KQED's Forum

The story of reggaeton music is layered and complex, and, according to reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen, “the real story of reggaeton is about la resistencia. Resistance.” Queen is also the narrator of the new podcast “Loud” by Spotify and Futuro Studios, which gives reggaeton the documentary treatment and explores its nuances. “Loud” journeys through reggaeton’s origins in Jamaican dancehall to Panamanian reggae in español to “las calles” of Puerto Rico to New York and beyond. Once criminalized in Puerto Rico in the ‘90s and early aughts, reggaeton is now one of the most popular genres in the world -- reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny was Spotify’s most-streamed artist in 2020. We’ll take a critical look at reggaeton’s origins and evolution, from its dancehall roots to the massive pop presence it has today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"For thousands of years, time has been harnessed, politicized and weaponized," writes technology historian and horologist David Rooney in his new book, "About Time." Rooney examines a dozen timekeepers from sundials and hourglasses to the atomic clocks on satellites that create GPS. In doing so, he traces time's role in shaping civilization, pushing against perceptions of clocks objectivity and analyzing the utilization of time in accumulating and maintaining power. The son of a clockmaker and former curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, Rooney joins us to discuss the power of clocks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outside the gates of the Kabul airport, thousands of Afghans seeking to flee the country camp along the access road, which is now blocked by the Taliban. Scenes like this have Afghan-Americans anxiously watching the news and waiting to hear from loved ones. Northern California is home to the largest Afghan diaspora in the country. As Afghanistan reels from the takeover by the Taliban, we talk to community members about how they are taking in the quickly shifting news and their work to prepare for the growing refugee crisis.How you can help: NPR: The Simple Steps You Can Take to Help Afghan Refugees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 20 million California voters are receiving mail-in ballots now for the Sept. 14 gubernatorial recall election. Voters will be asked only two questions: whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom and, if he is recalled, who should be the new governor. Even for a state that leans blue, most polling shows voters are split over whether or not to remove Newsom. We'll talk with KQED's politics team to break down when to vote, the candidates on the ballot and why participation in this election is so important. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When asked to name some of the Bay Area’s signature foods, many would jump to name Mission burritos, It’s-It ice cream sandwiches or — especially for tourists visiting San Francisco piers — clam chowder. KQED food editor Luke Tsai is adding another food to that list: garlic noodles. “Here in the Bay Area, Asian Americans love garlic noodles. Black and Latino folks love garlic noodles. Indeed, once you start looking for garlic noodles, it seems, you find them everywhere,” Tsai writes in his recent article. So what’s behind the love for this dish born in San Francisco’s Vietnamese community? We’ll talk to Tsai about how garlic noodles became one of the Bay Area’s most iconic foods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A 2018 analysis by the Center for American Progress estimates that state colleges allocate more than $1,000 less per year for Black and Latinx students than white students. Americas colleges and universities have a dirty open secret: they have never given Black people an equal chance to succeed, writes Atlantic staff writer Adam Harris in his new book, The State Must Provide. Harris traces the laws and practices that established racial inequality and segregation in higher education back to slave codes through Plessy v. Ferguson and the overturning of affirmative action policies. He joins us to discuss this history of racial exclusion and segregation and his argument that financial support of historically Black colleges and universities could act as a form of reparations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have spent much of my journalism career bearing witness to the human cost of climate change, writes Lizzie Johnson in her new book, "Paradise: One Towns Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire." Nearly three years after the Camp Fire decimated the town of Paradise, taking 85 lives and razing 90 percent of its homes, Johnson weaves together its human impact, building from her San Francisco Chronicle reporting and an estimated 500 interviews. In Paradise, she writes of an ambulance holding a premature newborn and his IV-attached mother, a school bus driver maneuvering to save his passengers and other narratives of attempting survival against a blaze engulfing distances greater than a football field each second. Johnson joins us to share Paradises stories and what they foretell in the face of climate inaction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area saw some of the biggest increases in people signing up for food stamps during the pandemic. Home to the highest income inequality in California, the Bay Area’s hunger problem has been an issue of growing concern since well before COVID-19. The Biden administration announced Monday that it will approve the largest permanent increase in food assistance in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Yet the Bay Area’s cost of living may mean that increase is only a drop in the bucket. We talk with researchers and advocates about the unique landscape of food insecurity in the Bay Area and how they’re addressing the problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With breathtaking speed, the Taliban have regained control of Afghanistan for the first time since American military forces drove them out 20 years ago. Collapse of the U.S.-backed government triggered panic in Kabul,with many questions about what comes next as the Taliban takes over. We'll talk with Afghan-Americans in California about how they're reacting to the news and we'll look back at the past decades of American military involvement to ask how intelligence so badly underestimated the strength of the Taliban and overestimated the stability of the Afghan government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alameda school board member Mia Bonta and attorney Janani Ramachandran are vying to represent East Bay Assembly District 18 and succeed Bonta's husband, Rob Bonta, who resigned to become the California attorney general. A special runoff election on Aug. 31 will determine who will become the next representative for the district, which covers West Oakland to San Leandro. We talk with the candidates to get their views on housing supply, criminal justice reform and more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices