Can you think of a seven-letter word for “complex character?” If your mind flows to “Oedipus,” you’re probably comfortable among the wonderful, nerdy world of crossword puzzle fanatics. Anna Shechtman has been making crosswords since she was 15, drawn to the idea that through riddles and puns a puzzle constructor can access “something foundational about language — a quasi mathematical code that could be rearranged and manipulated through brain power alone.” We talk to Shechtman, who now creates puzzles for the New Yorker, about the art, politics and history of crossword making. Her new book is “The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle.”

Guests:

Anna Shechtman, author, "The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle"; assistant professor, Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University

Anna Shechtman Decodes the Crossword Puzzle in 'Riddle of the Sphinx'

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.

News

Politics

News Commentary

Beginning as early as next year you might see a new fixed monthly charge of up to $24 on your electric bill. That’s if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a proposal to rework how we pay for power. The CPUC, which is taking a vote next week, says that the new charge would lower electricity costs for many Californians. But the reality is more complicated. We take a close look and hear what’s driving high electricity prices in the state.

Guests:

Ben Christopher, reporter, CalMatters

Loretta Lynch, former President, California Public Utilities Commission

California PUC Considers New Fixed Charge for Electricity

In her new book of poems, “woke up no light” Leila Mottley writes: play dead / play docile / play along / stare a beast in its mouth and dare it to bite / this is the only way to know if / the country is still hungry. We talk to Leila Mottley, who was Oakland’s 2018 Youth Poet Laureate, about her poetry, coming of age in the nation’s gaze after the enormous success of her novel, “Nightcrawling,” and her hometown of Oakland.

Guests:

Leila Mottley, author, "woke up no light: poems" - Mottley was the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She is also the author of "Nightcrawling," a New York Times bestseller.

Oakland’s Leila Mottley on Her Debut Collection of Poetry ‘woke up no light’

“Intimacy is about relationships within a person’s self, with others, with communities, with nature, and beyond,” writes Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project and editor of the new anthology, “Disability Intimacy.” When Wong began work on the book, she googled what would become its title — and what was she found was “basic AF” and made her go “Ewwwwww.” That inspired her to commission and collect writing from people with disabilities about what intimacy meant to them. The essays reflect on friendships, parent-child bonds, romantic relationships and disability communities. We’ll hear from Wong and some of the anthology’s contributors about the intimacy of sharing and disclosing our relationships with ourselves, with others and with disability itself. And we’ll hear their stories of “love, care and desire” — and the personal and systemic change that intimacy can bring.

Guests:

Alice Wong, disabled activist, writer and community organizer; editor, "Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire"

s.e. smith, freelance journalist whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "Skin Hunger and the Taboo of Wanting to be Touched"

Yomi Sachiko Young, Oakland-based disability justice activist; dreamer whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "Primary Attachment"

Melissa Hung, writer, editor and journalist whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "The Last Walk"; founding editor in chief, Hyphen - an independent Asian American magazine; former director, San Francisco WritersCorps

Alice Wong Redefines ‘Disability Intimacy’ in New Anthology

In 2013, inmates at Pelican Bay, a supermax California prison designed to hold large numbers of inmates in isolation, went on a hunger strike to protest indefinite solitary confinement. The hunger strike grew to include nearly 30,000 California prisoners, and led to an overhaul of prison policies. A new documentary “The Strike” chronicles the prisoner-led resistance and features interviews with men who spent decades in confinement in tiny isolated cells. We talk about the historic hunger strike and the evolution of solitary confinement policies in the state and country.

Guests:

JoeBill Muñoz, director and producer, The Strike; award-winning documentary filmmaker; former KQED video intern in 2018

Lucas Guilkey, director and producer, The Strike

Jack Morris, former prisoner in Pelican Bay; program manager, the Re-entry Integrated Services, Engagement and Empowerment Program (RISE) at St Johns Community Health (SJCH) in Los Angeles, where he serves the formerly incarcerated community

Dolores Canales, director of community outreach, The Bail Project

How a Massive California Prison Hunger Strike Overhauled Solitary Confinement

Summer camping season is around the corner, and California’s parks and recreation areas have something for everyone: secluded sites in the Sierra backcountry, campgrounds with RV hook-ups and a view of the Pacific, yurts, tent cabins and even campsites that float. We’ll get tips on scoring reservations, how to plan for a trip and how to pack. And we’ll hear about your favorite California camping memories.

Guests:

José González, founder, Latino Outdoors; equity officer, East Bay Regional Park District; board member, Parks California (the statutory nonprofit partner to CA State Parks)

Ana Beatriz Cholo, public affairs specialist and spokesperson, Pacific West Region, National Park Service

Peter Ostroskie, staff park and recreation specialist, Bay Area District, California State Parks

Anna Shechtman Decodes the Crossword Puzzle in 'Riddle of the Sphinx'

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