Crosscurrents

Series produced by KALW

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Context, culture and connection from around the Bay Area.

KALW's Crosscurrents is the Bay Area's public radio news magazine. Winner of three awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and voted "Best Local News Program" by SF Weekly, Crosscurrents brings you context, culture and connection from around the Bay Area.


356 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Teens putting down phones and picking up dice
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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Eli Mcamis is 14 years old. He and five other young teens sit around a table, each rolling dice and flipping through game manuals — thick binders, ...

  • Added: Sep 18, 2015
  • Length: 09:03
The contested sainthood of Junípero Serra
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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It’s not every day that a local person becomes a saint, but on September 23rd, more than two hundred years after he died, Junípero Serra will be ca...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 02, 2015
  • Length: 05:49
  • Purchases: 1
The truth about pit bulls
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Tanner, a pit bull rescued from a dogfighting operation, is now rehabilitated and has found a home, Credit: LOUISE CODD
Pit bulls are the most bred dog in America. They are the most common in shelters, and they are the most euthanized as well. There are organizations...

  • Added: Oct 02, 2015
  • Length: 07:29
The fight to bring back Geography education
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Geography Bee at Mission Hills Middle School, Credit: HANA BABA
Americans are often stereotyped as not knowing much about the rest of the world. But, according to the numbers, it’s more than a mere stereotype. ...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Oct 02, 2015
  • Length: 09:00
  • Purchases: 2
How a tiny shipping container community is causing a big fuss in Oakland
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Luke Iseman puts together raised bed garden containers, Credit: Chris Hambrick
Here in the Bay Area, rents are rising, and housing inventory is shrinking. It’s forcing many here to decide -- either you have to leave the area c...

Bought by WABE


  • Added: Oct 02, 2015
  • Length: 07:42
  • Purchases: 1
Not your mother's Moby Dick: How one bookstore is putting an unexpected twist on the classics
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: The assembled writers and creators behind Shipwreck, Credit: ALAN LEGGITT
When I first started working at The Booksmith, the local independent bookstore a couple blocks from my apartment, it was a lot like what I expected...

  • Added: Oct 02, 2015
  • Length: 07:20
If the Warriors build it, will the fans, the victories, and the passion come too?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Golden State Warriors fans paraded through Oakland following victory, Credit: AMIR AZIZ FROM FLIKR CREATIVE COMMONS
When the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship back in June, fans across the Bay Area exploded with pure, rapturous joy. For Oakland resid...

  • Added: Oct 05, 2015
  • Length: 07:22
The Tenderloin’s sanctuary of song
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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Rebecca Roudman and Jason Eckl, members of the band Dirty Cello, are doing a sound check in the middle of the day, in an unconventional location: t...

  • Added: Oct 05, 2015
  • Length: 05:46
Competitive South Bay real estate market pits international Chinese buyers against locals
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Lin-Lin Tsou-Otani, a real estate agent at DeLeon Realty., Credit: Liz Mak
Many wealthy Chinese people have found a safe investment for their money actually lies in the U.S. – specifically, in American real estate. Accordi...

  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 06:35
Making sense of California’s family leave policies
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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California’s Family Leave Act is a step ahead of the U.S. as a whole, in giving all parents the right to some time off, but it’s complicated. What ...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 11:05
  • Purchases: 1
Butter the popcorn, park the car, and head back in time at the buzzing Concord drive-in
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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Nowadays, all young lovebirds need to get the romance flowing is a Netflix account and a bag of Microwave popcorn. Back in the 1950's and 60's, dat...

  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 07:47
The poetic wonder of the horoscope
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Jessica Lanyadoo is known for her laid back fortune teller vibes
Chances are that at some point in your life you’ve been asked, “What’s your sign?” That phrase is both a terrible pickup line and proof that astro...

  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 07:29
Neon soapbox: The politics of Oakland's Grand Lake Theater marquee
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Following the Supreme Court decision to stop the vote count in Florida, during the 2000 presidential election, theater owner, Allen Michaan, began posting messages on the marquee.
Just northeast of Lake Merritt, across the 580 freeway, you really can’t miss it. It's big, it's public, it often contains inflammatory messages, a...

Bought by WABE


  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 04:36
  • Purchases: 1
Periods are a monthly crisis for homeless women
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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Being homeless means it's a daily challenge to get your basic needs met: eating, bathing and using the bathroom. For many women, one extra challeng...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 02, 2015
  • Length: 06:29
  • Purchases: 1
A San Francisco high school’s LGBTQ studies class makes history
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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This year, teens at San Francisco Unified School District’s School of the Arts walked into a brand-new kind of class: the district’s first-ever LGB...

Bought by WABE and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 07:06
  • Purchases: 2
Can a class teach San Francisco police officers to defuse a crisis?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Sergeant Kelly Kruger surrounded by files of cases, Credit: Holly J. McDede
Street protests and town hall meetings swiftly followed the shooting death by police last week of 26-year-old Mario Woods in San Francisco’s Bayvi...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, and WABE


  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 09:34
  • Purchases: 3
Why is that man dancing on that overpass above Highway 101?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: JaVonne Hatfield shows off his signature cut out heart atop his overpass dance floor, Credit: Holly J. McDede
For JaVonne Hatfield, overpasses are the only dance floor necessary. Every Thursday and Friday afternoon, he shimmies, shakes, and smiles from the ...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 06:53
  • Purchases: 1
Are white sharks doing something different this year? Or are we?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: A white shark (commonly referred to as a great white shark)., Credit: "GREAT WHITE SHARK - CAL RIPFIN" BY GEORGE PROBST, CC LICENSE, RESIZED AND RECROPPED
White sharks are uncommon — some research shows there could be fewer than 500 along our coast. Scientists are pretty sure that no one has ever reco...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass. and WABE


  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 08:16
  • Purchases: 2
Cement plant rankles Silicon Valley neighbors
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: A view of Lehigh Cement plant in the Silicon Valley foothills near Cupertino., Credit: Angela Johnston
Since 2010, the Bay Area’s population has grown at a faster rate than the US, or California as a whole. And the growth in population – spurred by t...

  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 08:52
The fickle fortunes of professional gaming pioneers
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Saahil Arora in Alameda where he lives with his championship winning DOTA 2 team., Credit: Jeremy Dalmas
Video games are now a spectator sports. And Dong Won, who’s 24, has made over $160,000 in prize money by playing in tournaments, sometimes for tens...

  • Added: Jan 15, 2016
  • Length: 10:02