Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

"I don't think you have to align with someone politically to tell a fair story. I just think you have align with the truth."

Notes and references from this episode: 

Episode 7: Erika D. Smith - What is California?

@anitachabria - Anita Chabria on Twitter 

Anita Chabria story archive - LA Times

“Are pooches in San Francisco getting high off meth-laced poop? Conservatives hope so,” by Anita Chabria, LA Times 

“Armed and mentally ill: Is deadly force the only treatment left?”,- by Anita Chabria, The Sacramento Bee

“‘No treatment until tragedy’ is our mental health system. CARE Court could change that,” by Anita Chabria, LA Times 

“Threats, videos and a recall: A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county,” - by Anita Chabria, LA Times 

“SF’s prototype trash cans have landed. One costs $20,900,” by Will Jarrett, Mission Local

Clara Shortridge Foltz biography - Wikipedia

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I’ve argued on many occasions that politics is not a leading-edge occupation. It doesn’t lead. It follows. It reacts rather than acts. I think we in the media depict politicians as the people at the head of the parade—the drum majors strutting along and leading the parade. Really, they’re the people at the end of the parade with the scoop shovels, when you think about it. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

@DanCALmatters - Dan Walters on Twitter 

Dan Walters column archive - CalMatters

Episode 1: Gov. Jerry Brown - What is California?  

The New California: Facing the 21st Century, by Dan Walters

"Gavin Newsom’s keeping it all in the family," by Dan Walters, CalMatters

Episode 32: Allison Arieff - What is California?

“Is California strangling its golden goose?”, by Dan Walters, CalMatters

“New tests underscore California’s educational crisis,” by Dan Walters, CalMatters

Hugh J. Glenn - Wikipedia

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Part of [ending online harassment] is just having a backbone. As a leader, just saying: “The people who are using my product and who are creating all the content, they actually matter to me. And I don’t want them to be abused. I don’t want them to be harassed.” It’s not that hard to make that change.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@ekp - Ellen Pao on Twitter 

Project Include - home page  

“The Reddit Revolt That Led to Ellen Pao’s Resignation,” - by Alex Abad-Santos, Vox

“Adam Neumann’s $350 million comeback is a ‘slap in the face’ to female founders and founders of color,” by Emma Hinchcliff and Paige McGlauflin

“Jada Pinkett Smith and Ellen Pao - Red Table Talk” - YouTube

Notes and references from this episode: 

@ekp - Ellen Pao on Twitter 

Project Include - home page  

“The Reddit Revolt That Led to Ellen Pao’s Resignation,” - by Alex Abad-Santos, Vox

“Adam Neumann’s $350 million comeback is a ‘slap in the face’ to female founders and founders of color,” by Emma Hinchcliff and Paige McGlauflin

“Jada Pinkett Smith and Ellen Pao - Red Table Talk” - YouTube

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

California is not seen as one of those places that has a high density of Black people, and therefore it's not seen as a place where Black culture is innovated. But it should be.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@aliciagarza - Franklin Leonard on Twitter 

Black Futures Lab - home page 

Black Census Project - home page

“Lady Don’t Take No” with Alicia Garza - Apple Podcasts

The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, by Alicia Garza

Dr. Espanola Jackson Day proclamation - City of San Francisco 

June Jordan - Academy of American Poets

“Shock G, Leader Of Hip-Hop's Digital Underground, Dies At 57,” - by Rodney Carmichael, NPR

“Thinkin’ About Merl Saunders” - The Grateful Dead 

Black Census Project - home page

Congresswoman Barbara Lee - home page

“Why Barbara Lee Voted Against the War in Afghanistan,” - by Andrea González-Ramírez, The Cut

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

The more I see of California, the more I realize how special we are. I’ve been to European countries. I’ve been to South American countries. I’ve been to Malaysia. I’m fairly well-traveled. I’ve yet to find a country that has everything California has. [...] We forget sometimes how extraordinary a place this is.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@GregLucas20 - Greg Lucas on Twitter 

California State Library - Visitor’s center 

“Malcolm Lucas, former California chief justice, dies at 89,” by Bob Egelko, SFGate

Gov. George Deukmejian - California Governors’ Gallery / State Library

Stanislaus National Forest / Highway 108 Corridor - USDA

Episode 1: Gov. Jerry Brown - What is California? 

“Kevin Starr, author of California histories and former state librarian, dies at 76,” by David Zahniser and Matt Hamilton

Mary Coin, by Marisa Silver

Migrant Mother, by Dorothea Lange

California: The Great Exception, by Carey McWilliams

Gov. George Pardee - California Governors’ Gallery / State Library

“California Democratic Heavyweight John Burton Exiting the Political Stage,” by Scott Shafer, KQED

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I really played by a set of rules that you served on the Board of Supervisors and then you ran for the Legislature and then you ran for Congress. I really came to Congress too late in my political career. I was 57 years old when I got elected to Congress. It’s based on seniority, so it takes forever to get to a position of authority, and everything is run through the chairs of committees. I had the luxury in the State Legislature where I served for 18 years and had 300 bills become law. It’s a record that will probably never be broken. [But] I think that waiting my turn was something I wouldn’t recommend other people do.

Notes and references from this episode: 

Congresswoman Jackie Speier - CA-14 - home page 

“Rep. Jackie Speier will retire after her term ends,” by A Martinez, NPR, 

Congressman Leo Ryan biography - American Experience, PBS

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple - documentary by Stanley Nelson

“Bob Swanson: The Toughest CEO in Silicon Valley,” by Robert Ristelheuber, EDN 

“Gordon Moore Is the Nerdy Moses of Silicon Valley,” by J.P. O’Malley, The Daily Beast 

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

We are in the midst of a huge national experiment that’s going to answer the question: What happens when you take a society that is exhausted, fearful, concerned for its future, angry at itself, polarized... and throw a bunch of guns into it? We have no alternative but to live through answering that question.

Notes and references from this episode: 

UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program - home page 

“Trigger Effect: The 1989 Cleveland School Shooting, 25 Years Later,” by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown Magazine

Warner Mountains: Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering - SummitPost

“Gun Deaths Hit an All-Time High (Again) in 2021,” by Jennifer Mascia, The Trace    

“Attorney General Bonta Launches Office of Gun Violence Prevention” - Office of the Attorney General

“Survey finds alarming trend toward political violence” - Violence Prevention Research Program, UC Davis  

Gary Snyder biography  - Academy of American Poets

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I feel like all of America looks at infrastructure kind of the way a negligent homeowner looks at their house. “Yeah, the roof’s kinda leaky, but we’ll give it another year.” Invariably what happens is you’ve waited too long, your whole house floods, your insurance premiums go up, and it costs you three times as much to fix your roof–because you waited. Writ large, that, to me, is how we deal with infrastructure. We just wait and wait, people fight over it, it gets more and more expensive, something happens, and then it’s an emergency, and the labor costs are more expensive. And people rush, and they make mistakes. There’s no regard for it. There’s no respect for how important it is. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

@allisonarieff - Allison Arieff on Twitter

MIT Technology Review - home page 

SPUR - home page 

“Allison Arieff: Riverfront Q&A” - by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown Magazine

Adam Neumann’s latest big idea? To become America’s biggest landlord - by Lauren Aratani, The Guardian

“The future of urban housing is energy-efficient refrigerators,” by Patrick Sisson, MIT Technology Review

“Los Angeles Enjoys Its New Bridge a Little Too Much,” by Shawn Hubler and Soumya Karlamangla, NY Times 

“What Happened to the Great Urban Design Projects?”, by Allison Arieff, NY Times

This Bridge Will Not be Gray, by Dave Eggers and Tucker Nichols

“The Magic of Empty Streets,” by Allison Arieff, NY Times

“Cars Are Death Machines. Self-Driving Tech Won’t Change That,” by Allison Arieff, NY Times

Joan Brown retrospective - SFMOMA

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

"People look at a single point in history and think that’s the way it’s been forever. But it hasn’t been. […] There was a time when everyone thought TV dinners were all the rage, and they were delicious. That was the standard at one point. And they didn’t want to have a big beautiful salad. Nobody wants to eat TV dinners now. People would prefer to have a big beautiful fresh salad. So tastes do evolve. Humans do evolve. We can introduce new foods that are similar yet different—and perhaps superior in many ways."

Notes and references from this episode: 

@MiyokoSchinner - Miyoko Schinner on Twitter 

@MiyokosCreamery - Miyoko’s Creamery on Twitter 

miyokos.com - Miyoko’s Creamery home page

Rancho Compasión - home page 

Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé

Dairy Farm Transition program - home page

“Point Reyes supplies emergency water for tule elk,” by Will Houston, Marin Independent Journal

“Point Reyes water quality tests find high bacteria levels,” by Will Houston, Marin Independent Journal

"New estimates of the environmental cost of food" - Oxford University

===== 

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

The lookout is kind of a safety blanket for the [fire] crew boss. It’s nice knowing there’s someone up on the hill who’s got your back. So we kind of want to have people’s backs in California, and be a calm voice on the radio when things are getting a little squirrely—to let them know, “Hey, you should get out of there. You don’t need to run, but something’s coming.”

Notes and references from this episode: 

@wildland_zko - Zeke Lunder on Twitter 

The Lookout - home page 

The Lookout channel - YouTube 

Episode 28: Lenya Quinn-Davidson - What is California? podcast 

Episode 11: Jaime Lowe - What is California? podcast

Jim Klump: Wildfires, History, and the Simple Pleasure of Bullshit Stories - The Lookout, YouTube

Bring Your Own Brigade - documentary by Lucy Walker

#goodfire - Prescribed fire hashtag, Twitter

Climate, Weather, and Wildfire: Full Interview with Daniel Swain - The Lookout, YouTube

Episode 16: Daniel Swain - What is California? podcast

2017 Tubbs Fire - Wikipedia

Frank Zappa - Wikipedia

Jello Biafra - Wikipedia

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

You can sort of make the case that Hollywood IS the American film industry. For me personally, I think of Hollywood as the people who are working in that system. I think Hollywood for me also invokes the history of that industry. And the history of that industry isn’t great in a lot of facets. … But when I think about the people that I’ve had the pleasure of working with within this ecosystem at this moment, I’m also very optimistic. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

@franklinleonard - Franklin Leonard on Twitter 

@thblcklst - The Black List on Twitter 

The Black List - home page 

The Black List - case study - by Henry McGee and Sarah McAra, Harvard Business School

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

This season promises to be an enlightening, amusing, challenging, and all-around compelling set of conversations with notable Californians in our ongoing quest to understand this crazy, fascinating place. I’m thrilled about this season’s guest lineup to date, which includes some of our state’s most intriguing voices weighing in with their unique, thought-provoking perspectives about California.

You can look forward to hearing from (in alphabetical order)…

• Allison Arieff, the editorial director for print of MIT Technology Review and one of our foremost thinkers about urban design
• Anita Chabria, the California columnist at the Los Angeles Times
• Alicia Garza, the principal at Black Futures Lab and co-creator of #blacklivesmatter
• Franklin Leonard, the creator of the influential Hollywood industry website The Black List
• Greg Lucas, the California State Librarian
• Zeke Lunder, the creator of the California fire-tracking resource The Lookout
• Ellen Pao, the former CEO of Reddit and current co-founder of the tech-industry nonprofit Project Include
• Miyoko Schinner, the vegan food impresario behind Miyoko’s Creamery and the Marin County farm sanctuary Rancho Compasión
• Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis Medical Center epidemiologist who is one of the nation’s preeminent researchers of firearm violence

…among other excellent guests currently in the works.

Look forward to our annual Year in Review episode in December as well, when our blue-ribbon panel of experts will look back on the ups and downs of 2022 and the challenges and opportunities awaiting California in 2023.

Spread the word and save the date for Sept. 6! I’m so pleased to be back with you.

Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻 ❤️

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I think it’s really important for Californians in general to build comfort with fire–to build a relationship with it, to get out and see what it actually looks like on the ground. That’s a big part of the work that I do. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

Fire in California - University of California Cooperative Extension

Northern California Prescribed Fire Council - home page

Meet the People Burning California to Save It - NY Times / YouTube

Backpacking To Morris Meadow - Inga’s Adventures

Episode 11: Jaime Lowe - What is California?

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

 Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I think there was a bit of denial where folks felt like they had planned for a three-year drought, and they were fine. It’s like, “Dude–we could have a 10- or a 40-year drought.” So that’s not good enough. We kind of [need] to amp it up.   

Notes and references from this episode: 

Water in the West program - Stanford University

Water Policy Group - home page

Jonathan Gold - LA Times archive

Judge Harry Pregerson - Wikipedia biography

California Water Action Plan - State of California 

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) - State of California 

“California leads effort to let rivers roam, lower flood risk,” by Kathleen Ronayne, Associated Press

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Without leaving the state, you could have a lifetime’s worth of experiences and adventures that are amazing–that are second to none. I never would have thought that was true before I started [California Through My Lens]. And to think that I’m 10 years in, and I still love traveling California? I never would have thought that was gonna be true either. That’s been the most surprising thing for me.

Notes and references from this episode: 

California Through My Lens - home page

“California Through My Lens” channel - YouTube

@californiathroughmylens - Instagram

California’s Gold with Huell Howser - KCET

Chris Burkard - home page 

Casey Neistat - YouTube

Lost Coast Trail - Bureau of Land Management  

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Fred Hoffman hosts the podcast and newsletter “Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” and is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners program in Sacramento County. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

FarmerFred.com - Farmer Fred home page

@farmerfred - Farmer Fred on Twitter

Get Growing with Farmer Fred - Farmer Fred on Facebook

“Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” podcast - Apple Podcasts

“Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” newsletter - Substack 

UC Master Gardener Program

UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County

Harvest Day 2022 - UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

California is both where I live and also feels like a foreign country. I think sometimes, if you feel like you live in a foreign country, it kind of makes you feel more alive–in the sense that you’re constantly noticing the experience of being.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@sarahlovescali - Sarah Miller on Twitter

The Real Sarah Miller - Substack

“Didn’t See It, Don’t Need To: Oscars,” by Sarah Miller and Joshua Clover, The Real Sarah Miller

“People I Punched,” by Sarah Miller, The Real Sarah Miller  

“My So-Karen Life,” by Sarah Miller, NY Times

“The Bridge Dog,” by Sarah Miller, The New Yorker

“Fire Season,” by Sarah Miller, The Real Sarah Miller

“The World Is Burning. I'm Renovating My Kitchen Anyway,” by Sarah Miller, Harper’s Bazaar

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

As the region is growing, as the state is growing, we should be educating more Californians. I believe that educating more young people is a good thing—full stop. [...] I think this whole situation boils down to a prioritization of two things: The comfort of our longtime residents versus the basic needs of our new residents.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@RigelRobinson - Rigel Robinson on Twitter 

California Environmental Quality Act - Wikipedia

Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods v. Regents of the University of California - Lawsuit 

“UC Berkeley must cut new enrollment by 3K students after high court ruling,” by Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside

“NIMBYism Reaches Its Apotheosis,” by Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

“UC Berkeley declines group’s offer to admit 1K more students,” by Associated Press

“Governor Newsom: Veto SB118,” by Phil Bokovoy, The Berkeley Daily Planet

“Newsom signs bill saving UC Berkeley from enrollment cuts this fall,” by Michael Burke, EdSource

“UC Berkeley will more than double what it pays the city under new settlement agreement,” by Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside 

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I want to stretch the limits. I want to write about things that you may not have heard of, be that some trial in Los Angeles for male birth control or some crazy thing that’s happening in a small town in California. I wanna tell you about new things. I had the idea that there are a lot of people who felt the same way–that we’re getting a lot of the same stories about Newsom, about coronavirus–and I don’t think people want another newsletter to talk about that. I mean, that’s not servicing our readers.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@by_justin - Justin Ray on Twitter  

Essential California newsletter - Los Angeles Times 

“Male birth control: A promising new trial in California, and why reproductive autonomy matters,” by Justin Ray, LA Times

“‘When I came out, I saw blood’: Teacher stops stabbing at high school,” by Justin Ray, LA Times

@sherlyholmes - Julia Wick on Twitter

“Fresno schools make a controversial decision about police on campuses,” by Justin Ray, LA Times

“An infamous heist revisited: The story of a gigantic robbery in downtown L.A.,” by Justin Ray, LA Times

“San Francisco Mayor London Breed expresses regret for her own French Laundry outing,” - Maura Dolan, LA Times

“Counting Cash At Dinner: The L.A. TACO Guide To The Restaurants Jose Huizar Dined At While Allegedly Collecting Bribes,” - Lexis-Olivier Ray, LA TACO

@TrevellAnderson - Tre’vell Anderson on Twitter

“A conversation with Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong,” - by Justin Ray, LA Times

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Having the opportunity to live in this incredible neighborhood in California gave me some type of resolve, and I was able to feel confident embracing both sides of me. I think if I grew up in California, in some of these different neighborhoods, I would probably feel and be able to fully embrace the Asianness and Americanness more than I am now. But it’s a thing I’m continuing to work on through my food, in a way. With each recipe, I’m trying to kind of explore different facets of my upbringing and my life and try to combine these things.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@eatchofood - Kristina Cho on Instagram  

EatChoFood.com - home page

Mooncakes & Milk Bread, by Kristina Cho (HarperCollins, 2021)

“Cecilia Chiang, Who Brought Authentic Chinese Food to America, Dies at 100,” by William Grimes, NY Times

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, Richmond, CA

Cantonese-style Tomato Egg - Eat Cho Food

Eastern Bakery - San Francisco

Phoenix Bakery - Los Angeles

Ali Wong - home page

Ruth Asawa - home page

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I remain shocked that I could meet a ton of people who are like me here. I really thought that was a New York thing. [...] I really thought in the abstract it was the land of models and actors, and I’m so psyched to learn: No–this is totally where I belong, [around] people who have made me so much funnier. I guess I’m just shocked to belong here so much, even though everything I’ve ever wanted to do involves being in California.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@LouisVirtel - Louis Virtel on Twitter  

Keep It - Crooked Media home page

Keep It - Apple Podcasts

“101 of the Best Songs About California,” by Soumya Karlamangla, NY Times

@kylebuchanan - Kyle Buchanan on Twitter

Black’s Beach - SanDiego.org

“Virtel it Like it Is” - Marvel segment -  Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Louis Virtel on Jeopardy! - YouTube

2020 Red Carpet Coverage - The Oscars 

The Richard & Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center - CSU Long Beach

Karen Carpenter Plays the Drums - YouTube

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review 

What is California?

 on Apple Podcasts

! It helps new listeners find the show.

I like a mythological landscape, you know? If you can figure out how to live in a landscape like that–at least for my temperament–that’s everything.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@KenLayne - Ken Layne on Twitter  

Desert Oracle magazine - home page

Desert Oracle Radio - home page

Desert Oracle Radio - Apple Podcasts

Desert Oracle Vol. 1 - MCD/Picador 

Robinson Jeffers - Poetry Foundation

The Land of Little Rain, by Mary Austin

Art Bell - Radio Hall of Fame

“Out in the wild: how Ken Layne created an alternative to clickbait in the desert,” by Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

Ambrose Bierce - Wikipedia

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

What we’ve seen over the last couple of years in a county like Shasta really has been, at its heart, an anti-government movement rooted in cynicism and mistrust of government [and] institutions. I have to say that the majority of county supervisors I’ve met and worked with in this state can’t support that. We got elected to provide services–to stand up for the people in our communities. We didn’t get elected to overthrow the government.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@StacyCorless - Stacy Corless on Twitter

Mono County - home page

Rural County Representatives of California - home page 

“Billions in funding for wildfire should be just a down payment,” by Stacy Corless, CalMatters

“Landmark California smog rules target lawn equipment, big rig trucks,” by Rachel Becker, CalMatters

“Oroville moves to become a constitutional republic,” by Jennie Blevins, Oroville Mercury-Register  

“California county on track to be run by militia-aligned group,” by Dani Anguiano, The Guardian

“Methuselah, a Bristlecone Pine, is Thought to be the Oldest Living Organism on Earth,” by Robert Hudson Westover, USDA

=====

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale

Theme music: Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

The choices that California businesses make impact people all over the world who don’t even know where California is. It’s not just technology that gets made in California. It’s how it gets made. It’s how it gets funded. What types of tools get built are the ones that can accrue a ton of returns to the investors. That’s a really narrow set of incentives that end up affecting literally everything in the world.  

Notes and references from this episode: 

@baratunde - Baratunde Thurston on Twitter

How to Citizen - podcast home page 

We’re Having a Moment - Apple Podcasts

Puck - home page

“How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time,” by Baratunde Thurston, TED

How to Be Black, by Baratunde Thurston

Episode 425 - Baratunde Thurston - WTF with Marc Maron 

Ella Baker Center - home page

@kendrick38 - Kendrick Sampson on Instagram

@jacobsoboroff - Jacob Soboroff on Twitter  

Assemblymember Wendy Carillo - home page

Color The Water - home page

America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston - PBS

“Berkeley became first US city to ban natural gas. Here's what that may mean for the future,” by Susie Cagle, The Guardian

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

If you have a flash flood in an uninhabited desert, then it’s not causing anyone any problems. But if you have an ark-storm scenario in the Central Valley and you exceed the capacity of the levees in Sacramento, that’s a whole different question. So I think a lot about what recent experience tells us about the urgency of addressing the problems that we’re going to clearly face in the decades to come. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

@Weather_West - Daniel Swain on Twitter

Weather West blog, by Daniel Swain

Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA

Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes, National Center for Atmospheric Research

The Nature Conservancy of California

"Controversial restriction on 49ers-Rams NFC Championship Game tickets abruptly disappears on Ticketmaster,” by Eric Ting, SFGATE

“The Climate Scientist Who Is Demystifying Extreme Weather,” by Madeleine Gregory, Vice

“What a Dry January Means for California’s Drought,” by Soumya Karlamangla, NY Times  

“Study: Sierra Snowpack Could All But Disappear In 25 Years,” by Jay Barmann, SFist

“‘Fire season never really ends in California’: Cal Fire is preparing for winter, but fire dangers persist,” by Andres Picon, SF Chronicle

====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California?on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

We’re all angry because we’re sad. We look at movies and everyone’s crowded together, and we really miss that. And I promise it'll come back. But even if it doesn’t come back completely normally, please evaluate what gives your life meaning, and spend time with people. Because it’s not actually about school closures or business closures or other things. It’s about our humanity–why we want to be together.

Notes and references from this episode: 

Joan Didion's 'lost' commencement address, revealed - Joan Didion (via J.D. Warren, UC Riverside)

Tracking coronavirus hospitalizations in California by county - John Osborn D'agostino and Lo Bénichou, CalMatters

Patients hospitalized for COVID-19 this year could pay thousands of dollars, study suggests - Kara Gavin, University of Michigan Health Lab

California surpasses 7 million coronavirus cases, adding 1 million in one week - Luke Money and Rong-Gong Lin II, LA Times

Sacramento County breaks record for hospitalized COVID cases amid omicron surge - Michael McGough, The Sacramento Bee

Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH - UCSF profile page

@MonicaGandhi9 - Dr. Monica Gandhi, Twitter

Monica Gandhi is S.F.’s outlier COVID expert. Her view on it: ‘I’m not saying anything crazy’ - Ryan Kost, SF Chronicle

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count - NY Times

Overcaution carries its own danger to children, by Monica Gandhi, The Atlantic

Eric Goosby, MD - UCSF profile page

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Thank you for listening to Season 1 of What is California? We’ll be back in January featuring all-new conversations with notable Californians in a quest to understand the Golden State. 

In the giving spirit? Support this podcast on Patreon, or share the show with your friends via Substack or wherever you get podcasts. 

Happy holidays, and see you in 2022! 🐻 ❤️

Notes and references from this episode: 

@Gustavo Arellano - Gustavo Arellano, Twitter

The Times - LA Times news podcast, hosted by Gustavo Arellano

@ssdai - Serena Dai, Twitter

@emily_hoeven - Emily Hoeven, Twitter

WhatMatters - CalMatters daily newsletter, by Emily Hoeven

A dying girl, a fateful blessing and the lessons of California’s tragic origin myth, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Alliance Française de Sacramento

I drank smoke-tainted California wines. Here's what they actually taste like, by Esther Mobley, SF Chronicle

The master sommelier expulsions won’t fix wine industry sexism, women say, by Esther Mobley, SF Chronicle

L.A.’s top Catholic goes off on ‘woke’ culture, social justice movements, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times 

At my wife’s Santa Ana market, the masks have never come off, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Why I won’t be joining Newsom in Scotland, by Emily Hoeven, CalMatters

After two weeks, Newsom makes an appearance, by Emily Hoeven, CalMatters 

Episode 7: Erika D. Smith, What is California?

Ban homeless encampments everywhere? It might have more support than liberals think, by Erika D. Smith, LA Times

Is L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva rounding up a ‘posse’ of cowboys?, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Sacramento Mural, Graffiti and Street Art Map, by Nathaniel Miller

Apocalypse, cow — our growing drought and the great L.A. cattle escape, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Taco U.S.A., by Gustavo Arellano (Simon & Schuster)

Elizabeth Valoma, co-founder of Cheese Board Collective, dies at 91, by Tanay Warerkar and Serena Dai, SF Chronicle

Summer of Fun: Where to eat and drink to fall in love with the Bay Area again, by Serena Dai, SF Chronicle

Mexicans have fought for a better California for 171 years. These books show how, by Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Dr. Mario T. Garcia, UC Santa Barbara

Episode 10: Elaine Howle, What is California?

California’s state auditor: ‘Speak the truth to power,’ by Emily Hoeven, CalMatters

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Industrial agriculture didn’t care about story. The work that I did—the work that Sun Crest [peaches] sort of launched—was, “No, there’s story behind every food that we eat, every bite. And that story is part of the meaning of food. Let’s find out more about that story.”

Notes and references from this episode: 

You Won't Believe it's Vegan Pumpkin Pie, by Gena Hamshaw, Food52

Masumoto.com - Masumoto Family Farm

Country Voices: The Oral History of a Japanese American Family Farm Community, by David Mas Masumoto

Epitaph For a Peach: Four Seasons on my Family Farm, by David Mas Masumoto

Op-Ed: Feeling the drought on my family farm, by David Mas Masumoto, LA Times

William Saroyan biography, The William Saroyan Foundation

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review 

What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

As long as I’m sitting in the chair that I’m in, I want to talk about those things and write about those things honestly because they’re a part of who we are. They’re a part of our history in California. It doesn’t mean you don’t love our country. It doesn’t mean you don’t love our state.  I think real freedom begins with truth.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@MarcosBreton, Marcos Breton on Twitter

“They are building 11,000 new homes in Folsom. But will there be enough water?”, by Ryan Sabalow, The Sacramento Bee 

“The privileged candidate: Why do we let Gavin Newsom get away with this?”, by Marcos Breton, The Sacramento Bee

“20 years after Prop. 187, how much progress have California’s Latinos really made?” by Marcos Breton, The Sacramento Bee

“California rejects Prop. 16 and affirmative action, proving intolerance lives here, too,” by Marcos Breton, The Sacramento Bee 

“Words just aren’t Trump’s ‘thing,’ Tom McClintock says as he prepares to fight impeachment,” by David Lightman, McClatchy

2020 presidential election - California voting results, Ballotpedia

American River Parkway, Sacramento County Regional Parks

“We’re averting our eyes from an environmental disaster in plain sight. Let’s give a damn,” by Marcos Breton, The Sacramento Bee 

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

For a long time, a stereotypical idea of what California might be would have this Hollywood glamor. Now it’s this Silicon Valley glamor, and it’s this sheen of wealth and success and privilege and manifest destiny and gold. And I think that we need to acknowledge that that is actually absolute destruction. For the majority of people, that is a detrimental vision and not even something that really exists. [...] I think finding the people who are actually making the state work is much more useful in terms of finding ideals.

Notes and references from this episode:

@kicklikeagirl1, Jaime Lowe on Twitter

Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California's Wildfires, by Jaime Lowe  

“Ten Sessions,” by Jaime Lowe, This American Life

“The Incarcerated Women Who Fight California’s Wildfires,” by Jaime Lowe, NY Times Magazine

“Essential California newsletter - Nov. 17, 2021,” by Justin Ray, LA Times

“The Super Bowl of Beekeeping,” by Jaime Lowe, NY Times Magazine

City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771–1965, by Kelly Lytle Hernández

“Los Angeles Goes to War With Itself Over Homelessness,” by Jaime Lowe, NY Times Magazine 

Mental: Lithium, Love, and Losing my Mind, by Jaime Lowe

“Deputy cliques in L.A. County Sheriff’s Department likely growing, study finds,” by Alene Tchekmedyian, LA Times

“‘Our Origin Story’: Queen Calafia Returns to California in New Theatre Production,” by Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I don’t particularly like that characterization [“scathing audit”] What our audits are intended to do is—as I’ve said to staff and at legislative hearings—is speak truth to power. To let people know we’ve audited this program, we’ve looked at how the state agency is implementing this program, and we found some significant weaknesses, and it needs to be improved. Now, our language—the tone—is sometimes very strong, and some agencies don’t like it: “Oh, you’re just writing for headlines.” No. What we’re trying to do is write reports that are compelling—that will get somebody’s interest, and somebody will pay attention.

Notes and references from this episode:

auditor.ca.gov - California State Auditor home page  

List of U.S. state auditors, Ballotpedia

Elaine Howle - 2012 Public Official of the Year, Governing Magazine

“State Auditor Elaine Howle is retiring,” David Lightman, The Sacramento Bee 

EDD Follow-Up: Since the COVID-19 Pandemic It Continues to [...] Put Californians at Risk of Identity Theft, Auditor’s report on EDD (Nov. 19, 2020)

EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns, Auditor’s report on EDD (Jan. 26, 2021)

Significant Weaknesses in EDD’s Approach to Fraud Prevention Have Led to Billions of Dollars in Improper Benefit Payments, Auditor’s report on EDD (Jan. 28, 2021)

“State Auditor Talks About Citizens Re-Drawing The Election Maps,” Capital Public Radio 

2020 California Citizens Redistricting Committee

“UC President Napolitano Apologizes for Interfering With State Audit,” by Ana Tintocalis, KQED

The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

“NIMBYism is something that arises instinctively in response to a proposed change. People just do it. They want it. They have the feeling. They trust their feelings: ‘This feels bad; it IS bad.’ [...] That’s what we’re going against: How do we help people feel OK with change? How do we help people process it?”

Notes and references from this episode: 

@sonjatrauss, Twitter

YIMBYLaw.org - Yimby Law home page  

Golden Gates, by Conor Dougherty

“SB 9 ruin your neighborhood” - Google search

Sept. 28 statement on California housing legislation, Office of the Governor 

“Why did S.F. supervisors vote against a project to turn a parking lot into 500 housing units?”, by J.K. Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle

“Why state lawmakers are fired up over a derailed S.F. housing project,” by Alexei Koseff, San Francisco Chronicle

“The Last Days Inside Trailer 83,” by Hannah Dreier, The Washington Post 

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Part of what I think is important about my work is that I try to translate California for people who do not live here—particularly people on the East Coast. I always say that I understand what they think of California because I was one of them. [I] really began to write about California because I found it such a fascinating place and, in many ways, a misunderstood one.

Notes and references from this episode: 

@miriampawel, Twitter

The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement, by Miriam Pawel

The Crusades of Cesar Chavez, by Miriam Pawel

The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, by Miriam Pawel

Miriam Pawel - NY Times Opinion archive

The First Lady, by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown magazine

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I do think there’s a lot of geography tied to people’s values and interests. I’ve enjoyed exploring different parts of the state and getting to know people who very much identify with where they’re from and care a lot about it for various different reasons. [They] oftentimes feel like other people in other parts of the state don’t understand where they live and what they do and what their life is like—which is probably true. But I think it’s interesting to hear that same statement repeated again and again from so many people from different parts of the state.

Notes and references from this episode: 

Erika D. Smith - Los Angeles Times column archive

Erika D. Smith - Sacramento Bee column archive   

Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine's racial equity problem, by Erika D. Smith

California forgot transgender people in vaccine equity push, by Erika D. Smith

How one California county managed to stay coronavirus-free, by Erika D. Smith

Holly Mitchell: 'Queen' of Black politics in LA, California, by Erika D. Smith

Sister Libby Fernandez Q&A, by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown Magazine

L.A. should take a lesson from Sacramento on how to clear a homeless encampment, by Erika D. Smith

A week later, here’s what happened to some of the homeless people booted from Echo Park, by Erika D. Smith

Episode 1: Gov. Jerry Brown, What is California? podcast

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I think [Joan Didion] is a corrective. Part of what drew me to her initially was that her inner weather and my inner weather are not that dissimilar. So there was that sense of recognition, but also the idea of her as a corrective of all that sunshine-y, California lotus-land myth. She is actively trying to destroy that mythology. And I think that as someone who resists that mythology because it reduces the state to the level of a cliche--it reduces the culture and the place to the level of a cliche--I liked that idea.  

Notes and references from this episode: 

Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, by David L. Ulin

Easy Rawlins series, by Walter Mosley

David Trinidad, Poetry Foundation

Eat the Mouth That Feeds You - by Carribean Fregoza

In the Watchful City, by S. Qiouyi Lu

If He Hollers Let Him Go, by Chester Himes  

The Socialist Who Won a Democratic Primary and the Dirty Hollywood Politics That Sunk His Campaign, by Zelda Roland, KCET

Dreaming: Hard Luck And Good Times In America, by Carolyn See

Golden Days, by Carolyn See

The Nowhere City, by Alison Lurie

I Should Have Stayed Home, by Horace McCoy

The Flutter of an Eyelid, by Myron Brinig

Joan Didion: The 1960s and 70s (Library of America), edited by David L. Ulin

Labyrinth, by David L. Ulin 

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

Stockton is representative of where California intersects—or where California collides. You have this tension between rural and agricultural and urban. I remember telling people I was from Stockton, and everyone thought it was a community with a lot of farms. I was like, “I ain’t never seen no farm!” It’s a city with city issues but a very agricultural background. That place has given me an appreciation for salt-of-the-earth-type folks—folks who may not have gone to college, folks who may not work in tech or the creative economy, but are still smart, are still important, still matter.  

Notes and references from this episode: 

What is California? newsletter on Substack

Stockton on My Mind, directed by Marc Levin

Invisibilia: The Chaos Machine, by Yowei Shaw and Kia Miakka Natisse

The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, by Michael Tubbs (published Nov. 16, 2021)

Anna Malaika Tubbs - Author site

Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California, by Ronald Isetti

“Oldest gurdwara in US,” by Asha Seth & Ramesh Seth, Spectrum - Tribune India

Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED)

SEED Data Analysis and Dashboard

Editorial: Now, for your local fake news…, Los Angeles Times

The Rev. James M. Lawson - biography, MLK Research & Education Institute, Stanford University

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I definitely have memories of being on the city bus for long periods of time. There is something, I think, sort of romantic and cinematic about watching the neighborhoods change outside the window. I definitely spent a lot of time looking out those windows, listening to music on a Walkman, and just sort of thinking about things in a way that you actually can’t if you’re driving. I think I had a romanticism about living in such a vast place where there could be interconnected lives. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

You Must Remember This podcast, by Karina Longworth

Love is a Crime podcast, by Karina Longworth and Vanessa Hope

Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood, by Karina Longworth

Los Angeles Plays Itself, directed by Thom Andersen

“Polly Platt: The Invisible Woman,” You Must Remember This

The Last Picture Show, directed by Peter Bogdanovich

“Gossip Girls: Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper,” You Must Remember This

“She's Done Everything (except direct),” by Rachel Abramowitz, Premiere

“Fake News: Fact-Checking Hollywood Babylon,” You Must Remember This      

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

I think the thing that makes California special for cannabis is that this is where the culture originated, and there’s such a center of gravity here. There’s a center of gravity for a lot of things [culturally]—not to be arrogant about California. You’re talking Hollywood and music and a lot of that kind of stuff. But it really is the cultural capital for cannabis. You have so many of the good breeders here. You have so many of the good growers here. You have such a great climate here. It's the fifth largest economy in the world. It’s the largest cannabis market—it’s almost 25% of the country. It’s more than twice as big as the second biggest. It’s almost as big as the next three markets combined. It’s just such a force. 

Notes and references from this episode: 

What is California? Episode 1: Gov. Jerry Brown

Glass House Group

Schumer proposes federal legislation to decriminalize marijuana, by Emma Newburger, CNBC

6th Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 

California Pot Seen Commanding Extra Cachet, by Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg

Thomas fire, California’s largest on record, finally 100% contained, by Michael Livingston and Shelby Grad, LA Times

An inconvenient truth (about weed), by Natalie Fertig and Gavin Bade, Politico

Relentless (Graham Farrar profile), by Jolene Hansen, Cannabis Business Times 

A Brief History of the Drug War , Drug Policy Institute

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

We love direct democracy, and we love to bitch about direct democracy. It really is in our DNA here that we constantly have these ballots---whether it’s this recall or Schwarzenegger’s or the two dozen initiatives that we often see on big ballots. And everyone, every time, is like, “Why are we doing this? This is crazy.” But if you turn around and say, “So you don’t think we should have this?”, they’re like, “No, no, no! We want this power!” So I think it’s very much in keeping with the tone of the state. [...] Every time we get through an election, I sit back, and I actually have a lot of gratitude for how much folks do engage here.

Notes and references from this episode: 

Political Breakdown, KQED

My father had 91 years of joy, love and fighting for justice. It wasn’t enough (essay on Richard Abcarian), by Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times

Karen Tumulty on the Politics of Nancy Reagan, Political Breakdown

Kevin Faulconer on Governing San Diego and His Agenda on COVID and Crime, Political Breakdown

For Low-Income Parents, Most Child Support Goes to the State — Not the Kids, by Marisa Lagos, KQED

Judge Finds Attias Guilty of Murder, by Marisa Lagos, The Daily Nexus

San Bruno fire levels neighborhood - gas explosion, by Marisa Lagos, Kevin Fagan, Michael Cabanatuan, Justin Berton; SFGate

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked What is California?, please rate and review What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

"We’re dealing with news. We’re dealing with the Texas abortion statute, a recall, polarization, Obama, Biden, McConnell… This is all the hurlyburly of politics. Government as I experienced it is more mundane. You show up—first of all, you’ve got to hire a staff. The Legislature puts in 4,000 bills. They’ll probably land 1,200 on your desk. You sign 90% of them, but then you’ll have an issue, and reporters will be hounding you about this or that. At the end—and I’ve had the end, twice—of eight years, if you say to yourself, 'Well, what the hell really happened?', it takes a certain amount of humor and insight to formulate a worthwhile answer, in my opinion."

Notes and references from this episode: 

California State of Mind, CalMatters / Capital Public Radio

California Sun Podcast, The California Sun

The California Report, KQED

Leading Lady, by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown magazine

California: The Great Exception, by Carey McWilliams

“Demonym” definition, Merriam-Webster.com

The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, by Miriam Pawel

The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography, by Miriam Pawel

Gregory Bateson at The California Museum

Steps to an Ecology of Mind, by Gregory Bateson

“An Introduction to the Life and Spirituality of Dorothy Day,” by James Allaire and Rosemary Broughton, The Catholic Worker Movement

=====

Theme music by Sounds Supreme

Twitter: @WhatCalifornia

Substack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Support What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia

Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked the show, please consider rating and reviewing What is California? on Apple Podcasts! It helps new listeners find the show.

The podcast premieres Sept. 9 (aka California Admission Day!). Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out the website at whatiscalifornia.com

Subscribe to the free newsletter at whatiscalifornia.substack.com

Follow "What is California?" on Twitter: @WhatCalifornia