Zócalo Public Square

How can a movie with a Mexican-American theme tell the story of all America? Why aren’t there more movies that reflect the increasingly complex racial and ethnic demography of our country? How can filmmakers make movies that gather audiences that reflect this new America? These are some of the questions writer and director Luis Valdez and producer Moctesuma Esparza took on at a "What It Means to Be American" event, moderated by film critic Claudia Puig.

What if you could learn to sing like Maria Callas, theorize like Stephen Hawking, and, at the same time, become fluent in Russian and French? What if you could accomplish all that in just three years? At a Zócalo event moderated by Sacramento Bee publisher Cheryl Dell, Arizona State University President Michael Crow and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom shared their ideas about higher education’s evolution into the future, and what it will take to keep up with an ever-shrinking world and ever-growing technological capabilities.

What if you could learn to sing like Maria Callas, theorize like Stephen Hawking, and, at the same time, become fluent in Russian and French? What if you could accomplish all that in just three years? At a Zócalo event moderated by Sacramento Bee publisher Cheryl Dell, Arizona State University President Michael Crow and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom shared their ideas about higher education’s evolution into the future, and what it will take to keep up with an ever-shrinking world and ever-growing technological capabilities.

What is genocide, and why does the world have so much difficulty identifying where and when it occurs? The world often has been powerless to stop genocide–from the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Nazis in Europe to slaughterings of Tutsis in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia–in its tracks. At a Thinking L.A. event co-presented by UCLA, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations Director Kal Raustiala talked with UCLA historian Richard G. Hovannisian, University of Wisconsin political scientist Scott Straus, World Peace Foundation research director Bridget Conley-Zilkic, and Sudd Institute co-founder Jok Madut Jok about what instigates the mass killings of certain groups of people–and how these acts of brutal violence can be prevented.

What is genocide, and why does the world have so much difficulty identifying where and when it occurs? The world often has been powerless to stop genocide–from the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the Nazis in Europe to slaughterings of Tutsis in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia–in its tracks. At a Thinking L.A. event co-presented by UCLA, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations Director Kal Raustiala talked with UCLA historian Richard G. Hovannisian, University of Wisconsin political scientist Scott Straus, World Peace Foundation research director Bridget Conley-Zilkic, and Sudd Institute co-founder Jok Madut Jok about what instigates the mass killings of certain groups of people–and how these acts of brutal violence can be prevented.

Open a newspaper in America today, and you'll find a host of issues--from policing problems to the rising income gap--that are connected by one issue: equality. But our politicians rarely use this word; they, and most Americans, prefer to talk about freedom. Political philosopher Danielle Allen, winner of the 2015 Zócalo Book Prize for Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, explained why the country has oriented itself toward freedom over the past century, and how the Declaration of Independence can help Americans relearn how to talk and think about equality.

Open a newspaper in America today, and you'll find a host of issues--from policing problems to the rising income gap--that are connected by one issue: equality. But our politicians rarely use this word; they, and most Americans, prefer to talk about freedom. Political philosopher Danielle Allen, winner of the 2015 Zócalo Book Prize for Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, explained why the country has oriented itself toward freedom over the past century, and how the Declaration of Independence can help Americans relearn how to talk and think about equality.

Has the United States become a land of opportunity only for those kids whose parents have money, connections, and a college education? Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam, author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, talked with David and Lucile Packard Foundation President and CEO Carol S. Larson about why the obstacles faced by poor children today are larger than ever–and what can be done to close this opportunity gap.

Has the United States become a land of opportunity only for those kids whose parents have money, connections, and a college education? Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam, author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, talked with David and Lucile Packard Foundation President and CEO Carol S. Larson about why the obstacles faced by poor children today are larger than ever–and what can be done to close this opportunity gap.

Why do some adult men and women choose not to have kids? Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum had only seen the topic addressed in a “really glib, flippant way.” But for many, including Daum herself, it’s not a black-and-white decision but a choice that exists in a gray area.To get at the complexity and complications of this decision, Daum decided to assemble and edit an anthology, Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids. At an event at the Downtown Independent, she talked with two of the book’s contributors, M. G. Lord and Kate Christensen, about their lives without kids, the cultural pressures they faced, and why—if not because they’re selfish, shallow, and self-absorbed—they chose not to become parents.