KQED's Forum

In blunt testimony to the January 6th committee, former Attorney General William Barr testified he thought Donald Trump was “detached from reality” as the former President continued to tout the lie of a stolen election, a lie that had been repeatedly been debunked by Trump’s own advisors and campaign. Interweaving recorded interviews with live witnesses, on day two of the hearings, the committee focused on Trump’s knowledge that there was no credible basis for claims the 2020 election had been stolen and heard that there were two camps among Trump’s advisors: Team Normal and Team Rudy, which urged Trump to claim victory and pushed lies about voting fraud. We’ll talk to Select Committee member Representative Zoe Lofgren and a panel of experts about other revelations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What would it mean to build artificial intelligence and other machines that were more like octopuses, more like fungi, or more like forests?” asks James Bridle in their new book, “Ways of Being.” From computers made of crabs, to theories of plant memory, to the legal push for an elephant’s personhood, “Ways of Being” looks beyond human intelligence to examine how our technology could better encompass the Earth’s complexity. Exploring different forms of intelligence — and all we don’t know about our world — Bridle argues that we can develop partnerships with non-threatening AI, rethink our computers, reform our politics and even save our shared planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The appearance of the anus was momentous in animal evolution, turning a one-hole digestive sac into an open-ended tunnel,” writes Katherine J. Wu in her Atlantic piece, “The Body’s Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel,” set to appear in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing. Yet societal taboos can keep us from talking about this evolutionary marvel, and that “creates a bit of a blind spot—one that keeps us from understanding a fundamental aspect of our own biology.” Wu joins us to celebrate the anus and its biology, and to hear how you talk about – or avoid talking about – the anus and other underappreciated body parts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new series from KQED Arts & Culture takes stock of how Bay Area artists have weathered the pandemic and what they are doing now to lift up themselves and their communities. "Our Creative Futures" profiles artists and programs that support them, highlighting voguers in Oakland tackling LGBTQ+ health issues, a guaranteed income pilot program for artists and a new collective in San Francisco that uplifts Filipino voices. We’ll talk about the challenges for local artists and the ways that many have found to thrive during the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Residents of California's South Coast -- the hydrologic region that includes Los Angeles -- used about 25% more water in April than a year ago, according to state data released this week. Statewide, urban dwellers used about 17% more. That's sounding alarms about Californians’ ability and willingness to conserve water in the third year of what's shaping up to be the worst drought in state history. We’ll hear how Las Vegas's water agency has pushed its residents and businesses to conserve and talk about the practices that might work in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Office buildings in downtown San Francisco sit empty or nearly empty as thousands of workers continue working from home. Back in 2019, San Francisco had one of the tightest office real estate markets in the country with about 5% vacancy and record-setting rental rates. Now, vacancy has plummeted to 24% and rental rates have fallen by 13% since the end of 2019, according to commercial brokerage firm CBRE. But, it’s not just cubicles that are deserted – so are the sidewalks and many of the cafes, stores and small businesses that catered to the office crowd. The trend is prompting some developers, landlords and policymakers to consider turning some office towers into much needed housing, but similar efforts have proven difficult in the past. We’ll talk about how to reimagine and pump new life into San Francisco’s downtown business districts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Californians went to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the state’s primary, predicted low voter turnout seemed to be the top headline statewide. While every registered voter was mailed a ballot, only 16% of them had been returned by Tuesday. This lackluster turnout stands in contrast to the energy behind some of the hotly contested races, like the mayor’s campaign in Los Angeles and the effort to recall San Francisco’s progressive district attorney. And while a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute placed the economy, inflation and housing at the top of Californian’s concerns, political observers note that this primary seems to be a referendum on pandemic crime rates. We’ll analyze the results, and talk about what message voters are sending about state politics and what these results portend for the November midterms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voters cast ballots in consequential races across the Bay Area on Tuesday. San Franciscans decided whether to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a campaign followed in national media as a referendum on progressive criminal justice reform. San Jose’s mayoral primary brought in historic amounts of campaign spending. We’ll look at the impact of California’s new redistricting maps on congressional elections, discuss the possible reasons for low voter turnout and analyze election results from around the Bay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California – and specifically Lincoln Park in San Francisco – is at least in theory the ultimate destination for the band of travelers and seekers that populate Amor Towles’s latest novel, “The Lincoln Highway.” But their journey becomes defined by detours, reversals and recalibrations – in much the same way that Towles describes how he composes his novels. “While I’m writing chapters,” he says, “I’m also adapting to surprises that surface from the work.” We’ll talk to Towles about the themes that unite his novels and his own odyssey as a writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tens of millions of Mexicans immigrated to the U.S. to give their children better lives, but now some of those children are choosing to pack up and make their own lives in Mexico. The pandemic has fueled a major uptick in Americans looking to move abroad including a growing number of people moving to countries where their families originated from, especially Mexico. Many of those expatriates desire not just to live abroad, but also to reconnect with their ancestral homeland and heritage. But it’s a move that’s often fraught with challenges and complex questions about identity. We talk with Americans of Mexican descent now living in Mexico and why they decided to migrate in reverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California voters head to the polls Tuesday to narrow the candidate fields in multiple state and local elections, from mayors’ races in San Jose and Los Angeles to statewide contests for governor, attorney general and state controller. In what some political observers consider to be referendums on pandemic crime rates, voters will also weigh in on candidates for Los Angeles sheriff and decide whether to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. We’ll hear about the potential repercussions for November, the biggest races, and your thoughts and questions ahead of election day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Golden State Warriors are back in the NBA finals this year, facing serious competition from a tough Boston Celtics squad. We’ll talk about their season, the return of key players to the court, the future of the franchise and how they’re looking in the finals with reporters who’ve been following the Warriors all season long. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oklahoma last week became the first state to ban almost all abortions from the moment of conception, and at least 20 more are poised to outlaw or severely restrict the procedure if, as widely expected, the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade this month. How did we get to this point? That’s the question legal historian Mary Ziegler seeks to untangle in her new book “Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment.” We’ll talk to Ziegler about the ebb and flow of U.S. popular sentiment about abortion and the ways extremist abortion foes joined forces with -- and ultimately co-opted -- the GOP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fantastic Negrito is one of the most original and successful performers to emerge from the Bay Area over the last decade. A musician, a storyteller and a carrier of our region’s Black musical traditions, he began performing on the streets of Oakland. Now he’s won 3 Grammys and he’s got a new album coming out today. Alexis, Mina Kim and some lucky KQED Live fans, got to hear a preview of that album a few months back, and we’re excited to finally be able to share Fantastic Negrito’s electric performance with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As teachers process the horror of the Uvalde shootings, they’re also managing concerns about safety in their own workplaces and supporting and protecting students worried about gun violence. And that’s all on top of two years working under the stresses of the pandemic. We’ll talk to teachers across California about how they’re coping in the wake of Uvalde — inside the classroom and out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summer is the perfect time to hop in the car for a day trip, and while there’s nothing wrong with stopping at In-N-Out on 580, with a little planning, you can find something unexpected and delightful as you hit the road. As part of our regular segment on Bay Area food cultures, KQED food editor Luke Tsai joins us with his suggestions for how to plan your excursion to include delicious stops along the way. What’s your favorite roadside stop or dining destination? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An infectious disease arrives in San Francisco and is immediately associated with residents of Chinatown. Scientists and public health officials try to stop the spread. White residents believe they are immune. Politicians and the business class say the disease is not real because they worry about hurting commerce. Vulnerable people die in droves. A new PBS documentary, “Plague at the Golden Gate,” takes viewers back to 1900 when the bubonic plague hit San Francisco in a manner eerily similar to the way the COVID-19 pandemic has played out the past three years. The film examines how racism, discrimination, and misinformation contributed to the spread of the disease. We’ll talk about the film and how history is repeating itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the possibility of rolling blackouts looming for the summer, Governor Gavin Newsom said last week that he would consider delaying the 2025 shutdown of Diablo Canyon, California's last remaining nuclear power plant. As the world seeks to wean itself off of fossil fuels, some climate change activists have argued for a pivot to nuclear energy. But while nuclear energy technology has improved, concerns persist about nuclear power, the waste it generates and the possibility of disasters like Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. We’ll talk about the future of nuclear energy and whether it can be a viable way to combat climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book, "Work Pray Code," UC Berkeley professor Carolyn Chen offers up a provocative spin on what has happened among Silicon Valley professionals. Their work has become their religion. She means this literally, and she’s a religion professor, so she should know. Based on in-depth interviews with more than 100 Silicon Valley workers, she found that their work isn’t soul-crushing but rather as she writes, “Work has become a spiritual practice that inspires religious fervor. People are not ‘selling their souls’ at work. Rather, work is where they find their souls.” We’ll talk with Chen about her new book and ask our listeners: Is work where you look for belonging, identity, and transcendence? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if some of the same public health strategies used to manage a pandemic could be marshaled to stem gun violence? As legislative solutions falter and firearm sales continue to increase, gun violence prevention advocates are looking to public health approaches that include systematic data collection, individual and community-level risk assessments and evidence-based prevention measures. We’ll look at what it means to treat gun violence as a public health emergency -- and the community organizations doing that work in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent piece in the New York Times, called the Oakland A’s “the loneliest team in baseball.” Though the Coliseum where they play can hold 57,000 fans, on average only 6,000 show up for home games. What happened to the glorious days of the A’s when manager Billy Beane was acclaimed for his savvy in managing the roster and payroll to get the most out of bench players? Has the management of the A’s turned off fans with their threats to move to Las Vegas if they don’t get a new stadium? And can Bay Area fans sustain two major league baseball teams? We’ll look at the state of the Oakland A’s, their future, and the hard economics of major league baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Modern life conspires against friendship,” says Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior, "even as it requires the bonds of friendship all the more." That’s one of the paradoxes at the center of Senior’s new piece “It’s Your Friends Who Break Your Heart” — a meditation on why friendships fade and collapse and why in midlife those losses sting particularly hard. We’ll talk to Senior about how at 52 she’s navigating what she calls a “Great Pandemic Friendship Reckoning” and what it means to overcome the heartbreak of a lost friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than one million Americans have died from COVID-19. Close to 8,000 Americans have died from gun violence in 2022. Another nine thousand died of suicide. The difficult news of our time goes far beyond death. The planet is in crisis, tornados, floods and fires are ravishing whole towns, economic instability, racial injustice, and the rolling back of rights we’ve counted on for 50 years. It’s a lot. On this Memorial Day, we take time to make space for our individual and collective grief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“War remains a large part of who we are as Americans,” writes Phil Klay, who notes that almost a sixth of our federal budget goes to defense, supporting a military that now wages counterterrorism campaigns in 85 countries. But those overseas wars are invisible to most Americans because they’re fought by so few and because of political and strategic choices that shield them from public view. We’ll talk to Klay, an award-winning fiction writer and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, about the chasm between the military and civilian experience and what our wars say about us as Americans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s deadly shooting rampage at a Texas elementary school didn’t stop the National Rifle Association from holding its annual meeting this weekend in Houston. The latest massacre ignited another round of demands for tighter gun regulations and more criticism of the NRA and politicians who take donations from the group. But some experts say the NRA is mired in dysfunction and is no longer the force it once was. At the same time, activists and pro-gun-control lobbies are gaining more traction in the political arena. We’ll talk about the NRA’s role in gun violence and efforts to counter their influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The nation is mourning the 19 children and two teachers gunned down on Tuesday at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, the deadliest school massacre since a gunman murdered 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT nearly a decade ago. And the horror of the shooting -- and the unspeakable grief experienced by family members, classmates and all those who loved the victims -- is agonizingly commonplace. More than 311,000 students in K-12 schools in the United States have experienced gun violence on their campuses since 1999, and tens of millions of Americans have been touched by gun violence in their communities, according to data collected by the Washington Post. We’ll talk about the profound toll borne by survivors of mass shootings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Novelist and journalist Vanessa Hua’s new book “Forbidden City” is a historical fiction set in 1960s China. It’s the story of a 16-year-old girl who was plucked from a rural village to join a troupe of dancers formed to satisfy an aging Chairman Mao’s – historically accurate – love of ballroom dance and teenage girls. Hua writes in the author’s notes, “I believe that fiction flourishes where the official record ends”; the novel leaves the impression that even if the woman at the center of the book were real, she would have been erased from history. We’ll talk about the dynamics of gender, power and manipulation that resonate across time and geography. “The past,” Hua writes, “is never as distant as it seems.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 26, 2021, a Valley Transportation Authority employee in San Jose shot and killed nine coworkers in what became the Bay Area's most deadly mass shooting. As the nation mourns the deaths of 19 students and two teachers killed in a Texas elementary school this week, we remember the victims and the tragedy in San Jose on the first anniversary of the shooting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden is weighing proposals to cancel some student loan debt, which in the aggregate totals more than $1.7 trillion – a record high figure that outpaces the nation’s collective credit card debt. We’ll talk about who’s most likely to shoulder student loans and hear from those who’ve been grappling with them. And we’ll hear from you: How have student loans affected your life? Would you be doing something different if you didn't have education debt? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For better or worse, Twitter is a crucial part of our public sphere now. That’s one reason that Elon Musk may end up buying the social media platform. The move is prompting experts and scholars to reconsider the future of digital communities. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit have been criticized for overt censorship and for algorithms and guidelines that encourage the spread of misinformation. People in both camps have been asking: who should own and run these platforms and what should an online public sphere look like? We’ll talk about the future of digital communities in the social media landscape and we’ll want to hear from you. What do you want in an online commons? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mooallem became a magazine writer after realizing that “instead of thumping my head against the biggest questions of my own life” he could train his insights and inquiry on the world. “I’d been puzzling over myself, torturously trying to unlock the truth of who I was. The truth is, I am the puzzling,” he writes in the prologue to his collection of essays, “Serious Face.” In his wide ranging collection, Mooallem brings his "puzzling" to, among other things, our relationship to nature and disaster, our concepts of evolution, a pigeon pyramid scheme and his own face. Jon Mooallem joins Forum to talk about his new book and the question that he says binds the essays together: Why are we not better than we are? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When they came to power in August, the Taliban assured the international community that the status of Afghan women would be secure. The opposite has been true: women are being erased from public life. They are restricted from working outside the home. If they travel more than 45 miles from their house, they must be accompanied by a male relative. Girls no longer have access to secondary education. More recently, the Taliban has decreed that women should be covered from head to toe when in public. We’ll look at the latest in Afghanistan, the status of its women and girls, and answer your questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked, some abortion advocates recommended that people delete apps that track menstrual cycles for fear that this information could be used against them in a post-Roe America. Given the draft opinion’s conclusions questioning the right to privacy, digital privacy experts warned that private search queries and health data could be weaponized — against everyone. With all the personal information our phones contain, we’ll talk about the implications of a post-Roe America for personal data, community surveillance and the constitutional right to privacy itself. And we want to hear from you: What are your questions about data and privacy post-Roe? What actions are you taking to protect your personal data? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Learn to live with the cringe,” advised Taylor Swift at NYU’s recent commencement ceremony for the Class of 2022. Across the nation, graduates are being peppered with all kinds of advice from commencement speakers who range from politicians, scientists, CEOs, celebrities, and their own classmates. So what makes a good graduation speech? Is it pearls of wisdom like “Oh the places you’ll go” or “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” or the practical advice: “Wear sunscreen”? Or is it the humor or gravitas of the speaker? Next on Forum, we’ll talk about graduation speeches and hear from you: What is a piece of advice you’ve heard in a commencement speech that has stayed with you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been known as the “happiest place on earth,” and if you’re a Californian, chances are you have been to Disneyland at least once. Indeed, when he opened the park in 1955, Walt Disney declared that “Disneyland is your land.” In 2019, over 18 million people visited Disneyland, and since its opening, the company estimates that 750 million visitors have come to the park, taking a spin on the Mad Hatter’s tea cups, zooming through Space Mountain, or sampling its refreshments and snacks, which include roasted turkey legs, churros and a simple box of popcorn. Nearly 70 years after it was founded, Disneyland has managed to stay both relevant and a bucket list destination. But how has a private park owned by a corporate behemoth managed to lodge itself into the California imagination? We’ll talk to two Disneyland experts to learn more, and we’ll hear from you about what feelings or memories Disneyland evokes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summer travel is on the rebound after a steep decline in 2020. But, as more people indulge the urge to travel this year, prices for gas, hotels and plane tickets have soared. That, along with ongoing concerns about the pandemic are forcing some travelers to rethink how and where they travel. Many people are hunting for new experiences like discovering a lesser-known state park or small town on the coast. We’ll talk about how summer travel has changed and what’s on your itinerary this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s seven-day COVID positive test rate is at five percent, the California Department of Public Health reported on Tuesday — the highest rate since February. The news comes as COVID cases have more than tripled in the U.S. since April 1, owing in large part to the highly transmissible BA.2 omicron subvariant. With many pandemic mandates lifted but masking still “strongly recommended” in much of the state, we’ll hear how you’re thinking about COVID risk and discuss the latest on prevention and treatment with UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a career spanning over two decades, five albums, numerous musical features in film and television and now a lifestyle brand, R&B singer-songwriter Goapele continues to make a mark in music with her soulful sound and introspective lyrics. Her iconic song “Closer,” which was first released independently in 2001, remains influential in R&B music today, inspiring artists like fellow Bay Area musician H.E.R. Raised in a social justice-driven household in Oakland, Goapele has been a voice for prison reform, HIV/AIDS awareness and other causes throughout her career. This week Goapele, who now resides in Los Angeles, returns to Oakland for a four-night stint at Yoshi’s from May 19 to 22. We’ll talk to Goapele about her upcoming shows, her childhood in the Bay, her music and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who was George Floyd, and what was it like to live in his America? Those are the questions that Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Tolu Olorunippa set out to answer in their new biography “His Name is George Floyd." Based on public and private records and hundreds of interviews with those close to him, the book examines Floyd's life in its complexity and the institutions stacked against him, from his birth to his murder by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin two years ago this month. We talk to Samuels and Olorunippa about Floyd's journey and how his story encapsulates "the compounding and relentless traumas" of the Black experience in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent DNA analysis has found that the federally unrecognized Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has been in the Bay Area for at least 2,000 years. The evidence bolsters the tribe’s decades-long case to reinstate their federal recognition which they lost, along with dozens of other California Indian tribes, in the 1920s. Tribal leaders say recognition is a necessary first step for the Muwekma Ohlone to establish a reservation. But tribal law experts say the process for gaining federal recognition is complicated and political. We’ll talk about why some tribes are– or are not – recognized, what federal recognition means for them, and the current efforts from tribes such as the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe to gain recognition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next month, Berkeley’s Cafe Ohlone will reopen in a new space in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. The restaurant, which serves traditional dishes of the Bay Area’s original inhabitants, closed during the pandemic. Cafe Ohlone’s owners say they hope to repair the fraught relationship the Ohlone people have with the Hearst Museum, which contains a large collection of Ohlone artifacts. We’ll talk about the next iteration of Cafe Ohlone and their goal of affirming Ohlone culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dating, for everyone, is full of tricky social conventions. How long should you wait to call someone after getting their number? Who should cover the dinner bill? And navigating some of these situations can be extra difficult for autistic people. Netflix’s new season of “Love on the Spectrum,” an American version of the Australian docuseries, produced by Northern Pictures, premieres on Wednesday and explores the unique hurdles – and joys – that autistic people face when entering the dating pool. We’ll talk about love, heartbreak, and how autism plays into the beautiful messiness of it all with some of the people who made the show possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jane Stanford and her robber baron husband Leland founded what would become Stanford University in 1885. 20 years later Jane Stanford was murdered, poisoned by strychnine. Historian Richard White dives into the corruption and coverups shrouding the unsolved murder in his new book, “Who Killed Jane Stanford?” His book is both a true crime mystery and a history of the corruption, inequality, yellow journalism, pseudo-science and racism of California’s Gilded Age. Forum talks with White about reviving a cold case more than a century old and the present day resonance of examining “the rich people who created monuments to themselves, and whose lives are reminders that the problem with philanthropy is very often philanthropists.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barely a day after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood, another gunman at a church service for a Taiwanese congregation in Laguna Woods, California, killed one person and injured several others. “This should not be our new normal,” said Orange County representative Katie Porter. And yet, these incidents and their impacts feel all too familiar: Communities of color feeling unspeakable grief and terror. We’ll discuss the hate-filled ideology and so-called “replacement theory” being mentioned in the wake of the Buffalo massacre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For about a quarter century, KQED Forum listeners have been getting dressed, brushing their teeth and driving to work to the sounds of “Peter Pan” by musician Mike Marshall. On Monday, they will have a new soundtrack. Each hour of the show is getting its own new theme song, composed by NPR’s Ramtin Arablouei. To mark the occasion, we’ll talk about what makes a great theme song, including the best TV themes through the decades. And we’ll open the phone lines to ask our listeners: What TV theme song do you never skip? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jigsaws, crosswords, Sudokus, cryptics and even scavenger hunts: A.J. Jacobs is convinced that puzzles of all kinds have made him a better person. In his new book, “The Puzzler,” Jacobs takes readers along as he enters all manner of puzzle competitions, talks to puzzle makers and solvers and looks at the history of some of the most popular puzzles around. His book also has embedded within it a specially crafted puzzle with a $10,000 prize for the first person to solve it. We’ll talk to Jacobs about why he thinks puzzles shift our worldviews, build community and make us better thinkers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bay Area singer-songwriter Sean Hayes has been singing the blues for the last 30 years, but his music seems especially necessary these days. “Pain, suffering, worry meet pain again,” he sings on his newly released album “Be Like Water.” Hayes describes himself as a songwriter who “makes music to dance to or cry to, or maybe both at the same time.” He joins us in the studio to play live from his new album. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Any kind of comfort or satisfaction is poisonous to any kind of growth,” choreographer Alonzo King told Forum ten years ago on the 30th anniversary of his company LINES Ballet. “You want to expand your heart and expand your mind. And that wants to continue going until you leave the planet,” he said. Now, with his 40th anniversary ballet “Deep River” opening at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Friday, King joins Forum to talk about his expansive career and the process of making art in uncomfortable times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to a recent survey by Pew Research, the majority of Americans favor abortion rights. But in the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel A. Alito writes “We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public’s reaction to our work.” Public reaction, however, has been swift. Demonstrators decrying the opinion have gathered outside the Supreme Court, the homes of Supreme Court justices and in demonstrations across the country. In response to the draft opinion, some states have indicated they intend to introduce laws to ban and even criminalize abortion, while other states have begun drafting legislation to create safe havens for reproductive rights. Given the divide between the majority of the Court who voted in favor of this draft and the public’s support of abortion rights, has the Supreme Court lost its legitimacy as a branch of government that is blind to politics? We’ll talk to Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick about the future of the Court and what is at stake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Thursday, we spoke with San Francisco Chronicle reporters about their yearlong investigation into the city-funded single-room-occupancy buildings that are supposed to provide supportive housing for the homeless. In this show, we’ll get an inside look from staff that run SROs and the nonprofit operators that oversee them. Some operators say the city hasn’t given them adequate resources and funding to serve their tenants, who often struggle with drug and behavioral issues. Meanwhile, staff say they are underpaid and under-supported in jobs that often involve dealing with violence and verbal abuse from residents. Still, there is evidence that SROs are a proven model to move people off the streets and create community among residents and staff. We’ll talk about what it's like to run an SRO and what supportive housing projects need to succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices