Crosscurrents

Things to do by day, all night long, in theaters, museums, on bicycles, at festivals, and parks. Here’s your Arts/Culture/Weekend for Memorial Day weekend:

THURSDAY

There's an inside joke around KALW News: that when you can’t come up with a conclusion, you should just end your story with, "the future is uncertain." And in a way, that's the theme of Jon Mooallem’s new book. It’s called Wild Ones: A sometimes dismaying, weirdly reassuring story about looking at people looking at animals in America. The book looks at three different endangered species – polar bears, Lange's metalmark butterflies, and whooping cranes. But it's less about the animals than the people trying to save them.

Mooallem is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and Pop-Up magazine here in San Francisco; he's also appeared on This American Life and the Colbert Report. He spoke with KALW's Casey Miner about how he got started looking at animals – and people. 

JON MOOALLEM: I think it's sort of miraculous that we're doing anything, you know I don't see grizzly bears trying to preserve other species. 

Over the past nine months, KALW has been working with inmates in San Quentin State Prison to train them in radio production – the tools for telling their own stories. We’re officially launching The San Quentin Radio Project on KALW later this summer. Today, we’ve got a story to share about how a restorative justice program helped one offender move past his crime. Here’s reporter Tommy Shakur Ross of the San Quentin Radio Project.

Today we are featuring the full-throated sound of Bay Area band, The Family Crest. They use traditional chamber music instruments and vocalization to produce powerful pop music. 

The Family Crest is heading the bill on Saturday, May 25th at The Starry Plough on Shattuck in Berkeley. Doors open at 8pm, with music starting at 9pm.

I’ve always had a deep love for fashion. I celebrate fashion week like it’s a holiday. But earlier this year, I realized the true cost of my clothes when I met a group of women I’d been stealing from my whole life.

As part of an exchange program, I traveled eight thousand miles, from Oakland, Calif. to Dhaka, Bangladesh.