KQED's Forum

The Dixie Fire, which has ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres in Northern California and leveled the town of Greenville, has become the second largest fire in state history. Of the ten fires with the widest acreage devastation in recorded California history, seven have taken place in the past three years. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou, Nevada and Plumas Counties. We provide the latest updates on Northern California’s fires, how the state is responding and what lies ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists project that Bay Area sea levels are likely to rise as much as seven feet by the end of this century, directly affecting the millions of people in homes and commercial spaces along the water. In response, cities across the region are grappling with how to afford the cost of defending their shorelines.  As Facebook and Google’s tech campuses expand even further into these vulnerable areas, calls are growing for the tech industry to provide more funding for building defenses. We discuss who should pay to protect Bay Area land from rising seas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deadlines inspire a range of reactions. For some, blood runs cold at the mere mention. Others claim their best work comes about when running against the clock — or they so they say as they procrastinate into the night. And still for others, a due date is a mere suggestion. We’ll explore the psychology that shapes our attitudes toward deadlines, as well as how industries focused on maximizing time and productivity can make matters worse for everyone. We want to hear how you tackle deadlines — just don’t wait until the last minute to tell us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Oakland Museum of California’s new exhibition “Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism,” artists of all mediums imagine the world through a Black cultural lens. As such, “Afrofuturism” is represented in many different visuals, sounds and ideas throughout the exhibition, with one striking quote printed on a wall stating, “In Afrofuturism, science, magic, and the divine feminine are interconnected.” And for fans of funk group Parliament, you can even be “beamed up” by a replica of the mothership that was a mainstay of their live performances. We’ll talk with the show’s curators and one of the participating artists about the exhibition, which highlights author Octavia E. Butler, jazz musician Sun Ra, filmmaker Khalil Joseph and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A tocsin that Americans then chose to ignore, its warnings remain strikingly relevant today." That's how New Yorker staff Jelani Cobb writer characterizes the landmark 1968 Kerner Commission report that analyzed the systemic racism that led to a dozen urban uprisings between 1964 and 1967. We'll talk to Cobb about "The Essential Kerner Commission Report" which re-examines and re-contextualizes its recommendations in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police. And we'll talk to Cobb about his new HBO documentary series "Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union" and how the former president shaped our national discourse on race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Courtney Martin thought long and hard about where to send her budding kindergartener to school, deciding between private school or the neighborhood public school designated as “failing” by its test scores. The Oakland-based writer chronicles the experience in her new book, “Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America From My Daughter’s School.” In choosing to send her white child to a majority-Black school, Martin comes to better understand the racial segregation still present within U.S. schools, and she analyzes why so many self-described progressive white parents still favor private schools. Martin joins us to share her thoughts on why supporting public education benefits us all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Postpartum depression is not just the province of women. According to studies, about ten percent of men in the United States experience paternal postpartum depression during the first year of their baby's life. That depression can be expressed as irritability, anger and substance abuse, but it often goes undiagnosed. We talk about the latest research on paternal postpartum depression, the stigma associated with it and how to encourage fathers to seek support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janice Mirikitani, a beloved local icon who was San Francisco's second poet laureate and a co-founder of GLIDE, died last week at the age of 80. Known equally for her poetry and her fierce advocacy on behalf of San Francisco's most vulnerable residents, Mirikitani played a pivotal role in shaping the community and work of Glide Memorial Church, alongside her husband Cecil Williams. As a poet, she poignantly blended her art and activism, publishing four books including "Shedding Silence" and "We, The Dangerous." Mirikitani believed in "caring dangerously" saying in a talk at Glide Memorial Church in 2014 that "caring dangerously means that you dare to take the risk to open yourself up to somebody else." We'll reflect on the life and legacy of Janice Mirikitani. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 344 people died from accidental overdoses in San Francisco between January and June this year, according to the city’s chief medical examiner. Most of these overdoses involved fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that acts more quickly than heroin and is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl also caused the majority of 2020’s 710 overdose deaths. On Monday, San Francisco launched its Street Overdose Response Team, which provides resources and follow-up services for overdose survivors; the city also plans to allocate $13.2 million to additional overdose prevention efforts. We’ll talk about San Francisco’s response to the overdose crisis as well as its root causes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Right now,” writes Shugri Said Salh at the outset of her new memoir, “I should be married to an old nomadic man, leading a nasty-tempered camel through the desert in search of water.” That’s if war and family circumstances had not wrested Salh from her nomadic childhood in the Somali desert, sending her on a migratory journey that ended in Northern California. We’ll talk to Salh about her life’s arc as a goat herder, a refugee and a suburban mother of three -- and how her early nomadic years inform her daily life now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices