The Manny's Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Within minutes of the debate beginning last Thursday, texts and calls were being fielded across the Democratic apparatus asking one very big question: Should Biden stay in the race? The past few days have seen an eruption of chatter around that question, with folks from every end of the political spectrum weighing in on what should be done. What kinds of conversations are happening in the White House? What does the polling say? What are the options here? Who thinks what? And who, ultimately, decides what to do?

We're bringing experts to Manny's to help you sort through these questions and more.

 

Panelists

Dan Morain has covered California policy, politics, and justice-related issues for more than four decades, including twenty-seven years at the Los Angeles Times and eight at The Sacramento Bee, where he was editorial page editor. He is the author of Kamala's Way, a revelatory biography of the first Black woman to stand for Vice President, charting how the daughter of two immigrants in segregated California became one of this country’s most effective power players.

 

Since 1988, Joshua Kosman has been the leading critical voice on classical music in the Bay Area, covering everything from blockbuster Yo-Yo Ma concerts and Opera at the Ballpark to week-long Wagner cycles and contemporary music that only a mother (or a true connoisseur) could love. In his decades holding major institutions accountable and championing the offbeat, he’s helped the Bay Area hear better, his lively prose inviting classical greenhorns and the cognoscenti alike to remember how much they love music or to love it more still.

On April 30, Kosman will flip his critic’s notebook closed for the final time, retiring from the newspaper at a crucial juncture for classical music in the Bay Area. His recent coverage of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s planned departure from the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the San Francisco Opera’s truncated offerings next year, has been essential reading for anyone with a stake in the cultural life of our city.

Before he goes, Kosman will sit down with Chronicle Theater Critic Lily Janiak to share tales from his distinguished career. Join us for Chronicle Live at Manny’s at 5:30 p.m. on April 30 for a retirement celebration and conversation.

You’ll hear how someone trains his ear enough to be a classical music critic and what it’s like to cover Michael Tilson Thomas’ every waking move, as well as Kosman’s most memorable concerts and how he views the role of a critic. It will also be your last chance to pepper Kosman with questions before he leaves the Chronicle for a well-earned retirement doing crossword puzzles, making dad jokes and the occasional viral pun, and re-reading the complete works of Anthony Trollope. (Depending on how loosened up he’s feeling on his last day, attendees might get some feisty opinions about EPS vs. SFS.)
 

Can San Francisco be both progressive on criminal justice and tough on crime?

How can the District Attorney reduce crime in our city?

What's the way forward after the Boudin recall?

What is the the future of criminal justice and policing in San Francisco?

We’re excited to have a fireside chat with San Francisco's newly appointed DA Brooke Jenkins. She’s had a fiery entrance so far. Jenkins shook up the DA’s office, firing 15 of her predecessor Chesa Boudin’s staffers and hiring women of color to top managerial positions.

Join us as we talk about Brooke’s time leading up to her appointment as SF District Attorney and what her goals are while leading the DA Office. Do you have questions you’d like to ask her?

We can’t wait to hear them. See you there!

About Brooke Jenkins:

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was sworn in as San Francisco’s 30th District Attorney on July 8, 2022. Jenkins leads the District Attorney’s Office and its mission to promote public safety and advance justice for all and is committed to implementing important and vital criminal justice reforms responsibly.

A Bay Area native and Black and Latina woman, District Attorney Jenkins has seen the imbalances and disproportionate impacts of the criminal justice system firsthand. She has had family members on both sides of the courtroom and has seen and felt the impacts of police violence and misconduct. She believes reforms are necessary to ensure that justice is proportional and fairly executed for every person in San Francisco regardless of who they are or where they are from.

Jenkins began her career as a prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office where she worked her way up the ranks. Jenkins served as an Assistant DA from 2014 to 2021, initially serving in the Misdemeanor and General Felonies Units before working as the office’s designated Hate Crimes Prosecutor. She was later promoted to the Sexual Assault Unit and eventually the Homicide Unit. Jenkins resigned from the San Francisco DA’s Office in October 2021 as a result of mounting dissatisfaction with the direction of the office. At the time of her departure, she prosecuted over 25 criminal jury trials and completed more than 100 preliminary hearings.

District Attorney Jenkins is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. She received her undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley in 2003, where she was a member of the Track and Field Team.

What does it mean to queer religion at a Catholic university? What is it like to be queer and the Rabbi in residence at a Catholic institution? Come listen as Rabbi Angel shares their experience, research and field notes from teaching at University of San Francisco and leading the queer flagship Congregation Sha'ar Zahav for 15 years. Are you a current student? Email the word "caffeine" and the title of this event to angelina@welcometomannys.com for a complementary ticket Manny's never turns away anyone for lack of funds. To receive a complementary ticket just email the word "grapefruit" and the title of this event to darian@welcometomannys.com. About Rabbi Camille Angel: Camille Shira Angel, an adjunct professor in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, is also an ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the author of articles including "Crafting a Liturgical Mirror," in the wonderful new anthology The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality, and "Ruach Acheret-Ruach Hakodesh: Different Spirit-Sacred Spirit" in Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. She was the spiritual leader of the queer flagship Congregation Sha'ar Zahav from 2000-2015, where she edited and contributed to a radically inclusive prayer book, Siddur Sha'ar Zahav. Her primary interests lie in being a mother and a loving companion while balancing the weight of the world and attempting to make forward progress on all matters concerning equality and justice — personal, communal, national, and global.

The planet is on fire, the weather is changing, and the water is rising. What is happening with the climate? Ties between the climate and our health are old as time, but modern data and methods help illuminate exactly how serious those effects can be. In this talk, Prof. Anttila-Hughes provides an overview of what we know about how the climate impacts child health, outlining the many ways agriculture, sanitation, disease, and other factors influenced by the climate threaten health around the world. A particular concern is what these effects mean in a changing climate, and Prof. Anttila-Hughes marshals recent evidence on El-Niño to outline how the global community should respond as climate change worsens through the 2020s." About Jesse Anttila-Hughes Ph.D.: Professor Anttila-Hughes received his PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. His research focuses on understanding the social impacts of environmental processes, particularly those influenced by environmental degradation and climate change. Professor Anttila-Hughes' current research areas include: public health impacts of the climate; behavioral responses to new information about environmental risks; and determinants of the spread of environmental attitudes and ideas.

Originally released in 1892, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes has become an important classic in the world of crime fiction. From books to movies and even television, Sherlock Holmes has penetrated modern day culture. What does this mean for larger issues like crime, law, and safety? Join us as Professor Aviram discusses the role Sherlock Holmes played in the birth of crime science and crime prevention. About Hadar Aviram, Ph.D.: Professor Hadar Aviram specializes in criminal justice, civil rights, law and politics, and social movements, and her research employs socio-legal perspectives and methodologies. Her first book Cheap on Crime: Recession-Era Politics and the Transformation of American Punishment (UC Press, 2015, winner of the CHOICE Award for Academic Titles) analyzes the impact of the financial crisis on the American correctional landscape. Her second book The Legal Promise and the Process of Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2019) is an anthology of studies inspired by the work of Malcolm Feeley. Her third book Yesterday’s Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole (UC Press, 2020) examines the California parole process through 50 years of parole transcripts in the Manson Family cases. Prof. Aviram publishes, teaches, and speaks on domestic violence, behavioral perspectives on prosecutorial and defense behavior, unconventional family units, animal rights, elder abuse, public trust in the police, correctional policy and budgeting, violence reduction, theoretical trends in crime and punishment, and the history of female crime and punishment. She served at the President of the Western Society of Criminology and on the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association, and is currently the Book Review Editor of the Law & Society Review. One of the leading voices in the state and nationwide against mass incarceration, Prof. Aviram is a frequent media commentator on politics, immigration, criminal justice policy, civil rights, and the Trump Administration. Her blog, California Correctional Crisis, covers criminal justice policy in California. Prof. Aviram holds LL.B. and M.A. (criminology) degrees from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from UC Berkeley, where she studied as a Fulbright Fellow and a Regents Intern. She is a member of the California and Israel Bars. Prior to joining the Hastings faculty in 2007, she practiced as a military defense attorney in Israel and taught at Tel Aviv and Haifa Universities.

What role does gaming have in shaping society? How do video games help create the imagery of the future? What do post-apocalyptic cities in video games represent on a larger scale? Come join us as Dr. Emma Fraser and Dr. Ian Kivelin Davis explains the role of video games in society and what it means to game the end of the world. About Ian Kivelin Davis, Ph.D.: Ian Kivelin Davis earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois and joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 2018. His research and teaching focus on international media, news industries, media history, and critical media analysis. Dr. Davis researches global news organizations and the role of foreign news outlets in North America. Taking a public-interest approach to global media, Ian’s work details the relationship between media industries (i.e. Comcast, Disney) and commitments to democratic principles like diversity, pluralism and free expression. Research Interests: International news, media policy and economics, history, advertising, globalization About Emma Fraser, Ph.D.: Emma Fraser is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Media Studies and the Berkeley Center for New Media at UC Berkeley. Emma's research considers space and place, modern ruins, and visual media in relation to urban experience and the writings of Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt School. Emma also researches and writes about games and play across sociology, geography, game studies and media and cultural theory. Emma teaches digital media methods, digital storytelling, game studies, and new media theory and practice to graduate and undergraduate students.

More than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson's Disease. What can be done to help those who are living with this disease? Join us at Manny's as Professor Olaru discusses deep brain stimulation that may serve as a potential therapy mechanism for those who may have Parkinson's Disease. About Maria Olaru: Maria Olaru is a PhD candidate at UC San Francisco, where she studies the basal-ganglia cortico-thalamic circuit of patients with Parkinson’s Disease in Dr. Philip Starr’s lab. Her research interests include investigating electrophysiological neural markers for motor states with neural and wearable sensors, developing BCI feedback algorithms that optimize gamma entrainment throughout the stimulation frequency-amplitude parameter space, and modeling these experimental phenomena. In her spare time, she enjoys experimenting with NYT cooking recipes, long-distance running, and the occasional outdoor climbing adventure. Throughout her academic career, she’s also developed a deep appreciation for comprehensive documentation and complete sentences.

This lecture will focus on the life and legacy of the British Romantic poet, Percy Shelley (the husband of Frankenstein creator, Mary Shelley), the British author who drowned off the coast of Italy 200 years ago this year. Professor Miranda (University of San Francisco) will shed light on what a poet from so long ago can tell us today about women’s liberation movements, social justice and racial equity, the means and ends of mass protest and revolt, the dynamics of gender and sexual fluidity, the ills of climate change, the urgency of environmental “rewilding,” and the social rewards of vegetarianism and veganism. Through some readings of Shelley's poetry, Professor Miranda will also discuss how and why were civil rights leaders such Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as philosophers such as Karl Marx inspired by the Shelleyan imagination, including how Shelley and other young authors of his time launched the legacy of the neglected genius artist that we recognize through musicians such as Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Selena, and Tupac Shakur. Join us as Professor Miranda explains the influence and power of imagination for our politics.

On August 16, 2022 Random House will publish the trade paperback of MIDNIGHT IN WASHINGTON: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could, with a new afterword by the author Adam B. Schiff, United States Representative from California, and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In his singular and explosive first book, Congressman Schiff chronicles step by step just how our form of government became so imperiled during the Trump presidency, and traces his own path to that moment — from serious prosecutor, to congressman with an expertise in national security and a reputation for bipartisanship, to liberal lightning rod, scourge of the right and archenemy of a president. Schiff takes readers into privileged settings and private conversations, and behind the scenes with his team of impeachment managers as they mounted a desperate defense of the constitution. In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the danger that posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into the President’s Russia and Ukraine related abuses of power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principle threat to our democracy now came from within. Midnight in Washington provides a vital inside account of one of America’s darkest hours, and also serves as a warning: The Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the threat to our democracy will last for years, requiring unprecedented vigilance against a uniquely American form of authoritarianism, and an anti-democratic fervor now embraced by a large segment of the public.