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 Forum
Writer Barton Gellman Warns ‘Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun’
In his new article for The Atlantic, “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun,” staff writer Barton Gellman looks at efforts to subvert democracy and upcoming…
- KQED's Forum
Pandemic Strikes Hard at California's Nail Salon Workers and Owners
Eighty-eight percent of California’s nail salon owners do not have enough customers to meet business expenses and rehire workers, and most salon workers are…
- KQED's Forum
How California Regulators Failed to Protect Outdoor Workers From Wildfire Smoke
Farmworkers in California work outside even during wildfires that fill the air with toxic smoke. California law requires employers to provide mask and safety…
- KQED's Forum
Sickle Cell Disease in Focus as CRISPR Clinical Trial Launches
First uncovered almost a century ago, sickle cell disease is a painful and debilitating red blood cell disorder that can lead to other medical problems like…
- KQED's Forum
What Would the Sierra Nevada Look Like with No Snowpack?
Sierra Nevada snowpack, a vital water source for California, could vanish within the next 25 years, according to a new study from the Lawrence Berkeley…
- KQED's Forum
First Person: Ajwang Rading Makes Homeless Past An Asset in Run for Congress
Ajwang Rading’s name will appear on the ballot for the first time next fall when he runs to represent California’s 18th Congressional district, which includes…
- KQED's Forum
Ongoing Klamath Basin Water Conflict Fueled by Climate Change and Racism
Fish have a sacred role for the Klamath Tribes in the Klamath Basin, which spans part of Southern Oregon and Northern California. An 1864 treaty gives tribes…
- KQED's Forum
Parents of Accused Michigan School Shooter Charged for Contributing to Crimes
The parents of a teenager accused of fatally shooting four classmates and wounding seven other people at a Michigan high school last week were charged with…
- KQED's Forum
'What Roe Could Take Down With It' if Abortion Rights End
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in what looks to be the beginning of the end of Roe v…
- KQED's Forum
Electric Vehicle Future Brightens As Charging Infrastructure Set to Expand
With gas-burning vehicles the largest source of California's greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to clean energy sources in transportation is considered…
KQED's ForumComplex Emotions Find Names in 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows'
Have you ever felt "slipfast" (a longing to melt into a crowd and become invisible)? Or "scabulous" (proud of a certain scar on your body)? Those are some of…
KQED's ForumCalAcademy’s Lauren Esposito on Scorpions and the LGBTQ+ Scientists Changing Science
Scorpions might be terrifying to most people. But to scientist Lauren Esposito, they are the foundation of her career, which has taken her from a childhood in…
KQED's ForumHigh School Basketball Players Have Their Own Professional League Now
For decades, young athletes only had one major route to the playing professional leagues — playing for an NCAA Division I team. Today, however, talented…
- KQED's Forum
Coronavirus Omicron Variant Arrives in California Amid Concerns Over Global Vaccine Inequities
On Wednesday, officials in San Francisco confirmed California’s first case of the coronavirus omicron variant. The patient in the case had recently traveled to…
- KQED's Forum
High Prices, Low Stock, Dim Consumer Holiday Spirit
Retailers hope for a record holiday spending season this year, but for many Americans, prices rising at the fastest rate in 30 years may hamper holiday glee at…
- KQED's Forum
Roe v. Wade on the Line as Supreme Court Hears Mississippi Abortion Case
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday morning in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case, brought by Mississippi’s only licensed…
- KQED's Forum
What Dorsey’s Exit Means for Twitter’s Future
On Monday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced -- in a tweet -- that he was leaving the company he co-founded in 2006. His successor, Parag Agrawal, started as a…
- KQED's Forum
Stanford Professor Jo Boaler Explains California's Proposed Math Instruction Guidelines
Earlier this year, California proposed an overhaul of its K-12 math teaching guidelines to address racial and economic disparities in math achievement. The…
- KQED's Forum
New Season of 'Slow Burn' Examines the Roots and Legacy of the LA Riots, 3 Decades Later
Thirty years ago, white Los Angeles police officers savagely beat Rodney Glen King, a young Black man who had led them on a high-speed chase through the city…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Politics Roundup
We'll break down the latest news from Sacramento and other political headlines from around the state with guest host Marisa Lagos. Learn more about your ad…
KQED's ForumScientists Scramble to Understand ‘Very High’ Risk Omicron Variant
The World Health Organization today warned that the global risk from the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is “very high”. The variant, first discovered in South…
KQED's ForumAlbert Samaha Explores Colonialism and Assimilation through Family's Filipino Immigrant Experience
Albert Samaha is the son of immigrants from the Philippines, a country molded by centuries of Spanish and American colonization and imperialism. His new book…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: Is Your Pandemic Gray Hair Here to Stay?
The pandemic forced many of us to rethink cultural norms — one being the expectation that people, especially women and younger folks, should color or hide…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: Airports. Remember Them?
Airports are often the first, last, and sometimes only impression a traveler has of a city. Singapore's Changi airport dazzles; Newark Airport in New Jersey…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: California Health Workers Reflect on COVID Care, Eighteen Months Into the Pandemic
Last December, Forum spoke to four nurses and doctors on the frontlines of COVID care in California. At the time, cases were surging statewide, and no vaccines…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: Gary Shteyngart Tackles the Pandemic Novel In "Our Country Friends"
In his latest book “Our Country Friends,” novelist Gary Shteyngart tackles the pandemic novel. In the book, the protagonist, Sasha Senderovsky, a writer whose…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: Hollywood Writers' Rooms Still Don't Reflect the Diversity of America
In a new cover story for The Atlantic, writer Hannah Giorgis looks critically at Hollywood’s writers’ rooms and how most of them look nothing like America…
KQED's ForumForum From the Archives: Chef Bryant Terry Curates a Feast of Food and Self-Discovery in ‘Black Food’
Bay Area-based chef and food justice activist Bryant Terry is back with another cookbook — but this time it’s not just his recipes. He’s created “a communal…
KQED's ForumWhat Science Tells Us About the Mysteries of Long Covid
Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health announced funding of more than $1 billion for research into the prolonged health consequences of COVID-19…
KQED's ForumThe Science Behind the Thanksgiving Spread
Thanksgiving might be our most traditional meal, but what do we really know about all the processes that suck up raw ingredients and spit out turkeys, potato…
KQED's Forum'The Generation Myth' Calls for Ceasefire on the Generation Wars
You’ve heard it all before: Boomers have all the money, millennials are the unluckiest generation, gen z are changing the nature of work (and scaring their…
KQED's ForumFrom Cable Cars to Automated Vehicles: ‘Moving San Francisco’ Explores the City’s Public Transportation Evolution
The documentary "Moving San Francisco" guides viewers through a history of public transit in a region rife with innovation. From the iconic cable cars that…
- KQED's Forum
New Memoir from Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs Reflects on the People Who Shaped Him
Overcoming adversity has been the hallmark of Michael Tubb’s eventful life. When he was six, his father was sentenced to a near-life term in prison. At 22…
- KQED's Forum
Experience of Plus-Size Travelers Often Gets Ignored, Advocates Are Changing That
Traveling can be a slog across the board, especially around the holidays. But for plus-size travelers it can also be a dehumanizing experience — navigating…
- KQED's Forum
Deaf High School Football Team on Track for Title and Fans’ Hearts
The California School for the Deaf, Riverside’s football team is having a Hollywood-worthy season. They are the top team in their league and are on their way…
- KQED's Forum
Longest Partial Lunar Eclipse in Centuries on Full View Friday Morning
Cosmic rewards await very early risers on Friday: the full moon will glow reddish-brown in the longest partial lunar eclipse in almost six centuries. We’ll…
- KQED's Forum
Santa Clara Sheriff Under Fire for Mistreatment of Mentally Ill Inmates
Longtime Santa Clara Sheriff Laurie Smith is facing calls to step down from the County Board of Supervisors and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo for her handling of…
- KQED's Forum
‘Artists & Elders’ Project Inspires Art and Friendship Across Generations
Amid the isolation of shelter-in-place restrictions last year, three artists --Erika Chong Shuch, Rowena Richie and Ryan Tacata --responded by creating…
- KQED's Forum
Thousands Counted in Promising Start to Thanksgiving Monarch Butterfly Count
Western monarch butterflies all but disappeared from coastal California last fall but there are now promising signs of an uptick in numbers. The Pacific Grove…
- KQED's Forum
San Francisco Commemorates Transgender Awareness Week
The Transgender community holds a particular place in San Francisco history; the city by the Bay is the first to have a cultural district dedicated to that…
KQED's ForumFAA Institutes Zero Tolerance Policy and Steep Fines for Unruly Passenger Behavior
Punching flight attendants, hurling racial slurs at the crew, throwing luggage at staff. These are just a few of the over 5,000 complaints of unruly passenger…
KQED's ForumFlu Infections On the Rise After Hitting Historic Low Last Winter
Last winter, flu infections in the United States plummeted by more than 99 percent to about 2,000 from about 38 million the year before. The dramatic drop in…
KQED's ForumBay Area Bridge Toll Penalties are Pushing Low Income Residents Into Debt
The Bay Area’s harsh system of penalties for late payments on bridge tolls disproportionately hurts low income residents, people of color and non English…
- KQED's Forum
'Simple As Water' Brings Intimate Portrait of Syrian Refugee Experience to the Screen
Megan Mylan's new documentary "Simple As Water" begins dreamily, as four small children laugh, jump rope and chase balloons while their mother looks on. Then…
- KQED's Forum
Cleaning Up Lake Tahoe
Beer bottles, reading glasses, tires, and fishing line. What do these things have in common? All of them have been found by divers who are dedicated to…
- KQED's Forum
The Legacy of the Occupy Movement 10 Years Later
Ten years ago the Occupy Movement dominated local and national news as encampments of protesters nationwide brought conversations about income inequality and…
KQED's ForumJude Stewart Celebrates Our 'Latent Superpower:' Our Noses
You can't actually revisit your elementary school years. But, writes Jude Stewart, your nose can transport you there with a mere whiff of dry chalk, wet wool…
KQED's ForumA History of Comics and How They Reflect American Culture
From Thomas Nast’s cartoons exposing corruption in late 19th century New York City politics, to the Peanuts comic strip in the 1950’s, to graphic memoirs like…
KQED's ForumHow to Spot, and Avoid, Consumer Product Greenwashing
When everything from fast fashion brands to uber rides make green claims, it’s easy to feel that eco-friendly consumer products are plentiful. But in many…
KQED's ForumYouth Climate Activists Share Their Views on COP26
It’s the youngest generation that will feel the most severe effects of climate change, and youth activists are raising alarms both at home and at the COP26…
KQED's ForumForum Book Club: Octavia E. Butler's "Parable of the Sower"
“I write about people who do extraordinary things,” observed the pioneering science fiction writer Octavia Butler, “it just turned out that it was called…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Politics Roundtable
Congress passed a massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan last week. We'll learn more about what that means for California, which is expected to receive…
KQED's ForumProfiles of Oakland’s Unhoused Spotlights Local Residents Who Aged into Homelessness
The most recent count of Oakland’s homeless population in 2019 found 4071 unhoused people, an alarming 47% increase from two years prior. In recent reporting…
- KQED's Forum
Sam Quinones Investigates Dangerous Rise of Synthetic Drugs in 'The Least of Us'
As Sam Quinones was researching America's opiate epidemic for his award-winning 2015 book "Dreamland," he watched a troubling phenomenon emerge. As pain-pill…
- KQED's Forum
Chef Bryant Terry Curates a Feast of Food and Self-Discovery in ‘Black Food’
Bay Area-based chef and food justice activist Bryant Terry is back with another cookbook -- but this time it’s not just his recipes. He’s created “a communal…
- KQED's Forum
Sarah Zhang on Why We Need to Prepare for Endemic Covid Now
In her recent story for The Atlantic, health reporter Sarah Zhang writes that we all know how the COVID-19 pandemic ends: the virus becomes endemic, and we'll…
- KQED's Forum
First Person: East Palo Alto council member Antonio Lopez on Poetry and Politics
Antonio Lopez is many things. He’s an East Palo Alto native and, at 27, he’s its youngest serving city council member. He’s a doctoral student in Modern…
- KQED's Forum
Police Officers Hurt a Disproportionate Number of Black Girls and Teens
Across the country, an alarming and disproportionate number of black girls and teenagers were involved in police use of force cases, according to a recent…
KQED's ForumRemembering Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan
Wilma Chan, an Alameda County Supervisor and former member of the California State Assembly, died on Wednesday after being struck by a car as she walked her…
KQED's ForumPublic Lands Become Place of Refuge As Affordable Housing Becomes More Scarce
Public lands have become a refuge for many people who can’t afford housing in the west and who are rejecting certain societal norms that no longer serve them…