The San Francisco Experience

The Frida Kahlo Exhibit is a collection of the artist's most personal artifacts including clothing, photographs, prosthetics, paintings, and jewelry which was stored at her home in Mexico City from the time of her death, 1954, until 2004. The Exhibit also draws on her time in San Francisco and how it influenced her life and art. It is open through May 2, 2021.

Running Fence was a 24.5 mile massive art installation on the hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties, ending with a dive into the Pacific Ocean. Rated by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the most important artworks of the second half of the 20th Century, Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude donated the work to the Smithsonian about 10 years ago. But a significant collection of Running Fence artifacts and other Christo works is housed at the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa. It is a fascinating story of how 59 Sonoma County ranchers were persuaded by an avant garde artist team to host the art installation in 1976.

Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic one year ago, Asian Americans have faced racist violence at a much higher rate than in previous years. In New York City for instance, hate crimes against Asian Americans have jumped 1900% in 2020. And President Biden has signed an executive order as one of his first acts as President denouncing anti-Asian American discrimination. In today's episode we explore why and how to stop it.

Spokane, Washington is the site of the Gonzaga University campus and the Institute of Hate Studies. Located not far from the Idaho panhandle where White Supremacist groups and ideology have flourished, the Institute is on the front lines in the battle against Hate. Kristine Hoover the Director outlines the Institute's mission in this episode.

It looks like the Recall organizers who want to oust California Governor Gavin Newsom have successfully gathered more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Political Scientist Professor at Sonoma State University David McCuan explains the process which will be the national political story of 2021.

The Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport is our newest and repurposed facility. Local artist Emily Fromm was selected by the SF Arts Commission to create four large mosaic murals in the departure hall depicting the colorful and diverse neighborhoods of the City. She discusses her art and the SFO installation which is likely to become one of the airport's signature artworks.

Two women Emanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the gene editing technique known s CRISPR-CAS9.  But in 2018 the first humans were born with edited genes in China, twin girls Nana and Lulu. Their unique human status in the history of mankind came as a result of a rogue genetics researcher who defied all the bioethics standards of science and he was jailed for his illicit efforts by the Chinese Government. Professor Hank Greely renowned bioethicist, and Professor of Law and Director of the Law and Biosciences Center at Stanford University relates the story and discusses the bioethics dilemma of this scientific fiasco.

The SF School Board is threatened with being recalled because after one year of Covid related lockdowns, the 127 public schools in the City are still closed to its' 59,000 students. The City is actually suing the School Board to compel them to re-open the schools in compliance with State Law. And their cancel culture antics of renaming 44 of our schools - Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt were unacceptable to them - made San Francisco an international laughing stock when it was learned their "research" on the name change was nothing more than a sloppy Wikipedia search. Long suffering parents and voters are eager to bring about sweeping change to the School Board.