Crosscurrents

When most Bay Area residents go to San Francisco International Airport, it's so they can leave. But some unhoused locals are heading to SFO to stay. Reporter Erin Bump brings us the story of folks seeking shelter at the airport, and the people there who are trying to help.

Today: The story of unhoused people who live at the airport—and the people who help them.

Today, we introduce you to the most recent Uncuffed class at Solano State Prison and get to know them through the songs they love. But first, we meet a boxer and the people who tried to help her redirect her emotions.

A story from the Uncuffed producers at the California Institution for Women about the people who helped a woman redirect her emotions.

Uncuffed's 2025 class at Solano State Prison just finished their training with the program. Get to know them through special songs that have shaped their lives.

Today, as an iconic San Francisco gay nightclub prepares to close... we hear from the owner of OASIS, some of the club's biggest fans, and San Francisco's Grandmother of Drag.

OASIS is an iconic San Francisco nightclub. The Drag show and cabaret venue opened on New Years Day, 2015. In a bittersweet bookend, they'll host their grand finale party on New Years Eve, later this month. The host of KALW's Sights and Sounds show, Jenee Darden, recently went down to the club in San Francisco's SOMA District to meet with OASIS owner, D'Arcy Drollinger. Here's an excerpt from their conversation.

When San Francisco's OASIS drag club on 11th and Folsom announced it was closing its doors forever this January 1st, the news was met with a chorus of broken hearts and a lot of tears. OASIS has a LOT of fans. People that have found a little piece of sanctuary within the loudness of their parties and performances.Here, members of the OASIS community share their favorite memories, what the space means to them, and what they think about the future without this home away from home.

Today, the lasting advocacy legacies of San Francisco's Chinatown. Then, for perpetrators of domestic violence it can be hard to ask for help. And, motivation from Mom's love. Plus, a poem.

The Trump Administration has made life very challenging for immigrants across the United States. And that's really been felt here in the Bay Area, where roughly a third of residents are immigrants. Many of the rights immigrants to the U.S. have are actually rooted right here in San Francisco's Chinatown. The community there came together more than a century ago, to fight against government efforts to remove Chinese people from the country.KALW recently held a live event focused on the history of one of the most prominent businesses for Chinese immigrants: laundries. It was called "The Anti-Immigrant Spin Cycle: Challenging A White-Washed History."  The evening was hosted by KALW's Executive Producer, Ben Trefny. And included David Lei, a board member with the Chinese Historical Society of America, Here's part of their conversation, starting with David explaining the court case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, and how it shaped the rights for immigrants in America today.

Last week, KALW attended the 2025 San Francisco Press Club awards… and left with five wins! This next story was reported back in February, and took home an award for ‘Best Reporting'. When it first aired, organizers in California had been working for months to spread the word about this helpline/ a helpline for perpetrators of domestic and intimate partner violence. You heard that right. A helpline for perpetrators, not victims. It's an unusual approach to a serious problem: Rates of domestic violence in the U.S. are high, and they got even worse during the pandemic. The helpline – A Call for Change – promises anonymity to its callers. And their goal is to provide a non-carceral approach to preventing domestic and intimate partner violence. 

Darrell “Sadiq" Davis had a rocky relationship with school when he was younger. He kept trying to follow through with it, but things kept getting in his way - whether it was being bullied, or not being able to resist the call of the streets. But, what kept him going, no matter how hard things got, was knowing that getting a degree would make his mom proud. 

We'll stay on the theme of mothers and their impact on us for our next segment- a poem about life lessons, from the universe… and mom. Here's Eva Chen reading from her poem "A Lesson From My Mother About the Origins of Life." 

We are broadcasting live for KALW's December membership campaign. Today, we revisit the Valkyries first season and talk about some of our favorite music of the year. 

Today, we're doing things a little differently... For KALW's December Membership Campaign we're bringing you a special LIVE episode of Crosscurrents! And we're joined by our reporter, Wren Farrell.

Today, we visit a special space where conservatives and liberals connected. The Anderson Valley Grange Hall. Then, how a collection of posters in San Francisco's Mission district captures over four decades of community organizing.

Grange halls have been around for more than 150 years — the Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Many rural towns still rely on Grange halls as community centers. In the Anderson Valley, many people credit this place for bringing together groups of people that were once really divided.

Located a block away from the 24th street BART station, the Mission Grafica print studio and archive has empowered public art in the Bay Area since 1982.KALW is now hosting a gallery of some of their prints at our space in downtown San Francisco at 220 Montgommery, it is called ‘Mission Grafica: The Public's Voice.'The posters on display offer a living timeline of how artists have aligned beauty with justice in the face of power and change.

What happens in kids' brains… when they're improvising? Today, we learn how brains work in childhood, and how that's linked to creativity. Then, a woman in prison discovers her inner beauty. And, a new series captures San Francisco at the height of the AIDS epidemic. We hear a conversation with the host of “When We All Get To Heaven.” 

A lot of adults feel they've lost touch with the ability to get messy… and also just mess up. Scientists call that childlike, everyday experimentation, “prosaic creativity.” And it's more accessible—even as adults—than many tend to think.

Now, it's a new story from Uncuffed, our podcast that empowers people in prison to tell their own stories. This one comes to us from the California Institution for Women. This is a piece that was scheduled to air a few weeks ago, but it was only after our show was broadcast that we realized we had aired the wrong story. So today we bring this piece from Uncuffed producer Haena Worthing.When she was first incarcerated, in the county jail, she realized she would no longer have access to most of what she called "pretty girl things” -  like makeup and nail polish. But her experience with incarceration changed how she thinks about beauty. 

All month, KALW's Queer Power Hour will be airing a special series called ‘When We All Get To Heaven.' With archival tape it tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco during the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s.The series brings to life a community facing personal, social, and political trials, including the deaths of hundreds of its members. It's hosted by Lynne Gerber. Here's Lynne speaking with Crosscurrents host, Hana Baba.

A round-up of what's happening in transportation news around the Bay Area for a segment called “Getting Around the Bay.”

Sometimes your chosen family isn't your biological family. And sometimes we choose houses of worship other than our own because they feel safer for us. Today, we meet a woman who's leading her church to be a refuge — not just for Christians, but for all people.

Today, an update on Bay Area bike paths and walkways. We bring you the latest on ‘Getting around the Bay' from our transit reporter. Then, an adopted son needs to decide which family to call home. And, how an Oakland pastor turns the tables on homophobia in the Church.

When Uncuffed producer Fonuamana Fuahala unexpectedly meets his biological family, he's confronted with one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

Today, we're in the Sierra Peaks to hear how snowmelt may contribute tiny bits of plastic to Bay Area drinking water. Then, the backstory behind a seasonal San Francisco show.

The Bay Area gets much of it's drinking water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Back in 2023, we saw record snow fall in the Sierras. And that was followed by record snow melt. And with that melt came… microplastics. At the time, reporter Joshua Sirotiak went up to the mountains to find out what researchers are looking for in our drinking water.

While the Bay Area doesn't see much snow, one place you CAN find some right now is.. Southeast San Francisco! An annual tradition is taking place these days in a transformed arena off Geneva Street. In a space once reserved for livestock and cowboys, the streets of Victorian England come alive. It's the Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace!

Every week, locals are showing up outside San Francisco's immigration courthouse to protest. Today, how some neighbors have come together to try and stop deportations. Then, we'll hear from people who provided vital care during the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco.

It seems like every day we see another headline about an ICE mass deportation. While legal advocates are doing everything in their power to support immigrants, some locals have taken matters into their hands. One group in San Francisco is providing support for people attending immigration court.

December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month. So we're going to go back in time to 1988. It was the height of the AIDS crisis. Marcy Fraser and Michelle Francis worked together in hospice care in San Francisco. In this StoryCorps episode from 2015, they look back on the moment their friendship was cemented for life. Then, Karen Van Dine was a prayer counselor in a healing circle at a gay ministry in the Castro. Her personal and professional relationships were steeped in the love and loss that came out of the tragic circumstances of the AIDS epidemic. Karen shared this history with the non-profit My Life, My Stories in 2018. 

Today, a new episode of Sidewalk Stories about how it's getting harder to live in a vehicle in the Bay Area. Plus, signing up for summer camp, monarch migrations, and a poem.

We're quickly approaching the Winter Solstice. But today, we wanted to bring you a little slice of summer. Camp Mather, San Francisco's oldest summer camp, opens its 2026 lottery registration today!In 2024, KALW's Molly Blair Salyer went away to camp, to capture a moment of Camp Mather's 100th summer.

Every year, the western monarch butterfly migrates from the coast between Santa Cruz and San Diego to spend the summer along rivers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Then, in winter, they do the whole thing again, in reverse.When one musician heard about the plight of the monarchs, he decided to take a radical step to help them along their journey… by taking the trip with them. This morning we bring you an excerpt from Reporter Lusen Mendel's story, that they produced in April.

In this segment of Sidewalk Stories, we hear from people who live in RVs as Bay Area cities are increasingly cracking down on vehicle homes. 

Today we hear about how residents are preparing to pass a tougher version of the naturalization civics test. Then, a grandmother writes a children's book with her grandson, and he has an idea for the main characters. Plus, preserving memories when family comes together.

For lawful residents yearning to become naturalized citizenships, learning U.S. history and civics is one of the barriers to passing a ten question exam and it just got harder. 

Here's Al Robles reading an excerpt from his poem, “Cold Mountain in Chinatown,” which he performed at the Poetry Center at San Francisco State on November 10th, 1976. 

Author Stephanie Wildman's children's books have centered around three characters Flor, Roberto and Luis who are adventurous siblings. But her latest book Story Power is different- she  co-wrote it with her nine-year-old grandson Simon Wildman Chung.

Thanksgiving week makes us feel… Different things. About history, about family, about memory...Back in 2018 reporter Margaret Katcher brought a recorder to her holiday table. But when she turned it on, she found herself wondering about her impulse to document the moment…

Today, we'll get an update on housing, and more, from District 3 City supervisor Danny Sauter. Then, a woman in prison wrestles with what to do, after hearing her brother has been shot. And, acclaimed Oakland author Caro de Robertis is the keeper of an oral history collection of personal stories from trans and gender nonconforming elders of color.