The California Report Magazine
KQED
Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.
'Buzzkill' Investigates a World Without Honeybees
‘Buzzkill’ Examines the Crisis of Disappearing Honeybees and Other Pollinators The Central Valley’s almond industry is hosting what some beekeepers call the Super Bowl. Commercial beekeepers from across the country take an estimated 90% of the nation’s honeybees and load them into trucks in time to make a narrow pollination window for those Central Valley almond trees. But it’s gotten harder and harder to keep those bees alive. All over the world, bees, butterflies, moths and flies are disappear
Japanese Americans Pledge to 'Fight Back' Against Trump Deportation Plan
February 19 is the Day of Remembrance, the anniversary of when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Some survivors of those prison camps are feeling like the rhetoric about immigrants and mass deportations today is hitting too close to home. In response, some survivors are mobilizing to protect vulnerable immigrants. Reporter Cecilia Lei spoke to a group of them in the Bay Area about how they’re fighting to kee
Life After the Eaton Fire; Kishi Bashi Embraces Imperfection; 19-Year-Old Bandleader Creates a Future in Norteño
Following the Eaton Fire, tens of thousands of people are suspended in a state of shock and grief, even as they have to make life-changing decisions about where to live now, and whether to rebuild. KQED’s Rachael Myrow shares the story of one mother and daughter navigating this new normal.Plus we visit the Santa Cruz studio of Kishi Bashi. The musician and composer defies genre, and it’s hard even for his fans to describe his work – yet they feel deeply connected to his music. For our series on
Oakland’s Freedom Community Clinic, New Documentary Spotlights LGBTQ Activist Sally Gearhart
On this week's show, we visit the Freedom Community Clinic which provides free herbal remedies, massage services and healing workshops at their two apothecaries in Oakland. And just outside the city, they recently launched the Ancestral Healing Farm, where people of color are encouraged to learn about ancestral practices and reconnect with the land. The goal of founder Dr. Bernie Lim is to reach people who might mistrust the mainstream medical system because of racism or cultural incompetency. K
Neighbors Come Together in Aftermath of Eaton Fire; A 129-Year-Old Lawsuit Could Stop the Ending of Birthright Citizenship
People affected by the wildfires in Los Angeles are only just starting to get a handle on what it’s going to mean to rebuild their lives and mend their broken communities. And it’s going to take a long time. We spend time with neighbors in Altadena and Pasadena who are coming together and relying on each other. One of those neighbors is Steven Cuevas. He’s The California Report’s former LA Bureau Chief, and he lives in Altadena. Thankfully his house survived, but he’s been talking to folks in hi
‘Wired for Connection’: The Science of Kindness, and Why Hope Outweighs Cynicism
It will take months to clean up all the debris from the Palisades and Eaton fires. Some community members in Pasadena decided to start the work immediately, led by a group of day laborers who saw a need and rushed to fill it. KCRW’s Megan Jamerson reports.And even as as restaurants burned down and Los Angeles residents fled the Palisades and Eaton fires, LA’s food community was stepping up to feed people in need. Those efforts continue, as KCRW’s “Good Food” producer Elina Shatkin explains.Score
‘The Devastation is Breathtaking’. Voices from the LA Fires
There are not enough words to describe the impact of the wildfires in Los Angeles – one of the most destructive and costly firestorms in our state’s history. Whether we’ve lost our homes, are fleeing for safety, or desperately worried about people we love, so many people in California are grieving. Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated, leaving everything behind. We bring you some voices of people who are living this nightmare right now. Plus, we talk with the California Report's Saul Go
These California Composers Make Their Own Rules: Two Stories from the Archive
We start in Los Angeles with emerging composter Derrick Skye, whose fascination with the cosmos is woven into his music. When Skye began composing “Prism, Cycles and Leaps,” he watched YouTube videos about Jupiter and was captivated by the way the planet moved at different speeds. As a mixed race person, he resonates with musical traditions from across the globe and blends genres and forms. Music from India, the Balkans and West Africa form the building blocks of Sky’s music today. Reporter Clar
Encore: The Enduring Reign of El Daña, Drag King of the Central Valley
Elsie Saldaña still gets nervous on stage, almost six decades after she first started performing as a drag king in the Central Valley. She’s the country’s oldest drag king, and her first performance was in 1965 at Red Robin, a gay bar in her hometown. She performed Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” and was instantly hooked. Right then and there, El Daña, her stage name, was born. Saldaña still graces the stage occasionally, but doesn’t perform as much as she used to. But she still feels like the stage
The Railroad’s Surprising Impact on Food and Civil Rights in California
This week, we’re taking a long train ride on the California Zephyr. The Amtrak line winds through Emeryville, Sacramento, Truckee and then heads east toward Chicago. Parts of the trip are spectacularly beautiful, with scenes of the Rocky Mountains, Donner Lake and the Truckee River. This route also holds so much rich California history – a portion of it is close to the first transcontinental railroad. Starting in the late 1800s, the railroad developed in parallel with the state’s agriculture bus
“Fire Escape:” One Woman’s Journey Fighting Fires from Behind Bars
Amika Mota felt like she lost everything the day she was sentenced to prison for nearly a decade. But as her world burned down, she learned how to fight fire from inside Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), one of the largest women’s prisons in the world. Mota and her team of incarcerated firefighters responded to calls from inside the prison and out in the community, including the homes of their correctional officers. Anna Sussman tells Mota’s story in "Fire Escape" a new podcast series
'He Played With People’s Minds': Fresno Priest Left a Trail of Sexual Abuse Allegations
KQED’s Alex Hall has spent years reporting on the criminal case of Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, formerly known as Father Antonio to his Central Valley parish. For a decade, Castañeda drew in hundreds of followers from Fresno’s Latino Community to his Spanish-language congregation, earning him the nickname, “el padrecito que hace milagros (the priest who performs miracles). But parishioners started coming forward, mostly adult men, accusing the priest of sexually assaulting them during healing
Poultry Party: Two Tasty Stories from the Archive
Maybe you’re still munching on your Thanksgiving leftovers. Or maybe you’re too stuffed to even think about eating. But before you push away from the table, we’re bringing you two of our favorite stories from over the years about…food!We start in East San José, at a scrappy strip mall anchored by a Vietnamese sandwich, or “bánh mì” shop doesn’t look like much. But the corner of Burdette Dr. and S. King Rd is actually a California transportation hub. Every morning by 8 AM, there’s a steady stream
A Wildfire Survivor's Long Road; A French-Algerian Bistro in the Desert
This winter marks six years since Jennifer Porter and her family survived the deadly Camp Fire, a disaster that claimed 85 lives and burned over 150,000 acres. While Porter was lucky enough to drive through the flames that day, the fire set her on a new, harrowing path: building a new life for herself while healing from trauma. KQED’s Pauline Bartolone checked in with Porter along various stages of her recovery –a journey that continues every day. Then, we head south to the Still Life C
“Like a New Person:” Life After Homelessness; How Schools Can Serve Unhoused Students
While homelessness in the Golden State may feel like an intractable crisis, some unhoused people are able to get back on their feet–and find solutions that last. KQED’s health correspondent Lesley McClurg profiled two women in the Bay Area who spent years on the streets, and turned their lives around when it felt like there was no way out. Chantel Hernandez-Coleman overcame decades of addiction, and is now saving lives. Vera Salido has finally found safety and peace after a catastrophic event fo
What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for California; Kev Choice Makes Room for Hip-Hop in Classical Music
After a momentous election this week, Californians are trying to make sense of what a second Trump presidency could mean for the Golden State. Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic Party leaders are fighting to protect the state’s progressive values on immigration, climate change and reproductive rights ahead of Trump’s inauguration. Host Sasha Khokha spoke with KQED’s political correspondent Marisa Lagos to discuss California’s future in a second Trump term.Plus, in times of monumental pol
First Time Latino Voters Embrace Their Political Power; New Film Digs Into Gold Rush Myths
Latinos make up the second largest voting group in the upcoming 2024 election, totaling 32 million eligible voters nationwide. But Latinos are not a monolith, and both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been courting Latino voters on the campaign trail. Andrés Cediel is a filmmaker and a journalism professor at UC Berkeley. He’s also a producer of VOCES: Latino Vote 2024, a new PBS documentary project that explores the vast interests and priorities of Latino vote
Even Californians Who Can't Vote Are Focused on the Election
Six-year-old Sumaya Kaur Sidibe beamed with pride when she watched Kamala Harris become Vice President in 2021. She identified with Harris in a big way: she is also mixed race – Indian and Black – and she’s from Oakland. We produced a story about the family preparing for Kamala Harris to take office back in 2021. But four years later, Sumaya has complicated feelings about the vice president’s politics and the way she talks about her own biracial identity. Host Sasha Khokha checks back i
Great Redwood Trail Proposal Unearths Painful History for Indigenous Tribes
California has grand plans to turn a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks into 300 miles of walking and biking trails, connecting the rolling hills of Marin County with the redwood forests near Eureka in Northern Humboldt. If completed, the Great Redwood Trail could become the longest rail-trail in the nation. But some Indigenous communities and other groups are not on board. Reporter Sam Anderson explores how this grand idea has resurfaced the painful and complicated history behind the
Forced Sterilization Survivors Undertake Own Healing After Feeling 'Silenced Again' by State
Moonlight Pulido is a mother and a caretaker for her own mom in Los Angeles. But she couldn’t have more children after a prison doctor gave her an involuntary hysterectomy while she was incarcerated in 2005. She’s one of hundreds of living survivors of state-sponsored sterilization. Here in California, more than 20,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in state prisons, homes and hospitals under eugenics laws. People classified as “unfit to reproduce” were disproportionately poor wo
Fighting for Reparations in Palm Springs; Uncovering Women Miners' Forgotten Legacy
You might think of Palm Springs as a wealthy town filled with luxury hotels and swimming pools. But it's also a place shaped by brutal racism. People who lived in Section 13, a once a predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood, were pushed off their land. Their homes were bulldozed and burned down. Now, The California Report’s Madi Bolanos. talked to some of the former residents who are now fighting for reparations. And we continue our Hidden Gems series with a visit to Mineral King. It's locat
How a Young Kamala Harris Was Shaped by Rainbow Sign, Berkeley’s 1970s Black Cultural Center
Today, it’s an unassuming beige building on a busy Berkeley street. But in the 1970s, the Rainbow Sign was a groundbreaking center for Black culture, politics, and art. It hosted dozens of high-profile Black thought leaders and performers, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm. Although it only existed for a few years, seeing these performances and speakers left a profound impression on one young member of the Rainbow Sign community: Kamala Harris. As
How These Wine and Cheesemakers Fold Music Into Their Recipes
In California, music and winemaking seem to go together. Visit any of the state’s countless wineries and you can hear all kinds of music, from jazz and folk, to classical and Americana. But one artist on the Central Coast takes that connection especially seriously: he spent years making an album full of sounds from a vineyard. Reporter Benjamin Purper takes us to San Luis Obispo to learn more about a sonic journey through a Central Coast wine harvest.And we'll meet one of California’s m
Unaccompanied Minor's Quest for Citizenship Illuminates Pilot Program; San Francisco School Shelters Unhoused Families At Night
In this election year, the issue of immigration has become especially contentious. As one of the four states that share a border with Mexico, California has often tried to lead compassionately, especially when it comes to supporting immigrant children who come here alone. So far this year, nearly 10,000 immigrant youth have made new homes in California. Hundreds of them have benefitted from a unique program that provides legal help and guides them as they adjust to life in a new country. Reporte
Encore: Making a Home in Fire Country
This week, as wildfires continue to burn across our state, we’re re-airing a story from Erin Baldassari, KQED’s Senior Editor for Housing Affordability. Erin’s reporting took her back to Nevada County, where she grew up. She wanted to learn how people there are adapting to the rising risk of wildfires due to climate change. And she started by asking folks there the same question she’s been asking herself: What do you do if climate change makes the place you love an increasingly dangerous place t
How The Black Panthers Changed Schools; Keeping Japanese American Culture Alive in the Central Valley
How the Black Panthers Helped Shape U.S. Schools
Back in the 1960s, people were challenging the status quo in a lot of ways, including how schools should be run. At the same time, the Black Power movement was gaining traction, when the Black Panther Party formed in Oakland in 1966. The FBI considered them dangerous becuase of their belief in Black nationalism, socialism, and armed self-defense against police brutality. But the Black Panthers also changed schools in ways we can still see today.
Oakland Harpist Destiny Muhammad Charting Her Own Path; The Pesky (But Lovable) Bishop Pine
Oakland Composer and Harpist Destiny Muhammad Has Always Charted Her Own Path
Sitting on stage with her harp resting in her lap, Destiny Muhammad repeats this mantra: “Excellence, Beauty, and Success.” It’s part mic-check and part pump-up. When she first started learning to play the harp, the Oakland-based composer and musician used to suffer from stage fright. Now, more than 30 years later, she commands the stage with a presence fit for a woman who calls herself the “sound sculptress.” As part
Encore: The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Japanese American Story of Love, Imprisonment and Protest
Nine months into Satsuki Ina’s parents’ marriage, Pearl Harbor was bombed. Their life was totally upended when, along with 125,000 other Japanese Americans, they were sent to incarceration camps. After unsuccessfully fighting for their civil rights to be restored, they renounced their American citizenship. That meant the US government branded them as “enemy aliens.” Ina was born in a prison camp at Tule Lake, but didn’t know much about that difficult chapter in her parents’ life. Then she discov
Mexican Americans Building New Lives in Mexico; The Job That Keeps Water Flowing to California Farms
On a recent afternoon, a group of mechanics gathered at a lowrider show. This isn't Los Angeles – a city where lowrider culture has deep roots – it's more than a 1,000 miles away in Mexico City. For decades, Mexican immigrants have headed north and shaped the culture of California’s cities. But now, a growing number of their children and grandchildren are leaving California and moving to Mexico. Reporter Levi Bridges met up with some of them in Mexico City to learn why they made the move.
Plus,
LA Composer Finds Inspiration in the Cosmos; First Hijabi Runner Completes Western States Race
Some composers picture colors or abstract shapes when they’re working on a new piece. Derrick Skye thinks about space. His fascination with the cosmos is threaded throughout his compositions, including the latest in his series "Prisms, Cycles, Leaps." For our series on California composers. reporter Clare Wiley sat down with the Los Angeles-based Skye to hear how he brings his otherworldly ideas to life and how living in multicultural LA has influenced him.
Plus, we go to the oldest 100-mile u
MIXED!: Mixed-Race Californians Share Stories of Joy and Complexity
With the presidential race now in uncharted territory, Kamala Harris’ candidacy is putting her under a microscope. Not just her political career but everything about her background, including her mixed race heritage.
Last year, we brought you a series inspired in part by Kamala Harris’s visibility as a mixed race person when she became Vice President. Mixed! Stories of Mixed Race Californians explored both the complexity, and the joy of growing up multiracial. And California is the place to tel
Caregiving Can Be Tough and Isolating. It Can Also Connect Us.
Caregivers don’t get a lot of recognition despite doing hard and essential work. This week, stories about caregiving at all phases of life and how hard it can be for some families to provide that care themselves or even find professional help.
Systemic Neglect: How Staffing Shortages In Nursing Homes Leave Patients Trapped in Hospitals
When taking care of a loved one becomes too hard, families often look to nursing homes for help. But finding long term care in California s not easy right now. Th
‘Arabology’ Podcast Champions Indie Arab Musicians; Indie Rocker Hana Vu takes 'Romanticism' On Tour
On this week's show:
For the past 13 years, DJ Ramzi has been sharing his deep knowledge and passion for Arabic music with listeners all over the world through his radio show and podcast, “Arabology.” But Ramzi Salti is not just a deejay, he's also an advanced lecturer in the Arabic program at Stanford University. His goal is to expose people to the wide variety of Arabic music, and along the way, push back against the stereotypes and demonization of Arabs and Arab-Americans. KQED’s culture repo
From Mannequins to Musical Roads: More of California's Hidden Gems
This holiday weekend, we're replaying stories from our Hidden Gems series about out-of-the-way secret spots in California - places you might want to visit on a road trip!How This Oakland Business Gives Mannequins New Life (Almost)You might not notice them, but mannequins can be found everywhere from the tiniest boutiques to Target. But what happens to these non-biodegradable figures when stores go out of business or styles change? In California, many of them end up at Mannequin Madness,
Inheriting: Leialani & The Occupation of Guam
This week, we're sharing an episode from Inheriting, a new podcast from our friends at LAist Studios and the NPR Network. The show, hosted by Emily Kwong, is centered on the stories of Asian American and Pacific Islander families. It explores how one event in history can ripple through the generations of those families.In this episode, we hear from Leialani Wihongi-Santos. Leialani is CHamoru and lives in Southern California, but she was born and raised on the island of Guam. Growing up
The Enduring Reign of El Daña, Drag King of the Central Valley
Elsie Saldaña is a living piece of queer history. The 79-year-old has been doing drag since the 1960’s, making her the oldest drag king still performing in the U.S. She’s known as El Daña, and she didn’t get her start in LA or San Francisco. She’s from Fresno, where she worked the fields as a child. This pride month, reporter Celeste Hamilton Dennis brings us this profile of El Daña and tells us why the king isn't ready to hang up her crown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap
Memories, History and a Soundtrack for Fathers Day
Songs In the Key of Fatherhood
Rightnowish host Pendarvis Harshaw's love of music was passed to him from his mom. He says her love of funk, R&B, new jack swing and hip-hop laid his musical foundation. Now that he's a dad, Pendarvis is now passing all of that musical knowledge down to his daughter, song by song.
Santa Cruz Museum Celebrates Filipino Manongs In New Exhibit
Fathers are at the heart of a new exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. Sowing Seeds: Filipino Americans in the
Heavy Metal and Video Games Influence This California Composer; A 30-Year Journey of Authentic Mexican Cuisine and Recycled Art; Santa Cruz Company 3D Prints Surfboards
Jens Ibsen is a dynamic young composer putting his spin on classical music, infusing it with prog rock, heavy metal and Japanese video game music. Isben's bold and non-traditional style is getting a lot of attention from major institutions like the San Francisco Symphony. But it hasn't been easy. He has had to confront racism as he found his unique place in classical music. He’s a lot of different things at once, and you can see that reflected not just in his music but also in who he is as a per
An Ethnic Conflict in India Echoes in California; Creating a Space for Brown and Black Creatives in Oakland
About a year ago, a conflict began in Manipur, a mountainous state in northeastern India. What set off the fighting was a dispute between a predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and a Christian minority called the Kuki.
Aptos resident Niang Hangzo is originally from Manipur, but moved to California in the 1990s. Her family back home became refugees more than a year ago. And ever since, she’s transformed into an activist here in California fighting to draw attention to this crisis. KQED’s Lakshmi S
Tasty Tales of Conference Room Crab, a Cold Turkey Fruitarian, and Tiger Food
Think about all the things you love about radio and podcasts: the suspense, the characters, the drama and humor — Back Pocket Media takes all of those elements and puts them live on stage.
On today’s episode, Back Pocket Media co-founders McArdle Hankin and Ellison Libiran guest host the California Report Magazine and play three of their favorite stories from their last San Francisco event. The theme of that event was Taste of Then: stories about food and memory.
What I’d Cook for Love
Most pe
The Nüümü People Claim LA Stole Their Water, Now They're Fighting for Its Return
Back in the early 1900s, the burgeoning city of Los Angeles needed water, and the Owens Valley—more than 200 miles northeast—had plenty of it. Today, about a third of LA’s water supply comes from the Owens Valley and other parts of the Eastern Sierra. But the city got that water at the expense of the Nüümü people, who have been working to get it back ever since. This week, reporter Teresa Cotsirilos from the Food and Environment Reporting Network brings us the story of one tribal elder's fight t
The First Indigenous-Named Marine Sanctuary; A Climber's Story; A New Home for a Beloved Diner
California's Central Coast is the ancestral homeland of indigenous California tribes including the Chumash and Salinan peoples. For years, the Northern Chumash have been working to create a new marine sanctuary. If the federal government approves that designation this summer, California would be home to the first national marine sanctuary nominated by, and named after, an indigenous tribe. It’s the culmination of decades of tribal conservation work. And, as reporter Benjamin Purper tells us, it’
‘I’m Gonna Miss It’: Saying Goodbye to San Francisco's Beloved Cabaret, AsiaSF
Famous for showcasing transgender performers for more than a quarter century, AsiaSF, the beloved San Francisco restaurant and club, closed its doors this week. Reporter Wilma Consul went to one of the final shows at AsiaSF, and tells us how the groundbreaking venue became a place where people from all over the world could find joy and authenticity.
And, California has had a state flower and state animal for awhile now, but this year we finally got an official state mushroom. KQED's Danielle Ven
A Peek Behind the Scenes at the California Report Magazine
We're in your feeds a little early this week, but for good reason: We're giving you a little peek behind the scenes! You'll be meeting some of the people who make The California Report Magazine, and we'll take you through the process of how a story gets made. If you like what you hear, please consider visiting donate.kqed.org/podcast and supporting the work we do at KQED. Thanks.
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Parents (and Teachers) Just Don't Understand
It's Youth Takeover week here at KQED, a time when we hand the mics over to local high school students. This year, we hear from teens at Fremont High School in in East Oakland. They talk about the challenges they face right now and tell us why they feel so misunderstood.
And we visit the San Fernando Valley, where high school seniors have taken over one of the most anticipated rights of passage: prom. LAist's Mariana Dale discovered a program at Sylmar Charter High School where students don’t ju
After Parole, ICE Deported This Refugee Back to a Country He Never Knew
After escaping genocide in Cambodia, Phoeun You’s family settled in Long Beach. But after being bullied as a teen, You joined a gang. He ended up shooting and killing a teenager. You served 25 years in California prisons and tried to turn his life around while he was behind bars. He thought he'd gotten that chance when he was granted parole, but upon release, he was deported to a country he had never really known. Producer Mateo Schimpf brings us his story.
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Why Italians in California Were Treated as 'Enemy Aliens' During WWII
Within months of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were being sent to incarceration camps, other ethnic groups also became the target of new wartime security measures. Italian citizens living near California’s coastline and military sites — some 10,000 of them — were forced to leave their homes and find somewhere else to live. It was just one of many government measures meant to protect the West Coast from an enemy invasion that never came. Rep
Making a Home in Fire Country
As journalists, we don’t often tell our own stories. We separate ourselves from the issues we cover. But sometimes, the story hits close to home. This week, we’re featuring a story from Erin Baldassari, KQED’s Senior Editor for Housing Affordability. Growing up in California's Sierra Nevada foothills, wildfire has always been part of her consciousness. Her earliest memory is fleeing a fire as it bore down on her childhood home. As she and her family consider moving back, she wanted to l
A Queer Journalist Reflects on the Legacy of the Proposition 8 Tapes
Proposition 8 's Lessons for One Queer Journalist
In November 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, taking away the right to marry from same-sex couples. But two years later, two same-sex couples sued the State of California in federal court. Prop 8 was eventually overturned. That landmark trial was videotaped, but the recordings were never released to the public. Until a few years ago, when KQED sued for access to the tapes and won. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed them to be unsealed in
'Racist Trees' Uncovers Little Known History of Palm Springs' Black Community
Today Palm Springs is known for mid-century modern architecture and queer-friendly culture. But a new documentary on PBS's Independent Lens explores the history of racist housing practices in the city that effectively hid a black neigborhood behind a wall of trees. “Racist Trees” covers the fight to remove those trees decades after they were planted, and asks the question: 'Who takes responsibility for the wrongdoing of the past?' Directors Sara Newens and Mina T. Son join Sasha Khokha to talk a
The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Japanese-American Story of Love, Imprisonment and Protest
Nine months into Satsuki Ina’s parents’ marriage, Pearl Harbor was bombed. Their life was totally upended when, along with 125,000 other Japanese-Americans, they were sent to incarceration camps. After unsuccessfully fighting for their civil rights to be restored, they renounced their American citizenship. That meant the US government branded them as “enemy aliens.” Ina was born in a prison camp at Tule Lake, but didn’t know much about that difficult chapter in her parents’ life. Then she discov
Oscar-Nominated Shorts Tell Joyful California Stories
When Oscar season rolls around, everyone’s trying to catch up on the blockbuster films. But there’s rarely buzz about the short films, especially the short documentary category. This year, two joyful California films made the nominee list. Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó is a love letter from Fremont-raised filmmaker Sean Wang to his two grandmothers, 94 year old Nǎi Nai and 83 year old Wài Pó. They are in-laws turned best friends who spend their days together, even sharing a bed. The Last Repair Shop tells
On Our Watch: A Whistleblower at California’s Most Violent Prison
When correctional officer Valentino Rodriguez first stepped behind prison walls, he wasn’t just starting a job, he was joining a brotherhood. What he didn’t know was that he was now bound by an unwritten code that would ultimately test his loyalty to his oath and his fellow officers. Valentino’s sudden death on October 21, 2020 would raise questions from the FBI, his family and his mentor in the elite investigative unit where they both worked. For more than two years, our colleagues with KQED’s
How the Freeway System Shaped California
In many California cities, freeways and sprawl are just a fact of life. They’re baked into the design of much of the state. But how did we get here? Just how did freeways come to be such a big part of California life?
This week, we’re featuring a story from our friends at the KPBS podcast Freeway Exit. Host and producer Andrew Bowen looks at how our relationship with the freeway has changed over time, and how it will have to change in the future.
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Could 'Urban Villages' Help Fix San Jose's Suburban Sprawl?
How The Bay Area’s Biggest City Wants to Overcome Its Sprawl
The cars and trucks we drive account for nearly half of California’s total carbon emissions. And bringing those emissions down is going to require more than just swapping out gas guzzling cars for electric ones. It’s going to mean redesigning our cities around people, not cars. KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi takes us to San Jose where local leaders are trying to rethink how residents live and how they get around. This story comes to us from
From Mannequins to Musical Roads: More of California's Hidden Gems
This week, we feature stories from our Hidden Gems series about out-of-the-way secret spots in California - places you might want to visit on a road trip!
How This Oakland Business Gives Mannequins New Life (Almost)
You might not notice them, but mannequins can be found everywhere from the tiniest boutiques to Target. But what happens to these non-biodegradable figures when stores go out of business or styles change? In California, many of them end up at Mannequin Madness, an Oakland warehouse r
How an Entire Oakland Block Decided to Go Solar
Roughly a quarter of California’s carbon emissions come from our buildings and the energy that powers them. And we need to cut those emissions down to next to nothing to avoid the scary effects of climate change. Making a home green is pretty easy if you start from scratch. But it gets a whole lot harder when it comes to converting the millions of homes in California that already exist. The ones where most of us live. Climate reporter Laura Klivans takes us to East Oakland, where one city block
A Taste of Southeast Asia at Stockton's Angel Cruz State Park
On the northern end of Stockton, you'll find Angel Cruz Park. Most weekends it's lined with food vendors, many of them Hmong and Cambodian immigrants. For more than 30 years, this has been a destination for made-to-order dishes, where locals argue over who has the best beef sticks or papaya salad. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse spent a day at the park, learning about the people behind the food.Next we got to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The area is known for farming, boa
Could Pickleball Help Change Prison Culture?
California’s oldest prison, San Quentin, has a new name. It's now the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. It was already known for its college classes and arts programs. But Governor Newsom is hoping a major overhaul of the prison and new programs for everything from therapy to education and job training will be a model for prisons across the state. This week, Uncuffed, a podcast produced by incarcerated journalists at San Quentin, shares a moment when the wall between correctional officers and i
Unhoused Californians on the 'Bleeding Edge' of Climate Change
Whether it’s severe heat, cold, fires, or floods, people experiencing homelessness are on the bleeding edge of the climate emergency. Reporting for the KQED podcast, Sold Out: Rethinking Housing In America, Vanessa Rancaño follows the story of one woman who is trying to keep herself and her adult son alive on the streets of Fresno, California. She talks to advocates pushing lawmakers to find solutions, and creating their own in the meantime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap
A Pandemic Pivot Helped These Californians Launch Successful Food Businesses
This week we're featuring stories from our ongoing series Flavor Profile, featuring folks who started successful food businesses during the pandemic.Gas Station Filipino Dessert Shop Is Among NorCal’s Most Delicious SecretsInside a nondescript National gas station off the 205 in Tracy, is Ellis Creamery. Marie Rabut and her husband Khristian got the idea to open the shop in 2020 as a way to supplement their income after Khristian lost his tech job in San Jose. Tired of long commutes for
Encore: Oakland Rapper Guap on His Black and Filipino Roots
This week we're revisiting a story from our series Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians. It originally aired in March 2023.Even if he’s not always recognized as part of the Asian American community, Oakland-born rapper Guap is fiercely proud of his Filipino roots. On the last track of his 2021 album, 1176, he tells an origin story spanning decades and continents. His grandfather, a Black merchant marine stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, ripped the pocket of his uniform. He
Encore: The Little Known Wartime History of Japanese Americans Living in Japan
This week we’re sharing a story from August 2023. It’s the little known history of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II.
Reporter Kori Suzuki found out that his own grandmother, who he’d always thought was born in Japan, is a Kibei Nisei, a second generation American who returned after living through World War II in Japan. He explores his grandmother’s memories and discovers new aspects of himself along the way.
This story was originally produced by our friends at Code
Centering Shared Humanity In Wartime
‘I’m Pro-Humanity’: One Palestinian’s Call for Peace in the Face of Tragedy
Like a lot of people, journalist Asal Ehsanipour has been in a state of despair since the latest war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. One of the only times she’s found comfort was at a San Francisco Jewish Community Center event with Israeli and Palestinian speakers who’ve lost a loved one to the ongoing conflict. One of the speakers was a man who’d moved from Gaza and now lives in the Bay Area. Coming to Cal
Uncovering Abuse in a CA Disability Group Home
Katrina Turner lives in Fair Oaks, outside of Sacramento. She’s 43, nonverbal and developmentally disabled. Katrina lives in a special kind of group home for people who need a lot of support day to day. She has a history of self-injury, so the group home is required to monitor her 24/7. But Katrina’s family was alarmed when a staff member reported finding bruises and marks on her body. They suspected something was seriously wrong. This week, we’re bringing you the results of a year and
Towns Along Pacific Coast Trail Struggle After Dixie Fire
Two Years After the Dixie Fire, Towns That Relied on Pacific Crest Trail Hikers Are Still Struggling
Two years ago, the Dixie Fire nearly wiped the Pacific Crest Trail off the map. With a lot of work, the trail has mostly been repaired. But sections of the PCT remain inaccessible, and for the first time in history, doing a continuous hike of the trail from beginning to end is almost impossible. It's a huge blow to rural towns along the trail, which rely on the hikers and trail tourism to survive
Stories of California History Through Food and Family
On this week's show we're revisiting two stories about family, food and farming.
We start in the Central Valley where David “Mas” Masumoto says he farms with ghosts. On his family’s organic peach, nectarine and grape farm south of Fresno, California, Mas says the labor and lessons of his ancestors are in the soil and he’s passing these on to the next generations. Reporter Lisa Morehouse has visited Masumoto Farm for years, picking luscious peaches and nectarines in summer. For her series Califor
The Aftermath of an LA City Council Scandal
It’s been a year since one of the biggest political scandals in its history rocked the Los Angeles City Council. In October 2022, a secret audio recording of three Latino council members and a labor leader was leaked to the public. Their conversation about redrawing council district maps included racist comments about fellow council members, their families, the Black community and indigenous Mexicans. Council president Nury Martinez’s comments were some of the most shocking and led to her resign
Searching For Home On Higher Ground
This week, we’re featuring an episode from our friends at the KQED podcast SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing In America. This season they're focusing on how climate change is affecting where and how we live. Climate change is intensifying wet periods across California, turning waterways that humans corralled with dirt and concrete into wild torrents. When the river comes for your town, what do you do, how do you adapt? Is abandoning life in the floodplain the only real option? Ezra David Romero visit
How a California Tribe Fought to Get Their Ancestral Land Back in Eureka
In the winter of 1860, white settlers massacred dozens of Wiyot people as they slept. Most were women, children and elders. Settlers then stole the Wiyot people’s land, including an island the tribe considers the spiritual center of the universe. Cheryl Seidner’s great-grandfather was an infant during the attack and one of only a handful of survivors. Generations later, Seidner would lead her tribe to successfully get the island back. Reporter Izzy Bloom takes us to Tuluwat Island, off the coast
Did I Actually Contact a Dead Person? A Science Editor In Search of His Mother’s Ghost
This Halloween weekend, we enter the realm of the unknown, and bring you a ghost story produced in collaboration with the Bay Curious podcast. Jon Brooks is a reporter and former KQED science editor who lives in the world of evidence, facts and data. But many years ago, Jon witnessed something inexplicable, something that just couldn’t be squared with reality. A recent personal tragedy has prompted him to run that story over and over again in his mind. We join Jon on a journey to make sense of i
Resilient Family Farmers Making It Work
From Laos to California: The Remarkable Journey of Ia Moua
When the Vietnam War ended, thousands of Hmong people who had fought with American troops were no longer safe in their homelands. Many relocated to the U.S, like Ia Moua. She, along with her husband and her eight children, arrived in Fresno in 1993.
Unable to speak or read English when she arrived, Ia felt adrift in California at first. But she found some stability after finding a small plot of land where she could grow Hmong rice, a v
California Prisons Fail to Uphold Transgender Rights Despite State Law
California’s Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act was meant to protect transgender people, reducing the trauma of physical and sexual assault experienced by many transgender women in particular when housed in men’s prison. But the culture at state prisons and rising anti-trans fervor throughout the country have exposed some transgender women to new traumas. Like Syiaah Skylit, who is currently in solitary confinement at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. She’s experien
All-Female Mariachi Band Shatters Stereotypes
This All-Women Mariachi Group From Sacramento Is Redefining the Genre
One hundred years ago, all-female mariachi bands didn’t exist. Even 50 years ago, women playing mariachi was rare. Today, though, women like Dinorah Klingler are rewriting the story of mariachi culture. Her band, Mariachi Bonitas, is an all-female, woman-led, multi-generational mariachi band based in Sacramento that’s carving out a new space for women in the traditionally male-dominated genre. Bianca Taylor explores the histor
An Ode to Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba"
Flavor Profile: Rize Up Gives Visibility to Black Bakers
Like many others, Azikiwee Anderson took up making sourdough during the pandemic. Once he mastered the basics, he started experimenting with ingredients no one had ever put into sourdough: gojuchang, paella and ube. Those flavors transformed his hobby into a successful business that wholesales to bakeries and restaurants across the Bay Area. All this success has made Azikiwee rethink how the food industry brings equity into the workplace,
Symphony by Non-Verbal Teen Is His ‘Unforgettable Sunrise’
Non-Verbal Teen to 'Take On the World' With a Symphony Written in His Head
Jacob Rock is a non-verbal, autistic teenager from Los Angeles who wasn’t able to speak until 2020. That’s when he began to vividly type out his thoughts and feelings on an iPad. His parents were flabbergasted to realize that he could read and write and convey his emotions and creativity through text. Six months later, he told them he had a 70-minute symphony in his head. Unforgettable Sunrise is the result of a months-lo
Cambodian Californians Seek Ways To Heal Trauma Of The Past
Cambodian Americans Work to Heal Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma
More than 40 years after a genocide that killed two million people in Cambodia, the refugees who survived are still struggling to move past the trauma of the Khmer Rouge regime. From 1975 to 1979, soldiers under communist leader Pol Pot, murdered, tortured and starved people in an attempt to rebuild a society free of Western influences. Though many survivors have created a new life in the U.S., their children often bear the scars
Encore: W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explores the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film ‘1,000% Me’
This week we're revisiting one of our favorite interviews from our Mixed! series. W. Kamau Bell has centered conversations about race in much of his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But when Kamau, who's black, and his wife Melissa, who's white, had kids, they knew their experiences around race would be much different than their daughters. So The Bells set out to make a film that centers the lives of other mixed-race kids like them. In a conversation with hosts Sasha Khokha and M
The Invisible Work that Makes Hollywood Hum
LA Food Bank Welcomes Striking Writers and Actors
Actors and writers are still on strike and a lot of folks behind the scenes from screenwriters to stunt doubles – are struggling. To help strikers, some businesses are offering discounts to union members. Actor and comedian Kristina Wong is trying to make sure that while strikers are out on the picket lines, they can get enough to eat. She's become a self-proclaimed 'food bank influencer' encouraging fellow union members to use the World Harvest
Indigenous Californians Flexing Their Power in Big and Small Ways
Oakland’s Wahpepah's Kitchen Reclaims Native Dishes
Crystal Wahpepah wanted to be a chef since she was 7 years old. Like her grandfather and mother, Wahpepah is a registered member of the Kickapoo tribe of Oklahoma. She remembers learning to make fry bread with her aunty and grandmother — and picking berries with her grandfather on the Hoopa Reservation where she spent time as a child. But while growing up on Ohlone land in Oakland, Wahpepah was struck by the Bay Area’s lack of Native restaurant
Giant Sequoias Are Burning. Should We Replant Them?
When the Castle Fire started burning in August of 2020, it ripped through Sequoia National Park, burning for months and with an intensity that has become increasingly normal during wildfire season. Just one year later, the KNP Complex fire devastated this same region. Together, these two massive fires burned grove after grove of giant sequoias, thousands of the largest trees on earth. Trees found only in California.
Sequoias are adapted to fire, but decades of fire suppression and hotter, drier
From Cesar Chavez to La Pulga: Latino Activists Make Their Mark on San Jose
Latinos helped build the city of San Jose, though its a history largely forgotten or ignored. This week, we’re highlighting the impact Mexican-Americans have had on the Bay Area's biggest city, through the lens of one Chicana trailblazer. And we'll hear how this activism is helping guide those hoping to keep a fixture of the city's immigrant communities alive, as vendors at the Berryessa Flea Market fight for its future.
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The Little Known Wartime History of Japanese Americans Living in Japan
This week we’re featuring a story from our friends at Code Switch. It’s the little known history of Japanese Americans who were living in Japan during World War II. Recently, reporter Kori Suzuki found out that his own grandmother, who he’d always thought was born in Japan, is a Kibei Nisei, a second generation American who returned after living through the war in Japan. In this story, he explores his grandmother’s memories and discovers new aspects of himself along the way. Learn more
Foretold: A Fortune Teller's Unpredictable Future
This week we’re featuring the Los Angeles Times’ podcast, “Foretold.” It’s the story of a young mother, Paulina Stevens, who was raised in a Romani American family on the Central Coast. Paulina shared her story with reporter Faith Pinho as she sought to leave the sometimes stifling culture she’d grown up in and the life of fortune telling prescribed for her in her teens.
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Did Mac Dre Go to Prison Because of His Lyrics?
One of the biggest stories in hip-hop right now is set to play out in a courtroom later this year, when Atlanta rapper Young Thug goes on trial for gang-related activities. One of the key pieces of evidence cited in the indictment are his lyrics.
The phenomenon of rap songs being played in court dates back to the early ’90s, with an early example happening in the Bay Area during the trial of one of the region’s most famous rappers, Vallejo’s own Mac Dre.
There’s a lot of lore around Mac Dre’s tr
How a Group of Surfers Helped Save Malibu from Wildfire; Redwoods Struggling
In 2018, the Woolsey Fire burned nearly 97,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It was one of the most destructive fires in Southern California history. Among the stories that emerged from the fire was one that seemed made for Hollywood: a group of Malibu surfers who stayed behind and helped save their town from the flames. In the new podcast Sandcastles, host and producer Adriana Cargill explores their story and tells us what we can learn from them about living safely in wild
Encore: Mapping a Radical Legacy of South Asian Activism in California
This week we’re bringing you one of our favorite stories from 2022.
You’ve probably heard of Bobby Seale and The Black Panthers. Or Mario Savio and the Free Speech Movement. But what about Kartar Singh Sarabha and the Ghadar Movement? Or Kala Bagai and the fight against redlining? This week we dive deep into the hidden history of early South Asian activism in our state. How Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and other South Asian immigrants and their children laid the groundwork for social movements
More California Armenians Are Moving Back to Their Parents’ Native Land; Flavor Profile: LA's Saucy Chick; Petaluma Teens' Find Community at the Phoenix Theater
Communities in LA County, like the city of Glendale, are home to the world’s largest Armenian population outside of Armenia. Starting more than a century ago, Armenians fled their homeland during the Armenian Genocide and many of them ended up in California. But now, some LA Armenians are moving in the other direction, back to Armenia. Reporter Levi Bridges traveled to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to meet some of the Angelenos who’ve made the move.
And this week we kick off our new series “Fla
Activism Through Performance: Oakland’s House/Full of Black Women
This week we're featuring an excerpt from the Kitchen Sisters' special, House/Full of Black Women.
For eight years now 34 Black women have gathered monthly around a big dining room table in Oakland, California. They meet, cook, dance, and strategize — grappling with the issues of eviction, erasure, gentrification, inadequate health care, and the sex trafficking of Black women and girls that overwhelm their community.
Spearheaded by dancer/choreographer Amara Tabor-Smith and theater director Elle
Checking Out Santa Monica's 'Human Library'; Hidden History of Oceano Dunes
At This Library, You Check Out a Human, Not a Book — and Sit Down to Talk
California prides itself on being a diverse state that welcomes folks from all kinds of backgrounds. But actually connecting people who have radically different life experiences — that can be a challenge. The Santa Monica Public Library is hosting events to encourage deep one-on-one conversations between people from different backgrounds. Reporter Clare Wiley tells us about “The Human Library.”
‘It’s All I’ve Wanted’: Ho
The Passion of Chris Strachwitz
California music legend Chris Strachwitz passed away last month in San Rafael at the age of 91. He was the founder of Arhoolie Records, which championed traditional roots music like zydeco, blues, Norteño and Tejano. Starting in 1960, Strachwitz recorded hundreds of albums documenting this music, traveling to far flung corners of the country to find improbable stars. In 2019, his longtime friends and collaborators the Kitchen Sisters produced a documentary called “The Passion of Chris Strachwitz
Is California Really the Abortion Haven It Claims to Be?
When Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, California declared itself an abortion haven, an abortion sanctuary. The governor invited women from around the country to come here for safe, accessible abortions. He even set aside taxpayer dollars to help pay for their travel expenses. But for many people who live here and need abortion care, the state is anything but a sanctuary. Despite having some of the strongest abortion protections in the country, there are corners of California’s healthcare sy
‘We Had a Mission’: Longtime Richmond Teacher Reflects on Once-Stellar High School; Cooking Up LA's Next Chefs
When John F. Kennedy High School opened in 1967, it was a model of innovation. The Richmond school was designed for flexible scheduling, team-teaching and empowered students to take responsibility for their own learning. It also had award-winning extracurriculars and powerful vocational pathways. All this made it a destination school and one of the few examples of successful integration by race and class. Families from all over the district chose Kennedy High for their kids, some even p
The End of Wood Street: Inside the Struggle for Stability, Housing on the Margins of the Bay Area
KQED's Erin Baldassari has spent months reporting on what was once the largest settlement of unhoused people in Northern California. The city of Oakland has recently evicted some 300 people who were living in tents and trailers along Wood Street, some of whom had been there for a decade. Now, as residents scatter, many are mourning the loss of the community they had built. Baldassari follows two residents as they navigate the last year at the settlement, weathering eviction notices, sweeps and u
Allensworth Braces For Floods; ’70s Band Fanny Reclaims Their Right To Rock
Back in the early 1900s, the town of Allensworth became the first California town founded, financed and governed by Black Americans. The fertile Tulare Lake region should’ve been a utopia for the Black doctors, professors and farmers who settled there.
But historic power dynamics left them, and the Allensworth community today, on the losing side of many water and land use questions. Now, as the Sierra snowpack melts and floods the Tulare Lake Basin, communities like Allensworth are uniquely vuln
Farming With Ghosts: David 'Mas' Masumoto On Learning A Family Secret
David 'Mas' Masumoto says he farms with ghosts. On his family's organic peach, nectarine and grape farm south of Fresno, California, Mas says the labor and lessons of his ancestors are in the soil and he's passing these on to the next generations.
Mas is an author, too, who has delved into the stories of his farm and family in more than 10 books. In his latest, Secret Harvests, Mas writes about the shock of a newly uncovered family secret.
Reporter Lisa Morehouse has visited the Masumoto farm f
MIXED!: W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explores the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film ‘1,000% Me’
W. Kamau Bell has centered conversations about race in much of his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But when Kamau, who's black, and his wife Melissa, who's white, had kids, they knew their experiences around race would be much different than their daughters. So The Bells set out to make a film that centers the lives of other mixed-race kids like them. In a conversation with hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos, the Bells open up about how about they talk about race in their own family and
MIXED!: A Psychologist and Mixed-Race Teen Offer Advice To Parents For Raising Strong Multiracial Kids
Parenting is already a challenge, but it can be even more complicated when you’re raising a kid with a different racial identity than yours or your partner’s. Mixed!: Stories from Mixed Race Californians continues as co-hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos talk to Dr. Jenn Noble, a clinical psychologist who often works with multiracial families and Rahul Yates, a high school senior and host of the podcast Mixed by Gen Z, who's spent a lot of time thinking about his identity and creating ways for
MIXED!: Author Cherríe Moraga on Her ‘Mixed Blood’ Chicana Heritage and Embracing Discomfort
Half-and-half. Cream and coffee. Almost every mixed-race family develops their own, sometimes bizarre, metaphors to explain their kids to the outside world.Chicana feminist, playwright, poet and author Cherríe Moraga prefers the term “mixed blood.” Her recent memoir, Native Country of the Heart, is a tribute to her powerful and complicated Mexican mother, Elvira Moraga. It’s a more seasoned reflection on the concepts she first explored when she co-edited the groundbreaking anthology Thi
MIXED!: Educator Joemy Ito-Gates on Why Ethnic Studies Matters
Bay Area Teacher on Growing Up 'Multiracial Japanese American' — and Why Ethnic Studies Matters
“Woman. Daughter. Adoptee. AIDS Orphan. Hapa. Japanese-American. Asian. Asian-American. Queer Musician. Writer. Martial Artist. Alive.” Those are the words a 21-year-old Joemy Ito-Gates wrote below a photograph of her taken by artist Kip Fulbeck.
Some 20 years later, she’s also now a mother, an ethnic studies teacher and an advocate against cultural appropriation in fashion. And she’s changed the word
MIXED!: 'Can't You Be in the Black Struggle and Be Multiracial Too?' Late UCSB Professor On Challenging the One-Drop Rule
Our series MIXED!: Stories of Mixed Race Californians, continues with a wide ranging conversation with the late UCSB professor Reginald Daniel. He passed away suddenly in November 2022, just a few weeks after speaking with co-hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos. Before his death Professor Daniel taught the longest running college course on multiracial identity in the nation.
Daniel's family identified as Black, but he had big questions about his family's ancestry. Questions that his family neve
MIXED!: 'Jump Higher, Spin Faster': Olympic Figure Skater Tai Babilonia on Her Rise to Fame
Olympic figure skater Tai Babilonia and her skating partner Randy Gardner rapidly ascended figure skating’s ranks to become World Champions in 1979. They were favorites at the 1980 Olympics, but an injury ended their dream of a medal. For our series Mixed! Stories of Mixed Race Californians, co-hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Babilonia about growing up in a mixed race family in the 1960s and the racism and exotification she faced as an athlete and public figure.And we have an update
MIXED!: Rapper Guap on Growing Up Black and Filipino in Oakland
Even if he’s not always recognized as part of the Asian-American community, Oakland-born rapper Guap is fiercely proud of his Filipino roots. On the last track of his 2021 album, 1176, he tells an origin story spanning decades and continents. His grandfather, a Black merchant marine, stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, found himself with a rip in the pocket of his uniform. He found a young Filipina seamstress to repair the pocket and fell in love. When his time in Subic Bay came to an end
MIXED!: Mixed-Race Californians Share Stories of Joy and Complexity
Identity is always complicated, and for multiracial folks who straddle many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be invigorating and rich to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity. The latest census shows it's demographic to pay attention to: 2020 data reflect a 276% increase in people who identify as multiracial compared to 2010.
Sasha Khokha is joined by special guest host Marisa Lagos as they delve into the mixed race experience, grounded in their own backgrounds
Proven Schizophrenia Treatments Keep People in School, at Work and off the Street. Why Won't Insurance Companies Cover Them?
Have you ever heard someone calling your name, but then you look around and no one’s there? Or you feel your phone vibrate, but actually, it didn’t. Then you’ve technically experienced psychosis. For most of us, it will never go further. But for people who later develop schizophrenia, it often starts like this. On this week's show, KQED Health Correspondent April Dembosky takes you inside the minds of three young people experiencing psychosis. They describe how it crept up on them, how it took h
Raising Shasta Dam Could Put Sacred Indigenous Sites Underwater
As California looks for ways to alleviate drought, the federal government is considering raising Shasta Dam by 18-and-a-half feet in order to store more water in wet years. Behind it, three rivers backup creating Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in the state. If the dam enlargement proceeds, areas up river from the dam that aren’t currently underwater will flood.
The Winnemem Wintu people have opposed the dam enlargement project. Much of their ancestral land has already been taken from them an
75 Years After Deadly Plane Crash, Families Get Answers for 'Deportees'
This year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the worst plane crashes in California history. In 1948, 32 people died when a plane heading from Oakland to the Mexican border landed nose-first into a canyon near the Central Valley town of Coalinga. The passengers were 28 Mexican Braceros who were being deported from California to the border. While the bodies of the white pilot, flight attendants, and immigration agent on board were sent home to their loved ones, the deportees remained unnamed, bu
Chumash Tribe ‘Reunites the Rock;’ Social Justice Sewing Academy's Push to Make Craft More Inclusive
Chumash Tribes 'Reunite' Sacred Rock in Morro Bay CeremonyThe nearly 600-ft. volcanic rock poking out of Morro Bay is a Central Coast landmark, known to most as Morro Rock. But two Native American tribes indigenous to this area call it something else: Le’samo by the Salinan, and Lisamu’ by the Chumash. For 80 years, starting in 1889, the Army Corps of Engineers quarried the rock and used it to build infrastructure throughout San Luis Obispo County. The desecration of their sacred site h
From Yoga Darling to Conspiracy Theorist: The Wellness to Q-Anon Pipeline
Yoga isn't just an ancient practice. It can also be a lucrative business, especially in fitness-conscious California. What’s more, yoga teachers can often have a lot of influence over their followers, making suggestions about their diet, sleep and sometimes, even politics.
But as the Coronavirus pandemic dragged on, many people started noticing a surprising overlap between some of the alternative theories circulating in the wellness community and the conspiracy theories espoused by followers of
California Overturned Her Murder Conviction. ICE Still Wants to Deport Her
Sandra Castaneda was 20 when she was given a life sentence for a murder she didn’t commit. After she’d spent 19 years in prison, a judge overturned her conviction and ordered her release. But instead of walking free, she found herself behind bars again, in a holding cell in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. That’s because California prisons notify ICE whenever they release a person who wasn’t born in the U.S. – even someone like Sandra who’s a legal permanent resident who’s li
Building Thriving Spaces For Black Californians
We're featuring work from our colleagues at the Bay Curious podcast this week. Reporter Ariana Proehl digs into the history of Parchester Village, a neighborhood in the Bay Area town of Richmond. After World War II, Black ministers there made a deal with local politicians to build some of the state’s first housing intended to be racially integrated. Parchester Village soon became a hub for Black political power, excellence and community. Residents remember the powerful sense of belonging they fe
Murder in the Emerald Triangle
This week, Sasha Khokha sits down with Sam Anderson, host and reporter of the new podcast, Crooked City: The Emerald Triangle. In 2016, after finding out that a high school friend was wanted for a murder on an illegal pot farm, Anderson began a five-year journey to investigate the crime. He had to earn the trust of people close to the victim and the accused, all while living and working out of a tent, which became his “office.”
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Lee Herrick Named CA Poet Laureate; Transamerica Pyramid at 50
Poet Lee Herrick has taught at Fresno City College since the late 1990s, and is now our state’s first Asian American poet laureate. His work has touched on some of the unique experiences Californians share, including our diverse culture and questions of identity. Host Sasha Khokha chats with Herrick as he shares some of his poems as well as his plans to spread the of poetry across the state.
And when it comes to instantly recognizable structures, San Francisco suffers no shortage. But if asked t
California Stories: Three of Our Favorite Author Interviews from 2022
This week, as we say goodbye to 2022, we share some of our favorite conversations with California authors this year.
‘All My Rage’: A Story of Love, Loss and Forgiveness in the Mojave Desert
Author Sabaa Tahir based her new young adult novel “All My Rage” on her experiences growing up in her family's 18-room motel in the Mojave Desert. As the child of Pakistani immigrants, and one of the few South Asians in her rural town, Tahir faced racism, Islamophobia, and taunting from other kids. She's an
Two of Our Favorite (and Most Joyful) Stories from 2022
This week, we say goodbye to 2022 with two of our favorite stories from this year.
The Sizzler: The California Origin Story Behind One of India’s Flashiest Dishes
Take any popular dish – pizza, ice cream, hot dogs – and try to trace its origin story. Chances are, you’re going to go on a winding road with conflicting accounts of who actually invented the dish, or whether it was invented by one, single person at all. KQED’s Silicon Valley reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi recently ate a dish so mish-ma
Sacrifice Zones: How Bay Area Community Activists Are Preparing For Sea Level Rise
This week, we're devoting our show to KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero’s series “Sacrifice Zones.” He explores how sea level rise could push contaminants into certain neighborhoods, especially places that are near former military or industrial sites, and that have a history of racism, redlining, and disinvestment. Ezra profiles activists in San Francisco, Oakland and Marin City who are pushing for more data on these contaminants, and calling for reparations to clean up toxic sites, restor
Big Changes for Central Valley Farmers, Disability Rights Activist Alice Wong on the Cost of Care
A tiny local election in the Central Valley caught our attention last month. A group of candidates promising change took over control of a big, farmer-run organization that delivers their irrigation water: Westlands Water District. It’s an empire built on imported water and political power. But these newly elected Westlands board members – all farmers themselves – are now saying: We need a new strategy. A recognition that water is scarce, and large-scale farming will have to shrink. Reporter Dan
‘Bad Indians’ Author Deborah Miranda Continues Fight for Native Californians
Deborah Miranda is an award-winning poet, writer, professor, and an enrolled member of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation of the Greater Monterey Bay Area, with Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry. Miranda researched wax cylinder recordings made almost a century ago of some of the last speakers of indigenous languages in California, along with other primary source materials about the history of California Indians, for her award winning book, “Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir.” It features drawings
When You Don't Learn Your Parent's Language, What Is Lost?
This Thanksgiving weekend, we’re reprising one of our favorite episodes about family and belonging. It’s about what happens when you don’t learn your “heritage language," the language your parents or grandparents speak. Like many of us who are multiracial, or children of immigrants, KQED reporter Izzy Bloom gets asked all the time why she doesn’t speak her heritage language, Japanese. She usually says she's not as good as she'd like to be because her mother didn't teach her older brother, and be
The Promise of California: Stories of Detention and Freedom
California has always been a place people come to seek refuge. This week, two stories of people seeking the promise of the Golden State, with very different experiences.
First, immigrants held in ICE detention centers often hold jobs in those facilities: cleaning, folding laundry, even working as barbers. Those positions often only pay a dollar a day. For the last several months, some of those immigrant detainees in two facilities in and around Bakersfield have gone on strike, demanding better p
A Wedding Behind the Walls of San Quentin
On this week's show, we're sharing an episode of the KALW podcast Uncuffed, which is made by inmate journalists at Solano State Prison and San Quentin State Prison.A prison might not be the first place you'd think of to celebrate a wedding. But it's where Uncuffed producer Edmond Richardson is marrying the love of his life, Avelina. He talks about his joys and his fears as the day approaches and we learn what it takes to have a ceremony at San Quentin. Learn more about your ad choices.
Grass Valley Students Focus on School Board Election; Aztec Dancers Preserve a Proud Heritage; Childhood Prank Helps Heal Grandmother's Grief
We head to Nevada County, where students are mobilizing around an election for school board next week. Some of them are even too young to vote, but they’re working to defeat conservative school board trustees who they say have failed to stop racist and homophobic bullying on school campuses. As KQED’s Julia McEvoy tells us, these students in Grass Valley are trying to help elect candidates they hope will take racist and anti-gay behavior more seriously.
Plus, communities across California marked
Did I Actually Contact a Dead Person? A Science Editor In Search of His Mother’s Ghost
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Exploring the Bay Area’s African Music Scene; Remembering Art Laboe
Reporter Jessica Kariisa is Ugandan American, and she’s spent years listening to and writing about African pop music. When she moved to the Bay Area, she wasn’t sure what she’d find in terms of an African music scene. Gentrification and the rising cost of living have pushed many Black communities out of cities in the Bay Area and beyond. But, after doing some digging, Jessica discovered an African music scene that's thriving.
And we pay tribute to the first DJ to play rock and roll on the West
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s Unlikely Rise to Power
This week, we bring you the first episode of the new season of a podcast from LAist Studios called Imperfect Paradise: The Sheriff. KPCC correspondent Frank Stoltze explores how a former Sheriff’s lieutenant with almost no leadership experience rose to become the head of the largest law enforcement agency west of the Mississippi, and how he turned out to be a leader with authoritarian tendencies. Alex Villanueva, a longshot maverick candidate, ran for LA County Sheriff as a progressive reformer
Riding the Bánh Mì Bus; Rediscovering SF's Playland-at-the-Beach
In East San José, a scrappy strip mall anchored by a bánh mì shop doesn’t look like much. But it's a bustling transportation hub. Every morning by 8 a.m., there’s a steady stream of riders lining up for the daily run of the Xe Đò Hoàng, or “Royal Coach” in Vietnamese. Those in the know call it the “Bánh Mì Bus,” which takes passengers all the way to Orange County and back. Christine Nguyen takes us along for the ride.
And we head to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach and travel back in time to the earl
From Losing a Farm to Healing Trauma: Families in Transition
What is it like to be a dad and your first-born son goes off to college? That just happened for Adolfo Guzman-Lopez. He’s covered higher education for years at KPCC in Los Angeles, but when his own son moved into his freshman dorm this month, Adolfo was not prepared for the reaction he’d have.
And we meet a mom from East Palo Alto who's spent years trying to help her kids cope with anxiety and trauma. They’re among a rising number of children across California struggling with their emotional and
'The Real Ambassadors': Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong and the Story Behind a Groundbreaking 1962 Civil Rights Jazz Musical
As the Monterey Jazz Festival kicks off again this weekend, we go back in time to a chilly evening in 1962. Sixty years ago, a groundbreaking musical premiered at the festival called “The Real Ambassadors.” It featured a glittering array of jazz titans, including Louis Armstrong. This was during the heat of the Civil Rights Movement, and the musical cast artists of different races, challenging racism and social injustice through jazz. “The Real Ambassadors” was written by two Californians influe
Hollywood's First Chinese American Star + Pronouns Lost in Translation
The pioneering Asian American actress Anna May Wong will be one of five American women the U.S. Mint is recognizing this year with an image on the American quarter. Wong was born in Los Angeles in 1905, and she grew up helping out at her father's laundromat. As a kid, she skipped school to visit movie sets and mimicked the actors at home. She would eventually become Hollywood’s first Chinese American movie star. Host Sasha Khokha talks with Nancy Wang Yeun, a sociologist and expert on r
A Historically Black Community Honors Its Past – and Fights For Its Future
About 30 minutes off Interstate 5, in the Central Valley, there’s a town that’s a vital part of California's history, and Black history in the U.S. It’s called Allensworth, and it was founded as a kind of Black utopia back in 1908. It was self-governed by Black residents, and had its own school, church, bank, debate society and glee club. And for a while, it was thriving. These days, though, Allensworth is a dusty, tiny, farmworker town that’s struggling to survive. There are few jobs or busines
Encore: Investigating COVID Deaths at Foster Farms
We’re reprising an investigation from The California Report’s Central Valley reporter, Alex Hall, that recently earned a National Murrow award for News Documentary. In 2020, California’s Foster Farms became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a meat or poultry plant. Hall spent a year and a half talking to spouses and family members of workers who spent decades at the company’s chicken-processing plants. She found that hundreds of Foster Farms workers tested positive
A Reporter Reflects on Coping When Your Community is the News; Two Actresses of Color Receive Long Awaited Recognition
What does it means to be a journalist when the story you’re reporting on also affects you? That’s a question Ericka Cruz Guevarra, host of the KQED podcast The Bay, explored on a recent episode. She shares her story about a camping trip she went on with her best friend during the pandemic. But it’s also a story about the mental health impact of reporting the news when you’re a journalist of color.
Plus, we have an update on two stories we’ve brought you about two women of color who’ve had to str
Getting Off Auto-Pilot and Into the World
Our lives are full of routines. From the time we get up, to what we eat for breakfast, to the modes of transportation we take from place to place. But do we really know the stories behind the buildings we pass by and the people who live or work in them? One reporter gives us an inside look into four different businesses on one Berkeley block. Then we go to East Oakland to meet 10-year-old Hemer as she starts sixth grade at a new school. The pandemic contributed to increases in depression and anx
A Palauan Chef in Susanville + Pacifica’s Forgotten Prison Camp
This week, we’re heading to the high desert town of Susanville, to sample some of the most gourmet food you can find in Lassen County… in a community college cafeteria. We meet the Palauan chef who’s finding a way to bring a taste of home to a community that in some ways, isn’t so different from his Pacific island homeland. Then we’ll visit the foggy coastal city of Pacifica, to learn about a little-known WW2 incarceration camp for Japanese-Americans. And how one man’s diaries leave us vivid clu
Remembering the Rainbow Sign: The Short But Powerful Reign of Berkeley’s 1970s Black Cultural Center
Today, it’s an unassuming beige building on a busy Berkeley street. But in the 1970s, the Rainbow Sign was a groundbreaking center for Black culture, politics, and art. It hosted dozens of high-profile Black thought leaders and performers, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm. The Rainbow Sign was open to all – as a performance venue, political organizing space, and cafe. It lasted just a few short years, from 1971-1977. But it left profound mark on the young
As Protections for Renters Vanish, One California Family Navigates the Eviction Process
In 2021, we brought you a story from reporter Kori Suzuki about Dahbia Benakli. She was a preschool teacher who lived in Walnut Creek, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and her two kids were facing eviction from their apartment. That story ended in an uncertain place, with Dahbia waiting to find out whether or not she’d get to keep her apartment. In December, her landlord took them to court for refusing to leave their home. Across California, the number of evictions is rising. As publi
A Teen Activist On Saving the Future; Reporter Investigates His HS Journalism Teacher; Pirate Ship Sails Big Bear Lake
How to Save the World: Audio Diaries from a High School Climate Activist
Survey after survey shows people who are Gen-Z – born between 1996 and 2012 – consider climate change to be the biggest challenge we’re facing. KCRW’s Caleigh Wells followed one teen climate leader in Los Angeles, Paola Hoffman, for months. She collected audio diaries and captured her speeches at climate strikes, her testimony before the state legislature, and her high school graduation…all while Paola carried the weight of
Oscar Gomez: The Forgotten Revolutionary
This week, we're teaming up with our friends at LAist Studios to share an episode from the new season of their podcast “Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary.”It's the story of Oscar Gomez, a radio DJ and Chicano student leader during a time of explosive anti-immigrant political rhetoric in the early 90s. Some people thought Gomez was going to be the next Cesar Chavez. But then, he died near the UC Santa Barbara campus, under mysterious circumstances. KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzm
Ojai’s Famous Pixie Tangerine Struggles; Program Trains Incarcerated Men to Help Fight Fires; Peninsula Boba Shop's Tongan Treat
The Ojai Valley’s climate has been ideal for growing certain tree crops. But climate change is making it windier, drier, and hotter there. As Lisa Morehouse tells us, none of that is good for farming. And neither is Ojai’s rising cost of real estate.
And this summer, incarcerated youth will help fight California's wildfires. These young men are hacking containment lines with hand tools. It's part of a program within the juvenile justice system meant to provide job training. But as KQED's health
Road Trip: Unearthing California's Hidden Gems
California is full of incredible, unique places. Even for those of us who have lived here all our lives, there are unusual, off-the-beaten-path spots we’ve never even heard of. The California Report Magazine has been exploring some of those places as part of our Hidden Gems series.
In 2017, Sasha Khokha hosted this Hidden Gems show from a zipline in Sonoma County, with help from producer Suzie Racho. They soared above the redwoods – with their microphones, headphones and tape recorders. And we'r
How a Young Gay Man Survived One of the Darkest Eras in California Queer History
Today, California is seen as a haven for people across a broad spectrum of human sexuality and gender identity. But fifty years ago, even here, being gay meant living in the shadows. It was essentially a crime. It was also considered a mental illness, so judges were committing people to psychiatric hospitals as well as to prisons. Lee Romney brings us the story of Gene Ampon, who was a teenager when he was sent to a California state mental hospital in Atascadero for two years. Lee's reporting is
Seeking Asylum in CA from Gender-Based Violence; Is Jack Cheese Really From Monterey?
For Immigrants Fleeing Gender-Based Violence, a Long Road to Asylum in US
California has long tried to be a welcoming place for immigrants. But sometimes our state’s efforts have conflicted with federal policy. Under the Trump administration, the rules changed about just who qualifies for asylum. That has made things rocky for people fleeing persecution based on their gender. KQED’s Immigration Editor Tyche Hendricks has been following a woman who escaped years of abuse in Guatemala, and finally
Visiting the Farallon Islands; Experiencing Abortion Before Roe v. Wade; Blues Singer Marina Crouse's New Spanish Album
'Like You’re on a Different Planet': Visiting the Mysterious Farallon Islands
If you look west from San Francisco, when the fog is clear and the light is just right, you might be able to see a cluster of islands jutting out of the ocean like sharp, misshapen teeth. The Farallon Islands sit 27 miles west of San Francisco. They get their name from the Spanish word farallón, which means “sea cliff.” For our series Hidden Gems, The California Report’s Izzy Bloom braved the rough waters to get up clo
New Podcast Visits Central Valley Towns, and Celebrates 'The Other California'
To a lot of people outside our state, California is one of two places: L.A. or San Francisco. Hollywood or high tech. The beaches or the redwoods. And frankly, to a lot of Californians who live here, there’s a vast part of our state between L.A. and S.F. that people consider “drive-through” country: the San Joaquin Valley, which stretches from the Sierra Nevada to the Coastal range, from Stockton to Bakersfield. It’s a place that – culturally, politically, and geographically – could almost be it
Betty Reid Soskin at 100: The Life of the Nation's Oldest Park Ranger, In Her Own Words
This spring, the nation’s oldest park ranger, Betty Reid Soskin, hung up her hat and retired, at the age of 100. For years, she led tours of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond. She played a major role in helping to establish the park and museum, which honors the women who worked in factories during wartime.
You’ve probably heard of Betty Reid Soskin. But what you may not know is that she’s also an activist, author, singer/songwriter, and a poet. So
When You Don’t Learn Your Parent’s Language, What Is Lost?
What happens when you don’t learn your “heritage language” — the language your parents or grandparents speak? Like many of us who are multiracial, or children of immigrants, our intern Izzy Bloom gets asked all the time why she doesn’t speak her heritage language, Japanese. She usually says she's not as good as she'd like to be because her mother didn't teach her older brother, and because he wasn't taught Japanese, neither was she. It sounds simple enough, but the story is actually much more co
California Dreamers: Psych Ward Nurse Turned Bandleader; Waiting a Lifetime for a Green Card
Lately we've been trying to bring you more stories about people who are pursuing their passions and finding joy right now. A few months ago, KQED culture reporter Chloe Veltman went out with friends to a restaurant in the Sonoma County town of Guerneville. There was a cover band playing called Suzi’s Last Resort. The group's leader started her showbiz career when she was pushing forty and how, at nearly eighty, she’s still at it.
Plus...Turning 21 is a big deal! But for 200,000 young people, tur
Mapping a Radical Legacy of South Asian Activism in California
You’ve probably heard of Bobby Seale and The Black Panthers. Or Mario Savio and the Free Speech Movement. But what about Kartar Singh Sarabha and the Ghadar Movement? Or Kala Bagai and the fight against redlining? This week we dive deep into the hidden history of early South Asian activism in our state. How Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and other South Asian immigrants and their children laid the groundwork for social movements that still resonate today in California. Host Sasha Khokha teams up
Delicious Dishes: From a Sizzling Cross-Cultural Concoction to Hmong Home Cooking
One thing that’s helped some of us get through the last pandemic has been finding joy in food. This week, stories about dishes that bring us comfort and make us happy. From a kitchen in the back of a Hmong grocery store in Yuba County, to an Indian sizzler: a dish invented in California that’s a mishmash of ingredients from different countries. Plus, it's our annual Youth Takeover week, when we hand over the mic to high school students. We hear from Clara Chiu, a junior at Woodside High School,
Looking for Threads of Hope and Connection
This week we have two stories about Californians determined to look for threads of hope and connection right now.
We’ll hear about a new project to transfer farmland in San Mateo County to the indigenous people whose ancestors lived and thrived there. And we’ll meet a family from Placer County that's on a mission to rescue a young relative in Ukraine.
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Deep Roots: Home and History in the Golden State
This week, we have stories of home and history.
We start with novelist Susan Straight. She's a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, and also grew up in the city. Her new book, Mecca, is a story of intertwined characters who all have deep roots in the mountains, deserts and canyons near Riverside and Coachella, and who are all in their own ways, looking for a version of the California Dream.
And KQED's Adhiti Bandlamudi takes us to San Jose to explain why the city has had five Chinatown
Revisiting Some of Our Favorite Hidden Gems
Many people have been hitting the road for Spring Break, so we wanted to reprise our Hidden Gems show from September 2021. Every year we go on a road trip highlighting some of our favorite secret spots. Come with us as we visit the prehistoric Fern Canyon, a funky beauty salon/museum in the desert, a San Jose shop making pillowy mochi, the majestic Burney Falls and a food truck featuring homestyle chicken and rice in the Central Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho
'There Is Anger. He Should Be Alive.' An Investigation Into Deadly COVID-19 Outbreaks at Foster Farms
In 2020, California’s Foster Farms became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a meat or poultry plant. The California Report’s Central Valley reporter, Alex Hall, spent a year and a half talking to spouses and family members of workers who spent decades at the company’s chicken-processing plants. She found that hundreds of Foster Farms workers tested positive for the virus in 2020. 16 people died and at least 20 others were hospitalized.
In this episode that originall
'I Will Always Continue to Be Her Voice.' Families Demand Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Angela Lynn McConnell grew up in the forested hills of the Hoopa Valley reservation in Humboldt County. She was proud of her heritage. Angela, 26, was a budding journalist, committed to shedding light on important tribal issues. In September 2018, she was murdered. What happened to her is unfortunately too common in Indigenous communities: Indigenous women and girls disappearing or turning up dead. Most of these cases are never solved. But families of the missing and murdered have been coming to
California Books: Kids Reflecting on Journeys of Migration
This week, Sasha Khokha talks to Neda Toloui-Semnani, an Emmy Award winning writer and producer about her new book, "They Said They Wanted Revolution, A Memoir of My Parents.” It's pieced together from interviews, diaries and archives, and it dives deep into her family's history, both in the U.S. and Iran.
Plus, KQED's Chloe Veltman tells us about the rise in bilingual children’s books, especially in Spanish and English. The stories don’t just highlight diverse characters, but also have a strong
They Were Under the Radar, But Two CA Singers Leave Lasting Musical Legacies
This week, we’ve got two stories featuring two very different musical artists. Each of them won a singing contest as a teenager that launched their career. One was a singer in 1960s Saigon, who rode the wave of edgy modern music inspired by the California surf sound. The other was a vocalist who got his start in Los Angeles' Central Avenue jazz scene in the 1940s and had a career that lasted over 70 years,
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Sold Out: A Suburb With an Eviction Problem
During the pandemic, so many Californians have lost their jobs, and struggled to pay rent. People have been forced to make really difficult decisions. Like choosing between buying groceries, or paying the landlord. Federal, state, and local governments did put some eviction protections in place during the pandemic. And Congress handed out nearly 50 billion dollars to help people catch up on missed rent. But people still got evicted. Most of those pandemic protections were temporary. And now, thi
The Last Slavery Case in California; YA Author Sabaa Tahir's Gets Personal in 'All My Rage'
This week Sasha Khokha sits down with author Sabaa Tahir to talk about her latest young adult novel, All My Rage. The book is rooted in her own experiences growing up in her family's 18 room motel as the child of Pakistani immigrants and one of the few South Asians in her rural town. She's an award-winning author and her earlier series, Ember in the Ashes, which had a woman of color hero, hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
And even though California joined the union as free s
‘Imperfect Paradise’: When Neighbors Shout Down an Apartment Complex for Unhoused People
We’re sharing a new podcast from our friends LAist Studios called ‘Imperfect Paradise.' It tells stories about how California – with its reputation as a sunny haven for artists, dreamers, and progressive politics – doesn’t always live up to that promise. The show's first season launched earlier this month with 'Home is Life,' a series from KPCC reporter Jill Replogle, which looks at a question many cities in California are struggling with: how to get unhoused people into stable housing? She foun
How the 1960 Winter Olympics Came to Tahoe; A Mom's Concern with Selling Girl Scout Cookie Online; Creating Community Through Fortune Cookies
If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics, you’ve probably caught sight of some of the amazing California athletes. In fact, 29 Team USA athletes call California home. That’s more than any other state. Back in 1960, California hosted the winter games near Lake Tahoe. What happened in Tahoe that year left its mark, and not just on future Olympics.
Plus, it's cookie season! This time of year, sales of Girl Scout cookies top Oreos and Chips Ahoy. And Girl Scouts aren’t just going door to door a
Wajahat Ali's 'Go Back To Where You Came From'; A Granddaughter's Tribute to Her 'Papi Tomas'
Writer Wajahat Ali's Decision to 'Actively Invest in Joy'
“Go back to where you came from.” It’s an insult that unfortunately, many of us have heard. For writer Wajahat Ali, it’s also the title of his new book. It traces his childhood in Fremont, CA, his activism as a UC Berkeley student after 9/11, and the challenges he’s faced as a son, a father, and a writer. It chronicles him almost dying from a heart condition, his young daughter getting cancer, and other family tragedies. But the book is f
'Acts of Great Love': How the Marijuana Minister of the Castro Helped Hundreds of San Francisco AIDS Patients
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, members of Reverend Jim Mitulski's congregation, many of them healthy young men, were dying from a terrible disease. There was no cure, there still isn’t. Reporter Christopher Beale brings us the true story of how a San Francisco pastor changed the definition of “communion,” and committed felonies to comfort his flock.
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Helping the Magical Monarch Butterfly; How California's Courts Fail to Disarm Abusers
Scientists say that back in the 1980s, millions of monarchs came to California each year. By 2020, that number dropped to fewer than 2,000. Numbers are way up this year, but that doesn't mean they're out of the woods. Reporter Amanda Stupi visited Lake Merritt in Oakland, looking for answers on how to help the butterfly population.
Then, California may have some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, but it often struggles to enforce those laws. A new investigation from CalMatters, a n
A World of Humor, Queerness, and Tenderness in a Farmworker Camp; This 'Jewish Arbor Day’, COVID Makes Connection Difficult for Gold Country Community
Host Sasha Khokha talks to author Jaime Cortez about his new book of short stories, “Gordo.” The collection is set in the Central Coast farmworker camps he grew up in near Watsonville and San Juan Bautista. By the time he was 10, Cortez was a veteran of the annual garlic and potato harvests. The book, which he calls “semi-autobiographical,” is a journey of queer self-discovery and complex identities that don’t fit the usual stereotypes of Steinbeck country.
Plus, this weekend is the Jewish holid
Remembering the Rainbow Sign: From Baldwin to Simone, the Short But Powerful Reign of Berkeley’s 1970s Black Cultural Center
Today, it’s an unassuming beige building on a busy Berkeley street. But in the 1970s, the Rainbow Sign was a groundbreaking center for Black culture, politics, and art. It hosted dozens of high-profile Black thought leaders and performers, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm. The Rainbow Sign was open to all – as a performance venue, political organizing space, and cafe. It lasted just a few short years, from 1971-1977. But it left profound mark on the young
Ringing In 2022 With Some of Our Favorite California Cocktails
We’re saying goodbye to 2021 and cheers to 2022! To go along with your New Year’s Eve toasts, we’ve got a show about drinks and cocktails that got their start here in California. From the Pisco Sour to Irish Coffee, there are some fascinating California history lessons in these stories.
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Love, Loss and Song: Some of Our Favorite Stories From 2021
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Stargazing in L.A., Celebrating Las Posadas, and Remembering the King of Mariachi
High above the lights of Los Angeles, there’s a place where you can actually see the stars and planets in the dark winter sky. It’s called the Mt. Wilson Observatory. Peter Gilstrap went to see what happens on Mt. Wilson when the stars come out. Plus, Catholic Latinos across the state commemorate Las Posadas, the journey of Joseph and Mary as they searched for refuge and a safe place for her to give birth to the baby Jesus. Madi Bolaños went to a celebration in Firebaugh. And we hear from Sonoma
How The “Gig Economy” Changes Work: One Janitor's Story
These days, It can be a lot harder to find what you might call a “good” job. The kind of job where a person is employed by one company and gets things like health insurance, paid sick days, and at least minimum wage. Today, all kinds of businesses from Uber to janitorial companies argue they’ve come up with something better: “gig work,” in which workers are independent contractors, not employees.
But some workers in California are pushing back against the “gig economy. " After Jerry Vasquez sta
Holding on to Home
Finding a place to call home is getting increasingly harder here in California.
The pandemic has been particularly hard on renters. There’s been a lot of news about the end of the statewide eviction moratorium this fall. But it’s not just evictions. Some renters are also facing another challenge – harassment from their landlords. A growing number of California cities are moving to ban landlords from using aggressive practices to try to push out tenants. Kori Suzuki tells us about one renter’s e
Ghostly Protectors, Sacred Mountains: In California, These Legends Run Deep
This week, we’ve got a couple of storytelling treats for you: two legends and how they’ve left their mark on our state.
In the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, there’s a massive blue mural painted in shades of blue, depicting figures of women among waves and cascading water. In the foreground, a woman stands to the side, a giant tear falling from her eye. “La Llorona’s Sacred Waters” was painted by Bay Area artist Juana Alicia back in 2004. But there are differing versions of her story
Our Favorite Stories from California Foodways
We’re sharing some stories about the unexpected ways food plays a role in our lives, and in the history of California. These are some of our favorite stories from the award-winning series California Foodways, which has aired on The California Report Magazine since 2014. Reporter Lisa Morehouse has been reporting food stories from every one of the state's 58 counties.
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Demolition Derby Sends Sparks (and Sparkles) Flying, and Kindling a New Romance During COVID
The crash ‘em, smash ‘em motorsport of demolition derby had its heyday in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. These days, derbies are featured at county fairs and racetracks. But once a year, Irwindale Speedway in Los Angeles County hosts an annual all-women derby. Plus, during the pandemic many people tried to figure out new ways to connect to break through the isolation. KQED’s Silicon Valley reporter, Adhiti Bandlamudi, actually started dating someone new during lockdown... and found true love. Finally,
Mixed-Race Californians: "You Have to Find Your Own Way to Define Yourself"
Identity is always complicated, and for multiracial folks who straddle many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be invigorating and rich to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity. The latest census shows it's demographic to pay attention to: 2020 data reflect a 276% increase in people who identify as multiracial compared to 2010.
Sasha Khokha is joined by special guest host Marisa Lagos as they delve into the mixed race experience, grounded in their own backgrounds
Stories for the Spooky Season: Ghost Hunters, Haunted Lighthouses and Flowers for the Dead
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"There is Anger. He Should Be Alive." An Investigation Into Deadly COVID Outbreaks at Foster Farms
Last year, California’s Foster Farms became the site of one of the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a meat or poultry plant. The California Report’s Central Valley reporter, Alex Hall, spent a year and a half talking to spouses and family members of workers who spent decades at the company’s chicken-processing plants. She found that hundreds of Foster Farms workers tested positive for the virus in 2020. 16 people died and at least 20 others were hospitalized.
Hall’s investigation shows
The Queen of California Returns, and Other Forgotten California History
California was likely named for a character in an early 16th century Spanish novel. Queen Calafia was a mythical Black warrior who ruled an island of Amazon women, and commanded an army of griffins. She is said to have worn armor made of fish bones, and used weapons made of gold. Most Californians don’t know this origin story, but a Bay Area theater company hopes to change that. Plus remembering Eureka's lost Chinatown. And Latin Grammy-nominated composer Gabriela Ortiz has a new concerto for fl
California Trailblazes Solutions to Overdose Deaths
We look at an epidemic that has been raging during COVID: In California alone, more than 10,000 people died of a drug overdose just this past year. Some California doctors and caregivers are using two new models of treatment for those struggling with addiction. Health Reporters Lesley McClurg and April Dembosky take you inside hospitals and clinics to meet people struggling with addiction who are getting help in new ways. For the first time, doctors and caregivers are asking: what do you need fr
Escape from Mammoth Pool: A Wildfire Rescue that Saved 242 People (and 16 Dogs)
Over Labor Day weekend 2020, the historic, fast-moving Creek Fire tore through remote wilderness in the Sierra Nevada northeast of Fresno, trapping hundreds of campers at a Mammoth Pool Reservoir. A new podcast from KVPR explores what it takes, in the era of climate change, to launch a successful, large-scale rescue from a massive forest fire. "Escape from Mammoth Pool" gives us an intimate look at the people involved in the rescue effort — survivors who helped save strangers, and National Guard
Hidden Gems: A Journey Through California’s Best Kept Secrets
Every year we highlight some of our favorite secret spots in California — places tourists and longtime residents alike might not know about. This week, we’re taking you all over the state of California, from a coveted food truck in the Central Valley to remote corners of Humboldt County.
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Rolling Through California; A Family Kept Apart; How 9/11 Changed One Woman's Life
This week on The California Report Magazine, we talk with Oakland-based musician Fantastic Negrito about his new song, "Rolling Through California," that explores the dissonance between the California Dream and the reality of living in the Golden State today. Plus, the story of one father and the family awaiting him in the Central Valley city of Los Banos. He followed the rules and went back to Mexico for the final step to apply for his green card: an interview at the U.S. Consulate. His wife an
A California Tribe Turns to Cultural Roots to Heal the Wounds of Domestic Violence
Reporter Lee Romney brings us a documentary about a longtime couple from rural Northern California, near the Oregon border. They’ve each faced a domestic violence charge in state court, and they have a lot to share about their journey to wellness. The key: understanding where generational violence comes from by talking openly about the trauma of things like boarding schools, the Indian Slave Act, and massacres. Colonization intentionally and forcibly severed indigenous people from their land, tr
Getting 'Good Fire' on the Ground: The Karuk Tribe Pushes to Restore Native Burn Management to Protect Forests
California is in the grip of another round of devastating wildfires, including history-making blazes that have jumped from one side of the Sierra to the other, fueled by overgrown forests thick with dry brush. But it hasn’t always been that way. For thousands of years before contact with Europeans, the Karuk people, like many other indigenous people, tended their land with fire. The Karuk tribe is one of the largest in California, spanning parts of Humboldt and Siskiyou counties along the Klamat
What Fire Reveals: Capturing What's Lost and Found After a Wildfire
A year ago this August, some 12,000 lightning strikes exploded across Northern California, igniting more than 585 wildfires. In the Santa Cruz Mountains scattered blazes grew into one massive burning organism — The CZU August Lightning Complex Fire — scorching some 86,000 acres, and destroying over 900 homes and Big Basin Redwoods, California’s first state park.
In the aftermath, the storytelling duo The Kitchen Sisters turned their microphones on the region, looking for what was lost and what
Mauricio Across the Border, Part 2: No Turning Back
This week, we continue the story of Mauricio Hernández, an undocumented immigrant who had an unexpected brush with television fame in the US. A new opportunity draws him back over the border to Mexico, but it comes at a heavy cost to his life. Reporter Levi Bridges brings us the conclusion of his documentary, Mauricio Across the Border.
A version of this story was first produced by the KCRW podcast UnFictional.
Mauricio Across the Border, Part 1: Giving Up a Dream After It Came True
Mauricio Hernández grew up in Mexico City dreaming of one day being on TV. As a teen, he crossed the border to California and got a job sweeping the floor of a body shop in LA. And then, something unexpected happened...something that led to moments of surprising fame. Reporter Levi Bridges brings us the first part of his documentary, Mauricio Across the Border.
A version of this story was first produced by the KCRW podcast UnFictional.
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California History You Probably Didn't Learn in School
This week, we feature some of our favorite history stories from The California Report Magazine archive.
The Forgotten Filipino-Americans Who Led the ’65 Delano Grape Strike
Today, grapes in the grocery store don’t seem that controversial. But in 1965, a historic strike in California’s Central Valley set in motion the most significant campaign in modern labor history: the farmworker movement. While the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez are widely known, the contributions of Filipino workers a
California’s Delta Surge; History of Native Americans in Comedy; Postpartum Drug Offers Hope and Frustration
Remember that moment just about a month ago when there was a palpable sense everything might be OK? The economy was reopening. People were packing back into restaurants. Even exhausted health care workers breathed their first deep sigh of relief — as communities across California experienced the first real lull in the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the Delta variant hit California, and rapidly took hold, particularly in unvaccinated pockets of the state. It now appears to be spreading two to three time
Was He "The Priest Who Performs Miracles" - Or a Predator?
Listener advisory: Some accounts of sexual assault in this story contain explicit details and strong language that some may find upsetting or objectionable.For nearly a decade, Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, better known to parishioners as Father Antonio, drew in hundreds of followers from Fresno's Latino community to his charismatic, Spanish-language congregation, earning him the nickname, "el padrecito que hace milagros" (the priest who performs miracles). Now facing up to 23 and a 1/
These Five People Challenge the Notion of Blindness as a Deficit
A lot of stories about people who are blind are sensational. They focus on the trauma of losing sight or the triumph of overcoming adversity. But what about the rich ways people who are blind experience the world every day? This week we’re going to explore that beauty in an episode from 2019, when we teamed up with the podcast the World According to Sound.
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The Sound of Social Revolution: Inside the Black Panthers' R&B Band
Fifty years ago, an unlikely musical group evolved out of the Oakland chapter of the Black Panther Party. The band’s mission was to spread the seed of social revolution, and their militant agenda would put them up against the intertwined forces of white supremacy and racist police. Reporter Peter Gilstrap brings us a documentary about the rise and fall of The Lumpen.More: A Trojan Horse of Funk and Soul: The Story of the Black Panthers House Band
Latinx Artists Promote Covid Shots, Saying Goodbye to 'Roadrunner', Birds Helping CA Farms
More than 60 percent of Latinos in some Central Valley counties are still not vaccinated. The numbers are even more dramatic for younger folks, especially teens and those in their 20s -- and for indigenous farmworkers. Now former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, along with famed Ranchera singer Carmencristina Moreno and other musical groups, are trying to get the word out through original songs, radio dramas, and poems in Spanish, English, and Mixteco.
Plus, as part of our series remembe
A History of Queer California
For this Pride month, we reprise our 2019 episode looking back at the early days of the queer rights movement, exploring the impact of that activism on young people today, and hear about a place that’s become a refuge for the LGBTQ+ community in rural California.
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'Our Culture Is Being Taken Away From Us': The Karuk Tribe Pushes to Restore Native Burn Management to Protect Forests
For thousands of years before contact with Europeans, the Karuk people, like many others, tended their land with fire. The Karuk tribe is one of the largest in California, spanning parts of Humboldt and Siskiyou counties along the Klamath River. When the federal government took over managing the forest, it stripped the Karuk people of their relationship with fire, and that has had profound effects. These days, the forest is overgrown, and thick with dry brush. Last fall, the massive Slater Fire
Armed Asian Women, Filling The Shoes of a Mom Lost to COVID, Space Force for CA Teens
For some Asian women who were on the fence about buying guns for protection, the racist violence of the past year pushed them over the edge. Reporter Christine Nguyen tells us about two women from Southern California who are learning to shoot guns, and navigating the stigma around gun ownership within their families. Plus, in Oakland, Maribel Villanueva died from COVID-19 at age 46. She was a single mom and left behind a 10-year-old son, David. Now his aunt and his teacher are trying to fill her
Teens Say #MeToo, Good News For Trans Asylum Seeker, Mourning Two Pandemics
When most schools across California shut down last year, teenagers were stuck at home. For some, that meant months alone to reflect on experiences of trauma in high school. But they didn’t all keep that pain to themselves. Instead, hundreds of young people turned to social media to share their stories. Plus, an update on the story of Luna Guzmán, a young transgender woman from Guatemala. She lived through years of brutal abuse and discrimination in her hometown, and dreamed of seeking asylum in
‘On Our Watch’ Podcast Examines the Shadow World of Police Discipline
This week we bring you an excerpt from a new investigative reporting podcast produced by KQED and NPR. After a new state law unsealed dozens of internal affairs files, reporters began examining cases of police misconduct and serious use of force. The first case involves Katheryn Jenks, who called 911 for help from her home in the small Northern California town of Rio Vista in 2018. But after the police arrived, she was bitten by a police K-9 and wound up inside a jail cell, facing serio
Quest for a Hollywood Star, Traveling Violinists Bring Joy, & California's 'Top Chef'
Arnett Moore is launching a one-man campaign: to get his aunt, actress Juanita Moore, a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Juanita receive an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1959 film, Imitation of Life. As Arnett says, "She's a star without a star." Plus, two violinists fix up a 1971 VW bus and travel the West Coast, bringing music and joy to all they encounter. And host Sasha Khokha heads into the kitchen to watch Nelson German at work. German owns two restaurants in O
The Year of Singing Dangerously
COVID-19 devastated California’s arts and culture world. But the blow to singers across the state has been particularly harsh, and not just financially and socially. After an early super spreader event in Washington State caused more than 50 choir members to contract the virus, singers in California were forced to confront a devastating truth: this beloved everyday activity, which feels so good and is so healthy, had become...a killer. Singing went underground. But it didn’t go away entirely. Th
Immediate Jeopardy: Death and Neglect in California Nursing Homes
Families put their loved ones in nursing homes because they think they’ll receive better care. They assume someone will keep an eye out. But that’s not always true. Conditions were bad in some California nursing homes even before COVID. When the pandemic hit, things got much worse. More than 9,000 nursing home residents in the state have died from COVID-19. Some facilities didn’t even take basic precautions. The missteps, even the deaths, come as no surprise to advocates for nursing home reform.
Diary of a Contact Tracer + Youth Takeover
Even though many of us might feel like we’ve got more of a handle on the coronavirus pandemic now, we will all be marked by it forever—especially those who’ve really been in the trenches. Lisa Fagundes is normally a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. But starting last spring, she and thousands of other city and state workers were redeployed to become contact tracers, calling people who may have been exposed. Our health correspondent April Dembosky asked Lisa to keep an audio diary fo
Aarti Shahani's 'Art of Power' + Remembering a Mom, ER Worker, and Mentor to Native Youth
So much of what our country is wrestling with right now are questions about power. How do we hold people in power accountable? How can people who haven’t had power claim it? Those questions are at the center of a new podcast from WBEZ called “Art of Power.” Sasha Khokha talks with the podcast's host: author, NPR Silicon Valley Correspondent and California Report alum, Aarti Shahani. Plus another in our series of tributes to members of vulnerable communities and front line workers lost to COVID.
'I Lost My Brother to COVID in San Quentin' + Trading in Desks for Tree Stumps
We’ve been asking our listeners to tell us about loved ones they’ve lost. This week, we bring you the first in a series of stories to remember them. Eric Warner died of COVID in San Quentin Prison at age 57. He was born and raised in San Francisco, the son of Filipino immigrants. He was a barber, a boxer, and also a beloved brother. Eric’s older brother Hank brings us this tribute. Plus, LA Unified School District is testing out a pilot program to expand outdoor learning. Reporter Deepa Fernand
‘A Butterfly With My Wings Cut Off’: A Transgender Asylum Seeker’s Quest to Come to California
This week, we bring you a documentary we first aired in December that generated a lot of response from our listeners, changing life for the person at the center of this story.
When she turned 15, Luna Guzmán, like many girls in Guatemala, celebrated with a quinceañera. But it was a secret party, with a borrowed dress, because her family couldn't fathom her as a transgender girl. So she put her soccer jerseys back on and tried to pass as the boy she knew she wasn’t inside. Even as she dealt with
We Spent a Day Inside a Hospital: Here’s How Things Will Never Be the Same After COVID
It’s one thing to write about COVID from home. It's another to see it, to hear it. KQED health reporters April Dembosky and Lesley McClurg go inside two hospitals near Sacramento: Lesley shadowed doctors in the intensive care unit, and April spent time in the ER. One year into the pandemic, it was clear these clinicians were not celebrating any anniversaries. They’ve seen too much. Too much has changed. For them, there is no post-COVID world. We hear about the little ways, the big ways, and the
Help for COVID 'Long-Haulers' and Grappling With Anti-Asian Violence
Harvey Shields has worked with some of the Bay Area’s best professional athletes. But since the pandemic hit, Shields has switched gears, and started helping COVID 'long-haulers' recover from their symptoms. Plus, Katherine Kim runs an oral history workshop at the Koreatown Youth and Community Center. Four of the women killed in the Atlanta-area shootings were Korean. That has sparked an intergenerational dialogue with the high school students in Katherine's workshop about how to navigate life a
How One Woman's Cycle of Incarceration and Mental Illness Helped Heal a Rural System
Marlene Baker lives in Siskiyou County. It’s vast and remote: 6,000 square miles home to just shy of 44,000 people. Marlene has lived with mental illness for years, and that kept her on the streets for a very long time. She racked up minor arrests, cycling through jail and back onto the streets. A similar crisis plays out across California, but rural areas face specific and profound challenges. In Marlene’s case, though, something big happened: A whole bunch of people teamed up to make sure she
A Lawyer’s Winding Journey to Reunite Families Separated at the US Border
In the spring of 2018, former President Donald Trump's first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, stood near the border wall in San Diego and made an announcement that would have a devastating and lasting impact. The result was thousands of children being taken away from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and isolated from them for months or years. Most have been reunited, but hundreds of children are still separated, their parents deported without them. KQED Immigration reporter Michelle Wiley
A Push to Reopen California Schools and A Day in the Pandemic Life of a Teacher
The debate rages on about when California schools should bring students back to campuses after nearly a year since schools shut down in-person classes. Distance learning is taking a toll on students and parents. It’s also taking a toll on teachers, especially those with their own kids at home. KQED’s Vanessa Rancaño asked one Oakland teacher to keep an audio diary for a day, documenting her every move. Plus, California public health officials have given the green light for school sports to start
A Friendship Beyond Prison Walls and a Ferlinghetti Soundscape
Adamu Chan and Edmond Richardson met while they were incarcerated at San Quentin about two years ago, and have been best friends ever since. Adamu was released last fall, and they’ve kept in touch by writing letters to each other. We’ll hear part of an episode Adamu helped produce for the KALW Public Media podcast, “Uncuffed.” Then, we mark the loss of literary giant Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died on February 22nd at the age of 101. Poet, activist, and publisher of many Beat poets of t
Sharing Memories of Japanese American Incarceration, Across Generations
In recent weeks, racist attacks against Asian-Americans around the state have intensified. We begin the show with the voices of people speaking out against the violence, and calling for solidarity between communities of color. The anti-Asian violence we’re seeing today evokes a painful time in history for Japanese-Americans. February 19th marks the anniversary of President Roosevelt’s executive order that forced some 120,000 people into incarceration camps during World War II. As part of the Yon
From Zydeco to Psychedelic Cumbia: Our Favorite Musical Stories Through the Years
Remember live music? We figure we could all use a little joy right now, so as we continue The California Report’s 25th birthday celebration, we’re sharing some of our favorite music stories from over the years.
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Garment Workers Hanging By a Thread, and Creating a Black Feminist Utopia
Some garment workers in LA spend their days sewing masks and gowns for first responders. But many aren’t getting tested for COVID, much less going to the hospital if they get sick. Plus, we’ve brought you so many stories about struggling with the loss of hope, and how much work there’s left to do to really reckon with America’s racist history. But this week having a conversation with someone who creates art from a deep sense of hope, and whose work also focuses on Black joy. Cauleen Smith is an
Partying During COVID, and Why Can't I Get The Shot?
We are almost reaching the year mark when it comes to how long many of us have been stuck inside at home. And if you live with roommates, that space can feel smaller and smaller as time goes on. But what happens when roommates have different ideas about what it means to be safe during COVID? That’s the question KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi has been wrestling with. She usually reports on Silicon Valley, but today she brings us a first-person account of what it’s like being a Millennial with roommates
'Amazing Grace' and Seeing Myself in Kamala: Inauguration Strikes a Hopeful Note
In his inauguration speech, President Joe Biden called for bringing unity to what we all know is a deeply hurt, deeply divided country. Right after the president spoke, country music star Garth Brooks sang “Amazing Grace.” KQED’s Arts and Culture Reporter Chloe Veltman spoke to a number of California artists with strong ties to the song about its enduring power. Plus, we drop in on a family excitedly watching the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris with their two young daughters who see
'Kamala is My Fairy Godmother', Bridging a Language Divide, Remembering CA's Food Pioneers
The whole world will be watching next week as Kamala Harris is sworn in as our next Vice President. But there’s one person who will be tuning in who says he owes his life to her. Plus, the pandemic has been making things more challenging for schools that serve some of the newest Californians: Guatemalan immigrants who speak a Mayan language called Mam. And reporter Lisa Morehouse joins us to memorialize three Californians who passed away last year, each with a connection to agriculture.
Learn mo
After a Week of Chaos, Hanging on to the Promise of Renewal
This week we bring you four stories; about hope, stewardship, compassion, and community.
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The Health Care Workers, Teachers, Firefighters and Activists Who Inspired Us in 2020
2020 will forever be the year of COVID-19 – and wildfires, police shootings, school over Zoom. So much heartbreak. But all year long, there were people who stepped up, sacrificed so much and kept going. As we ring in a new year, we revisit some of our favorite stories about the people who inspired us in 2020.
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From Jewish Mambo to 'Nimble' the Elf, Our Favorite Holiday Stories
The California Report is celebrating our 25th year on the air, so this holiday weekend, we’re digging into our archives to bring you some of our favorite stories from the season.
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A Fresh Look at the Donner Party
As we officially head into winter – and hopefully snowy weather in the Sierra Nevada – we bring you the tale of the Donner Party; the version you may not have heard before. You might be familiar with the ghoulish CliffsNotes version of this story: about a band of people traveling over the Sierra in covered wagons, trapped in the snow and forced to turn to cannibalism to survive. But behind the Donner Party legend, there’s another story: one about prejudice, injustice and murder. KQED reporter Ca
Home Baked: How Pot Brownies Brought Some Relief During the AIDS Epidemic
We’re all bracing ourselves for a surge in hospitalizations, for more people lost to COVID-19, for more closures and lockdowns. So we’re reprising one of our documentaries about another time we all faced a public health crisis. A time when the federal government was slow to respond, so the community had to step in to take care of each other. Lisa Morehouse brings us the story of a woman who became an unexpected source of comfort to people suffering from AIDS in the early 1980s. Her baking busine
‘A Butterfly With My Wings Cut Off’: A Transgender Asylum Seeker’s Quest to Come to California
When she turned 15, Luna Guzmán, like many girls in Guatemala, celebrated with a quinceañera. But it was a secret party, with a borrowed dress, because her family couldn't fathom her as a transgender girl. So she put her soccer jerseys back on and tried to pass as the boy she knew she wasn’t inside. Even as she dealt with brutal violence, she decided to take a terrible risk and leave everything behind in Guatemala, to try to find a life in California: the one place in the world where she could i
In a Year of Isolation, Remembering Thanksgiving Togetherness
This weekend, when so many of us have had to make the difficult choice to spend the holiday away from our loved ones, we’re inviting you to a virtual family gathering, with some of our favorite stories from Thanksgiving 2017.
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Fighting Isolation During COVID, and Capturing the Heart of a Neighborhood in Song
KQED Science reporter Lesley McClurg brings us two stories of populations struggling with isolation during the pandemic. First, the story of two older women successfully navigating this tumultuous time with limited resources. Then, youth therapists are hearing about depression, anxiety and even suicide ideation a lot more than usual among kids who haven’t attended school in person since March. Hear one Oakland family’s story. Plus, a new project called Sounds of California commissioned 10 origin
The California Report Turns 25: Our Most Delicious Adventures
The California Report is celebrating 25 years on the air, and this week, we’re digging into our archives to give you a break from political news and share some of our favorite food stories from over the years. It’s a feast for your ears!
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Is California as Progressive as the Rest of the Country Thinks We Are?
The rest of the nation perceives California as a giant blue monolith, a liberal and progressive stronghold. But the reality is many of the statewide measures backed by progressives this year, from rent control to affirmative action, didn’t pass. The California Report Magazine recaps the “mixed bag” of statewide election results.
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When Wildfire Breaks Out, Who’s Responsible for Elderly Evacuees?
September 28, 2020. It’s the middle of the night, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa. About 200 senior citizens are outside, sitting on folding chairs or in their wheelchairs. Just waiting. Most of them were in bed just a few hours before, until a massive wildfire came racing toward their retirement community. Many of them had been through this before in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. That fire was a reckoning; with nature, with our state and county leaders, with the companies we pay
How to Talk About Death and Dying During a Pandemic (Rebroadcast)
Dr. Jessica Zitter works at Highland Hospital, a public hospital in Oakland, where she specializes in critical and palliative care medicine. She says having hard conversations about our end-of-life wishes can transform our fears about death into hope about life. We meet several people she's helped guide through the process of talking about death, including a grocery store worker in LA who got sick with COVID, an Oakland man hospitalized with serious lung disease who struggles to face his own mor
Not Sure How to Vote on Statewide Props? We'll Break a Few Down
Got your ballot? Still making up your mind on those California propositions? We’ve got you covered. This week, The California Report Magazine breaks down some of the statewide ballot measures with a few KQED reporters.
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The California Report Turns 25 Part 1: CA on the Forefront of Progressive Change
October marks the 25th anniversary of The California Report, and this week, we’re kicking off the first in a series of shows celebrating 25 years on the air. In this first installment, we’ll listen back to stories that showcase some of the ways the state has been a trailblazer. From passing first-in-the-nation climate change initiatives, to legalizing medical marijuana, to galvanizing the immigrants-right movement and marrying same-sex couples at San Francisco City Hall back in 2004, our state i
Here's How California Is Turning Hotels Into Housing for Formerly Homeless People
California is the land of record-breaking home prices and climbing rents. But it’s also a place where on any given night, more than 150,000 people live in tents and cars, RVs and shelters. So many wild extremes. But what can we do about it? That’s the question a new KQED podcast is tackling. It’s called SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America. It explores how the pandemic has complicated housing for so many people, and looks at some possible solutions. This week on The California Report Magazine
Artists Transform Lessons from Their own Lives into Art
‘Music Was Our Language’: Grammy-Award Winning Producer Turns Mic on Sister; Dan 'The Can't Stand Up Comedian' Smith; Artists Capture Wildfire’s Destructive Power – and Beauty
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How To Talk About Death and Dying During a Pandemic
Palliative care expert Dr. Jessica Zitter says that tough conversations about end-of-life options can help inform how we want to live our lives.
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From Protesting Police to Becoming a Cop Himself
After touring the world with Snoop Dogg and the Black Eyed Peas, Jinho Ferreira served as an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy for eight years. He said he wanted to fight police violence from the inside.
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Stories of Hope Through Fire and Smoke
From Prison Fire Crew To Pro Firefighter; Volunteer Firefighting Couple Find a Silver Lining; How Wildfire Smoke Intersects with Race and Place; An Ode to Big Basin's Redwoods
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California Women Reflect on a Century of Voting
Featuring:
Lorena Gonzalez, Lawmaker, San Diego
Ellen DuBois, Professor Emirita of History and Gender Studies, UCLA
Rita Barschak, 100-year old voting rights activist, Los Angeles
Maxine Anderson, Voter Education volunteer, San Francisco
Aida Hurtado, Chicano/a Studies Professor, UC Santa Barbara
Kristen Olsen, Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors
Honey Mahogany, transgender activist, San Francisco
Gurleen Kaur Mander, political science major, Fresno
Arianna Nassiri, SF Youth Commissi
California City: Deception, Power, and Money in the Mojave Desert
Deep in the Mojave Desert sits California City: a would-be city of the future; a place where empty desert land is presented as a ticket to the American Dream. For decades running, real estate developers have gotten rich by selling this dream to thousands of people, many of whom are hard-working immigrants looking to build a better future. But the reality is much different. The land investments never paid off and the landowners, many of whom scraped together their life savings to buy a plot of la
A Chicano Takeover of Catalina Island + California Love
The Forgotten Occupation of Catalina Island
So much of the activism we’re seeing right now around racial justice has roots in radical movements that erupted in California –– The United Farm Workers, The Black Panther Party, the Asian American Political Alliance, the Native American occupation of Alcatraz. In August 1972, another occupation kind of flew under the radar here in California. A Chicano activist group called the Brown Berets camped out on Catalina Island for three weeks, demanding tha
What Nuns, Survivors of Hiroshima, and ER Doctors Can Teach Us About Resilience
Hiroshima Survivor Reflects 75 Years After the Bomb; Nuns On Aging With Grace; COVID Doctors Open Up About Their Mental Health
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In the Shadow of Shuttered Hospitals and the AIDS Crisis
"We Have No Hospital - It's Gone"; HIV Survivors On Living Through Another Pandemic; Contact Tracing Resurfaces Controversy
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Revisiting the Soundtrack of Silence
Matt Hay is a sophomore in college when he finds out he is going to lose his hearing. He coasts through the early years of his diagnosis in denial, but as his hearing aids get bigger and bigger, Matt realizes he wants to capture the sounds that are slipping away: his girlfriend's voice, the click of her heels; and especially, the songs of their invincible youth.
Matt starts listening to music with a new appreciation — truly studying it — as he curates the soundtrack for the rest of his life. Beh
Forced To Breathe the Same Air: A Look Inside CA Prisons During a Pandemic
Letters to Incarcerated Loved Ones; Former San Quentin Inmate Fights for Friends Still Inside; How Doctors' Unconscious Bias Hurts Patients
The Sound of Social Revolution: Inside the Black Panther’s R&B Band
A documentary about a band with a mission to spark social revolution through the Trojan Horse of funk and soul.
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Buckle Up: A (Virtual) Road Trip to California Hidden Gems
Roller skate in church; Healing Sierra hot springs; Live jazz by the beach; A shrine to pop culture; Places Called What?!
Was He “The Priest Who Performs Miracles” – Or a Predator?
Father Antonio Castañeda has been charged with 22 counts of battery, sexual battery, attempted sexual battery and attempt to prevent a witness/victim from prosecuting.
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A Tribute to Fathers
Letters to a Father in Prison; Sounds That Remind You of Pop; Remembering a Dad Lost to COVID.
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Dismantling Racism, One Protest and Book Club at a Time
Young Activists in Fresno and S.F. Push for Racial Justice; Latinx Book Club Challenges Anti-Blackness; Why We Need Diverse Contact Tracers; A COVID Doctor Shares His Story
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It Started With Oscar Grant: A Police Shooting in Oakland, and the Making of a Movement
As nationwide protests continue in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, we explore how the death of Oscar Grant – shot by a transit officer while lying face-down, unarmed on a train platform - galvanized a new generation of activists, and helped spark a sustained call for change.
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‘Family Is Not Replaceable’
LA Koreatown Family Devastated by COVID, Navajo Nation "Ground Zero" for COVID, A Nurse Finds Joy; Motorcyclists Deliver PPE, The Class of 2020: No Prom, No Graduation
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“No One Is Disposable”: Living With Disability During a Pandemic
An Activist With Autism Creates a New Routine; A Conversation With Disability Rights Activist Alice Wong; A Teacher With Visually Impaired Students Gets Creative
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Gold Chains: California’s Hidden History
Great-Grandma Survived, and Forgave; California's Last Known Slave; Taking a Stand at the 1973 Oscars
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How Tiny Sierra Towns are Coping With Pandemic
A 164 Year-Old Hotel Closed for the First Time; The Fate of Mark Twain's Old Newspaper; Disabled and Broke in Yosemite; Keeping a Cafe Going Along the Pony Express
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Feeding California During a Pandemic
One Man's Mission To Bring Groceries to Rural Trinity County; 90% of Catalina Unemployed; Transforming a Sacramento Restaurant to a Food Kitchen; Filipinos Feed the Frontlines. Plus: What's Bringing You Joy?
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Art Lives On, Even During a Pandemic
Social distancing haiku; Poet captures life on the brink; Building a GenZ pop empire from home; Show doesn't stop for 83 year old comic
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Life on the Front Lines of a Pandemic
Dispatch from the ER; Kids Can't Hug their Nurse Mom; Comforting the Dying from Afar; A Public Health Officer Gets Sick; In-Home Caregivers Demand Face Masks
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Love and Sex in the Time of Corona
An immunocompromised boyfriend; "Is sex still safe during a pandemic?"; Voicemails about life without sex; A WFH Dominatrix
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Home Baked: One Woman’s Subversive Response to the AIDS Crisis
How a San Francisco woman became an unexpected source of comfort at a time when another pandemic rocked the state.
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Coping Under Quarantine
Everyone's home at my apartment complex; Connecting through Corona Diaries; Gen Z: Masters of virtual connection; Video games for the soul; What brings you joy?
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Unemployed, Uninsured, Uncertain
A bartender, a farmworker, a person on disability and a musician cope with the fallout from COVID-19.
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When COVID-19 Came to California
What CA Did Right (and Wrong); Working Without Sick Leave; Life After Lockdown
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Healing the Divide
Making Dinner Political; The Un-Selfie; Fighting with Grandpa; An Unusual Friendship
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Pupusas for Voters, Love for Activists, and No More Nightly Movies for Catalina Island
A 19-year-old runs for office; Colleges hold voting centers; Activists fall in love; Catalina Island loses its theater.
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California Apologizes But Scars Remain
Scars of Internment at Heart Mountain; Big Band Swing Meets Taiko Drumming; My Mom Has DACA
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Valentine’s Day, California Style
A rideshare romance; a 94-year-old DJ; and teaching how to love.
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Mothers, Mental Illness and the Unthinkable
Sometimes, it’s only after something really terrible has happened that you start to see the signs leading up to it. Years later, Rudy Coronado still refers to what happened as “that day.” He still thinks about what he said to his wife, and, what he didn’t say. He says he doesn’t blame her. But he can’t forgive her, either, for what she did. In this episode of The California Report Magazine, KQED's April Dembosky tells the story of what happened that day in Los Angeles.
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‘Dreaming the Golden State’ With The California Report Magazine (Part Two)
The California Report Magazine listeners and reporters take the stage to share their stories about the 'California Dream' and whether it's still alive.
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‘Dreaming the Golden State’ With the California Report Magazine (Part One)
Excerpts from a live stage version of The California Report Magazine's night of storytelling, 'Dreaming the Golden State,' which explored California dreams found, and lost.
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Taking the Frida Kahlo Corporation to Court, and the Vietnamese Immigrant Who Helped Sriracha Go Mainstream
An artist's legal battle brings up complex questions about who owns images of cultural heroes; a superfan’s obsession with 'Heat' leads to a Hollywood ending; and the Vietnamese immigrant who helped make Sriracha so popular.
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Getting Inside the Political Mind of Jerry Brown
How do you tell the story of Jerry Brown’s political career? You start by sitting down with the former California governor for over 40 hours of interviews.
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The Cave Woman of India: Tracing My Scars as an Immigrant’s Daughter
Most children of immigrant parents know what it's like to walk between two worlds. In this week's episode, Sandhya Dirks takes us back with her to her mother's India.
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Transgender Opera Singers Take Enormous Risks to Live Authentically
Elliot Franks, Lucia Lucas and Breanna Sinclairé are transgender opera singers navigating an industry that has been slow to evolve with the times.
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Barbed Wire at the Border Brings Back Memories of Internment – and the Unexpected Impact of Legalized Marijuana
Memories of Internment; Childcare Saves a Family; The Fight Over Police Use of Deadly Force; Legal Cannabis' Impact on Farming
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Living In and Out of the Box
A Fantasy World Made of Cardboard Boxes; Bringing up Baby in a Tiny House; What Box Do you Check?; Transgender Prisoners
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The Hidden History of Slavery in California
An Afro-Diasporic Remix of The Nutcracker; The Ghost of Mary Ellen Pleasant; A Slave Auction in Los Angeles?; Indigenous Red Market
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How One Woman’s Search for Her Homeless Mother Became a Mission to Help Others
Robin Burton started out trying to find her mom. But the search morphed into something else: a mission to help other people who are homeless and missing too.
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Do You Really Want to Know? One Man’s Search for Family From Jonestown and Beyond
Forty-one years ago this week, more than 900 people died in a mass suicide in Jonestown, a remote settlement in South America. This documentary follows a Bay Area man who unravels the tangled family history that binds him to that tragedy.
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What Is the California Dream, and Is it Still Alive?
Prison-to-College Pipeline, Prop 13’s Impact on the CA Dream, Letter to My CA Dreamer, a Dream Shaped By Water
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Living Through Wildfire and Facing a New Normal
A Mind Scarred by Wildfire, Survivors Struggle to Find Housing, Radio Station Relays Fire Info in Indigenous Languages Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Thin Place
A paramedic and ER nurse from Northern California may himself be a conduit between the living and the dead.
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A ‘Nest’ for Migrant Kids at the Border – and an Unusual High School Reunion
Tijuana’s First Early Childhood Education Center…Affiliated With a Migrant Shelter, Fictional Podcast ‘Moonface’ Explores Being Korean and Queer, Alums of Iranian Jewish School Reunite 40 Years Later
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Special Ed for California’s Black Students Was Supposed to Be Fixed by This Landmark Case. It Wasn’t
A landmark ruling in 1977 changed special education for black students in California. But many educators, black parents and advocates say plenty remains broken.
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These Five People Challenge the Notion of Blindness as a Deficit
The world of mollusk, a master in tinkering, guitarist Ioana Gandrabur, an architect who listens to buildings and designing how products sound.
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Blind Beekeeper Relies on Sound to Keep Her Hives Happy
It has been almost 30 years since Aerial Gilbert lost her sight. In that time she’s relearned just about everything she used to do before going blind — and she did it through the power of sound.
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How Heat Threatens California’s Most Vulnerable
Climate change is making it hotter everywhere in California. And heat can be a sneaky threat to our health and safety. It’s getting more dangerous, and deadly - even in parts of California you wouldn’t expect.
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Spicing Up Seniors’ Sex Lives – and Getting a Second Chance at the California Dream
Author and Dance Teacher’s Mission to Redefine Aging, Rocky Road Ice Cream’s Bumpy History, Singer Mike Marshall’s Second Chance, Letter to My California Dreamer
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Three Transgender Opera Singers on the Risks They Took to Live Authentically
Elliot Franks, Lucia Lucas and Breanna Sinclairé have taken enormous risks to live their most authentic lives. And they’ve navigated an industry that has been slow to evolve with the times.
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Vallejo in the Spotlight After Fatal Police Shootings
Police shootings of Black and Latino men have sparked protests across California and the nation. The East Bay city of Vallejo is also grappling with officer-involved shootings. Community members there are asking for accountability, and demanding answers.
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An Ode to the Tumbleweeds and Driveway Barbeques of Riverside
Young Central Valley Mariachi Heads to Harvard; Finding Love After Alzheimer’s; Susan Straight’s “In the Country of Women”; Letter to My Dreamer: Lake County Farm
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As Students Struggle With Anxiety, a California School Tries to Help
Some schools are teaching kids how to deal with the physical and mental impacts of anxiety.
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The Cave Woman of India: Tracing My Scars as an Immigrant’s Daughter
In this personal story, KQED's Sandhya Dirks takes us back to her mother's India -- to a tell a story about inherited trauma, mental illness, and South Asian history.
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A Road Trip to Some of California’s Hidden Gems
This summer, forget the tourist traps and come along with us on a sonic journey to explore some of California’s out-of-the-way, cool spots that make this place we call home so unique.
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Missing and Homeless: How a Woman’s Search for Her Mother Became a Mission to Help Others
Robin Burton may never find her mother, but she’s made quite a few friends during her search. That's because she launched a Facebook group called 'Missing & Homeless' that now has more than 63,000 members.
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An Unlikely Suspect: On the Trail of a Northern California Serial Arsonist
It took two years to track down the Capay Valley arsonist. He was convicted of 12 counts of arson, but he's suspected of setting 152 fires over the course of 18 years.
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She Strived to Be the Perfect Mom and Landed in the Psych Ward
Motherhood was going great for Lisa Abramson, until the walls started talking to her. But she said being in the hospital made her feel more crazy.
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Golden State Plate – The Backstory Behind California-Born Food and Drinks
Pricey and Potent Pisco Punch, The Birth of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, The Complex Origin of Fortune Cookies, The Ranch Behind Hidden Valley Ranch
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Challenging Inequality in One of California’s Most Divided Cities
Taking on Big Oil; World’s First LGBTQ Mariachi; Coffee Co-Op; Activist Caregiver
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A History of Queer California
Trans Man Finds Refuge in Small Town Cafe; Selling Flowers Through the AIDS Crisis; Compton Cafeteria: CA’s Stonewall; Why Harvey Milk Still Matters to Young People
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The California Story Behind the Mai Tai and the Damburger
An Island Drink with California Roots, Podcast Connects Filipino Diaspora, The Humble Burger That Fueled the Big Dam, UC Degree For Late Chicano Activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Father’s Day Tribute to California Dads
Letters to My Father in Prison, Sounds of My Father, A Father’s Day Haircut With a Weed-Whacker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Golden Years in the Golden State: Meet 6 California Seniors
Today we’ll meet six seniors: a student, a volunteer, a farmer, someone looking for a job, a woman about town, and man whose daughter is his caretaker.
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Throwback! Celebrating California’s Analog Age
Video Store Survives Netflix, Last Roller Rink Organist, Typewriter Poet, Fleetwood Macrame, Ferris Bueller Revisited
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‘I’m Trapped’: Who Do You Call for Help When Your Abuser Is a Cop?
When Your Abuser Is a Cop, He Designs Products With His Ears, Sounds of My Father
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A Beauty Queen Who Fights Mental Health Stigma, and a Dream Shaped by Water
How Water Shaped the California Dream; This Boom Town Boomed Best When You Boomed With It; An Advice Show for POCs; A Surprising Beauty Queen
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Difficult Choices Around Motherhood
Faith in Her Child Despite What the Docs Said, Dominatrix Mom, Mothering in the Shadow of Big Oil, A Song for Grandma
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High School Students Take Over the Airwaves
Pregnant at 15, Pressured to be Polite, Always Tired, Embracing 'Body Positivity', 'My Natural Hair Journey', Living In Two Worlds, Cooking With Kenny
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From the Origin of the Fortune Cookie to Making Community College Applications Mandatory
Fortune Cookie Mystery, Blind in California, Sexual Assault in Yoga, Shooting for a College Degree
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‘It’s So Important to Be Heard:’ Californians Living With Disabilities
Navigating High School as a Deaf 16-Year-Old; My Sister Can’t Speak, But She Makes Herself Heard; What It Means to ‘Edit Out’ a Disability; Ski School for All
This Is the Coachella Most Californians Don’t See
For many Californians, their only reference point for the Coachella Valley is the annual music festival which kicks off this week. But there are other sides to Coachella — the ones locals see.
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Meth Mania: From Biker Gangs to the Psych Ward, How Speed Came of Age in California
Methamphetamine is back in California. This time around, it's sending more and more people to the hospital, to rehab and to the morgue. Learn about one woman's two-decade battle with meth, from when biker gangs helped the drug take root in California to today’s deadly epidemic.
Fresno Police Corruption: How a Top Cop Went From Hero to Federal Prison
It’s one of the biggest police corruption scandals in modern California history, and one you probably didn’t hear about if you live outside the Central Valley. And it wasn’t an isolated incident.
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Running for City Council, as a Teen Mom
Persian New Year from Afar; Remembering the King of Surf Guitar; Golden State Plate: Santa Maria BBQ; Letter to my California Dreamer: Palo Alto in the '70s
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From Ferlinghetti to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
How a Janitor Invented a Bestselling Junk Food; Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti turns 100; Artists Reimagine 'Valley Girl'; A Letter From Charles Schulz, 50 years later
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Migrant Teens: Figuring Out Life in California
Reuniting with Mom (and missing Grandma); High School at age 20?; Kids send Postcards to other Kids in Detention; Conditions for Migrant Kids in Custody; From England’s Green Hills to California’s Deserts
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On The Trail of a Serial Arsonist in California
Most wildfires ignite by accident. But some are set on purpose - and arsonists are very hard to catch. We find out how investigators caught one of them. It took two years and dozens of people to track him down.
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How ‘Okies’ Reshaped the Golden State
When Black Farmworkers Picked California's Crops; Letter to My Dust Bowl Grandparents; When Bakersfield was the Center of the Country Music Universe
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Your California Breakup Playlist
Living With the Ex; Genetically Sensitive to Rejection?; Stories of Last Kisses; Listeners' Favorite Breakup Songs
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Love, California Style
93-Year-Old DJ Still Connects Lovers Over the Airwaves, Cold Water Romance, Love Worth Fighting For
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40 Percent of Kids in This School District Are Homeless
Spike in Homeless Kids on Central Coast; Busting Homeless Myths; A Letter to A Revolutionary Dreamer; What Makes Your Salad Taste Like California?
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From a Gold Rush Cocktail to a Trans Trucker’s Dream
Golden State Plate: The Story of Pisco Punch; Trans Trucker Finds his California Dream; A Mom’s Journey to Accepting Her Transgender Child, At Age 4; California Therapists Volunteer To Help Immigrants Coming out of Detention
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All About the Family Biz
The Evolution of Casa Sanchez, Prather Ranch Cows, Frank Fat's Restaurant, Taxi Medallions Take Toll, Letter to My CA Dreamer
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It Started With Oscar Grant: A Police Shooting in Oakland, and the Making of a Movement
Ten years after an unarmed black man was shot and killed by a white police officer as he lay face-down on a train platform, we explore how Oscar Grant’s death galvanized a new generation of activists, and helped spark a sustained call for change.
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Golden State Plate: Food History Made in California
Hear some of the most appetizing stories from our Golden State Plate series, where we explore the history of some of the iconic food and drink born right here.
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A Ghost, a Songwriter, a Student and a Teacher: Voices of California
A jailhouse songwriter's deep friendship with Johnny Cash. How a crusading heroine became a demon in Victorian San Francisco. LuPaulette Taylor on her nearly five-decade career at a West Oakland school. Two teens from Menlo-Atherton High on their childhood.
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A Musical Journey with California-Grown Artists Forging Their Own Sounds
Female DJs Find Empowerment in Oakland, Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore Intertwine Their Musical Roots, New Book Celebrates the Work of Los Lobos, ‘The Soul Chance’ Goes Analog to Capture Retro Reggae Sound.
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40 Years on, How Does Proposition 13 Impact the California Dream?
How has the controversial law - which essentially locks in a homeowner's property tax to the year they bought their home - affected four different Oakland residents? Reporter Vanessa Rancaño invited them over to find out.
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She Strived to Be the Perfect Mom, and Landed in the Psych Ward
Motherhood was going great for Lisa Abramson, until the walls started talking to her. But being in the hospital made her feel more crazy.
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Families Pulling Together to Confront Life’s Obstacles
'Surrogate Family’ Supports Migrant Mom, How Did Raymond Mata in a Mass Grave, Attack of the Nutria, Saying Goodbye to Paradise.
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17andMe
Daley Dunham was a junior at UC Berkeley when he decided to donate sperm. He likened it to donating blood — an opportunity to do something good for a person in need. Except when you donate blood, you don’t get a tidal wave of children crashing into your life 20 years later.
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Do You Really Want to Know? One Man’s Search for Family From Jonestown and Beyond
Forty years ago, preacher Jim Jones ordered hundreds of his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch. One man unravels the tangled family history that binds him to that tragedy.
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Veterans Day Special: Californians and The Vietnam War
‘The Green Machine’, ‘Ode to a Vietnam Vet’
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Women Finding Their Political Voice
First Time Candidates Reflect on ‘The Long Run’, Millennial and Retiree Candidates Swap Advice, Hotel Workers Push for ‘Panic Buttons’, Golden State Plate: The Martini Story, Straight Up, With a Twist
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Spooky Tales of Ghosts and California History
The Ghost of Mary Pleasant, Haunted Lighthouse, Fishy Origins of Cioppino, An Orphan’s California Dream
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SPECIAL: Her Double Life
A San Jose woman wonders if it's time to tell the truth.
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One Year After Firestorm, Some Scars, Some Hope
Caregivers Save Lives But Lose Everything, KPFZ: Lake County’s Wildfire Lifeline, ‘A Little Broken,’ Fire Baby Turns One
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Ballet Star Moves Past Pain for a New Stage: Science
Miko Fogarty left her dream dance job with a top company after just one year. Two years later, she’s on her way to becoming a doctor - and overcoming alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her former coach.
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First-Time Women Candidates React to Kavanaugh Drama
Aisha’s Wahab’s ‘Long Run,’ Terisa Siagatonu’s Moment on Earth, My Carbon Footprint, A Writer’s CA Dream, Alice Coltrane’s ‘Spiritual Eternal’
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Life Inside Tijuana’s Migrant Center
Reporter’s Notebook from Tijuana, The French Dip’s Roots, Seeking a Seat on the School Board, Cannabis Meds at School, The Forest Transforms Me
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Golden State Plate: Iconic California Recipes
Green Goddess Dressing, Poetry of Climate Change, California’s Original Detention Center, A Granddaughter’s Message to “Ojiichan,” Sign Wars on the Campaign Trail
#MeToo Unmasks the Open Secret of Sexual Abuse in Yoga
Yoga community struggles to rein in sexual misconduct, abuse in its ranks; How wildfire increases poverty; 92-year old artist says planet Earth is ‘screwed’
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Rethinking Masculinity… At Summer Camp
Sons & Brothers Camp, Betty Valencia’s ‘Long Run’, The (W)hole Story on Mt. Shasta, Lured From Germany By SF ‘Sound’
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Childhood Trauma Can Mean Early Death. This California Mom Wants to Beat the Odds
Science shows childhood trauma leads to poorer health later in life, mentally and physically. But there are ways to intervene that can heal the wounds of the past for a parent, and safeguard a daughter’s future.
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Fleeing Conflict, and Finding Self
Illegal Love in Uganda, The Damaging Effects of ‘White Voice,’ One ‘Lost Boy’s’ Journey Out of Sudan
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Wildfires Spark Fear, Anxiety for Survivors
Mexican Restaurant Feeds Fire Victims, Coping With Fire Trauma In Santa Rosa, Music Giants Talk ‘Downey to Lubbock’, A Separation Still Painful After 76 Years
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Teen Poet to Migrant Kids: I Feel Your Pain
My Dad Spent My Childhood Behind Bars, Summer Camp for Refugee Kids, Asian American Actresses Rewrite the Script, My Mom’s Teenage Dream
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Family Separation Today … and 40 Years Ago
Mom Seeks Refuge at the Border; Healing from Family Separation Four Decades Later; No One Recognizes this Hong Kong Star in Berkeley; Hello to Coachella, Grass Valley and Nevada City!
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Going Back to 1993: Unpacking the Internet, Then and Now
We've come a long way from a 6-foot-tall computer. But the internet hasn't solved everything it promised to. This week we visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View to muse on how the internet has changed our lives.
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SPECIAL: The Leap: Little Girl Lost
A Mother Launches a Painful Search After Her Ex-Husband Abducts Their Daughter
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Young and Homeless … But Dreaming Big
On Her Own at 17, LGBTQ and Homeless, Finding the Gay Mecca, Family Separations Open Old Wounds
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Discovering Some of California’s ‘Hidden Gems’
Black Chasm Cavern; Foster’s Bighorn; Back Dancing and Dynamite Society; Valley Relics Museum; Forestiere Underground Gardens
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From a Tiny Oaxacan Restaurant in the Central Valley, to High School in a San Francisco Jail
A Taste of Oaxaca in Madera; My Big Brother’s CA Dream; High School Behind Bars; Woodworking for the Blind
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California Stories From 1968 … From RFK to a Classic Dishware Factory
Sirhan Sirhan’s Brother; My Mom’s California Dream is Muted; TEPCO Dishes Out Nostalgia
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Life in California Prisons
Losing Language Behind Bars; Rachel Kushner’s New Novel Based on Friendship with Women Prisoners; Life After a Life Sentence; Letter to My CA Dreamer: A Place Where Dreams are Safe to Grow
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Immigrant Parents and the California Dream
Parents Deported, Big Sister in Charge; When UC is not the Golden Ticket; Tell Us Your California Dream Story; L.A.'s 'No ICE' Man
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Grappling with the Idea of Home
Addicted to Heroin and Living in a Motel with a Baby on the Way, Persistent Poison, Calling it Quits on the Golden State, Birthplace of Flamin' Hot Cheetos
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Difficult Choices Around Motherhood
Faith in Her Child Despite What the Doctors Said, When Mom Doesn’t Approve of Your Job…As a Dominatrix, Moving Towards Motherhood in the Shadow of Big Oil, A Song for Grandma
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The California Report Magazine: Sexual Harassment… in High School
Fighting Harassment At High School, Seniors Share Advice on 'Lives Well Lived,' Potstickers and Pie at Sacramento's Oldest Chinese Restaurant, Does Rent Control Work?
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The California Report Magazine Taken Over by High Schoolers … For a Week
They explore issues like homelessness, redefining masculinity, and finding identity through art.
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Stories of Californians Reinventing Themselves
Konocti: A Last Resort For People Hit With Disaster, A Second Chance After Two Decades of Anxiety, Finding Self-Esteem…Through Pole Dancing, Poet Re-Examines his Farmworker Past, The Town That Changed Its Name to Happy Camp
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Little-Known Tales of California’s Past
Oakland’s Time-Travelling Map, The Secret World of Inez Burns, Japanese-American 1950s Car Clubs, A Firefighter on Witnessing Too Much Tragedy
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Life and Death Off Point Reyes, Wetlands Get Help From Rice Farmers
A Cemetery of Life Saving Secrets on Point Reyes, How California’s Rice Fields Are Welcoming Back the Birds, Couples Counselors Get Real About Their Own Marriages, The Sodden Story Behind Whiskeytown, CA.
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Counted: An Oakland Story
Throughout 2017, a team of Snap Judgment producers - together with Oakland activists and parents - learned about Oakland’s homicide victims, their families and communities.
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‘We’re All Getting Older’
College hopefuls leaving California, a taste of home for South Asian seniors, when a job becomes a friendship, A Place Called 'Peanut'
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The California Report Magazine: Chasing the Original California Dream
Modern-day Gold Miner Still Finds Plenty, A Visit to Paradise (CA), How CA Went from Anti-Immigrant to ‘Sanctuary State,’ Birdsong Clues to Climate Change
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My World Was Burning: The Northern California Fires and What Went Wrong
A special half-hour investigation based on 911 tape + interviews with first responders and survivors of the Oct. 2016 Northern CA wildfires. A collaboration with Reveal.
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Stories About Belonging
Taxi Drivers Losing Their Identity, Queer Skateboarders Confront Macho Culture, A Teen Loner Turns into a Celebrated Mapmaker of California's Wilderness
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Synchronized Ice Skaters and A Visit to Timbuctoo
On This Ice Skating Team There Are No Olympians and No One Under 25
Robyn Fernsworth wakes up before the sun rises every Saturday morning so she can ice skate for two hours. But she's not training for the next Winter Olympics, she's practicing with the IceSymmetrics, a masters synchronized skating team based in Oakland. The IceSymmetrics are a group of moms, lawyers, teachers, some professional skaters...and they're heading to Portland this week to compete in nationals. Bianca Taylor ca
Changing Identities, and Taking Back Power
When Italians in California were "enemy aliens," Black Panther: the Movie vs the Movement, The Body is Not an Apology, Life as a Stay-At-Home Dad
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Daytime Boogie Nights for the Senior Set, and Dispatch From a Salvadoran Deportee
No One Under 60 Allowed at This LA Dance Party, Singing Gondoliers, Facing Violence and Isolation as a CA Deportee in El Salvador, Lasting Health Effects of Sexual Harassment, Chinese History in Fiddletown
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Being in DACA Limbo and Seeking Help for Post-Partum Depression
Being in DACA Limbo, A Musician on Love and Loss, Conserving Water With GMO Beer, Seeking Help for Post-Partum Depression, A Town Named For Coal
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The Fight for Medical Cannabis in Public Schools and Worshipping the Art of Smell
Kids and Medical Cannabis, Grammy Nods for Young Composer, Moringa Mania, A Song Springs From Tragedy, Berkeley Perfume Museum
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Fighting Rape on the Night Shift and Johnny Cash’s Friend in Folsom
A Janitor Fights Back, Songwriter In a Cage, White Awake, Brothers Vie For Superbowl Spot
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The Legend of the Lyft Rapper and the Curse of the Gold Rush Town
A Ride with a Rapper, The Curse of Bodie, From Ashes to Ashes, #MeToo Sparks A Former Abuser to Speak Up, A Town Called You Bet
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Coming Together, One Conversation at a Time
As we head into 2018, we feature stories from our 'Start the Conversation' series, about people bridging divides despite their differences.
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Three Refugees, Three Journeys to California
Refugee Café, Viet Nguyen on why Refugees are Threatening. Holocaust Survivor’s Roommate? The Granddaughter of Nazis, Syrian Family Puts Down Roots in Oakland
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Camels, Tamales, and Rainbow Girls
Elaborate Christmas Display by a Non-Christian, Giving Back with a Tamalada, Turning Up the Politics by Turning off the Amps
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San Francisco’s Changing Skyline and the Central Valley’s Frozen Burrito Empire
Public Art You Can’t Avoid Seeing, They Went from Immigrants to 'Burrito Royalty,' #USToo: Assault in the Jehovah’s Witness Church, Tiny Bookstore With Big Appetite for Old Cookbooks.
The California Report Magazine: Stories from the Classroom
Controversial Discipline Practices, School for Autistic Kids Post-Wildfire, A Teacher’s #MeToo Story, Sphinx Buried in Sand Dunes
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The California Report Magazine: Homeless Housemates and Gold Rush Opera
Helping the Homeless, By Living With them, A Reporter and A Politician Share Loss, Giant Tree Stump Takes the Opera Stage, Bumpass Hell
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The California Report Magazine: It’s All About Family
Unusual Romance Leads to Unlikely Family, Food and Family from 826 Valencia, Bringing Seniors Some Love, the OId-School Way, Gospel Quartet of Brothers Find Praise Outside the Church Walls
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From the King of Opera to the Tiny (Lava-Free) Town of Volcano
A Human Library, 'California Typewriter,' an Ode to Analogue, Placido Domingo’s 50-Year Run in L.A., Winery Faces Life After Fire, A Visit to Volcano, Calif.
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Your State, Your Stories – Welcome to the California Report Magazine
From Aptos, California to ZZYZX (Population 1), it's a weekly California road trip for your ears, and your imagination.
Cattle ranching moms. Homeless college students. Young mariachis. They’re all Californians, and we’ve got their stories. Subscribe now.
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The California Report Magazine
Meet Flipper’s Ted Falconi, Vietnam Vet and Punk Rock Legend
Flipper may not be the best-known band from Oakland, but after more than 40 years, it’s definitely one of punk’s most influential. It has inspired scores of musicians like Kurt Cobain and Moby. A large part of its signature sound comes from guitarist Ted Falconi, a Vietnam vet who brought the noises of war home with him. KQED’s Kevin Jones has this profile.
He Served in the U.S. Military, But That Didn’t Stop His Deportation
The California Report Magazine
Sound Guru Bernie Krause’s Beloved ‘Wild Sanctuary’ Destroyed by Fire
Last month's fires in Northern California destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. But we also lost some key cultural landmarks. One of those places was an inspiration to artists, scientists and sound recordists around the world. Yet mostly unknown to its neighbors in Sonoma County's Valley of the Moon. It was home and studio of Kat and Bernie Krause. KQED Science Editor Craig Miller had visited many times before - both as
The California Report Magazine
The Water Belongs to Everyone, and This Blind Kayaker Will Prove It
We start our show with a man on a mythological mission. His name is Ahmet Ustunel. He lives in San Francisco, and he has a dream. He wants to return to his homeland of Turkey and take a big journey on a tiny kayak across the Bosphorus Strait, one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. Think enormous freighters. And his little human-powered boat. But Ahmet Ustunel faces a unique challenge that will make this much harder f
The California Report Magazine
Voices From the Fires
The wildfires that roared through Wine Country will rank among the deadliest and most destructive in California history. But many Californians are already jumping in, doing what they can now to support the recovery. We hear from both survivors and volunteers, who are looking ahead to a new future, post-fire.
An Oakland Hills Fire Survivor's Advice to a North Bay Fire Victim
Jill Permutt couldn’t sleep the night the fires broke out near her home in Santa Rosa-- the moon wa
The California Report Magazine
Voices from Fire-Ravaged Northern California
In Northern California, the week began with a sudden onslaught of flames whipped up by the wind. Multiple wildfires erupted across wine country. Homes, businesses and entire towns have been burned to the ground. Now, even as firefighters continue to work, many residents are returning to see what is left.
For Santa Rosa’s KZST Radio Station, the News is Personal
Before Sunday night, if you tuned into KZST 100.1FM in Santa Rosa, you’d probably hear a
The California Report Magazine
A Week After a Massacre, Life Goes on in Vegas
More than half the victims of this week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas were from California. Many Southern Californians, especially, have a deep connection to Las Vegas, but in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, there's not a lot of obvious acknowledgment of what happened, with casinos and hotel marquees still ablaze with intensity. What's changed? And what hasn't?
Just Like My Mother: How We Inherit Our Parents’ Traits and Tragedies
For many of us, ou
The California Report Magazine
On this special edition of The California Report Magazine, we go back in time to look at the Vietnam War and how it shaped the lives of some Californians. This week we’re in San Diego, home to the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.
The Teen and Marine Who United to Resist the Vietnam War and Racism in the Military
Not all the battles were fought in Vietnam -- enlisted men were also fighting a war against racism within the ranks. We’ll hear how that revolt took hold at Camp Pendleton, and spa
The California Report Magazine
Bridging the Political Divide, One Dinner at a Time
Many of us are taught not to talk politics at the dinner table -- especially if your guests fall on different sides of the political spectrum. But as Bianca Taylor tells us, a new movement called ‘Make America Dinner Again’ breaks this rule, in a big way. It's the latest installment in our series "Start the Conversation.”
2 Years After Destructive Valley Fire, Lake County Rebuilds and Readjusts
Between earthquakes, fires and hurricanes, a lot
The California Report Magazine
For Isolated Trinity County Residents, One Man Is Their Food Lifeline
Trinity County is one of those places that doesn’t get in the news too often, unless it’s wildfire season like it is now. It’s a remote, rural part of northern California that can be breathtakingly beautiful. And it’s also one of the state’s most food insecure places, where many people don’t know where their next meal will come from. For the series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse brings us this profile of one man who helps
The California Report Magazine
Oakland Residents Say Tent Encampments Threatening Neighborhoods
In many California cities, homelessness has reached a boiling point. There's not enough housing or space. And tent encampments are cropping up in neighborhoods where they’re not always welcome. That's happening big time in Oakland, where complaints about homelessness have increased more than 700 percent over the last six years. KQED’s Devin Katayama has been spending time with neighbors who have totally different perspectives on th
The California Report Magazine
At the California Museum’s New ‘Unity Center,’ Conversations Trump Confrontations
This week the California Museum in Sacramento is celebrating a new exhibit called the Unity Center, and it’s opening the same weekend far-right rallies in Northern California are expected to draw white nationalists. That’s an eerie coincidence, because the idea for the center began nearly 20 years ago when Sacramento was reeling from a string of hate crimes linked to white supremacists. Host Sasha Khokha checked ou