Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

In the early 1970s, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant named Chol Soo Lee was convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. Sentenced to life, he spent years fighting to survive, until investigative journalist K.W. Lee took a special interest in his case, igniting an unprecedented social justice movement that would unite Asian Americans and inspire a new generation of activists.

Nearly five decades later, the new documentary Free Chol Soo Lee examines this largely unknown yet important history, presenting an intimate portrait of the complex man at its center and serving as an urgent reminder of his legacy.

Join us for a free online conversation with Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, the co-directors of Free Chol Soo Lee.

SPEAKERS

Julie Ha

Co-director, Free Chol Soo Lee

Eugene Yi

Co-director, Free Chol Soo Lee

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 August 18th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The Milky Way—its hundred billion stars, supermassive black holes and countless unsolved mysteries—is as intriguing as it is colossal. And for astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier, merely studying it is not enough, as she combines myth and science into a whimsical, fanciful and fascinating “autobiography” of our home galaxy.

Dr. McTier holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Columbia University and studies astrophysics as well as folklore and mythology at Harvard University. In her latest book, The Milky Way, McTier takes on the role of the titular galaxy and delivers a “juicy tell all” of its formation, growth, history and relationship with its surrounding galaxies. Sharing fascinating tales ranging from out intergalactic rivals to the time the Milky Way was once in love, McTier breaks down advanced astronomy into playful, simple and easily understood chunks.

Join us, as Dr. Moiya McTier shares the never-before-told personal story of the colossal place we call home, and helps us understand better the universe around us.

MLF ORGANIZER

Gerald Harris

SPEAKERS

Dr. Moiya McTier

Ph.D., Astrophysicist; Folklorist; Author, The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy; Twitter @GoAstroMo

Gerald Harris

President, Quantum Planning Group; Chair, Technology & Society 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 August 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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More than one in four adults in the United States has a disability. And yet: Do you know how to be a true ally to someone, maybe yourself, with a disability? Have you felt awkward around people with a disability and not known what to say and do? Have you wanted to tell your friend how you understand yourself as a disabled person, but not known how to tell your story?

Fret not! Here comes Nina G., the stuttering standup comic to lighten up a heavy subject! Nina stutters and has learning disabilities. She also has a doctorate in psychology and is the author of multiple books on stand-up comedy as well as disability, invisible or not. Through humor and comedy, she will show us what it means to "laugh at disability" from an insider perspective. (When is it OK to laugh at people with disabilities? When they are holding a microphone and telling jokes!)

We'll practice our new skills, have a laugh-filled evening, and hopefully return home a little lighter, and a lot more enlightened. We'll deepen our understanding of what disability means, how to be an ally, and how to self-advocate. And maybe we can get her to tell us some stories about stand-up history.

About the SpeakerNina G., the "stuttering standup comic," is the author of Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen, Bay Area Stand-Up Comedy: A Humorous History, and Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities. She has been featured on NPR, BBC, and Psychology Today, and has consulted for the Fortune 500 and many universities. She has also performed with Dave Chappelle and Mort Sahl.

MLF ORGANIZER

Eric Siegel

SPEAKERS

Nina G.

"Stuttering Standup Comic"; Author, Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen, Bay Area Stand-Up Comedy: A Humorous History, and Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities.

Eric Siegel

Chair, Personal Growth 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 live on August 16th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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For those of us who love to travel, climate guilt weighs heavily. Civil aviation accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that number is going up. But while electrifying cars and trucks is already well underway, flying planes on anything other than liquid fuels remains devilishly difficult. Despite that difficulty, there are options. Sustainable aviation fuels, or SAFs, hold the most promise, as they can theoretically drop right into existing engines and infrastructure. Beyond that, a number of startups are tinkering with electric battery-powered aircraft, as well as hydrogen-powered electric planes. But how sustainable are these options, and are they really ready for prime time? 

Guests:

Fred Ghatala, Director of Carbon & Sustainability, Advanced Biofuels Canada 

Stephanie Searle, Fuels Program Director, ICCT

Scott Cary, Project Manager, NREL 

Christina Beckman, Co-creator, Tomorrow’s Air; Vice President, Adventure Travel Trade Association

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Before Jason Kander served as the Missouri secretary of state, he served as an Army intelligence officer who spent time stationed in Afghanistan. Later in 2017, President Obama, in his final Oval Office interview, was asked who gave him hope for the future of the country, and Jason Kander was the first name he mentioned. Suddenly, Kander was a national figure. As observers assumed he was preparing a run for the presidency, Kander announced a bid for mayor of Kansas City instead and was headed for a landslide victory. But after 11 years of battling PTSD from his service in Afghanistan, Jason was seized by depression and suicidal thoughts. He dropped out of the mayor’s race and out of public life. And finally, he sought help.

Before Jason Kander served as the Missouri secretary of state, he served as an Army intelligence officer who spent time stationed in Afghanistan. Later in 2017, President Obama, in his final Oval Office interview, was asked who gave him hope for the future of the country, and Jason Kander was the first name he mentioned. Suddenly, Kander was a national figure. As observers assumed he was preparing a run for the presidency, Kander announced a bid for mayor of Kansas City instead and was headed for a landslide victory. But after 11 years of battling PTSD from his service in Afghanistan, Jason was seized by depression and suicidal thoughts. He dropped out of the mayor’s race and out of public life. And finally, he sought help.

In his brutally honest second memoir, following his New York Times best-selling debut Outside the Wire, Kander shares his most painful moments with PTSD. In Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD, readers follow Kander through his struggles with undiagnosed illness during a presidential bid, his challenging treatment and ultimately his process of healing. The story gives hope to so many of people and teaches them how sometimes walking away from the chance of a lifetime can be the greatest decision of all. 

Kander will be joined by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff for a powerful and candid conversation about his battle with PTSD, and the courage to take it on. In Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD, readers follow Kander through his struggles with undiagnosed illness during a presidential bid, his challenging treatment and ultimately his process of healing. The story gives hope to so many of people and teaches them how sometimes walking away from the chance of a lifetime can be the greatest decision of all. 

Kander will be joined by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff for a powerful and candid conversation about his battle with PTSD, and the courage to take it on.

SPEAKERS

Jason Kander

President, Veterans Community Project; Host, "Majority 54" Podcast;; Author, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD; Twitter @jasonkander

In Conversation with Adam Schiff

U.S. Representative (D-CA)

This program contains EXPLICIT language

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For nearly six decades, the US government passed no comprehensive climate legislation. Now that’s changed. The Inflation Reduction Act contains approximately $370 billion of investments in clean energy and climate solutions. But not everyone is happy. To get through the Senate, the bill offered carrots to entrenched fossil fuel interests, along with investments in renewable power. Many in disadvantaged communities, who so often bear the brunt of climate-induced disasters, feel they’ve been left out yet again.

Guests: 

Chelsea Henderson, Director of Editorial Content, RepublicEn

Sam Ricketts, Co-Founder, Evergreen Action 

Ozawa Bineshi Albert, Co-Executive Director, Climate Justice Alliance

Somini Sengupta, International Climate Reporter & Anchor, Climate Forward Newsletter, New York Times

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Join us for an online discussion of LGBTQIA+ spaces and making changes to accommodate diverse and growing communities. We will also cover GAPA Runway—a night of fashion, glamour and entertainment celebrating the artistry, talents and humanity of the QTAPI community—and how iconic LGBTQIA+ events continue to support and provide services to our community. 

Show editorially warning

About the SpeakerEmmett Chen-Ran graduated from Yale in 2020, where he did a lot of theatre production and occasionally attended computer science classes. Emmett joined the GBLTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance as its first trans board member in late 2020 and started producing GAPA Runway, and after two years of Covid-induced delays, he's finally seeing his work come to fruition in the first in-person Runway since 2019. He is passionate about building inclusive community spaces that welcome people of all stripes, spearheading GAPA Runway's transformation from a binary gendered competition into a category-less genderqueer bonanza. A man of many pursuits, Emmett has published a Tiny Love Story in the New York Times, recently did his first solo performance in a St. Patrick's Day show at Martuni's, serves on the boards of Frameline and Oaklash, and oil paints recreationally. 

SPEAKERS

Emmett Chen-Ran

Production Director, GAPA; Board Member, Frameline; Board Member, Oaklash

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 August 4th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Written by one of the world’s most distinguished historians of psychiatry, Psychiatry and Its Discontents provides a wide-ranging and critical perspective on the profession that dominates the treatment of mental illness. Andrew Scull traces the rise of the field, the midcentury hegemony of psychoanalytic methods, and the paradigm’s decline with the ascendance of biological and pharmaceutical approaches to mental illness.

Scull's historical sweep is broad, ranging from the age of the asylum to the rise of psychopharmacology and the dubious triumphs of “community care.” The essays in Psychiatry and Its Discontents provide a vivid and compelling portrait of the recurring crises of legitimacy experienced by “mad-doctors,” as psychiatrists were once called, and illustrates the impact of psychiatry’s ideas and interventions on the lives of those afflicted with mental illness.

About the Speaker

Dr. Andrew Scull was educated at Oxford, Princeton and University College London; he is the author of more than a dozen books on mental illness and is widely regarded as one of the world's leading historians of psychiatry. Currently a distinguished research professor of sociology and science studies, he has also held faculty positions at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, and has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others. His work has been translated into 200 languages, and his most recent book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in history. A past president of the Society for the Social History of Medicine, he has appeared on television and radio on multiple occasions in North America, Europe and Australia.

MLF ORGANIZER

Patrick O'Reilly

SPEAKERS

Dr. Andrew Scull

Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology and Science Studies, University of California San Diego

Patrick O'Reilly

Ph.D., Chair, Psychology 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 Live on August 2nd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Rick Ridgeway estimates he’s spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world’s most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company’s infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales. 

Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it’s hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado.  

What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all?

Guests:

Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, Patagonia

Amanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator

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COVID-19 illustrated to the nation the need to address disparities that exist in our communities, especially as they relate to mental health. These disparities are chronic, with intergenerational health impacts that also affect employment and create socioeconomic racial inequities. The direct result of all these inequities is that people of color die at a rate 3.6 times higher than that of the overall general population. Eliminating persistent disparities and stigma in mental health will require correcting the systemic barriers created over generations.

Join us for a conversation on ways to overcome these barriers at the intersection of mental health and equity with the Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy, former congressman from Rhode Island and one of the world’s leading voices on mental health and addiction, and Paul Rains, system senior vice president for behavioral health for CommonSpirit Health and president at St Joseph’s Behavioral Health Center in Stockton, California. Leading the discussion will be Janet Reilly, co-founder and board president of Clinic by the Bay, a free, volunteer-powered health clinic for the working uninsured in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties.

NOTES

This program is part of the Humankindness & Health Justice series, generously underwritten by CommonSpirit Health Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Hon. Patrick Kennedy

Former U.S. Representative (D-RI) and Founder of The Kennedy Forum

Paul Rains

Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health, CommonSpirit Health; President, St. Joseph’s Behavioral Health Center

Janet Reilly

Co-founder and Board President, Clinic by the Bay

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 July 27th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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