Zócalo Public Square

10/8/2008 - Gustavo Arellano, the unofficial mascot of Orange County, talks to an L.A. crowd about their southern neighbor (he was surprised anyone showed up). From its settling by the Spaniards to today's popular television shows, residents of Orange County, California have always imagined their homeland as Eden on the Coast, a respite from urbanization, where one only needed to work, vote Republican, and hate Mexicans to partake in the American Dream. But behind this bucolic veneer is a more complex picture. OC Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano unveils the truth behind the OC (don't call it that) by discussing his new book, Orange County: A Personal History, a history of the biggest little county in America as seen through four generations of his Mexican family.

Shamim Sarif brings her award-winning debut novel, "The World Unseen," to the screen for a sweeping tale of forbidden love in unforgiving times. Inspired by her grandmother's stories of 1950s South Africa facing the birth pangs of apartheid, Sarif introduces the fiercely free-spirited Amina who disregards the rules of her own Indian community and runs a café for apartheid's misfits, the ones who, like her, are neither simply “white” nor “black.” When she and the married, traditional Miriam find themselves powerfully attracted to each other, the possibilities for both love and tragedy are cast in the conflict that surrounds them. Distributed by Regent Releasing on November 7th, "The World Unseen" offers what the British Film Institute has called "a rare combination of intricate character study and engaging narrative" along with a compelling statement about the individual's quest for fulfillment against a backdrop of social coercion, violence, and pain.

10/8/2008 - Gustavo Arellano, the unofficial mascot of Orange County, talks to an L.A. crowd about their southern neighbor (he was surprised anyone showed up). From its settling by the Spaniards to today's popular television shows, residents of Orange County, California have always imagined their homeland as Eden on the Coast, a respite from urbanization, where one only needed to work, vote Republican, and hate Mexicans to partake in the American Dream. But behind this bucolic veneer is a more complex picture. OC Weekly staff writer Gustavo Arellano unveils the truth behind the OC (don't call it that) by discussing his new book, Orange County: A Personal History, a history of the biggest little county in America as seen through four generations of his Mexican family.

Novelist and literature professor Philippe Claudel makes his directorial debut with the powerful yet subtle “I’ve Loved You So Long,” about secrets and the possibility of being reborn. In perhaps her most nuanced and soulful film performance to date Kristin Scott Thomas sets the tone for the story that focuses on two long estranged sisters who are trying to reestablish a relationship. Smart, intense, psychologically textured, and clearly written with a novelist’s eye, “I’ve Loved You So Long” (to be released by Sony Pictures Classics on October 24) is a story about the power of forgiveness and the universal need to reach out beyond ourselves.

When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989—or 11/9—many Americans turned their attention away from foreign policy, and only re-awakened to world affairs on 9/11, even though trends that led to that day—failed states, religious extremism, terrorism—were brewing during the happy-go-lucky, self-congratulatory 1990s. Derek Chollet, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and James Goldgeier, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, brilliantly mapping the forces that shaped the post-Cold War era, discuss how the legacy of the 1990s is vital to understanding the challenges faced by the Obama administration, and why foreign policy is more difficult when it doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker.

The garment industry provides more than 50,000 jobs in Los Angeles County, including many that are tied to a commercial underground where safety rules don't apply, there's no minimum wage, and a labor pool of illegal immigrants keeps quiet about violations out of fear of deportation. Legitimate garment makers, meanwhile, face a disadvantage in battling underground competitors who skip workers compensation payments and other safety standards, and often shift locations suddenly in order to stay a step ahead of the state’s handful of inspectors. How big and dangerous is this floating world of the garment underground? Miguel Morales of the Garment Worker Center, a Downtown-base advocacy group, Garment Contractors Association Executive Director Joe Rodriguez and T.A. Frank, New America Foundation fellow and editor at The Washington Monthly, visit Zócalo to sort it out. (This event was sponsored, in part, by The California Wellness Foundation.)

Worldwide, there are more slaves today than ever before, and as the first person in recorded history to witness negotiations for the sales of human beings on four continents, journalist E. Benjamin Skinner has gone inside the modern slave trade like no one else. In his book, A Crime So Monstrous, Skinner weaves a vivid narrative of slaves, traffickers, survivors and liberators. With years of reporting in such places as Haiti, Sudan, India, Eastern Europe, and The Netherlands, he has produced a vivid testament and moving reportage on one of the great evils of our time. His journey led right back to the United States, where some 50,000 are slaves—including countless numbers held in hidden bondage right here in Los Angeles. At the heart of the story are the slaves themselves. In his Zócalo lecture, Skinner bears witness for them, and for the millions who are held in the shadows. (This event was sponsored, in part, by The California Wellness Foundation.)

Is There Such a Thing as L.A. Cuisine?

Are the Teachers’ Unions Too Powerful?

L.A. vs. Seattle: Whose Pacific Rim is it?