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The South El Monte Arts Posse always wanted a home of its own; it got one—for a year. Co-director Romeo Guzmán on saying goodbye to C.A.S.A. Zamora and moving forward together: zps.la/3DmiHKS

California's top county law enforcement officials are unaccountable. It's time for change, writes columnist Joe Mathews (Joe Mathews). zps.la/4kOpRbM

A letter to the kids of the L.A. fires, from a kid who made it through Katrina—and is now an adult, living and working in New Orleans: zps.la/4hmLQUp

Former senior editor of Rafu Shimpo Gwen Muranaka remembers her longtime colleague and friend, the photographer Mario Reyes, who used his camera to document life in Little Tokyo and beyond. zps.la/3RaClNi

“Any of us may be stripped of citizenship, jailed, deported. Your U.S. birth certificate is just another piece of paper.” —Joe Mathews in the latest “Democracy Local” column. zps.la/41VUSC9

.@journalofgospel editor Robert M. Marovich introduces us to the recently rediscovered Saviour Home Record Library, a collection of midcentury sacred music from L.A.'s Black churches, soon to be digitized Baylor Libraries: zps.la/4hPVfEc

Los Angeles has welcomed hundreds of ethnic Armenians from Artsakh since a 2023 assault by Azerbaijan led to their homeland's dissolution. How they are ensuring their experiences are not forgotten: zps.la/3FSqFMN

Watching Disney's new Snow White, film critic Elena Smolina saw something "disturbingly familiar" in the story of the princess: the struggle of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. zps.la/427SXMb

Congratulations to Jennifer Blackledge, winner of the 2025 Zócalo Poetry Prize—honoring the best poems about place—for "Mt. Trashmore": zps.la/ppwin25

Congratulations to Jean-Martin Bauer (Jean-Martin Bauer), author of "The New Breadline: Hunger and Hope in the 21st Century" (Alfred A. Knopf), and the winner of the 2025 Zócalo Book Prize for the best nonfiction on community and social connection: zps.la/bpwin25

American history needs the names of the famous (so recently removed from government websites) and the names of those who have remained unidentified in personal and institutional archives, writes historian Martha A. Sandweiss. zps.la/4ijCWY9

Robert Garland studies the classics. In his Zócalo essay he considers the ancient wisdom on an age-old question: What happens when we die? zps.la/4ioGM29

Every Khmer New Year, dramaturg Cody Kour prays for the same blessings of prosperity and peace for his loved ones. This year—50 years after the fall of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge —he wonders whether his prayers have been answered. zps.la/45tn4PY

"In Los Angeles, I see the spirit of innovation, the need to strike out on one’s own," writes Jason Maury Kaplan, the founder of Maury's bagel shop. Read his reflection on L.A. bagel culture: zps.la/3Hs5bHo

Columnist Joe Mathews (Joe Mathews) didn't see any rioting in L.A. County on Saturday. But he did find a loving father and great tacos. Read his on-the-ground reporting: zps.la/4lhibyr

What's on your summer reading list? Check out must-read recommendations from Zócalo's friends and contributors. zocalopublicsquare.org/chatgpt-did-no…

Miriam Frutos Rodriguez has DACA, but her dad is undocumented. When he leaves for work, she worries about him encountering ICE agents and reminds him of his rights. zps.la/40qA2dZ

"I wish Republicans, social media trolls, and even other Latinos could see that this is who the Trump administration is going after—kind, brave, hard-working people like my mom," writes Bella Vega Victoriano. Read her dispatch from L.A. zocalopublicsquare.org/watching-over-…

.UMN Dept. of Chicano & Latino Studies' Jimmy Patiño writes about the 1980 National Chicano Immigration Conference, a meeting that imagined a more democratic U.S. border policy, from the perspective of those most affected by it. zps.la/44o9b3q

Trish O'Kane, author of Birding to Change the World, considers what protesters can learn from a sassy bold chickadee.zps.la/45Hf2mV