“Afghanistan — the graveyard of empires.” I thought of this unattributed claim last night hearing about the imminent fall of Kabul to the Taliban. But rather than watch the real-time misery, I thought of the historical context; and rather than read a book, I decided to watch the movie. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/13/the-west-prepares-for-the-fall-of-kabul/ …

Great points about a big and intimidating set of topics. And if I could add an interesting point about "growth" and what it really means: if we take our present target annual rate of growth, around 3.5%, and project it out for a single human lifetime, we will require consumption…

The extraordinary global response to the Black Lives Matter movement as a consequence of the killing of George Floyd brought back to me memories of living in the deep South as a child during Segregation; experiences that have stayed with me throughout my life. To my surprise, these memories have…

A lesson from years ago offers guidance in this troubled time of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. — “You’re stressed,” Andrea said, as we were closing up the house for the night. “No, no,” I replied, but then instantly I knew she was right. Yes: I had been feeling tense, and uncomfortable earlier in the evening, but at the time I had dismissed it. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic…

This is part II of our profile of Mark Zemelman. Part I: Mark Zemelman: A Mission-Driven Career — covers Mark’s education at UC Santa Cruz and his early efforts as a lawyer working for social justice, civil rights and environmental protection. Mark’s initial experience working for Kaiser Permanente was as…

On a sunny afternoon the view is impressive from the 19th floor of the Ordway Building at 1 Kaiser Plaza in Oakland CA — whether looking South over shimmering Lake Merritt, East to the brown Oakland hills dotted with homes, or West towards the blue San Francisco Bay, reflecting the…

Mid-way through her graduate program in comparative literature, Dana Linda realized she was not likely to find an academic career. “I went to grad school planning to become a tenured professor,” she says. “Half way through my degree, I realized that my career prospects and priorities had dramatically shifted.” UC…

At age 15, Lisa Martinez began a promising business career that brought her into the ranks of senior management in mortgage banking. But with the financial crash of 2008, she left the industry, went back to school and discovered philosophy. A recent graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz…

I just read a moving and troubling article on Medium about life in Silicon Valley by a local resident: https://medium.com/@glorialiou It’s heartfelt and insightful, and I share a lot of the concern, stress and dispair expressed. I also want to share a personal response — in no way is this…