KQED's Forum

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for the tens of millions of Americans struggling with student loan debt. First, on June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s debt cancellation plan. Since then, the administration has announced other plans to help borrowers, and more are in the works. But will they survive legal challenges? And what do the new programs mean for those buried in...

The Rossmoor community in Walnut Creek has a population of nearly 10,000 people aged 55 and older, its own newspaper, bus service and over 200 local clubs, making it feel like its own small town. Opened in 1964, Rossmoor is among the longest running, age-restricted communities in the country. It’s also the cornerstone of the 94595 zip code, which according to the San Francisco Chronicle, is the on...

Riding a bike instead of taking a car is good for your health and for the planet. But in car-centric California, most people still rely on vehicles for daily trips like commuting to work. For cyclists in the state, that means getting around can be risky, especially when they’re asked to share a road with two-ton metal boxes that are often moving very fast. So what would it take to make cycling saf...

One of the most prized objects in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is a life-size wooden tiger automaton that bellows and roars as it chomps into the neck of a very unfortunate British soldier. Crafted in the late 18th century in Mysore, India, this fascinating creation is at the center of Tania James’ new novel of historical fiction “Loot.” The story follows Abbas, a 17-year old, the tiger’s c...

A new exhibit at the Bedford gallery in Walnut Creek challenges our assumptions about what it means to see. “Sight Unseen” features the work of 13 blind photographers from around the world who use photography in very different ways. In describing his process Pete Eckert of Sacramento writes, “vision is so strong that it masks other senses, other abilities… I feel light so strongly that it allows m...

Decades of cognitive science research has shown that children need to be taught to sound out words in order to read. But school districts across the country often ignore or sideline that research in early grades, according to education reporter Emily Hanford, who says that’s one reason that more than 60% of U.S. fourth graders aren’t proficient readers. Hanford’s six-part podcast “Sold a Story,” r...

More than a decade ago, historian Jean Pfaelzer was shown a photograph of a young Chinese woman, displayed for sale in a caged brothel in San Francisco in the 1870s. The image made Pfaelzer question her own assumptions about California’s claim to have entered the union as a free state and about the force and effect of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery at the end of the Civil War. Pfaelze...

The pandemic took a big toll on movie theaters nationwide, and the Bay Area continues to see closures of beloved theaters, like the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco and the Regal UA Berkeley 7. But there have also been success stories, with many local cinemas fighting to keep their doors open and the movies rolling. We’ll check in with some of the people running those theaters about how...

Does it matter if life exists on another planet? To UC Irvine astrobiologist Aomawa Shields it matters in the same way that a mountain matters and screams to be climbed: not knowing is unbearable. Shields has devoted her career to studying the climate and habitability of exoplanets to further the search for extraterrestrial life. She’s also one of very few Black women in a field dominated by white...

It’s a common belief about homeless people in California: they move here from other places because of the state’s tolerance, mild weather, and generous services. But according to a recent UCSF study, at least ninety percent of those experiencing homelessness lived in California before losing their housing and 75% are in the same county they used to live in. In the largest study of its kind in near...

Being laid off is brutal. It can knock people off career trajectories, destabilize people’s sense of their worth, and cause problems in their personal relationships. This year, the Bay Area has seen more than 15,000 layoffs in tech alone. So, our team here at KQED has gone out to collect the best advice on what to do when you’re laid off. How do you protect your mental health? What’s your next ste...

More than 70 percent of Californians say they’re happy living in the Golden State, but four in 10 are considering leaving. That’s according to a new survey called the California Community Poll, which found that economic anxiety and dissatisfaction with the state’s legislative priorities are among the top reasons people set their sights on moving. We’ll talk about what the poll says about our state...

A bill banning caste-based discrimination in California workplaces is moving through the state legislature after the emergence of several high profile discrimination claims in Silicon Valley’s South Asian community. The claims were brought by Dalits, the most oppressed class in the social hierarchy determined by birth, who say they faced blatant prejudice from coworkers, and were punished when the...

When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last month, its ruling was focused on college admissions. But some legal experts say that, in practice, the ruling could also discourage diversity efforts by employers. Many workplaces instituted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. But three years later, those policies are facing sc...

California native Ada Limón is the new poet laureate of the United States. She plans on, “elevating and promoting the expansiveness of poetry.” Limón, who has published six volumes of poetry, grew up in Sonoma and now lives in Kentucky. She says that poetry lived and breathed in her community growing up and has been key to her solitude as well as her sense of connection. She steps into her new rol...

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 yo...

Did you know that Rocky Road ice cream originated in Oakland? Or that Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were once married in San Francisco City Hall? Or that a disaster in Concord helped desegregate our nation’s military? Our region is full of fascinating history that even some lifelong residents don’t know about. Uncovering forgotten history and solving local mysteries is what KQED’s Bay Curious podca...

Gabrielle Zevin’s most recent novel “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” draws its title from what Zevin calls one of the bleakest speeches in all of Shakespeare, as Macbeth contemplates life’s monotony and meaninglessness. But to one of her characters, the soliloquy is hopeful, and it expresses the essence of a video game: “the idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, b...

Singer Sid Sriram was born in southern India, but his family moved to Fremont when he was just a year old. His voice and his sound are the product of his family’s legacy as carnatic traditional signers and of a childhood in the Bay Area suburbs, listening to jazz and hip hop. Sriram has already achieved fame in India, his career expanded globally after singing for Grammy-Award winning composer A.R...

“Black history,” writes award-winning artist and graphic designer George McCalman, “tends to mean the ten people who are lauded every Black History Month of every Black History Year.” McCalman upends that constricted notion in his most recent book, “Illustrated Black History,” a tribute to 140 pioneering – but sometimes unseen – Black artists, advocates and thinkers who have “sacrificed their live...

In her new book, “Raw Dog: The Naked Truth about Hot Dogs,” author and comedian Jamie Loftus dials in on why America loves the hot dog: “They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food and they’re hangover food and they’re deeply American for reasons that few people can explain but everyone has been told their entire lives.” Loftus chronicles her cross-country journey eating some of...

The egg, writes Lizzie Stark, is a "universe in a shell." It’s an ingenious piece of tech that contains everything a developing embryo needs, and it’s a symbol of the cosmos in creation myths across cultures. It’s been a tool of political protests, the target of wildlife poachers and the center of a Gold Rush-era territorial war on the Farallon Islands. It’s also inspired painters, conceptual arti...

It’s just about summer and time to dig out the red-and-white checkered blanket for a picnic. From banh mi sandwiches at the beach or pork buns at a city park, the Bay Area has no shortage of picnic spots and foods. As part of our All You Can East series, we’ll talk with chef and picnic enthusiast Samin Nosrat and KQED food editor Luke Tsai about how to plan the perfect picnic. Whether you’re heade...

“I experience your wounds as if they were my own,” reads the last line of Clint Smith’s poem “Nociception.” Directed to a child, it explains that just as a sea creature that loses an appendage feels discomfort across its entire body, so does a parent whose child is in pain. The poem is part of Smith’s new collection “Above Ground,” which also celebrates the joy, wonder and even occasional absurdit...

The US. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that colleges and universities cannot consider race when admitting students – a decision legal experts say will have wide ranging impacts on students, the education system and the nation’s economy. In a 6-3 decision, the court said that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs in the...