KQED's Forum

When patients with severe depression don’t respond to medication, psychiatrists sometimes turn to a treatment known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The non-invasive therapy uses pulses of magnetic activity to stimulate the brain, and about half of patients see their symptoms improve. Now, researchers at Stanford say they have developed a new and improved version of rTMS, tailored to each patients’ neurocircuitry. In one study, nearly 80 percent of severely depressed patients experienced a normal mood within five days. We’ll talk to the lead researcher on the Stanford study and other experts in the field about the latest developments in rTMS and other methods of treating depression and mental illness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Many historians have been seduced by the desire to manage the story of our founding, protecting our identity as an exceptional, fundamentally just nation,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones in the preface to “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.” The project, created by Hannah-Jones, reframes our popular understanding of U.S. history and considers “a new origin story” that started not with the Declaration of Independence, but rather with the introduction of slavery in late August 1619, when the first ship carrying enslaved people from Africa arrived in the British colony of Virginia. Originally launched as a special edition of the New York Times Magazine in 2019, an expanded book version of the project came out in November. We’ll talk to Hannah-Jones about the new book, the debates the project has sparked about how we write and teach U.S. history and the power of shared national memory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fast-spreading omicron variant has snarled schools and made this return from the holidays particularly difficult. As record numbers of California children have tested positive for COVID and even been hospitalized, many students and teachers are reluctant to return to the classroom, especially without adequate protection and safety protocols. We’ll check in with an Oakland student organizer about a petition that’s gained over a thousand signatures to boycott classes until demands over safety are met. And, as omicron looks to be nearing its peak, we talk with experts about what to expect in the next few weeks, and what lies beyond. Given all we know now, given how tired we all are, what would count as “winning” when the next surge hits? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The highly transmissible omicron variant has resulted in a surge in COVID-19 cases across the United States, filling hospitals and contributing to worker shortages across industries. The good news is that vaccines appear to dramatically decrease the risk of serious illness. But doctors and public health experts say that even the vaccinated should continue to mask and practice social distancing – and should under no circumstances actively attempt to contract COVID. We’ll discuss the personal and community-based reasons why you don’t want to contract omicron with Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Stanley Nelson was growing up in 1950s New York, the award-winning documentary filmmaker had no idea he wanted to enter the profession because, he recalls, film wasn't a career option for African Americans at all. Nelson has gone on to direct and produce scores of documentaries over a decades-long career, shedding light on both familiar and underappreciated corners of the American experience. We'll talk to him about his latest film, "Attica," which was recently shortlisted for an Academy Award, and hear why he avoids re-enactments, how he gets his subjects to open up to him and what draws him to stories of institutions and movements that are greater than any one individual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. Mint has issued a new quarter featuring writer Maya Angelou with her arms aloft, in front of a rising sun. It’s the first time a Black woman has been featured on a U.S. quarter. In light of the honor, we look back at a remarkable television series that Maya Angelou created for KQED in 1968. The groundbreaking series, ‘Blacks, Blues, Black!’ celebrated the culture and history of Africa and the influence of Black culture on American society. We’ll listen back to clips from the show and talk about the Bay Area’s Black community in the late 60s and the intersection of culture and activism. Guests: Cheryl Fabio, filmmaker, directed and produced "Evolutionary Blues," a documentary about West Oakland's music and community Dorothy Tsuruta, professor of Africana Studies, specializing in literature, San Francisco State University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dorothy Lazard, who retired as head librarian of the Oakland History Center last month, has her own fan club, composed of grateful readers, patrons, journalists, professors, and writers. Her devoted following is the result of 21 years spent at the Oakland Public Library, the last dozen at the History Center where she meticulously and thoughtfully shed light on the untold stories of Oakland, its people and its history. We talk to Lazard about what it means to hold a city’s history and what she plans on doing next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conversations about the history of slavery are often confined to the North and the South, with the West viewed as a free “promised land.” But California passed laws, like the Fugitive Slave Act of 1852, that reinforced the institution of slavery, and otherwise allowed coerced, unpaid labor in the state. And the laws impacted more than just Black people, too. Historian Stacey L. Smith writes in her book “Freedom’s Frontier” that “ diverse forms of American Indian servitude, sexual trafficking in bound women, and contract labor involving Latin Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders all kept the slavery question alive in California during the 1850s.” This history has been brought to the fore in recent weeks as the state’s Reparations Task Force continues to hear testimony about the impacts of slavery on African Americans. We take a closer look at this part of California’s past and why it matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the world around us has become more chaotic, puzzles have provided a moment of respite. The 9 x 9 grid of a Sudoku, the verticals and horizontals of a crossword, the comforting circle of the New York Times’ Spelling Bee all offer solvers a beginning and an end; they are places where problems have solutions. We talk to puzzle constructors, puzzle solvers, and puzzle lovers about why puzzles of all kinds – from jigsaws to anagrams to Wordle – have been such a joy lately. And we’ll have a special puzzle for you to solve, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ridesharing has long been a part of farmworker communities, before companies like Uber and Lyft came along. So when faced with a lack of transportation options in his small town of Huron in the Central Valley, Mayor Rey Leon took inspiration from farmworkers to launch the Green Raiteros -- a ridesharing program that provides free transportation to residents using a fleet of all electric vehicles. Most community members use the service for necessary medical appointments that are miles away. In addition to filling a community need, LA Times reporter Evan Halper – who covered Leon and Green Raiteros in a recent story – says the program "has put Huron on the map as perhaps the greenest migrant farmworker community in the country." Leon and Halper join us to talk about the program and the example it sets for greater state and federal efforts to go electric. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Modern prenatal blood tests that screen for a range of fetal abnormalities are billed by their Silicon Valley creators as reliable and accurate, designed to bring peace of mind to anxious parents. But a New York Times investigation has found that positive results on those tests are inaccurate roughly 85 percent of the time. We'll talk to Times investigative journalist Sarah Kliff about what she uncovered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clue: She’s an Oakland engineer, the first woman to win a million dollars on Jeopardy, the first transgender contestant to qualify for the show’s Tournament of Champions, and she’s currently on a 30-game winning streak. Answer: Who is Amy Schneider? Schneider joins Forum to talk about her run on Jeopardy, the key to her success, and how going down the rabbit hole of curiosity can make you a Jeopardy champion and a better person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Expect a lot of construction in the coming year around the Bay Area as developers move forward on various massive real estate projects - the kind of developments that take years to plan and construct and can transform a pocket of a city with new housing, office space, retail and outdoor areas. In San Francisco alone, work could start on about 3,000 units. On Treasure Island, the first few hundred homes of 8,000 planned housing units will come to the market this year, roughly two decades after the project started. In San Francisco’s Dogpatch, the Potrero Power Station is one of a handful of large-scale developments redefining the formerly isolated neighborhood. In Oakland, hundreds of new residents have already moved into Brooklyn Basin, a revamped former industrial area turned waterfront community that will include parks and retail along with housing. We take a look at some of the megaprojects in progress in the Bay Area, why they are so hard to build and what they mean for the region’s housing crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A growing number of Americans say they do not have a religious affiliation, according to a recent Pew survey. Today, roughly 30% of American adults are religiously unaffiliated, up from 19% in 2011. The study also found that while Christians are still in the majority, their share of the adult population declined by 12 percentage points over the same time period. We’ll talk with a Pew researcher and religion experts about the survey's findings and what they mean for organized religion and the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the smaller cruelties among the many tragedies of the COVID pandemic is that the virus’ attack on the sense of smell and taste has robbed us of one of the few pleasures of being sick: delicious comfort food. It’s a symptom that doctors say seems to be less common with omicron. So as the new variant stampedes through the Bay Area, we’ll talk with KQED food editor Luke Tsai about our favorite foods to eat when we’re sick or in need of comfort. This is the first installation of a new regular segment with Tsai: he’ll join us every other week to dig into the many food cultures of the Bay Area. We want to hear from you: Whether from your kitchen or ordered as takeout, what do you eat when you’re sick? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent months, headlines about the so-called “Great Resignation” have abounded: Americans, the story goes, are reevaluating their work lives and leaving their jobs in droves. But although quitting is at historic levels, many economists say the trend is widely misunderstood. We’ll talk with experts about what the data really say, and look at how the rest of the world sees what's wrong with the American labor market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday, both President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to give remarks in Atlanta about the importance of passing voting rights legislation and combatting a slew of states’ efforts to restrict the franchise. If Republicans defeat the federal legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has signaled he will push for the elimination of the filibuster in hopes of sending it to Biden’s desk without bipartisan support. Critics say that the Biden Administration is offering words, not deeds, and that time is running out as states gear up for the 2022 midterm elections. What is the state of voting rights and what can be done? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years ago, Nigel Poor, an artist, and Earlonne Woods, an inmate in San Quentin, created a podcast chronicling the stories and daily life of prison. “Ear Hustle” smashed prison stereotypes with humor and candor even as it revealed the human toll of mass incarceration. The podcast became an enormous hit, surpassing 40 million downloads, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and was nominated for a Peabody Award. Poor and Woods’ new book “This is Ear Hustle” fills in the details about their remarkable project, and they join us to discuss what it means to tell stories about life in prison, from the inside. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In June 2018, a dozen young soccer players and their coach became trapped more than two miles inside the Tham Luang Cave in northern Thailand, as a sudden monsoon swept into the region and inundated the underground passages. The world watched transfixed for weeks as rescuers located the boys, brought them supplies and engineered a way to bring them to safety. Cave diver Rick Stanton was among those leading the effort and he joins us to talk about the rescue, the rarefied world of underwater cave diving and his new book "Aquanaut." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to intensify, some Bay Area schools have been closing or shifting to remote learning. In San Francisco and Oakland, hundreds of teachers and aides called in sick for in-person classes last week to protest what they say are unsafe work conditions. Meanwhile, many parents are stumped about how best to protect their children from being infected – especially those of kids too young to be vaccinated – as hospitalizations of young people rise across the state. We’ll talk about how schools and families are coping with the omicron crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Los Angeles and Oakland take starring roles in the television shows “Insecure,” “Gentefied” and “Blindspotting,” which bring audiences new takes on those cities and the people who live there. The shows follow Black and Latino characters trying to navigate adulthood, life choices, relationships– all amid rapidly changing neighborhoods. We talk about how those shows broke Hollywood norms, celebrate predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, and resonate with California viewers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The violent attack on the capitol a year ago was a jolt to the American consciousness that our revered democracy had broken. Now, with the anniversary of the attacks behind us, we look ahead and consider paths to strengthen democracy and governance with journalist James Fallows. We’ll consider: What is working in our democracy? How do we nurture it? And how can we reverse the streams of disinformation that have corrupted our politics? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One year ago today, as the nation watched in disbelief, Trump supporters trampled barricades and stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of President Biden’s election. Insurrectionists scaled walls, occupied Congressional offices, and took over the Senate floor. Meanwhile as police officers battled to bring order, some suffering grievous injuries as a result, staffers and lawmakers sheltered in place, some fearing for their lives. January 6 was a day of violence. It was also a moment of reckoning, and on this anniversary, co-hosts Alexis Madrigal and Ariana Proehl ask where our country is headed. What are your memories of that day? How does our nation heal and bridge its many divides? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ll bring you live NPR coverage of the Jan. 6 anniversary events at the White House and in Congress, followed by expert analysis co-hosted by Alexis Madrigal and Ariana Proehl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The day after the January 6 insurrection, pundits and politicians predicted that this unprecedented breach of the Capitol would be the pivot point that brought American democracy back from the brink. But has it? With a country consumed by a pandemic, chronic inequality, and polarized political parties, nothing much seems to have changed in the last year. As the nation begins to reflect on the one year anniversary of the insurrection, we’ll talk to Representative Adam Schiff, journalist Zack Beauchamp and Professor Kellie Carter Jackson about where the American experiment is headed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This holiday season, many of us gave and received houseplants as gifts. But what do you do if you aren’t quite sure how to take care of those plants… or even what they are, exactly? Bay Area plant sellers join to provide advice on how to care for your new snake plant, or bring your early-pandemic philodendron back to life. We’ll answer your questions on watering, repotting and how to optimize sunlight in the Bay Area’s microclimates. Call in with your houseplant situation, and for listeners with green thumbs, tell us: what’s your go-to houseplant care tip? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year ago this week, far-right extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol, an insurrection spurred by the false accusations from President Trump that the “election was stolen.” The events of Jan. 6 led to multiple deaths and wounded more than 100. Frontline, in partnership with ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program, has been tracking the rise of far right extremist groups and their role in the capitol attacks. A new, updated version of their April 2021 documentary “American Insurrection,” digs into the continued aftermath of the insurrection and former President Trump’s role in encouraging it. We’ll speak with correspondent A.C. Thompson about what we know one year later, the decades-long rise of far-right extremist groups, and the threats they pose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yard waste and food scraps take up half of California’s landfills and produce one fifth of methane emissions in the state. That’s according to CalRecycle, the state agency that oversees waste management. A new state law seeks to lower those greenhouse gas emissions, requiring businesses and residents to separate green waste from other trash. We’ll get the details on the new law and how it will be rolled out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s oral history archives is a treasure trove of first person accounts by politicians, staffers and others who've kept our state government running. Now, thanks to Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office, those archives are more accessible to the public than ever. We’ll hear about her plans for new oral histories focused on tribal and Latino leaders, Black history and the LGBTQ community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area’s rainy season is in full force and with it comes the fungi. For mycology enthusiasts, that means gearing up with hiking boots and identification guides and tromping through damp soil in search of mushrooms. We’ll talk about the best local spots for foraging, as well as the roles mushrooms play in cuisine, health and sustainability. And we want to hear from you: Are you a Bay Area mycologist, seasoned or newbie? What are your tips? Questions? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A federal jury in San Jose found Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty on 4 of 11 charges in a widely watched fraud trail that was seen as an indictment of a Silicon Valley 'fake it till you make it' startup culture. We'll talk about the trial and what it may mean for Silicon Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most American do not meet physical activity guidelines for their age group. So for some folks, the new year will bring renewed resolve to exercise more. But how do you stick with your resolution, and how do you get fit without injuring yourself? Whether your goal is to just sit less and move more, or participate in a triathlon, we’ll get expert guidance for getting fit in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the World Health Organization coronavirus briefing last month, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the COVID-19 pandemic “must” end in 2022, stating that there will be enough vaccines to protect the world's entire adult population in the first three months of the year. But concern remains, he added, over successful implementation and equitable distribution of the vaccines. We'll get the latest on the Omicron variant and what 2022 could bring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book “Major Labels,” journalist and music critic Kelefa Sanneh takes on the history of popular music through seven genres that have defined it: rock, R&B, country, punk, hip-hop, dance and pop. The book not only highlights key artists and events in music’s evolution over the last 50 years, but reveals how music is a tool to build and mold identity. In his chapter on punk music, Sanneh shares reflections of the genre’s pivotal role in his own coming of age. And while music is often celebrated for bringing people together, Sanneh is pointed in the ways people’s cherished music tastes and tensions between “mainstream” vs. “outsider” styles can be more antagonistic than unifying. Sanneh joins us to talk about “Major Labels.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pendarvis Harshaw, host of the KQED Arts podcast Rightnowish, joins us to talk about some of his favorite episodes of the year. We'll also hear about his editorial philosophy and get his insider take on the history of the hyphy movement in hip hop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 or the stale waft of cafeteria lunch. We'll talk to Stewart about why we smell, how we smell and the power of our olfactory sense to shape our perceptions of the people and world around us. Her new book is "Revelations in Air: A Guidebook to Smell." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I write about people who do extraordinary things,” observed the pioneering science fiction writer Octavia Butler, “it just turned out that it was called science fiction.” This month, Forum’s book club discusses Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower." In it, 15-year-old Lauren Olamina navigates a California in the early 2020s that has been beset by climate change, grotesque income inequality, and violence. Sound familiar? Butler has been lauded as prescient and prophetic, but she called herself merely observant and able to imagine what the world could be like if no one bothered to change. We’ll talk about the book, Octavia Butler’s legacy and what speculative fiction can teach us about our own current reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"It is 2020 and the City of Flint Says, / 'Don't boil the water' / And I refuse to drink a single drop / from any tap or bottle now. I've stopped / bathing completely, waiting for rain to slick / my skin back on. So begins Jonah Mixon-Webster's poem "Incubation," featured in his debut poetry collection, Stereo(TYPE). Initially published by Ahsahta Press in 2018 and re-published by Knopf Doubleday this month, "Stereo(TYPE)" describes Mixon-Webster's experiences and traumas endured as a Black queer man and criticizes the governmental neglect and treatment of his hometown, Flint, Michigan. In poems that vary in form and use words that overlap and span pages, balancing harshness with tenderness, Mixon-Webster's poetry collection explores what it means to tell one's story - and the story of one's community - through experiments in language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rita Dove, winner of a Pulitzer Prize for poetry and the nation’s first Black poet laureate, has returned with a new volume of poems titled “Playlist for the Apocalypse.” It’s Dove’s first book in 12 years -- in part due to a health battle with multiple sclerosis that she reveals and poignantly reflects on in a sequence called “Little Book of Woe.” Both personal and political, Dove’s poems also meditate on American life today, in all its strife, uncertainty, complexity and beauty. Dove joins us to talk about the book and her return to writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When asked to name some of the Bay Area’s signature foods, many would jump to name Mission burritos, It’s-It ice cream sandwiches or — especially for tourists visiting San Francisco piers — clam chowder. KQED food editor Luke Tsai is adding another food to that list: garlic noodles. “Here in the Bay Area, Asian Americans love garlic noodles. Black and Latino folks love garlic noodles. Indeed, once you start looking for garlic noodles, it seems, you find them everywhere,” Tsai writes in his recent article. So what’s behind the love for this dish born in San Francisco’s Vietnamese community? We’ll talk to Tsai about how garlic noodles became one of the Bay Area’s most iconic foods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two California scientists, David Julius from UCSF and Ardem Patapoutian from San Diego's Scripps Research, have won the 2021 Nobel Prize for medicine. In their work, which focuses on the biology of our senses, Julius and Patapoutian identified receptors that allow the cells in your body to sense touch and temperature. Their findings hold potential medical applications for better treatment of chronic pain. We talk with the prize-winning researchers about their work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 prescribing fell, drug traffickers with unfettered access to the world's chemical markets began to fill the void with dangerous synthetic drugs. Opiate addicts began to switch to fentanyl and particularly potent forms of methamphetamine, ultimately driving overdose deaths to record levels in 2020. Quinones joins us to talk about the devastating impact of the synthetic drug era, as told in his new book "The Least of Us," and how communities are trying to recover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 227 million Americans across all ages play video games, according to an Entertainment Software Association report. And the world of video games is more than just franchise titles and big-name companies like Sony and Nintendo -- there’s a diverse and growing cohort of gamers, designers, developers and executives driving innovation in the art, tech, and narrative of a changing industry. We take an interactive look at the gaming world and the next generation of gamers and game design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the many words John Koenig has created for emotions we've felt all our lives but lacked words to describe. We talk to Koenig about why he says there are vast holes in our emotional lexicon and why it's important for humans to develop a richer language to describe our interior lives. Koenig's new book, more than ten years in the making, is "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This beautiful Bay Area of ours contains stories and secrets, histories and futures — and if you know where to look and what questions to ask, you will find them. Imbibe enough of those and that’s how you become a person of this place. That can be hard work OR you can listen to the KQED podcast Bay Curious. Host Olivia Allen-Price joins us as we revisit Bay Curious episodes about Frida Kahlo, saying Frisco, dialing POP-CORN for the time, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a time of uncertainty, the holiday movie offers a world of good cheer, maybe a few good songs, and a reliably predictable happy ending. But what makes a good holiday movie? Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix and other outlets are offering viewers hundreds of titles – nearly all romantic comedies that have resurrected careers of stars from the 90s and which invariably feature snow, hot cocoa and two people who don’t get along but eventually fall in love. And then there are classics like “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Meet Me in St. Louis.” We’ll talk about why holiday movies are so popular, hear from you about your favorites, and answer the question: “Is Die Hard a holiday movie?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the year ends, we’ll take a moment to look back at books that we loved, couldn’t stop thinking about, and kept telling others to read. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, readers are still gravitating toward dystopian-themed books. Other popular titles explore topics such as white supremacy, identity, and connecting with nature. Some of the top picks from the Forum team include Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed,” “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner, Jose Vadi's “Interstate,” and “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler. And we want to hear your picks, send us the best book you read last year and why to [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 415-553-3300. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we continued to navigate the pandemic in 2021, music remained a key source of solace and entertainment. We reemerged into public spaces to attend live shows and festivals. Lil Nas X had everyone talking with a very savvy release of his debut album “Montero” and made clear he was no “one hit wonder.” Wizkid and Tems’ infectious Afro-pop song “Essence” got a second life at parties and cookouts, becoming one of the year’s biggest hits. Powerhouse singers Jasmine Sullivan and Adele both had triumphant returns with searing, vulnerable albums after years without releasing music. And we got a new look at beloved artists like Tina Turner and The Beatles in feature documentaries. We unpack some of the biggest songs and musical moments of 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this hour, we unpack some of the Bay Area’s best songs and biggest musical moments of 2021. Bay Area rapper Stunnaman02 got everyone “Big Steppin” with his song and viral dance move. The band Destroy Boys brought us “cathartic, angst-combating, middle-finger-pointing post-punk” according to KQED contributor Rae Alexandra. Local singer-songwriters weren’t afraid to be their authentic selves and share how they’re really feeling about the world. Communities and fans mourned beloved Bay Area hip hop artists Gift of Gab of Blackalicious, Shock G of Digital Underground and Baba Zumbi of Zion-I. We’ll hit rewind on 2021 and get listeners' picks for the best in local music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last December, amid news of effective vaccines and a new administration, Atlantic science writer Ed Yong tweeted that he was “gently hopeful” about getting to celebrate his 40th birthday party in person in 2021 with a few dozen friends. A lot can change in a year. With a third wave of Covid looming thanks to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Yong made the tough call to cancel his party last week. We talk with Yong about the latest Omicron developments and preview President Biden’s planned Tuesday address to the nation on Covid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices