KQED's Forum

Jaksot

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  Have You Navigated a ‘Quiet Divorce?’ 15.09.2026 54min

  Some marriages don’t end with a blowup or betrayal. Instead, partners slowly become emotionally disconnected – more like roommates than lovers. It’s a phenomenon that’s been dubbed a “quiet divorce.” We talk with psychologists Thema Bryant and Eli Finkel about why relationships quietly come undone, how to rebuild connection and when it may be time to let go. Guests: Eli Finkel, professor of psychology, Northwestern University; host, “Love Factually” podcast; author, “The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Bes Marriages Work” Dr. Thema Bryant, psychologist and author, “Matters of the Heart” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on Why Feeling is the Key to Consciousness 15.09.2026 54min

  In his new book, “Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness,” pioneering neuroscientist Antonio Damasio synthesizes his decades of research in neurobiology and philosophy of mind into a central idea: we are  conscious because we feel. “It is traditionally said that we are able to feel our feelings because we are conscious,” he writes, but instead, “we must be able to feel in order to become conscious.”  We talk to Damasio about his lifetime of research into the mind and his thoughts on the possibility of conscious AI. Guests: Antonio Damasio, psychology, philosophy and neurology professor and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California; author, “Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Orville Schell’s 30-Year Secret: Exposing China’s Secret Prisons 14.09.2026 54min

  In 1991, China scholar and journalist Orville Schell teamed up with CBS News’ 60 Minutes for a perilous undercover investigation into China’s laogai—a vast network of forced labor camps secretly exporting goods into American markets. Fearing severe retaliation against his family and friends in China, Schell shelved his written account for three decades. In his new book, “Inside China’s Secret Prisons: An Undercover Exposé and Its Lasting Legacy,” Schell reveals how that clandestine operation played out and shares why forced labor persists in China today. Guest: Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society and author of the new book “Inside China’s Secret Prisons: An Undercover Exposé and Its Lasting Legacy” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Economists Make the Case For and Against California’s Billionaire Tax 14.09.2026 54min

  California voters will decide this fall whether the state should impose a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaires, with much of the revenue going toward health care amid federal funding cuts. Supporters say Proposition 40 could raise tens of billions of dollars while also helping to address the growing wealth inequality in the state. Opponents argue the tax could drive billionaires out of California, shrinking the state’s income tax base and ultimately costing more than it raises. We talk to two leading economists: Gabriel Zucman, who helped develop the measure, and Joshua Rauh, one of its most vocal critics, about whether the billionaire tax would help  California’s economy – or hurt it. Guest: Gabriel Zucman, professor of economics, UC Berkeley; Paris School of Economics –  author of “We Need to Tax Billionaires”; helped develop Prop 40 Joshua Rauh, economist and professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business – senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; opposes CA Prop 40 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Legendary Musician Joan Baez Joins Us in Studio 11.09.2026 54min

  Joan Baez’s iconic voice has matured over the decades, but the way she’s used it has remained consistent. As a rising folk music star in the 1960s, she performed at the March on Washington alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and founded the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence in California’s Carmel Valley. Now, she’s outspoken about the Trump administration. A musician, poet, author and activist, Baez is known for being idiosyncratic: Her latest act? Joining a circus in Alameda. We speak with Baez about the evolution of her voice and what she sees as artists’ role in activism. Guests: Joan Baez, legendary singer, activist, author and cultural icon. Her honors include eight gold albums, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, as well as numerous awards for her civil rights work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  25 Years Later, 9/11 is Shifting From a Memory Into a History Lesson 11.09.2026 54min

  It’s been 25 years since the United States experienced the deadliest terrorist attack in our history on Sept. 11, 2001. The attacks profoundly changed our nation from how we view ourselves and treat first responders to how we balance national security and personal privacy. For many Americans, the attacks fractured our nation and created a stark before-and-after. But now, a quarter of a century later, close to a third of people in the U.S. were born after the twin towers fell, or were too young to retain any memories of it. Sept. 11 is morphing from a memory into history. We’ll talk about how the attacks reshaped our national psyche, identity and sense of security within our own borders and what we want younger generations to know about it. Guests: Wajahat Ali, author, “Go Back to Where You Came From”, columnist for the Daily Beast, co-host of the podcast Democracy-ish, writes The Left Hook substack. Michael Mark Cohen, American and African American studies professor, UC Berkeley, teaches the course, History of the Present: The U.S. After 9/11 Geraldine Baum, former New York correspondent and bureau chief, Los Angeles Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  After Fleeing Taliban, Four Women Rebuild in the U.S. 10.09.2026 54min

  When the Taliban retook Afghanistan five years ago, the New York Times evacuated more than 120 Afghan journalists, translators and other employees and family members. In a new book,journalists Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp follow four young women from the group who must rebuild their lives in America, navigating college, work, language and faith. We’ll talk with the authors and one of the young women profiled about what freedom means after escape — and what the U.S. owes the Afghans it left behind. Guests: Diana Kapp, journalist and co-author, "The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America" Rebecca Blumenstein, president-editorial, NBC News; co-author "The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America" Mursal Rahim, fled Afghanistan in 2021 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Claudia Rankine on the Friendships That Unsettle and Sustain Us 10.09.2026 54min

  Acclaimed poet and essayist Claudia Rankine’s new book, “Triage,” follows the turbulent, decades long friendship between a Black woman and a nonbinary Palestinian who meet in college and invent a ritual of collapsing to the ground whenever they see each other. Over time, that act of collapse comes to hold new meaning as they reckon with wounded histories, political violence and the strain of loving someone who can also unsettle you. Blending memoir, criticism, essay and visual art, “Triage” is Rankine’s first book after her celebrated American trilogy and some of her most personal writing yet. Rankine joins us to talk about friendship, grieving, and what it means to keep acting – and relating – in a time of relentless personal and global loss. Guests: Claudia Rankine, poet, playwright and author, her new book is "Triage", professor of Creative Writing at NYU; a MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What ‘Never Trumper’ Sarah Longwell Learned From Voters 09.09.2026 54min

  Sarah Longwell says listening to voters is a cheat code for understanding politics — yet few people actually do it. That’s why she has spent the past eight years conducting hundreds of focus groups with voters across the political spectrum. A former Republican political strategist and founder of the media company The Bulwark, Longwell lays out a playbook to fight back and win in her new book, “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.” We talk with Longwell about what she has learned from voters across the political spectrum, how Democrats can seize the moment and what it will take to defeat the MAGA movement. Guests: Sarah Longwell, publisher, The Bulwark; host, The Focus Group podcast; author, “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  SF Renters Face Buyout Offers and Evictions as AI Boom Sends Prices Soaring 09.09.2026 54min

  Rents are shooting through the roof in San Francisco as the AI boom creates yet another new class of wealthy people. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city is now $4,600, according to Apartment List, up more than 25% from last year. Some landlords are looking to cash in by clearing out tenants from rent-controlled homes, so renters say they’re being offered massive buyouts – some above six figures – to leave their apartments or else face no-fault eviction. We’ll talk about wild times in San Francisco’s rental market and how landlords, renters and those in search for a place to live are adjusting. Guests: Kami Rieck, contributing writer, New York Times Tuesday Thornton, staff attorney, Eviction Defense Collaborative Joshua Howard, executive vice president of local government affairs, California Apartment Association J.K. Dineen, Bay Area housing reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Why Schools are Changing Their Tune on Screens 08.09.2026 54min

  Los Angeles students began this school year with new limits on screen time, both in-school and for homework. It’s a trend starting to appear statewide, with even parents in Silicon Valley fighting for similar restrictions on laptops and tablets – especially in younger grades. This comes a year into the statewide ban on cell phones in classrooms, and as teachers across California are evaluating the broader role of technology and generative AI in the classroom. New York Times reporter Natasha Singer interviewed parents, educators and students across California. She joins us to talk about what’s inspiring the movement and how the tech industry came to have such an outsized presence in the classroom. Her new book is “Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools.” Guests: Natasha Singer, reporter covering technology in schools, The New York Times; author, “Coding Kids: Big Tech’s Battle to Remake Public Schools” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Trump Administration Scrambles to Expand Immigration Detention Centers 08.09.2026 54min

  The federal government has been scrambling to find places to send immigrants that have been arrested at record levels – close to 50,000 in July alone. Trump’s rush to detain immigrants has led to inadequate and overcrowded facilities and  out-of-state transfers. Some immigrants have been held for days in unsanitary conditions at San Francisco International Airport. Meanwhile, Gilroy residents have been fighting a proposed field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But those are just blips in the broader landscape of immigration detention. As the Trump administration plans to pour up to $45 billion in the next few years into locking up immigrants, we’ll dive into the immigration detention ecosystem in the Bay Area and nationwide. Guests: Tyche Hendricks, senior editor covering immigration, KQED Doug MacMillan, Reporter covering corporate accountability, The Washington Post Sara DiNatale, reporter covering politics and the impacts of the Trump administration’s policies on the Bay Area and California, San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Forum From The Archives: Inside Silicon Valley's Race to Build a Home Robot 07.09.2026 52min

  When investigative journalist Stephen Witt visited Silicon Valley’s 1X Technologies to meet a new home robot named Neo, he discovered a device full of contradictions: It was elegantly designed, but often struggled to complete even the simplest of tasks, taking longer than a minute to retrieve a bottle of water. Despite its limitations, more than 10,000 people have placed deposits for the $20,000 android, and Neo is just one of a dozen humanoid robots scheduled for release in the next year. We talk to Witt about the appeal – and challenges – of home robots and how quickly the technology is actually advancing. Guest: Stephen Witt, investigative journalist; author Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Forum From the Archives: Are We in a New Gold Rush? 07.09.2026 54min

  “Gold is having a moment,” writes New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Wilson. Earlier this year, it traded as high as $5,500 an ounce as an unstable economic outlook has central banks and investors buying gold to hedge their bets. Gold has been embraced by the far right, reality TV, and hobbyists and full-time prospectors headed up to the foothills where the California Gold Rush began. Wilson explores all these angles in her latest piece “How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again.” We talk to Wilson and experts – and a gold prospector –  about the legacy and future of this precious metal. Guests: Jennifer Wilson, staff writer, The New Yorker - her recent article is "How Americans Caught Gold Fever Again" Albert Fausel, owner, Placerville Hardware; part-time gold prospector Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history, Boston University Brian Wallace, executive officer, Indigenous Futures Society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Forum From The Archives: M. Gessen Reckons with Familial Crime and Punishment 04.09.2026 55min

  “The Idiot,” a podcast from Serial and New York Times opinion columnist M. Gessen, shares the story of Gessen’s own cousin, Allen, who went to prison for trying to have his ex-wife killed. The podcast asks how we reckon with personal beliefs about justice and punishment when applied to our own family: Gessen, a critic of the prison system, was shocked to find themself rooting for the prosecution during Allen’s trial. It also explores Gessen’s own complicated feelings about maintaining a relationship with Allen and their family’s range of responses to his crime. Gessen joins us, and we hear from you: Has a relative’s actions made you confront hard truths about yourself, your family and your strongest beliefs? Guests: M. Gessen, opinion columnist, New York Times; host, reporter and writer, “The Idiot,” from The New York Times and Serial Productions; they are the author of 11 books, including "The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia," which won the National Book Award in 2017 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Concerts, Art, and Festivals Not to Miss in the Bay This Fall 04.09.2026 54min

  Fall is one of the most exciting times of year for arts and culture. To celebrate the start of the season, we’ve invited KQED’s Arts & Culture team to share their picks for the Bay Area’s best concerts, theater, exhibitions and local festivals. From major headliners and Broadway hits to neighborhood gatherings, local artists and up-and-coming gems, we’ll talk about what stands out on this fall’s calendar. We’ll also take the temperature of the Bay Area arts scene – what’s changing, what’s challenging and what’s giving our critics plenty to look forward to. Guests: Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture Sarah Hotchkiss, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture Nastia Voynovskaya, editor and reporter, KQED Arts David John Chávez, theatre critic, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Can Anyone Solve America’s $40 Trillion Debt Problem? 03.09.2026 54min

  At this week’s G20 summit in Asheville, N.C., global finance leaders met amid a bond sell-off that threatened to raise the cost of long-term borrowing and upend global economic stability. That comes as the US national debt officially topped $40 trillion — a record high that’s double what it was a decade ago, raising serious concerns for some economists. With the nation’s spiraling debt showing no signs of slowing, is it too late to avoid a U.S. fiscal cliff catastrophe? We talk to economic experts about the current and future impacts, and whether there’s a solution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  In Daniel Mason’s Comic Novel ‘Country People,’ California Collides with New England 03.09.2026 54min

  Acclaimed novelist Daniel Mason’s latest book, “Country People,” centers on Miles, a stalled PhD student of Russian folklore, who is married to a brilliant academic. A visiting stint at a prestigious liberal arts college in rural Vermont sends their family of four, plus the perfect dog, careening through a different America of Slim Jims, forests, and local legends. It’s both a sendup of academia—Mason’s a Stanford professor of psychiatry, after all— and those intrepid Californians, like himself, who head to New England in the summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Rozina Ali Traces Islamophobia’s Long Shadow 02.09.2026 54min

  After the Sept. 11 attacks, assaults against Muslims in the U.S. surged. At the same time the U.S. government launched a sweeping War on Terror that brought arrests, deportations and surveillance into Muslim communities. Journalist Rozina Ali was a teenager at the time and remembers her father warning her, “Don’t tell anyone you’re Muslim.” In her new book, “Seasons of Fury,” Ali traces the rise and persistence of Islamophobia through the lives of four Muslim American families. We talk to her about how the War on Terror reshaped Muslim life in America and what it will take to counter Islamophobia now. Guests: Rozina Ali, contributing writer, The New York Times Magazine; author, “Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Can the Trump Administration Allow Private Development in Yosemite? 02.09.2026 54min

  The Trump Administration is reportedly considering letting a private Nevada developer take control of a parcel of land in Yosemite National Park. Conservationists and elected officials have pushed back hard, though the Interior Department disputes parts of the reporting. We’ll talk about the consequences of privatizing a cherished landmark and the efforts to stop it. Guests: Anna Kramer, reporter covering government and policy with a focus on energy and environment, NOTUS – broke the story with her article, “Trump Is Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer” John Buckley, director, Central Sierra Environmental Resources Center an environmental group that’s worked for 35 years to defend water, wildlife, and wild places of the Northern Yosemite region Jared Huffman, U.S. Representative, California’s 2nd congressional district – Which covers six counties including all of Marin and Mendocino and much of Sonoma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices