KQED's Forum

“Mourning her absence was breathtaking in a literal sense; it took the wind out of me,” writes Sara Bader about the grief she felt with the death of her best friend. She was not talking about a person; she was writing about her cat, Snowflake, a constant and faithful companion. Pets are like our family, so when one dies the loss can feel immeasurable. But often, society places little value on that grief: “It’s just an animal. Why don’t you get another?” Yet, the death of a faithful, longtime companion, whether dog, cat, bird or other creature, great or small, can leave a void that is hard to fill. We’ll talk about grieving our pets and how to help them across the rainbow bridge.

Guests:

Sara Bader, author, "The Book of Pet Love and Loss"

Jennifer Scarlett, DVM and CEO, San Francisco SPCA; veterinarian

Jill Goodfriend, registered nurse and licensed clinical social worker - Goodfriend leads Berkeley Humane's pet loss support group and specializes in pet loss and grief in her practice

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A group of scientists is racing to sequence genes from every plant, animal, and fungus on Earth for a global database of DNA. The organizers of the global Earth BioGenome Project call it a ‘moonshot for biology’ which would provide a treasure trove of information on evolutionary biology, the development of medicines, the conservation of species and more. We talk with scientists about their race against time to collect genes while tens of thousands of species are threatened with extinction and what they hope will come of it.

Guests:

Harris Lewin, chair, the Earth BioGenome Project Executive Committee; distinguished professor Emeritus of Evolution and Ecology, the University of California, Davis

Brad Shaffer, director, UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science; distinguished professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Sadye Paez, chair of the justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee, the Earth BioGenome Project; collaborator on the Vertebrae Genome Project, the The Rockefeller University

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At least 53 people are dead after wildfires whipped through neighborhoods in Maui, destroying the historic town of Lahaina and prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents and visitors. As of Thursday thousands of people were without power and cell service. We talk about the situation on the ground, what it will take to rebuild and how to help those affected.

Guests:

Marcel Honore, staff writer, Honolulu Civil Beat

Michelle Ka'uhane, senior vice president and chief impact officer, Hawai'i Community Foundation

Clay Trauernicht, extension specialist in ecosystems and fire in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Kahele Dukelow, professor of Hawaiian studies and administrator, University of Hawai'i, Maui College

Christin Bourland, resident of West Maui

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Starting in 2020, the newsletter Blackbird Spy Plane has served readers what’s billed as “unbeatable recon” on style and culture. Journalist Jonah Weiner and design scout Erin Wylie have amassed a cult following for their takes on everything from why you should “Tuck All Tops” to what “Democratizing” fashion really means. The duo provides recommendations on apparel, housewares and even art that celebrates beauty, singularity and unapologetic swagger. We talk with the creators about the newsletter, whether there is a Bay Area style, and how to create your own fashion mindset.

Guests:

Jonah Weiner, co-founder, "Blackbird Spyplane," a newsletter about Bay Area style and culture

Erin Wylie, design scout; co-founder, "Blackbird Spyplane"

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More than 82 million Americans listen to AM radio monthly, and most do so in their cars, according to recent Nielsen data. But many automakers have been phasing out the AM band in electric vehicles, citing interference with the cars’ batteries. That’s sparked bipartisan pushback, as AM radio is both dominated by conservative talk shows and home to non-English-language and local content that can’t be found on the FM band. We’ll talk with some of California’s AM stations about the communities they serve and we’ll hear from you: What do you tune in to AM radio for? Or, if you have an EV that can’t access AM radio: Do you miss it?

Guests:

Katie Thornton, freelance print and audio journalist; host of the Peabody-winning podcast series “The Divided Dial,” made with WNYC’s “On the Media” about how the right came to dominate U-S talk radio. She also wrote the recent Guardian piece, “New electric cars won’t have AM radio. Rightwingers claim political sabotage”

Lilia Galindo, host and producer of the radio talk show “Cafe Con Leche” on KUTY Hermosa 1470 AM

Irene Tsan Fong, operations director, In-Language Radio, which represents stations including the 24-hour Bay Area Cantonese-language station KVTO-AM 1400 (93.7 FM San Francisco)

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For many of us, the internet has two faces. It can be a place where we’re bombarded by disinformation and polarized viewpoints, subjected to rage and frustration. But it can also be where people with different interests, ideas, and life experiences come together to find common ground. Share jokes. Build things together. This hopeful version of the internet is the focus of a new digital community that Forum’s creating on the platform Discord. We’ll talk about what our new community is, what we hope it will become, how to escape social media’s nasty decline, and how to foster conversations on the internet that aren’t awful.

Guests:

Eli Pariser, author, "The Filter Bubble: What the internet is hiding from you;" founder, New Public

Marina Gorbis, executive director, Institute for the Future

Grace Ling, founder, Design Buddies, Discord community

Francesca Fenzi, digital community manager, KQED's Forum

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Last year, UCLA and USC announced their coming departure from the historic college sports conference of the West Coast: the Pac-12. Last week, the Pac-12 further disintegrated, with Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah all announcing that they are moving to other conferences. TV money drove this consolidation, and it has left Cal and Stanford fans, alumni and athletes wondering about their schools’ future. We talk about the history of the conference and what comes next for California’s college sports.

Guests:

Joel Anderson, staff writer, Slate - where he also hosts the Slow Burn and Hang Up and Listen podcasts. Former reporter on sports, culture, and politics for ESPN and BuzzFeed News.

Marisa Ingemi, sports writer, San Francisco Chronicle

Ray Ratto, staff writer, The Defector - Former sportswriter and columnist, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner

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Berkeley landmark coffee shop and diner Au Coquelet closed recently, joining other iconic East Bay cafe closures, including Berkeley’s iconic Caffe Mediterraneum. In a somber comic remembering coffee shops we’ve lost, graphic novelist Briana Loewinsohn reminisces that, “[w]hat I covet most are the big, spacious cafes where you could sit for hours and work or do nothing — or a little of both.” In this edition of our ongoing series, “All You Can Eat,” we talk about what makes a great cafe, their role as crucial, low-barrier community meeting spaces and hear about your most beloved Bay Area coffee.

Related link(s)

“Please, Don’t Forget Me: Cafes We Have Lost,” a comic strip by Briana Loewinsohn

Guests:

Henri Boulanger, barista trainer, Red Rock Coffee

Creighton Davis, co-founder, Kinfolx

Briana Loewinsohn, graphic novelist; high school art teacher; author of "Please, Don't Forget Me: Cafes We Have Lost" - a comic about now-shuttered cafes in the East Bay

Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Arts & Culture

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Public pools serve as community gathering spaces, havens from the heat and safe and affordable places for people to learn to swim. But public pools in the United States have become increasingly rare over the past century. That’s limited the ability of people of color and those without access to country clubs or backyard pools to learn safely. And it may also be one reason why only 56% of U.S. residents can demonstrate basic swimming skills, according to an American Red Cross poll. We look at the history of public pools in the U.S. and here in California, what’s behind their decline and the racial disparities in drowning rates that persist.

Guests:

Laurie Davies, California assembly memeber, represents parts of Orange and San Diego Counties

Jennifer Lopez, founder, Echo Aquatics - an organization that offers adult and child swim lessons and water sport coaching

Heather McGhee, author, "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" - former president, Demos, a public policy think tank; board chair, Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization

Patt Morrison, columnist, The Los Angeles Times

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The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 90s had a devastating and lasting effect on black communities and the criminal justice system. But Donovan X Ramsey writes that those who survived the era will hardly ever talk about it and when they do it’s, “like a trauma long accepted in hushed voices, with thousand yard stares.” In his book, When Crack Was King, Ramsey is on a quest to understand the crack era through portraits of a user, a kid of an addict, a dealer, and a politician pushing for treating the epidemic as a public health problem. We talk to Ramsey about his book, the myths that permeate our flawed understanding of the crack era and the resilience of communities that lived through it.

Guests:

Donovan X. Ramsey, author, "When Crack Was King" - Ramsey is a former senior reporter with the LA Times. He is currently a senior editor with the Marshall Project.

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