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Why Are There So Many Vacant Storefronts and What Can We Do About it? Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Empty storefronts have peppered neighborhoods across San Francisco and the Bay for decades. One stretch of Mission Street, from 19th to 30th streets, has more than 70 commercial vacancies. In the last few years, the pandemic exacerbated the problem as hundreds of small businesses have closed up shop for good. Cities and business owners are grappling with how to bring back foot traffic to support small businesses, but they face a multitude of challenges. We’ll talk about why so many retail spaces remain vacant and whether blight has seeped into your neighborhood.

Guests:

Heather Knight, columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Sharky Laguana, former president, San Francisco Small Business Commission; founder and CEO, Bandago; founder and CEO, Campago

Ilana Preuss, founder and CEO, Recast City LLC; author, "Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing"

Alice Kim, owner, Joe’s Ice Cream

Ryen Motzek, president, Mission Merchants Association

Michael Gaines, membership secretary, Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association

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Now an Outlier, California Weighs Mandatory Dyslexia Screening Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

California is one of only 10 states that don’t require public elementary schools to screen for dyslexia. But research shows that detection of dylexia's early warning signs can lessen reading challenges for kids down the line. We’ll hear why California has been an outlier and about the renewed push for legislation to mandate early screening. And, with a collective $28.7 million of the past two annual state budgets allocated to UCSF’s Dyslexia Center for research on dyslexia and the development of a new, multilingual and free screening tool, we’ll hear about how the tool works and the latest neuroscientific research.

Guests:

Joe Hong, reporter covering the students, teachers and lawmakers who shape California's public schools, CalMatters - recent article is "Why California still doesn’t mandate dyslexia screening"

Dr. Marilu Gorno Tempini, professor of neurology and psychiatry, UCSF - and co-director of the UCSF Dyslexia Center and the UCSF-UCB Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center.

https://albalab.ucsf.edu; https://dyslexia.ucsf.edu/

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Soleil Ho Steps Down As SF Chronicle Restaurant Critic After Three Years of Transforming the Role Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

When Soleil Ho started at the San Francisco Chronicle as restaurant critic in 2019, they were widely hailed as exemplifying the “next generation” of criticism. Ho 86'd the star system, shifted away from breathless coverage of the glitziest restaurants and brought a social justice lens to their reviews. But a year into Ho’s ambitious overhaul, the COVID pandemic hit and the future of the entire restaurant industry was in question. “The moment marked an abrupt transition in what I thought, to be honest, was going to be a pretty straightforward job of eating stuff and writing fun things about it,” Ho wrote last week in an article announcing that they were stepping away from the position. "All of sudden, dining out became literally a matter of life and death.” As part of our All You Can Eat series with KQED food editor Luke Tsai, we talk with Soleil Ho about food criticism, the changing role of the critic and the state of the Bay Area’s pandemic shaken food scene.

Guests:

Soleil Ho, opinion columnist, The San Francisco Chronicle

Luke Tsai , food editor, KQED Arts and Culture

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Spy Balloon Saga Continues, Exposing Tensions Between U.S. and China Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

China's foreign ministry accused the U.S. on Monday of flying at least 10 high-altitude surveillance balloons in its airspace during the past year. The charge, which the White House denies, comes a little more than a week after the U.S. shot down a large balloon it says China was using to spy on American military sites. We'll look at what the mutual reprisals say about the state of U.S.-China relations and whether and to what extent ties between the nations can be stabilized.

Guests:

Neysun Mahboubi, research scholar at the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, University of Pennsylvania, where he also hosts a podcast on Chinese politics, economics, law and society

Edward Wong, diplomatic correspondent, The New York Times

Mary Gallagher, professor of political science and director of the International Institute, University of Michigan - Her most recent book is "Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers and the State"

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New Weight Loss Drugs Disrupt Long-Held Beliefs About Obesity Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

A new class of weight loss drugs is changing the way doctors, researchers and patients think about obesity. Medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro dampen appetite and their effectiveness has challenged the perception that people who are obese simply lack willpower to make better choices. It’s also raising questions among those who have worked hard to embrace their bodies at any weight. In a recent piece in Vox, journalist Julia Belluz writes, “the medicines have become a lightning rod in an obesity conversation that is increasingly binary — swinging between fat acceptance and fatphobia.” We discuss what these recent drugs reveal about weight gain, willpower and the science behind eating habits.

Guests:

Julia Belluz, freelance health reporter, author of the recent New York Times guest essay: "What New Weight Loss Drugs Teach Us About Fat and Free Will."

Peminda Cabandugama, endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist, Cleveland Clinic - He is also spokesperson for The Obesity Society and vice president of the Midwest Obesity Society

Diana Thiara, medical director, UCSF Weight Loss Management Program - She specializes in caring for patients who are overweight or obese, and has a particular interest in helping them focus on nutrition and lifestyle adjustments to optimize their health.

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Celebrating 50 Years of Conjunctions, Civics and ‘SchoolHouse Rock!’ Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

With its still-vibrant animation and unforgettable earworms, “SchoolHouse Rock!” turned 50 this year, having taught Generation X and subsequent youth math, history and grammar. Today, the series’ 1973 debut also serves as a lesson in nostalgia, “a reminder of a time when network TV gave us a common culture, language and lyrics,” writes The New York Times’ chief television critic James Poniewozik. Poniewozik joins us to talk about the groundbreaking TV show’s role in a shared civic education. And we’re inviting you to join us on our train ride to conjunction junction: Sing a few bars of your favorite “SchoolHouse Rock!” song and tell us what the show means to you on our voicemail line: 415-553-3300.

Guests:

James Poniewozik, chief television critic, The New York Times

Haydee Rodriguez , History and English teacher at Central Union High School, Imperial County

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Annalee Newitz Imagines a Distant Future Where 21st Century Societal Issues Persist Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

Annalee Newitz’s new book “The Terraformers” is a multigenerational science fiction drama set thousands of years in a future where corporations own entire planets and moose can fly. But even in a time when humans have speciated and trains have gained sentience, the urgent ethical and societal issues, like gentrification and water rights, persist. We’ll talk with Newitz about “The Terraformers,” who or what counts as a person, and what it’ll actually take to manage ecosystems.

Guests:

Annalee Newitz, science journalist and author of the books "The Terraformers," "The Future of Another Timeline," "Autonomous" and "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age"

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Wesley Lowery on America’s Elusive Racial Reckoning Feb 10, 2023

Show notes

After the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in 2020 many Americans were at a breaking point, writes journalist and author Wesley Lowery, ready for a radical re-ordering – or at least a re-imagination – of policing. But as most painfully evident after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police last month, there has been no great reckoning, and in fact in many cases backlash has outpaced reform. We talk to the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter about his new piece for the Atlantic “Why There Was No Racial Reckoning.”

Guests:

Wesley Lowery, journalist and author. His new piece for the Atlantic is "Why There Was No Racial Reckoning."

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How the Xerox Machine Launched A Bay Area Art Movement Feb 10, 2023

Show notes

The humble copy machine was meant to revolutionize office work. But when the Xerox 6500 color copier was introduced in 1973, its ability to print in saturated colors on plain paper jump started an avant garde Bay Area art movement. Copy machines offered artists a chance to play with color, form and image as copies were made of copies and the piece changed form. The copier also democratized art by making prints cheap and easily available. We’ll talk with the curators and artists featured in “Positively Charged,” a new art exhibit that looks at the evolution of copy art and zines in the Bay Area. Have you ever created art on a copy machine?

Guests:

Maymanah Farhat, writer; editor; curator, "Positively Charged: Copier Art in the Bay Area Since the 1960s"

Jennie Hinchcliff, curator, "Positively Charged: Copier Art in the Bay Area Since the 1960s"; exhibitions and events manager, San Francisco Center for the Book

Enrique Chagoya, professor of art practice, Stanford University. Chagoya's work is featured in the exhibit "Positively Charged."

Sally Wassink, artist. Wassink's work is featured in the exhibit "Positively Charged."

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Why Is There So Much Misinformation About Menopause? Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

When New York Times Magazine staff writer Susan Dominus began reporting her cover story on menopause, she was surprised by the number of women she met who had resigned themselves to a life of hot flashes, poor sleep, brain fog and depression, all of which are common symptoms of menopause. There was a near universal acceptance that this was their new reality. But in fact, there are medically accepted therapies, like hormone treatment, to address these symptoms. Yet few women seem to be offered this relief. Why is menopause, a normal biological condition that over a million women in the U.S. will enter each year, so misunderstood? And are women conditioned to tolerate suffering such that they don’t seek help for menopausal symptoms? We’ll talk to Dominus and experts about menopause and hear from you: What have you been told about menopause that you have come to question?

Guests:

Susan Dominus, staff writer, New York Times Magazine - Dominus wrote the recent New York Times Magazine article "Women Have Been Misled About Menopause"

Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director, North American Menopause Society; director of the Center for Women's Health, Mayo Clinic

Omisade Burney-Scott, creator of the "Black Girls Guide to Surviving Menopause"

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