KQED's Forum

Last week’s record setting rains downed trees, flooded streets, and damaged numerous homes and businesses. Now our region is bracing for another massive storm that promises to re-drench the state’s coastal areas and dump even more heaps of snow on the Sierra Nevada. The National Weather Service issued a warning on Monday that this is “truly a brutal system that we are looking at and needs to be taken seriously.” We’ll talk about what you can do to get ready and what all this precipitation means for California’s ongoing drought.

Guests:

Daniel Swain, climate scientist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA and The Nature Conservancy of California

Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist, National Weather Service SF Bay Area/Monterey

Gerry Diaz, newsroom meteorologist, SF Chronicle

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Gender inequality discussions tend to center the disadvantages women face. But as women make gains in education and in the workplace, policymakers need to pay attention to a gender gap that’s widening in the opposite direction, writes Brookings senior fellow Richard Reeves. Boys and men are struggling in school, the labor market and at home, with little guidance on what it means to be a good man in our current age. We’ll talk with Reeves about his new book “Of Boys and Men,” his own experience raising three sons and what a positive vision of masculinity encompasses.

Guests:

Richard Reeves, senior fellow, Brookings Institution - where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative; author, "Of Boys and Men"

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On a stretch of lonely highway, the only people you might see are the long haul truckers whose 18-wheel semis form the backbone of the American economy. In trucking, the hours are long, but it’s a profession that has long offered those with a hankering for the open road a chance at independence and autonomy. But according to author Karen Levy, today, more truckers find themselves subject to data surveillance in the name of highway safety. Those rules have opened the door to invasive technologies that allow companies to exert more control on their employees who are never far from a watchful eye. We’ll talk to Levy about her book “Data Driven” and what she’s uncovered.

Guests:

Karen Levy, author, "Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance;" associate professor in the Department of Information Science, Cornell University

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True crime. Gossip. Niche sports. Deep-dive history. The podcasts that have critics and podcasters hooked in 2022 vary. But what makes a good podcast in today’s saturated and corporate-shaped landscape? We’ll hear from a panel of podcast lovers about the shows that made them turn on episode notifications. And we want to hear from you: Whether your Spotify Wrapped called it your top podcast of 2022 or it’s what you play when you can’t sleep, we hear about your favorite podcasts this year.

This segment originally aired Dec. 2

Guests:

Wil Williams, CEO, Hughouse Productions.

Ronald Young Jr. , audio producer and storyteller, Senior Producer/Owner, ohitsBigRon studios; host, "Leaving the Theater" podcast.

Skye Pillsbury, author, The Squeeze newsletter which reports on the podcast industry

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Jonathan Escoffery’s debut book, “If I Survive You,” presents a series of connected stories about an immigrant family from Jamaica trying to acclimate to life in America. The characters tackle racism, belonging, natural disasters and generational divides. A native of Miami now based in Oakland, Escoffery joins us to talk about storytelling and his decades-long journey to publishing a book.

This segment originally aired Sept. 30

Guests:

Jonathan Escoffery, author, his debut short story collection, "If I Survive You," was released in September of 2022.

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What in our lives sets us up to experience joy? And how does joy make us act and feel? Those are the the central questions poet and essayist Ross Gay explores in his new book, “Inciting Joy,” an ode to skateboarding, gardening, pick-up basketball and other practices and rituals that can make joy more available to us. We talk to Gay about the connections between joy and sorrow -- and joy and solidarity -- and why he says that joy, which gets us to love, is a practice of survival.

This segment originally aired Nov. 14

Guests:

Ross Gay, poet and essayist, "Inciting Joy," "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" and "The Book of Delights"

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Acclaimed poet and novelist Erika L. Sanchez’s memoir, “Crying in the Bathroom,” presents a series of poignant essays about growing up in Chicago in a working-class Mexican neighborhood, her rise to literary fame and her struggles with mental illness. Her book details many moments when she was successfully achieving her dreams and, simultaneously, considering ending her life. Sanchez is also author of the poetry collection, “Lessons on Expulsion,” and the young adult novel, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” that is being adapted into a movie. She joins us to talk about making it as a Mexican-American writer, sex and shame, Buddhism, and crying in the bathroom. 

This segment originally aired Jul. 19

Guests:

Erika L. Sanchez, poet, novelist, essayist and professor at DePaul University. Her new memoir is "Crying the Bathroom." Her other books include the poetry collection, "Lessons on Expulsion," the young adult novel, "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter."

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Come 2027, Californians will have a new post-death option: to become human compost. A law signed by Governor Newsom this month made California the fifth state to legalize “natural organic reduction,” which lets human bodies decompose into a cubic yard of soil. While green burials — the process of wrapping the deceased in a shroud and placing them in the ground — are already legal, composting doesn’t require a dedicated portion of land. And though it’s more expensive than cremation, it’s also less carbon-intensive. We’ll talk about the new law and hear whether you’d want to become human compost.

This segment originally aired Sept. 27

Guests:

Courtney Applewhite, doctoral candidate studying environmental disposition ("eco-funerals"), UC Santa Barbara

Cristina Garcia, assembly member, representing California's 58th Assembly District

Katrina Spade, founder and CEO, Recompose

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When New Yorker writer Hua Hsu was growing up in Cupertino in the 1990s as the only child of Taiwanese immigrants, he created mixtapes and zines – homemade Xerox pastiches of writing, photos and collages – as a “way to find a tribe.” Hsu’s search for his people eventually led him to UC Berkeley where he, a lover of esoteric and undiscovered bands, forged an unlikely friendship with Ken, a Japanese-American frat boy whose love of the Dave Matthews Band, initially repelled Hsu. That friendship and Ken’s murder are at the heart of Hsu’s new memoir “Stay True,” which documents the profound and the mundane moments of a 90s kid seeking to forge his identity.

This segment originally aired Nov. 3

Guests:

Hua Hsu, author, "Stay True;" staff writer, the New Yorker; professor of Literature, Bard College

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There were worldwide box office hits and record-makers, like the follow-ups to “Jurassic World,” “Doctor Strange” and — of course — “Top Gun.” There were movies that quickly developed dedicated fan bases, like “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “RRR” and “Tár.” And there are the year-enders: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” has been number one at theaters these past four weekends, and the sequel to box office history-maker “Avatar” is releasing this month. We’ll talk about the 2022 films that captured audiences and hear your favorites of the year.

This segment originally aired Dec. 7

Guests:

Kristen Meinzer, co-host of the podcast Movie Therapy with Rafer and Kristen

Jackson Kim Murphy, associate news editor, Variety

Dave Schilling, contributing writer, LA Times Image

This segment originally aired Dec. 7

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