KQED's Forum

Laila Lalami’s new novel, “The Dream Hotel,” imagines a dystopian future where even our dreams are under surveillance. AI tools can scan our dreams to determine whether we’re likely to commit a crime, then we’re sent away to so-called “retention centers” to be monitored in the name of “safety.” Mina sat down with Lalami in April at Night of Ideas in San Francisco to talk about the timeliness and inspiration behind her story about a Los Angeles mother, caught in a web of government surveillance, detainment without charges and AI tools. We’ll hear that conversation. Guest: Laila Lalami, author of the new novel, "The Dream Hotel;" she’s the author of five other books including "The Moor’s Account" and "The Other Americans" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For seasoned and beginner bakers alike, there are always new techniques to learn when it comes to baking that perfect chocolate chip cookie or pie crust. Cookbook author and recipe developer Jessica Battilana shares what common mistakes bakers make, her key tips and tricks for successful baking, and why baking is bringing much-needed joy for so many people right now. Guest: Jessica Battilana, co-author, "Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California." Battilana is also a staff editor at King Arthur Baking. Her new podcast is "Things Bakers Know." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do California drivers often get to keep a valid license, even after they kill someone on the road? A new CalMatters investigation studied tens of thousands of DMV driver reports and found that nearly 40 percent of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 are able to drive on the road today. Nearly 400 of those drivers have caused other collisions since their first fatal crash. We’ll talk to the reporter behind the investigation and a road safety expert about the DMV protocols and state policies at play. And want to hear from you: When should someone lose their driver’s license? Guests: Robert Lewis, reporter, CalMatters; author, CalMatters investigation "License to Kill" Leah Shahum, founder and executive director, Vision Zero Network; former executive director, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the past several weeks a 45-foot tall wire sculpture of a nude woman has loomed over San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. “R-Evolution,” which first appeared at Burning Man in 2015, has gotten a very mixed reception, sparking controversy in the city over who public art is for and who gets a say. We’ll talk about how public art gets selected, how it illuminates the different relationships people have with shared urban spaces, and why private funding is complicating it all. Guests: Sarah Hotchkiss, senior associate editor, KQED Arts and Culture Cheryl Derricotte, artist Lynne Baer, public art advisor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured South Vietnam’s capital of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. With 50 years now passed, those who left Vietnam — and subsequent generations — are reflecting on how the war and the ensuing exodus have influenced their identities and heritage. Three writers from across the Vietnamese diaspora write about the war and its lasting impacts on refugees and future generations in a new issue of the literary magazine McSweeney’s, titled “The Make Believers.” They join us to share what the anniversary means for them, and we’ll hear what it means to you. Guests: Thi Bui, author, illustrated memoir "The Best We Could Do" Doan Bui, writer and journalist Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, executive director, Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump has given Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency far-reaching authority to fire federal workers without cause and gain access to the confidential information of millions of Americans. The effect has been a wide-scale bulldozing of the federal government. In looking back on the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, we talk with reporters from Wired magazine, who have broken some of the biggest stories on what DOGE is doing, about what is going on and why. Guests: Makena Kelly, politics reporter, WIRED Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry, WIRED; She oversees coverage of business and Silicon Valley. author, "Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter." Vittoria Elliott, platforms and power reporter, Wired Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How have you been affected by Trump’s first 100 days in office? Whether you rushed to buy a car before the tariffs set in, changed your travel plans or cut out caffeine, we want to hear how the Trump administration has affected your daily life. Have your community, job or finances been impacted? Tell us how, as well as how you’re managing — and how you’re thinking about your approach to the next 3.5 years. Guests: Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist, The Washington Post; she writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column "The Color of Money" Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown Dr. Jocelyn Sze, psychologist and clinical professor at UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Autism spectrum disorder can be found in 2.2% of the population, but for women and girls, as well as many adults, autism is a diagnosis that is often missed. We look into who is underdiagnosed and why — and how our conceptions of autism and neurodivergence are changing. As Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. portrays autism as a “tragedy,” we’ll talk about ways in which many people with autism are living and thriving. Guests: Mary HK Choi, author and editor, she recently wrote The Cut article "I Was Diagnosed With Autism in My 40s. It Gave Me a Lot of Answers." Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief, Science family of journals; Thorp is the former provost of Washington University and prior to that was chancellor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His recent guest essay in the New York Times is titled "I Was Diagnosed with Autism at 53. I Know Why Rates Are Rising." Christine Wu Nordahl, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis; Nordahl is the Director of the Autism Phenome Project and the Beneto Foundation Endowed Chair at the MIND Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kathy Ryan was the longtime director of photography at the New York Times Magazine. For nearly four decades, Ryan shaped the way we witnessed history: January 6th, wars abroad and the impacts of COVID-19 and 9/11 We’ll talk with Ryan about storytelling through images. And we’ll discuss what makes a good photograph when we’re inundated by them, now that so many of us carry a camera in our pockets. We want to hear from you: What’s a photograph that stands out in your mind? Guests: Kathy Ryan, former director of photography, The New York Times Magazine; keynote speaker and co-curator of the 2025 Catchlight Visual Storytelling Summit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Trump targeted the Smithsonian, demanding that “improper ideology” be removed from exhibits. Under the order, exhibits that “divide” Americans will be defunded, including portrayals of race and its history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We talk to Clint Smith, Atlantic staff writer and author of “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” about the battle over how American history is told. Guests: Clint Smith, poet; author; staff writer, The Atlantic. His books are "Above Ground" and "How the Word is Passed." Key Jo Lee, chief of curatorial affairs and public program, Museum of the African Diaspora Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Funeral rites are underway for Pope Francis, who died this week at age 88 after leading the Roman Catholic Church for 12 years. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are expected to attend the papal funeral in Vatican City on Saturday, including cardinals from around the world. Many of these cardinals will then begin the process of electing the next pope. Before the white smoke is released, we’ll look at the conclave process and examine who might succeed Pope Francis — and whether he’ll continue Francis’s legacy of environmentalism, openness and compassion. Guests: Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, chair of philosophy of science and director, the Institute of Social and Political Sciences at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome; former coordinator of Ecology and Creation at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development Jeffrey Guhin, associate professor of sociology, UCLA Bry Jensen, Host of the long-running Pontifacts podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caregiving is the most universal of human acts. But also one of the most invisible. While caring for a child, parent or loved one can be meaningful, and life defining, it can also be exhausting and life breaking. Drawing on her groundbreaking research on baby’s brains, UC Berkeley psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik is leading a multidisciplinary project to better understand the social science of caregiving with hopes of translating those insights into practical policies. Gopnik and policymaker Anne-Marie Slaughter join us to talk about how rethinking our approach to caregiving and how we support care providers, could lead to a better, more functional society. Guests: Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy, UC Berkeley; author, "The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children" Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, a non-profit think tank; author of "Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the United States in the talked-about and feared constitutional crisis? President Trump and his administration are increasingly ignoring federal court rulings on issues like immigration and funding. Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer calls the president’s defiance “a new step into presidential lawlessness.” We talk with Serwer and Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern about what this means for the balance of power in Washington and for democracy. Guests: Adam Serwer, staff writer, The Atlantic Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, president, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; previously a justice on the California Supreme Court Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer, Slate Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ellis Island might have been a welcoming place for many immigrants to the United States, but Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay tells a more troubling history of immigrant detention. Starting next month, the Oakland Ballet will premiere “Angel Island Project,” a dance production highlighting the stories of immigrants, primarily from China, who were detained there in the early 20th century. As part of KQED’s annual Youth Takeover, high school students Nico and Maite bring together choreographers and a local historian to talk about the project and the lessons that histories of immigration can teach us today. Guests: Graham Lustig, artistic director, Angel Island Project and Oakland Ballet Company Phil Chan, choreographer, Angel Island Project - co-founder, Final Bow for Yellowface Ye Feng, dancer and choreographer, Angel Island Project Ed Tepporn, executive director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation Nico Fischer, Youth Advisory Board member; senior, Santa Clara High School Maite del Real, Youth Advisory Board member; junior, Ruth Asawa SF School of the Arts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Overturning Roe v. Wade was never the end goal of the anti-abortion movement, says UC Davis law professor and leading abortion historian Mary Ziegler. It was always to establish personhood for a fertilized egg, subject to equal protection under the Constitution. Should the “fetal personhood” movement succeed, then providing, assisting and even obtaining an abortion could be criminal acts. Ziegler joins us to break down the fetal personhood movement’s legal strategy — and what it could mean for abortion access, contraception and in vitro fertilization. Ziegler’s new book is “Personhood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction.” Guests: Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than a thousand international college students – scores of them in California – have had their visas terminated without explanation under new Trump administration policies. We’ll talk about what the administration’s targeting of international students and threatened withdrawals of federal funding mean for California students and schools, and how Universities and colleges are responding. Guests: Molly Gibbs, Bay Area News Group education reporter, East Bay Times Doug Belkins, higher education and national news reporter, The Wall Street Journal Aarya Mukherjee, deputy news editor, The Daily Californian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We often take our muscles for granted, rarely stopping to consider just how complex and essential they are. From the powerful beat of our hearts to the tiny fibers that raise goosebumps, our muscles do far more than we realize. They don’t just follow instructions from the brain — they send signals back and even hold their own kind of memory. In her new book “On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters,” journalist and author Bonnie Tsui offers a new way of looking at muscles, in terms of both their physicality and cultural significance. She joins us to discuss how reconsidering muscles can allow us to find deeper meaning in our understanding of strength, beauty and what it means to be human. Guests: Bonnie Tsui, author and journalist, her latest book is "On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s intensely polarized climate, political conversations can quickly devolve into heated arguments. But a process called deliberative democracy has found success convening people from across the political spectrum for informed, reasoned dialogue on contentious issues. As part of KQED’s Youth Takeover week, high school students Ryan Heshmati and Anaya Ertz bring together the head of Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab with people who have brought deliberative techniques to local government to discuss how we can put dialogue and reason at the center of decision-making. Guests: Ryan Heshmati, senior, Saratoga High School Anaya Ertz, junior, Marin Academy James Fishkin, professor of international communication, Stanford University; director, Deliberative Democracy Lab Claudia Chwalisz, founder and CEO, DemocracyNext Rahmin Sarabi, founder and director, American Public Trust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of President Trump’s first policies in office — including removing Temporary Protected Status for migrants, walking back climate protections and denying trans personhood — were laid out and published back in April 2023, in the Heritage Foundation’s playbook Project 2025. “Project 2025 envisions an America where abortion is strictly illegal, sex is closely policed, public schools don’t exist, and justice is harsh,” writes Atlantic staff writer David A. Graham in his new book, “The Project.” In it, he analyzes the nearly thousand-page blueprint to make sense of what we’ve seen from Trump – and what could be ahead. He joins us to share what it all could mean for our democracy. Guests: David Graham, staff writer, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of our series looking back on how the pandemic changed us, 5 years on, we examine the way we work. From working remotely to handling childcare needs to coping with being an essential worker, Covid forced innovations and exposed fault lines in the nation’s employment structure. We’ll talk about what we learned and we hear from you: How did the pandemic change how you do your job and think about work? Guests: Nicholas A Bloom, professor of economics, Stanford University — senior fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Joan Williams, former professor of law, UC Law School San Francisco, and the founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law; UC Hastings College of the Law - author of White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America and the forthcoming title, "Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices