Have you ever really thought about California?
I mean, yeah—it’s a state. It’s huge. Surfers and movie stars! Tech lords and Tupac! Fault lines and fires!
But have you ever really thought about California? Whether you live here, whether you’re from here, whether you’ve ever set foot in the state, maybe you’ve wondered: California… huh. What is that all about?
I know I have. My name is Stu VanAirsdale, and I’m the host of the new weekly podcast What is California? It premieres Sept. 9—a.k.a. California Admission Day—with new episodes arriving every Thursday.
I am thrilled to bring you provocative and compelling conversations with notable Californians in a quest to understand the Golden State. You’ll hear from artists, authors, activists, elected officials, industry leaders, journalists, educators… anyone and everyone who is making a difference in how California is perceived both inside and outside our borders.
Whether you’re from here, or a new resident to the state, or just someone interested in the big, crazy idea that is California, you can expect surprises, challenges, laughs, and more every week from some of the state’s most compelling voices.
Why What is California?
Well, I’ve looked for and dreamed about a podcast like this for a long time. We’ve got a few good California news podcasts, and plenty of strong California coverage available from newspapers, radio stations, and websites. But I’m always looking for a little more—a deeper conversational dive into the whats and whys, the whos and hows, the meanings of this place.
For instance, how does geography and culture define some of the state’s most notable figures? What are their first memories of California, or other enduring experiences that have shaped them? What do they think people outside California most misunderstand about the state? What are our biggest challenges, and how can we surmount them? Who are their own favorite Californians?
The more I looked for a show that touched on ideas like these, and the longer I waited to find one, the more I always concluded: OK, maybe just… make the show?
Why us?
As big as we are, national media tend to focus on what’s happening out east. But their loss is our gain—yours and mine, as we get to know each other on What is California?
A little about me: I’m a journalist who has written for publications including The New York Times, Slate, Vanity Fair, Gawker, Esquire, and other national outlets. Most recently, I was a senior editor at Sactown magazine, an award-winning city and regional publication where I reported on subjects ranging from the 1989 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in Stockton to the rise and fall and rise of Tower Records to public art controversies and profiles of NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt and former California first lady Anne Gust Brown. These days, I teach journalism and media full-time at Sacramento State.
Along my journey, wherever I’ve lived, wherever I visit, California—home—is never far from mind. I’ve always been curious, transfixed and even a little perplexed by what on earth is going on in this state.
California is a vast, complicated place
Nearly 800 miles from top to bottom. An ocean on one side and a mountain range and desert on the other. An economy that could stand alone as the fifth largest in the world, thanks to industries like agriculture, technology and entertainment.
From Disneyland to Yosemite… from wine to weed… For centuries, anything you would want to find, you could find in California.
But as we’ve seen over the last decade or two, the vaunted California dream isn’t necessarily reality.
Take housing, for instance: Nowhere else in America faces a housing crisis like the one in California. Or take climate change, which has left tens of millions of people vulnerable to drought and wildfire seasons like we’ve never seen. There’s income inequality, stolen land, immigration crises, fallowed fields, systemic racism… all exacerbated more than ever by the coronavirus pandemic.
California has long been perceived by Americans as the nation’s bluest, most progressive state. But vast swaths of red regions have mobilized a really close recall movement against the Democratic governor. Anything could happen here. There’s even a secessionist movement up north.
It’s... a lot. And it’s complicated. And one amazing guest at a time, What is California? will try to get to the bottom of all of it.
‘Amazing guests’ like who?
The first season of What is California? features conversations with notable Californians including (in alphabetical order)…
Marcos Breton (California opinion editor, McClatchy)
Graham Farrar (Chief Cannabis Officer, Glass House Brands)
Karina Longworth (creator of the Hollywood podcast You Must Remember This; formerly film critic and editor with LA Weekly)
Jaime Lowe (author of the forthcoming book Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California's Wildfires; contributor to The New York Times Magazine and This American Life)
Miriam Pawel (Pulitzer-winning journalist and editor; NYT columnist covering California; author of The Browns of California and The Crusades of Cesar Chavez)
Erika D. Smith (opinion writer with the Los Angeles Times; formerly of The Sacramento Bee)
Sonja Trauss (YIMBY advocate and co-founder of SF Bay Area Renters Federation and California Renters Legal Advocacy & Education Fund)
Michael Tubbs (former Stockton mayor; author of forthcoming memoir The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home)
David L. Ulin (editor of Library of America’s Joan Didion: The 1960s & 70s; former books editor at Los Angeles Times)
…with more to come.
I’ve read, listened to, followed, admired and appreciated these guests and their work for a long time, and it was a thrill to welcome them to chat through the frame of What is California?
I hope you enjoy these engaging, enlightening conversations as much as I did. And I hope you’ll listen every week for fresh, challenging, exhilarating answers to the question on everybody’s mind: What is California?
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The newsletter & Twitter
Subscribe to this free newsletter to receive a weekly update announcing the latest episode of What is California? You’ll also receive periodic dispatches about the show, its guests, cool events and opportunities to participate in the podcast.
And What is California? is on Twitter as well, where we post excerpts from and links to new episodes, as well as other noteworthy news, commentaries, and developments from around California.
