Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Richard Schwartz captures the life of M.B. Curtis, an incredibly influential immigrant actor of the late 19th century. It is a story of immigration, assimilation, the theater and the invisible wings of comedy. It is about how one play became the way a nation examined its feelings and attitudes towards immigrants and gave audiences a chance to walk in shoes they would never have worn. Curtis was the Jewish Jackie Robinson of the stage—the first Jewish male actor who was allowed to portray a Jewish male on stage in America. His talent, creativity, fame, suffering, perseverance, dreaming and overnight rise to stardom linked him intimately with the Statue of Liberty, Mark Twain, New York, San Francisco, murder and the greatest African-American entertainment troupe of its time.

How did an award-winning comedian defy the odds and get elected to public office? Hear more about Senator Al Franken’s journey as he shares behind-the-scenes moments of his foray into politics and working in Washington, D.C. Senator Franken has represented the state of Minnesota since 2009. He serves on several committees, including the Judiciary; Energy and Natural Resources; Indian Affairs; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Before entering the political scene, Senator Franken was a popular “Saturday Night Live” writer and featured player, comedian, and radio talk show host

Local, state, and national politics is in the news like never before. It's never a dull moment in politics these days, and we'll 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. Join our panelists for informative and engaging commentary on political and other major news, audience discussion of the week’s events, and our live news quiz!

Monday Night Philosophy goes beyond ping-pong diplomacy and delves deep into the foreign policy role baseball played in US–Japan relations before and after World War II. Dennis Snelling reviews the roles played by Horace Wilson, Mike Fisher and Lefty O'Doul in making baseball popular in Japan. Horace Wilson, a Civil War veteran who had settled in San Francisco, taught English (and baseball) in Japan in the 1870s. Mike Fisher, a San Francisco entrepreneur, organized the first tour of Japan by professional ballplayers in 1908. Lefty O'Doul, a San Francisco native, played in Japan in 1931 and then brought Babe Ruth and others with him in 1934, where he helped found the Tokyo Giants. After the war, General MacArthur arranged for O'Doul to bring a baseball team over to help repair relations, which he successfully did in many ways on and off the field.

Are genetically modified food advocates the new "flat-earthers"? Are their opponents the new climate deniers? As with many issues these days, the two sides are working from different sets of facts. Monsanto, the agrochemical company, and other supporters of foods that include genetically modified organisms (GMOs) say using GMOs can promote more nutritious crops, improve farmer livelihood, foster drought tolerance and flood resilience, reduce chemical pesticide use, and end hunger. Food advocates say those claims are false. They note that GMO foods promote industrial monoculture, concentrate corporate power in a few hands and drive the use of glyphosate, which has been labeled a carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s cancer agency and is now the subject of a class action lawsuit in California. Both critics and supporters were displeased by a law passed last year requiring the future labeling of GMO foods. Join us for a conversation about facts, science and the truth about eating and labeling GMO foods.

How did an award-winning comedian defy the odds and get elected to public office? Hear more about Senator Al Franken’s journey as he shares behind-the-scenes moments of his foray into politics and working in Washington, D.C. Senator Franken has represented the state of Minnesota since 2009. He serves on several committees, including the Judiciary; Energy and Natural Resources; Indian Affairs; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Before entering the political scene, Senator Franken was a popular “Saturday Night Live” writer and featured player, comedian, and radio talk show host.

The charity connects teens to the resources they need, showcasing local bands in a way that helps teens learn about depression and its risk factors.

Learn about this unique Bay Area opera company.

Where is health care in the U.S. headed under the Trump administration? What do recent changes mean, and how will they affect consumers? Where should we be heading and why? Now that the American Health Care Act (AHCA) has passed in the House, health care reform remains a hotter topic than ever. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has proposed turning Medicare into a voucher program and funding Medicaid through block grants to states. Congress continues to discuss eliminating the individual mandate and providing more flexibility in terms of which benefits insurers must offer. Conservatives claim these changes would provide greater choice to consumers and more value to the federal budget, while progressives argue that these changes would reduce access to care and worsen health outcomes. We’ll hear from two former senior officials on the ongoing efforts to repeal or repair the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Andy Slavitt recently stepped down as acting administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama. Gail Wilensky held the same post under President George H.W. Bush. Both experts continue to speak out from differing perspectives on Medicare and Medicaid as well as broader reform issues. Join us for a spirited discussion on the problems and prospects of U.S. health care.

When someone you know is hurting, you want to let her know you care. But many people don’t know the exact words to use—or are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. This thoughtful, instructive guide, from empathy expert Kelsey Crowe, blends well-researched, actionable advice with the no-nonsense humor and immensely popular empathy cards to help you feel confident in connecting with anyone experiencing grief, loss, illness or any other difficult situation. Whether it’s a co-worker whose mother has died, a neighbor whose husband has been in a car accident or a friend who is seriously ill, Crowe advises you how to be the best friend you can be to someone in need. Crowe is the founder of Help Each Other Out, which offers empathy boot camp workshops to give people tools for building relationships when it really counts. She earned her Ph.D. in social work at the UC Berkeley, and is a faculty member at the School of Social Work at California State University. Miller is a hospice and palliative care specialist who treats hospitalized patients with terminal or life-altering illnesses at UCSF Medical Center. He also sees patients in a palliative care clinic and at the cancer symptom management service at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Great bosses have strong relationships with their employees. Kim Scott has identified three simple principles for building better relationships. She will share the framework to help build, lead and inspire others to do their best. Learn more about “radical candor,” the effective management method that Scott developed from her years working at Google and Apple and from serving as a coaching executive at Twitter and Dropbox.

Teenage brothers Angel and Miguel worry every day about their mom. She is undocumented, and she’s put together an emergency binder telling her sons what to do if she’s picked up by immigration authorities and doesn’t come home. Kaushik came to San Francisco from India five years ago to attend college. He found a job as an app engineer, but because he’s here on a specialized work visa, he isn’t sure if he can continue living in this country. Esra, a student at San Jose State University, must think about her safety when she gets dressed in the morning. Last year, a stranger tried to yank off her hijab while she was in a campus parking garage. These real stories illustrate what is unfolding across the country and in Bay Area communities. Our panelists say that, unlike any other region, the Bay Area is equipped with the history and willpower to stand with and protect immigrants and their families at this time of crisis. In January, San Francisco, a city led by the son of immigrants, became the first city in the country to sue the president for threatening to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities. In February, Muslim artists began staging prayer sessions in public plazas throughout San Francisco to combat growing Islamophobia. In both February and April, more than 100 tech companies, including many founded by immigrants, banded together to file legal challenges to the president’s executive orders on immigration. And on May 1, tens of thousands of Bay Area residents took to the streets to demonstrate immigrants and workers’ essential contributions to society.Please join the San Francisco Foundation to hear from Bay Area leaders seeking to protect and defend immigrants (who represent more than 40 percent of Bay Area residents) so that they can continue to contribute to the economic prosperity and cultural vibrancy of the region.

The new documentary Is America in Retreat? examines the greatest foreign policy debate of our decade and the hard questions American leaders face in dealing with a rapidly changing world order. Since the Second World War, the United States has been at the forefront of a Pax Americana—a period of relative peace guaranteed by U.S. military might. Today, that peace is threatened by an ambitious and aggressive foreign policy in China, Russian territorial claims and occupations in Eastern Europe, and deteriorating conditions in the Middle East and North Korea. More than half of Americans polled today believe we should “mind our own business.” Is there a downside to retreat, or does the world still require American global leadership? Come view a clip of the documentary. A discussion will follow.

Californians are accustomed to living through wet times and dry times, but lately things are getting more extreme and much more difficult to predict. After five years of severe drought, Californians are now talking about what it means to have too much water. The end of the drought is a blessing, but the state may need to find $50 billion to repair dams, roads and other infrastructure threatened by floods. The damaged spillway at Oroville Dam highlighted what happens when the state doesn’t keep its water system in good working order. How is California preparing for the whiplash of going from really dry to really wet years? What will it take to fix the system that delivers the water that keeps us alive and lubricates our economy? How will state and federal governments work together to modernize the water systems responsible for growing the food that lands on our dinner tables?

For more than 100 years, gay clubs and bars have served as havens and sanctuaries as well as party spots and hookup sites. They've been the centers of solidarity, community and education. They've also been the sites of violence and persecution that ultimately led to great advancements in pride, rights and freedoms. Unger's richly illustrated talk highlights the history of a long and colorful American tradition central to the LGBTQ community: the gay bar—from jook joints to the Stonewall Inn to Orlando's Pulse and beyond.