Podcast appearances and mentions of donna apidone

COVID, RSV and flu cases have been on the rise. Also, a former UC Davis student charged with stabbing deaths is competent to stand trial. Finally, Donna Apidone's book “Drive-Time Meditations” will be performed at Stories on Stage Davis. COVID, RSV & Flu Season A triple-whammy of respiratory infections has a lot of people sick with fever, cough, and just plain misery. RSV, COVID, and flu are surging in our state and around the country. While California ranks high, there are areas of the country that are much worse off. As schools go back into session and people head back to work, we asked Dr. Dean Blumberg, ?Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health, to give us an update on the situation and what can be done to try and stay healthy through the rest of the winter season. Davis Stabbing Suspect Competent to Stand Trial Carlos Reales Dominguez, the 22-year-old former UC Davis student accused of fatally stabbing two people and injuring a third last year, was deemed competent to stand trial on Friday. The ruling comes five months after he was initially declared incompetent and sent to a state hospital for treatment. CapRadio Health Care Reporter Kate Wolffe joins Insight with a perspective from inside the courtroom, and shares her reporting on UC Davis launching a 24/7 mobile team called Health 34 to intervene with students before a crisis. The service is available to all students, faculty and staff free of charge and can be reached at (530) 754-3434. Also joining Insight is Michael Vitiello, Distinguished Professor at the McGeorge School of Law, who provides a breakdown of what competency means, the legal standards of the insanity defense, and how Dominguez's future trial could play out. Donna Apidone at Stories on Stage Davis There is a unique space for literature in Yolo County. Stories on Stage Davis highlights the work of talented writers by pairing their work with actors who bring new life by performing literature. Stories on Stage Davis Founder Jeri Howitt joins Insight about the a new year of shows, which includes freelance writer and former CapRadio Morning Edition Host Donna Apidone's newest book Drive-Time Meditations, which will be read in part by director, actress and theatre educator Janis Stevens on Saturday, Jan. 13.  

This is a super fun interview with popular NPR radio host and talented interviewer Donna Apidone. Her commitment to her work became a lifestyle, waking up at 1:30am and getting to the studio by 3am and hosting CapRadio's Morning Edition. But, 21 years of hosting the show in a 8 x 8 windowless studio and being consumed by the news led her to a world of meditation. And she is excited now for a new journey and helping others along the way to a calm and complete life. • More about Donna Apidone: https://www.donnaapidone.com  • Episode Content: https://pickleballmediahq.com/blog/Donna-Apidone-Interview-Popular-NPR-Host-Now-Helps-New-Audience-Find-Purpose  • Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die: https://garysirak.com/how-to-retire-and-not-die  • Sponsored by Capital Advantage: https://capitaladvantage.com/podcast   • Sponsored by Mike Ownbey, Compass Real Estate: https://www.mikeownbey.com  • Subscribe to the I Used to be Somebody newsletter: https://pickleballmediahq.com/contact/subscribe

Health officials are concerned about a possible resurgence of MPOX during PRIDE month. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is not seeking a third term. Donna Apidone's “Drivetime Meditations.” Possible mpox resurgence

Welcome back green thumbs! This week the show welcomes a special guest, Donna Apidone. Donna is a familiar voice in Sacramento having been the voice of Morning Edition on CAP Radio for 24 years. Today she shares what she has learned in the garden and how anyone can benefit from growing. Visit Donna's website here.Green Acres Nursery & SupplyGreen Acres Garden Podcast Group on Facebook @idiggreenacresSign Up for Email Ads and Timely Garden TipsLearn how to save water while gardening at BeWaterSmart.info

Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen discusses the 75th anniversary of the university and welcoming back students. We say goodbye to CapRadio Morning Edition Host Donna Apidone, who is stepping away after more than 20 years.   Sacramento State's anniversary

Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill allowing three cities to establish supervised drug injection sites to address the rampant overdose crisis. Researchers and farmers are looking into whether agave can be grown commercially as California faces a prolonged drought. CapRadio's Donna Apidone shares her conversation with the authors of “Dear White Women.” Safe injection site An effort to open the first safe drug consumption sites for those struggling with addiction in California fell short once again on the governor's desk. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 57, a bill that would have authorized pilot programs for these sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland. The bill has been a persistent effort by progressives within the governor's own party to address an escalating overdose crisis. Proponents said the bill could have helped reduce overdose deaths in the state, which rose to more than 10,000 from October 2020 to September 2021. But the idea of allowing people to consume drugs in a supervised environment, and connect them with other services, faced strong political opposition. Ultimately, the governor expressed concerns about the "unintended consequences" of these programs in his veto message. Insight invited CalMatters health reporter Ana Ibarra onto the program to share her reporting on the governor's decision and its impacts on the effort to reduce overdose deaths in California.  Agave in California Within the past decade, a new crop is beginning to plant roots across the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. The crop is new to California growers, but south of the border, it dates back centuries: Agave is the source for tequila and mezcal when distilled and a low-water crop that pairs well with the California drought. This year there has been some movement to establish a network for the California agave industry to grow. The California Agave Council was created earlier this year, and its founder is a grower in Yolo County. And earlier this month, UC Davis announced its devoting research into agave and its viability in the state. Craig Reynolds, the founding director of the California Agave Council, Ron Runnebaum, assistant professor of viticulture and enology at UC Davis, and Stuart Woolf, a Central Valley farmer who gifted the initial agave research funding to UC Davis, joined Insight to discuss this potential future California cash crop. "Dear White Women" Dear White Women is a book about race and how to have the hard conversations about it, and why those conversations are so important. CapRadio's Donna Apidone shares her conversation with the authors of Dear White Women, which breaks down the psychology and barriers to meaningful race discussions for White people.     

New research predicts climate change is increasing the chances of a catastrophic megaflood in California, inundating the Sacramento and Central Valleys. Nasa is measuring plant “sweat” contributes to wildfire intensity. Donna Apidone shares her conversation with author Jennifer Raff about her newly released book that tells us where we came from. California's megaflood

Our thoughts are powerful. Let's shift our focus to the greater good.   Spiritual Life Center is an Interfaith, Unity community located in Sacramento, California for spiritual seekers and life explorers. We honor the many paths to God and support people of all faiths in learning and applying positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Follow SLC on Instagram @spiritual.life.center and on Facebook at facebook.com/SpiritualLifeCenter.

Early voting turnout ahead of the June 7 primary. Sacramento County District Attorney race. CapRadio's Sacramento Voter Guide. Donna Apidone shares her feature “Photos from Manzanar.” Today's Guests Paul Mitchell, Vice President of Political Data, discusses early voting turnout ahead of the June 7 primary.   CapRadio Race & Equity Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan shares her reporting on the Sacramento County District Attorney race. CapRadio Managing Editor of Digital Content Chris Hagan and CapRadio News Editor Kris Hooks lay out our Sacramento Voter Guide and Election 2022 coverage. CapRadio Morning Edition Host Donna Apidone shares her feature “Photos from Manzanar” on the 80th anniversary of the start of the Japanese internment camp during WWII in the Eastern Sierra.   

Why California Highway Patrol does not provide body cameras for 97% of officers. Republicans push to suspend the gas tax. Legislative fix of UC Berkeley's enrollment cap. Resolution to end the State of Emergency. Author John Lescroart's latest book. Today's Guests CalMatters Justice Reporter Byrhonda Lyons gives us a deeper look into her reporting on why California Highway Patrol, one of the state's largest police agencies, does not provide body cameras for 97% of its officers.  CapRadio Politics Report Nicole Nixon updates the latest from the State Capitol including a push to suspend the gas tax, undoing UC Berkeley's enrollment cap, and a resolution to end the pandemic State of Emergency. UC Davis law professor Christopher S. Elmendorf discusses the environment law at the core of the court order for UC Berkeley to enact an enrollment cap, which would have cut its Fall 2022 enrollment by 2,600 students.  CapRadio Morning Edition Host, Donna Apidone, brings us her conversation with author John Lescroart about his latest book “The Missing Piece.”

The bills that the governor vetoed become new state laws. Also, learning about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. One tribal member joins us with their journey to preserve the native language. Finally, CapRadio's Donna Apidone shares her interview with the author of “All We Can Save,” a women-penned anthology of the climate movement. Today's Guests CalMatters Reporter Laurel Rosenhall explains the bills that Gov. Newsom blocked from becoming new state laws.  Shelly Covert, Spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and Executive Director of the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP), discusses why the tribe is still fighting to restore federal recognition.  Nisenan-descendant Alan Wallace on working to preserve the language, which has been disappearing, with only one living documented Nisenan speaker.  CapRadio's Donna Apidone discusses “All We Can Save,” an anthology about the environment and brings us parts of her conversation with Abigail Dillen, the president of Earthjustice, a law organization specializing in large environment cases. Dillen is one of the 60 women who wrote essays and poetry for the book.

Imagination is more than child's play. It is how we change the world, and it has a direct link to New Thought philosophy.    Spiritual Life Center is an Interfaith, Unity community located in Sacramento, California for spiritual seekers and life explorers. We honor the many paths to God and support people of all faiths in learning and applying positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Follow SLC on Instagram @spiritual.life.center and on Facebook at facebook.com/SpiritualLifeCenter.

1 Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51

This week Discovering Spirit Within Podcast offers A Clean Slate.  Rev. Deborah Phillips is joined by Rev. Donna Apidone for a chat about new beginnings and the difference between resolutions and intentions.Donna Apidone is well-known for her work with CapRadio as host of Morning Edition and CapRadio Reads. She is also an interfaith minister, ordained in New York in 2009. She is a speaker at a half dozen congregations, and the teacher/designer of the TransForMission Path.Discovering Spirit Within, with Rev. Deborah Phillips is brought to you by Spiritual Life Center. Spiritual Life Center is an Interfaith, Unity community located in Sacramento, California for spiritual seekers and life explorers. We honor the many paths to God and support people of all faiths in learning and applying positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Follow SLC on Instagram @spiritual.life.center and on Facebook at facebook.com/SpiritualLifeCenter.

We live in uncertain times, and often things don’t turn out the way we want them to. For example, an election can bring out the best in people... or not. Today, Rev. Donna Apidone and Rev. Deborah Philips discuss staying in our spirituality no matter what happens.Donna Apidone is well-known for her work with CapRadio as host of Morning Edition and CapRadio Reads. She is also an interfaith minister, ordained in New York in 2009. She is a speaker at a half dozen congregations, and the teacher/designer of the TransForMission Path.Discovering Spirit Within, with Rev. Deborah Phillips is brought to you by Spiritual Life Center. Spiritual Life Center is an Interfaith, Unity community located in Sacramento, California for spiritual seekers and life explorers. We honor the many paths to God and support people of all faiths in learning and applying positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. Follow SLC on Instagram @spiritual.life.center and on Facebook at facebook.com/SpiritualLifeCenter.

Today Insight, we check in longtime political journalist Ken Rudin on tonight's Vice Presidential Debate, we get into the background conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the latest on CapRadio Reads from Donna Apidone. Today's Guests Longtime political journalist and host of the Ken Rudin's Political Junkie podcast Ken Rudin previews tonight's Vice Presidential debate UC Davis Professor and Founding Director of Human Rights Studies Keith David Watenpaugh explains the historical context of what has led to the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenian National Committee - Western Region Communications Director Alex Galitsky talks about the grassroots efforts of the California Armenian-American community to help raise awareness about the ongoing war in their homeland and the connections between Armenia and California CapRadio Reads Host Donna Apidone will discuss the book "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights" by Gretchen Sorin, which is being released as a documentary on PBS UC Davis African American Studies Professor Dr. Milmon Harrison puts the book's subject into the context of the black experience in California

Within each one of us lies the potential to be a useful, productive, positive human being.  Our Call to Spirituality with Rev. Deborah Phillips and Rev. Donna Apidone takes a look at how difficult times are actually a call for us to look more deeply within, to get to know ourselves better, and discover that we each have a purpose for being here.Donna Apidone is well-known for her work with CapRadio as host of Morning Edition and CapRadio Reads. She is also an interfaith minister, ordained in New York in 2009. She is a speaker at a half dozen congregations, and the teacher/designer of the TransForMission Path.

Episode One Hundred Five Show Notes We are excited to announce that we are now an affiliate of Libro.fm audiobook platform: Listeners can receive three months for the price of one. Follow this link to learn more. (promo code: bookcougars)– 14th Readalong discussion– Convenience Store Woman – Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori) The discussion will drop on August 4 via Episode 108, please get questions/comments to us by July 31. The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.– Currently Reading –Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts – Kate Racculia (CW)Last Day – Luanne Rice (EF)How To Be an Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi (CW)My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies – Resmaa Menakem (CW) My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite (CW)(audio)– Just Read –The Dance of Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships – Harriet Lerner (EF)(audio) Chris is spending time with the magazines Fine Books & CollectionsThe Lions of Fifth Avenue – Fiona Davis (EF) release date August 4, 2020The Book of V. – Anna Solomon (EF)– Biblio Adventures –Emily browsed inside Savoy Bookstore & Café in Westerly, RI. She picked up a copy of Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui. Chris was able to go to Guilford Free Library for a curb side pick-up!Chris attended two virtual events: Irene Butter discussing her book Shores Beyond Shores with Donna Apidone via CapRadio Reads. You can watch the conversation here.Erica Ruth Neubaur in conversation with Juliet Grames, discussing her book Murder at Mena House through Bank Square Books. Read Chris’s review here.Emily enjoyed several episodes of Brené Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us, including a two-part conversation with Harriet Lerner, author of Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts and Ibram X. Kendi, author of How To Be an Antiracist. Brené Brown is the author of Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone.Emily listened to and recommends Episode 129 of Terrible, Thanks for Asking with Nora Borealis – Policing and Racial Trauma with Angela Davis.– Upcoming Jaunts –June 25 at 7pm – Chris will be attending a virtual event through RJ Julia Booksellers Richie Jackson author of Gay Like Me in conversation with Matthew Reimer author of We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation.Chris and Emily are heading on a joint jaunt to the Guilford Free Library for an outdoor fair featuring new book releases. Watch the video of our adventure here.– Upcoming Reads –Home Before Dark – Riley Sager (CW)The Last Flight – Julie Clark (EF)– Book of the Month Club –In order to get your first month at the discounted rate of $9.99 go to www.bookofthemonth.com and use promo code: bookcougars.The June Book of the Month Club picks are:The Vanishing Half – Brit BennettHome Before Dark – Riley SagerA Burning – Megha MujumdarOne to Watch – Kate Stayman-LondonThe Last Flight – Julie Clark– Also Mentioned –Book By Book BlogUrban Trauma: A Legacy of Racism – Dr. Maysa AkbarTrue Grit – Charles PortisThe Goldfinch – Donna TarttThe Dance of Intimacy – Harriet LernerThe New YorkerMadeline MillerThe Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella FortunaPurchase Book Cougars Swag on Zazzle!We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café. Please purchase books from them and support us at the same time. Click HERE to start shopping.If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.Join our Goodreads Group! We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out here, and be sure to subscribe!Please subscribe to our email newsletter here.

In person, as on the page, Mark Arax is a captivating storyteller with a rich tone to his voice. If you think you don't care about water, listen anyway. Our live audience was mesmerized by what he had to say and how he said it. To the East of Silicon Valley is another low-lying region that is just as innovative, although the product feeds our bodies rather than our minds. For more than 100 years, the Central Valley has reflected the world's changing tastes in fruits, vegetables and nuts. Much of the Valley is naturally arid, and ranchers count on the relocation of water for their crop. Author Mark Arax traces the fascinating flow of water on its natural and unnatural paths in "The Dreamt Land." Interview Highlights: You're a resident, you're also a native of the Valley. When did you first understand that what we do with water might be a little different than what everybody else does with water? My grandparents, after we sold the last ranch along the San Joaquin River, moved to a suburb in Fresno called Fig Garden, and three houses down was this huge irrigation canal, and my grandmother made me promise I would never go near it. She said, “It's got a magical power to it. It will lure you up and into the waters, and you will drown.” She said, “And no one will come to save your body.” I said, “Why not, Grandma?” She said, “Because the flow of one irrigation canal is much more important to the Valley than the body of one silly boy.” To recover would mean to shut down that flow. So I had a sense that something was strange but I never bothered to ask where that water was coming from, where it was going, and to whom and by what right. So that's when I had a sense. One of your influences was Saroyan, and you come from the land of Saroyan. What was it about his writing? Saroyan was a very earthy writer. I knew him. He was a friend of my grandfather. He said, “I have 300 words in my vocabulary. Count them.” I never actually counted them, but I got what he was saying. You don't need a thesaurus to write beautifully, and he took those 300 words and they were magic. So I learned from him. You put into print the perfect description of a smell or the flow of water. Are you aware of how poetic it is? If someone is writing, and they're being honest with you, they're writing from insecurity. You always think that thing is going to leave you. It visits, and then sometimes it doesn't visit, and you can't articulate anything. The work involved in capturing something like that takes a lot. Saroyan might have been a genius and just tossed off these incredible lines. That doesn't happen for me. It's going in and polishing and polishing and polishing. Sometimes something comes out full blossom, but mostly it's work. Hard work. CapRadio's Donna Apidone interviewed Mark Arax on May 23, 2019.  Water Music; George Frideric Handel. Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin.

Jonathan Kauffman's “Hippie Food” introduces us to the people who changed what we eat. Prior to the 1960s, our meals were in a Cold War rut. The counterculture turned us onto food that freed us from that lifestyle. The result was the popular consumption of tofu, brown rice, yogurt and something called granola. CapRadio's Donna Apidone spoke with Kauffman about the political and spiritual reasons these foods became mainstream. Interview Highlights: What inspired you to write this history of “Hippie Food”? It really was my culinary autobiography. I was a restaurant critic, and I liked to review restaurants up and down the spectrum. I took some friends with me to a vegetarian restaurant in Seattle. We sat down to this meal, and this food was so familiar to me, but I hadn't seen it for a long time. And I was like, “Oh my gosh. I love this.” The transition to a cleaner way of farming and eating seemed to happen spontaneously. It was a grassroots movement. It was happening all over the country, all at the same time. And I knew the stories of the people who were in the movement were going to be great. I went to talk to the Lundberg Brothers, and I said, “Do you know anything about macrobiotics? Because every time I think about macrobiotics, I think of brown rice.” They said, “Oh, well, the whole reason we converted to organics was because of macrobiotics.” That started a whole year-long research project of interviewing macrobiotics folks all over the country. You call it “Hippie Food,” but you tell stories that predate the 1960s. There were lots of yoga teachers in LA in the 1910s and '20s.  You have this long tradition of alternative health seekers. The LA Times started up a column on alternative health in 1899, and it ran all the way through the 1940s. To make one's bread was a rite of passage from being a prisoner to being free. It's about creating a new life, and taking control of one's life. White bread became a symbol for everything that was wrong with the food supply. Brown bread became the opposite. It tasted so different that even if you didn't like it you were going to fight your way toward liking it.   CapRadio's Donna Apidone interviewed Jonathan Kauffman on March 21, 2019. Listen to her curated playlist for the event below.

Attorney Dismas Hardy's secretary Phyllis McGowan is suddenly caught up in a murder case. She's arrested in connection with the shooting death of a coyote who was smuggling people across the southern border of the U.S. Hardy must work fast to keep McGowan from being convicted. Author John Lescroart's “The Rule of Law” makes up for the fact that he left readers hanging in another recent novel “Fatal.” In “The Rule of Law,” there's a new plot and an answer to the unsolved mystery from the previous book. CapRadio's Donna Apidone sat down with the author to discuss the novel and Lescroart's approach to the subject. Interview Highlights: I've been hearing that this is your last book. Is that true? It's my latest book. It's a book that I've written most recently. I really don't   want to answer that right now because I'm a suspense writer, and I think it's important to keep a little bit of mystery going. Phyllis McGowan, who works with Dismas Hardy, is not frightening. Usually, we can depend on her. She's the gatekeeper, she's organized, she's very orderly. She started acting really weird. Right at the beginning of this book, she disappeared for two days. I didn't know what happened. I was worried about her now. And then all of a sudden, she's not at work anymore. Suddenly she becomes this totally enigmatic person, which I just had to run with, and it took off. You always include a current topic in your book, maybe more than one. But the one that is running through this book is very current and very controversial and it was a big risk for you to be writing about immigration, to be writing about ICE, to be writing about the underground railroad that exists in our part of the country. And you just go there without any hesitation, or so it seems to us. Was there hesitation when you chose to write it? I try to make the books have a serious core. The whole Idea of ICE and the DACA kids, it was really important to give this book a little bit of heft and to deal with some of the issues that are confronting us daily. Yeah, it was scary to put it down because I didn't want to get it wrong. The whole subtext of the book was very much part of what we're all going through right now, especially with the immigration problem. CapRadio's Donna Apidone interviewed John Lescroart on Jan. 23, 2019.

Vanessa Hua's “A River of Stars” is about the privileges of citizenship and the perseverance of motherhood. It's also about knowing how to take every advantage of a situation. The story takes place primarily in San Francisco's Chinatown. Perfume Bay is a maternity hotel in California, a residential facility where women come from other countries to give birth. Babies born in the U.S. are automatically citizens, and that privilege is a benefit for mother as well as child. Maternity hotels are not glamorous. They operate like processing centers, with landlords cashing in on desperate pregnant women. CapRadio's Donna Apidone sat down with the author and journalist to find out what inspired the story. Interview Highlights: What came first: the character or the situation? The situation. I think often with my fiction I begin with a premise or a circumstance. The book opens in a maternity hotel in southern California, which I first heard about when I was pregnant with my own kids and living east of Los Angeles. And I began hearing in the news about these suburban homes where pregnant women were coming and going in the alleyways. The trash can was overflowing with diapers and cans of empty cans of formula. And the neighbors were baffled. Why were these Chinese women coming and going? To me it sounded like a brothel in reverse. And it turned out they were coming here so their kids could get U.S. citizenship at birth. But since I was pregnant at the time, for me, as a woman, I knew it was one of the most vulnerable times in my life. And I wondered what it was like to be so far from friends and family and what was it about U.S. citizenship that mattered to them so much for their children's sake that would bring them here. And that is where the premise then sparked my thoughts about what kind of character would find herself in this situation and how would she get herself out of it. Do you have to decide as you're writing who will improve, who will stay the same, who will go downhill? That's an interesting decision you have to make. Well I think in some ways, the character takes you there. So I'm not saying it's as easy as a ghost enters me and like the novel just pours out. But I do think your characters do lead you there if you set them up. The sort of the possibilities narrow, and as you establish their character, it's sort of your lead to where the novel needs to go. Donna Apidone interviewed Vanessa Hua on August 23, 2018.

“The Last Watchman of Old Cairo” centers on a synagogue guarded by men of Muslim faith. The "watchmen" protect magical, ancient texts like the Ezra Scroll, which has such strong energy, it emits a shimmering vibration, causing everything around it to glow. Michael David Lukas' novel bounces between three eras. Some of the characters are in Egypt now. Others knew Moses. A third group, from the 1800s, could have come right out of an Agatha Christie mystery. Lukas brilliantly weaves together the three storylines and the connection of each one to the sacred texts. He sat down with CapRadio's Donna Apidone to talk about what inspired him to write this book. Interview Highlights Talking about Cairo and the diversity and the many facets of religion and culture in that city, did you know all of that in advance or did you have to dig in and do some research to write this? A little bit of both. I first experienced Cairo when I was studying abroad in 2000. I was a junior in college and had been studying Arabic a little bit. I had lived in the Middle East, in Israel before, but I had never lived in the Arab world. And being Jewish and being American, I felt a little disconnected from the city, and at the same time was completely in love with it. Why? What do you like about Cairo? It's a hectic and sort of decrepit and welcoming and overwhelming and beautiful city. Like Istanbul and other cities, you can see the layers of history. In Istanbul it's there for the taking, but with Cairo, you have to work a little more for it. I appreciated that.   Yet there was this disconnect between my love of the city and my sense of Jewish identity. For good reason or not, I felt nervous about coming out to people as Jewish. This disconnect continued for a few months and then one day I happened upon a graveyard. I noticed these Jewish Star of David headstones and came upon this synagogue, the Ben Ezra Synagogue which is at the center of the book. I heard this tour guide talking about 1,000 years of Jewish history in Cairo. It's not an exaggeration to say it made me feel whole again. It connected these two parts that had been disconnected. And from then on, I was kind of obsessed with the Jews of Cairo. Donna Apidone interviewed Michael David Lukas on July 19, 2018.

Journalist Lauren Markham's book, “The Far Away Brothers,” is the story of twin teens who came to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador. They wind up in Oakland, California, trying to start a new life. Markham's storytelling reveals the intricacies of the U.S. immigration system and the true experience of two unaccompanied minors fleeing gang violence in their home country. She discussed their story with CapRadio's Donna Apidone. Interview Highlights You talk right up front about the "binary politics of a border wall." Can you explain that a little bit? Yes absolutely. When I talked about the "binary politics of the border wall," really too often we reduce the conversation around immigration to these very simplified "yes or no" questions: Should we build a wall? Should we not build a wall? Should we rescind DACA? Should we not rescind DACA? These are of course important questions, but the question of immigration is much deeper and complex and much more nuanced than "wall or no wall,""DACA no DACA." So these two [teens from El Salvador], Raul and Ernesto… how did you find them? How did you meet them? So I met them at the school where I work. And I had been reporting on this issue for about two years. A coworker at Oakland International High School said, "Hey we really need to do something about all these kids. I have all these kids with upcoming court dates."It sort of hit me like, "what are you talking about? All of these students who have court dates?" The number of students at our school who are unaccompanied minors had skyrocketed under our noses. In retrospect, that shouldn't have been a surprise because the number was skyrocketing nationally. Do you have any opinion you're willing to state about some possible solutions? Can our governments ever get together and help? Or do we always just have to do it from crisis? Right. I think we try to think about immigration as something that happens at, and after, the border. And we litigate immigration at the border. But immigration is something that happens long before that. It's a set of circumstances far away — ­or relatively close by — where something is happening and a person decides that they should (or have to, in many cases) leave. And there's unfortunately no indications that the violence is stopping in Central America and certainly in El Salvador. Nothing we can do here, if those conditions persist, will stop people from trying to find a way to come. So I guess my answer would be: investing in El Salvador and working with Salvadoran leaders and other countries that are big drivers of immigrants to this country. Donna Apidone interviewed Lauren Markham on May 17, 2018.

POOR Majesty In-Studio This week brings Adrian Gilmore (POOR Majesty) to the studio and he's backed up by an impressive collection of Sacramento musicians. Band: Adrian Gilmore - lead vocals Sené Goss - vocals John Johnson - keyboard Peter Clevenger - guitar Alfonso Portela - drums"I live off Broadway so I saw the changes and how it was effecting the neighborhood. It was a lot cleaner and appealing but then I noticed nobody from the neighborhood was working in any of the new establishments. I wanted the song to be about all the Broadway's all over America." - Adrian Gilmore"   You might recognize Adrian Gilmore (aka "POOR Majesty") from his work in the Sacramento hip hop group Tribe of Levi or from his various performances with artists like Bru Lei or Mahtie Bush. "Patience" is his upcoming record due out this summer. This performance comes from his July 17th session for Hey, Listen! ... "This one's for my homegirl Donna Apidone..."   "I started out writing Roses as a tribute song for my grandma. When I got to the 2nd verse I decided to write that one for my Grandfather. Five days later he died. He was 98 years old. I'm soooo glad I did that song for them while I had the chance." - Adrian Gilmore  

The Nazis were famous for raiding and ruining art collections throughout Europe during World War II. Author Elizabeth Rynecki's great-grandfather Moshe Rynecki was a Jewish artist in Poland who created hundreds of paintings depicting everyday life. Moshe distributed them so they wouldn't be destroyed. He later died in a concentration camp, but his son George (Elizabeth's grandfather) survived and wrote a memoir. "Chasing Portraits" is Elizabeth Rynecki's story of trying to track down her great-grandfather's paintings and piece together the rest of her family's history. She spoke with CapRadio's Donna Apidone about her quest and the book that resulted from it.  Interview Highlights I want to talk about two individuals and something that occurred between them: Moshe died in a concentration camp but he made decisions that led him there, whereas his son George made a different set of decisions that led him to a different place. Moshe decided he wanted to be in the ghetto in the 1940s when the Nazis built the Warsaw ghetto. Over 400,000 Jews were ultimately in the ghetto, which was about 1.3 square miles, which if you go home and measure that for your own city and think about it, it's really a profound number. But I think he felt very torn. He, I think, didn't trust the Germans [and] thought going into the ghetto was a bad idea. But I think that he felt compelled to be with his people. And my great grandfather and my Grandpa George had a phone call, and my Grandpa George said, “I can get you out.” And my great grandfather said, “No I'm going to stay in the ghetto, and if it's death, so be it.” Things in life happen in a linear fashion, but memories hardly ever do. So, Grandpa George wrote them down as he thought of them. A lot of that message, he made very clear, was for you to know. Not so much for your dad, not so much for anyone else, but he specifically identified it being for you. Talk about that responsibility. For those of you not familiar with the quote, basically what Grandpa George said in the memoir is, “I'm writing this down and there are a lot of survivors who are writing these things down. And I don't care, I'm writing them anyway. And I'm writing them if, for no other reason than for my granddaughter Elizabeth to know and not to be afraid of the truth.” …I can still sort of feel a [weight] on my shoulders. And it's a huge responsibility as well. Why? So, in 1992 when he died … To me survivors could bear witness and everybody else could listen. But that was kind of it. And I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to do with that. He was gone. I didn't understand what my relationship to that history was. It wasn't my history. I didn't have to process it. But I realized that survivors were going to start dying. And so it was some point between my dad self-publishing Grandpa George's memoir, building the website, discovering more paintings had survived the war and wondering what had happened to the other 700. And suddenly pieces just started to come into shape. And I realized that the paintings were survivors. And that they couldn't speak, but I could tell their story. And that I was in a really unique position to tell their story. And it's important to make that clear: you were not trying to claim these to say they're my family's or my great grandfather's. I want them back. That might have been your goal, but it's not your goal now. Right. When I started this process I was really angry. That's me being very polite. I wanted the paintings back. This was ridiculous. My great grandfather's name was on them. He signed them. They were his. He was murdered and they belonged to my family. I started talking to a lot of people who were a lot smarter and a lot better informed about provenance research and laws and how this whole process works. Artists give paintings away, they sell paintings, they trade them, they barter them. How could I prove that what somebody else had actually belonged to my family? And so it just became incredibly difficult. You're dealing with all sorts of stuff that's super complicated. What is your goal? My goal eventually became to be a historian to rescue my great grandfather's legacy. That to me seems more of a win. Having people aware of who my great grandfather was and what his art was and what it tells us about Polish Jews before the war seems to me more valuable than my having another painting to shove in a closet. Donna Apidone interviewed Elizabeth Rynecki on Nov. 14, 2017. Music by PREMIUMAUDIO/POND5.

Author John Lescroart's 28th book, "Fatal," is centered around a massive, deadly terrorist attack in San Francisco. There's no sign of the usual main characters from many of his other thrillers: lawyer Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky. Instead, he writes from the perspective of a new character: Sergeant Beth Tully, a homicide inspector for the San Francisco Police Department dealing with the aftermath of the attack. "Fatal" explores the complex ways that humans cope with trauma in the wake of disaster. Lescroart sat down with CapRadio's Donna Apidone to talk about it. Interview Highlights This is very much a book about unfinished business in a lot of different ways. In fact, there's one line that you wrote: “Could you build a life on a basic falsehood?” And I found myself being suspicious, maybe more so than [in] your other books, very suspicious of everybody who came into the book. Well this is the difference between writing what I started to write and a traditional mystery where I knew the playground of people that I was working with. This book does not have that particular playground of people. It's a whole group of people who I'd never met before and I had to find and get comfortable with but also within the general context of the story I had guys who were, I thought, fascinating. They were fascinating but you didn't know, I didn't know, what they were going to do. And they say that if, you know, you can write a book that surprises the author, then the readers are going to be surprised. There were a number of emotional dilemmas that people in the book faced. You dealt very openly with anorexia. I think you've said you described it better than you knew when you were writing.  I had written a scene about anorexia. I know nothing about anorexia, other than what we all do. I had this moment in the story that I wanted to have something happen to [a character] that was dramatic and serious. And so I had her go into a very serious medical state where she had to get 911 called, taken to the hospital. And I called up a social worker and she explained this thing called the refeeding syndrome. That was exactly what happened in the book. Exactly. I mean I didn't have to change a word other than to acknowledge what it was. And you know that's the kind of thing that happens all the time in these books — that you realize you're kind of onto something that's majorly correct even if you don't really know why. There was also a big part for PTSD. [It] applied to so many of the characters. Everyone reacted in different ways and that's what PTSD is: a lot of different reactions that even the people involved don't recognize that they are going through or acting out. Well it's because of major trauma. And that is in the center of this book. In fact, it's the main thing in the book, from my perspective anyway. It's what makes the whole city go haywire. And in fact, what makes the world that we're living in go haywire. We're all going a little bit nuts, because it's a hard time. Donna Apidone interviewed John Lescroart on June 13, 2017.

Tens of thousands of undocumented women have made the journey across the southern border of the United States. The trip is expensive. Some migrants are raped by guides or fellow travelers. That was Soli's story in the novel "Lucky Boy," by author Shanthi Sekaran. Soli arrives in the U.S. pregnant and tries to juggle motherhood and work as a nanny in Berkeley, California. When immigration agents find out about her, she's faced with deportation and possibly being forced to relinquish her child to adoption. That's when her path crosses with an Indian-American couple wanting to adopt. Soli may have to accept that someone else could love her child. Through the story of one "Lucky Boy," Sekaran explores the complexities of U.S. immigration and adoption policies. She sat down with CapRadio's Donna Apidone to talk about it.  Interview Highlights Why is this boy "lucky"? He's lucky in a very sincere way because he is loved very much by these two mothers and by Rishi [his foster mother's husband]. So, in that he's lucky, you know, he's wanted. But also there's some irony in that. [He's] lucky because he doesn't know — people don't know where he's going to end up. His fate is sort of thrown to the wind because of this love, because of these people who have had him and who want him. The book is named for the child. How do you get from these people who are very integrated into each other's lives and still keep that focus on the child at all times? How do you get all that on paper? It's all about the child really. It's about an unborn child. It's about Ignacio, the son of Soli. Rishi has a line where he says, "That's all people want. They just want healthy babies." So that's what the people in the novel all kind of center around, whether they know it or not. They're distracted by all these other things but I think the core of the book is Ignacio. You wrote a piece for The New York Times late last year called "The Privileged Immigrant" and you said that Indians are different in coming to the U.S. because they have a path. Can you talk about that? Yeah. So this piece I wrote for The New York Times talked a little about my parents and the fact that they were brought over. They came over to the U.S. in the mid ‘60s because the U.S. was recruiting foreign medical graduates. And so it was very hard for them. They were up in Albany, New York. You know I think around 1960 there were like a total of 12,000 Indians in the entire United States. So it was a lonely experience and it was physically cold and it was probably emotionally very isolated.  My point was that my parents and South Asians of their generation, especially who were brought over on things like the foreign medical graduate program, were given a visa. They were given a training program to be in here. My father and mother were given an apartment in Albany. It was very hard but they had these little steps put in place for them that allowed them to have a job, earn money, save money, create credit history. It allowed them to take the steps that they needed to take to establish a stable life in this country. And now we have a lot of people in America who were not given this path. They work here. They make money. There are technically legal ways for an undocumented immigrant to start something like a bank account. But it's terrifying to walk into a bank, you know, if you're undocumented and you could be picked up at any moment, to walk into a bank and give them your name and be officially then on the record. So that has ramifications for generations. They don't save the money. They don't establish credit history. They cannot integrate themselves into the economy and into the system of succeeding the way that maybe my parents could. Donna Apidone interviewed Shanthi Sekaran on Feb. 7, 2017.

Robin Sloan pokes fun at Silicon Valley's robots and flavorless protein drinks in his second book, "Sourdough." It's the perfect title for a book about various cultures in and around the Bay Area. And there are plenty of them: food culture, Saturday morning market culture, technology culture, and, of course, sourdough bread culture. The book is about a young programmer named Lois who moves to California to work for a robotics company. She winds up becoming a part of the underground food world in San Francisco. When she starts using a robotic arm to help her make bread, it does make one wonder how far is too far when it comes to technology. Sloan joined CapRadio's Donna Apidone to discuss his fascination with technology. Interview Highlights You fit a robot into "Sourdough." Not a whole robot, just an arm. There's a whole part that has to do with the fact that a robot can't crack an egg. How important is that? The reason people want robots to be able to crack eggs is that means that [task] can now belong to that world of repetition and copying. But the reason maybe some folks are not interested in having a robot arm crack their eggs is that they don't mind cracking their eggs every morning, or baking their bread. And I think that's delicious actually; that tension between the scale, the ease, and the leverage of code and technology, and then this other world [in which] the point is to do it again, and do it again, and do it again yourself, as a human. You managed a line that has just taken on a life of its own and you managed it on Page 5. It just seems to stop people in their tracks. People of a certain age are talking about this one sentence: “Here's a thing I believe about people my age: we are the children of Hogwarts and more than anything we just want to be sorted.” Let's talk about that. You know, honestly the thing that has been amazing — and this is very different even in the four or five years since my first novel came out — the way that books kind of travel around the Internet has changed quite a bit. And in particular, you can think of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter [as] kind of operating on little social objects. That's what they want. Books that can offer little bits, little isolatable chunks that can then flow without context through these networks, tend to do very well. There's a totally cynical way of thinking about that which is that you could engineer your novel to be full of these pithy little remarks. But actually it's more fun and I think more interesting to just write a novel as best you can and then see after the fact what pops out. That's such a passive line, that they "want to be sorted" and not sort things out themselves. Yeah, I think it's true though. Actually I think you could substitute in almost any generation in that line, or any group of people, or just people generally. I think that was part of the powerful appeal of that story. And if folks don't know, it's a reference to the “Harry Potter” books. Early on in the very first “Harry Potter” book, young Harry encounters this artifact at the wizard school called the Sorting Hat, which does the most amazing thing: it tells you where you belong. And it tells you who your tribe is. And I think there's something just deeply compelling about that for anyone, everyone, of any age. Have you been sorted? Have I been sorted … well, yeah. I think my “Sorting Hat” wasn't quite as neat as, you know, the magical top hat. Honestly, I think it was the public library. I think when I walked into the public library, however many years ago that was, in Troy, Michigan, where I grew up, I was like, "Oh yes, I understand now. This is where I belong." [Laughs]      Donna Apidone interviewed Robin Sloan on March 27, 2018.

Gain insight into your favorite writer or discover your next great read on the new CapRadio Reads podcast. CapRadio's Morning Edition Host Donna Apidone sits down with prominent authors and fresh writers. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts.

Talk with local NPR host and life coach Donna Apidone about her book Trans For Mission, an outline of how one can change one's life

Talk with local NPR host and life coach Donna Apidone about her book Trans For Mission, an outline of how one can change one's life

Capitol Public Radio's Donna Apidone, talks about her upcoming interview, An Evening With Morning Edition, at the Mondavi Center; and William Beteta, Chief of Interpretation and Visitor Services at the Brown verses Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas, talks about the anniversary of the historic decision.

Current Events; talk with Capitol Public Radio's Donna Apidone, local host of NPR's Morning Edition