Zócalo Public Square

Panelists with extensive experience in local, regional, and state government offered arguments for and against splitting California into more than one state in a conversation at the Fresno Art Museum. They agreed that the state is not fulfilling its promises to its citizens, but while some argued for a North-South split (or even a three-state division), others felt that reform, not secession, is needed.

An Evening With Ricardo Salinas by Zócalo Public Square

America's public schools are failing--in a large part because the teacher's unions and the bureaucracy don't put students first, according to media mogul Steven Brill, author of Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools. Brill explains his journey through the country's public school system, where he discovered heated wars over charter schools, teachers struggling to succeed without burning out, unions that protect their members at all costs, and a culture that is too often complacent with failure.

Five leaders in e-government--technology consultant April Manatt, senior management analyst for the city of Carlsbad Greg Hermann, executive director of California Common Sense Dakin Sloss, Intellitics, Inc.'s Tim Bonnemann, and executive director of the National Conference on Citizenship David B. Smith--joined Irvine Senior Fellow Joe Mathews of the New America Foundation to discuss whether technology can save California's government. They discussed how local governments are using technology to connect to citizens, and envisioned a future with more information-sharing, transparency, and communication between public officials and their constituents.

In a panel moderated by The New York Times' Marc Lacey, former Arizona House Minority Leader Art Hamilton, Arizona State University political scientist Jennifer Steen, and Tom Zoellner, author of A Safeway in Arizona, discuss how the state became the front lines of America's biggest cultural and political battles, from immigration to gun control.

Economist and New York Times columnist Robert Frank, author of The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, proposed a radical plan to save America's economy--grounded not in conventional economic theory but in the work of Charles Darwin, which turns Adam Smith's invisible hand on its head.

Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant and his good friend, architect Brad Cloepfil, visited Zócalo to explore why they live in Portland, what influences their work, and how they get inspired. They talked about how Portland provides a refuge away from New York and L.A., traced back their careers to the beginning, and discussed where their precise moment of inspiration comes from.

In an event sponsored by the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University's Washington Center in Washington, D.C., Colin Woodard, author of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, talked with Zócalo editorial director Andrés Martinez about America's divisions. Since the founding of the nation and into the present, 11 regional cultures--as distinct in many ways as different countries--have clashed over politics, economics, and values.

Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, visited Zócalo to answer the question, "Is Energy Security Possible?" He discussed the innovation and technological development that are shaping our future, from shale gas to oil sands to electric cars, how conservation is our single best source of energy, and how California led the way in the development of zero-emissions vehicles.

Patrick French, author of India: A Portrait, answers the question, "Is India rich or poor?" India is both rich and poor, he explained to a large crowd at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. It's such a large country and is changing so rapidly that it is creating its own paradigms about what it means to be rich, and confounding the world's expectations when it comes to global economic development. Telling stories of individuals in contemporary India, reaching back into the history of the country in the 20th century, and debunking the myths and assumptions of the West, he cut through the hype to create a fascinating and surprising narrative of the New India.

With the 100th anniversary of direct democracy upon California, some of the state's keenest political minds gathered to discuss whether the system works, and how it can be improved.

A panel from California with ties in L.A. and the Bay Area debates which half of the state rules--or whether the real power struggle ultimately will be between the east and the west.

How Do We Put the People Back in the Initiative Process?

David Lawrence

Randall Kennedy, Harvard professor of law and author of The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, shares some of his critiques of the president.

Ever since Americans first likened Cuba to a damsel in distress — two hundred years ago, when the island country was under threat from imperial Spain — we have seen Cuba as less of a country than an idea. The neighboring nation appears alternately innocent and menacing, culturally exotic or repressed by government, an edenic place to escape or a retrograde regime from which refugees flee. With travel restrictions in place since the Cuban revolution, images and impressions have become even more powerful, as the rare legal way to see the land: the poor but vibrant Havana of Walker Evans; the cigars and bars of Ernest Hemingway; contemporary shots of streets brimming with decades-old cars and bordered by centuries-old buildings. As the Getty opens its exhibition, “A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now,” Zócalo invited a panel of photographers and scholars of Cuba — including musician and Cuban music expert Ned Sublette; photographer Virginia Beahan, who has worked extensively in Cuba; and profes

From the tender age of 20, when he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Julian Bond has been at the forefront of civil rights activism in America. Now, more than 50 years into his civil rights career, he serves as an elder statesman for the movement. In between, he served for two decades in the Georgia State Legislature, chaired the NAACP from 1998 to 2009, worked as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, taught at several major universities, published four books and dozens of articles and poems, narrated theEyes on the Prize documentary and hosted Saturday Night Live in 1977. Bond visited Zócalo to discuss his life's work and the evolution of the civil rights movement over the past six decades.

Mentoring programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters have been highly touted as a way to keep troubled kids off the streets. But can an outsider who has never been homeless or been recruited into a gang actually help a kid who knows those experiences all too well? A quarter-century ago, John Prendergast, now one of the most prominent activists on human rights issues in Africa, took on a 7-year-old “little brother,” Michael Mattocks, who lived in a dangerous neighborhood of Washington. They’ve both confronted violence and tragedy since: Prendergast in the war zones of Africa, Mattocks through his life as a drug dealer in the nation’s capital. They got together occasionally but never fully confronted the monumental challenges each faced until nearly 25 years after their relationship began. Now, each man names the other as a profound influence on his life. Prendergast, author with Michael Mattocks of Unlikely Brothers: Our Story of Adventure, Loss and Redemption, visited Zócalo to discuss his relationship with his

We like to think we have choices, but when it comes to health care in California, geography is destiny. If you live in Clear Lake, you are ten times more likely to have an elective cardiac stent or angioplasty than if you live in nearby Sonoma -- whether or not that's the right treatment for you. Women who live in El Centro are 22 times less likely than women who live in Greenbrae to have a vaginal birth after C-section. Men living in San Luis Obispo have the highest rate of prostate surgery in the nation. When facing a decision about elective surgeries and tests, patients need two things: honest information they can understand, and doctors who make sure their patients receive the treatment they prefer. Yet all too often, patients don't understand their choices, or they leave the decision up to their doctor in the mistaken belief that "doctor knows best." Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, visited Zócalo to discuss how these disparities happen, and wh

The new maps that will create boundaries for California’s political districts will be certified in August, but will they actually change the state’s political landscape? Zócalo invites a panel including Kathay Feng, director of California Common Cause and one of the authors of the 2008 redistricting reform bill; Steven Ochoa, national redistricting coordinator for MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Joe Mathews, senior fellow at the New America Foundation; and Dan Schnur, director of University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics to discuss whether regular Californians can expect any effects from the latest round of redistricting.