Vaccines Might Be Just as Hard as Developing Them | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Why Delivering COVID-19 Vaccines Might Be Just as Hard as Developing Them

From Liability Laws to Production Delays, the 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Rollout Offers a Cautionary Tale for Today

by Lee Hampton |

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 1,600,000 people worldwide, more than the population of Philadelphia, and it could kill far more if it isn’t brought under control. A number …

Why Is It so Hard to Mourn the Vast Number of COVID Dead? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Why Is It so Hard to Mourn the Vast Number of COVID Dead?

An Empathy Scientist Reveals How Our Brains Get in the Way of Comprehending Calamity on This Scale

by Sara Konrath |

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first U.S. death from COVID-19 on February 29. Within a month, more than 1,000 Americans were dying on a single day. …

‘We All Have an Irvine’ | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

‘We All Have an Irvine’

California’s Future Looks Grim, but a Genre-Bending Movie and a Master-Planned Community Offer Unexpected Inspiration

by Joe Mathews |

In the best scene of any California pandemic-era entertainment to date, a middle-aged man named Roy (played by J.K. Simmons) sits in his Irvine backyard and advises Nyles (Andy Samberg) …

Contemplating the COVID Carnage at California’s Most Historic Cemetery | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Contemplating the COVID Carnage at California’s Most Historic Cemetery

Sites Like Forest Lawn Do More Than Bury Our Dead—They Keep the Present in Perspective

by Joe Mathews |

If you’re having a hard time processing the scale of death produced by the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not alone. In the face of mass casualties, many of us have chosen …


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