Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Week to Week Political Roundtable: The Race Is On Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

It's the beginning of the season of caucuses and primaries, as we get ready to pick our next president. And that's just one of the many things we'll be tracking all year, starting with this kickoff program.

As usual with Week to Week, our panelists will discuss the latest political developments in an informed, civil (and fun) manner. And come early before the program for our social hour for some wine and light bites and an opportunity to talk with other Club members and friends.

Join us for a whole new year of lively political discussion at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.

See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fergus Bordewich: President Grant’s War Against the Ku Klux Klan Jan 21, 2024

Show notes

The Ku Klux Klan rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan had tens of thousands of members, many of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. The Klan’s mission was to obliterate the democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrific means imaginable.

To repel the tidal wave of violence, President Ulysses S. Grant waged a two-term battle against both armed Southern enemies of Reconstruction and Northern politicians seduced by visions of postwar reconciliation. In his new book Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, historian Fergus Bordewich transports us to the hamlets of the former Confederate States and to the marble corridors of Congress, where an unsung generation of Black leaders tried to hold onto Reconstruction-era political gains, and where senators such as Carl Schurz from Missouri, and the ruthless former slave trader and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, worked to eliminate the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform.”

Join us for a special online-only program as Bordewich shares the stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil, as Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK. It is also a bracing reminder of the bloody, Reconstruction-era roots of current battles to protect the ballot box and to undercut resurgent white supremacist ideologies.

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arlan Hamilton: Getting Your First Million Jan 20, 2024

Show notes

Drawing on her personal journey from economic hardships to financial prosperity, Arlan Hamilton shares her conviction that wealth is not just about affluence, but more important, it's about options. The freedom to chase dreams, take bold leaps, and transform one's life trajectory.

Arlan Hamilton has defied the odds, garnering respect and recognition for her entrepreneurial spirit and financial acumen. In her new book, Your First Million, Hamilton provides an insightful guide for those aspiring to chart a similar path. She provides actionable strategies for achieving entrepreneurial success and emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs reinvesting in their neighborhoods. She passionately believes by altering the landscape of decision-makers and innovators, we can not only better individual lives but also usher in societal change on a grand scale.

Join us as Arlan Hamilton, a source of inspiration to many in the world of entrepreneurship, shares her invaluable insights on achieving financial empowerment and catalyzing change—and maybe discover how you, too, can forge a legacy of prosperity and impact.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: Wardrobe Malfunction: The Climate Impact of Clothing Jan 19, 2024

Show notes

What we wear defines us in so many ways. But in recent decades we’ve moved away from long-lasting, quality pieces in favor of disposable fast fashion, with major consequences for our climate and environment. From mechanized farming and pesticides to grow fiber crops, to energy for manufacturing and transportation, fossil fuels are embedded in the clothing industry at every step of the process.

Companies large and small are working against this trend, with some setting lofty goals for reducing carbon emissions and water use. But achieving those goals is hard. So what are the solutions? Buy less? Design new fibers and materials? Thrifting and repurposing existing clothing? New business models? How can we make low-impact clothing?

Guests:

Aja Barber, Author, “Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change and Consumerism”

Jason Kibbey, President and Founder, Worldly

Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials

Jonathan Chapman, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University School of Design

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Jan 15, 2024

Show notes

In the famous photograph taken of the balcony of Memphis's Lorraine Motel just moments after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., one man is kneeling down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel. That man, Marrell McCollough, was a representative of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he was also an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of the Invaders, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent.

When Seletzky found out that her father had been secretly working for the white power structure as a spy, it was so far from her understanding of what it meant to be Black in America, of everything she eventually devoted her life and career to, that she set out to learn what she could about her father’s life, his actions and his motivations. But with that decision came risks. What would she uncover about her father, who went on to a career at the CIA, and did she want to bear the weight of knowing?

Join us for this intimate and heartbreaking story of a Black undercover police officer who witnessed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a daughter's quest for the truth about her father.

MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of Commonwealth Club World Affairs, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Judis: Where Have All the Democrats Gone? Jan 14, 2024

Show notes

Distinguished political analyst John Judis returns to The Commonwealth Club to share his wake-up call for Democrats, who he feels have lost sight of their core principles, endangering their own political future. For decades, American politics has been plagued by a breakdown between the Democratic and Republican parties, in which victory has inevitably led to defeat and vice versa. Judis says both parties have lost sight of the people at the center of the American electorate, leading to polarization and paralysis. In their book Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes, Judis and co-author Ruy Teixeira reveal the tectonic changes shaping the country’s current political landscape that many pundits and political scientists have missed.

Judis says that the Democratic Party, once the preserve of small towns as well as big cities, of the industrial working class and the newly immigrated, has abandoned and even actively alienated many of those voters. He issues a clarion call for common sense and common ground, revealing the transformation of American politics and providing his critique of where the Democrats have gone awry and how they can avoid political disaster in the days and years ahead.

MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundatio

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cutting Edge: Women with Alzheimer's Is on the Rise! Hope Is Here! Jan 13, 2024

Show notes

In this presentation, Dr. Bredesen will provide you steps and tools to minimize and prevent Alzheimer's in your own environment.

Did you know that more women get Alzheimer's than breast cancer?

Do you know the steps to take to protect yourself and your loved ones?

Did you know 65% of adults with Alzheimer's are women and 60% of caregivers are women?

Did you know15+% of women in the US will get Alzheimer's?.

Did you know noticeable symptoms can take 20 years to appear.?

Do you know what the symptoms are?

Exclusive for Commonwealth Club Members: Post-program Conversation with Speaker

After the first part of the program, members are invited to please join us for an intimate private conversation with Dr. Bredesen on Zoom. Club members who register will receive two links—one for the program itself and one for the private members-only post-program conversation with Dr. Bredesen. During that program, members can pose their own questions and delve more deeply into the topic.

To become a member, for as little as $10 a month and have full access to all of our programming and podcasts.

Join here.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Bredesen graduated from Caltech and received his MD from Duke. He served as resident and chief resident in neurology at UCSF, then was a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel laureate Prof. Stanley Prusiner. He was founding president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He is respected worldwide as the first to publish his groundbreaking work on the reversal of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Bredesen authored three New York Times best sellers, and is currently a professor at UCLA.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: Pairing Scientists with Community Advocates Jan 12, 2024

Show notes

The climate crisis can feel distant — like it’s someone else’s problem — until your town is flooded, your home is damaged by storms, or you're struggling to pay electricity bills as the summers get hotter. Figuring out the specifics of how a region is vulnerable to climate impacts can be the difference between adaptation or disaster, especially for communities that don’t have a lot of climate or environmental expertise among their members.

Community science — defined as communities and scientists working together to address climate and environmental threats — can protect local communities before disaster strikes.

Guests:

Natasha Udu-gama, Director, Thriving Earth Exchange

Daniel Wildcat, Professor, Haskell Indian Nations University; Rising Voices Steering Committee

Angela M. Chalk, Executive Director, Healthy Community Services

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

This episode was produced in collaboration with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and features a segment from Contributing Producer Graycen Wheeler.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"API Women, Non-binary Filmmakers: Telling Our Own Stories Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

Join host Michelle Meow as our panel discusses the contributions women and non-binary filmmakers have made in film, talking with Liz Sargent, Julia Gouw, and Michelle Sugihara of CAPE (the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

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

This program is generously supported by Nielsen, Alaska Airlines, Julia S. Gouw and Priscilla S Y Lim.

Julia S. Gouw

Priscilla S Y Lim

Our partners for this program:

Community Partners:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLIMATE ONE: REWIND: Youth Activists 15 Years Later Jan 05, 2024

Show notes

From the climate movement’s earliest days, young people have been at the forefront of activism. But the first major international climate conferences took place 30 years ago. The first cohort of youth activists are now adults, some with children of their own. The emotional cost of seeing so little payoff for years spent fighting can be agonizing at any age, but perhaps more so for young people who put so much of themselves into the effort.

Many youth activists burned out along the way, frustrated by participating in actions that rarely led to meaningful and lasting change. How do former youth activists now view the work of their younger selves? And what advice do they have for the next generation?

Guests:

Alec Loorz, Writer, Photographer, former youth climate activist

Slater Jewell-Kemker, Director, “Youth Unstoppable;” former youth climate activist

Victoria Loorz, Founder, Center for Wild Spirituality; Author, “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred”

Abrar Anwar, Chief Technology Officer, Rebel Force Tech Solutions; former youth climate activist

Kyle Gracey, Strategy Consultant, Future Matters; former youth climate activist

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Julia S. Gouw

Priscilla S Y Lim

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected