KQED's Forum

Why is the ocean full of moon jellies? How do snails use fishing nets made of slime? What’s actually happening when a mosquito sucks your blood? These are just some of the questions that the producers and scientists behind “Deep Look,” KQED’s Emmy-award winning video series, take on. Now in its 11th season, “Deep Look,” uses ultra-high definition video to give viewers an up close – and sometimes microscopic look – at the insects, animals and plants that we can find around us. We’ll talk to the team behind the show, and hear from you: what’s something in the natural world that you’ve given a deeper look, and how did that make you feel?

Guests:

Damon Tighe, biotech educator and naturalist

Sarah Cohen, professor of biology, San Francisco State's Estuary & Ocean Science Center

Gabriela Quirós, supervising producer for Deep Look, KQED

Josh Cassidy, lead producer and cinematographer for Deep Look, KQED

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Firefighters are battling the massive Park Fire near Chico which has already burned an area larger than the city of Los Angeles – making it the fifth largest wildfire in state history. Meanwhile, the Borel fire, which last weekend destroyed the town of Havilah, continues to burn in Kern County, and parts of Riverside county remain under evacuation orders because of wildfires there. We look at the impacts of these wildfires across the state and hear from people who’ve been affected.

Guests:

Zeke Lunder, pyrogeographer; founder, Deer Creek Resources and Lookout Media

Madison Aument, reporter, KVCR

Isaac Sanchez, deputy chief of communications, Cal Fire

Grace Toohey, reporter, LA Times

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The summer of 1982 was a blockbuster for sci-fi movies. Over the course of six consecutive weekends, eight movies in that genre premiered: E.T. Poltergeist. Tron. Blade Runner. Mad Max: Road Warrior. Conan the Barbarian. The Thing. Some were hits. Others were bombs. But all changed the course of filmmaking according to film critic Chris Nashawaty. In his new book, “The Future Was Now,” he shares behind the scenes details and explains why these films remain important today. We talk to Nashawaty and hear from you: How did these films impact you?

Guest:

Chris Nashawaty, author, "The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982","Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story"; former film critic, Entertainment Weekly

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“My own life has been defined by a search for lesbian spaces.” So says journalist June Thomas, whose new book “A Place of Our Own” explores third spaces for queer women, places that are not work or home. Tracing the history of lesbian bars, coffee shops, bookstores, communes, sex stores, vacations and softball teams, Thomas argues for their importance in community building, political organizing, friendship and love — then and now. We’ll talk with Thomas about her new book, and we’ll hear from the founders of two California LGBTQ groups — Queer Run San Francisco and HOT POT in Los Angeles’ Koreatown — about how they center and create community for queer women of color. Tell us: What have queer women’s spaces meant to you?

Guests:

June Thomas, co-host, Slate's "Working" podcast; author, "A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women's Culture"

Chloe Morizono, producer, KQED; founder, Queer Run San Francisco

Jordyn Sun, creator of HOT POT, which puts on QTBIPOC parties in LA's K-Town

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After a video of republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance resurfaced that features him mocking “childless cat ladies,” child-free Americans erupted with outrage. A growing percentage of Americans under 50 — 47%, according to a new study from Pew — say they are unlikely to have kids because they simply don’t want them. Vance’s comments also touched a nerve with people who are childless because of infertility, economic pressures or lack of social support for parents. Many child-free people function as pillars in their communities and make up a significant piece of the electorate. We talk about the rising trend to not have children and what impact this might have on the election. And we hear from you: have you decided not to have children?

Guests:

Amy Blackstone, professor of sociology, University of Maine; author, "Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence"

Natalie Arroyo Camacho, freelance lifestyle writer

Jess Bidgood,, political journalist for The New York Times, author of the recent article, “The Republicans Who Want to Make America Have Babies Again”

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

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Nathan Thrall won a 2024 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama.” It tells the story of a school bus crash in 2012 outside of Jerusalem; the bus was carrying a group of Palestinian kindergartners when it collided with a truck, killing 6 children and their teacher. Thrall follows the accident’s aftermath and one parent’s frantic search for his son, exposing the bureaucracy and brutality of life under occupation. We talk to Thrall about what we can still learn from the crash and why he says it embodies the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Guests:

Nathan Thrall, journalist and author, "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy" - former director of the Israel/Palestine Project, International Crisis Group

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Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial and ethnic identity is either an asset or a liability on the campaign trail — it depends on whom you ask. Many voters say they’re ready to elect the nation’s first Black and Asian female president, while some worry that racist backlash will impede her chances. Still others claim she’s “not Black enough.” But, as the United States becomes more diverse and more people identify as multiracial, the Harris campaign is already shifting national discourse about identity politics. We’ll talk about what Harris’s candidacy – and voters’ reactions to it – say about America’s understanding of mixed race identity.

Guests:

Celeste Headlee , award-winning journalist formerly with National Public Radio, professional speaker and author of "We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter"

Sonja Diaz , civil rights attorney, policy expert and co-founder, Latina Futures 2050 Lab - an organization focused on promoting access to leadership roles for Latinas. Diaz is also the founding director emeritus, UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director and founder, AAPI Data - a national research and policy organization focused on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He is also a researcher at the Asian American Research Center, University of California, Berkeley.

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Sean Wang’s semi-autobiographical new film “Dìdi (弟弟)” follows a 13-year-old skater in 2008 Fremont, California, the summer before he starts high school. Called “Dìdi” by his family, “WangWang” by his Fremont friends and crush, and “Chris” by the skaters he wants to befriend, the protagonist blunders through an adolescence set among real-life Fremont skate spots and Sean Wang’s own childhood bedroom. As Dìdi learns how to navigate friendships and crushes via MySpace and AIM, he also learns how to see his immigrant mother, played by Joan Chen, as her own person. Sean Wang, who is 30, was nominated for an Academy Award last year for his documentary short “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” about his paternal and maternal grandmothers, both immigrants from Taiwan. “Dìdi,” Wang’s feature-length debut, received a standing ovation at Sundance, along with the Audience Award and a prize for its ensemble cast. We’ll talk with Wang and Chen about depicting the Bay Area of 2008 and their own reflections on coming of age.

Guests:

Joan Chen, actor-producer, Dìdi (弟弟)

Sean Wang , director, Dìdi (弟弟)

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In keeping with his vow to reform the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden issued a plan calling for term limits for justices, a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity, and a “binding code of conduct” to replace the voluntary ethics guidelines established last year by the court. Biden assailed recent Supreme Court decisions and ethics scandals in a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post: “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms,” he wrote. We’ll talk about Biden’s proposed reforms and which ones – if any – could be enacted before he leaves office.

Guests:

Olatunde C. Johnson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg '59 Professor of Law, Columbia Law School - She served on President Biden's Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court

Philip Bump, national columnist, Washington Post - Bump is the author of "The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America"

Jennifer Ahearn, Senior counsel, Brennan Center - Ahearn previously served as Policy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), where she led a team focused on government ethics and accountability

Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator, Padilla sits on the Judiciary Committee

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Most climate action today focuses on zeroing out carbon emissions, but Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson wants us to take a hard look at methane. It’s a byproduct of animal agriculture and fossil fuel extraction, and pound for pound it’s a greenhouse gas 80 to 90 times more potent than carbon dioxide. That means the upside of reducing methane emissions is significant: Jackson says that no other greenhouse gas provides such an immediate opportunity to slow climate change. We learn more and hear why Jackson’s hopeful about curbing methane emissions in our lifetimes. His new book is “Into the Clear Blue Sky.”

Guests:

Rob Jackson, professor of earth system science; senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy; author, "Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere"

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