Posts Tagged ‘jeffschechtman’
Matt Richtel on inspired California
In his new book “,” Matt Richtel gets to the heart of why so much of the future seems to happen in California. In this week’s podcast, he discusses where creativity comes from and why it gives the state a competitive advantage. Like opposable thumbs,…
Read MoreProfessor Fernando Guerra: Can L.A. be governed?
Fernando Guerra, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, discusses the aftermath of the primary election and the power of the homeless issue to reshape L.A. and its politics. The nation turned…
Read MoreGustavo Arellano’s guided tour of L.A. politics
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist and host of The Times podcast, provides a personal and provocative view of Los Angeles and Southern California politics. He talks of his ongoing feud with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the…
Read MoreJohn Waters reminds us where the wild things are
Filmmaker John Waters has long been a fixture in San Francisco. After a very rough week, a conversation with him gives us a few moments of levity courtesy of his sometimes twisted worldview. The 76-year-old writer, director, and curator of bad taste…
Read MoreJohn Markoff on Silicon Valley’s own Zelig
Long Time Silicon Valley journalist John Markoff unearths the roots of a tree, whose branches include, among others, Ken Kesey, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. Markoff’s new book, “: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand,” examines a Zelig-like character in…
Read MoreVanessa Hua is a triple threat
Vanessa Hua, a Bay Area native and graduate of Stanford and U.C. Riverside, has focused her extensive writing on issues of immigration, identity, diversity, and parenting. Moving seamlessly between short stories, novels, journalism, and her San…
Read MoreSusan Sorrells and her own desert town of Shoshone
Susan Sorrells has been called the “Queen of the Desert” and among a “shortlist of the most interesting people in California.” The Smith College graduate spent time in Liberia with the Peace Corps, worked for California Sen. Thomas Kuchel in…
Read MoreLibby Schaaf’s love affair with Oakland
Libby Schaaf is about to complete her second and final term as mayor of Oakland. Unlike a lot of other political jobs, as Willie Brown once said, mayors are judged by results. When Schaaf took office in 2014, Barack Obama was still president. Today,…
Read MoreFrances Dinkelspiel on the power of local reporting
Frances Dinkelspiel is working hard to counter the decline of local reporting. The co-founder of Berkeleyside, Oaklandside, and their parent organization Cityside believes it is more important for us to know what’s going on in our neighborhoods than…
Read MorePeter Hartlaub and the S.F. Chronicle are one
Peter Hartlaub and the San Francisco Chronicle are inseparable. Peter delivered the Chronicle as a paperboy in the 1980s, went to work there as a journalist in 2000, and 22 years later, continues to put his imprimatur on the paper and the institution….
Read MoreSebastian Mallaby on the real power in Silicon Valley
The work of Sebastian Mallaby, a financial journalist and author of the new book “,” shines a light on how Silicon Valley really operates. The names you know — Zuckerberg, Jobs, Dorsey, Brin & Page — are not really the gatekeepers of the…
Read MoreMark Fainaru-Wada wrote the book on Barry Bonds
Mark Fainaru-Wada was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle when he co-authored “,” the definitive book about Barry Bonds, BALCO, and baseball’s steroid scandal. An award-winning ESPN reporter since 2007, Fainaru-Wada talks about the ongoing…
Read MoreElizabeth Weil on California’s relationship with fire
Elizabeth Weil has had a 25-year relationship with California. She’s written about it for years, and her most recent piece, “” appeared recently in the New York Times Magazine. She’s lived through many California disasters, including fires,…
Read MoreDarrell Steinberg thinks he can solve Sacramento’s many problems
Mayor Darrell Steinberg knows the levers to pull to operate state government. He was a member of the Sacramento City Council, a member of the State Assembly, and a longtime leader in the State Senate, where he rose to president pro tempore. However,…
Read MoreDan Walters’ post-pandemic biopsy of California
Dan Walters, the dean of state capital journalists, joined us in the first week of the pandemic lockdown, back in March of 2020. After twenty months, he joins us once again to offer a post-pandemic view of California’s future. He opines on politicians…
Read MoreDoug Thompson and Robin Kobaly on the thirsty golf courses of the Coachella Valley
The Palm Spring region has over 120 golf courses, all of which require irrigation, some as much as 1.2 million gallons of water each night. That’s even as residential water rationing begins in response to worsening drought conditions, driven by…
Read MoreRichard L. Brown and California’s public employee unions
Richard L. Brown is the newly elected leader of California’s largest public employee union, SEIU Local 1000. Brown’s controversial campaign promised to take the union, with its more than 100,000 members, out of state and federal politics, and reduce…
Read MoreGene Slater on the unsavory history of California’s real estate industry
Gene Slater, a long-time advisor on housing for federal, state, and local agencies and the author of “: How Realtors Conspired to Segregate Housing and Divide America,” discusses the outsized historical influence of California’s real estate industry….
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