Improbable to Unstoppable

Thursday, September 3, 2020
10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Fredi Lajvardi kindles your innate sense of ingenuity with his remarkable firsthand account of how he transformed a group of high school students into a national champion robotics team.

Fredi captivated the country when he led his team of disadvantaged teenagers in a university-level underwater robotics competition, where they defeated leading schools, including top-ranked MIT. Their story inspired the acclaimed documentary Underwater Dreams and was also adapted into the major motion picture, Spare Parts, starring actor and comedian, George Lopez as Fredi. His award-winning Falcon Robotics team is also featured in the 2017 film Dream Big.

Find more information at Fredi Lajvardi

Wednesday, September 16, 2020
10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Whether he is at the Hollywood Bowl, or an intimate supper club, Louie Cruz Beltran always connects with his audience, delivering a crowd pleasing, high- energy performance. In addition to being recognized as a master percussionist, Louie is a superb singer, and a versatile entertainer.

Louie performed on the National Mall in Washington DC through the Smithsonian Institution to close Jazz Appreciation Month, followed by a sold out show at famed Blues Alley in Georgetown. He has performed at major festivals including the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Concord Jazz Festival. He has been a popular repeat attraction at the Levitt Pavilion, and at top venues including Herb Alpert’s Vibrato, and recently performed at the prestigious Jazz at Drew, and Oxnard Jazz Festivals.

He has appeared with Carlos Santana, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson, among many others, and has performed the National Anthem for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Anaheim Angels. His CD “Paint the Rhythm” reached #11 on the Media Base smooth jazz charts. His single “Esperando” reached #4. His popular interactive solo percussion presentation “Rhythm and Roots” has been presented in over 40 Los Angeles County Libraries.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020
10:30 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno.

His acclaimed research in military history and the classics provides a thoughtful foundation from which he has authored over two dozen of books spanning the ancient and modern world on topics as wide ranging as Greek warfare and California immigration policy.

Hanson’s career included distinguished fellowship at the US Naval Academy and at UC Berkeley and an endowed visiting professorship at Pepperdine University. He served as a board member on both the Guggenheim Foundation and Bradley Foundation and as a presidential nominee on the Battle Monuments Commission.

He is the recipient of numerous national prizes in humanities and history, including the National Humanities Medal (2007), Bradley Prize (2008), William F. Buckley Prize (2015), and Edmund Burke Award (2018). Hanson is also a regular contributor to policy discussions in both academic and popular articles, opinion pieces, and podcasts.

#WhyIStayed

Tuesday, October 27, 2020
10 a.m. & 6 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Beverly Gooden breaks down the myths and misunderstandings around domestic violence to illuminate the complex reasons why victims stay in abusive relationships and what you can do to help. Recently the “me too” movement has shown us what our society considers acceptable can be changed by the work of many individuals coming together to speak with a unified voice.

Known for creating the viral Twitter hashtag #WhyIStayed in the wake of several high-profile domestic violence incidents, Beverly sparked a national conversation about how society views victims, while calling for a community response to this important social issue.

Drawing on her own gripping tale of overcoming an abusive relationship, Beverly provides you with a personal account of how it feels to live in fear and why it’s so difficult for individuals to leave those who exert physical and emotional control over them.

On stage, Beverly lays the groundwork for critical conversation about the dynamics of abusive relationships, while revealing ways that you can help, including the important questions to ask those who you suspect are being abused. With unguarded honesty and palpable passion for changing lives for the better, she empowers audiences to expose their own stories and discover their role in ending domestic violence.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020
10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

David French is a senior editor at The Dispatch and a columnist for Time.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and a constitutional lawyer, David most recently worked as a senior writer for National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

He is a New York Times bestselling author, and his next book, Divided We Fall, will be released in 2020.

David is a former major in the United States Army Reserve. In 2007 he deployed to Iraq with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment and was awarded the Bronze Star.

Tuesday, February 2, 2021
10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Gordon is a Visiting Scholar at the USC Games and head of the USC Bridge incubator program, helping to cultivate the next generation of leaders in our craft. He has played key business and product leadership roles at Tencent, Electronic Arts, as a designer on Madden NFL Football, and MTV, and consulted for numerous companies in the industry.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 at GDC and was featured on Nickelodeon for Black History Month for his 25 years of contributions to game industry and culture.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021
10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Live via Zoom and BCSGA Facebook

Award-winning journalist and the author of the highly acclaimed narrative non-fiction books The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight for the Vote and Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army in the Great War, ELAINE WEISS sheds fascinating light on women's rights, suffrage, and the 19th Amendment for hosts nationwide.

Weiss' The Women's Hour was hailed as a "riveting, nail-biting political thriller" with powerful parallels to today's political environment. She's been sought-out to speak about the research behind the book-- and the relevance of the 19th Amendment today-- everywhere from The Library of Congress to The Wilson Center. Weiss’s powerful words will also come to life on the small screen, as Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television has optioned the rights to The Woman’s Hour with Hillary Clinton set to make her debut as an executive producer on the project.

In remarks that are empowering and eye-opening, Weiss inspires audiences with conversations about what it takes to change the Constitution, the power of civic engagement, how change is made, and the story of past and present voting rights. Praised by the League of Women Voters of the United States for doing an “amazing job of bringing the history of the League to life and connecting it with our organization today,” during a speaking engagement, Elaine has an innate ability to connect with any group and clearly explain the direct relevance of history’s most controversial issues. The Tennessee Municipal League put it best after watching her inspire their audience: “In this crazy world we live in, we need more people like [Elaine] inspiring others to be good people!"

Elaine Weiss website