Crosscurrents
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Crosscurrents: May 20, 2013
A special co-hosted-by-Rob-Baedeker edition of Crosscurrents! We'll meet some ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
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Crosscurrents: May 15, 2013
Kindergartners get a jump on college savings; helping low-income students save for college; Hear Here: Seeking a higher education; a few of our listeners fondly remember their favorite teacher; and local band The Bayonics.
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Your Call 051513 What services are available for...
On today's Your Call, we'll have a conversation about how veterans are navigating the VA system. More than a million vets are currently waiting for their benefits claims to be processed. And the average wait time is 273 days. We’ve heard these stories for years. Why is this still happening?Chime in with your thoughts at feedback@yourcallradio.org. President Obama had promised to revamp what he calls a “broken VA bureaucracy.” So what has changed under his administration? It's Your Call with...
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Crosscurrents: May 14, 2013
Stories from Californians imprisoned under Three Strikes Law, Proposition 36, comedy at the ImmigraNation show, and local musicians SF Jazz High School All-Star Orchestra.
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Crosscurrents: May 13, 2013
Veteran Profile: Cindy Alejandrez; A conversation with reporter Mac McClelland: How PTSD can affect veterans' families; and a mother shares what it's like to deal with her son's buried pain.
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Crosscurrents: May 9, 2013
San Francisco's homeless moms march on City Hall, Story Corps founder Dave Isay discusses the power of conversation among loved ones, one person's story of reconnecting with a mom she never knew, the Audiograph answer of the week, and local musician Thurl.
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Crosscurrents: May 8, 2013
Duboce Triangle neighborhood opposes new Starbucks; Reynaldo Cayetano documents Sixth Street; Blue Suede Jews; and The Piedmont east Bay Children's Choir.
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Crosscurrents: May 7, 2013
Not just the homeless rely on San Francisco's food banks; Beating the Dhol drums with Non Stop Bhangra; Bay Area Beats: DJ Atish on the art of mixing; and local band Picture Atlantic.
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Crosscurrents 20130506.mp3
Crosscurrents presents 99% Invisible: A huge controversy over a new UC logo.
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Crosscurrents 20130502.mp3
Flaming couches! And the life of a fire watcher atop Mt. Tam. Plus this week's Audiograph sound, and local musicians Major Powers and the Lo-Fi Symphony.
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Crosscurrents: May 1, 2013
Immigration reform and its consequences.
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Crosscurrents: April 30, 2013
"Question Bridge: Black Males." A video art installation that seeks to promote dialogue between black men and the rest of the nation. Plus local musicians The Pacific Boychoir.
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Crosscurrents: April 29, 2013
Walking death row at San Quentin State Prison; Dispatches from the Inside: Our first interview with Richard Gilliam; and local band Richard Bean & Sapo.
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Crosscurrents: April 25, 2013
Self-defense training for women, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Audiograph answer of the week, and local musicians The Curt Moore Quartet.
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Crosscurrents: April 24, 2013
Lacking police presence, Oakland residents take control of their streets; a new film about Oakland's First Friday; 99% Invisible: Game Changer; and local band The Whiskey Pills Fiasco.
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Crosscurrents: April 23, 2013
The United States of Debt, StoryCorps: Living With Multiple Sclerosis; Regreterature: The sorry literary past of some of San Francisco's best writers; and The San Francisco State Percussion Ensemble.
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Your Call 042313
What will it take to shift power back to the people? On the next Your Call we’ll be speaking with Pulitzer-prize winning, former New York Times journalist Hedrick Smith about his new book, "Who Stole the American Dream?" We’ll talk about what Smith uncovered in his research as he examined the last four decades of corporate and political power and how that led to “the dismantling of the American dream.” With politicians ignoring public opinion, and the middle class shrinking, where do we go...
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Crosscurrents: April 22, 2013
Crosscurrents takes you behind prison walls at Pelican Bay, getting access to prisons as a reporter, and local musicians Voodoo Blues.
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Crosscurrents: April 18, 2013
Citizens solve bike theft crimes with social media; Exploratorium opens doors at Pier 15; Audiograph's Sound of the Week Revealed! and local band Los Trovadores.
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Crosscurrents: April 17, 2013
How the New Deal changed the face of San Francisco, the sailors who call the Berkeley Marina their home, how a graphic design changed the way ships cross the ocean, and local musicians Nebula Force, Go!
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Crosscurrents: April 16, 2013
Federal investigators slam Chevron for refinery fire; Breathmobile rolls relief into Bay Area schools; Ben Trefny's brief foray into the wind; What's Up With the Weather? A conversation with Jan Null; and local group Ensemble Mirable.
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Crosscurrents: April 15, 2013
A new approach in Richmond to battling violence, how some of those lessons can be applied to Oakland, a final episode in Money Diaries, and local musicians Manring Kassin Darter.
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Crosscurrents: April 11, 2013
Turning a healthy corner in the Bay View! Wonder Women! This week's Audiograph revealed! And local composer and vocalist Ken Ueno!
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Crosscurrents: April 10, 2013
Life after the Iraq War: we profile a Marine Corps veteran and talk to Aaron Glantz about what makes transitioning to civilian life so hard. Also, local musicians Club Foot Orchestra.
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Crosscurrents: April 9, 2013
Santa Clara kids learn how to protect their privacy on the internet, a Union City school district wins a $29 million federal grant, a literary squat in the middle of prime San Francisco real estate, and local musicians Big Cat Tolefree.
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Crosscurrents: April 8, 2013
The senior ex-offenders of Bayview Hunter’s Point; The Truths and Tales of Mental Illness and Gun Violence; and The Money Diaries: Confessions of a Shopaholic.
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Crosscurrents: April 4, 2013
Recruiting ex-felons to jobs, performer Rhodessa Jones talks about her latest play, local rapper Micah Tron talks about overcoming obstacles in her life, and local musicians Duniya Dance and Drum Company.
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Crosscurrents: April 3, 2013
An extended interview with the San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. He talks about getting into the job, as well as about his thoughts on re-entry and rehabilitation programs as the goal of incarceration instead of mere punishment.
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Crosscurrents: April 2, 2013
Ostriches and other stories: a Golden Gate Bridge toll collector remembers her time on the job; Birding on Alcatraz; Hear Here: Down (home) by the Bay at the Berkeley Marina; and Is the Bay Area home to the "last rustic town of metropolitan America"?
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Crosscurrents: April 1, 2013
A very special April 1 Edition of Crosscurrents. Subtitle: The Most Important Episode of Crosscurrents Ever.
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Crosscurrents: March 27, 2013
A special Crosscurrents: Julia Scott's documentary BON VOYAGE, the story of a same-sex couple from San Francisco who try to meet death in style.
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Crosscurrents: March 26, 2013
Exploring this "Latin" American life with KALW's Radio Ambulante.
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Crosscurrents: March 21, 2013
A Special "Audiographiles" Edition of Crosscurrents:Entering the soundscape with Bernie Krause; BoomTown Sounds: San Francisco's sonic history; This bus in an F: the music of everyday life; a conversation with Julie Caine about KALW's Audiograph; and this week's Audiograph sound revealed!
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Crosscurrents: March 20, 2013
Moving homeless off the streets and into residency hotels, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on their programs for parolees, the Ceasefire program in Oakland, and local musician John Santos.
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Crosscurrents: March 19, 2013
A Crosscurrents special on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, as told by Iraqi refugees.
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Crosscurrents: March 18, 2013
BART tries out bikes during commute hours; Clinic goes mobile to reach underserved youth; Money Diaries: Next year will be better; CAAMFest: A conversation with filmmaker Mark Decena about his film"The War Inside," and local band The Dandelion War.
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Your Call 011813 Today on Your Call: What has been the...
On today’s Your Call, we’ll mark the 10-year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq with a panel of Iraqi activists, artists and journalists. How are Iraqis looking back 10 years after the invasion and occupation of their country? What is life like in Iraq today? What’s the status of rebuilding efforts? Millions of Iraqis were forced to flee their country. What questions do you have for Iraqis? It’s your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.Guests:Farah Muhsin, assistant representative with the...
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Crosscurrents: March 13, 2013
A conversation with the recently appointed leader of California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, fighting prostitution in Oakland by writing to the Johns, another in our series of Money Diaries, and local musician Jay Trainer.
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Crosscurrents: March 12, 2013
Immigration court and the difficulties of getting legal representation as a US immigrant, Andrew Lam talks about his short stories on being a Vietnamese immigrant to America, an urban astronomer talks comets and asteroids, and local musicians The Owl Paws.
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City Visions 130311 MOOCs and Higher Education in...
A conversation with Udacity, San Jose State and Dean Florez about the impact of MOOCs on the future of college in California and across the country.
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Crosscurrents: March 11, 2013
Nancy Mullane takes a tour of the Protective Housing Unit at Corcoran Sate Prison; Dispatches from the Inside: Expectations, regulations and the realities of parole; and local Journey cover-band Evolution.
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Crosscurrents: March 7, 2013
How the power of a photograph can change lives, pianist Sarah Cahill, L'Alliance Franaise in Berkeley, the audiograph answer of the week, and local musician Zakir Hussain.
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Crosscurrents: December 27, 2012
What’s working in juvenile justice; catching crime before it occurs; The City that Became Safe: New York's Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control; and Berkeley's Mondo Loko.
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Crosscurrents: December 26, 2012
Looking up: the search for extraterrestrial life; before chatroulette, there was ham radio; Hear Here: Meet Lita Hernandez; and local band Dark Hollow.
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Crosscurrents: December 20, 2012
A special edition of Crosscurrents:Asian American Health: Inside OutTo subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, clickhere. To use another podcasting tool, clickhere.
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Crosscurrents: December 19, 2012
America's War on Drugs: 40 Years, a trillion dollars, and debatable results.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, clickhere. To use anotherpodcastingtool, clickhere.
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Crosscurrents: December 18, 2012
Market Street in San Francisco: its past, present, and future.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, clickhere. To use anotherpodcastingtool, clickhere.
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Crosscurrents: December 17, 2012
Crosscurrents presents This Bay Area Life with special guest, Ira Glass.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, clickhere. To use anotherpodcastingtool, clickhere.
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Crosscurrents takes the stage for second annual live show
On Saturday, December 8th, KALW hosted its second annual Live Crosscurrentsin the James Moore Theater at the Oakland Museum of California. Hana Baba hosted the event, supported by Tin Cup Serenade as house band for the evening.Holly Kernankicked off the night, with a welcome and introduction to the show, which began with a presentation by KALW's Hear Here project. Hear Here producers Erica Mu and Audrey Dilling took the audience on a tour of Oakland and San Francisco, guided by the voices of...
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Taxi alternative Uber faces legal hurdles
Hailing a taxi in San Francisco can be nearly impossible if you’re not downtown. Calling ahead isn’t a guarantee either – often, the cab is late and sometimes it never comes.So, of course, there’s an app for that. A smartphone app called Uber is trying to solve this problem by using GPS to match town cars and taxi cabs with people who need rides. The app figures out where you are, shows the cars near you, and sends the first free one over. You pay with a credit card on file, and the charge...
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Seeing past the nudity at San Francisco City Hall
San Francisco has long been known as a city where you can let it all hang out. Nudists from all over the world flock here to participate in events like the Folsom Street Fair, but the city seems to have had enough of the buff. Last week, city supervisors voted to ban public nudity as of February 1.An only-in-San Francisco sort of civics lessonWith only 15-minutes left before the San Francisco City Supervisor meeting begins, the chamber is packed. For the moment, everyone is fully clothed....
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Crosscurrents: December 12, 2012
Hailing a taxi cab in San Francisco, the nudity wars in San Francisco, the underwater sounds of the Bay and blue whales, and local musicians Whiskerman.
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Radical Ideas: New approaches to solving homelessness
Bevan Dufty is Director of Housing, Opportunity, Partnership, and Engagement for the city of San Francisco. In his new role brainstorming solutions to the city’s stubborn homelessness problem, Dufty has come up with some pretty novel thoughts. We wanted to hear about some of the most innovative, so we invited him in for a segment we call “Radical Ideas.”DUFTY: Here we are, in San Francisco, and we've got the AIDS model of care that the world looks at, but people are food insecure and so they...
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Crosscurrents: December 11, 2012
Dealing with homeless encampments in San Francisco, giving dogs and supplying food trucks for the homeless, The Powers of Ten at SFMOMA, and local musicians Bill Hansell.
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Size matters in "Powers of Ten" tribute
Charles and Ray Eames are best known as mid-20th Centurydesigners of architecture and furniture, but they also workedin graphic design, fine art, and film. Unquestionably their mostfamous film was “Powers of Ten” (1968), which they describe as “afilm dealing with the relative size of things in the universe, and theeffect of adding another zero.”There have been many advances in human knowledge since thelate ‘60s. Is there a limit to knowledge, or does it continue to expand,like the universe?...
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Confusion at the gas pump: which grade is best?
Gas prices in California are always a big problem. And this year, the average price per gallon is set to hit four dollars – the highest average ever. It seems like there’s nothing the average driver can do to lower their fuel costs – except, maybe, change what grade of gasoline they buy. Most people, though, have no idea what that means for their car.A choice at the pumpAt a gas station in El Cerrito, people pull up in their cars to fill up their tanks. At some point, each of them presses a...
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Crosscurrents: December 10, 2012
Free bus passes for young people in San Francisco, deciding which grade of gas to buy, a Hear Here about an old-school Mustang, taking the walking bus to school, and local musicians The Rogers.
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Crosscurrents: December 6, 2012
Crisis in psychiatric wards, a StoryCorps on mental illness, comedian Will Durst on 2012's funniest news stories, and local musicians Tommy Igoe Big Band.
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StoryCorps: Navigating a mother's mental illness
Carole Peccorinihad to grow up quickly. When she was eight, her mother began to show symptoms of mental illness. As her disease progressed, her family struggled to hold itself together. In this story, Carole talks to her husband FranciscoPeccoriniand her daughterChalonBridges about how her mother’s case of Huntington’s Disease affected her childhood.This interview was facilitated by Frank Kingman in the San Francisco StoryCorps booth at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. It was produced...
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Witness To History: Meet the man who recorded San...
In 1969, Stephen Barncard’s first visit to San Francisco ended with a spontaneous visit to the Fillmore West.“I’d never seen the Grateful Dead live before,” Barncard recalls. “I thought their records really were terrible sounding. So I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the band until I heard them live. … But I never figured I’d be working with them.”“The Dead concert drew Barncard out of his native Missouri and back to California less than a year later. He knew he wanted to work in San Francisco,...
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San Francisco General is the city’s main public...
San Francisco General is the city’s main public hospital, and also the main provider for the city’s poorest and most vulnerable residents. On an average day, about 20 people suffering from mental illness walk through its doors asking for psychiatric help. It’s often a last resort for people without a support system or anywhere else to turn. But ongoing state and city budget cuts have forced San Francisco General, like many other public hospitals in the state, to make tough decisions. The...
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Harborside Health Center wins a battle in the marijuana...
Last month, Governor Jerry Brown, speaking on CNN, said: “It’s time for the Justice Department to recognize the sovereignty of the states. We already have a fair amount of marijuana use in the guise of medical marijuana, so we are capable of self-government. We don’t need some federal gendarme to come tell us what to do.”The issue made headlines locally last week, when an Alameda County judge refused to allow an Oakland landlord to evict the Harborside Health Center, despite pressure from...
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Oakland library begins a fresh chapter at a new location
As I walk into the new Piedmont Branch of the Oakland PublicLibrary, I see what looks like a library: librarians quietly working, people reading, and there are walls filled with books.Branch manager,JeneraBurton has been working on the relocation of the library for just about two years.“Just in a couple of days, we got this whole place together. I feel a lot more relaxed now that we're open to the public and people are in and browsing and happy,” says Burton.This “whole place” though, is not...
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Controversial drones may be coming to Alameda County
The word drone may conjure up images of remote-controlled planes firing missiles and killing terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But in the US, police departments are seeking the same technology to save lives.Alameda County’s sheriff has expressed interest in adding the unmanned aerial system to his public safety arsenal, but civil liberty activists are blasting the idea as a further erosion of privacy and an abuse of power.Back in 1989, Sgt. J.D. Nelson, spokesman for the Alameda County...
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Crosscurrents: December 5, 2012
Controversial drones may be coming to Alameda County; Cannabis News; and an Oakland library begins a fresh chapter at a new location.This episode features the following music, all by Dave Brubeck:1. "Danse Duet" from Countdown: Time In Outer Space (1962)2. "Winter Ballad" from Jazz Impressions of New York (1964)3. "Far More Blue" from Time Further Out (1961)4. "Time In" from Time In (1966)5. "Three To Get Ready" from Time Out (1959)6. "Sixth Sense" from Jazz Impressions of New York (1964)7....
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Bringing the Israeli-Palestinian conversation into the...
Many air strikes were launched by Israel in Gaza City over the past few weeks in response to Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli cities. Since that moment, the violence in the region has subsided after a cease-fire. The Palestinians made a successful bid to upgrade their UN status, and Israel announced it would build 3,000 new settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. So the situation remains as tense and volatile as ever.After decades of conflict, many Jews and Arabs feel...
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Crosscurrents: December 4, 2012
Fighting the dropout rate for African-American youth; the Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue; and Witness To History: a conversation with recording engineer Stephen Barncard.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Fighting the dropout rate for African-American youth
In 2011, about 82 percent of San Francisco’s students graduated from high school. Ten percent dropped out. Break it down by ethnic group and the numbers change in uncomfortable ways. For example, just 62.3 percent of the city’s African-American students graduated, and nearly 20 percent dropped out. The numbers for Latino students are similar. Kids need education and support, but resources are increasingly scarce. Often in these cases, in cities like San Francisco, nonprofits step in....
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Today’s Local Music: Grass Widow
There’s no leader in the band Grass Widow. That probably makes it easier for each member of this trio to suggest subjects for songs. Grass Widow, who you’re hearing now, call their music post-punk, and the New Yorker Magazine describes it as “pastoral melodies” floating over “trellises of spindly guitars.” If this sounds appealing, you can hear them live on Thursday, December 6, when they play at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.
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Gaming museum warps players through time
Lots of people talk about how addicted we are to our screens. We spend our days staring at smartphones, tablets, and computers. But the first digital addiction came before most of us even imagined a home computer: video games.If you think about it, the history of video games is not that old. The first home video game was released in 1972, and now, the video games that many of us grew up playing are relics on their way to be enshrined in a video game museum. That’s the idea of The Museum of...
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Bridging the gender gap in the gaming industry
By some estimates, the video game industry today is worth more than $100 billion. It’s a male dominated industry: the most recent study found that the people who work in gaming are nearly ninety percent male. They’re paid much more, and they’ve created a culture that’s not very friendly to women. To learn more about the gaming industry gender gap, KALW’s Martina Castro sat down with Tasneem Raja, the interactive editor at Mother Jones. They talked about the role of women the video game...
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Crosscurrents: December 3, 2012
The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland, women programmers piercing the male-dominated culture of the video game industry, public transportation art, and local musicians Grass Widow.
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Crosscurrents: November 29, 2012
What the election results mean for public education; proposal to fuse ethnic studies programs sparks controversy; and queer studies department at CCSF braces for cutbacks.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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What the election results mean for public education
This past election, San Franciscans voted on 18 state and local ballot initiatives. Arguably the biggest winner was public education.On the state level, voters approved Proposition 30, which was a tax increase to fund K-12 programs and community colleges across the state. San Franciscans passed local Proposition A, establishing a more secure financial footing for City College.KALW’s education reporter, Jen Chien, reports on how these measures will be rolled out and what their impact on...
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Queer studies department at CCSF braces for cutbacks
The department of LGBTQ studies at City College of San Francisco, the first queer studies department in the U.S., founded in 1978, is facing consolidation. Professor Ardel Thomas heads the Department. KALW’s Hana Baba asked her what would happen if consolidation is carried out.Click the audio player above to listen to the interview.What do you think about consolidating diversity programs at the college level? Let us know in the comments below or call our feedback line at (415) 264 – 7106.
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Proposal to fuse ethnic studies programs sparks...
City College of San Francisco is proposing to consolidate all its ethnic studies departments into one department. That has many people concerned, and some downright angry –especially in a city that boasts the country’s first Ethnic Studies department (at San Francisco State). Sean Arce, director of the Mexican-American Studies program for the Tucson Unified School District, says the program "highlights the struggle of the families and the students, of what they go through and how we are...
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Today's Local Music: Daniel Castro
Today we are featuring the bluesstylingsofDaniel Castro. He’s a festival favorite throughout the West and has shared the stage with big-name blues players from JohnMayallto The Staples Singers.You can hear him at The Saloon, San Francisco’s legendary blues dive bar, on Saturday, December 01. The band should be tuning up around 9:30pm.
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West Oakland landlords invest in city's most dangerous...
.Mead Avenue is a single block in West Oakland in the triangle where San Pablo Avenue and Market Street meet. Like streets in a lot of low-income communities, Mead Avenue has seen poverty, gangs, gun violence, the crack epidemic. There’s also a church on the corner, a Boys and Girls Club across the street, and a non-profit dedicated to Men’s Health close by. None of those things may be as important to Mead Avenue’s future as that big thing our entire economy revolves around: real estate....
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Crosscurrents: November 28, 2012
Owning a house in West Oakland, foreclosures and the Oakland Community Land Trust, a Hear Here on the Oakland cathedral, and local musicians Blame Sally.
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Today’s Local Music: Blame Sally
What do you call the winner of Best Song in three different categories in last summer’s Independent Music Awards Poll? The answer is: Blame Sally. Blame Sally will be performing in the Bay Area on Saturday, December 1, for the first time since winning those awards. They’ll be at the Kanbar Center for Performing Arts, part of the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael. Music starts at 8 p.m.
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Fighting foreclosure in East Oakland
Bruce Mirken is conducting what seems like a high-profile auction in New York City.“As you can see,” he says to the gathered crowd, “we’re auctioning this lovely Manhattan luxury condo that was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Blankfein back in 2008 for $26 million. I wish you could see the lobby of this building. It’s bigger than some small countries!”But Mirken is not actually an auctioneer. He’s standing on the steps of the Alameda County courthouse leading a protest. Mirken works for a...
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Hear Here: David Peterkofsky and the Cathedral of Christ...
The foreclosure crisis has hit East Oakland particularly hard, but down the road by Lake Merritt, a community space has been able to keep its doors open. The Oakland Cathedral, more formally known as Cathedral of Christ the Light, is hard to miss with its towering glass and steel facade. Since its opening in the fall of 2008, it's become a place where Catholics and non-Catholics alike have come for peace and solace. And today, it's the subject of our most recent edition of Hear Here.Our Hear...
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StoryCorps: A most peculiar playground
Marianne Gillmer was born in Germany during World War II. Growing up in her village during those tragic years was tough on her family, especially after her father died in battle. She was aware of death at a young age, but she and her best friend still found ways to remain playful and adventurous. In this story, she tells her daughter Susan about one of her most peculiar playgrounds– the local cemetery.This story was produced by Eva Soncinand recorded in theSan Francisco StoryCorpsbooth in...
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The costs of multitasking
Americans' habit for talking, texting, and emailingwhile driving is only gettingworse, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Studies show texting while driving makes you 23 times more likely to get in a wreck, but now that computer monitors are being built into car dashboards, multitasking is become a permanent fixture in our lives.UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaleyoversees the university’s MRI machines and runs Gazzaley Labs, which study ways to make the brain more...
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Prop 39 will close tax loophole, raise funds for...
Proposition 39, which passed on Election Day, will tax out-of-state businesses and earmark those new billions of dollars for clean energy programs. To learn more about how it will work, KALW's Ben Trefny spoke with Paul Rogers, environmental writer for the San Jose Mercury News and managing editor for KQED’s science programs. Rogers explained how Prop 39 came about, how it will change the state, and how the money will be applied.PAUL ROGERS: This was a measure by San Francisco financier Tom...
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Crosscurrents: November 26, 2012
Proposition 39 and a future of clean energy in California, driving blindfolded, the art of multitasking, and local musicians Musica Pacifica.
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Crosscurrents: November 22, 2012
The final program in our series on Oakland's Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods, produced by KALW News and Mills College in Oakland. We take a look at a corner store on Foothill Boulevard, a funeral home that's playing a vital role in the community, and we take a ride on Oakland's bus line 1.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Fruitvale funeral home tries to improve neighborhood for...
In 2011, Oakland experienced a spike in violent crime after four years of declining crime rates. As of April of this year, crime has risen by 21 percent. In Fruitvale, merchants are struggling to combat the violence that is plaguing the neighborhood. One unlikely business is taking part in that effort. Cooper’s Chapel Funeral Home has been in the neighborhood for almost a century and now, a new manager is set on making the historic mortuary a vital part of the community.Like other businesses...
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Step inside a Fruitvale corner store
Corner stores in Oakland are predominantly run by immigrants from the Middle East. Most of the merchants are originally from Yemen. Some estimates report that 80 percent of Bay Area convenience stores are operated by Yemenese.One of those stores is Foothill Market on 19th and Foothill in Oakland’s Fruitvale district. The Hassan family runs it. Ali Farrad Hassan is a first generation Yemeni-American, and has been working in his uncle’s store for a few years now.Ferrad Hassan, or “Ali” as...
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Riding the 1 bus: An unguided tour to East Oakland
One way to get to know a new place is to ride public transportation – especially the bus. It’s like taking an unguided tour – a tour in which there’s often as much to see inside as there is out the windows.The most popular buses in Oakland are the 1 and the 1R. The 1, which is the local route, makes 105 stops in three different East Bay cities. It’s a trip that takes four hours from start to finish.More than 22,000 people ride these bus routes every single day. Most don’t own cars – this is...
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Crosscurrents: November 21, 2012
Part 2 of our special on Oakland's San Antonio and Fruitvale neighborhoods. Today we hear from a dynamic principle at Roosevelt Middle School, look at a successful charter school, and take a tour of a community garden in San Antonio Park.
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Charter school offers alternative approach to education...
Oakland Unified School District has the largest enrollment of any district in Alameda County, with 136 schools and over 46,000 students. Within OUSD, about 25 percent are charter schools and this number keeps growing.Arise High School, a charter, is inside the Fruitvale Transit Village in Oakland. The plaza looks hip and newly built. There’s a bank, senior center and a dentist’s office – not the typical setting for a high school with over 200 students. G. Reyes, one of the school’s...
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On-campus health centers aim to make Oakland schools...
Many public schools are coping with constant and deep funding cuts to education, and neighborhood schools are looking for creative ways to serve the needs of their students. Six public schools in Oakland now house on-site health centers for just that reason. The newest – a state of the art clinic at Roosevelt Middle School – helps kids who are struggling with the twin traumas of violence and poverty.Roosevelt Middle School is in Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood. In the main office...
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Crosscurrents: November 20, 2012
A special Crosscurrents on Oakland's Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods: mobile food vendors, Street Level's service to day laborers, and The Unity Council's work in low- to middle-income families. Produced by Mills College in Oakland.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Street Level celebrates 10 years of feeding the hungry
Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood has a history of welcoming new immigrants. At the turn of the 20th century, the area was full of orchards and beer gardens that served as an attraction to San Francisco residents. Today, you can see colorful markets full of produce and piatas or eat delicious tacos at one of the area’s many food trucks. Many day laborers will wait on street corners eagerly looking for any type of work. And that’s why a center called Street Level Health Project was created a...
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Fruitvale organization becomes national model for...
The Unity Council has deep roots in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. Founded in 1964, the center has expanded into a national model for community development, spearheading the creation of the Fruitvale Transit Village and growing to work with about 12,000 low- to moderate-income clients per year.KALW’s Holly Kernan asked Gilda Gonzalez, CEO of the Unity Council, to talk about the organization’s history.GILDA GONZALEZ: We now have services as far reaching as Solano County. We actually are...
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A Fruitvale food tradition threatened
Oakland is known for its food trucks, which serve everything from tacos and tamales to West African cuisine. But few know that this latest culinary trend got its start in Fruitvale almost 30 years ago. Fruitvale still has the city’s largest concentration of mobile food vendors – a predominantly immigrant population. These micro-businesses provide owners low overhead and the opportunity to become successful entrepreneurs. But if running a small business isn’t hard enough in this economy,...
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Crosscurrents: November 19, 2012
Tim Anderson, Bay Area DIY superhero; and urban farmer Novella Carpenter.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Urban Farmer Novella Carpenter
When you think of a farmer, you may picture an old curmudgeon in overalls and straw hat squinting out at a bucolic pasture, chewing a piece of grass as he slaps wildly at flying pests. Well, that was the old breed of farmer.Novella Carpenter is one of the new breed, and she's raising her rabbits, chickens, and goats right in the middle of Oakland. She blogs about it atGhost Town Farm, and she just published a book: "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer." KALW's Ben Trefny sat down...
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Tim Anderson, Bay Area DIY superhero
There’s a sprawling industrial park on the waterfront in Alameda that once was a Navy air base. What had been the base's air traffic control tower was taken over by a gaggle of MIT engineers working on a variety of high-tech projects. One is an airborne wind turbine, being developed by a company called Makani Power. Tim Anderson refers to himself as Makani's pro bono night watchman. He feels strongly America needs to get off petroleum, and he has other ideas about other changes this country...
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What does Proposition 30 mean for California public...
This election season, possibly the most talked about ballot item in California after the presidential race was Proposition 30.For all of 2012, we’ve been hearing people support or attack Governor Jerry Brown’s tax plan for education. On November 6, the people spoke in favor of the taxes. Now that it has passed, where does this money go and how will education truly be affected by it?John Fensterwald is the editor of EdSource, an online K-12 community college news site. Fensterwald spoke with...
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Jazz Perspectives: Angelique Kidjo
Angelique Kidjo was born in the West African country of Benin. She grew up listening to traditional music but was soon influenced by American rhythm and blues singers and jazz artists. She started composing at age 10, writing about political topics starting at a very early age.ANGELIQUE KIDJO: When I first heard about slavery, I cried. I was mad like you don't even imagine. My first song that I wrote was a very hateful song. And my dad said to me, "Not in my house. You're going to rewrite...
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Crosscurrents: November 15, 2012
What does Proposition 30 mean for California public schools?; Court budget crisis creates long lines at legal self-help centers; and Jazz Perspectives: Angelique Kidjo.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Court budget crisis creates long lines at legal...
One of the areas hit hardest by state budget cuts is California’s judicial branch. Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature cut $350 million from the court system this past fiscal year.In response, courts across the state have had to reduce hours and lay off staff. In San Diego, San Bernardino, Tulare, and Fresno counties, whole courthouses have closed down. That means people who have civil and family court proceedings like restraining orders, custody cases, and divorce will have to travel...
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Today's Local Music: Alan Farley Tribute
KALW is hosting a public remembrance of our long-time announcer and all-round cultural diplomat, Alan Farley. Alan died October 21st, after 39 years with this station. Several musicians associated with KALW will present music at the event: Wesla Whitfield Mike Greensill, David Latulippe, Eric Wayne and Sarah Cahill. The event takes place next Monday, November 19th at the Green Room of the War Memorial Building at San Francisco’s Civic Center, from 5 to 8 pm. It’s free, but please let us know...
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Prop F went down the drain, but water issues remain
The only local ballot measure San Franciscans rejected on Election Day was Measure F. It would have prompted an $8 million study into taking down the O’Shaugnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, which currently supplies water for San Francisco and dozens of other Bay Area counties.It also would have called for reviews of San Francisco’s water usage. While nearly 78 percent of voters said “no” to the measure, considering how the city uses its water can be valuable....
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Crosscurrents: November 14, 2012
Inmates in Richmond work to combat violence, a Hear Here story on being reformed in court, an inmate-commentary in favor of repealing the death penalty, what goes on in the BART tunnels in the wee hours, making the Bay Bridge accessible to bikes, and local musicians Alex Pinto Trio.
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StoryCorps: The thrill of discovery
After graduating from Fresno State in 1972, Dr. Ernest Marquez worked at The National Institute of Health until 2008. Marquez, who is is a Mexican American, tells his friend JuditCamacho what it was like to enter an industry in which he was a minority.DR. ERNEST MARQUEZ: Really, what I've done primarily is to work to increase the diversity of the U.S. workforce, the scientific workforce. And for that I've been grateful forever. And Now I'm retired. But not really.There is nothing that lights...
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Crosscurrents: November 12, 2012
The role of the youth vote in the 2012 Presidential election, rehabilitation opportunities inside prison, innovative strategies to help veterans with PTSD, and local musicians The Phenomenauts.
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Today’s Local Music: Phenomenauts
What’s that you’re hearing? It’s the futuristic sounds ofCrosscurrentsfavoritesThePhenomenauts. They’re playing at TheUptown nightclubin Oakland on Wednesday, along with glam-rock standbys TheRezillos- plus an additional unannounced guest. Music starts about9pm.
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Today's Local Music: Mohammed Nejad
Mohammed Nejad is a Classical Persian musician. He's performing and holding a workshop on Persian Classical music on Sunday morning at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in Oakland, from9am-11am, as part of the weekend-long Doorway to Islamic Civilization event.
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Crosscurrents: November 8, 2012
San Francisco’s volunteer seaweed fighters; On the road to a litter-free environment; Passion Profile: The science educator; and Music tour meets seed exchange.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Live post-election coverage from KALW News
Live post-election coverage from KALW News.
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California commits to paying for education
San Francisco’s Measure A passed yesterday, which means City College will get much needed funds. Prop 30 also passed, meaning Californians taxed themselves more than 6 billion dollars to help pay for public education.Alisa Messer, the President of the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, was at the campaign headquarters for the San Francisco Labor Council as results started coming in last night. “Bringing those two things together has been very exciting for faculty, staff, and for all...
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Alameda County's Measure B1 still up in the air
There’s one race still up for grabs in the Bay Area: Measure B1, Alameda county’s proposed new transit tax.This measure would increase the sales tax by a half cent and would raise close to $8 billion for transportation projects in Alameda County. It appears to have lost, but only by the tiniest of margins. To pass, it needs a two-thirds majority, or 66.7 percent of the vote. It got 65.54 percent–just 1 percent short.Tess Lengyel, Deputy Director of Policy, Public Affairs and Legislation at...
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Latino voters show up for Obama
Latino voters are credited with coming out in large numbers yesterday for President Barack Obama to help him secure a second term. Locally, Latino voters came to the polls with mostly one issue on their minds.Surprisingly, almost everyone had the same answer when asked questions like, "What issues are most important to you in this election?" and "What brought you out to vote today?"Roco Gonzalez, a voter waiting in line, said, "One of the reasons I came out to vote is that I don’t want there...
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Chinese-American Supervisors stand for all of San...
The race for supervisor in San Francisco’s District 1, which includes the Richmond district, was a hotly contested one, pitting two Chinese-American candidates with different support bases against each other. Eric Mar, the progressive incumbent, defeated a challenge from David Lee, whose campaign was marked by massive third party spending and was widely seen to be the candidate of downtown business and landlord interests.Eric Mar’s win last night was a victory for Chinese Americans but also...
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Young voters less "pissed off" after election
President Obama is said to have won thanks to the support of his base, which includes young people.The San Francisco offshoot of the young and progressive/liberal organization calls itself the League of Pissed Off Voters, but last night, members were in a pretty good mood.A lot of the measures they endorsed with their Pissed Off Voter guide passed, including Proposition 30, the statewide education funder, and Proposition 36, the Three-Strikes reform. One of the local measures they were most...
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Commentary: How the passage of Prop 36 can change lives
Proposition 36 would not only reserve life sentences for violent and serious felonies, it would also allow those serving life sentences for non-violent, non-serious felonies to apply for re-sentencing provided they have already served twice the normal sentence for their current crime. In order to be approved for re-sentencing, each person would have to demonstrate to a judge they are not a current danger to society.From our partners at the San Quentin Prison Report comes this commentary from...
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Web Exclusive: Death row inmate prepares for Prop 34...
William (Mike) Dennis has been on San Quentin's death row for 24 years, and onNorth Segregation for 17 years. He spoke with KALW’s Nancy Mullane on Monday, November 5 by phone about the climate inside the prison, as inmates anticipate the outcome of tomorrow’s vote on Proposition 34.The CDCR has not told the inmates on Death Row what will happen if it passes, Dennis says. There are men on his tier who have exhausted all of their appeals and they will be relieved if the Proposition does pass,...
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Web Exclusive: Meet the City Council candidates for...
Reporter Charlie Mintz recently reported on the City Council race in Oakland's District One. Now you can hear extended interviews with all the candidates he spoke with.Amy LemleyCraig BrandtDan KalbDon LinkDon MacleayLen Raphael RichardRaya
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Hear Here: Meet Nina Jo Smith
Our Hear Here community storytelling team has been asking San Francisco and Oakland residents the question: what’s a place in your neighborhood that means something to you – and why?Local musician Nina Jo Smith responded that a significant place to her is the Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco’s SOMA district. The Hotel Utah is important to Smith for lots of reasons, one of which has to do with her brother.The last song featured in this story is from Nina Jo Smith's forthcoming album,People,...
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Crosscurrents: November 1, 2012
Remembering Alan Farley; Hear Here: Meet Nina Jo Smith; and Day of the Dead exhibit looks into the future by honoring the past.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Youth Radio Podcast: Politics creep into Halloween
Who would you rather be for Halloween, Governor Mitt Romney or President Barack Obama? That's what Youth Radio asked people in the Bay Area, while trying to give them a little dramatic inspiration. This and more in the Youth Radio Podcast.Click the player above to listen to the podcast.
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Crosscurrents: October 31, 2012
It's Halloween! Scary local election updates from the East Bay Express; a final resting place for furry friends; Ask a Latvian: What's a Graveyard Holiday? Storycorps: A most peculiar playground; and San Francisco’s Columbarium – where you can truly leave your heart.
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Storycorps: A most peculiar playground
Marianne Gillmer was born in Germany during World War II. Growing up in her village during those tragic years was tough on her family, especially after her father died in battle. She was aware of death at a young age, but she and her best friend still found ways to remain playful and adventurous. In this story, she tells her daughter Susan about one of her most peculiar playgrounds– the local cemetery.This story was produced by Eva Soncinand recorded in the San Francisco StoryCorps booth in...
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Dispatches from the Inside: Anatomy of a prison riot
Richard Gilliam is incarcerated at the California Men's Colony (CMC).October 18, 2012Rarely can social observers witness the forces and influences at work that lead to cataclysmic events, as they occur. But here at CMC, it's possible to view the forces and machinations that result in prison violence, before the final upheaval occurs. Specifically, I am referring to policy implementation and official attitudes at CMC's West facility.Of course, the reasons and pressures that result in prison...
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Hundreds of thousands pack downtown SF for Giants parade
Today was not just any ordinary Halloween. The holiday coincided with the San Francisco Giants' victory parade, celebrating the baseball team's sweep of the World Series that culminated last Sunday. The parade, featured a performance by Tony Bennett and appearances by Jon Miller and DaveFlemming – and of course, the 2012 San Francisco Giants players, drew a crowd of hundreds of thousands.Click the audio player above to listen to a recap of the parade.
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Voting from the Korean American perspective
We conclude our series in partnership with New America Media, delving into the issues California’s ethnic voters care most about this year, with a look at the politics of Korean Americans. California is home to 451,000 Korean Americans. The biggest community is in LA, but a sizable number are here in the Bay Area, with the highest concentrations in Santa Clara and Alameda Counties. So what’s this community talking about one week ahead of the elections? KALW’s Hana Baba spoke with Won Yi, a...
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Democrat vs. Democrat
For the past 39 years, the California’s 15th Congressional District has been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by 81-year-old Pete Stark. He has gone mostly unchallenged until this year.Eric Swalwell – a member of the Dublin City council – is running against Stark. Swalwell is quite a contrast: he's 31 years old, a soccer coach and a prosecutor. He’s also a democrat, which makes this race Dem v. Dem. This is the first time that two candidates from the same party can run for...
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Crosscurrents: October 30, 2012
The Korean-American vote, police funding and Oakland's District 1, how to become a write-in candidate, democrat vs. democrat in the election for California's 15th congressional distrcit, and local musicians Tokyo Raid.
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What ending the death penalty means for inmates
California Proposition34, on the ballot this November, would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without the possibility of parole. The Attorney Donald Heller originally wrote the ballot measure that reinstated the death penalty in California in 1978. Heller now supports Proposition 34. San Quentin inmate Troy Williams interviewed Heller by phone about his change of heart.TROY WILLIAMS: I have talked with several people on death row and this subject came up a while ago. Their...
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Crosscurrents: October 25, 2012
Proposition E and San Francisco's payroll tax, Berkeley contemplates implementing a Sit/Lie law, California Correctional Peace Officers Association and their election campaign contributions, and local musician Mary Stallings.
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Feeling the effects of NAFTA in California
It’s been almost two decades since Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. When then-president Bill Clinton signed it, he told Congress that the agreement was the only correct response to the world’s rapidly changing economy. As a border state and a major agricultural producer, California has a big stake in NAFTA.U.C. Berkeley geography professor Harley Shaiken has written extensively on the agreement, and he spoke with KALW's Holly Kernan about...
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NAFTA's environmental impact on Tijuana 20 years later
When the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed 20 years ago, one of the big concerns was how the treaty would impact the environment.After NAFTA was signed, eastern Tijuana experienced a building frenzy. One industrial park after another sprung up to accommodate the hundreds of American factories that came here in search of cheap labor.Magdalena Cerda is an environmental activist, and she’s brought me to the edge of one of those sprawling complexes, to some barren, empty concrete...
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Food fight in Florida over the Tomato Wars
Florida and Mexico growers are feuding over tomato prices. It’s the same argument heard nearly 20 years ago when NAFTA was first signed, when American farmers feared cheaper Mexican crops would flood the market here and put them out of business.American produce importers and Mexican growers predict this dispute will bring about a trade war. But Florida growers say right now, it’s a price war. And they say Mexico is undercutting their ability to sell fresh tomatoes. Late this summer, a group...
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Crosscurrents: October 24, 2012
Taking stock of the legacy of NAFTA: what it's meant to California and the country. And local musicians Goodnight, Texas.
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The birth of the negative campaign ad
Most people would agree that Citizens United was a turning point for campaign finance in the United States, paving the way for Super Political Action Committees to inject record amounts of anonymous donations into this year’s election.Another turning point for the American electoral process was the first use of broadcast media to sway public opinion. Today, it’s hard to imagine an election cycle without the use of negative campaign ads, but back in 1934, it was a novel idea – one that proved...
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Local Muslims react to presidential debate on foreign...
The Bay Area Muslim community includes at least 100, 000 people. There's a large Afghan community in the East Bay, a sizable South Asian population in the South Bay, and the Peninsula is home to large Arab American and Iranian American groups.Historically, the Muslim community has voted Republican – until 2008 when they voted for President Obama. However, many say they are now disappointed by his presidency, especially in terms of issues like closing Guantanamo Bay, renewing the Patriot Act,...
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What to expect from the Muslim vote
As part of our ongoing series with New America Media exploring the ethnic vote, today we discuss how American Muslims may vote this year. We spoke with Javed Ali, editor-in-chief of Newark-based award-winning Muslim affairs publication, Illume Magazine.JAVED ALI: American Muslims are feeling a bit disenfranchised. They're not so enthusiastic about President Obama like the last time. The drone strikes have intensified, Guantanamo hasn't been closed yet, so they feel that President Obama has...
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Sun, sand, and protest
There are many ways to support your candidates- or propositions-of-choice before voting on November 6. You can obviously give your time, by volunteering to call potential voters, or handing out leaflets. And campaigns will always welcome the contribution of your hard-earned cash.This last way to show your support has gotten a lot of attention since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010. Citizens United allows corporations and unions to give unlimited amounts of money to...
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Crosscurrents: October 23, 2012
Local Muslims react to the presidential debate on foreign policy; a conversation with Javed Ali about the Muslim vote; "Sun, sand, and protest"; A time before negative campaign ads?; a Passion Profile: John Charlebois; and local band the Hoo Doo Rhythm Devils.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Passion Profile: John Charlebois
We’ve been honoring the people in our neighborhoods who display a healthy dose of passion in their lives, day in and day out, inspiring us to generate a little of our own. Listener Carmen Dicinque called us recently to tell us about horse trainer John Charlebois. KALW’s Alyssa Kapnik and Ashleyanne Krigbaum went out to meet Charlebois and his horses.Listen to the profile above.
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Today’s Local Music: Hoo Doo Rhythm Devils
What’s that you’re hearing? It’s the long time San Francisco band, the Hoo Doo Rhythm Devils. This group has been through many personnel changes since they started in 1972, but they stay true to their Fifties and early-Sixties style. They’re on the bill Friday October 26 at Biscuits Blues, off Union Square in San Francisco. Music starts at 8pm.
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The Adjustment Center: Where no one wants to go
In 1851, the government of the new state of California legalized executions. But it wasn’t until 1891 that the state legislature required all executions take place within the walls of one of the state’s prisons.The state’s first legal execution by hanging took place March 3, 1893 at San Quentin State Prison. Sixty-year-old Jos Gabriel was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a farming couple near San Diego.In 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled that under the state constitution,...
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Crosscurrents: October 22, 2012
A special edition of Crosscurrents: A trip to The Adjustment Center -- Death Row's most dangerous ward; and local bluegrass band the Kathy Kallick Band.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Today’s Local Music: Kathy Kallick Band
When you think of bluegrass music, you probably think more of wooden cabins than of Presidential yachts. But on Thursday (10.25) the Kathy Kallick Band has a show planned on the Potomac, the yacht built for President Franklin Roosevelt, now harbored at Jack London Square in Oakland. This concert is part of the “Pickin’ on the Potomac” music series. Tours of the ship begin at 6:30pm, and the music starts about an hour later.
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A plan to drain Hetch Hetchy would drain city coffers,...
San FranciscoProposition Fasks the city to consider draining the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, a source of 80 percent of San Francisco's water. KALW’sBenTrefnytalked withPJJohnston, the spokesman for the No on Proposition F campaign, and asked him why passing Proposition F would be a bad idea.JOHNSTON: This idea, draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, has been studied at least seven times in the past 30 years, and everytime they come back and say, 'Well, we could do it, but the cost in real dollars and...
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Making sense of California youth sentences
For juveniles in California being sentenced for crimes, things just got a little more complicated. Proposition 21 requires mandatory minimums for juveniles that often translate into long sentences. In California alone, there are hundreds of inmates serving juvenile sentences totaling between 50 and 200 years. Advocates argue that these sentences are the equivalent of life without parole. This summer, the State Supreme Court agreed and ruled that unusually long sentences for juveniles...
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Crosscurrents: October 18, 2012
Bay Area residents discuss election 2012; arguments for and against draining the Hetch Hetchy; and Youth Radio: why do some juveniles end up with such long prison sentences?To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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San Francisco voters share their views on the election
Today we’re going around the Bay Area to see what you the voters are talking about this election season. We heard from San Francisco residents Grim Lithsaw, Joy Pulsipher, Rob Wadleigh, James Smith and Bruce Bowman, as brought to us by KALW’s RJ Sloan.How are you feeling about the election?GRIM LITHSAW: Oh I think it's a joke like every year. You know, you get to vote for one of the people in the 'demo-republican' party, either the red or the blue version – they're the same. There's really...
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An argument for draining the Hetch Hetchy
Eighty-five percent of San Francisco's water comes from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. San FranciscoProposition F calls for the city to begin evaluating the option of draining the reservoir. Before the Hetch Hetchy Valley was flooded, or the O’Shaughnessy Dam was built, environmentalists led by John Muir put up a big fight to keep it protected.One man who shares Muir’s vision is Mike Marshall. He’s the executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, an environmental group that wants to drain the...
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Crosscurrents: October 17, 2012
A special Crosscurrents: Julia Scott's documentary BON VOYAGE, the story of a same-sex couple from San Francisco who try to meet death in style.
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Bon Voyage: A Bay Area couple try to greet death in style
If you could be at your own funeral, what would you like to do? How about dance and drink champagne with everyone you've ever known? A Bay Area man and his husband try to greet death in style. But they discover that death has its own agenda.KALW contributor Julia Scott produced this radio documentary in partnership with the BBC World Service.Bon VoyageIt’s March 2nd, 2012. Paul Perkovic and Eric Trefelner are getting a very special tour of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco,...
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Today's Local Music: Bells
Today we are featuring the sound of Bells. Not literally “bells,” of course. That’s the name of the group. This East Bay band blends dreamy harmonies and a wide range of percussion to create a unique sound. You can hear them for yourself on Friday, October 19, at the New Parish in Oakland. Music starts at about 9pm.
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Crosscurrents: October 16, 2012
Predicting the Filipino vote in the Bay Area; Can online games improve young people's civic participation?; Did pop music kill the campaign song?; Will Durst: Ringside at the Undercard; and local pianist Ricardo Scales.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Predicting the Filipino vote in the Bay Area
The Pew Research Center says Asian Pacific Islander Americans are now the fastest-growing ethnic and immigrant group in the United States. Asian Americans as a whole also tend to be the most educated and prosperous. Almost half have college degrees. The US Census Bureau estimates that 450,000 of the country’s more than three million Filipinos live in the greater Bay Area.Politically, Filipinos tend to vote conservatively. We heard some evidence of that recently when KALW’s Artjoms Konohovs...
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Can online games improve young people's civic...
Young voters make up to close to 20 percent of the electorate in the United States–a big voting block for any candidate. As of early October, 14 percent of young voters remain undecided. The narrative of disengaged youth in this election is dominating headlines lately, and a recent Pew study points to voter registration among young people on the decline. Youth Radio’s Malachi Segers explores some efforts to turn that decline around, by meeting young people where they are: online.Youth...
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Will Durst: Ringside at the undercard
In this highly anticipated undercard bout, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan took off the gloves and went after each other with straight policy jabs and sweeping rhetorical hooks for 90 minutes. No knockdowns were recorded, but most ringside judges gave the decision to Biden for stopping his own party's bleeding and blocking his opponent's momentum. Kudos were also tossed Martha Raddatz's way, who referreed the event with a command and aplomb that had veteran observers refer to her as the anti-Jim...
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Did pop music kill the campaign song?
It’s election season so all aspects of every campaign machine is working to get our attention. Some candidates use pop music in their campaigns, but it doesn’t always work in their favor. For example, Tom Petty forced Tea Party candidate Michelle Bachmann to stop using his song, “American Girl,” at her rallies. And candidate Barack Obama had to quit using “Hold On, I’m Comin'" because Sam – of Sam Dave, the duo that made the song popular – said he had not endorsed the future President.This...
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The Source: The story of Marin County's namesake takes...
In Marin, it’s been a rewarding year for author and academic, Betty Goerke. Back in February, she was recognized for her “significant contributions advancing the understanding of the past in Marin County.” This Sunday, October 21, she will be honored by the Mill Valley Art Commission, at their annual awards dinner. In this story from our archives, Goerke sat down with KALW’s Steven Short to discuss the subject of one her books, the namesake of Marin County. And here’s a hint: it has nothing...
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Crosscurrents: October 15, 2012
City College in San Francisco fights to keep it accreditation, a Story Corps about a child with a big dream, the Source of Marin County's name, the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic in Oakland offers alternative treatments to women with cancer, and local musicians Albino!
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Oakland clinic offers free, alternative medicine to...
Cancer treatments can leave a patient in intense pain, or cause nausea, fatigue, and loss of appetite. For people with low incomes or without health insurance, treatment to alleviate these side effects is often unaffordable. In Oakland, low-income women with cancer can turn to free, traditional medicine as an alternative.Katherine Mills is one of these women. She visits the non-profit Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic in downtown Oakland for cost-free, natural treatment to counteract...
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City College of San Francisco in survival mode
City College of San Francisco has been in the news quite a bit since July, when it received a very critical report from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, throwing the college’s accreditation into question. Since that time, the college has been scrambling to plan and implement reforms based on the recommendations included in that report.The 77-year-old City College system serves about 90,000 students, of diverse in ethnic origins and economic backgrounds. It’s also...
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Storycorps: Determined to be president
Patricia Hemphill was very young when it dawned on her that she had a big dream for her future, but it wasn’t very well-received by her teacher at the time, Ms. Hart. Hemphillshares the story in this interview with her mother, Anniece Hemphill at the San Francisco StoryCorps booth in the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Their interview was facilitated by Sarah Geis, and produced by Eva Soncin. For more information about the San Francisco StoryCorps booth and how to do your own interview, click...
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Today's Local Music: Albino!
Today we are featuring the high-energy grooves of Afrobeat practitioners, Albino! This ten-piece ensemble includes dancers and eye-popping costumes - along with hypnotic percussion and heavy, heavy horns! They’ll be celebrating the birthday of Fela Kuti, their Nigerian musical muse, on Friday, October 19, at San Francisco’s Elbo Room. Music starts at 9pm.
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Giants win national league division series!
The San Francisco Giants, today, won a dramatic, do-or-die playoff game against the Cincinnati Reds. MVP candidate Buster Posey hit a grand slam in the 6 to 4 victory. The Giants won three straight elimination games on the road, and now move on to the penultimate playoff series, beginning Sunday night, October 14th. In Oakland, meanwhile, in just about an hour-and-a-half, the A's have their own must-win game against the Detroit Tigers. All the excitement has San Francisco Chronicle reporter...
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Jazz Perspectives: Archie Shepp
Saxophonist Archie Shepp is a legend. His career goes back nearly 50 years, including playing on John Coltrane’s iconic album, A Love Supreme. Today Shepp mixes jazz, blues and other influences into what he calls “African American Music.” Shepp plays tonight, October 11th, at Yoshi's in Oakland at 8pm and 10pm.ARCHIESHEPP: My father was a blues man... he played the banjo, which was my first instrument, actually. Over the years I've gotten more and more into blues music, and I begin to...
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Muslim women's love lives revealed
Note to listeners: This interview contains mature content.San Francisco’s premier literary festival, Litquake, is in its final days, with dozens of readings, performances, and author events all over San Francisco.Part of Litquake’s mission is featuring new authors and new works of literature. One of these books is the groundbreaking Love, Inshallah, a collection of stories featuring 25 American Muslim women who shared their experiences of love and sexuality within the context of being a...
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Web Exclusive: Extended interview with Ayesha Mattu
Note to listeners: This interview contains mature content.San Francisco’s premier literary festival,Litquake, is in its final days, with dozens of readings, performances, and author events all over San Francisco.Part of Litquake’s mission is featuring new authors and new works of literature. One of these books is the groundbreakingLove, Inshallah, a collection of stories featuring 25 American Muslim women who shared their experiences of love and sexuality within the context of being a Muslim...
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Crosscurrents: October 11, 2012
A big day for Bay Area baseball, Proposition 32 and campaign finance reform, a book on American Muslim women who share their experiences of love and sexuality, a jazz perspective on Archie Shepp, and local musician Ty Segall.
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Will unions in California lose their political influence?
Proposition 32 is one the most controversial and polarizing measures on California's ballot. Conservatives support it. Unions are fiercely against it.The proposition is designed to prohibit contributions made by unions and corporations directly to political candidates. It will also stop unions and corporations from automatically deducting money from employees’ paychecks to pay for political activities.Supporters claim that Prop 32 will decrease the role of special interest money in politics....
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Today's Local Music: Ty Segall
According to Ty Segall, his third album, Melted, sounds like “cherry cola, Sno-Cones and taffy.” Segall uses acoustic and electric sounds, distortion and memorable choruses in order to make time “melt” away. He’s playing Sunday, October 14th, at the Treasure Island Music Festival. We don’t know the time, but the music starts at noon and goes until 9pm. The festival has a no re-entry policy, so just show up!
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Exploring this "latin" american life with KALW's Radio...
Radio Ambulante is a new Spanish-language podcast based at KALW. Crosscurrents host Hana Baba speaks with the host and co-founder of Radio Ambulante, local novelist Daniel Alarcn,about what inspired him to create a show that would bring new voices, new perspectives, and a new language to public radio:DANIEL ALARCN: It is an accident of history that so many people from so many cultures and ethnicities speak Spanish, and can share these stories, and we want to take advantage of that historical...
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Regreterature: The sorry literary past of some of San...
KALW’s Martina Castro tells us about a unique fundraiser for San Francisco’s Litquake Festivalthat happened last April. You can see Mary Roach at KALW's Hear Here event at LitCrawl this Saturday.It’s Wednesday night, and I’m at the Verdi Club in San Francisco. The show is sold out to a crowd of hipsters and glittering literati. I’m surrounded by high-pitched laughter and colorful cocktails. I feel like these people “are somebody.”The first writer takes the stage. It’s best-selling author...
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Wonder Woman comes to the Mill Valley Film Festival
Bay Area documentary filmmaker Kristy Guevera-Flanagan spoke with KALW contributor Kevin Robinson, who runs the website Medium Rare. Guevera-Flanagan'sWonder Women: the Untold Story of America’s Superheroines is showing Saturday and Sunday as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival.KEVIN ROBINSON: In the film you talk about the role of women in comic books, in society...KRISTY GUEVERA-FLANAGAN: [Wonder Woman] comes from this matriarchal society where women are equal in all ranks. The whole...
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The latest on the Alan Blueford slaying and...
KALW's Holly Kernan checks in with East Bay Express co-editor Robert Gammon about the latest news, including a report on the Alameda County decision not to press criminal charges against the officer that shot 18-year-old Alan Blueford in Oakland.ROBERT GAMMON: The Alameda County D.A. announced that they're not going to be charging Officer Masso. They concluded that they believe Officer Masso's account that he contends that when he shot the teen, that his life was in danger, so it was a...
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Crosscurrents: October 10, 2012
A conversation with the East Bay Express's Robert Gammon; Regreterature; Wonder Women: the Untold Story of America's Superheroines; and local group Voices of Music.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Crosscurrents: October 8, 2012
Meet Radio Ambulante: a monthly Spanish-language radio program showcasing compelling human stories from around Latin America and the United States. It is the first of its kind in Spanish.
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Today's Local Music: Voices of Music
If you’re one of those people who enjoy “The Oldies” – and we mean really OLD “Oldies” -- then you may want to hear Voices of Music from San Francisco. This Early Music ensemble plays renaissance and baroque music written prior to 1800. They have two concerts nearby this week. On Saturday, October 13th, they’re at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco at 8pm. Then on Sunday, October 14th, you can hear them at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, beginning at 7:30pm.
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The evolution of the Presidio
The Presidio, where the Golden Gate Bridge meets San Francisco, combines beautiful nature with rich historical heritage. The 1,500 acres are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and are managed by the Presidio Trust which was established by Congress in 1996 when the US Army left the space.Visitors can explore many hiking trails, campsite and play at the golf course. They can also visit restaurants and cafes, and even a spa. Approximately 8,000 people live, work, or attend school...
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Arab Film Festival: Private Sun sheds light on being a...
This weekend marks the Arab Film Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 40 films showing this year from all over the Arab world.The Palestinian short film Private Sun deals with the ironic reality of being Vitamin D deficient in a sun-drenched country like Palestine. It’s increasingly a problem among the country’s women, many of whom cover their bodies in public.The film follows the story of the quiet Mariam, who lives in a poor Bethlehem neighborhood with her husband, their son, and...
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Crosscurrents: October 9, 2012
The 38 Percent: The Latino vote in California; the story of the Presidio; being Vitamin D deficient in a sun-drenched country; and local group the Justin Ancheta Band.
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The 38 Percent: The Latino vote in California
The latest census numbers say that Latinos make of 38 percent of California’s population, a voting bloc to be reckoned with on issues like domestic workers, farm labor, and immigration. Latino San Francisco Supervisors Avalos, Campos, and Olague are up for reelection in Latino-majority districts.KALW’s Hana Baba spoke with Marcos Gutierrez, host of the show "Hecho en California" on KIQI 1010 AM based in Daly City, about the Latino vote in California.Click the player above to listen to the...
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Today’s Local Music : Justin Ancheta Band
Today, we are featuring Justin Ancheta Band from San Francisco. They say you’re likely to be doing more than tapping your toes when you hear their reggae-influenced rock. You might even be humming one of their tunes on your way home. Find out for yourself if this is true on Saturday October 13th, when the band performs at a benefit for the Environmental Forum of Marin in Corte Madera. Music starts about 5pm.
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Crosscurrents: October 4, 2012
Oakland limits the public from attending city council meetings, Republicans in San Francisco react to the first presidential debate, reporter Melissa griffin files a report from the Denver on the presidential debate, the Mill Valley Film Festival, paying for a stranger's meal at Berkeley's Karma Kitchen, and local musicians The Dunes.
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Republicans in San Francisco excited about the first...
It's almost six o'clock in the evening and people are slowly gathering at a lawyer's office in the Mission District to watch the first Presidential candidate debate. The host of the party is longtime San Francisco Republican Leonard Lacayo. He’s greeting everyone at the door. Inside, right next to the entrance, there is a small sign indicating that this is the Ronald Reagan Building.Inside, the TV is tuned to Fox News. As Lacayo turns up the volume, several dozen attendees of mostly Hispanic...
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Oakland City Council enacts controversial public seating...
On September 18th, an incident cut short an Oakland City Council meeting (see what happened in the video below).http://vimeo.com/49788771People were chanting and booing the Councilmembers in protest of how the Oakland Police dealt with the shooting of Alan Blueford. Blueford is an East Oakland resident and student of Skyline High School, and was fatally shot last May by a policeman. The disruption led to a decision by Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana to prohibit the public from...
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The Sharing Economy: Lunch with a Side of Karma
Snappy’s Cafe in Hayward is usually a good place to grab a quick cup of coffee, or maybe a pastry before heading to work. Either could run you anywhere from a $1.50 to $3. But on the third Sunday of every month, Snappy’s transforms.Today, the menu consists of refreshing coconut juice, a South Indian snack called idli, and eggplant chutney. It’s all provided by a local Indian caterer and served by volunteers. Shruti Hegde is one of them, and she treats people as if she were in her own living...
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Rwanda documentary comes to Mill Valley Film Festival
Tonight is opening night for the Mill Valley Film Festival: the biggest Bay Area film fest of the year. Among the films showing is Sweet Dreams, the story of a group of Rwandan women who found community and support after the 1994 Rwandan genocide by coming together as a drum troupe. The film was codirected, coedited, and coproduced by Rob Fruchtman and his sister: Berkeley resident Lisa Fruchtman. KALW’s Ben Trefny spoke with Lisa Fruchtman about the making of Sweet Dreams.Audio for this...
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Web Exclusive: Bay Area director on working with Francis...
Sweet Dreams is a documentary that tells the story of a group of Rwandan women who coped with the 1994 Rwandan genocide in part by coming together as a drum troupe. The film was codirected, coedited, and coproduced by Rob Fruchtman and his sister, Berkeley resident Lisa Fruchtman. She worked as an editor on The Godfather II and III and Apocolypse Now, and won an academy award for editing the feature film The Right Stuff. In this web exclusive, KALW’s Ben Trefny spoke with Lisa Fruchtman...
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Crosscurrents: October 3, 2012
KALW's Nancy Mullane goes behind the scenes at Pelican Bay State Prison and into the Security Housing Unit there, a place journalists have been denied access to for years.
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Elections 2012: the South Asian vote
We continue the joint series with our friends at New America Media discussing the issues that various Bay Area ethnic communities care about this election year, and where they stand on local issues. Every Tuesday until election day, we’ll be speaking with representatives from local ethnic media to hear about what’s important to their audiences.The South Bay has one of the largest South Asian populations in the country. Some of them have gone on to high public office, like Attorney General...
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Hear Here: Take part in an Ethiopian coffee ceremony...
Our Hear Here team has been interviewing people in libraries throughout San Francisco and Oakland about their lives and memories. Now they want to know about the places that make those memories what they are. They’re asking a simple question: what’s a place in your neighborhood that matters to you, and why?Here’s how one person responded: “My name is Guenet Sebsibe and a significant place in my neighborhood is my friend Mame’s hair salon.”Guenet Sebsibe iss originally from Ethiopia, and the...
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The key to San Francisco opens the heart of visiting...
At a time when Americans are increasingly preoccupied with our own upcoming elections, some of San Francisco’s expatriates recently had a chance to hear from a political fighter of their own. Burmese opposition leader and Nobel prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi visited San Francisco at the end of last week. Suu Kyi, who spent fifteen years under house arrest for her political activities in Burma, received the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent last Friday. On Saturday Mayor Ed Lee...
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Chew on This: Community service on the street level
Many of us wonder what we can do for the communities we live in. Sometimes we feel alienated, even from our neighbors, and just want to connect. Other times, we come together for the sake of safety. We join a neighborhood watch, or pay a visit to city hall. In this next story, we meet three residents of West Oakland who are finding new ways to clean up their communities -- literally. Reporter Charlie Mintz has the story from “Chew on This,” a new project coming to KALW this fall.I’m driving...
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Squeezebox Stories: Vince Cirelli, accordion repairman
The accordion has been recognized as the San Francisco’s official instrument. Back in the early part of the 20th century, San Francisco’s North Beach was a Mecca of accordion building (and playing) in the United States.Vince Cirelli was an Italian American accordion repairman in his 90s, and Skyler Fell, a woman in her early 30s, was his apprentice. Tattooed, pierced, and part of the “steam punk,” DIY, Burning Man scenes, Fell now owns her own accordion repair shop in San Francisco, where...
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Crosscurrents: October 2, 2012
The key to San Francisco opens the heart of visiting Nobel Laureate; Elections 2012: the South Asian vote; Chew on This: Community service on the street level; Squeezebox Stories: Remembering Vince Cirelli; Hear Here: The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony; and local group The Sierra Ensemble.To subscribe to the Crosscurrents podcast in iTunes, click here. To use another podcasting tool, click here.
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Today's Local Music: Sierra Ensemble
Today we're featuring the Sierra Ensemble, a trio of violin, horn and piano. They’ve titled their upcoming concert “From the Bosphorus to the Bay,” because they’ll be performing a world premiere by a Turkish composer, as well as the San Francisco premiere of another piece – and more.You can hear them this Friday, October 5th,at The Old First Church on Sacramento Street in San Francisco, starting at 8 pm.
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Today's Local Music: Sierra Ensemble
Today we are featuring the Sierra Ensemble, a trio of violin, horn and piano. They have titled their upcoming concert “From the Bosphorus to the Bay,” because they’ll be performing a world premiere by a Turkish composer, as well as the San Francisco premiere of another piece, among others.You can hear them this Friday, October5th, at The Old First Church on Sacramento Streetin San Francisco, starting at 8 pm.
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