The California Report Magazine

Jan 31 2025 389 ep. 29 mins 629

The California Report Magazine Podcast artwork

Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.

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Oakland’s Freedom Community Clinic, New Documentary Spotlights LGBTQ Activist Sally Gearhart

Jan 31 2025 29 mins

On this week's show, we visit the Freedom Community Clinic which provides free herbal remedies, massage services and healing workshops at their two apothecaries in Oakland. And just outside the city, they recently launched the Ancestral Healing Farm, where people of color are encouraged to learn about ancestral practices and reconnect with the land. The goal of founder Dr. Bernie L

Neighbors Come Together in Aftermath of Eaton Fire; A 129-Year-Old Lawsuit Could Stop the Ending of Birthright Citizenship

Jan 24 2025 29 mins

People affected by the wildfires in Los Angeles are only just starting to get a handle on what it’s going to mean to rebuild their lives and mend their broken communities. And it’s going to take a long time. We spend time with neighbors in Altadena and Pasadena who are coming together and relying on each other. One of those neighbors is Steven Cuevas. He’s The California Repo

‘Wired for Connection’: The Science of Kindness, and Why Hope Outweighs Cynicism

Jan 17 2025 29 mins

It will take months to clean up all the debris from the Palisades and Eaton fires. Some community members in Pasadena decided to start the work immediately, led by a group of day laborers who saw a need and rushed to fill it. KCRW’s Megan Jamerson reports. And even as as restaurants burned down and Los Angeles residents fled the Palisades and Eaton fires, LA’s food community w

‘The Devastation is Breathtaking’. Voices from the LA Fires

Jan 10 2025 29 mins

There are not enough words to describe the impact of the wildfires in Los Angeles – one of the most destructive and costly firestorms in our state’s history. Whether we’ve lost our homes, are fleeing for safety, or desperately worried about people we love, so many people in California are grieving. Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated, leaving everything behind. We b

These California Composers Make Their Own Rules: Two Stories from the Archive

Jan 03 2025 29 mins

We start in Los Angeles with emerging composter Derrick Skye, whose fascination with the cosmos is woven into his music. When Skye began composing “Prism, Cycles and Leaps,” he watched YouTube videos about Jupiter and was captivated by the way the planet moved at different speeds. As a mixed race person, he resonates with musical traditions from across the globe and blends genr

Encore: The Enduring Reign of El Daña, Drag King of the Central Valley

Dec 27 2024 29 mins

Elsie Saldaña still gets nervous on stage, almost six decades after she first started performing as a drag king in the Central Valley. She’s the country’s oldest drag king, and her first performance was in 1965 at Red Robin, a gay bar in her hometown. She performed Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” and was instantly hooked. Right then and there, El Daña, her stage name, was bo

The Railroad’s Surprising Impact on Food and Civil Rights in California

Dec 20 2024 29 mins

This week, we’re taking a long train ride on the California Zephyr. The Amtrak line winds through Emeryville, Sacramento, Truckee and then heads east toward Chicago. Parts of the trip are spectacularly beautiful, with scenes of the Rocky Mountains, Donner Lake and the Truckee River. This route also holds so much rich California history – a portion of it is close to the first tr

“Fire Escape:” One Woman’s Journey Fighting Fires from Behind Bars

Dec 13 2024 29 mins

Amika Mota felt like she lost everything the day she was sentenced to prison for nearly a decade. But as her world burned down, she learned how to fight fire from inside Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), one of the largest women’s prisons in the world. Mota and her team of incarcerated firefighters responded to calls from inside the prison and out in the community, in

'He Played With People’s Minds': Fresno Priest Left a Trail of Sexual Abuse Allegations

Dec 06 2024 29 mins

KQED’s Alex Hall has spent years reporting on the criminal case of Jesús Antonio Castañeda Serna, formerly known as Father Antonio to his Central Valley parish. For a decade, Castañeda drew in hundreds of followers from Fresno’s Latino Community to his Spanish-language congregation, earning him the nickname, “el padrecito que hace milagros (the priest who performs miracles

Poultry Party: Two Tasty Stories from the Archive

Nov 29 2024 29 mins

Maybe you’re still munching on your Thanksgiving leftovers. Or maybe you’re too stuffed to even think about eating. But before you push away from the table, we’re bringing you two of our favorite stories from over the years about…food! We start in East San José, at a scrappy strip mall anchored by a Vietnamese sandwich, or “bánh mì” shop doesn’t look like much. But