Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

San Francisco-based Michael Pritchard travels America teaching the art of learning through laughter and play. He has done voices for many characters on television and in movies and cartoons. A first-prize winner in comedy and counseling, Michael will use humor and humanitarian observations from his decades of working in the education and justice fields to talk (and laugh) about building compassion and community.About the SpeakerMichael Pritchard began his career on both the comedy stage and as a juvenile counselor in San Francisco’s Youth Guidance Center. In 1980, Michael Pritchard won first place in the San Francisco International Stand-Up Comedy Competition as well as winning the prestigious California Probation Officer of the Year. Drawing from his counseling background, Michael Pritchard began using humor to inspire, teach communication skills, anger management, diversity, conflict resolution and overcoming burnout and stress. In recognition for his award winning work in social emotional education and promoting nonviolence with youth, Michael Pritchard was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Hartwick University.MLF ORGANIZERAnne W. SmithNOTESMLF: ArtsSPEAKERSMichael PritchardComedianCarol FlemingPrincipal, The Sound of Your Voice—ModeratorIn 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

Discussions on immigration policy often focus on building and tearing down walls, keeping people out of the country, and maintaining law and order. Debates over the social contract and the rights of citizens versus noncitizens shape our understanding of immigration and influence the extent to which protections are provided for immigrants. In her new book The Walls Within, historian Sarah Coleman seeks to shift discourse on immigration politics away from the security of international borders and toward domestic policy and its effect on civil rights.Drawing on new materials from past presidential administrations, immigration groups and civil rights organizations, Coleman examines who is entitled to the American dream, and how such dreams can be subverted for those already calling the country home. She shows that immigration politics is not just about building walls, but about employer sanctions, access to schools, welfare and the role of local authorities in implementing policies.Join us as Sarah Coleman dives deep into the politics of immigration control and its implications for the idea of citizenship for all.SPEAKERSSarah ColemanAssistant Professor of History, Texas State University; Author, The Walls Within: The Politics of Immigration in Modern AmericaIn Conversation with Marshall FitzManaging Director of Immigration, Emerson CollectiveIn 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 31st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America prides itself on freedom and guaranteed rights for all its citizens, but has the explosion of rights resulted in a partisan divide among its citizens?You have the right to remain silent and the right to free speech. The right to worship, and to doubt. The right to be free from discrimination, and to hate. These rights were not written at the founding of our country, but rather an afterthought of our country’s founding fathers. It wasn't until the racial strife resulting from the Civil War and missteps by the Supreme Court that rights gained a great deal of controversy. This controversy has falsely led many Americans to believe that awarding rights to one group means denying rights to others.Columbia professor and constitutional law expert Jamal Greene seeks to understand this phenomenon in his new book How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart. Greene says that in order to prevent society from complete division, we must recouple rights for all with justice for all.Join us as Greene grounds us in the foundations of our country and envisions a future of equity and guaranteed rights for every American.NOTESThis program is part of The Commonwealth Club’s Future of Democracy Series, supported by Betsy and Roy Eisenhardt.SPEAKERSJamal GreeneDwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Author, How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America ApartJudge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell(Ret.), Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—ModeratorIn 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 31st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American life is dominated by machines: our computers, our televisions, our phones. This has been especially true over the past year as technology kept us connected—to our jobs, our friends, our families, even our doctors. But, as the country sees the light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic, what now? What has our reliance on technology done to us for not only the past year, but for the past decade (or longer)?Two authors, Sherry Turkle and Tiffany Shlain, will use the occasion of the publications of Turkle's new book (The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir) and the paperback version of Shlain's book (24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection) to have an intimate and timely discussion on the urgent need to reclaim humanity and empathy in this technological age.Turke's latest book illuminates our present search for authentic connection in a time of uncharted challenges. Her book ties together her coming-of-age and her pathbreaking research on technology, empathy and ethics. Growing up in postwar Brooklyn, Turkle searched for clues to her identity in a house filled with mysteries. She mastered the codes that governed her mother’s secretive life. She learned never to ask about her absent scientist father—and never to use his name, her name. Before empathy became a way to find connection, it was her strategy for survival.Shlain's book recounts the efforts she and her family have made to gain more time, productivity, connection and presence in their lives by giving up screens for one day a week. Her book takes readers on a thought-provoking and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for flourishing in our 24/7 world. Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, she says that living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offering the accessible lessons she has learned and providing a blueprint for how to do it yourself.Please join for this special event about the critical need to reclaim our lives from technology.SPEAKERSSherry TurkleAuthor, The Empathy Diaries: A MemoirTiffany ShlainAuthor, 24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and ConnectionIn 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

A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then, new styles of agriculture and food production have written a new chapter of human history, one that’s driving both climate change and global health crises. Best-selling food authority Mark Bittman will offer a panoramic view of the story and explain how we can rescue ourselves from the modern wrong turn.Mark Bittman has been a leading voice in global food culture and policy for more than three decades. Born in New York City in 1950, Bittman began writing professionally in 1978. After five years as a general assignment reporter, he turned all of his attention to food. His first cookbook, Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking, was published in 1994 and remains in print; since then he has written or co-written thirty others, including the How to Cook Everything series.Bittman was a distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists; he remains a fellow at Yale and is now on the faculty of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. He has received six James Beard Awards, four IACP Awards, and numerous other honors. He is also the editor-in-chief of "The Mark Bittman Project," a newsletter and website focusing on all aspects of food, from political to delicious. His most recent book is his history of food and humanity, Animal, Vegetable, Junk.MLF ORGANIZERPatty JamesNOTESMLF: Health & MedicineSPEAKERSMark BittmanFellow, Yale University; Faculty Member, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Winner of 6 James Beard Awards; Editor-in-Chief, "The Mark Bittman Project"; Author, Animal, Vegetable, JunkPatty JamesM.S., N.C. Nutritionist; Chef; Author—ModeratorIn 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 24th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. 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

Before the challenges of 2020, most of higher education was already facing intense demographic, financial and cultural pressures. Now, with the likelihood of some online learning remaining part of college curriculum even post-pandemic, what does the future hold for higher education? What questions should students and families be asking institutions as they prepare to return to campus in the fall? Will higher education as we once knew it return, or has the pandemic fundamentally changed how students will experience college? Join us for this engaging conversation between two seasoned experts on the rapidly changing state of higher education, and how colleges are preparing to meet the needs of students for generations to come.Dr. Marcy is the ninth president of Dominican University of California, serving since 2011. Her research focuses on higher education innovation and transformation. She has published and presented extensively on issues of leadership, strategy and diversity. She holds a doctorate and master's degree in politics from the University of Oxford.As California Governor Gavin Newsom's senior policy advisor for higher education, Dr. Ajose is responsible for developing and shaping the governor’s higher education policy agenda, which is focused on protecting college affordability, preserving college access and increasing system efficiency to meet the state’s need for a skilled and educated workforce. Most recently she led the Governor's Recovery with Equity task force. She holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.SPEAKERSDr. Mary MarcyPh.D., President, Dominican University of California; Board Member, Commonwealth Club; Author, The Small College Imperative: Models for Sustainable FuturesIn Conversation with Dr. Lande AjosePh.D., Senior Policy Advisor for Higher Education to Governor Gavin NewsomIn 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

In a recent article on The Daily Beast, Dr. Steven Hassan refers to the cult leaders’ “playbook” and lists some of the mind-control strategies employed by former President Donald Trump: These include his grandiose claims, his practice of sowing confusion, his demand for absolute loyalty, his tendency to lie and create alternative "facts" and realities, his shunning and belittling of critics and ex-believers, and his cultivating an "us versus them" mindset. Of all these tactics, the "us versus them" mindset is probably one of the most effective. He says that from the moment you are recruited into a cult, you are made to feel special, part of an "inside" group in opposition to unenlightened, unbelieving, dangerous "outsiders."Join us for an intriguing talk with Dr. Hassan on cult-like behavior in the political world.Steven Hassan, Ph.D., is a mental health professional who has been helping people leave destructive cults since 1976 after he was deprogrammed from Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. He is the author of four books Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults; Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves; Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Thoughts & Beliefs; and The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control.MLF ORGANIZERPatrick O'ReillyNOTESMLF: PsychologySPEAKERSSteven HassanPh.D., Author, The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind ControlPatrick O'ReillyChair, Psychology Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—ModeratorIn 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

Guests:Sandra Kwak, CEO and Founder, 10PowerDonnel Baird, CEO, BlocPowerAndreas Karelas, Author, Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America Summary: As the spring of 2021 arrives, it would be hard to design a more challenging — or more promising — moment for implementing climate solutions. Americans are reeling from an economic shutdown that’s pushed many out of the workforce, and widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor. In this brave new post-Covid world, can President Biden step up where Obama couldn’t? “I'm delighted about what I'm seeing from the Biden-Harris team,” notes Donnel Baird, CEO of BlocPower. “Climate justice and racial equality are wedded together alongside employment, alongside public health and working our way out of these kinds of four simultaneous crises we’re dealing with.” From big tech to clean energy, what are the opportunities for scaling new solutions — and where do inequity and politics continue to set us back?Related links:10PowerBlocPowerClimate CourageRe-volv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nipsey Hussle lived a life full of passion for his craft and compassion for his community. As a prolific rapper and artist, Nipsey strove for excellence in his work without forgetting Crenshaw, Los Angeles, the neighborhood he grew up in and sought to lift out of poverty. In his new book The Marathon Don’t Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle, music journalist Rob Kenner studies Nipsey’s life in exacting detail, sharing interviews from friends and family that reveal unknown information about Nipsey’s goals and mission. While Nipsey’s tragic passing deprived the world of his future success, Kenner emphasizes the influence Nipsey already held at his young age.Join Rob Kenner at INFORUM to learn more about Nipsey’s life and his legacy, which will have an impact long beyond his lifetime. This conversation is moderated by Dave “Davey D” Cook, a hip hop historian and professor at San Francisco State University.Note: This program contains EXPLICIT language.SPEAKERSRob KennerFounding editor, Vibe Magazine; Author, The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey HussleDavey DHip-hop historian; Professor, Department of Africana Studies, San Francisco State 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 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices