PRESS RELEASE
The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105
Contact: John Zipperer, Vice President of Media & Editorial
415-597-6715 or jzipperer@commonwealthclub.org
415-597-6715 or jzipperer@commonwealthclub.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Upcoming Speakers & Topics at The Commonwealth Club of California
James Burrows, Jann Wenner, Maggie Haberman and others come to the nation’s largest public forum
(SAN FRANCISCO)—The Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's oldest and largest public forum, presents its upcoming programs. They are a mix of online-only and in-person & online, and tickets are available to the public via the URLs with each program; new programs are added every week—for the complete list, see commonwealthclub.org/events. For press access, see contact information above.
FUNNY AND DISABLED: AN EVENING OF COMEDY AND CONVERSATION
TUE, AUG 16 / 5:30 PM PDT In Person and Online
Nina G.
"Stuttering Standup Comic"; Author, Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen, Bay Area Stand-Up Comedy: A Humorous History, and Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities.
Eric Siegel
Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderato
More than one in four adults in the United States has a disability. And yet: Do you know how to be a true ally to someone, maybe yourself, with a disability? Have you felt awkward around people with a disability and not known what to say and do? Have you wanted to tell your friend how you understand yourself as a disabled person, but not known how to tell your story?
Fret not! Here comes Nina G., the stuttering standup comic to lighten up a heavy subject! Nina stutters and has learning disabilities. She also has a doctorate in psychology and is the author of multiple books on stand-up comedy as well as disability, invisible or not. Through humor and comedy, she will show us what it means to "laugh at disability" from an insider perspective. (When is it OK to laugh at people with disabilities? When they are holding a microphone and telling jokes!)
We'll practice our new skills, have a laugh-filled evening, and hopefully return home a little lighter, and a lot more enlightened. We'll deepen our understanding of what disability means, how to be an ally, and how to self-advocate. And maybe we can get her to tell us some stories about stand-up history.
There will be an opportunity an hour before and an hour after the event for Club members, especially those with disabilities, to meet one another and Nina. Although this also will be available on live stream video, for the full experience it's time to get out of the house and meet your community. We've all been cooped up for too long, and there will be wine! (But remember: we strongly recommend that you be boosted to enter the Club, despite our ultramodern ventilation system. Masks are recommended.)
MOIYA MCTIER: UNDERSTANDING THE MILKY WAY
WED, AUG 17 / 3:00 PM PDT In Person and Virtual
Dr. Moiya McTier, Ph.D., Astrophysicist; Folklorist; Author, The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy; Twitter @GoAstroMo
Gerald Harris, President, Quantum Planning Group; Chair, Technology & Society Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
The Milky Way—its hundred billion stars, supermassive black holes and countless unsolved mysteries—is as intriguing as it is colossal. And for astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier, merely studying it is not enough, as she combines myth and science into a whimsical, fanciful and fascinating “autobiography” of our home galaxy.
Dr. McTier holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Columbia University and studies astrophysics as well as folklore and mythology at Harvard University. In her latest book, The Milky Way, McTier takes on the role of the titular galaxy and delivers a “juicy tell all” of its formation, growth, history and relationship with its surrounding galaxies. Sharing fascinating tales ranging from our intergalactic rivals to the time the Milky Way was once in love, McTier breaks down advanced astronomy into playful, simple and easily understood chunks. Join us as Dr. Moiya McTier shares the never-before-told personal story of the colossal place we call home, and helps us understand better the universe around us
ONLINE MEMBER HAPPY HOUR
WED, AUG 24 / 4:30 PM PDT Online
Please join fellow Commonwealth Club members for an online happy hour on Wednesday, August 24, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. PDT. This social event is an opportunity for you to make new connections as well as see familiar faces. Following brief welcoming remarks by The Commonwealth Club's President Dr. Gloria Duffy, participants will be divided at random into small breakout rooms several times over the course of the session for informal introductions and conversations. Please note there will be no featured speakers or set topics of discussion. This event is online and for Commonwealth Club members only. To respond, please register and we will send you the Zoom access instructions.
WEEK TO WEEK: FALL ELECTION 2022
WED, AUG 24 / 6:00 PM PDT In-Person and Online
Mark Z. Barabak, Political Columnist, Los Angeles Times; Twitter @markzbarabak
Dr. Larry Gerston, Political Science Professor Emeritus, San Jose State University; NBC Bay Area Political Analyst; Author, California's Recall Election of Gavin Newsom: COVID-19 and the Test of Leadership; Twitter @lgerston
Carla Marinucci, Political Journalist; Twitter @cmarinucci
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Host
With less than three months before the November election (and even less time before people start mailing in their ballots), come out to the Club for a lively political discussion of the big issues and key races in the fall contest for Congress. Will Republicans capture both houses of Congress? Or will Democrats hold onto the Senate? Was the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling a game-changer? What are the issues that will drive people to the polls, the candidates in key races, and the voter trends that will determine the outcome?
Find out with lively and informed commentary from our panelists. We'll also take a look at significant races in California and the Bay Area. And come early before the program to enjoy our members social hour (open to all attendees), with complimentary wine (or soft drinks) and light snacks.
GODS OF WANT: AUTHOR K-MING CHANG
THU, AUG 25 / 12:30 PM PDT Virtual
K-Ming Chang, Author, Gods of Want: Stories and Bestiary
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
Join us online for a discussion and reading of Gods of Want: Stories, with author K-Ming Chang. Chang's new book features fictional short stories of a Taiwanese American family exploring displacement, queerness and more.
Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is also the author of the novel Bestiary, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the PEN/Faulker Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Chang has taught classes for Kundiman, Catapult, Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, Miami Book Fair, Pacific Northwest College of the Arts’ Low-Residency MFA Program, Kweli International Literary Festival, Literary Arts at Featherstone, Sevilla Writers House, Flash Fiction Festival (Literary Cleveland), Ellipses Writing, Vassar College Critical Ethnic Studies Conference, Youth Empowerment Program at MinKwon, and elsewhere.
WHY HAVE FALSE BELIEFS AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES BECOME SO POWERFUL?
THU, SEP 1 / 5:30 PM PDT
Joe Pierre, M.D., Health Sciences Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA. Author; Expert Witness; Legal Consultant
Eric Siegel, Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
First in a Series on False Narratives
Why does a lie travel around the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots? In all areas, not just politics, science, and medicine, outrageous or fascinating false information outpaces truth, which is often more nuanced. False narratives pose a real danger to democracy, to our health, and to society. This series will discuss the reasons for that destructive state of affairs and what we can do about it, as individuals and as a society.
In this first part of our series, Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCLA and specialist in delusional thinking and conspiracy theories, will discuss the age-old psychological reasons that conspiracy theories and other false narratives have been successful throughout human history. He will also look at how false narratives have been noticeably empowered and accelerated during the past few years by COVID isolation and modern technologies, among other factors. This will be an intense, information-packed event; be sure to bring your questions.
MY FRIEND IS A SCIENCE DENIER—WHAT CAN I DO?
TUE, SEP 6 / 5:30 PM PDT Online only
Lee McIntyre, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University, Former Executive Director, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University; Author, How To Talk To A Science Denier and Post-Truth
Eric Siegel, Chair, Personal Growth Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
Second in a Series on False Narratives.
In this second part of our series on conspiracy theories and other false narratives, we'll look at practical actions we can take and tools we can use to have fruitful discussions with friends and family who have been misled.
There are ways that we can help untangle the snare of a mind-gripping false narrative. They're usually not easy, and they're usually not fast, but they can work in most cases. To help us learn how, Dr. Lee McIntyre, author of How to Talk to a Science Denier, will provide detailed recommendations for countering science denial and other false narratives in one-on-one discussions with friends and family. This will be an intense, information-packed event; be sure to bring your questions.
SAVING FREUD
WED, SEP 7 / 3:00 PM PDT Online
Andrew Nagorski
Former Bureau Chief (Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin), Newsweek; Author, Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom
In Conversation with George Hammond
Author, Conversations With Socrates
In March 1938, German soldiers, under Hitler's orders, crossed the border and absorbed Austria into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was 81 years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger.
But those close to Freud thought otherwise and began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave Vienna before it was too late. The persuaders included Freud’s devoted youngest daughter Anna, his personal doctor, a Welsh physician, an American ambassador, and Napoleon’s great-grandniece.
Join us as Andrew Nagorski shares how this remarkable collection of people succeeded in coaxing Freud out of his deep state of denial, allowing them both to extricate Freud and his family from Austria and to arrange for Freud to live out the remaining 16 months of his life in freedom in London.
JOIN US AT THE CLUB: CELEBRATING THE OYSTER!
WED, SEP 7 / 6:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
John Finger, Founding Partner and CEO, Hog Island Oyster Company
Robbie Kilpatrick, Member, Board of Governors, The Commonwealth Club of California; Chair, Health and Medicine Member-Led Forum
Oysters and Your Healthy Future: A special in-person program with wine reception and raw oyster tasting.
Oysters are one of humanity’s oldest foods and have great historical significance and current-day importance. For John Finger, founding partner and CEO of Hog Island Oyster Company, the shellfish are not only a vocation but a way of life. Finger is a marine biologist who has helped Hog Island become one of the premier producers of certified sustainable shellfish in the country. And Finger's work at Hog Island has never been more important.
Today, health, science, technology and climate change all combine to elevate the importance of the oyster and oyster farming to society. The marine equivalent of the canary in the coal mine, oysters are giving scientists a better understanding of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification, and signaling the need for new scientific and technological solutions, if these and other shellfish are to thrive into the future.
There has never been a better time to return to The Commonwealth Club! Come join this special member-led forum event with John Finger to talk about the importance of oysters in the 21st century. After the program, all attendees are invited to a roof-top reception to continue the conversation with a glass of wine and some raw oysters, catered by Hog Island Oyster Company.
MOLLY WOOD ON TECH, MONEY AND SURVIVAL
WED, SEP 7 / 6:00 PM PDT In-Person and Online
Molly Wood, Investor, Podcaster
Greg Dalton, Founder and Host, Climate One
After a 20-year career as a tech reporter for CNET, The New York Times, and the public radio program "Marketplace," Molly Wood has come to see the climate crisis as an engineering problem requiring an acceleration of investment. And so, after producing the acclaimed climate podcast “How We Survive” for "Marketplace," she recently left that program to begin a new career in venture capital.
Now, in conversation with Climate One Host Greg Dalton, Molly Wood explores the limits of media in changing human behavior and the role of capital in addressing the climate crisis, even while she considers that capitalism itself may be incompatible with survival.
QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE IN THE AAPI MOVEMENT
THU, SEP 8 / 12:30 PM PDT
Cecilia Chung, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation, Transgender Law Center; Health Commissioner, San Francisco; Founding Producer, Trans March
Anjali Rimi, President and Co-founder, Parivar Bay Area; Member, Trans Advisory Committee, Office of Transgender Initiatives, San Francisco Mayor's Office
Morningstar Vancil, Activist; Artist; Co-founder, ForS/mWoC
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
When people talk about the many attacks on Asian and Pacific Islander (API) people,, they usually don’t talk about gay or queer people. These attacks have been going on for a long time, and seemingly nobody pays attention to it.
This special panel will highlight how these attacks are affecting the queer Asian community and how this silent violence is impacting their lives and the lives of their loved ones. It will also remove the veil of shame and secrecy around queerness that is experienced by many in the Asian diaspora.
THAT IS NOT YOUR MIND!
THU, SEP 8 / 5:30 PM PDT In Person and Online
Robert Rosenbaum, Ph.D., American Zen Teacher; Author, That Is Not Your Mind
Anne W. Smith, Ph.D., Co-Chair, Arts Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
Author of That Is Not Your Mind: Zen Reflections on the Surangama Sutra, Robert Rosenbaum explores that question by taking forum participants on a magical journey through the Surangama Sutra based in a context of Zen practice.
Like the arts world, Surangama sutra is a springboard for exploring sensory experiences—sight, sound ,taste, smell, touch and the Buddhist “sixth sense” of mind or cognition. Rosenbaum presents witty, authentic and refreshing contemporary insights from neuroscience and psychology and anecdotes from his decades of teaching experience. Among arts-related insights shared is an appreciation for “musics of the mind" to intersect with ancient/perennial Buddhist wisdom and everyday human yearning.
KERMIT ROOSEVELT III: THE NATION THAT NEVER WAS
THU, SEP 8 / 6:30 PM PDT IN Person and Online
Kermit Roosevelt III, David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Author, The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story
In Conversation with David Spencer, Founder, SenSpa; Member, Commonwealth Club of California Board of Governors
Is today’s America really the one the Founding Fathers envisioned? That is the question constitutional scholar Kermit Roosevelt asks, tracing the majority of American political sentiments from the modern day not back as far as the Revolution, but to the Reconstruction era.
Kermit Roosevelt is a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the great-great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt. He is an expert in constitutional law, national security, conflicts of law and civil liberties. His work has been published in the Virginia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Columbia Law Review and he is the author of two historical novels examining themes of equality and civil liberty.
In his latest book, The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story, Roosevelt argues that America in the modern day is not the ideological descendant of the era of the Founding Fathers but that of Reconstruction and Abraham Lincoln. Examining the writings, history and political thought of America’s first century, he explains that many of the country’s core political beliefs, especially equality, originated in the Reconstruction era not as a return to the Founder’s vision but as a rejection of it.
Join us as Roosevelt rethinks how American history is viewed, and how the ideas underpinning the country have shifted in the past two centuries—and along with it, what it means to be American itself.
HOW TO DECIDE WHICH MEDICAL AND HEALTH INFORMATION YOU SHOULD TRUST
MON, SEP 12 / 3:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Kamran Abbasi, M.D., Editor in Chief, BMJ (the British Medical Journal); Honorary Visiting Professor, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College, London; Fellow, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians of London
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., Editor in Chief, JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association); the Lee Goldman, M.D., Endowed Professor of Medicine, and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF School of Medicine=
George Lundberg, M.D., Editor in Chief, Cancer Commons; Editor at Large, Medscape; Executive Adviser, Cureus; Clinical Professor of Pathology, Northwestern University; President and Chair, The Lundberg Institute
George Hammond, Author, Conversations With Socrates—Moderator
Fake news? Alternative facts? Overly hyped "breakthroughs"? Irreproducible scientific research results? Preprints? Gaslighting the medical literature? What to do?
Finding and trusting the best published primary medical literature is the answer. Our speakers for the 12th Annual Lundberg Institute Lecture at The Commonwealth Club, JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo and BMJ Editor in Chief Kamran Abbasi, are among the premier guardians of that literature. Hear their advice, and then ask them your own questions about whom and what to trust—especially now when deciding which medical information is trustworthy has become so crucial and so confusing.
CALIFORNIA BURNING: THE FALL OF PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC—AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AMERICA'S POWER GRID
TUE, SEP 13 / 5:30 PM PDT In Person and Online
Katherine Blunt, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal; Finalist, 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting; Recipient, Gerald Loeb Award
Andrew Dudley, Co-Host and Producer, Earth Live; Chair, People & Nature Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
Author Katherine Blunt provides what is being called a "revelatory, urgent narrative with national implications," exploring the decline of California’s largest utility company that led to countless wildfires—including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise—and the human cost of infrastructure failure
Pacific Gas and Electric was a legacy company built by innovators and visionaries, establishing California as a desirable home and economic powerhouse. In California Burning, Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer finalist Katherine Blunt examines how that legacy fell apart—unraveling a long history of deadly failures in which PG&E endangered millions of Northern Californians, through criminal neglect of its infrastructure. She says that as PG&E prioritized profits and politics, power lines went unchecked—until a rusted hook purchased for 56 cents in 1921 split in two, sparking the deadliest wildfire in California history.
Beginning with PG&E’s public reckoning after the Paradise fire, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&E’s shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. Following key players through pivotal decisions and legal battles, California Burning reveals the forces Blunt says shaped the plight of PG&E: deregulation and market-gaming led by Enron Corp., an unyielding push for renewable energy, and a swift increase in wildfire risk throughout the West, while regulators and lawmakers pushed their own agendas.
JOSH CHIN AND LIZA LIN: CHINA AND THE ERA OF DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE
WED, SEP 14 / 5:00 PM PDT Online
Josh Chin, Deputy Bureau Chief in China, The Wall Street Journal; Co-Author, Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control; Twitter @joshchin
Liza Lin, China Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal; Co-Author, Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control; Twitter @lizalinwsj
In Conversation with Jiayang Fan, Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Author, Motherland (forthcoming); Twitter @JiayangFan
An alarming new reality is emerging in China, where a new kind of political control is being waged through the optimization of technology. Journalists Josh Chin and Liza Lin describe the journey through the new world China is building within its borders, and beyond. They reveal a future that is already underway―a new society engineered around the power of data and digital surveillance.Hear more about what could be at stake for the rest of the world.
LILLIAN FADERMAN ON WOMAN—THE AMERICAN HISTORY OF AN IDEA
THU, SEP 15 / 6:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Lillian Faderman, Professor Emerita, California State University, Fresno; Author, Woman: The American History of an Idea; Twitter @lillianfaderman
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
Join us for an in-person program and meet the acclaimed author of the new book Woman: The American History of an Idea. The New York Times' Alexandra Jacobs called it "An ambitious attempt to delineate nothing less than the changing state of being female in this country over the past four centuries. Woman is exhaustively researched and finely written."
We'll delve into the heart of the subject. What does it mean to be a woman in America? Faderman has traced the meaning of the word from the Puritans to the sexual revolution of the 1960s to the age of #metoo, Amy Coney Barrett, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the transgender movement.
She'll discuss a history of conflicts, retreats, defeats and hard-won victories in both the private and public spheres. Faderman also argues that successful challenges to the status quo are often short-lived, and the idea of womanhood in America continues to be contested. Don't miss this intriguing discussion, and bring your questions!
MARK BERGEN WITH EMILY CHANG: INSIDE YOUTUBE'S CHAOTIC RISE TO WORLD DOMINATION
MON, SEP 19 / 3:30 PM PDT Online only
Mark Bergen, Technology Journalist; Author, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination; Twitter @mhbergen
Emily Chang, Host, Bloomberg Technology and Studio 1.0; Twitter @emilychangtv
What’s the last video you watched on YouTube? Across the world, people view more than a billion hours of video on YouTube every day. This digital platform created the attention economy that forever changed how we consume information and entertainment.
Everyone knows YouTube. And yet virtually no one knows how it really works. Mark Bergen’s Like, Comment, Subscribe reveals the inside story of YouTube’s revolutionary technology and business model. Bergen offers a deep account of how the company upended media, culture, industry and democracy and unleased an addiction machine that forever changed the world.
SEAN CARROLL: UNDERSTANDING SPACE, TIME AND MOTION
TUE, SEP 20 / 3:00 PM PDT Online
Sean Carroll, Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy, John Hopkins University; Fractal Faculty and External Professor, Santa Fe Institute; Host, "Mindscape" Podcast; Author, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion; Twitter @seanmcarroll
Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe that many find mysterious, complex and confusing. Theoretical physicist and "Mindscape" podcast host Sean Carroll breaks down some of the most mind-boggling concepts in his newest book The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. Join us for an online discussion to learn more about the wonders of modern physics and the multidimensional landscape it covers—from black holes to quantum mechanics and more.
JANN WENNER: THE ROLLING STONE GENERATION
WED, SEP 21 / 12:30 PM PDT In Person and Online
Jann Wenner, Founder, Rolling Stone Magazine; Member, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Paul Liberatore, Music Columnist, Marin Independent Journal
Jann Wenner has had an outsized impact on Bay Area history, music, popular culture and the world of magazines.
In 1967, with the founding of Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco, Wenner not only created the "bible of the counterculture," he helped catalyze a generation of young people into a force that would go on to transform the politics and lifestyles of the much of the country. In his deeply personal new memoir, Like a Rolling Stone, Wenner vividly describes an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond, and the role his magazine played in it. His book goes on to explore not only his own work, but the lives of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono and Bruce Springsteen. He also discusses the role he played in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and Annie Leibovitz.
After leaving San Francisco for New York, Wenner's journey took him to the Oval Office with groundbreaking interviews with Bill Clinton and Barak Obama, leaders to whom Wenner's publication gave its historic, full-throated backing. Wenner also had his magazine focus on the Dalai Lama, Greta Thunberg, and others he felt should be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone, because of their potential impact on American culture. It is not surprising that many have called him "the greatest magazine editor of his generation."
Please join us as Wenner makes a rare visit to The Commonwealth Club to discuss his life and the impact he has made on America.
MAX FISHER: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE HAVOC ON OUR MINDS
Max Fisher, International Reporter and Columnist, The New York Times; Author, The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World; Twitter Max_Fisher
Do we really understand the reach and impact that social media has on our lives? We all have a vague sense that social media can be bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. Yet that doesn't stop us from constantly using it.
New York Times investigative reporter Max Fisher looks at how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions.
Fisher tracks the evolution of free speech to hate speech and its spillover into violence—that first festered in far-off locales to their dark culmination in America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol insurrection. He also addresses the cultural shift in which people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by misinformation, outrage and fear.
Hear more about the influence that social media has and how it isn’t just changing our lives, but the world.
HUMANITIES WEST PRESENTS MOZART'S MUSIC
FRI, SEP 23 / 5:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Steve Machtinger, Attorney; Violist; Independent Mozart Scholar
Musical performance by the Hatzfeld Quintet: Monika Gruber and Emanuela Nikiforova, Violins; Steve Machtinger and Jennifer Sills, Violas; and Louella Hasbun, Cello
George Hammond, Author, Conversations With Socrates
Humanities West presents a performance, and an elucidation, of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, composed in Vienna in 1787. It is widely considered to be among Mozart's greatest and most tragic works. But the Quintet is not only “tragic”; it is a “tragedy” in the mode of the ancient Greeks: the enactment of the story of a hero who meets a catastrophic fate.
Mozart scholar Steve Machtinger will demonstrate how Mozart imbued the work with musical symbols that convey its tragic narrative. The program will include a live performance by the Hatzfeld Quintet of all four movements of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor.
DIRECTOR JAMES BURROWS: MAN OF A THOUSAND STORIES
TUE, SEP 27 / 12:30 PM PDT Online
James Burrows, Director; Co-creator, Cheers; Author, Directed by James Burrows
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
It would be difficult to overstate the influence on American television of director James Burrows. Co-creator of Cheers, he also directed 237 of the long-running show's 275 episodes. He directed every episode of Will & Grace, the groundbreaking show that turned gay characters and storylines into must-see TV. He also directed 75 episodes of Taxi, 32 episodes of Frasier, 15 episodes of Friends, and multiple episodes of Phyllis, The Bob Newhart Show, NewsRadio, and many others.
His sitcom work all began with an episode of another pathbreaking series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the early 1970s. Altogether, he has directed more than 1,000 episodes of American comedy television. In his new memoir, Directed by James Burrows, he's sharing stories from his legendary career working on the most successful and influential sitcoms of the past half century.
Join us for this online program to hear how James Burrows shaped popular, high-quality comedy TV in America.
THE FIRST ROMANTICS AND THE INVENTION OF THE SELF
MON, OCT 3 / 3:00 PM PDT
Andrea Wulf, Author, Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self
George Hammond, Author, Conversations With Socrates—Moderator
Forget Paris . . . the real revolution in the 1790s happened in Jena, a quiet German university town where the unlikely revolutionaries were not soldiers or politicians but poets and playwrights (Goethe, Schiller and Novalis), philosophers (Fichte, Schelling and Hegel), literary critics (the contentious Schlegel brothers) and scientists (Alexander von Humboldt). And at their heart was the formidable and free-spirited Caroline Schlegel. This remarkable group of rebels changed the way we think about ourselves and the world.
The Jena Set were the first Romantics. And their unconventional lives were laboratories for their radical ideas—about the creative power of the self, the aspirations of art and science, nature and the true meaning of freedom. Magnificent Rebels author Andrea Wulf takes us on a vivid journey through their adventures and misadventures, passionate love affairs and epic quarrels, successes and heartbreak.
She says we are still empowered by their daring leap into the self today. The French revolutionaries might have changed the political landscape, but these young Romantics incited a revolution of the mind that shaped our modern world.
SUSAN ROGERS: WHAT THE MUSIC YOU LOVE SAYS ABOUT YOU
WED, OCT 5 / 6:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Susan Rogers, Director, Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory; Record Producer; Author, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
Why do you fall in love with some music, and not with other music? And why do those you love sometimes fall in love with music you don't?
Susan Rogers, a record-producer–turned–brain-scientist, explains why, taking us on a journey into the science and the soul of music that reveals why your favorite songs move you. Rogers also shares her personal story—she began as an audio tech in Los Angeles, broke through as Prince’s chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then continued to create other number 1 hits to become one of the most successful female record producers ever.
Rogers, currently a professor of cognitive neuroscience, raises musical self-awareness. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s natural response to the seven key dimensions of a song. Are you someone who prefers lyrics or melody? Do you like music “above the neck” (intellectually stimulating), or “below the neck” (instinctual and rhythmic)? Whether your taste is esoteric or mainstream, Rogers will guide you to recognize your own musical personality and to describe your own unique taste. Like most of us, Rogers is not a musician, but demonstrates how all of us can be musical simply by being active, passionate listeners.
Rogers also will take us behind the scenes of record-making, using her insider status to illuminate the music of Prince, Frank Sinatra, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey and many other artists. She shares records that changed her life, contrasts them with those that appeal to others, and encourages you to think about the records that define your own identity. Join us and then refresh your playlists, deepen your connection to your favorite artists, and change the way you listen to music.
READING CALIFORNIANS BOOK DISCUSSION: EVERYTHING NOW
TUE, OCT 11 / 5:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Rosecrans Baldwin, Author, Everything Now (participating via Zoom)
Kalena Gregory, Chair, Reading Californians Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
Join author Rosecrans Baldwin for a discussion of his 2022 Commonwealth book award winner in the Californiana category, Everything Now. Although the author lives in Los Angeles now, he is not a native and therefore brings a newcomer's view of the "city-state," as he calls it. This well-researched book brings new perspectives, nuances and attitudes about what L.A. is all about.
Former Commonwealth book award winners had this to say about the book:
"Rosecrans Baldwin has taken on the unwieldy task of portraying this unique, enormous city in all its overlapping, contradictory layers, and incredibly, he succeeds." —Steph Cha, author of Your Home Will Pay
"With a novelist's eye and a searching curiosity, Rosecrans Baldwin has created a sprawling work that explores a place, its people, as well as culture, history, geography, and ecology." —Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown
This should prove to be an interesting book discussion, so please join us either via Zoom or in-person at the Commonwealth Club.. When you enroll, you will get an automatic e-mail response from the Commonwealth Club; if you do not get a response, please contact tickets@commonwealthclub.org. (And if you join virtually, please remember to leave your camera on so our guest is not seeing black screens!)
JESSI HEMPEL: THE FAMILY OUTING
THU, OCT 13 / 12:30 PM PDT Online
Jessi Hempel, Author, The Family Outing; Twitter @jessiwrites
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
Join us for an online conversation with the author of a striking and remarkable literary memoir about one family’s transformation, with almost all of them embracing their queer identities. It might sound like a sitcom plot, but for Jessi Hempel, it's a true story.
Jessi Hempel was raised in a picture-perfect, middle-class American family. But the truth was far from perfect. Her lawyer-father was constantly away from home, traveling for work, while her stay-at-home mother became increasingly lonely and erratic. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing.
By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.
ADAM HOCHSCHILD: AMERICAN MIDNIGHT
THU, OCT 13 / 5:30 PM PDT In Person
Adam Hochschild, Historian; Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California Berkeley; Author, American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis
In Conversation with George Hammond, Author, Conversations With Socrates
Adam Hochschild returns to The Commonwealth Club with his revelatory new account of a pivotal but neglected period in American history: World War I and its stormy aftermath, when bloodshed and repression on the home front nearly doomed American democracy.
The nation was on the brink. Angry mobs burned Black churches to the ground and chased down pacifists and immigrants. Well over a thousand men and women were jailed solely for what they had written or said, even in private. An astonishing 250,000 people joined a nationwide vigilante group—sponsored by the Department of Justice.
This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by torture, censorship, and killings. Hochschild brings to life this troubled period, which stretched from 1917 to 1921, through the interwoven tales of some well-known characters, like the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson and the ambitious young bureaucrat J. Edgar Hoover, and of other less-familiar characters, like the fiery antiwar advocate Kate Richards O’Hare and the outspoken Leo Wendell, a labor radical who was frequently arrested and wholly trusted by his comrades—but who was in fact Hoover’s star undercover agent.
A groundbreaking work of narrative history, American Midnight recalls these horrifying yet inspiring four years, when some brave Americans strove to keep their fractured country democratic, while ruthless others stimulated toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting and contempt for the rule of law—poisons that all feel ominously familiar today.
MAGGIE HABERMAN: POLITICS, DONALD TRUMP AND THE BREAKING OF AMERICA
TUE, OCT 18 / 6:00 PM PDT In Person and Online
Maggie Haberman, Senior Political Reporter, The New York Times; Author, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America; Twitter @maggieNYT
Tim Miller, Writer-at-large, The Bulwark; Author, Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell; Twitter @timodc
Who is Donald Trump? In her highly anticipated new book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman chronicles his life from his rise in New York City to the White House.
Join us as Haberman discusses what she learned during interviews with hundreds of sources as well as numerous interviews over the years with Donald Trump himself, a man she says is both a complicated and often contradictory historical figure who pushed American democracy to the brink.
LESLIE ABSHER: SPY DAUGHTER, QUEER GIRL
THU, OCT 20 / 12:30 PM PDT Online
Leslie Absher, Journalist; Author, Spy Daughter, Queer Girl; Twitter @leslieabsher
Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host
John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
For Leslie Absher, secrecy is just another member of the family. Throughout childhood, her father's shadowy government job was ill-defined, her mother's mental health stayed off limits—even her queer identity remained hidden from her family and unacknowledged by Leslie herself.
In Spy Daughter, Queer Girl, Absher pursues the truth: of her family, her identity, and her father's role in Greece's CIA-backed junta. As a guide, Absher brings readers to the shade of plane trees in Greece, to queer discos in Boston, and to tense diner meals with her aging CIA father. As a memoirist, Absher renders a lifetime of hazy, shapeshifting truths in high-definition vibrance.
Infused with a journalist's tenacity and a daughter's open heart, this book recounts a decades' long process of discovery and the reason why the facts should matter to us all.
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