KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

The Evolution of Men’s Fashion with 'The Menswear Guy' May 16, 2025

Show notes

Derek Guy – known online as “the menswear guy” – runs the popular social media account “Dieworkwear.” Guy’s recent piece for Bloomberg Businessweek looks at what he calls a new wave of hypercurated masculinity appropriated by MAGA influencers that’s “a backlash against a cultural landscape shaped by gender fluidity and body positivity.” We talk to Guy about how men’s fashion can tell a different story and why it’s so challenging for men to figure out how to dress.

Guests:

Derek Guy, menswear writer, creator of the blog "Dieworkwear" - editor for the website Put This On

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ballers, Unicorns, Valkyries, Oh My! Bay Area Sports Teams Bring Sparkle to the Summer May 16, 2025

Show notes

When you think about Bay Area sports, the Ballers, the Unicorns, or the Fire and Iron are not names that might first come to mind. But these new Bay Area sports teams are bringing the game on the baseball diamond, cricket field, and soccer pitch this summer. What these teams have going for them is not only high level play, but passionate followers who are helping redefine the fan experience. We’ll talk to the people behind these teams, and hear about the city’s newest WNBA franchise, the Valkyries. What’s an under the radar Bay Area sports team you are rooting for?

Guests:

Bryan Carmel, co-founder, Oakland Ballers

Marisa Ingemi, women's sports reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Jack Lowery, play-by-play commentator, San Francisco City Football Club

Venky Harinarayan, co-founder and co-owner, San Francisco Unicorns

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The New Yorker’s Michael Luo on ‘the Epic Story of the Chinese in America’ May 15, 2025

Show notes

In 1889, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the now infamous Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the country. Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen J. Field characterized Chinese migrants as “strangers in the land.” New Yorker editor Michael Luo says that label persists today, even as more than 22 million people of Asian descent now reside in the U.S. In a new book, Luo tells the stories of 19th and 20th century Chinese migrants and analyzes the long tail of contemporary anti-Asian racism and violence while championing those who fought against it. His new history is “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America.”

Guests:

Michael Luo, executive editor, The New Yorker; author, “Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Hirsch on Losing His Father to ‘A Cult and Dementia’ May 15, 2025

Show notes

In his popular podcast “Dear Franklin Jones,” radio producer Jonathan Hirsch tried to make sense of a Northern California childhood dominated by his parents’ spiritual guru. In a new memoir he more deeply explores his relationship with his father and the complexity of providing care for a parent who didn’t take care of him. We talk to him about his audio memoir, “The Mind is Burning: Losing My Father to a Cult and Dementia”

Guests:

Jonathan Hirsch, author of the audiobook memoir, "The Mind Is Burning: Losing my Father to a Cult and Dementia"; podcast producer, "Dear Franklin Jones"; founder, Neon Hum Media, a partner company with Sony Music Entertainment; creator, original series "Smoke Screen"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Running on ‘Vibes’: Leah Litman on the Supreme Court’s Grievance Politics May 14, 2025

Show notes

In recent years the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority has struck down the constitutional right to abortion, delivered a blow to the administrative state and ended affirmative action at universities. To Michigan law professor Leah Litman, it’s not just conservative legal theory that’s driving the Court’s decisions. “The Supreme Court is running on conservative grievance, fringe theories and bad vibes,” Litman writes in her new book “Lawless.” We talk to Litman about the political and personal dynamics dictating judicial outcomes and review key cases before the Court.

Guests:

Leah Litman, professor of law, University of Michigan Law School; co-host Strict Scrutiny podcast; author, "Lawless:How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump Revives Fight Against Sanctuary Cities May 14, 2025

Show notes

In his second term in office, Donald Trump has revived his fight against sanctuary jurisdictions. For decades, local government agencies across the country have restricted law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. Trump’s efforts to withhold federal funding have so far been blocked in court, as they were during his first term. Still some cities are downplaying their sanctuary status as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigrants and pledges to deport millions of people. We’ll talk about what “sanctuary” means in 2025, what Trump is trying to do, and how communities across California are responding.

Guests:

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

Sergio Olmos, investigative reporter, CalMatters

Nick Miroff, staff writer covering immigration, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S.-Mexico border, The Atlantic

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Peniel E. Joseph on How 1963 ‘Cracked Open and Remade’ America May 13, 2025

Show notes

For historian Peniel Joseph, the year 1963 — the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation — is the defining year of the Civil Rights Movement. “America came undone and remade itself in 1963, a year of miracles and tragedies, progress and setbacks,” he writes in his new book, “Freedom Season.” It profiles how events of that year affected Americans like Rev. King, Malcolm X and James Baldwin — and inspired their parts in the Black freedom struggle. Joseph joins us. Tell us: What does 1963 symbolize to you?

Guests:

Peniel E. Joseph, author, "Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America's Civil Rights Revolution" - professor of history and founding director, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, University of Texas at Austin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Next in Artificial Intelligence? May 13, 2025

Show notes

Artificial intelligence dominates the Bay Area tech landscape, and we will catch you up on the latest headlines. From chatbots that promise to be your friend to artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which is designed to go beyond task-oriented AI to comprehend and process information in a close-to human form. We’ll talk to a panel of tech reporters about what’s on the horizon and just how much AI may — or may not —change the way we live.

Guests:

Nitasha Tiku, tech culture reporter, Washington Post

Jeff Horwitz, tech reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Kylie Robison, reporter, Wired; Robison covers the business of AI

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Behind the Trump Administration’s Push for More Children? May 12, 2025

Show notes

The Trump White House is exploring ways to get Americans to have more children, including government funded menstrual cycle classes and a $5000 “baby bonus.” Reproductive health journalist Carter Sherman calls pronatalism “a key ideological plank in the bridge between tech bro rightwingers like [Elon] Musk and more traditional, religious conservatives.” We look at the rise of the U.S. pronatalist movement and what it means in practice for women and families.

Guests:

Faith Hill, staff writer, The Atlantic

Carter Sherman, reproductive health and justice reporter, The Guardian; author of the upcoming book “The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation’s Fight Over Its Future”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland’s Restaurant Scene Is Swimming in Praise, But Struggling to Stay Afloat May 12, 2025

Show notes

Oakland’s restaurant industry is a conundrum. It’s been celebrated as the best restaurant city in the country. But restaurateurs almost universally say they are struggling to make ends meet. As part of our series about how the pandemic changed us, 5 years on, we spotlight Oakland to look at whether the long trudge to pandemic recovery for restaurants will ever end. We talk with restaurant owners and industry experts about the big successes and major struggles of Oakland’s food scene and what it means to support a restaurant.

Guests:

Elena Kadvany, food reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Paul Iglesias, chef and owner, Parché; co-owner, Jaji

Christ Aivaliotis, owner, Lil Hill Lounge; former owner, Palmetto and Kon-Tiki

Stella Dennig, co-owner, Daytrip

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices