Crosscurrents

The California Zephyr is an iconic trainline between the Bay Area and Colorado. Today, the railroad's surprising impact on food and civil rights in the state. All aboard for an episode of California Foodways.

Today, we celebrate the legacy and work of StoryCorps . And we play you some of our favorite conversations recorded right here, in the Bay Area.

Today, how a Bay Area town remembers Humphrey the Humpback, forty years on from his 1985 dramatic visit to the Bay Delta.

On October 10, 1985, a humpback whale dubbed “Humphrey” got lost and swam nearly 70 miles inland, inspiring one of the largest and most publicized whale rescues in U.S. history.

Today, we get lost… and find our way on San Francisco’s Crosstown trail. Then, a story about a mother in prison and a daughter who wishes for her to come home. 

Today we’re bringing you a story that recently won the Society of Professional Journalists - Nor Cal award for best feature story - small division!  The San Francisco Crosstown Trail offers up a lot of those opportunities for charm and whimsy. It’s a 17 mile walk from Candlestick Point to Land’s End.

A story from Uncuffed and the California Institution for Women about a mother in prison and a daughter who wishes for her to come home.

"Noises Off," by English playwright Michael Frayn, debuted over 40 years ago, and is still cracking audiences up. And now, there’s a new production of the play at San Francisco Playhouse. Actor Joe Ayers plays the arrogant, but clumsy leading actor Garry Lejeune.

Today, we explore what's at stake when people mourn online. Then, Death Doula's give agency to people at the end of their lives.

When loved ones die we find ways to hold on — through photos and keepsakes. Now, things like AI memorial platforms and companion chatbots offer digitized connection with the dead. With these technologies becoming more common, what does it mean to grieve with a chatbot instead of each other?

This story is about a different kind of doula – an end of life doula. Their role is to provide emotional support to dying people and their families. In 2019 Reporter Annie Berman joined Mimi Burrows and her son, Peter, as they met with a death doula. In the process, she learned more about what it means to live – and die – well.

Bomba is more than just music. Today, we’ll hear how one of Puerto Rico’s oldest musical traditions lives on in the Bay. Then, we hear a very scary Sudanese folk tale.

Bomba. It's a word you feel: percussive, rhythmic, pulsating. The art form grew out of the Afro Indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico. But it’s much more than dance music. Bomba echoes and resonates with the violent history of slavery and resistance in Puerto Rico.

Day of the dead is coming up this weekend and it is a time when many people are thinking about dearly departed loved ones. Next we’ll get a message from the ancestors… through a poem. Here’s poet Nia Pearl with ’Bones talk out of the side of their neck.’

Hana Baba recently took part in telling a scary story from her Sudanese culture as part of an evening of “Creepy Tales” from KALW’s Sights and Sounds show.

Gender affirming care is becoming less accessible for trans youth in the Bay. Today, we’ll hear from families facing tough decisions. Then, the story of a woman in prison who was gifted a book that changed her. And, a collection of readings from Bay Area authors.

This summer, both Stanford Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente paused gender affirming surgeries for youth under 19 years old. Ever since, the families of transgender kids in the Bay have been facing some hard choices.

How a book given to an Uncuffed producer surprised her.

Now we’ll hear some readings from our series New Arrivals, a pocket-sized book tour with Bay Area authors. Today, Oakland authors Emile DeWeaver and Beverly Burch, as well as San Francisco writer Alvin Lu.

Today, a UC Berkeley historian explores 80 years of US policy in the Middle East. Then, a story on how intense loyalty destroyed a close relationship. And, one beloved music venue in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood has a morbid history... we meet the ghosts that haunt The Chapel.

KALW news editor Sunni Khalid recently hosted a conversation with author Daniel Zoughbie- UC Berkeley historian and professor of complex systems science as part of the 2025 Litquake literary festival.

When she was young, Uncuffed producer Keyna Osorio loved her cousins Bud and Rock. But then, when she was told that Rock’s brother snitched on her brother, her idea of loyalty cost her two very meaningful relationships — relationships she could never get back again.

Today, the Chapel is a lively music venue. But many people who work there say its history as a mortuary lingers. 

This is Chicana poet Elizabeth Jiminez Montelongo, reading her poem “It is I, the immigrant.”

Today, we meet a florist who grows the marigolds used for "Dia de Los Muertos” And, an update on Bay Area roadways and Freeways. Plus, some poetry to help us through these tricky times.