Crosscurrents

Today, one school program in San Francisco is connecting ethnic studies and environmental science, to nurturing belonging. Then, an immersive play that brings audiences to an important moment in local trans history. And, we hear about a little piece of fabric that represents the living history of San Francisco, and LGBTQ+ pride.

The Bay Area is known for its beautiful natural places and for being the birthplace of many social movements. One school program has found common ground between the two. For over 25 years, two high schools in the city have combined ethnic studies with environmental studies. Reporters Paula Sibulo and Olivia Mendez are recent graduates of San Francisco State. In this story, they wanted to explore h...

Late on a summer night in 1966, a cop put his hands on a customer at a popular gathering space for trans women and drag queens. Coffee was thrown in his face, and a riot erupted right there at Compton's Cafeteria in the Tenderloin. This moment was one of the first documented acts of LGBTQ+ resistance in the country.  For the past year, an immersive play called The Compton's Cafeteria Riot has been...

San Francisco laid many of the bricks that built the road to LGBTQ+ liberation, equality, and Pride. One of them takes the shape of a piece of fabric, that’s also a piece of living history.  In this story from 2023, by reporters Sandra Halladey and Alastair Boone, we hear about how the first Pride Flag came to be. And how the bit of cloth, the iconic rainbow, and the pride movement, live on.  On t...

Today, we’ll hear how Bay Area listening bars have their roots in World War II Japanese culture. Finding a space just for music. Then, we’ll unpack the throughline that connects the different Chinatowns around the world. Plus, a poetic ode to the Mission.

A different kind of bar scene has grown across the Bay Area since the pandemic: listening bars. Derived from a tradition that took off in 1930s Tokyo, they're businesses that play high-fidelity music from vintage speakers. Reporter Nava Rawls went to find out if these special places made for listening are one-hit wonders… or here to stay.  

This is our last episode airing during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so today we bring you a conversation from our friends at the podcast “Worst Quality Crab.”  Their show is a conversational version of an Asian American cookbook. It’s hosted by Freesia and Samson Lee, and they talk to guests about food that is meaningful to them, family history, and the people that make thei...

San Francisco’s first Latino poet laureate, Alejandro Murguia published his poem ‘Mission Vision,’ in 2013. Here is Bay Poets host Josiah Luis Alderete reciting it.

Today, we hear advocates defend their cases for San Francisco’s competing tax propositions. We’re getting into San Francisco props C and D. Then, we hear from a young South Bay organizer on how youth are feeling about voting this year. Then, how James Baldwin inspired this year’s theme for the Bay Area Book Festival.

Next Tuesday, June 2nd, is California’s 2026 primary election. And there’s a lot for voters to decide on. In San Francisco, two competing propositions have become a high-stakes referendum on how the city taxes its largest employers: Prop C and Prop D. KALW recently hosted a live conversation between proponents of both Props C and D. It was co-presented with the San Francisco Public Press, and mode...

As we wrap up Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, many in the diaspora will also be getting ready to vote, some for the first time. Next we’ll hear from the younger generation. Ralph Leaño Atanacio works with AAPI Youth. They are a queer Filipinx immigrant, and the Co-Director of the South Bay Youth Changemakers. It’s an organization that builds up Asian American youth voices by fo...

The Bay Area Book Festival returns to Downtown Berkeley this weekend. There will be many things to learn and experience for book literature lovers of all ages. J.K. Fowler is the executive director of the Festival. He sat down with KALW’s Jenee Darden for “The Sights + Sounds Show.” They spoke about why Fowler sees this year’s theme of “Writing the Future” to be important for these times.

Thirty-four Black women from the Bay Area are addressing issues facing their community with a mix of theater, dance and ritual. It’s the final chapter of a House/Full Of Black Women, a special episode from the Kitchen Sisters. Plus, a poem about self-forgiveness.

It's the final chapter of a House/Full Of Black Women, a special episode from the Kitchen Sisters. It explores the question: how can black people dream, if they cannot sleep?

Danni Blackman is a multi-disciplined artist who’s visual artist name is Decomposing Mystic. Here, she reads her poem by the same name.

From 2015 to 2023, 34 Black women from the Bay Area — gathered monthly around a big dining room table in Oakland. They were artists, scholars, midwives, nurses, an architect, an ice cream maker, a theater director, a choreographer, musicians, a donut maker, educators, sex trafficking abolitionists and survivors. Together, they used theater, dance, and ritual to address issues plaguing their commun...

Today, we hear about a sport for blind athletes that relies on only hearing and touch to play. Emboldening athletes on and off the court with goalball. Then, a local playwright questions if Shakespeare actually wrote the literature credited to him. Plus, a Bay Area Author reads from his new YA novel. 

Every Wednesday night in Berkeley a group of athletes gets ready to practice their sport. The first thing they have to do is line the court with a tactile marker––string taped to the floor around the perimeter––because this game relies on just two senses, hearing and feeling.  This is goalball, a sport invented for blind and low vision people which involves hurling a heavy ball filled with bells a...

William Shakespeare is possibly the most widely recognized writer in western literature… but did he actually write every single thing he gets credit for? It’s a controversial question that many have explored over the years. Including playwright and Oakland native Ted Lange. His new play “Shakespeare Over My Shoulder” is a production of the San Francisco Based African-American Shakespeare Company....

Now, a segment from New Arrivals, our pocket sized book tour with Bay Area authors. Jase Peeples lives in San Francisco. His new book is, " Before You Can Fly ." It’s a young adult coming of age romance set in 1988, that follows Clayton Wheeler, a gay, comic-book obsessed teen who is struggling with his growing feelings for his best friend. 

San Francisco’s Sunset district is a quiet, residential area… where almost every house has a locked gate at its front door. Today, what makes a neighborhood safe? Then, we hear a podcast that acknowledges the doom, and envision the bloom, of our shared climate future. Plus, a poet reminds us why fighting for the climate is a way to save ourselves.

If you’ve seen some of the ads in the BART stations… or San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s posts on Instagram… you may notice an emphasis on safety and security in the city. But if you go back in time, there's physical evidence that this rhetoric isn’t new. You can find it in neighborhoods all over the Bay. Take the Sunset district, on San Francisco's westside, where almost every house has a heavy...

Here’s a question. When you talk about an issue you deeply care about, like climate change- what’s the reaction from the people around you, in your life? Are they supportive, are they dismissive? Sometimes you’re the lone voice at your workplace, or in your family, pushing others to recycle or compost properly… and that can be isolating. That was the topic of discussion at a recent event held here...

Oakland poet Cyrus Armajani helps us pause to consider nature, humanity, and freedom. Here he is, reading his poem, "Free."

Illegal dumping is a big problem in Oakland. Today, we’ll from unhoused people about how the excess garbage that accumulates around encampments impacts their daily lives — and, some of the strategies they use to manage it.