Crosscurrents

Today, Berkeley filmmaker Morgan Schmidt-Feng tells us about his latest documentary, “Anton: Circling Home.” It follows an 80-year-old New York artist and his love for pigeons. Then, we’ll learn about pigeons themselves, the often misunderstood urban animal. And, we’ll hear a reading from San Francisco author Shruti Swamy.

Today, we hear how how one group says we should be measuring our progress as a state. Then, we talk about how Black people are diagnosed with autism later than other groups. And, Petaluma cheese monger Rory Stamp reads from his new book.

Today, we talk about a new center in the Tenderloin that's focused on helping people who are struggling with drugs and mental health. Then, we examine Sacramento’s historic Sutter’s Fort. And, we listen to San Jose cookbook author Beth Lee as she reads about Jewish baking.

Sofie Lovern is a Latina convert and comedienne who learned the difficulty of trying to merge two very different cultures in a marriage, even when their religions were the same. Her struggle with marriage is not uncommon with new convert women who are often rushed into marriage. Her marriage fails, but her comedy brings her through it all. She emerges unmarried but still Muslim.

Today, we hear how Bay Area Schools are now funded to give students two free meals a day, and that means schools are feeding a lot more kids. So we decicded to check in with school chefs and students to see how it’s going. Then, we keep it on the topic of school meals and also very close to home with a visit to the Burton High School cafeteria for lunch. And, we hear a reading from Santa Rosa grap...

Today, we’re bringing you an episode of a new podcast from Northern California Public Media called Living Downstream, looking at environmental justice issues around the world. Last week, we brought you an episode about air pollution in West Oakland. This time, we’re going to the biggest lake in California, which is now starved of water. We hear how it impacts the health of the people who live arou...

The story of two men who work to reconcile their identity as Latinx—with their identity as Muslims. One has dedicated his life to helping the Latino Muslim community in his city, the other still isn’t even sure being in a community as a Latinx Muslim is possible.

On the first day of this year, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jill Tucker called up the Bay Area’s top Covid experts. We’ll hear what they said. Then, we learn about an investigation into California’s failure to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke. And, we listen to Dr. Rupa Marya as she reads from her book.

Today, it's the second part of a special from the environmental justice podcast Living Downstream, from Northern California Public Media. West Oakland residents breathe and suffer from pollution caused by toxic diesel exhaust. In part two of this story reporter, Sarah Holtz takes us into the issue with community organizer Margaret Gordon and the Director of Clean Air Advocacy, Will Barrett.

Today, we're bringing you a special from the environmental justice podcast Living Downstream, from Northern California Public Media. For decades, community members and allies have complained about the diesel truck traffic around the Port of Oakland. People who live in this neighborhood have elevated instances of asthma and shorter life spans than others in the county. We meet the activists who are...

Students at San Francisco’s City College started organizing this past spring to preserve the school’s language classes. Today, we hear the story behind the movement Save Cantonese at CCSF. Then, Bay Area poet Christine No writes about her personal journey of trying to understand love. And, San Francisco author Conrad Benedicto reads from his first novel.

One Black man works to connect his faith to his community, and to his fallen leaders. A new story from The Spiritual Edge series Becoming Muslim looks at a path to Islam that means walking in the footsteps of Black Revolutionaries.

Today, we'll hear stories about how people in prisons get through the holidays, even when they can’t see their families. It's a special episode from KALW's podcast, Uncuffed.

As wildfires become more common, so does their lasting impact on humans. Then, we meet some Filipinx writers who are using art to hold agency over their own narratives. And, we listen to a reading from Alameda poet Paul Corman-Roberts.

Convicted of first-degree murder and sent to Folsom State Prison, Wendell El-Amin James gravitated towards the Muslim prisoners out of a need for protection. But ultimately his conversion restructured his life to one of education and purpose.

LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness are a vulnerable population within an already vulnerable group. Then, as reparations for African Americans inch closer to being a reality, we ask, who should get reparations?

We talk about how twice as many people are living out of their vehicles in the Bay Area than there were two years ago. Then, we visit a non-profit that helps Afghan evacuees resettle in the Bay Area. And, we’ll hear a reading from Nicolette Hahn Niman.

As a student at the at Berkeley in the 1960s, Abdul Raoof Nasir joined the Nation of Islam. In the years that followed, he was forced to make a choice: stay with the Nation or go with one of the groups that splintered away.

The story of when Japan gifted cherry trees to the U.S. And, how those trees became connected to the country’s immigration debate with strange parallels with how we handle pests and pesticides.

We’re going with state agents looking for a pest that could wipe out California’s citrus. Then, we hear from a filmmaker who tells the story of the anti-draft movement during the Vietnam War.

We’re heading to the California border, where state agents patrol for pests that could wipe out the state’s agriculture. Then, what do you do when people pronounce your name wrong?

A Muslim convert feels her access to God was being limited by men. She was searching for a spiritual home, then decided to build one for herself.

California Department of health is doing a big outreach push to get more people vaccinated and boosted. Then, what happens when a wild turkey lands on a prison yard. And, Grant Faulkner, reads from his new collection.

Today, we hear about a study from UC Berkeley that asks Muslims: Is Islamophobia still common 20 years after 9/11? Then, a former San Jose State professor targeted by the FBI decides to spy on himself. And, author Cassandra Hartt reads from her new young adult novel.

Diana Demchenko converted to Islam as a college sophomore. But since she didn’t grow up around the religion, she had to learn what the real Islam is and searched - online, in local mosques, and eventually abroad.