Zócalo at Central Library

Wednesday, December 14, 7pm at Central Library
An Evening with Culture Clash:
Confused and Still Full of Rage
Moderated by Oscar Garza, Editor-in-Chief, Ciudad Magazine

The infamous Chicano performance trio joins us to discuss their two upcoming world premiers, Hollywood's relationship with Latinos, and the ever widening gap between art and politics. As irreverent, satirical, and edgy as ever, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza will share their deepest, darkest secrets.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* – mpeg - 30min, 14mb

Zócalo in the Valley
Tuesday, December 6, 7pm at Mid-Valley Regional Library Branch in North Hills

Zócalo and The Los Angeles Public Library
Present

"Should LA's Mayor Control the School District?"
A Community Discussion with the Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages

Caprice Young, President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, and LA Schools Superintendent Roy Romer join Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Andrés Martinez, columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan, and editorial board member Judy Dugan to discuss the prospect of mayoral control over the Los Angeles Unified School District. During his successful mayoral campaign, Antonio Villaraigosa pledged to use the power of the mayor's office to fix the city's public school system. Our panel will discuss the pros and cons of this proposal, the state of LA's schools, and whether the Mayor really has the will and political capital to keep his pledge.

Zócalo at Central Library

Monday, November 28, 7pm at Central Library
Patty Stonesifer, "All Kids College Ready: What Will it Take to Ensure that Our Public Education System Prepares All Children?"

Patty Stonesifer, the co-chair and president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will join us to discuss education reform.  As the head of a foundation whose mission is to improve equity in global health and learning around the world, Stonesifer will share her thoughts on the strategies that we need now in order to prepare children for the future.  Brilliant, witty, and down-to-earth, Stonesifer has also been named one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes Magazine.  She hopes to engender a community-wide conversation on the future of education.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* –

Zócalo at National Center for the Preservation of Democracy

Tuesday, November 1, 7pm at National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo
An Evening With Dean Baquet
Moderated by Kevin Roderick of LAObserved.com

Dean Baquet, the new Editor of the Los Angeles Times, joins us to discuss his life in journalism and the future of the paper at a crucial moment in its history.  A Pulitzer Prize winner who quit school at Columbia University to jumpstart his career, Baquet will share the story of his ascent from police reporter at his local paper in New Orleans to leading one of the largest papers in the country. Known for his investigative reporting skills, his popularity in the newsroom, and his insightful story ideas, he will also talk candidly about the impact of the internet on daily journalism, declining circulation, and whether the mainstream media really does have a liberal bias.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* – mpeg - 30min, 14mb

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, October 11, at 7pm at Central Library
Tamar Jacoby, "Fixing America's Immigration System"

Pointing the way beyond the outmoded, emotional debate between those who sympathize with immigrants and those who fear and dislike them – beyond “Fortress America” vs. “open borders” – journalist and author Tamar Jacoby will argue that we as a nation need to reassert control of the border and reestablish the rule of law, but that the only way to do so is with a more generous immigration policy. Drawing on reporting from the border, economic and demographic analyses, and her insider experience within the DC beltway, Jacoby will explain how Americans can regain their belief in the idea that the United States is--and should remain--a nation of immigrants.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 25min, 12mb

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, September 13, 7pm at Central Library
Leonard Chang, "The Terminator, John Updike, and Asian Americana"

The act of writing is difficult enough without the added pressures of race and commercialism, yet many writers must struggle with expectations and pressures foisted upon them by publishers, readers and peers. Ruminating on such diverse topics as Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Terminator and John Updike's literary career, novelist Leonard Chang discusses his role as an Asian American writer, his influences, his concerns, and his intentions. Touching upon autobiography, race and the writing life, Chang -- the author of five novels, including a mystery trilogy featuring a Korean American detective -- hopes to inspire, inform and amuse.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 30min, 13mb

Zócalo at California Plaza
Tuesday August 9, 7pm at California Plaza
Hollywood Inside and Out
A Conversation with Robert J. Dowling and Joel Stein

In his 15-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter Robert J. Dowling has emerged as one of the leading journalistic voices on entertainment issues and trends. For the past six months, LA Times columnist and Hollywood wannabe Joel Stein has desperately been trying to become one of those trends.  Dowling and Stein will sit down for a not-so-intimate but wide-ranging conversation on the state of Hollywood--both as culture and business.  From pirating to paparazzi, Tom Cruise publicity stunts to the pitfalls of pilot season, our two guests will explore the fantasy and reality of the most glamourous industry in the world, Hollywood.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 25min, 12mb

Zócalo at The Music Center
Tuesday, July 26, 7pm at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Zócalo and The Music Center
In Conjunction with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation
Present

Is California Governable?
A Conversation with Gray Davis, Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian, and Jerry Brown
Moderated by NBC4's Colleen Williams

Is California Governable? At a time when basic public promises like an education, health care and home ownership are in decline, angry voters have weakened government with initiatives that limit terms in office, require super-majority budget votes and set minimum spending levels. For nearly three decades Democratic and Republican governors have experienced the combination of the state's growing social responsibility and its shrinking governmental authority. Four past governors of California will join us to discuss the future of governance in the nation's most populous state. Drawing on their own experiences in the statehouse, they will explore how Californians can make their state work again.

A special broadcast of the California Governors Summit will air on NBC4, Saturday July 30th, 7pm to 8pm.

Event Photos: 1, 2

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, July 19, 7pm at Central Library
An Evening with Ana Marie Cox
Moderated by Mickey Kaus of Kausfiles

Ana Marie Cox, editor of Wonkette, the raunchy and gossipy political blog from Washington, will join us to discuss everything from the future of the blogosphere and the role of satire in American politics to Karl Rove, sexy Republican interns and her upcoming novel, Dog Days. Known for her unabashed style and irreverence, Cox, whom The Washington Post has called a "fouled-mouthed, inaccurate, opinionated little vixen," will give us the lowdown on life inside the Beltway.

Event Photos: 1, 2

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 30min, 14mb

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, June 7, 7pm at Central Library
Gary Phillips "The New LA Noir"

From the Big Sleep to gangsta rap, Mannix to Rage Against the Machine and Play It as It Lays to the King/Drew morass, L.A. is the sun-washed city of dreams and despair chronicled in books and films and music of varying shades and notes of noir. Downtown becomes a battleground of gentrification, South Central is transformed from black to Latino, and the Valley bristles while property values and tempers spike in once working-class Venice; it's all part of the constantly unfolding plot that mystery writer Gary Phillips -- Bangers, Monkology, etc. -- reflects on in his work and others.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - part1, part2

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, May 3, 7pm at Central Library
Joel Kotkin, "Los Angeles and the Future of Cities"

Joel Kotkin’s new book, The City:A Global History, discusses the evolution of cities from the earliest origins to the present. He maintains that successful cities have always been three things --- places sacred, safe and busy. He traces the shift in cities over time, from the classical to the Islamic, Chinese and Renaissance cities to the industrial and modern eras. Our town, Los Angeles, has a prominent place in modern urban history as the original model for the sprawled, suburbanized city. Detested by many traditional urbanists, LA  nevertheless remains a critical laboratory for the future of cities not only in America but around the world.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 30min, 13.6mb

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, April 12, 7pm at Central Library
Hollywood, Mexicans, and the History of LA

A conversation on the role early movies--both silent and talkie--played in creating the myth of LA's past.  Panelists, including theater director Theresa Chavez, Latin music producer Betto Arcos, LA historian Bill Deverell and film scholar Chon Noriega, will explore the historic and filmic encounter between early Hollywood and Southwest culture.  Discussion will be accompanied by spoken and musical excerpts from "They Shoot Mexicans, Don't They?," an original theater-work directed by Chavez, premiering in April at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - part1, part2

Zócalo at Central Library
Tuesday, February 15, 7pm at Central Library
An Evening with Andrés Martinez
Moderated by LA City Councilmember Eric Garcetti

The new Editor of the Editorial Page of the Los Angeles Times will join us for a wide ranging interview. The former New York Times editorialist and Pulitzer Prize finalist will discuss his vision for the Times, growing up as a binational child in Mexico, moving to LA, and living it up in Las Vegas.  Insightful, intellectually independent, and funny, Martinez makes his first public appearance since joining the LA Times.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg - 38min, 17mb

Zócalo at Central Library
Thursday, January 27, 7pm at Central Library
Does the American Middle Class have a Future? A Conversation with Eli Broad and Richard Riordan

Two of LA's most prominent businessmen and philanthropists, themselves products of the middle class, will discuss the fate of the middle class and the future of upward mobility. They ask whether mobility is still possible in an economically polarizing America, particularly in urban areas like Los Angeles.

(((Audio Broadcast)))* mpeg (24mb total): part 1 - part2