KQED's Forum

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang together with dozens of other Democratic and Republican politicians announced on Wednesday that they're launching Forward, a new political party designed to appeal to centrists. But historically, third political parties have gained little traction in the United States. We'll talk about why and what could be different this time. And we'll hear from you: Would you support a third political party? What would it stand for? Guests: Eric Schickler, co-director, Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley Mindy Romero, founder and director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, formerly the California Civic Engagement Project - a non-partisan research center at the University of Southern California Tina Nguyen, national correspondent and founding partner, Puck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the concept of spectators packing an arena to watch competitive video gaming at a college level may be perplexing to more traditional sports fans, the popularity of collegiate esports is growing in the Bay Area. in the Bay Area. In 2018 the streaming platform Twitch, which hosts esports competitions, moved their headquarters to San Francisco. In 2021, San Jose State University’s Bay Area Vandals competed in the biggest international Valorant tournament and the Chase Center is hosting the League of Legends Championship Finals in November. Clubs and teams are now commonplace at colleges across the country. We’ll dive into the world of college esports and discuss what’s drawing students and Universities to esports programs. Guests: Luke Winkie, freelance writer Johanna Brewer, assistant professor of computer science at Smith College and director of research, AnyKey Kirk Robles, associate director of business development for student affairs at U.C. Berkeley Ryan Winter, president of Gaming Gators at San Francisco State University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, they’re cardboard cutouts that decorated his parents’ wedding, “each the size of a 45-r.p.m. single: an orange Snoopy and two Woodstocks, one white and one light blue.” For artist Ari Bird, it’s a tree pompom that her grandfather painted gold and gave to her as a child. Whether it's a portrait, a wedding dress, an album or a Snoopy cutout, the objects we inherit speak to who our families are, who we were, and what we value. We want to hear from you: what’s a family heirloom passed down to you — or that you hope to pass down to future generations? What makes it valuable? Guests: Hua Hsu, staff writer, New Yorker magazine; professor of Literature, Bard College; author, forthcoming memoir "Stay True" Ari Bird, visual artist based in Oakland and San Diego Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After seeing yet another ‘30 under 30’ and ‘40 under 40’ list celebrating the achievements of young people, San Francisco geriatric doctor Anna Chodos decided it was time people started hearing about the remarkable achievement of living into old age. She started the 80 over 80 project to share the stories and experiences of San Franciscans over the age of 80. Forum talks with Chodos and participants about their rich and rewarding lives, their experiences during the pandemic, and aging in a society that fears getting old. Guests: Margaret Graf, founder, Senior Power - for seniors in the Sunset Judy Goddess, founder and reporter, sfseniorbeat.com Annie White, facilitator, Network for Elders - an organization in the Bayview supporting older adults Anna Chodos, geriatrician and medical director of outpatient geriatrics services, San Francisco Health Network; associate professor, UCSF in Geriatrics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study published in the journal Nature this week documented yet more symptoms – including hair loss and sexual dysfunction – associated with long covid, a syndrome the CDC reports afflicts roughly a fifth of people who contract Covid-19. The Nature study also found that long covid sufferers are more likely to be young, members of ethnic minority groups, and economically disadvantaged. We’ll talk about the latest long covid science and hear from long haulers about how they have adjusted to life with a chronic illness. Guests: Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine and executive vice president, Scripps Research Institute Angela Meriquez Vázquez, long COVID patient and President of Body Politic Paige Morrisey, 25-year-old COVID long-hauler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sizzler, a popular dish in Mumbai, is an over-the-top melange of pasta, paneer, grilled onions and peppers, samosas, cabbage and shredded Mexican cheese – all piled on a sizzling hot platter. It was inspired, so the story goes, by a visit to a Sizzler chain restaurant in California in the 1960s, and it has returned to California in some South Bay restaurants. But as any child of immigrants knows, cultural food mashups don’t have to be flashy. For KQED reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi, whose article tracked down the history of the Sizzler, it was grilled paneer tacos. For San Francisco Chronicle food critic Soliel Ho, it was Ho’s grandmother’s jasmine rice with maggi seasoning, topped with turkey cold cuts. Ho calls it “assimilation food”: “food that’s made to close the gap between homes: a critical need when one lives in exile.” As part of our ongoing segment on Bay Area food cultures, we’ll talk about all kinds of food mashups, from that Indian Sizzler to hot cheetos in a burrito to putting a splash of fish sauce in the mac and cheese. Guests: Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Soleil Ho, restaurant critic, San Francisco Chronicle Adhiti Bandlamudi, Silicon Valley Reporter, KQED Alan Chazaro, food reporter, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Pregnant people,” a phrase to include those who can bear children, but don’t identify as women, has been used more often in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade. Some feminists have pushed back against the term and other gender-inclusive language like “birthing people” and “people who menstruate,” saying that these terms obfuscate gender-specific violence against women and reduce people to their body parts. Others have pushed back to that pushback, saying that the explicit inclusion of trans and nonbinary people only strengthens the fight for gender equity. We’ll talk about why the term evokes such strong emotions, and hear your thoughts, with powerhouse feminist thinkers Judith Butler and Roxane Gay. Guests: Susan Davis, senior editor, Forum Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley Roxane Gay, author, "Difficult Women," "Hunger," and "Bad Feminist;" editor, the new anthology "The Selected Works of Audre Lorde" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of renters could face evictions now that rental relief programs and bans on evictions have expired, or will soon. Those government programs targeted people who lost income during the pandemic, but many Californians have yet to recover financially and owe thousands in back rent. Even under existing programs, more than 135,000 households in California, nearly a third of the total, had their rent relief applications rejected, according to CalMatters. All of that along with rents creeping back up to pre-pandemic levels, could make way for a wave of new evictions. We’ll talk about vulnerable tenants and what local, state and federal agencies could do to help. Guests: Erin Baldassari, housing affordability reporter, KQED; co-host, "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America" podcast Manuela Tobias, housing reporter, CalMatters Bonnie Bertram, producer and writer, Retro Report; partnered with Frontline, documentary "Facing Eviction" debuts on July 26. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By his own account, journalist and author Alec Wilkinson was a terrible math student -- and passed his high school math classes only by cheating. But at age 65, he decided he’d try again to learn the subject that had left him feeling abused and aggrieved. His joyful and humbling quest is the subject of his new memoir "A Divine Language.” We'll talk to him about what he learned and we'll hear from you: have you tried to master a subject later in life? Guests: Alec Wilkinson, author, "A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age" - He's also a contributing writer for the New Yorker; his previous books include "The Ice Balloon," "The Protest Singer" and "The Happiest Man in the World." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to a series of recalls, resignations and re-shuffles, San Francisco has a new district attorney, new school board members, and a new city attorney, all of whom were appointed by Mayor London Breed. Now that the mayor has a team in place that is mostly of her choosing, what will she do to confront the city’s considerable challenges? Is the city in for a major course change? We’ll talk about San Francisco’s post-recall politics with a roundtable of reporters. Guests: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Reporter/Producer, KQED News. Scott Shafer, senior editor for KQED’s California Politics and Government desk and co-host of Political Breakdown. Annie Gaus, editor, SF Standard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Jan. 6 House Committee is wrapping up its summer hearings this week with testimony from two former Trump staffers who both resigned the day of the insurrection: Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary. The focus of recent hearings has been to detail former President Donald Trump’s role in inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol and his repeated attempts to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. We’ll talk about the latest revelations from the committee hearing, what could happen next and the political implications of the hearings so far. Guests: Shanlon Wu, criminal defense attorney and CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor who also served as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno. Grace Panetta, Senior Politics reporter, Business Insider. Clara Jeffery, editor in chief, Mother Jones - San Francisco-based national magazine specializing in investigative, political, and social justice reporting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kids aged 14 to 17 should get a minimum of eight hours of sleep a night, according to the National Sleep Foundation. But more than three-quarters of U.S. high school students report sleeping less than that on school nights, CDC surveys show. To help teens sleep better, California became the first state in the nation to set new start times for public schools: as of July 1, high schools cannot start earlier than 8:30, and middle schools no earlier than 8:00. We'll hear what you think of the new schedules and take your teen and adolescent sleep questions. Guests: Dr. Rafael Pelayo, clinical professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center; author, “How to Sleep: The New Science-Based Solutions for Sleeping Through the Night” Lisa L. Lewis, author, "The Sleep-Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In life, friends come in many buckets: school friends, teammates, neighbors. And then there is the work friend: the co-worker who understands how you spend eight hours of your day, the person who you seek out for coffee breaks to commiserate and who shares the workplace lingo. Work friends often remain just friends at work, but sometimes you start hanging out away from work and introduce them to your other friends and family. The importance of the work friend cannot be underestimated: a recent survey found that 70% of workers cited having friends at work as a critical component of a satisfying work place, and workers who report having a work friend are more likely to stay with their company. We’ll talk about friendships at work, the thrill of making your first work friend, and how to form work friendships in this pandemic-inflected world. Guests: Julie Beck, senior editor, The Atlantic - Beck has written extensively about friendships as part of The Atlantic's "Friendship Files." Her most recent piece is titled "The Six Forces That Fuel Friendship" Emma Goldberg, reporter, New York Times - Goldberg covers the future of work for the New York Times. She wrote the article "The Magic of Your First Work Friends" Dr. Marisa Franco, psychologist and friendship expert; author, her forthcoming book is titled "Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help you Make -- and Keep -- Friends" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you overheard someone shout, “nice dink in the kitchen!” you probably just walked by a pickleball court. Pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the United States, is taking over park and rec centers all over California as players clamor for more court time. Invented in 1965 by a Washington state congressman and his friend to entertain their bored kids, pickleball’s popularity took off during the pandemic, with an almost 40% increase in players. Across the country over four million people are playing pickleball, and its enthusiasts have formed a variety of professional organizations, leagues and tournaments with an eye to getting certified as an Olympic sport. We’ll look at how and why pickleball has become an American obsession. Have you picked up a paddle? Guests: John Walters, sportswriter, Sports Illustrated; adjunct professor of Sports Media, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Walters wrote the Sports Illustrated cover story about pickleball "Barbarians in the Kitchen" Rachel Simon, author, "Pickleball for All: Everything But the 'Kitchen' Sink" which comes out on August 30 Jordan Briones, pickleball professional and instructor; co-founder, Primetime Pickleball; creator, pickleball YouTube instruction channel: @brionespickleball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many Bay Area residents are scrambling and traveling long distances to get a monkeypox vaccine. Public health officials are warning of the serious shortage of vaccines needed to combat the growing outbreaks of monkeypox across the country. Since it was detected in the U.S. in May, the CDC has reported over 1,800 cases of the painful, but very rarely fatal, viral disease. About a quarter of the cases are in California, which expected to receive 15,000 doses of the vaccine this week but logistical, bureaucratic and technical errors on a federal level have slowed the distribution of nearly 7 million doses nationwide. Although anyone can get the disease, U.S. monkeypox cases have disproportionately affected men who have sex with men. LGBTQ activists protested federal offices in San Francisco this week out of concern we’re seeing a repeat of the public health failures of the early days of the HIV epidemic. We’ll discuss concerns about monkeypox and what local public health officials are doing to respond. Guests: Anne Rimoin , professor, Center for Global and Immigrant Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Susan Philip, director of Director of Population Health Division, San Francisco Department of Public Health Tyler TerMeer, CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Fernando Gomez-Benitez , deputy director, Mission Neighborhood Health Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1973, not long after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, Congress amended the Public Health Service Act to allow medical professionals to refuse to provide abortion care on the basis of their moral or religious beliefs. But if healthcare workers can be “conscientious objectors” to abortion care, couldn’t “conscientious providers” of abortion be legally protected, too? That’s the question University of San Diego law professor and bioethicist Dov Fox asks in his recent New York Times op-ed “What Will Happen if Doctors Defy the Law to Provide Abortions?” We’ll talk to Fox and other experts about the medical and moral dilemmas abortion providers face in the post-Roe world. Guests: Dov Fox, professor of law and director, Center for Health Law Policy and Bioethics, University of San Diego School of Law Dr. Jennifer Conti, adjunct clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Stanford University Sonja Sharp, metro reporter, LA Times Dr. David Eisenberg , associate director, Division of Family Planning, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acclaimed poet and novelist Erika L. Sanchez’s memoir, “Crying in the Bathroom,” presents a series of poignant essays about growing up in Chicago in a working-class Mexican neighborhood, her rise to literary fame and her struggles with mental illness. Her book details many moments when she was successfully achieving her dreams and, simultaneously, considering ending her life. Sanchez is also author of the poetry collection, “Lessons on Expulsion,” and the young adult novel, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” that is being adapted into a movie. She joins us to talk about making it as a Mexican-American writer, sex and shame, Buddhism, and crying in the bathroom. Guests: Erika L. Sanchez, poet, novelist, essayist and professor at DePaul University. Her new memoir is "Crying the Bathroom." Her other books include the poetry collection, "Lessons on Expulsion," the young adult novel, "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By the end of the summer of 2020 -- after a violent militia group plotted to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and after Proud Boys members attacked Black Lives Matters protesters in cities around the country -- it was clear to intelligence professionals that these groups "were planning for war." That's according to counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance, whose new book "They Want to Kill Americans" traces the rise of what he calls TITUS, or the Trump Insurgency in the United States. We'll talk to Nance about who the insurgents are and how we can counteract the threat they pose to our democracy. Guests: Malcolm Nance, former United States naval intelligence officer, specializing in cryptology & counterterrorism. His new book is "They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laguna Honda Hospital opened up in 1866 to care for the city’s poor and indigent. Now over 150 years later, federal officials have threatened to shut the hospital, which operates as a skilled nursing facility, because of failed inspections prompted by two nonfatal drug overdoses that occurred onsite. In order to be recertified to operate, Laguna Honda must move out over 600 of its residents and has until September 13 to make that happen. So far, they have only moved 48 patients. What happened to the hospital and how will these patients be taken care of? We’ll discuss the ongoing situation at Laguna Honda and talk about what this situation says about how we care for our most vulnerable friends and neighbors. Guests: Sydney Johnson, public health reporter, San Francisco Examiner. Tony Chicotel, Staff Attorney, California Advocates For Nursing Home Reform. Jessica Lehman, executive director, Senior & Disability Action. Roland Pickens, director of the San Francisco Health Network, a network of 13 clinics in SF, interim CEO of Laguna Honda Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden’s approval rating is below 40%, and a poll this week from the New York Times and Siena College found 64% of Democratic voters would prefer a new presidential candidate in 2024. We’ll talk about what’s fueling voter dissatisfaction with the president, and we want to hear from you: should Biden run again? If not, do you have ideas of who should pick up the mantle? Guests: Tamara Keith, NPR White House correspondent, Co-host of the @NPRPolitics podcast. Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED - Co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When E.T. walked across the screen and into the hearts of moviegoers everywhere, that lovable space alien who wanted to “phone home” needed a sound for its walk. Foley artists, the sound magicians who add special effects to movies, decided to use a bag of jello in a damp T-shirt. Indeed, a Foley artist is nothing but ingenious. Snappers, clackers, ka-chunkers, sha-shonkers and things that go “ronk” are just a few things you might find in their toolbox, along with celery — good for broken bones — or paperclips on gloves to imitate a cat walking down the hall. We’ll learn about these tricks of the trade from some of the world’s best Foley artists at Skywalker Sound in Marin. Guests: Anna Wiener, contributing writer, The New Yorker - She is the author of the memoir "Uncanny Valley." Her most recent piece for the New Yorker is titled "Noisemakers." Shelley Roden, Foley artist, Skywalker Sound - Roden has worked as a Foley artist for over 25 years, and has worked on "Black Panther," "Top Gun: Maverick," "Soul," "Turning Red," and hundreds of other films. Scott Curtis, Foley Mixer, Curtis has mixed sound for a variety of movies including "Titanic," "Team America" and "Black Panther." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Where else can we go when this country turns on us?” That’s the question author Wajahat Ali wrestles with in his recent column for the Daily Beast, “Is It Time for Me to Leave America?” Ali, who is Muslim and U.S.-born, says it feels reckless not to have at least an exit plan if you’re a person of color in the United States in this political and cultural climate. He also says that in his heart, he knows he will stay. We’ll talk with Ali and others who’ve contemplated emigrating about what’s prompting them to leave and what’s keeping them home. Guests: Wajahat Ali, author, "Go Back to Where You Came From;" columnist, the Daily Beast; co-host, Democracy-ish Areyon Jolivette, Los Angeles-based writer Bridget R. McCurtis, DEI and leadership strategist, living in St. Kitts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A nursery of stars. Galaxies 13 billion light years away. The Carina Nebula. These are some of the spectacular images captured by the James Webb Telescope from its vantage point one million miles away from earth. As the telescope’s detail-saturated pictures were beamed across the world on Tuesday, they were met with awed silence as well as whoops of joy from scientists, some whose entire careers have been dedicated to the telescope. One of the most complicated spacecraft ever launched, the the telescope, which boasts a sun shield the size of a tennis court, will beam back images and data for the next 20 years. We’ll talk to scientists who helped design the James Webb Telescope and find out what we can expect to see next. Guests: Marcia Rieke, Regents' professor of Astronomy and astronomer, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona - Dr. Rieke is the principal investigator for the NIRCam on the James Webb Space Telescope. Tom Greene, astrophysicist, Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center - Dr. Greene works on the NIRCam and MIRI science instruments on the James Webb Telescope. Marina Koren, staff writer, The Atlantic - Koren covers space for the magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The day that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Gov. Gavin Newsom affirmed that California would be a sanctuary for those seeking abortion care and signed legislation protecting doctors and patients from liability imposed by states banning the procedure. About 10,000 more out-of-state residents will come to California annually to seek abortion care, according to a new UCLA report. But about 40 percent of California counties don’t have a single abortion provider. We’ll look at California’s “access deserts” and the realities of abortion access in the state, for Californians and out-of-state abortion-seekers alike. Guests: Lauren Hepler, housing and retail reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Fabiola Carrión, director, Reproductive and Sexual Health, National Health Law Program Michelle Rivera, program manager, Act For Women and Girls Jon Dunn, President/CEO, Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held another hearing Tuesday revealing more details about how former President Trump repeatedly tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election despite many aides and advisors counseling him to stop. Another key focus was on the right-wing extremist groups including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers that helped organize the insurrection in coordination with Trump and his advisors. We discuss the latest news from the Jan. 6 committee hearing and dive into the rise of violent extremist groups. Guests: Claudia Grisales, congressional reporter on NPR's Washington desk Kali Holloway, columnist, The Nation Lindsay Schubiner, director of Western States Center's Momentum Program A.C. Thompson, reporter, ProPublica and FRONTLINE correspondent. His investigation into the assault on the U.S. Capitol is featured in an updated version of the Frontline documentary "American Insurrection." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covid 19 cases are on the rise again as various Omicron subvariants spread. Epidemiologists warn that people may not have as much immunity to new variants compared with previous strains of the virus. It can be hard to keep track of changing guidelines such as when to wear a mask or schedule vaccine boosters. Evaluating the risk for summer travel can be confusing. We take your questions about new Covid 19 variants and discuss the latest news, research, and where we are in the pandemic. Guests: Dr. Bob Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Dr. Yvonne (Bonnie) Maldonado, professor of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology and Population Health Chief, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Stanford University School of Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 80 percent of Southern California’s doughnut shops are estimated to be owned by Cambodian immigrants. Many of those owners, who struggled over hot fryers at shops open 24hours a day, seven days a week, hoped that their own children would move away from the doughnut business and join the ranks of white-collar professionals. But a generation of “doughnut kids” are opting to continue family traditions and run the shops they grew up in. They are modernizing the business while learning how to be the boss. We'll talk about doughnuts and the experience of continuing a family business’ legacy. Guests: Cathy Chaplin, senior reporter and editor, Eater LA, - author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Los Angeles." She is the author of the article "The Future of LA’s Cambodian-Owned Doughnut Shops Is in the Hands of the Next Generation." Dorothy Chow, vice-president, B & H Bakery Distributors. Danette Kuoch, co-owner and operator, California Donuts - Kuoch is a second-generation doughnut shop owner and created the Snickers doughnut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stockton is the most diverse city in America. It was also one of the hardest hit by post-industrial decline, the Great Recession and foreclosures, leading it to bankruptcy in 2012. In her book, “The Fight to Save The Town: Reimagining Discarded America,” Stanford law professor Michelle Wilde Anderson took a close look at Stockton and three other cities with widespread poverty and gutted local governments — cities that have been written off as “dying.” But in each of the towns, Anderson profiles ways residents have fought back and found new ways to address systemic issues like violence, community trauma, loss of home ownership and starved shared resources. Forum talks with Anderson about what it takes to make “discarded” cities a place residents want to stay and fight for. Guests: Michelle Wilde Anderson, professor of Law, Stanford University; author, "The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America" Jasmine Dellafosse, community organizer, Gathering for Justice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a dream of the Bay Area as a place of liberation: queer liberation, Black liberation, trans liberation, liberation for all. It’s a reputation that has pulled young people to the Bay Area for decades. But when Corey Antonio Rose moved to San Francisco from Jacksonville Florida in 2021 and searched for places that would embrace a young, gay Black man like himself, he was disappointed. In a series for the KQED podcast RightNowish, he looked at the history of those spaces in the Bay Area and the role of anti-blackness in the Bay Area’s queer community. We’ll talk with Rose about whether the Bay Area fails to live up to its reputation as a queer haven and how to find spaces that foster community and belonging. Guests: Corey Antonio Rose, producer and host of "Searching for a Kiki," a three-part series on the KQED podcast Rightnowish, KQED. Victoria Kirby York, deputy executive director, National Black Justice Coalition - a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black LGBTQ+ people and co-sponsor of the Lavender Book, a directory of safe spaces. Don Romesburg, professor, Sonoma State University - whose expertise includes sexuality and gender in U.S. history, childhood and adolescence, transgender studies, race and sexuality, and queer performance and popular culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veterinarians are nearly three times more likely than the general public to die by suicide, and one in six has contemplated taking their life, according to recent studies. The industry has never been under more stress: During the pandemic, pet ownership in the United States rose by 70% and the demand for veterinary assistance has risen exponentially. But many veterinarians are leaving the profession because of intense workloads, crushing student debt, hostile pet owners, and the trauma of euthanizing animals they’ve cared for from cradle to grave. We’ll talk about the mental health challenges veterinarians and vet techs are facing, and what can be done. This segment originally aired on March 8, 2022. Guests: Dr. Susan Cohen, social worker, Dr. Cohen runs support groups for veterinarians and animal welfare workers; former director of counseling, the Animal Medical Center in New York City Dr. Melanie Goble, founding board member, Not One More Vet -- a nonprofit organization devoted to helping the veterinarian medical community with mental health issue; practicing veterinarian Jennifer Scarlett, president, San Francisco SPCA; veterinarian Dr. Cherese Sullivan, president, Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association; practices general veterinary medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though it was expected, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has sent shock waves throughout the country. Legislatures in more than two dozen states have already or are preparing to severely restrict or eliminate abortion access. Some providers immediately halted services as soon as the Court’s decision came out while other providers are now scrambling to care for an influx of people seeking care. And patients, some as young as ten years old, are crossing state lines for emergency abortions. We examine the landscape of reproductive rights post-Roe and answer your questions about the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling. Guests: Margot Sanger-Katz, health care correspondent, The New York Times Elizabeth Nash, principal policy associate, State Issues, Guttmacher Institute, research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide Mike DeBonis, congressional reporter, Washington Post Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From celebrities like Harry Styles and the members of boy band BTS to social media beauty influencers like Patrick Starrr and Kenneth Senegal, more and more men and nonbinary folk are publicly embracing makeup in their daily lives. And as author and journalist David Yi argues in their new book, the male beauty influencers of today have ancient cultural precedents. “Pretty Boys” traces male beauty figures throughout history, from Ramses the Great to ‘80s glam rockers to drag culture newly entering the mainstream. We’ll hear about how beauty influencers, both past and present, have explored gender through makeup. This segment originally aired June 11, 2021 Guests: Kenneth Senegal, Beauty Entertainment influencer David Yi, founder and editor, Very Good Light -- a men's beauty publication; author, "Pretty Boys: Legendary Icons Who Redefined Beauty and How to Glow Up, Too" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judging from the recent Supreme Court decisions allowing prayer during high school sports, the use of public funds for religious schools and the overturning of the federal right to an abortion, one might conclude that practicing religion is on the rise in the U.S. But, nearly 30% of Americans are not affiliated with a religious institution, a rapid decline in recent decades. People are now questioning how the erosion of the separation of church and state might affect religious beliefs and personal relationships with religious institutions. Are you religious? How are you affected by the recent court decisions on the religious cases? We’ll dive into how religion influences politics and policy and how religion plays a role in your life. Guests: Carolyn Chen, associate professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley; co-director, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion; author, "Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley" Barbara Perry, presidential studies director, University of Virginia's Miller Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pain is a "hallmark of consciousness among all beings," writes physician Haider Warraich in his new book "The Song of Our Scars." Pain, he explains, is also gendered, racial and above all so personal that it's the one thing truly our own. Like an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide, Warraich himself lives with chronic pain, brought on by a devastating back injury. We'll talk to Warraich about the biology of pain and how we experience what he calls our most complicated sensation. Guests: Haider Warraich, author, "The Song of Our Scars: The Untold Story of Pain." He's also a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chores are well… a chore. And for many households, the lockdown only intensified domestic tension over tasks like cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. We’ll talk to experts about how to make chores more manageable and equitable, how to share the load with children, roommates and spouses, and how to make the drudgery of keeping everything in order feel more like a delight. Guests: Eve Rodsky, author, "Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live)," which has been adapted into a documentary to be released in select theaters and on demand on Friday, July 8. Allie Volpe, senior reporter, Vox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There’s nothing wrong with me because of the color of my skin.” Award-winning scholar and author Ibram X. Kendi wants us to imagine a world where all kids of color could be taught to internalize that antiracist idea and develop their sense of self through it. We'll talk to Kendi about how we as caregivers can help them do that and why we need to work to build an antiracist society that can protect all children. Kendi’s new book is “How to Raise an Antiracist.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fireworks may be in your future this holiday, but there are other reasons to gaze skyward in July. We’ll talk about meteor showers and other celestial events you can catch, hear about the Mars Perseverance rover’s latest adventures and get updates on the James Hubble telescope, expected to release its first images this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America's national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” was written by a white lawyer who owned slaves but fought for Black freedom in court. That contradiction captures the controversy embedded in the song. It is a song that can inspire patriotic fervor and ignite passionate protest. It is also notoriously hard to sing. We talk to Mark Clague about the anthem and his new book about it, "O Say Can You Hear." As we go into this Fourth of July weekend, during a time when the nation is roiled by the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the congressional hearings on the insurrection at the Capitol, we hear from you about what patriotism means to you now. And what song speaks to your vision for America? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s ground shifting Supreme Court term comes to a close on Thursday. This term, the Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, expanded religious rights and struck down gun regulation. In the process, it has positioned its jurisprudence to rely heavily on historical precedents from colonial times to guide its decisions. With confidence in the Supreme Court at an all-time low, many Americans believe that the justices are out of step with the majority of the country. What will that mean for the Court’s future? We’ll talk to a panel of experts about the term’s most significant rulings and look at what might be on the docket for next year’s term when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joins the Court. Guests: Rory Little, professor; UC-Hastings College of the Law; former attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Margaret Russell, professor of Constitutional Law; Santa Clara University School of Law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 smoke. KQED Food editor Luke Tsai has a different take. His new series, BBQ in the Bay, highlights the region’s unique barbecue cultures from various traditions of cooking food outdoors over an open flame and how it brings communities together. As part of Forum’s regular segment on food cultures of the Bay Area, called All You Can Eat, we’ll dish on Mongolian barbecue, lechon, barbacoa, barbecue oysters, brisket and much more. Guests: Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Pendarvis "Pen" Harshaw, columnist, KQED Arts; host, KQED's "Rightnowish" podcast Ray Castro, dentist in East Bay; amateur barbecue competitor Rocky Rivera, emcee; writer; part of KQED's BBQ in the Bay series Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines advisory committee decided Tuesday to recommend that covid vaccines be reformulated to better protect against the highly transmissible omicron variant. The vote comes as reported coronavirus cases top 10 million in California – a figure widely considered an undercount. We’ll discuss what the vote means, as well as the latest on covid subvariants, boosters and long covid, with UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. Guests: Dr. Peter Chin-Hong M.D., infectious disease specialist, UCSF Medical Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former President Donald Trump tried to wrestle control of a vehicle so he could join the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020. That was just one of several major revelations from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former chief of staff Mark Meadows, during Tuesday’s testimony before the House committee investigating the attack. Hutchinson also testified that Trump called to lift security during his rally despite knowing that many people were heavily armed, threw his lunch at a wall over a news article about former Attorney General William Barr, and endorsed a violent attack on Vice President Mike Pence. Former Trump staffers and aides have testified before the committee, giving the nation a fuller account of what happened on Jan. 6 and how Trump behaved. We discuss the latest news from the committee hearings and what these revelations mean for Americans. Guests: Nicholas Wu, reporter covering Congress, Politico Aimee Allison, founder, She the People - an organization elevating the political voice of women of color Ankush Khardori, lawyer based in Washington, D.C; contributing writer, New York magazine's Intelligencer; contributing editor, Politico magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent Los Angeles Times report examined seven affordable housing projects in Northern California in which the cost of development surpassed $1 million per unit. Part of the reason for the exorbitant cost of building is skyrocketing construction prices with rising material and labor costs exacerbated by the pandemic and supply chain shortages. But, as the L.A. Times points out, local and state requirements add a sizable amount to the total expense. For nonprofit developers who build subsidized housing, that means fewer units for more money. As California looks for ways to alleviate the housing crisis, we discuss why affordable housing is becoming more unaffordable and strategies to bring down the price tag. Guests: Liam Dillon, statewide housing affordability and neighborhood change reporter, Los Angeles Times Heather Hood, vice president, Northern California, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. Tim Grayson, California State assembly member, district 14 (encompasses portions of Contra Costa and Solano Counties) Ben Metcalf, managing director, Terner Center of Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley; former director, California Department of Housing and Community Development Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former President Trump repeatedly tried to persuade top Justice Department officials to act on baseless fraud allegations in the days after the 2020 election, former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue testified on Thursday. As the January 6 committee hearings pause before resuming in July, we'll analyze the information presented so far and talk about what's next for the DOJ's investigation into Trump’s attempt to interfere in the 2020 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Ben Tarnoff thinks the internet is broken:It is rife with misinformation and vitriolic hate speech. It potentially invades privacy rights. In the United States, it costs way too much to access compared with prices in other countries. And, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t work for consumers, Tarnoff says, because the internet was built by companies focused on power and profit. In his new book, “Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future,” Tarnoff offers a vision for a better internet that centers on public ownership of internet service providers and companies. We’ll talk to Tarnoff about his hopes for a more utopian internet. Guests: Ben Tarnoff, author, "Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future"; founding editor, Logic magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roe v. Wade is overturned. Just short of 50 years after the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion, the Court ruled Friday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that states may ban the procedure as early as conception. The ruling is expected to set in motion a cascade of highly restrictive abortion laws in half of the states. We analyze the decision, look at its impact and hear your reactions. Guests: Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's professor and director, Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy, UC Irvine School of Law; author, "Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood" Susan Matthews, news director, Slate - host of season 7 of the Slow Burn podcast, about Roe v. Wade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Painful" is how many reproductive rights advocates are describing their reactions to the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe vs. Wade that was officially released Friday. A leaked draft decision in May warned of the impending opinion's ruling. In dissent, the Court's three liberal justices warned that the opinion's approach "places in jeopardy other rights, from contraception to same-sex intimacy and marriage." In this hour, we hear and react to listeners as they process the Supreme Court's decision. Guests: Jessica Pinckney, executive director, Access Reproductive Justice, a nonprofit that helps patients access abortions by providing information, financial and logistical assistance Lauren Rankin, writer, speaker, and activist; author, "Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. Yet Cal Fire, the agency largely in charge of prevention efforts, is struggling to track and implement projects and took years to authorize to establish a prescribed-burn workforce certification program, as required by state law. At the same time, its firefighting staff has increased substantially — demonstrating what experts have characterized as an internal prioritization of suppression over mitigation. That’s all according to a monthslong investigation by California Newsroom reporters, who join us to talk about their findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I really wanted to depict the ways that young Black girls are made adults by a culture that sees us that way,” says Leila Mottley of her debut novel “Nightcrawling." The 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate started writing the book when she was 17 and three years later, has received glowing reviews and a spot in the Oprah Book Club. Set in Oakland, “Nightcrawling” tells the story of Kiara, a character who offers an unflinching and lyrical portrayal of what it is to be poor, Black and a young woman. We talk to Mottley about her book. Guests: Leila Mottley, author, "Nightcrawling" --Mottley was the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bumblebees can’t see red, but they can detect the ultraviolet hue, invisible to humans, at the center of a sunflower. A fly can taste an apple just by landing on it, and a rattlesnake can perceive the infrared radiation emanating from warm-blooded prey. Those are just some of the extraordinary animal senses that science journalist Ed Yong celebrates in his new book “An Immense World.” We’ll talk to Yong about what he learned and hear how humans can limit behaviors that endanger the sensory environments of other species. Guests: Ed Yong, science writer, The Atlantic; author, "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices