Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Despite all the media attention given to black holes, dark matter and dark energy, astronomy is actually all about the light—the decillions of photons careening around the universe. Join us virtually for a conversation with Alex Filippenko, a Berkeley astrophysicist who works on deciphering, from all that photonic information live-streaming to Earth, what is really going on out there. Filippenko will also share some of the spectacular images from deep space that our technology has been able to construct from the clues left behind by billions of those wandering photons. MLF ORGANIZER George Hammond NOTES MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I became very good at what I do. When other coaches on the staff would go home at night to their wife and kids, I would stay at the office. I would keep working, keep learning. This helped my career, but I didn't realize the negative effects it would have on my mental health." That's how Matt Lynch described his life hiding his sexuality during his time coaching at UNC-Wilmington. Currently out of work due to the COVID-related layoffs of the coaching staff, Lynch will join us for an online program to discuss his decision to come out publicly as a gay man in an article he wrote for Outsports.com this winter. How did his family respond? How did his players react? How did his school treat him? And what's next for this young coach? Join us for a conversation about being gay in big-time college sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect health and industry, the food that we eat every day has formed a complicated relationship to the crisis. Has social distancing forced us to think more consciously about what and how we cook? Or has panic and misinformation surrounding food safety spread to the masses? The Food Lab’s J. Kenji López-Alt joins INFORUM to explore all of the complex facets of this conversation—and, of course, he will do it using science. We will cover topics such as safe grocery store practices, food serving and preparation, false information regarding transmission via food (especially when ordering takeout) and much more. Tune in live as we explore all things food while in quarantine from one of the industry’s most trusted experts. This program is generously supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and a collaborative of local funders and donors. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Jerry Brown is no ordinary politician. Like California, he is eclectic, brilliant, unpredictable, and sometimes weird. Join us virtually as Newton explains how Jerry Brown extended, but still radically altered, the legacy of his father, Governor Pat Brown. In his 16 years as governor (from 1975 to 1983 and from 2011 to 2019), Jerry Brown's blend of compassion, far-sightedness, and pragmatism helped restore the California economy, balance the state budget, combat climate change, and defend immigrants' rights. Newton reveals the blueprint of Jerry Brown's offbeat risk taking: equal parts fiscal conservatism and social progressivism. Newton also reveals other sides of Jerry Brown, whose defeat on the national stage did nothing to diminish the scale of his political, intellectual and spiritual ambitions, and whose legacy demonstrates how politics may once again be effective in the future. MLF Organizer: George Hammond MLF: Humanities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Bodanis, science author and historian, discusses the future of the world economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Einstein's major mistake in solving a physics problem, the intellectual partnership between Madame du Chatelet and Voltaire, the transformational force of electricity, and his upcoming book project on the power of decency in a world gone mean.

Everyone wants the economy to reopen as quickly as possible, but how can we do it while minimizing the risk to our health? The government and independent experts have developed detailed proposals. Many states and localities have eased restrictions without meeting the criteria in these plans. Some see the issue as a tug-of-war between the economy and public health, while others argue that we can’t have one without the other. Two influential health-care leaders from different sides of the political spectrum who have contributed to high-profile re-opening plans will debate how fast we should reopen, what risks are acceptable and how we can minimize them. NOTES In association with The Zetema Project This program is generously supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and a collaborative of local funders and donors. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs, David Kessler explains how eating refined grains such as wheat, corn and rice leads to a cascade of hormonal and metabolic issues that make it very easy to gain weight and nearly impossible to lose it. Worse still is how excess weight creates a very real link to diabetes, heart disease, cognitive decline and a host of cancers. We can no longer afford to dismiss the consequences of eating food that is designed to be rapidly absorbed as sugar in our bodies. Informed by cutting-edge research as well as Kessler’s own personal quest to manage his weight, Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs reveals in illuminating detail how we got to this critical turning point in our health as a nation—and outlines a plan for eliminating heart disease, allowing us to finally regain control of our health. Dr. Kessler recently joined Joe Biden’s Public Health Advisory Committee and will also discuss how our collective behavior with be the primary determinant in dealing with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. David Kessler served as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is the author of A Question of Intent and The End of Overeating, a New York Times best seller. He is a pediatrician and has been the dean of the medical schools at Yale and the UC San Francisco. Kessler is a graduate of Amherst College, the University of Chicago Law School and Harvard Medical School. MLF ORGANIZER Patty James NOTES MLF: Health & Medicine Visit BarnesandNoble.com to purchase Dr. Kessler's book. This program was rescheduled from April 28. This program is generously supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and a collaborative of local funders and donors. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, care workers, particularly those who work in homes and long-term care residential facilities, have faced some of the biggest challenges among frontline workers during the 2-month crisis. One the one hand, many of the care workers who work in homes have lost their jobs or had their hours massively reduced. On the other hand, workers who have maintained their jobs often have had to jeopardize their own health and the health of their own families by going to work. Meanwhile, many of these jobs don’t have traditional job benefits in the best of times, let alone during one of the most significant public health and economic crises that U.S. workers have had to face in decades. How are care workers facing these challenges during the current pandemic? How can these workers be protected in future disasters? Please join us as we explore these important questions and issues with key leaders in the field. NOTES This program is generously supported by the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, as well as a collaborative of local funders and donors. We are grateful for their support and hope others will follow their example to support the Club during these uncertain times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join a panel of passionate former Pride board members who will share their experiences volunteering for the organization as it celebrates its 50 year anniversary this year. Jacquelene Bishop owns and operates her own CPA firm in the East Bay, serving small businesses and their owners. She sat on the Pride board from 2016–2019, serving as the treasurer the first two years and as president the third. Ken Jones joined the Parade in 1980; and served as its first co-chair of outreach, charged with bringing more “traditionally under/non/mis-represented segments of the lesbian and gay communities” into the movement. Early efforts including giving people of color an opportunity to gather and march together as their own contingent and utilizing the Hot Colors Event at the End-up to bring people of color together the night before Pride. He continued with the organization for more than a decade, serving as co-chair and president. Jones presently hosts small groups in an historical walk through the Castro during the 80s and 90s. Michelle Meow is the former president of SF Pride. She is the producer and host of "The Michelle Meow Show," which airs on KBCW TV and KPIX TV, and online on the Progressive Voices Radio Network. The is a member of The Commonwealth Club's Board of Governors, and she produces about 50 programs a year at the Club, featuring LGBTQI thought leaders. Teddy Witherington currently serves as the deputy director at the Impact Fund. The Impact Fund is dedicated to impact litigation for social justice. Prior to that he served CMO at Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. He was the executive director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (2007–2012), executive director of San Francisco LGBT Pride (1997–2006), and as the festival producer of the London LGBT Pride Festival (1992-1997). ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The San Francisco Chronicle entered a new era of restaurant criticism in 2019 when longtime critic Michael Bauer retired and was succeeded by Soleil Ho. Quick to set herself apart from her predecessor, Ho freely mixes thoughts on racism, cultural appropriation and other hot-button topics into her reviews. Her "Racist Sandwich" podcast was nominated for multiple awards, and in 2018 she received the Southern Foodways Alliance Smith Symposium Fellowship and a UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship. Join us for a conversation with a young—and controversial—voice in the Bay Area's boisterous food culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices