California Sun Podcast

Evelyn McDonnell is a storyteller, writing about a storyteller. Her tribute to Joan Didion, “The World According to Joan Didion,” places each of us at the moment we first became aware of the California author. The book delves into Didion’s roles as a woman, mother, spouse, and consumer, even as she remains a bit of a political enigma. All these facets contribute to the complex landscape of Didion's life and her work as a kind of cartographer for California.

Paul Carter ventures where few dare to go — into the California life of Richard Nixon. Not as the man marred by Watergate, but as California's native son. Author of "Richard Nixon: California's Native Son," Carter delves into the former president's youth, exploring how Nixon, born in Yorba Linda and educated in Whittier, was shaped by the stories, places, and people of Southern California. Moreover, he examines how California politics, even today, remain linked to Nixon's complex legacy.

Chris Tilly, a professor and labor studies expert at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Policy, recently garnered attention in a New York Times article that explored the constraints on California's economic expansion. In this episode, Tilly examines California's dynamic workforce and its potential to set a precedent for overcoming limited growth nationwide. He delves into key topics such as the ongoing labor unrest in the state, the proposed creation of a wage-setting board, and the adoption of a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers. With his deep expertise in labor markets, inequality, and public policy, Tilly provides an insightful look at the shifting labor landscape in the Golden State.

Julie Johnson, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, recently examined the overlooked health crisis facing California's firefighters. While the public takes precautions against wildfire smoke — from wearing masks to closing schools — firefighters are alarmingly unprotected. Her reporting revealed that, despite evidence linking smoke exposure to long-term health risks like cancer and dementia, there's a glaring absence of protective measures or federal studies. 

Tony Platt, author of "The Scandal of Cal," peels back the layers of UC Berkeley's esteemed reputation. Beneath its status as a hub for innovation and progressive thought lies a troubling history of plunder, warfare, and white supremacy. Platt's research serves as a clarion call for the university to confront its original sins, from its role in the military-industrial complex to its large-scale hoarding of Indigenous remains. 

Dashka Slater, in her recent New York Times Magazine story and in her new book, "Accountable." unveils a shocking discovery in liberal Albany, California. She delves into a high school student's private Instagram account filled with disturbing and hateful content. Who was involved? What were the consequences? And what does this reveal about online accountability, societal norms, and the dark side of digital culture? Slater's exploration exposes a complex puzzle that challenges our understanding of responsibility in the virtual world.

Pico Iyer gives us an end of summer lift in today's podcast. The long-time travel writer and philosopher reflects on the persistent human struggle to understand the world and find peace. Despite millennia of evolution, division and conflict remain central to civilization. While science offers definitive answers, understanding life and relationships is more complex, according to Iyer, a longtime California figure. He says we each search for solace, aiming to piece together life's puzzle to form an ideal picture, a theme that runs through his work, including, most recently, "The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise."

Kate Flannery takes us back to the glamorous haze of early 2000s Los Angeles, where she embarked on a tumultuous journey with American Apparel, a company once synonymous with hipster chic but later a textbook case of financial mismanagement and “me too” behavior. Her story, captured in her provocative and candid memoir "Strip Tees," explores the salacious euphoria of youth, the ideals of feminism, and the gritty reality of exploitation and ethical ambiguity.

Faith Pinho, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, created and hosted a new nine-part podcast series, called "Foretold," that delves into the rich history of the Romani community in California, with a focus on Los Angeles. The narrative unfolds through the perspective of a young Romani American woman, Paulina Stevens, who defies her predestined path as a fortuneteller to rewrite her own story. Pinho's storytelling takes us beyond the neon glow of "psychic" signs and the allure of trendy tarot card shops, challenging us to confront our preconceptions about fortunetellers and the Romani people.

Dr. Margot Kushel is the co-author of a recent groundbreaking report by the UC San Francisco Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, which represents the largest study on homelessness since the 1990s. Offering a sobering portrait of societal failures, the study underscores homelessness as perhaps the state's most compelling and pervasive crisis. An authority on homelessness and health, Kushel discusses the mosaic of factors contributing to the struggles of roughly 171,000 individuals experiencing homelessness on California's streets.