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 ForumRising Sea Levels Threaten the Bay Area’s Low-Income Communities with Toxic Flooding
Many of the Bay Area’s industrial sites are situated on the waterfront, right next to communities of color. As climate change causes groundwater levels to…
KQED's ForumWhat Determines the Music We Love?
Most everyone recognizes Prince's masterpiece "Purple Rain," the Grammy Award-winning album engineered by Susan Rogers. But do you know why you love this…
KQED's ForumOakland City Leaders Take Your Questions on Safety and the Surge of Violent Crime
Two Berkeley High School students were shot and killed at an Oakland birthday party on Saturday. On Wednesday six adults were shot at an Oakland school. The…
KQED's ForumIs it Time to Stop Rebuilding After Wildfire?
Many small California towns that were devastated by recent wildfires are determined to rebuild, such as Greenville, which is the community at the focus of the…
KQED's ForumThe Abundant Buildings, and Styles, of the Bay Area’s ‘Trailblazing’ Architect, Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan is best known as the architect of opulent, eccentric Hearst Castle, but she designed roughly 700 buildings in her 50-year career. From her first…
KQED's ForumWhat Stress Dreams Tell Us About Our Waking Lives
Getting a good night’s sleep is important for restoring our bodies and minds after a long day. But sometimes the stress of the world follows us into dreamland…
KQED's ForumJonathan Escoffery’s ‘If I Survive You’ Takes Readers On A Journey Through Identity, Blackness and Miami
Jonathan Escoffery’s debut book, “If I Survive You,” presents a series of connected stories about an immigrant family from Jamaica trying to acclimate to life…
KQED's ForumTani Cantil-Sakauye Reflects on Twelve Years as Chief Justice of California
Chief Justice of California Tani Cantil-Sakauye is stepping down in January after serving a 12-year term on the state's high court. Nominated by former…
KQED's ForumLooking for A Happy Ending? Pick Up A Romance Novel
It seems that everyone wants a happy ending, and nothing delivers that better than a romance novel. The Harlequin romance bodice rippers of old have evolved…
KQED's ForumDahlia Lithwick on the Women Lawyers Who Took the Trump Administration to Court
Sally Yates, who as acting attorney general refused to defend the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries. Reproductive rights attorney Brigitte Amiri, who…
KQED's ForumChef Illyanna Maisonet’s ‘Diasporican’ Cookbook Takes on Flavors of Puerto Rico and California
Chef and author Illyanna Maisonet, a former food columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, made a name for herself by reimagining Puerto Rican cuisine. Her…
KQED's ForumWould You Consider Becoming Compost?
Come 2027, Californians will have a new post-death option: to become human compost. A law signed by Governor Newsom this month made California the fifth state…
KQED's ForumOngoing Protests in Iran and Locally Call for Women’s Rights and Justice
The death of the 22-year old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, for a supposed violation of the country’s strict dress code, has sparked protests across Iran…
KQED's ForumAdrian Hon on the Gamified Life
Points, badges, progress bars and leaderboards: they’re among the games designed to make dull activities fun -- and to make us more productive at the gym, in…
KQED's ForumHow BIPOC-Focused Journalism Outlets and Their Communities Served One Another During the Pandemic
Three historic BIPOC-focused media outlets are celebrating anniversaries this fall - India Currents turns 35, Willie Ratliff, the publisher of San Francisco…
KQED's ForumThe Endangered California Condor Returns to Northern California
The California condor is not one of nature’s cutest birds, but it is probably one of its most compelling. The largest bird in North America, the condor has a…
KQED's Forum826 Valencia on 20 Years of Publishing San Francisco’s Youth
With the goal of helping San Francisco’s under-resourced students develop their voices as writers, the nonprofit 826 Valencia — founded at that exact address…
KQED's ForumThe Handwriting Is on the Wall: Cursive Is in Decline
In one of her undergraduate history seminars, Harvard professor Drew Gilpin Faust recently discovered that the majority of her students could not read cursive…
- KQED's Forum
An Inside View of San Francisco’s Legendary Music Scene with Rolling Stone Founder Jann Wenner
Jann Wenner started Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco at the tender age of 21 – placing himself smack in the middle of 1967’s wild and groundbreaking…
KQED's Forum‘Strangers To Ourselves’ Explores Limits of Mental Health Diagnoses
Why do some people with mental illnesses recover while others with the same diagnosis don’t? According to New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv, the answer in…
KQED's ForumWhat It Would Take to End Hunger in the U.S.
President Biden says he aims to end hunger and food insecurity in the United States by 2030. Next week the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and…
KQED's ForumUkraine Hopes to Retake More Ground Before Winter
Ukraine surprised both Russia and the world last week with sharp counter offensives in the northeast that have retaken land occupied by Russian troops…
KQED's ForumAmid Pandemic Recovery, BART Celebrates 50 Years of Service
Traveling on BART allows riders to move between Oakland to San Francisco in seven minutes – a modern convenience some people take for granted. The iconic…
KQED's ForumA Tech Startup Removes Accents from Call Center Workers’ Speech. Does that Mask Bigger Problems?
The tech startup Sanas transforms accented English to a white, midwestern American voice. Sanas contends that this technology can help overseas call center…
KQED's ForumQuiet Quitting May Not Be Real, But It’s Still Trending
Workers across the country keep talking about “quiet quitting” – the idea that employees should fulfill their job duties in the time they are paid to work –…
KQED's ForumThe Future of San Francisco's Famous Fog is, Well, Foggy
Fog is an indelible part of the magic and culture of San Francisco, providing inspiration for poets and artists and a sometimes-welcome buffer against summer…
KQED's ForumNovel 'On the Rooftop' Recalls San Francisco's Fillmore District, Once Known as 'Harlem of the West'
In the 1950s, San Francisco’s Fillmore district was known as the Harlem of the West. It was famous for its jazz music, its artists and its writers and it…
KQED's ForumWhat will California’s FAST Recovery Act do for Fast Food Workers?
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s FAST Recovery Act on Labor Day, authorizing the creation of a council aimed to set minimum labor standards in fast food…
KQED's ForumThe Mysteries of California’s Electric Grid
Last week, California struggled under one of the worst heat waves in written history. Several cities across the state, including San Jose and Redwood City…
KQED's ForumCNN Wants to Offer Balanced News. Step One Was to Part Ways with Its Trump Critics
CNN is a cable news network in flux. Earlier this month, John Harwood, its White House correspondent, announced his departure one day after he stated on air…
KQED's ForumSurveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control
When Americans hear about surveillance in China, it is usually through a dystopian lens. There is good reason for that—in the west of the country, the Uighur…
KQED's ForumLeave it to the Beaver, Nature’s “Climate-Solving Hero”
Did beavers get a publicist? Mother Jones magazine asked that question last week after a spate of national news stories appeared celebrating the rodents’ role…
KQED's ForumWhy Illegal Weed Is Booming In California
California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016 promising to create the “largest legal weed market in the world,” according to a recent story in the Los…
KQED's ForumHistorian Peniel Joseph on America’s ‘Third Reconstruction’
After the election of President Obama in 2008, “the world looked and felt different,” writes University of Texas historian Peniel Joseph. That moment also…
KQED's ForumAt Age 9, Poet Javier Zamora Migrated from El Salvador Alone. In 'Solito,' He Tells that Story
When he was 9, poet Javier Zamora traveled 3,000 miles by bus, boat and on foot, without family or friends, from El Salvador to the United States. The trip was…
KQED's ForumHow are You Dressing for a Warming Climate?
Dressing for extreme heat is not as simple as wearing as little as possible. That’s especially true when you have to go to work, court, or a wedding: and…
KQED's ForumFall Arts Preview: The Plentiful Offerings of the Bay Area Arts Scene
After pandemic closures and slowdowns the Bay Area is facing a fall packed with exciting events. From Lear at CalShakes to the Bernice Bing collection at the…
KQED's ForumIs the Constitution that Founded Our Democracy Undemocratic?
“The Constitution is too fundamentally antidemocratic a document to serve democratic purposes reliably,” argues legal scholar and cultural critic Jedediah…
KQED's ForumWhen Private Equity Firms Buy Nursing Homes, Patient Death Rates Climb
As private equity companies have increasingly bought up nursing homes across the country, many are experiencing an alarming trend: higher death rates for…
KQED's ForumNew CalEPA Secretary Yana Garcia on California’s Environmental Goals
California’s new Secretary for Environmental Protection, Yana Garcia, is no stranger to community-based and indigenous-led environmental justice. As CalEPA’s…
KQED's ForumNew Book, "Streets of Gold," Busts Myths About Immigration
For centuries, America has lured millions of immigrants here with dreams of rising from rags to riches in a short amount of time. But the authors of “Streets…
KQED's ForumYour Fall COVID-19 Booster Questions, Answered
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved last week the use of reformulated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and…
KQED's ForumPoor Literacy Outcomes for California Students Fuel Demand for Changes in How Reading Is Taught
According to research, before the pandemic, half of California’s third graders did not read at grade level, and the state’s fourth graders lagged behind the…
KQED's ForumForum From The Archives: David George Haskell on Preserving The Earth’s Sonic Diversity
From the roar of wind against mountains and the slam of waves on the shore to early morning birdsong, the sounds that fill our natural world are not only…
KQED's ForumForum From The Archives: The Vast, Various and Multicultural World of Bay Area BBQ
In some parts of the country, barbecue is a fighting word. It launches hot debates on vinegar versus tomato-based sauce and the right ways to rub, spice and…
KQED's ForumSweeping Climate, Reproductive Rights Bills Head to Gov. Newsom's Desk
California state lawmakers were up until the early morning hours Thursday, casting votes on the remaining bills of the legislative session. Measures to combat…
KQED's ForumHow Gen Z Is Reshaping What It Means To Be A Celebrity
Bay Area native Emma Chamberlain was a kid who used to complain about the DMV on Youtube a few years ago and now is one of Gen Z’s top fashion influencers who…
KQED's ForumMassive Heat Wave to Engulf California
It’s hot outside and getting hotter. Excessive heat warnings are in effect this week for Southern and Central California, with temperatures as high as 112…
KQED's ForumBay Area Musicians Taking on Grief Through Music
There have always been plenty of sad songs to help us wallow in the loss of romantic love, but during the pandemic, and through these last several difficult…
KQED's ForumBaby, You Can Drive My Electric Car
By 2035, California plans to phase out sales of new gas-powered cars. The new regulations announced last week by the California Air Resource Board formalize…
KQED's ForumHow QAnon Continues to Influence National and Local Politics
QAnon, the far right conspiracy movement, hasn’t dominated the headlines lately, but is still an active force in politics. Even locally, members of a QAnon…
KQED's ForumTinder at 10: What’s Your Relationship with the App?
Tinder — the world’s most downloaded dating app — turns 10 in September. Many see the app as having transformed online dating from a last resort for older…
KQED's ForumIs the Bionic-Hand Arms Race Leaving Behind the Disabled People it’s Meant to Help?
When writer Britt Young, who was born without most of her left forearm, got an expensive, high tech myoelectric prosthetic four years ago she was so excited…
KQED's Forum‘California Burning’ Documents Fall of PG&E
“It’s hard to say exactly when PG&E Corporation began to fall,” writes Wall Street Journal energy reporter Katherine Blunt. But the deep decline of the state’s…
KQED's ForumFans of San Francisco's Beloved Castro Theater Balk at Proposed Changes
Big changes are planned for San Francisco’s beloved Castro Theater, which celebrated its 100th birthday this year. Live music promoter Another Planet…
KQED's ForumDALL-E, Deepfakes and the New Frontier of Online Misinformation
The artificial intelligence-powered image generator DALL-E 2 can take any words you type in — like "purple kittens snorkeling in the style of Monet" — and…
KQED's ForumU.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón on Elevating and Promoting Poetry When America Needs Healing
Sonoma native Ada Limón sees her work as the nation’s new poet laureate as “elevating and promoting the expansiveness of poetry.” Limón's poems cover a huge…
KQED's ForumHow Covid Stole Years from Children
During the pandemic, experts seemed to have plans on how to open up bars, malls, and airports, but no real idea about how to open schools consistently across…
KQED's ForumNobel Prize Winning Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah on Cruelty, Love and Weakness
People often like to introduce novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah as a writer who tackles the traumas and aftereffects of colonialism, especially in East Africa. But…
KQED's ForumWhat Will it Take to Bring Brittney Griner -- and other Political Prisoners -- Home?
Brittney Griner, the WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, remains detained in Russia after a court there sentenced her earlier this month to nine…