KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

The Stories of Street Furniture Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

Everything has a story — including that street couch in your neighborhood. As USC professor and creator of streetcouch.com Keith Plocek puts it: “Just think of all the sitting. All the conversations. All the silences. Life. Death. Butts. Pets.” And then one day, that piece of furniture ends up on the street and a new story begins — a lucky find for someone, a new canvas for a graffiti artist or an addition to the landfill. In a recent story for the Los Angeles Times, reporter Julissa James explored the range of experiences with street furniture, from the joy of a good find and refurbishing job to the queasy questioning of what’s in those cushions, especially in the age of COVID-19. We’ll talk about the culture of street furniture and hear your street furniture stories.

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New Details of Trump Plan to Overturn Election Results Reveal Weaknesses in Our Democracy Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

A recently-surfaced memo written by conservative lawyer John Eastman revealed a detailed plan for the Trump administration to overturn President Joe Biden’s election. The document included a six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election in early 2021, including throwing out legal ballots in seven states. The explicit nature of these strategies from President Trump’s legal team shows the stopgaps and weaknesses in our nation’s election laws. We talk to Washington Post reporter Philip Bump and Politico reporter Nicholas Wu about how we might address the loopholes that President Trump sought to exploit, and discuss whether formerly-establishment figures like Eastman may face any fallout or punishment.

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As Chez Panisse Turns 50, What’s Cooking (Next)? Sep 24, 2021

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Berkeley’s influential Chez Panisse restaurant has turned 50. The restaurant transformed food culture in the Bay Area and put California, and farm to table cuisine, on the global culinary map. We talk with founder Alice Waters, and chefs and food producers who got their start at the restaurant, about the history and legacy of Chez Panisse and the future of the ecosystem of farms, food and restaurants it inspired.

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Wildfire Survivors Warn Against Promises from Lawyers Sep 24, 2021

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Most of the 70,000 survivors of wildfires sparked by PG&E equipment between 2015 and 2018, have yet to see any of the promised $13.5 billion settlement with the utility. Now, attorneys in a burgeoning wildfire litigation arena are working fast to hang their shingles in towns like Quincy and Susanville, where many wildfire evacuees -- trapped in motels or staying with friends-- try to figure out their next steps. The lawyers promise big settlements out of PG&E. But many families who once turned to these same lawyers after losing homes and loved ones to previous wildfires, still sleep in cars and trailers and are warning recent wildfire survivors to beware of unkept promises from the legal profession.

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California Health Workers Reflect on COVID Care, Eighteen Months Into the Pandemic Sep 23, 2021

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Last December, Forum spoke to four nurses and doctors on the frontlines of COVID care in California. At the time, cases were surging statewide, and no vaccines were available. They described heartbreaking patient deaths, overflowing ICUs and the heavy emotional toll of their work. The same healthcare workers join us again, nine months later, to share what has improved and the profound challenges that remain for those caring for the sickest patients.

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Maggie Nelson ‘On Freedom’ Sep 23, 2021

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The word freedom can be used in so many ways, sometimes at cross purposes. There are those who defend the freedom to remain unvaccinated, others the freedom to move in the world without excess risk. “Can you think of a more depleted, imprecise, or weaponized word?” writes author and Bay Area native Maggie Nelson in her new essay collection, “On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint”. Nelson probes the idea of freedom in the context of some of the most charged disagreements of our age, including around climate change, sexuality, addiction and more. She joins us to share what freedom means to her and why she sees it as “an unending present practice, something already going on.”

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‘Bewilderment’ Explores Resplendence of the Cosmos and a Child’s Mind Sep 22, 2021

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"Life is something we need to stop correcting." That's what Theo, the single astrobiologist father who narrates Richard Powers's latest novel, thinks when doctors try to prescribe medication for Robin, his passionately curious and emotionally volatile young son. But as Robin continues to lash out, Theo enrolls him in an experimental brain therapy that expands his empathic abilities and sharpens his scientific gifts. The novel, informed in part by the classic story "Flowers for Algernon," explores what Powers calls the bafflement of empathy -- whether we would have to give up being ourselves in order to understand someone who isn't us." We talk with Powers about "Bewilderment."

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Firefighters Scramble to Save Groves of Grand Sequoia Trees Threatened by Wildfire Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

When the KNP Complex fire, which has burned about 40 square miles in the Western Sierra, began spreading through Sequoia National Park, firefighters mobilized to preserve the park's groves of ancient sequoia trees. Among the trees imperiled by the still uncontained fire, was General Sherman, the world's largest tree. We’ll hear about firefighters’ extraordinary efforts to save the giants, including wrapping them in aluminum blankets. And we’ll also talk about what a future of climate-intensified fires means for the iconic sequoias.

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Fewer Latinos Identified as White on 2020 Census Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

In the 2020 Census, the number of Latinos who selected “white” as their race dropped to 20% from 53% in 2010, at the same time more Latinos selected “two or more races” or “other” as their racial category. Experts say this indicates an evolution in Latinos' complicated relationship with race. The terms Latino and Hispanic emerged as categories in the U.S. Census decades ago, but the way the categories are presented on forms has been a source of controversy and confusion for just as long. Latinos come from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds, so the concept of a diverse group under one umbrella can be just as problematic as it can be empowering. We dive into the nuances of racial identity and how perceptions of race are shifting among Latinx people.

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Wall Street Journal: Facebook Long Aware of Platform's Ill Effects on Users Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

For years, top officials at Facebook have been aware of the platform's adverse impacts on users, and they've turned a blind eye to company employees who've tried to push for change. That's according to a new Wall Street Journal investigation that uncovered internal documents suggesting the company willfully disregarded reports that it's harming teens' mental health and failing to stop the spread of misinformation. In a blog post, Facebook said the investigation deliberately mischaracterized the company's actions and "conferred egregiously false motives" on its leadership. We'll talk to the reporters behind the investigation about what they learned.

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