KUCI: Ask A Leader

”There Will Be No Miracles Here” AND Welcome to the Neuston; Your Sea Surface Ecosystem

Casey Gerald writes what he lives with remarkable wit, depth, and honesty; starting with his deep and delightful memoir "There Will Be No Miracles," published by the Riverhead Books division of Penguin Random House. It is now available in paperback. In the second segment (minute 32:27), Rebecca Helm professor at UNC-Asheville, takes up the complexities of plastic cleanup in our oceans, while teaching us about the barely known sea surface ecosystem. Those remediation projects we’re hearing about have much to learn about their impacts in the Neuston environment. Calling community scientists - if you see something on the beach, please report it to: https://www.inaturalist.org/.

”The United States Is Still A Colony”

For the full hour, Diné/Ihanktonwan writer and creator of #NotYourMascot, Jacqueline Keeler recontextualizes the United States’ relationship with Native Peoples. In her pronouncement “The United States is still a colony,” she offers useful analogies, including: the colonial algorithm versus the indigenous peoples' algorithm; the white supremacist's cabin perspective versus the marginalized person's beyond perspective. Her powerful analogies reset the mythology perpetrated since the original sin when the Separatist Puritans established the Plymouth Colony.  Available for pre-order is her book to be released next year, entitled - "Standoff: Standing Rock, The Bundy Movement, and the American Story of Occupation, Sovereignty, and the Fight for Sacred Lands."

Back to Work With Pacific Reentry Career Services AND Unspooling Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

We’re going to work the social justice theme rather vigorously – the first guest is Stephanie Hammerwold, executive director and co-founder of Pacific Reentry Career Services, a local non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated women find and maintain employment following release. In the process we’ll learn all about California’s two-year old law, the Fair Chance Hiring Law. In the second segment (minute 29:06), Professor Mónica Ramírez Almadani, visiting clinical professor of law at UCI, civil rights advocate, litigator and policy advisor; offers insight about where we are after last week’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the Trump Administration’s efforts to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals/DACA. UCI law school student Viridiana Chabolla is one of the plaintiffs.

”Erosian Essays of Undoing”

Climate warriorette and award-winning author Terry Tempest Williams has just published her latest book, Erosion-Essays of Undoing; a book for these times with her inestimable attention to the health and souls of all beasts, including us. Williams sizes up the continuing assaults on America’s public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy. She asks: “How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?” We devote the full hour to her. The book is published by Sarah Creighton Books/Farrar Straus Giroux.

American MONUMENT AND Art in Nature

Today we dwell in two very different museum spaces. First, conceptual artist lauren woods and curator Kimberli Meyer talk about the immersive and transformative experience of their current installation “American MONUMENT,” at UCI’s Beall Center. This installation continues through February 8, 2020. Details about the installation; including the upcoming think tanks and the unveiling forum 2/8/20, are available at: https://beallcenter.uci.edu/exhibitions/american-monument. In the second segment (minute 37:35 ), Malcolm Warner, executive director of the Laguna Art Museum, returns to speak about this year’s “Art in Nature” program commission by artist Yorgo Alexopoulos entitled – 360° Azimuth, commemorating the Museum’s 7th annual multidisciplinary exploration of art’s many engagements with the natural world. The opening includes the outdoor multi-media installation launch Thursday Nov. 7, followed by a roster of events over the weekend. Details for this and later events are available at: https://lagunaartmuseum.org/events/.

National Women’s Political Caucus; Multi-Partisan/Multi-tasking AND Assemblywoman Petrie-Norris Speaks/Governs

Karriann Farrell Hinds, President of the National Women’s Political Caucus of California, a multi-partisan organization, brings us from the multi-partisan good old days of her organization’s founding – to the present. Everything is in play. In the second segment (minute 31:47), CA Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, representing District 47: Irvine and nearby cities, reflects on the latest legislative session, her first. More of everything on the table, from the committee rooms, to town halls, to the Assembly floor, back to the campaign season.

Naturalization Delays Ramp Up AND Talking Truth to PG & E Power

Ming Chen, law professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a member of the Colorado State Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights, reports on the lengthening delays in the naturalization process. Fascinating findings are available in that report entitled: "Citizenship Delayed: Civil Rights and Voting Rights Implications of the Backlog in Citizenship Naturalization Applications." Attention: if you have not already applied for citizenship, you will likely not be eligible to vote in the November 2020 presidential election. In the second segment (minute 40:20), Richard Alexander, electrical engineer and technical electrical publisher provides insights about the electricity infrastructure amidst the wildfires breaking out in California.

Predicting Wildfires in Alaska AND The Decades of Dr. Cotman’s and UCIMIND’s Alzheimer’s Research

Shane Coffield, PhD student and researcher at UCI's Department of Earth System Science, presents the Randerson Labs' interesting findings using machine learning/artificial intelligence which models wildfires in Alaska, to predict which of those fires will burn out of control. The model soon will be applied to California wildfires. In the second segment (minute 30:19), Dr. Carl Cotman covers the state of Alzheimer's research in advance of the UCIMIND Alzheimer's Association annual conference in Irvine on 10-25-19, the title of which is "30 Years of Discovery; Hope on the Horizon.  Chelsea Cox covers the roster of this year's presenters. It all takes place at the Irvine Marriott; information is available at: conference@mind.uci.edu, kleinkm@uci.edu,  or 949-824-9475.