"When my mother and I lost our Culver City home, the only thing more painful than not knowing where we would sleep was wondering what we would eat." Ryan J. Smith of St. Joseph Center, on hunger: zps.la/42OV1bg

ICYMI: Congratulations to @anandian.bsky.social, author of "Something Between Us," and the winner of the 2026 Zócalo Book Prize! Read our interview with him and check out the full details of our upcoming Book Prize event: zps.la/bpwin26

Travel to a small town on the Florida coast with "Letter from Indialantic" by @deborahager.bsky.social, winner of the 2026 Zócalo Poetry Prize, which Zócalo awards annually to the U.S. writer whose original poem best evokes a connection to place: zps.la/ppwin26

Every Friday, Zócalo publishes a new poem. Read "It Is Makar Sankranti" by Shilpa Kamat. zps.la/4tQyJly

Can art and blindfolds unlock creativity? Yes, says Gabriel Kahan, who’s using them to bring LAPD officers, AI technologists, Hollywood writers, neighborhood activists, and city officials together in conversation: zps.la/4mTHJDJ

Ethnic studies lessons here can ultimately resonate far beyond the classroom—for Asian Americans and the entire U.S., writes historian and activist @scottkurashige.bsky.social. zps.la/4sWSp5R

Congratulations to Cecilia Woloch whose poem "Boy in a Cherry Tree: Is It Gone, This Place of Sweet Blossoming?" was named a runner-up in the 2026 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize contest! zps.la/4d2pMPK

For Earth Day, writer @evelynmcdonnell.bsky.social introduces readers to an early 20th-century "hermit history-maker" who modeled a life of coexistence with nature. zps.la/4cp5Lmr

Who launched the bomb that hit a Minab school? How many protesters did the Iranian government kill? Which state is censoring the most information? "Arguments like these have created a toxic, fractured, and paranoid global Iranian community," writes Samine Joudat. zps.la/4mIqghh

Congratulations to Jonathan Otamere whose poem "Raid" was named a runner-up in the 2026 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize contest! zps.la/4sMemEM

Rubber tapping—the labor-intensive process of drawing rubber sap from trees—has hardly modernized since the late 1800s. A view of tree-human symbiosis: zps.la/4sAi8k8

Columnist @californiajoe.bsky.social wants to say he is sorry—so very sorry—to America and @nytimes.com for being part of a state that dares to advance beyond late-19th-century election conventions. zps.la/4chMHoQ

No better time to support Zócalo than now. Every dollar you give will be matched up to $10K, doubling your impact. Help us tell stories that matter, bring people together, and keep our work free for all. Donate today. zps.la/donate

As religious leaders and civil rights defenders fight to keep the U.S. from sliding into authoritarianism, Rev. Heist’s story resonates anew, writes @jonrvh88.bsky.social. zps.la/4c3GcXN

Congratulations to Despy Boutris, whose poem "'California Poem'" is a runner-up in the 2026 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize contest! zps.la/47RVuwt

Historian and Angeleno India Mandelkern knows her L.A. streetlights. Follow her DTLA guide to these anchors of the city's past: zps.la/41oNDml

Zócalo has kicked off a spring fundraising campaign! Consider giving today. Your support keeps our events and journalism free for all. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/support-zoca...

Tributes to Chuck Norris are omitting his low-budget California trucking film "Breaker! Breaker!" For @californiajoe.bsky.social, it’s a perfect encapsulation of John Locke's 17th-century concept of the right to revolution. zps.la/4sjoft9

In the 1960s, the U.S. created a migration pipeline from Mexico. In the 1970s, Mexico came up with a plan to stop the flow. The U.S. rejected long-term economic partnership in favor of unilateral punishment: zps.la/4sTACxf

Zócalo is launching a spring giving campaign. Everything we do is free—no paywalls, no ticket sales. Your support makes it possible. Make a one-time or monthly gift. Keep the public square alive. zps.la/donate

Congratulations to Houley Koundourou, whose poem, "The Women Who Had Me" was named a runner-up in the 2026 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize contest. zps.la/4shuf5v

Mexican journalists know when their work will be dangerous. Covering the cartel violence after El Mencho's death was something different—in terms of the levels of risk, predictability, and government protection, writes @luoach.bsky.social: zps.la/484ORXy

NASA has launched Artemis II! As we think back to the U.S.’s first steps on the moon in1969, revisit marketing and PR expert Richard Jurek’s 2016 essay on how we almost missed out on televising the event. zps.la/41IA4hA

Today, the Supreme Court listened to arguments on the legality of Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. Revisit columnist @joemmathews on Sen. John Conness, a staunch supporter of birthright citizenship: zps.la/417iILQ

Two top California gubernatorial contenders make their homes in two of the state's most successful and fastest-growing cities. But they aren’t talking about this. Read @californiajoe.bsky.social's dispatch on a race that’s become more about Trump than governance: zps.la/3NZu6FY

Wandering is an integral part of the Passover story, writes immigration reporter @danielagerson.bsky.social: "It reminds us what people are capable of enduring in that space, what they are forced to do to survive it." zps.la/4bWx6e1

ICYMI: Read (or listen to) "Cucumber Salad" by Dallas Raquel Klein. zps.la/4sNK1WQ

Prince died nearly 10 years ago. ICE's immigration enforcement in his hometown is a strike against the dynamic vision of shared American life he channeled in his music. Scholar @drrashadshabazz.bsky.social explains: zps.la/4bxDDgv

MLB is back! Before the Giants face off against the Yankees, revisit historian James C. Cobb's essay on the late, great Willie Mays: "Most Americans of my generation fell under his almost mesmerizing spell while watching him on TV." zps.la/3Y3iW5G

You haven’t heard of Mussel Slough, the massacre that birthed modern California, for a reason: Because the powers-that-be want it that way, writes @californiajoe.bsky.social. zps.la/4uOjGJG

Trump has oil flowing through Santa Barbara’s coastal pipeline for the first time in over a decade, despite California officials' objections. @parhee.bsky.social takes us back to the 1969 Santa Barbara spill that shaped the environmental movement. zps.la/4uGyUAv

In the wake of allegations against late United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez, historian and author Matt Garcia reckons with the consequences of Chavez's unchecked power. zps.la/4duvaMe

Watch “Durga’s Daughters,” an original performance by Mythili Prakash, and hear the discussion that followed for “How Do We Dance With Legacy?”: zps.la/iajs4

How did California's Mono Lake revolutionize environmental law? @cetracey.bsky.social on the legal fights over water use and air quality regulations and tribal resource rights. zps.la/4bpq4OK

Every Friday, Zócalo publishes a new poem. Read "Ripening" by Jaqi Holland. zps.la/4lr5suc

What happens when powerful trading nations escalate competition for dominance in the Arctic Ocean? The voyage of the Rurik, a 19th-century Russian ship, might offer insight into the contemporary global fight over Greenland, writes historian David Igler. zps.la/40L5AeF

TODAY, March 11: Mythili Prakash is an Indian American Bharatanatyam choreographer and dancer. She joins us in Stanford, CA, for “How Do We Dance With Legacy?”—an event with @stanford.edu IAJS. RSVP now (and watch live online): zps.la/iajs4

Would you participate in a short survey to help us understand how you engage with Zócalo Public Square? We appreciate all feedback! www.surveymonkey.com/r/NK7G6NP

Who’s the better bet? Plutarch-quoting Gavin Newsom in the presidential race or Plutarch, the Arcadia-based thoroughbred? Columnist @californiajoe.bsky.social handicaps the horse races: zps.la/3NgxX0R

Education advocate Ben Austin worked with the late Rob Reiner from 2002 to 2006 running strategic communications for First 5 California. He reflects on Reiner's vision for L.A.: zps.la/4lhpCXl

Every Friday, Zócalo publishes a new poem. Read "Tamale" by Tristan Franz. zps.la/4rMPpct

We’d love your help! Please take this short survey to tell us how you engage with Zócalo. surveymonkey.com/r/NK7G6NP

Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, an island of ponderosa pine and billion-year-old granite in the otherwise flat prairie—a place the Lakota call "The Heart of Everything That Is": zps.la/40cgc5O

War doesn’t end when the fighting stops. “We need to understand with a very clear eye that we are upending millions of lives for generations, and ask the question: Are these wars worth it?” said New York Times’ U.N. bureau chief Farnaz Fassihi. youtube.com/shorts/-zOAY...

What is our responsibility for our government’s wars? As the U.S. and Israel strike Iran, Zócalo looks back at the sobering question from 2022, part of our series, “How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?” zps.la/3PAWd9H

Columnist @californiajoe.bsky.social, a convert to the cause of California independence, wanted to love “One Battle After Another.” But as someone who makes a living by visiting all corners of this state, he found the film to be geographically confused. Read his take: zps.la/3MZO9nc

To enter a war, you need to go in with your eyes wide open, said Lt. General (ret.) Robert E. Schmidle Jr. He breaks down why the U.S. fought a war “not necessarily related to the facts on the ground” in Iraq. youtube.com/shorts/I7id3...

The Trump administration boasts of 1.9 million people voluntarily "self-deporting." But, writes author Evelyn Iritani, "these decisions are no more voluntary than the ones made by thousands of Japanese immigrants and their families eight decades ago." zps.la/4l0rSC7

Sixty years after ELIZA, the original therapy chatbot, was introduced, columnist @jasmansky.bsky.social explores the lessons for today's ChatGPT world. zps.la/4cPTnwe

Since Russia's invasion, Ukraine's farmers have continued to cultivate Europe's breadbasket, driving tractors through minefields and under drones. Legacies of War's Kendall Silwonuk on their patriotism and resistance: zps.la/4qVVPEM