KQED's Forum

Each season of the reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, seeks to crown “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” Launched 11 years ago, the show is an Emmy-winning hit that has catapulted the careers of dozens of drag queens and amassed a huge international fanbase. In their new book “Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer of Life,” pop culture bloggers Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez highlight the roots of drag culture and the LGBTQ history that inform the beloved reality show. We’ll talk to Fitzgerald and Marquez, who are known for being “fabulous and opinionated” on their blog, about the significance of drag culture and what the art of drag can offer us in these challenging times.

On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that many of the company's employees will be able to work from home permanently. That announcement comes on the heels of a similar move from fellow tech companies Twitter and Square. With these more flexible policies emerging during the pandemic, many tech workers are considering defecting from the Bay Area’s sky-high cost of living for more affordable pastures. We'll discuss what this could mean for Silicon Valley and Bay Area culture and we want to hear from you: are you a tech worker who's considering moving elsewhere?

Nearly 80% of those who have died from COVID-19 in California were over the age of 65, yet health care for seniors was slashed in the most recent state budget. Advocates for the elderly say its just another example of ageism, which has been exacerbated during the pandemic. From suggestions that old peoples lives be sacrificed for the sake of the economy to the struggle to get PPE and tests in nursing homes, we'll talk about the role ageism is playing in the coronavirus response.

With the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, California cities and counties are seeing more demand for public services at the same time as revenues are shrinking. Officials are weighing which services are most essential and which they may have to cut or gut. Meanwhile, the League of California Cities projects that cities could experience a combined $7 billion shortfall during the next two years. In this hour of Forum, we talk to policy experts and elected officials about how local governments plan to weather the crisis.

Scientific research shows that spending time in natural environments can help lower blood pressure and can improve mental health.  During a time of quarantine, gardeners know that an outdoor space, a patio, or a cluster of herbs in the windowsill can offer some beauty and solace. We talk with experts about what lessons can be learned through gardening during the pandemic, and answer your questions about how to develop a green thumb.

In his latest book, "The World: A Brief Introduction," Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass writes that "what begins at the local level can quickly become global." We're seeing the stark truth of that statement in the devastating ripple effects the coronavirus pandemic continues to have across the globe. And it's why Haass sees institutions of global governance like the World Health Organization as "essential" to this era. In this hour, we talk to Haass about the book, the unique challenges of our more interconnected world and how we can better navigate them.

Empty storefronts and going-out-of-business sales had become commonplace in shopping centers nationwide even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Retailers of all sizes had struggled for years to navigate online shopping, changing consumer behavior, and increasing competition. Now that stay-at-home orders have forced most stores to close, the industry is facing an existential crisis. Experts expect thousands of brick and mortar locations to close permanently. Suburban mall staple J.C. Penney Co., luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group Inc., and preppy clothes purveyor J.Crew Group, Inc. have filed or are close to filing for bankruptcy. We discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has battered the retail industry, shifts in consumer spending habits, and what shopping will look like in the future.

Secretary of State Pompeo confirmed Monday that he asked President Trump to fire the State Department’s Inspector General, leaving it without a watchdog. This follows Attorney General Barr and the Department of Justice dropping the case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, despite his guilty plea. For author Sarah Kendzior, these moves are just more evidence of what she has been warning about for years -- President Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and the growing threats to checks and balances and the rule of law. Kendzior joins us to talk about her new book "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America."

Starting Monday, three Bay Area counties -- San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin -- will all move into Phase 2 of Gov. Gavin Newsom's four-phase plan to gradually reopen the state. This means those counties will allow retail for curbside pickup and permit manufacturing and warehouse work. Barring a spike in coronavirus cases, Alameda and Contra Costa counties are also expected to enter Phase 2 sometime next week, leaving Santa Clara as the only county in California under stricter order.  Tell us: what questions do you have about this new phase of shelter-in-place?

The United Nations World Food Programme warns the number of people facing starvation across the globe could nearly double to 265 million because of the coronavirus pandemic. In his new book, Hunger, author Martin Caparros calls the lack of access to food “the oldest problem” despite the fact that enough food is produced worldwide to feed everyone. The disconnect between available supplies and the people that need it is now exacerbated by a global health crisis. We examine the threat of growing food insecurity amid the coronavirus pandemic.