The California Report Magazine

If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics, you’ve probably caught sight of some of the amazing California athletes. In fact, 29 Team USA athletes call California home. That’s more than any other state. Back in 1960, California hosted the winter games near Lake Tahoe. What happened in Tahoe that year left its mark, and not just on future Olympics. Plus, it's cookie season! This time of year, sales of Girl Scout cookies top Oreos and Chips Ahoy. And Girl Scouts aren’t just going door to door anymore. They’ve expanded into online sales. The California Report’s former education reporter Ana Tintocalis used to be a scout, and her nine-year-old daughter Gianna recently became one herself. Ana says while she’s trying to be open-minded about the virtual cookie world, she’s got some questions about it. And, on the outskirts of Oakland’s Chinatown, you can hear the rhythmic pulsing of hot ovens and the steady screech of revolving griddles. Alicia Wong and her mother Jiamin run the Oakland Fortune Factory, where joy and positivity are the not-so-secret-ingredients that have kept their business thriving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Feb 202230min

Writer Wajahat Ali's Decision to 'Actively Invest in Joy' “Go back to where you came from.” It’s an insult that unfortunately, many of us have heard. For writer Wajahat Ali, it’s also the title of his new book. It traces his childhood in Fremont, CA, his activism as a UC Berkeley student after 9/11, and the challenges he’s faced as a son, a father, and a writer. It chronicles him almost dying from a heart condition, his young daughter getting cancer, and other family tragedies. But the book is funny. Host Sasha Khokha talks to Ali about why he’s decided to actively invest in joy. Taquero, Farmworker, and Beloved Grandfather Lost to COVID: A Family Remembers 'Papi Tomás' If you’ve tuned in to our show over the last year, you might have heard our series of remembrances of people who’ve died from COVID. And now we’ve hit a grim milestone: more than 80,000 Californians lost to the virus. We hear from the family of a farmworker who lived in Madera, in the San Joaquin Valley. His granddaughter, Madi Bolanos, is a radio reporter with KVPR, the local NPR station in Fresno, and she brings us this tribute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Feb 202230min

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, members of Reverend Jim Mitulski's congregation, many of them healthy young men, were dying from a terrible disease. There was no cure, there still isn’t. Reporter Christopher Beale brings us the true story of how a San Francisco pastor changed the definition of “communion,” and committed felonies to comfort his flock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Jan 202230min

Scientists say that back in the 1980s, millions of monarchs came to California each year. By 2020, that number dropped to fewer than 2,000. Numbers are way up this year, but that doesn't mean they're out of the woods. Reporter Amanda Stupi visited Lake Merritt in Oakland, looking for answers on how to help the butterfly population. Then, California may have some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, but it often struggles to enforce those laws. A new investigation from CalMatters, a nonprofit news outlet covering California policy and politics, finds that the state has failed to take guns away from thousands of domestic abusers. And those failures can have deadly consequences. CalMatters’ Robert Lewis brings us the tragic story of one young mother in the Central Valley. WARNING : This story has graphic descriptions of violence and could be upsetting.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Jan 202230min

Host Sasha Khokha talks to author Jaime Cortez about his new book of short stories, “Gordo.” The collection is set in the Central Coast farmworker camps he grew up in near Watsonville and San Juan Bautista. By the time he was 10, Cortez was a veteran of the annual garlic and potato harvests. The book, which he calls “semi-autobiographical,” is a journey of queer self-discovery and complex identities that don’t fit the usual stereotypes of Steinbeck country. Plus, this weekend is the Jewish holiday Tu BiShvat, a time to gather around food, and honor trees and the harvest. In February 2020, for her series California Foodways, reporter Lisa Morehouse joined a Tu BiShvat celebration in Tuolumne County. No one knew then that just weeks later, the COVID pandemic would stop many in-person gatherings like these, and create some tensions so many communities are still navigating.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Jan 202230min

Today, it’s an unassuming beige building on a busy Berkeley street. But in the 1970s, the Rainbow Sign was a groundbreaking center for Black culture, politics, and art. It hosted dozens of high-profile Black thought leaders and performers, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm. The Rainbow Sign was open to all – as a performance venue, political organizing space, and cafe. It lasted just a few short years, from 1971-1977. But it left profound mark on the young people who attended concerts and performances there, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Jan 202230min

We’re saying goodbye to 2021 and cheers to 2022! To go along with your New Year’s Eve toasts, we’ve got a show about drinks and cocktails that got their start here in California. From the Pisco Sour to Irish Coffee, there are some fascinating California history lessons in these stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Jan 202229min

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25 Dec 202129min