Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Love Has Made Them One: Exploring the Romance of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

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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CLIMATE ONE: How a Manufactured Car Culture Blocks Transit Jul 23, 2021

Show notes

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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Nonprofit Local News: Civic Journalism and America's Future Jul 21, 2021

Show notes

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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GABRIELLE KORN: EVERYBODY ELSE IS PERFECT Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

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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The New Normal: Emotions As We Emerge From the Pandemic with Lucy Kalanithi and Jessi Gold Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

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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The Hidden Palace: A tale of the Golem and the Jinni Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

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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CLIMATE ONE: REWIND: A Feminist Climate Renaissance Jul 16, 2021

Show notes

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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Craig Melvin: Learning to Be a Son and a Father Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

Involved, caring fathers make a lasting impact on their children's lives. On his "Today Show" “Dads Got This!” series, Craig Melvin explores the inspiring stories of fathers across the nation who are dedicated to making a difference in their kids’ lives. He’s covered fathers who are frontline workers, raising their children alone, and working with children with learning and physical disabilities. Now, in his new book Pops, Craig Melvin investigates his own relationship with his father and how it influences the way he chooses to pursue fatherhood.

Addiction, transformation and redemption are the honest truths at the core of Melvin’s story. Craig’s father, Lawrence, was distant and often absent due to work obligations and alcohol addiction, but a fiercely loving mother made sure their family stayed together. In his book, Melvin reveals what makes an inspiring, proactive father as seen through the people in his life—uncles, teachers, mentors—and how their examples set a standard for his own fatherhood journey.

A story of journey, understanding and reconciliation, Craig Melvin is exploring the honest truths of fatherhood. Join us as Melvin discusses the joys and challenges of being a father.

SPEAKERS

Craig Melvin

Cohost, NBC’s "Today Show"; Author, Pops: Learning to Be a Son and a Father; Twitter @craigmelvin

Brian Watt

News Anchor, KQED—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 July 12th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Mark Carney, Fatih Birol and the Narrow Path to Net Zero Jul 09, 2021

Show notes

When we think of action on climate change, we usually think of what individuals can do, what governments can do, and maybe what businesses can do. But what about the broader economic levers that affect behaviors?

Can we get companies to walk away from billions of dollars they’ve already invested in a fossil fuel-based economy? Insurers are on the front lines of climate disruption; it’s their business to put a price on risk. So how can the financial and insurance sectors create better-aligned incentives for companies, businesses and even governments to get on the ever-narrowing path to net zero carbon emissions before it’s too late?

Guests:

Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency

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TikTok Star Nick Cho: Your Korean Dad Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Join us for a talk with Nick Cho, known as "Your Korean Dad" on TikTok, where he has attracted more than 2.7 million followers.

Nick Cho was born in Seoul, Korea in 1973. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 with his father and mother, eventually settling in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Northern Virginia, where he and his younger sister, Jennifer, grew up.

After a number of different jobs including car sales, music teacher, and assistant to a radio producer for a nationally syndicated comedy radio show, in 2002 he opened a small coffee shop in the nation's capital called "murky coffee." It quickly became renown throughout the country as one of the pioneering cafes for what would be called "third wave coffee."

He moved with his wife and partner Trish to San Francisco in 2010, starting a new coffee company with her called Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters. Both Nick and Trish would split time between running the coffee company and traveling the world, being invited as leading industry experts to speak and teach at various venues and events throughout the coffee world.

Nick started on TikTok in late 2019, and started posting videos as what would be known as "Your Korean Dad" in April of 2020. His audience has been growing rapidly ever since. Nick has two teenaged daughters.

Get yourself set for a great July 4 holiday weekend with an engaging, feel-good program with Your Korean Dad.

SPEAKERS

Nick Cho

Star, "Your Korean Dad," TikTok; Co-Founder, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters; Twitter @NickCho; TikTok @yourkoreandad

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW/KPIX TV 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; Not Cool Enough to Be on TikTok—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 July 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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