Shows / Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents is KALW Public Radio's award-winning news magazine, broadcasting in the Bay Area Mondays through Thursdays on 91.7 FM. We make joyful, informative stories that engage people across the economic, social, and cultural divides in our community.
Episodes
- Crosscurrents
Marlene Sanchez / Candlestick Park Ranger / New Arrivals: Marina Luz
Today, we talk to Marlene Sanchez the new head of the Ella Baker Center. She experienced incarceration before she was 15. Today, she heads one of the leading…
- Crosscurrents
Veggielution / Sights & Sounds Magazine / New Arrivals: Ruth Carlson
An East San Jose farm park is creating a more sustainable food system — one produce box at a time. Today, we'll hear about Veggielution. Then, we talk to…
- Crosscurrents
Jenah Keeby's Search For Her Ancestors / Bay Poet Ericson Amaya / American Idol's Francisco Martin
Today, we hear from Oaklander Jenah Keeby, the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Ossa Keeby, a survivor of the last slave ship, the Clotilda…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Becoming Muslim Bonus — A History of Islam in America
How did Islam first arrive on the North American continent? In this bonus episode from KALW's The Spiritual Edge Becoming Muslim series, host Hana Baba dives…
- Crosscurrents
The Stoop: Colorism / Malcom Spellman / Bay Poets: Asantewaa Boykin
Today, we hear about a disturbing social practice that is part of our history — the story of colorism in Black communities. Then, Berkeley screenwriter Malcolm…
- Crosscurrents
Black History Month / Martin Luther McCoy / Bay poet: Karla Brundage
Today, we hear about the beginnings of what we now know as Black History Month. We learn how it all began and why it’s relevant today. Then, singer and…
- Crosscurrents
The Progressive Prosecutor, part 6 (rebroadcast) / Bay Poets: Harrison Harvey
Today we're sharing a series that won the award for best ongoing coverage in radio and audio in 2021 from the Northern California chapter of the Society of…
- Crosscurrents
The Progressive Prosecutor, part 5 (rebroadcast) / Bay Poets: Dr. Adrienne Danyelle Oliver
Today we're sharing a series that won the award for best ongoing coverage in radio and audio in 2021 from the Northern California chapter of the Society of…
- Crosscurrents
The Progressive Prosecutor, part 1 (rebroadcast) / Bay Poets: James Cagney
Today, we hear how Chesa Boudin's parents played a big part in shaping his journey from the public defender's office to the top prosecutor's seat. A story from…
- Crosscurrents
San Francisco apologizes to its Chinese community/ Love and lace/ Hey Area: First kiss / Bay Poet: Jenee Darden
Last week, the City of San Francisco issued an apology to its Chinese communities for historical injustices, but is an apology enough? We hear from the head of…
- Crosscurrents
The Stoop: Butter on a burn / Lady Camden / Bay Poet: Landon Smith
Today, we discuss the superstitions we hold and the wives tales we believe in. We’ll explore the history of folk beliefs handed down to generations of Black…
- Crosscurrents
Criminalizing mental illness, part 2 (rebroadcast)
Today, we’re bringing you part two of the winner of the Northern California’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist’s award for best audio story…
- Crosscurrents
Criminalizing mental illness, part 1 (rebroadcast)
In part one of a two-part investigation into how the country’s jails have become our default mental health treatment centers, we go to Santa Rita jail in…
- Crosscurrents
Hey Area: Finding East Oakland / Remembering Freddie Hughes / New Arrivals: Jenny Qi
Today, we answer one of our most popular listener questions in our Hey Area series, “where is the boundary of East Oakland?" Then, we’ll remember the life and…
- Crosscurrents
The Stoop: Tribal wear / Hey Area: City in a city / New Arrivals: Shanna Farrell
Today, we go back to the '60s and hear how young Black people embraced a sense of freedom at that time. Then, we talk to Stanford historian Dr. Clayborne…
- Crosscurrents
DeLIVER van / Street medicine / Hey Area: Redwood City's slogan / New Arrivals: Mary Roach
Today, we hear about thousands of San Franciscans that live with untreated hepatitis C and how a mobile van is breaking down barriers to provide treatment…
- Crosscurrents
Single payer healthcare / Bird brains / Fox guy
Today, we hear how single payer healthcare for California is on the table again, but a strong opposition warns of a high price tag and big tax hikes. Then, we…
- Crosscurrents
CCSF Save Cantonese update / Goth, fashion and ghosts / New Arrivals: Justin Barker
Today, we learn about a victory in the fight to save Cantonese language classes at City College of San Francisco. But is it enough? Then, we talk to the…
- Crosscurrents
Home Baked: How pot brownies brought relief during the AIDS epidemic (rebroadcast)
Over the last two years we’ve brought you stories about Covid-19, but today we’re reaching into our archives and going back a few decades, when the Bay Area…
- Crosscurrents
Filmmaker Morgan Schmidt-Feng / City pigeons / New Arrivals: Shruti Swamy
Today, Berkeley filmmaker Morgan Schmidt-Feng tells us about his latest documentary, “Anton: Circling Home.” It follows an 80-year-old New York artist and his…
- Crosscurrents
Five Californias / The Stoop: Black, Grown, and Autistic / New Arrivals: Rory Stamp
Today, we hear how how one group says we should be measuring our progress as a state. Then, we talk about how Black people are diagnosed with autism later than…
- Crosscurrents
Mental Health SF / Indigenous California History / New Arrivals: Beth Lee
Today, we talk about a new center in the Tenderloin that's focused on helping people who are struggling with drugs and mental health. Then, we examine…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Becoming Muslim - Sofie
Sofie Lovern is a Latina convert and comedienne who learned the difficulty of trying to merge two very different cultures in a marriage, even when their…
- Crosscurrents
Free school meals / Lunchtime at Burton High School / New Arrivals: Alexis Fajardo
Today, we hear how Bay Area Schools are now funded to give students two free meals a day, and that means schools are feeding a lot more kids. So we decicded to…
- Crosscurrents
Living Downstream: The Salton Sea / New Arrivals: Alex Harris
Today, we’re bringing you an episode of a new podcast from Northern California Public Media called Living Downstream, looking at environmental justice issues…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Becoming Muslim - Aaron and Raul
The story of two men who work to reconcile their identity as Latinx—with their identity as Muslims. One has dedicated his life to helping the Latino Muslim…
- Crosscurrents
2022 Covid update / Workers under smoke / New Arrivals: Rupa Marya
On the first day of this year, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jill Tucker called up the Bay Area’s top Covid experts. We’ll hear what they said. Then, we…
- Crosscurrents
Living Downstream: Diesel death zone pt. 2
Today, it's the second part of a special from the environmental justice podcast Living Downstream, from Northern California Public Media. West Oakland…
- Crosscurrents
Living Downstream: Diesel death zone pt. 1
Today, we're bringing you a special from the environmental justice podcast Living Downstream, from Northern California Public Media. For decades, community…
- Crosscurrents
CCSF Students Organize To Save Cantonese / Poet Christine No / New Arrivals: Conrad Benedicto
Students at San Francisco’s City College started organizing this past spring to preserve the school’s language classes. Today, we hear the story behind the…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Becoming Muslim — Tyson
One Black man works to connect his faith to his community, and to his fallen leaders. A new story from The Spiritual Edge series Becoming Muslim looks at a…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed Holiday Special (rebroadcast)
Today, we'll hear stories about how people in prisons get through the holidays, even when they can’t see their families. It's a special episode from KALW's…
- Crosscurrents
Wildfire smoke and pre-term birth / Filipinx identity / New Arrivals: Paul Corman-Roberts
As wildfires become more common, so does their lasting impact on humans. Then, we meet some Filipinx writers who are using art to hold agency over their own…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Freedom in prison
Convicted of first-degree murder and sent to Folsom State Prison, Wendell El-Amin James gravitated towards the Muslim prisoners out of a need for protection…
- Crosscurrents
Unhoused LGBTQ+ / The Stoop: 40 acres and a question
LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness are a vulnerable population within an already vulnerable group. Then, as reparations for African Americans inch closer…
- Crosscurrents
RV Parks / Resettling Afghan refugees / New Arrivals: Nicolette Hahn Niman
We talk about how twice as many people are living out of their vehicles in the Bay Area than there were two years ago. Then, we visit a non-profit that helps…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: The Nation of Islam
As a student at the at Berkeley in the 1960s, Abdul Raoof Nasir joined the Nation of Islam. In the years that followed, he was forced to make a choice: stay…
- Crosscurrents
Operation Pest Patrol, pt. 3
The story of when Japan gifted cherry trees to the U.S. And, how those trees became connected to the country’s immigration debate with strange parallels with…
- Crosscurrents
Operation Pest Patrol, pt. 2 / Berkeley filmmaker Judith Ehlirch
We’re going with state agents looking for a pest that could wipe out California’s citrus. Then, we hear from a filmmaker who tells the story of the anti-draft…
- Crosscurrents
Operation Pest Patrol, pt. 1 / What's in a name?
We’re heading to the California border, where state agents patrol for pests that could wipe out the state’s agriculture. Then, what do you do when people…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Women leading prayer
A Muslim convert feels her access to God was being limited by men. She was searching for a spiritual home, then decided to build one for herself.
- Crosscurrents
Vaccine equity / Uncuffed: Wild turkey / New Arrivals: Grant Faulkner
California Department of health is doing a big outreach push to get more people vaccinated and boosted. Then, what happens when a wild turkey lands on a prison…
- Crosscurrents
Islamophobia 20 years post 9/11 / Artist & Scholar Hasan Elahi / New Arrivals: Cassandra Hartt
Today, we hear about a study from UC Berkeley that asks Muslims: Is Islamophobia still common 20 years after 9/11? Then, a former San Jose State professor…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Searching for the 'real' Islam
Diana Demchenko converted to Islam as a college sophomore. But since she didn’t grow up around the religion, she had to learn what the real Islam is and…
- Crosscurrents
@Work: Post-pandemic rebalance / 'Voyage into afrofuturism' / New Arrivals: K.R. Morrison
@Work: Post-pandemic rebalance / 'Voyage into afrofuturism' / New Arrivals: K.R. Morrison
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: Suitable for parole
After over 20 years of incarceration, Uncuffed producer Nate McKinney is going home. Like other lifers in the system, he could have been incarcerated for life…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Becoming Muslim / Women in mosques / New Arrivals: Chaney Kwak
Today, we hear about a new KALW series from The Spiritual Edge, stories of Becoming Muslim. Then, we listen to an African American who converted to Islam, who…
- Crosscurrents
The trauma of unrest from afar / Singer Essie Thomas / New Arrivals: Alice Waters
When there’s unrest in their home countries, immigrants here feel the pain from thousands of miles away. We’ll hear about the diaspora trauma of people from…
- Crosscurrents
San Francisco's dwindling youth / Puppy love / New Arrivals: Monica West
People joke that San Francisco has more dogs than children. But is it true? We talk about the kid census in the City with Chronicle journalist Susie Nielson…
- Crosscurrents
A nun's purpose born out of brutality
The wars in Guatemala during the 1980s and 90s killed close to 200-thousand Guatemalans. The conflict wounded many people in body and spirit — among them…
- Crosscurrents
Reimagining mental crisis reponse
For years, mental health advocates have been vocal about the criminalization of people with mental illnesses. Now activists and government leaders are pushing…
- Crosscurrents
The Hum, a worldwide mystery sound explained
The Hum is a mysterious low pitch noise that bothers up to 2% of people worldwide. It’s been annoying residents in San Francisco's Sunset District, where…
- Crosscurrents
The team behind Ear Hustle / Finding a lost Bay Area icon
Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor began by telling the everyday stories of incarcerated men. Then they entered a podcast contest, and everything fell into place…
- Crosscurrents
The Spiritual Edge: Working to stop youth sex trafficking
The Spiritual Edge: Working to stop youth sex trafficking
- Crosscurrents
Afghan refugee resettlement / When your child follows you to prison / New Arrivals: Dena Rod
Afghan refugees are resettling in the Bay Area, how a local non profit is helping despite the challenges. Then, two incarcerated fathers share the pain of…
- Crosscurrents
Black diaspora dialogue / African writer's dilemma / Statue honors incarcerated Native American activist
An Oakland race healer is getting folks to have some tough intra-racial conversations. We, listen to some of the voices working to connect Black communities…
- Crosscurrents
1991 Oakland Firestorm Part 2 / New Arrivals: Rachel Sarah
It’s been 30 years since the Oakland Firestorm, and we hear from those who lived through it and remember its lessons. We look at the aftermath of one of the…
- Crosscurrents
The 1991 Oakland Firestorm / Fire, rain, and toxic runoff
It’s been 30 years since the 1991 Oakland firestorm. Today, we look back at one of the most destructive and deadliest fires in California history. Then, we…
- Crosscurrents
Finding housing during shelter-in-place / New Arrivals: Judith Ann Bernhard
Shelter-in-place orders gave some unhoused Oakland residents time to stabilize their lives, but for others, it became stagnant. Today, we hear what happens…
- Crosscurrents
A Poet Recounts His Border Crossing / Oakland Rapper Jwalt / New Arrivals: Joel Landmine
Today, poet Javier Zamora recounts crossing through the Sonoran desert and the difficulty of settling in a new land. Then, Oakland rapper and NYU student Jwalt…