The California Report Magazine

The Speaker: A New Podcast on Nancy Pelosi's Unlikely Path to Power Ahead of Nancy Pelosi's retirement, KQED's Scott Shafer traces her improbable 1987 rise in a new podcast The Speaker: How Nancy Pelosi Changed the Face of Power. The first episode revisits her primary against Democratic Socialist Harry Britt, who had hoped to become San Francisco's first openly gay congressman amid the AIDS crisis — a race Pelosi narrowly won on her way to becoming one of the most powerful women in American politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inside the San Francisco Church Where John Coltrane is a Saint If Coltrane were still alive, he’d be celebrating his 100th birthday this month. In a story from our friends at KQED's Bay Curious podcast, Asal Ehsanipour visits the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco, where Reverend Franzo King and Mother Marina have spent 60 years turning the jazz legend's music into a spiritual practice. What began as a living room listening clinic in the 1960s grew into a congregation that has weathered evictions and a copyright lawsuit. Still, they persist in the belief that Coltrane's saxophone carries a divine message. Old Timers and Newbies Look to Cash in by Panning in Gold Country With gold prices hovering near record highs, a new wave of prospectors is showing up along California's Yuba and American rivers, joining old-timers who've been panning for generations. KQED's Katherine Monahan talks to sixth-generation miners, gold-shop owners and newcomers about whether the modern gold rush is worth the effort or mostly hype. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re reprising a story from 2020 that has a lot in common with a case in Massachusetts that has recently made national headlines: the closely-watched murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of murdering her three children. Clancy’s trial has reignited a debate about how the legal system treats cases of women who kill their own children. More than a decade ago in Los Angeles, Carol Coronado killed her three daughters, all under age 3. The two tragedies are very similar: psychiatric experts argued that both Clancy and Coronado were suffering from postpartum psychosis. And lawyers for both women pursued an insanity defense. These are topics KQED health reporter April Dembosky has spent years investigating, and she discovered that over the last three decades, it’s actually gotten harder to win an insanity defense based on postpartum psychosis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's on Route 66 these days? Les Français Route 66 is turning 100 this year, and communities around the state are gearing up for this milestone birthday. The 2,400-mile highway system stretches from Chicago to Santa Monica, and has always drawn tourists. But as KCRW’s Jennifer Swann reports, the promise of Route 66 is not exactly what it used to be.  Meet the Bald Eagles Who Inspired a Movement A pair of majestic bald eagles named Jackie and Shadow became internet sensations after a devoted admirer set up a camera and began livestreaming their nest. Their rise to stardom sparked a movement to protect their fragile habitat above Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. But the story took a sad turn earlier this month when one of the eagles died. Host Sasha Khokha checked in with KVCR's Madison Aument about what’s next for the remaining eagle and its fans. How One Professor is Teaching About Cesar Chavez Now Last spring, when sexual abuse allegations first surfaced about labor leader Cesar Chavez, communities across the state took immediate action – from taking down statues to renaming buildings and painting over murals. But educators had to rethink how they taught students about the farmworker movement. Oliver Rosales teaches history and ethnic studies at Bakersfield College in Delano, where the United Farmer Workers were based. He spoke with host Sasha Khokha about how his curriculum has changed this fall.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Detained at Green Card Interview: How a Bay Area Family Is Healing From Sudden Separation Since the Trump Administration’s deportation campaign began last year, more than 100,000 children who are American citizens have had a parent detained, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. Peter, who is married to an American citizen, was the main caregiver to his son when he was taken into custody at his green card interview in November 2025. As KQED early education reporter Daisy Nguyen reports, the sudden separation took a toll not only on him and his wife, but also on their developing baby.  At This Los Angeles Rehab, Moms in Recovery Live With Their Children Mothers who struggle with addiction and substance abuse are often reluctant to get treatment because going through a rehabilitation program could mean leaving their kids behind at home. Residential rehabs that let mothers bring their kids are extremely rare. But there is one program in Southern California that’s one of the very few across the country, where moms and kids under six years old can stay together. Reporter Clare Wiley takes us inside.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mendocino’s Tribes, Farmers, Environmentalists Agree: Take Down Eel River’s Dams For over a century, dams have blocked the Eel River’s natural flow of water in Northern California. Now, tribes, environmentalists and utility companies have come up with a plan to tear down the dams, as part of the “Two Basin Solution.” Reporter Sam Anderson found out what a free-running Eel River would mean for local Round Valley Indian Tribes, industry and wildlife.  In Altadena, A Youth Music Scene Crops Up from Eaton Fire’s Ashes After the 2025 Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles, music lovers organized fundraisers to reconnect artists with instruments lost in the fire. Now live music shows in Altadena’s vacant lots and backyards have sprouted a new scene, where teenage punk and indie bands draw audiences from across Southern California. Reporter Steven Cuevas has the story. Looking for a Last-Minute Summer Road Trip? Try Pinnacles National Park Pinnacles National Park doesn’t have the name recognition as Yosemite or Joshua Tree, but it stokes just as much wonder. For our Hidden Gems series, KQED outdoors reporter Sarah Wright traveled to this small park just an hour east of Monterey to find out why it's worth a summer getaway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to live, work, and make decisions in a rapidly automated world? Life, Automated explores this urgent question. It's a new podcast distributed by KQED and made by our partners at the Ryan Institute for Complexity at Northwestern University, Episodes drop every other Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Airport’s Fear of Flying Clinic Welcomes Nervous Passengers Aboard If your stomach drops at the thought of getting on an airplane, you’re not alone. Millions of Americans share a fear of flying. Some psychologists say the way through it is to rewire the brain, by gradually facing the very thing that feels dangerous. But you can’t just hop on a plane whenever you want to practice. That’s where a Bay Area program hosted at San Francisco International Airport can help. For nearly 50 years, they’ve been helping uneasy travelers get back in the air. Reporter Evan Roberts brings us the story from five miles up. ⁠San José’s Batman, Fighting for the Unhoused, Is the Real Life Superhero ‘We Need’⁠ If you happen to be in downtown San José at night, you might spot a man in a mask, wearing a black and purple cape and toting a cart full of supplies.. This is the Batman of San José — a volunteer who has spent nearly eight years walking the city at night to help unhoused residents. He’s a far cry from the vigilantes of comic books. He isn’t swooping from rooftops, seeking revenge or delivering justice through fists. His superpower is noticing people who feel ignored, and offering them food, first aid supplies, and sometimes, being someone they can confide in. KQED’s Srishti Prabha brings us his story. This episode orginally aired on January 16, 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outside Sacramento, California's Largest Urban Bat Colony Takes Flight Thousands of drivers cross a bridge to Sacramento every day, with no idea what lurks beneath them: a quarter-million Mexican free-tailed bats. Each summer at sunset, they burst out in swirling formation, drawing crowds to guided tours. As part of KQED's Hidden Gems series, reporter Srishti Prabha visits the Yolo Causeway to find out what makes these misunderstood creatures worth a closer look. From Mono Lake to the Coast: Why These Seagulls Stay in the Bay Whether they're stealing hamburgers or swiping ice cream cones, seagulls have earned a bad reputation. In the San Francisco Bay Area, their presence appears to be growing, as California Gulls have become year-round residents. For the Bay Curious podcast, KQED’s Pauline Bartolone found out why tens of thousands of birds ditched breeding grounds in the Eastern Sierra and have permanently relocated to the Bay. Welcome to Nancy's Airport Cafe, Where Regulars Fly in for Pie Along Highway 5 in Glenn County, Nancy's Airport Cafe has spent decades serving pie and hospitality to rice farmers, truckers, and pilots who fly in just for the food. As part of the California Foodways series, reporter Lisa Morehouse visited the restaurant in 2017, when walls were covered in photos of regulars, and waitresses always remembered their orders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're featuring two of our favorite stories from the past year. Meet the Duduk Whisperer: A Bay Area Armenian Folk Musician Revives Centuries of Soul San Francisco Bay Area-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian is pushing the boundaries of traditional Armenian music. The vocalist and musician plays the duduk, an ancient double reed wind instrument carved from apricot wood, which has cultural ties to the country. Last October, KQED’s Elize Manoukian brought us this profile about how Khatchadourian is preserving culture through sound. Small Ring, Big Dreams: The Central Valley’s Backyard Wrestling Underdogs If you turn off Highway 99 just north of Stockton, you’ll find the 209 Dragon’s Den. The venue is wedged between a private home, a plant nursery and a barn, offering one of the humbler places to tangle in the independent wrestling scene. Since it launched about a year ago, it’s been drawing wrestlers from around the state. But the 209 Dragon’s Den isn’t just a place to bring the community together– it also helps wrestlers better understand themselves and their sport. In March, reporter Hannah Weaver took us ringside. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vinyl Album Found in San Francisco Contains Echoes of a Filipino American Love Story Jess Garcia loves perusing San Francisco thrift stores for treasures. One day, she came across a vinyl record titled "In Baghdad By the Bay: Cora and Santos Beloy," which piqued her curiosity. She rushed home to listen and was amazed at the sweet nostalgic quality of the voices she heard. When she looked for more information on the couple she couldn't find much, but had this feeling there must be more to their story. It turns out this Filipino American couple were "San Francisco famous" in the 1970s, playing a celebrated set in the Fairmount Hotel's Tonga Room among many other gigs. In this story from KQED’s Bay Curious podcast, reporter Asal Ehsanipour found out they were also larger than life figures in their local community. Hmong Cooking Class Gives Central Valley Youth a ‘Taste of Tradition’  Fresno is home to the second largest Hmong community in the United States, with over 80,000 residents in the Central Valley. In 1992, Kristy Xiong immigrated here from Thailand as a child and says she held on to her culture through traditional foods. Today she's teaching a monthly class that is helping young Hmong students cook these dishes to reconnect to their heritage. From the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative and KVPR, Esther Quintanilla takes us into the kitchen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The California Report Magazine: What Skid Row Taught Acclaimed Violinist Vijay Gupta About Music When violinist Vijay Gupta joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at just 19 years old, he was the youngest to ever take a chair in a major orchestra in the U.S. But despite that shining achievement, he was desperately unhappy. Now in his late 30s, Gupta has a new memoir out called Restrung. It explores how, after years of struggling to live up to other people’s expectations, he found his true voice working with homeless people on the streets of Skid Row. Reporter Steven Cuevas has this profile.   ⁠Life Lessons from a Game of Chess⁠ Visits with loved ones are a special time for people who are incarcerated in California. Families come from all over the state to see their loved ones for a short while, and it's one of the only opportunities incarcerated parents can connect with their kids. In this essay from the podcast Uncuffed, producer Fonuamana Fuahala recounts connecting with his son — who he hadn’t seen in years — over a game of chess.   When Chinese Flower Growers Helped the Bay Area Bloom Santa Clara County stretches from San Jose up through Palo Alto and into the surrounding foothills. Today, it’s an area known for sprawling tech campuses and suburban neighborhoods, but for a large part of the 20th century, this landscape looked very different. Some would say it was blooming. KQED’s Gabriela Glueck brings us this story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘Podcasting Democracy’ Helps Constitution Come to Life for Teens As America gets ready to celebrate its 250th birthday, a new project called Podcasting Democracy is helping high school and middle school students engage with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Participants created a series of audio commentaries connecting how those founding documents still affect their lives today, and how they can use constitutional principles to create positive change in their own communities.The curriculum is free and available to teachers nationwide. It was written by KQED Education’s Rachel Roberson, who along with 17-year-old student Eumari King Perez sat down with host Sasha Khokha to talk about the project. Time-Traveling Rock Opera Celebrates Pasadena A new time traveling rock opera called Pasadena Right Here, Right Now imagines the city’s distant past, its far-off future and its fire-scarred present. Composer Russell Mark spent a year talking to dozens of locals from Pasadena and Altadena, who helped inspire the opera’s storyline. It begins in the Pasadena of the future. In the year 2125, a professor at Caltech develops a time machine to travel back to 2025 Pasadena. As reporter Steven Cuevas tells us, the multi-part song cycle blends rock instrumentation with chamber music, to create a love letter to the region.  Long Beach Man Faces Deportation to a  Country He’s Never Seen⁠ Since President Trump took office, his Administration has talked about deporting criminals,  even as they’ve mostly detained immigrants with no criminal background. But exactly who are those immigrants President Trump is calling the “worst of the worst?” KCRW’s Andrew Lopez met one Long Beach man who, despite spending the last 10 years turning his life around, is now facing a future in a new country— a place he’s never been.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a Pacifica Bar Became a Flashpoint for Queer Civil Rights The San Francisco Bay Area is known as one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly areas in the country but it wasn’t always this way. Back in 1956, the beachside city of Pacifica was the scene of a police raid at a local bar, known to be friendly to the queer community. Hazel’s Inn’s owner, Hazel Nikola had her liquor license revoked and was arrested along with 90 of her patrons. As Ana De Almeida Amaral reports for the podcast Bay Curious, the raid would be a blueprint for law enforcement over the next 15 years. ‘Like an Angel’: Meet the Helpers Working at Bay Area Immigration Court For decades, San Francisco was home to was Northern California’s principal immigration court. Over time, advocates built around it one of the most extensive immigrant-defense networks in the U.S. a web of nonprofit legal organizations, volunteer court companions, rapid-response groups and pro bono attorneys who help immigrants find their way through a system where they’re not guaranteed legal representation. But the Trump Administration has closed the court and by the end of this year, thousands of cases are expected to be transferred to Concord, about 30 miles to the northeast, where the immigration court is only a couple of years old and the support infrastructure around it is still developing. Sergio Jaime Lopez knows the importance of building up that network. He once stood in front of an immigration judge himself and is now one of many local advocates who are helping immigrants navigate the changing U.S.  immigration system.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connecting With My Father, and My Heritage, in Mandarin Many children of immigrants grow up hearing a language at home that they never fully learn to speak. For second generation kids in the US, the top three heritage languages are Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog. Mandarin Chinese is the native language of reporter Anna Zou. But up until a few months ago, she could barely speak it. Central Valley Father and Daughter Train Together For National Boxing Championship In the rural Central Valley of Avenal, Shavana Trejo is getting national attention for her amateur boxing. It’s a sport she learned from her father, a single dad of eight children, who’s also her coach. As Alice Daniel reports, boxing has helped both father and daughter navigate tough times outside the ring. Dancing With My Daughter at the Prison Parenting Prom Derrell “Sadiq” Davis doesn’t get to see his daughter that often. He’s incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center,where visits and phone calls are monitored and brief. But last year, the prison held a prom for fathers and their daughters, and Sadiq got to spend a day with his daughter, Anaya. As part of the podcast Uncuffed, made by radio producers who are incarcerated, Sadiq wrote a letter to Anaya reflecting on that special day.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recent Graduates Reflect on How AI Is Reshaping Their Future Over the past few weeks, several college commencement speakers who praised artificial intelligence were booed by graduates. As these graduates  enter an uncertain job market, they’re grappling not only with an unpredictable economy but also with the feeling that artificial intelligence is unstoppable. AI can impact whether or not you get your resume in front of a hiring manager or what career you decide to pursue. We hear from some recent California graduates and other students who talk about not whether  AI will impact them, but how.    As California’s Wine Industry Struggles, Some Lodi Grape Growers Pivot to New Crops California produces 80% of all American wines. But most wine grapes aren’t grown in places like Napa or Paso Robles. Most of them actually come from vineyards around one small city in San Joaquin County, Lodi. No matter where you are in Lodi, you’re always less than a 10-minute drive from a vineyard, but it’s no longer just the land of grapes. Orchards full of pistachios, almonds and olives are popping up all over the outskirts of Lodi. As Hannah Weaver reports, that’s because new challenges in the wine industry are pushing grape growers to try other crops. For This Quartet of Fresno State Musicians, a Chance to Play in South Korea  Every summer, a prestigious international music festival highlights an instrument that may not always take center stage: the clarinet. Students from universities around the world are invited to perform at Clarinetfest, and this summer, for the first time ever, some of those students will be coming from Fresno State. KVPR’s Samantha Rangel tells us how they came together to play, and what it means to represent the Central Valley.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June is Pride Month, and for this week’s show we’re featuring excerpts from our Love You for You series, which recently won a regional Murrow award from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Gender-expansive youth are often talked about in the news but we rarely hear from them, in their own words, especially about how they can thrive with loving support from their families and communities. So we’re featuring three conversations between these youth and the people in their lives who love, support, and mentor them.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncovering Women Miners’ Forgotten Legacy in the ‘Swiss Alps’ of Sequoia National Park  Mineral King is located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park but its remote location means it gets fewer visitors than other parts of the park. So the campers and backpackers that make the trek are rewarded with a spectacular mountain range with rushing waterfalls. There are only a handful of buildings here, including some historic wooden cabins that belong to a few families who’ve been here long before this was a national park. One of those cabins belongs to Laile Di Silvestro’s family. Her connection to Mineral King goes back to the 1870s. Today, she’s an archeologist, and she’s looking for the stories she didn’t hear growing up. In 2024, as part of our Hidden Gems series, host Sasha Khokha hiked Mineral King with Di Silvestro to learn about some surprising trail blazers in the California Gold Rush, and the discrimination some people faced during those boom times. The World’s Largest Bishop Pine Forest Is in Point Reyes California is home to a lot of iconic trees, including giant sequoias, windswept Monterey cypresses, and Joshua trees. The bishop pine doesn’t have that kind of celebrity status. But if you live on the Point Reyes Peninsula in west Marin County you’re all too familiar with it. These indigenous trees are so well-suited to growing here, that to locals they’re notorious pests, not because of how easily they grow, but because of how they die. In 2024, reporter Lusen Mendel took us to Tomales Bay State Park to meet someone who’s made it his mission to deal with the pesky and strangely loveable pines. Welcome to Rough and Ready, the Tiny Town That Used to Be a Republic We head to the Nevada County town of Rough and Ready, about 5 miles west of Grass Valley.  In 1850, it seceded from the nation and temporarily became its own republic. In 2017, KQED’s Bianca Taylor spoke to a proud resident of Rough and Ready to learn more about the town’s history, and how it got its name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going for a Hike in a California Park? Don’t Forget Your Sewing Supplies Hiking clubs are nothing new. But a group in Los Angeles is now trying to stretch their creative muscles while making new community. Los Angeles’ Hike and Sew members gather every other week in Los Angeles to get into nature with their needle and thread.  Reporter Clare Wiley joined the group as part of our Community Connections series, highlighting Californians who are bringing joy to their neighbors in big and small ways.  Motorized Wheelchairs Making Back Country Hiking More Accessible California is home to more than 18,000 miles of hiking trails. But many of them are out of reach for people with physical disabilities. In Southern California, the city of Burbank is trying to change that. A new program lets people borrow motorized, off-road wheelchairs to explore rugged trails that were once inaccessible. Susan Valot reports that advocates are hoping to open up this option to thousands more people in the state.  How to Explore Muir Woods After Dark Marin County is home to Muir Woods – known for its historic redwood trees. It’s one of the most visited national parks sites in the country, even though you can’t camp there. But as KQED’s outdoors reporter Sarah Wright tells us, once a month, park-goers who nab a ticket can  experience the wonders of the park at night.  How an Altadena Monster Sparked Community Tensions After the Eaton Fire burned through Altadena a year and half ago, an unusual sight reappeared amid the ashes and debris: a giant werewolf wearing a t-shirt with a big rainbow-colored heart that said “I Love Altadena”. The mysterious lycanthrope became a source of inspiration and resilience as the community continued to recover and rebuild. And then, as with any good werewolf story, the full moon appeared, a transformation happened and the pitchforks came out. But in the end, peace prevailed. Reporter Steven Cuevas has the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Story Behind the Bear on the California Flag is Bigger Than One Legend The grizzly bear on California’s state flag makes it distinctive and recognizable. Many people believe the bear is Monarch, one of the last California grizzlies. Captured in the mountains in 1889, he was held in captivity and displayed to the public for the last 22 years of his life. The KQED podcast Bay Curious wanted to find out if it really was Monarch on the flag, and to sort through some of the other legends around the bear. They sent reporter Katherine Monahan to find out.  At Three Sisters Gardens, the Community Creates a New Food System  In West Sacramento, Three Sisters Gardens is a place where neighbors grow food and community. Founded by Alfred Melbourne, the garden is rooted in Indigenous growing practices and the idea that people, plants, and land thrive through cooperation. Local youth play a central role, learning how to plant, harvest, and distribute food while working alongside adults and elders. In a city long shaped by food deserts, the space has become both a source of fresh produce and a place for hands-on learning and mentorship. The California Report's intern Srishti Prabha takes us there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California's Governor’s Race Remains Wide Open. Here’s What to Know Before the Primary From controversies to campaign promises, California’s governor’s race is national news. And with ballots landing in mailboxes already, the race is still a toss-up — with eight candidates vying for the state’s top job. We sit down with KQED political correspondents Guy Marzorati and Marisa Lagos to hear more about the candidates and what we should look for in the final weeks before Election Day.  In Northern California’s Maternity Desert, a Humboldt Midwife Offers Intimate Births Despite being the nation’s most populous state, there’s increasingly fewer places to give birth.  In rural areas, giving birth can be  difficult and dangerous as local hospitals shut down maternity wards. In Humboldt County, some women now travel hours in labor to reach the nearest delivery room. One small birth center in Eureka is trying to fill that gap with a different approach to care. There, midwives spend more time with patients and offer a calmer, more personal setting for births. It’s a model that could help address the state’s growing maternity care crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

⁠In East Oakland, a Store Where 1 Item Is Always Free⁠ If you find yourself wandering around Oakland’s Dimond District, you might come across a rather unusual store. The space looks like a hoarder’s attic. It’s crowded with mismatched objects: glassware, old electronics, knitted hats, typewriters and rotary phones. But you don't need money to shop here, you can actually take one item home for free. Free Oakland UP is both an art installation and mutual aid model, offering commentary on waste and reuse. KQED’s Srishti Prabha brings us the story of this space, and what it means to community members. ⁠A Basketball Trailblazer: My Mother, the WNBA Star You’ve Never Heard Of⁠ On May 8th, the WNBA will celebrate the start of its 30th season. Along with a surge in viewership and attention in recent years, players are also celebrating a new collective bargaining agreement. Athletes will receive 20% of gross league and team revenue, resulting in a big bump in salaries. This progress comes after decades of advocacy by early players who worked to carve out space for the women’s professional game. Judy Mosley McAfee was one of them. She was the sixth woman drafted into the WNBA. Last July, her daughter, reporter Audy McAfee looked back at her mom’s career. In California, Women’s Hockey Is Growing In February, the U.S. women’s hockey team took home Olympic gold. The win has inspired a new wave of players, including adults. Recently, USA Hockey announced that the number of women and girls who’ve signed up to play the sport has surpassed 100,000 for the first time. In California, women’s college hockey is growing too. Much of that momentum comes from grassroots efforts by women who don’t want to hang up their skates. Reporter Susan Valot hit the ice to bring us this story from Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For people living with serious mental illness, there’s more to recovery than clinical treatment. Los Angeles County’s Hollywood 2.0 pilot program puts that idea into practice. Inspired by an Italian city’s holistic and successful approach — centered on friendship and purpose — officials brought the model stateside. For people like Mignon Poon, who spent years unhoused, the opportunity for community has proved pivotal. Reporter Lee Romney takes us inside a program that offers a new model for mental health care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re revisiting two stories from Lisa Morehouse's series, California Foodways. California’s fruits and vegetables make a lot of stops on the way from the fields to your table. One of those places is the Oakland Produce Market, which supplies small markets, restaurants and other food providers with the freshest foods. You don’t have to work for a grocery store or run a restaurant to shop here, as long as you buy in bulk. Lisa got up in the middle of the night to meet some of the people who keep the Oakland Produce Market humming.  Then we head to farm country, where you often see signs  that say “Food Grows Where Water Flows.” The system of canals and reservoirs that feeds farmland in the Central Valley is one of the biggest in the world. But irrigation canals are also places where people dump unwanted objects, like toilets, furniture or shopping carts. It’s Big Valley Divers’ job to clean and maintain the canals and the dams that send water to farms. Lisa spent a day in Colusa County to learn all about the unusual job that keeps the water flowing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're revisiting a conversation from September 2025 about resilience with Oakland comedian Jackie Keliiaa. She’s a stand-up, writer, actor, and producer whose work not only reflects on her everyday life, but also her Native heritage. She’s been featured on Comedy Central, Team Coco, Netflix and IllumiNative's list of 25 Native American Comedians to Follow, and she organizes the all-Native comedy show, Good Medicine. Host Sasha Khokha sat down with Keliiaa for a conversation about comedy, identity, and how laughter can help keep us going during hard times.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Northern California Tribe is Reclaiming Mendocino Forest For Future Generations The Potter Valley band of the Pomo people is the first tribe in California to use a Forest Service grant to create a community forest near Fort Bragg, in Mendocino County. It will soon be a place where the tribe can offer youth camps and community events all year round. KQED’s Outdoors reporter Sarah Wright attended a mushroom foraging event on this ancestral land, which will now remain a forest for generations to come. New Film Follows Indigenous Teens Kayaking the Klamath River After Dam Removal A new documentary from Oregon Public Broadcasting follows a group of Indigenous teenagers as they kayak more than 300 miles down the Klamath River. They’re the first to paddle the entire length of the Klamath after four dams were taken down in 2024 — the largest dam removal in US history. First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath was filmed over the course of the monthlong paddle last summer, following the teens as they traversed waters that were allowed to flow freely again for the first time in 100 years. Host Vanessa Rancano speaks with the film’s producer, Jessie Sears, and one of the paddlers featured in the film, 16-year-old Tasia Linwood.  In the 1970s, Bay Area Lesbians Created Their Own Economy San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood is known all around the world as a gay mecca. But the city was also once home to a thriving, self-sustaining lesbian community in the city’s Mission District. KQED Arts editor Nastia Voynovskaya takes us to a new historical exhibit. It tells the story of the lesbian-owned restaurants, printing presses and bookstores that offered a safe haven in the face of discrimination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Financial Freefall to Stability. How One Man Found a Way to Stay in the Bay The cost of living in California has only increased in the last year. And between housing, food, utilities and gas, many of us have been forced to get creative with our budgets in order to continue living here. Vanessa Rancaño has this profile of a man in the Bay Area whose decision to stay in California –despite his financial hardships– is also a matter of safety.   Small Ring, Big Dreams: The Central Valley’s Backyard Wrestling Underdogs If you turn off Highway 99 just north of Stockton, you’ll find the 209 Dragon’s Den. The venue is wedged between a private home, a plant nursery and a barn, offering one of the humbler places to tangle in the independent wrestling scene. Since it launched about a year ago, it’s been drawing wrestlers from around the state. But the 209 Dragon’s Den isn’t just a place to bring the community together– it also helps wrestlers better understand themselves and their sport. Reporter Hannah Weaver takes us ringside.  A Black-Owned Ranch in Southern San Diego Fosters Community and Ancestral Connection  On a dusty road north of the Tijuana border is S&S Friendly Ranch. Founded in 1980 by siblings Sim Wallace and Sarah Buncom, the ranch started as a place to board their horses. But as KPBS’ Audy McAfee reports, the 10-acre ranch is now a community gathering place and a hub for education and innovation, thanks to their descendants.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This San Francisco Post Office Is the Only Address Some Residents Have In San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, there’s a unique post office. It’s the U.S. Postal Service General Delivery Unit — a mail service where people who don’t have a permanent address can pick up mail. For the past decade, it’s been a lifeline in a district that’s home to 2,000 unhoused residents, allowing them to receive items like ID cards and Social Security checks. We spend an afternoon at General Delivery with reporter Erin Bump.  Erika Oba On Weaving Asian American History Into Her Music  In the 1970s, Asian American jazz artists found inspiration in Black musicians who used music as a tool for social change. They experimented with different styles alongside those musicians. They introduced instruments from their cultures to the genre, like taiko drums and the koto. The result was a new kind of sound, and a reflection of Asian America’s emerging political power. Today, the legacy continues. And as KALW’s Cara Nguyen discovered, there’s a new generation of Asian American jazz musicians like pianist Erika Oba, who are asking what it means to make music that honors this rich history, and speaks to the moment.  A Queer Climate Movement Takes Root Along the Russian River Sonoma County’s Russian River has been a destination for queer folks for more than a century. But these days, as a new generation is seeing the impact of climate change on the area, they’re doing more than vacationing. KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero introduces us to a couple getting their hands dirty and creating a refuge for other LGBTQ folks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Eaton Fire Ravaged Black Altadena. A Journalist Documents Its Resilience After the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena in 2025, reporter James Farr went live on radio station KBLA in Los Angeles. His weekly call-in show, Conversations Live: Altadena Rising, highlights the voices of fire survivors, focusing on the people from Altadena’s historic Black neighborhoods, which the fire disproportionately ravaged. He’s given voice to the community as they have moved from processing the shock and destruction of the fire, to navigating displacement, and deciding whether to rebuild. Reporter Steven Cuevas brings us this profile of radio host James Farr, and a few of the people whose stories he’s been following over the last year.   AfroLA: Covering Altadena’s Black Community With a Long View It’s been more than 14 months since the deadly Eaton Fire ravaged Altadena, particularly its Black neighborhoods that were home to elders and multigenerational families. While many news outlets have pivoted away from Altadena, the nonprofit solutions journalism outlet AfroLA, whose tag line is “Unapologetic. Black. Los Angeles” has remained committed to uplifting wildfire survivors’ stories throughout the slow process of recovery. The California Report Magazine’s host Sasha Khokha talks with AfroLA reporters Corrinne Ruff and William Jenkins about what sets this kind of community-focused Black journalism apart – and Ruff and Jenkins share the stories of some of the residents they’ve been following, including Black architects committed to rebuilding their neighborhood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Eaton Fire Destroyed Altadena’s Lush Greenery. These Volunteers Are Growing It Back The Eaton Fire was merciless when it came to  Altadena’s celebrated green spaces, destroying or damaging most of the leafy trees that lined the streets in many neighborhoods. Reporter Steven Cuevas tells us how local advocates are scrambling to restore what was lost and save what’s still standing.   A Post-War Program is Influencing Home Rebuilds in the Pacific Palisades A year after the Palisades Fire, rebuilding has been slow. But some local architects have been thinking about ways to move things along, taking inspiration from a 1940s post-war project. One of the goals of the Case Study House program was to build homes quickly, using inexpensive materials. The idea ended up revolutionizing architecture and forever linking Los Angeles with the mid-century modern home. KCRW’s Brandon Reynolds tells us how a new version of that program could help fire survivors get back into homes faster, and maybe even start another architectural renaissance. How a Bay Area Program Helps Unhoused Residents Become Protectors of Their Environment Researchers estimate 10% of California’s unhoused population lives along waterways. In the absence of enough affordable housing and shelter, it feels like the best of bad options for many. But trash and other hazardous materials can bring detrimental effects to these waterways. So a Bay Area pilot program is teaching unhoused residents ecological literacy and creek restoration. It’s a novel approach to address the environmental harms brought on by the growing number of unhoused people setting up camp along creeks and canals in California.  Music Creates Connections for Bay Area Residents and Families Confronting Memory Loss Studies have found that music can actually help with diseases associated with cognitive decline like Alzheimer’s or dementia. At Sutter Health’s Ray Dolby Brain Center in San Francisco, a monthly singing circle is offering respite and joy for people with memory loss and their caregivers. As part of our Community Connections series, The California Report Magazine’s intern Srishti Prabha introduces us to a couple who help lead the group in song. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s a somber anniversary that many Ukrainians here in California are commemorating. In fact, Silicon Valley is home to a large Ukrainian diaspora – many immigrants from Ukraine have come to work in the tech industry as engineers. Some of them have been using their tech skills to bolster the effort to defend Ukraine, and this army of engineers, coders, hackers, and tinkerers has become a vital part of the country’s resistance against Russian aggression. It’s a story that Bay Area investigative journalist Erica Hellerstein stumbled upon when she took a trip to Kyiv to work on a project about her own family’s Ukrainian roots. As she discovered, some believe Ukraine’s tech sector and its connection to Silicon Valley is part of the reason Ukraine is still standing today. This week, we’re sharing an excerpt of an episode Hellerstein reported for the KQED podcast Close All Tabs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Cherish Burtson was sent to prison, she says one of the main things that helped her get through her time was reading. She devoured memoirs and books on mindfulness, which helped her manage the challenges she experienced behind bars. After she was released, she began to volunteer with Books Thru Bars San Diego, a group that provides reading materials to people who are  incarcerated. But lately she’s noticed that more titles are being rejected by prison officials. This week, we bring you an excerpt of the KPBS podcast The Finest. It explores prison book bans, which some critics are calling censorship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When most of us head to the airport, it’s to fly out and leave. But some people go to the airport to stay, sometimes for months on end. People experiencing homelessness have had a presence at the airport since at least 2018, but airport officials say their number has grown. The San Francisco Police Department says it encounters about 35 unhoused people at the airport every day. But helping them find other places to live is complicated. Reporter Erin Bump introduces us to some people at SFO who help them with shelter, food and medical care, and are sometimes just there to listen .  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three years ago this week, Oakland bakery owner Jen Angel lost her life when a “smash and grab” robbery went horribly wrong. Ishmael Jenkins Burch, then 19, was driving the getaway car and was initially charged with murder. We bring you an excerpt from an episode of the Snap Judgment podcast, which explores  what happens when Angel’s community pushes for restorative justice instead of retribution, something they say Angel would have wanted for the accused.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weekend marks one year since the deadly Eaton Fire was contained. From the moment the fire first broke out, reporter Steven Cuevas began talking to his neighbors, to business owners, and other people who make up the fabric of this vibrant community, and we’ve featured those stories on our show ever since. Host Sasha Khokha joins Steven  as they  revisit some of those neighbors, including a 94-year-old therapist whose home was saved by her sons, a renter who lost her home of 15 years, and an artist who is working on a community art project as she waits for the right time to rebuild. Despite the devastation, for some people, the fire brought about a stronger sense of connection to the place they call home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're featuring two stories from our friends at the Bay Curious podcast.  San Francisco’s Historic ‘Relief Cottages,’ Built After the 1906 Earthquake, Are Hidden in Plain Sight After the 1906 Earthquake and Fire leveled 80% of San Francisco, more than a quarter of a million residents were temporarily displaced. People who had the means left the city, but many low income San Franciscans didn’t have that option. City leaders commissioned union carpenters to build small cottages to house the refugees – many of whom the city relied upon to help rebuild the city.These “earthquake shacks” gave many people their first shot at homeownership and helped the city recover. Bay Curious’s Katrina Schwartz says you can still find a few of them dotted around the city if you know what to look for. Invasion of the Grub Snatchers: How One Rich Guy’s Russian Boars Colonized California  Originally imported to Monterey County for sport by a wealthy landowner in the 1920s, wild boars now number in the hundreds of thousands, and they are destroying sensitive habitats and suburban lawns all over the state. Experts say the problem has gotten worse in recent years all across the state, especially after a series of wet winters has left moist soil teeming with grubs — a pig’s favorite food. KQED’s Rachael Myrow takes us on a trip to see some of the destruction, learn how the boars got here in the first place, and gather some ideas on how to get rid of them.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Airport’s Fear of Flying Clinic Welcomes Nervous Passengers Aboard If your stomach drops at the thought of getting on an airplane, you’re not alone. Millions of Americans share a fear of flying. Some psychologists say the way through it is to rewire the brain, by gradually facing the very thing that feels dangerous. But you can’t just hop on a plane whenever you want to practice. That’s where a Bay Area program hosted at San Francisco International Airport can help. For nearly 50 years, they’ve been helping uneasy travelers get back in the air. Reporter Evan Roberts brings us the story from five miles up. San José’s Batman, Fighting for the Unhoused, Is the Real Life Superhero ‘We Need’ If you happen to be in downtown San José at night, you might spot a man in a mask, wearing a black and purple cape and toting a cart full of supplies.. This is the Batman of San José — a volunteer who has spent nearly eight years walking the city at night to help unhoused residents. He’s a far cry from the vigilantes of comic books. He isn’t swooping from rooftops, seeking revenge or delivering justice through fists. His superpower is noticing people who feel ignored, and offering them food, first aid supplies, and sometimes, being someone they can confide in. KQED’s Srishti Prabha brings us his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles wildfires, two of the most destructive fires in California history. We bring you an excerpt from a new podcast, The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastles Special, which documents the community-led efforts to fight the Palisades Fire. Host Adriana Cargill highlights the role of the “Community Brigade” – a first-in-the-nation model that allows trained civilians to work alongside firefighters when wildfires hit. The podcast explores whether these kinds of brigades might be replicated in other places as California continues to grapple with more devastating – and more unpredictable – wildfires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luis Rodriguez credits reading and writing for keeping him resilient his whole life. He’s best known for his 1993 memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., which chronicles how he joined a gang at age 11, found himself homeless and using heroin, and wound up in the juvenile justice system. He went on to write 17 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and he served as poet laureate of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2017. As part of our series on resilience, host Sasha Khokha sits down with Luis Rodriguez to talk about his life and work, and what advice he has for getting through tumultuous times. This episode first aired on July 25, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This holiday week, we’re bringing you two joyful stories from 2025.  Reena Esmail’s childhood in Los Angeles had two soundtracks: the Western classical music her parents loved, and the old, scratchy Bollywood tapes her paternal grandparents would play over and over. Those multicultural influences shaped what would become the driving question of her work: how do you invite people from different cultures onto the same stage to build a relationship and create music together? Composing is how Esmail has made her mark — by putting Western classical musicians in conversation with Indian artists, building bridges between violinists and sitar players, tabla drummers and western singers. She has also composed with unhoused singers from Skid Row, and her music has been performed by major orchestras and choirs all over the world. In May, as part of our series on California composers, host Sasha Khokha brought us this profile of Esmail. Artists are often the people in our communities who bring people together in ways that are creative, spontaneous, and surprising. That’s true in the East Bay neighborhood of Point Richmond, where a local artist has created dozens of miniature fairy houses brimming with the personality of their imaginary inhabitants. In this story from April, Pauline Bartolone set out to explore these hidden treasures, and meet the person who created them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you been to every one of California’s 58 counties? Reporter Lisa Morehouse has. For more than ten years, she’s travelled around the state, profiling people at the heart of food and agriculture for her series California Foodways. On this week’s show, for Lisa’s 58th and final story, she takes us to her home county, Santa Clara, to visit a local Chinese restaurant. Over its 55-year history, Chef Chu’s has witnessed fast-paced change in Silicon Valley, and has been visited by luminaries in entertainment, politics and business. Both the family behind it, and the community it feeds, can’t imagine life without this beloved institution.  And it's crunch time for the crews building floats for Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade. But out of the dozens of massive, ornate, flower-covered floats, only five are built by volunteers from the communities sponsoring them. One of those communities is the foothill town of Sierra Madre, just north of Pasadena. It’s been building floats for 108 years, and 2026’s theme is special: it celebrates the first responders that helped protect Sierra Madre from the deadly Eaton Fire. Reporter Steven Cuevas gives us a sneak peek as the group races to meet their New Year's Day deadline.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Jose is home to the largest Sikh temple – or gurdwara – in the U.S., and for decades, it has been a place of sanctuary and refuge. But lately, another feeling has settled in for worshippers: fear.ICE enforcement has ramped up over the past year, with some of the sharpest increases in California. And Sikhs, many who are from the Indian state of Punjab, worry their sacred spaces could become targets. South Asians aren’t always the first group that comes to mind when we talk about undocumented communities. But according to U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement, 35,000 people from India were apprehended at the border this year.  Journalist Tanay Gokhale has been out reporting in the South Asian community, and joins host Sasha Khokha to talk about what he’s been hearing from Sikh worshippers at gurdwaras and those who’ve been detained by ICE.  And we visit CJ's BBQ and Fish in Richmond. Owner Charles Evans calls himself a "World War II baby." He was born in Richmond to parents who moved to the Bay Area from Arkansas, part of a migration of African Americans west to work in the shipyards. His dad created BBQ pits out of washing machines and refrigerators in their backyard. His mom insisted all of her kids learn to cook, clean, and sew. After driving AC Transit buses for many years, Charles opened CJ's BBQ and Fish 30 years ago, putting his own born-in-California spin on the barbeque and soul food recipes his parents taught him. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse discovered CJ’s is not just a celebration of Richmond’s Black history and Southern roots, but also a place of refuge and delicious comfort for everybody. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year, for the first time since it was established in 1988, the U.S. did not commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1. That’s despite more than 630,000 deaths from HIV-related illnesses in 2024, according to the World Health Organization. This week, we’re traveling back in time, to visit a queer church that provided refuge and support to San Francisco’s gay community during the height of the AIDS crisis. We’re bringing you the first episode of a new podcast called We All Get To Heaven, which draws on sound from 1,200 cassette tapes – recordings of songs, memorials, and sermons from the Metropolitan Community Church.  It brings to life voices of loss, and of faith, of people who refused to abandon their spirituality or their queerness, and who built a community that could hold both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fierce Santa Ana winds that whipped the Palisades and Eaton fires into deadly infernos also spared precious things you’d think would have been the first to burn: old family photos, children’s art work, postcards, even pages of old sheet music. Those things sometimes blew across neighborhoods, and people are still finding them as fire cleanup continues. Reporter Steven Cuevas introduces us to an Altadena resident who has made it her mission to return these fragile paper keepsakes to their owners. And we got to the Andrerson Valley to visit a Grange hall. These community gathering places have been around for more than 150 years. Today there are more than 100 in California alone. The Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Even though farming and Grange membership are down to a fraction of what they were decades ago, many rural towns still rely on Grange halls as community centers. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse visits the Anderson Valley Grange, where many residents credit this place for bringing together groups of people that were once divided. This episode orginally aired on June 13, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last few weeks, The California Report Magazine has been sharing conversations between transgender and nonbinary kids and the people in their lives who love and support them — a series called Love You for You. As we enter Transgender Awareness Month, we shift the lens toward intergenerational stories — young people in their twenties in conversation with transgender elders whose lives trace the long arc of LGBTQ+ activism in California. These bonus episodes carry heavier histories and more mature themes than the family conversations featured earlier in the series. They offer deeper context to the ongoing fight for safety, dignity and self-expression. This week’s story brings together Zen Blossom, a 26-year-old Black transgender rights activist at the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project in San Francisco, and Andrea Horne, a San Francisco-based actress, model and jazz singer who once performed with Sylvester, the legendary disco artist, in the 1970s. Now a historian working on her forthcoming book, How Black Trans Women Changed the World, Andrea reflects with Zen on those who came before them and those who will come after. Read the transcript for this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last few weeks, we’ve been sharing conversations between transgender and nonbinary kids and the people in their lives who love and support them — a series called Love You for You. As we enter Transgender Awareness Month, we shift the lens toward intergenerational stories — young people in their twenties in conversation with transgender elders whose lives trace the long arc of LGBTQ+ activism in California. These bonus episodes carry heavier histories and more mature themes than the family conversations featured earlier in the series. They offer deeper context to the ongoing fight for safety, dignity, and self-expression. This week, we meet Donna Personna, a 79-year-old transgender Chicana artist, activist, and playwright who grew up in San José and now lives in San Francisco. A longtime drag performer and advocate, Donna has devoted decades to uplifting the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, she was named Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade. She also co-wrote Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an immersive play that brings to life a 1966 uprising in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District — when trans women and drag queens stood up to police harassment, three years before Stonewall. In this episode, Donna speaks with Quetzali (who also goes by “Q”), a 23-year-old Latinx nonbinary organizer from Sacramento who uses they/them/elle pronouns and who is using only their first name to protect their identity. Together, they reflect on how Latinx gender-expansive identities have evolved across generations, from quiet survival in the shadows to living freely. Donna also shares how she continues to cultivate self-love and resilience in a world that still tests both — grounding today’s struggles in a lifetime of resistance, care, and optimism. Read the transcript of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Love You for You series features conversations between trans and nonbinary youth from across California and the people in their lives who love and mentor them: parents, grandparents, siblings and others. This week, we’ll explore how parents stretch, adapt, and grow alongside their children, learning in real time what it means to support their trans and gender-expansive kids.  We’ll hear a conversation between a 12-year-old transgender girl and her mom, that ranges from the joys of dancing and shopping, to confronting the current anti-trans climate. We’ll also meet two gender-expansive siblings, who talk to their dad about what it’s been like to support one another, and reflect on how well their parents navigated their identities.  Read the transcript for this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Love You for You series features conversations between trans and nonbinary youth from across California and the people in their lives who love and mentor them: parents, grandparents, siblings and others. This week, we’ll hear how grandparents' hearts can be moved by having a transgender grandchild, and how that can expand the worldview of someone who may not be connected to the LGBTQ+ community. We’ll hear from a 10-year-old transgender girl in conversation with her older sister and their grandfather. He lives in a rural California county, where many of his neighbors and hunting buddies don’t have much exposure to the transgender community.  We’ll also meet a 14-year-old nonbinary kid whose grandmother lives in India, where she’s become a fierce advocate for transgender and nonbinary youth. She’s taken on the challenge of explaining her grandchild’s gender to her relatives who are 90+ years old. Read the transcript for this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 1 of our new series Love You for You features trans and nonbinary youth in conversation with people in their lives who love, support, and mentor them. Gender-expansive kids have been in the headlines a lot lately, but we rarely hear them tell their own stories. Our series highlights kids who are thriving, with complex, multifaceted identities that go beyond gender. This week, we’ll hear from an 8-year-old in conversation with their mom, and a 16-year-old talking to his “Aunty,” his mom’s best friend, who came out as a lesbian at his age. Read the transcript for this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Election Day is almost here, and in most of California, there's just one measure on the ballot: Proposition 50. Backed by Governor Gavin Newsom, Prop 50 aims to create more Democratic-leaning districts. It's a move to counter Texas's redistricting plans favoring Republicans. And  some heavy hitters are lining up on both sides, including former President Barack Obama, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. KQED Politics and Government Correspondent Guy Marzorati joins us to talk about some of the finer points of the ballot measure. Plus we meet vocalist and musician Khatchadour Khatchadourian. He plays an ancient double reed woodwind carved from apricot wood called the duduk that has cultural ties to Armenia. Khatchadourian is one of the few in the Bay Area who plays the instrument, and his followers call him the “Duduk Whisperer.” Our producer Elize Manoukian brings us this profile of Khatchadourian, who uses the duduk to push the boundaries of traditional Armenian music, and along the way, is helping to preserve cultural identity through sound. And we head to Altadena where the the first handful of new homes are under construction in parts of fire ravaged city. Most people won’t be moving back in for several months. But some neighborhoods that were completely wiped out in the Eaton Fire are already being resettled by property owners living in trailers and RV’s. As reporter Steven Cuevas discovered, these residents could be key to restoring the spirit and resilience that’s defined Altadena for decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California Report just turned 30! On November 4, we’re throwing a party to celebrate, at KQED in San Francisco, with special guests whose stories we’ve featured on our show. This week we’re reprising two of those stories. ⁠How Experimental Composer and Performer Kishi Bashi Brings New Ideas to Life⁠⁠ Kishi Bashi has been releasing music for over a decade. The Santa Cruz-based 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 California Composers, we sent reporter Lusen Mendel to one of his shows in San Francisco to see if they could figure it out. ⁠This Stockton Park Is a Weekend Haven for Hmong and Cambodian Bites⁠ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Need a Gorgeous Diwali Outfit? Nimisha Aunty Will Take Care of You On a recent weekend, a Morgan Hill home’s two-car garage was transformed into something dazzling. Shoppers tried on embroidered Indian outfits and excitedly chatted in Hindi and Gujarati. This is Nivy’s Nook, the homegrown boutique Nimisha Jadav runs out of her garage. As part of our series about about people spreading joy and building connection in their communities, The California Report’s intern Srishti Prabha found that while people may come here looking for saris, chaniya cholis and salwar kameez, they leave with so much more. ⁠After Nearly 2 Years of War in Gaza, More LA Rabbis Push Back⁠ This week marked the second anniversary of the October 7th attacks. And news of an initial cease fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is offering some hope of ending the war in Gaza. Even before this preliminary agreement was announced, Reporter Benjamin Gottlieb had been talking with Jewish leaders in Los Angeles, who’ve been taking a very public stance against the war – and the actions of the Israeli Government – for the first time in two years. The West Coast’s First Naval Base Is Now A Whiskey Distillery Californians have made whiskey since the Gold Rush, but craft bourbon has taken off in the last couple decades, with as many as 150 distilleries here in the state. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse visited a distillery in Solano County that’s producing whiskey at a location where the Navy once built ships and submarines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 6, 1995, The California Report’s first weekly show went on the air. Today we’re celebrating our birthday with a look back at that first show, which explored issues we’re still grappling with today, and featured a soundscape that created a roadmap for covering this huge, diverse state.  How a Chinese Laundryman Shaped US Civil Rights From San Francisco The increased number of violent ICE raids and arrests have escalated concerns about the equal protection and due process rights of migrants. Non-citizens won these rights more than a century ago, when two Chinese laundrymen brought their fight against discrimination all the way to the US Supreme Court. Yick Wo vs. Hopkins is just one way early Chinese immigrants helped shape constitutional principles that remain foundational to American democracy. And as KQED’s  Cecilia Lei reports, that case still resonates today. A Day in the Life of San José’s Rapid Response Network, Built to Resist ICE Fear The Trump administration's aggressive tactics around immigration enforcement have spread fear in immigrant communities. But volunteers across California are staffing hotlines around the clock, and joining rapid response networks to help inform immigrants about their rights. KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli spent a day with the Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County. Need Community Support? Dial 'MYSTERY' to Reach San Francisco’s Creative Mutual Aid Hotline When you think of mutual aid, you might think of people raising money online to help others in their community with financial emergencies like covering rent or a big debt. Or maybe it’s neighbors sharing food or used furniture with each other. Some volunteers in the Bay Area are putting a more creative spin on what mutual aid can look like. KQED’s Hussain Khan has more as part of our new series all about the little things people are doing for each other these days, that can mean a lot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re bringing you an excerpt from the first episode of a new podcast called A Tiny Plot, from our friends at KQED’s Snap Studios. About one third of our nation’s homeless population is here in California – with close to 6,000 people on the streets each night in Oakland alone. Producer Shaina Shealy spent more than a year following a group of unhoused people at Union Point Park in Oakland as they fought for a radical idea: their own encampment where they could set their own rules. If their idea worked, the people of Union Point believed they could create a model that would help other homeless people across the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located near Hayward in Alameda County, Russell City was once home to mostly Black, Latino and poor white families boxed out of other Bay Area neighborhoods by redlining and the cost of living. But in the 1960s, after the county refused to extend water and sewer service to Russell City, it declared it a “blight,” and used eminent domain laws to bulldoze the community and displace more than 1,000 residents.  A few years ago, the City of Hayward made a formal apology to former residents, acknowledging that the destruction of Russell City was part of a nationwide pattern of displacing communities of color.  And this year, lawmakers are considering a program that would give people in similar situations a chance to apply for money or land as compensation. It’s called Assembly Bill 62, and it’s part of California’s wider reparations proposal. It would be the first of its kind in the United States, but it builds on the legacy of reparations efforts around the world, including Germany’s decades-long programs for Holocaust survivors.  KQED’s Annelise Finney explains how the German model might guide reparations efforts in California. And for the podcast Bay Curious, KQED’s Spencer Whitney visits with former residents and other people with deep ties to Russell City to learn about the lasting pain of losing the place they called home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, our series on Californians and resilience continues with Oakland comedian Jackie Keliiaa. She’s a stand-up, writer, actor, and producer whose work not only reflects on her everyday life, but also her Native heritage. She’s been featured on Comedy Central, Team Coco, Netflix and IllumiNative's list of 25 Native American Comedians to Follow, and she organizes the all-Native comedy show, Good Medicine. Host Sasha Khokha sat down with Keliiaa for a conversation about comedy, identity, and how laughter can help keep us going during hard times.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re bringing you an excerpt of the KQED podcast Close All Tabs, which features stories about how digital culture shapes our lives. Their new occasional series, OGs of Tech, looks beyond the billionaires to spotlight the often-overlooked innovators who helped build the digital world we live in today. One of these OGs is Felidoro Cueva, who grew up in a rural village in the Andes mountains of Peru, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1964, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. He went on to become one of the first Latino engineers in Silicon Valley. His daughter – and Close All Tabs producer Maya Cueva – takes us through Feli’s journey: from counterculture experimentation to the discrimination he faced in a startup world where Latino representation was nearly nonexistent.  And we make another stop on our road trip series, Hidden Gems, which takes you to out-of-the-way spots across the state that aren’t your typical tourist destinations. Today we dig into our archives and visit Volcano, in Amador County, and head 100 feet underground into the Black Chasm Cavern with KQED’s Bianca Taylor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Labor Day weekend, we’re bringing you some of our favorite stories from the California Report Magazine archive. You may have seen these viral stories on your social media feeds: a frightened shelter dog bonding with their foster; a good samaritan helping a street vendor by buying all their merchandise; an artist drawing a portrait of a stranger and listening to their life story. These acts strike a nerve, and it turns out we humans are actually wired for this kind of kindness, connection and empathy. That’s what Dr. Jamil Zaki has discovered in the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He’s a professor of psychology and the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. He sat down with host Sasha Khokha in January and shared some data-driven reasons why we shouldn’t be cynical, even in really hard times.  And we got to Oakland, where the Freedom Community Clinic is providing free herbal remedies, massage services and healing workshops at their two apothecaries. And last fall, they 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. KQED Arts & Culture Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brought us this profile in January. And we end today in Half Moon Bay, where just a few steps from the ocean sits a 60-year-old music venue with an unusual name, an amazing history and some of the best live jazz music you could ever hope to find. We’re digging into our Hidden Gems archives to bring you a story from Reporter Ryan Levi, who visited the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society back in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Independent Journalist Covering Immigration Raids In Her Own Community  Earlier this summer, 17-year-old Kevin Robles was in his friend's car driving through their neighborhood in Oceanside when he noticed vehicles with tinted windows and nearby, masked men taking someone out of a red car. He started live streaming on Instagram and it went viral. But then a little over a week later agents with Homeland Security Investigations showed up at his family’s home, smashing windows and tossing flash grenades, taking both of his parents into custody. Aisha Wallace Palomares was one of the first journalists to talk to Kevin Robles about what happened.  She is an independent reporter who's covering ICE Raids in her hometown of Escondido, as well as other places around San Diego. She spoke with host Sasha Khokha about covering these raids in her community as an independent journalist.  ⁠⁠Journalists Fleeing Authoritarian Regimes Now at Risk, as Trump Ends Parole Program⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ President Trump is ending a Biden-era humanitarian program that let people from unstable or authoritarian countries come to the United States legally. One of them is a journalist who fled Nicaragua and ended up in the Bay Area. KQED’s Immigration Editor Tyche Hendricks brings us her story. ⁠Legal Immigrants Face Deportation After Decades In the US⁠ A federal program called Temporary Protected Status allows the US to offer residency to immigrants whose home countries have been devastated by natural disasters or war. But for tens of thousands of immigrants, “temporary” has lasted for decades. Now, the Trump administration is moving to end much of the program and that could uproot as many as one million people. Reporter Benjamin Gottlieb spoke to several people in Los Angeles who now find themselves in this immigration limbo.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a Pasadena Church is Helping One Senior Through Wildfire Recovery It’s been more than seven months since the Eaton Fire tore across Altadena, just east of Los Angeles. Rebuilding homes and neighborhoods could take years – a daunting timeline, especially for seniors. Local advocates worry that many elders within Altadena’s historic Black community won’t be able to rebuild. Afro LA’s Corinne Ruff has this story of how members of a church in Pasadena are coming together to support an elder congregant as she works to rebuild her home, and her life.  Fix a Zipper and Save the Planet at San Francisco’s Free Clothing Repair Clinics Usually public libraries are quiet spaces, but on a recent evening in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood, the building was buzzing with the sound of sewing machines. Once a month, libraries around the city transform into pop-up clothing repair clinics. On the face of it, it’s a chance to patch that hole in your go-to jacket or finally fix that broken zipper on your skirt, but the goal of the program is to help residents reuse items, and keep them out of the landfill. KQED’s Bianca Taylor takes us inside. Repairing a 1957 Vintage Radio Rekindled a Daughter’s Bond With Her Dad For reporter Rachael Myrow, radio has long been a fixture in her life – not just through her career in public broadcasting, but also through a connection to her father. Fred Myrow was an LA composer who wrote soundtracks to films like Soylent Green and Phantasm. She tells us how the discovery of her father’s beloved old radio has strengthened their bond many years after his death.  The Truth Behind One of the State’s Most Ubiquitous Bumper Stickers We’ve all seen them before: those bright yellow bumper stickers that read “Mystery Spot” in black lettering. But what, actually, happens at the Mystery Spot? In 2021, reporter Amanda Font  followed the story to the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains for our Hidden Gems series.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at fundamentally changing how the country addresses homelessness. The order promises to crack down on street homelessness across the country, in part by institutionalizing people with mental illness. Here in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has criticized Trump’s recent order, while at the same time encouraging a more punitive approach to getting people off the streets. There’s so much debate around the issue, but we rarely hear from the unhoused people at the center of this controversy. Vanessa Rancaño introduces us to Armando Herrera Vargas. He once had a family, a house and a job, but he has been living on the streets of San Francisco for the past decade.  And our series of conversations about resilience continues with Dr. Shanice Robinson. She's a visiting assistant professor at San Francisco State. Resilience is central to her scholarly work, which focuses on the school-to-prison pipeline, and to her advocacy work with incarcerated people. It's also core to her personal experience as a self-described “prison wife” whose husband is serving multiple life sentences in prison.   Plus we visit Fresno where this summer, a group of teens got a chance to study a musical genre they have a deep cultural connection to. And they got to put their own spin on it. Reporter Esther Quintanilla with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative and KVPR takes us to a rehearsal of Mariachi Unidos.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been nearly seven months since the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, killing 30 people and hollowing out a once vibrant community. For many survivors, the fire has impacted their mental health, as many try to navigate rebuilding their homes and their lives. Reporter Steven Cuevas lives in Altadena, and he’s been talking to therapists who are finding ways to support their community at the same time they’re grappling with their own losses.  Later, we dive into the troubling history of a California wine dynasty. Wine aficionados may now look down on white zinfandel, but in the 1980s and ‘90s, it was the most popular wine in the US. The rise in demand for this sweet, pink wine is the backdrop of a wild story covered in a new podcast called Blood Vines. It’s about the largest grape fraud in US history, the powerful family at the center of it, and how betrayal and murder triggered the fall of a California dynasty. The California Report Magazine’s Sasha Khokha talks to investigative journalist Chris Walker – who wrote and produced the podcast – about the scandal, and how it changed the course of winemaking across the country.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luis Rodriguez credits reading and writing for keeping him resilient his whole life. He’s best known for his 1993 memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., which chronicles how he joined a gang at age 11, found himself homeless and using heroin, and wound up in the juvenile justice system. He went on to write 17 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and he served as poet laureate of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2017. As part of our series on resilience, host Sasha Khokha sits down with Luis Rodriguez to talk about his life and work, and what advice he has for getting through tumultuous times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May, the Golden State Valkyries kicked off their inaugural season. Even though they just started playing games in front of Bay Area fans, the team is said to be valued at $500 million dollars, the most of any franchise in the WNBA. And the team just had their first player named to the All-Star team: Forward Kayla Thornton was named as a reserve. These days the WNBA is on fire with record viewership and attendance. And more sold out games than ever. But that growth has taken nearly 28 years since the league launched in 1997. And while Caitlin Clark has become a household name, we rarely hear about the early players who fought for professional women’s basketball to get respect. Judy Mosley McAfee was one of them. She was the sixth woman drafted into the WNBA. Her daughter, reporter Audy McAfee, brings us this tribute. And we go to San Francisco’s Castro District to visit Maitri Compassionate Care Center. In addition to providing hospice care for people living with AIDS, for the last several years, it’s provided affordable care for those preparing for or recovering from gender affirmation surgery. At a moment when the Trump administration is issuing executive orders to dismantle protections for transgender people, Maitri remains committed to their work. KQED’s Kyana Moghadam takes us inside the center to learn about its legacy, and what it means to provide care in the heart of San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can hear elements of hip-hop, R&B and even jazz in Tokimonsta’s intricate drum loops, synths and bass lines. On her latest album, Eternal Reverie, the Grammy-nominated producer found inspiration in a Brazilian record, and created music tinged with the memories of a close friend. For our series on California composers, Reporter Clare Wiley brings us this profile of Tokimonsta and the devastating setback that almost stole her ability to make music. And we visit Oakland's 100-year-old produce market. Summer is peak season for many of California’s fruits and vegetables, but that produce makes a lot of stops on the way to your table. One of those places is the Oakland Produce Market, which supplies small markets, restaurants and other food providers with the freshest foods. You don’t have to work for a grocery store or run a restaurant to shop here, as long as you buy in bulk. For her series, California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse got up in the middle of the night to meet some of the people who keep the Oakland Produce Market humming.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summer is the heart of the baseball season. But recently the country’s oldest professional sport has been going through some changes. It’s not just the moves to speed up the pace of play. These days, along with training in the weight room or the bullpen, players are also spending time with their team’s sports psychologist. KQED’s health correspondent April Dembosky goes behind the scenes at the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark to understand how the team keeps an athlete's mind in shape, both on and off the field. And we explore the history of the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Vendors selling the popular street food can be seen outside of most major gathering spots, from baseball games and concerts to tourist attractions like Pier 39. Bay Curious listener Olivia Godfrey wanted to find out the history of these food carts. But as KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman found out…it’s complicated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

88-Year-Old Audio Engineer Sandy Stone Survived Transphobic Backlash and Made History Audio engineer Sandy Stone got her start working alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills & Nash. When she joined the California lesbian music label Olivia Records, some feminists wanted to kick her, and all trans women, out of women’s spaces. But Stone went on to become the first openly transgender woman inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. KQED Arts Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brings us this profile of Stone, who became a world-class academic and paved the way for the field of transgender studies.  Cancer Stole Her Voice. Curse Words, Children’s Books and AI Saved It You can hear AI-generated voices when you call into a customer service line, read news articles online, and watch movies. Now some tech companies are starting to use the technology to help people who’ve lost the ability to speak due to ALS or oral cancer.  KQED’s health correspondent April Dembosky has the story of one woman’s journey to find her natural-sounding voice again. Hidden Gems: The Pirate Ship on Big Bear Lake Set in the San Bernardino Mountains, Big Bear Lake is a popular tourist destination for Southern California families looking for lakeside recreation in the summer. One of the attractions? A pirate ship called the Time Bandit. In this story from our Hidden Gems archives, reporter Amanda Font set sail on this historic vessel.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 most celebrated cheese-makers, Soyoung Scanlan. But years ago, before she’d ever really eaten cheese, Soyoung had another love. Growing up in South Korea, she trained in classical piano. So every cheese she’s made over the last 25 years has a musical name and connection. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse visited the cheesemaker in the hills outside Petaluma. We end today with the story of Ron Peterson, a volunteer guide at the Tijuana River Estuary. After losing his sight, Ron now leads a very unique kind of tour. His story comes to us from KPBS in San Diego, as part of their series about volunteers, people who devote their time in unexpected ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet the Woman Reuniting Eaton Fire Survivors With Lost Treasures The fierce Santa Ana winds that whipped the Palisades and Eaton fires into deadly infernos also spared precious things you’d think would have been the first to burn: old family photos, children’s art work, postcards, even pages of old sheet music. Those things sometimes blew across neighborhoods, and people are still finding them as fire cleanup continues. Reporter Steven Cuevas introduces us to an Altadena resident who has made it her mission to return these fragile paper keepsakes to their owners. Home on the Grange: In Anderson Valley, Hippies, Old-Timers Return to Farming Roots Grange halls have been around for more than 150 years, and today there are more than100 of these meeting places in California alone. The Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Even though farming and Grange membership are down to a fraction of what they were decades ago, many rural towns still rely on Grange halls as community centers. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse visits the Anderson Valley Grange, where many residents credit this place for bringing together groups of people that were once divided. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1960s and early 1970s, California was at the forefront of movements for racial justice, LGBTQ and women’s rights, and protests against the Vietnam War. But at the same time an anti-tax revolution began to take shape, led by an unlikely political figure: Howard Jarvis. This week, as we mark the 47th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 13, we’re featuring a special episode from our friends at the Lever Time podcast. Reporter Ariella Markowitz spent some time digging into the rise of the anti-tax movement, and how Howard Jarvis went on to influence decades of political thought here in California and across the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Ford Factory Changed Milpitas, Then It Bacame a Mall  The Great Mall of Milpitas, in Santa Clara County, wasn't always a mall; it used to be a massive Ford auto factory. The San Jose Assembly Plant opened in 1955, after relocating from Ford's outdated Richmond location. The new factory put Milpitas on the map, transforming a sleepy agricultural town into a thriving city. The factory’s opening also sparked historic social change: the construction of one of the first planned racially integrated neighborhoods in the U.S.. Gabriela Glueck brings us this story from KQED’s Bay Curious podcast.  In Song and Self: How Queer Pinay Duo AstraLogik Finds Belonging Through Music Charito Soriano and Chen Conlu were solo artists before they came together as AstraLogik. The queer Filipina duo creates music about healing and acceptance, something they found  as they created a relationship that went beyond performing together. Reporter I-Yun Chan tells us how they found community and belonging through music, and each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sitars and Symphonies: LA Composer Reena Esmail Fuses Indian Ragas with Western Rhythms We continue our California composers series with Reena Esmail. Her childhood in Los Angeles had two soundtracks: the Western classical music her parents loved, and the old, scratchy Bollywood tapes her paternal grandparents would play over and over. Those multicultural influences shaped what would become the driving question of her work: how do you invite people from different cultures onto the same stage to build a relationship and create music together? Composing is how Esmail has made her mark — by putting Western classical musicians in conversation with Indian artists, building bridges between violinists and sitar players, tabla drummers and western singers. She's an artist in residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, has composed with unhoused singers from Skid Row, and her music has been performed by major orchestras and choirs all over the world. How a UC Berkeley Professor Confronts Division With a Vision for Belonging Professor john a. powell spent much of his early life feeling like he didn’t belong. At just 11 years old, he became estranged from his deeply religious family. After questioning church doctrine and not getting the answers he was looking for, powell — who spells his name in lowercase — left the church, and his father did not speak to him for five years. But that pivotal moment was the beginning of the path that led him to his life’s work. powell is the director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, where he’s also a professor of law, African American studies and ethnic studies. He’s the author of two recent books, “Belonging Without Othering,” and “The Power of Bridging.” powell spoke with host Sasha Khokha as part of our series on Californians and resilience.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Rising Voices of  El Cerrito's Young Poets, a Message About Resilience As our series about Californians and resilience continues, we hear from El Cerrito’s poet laureate, Tess Taylor, and students at Harding Elementary School. They wrote about what resilience means to them for a recently published anthology called “Gardening in the Public Flowerfest.” For One Vietnamese Family in LA, This Broth Is Rich With Memories of Life Before and After War  Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Hong Pham was only 6 years old when his family was separated as they fled Vietnam. When they were reunited in a refugee camp in Thailand, they celebrated with a special dish. For our series on resilience, KQED’s Daisy Nguyen visited Pham at his home in South Pasadena where he shared memories of his family’s journey, and the recipe for the dish that gave them hope. How Poetry Helps Dementia Caregivers Find Shelter from the Storm Frances Kakugawa is a firm believer that the act of caring for another human being can inspire poetry. She knows this from experience, having cared for her mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the 1990s. She says poetry was a way to take control of her mom’s disease and transform the challenging and sometimes lonely experience of caregiving into something positive. For some 20 years, she’s been helping other caregivers in Sacramento to find resilience through poetry. Reporter Holly J. McDede brings us this story.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Historic Altadena Church, Lost to the Eaton Fire, Begins the Long Journey to Resurrection  The Eaton Fire reached deep into the sanctuaries of Altadena’s faith community. It lost over a dozen places of worship: Baptist, Episcopalian, Jewish, Methodist, Muslim, and Evangelical Christian. There’s a lot of talk now about how and when people can rebuild their homes in Altadena. But how to rebuild a church, mosque or synagogue?  And how do faith leaders keep their congregations together in the meantime? Reporter Steven Cuevas takes us to one of the largest churches in this community.  On Catalina Island, A Resilient Swimmer Finds Freedom in Open Water Our series on resilience continues with ultra-ironman athlete Suzy Degazon. Watching her compete, it's hard to believe she was once so weak her heart had trouble beating. But Degazon battled an eating disorder for many years. It was so severe, doctors told her family she would likely die from it. But she battled back, and these days, she's a scuba instructor on Catalina Island, a dream job in a dream location. Reporter Lusen Mendel caught up with Degazon as she  took a sunrise swim in the ocean. A Scientist’s Fight to Save Catalina Island’s Plant Biodiversity Catalina Island is known for its scenic hiking trails, campsites, beaches and for being a popular tourist destination for cruise ships. But it’s also known for its biodiversity — the island is home to more than 60 different native plants and animals. As plant manager for the Catalina Island Conservancy, Kevin Alison’s job is to care for all the island’s plants, though he has an affinity for the rare ones that are battling invasive species. He spends much of his time in a lab deep inside Catalina’s interior, where he clones plant tissue and propagates them. Reporter Steven Rascón  spent some time with Allison and followed his quest to save as many native plants as possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks 33 years since four police officers were acquitted in the brutal beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. That verdict exploded into days of rioting and unrest across the city. It also ignited a national conversation about police brutality, as well as race and inequality in the criminal justice system. This week we're featuring an episode from Uncuffed, a podcast made by incarcerated people in California prisons in collaboration with KALW. We hear from Uncuffed’s host Greg Eskridge and others who’ve been incarcerated about how the riots had a lasting impact on their lives.  Greg Eskridge's story mentions abuse and violence, so please take care when listening.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

J-Sei Home Closes After 30 Years, Leaving Bay Area Japanese Seniors in Need The 1960s and 70s were a pivotal time for community activism – with the civil rights and anti-war movements, the Black Panther Party, and student protests that established ethnic studies programs on college campuses. That activism led to a decades-old critical lifeline for Japanese American elders: culturally sensitive senior care homes. But in recent years, these kinds of homes have been closing down. As KQED’s Cecilia Lei reports, the closures highlight how the Japanese American community is at a crossroads.    LA's El Compa Negro Plays Regional Mexican Music, Straight Outta Compton Compton is known for being the heart of West Coast rap – from Dr. Dre to Kendrick Lamar.  But Compton has changed a lot. According to census data, 70% of the city’s residents identify as Latino or Hispanic. This shift can be seen and heard in an artist from Compton named Rhyan Lavelle Lowery, aka “El Compa Negro.” He's a Black musician who sings regional Mexican music. Reporter Aisha Wallace-Palomares takes us on a trip to meet him.  Transgender Community Builds Bonds at This SF Self-Defense Class Many transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive people are feeling vulnerable because of anti-trans policies from the Trump administration. There are a lot of efforts to fight for trans rights on the legal front, but there’s also momentum to make sure trans and nonbinary people can defend themselves from threats of physical violence. KQED’s Bianca Taylor takes us to a free self-defense class in San Francisco’s Transgender District, the first legally recognized cultural district of its kind in the world.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 original railroad tracks that were built more than a century ago. This episode originally aired on October 18, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a few months since wildfires devastated Los Angeles, and some people are just now starting the long process of repairing and rebuilding their homes. But mixed into the soot and ash can be some hidden dangers, including lead, asbestos, arsenic and lithium. These toxic materials were used to build those homes and got blown across LA. Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have been investigating this invisible danger, testing more than 50 homes for these contaminants. And one of those homes belongs to the lead scientist behind the study. Reporter Caroline Champlin has more.  And our series on Californians and resilience continues with twenty-five-year-old Brittianna Robinson. She experienced sexual abuse and trafficking as a child. Robinson credits her faith in God and support from mentors and her church for helping her find a path forward. Today, she uses her lived experience to help other commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) as an advocate on the Los Angeles County Youth Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than 80 years, the Zorthian Ranch – nestled among the oak trees and steep canyons of Altadena – has been a home for artists, musicians and creatives seeking a different way of life. At this working ranch, people also tend animals and live close to the land, often growing their own food and generating their own energy. But it was almost completely destroyed by the Eaton Fire, and more than twenty people were displaced. Recent resident and audio reporter Sam Anderson interviewed members of this community, who explain the unique history of the ranch, and share in their own words and sounds what it means to them. Artists are often the people in our communities who bring people together in ways that are creative, spontaneous, and surprising. That’s true in the East Bay neighborhood of Point Richmond, where a local artist has created dozens of miniature fairy houses brimming with the personality of their imaginary inhabitants. In this story from the Bay Curious podcast, KQED’s Pauline Bartolone set out to explore these hidden treasures, and meet the person who created them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This weekend, Muslims around California will celebrate Eid al Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan. People observing the holy month have been fasting from dawn to dusk. And although fasting is a big part of Ramadan, so is the food people eat to break the fast each night. Small shops like Besan’s International Market in San Bruno are key to observing Ramadan. Not only do they supply the ingredients for the holiday, they also connect people from all ethnicities who follow Islam. Lisa Morehouse and Leenah Bassouni spent time reporting at Besan’s Market for the series California Foodways.   Then reporter Steven Cuevas takes us to Altadena. Tens of thousands of people evacuated the city during the Eaton Fire. But some people took a huge risk and never left, and tried to protect their homes and neighborhoods. They lived a totally different experience of the fire and its aftermath. Steven brings us this profile of two residents from opposite ends of Altadena, who made that choice to stay behind.   And finally we go to southeast San Diego, where for decades, a dusty grey wall sat at the top of Division Street. Right where it curves upwards, away from the freeway, and down into the mostly residential neighborhood of Paradise Hills. Three high school friends painted a mural here 30 years ago, and as KPBS’s Kori Suzuki explains, they’ve reunited to bring it back to life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month marks the anniversary of the resolution of a landmark student strike at San Francisco State, on March 21, 1969. Patrick Salaver helped organize the protests, demanding the university better reflect and support students of color and admit more non-white students. The protests also led to the creation of the nation’s first-ever college of ethnic studies – a template for colleges and universities across the country. Salaver’s niece Nicole didn’t didn’t know about her uncle’s activism until she went to San Francisco State in the early 2000s. She was shocked to see his name in one of her textbooks, and now, she wants the world to know his story. Today’s show is an excerpt from Inheriting, a 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 generations.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 business, food industries, and dining traditions. It also exploited land and workers, spurring civil rights activism. For her series CA Foodways, reporter Lisa Morehouse explores some of the little-known history of the connection between the railroad and food in our state.  This episode was produced with support from the Food and Environment Reporting Network, and California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of National Endowment for the Humanities. Big thanks also go to the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, the library and archives at the California State Railroad Museum, and Rachel Reinhard. This episode orgiinally aired on December 20, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many Californians, winter means snow. But alongside the skiers, snowboarders and snowshoers awaiting the latest weather forecasts, there’s another group of snow obsessives in our state: snow scientists. They measure California’s snowpack every day in order to better predict our statewide water supply for the coming year. Some of the most cutting-edge work in this field is being done by a tiny lab hidden in a rustic cabin in the Tahoe National Forest, and it’s a place that also houses a big secret. KQED’s Carly Severn headed up there to see it for herself. And we meet the San Diego band Al Akhbar. The band combines instrumentation and rhythms of the Middle East with western jazz. And they’re not only preserving their Middle Eastern musical traditions, but also reinventing them. As The California Report Magazine’s intern Hussain Khan explains, they’re bringing audiences from diverse backgrounds together with their unique sound.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the homes lost in the Eaton Fire included fireplaces with distinctive hearths made of handmade tiles. These Arts and Crafts-era tiles were created by local artist Ernest Batchelder a century ago. For many Altadenans, these tiles are all that is left of their homes. Now a group of volunteers is working quickly to save as many of these tiles as possible before bulldozers clear the lots. They hope they can preserve history and provide their neighbors with a piece of the homes they’ve lost. And as part of our new series about resilience, we’re asking Californians who've been through difficult times about what resilience means to them. This week, host Sasha Khokha talks to author and poet Alicia Partnoy, Professor Emerita of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola Marymount University, and former vice chair of Amnesty International. In the 1970s, she became one of Argentina’s “disappeared” for being a youth activist. She was held and tortured by the military for five months, and later jailed for over two years without being charged for a crime. She’s spent her career writing about exile and loss, as well as survival and courage.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘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 disappearing. Sasha Khokha sat down with Teresa Cotsirilos, host of Buzzkill, a new podcast that investigates the pollinator crisis. California Composers: Meet Lulu, Ambient Bird Composers Lulu and Wendy Reid make music in collaboration with the natural world. They don’t speak the same language, but composing and performing music together is how they connect. For our series on California Composers, reporter Julia Haney went to one of the duo’s performances in in Berkeley.  The Amateur Photographers Documenting Life In the Imperial Valley Juan Rodelo has spent decades as firefighter and turned to photography to help deal with stress and exhaustion. He appreciated the beautiful landscapes of the Imperial Valley but felt like there he didn’t see those images enough. So in 2024, he started a Facebook group called Imperial Valley Photography to find others documenting the area. The group gained 15,000 followers in less than a year. As part of KPBS’s ongoing series on volunteers, reporter Kori Suzuki caught up with Juan on an evening visit to the Salton Sea.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 keep history from repeating itself.  One of the members of that Japanese American survivors group is author and Satsuki Ina. Nine months into her 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 discovered a trove of letters that they sent to each other while they were separated in different camps. Now, at close to 80 years old, Ina – who spent most of her career as a trauma therapist — has published a memoir about how her parents’ relationship survived prison camps, resistance and separation. The Poet and the Silk Girl is a rare first-person account of a generation-altering period in Japanese American history. Sasha Khokha sat down with Satsuki Ina to learn more about her parents’ story and how it shaped the course of Ina’s own life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 California Composers, we sent reporter Lusen Mendel to one of his recent shows to see if they could figure it out. And we take a trip to the Central Coast to hear the band Loz Rayoz de Guadalupe. The group is part of a growing and thriving norteño music scene there. The band’s frontman, Chencho Perez, is just 19 years old. Reporter Benjamin Purper says Perez is part of a new generation of norteño musicians embracing and evolving this traditional Mexican sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. KQED Arts & Culture Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brings us this profile. Plus a new documentary profiles Sally Gearhart, a radical lesbian feminist whose fight for equality and change sparked movements that still continue today. But unlike her friend and contemporary, Harvey Milk, there are no airport terminals or schools named after her.  Instead, she has been largely erased from history. Deborah Craig, a filmmaker and professor at San Francisco State University, wanted to change that. Craig spoke about her film, Sally!, with The California Report Magazine’s Bianca Taylor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 his community every day since the fire broke out about healing, helping and moving forward.   And one of the first executive orders Donald Trump signed this week could radically transform who gets to be a U.S. citizen. It would deny birthright citizenship to anyone who doesn’t have at least one parent who is a citizen or a lawful permanent resident. But California is fighting back. State Attorney General Rob Bonta filed our state’s first lawsuit against the new administration to challenge that order. And on Thursday, a federal judge in Washington State temporarily froze that executive order. But that’s only short-term, and the legal battle between the states and the federal government will continue. The government recognizing that all babies born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens runs deep in our history. One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, a Chinese American man who was born in San Francisco took the U.S. government to court after officials denied him entry into his own country. His name was Wong Kim Ark, and as KQED’s Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí explains, his victory back in 1898 might make it much harder for Trump to win this legal battle.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Scores of people in Los Angeles have turned out to volunteer to help people in their communities. And it turns out, science shows we humans are actually wired for kindness, connection and empathy. Dr. Jamil Zaki runs the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, and has studied the need for this kind of connection. He’s a professor of psychology and the author of “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.” As a part of a new series we’re launching on resilience, Dr. Zaki sat down with host Sasha Khokha to explain the data-driven reasons why we shouldn’t be cynical,  even in really hard times.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Gonzalez about Pacific Palisades, and journalist Steven Cuevas about the videos he's been making to document the destruction in his own neighborhood in Altadena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Clare Wiley tells us about Skye’s musical process and what he hopes people will take away from his work. Then, we're traveling up to the Bay Area to meet another California composer. Destiny Muhammad was nine years old when she first saw Harpo Marx playing the harp in an episode of “I Love Lucy.” She immediately knew she wanted to play the mesmerizing instrument. It took over two decades for the Oakland-based artist to start learning how to play the harp, but it set her on a path to pursue her unique “Celtic to Coltrane” genre, as she calls it. Today, Muhammad works as a composer, teacher and performer in the Bay Area, and writes original scores for her group, The Destiny Muhammad Trio. KQED’s Bianca Taylor brings us Muhammad’s story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 is where she belongs. This week we’re re-airing a profile of El Daña from reporter Celeste Hamilton Dennis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 business, food industries, and dining traditions. It also exploited land and workers, spurring civil rights activism. For her series CA Foodways, reporter Lisa Morehouse explores some of the little-known history of the connection between the railroad and food in our state.  This week’s episode was produced with support from the Food and Environment Reporting Network, and California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of National Endowment for the Humanities. Big thanks also go to the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, the library and archives at the California State Railroad Museum, and Rachel Reinhard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 from Snap Studios at KQED and Wondery.  The California Report Magazine’s Sasha Khokha spoke with Sussman about Mota’s story, the experiences of incarcerated firefighters in California, and what she hopes people will learn from the series.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 rituals. When he was arrested in 2019, Castañeda was looking at the possibility of serving 23 1/2 years in prison. Since this story first aired in 2020, Castañeda pleaded no contest to nine counts of sexual battery and one count of attempt to dissuade a witness. The rest of the charges were dropped. In June, he was sentenced to 365 days in the Fresno County Jail and five years of probation. With credit for time served, he is expected to be released in late December after serving a total of six months. We’ll hear Hall’s audio documentary that first aired in 2020, an update on Castañeda’s case and how the survivors feel about his recent sentencing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 of riders lining up by a spotless white tour coach with no visible markings. They’re here for the daily run of the Xe Đò Hoàng, which means “Royal Coach” in Vietnamese. But those in the know call it the “Bánh Mì Bus.” Hop on, enjoy your delicious sandwich, and listen to this story from Reporter Christine Nguyen that we first brought you in October 2022 about food, community…and murder for hire!  Then, we jet up north to the town of Susanville in Lassen County–mostly known for its two state prisons. But the town is also home to a chef cooking up gourmet meals, inspired by his childhood in the Pacific Island nation of Palau. Rice and short-ribs, poke, and toasted angel food cake are just some of the culinary treats Brennan Temol whips up in the community college cafeteria. In August 2022, for her series California Foodways, reporter Lisa Morehouse took us on a food tour with Temol. She learned how the Palauan chef used his skills to elevate cafeteria food and found a way to bring a taste of home to a high desert community that in some ways, isn’t so different from his homeland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Cafe, a French kitchen with North African roots in the Eastern Sierra. The cafe’s many five-star reviews warn customers in a rush: come for a leisurely lunch, or hit the gas station across the street. As part of her series California Foodways, reporter Lisa Morehouse traveled to the town of Independence, to break bread with Malika Adjaouad Patron, the cafe’s owner and chef. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 forever altered her world.  Then, KQED’s MindShift brings us the story of the Monarch School, in San Diego County, which has transformed unhoused families’ lives, and offers hope to vulnerable students. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices