Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Join us for an online conversation with the author of a striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities. It might sound like a sitcom plot, but for Jessi Hempel, it's a true story.

Jessi Hempel was raised in a picture-perfect, middle-class American family. But the truth was far from perfect. Her lawyer-father was constantly away from home, traveling for work, while her stay-at-home mother became increasingly lonely and erratic. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing.

By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.

Don't miss this timely talk.

About the SpeakerJessi Hempel is a senior editor at large at LinkedIn and host of the Webby-nominated podcast "Hello Monday." For almost 20 years, she has been writing and editing features and cover stories about the most important people and companies in technology. Most recently, she was the head of editorial for Backchannel and a senior writer at Wired. Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer for Fortune, where she co-chaired Fortune’s Aspen tech conference. Before that, Hempel wrote for BusinessWeek, and Time Asia. She has appeared on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox, and CNBC, addressing the culture and business of technology. Hempel is a graduate of Brown University and received a Master’s in Journalism from U.C. Berkeley. She lives in Brooklyn.

NOTES

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Jessi Hempel

Author, The Family Outing; Twitter @jessiwrites

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 13th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty of the world’s richest countries – mostly in the Global North – are responsible for 80 percent of the carbon pollution that’s driving extreme weather and supercharging natural disasters. Yet poorer countries in the Global South are experiencing climate-induced disasters first and worst. Wealthier and whiter countries in the Global North are being hit by climate disruption as well, but they also have more resources to adapt. We talk with two award-winning journalists, one from each hemisphere, about covering climate change in their part of the world and bridging the disconnect that exists between North and South.

Guests: 

Lauren Sommer, Reporter, NPR

Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Reporter for The Guardian, Host of An Impossible Choice. 

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From microwaves to missiles, smartphones to the stock market, our world is increasingly dependent on microchip technology. According to Chris Miller, microchips are the new oil, a critical resource that defines the current state of military, economic and geopolitical power. At the heart of the decades-long battle over control of this technology are the United States and China, two superpowers engaging in a war that puts America’s economic prosperity at risk. 

In Chip War, Miller provides a comprehensive analysis of the semiconductor chip and its impact on national security and international economics. Tracing the global history of microchips, he recounts the fascinating events that enabled the United States to perfect the chip design, and the role that faster chips played in America’s Cold War victory over the Soviet Union. As Miller reveals, the United States once dominated advancements in microchips, but now, China is investing billions into a chip-building initiative to bridge the gap, leading to a power competition that will define the world’s geopolitical future.

Join us as Miller explains the high stakes history of the computer chip and ongoing battle between the United States and China that is shaping the modern world.

NOTES

In association with the Asia Pacific Affairs member-led forum.

This program is generously supported by the Jackson Square Partners Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Chris Miller

Author, The Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

In Conversation with Niall Ferguson

Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Senior Faculty Fellow, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 16th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 18th century and pre-Constitution America, libraries have been a public space, a central repository where books could be borrowed, read and returned—a long defended democratic ideal of the public library. The nonprofit Internet Archive, founded in 1996, was built to be both the library of the Internet and the library on the Internet—a grand repository of knowledge. Its mission: universal access to all knowledge through the networked reach of the Internet, which allows the Archive to serve as a loc­­­al library for users with a browser anywhere.

During the global COVID pandemic closures of public libraries and schools in 2020, the Internet Archive created the 

National Emergency Library  to provide digitized books to students and the public. This changed the one book/one person model of lending. Subsequent lawsuits and responses have led to current federal court cases, led by major publishers, contending that controlled digital lending means “willful mass copyright infringement.” Countersuits filed and championed by the Archive propose that such an argument presents “obstacles to the free flow of information” and the guarantee of pubic library lending access.To explore these issues, join us for a conversation with Brewster Kahle, the founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive, which now preserves more than 99 unique petabytes of data—the books, web pages, music, television and software of our cultural heritage, working with more than 950 library and university partners to create a digital library accessible to all. Kahle created the Internet's first publishing system, called the Wide Area Information Server, later selling the company to AOL. He also co-founded Alexa Internet, which helps catalog the web; he sold it to Amazon.com. The Archive's Wayback machine is one of the most popular Internet websites.

MLF ORGANIZER

Anne W. Smith

SPEAKERS

Brewster Kahle

Founder and Digital Librarian, Internet Archive; Twitter @brewster_kahle

Anne W. Smith

Co-Chair, Arts Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Netflix miniseries Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is one of the streaming service's most popular hits all around the world, telling the horrific story of the serial killer who preyed upon young men from 1978 to 1991.

Join us for a discussion of how racism and xenophobia played a role in the Jeffrey Dahmer case. Some of his victims might be alive today if police had listened to Glenda Cleveland, the neighbor who tried to warn police about Dahmer. We'll also explore representation, authenticity, and why it matters in telling traumatic stories.

About the SpeakersNicole Childress: Nicole was with her cousin Sandra Smith, who is the daughter of the late Glenda Cleveland, when they found one of Jeffery Dahmer's victims. They called police—who then returned the victim back to Dahmer. Childress, a.k.a. Cola Styles, is the CEO of Beauty Intellect and the author of Cola Styles: The Good, Bad & Ugly. She calls herself a true expert on faith, hair, hair composition, hair maintenance and creativity. She is the proud mother of three kids and grandmother of eight. She says "passions, patience, and knowing GOD, has kept me sane in my journey of good, bad and ugly."

Khetphet (KEM-pet) Phagnasay (Pah-YAH-sy) goes by the nickname KP; he is a Lao-American actor, director, producer and stuntman who has a recurring role as Sounthone Sinthasomphone, father of a victim, in the Netflix Dahmer series. He has also worked on God is an Astronaut, Demon Fighter, Street of Hope, Hollywood Road Trip, and many more productions. He has an extensive experience on stage portraying the king in The king and I, Song Liliang in M.Butterfly, Puck in Midsummer Night, Dr. Sun Yet Sen in Sun Yat Sen: The Mouth of a Dragon, and other roles. He has travelled oversea to Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China as a performer. KP was born in Laos in 1971came to the United States as a refugee in 1980s, as the result of the Vietnam War conflict. He grew up in Oswego, Ilinois, and then Waianae, Hawai'i, before settling in Clovis/Fresno, California. He earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, Fresno, and continued his higher education in Asian theatre focusing on acting from University of Hawaii, Manoa.

SPEAKERS

Nicole Childress

a.k.a. Cola Styles, CEO, Beauty Intellect; Author, Cola Styles: The Good, Bad & Ugly

KP Phagnasay

Actor, Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix); Director; Producer; Stuntman

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poland is rapidly becoming the linchpin of the Western effort to defend Ukraine and deter Russia. The Polish-Ukrainian border, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February, is a hub of activity. With refugees from Ukraine flowing back and forth and military equipment being transferred in to help the Ukrainian war effort along with aid for Ukraine's people, Poland has taken a leadership role in Europe and the West, stepping up to both welcome its neighbors and help defend them against Russia's aggression.

As the war drags on into fall, The Commonwealth Club of California is honored to welcome His Excellency Marek Magierowski, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to the United States, to discuss the current situation on Poland's border with Ukraine and the strategic considerations for Poland, the EU, and the NATO alliance. Ambassador Magierowski was appointed to Washington, D.C., in November 2021 after previously serving as Poland's ambassador to Israel and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as undersecretary of state for economic cooperation with the Americas and Asia.

NOTES

Sponsored by Taube Philanthropies.

SPEAKERS

Marek Magierowski

Ambassador of Poland to the United States

Abraham D. Sofaer

George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via Live on October 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humanities West presents a performance, and an elucidation, of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, composed in Vienna in 1787. It is widely considered to be among Mozart's greatest and most tragic works. But the Quintet is not only “tragic”; it is a “tragedy” in the mode of the ancient Greeks: the enactment of the story of a hero who meets a catastrophic fate.

Mozart scholar Steve Machtinger will demonstrate how Mozart imbued the work with musical symbols that convey its tragic narrative. The program will include a live performance by the Hatzfeld Quintet of all four movements of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor. 

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

SPEAKERS

Steve Machtinger

Attorney; Violist; Independent Mozart Scholar

Musical performance by the Hatzfeld Quintet: Monika Gruber and Emanuela Nikiforova, Violins; Steve Machtinger and Jennifer Sills, Violas; and Louella Hasbun, Cello

George Hammond

Author, Conversations With Socrates

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded Live on September 23rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Young people's voices are an integral part of our democracy. Yet Gen Z and Millennial voters consistently turn out at lower rates than older generations. To inspire youth civic engagement, the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition, Berkeley Women in Politics, and The Commonwealth Club have proudly launched a first-of-its kind partnership: the Creating Citizens Speaker Series at UC Berkeley. This speaker series will give UC Berkeley students and community members the opportunity to listen to and ask questions of leading minds in politics, media and education as they learn how to become better, more involved citizens. As the home of decades of activism and civic engagement, Berkeley is the perfect environment for this dialogue to occur.

Our inaugural program will feature California Attorney General Rob Bonta, plus a panel of impressive political thinkers discussing the importance of voting and civic engagement, particularly in 2022. Accomplished individuals from across the political spectrum, our speakers will come together to inspire the next generation of voters and citizen leaders. Together, they will take attendees on a journey through our electoral process and provide key takeaways from their experiences in politics.

We look forward to welcoming community members and students from around the Bay Area to participate in this riveting conversation and to join us for future programs in the Creating Citizens Speaker Series.

SPEAKERS

Rob Bonta

Attorney General of the State of California

Duf Sundheim

Member, U.S. Federal Court’s Advance Mediation Practice Group; former Chair, California Republican Party

Lisa García Bedolla

Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Dean of the Graduate Division, and Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Alex Edgar

Director, University of California, Berkeley ASUC Vote Coalition

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded Live on October 4th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Paris Agreement requires every country to declare their own nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, for reducing emissions. Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, it became clear that even the updated targets would – at best – limit warming to 2.4°C, almost a full degree above the 1.5° goal. But even more important than goals or promises is how every country turns policy into reality. This year’s COP27, hosted by the Arab Republic of Egypt, is being framed as “the implementation COP,” where the stated goal is to move from negotiations to action. In this special episode, Climate One Host Greg Dalton speaks one-on-one with Egyptian Ambassador and Special Representative of the COP27 President, Wael Aboulmagd, about how Egypt plans to close the gap between promises and implementation. 

Guest: 

Wael Aboulmagd, Egyptian Ambassador, Special Representative of the COP27 President

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, scientists and activists have called for action to slow the pace of global warming. The political process has struggled and largely failed to keep up with the growing climate crisis. But through annual summits known as the United Nations Conference of the Parties, or COP, countries have finally started to commit to reducing their emissions. At last year’s climate summit, nations that make up about two thirds of the global economy committed to reducing emissions enough to try to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees celsius. 

At this year’s 27th COP in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, central questions will focus on how to pay for climate adaptation and mitigation. And, since the world’s 20 biggest economies are responsible for 80% of all climate disrupting emissions, how much money do those nations owe poorer countries suffering from a problem they didn’t create?

Guests:

Jonathan Pershing, Former Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State

Omnia El Omrani, COP 27 Youth Envoy

Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd, Special Representative of the COP27 President

Contributing Producer: Rabiya Jaffery

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices