JCCSF Podcasts

Eliot Spitzer

Emily Wallace — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:03:29 +0000

Money, Politics & Democracy
Former New York State Attorney General and Governor Eliot Spitzer, aka “Sheriff of Wall Street,” is a long-time critic of financial malfeasance, having prosecuted abuses among major Wall Street firms as well as numerous other industries. Spitzer addresses the corrosive effect money has on American politics and the evolving role of Jews in politics from outsiders to the ultimate insiders.

Gillian Flynn

Emily Wallace — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:01:58 +0000

Gillian Flynn’s latest novel Gone Girl tells the story of a young woman who disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary and who may, or may not, have been killed by her husband. As he discovers, the truth is more twisted and disturbing than the murder of which he’s accused.

Hedrick Smith

Emily Wallace — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:52:15 +0000

Who Stole the American Dream?
As the middle-class continues to be undermined, attaining a steady job with decent pay and health benefits, home ownership and a secure retirement has become more fantasy than reality. In his new book, Who Stole the American Dream?, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times journalist and Emmy award-winning PBS producer Hedrick Smith reveals the trail of political and corporate decisions that got us to where we are, and what can be done to restore our hope for a better life for future generations.

Three Rabbis Walk into a Room: Tzedakah, Poverty & Justice

Emily Wallace — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:39:30 +0000

With Rabbis Carla Fenves of Congregation Emanu-El, David Kasher of Kevah, and Gedalia Potash of Chabad Noe Valley
The poorest place in the United States is not a dusty Texas border town or a blighted urban neighborhood. It’s Kiryas Yoel, an orthodox Jewish enclave outside of New York City where 70 percent of the people live below the poverty level. Simultaneously, Jews are the second highest earning religious group in the nation, according to the Pew Forum. Join a conversation with rabbis from diverse streams of Judaism to explore how wealth disparity in the US affects the Jewish community and the possible power of tzedakah to solve these problems.

Mary Roach

Emily Wallace — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:45:58 +0000

In conversation with Jack Boulware
Go on the trip of a lifetime through the digestive tract with best-selling science writer Mary Roach. Have you ever wondered why crunchy food hits the spot or how much the stomach will hold before it bursts? Find out in Roach’s new book, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.

Jews, Money & The Media

Emily Wallace — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:27:25 +0000

Featuring Todd Gitlin, Daphne Merkin and Matthew Yglesias
In conversation with Marc Tracy
Can you write critically about Sheldon Adelson without being anti-Semitic? When Rupert Murdoch tweets “Why Is Jewish-owned press so consistently anti-Israel?” what does he mean? Why did every article about Bernie Madoff mention he was a Jew? Journalists Daphne Merkin, regular contributor to the New York Times and the New Yorker; Slate’s Moneybox correspondent, Matthew Yglesias, and Columbia University communications scholar and author Todd Gitlin (Occupy Nation) discuss Jewish images, Jewishness and stereotypes often used by the media.

Cheryl Strayed

Emily Wallace — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:31:13 +0000

In conversation with Barbara Lane
In the wake of her mother’s death, with her family scattered and her marriage in tatters, author Cheryl Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. The story of how that 1,100-mile hike broke her down and built her back up again, chronicled in her bestselling book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, has resonated with audiences around the world.

Michael Feinstein

Emily Wallace — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:02:52 +0000

The Gershwins and Me
Michael Feinstein was just 20 years old when he got the chance of a lifetime: a job with his hero, Ira Gershwin. The two became close friends. Feinstein blossomed under Gershwin’s mentorship, and Gershwin was reinvigorated by the younger man’s zeal for the legacy he and his brother George had created. Feinstein shares unforgettable reminiscences from his book The Gershwins and Me.

Dan Rather

Emily Wallace — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:27:19 +0000

Former CBS News anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent Dan Rather is the embodiment of the intrepid broadcast journalist. He was the first to break the news that President Kennedy had been killed, was a Vietnam War correspondent, and has interviewed everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Fidel Castro. In his new memoir, Rather Outspoken, he comes out swinging at CBS for showing an “absence of executive backbone” during its investigation of Abu Ghraib and reveals how his determination to air a potentially damning story about then-President George W. Bush’s spotty military record led to his firing from CBS News.

Paul Muldoon

Emily Wallace — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:34:12 +0000

In conversation with Greil Marcus
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon has been called “the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War,” but Muldoon also has a passion for rock. In his new collection, The Word on the Street: Rock Lyrics, Muldoon offers little distinction between poetry and rock music, finding common ground between W.B. Yeats’ ballad-singing porter drinkers, T.S. Eliot, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom

Emily Wallace — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:34:33 +0000

In conversation with Scott Shafer
Lieutenant Governor of California and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom discusses how ordinary citizens can use new digital tools to dissolve political gridlock and transform American democracy. In his first book, Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, Newsom argues that, just as the post office and the highway system channel both personal and private enterprises, digital government can be used to share information, needs and concerns, and help an enlightened citizenry collaborate.

Dave Barry

Emily Wallace — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:46:16 +0000

Syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry’s work has appeared in more than 500 newspapers and includes 30 books. Barry’s favorite television appearance was on the Late Show with David Letterman, where he proved that it is possible to set fire to a pair of men’s underpants using a Barbie doll. Barry’s new book is the darkly comic novel Insane City.

Michael Ondaatje

Emily Wallace — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:11:56 +0000

In conversation with Dr. Abraham Verghese
Get a glimpse into the inner workings of Michael Ondaatje’s literary artistry, which has influenced an entire generation of writers and earned him the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Best known as a novelist (The English Patient, Divisadero, The Cat’s Table), Ondaatje has also delved into poetry, memoir and film.

Eric Asimov

Emily Wallace — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:43:24 +0000

In conversation with Evan Goldstein, Master Sommelier
Does ordering wine at a restaurant make you jittery? Does choosing a bottle of wine for a dinner party send you into a flurry of anxiety? Eric Asimov, chief wine critic for the New York Times and author of How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto, will help bolster your confidence. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn about the diversity and complexity of wine with one of the world’s leading experts.

Neil Shubin

Emily Wallace — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:27:16 +0000

Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin is famed for discovering the fossilized Tiktaalik roseae, the missing link between ancient sea creatures and land dwellers. In his new book, The Universe Within, he explains how the universe’s 14-billion-year history is reflected in our bodies, right down to our molecules.

Daniel Pink

Emily Wallace — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:09:24 +0000

Business analyst Daniel Pink’s newest book is To Sell is Human, a fresh exploration of the power of selling, which each of us does every day, consciously or not. Whether we’re entrepreneurs persuading funders, employees pitching colleagues, or parents and teachers cajoling kids, we spend our days trying to move others.

Alicia Suskin Ostriker

Emily Wallace — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:32:06 +0000

Alicia Suskin Ostriker is one of the nation’s premier poets and critics. Writing as “as an American, a woman, a Jew, a mother, a wife, a lover of beauty and art, a teacher, an idealist, a skeptic,” Ostriker has cultivated a truly inimitable voice. At once unpretentious and provocative, she has been called “America’s most fiercely honest poet.” She is the author of several books on the Bible and 14 poetry collections, including The Book of Life, The Mother/Child Papers, No Heaven, and the volcano sequence.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Emily Wallace — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:17:10 +0000

In his global bestseller The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb argued that rare, unpredictable events have the greatest impact on our lives—and that our blindness to these random events has a price. Now he returns with Antifragile, a bold book explaining how and why we should embrace uncertainty, randomness, and error as an antidote to our fragile way of life, instead of trying to avoid mistakes and collapsing when catastrophe strikes.

Charles Phan

Emily Wallace — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:42:57 +0000

In conversation with Jonathan Kauffman, San Francisco editor of Tasting Table
Get some culinary inspiration from Charles Phan, the James Beard Award-winning chef of The Slanted Door, one of San Francisco’s top dining destinations. Chef Phan shares tips from his cookbook Vietnamese Home Cooking, which introduces traditional Vietnamese fare to home cooks by focusing on fundamental techniques and ingredients. Infused with personal stories from his early days as a refugee to his current culinary success, Phan takes us on a journey of Vietnamese cuisine from pho to banh mi to street food.

Elliott Gould

Emily Wallace — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:33:16 +0000

In conversation with San Francisco Chronicle movie correspondent Ruthe Stein
As the embodiment of a disenchanted youth culture, Elliott Gould starred in films like M*A*S*H, Getting Straight and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. The witty yet modest actor gained a new audience with his recurring role on Friends and in Steven Soderburgh’s Ocean series and continues to work on new television and film projects.