KQED's Forum

Northern and Southern California are going to battle on Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams face off for this year’s National Football Conference championship and a bid for the Super Bowl. We'll talk about the all-California matchup and hear your fan predictions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Isabel Allende’s new novel, “Violeta,” opens in the midst of a pandemic, under quarantine conditions. Only it’s 1920 and the Spanish flu. Violeta has just been born; she spends her early life in the virus-induced social bubble that we’ve all come to know. Inspired by Allende’s own mother, Violeta is born into elite, but falls into a rural social stratum after the Great Depression. It’s a saga about family secrets, exiles and resilience, as well as a reflection on the century when the world became technologically modern and socially fractured. We’ll talk with Allende about the novel, her mother and writing through — and about — a pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen Breyer said on Tuesday that he will retire by the end of the current term. Justice Breyer, one of the Court's three liberal members, will step down as the Court considers major cases involving abortion and gun rights. Breyer’s retirement offers President Biden, who vowed during the campaign to nominate a Black woman justice, his first opportunity to shape the Court. It also comes at a time when the non-partisan nature of the Court has come under question. We'll talk about Breyer’s legacy, who might succeed him and the future direction of the Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new report released this week details the experiences of Silicon Valley’s “shadow workforce” -- the temporary contract workers tech companies hire through third parties. These contractors, who are disproportionately women and people of color, receive different pay, benefits and protections than employees. While tech companies have fared well during the pandemic, according to the report authored by TechEquity Collaborative, “the temporary, contract, and contingent workers who are classified differently from their directly-employed counterparts despite performing critical roles for the companies—have been locked out of tech’s prosperity.” We’ll discuss the yearlong investigation’s findings about this “two-tier system” of employment and why some are pushing to change it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Vakar, a reporter from KTVU, dives into the contentious proposal for a rock and gravel facility at the Port of Oakland. He discusses the economic benefits touted by the port while balancing them against serious concerns from West Oakland residents about air quality. With a history of pollution already affecting local health, Vakar highlights the community's fears of increased respiratory issues and cardiovascular disease. The conversation also touches on the intricate relationship between environmental justice and port expansion, sparking a lively debate.

“I believe America is simultaneously a riotous comedy and a heartbreaking tragedy,” writes Wajahat Ali in his new memoir “Go Back to Where You Came From.” With humor, Ali recounts a Bay Area childhood growing up as the shy, pop culture-loving, Husky jeans-wearing only son of Pakistani immigrants. Although the community around him made clear the only acceptable careers for him were doctor, engineer, or successful businessman (the only other option was being “a failure”), Ali found a career as a writer, and it was art that saved Ali when his family’s lives were blown apart by scandal. In this book, part autobiography and part social criticism, Ali takes apart the myth of the “moderate Muslim,” and describes what life in America is like post-9/11 and post-Trump for a Muslim who once felt free enough to pray publicly at a Cirque du Soleil concert and the stalls of the Gap, but who no longer feels he can. We’ll talk to Ali about his book and what it means to be American when your fellow citizens question your right to be there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lunar New Year is only a week away, on February 1st, which means some of you could already be running behind in getting the spread ready. As part of our new series on the food cultures of the Bay Area with KQED Food Editor Luke Tsai, we’ll talk about the traditional, and not so traditional, foods of the New Year. Whether you’re planning an elaborate feast or just picking up take-out, we want to hear your favorite lunar New Year’s dish or tradition. If you stick with the Gregorian calendar and celebrated weeks ago, we still want to hear from you. What do you eat to mark the New Year and to bring you luck or abundance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 120 restaurants closed in San Francisco in 2021 — and many still-open places feel like they’re on their last legs. Dining simply has not come back, and though some businesses have prospered by making lemons into take-out, others are tapping out. And it’s not just restaurants: the iconic Castro Theater is planning a switch to live events to survive. We open the phone lines to commemorate the beloved Bay Area restaurants and small businesses we’ve lost in recent years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beset by a climate crisis that's creating ever more devastating wildfires, Californians may find it "easy, even comforting, to sit in despair," writes reporter Liz Weil. But, she continues, "nihilism is a failure of the imagination, the bleak, easy way out. We need to face the lives before us." That includes recognizing that we're in what climate futurists call the "trans-apocalypse:" a reality defined by the imperative that humans engage constantly with ecological threats. We'll talk to Weil about the origins of California's wildfire problem and how we can reframe and address it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Thursday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced that the latest Covid surge in San Francisco, which was fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, was on a downward trend, having peaked in early January. This welcome news comes as San Francisco shifts its thinking on Covid. According to the city’s Department of Public Health, the goal is not to stop Covid infections, but rather to focus on preventing worse outcomes like severe illness, hospitalization and death. We’ll get an update from Dr. Naveena Bobba, the department’s deputy director, about how the city is handling Covid and how San Francisco’s approach could influence state policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices