Kqeds Forum

Musician Greta Morgan began performing professionally when she was 16, singing for groups like The Hush Sound and Gold Motel before touring with Vampire Weekend and charting her own path as a singer-songwriter. But in 2020, a severe case of Covid led to a neurological disorder that reduced her voice to a hush. We talk to Morgan about what a drastic change to her singing voice taught her about her inner voice and how her listening became so powerful that when she watched a meteor shower, she thought she could hear the stars. Morgan’s new memoir is “The Lost Voice.” Guests: Greta Morgan, musician, songwriter and author, "The Lost Voice: A Memoir" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“An artist is an ordinary person who can take ordinary things and make them special,” said San Francisco artist Ruth Asawa. From her studio in her home in Noe Valley, Asawa created crocheted wire sculptures whose shadows are just as evocative as the art itself. But as the mother of six, Asawa was also passionate about arts education and teaching. As a new retrospective of her work and life opens at SF MOMA, we talk about Asawa’s legacy as an artist, teacher, and community member as part of our Bay Area Legends series. Guests: Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family chief curator, SFMOMA; She co-curated the exhibition Ruth Asawa: Retrospective Terry Kochanski, executive director, SCRAP Andrea Jepson, close friend of Ruth Asawa; Jepson served as the model for the fountain "Andrea" in Ghiradelli Square, and also worked with Asawa on her public school education projects Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Steves is one of the most trusted sources for Americans traveling abroad. But he once dreamed of becoming a piano teacher. That was before he backpacked along the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to Kathmandu in 1978, a trip that made him want to help others experience life-altering travel. We talk to him about his new book called “On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer” about a life spent away from home. What would you like to ask or tell Rick Steves? Guests: Rich Steves, travel writer, TV host Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LaRussell is known for a lot of things. His prolific music drops. His backyard concerts from his hometown, the “itty bitty city near the Bay,” Vallejo. And, for making a name in the world of hip hop on his own – no record deal needed. LaRussell is one of the Bay Area’s hottest musicians not just because of his talent and artistry, but also his business savvy. He is the founder of Good Compenny, a collective of independent artists. LaRussell joins us in studio for a special musical performance and to talk about growing up in Vallejo, what it means to “leave empty” and how he’s forged a career on his own terms. Guests: LaRussell, artist and founder, Good Compenny - an organization that promotes rising Bay Area artists. Michael Prince, violin, Good Compenny Kenivah Bockari, dj, Good Compenny Simon Ajero, piano, Good Compenny Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spotify was originally marketed as a democratic, anti-establishment music streaming platform. But according to journalist Liz Pelly, it has become a system favoring major labels and its own algorithmic playlists featuring “ghost artists,” all while underpaying independent artists. Pelly draws on interviews with former employees, music industry veterans and artists to pull back the curtain on the music streaming giant in her new book, “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist." Guests: Liz Pelly, writer; contributing editor to The Baffler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland based art-pop band Tune-Yards is widely loved for their complex and funky rhythms, layers of sound, thrillingly dynamic vocals, and thought provoking lyrics. The duo, Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, have just released a new album, “Better Dreaming,” praised by critics as highly danceable and jubilant while, as always, grappling with the state of the world. Merrill Garbus joins us in the studio for a new album listening party and to demonstrate how she creates her powerhouse sound. Guests: Merrill Garbus, singer, musician, Tune-Yards - newest album is "Better Dreaming" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever felt so creatively connected to someone that it’s like you share the same brain? That’s how acclaimed writers Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar describe their relationship. They’re best friends who wrote their recent novels “Wandering Stars” and “Martyr” by sending each other “cheernotes” in which they “waved [their] pom poms with genuine excitement at what the other’d just wrought from the ether,” as Akbar puts it. The two are embarking on a Bay Area driving tour to celebrate their friendship and art, and they join us on Forum. Guests: Tommy Orange, novelist, his books include "Wandering Stars" and "There There," which was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. Kaveh Akbar, poet and novelist, his books include "Martyr!," a National Book Award finalist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hercules native August Lee Stevens dropped her debut album “Better Places” last year earning her a following and praise for her indie soul sound. The 25-year-old singer and songwriter started classical piano when she was in elementary school and continued her study at the Oakland School of the Arts. In her senior year, she picked up singing – a decision that changed her life. She is now part of a wave of emerging musicians from the East Bay. Stevens joins us for a special live performance, and to talk about her musical roots and journey. Guests: August Lee Stevens, Bay Area-based musician and singer-songwriter; her debut album “Better Places” came out in 2024 Frankie Maston, vocalist Ash Stallard, vocalist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NPR’s Rhaina Cohen has taken a close look at friend-powered parenting, joining shared households to see how neighbor-and-friend alliances can break the isolation of modern parenthood. We’ll talk about the challenges of communal living and what parents gain—emotionally, practically, even financially—when they raise their kids with their friends. Cohen’s recent piece for the Atlantic is “A Grand Experiment in Parenthood and Friendship.” Would you raise your kids with your best pals? Guests: Rhaina Cohen, producer and editor for the NPR Documentary podcast Embedded; author of "The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center" and the Atlantic piece, "A Grand Experiment in Parenthood and Friendship" Phil Levin, founder, Live Near Friends - helps people live right next door to friends and family Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Singer Sid Sriram was born in southern India, but his family moved to Fremont when he was just a year old. His voice and his sound are the product of his family’s legacy as carnatic traditional signers and of  a childhood in the Bay Area suburbs, listening to jazz and hip hop. Sriram has already achieved fame in India, his career expanded globally after singing for Grammy-Award winning composer A.R. Rahman, and he was recently featured in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. He joins us in our studio to sing from his new album and talk about growing up Indian-American in the Fremont and what it’s like to be more famous halfway across the world than where you went to high school. Guests: Sid Sriram, musician, his forthcoming album is Sidharth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We remember George Floyd, five years after his murder by a Minneapolis police officer. In the days and months after Floyd’s death, millions of Americans took to the streets to protest racism and police violence, ushering in a new era of racial reckoning. Robert Samuels, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “His Name is George Floyd,” wonders however if “the backlash feels more enduring than the reckoning itself.”  We’ll talk about who George Floyd was and where the struggle for racial justice is headed. Guests: Robert Samuels, national political enterprise reporter, The Washington Post - co-author, "His Name is George Floyd: One Man's Life and them Struggle for Racial Justice" Clyde McGrady, national correspondent covering race, The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bay Area Latin jazz legend John Santos joins us with a full band for a live in-studio performance. The San Francisco native is a Grammy nominated percussionist and composer influenced by classic rhythms and traditions of the Caribbean. He founded his own label, Machete Records, 40 years ago to avoid mainstream platforms and maintain his creative freedom. Santos joins us to talk about his San Francisco roots, the rhythms of his Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean heritage, and his latest album, Horizontes. Guests: Saul Sierra, musician, bass, vocals John Santos, Latin Jazz percussionist, leader of the John Santos Sextet Marco Diaz, musician, keyboard, trumpet, vocals John Calloway, musician, flute, keyboard Charlie Gurke, musician, saxes Anthony Blea, musician, violin Javier Navarrette, musician, congas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A record high 7 million U.S. children have received an ADHD diagnosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But journalist Paul Tough wonders if we’re thinking about pediatric ADHD all wrong. For a recent New York Times Magazine feature, Tough spent a year talking to leading researchers who now say that standard treatments like Ritalin only help children behave better, not learn better – and even that effect wears off completely over time. We talk to Tough about why he says we need to reconceptualize diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Guests: Paul Tough, contributing writer, New York Times Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A warm summer day sitting beneath the shade of a tree or a beach umbrella with a tall cold drink at the ready and a juicy book waiting to be read — what could be better? We’ll talk to booksellers from Booksmith and Green Apple Books as well as Oakland-based novelist Jasmine Guillory about what they are reading this summer, and we’ll hear from you: When you’re not doom scrolling, what’s on your must read list for this summer? Any recommendations for a romance novel for the newly divorced? Or a beach read for someone who doesn’t like the beach? We’ll talk about new releases, old favorites and classics that have earned their place on your bookshelf. Guests: Jasmine Guillory, novelist and writer, her latest book is "Flirting Lessons" - her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time Camden Avery, co-owner and book buyer, Booksmith, an independent bookstore in the Haight Kar Johnson, event and marketing manager, Green Apple Books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m

So far this term the Supreme Court has allowed states to ban gender transition care for youth, made it easier for white people and other “majority” group members to prove workplace discrimination and temporarily cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport people to countries they’re not from. We talk about the impact of these rulings and other cases still to be decided. Guests: Rory Little, professor of constitutional law, emeritus, UC School of Law, San Francisco Melissa Murray, professor of law, NYU School of Law - co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and veteran journalist Sara Kehaulani Goo grew up in Southern California making frequent visits to Hawaii, where her extended family owned a vast and rugged stretch of Maui. The land was granted to an ancestor by King Kamehameha III in 1848 before the U.S.overthrew the island nation’s monarchy. Goo’s family held on to a small section for more than a century, but when their property taxes skyrocketed a decade ago, they had to confront what the land meant to them and whether to sell. Goo joins us to talk about her memoir, “Kuleana,” which explores her family’s relationship to those ancestral lands and their Hawaiian culture amid the pressures of capitalism and displacement. Guests: Sara Kehaulani Goo, journalist and author of "Kuleana" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fragile ceasefire is in effect between Israel and Iran, just days after the United States intervened in the war by striking Iranian nuclear sites. President Trump is claiming credit, but journalist and Middle East politics expert Robin Wright writes, “the outcome of this war may be shaped more by Iran’s culture and politics than by the military prowess of its opponents.” We look at Iran’s and Israel’s end games and the implications here of U.S. involvement. Guests: Robin Wright, contributing writer, New Yorker; author, "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East," among other books; Her most recent piece for the magazine is "Can Ayatollah Khamenei, and Iran’s Theocracy, Survive This War?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local media is dying according to headlines. But that is not the case in the Bay Area. Last year the New York Times reported that San Francisco alone had 27 media outlets for its 800,000 residents. And now, four new publications can join that list: Coyote, the Bay Area Current, the Oakland Review of Books and the Approach, all helmed by local writers, reporters and authors. We’ll talk to these media entrepreneurs about what they hope their publications will add to the conversation, and hear from you: What stories do you want local media to tell? Guests: Lauren Markham, writer, reporter, and founder of "The Approach," a new Bay Area publication; Markham is also the author of "Immemorial, "A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging" and "The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life". Soleil Ho, founder, "Coyote" an independent, online newsroom focusing on investigative reporting, arts and culture, and opinion pieces Aaron Bady, founder, "Orb," a new Oakland Bay A

Today’s young workers are rethinking what makes a good job. A new Resume Builder survey finds that more than a third of Gen Z college grads are working in or plan to enter the trades or other skilled blue-collar jobs. Many say they’re seeking relief from rising student debt, and practical roles less affected by AI, including electrical work, plumbing, welding, veterinary care and EMT roles. We talk to workforce experts and members of Gen Z about the forces driving this shift, and what it means to build a future-proof career with your hands. Guests: Amanda Hoover, senior correspondent, Business Insider Iowayna Peña, director of workforce development, San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development Lisa Countryman-Quiroz, CEO, Jewish Vocational Service Francisco Serrano, former educator turned tradesperson; graduate of CityBuild Academy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump Administration has targeted Southern California for its harshest crackdown on immigrants. For the past few weeks, federal agents have raided restaurant kitchens and Home Depot parking lots and roughed up U.S. citizens, sparking anger and protests across the country. In Northern California, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have arrested immigrants who show up for immigration court hearings. We’ll talk about how the administration has so far carried out its plans to deport millions of people and whether our region might experience the kind of widespread raids that have been conducted in Southern California. Guests: Tyche Hendricks, senior editor covering immigration, KQED Jean Guerrero, journalist and contributing writer, New York Times Opinion - she is author of "Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda" and "Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir" Catherine Seitz, legal director, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area Learn more about your ad choices. Visit