Kqeds Forum

There’s a dream of the Bay Area as a place of liberation: queer liberation, Black liberation, trans liberation, liberation for all. It’s a reputation that has pulled young people to the Bay Area for decades. But when Corey Antonio Rose moved to San Francisco from Jacksonville Florida in 2021 and searched for places that would embrace a young, gay Black man like himself, he was disappointed. In a series for the KQED podcast RightNowish, he looked at the history of those spaces in the Bay Area and the role of anti-blackness in the Bay Area’s queer community. We’ll talk with Rose about whether the Bay Area fails to live up to its reputation as a queer haven and how to find spaces that foster community and belonging. Guests: Corey Antonio Rose, producer and host of "Searching for a Kiki," a three-part series on the KQED podcast Rightnowish, KQED. Victoria Kirby York, deputy executive director, National Black Justice Coalition - a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black LGBTQ+ people and c

Veterinarians are nearly three times more likely than the general public to die by suicide, and one in six has contemplated taking their life, according to recent studies. The industry has never been under more stress: During the pandemic, pet ownership in the United States rose by 70% and the demand for veterinary assistance has risen exponentially. But many veterinarians are leaving the profession because of intense workloads, crushing student debt, hostile pet owners, and the trauma of euthanizing animals they’ve cared for from cradle to grave. We’ll talk about the mental health challenges veterinarians and vet techs are facing, and what can be done. This segment originally aired on March 8, 2022. Guests: Dr. Susan Cohen, social worker, Dr. Cohen runs support groups for veterinarians and animal welfare workers; former director of counseling, the Animal Medical Center in New York City Dr. Melanie Goble, founding board member, Not One More Vet -- a nonprofit organization devoted to helping the veterinarian

Though it was expected, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has sent shock waves throughout the country. Legislatures in more than two dozen states have already or are preparing to severely restrict or eliminate abortion access. Some providers immediately halted services as soon as the Court’s decision came out while other providers are now scrambling to care for an influx of people seeking care. And patients, some as young as ten years old, are crossing state lines for emergency abortions. We examine the landscape of reproductive rights post-Roe and answer your questions about the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling. Guests: Margot Sanger-Katz, health care correspondent, The New York Times Elizabeth Nash, principal policy associate, State Issues, Guttmacher Institute, research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide Mike DeBonis, congressional reporter, Washington Post

From celebrities like Harry Styles and the members of boy band BTS to social media beauty influencers like Patrick Starrr and Kenneth Senegal, more and more men and nonbinary folk are publicly embracing makeup in their daily lives. And as author and journalist David Yi argues in their new book, the male beauty influencers of today have ancient cultural precedents. “Pretty Boys” traces male beauty figures throughout history, from Ramses the Great to ‘80s glam rockers to drag culture newly entering the mainstream. We’ll hear about how beauty influencers, both past and present, have explored gender through makeup. This segment originally aired June 11, 2021 Guests: Kenneth Senegal, Beauty Entertainment influencer David Yi, founder and editor, Very Good Light -- a men's beauty publication; author, "Pretty Boys: Legendary Icons Who Redefined Beauty and How to Glow Up, Too"

Judging from the recent Supreme Court decisions allowing prayer during high school sports, the use of public funds for religious schools and the overturning of the federal right to an abortion, one might conclude that practicing religion is on the rise in the U.S. But, nearly 30% of Americans are not affiliated with a religious institution, a rapid decline in recent decades. People are now questioning how the erosion of the separation of church and state might affect religious beliefs and personal relationships with religious institutions. Are you religious? How are you affected by the recent court decisions on the religious cases? We’ll dive into how religion influences politics and policy and how religion plays a role in your life. Guests: Carolyn Chen, associate professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley; co-director, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion; author, "Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley" Barbara Perry, presidential studies director, University of Virginia's Miller C

Pain is a "hallmark of consciousness among all beings," writes physician Haider Warraich in his new book "The Song of Our Scars." Pain, he explains, is also gendered, racial and above all so personal that it's the one thing truly our own. Like an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide, Warraich himself lives with chronic pain, brought on by a devastating back injury. We'll talk to Warraich about the biology of pain and how we experience what he calls our most complicated sensation. Guests: Haider Warraich, author, "The Song of Our Scars: The Untold Story of Pain." He's also a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the VA Boston Healthcare System and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Chores are well… a chore. And for many households, the lockdown only intensified domestic tension over tasks like cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. We’ll talk to experts about how to make chores more manageable and equitable, how to share the load with children, roommates and spouses, and how to make the drudgery of keeping everything in order feel more like a delight. Guests: Eve Rodsky, author, "Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live)," which has been adapted into a documentary to be released in select theaters and on demand on Friday, July 8. Allie Volpe, senior reporter, Vox

“There’s nothing wrong with me because of the color of my skin.” Award-winning scholar and author Ibram X. Kendi wants us to imagine a world where all kids of color could be taught to internalize that antiracist idea and develop their sense of self through it. We'll talk to Kendi about how we as caregivers can help them do that and why we need to work to build an antiracist society that can protect all children. Kendi’s new book is “How to Raise an Antiracist.”

Fireworks may be in your future this holiday, but there are other reasons to gaze skyward in July. We’ll talk about meteor showers and other celestial events you can catch, hear about the Mars Perseverance rover’s latest adventures and get updates on the James Hubble telescope, expected to release its first images this month.

America's national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” was written by a white lawyer who owned slaves but fought for Black freedom in court. That contradiction captures the controversy embedded in the song. It is a song that can inspire patriotic fervor and ignite passionate protest. It is also notoriously hard to sing. We talk to Mark Clague about the anthem and his new book about it, "O Say Can You Hear." As we go into this Fourth of July weekend, during a time when the nation is roiled by the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the congressional hearings on the insurrection at the Capitol, we hear from you about what patriotism means to you now. And what song speaks to your vision for America?

This year’s ground shifting Supreme Court term comes to a close on Thursday. This term, the Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, expanded religious rights and struck down gun regulation. In the process, it has positioned its jurisprudence to rely heavily on historical precedents from colonial times to guide its decisions. With confidence in the Supreme Court at an all-time low, many Americans believe that the justices are out of step with the majority of the country. What will that mean for the Court’s future? We’ll talk to a panel of experts about the term’s most significant rulings and look at what might be on the docket for next year’s term when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joins the Court. Guests: Rory Little, professor; UC-Hastings College of the Law; former attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Margaret Russell, professor of Constitutional Law; Santa Clara University School of Law

In some parts of the country, barbecue is a fighting word. It launches hot debates on vinegar versus tomato-based sauce and the right ways to rub, spice and smoke. KQED Food editor Luke Tsai has a different take. His new series, BBQ in the Bay, highlights the region’s unique barbecue cultures from various traditions of cooking food outdoors over an open flame and how it brings communities together. As part of Forum’s regular segment on food cultures of the Bay Area, called All You Can Eat, we’ll dish on Mongolian barbecue, lechon, barbacoa, barbecue oysters, brisket and much more. Guests: Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Pendarvis "Pen" Harshaw, columnist, KQED Arts; host, KQED's "Rightnowish" podcast Ray Castro, dentist in East Bay; amateur barbecue competitor Rocky Rivera, emcee; writer; part of KQED's BBQ in the Bay series

The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines advisory committee decided Tuesday to recommend that covid vaccines be reformulated to better protect against the highly transmissible omicron variant. The vote comes as reported coronavirus cases top 10 million in California – a figure widely considered an undercount. We’ll discuss what the vote means, as well as the latest on covid subvariants, boosters and long covid, with UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. Guests: Dr. Peter Chin-Hong M.D., infectious disease specialist, UCSF Medical Center

Former President Donald Trump tried to wrestle control of a vehicle so he could join the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020. That was just one of several major revelations from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former chief of staff Mark Meadows, during Tuesday’s testimony before the House committee investigating the attack. Hutchinson also testified that Trump called to lift security during his rally despite knowing that many people were heavily armed, threw his lunch at a wall over a news article about former Attorney General William Barr, and endorsed a violent attack on Vice President Mike Pence. Former Trump staffers and aides have testified before the committee, giving the nation a fuller account of what happened on Jan. 6 and how Trump behaved. We discuss the latest news from the committee hearings and what these revelations mean for Americans. Guests: Nicholas Wu, reporter covering Congress, Politico Aimee Allison, founder, She the People - an organization elevating the political voice of wome

A recent Los Angeles Times report examined seven affordable housing projects in Northern California in which the cost of development surpassed $1 million per unit. Part of the reason for the exorbitant cost of building is skyrocketing construction prices with rising material and labor costs exacerbated by the pandemic and supply chain shortages. But, as the L.A. Times points out, local and state requirements add a sizable amount to the total expense. For nonprofit developers who build subsidized housing, that means fewer units for more money. As California looks for ways to alleviate the housing crisis, we discuss why affordable housing is becoming more unaffordable and strategies to bring down the price tag. Guests: Liam Dillon, statewide housing affordability and neighborhood change reporter, Los Angeles Times Heather Hood, vice president, Northern California, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. Tim Grayson, California State assembly member, district 14 (encompasses portions of Contra Costa and Solano Count

Former President Trump repeatedly tried to persuade top Justice Department officials to act on baseless fraud allegations in the days after the 2020 election, former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue testified on Thursday. As the January 6 committee hearings pause before resuming in July, we'll analyze the information presented so far and talk about what's next for the DOJ's investigation into Trump’s attempt to interfere in the 2020 election.

Author Ben Tarnoff thinks the internet is broken:It is rife with misinformation and vitriolic hate speech. It potentially invades privacy rights. In the United States, it costs way too much to access compared with prices in other countries. And, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t work for consumers, Tarnoff says, because the internet was built by companies focused on power and profit. In his new book, “Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future,” Tarnoff offers a vision for a better internet that centers on public ownership of internet service providers and companies. We’ll talk to Tarnoff about his hopes for a more utopian internet. Guests: Ben Tarnoff, author, "Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future"; founding editor, Logic magazine

Roe v. Wade is overturned. Just short of 50 years after the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion, the Court ruled Friday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that states may ban the procedure as early as conception. The ruling is expected to set in motion a cascade of highly restrictive abortion laws in half of the states. We analyze the decision, look at its impact and hear your reactions. Guests: Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's professor and director, Center for Biotechnology & Global Health Policy, UC Irvine School of Law; author, "Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood" Susan Matthews, news director, Slate - host of season 7 of the Slow Burn podcast, about Roe v. Wade

"Painful" is how many reproductive rights advocates are describing their reactions to the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe vs. Wade that was officially released Friday. A leaked draft decision in May warned of the impending opinion's ruling. In dissent, the Court's three liberal justices warned that the opinion's approach  "places in jeopardy other rights, from contraception to same-sex intimacy and marriage." In this hour, we hear and react to listeners as they process the Supreme Court's decision. Guests: Jessica Pinckney, executive director, Access Reproductive Justice, a nonprofit that helps patients access abortions by providing information, financial and logistical assistance Lauren Rankin, writer, speaker, and activist; author, "Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America"

California allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. Yet Cal Fire, the agency largely in charge of prevention efforts, is struggling to track and implement projects and took years to authorize to establish a prescribed-burn workforce certification program, as required by state law. At the same time, its firefighting staff has increased substantially — demonstrating what experts have characterized as an internal prioritization of suppression over mitigation. That’s all according to a monthslong investigation by California Newsroom reporters, who join us to talk about their findings.