KQED's Forum

For decades microfinance was touted as a novel solution to poverty. The idea is simple – give poor women tiny loans to jumpstart small businesses and create profit. But when journalist Mara Kardas-Nelson moved to West Africa she met women who were jailed when they couldn’t pay their mounting debt. In her book, “We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance,” Kardas-Nelson explores the complex history that led to microfinance banking empires, the painful reality gripping women who have taken out loans and also the ways that microloans have been a successful tool in lifting people from poverty.

Guests:

Mara Kardas-Nelson, Independent Journalist and Author of We are Not Able To Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance

Laurie Styron, CEO / Executive Director, CharityWatch -www.charitywatch.org

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The quirky, rounded, nominally sans-serif font of Comic Sans became a cultural phenomenon when it first burst onto the scene as a free option in Windows 95. Used in memes, kindergarten classrooms and sometimes even official signage, it’s become “the font everyone loves to hate.” So says Simon Garfield, author of a new biography of Comic Sans. And over its 30 years, the font became recommended by dyslexia organizations and can be used to chart a micro-history of online irony, comedy and backlash cycles. Garfield joins us to share why “no other font gets people so worked up” and how Comic Sans says a lot about how we express ourselves, online and off.

Guests:

Simon Garfield, author, “Comic Sans: The Biography of a Typeface” and “Just My Type: A Book About Fonts”

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On the campaign trail, president-elect Donald Trump said he “wouldn’t mind so much” if journalists were shot, threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of networks that aired coverage he didn’t like, and called reporters “the enemy of the people.” More recently Trump has demanded that Republican lawmakers kill a bill to protect journalists from revealing their sources. Trump’s first administration had a tense relationship with the media. We talk to experts about how journalists should best cover Trump this time around.

Guests:

Brooke Gladstone, Host and Managing Editor, "On the Media" - from WNYC Studios. Her latest book is 'The Trouble With Reality."

Jon Allsop, journalist and media writer, Columbia Journalism Review's daily newsletter, "The Media Today"

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In Miranda July’s new novel, “All Fours,” a 45-year-old artist embarks on a solo roadtrip to New York from her Los Angeles home. She makes it as far as Monrovia, a small town a half-hour from L.A., and waits out the rest of her trip in a motel room while pursuing an infatuation with a Hertz rental car employee. The novel, which shares similarities with July’s own life, explores themes of marital ennui, the fear of sexual irrelevance and the contours of the female midlife crisis. July grew up in Oakland and is known for her performance art, her films “Me and You and Everyone We Know” and “Kajillionaire,” and her fiction “No One Belongs Here More Than You” and “The First Bad Man.” We listen back to our May conversation with July about her new novel and why she describes it as “closer to the bone.”

Guests:

Miranda July, actor, screenwriter, director and author - She’s known for her films “Me and You and Everyone We Know” and “Kajillionaire,” and her fiction includes “No One Belongs Here More Than You” and “The First Bad Man”. Her new novel is "All Fours"

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A truly landmark Supreme Court decision in 2020 resulted in the largest restoration of Native American tribal land in American history. More than half of the state of Oklahoma is now declared “Indian Country” after the court decision. In her book "By the Fire We Carry" journalist Rebecca Nagel, a member of the Cherokee Nation, traces the generations-long fight for sovereignty and the brutal history of tribal land removal that underpinned the decision. We listen back to our September conversation with Nagle about her own family’s complicated legacy in the struggle for justice and the implications of the Supreme Court decision.

Guests:

Rebecca Nagle, author, By the Fire We Carry, The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, host of the podcast "This Land" - She's also an activist, writer and citizen of the Cherokee Nation - She's also an activist, writer and citizen of the Cherokee Nation

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Connie Chung was the first Asian person to anchor a national network news program in the US and the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News. For decades she covered major national stories from Watergate to the Oklahoma City bombing and interviewed presidents and foreign leaders. She also came up in newsrooms of the 1970s and 80s that were beset by rampant sexism. We listen back to our September conversation with Chung about what she calls her “glorious highs and deep lows in the news business” and why, until recently, she struggled to believe she’d found success. Chung’s memoir is “Connie.”

Guests:

Connie Chung, broadcast journalist; author, "Connie: A Memoir"

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The son who traveled 2,500 miles to save his parents’ dog. The stranger who picked up the tab for a girl who was trying to buy a prom dress at Goodwill. The airport janitor who stopped to feed and comfort a stranded passenger. These are some of the small and big acts of kindness website Upworthy compiled into a new book, “Good People: Stories from the Best of Humanity.” We listen back to our August conversation with the editors and hear from you: What is a memorable act of kindness you have received or given?

Guests:

Lucia Knell, co-author, "Good People: Stories From the Best of Humanity "; Knell is the vice president of the media company Upworthy. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Glamour and Vogue, among other publications.

Gabriel Reilich, co-author, "Good People: Stories from the Best of Humanity"; Reilich is the head of content and innovation at the media companies Good and Upworthy. He developed the Upworthy Instagram account which now has five million+ followers.

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The majority of male Gen Z voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump, according to exit polling. Some cultural analysts say that’s partly because more young men are spending time in the online world called the “manosphere.” Most of the manosphere consists of videos and podcasts about things like exercise, grooming and dating. But the space is also home to people spreading racist, misogynistic and extreme right-wing views, which may be pushing more young men and boys to the extremist fringes. We’ll talk about the online politicization of young men and its real-world consequences.

Guests:

Joshua Citarella, artist and internet culture writer; host, "Doomscroll," a podcast that explores online culture and politics; graduate professor, Rhode Island School of Design; founder, Do Not Research, a non-profit arts organization based in New York City.

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After the divisive 2016 presidential election, many families cut short Thanksgiving plans with their relatives of different political persuasions, according to a 2018 study. The result, writes law professor and civil rights advocate john a. powell, was that American families spent millions of fewer hours connecting and reflecting with each other. As director of UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute, powell thinks a lot about divisions in our society and how to bridge them. We talk to powell, author of the new book “The Power of Bridging” about how he thinks we should approach a second Trump administration…and the upcoming holiday season.

Guests:

john a. powell, director, UC Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute; professor of law, African American and ethnic studies at UC Berkeley

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U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy has said that parental burnout is a public health issue on the same level as cigarettes, obesity and gun violence. It’s the result of a decades-long trend towards intensive parenting, according to New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller, who points out that working mothers today spend as much time with their kids as stay-at-home moms did in the 1970s. We talk with Miller about how we got to this point. Are you a parent who’s feeling burnt out?

Guests:

Claire Cain Miller, reporter, New York Times

Dr. Keith Sutton, clinical psychologist; director of the Bay Area Center for Anxiety; former president of the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California

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