KQED's Forum

With new evidence that the delta variant of COVID-19 is highly contagious and spreads as easily as chickenpox, questions and concerns are being raised by parents with children under 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccination. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control still recommend in-person learning for the return to school this fall, with both recommending all children over age 2 wear masks at school, regardless of vaccination status. We’ll speak with infectious disease expert Dr. Yvonne Maldonado about the latest on how the delta variant affects children and what precautions parents can take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the front lines of California’s raging wildfires, teams of incarcerated men and women work alongside free-world crews to stop our state’s increasingly dangerous forest fires. They make a fraction of the pay to confront the same dangers and show the same bravery. In a new book, Breathing Fire, Jaime Lowe paints a deep portrait of one group of incarcerated women firefighters, delving into how they got to prison, the dangerous work they do to get themselves out, and what happens when the fires end, and they’re back out in the world. We’ll talk with Lowe and two of the firefighters she chronicles in the book about life, inside and out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For more than 100 years, the U.S. government forcibly relocated tens of thousands of Native American children to boarding schools under a federal assimilation program meant to suppress their languages, beliefs and identities. Historians estimate that by the early 20th century, more than three-quarters of all Native children attended one of more than 350 re-education schools, including an estimated 10 in California. In June, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to investigate the loss of life, abuse and generational trauma associated with the schools. We’ll talk about the painful legacy of indigenous boarding schools in California and nationally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last fall, in search of a way to cope with his grief over the death of his fiancée eight years prior, Joshua Barbeau used artificial intelligence software to program a chatbot to simulate his fiancée, based on old texts she’d sent him. Barbeau told the San Francisco Chronicle that his conversations with the A.I. bot allowed him to feel a sense of closure and to better handle his grief. Barbeau isn’t the first to chat with digital imitations of lost loved ones, and as A.I software improves, he’s not likely to be the last. It’s all spawning ethics concerns and broader conversations around grief itself. We’ll talk about postmortem A.I. ethics and how A.I. might impact our mourning processes in the years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcasts are booming, and it’s hard work to choose among the more than 2 million titles now available on popular streaming services like Spotify and iTunes. Whether your tastes veer toward pop culture, true crime or narrative storytelling, we want to hear from you. What’s the podcast you can’t stop telling your friends about? What do you look for in a podcast? We’ll hear your top picks and get recommendations from a panel of critics and podcasters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Thursday, U.S. gymnast Sunisa Lee won all-around gold as fellow gymnast and defending champion Simone Biles celebrated in the stands following her withdrawal from the event earlier this week. We’ll catch up on the big news--and the controversies around women’s uniforms and athlete mental health--in the first big week of the Olympics. And we hear how the Olympians with Bay Area ties are faring, including in mountain biking, softball, and swimming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"It is 2020 and the City of Flint Says, / 'Don't boil the water' / And I refuse to drink a single drop / from any tap or bottle now. I've stopped / bathing completely, waiting for rain to slick / my skin back on. So begins Jonah Mixon-Webster's poem "Incubation," featured in his debut poetry collection, Stereo(TYPE). Initially published by Ahsahta Press in 2018 and re-published by Knopf Doubleday this month, "Stereo(TYPE)" describes Mixon-Webster's experiences and traumas endured as a Black queer man and criticizes the governmental neglect and treatment of his hometown, Flint, Michigan. In poems that vary in form and use words that overlap and span pages, balancing harshness with tenderness, Mixon-Webster's poetry collection explores what it means to tell one's story - and the story of one's community - through experiments in language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new poll by UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies shows that among likely voters, 47% favor the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, and 50% oppose. While the referendum date is September 14th, mail-in voting starts next month and campaigning for and against the proposal is heating up across the state. We look at where the recall currently stands and how voter turnout might affect the outcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a difference between feeling alone and being lonely? This is one of the questions that propelled author Kristen Radtke to write "Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness." Evocative yet spare illustrations by Radtke propel her search to understand the biological underpinnings of loneliness, the research around it and the ways in which it is expressed and handled in American culture. A combination of graphic nonfiction and memoir, "Seek You" moves beyond Radtke's own story to look at loneliness through multiple lenses. We talk to Radtke to learn more about what it means to be lonely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four police officers who were on the scene January 6th as insurrectionists breached the U.S. Capitol gave emotional testimony on Tuesday about the physical, verbal --and in some cases racist -- abuse they endured. Meanwhile, Congressional Republican leadership continues to downplay the insurrection, a fact that one officer testifying yesterday called “disgraceful.” We get your reaction to the first major hearing of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol attack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices