Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Last year’s Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were dominated by allegations of sexual misconduct during Kavanaugh’s past, including during his prep school and college years. While Kavanaugh was ultimately sworn in for a lifetime position on the Supreme Court, many questions about his past remained unanswered. In the new book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh, New York Times reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly—two journalists who broke many critical stories about Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing—take a deeper look at the formative years of the Supreme Court justice and his confirmation. Their research fills in some of the blanks and explores the essential question: Who is Brett Kavanaugh? By offering commentary from key players from his confirmation process who haven't yet spoken publicly and pursuing lines of inquiry that were left hanging, the new book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our political system and Kavanaugh's unexpectedly emblematic role in it. The authors are the perfect people to tell this story: Kate Kelly was in the same Washington, D.C. high school circuit as Kavanaugh, while Robin Pogrebin was one of his former classmates at Yale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shaili Jain will share nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans. Jain's new book, The Unspeakable Mind, is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Jain—a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals; trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD; and a Stanford professor—shines a long overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world. Post-traumatic stress disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war, and it is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create and work—incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on cultures and societies around the world. MLF Organizer: Patty James MLF: Health & Medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With an acting career spanning six decades, George Takei is known around the world for his founding role in the acclaimed television series “Star Trek,” in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise. But Takei's story goes where few stories have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in Japanese American internment camps during World War II to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, Takei remains a powerful voice on issues ranging from politics to pop culture. Mashable.com named him the no. 1 most influential person on Facebook, currently with 10.4 million likes and 2.8 million followers on Twitter. Takei hosts the AARP-produced YouTube series “Takei's Take,” and is the subject of To Be Takei, a Jennifer M. Kroot documentary on his life and career. "Takei's Take" explores the world of technology, trends, current events and pop culture. On his own YouTube channel, Takei and his husband Brad Takei bring viewers into their personal life in the heightened reality web series, “It Takeis Two.” Takei made his Broadway debut in the musical, Allegiance, inspired by his true-life experience in American internment camps. Allegiance ran in New York in 2015 and 2016 and had its Los Angeles premiere in 2018. In his new graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, Takei revisits his haunted childhood in American concentration camps as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. He details the forces that shaped him—and America itself—in a tale of courage, country, loyalty and love. Come for a rare visit with an American icon about his life, his activism and his ongoing mission to ensure that, at least on Earth, very few frontiers are final. 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

This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Daniel Handler, best-selling author known for his adult novels and children’s books under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, returns with a new dark comedy about his hometown of San Francisco. As Handler knows, San Francisco is a one-of-a-kind place, but it's leaving its residents behind. The city is flooded with tech money and innovation, but skyrocketing rents, income inequality, homelessness and other issues in the city have never been more urgent. Handler’s new novel, Bottle Grove, addresses love, greed and the precipice of change as two couples living in San Francisco deal with the effects of the tech boom looming over its citizens. Join us in welcoming Daniel Handler back to INFORUM and San Francisco this fall! NOTES Handler photo by Meredith Heuer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Come for an intergenerational conversation on Native American representation in film and media from experienced Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather to breakout Apache actress Sivan Alyra Rose. Sacheen is known for the protest at the Oscars, in which she represented Marlon Brando and raised attention about the Wounded Knee standoff, and Sivan for her role as the first Native American actress to lead a TV series—"Chambers" on Netflix. Both are known for utilizing their platforms for tribal rights and issues. This conversation will be moderated by Sarah Eagle Heart and Michelle Meow. This program made possible by support from New York Life Greater San Francisco General Office and One Bowl Productions ** This Podcast Contains Explicit Language ** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For 30 years, Lynn Novick has been directing and producing landmark documentary films about American culture, history, politics, sports, art and music. With co-director Ken Burns, she has created more than 80 hours of acclaimed programming for PBS, including The Vietnam War, Baseball, Jazz, Frank Lloyd Wright, The War and Prohibition. This duPont–Columbia and Peabody-Award winning filmmaker’s new documentary series, College Behind Bars, reveals the transformative power of higher education through the experiences of men and women trying to earn college degrees while incarcerated. Executive produced by Ken Burns and produced by Sarah Botstein, College Behind Bars is Novick’s solo directorial debut and will air November 25 and 26 on PBS stations. The four-hour series, distilled from nearly 400 hours of cinéma vérité footage, explores the lives of a dozen incarcerated men and women as they struggle to earn degrees in the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the country. In this era of mass incarceration, America is the world’s largest jailer, with more than 2 million men and women behind bars; 630,000 are released annually, and nearly 50 percent end up back in prison within five years, trapped in a cycle of imprisonment, release and reincarceration. Once commonplace in American prisons, higher education declined precipitously after 1994, when Congress ended federal Pell Grants for inmates as part of the Clinton crime bill. In the nearly 20 years since BPI began, more than 500 alumni have been released, and fewer than four percent have gone back. The program currently enrolls 300 men and women in six prisons and costs $6,000 per student per year, most of it privately funded. Here’s a chance to get a preview of the series and hear a discussion with the filmmakers and formerly incarcerated BPI students featured in the film about the power of education to transform lives and benefit society at large. NOTES In association with KQED For a sneak peak of the series, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ec3QpnaiU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, health care became the United States’ largest industry, but some would say that its success came at the expense of the American people. Coverage is unaffordable for many, 20 percent of Americans have faced debt collection for medical bills, and care increasingly feels rushed and impersonal. How did we get here, and how can we recover? Professor, surgeon, patient advocate and New York Times best-selling author Marty Makary reports on the root causes of the cost crisis—inappropriate care, middlemen and pricing failures—and highlights the innovators that are disrupting the bloated $3.5 trillion health care business. Makary breaks down a complex industry riddled with opaque pricing and clinical and administrative waste and untangles the medical bills that are so confusing most doctors can’t interpret them. In his role as executive director of Improving Wisely, a national physician collaboration to reduce unnecessary medical care and lower health care costs, Makary sees both the devastation medical bills can cause and the vast opportunity to improve the system. He argues that by working together, we can cut through the money games and restore medicine to its mission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year, Bruce Bochy announced that he would retire at the end of the season. As the 38th San Francisco Giants’ manager, serving in the role since 2006, Bochy has accumulated three World Series championships (2010, 2012 and 2014) and served as manager of four All-Star teams. His 975 wins are the second-most by a Giants manager in team history. His 24 seasons as a major league manager also include 12 with the San Diego Padres. Prior to his managing career, Bochy spent nearly a decade as a catcher with the Houston Astros, New York Mets and the Padres. He is also the subject of the new book Bochy Ball! The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business, and Life. Come for a special salute to Bochy and a rare conversation with one of baseball’s most beloved and respected figures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Samantha Power, former President Barack Obama’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is widely known as a leading moral voice of her generation. Power has been described by President Obama as one of America’s “foremost thinkers on foreign policy” and is revered as a Pulitzer Prize winner and a relentless advocate for promoting human rights. In her memoir, The Education of an Idealist, Power traces her extraordinary career and her change from an outspoken war correspondent and vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy to working with Obama in the Senate, on the campaign trail and throughout his presidency. Power takes us across the world from the streets of war-torn Bosnia to the White House Situation Room and delves into the complex networks of high-stakes diplomacy through her humorous, stirring and ultimately unforgettable account of the striking power of idealism. Join us for an invigorating and honest conversation with a world leader and human rights activist as she empowers us to approach global politics with a clearer eye and a kinder heart. 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

San Bernardino native Kevin Bard earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in political science from San Francisco State University with a focus on American politics and political theory. His thesis is a biography of his former local supervisor Ed Jew. He began his journey in local politics in college with the SF State Young Democrats, then joining the San Francisco Young Democrats. He worked for the California Democratic Party as the volunteer coordinator during the 2008 coordinated campaign with the Obama Campaign. Kevin then joined the Harvey Milk Club‚a decade ag0—and worked his way up to the organization's president in 2019. Just prior to that, he worked as a campaign organizer at the Nancy Pelosi Red To Blue office, which helped flip the House of Representatives and then convened the California AD 17 delegate election in January a few days before winning the Milk Club presidency. Join us as Michelle Meow brings her long-running daily radio show to The Commonwealth Club one day each week. Meet fascinating—and often controversial—people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. See more upcoming Michelle Meow Shows at The Commonwealth Club here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices