Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

While the United States officially denounces prejudice based on race and gender, it has fostered the growth of another form of prejudice: class and income discrimination. Through state-sponsored government policies, millions of working-class Americans have opportunities blocked by exclusionary "snob zoning," making housing unaffordable, frustrating the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, and locking in inequality in our urban and suburban landscapes.Through poignant accounts of families caught in the web of new redlining, Richard Kahlenberg, in his new book Excluded, brings to life the human consequences of these policies, revealing how economic segregation extends its tendrils into every aspect of life. Access to transportation, employment opportunities, health care, and quality education hang in the balance, disproportionately favoring the affluent.Kahlenberg will explain the hidden mechanisms that perpetuate America's housing crisis, underscoring the profound impact of where one lives. He'll shed light on a shocking paradox—that the most restrictive zoning flourishes in politically liberal cities, where progressive racial views should hold sway.It's a compelling indictment of America's housing policy, revealing the intricate web of social engineering that perpetuates segregation by economic class. Join us in unlocking the hidden truths behind America's housing crisis as Kahlenberg explains our problems and offers hope for change. NOTESThis program has 2 types of tickets available: In-person and online-only. Please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.If you have symptoms of illness (coughing, fever, etc.), we ask that you either stay home or wear a mask. Our front desk has complimentary masks for members and guests who would like one.The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming.All in-person attendees will receive a copy of Excluded compliments of the Ken & Jaclyn Broad Family Fund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We often talk about a “just transition” from dirty to clean energy as if the term means the same thing to everyone. Indigenous people have seen their resources extracted and exploited to further the wealth of others for centuries. Now renewable energy is looking to expand to Indigenous land. How can renewable energy help Tribes leapfrog the twentieth century technologies that put them at the end of the line for corporate-controlled electricity? How can we, as Chéri Smith, Founder of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, says, “make sure that Tribes are not only having a seat at the table, but they're building the table and inviting everyone else to it?”Guests:Chéri Smith, President & CEO, Founder at Alliance for Tribal Clean EnergySteven Wadsworth, Vice Chairman, Pyramid Lake Paiute TribeRaylene Whitford, Founder, Canative EnergyMaui Solomon, Executive Chairman, Moriaori Imi Settlement TrustFor show notes and related links, visit our website.This episode was produced in collaboration with On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez, featuring Suarez as a guest host. Additionally, Sarah Howard provides field reporting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On November 8, 1623, just seven years after Shakespeare’s death, his plays were collected and published in what is now known as The First Folio. It is surmised that half his plays might have been lost if the First Folio had not been created when it was, and Humanities West is celebrating not losing that much literary gold with a 400th anniversary program on Shakespeare’s cultural contributions.Roland Greene will speak on "The First Folio as Cultural Engine." If the Folio had not been published, we would have been left without several famous plays, but also without many other cultural influences that still resonate centuries later. Shakespeare’s plays continue to have such a strong effect on our world today that it is hard to imagine our culture without them. But imagine that; Professor Greene will.Kip Cranna will speak on "Shakespeare in Song: Operas Inspired by the Bard." Shakespeare has been the source of more operas than any other writer. Generations of composers have brought his dramas to musical life in fascinating ways in a vast variety of styles. Cranna will explore some of these intriguing page-to-stage transformations using video examples (with subtitles) that will take you on a brief literary tour of Shakespearean operas. To quote the Bard, “If music be the food of love, sing on till I am fill'd with joy!”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.In association with Humanities West and the Stanford Humanities Center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the beginning of the season of caucuses and primaries, as we get ready to pick our next president. And that's just one of the many things we'll be tracking all year, starting with this kickoff program.As usual with Week to Week, our panelists will discuss the latest political developments in an informed, civil (and fun) manner. And come early before the program for our social hour for some wine and light bites and an opportunity to talk with other Club members and friends.Join us for a whole new year of lively political discussion at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California.See other upcoming Week to Week political roundtables, as well as audio and video of past Week to Week programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ku Klux Klan rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan had tens of thousands of members, many of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. The Klan’s mission was to obliterate the democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrific means imaginable.To repel the tidal wave of violence, President Ulysses S. Grant waged a two-term battle against both armed Southern enemies of Reconstruction and Northern politicians seduced by visions of postwar reconciliation. In his new book Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, historian Fergus Bordewich transports us to the hamlets of the former Confederate States and to the marble corridors of Congress, where an unsung generation of Black leaders tried to hold onto Reconstruction-era political gains, and where senators such as Carl Schurz from Missouri, and the ruthless former slave trader and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, worked to eliminate the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform.”Join us for a special online-only program as Bordewich shares the  stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil, as Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK. It is also a bracing reminder of the bloody, Reconstruction-era roots of current battles to protect the ballot box and to undercut resurgent white supremacist ideologies.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.This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drawing on her personal journey from economic hardships to financial prosperity, Arlan Hamilton shares her conviction that wealth is not just about affluence, but more important, it's about options. The freedom to chase dreams, take bold leaps, and transform one's life trajectory.Arlan Hamilton has defied the odds, garnering respect and recognition for her entrepreneurial spirit and financial acumen. In her new book, Your First Million, Hamilton provides an insightful guide for those aspiring to chart a similar path. She provides actionable strategies for achieving entrepreneurial success and emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs reinvesting in their neighborhoods. She passionately believes by altering the landscape of decision-makers and innovators, we can not only better individual lives but also usher in societal change on a grand scale.Join us as Arlan Hamilton, a source of inspiration to many in the world of entrepreneurship, shares her invaluable insights on achieving financial empowerment and catalyzing change—and maybe discover how you, too, can forge a legacy of prosperity and impact.See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What we wear defines us in so many ways. But in recent decades we’ve moved away from long-lasting, quality pieces in favor of disposable fast fashion, with major consequences for our climate and environment. From mechanized farming and pesticides to grow fiber crops, to energy for manufacturing and transportation, fossil fuels are embedded in the clothing industry at every step of the process. Companies large and small are working against this trend, with some setting lofty goals for reducing carbon emissions and water use. But achieving those goals is hard. So what are the solutions? Buy less? Design new fibers and materials? Thrifting and repurposing existing clothing? New business models? How can we make low-impact clothing?Guests: Aja Barber, Author, “Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change and Consumerism”Jason Kibbey, President and Founder, WorldlyMolly Morse, CEO, Mango MaterialsJonathan Chapman, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University School of DesignFor show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the famous photograph taken of the balcony of Memphis's Lorraine Motel just moments after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., one man is kneeling down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel. That man, Marrell McCollough, was a representative of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he was also an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of the Invaders, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent.When Seletzky found out that her father had been secretly working for the white power structure as a spy, it was so far from her understanding of what it meant to be Black in America, of everything she eventually devoted her life and career to, that she set out to learn what she could about her father’s life, his actions and his motivations. But with that decision came risks. What would she uncover about her father, who went on to a career at the CIA, and did she want to bear the weight of knowing?Join us for this intimate and heartbreaking story of a Black undercover police officer who witnessed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a daughter's quest for the truth about her father. MLF ORGANIZER: George HammondA Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of Commonwealth Club World Affairs, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Distinguished political analyst John Judis returns to The Commonwealth Club to share his wake-up call for Democrats, who he feels have lost sight of their core principles, endangering their own political future. For decades, American politics has been plagued by a breakdown between the Democratic and Republican parties, in which victory has inevitably led to defeat and vice versa. Judis says both parties have lost sight of the people at the center of the American electorate, leading to polarization and paralysis. In their book Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes, Judis and co-author Ruy Teixeira reveal the tectonic changes shaping the country’s current political landscape that many pundits and political scientists have missed.Judis says that the Democratic Party, once the preserve of small towns as well as big cities, of the industrial working class and the newly immigrated, has abandoned and even actively alienated many of those voters. He issues a clarion call for common sense and common ground, revealing the transformation of American politics and providing his critique of where the Democrats have gone awry and how they can avoid political disaster in the days and years ahead.MLF ORGANIZER: George HammondA 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.This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundatio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this presentation, Dr. Bredesen will provide you steps and tools to minimize and prevent Alzheimer's in your own environment. Did you know that more women get Alzheimer's than breast cancer?Do you know the steps to take to protect yourself and your loved ones?Did you know 65% of adults with Alzheimer's are women and 60% of caregivers are women?  Did you know15+% of women in the US will get Alzheimer's?.Did you know noticeable symptoms can take 20 years to appear.?Do you know what the symptoms are?   Exclusive for Commonwealth Club Members: Post-program Conversation with SpeakerAfter the first part of the program, members are invited to please join us for an intimate private conversation with Dr. Bredesen on Zoom. Club members who register will receive two links—one for the program itself and one for the private members-only post-program conversation with Dr. Bredesen. During that program, members can pose their own questions and delve more deeply into the topic.To become a member, for as little as $10 a month and have full access to all of our programming and podcasts. Join here.About the Speaker:Dr. Bredesen graduated from Caltech and received his MD from Duke. He served as resident and chief resident in neurology at UCSF, then was a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel laureate Prof. Stanley Prusiner. He was founding president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He is respected worldwide as the first to publish his groundbreaking work on the reversal of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Bredesen authored three New York Times best sellers, and is currently a professor at UCLA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices