Podcasts about Commonwealth Club

The moving force behind biasinterrupters.org (an evidence-based metrics-driven approach to eradicating implicit bias) brings her perspective to bear on bridging the divide between college grads and everyone else she says has been driving politics to the far right in the United States. Joan Williams asks: Is there a single change that could simultaneously protect democracy, spur progress on climate change, enact sane gun policies, and improve our response to the next pandemic? Her answer is that changing the class dynamics which are currently dividing American voters could do just that. Williams argues that liberals often inadvertently play into the hands of far-right politicians intent on manipulating class anger to undercut progressive goals. She says the process can be reversed by offering college-educated Americans insights into how their values reflect their lives, and how their lives reflect their privilege, while also demonstrating how working-class values reflect working-class lives. She says the far right connects culturally with the working-class by manipulating racism and masculine anxieties to obfuscate the reality that far-right economic policies often prove disadvantageous to the working-class. Join us to hear her guidance on how she says liberals can forge a multiracial cross-class coalition capable of delivering on progressive goals. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. OrganizerGeorge Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January, congestion pricing went into effect in New York City. The policy's implementation took decades; along the way, multiple moments suggested that it wouldn't happen at all. Now, drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours are required to pay a toll. Meanwhile, other cities like San Francisco are considering a similar initiative. But Trump opposes New York's plan. Governor Hochul and state policy leaders encountered a political quagmire pushing the plan through. And its future is only certain up until around next fall, when legal proceedings are expected to come to a resolution. So, is congestion pricing making a worthwhile difference? How do New Yorkers — and those traveling into Manhattan — feel about it? Guests: Eric A. Goldstein, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council Sarah M. Kaufman, Director of NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management Ryan Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO, Culdesac On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the cusp of the greatest wealth transfer in history—with $124 trillion moving between generations in the next 20 years—we explore how philanthropy can be transformative, and transformed. Nationally recognized philanthropic leader Dimple Abichandani has crafted a blueprint for how wealth can be transformed into a more just and sustainable future in times of rapid change and crisis. Can philanthropy be an anti-racist, feminist, relational, and joyful expression of solidarity? In A New Era of Philanthropy, Dimple argues that yes, philanthropy can be these things—and for the future we seek, and for the sector to achieve its greatest impact, it must be. With fresh answers to the question of how philanthropy can meet this high-stakes moment—from reimagining governance to aligning investments to crisis funding and beyond—she explains how paradigm shifts can move us forward, beyond critique into real transformation, with relatable stories about funders who are forging a new era of philanthropy. About the Speakers Dimple Abichandani is a nationally recognized philanthropic leader, lawyer, and author of A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth Into a More Just and Sustainable Future, a book that reimagines how philanthropy can meet this moment. For two decades, she has worked to reshape philanthropy's purpose and practice while leading innovative funding institutions. As executive director of the General Service Foundation (2015–2022), she aligned the foundation's grantmaking, investments, and governance with justice values.  A National Center for Family Philanthropy Fellow, Abichandani's leadership has been recognized with a Scrivener Award for Creative Grantmaking. She serves on the Board of Directors of Solidaire Network and has served on the boards/steering committees of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Northern California Grantmakers, and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she advises donors and foundations on transforming wealth into a just and sustainable future. Tegan Acton founded Wildcard Giving, a family of philanthropic entities created following the sale of WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014. Acton serves as the principal at each of the sister entities, which work together to further civic values, collective responsibility and our common humanity. Prior to establishing Wildcard Giving, Acton served as the director of communications and strategic initiatives for the vice provost of undergraduate education at Stanford University. She additionally held positions at Yahoo! and the Sundance Institute, and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a BA in English and Political Science. Acton's personal commitments include serving on the Executive Committee for the Collaborative for Gender and Reproductive Equity, chairing the Board of Trustees of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and investing in independent films through her production company Good Gravy Films. The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. OrganizerVirginia Cheung  This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In the course of saying no with their bodies, they were met with more violence… including moms who were carrying babies on their backs and were pushed to the edge of the river — and had to choose the river.” That's Abby Reyes, author of “Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars and the Rise of Climate Justice.” In today's episode, she shares deeply emotional stories of the price paid by environmental defenders. And she also shares her own stories of resilience and joy in the aftermath of grief. In many parts of the world, fossil fuel interests and their political allies have gone so far as to weaponize pollution as policy to push out marginalized communities. Alexis Madrigal, host of KQED's Forum and author of “The Pacific Circuit,” describes how this happened in West Oakland, beginning as early as the 1930s: “You see them just saying it. We know this is gonna make housing worse. We know this is gonna make people's lives worse, but this is the plan.” And yet here, too, local communities stand up for environmental justice. Guests:  Alexis Madrigal, Co-Host, Forum, KQED Margaret Gordon, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Abby Reyes, Author; Director, Community Resilience Projects, UC Irvine On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In the course of saying no with their bodies, they were met with more violence… including moms who were carrying babies on their backs and were pushed to the edge of the river — and had to choose the river.” That's Abby Reyes, author of “Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars and the Rise of Climate Justice.” In today's episode, she shares deeply emotional stories of the price paid by environmental defenders. And she also shares her own stories of resilience and joy in the aftermath of grief. In many parts of the world, fossil fuel interests and their political allies have gone so far as to weaponize pollution as policy to push out marginalized communities. Alexis Madrigal, host of KQED's Forum and author of “The Pacific Circuit,” describes how this happened in West Oakland, beginning as early as the 1930s: “You see them just saying it. We know this is gonna make housing worse. We know this is gonna make people's lives worse, but this is the plan.” And yet here, too, local communities stand up for environmental justice. Guests: Alexis Madrigal, Co-Host, Forum, KQED Margaret Gordon, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Abby Reyes, Author; Director, Community Resilience Projects, UC Irvine On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mayor George Moscone was assassinated in the San Francisco mayor's office by Dan White, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on November 27, 1978. And then White walked down the hall and also shot Supervisor Harvey Milk—in White's former office. Lincoln Mitchell rescues crucial details about Mayor Moscone from the shadows of this tragedy, and reminds us of Mayor Moscone's contributions to the development of modern San Francisco. First, George Moscone was a trailblazing progressive and powerful state legislator who was instrumental in passing legislation on issues ranging from LGBT rights to funding for school lunches. Later, Moscone's 1975 campaign for mayor was historically significant because it was the first time a major race was won by a candidate who campaigned aggressively for expanding civil rights for both African Americans and LGBT people. In addition to being a successful politician, Moscone was a charming and charismatic bon vivant deeply embedded in the fabric and culture of San Francisco. He grew up the only son of a single mother in Cow Hollow when it was a working class, largely Italian American neighborhood, and he became the kind of politician who knows bartenders, playground attendants, small business owners, and neighborhood activists in every corner of the city. Mitchell demonstrates how Moscone—through his work in the State Senate, victory in the very divisive 1975 mayor's race, and brief tenure as mayor—was a key figure in our city's evolution. Join us in person to find out why the politics surrounding Moscone's election as mayor, governance of the city, and tragic death are still relevant today. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. OrganizerGeorge Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To remind us that civilizational alliances are not merely transactional, Robert Edsel tells personal World War II stories from the rural province of Limburg.  Before dawn on May 10, 1940, Hitler's forces invaded the Netherlands, shattering more than 100 years of peace. The Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until September 1944, when American forces reached Limburg—the last portion of Europe west of Germany to be liberated by the Allies. Edsel follows 12 main characters over a six-year span, including Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama just to face more indignities; and Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who fell in love with an American soldier.  Drawing on letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, capturing both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude by revealing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.  Organizer: George Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's social and political climates feel clouded by fear, distance, polarization and loneliness; why is it that groupthink and conformity seem to rule our neighborhoods, pop culture, friend circles, workplaces and social media feeds? It's time for us to learn how to sit with disagreement, debate better, appreciate our differences, and revel in the diversity of ideas and opinions that reflect our world.  Journalist Jenara Nerenberg has not shied away from taking on complex ideas and opinions, first in her bestselling book Divergent Mind about neurological diversity, and now with her second groundbreaking book, Trust Your Mind, which examines viewpoint diversity and encourages us not to shy away from the deepest forms of connection and insight that can come from uncomfortable conversations, independent thinking, and sometimes even loud, productive and healthy arguing.  While “conflict” feels like a scary word to some, Nerenberg dives deep into her own life experiences as well as the social science research on the psychology of groupthink to understand why our world is in peril in the face of people feeling too terrified to speak their minds. This challenge is not just limited to politics—the power of critical thinking and exiting groupthink has far-reaching impact on how we communicate with spouses, classmates, colleagues, family members and beyond. By understanding how group identity forms and the dangers of self-silencing, we allow our politics and our reasoning abilities to evolve, which leads to healthier societies. Trust Your Mind has received wide acclaim from Interfaith America's Eboo Patel, social psychologists Kurt Gray and Ethan Kross, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, and many more.  Joining Nerenberg in this special conversation is leading investigative reporter Lee Fang, one of the most daring and sought-after independent journalists of our time. This conversation is not to be missed. About the Speakers Jenara Nerenberg is the bestselling author of Divergent Mind, hailed as “extraordinary, jaw-dropping” by Library Journal; she is an Aspen Ideas Brave New Idea speaker and the author of the new book Trust Your Mind, on the psychology of groupthink. A celebrated writer covering the intersection of psychology and society, Nerenberg's work has been featured in the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center magazine, Fast Company magazine, CNN, NPR, BBC and elsewhere. Nerenberg speaks widely on social science topics, including at universities, libraries, companies and organizations around the world. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Harvard School of Public Health; Nerenberg grew up in San Francisco and, as a millennial, can now be found on Instagram. Lee Fang is an independent journalist, primarily writing on Substack at leefang.com. He was an investigative reporter for The Intercept. He writes about civil liberties, interest group lobbying, and other public interest issues. A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Organizer: Denise Michaud  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you stand up against a giant corporation to stop toxic chemicals from harming your town's water? Could you get policy enacted to cut emissions affecting people living in your state's “diesel death zone?” How would you launch a global campaign to stop the construction of a new port threatening marine life on your island? Every year, the Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to six grassroots environmental heroes from around the world at a grand ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House. This year, Climate One was honored to host two of the winners for an intimate conversation. In this episode we also share a conversation with a winner of last year's Prize. All three are remarkable examples of ordinary people taking extraordinary action to protect the environment and their communities.  Guests: Andrea Vidaurre, Cofounder, People's Collective for Environmental Justice Laurene Allen,  Cofounder, Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water Carlos Mallo Molina, CEO & Founder Innoceana For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts --- On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” to be followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. --- Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you stand up against a giant corporation to stop toxic chemicals from harming your town's water? Could you get policy enacted to cut emissions affecting people living in your state's “diesel death zone?” How would you launch a global campaign to stop the construction of a new port threatening marine life on your island? Every year, the Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to six grassroots environmental heroes from around the world at a grand ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House. This year, Climate One was honored to host two of the winners for an intimate conversation. In this episode we also share a conversation with a winner of last year's Prize. All three are remarkable examples of ordinary people taking extraordinary action to protect the environment and their communities.  Guests: Andrea Vidaurre, Cofounder, People's Collective for Environmental Justice Laurene Allen,  Cofounder, Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water Carlos Mallo Molina, CEO & Founder Innoceana For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts -- On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” to be followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. -- Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. -- Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mental health care in America has become nothing short of atrocious. Supposed developments in treatment methods and medication remain inaccessible to those who need them most. Countless people seeking treatment are routinely funneled into homelessness and prison while a mental-health epidemic ravages younger generations.  It seems obvious that the system is broken, but critics say the tragic truth is that it is actually functioning exactly as intended, providing reliably enormous profits for the entities who now manage mental health care. By taking a step back and examining how and why we developed our health-care system, with mental health care as the worst-case example of a dysfunctional model that has been abandoned by all other developed countries, we can understand our motives and actions, and chart a way out of our mess. About the Speaker Nicholas Rosenlicht, M.D., is clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is founder of the San Francisco VA mood disorders program, has served on the Human Subjects Committee of the UCSF Human Research Protection Program, and is a member of the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators. He has more than 40 years of clinical, research, administrative, and teaching experience, and is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications. Most recently he is the author of My Brother's Keeper: The Untold Stories Behind the Business of Mental Health—and How to Stop the Abandonment of the Mentally Ill. A Psychology Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. OrganizerPatrick O'Reilly  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About fifty years ago, multiple environmental disasters forced a reckoning with how we care for the Earth. President Richard Nixon signed numerous environmental protection bills into law in the 1970s, including what is considered to be the nation's green Magna Carta: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).   Among many other moves to eliminate or weaken federal environmental regulations and laws, the Trump administration is trying to fundamentally change NEPA, a bedrock rule that requires federal agencies to analyze environmental and cultural impacts of any major development. Critics point out these changes will result in fewer protections for citizens, natural resources and communities. What other regulations are being rolled back and going unnoticed?  Guests:  Sam Wojcicki, Senior Director, Climate Policy, National Audubon Society  Olivia N. Guarna, Climate Justice Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Jared Huffman, U.S. Representative (D-CA 2nd District) and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” to be followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About fifty years ago, multiple environmental disasters forced a reckoning with how we care for the Earth. President Richard Nixon signed numerous environmental protection bills into law in the 1970s, including what is considered to be the nation's green Magna Carta: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).   Among many other moves to eliminate or weaken federal environmental regulations and laws, the Trump administration is trying to fundamentally change NEPA, a bedrock rule that requires federal agencies to analyze environmental and cultural impacts of any major development. Critics point out these changes will result in fewer protections for citizens, natural resources and communities. What other regulations are being rolled back and going unnoticed?  Guests:  Sam Wojcicki, Senior Director, Climate Policy, National Audubon Society  Olivia N. Guarna, Climate Justice Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Jared Huffman, U.S. Representative (D-CA 2nd District) and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” to be followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There clearly are lessons that we have learned from the Vietnam War that we have applied well to other situations, but there are also lessons that we think we have learned that are far less clear, and could lead to similar outcomes if we are not careful. The Vietnam War certainly cast a pall over America, but much more so over all of Southeast Asia. Back then the enemy was seen as Communism. Now the enemy has transformed into various political movements along the far end of the authoritarian spectrum―whose understandable but deceptive attractiveness during moments of despair has even begun finding many adherents among us. To head off that unfortunate development, join us in asking: Which foreign policies could we adopt that would make the freest end of the spectrum of democratic civilizations more robust, more stable and more desirable? And where does the development and use of military power fit into those foreign policies to achieve our civilizational goals? Humanities West presents a variety of expert opinions on these important issues while reviewing what went wrong, and what went right, during the Vietnam War that ended so abruptly on April 30, 1975. Join us for two nights, on April 30 and May 2, to hear six experts review what we have learned, and what we have not, about the Vietnam War. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. In association with Humanities West. Organizer: George Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Come join award-winning journalist Priya David Clemens in conversation with Paul Rice, founder and former CEO of Fair Trade USA, to discuss his critical account of the past, present and future of conscious capitalism—the change it has wrought in the world and the potential it still has to confront our greatest challenges. We all have the power to change the world through the products we buy. This simple premise has driven the growth of the conscious consumer movement for decades. Indeed, what started with a handful of niche sustainability brands has exploded into the mainstream with labels like "organic," "non-GMO," and "fair trade certified" now adorning products in major retailers across the country. Yet the true promise of ethical sourcing and conscious consumerism has not been fully realized. Paul Rice has dedicated his career to helping consumers and businesses embrace the power they have to protect the environment and improve the lives of farmers and workers on the far side of our global supply chains. In Every Purchase Matters, Rice reveals the untold story of the fair-trade movement and its significance for us all. Calling on the close relationships he cultivated over the last 40 years with the pioneers of ethical sourcing—CEOs, activists, grassroots farmer leaders, and consumer advocates—Rice gives voice to the visionaries and practitioners who are making sustainable business the new normal. These protagonists share successes and failures, lessons learned, and their extraordinary impact in communities around the world. Their stories illuminate how sustainability is good not only for people and planet but also for business. Whether you're a consumer, a business leader, or an investor, Rice offers a rich and persuasive case for conscious capitalism—the change it has brought and the potential it still has to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. OrganizerIan McCuaig  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As cities strive for safer streets and greener mobility, they face mounting challenges to navigating an increasingly complex global landscape. Political shifts are reshaping climate policies, market access, and the very definition of autonomy, as industry and government become more entwined. What does this mean for the future of urban transportation? The 2025 Autonomous Vehicles & the City Symposium brings together top innovators, policymakers, and urban planners to unpack these pressing issues. This year's symposium will focus on vision zero and data – going beyond the technical aspects of AVs—to examine how they intersect with climate goals and public transit to create greener, more connected communities.  Opening Keynote by Kristin White, Google Transportation Industry Executive, ex-USDOT FHWA Administrator Hosted by the University of San Francisco School of Management. In partnership with The Commonwealth Club of California. For full program, please visit: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/2025-autonomous-vehicles-city-symposium  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us, as we remember the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, to hear the novelist and poet Quế Mai in conversation with Craig McNamara, whose father was Robert McNamara, the secretary of defense under both JFK and LBJ during the Vietnam war. Quế Mai will discuss her poetry, the long-lasting impact of war on the Vietnamese, and how Vietnam has continued to change politically after the war. She will also focus on Vietnamese literary culture, its poetry and proverbs, and the various Vietnamese “ways of life” that have survived the violent chaos of several decades of war. Having experienced the hardships of rural life first-hand in the 1970s and 1980s, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has used her literary skills to travel the world with her stories. The Color of Peace, her new book of poetry, can be read as a travelogue of the route one can take to forgiveness, appreciation and extending one's love for one's own people and homelands to all of humanity. Vietnam, with its more than 4,000 years of history and culture and its poetry-loving people, remains the passionate center of The Color of Peace. When read in the light of her international bestselling novels, The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, which have been translated into 27 languages, it provides her readers with a unique understanding of Vietnam's past and present and a glimpse into its future. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out my conversation with previous guest Lincoln Mitchell as we chat about Lincoln's new book, Three Years Our Mayor: George Moscone and the Making of Modern San Francisco. Look for Lincoln at the following events for his new book: April 29: He will be in conversation with Bill Issel discussing the book and what it can teach us about San Francisco today. Hosted by the Phoenix Project at the Roar Shack, 34 7th Street, from 6–8 p.m. May 1: He will be in conversation at the University Club with Corey Busch, who served on Moscone's senate staff, was a senior member of Moscone's mayoral campaign staff, press secretary and chief spokesman for Mayor Moscone, and was Moscone's chief speech writer. This event will begin at 6 p.m. May 13: As part of the San Francisco Historical Society's History Live! program, he will be discussing the book at 6:30. The event will be free in-person or online. May 15: He will be in conversation with writer and scholar George Hammond about the book at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. May 28: The Savoy Tivoli in North Beach will be hosting a book party, which will feature a brief discussion of the book as well as an exhibit of the works of noted San Francisco photographer Dave Glass. For more information about these events, including how to RSVP and buy tickets, go to LincolnMitchell.com. We recorded this episode over Zoom in March 2025.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the essential role of educators in sustaining our society and economy. As families navigated the challenges of work and caregiving, teachers emerged as critical support systems, ensuring students continued learning amid unprecedented disruptions. From maintaining safe classrooms to addressing academic and emotional needs, educators have been at the forefront of our collective recovery. Join us for an engaging panel discussion at Commonwealth Club World Affairs, featuring education and policy experts who will examine the urgent need for universal access to quality education and its broader economic and democratic implications. The conversation will explore key lessons from the pandemic and outline a path toward a more equitable and resilient education system. About the Panelists Jenny Lam: Former San Francisco Board of Education commissioner and director of policy, communications, and strategic partnerships at the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood. Lam has led citywide education initiatives, including expanding childcare, mental health services in schools, and Free City College, ensuring equitable access to education resources. Tracey Mitchell: Educator, author, and former executive director of education for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Mitchell has developed culturally relevant curricula and after-school programs, emphasizing student success and equity in education policy. Dr. Vanessa Marrero: Executive director of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco and a leader in education equity and policy. Marrero has extensive experience in K–12 education, community engagement, and strategic enrollment, ensuring families have access to quality public schools. Christina Jenq, Ph.D.: Labor economist specializing in education's economic impact. Jenq's research focuses on gender inequality, political economy, and workforce development, offering critical insights into how education shapes economic mobility. The discussion will be moderated by Virginia Cheung, former school board candidate and former director at Wu Yee Children's Services, who brings deep expertise in early childhood education and policy. This thought-provoking session will provide valuable perspectives on transforming education to strengthen our economy and democracy. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from leading voices shaping the future of education policy. Organizer: Virginia Cheung   A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to celebrate National Poetry Month with Red Hen Press's poetic publisher, Kate Gale, and Red Hen Press poets Kim Dower, Francisco Aragón and Kim Addonizio, who will each be reading their poems that have electrified the literary world. Francisco Aragón, the director of Letras Latinas, is a gay Latino poet, the author of After Ruben. Kim Dower's new book What She Wants explores obsession and desire. And Library Journal has written that “if Kim Addonizio were an opera, the audience would never stop throwing flowers at her feet.” Michelle Meow will delve into this “living poets society” to demonstrate the talent that makes independent publisher Red Hen Press and its poets so successful. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. See more Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. This program contains EXPLICIT language.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite spending billions of dollars to combat homelessness, California has the largest and fastest-growing homeless population in the United States. To explain this result, some have blamed wasteful collusion between government and nonprofits to enrich themselves without ever intending to end homelessness. However, Carrie Sager says this over-simplistic conspiracy not only ignores the very real problems in the government and nonprofit sectors, but actively sabotages efforts to resolve them. Carrie Sager is the chief operating officer of Homeward Bound of Marin, the primary provider of emergency shelter and one of the largest providers of permanent supportive housing in Marin County. In her previous role as senior homelessness program coordinator for Marin County Health and Human Services, she worked with local nonprofits and city and county governments to create a coordinated system of care to house the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Marin. She is one of the chief architects of Marin's homeless system of care. Prior to working in Marin, Carrie worked for HomeBase, a nonprofit law firm that works with cities and counties to implement responses to homelessness, where she worked primarily in Solano and Sacramento Counties. She has a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. Organizer: Patrick O'Reilly   A Psychology Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 28, 2015, Jeanne Carstensen was reporting as a foreign correspondent covering the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe when she witnessed a devastating boat accident. After nearly a decade of research and investigation, Carstensen recounts the events of that day, with firsthand accounts from not only the desperate refugees, but also the heroic islanders who did their best to help.  Of her book A Greek Tragedy: One Day, A Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, she says, “I wrote this book because I believe we need to pay attention to the human impacts of our migration policies. Increasingly, we are militarizing boarders, building more fences, and criminalizing those who try to help. I hope A Greek Tragedy will serve to wake us up; my hope is that we will not turn away.” Organizer: Frank Price   An International Relations Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This evening, Vince Hall will give an overview of food policy, his work with Feeding America navigating the complexities of solving hunger in America with healthy, nutritious foods, while explaining how policy affects the quality and quantity of food on your plate. Mr. Hall will be joined by Jennifer Steele, who will tell us how food policy affects her work with Meals on Wheels. They will work together explaining how food policy affects the ingredients used to make the appetizers you will be sampling this evening. About the Speakers As chief government relations officer at Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States, Vince Hall leads the development and execution of Feeding America's public policy, legislative, and advocacy strategies to empower communities and improve food security. He helps lead efforts to end hunger by advocating for policy changes, supporting advocacy capacity across the network, increasing neighbor enrollment in public benefits, and building partnerships that amplify our collective voice. Jennifer Steele is the CEO of Meals on Wheels of San Francisco. This organization ensures that older adults in the region have home-delivered meals and services that help them live with grace and independence in their homes. Steele has dedicated her professional career to advocating for those who can't advocate for themselves. Before joining Meals on Wheels, she worked in food insecurity and hunger relief both domestically and internationally. Organizer: Patty James   A Nutrition, Food & Wellness Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gold turned a sleepy Mexican outpost into what we now know as San Francisco. In just a few short years, thousands of migrants from every part of the globe made the treacherous journey to California, seeking not just wealth but a chance to begin anew.  Alexander P. Crittenden was one such pioneer who saw in San Francisco limitless opportunities for reinvention. Ever in debt and with a wife and 14 children to support, A.P. found that the city's laissez faire attitudes suited him just fine—particularly when it came to his relationship with Laura Fair. Laura too had come to San Francisco seeking a clean slate, but A.P. and Laura soon began a years-long adulterous affair, with most San Franciscans happy to turn a blind eye. But as the city began to shed its rough-and-tumble past, and embrace the dictates of Victorian respectability, so too did Laura Fair. When A.P. once again broke his oft-repeated promise to divorce his wife and marry Laura, she decided to take fate into her own hands. Shortly before dusk on November 3, 1870, just as the ferryboat El Capitan was pulling away from its slip into San Francisco Bay, Laura Fair shot A.P. Crittenden point-blank in the chest. “I did it and I don't deny it,” she said when arrested shortly thereafter. “He ruined both myself and my daughter.” Fair's murder trial was covered by every news outlet in the country. One of the first to involve an insanity defense, the trial shone an early spotlight on controversial social issues like the role of women, the sanctity of the family, and the range of acceptable expressions of gender—all topics of burning interest to Americans still searching for moral consensus after the Civil War. Trespassers at the Golden Gate author Gary Krist introduces us to a full cast of characters—including a secretly wealthy Black housekeeper, an enterprising Chinese brothel madam, and a French rabble-rouser who refused to dress in sufficiently “feminine” clothing. Their stories, along with those of familiar figures like Mark Twain and Susan B. Anthony, bring to life San Francisco's Gilded-Age society. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joan Didion opened The White Album (1979) with what would become an iconic line: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Today this phrase is deployed inspirationally, printed on T-shirts and posters, and used as a battle cry for artists and writers. But Didion had something much less rosy in mind: our tendency to manufacture delusions to ward away our anxieties whenever society seems to be spinning off its axis. And nowhere was this collective hallucination more effectively crafted than in Hollywood. Alissa Wilkinson examines Joan Didion's influence through the lens of American myth-making. As a young girl, Didion was infatuated with John Wayne and his on-screen bravado, and was fascinated by her California pioneer ancestry and the infamous Donner Party. The mythos that preoccupied her early years continued to influence her work as a magazine writer and film critic in New York, offering glimmers of the many stories Didion told herself that would eventually unravel. Wilkinson traces Didion's journey from New York to her arrival in Hollywood as a screenwriter at the twilight of the old studio system. Didion became embroiled in the glitz and glamor of the Los Angeles elite, where she acutely observed―and denounced―how the nation's fears and dreams were sensationalized on screen. Meanwhile, she paid the bills writing movie scripts like A Star Is Born, while her books propelled her to personal fame. Join us to hear Wilkinson dissect the cinematic motifs and machinations that informed Didion's writing, detail Hollywood's addictive grasp on the American imagination, and delve into Didion's legacy, whose impact will be felt for generations. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a hero's journey specifically designed for women? Tune in for an inspiring discussion with Joan Perry on her new book The Heroine's Journey: The Art of Becoming the Heroine of Your Own Life.Moments with Marianne airs in the Southern California area on KMET 1490AM & 98.1 FM, an ABC Talk News Radio Affiliate! Joan Perry is a best-selling author, speaker, investor, and host of The Heroine's Journey with Joan Perry podcast. She writes for Medium.com and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Glamour Magazine, NPR's All Things Considered, and The Gayle King Show. Joan's best-selling books include The Heroine's Journey: The Art of Becoming the Heroine of Your Own Life, A Girl Needs Cash (Random House), and Living Proof (co-authored with Lisa Nichols). A trailblazer in finance, she founded the first woman-owned investment banking firm in the U.S., underwriting municipal bonds and trading billions in securities despite skepticism about women taking financial risks.  She has spoken on major stages, including events with Tony Robbins and T. Harv Eker, as well as The Commonwealth Club. With a bold and pioneering 30-year career, Joan continues to empower others as a keynote speaker, life coach, and advocate for women's leadership and financial independence. https://www.walkthejourney.comFor more show information visit: www.MariannePestana.com

Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life to fighting for the most vulnerable communities — people who have been deprived of the basic civil right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment.  When she was first on Climate One in 2021, Flowers talked about growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, and working to stem the raw sewage contaminating homes and drinking water in her county and beyond. In recognition of this work she was granted a MacArthur “Genius Award.” Now, she picks up the story, discussing her awareness of racialized disinvestment in the South, the work of the inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the impact of unfettered fossil fuel production nationwide. Guests: Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ) Justin J. Pearson, State Representative, Tennessee General Assembly On Monday, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life to fighting for the most vulnerable communities — people who have been deprived of the basic civil right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment.  When she was first on Climate One in 2021, Flowers talked about growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, and working to stem the raw sewage contaminating homes and drinking water in her county and beyond. In recognition of this work she was granted a MacArthur “Genius Award.” Now, she picks up the story, discussing her awareness of racialized disinvestment in the South, the work of the inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the impact of unfettered fossil fuel production nationwide. Guests: Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ) Justin J. Pearson, State Representative, Tennessee General Assembly On Monday, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is the human brain so vulnerable to false beliefs and conspiracy theories despite evidence to the contrary? And what can be done to protect ourselves, our families, and society from our collective propensity to fall into these seductive traps? Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCSF and a specialist in delusions and delusion-like beliefs, will be returning to the Club to discuss these issues with us. His first talk on the topic, a few years ago, was a sold-out, extremely informative success, so we asked him to return for a deeper look into the personal and societal effects of mistrust, misinformation, and motivated reasoning. Equally important, he is going to outline how we can avoid the pitfalls of acting on false beliefs, both as individuals and as a society. So if you've been puzzled by how "otherwise-intelligent" friends and relatives have fallen into the trap of a false belief, or if you're searching for a way to reach out to someone who has fallen for one, or if you're wondering how society can defend itself, join us for this event and discussion. We'll learn why "just the facts" doesn't usually work, and we'll learn how to view our ideological opponents with compassion while still vigorously defending society. Organizer: Eric Siegel   A Personal Growth Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. This program contains EXPLICIT language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A third of Americans say that they've skipped food, medicine, or something else to be able to afford their energy bills. Much of the increase in the cost of electricity is driven by rising demand from artificial intelligence and data centers, industrial onshoring and hotter temperatures.  How does your electricity bill get calculated, and who's in charge of setting those rates? Does public power serve consumers better than investor-owned utilities? And will rising electricity prices dampen the transition to cleaner sources of energy? Guests:  Shelley Welton, Professor of Law and Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania  Severin Borenstein, Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Kevin Miller, Reporter, Maine Public Radio On March 24, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A third of Americans say that they've skipped food, medicine, or something else to be able to afford their energy bills. Much of the increase in the cost of electricity is driven by rising demand from artificial intelligence and data centers, industrial onshoring and hotter temperatures.  How does your electricity bill get calculated, and who's in charge of setting those rates? Does public power serve consumers better than investor-owned utilities? And will rising electricity prices dampen the transition to cleaner sources of energy? Guests:  Shelley Welton, Professor of Law and Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania  Severin Borenstein, Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Kevin Miller, Reporter, Maine Public Radio On March 24, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you find you're having unpleasant battles that create too much heat and too little light, or you're avoiding fraught discussions entirely, then come to this experiential event to learn the skill of nonviolent conflict management from Kazu Haga, the author of the acclaimed books Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm and Fierce Vulnerability: Healing from Trauma, Emerging through Collapse. Find out how to deal with conflict in a way that repairs and deepens relationships instead of breeding resentment and anger. Kazu Haga is one of the most experienced trainers of Kingian nonviolence, which is derived from the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He'll show us the framework and outline a few specific steps for defusing an argument in ways that we can put to immediate use in our lives. We'll practice a few exercises and come away with a solid start and a path to better relationships and leadership. Organizer: Eric Siegel   A Personal Growth Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people are convinced our lives, and all actions in the universe, are totally determined. One question remains: How did they make up their minds that that is true? One decent definition of the difference between mind and matter is that minds make decisions. Even if you decide to let someone else make all your decisions for you, that itself is a decision. Which you can revoke at will. Join us at Monday Night Philosophy to remind yourself (in the Platonic sense) that there are indeed many reasons to recover your own agency, to realize that you make decisions all the time that are not determined by—even if they are influenced by—outside forces, and to refresh your awareness of the inner control over your own life that everyone inherently possesses, whether they sense it or not, whether they feel it or not. Because when you have recovered your former certainty that you have free will, you will also understand that one of the most intriguing and ironic uses of our free wills are our always temporary decisions to believe that we don't have it. Organizer: George Hammond   Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This presentation by Dr. Descartes Li looks at some of the complexities and controversies about psychiatric diagnoses. It examines the DSM-5's "Harmful Dysfunction" definition, contrasting it with the NIMH's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. The lecture also discusses philosophical approaches to understanding mental illness, including reductionism, cultural relativism, emergentism, and mechanistic approaches to psychiatric diagnosis. Finally, it outlines four perspectives for viewing mental disorders: disease, dimensional, behavioral, and life story, advocating for a comprehensive approach to diagnosis. About the Speaker Dr. Descartes Li is professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, Weill Institute for Neurosciences. He currently serves as director of the UCSF Bipolar Clinic and the UCSF Electroconvulsive Therapy Service for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is a dedicated teacher in the School of Medicine and internationally. He is a member of the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators. Organizer: Patrick O'Reilly   A Psychology Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join us for a special film documentary screening and an intimate conversation with filmmaker Doug Harris and civil rights attorney John Burris.  The film, John Burris: The Godfather of Police Litigation, highlights Burris's life, police brutality, and Burris's high-profile cases: Rodney King's civil trial, the Oakland Riders case, the Oscar Grant case, Barry Bonds, Mario Woods and among others.  Filmmaker Doug Harris points out that the Burris film documentary “is very special—the majority of my previous biographical stories have been about people who are deceased, and this project has given me an opportunity to form a close bond with a living legend.” As Burris looks forward, he is “really working hard to pass the baton on to the next generation of attorneys to carry on this type of civil rights legal work.” Organizer: Robert Melton Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic forum. We welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our mission. An Arts Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's responsible for climate change? Fossil fuel companies would like us to believe it's all of us as individuals (after all, BP invented the idea of the personal carbon footprint). But many large corporations bear at least as much of the blame. And for a decade or so, there was a push for every company to disclose its own emissions — a kind of corporate carbon footprint — and “sustainability” became the word of the day. But corporate shareholders demand profits, and managers are held accountable if they don't deliver. Auden Schendler spent over 25 years running sustainability programs at Aspen One, the company that owns one of the highest-end resorts in the world. He argues that those pushing corporate sustainability programs are living a “big green lie.” Can capitalism be cleaned up from the inside? What should corporations and their sustainability managers do instead? Guests: Auden Schendler, Climate activist; Author, “Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul”  Mindy Lubber, CEO, Ceres On March 24, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who's responsible for climate change? Fossil fuel companies would like us to believe it's all of us as individuals (after all, BP invented the idea of the personal carbon footprint). But many large corporations bear at least as much of the blame. And for a decade or so, there was a push for every company to disclose its own emissions — a kind of corporate carbon footprint — and “sustainability” became the word of the day. But corporate shareholders demand profits, and managers are held accountable if they don't deliver. Auden Schendler spent over 25 years running sustainability programs at Aspen One, the company that owns one of the highest-end resorts in the world. He argues that those pushing corporate sustainability programs are living a “big green lie.” Can capitalism be cleaned up from the inside? What should corporations and their sustainability managers do instead? Guests: Auden Schendler, Climate activist; Author, “Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul”  Mindy Lubber, CEO, Ceres On March 24, Google's Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website. And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you'll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today for just $5/month. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 1992, award-winning San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan has been covering homelessness and other major news stories. His coverage has included Willie L. Brown Jr., at 90 still one of the most influential politicians in the state. Both Fagan and Brown have insightful, candid views about homelessness and the personal, state and national resolve that will be required to end it. Now Kevin Fagan has written The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family and Second Chances, that will be published in February by Simon & Schuster. Fagan brings the abstract issue of homelessness to life, with compelling personal portraits of people experiencing it. HIs "straight up, savvy and realistic" book has been praised by reviewers. Throughout Mayor Brown's storied career, and Kevin Fagan's stories about it, homelessness has loomed large, as it has for all of us. In conversation at this event, Fagan and Brown will discuss the book, homelessness, and ways to humanize and mitigate it. About The Speakers Willie Brown was a two-term mayor of San Francisco, legendary speaker of the California State Assembly and is widely regarded as one of the most influential African-American politicians of the late 20th century. Brown has been at the center of California politics, government and civic life for more than five decades.  Kevin Fagan is a longtime, award-winning reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. He has been nominated several times for the Pulitzer Prize, and won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice in Journalism and the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. During his career, he has covered homelessness, the 9/11 terror attacks, serial killers, California's wildfires, and most recently the Nima Momeni trial. Organizer: Ian McCuaig   A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has long reigned as the land of plenty, a place where the sun always shines and opportunity always beckons. Even prior to its statehood in 1850, it captured the world's imagination. We think of bearded prospectors lured by the promise of gold. We imagine its early embrace of immigrant labor during the railroad boom as prologue to its diverse social fabric today. But what lies underneath the myths is far more complicated. Thanks to his extensive research, Michael Hiltzik uncovers the unvarnished truth about the state we think we know well. From the Spanish incursions into what became known as Alta California to the rise of Big Tech, the history of California is one of stark contradictions. In rich, previously overlooked detail, we see its earliest statesmen wreaking havoc among native peoples while racing to draft their own constitution prior to statehood. And gold-hungry settlers venturing into the Sierra foothills only to leave with little, while a handful of their suppliers turn themselves into millionaire railroad magnates. Wars erupted over water as Los Angeles boomed, and early efforts to tame the vast landscape created a haven for fossil fuel extraction and environmental conservation alike. Hollywood politicians stoked fears, contributing to a centuries-long tradition of anti-Asian violence. And, quite remarkably, both legal redlining and free higher education took root at the same time. Hiltzik brings a fresh critical eye to his historical accounts—from the Spanish conquistadors to the Gold Rush to the state's meteoric rise as a tech powerhouse and bulwark of progressivism—demonstrating why California has left an indelible mark on the United States and the world. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On January 20, 2025, and within hours of returning to power, the Trump administration issued an executive order that the U.S. government would recognize only two genders, male and female, defined at birth. In contrast, in 2014, the Supreme Court of India ruled that transgender people have the right to self-identify as male, female, or a “third gender.” The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019 in India allows transgender people to have a self-declared gender identity and receive a certificate of identity. It is currently estimated that there are more than 3 million third-gender people living in India alone. Similar rulings and laws have been passed in neighboring Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.  What are the implications and impacts on the transgender people of the rest of Asia and the United States? At a time when the current U.S. administration has issued an executive order recognizing only two genders, we will discuss this and other issues with Amrita Sarkar, one of the leading transgender activists of India, and Zia Jaffrey, author of The Invisibles: A Tale of Eunuchs of India.  Amrita Sarkar is a leading activist who has been working for the transgender community and their wellbeing for more than two decades and has been involved in numerous capacity-building initiatives for the same communities at the national and international level. She is the one of the founding members and the Secretary of IRGT – A Global Network of Trans Women and HIV. She also has made two films on transgender issues. Amrita is a trained counsellor and had completed her post-graduation in social welfare.  Zia Jaffrey is the author of The Invisibles: A Tale of the Eunuchs of India (Pantheon/Vintage). She has written cover stories, features, and book reviews for many publications, including Vogue, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Elle, where she ran the front of the magazine, wrote literary pieces, and cultivated new voices. Her work has been anthologized in several tomes, most recently, in PEN America's India at 75, and Toni Morrison: The Last Interview and Other Conversations. She has covered South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, AIDS, and the Israel/Palestine conflict, and is currently writing a book about Palestinian-Americans. Organizer: Kalidip Choudhury   An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us in-person for a discussion with performance, as we delve into music and the technology revolution, hearing Black voices on how technology is impacting our music. African Americans have played an outsized and pivotal role in American and global music. At most of the shifts and transitions in music driven by technology and culture, Black Americans have been in the forefront. Join us for a discussion of the past, present and future of the mix of technology and music with a focus on African American innovation.  In addition to the panel discussion, we will end with a short suite of performances by the presenters. About the Speakers Award winning recording artist Nicolas Bearde is a singer-songwriter, actor and educator whose career has spanned more than 35 years. Born and raised in Nashville, TN, the second of 7 children, he has toured the globe with many of today's jazz legends, such as Bobby McFerrin, Nat Adderley, Jr., Bernard Purdie, Vincent Herring and more. His style is likened to Lou Rawls, Nat King Cole and Bill Withers and he is known for his “velvet voice,” wit and engaging rapport that has drawn audiences into his live performances around the world. As an educator, Nicolas has worked with the California Jazz Conservatory and Jazz Camp West teaching “Vocal Intensive” workshops, skills he honed on the road as a member of Bobby McFerrin's wildly innovative a cappella ensemble, “Voicestra” for more than 10 years, and was the chair of “popular voice” for the Young Arts Foundation in Miami, Florida for 5 years. Phil Hawkins is a drummer and media producer living in San Francisco. He regularly performs with Ray Obiedo, Pete Escovedo and other local artists. Phil operates a media production business that offers audio recording, mixing, and mastering for videography, photography, and graphic design services. He has taught music production at the college level for more than 20 years. Glen Pearson is both a noted pianist as well as the current head of music studies at the College of Alameda. He began playing piano at age 6 and was playing professionally by age 15. He has appeared on stage, television and on recordings with such notables as Regina Belle, Jimmy Scott, Diane Reeves, Marlena Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson and Nicolas Bearde, and served for 11 years as the musical/band director for the world-renowned Boy's Choir of Harlem. For the past 5 years he toured with The Count Basie Orchestra, who's latest record, Basie Swings the Blues, netted “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Organizer: Gerald Anthony Harris   An Arts Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Bearde photo by James Barry Knox Photography; Pearson photo by Timothy Bryan Burgess; additional photos courtesy the speakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every day, 10,000 people in the United States turn 65—a statistic that underscores one of the most significant demographic shifts in history. But the story of longevity is not just about aging, it's about learning new ways of living, working, and thriving across all life stages. From doctor's offices to government policies to popular culture, far too many of us erroneously associate aging with decline. How can we redefine aging to prioritize quality of life? Research shows that individuals have far more control over how they age than anyone imagined. We are shifting from a paradigm of decline to one that more accurately embraces the full spectrum of human flourishing while acknowledging biological realities. In this timely discussion, Barbara Waxman, renowned gerontologist and creator of The Longevity Roadmap, joins award-winning broadcaster Michael Krasny to explore the fascinating journey that brought us to this critical juncture in human history. They'll examine our current challenges, unveil cutting-edge insights about longevity, and share practical strategies for building a more resilient, fulfilling life at any age. Join us to discover actionable tools to take control of your aging journey and thrive in an era of unprecedented possibilities as we unpack the history, challenges, and opportunities of this remarkable demographic gift unfolding before us. About the Speakers Barbara Waxman is a gerontologist, coach, and longevity advocate who has spent four decades transforming people's understanding of aging. As creator of The Longevity Roadmap, she translates cutting-edge research into practical frameworks. A graduate of Colgate University with Master's degrees in gerontology and public administration from USC, Waxman is an advisor to the Stanford Center on Longevity and Stanford Lifestyle Medicine. Her insights have been featured on "CBS This Morning," in The Wall Street Journal, and across national media. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and author of The Middlescence Manifesto. Michael Krasny is a literary critic, scholar, and broadcast journalist. He is the author of many books, including Off Mike, Spiritual Envy, and Let There Be Laughter; the co-author of Sound Ideas; and the creator and presenter of the audio lecture series Masterpieces of Short Fiction. He is the host of "The Podcast Conversations With Krasny" and former host of "Forum" on KQED Radio. Organizer: Denise Michaud   A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How has consumer and business banking changed in 2025? What can we expect in the future? Tim Myers, president and chief executive officer at Bank of Marin, will take us through the challenges that financial institutions, businesses and consumers will face in 2025. Join us for this important discussion. Organizer: Frank Price   An International Relations Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Phoenicians were the most civilized people of the Near East and the greatest businessmen and conduits of culture of the ancient world (e.g., they gave us all the alphabet). Their expansion westward across the Mediterranean, driven by the trade in metal ore, is told in myth, archaeology, and the accounts of the people they impacted (including the Berbers, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans). The Phoenician settlement at Carthage (modern Tunisia) soon became the most powerful and cultured city of the western Mediterranean, their ships dominating trade routes. Conflict thus became inevitable with the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, which culminated in the three Punic Wars. In the Second Punic War, Hannibal terrorized the Romans like no other enemy they had ever encountered, but in the end the Romans erased Carthage entirely.  Yet Carthage remains eternal: in myth, painting, literature and grand opera. Hannibal, Rome's Nightmare Patrick Hunt will describe how Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, weaponized nature—making Roman armies cross icy streams, and face fog and dust storms, in his almost two decade war against Rome in Italy starting in 218 BC. Brilliantly defeating multiple Roman legions even when outnumbered, Hannibal's flexible craftiness and ability to get in the minds of his enemy, by employing a staggering arsenal of tactics, are still admired and emulated in modern warfare. It is likely that Roman legions would never have conquered their empire had Hannibal not first schooled Rome in his methods of professional warfare. Even Machiavelli created his famous dictum “better to be feared than loved” based on Hannibal. So it is fatefully ironic that the general who won so many battles, but could not win the war, only wanted Rome to leave Carthage alone. Hannibal's policies ultimately failed when the Romans totally obliterated Carthage in 146 BC. Legendary Carthage Douglas Kenning will illustrate how mythology expresses in narrative the varied ways a people understand themselves and their world. In the case of Carthage we began with the Rape of Europa, which led to the stories of Phoenix and Cadmus, which led to the stories of the Phoenician princess Elissa, which led to the story of Dido and Aeneas as told by Virgil. Few mythic cycles were as important as this one in ancient times, being fundamental to any understanding of Carthaginian values and behavior (e.g., Hannibal casting himself as Hercules) and how the Romans viewed their international role and their foreign policy. And for this reason, few mythic cycles are as important across subsequent Western arts, especially painting and music. Organizer: George Hammond   The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tension is high this time of year, personally and politically, and award-winning University of Michigan Professor Ethan Kross is in town for a special evening to help explore how emotions work and how we can manage them. An international speaker and bestselling author, his first book, Chatter, helped readers understand how to change the "voice" in our head. And now he returns with his new book, Shift, to help readers understand how emotions form, where they come from, and how we can regulate and master them.  From our dinner tables at home to workplace conversations, emotional mastery can feel like a distant goal, but Kross says it's something we should all strive for. How can we learn to harness emotions as sources of powerful information? The term "emotional regulation" has now joined popular terminology, but what does it mean and how can we implement it at any age?  Kross is joined by local celebrated psychology reporter Jenara Nerenberg, author of Divergent Mind and the forthcoming Trust Your Mind: Embracing Nuance in a World of Self-Silencing. About the SpeakersEthan Kross, Ph.D., is one of the world's leading experts on emotion regulation. An award-­winning professor and international bestselling author in the University of Michigan's top-­ranked Department of Psychology and its Ross School of Business, he is the director of the Emotion and Self-­Control Laboratory. Ethan has participated in policy discussion at the White House, spoken at Ted Talks and SXSW, and consulted with some of the world's top executives and organizations. He has been interviewed about his research on "CBS Evening News," "Good Morning America," "Anderson Cooper Full Circle," and NPR's "Morning Edition." His research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science. His first book, Chatter, has been translated into more than 40 languages. Jenara Nerenberg is the bestselling author of Divergent Mind, hailed as "extraordinary, jaw-dropping" by Library Journal; she is an Aspen Ideas Brave New Idea speaker and the author of a second forthcoming book on the psychology of groupthink. A celebrated writer covering the intersection of psychology and society, Jenara's work has been featured in the UC Berkeley Science Center's Greater Good magazine, Fast Company magazine, CNN, NPR, BBC and elsewhere. Nerenberg speaks widely on social science topics, including at universities, libraries, companies and organizations around the world. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Harvard School of Public Health; she grew up in San Francisco and, as a millennial, can now be found on Instagram. Organizer: Denise Michaud   A Grownups Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us to learn about scientific achievements that might give you and your loved ones access to transformational treatment options today or in the near future.  Maybe you've heard about CRISPR gene editing or stem cell therapy in the headlines—now you can find out what these and other technologies really mean for you. Can you imagine if your cells could be taken from a simple blood draw, reprogrammed in a lab dish, then infused back into your body to cure heart disease, treat Alzheimer's, or shrink a cancer tumor? Or if a simple infusion could rewrite your genetic code to cure a DNA-driven disease? These scenarios may sound like science fiction, but such advances are happening now—forever changing our perspective of disease. No longer must we accept a dire health condition; we have the tools and technology to actually solve it for good. We encourage you to attend in-person so you can join us for a post-event wine and cheese reception, where you'll have the chance to mingle with Dr. Deepak Srivastava and other world-recognized Gladstone scientists who are dedicated to overcoming disease. Organizer: Robert Lee Kilpatrick   A Health & Medicine Member-led Forum program. Forums and Chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chinese have a saying, or perhaps a curse: "May you live in interesting times." From Taiwan to Ukraine, the Middle East and now Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico—from existing conflicts and perhaps soon-to-be conflicts, these are interesting times we find ourselves living in. Who better to help us understand and navigate through the swirling news and events in the dawning of the new Trumpian Age than Professor Casimir Yost from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.  We hope you can join us on Thursday, January 23, at 5.30 p.m. at Commonwealth Club World Affairs in San Francisco as our chair Dr. Kalidip Choudhury engages with Professor Yost to shed light on the conflicts we can and cannot expect in the age of Trump. About the Speaker Casimir Yost is a senior fellow in the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and teaches in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. From 2009 to 2013. Yost served on the National Intelligence Council (NIC), where he directed the Strategic Futures Group and its predecessor, the Long Range Analysis Unit. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and on the Board of Directors of the American Ditchley Foundation. Organizer: Kalidip Choudhury   The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. An Asia-Pacific Affairs Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we live with fire? Join us for a talk about stewardship, resilience and hope. Fire is an essential part of California's ecology. Humans have been using it to shape the California landscape for thousands of years. But today many Californians' relationship to fire is one of fear. Obi Kaufmann, author of the best-selling California Field Atlas, now asks: How do we live with fire? What makes fire essential to a healthy and biodiverse Golden State, and how do we benefit from its teachings? With the same solution-minded ethic as his much-admired The State of Water: Understanding California's Most Precious Resource, Kaufmann presents fire as a force of regeneration rather than apocalypse. He considers the long history of ecological burns, the varied ways fire behaves across the state, and the lessons we can learn from California's largest fires of recent decades. Organizer Andrew Dudley   A People & Nature Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How interdependent were the Northern industrial economy and Southern slave labor in pre-Civil War America? Historian and Brown University history professor Seth Rockman says the traditional way of thinking about the United States in the early 19th century—that of a nation with an industrializing North and agricultural South—overlooks the economic ties that held together the nation before the Civil War. He says it misses slavery's long reach into small New England communities, and it fails to recognize the role of Northern manufacturing in shaping the terrain of human bondage in the South. Rockman, in his new book Plantation Goods, looks at the shirts, hats, hoes, shovels, shoes, axes, and whips made in the North for use in the South. By following the stories of material objects, such as shoes made by Massachusetts farm women that found their way to the feet of a Mississippi slave, Rockman says it was a national economy organized by slavery—a slavery that outsourced the production of its supplies to the North, and a North that outsourced its slavery to the South. Examining producers and consumers linked in economic and moral relationships across great geographic and political distances, Rockman explores how people in the 19th century thought about complicity with slavery while showing how slavery structured life nationwide and established a modern world of entrepreneurship and exploitation. Organizer: George Hammond   A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for our celebratory year-end Michelle Meow Show special. We'll start with a conversation with local photographer/artist Harry Williams, who photographs the people of San Francisco. We'll explore human connections and how community engagement can preserve our dignity and compassion for each other.  We'll end our program with a special performance by SNOWW. Then stick around for a fun reception and holiday cheer. About the Speaker Harry Williams says his work "is rooted in capturing the resilience and humanity of marginalized communities, presenting them in a way that commands attention and challenges perceptions." He spent more than a year photographing on the corner of Jones and Ellis Streets in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, a neighborhood known for its abundance of single-occupancy residence (SOR) housing and its association with drugs and crime. "This body of work speaks to more than one community; it reflects a reality familiar to cities and small towns alike, where certain neighborhoods undergo shifts that can displace the people who have long called them home. As these areas change, often becoming less accessible to those who built their lives there, a profound cultural and personal loss occurs. . . . Through these images, I seek to preserve the spirit and stories of these communities, highlighting their strength and significance in ways that demand respect and remembrance. Ultimately, I hope that these monumental images confront viewers with both the beauty and strength of communities often sidelined, making space for empathy, connection, and reflection." SNOWW is a celebrated Chinese artist whose talents span electronic music production, DJing, singing, and songwriting. She is the founder of Fake Gentle and The Hormones bands, as well as the creative force behind the E-Motion label. With her distinctive musical style and a keen ear for melody, SNOWW has emerged as an influential figure in the contemporary electronic music scene. In SNOWW's musical universe, the vast electronic soundscapes resonate like a storm of snow, seamlessly intertwining with her warm and evocative voice. Her work combines elements of Deep House, Chillwave, and classical music, crafting an immersive listening experience that feels both intimate and expansive. Her music takes listeners on a dreamlike journey, reflecting the harmony between the digital and natural worlds. As a devoted advocate for melody, SNOWW infuses her compositions with rich and intricate emotional layers. She brings a unique perspective to electronic and rock music, continually exploring diverse sound elements in her creations. In 2021 and 2022, SNOWW was invited to perform at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival for two consecutive years in its online showcases.   The Commonwealth Club thanks Gilead Sciences, Inc. for its generous support of The Michelle Meow Show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices