
Exploring Nature, Culture and Inner Life
The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters.
TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.
Latest episodes

Jul 31, 2023 • 1h 56min
2023:07.21 - Dick Russell - Biography of the Biographer
How Dick Russell wrote the definitive biography of James Hillman
Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with author Dick Russell in a conversation about James Hillman, founder of the archetypal psychology movement—along with a wide variety of topics from Dick’s research and writing. Dick Russell Dick is the eclectic author of fifteen books. He recently published volume 2 of his biography of James Hillman: The Life and Ideas of James Hillman: Re-Visioning Psychology, with volume 3 coming up later in 2023. Also recently published is The Real RFK Jr.: Trials of a Truth Warrior. He is also the author of "Black Genius and the American Experience" (1998) and "My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism" (2014). Other publications include four books co-authored with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura spent weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. Eye of the Whale was named among the best books of 2001 by three major newspapers. The Man Who Knew Too Much, about a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, was hailed as "a masterpiece of historical reconstruction" by Publisher's Weekly. Striper Wars: An American Fish Story, recounts the fight to save the Atlantic striped bass. As an environmental activist, Dick was a recipient of the citizen's Chevron Conservation Award.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Jul 19, 2023 • 58min
2023:06.20 - Rachel Naomi Remen and Karen Drucker: Yo Papa! Celebrating Father's Day
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Karen Drucker
Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.
newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #healingstories #rachelremen #rachelnaomiremen #karendrucker #valentine #fathersday #mothersday

Jul 19, 2023 • 1h 37min
Erlene Chiang - Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cancer – a Spiritual Biography
Erlene Chiang in conversation with Michael Lerner
Co-presented with CancerChoices
https://cancerchoices.org

Jun 22, 2023 • 1h 13min
2023:06.13 Kristina Marusic: Science, Storytelling and a New War on Cancer
Science, Storytelling and a New War on Cancer / Kristina Marusic, Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Sandra Steingraber and Host Kristin Schafer
If we can stop cancer before it begins, why don’t we?
This question motivated a deep-dive inquiry into cancer prevention for award-winning journalist Kristina Marusic. Her exploration uncovered an often invisible community of creative, talented individuals who dedicate their careers to identifying and challenging environmental drivers of cancer. In this CHE Café conversation, Kristina will share highlights from her book, A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention. She’ll then be joined by Children’s Environmental Health Network Executive Director Nsedu Obot Witherspoon and renowned biologist, author, activist, and cancer survivor, Dr. Sandra Steingraber. The group will explore the power of storytelling as a tool for communicating complex scientific issues, and reaching people in ways that motivate action for change.
~Co-presented by The New School at Commonweal and the Collaborative for Heath and the Environment~
Kristina Marusic is an author and journalist who covers issues related to environmental health and justice for Environmental Health News. A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention is her first book. Marusic is the co-founder of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of LGBTQ Journalists (a.k.a. NLGJA), and previously worked as a freelance journalist covering LGBT equality, feminism, social and environmental justice, activism, and politics with bylines at CNN, Slate, Vice, Women's Health, the Washington Post, MTV News, The Advocate, Logo TV's NewNowNext, and Bustle, among others. She believes true, well-told stories have the power to change the world for good.
Sandra Steingraber, PhD, a senior scientist with the Science and Environmental Health Network, is the author of a trilogy of award-winning books on environmental health: Living Downstream_ : An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (adapted as a documentary film in 2010); Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood_; and_ Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis_. The 2018 documentary film Unfractured tells the story of New York State’s fracking ban, featuring Steingraber as its subject.
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, is the executive director for the Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) and a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection. She holds leadership roles in many spaces, including the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes at NIH, the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network and the National Environmental Health Partnership Council. Nsedu is also member of the Board for Pesticide Action Network North America and the Environmental Integrity Project, and serves on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. Nsedu is a proud mom to four children.
#environmentalhealth #publichealth #environmentalhealthnews #waroncancer #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Jun 2, 2023 • 59min
2023:05.16 - Rachel Naomi Remen & Karen Drucker: Yo Mama! Celebrating Mother’s Day
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, https://tns.commonweal.org , listen on Soundcloud, YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Karen Drucker
Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

May 10, 2023 • 1h 26min
2023:04 Rue Mapp, Nature Swagger: Narraciones Sobre la Alegría del Espíritu Negro en la Naturaleza
Aprende cómo libre Rue Mapp, mujer de la naturaleza, convirtió sus experiencias de niñez en la granja de la familia, en un movimiento nacional del espíritu negro de alegría y de sanar en la naturaleza. Su primer libro, Nature Swagger (El Meneo de la Naturaleza), celebra a aquellos con los que se ha conectado a lo largo de su trayectoria al aire libre, compartiendo las conexiones transformadoras de cada colaborador con la naturaleza. Esta es la tercera conversación de nuestra serie Empowering Women in Today's World ((El Impulso a la Mujer en el Mundo de Hoy), presentada conjuntamente por Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes National Seashore Association y The New School at Commonweal. En la lista de grabaciones del New School en YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts y Spotify puede encontrar grabaciones de los dos primeros eventos. Allí puede ver a la abogada y estratega del movimiento de justicia para el inmigrante, Marielena Hincapié y la autora, madre y abogada de justicia reparadora Lara Bazelon. En español o en inglés.
Foto: La fundadora y CEO de Outdoor Afro, Rue Mapp, con los participantes de la red. Crédito: Bethanie Hines.

May 10, 2023 • 1h 26min
2023:04.26 - Rue Mapp - Nature Swagger: Storytelling Black Joy in Nature
Learn how outdoorswoman Rue Mapp turned her childhood experiences on family farmland into a national movement of Black joy and healing in nature. Her first book, Nature Swagger, celebrates those she has connected with along her outdoor journey, sharing each contributor's transformative connections to nature.
This is the third conversation in our Empowering Women in Today’s World series, co-presented by the Mesa Refuge, Point Reyes National Seashore Association https://ptreyes.org/youth-in-parks/ , and The New School at Commonweal. You can find recordings of the first two events--with attorney and immigrant justice movement strategist Marielena Hincapié and author, mother, and reparative justice attorney Lara Bazelon--on the New School's YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Watch and/or listen in Spanish or English.
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWY_tCA2qdB0fMBFvmM8_92Q_EflwFpj
Souncloud: https://soundcloud.com/tnscommonweal/sets/empowering-women?si=8bf74de47911421fb2e87f4fd164dc0f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Rue Mapp
Rue transformed her kitchen table blog into a national nature business and movement. Today, Mapp is founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro. For more than a decade, the not-for-profit organization has continued to celebrate and inspire Black connections and leadership in nature across the United States. Mapp also is an awarded and inspirational leader, speaker, public lands champion and published author. Her first national book is Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors (Chronicle Books Nov 2022). Mapp became a National Geographic 2019 Fellow, Heinz Awards Honoree, and National Wildlife Federation Communication Award recipient as well. Her work has earned international media attention from Oprah Winfrey, The New York Times, Good Morning America, NPR, NBC’s TODAY, Forbes, and recently Netflix’s popular series MeatEater with Steven Rinella. Follow her adventures @ruemapp across social platforms.
Host Lyons Filmer
Lyons is the former program director at community radio KWMR in Point Reyes Station, California, where she served for 18 years. Her interest in radio began in college, where she was a music DJ and news reader. In the 1990s, she was a volunteer programmer at KPFA in Berkeley, where she produced and hosted programs on women’s issues, drama and literature. She joined KWMR in 1999 and became its program director soon after. Among other programs, Lyons hosts “Mesa Refuge Interviews,” talking with the current residents of Mesa Refuge Writers Retreat.
#mesarefuge #commonweal #newschoolcommonweal #natureswagger #outdoorafro #blackjoy #ruemapp #empoweringwomen

Apr 24, 2023 • 1h
2023:04.04 - Rachel Naomi Remen & Karen Drucker: Resurrecting Ourselves
Join us for the next stories and music event in our series with master storyteller Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and musician/songwriter Karen Drucker. See all of the music and story events with Rachel and Karen on our website, listen on Soundcloud, watch on YouTube, or find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
Rachel is a Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Founder and Founding Director of the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI), which was at Commonweal for decades and is currently at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She is one of the best known of the early pioneers of wholistic and integrative medicine. As a medical educator, therapist, and teacher, she has enabled many thousands of physicians to find individual meaning and purpose in the practice of medicine and thousands of patients to remember their power to heal. More than 30,000 medical students have completed The Healer’s Art, her groundbreaking curriculum for medical students taught at the majority of medical schools in America. A master storyteller and observer of life, her bestselling books, Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have sold more than 2 million copies and have been translated into 21 languages. Rachel has had Crohn’s disease for more than 65 years and her work is a unique blend of the wisdom, strength, and viewpoints of both doctor and patient.
Karen Drucker
Karen’s message is all about healing and love--whether singing one of her positive message songs or sharing stories that are funny, inspiring, and heart opening. She is a keynote speaker, women’s retreat facilitator, and entertainer who has recorded 22 CDs of her inspirational music. Karen is also the author of the best selling book Let Go of the Shore: Songs & Stories To Set The Spirit Free. Her chants and songs are used around the world and often help people deal with illness and loss, or help them fill the need to feel more centered for the day. Karen’s intention is to make a difference by using her music to open hearts and share a message of hope, acceptance, and love. Find out more about Karen on her website: karendrucker.com
newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #healingstories #rachelremen #rachelnaomiremen #karendrucker #spring #stories #music #healingmusic #healingsong #musicasmedicine

Apr 24, 2023 • 1h 31min
2023:03.22 - Mary Watkins: Toward Psychologies of Liberation: Literal & Metaphorical M
Toward Psychologies of Liberation: Literal and Metaphorical Migrations in the Polycrisis / Mary Watkins and Host Michael Lerner
As increasing global economic disparities, violence, and climate change provoke a rising tide of forced migration, many countries and local communities are responding by building walls—literal and metaphorical—between citizens and newcomers. Join depth psychologist, professor, and author Mary Watkins in conversation with Host Michael Lerner about the cultural and community transformation happening in these times.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

Apr 11, 2023 • 1h 29min
2023:03.29 - Waubgeshig Rice - Making Space for Indigenous Voices: Sharing Our Stories
What Stories Does the Land Hold? is a conversation series co-presented by the Center for Humans and Nature and The New School at Commonweal as part of the Center’s Questions for a Resilient Future Series
Across the world, Indigenous people share something in common: a connection to land and their Ancestral territories. This series of conversations spotlights a collection of Indigenous voices telling the stories of the land and its stories, connecting us to each other and to all of our relations.
Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation. He has written many brilliant pieces, including his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, which quickly became a national bestseller. Join the conversation between Host Christine Luckasavitch (Anishinaabeg and mixed settler) and Waub Rice to dive into their favourite works by Indigenous authors, the importance of making space for Indigenous storytelling, and imagining Indigenous futurisms. Plus, we’ll talk a little bit about Waubgeshig's upcoming novel Moon of the Turning Leaves, the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, to be released in October 2023.
Photo: Alyssa Bardy Photography
Waubgeshig Rice
Waubgeshig is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation. He has written three fiction titles, and his short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. His most recent novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was published in 2018 and became a national bestseller. He graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program in 2002, and spent most of his journalism career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a video journalist and radio host. He left CBC in 2020 to focus on his literary career. He lives in Sudbury, Ontario with his wife and two sons. His forthcoming novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves, will be published in October 2023.
Christine Luckasavitch
Christine Luckasavitch is an Omàmìwininì Madaoueskarini Anishinaabekwe (a woman of the Madawaska River Algonquin people), belonging to the Crane Clan, and mixed settler heritage. Christine continues to live in Omàmìwininìaki, unceded Algonquin territory.
Christine is the Owner/Executive Consultant of Waaseyaa Consulting and Waaseyaa Cultural Tours, two small businesses dedicated to reviving and celebrating Indigenous ancestral knowledge and culture-based practices through educational opportunities. She is the co-owner of Algonquin Motors, a woman-led motorcycle clothing company honouring the spirit of unceded Algonquin territory. She is currently writing her thesis to complete her Master of Arts in Indigenous Studies at Trent University.
Christine is the former Executive Director of Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led not-for-profit dedicated to providing a digital platform for Indigenous peoples to share knowledge about their Indigenous cultures, territories, and knowledge systems across the world.
Her work is centered around creating spaces for Indigenous peoples to share their knowledges, both in physical and digital spaces, and encouraging the re-emergence of ancestral kinship ties.
Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.