Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

How do we confront the reality of a future that will be hauntingly different from today? Some authors are using fiction to create relatable narratives while sparing us from a deluge of sobering facts that can make audiences feel detached. The dystopian worlds in the films Mad Max and The Hunger Games do the same to both entertain and distance viewers from the realities of an increasingly destabilized climate. Can fiction give access to hopes and fears that we can’t handle in our daily lives? How are authors like Jenny Offill and Roy Scranton using stories that let readers experience climate change, while also keeping it at arms’ length?

What makes a marriage last? Iconic couple Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue crisscrossed the country and conducted intimate conversations with 40 celebrated couples whose marriages they’ve admired. Through these conversations, Marlo and Phil also reveal the rich journey of their own 40-year marriage. Marlo and Phil will share the practical and heartfelt wisdom from couples including like President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, and Sting and Trudie Styler. Marlo Thomas is an award-winning actress and national outreach director for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which was founded by her father Danny Thomas. Phil Donahue is a media pioneer who revolutionized the talk show format and won 20 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Tom Ammiano has made his impression on San Francisco since he first arrived and stepped off a Greyhound bus. A stand-up comedian, the first openly gay teacher in the city, activist and politician—he has been in the public eye for decades. Now Ammiano is telling his story in his new book, Kiss My Ass: My Trip Down the Yellow Brick Road Through Activism, Stand-up, and Politics. The book's title comes from his shouted comment to then-Goveror Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the book is filled with the "authenticity, poignant moments, wild tales and laughter" that have been a part of Ammiano's life in the city by the bay. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

Now more than ever, loneliness is a growing public health concern as communities continue to require social distancing and self-isolation to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Because humans are social creatures, at the center of our loneliness is our innate desire to connect, forge lasting bonds, help one another, and share life experiences. In his new book Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, Dr. Murthy warns of the dangers of loneliness and the lasting impact it can have on our health. He will be joined by Dr. Lucy Kalanithi for a poignant conversation on his four key strategies to weather this epidemic during this difficult time and beyond. Dr. Murthy was appointed by President Barack Obama and served as the 19th surgeon general of the United States.

Join us virtually as we discuss why twice in the last five elections the Electoral College vote has overridden the popular vote, creating a false impression of a country divided into red and blue states, when we are actually purple from coast to coast. In addition, millions of Americans always find that their votes didn't matter anyway, because only a handful of battleground states decide who becomes the next president. In this thoroughly researched and engaging call to arms, Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from 21st century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing what he calls the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. Wegman argues that we can at long last make every vote in the United States count―and restore belief in our democratic system.

As COVID-19 cases top 1 million in America, the emerging data is clear: African Americans are being disproportionately affected by the crisis. Infection rates, hospitalizations and even number of deaths have revealed distinct gaps across lines of race and class. Why do these glaring disparities exist, and how can we use this data to combat systemic racism in the face of a global pandemic? American University’s Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and COVID Tracking Project co-founder Alexis Madrigal have joined forces to try to answer these important questions. Join INFORUM for this virtual event, where Kendi and Madrigal will walk us through their findings and reveal how this growing data can be used to provide a safer future for the African American community.

It's a stressful time. We’re understandably anxious as we face a dangerous and unprecedented situation, and an uncertain future. Ordinarily, we would reach out to family, friends and co-workers for a supportive hug or gather together to talk things through. These are the natural ways we manage stressful situations. Yet during this time of the coronavirus, we have to be physically distancing from others. We want to make sure that our loved ones are safe, yet our mere presence can endanger them. We need to handle complex, unprecedented situations quickly and competently, yet our impulse may be toward panic, anxiety and therefore avoidance. Dr. Michael Tompkins, co-director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley, specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He’ll spend an hour with us and share a few strategies that may help us to manage our anxieties more effectively. He'll lead us in a few exercises and answer questions we may have. MLF Organizer: Brad Berman MLF: Personal Growth

With COVID-19 shutting down urban areas, city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi are getting a rare taste of clean air and blue skies. It is a glimpse of what net-zero cities might look like with transformed energy and transportation systems, minus the society-splintering pandemic. However, with a global recession on the horizon, critical programs to improve urban mobility and reduce emissions are on the sidelines. How are major cities like L.A., New York and Amsterdam implementing innovative sustainability projects to become net-zero? Will the recession impact funding for clean energy, infrastructure and bold action to address climate change? Join us with Lauren Faber O’Connor, chief sustainability officer for the city of Los Angeles, and Eva Gladek, founder and CEO of Metabolic, for a conversation on cities reaching for zero in a post-pandemic world.

Please join The Commonwealth Club of California and UC Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities for the second in a series of dialogues on catastrophe, storytelling and the present moment. In “Climate Change and Sacred Groves,” Townsend Center scholar Sugata Ray will meet with visual artist Ranu Mukherjee to investigate the relationship between the natural world and the sacred realm, especially as it has developed in India over the last several centuries of civilization and the rise of the Anthropocene era. In his most recent book, Climate Change and the Art of Devotion, Sugata shows how a site-specific and ecologically grounded theology emerged in northern India in the wake of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1550–1850), an epoch marked by climatic catastrophes across the globe. His interests dovetail in unexpected and compelling ways with Ranu’s visionary and captivating recent work, which positions the banyan tree as a meeting point between ecology and culture. Their conversation will be an opportunity for viewers to contemplate and rethink the role of art as it relates to contemporary concerns around climate, disease, human flourishing and the sacred. Sugata Ray is associate professor of South and Southeast Asian art in the History of Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and writing focus on climate change and the visual arts from the 1500s onward. Ray is the author of Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550–1850 (2019); Water Histories of South Asia: The Materiality of Liquescence (2019; coedited); and Ecologies, Aesthetics, and Histories of Art (forthcoming; coedited). Ranu Mukherjee is a visual artist who makes paintings, animations and large-scale installations. Her current work focuses on shifting senses of ecology, non-human agency, diaspora, migration and transnational feminist experience. Her most recent installation was presented at the ecologically focused 2019 Karachi Biennale; she has exhibited solo at the San Jose Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Asian Art Museum, and the de Young Museum. She is an associate professor in graduate fine art at the California College of the Arts. Mukherjee is represented by Gallery Wendi Norris.

Filmmaker H.P Mendoza found himself living in Japan when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He and his partner were given less than a day to uproot themselves and be evacuated to the United States. But Mendoza found himself on "Good Morning America" and on countless social media feeds when a video he made lampooning video conferences went viral. Once he was sheltering-in-place in San Francisco, he made another video, this time a birthday sing-a-long with dozens of his distant sheltering-in-place friends. Join us for this talk with a young filmmaker to learn more about his work, going viral in a good way, and coping with a pandemic.

Alice Wu's new film The Half of It tells the coming-of-age story of smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu, who agrees to write a love letter for a jock to his crush. Chu doesn't expect to become his friend—or fall for his crush. The film, scheduled for a May 1 release on Netflix, is the second film from writer/producer/director Wu. Join us for a conversation with Alice Wu and the film's star, Leah Lewis.

In a short 10 years, Instagram has grown from a simple idea for sharing photos to an application with over 1 billion monthly users and company growth that has surpassed many other tech giants. At the same time, this exponential success has been accompanied by a dramatic acquisition by Facebook in 2012 and the Instagram co-founders stepping down in 2018. Award-winning technology reporter Sarah Frier helps bring some clarity to the mysteries surrounding the tech giant in her book No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram. The Bloomberg reporter delivers stories taken from the Instagram influencers and celebrities that have helped drive the app to such rapid growth, the employees and executives who have watched from behind the scenes, and the founders of Instagram themselves who give insight into the growth and change of the service. Join INFORUM as Frier draws from her expertise in technology to navigate through this diverse cast of sources to paint a picture of how Instagram evolved to shape the online experience and fundamentally change how we engage with society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost every facet of human life. Schools, businesses and entire industries have effectively shut down overnight, citizens have been asked to stay at home and limit social interaction as long as they can, and essential workers are risking their health every day on the frontlines of this global crisis. Negative emotions like fear, stress, anxiety and depression are inevitable and can overwhelm even the most optimistic of people. What can we do to nurture our happiness during these unprecedented times? Dr. Dacher Keltner joins INFORUM to answer that question. Dr. Keltner is the professor behind the popular course "The Science of Happiness" at UC Berkeley and is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center where he blends scientific research with human empathy to create a healthier society. Kelter will share stories, tips and resources to help listeners cope with issues like talking to your children about COVID-19, finding connection while social distancing, managing financial stress and much more. We will learn not only how to survive during this time of unrest, but how, together, we can thrive in it.

California was the first state to shelter in place, and the Bay Area began sheltering even earlier. While this appears to have reduced the rate of growth in COVID-19 cases, the nation’s largest state still is severely challenged by the global pandemic. Many hospitals are overcrowded, the numbers of patients in rural areas are increasing, hundreds of Californians have died, and many have lost both their jobs and their health-care coverage. How is the health-care system in the state responding? What are the health and financial implications for individual Californians? Three California health-care leaders whose organizations collectively impact millions of citizens will share what their organizations are doing to tackle the crisis.

One day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, the worldwide Women’s March gathered people from all seven continents to send a bold message that women’s rights are human rights. It was one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history, advocating for women’s rights, immigration reform, racial equality and more. In her new book, We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders, award-winning activist Linda Sarsour chronicles her intersectional experiences growing up as the daughter of immigrant parents, as a Muslim woman unshaken in her faith in a post 9/11 world, as a co-organizer of the Women’s March, and as a leader in the decades-long fight for justice. Join her, in conversation with internationally recognized organizer Alicia Garza, to learn about the power of mobilization and community when fighting for lasting change.