The Day Obama Didn’t Bring It. Last week, with the heart-wrenching news of the Boston Marathon, ricin-laced letters to the White House, and the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, we all needed an inspiring president. But David Strasberg, son of the acting teacher Lee Strasberg, thought Obama fell short in his post-Boston Marathon speech. Strasberg writes, “President Obama followed the script in his remarks, but I was left with the feeling that he was playing the role of President rather than owning what was really in him.”

My $2-Per-Month Catholic Education in 1930s Los Angeles. For Manuel H. Rodriguez, St. Columbkille Catholic school was a safe harbor from domestic upheaval. It was there that he followed the Palmer method of penmanship on foolscap paper, learned how to read musical staffs on the blackboard, came to understand the importance of thrift—and left with an abiding appreciation for the self-sacrifice of the nuns who taught him and his classmates.

The Death That Saved My Life. At age 28, C. Brian Bronk suffered a stroke and found out he needed a new heart. Eight weeks later, his prayers were answered. And eleven years later, he got to thank the parents of the young man whose death had saved his life.

Pity the F-Bomb-Dropping Newscaster. Brian Cabell’s first reaction to A.J. Clemente’s TV newscast debut was to cringe. Then he laughed. As a 35-year TV news veteran, Cabell explains that Clemente was a typical young local TV journalist: inexperienced and barely professional.  Looking back at his own career, Cabell unpacks the curious and impecunious world of small-market TV news.

What’s So Special About Today’s Veterans? As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, a new wave of veterans is returning to their families and communities. In advance of a Zócalo/UCLA event: “How Are Veterans Changing America?” we asked veterans and those working with veterans: What’s special about today’s generations of veterans in comparison to previous ones?

Former World Bank Executive Director Moisés Naím in the green room. Before talking about the decay of power, Venezuela’s former minister of trade and industry Moisés Naím revealed the last law he’s broken, the strangest thing in his medicine cabinet, and the trashiest TV show he watches.

Next Week …

Lisa Margonelli on her self-loathing for succumbing to a mouse-clicking news addiction during the Tsarnaev police chase.

On Wednesday, a panel featuring USC sociologist Manuel Pastor, and UC Berkeley School of Public Health California Program on Access to Care director Gilbert Ojeda visits Zócalo to discuss what immigration reform would mean for Los Angeles.

On Friday, Jonathan Haidt, winner of our third annual Zócalo Book Prize and author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, visits Zócalo to discuss how Americans can get better at reconciling politics and reason.