Shows / KQED's Forum
KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints. Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love…
Episodes
KQED's ForumSoleil Ho Steps Down As SF Chronicle Restaurant Critic After Three Years of Transforming the Role
When Soleil Ho started at the San Francisco Chronicle as restaurant critic in 2019, they were widely hailed as exemplifying the “next generation” of criticism…
KQED's ForumSpy Balloon Saga Continues, Exposing Tensions Between U.S. and China
China's foreign ministry accused the U.S. on Monday of flying at least 10 high-altitude surveillance balloons in its airspace during the past year. The charge…
KQED's ForumNew Weight Loss Drugs Disrupt Long-Held Beliefs About Obesity
A new class of weight loss drugs is changing the way doctors, researchers and patients think about obesity. Medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro…
KQED's ForumCelebrating 50 Years of Conjunctions, Civics and ‘SchoolHouse Rock!’
With its still-vibrant animation and unforgettable earworms, “SchoolHouse Rock!” turned 50 this year, having taught Generation X and subsequent youth math…
KQED's ForumAnnalee Newitz Imagines a Distant Future Where 21st Century Societal Issues Persist
Annalee Newitz’s new book “The Terraformers” is a multigenerational science fiction drama set thousands of years in a future where corporations own entire…
KQED's ForumWesley Lowery on America’s Elusive Racial Reckoning
After the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in 2020 many Americans were at a breaking point, writes journalist and author Wesley Lowery…
KQED's ForumHow the Xerox Machine Launched A Bay Area Art Movement
The humble copy machine was meant to revolutionize office work. But when the Xerox 6500 color copier was introduced in 1973, its ability to print in saturated…
KQED's ForumWhy Is There So Much Misinformation About Menopause?
When New York Times Magazine staff writer Susan Dominus began reporting her cover story on menopause, she was surprised by the number of women she met who had…
KQED's ForumReclaiming Your Family’s Heritage Language, Even if Your Elders Never Taught You
In the United States, descendants of immigrants often lose their heritage languages. But now many of them, especially those with roots in Latin America, are…
KQED's ForumCatastrophic Earthquakes Ravage Turkey and Syria
More than 7,000 people are dead and countless more injured after earthquakes devastated communities in southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. Rescue…
KQED's ForumThe Glory of Spring's Blossoms in…Early February?
The Bay Area’s trees are starting to bloom and it’s beautiful. Magnificent magnolia, plum and even, in some areas, cherry blossoms. With global warming, some…
KQED's ForumSamara Bay Wants to Change What Power Sounds Like
Have you ever been told that if you lower your voice or avoid vocal fry or stop saying “like” so much you’ll sound more authoritative? It’s that kind of…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Farmworkers Were Already Struggling Before the Half Moon Bay Shooting
The recent mass shootings in Half Moon Bay put a spotlight on the decades long plight of farmworkers in California who often earn low wages and live in…
KQED's ForumExamining California’s Role in the Colorado River Water Conflict
The Colorado River, which supplies water to much of the western United States, continues to diminish under historic drought conditions. And California is under…
KQED's ForumSan Jose Mayor Matt Mahan Only Has Two Years to Make a Mark
Recently elected San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is now at the helm of the largest city in the Bay Area and the 10th largest city in the United States. San Jose…
KQED's ForumThe Subversive Power of LGBTQ Comic Books
In 1954, the Comics Code Authority was formed to censor newsstand comic books by banning depictions of violence, negative portrayals of law enforcement and any…
KQED's ForumKQED’s “That’s My Word” Spotlights Overlooked Bay Area Hip-Hop History
The Bay Area’s outsized contribution to hip-hop has often been overlooked. But this week KQED launched a yearlong project called That’s My Word, an exploration…
KQED's ForumYour Covid Questions, As Fourth Pandemic Year Approaches
California is set to end its Covid-19 state of emergency on February 28. But the virus is still very much a part of our lives, driving ongoing concerns about…
KQED's ForumEveryone Hates Ticketmaster
Nothing seems to unite people more than their hate for TicketMaster. At a recent Senate Judiciary committee hearing convened in response to the ticket selling…
KQED's ForumNepotism Has Been Around Forever. Why Are People So Bothered by It Now?
Internet culture has spawned a new offspring: “Nepo babies”... the children of celebrities who have joined the family business whether that be movies…
KQED's ForumWhat Making A Sweater From Scratch — From Shearing to Knitting — Can Teach Us About Life
A couple of years ago, penned in by the pandemic, writer Peggy Orenstein “felt an inexplicable, unquenchable urge to confront a large animal while wielding a…
KQED's ForumCalifornia's Gun Laws, While Effective, Pose Enforcement Challenges
California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation: it bans assault-type weapons and high-capacity magazines, mandates background checks and…
KQED's ForumIt’s Dungeness Crab Season and Time to Rhapsodize About Our Iconic Crustacean
Dungeness crab season is a big deal in the bay area. Whether caught from a boat or off a pier, served with crusty bread and butter or over garlic noodles, it…
KQED's ForumWho Do You Want to Be California’s Next Senator?
Los Angeles Congressmember Adam Schiff announced Thursday that he’s running to be California’s next Senator in 2024, joining Orange County Representative Katie…
KQED's ForumMaking Sense of the Job Market Amid Massive Tech Layoffs
Major Bay Area employers including Salesforce, Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet and Facebook parent company Meta have all cut thousands of workers in the…
KQED's ForumElite Runner Lauren Fleshman’s ‘Good for a Girl’ Challenges Male Ideals and the Male Gaze
As a girl growing up in Canyon Country, California, Lauren Fleshman could run fast. Really fast. As a high school student and recruited athlete at Stanford…
KQED's Forum'Chinese Groove' Follows Young Immigrant’s Optimistic, and Often Delusional, Search for Shangri-La in San Francisco
The buoyant protagonist of San Francisco writer Kathryn Ma’s new novel, The Chinese Groove, migrates from China, where he’s part of the outcast branch of his…
KQED's ForumHow Can We Make Air Travel Greener (Besides Never Flying Again)?
Aviation is responsible for over two percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and for technological reasons it’s one of the most difficult sectors to…
KQED's ForumOakland Mayor Sheng Thao Confronts Critical Issues in Early Days in Office
In her first weeks in office, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has placed the police chief on administrative leave, dealt with a mass shooting and coped with the…
KQED's ForumPop Music, Fandom and Sincerity: What it Means to Love BTS
Described as “a love letter to Korean pop sensation BTS and an ode to fandom,” the new book "On BTS” by Atlantic senior editor Lenika Cruz compiles and expands…
KQED's ForumHalf Moon Bay Farmworker Community Processes Mass Shooting
After seven farm workers were killed Monday in a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, the city’s vice-mayor Joaquin Jimenez said in a press conference, “Many of you…
KQED's ForumMonterey Park, Half Moon Bay Reeling After Mass Shootings
On Saturday night it was Monterey Park, where 11 people died and nine more were injured after a gunman opened fire in a popular ballroom, on the eve of the…
KQED's ForumThe Man Who Captured Motion on Film
The Bay Area’s fascination with technology didn’t start with Silicon Valley. In the late 19th century, San Franciscan Eadweard Muybridge, an eccentric…
KQED's ForumHow’s Your Dry January Going?
After enjoying a few booze-infused holiday weeks last month, many of us are drying out in January, reducing or completely eliminating alcohol from our diets…
KQED's ForumMigrant 'Parole' and President Biden’s Approach to the Southern U.S. Border
This month, the Biden Administration began allowing migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to seek “parole” to enter the United States and stay…
KQED's ForumVideo Games, Friendship and Renewal Light ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’
Gabrielle Zevin’s most recent novel “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” draws its title from what Zevin calls one of the bleakest speeches in all of…
KQED's ForumCheech & Chong on the Comedy High Life
Comedy duo Cheech & Chong started doing improv theater together about 55 years ago, in an act they’ve called “hippie burlesque,” at a Vancouver strip club. Ten…
KQED's ForumJudy Woodruff Steps Away as PBS NewsHour Anchor — to Report on America’s Divisions
Veteran journalist Judy Woodruff stepped down as the anchor of PBS NewsHour at the end of last month. Widely considered one of the most trusted figures in the…
KQED's ForumHow Does San Francisco Spend $14 Billion Annually?
San Francisco has just 815,000 residents. But its annual budget is nearly $14 billion. The budget covers the operations of both the city and county of San…
KQED's ForumRep. Adam Schiff on Serving in a GOP-Controlled House
“[T]o Kevin McCarthy, the Intelligence Committee is just a political plaything.” That was how Los Angeles Congressman Adam Schiff last week characterized…
KQED's ForumClimate Fix: What Does Climate Change Mean for California’s Extreme Weather?
California has experienced extreme weather whiplash during the past year from bone dry summer days to a flooding wet January. This is our state’s new climate…
KQED's Forum‘Life on Delay’ Examines Life with a Stutter
In January 2020, Atlantic senior editor John Hendrickson wrote an article about Joe Biden’s stutter. Like Biden, Hendrickson has a stutter. And while…
KQED's ForumHow America Has Failed to Achieve MLK’s Vision for Economic Justice
The U.S. continues to grapple with poverty, economic inequality, and racial inequity more than 50 years after the death of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In some…
KQED's ForumForum from the Archives: ‘Artivista’ Martha Gonzalez on Achieving Social Justice Through Music
2022 MacArthur fellow Martha Gonzalez describes herself as an ‘artivista’ – at once an artist and an activist. The frontwoman of the East Los Angeles band…
KQED's ForumForum from the Archives: Germany Has Created Monuments to Remember the Sins of its History. Could America?
Last year, poet and writer Clint Smith wrote the book, “How the World is Passed,” exploring how the US has failed to come to terms with the reality and legacy…
KQED's ForumThe Psychologically Taxing Work of Content Moderators
Former content moderators for Reddit and TikTok filed class action lawsuits against the sites last month alleging they suffered trauma from the graphic and…
KQED's ForumWhy Products Break More Than They Used To And What You Can Do About It
The useful lifespan of items all over your home from clothes to kitchen gadgets to cell phones has been shrinking, according to a recent article in Vox. At the…
KQED's ForumThe Toll of Fallen Trees From California’s Storms
“If the storm had a theme, it was in the uprooted and broken trees that seemed to blanket the rain-soaked landscape,” writes California correspondent for the…
KQED's ForumOakland Police Department’s “Brutality, Corruption and Cover Up” and Long Road toward Reform
After 119 citizens in Oakland joined a class action lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department for vicious and sadistic beatings, evidence tampering, and…
KQED's ForumEvette Dionne Takes On Fatphobia in 'Weightless'
Fatphobia takes an enormous physical and psychological toll on fat people, writes culture critic Evette Dionne, who says it “robs us of our joy, our ability to…
KQED's ForumKQED’s ¡Hella Hungry! Highlights the People Who Shape the Bay Area’s Distinctive Food Scene
¡Hella Hungry! is a regular series from KQED food writer Alan Chazaro that profiles Bay Area foodmakers who help shape the region's culinary culture. Flor…
KQED's ForumIRS First Target as Kevin McCarthy Speakership Commences
“Our country has never before faced the kind of threat we documented. May it never again,” wrote Congressman Adam Schiff in the New York Times last month. His…
KQED's ForumFlooding During a Drought: Rethinking California’s Water System
As another atmospheric river batters California, the state finds itself in the midst of weather whiplash: Parts of the state are flooding even while California…
KQED's ForumDacher Keltner on Finding Awe
How can we live the good life, one enlivened by joy, meaning and community? That’s the question UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner has been…
KQED's ForumBay Area Transit Agencies Confront Existential Crisis
Transit agencies throughout the Bay Area are struggling with low ridership, funding shortfalls, and worker shortages. Office workers who used to pack light…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom Commences Second Term
California Governor Gavin Newsom will be sworn into his second term on Friday, following a march to mark California's commitment to democracy on the…
KQED's ForumThis Year I Will…How to Keep A New Year’s Resolution
We make them. We break them. We vow to restart. At least after one more cookie… They’re our new year’s resolutions. For some, they are an inspiration to live a…
KQED's ForumWhy Are Millennials and Gen Z Having Fewer Children?
The U.S. birthrate is at its lowest since the 1970s, and that’s because more American millennials and Gen Z are deciding not to have kids than previous…
KQED's ForumFood Assistance Programs Struggle As Demand Soars
Food banks and meal delivery programs are straining to meet the needs of Bay Area residents as costs rise and support dwindles. In Alameda County, an estimated…
KQED's ForumFDA Poised to Approve New Alzheimer's Drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the experimental dementia drug Lecanemab as soon as this week, a move embraced by Alzheimer's…