Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Join us as we talk with high-profile gay parents about the joys and challenges of raising families. Our guests: James Loduca leads global inclusion and diversity efforts at Twitter. In this new role, he will lead a team responsible for ensuring the company reflects its service and that Twitter remains a place for people to freely express themselves. He has previously held leadership positions in the tech and nonprofit sectors, where his work has focused on advocating for underrepresented communities and driving a more diverse and inclusive future for everyone. He served as an advisor to the Obama White House and proudly serves as a Latinx member of the LGBTQ Advisory Committee to U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Jeff Titterton is chief marketing officer at Zendesk. Prior to Zendesk, Jeff led engagement marketing at Adobe for its flagship Creative Cloud business. He has also served as CMO at 99designs, VP of marketing at Zoosk, and SVP of consumer marketing and services at PlanetOut Inc, among others. Jeff holds a B.A. in English and economics from Cornell University. He lives in San Francisco with his husband and two children. Dr. Eldon Schriock has been at the forefront of assisted reproductive technology since 1981 and was a member of the medical team that performed the first IVF treatment in Northern California. In the past, as director of the UCSF IVF Program, he established its first egg donor program. At Pacific Fertility Clinic, he takes interest in and has expertise with couples whose IVF treatment has been unsuccessful at other clinics. Michelle Meow brings her long-running daily radio show to The Commonwealth Club one day each week. Meet fascinating—and often controversial—people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

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Monday Night Philosophy revives an almost forgotten aspect of 20th century American politics, played out mostly in the Midwest. The progressive Republican Party that came to power in Minnesota with Harold Stassen's election in 1938 had already faded into near obscurity by the 1990s, but Minnesota's modern success story sprang from the ideas and ideals of that dynamic political movement, which emphasized effective government. Issues that are anathema to today's GOP—environmental protection, assistance for vulnerable citizens and economic opportunity for low-wage workers and the middle class—were at the heart of the party's agenda. Minnesota Republicans held that working across the aisle was a mark of strength, not of weakness or disloyalty. Senator Dave Durenberger grew up in and helped build that party and explains how Minnesota's progressive Republicans earned voters' trust and delivered on their promises. Progressive Republican ideas only fell out of favor when an increasingly anti-government, anti-tax national party shifted Republican thinking to the Right. In the ensuing partisan realignment, both the Republican and the Democratic parties have lost public trust. Durenberger argues that the principles and practices of progressive Republicanism are a fitting remedy for what ails American democracy today. MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond MLF: Humanities

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Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy is the seminal publication on charitable giving in the United States. For over 60 years, fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, donors and volunteers, scholars, and other individuals who work in or with the charitable sector have counted on Giving USA to provide the most comprehensive charitable giving data available. First published in 1956, Giving USA is the longest-running, most comprehensive report on philanthropy in the United States. At this event, conducted in association with CCS Fundraising and Foundation Center West, local philanthropic and nonprofit leaders will review national and exclusive data pertaining to Bay Area giving. Philanthropic giving—whether to hospitals, universities, the arts or local nonprofits—impacts the lives of all citizens and determines a range of services available in our communities now and in the future.

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Edward Patrick “Slip” Madigan was a football coach who was far ahead of his time, yet he was also a coach for all time, modernizing of the game in the 1920s and 1930s at Saint Mary’s College of California. He was the first mainland coach to play a game in Hawaii and also to travel coast to coast by train to meet an opponent, Fordham University in New York City, thereby putting the tiny St. Mary’s on the national map. He was foremost in his innovative thinking by playing at night and on Sundays. His teams scored more upsets, dressed more flamboyantly and drew record crowds, even without a campus stadium, while defeating college powerhouses with much larger student bodies. He was a coach who couldn’t be denied. Besides his achievements on the football field, he physically built St. Mary’s campus in Moraga, California with the financial success of his football teams. His Galloping Gaels were the definition of the mouse that roared. Come learn more about this one-of-a-kind coach. MLF Organizer: Linda Calhoun MLF: International Relations

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This event is the latest in our member-led forums’ Art and Science of Well-Being series. Are Americans suffering from an "empathy deficit,” as Barack Obama claimed in 2006? Studies do show that we are less caring than we were even 30 years ago. But Jamil Zaki argues that empathy is not a fixed trait we’re born with. It's a skill we can all strengthen through effort. Drawing on both classic and cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, Zaki shows how we can overcome toxic cultural divisions. He also tells the stories of people who are living these principles—fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances. Written with clarity and passion, The War for Kindness is an inspiring call to action. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities

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In 2015, representatives of 193 nations gathered in Paris, agreed that global climate change is underway and that our use of fossil fuels is a primary cause and set goals to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. President Trump ignored these agreements; overturned environmental protection standards; ordered the commencement of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline; and opened national parks, Indian reservations, and coastal protected areas to the extraction of oil, coal, and natural gas. The dramatic opposition at Standing Rock by the Lakota people, other Native Americans and environmentalists inspired many to call for a Green New Deal. Sheehan, known for his public advocacy on the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the Karen Silkwood Case, the American Sanctuary movement case, and the Iran–Contra scandal will address this pivotal moment in history. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities

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Kick off Pride weekend in San Francisco with award-winning producer Lauren Morelli. Lauren Morelli is a television writer, screenwriter and producer. She is executive producer and writer of a reboot of Armistead Maupin’s "Tales of the City" for Netflix, starring Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis and Ellen Page, which was released June 7, 2019. Previously, Lauren had the honor of working on five seasons of "Orange Is the New Black," which received 17 Emmy nominations, six Golden Globe nominations and six Writers Guild nominations. In her spare time, Lauren also writes short stories and personal essays that you can find in various corners of the Internet. Before moving to Los Angeles in 2007, Lauren received a BFA in modern dance from Marymount Manhattan College. Join us for this important program, and share your questions with us ahead of time by using #EqualityForAll.

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According to David Wallace-Wells, we’re cooked – literally. In his new book The Uninhabitable Earth, Wallace-Wells explores how climate change will impact not just the planet, but human lives – including how a five degree increase in temperatures would make parts of the planet unsurvivable. But If science and news headlines won’t propel us into climate action, will fear itself do the trick? According to climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, building connection over an existing set of values is critical to communicating the perils of climate change and mobilizing action to address it.

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This program is part of our Ethics and Accountability series, underwritten by the Travers Family Foundation. George Will has been a columnist for The Washington Post since 1974 and is one of the most influential political pundits today. He is vocally dissatisfied with the directions that both the American Right and Left have dragged the nation. His new book, The Conservative Sensibility, asks Americans to revisit their history books and remind themselves of the values America was founded upon—values which he sees both sides of the aisle straying dangerously far from. The book covers everything from the natural rights of man and the history of American democracy to the modern capitulation of congressional checks on the power of the executive. He believes the solution to many of the high-profile political issues of today can be found by going back to the founders’ intentions for the nation, and by grounding modern solutions more solidly in a historical context. People of all political affiliations have found themselves in agreement with much of what he has to say. Join us for a conversation with one of the most respected journalists and political commentators in the nation.

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With the dramatic decline in bird populations and insect species, how can we help birds flourish in our cities and backyards? With the hope of protecting their continued survival, artist Sharon Beals has photographed and documented the intricacies of birds’ nests and their occupants. Beals will cover the feat of migration, a journey of up to 5,000 miles that a fledgling travels without any parental guidance, and how in our own lives we might be affecting their survival, even from a distance. Beals is the author and photographer of Nests, a visual homage to birds, documenting the nest and eggs specimens dating from the 1800s to the present day. Beals’ sources include the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley, the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in Camarillo, Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian. Select images from Nests are currently on view at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, in the Farmer Gallery on the first floor until June 28. MLF Organizer: Lynn Curtis MLF: Arts

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