A Time-Traveling Map for Rapidly Changing Oakland
Imagine standing along the shores of Oakland’s Lake Merritt, and instead of seeing the downtown skyline you see Native American shell mounds, a roller coaster, and grizzly bears. That’s the idea behind a new project called Long Lost Oakland. It’s a map of the buildings, plants, and animals that used to be there. Bianca Taylor went to Oakland for an unconventional history lesson.
After Internment, Japanese-American Teens Turned to Car Clubs
The roots of California car culture can be found in Southern California. But a CSU professor is digging into the little-known history of Japanese-American -- or Nikkei -- car clubs, made up of teenagers, many of whom had been children in internment camps during World War II. Sasha Khokha talks to Cal State Long Beach sociology professor Oliver Wang about his new oral history project.
On the Trail of Inez Burns, the Woman who Performed 50,000 Illegal Abortions
San Francisco’s colorful history has had its share of characters, but our next story involves a secret abortion clinic, a former California governor, and a highly-publicized case that went to the Supreme Court. KQED’s Chloe Veltman explores the life of Inez Burns, the audacious woman at the center of it all.
Suffering in Silence: A Firefighter in San Diego Confronts the Trauma of the Job
It’s been a rough year for California: deadly wildfires, floods, and tragic shootings. When the news becomes too intense, many of us just turn it off, take a break. But the first responders who handle these disasters can never turn it off. Firefighters, cops, paramedics, emergency room nurses often suffer silently from seeing so much pain and destruction. Heidi de Marco, a reporter with Kaiser Health News, brings us this story of a San Diego firefighter in who found his life tumbling out of control at the age of 37.