KQED's Forum

California in 2023 experienced a net loss of nearly 270,000 residents. The main reason given by those surveyed? The state’s cost of living is too high for working families. According to journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, much of the blame for that lies with Democrats, who they say have “failed at the work of governing” by pushing policies that make it too hard to build homes, mass transit and clean energy infrastructure. We talk to Klein and Thompson about how they think the left can govern better and smarter. Their new book is “Abundance.”

Guests:

Ezra Klein, columnist, The New York Times; co-author of "Abundance" and "Why We're Polarized;" his podcast is "The Ezra Klein Show"

Derek Thompson, staff writer and author of the Work in Progress newsletter; The Atlantic; co-author of "Abundance"

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In his new book “Carbon: The Book of Life,” Paul Hawken guides readers through the integral role of carbon in our world and daily lives. Carbon is a miracle element that is the basis of life on earth, and yet, it has become maligned as the culprit of our climate change crisis. Hawken, a Bay Area native and longtime environmentalist and entrepreneur, offers a hopeful re-consideration of carbon, as a way to embrace our connection to the planet and guide us to climate solutions. We talk to Hawken about his new book, his work on environmental sustainability and how to reimagine our complex relationship with carbon and the planet as a whole.

Guests:

Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur and author; his latest book is "Carbon: The Book of Life." His other books include "Regeneration," "Drawdown," "Blessed Unrest" and "The Ecology of Commerce."

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Emmy award winning Comedian Carol Leifer has sat through countless bad speeches. Fed up, she set out to create the ultimate guide to speech writing with co-author Rick Mitchell. It’s called “How to Write a Funny Speech for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation, and Every Other Event You Didn’t Want to Go to in the First Place.” Leifer offers thoughtful writing tips honed during her time working on television shows like “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Hacks.” She joins us.

Guests:

Carol Leifer, comedian

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The Pacific Circuit comprises the vast system of trade routes, cargo ships and relationships connecting Asian manufacturing and American consumers. And it all starts at the Port of Oakland. In his new book “The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City,” Forum co-host Alexis Madrigal charts how the port shaped Oakland’s history and how, in turn, the global commerce it enabled helped create the problems plaguing Oakland and every other U.S. city today. As he writes, “Oakland has a way of concentrating the power and problems of our country.” In this special hour of Forum, co-host Mina Kim talks to Alexis Madrigal about how the port and global trade have affected the city and its longtime residents.

Guests:

Alexis Madrigal, co-host of Forum, KQED; author, “The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City” ; Also a contributing writer at The Atlantic, where he co-founded the COVID Tracking Project

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Dani Offline joins us in the studio for a live musical performance. Fresh off of two sold-out shows at SFJAZZ as part of the Noise Pop festival, the Oakland-based R&B singer is celebrating the release of her new single, “Desire.” We talk with her about the freedom of being a self-produced musician and how studying literary criticism at UC Berkeley inspired her upcoming album.

Guest:

Dani Offline, songwriter and music producer

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Through years of hosting dinner parties with fellow grievers, Carla Fernandez, writes that she learned to approach grief without sweeping it under the rug. “I learned about approaching grief less as a noun, a thing to distance ourselves from, and more as a verb,” as she writes in her new book, “Renegade Grief: A Guide to the Wild Ride of Life After Loss.” Fernandez lost her father to brain cancer when she was 21. Well after the funeral and support tapered off, she realized she wasn’t done grieving and didn’t have an outlet for her experiences, so she co-founded The Dinner Party in 2014 to bring other young adults together to share food and process grief. Fernandez joins us to talk about how to navigate grief as an ongoing journey.

Guest:

Carla Fernandez, co-founder, The Dinner Party; author of the book “Renegade Grief: A Guide to the Wild Ride of Life After Loss.”

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California is increasingly relying on for-profit psychiatric hospitals to care for the tens of thousands of people experiencing serious mental health crises every year. But a new San Francisco Chronicle investigation finds that the companies that own these hospitals have “capitalized on lax state regulations to strip their workforces bare, generating massive earnings for investors and owners while exposing patients to erratic care, violence and deadly neglect.” We’ll learn more from the reporters behind the investigative series “Failed to Death.”

Guests:

Joaquin Palomino, investigative reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Cynthia Dizikes, investigative reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Alexandra Del Cima, mental health technician from 2017 to 2019, Heritage Oaks Hospital

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“I possessed a unique ability to find suffering in even the best circumstances,” admits Atlantic writer Olga Khazan. That trait is one reason why she wished for a different personality; she wasn’t seeking radical change, just one to make her life a little bit better. And over the course of a year she did just that, embarking on a journey through the science of personality. Khazan interviewed researchers, took improv classes, learned to sail and surf, reluctantly meditated, and journaled with the intensity of a preteen in unrequited love. She chronicles her quest towards an improved self in her new book, “Me, But Better.” We talk to Khazan, and hear from you: Have you tried to change your personality? How did it go?

Guests:

Olga Khazan, author, "Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change" and "Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World."; staff writer, The Atlantic

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Who is the leader of the Democratic party? It was a question that appeared to stump Minnesota governor and vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz in a CNN interview last week, and he’s not the only one who’s feeling a leadership void. Only 1 in 10 Democrats say their party has a solid strategy to deal with the Trump administration, according to a recent poll by the opinion research firm Blueprint. Do the Democrats need an economic populist like Bernie Sanders? A tested progressive like AOC? A centrist coalition? We hear who you think should take the party’s reins and why.

Guests:

Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED - co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown

Reid Epstein, politics reporter, The New York Times

lower waypoint

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The Trump Administration cut $400 million in grants to Columbia for its alleged failure to address anti-semitism on campus. And 60 more universities are on Trump’s target list for similar cuts, including UC Berkeley, all while the federal Department of Education is on the chopping block. We’ll talk about the potential impacts on students from kindergarten to college, and why the Department of Education has long been in Republican crosshairs.

Guests:

Eric Kelderman, senior writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Erica Meltzer, national editor,Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization that covers education; Meltzer covers education policy and politics for Chalkbeat

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