Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Professor William Drummond has had an impressive career as an educator and award-winning journalist. This includes stints at The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, where he covered the civil rights movement, and the Los Angeles Times, where he was a local reporter, then bureau chief in New Delhi and Jerusalem and later a Washington correspondent. Drummond was appointed a White House Fellow in 1976 by President Gerald Ford, worked briefly for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and eventually became associate press secretary to President Jimmy Carter. In 1977 he joined National Public Radio and became the founding editor of "Morning Edition."

In 1983, he joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where in addition to teaching students, Drummond twice taught an introductory journalism course pro bono under auspices of the Prison University Project for dozens of inmates at San Quentin Prison.

He and moderator Robert Rosenthal, who has visited inmates at San Quentin many times with a program called Guiding Rage into Power and also has had a remarkable career in journalism, will discuss how the prisoner-run newspaper San Quentin News was recalled to life under an enlightened warden and newspaper veterans, including Drummond. They will also discuss how the COVID crisis affected prisoners and prison staff.

Drummond told the story of the San Quentin News in his book Prison Truth, revealing how the project helped transform the prison from a "living hell" into an environment to foster positive change in the inmates' lives. One reviewer wrote, "Prison Truth illustrates the power of prison media to eventually humanize the experiences of people inside penitentiary walls and to forge alliances with social justice networks seeking reform."

Join us for this important discussion.

MLF ORGANIZER

Celia Menczel

NOTES

MLF: Middle East

SPEAKERS

William Drummond

Professor of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley; Author, Prison Truth

Robert Rosenthal

Board Member: Center for Investigative Reporting

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 22nd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Why don’t we talk to strangers? What happens when we do? Joe Keohane argues that, if we do, it affects everything from our own health and well-being to the rise and fall of nations. In our cities, even before the pandemic, we stood on silent buses and subway cars, barely acknowledging one another, even as rates of loneliness skyrocketed. Online, we retreat into ideological silos reinforced by algorithms designed to serve us only familiar ideas. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by the fear of people we’ve never met. But what if strangers—so often blamed for our most pressing political, social, and personal problems—are actually the solution?

Keohane takes us on a journey to discover what happens when we bridge the distance between us and people we don’t know. And he finds that, while we are wired to sometimes fear, distrust and even hate strangers, people and societies that have learned to connect with strangers benefit immensely. Digging into a growing body of cutting-edge research on the surprising social and psychological benefits that come from talking to strangers, Keohane shows that even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness and cognitive development; ease loneliness and isolation; and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging and revealing that talking to strangers isn’t just a way to live. It’s a way to thrive.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

SPEAKERS

Joe Keohane

Journalist; Author, The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World

In Conversation with 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 via video conference on July 21st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Trauma-informed care understands and considers the pervasive nature of trauma and promotes environments of healing and recovery rather than practices and services that may inadvertently re-traumatize. 

Dr. Darla Dixon is a licensed psychologist currently working as a trauma-informed care coordinator for the California Department of State Hospitals. She has also had the privilege of being socialized by the wraparound program early in her career where she learned and experienced the impact of being trauma-informed.

MLF ORGANIZER

Patrick O'Reilly

NOTES

MLF: Psychology

SPEAKERS

Dr. Darla Dixon

Psychologist; Trauma-Informed Care Coordinator, California Department of State Hospitals

Patrick O'Reilly

Clinical Psychologist; Chair Commonwealth Club Psychology Member-Led Forum—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 June 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Composer Benjamin Britten, a central figure of 20th-century British music (Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, Ceremony of Carols) and renowned tenor Peter Pears were together from 1939 until Britten’s death in 1976. During Britten’s lifetime, neither spoke publicly about their relationship or sexuality—homosexuality in England was illegal until its partial decriminalization in 1967.

San Francisco-born and -based arts educator, performer, composer and conductor Cole Thomason-Redus presents an illuminating 21st century perspective on their musical partnership and private life. Cole is educational content curator in the Department of Diversity, Equity & Community at San Francisco Opera, where he is host of the weekly online series "Opera Aficionado." Cole has also been director of education for Chanticleer, curator of classical music at Apple, Inc., and classical music analyst for the Music Genome Project at Pandora Media, Inc.

MLF ORGANIZER

Dr. Anne W. Smith

NOTES

MLF: Arts

SPEAKERS

Cole Thomason-Redus

Educational Content Curator, Department of Diversity, Equity & Community, San Francisco Opera; Host, "Opera Aficionado"; Upper DivisioDirector, Marin Girls Chorus; Associate Conductor, National Children's Chorus

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 June 29th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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The United States is famous for its car culture. But a hundred years ago, pedestrians didn’t want cars to take over the streets — and it took decades of pressure and lobbying by car companies to make them feel otherwise. Today, traffic jams, maintenance and pollution make cars more like the cigarette no one wants to quit. Urban areas have grown up and spread out along ever widening highways with parking spaces required for each new building, further entrenching the car into our lives and choking cities with smog.

Public transit holds tremendous possibilities for reducing our transportation emissions while better moving people through cities. But there’s a lot to overcome when trying to change the mobility model in most American cities, starting with the lack of good public transit and the high costs of construction. How can we make good public transportation work in America?

Guests:

Peter Norton, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia;

author of Fighting Traffic and Autonorama

Eric Goldwyn, assistant professor at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; 

co-founder of the Transit Costs Project

Amanda Eaken, director of transportation for the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge at the Natural Resources Defense Council

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The pandemic has hurt many industries throughout the United States. For local news media, the COVID-19 public health emergency was nearly catastrophic. Already threatened with economic demise because of the rise of digital advertising and how consumers use free social media tools to consume news, the pandemic put further financial stresses on local news outlets by impacting advertising from shuttered restaurants, bars and small businesses. All of this came at a time, of course, when local news—with information on the immediate impact of the public health emergency, among other topics—was more important than ever. 

However, despite the strong challenges for local news outlets, the future may not be so bleak for the industry. Why? A growing number of nonprofit news media ventures are seeking to fill the void for quality local news efforts. Across the country, citizens are increasingly getting local news from new digital ventures focused on a specific region or city. Perhaps most important, philanthropists and major foundations are investing in these new efforts, increasing the chance for sustainability and impact and creating a new future for local news, even at this challenging time.

This program will introduce viewers to two nonprofit efforts—MLK50 (covering the intersection of poverty, power and policy in Memphis), and Cityside (with the Bay Area outlets Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside)—as well as to the co-founder of a new venture philanthropy nonprofit, the American Journalism Project, created to make local sites more financially sustainable. 

Please join us for an important conversation on the future of local news and why the future may be in a new generation of nonprofit news outlets. Wendi C. Thomas and John Thornton will participate virtually; Lance Knobel and David Cohn will be on-stage.

SPEAKERS:

Lance Knobel, CEO, CItyside

Wendi C. Thomas, Editor and Publisher, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism (Participating Virtually)

John Thornton, Founder Texas Tribune; Co-Founder American Journalism Project (Participating Virtually)

David Cohn, Senior Director, Advance Local; Cofounder of Subtext—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been hosting our live programming via YouTube live stream. We are slowly reopen our building to programs with live guests and live audiences. This hybrid-program was recorded with participants in both our auditorium and via video conference on July 15th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

NOTE: This podcast may contain explicit language.

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What happens when a young lesbian editor-in-chief explores her role, the pressures she feels from gender expectations in society, and the challenges one would face in the media world when you don't fit it? Find out in this timely program.

Gabrielle Korn is a journalist, digital media expert, and the former editor-in-chief of Nylon Media, an international lifestyle publication focused on emerging culture. Under her editorial leadership, Nylon became a fully digital brand with an ever-growing audience and original, politically-driven, thought-provoking beauty, fashion, music, and entertainment content. She spent three years working on Nylon’s digital presence before her promotion to editor-in-chief, working across platforms and growing traffic. Prior to that, she was an editor at Refinery29, overseeing beauty content during a period of explosive traffic growth and working to expand the brand’s concept of what beauty means to the millennial reader. She graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2011 with a concentration in feminist/queer theory and writing. She lives in Brooklyn.

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After a year of so much hardship and isolation, how do we readjust to a “new normal”? Join Dr. Jessi Gold and Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, host of the new podcast "Gravity," for a deep dive into the varied emotions many of us are currently feeling as the country reopens post-pandemic.

From Zoom fatigue to unprocessed mental health challenges—including grief and trauma—there are countless underlying effects of COVID-19 still left unspoken.

This program will be an open and safe space to bring those conversations, questions, and fears to the surface.

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Helene Wecker will discuss The Hidden Palace, her long-anticipated sequel to her fascinating, debut novel, The Golem and the Jinni , a magical yet historical tale about immigrant New York. The combination of Arabic and Jewish mythology made the novel particularly intriguing to many readers. The Golem and the Jinni was an Amazon Editor Top 20 Pick and received numerous awards, including the Amazon Spotlight Debut, Indie Next Pick, Entertainment Weekly, Audible books, Kirkus Reviews, and others.

A Midwest native, Wecker holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Columbia University. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and children.

NOTES

MLF: Middle East

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Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation and replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities, there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds that the climate crisis won’t be resolved until we first address the systemic imbalances that have fueled it – racism, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. In their recent book, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, co-editors Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson bring together the voices of women artists, writers and change-makers who are at the forefront of climate action.

“The work that we’re doing is instigating or nurturing a feminist climate renaissance,” says Johnson, “which is what we feel the climate movement so desperately needs right now.”

Guests:

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist

Katharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project Drawdown

Co-editors, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (One World, 2020)

Christine Nieves Rodriguez, Co-founder and President, Emerge Puerto Rico.

Sherri Mitchell, author, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (North Atlantic Books, 2018)

Heather McTeer Toney, National Field Director, Moms Clean Air Force

Jainey Bavishi, Director, Mayor's Office of Resiliency, New York City

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