Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Spencer Ackerman: The 9/11 Era and the Destabilizing of America Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

9/11 transformed American political and cultural life. Post-9/11 Americans were hyper-concerned with national security, public safety and the War on Terror. Now, looking back at the years of contention between the United States and terrorist organizations, journalists like Spencer Ackerman believe the military campaign set the stage for authoritarianism to rise in the United States. As a national security editor for The Guardian, Ackerman was part of the team that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism for their reporting on Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations. Now, he’s looking to understand the endless conflict known as the War on Terror in his new book, Reign of Terror.

After 9/11, policies threatening the safety of Muslims and immigrants turned the War on Terror into a cultural and tribal struggle. It bolstered nativism and inspired bipartisanship. It paved the way for authoritarian leaders to rise to power and exploit sectors of political strength. By analyzing the decisions of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Ackerman sets an argument for how the war became a broader and bitter culture struggle allowing demagogues to emerge.

Join us as Spencer Ackerman couples together journalism and history to transform how Americans understand national security policies and their detrimental impact on political life.

SPEAKERS

Spencer Ackerman

Contributing Editor, The Daily Beast; Author, Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump

In Conversation with Melissa Caen

Attorney; Author; Political Analyst

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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The Newsom Recall: A Week to Week Political Roundtable Special Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a widespread shutdown of economic and social life, a little-watched effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom suddenly got traction, easily gaining the number of signatures needed to trigger a special election that could remove him from office.

Join us for a special edition of the Club's Week to Week Political Roundtable, as we focus on the high-stakes gubernatorial recall election. How did it come to this? Who is behind the recall? Who is running to replace Newsom? How has Newsom responded? Just how does a recall election happen? We'll dig into all of that and more with our panelists who are experts in state politics.

SPEAKERS

Carla Marinucci

Senior Writer, Politico California Playbook; Twitter @cmarinucci

Scott Shafer

Senior Editor, KQED's Politics and Government Desk; Twitter @scottshafer

Dan Schnur

Professor, University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications; Professor, University of California Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies; Host, "Politics in the Time of Coronavirus" Webinar; Twitter @danschnur

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—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 23rd 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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A conversation with the President of the National Peace Corps Association Aug 21, 2021

Show notes

In 2020, The Peace Corps recalled every volunteer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since that moment, the National Peace Corps Association, a 501(c)(3) enterprise, has held many town hall meetings, advocacy meetings, consultations with congressional representatives and senators, and more to help bring back into the field a Peace Corps that is stronger, more responsive to social needs, more diverse and more robust. While NPCA is not a government agency, it has worked tirelessly with the Peace Corps, a government agency, to help launch a new vision. NPCA President Glenn Blumhorst will discuss the future of this important agency and how it will be better and more important than before.

Blumhorst is the president and CEO of the National Peace Corps Association, an enterprise at the center of a community of more than 180 grassroots affiliate groups and 235,000 individuals who share the Peace Corps experience. Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., NPCA’s mission is “to champion lifelong commitment to Peace Corps ideals.” During his tenure, Blumhorst has led NPCA’s historic transformation from a dues-based alumni association to a community-driven social impact organization.

He also served as country representative and chief of party on several major USAID-funded projects throughout Central and South America.

Blumhorst launched his career by serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1988 to 1991. He holds a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the 2018 recipient of the prestigious University of Missouri Faculty-Alumni Award.

SPEAKERS

Glenn Blumhorst

President and CEO, National Peace Corps Association

Frank Price

Moderator, International Relations MLF Co-Chair

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, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Josh Mitchell: Inside the Student Loan Debt Trap Aug 20, 2021

Show notes

Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, almost $700 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt. Student loans have proved to be one of the most pressing problems young Americans face, and critics say the college industry is in part to blame. Originally, well-intentioned government reforms for college access quickly turned into reckless lending and runaway tuition. Easy access to loans allowed colleges to raise tuition to soaring levels. Even the private banks that fronted the money made huge profits on interest. Together, everyone in this business formed an exploitative system that relies on students failing to pay back their debt.

In his new book The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell uncovers the broken student loan system that was created, and then exploited, by loan company Sallie Mae and the United States Congress. He explains what he says are the ill-advised decisions made that drove Americans into massive debt and continue to wreak havoc today.

SPEAKERS

Josh Mitchell

Economy and Higher Education Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Author, The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe

In Conversation with Bethany McLean

Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair

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 10th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Dr. Paula Stone Williams: As a Woman Aug 20, 2021

Show notes

Christian. Pastor. Transgender. Join us to hear from Dr. Paula Stone Williams about her experience journeying from male to female and from despair to joy.

As a father of three, married to a wonderful woman and holding several prominent jobs within the Christian community, Dr. Paula Stone Williams made the life-changing decision to physically transition from male to female at the age of sixty. Almost instantly, her power and influence in the evangelical world disappeared and her family had to grapple with intense feelings of loss and confusion.

Feeling utterly alone and at a loss after being expelled from the evangelical churches she had once spearheaded, Paula struggled to create a new safe space for herself where she could reconcile her faith, her identity, and her desire to be a leader. Much to her surprise, the key to her new career as a woman came with a deeper awareness of the inequities she had overlooked before her transition. Where her opinions were once celebrated and amplified, now she found herself sidelined and ignored. New questions emerged. Why are women’s opinions devalued in favor of men’s? Why does love and intimacy feel so different? And was it possible to find a new spirituality in her own image?

In her book As a Woman, Paula pulled back the curtain on her transition journey and shed light on the gendered landscape that impacts many in the LGBTQ+ community. Williams shares her lived experience of both genders and offers a truly unique perspective on the universal struggle to understand what it means to be male, female, and simply, human.

SPEAKERS

Paula Stone Williams

Pastor, Left Hand Church (Longmont, CO); Author, As a Woman

Michelle Meow

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

John Zipperer

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—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 12th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Which Way Are Swing Voters Swinging on Climate? Aug 20, 2021

Show notes

In early August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report unequivocally connecting global warming and extreme weather to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, and warning of much more dramatic climate futures if we don’t change course soon.

Since the 2020 election, Rich Thau’s Swing Voter Project has been querying those who shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 about a range of issues. How will their views affect the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election? Where does climate rate on their list of issues? And does the accelerating climate crisis matter enough to affect their votes?

Guests:

Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project; Co-founder and President, Engagious

Andrew Freedman, Climate and Energy Reporter, Axios

Venkatachalam “Ram” Ramaswamy, Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

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The Cult of We: The WeWork Story Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

WeWork revolutionized working spaces. By investing in commercial real estate and converting property into flexible shared workspaces, WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann was set to transform the way people get work done. The company offered more than shared space, investing in education and housing initiatives through its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences. Israeli businessman Adam Neumann was on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, but the company soon found itself burning through money with a last hope attempt through a Hail Mary IPO.

From the minds of Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, The Cult of We uncovers the wins, hiccups, and turmoil of tech startups. Eliot Brown has spent his career covering startups, venture capital, commercial real estate and economic development. Similarly, Maureen Farrell focuses on the role of initial public offerings and capital markets in creating a successful business. Together, Brown and Farrell delve into the case of WeWork founder Adam Neumann to better understand how startups can revolutionize the world and what happens when they fail to do so.

Join us as Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, along with program moderator Charles Duhigg, uncover the gripping reality of tech startup culture.

SPEAKERS

Eliot Brown

Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Co-author, The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion; Twitter @eliotwb

Maureen Farrell

Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Co-author, The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion; Twitter @maureenmfarrell

In Conversation with Charles Duhigg

Contributor, The New Yorker; Author, Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity

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90th Annual California Book Awards Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

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

A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, Daniel Mason, Little, Brown and Company

FIRST FICTION

How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang, Riverhead Books

NONFICTION

South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War, Alice L. Baumgartner, Basic Books

JUVENILE

Efrén Divided, Ernesto Cisneros, Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

YOUNG ADULT

Private Lessons, Cynthia Salaysay, Candlewick Press

POETRY

Quiet Orient Riot, Nathalie Khankan, Omnidawn

CALIFORNIANA

California Exposures: Envisioning Myth and History, Richard White, with photos by Jesse Amble White, W.W. Norton & Company

CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLISHING

A Natural History of the Anza-Borrego Region, Marie Simovich and Mike Wells, Sunbelt Publications

SILVER MEDALS

FICTION

Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu, Pantheon/Vintage

NONFICTION

Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream, Conor Dougherty, Penguin Press

YOUNG ADULT

The Black Kids, Christina Hammonds Reed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

SPEAKERS

Julia Flynn Siler

Juror, California Book Awards—Moderator

Peter Fish

Jury Chair, California Book Awards—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 16th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Courtney Martin: Learning In Public Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

Courtney E. Martin is an author, organizer and entrepreneur known for provocative writing and for helping found important content-based organizations that help tell the story of America's diverse future. She is the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network and FRESH Speakers Bureau, and often works with organizations—TED, the Aspen Institute, The Obama Foundation, and The Sundance Institute—on how to make impactful, story-rich social change.

Her newest book, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School, explores her own story about finding the right school for her daughter in Oakland. While many of the white families in her gentrifying neighborhood largely avoided the majority-Black, poorly-rated school near her home, she chose differently. Moving beyond hashtags and yard signs as a way to make a difference, Courtney discovered that her local public school, the foundation of our fragile democracy, was a powerful place to dig deeper to change the country, herself and her family.

Martin examines her own fears, assumptions and conversations with other parents as they navigate choosing what school is right for their child. The book provides a vivid portrait of integration’s virtues and complexities, and yes, the palpable joy of trying to live differently in a country re-making itself around racial issues.

Please join us for an important conversation on education, integration and how the schools we choose for our kids can shape the world we live in and the world we want.

** Note: This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

SPEAKERS

Courtney Martin

Co-founder, Solutions Journalism Network and FRESH Speakers Bureau; Editor, "Examined Family" Newsletter; Author, Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter's School

Ashley McBride

Education Equity Reporter, The Oaklandside--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 live stream video conference on August 3rd, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Alexander Vindman: Here, Right Matters Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

On Thursday morning, July 25, 2019, then-President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Ukraine’s newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the months that followed, the true nature of that conversation would be revealed to the American public due to the moral stance of one man: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Faced with a moment of truth for his nation, Vindman felt duty-bound to report it up the chain of command that the president of the United States had extorted a foreign ally to damage a political challenger at home. Now, for the first time, Alexander Vindman is telling his story of how he ended up at the center of a firestorm for his decision to report the infamous phone call that led to the presidential impeachment.

As an immigrant raised by a father who fled the Soviet Union in pursuit of a better life for his children, Vindman had to learn how to build a life from scratch and take big risks to achieve important goals. In his new book, Here, Right Matters, he discusses how, in the face of sure-fire career derailment and intense public scrutiny, he put it all on the line to protect American democracy.

Join us for Alexander Vindman’s passionate and candid account of his family, his career and his exposure of what he considered a grave abuse of power.

SPEAKERS

Alexander Vindman

Former Director for European Affairs, United States National Security Council; Author, Here, Right Matters: An American Story

In Conversation with Tim Miller

Writer-at-Large, The Bulwark; Political Analyst, MSNBC; Twitter @Timodc

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