A Traditional Christmas Pageant, With a Modern Political Twist
Every Christmas, communities across California put their own stamp on las posadas, traditional Mexican processions to celebrate the nativity. This weekend in Sacramento, one of those processions starts off on the streets, and then heads into a theater. In "La Pastorela de Sactown," a bilingual cast of musicians and actors will stage a satirical holiday musical about three shepherds, with very modern lives. Host Sasha Khokha talks with director Wilma Bonet.
Letter to the Next President: Help Homeless Vets
Leading up the inauguration, the California Report Magazine is airing letters from California teenagers to the incoming president. They're some of the more than 12,000 letters collected as part of a collaboration between KQED and the National Writing Project. This week, we're featuring a letter from Natalie, an 8th grader at Diablo Vista Middle School in Danville.
Dirtbag Challenge Shows What Two Wheels, a Wrench and Your Wits Can Do
Everybody knows riding a motorcycle can be dangerous. Now imagine riding hundreds of miles on a home-built machine, hastily cobbled together, for less than the cost of the average used bike. Well, that's exactly the challenge for competitors in an annual motorcycle build-off in the Bay Area. This year the California Report's resident motorcyclist Tiffany Camhi went along for the bumpy ride -- and says, it taught her some life lessons.
We Are Not Alone: The Unarians Celebrate a Message From Outer Space
This fall, contact was made with an alien from another galaxy. Maybe you didn't hear about it, but it happened in El Cajon, a few miles from San Diego. To be specific, this alien was speaking through a human, but his message for Earth in these troubled times was of enlightenment and a positive future, a message that's the gold standard of a group called the Unarians. Every year, they gather for the Interplanetary Conclave of Light, a weekend of events open to one and all, events that include communication with those they refer to as the "Space Brothers."
From Anderson .Paak to Magik*Magik, California Musicians Showed That Everything Is Possible
This year, we lost of the brightest stars in music: David Bowie, Prince, Merle Haggard, Juan Gabriel, Sharon Jones, Leonard Cohen and more. But there were some musical highs too. The California Report's Suzie Racho talks with our pop music critic Steve Hochman.