The Commonwealth December 2019/January 2020

Commonwealth The

THE MAGAZINE OF THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA

DEC. / JAN. 2019–2020

Hurry Up For

“Wait Wait . . .”

WITH PETER SAGAL

& DOUG BERMAN Bruce Bochy George Takei Sean Carroll Lizz Winstead The Education of Brett Kavanaugh Dr. Jen Gunter & Mary Roach

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UPCOMING PROGRAMS Complete Guide

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March 15 - 20, 2020 With our expert naturalist guide, explore Badwater Salt Flats and Ubehebe Crater.

Marvel at the panoramic views of Telescope Peak. Watch the sunrise at Zabriskie Point and walk between the multi-hued walls of Golden Canyon. Learn about the resilient desert pupfish and wildflowers. Stay at the Oasis at Death Valley.

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travel@commonwealthclub.org CST: 2096889-40

INSIDE9 THIS ISSUE 35

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Editor’s Desk

Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me

Welcome to 2020

Peter Sagal and Doug Berman

Science vs. pseudoscience

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The Commons News and insights from the Club

George Takei The actor and activist remembers his World War II internment camp

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On the Scene Behind-the-scenes look at life at the Club

First Word: Bruce Bochy

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Two-Month Calendar

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Quantum Leap

Program Listings

Sean Carroll explains

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Lizz Winstead: Superpowers

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Last Word: Jen Gunter & Mary Roach

How to be funny, famous and feared

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Late-Breaking Events

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manager discusses the importance

Education of Brett Kavanaugh Insight

of team chemistry

Behind the controversial justice

By Gloria Duffy

The former San Francisco Giants

On the cover: Doug Berman and Peter Sagal of NPR’s “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me”

On this page: Mark Zitter, Peter Sagal and Doug Berman Photo by: James Meinerth

Photo by: James Meinerth

When we do our show, I’ll have a script that we’ve all written and collaborated on and polished and redone. But we do all this preparation and . . . Paula Poundstone [interrupts]. And I learned a long time ago that the only thing you can do is just jump on her boat and go where she’s going.

-PETER SAGAL

December/January 2019–2020 - Volume 113, No.6

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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Copyright © 2019 The Commonwealth Club of California.

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THE COMMO N WE AL TH

Photo by Roven Images

2020 and Beyond

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year can be a long time.

Along with the challenges and heartaches everyone experiences, I hope you also had a year of happiness, success and discovery. Three hundred sixty-five days gives us each a lot of opportunities to enjoy the good times as well as start anew after each challenge.

Here at The Commonwealth Club, we try to fill as many of those 365 days with programs that will make your year and the world at large a better place. That is, after all, what our name tells us to do.

There are a few other organizations in the world that call themselves the “Commonwealth Club.” But they use it to refer to the Commonwealth of Virginia or even the British Commonwealth. (We are not infrequently tagged on Twitter with someone complaining about a British Commonwealth policy or celebrating a cricket victory in the Commonwealth Games.) We are not related to either organization. One hundred and sixteen years ago, the founders of The Commonwealth Club of California chose that name (after first flirting with calling it the Agora, from the ancient Greek idea of a public space for assembly) to show their intent to deal with things that improve the common wealth—the common good.

More than a century later, we have not only continued but expanded that mission.

From small group discussions to debates to celebrity speakers, we are able to cover a wide variety of interests, topics and points of view.

Just take a look at the December and January programs in this issue’s event listings.

This past year, you saw artists, scientists, politicians, Olympic athletes, business people, activists, physicians and entertainers on our stages. We began an exciting new project that will result in the formation of an education department at the Club; in April, our Climate One team headed to Harvard University to hold a live program; our Travel department sent travelers on a sold-out trip highlighting the people and places of the American Civil Rights struggle; we launched a popular new discussion group, the Common Space Forum; at former Governor Jerry Brown’s request, we hosted meetings between U.S. and California officials and Russian cultural and political figures, including the Russian ambassador to the United States; we held our first New Year’s Eve party at the Club, which was quickly included in a list of the top 10 NYE parties in the city (see page 45 for information on our repeat performance). Between all of that and our 500 programs, we filled as many of those 365 days as possible with social and educational events to do our bit to ensure that the common good got a little bit better in 2019.

JOHN Z I P P E R E R VIC E PRE SIDE NT, ME DIA & E D I T O RI AL

P.S. Who was your favorite Club speaker?

You can refresh your memory by going to our audio archive at commonwealthclub.org/ podcasts or our video archive at commonwealthclub.org/videos.

TALK OF THE CLUB New Leader for Education

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he Club announced its newest staff addition and newest department in November when Dr. Lauren Silver was named education director. Silver will take the helm of a new education initiative at The Commonwealth Club to develop positive civic engagement in K–12 audiences.

“Dr. Lauren Silver brings a unique background in developing educational programs, with a strong track record of project development and project management experience,” said Dr. Gloria Duffy, president and CEO of the Club. “We are delighted she will be leading our new education program, and grateful to the Koret Foundation for their vision and support to make the education program possible.”

Silver added that her hope is that “all children can grow up with a sense of social responsibility and passion for civic engagement and dialogue.” Since 2011, Dr. Silver has been the vice president of education at the Computer History Museum, based in Mountain View.

Seen at the Club

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ou never know who will be spotted at the Club. Recently, we pleased to see former Secretary of State George P. Shultz at a program featuring former California Governor Jerry Brown, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov and other notable speakers.

A Marin Conversations program on feminists who are interested in witches attracted one attendee who came garbed in a stereotypical witch’s outfit. And this fall, some famous musicians have been spotted here. Singer Bonnie Raitt attended our Deepak Chopra program, and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich was in the audience of our Marc Benioff event.

Abstractions

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hotographer Debra Reabock says she loves “creating moments of inquisitive wonder with unique photographic perspectives.” You can see her stunning

Above left to right: An audience member came dressed with pointed hat for an October 22 program on feminism and witches; Club videographer Spencer Campbell, Director of Video Services Val Castro and Metallica musician Lars Ulrich at a recent Club program. Below left to right: Photographer Debra Reabock; detail from “Optica 3” by Reabock, coming this month to the Farmer Gallery.

photos of nature and architecture when you visit our Farmer Gallery at 110 The Embarcadero in San Francisco.

In an exhibit guest-curated by Club member Robert Melton, Reabock will show off her works that “seek to reveal what is hidden from us during our initial observation” of things. You can meet her in person when she is a panelist on the program “Artistic Creativity and Consciousness,” January 6 in the Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium.

Reabock’s exhibit is free of charge and open Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., from December 5, 2019, through March 13, 2020.

Board Vote

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ach year, the members of The Commonwealth Club vote on a slate of new and returning members of our Board of Governors. In November, members were notified by email about the board ballot, and online voting took place in the final weeks of November.

On December 5, at the beginning of

the evening program featuring Microsoft President Brad Smith, all members present will be invited to confirm the vote.

If you want to review the nominees, you can see the full list at commonwealthclub.org/ boardballot.

Judging Dr. Phil

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etired Judge LaDoris Cordell is a frequent figure on The Commonwealth Club’s stage. She has been a speaker, panelist, tour leader on a Club Travel program to civil rights sites, and frequent moderator of our programs for many years. (She is also on the ballot to join the Club’s Board of Governors; see above item.)

Cordell might be a retired judge, but she remains involved in many hot-button judicial issues of the day. Recently, she appeared on the “Dr. Phil” TV show to discuss disparities in judicial sentencing decisions.

She’s also no stranger to TV. In 2017, she starred in a short-lived reality TV series on Fox called “You the Jury.”

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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ON THE SCENE Joe Talbot, Jimmie Fails, Michelle Meow, John Zipperer August 29, 2019

Inside and Out William Perry, George Shultz October 6, 2019

Duffy Jennings August 5, 2019

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he past few months have been very busy at the Club, with events taking place across the Bay Area and all over our HQ building.

Clockwise from bottom left: Former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Duffy Jennings showed up for his program on the city’s turbulent 1970s, but he began by plugging someone else’s book, San Francisco Appetites and Afterthoughts, by the late journalist and man-about-town Ernest Beyl, who died the day the book was released; former Secretary of Defense William Perry (left) laughs with former Secretary of State George Shultz (seated); the director and star of The Last Black Man in San Francisco pose with the moderators on our roof before their program; attendees at our Blue Angels viewing party received background information from an expert; science authors Mary Roach and Jen Gunter share a laugh before their Inforum program in San Francisco.

(Gunter also spoke at a program in our Marin Conversations series.)

On the next page, in the upper left, a Climate One program featured a guest participating via the Internet; plus a selection of photos of Club members and guests enjoying rooftop events, parties and social gatherings, and the latest exhibit in the Farmer Gallery.

Blue Angels Viewing Party October 12, 2019

Mary Roach, Jen Gunter September 9, 2019

PHOTO CREDITS: Duffy Jennings, Last Black Man, Blue Angels, Climate One beer and wine event, Harvest Member Party: James Meinerth; Perry and Shultz, Roach and Gunter: Ed Ritger; Climate One sports event: Sarah Gonzalez.

First Word

THE EXIT

WITH BRUCE BOCHY Photo by Joe Dwyer

INTERVIEW Championship teams are made up of players who have a shared vision, a vision so compelling that it becomes more important than their individual needs.

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t doesn’t just happen. [Team chemistry] happens because you work at it.

I’ve been blessed to have a lot of players who are so good at trying to build the chemistry and trying to be good clubhouse guys, from [Buster] Posey to [Pablo] Sandoval, even Madison [Bumgarner].

They actually work at it. It really springs forth when people cooperate and they collaborate and they connect; that’s more important than their personal achievement, their individual achievements or even their self-interest.

That’s how it happens. We try to build it every year. It starts in spring training. We talk about it. To make good teams—your championship teams—they’re made up of players who have a shared vision, a vision so compelling that it becomes more important than their individual needs. So they’re willing to subordinate their own agenda, and that’s for the team.

So that’s what I take pride in. With our game today, there’s so much talk about [how] much has changed with the analytics and everything, and this is part of what we’re talking about here. Data is very important, trust me. This information can make the players better. But I still believe sheer talent’s gonna help you win games—but doing championships, you’ve got to have a group of guys that come together, gel together, and play together and play for each other. . . .

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You know, sometimes we look at the player—what he can do, the numbers, stats. But I try to remind remind myself they’re people first—they really are—and you can’t forget how hard this game is.

You can dehumanize the game with the analytics that are available out there.

So that’s where it starts. Then I go by the golden rule: I try to treat people the way I would want to be treated. And trust me, they’re all different. We’ve had a very diverse group here [laughter], and one size doesn’t fit all with these guys.

Just to give you a few examples . . . I mean, Buster, you got to be just straightforward with him; don’t try to weave around him. He just wants to you know exactly what you’re talking about. Then you get a special talent like a Tim Lincecum, and you’ve got to coddle him. He really wanted to be accepted, be loved and whatever, so you treat him a little different. [Brandon] Belt—I’ve said you need a cattle prod sometimes [laughter]; we nicknamed him Sparky. He’s such a good guy; there’s just sometimes you’ve got prod him a little bit. And then you got Sandoval; the biggest thing with him? Just keep him out of the kitchen [laughter].

But you gotta manage them all different.

—Bruce Bochy, September 14, 2019

Wait, Wait ...

It's Peter Sagal and Doug Berman In conversation with

PETER SAGAL

DOUG BERMAN

MARK ZITTER

Host, NPR’s “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!”; Author, The Incomplete Book of Running

Benevolent Overlord (Producer), “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!”; Creator, “Car Talk”

Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Founder and Chair, The Zetema Project

Photos by James Meinerth

L ea r n t h e b e hin d - t h e scenes stories of public radio's smash hit comedy quiz program. From the October 28, 2019, program in San Francisco, “Wait Wait . . . It ’s Peter Sagal and Doug Berman.”

MARK ZITTER: Two days ago, “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!” taped its 1,000th show.

What is the secret to the program’s success?

These two guests tonight are going to help tell us the answer to that question.

PETER SAGAL: Before we get started, I’m genuinely curious about this. Obviously, I’m Peter Sagal. [To the audience:]I was just wondering, you presumably knew what neither of us look like. Who assumed as we walked onstage that the guy who fronts the show and is the star in the radio was the good-looking one? [Laughter.]

ZITTER: I’m going to get started with how the show got started. Doug Berman is producing the hit show “Car Talk.” It’s already won a Peabody Award. It’s 1997; NPR comes to you and says we want you to do another show. How did “Wait Wait” get started?

DOUG BERMAN: I came up with the concept, but I think it’s important to understand: Coming coming up with an idea is literally about 5 percent of the way to having something. It was really the work that the staff we ended up putting together over time, including Peter, really did in creating this thing. I’m sometimes credited with creating it, but I started the ball rolling down the hill.

I think what I had in mind—I grew up in New York and there was a dead zone on late night television at 11 o’clock before Johnny Carson came on. One of the local stations

ran reruns of “You Bet Your Life,” Groucho Marx’s show. I think somewhere in the back of my head I had that planted there. I wanted to do something that was related to the news, and I thought, Wouldn’t it be nice if we can have fun with that? That’s where it started.

We started working on it; we did several iterations starting about sometime in ’95. It had a gestation period and then a difficult birth.

ZITTER: Yeah. The first real show was January of ’98. You had a host then, didn’t really work out, and by May you asked Peter, who had been a panelist— BERMAN: Yeah. It may have been April.

SAGAL: No, actually, you asked me in early February. It had a rough start. Yeah. I’ve been lucky in that way. It’s like when you launch a ship and it’s immediately on fire.

ZITTER: Were you surprised? Why do you think Doug asked you?

SAGAL: To this day I have no idea.

BERMAN: That’s not true.

SAGAL: I guess you should fill it in. I was trying to make a living as a playwright and screenwriter and doing okay. You may have heard of my magnum opus, Dirty Dancing II: Havana Nights.

BERMAN: Take a bow.

SAGAL: I was doing that, and I got a call from a friend of mine who said, “I know these people at NPR who are putting together a show. They’re looking for funny people who read a lot of newspapers, and I thought of you. Would like to be part of this thing?” I was like, yes, of course. I was an NPR junkie and would love to be on it. My name was put in, and I got a call from the original senior producer of the

Left to right: Mark Zitter, Peter Sagal and Doug Berman THE COMMO N WE AL TH 10

show, David Green. I auditioned and got to be a panelist on the show and was a panelist on the very first show in January of 1998 with a different host. It was, like I said, about a month later in early February when I get a call again from David Green saying the host isn’t working, how would you like to give it a try? Here we are 21 years later.

ZITTER: What was your initial reaction?

SAGAL: I was sort of surprised; I was excited.

It seemed desperate to me, frankly.

BERMAN: It was.

SAGAL: I mean, I’ve always referred to it as a battlefield promotion. I was telling that to The [Commonwealth Club] reception upstairs, and somebody said, “So it’s like the general got killed and all of a sudden you get promoted.”

I said, “It’s more like the general was shot by his own troops, so now I’m going to get promoted.” I mean, I literally had no idea how to do anything related to this job. I had never done anything like it.

ZITTER: Let me understand how you guys work together. Doug, we introduced you as producer, but my understanding is your real title is “benevolent overlord.” Is that true?

First of all, Peter, can you comment on the “benevolent” part of that, is it— SAGAL: Lies.

ZITTER: I’m curious [about] how you make decisions together as a team with other people on the staff and so forth. How does that work?

BERMAN: First of all, benevolent overlord is my formal NPR title. I’m

the only one in NPR with that title. It’s in my contract. We’re fortunate that we have a team of people—what is it, six or so people?

SAGAL: It varies, but generally about six other than myself.

BERMAN: Yeah, and I’d say every one of them is funnier than I am, fortunately. What we do is we discuss stuff. We discuss the material; we try to figure out what’s funny about any given news story. We try to figure out which stories are appropriate, which are completely inappropriate and then which ones are not going to [work out]. The way it works is that people in the meeting represent different opinions and different ideas and different expertise, and that sort of give-andtake and tug-and-pull is what results in these great decisions most weeks. It works like 98 percent of the time.

ZITTER: And the [panelists], are they involved in any of those?

BERMAN: No, we just push them out.

ZITTER: They just do their thing.

SAGAL: The show is produced and written by my colleagues in Chicago, in our home office with Doug kind of benevolently overseeing and overlording. We prepare the material; we write the questions; we try and sniff out; we throw it out; we improve it. But the panelists have almost no idea what we’re going to do. They prepare the fake stories, what we call Bluff the Listener. But we found out a while ago that—I’m actually interested if you agree with this because I’ve been saying it for a long time.

BERMAN: I’ll take a guess and say I don’t.

But go ahead and see what it is.

SAGAL: My joke is that whichever of us dies first, the other one will be standing over the grave going, “Fine. I got the last word!”

Anyway, what I think is that there are a lot of people who do what we do, who make fun of the week’s news, and I know some of them and they’re incredibly smart and they have like this incredible amount of firepower to bring to the problem. Like Stephen Colbert must have 15 writers. I think Jon Stewart had literally 30 writers. What they do is incredibly polished, brilliant writing that they practice and polish and put in visual elements. It’s just a great produced bit of comedy, and we don’t have the resources to do that, but more to the point, that’s not exactly what we do.

What we do is basically improv, because the thrill and the fun of our show is that it sounds live because it is live, at least it was live to tape in that we don’t know what the panelists are going to say. They don’t know what we’re going to ask them. And so what you’re hearing when it sounds like somebody is coming up with something off the top of their head, they are. I think that is how we stand out in this crowded—I think what they say here in the Bay Area—“space.”

ZITTER: A lot of it’s written, and then it’s improvised?

SAGAL: Basically, the way I put it is we spend all week preparing to be unprepared, preparing to be spontaneous. So I’ll have in

front of me, when we do our show, I’ll have a script that we’ve all written and collaborated on and polished and redone. But it’s a little bit like, have you ever listened to Supreme Court arguments? A lawyer will prepare and prepare and prepare and prepare and practice with his colleagues or her colleagues and will get ready to make their argument to the Supreme Court, and they get four sentences in, and the next thing you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg [is] saying, “Well, that sounds ridiculous.” All of a sudden [you] have to like go with it. That’s basically my experience. We do all this preparation and instead of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it’s Paula Poundstone. And I learned a long time ago, that the only thing you can do is just jump on her boat and go where she’s going. [Laughter.]

ZITTER: You mentioned Bluff the Listener, which is actually my favorite part of the show. For those of you who don’t know, Bluff the Listener is when they pick a theme and each of the three panelists reads a story that’s based on that theme; only one of the three stories is true, and they all seem highly improbable. Right?

Where do the stories come from?

BERMAN: Well, first the staff picks the real story; we always start there, and we always look for a story that we label as NFW, which stands for “no way.” [Laughter.] Once we have that story, then what we’ll do is we’ll try to come up with a theme that sort of includes that story but gives the two other panelists a chance to do a creative writing exercise and come up with a story that fits that theme and produces this set altogether—three stories that can feasibly be described under this theme—and then we’ll assign the real one to somebody. We’ll usually discuss that—who do we think will best handle the real one, and more often who will best handle the bluffs. Then the panelists are responsible for writing their own stories,

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and we edit them, and we help them polish them, and then they come up with it.

ZITTER: I was thinking you hire people, whoever applies for the job and lies on their resume, they’re the best people to take it because those are great.

You’ve had a lot of terrific panelists on the show and along the way, but I wanted to ask you, what about the duds? Who’s the worst panelist you’ve ever had on the show?

SAGAL: I will tell you one story. Many years ago, it must’ve been in the early 2000s because we’re in Chicago, we were working with [legendary comedy club] Second City to look for talent, and we had this guy come in. He was very successful at Second City, was very funny. He was already sort of acclaimed there, and he came in and we put him in the panel for like two shows, and he just didn’t have it. Which is no fault of his; our show is really hard to do.

ZITTER: It’s a weird skill set.

SAGAL: Very talented people have come to our show but not succeeded because it’s just so odd. That guy—so we sort of said, “Oh, thanks; it didn’t work out.” I don’t remember what happened to him. His name was Kee-

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gan-Michael Key. [Laughter.]

ZITTER: Never know.

SAGAL: This is of course the judgment of talent that arrived at me. But generally speaking, we’re at the point where we know what we’re doing, and our current panelists are so good that we can take a flyer on somebody, we can bring somebody in, in what we think of as the third chair. Sometimes they’ll be great.

Recently, last year, we invited this woman named Maeve Higgins, who we instantly all fell in love with. She was amazing. Her voice is brilliant.

One of the things that I have learned from Doug is that far more than the content of what you say, how clever you are, how inventive, you’re humorous, whatever. In radio, it’s far more important how you sound, and that’s not necessarily the [tone] of your voice or your accent, although those contribute.

But, do you sound like somebody people might like? Do you sound pleasant and likable and somebody they want to spend their time with? Which ultimately was the secret of “Car Talk,” I think. I don’t think you disagree that Tom and Ray [Magliozzi] were just delightful people that people wanted to

spend an hour with. It didn’t matter what they were talking about.

ZITTER: Yeah.

SAGAL: I’m sure many of you agree that people listened to “Car Talk” religiously and didn’t care or know anything about cars.

That’s not why they were listening.

BERMAN: Neither did Tom and Ray. SAGAL: Right, there you are. The people who really work well on our show—and Maeve’s is a good example because she’s recent and we all so agreed about it—there are people who, in addition to being funny and charming and quick and improvisational and original and know stuff we don’t know, they just sound like people you want to hang out with— BERMAN: And they’re authentic.

SAGAL: Yeah, which is part of it.

ZITTER: Well, Doug, you sounded like you had an idea about a guest you didn’t like too much. [Sagal laughs.]

BERMAN: I’m pretty sure Peter will agree with me.

We have [a part of the show called] Not My Job. We bring [guests] on. The idea of the segment is that somebody comes on and

answers three questions about something they know nothing about. The idea is you get to know somebody in a little different context than you would during a normal interview on, say, “All Things Considered” or on Colbert or whatever.

There was one guest we had one time, and I think you probably know him.

SAGAL: Oh yeah. He really took the crown.

BERMAN: Within a minute, we all hated the guy— SAGAL: No, wait a minute. I’m sorry; you’re being kind. His name is Gene Simmons [lead singer of KISS]. In fact, he was so awful and obnoxious that I swore at that time, and this was 2002, that I would tell everybody who asked, “Who is your worst guy?” Gene Simmons. That’s S-I-M-M—[Laughter.]

Yeah.

BERMAN: He was. He was so awful that one of the panelists, Roy Blount Jr., confessed afterwards that he almost just said, “Let’s stop this. Lets cut this interview off.” He wanted to stop in the middle of the interview and just stop doing it.

ZITTER: What was so bad about it?

BERMAN: He was just—he was obnoxious in a way that was really unpleasant. He made fun of the way Peter spoke, and he made fun of people’s names. What else did he do? He was just—he was disgusting.

SAGAL: I call and speak to all of our guests prior to interviewing them. I want to get to know them. I want to make sure that they know what they’re getting into. Sometimes they think they’re going on like real NPR, and I need to dissuade them. [Laughter.]

This story will involve an ethnic slur.

What’s interesting about Gene Simmons is that he was raised as an Orthodox Jew who went to yeshiva, and he left yeshiva to pursue rock and roll because he thought that’d be more fun. He was correct in this­— BERMAN: Otherwise, it’s a story of a failure of religious education. [Laughter.]

SAGAL: A lot of people assume that this was a great story. This is a story about entertainment and a guy putting on a show. We assumed [he would be] knowingly ironic about his career in the way that—for example, we interviewed Alice Cooper, and he’s exactly that. He says, “Yeah, it was like putting on

a vaudeville show for the kids.” It was great.

I’m talking to Gene Simmons on the phone, and I say, “I wish I had known you were Jewish, because I didn’t have any really cool Jewish role models growing up. We just had like Woody Allen.” And he was like, “Well, how about Moses? How about Jesus? Those are role models,” which is not a wonderfully charming thing to say, but it’s a thing to say.

Now we’re doing the interview [on the air] and he has like . . . he has come to offend.

Everything he is saying to us is more offensive and misogynistic and awful.

BERMAN: He’s the original troll.

SAGAL: Yeah, which I think is his brand.

BERMAN: Yeah.

SAGAL: So I’m desperate, because I’m sitting at this point; we’re in the control room—we’re not doing it live in front of an audience—and my producers are like pulling out their hair because this guy’s awful. There’s nothing we can broadcast. And all of a sudden I think of that exchange that I had had with him, and I’m like, as lame is that was, it’s better than this horror. I say—now we’re

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taping for the radio show—I say, “Gene, I wish I had known you were Jewish when I was growing up. I could have used a cooler role model.” He said, “Yup, I’m a k---.”

That’s Gene Simmons.

So 17 years later, I’m still mad about it.

ZITTER: You still remember it.

SAGAL: But my vengeance is: He is Gene Simmons. He sucks.

BERMAN: He will always have the crown. I don’t think anybody’s ever going to top him for [being a bad guest].

SAGAL: Everybody else is a breeze compared to Gene Simmons.

BERMAN: Even if they do, we’re still going to say, “Gene Simmons.” [Laughter.]

ZITTER: Doug, you’ve had the two biggest comedy hits on public radio.

BERMAN: I know that’s damning with faint praise.

ZITTER: Yeah, it’s kind of like the tallest of the seven dwarfs, right?

SAGAL: Doug is wise in choosing his competition. [Laughter.]

ZITTER: “Car Talk” and “Wait Wait”— what do those two shows have in common, and why were they both successful?

BERMAN: I mean, for one thing, they both are not a complete waste of time. They’re essentially entertainment shows, but there’s a modicum of information, and there was something you walk away with knowing that you didn’t know before, and you’re a little happy about knowing it, or [it’s] something you want to tell somebody. I think they have that in common. They both feature very authentic, interesting people who you like to spend time with who have an overall sort of positive view of humanity and of the world.

And I think those are the key elements of what they have in common—what makes them both successful.

ZITTER: And Tom and Ray Magliozzi were such unusual people—MIT engineers. Tom had a Ph.D.; they were mechanics with all that, and Tom didn’t even like cars that much, did he?

BERMAN: He liked cars, but he thought they were a pain the a--. Their message was, Hey, it’s only a car.

ZITTER: How do they get on the radio?

They were doing the show for 10 years as a local program. Right?

BERMAN: Yeah. This is one of the great things about NPR. NPR has got a long history of taking people who have a lot of

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substance or a lot of something to offer and putting them on the radio even though they’ve never been on it before. So it’s a collection of unique and special people. And they were two of them, certainly.

ZITTER: Yeah.

BERMAN: They had a garage business they were starting up. One day, the person who is doing this little call-in show called them over and said, “Hey, I want to do a panel show with mechanics. You guys interested?”

And Ray said, “Hey, Tom, you busy? I don’t want to do it. You go.” And he sent Tom over, and there were supposed to be a panel of six, and Tom got there that night, and there was a panel of one. He took questions for half an hour and it went really well.

The guy said, “You want to come back sometimes?”

“Yeah. Can I bring my brother?”

They came back, and they ended up with their own show, for which they volunteered for a long time. It was another wonderful case of benign neglect, where for a number of years nobody cared what they did. Nobody listened. Nobody corrected them, and nobody told them how to be on the radio and how to be a radio announcer. So they never got that sort of whitewashing [that would] make them sound like everyone else.

They became completely comfortable being themselves, and that’s what made the show really work.

ZITTER: They really had a great sense of humor in person too, didn’t they?

BERMAN: I would say so. I mean they’re pretty much exactly like what you heard on the air.

SAGAL: I got to meet them. Tom obviously has passed away, but I got to meet them. It was at a public radio convention in 2001.

And they did not go to the public radio conventions.

BERMAN: You had to drag them; anything that wasn’t fun, they weren’t interested in.

That’s how they lived their lives.

SAGAL: I believe they came [to one convention in Orlando] as a favor to Doug, because the idea was they were saying, “Oh, you listen to ‘Car Talk,’ hey station, put on this new show from Doug Berman—‘Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!’ afterwards.” So it was a cross promotion. They were lending us their prestige.

I meet them, and like there they are. I said something and they laughed. Right. And the

first thing I said to myself was, “Hey man, I just made Tom and Ray Magliozzi laugh. I’m pretty sharp.” And the second thing I said to myself was, “It’s Tom and Ray Magliozzi— they laugh at everything.” [Laughter.]

BERMAN: That’s true. That was true, too.

SAGAL: In a weird way, that was kind of a lesson to me. Because as I’ve already established, I had no idea what I was doing, and the fact that these guys were somehow able to project who they genuinely were on the radio—and of course it helped that they were genuinely delightful—was like, “Oh, that’s how you have to do it.” Because if you can’t be somebody that people want to spend their time with on a regular basis, it doesn’t matter how smart or how funny or interesting you are.

ZITTER: And they were cool; they did whatever they wanted. They were quite irreverent.

Did that ever get them in trouble, like get sued or anything?

BERMAN: Well, they got threatened with suits. We got a number of threats. The one that came closest [and] was the most concerning was from a company called Chrysler.

Maybe you heard of that? The particular problem was that Chrysler had just given a million dollars to NPR. Not that long after that—this must’ve been the very late ’80s, early ’90s or something.

Chrysler was making a minivan called a Caravan. It came with two engine options.

One was a four-cylinder engine that I think was made in Indiana, and the other one was a six-cylinder engine, which they bought from Mitsubishi in Japan. And some guy calls the show and says, “Hey, I’m going to buy a Dodge Caravan; which engine should I get?” And Ray, who always speaks what he thinks is the truth, and who worked on both of those engines, said, you should get the Mitsubishi engine. He said it’s a more reliable engine. “It’s more powerful and uh, I think you’ll be happier with it.” And that would’ve been fine if they had left it at that.

But then Tom says, “You know, in fact, that’s the reason they invented the Caravans, made it a seven-passenger vehicle. Because when you have the four-cylinder engine and you get to a hill, you need six people to get out and push. [Laughter.]

And we heard from Chrysler’s lawyers the very next morning, and then NPRs lawyers in the afternoon. It was a little tense for a week, but Ray refused to apologize for it,

and he refused to apologize for Tom, and he said, “That’s really my opinion; that’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.” And he didn’t [apologize]. And the show went on for another 20 years.

ZITTER: All right. Let’s see if you can [take] a couple of audience questions. When will Donald Trump be on “Wait Wait.”

BERMAN: Well, I think it was going to come as soon as he figures out that there’s something called NPR that exists—in other words, never.

SAGAL: Which is true, by the way. He doesn’t know NPR exists. That’s literally true.

We know that because back in 2016, NPR was covering the candidates in the Republican and Democratic side and they got to interview everybody except Donald Trump.

And he just wouldn’t come on the air, which bothered them. They’re responsible news people. So they commissioned David Folkenflik, NPR’s media reporter, to find out why. And he found out why, which is that Donald Trump doesn’t care about anything that’s not in his world. He watches cable news, and he listens to conservative talk radio. And if it’s not one of those things, he just doesn’t care.

It’s just like you can’t convince him to do it.

BERMAN: Or it wears a short skirt.

SAGAL: Right yeah. That’s another problem.

I’m not his type. [Laughter.] There’s that, I

mean, even if we were to ask, he won’t come on “All Things Considered”—he’s not going to come on our show.

ZITTER: Here’s another audience question about who is your “white whale” guest— somebody you’ve tried and tried to get on the show but have been unsuccessful?

SAGAL: Well, George W. Bush; we’d love to get President Obama to come back on. He was on when he was a senator prior to being elected. I’m going to brag: He was there with us in person; he left the stage, and as soon as he was gone, I looked at the audience and said, “That guy is going to be president.” So it’s my fault. I like to think that he’d heard me from off stage and said, “Wait a minute . . . .”

There are some people we keep trying to get. We’re all huge fans of Amy Poehler, and we’ve tried to get her for years, and she always turns us down very graciously. Every year we go to Tanglewood and we try to get James Taylor, who lives there, and he always turns us down, not graciously.

BERMAN: I’ve been thrilled with all the guests we have, and I’m not a big celebrity lover, I have to say. I’m always much more fond of the guests who I don’t expect anything from. [And then] they turn out to just be delightful in some way. I remember [then-IMF chief ] Christine Lagarde.

SAGAL: Oh, she was great. She was the head

of the International Monetary Fund. And this happens sometimes: Very serious people end up on our show because their staff thinks it would be hilarious, and they have no idea who we are. They are former staff. They get on the show, and I love it because here’s Christine Lagarde, she is French and she is the head of the International Monetary Fund, and we’re not going to talk about anything that she normally talks about, because we don’t understand it, and we’re going to ask her about something else that we can understand.

So they get to talk about things they don’t normally get to talk about and they really like it. We ended up talking to Christine Lagarde about her career as a member of the French National Synchronized Swimming Team BERMAN: And about the role of leg hair.

SAGAL: That was amazing. It turns out that synchronized swimmers do not shave their legs. The reason is because, if you think about it, they’re upside down in the water. Their legs are out of the water, and the only way they can tell how high their legs are or whether they’re like— BERMAN: In the air [or] in the water— SAGAL: —is by feeling the air with their leg hairs.

BERMAN: How about that?

SAGAL: I know she loved telling us that story, we loved hearing it, and everybody wins.

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

15

George Takei

An American Life GEORGE TAKEI

Actor; Activist; Author, They Called Us Enemy

In conversation with

MINA KIM

Evening Anchor and Friday Host of “Forum,” KQED News

Photos by James Meinerth

From the September 24, 2019, program in San Francisco, “An Evening with George Takei.” Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

MINA KIM: Take us back to that night when you were four years old and the U.S. soldiers came for you and your family.

GEORGE TAKEI: Actually, I had just turned five years old. My birthday is April 20, 1937. I might note that I’m one month older than the landmark Golden Gate Bridge.

[Laughter.] I understand this theater was built in 1937. So I’m the same age as this theater [Herbst Theatre] and a month older than the Golden Gate Bridge.

KIM: And both are icons and holding up extremely well.

TAKEI: And Pearl Harbor was bombed when I was four years old. But on April 20, I turned five, and it was about three or four weeks after that, that my parents got me up very early in the morning, together with my brother, who was a year younger, and my baby sister, who was an infant. They dressed us hurriedly, and my brother and I were told to wait in the living room while our parents did some last-minute packing back in the bedroom.

My brother and I were just gazing out the front window, just whiling the time away.

Then suddenly we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway. They carried rifles with shiny bayonets on them. They stomped up the front porch and, with their fists, began pounding on the door.

I thought, the way I remember it, the whole house shook with their pounding.

It was a terrorizing sound. My father came out of the bedroom, answered the door, and literally at gunpoint, we were ordered out of our home. My father gave my brother and me packages to carry. He hefted two heavy-looking suitcases, and we followed him out and stood on the driveway waiting for our mother to come out.

When she finally came out, she had our baby sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and tears were flowing down her cheeks. It was a morning I will never be able to erase from my memory. We were loaded onto trucks with other Japanese-American

families that had been gathered and driven downtown to the Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo. There were rows of buses, and we were loaded onto the buses and driven out to Santa Anita race track, where we were unloaded and herded over to the stable area.

Each family was assigned a horse stall, still pungent with the stink of horse manure.

For my parents, to take their children into that horse stall, was a painful, degrading, humiliating experience. But I remember—to five-year-old me, I thought it was fun to sleep where the horseys sleep. If you breathe deeply, you can smell the horseys. So, my memories are that of a five-year-old kid.

The racetrack was temporary while the camps were being built. But my real memories are that of a five-year-old kid, and it wasn’t until I was older that I began to understand it. But the events were the same events that my parents experienced.

There’s a parallel story that I tell in They Called Us Enemy. I remember my childhood memories, but I also, via that, introduce the reader to the larger harrowing experience of my parents, [who lost] everything.

KIM: Your father was a successful businessman. He owned a dry-cleaning business. You had a two-bedroom home in Boyle Heights.

TAKEI: That’s right. Their [my parents’] bank account was taken. We were literally stripped naked, and their freedom was taken. Eventually, when the construction was finished, we were put on a train, crowded into a train with armed soldiers at both ends of each car, and transported two-thirds of the way across the country to the swamps of Arkansas. I remember the barbed wire fence that confined us, the sentry towers with the machine guns pointed at us. I remember the searchlight that followed me when I made the night runs from our bar-

rack to the latrine.

But, again, to five-year-old me, I thought it was nice that they lit the way for me to pee. [Laughter.]

KIM: I find it so interesting that you talk so much about how five-year-old you took this experience in. Do you think to some extent experiencing it as a child saved you from some of the more damaging trauma that can result from an experience like that?

TAKEI: I think it was my parents; they shielded us.

KIM: Yes. Your father said you were going on vacation when you were on the train.

TAKEI: That’s right. We were going on vacation. For this southern Californian kid to be plunked down in the middle of the swamps of southeastern Arkansas . . . The bayous were right outside the barbed wire fence, and [there were] lots of trees there. I called it the jungle. The magical thing is these trees were growing out of water, and their roots snaked in and out of the water. I’d never seen trees growing out of water.

Part of the edges of the bayou came into the camp. Around the edges, I saw black wiggly fish swimming around, and they were so slow that I was able to scoop them up, catch them, and put them in a jar and watch them day after day. One day, I’d see a little bump on their side. The next morning it was getting bigger, and they were starting to look like legs. Then a black wiggly fish with legs—[they] lost their tail, and they escaped, hopping out of my jar. Fantastical place.

KIM: Do you remember a moment when it stopped being fun? Do you remember a moment when you had at least some inkling

of the terrible situation you were in?

TAKEI: I didn’t realize then, but thinking back, one night, something made me wake up in the middle of the night, and I saw my parents on the other side, hovering over a kerosene lamp, and they were carrying on a whispered conversation. My mother sounded like she was crying. So I said, “Mama, don’t cry.” And my parents came over and said, “I’m not crying. We were just having a discussion. Go back to sleep.”

I think back on that night. When I was a teenager, I had discussions with my father, and I think that was when they were discussing the notorious loyalty questionnaire.

Well, let me go back. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, young Japanese Americans, like all young Americans, rushed to the recruitment centers to volunteer to serve in the U.S. military. This was an act of patriotism.

KIM: Yes, and they were Americans.

TAKEI: They were Americans. We were attacked, and they, as young Americans, went with their friends to volunteer. That patriotic act was answered with a slap on the face. They were denied military service and categorized as enemy alien, which is crazy.

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I mean, that was a patriotic act, and to call them the enemy was crazy. Equally crazy was the second word: alien. They were born, educated, reared in the United States. They felt American, and yet they were called aliens and then put into these barbed wire prison camps.

But a year into imprisonment, the government realized they had a wartime manpower shortage, and here were all these people, young people, that they could have had [serve], that they categorized as enemy aliens.

How to justify drafting them out of a barbed wire concentration camp? It was a dilemma the government had. Their solution was as crazy as the internment itself.

A year into imprisonment, after they’d stripped us of everything, all the property we had, they were demanding loyalty. They came down with the loyalty questionnaire, which everyone in the 10 camps had to respond to—everyone over the age of 17. There were about 30 questions, but two questions became notorious. They turned all 10 camps into turmoil and anger.

Question 27 asked: Will you bear arms to defend the United States of America? This being asked of my mother. She had three chil-

dren. My baby sister was a toddler by then.

I was six years old. My brother was five. She was being asked to abandon her children and bear arms to defend the nation that’s imprisoning her family. It was preposterous. Both my parents answered “no” to that question.

The next question, question 28, was one sentence with two conflicting ideas. It asked: Will you swear your loyalty to the United States of America and forswear your loyalty to the emperor of Japan?

We’re Americans.

KIM: As if you’d ever had— TAKEI: We’d never had a loyalty [to the emperor of Japan].

KIM: —sworn loyalty of emperor of Japan.

Right.

TAKEI: So, if you answered no—I don’t have a loyalty to the emperor to forswear—that no, applied to the first part of the very same sentence, meant you won’t swear your loyalty to the United States. If you wanted to answer yes to that, that yes applied to the second part—Will you forswear your loyalty to the emperor of Japan? That yes meant you were confessing you had a loyalty to the emperor and were now prepared to forswear that and

repledge your loyalty to the United States.

It was an insulting question. For them to presume that we had a racial inborn loyalty to the emperor. My mother was born in Sacramento, California. My father was born in Japan, but he lost his mother when he was still very young, and my widower grandfather decided he’s going to start life anew in America.

KIM: Yeah, so he came here as a little boy.

TAKEI: [My grandfather] came to San Francisco with his two sons. My father was the younger [one]. So my father was reared here, educated here, went to college here. He was a San Franciscan. Yes, my father was a San Franciscan [laughter, applause].

KIM: George, even though you were a child—you did not have to answer that questionnaire—I wonder how much of your post-internment experience you have felt like you’ve had to prove your Americanness, especially after you were released and your family went back to Los Angeles.

You write about how you had a schoolteacher who would call you “that Jap boy,” and it really made you realize, in many ways, that you were not seen as American and to

really feel it from other people’s treatment of you. I often feel like there is an element of that for almost all Asian-Americans to some extent, to be seen as truly American. But I wonder how much that played a role in your career and as you pursued acting roles and accepted certain acting roles.

TAKEI: Being freed from camp was as traumatic as when the soldiers came to take us away. You’d think that, being free, we’re not behind a barbed wire fence [anymore]. But we were impoverished. They took everything from us, and 1946 is still immediately postwar. We came back to Los Angeles, but the hostility toward us was still intense. Jobs were difficult. Housing was impossible. Our first home was on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. I was eight years old by that time, and my baby sister—she [had] spent all her life behind barbed wire fences—she was four.

We came back to Los Angeles to Skid Row. Skid Row—the chaos and the noise and the stink was horrific. First of all, the scary, smelly, ugly people staggering about or leaning against buildings or just sprawled on the sidewalk. Two women, I remember, were shrieking at each other and pulling each oth-

er’s hair. We’d never seen anything like that.

The smell of human waste everywhere—on the street, in the hallways—was unbearable, and the shrieking of sirens day and night, the chaos. At night, our Skid Row room would glow red with the light from the police cars.

It was a horrific place. Then you go to school, and the teacher calls you “the Jap boy,” which stung. I mean, she constantly called me that, so I never raised my hand.

It was just as traumatic as being rounded up for internment. So the internment was bookended by two unforgettable traumas. As I grew older, I became very curious about my childhood imprisonment. I started reading books, history books. I became a voracious reader. There was nothing about the internment in the books. I read civics books. There was nothing about it. But then I read about the noble ideals of our democracy: All men are created equal. Equal justice under the law.

This is a nation ruled by law. How come we were imprisoned if we had these ideals as part of our system of justice?

The only person I could go to for explanation on that was my father. The civil rights movement was going [on], and I DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

19

was impressed by the speeches made by Dr. Martin Luther King [Jr.] on the radio that I heard. There they are demanding justice and equality, and it [inequality] happened to us, but we weren’t doing anything about it.

I said, “Daddy, I would have protested. I would have organized my friends at school and gone downtown and gone to the federal building and protested.”

And he said, “Yes, I can imagine you doing that.” [Laughter.]

But he said, “It was different for me. I had to think about your mother, you, your brother and your sister. They were pointing guns at me. If something happened to me, what would happen to you guys?”

I understood that, but I said, “Daddy, I mean, the ideals of democracy—how come you didn’t do anything about it?”

Sometimes those after-dinner conversations got pretty heated. I remember one heated conversation where I got really excited, and then I said something that I still regret to this day. I said, “Daddy, you led us like sheep to slaughter into the internment camps.”

Suddenly, the give and take of the conversation stopped. It was a silence that seemed to go on, and finally my father looked at me and said, “Well, maybe you’re right,” and he

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got up and walked into his bedroom and closed the door. Immediately, I knew that I hit a nerve. I’d hurt him. I felt terribly. This man that I’d loved and who had suffered so much during the internment, and years after that, his own son hurts him again. I felt like going to his door and knocking on it and apologizing, but it felt awkward. So I thought, I’ll apologize tomorrow.

KIM: And you never did, right?

TAKEI: I never did . . . because it was more awkward in the morning. And now I can’t apologize.

KIM: But interestingly, it sounded like your father was willing to speak with you about the experience and to speak with you about democracy and America’s ideals.

TAKEI: I feel I was blessed by having an extraordinary man for a father. . . .

So many Japanese Americans, especially when we’re doing “Allegiance” on Broadway, they would come backstage to tell us how moved they were by the drama that we tell onstage. They tell me that their parents or their grandparents were in camps. So, I’d ask them, “Oh, which camp were they in?” Their faces [were] blank.

I thought I’d help them out by saying, “Were they in Wyoming? Arkansas? Arizona?

Idaho?” They don’t know.

So I realized how blessed I was to have my father. We got to talking about our government, and I learned about our government and what it stands for from my father, who was so abused and so robbed of so much of that chunk of his life—not only property but his sense of who he was. He was able to tell me that our democracy is a people’s democracy, and it’s dependent on people who cherish those ideals that we talk about and actually make it happen. That makes it a good system. [Applause.]

One Sunday afternoon he drove me downtown to the Adlai Stevenson for president campaign headquarters. He said, “This is a participatory democracy, and we have to participate in order to keep it true to what its ideals are.” [Applause.]

So I learned about our democracy from my father, who was so humiliated, robbed of so much of his life, and was still able to tell me that our democracy is made up of people who can do great things but who are also fallible human beings. Our democracy is dependent on people who cherish those ideals and actively participate, sometimes holding democracy’s feet to the fire to make it a true democracy.

SEAN CARROLL

QUANTUM LEAP

SEAN CARROLL Theoretical Physicist; Research Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology; Author, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime In conversation with

KISHORE HARI

Host, “Inquiring Minds” Podcast

From the September 14, 2019, program in Silicon Va l l e y, “ S e a n C a r r o l l : Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Space-Time.”

KISHORE HARI: You said one of the key missions of this book is quantum mechanics should be understandable.

We treat quantum mechanics as mysterious and ineffable and beyond our real ability to understand, to the extent that the idea of trying hard to understand it is disparaged within the physics community.

SEAN CARROLL: What do you mean it’s disparaged?

HARI: There is this whole field called quantum foundations. Quantum mechanics is a theory that is important when you go to the microscopic realm, when you talk about electrons and protons and atoms.

The main point that makes the theory hard is that if you look up the rules of quantum mechanics in a physics textbook, there’s one set of rules which say what an electron, let’s say, does when you’re not looking at it and then a whole other set of rules saying what an electron does when you are looking at it.

This is called the Copenhagen interpretation. When you’re not looking at it, it’s a wave. It’s spread out. It’s based on an equation given to us by [Austrian physicist Erwin] Schrödinger. When you do look at it, it snaps into place. It’s in one location. It looks like a particle. Now this is clearly nonsense as a fundamental theory of nature. I mean, what do you mean “look at it”? Do you just need to be a human being? Would a bird looking at it count? What about a robot? What if I glance at it just slightly? Does that change the way it functions dramatically? The answers are that you’re not allowed to ask these questions.

CARROLL: I love that the highest level of physics is grappling with the question of if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound on a fundamental level? Let’s lean into this observation question you just brought up.

If the world, especially at the smallest level we describe it through quantum mechanics, and it’s so elegant in its ability to describe that world, why do we talk about the world in this classical way? Why does the world look classical at all if we have quantum mechanics at the smallest level?

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That’s a hard question. You’re not supposed to ask hard questions— HARI: Oh, I’m sorry.

CARROLL: We’re supposed to work our way up to that. I mean, people don’t really know why the world looks classical at a fundamental level.

Well, let me back up just a little bit. Classical mechanics says that there’s stuff. There’s chairs and tables and people and planets, and the stuff has locations. It’s located somewhere in space and [has] velocities—it’s moving.

Then Newton’s laws tell you exactly what will happen based on those things. You can measure everything perfectly. Then quantum mechanics is a very different thing, where there’s fuzzy waves and there’s a probability of getting different observations and so forth.

Physicists, like anyone else, we grow up with classical intuition. We think that there really is a table here with a location and a velocity. Bless our hearts—this is how we think. Quantum mechanics says, “No, no.

It’s really a wave function, and you interacted with it in subtle waves.”

One of the problems, because we don’t understand quantum mechanics very well, is that when you say, “Is this wave function—this way that we describe a quantum system, an electron—a direct representation of reality or is it just a shorthand for making predictions? Or is it part of reality, but then there’s other parts also?” We have no idea, in the sense that the physics community does not have a consensus on the answers.

When we ask things like what happens when you make a measurement, we don’t have a consistent answer. The question you asked about the classical world, the answer depends a lot on the answers to all these other questions that we haven’t answered yet. I advocate for the “many-worlds” interpretation [of quantum physics], that that has one kind of answer, but it’s a completely different kind of answer than you would get in a different theory.

HARI: When you start to dig into many-worlds in the book, where you start is that some physicists in the past have started with this classical frame and tried to explain quantum mechanics in a way that sums up to that classical frame. You’re talking about an approach that says: “Let’s strip all of that away. Let’s not even worry about the classical frame for a second. Let’s just start at the quantum level and see where that guides us.”

CARROLL: That’s completely right. Everything is quantum in my point of view. In fact, Hugh Everett, who is the graduate student who pioneered many-worlds—he originally called it the Theory of the Universal Wave Function. What he meant by that was in the reigning interpretation, called the Copenhagen interpretation, the idea was that there are quantum systems, they have wave functions and they exist in superpositions of different possible measurement outcomes.

But then there are observers, and the observers are treated classically. The observers are big and they obey Newton’s laws and so forth. There’s literally an idea called the Heisenberg cut. [Werner] Heisenberg, inventor of the uncertainty principle and so forth, drew this cut between—here’s the classical realm where you and I are, [and there’s] the quantum realm where little particles are.

Everett made vicious fun of this idea. He’s like, “Well, what do you mean?” Like, who draws that cut anywhere? You’re made of atoms and particles. The atoms and particles obey the rules of quantum mechanics. Why shouldn’t you obey the rules of quantum mechanics?

In one sense, many-worlds is a much simpler theory. There’s no both classical world and quantum world. Everything is quantum, and that’s how he explains everything.

But then the question “why is there a good approximation given by classical physics” becomes much harder if you’re an Everettian.

HARI: Let’s get to entanglement, which is a term now. Now we’re in “Star Trek” land; we’re going to talk about entanglement.

CARROLL: Entanglement came first, by the way, before “Star Trek”—1935.

HARI: This idea of we’re all quantum, everything in the world is quantum, but how do quantum things interact with each other?

CARROLL: Yeah. I actually like to lean here on Schrödinger’s cat, the famous thought experiment where there’s a box— HARI: Are we about to kill a cat?

CARROLL: I have changed the experiment so that the cat is either awake or asleep rather than alive or dead. No thought experiment cats were harmed in the writing of this book.

The idea is there’s something quantum going on inside this sealed box with a cat in it. The quantum thing—like a decaying radioactive nucleus—if it happens, then it is detected by a Geiger counter, and that sends gas into the box. In Schrödinger’s version, it was cyanide.

His daughter literally said, “I think my father just didn’t like cats.”

I replaced the cyanide with sleeping gas. It works just as well as a thought experiment.

But the point of it was to take the fact that the quantum system you start with, according to the rules of quantum mechanics, it’s not that it did decay or didn’t. You just don’t know.

It’s that it is in a superposition of “it decayed and it didn’t.” It really literally is both at once before you looked at it.

Schrödinger’s cat amplifies that idea of a superposition up to the macroscopic world, so you say that the cat is in a superposition of being awake and asleep until you look at it. That’s the idea.

In the Copenhagen interpretation, when you open the box, suddenly the wave function of the cat collapses, and it’s either awake or asleep. That’s what you see. There’s this sudden change when you look at it.

Schrödinger’s entire point with this was not, “Isn’t that cool?” His entire point was, “Surely you don’t believe this,” that when you open the box, the state of the cat suddenly changes. Everett says it doesn’t need to change. Just follow the rules of quantum mechanics.

What happens, and everyone agrees on this, if all you do is follow the rules of quantum mechanics and forget about collapsing in measurement and everything, but you allow you, the observer, to have a wave function.

Then when you look at the cat, what happens is there’s part of the wave function where the cat’s awake, part of it where it’s asleep.

It evolves into: There’s part of the wave function where the cat is awake, and you saw the cat awake. There’s another part of the wave function where the cat was asleep, and you saw the cat asleep. What that means is that the state of you has become entangled with the state of the cat. You can’t say what your state is, because it depends on what the state of the cat is. If I know the cat’s awake, then I know you saw it awake, and vice versa.

Then the leap of genius that Everett did was to say, “And that’s okay,” that both of these parts of the wave function are really there, but they go their separate ways once this happens, so we should treat them as separate versions of reality, as separate worlds.

HARI: Is there a degree of entanglement?

Right now, are we entangled to a certain level because we’re sitting here as quantum components interacting with each other?

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You cannot make a quantum mechanical entanglement phone that can let you talk faster than the speed of light.

But the sun is interacting with us too, but it’s farther away. Is it slightly less entangled?

I’m thinking: Is there something to this entanglement that isn’t just a binary?

CARROLL: Yes, there are certainly degrees of entanglement, but neither you nor I nor the sun are entangled with each other at all, because entanglement does not mean you’re interacting with it. It means that my quantum state depends on yours. I’m in a superposition, and you are, but we’re in a superposition that is related to each other.

But let me back up a little bit to give some historical background, which is fascinating here. The first intimations of quantum mechanics came around 1900 with Max Planck and the black-body radiation. Basically what Planck almost said was that light is made of little discrete particles. He didn’t really say that. He said that light is emitted in discrete packets of energy. It was Einstein, five years later, who said that’s because it really comes in particles, which we now call photons.

But it took a long time from 1900. It wasn’t until the late 1920s that we finally put quantum mechanics into its modern form.

That modern form is this Copenhagen interpretation that we’re all arguing about. But there’s this story that, by that time, Einstein was too old to really appreciate all the modern hotness with quantum mechanics. He was stuffy and conservative.

HARI: Really? The explanation was Einstein wasn’t smart enough?

CARROLL: He was like 48 years old. This is what we tell ourselves now, but that story is completely false, because Einstein was Ein-

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stein. He was a smart cookie. He understood quantum mechanics better than anybody; he helped invent it.

His issue was not that quantum mechanics was false but that it wasn’t finished yet. It wasn’t complete. This story you’re telling yourself about observations and measurements and wave functions collapsing can’t be a fundamental theory of nature. It’s just manifestly a bit of ad hockery that we’re using until we find the fundamental theory. He kept thinking about it, and there were these famous series of debates between Niels Bohr and Einstein, with Bohr saying, “Everything’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” and Einstein saying, “No, we should try to do better.”

The final salvo in these debates was in 1935, when Einstein, [Boris] Podolsky and [Nathan] Rosen wrote a paper now called the EPR paper.

They said you can have two particles, and they’re emitted and they’re entangled with each other, but you can let them travel as far away as you like. You have one particle over here that is entangled with another one, and that other one could be in Alpha Centauri.

It could be light years away.

According to the Copenhagen interpretation, before I observe them, I don’t know whether this one is spinning clockwise or counterclockwise, nor do I know the other one. But as soon as I observe this one, and let’s say I see it’s spinning clockwise, I instantly know the other one is spinning counterclockwise.

Einstein was like, “Come on, guys. That’s spooky to me. How does it know four light

years away? I’m Einstein. Nothing can go faster than the speed of light. These are my rules. How did that information get there?”

In quantum mechanics, you can prove theorems that this idea of spooky action at a distance cannot be used to transmit information. You cannot make a quantum mechanical entanglement phone that can let you talk faster than the speed of light. But you can make experimental predictions for what the two people will see. Those experiments have been done, and quantum mechanics is right.

HARI: How does this lead to many-worlds?

CARROLL: In the normal textbook formulation, we have these two sets of rules— what the wave function does when you’re not looking at it, what it does when you are looking at it. All Everett says is forget about the second set of rules; forget about looking at it, forget about measurement, observation, whatever. There’s only one thing wave functions ever do, which is obey the Schrödinger equation.

Then if I open the box and I look at the cat, Schrödinger’s equation is unambiguous about what happens. I and the cat together evolve into this entangled superposition.

There’s part of the wave function where the cat was awake and I saw it awake; there’s a part where the cat was asleep and I saw it asleep.

Everett’s brilliance was to say, “Let’s treat those two parts of the wave function as not describing me, but I don’t know what I saw, but rather describing two different copies of me who saw two different things.” That’s where the many-worlds come from.

Photo by Sarah Gonzalez

“DAILY SHOW” CO-CREATOR LIZZ WINSTEAD

SUPER POWERS

From the October 4, 2019, Michelle Meow Show in San Francisco, “‘Daily Show’ Co-Creator Lizz Winstead: Vagical Power.“ LIZZ WINSTEAD

Political Satirist; Co-Creator and Former Head Writer, “The Daily Show”; Co-Founder, Air America; Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Abortion Access Front; Author, Lizz Free or Die

MICHELLE MEOW

Producer and Host, “The Michelle Meow Show” (TV and Radio)—Co-Host

JOHN ZIPPERER

Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable—Co-Host JOHN ZIPPERER: When we talk about the stuff you co-created and co-founded, you’re really talking about a powerful woman in comedy. In the late ’60s, CBS was contractually obliged to give Carol Burnett her own television show. She went on to create one of the most beloved, long-lasting shows of our lifetime.

But it goes without saying, there aren’t a lot of women who’ve reached that level of not just success but power—she ran the show, she got to work with the people she wanted. As you get into talking about “The Daily Show” and the other programs that you worked on, what was it like? Did you have to struggle to prove yourself not just as a comedienne but as someone who could make the decisions?

LIZZ WINSTEAD: I had a very weird experience, because there were—and still are—so few women that actually do political comedy and talk about politics. I had done it for four or five years previous to the show, and I had a fluke situation. Jon Stewart had a small talk show before “The Daily Show.” He asked me to be a producer on that show. I did. That show got canceled. . . . [Then] my bosses at “The Jon Stewart Show” got the job running Comedy Central.

ZIPPERER: The whole channel?

WINSTEAD: Yeah, the whole channel. They brought me and my boss at “The Jon Stewart Show” over there and said, “We want to do a show that’s on every day.” I said, “Wow. Okay.” They said, “We want it to be news and politics.” I said, “Great. Are you saying you want me to make that show?” They were like, “Yeah.” I was like, “You know I’ve never made a show. I just worked on this one.” They’re like, “Yeah, we know. But we want it to be current and political.”

I was like, “Okay.”

Then I started blabbing like I knew what I was talking about: “The one thing we really should do is satirize the news. The show should be a comedy show [in which] the news is a character in the show.

I think that the host should be somebody that is like”—I used the phrase Ted Baxter at the time—that is a buffoon. Maybe even less so, where you’re not sure if this buffoon is in on it or not. Then have the correspondents and everybody look exactly like the news, but they are bumbling fools who are literally giving the party line.

They [said], “Okay.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” Then I was really pushing. I was like, “I don’t think we should do a pilot.” A pilot is a one-episode test. “This needs to grow. I think you should just let us DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

25

go on the air for a year and figure it out.” They were like, “Okay.” I just told them all this [stuff]; I didn’t know how to do anything. I was allowed, for some weird reason, with Madeline [Smithberg], to create this show, which got to have its legs on the ground every day.

I learned by making every mistake you could make.

I think that it succeeded because the person who is running the creative on a team, when you have to say no a lot to other creatives, there’s two things you need to be, for sure. That is, funny as s---, so that if you have to kill somebody’s joke and come up with a new one, they understand that you can do that and believe that you’re funny enough to do it. The second thing is, when the network said no, I promised I would fight for the joke and I would get myself in trouble constantly with the network going to them complaining.

When somebody sees you advocating for their material, that’s all they want. I’m always like, “Bring it over and we’ll bring it back. Bring it to where you think it shouldn’t go and then we’ll bring it back.”

You can get a lot of confidence out of people if you work that way.

MEOW: Well, I have to tell you what you mean to me. Air America got me my first gig in radio. At the time, they brought me on as an intern to do this queer show in San Francisco, and it’s on the first progressive radio station, 960 AM, The Quake. The only way that I would be able to actually get a badge to get into the building is if I agreed to become an ad sales person. I said yes. That was the beginning of my radio career in selling snake oil and . . . vitamins for a progressive station that was part of Air America.

WINSTEAD: You know, I feel so proud right now. It’s interesting you say that because launching Air America was fraught with craziness.

Literally we had a grifter who was our CEO who pretended there was money when there wasn’t, but aside from that, what we could not figure out is when we launched, we first launched on the Internet and it was the number-one launch of any internet thing that ever happened on the internet when we launched Air America. The AM stations that eventually came were doing really well. We could not sell cars or beer or soap like Rush and everybody else because they said it was radical. It was like 97 percent of all of talk radio at that point was conservative. I think it’s now 95 percent. It’s not anything great, but the fact that we all know what those talk radio hosts say and that giant, major corporate advertising was going into it versus us literally speaking the truth and not being able to get our nickels rubbed together so that we could sell [ads] was massively frustrating.

But it was a really exciting time. I was living in LA, and after 9/11 happened it was nearly impossible to do political satire. I had left “The Daily Show,” and the shows that were on the air could survive but anybody trying to do anything else, people wouldn’t pick it up.

The networks were like, “We’re going with what the government says.

We were hit by terrorists.” I’m like, “Were we?” It was just a lot of crazy jingoistic, patriotic rhetoric and you were hosed. I was trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. I was working on this horrible MTV spring break show. I got a call from this guy in New York who said, “Hi, I got your number from Al Franken. We’re launching this progressive radio network and we really need a program director and we’re looking for a Lizz Winstead type.”

I was like, “First of all, I’m a type? Second of all, what’s wrong with me? Why do you want Lizz Winstead-adjacent?” I was like, “Are you telling me you’re launching a 24-hour radio network that is literally comedy and politics back in New York?” He was like, “Yeah.” I was

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like, “I’ll totally do it.” I was tasked with having my own show from 9 o’clock to noon, having to find my own cohost for that show and then staffing up this entire lineup. I reached out to people that I thought would be great. I got Marc Maron and we got Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder on in the night and this woman, Randy Rhodes and Ed Schultz. Then Al Franken had his show. Then I realized I needed a show. I needed to find a cohost. I needed to find a sidekick. Each show was in a “three pod,” where we had somebody who was political and funny, we needed somebody who would drive the information and then you had a person who was sort of a cleanup person who could come in and talk about a lot of different things. More of a cultural person.

I had stacks and stacks and stacks of demo tapes that were all terrible. Then everybody was recommending people. My friend Paul [said], “I have a friend.” I’m like, “Of course you do, send me the tape.” He sends me the tape and it sits on my table for like, two weeks.

I was like, “I’ve heard everybody. Who is Paul’s friend?” I listened to it, and it’s Rachel Maddow. Yeah.

MEOW: I love this story.

WINSTEAD: So I called her up and I said, “Paul sent me your demo.

Could you come and meet with us?” She goes, “Yep, I’m hopping on a bus in 15 minutes.” I was like, “Wow. You’re very motivated.”

She literally hopped on the Peter Pan bus from Northampton, came down and met me.

She had talked to Paul [and knew] I couldn’t get my dog into the building. I love my dog. She comes to the interview and has a vest with all these patches sewn into it that say, “Help Dog” or whatever, and [she has] all this research about how you just lie about your dog to get into a building and say your dog is a help dog. She goes, “I hear you have narcolepsy.” I was like, “I do.” She goes, “Well, here’s this help dog thing and here’s how you talk about narcolepsy and here’s how you get your dog in the building. You [can get] your dog anymore.”

I was like, “Wow. You’re smart, and this was a really good job interview. You just got my dog into the building.” Then we just talked a little bit about life. She’s from the East Bay. Just talked a lot about her life and about that. I hired her. She was my radio host with Chuck D from Public Enemy for two years, which was a wild trip.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’m from South Korea. Over there political satire and comedy is pretty rare, so what you have done is pretty impressive and interesting for me. Have you ever faced the situation that you’re scared or threatened to talk about specific issues like feminism or abortion, and if you had, how did you overcome?

WINSTEAD: There was always that threat of you’re not going to make it if you have an opinion, but I didn’t feel physically threatened, until I really started doing the reproductive rights and abortion work.

That’s every day now. I get death threats every day.

I get people coming to my shows, every show, protesting outside of the shows. I’ve got to be honest, I turned 50 and I was just like, I don’t give a [damn] what you think, because what I’m doing is more important than how you’re trying to make me feel to stop doing it, because every time I get a threat, it’s that same person on Twitter, it’s that same person that voted for Trump, it’s that same person who is trying to shut us all down and not vote and not pay attention. That fuels me even harder.

I’m not afraid of them. Also, when you see how few people are actually talking about reproductive rights compared to how much it’s being legislated, I don’t know what else I would do.

The Brett Kavanaugh Files KATE KELLY Wall Street Writer, The New York Times; CoAuthor, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation

ROBIN POGREBIN Culture Reporter, The New York Times; CoAuthor, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation In conversation with

LADORIS CORDELL

Retired Judge

It was a Jesuit school with an emphasis on academics, Catholicism and athleticism. Kavanaugh was also in the in-crowd. There was heavy drinking to wind down on the weekends and a lot of lack of supervision by parents.

Photos by Ed Ritger

From the September 25, 2019, Inforum program in San Francisco, “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh.”

LADORIS CORDELL: [Supreme Court Justice Brett] Kavanaugh was confirmed October 6, 2018, and it was the closest vote for a Supreme Court justice in more than 150 years: 50 to 48 … You write in the book: “Kavanaugh only grudgingly made the short list originally circulated among leading conservatives, which was generated by the Federalist Society.” The short list, meaning not high up and grudgingly. Why was that?

ROBIN POGREBIN: It was interesting that Brett Kavanaugh was not considered conservative enough in some Republican circles. There was this one quote we have from Mike Davis, who was the head of nominations for [Chuck] Grassley [R–IA] and [the] Senate Judiciary Committee where he called him “swampy, chiefy, Bushy.”

CORDELL: He really didn’t like Kavanaugh.

POGREBIN: What he meant by that was he was too much a creature of the swamp, which was problematic because Trump doesn’t really like the swamp and really was eager in reaching beyond that and was going to resist somebody who was too establishment.

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Too Bushy in that he was associated with [former President] George [W.] Bush; he had worked in two Bush administrations, and again, Trump wasn’t thrilled with Jeb Bush when he opposed him in the primary.

And “chiefy” in that he was too much like … [Chief Justice John] Roberts rather than … [Antonin] Scalia or … [Neil] Gorsuch, to someone who might become a little too centrist for their liking.

CORDELL: Also, wasn’t [former Supreme Court nominee] Justice [Merrick] Garland one of his role models?

POGREBIN: Yeah. It was interesting.

Indeed, I think that Judge Kavanaugh checked a lot of the boxes, but in some ways he gave Republicans pause because he had voted with Merrick Garland 93 percent of the time and admired him quite a bit. His decisions were not clear-cut as strict constructionist, the way the Federalist Society likes them to be.

I think there’s a nuanced record on his part, and sometimes he very much toed the line of being anti- to the administrative state and kind of rolling back certain regulations. But on the other hand, he was sensitive on issues.

For example, in a case about battered wife syndrome, he brought that consciousness to a decision in that you have to weigh whether battered wife syndrome should be a factor if a woman didn’t leave her husband. On the abortion decision that he weighed in on, they felt like that was a little bit too nuanced.

On Obamacare, they also felt like he wasn’t quite strong enough. He was too middle of the road for them.

CORDELL: Another player, Christine [Blasey] Ford. Did you interview her?

KELLY: I think we sat down three different

times.

She grew up very much in Brett Kavanaugh’s milieu, which is to say suburban Washington, [D.C.]. [She had] parents who were upper middle class, probably is the way to frame it. She went to a single-sex girl’s school that was nonreligious called Holton-Arms.

She was a little bit younger than Kavanaugh.

She had two older brothers. Her father was an entrepreneur; her mother was a stay-athome mom. She loved to swim. She was a competitive swimmer and diver for years.

She was on the cheerleading team. She was popular; she had a lot of friends at Holton and hung out with the in-crowd.

CORDELL: When Kavanaugh was at Georgetown Prep, what was the atmosphere there when it came to alcohol, when it came to females?

KELLY: It was a rigorous, intense academic environment. It was a Jesuit school with an emphasis on academics, Catholicism and athleticism. Kavanaugh was also in the in-crowd.

There was heavy drinking to wind down on the weekends and a lot of lack of supervision by parents. Not everyone, of course—but a lot of parents would go away for the weekend; the boys would host parties.

There was this atmosphere, as one of the alumni in that class put it to me, of casual misogyny, as evidenced by from the underground newspaper, as evidenced by the yearbook comments on this woman Renate [Dolphin], who was actually a young woman that was friendly with many of these boys, and they had crushes on [her] and went to some dances with, and so on—but they basically disparaged her and said that she was promiscuous. And they did that in the yearbook; they did that verbally.

CORDELL: Talk about the bullying a little bit, too, in Continued on page 33

Walking France’s Dordogne & Loire Valleys May 25 – June 5, 2020

Itinerary Monday, May 25

Depart the U.S. for independent flights to Bordeaux, France.

Tuesday, May 26 Bordeaux, France / Sarlat, Dordogne

Arrive to Bordeaux and transfer to Sarlat. (~2 ½ hour drive.) Check in to our centrally located hotel and gather for introductions and a welcome dinner.

Hotel Plaza Madeleine (D)

Wednesday, May 27 Sarlat / Dordogne

Friday, May 29 Vezer Valley

Transfer to Sergeac and walk to Saint Leon sur Vezere, an exquisite village by the river with a stone-roofed church and two chateaus from the 14th and 16th centuries. Learn about the Vezere Valley, classified as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the afternoon transfer to Peyzac and walk along the Vezere River passing by La Roque St. Christophe and the prehistoric site of Le Moustier. We end in the hamlet of Lespinasse. Enjoy a free evening and dinner on your own in Sarlat.

Walking: Up to 6 miles / ~3 hours, through towns and on trails Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L)

Saturday, May 30

Join a local expert this morning as we start our exploration of Sarlat, capital of the Périgord Noir. Visit the farmers markets of Place de la Republique and sample local specialities. After lunch we start our hike, walking along the tracks of a former steam engine. See the castle of La Fillolie and the church of St. Amand de Coly. Enjoy a field lecture about the region of Perigord and medieval religious and Romanesque architecture. Return to our hotel for dinner.

Walking: Up to 7 miles / ~4.5 hours through towns and on trails Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L,D)

The Lascaux IV Cave

Thursday, May 28

Beynac-et-Cazenac

The Dordogne Valley

Today our walk follows the Dordogne River until reaching Domme, a beautiful 13th-century fortified town built on a hill approximately 500 feet above the river. After a picnic lunch take an expert-led excursion to the “Royale Bastide” of Domme. Return to Sarlat for dinner at local restaurant.

Walking: Up to 9 miles / 5 hours through villages and on trails Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L,D)

Enjoy a guided visit to see the reproduced prehistoric masterpiece. The Lascaux IV Cave, a replica of the Lascaux cave that was discovered in 1940, opened in December 2016 and enables visitors to get a feeling of the original cave with the help of new technology keeping the original cave from damage. Our afternoon hike includes a visit to a small vineyard in St. Cyprien and a truffle hunting demonstration.

Walking: Up to 4 miles /~5 hours, city walking and trails Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L,D)

Sunday, May 31 Transfer to Beynac-et-Cazenac, a village built on a cliff edge on the north bank of the river.

Explore the castle of Beynac with a local expert.

Learn about the history and architecture of the Dordogne Valley. After lunch continue walking on to the village of La Roque-Gageac with its ochre-colored houses and its overhanging cliffs.

Enjoy some free time in the village before we sail along the Dordogne River on a typical “gabarre” boat. Return to Sarlat for dinner and an evening on your own.

Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L)

Monday, June 1

Thursday, June 4

The Caves of Dordogne

Chateau d’Amboise

This morning we visit the Cave of Cougnac to see the prehistoric cave paintings dating back to the upper Paleolithic period.

Depictions include deer, Megaloceros, ibex, and mammoths as well as various schematic human figures, interpreted as wounded men, virtually identical to similar figures at Pech Merle. Continue to Gourdon for lunch and then on to the village of Carlux. Visit the small medieval fortress here, then walk down through the lovely village of Rouffillac and along the river to Aillac.

Walking: Up to 6 miles /~3 hours in caves, villages and on trails Hotel Plaza Madeleine (B,L,D)

Tuesday, June 2 Loire Valley

Today we depart the Dordogne and spend the day driving north to the Loire Valley.

Stop in the village of Buzancais for lunch.

Arrive to our hotel in Tours in the late afternoon. Dinner at our hotel.

Walking: Up to 1 mile Hotel Oceania L’Univers (B,L,D)

Wednesday, June 3 Chateau de Villandry and Chateau de Moncontour

Transfer to Savonniere and walk along the river to Chateau de Villandry one of the last great chateaux built during the Renaissance.

Enjoy an expert-led tour followed by a field lecture. After a picnic lunch transfer by coach to Chateau de Moncontour. Learn about the sparkling wines of the region during a wine tasting. Walk back along the Loire River to Tours and enjoy dinner on your own tonight.

Walking: Up to 8 miles /~3 hours on flat, smooth asphalt, along the river Hotel Oceania L’Univers (B,L)

Travel to Chateau d’Amboise for a guided visit. After lunch on your own we continue to Civray de Touriane to begin our walk.

Enjoy beautiful views over the Chateau Chenonceau, probably one of the most beautiful castles in the Loire Valley. After our hike we take a public train back to Tours. Tonight we gather for a celebratory farewell dinner.

Walking: Up to 5 miles /~2 hours, on roads and forest trails Hotel Oceania L’Univers (B,D)

Friday, June 5 Loire Valley (Tour) / Paris / U.S.

After breakfast at our hotel transfer to Paris (2 ½ hours) for flights home. (B)

What to Expect

Participants must be in very good health and able to keep up with an active group of walkers. Walks are moderate with some strenuous segments and ascents. On average guests will walk 4-7 miles each day over 3-5 hours, broken up throughout the day. Our longest hike option is up to 9 miles. Walkers can opt for shorter hikes if they prefer. Some days there is only walking at site visits.

Travelers should be able to walk on gravel and dirt hiking trails, over uneven terrain and use stairs without handrails. Sturdy walking/hiking shoes are required; ankle-high shoes are recommended. One does not have to participate in every activity, but the tour is geared towards the pace described above.

Trip Details

Dates: May 25 – June 5, 2020 (12 days) Group Size: Minimum 10, Maximum 20 (not including staff) Cost: $5,995 per person, double occupancy $900 single room supplement

Included:

Tour leader, local guides, and guest speakers; activities as specified in the itinerary; transportation throughout; airport transfers on designated group dates and times; 10 nights accommodations as specified (or similar); 10 breakfasts, 8 lunches (including some bagged picnic lunches), 7 dinners; wine and beer with welcome and farewell events; Commonwealth Club representative with 13 or more participants; gratuities to local guides, drivers, and for all included group activities; pre-departure materials.

Not included:

International airfare; gratuity to tour leader; visa and passport fees; meals not specified as included; optional outings and gratuities for those outings; alcoholic beverages beyond welcome and farewell events; travel insurance (recommended, information will be sent upon registration); items of a purely personal nature.

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The Commonwealth Club (CWC) has contracted European Walking Tours to organize this tour.

Reservations: A $1,000 per person deposit, along with a completed and signed Reservation Form, will reserve a place for participants on this program. The balance of the trip is due 90 days prior to departure and must be paid by check.

Eligibility: We require membership to the Commonwealth Club to travel with us. People who live outside of the Bay Area may purchase a Worldwide membership. To learn about membership types and to purchase a membership, visit commonwealthclub.org/ membership or call (415) 597-6720.

Cancellation and Refund Policy: Notification of cancellation must be received in writing. At the time we receive your written cancellation, the following penalties will apply: • 91 or more days or more prior to departure: $350 per person • 90-1 days to departure: 100% fare Tour pricing is based on the number of participants. Tour can also be cancelled due to low enrollment. Neither CWC nor European Walking Tours accepts liability for cancellation penalties related to domestic or international airline tickets purchased in conjunction with the tour.

Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance: We strongly advise that all travelers purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance as coverage against a covered unforeseen emergency that may force you to cancel or leave trip while it is in progress. A brochure describing coverage will be sent to you upon receipt of your reservation.

Medical Information: Participation in this program requires that you be in good health and able to walk several miles each day. The “What to Expect” outlines what is required. If you have any concerns see your doctor on the advisability of you joining this program. It is essential that persons with any medical problems and related dietary restrictions make them known to us well before departure.

Itinerary Changes & Trip Delay: Itinerary is based on information available at the time of printing and is subject to change. We reserve the right to change a program’s dates, staff, itineraries, or accommodations as conditions warrant. If a trip must be delayed, or the itinerary changed, due to bad weather, road conditions, transportation delays, airline schedules, government intervention, sickness or other contingency for which CWC or European Walking Tours or its agents cannot make provision, the cost of delays or changes is not included.

Limitations of Liability: In order to join the program, participants must complete a Participant Waiver provided by the CWC and agree to these terms: CWC and European Walking Tours

its Owners, Agents, and Employees act only as the agent for any transportation carrier, hotel, ground operator, or other suppliers of services connected with this program (“other providers”), and the other providers are solely responsible and liable for providing their respective services. CWC and European Walking Tours shall not be held liable for (A) any damage to, or loss of, property or injury to, or death of, persons occasioned directly or indirectly by an act or omission of any other provider, including but not limited to any defect in any aircraft, or vehicle operated or provided by such other provider, and (B) any loss or damage due to delay, cancellation, or disruption in any manner caused by the laws, regulations, acts or failures to act, demands, orders, or interpositions of any government or any subdivision or agent thereof, or by acts of God, strikes, fire, flood, war, rebellion, terrorism, insurrection, sickness, quarantine, epidemics, theft, or any other cause(s) beyond their control. The participant waives any claim against CWC/ European Walking Tours for any such loss, damage, injury, or death. By registering for the trip, the participant certifies that he/she does not have any mental, physical, or other condition or disability that would create a hazard for him/herself or other participants. CWC/ European Walking Tours shall not be liable for any air carrier’s cancellation penalty incurred by the purchase of a nonrefundable ticket to or from the departure city. Baggage and personal effects are at all times the sole responsibility of the traveler. Reasonable changes in the itinerary may be made where deemed advisable for the comfort and well-being of the passengers.

CST: 2096889-40

Continued from page 28 high school.

KELLY: There was this culture of hazing at Georgetown Prep. Not everybody, but a lot of the freshmen boys who were either physically petite, not athletes or not protected by having older brothers in the school or having come from one of the feeder schools—like Brett Kavanaugh’s elementary and middle school was called Mater Dei. A lot of them were picked on. They would be duct taped to the front of a locker or stuffed inside a locker or picked up and thrown into a trash can and get food all over them from the cafeteria. The faculty certainly didn’t allow this if they were watching it, but there was a lot that went on behind the scenes that people weren’t seeing.

CORDELL: Another player—Deborah Ramirez—grew up in Connecticut [in a] working-class family; her dad Puerto Rican, her mom French. She described being sexually assaulted by a drunken Kavanaugh when they were undergrads at Yale. Talk to us a little bit about her.

POGREBIN: I spoke to [Ramirez], and her story really was one of those primary overlooked aspects of last year, we felt. She never testified publicly. The FBI never really investigated a lot of the talk around her and friends who felt like they had information that could be relevant.

It was just interesting also because it wasn’t a comparable assault, in terms of the violence of it. It was the fact that Brett had allegedly exposed himself to her at a drunken party [so] that I think some people were not necessarily understanding why it was so impactful to her.

What I learned, and it’s made me sensitive on a whole new level, that people come to Yale from very different backgrounds with very different kinds of armor in terms of how they navigate a situation like that—an Ivy

League school or any college. She had very little experience sexually, very little experience with alcohol, and she actually came in with a feeling that she already had a sense of inadequacy, of not sure she belonged there and deserved to be there. I think that really, when having his friends laugh at her, and having her be the butt of the jokes that night … On a lot of levels, this was incredibly formative for her.

CORDELL: The New York Times, you write in your book, had also been tracking the Ramirez story over the past several days and ultimately made the difficult decision to hold off on publishing her allegations in the absence of corroboration. The paper went with the story about Ford. There was no—or maybe you can correct me on this— corroboration. Meaning, somebody else has said, “Yeah, that happened. I saw it.” But yet they don’t go with Ramirez, where there is no corroboration; I mean, it’s her word. Why? POGREBIN: That’s a very good point, an interesting distinction. I think it has to do with how seriously the Senate Judiciary Committee was taking these allegations, and they took seriously Blasey Ford’s allegations enough to give her a hearing and have her testify before the committee. They did not do that in the case of Deborah Ramirez.

Also, we were chasing the Ramirez story at the same time as The New Yorker. Deborah Ramirez had decided, given how seismic this was and loaded, that she was only going to speak to one journalist, and she [picked] Ronan Farrow [of The New Yorker].

KELLY: I think that’s the key point. The other thing about Ford that’s worth mentioning is, and this is something we wrestle with as journalists all the time—The Washington Post did the original story where she [Blasey Ford] came forward on the record and talked about what she remembered. That was on

September 16. Once that was out there in the world, I’m sure everyone here remembers it, it was seismic; it was huge. At that point, we had to reckon with it as journalists and try to explore it and corroborate or contextualize it as best we could.

CORDELL: There was a follow-up investigation by the FBI. This is before the confirmation vote, and it was really—I remember seeing the scene on TV. You have Senators [Jeff] Flake [R–AZ]; you have [Chris] Coons [D–DE]—they are meeting. And then you see [Susan] Collins [R–ME], and then finally everybody’s up and moving. They end up deciding—we’re going to delay things, and we’re going to have more of an FBI background check.

But the idea was—there are other names coming out. But the FBI didn’t conduct a whole bunch of interviews. Why not? What did you find were the rules for this follow-up?

KELLY: The inquiry was very circumscribed, and I think this is one of the more interesting chapters in our book—is that you start with this bipartisan compromise as you mentioned, and you start with a small group of moderate senators, who feel that anywhere from 10 to 50 people need to be interviewed.

They had talked to Mitch McConnell [R–KY], the majority leader, who is then in communication with the White House about what should happen.

Very quickly, the White House takes over, because the White House in this case is the

D E C E M B E R/J A N UA RY 2019-2020

33

client, and they’re calling the shots. There are initially four people the Times reports that are going to be interviewed, and they’re all related to the Ford allegation. Then the list grows to 10 people. Somewhere in there, you have Senator Coons, the Democrat, calling up Don McGahn, the White House counsel, and saying, “Don, I’m told this process is being done by the book, but I feel like I’m being shut out of the information flow here.

Where is the book? Can I see it?”

McGahn essentially says, “Look, there is no book. But this is being handled appropriately.”

It exemplifies what Coons and others were struggling with. There was not a lot of transparency. There was an additional witness to an additional allegation that surfaced around that time; Max Stier, who’s a nonpartisan good governance advocate in Washington, who had also been in Brett’s class at Yale, who said he had witnessed another instance of sexual misconduct on the part of Kavanaugh.

He brought that to multiple senators and to the FBI, and it was not pursued. There were a number of leads that were not pursued.

CORDELL: How long a period of time was this follow up?

KELLY: It was a week but really less than that for the investigative work, because they had to put together their summary reports

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and get them ready for the senators to review in a [sensitive compartmented information facility], where they had one-hour slots to look at it and one hard copy.

CORDELL: And they interviewed what, four more people?

KELLY: They interviewed 10 total.

POGREBIN: I think there are some who speculate that this was all theater, and on some level clearly that’s how it registered, where [Senator Flake] had done the right thing in terms of calling for an additional investigation but then didn’t really seem to mind that it wasn’t done in good faith.

CORDELL: I find it interesting that you relied on the words of Kavanaugh’s mother, when we get to the final chapter here, wrapping this investigation up. She was a state prosecutor, and eventually she became a judge. But you write that as a state prosecutor, she told juries and she also lectured her son about this as well, “Use your common sense.

What rings true? What rings false?”

As reporters, you need evidence, and you need facts, but at the same time you are human beings. You are women; you are moms; you have daughters.

POGREBIN: We have sons.

CORDELL: And sons. Combining your common sense—what rings true, what rings false—and the facts that you uncovered, what

did you conclude about the credibility of Christine Blasey Ford?

KELLY: We find Dr. Ford credible.

CORDELL: Why? KELLY: For a whole array of reasons. First of all, the things that she has said about who she was at the time, her connection to Kavanaugh and his group of friends, all of those things pan out. She did date one of his good friends, “Squee,” or his real name is Chris Garrett.

Nobody has disputed that. Even Kavanaugh said, “I might have met her; I don’t recall.”

Her friend, Leland Keyser, who was alleged to be at the party, dated Mark Judge, who was alleged to be in the room when the alleged assault occurred. There is a connection there that nobody has disputed.

She has no incentive that we can discern to make this up. She is not a political person.

The advice she got on this came from lawyers that she had sought out and personal friends.

She has not monetized the situation in any way. There is no discernible reason why she would put herself through this hellish ordeal. She did not even want to come public.

She just wanted to share this information privately. Her memory is limited, in some respects, of this alleged incident. . . . That spotty memory is consistent with somebody who has experienced sexual assault. . . . We just think that on balance, she is credible.

L ast Word

WITH DR. JEN GUNTER & MARY ROACH

Mary Roach (left) and Jen Gunter.

Photo by Ed Ritger

A HEALTHY DOSE OF REALITY

MARY ROACH: Do you have this sense that oversight is sort of gone? There’s just so much—whether it’s on the Internet or ads on television—just people making these ridiculous claims. What happened to the FDA? JEN GUNTER: The problem is that the rules are written that the only people who have to have things studied—and even then it’s marginally so—is pharmaceuticals. So if you have a new antidepressant, if you have a new birth control pill, you’re going to have to go through layers and layers and layers of studies to get that approved.

And still, even in that situation, big pharma doesn’t always release all their data.

With [medical] procedures, it’s totally different. It’s basically like the Wild West. The problem is procedures are cool. A really good example is robotic surgery, which is almost never better than conventional laparoscopic surgery, but it’s cool—it’s the robot. Now we know, there are actually real complications from it. It used to be everybody was getting the robot for their cervical cancer surgery.

We now know there’s a higher rate of your cancer returning if you have robotic surgery for cervical cancer versus traditional surgery.

ROACH: Wow. GUNTER: So when we rush these things, because they sound cool—and every hospital wants to get one because you want to go

to the place with the cool, new stuff—there are real consequences.

So I think every single thing, be it a pharmaceutical agent or a new piece of surgical equipment, should have the same degree of oversight. That’s how “wellness” gets in, because they don’t have to prove anything. They can make all kinds of claims; they can take $4 trillion a year, and, you know, “buyer beware.”

ROACH: I know you are up to your eyeballs in Gwyneth Paltrow.

Do you feel she believes the things on her site [Goop]?

GUNTER: Somebody [at] Goop is a true believer, whether it is her or somebody else, I don’t know. She told Oprah she was rethinking whether she should be doing this alternative medicine, because people were so mean—I guess that means me; I was so mean. I’m like, “No, that’s called science, sweetheart.” Oprah said she really believed she should stay on that pathway; she gave her advice that [Paltrow] was doing the right thing, that there was something to this alternative medicine.

ROACH: Oh, Oprah!

GUNTER: So somebody [at Goop] is a true believer. They really believe they are doing something good. I don’t know if it’s “You say the lie long enough, you believe it . . .”

—Dr. Jen Gunter and Mary Roach September 9, 2019 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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CLUB PROGRAMMING SPOTLIGHTS Climate One

Climate One offers a forum for candid discussion among climate scientists, policymakers, activists and concerned citizens. By gathering inspiring, credible and compelling information, it provides an essential resource to changemakers looking to make a difference. Climate One has brought together game-changing speakers, from Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO of General Motors, to Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Robert Fraley and Center for Food Safety Executive Director Andrew Kimbrell. Climate One is about building bridges and finding common ground.

Inforum An Innovation Lab at The Commonwealth Club

The Inforum division of The Commonwealth Club produces Bay Area events where attendees meet thought leaders in entertainment, tech, food, design, pop culture and politics, and where the audience is often just as inspiring as the thought leaders. Inforum produces individually curated events designed to provide attendees with cutting-edge content and a hands-on educational experience. Its programs include headline interviews, monthly happy hours, public forums, debate discussion groups and post-program socials.

Marin Conversations

Marin Conversations pairs fascinating people for discussions about important topics. In 2019, the Marin Conversation Series is being supported by a major new grant from the Marin Community Foundation (MCF). The support from MCF, along with existing support from Relevant Wealth Advisors and other funders, is enabling the Commonwealth Club to increase the reach, impact and diversity of its Marin programs throughout the year.

Member-Led Forums

Member-led Forums (MLFs) are a volunteer-driven division of Commonwealth Club programming. These diverse and timely programs cover a wide range of topics on an ongoing basis throughout the year. They range from large events to intimate discussions with speakers, from art shows and restaurant visits to book discussion groups. MLFs are volunteer-run, organized by Club members who coordinate programs within specific areas of interest.

Michelle Meow Show at The Commonwealth Club

In 2018, The Commonwealth Club and Michelle Meow teamed up to expand and broaden the Club’s programming of interest to LGBTQ audiences. Each Thursday at noon, Michelle records her “Michelle Meow Show” radio program at the Club, co-hosted by John Zipperer, the Club’s host of its Week to Week Politics Roundtable programs. Join us in-person for upcoming “Michelle Meow Show”s and meet some of the most interesting, intriguing and often controversial people in the LGBTQ community.

Sillicon Valley

Join us for our great programs taking place in the South Bay. Featuring a wide variety of topics, we bring you headliners and fascinating speakers who explore the issues and personalities that are of interest to Silicon Valley—and the nation.

Week to Week Political Roundtable

Since 2012, the Club’s Week to Week Political Roundtable program has brought together audiences and political reporters and academics for a lively, intelligent, and fun discussion of recent political news. Panelists with a range of views discuss local, state and national political events and people, explaining the background and impact of the day’s news. Before each program, enjoy a social hour for some relaxing conversation with others who share your interest in politics.

The Commonwealth Club organizes more than 450 events every year on politics, the arts, media, literature, business and sports. Programs are held throughout the Bay Area in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Marin County, and the East Bay. Standard programs are typically one hour long and frequently include panel discussions or speeches followed by a question and answer session. Many evening programs include a networking reception with wine.

PROGRAM DIVISIONS

CLIMATE ONE

INFORUM

MEMBER-LED FORUMS

Discussion among climate scientists, policymakers, activists, and citizens about energy, the economy, and the environment.

Inspiring talks with leaders in tech, culture, food, design, business and social issues targeted towards young adults.

Volunteer-driven programs that focus on particular fields. Most evening programs include a wine networking reception.

COMMONWEALTHCLUB.ORG/CLIMATE-ONE

COMMONWEALTHCLUB.ORG/INFORUM

COMMONWEALTHCLUB.ORG/MLF

RADIO, VIDEO, & PODCASTS Watch Club programs on the California Channel every Saturday at 9 p.m., and on KRCB TV 22 on Comcast. Select Commonwealth Club programs air on Marin TV’s Education Channel (Comcast Channel 30, U-Verse Channel 99) and on CreaTV in San Jose (Channel 30). View hundreds of streaming videos of Club programs at fora.tv and youtube.com/commonwealthclub

Hear Club programs on more than 200 public and commercial radio stations throughout the United States. For the latest schedule, visit commonwealthclub.org/broadcast.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, tune in to: KQED (88.5 FM) Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 a.m.

KNBR (680 and 1050 AM) Sundays at 5 a.m.

KRCB Radio (91.1 FM in Rohnert Park) Thursdays at 7 p.m.

KFOG (104.5 and 97.7 FM) Sundays at 5 a.m.

KALW (91.7 FM) Inforum programs select Tuesdays at 7p.m.

TuneIn.com Fridays at 4 p.m.

KSAN (107.7 FM) Sundays at 5 a.m.

Subscribe to our free podcast service on iTunes and Google Play to automatically receive new programs: commonwealthclub.org/podcast-subscribe

TICKETS Prepayment is required. Unless otherwise indicated, all events—including “Members Free” events— require tickets. Programs often sell out, so we strongly encourage you to purchase tickets in advance.

Due to heavy call volume, we urge you to purchase tickets online at commonwealthclub.org; or call (415) 597-6705. Please note: All ticket sales are final. Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to any program. Select events include premium seating, which refers to the first several rows of seating.

Pricing is subject to change.

HARD OF HEARING? To request an assistive listening device, please e-mail Mark Kirchner seven working days before the event at mkirchner@commonwealthclub.org.

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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6 pm Reading California Book Discussion: The Browns of California 6:30 pm Christine Pelosi: The Nancy Pelosi Way

6 pmp.m.

5:15 Montaigne Blinding on Flash of the Obvious Friendship 6:30 p.m. Ben Franklin Circles FM 6:30 p.m.

Changemakers: Movement Leaders on Civil Rights in an Uncivil Time FM 7:45 p.m. The Future of America’s Political

6 pm Artificial Intelligence and You: 6:30 pm Socrates Café 6:30 pm Lawrence Lessig

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noon Humanity at a Crossroads: New Insights into Technology Risks for Humans and the Planet 5:15 pm Making Life a Spectacular Journey

5:30 10 a.m. pmChinatown Judicial Walking Tour and Independence 6:30Public the p.m. Sallie Good Krawcheck: The Power of Women, Work and Wallet 7 p.m. Gopi Kallayil: Brain, Body and Consciousness

6:30 pm Annual YearEnd Michelle Meow Special

9 pm The Perfect View: Celebrate NYE 2020 at The Commonwealth Club

San Francisco

East/North Bay

2 pm Commonwealth Club Weekly Tour FE noon Inside Stonewall 5:15 pm Index Funds 6 pm Such a Pretty Girl 6:30 pm The Queenmakers

6:30 pm Week to Week Political Roundtable & Holiday Party

2 pm Commonwealth Club Weekly Tour FE

Silicon Valley

noon The Real Toni Morrison 6:30 pm Microsoft President Brad Smith 6:30 pm Imperfect Circles 7 pm Ben Horowitz: Creating Culture

6 pm How to Ensure Successful Reentry after Prison 6:30 pm An Evening with Michael Eric Dyson 6:30 pm Dr Robert Bullard: The Steven Schneider Award

2 pm Russian Hill Walking Tour 6 pm Common Space Forum

FM Free for members

noon Afghanistan after 18 Years of War

FE Free for everyone

MO Members-only

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6:30 pm Artistic Creativity and Consciousness: Art as Positive Energy in these Turbulent Times

6 pm The Power of Critical Thinking

6:30 pm Violins of Hope: A Journey of Heroism, Healing and Humanity 6 pm Courage in the Face of Evil 6:30 pm Socrates Café

6 pm How to Be a Calm, Effective Changemaker During Troubled Times

noon Imperfect Union: Jessie and John Frémont 6 pm The Internet of Things in a 5G World: Hope or Hype?

6:30 pm What Is a Just Transition

6 pm The Crusade for Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s Mental Institutions 6:30 pm Daniel Levitin

6:30 pm Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell 6:30 pm Andrea Bernstein

commonwealthclub.org/events

2 pm Commonwealth Club Weekly Tour FE

noon Former VA Secretary David Shulkin 6 pm Designing Babies: How Technology Is Changing the Ways We Create Children 6:30 pm Mental Health, Youth and the Justice System

2 pm Commonwealth Club Weekly Tour FE 6 pm Your Body Says “Yes”: Your Body-Health-Nature Intelligence to Optimize Your Health and Well-Being

2 pm Commonwealth Club Weekly Tour FE 5:15 pm How to Navigate Epic Estate Battles Before They Start

6:30 pm Imperfect Circles

noon The Michelle Meow Show 2 pm Waterfront Walking Tour 6 pm Today’s Great Need: Radical Politics, Conservative Culture

noon The Michelle Meow Show FE 7:30 pm David Talbot

noon The Michelle Meow Show FE 2 pm San Francisco Architecture Walking Tour 6:30 pm The College Dropout Scandal 6 pm Common Space Forum 7:30 pm SV Reads 2020

noon The Michelle Meow Show FE 6 pm Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater across America 7 pm Immortality Inc.: The Quest to Live Forever

noon Keith Hennessey and Christina Romer: Bank of America / Merrill Lynch Walter E. Hoadley Annual Economic Forecast 6:30 pm Week to Week Political Roundtable

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 2 READING CALIFORNIA BOOK DISCUSSION: THE BROWNS OF CALIFORNIA

This book is subtitled The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation, and author Miriam Pawel will join us to tell how and why she chose this fascinating and sometimes unpredictable clan to write about.

From old-school politician Edmund G. “Pat” Brown to ever-changing Jerry Brown to youngest daughter Kathleen Brown, Pawel takes us through their lives and their influence on our lives. Pawel’s book won the Californiana award at this year’s California Book Awards and has earned rave reviews from the S.F. Chronicle, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program • MLF: Reading Californians • Program organizer: Kalena Gregory

CHRISTINE PELOSI: THE NANCY PELOSI WAY

Christine Pelosi, Democratic Political Strategist; General Counsel, We Said Enough; Author, The Nancy Pelosi Way: Advice on Success, Leadership, and Politics from America’s Most Powerful Woman; Twitter @sfpelosi

Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) is one of the most

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successful leaders to ever wield the gavel as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Under her leadership, Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act and are now championing a “for the people” agenda. People have spent a lifetime studying how Pelosi uses power and negotiation, but no one understands her better than her own daughter Christine Pelosi.

Christine Pelosi teaches us the wisdom and advice she learned firsthand from the most powerful woman in U.S. history. She examines how her mother rose through the ranks of government, and extracts key lessons in leadership for people to apply to their own lives.

ing Our Kids—and How to Break the Trance; Founder and CEO, Omega Recovery Camilla Rees, MBA, Senior Policy Adviser, National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy; Author, The Wireless Elephant in the Room; Founder, ElectromagneticHealth.org, Campaign for Radiation Free Schools and Manhattan Neighbors for Safer Telecommunications

Development Director; Pioneering Health Researcher on Natural and Man-Made Electromagnetic Fields Karl Maret, M.D., M.Eng., President, Dove Health Alliance; Researcher in Electromagnetic Fields and Energy Medicine Nicholas Kardaras, Ph.D., Former Clinical Professor, Stony Brook Medicine; Author, Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijack-

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon–2:30 p.m. program • MLF: Health & Medicine, Technology & Society • Program organizer: Bill Grant • Notes: Co-organized by ElectromagneticHealth. org; American Academy of Environmental Medicine; Moms Across America; Ecological Options Network; SafeG; the California Brain Tumor As-

This program will present the biological and health effects of both natural electromagnetic waves innate to the body and man-made electromagnetic waves from wireless technologies, including discussion about 4G/5G antenna densification. It will also address the mental SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar- health and relational impacts of tech overuse cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco and addiction. Importantly, new scientific • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, understanding will be shared by a former tele7:30 p.m. book signing com industry director of research and development about what is driving the biological TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3 effects, which relates to our body being mostly HUMANITY AT A CROSSROADS: NEW comprised of water. They will tell us wireless INSIGHTS INTO TECHNOLOGY RISKS radiation instantly changes biology, with sysFOR HUMANS AND THE PLANET tem-wide effects. Join us for a provocative proDolf Zantinge, Former Telecom Research and gram about technology risks to humanity.

Making Life a Spectacular Journey 12/3

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org Index Funds: Launching the Revolution of Modern Investing 12/4 sociation; Electromagnetic Safety Alliance; EMF Safety Network; My Street, My Choice!; California Health Coalition Advocacy; Electrosensitive Society; Manhattan Neighbors for Safer Telecommunications; International EMF Alliance

MAKING LIFE A SPECTACULAR JOURNEY

Neal Grace, Author, Fresh Eyes Upon the World: Making Life a Spectacular Journey

A world traveling backpacker turned life teacher shows how to find wealth, wisdom and well-being without taking a step. A life lived with unusual experiences, combined with a poet’s creativity, led Neal Grace to offer an uplifting message on personal transformation that can help heal the negativity in our current world. Some people develop their life philosophies by studying the great philosophers; Grace developed his by living passionately. Eager to share how his adventures and rise from being nearly destitute to becoming a millionaire inspired a unique perspective, Grace reveals simple ways to find and achieve peace of mind.

Neal Grace has always followed different paths to discover unexplored frontiers—from living in the woods for months to traveling with a backpack around the world to forging a career in the business world that made him wealthy. A passionate observer, Grace began chronicling his experiences. Inspiring others to live freely and creatively, he has authored 2,500 poems and two opera librettos; Fresh Eyes Upon the World is his 15th book.

at one of the most significant moments in the history of gay rights in the United States.

Join us for a discussion with these two filmmakers about sharing new insight into a pivotal LGBTQ event.

SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program

COMMONWEALTH CLUB WEEKLY TOUR

Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., we’re giving members and nonmembers behind-the-scenes tours of our home at 110 The Embarcadero. Join us for a complimentary tour of our SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar- beautiful new headquarters on San Francisco’s cadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco waterfront. At our state-of-the-art gathering • Time: 4:45 p.m. check-in, 5:15 p.m. program space, which features a rooftop terrace with • MLF: Grownups • Program organizer: Denise unobstructed views of the Bay Bridge and San Michaud Francisco Bay, you can learn about our storied WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 history and the many amenities of being a Club member. Space is limited, so reserve your INSIDE STONEWALL: OUTLOUD spot now to visit San Francisco’s newest—and Fenton Bailey, Co-Founder, World of Wonder Productions; Filmmaker, Stonewall: Outloud oldest—cultural treasure at our new location.

Randy Barbato, Co-Founder, World of Won- Feel free to call the front desk ahead of time for der Productions; Filmmaker, Stonewall: Out- extra availability.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarloud Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, “The Mi- cadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 chelle Meow Show” (Radio and TV)—Co-Host p.m. check-in, 2–3 p.m. tour John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable, The Common- INDEX FUNDS: LAUNCHING THE wealth Club—Co-Host REVOLUTION OF MODERN

In their new documentary, Stonewall: Outloud, filmmakers Fenton Baily and Randy Barbato weave together personal accounts and archival material from the night of the Stonewall riots. Narrated by RuPaul and now streaming on YouTube, the film is a powerful look back

INVESTING

John “Mac” McQuown, Co-Founder and Director, Dimensional Fund Advisors Rick Raybin, CEO, Lifetime Capital Group LLC; Author, Investing 3.0: What the Creators of Index Funds Discovered and How to Profit

From It

Mac McQuown is known as one of the architects of the modern investing system. In the early 1970s, he departed from prevailing Wall Street practices by assembling a team of six future Nobel Laureates to create a new type of investment: the index fund. Join McQuown as he presents an insider’s view of the events that led to the creation of the index fund. Learn what he and his team have created since those early days, other advances that have occurred since and what might be coming next.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 4:45 p.m. check-in, 5:15 p.m. program • MLF: Grownups • Program organizer: Denise Michaud

SUCH A PRETTY GIRL: A STORY OF STRUGGLE, EMPOWERMENT AND DISABILITY PRIDE

Nadina LaSpina, Disability Rights Activist; Author, Such a Pretty Girl: A Story of Struggle, Empowerment, and Disability Pride

“Such a pretty girl.” It was a refrain Nadina LaSpina heard frequently in her native Sicily.

What was sometimes added, and what was always implied, was that it’s a shame she was disabled. Having contracted polio as a baby, LaSpina was the frequent target of pity by those who dismissed her life as hopeless. She came to the United States at 13 and spent most of her adolescence in hospitals in a fruitless and painful quest for a cure.

Against the political tumult of the 1960s, LaSpina rebelled both personally and politically. She refused to accept both the limitations placed on her by others and the dominant narrative surrounding disability. LaSpina also DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

41

took to the streets with the then-fledgling disability rights movement that has changed both law and perception in the United States. She was an important figure in some key struggles, including those that led to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

LaSpina discusses why pity has been one of the most hurtful things she’s had to contend with in her life, that the problem was not her disability but the way she was treated because of it, and that the assumption that to be disabled is to be miserable is itself the most miserable part about being disabled.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

THE QUEENMAKERS: WOMEN POWER BROKERS IN SAN FRANCISCO

Aimee Allison, The Changemaker; Founder, She the People, the national network elevating the political voice and power of women of color Gretchen Sisson, Ph.D., The Donor; Board Member, WDN Action Johanna Silva Waki, The Strategist; Emily’s List West Coast State and Local Director Anna Nti-Asare-Tubbs, The Intersectionalist; First Lady of Stockton Julie Castro Abrams, The Connector; CEO and

Chair, How Women Lead Alida Garcia, The Advocate; Director of Coalitions and Policy, FWD.us Dr. Gloria Duffy, President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club—Moderator

Much has been written about the groundbreaking number of women who were elected into Congress in the last election. What many people may not know, however, is that women in San Francisco and the Bay Area play a pivotal role in creating a narrative at the national level—influencing who runs, where money should go, and, ultimately, who gets elected.

Meet the Bay Area’s ultimate power players: The Queenmakers.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program • Notes: In association with San Francisco magazine

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5 THE REAL TONI MORRISON

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Director, The Pieces I Am; Photographer; Twitter @tgsfilm Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, “The Michelle Meow Show” (online and KBCW/KPIX TV); Twitter @msmichellemeow—Co-Host John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable—Co-Host SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar-

Toni Morrison, who passed away in August, was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer, National Book Critics Circle Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and more. Earlier this year, a new documentary about Morrison, The Pieces I Am, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It covers the life and impact of Morrison and includes interviews with Morrison, Angela Davis, Fran Lebowitz, Peter Sellars, Oprah Winfrey and others. Join us for an engaging conversation with the director of The Pieces I Am, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program

MICROSOFT PRESIDENT BRAD SMITH: THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Brad Smith, President, Microsoft; Author, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and Peril of the Digital Age

As Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith leads a team of more than 1,400 business, legal and corporate

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affairs professionals working in 56 countries.

He plays a key role in spearheading the company’s work on critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, human rights, immigration, philanthropy and environmental sustainability. The New York Times has called him “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large.”

Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you helped create. This flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself.

Though sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, Smith says we have reached an inflection point, and the world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon.

Come hear his view that new approaches are needed to manage an era defined by even more powerful inventions like artificial intelligence.

Companies that create technology must accept greater responsibility for the future, he says, and governments will need to regulate technology by moving faster and catching up with the pace of innovation.

The Real Toni Morrison 12/5

cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing

IMPERFECT CIRCLES

George Hammond, Author, Conversations with Socrates and Rational Idealism—Moderator

Do you never tire of talking or thinking about philosophical, scientific or religious theories? Are you interested in psychological insights, or attempts at such insights, into human life? There are many who would insist that being realistic about human life means you should ignore such fundamental questions—starting around the time the ink dries on your diploma. But it is unrealistic to ignore the fundamental explanatory concepts which underlie each successful human civilization; these concepts sometimes help and sometimes hinder us in our pursuit of happiness. Such profound questions are naturally provoked simply by living an alert life.

There are millions of realistic people, of all ages and walks of life, who also find it impossible to delegate to one infallible authority or another the task of providing all the answers to such questions. Life is not totally chaotic, even

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

though it looks that way sometimes. Therefore, it’s helpful to be aware of any subtle patterns to our experiences. Rejoin the continuing conversation of human civilization—this time at The Commonwealth Club.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 6:15 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George

M. Burns Distinguished Professor of Compar- ter of the American Board of Trial Advocates; ative Literature and French, Director of the attendees subject to search Doreen B. Townsend Center for the HumanWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11 ities, UC Berkeley

Monday Night Philosophy warms you up for the holidays with Michel de Montaigne’s essay “On Friendship,” one of the most influential and insightful meditations on the topic ever written. Montaigne shows us how our attitudes toward friendship are deeply constitutive of both our emotional life and our moral being. Together we will discuss the themes raised by Montaigne and their implications for thinking about communal life, both during Montaigne’s age and in the present moment.

WEEK TO WEEK POLITICAL ROUNDTABLE & HOLIDAY PARTY 12/11/19

gram • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer:

It’s our annual year-end Week to Week, keeping you up to date with the most recent political events and news. And from 5:306:30, we’ll have our annual members holiday party (open to all attendees). Come join us for lively conversation and good cheer!

At the end of one of the wildest political years of our lifetimes, we will discuss the biggest, most controversial and 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 and our live news quiz!

Tim Anaya, Communications Director, Pacific Research Institute; Co-Host, PRI’s “Next Round” Podcast; Former Director of Writing, California Assembly Republicans; Twitter @ Hammond timanaya Melissa Caen, Political Analyst; Journalist; BEN HOROWITZ: CREATING CULTURE Lawyer Ben Horowitz, Co-Founder, Andreessen C.W. Nevius, Columnist, Santa Rosa Press Horowitz; Author, What You Do Is Who You Democrat; Twitter @cwnevius Are: How to Create Your Business Culture; John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The EmbarTwitter @bhorowitz Week; Vice President of Media & Editorial, According to leading venture capitalist Ben cadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. pro- The Commonwealth Club

Horowitz, the crucial question for every organization is: How do you create and sustain the culture you want? To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It’s not the values listed on the wall or what’s said in a company-wide meeting. It is who you are and what you do to get you through both good and bad times. Join us as Horowitz reflects on his own experiences and highlights four models of leadership and purposeful culture building.

George Hammond

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10 JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND THE PUBLIC GOOD

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, University of California at Berkeley School of Law Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Justice, CaliforSILICON VALLEY • Location: Santa Clara Connia Supreme Court vention Center Theatre, 5001 Great America Curtis Karnow, Justice, Superior Court of CalPkwy., Santa Clara • Time: 6:15 p.m. check-in, 7 ifornia p.m. program • Notes: Horowitz photo by BeLaDoris Cordell, Retired California Superior owulf Sheehan Court Judge—Moderator

Americans are generally familiar with the role courts play in protecting the public’s rights MONTAIGNE ON FRIENDSHIP and resolving disputes with integrity. In recent Timothy Hampton, Aldo Scaglione and Marie years, state judges have been confronted by recalls and other challenges at the ballot box as well as political attacks that some observers believe could create a chilling effect on justice.

What is the impact of elections on judicial independence? Do elections threaten justice, or are they a means by which to preserve it? How responsive to the electorate should judges be?

What is the impact of judicial elections and retention elections on judicial independence?

What is the proper relationship of politics and the judiciary?

Join us in an important discussion with high-level panelists who have studied—and experienced—these issues.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 4:30 p.m. check-in, 5:30–6:45 p.m. program • Notes: In partnership with the California Judges Association, Judicial Fairness Coalition, the Litigation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Bench Bar Committee and the San Francisco ChapBen Horowitz: Creating Culture 12/5

SAN FRANCISCO • WEEK TO WEEK PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in and holiday party, 6:30 p.m. program • Notes: Each attendee receives two free tickets for a glass of wine or soft drink during our social hour

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12 HOW TO ENSURE SUCCESSFUL REENTRY AFTER PRISON

Marc Morjé Howard, Professor of Government and Law, Founding Director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative, Georgetown University; Author, Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism Stephanie McGencey, Senior Director of Reentry Ready and Special Projects, Convergence Center for Policy Resolution—Moderator

It is often said that “reentry begins on the first day of incarceration,” but how can we ensure that people leave prison prepared to succeed in the free world? This conversation DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

43

between Marc Morjé Howard and Stephanie McGencey will highlight recommendations from the Reentry Ready Project, which focuses on the tremendous benefits of education and positive programming for incarcerated people so that they can develop self-worth and critical reasoning skills; the program also focuses on making carceral facilities safer for both residents and staff. Howard will share examples from the innovative and groundbreaking Georgetown programs in Washington, D.C. McGencey will describe efforts planned to improve reentry outcomes nationwide.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University; Author, JAY-Z: Made in America

all intersect to reflect a well-rounded picture of black life in America. Now Dyson has set his analytical sights on someone who, he argues, is one of the greatest American poets of all time: Jay-Z. Join INFORUM and Dyson for an evening of all things Hova—from Jay-Z’s humble beginnings as a hustler in 1980s New York City to his meteoric rise to fame and his eventual recognition as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Dyson will explore how Jay-Z’s 30-year career has changed not just hip-hop but also the music industry, business, politics and social justice. Join us for an exploration of the life of a great literary figure and learn how he provided the blueprint.

SAN FRANCISCO • INFORUM PROGRAM • Location: Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program • Notes: This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation

DR. ROBERT BULLARD: THE STEPHEN SCHNEIDER AWARD Michael Eric Dyson is known for his many FOR OUTSTANDING CLIMATE talents. He is an outspoken academic and so- SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

that knowledge to a broad public in a clear and compelling fashion.

“Dr. Bullard is rightfully called the ‘father of climate justice’ for his groundbreaking work over four decades on environmental racism, land use, industrial siting and climate justice,” says juror Cris Russell. “His work as an academic and an activist brought a human face to issues that are highly relevant today. Bullard’s lifelong skills in communicating about environmental justice to the media and the public make him an outstanding recipient of the Schneider Award.”

Bullard will be in conversation with Greg Dalton, founder and host of Climate One. SAN FRANCISCO • CLIMATE ONE PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 6 p.m. checkin, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. reception

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13 AFGHANISTAN AFTER 18 YEARS OF WAR

Anthony Alfidi, Lt. Col., U.S. Army Reserve Atta Arghandiwal, Author, Lost Decency: The Untold Afghan Story Sandra Miller Ross, Ph.D., Author, Afghanistan at Peace Robert Bullard, Ph.D., Distinguished Profesciologist, social critic, best-selling author, a Jonathan Curiel, Journalist, Author—Modersor of Urban Planning and Environmental popular figure in political news media, an orator Policy, Texas Southern University dained Baptist minister and, in his own words, Our distinguished panelists will discuss AfGreg Dalton, Founder and Host, Climate One one of the country’s leading “hip-hop intellec-

tuals.” Often in Dyson’s work, these concepts

Join us for a special evening as we present Robert Bullard with the ninth annual Stephen Schneider Award. Established in honor of Stephen Henry Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology, who died suddenly in 2010, the $15,000 award recognizes a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated

ghanistan and the longest war in U.S. history.

They will present their personal views about prewar Afghanistan, the present tragedy and what policies and reforms might be pursued to find peace and prevent further tragedy. Sandra Miller Ross traveled to Afghanistan in 1970 and will show stunning images of that visit.

Atta Arghandiwal is a humanitarian and cultural adviser who was born in Afghanistan to a military family. Lt. Col. Anthony Alfidi of the U.S. Reserve has served throughout the Middle East and Afghanistan.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 p.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing • MLF: Middle East •

Program organizer: Celia Menczel

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND YOU: THE FUTURE OF THE MIND

Susan Schneider, Ph.D., Author, Artificial You: AI and the Future of the Mind; NASA– Blumberg Chair in Astrobiology; NASA Distinguished Scholar, Library of Congress; Director of AI, Mind and Society Group, the University of Connecticut

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An Evening with Michael Eric Dyson 12/12

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

Joe Epstein, Past Chair, Commonwealth Club gram, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Technology & Read the American Constitution; @lessig Society • Program organizer: Gerald Harris Board of Governors—Moderator In Fidelity & Constraint, legal scholar Law-

It’s 2040, and you stroll into the Center for Mind Design where you can buy a variety of brain enhancements. How far do you want to go? The human calculator promises to give you savant-level mathematical abilities. The Zen garden can make you calmer and more efficient. Or you can buy “merge,” a series of enhancements that allow you to gradually augment and transfer mental functions to the cloud. This may all sound like science fiction, but Susan Schneider, a cognitive scientist and philosopher at the University of Connecticut and the NASA–Blumberg chair of astrobiology at the Library of Congress, says brain microchips and other techniques to integrate humans with artificial intelligence are under development. AI, she says, is revolutionizing the economy and will inevitably go inside the head as corporations attempt to allow us seamless access to our devices. Schneider addresses the implications of AI in our lives and how to ensure the science develops in a way that promotes human flourishing.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. pro-

SOCRATES CAFÉ

One Monday evening of every month the Humanities Forum sponsors Socrates Café at The Commonwealth Club. Each meeting is devoted to the discussion of a philosophical topic chosen at that meeting. The group’s facilitator, John Nyquist, invites participants to suggest topics, which are then voted on. The person who proposed the most popular topic is asked to briefly explain why she or he considers that topic interesting and important. An open discussion follows, and the meeting ends with a summary of the various perspectives participants expressed. Everyone is welcome to attend.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30–8 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

LAWRENCE LESSIG

Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School; Author, Fidelity & Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has

rence Lessig explains that one of the most basic approaches to interpreting the Constitution is the process of translation. Indeed, some of the most significant shifts in constitutional doctrine are products of the evolution of the translation process over time. In every new era, judges understand their translations as instances of “interpretive fidelity,” framed within each new temporal context.

Yet, as Lessig also argues, there is a repeatedly occurring countermove that upends the process of translation. Throughout American history, there has been a second fidelity in addition to interpretive fidelity: what Lessig calls “fidelity to role.” In each of the cycles of translation that he describes, the role of the judge—the ultimate translator—has evolved too. Old ways of interpreting the text now become illegitimate because they do not match up with the judge’s perceived role. And when that conflict occurs, the practice of judges within our tradition has been to follow the guidance of a fidelity to role. Ultimately, Lessig not only shows us how important the concept of translation is to constitutional interpretation but also exposes the institutional

limits on this practice.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing • Notes: Lessig photo by Jessica Scranton

ANNUAL YEAR-END MICHELLE MEOW SPECIAL

Guest Speaker TBA Michelle Meow, Host, “The Michelle Meow Show” (Radio and TV) John Zipperer, Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable—Co-Host

Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., we’re giving members and nonmembers behind-the-scenes tours of our home at 110 The Embarcadero. Join us for a complimentary tour of our beautiful new headquarters on San Francisco’s waterfront. At our state-of-the-art gathering space, which features a rooftop terrace with unobstructed views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco Bay, you can learn about our storied history and the many amenities of being a Club member.

Space is limited, so reserve your spot now to visit San Francisco’s newest—and oldest— cultural treasure at our new location. Feel free to call the front desk ahead of time for extra availability.

eager for civil peer-to-peer discussion but are concerned with the lack of such conversation in our busy everyday lives. Every third Thursday of the month, the Common Space Forum offers an open debate for you and your peers to talk through topics that range from automation’s effects on the job market to climate change.

Here’s how it works: Before the event, members elect a single news topic to focus on. When a topic is chosen, the moderators—Miri, Tobias and James—will send out relevant materials, including podcasts, news articles, short videos and an easy-to-read fact sheet with the bare necessities. So, even if you are unfamiliar with the topic, you can quickly be brought up to speed and join the conversation. The goal is to have an informal but informative discussion where anyone can speak and everyone will listen.

Bring your curiosity, your ideas and the desire to talk about anything but the daily travails of pop entertainers.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: Swensen’s Ice Cream, 1999 Hyde St., San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–4:30 p.m. walk • Notes: Take Muni (Bus 45) or a taxi; there is absolutely no parking on Russian Hill—no parking lots or street parking; please take a taxi or public transport; the tour ends about six blocks from Swensen’s Ice Cream, at the corner of Vallejo and Jones; it is an easy walk down to North Beach from there; there are steep hills and staircases; the tour is recommended for good walkers only; the tour operates rain or shine; limited to 20 participants; tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at check-in; walks with fewer than six participants will be canceled (you will receive notification of this at least three days in advance)

CELEBRATE NYE 2020 AT THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB

Join us for a special evening edition of our weekly Michelle Meow program. We’ll start with a 30-minute program featuring an interesting LGBT personality. Then stay for some SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 or all of the next hour when we’ll celebrate the p.m. check-in, 2–3 p.m. tour end of a year, preview an exciting 2020, and share some good food and drink. For the latest THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19 event details, visit commonwealthclub.org/mms.

RUSSIAN HILL WALKING TOUR Reserve your spot today—space is limited!

Join a more active Commonwealth Club SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The EmbarSAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarneighborhood adventure! Russian Hill is a cadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco magical area with secret gardens and amazing Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6–7:45 p.m. program • • Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program views. Join Rick Evans for a “cardio hike” up MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18 hills and staircases and learn about the history Hammond • Notes If you’d like to be added to of this neighborhood. See where great artists the mailing list, you can subscribe on our webCOMMONWEALTH CLUB WEEKLY and architects lived and worked, and walk site at: commonspaceforum.com/contact TOUR down residential streets where some of the most historically significant houses in the Bay TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31 Area are located.

THE PERFECT VIEW:

Join The Commonwealth Club at our premier Embarcadero location, and ring in 2020 with us. As thousands of spectators watch from below, we invite you to celebrate with us at our multi-level New Year’s Eve celebration, which includes rooftop views of the famous Embarcadero. Have a blast while you and Commonwealth Club friends revel in indulgent cuisine, high-end spirits, lively entertainment and the ultimate New Year’s Eve experience.

Your ticket includes all-inclusive premium amenities and service with three separate party spaces. You will be able to enjoy unlimited cocktails from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., a variety of light bites and desserts, a midnight balloon COMMON SPACE FORUM Miri Miller, Co-Host, Common drop on the dance floor, and a front-row seat Space Forum to the perfect view—The Embarcadero fireTobias Snyder, Co-Host, Com- work display. mon Space Forum Last year’s NYE party was ranked one of the James Xiao, Co-Host, Common top 10 New Year’s Eve parties in San Francisco, Space Forum so reserve your spot today!

This program is for all curi- SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarous members of society who are cadero, Kaiser Permanente Rooftop Terrace,

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Lawrence Lessig 12/16

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

San Francisco • Time: 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m. program • Notes: For more information, contact Kate Steffy (ksteffy@commonwealthclub.org); guests must be 21+ to attend

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 IMPERFECT CIRCLES

George Hammond, Author, Conversations with Socrates and Rational Idealism—Moderator

Are you a person who never tires of talking or thinking about philosophical, scientific or religious theories? Are you interested in psychological insights, or attempts at such insights, into human life? There are many who would insist that being realistic about human life means you should ignore such fundamental questions—starting around the time the ink dries on your diploma. But it is unrealistic to ignore the fundamental explanatory concepts which underlie each successful human civilization; these concepts sometimes help and sometimes hinder us in our pursuit of happiness. Such profound questions are naturally provoked simply by living an alert life.

There are millions of realistic people, of all ages and walks of life, who also find it impossible to delegate to one infallible authority or another the task of providing all the answers to such questions. Life is not totally chaotic, even though it looks that way sometimes. Therefore, it’s helpful to be aware of any subtle patterns to our experiences. Rejoin the continuing conversation of human civilization—this time at The Commonwealth Club.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 6:15 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George

Curator, de Young College Arts Program; ing—as we deal with our stress and negativity Freelance Curator; Community Events Art in our environment?

Organizer; Founder and Executive Director, James Baraz is a co-founder of Spirit Rock Nexus ArtReach Art Collective—Moderator Meditation Center. He has taught Bill Gates

The renewing energy of art helps to manage the stress of negative events. There is overwhelming research that contemplating, observing and taking in beauty stimulate the brain and create a sense of well-being. In these turbulent times, art can be a vehicle not only for fulfillment but to encourage and expand consciousness through conversation and connection. The panel participants represent a spectrum of viewpoints of nonprofit, artistic and psychotherapeutic perspectives. Each of the panel members will share unique views during the discussion of artistic creativity and consciousness.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program • MLF: Arts • Program organizer: Robert Melton

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 HOW TO BE A CALM, EFFECTIVE CHANGEMAKER DURING TROUBLED TIMES

James Baraz, Co-Founder, Spirit Rock Meditation Center; Co-Author, Awakening Joy

Whether we are actively working toward change or we just want to chat with our family and friends, many of us need tools to stay centered and calm during these stressful times. How can we be effective, compassionate changemakers—and even find joy and mean-

Hammond

MONDAY, JANUARY 6 ARTISTIC CREATIVITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS: ART AS POSITIVE ENERGY IN THESE TURBULENT TIMES

Matt McKinley, Vice President of the Board, ArtSpan; Member, the Art for AIDS Auction; Jury Panelist, SOMArts Curatorial Residency; Program Director, ArtSpan’s Journal Building Studio Residency Debra Reabock, Visual Artist, Photo Philanthropist Michael F. Shea, LICSW, Integrative Psychotherapist; Consultant; Faculty Member, the Center for Mind–Body Medicine; Board Member, Doctors of the World USA Robert Melton, Outreach Coordinator and Artistic Creativity and Conciousness: Art as Positive Energy in These Trubulent Times 1/6

and was himself taught by Joseph Goldstein and Ram Dass. For decades, he’s been showing people how to lead change through the “joyful responsibility” of commitment, love and effective action. He is coming to the Club to teach us how to reawaken our joy and avoid becoming overwhelmed and rendered ineffective by outrage, anxiety or despair. “Action absorbs anxiety”—so come to the Club to learn how to lead change effectively, from the heart.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Personal Growth • Program organizer: Shiva Berman

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 COMMONWEALTH CLUB WEEKLY TOUR

Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., we’re giving members and nonmembers behind-the-scenes tours of our home at 110 The Embarcadero. Join us for a complimentary tour of our beautiful new headquarters on San Francisco’s waterfront. At our state-of-the-art gathering space, which features a rooftop terrace with unobstructed views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco Bay, you can learn about our storied history and the many amenities of being a Club member.

Space is limited, so reserve your spot now to visit San Francisco’s newest—and oldest— cultural treasure at our new location. Feel free to call the front desk ahead of time for extra availability.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–3 p.m. tour

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9 THE MICHELLE MEOW SHOW 1/9/20

Speaker TBA Michelle Meow, Host, “The Michelle Meow Show” (Radio and KBCW TV) John Zipperer, Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable—Co-Host

Join us for a taping of Michelle Meow’s long-running radio show at The Commonwealth Club. Meet fascinating and often controversial people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. See this week’s speaker details at commonwealthclub.org/mms.

SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PRODECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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The Power of Critical Thinking 1/13

GRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program

WATERFRONT WALKING TOUR

Join Rick Evans and explore the historic sites of the waterfront neighborhood that surround Commonwealth Club headquarters. Hear the dynamic stories of the entrepreneurs, controversial artists and labor organizers who created this recently revitalized neighborhood. This tour will give you a lively overview of the historic significance of this neighborhood and a close look at the ongoing development.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–4:30 p.m. walk • Notes: The tour operates rain or shine; limited to 20 participants; tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at check-in; walks with fewer than six participants will be canceled (you will receive notification of this at least three days in advance)

TODAY’S GREAT NEED: RADICAL POLITICS, CONSERVATIVE CULTURE

Peter Dale Scott, Poet; Professor Emeritus of English, UC Berkeley; Author, Nonagenarian

How does one react, watching our current political crisis form fissures in our underlying culture, which, according to poet Peter Dale Scott, is undermining even our most valuable cultural strengths? These strengths include living with diversity, tolerating and listening to other viewpoints, and reaching a shared consensus. Unfortunately, at the same time, these

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cultural strengths are ebbing; righteousness on all sides combined with contempt for others are increasingly destructive forces. This is happening at an inopportune time. Climate change and potentially unsustainable migrations will likely require radical political changes, which are certain to be unpopular yet may only be achievable by restoring our traditional culture of consensus-building.

Scott has spent a lifetime commenting on the Vietnam War, JFK’s assassination and the “deep state.” If it is too much to ask us to love our enemies, he wonders whether it is possible to listen to them. Without this civilizing skill, American culture will not be strengthened by this political crisis, as it has by past crises, but wounded by it instead.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

MONDAY, JANUARY 13 THE POWER OF CRITICAL THINKING

Leland Faust, Former Chairman, CSI Capital Management; Author, A Capitalist’s Lament: How Wall Street Is Fleecing You and Ruining America Richard Conn, Managing Partner, Innovate Partners; International Attorney; Russia Expert; Board Member, International Crisis Group; Adviser to Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen; Author, The Earthbound Parent: How (and Why) to Raise Your Little Angels Without Religion

Monday Night Philosophy initiates the new decade by analyzing the worlds of Wall Street and investing, international relations, sports and chess, and focuses on the power and the necessity of critical thinking skills in those worlds. Leland Faust and Richard Conn have been influential in those worlds and share an admiration for the ability of critical thinking to affect complex decision-making on the world stage. But they also share a lament about how rarely rational thinking dominates and how wishful thinking is so prevalent.

Hear about Boris Yeltsin’s transformation of the Soviet Union, Garry Kasparov’s continuing influence on world chess, Wall Street’s tricks on and treats for the world economy. Plus acquire a clear idea of why the 2020s don’t have to repeat the 1920s, although they might be.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond • Notes: Attendees will be given a copy of each speaker’s book at the book signing (sponsored

by Abbrea Capital)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14 IMPERFECT UNION: JESSIE AND JOHN FRÉMONT

Steve Inskeep, Co-Host, NPR’s “Morning Edition”; Author, Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War

John Frémont was born out of wedlock in 1813 in Charleston, South Carolina, and went

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

to work at 13 to help support his family. But, by the time he was 30, he had become a famous wilderness explorer, best-selling writer, gallant army officer and latter-day conquistador, who, in 1846, began the United States’ takeover of California from Mexico. He was a celebrity who personified the country’s westward expansion—mountains, towns, ships and streets were named after him.

A vital factor in his success was his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont, the daughter of a U.S. senator. Not allowed to compete directly in a male world, Jessie Frémont threw her skill and passion into promoting her husband. When John Frémont returned from mapping the Oregon Trail for the Army, Jessie Frémont helped him dramatize his adventures in newspapers and books. And in 1856, John Frémont was chosen, in spite of his southern origins, to be the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican Party, founded in opposition to slavery.

Inskeep tells the surprisingly modern story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents intertwined with those of the nascent United States, linking the Frémonts with not one but three great social movements of the time— westward settlement, women’s rights and the

opposition to slavery.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond • Notes: This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation; Inskeep photo copyright Mike Morgan

THE INTERNET OF THINGS IN A 5G WORLD: HOPE OR HYPE?

Shekar Ayyar, VMware Executive Vice President and General Manager, Edge/IoT, Dell Technologies Joxel García, M.D., CEO, Ambitna; Chairman of the Board and Chief Health Strategy Officer, Aegis Health Analytics; Former Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, American Express; Four-Star Admiral (Ret.), U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; 14th Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Paul Gupta, Cybersecurity and IP Litigation Attorney, Reed Smith LLP

Foresee the near future with panelists Shekar Ayyar, Joxel García and Paul Gupta. The number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices is expected to increase from 20 billion to 55 billion over the next five years. What will that mean, in terms of new opportunities and new risks, in our businesses and our personal lives? Communications service providers are starting to roll out integrated platforms for 5G and IoT uses. Our panel will discuss the technological, social and legal implications, including selected case studies in communications, health care, automotive, smart cities and infrastructure.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

WHAT IS A JUST TRANSITION?

Vien Truong, Principal, Truong and Associates; Former Director, Green for All Greg Dalton, Founder and Host, Climate One

The Green New Deal promises to take bold action on climate justice and rectify many of the inequities brought on by a fossil fuel economy. Advocates of the deal say the root causes of climate disruption and income inequality lie in extraction and exploitation. Skeptics, such as liberal former Representative Barney Frank (D–MA), insist American society can only swallow so much change at once. How can communities of color become key players Imperfect Union: Jessie and John Frémont 12/14

in the decarbonization of the U.S. economy?

In the world of climate justice, is the ideal the enemy of the possible?

Join us for a conversation on the pathways to a clean and equitable economy with Vien Truong, former director of environmental action group Green for All. SAN FRANCISCO • CLIMATE ONE PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 6 p.m. checkin, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. networking reception

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15 FORMER VA SECRETARY DAVID SHULKIN: IT SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD TO SERVE YOUR COUNTRY

David Shulkin, M.D., MBA, Former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Author, It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Serve Your Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans In Conversation with Mark Zitter, Chair, The Zetema Project; Member, Board of Governors, The Commonwealth Club

The Veterans Health Administration is the nation’s largest integrated health-care system, yet almost 2 million veterans and 3.8 million of their family members are without health insurance today. David Shulkin was brought in by President Obama to clean up the Veterans Affairs’ (VA) troubled hospital network after a major scandal. His success led President Trump to name him VA secretary, making him the highest ranking official to serve both presidents and the only Trump cabinet secretary to earn unanimous Senate approval. Born on an Army base, Shulkin was the first nonveteran to hold the position.

Shulkin introduced substantial changes to the VA system, with bold moves that dramatically reduced wait times, increased transparency, enhanced accountability and tackled veteran suicide rates. His efforts earned early praise from Republicans and Democrats alike.

But Shulkin says he ran headlong into Trump associates intent on privatizing the VA, and eventually he was ousted.

Now Shulkin opens up about his time as VA secretary and the ruthless political appointees he says he encountered. Since leaving government in early 2018, Shulkin has continued to share his concerns about VA privatization and how it will impact our ability to ensure health care for those who have fought for the nation.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11 a.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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Designing Babies: How Technology Is Changing the Ways We Create Children 1/15 gram, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Health & Medicine • Program organizer: Robert Kilpatrick

MENTAL HEALTH, YOUTH AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

DESIGNING BABIES: HOW TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE WAYS WE CREATE CHILDREN

Patrick Kennedy, Former U.S. Congressman (D–RI), Mental Health Advocate Marina Tolou-Shams, Ph.D., Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry; Director, Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; Former Director, Rhode Island Family Court, Mental Health Clinic Anton Nigusse Bland, M.D., Director of Mental Health Reform, San Francisco Departhelp them conceive, and that number is grow- ment of Public Health Dan Ashley, ABC7 TV News Anchor; Member, ing. Prospective parents routinely choose the Commonwealth Club Board of Governors— sex of their future child, whether or not to have Moderator

twins, or whether or not to pass on certain genes to the next generation, including those for chronic diseases—and probably soon, height and eye color. These rapidly developing Since the first test-tube baby was born more technologies will require parents, doctors and than 40 years ago, in vitro fertilization and policy makers to face critical questions about other assisted reproductive technologies have their use and possible misuse. advanced in extraordinary ways, producing SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarmillions of babies. An estimated 20 percent cadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San of American couples use infertility services to Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. proRobert L. Klitzman, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Academic Director, Master of Science in Bioethics Program, Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan

Critics argue that jails and prisons are the most visible evidence of the failure of America’s public mental health system and that the most heartbreaking failures are in the field of juvenile justice. Seventy percent of young people entering the juvenile justice system are said to have a diagnosable mental health need.

Advocates argue that detention and correction facilities provide a unique opportunity to intervene and connect children to services and

The best gift is one they can use all year long Give the gift of conversation with a GIFT of MEMBERSHIP to the Club.

commonwealthclub.org/gom Make your Annual Fund Donation Today Your gift is vital to ensuring nonpartisan civic dialogue will forever have a home in the Bay Area—and beyond!

50 THE COMMO N WE AL TH commonwealthclub.org/donate

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

support systems before it is too late. Others argue that community-based, non-incarceration solutions are more effective.

With facilities such as San Francisco’s juvenile hall closing by 2021, how can San Francisco and other communities address system-involved youth with mental health issues? What role should and must the justice system play? And how will their decisions impact society at large? Join us for an important panel discussion.

your questions ready. al leadership and empowered families of the See this week’s speaker details at common- mentally ill and disabled. Though their vision wealthclub.org/mms. met resistance, the accomplishments of these SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PRO- early advocates for compassionate care of the GRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max mentally ill hold many lessons that resonate to Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 this day, when debates about what to do about a.m. check-in, noon program the homeless and the mentally ill are chilling reminders of our shameful past.

DAVID TALBOT

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar-

David Talbot, Founder, Salon; Author, Be- cadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San tween Heaven and Hell: The Story of My Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. proStroke; Twitter @davidtalbot gram, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar-

Acclaimed writer, best-selling author and founder of Salon magazine, David Talbot has brought us masterful and explosive headline-breaking stories for over 25 years with books such as Brothers, The Devil’s Chessboard and Season of the Witch.

Now, for the first time, journalist and histoTHURSDAY, JANUARY 16 rian Talbot turns inward in this intimate jourTHE MICHELLE MEOW SHOW 1/16/20 ney through the life-changing year following Speaker TBA his stroke, a year that turned his life upside Michelle Meow, Host, “The Michelle Meow down and ultimately saved him. cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program • Notes: Part of The Commonwealth Club’s series on mental health, dedicated in memory of Nancy Friend Pritzker, with support from the John Pritzker Family Fund

Program organizer: George Hammond

DANIEL LEVITIN

Daniel Levitin, Founding Dean of Arts and Humanities, the Minerva School; Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience, McGill University; Author, Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives; @danlevitin In Conversation with Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of Show” (Radio and KBCW TV); Twitter @ms- SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar- Philosophy, UC Berkeley Successful Aging uses research from develmichellemeow cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco John Zipperer, Host, Week to Week Political • Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7:30 p.m. program, opmental neuroscience and the psychology of Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Edi- 8:30 p.m. book signing • Notes: This program is individual differences to show that 60+ years torial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the is a unique developmental stage that, like in-

Join us for a taping of Michelle Meow’s Bernard Osher Foundation long-running radio show at The CommonTUESDAY, JANUARY 21 wealth Club. Meet fascinating and often controversial people discussing important issues of THE CRUSADE FOR FORGOTTEN interest to the LGBTQ community, and have SOULS: REFORMING MINNESOTA’S

fancy or adolescence, has its own demands and distinct advantages. Author Daniel Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people’s wisdom and experience.

MENTAL INSTITUTIONS Susan Bartlett Foote, Author, The Crusade Throughout his exploration of what aging refor Forgotten Souls: Reforming Minnesota’s ally means, Levitin reveals resilience strategies Mental Institutions, 1946–1954 and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyIn 1940, Engla Schey, the daughter of one should do as they age.

Norwegian immigrants, took a job as a low- SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarpaid attendant at Anoka State Hospital, one cadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco of Minnesota’s seven asylums. She worked • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, among the 12,000 Minnesotans who were 7:30 p.m. book signing • Notes: Levitin photo by called inmates and shamefully locked away Larry Moran under the label “insane.” Susan Bartlett Foote WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22 tells of Schey’s campaign to reform the deplorable conditions of mental COMMONWEALTH CLUB WEEKLY institutions and of the politicians TOUR Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., we’re giving and other civic leaders who made members and nonmembers behind-the-scenes her crusade for forgotten souls a tours of our home at 110 The Embarcadesuccess, breaking the stigma of ro.

Join us for a complimentary tour of our shame and silence surrounding mental illness, publicizing the beautiful new headquarters on San Francisco’s painful truth about asylums waterfront. At our state-of-the-art gathering and building support among space, which features a rooftop terrace with citizens. The result was the unobstructed views of the Bay Bridge and San first modern mental health Francisco Bay, you can learn about our storied system, which catapulted history and the many amenities of being a Minnesota to nation- Club member.

David Talbot 1/16

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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Space is limited, so reserve your spot now ancient wisdom to help you heal and finally to visit San Francisco’s newest—and oldest— discover true lasting health. cultural treasure at our new location. Feel free SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarto call the front desk ahead of time for extra cadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. availability.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–3 p.m. tour

program • MLF: Health & Medicine • Program organizer: Adrea Brier

YOUR BODY SAYS “YES”: HOW TO EASILY ACTIVATE YOUR BODY–HEALTH–NATURE INTELLIGENCE TO OPTIMIZE YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

THE MICHELLE MEOW SHOW 1/23/20

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23

wealth Club. Meet fascinating and often controversial people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. See this week’s speaker details at commonwealthclub.org/mms.

SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program

SAN FRANCISCO ARCHITECTURE Speaker TBA Michelle Meow, Host, “The Michelle Meow WALKING TOUR Show” (Radio and KBCW TV); Twitter @msExplore San Francisco’s Financial District michellemeow with historian Rick Evans and learn the history John Zipperer, Host, Week to Week Political and stories behind some of our city’s remarkRachel Carlton Abrams, M.D., MHS, ABoIM, Roundtable—Co-Host able structures, streets and public squares.

Physician, Santa Cruz Integrative Medicine Join us for a taping of Michelle Meow’s Hear about the famous architects who influClinic; Author, BodyWise: Discovering Your Body’s Intelligence for Lifelong Health and long-running radio show at The Common- enced the building of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Discover hard-to-find rooftop Healing gardens, art deco lobbies, unique open spaces and historic landmarks. This is a tour for locals, with hidden gems you can only find on foot!

By combining the latest scientific research and more than 20 years of medical practice, Rachel Carlton Abrams will give you a body roadmap for you to easily find greater health and joy within your body and your life. She will explain how to find and listen to your body’s “yes” as a guide to choosing a life your body will love.

She will guide attendees through exercises that help them listen to their own innate body intelligence—the subtle and not-so-subtle signals that bodies uses to communicate. When we listen to our body intelligence and enter into the right relationship with ourselves, she says, we have the foundation to cultivate the right relationship with others and with the natural world.

Research shows that personal relationships and connection to nature have an enormous impact on people’s health. Lack of connection may increase many health risks, including all chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety and even cancer). Abrams will teach a method to find your way back to the right relationship with the important people in your life—whether finding the connections you crave or setting the boundaries that keep you safe. She says you will learn about your deep and abiding connection to the natural world and how you can reimmerse yourself in the healing and calming power of nature.

She says we are not separate from nature, and its impact on us is physically and emotionally profound.

Abrams has written five books on integrative and holistic approaches to health, relationships and sexuality. She is a much sought-after speaker who integrates the latest science with

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SAN FRANCISCO • Location: Galleria Park Hotel, 191 Sutter St., San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–4:30 p.m. walk • Notes: The tour involves walking up and down stairs but covers less than one mile of walking in the Financial District; the tour operates rain or shine; limited to 20 participants; tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at checkin; walks with fewer than six participants will be canceled (you will receive notification of this at least three days in advance)

THE COLLEGE DROPOUT SCANDAL

David Kirp, Professor of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley; Author, The College Dropout Scandal

Higher education today faces a host of challenges, from quality to cost. But too little attention gets paid to a startling fact: Four out of ten students who start college drop out.

The situation is particularly dire for black and Latino students, those from poor families, and those who are first in their families to attend college. David Kirp outlines the scale of the problem and shows that it’s fixable.

He says we already have the tools to boost graduation rates and shrink the achievement gap. Many college administrators know what has to be done, but the dropout rate still hasn’t decreased for decades. Ironically, it’s schools like City University of New York and Long Beach State that are making the most progress at getting more students a better education and a diploma.

Kirp relies on vivid, on-the-ground reporting, conversations with campus leaders, faculty The Michelle Meow Show 1/23

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org The College Dropout Scandal 1/23

and students as well as cogent overviews of cutting-edge research to identify institutional reforms. These reforms include using big data to quickly identify at-risk students, getting them the support they need, and applying behavioral strategies (from nudges to mindset changes) that have been proven to work.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

COMMON SPACE FORUM

Miri Miller, Co-Host, Common Space Forum Tobias Snyder, Co-Host, Common Space Forum James Xiao, Co-Host, Common Space Forum

This program is for all curious members of society who are eager for civil peer-to-peer discussion but are concerned with the lack of such conversation in our busy everyday lives.

Every third Thursday of the month, the Common Space Forum offers an open debate for you and your peers to talk through topics that range from automation’s effects on the job market to climate change.

Here’s how it works: Before the event, members elect a single news topic to focus on. When a topic is chosen, the moderators—Miri, Tobias and James—will send out relevant materials, including podcasts, news articles, short videos

and an easy-to-read fact sheet with the bare necessities. So, even if you are unfamiliar with the topic, you can quickly be brought up to speed and join the conversation. The goal is to have an informal but informative discussion where anyone can speak and everyone will listen.

Bring your curiosity, your ideas and the desire to talk about anything but the daily travails of pop entertainers.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6–7:45 p.m. program • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond • Notes If you’d like to be added to the mailing list, you can subscribe on our website at: commonspaceforum.com/contact

SV READS 2020: WOMEN MAKING IT HAPPEN

Mary Jane Elmore, Member, Broadway Angels; @mjhelmore Theresia Gouw, Co-Founder, Aspect Ventures; @tgr Julian Guthrie, Author, Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took On Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime; @JulianGuthrie Sonja Hoel Perkins, Founder and Managing Director, The Perkins Fund; @sonjaperkins Magdalena Yesil, Founder, Broadway Angels; @MagdalenaYesil In Conversation with Sal Pizarro, Columnist, The Mercury News; @spizarro

Julian Guthrie shares the untold story of four dynamic women, Magdalena Yesil, Mary Jane Elmore, Theresia Gouw and Sonja Hoel, who helped shape the tech landscape of Silicon Valley. Through grit and ingenuity these trailblazers rewrote the rules and conquered the challenges of working in a male-dominated venture capital industry.

Hear more about their personal stories as we celebrate the achievements and relentless perseverance of these extraordinary women.

SILICON VALLEY • Location: DeAnza Visual and Performing Arts Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino • Time: 7:30 p.m. program • Notes: In association with Santa Clara County Library District, Santa Clara County Office of Education, the San Jose Public Library and DeAnza College

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24 KEITH HENNESSEY AND CHRISTINA ROMER: BANK OF AMERICA/ MERRILL LYNCH WALTER E. HOADLEY ANNUAL ECONOMIC FORECAST

Keith Hennessey, Lecturer in Economics, Stanford University School of Business; Senior White House Economic Adviser to President George W. Bush Christina Romer, Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley; Chair, Council of Economic Advisers for President Obama Evelyn Dilsaver, Chair, Commonwealth Club DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

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Violins of Hope: A Journey of Heroism, Healing and Humanity 12/27

Board of Governors; Former Executive Vice President, Charles Schwab; Former President and CEO, Charles Schwab Investment—Moderator

With an election year looming, trade wars with China and other countries impeding economic progress, health care remaining in flux, housing problems and governmental gridlock continuing on, what does all of this mean for your business, your investments and the overall economy for 2020?

Join us for a lively discussion on where the U.S. and global economies are headed and what should be done to keep them on track.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11 a.m. check-in, noon program • Notes: This event is underwritten by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

WEEK TO WEEK POLITICAL ROUNDTABLE AND SOCIAL HOUR 1/24/20

Panelists TBA John Zipperer, Producer and Host, Week to Week; Vice President of Media and Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Moderator/Host

It’s a new year, and we’ll gather together to make as much sense of it as possible.

In addition to a preview of what to expect in 2020, we will discuss the biggest, most controversial and surprising political issues of the day 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 and our live news quiz!

Come early for our members social hour (all attendees welcome).

SAN FRANCISCO • WEEK TO WEEK PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in and social hour, 6:30 p.m. program • Notes: Each attendee receives two free tickets for a glass of wine or soft drink during our social hour

MONDAY, JANUARY 27 VIOLINS OF HOPE: A JOURNEY OF HEROISM, HEALING AND HUMANITY

Avshalom Weinstein, Violin Maker and Restorer Rabbi Daniel Stein, Congregation B’nai Shalom—Moderator

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day and on the 75th anniversary of the liber-

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THE COMMO N WE AL TH

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

ation of Auschwitz, Avshalom Weinstein, the co-founder of Violins of Hope, will discuss the work of Violins of Hope, a collection of over 70 violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Weinstein and his father, who are brilliant violin makers and restorers, have devoted 20 years to locating and restoring the lost violins of the Holocaust, as a tribute to those who were lost, including 400 members of his own family. Weinstein who assists his father in his Tel Aviv studio and has his own workshop in Istanbul is sponsored by San Francisco’s Violins of Hope, an organization which aims to address the root causes of hatred and bigotry and to promote healing and bridge building in response to contemporary issues.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program • MLF: Middle East • Program organizer: Celia Menczel

tration camp, by trusting the enemy—a Nazi prison guard who may save or parade them before a firing squad. Based on a compelling Holocaust diary, this daunting scenario sets the stage for an inspiring story of faith, redemption and the blur between good and evil that transforms the lives of all three characters.

Through Vera’s eyes, we are reminded that love may be universal, especially when human survival is at stake.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

SOCRATES CAFÉ

Socrates Café is devoted to the discussion of a philosophical topic chosen at that meeting.

The group’s facilitator, John Nyquist, invites participants to suggest topics, which are then voted on. The person who proposed the most popular topic is asked to briefly explain why COURAGE IN THE FACE OF EVIL she or he considers that topic interesting and Mark Shaw, Author, Courage in the Face of important. An open discussion follows, and Evil the meeting ends with a summary of the variInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day ous perspectives participants expressed. Everyreminds us that the unthinkable actually hapone is welcome to attend. pened. Mark Shaw draws on his dramatic skills SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarto tell the story of Vera Konig, a Christian Ger- cadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco man nurse. Vera’s choice is clear: She must risk • Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30–8 p.m. program • her life and that of Andrea, an orphaned Rus- MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George sian girl she is hiding at Ravensbrück concen- Hammond

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 JUDY MELINEK AND T.J. MITCHELL

Judy Melinek, M.D., Forensic Pathologist; Co-Author, First Cut; @drjudymelinek T.J. Mitchell, Co-Author, First Cut; @TJMitchellWS In Conversation with Mary Roach, Author, Bonk, Stiff, Packing for Mars and Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War; @mary_ roach

In Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell’s First Cut, Jessie Teska’s new job as San Francisco’s medical examiner was supposed to be a fresh start in a new city. A way to escape her own dark past. Instead, she faces a chilling discovery when a suspected overdose case contains hints of something more sinister.

Teska’s superiors urge her to close the case, but as more bodies land on her autopsy table, she uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate plot involving nefarious opioid traffickers and flashy tech titans who got rich off Bitcoin. Autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Teska won’t stop until she’s seen it all—even if it means the next corpse on the table could be her own.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing • Notes: This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation

ANDREA BERNSTEIN

Andrea Bernstein, Senior Editor, WNYC; CoHost, “Trump, Inc.” Podcast; Author, American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power; @AndreaWNYC In Conversation with Anna Sale, Host, “Death, Sex and Money” Podcast; @annasale

In American Oligarchs, award-winning investigative journalist Andrea Bernstein creates a vivid portrait of two emblematic American families. Their journey to the White House is a story of survival and loss, crime and betrayal, which stretches from the Gilded Age through Nazi-occupied Poland to the rising nationalism and inequality of the 21st century.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews and more than 100,000 pages of documents, many previously unseen or long forgotten, Bernstein traces how the families grew rich on federal programs that bolstered the middle class and then sheltered their wealth from tax collectors.

Wielding half-truths, secrecy and media manipulation, he says they blurred the lines between public and private interests, then lever-

Judy Malinek and T.J. Mitchell 1/28

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

55

China's Crisis of Success 10/5

aged political, prosecutorial and judicial power to avoid legal consequences.

Bernstein reveals how these dynasties encouraged and profited from a system of political dark money that has pushed America to the precipice of oligarchy.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 WEEKLY CLUB TOUR

Every Wednesday at 2 p.m., we’re giving members and nonmembers behind-the-scenes tours of our home at 110 The Embarcadero. Join us for a complimentary tour of our beautiful new headquarters on San Francisco’s waterfront. At our state-of-the-art gathering space, which features a rooftop terrace with unobstructed views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco Bay, you can learn about our storied history and the many amenities of being a Club member.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Osher Lobby, San Francisco • Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–3 p.m. tour

HOW TO NAVIGATE EPIC ESTATE BATTLES BEFORE THEY START

John O’Grady, Estate Planning Attorney, O’Grady Law Group

Join John O’Grady in a lively and enlightening session where he will address essential questions such as: protecting property rights; planning for care without giving up control of your affairs; passing your values on to the next generation; providing for your loved ones and your favorite causes; documenting your intentions to prevent misunderstandings; and how you can save on tax dollars, professional fees and court costs.

John O’Grady is an estate planning attorney who helps people navigate family conflicts about aging, death, taxes, inheritance and property rights while addressing the true underlying conflicts. He leads O’Grady Law Group, a full-service estate planning law firm in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 4:45 p.m. check-in, 5:15 p.m. program • MLF: Grownups • Program organizer: Denise Michaud

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION Publication title: The Commonwealth. ISSN: 00103349. Filing date: November 6, 2019. Issue Frequency: Bimonthly. Number of issues published annually: 6.

Annual subscription price: $34. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105.

Name and complete mailing address of publisher: The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Name and complete mailing address of editor: John Zipperer, The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Name and complete mailing address of managing editor: Megan Turner, The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Owner: The Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105. Known bondholders, mortgages and other security holders: None.

THE MICHELLE 1/30/20

EXTENT AND NATURE OF CIRCULATION Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: Total number of copies (net press run): 11,226.

Paid/Requested Outside County Subscriptions: 10,626.

Paid In-County Subscriptions: None. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers: None. Other Classes Mailed Through USPS: None. Total Paid Distribution: 10,626. Free Distribution

by Mail: None. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail: 550. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 550. Total Distribution: 11,176. Copies not Distributed: 50.

Total: 11,226. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 95.08 percent. No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date (October/November 2015): Total number of copies (net press run): 9,228. Paid/Requested Outside County Subscriptions: 8,628. Paid In-County Subscriptions: None. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers: None. Other Classes Mailed Through USPS: None. Total Paid Distribution: 8,628. Free Distribution by Mail: None. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail: 550. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: 550. Total Distribution: 9,178. Copies not Distributed: 50. Total: 9,228. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 94.01 percent.

I certify that the statements above are correct and complete.

John Zipperer, Vice President of Media & Editorial, November 6, 2019.

SAN FRANCISCO • MICHELLE MEOW PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Max Thelen Boardroom, San Francisco • Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program

56

THE COMMO N WE AL TH

MEOW

SHOW

Speaker TBA Michelle Meow, Host, “The Michelle Meow Show” (Radio and KBCW TV) John Zipperer, Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable—Co-Host

Join us for a taping of Michelle Meow’s long-running radio show at The Commonwealth Club. Meet fascinating and often controversial people discussing important issues of interest to the LGBTQ community, and have your questions ready. See this week’s speaker details at commonwealthclub.org/mms.

BEYOND BROADWAY: THE PLEASURE AND PROMISE OF MUSICAL THEATER ACROSS AMERICA

Stacy Wolf, Professor of Theater, Director of Fellowships and Director of Program in Music Theater, Princeton University; Author, Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America

American musical theater conjures images of bright lights and big cities, but its lifeblood courses through local and amateur producApril Ryan 10/1

tions around the country. In Beyond Broadway, Stacy Wolf examines the widespread presence and persistence of musical theater in U.S. culture as a live, pleasurable, participatory experience. Wolf traveled from Maine to Hawaii, visiting schools, performance festivals, summer camps, outdoor theaters, community theaters and dinner theaters, where she interviewed over 200 practitioners and spectators, licensors and administrators. Wolf’s talk illuminates musical theater’s enduring power as a joyful activity that touches millions of lives.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing • MLF: Humanities • Program organizer: George Hammond

IMMORTALITY INC.: THE QUEST TO LIVE FOREVER

Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer, SENS Research Foundation; Vice President of New Technology Discovery, AgeX Therapeutics Inc. Robert Hariri, Co-Founder, Human Longevity Inc. Cynthia Kenyon, Vice President of Aging Research, Calico; Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UC San Francisco Chip Walter, Author, Immortality, Inc: Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever

Can we live forever? Science journalist Chip Walter reveals the ground-breaking research and visionaries who are trying to answer that very question. Find out more from Walter and leading experts in rejuvenation, stem cell research and genetics who are redefining our understanding of life, aging and mortality.

SILICON VALLEY • Location: Schultz Cultural Hall, Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto • Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. program, 8 p.m. book signing

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 NICHOLAS KRISTOF AND SHERYL WUDUNN

Nicholas Kristof, Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Co-Author, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope; @NickKristof Sheryl WuDunn, Co-Author, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope; @WuDunn

With stark poignancy and political dispassion, Tightrope draws us deep into an “other America.” The authors tell this story, in part, through the lives of some of the children with whom Nicholas Kristof grew up, in rural Yamhill, Oregon, an area that prospered for much of the 20th century but has been devastated in the last few decades as blue-collar jobs dis-

For current prices, call 415.597.6705 or go to commonwealthclub.org

appeared. About one-quarter of the children on Kristof’s old school bus died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide or reckless accidents. And while these particular stories unfolded in one corner of the country, they are representative of many places the authors write about, ranging from the Dakotas and Oklahoma to New York and Virginia.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., San Francisco • Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. program, 8 p.m. book signing

LATE-BREAKING EVENTS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3 WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 2019

on Sand: Israel Without a Constitution, explores the ways in which the fabric of Israeli democracy faces existential questions as it contends with the complexities of a multicultural Jewish state whose citizens wrestle with coexistence on many fronts. As the country emerges from its second national election within a year, Carmon’s insight comes at a critical time for Israel and its citizens.

SAN FRANCISCO • INFORUM PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing

Alexis Krivkovich, Managing Part- MONDAY, JANUARY 20 ner, McKinsey & Company’s Silicon ADVANCING THE SCIENCE: THE Valley Office; Leader, Financial Ser- LATEST IN ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH vices Practice, McKinsey & Company Claire E. Day, Chief Program Officer, The Alzheimer’s Association Northern California Additional Panelists TBD Studies show that we are starting to see and Northern Nevada Program

real results in the number of women represented in the C-suite, with nearly 45 percent of companies having three or more women in senior roles. Though the bright spots are clear, women are still getting stuck, and it is happening even earlier in their careers, at the very first rung along the corporate ladder. The glass ceiling is cracking, but what else needs to be done to make progress for a majority of working women?

“Women in the Workplace” is an annual report conducted by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, and with 329 companies, representing 13 million people surveyed, it is the largest data set of its kind for women in corporate America. Join Alexis Krivkovich and other corporate leaders and experts as they discuss the 2019 findings. They’ll offer their insights, share key lessons learned along their journey and discuss what needs to be done.

SAN FRANCISCO • INFORUM PROGRAM • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Taube Family Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11 DR. ARYE CARMON: ISRAEL’S DEMOCRACY AND ITS STRUGGLES

Alzheimer’s disease is a global health problem, with more than 5.8 million people living with the disease in the United States alone.

Research is the only way to solve that problem, and this talk will focus on the scientific advancements and progress in the field. Big gains have been made in the understanding of the science and biology underlying Alzheimer’s and dementia, and these advances are leading to great strides in prevention, detection, diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.

SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embarcadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 4:45 p.m. networking reception, 5:15 p.m. program • MLF: Psychology • Program organizer: Patrick O’Reilly

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21 150 YEARS OF CALIFORNIA WILDLIFE

Capt. Patrick Foy, Law Enforcement Division, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Since 1871, when the first California game warden was sworn in, we have kept iconic California species from going extinct: bighorn sheep, antelope, elk, sturgeon as well as wildlife and environments of all types. Capt. Patrick Foy will describe how our game wardens protect and defend against threats to our natural resources across the state and 200 miles out to sea. Here in San Francisco where it began, join us in fascinating discoveries and travels.

Arye Carmon, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Founding President, Israel Democracy Institute; Author, Building Democracy on Sand: Israel without a Constitution SAN FRANCISCO • Location: 110 The Embar-

Arye Carmon is the founding president of the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem and one of Israel’s foremost experts on political reform. His new book, Building Democracy

cadero, Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium, San Francisco • Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program • MLF: Environment & Natural Resources • Program organizer: Ann Clark

LEADERSHIP OF THE

COMMONWEALTH CLUB CLUB OFFICERS Board Chair Evelyn Dilsaver Vice Chair James Strother Secretary Dr. Jaleh Daie Treasurer John R. Farmer President & CEO Dr. Gloria C. Duffy BOARD OF GOVERNORS Robert E. Adams Willie Adams John F. Allen Scott Anderson Dan Ashley Massey J. Bambara Dr. Mary G. F. Bitterman** Harry E. Blount John L. Boland Charles M. Collins Dennis Collins Kevin Collins Susie Cranston Dr. Kerry P. Curtis Dorian Daley Lee Dutra Joseph I. Epstein* Jeffrey A. Farber Dr. Carol A. Fleming Leslie Saul Garvin Paul M. Ginsburg Hon. James C. Hormel Mary Huss Julie Kane Lata Krishnan John Leckrone Dr. Mary Marcy Lenny Mendonca Anna W.M. Mok Mauree Jane Perry Donald J. Pierce Bruce Raabe Skip Rhodes* Kausik Rajgopal Bill Ring Richard A. Rubin** Martha Ryan George M. Scalise Charlotte Mailliard Shultz George D. Smith Jr. Dr. Marc Spencer James Strother Hon. Tad Taube Charles Travers Kimberly Twombly-Wu Don Wen

Dr. Colleen B. Wilcox Brenda Wright Jed York Mark Zitter PAST BOARD CHAIRS & PRESIDENTS Dr. Mary G. F. Bitterman** J. Dennis Bonney* John Busterud* Maryles Casto** Hon. Ming Chin* Mary B. Cranston** Joseph I. Epstein* Dr. Joseph R. Fink* William German* Rose Guilbault** Claude B. Hutchison Jr.* Dr. Julius Krevans* Anna W.M. Mok** Richard Otter* Joseph Perrelli* Toni Rembe* Victor J. Revenko* Skip Rhodes* Renée Rubin* Robert Saldich** Connie Shapiro* Nelson Weller* Judith Wilbur* Dennis Wu* * Past President ** Past Chair † Deceased ADVISORY BOARD Karin Helene Bauer Hon. William Bradley Dennise M. Carter Steven Falk Amy Gershoni Jacquelyn Hadley Heather Kitchen Amy McCombs Don J. McGrath Hon. William J. Perry Hon. Barbara Pivnicka Hon. Richard Pivnicka Ray Taliaferro Nancy Thompson

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019-2020

57 57

INSIGHT Impeachment, Redux

Dr. Gloria C. Duffy, President and CEO

N

ancy Pelosi and her House colleagues have been careful to refrain from launching an impeachment move against President Trump until they have a solid base of arguments and support. They have been criticized by more vocal detractors of President Trump for moving so slowly.

The current environment of caution reminds me of another era, in the early 1970s, when members of the U.S. House of Representatives were similarly cautious about proceeding with impeachment against President Richard Nixon.

My family was Republican for generations. In Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, where my family lived and farmed, the Republican Party opposed the extension of slavery into the new territories of the United States and in the 1860 election voted overwhelming for Abraham Lincoln. My great-grandfather and his brother served in the Union Army in the Civil War. When I first became politically active, my natural bent was to start with the Republican Party. I soon came to realize that, in the era of Richard Nixon, it was no longer the party of Lincoln. I was concerned at how our country had become mired in the Vietnam War, and about issues of honesty and fair play with the nation’s Republican political leadership. News of falsifying casualty counts in Vietnam, dirty tricks against political opponents, a White House “enemies list,” divisive politics and the potentially illegal activities involved in the Watergate burglary were distressing reflections on the state of the Republican Party.

A Bay Area Republican congressmen, Pete McCloskey, made an unusual challenge to the sitting president of his own party, running in 1972 against Nixon in the Republican presidential primaries.

I supported McCloskey, even running myself for the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee to help take party leadership back to a more ethical and moderate path.

As a college sophomore with an interest in government and politics, in the summer of 1973 I decided to do an internship in the House of Representatives in Washington, and asked Pete McCloskey if I could work in his office. He had a full complement of interns for the summer, so he suggested I read a new book, O Congress, by his colleague Don Riegle. Riegle was a second-year congressman from Flint, Michigan, elected as a Republican, and had written a frank diary of his first year in the House. I read the book, wrote Congressman Riegle, and he signed me on as an intern for the coming summer.

By the time I arrived in Washington, Riegle felt he could no longer identify with the Republican Party and had switched parties

to become a Democrat. As a student journalist, I was put to work for his press secretary, keeping track of the congressman’s press coverage in Michigan. It was a wonderful summer, learning first-hand the workings of the legislative branch of government.

One day, the congressman’s staff director called several of us interns into his office. He told us that the move to impeach President Nixon was gathering steam, but members Photo courtesy of Gloria Duffy of the House did not want to move forward in any public way, or even have it be known that they were working on this issue until evidence of impeachable activities had been found, and support was sufficient. None of them wanted to put the country through a specious impeachment process or pay the price in the polls or at future elections of being associated with an unsuccessful presidential impeachment effort.

He told us that to fly under the radar, a group of members had decided to create a working group of their interns to begin to prepare the material for impeachment.

Since we weren’t staff members and weren’t paid from their funds, this group would be a completely unofficial effort to gather information and help to formulate the arguments for impeachment. We were told to keep our work strictly confidential.

The group included interns from the offices of Bella Abzug, Robert Drinan, Pete McCloskey, Don Riegle and several others. Each of us was assigned to write a research paper on an aspect of impeachment. Since I was interested in a law career, my topic was “British Common Law Precedents for Presidential Impeachment Without Criminal Charges.” I spent many hours in the Library of Congress doing my research.

Our intern group met throughout the summer, reported on our research and discussed it, and turned in our papers to the group of congressional staff quietly monitoring our progress. We also shared a pass to attend the Watergate hearings being held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, so we were able to stand on our tip-toes at the back of the hearing room, watching Sam Ervin conduct one of the great investigations in American history.

So the current environment of caution about moving too quickly rings true with what I recall from 1973. But it’s well to remember that we never know what may be going on behind the scenes!

Remember: we never know what may be going on behind the scenes.

58

THE COMMO N WE AL TH

europe anD the uniteD StateS—

an unparalleleD alliance anD unpreceDenteD challengeS

A Global Symposium

aboard the

Goodwin phoTo by: annie leiboviTz

Join eminent thinkers, changemakers, and historians from both continents for an in-depth examination of the relationship between Europe and the United States at this pivotal moment in history.

Crystal

ahler

sePtember 5–16, 2020

Amidst gala receptions and dinners in landmark venues, leaders and guest speakers will explore key moments of the past that serve as incisive lenses for evaluating future global prospects and challenges.

The speaker series —combined with exclusive customized touring, and the unparalleled service and exceptional cuisine aboard the privately chartered 94-guest Crystal Mahler —makes this experience unlike any other.

David Cameron Doris Kearns Goodwin Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Featuring Former Prime minister oF the united Kingdom, 2010–2016 Berlin

and Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author

germanY

and Former white house national security council senior director For euroPean aFFairs

DANUBE RIVER

Wachau Valley Linz auStria

Vienna

Slovac republic

Bratislava Budapest hungarY

From $14,990 per perSon, double oCCupanCy

DetaileD brochure available at commonwealthclub.org/travel 415-597-6720 | travel@commonwealthclub.org

CST: 2096889-40 & 2088800-40

To purchase tickets:

The Commonwealth Club of California

visit commonwealthclub.org or call (415) 597-6705 or call (800) 847-7730

P.O. Box 194210 San Francisco, CA 94119

Periodicals postage paid in San Francisco, California

To subscribe to our email newsletter: visit commonwealthclub.org and use the simple “Be the First to Know” feature on the homepage

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5

Details on page 43

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

BEN HOROWITZ

Ben Horowitz, Co-Founder, Andreessen Horowitz; Author, What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture

Ph.D., Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University; Author, Jay-Z: Made in America

John Zimmer, Co-Founder and President, Lyft—Moderator

Michael Eric Dyson is known for his many talents. He is an outspoken academic and sociologist, social critic, best-selling author, popular figure in political news media, ordained Baptist minister and, in his own words, one of the country’s leading “hip-hop intellectuals.” Often in Dyson’s work, these concepts all intersect to reflect a well-rounded picture of black life in America. Now Dyson has set his analytical sights on someone who, he argues, is one of the greatest American poets of all time: Jay-Z.

According to leading venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, the crucial question for every organization is: How do you create and sustain the culture you want? To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It’s not the values listed on the wall or what’s said in a companywide meeting. It is who you are and what you do to get you through good and bad times. Horowitz reflects on some of his own experiences and highlights four models of leadership and culture building.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

Details on page 44

Details on page 54

ECONOMIC FORECAST

Keith Hennessey, Lecturer in Economics, Stanford University School of Business; Senior White House Economic Advisor to President George W. Bush Christina Romer, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley; Chair, Council of Economic Advisors for President Obama

What is in store for your business, your investments and the overall economy in 2020? Join us for a lively discussion on where the U.S. and global economies are headed and what should be done to keep them on track.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4

Details on page 56

NICHOLAS KRISTOF & SHERYL WUDUNN

Nicholas Kristof, Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Co-Author, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope Sheryl WuDunn, Co-Author, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope

Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn issue a plea—deeply personal and told through the lives of real Americans— to address the crisis in workingclass America, while focusing on solutions to mend a half century of governmental failure.