Welcome to The Common Good Member Wall!
TCG created this page as a way to connect our members, speakers and supporters with one another. We will post your recent works and publications, upcoming events and appearances, and so much more! Please reach out to us if you’d like to share your news, articles, or appearances. Email us at admin@thecommongood.net.
And keep an eye on this page to stay up-to-date and engaged with the TCG community.
News From Our Community
‘The Pill That Changes Everything’: The Ms. Q&A With Carrie N. Baker, Author of ‘Abortion Pills: U.S. History and Politics’
January 22, 2025
A distinguished lecturer, author and activist, TCG Member Ellen Chesler interviews author Carrie N. Baker about her latest book on the history and politics of abortion pills in America. At a time when women’s reproductive rights are being fundamentally challenged in politics and the courts, Chesler and Baker discuss this pivotal moment in U.S. women’s history and what we might expect moving forward. Read the full interview here.
Ellen Chesler
“In recent years, the use of abortion pills has skyrocketed and now accounts for an estimated 63 percent of all abortions performed in medical settings, including through both brick-and-mortar clinics and telehealth providers…Telehealth abortion has become especially important in states that have banned or restricted abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned constitutional protections for abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic in June 2022.”
Ellen Chesler served on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and is the author of ‘Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America.' From 2007-2010, she was a distinguished lecturer at Roosevelt House, the public policy institute of Hunter College of the City University of New York. For the decade prior, she served as a senior fellow and program director at the Open Society Institute. Currently, she is writing a book on the history of women’s rights as fundamental human rights.
I Was an Undocumented Immigrant. I Beg You to See the Nuance in Our Stories.
January 20, 2025
In this candid op-ed, TCG American Spirit Awards Winner Jose Antonio Vargas recalls his journey moving to the U.S. from the Philippines as a young boy. He grew up under the supervision of his grandparents in California, and despite some challenges involving his citizenship, he was able to successfully graduate from San Francisco State University. Read more about his remarkable story here.
Jose Antonio Vargas
“Almost 14 years ago, I risked the life I had built for myself in the United States by coming out publicly as an undocumented immigrant.
This past Christmas, I took an even greater risk: To find my way to a stable legal status in this country, I had to leave the place I have called my home for over 30 years. I had no promise of being able to return.”
Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, a Tony-nominated theatrical producer, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants.
What I Wish I Knew Then: Richard Esposito
January 6, 2025
In an interview with Pollock Cohen name partner and TCG Member Steve Cohen, investigative reporter Richard Esposito discusses legendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin —the subject of his latest book—and the similarities between journalists and lawyers. Read the full piece here.
Steve Cohen
“For nearly three years, I’ve had the remarkable opportunity to interview interesting, successful attorneys about their careers and to learn from them the advice they wish they had received earlier in their career and want to pass on to young lawyers today. I was ready to conduct the next interview—with a well-known attorney—when I was unexpectedly invited to a book party. The author being celebrated was a man I didn’t know: Rich Esposito. But the subject of his book was someone I had admired from afar: the newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin.”
Steve Cohen’s practice epitomizes the intersection of law, policy, and journalism. For 35 years, Steve was a successful publishing executive—including at Time and Scholastic—best-selling author, and the CEO of three internet start-ups. Since teaming up with Adam Pollock in 2018 to start Pollock Cohen, he has learned to bring that unusual background, diversity of experience, and skills to the law.
Trump’s Nominees Falsely Say I’m Censoring Conservatives — So They Want to Censor Me
January 5, 2025
Co-CEO of NewsGuard and TCG Honorary Advisory Board Member Steven Brill, has faced a flurry of accusations from Trump’s cabinet picks that his organization NewsGuard — which rates the reliability of news sources — is censoring conservative platforms. In this op-ed, Brill reflects on the falsehood of these accusations and the accompanying censorship himself and NewsGuard are now facing, as well as the looming consequences of stifling the press. Read now.
Steven Brill
“Last week, The Washington Post published an article detailing how NewsGuard, whose journalists rate the reliability of news sources, has become the target of incoming Trump administration regulators and far-right Republicans in Congress. They are accusing me and my NewsGuard colleagues of being part of some left-wing conspiracy… supposedly aimed at censoring conservative websites and their associated social media and video platforms.”
Steven Brill is a journalist and author – and Founder of Court TV, The American Lawyer Magazine, American Lawyer Media, Brill’s Content Magazine, Journalism Online, and The Yale Journalism Initiative - as well as the Co-CEO of NewsGuard.
Not in my backyard. It will dwarf the High Line
December 29, 2024
Amid a proposal to build a casino in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, TCG Member James Ferrari reflects on the impact a proposal of this size might have on the delicate ecosystem of the beloved High Line public green space, and the broader implications this construction project may have on the community. Read it here.
James Ferrari
“The views from my living room of my first apartment in New York City were of an abandoned elevated railway line covered in garbage and bramble. I worked for a nonprofit and was staying in what was then the General Theological Seminary founded by Clement Clarke Moore and is now The High Line Hotel, a 60-room luxury hotel with a Parisian themed garden on 10th Ave.”
James Ferrari has spent the past decade operating at the intersection of business, art, science, technology, media, politics, journalism and public health. James is a true multi-hyphenate: an entrepreneur, filmmaker, artist, activist, and philanthropist.
