KQED's Forum

Helen Zoe Veit, a food historian who wrote Picky, traces how American childhood tastes narrowed over time. Dr. Erik Fernandez y Garcia, a pediatrician at UC Davis, offers clinical perspective on feeding and when to seek help. They discuss historical eating habits, the rise of processed kid foods and marketing, early feeding techniques, social pressures, and signs that warrant medical evaluation.

Savala Nolan, author and director at Berkeley Law’s Henderson Center for Social Justice, examines race, gender, and the body in her new book. She discusses reclaiming marginalized stories through memoir and law. She reflects on leaving prescribed womanhood, dating and emotional labor, parenting choices that build autonomy, and confronting racism and masculinity.

Maegan Vazquez, Washington Post reporter covering congressional oversight. Stephen Fowler, NPR political reporter tracking legal developments. They discuss missing FBI interview documents, gaps about allegations tied to powerful figures, withheld DOJ records, the Clintons’ depositions, how Epstein built elite networks, and potential subpoenas and ongoing probes.

Nate Swanson, Iran strategy director at the Atlantic Council, offers policy and regional analysis. Sahar Razavi, political scientist, describes on-the-ground Iranian sentiment and casualties. Robin Wright, New Yorker writer and Middle East historian, examines leadership, law, and long-term implications. They discuss the strikes that killed Iran’s leader, regional retaliation, military and political risks, and uncertain succession.

E. Alex Jung, a writer on internet culture; Candice Lim, a producer and commentator on media communities; Domee Shi, Pixar director whose fan art shaped her films. They trace fan fiction’s rise, discuss its role as democratic storytelling, the appeal of erotic slash and real-person fiction, community norms around anonymity, and how fandoms are reshaping publishing and Hollywood.

David Mendizábal, Berkeley Rep director who reframes classics through Latino perspectives. Wanda De Jesús, veteran actor bringing personal migration history to Kate. Jimmy Smits, seasoned performer playing Joe. They discuss reimagining All My Sons around a Puerto Rican family, casting and race, moral consequences of the American Dream, and how real-life partners navigate intense onstage relationships.

Deborah Wald, a San Francisco family law specialist in assisted reproduction. Ava Kofman, a New Yorker reporter who investigated a large Los Angeles surrogacy case. They discuss a sprawling commercial surrogacy operation, surveillance and welfare checks that uncovered alleged neglect, California’s legal protections for surrogates, calls for better transparency and agency regulation, and debates about limits and equity in the industry.

Maxwell Zeff, WIRED AI writer explaining coding tools. Heather Kelly, tech reporter on everyday AI uses and risks. Nitasha Tiku, tech culture journalist on ethics and human-AI interaction. They discuss AI moving from search to doing tasks. They cover coding agents, household automation, risks like deskilling and privacy, and practical safety tips for new users.

Michael Pollan, author and professor emeritus known for exploring food, plants, psychedelics, and consciousness, discusses the nature and limits of consciousness. He covers studying experience from within, plant sentience versus animal consciousness, feelings as the basis of mind, AI’s limits and risks, and philosophical ideas like panpsychism and the constructed self.

Violence erupted across Mexico after the killing of Mexico’s most notorious drug cartel leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, on Sunday. Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” was the head of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, an organization that trafficked drugs across multiple Mexican states and countries. The killing signaled an aggressive and unexpected approach from Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to confronting organized crime. As the chaos settles and shelter in place restrictions lift, the relationship between Mexico’s drug kingpins, the government and the rest of society remains unclear. We talk about what the killing means for Mexico and the United States and what could happen next. Guests: Javier Cabral, editor, L.A. Taco - independent local news and culture site; Associate producer for the Taco Chronicles on Netflix Oswaldo Zavala, professor of Latin American Literature and Culture, City University of New York - College of Staten Island; author of “Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture.”<br /> Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, head of the North American Observatory, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices