Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Until recently, it was widely believed that the brain was hardwired from childhood and resistant to any remodeling in adults. Breakthrough research and clinical practice has recently shown that our brains are remarkably plastic across the human life span. Neuroplasticity accounts for functional self-improvement at any age, often remarkable recoveries from brain injury or stroke, demonstrated impacts of brain exercise for sustaining our brain health, and for successful supportive therapies in patients facing age-related dementia. Strategies for employing neuroplasticity science for human benefit are rapidly emerging. One of the pioneers in this field is neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, a professor emeritus at UC San Francisco. MLF ORGANIZER Bill Grant, Tamara Gurin NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine

World-renowned physicist Brian Greene offers a captivating exploration of the cosmos and our ongoing quest to understand it. Greene takes us on a journey across time—from our most refined understanding of the universe’s beginning to the closest science can take us to the very end. He also explains the distinct but interwoven layers of reality—from quantum mechanics to consciousness to black holes. Greene is known for his groundbreaking discoveries in superstring theory. He provides a clearer sense of how we came to be, where we are now and where we are ultimately headed. In association with Wonderfest

Dying is an unavoidable part of life, yet we all seem to find ways to dodge questions about death and how we’d like to die. Katy Butler, author of the new book The Art of Dying Well, wants to inspire us to meet this fear. Butler offers a practical guide for all aspects of life before dying, including: living with a chronic medical condition, choosing the right doctor, and even when not to call 911. Butler’s guide to living and dying is both reassuring and thoroughly researched. It offers both guides and testimonials to help us all cope and succeed in our last act. Katy Butler is one of the leading advocates for medical reform. Her first book, Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death, was a heartfelt and personal memoir of her own parents’ experience with dying. Butler believes that whether you have two weeks or two decades, it is never the wrong time to discuss how to forge a better path to the end of life. Join us as Katy Butler visits INFORUM and answers all of your questions about dying. NOTES In association with End Well

As California prepares to vote in a presidential primary with huge implications for the 2020 general election, we're assembling a panel of LGBTQI leaders who will share their picks for the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Some of their choices might surprise you! Join us for a timely, lively and fun evening talking presidential politics and LGBTQI concerns in one of the most momentous elections in modern times. Note: This program contains some Explicit Language.

This event is the second in The Commonwealth Club's Thought Leadership series on the future of health, featuring in-depth conversations on the challenges driving physical, mental and social health. Gun violence is one of the most critical health issues of our time. Every day in the United States, health professionals confront the effects of firearm injury in the clinical arena. In emergency rooms, trauma centers, ambulatory offices, and acute care and rehabilitation facilities, health professionals, and the health systems they work within, attempt to heal the wounds that firearms inflict on individuals, their families and their communities. This critical public health issue requires us to move past the politics around gun ownership and develop nonpolitical solutions to this crisis. What can we do right now to prevent gun violence? Join a diverse panel of experts and advocates as they discuss public–private partnership solutions to this growing public health crisis. Together we will explore new ways to build healthy communities safe from firearm-related injuries and death.

California has been at the forefront of America’s climate fight since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the country’s first major climate law in 2006. The state’s suite of policies for decarbonizing the economy survived industry-funded attacks in court and at the ballot box, and remained largely consistent under Democratic and Republican governors. But a recent report by Next 10, an independent think tank, indicates the state will meet its 2030 goals 30 years late. Is California really the climate leader it’s purported to be?

Barbara Rose Brooker, 83-year-old author, teacher and performer, will talk about her personal experiences with ageism in the Hollywood industry, our anti-age culture and how to promote a generation where age doesn’t count. She will sign copies of her new novel, Love, Sometimes. Join us for this fabulous evening. Brooker, a native San Francisco author of 13 books, is the founder of the first Age March in history. Her new best-selling novel, Love, Sometimes, is about risk, ageism in Hollywood and controversial love and is being made into a TV series, which will air in 2021. Brooker has been on “The Today Show,” Andy Cohen, Sharon Osbourne, and many other local and national shows. She teaches writing to adults over 50 and up at San Francisco State's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). She is at work on a new book about aging and love and staying on the path of your dreams at any age. MLF Organizer: Denise Michaud MLF: Grownups

It's our birthday—come celebrate with us! Join us to celebrate the Club’s 117th birthday and attend our 8th anniversary Week to Week political roundtable program. To kick the night off, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. we will have sweet treats to sample, popcorn and hot chocolate, and we'll finish with a champagne toast to the Club and to our wonderful members. Following the Club birthday party, we will have our Week to Week program for all to attend. During the program, we will discuss the biggest, most controversial and sometimes the surprising political issues with expert commentary by panelists who are smart, are civil and have a good sense of humor. Our panelists will provide informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news, and we'll have audience discussion of the week’s events, culminating in our live news quiz. It's an evening to celebrate, for members and nonmembers alike to enjoy. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

How do we build communities that are more resilient than the ones we were raised in? As severe weather hammers cities and spurs more migration, who will pay to shore up infrastructure and secure the border? Experts at the highest levels of U.S. government are now working to uncover the ways that climate could threaten critical infrastructure and reshape the way communities respond to risk. Meanwhile, as damages increase, so do insurance claims, making homeownership nearly impossible in areas with the greatest risk of fires, floods and hurricanes. Pricing that risk and spreading the costs across society will test American democracy and could further exacerbate the growing wealth gap. Join us for a conversation with Alice Hill, senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption, and Janet Ruiz, strategic communication director at the Insurance Information Institute. Joining remotely is Sherri Goodman, senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and former U.S. deputy under secretary of defense for environmental security.

With a presidential election looming in 2020, what are the progressives in Congress doing to build political power and move their agenda forward? As the elected co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—representing nearly 40 percent of the House Democratic majority, Representative Pramila Jayapal is on the forefront of the national progressive movement. In February 2019, Jayapal introduced the most comprehensive and progressive Medicare-for-all bill in history and has since secured four hearings on the bill—the first four hearings on Medicare for all in the history of Congress—and the support of more than half of the House Democratic Caucus. Prior to her election to Congress, Jayapal worked for two decades as an advocate for immigrant rights and racial justice and served in the Washington State Senate from 2015–2017. Jayapal serves on the House Judiciary, Budget, and Education and Labor committees and has been an outspoken leader on expanding access to college, fighting for climate justice, taking on corporate greed and holding the administration accountable for its immigration policies. Join us for a conversation with one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars as she discusses the path ahead.

Ussama Makdisi, who was born in Washington, D.C., spent his early years in Lebanon and earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He will discuss his latest book, Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World, which has been described as an easily accessible, provocative engagement with existing literature about sectarian, secular, colonialism and Arab nationalists. And, although headlines paint the Middle East as a collection of war-torn countries and extremist groups consumed by sectarian rage, Makdisi shows how people of different faiths have tried to build modern societies that transcend religious and sectarian differences. MLF ORGANIZER Celia Menczel NOTES MLF: Middle East

Most recently, Felicia Marcus was chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, responsible for drinking water, water quality and water rights. Importantly, she led the state board through California's worst drought in modern history. As regional administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 9, she was responsible for environmental issues under the EPA's jurisdiction. In the the nonprofit world, Marcus was the western director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Trust for Public Land. In her prior work, she was a private and nonprofit sector attorney and organizer in Los Angeles. She has a law degree from New York University and an AB in East Asian studies from Harvard University. Marcus is also known as a devoted whale watcher. Join us to discuss her important environmental work and her outstanding commitment and dedication for the planet, the environment, the present and the future. MLF ORGANIZER Ann Clark NOTES MLF: Environment & Natural Resources

San Francisco’s newest top prosecutor Chesa Boudin first experienced the criminal justice system as a toddler, when his parents were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. This transformative experience left an indelible mark on Boudin, who has dedicated much of his life to criminal justice reform. After graduating from Yale, becoming a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and earning his J.D. from Yale Law School, Boudin began work at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. While he handled over 300 felony cases, Boudin never prosecuted a single case, instead favoring to work directly with victims of crimes and families of prisoners. After a tightly contested race in 2019, Boudin emerged as DA-elect of San Francisco, where he hopes to make significant changes to a broken criminal justice system. With a focus on reducing mass incarceration and recidivism and increasing opportunities for restorative justice, Boudin is part of a larger trend of progressives appointed to top prosecutorial positions in cities that hope to end policies such as cash bail, the war on drugs and racial disparities in sentencing. Bring your questions as newly confirmed DA Chesa Boudin forges a different path for crime, punishment and justice in the city.

With the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the broader #MeToo movement, the political slogan “believe women” has become a rallying cry for the era. First used as a call to end false accusations of deception against women, agenda-setting feminist editors Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman go beyond the slogan with their new anthology to ask and answer the crucial question: What would happen if we didn't just believe women but acted as though they matter? Building on the success of the #MeToo movement’s demand for accountability—not just discouraging actions generally but naming names—Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World is part exposé on misogyny in our culture and part outline for how trusting women creates the foundation for future progress. With essays spanning a call to action by Representative Ayanna Pressley (D–MA) and an interview with #TimesUp activist and Emmy award winner Tatiana Maslany, Valenti and Friedman bring together a powerful group of women whose diverse experiences and thoughtful solutions give us a vision of what a better future could look like. Join Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti at INFORUM this February for an honest discussion on how we might make tomorrow a brighter day in the fight for women’s empowerment. ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language **

As the effects of aggressive policing and mass incarceration harm historically marginalized communities and tear families apart, how do we define safety? Community leader and lawyer Zach Norris believes in a radical way to shift the conversation about public safety away from fear and punishment and toward growth and support systems for our families and communities. In order to truly be safe, Norris says we have to dismantle the mentality of us versus them and bridge our divides. Norris’s new book, We Keep Us Safe, is a blueprint of how to hold people accountable while still holding them in community. The result reinstates full humanity and agency for everyone who has been dehumanized and traumatized so they can participate fully in life, in society and in the fabric of our democracy. He makes the case that directing resources to stability and well-being, such as health care and housing, education and living-wage jobs, result in real safety. Join us for a powerful conversation with Bay Area leaders Zach Norris and Fred Blackwell NOTES Norris photo by Eurydice Thomas