KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

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Chancellor Sonya Christian Has Big Plans for California Community Colleges Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

Earlier this year Sonya Christian became the first woman chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the largest higher education system in the country serving 1.9 million students across 116 colleges. We’ll talk to Christian about her plans to address declining enrollment, ease transfers from community college to the UC and Cal State systems and create more community college baccalaureate degree programs. And we’ll hear from you: what did you gain from your community college education? What would you change about California’s system?

Guests:

Sonya Christian, chancellor, California Community Colleges - Website URL: https://sonyachristianblog.com/

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Musician, Songwriter Kishi Bashi in Studio Oct 31, 2023

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Kishi Bashi is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, filmmaker and Japanese-American. That identity and the liminal space between being Japanese and being American animates his documentary “Omoiyari” in which he traveled to WWII Japanese internment camps and Japan itself to better understand his own identity. Bashi improvises music on site in the film, and his taut melodic phrases, inflected with a bit of Laurel Canyon pop, build and expand to tell a story in a way you have not yet heard. His new double LP – “A Songfilm” – is a companion piece to the documentary and comes out on November 17. Bashi joins us in studio.

Guests:

Kishi Bashi, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist - Bashi's latest LP "Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari" is a companion to his documentary film that explores his identity and the WWII experience of Japanese incarceration. The album comes out on November 17. Bashi is based in Santa Cruz

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Organ Transplant Recipients Share Their Stories Oct 30, 2023

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Every day in hospitals around the country, while one family is grieving the loss of a family member, another family is given news that will offer them hope: that a possible organ donor match has been made. In California alone, more than 20,000 people remain on the waitlist for a kidney, liver, or other organ. We’ll talk about how organ donation works and hear about a new law that aims to modernize the current system. And we’ll hear from you: have you or a family member received – or donated – an organ?

Guests:

Lenny Bernstein, health and medicine reporter, The Washington Post

Michael Pasco, liver transplant recipient

Kris Netherton, heart and kidney transplant recipient

Dr. Harish Mahanty M.D., surgical director of kidney transplantation, Sutter Health

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‘Before the Movement’: The Hidden and Vibrant History of Black Civil Rights Oct 30, 2023

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Court cases like the Dred Scott decision and Brown v. Board of Education are among the legal milestones that mark the arduous journey towards civil rights. But throughout the 19th century, ordinary Black Americans, freed and enslaved, sought to enforce their rights under the law. It’s a hidden and largely untold story of how Blacks both relied on, trusted in, and tried to leverage the legal system to establish and protect their rights, and it’s the subject of UC Berkeley historian Dylan Penningroth’s new book, “Before the Movement.” We’ll talk to Penningroth about his work.

Guests:

Dylan Penningroth, author, "Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights" - Penningroth is a professor of law and history at U.C. Berkeley and associate dean of the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program. He is the recipient of a MacArthur fellowship and lives in Kensington, California

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FORUM IN FOCUS: Professor Debbie Chachra + Rukmini Callimachi Oct 28, 2023

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This week's Forum in Focus takes on rethinking infrastructure with engineering professor Debbie Chachra and the true toll of vehicular homelessness with New York Times Reporter Rukmini Callimachi and KQED callers.

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What Have Your Mistakes Taught You? Oct 27, 2023

Show notes

“Make one mistake each day.” “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying.” These adages might feel cliché. But mistakes, though often embarrassing, really are essential for learning, and how you handle them depends on your upbringing, education and even your neurology, according to USC professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang. We’ll talk about what happens in our brains when we make mistakes, and we’ll hear how you react to a cringe-worthy blunder. Do you tend to shut down and deflect blame? Is it easy for you to regroup and figure out what went wrong? What has a mistake taught you?

Guests:

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, professor of education, psychology and neuroscience, University of Southern California; director, USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE)

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The “Boo Curious” Guide to the Bay Area’s Creepiest Places Oct 27, 2023

Show notes

A black Victorian that once housed a Satanic church in San Francisco. The legend of star-crossed young lovers, murdered long ago in what is now Hayward. And of course, San Jose’s enigmatic Winchester Mystery House. The Bay Area is steeped in eerie legends and locations, and KQED’s Bay Curious podcast is exploring them in a special new series entitled “Boo Curious”. We’ll talk to host Olivia Allen-Price and reporter Carly Severn about the creepy local history and spooky stories their team has uncovered. What’s a location that makes your hair stand on end?

Guests:

Olivia Allen-Price, host, KQED's Bay Curious - a podcast that investigates questions asked by local residents about things both profound and peculiar that make the Bay Area unique.

Carly Severn, senior editor of audience news, KQED

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Viet Thanh Nguyen Explores Memory, Family and Selfhood in ‘A Man of Two Faces’ Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

When does memory begin? That’s the question Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen poses in the first lines of his new book “A Man of Two Faces,” which he calls at once a memoir, a history and a memorial. Memory for Nguyen begins in part when at age four he fled Vietnam with his parents and his brother, stopping at a chain of American military bases abroad and then being placed in the homes of American sponsors in Pennsylvania, temporarily separated from his family. But Nguyen also likens memory to a sandcastle and a flickering single frame of a film, highlighting the fragility of the stories we tell about ourselves and our country. We talk to Nguyen about the intersection of art, memory and displacement, both physical and metaphysical.

Guests:

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author, "A Man of Two Faces." His previous books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Sympathizer"

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It’s Got Pockets! The Complicated History of the Humble Pocket Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

Pockets. They are something you don’t notice, until you don’t have one to stash your phone, wallet, keys, or the random Walgreens receipt. Invented in the 16th century, pockets have had a unique trajectory in fashion. Men’s clothes are full of practical pockets. Women’s clothing, not so much. In her new book “Pockets,” design professor Hannah Carlson explores all the ways this “humble component of dress” reveals how we live. We’ll talk with Carlson about the origins of pockets, what their contents say about us and the gender politics at play in their design. Could you live without a pocket?

Guests:

Hannah Carlson, senior lecturer of apparel design, Rhode Island School of Design; author, "Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close"

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Is California 'Warehousing' the Seriously Mentally Ill in Nursing Homes? Oct 25, 2023

Show notes

Nursing homes aren’t generally equipped to care for the seriously mentally ill, who require specialized treatment and services. But a new investigation by LAist found that in the past year, 25 percent of California nursing home residents had bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or psychotic disorder. And that percentage has increased over the past decade. Some advocates say the mentally ill are effectively being “warehoused” in nursing homes, a practice they say could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal laws.

Guests:

Keris Jän Myrick, vice president of partnerships, Inseparable - a mental health advocacy organization. She was referred to a nursing home after being hospitalized

Debbie Toth, executive director, Choice in Aging - which works to create opportunities where people can learn, grow, and age independently with dignity in community

Elly Yu, senior reporter, LAist

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