Crosscurrents

UC Santa Cruz was evacuated because of the CZU fires. We hear what it’s like for some of the students and staff. Then, Burning Man is canceled, but you can still experience sounds and scenes from the playa. And, we get a mini-reading from a Bay Area author.

At least 350 thousand acres have burned in the North Bay — we’ll get an update on the LNU Lightning Complex Fires. Then, normally right now, around 80,000 people would be preparing for their annual pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Not this year. Like everything else, Burning Man is canceled. Instead, put on your headphones and take a trip to the playa with stories from the latest season of The Intersection.

People who were pregnant at the start of the pandemic are just beginning to deliver their babies — we find out what researchers are learning about the effects of the coronavirus on pregnancy. Then, a San Francisco poet uses flowers as a theme to address some heavy issues. And, a San Jose author’s new novel is set in the Kurdish region of Iran.

COVID-19 rates are skyrocketing in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, as low-income immigrants risk infection to go to work. We look at Fruitvale’s infection rate and the community organizations trying to help. Then, Oakland artist Paul Lewin talks about Afrofuturistic art and what it means to him. And, we hear a local poet reading from her new collection, "Rift Zone."

Hair salon owners in the East Bay are finding creative ways to protest health guidelines keeping them shut. Then, artists are using their talents to bring awareness to the 2020 Census. And, San Francisco author A.H. Kim reads a passage from her latest novel.

San Francisco’s treasurer talks about a population that’s being forgotten in the pandemic. When shops go cashless what does that mean for the unbanked? Then, in a new installment The Essentials, we hear how Phaethon Brown is making sure BART is safe for employees and riders during the pandemic. And we catch up with Uncuffed producer Chanthon Bun, who’s been out of San Quentin for over a month now.

Singer Naima Shalhoub talks about her new album and what she learned from men in a Lebanese prison. Then, what happens when you sing a song with toxic lyrics on repeat for three days straight?

School is starting back up for many students in the Bay Area and today we meet three generations of one Black San Francisco family who discuss their experiences in public school, from our series "Learning While Black." Then, we meet an Oakland barber who has some very special clients and tells us how he became one of their biggest fans.

Kids around the Bay Area are going back to school. So today, we’re re-airing this story from our series, "Learning While Black: The Fight For Equity In San Francisco Schools." And, it just won an award from the Public Media Journalists Association.

Originally, we were planning to do this series at the beginning of this year… but then COVID-19 hit. We had to put our climate change reporting on pause to focus on covering the coronavirus. But of course, climate change has not paused. In the final episode of our series, we find out what the pandemic can teach us about climate change. And, we talk to a psychiatrist about how to cope.