KQED's Forum

The 2020 elections brought in a wave of progressive politicians from mayors to district attorneys. But many of those leaders were subjected to recalls or even ousted from office. In a piece for the New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof, who recently ran for governor of Oregon, offered this rejoinder to critics of liberals running cities struggling with rising crime and homelessness: “[T]he problem isn’t with liberalism. It’s with West Coast liberalism.” According to Kristof, in governance, progressives were valuing intentions over outcomes. As San Francisco prepares to elect its next mayor, and as Oakland decides whether to recall theirs, we launch a new Forum series examining progressive politics in our region. To kick off this series, we talk to experts about the state of progressive politics and hear from you: How do you feel about progressivism? What has it done right? What has it done wrong?

Guests:

Alicia John-Baptiste, president and CEO, SPUR

Jessica Trounstine, centennial chair and professor of political science, Vanderbilt University; author, "Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities" and "Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers."

Nithya Raman, urban planner, member of LA City Council, representing district 4

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Lots of movies are filmed in Los Angeles, but only a relative few give a leading role to the city itself. Yet a new series at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive “considers a selection of films that foreground the history, architecture, and neighborhoods of Los Angeles.” The series includes mainstream picks like “Chinatown” and “La La Land”, but also under the radar gems like “Killer of Sheep,” a milestone in Black indie film, and the landmark Asian Pacific American feature “Hito Hata: Raise the Banner.” We’ll talk with film critics about those movies and more…and we want to hear from you…what’s your most essential LA movie?

Guests:

Elvis Mitchell, culture critic and historian; host of KCRW's The Treatment, an inside look at the creators of popular culture; director of the 2022 Netflix documentary "Is That Black Enough for You?!?

Amy Nicholson, LA-based film critic; host of the podcast "Unspooled"

May Hong HaDuong, director, UCLA Film & Television Archive; Film and Television Archive - which collaborated with BAMPFA on the "Cities and Cinema: Los Angeles series. The series runs through October 3 at BAMPFA in Berkeley.

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On the surface, a ritual is simply an act that carries a special meaning. It can be as ordinary as saying a blessing before a meal or as elaborate as a three-day Indian wedding. Underneath the surface, rituals can be very powerful and add deep meaning to our lives. They may or may not be rooted in spirituality, but they have to be special. But our increasingly secular modern world is full of distractions that often pull people away from traditions and rites. We’ll talk about how rituals add meaning to our lives, how to practice them and we’ll hear from you, what are the rituals you have stuck with?

Guests:

Dr. Vanessa Calderón, physician, professional coach and resiliency expert. She also hosts "The Empowered Brain" podcast

Ezra Bookman, a ritual designer, artist; facilitator and founder of Ritualist, a creative studio specializing in secular rituals

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More Americans in 2024 are taking on a ‘no-buy challenge,’ according to the Associated Press. They’re pledging for at least a year to purchase only essential items to curb impulse spending, reduce credit card debt or become more environmentally conscious. We hear from someone who’s taken on the challenge and the impact it’s had on her, and we explore why we’re tempted to overspend in the first place. Have you attempted a ‘no buy challenge?’

Guests:

Adriana Morga, reporter covering financial literacy and personal finance, Associated Press

Aparna Labroo, professor of marketing and consumer psychologist, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Psychology

Elysia Berman, creative director and content creator, @elysiaberman on TikTok

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California’s public schools will be required to restrict cell phone use on campuses by 2026, under a bill awaiting Governor Newsom’s signature. Many Bay Area schools have already banned, or limited, the use of phones during the school day. We’ll check in with teachers, administrators and students about what’s working, what’s not and whether limiting phones has helped kids concentrate in class.

Guests:

Diego Ochoa, superintendent, San Mateo-Foster City School District

Maximus Simmons, junior at Oakland High School and a student director on the Oakland Unified School Board, Oakland High School

Hasmig Minassian, 9th grade ethnic studies teacher, Berkeley High School

Nico Fischer, junior, Santa Clara High School

Yvonne Shiu, principal, San Mateo High School

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Thanks to cooler weather, firefighters are making progress this week on three major Southern California wildfires. But the Airport, Line and Bridge fires have already burned through more than 100,000 acres, destroyed dozens of homes, and forced thousands to evacuate. And experts say California’s fire season could get worse before it gets better. We’ll get updates on the fires and hear about the latest research on the health effects of wildfire smoke, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Guests:

Madison Aument, reporter, KVCR

Nick Shuler, Deputy Director, CALFIRE

Amy MacPherson, Information Officer, California Air Resources Board

Joan Casey, Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington

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After California made it illegal for pet stores to sell puppies in 2019, a vast underground market developed supplied by breeders in the Midwest that ship truckloads of puppies here. A new Los Angeles Times investigation found that often those puppies had been born in mass breeding facilities where they were neglected and not given adequate medical care. Families, who paid thousands of dollars for pets they were told were bred locally, often ended up with sick animals. Over the course of 14 months, the Times investigated how these unscrupulous puppy supply chains operate, the lack of protections for dogs, and why abusive breeders and brokers face few consequences. We’ll talk with the reporters about their investigation and how you can avoid getting duped by unscrupulous sellers.

Guests:

Melody Gutierrez, investigative reporter, Los Angeles Times

Alene Tchekmedyian, investigative reporter, Los Angeles Times

Melanie Sadek, president, Valley Humane Society

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A tight race is on for control of the House of Representatives this fall, and California voters could play a pivotal role in the outcome. Republicans are seeking to defend seats in highly competitive races in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire while Democrats are focusing on protecting the seat held by Representative Katie Porter in Orange County. We preview the congressional races and hear what contests you’re keeping an eye on.

Guests:

Scott Shafer, senior editor, KQED’s California Politics and Government; co-host, Political Breakdown

Catie Edmondson, congressional correspondent, The New York Times

Laura J Nelson, staff writer covering politics and campaign finances, LA Times

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Marine biologist and climate activist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, like the rest of us, has heard plenty of terrifying warnings about the dangers of failing to act on climate change. What she’s heard less is a question she says is not asked enough about our climate crisis: What if we get it right? That question is the title of her new book of interviews with innovators in the climate movement about what the world could be “if we charge ahead with the array of climate solutions we have at our fingertips.” We talk with Johnson about that future world and how we can get there.

Guests:

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, co-founder of think tank Urban Ocean Lab, author, What if we Get it Right? Visions of Climate Futures - co creator of the Blue New Deal, a road map for including the ocean in climate policy

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Do you have a TV show you hate-watch? As streaming platforms and their algorithms collect more data on the types of shows we like to watch, they feed us shows that are so close to something we’ve loved in the past, but something about them is off. What starts as an earnest TV show tune-in becomes a show you can’t stop complaining about at happy hour. As New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson writes, “you can only hate-watch a show that you theoretically should have loved.” We’ll talk with Wilkinson about how a hate-watch is different from a guilty pleasure, why we participate in this weird cultural phenomenon, and we hear from you: What are you hate-watching?

Guests:

Alissa Wilkinson, movie critic, New York Times

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