Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

James Kirchick: The Hidden History of Gay Washington Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention” held enormous, terrifying power.

Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with more than 100 people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, James Kirchick's Secret City is a chronicle of American politics like no other. Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of “the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States,” Kirchick illuminates how homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration through the end of the 20th century. Cultural and political anxiety over gay people sparked a decades-long witch hunt, impacting everything from the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI to the ascent of Joseph McCarthy, the struggle for Black civil rights, and the rise of the conservative movement. Among other revelations, Kirchick tells of the World War II–era gay spymaster who pioneered seduction as a tool of American espionage, the devoted aide whom Lyndon Johnson treated as a son yet abandoned once his homosexuality was discovered, and how allegations of a “homosexual ring” controlling Ronald Reagan nearly derailed his 1980 election victory.

Join us for a talk with author James Kirchick and the story that could transform our understanding of American history.

About the Speaker

James Kirchickhas written about human rights, politics and culture from around the world. A columnist for Tablet magazine, a contributing writer to Air Mail, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, he is the author of The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age. Kirchick’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement. A graduate of Yale with degrees in history and political science, he resides in Washington, D.C.

NOTES

See more Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California.

SPEAKERS

James Kirchick

Journalist; Author, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington; Twitter @jkirchick

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 June 13th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: REWIND: Climate Miseducation Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

Climate change science isn’t taught accurately — or equally — across the country. Investigative reporter Katie Worth dug into textbooks and talked with dozens of children and teachers to find out why. In her book, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America, Worth unpacks the influence of the fossil fuel industry, state legislatures and school boards on school curricula in their effort to spread confusion and misinformation about the climate crisis.

Some organizations skip the textbook battle entirely and try to reach children directly through assemblies and social media. How do teachers navigate these dynamics in the classroom? How can we ensure our children are learning to be engaged, educated and climate-aware citizens?

For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

Guests:

Katie Worth, investigative journalist, author, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America

Lea Dotson, Campaigner, Action for the Climate Emergency

Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education

Ben Graves, former science teacher in Delta County, CO

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Building a Future of Black and Asian Coalition Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

The past couple years has brought to the forefront discrimination and violence against America's Black and Asian communities. The George Floyd killing ignited a social and political upheaval that is still working through the country; and the COVID-19 pandemic spawned numerous violent attacks on Asian Americans. How can these two communities support themselves and each other? How can they deal with issues of mistrust or prejudice among their own members? And what can they accomplish when they join forces to create a better society for all?

Join us in-person for a special program exploring the need for and examples of coalition and cooperation between the Asian and Black communities in neighborhoods where there might have been conflicts in the past.

Following the program enjoy some live entertainment and refreshments at our reception on the Club's rooftop terrace.

Our panel includes Renard Monroe, founder and executive director of Youth 1st, a year-round after-school and summer program located in San Francisco's District 11, and president and a founding member of Invest Black, a community collaboration of Black-led organizations and supporters; Jon Osaki, who since 1996 has served as executive director of the Japanese Community Youth Council, one of San Francisco's most successful youth organizations, annually serving more than 6,000 children and youth from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds; Shakirah Simley, a writer, seasoned organizer and community development and policy strategist with more than 15 years experience in social justice, gender and racial equity efforts who is the executive director of the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, on of San Francisco's oldest Black-led and -serving community organizations; and Sarah Wan, executive director of the Community Youth Center and a member of Mayor London Breed's Commission on the Environment and the co-chair for API Council.

Our co-moderators will be Derick Brown, senior director for the Leo T. McCarthy Center at the University of San Francisco, where he works to continue and enhance the tradition of inspiring USF students to serve others and pursue successful careers in public service; and Michelle Meow, the longtime producer and host of "The Michelle Meow Show" and a member of The Commonwealth Club's Board of Governors.

SPEAKERS

Renard Monroe

Founder and Executive Director, Youth 1st; President and a Founding Member, Invest Black

Jon Osaki

Executive Director, Japanese Community Youth Council

Shakirah Simley

Writer; Community Development and Policy Strategist; Executive Director, Booker T. Washington Community Service Center

Sarah Wan

Executive Director, Community Youth Center; Member, Mayor's Commission on the Environment; Co-chair, API Council

Derick Brown

Senior Director, The Leo T. McCarthy Center, University of San Francisco—Co-moderator

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-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 7th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Mapping the Route to Equitable Road User Charges: The 13th Annual Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

The accelerating transition to electric vehicles brings new urgency to discussions about how to replace fuel taxes with other broad-based, reliable sources of transportation revenue. From Wyoming to Delaware to California, more and more state legislatures are considering mileage fees, regions like the San Francisco Bay Area are considering expanded tolling, and New York City is within reach of adopting a congestion pricing proposal.

Overlaying these discussions is a persistent call to consider the equity of any new charges on drivers. How will the charges impact low-income drivers? Does payment require access to banking tools that are not universally available?

This event will explore proposals, including fee rates that vary by driver income, vehicle characteristics, or time and place, and equity-centered policies for responding to nonpayment of tolls or other fees.

NOTES

This program is supported by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University.

SPEAKERS

Featured Speaker: U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio

Member, U.S. House of Representatives (D-MA); Chair, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for the 117th Congress

Fireside Chat with Karen Philbrick

Ph.D., Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute

Keynote Speaker: Polly Trottenberg

Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation

Q&A Moderator: Jeff Morales

Managing Principal, InfraStrategies, LLC

Asha Weinstein Agrawal

Ph.D., Director, MTI National Transportation Finance Center

James Corless

Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG)

Reema Griffith

Executive Director, Washington State Transportation Commission

Hasan Ikhrata

Executive Director, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)

Stephanie Wiggins

Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)—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 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Keith Boykin: The Politics of a Darkening America Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

After the events that took place over the course of 2020, America remains more divided than ever. When faced with a global health crisis and widespread cries for racial justice, leadership crumbled and the Republican Party suffered defeat in the 2020 election. According to Keith Boykin, Republican leaders have responded with inciting white Americans in a last-ditch race against time to stop the rise of a new majority.

Keith Boykin, CNN political commentator and New York Times best-selling author, has been at the center of this broader conversation of race and politics for three decades. He has seen America fail time and time again from its negligence in making a long-overdue reckoning with a shameful history of racialized violence.

His new book Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America discusses what he says is the dwindling white majority's resentment toward the emerging multiracial tide; this animosity toward change and social progress has created a political stalemate initiated by the GOP. He argues that now is the time to make substantial steps toward justice not just by making Black lives matter but by making Black lives equal.

Join Keith Boykin in a conversation about race, politics and the fight for equality.

SPEAKERS

Keith Boykin

Political Commentator, CNN; Author, Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America; Twitter @keithboykin

In Conversation with Brian Watt

News Anchor, KQED

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91st Annual California Book Awards Jun 11, 2022

Show notes

Join us for a celebration of the winners of the 91st annual California Book Awards!

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. Each year a select jury considers hundreds of books from around the state in search of the very best in literary achievement. Over its 90 years, the California Book Awards have honored the writers who have come to define California to the world. Among them are John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, MFK Fisher, Thom Gunn, Richard Rodriquez, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joan Didion, Ishmael Reed, and Amy Tan. Recent award winners include Hector Tobar, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Susan Orlean, Rachel Kushner, Rachel Khong, Tommy Orange, Morgan Parker and Steph Cha.

This year’s winners include:

GOLD MEDALS

FICTION

The Archer, Shruti Swamy, Algonquin Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing, Hachette Book Group

FIRST FICTION

Skinship, Yoon Choi, Alfred A. Knopf

NONFICTION

Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, Lizzie Johnson, Crown

JUVENILE

Wishes, Mượn Thị Văn and Victo Ngai, Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc

YOUNG ADULT

Home Is Not a Country, Safia Elhillo, Make Me a World

POETRY

Refractive Africa, Will Alexander, New Directions

CALIFORNIANA

Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles, Rosecrans Baldwin, MCD, an imprint of Farrer, Straus & Giroux

CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING

A Rebel’s Outcry, Naomi Hirahara, Little Tokyo Historical Society

SILVER MEDALS

FICTION

The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Atlantic

FIRST FICTION

City of a Thousand Gates, Rebecca Sacks, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

NONFICTION

Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis, Gabrielle Selz, University of California Press

SPEAKERS

Peter Fish

California Book Awards Jury Chair

Sarah Rosenthal

California Book Awards Juror

Rosalind Chang

California Book Awards Juror

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 6th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Robert Baer: Putin, Russia and the Hunt for a KGB Spy Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

The CIA beginning in the early 1980s made a series of stunning arrests—three high-profile Russian spies, Aldrich Ames, Edward Lee Howard, and Robert Hanssen, were uncovered as some of the most damaging leaks the agency had ever seen. Yet, as told by former CIA officer Robert Baer, the investigation for a “fourth man” ensued shortly after, and now relates the never-before-told story about the hunt for what may very well be the greatest traitor in American history.

Robert Baer is a New York Times bestselling author and former CIA case officer with 21 years of service. He is the intelligence columnist for Time, intelligence and security analyst for CNN, and his works have appeared in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Baer’s book See No Evil was the basis for the acclaimed film Syriana, and he was the co-host for the History Channel series Hunting Hitler.

In his latest book, The Fourth Man, Baer recounts a thrilling tale of hunting a so-called “super mole” who was believed to have more destructive power than their three predecessors combined. Three women, leading experts in counterintelligence, led the team as they poured through their own ranks, finding loose threads, smoking guns and rumors that the traitor was nothing more than a Russian trick to break the CIA apart. And, at the height of their intellectual duel and legendary game of cat-and-mouse, the shocking conclusion to their investigation would shake American Intelligence to its core.

Join us, as Baer retells the thrilling hunt for a KGB spy at the top ranks of the CIA, with all its twists and turns—and its implications for the future of America, Russia and the rise of Vladimir Putin.

SPEAKERS

Robert Baer

Former CIA Operative; Intelligence Analyst, CNN; Author, The Fourth Man: The Hunt for a KGB Spy at the Top of the CIA and the Rise of Putin's Russia

In Conversation with Adam Lashinsky

Contributor, Business Insider; Twitter @adamlashinsky

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 1st, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Digging Deep into the Next Farm Bill Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

Roughly every five years, the U.S. designs and implements a new farm bill, which sets federal policy on agriculture across a huge swath of programs, including subsidies, food assistance, land practices and more. As the discussion around what to include in the 2023 farm bill intensifies, many are pushing for climate mitigation and adaptation measures to be a primary focus of the legislation. Then there’s equity. Since the 1930s, the Federal Government has supported farmers with subsidies, credit, and crop insurance. Yet historically, Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color have been excluded from these benefits. Can we make progress on equity and climate today that we couldn’t in the past?

Guests:

Chuck Conner, President and CEO, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives

Scott Faber, Senior VP, Government Affairs, EWG

Jonathan Coppess, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois

John W. Boyd, Jr., President, National Black Farmers Association

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Angela Garbes and Jenny Odell: Essential Labor, Mothering as Social Change Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

Angela Garbes, the acclaimed author of Like a Mother, reflects on the state of caregiving in America. In her new book Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, Garbes explores assumptions about care, work and deservedness, offering a deeply personal and rigorously reported look at what mothering is and can be. She places mothering in a global context to critically examine her perspectives of the complicated relationship to care work as a first-generation Filipino-American. Despite the mentally and physically demanding work mothers must endure in the absence of a social safety net to support them, she reframes caregiving as an opportunity to find meaning, to nurture a more profound sense of self, pleasure and belonging.

Join Angela Garbes and Jenny Odell for a powerful conversation on mothering as social change and how the act of caregiving offers the potential to create a more equitable society.

NOTES

This program is part of The Commonwealth Club's Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

SPEAKERS

Angela Garbes

Author, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change; Twitter

Show editorially warning

@agarbes

In Conversation with Jenny Odell

Multi Disciplinary Artist; Writer; Twitter @the_jennitaur

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Sheng Thao and Connie Wun: Today's AAPI Women Show editorially warning Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

An APA Heritage Month special: Join us for an online panel discussion with two AAPI women touching on the lived experiences of being an AAPI woman today. They'll cover a wide range of issues, including the mental health impact of issues such as racism, gender violence, and oppression.

Show editorially warning

About the SpeakersOakland City Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao grew up in poverty, the 7th of 10 kids. Her parents met in a refugee camp in Thailand after each fled their home country of Laos and the genocide against the Hmong people. Thao’s parents immigrated to America, settling in Stockton, where they would make a living farming vegetables. It was here Thao was born. She left home at the age of 17. When her son Ben was 10 months old, Thao got a job at Merritt College and also started taking classes. And, with the help of welfare and a Head Start program for Ben, she put herself through school. She became class valedictorian, then transferred to UC Berkeley, where she co-founded a food access program for low-income students and graduated with a degree in legal studies. She eventually ran for Oakland's City Council District 4 and won, becoming the first Hmong-American woman Councilmember in California history. She’s currently Council president pro tem and chairs the Rules and Legislation Committee. Thao received the 2021 Powerful Women of the Bay Award for her work on behalf of Oakland’s diverse neighborhoods, and has been honored by the Alameda Labor Council for her record of delivering for working families. Thao is also president of the League of California Cities API Caucus, and has served on boards for the Redwood Heights Association and Oakland Asian Cultural Center. She is an Oakland mayoral candidate.

Connie Wun, Ph.D., is the executive director and co-founder AAPI Women Lead. As a part of her work in ending racial and gender-based violence, she leads national research projects on race, gender, and violence. Wun is a 2020 Soros Justice Fellow, a former National Science Foundation fellow, and a recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus Excellence in Civil Rights award and 2021 Gold House A100 award. Her research has been published in academic journals, anthologies, and online platforms. She is also a former high school teacher, college educator, sex worker, and sexual assault counselor.

SPEAKERS

Sheng Thao

Oakland City Council President Pro Tem

Connie Wun

Ph.D., Executive Director and Co-founder, AAPI Women Lead

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—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 May 19th, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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