Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The History and Relevance of Ethnic Studies in a Diverse America Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

In 1968, San Francisco made history when, as a result of the student strike at San Francisco State University, the country’s first ethnic studies department was born. Over the years, community advocates have continued to find inadequacies in educational programs for students, citing a lack of inclusion of instructional materials for the teaching of history and culture regarding diverse population demographics. They also believe the learning and understanding of diverse cultures will help foster understanding and mutual respect between and among people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Join us for an in-depth discussion with panelists who will discuss their personal stories about the origins of ethnic studies and their individual advocacy within the movement. Learn how and why they have devoted their efforts to advocate for the programs and hear their visions about how ethnic studies can shape our society’s future.

This is one of an occasional series sharing perspectives on the subject of ethnic studies.

NOTES

Presented in association with the APA Heritage Foundation.

This program is made free thanks to the generous support of Gilead Sciences, Inc..

SPEAKERS

Ana De Almeida Amaral

Student Activist, Stanford University; Advocate, National Equity Project

Artnelson Concordia

Educator; Coordinator, Santa Barbara Unified School District Ethnic Studies Program; Founding Teacher, San Francisco Unified School District Ethic Studies Program

Dr. Taunya Jaco

6th Grade ELA/Social Studies Teacher, San Jose; Board of Directors Member, National Education Association; Secretary, NEA Black Caucus; Chair, Civil Rights in Education Committee, California Teachers Association's State Council

Dr. Theresa Montaño

Teacher, CSUN; Former Board Director and President, National Council for Higher Education

Dr. Samia Shoman

Advocate, Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition; Manager of English Learner and Adacemic Support Programs, San Mateo Union High School District; Co-Coordinator, Teach Palestine, Middle East Children Alliance

Iza McGawley

Student Activist, UC Santa Cruz; Co-Founder, Ethnic Studies Program, High Tech High

Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales

Professor, College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University—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 April 29th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Niall Ferguson: The Politics of Catastrophe Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

Disasters are inherently inevitable in life. We cannot predict the next earthquake, wildfire, financial crisis, war or pandemic, but we can predict how to handle each situation better. Unexpected calamities have happened all throughout human history, yet even in the 21st century we are ill-prepared to recover from them. In the new book Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, popular historian Niall Ferguson explores the reasoning behind this phenomena and offers solutions on how to handle unforeseen circumstances of mass misfortune.

Ferguson has spent his academic career lecturing on the international, financial, and economic history of British and American imperialism. In his new book, Ferguson uses centuries of knowledge to understand the complex pathologies at work that make societies fail in the face of disaster. He offers the lesson he says the West urgently needs to learn if we want to handle the next crisis better and avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline.

Join us as Niall Ferguson offers an explanation of disaster response and strategies to make us better at handling the next catastrophe we will inevitably face.

SPEAKERS

Niall Ferguson

Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Author, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe; Twitter @nfergus

In Conversation with Maya Jasanoff

Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University

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, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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CLIMATE ONE: Finding the Heart to Talk About Climate Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits.

“Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication.

Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground.

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Asian Americans: Learning from the Past to Change the Future Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

As attacks on Asian Americans repeatedly make the news, there is also a bigger story to tell: What the challenges of the future are, and how Asian Americans will help America be more competitive in this brave new world.

Join this insightful discussion with prominent Asian American leaders not only about the history of Asian Americans in the United States, but about what Asian Americans are contributing today, and what all Americans should think about doing as we fight together against modern stereotypes and broken systems, and face current and future challenges.

In association with The Committee of 100, Northern California.

SPEAKERS

Daniel Chao

Ph.D., Board Chair, 1990 Institute; Member, Committee of 100; Former Senior Vice President, TerraPower, LLC; Former Chairman, Bechtel, China

Dennis Wu

Chair, Asia Pacific Islander American Public Affairs, San Francisco; Managing Partner, WuHoover & Co., CPA Advisory Firm; Retired Partner, Deloitte; Past Chair, Commonwealth Club's Board of Governors

In Conversation with Evelyn Dilsaver

Chair, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors

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 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Black, API and Trans Solidarity Roundtable Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

In 2021, as we begin to emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the country continues to grapple with well-publicized incidents of police violence against Black Americans, a wave of anti-API discrimination and violence, and spreading political and other attacks on the transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex communities.

In response to these harrowing realities, The Commonwealth Club and The Transgender District of San Francisco bring together a roundtable of thought leaders from across the nation to speak openly about their unique experiences regarding race and gender identity, in hopes that this summit can provide context, connection and solidarity between three communities that are far too often pitted against each other.

Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language

SPEAKERS

Andy Marra

Korean American Trans Woman Activist; Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense Fund

Oluchi Omeoga

Transmasculine Advocate and Co-Director of BLMP (Black LGBT Migrants Project)

Diamond Stylz

Transgender Activist; Host, "Marsha's Plate" Podcast; Executive Director, Black Trans Women Inc. (Houston, Texas)

Juniper Yun

Korean-American Artist; Program Associate, The Transgender District

Michelle Meow

Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX 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 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Brad Stone: How Jeff Bezos Built the Amazon Empire Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

Bloomberg's Brad Stone is one of the country's leading experts on the global commerce company Amazon. His bestselling book from a decade ago, The Everything Store, gave one of the most detailed pictures of Amazon’s unprecedented growth and its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos. His coverage in Bloomberg Businessweek has helped shaped our understanding of the internet giant.

Since Stone's first book on Amazon was published, the company has expanded to become the most valuable internet company and one of the globe's largest retailers. Its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to well over $1 trillion dollars. The company's holdings also include Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, which powers many of the country's largest websites. Throughout the pandemic, Amazon became a lifeline for many people and small businesses around the world for home supplies, cleaning products and PPE. Bezos also has a personal ownership of The Washington Post, expanding the Amazon owner's impact.

In Stone's new book, Amazon Unbound, the author presents another deeply reported narrative of how a retail upstart became one of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy. Stone also looks at the evolution of Bezos himself from a geeky start-up guy to leading one of the globe's most influential companies.

Please join us for this important event to better understand one of the private sector giants that is shaping modern life, and the company's enigmatic leader who is shaping that vision.

SPEAKERS

Brad Stone

Senior Executive Editor, Global Technology, Bloomberg News; Author, Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire

In Conversation with Sarah Frier

Technology Reporter, Bloomberg; Author, No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

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Jane Harman: Confronting Our National Security Problems Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

Former congresswoman Jane Harman says America has used the same tactics to solve defense and intelligence issues since the end of the Cold War. She says many of these strategies haven't worked and that the United States has become too self-satisfied as the lone superpower of global politics. Harman further says that many nations no longer defer to America as they once did. In her new book Insanity Defense, Harman chronicles how the United States has failed to confront some of the toughest national security policy issues and discusses what that bodes for our national security.

Harman has gained the expertise to discuss security and public policy issues. During her nine terms in Congress, she served on all major security committees, including six years on Armed Services and eight years on Intelligence. She is currently a distinguished fellow and president emerita of the Wilson Center, the nation’s key nonpartisan policy forum for independent research to tackle global issues. Through her work, Harman says she witnessed the unravelling of American politics in her various roles as legislator, exhorter, enabler, dissident and, eventually, outside advisor and commentator.

Hear Jane Harman's unabashed thoughts on achievable solutions to bring us to a safer future.

SPEAKERS

Jane Harman

Distinguished Fellow and President Emerita, Wilson Center; Author, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe

Melissa Caen

Moderator -Political and legal analyst for CBS San Francisco KPIX

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Stanford's Robert Pearl: The Toxic Culture of Medicine Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

The COVID-19 global pandemic has shined a bright light on our medical system unlike perhaps any other time in this country's history. For more than a year now, we have seen how the daily work of making important, even life-and-death decisions is frequently made harder by factors and variables outside the control of an individual doctor and patient. Meanwhile, even before the pandemic, hospitals and medical offices faced tremendous budget problems, and big pharmaceutical and insurance companies continued to shape the delivery of medical care in all corners of the country; the pandemic only exacerbated these trends.

In a new book, Uncaring, Dr. Robert Pearl—former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and a Stanford professor—shows how all these stresses have led to a toxic culture in medicine, particularly for physicians. He says doctors resist change, leading to important clerical mistakes. They don't offer equal treatment to all patients. Their competitive work ethic leads to burnout and bad decisions. All these mistakes, he warns, can be and frequently are matters of life and death.

As we emerge from the pandemic and engage in a public debate about the appropriate role of government, technology, big pharmaceutical and insurance companies in our health-care system, Pearl believes we have paid little attention to what it actually feels like to be a doctor. If we want to improve medical outcomes for doctors and patients alike, Pearl believes we need to start seeing health-care professionals as the real and flawed human beings they actually are, and real issues they face every day in their professional lives.

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Pearl back to The Commonwealth Club for an important conversation on how we can have a safer and healthier health-care system.

Moderator Julie Kliger is the digital health transformation leader of the Health Solutions practice at FTI Consulting. She has expertise working with health-care delivery systems, platform-telehealth and bio/med-tech companies to design, optimize and implement new approaches to care delivery, with the goal of improving quality, value and experience of care. Kliger currently serves as a member of the board of directors for a $3 billion health system and chairs the Enterprise-Wide Committee on Quality, Safety and Patient Experience, and is vice chair of the Executive Compensation Committee. The views expressed by the moderator are not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, Inc., its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates or its other professionals.

SPEAKERS

Dr. Robert Pearl

M.D., Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine; Author, Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients

Julie Kliger

MPA, BSN, Senior Managing Director, Health Solutions, FTI Consulting—Moderator

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Building an Inclusive Recovery Across the Bay Area Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

In the Bay Area, as elsewhere, the coronavirus and its economic fallout have hit hardest the very same people who were on the economic margins before the pandemic, including Black, Latinx, low-wage workers, and immigrant communities (especially undocumented workers). For our region to recover, and thrive, racial equity must be at the forefront of our recovery efforts.

In this program, San Francisco Foundation CEO Fred Blackwell will lead a conversation on the central role that racial equity must play in the Bay Area's recovery from COVID-19 for our region to recover and thrive. We'll review key data findings from the Bay Area Equity Atlas on how COVID-19 has impacted different racial and ethnic communities in our region, presented by Senior Associate Jamila Henderson of PolicyLink. Experts and advocates Chris Iglesias of Unity Council and Tomiquia Moss of All Home will help us make meaning of the data and share their perspectives on what is needed to ensure an equitable recovery for all people in the Bay Area, regardless of their race or where they live.

NOTES

This program is made possible by San Francisco Foundation's Bay Area Leads donors.

SPEAKERS

Jamila Henderson

Senior Associate, PolicyLink

Chris Iglesias

CEO, The Unity Council

Tomiquia Moss

Founder and CEO, All Home

Fred Blackwell

CEO, The San Francisco Foundation—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 May 18th th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Powerful Civics Education: It's Everyone's Responsibility Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

Over the past several years, questions about the stability of America's democratic system have been raised by experts in many fields, from across the political spectrum. After years of polarization, the United States has become highly divided, and there is a widespread loss of confidence in our very form of government and civic order. A movement for a renewed focus on civics and history education has arisen to address these concerns.

Earlier this year, with the launch of the Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative, the country has its first significant comprehensive roadmap that states, local school districts, educators and organizations such as the Club can use to transform the teaching of history and civics to meet the needs of America in the 21st century. One of EAD's most significant features is that it recognizes that powerful and effective civics education is everyone's responsibility, not just civics and social studies teachers, and not just schools themselves. It asserts that we need all sectors of society working to together to educate students about American civics and history.

This program will speak with several leaders who specifically do not represent traditional social studies, civics or American history teachers about why they believe it is their responsibility to be part of the comprehensive civics education solution. Each has played a role in the development of the important EAD effort. We'll hear from the head of the organization that represents English teachers, the head of an organization that represents all rural schools, and a civics education specialist at a presidential library.

This program will also help the Club commemorate the one-year anniversary of the launch of its own civics education effort. In response to the same concerns that drove the development of EAD, The Commonwealth Club recognized that it, as a major civic forum, could play a more significant role in having a citizenry and electorate better appreciate the U.S. form of government and its civic ideals. Our timing could not have been better, as 2020 served as a siren call for the need for improved civics education. The Club launched its civics education efforts on May 11, 2020, when we thought the global pandemic would be the biggest challenge facing our country. Then, after the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, the country faced massive social protests focused on policing and America's long history of racial discrimination. The year ended with a disputed presidential election that culminated in a violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on the day Congress convened to certify the presidential vote. (The Club hosted a program on American history education that ended just as the crowd broke into the U.S. Capitol). We then reflected on the siege of the U.S. Capitol and its implications for civics education in a program days after the presidential inauguration.

As the Club commemorates the first anniversary of its civics education efforts, please join us in an important conversation that urges all of us to be part of addressing America's civics crisis.

SPEAKERS

Allen Pratt

Ed.D., Executive Director, National Rural Education Association

Emily Kirkpatrick

Executive Director, National Council of Teachers of English

Janet Tran

Director of The Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity; Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute

Emma Humphries

Chief Education Officer, iCivics—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 May 14th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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