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The Soul of California

Let them share.....That's the goal. Let the leading thinkers, writers, academics, artists and activists talk about their work and the influence of California on that work. In these podcasts, I hope to bring out the myth and the ethos that is not only a leading administrative entity in the United States, but also the world. No commercials, just content. Feed your soul. Keep listening.
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Now displaying: May, 2018
May 16, 2018

In this 52-minute podcast, Richard Walker, author of Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity, discusses the negatives impacts that the Tech Boom has had in the analog world - housing, sprawl, labor, you name it....

Richard talks about the origins of the book, then moves on to  inequality (min. 6), why we hate the word "class" (min. 11) and then discusses the culture of commuting and the tech buses (min. 13).

He then highlights regulation challenges (min. 25), the push-pull of private vs. public services (min. 33), tax optimization and whether sustained regulatory chance is possible (min. 40). 

POST-INTERVIEW BONUS: Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Pictures of the Gone World, no. 11 - Closing out his first century, the eternal poet reads the poem that fits so frighteningly well with the Bay Area's Tech Boom and its impacts, despite being written in 1955 (min. 53). Special thanks to City Lights Books for their kind permission.  

Feed your soul. Keep listening. 

May 4, 2018

In this 29-minute podcast, Viet Nguyen discusses The Sympathizer, which takes aim at the Vietnam genre, particularly Coppela’s Apocalypse Now, and how it is ripe for parody. He then moves into the impact of literature vs. film (min. 5) and the duality of 30 April - the day in 1975 when Saigon fell (min. 9).

Viet shares with listeners the body of literature and other perspectives coming from Vietnam (min. 10) and recounts his own harrowing early life as a refugee in America and the friendly competition with his brother (min. 14). He then closes with how he writes (min. 18) and his teaching (min. 24). 

Next up:  UC Berkeley's Richard Walker on the Dark Side of Tech - wealth creation at the pinnacle, life altering challenges for the majority. Timely, to say the least.....

Feed your soul. Keep listening. 

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