KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints. Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love to hear from you! Please dial 866.SF.FORUM or (866) 733-6786 or email forum@kqed.org, tweet, or post on Facebook.
Episodes
May 9, 2025 • 58 mins
You’ve probably noticed that common hobbies from sewing to skiing have gotten more expensive. It’s a dynamic that Atlantic staff writer Tyler Austin Harper calls “hobby inflation.” And it not only affects your pocketbook but also means fewer opportunities for personal fulfillment and community building. We talk to Harper about what we lose when we can no longer afford our hobbies.
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May 9, 2025 • 57 mins
Succulent tomatoes that burst in your mouth. Enough zucchini to feed an army. Corn, sunflowers, and more. The summer garden has much to offer, but Bay Area summer gardening is a bit different. Some of us stay socked in fog and marine layer for weeks at a time, while others are dealing with hotter temperatures. We talk about the summer garden, take your questions, and hear what’s thriving in your plot.
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May 8, 2025 • 57 mins
President Trump may have taken a softer tone in his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this week, but whether that will quell the anger and bring Canadians back to the U.S remains to be seen. California tourism experts cite Trump’s trade policies and nationalist rhetoric for a projected 9% drop in international travelers this summer, with the sharpest declines among Canadian and Mexican tourists who spend more here th...
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May 8, 2025 • 57 mins
Five former directors of the National Weather Service released a joint letter on Friday warning about the impact of major cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that they say will result in less accurate weather reports and storm warnings that could put lives at risk. NOAA is just one scientific organization facing widespread cuts. From NASA to the National Institute of Health to the National Science Foundati...
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May 7, 2025 • 57 mins
When political advisor Chloe Dalton found an injured newborn hare near her home in the countryside, she decided to nurse it back to health. The two quickly formed a bond of quiet companionship. We talk to Dalton about what the hare taught her about trust, attention, preparing for loss and the ordinary magic of engaging closely with the natural world. Her new memoir is “Raising Hare.” What has a relationship with a wild animal taugh...
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May 7, 2025 • 57 mins
Trump has never hid his disdain for California. In his first hundred days in office, the President has gone on offense against the state on a number of key issues, from immigration to education. Scott Schafer and Marisa Lagos from KQED’s politics team are spending the week in D.C. talking with California’s elected officials. We check in about how state Democratic leaders are planning to counter Trump’s policies, how California Repu...
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May 6, 2025 • 57 mins
Public media outlets say they will fight President Trump’s executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end its financial support for NPR and PBS. Public media leaders and executives question the order’s legality and say a loss of federal funding endangers the broader network of public media programming. We look at the potential impact on stations in rural communities in California, where those outlets are o...
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May 6, 2025 • 57 mins
In his new book “Sex is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary,” Princeton biological anthropologist Agustin Fuentes makes the case that among animals, including humans, sex variation and reproductive biology is far more complex and fluid than we think. We discuss why many of the assumptions about male and female differences are more cultural than biological, and what intersex earthworms and fish that switch sexes can teac...
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May 5, 2025 • 57 mins
Tariffs on many of China’s imports into the United States now stand at 145%; most U.S. imports into China face tariffs of 125%. While President Trump and senior U.S. officials insist a trade deal is within reach, China’s Commerce Ministry has stated that it will not engage in talks until U.S. tariffs are lifted. With Trump’s trade war threatening to derail the critical relationship, and China casting itself as a stable counterpart ...
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May 5, 2025 • 57 mins
Last month, Oil Giant Valero announced it would “restructure, or cease operations” at its Benicia refinery by the end of April 2026, as California transitions away from fossil fuels. The news left city officials, workers and residents scrambling to figure out what to do next. Valero is the city’s largest employer and a significant taxpayer, but also a source of pollution. We talk about the possible closure and what it means for ou...
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May 2, 2025 • 57 mins
Laila Lalami’s new novel, “The Dream Hotel,” imagines a dystopian future where even our dreams are under surveillance. AI tools can scan our dreams to determine whether we’re likely to commit a crime, then we’re sent away to so-called “retention centers” to be monitored in the name of “safety.” Mina sat down with Lalami in April at Night of Ideas in San Francisco to talk about the timeliness and inspiration behind her story about a...
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May 2, 2025 • 57 mins
For seasoned and beginner bakers alike, there are always new techniques to learn when it comes to baking that perfect chocolate chip cookie or pie crust. Cookbook author and recipe developer Jessica Battilana shares what common mistakes bakers make, her key tips and tricks for successful baking, and why baking is bringing much-needed joy for so many people right now.
Guest:
Jessica Battilana, co-author, "Rintaro: Japanese Food fr...
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May 1, 2025 • 57 mins
Why do California drivers often get to keep a valid license, even after they kill someone on the road? A new CalMatters investigation studied tens of thousands of DMV driver reports and found that nearly 40 percent of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 are able to drive on the road today. Nearly 400 of those drivers have caused other collisions since their first fatal crash. We’ll talk to the reporter behind...
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May 1, 2025 • 57 mins
For the past several weeks a 45-foot tall wire sculpture of a nude woman has loomed over San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. “R-Evolution,” which first appeared at Burning Man in 2015, has gotten a very mixed reception, sparking controversy in the city over who public art is for and who gets a say. We’ll talk about how public art gets selected, how it illuminates the different relationships people have with shared urban spaces, and ...
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April 30, 2025 • 57 mins
On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured South Vietnam’s capital of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. With 50 years now passed, those who left Vietnam — and subsequent generations — are reflecting on how the war and the ensuing exodus have influenced their identities and heritage. Three writers from across the Vietnamese diaspora write about the war and its lasting impacts on refugees and future generations in a new issue ...
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April 30, 2025 • 57 mins
Donald Trump has given Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency far-reaching authority to fire federal workers without cause and gain access to the confidential information of millions of Americans. The effect has been a wide-scale bulldozing of the federal government. In looking back on the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, we talk with reporters from Wired magazine, who have broken some of ...
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April 29, 2025 • 57 mins
How have you been affected by Trump’s first 100 days in office? Whether you rushed to buy a car before the tariffs set in, changed your travel plans or cut out caffeine, we want to hear how the Trump administration has affected your daily life. Have your community, job or finances been impacted? Tell us how, as well as how you’re managing — and how you’re thinking about your approach to the next 3.5 years.
Guests:
Michelle Si...
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April 29, 2025 • 57 mins
Autism spectrum disorder can be found in 2.2% of the population, but for women and girls, as well as many adults, autism is a diagnosis that is often missed. We look into who is underdiagnosed and why — and how our conceptions of autism and neurodivergence are changing. As Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. portrays autism as a “tragedy,” we’ll talk about ways in which many people with autism are living and thriving.
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April 28, 2025 • 57 mins
Kathy Ryan was the longtime director of photography at the New York Times Magazine. For nearly four decades, Ryan shaped the way we witnessed history: January 6th, wars abroad and the impacts of COVID-19 and 9/11 We’ll talk with Ryan about storytelling through images. And we’ll discuss what makes a good photograph when we’re inundated by them, now that so many of us carry a camera in our pockets. We want to hear from you: What’s a ...
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April 28, 2025 • 57 mins
In an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Trump targeted the Smithsonian, demanding that “improper ideology” be removed from exhibits. Under the order, exhibits that “divide” Americans will be defunded, including portrayals of race and its history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We talk to Clint Smith, Atlantic staff writer and author of “How the Word...
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