

KQED's Forum
KQED
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints.Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love to hear from you! Please dial 866.SF.FORUM or (866) 733-6786 or email forum@kqed.org, tweet, or post on Facebook.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 25, 2023 • 56min
Can You Love the Art of a Person You Loathe?
“What ought we to do about great art made by bad men?” That’s the question that undergirds Claire Dederer’s new book “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma,” which explores whether and how we can love the works of people who’ve committed morally reprehensible acts. Dededer calls her book “an autobiography of the audience” — an effort to make sense of the complicated emotions we feel when engaging with the art of someone we loathe. We talk to Dederer about what it means — and whether it’s possible — to separate the art from the artist.Guests:Claire Dederer, author, "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 25, 2023 • 56min
KQED Youth Takeover: Cybersecurity Tips and Tricks for a Safer Digital Life
Cybersecurity underpins our digital lives, and is relevant for all ages – including teens. According to the CDC, teens spend between 7.5 to 9 hours a day on their screens and being mindful of cybersecurity best practices is critical. As part of KQED’s annual Youth Takeover week, Cupertino High senior Rajvi Khanjan Shroff, founder of Project Cyber, a youth-run cybersecurity organization, joins us with a panel of experts she’s brought together to discuss what tips and tricks you can use to protect your devices and digital accounts to become cybersecure.Guests:Sheera Frenkel, technology reporter based in San Francisco, The New York Times; co-author of "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination"Rinki Sethi, vice president and Chief Information Security Officer, Bill.comRajvi Khanjan Shroff, high school senior, Cupertino High School; founder, Project Cyber - a cybersecurity organizationRiju Parakh, associate director, Global Cybersecurity and Managed Services Methodology Development for Ernst and Young Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 24, 2023 • 56min
Supreme Court Preserves Access to Key Abortion Drug, For Now
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” But less than a year later, the Supreme Court found itself needing to weigh in on medication abortion access. It decided on Friday to preserve access to mifepristone, a gold standard abortion drug, while lower courts sort out challenges to the FDA’s approval of the drug. We’ll examine where medication abortion access currently stands and what its future could look like.Guests:Shefali Luthra, health reporter covering the intersection of gender and health care, The 19th - an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policyMary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis; author, "Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 24, 2023 • 56min
Oakland A’s Fans Process Team’s Impending Departure
For decades, a dedicated, but shrinking, contingent of Oakland A’s fans piled into the Coliseum season after season, banging on drums and sporting their green and gold gear with pride. They did so despite the looming possibility that the team would depart. Now that team owners struck a deal to build a stadium in Las Vegas, scores of Oakland A’s fans are feeling stunned, dejected and hurt. The Vegas proposal comes after numerous failed attempts to find a new home in the Bay Area. We’ll talk about how fans are coping and what could happen next in the A’s long and complicated stadium saga.Related articles:The A’s Are A Poison Pill, by Ray RattoGuests:Ann Killion, sports columnist, San Francisco ChronicleDavid Peters, member, Howard Terminal Community Benefits Agreement Steering Committee; founder, Black Liberation Walking Tour; 3rd generation West Oakland resident and lifelong Oakland A's fanMelissa Lockard, senior editor and staff writer, The Athletic; founder, the Oakland Clubhouse - a blog that covered Oakland A's prospects; lifelong A's fanBryan Johansen, co-owner, Last Dive Bar - small business that makes Coliseum-inspired merchandise and puts on events to rally support to keep the A's in Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 21, 2023 • 56min
How the Modern American Wedding Was Supersized
Weddings have gone from celebrating the “Big Day” to the “Big Year,” says journalist Annie Atherton. There’s the proposal party, the engagement party, the bachelor and/or bachelorette parties and even, a will-you-be-my-bridesmaid party. It’s all turned into wedding sprawl observes Atherton. While multi-day weddings are common in many cultures, the numerosity of events stretched over a year or more, feels new. Social media and consumerism play some role in the supersizing of weddings. But how can you separate the idea of the wedding you think you’re supposed to have from the one you really want? We’ll talk about how couples, families and guests are handling the modern wedding, and what to do about saying “I do.”Guests:Annie Midori Atherton, freelance writer and author of the recent Atlantic Magazine piece "The Uncontrollable Rise of Wedding Sprawl"Chanda Daniels, wedding planner, A Monique Affair and Chanda Daniels Planning and DesignCele Otnes, professor emerita of business administration, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Otnes studies rituals and consumer culture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 21, 2023 • 56min
The Transformational Power of the Cassette Tape
When the Sony Walkman arrived in 1979 it not only changed the way we experience audio, it also changed the way we experience the world. Suddenly listening was a private experience and everyone with headphones on was experiencing their surroundings with a different soundtrack. Radiolab senior producer Simon Adler created a five part series for the podcast and a new live performance about the transformations spawned by that easy access to audio through the cassette tape and Walkman. We talk with Adler about the impact of the cassette tape across the globe – from opening communist China’s ears to rock and roll through our exported plastic trash to delivering hypnotic self help messages straight to listeners’ souls. What’s a cassette tape that changed your life?Guests:Simon Adler, senior producer, Radiolab Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 20, 2023 • 56min
Internet Archive Wants To Share Books Online, But Are They Breaking the Law?
For 26 years, the Open Library of the San Francisco-based Internet Archive has been preserving millions of books and lending them out freely online. Last month, a federal judge sided with a group of book publishing giants – Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley – that sued the nonprofit archive for “mass copyright infringement.” Publishers argued, and the court agreed, that the Open Library provided a way for libraries to avoid paying ebook licensing fees that generate substantial revenue for publishers. Internet Archive, whose mission is to provide “universal access to all knowledge,” said it will appeal the ruling. We’ll talk about the dispute and explore how the lawsuit could set the stage for what book lending looks like in an increasingly digital era.Guests:Brewster Kahle, digital librarian; founder, Internet ArchiveSydney Johnson, reporter, KQED NewsTyler Ochoa, professor, Santa Clara University School of Law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 20, 2023 • 56min
Clancy Martin Explains ‘How Not To Kill Yourself’
“I’ve lived nearly all my life with two incompatible ideas in my head,” writes philosophy professor Clancy Martin. “I wish I were dead and I’m glad my suicides failed.” Martin’s new book, “How Not To Kill Yourself,” combines memoir with research to take readers into the mind of a suicidal person. We talk to Martin about what to do if you or a loved one are considering suicide and why it’s important that we push against the stigma that attaches to those who contemplate ending their lives.If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call or text the national suicide hotline at 988.Guests:Clancy Martin, philosophy professor, University of Missouri, Kansas City; author, “How Not To Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 19, 2023 • 56min
Media Firms Exit Twitter as Platform Continues to Stumble
“Twitter isn’t dead. But it’s getting there,” writes Vox tech reporter Shirin Ghaffary in her new piece describing the chaotic six months since tech billionaire Elon Musk took over the social media platform. NPR and PBS left Twitter last week after Musk misleadingly labeled it “government-funded media,” and more public news organizations, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, followed suit this week. The departures come on top of rising hate speech on the site, major software glitches and new data showing that worldwide Twitter usage is down since Musk took charge. We look at Twitter’s trajectory and hear from you: is Twitter still relevant?Guests:Bobby Allyn, business reporter covering Silicon Valley, NPRShirin Ghaffary, tech reporter, VoxShannon McGregor, assistant professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 19, 2023 • 56min
Public Opinion of the Supreme Court is at an All-Time Low. Justice Thomas’ Ethics Scandal Isn’t Helping.
The ethics scandal surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas continues to deepen. According to Pro Publica, in the last 20 years, Thomas and his wife have enjoyed numerous luxury vacations and gifts paid for by billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. And it now appears that Thomas has been reporting rental income from a defunct company. Thomas’ ethics issues are not limited to the acceptance of gifts; his wife Ginni’s political activism and efforts to overturn the 2020 election have also raised questions about Thomas’ ability to hear cases that might touch on those issues. The questions surrounding Thomas come at a time when the public’s faith in the Court is at an all time low. We’ll talk with experts about ethics and the Supreme Court.Guests:Emily Bazelon, staff writer, The New York Times Magazine - She's also a Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School and co-host of Slate's political gabfest.Scott Cummings, Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics, UCLA School of Law - Cummings is the founding faculty director of the UCLA Program on Legal Ethics and the ProfessionAlex Padilla, U.S. SenatorJosh Kaplan, Reporter, Pro Publica - Kaplan is a member of the investigative team that broke the story about gifts and luxury trips taken Justice Clarence Thomas and paid for by a billionaire Republican donor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


