KQED's Forum

President Biden called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “unacceptable” during a call last week with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said an immediate ceasefire was essential to protect innocent civilians, according to a White House statement. But the White House also reaffirmed its support for Israel and has not slowed military aid, approving new bomb shipments on the day that Israeli forces struck Gaza aid workers, killing seven. Meanwhile Biden faces mounting pressure from progressive and some mainstream Democrats who are asking for an immediate halt to weapons transfers, and from some voters who say they’ll withhold support for him in the November election unless he changes course. We’ll talk about the Biden Administration’s Israel policy and how it’s evolving. Guests:Erica L. Green, White House correspondent, The New York TimesYasmeen Abutaleb, White House reporter, The Washington PostAlex Ward, national security reporter, Politico; author, “The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy after Trump” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Anne Lamott discusses love, grief, joy, and anger in her new book. She explores the messy aspects of love in life. Lamott reflects on her personal experiences and the inspiration behind her writing. Listeners share stories of meeting Lamott and finding solace in her work.

Reversing pandemic-era admission policies, more universities, including MIT, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown, are again requiring that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores. Research has shown that high scores on the tests are a good predictor of college success, and proponents say that the tests are a more equitable metric than a student’s GPA. In California, public colleges – including the UCs and Cal State schools – remain “test blind” and will not consider a student’s scores, even if submitted. We’ll look at arguments on both sides and get tips for prospective students who are navigating testing issues. Would you like to see the SAT and ACT come back in California? Do you think the tests helped or hurt your college application?Guests:Anna Esaki-Smith, author, “Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know;" co-founder, Education Rethink; contributor, ForbesJeff Selingo, author, "Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions," "There is Life After College" and "College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students"Eddie Comeaux, professor and associate dean of graduate education, University of California Riverside Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” pays tribute to country music’s greats while reflecting on her own connection to the genre. As she sings on the opening track, “Used to say I spoke ‘too country’ / And the rejection came, said I wasn’t country ‘nough.” That rejection reflects the gatekeeping that’s long plagued country music – gatekeeping that determines who gets to be American and whose ‘country’ it is, says Alice Randall, a songwriter, author and Vanderbilt professor. Randall was the first Black woman to write a No. 1 country hit, and her new book “My Black Country” weaves memoir with the history and impact of Black artists in the genre. We’ll learn that history and Randall’s place in it — and listen to country music from DeFord Bailey, Linda Martell and, of course, Beyoncé.Guests:Alice Randall, Country songwriter and professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and writer-in-residence, Vanderbilt University - author, “My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the performing arts world, comedian Kristina Wong found herself adrift. But dozens of frantic calls and one Facebook group later, she was overseeing a network of volunteers – the Auntie Sewing Squad – that churned out hundreds of thousands of homemade masks for those in need. The acts of service and communal care she guided and found are the inspiration for her one woman play “Kristina Wong: Sweatshop Overlord.” We’ll talk with Wong about crafting, community, social justice and the comedy show that brings them all together.Guests:Kristina Wong, comedian and performance artist - she's a Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim Fellow and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. Her one woman show "Kristina Wong: Sweatshop Overlord" is playing now through May 5th at The Strand in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you think of a seven-letter word for “complex character?” If your mind flows to “Oedipus,” you’re probably comfortable among the wonderful, nerdy world of crossword puzzle fanatics. Anna Shechtman has been making crosswords since she was 15, drawn to the idea that through riddles and puns a puzzle constructor can access “something foundational about language — a quasi mathematical code that could be rearranged and manipulated through brain power alone.” We talk to Shechtman, who now creates puzzles for the New Yorker, about the art, politics and history of crossword making. Her new book is “The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle.”Guests:Anna Shechtman, author, "The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle"; assistant professor, Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Traveling across one of the bay’s many bridges, it’s normal to see a massive container ship heading to port or back out to sea. The recent crash of a cargo vessel into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge, an accident which killed six people and spilled thousands of gallons of oil, might lead you to ask: could that happen here? For example, in 2007, a container ship hit a Bay Bridge tower, which spurred the adaptation of improved safety systems. We’ll talk to maritime experts about our waterways and the safety protocols we have in place to prevent and react to disasters.Guests:Scott Humphrey, executive director of the Marine Exchange San Francisco Bay Area Region; chairman of the San Francisco Harbor Safety CommitteeCaptain Taylor Lam, captain of the Port for Northern California, US Coast GuardTony Munoz, publisher and editor in chief of The Maritime Executive Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The specter of the opioid epidemic has shadowed life in California for nearly three decades, and opioid deaths in the state are rising precipitously. Physicians have long advocated the use of life-saving opioid medications methadone and buprenorphine to treat addiction. Despite methadone’s proven effectiveness, access to the drug has been blocked across the health care system – and California is among the most restrictive states in the nation. This week, new federal regulations take effect that could expand access to methadone treatment. STAT addiction reporter Lev Facher examined access to these medications in a recent investigation titled “The War on Recovery.” We’ll talk about what this shift at the national level means for addiction treatment in California. And we’ll hear from you: Has access to methadone had an impact on your life or recovery?Guests:Lev Facher, addiction reporter, STAT NewsLeslie Suen, physician and researcher, University of California San FranciscoJordan Scott, disabled drug user in recovery; organizing coordinator, Pennsylvania Harm Reduction network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do monkeys belly flop, elephants mud-slide and rats play-fight? In his new book, “Kingdom of Play,” science writer and professor David Toomey set out to answer these questions. It’s an area of study that hasn’t gotten much attention, and Toomey dives into animal behavioral research looking at the neuroscience, and even dream study, behind it all. We’ll talk to Toomey and learn about what animal play can tell us about our own human behavior. And we hear from you: What animal play have you observed and have had questions about?Guests:David Toomey, author, “Kingdom of Play: What Ball-bouncing Octopuses, Belly-flopping Monkeys, and Mud-sliding Elephants Reveal about Life Itself"; english professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst - his other books include “Weird Life” and “The New Time Travelers.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California State Prison, Sacramento – also known as New Folsom Prison – is considered one of the state’s most dangerous. It’s one of several facilities in California that house the most violent offenders, and corrections officers there use force at a rate that’s nearly 40% higher than in other prisons. It’s also a notoriously difficult environment for prison workers, who face high rates of work-related mental health issues, as well as hazing and abuse if they report official misconduct. A new season of KQED’s award- winning podcast “On Our Watch” looks at the pattern of abuse, cover-up and corruption at New Folsom and traces the stories of whistleblowers who tried to bring it to light. We learn more from the KQED reporters behind the investigation.Guests:Julie Small, criminal justice reporter, KQED; reporter, "On Our Watch"Sukey Lewis, criminal justice reporter, KQED; host/reporter, “On Our Watch”; co-founder, the California Reporting ProjectValentino Rodriguez Sr., father of Valentino Rodriguez Jr. - a whistleblower who worked at New Folsom Prison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices