KQED's Forum

We all know the stinging pain of rejection: the exclusion from a high-school in-group or the all-too-common experience of applying for a job and receiving an email starting with “We regret to inform you…” But beyond the personal experience of rejection is a power dynamic worth interrogating, argues author Alison Kinney. Her new book, “United States of Rejection: A Story of Love, Hate, and Hope,” e...

When punk rock thrashed through the Bay Area in the 70s and 80s, there were some venues that became iconic hubs, like Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco and Berkeley’s Gilman street. But in rural Sonoma country, the scene was cobbled together in backyards, barns, and from fields with very long extension cords. Growing up in Santa Rosa, KQED’s arts and culture editor Gabe Meline was both a part of th...

In the last month, about a dozen authors wrote to Forum saying they’d been messaged by a fraudster claiming to be Mina Kim. In exchange for a “small fee,” they’d be invited to talk about their book on the show. This is a new kind of impersonation scam targeting the wider publishing industry, and like online dating schemes, they’re using flattery and promises of publicity to con the authors into se...

When President Trump sent troops into Iran, he did so without a green light from Congress. Now he faces a deadline on May 1 to either end the war in Iran or secure official approval from Congress. That timeline is laid out under the War Powers Resolution, a law that allows presidents to start wars without congressional approval. Democrats in Congress have tried and failed to pass multiple resoluti...

The Supreme Court this week heard a case about Roundup, a weedkiller widely used in agriculture — and that tens of thousands claim has caused their cancer. Now a new investigation from Mother Jones reveals that Roundup is used across California by the US Forest Service and Cal Fire. While Bayer, Roundup’s parent company, claims the chemical’s safety is backed up by extensive research, the investig...

What happens when your hard drive gets fried and every photo documenting your kid’s life, or that novel you didn’t back up, or that cache of old emails documenting your first love affair is lost? After the scream of agony, who do you call? That’s what New Yorker staff writer Julian Lucas wanted to know. The answer, it turns out, is right in our backyard. We talk to Lucas and the folks from Drive S...

An estimated one in eight Americans has now tried a GLP-1 medication like Ozempic or WeGovy: to lose weight, manage diabetes or experiment with anecdotal, off-label benefits. Yet GLP-1s can be hard to talk about — whether you want to ask someone if they take one, respond if you do, or discuss weight without dredging up unhealthy diet discourse. We’ll hear how you’re navigating these conversations...

Everyone has an opinion about Elon Musk, who has carved out a uniquely powerful place for himself in the worlds of auto-making, space launch, social media  and even government. But beyond Musk the individual, what do his corporate maneuvers and embrace of authoritarian, anti-humanitarian and white supremacist ideologies tell us about the direction of our society? As Musk’s high-stakes lawsuit agai...

Tucker Carlson, the right wing pundit and onetime Donald Trump diehard, now says he regrets supporting the President. Carlson apologized on his show for misleading his audiences and said he’ll be tormented over that support for a long time. The comments mark a high-profile break between Trump and his former media ally, and they come amid growing divisions within the Republican party over Iran. New...

The death of a San Jose toddler in foster care has Santa Clara’s child welfare system scrambling to respond and politicians asking what went wrong. Six percent of children nationwide will enter the foster care system, primarily for reasons of neglect – which can mean conditions of poverty, homelessness, parental drug abuse or mental health issues. We’ll talk to child welfare experts about what we...

Everyone has an accent, even people who don’t think they do. That’s according to linguist Valerie Fridland, who studies the way American accents have been shaped by centuries of culture and class. In her new book, “Why We Talk Funny”, Fridland shares how different American accents developed, why some are dying off and the way they influence how we see each other and ourselves. Guests: Valerie Frid...

We’ll remember legendary conductor, composer, educator and San Francisco icon Michael Tilson Thomas who died on Wednesday. He served 25 years as music director of the San Francisco Symphony and was a towering figure in the classical music world in the Bay Area and globally. He is credited with revamping classical music with his risky musical choices, innovative collaborations, and talent for teach...

Aziz Abu Sarah, who is Palestinian, and Maoz Inon, who is Israeli, have both lost family to the conflict in the Middle East. They are also both peacebuilders who say they “forged a bond of brotherhood when the world expected us to hate each other.” We talk to them about their relationship and their vision for a culture of dialogue and forgiveness. Their new book is “The Future Is Peace: A Shared J...

Some fans of the indie-rock band Geese have been feeling betrayed after learning that TikToks that looked like they were made by fans were actually created by a PR firm. But is this just what artists have to do to make it in our hyper-saturated music world? And when major record companies have long been accused of payola, is this even new? We talk about how TikTok and Spotify algorithms work, and...

“The Idiot,” a new podcast from Serial and New York Times opinion columnist M. Gessen, shares the story of Gessen’s own cousin, Allen, who went to prison for trying to have his ex-wife killed. The podcast asks how we reckon with personal beliefs about justice and punishment when applied to our own family: Gessen, a critic of the prison system, was shocked to find themself rooting for the prosecuti...

The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has many people feeling  self-conscious about speaking Spanish in public or being recognized as Latino. Last year’s Supreme Court ruling allowing immigration enforcement agents to question anyone based on their appearance and speech gave more fuel to the administration crackdown that has disproportionately targeted Latino communities.  Now, many...

The San Francisco AI firm Anthropic has developed a new model that it says is too powerful to be released to the public. Called Mythos, Anthropic says it’s in a “different league” when it comes to identifying and exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and in the wrong hands could enable bad actors to unleash powerful cyberattacks. Anthropic is alerting governments and releasing a limited versio...

Going to graduate school has never been cheap. But sweeping new changes to the federal loan system – which will now have caps on how much you can borrow – may make it even harder. What do these changes mean for aspiring nurses, teachers, doctors and lawyers — and could they reshape who gets to pursue advanced degrees in America? We’ll talk about student loans, and look at the broader landscape, fr...

Psychiatrist Suzan Song has for decades worked with people who have experienced extreme traumas, like being trafficked or recruited as child soldiers. She says she became drawn to those who were able not just to survive, but thrive and flourish – even without access to traditional Western talk therapy. We talk to Song about where she thinks true healing comes from,  and how we can apply that to mo...

California’s record-setting heatwave in March caused snow to melt and vegetation to dry out earlier than normal this year. Those conditions could provide lots of fuel for wildfires and hasten the start of fire season. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has gutted the U.S. Forest Service, which manages close to 60 percent of our state’s forest areas, and plans to close six research centers in Cali...

The 2026 WNBA season tips off next month. It’s expected to see historic viewership and attendance, after last season’s record-breaking run as the most-watched regular season in the history of the league. But even though this is the WNBA’s historic 30th season, women have been playing basketball since long before 1996. Sports journalists Jordan Robinson and Emma Baccellieri set out to profile the f...

Grammy-nominated bassist and composer Melvin Gibbs contends that all music genres popular in the U.S. — pop, country, rock, dance, hip-hop and Latin — “either are, or are based on, or created using, forms of Black music.” In his new book “How Black Music Took Over the World,” Gibbs set out to trace the “rhythmic genealogy” of music from Africa through the Americas. And he unpacks why traditional W...

After almost two decades as Prime Minister, Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán was defeated by Péter Magyar, leader of the center-right Tisza party. In the final days of the campaign, President Trump sent Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to campaign for Orbán, but voters weren’t swayed. Could Orbán’s defeat be a sign that President Trump’s brand of right-wing populism is losing its appeal? Guests:...

An American naval blockade of Iranian ports entered its third day as the U.S. tries to open up ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, President Trump contends that the war is “very close to being over” but also renewed threats to destroy civilian infrastructure. We talk about the latest in Iran and what might happen if no deal is reached before the ceasefire expires next week. Guests: Da...

Facing sexual misconduct allegations from at least five women, including one former staffer, Bay Area Democrat Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress, where he had served since 2013. Swalwell, who denies the accusations, also suspended his campaign for California governor over the weekend. We look at how his departure reshapes the governor’s race and how allegations of sexual misconduct are being tr...