Latino Cartoonist Says 'You Have to Laugh' in Uncertain Times
These days, a lot of people are turning to humor as a way to make sense of, and get some relief from, this complicated political climate. So, we're starting our show today in Southern California, with an outspoken cartoonist. Lalo Alcaraz is best known for "La Cucaracha," the first nationally-syndicated, politically-themed Latino daily comic strip. It appears in newspapers across the country, and online. He's also been a writer for television, including the Fox series "Bordertown." His work has tackled racism and xenophobia through satire for more than 25 years, and lately, has been focused on the Presidency of Donald Trump. Lalo Alcaraz is the subject of a new book just out this week- called "Lalo Alcaraz: Political Cartooning in the Latino Community."
Why We Should Sing The Star-Spangled Banner's Obscure Fifth Verse
This week marks 86 years since the Star Spangled Banner officially became the national anthem. It was written much earlier, though, in 1814, and you can probably sing along to those four original verses. But you may not know there's also one unofficial verse, written much later. KQED senior arts editor Chloe Veltman met a history professor from Los Angeles who thinks this obscure stanza is the one we should all be singing today, because it laments a divided country, one in which Americans turn against each other.
Kamala Harris Invites Undocumented PhD to Congress
Last year, we got a lot of response from listeners when we brought you the story of a scientist doing some groundbreaking research on the heart. Back then, Yuriana Aguilar was a newly-minted PhD at UC Merced, the first undocumented PhD to graduate from California's newest university. She came here as a child from Mexico and worked her way through school picking watermelons, cleaning hotels, and selling produce at flea markets. Our story got the attention of Senator Kamala Harris, who invited Yuriana to hear President Donald Trump address a joint session of Congress this week. We speak to Yuriana Aguilar in Chicago, where she?s doing her post-doctoral research.
Women's Audio Mission: Smashing the Glass Ceiling of the Studio World
When you download music, listen to a podcast, or a radio story, there was probably a sound engineer who recorded and finessed the final audio mix. Most of these engineers are men. There are so few women in the audio industry that nobody bothers to count. It's an issue that's stayed hidden behind soundproofed studios and shoved backstage. We're coming up on International Women's Day, so we thought we'd check in on how sexism is affecting our own industry: the world of sound. We find out how one group in San Francisco has been working to change things for women audio engineers.
The California Report's Unsung Audio Hero
The magic hands smoothing out the sounds on this show belong to Ceil Muller. We talk to some KQED reporters about how she's worked her wizardry on their radio stories.