Crosscurrents

Today, we get lost… and find our way on San Francisco’s Crosstown trail. Then, a story about a mother in prison and a daughter who wishes for her to come home. 

Today we’re bringing you a story that recently won the Society of Professional Journalists - Nor Cal award for best feature story - small division! 

The San Francisco Crosstown Trail offers up a lot of those opportunities for charm and whimsy. It’s a 17 mile walk from Candlestick Point to Land’s End.

A story from Uncuffed and the California Institution for Women about a mother in prison and a daughter who wishes for her to come home.

"Noises Off," by English playwright Michael Frayn, debuted over 40 years ago, and is still cracking audiences up. And now, there’s a new production of the play at San Francisco Playhouse. Actor Joe Ayers plays the arrogant, but clumsy leading actor Garry Lejeune.

Today, we explore what's at stake when people mourn online. Then, Death Doula's give agency to people at the end of their lives.

When loved ones die we find ways to hold on — through photos and keepsakes. Now, things like AI memorial platforms and companion chatbots offer digitized connection with the dead. With these technologies becoming more common, what does it mean to grieve with a chatbot instead of each other?

This story is about a different kind of doula – an end of life doula. Their role is to provide emotional support to dying people and their families. In 2019 Reporter Annie Berman joined Mimi Burrows and her son, Peter, as they met with a death doula. In the process, she learned more about what it means to live – and die – well.

Bomba is more than just music. Today, we’ll hear how one of Puerto Rico’s oldest musical traditions lives on in the Bay. Then, we hear a very scary Sudanese folk tale.

Bomba. It's a word you feel: percussive, rhythmic, pulsating. The art form grew out of the Afro Indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico. But it’s much more than dance music. Bomba echoes and resonates with the violent history of slavery and resistance in Puerto Rico.

Day of the dead is coming up this weekend and it is a time when many people are thinking about dearly departed loved ones. Next we’ll get a message from the ancestors… through a poem. Here’s poet Nia Pearl with ’Bones talk out of the side of their neck.’