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A New High Seas Treaty Aims to Protect Oceans that Cover Half the Earth Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

After two decades of trying, the United Nations has finalized a treaty to protect the high seas – that part of the ocean which covers nearly half the earth’s surface and falls outside of the jurisdiction of individual nations. There beneath the lens of blue water is an ecosystem with more species than exist on land. There are seamounts in the Pacific covered in golden corals that are the oldest living animals on the planet, having existed since the time of the pyramids. There is an underwater fertile crescent off South America where the interplay of plants, fish, and predators create a world unto its own. There are Yosemites and Everests beneath the surface of the ocean that we are only just learning about. And all of this is endangered by pollution, overfishing, and even deepsea mining. We’ll talk about what it means to protect the high seas and the impact the treaty will have on California’s coastal waters and ocean life.

Guests:

Kristina Gjerde, lawyer and Senior High Seas Advisor, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Global Marine and Polar Programme. Gjerde is also an adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Douglas McCauley, associate professor, Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara. McCauley also heads the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California Santa Barbara

Christopher Chin, executive director, Center for Oceanic Awareness Research and Education based in the Bay Area

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‘Born Extraordinary’ Helps Parents Teach Kids to Flaunt Their Differences Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

Meg Zucker was born with one finger on each hand, shortened arms and one toe on each foot, a result of a hereditary condition called ectrodactyly. With the support of her parents who championed her abilities, Zucker learned to ignore how others perceived her and went on to become a successful attorney. But when she passed the same condition to her sons, Zucker says her “old innate pangs of shame” returned, and she had to start the learning process all over again. Zucker joins us to talk about her new book “Born Extraordinary” and the wisdom she’s gained about how to empower kids to talk about – and flaunt – what makes them different.

Guests:

Meg Zucker, author, “Born Extraordinary: Empowering Children with Differences and Disabilities;" president and founder, "Don't Hide It, Flaunt It"

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In Search of Love and Liberation with Writer Carvell Wallace Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

Oakland based writer Carvell Wallace has written searchingly and compassionately about Mr. Rogers, Michael B Jordan, abortion rights, race, parenting, bicycling, basketball and so much more. Running through all of his work is the question of how to be a good person in a deeply flawed world. “I’ve long thought that the only thing that really matters is how we treat each other,” he said. “It’s why I focus my writing on our shared humanity, and the struggles we go through to find love and liberation.” Carvell Wallace has just won the American Mosaic Journalism prize and its 100,000 dollar award. He joins us in studio to talk about his work.

Guests:

Carvell Wallace, writer; 2023 recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize - he's working on a memoir about childhood trauma

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How Old Are You in Your Head? Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior is 53 in real life, but she says that in her head she’s "suspended at 36." That was the age she was secure professionally but still full of potential, paired up with her husband “but not yet lost in the marshes of a long marriage." In "The Age in Your Head," which appears in the April issue of the magazine, Senior explores the discrepancy many of us feel between our real age and our "subjective age" and why experiences like a pandemic or trauma can freeze us in time.

Guests:

Jennifer Senior, staff writer, The Atlantic - author of the article "The Age in Your Head." Her forthcoming book is "On Grief."

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Enrollment Grows Despite Housing Crunch at California Colleges and Universities Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

UC Berkeley plans to keep fighting to build a dorm for more than 1,000 students on People’s Park, a university-owned site that is known as a haven for unhoused people and social justice movements. A state appellate court stopped the project and called for the university to revise its environmental impact report, looking more closely at noise impacts from students. The legal saga over the dorm illustrates a predicament many of the state’s colleges and universities face: a dire need to house a growing number of students amid community opposition to new housing. We’ll talk about why it’s so hard to build student housing in California.

Guests:

Su Jin Jez, CEO, California Competes - a nonpartisan policy and research organization focused on the intersection of higher education, equity, and the economy.

Bill Fulton, urban planner, William Fulton Group; author, "Place and Prosperity: How Cities Help Us to Connect and Innovate"

Ryan Loyola, student, UC Santa Cruz

Katie Lauer, Berkeley news reporter, The Mercury News

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The Boomers Created America As We Know It, Who Will We Be When They’re Gone? Mar 06, 2023

Show notes

Americans love to talk about our generational differences. Gen Xers complain about Millennials, Millennials can’t relate to Gen Z and on and on. But those defining distinctions are mostly contrived, their boundaries mushy. Except for one generation: Baby Boomers. The postwar population explosion dramatically changed the country and the boomers have dominated culture, politics and the economy since coming of age. But things are changing. Last year those who were born in the peak of the boom turned 65. “We are living through a historic disruption of the American empire,” writes Philip Bump, in his new book, “The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America”. We’ll talk to Bump, a Washington Post columnist focused on the numbers behind politics, about the new demographic changes and what a future without America’s most powerful, influential generation might look like.

Guests:

Philip Bump, national columnist, Washington Post; author, "The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America"

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Naming the ‘Just Deportees’ of the Central Valley Plane Crash, 75 Years Later Mar 06, 2023

Show notes

Seventy-five years ago, a plane crashed outside of Coalinga in California’s Central Valley. Twenty-eight of the 32 passengers killed were migrant workers in the Bracero Program, being deported back to Mexico. Unlike the flight’s white passengers and crew, whose bodies were sent home to their families, the Mexican citizens were buried unceremoniously in a mass grave, their names omitted from the headstone. Tim Hernandez is working to identify their names, families and stories and he joins us to talk about the importance of remembering.

Guests:

Tim Z. Hernandez, author, "All They Will Call You"

Mireya Loza, associate professor of history, Georgetown University; author, "Defiant Braceros: How Migrant Workers Fought for Racial, Sexual, and Political Freedom"

Michael Rodríguez III, ethnic studies teacher in Santa Ana and great-nephew of María Rodríguez Santana, victim of the plane crash

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Actor and Director Randall Park on Being 'Borderline Well Known' Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

It seems like actor and director Randall Park has been in everything. “Veep.” “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” “WandaVision.” “Aquaman.” He played an amiable version of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the movie “The Interview.” He starred in and co-wrote the Netflix hit movie “Always Be My Maybe” with Ali Wong. And his single scene in “The Office” playing the Asian version of lead character Jim is a viral favorite. But Park’s breakthrough role didn’t come until he was 40 when he booked the hit ABC series “Fresh Off the Boat.” And that success came after many years living at home with his parents and hustling for guest roles and small parts anywhere he could find them. We’ll talk to Park about his career, his directorial debut, “Shortcomings,” and what it means to find success in a fickle industry like show biz.

Guests:

Randall Park, actor and director. Park's debut directorial feature "Shortcomings" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Park has starred in the Netflix movie "Always Be My Maybe" and the ABC series "Fresh Off the Boat" and will next be in "Strays" with Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx

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Mexican-American Winemakers Are Reshaping California’s Wine Industry Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

Mexican Americans make up the majority of the labor force sustaining California’s wine industry. And, yet, they only make up about 1 percent of the roughly 4,800 wine producers in the state. A handful of Mexican-American families, including the Robledos and Cejas of Sonoma County,established their labels decades ago. Now newer brands are popping up, such as Healdsburg’s Aldina Vineyards and Seis Soles in Lodi. We’ll talk with some of the Mexican Americans reshaping California’s wine industry and bringing an old tradition to a new crop of consumers.

Guests:

Gabriela Fernandez, host, The Big Sip podcast - She also curates lifestyle and educational event experiences for Duckhorn Vineyards.

Lazaro Robledo, president of sales, Robledo Family Winery

Monica Lopez, co-founder, Aldina Vineyards

Christoper Rivera, owner and winemaker, Seis Soles Wine Co.

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Mehdi Hasan Wants You to ‘Win Every Argument’ Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

Mehdi Hasan says he has been arguing all his life, and he’s made a career of it as a formidable interviewer known for challenging presidents and prime ministers on his MSNBC and Al Jazeera news programs. To him, a good-faith debate is not only the “lifeblood of democracy” but it’s also fun, and he wants us all to learn the craft. We’ll hear how to captivate and persuade an audience, use pathos and humor and handle low-information interlocutors. Hasan’s new book is “Win Every Argument.”

Guests:

Mehdi Hasan, journalist and host, "The Mehdi Hasan Show" on MSNBC and Peacock - His new book is "Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking"

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