Boom California
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We aim to create a lively conversation about the vital social, cultural, and political issues of our times, in California and the world beyond.
Boom California
7M ago
Alison Alkon, Joshua Salyers, and Jeffrey Hole We are standing in the parking lot of a Marathon gas station just south of downtown Stockton. Huddled in small bits of shade on this hundred-degree day we—students and professor—have convened to begin our field trip. To our north sits the elevated Crosstown Freeway, with its rumbling traffic ..read more
Boom California
11M ago
Excerpt from Chapter: Shoreline Futures By: Eric Porter SFO, like other airports situated along or near oceans, seas, and estuaries across the globe, is under direct threat from future sea-level rise stemming from racial capitalism’s long development as it has interfaced with atmospheric and geological processes. The question is not whether the airport will be ..read more
Boom California
1y ago
On the Front Porch with Oakland Activist David Peters An Interview by Dr. Gregory Downs On the front porch of his house in West Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood, across the street from one of the elementary schools that define the neighborhood, David Peters knows everybody, whether he’s met them or not. Animated, boisterous, and always busy ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
By: David Goldblatt Indeed I live in the dark ages!A guileless word is an absurdity. A smooth forehead betokensA hard heart. He who laughsHas not yet heardThe terrible tidings. Ah, what an age it isWhen to speak of trees is almost a crimeFor it is a kind of silence about injustice!And he who walks calmly ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
This Land is Their Land However polite its title, the 1891 “Petition to the Senators and Representatives of the Congress of the United States in the Behalf of the Remnants of the former Tribes of the Yosemite Indians Praying for Aid and Assistance” was anything but deferential. The petition offered a blunt critique of the mostly ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
Kettlemen City: Case Study of Community Activism in Changing Times Excerpted from Evolution of a Movement: Four Decades of California Environmental Justice Activism by Tracy Perkins, published by the University of California Press. © 2022 by Tracy Perkins. Many Californians who recognize the name “Kettleman City” do so because it is a good place to stop for ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
By Christina Heatherton Excerpted from Arise!: Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution by Christina Heatherton, published by the University of California Press. © 2022 How to Make a Map Small Shareholders and Global Radicals in Revolutionary Mexico In the age of the New Imperialism, the world was turned inside out. The dark slumbering core of the ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
As long-time readers of Boom California, it has been an honor to work with artists, writers, poets, student interns, and scholars to think deeply about California’s past, present, and future. Raised East of East Los Angeles to migrant parents from neighboring colonias in Guadalajara (via neighboring ranchos in Zacatecas), we worked hard to center overlooked ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
Text by Daniel Talamantes, photos by Jesús Romo Taking Shape of the River “In it, you realize the river has no shape,” reflects Jesús Romo on his photo, “Riding in the River.” The photo depicts a pair of vaqueros wading through a tributary in Whittier Narrows. Above the horses’ cannon, water splashes above their knees ..read more
Boom California
2y ago
Karl Kullmann An imaginative form of protest took place on the other side of the world in 2017 as some Australians took to rolling down grassy slopes at the heart of the nation’s capital of Canberra.[1] Although it appeared lighthearted, the motivations of these tumbling citizens were quite serious. They were rolling down Parliament Hill ..read more