KQED's Forum

In this hour, we unpack some of the Bay Area’s best songs and biggest musical moments of 2021. Bay Area rapper Stunnaman02 got everyone “Big Steppin” with his song and viral dance move. The band Destroy Boys brought us “cathartic, angst-combating, middle-finger-pointing post-punk” according to KQED contributor Rae Alexandra. Local singer-songwriters weren’t afraid to be their authentic selves and share how they’re really feeling about the world. Communities and fans mourned beloved Bay Area hip hop artists Gift of Gab of Blackalicious, Shock G of Digital Underground and Baba Zumbi of Zion-I. We’ll hit rewind on 2021 and get listeners' picks for the best in local music. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last December, amid news of effective vaccines and a new administration, Atlantic science writer Ed Yong tweeted that he was “gently hopeful” about getting to celebrate his 40th birthday party in person in 2021 with a few dozen friends. A lot can change in a year. With a third wave of Covid looming thanks to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Yong made the tough call to cancel his party last week. We talk with Yong about the latest Omicron developments and preview President Biden’s planned Tuesday address to the nation on Covid.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For her new book How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America, Stanford-trained sociologist Priya Fielding-Singh talked to 75 Bay Area families from a variety of backgrounds about their everyday food choices. She joins us to discuss class, race, and nutritional inequity and why, as she writes in the book, “access to healthy food is about more than geography and finances.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For his new book, ‘Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA,’ NPR investigative reporter Tim Mak dove deep into the inner workings of the National Rifle Association. Over the course of three years, Mak interviewed 120 sources and pored through thousands of pages of documents, emails and memos, and in his book, he offers a portrait of an organization wracked by venality, gross mismanagement and financial misconduct, much of it caused by Wayne LaPierre, the NRA CEO and his wife Susan, who plundered membership dues to pay for their extravagant lifestyle. We talk to Mak about his book and the future of the NRA.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brazilian jazz guitarist Bola Sete is considered one of the greatest – but also underappreciated – musical talents of his era. A new three-disc compilation, “Samba in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse, 1966-1968,” captures live recordings of Sete, who lived and performed in the Bay Area for decades, at a storied jazz club. Critics say the new album highlights Sete, who died in Marin County in 1987, at the prime of his career and brings much deserved appreciation to his artistry. The recordings, however, could have been lost forever if not for a few strokes of fate. We talk about the life and music of Bola Sete.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of the many Californians who died of COVID , 1 in 8 lived in a nursing home, totaling almost 9400 people.  The high death toll is now prompting legislators to rethink oversight and funding of these institutions. We’ll talk about how the pandemic has exposed systemic problems with the quality of care in nursing homes and what a proposed state budget reform linking nursing home funding to new quality standards,  might mean for the approximately 400,000 state nursing home residents.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her celebrated 1999 essay collection "Remembered Rapture" — about the life and craft of a writer — feminist author and educator bell hooks insisted that "[n]o Black woman writer in this culture can write ‘too much’. Indeed, no woman writer can write ‘too much'.... No woman has ever written enough.” hooks, who passed away Wednesday at age 69, published more than 30 books, including the noted works “Ain’t I A Woman?”, “All About Love,” “Sisters of the Yam” and “Teaching to Transgress.” Her writing was foundational in shaping Black feminist thought and widening the feminist worldview beyond white, middle class identity. From her pointed critiques of the “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarch” to her poignant thoughts on love and healing, we'll reflect on hooks' life and work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug administration on Thursday permanently lifted a restriction on mailing abortion pills to patients. Previously, the pills had to be physically handed out by physicians, but that rule had been loosened during the pandemic. The decision comes as the US Supreme court is considering limits on abortion rights, and is likely to spark further legal battles. We’ll talk about the FDA’s move with Roll Call reporter Sandyha Raman.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The searing images of Afghans desperate to get on to planes leaving Kabul brought the world’s attention to the crisis created in part by the American withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August. In the four months that have passed, the Taliban have solidified their rule, the international community has responded with sanctions and asset freezes of funds, and a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions has begun unfolding. According to the United Nations, “nearly 23 million people – that is 55% of the population – are facing extreme levels of hunger and nearly 9 million of them are at risk of famine.” The Bay Area is home to one of the largest enclaves of Afghan Americans, and that community has been working tirelessly to help new arrivals and to offer assistance to a country in tatters. As the intensifying crisis nearly disappears from American media coverage, we talk to an Afghan refugee about her fraught journey to leave the country she loves and her community’s struggle to resettle, and we’ll discuss the humanitarian crisis facing those left behind.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking the side of environmental groups and commercial beekeepers, a California judge earlier this month said he would issue a statewide order banning a pesticide called sulfoxaflor. Part of the class of neuro-active insecticides called neonicotinoids, sulfoxaflor protects crops from insects, but scientists say it is toxic to bees. A study by environmental group Earthjustice found that the number of honeybee colonies in the U.S. fell by 45% from April 2020 to April 2021. We’ll talk about the ban and the worrying decline of pollinators.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices