Journalist
Shuka Kalantari is a San Francisco Bay Area journalist whose reports have taken her to Turkey, Cambodia, Canada and across the US. She was born near the Caspian Sea in Iran and raised in Northern California. Shuka primarily reports on refugee and immigrant communities in California and internationally. When she's not doing interviews, she likes to be outdoors or go dancing. Also, one day she will write a magical realism children's book.
<p>Though blogging and social media have been around for some time now, some people still argue that blogging, social media and journalism should be independent of one another. Scott Hensley of NPR's Shots blog contends that couldn’t be further from the truth.</p>
<p>KQED's Health Dialogues looks at the low rates of prenatal care for Native American women in California, and why it is hard to change the numbers. Reporter: Shuka Kalantari</p>
<p>Disabled and elderly people originally admitted to the U.S. as refugees could lose federal cash assistance today. Under a new law, they have to be American citizens in order to receive some benefits.</p> <p>For people like 86-year-old Philippe Kaninda, who doesn't speak English and suffers from dementia, passing the citizenship test seems impossible. If Kaninda loses is SSI, he may also lose his MediCal, California's health insurance program for low income individuals.</p>
<p>Shuka Kalantari interviews artist Victor Zaballa about his experience with organ donation and its impact on the Latino community.</p>
<p><em>Health Dialogues, </em>a special series from KQED Public Radio exploring California health care issues, is seeking community voices to chronicle the health of their cities for our new blog, <em>Our State of Health: California Reports</em>. The blog will feature citizen correspondents from across California, filling us in on the latest news and attitudes in health from around the state.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kqed.org/assets/slideshow/creativityexplored/" target="_blank">Take a tour of Creativity Explored</a>'s studio space, and see artists show off their work. <a href="http://www.creativityexplored.org/" target="_blank">Creativity Explored</a> is an art studio in San Francisco's Mission District, where all the artists are people with developmental disabilities.</p><p> </p>
<p>An audio<a href="http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201004222000/f" target="_blank"> postcard from "We Gotta Dance,"</a> a social event for developmentally disabled people. The monthly dance is organized by the <a href="http://thearcsf.org/" target="_blank">Arc of San Francisco</a>, a nonprofit resource for people with developmental disabilities.</p>
<p>I recently produced a web-only interactive story about a <a href="http://shukakalantari.com/journalist/2010/03/kidney-gives-artist-second…; target="_blank">San Francisco-based artist's quest for a kidney donor </a>for KQED Public Radio's <a href="http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201003182000" target="_blank">Health Dialogues</a>.
<p>See photo and hear San Francisco artist Victor Zaballa tell how he received a kidney transplant, and what it means to him.</p>
<p>Climb aboard the Teen Health Van, a free traveling clinic serving homeless and uninsured youth in the Bay Area.</p><p>Click here to view an audio slideshow of <a href="http://www.kqed.org/assets/slideshow/teenhealthvan/" target="_blank" title="Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Teen Health Van">Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Teen Health Van</a> in action.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Teen Health Van slide show produced by Shuka Kalantari</em></p>
