KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

All You Can Eat: Best Dishes of the Year Jan 03, 2024

Show notes

Every year KQED food editor Luke Tsai publishes a list of his favorite dishes that he tried that year, in part to inspire the rest of us to up our culinary game. In 2023, his list included Korean-style sourdough toast from Rize Up Bakery, braised oxtails from Haitian restaurant T’Chaka, and the mezze brunch board from Palestinian restaurant Lulu. For this installment of All You Can Eat, our regular series exploring the Bay Area’s food cultures, we’ll talk with Luke and other Bay Area food writers about their best dishes from 2023 and recommendations for what you should eat in the new year. And, we want to hear from you: Is there a new dish that you ate in a restaurant or cooked that you can’t stop thinking about or telling your friends to try? And what is the meal you want to try in 2024?

Guests:

Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Arts & Culture

Elena Kadvany, food writer, San Francisco Chronicle

Lauren Saria, editor, Eater SF

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Reclaim Our Relationship with Time Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

Time flies. Time is money. Time waits for no one. There is no shortage of aphorisms about time because we are consumed by the minutes, hours, days and years that constitute a life. We want to use time efficiently; we want to get the most out of it; we feel guilty wasting it. But maybe we should reclaim our relationship with time. That’s what co-hosts Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost argue for in the latest season of the Atlantic’s popular “How To” podcast series. In “How to Keep Time,” Rashid and Bogost examine whether hacks to be more productive work, how to optimize “free” time and why we struggle to comfortably do nothing. Set your clock and join us.

Guests:

Becca Rashid, co-host and producer, the Atlantic Magazine podcast "How to Keep Time"

Ian Bogost, co-host, the Atlantic Magazine podcast "How to Keep Time." Bogost is a contributing editor at the Atlantic and a professor in arts and sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's Hidden Inside Planets? Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

“Our experience as humans make it challenging to grasp the conditions that occur inside the planet,” writes scientist Dr. Sabine Stanley. “There’s just nothing like it in our everyday experience.” Stanley has dedicated her career to uncovering the mysterious inner workings of Earth and other planets in our solar system. Below a planet’s surface can be a swirling world of wonder from magnetism, rotation, and volcanos. Stanley explores what makes planets tick in her new book What’s Hidden Inside Planets. We talk to Stanley.

Guests:

Dr. Sabine Stanley, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Planetary Physics; fellow, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute at Johns Hopkins University

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tracy K. Smith Mines History and Memory to Find 'Soul-Family' Dec 22, 2023

Show notes

“I am searching for the soul-family from whom I descend.” That’s how former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith describes the impulse animating her latest book “To Free the Captives,” a chronicle of her endeavors to learn more about her father’s ancestors and the challenges they faced in the deep south of the early 20th century, born as they were “into a nation intent upon their diminishment and inured to their dying.” We talk to Smith about the histories she unearthed and what they reveal to her about herself, her family and a nation.

Guests:

Tracy K. Smith, poet; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. Her latest book is "To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul." She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tending Your Winter Garden Dec 22, 2023

Show notes

You may think that winter is a time when a garden lies fallow, earth upturned and waiting for spring. But there is a lot to do in a winter garden, particularly in our California climate. There is fertilizing, pruning, and even nurturing seedlings for spring. At this moment, when the days are shorter and the world feels darker, tending a garden can settle our mind and also remind us about the promise of regeneration. We’ll talk about the wonders of the winter garden, and hear from you: what’s happening in your garden right now?

Guests:

Tess Taylor, poet and gardener, Taylor edited the poetry anthology, "Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens & the Hands that Tend Them"

Flora Grubb, co-owner, Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Grubb & Nadler Nurseries

Maya Blow, founder and owner, Soul Flower Farm based in El Sobrante

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times Book Review Editor Shares Best Books of the Year Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

For almost as long as there’s been a New York Times Book Review — that is, since 1896 — their book editors have named the annual standouts of the many, many, many books they read. And for the past two decades, they’ve named the 10 Best Books of the year, recognizing some of the most inventive and well-crafted works of fiction and nonfiction. 2023’s standouts include a dystopian satire, a “journey through the deep state” and an account of one house and its inhabitants over 300 years. Editor Gilbert Cruz joins us to share the 10 best, why they’re worth a read — and the year-long process that goes into selecting them. And we’ll hear from you: What was your favorite book released this year?

Guests:

Gilbert Cruz, editor, The New York Times Book Review

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Working on the Frontlines of the Bay Area’s Addiction Crisis Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

Every day, first responders in the Bay Area are straining to help people struggling with addiction. Firefighters and paramedics respond to emergency calls for people acting erratically or overdosing on drugs. Nurses administer care when they arrive at hospitals. Then, a network of social workers and counselors try to intervene with services. Many of those workers see their jobs as crucial, but also psychologically draining and frustrating as the crisis becomes even more dire. San Francisco officials are already predicting that 2023 will set a record for the highest number of drug overdose deaths. We’ll talk with frontline workers about their experiences and how they see the region’s addiction crisis.

Guests:

Audrey Fisher, registered nurse, psychiatric emergency services, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center

Brittany Banis Buckley, stabilization supervisor for the Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program, San Francisco General Hospital

Sam Gebler, firefighter and paramedic. He serves as vice president of San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798.

Claudia Mendez, behavioral health clinician, San Francisco Department of Public Health

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Ukraine War Nears 2-Year Mark, Funding Stalls in Congress Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

As the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on without any clear momentum on either side, Republicans in Congress are balking at more U.S. aid to defeat Putin, while the Biden Administration pursues a deal that would include tougher border enforcement. We’ll discuss the standoff over Ukraine funding in Congress and get the latest on what’s happening on the battlefield as winter arrives.

Guests:

Steven Pifer, affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University; former ambassador to Ukraine and senior director, National Security Council in the Clinton administration

Joan Greve, senior political reporter, The Guardian

Nanette Barragán, democratic congresswoman, represents California's 44th congressional district in Los Angeles County; chair, Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Does the Merger of SF-Based Mother Jones Magazine and CIR Mean for Investigative Journalism? Dec 20, 2023

Show notes

The magazine Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), which produces the podcast Reveal, will be merging. Based in the Bay Area, the two news organizations both work on a nonprofit model and are known for their deeply reported investigative pieces. The two organizations share a long and collaborative history, and have done joint stories in the past such as the 2021 piece on sugar plantations that led the U.S. government to ban imports from the company in question. We’ll talk to the leaders of both news outlets about their plans and what the merger means for local and national journalism.

Guests:

Clara Jeffery, editor in chief, Mother Jones

Al Letson, host, Center for Investigative Reporting's radio show and podcast "Reveal"

Robert Rosenthal, CEO, Center for Investigative Reporting

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vatican Says that Priests May Now Bless Queer Couples Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

The Vatican announced Monday that Catholic priests will be allowed to bless the unions of same sex couples. It’s seen as an important step toward a more inclusive approach to LGBTQ+ church members, but is not the same as a marriage sacrament, which is a formal ceremonial rite. The Vatican emphasized it does not amend “the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage” and should not be connected to a civil union or marriage-like ceremony. Still, it’s being cheered by more liberal members of the Church as a step in the right direction. We’ll examine Pope Francis’ new position and the reaction to it.

Guests:

Michael O'Loughlin, national correspondent and associate editor, America: The Jesuit Review; former reporter on the Catholic church, Boston Globe and Crux; author, "Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear"

Harriet Ryan, investigative reporter, Los Angeles Times; author, "The fight to move the Catholic Church in America to the right — and the little-known O.C. lawyer behind it"

Philip Pullella, vatican correspondent, Reuters

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices