

That Said With Michael Zeldin
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CommPRO and the Museum of Public Relations proudly present That Said With Michael Zeldin. That Said, is a weekly series that takes a comprehensive look at the ideas, events, and people who shape our world. Led by TV legal and political analyst Michael Zeldin, his candid conversations with bestselling authors, thought leaders, and opinion-makers explore their ideas to help move us forward as a community and as a country.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 2, 2021 • 1h 4min
A Conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Author, ‘The Devil May Dance’
Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Jake Tapper, Lead Washington Anchor for CNN, and host of the weekday television news show The Lead with Jake Tapper and co-host of the Sunday morning public affairs program State of the Union as they discuss his new book, The Devil May Dance, Jake’s follow-up to his New York Times bestseller, The Hellfire Club. Follow Charlie and Margaret Marder as they investigate Hollywood, the mob, Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and the Kennedys.
Guest
Jake Tapper
CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper joined the network in January 2013. Tapper currently hosts a one-hour weekday program, The Lead with Jake Tapper, which debuted in March 2013, and has hosted CNN's Sunday morning show, State of the Union, since June 2015. Tapper has been a widely respected reporter in the nation’s capital for more than 14 years. His most recent book is The Devil May Dance, the sequel to The Hellfire Club.
Tapper imparts his political expertise on State of the Union by conducting interviews with top newsmakers on politics and policy, covering Washington, the country and the world. The Lead covers headlines from around the country and the globe with topics ranging from breaking news in politics and world events, to politics, money, sports, and popular culture.
Most recently, Tapper lent his political expertise to CNN's 2016 election coverage and moderated two Presidential Primary debates. On election night, Tapper played a pivotal role in the network's coverage of the race and provided analysis on projections throughout the evening.
Follow Jake: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About The Devil May Dance
Charlie and Margaret discover the dark side of Hollywood in Jake Tapper's follow-up to New York Times bestseller The Hellfire Club—an "excellent" cocktail of corruption and ambition (Publishers Weekly).
Charlie and Margaret Marder, political stars in 1960s Washington DC, know all too well how the tangled web of power in the nation's capital can operate. But while they long to settle into the comforts of home, Attorney General Robert Kennedy has other plans. He needs them to look into a potential threat not only to the presidency, but to the security of the United States itself.
Charlie and Margaret quickly find themselves on a flight to sunny Los Angeles, where they’ll face off against a dazzling world of stars and studios. At the center of their investigation is Frank Sinatra, a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and a rumored mob crony, whom Charlie and Margaret must befriend to get the inside scoop. But in a town built on illusions, where friends and foes all look alike, nothing is easy, and drinks by the pool at the Sands and late-night adventures with the Rat Pack soon lead to a body in the trunk of their car. Before they know it, Charlie and Margaret are being pursued by sinister forces from Hollywood’s stages to the newly founded Church of Scientology, facing off against the darkest and most secret side of Hollywood’s power.
As the Academy Awards loom, and someone near and dear to Margaret goes missing, Charlie and Margaret find the clock is not only ticking but running out. Someone out there knows what they’ve uncovered and can’t let them leave alive. Corruption and ambition form a deadly mix in this fast-paced sequel to The Hellfire Club.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School,Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

May 19, 2021 • 59min
A Conversation with Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Author, ‘The Daughters of Kobani’
The template for the renewed battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan may well be found in Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s book, The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice, (2021): the story of how the all-women’s Syrian Kurdish militia (YPJ) defeated ISIS and left in its wake the most far-reaching experiment in women’s justice and equality in their corner of the Middle East and beyond. Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Gayle as they discuss her book and its portends for future battles.
Guest
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (2011), about a young entrepreneur who supported her community under the Taliban, Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield (2015), and The Daughters of Kobani (2021), the story of what ISIS has left in its wake: the most far-reaching experiment in women’s equality in the least likely place in the world brought to you by women who have been battling ISIS town by town, street by street since 2013. These women served as America’s ground force in the fight to defeat the Islamic State and The Daughters of Kobani tells for the first time this David and Goliath story of how they came to serve ISIS its first battlefield defeat. Ashley’s War is currently being developed into a major motion picture at Universal with Reese Witherspoon producing, and The Daughters of Kobani has been optioned by HiddenLight Productions, founded by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sam Branson, and Chelsea Clinton.
Lemmon, who serves as an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, along with private sector leadership roles in emerging technology and national security firms, began writing about entrepreneurship in conflict and post-conflict zones while studying for her MBA at Harvard following a decade covering politics at the ABC News Political Unit. This work from Afghanistan, Rwanda, Liberia, Bosnia and beyond has been published by the World Bank, Harvard Business School, the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and CNN, among others. Following MBA study, she led public policy analysis during the global financial crisis at the global investment firm PIMCO.
Lemmon is a frequent speaker on national security topics, including at the Aspen Security Forum and TED forums, and has given talks at West Point, ODNI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the National Infantry Museum. Her TED Talk on Ashley’s War and the reshaping of the hero story to include women has received more than a million views worldwide. She regularly appears on MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and National Public Radio. Along with her national security work, she has reported and written extensively on topics including child marriage in the United States for PBS NewsHour and on school choice, single moms and the power and importance of girls’ ambition for The Atlantic. Lemmon holds an MBA from Harvard and received the Dean’s Award for her work on women’s entrepreneurship. In addition to serving as a Robert Bosch Fellow in Germany, she served as a Fulbright scholar in Spain, on the board of the international aid organization Mercy Corps and is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. She speaks Spanish, German and French and is conversant in Dari and Kurmanci.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kenn...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

May 12, 2021 • 57min
A Conversation with Peter Baker & Susan Glasser – Authors of “The Man Who Ran Washington: the Life and Times of James Baker III”
Join Michael Zeldin as he interviews Peter Baker and Susan Glasser– authors of “The Man Who Ran Washington: the Life and Times of James Baker III,” a chief of staff and secretary of state for 25 years, an era when Washington was regarded as the world’s political center. The authors will discuss how Baker’s legacy compares with the current officials in DC and lessons we can learn about the administrations he helped to lead.
Guests
Peter Baker & Susan Glasser
Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, a political analyst for MSNBC, and author of Days of Fire and @JamesBakeThe Breach. Susan Glasser is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of its weekly “Letter from Trump’s Washington” as well as a CNN global affairs analyst. Their first assignment as a married couple was as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, after which they wrote Kremlin Rising. Today they live in Washington, D.C., with their son.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran.
Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post.
Follow Michael on Twitter: @MichaelZeldinAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

May 5, 2021 • 1h 3min
A Conversation with Anna Sale, Author, “Let’s Talk About Hard Things”
Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Anna Sale host of the WNYC podcast Death, Sex and Money and author of the new book, Let’s Talk about Hard Things as they discuss big questions about death, family, sex, and money that are too often left out of polite, everyday conversation. Listen as they explore ways to talk about the things we think about a lot but need to talk about more.
Guest
Anna Sale
Anna Sale is the creator and host of Death, Sex & Money, the podcast from WNYC Studios about “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.” After debuting at the top of the iTunes chart in 2014, Death, Sex & Money was named the #1 podcast of the year by New York Magazine in 2015. Anna won a Gracie for best podcast host in 2016 and the show won a 2018 Webby for best interview show.
Before launching Death, Sex & Money, Anna covered politics for nearly a decade. She has contributed to Fresh Air with Terry Gross and This American Life and is the author of the book Let's Talk About Hard Things (Simon & Schuster). She grew up in West Virginia and now lives in Berkeley with her husband and two daughters.
Follow Anna on Twitter: @annasale
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran.
Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post.
Follow Michael on Twitter: @MichaelZeldinAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 28, 2021 • 1h 1min
A Conversation with Bakari Sellers, Author, “My Vanishing Country: A Memoir”
Join Michael Zeldin for this important conversation with Bakari Sellers. Named one of Time Magazine’s 40 under 40, Sellers became the youngest-ever African American elected official when sworn into the South Carolina State Legislature at the age of 22 in 2006. After earning a BA at Morehouse and JD at the Univ. of South Carolina, Sellers has taken up the causes of his father, Dr. Cleveland Sellers, the renowned civil rights leader. His recent book, My Vanishing Country: A Memoir, charts his extraordinary journey from Denmark, South Carolina to the State Legislature, to CNN, where he is one of the most important voices in the movement for racial justice.
Guest
Bakari Sellers
Bakari Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. His political career did not stop there. In 2014, Sellers won the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor in South Carolina, and has also worked for United States Congressman James Clyburn and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. He is widely considered to be a rising star within the Democratic Party and leading voice for his generation.
Sellers was born into an activist family. He has followed in the footsteps of his father, civil rights leader Dr. Cleveland Sellers, in his tireless commitment to public service while championing progressive policies to address issues ranging from education and poverty to preventing domestic violence and childhood obesity. Sellers earned his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, where he served as student body president, and his law degree from the University of South Carolina.
Sellers is the author of The New York Times best-selling book My Vanishing Country: A Memoir, which has been described as part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis – illustrating the lives of America’s forgotten black working-class men and women. He has also expanded his audience with the Bakari Sellers Podcast, a twice-a-week show part of The Ringer Podcast Network that addresses a variety of topics from politics, race, sports, media, the presidential campaign, and much more.
Sellers currently practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia, where he heads the firm’s strategic communication and public affairs team and has recently added diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting to the list of services offered. He is also a prominent political contributor for CNN.
In addition to his impressive list of early accomplishments, Sellers served on President Barack Obama’s South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 election. That coupled with his uncommon ability to reach across the aisle and get things done has led to numerous accolades including being named to TIME Magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2010 as well as 2014’s “The Root 100” list of the nation’s most influential African-Americans. Sellers has been a much sought after public speaker and has provided political and social commentary and analysis on many major national news outlets.
He has served as a featured speaker at events for the National Education Association, College Democrats of America National Convention, NAACP, the 2008 Democratic National Convention and, in 2007, delivered the opening keynote address to the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC.
Sellers is married to his wife Dr. Ellen Rucker-Sellers and father to twins Sadie and Stokely.
Follow Bakari on Twitter @Bakari_Sellers
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges,Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 19, 2021 • 1h 28min
A Conversation with Mark Salter, Author of “The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain”
Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Mark Salter, Author of The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain.
Salter collaborated with John McCain on all seven of their books, including The Restless Wave, Faith of My Fathers, Worth the Fighting For, Why Courage Matters, Character Is Destiny, Hard Call, and Thirteen Soldiers. He served on Senator McCain’s staff for eighteen years.
Guest
Mark Salter
Author of "The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain"
Mark Salter is an American speechwriter from Davenport, Iowa, known for his collaborations with United States Senator John McCain on several nonfiction books as well as on political speeches. Salter also served as McCain's chief of staff for a while, although he had left that position by 2008.
About the Book
More so than almost anyone outside of McCain’s immediate family, Mark Salter had unparalleled access to and served to influence the Senator’s thoughts and actions, cowriting seven books with him and acting as a valued confidant. Now, in The Luckiest Man, Salter draws on the storied facets of McCain’s early biography as well as the later-in-life political philosophy for which the nation knew and loved him, delivering an intimate and comprehensive account of McCain’s life and philosophy.
Salter covers all the major events of McCain’s life—his peripatetic childhood, his naval service—but introduces, too, aspects of the man that the public rarely saw and hardly knew. Woven throughout this narrative is also the story of Salter and McCain’s close relationship, including how they met, and why their friendship stood the test of time in a political world known for its fickle personalities and frail bonds. The capstone to Salter’s intimate and decades-spanning time with the Senator, The Luckiest Man is the authoritative last word on the stories McCain was too modest to tell himself and an influential life not soon to be forgotten.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran.
Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 14, 2021 • 1h 2min
A Conversation with Professor Michael Gerhardt, Author of “Lincoln’s Mentors: The Education of a Leader”
There can be no question but that Abraham Lincoln embodies the best of what America can be and thus his wisdom endures.
Join me and Professor Michael Gerhardt as we explore how Lincoln became Lincoln and what he can still teach us on this 156th anniversary of his assassination.
Guest
Professor Michael J. Gerhardt, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina School of Law
Michael Gerhardt joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2005 and serves as the Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence. His teaching and research focuses on constitutional conflicts between presidents and Congress. Gerhardt is the author of seven books, including “Lincoln’s Mentors” (Harper Collins, 2021), and leading treatises on impeachment, appointments, presidential power, Supreme Court precedent, and separation of powers. He has written more than a hundred law review articles and dozens of op eds in the nation’s leading news publications, including SCOTUSblog, The New York Times, and Washington Post. His book, The Forgotten Presidents (Oxford University Press 2013), was named by The Financial Times as one of the best non-fiction books of 2013. He was inducted into the American Law Institute in 2016. Gerhardt attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated order of the coif and served as a research assistant to both Phil Kurland and Cass Sunstein and as one of the two student editors of The Supreme Court Review. After law school, he clerked for Chief District Judge Robert McRae of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Tennessee and Judge Gilbert Merritt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He served as Deputy Media Director of Al Gore’s first Senate campaign, practiced law for three years for two boutique litigation firms in Washington and Atlanta, and taught for more than a decade at William & Mary Law School before joining Carolina Law.
Gerhardt’s extensive public service has included his testifying more than 20 times before Congress, including as the only joint witness in the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the House; speaking behind closed doors to the entire House of Representatives about the history of impeachment in 1998; serving as special counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for seven of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices; and as one of four constitutional scholars called by the House Judiciary Committee during President Trump’s impeachment proceedings. During the Clinton and Trump impeachment proceedings, Gerhardt served as an impeachment expert for CNN. In 2015, he became the first legal scholar to be asked by the Library of Congress to serve as its principal adviser in revising the official United States Constitution Annotated. In 2019, the Order of the Coif named Gerhardt as its Distinguished Visitor for 2020, an award given to only one law professor each year for outstanding legal scholarship.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force,Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Apr 5, 2021 • 1h 12min
A Conversation with Ron Brownstein, Senior Editor at The Atlantic, Senior Political Analyst for CNN & Author of “Rock Me on the Water”
Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Ron Brownstein, Senior Editor at the Atlantic and CNN senior political analyst, as they discuss his new book, Rock Me on the Water which examines how politics and culture intertwined to reshape American life in the transition from the optimism of the 1960s to the reality of the early 1970s.
Ron Brownstein is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns and national politics.
Guest
Ron Brownstein
Senior Editor at The Atlantic, Senior Political Analyst for CNN & Author of "Rock Me on the Water"
Part journalist, part historian, and all shrewd political observer, Ron Brownstein explains the complexities of American politics with lucid precision. As a senior editor for The Atlantic, a Contributing Editor for National Journal, and a senior political analyst for CNN, he produces sharp analysis on politics, policy, the electorate, media, healthcare, and the range of issues informed by his strong sense of American political and national history.
Twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Brownstein was cited for “the clarity, consistency, and quality of his political reporting.” He writes weekly columns for both the Atlantic and CNN.com and also appears regularly in National Journal. A prolific and penetrating columnist, Brownstein is, as the Economist said, “one of America’s best political journalists,” and the Washington Post called him “one of the gold-plated names of political journalism who can still shape big-pictures conventional wisdom.” Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, his speeches reflect the depth of his knowledge, making him one of the most trustworthy predictors of America’s future.
Getting It Right, Time After Time. Before taking over the political coverage for Atlantic Media Company, Brownstein served as the national political correspondent and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. In his years at the Times, he earned two finalist nods from the Pulitzer Prize Board for his coverage of the 1996 and 2004 presidential elections. His track record led former President Bill Clinton to cite Brownstein as the “one journalist who generally gets it right, explaining what the issues are and what’s going on in the country.” In addition, Brownstein served as chief political correspondent and columnist for U.S. News and World Report for seven months in 1998. He also has appeared frequently on Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopolous, Face the Nation, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Washington Week in Review. He has also served as an election analyst for ABC.
Brownstein is the author or editor of seven books, including Rock Me on the Water 1974 -The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics, The Power and The Glitter: The Hollywood-Washington Connection, and Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival. His previous book, Reagan’s Ruling Class: Portraits of the President’s Top 100 Officials, was a Washington Post best-seller for five weeks. He was editor and co-author of Selecting a President and Who’s Poisoning America, and his sixth book, The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, was named one of the “10 books to curl up with” by the New York Times. .
His articles on politics, public policy, books and culture have also appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Vanity Fair, the New Republic, the Financial Times, the Washington Monthly, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, the Times Literary Supplement, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Sun-Times, Newsday, and the Miami Herald.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
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Mar 27, 2021 • 1h 1min
A Conversation with Jennifer Ho, President of the Association for Asian American Studies (Podcast & On-Demand Video)
Watch On-Demand Video
Watch On-Demand Video
Throughout their history, Asians in America have faced massive racial discrimination from indentured servitude to exclusion laws through internment during World War II. Asian Americans continue to face ongoing discrimination in myriad ways. The Atlanta spa murders, while a grotesque manifestation of this history, is sadly not an isolated event.
Join Michael Zeldin in his conversation with Jennifer Ho, President of the Association for Asian American Studies, Director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder in a discussion of what it means to be an Asian American and especially an Asian American woman.
Guest
Jennifer Ho
Professor, Ethnic Studies
Director, Center for Humanities & the Arts
University of Colorado Boulder
President, Association for Asian American Studies
The daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica, Jennifer Ho is a professor in the department of Ethnic Studies and the director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Ho received her BA in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1992) and her PhD in English from Boston University (2003) and had a faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2004-2019, where she taught courses in Asian American literature, contemporary multiethnic American literature, critical race studies, and intersectionality.
Ho is the author of three books: Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Novels (Routledge Press, 2005), Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2015), which won the 2016 South Atlantic Modern Languages Association award for best monograph, and Understanding Gish Jen (University of South Carolina Press, 2015). She is co-editor of a collection of essays on race and narratology, Race, Ethnicity, and Narrative in the United States (OSU Press, 2017) and a series of teaching essays on Asian American literature, Teaching Approaches to Asian American Literature (forthcoming MLA). She has published in journals such as Modern Fiction Studies, Journal for Asian American Studies, Amerasia Journal, The Global South and has also presented at conferences such as the International Society for the Study of Narrative, American Studies Association, Modern Language Association, American Literature Association, and the Association of Asian American Studies, where she has just been elected as the incoming President, effective April 2020. Two of her current book projects are a breast cancer memoir and a family autobiography that will consider Asian Americans in the global south through the narrative of her maternal family’s immigration from Hong Kong to Jamaica to North America. In addition to her academic work, Ho is active in community engagement around issues of race and intersectionality, leading workshops on anti-racism and how to talk about race in our current political climate.
Books
Narrative, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States. Edited along with James Donahue (SUNY Potsdam) & Shaun Morgan (Tennessee Wesleyan College). Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2017.
Understanding Gish Jen. Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2015.
Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2015.
Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Novels. New York: Routledge Press, 2005.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran.
Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post.
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Mar 16, 2021 • 43min
Choose to Challenge… A Conversation with Aisha C. Mills, Political Commentator (SPECIAL EPISODE)
The “Choose to Challenge” theme for International Women’s Day and Women’s History month challenges us, men and women alike, to confront biases, question stereotypes, and celebrate the achievements of women around the world.
Change comes from challenge and a challenged world is an alert world. But, implementing strategies that will make those changes a reality takes a lot of work.
Join the discussion with Aisha C. Mills, Political Commentator, as she discusses the challenges women face and the ways change can be affected in our communities.
Guest
Aisha C. Mills
Aisha is a seasoned political strategist and social impact advisor with twenty-years of experience working to ensure that our democracy is responsive to, reflective of, and led by the diverse communities that are the fabric of our nation. A nationally respected voice on Democratic politics, she is a political commentator on MSNBC and CNN, and is the author of dozens of policy reports and political and cultural analyses published in a range of media outlets. She has been recognized as one of “The Out 100”; The Root 100" top African American influencers; and a top "40 Under Forty" LGBT leader by The Advocate Magazine. Aisha was recently an IOP Fellow (Sp’19) at Harvard Kennedy School where she hosted a weekly seminar on identity politics and the rise of the “New American Majority” of people of color who will soon be the majority of the population. Previously, she was the first African American woman to lead a national LGBTQ organization in her role as president & CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and Institute. Prior to Victory, she served as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, the largest progressive think tank in the country. Aisha has also advised and helped to elect dozens of Members of Congress as executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, regional finance director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and fundraiser to several candidates. The most southern Jersey girl you’ll ever meet, Aisha was raised in New Jersey by her grandparents who left South Carolina in the 1950s as part of the great migration of African Americans fleeing the Jim Crow south.
Host
Michael Zeldin
Michael Zeldin is a well-known and highly-regarded TV and radio analyst/commentator.
He has covered many high-profile matters, including the Clinton impeachment proceedings, the Gore v. Bush court challenges, Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump impeachment proceedings.
In 2019, Michael was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught a study group on Independent Investigations of Presidents.
Previously, Michael was a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also served as Deputy Independent/ Independent Counsel, investigating allegations of tampering with presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport files, and as Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, October Surprise Task Force, investigating the handling of the American hostage situation in Iran.
Michael is a prolific writer and has published Op-ed pieces for CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, The Washington Times, and The Washington Post.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy