Taxes through the ages Knowable Magazine explores the real-world significance of scholarly work through a journalistic lens. A digital magazine from Annual Reviews.

Now that tax day is behind us (phew!), might we interest you in some history?

Compiled by @erynbrown.bsky.social

knowmag.org/4mobQmh

Nice to see this one again 🌳

Centuries of pondering — and squabbling about — trees COMIC: Do forests warm or cool the Earth? What’s their effect on global climate change? A comic narrated by polymath Benjamin Franklin describes the evolution of thought on this issue and what we…

What’s tall, leafy, and evolved before T-Rex? A 🌳🌲🌴 comic...

✍️ @erynbrown.bsky.social
🎨 @makinaro.com

knowmag.org/4c3XFxU

Exciting news:
🧂🌊 SALT LAKES TOUR DATES! 🪰🙌
Join me this spring!

Details are on most of the venues' websites, but please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help out.

This year, I was privileged to commission and edit some exceptional writers. Here are a few of my favorites from 2025 (posted in chronological order because I love all children equally):

We are honored to publish your work!

What Happens When You Trade Doomscrolling for Hopescrolling Our phones have become misery machines. Hopescrolling can change that.

We can tame the misery machines.
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/what-happens...

Our Favorite Essays of 2025 | Zócalo Public Square On Hip-Hop, Hopescrolling, How Experts Can Win Back Public Trust, and More, Zócalo Contributors Led with Creativity and Curiosity

I'm honored that @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social chose my essay on trading doomscrolling for hopescrolling for one of their favorite essays of 2025! www.zocalopublicsquare.org/favorite-ess...

A True Expert Scientist Knows What They Don’t Know | Essay Textbooks are a false front for human knowledge. Science textbooks, at least. In high school, I eagerly read the biology textbook and the chemistry textbook and the physics textbook. Every question po...

www.zocalopublicsquare.org/a-true-exper...

Saving the Great American Road Trip | The Saturday Evening Post It took Fourth of July fireworks and a stop on Route 66 to remind me of the promise of this place and its people.

It's me and Norman Rockwell, ya'll: my @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social essay on the American Road Trip was just re-published in the @satevepost.bsky.social.

Thanks @erynbrown.bsky.social!

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/07/savi...

Treason Isn't Just a Crime—It's a Sin of the Heart | Essay | Zócalo Public Square If you’re looking to nail someone for treason these days, don’t talk to a lawyer. The answer you’ll get will be short and likely disappointing: It’s hard

Since we're talking about "treason" again, re-upping my oldie but goodie on the topic (maybe Tulsi needs to read some Dante) www.zocalopublicsquare.org/treason-isnt...

Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History Buy Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

My debut book, Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History, coming in March from W.W. Norton, has a beautiful cover and is available for pre-order! Check it out at this link:

www.amazon.com/Salt-Lakes-U...

Friends! Here's the longer (by about 100 words), slightly better, and paywall-free version of my essay on the American road trip. With thanks to @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, @erynbrown.bsky.social, & Sarah Rothbard!

I love that you can see the motel in question right here.

Saving the Great American Road Trip | Essay It Took Fourth of July Fireworks and a Stop on Route 66 to Remind Me of the Promise of This Place and Its People

Readers: you can find an extended, original version of Derek's essay @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, here: www.zocalopublicsquare.org/saving-the-g...

And thank YOU, @derekmong.bsky.social !

Contributor: The road trip — sublime, profane and (almost) reclaimed Driving the country's highways is one way to define the American psyche and a big, beautiful, flawed nation.

If you're reflecting on this beautiful & flawed & enormous nation right now--and the road trips that hope to capture it all--check out my latest essay in today's @latimes.com.

Thanks to @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social, @erynbrown.bsky.social, & Sarah Rothbard!

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

What Happens When You Trade Doomscrolling for Hopescrolling Our phones have become misery machines. Hopescrolling can change that.

Are you doomscrolling right now?
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/what-happens...

How Will California Survive the End of America's Empire? | Connecting California | Zócalo Public Square How will California survive the end of the American empire? The question might seem hypothetical, but I found it inescapable last week in Rome, where I

A column I wrote from Rome in October 2018 frames the quandary of this California moment quite well. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/will-califor...

I Went to Find Trump's 'Rebellion.' I Ended up at a Birthday Party | Connecting California Reporting in Compton and Paramount on Saturday, I Saw Nothing That Justified Sending in the National Guard

On Saturday, @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social California columnist Joe Mathews (@democracylocal.bsky.social) went to Compton and Paramount to witness the "rebellion." He didn't find it. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/i-went-to-fi...

Can the L.A. Bagel Come Full Circle? | Culture Class Innovation and Social Action Were Baked into the Dough a Century Ago

And today ‪@jasmansky.bsky.social‬ reminds us that L.A., far from being a boiled bread wasteland, has a long--and meaningful--bagel history. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/can-the-los-... (3/3)

Bagels Gave Me My Hollywood Ending | Essay How a Screenwriter from the East Village Found His Second Act as a Baker in L.A.

On Thursday, Maury's founder Jason Kaplan chronicled his journey from East Village screenwriter to Silver Lake bagel co-pioneer: www.zocalopublicsquare.org/bagels-gave-... (2/3)

Just ate my customary rosemary sea salt bagel from Hank's Bagels in Sherman Oaks. @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social is really enjoying its bagels this week, too...(1/3)

Thank YOU Derek! I owe you an email about this 😀.

Fun to see this one again

Taxes, taxes — past, present and future Here’s how the inevitable came to be, and where it may be headed

Why, historically, have societies collected taxes? In 2017, @erynbrown.bsky.social asked sociologist Edgar Kiser Kiser, who studies what motivates people to fight wars or cooperate as nations, and other factors that shape society, to explain why taxes came to be, and how they’re likely to evolve.

Is He a Fascist? You Tell Me | Essay A Historian Teaches Hitler and Mussolini in the Age of Trump

On the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, I invite you to pause and read, on a related topic, Paul Lerner's probing essay for @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social www.zocalopublicsquare.org/is-he-a-fasc...

I knew you when…

How Can Our World Rethink Climate Mobility? | Recent Experience | Zócalo Public Square Co-presented by Zócalo Public Square and Carnegie California, in partnership with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Flavors from Afar

Great time at last week's Zócalo event with @carnegieendowment.org and @nhmla.bsky.social...check out the video and recap here: www.zocalopublicsquare.org/how-can-our-...

In Post-Roe America, Disordered Eating Is On the Rise | Essay As a psychologist specializing in eating disorders and working primarily with women, I’ve observed a mounting undercurrent over the last eight years as my clients process their position in a world tha...

Today at Zócalo Public Square: Disordered eating behaviors are on the rise for women and girls—and it's a byproduct of the times we're living in, writes psychologist Giulia Suro. www.zocalopublicsquare.org/post-roe-ame...

tagging ibeliebenberg.bsky.social