Omar Dieguez and Adela Naranjo sit down with Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) Executive Director Consuelo Alba and filmmaker Brenda Avila-Hanna to discuss the profound impact of storytelling, community healing, and art as resistance. The conversation highlights how the festival grew from a passionate, grassroots volunteer effort in 2012 into a vital year-round nonprofit ecosystem that centers underrepresented Latino, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ voices. From discussing the deep emotional truths of local documentaries like Libertad to celebrating major cultural milestones like screening the Sundance award-winning American Pachuco alongside a live performance by Pajaro Valley High School students, the episode beautifully illustrates how WFF fosters equity by providing an affordable, accessible red-carpet experience where the entire community can see themselves reflected on the big screen.

KSQD’s Talk of the Bay: From the Streets, every Monday at 5pm!

Omar Dieguez hosts a powerful and heartfelt conversation exploring the human connections between Gaza and the Central Coast.

Guests are Rolla Alaydi, educator and author, who has lost 215 members of her extended family in Gaza, and Unhae Langis, organizer with the Central Coast Coalition for a Free Palestine.

Our Squid on the Street, Suki Wessling, was at the Santa Cruz Pride Festival this week asking a simple question: What do you love about community radio? It turns out there’s lot to love! Listen in as KSQD fans and community radio aficionados talk about what is special about radio made by the people, for the people.

Top photo by Denise Gallant. Photos below by Rob Darrow.

Coming up on Inside Education on Sunday at 7PM, meet Andres Martinez, a high school junior who’s already making a difference in his community. From coaching youth sports and serving on the City Youth Council to advocating for local issues like Protect Salinas Renters, Andres shares how faith, service, and leadership shape his vision for the future. Join us for an inspiring conversation with one of Salinas’s emerging young leaders, right here on KSQD.

WIth only 58% of the votes in California’s governor’s race counted, we look at the decided races in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties and discuss what all this could mean for the midterms. With former Senator Bill Monning, and reporters P.K. Hattis, Jesse Kathan, and Tony Russomanno.

Writer Steve Kettmann joined Talk of the Bay on May 27th to talk about Dusty Baker, who spent nearly 50 years in professional baseball as both a player and coach before stepping away from the game in 2023. Kettmann co-authored Baker’s autobiography called Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life in which Baker reflects on his career and the lessons it taught him about leadership, perseverance and living a life of meaning.

Baker holds a special place in the hearts of many Bay Area sports fans, most notably for serving as manager of the San Francisco Giants from 1993 through 2002 — a tenure that included three National League Manager of the Year awards and a World Series appearance.

As a player, Baker was an all-star, batting champion and gold glover winner. Though the Giants lost the ’02 championship, Baker would finish his baseball career with two World Series victories — one as a player with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981 and another as a manager with the Houston Astros in 2022.

Kettmann has an impressive resume in his own right, though he much prefers a pen over a bat. He has authored more than 15 books including seven New York Times Bestsellers and he worked for years as a Bay Area reporter and sportswriter. Kettmann also runs a small writers’ retreat center in the hills above Soquel called the Wellstone Center and he’s also Publisher of Wellstone Books.

Kettmann and Baker will both appear at a Bookshop Santa Cruz event June 8th that includes a free book talk and ticketed photo line.

From The Streets, hosts Omar and Adela  feature the inspiring HOPE Club from Watsonville High School, a youth-led movement creating safe spaces for healing, unity, peace, and support.

Hear powerful conversations about grief, mental wellness, leadership, and community healing.

“May Peace Prevail on Earth”

Watsonville High Hope Club Unveils Peace Pole, Watsonville, California, USA.

Music and stories by Uncle George Kahumoku, Jr. George Kahumoku Jr. is often called Hawai‘i’s Renaissance Man—and for good reason. A multiple Grammy and Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning slack key guitar master, George is also a prolific songwriter, performer, teacher, visual artist, storyteller, author, farmer, and entrepreneur.

Professor Nolan Higdon of UC Santa Cruz and the Gaslight Gazette Blog on Substack attempts to untangle the tangle of hype and hyperbole surrounding the insertion of AI into most aspects of our online lives. This interview is by Humanities Intern, Daymia Rousseau.

In 2012, Wayne Harris was invited by the U.S. State Department to travel to Palestine to do workshops and perform a piece about Martin Luther King, Jr. Feeling at times a tool of the Government, spreading a story of peace to oppressed people, he falls into an unexpected journey . . . and maybe the joke’s on Uncle Sam.

Host Suki Wessling interviews Wayne Harris, actor and write of ‘Drapetomania,’ and Hallie Montoya Tansey of the Movement Voter Project.

For more information:

Drapetomania – Benefit for Movement Voter Project