I talked with Robert Ogilvie, director of the (still relatively) new Oakland office of urban planning & policy advocacy organization SPUR. I asked Robert about why San Francisco-based SPUR wanted to expand into Oakland in the first place, what

#43 - Kara Platoni on Senses, Perception, and Biohacking

Dec 22nd, 2015 49m 6s

I talked with science journalist and author Kara Platoni about her new book We Have the Technology, all about how scientists, inventors, and others are working to understand and possibly move past the limits of human senses and perception. It's

#42 - Twilight Greenaway on Food Politics

Nov 17th, 2015 37m 50s

Twilight Greenaway, managing editor of Civil Eats, talked with me about the big stories shaping the American food system right now, what Civil Eats does (and would do if it had more resources), and how she manages the sometimes tricky food poli

#41 - Kaya Oakes on the Rise of the "Nones"

Oct 5th, 2015 45m 22s

Kaya Oakes, a religion writer from Oakland, was struck by the rising number of Americans who say they don't practice any particular religion -- even if they profess to believe in a god, even if they pray every day. What were the stories hidden

#40 - Comedian W. Kamau Bell

Sep 29th, 2015 52m 14s

Comedian W. Kamau Bell has made a career out of being funny, serious, and smart (all at the same time) about race and racism in America. He's working on a new stand-up special, touring colleges with his one-man show, making a weekly podcast, an

#39 - Ishmael Reed on Writing, Fighting, and Muhammad Ali

Aug 24th, 2015 41m 6s

I interviewed author Ishmael Reed about his latest book, The Complete Muhammad Ali, a biography of the famous boxer constructed mostly through interviews that contextualize the fighter in his times. We talked about Ali, parallels between writin

#38 - Rachel Swan, Oakland reporter for the SF Chronicle

Aug 10th, 2015 45m

This week, I talked with Rachel Swan, the Oakland and East Bay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She grew up in Berkeley, has lived her whole life in the East Bay, and worked for the East Bay Express for 10 years. I wanted to know what

#37 - Eliot Peper, author of the Uncommon Stock trilogy

Aug 3rd, 2015 55m 56s

Eliot Peper is the author of the Uncommon Stock trilogy, a series of thrillers set in the world of tech startups and venture capital. They tell the story of Mara Winkle and her company Mozaik, which makes financial fraud detection software. Ove

#36 - C.J. Hirschfield of Children's Fairyland

Jul 6th, 2015 51m 9s

C.J. Hirschfield has been the executive director of Children's Fairyland, Oakland's storybook theme park for children, since 2002. She's led the park through a period of rebuilding and navigated changing technology and local demographics, all w

#35 - Robert Roper, author of Nabokov in America

Jun 15th, 2015 42m 32s

Robert Roper is the author of a new book, Nabokov in America, that traces the influence of Vladimir Nabokov's 20 years living and working in the United States on what would become his best-known (and arguably best) works. Roper's books tells th

#34 - Keba Konte on Good Jobs and Inclusion in Coffee

Jun 8th, 2015 44m 29s

I talked to local restaurateur, coffee roaster, and artist Keba Konte about his plans to open a profit-sharing café that brings more people of color into the specialty coffee industry, under the auspices of his roasting company Red Bay Coffee.

#33 - Kristine Vejar on Textiles, Dyeing, and the Politics of Fabric

May 18th, 2015 44m 43s

Kristine Vejar runs A Verb for Keeping Warm, a store that sells yarn, fabric, knitting & sewing supplies, and clothing in north Oakland. It's also a classroom, a natural dyeing studio and garden, and home to an adorable French Angora rabbit nam

#32 - Kira Brunner Don & Timothy Don: The Oakland Book Festival

May 11th, 2015 54m 34s

This week's show is a conversation I recorded recently with Kira Brunner Don and Timothy Don, founding directors of the Oakland Book Festival, happening this year (for the first time ever!) on May 31, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at City Hall. Kira g

Apr 30th, 2015 44m 31s

This week I talked with Doctor Popular, a San Francisco-based artist and game designer who launched a project in Oakland last weekend. (That was my excuse.) Doc works in a variety of different media and does a lot of art that isn't commercial.

#30 - Sarah Rich of re:form

Apr 21st, 2015 59m 58s

This week's interview is with Sarah Rich, a writer & editor based in Oakland who, until just a few weeks ago, was editing the Medium publication re:form, an online magazine of sorts about design that was "mothballed" for lack of a sponsor. Sara

#29 - Mark Armstrong of Longreads

Apr 6th, 2015 52m 37s

Mark Armstrong is the founder of Longreads, a website (and Twitter account) that helps people find some of the best long-form writing on the web. Mark and I talked about why he started Longreads -- initially as a hashtag -- in 2009, what he's d

#28 - Dave Campbell on the Future of East Bay Biking

Apr 1st, 2015 58m 12s

I sat down in the BFF.fm studios with Dave Campbell, advocacy director for Bike East Bay, to discuss the future of biking in our part of the world. We talked about protected bike lanes on Telegraph, the move toward "complete streets," and Bike

#27 - Karen Cusolito on Industrial Arts and West Oakland

Mar 27th, 2015 55m 15s

I sat down this week with Karen Cusolito, artist and founder of American Steel Studios in West Oakland. We talked about her art -- mostly making very large steel sculptures -- and her neighborhood, and how both of them are changing. Karen has b

#26 - Doug Wittnebel on Architecture in a Changing City

Mar 10th, 2015 1h

I talked this week with Doug Wittnebel, design director in the Oakland office of the architecture firm Gensler & Associates. Gensler is headquartered in San Francisco, and just opened this new Oakland office about six weeks ago (after closing t

#25 - Kate Rhoades & Maysoun Wazwaz of Congratulations Pine Tree

Feb 18th, 2015 1h 13m

For this show, I had a really fun conversation with Kate Rhoades and Maysoun Wazwaz, the producers of Bay Area art & culture podcast Congratulations Pine Tree. We talked about their show, about the Bay Area art world that show covers (and of wh

#24 - Rue Mapp on Nature, African Americans, and Outside-ness

Feb 12th, 2015 1h 11m

This week's guest was Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro, an organization that works to reconnect African Americans to natural places and outdoor experiences -- and also to change the cultural perceptions of their presence in those places. We go

#23 - Alexis Madrigal on Fusion and the Future

Feb 4th, 2015 1h 6m

I talked this week with Alexis Madrigal, Silicon Valley (really Oakland) Bureau Chief for Fusion, an ABC-Univision joint venture. Alexis talked about what he and his team at Fusion are doing: trying to tell stories about the "Real Future", the

#22 - House History, Maps, and Burrito Justice

Jan 27th, 2015 1h 44m

This show isn't a regular sit-down long-form interview. In the first segment, I read my essay about the history of my house, recently published in the journal Boom. (I added a few things that aren't in the published version, things that had to

#21 - John Birdsall on Writing about Food

Jan 21st, 2015 1h 5m

I talked this week with John Birdsall, senior editor at CHOW.com and James Beard Award-winning food writer. John told me how he went from making food -- working in restaurant kitchens for nearly 20 years -- to writing about it, and what he look

#20 - Lisa Drostova on The Flight Deck and Making Space for Theater

Jan 15th, 2015 1h 5m

I spoke this week with Lisa Drostova, public engagement manager for Ragged Wing Ensemble and The Flight Deck, a multi-ensemble theater venue that opened last June in downtown Oakland. The Flight Deck houses seven companies (including Ragged Win