===== Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.com

Anita Chabria is a California columnist for the Los Angeles Times."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 LocalClara Shortridge Foltz biography - Wikipedia===== Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Dan Walters is a California political columnist for CalMatters.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 - CalMattersEpisode 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, CalMattersEpisode 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, CalMattersHugh J. Glenn - Wikipedia===== Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Ellen Pao is the co-founder and CEO of Project Include as well as the former CEO of Reddit.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” - YouTubeNotes 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Alicia Garza is the principal at Black Futures Lab and the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.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 PodcastsThe Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, by Alicia GarzaDr. 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 pageCongresswoman 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Greg Lucas is the California State Librarian.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, SFGateGov. George Deukmejian - California Governors’ Gallery / State LibraryStanislaus National Forest / Highway 108 Corridor - USDAEpisode 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 HamiltonMary Coin, by Marisa SilverMigrant Mother, by Dorothea LangeCalifornia: The Great Exception, by Carey McWilliamsGov. 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Jackie Speier is the representative for California’s 14th Congressional District. 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, PBSJonestown: 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Dr. Garen Wintemute is an emergency room doctor at UC Davis Medical Center and the director of the Violence Prevention Research Program.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 MagazineWarner 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Allison Arieff is the editorial director of print for MIT Technology Review. 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 TwitterMIT Technology Review - home page SPUR - home page “Allison Arieff: Riverfront Q&A” - by Stu VanAirsdale, Sactown MagazineAdam 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 TimesThis 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 TimesJoan Brown retrospective - SFMOMA===== Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comSupport What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Miyoko Schinner is the founder of Miyoko’s Creamery."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 pageRancho Compasión - home page Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore LappéDairy 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Zeke Lunder is the creator of the wildfire tracking resource The Lookout.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? podcastJim Klump: Wildfires, History, and the Simple Pleasure of Bullshit Stories - The Lookout, YouTubeBring Your Own Brigade - documentary by Lucy Walker#goodfire - Prescribed fire hashtag, TwitterClimate, Weather, and Wildfire: Full Interview with Daniel Swain - The Lookout, YouTubeEpisode 16: Daniel Swain - What is California? podcast2017 Tubbs Fire - WikipediaFrank Zappa - WikipediaJello Biafra - Wikipedia=====Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Franklin Leonard is the creator of The Black List.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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Greetings from What is California? HQ, where I’m excited to share with you the trailer for Season 3 of your favorite podcast about the Golden State.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 designAnita Chabria, the California columnist at the Los Angeles TimesAlicia Garza, the principal at Black Futures Lab and co-creator of #blacklivesmatterFranklin Leonard, the creator of the influential Hollywood industry website The Black ListGreg Lucas, the California State LibrarianZeke Lunder, the creator of the California fire-tracking resource The LookoutEllen Pao, the former CEO of Reddit and current co-founder of the tech-industry nonprofit Project IncludeMiyoko Schinner, the vegan food impresario behind Miyoko’s Creamery and the Marin County farm sanctuary Rancho CompasiónDr. 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! 🐻 ❤️

Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Lenya Quinn-Davidson is a fire adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension and director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council.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 ExtensionNorthern California Prescribed Fire Council - home pageMeet the People Burning California to Save It - NY Times / YouTubeBackpacking To Morris Meadow - Inga’s AdventuresEpisode 11: Jaime Lowe - What is California?=====Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.com Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Felicia Marcus is a visiting fellow with the Water in the West program at Stanford University, as well as a founding member of the Water Policy Group.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 UniversityWater Policy Group - home pageJonathan Gold - LA Times archiveJudge Harry Pregerson - Wikipedia biographyCalifornia 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comSupport What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Josh McNair is the creator of the travel website and video series “California Through My Lens.” 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 - InstagramCalifornia’s Gold with Huell Howser - KCETChris Burkard - home page Casey Neistat - YouTubeLost Coast Trail - Bureau of Land Management  =====Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comSupport What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

Episode 25: “Farmer Fred” HoffmanFred 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 TwitterGet 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 ProgramUCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento CountyHarvest Day 2022 - UCCE Master Gardeners of Sacramento County=====Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comEmail: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.

A brief programming note and advisory about our April 7 episode.

Sarah Miller writes the newsletter The Real Sarah Miller, hosts the podcast “Very Specific Interviews” and co-hosts (with Joshua Clover) the podcast “Didn’t See It, Don’t Need To.” 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 TwitterThe 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 VanAirsdaleTheme music: Sounds SupremeTwitter: @WhatCaliforniaSubstack newsletter: whatiscalifornia.substack.comSupport What is California? on Patreon: patreon.com/whatiscalifornia  Email: hello@whatiscalifornia.comPlease 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.