KQED's Forum

Last year, poet and writer Clint Smith wrote the book, “How the World is Passed,” exploring how the US has failed to come to terms with the reality and legacy of slavery. Now, for an Atlantic cover story, “Monuments to the Unthinkable” he’s traveled to Germany to see how that country has grappled with memorializing its own ugly history. On this Martin Luther King Jr day, we talk with Smith about history, memory, and the stories a nation tells itself.This segment originally aired Nov. 17, 2022Guests:Clint Smith, poet, "How the Word is Passed;" staff writer, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former content moderators for Reddit and TikTok filed class action lawsuits against the sites last month alleging they suffered trauma from the graphic and violent content they reviewed. Content moderators review everything from innocuous misreports to horrifying videos of abuse — and experts say that vacillating between the two can create an anxiety of its own. We’ll talk about what content moderators face both domestically and abroad, why the work can’t be automated and the moral questions raised by the industry’s current structure.Guests:Sarah T. Roberts, faculty director, UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry; author, "Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media"Niamh McIntyre, reporter on the Big Tech team, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The useful lifespan of items all over your home from clothes to kitchen gadgets to cell phones has been shrinking, according to a recent article in Vox. At the same time, manufacturers increasingly design products, especially tech devices and electronics, so that they are not easy or cost-effective to repair. “We buy, buy, buy, and we’ve been tricked — for far longer than the last decade — into believing that buying more stuff, new stuff is the way,” writes Izzie Ramirez of Vox. We’ll talk about the modern version of planned obsolescence and the “fix-it” movement that’s trying to combat it.Guests:Izzie Ramirez, deputy editor of Future Perfect, Vox Media; author of the recent article, "Your stuff is actually worse now"Kyle Wiens, co-founder and CEO, iFixitMatthew Bird, teaches industrial design, Rhode Island School of Design Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If the storm had a theme, it was in the uprooted and broken trees that seemed to blanket the rain-soaked landscape,” writes California correspondent for the New York Times Shawn Hubler. All across the state, one of the most visible signs of destruction by California’s storms are uprooted trees, their curling roots violently airborne. They’ve smashed through roofs, toppled power lines and taken lives, affecting Californians across the state as we weather a series of Pineapple Express storms. We’ll hear why the state’s trees – already stressed by drought – are particularly vulnerable to storms and how the destruction they’ve caused has affected you.Guests:Shawn Hubler, California correspondent, The New York TimesKarla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water ResourcesPaula Peper, retired U.S. Forest Service urban ecologist in Sacramento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 119 citizens in Oakland joined a class action lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department for vicious and sadistic beatings, evidence tampering, and other abuses by a notorious group of officers known as the Riders, the department was placed under a federally mandated consent decree in 2003. Now, two decades later, Oakland is finally nearing the end of federal oversight and meeting mandated reforms . “A half dozen police chiefs have come and gone. The reform program has outlasted four mayors, two judges, and two monitoring teams,” write reporters Darwin Bondgraham and Ali Winston in their extensive history of the Oakland police department and the efforts to fix it. “More has been done to reform the Oakland Police Department than any other police force in the United States,” they write. We talk with Bondgraham and Winston about why police reform, in Oakland and across the county, is so difficult and so often fails, and their book, “The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Coverup in Oakland.”Guests:Ali Winston, Independent journalist covering law enforcement and criminal justiceDarwin BondGraham, news editor, Oaklandside Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fatphobia takes an enormous physical and psychological toll on fat people, writes culture critic Evette Dionne, who says it “robs us of our joy, our ability to progress in our careers, and sometimes… our lives.” Dionne contends with heart failure and a rare type of hypertension, conditions that doctors overlooked because of her size. “Weightless” is Dionne’s new collection of essays exploring fatphobia in settings as diverse as doctors’ offices, schools, TV and film. She joins us to talk about how we can begin to dismantle society’s deep prejudices against those who are overweight and how self-love can counter fatphobia.Guests:Evette Dionne, author, "Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

¡Hella Hungry! is a regular series from KQED food writer Alan Chazaro that profiles Bay Area foodmakers who help shape the region's culinary culture. Flor Martinez Zaragoza, a 27-year-old from San Jose, uses her Instagram account to advocate for farmworker rights and highlight how local produce makes it from the farm to the table. The Vegan Hood Chefs, a San Francisco duo, serve Southern-inspired comfort foods while “revolutionizing hood nutrition.” Joog co-founded SMAX, an East Bay pop-up and test kitchen, to reimagine Asian flavors and create artfully designed sandwiches and treats. We’ll talk about the series, the local food scene and what qualities make a restaurant, food truck or pop-up feel distinctly Bay Area.Guests:Alan Chazaro, food reporter, KQED; poet and educatorLuke Tsai, food editor, KQED Arts & CultureFlor Martinez-Zaragoza, farmworker rights advocate; nonprofit leader and influencer, @flowerinspanishJoog, co-founder, SMAX, an East Bay pop-up and test kitchenRonnishia Johnson, co-founder, The Vegan Hood Chefs, a food truck that offers Southern-inspired comfort foodsRheema Calloway, co-founder, The Vegan Hood Chefs, a food truck that offers Southern-inspired vegan comfort foods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Our country has never before faced the kind of threat we documented. May it never again,” wrote Congressman Adam Schiff in the New York Times last month. His words came as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, on which he served, released its final, 845-page report. We’ll talk to Schiff and NPR senior political editor Domenico Montanaro about what happens next and how Republicans are setting up to lead the chamber, in the wake of last week’s chaotic election of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.Guests:Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent, NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As another atmospheric river batters California, the state finds itself in the midst of weather whiplash: Parts of the state are flooding even while California remains in a drought emergency. As of early Monday, despite historic amounts of rain, most of the state’s reservoirs had not reached capacity and experts say this current system of rainstorms does not guarantee an end to the drought. In 2022, the year began with a similar set of storms to be followed by an unusually warm and dry winter that melted off the snowpack early. We’ll talk about the impact the storms are having on our aging water system and what we can learn about how to avoid flooding and capture more water from extreme weather events like this as they become more frequent with climate change.Guests:Erica Gies, independent journalist; author, "Water Always Wins;" National Geographic explorer" - Gies wrote the recent New York Times essay "California Could Capture Its Destructive Floodwaters to Fight Drought"Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water ResourcesJay Lund, vice-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California, Davis - Lund is also a professor of civil and environmental engineering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we live the good life, one enlivened by joy, meaning and community? That’s the question UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner has been exploring for the last 20 years, and he says he's found the answer: find awe. It’s the emotion we experience when we encounter vast mysteries -- in nature, in art and even in sport. We talk to Keltner about the science of awe and we'll hear what you find awe-inspiring.Guests:Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley; author, "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices