Kqeds Forum

Sports journalism has long been a male-dominated field. According to last year’s Associated Press Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card, less than 15% of sports reporters in the U.S. and Canada are women. One aspiring sports journalist hoping to be a part of improving that statistic is high school sophomore Mahi Jariwala from Danville, who created and hosts her own sports podcast “She Can Ball.” As part of KQED’s annual Youth Takeover week, Jariwala joins Alexis Madrigal to co-host Forum’s conversation with Bay Area sports journalists Kerith Burke and Amy Gutierrez, plus ESPN’s Mina Kimes and MLB Network's Keiana Martin, about navigating the male-dominated sports media industry and reporting on your favorite sports teams. 

For years, Asian Americans have largely been overlooked when it comes to representation in the media. This has begun to change some recently following the success of “Crazy Rich Asians.” There have been more box office hits centering Asian American characters and stories, like “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Turning Red” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi.” Still, a recent survey found that, “Americans struggle to name prominent Asian Americans, despite several being in the news this year.” Some Asian American youth activists are recognizing the power of media images and art to influence change and using it to push back on Asian stereotypes and hate, as anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339 percent in 2021. In this student-produced segment, as part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, we’ll talk with Asian American youth artists and activists about the importance of Asian representation in media and the arts.

Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and dozens of others are giving TV and movie viewers more choices than ever. But many consumers are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of monthly subscriptions they’ve accumulated — and their cost. At the same time, the abrupt shutdown of news streaming service CNN+ and reports of subscriber losses by Netflix are signaling problems with the paid streaming business model. Have we reached peak streaming? We’ll take up the question and hear your thoughts.

acquire the company on Monday it spawned a lot of questions in the Bay Area. Will Musk uproot Twitter from its San Francisco home, the way he moved Tesla's headquarters to Texas? If so, what would that mean for the mid-Market neighborhood where San Francisco once lured Twitter with big tax breaks in hopes of transforming the blighted area. And for employees of Twitter, many are wondering how the richest man in the world might transform their workplace, for better or worse. We’ll talk about what Twitter under Elon Musk might look like for the Bay Area and we want to hear from Twitter employees and those who live or work in mid-Market: How do you think this move will change your job or your neighborhood?

We all are “a multitude of stories,” say the producers of The Moth Radio hour and podcast, the project that for 25 years has made storytellers of thousands of people around the world. Now, The Moth has published a new book, “How to Tell A Story,” all about how to turn our ephemeral experiences into memorable stories. We’ll talk about what makes for a good story and hear tips for telling your own, whether you’re in a job interview, introducing yourself to strangers or processing a complicated life experience.

The average American produces 4.9 pounds of waste daily, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This is inspiring some to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle, which involves maximizing already-owned items to reduce individual plastic consumption and waste production. While the zero-waste lifestyle has appeared in more social media feeds and advertisements in recent years, it is far from new, with roots tracing back to many communities of color. The spike in popularity has made some activists feel the movement has obscured those roots, reflecting ongoing racism within the environmental activist community. In this student-produced segment as part of KQED’s annual Youth Takeover, we’ll take a critical look at the origins of zero-waste living and how it can be practiced today.

Twitter has reached a deal to sell the company to tech mogul Elon Musk for about $44 billion, valuing the company at $54.20 a share. If the sale goes through, Musk vows to make changes to the platform, most notably loosening speech guidelines and making Twitter’s algorithms open source. In a statement on Monday, Musk said that “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.” Musk’s acquisition of the platform poses many questions around free speech, and some experts have predicted that Musk’s proposed changes could make it easier for spam, misinformation, and illicit content to spread. We’ll talk about what Twitter could look like under Musk’s ownership and what it means for its users and employees.

Following a visit with president Volodymir Zelensky in Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd declared that Russia’s military capability should be targeted so "it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine." The Biden Administration announced that it would bring back diplomats to Ukraine and also provide the embattled country with $322 million in military aid. Meanwhile, Russia renewed its ferocious attack, bombing two train depots in central Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials acknowledged that 42 villages had fallen into Russian control. As peace talks have stalled and the grim brutality of the Russian invasion wears on, thousands are dead and once-thriving cities like Mariupol have been completely destroyed. With no clear end in sight, we talk about what a protracted conflict in Ukraine means for the region and the world.

The San Francisco Night Ministry has listened to those who want to talk every night since 1964. Night Ministers walk the streets of the Tenderloin offering an ear to anyone who wants to talk, and trained volunteers operate their phone lines until 4 in the morning. It’s gone on for more than 20,800 nights in a row and counting. The interfaith organization provides spiritual care for all, holding services for many faiths outdoors to increase accessibility. In its own words, “We do not judge or convert. We meet people where they are and offer loving presence.” We’ll hear about the Night Ministry’s work, the support that they hear folks need and what it means to truly listen.

The Bay Area’s biggest city has a major political race on the horizon. Sam Liccardo has been San Jose’s mayor since 2015, and the race to succeed him is heating up. This mayoral race is shaping up to be the most expensive in San Jose’s history, with more than 1.5 million dollars already amassed in campaign contributions, including $300,000 from the San Francisco 49ers. We’ll talk about the candidates on the ballot for June’s mayoral election, their platforms and endorsements, and we’ll hear from you: which priorities do you want from San Jose’s next mayor?

In her new book “Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop,” music journalist Danyel Smith highlights the genius and cultural impact of artists like Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson and more. Pulling not just from research but from her own experiences interviewing a number of the pop icons featured, the book presents a unique mix of memoir, criticism and music history that demands Black women artists get their due recognition. Smith joins us to talk about pop stars of “Shine Bright” and the influence they had on her own life as a Black girl growing up in Oakland and Los Angeles.

Reem Assil, owner of San Francisco and Oakland’s Reem’s Kitchen, began her career as a chef with a thirst for activism, often advocating for social justice and sustainability at work. As the opening chef of Dyafa, an Arab fine-dining restaurant in Oakland, Assil began to reimagine power dynamics in the kitchen which she boldly reflected on in her Eater article, “Don’t Call Me Chef.” Assil joins Forum to talk about her new book, “Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora,” in which she weaves personal essays on food, family, identity, hospitality, activism and political struggles amid recipes influenced by Arab flavors.

“If we don’t want to live in a nepotistic society, we have to stop practicing nepotism,” Brookings Institution senior fellow Richard V. Reeves writes in a recent Atlantic piece titled, “Why the U.S. Needs to End Legacy Admissions.” Legacy admissions — when preference is given to college applicants who are related to an alum — is facing heightened scrutiny in the U.S. Some schools are abandoning the practice, and some state and federal lawmakers are seeking to curtail it. In California, a 2019 law requires four-year colleges that consider legacy status in admissions – such as Stanford and the University of Southern California – to disclose their practices. We’ll take a look at the nationwide pressures mounting against legacy admissions and hear your views.

In the fall of 1967 Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther party, was charged with shooting and killing a police officer on the streets of West Oakland. The trial that followed came to revolutionize the jury selection process in criminal proceedings and put the then relatively unknown Panther Party into the national spotlight. The film “American Justice on Trial” premiering Friday at the SF Film Festival examines the trial and its consequences. Forum talks with the film's producer as well as Huey Newton’s brother, Melvin, and David Harper, jury foreman during the historic trial which changed his life, and the lives of many others.

Airlines, transit agencies and rideshare companies across the country are no longer requiring passengers and staff to wear face coverings after a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down federal mask mandates for public transportation. That’s leaving travelers to navigate a patchwork of local rules and raising health and safety questions for some. We’ll talk about the impact of the ruling, which the Department of Justice may appeal, and hear how you’re feeling about going maskless on airplanes, trains and buses.

About a decade ago national publications started paying a lot of attention to Oakland’s food scene. The city burst out of San Francisco’s shadow to become a distinct culinary city in its own right. KQED Food Editor Luke Tsai writes that the buzziest of Oakland’s “golden age” restaurants were headed by women of color, “charismatic chefs who were cooking food that was deeply personal, reflecting the cultures that shaped their identities—Afro-Caribbean, Mexican, Korean, Lao.” But over the years notable favorites like Brown Sugar Kitchen, Fuse Box and Juhu Beach Club have closed, and this month beloved Miss Ollie’s has shut its doors. We’ll talk with Luke Tsai and Miss Ollie’s owner Sarah Kirnon about the forces that changed Oakland’s restaurant scene and we want to hear from you. What do you remember from that era? What restaurants are exciting to you now?

Marlene Sanchez grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District and experienced the effects of the criminal justice system from an early age. She landed in juvenile detention after getting into a fight at school, an experience that led her to community organizing and activism by the time she was 15. Now she’s the new executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, working to end mass incarceration. We’ll talk with Sanchez, the first woman of color to lead the organization, about the fight for criminal justice reform, advocating for incarcerated women and what it means to invest in communities of color.

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.

“Never trust a candy house! It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free,” warns a character in “The Candy House,” illuminating the novel’s larger curiosity around Big Tech in its setting: a world where minds and memories can be uploaded to the cloud and accessed by others. “The Candy House” is Jennifer Egan’s follow-up to her 2010 novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. Known for its inventive playing with form — each chapter can be read as an independent short story, with distinct and yet interconnected characters; one chapter is told entirely through PowerPoint — “Goon Squad” introduced some of the characters and storytelling techniques continued and expanded in this new novel. Egan joins us to discuss storytelling in our online age and why she considers this book an “homage to fiction.”

What’s in a name? The question originally posed by Shakespeare is also the title of New York University sophomore Aria Young’s winning entry to this year’s NPR College Podcast Challenge. Young changed her name from 杨沁悦, or Yáng Qìn Yuè, when she moved to Pennsylvania from Shanghai for high school because her original name was “too hard for the English tongue to pronounce,” she says in the podcast. But sometimes she feels her adopted last name isn’t quite right either. We’ll talk about what it means to change your name to “fit in” in America, or to have learned your family has done so, and we’ll hear from listeners about what their names mean to them.