Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Join us for a far-reaching conversation with co-authors Dr. Jane Mahakian and Alyson Kuhn about their practical guide for caregivers and the rest of us. Learning to communicate with someone with dementia is an enormous first step toward making that person’s life easier and richer in the moment. The more of us who want to talk and listen to people with dementia, the less “socially disappeared” they will be.Dr. Mahakian and Kuhn will share several of the book’s vignettes, giving us glimpses into the realm of forgetfulness and demonstrating ways to connect with someone with dementia. They will also share reader responses to I Hear You, which are diverse, touching and thoughtful.The co-authors met in 2003, when it became prudent to move Caroline, Kuhn’s mother, from her home of 50 years—before her dementia posed serious risks to her physical and social well-being. Dr. Mahakian masterminded the successful move, and Kuhn’s extensive email exchanges with Dr. Mahakian over several years formed the basis for the I Hear You writing partnership.MLF ORGANIZERDenise MichaudNOTESMLF: GrownupsSPEAKERSJane MahakianGerontologist; Author, I Hear YouAlyson KuhnFreelance Writer and Editor; Co-author, I Hear YouIn 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 th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us, the story of the American wilderness begins when Europeans arrived on these shores and began conquering it. The wide open spaces of the American West loom large in our country’s mythology. But what often gets written out is the history and culture of those native societies who were here to begin with - and whose relationship to this land is very different. And while one-percenters have contributed generously to preserve and protect the pristine wilderness they love, the people who work for them are often struggling, working two or three jobs. How are public and private land interests competing in the American West? Can conservation and recreation coalesce in a way that is inclusive of all communities? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have always been officials in the political arena who lie to appease their constituents and undermine their opponents. In recent years, lying and falsehoods have only worsened. All over the world, people circulate and amplify damaging lies through social media platforms that influence the masses. These untruths serve to plant seeds of doubt in everyday citizens, citizens who can no longer tell what’s real and what’s fake. In his new book Liars: Falsehoods and Free Speech in an Age of Deception, legal scholar and Harvard professor Cass Sunstein seeks to understand society’s role in regulating lies and falsehoods without threatening the right to freedom of speech.Generally, he says society must allow lies to circulate to some extent; the government cannot make unbiased judgements about what counts as "fake news.” Still, public officials and private institutions, such as Facebook and Twitter, have the responsibility to regulate the kinds of falsehoods that endanger health, safety and the capacity of the public to govern itself. Sunstein says that as of now, we are allowing far too many lies that both threaten public health and undermine the foundations of democracy itself.Join us for a conversation with Cass Sunstein as he discusses the tactics used by powerful figures to spread lies, and shows how the government and private institutions can control false information.SPEAKERSCass SunsteinRobert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University; Author, Liars: Falsehoods and Free Speech in an Age of DeceptionIn Conversation with Kirk HansonSenior Fellow and Former Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara UniversityIn 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 March 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women in male-dominated industries face a wide-range of sexist and misogynist obstacles that bring moral and societal dilemmas to the forefront. In these industries, CNN's Brooke Baldwin says that women-led “huddles” are necessary to provide young women in the workplace with the necessary support, inspiration, and strength to succeed. These all-girl learning and work environments ensure that self-care, skill-building, and intersectionality are prioritized to uplift other women. According to Baldwin, trailblazing women have been doing this for generations to break glass ceilings and pave new paths for women everywhere. In her new book Huddle: How Women Unlock their Collective Power, Baldwin explores this group phenomenon and what it means for gender equality and female empowerment.Through Huddle, Baldwin investigates the periods of “huddle” droughts, the benefits of participating in all-women spaces, and her own input from personal experiences growing up in the South and climbing the ladder of a male-dominated industry. To Baldwin, anything is possible for women in a huddle: success in the workplace, effective grassroots change, confidence in girlhood, and a better physical and mental health profile in adulthood.Join us as Brooke Baldwin and CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota explore the rewards of women-led spaces for mental health, workplace assistance and overall wellness.SPEAKERS:Brooke Baldwin, Anchor, CNN; Author, Huddle: How Women Unlock their Collective Power; Twitter @BrookeBaldwinIn Conversation with Alisyn Camerota, Anchor, New Day on CNN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday Night Philosophy celebrates National Poetry Month (in partial atonement for a few harsh words about poetry in Plato's Republic) by virtually welcoming acclaimed poet Phillis Levin, the author of five books of poetry, to San Francisco. Since its inauguration in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with poets, publishers, booksellers, libraries and schools celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.Join Phillis Levin, and poet-lawyer Paul Gupta, for a dive into the pleasures of poetry and for readings from each of their own works. We will also hear from some of the Bay Area's student poets, and then from all of you. Instead of the usual Q&A, livestream audience members can either ask the poets a question using the chat room or send us one of their own poems for us to read. Given our time constraints, if you are an epic poet, remember that brevity is the soul of wit.MLF: HumanitiesMLF: Organizer: George HammondSPEAKERS: Phillis LevinProfessor of English and Poet-in-Residence, Hofstra University; Editor, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet; Author, Mr. Memory & Other PoemsPaul GuptaCybersecurity and IP Litigation Attorney; Author, “Holding Lady Liberty’s Hand,” Headcount's Voter Registration Poem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is your Commonwealth Club week in review. Hear what you missed this week, and what we’ve got lined up for you next week.We’re always adding new programs - check out commonwealthclub.org/online for all of our upcoming events.If you haven’t already - please consider becoming a member of the Club. Enjoy exclusive discounts and access to special programs all while knowing your contributions directly support our many public programs and civic initiatives.Visit commonwealthclub.org/special, for special rates on memberships.Thanks for your support and as always - thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya is home to more than 200,000 Somali refugees. Of these 200,000 people, 56 percent are children. These young boys and girls growing up in the world's largest refugee camp must resist recruitment into extremist groups, avoid brutality from security forces, and forego dangerous job opportunities. Asad Hussein, a Somali refugee born and raised in Dadaab, found resistance in donated novels written by American immigrants and through communication with his sister Maryan, who already found sanctuary in Arizona. Through stories of happenstance, long odds, impossibly good luck, and uncommon generosity, Hussein would eventually overcome tireless obstacles, reunite his family in the United States, and win a scholarship to study literature at Princeton University.In his new book Beyond the Sand and Sea, American foreign correspondent Ty McCormick reports on Asad Hussein and his family over a three-year period to gain a better understanding of refugee life and place in America. The story of Asad, Maryan, and their family’s escape from Dadaab Refugee Camp is just one of many. This timeless narrative uncovers the perseverance of refugees everywhere, and exposes the broken refugee resettlement system that has kept thousands of families in permanent exile.Join us as Ty McCormick speaks on his experiences with Asad Hussein and his family to give readers a better understanding of refugee life and belonging in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneur Suneel Gupta argues that it's more important than ever to be "backable," to get the support we need for re-entering the workforce, changing life direction after quarantine, and navigating a very different social scene. Gupta, who comes from a family of highly backable people—including his mother, Damyanti Hingorani, the first woman engineer for Ford Motor Company, and his brother Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN—will also share advice for how we can all find support, based on his own backing of such companies as Impossible Foods, Airbnb, 23&Me and SpaceX. He will further reveal secrets of success from producers of Oscar-winning films, members of Congress, military leaders, culinary stars, venture capitalists, founders of unicorn-status startups, and executives at iconic companies such as Lego, Method and Pixar.Gupta says he went from being afraid to speak inside a room to running for public office. He went from being rejected by every major investor he pitched to raising millions of dollars of funding from the same investors that backed Google, Uber, and Airbnb. Come hear the advice and amazing personal story of a man who struggled to find his voice and now, among his other achievements, also serves as the emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan.SPEAKERSSuneel GuptaJ.D. M.B.A., Lecture on Innovation, Harvard University; Author, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on YouDJ PatilPh.D., Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of GovernorsIn 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 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ethan Russell is a multi-Grammy nominated photographer and director, and was the tour photographer for The Rolling Stones on the 69 Let it Bleed tour. Russell was almost literally on the last chopper out of the Sixties when he was airlifted with The Rolling Stones from Altamont in the far East Bay of San Francisco.These moments and many more fill the pages of Russell's recently released career retrospective Best Seat in the House, a 200+ page coffee table photography book. The beautiful book includes rare and iconic images of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, The Eagles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, James Taylor, Steve Winwood and many, many more.Russell's photographs are about history----his own, that of his subjects, and the music industry. Russell's photographs show us rock and roll as it grows into a bigger and bigger business through the increased number of managers and handlers. It is a story of particular relevance to San Francisco—and to anyone who cares about rock and roll.Please join us for an intimate conversation and special interactive presentation with Russell. If you like rock and roll or photography, it's a program you don't want to miss.About the SpeakerEthan Russell was born on November 26, 1945, in Mount Kisco, New York, and moved to San Francisco in the early 1950s. The multiple Grammy-nominated photographer, author, and director is the only photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. Just a boy from California, Russell was barely established when he took his first pictures of Mick Jagger; he became one of the foremost rock photographers in the world only a few years later. A pioneer in music video, he is an award-winning creative director and the author of three previous books: Dear Mr. Fantasy, Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones 1969 U.S. Tour, and Ethan Russell: An American Story.Note: This program contains Explicit LanguageSPEAKERSEthan RussellPhotographer; Author, Best Seat in the HousePaul LiberatoreCorrespondent/Columnist, Marin Independent JournalIn 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 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celebrate April Fool's Day by joining us for a virtual discussion with Shankar Vendantam about how useful fooling ourselves can actually be. It is of course clear that self-deception does terrible harm to ourselves, to our communities and to the planet. But if it is so irretrievably bad for us, why is it so ubiquitous?Paradoxically, Vedantam argues that self-deception also plays a vital role in our successes and our well-being. Most of us are at least vaguely aware that the lies we tell ourselves lubricate our daily interactions with our friends, lovers and co-workers. But those lies can also explain why some people live longer than others, why some couples remain in love and others don’t, and why some nations hold together while others splinter. Drawing on new insights in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy, Vendantam comes to the fascinating conclusion that, if we were just honest about our lies, we might begin to understand ourselves, and our human lives, much better.NOTESMLF: HumanitiesSPEAKERSShankar VedantamHost, "Hidden Brain" Podcast and Public Radio Show; Co-Author, Useful DelusionsIn Conversation with Dacher KeltnerPh.D, Founding Director, Greater Good Science Center; Professor of Psychology, University of California Berkeley; Host, "The Science of Happiness" PodcastIn 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 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices