Crosscurrents Podcast

Every Lunar New Year, Chinese American women from across the country travel to San Francisco to participate in the Miss Chinatown USA pageant — an ethnic beauty pageant that’s been a national event since the late fifties.

On today's show, what shutting down the Berkeley Flea Market this winter means for the city. Then, we'll go inside God's Gym in Oakland — a gym that pumps up your body and your spirit. And, a bilingual rapper draws influence from her grandmother’s stories.

Today, remembering the legacy of Japanese American incarceration camps — how one woman was inspired to become an activist after being incarcerated as a child. Then, get ready for a black history lesson in Santa Clara county. And, from Solano State Prison, a man teaches a class on how to drive a truck — using a model dashboard he made by hand.

On today's show, a “grand bargain” on housing moves forward, but some key leaders are not on board. Then, more than five years since the 49ers left Candlestick Park, there’s a play about their final season. And, a throwback to another era in NFL history.

Today, we hear from the first-ever state surgeon general. She’s on a mission, and it’s all about the kids. Then, San Francisco cabbies who paid thousands of dollars to get taxi medallions say the city owes them. And, behind the wheel with Examiner columnist Kelly Dessaint on why he left Lyft and Uber to drive a taxi.

Bay Area reporter Rachel Cassandra spent nine months reporting in Fresno, a city with a long history of high rates of intravenous drug use. Rachel met Amanda, who is struggling with both homelessness and heroin addiction. This is her story, as told in the audio documentary, Dependence.

First up, Oaklanders rally around presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Then, a team of dogs finds cremated remains of loved ones lost during the Camp Fire. And, from our series Uncuffed, the unlikely friendship between a black man and a skinhead.

Today, we hear about a question that might be on the 2020 Census. It could cost the Bay Area billions of dollars. Then, meet San Francisco vocalist Kim Nalley on the importance of celebrating jazz history. And, we visit an old-school recording studio where songs are made by cutting (actually cutting) tape (actual tape).

Today, we take a look at turmoil happening in Sudan in a new series called Bay Views. Then, a new show by young people who say they aren’t quite yet adults just yet. And, we’ll hear about a space in Oakland where queer people of color are getting Radically Fit.

Today, we’ll hear voices from the third annual Women’s March in San Francisco. Then, we’ll check in with one of the queens of the San Francisco scene, Peaches Christ, on drag becoming part of mainstream culture. And, from our series Uncuffed: a father and son housed in different prisons form an unbreakable bond.

In a special presentation from KALW News, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’re considering race and class relations from an international design perspective with our friends from 99% Invisible. It’s the story of the Ponte City Tower.

•  One African American family, half a century of experience in SF public schools
•  Vietnamese death anniversaries unite young and old

This is part of an ongoing series “Learning while black: The fight for equity in San Francisco schools.”

San Francisco’s African American community has shrunk by half since 1970. Of the families that remain, nearly a fifth live in public housing or get a rental subsidy. Now, a city effort is turning public housing into a key front in the battle to improve educational outcomes for African American kids.

This is part of an ongoing series “Learning while black: The fight for equity in San Francisco schools.”

African American students across the country are much more likely than any other student group to be placed in special education, and that’s true at San Francisco Unified too. The district’s troubled history has plenty to teach us about what is and isn’t working for black students with special needs today.

• East Bay doctor brings opioid addiction treatment to the streets
• Why medication for heroin addiction is still hard to come by
• StoryCorps: Finding one's musical niche

• Jerry Brown leaves big environmental footsteps for Governor Newsom to follow
• Bay Area Beats: Anna Hillburg
• Audiograph: Guitar Kingdom

• Update on The Village in Oakland 
• El Sobrante: The Leftover Town
• Bay Area Beats: Bang Data

• Resilience and hope at Oscar Grant vigil
• Oscar Grant's incarcerated father speaks out
• What's changed for BART police after Oscar Grant's killing

What can help control California’s increasingly problematic wildfires?

Fighting fire with fire.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/meet-famous-japanese-mold-flavors-unexpected-dishes.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/living-larp-life-berkeley-hills.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This is a special Crosscurrents Morning Report on the anniversary of Oscar Grant's death.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/oscar-grant-s-incarcerated-father-speaks-out-ten-years-after-his-son-s-killing.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/bringing-retro-video-games-mission-roof-car.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/inside-san-francisco-s-little-kingdom-guitars.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/chinese-mexican-fusion-food-found-only-border.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/christmas-san-quentin.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

This week, we're sharing morning reports from our archives while we take a break for the holidays.

For photos and more, go to https://www.kalw.org/post/how-photographer-created-sense-community-her-san-francisco-neighborhood.

The Crosscurrents Morning Report airs on KALW 91.7 FM all year round Monday–Thursday at 6:50 a.m. and 8:50 a.m.

New episodes of Crosscurrents will be back on January 7.

The San Francisco Immigration Defense Unit is a team of eight lawyers with the public defender’s office who represent people threatened with deportation. 

• Operation pest patrol: The cherry tree and the pest
• My Mixtape: "If I'm Unworthy," by Blake Mills

• Operation pest patrol: A threat from within
• Comedian Rex Navarrete on finding humor through struggle