Zócalo Public Square

For centuries, the best college education has been the one that costs the most and is accessible to the fewest people. But what if anyone, anywhere, could take classes with the best professors, without paying a dime? According to Kevin Carey, author of The End of College and education policy program director at the New America Foundation, this is the future of higher education. At an event co-presented by Arizona State University, Carey discussed whether new technology will make some of America's oldest institutions obsolete.

Don’t sell your car just yet -- but be prepared to get to where you’re going in a lot of different ways. This was the conclusion of a discussion about car culture co-presented by Metro. Petersen Automotive Museum executive director Terry Karges, DUB Magazine founder Myles Kovacs, Drexel University Center for Mobilities Research and Policy director Mimi Sheller, and architect Deborah Murphy, founder of Los Angeles Walks, talked about everything from how cars bring us together and whether mopeds are cool to why millennials are more car-averse than previous generations and how technology is changing transportation.

Cartoonists are propagandists and satirists, artists and writers. They make us laugh -- in recognition and shame -- and enrage and offend. At an "Open Art" event co-presented by the Getty in conjunction with the Getty Research Institute exhibition "World War I: War of Images, Images of War," the many roles cartoonists play and have played over the past century were discussed and dissected by cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, USC's Marty Kaplan, Getty curator Nancy Perloff, and Chris Lamb, author of Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons.

Where did the Cuban Revolution succeed, and where did it fail? How will Cuba change as the country enters a new era of rapprochement with the United States? What is Cuba today -- and what will it look like in 10 years? Will an open Cuba model itself after Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia, or China and Vietnam? At a "Thinking L.A." event co-presented with UCLA, Cuban economist Rafael Betancourt, UCLA Latin America and Caribbean literature scholar Jorge Marturano, and Ann Louise Bardach, author of Without Fidel and Cuba Confidential answered these questions posed by Associated Press Latin American and Caribbean editor Marjorie Miller.

Ever wondered what makes L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti laugh? June Cleaver speaking jive, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar as a pilot, and a bowl of Jell-O on a turbulent plane. When asked to host Zócalo and KCRW’s "My Favorite Movie" series at the Million Dollar Theatre, Garcetti chose the 1980 classic comedy Airplane! After a screening of Airplane! KCRW Press Play host Madeleine Brand interviewed Garcetti, as well as the movie’s writing-directing-producing trio, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker.

Just as the UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies released its 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report, Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard, Black-ish executive producer Brian Dobbins, Bunche Center director Darnell Hunt, and Creative Artists Agency agent Christy Haubegger talked with Hollywood Reporter executive editor Matthew Belloni about why the people Americans see onscreen don't look more like the rest of us. At an event co-presented by UCLA and UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the panelists agreed that diversity sells, but studio executives are still playing catch-up with the nation's demographics and tastes.

After decades of building prisons and increasing the number of people behind bars, the pendulum of California’s criminal justice system has swung away from incarceration. Among the policies and laws that are changing the way offenders are sentenced is Proposition 47, which was passed in November 2014, and redefines six nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. About 1 million Californians are being affected by this legislation -- getting felonies cleared from their records, being resentenced, and in some cases getting out of prison earlier than expected. At an event co-presented by the California Endowment, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen V. Manley, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership Executive Director Peggy Edwards, and Project Rebound Director Jason Bell told a full-house crowd at the Endowment’s downtown L.A. headquarters how Proposition 47 is changing the state’s approach to criminal justice and, more broadly, the challenges faced by prisoners upon reentry to society.

What It Means to Be American--Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and Zócalo Public Square present Is Rock 'n' Roll All About Reinvention with Eddie Van Halen and Denise Quan

If there’s anything bigger than oil in Bakersfield, it might be music. It’s hard to think of the town without the sounds of Buck, Merle, Korn, and The Lighthouse Boys. But is Bakersfield still creating new musical traditions that reflect a changing Kern County? At an event co-presented by the James Irvine Foundation,legendary music engineer Jim Shaw of the Buckaroos, singer and economic development official Jennifer Keel Faughn, and local musician and entertainment writer Matt Munoz talked with Bakersfield Californian executive editor Robert Price about what Bakersfield sounds like now.

Over 30 million people rely on the Colorado River for water—for purposes ranging from drinking to agriculture to power plants. But scientists predict that the river isn’t going to produce the amount of water it did in the past—or does today. At an ASU/Zócalo event at ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City, Lake Havasu City water resources coordinator Doyle Wilson, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association executive director Kathleen Ferris, and Nature Conservancy Colorado River program director Taylor Hawes talked with the Arizona Republic's Shaun McKinnon about what steps must be taken to ensure that the Colorado River survives.

The Women of the West--a "What It Means to Be American" event featuring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Girl Scouts USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez at The Heard Museum in Phoenix on January 14, 2015.

What is the historic "California dream" -- the one people still talk about today? How does California’s 21st-century reality differ from that dream? And what is the California dream of today and the future? Zócalo's Joe Mathews, author of the weekly Connecting California column, talked about what our places and people have in common, and why, if we want to keep them together and help them flourish once again, we need to start forging a new California story.

After a screening of their new movie Big Eyes, writer-producers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski discuss their greater hope for the biopic--knowing the story and artist can shed light on the genuinity of Margaret Keane’s work.

L.A. has all the elements of a global city–except one: a fully developed, advanced, and integrated transportation system. CicLAvia’s bike festivals lets Angelenos escape the tranny of the car. Founder Aaron Paley discusses what CicLAvia means to the Los Angeles community and where he hopes it’ll go—from city to county… to country.

Inland Empire Economic Partnership president and CEO Paul Granillo discusses the challenges to effective public healthcare in the Inland Empire. The region is lacking in doctors, nurses, and hospitals, while percentage of residents in poverty grows.

Almost two-thirds of new teachers report that their training left them underprepared for the realities of the classroom. NewSchools Venture Fund’s Stephanie Wood-Garnett and ASU Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Dean Mari E. Koerner discuss how to shift from competition to collaboration in teaching practice and evaluation.

Western Health Advantage CEO Garry Maisel, Health Access lobbyist Beth Capell, and Bay Area Council policy advisor Micah Weinberg talk with healthcare reporter Emily Bazar about whether the Affordable Care Act is living up to its promises. Does it give consumers more choices? Is it as easy as shopping on Amazon? They discussed the new healthcare landscape at a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event in Sacramento.

Los Angeles was built by the railroad, but the city has resisted the allure of train transportation for a century. What is it about rail that captures people's hearts--and why has L.A. remained immune to this almost universally beloved mode of transport? Journalist and Chapman University English scholar Tom Zoellner, author of Train, and UCLA and UC Berkeley legal, business, and environmental scholar Ethan Elkind, author of Railtown, discussed the past and future of trains in Southern California.

How did politicians' private lives become public, and how did politics become fodder for the tabloids? In a discussion with Matt Miller, Yahoo News national political columnist Matt Bai, author of All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, used the scandal that took down presidential candidate Gary Hart in 1987 to discuss the American media's obsession with sex, and how it's changed our democracy.

The World Economic Forum currently ranks the U.S. 52nd in the world in the quality of its math and science education. ASU science education scholar Dale Baker and Change the Equation CEO Linda Rosen discuss the importance of funding in improving American STEM education.