KQED's Forum

More than a year after a very bad breakup, LA Times journalist Todd Martens struggled to understand why he was still so stuck on his ex. He doodled her name whenever he held pen and paper; he couldn’t sleep and couldn’t stop stewing. So he turned to science to understand why his mind and body continued to hurt so much and shared what he learned in his recent article “Science can explain a broken heart. Could science help heal mine?” We’ll talk to Martens and turn to experts in neuroscience and psychology for strategies to heal broken hearts. And we’ll hear from you: what’s helped you get through a bad breakup?

Guests:

Todd Martens, columnist, Los Angeles Times - Martens covers theme parks, games and interactive entertainment for the LA Times. He is a self-professed Disneyland addict who wrote the piece, "This Is Your Brain on Disneyland"

Mary-Frances O’Connor, neuroscientist; psychologist; author, 2022 book “The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn From Love and Loss"

David Sbarra, professor of psychology, University of Arizona

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Tuesday is the final day to cast ballots in this year’s primary election. Voters across the Bay Area will decide on key races for county supervisor seats, state offices, and a slew of measures aimed at addressing mental health, public safety and the region’s homelessness crisis. Some of the races garnering attention include a rare recall election for two San Francisco judges who have been portrayed as soft on crime. In the East Bay, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín is competing with five other candidates for a seat in the state senate. In Napa, voters will decide on three of five supervisor seats. We’ll talk about the races you’re watching and what you need to know going into the primary.

Guests:

Guy Marzorati, correspondent, KQED's California Politics and Government Desk

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, reporter and producer covering politics, KQED News

Kim Alexander, president and founder, California Voter Foundation

Annelise Finney, reporter, KQED

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By early January 2021, 61 courts and the U.S. Justice Department under Donald Trump had rejected the former president’s claims that he’d lost the 2020 election because of fraud. Nevertheless, fed by Trump and those who believed the election disinformation he spread, the Stop the Steal movement flourished and culminated in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade has dissected the manipulative messaging tactics disinformers use to promulgate conspiracies like Stop the Steal. We learn how to identify those tactics and what we can do to combat them legally and politically. McQuade’s new book is “Attack from Within.”

Guests:

Barbara McQuade, professor, University of Michigan Law School - former U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan; author, "Attack From Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America"

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Macy’s announced this week it would be closing its flagship Union Square store, among 150 other underperforming stores across the country. The news is just the latest blow to the city’s beleaguered shopping district. We’ll talk about the store’s iconic history and imagine other futures for downtown and Union Square. And we want to hear from you. What are your Macy’s memories? And what would you like to see happen in that building and in Union Square?

Guests:

Amy Campbell, building transformation and adaptive reuse leader, Gensler

Peter Hartlaub, culture critic, San Francisco Chronicle

Annie Appleby, her parents met while working at Macy's

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Lawmakers in Alabama this week are scrambling to limit the effects of a Feb. 16 state Supreme Court decision holding that frozen embryos are human and that anyone who destroys them can be held liable for wrongful death. Since the decision, major IVF providers across the state have suspended their services, leaving an industry in chaos and families going through IVF in limbo. Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a bill Wednesday that would have created national protections for fertility treatment. We’ll talk about the ongoing fallout in Alabama and where the broader movement for fetal personhood stands nationally.

Guests:

Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis

Amy Yurkanin, senior reporter, AL.com

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San Francisco is in the midst of a devastating drug crisis with a record number of overdose deaths last year. In an attempt to address the problem, Mayor London Breed has put a measure on the March 5th ballot that would deny cash assistance benefits to people who use drugs and refuse treatment. Breed has said Proposition F would usher more people into getting help as well as stopping taxpayer dollars from contributing to overdose deaths. Opponents say the measure would do more harm than good by penalizing vulnerable residents who need public assistance to survive. We’ll examine Prop F and hear from voters.

Guests:

London Breed, mayor, City and County of San Francisco

Trent Rhorer, executive director, San Francisco Human Services Agency

Aaron Peskin, president, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

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In the summer of 2020, Lebanon was trying to contain both a global pandemic and an internal economic crisis when, on August 4th, a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate at the port of Beirut caught fire and exploded in one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history. The blast killed at least 220 people, injured more than 6000 residents and caused $8 billion in damages. Journalist Dalal Mawad was living in Beirut at the time, and her new book “All She Lost,” examines the event, told through stories of women who lost children, husbands and family members in the explosion and struggled through the financial and political collapse in Lebanon that ensued. We talk to Mawad about what their stories reveal about the treatment of women in Lebanon and how the blast’s survivors are seeking justice for those they lost.

Guests:

Dalal Mawad, journalist

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As some Democrats become increasingly frantic about the chances of 81-year old President Joe Biden winning reelection, there have been high-profile calls for Biden to step down and allow another Democratic candidate to emerge in a brokered convention. Many names, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have been floated as possible alternatives. But the natural successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, is often dismissed due to her own low approval ratings. We’ll talk about Kamala Harris’ record as Vice President and why she struggles to be thought of as a viable option if Biden needs to step down during the campaign or his presidency.

Guests:

Aimee Allison, founder and president, She the People - a national organization dedicated to building the political power of women of color

Errin Haines, editor at large, The 19th - a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy

Shira Stein, Washington correspondent, San Francisco Chronicle

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For years, observers of workplace culture have predicted the death of the annual performance review, calling it ineffective, unpopular and often biased. But some companies are trying to make it better. Does more frequent, real-time feedback sound good to you… or the use of AI to monitor your productivity? We’ll talk with workplace experts about the future of performance reviews and hear from you. What do you think are the best ways to evaluate employees in today’s changing workplace?

Guests:

Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, co-founder, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab

Josh Bersin, corporate talent, human resources and technology analyst; author, "Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World's Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations"

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In his latest novel “Wandering Stars,” Oakland writer Tommy Orange traces the stories of the Native Americans who populated his celebrated debut, “There There.” The book, which is both prequel and sequel, begins with the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and the opening of the first Native American residential school in the U.S whose mission, according to its founder, was to “Kill the Indian to save the man.” Orange examines how you can create identity and connection when your family inheritance embeds thick seams of generational trauma, cultural erasure, and violence. We’ll talk to Orange about his novel.

Guests:

Tommy Orange, author, "Wandering Stars," "There There," and "Normal Ain't Normal"

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