Episodios

  • George Moscone: Three Years Our Mayor

    George Moscone: Three Years Our Mayor
    May 23 2025
    Mayor George Moscone was assassinated in the San Francisco mayor’s office by Dan White, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on November 27, 1978. And then White walked down the hall and also shot Supervisor Harvey Milk—in White’s former office. Lincoln Mitchell rescues crucial details about Mayor Moscone from the shadows of this tragedy, and reminds us of Mayor Moscone’s contributions to the development of modern San Francisco. First, George Moscone was a trailblazing progressive and powerful state legislator who was instrumental in passing legislation on issues ranging from LGBT rights to funding for school lunches. Later, Moscone’s 1975 campaign for mayor was historically significant because it was the first time a major race was won by a candidate who campaigned aggressively for expanding civil rights for both African Americans and LGBT people. In addition to being a successful politician, Moscone was a charming and charismatic bon vivant deeply embedded in the fabric and culture of San Francisco. He grew up the only son of a single mother in Cow Hollow when it was a working class, largely Italian American neighborhood, and he became the kind of politician who knows bartenders, playground attendants, small business owners, and neighborhood activists in every corner of the city. Mitchell demonstrates how Moscone—through his work in the State Senate, victory in the very divisive 1975 mayor’s race, and brief tenure as mayor—was a key figure in our city’s evolution. Join us in person to find out why the politics surrounding Moscone’s election as mayor, governance of the city, and tragic death are still relevant today. 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. OrganizerGeorge Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 6 m
  • CLIMATE ONE: Murder, Pollution as Policy, and Two Women Who Won’t Give Up

    CLIMATE ONE: Murder, Pollution as Policy, and Two Women Who Won’t Give Up
    May 23 2025
    “In the course of saying no with their bodies, they were met with more violence… including moms who were carrying babies on their backs and were pushed to the edge of the river — and had to choose the river.” That’s Abby Reyes, author of “Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars and the Rise of Climate Justice.” In today’s episode, she shares deeply emotional stories of the price paid by environmental defenders. And she also shares her own stories of resilience and joy in the aftermath of grief. In many parts of the world, fossil fuel interests and their political allies have gone so far as to weaponize pollution as policy to push out marginalized communities. Alexis Madrigal, host of KQED’s Forum and author of “The Pacific Circuit,” describes how this happened in West Oakland, beginning as early as the 1930s: “You see them just saying it. We know this is gonna make housing worse. We know this is gonna make people's lives worse, but this is the plan.” And yet here, too, local communities stand up for environmental justice. Guests: Alexis Madrigal, Co-Host, Forum, KQED Margaret Gordon, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project Abby Reyes, Author; Director, Community Resilience Projects, UC Irvine On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. For show notes and related links, visit our website. Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 m
  • American Bar Association President Bill Bay: Defending Justice & the Rule of Law

    American Bar Association President Bill Bay: Defending Justice & the Rule of Law
    May 22 2025
    Join a can’t-miss discussion with American Bar Association (ABA) President William R. “Bill” Bay to hear the latest on how America’s lawyers are responding to Trump administration actions—government moves they say threaten to dismantle constitutionally protected rights to equal justice and the rule of law. Critics say there are many reasons to be afraid; as President Trump attempts to cow law firms via targeted executive orders, legal residents have found themselves detained and deported without due process, and Justice Department investigations have been nixed for political reasons, can lawyers, the courts and citizens rebuff these threats to the legal underpinning of democracy? Bay, a partner with the St. Louis office of national law firm Thompson Coburn LLP, is president of the American Bar Association, the world’s largest voluntary association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals. He will be in conversation with Ann Ravel, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission, and former chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 4 m
  • Hali Lee: The Big We

    Hali Lee: The Big We
    May 21 2025
    “Hali Lee is redefining philanthropy for the 21st century. Her activism and generosity are exemplary, and this book celebrates the beauty of community giving, and the power of collective action.” ―Ayesha Curry, Sweet July Books Drawing from the experiences of real-life giving circles, philanthropy leader Hali Lee challenges our traditional understanding of giving, showing how everyday people can take back philanthropy from the billionaires and make the world a better place. When you think of philanthropy, what do you envision? Uber wealthy donors? Extravagant galas? In recent decades, philanthropy has come to be seen as something exclusive to those with an abundance of resources. But giving doesn’t have to mean donating millions of dollars. It can be as simple as a group of people who come together to do something good in their community. In The Big We, Hali Lee argues that the future of philanthropy belongs to community action, specifically giving circles―groups of people who come together to pool their resources to make positive change. Born of traditions of generosity rooted in many of our ancestral cultures, giving circles provide a way for us to overcome the feeling many people have of being overwhelmed by the many problems we face by learning, acting, and giving together. Through stories of real giving circles around the country, including her own experience starting the Asian Women Giving Circle, Lee shows us a more expansive vision for the future of philanthropy—one led by people who are refocusing on community, who care about rebuilding the civic space, and who are yearning for connection, purpose and shared vision. These giving circles show not only the immense impact we can have in our own backyards, but also the tremendous scope of change people can achieve through the power of collective action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 6 m
  • Robert Edsel: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom and Enduring Gratitude

    Robert Edsel: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom and Enduring Gratitude
    May 20 2025
    To remind us that civilizational alliances are not merely transactional, Robert Edsel tells personal World War II stories from the rural province of Limburg. Before dawn on May 10, 1940, Hitler’s forces invaded the Netherlands, shattering more than 100 years of peace. The Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until September 1944, when American forces reached Limburg—the last portion of Europe west of Germany to be liberated by the Allies. Edsel follows 12 main characters over a six-year span, including Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama just to face more indignities; and Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who fell in love with an American soldier. Drawing on letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, capturing both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude by revealing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters 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. Organizer: George Hammond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 14 m
  • Jenara Nerenberg with Lee Fang: Nuance and Freethinking in a Distorted World of Self-Silencing

    Jenara Nerenberg with Lee Fang: Nuance and Freethinking in a Distorted World of Self-Silencing
    May 19 2025
    Today's social and political climates feel clouded by fear, distance, polarization and loneliness; why is it that groupthink and conformity seem to rule our neighborhoods, pop culture, friend circles, workplaces and social media feeds? It's time for us to learn how to sit with disagreement, debate better, appreciate our differences, and revel in the diversity of ideas and opinions that reflect our world. Journalist Jenara Nerenberg has not shied away from taking on complex ideas and opinions, first in her bestselling book Divergent Mind about neurological diversity, and now with her second groundbreaking book, Trust Your Mind, which examines viewpoint diversity and encourages us not to shy away from the deepest forms of connection and insight that can come from uncomfortable conversations, independent thinking, and sometimes even loud, productive and healthy arguing. While “conflict” feels like a scary word to some, Nerenberg dives deep into her own life experiences as well as the social science research on the psychology of groupthink to understand why our world is in peril in the face of people feeling too terrified to speak their minds. This challenge is not just limited to politics—the power of critical thinking and exiting groupthink has far-reaching impact on how we communicate with spouses, classmates, colleagues, family members and beyond. By understanding how group identity forms and the dangers of self-silencing, we allow our politics and our reasoning abilities to evolve, which leads to healthier societies. Trust Your Mind has received wide acclaim from Interfaith America's Eboo Patel, social psychologists Kurt Gray and Ethan Kross, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, and many more. Joining Nerenberg in this special conversation is leading investigative reporter Lee Fang, one of the most daring and sought-after independent journalists of our time. This conversation is not to be missed. About the Speakers Jenara Nerenberg is the bestselling author of Divergent Mind, hailed as “extraordinary, jaw-dropping” by Library Journal; she is an Aspen Ideas Brave New Idea speaker and the author of the new book Trust Your Mind, on the psychology of groupthink. A celebrated writer covering the intersection of psychology and society, Nerenberg's work has been featured in the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center magazine, Fast Company magazine, CNN, NPR, BBC and elsewhere. Nerenberg speaks widely on social science topics, including at universities, libraries, companies and organizations around the world. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Harvard School of Public Health; Nerenberg grew up in San Francisco and, as a millennial, can now be found on Instagram. Lee Fang is an independent journalist, primarily writing on Substack at leefang.com. He was an investigative reporter for The Intercept. He writes about civil liberties, interest group lobbying, and other public interest issues. A Grownups 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. Organizer: Denise Michaud Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 17 m
  • Jaz Brisack: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World

    Jaz Brisack: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World
    May 18 2025
    Join us for a special online program as Jaz Brisack, the leader of the Starbucks and Tesla union movements, shares stories from the front lines to help us learn about the modern labor movement. Brisack, author of Get on the Job and Organize, tells the broader story of the new, nationwide labor movement unfolding in our era of political and social unrest. As one of the new faces of the American labor movement, Brisack argues that while workers often organize when their place of work is toxic, it’s equally important to organize when you love your job. Brisack puts everything into the context of America’s long tradition of labor organizing and shows us others can organize their workplaces, backlash can be expected and how to fight it, and what victory looks like even if the union doesn’t necessarily “win.” Brisack is a union organizer and cofounder of the Inside Organizer School, which trains workers to unionize. After spending one year at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, they got a job as a barista at the Elmwood Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, becoming a founding member of Starbucks Workers United and helping organize the first unionized Starbucks in the United States. As the organizing director for Workers United Upstate New York & Vermont, they also worked with organizing committees at companies ranging from Ben & Jerry’s to Tesla. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 7 m
  • Anne Soon Choi: LA's Coroner to the Stars, Dr. Thomas Noguchi

    Anne Soon Choi: LA's Coroner to the Stars, Dr. Thomas Noguchi
    May 16 2025
    Author Anne Soon Choi joins us to reveal the life of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who was known as the "coroner to the stars" in Los Angeles who performed the autopsies of Robert F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood. The inspiration for the Jack Klugman TV series "Quincy, M.E.," Noguchi became famous for his big press conferences—which often created more controversy than offered solutions. Join us to learn about Noguchi and never-before-revealed facts about his biggest cases, which took place against the backdrop of Hollywood's infamous celebrity culture and the heated racial politics of the 1960s and 1970s. Anne Soon Choi, Ph.D., author of L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood (Third State Books), is a historian and professor of Asian American Studies and university administrator at California State University, Northridge. Her essay “The Japanese American Citizens League, Los Angeles Politics, and the Thomas Noguchi Case,” on which this book is based, won the 2021 prize for best essay from the Historical Society of Southern California. Choi has previously served on the faculty of Swarthmore College and the University of Kansas and is an Andrew Mellon Fellow and an American Council of Learned Societies Digital Ethnic Studies Fellow. She lives and writes in Los Angeles, California. Our moderator, Helen Zia, is a author, journalist and Fulbright Scholar. Her latest book, Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution, was an NPR best book and shortlisted for a national Pen America award, while her first book, Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, is a foundational textbook in schools across the country. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Helen’s role in organizing and leading the national Asian American civil rights movement to obtain justice for Vincent Chin and to counter anti-Asian racism is documented in the Academy-award nominated “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” and has been featured on the PBS series "The Asian Americans," "Amanpour & Co.," Lisa Ling's "This is Life," Soledad O'Brien, and other media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 3 m
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