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SF Poet Laureate Genny Lim and the Del Sol Quartet’s New Performance Celebrates Asian American Diaspora Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

Why do we leave our homelands? That is the central question which animates the newest work of San Francisco poet laureate Genny Lim and the Bay Area-based Del Sol Quartet. Together, Lim and the musicians explore the implications of migration and the search for a new home in their work, “Facing the Moon: Songs of the Diaspora.” They join us live in the studio for a performance and conversation.

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Get Ready to be ‘Spooked’ this Halloween Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

Glynn Washington, host of KQED and Snap Judgment’s “Spooked,” joins us to talk about the podcast’s new season called The Crossroads. It takes stories about encounters with the unknown to new levels by exploring what happens when desperation drives us to bargain with dark forces. As “Spooked” tours the West Coast — with shows on Oct. 23 in Los Angeles and Oct. 25 in Oakland – we’ll talk about why we crave frights, scares and ghosts this month, and what they can teach us about our world year-round.

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Are You Going to a 'No Kings' Protest? And The Benefits of a 'Best' Friend Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Millions of people are expected to take part in "No Kings" protests this Saturday in over 2000 cities across the country. The demonstrations are being coordinated as frustration mounts over the president’s military crackdown in cities and federal funding cuts. We talk about what to expect and how this movement compares to previous mass demonstrations in American history. Later in the hour, we talk about the value of having a best friend in adulthood. Vox correspondent Allie Volpe has taken a close look at how best friends stave off not just social alienation but also emotional loneliness and why ranking our friendships on a scale of acquaintance can help us conserve social energy.

Guests:

Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science, UC Berkeley

Allie Volpe, correspondent, Vox

Jaimie Arona Krems, associate professor of psychology, UCLA; director, UCLA Center for Friendship Research

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Mychal Threets on Reviving 'Reading Rainbow' And Tech Titans and Trump Want National Guard in SF Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

In a news conference Wednesday, President Trump said he will be “strongly recommending” his administration look into sending troops to the city, which he called “a mess.” The comments come after Elon Musk and Mark Benioff said they’d like to see the National Guard in San Francisco. We discuss what may come next, but first we talk with the new host of “Reading Rainbow.” Almost 20 years since it went off air, the beloved kids’ literacy show is back. The reboot is hosted by Mychal Threets who, until last year, was a librarian at the same Fairfield library he grew up frequenting.

Guests:

Mychal Threets, librarian and literacy advocate; new host of "Reading Rainbow"

Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host, KQED's "Political Breakdown"

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Historian Jill Lepore on Amending the Constitution And Rep. Peter Aguilar on the Shutdown Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

Why is it so hard to change the U.S. Constitution? Harvard historian Jill Lepore says the Constitution was intended to be amended but that we’ve all but abandoned the practice. That’s had profound consequences, leaving us with vestigial antidemocratic provisions like the Electoral College, a malapportioned Senate and life tenure for Supreme Court justices. We talk to Lepore about why amendments are so rare and whether the Constitution can survive without them. Her new book is “We the People.” We also hear from Southern California congressman Pete Aguilar about President Trump’s threats to cut “democrat” programs as the government shutdown continues, and how his caucus is responding. Guests:

Jill Lepore, professor of American history, Harvard University; staff writer, The New Yorker - her new book is "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution"

Pete Aguilar, democratic representative for the 33rd Congressional District of California; chair of the U.S. House Democratic Caucus

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In “We Survived the Night,” Julian Brave NoiseCat Weaves Memoir with Indigenous Myth and History Oct 15, 2025

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Julian Brave NoiseCat’s paternal family traces their origins to the Coyote, a trickster from native mythology who helped create the world. The story of Coyote weaves through NoiseCat’s memoir, “We Survived the Night,” which recounts his childhood in Oakland, growing up with a non-native mother, and an absent Indian father who was born, and nearly killed, in an infamous Canadian reservation school. NoiseCat’s book weaves together the personal, historical and mythological stories that “were nearly tossed in the dustbin of history.” NoiseCat, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “Sugarcane,” joins us.

Guests:

Julian Brave NoiseCat, author, "We Survived the Night" - NoiseCat is the co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Sugarcane"

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Trump and World Leaders Sign Gaza Ceasefire Deal Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

At a summit in Egypt on Monday, President Trump and world leaders signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement aimed at bringing to an end the brutal two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas on Monday released all 20 of the remaining hostages it had held since its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinians it held in jails. We’ll unpack what’s in the peace deal, what brought the parties to the table and what lies ahead for Palestinians returning to a devastated Gaza.

Guests:

Patrick Wintour, diplomatic editor, The Guardian

Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent, Vox - covering challenges to democracy and right-wing populism; author, "The Reactionary Spirit"

Gershon Baskin, negotiator and peace activist - was involved in back-channel discussions of the deal

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In Search of Home Part 3: The Path to Permanent Housing Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

We continue our series, “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” with an examination of what it takes to help a person experiencing homelessness find their way into permanent housing. We talk with providers operating transitional housing with wrap-around services and rapid rehousing programs, that help with leasing new apartments, about the most effective ways to move a formerly homeless person or family into a permanent home.

Guests:

Vivian Wan, chief executive officer, Abode, a nonprofit that provides services and housing in the Bay Area

Lydia Chriss, Hamilton Families client

Kyriell Noon, executive director, Hamilton Families

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MacArthur Genius Grantee Creates Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Solutions Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

We meet Stanford chemical engineer William Tarpeh, who was recently awarded a 2025 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Tarpeh’s work involves developing systems to extract nitrogen from waste streams to be used in fertilizer, cleaners and industrial chemical production. We talk to him about the environmental and public health benefits of his projects in Kenya and elsewhere, the role that California has played in his academic career and his plans for the fellowship.

Guests:

William Tarpeh, assistant professor of chemical engineering, Stanford University

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Emily Baker-White on ‘The War Over TikTok’ Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

A group of American investors, including Silicon Valley allies of President Trump, is expected to take control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese parent company ByteDance, according to the White House. The video sharing platform has come under heavy bipartisan criticism as a national security risk. We’ll talk to Forbes investigative reporter Emily Baker-White about the proposed deal and what it could mean for TikTok’s millions of users. Baker-White’s new book is “Every Screen On The Planet: The War Over TikTok.”

Guests:

Emily Baker-White, investigative reporter and senior writer, Forbes

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