Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

By Commonwealth Club of California

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What's Commonwealth Club of California Podcast about?

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Please click the link below and visit our website to learn more about The Commonwealth Club and don't forget to become a member!

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An Archaeology of Catastrop...

07.11.2020

In this discussion, the third in a series on the relation between catastrophe and narrative, Homer scholar Dr. James Porter and poet Gillian Conoley will discuss how disaster and catastrophe have found narrative expression from Ancient Greece to the present ...

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast episodes:

07.11.2020 An Archaeology of Catastrophe: Troy and the Collapse of the Bronze Age In this discussion, the third in a series on the relation between catastrophe and narrative, Homer scholar Dr. James Porter and poet Gillian Conoley will discuss how disaster and catastrophe have found narrative expression from Ancient Greece to the present ...
07.10.2020 Latinos and the Coronavirus: The Community Response The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the Latino community in California and throughout the United States. Due to a range of factors, the Latino community has disproportionately high rates of infections from the coronavirus as well as ...
07.10.2020 Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson: How the Right Rules As President Trump seeks a second term in office, the apparent makeover of the GOP from a tax-cutting old guard into a populist new guard is a critical part of the upcoming 2020 election. But how much of this is ...
07.09.2020 Marijuana Addiction in the Age of Legal Weed Generation X writer Neal Pollack thought he had it all: a good writing career, a strong marriage, even a lucrative 3-day run on "Jeopardy"! That brought him national attention. Like many in his generation, he also smoked a lot of ...
07.08.2020 A Healthy Society Series: Unlearn Your Pain. Freeing Your Body From Chronic Pain Chronic pain is a debilitating and very common condition. Tension headaches, and lower back and neck pain are listed among the top 10 leading causes of disability around the world, with billions of people experiencing pain on a recurring basis. ...
07.08.2020 David Shimer and John Brennan: How Russia Rigged Democracy Russia’s interference in the 2016 election wasn’t a new problem with our Cold War adversary. Their meddling in 2016 marked only the latest chapter of a hidden and revelatory history. In his new book Rigged, David Shimer tells the sweeping ...
07.07.2020 Breaking Ground: From Landmines to Grapevines Heidi Kuhn, a former CNN reporter and producer, will share her extraordinary journey as a peace activist and how she created Roots of Peace a nonprofit organization that removes landmines and replaces them with vineyards and orchards. Roots of Peace ...
07.07.2020 True Life Lessons with Loni Love Comedian Loni Love has always felt like an outsider in Hollywood. Unlike most celebrities who leveraged their connections to catch their big break in the industry, Love grew up in low-income housing in Detroit and worked as an electrical engineer ...
07.01.2020 Reimagining Capitalism: Wealth, Power, and Patriarchy Expanding oil extraction and clean energy, supporting capitalism while fighting climate change: can humans ever really have it all? In their new books, authors Hope Jahren and Rebecca Henderson explore how a healthy climate might coexist with a consumption-driven economy ...
06.30.2020 Edward Larson: Summer for the Gods Join us for a virtual conversation with Edward Larson to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his Pulitzer Prize-winning history Summer for the Gods, the definitive account of the pivotal battle between creationism and evolution. In his new epilogue, Larson assesses ...
06.29.2020 Paying for Transportation in California: Does COVID-19 Change Everything? The COVID-19 pandemic threatens every aspect of transportation funding in California. State revenues from federal, state, regional and local taxes and fees are all at risk. Since California’s shelter-in-place order went into effect in March, the state has already faced ...
06.27.2020 BoJack Horseman’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg "BoJack Horseman" creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s trademark is engaging writing that is equal parts dark comedy and gut wrenching tragedy. His work forces you to examine your place in humanity, while reminding you that none of this actually matters. It’s this ...
06.26.2020 Resiliency With the Warriors' Rick Welts and the 49ers' Hannah Gordon Join us for a discussion with Rick Welts and Hannah Gordon, two leaders who have made an indelible impact in sports for LGBTQ rights through their courage and resiliency. Ricke Welts became a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame ...
06.26.2020 Stacey Abrams: Our Time Is Now Since narrowly losing Georgia’s closest gubernatorial race in more than 50 years, Stacey Abrams has been on a crusade to ensure voting access to everyone in America. A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams provides a chilling ...
06.25.2020 Rep. Eric Swalwell: Inside the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump Eric Swalwell has served a lengthy political career in the Bay Area, working as the Alameda County deputy district attorney, as a Dublin city council member and currently as the U.S. representative for California’s 15th congressional district. As a congressional ...
06.25.2020 Jeffrey Sachs: The History of Globalization Today’s most urgent problems, from food security to global warming, are fundamentally global. They require nothing less than concerted, planet-wide action if we are to secure a long-term future. But humanity’s story has always been on a global scale. In ...
06.25.2020 Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel: Who Has the Best Health Care in the World? Which country has the best health care? The United States spends more than any other nation—an astonishing $4 trillion a year. Yet for all that expense, the United States lags behind other countries. From Taiwan to Switzerland, Dr. Emanuel profiles ...
06.24.2020 A Healthy Society Series: Changemaking in Higher Education What is higher education’s role in a healthy society, and how are we improving it? And what about questions of costs, benefits, access and opportunity? These and related topics will be the focus of this program with three leading educators ...
06.24.2020 Mental Health at Work Now: Voices from Leading Companies The importance of workplace mental health in the United States has steadily gained traction in the last few years. And for good reason. Up to 80 percent of Americans will struggle with a mental health issue during their lifetime. The ...
06.23.2020 Former U.S. Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and James Mattis Since the end of the Cold War, the global perception of the United States has progressively morphed from dominant international leader to disorganized entity. Robert Gates, defense secretary under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, asserts that this transformation ...
06.22.2020 Dominique Crenn: Rebel Chef After an illustrious career and with no formal training, Dominique Crenn was awarded three Michelin Stars in 2018 for her successful restaurant Atelier Crenn. She is the first female chef in the United States to receive this honor, and she ...
06.22.2020 Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace During his 16 years at Fox, veteran journalist Chris Wallace has covered almost every key political event and interviewed numerous U.S. and world leaders. Now, he explores the crucial 116 days and events leading up August 6, 1945—the infamous date ...
06.21.2020 Empowering Women: The Climate Solution We Don’t Talk About As the global population approaches 8 billion, humans continue to test the number of bodies that can fit onto a planet of finite resources. Empowering women through access to education and family planning may be at the core of establishing ...
06.20.2020 The Supreme Court and LGBTQ Rights Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling supporting workplace protections for LGBT employees surprised many people—the 6–3 opinion was written by conservative appointee Neal Gorsuch, who was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts as well as the liberal members of the court. ...
06.19.2020 Parenting in Support of Black Lives: How to Build a Just Future for Kids In 2020, exploring the harsh complexities of racism and systemic injustice is still a painful task for most adults, but how do our children process these concepts? How should we have these difficult conversations with our children, and how can ...
06.19.2020 The Life-Changing Science Leading to Spontaneous Healing When it comes to spontaneous healing, skepticism abounds. Doctors are taught that “miraculous” recoveries are flukes, and as a result they don’t study those cases or take them into account when treating patients. But what if they were a new ...
06.18.2020 Ian Clark Devine: Fighting Elder Financial Abuse The exploitation of their Aunt Huguette by her professional advisors and caregivers horrified the Clark family. By the time she passed away in 2011 at age 104, Huguette’s attorney, accountant and medical caretakers had manipulated her out of nearly $40 ...
06.18.2020 Joan Ryan: Team Chemistry and the Secret to Success For decades, beloved Bay Area sportswriter Joan Ryan has written about winning (and losing) sports teams. In her groundbreaking new book, Intangibles, Ryan explores the importance of team chemistry and the mystery of why some teams "click," foster trust and ...
06.17.2020 Jonathan Karl: Front Row at the Trump Show Veteran journalist Jonathan Karl has known and covered Donald Trump longer than any other White House reporter. And during this time he has been praised, has fought, and been branded an enemy of the people by President Trump himself. Karl ...
06.16.2020 Krista Tippett: Mindfulness in Uncertain Times In the midst of one of modern history’s most uncertain moments, how can we all work to keep mindful of ourselves and those who matter most to us? Krista Tippett’s podcast, "On Being," aims to shine a light on people ...
06.16.2020 An Iconic Treasure: The AIDS Memorial Quilt Comes Home Join us to learn the story behind the AIDS Memorial Quilt, as the Quilt's caretakers share their personal stories reflecting on 40 years of the pandemic. We'll discuss the Quilt's deep roots in San Francisco; meet the "Mother of the ...
06.15.2020 Marc Morial and Michael Tubbs: What's Next for America? As Americans continue to grieve, protest and cry out over the death of George Floyd and the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, many wonder if this will be the tipping point for permanent change to the American ...
06.15.2020 Divergent Minds Thriving in Adulthood While topics such as ADHD, autism, bipolar and dyslexia are often discussed in the context of children, what happens after these children grow up, and what happens when they don’t receive such diagnoses until their 50s, 60s or later? Jenara ...
06.14.2020 Will Climate Matter in the Election? After a fleeting moment atop the national political agenda last year, climate change has been eclipsed by the global pandemic. A recent poll from Yale found that public engagement on climate change is at or near historic levels. But will ...
06.12.2020 Lavender Talks: LGBTQ Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers Immigration has been a flash point in U.S. politics for years, but for the past several years, it has been one of the defining dividing lines in American life. When you add LGBTQ status to the normal challenges facing immigrants, ...
06.12.2020 Meena Harris: Raising Changemakers Meena Harris’ story is shaped by the many strong women who raised her. She is now honoring their legacy with a new children’s book, Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, a picture book about two sisters who work together to change ...
06.12.2020 Masha Gessen: Surviving Autocracy In the run-up to the 2016 election, The New Yorker's Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for calling out the significance of Donald Trump’s speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of his victory, Gessen's ...
06.11.2020 Barton Gellman: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State While a reporter at The Washington Post, Barton Gellman was one of three journalists Edward Snowden picked to review the vast and explosive archive of highly classified files revealing the extent of the American government's access to our every communication. ...
06.11.2020 Pelosi How did an Italian grandmother in 4-inch heels become the greatest legislator since LBJ? Join us virtually as award-winning political journalist Molly Ball takes you inside the life and times of the speaker of the House. Based on exclusive interviews ...
06.11.2020 The Autonomous Revolution: William Davidow, Michael Malone Civilizations around the globe have been transformed over the past three centuries through the agricultural and industrial revolutions, eras that impacted all aspects of human society. According to two of savviest Silicon Valley experts in business and society, we are ...
06.11.2020 Bakari Sellers: A Vanishing Country Bakari Sellers became the youngest elected official in the country at the age of 22 when he won a seat in South Carolina’s House of Representatives. He argues, however, that his journey began long before he was born. His family ...
06.09.2020 George Packer: The End of the American Century Richard Holbrooke is one of the most important diplomats of the last 50 years. Equally admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, considered by some to be America's greatest diplomatic achievement ...
06.09.2020 A Healthy Society Series: Healthier Rural America—Toward a Better Future Moving America forward will take more than a vaccine. As we are finding today, many parts of our nation have been left behind and are not able to share in the great American dream. Rural America is at the focus ...
06.09.2020 Jennifer Steinhauer: The Women Reshaping Congress In her career as a reporter at The New York Times, Jennifer Steinhauer has worked a wide range of beats, including the metro, bureau and national desks, the Los Angeles bureau chief, and the United States Congress. She has covered ...
06.08.2020 A Discussion on Racial Inequality and Pride Month As the country is convulsed by widespread protests over the killing of a black man, George Floyd, by Minneapolis police officers, we will discuss the impact it has had on our community, especially the LGBTQI community this month. Join us ...
06.08.2020 A Decade of Oil: From Deepwater Horizon to Deflation Ten years ago, a very different crisis was gripping the country as 500 million gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, taking lives and threatening fishing, tourism and more. The nation’s worst oil disaster cost BP an estimated ...
06.05.2020 Arlan Hamilton: About Damn Time Arlan Hamilton’s story is one made for the movies. In 2015, she was homeless, sleeping on the floors of the San Francisco airport, and dreaming of making it big in the venture capital world. As a gay black woman, she ...
06.05.2020 Destination Health: Addressing Societal Trauma How do we navigate the impact of a pandemic on our mental health and wellness? The health fears, social isolation and economic insecurity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead to rising incidents of trauma in the United States ...
06.04.2020 David Frum: Restoring American Democracy The “Trump effect” on our democracy reaches far beyond 4-year presidential terms. President Trump has highlighted a chasm among the American people, revealing a fierce “us vs. them” mentality that might not be amended depending on who is elected in ...
06.03.2020 Vivian Lee: Solving America's Health-Care Crisis According to Dr. Vivian Lee, health care is killing our economy and, in many cases, killing us. Beyond the outrageous expense, the quality of care varies wildly, and millions of Americans can’t get care when they need it. This is ...

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