1888: The How, The Why

Amy Vidlak Girmscheid is a professional librarian with over 30 years of experience in public and special libraries. She has served the Library community as an archivist, Collection Development Librarian, reference librarian, library director and overall change agent.Without Libraries was created to provide librarians a platform to share stories about education, discuss current programs, and consider life without libraries. Libraries provide access to information and educational resources, promoting literacy, critical thinking skills, and community building by offering a safe space for people to learn, research, and connect with others. Join the conversation at Past Forward.Guest: Amy Vidlak GirmscheidProduced by: Past ForwardPast Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

Brian Fennessy became Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority on April 16, 2018.Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the US Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and ultimately crew superintendent.In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and ultimately became Chief of the Department in 2015. One of his many accomplishments while with the SDFD was developing & establishing a multi-mission Fire/Rescue/EMS helicopter program designed to serve the citizens of the City of San Diego and the region.Chief Fennessy has held multiple Incident Command System (ICS) certifications and positions, has also served on National Incident Management Teams, and developed one of the first All-Hazard Incident Management Teams (AHIMT) in the US.The Fire Problem is an education program that considers unresolved symptoms of The Fire Problem. T

Alea Perez is a Youth Services Manager in the Chicago suburbs and she has worked in libraries for 16 years (10 in management). Alea grew up in libraries while her mother served as a Youth Services librarian for 30 years, starting when she was in elementary school. "Everyone thought I loved to read when I was young, but it wasn’t until I discovered sci-fi in 7th grade that I really fell in love with books and libraries. I have fond memories of spending time in the supply room of my childhood library, as I got roped into program preparation and other volunteer opportunities. While in college, I swore I wasn’t going to follow in my mom’s footsteps and avoided libraries as a profession for years after graduating. Now that I’m here and have settled in, I like to do what I can to address the underrepresentation of BIPOC library workers at the degreed level. I Also occasionally get into good trouble for my belief that libraries aren’t and can’t be neutral, and that there is no magical barrier between us and the rest

Ricardo D. García serves as the Los Angeles County Public Defender, the first and largest public defender agency in the United States. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1995 from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, and his Bachelor of Art in Politics in 1991 from the University of California, Santa Cruz.García started his legal career in 1995 with the San Diego Public Defender’s Office. In 1998, he was recruited to the Alternate Public Defender’s Office as the youngest attorney in that office. He has handled several high-profile cases in the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office, including the longest and most complicated death penalty trial in state history, and was awarded Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Criminal Defense Association of San Diego.In addition to his work in the courtroom, García served as an adjunct professor at California Western School of Law and as the Criminal Justice Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.  He serves as t

Kate Buckson serves as the library director of St. Charles Public Library in Illinois. She has worked in public libraries for over twenty years.Without Libraries was created to provide librarians a platform to share stories about education, discuss current programs, and consider life without libraries. Libraries provide access to information and educational resources, promoting literacy, critical thinking skills, and community building by offering a safe space for people to learn, research, and connect with others. Join the conversation at Past Forward.Guest: Kate BucksonProduced by: Past ForwardPast Forward is providing this podcast as a public service. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Please read our Program and Product Disclaimer for more information.

Resa Mai is a hands-on public library Director in Illinois. She facilitates partnerships within her community and across the state to create engaging exciting programs.  Currently while negotiating a large library addition she is a Lions Club International Vice President and Management Mentor. She has been an active Library advocate since early elementary school when she fell in love with the Velveteen Rabbit and with the idea that the entire world was accessible to her just inside the doors of her library.She has worked in libraries for over 15 years, has been a public speaker and presenter for 20 years. As a lifelong learner she understands that education is varied and personal; that it is a passage as well as a destination.  Her presentation style is relaxed, inviting, engaging and ultimately open-ended.Without Libraries was created to provide librarians a platform to share stories about education, discuss current programs, and consider life without libraries. Libraries provide access to information and ed

Enyce Smith, born in Los Angeles, CA, is a multi-talented creator whose work includes music, dance, choreography, filmography, and ballroom MC known in the scene as “King of the West Coast.” Enyce has been voguing in ballroom since the age of 18 and writing and publishing music tracks for more than 10 years. Currently, Enyce is a vogue instructor, ballroom MC, and Beyond the Runway documentary director and producer. Beyond the Runway aims to highlight issues and luminaries within the Ballroom scene.Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Gender and Sexuality is a series that explores how culture, power, institutions, and social structures shape our understandings of gender and sexuality.Guest: Enyce SmithHost: Jon-Barrett IngelsProduced by Past Forward in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Dale Minami is a partner with Minami Tamaki in San Francisco specializing in the area of Personal Injury for which he has been named a SuperLawyer in Northern California for each year from 2004 through 2017 and a Top Ten SuperLawyer for the last 5 years.He received a law degree at Berkeley Law during a formative time of anti-war, counterculture, civil rights, and ethnic studies movements in the San Francisco Bay Area. After he graduated, Minami and fellow Asian American law students and graduates started a collective to help poor Asian Americans in the Bay Area. He then opened the first legal services non-profit for Asian Americans in the U.S. in 1972. The Asian Law Caucus represented clients and also raised public awareness about discrimination and went on to form their own firm in 1975. In 1981, documents were discovered in the National Archives proving that government lawyers during World War II had intentionally suppressed and altered evidence in Fred Korematsu’s Supreme Court Case, Korematsu v. United St

Dr. Ronald J. Rivera is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Irvine and the Associate Clerkship Director for emergency medicine rotations.He completed medical school at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, and residency at SUNY Downstate / Kings County in Brooklyn, New York. After being elected to Chief of Education, he discovered a passion for teaching his peers much in the same way he advocates for improving bedside patient education as part of patient centered care. To further that goal, he did a medical education fellowship in Multimedia Design and Education Technology (MDEdTech) at UCI.He is currently completing a masters degree in education focused on Digital Age Learning and Technology at Johns Hopkins University. His current projects include teaching techniques for improved bedside interactions with patients from at-risk populations and educating on improving social determinants of health from the Emergency Room. He also works as a

Dr. Mark Skousen, Ph. D., editor of Forecasts & Strategies, is a nationally known investment expert, economist, university professor and author of more than 25 books. In July 2018 Dr Skousen was awarded the inaugural Triple Crown in Economics for his work in economic theory, history and education, is known as “America’s Economist” and has been identified as one of the 20 most influential living economists.He earned his Ph. D. in monetary economics at George Washington University in 1977. He has taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Barnard College, Mercy College, Rollins College and Chapman University, where he is currently a Presidential Fellow and the Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise. He won the “My Favorite Professor” Award at Chapman University in 2019. He also has been a consultant to IBM, Hutchinson Technology and other Fortune 500 companies.Skousen is the producer of FreedomFest, “the world’s largest gathering of free minds,” which meets every Ju

Mitchell Kaplan is best known for the creation of the Miami Book Fair International, the largest community book festival in the United States and a model for book fairs across the country.Kaplan began his working career as a high school English teacher. Two years after opening an independent bookstore, Books & Books, Kaplan, along with the Dade County Library and other independent bookstore owners, was asked by the president of the downtown Wolfson campus of the Miami-Dade College, Eduardo J. Padrón, to help put on a book fair, originally called “Books by the Bay.”In addition to overseeing five bookstores, including one located in Grand Cayman, Kaplan serves as the Chair of the Miami Book Fair Board of Directors and on the steering committee of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts, Miami-Dade College’s literary center. He has served as President of the American Booksellers Association, and on the Board of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.Without These Libraries is a community-fo

Arianna Barrios has spent her life living, working, and volunteering in her hometown of Orang where she serves on the Orange City Council, representing the Old Towne Orange area of the City in District One. Today, Arianna lives and runs a small business in the City’s historic district as the owner of Communications LAB, a boutique Public Relations and Community Outreach firm that employs 11 communications professionals. In 2018, Arianna was recognized by Assembly Member Dr. Steven Choi and the State of California as the Woman of the Year in the 68th Assembly District. She was named to the National Advisory Board of the National Small Business Association in 2019 and continues to serve in that role. Barrios has served on several boards of directors including the Orange Chamber of Commerce, YWCA of Central Orange County, Orange Unified Educational Foundation, Pitcher Park Community Foundation and, Community Foundation of Orange.Without These Libraries is a community-focused limited series. Special episodes are

Peggy Nagae received her A.B., cum laude, from Vassar College in East Asian Studies, a J.D. degree with honors from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, a M.A in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica, and a Bachelor of Illumination Sciences from the Jwalan Muktikã School for Illumination.She has practiced law as a criminal and civil trial attorney, worked as director of associates at a Seattle litigation firm, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon School of Law, Affirmative Action Director at Northwestern School of Law, and an adjunct professor in dispute resolution at the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now Seattle University). She represented Minoru Yasui in re-opening his World War II case, worked on the National Japanese American Citizens League Redress Committee (1978), and was appointed to the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund Board (1996). She is a consultant in organizational and management change, diversity/inclusion, and str

Nick Mott is a journalist and podcast producer. His podcast work has received a Peabody and two National Edward R. Murrow Awards. His print and audio reporting has been published in the Atlantic, NPR, High Country News, and the Washington Post, among many other outlets. Justin Angle is a professor and the Poe Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the University of Montana College of Business. His work has been published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and the Washington Post.Nick Mott and Justin Angle are authors of the book, This is Wildfire: How to Protect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Community in the Age of Heat. They are also the creators of the Fireline podcast through Montana Public Radio.The Fire Problem is an education program that considers unresolved symptoms of The Fire Problem. This special podcast series will examine and explain underlying challenges and vulnerabilities with our climate, environment, politics, and vegetation. Conversations with conservationists, first res

Donald K. Tamaki received his BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973, and also received his JD from Berkeley in 1976. He is a Senior Counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP. Prior to January 1, 2021, he was the firm’s Managing Partner. From 1980 to 1983, he was Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, and served on the legal team which reopened the 1944 U.S. Supreme Court case of Fred Korematsu, overturning his criminal conviction for defying the removal of almost 120,000 Japanese Americans. Don has received the State Bar of California’s Loren Miller Legal Services Award in 1987, the ACLU (Northern California) Civil Liberties Award in 2003, the NAPABA Trailblazer Award in 2003, NAPABA President’s Award co-recipient in 2018, and Superlawyer designation since 2004.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violation

John Vaillant’s acclaimed, award-winning nonfiction books, The Golden Spruce and The Tiger, were national bestsellers. His debut novel, The Jaguar’s Children, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Vaillant has received the Governor General’s Literary Award, British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize, and the Pearson Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. He has written for, among others, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Walrus. He lives in Vancouver.The Fire Problem is an education program that considers unresolved symptoms of The Fire Problem. This special podcast series will examine and explain underlying challenges and vulnerabilities with our climate, environment, politics, and vegetation. Conversations with conservationists, first responders, historians, politicians, scientists, technologists, and more will help diagnose our situation with opportunities for trea

Kirn Kim was a former honor student and son of a prominent physician in the Fullerton Korean community. However, at age 16, he was sentenced as an adult to life in prison as part of a high-profile case that became known as the “Honor Roll Murder.” He earned parole after serving 20 years. Kirn became active in justice reform advocacy, leading to his hiring as the first formerly-incarcerated employee of The California Endowment. Currently working as a software developer, Kirn continues speaking on issues of criminal and juvenile justice reform, and the culture of shame and the model minority myth in the Asian/Pacific Islander community. Kirn is also currently on the board of directors at the National Juvenile Justice Network.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s

Tarell Alvin McCraney is Artistic Director of Geffen Playhouse. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, developing, and programming new works and re-envisioned classics. He sets the strategic artistic course for the Geffen's Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball Kenis Theaters. McCraney is an award-winning writer, producer, and educator, best known for his acclaimed trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays. His script In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue is the basis for the Oscar–winning film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins, for which McCraney and Jenkins also won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. He is an ensemble member at Steppenwolf Theatre and a member of Teo Castellanos D-Projects in Miami, a graduate of New World School of the Arts, The Theatre School at DePaul University, and the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick. He was recently Co-Chair of Playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, where he remains on faculty. He is an associate a

Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. A Seattle native, she graduated from USC in journalism and in East Asian languages and culture.Chapters is a multi-part series concerning the history and the lessons of civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices carried out against communities or populations—including civil rights violations or civil liberties injustices that are perpetrated on the basis of an individual’s race, national origin, immigration status, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.This project was made possible with support from Chapman University and The California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California Stat

Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is a professor of Asian American Studies, the director of the Humanities Center, and the director of Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism, and Belonging (C-LAB) at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford University and previously taught at Ohio State University. She authored Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: the Life of a Wartime Celebrity (University of California Press, 2005) and Radicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era (Cornell University Press, 2013).Julia Huỳnh is a second generation Vietnamese Canadian interdisciplinary artist, community archivist, and independent researcher/writer. As an award-winning filmmaker, her work has been screened at festivals including: ReFrame Film Festival (Peterborough, ON), Reel Asian International Film Festival (Toronto, ON), Aurora Picture Show (Houston, TX) and SEA x SEA: Southeast Asia x Seattle Film Festival (Seattle, WA). She has facilitated mult