California Sun Podcast

Dr. Tom Hoffman has had an interplanetary journey without ever leaving NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. It's taken him from Neptune to his current role as project director on the Mars InSight mission. He gives us an up-close look at Mars exploration and explains how JPL is ground zero in the quest for interplanetary travel.

Mike Fitzgerald just retired after 30 years as a reporter and columnist for the Stockton Record. He is one of those rare journalists who comes to embody the place he writes about. Fitzgerald discusses his hometown's branding problem and why he holds such a deep appreciation for Stockton, the Delta, and the San Joaquin Valley.

Mike Davis, author, MacArthur fellow, and professor emeritus at U.C. Riverside, shares his alternative civic history of Southern California in which the rush to build edge cities, freeways, and subdivisions paved the way for what he sees as nature's revenge. Davis' literary tour de force against Los Angeles exceptionalism — 1990's "City of Quartz" and 1998's "Ecology of Fear" — remain as relevant as ever and inform his discussion in this week's conversation.

David Kipen, author, journalist, and cultural historian of Los Angeles has scoured libraries, archives, and private estates to assemble a kaleidoscopic view of the unique city of Los Angeles. He shares 500 years of writings in and about the city and the distinct role it has played in the hearts, minds, and imaginations of the public.

Teacher strikes in Los Angeles and Oakland, along with charter school legislation now working its way through Sacramento, could reshape the future of public education in California. Mariam Pawel, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and biographer of Cesar Chavez and the Brown family, joins us on this week's podcast for a look at the roots of these movements, and how they are changing our perception of teachers.

There's no better way to understand the issues and people shaping California today than through its colorful and complex history. Few understood the depth of that history better than Dr. Kevin Starr, the late author of a definitive eight-volume history of California. His work is the gold standard for the Golden State. Dr. Starr died two years ago, but we kick off the California Sun podcast with a special conversation I had with Dr. Starr about California from 1950 to 1963. As you will hear, it's a time that shaped so much of the California we live in today.