Catherine Keener

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Catherine Keener

American actress

Catherine Keener is an Academy Award and Oscar nominated actress for best supporting actress. Starring in Being John Malkovich, Capote, Into the Wild, and The 40 Year-Old Virgin. She received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for Walking and Talking, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Where the Wild Things Are. Catherine also she was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Harper Lee in Capote.

She’s worked on studio films such as Captain Phillips, Out of Sight, and Bad Grandpa. But she found her place in independent cinema which is full of quirky little movies and felt extremely welcomed in that industry.

She discusses her hardships when it came to making a name for herself as she had to deal with backlash due to being a women. Being turned down from roles because “she wasn’t sexy enough.” Although she spoke out and persevered. She expresses her love for the #MeToo movement as it allows for women to speak out about unacceptable behavior and continues to support it.

Keener was hosted twice by The Common Good in 2011, at the event Style Wars and The American Spirit Awards 2011.

Twitter: @KeenerSavannah

Tony Silver ✝

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tony silver ✝

Film director

Tony Silver is perhaps best remembered for his documentary Style Wars (1983), one of the first accounts of New York graffiti and hip-hop culture from the early 1980s. His other documentaries include Anita Ellis: For the Record (1980) and Arisman: Facing the Audience (2002). Silver passed away in 2008. (1)

Silver was posthumously awarded the American Spirit Award for Freedom of Expression of the Arts by The Common Good alongside Henry Chalfant at the Style Wars event in 2011.

(1) Material from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

Henry Chalfant

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henry chalfant

Artist

Starting out as a sculptor in New York in the 1970s, Chalfant turned to photography and film to do an in-depth study of hip-hop culture and graffiti art. One of the foremost authorities on New York subway art, and other aspects of urban youth culture, his photographs record hundreds of ephemeral, original art works that have long since vanished. (1)

Exhibits of his photos include the O.K. Harris Gallery and the landmark ‘New York-New Wave’ show at P.S. l, and important galleries and museums in Europe. He has co-authored the definitive account of New York graffiti art, Subway Art (Holt Rinehart Winston, N.Y. 1984) and a sequel on the art form's world-wide diffusion, Spray Can Art (Thames and Hudson Inc. London, 1987). Chalfant co-produced the PBS documentary, Style Wars, the definitive documentary about Graffiti and Hip Hop culture and directed Flyin' Cut Sleeves, a documentary on South Bronx gangs, in 1993. He produced and directed Visit Palestine: Ten Days on the West Bank in 2002. His film From Mambo to Hip Hop was featured in the Latino Public Broadcasting series, Voces in 2006-2007, and won an Alma Award for Best Documentary. (1)

Chalfant was hosted by The Common Good in 2011 at the event Style Wars, and was awarded the American Spirit Award for Freedom of Expression of the Arts alongside Tony Silver.

Twitter: @subwayarchive

(1) Material from Henry Chalfant’s website.

Mary-Kate Olsen

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Mary-Kate Olsen

Fashion designer, actress producer

Mary-Kate Olsen is the co-founder of luxury brands The Row, Elizabeth and James, Olsenboye, and StyleMint. She is most popularly known as one half of the twin set, ‘Mary Kate and Ashley.’ Both were cast to share the roll of Michelle Tanner on the wildly popular 90’s series, Full House. Olsen and her sister became co-presidents of Dualstar upon their eighteenth birthday. In March of 2012, both Mary-Kate and Ashley indicated their interest to retire as actresses in order to focus on their careers in fashion. In 2008, the Olsen twins co-authored Influence, a book featuring interviews with fashion designers that have inspired the twins’ fashion lines.

The twins have pursued many philanthropic ventures. In 2011, Mary-Kate and Ashley teamed up with TOMS Shoes to design footwear for kids without shoes in more than 20 countries worldwide. They also designed an Olsenboye Change Purse in 2011 and donated the money to Pennies From Heaven.

Mary-Kate Olsen attended a celebration of Style Wars hosted by The Common Good on May 25, 2011.

Twitter: @imMKOlsen

Adam Horovitz

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adam horovitz

American rapper

Adam Horovitz, better known as Ad-Rock or King Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist and actor. He is best known as a member of the hip hop group the Beastie Boys. (1)

Beastie Boys released their debut album Licensed to Ill in 1986. Seven further albums followed, and by 2010 the Beastie Boys had sold 22 million records in the United States alone, and 40 million worldwide. In 2012, the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to his work with the Beastie Boys, Horovitz also remixes numerous tracks for other artists under the alias 41 Small Stars. Horovitz has also acted in several motion pictures and television shows. (1)

Horovitz was honored at The Common Good’s event Style Wars in 2011.

Twitter: @adrock

(1) Material from Wikipedia.

Steven Malanga

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Steven Malanga

Journalist

Steven Malanga is the George M. Yeager Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and City Journal’s senior editor. He writes about the intersection of urban economies, business communities, and public policy. Malanga is the author of The New New Left: How American Politics Works Today (2005); The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan than Today’s (2007), coauthored with Heather Mac Donald and Victor Davis Hanson; and Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer (2010).

Before joining City Journal, Malanga was executive editor of Crain’s New York Business, serving on the publication’s editorial board and writing a weekly column. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Crain’s. During his tenure at the publication, it twice won the General Excellence Award from the Association of Area Business Publications. In 1995, Malanga was a finalist for a Gerald Loeb Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism for the series “Nonprofits: New York’s New Tammany Hall,” which he coauthored. In 1998, a series he coauthored, “Tort-ured State,” about the influence of trial lawyers in New York State, was voted best investigative story of the year by the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.

Malanga has written for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Daily News, and New York Post. During 2007–13, he was a regular columnist for RealClearMarkets. He holds a B.A. in English literature and language from St. Vincent’s College, as well as an M.A from the University of Maryland.

Malanga was hosted by The Common Good in 2011: The Wisconsin Worker's Revolt and the National Ramifications.

Twitter: @cjstevem

George Miller

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The Honorable George Miller

Politician

Former Congressman George Miller served California’s 7th district for more than half of his life, championing liberal causes such as increased funding for public education, support for labor unions and environmental causes throughout his tenure.

A close friend of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Miller was appointed in 2003 as co-chair of the House Steering and Policy Committee, which shapes and articulates Democrats’ policy proposals. He was chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee in the Democratic majority 111th Congress and has served as the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. A founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Miller was considered a stalwart of the left. He pushed liberal positions on education, labor and the environment, voting with the Democrats 97.6 percent of the time during the 110th Congress. He is also a strong believer in congressional oversight of the executive branch and the corporate world. Miller has consistently pushed a labor-friendly agenda that includes making it easier for workers to form unions, often with little success.

The Common Good hosted Miller is March 2011 for a discussion on The Wisconsin Worker's Revolt and the National Ramifications, featured in conversation with Steven Malanga.

Twitter: @askgeorge

Ross Bleckner

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Ross Bleckner

Artist

Ross Bleckner is an artist currently living and working in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 1971, a Master of Fine Arts from Cal Arts in 1973. 

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum held a major retrospective of his works in 1995, summarizing two decades of solo shows at internationally acclaimed exhibition venues such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Works by Bleckner are also held in esteemed public collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Not only has Bleckner had a profound impact on the shaping of the New York art world, his philanthropic efforts have enabled many community organizations to perform their vital work.  For ten years. Bleckner served as president of the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), a non-profit community-based research and treatment education center.  More recently, he has been working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Northern Uganda to help rehabilitate and raise money for ex-child soldiers. In May 2009, Bleckner was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations.

Mr. Bleckner was hosted by The Common Good in 2011: The Quest for "It": Desert Flower Premieres – Sunday, March 20, 2011.

Liya Kebede

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Liya Kebede

Model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer, actress

Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Liya Kebede works as an international fashion model. She has appeared on the covers of Italian, Japanese, Korean & Spanish Vogue, Numero, V, French, Flair, i-D, South African Elle, Harper’s & Queen, Essence, and Time’s “Style & Design” issue. Kebede was also featured on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue, where she was named one of the leading faces of “the Return of the Super Model”. Kebede appeared for a second time on the May 2005 cover of American Vogue, with the heading “Cover model with a cause,” profiling her work with the World Health Organization as their Goodwill Ambassador for her tireless efforts in raising awareness for the difficulties that women and children face in the developing world.

In 2005, Kebede was appointed WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. She then founded the Liya Kebede Foundation, whose mission is to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality in Ethiopia and around the world. In 2009, she worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of their Living Proof Project. Kebede served as a High-Level adviser for the Center for Global Development’s 2009 report “Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health.” Kebede writes for The Huffington Post about maternal and child health and has been featured in Vogue and on The Daily Beast. She is also part of the Champions for an HIV Free Generation, an organization of African leaders led by former Botswana President Festus Mogae.

The Common Good hosted Kebede in 2011 for a discussion about her role in the film Desert Flower.

Twitter: @liyakebede

Ruth Gruber †

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Ruth Gruber †

Journalist, photographer, humanitarian

Ruth Gruber became the youngest Ph.D. in the world before going on to become an international foreign correspondent and photojournalist at age 24. By 1936, Ruth was in the Soviet Union reporting for The New York Herald Tribune; by 1941, she was filing reports from Alaska for Harold L. Ickes, Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, describing its suitability for homesteading soldiers. During World War II and its aftermath, she secretly escorted Holocaust refugees to America in 1944 and documented the attack on the refugee boat Exodus by the British in 1947.

Continuing her journalistic travel, she worked as a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, writing about each new wave of immigrants into Israel, including the Iraqis, Yemenites, Romanians, Russians and Ethiopians. She also wrote a popular column for Hadassah Magazine, called “Diary of an American Housewife.” Ruth Gruber has received many awards for her writing and humanitarian acts, including the Na’amat Golda Meir Human Rights Award and awards from the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance. She has written 18 books, and most recently was the subject of the documentary Ahead of Time.

She passed away at the age of 105 on November 17th, 2016.

The Common Good honored Ruth Gruber with the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism at the The American Spirit Awards 2011.

Ann Curry

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Ann Curry

American television personality, news journalist, photojournalist

Ann Curry is an American television personality, news journalist, and photojournalist. In June 2012, she became the Today show’s anchor-at-large and NBC News’ national/international correspondent. She was previously co-host of Today from June 9, 2011 to June 28, 2012, and the program’s news anchor from March 1997 until becoming co-host. She was also the anchor of Dateline NBC from 2005 to 2011.

In 1990, Curry joined NBC News, first as the NBC News Chicago correspondent then as the anchor of NBC News at Sunrise from 1991 to 1996. Curry also served as a substitute news anchor for Matt Lauer from 1994 to 1997 at Today. From 1997 to 2011, she served as news anchor at Today. In May 2005, Curry was named co-anchor of Dateline NBC with Stone Phillips; she remained as the primary anchor when Phillips left in June 2007 until she replaced Meredith Vieira on Today in 2011. Curry replaced Meredith Vieira as co-host of Today on June 9, 2011.

On June 28, 2012, Curry announced that she was leaving the Today show. Her title has been changed to Today show anchor-at-large and NBC News national/international correspondent. Her responsibilities include leading a seven-person unit producing content for NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, Rock Center with Brian Williams and Today, with occasional anchor duties for Nightly News. In January 2018, Curry came back to television with a 6-part PBS series called “We’ll meet again”.

The Common Good hosted Curry in February of 2011: The American Spirit Awards 2011, Elle: How to Be Awesome at 100, and Manhattan Society: The Common Good's Tribute to Ruth Gruber.

Twitter: @AnnCurry

Catherine Crier

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Catherine Crier

Journalist, Texas State judge

Catherine Crier is an award winning journalist and the youngest Texas State Judge to ever be elected. She joined Court TV’s distinguished team of anchors in November 1999. Crier served as Executive Editor, Legal News Specials, in addition to hosting Catherine Crier Live.

Crier began her television career at CNN. She was co-anchor of both Inside Politics and The World Today. Additionally, she hosted Crier & Company. Crier has hosted episodes of Court TV’s signature primetime series The System and numerous other specials such as The Skakel Jury Speaks with Dominick Dunne and Catherine Crier, Osama bin Laden on Trial and Safe Passage: Voices from the Middle School. Prior to joining Court TV, Crier anchored The Crier Report for Fox News Channel. Crier joined FNC after spending three and a half years at ABC News, where she served as a correspondent and as a regular substitute anchor for Peter Jennings on ABC’s World News Tonight, as well as a substitute host for Ted Koppel’s Nightline. Crier was awarded a 1996 Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for her work on the segment The Predators, which examined nursing home abuses throughout the United States.

Prior to her accomplished career in television journalism, Crier presided over the 162nd District Court in Dallas County, TX, as a State District Judge. In 1984, she became the youngest elected state judge in Texas history. From 1982 to 1984, Crier was a civil litigation attorney in Dallas. From 1978 to 1981, she was an Assistant District Attorney and Felony Chief Prosecutor for the Dallas County District Attorney’s office.

Crier released her first book, The New York Times bestseller The Case Against Lawyers, in October, 2002. In this eye-opening and plain-spoken treatise on the law, Crier shares her outrage at the state of the justice system and calls on American citizens to demand reform. Her second book, A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation was released in March, 2005 and became a #1 New York Times bestseller. Catherine Crier is now a managing partner in Cajole Entertainment developing television, film and documentary projects.

The Common Good hosted Crier in November 2011: Catherine Crier on “Occupy Wall Street”, and she co-hosted The American Spirit Awards 2011.

Twitter: @CatherineCrier

Dan Abrams

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Dan Abrams

American web entrepreneur, television host

Dan Abrams is the Founder of the Abrams Media Network. He was the General Manager of MSNBC from 2006 to 2007, and during his tenure ratings grew by 62%, branding the network “The Place for Politics”. In the four years prior to his management appointment, Dan hosted The Abrams Report, a nightly legal affairs program, and later Verdict with Dan Abrams.

The Abrams Media Network has become one of the nation’s most successful and widely read digital media conglomerates. It includes: Mediaite.com, fashion and style site Styleite.com, Geekosystem.com and Sportsgrid.com. Dan is also the co-founder of Gossipcop.com, the first major website to police the gossip industry for inaccuracies in reporting.

He is the author of Man Down: Proof That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else. His latest book, Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense: The Courtroom Battle to Save His Legacy, was released in May, 2019.

Abrams was hosted by The Common Good in 2010: Election Insurrection: The Mid-Term Elections 2010.

Twitter: @danabrams

Tim Hetherington ✝

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Tim Hetherington ✝

British photojournalist

Tim Hetherington, a photographer and filmmaker, was killed while covering the escalating violence in Misrata, Libya at age 40 on April 20th, 2011. At the time of his death, he was working along side three other photographers on the city’s front lines when they came under fire.

As a filmmaker, Hetherington worked as a cameraman, director, and producer. Hetherington was best known for the Oscar nominated 2010 Afghan war documentary, Restrepo, which he produced and co-directed with Sebastian Junger. He also served as producer/director on Channel 4’s Unreported World – Nigeria: Fire in the Delta (2006) and as a cameraman on The Devil Came on Horseback (2007), a documentary about the Sudanese militia attacks on Chad.

His photography career began at the Big Issue, the magazine sold by London’s homeless. From there he moved on to work as a freelance photographer for The Independent and, later on, for magazines like Vanity Fair. In 2007, he was awarded the World Press photo of the year for his portrait of an exhausted US soldier in Korengal. He was also a member of the UN panel of experts on Liberia and worked with the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The Common Good hosted Hetherington in 2010: Special Screening of Restrepo 2010.

Cynthia McFadden

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Cynthia McFadden

Television journalist

Cynthia McFadden is the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News.

Before joining NBC in 2014, she worked for 20 years at ABC News, where she was the co­-anchor of ABC News’ N​ightline​ for nearly ten years, having previously served as the network’s legal correspondent and as a correspondent and co­-anchor of Primetime. She has reported from around the world including from Rwanda, Bosnia, El Salvador, China, Israel, South Africa, Liberia, India and Sierra Leone. In addition to covering a vast array of legal issues, her work has often focused on human rights most particularly abuses faced by women and children.

Her work has received most of journalism’s highest honors. As part of ABC’s 9/11 reporting team, McFadden received a Dupont Award. For ABC’s Millennium coverage, she reported from Cuba and was part of the team that was awarded a 2000 Emmy, and in 2009 she was awarded an Emmy as part of the 2008 Inauguration coverage. McFadden’s work has also received a Peabody Award (Hurricane Sandy) and an Overseas Press Club Award (abuses in psychiatric hospitals in Mexico), as well as eight CINE Golden Eagle Awards and the Grand Award at the New York Festivals (death row hour) among many other honors. In 2014, she was presented with the prestigious Matrix Award.

McFadden moderated both the discussion after a Special Screening of Restrepo 2010 and a discussion on the The Primaries and the Presidential Election in 2008 at The Common Good.

Cynthia McFadden returned to participate in Recap: Final Presidential Debate Panel on October 23, 2020. Schoen, Bitecofer and McFadden help unpacked what happened during the final Presidential debate.

Twitter: @CynthiaMcFadden

Sebastian Junger

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Sebastian Junger

American journalist, author, filmmaker

Sebastian Junger is an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated director, war journalist, and best-selling author. He has written several books, including The Perfect Storm, A Death in Belmont, and Fire. Junger is acclaimed for his coverage of major international news stories across the world, including in Sierra Leone and Liberia. He has contributed as an editor to Vanity Fair and ABC News, and has received many awards for his endeavors, including the National Magazine Award and the SAIS Novartis Prize for Journalism. His debut as an author proved to be successful, as The Perfect Storm remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than three years, set sales records, and was picked up by Warner Bros. for a major motion picture.

From 2007 to 2008, Junger, alongside photojournalist Tim Hetherington, joined the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Korengal. The outcome of their reporting was twofold: the book War, released in May 2010, and Restrepo, a 96-minute documentary. After the death of friend and photographer Tim Hetherington, Junger directed the film Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington. Most recently, following the book and documentary Restrepo, he created Korengal, a film that highlights the experiences of soldiers.

Junger was hosted by The Common Good in 2010: Special Screening of Restrepo 2010.

Twitter: @sebastianjunger

Bill Bradley

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the honorable Bill bradley

Former U.S. Senator for New Jersey

Senator Bill Bradley served in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1997 representing the state of New Jersey. In 2000, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. He holds a BA degree in American History from Princeton University and an MA degree from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has authored seven books on American politics, culture and economy. Prior to serving in the Senate, Senator Bradley was an Olympic gold medalist in 1964 and a professional basketball player with the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1977 during which time they won 2 NBA championships. In 1982 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. (1)

Bradley spoke at a Meet & Greet hosted by The Common Good in 2010.

(1) Material from Bill Bradley’s website.

Rick Goldsmith

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rick goldsmith

Screenwriter

Rick Goldsmith is a producer and writer, known for The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009), Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw (2015) and Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996). (1)

Goldsmith spoke alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Judith Ehrlich at a Screening and Discussion of 'The Most Dangerous Man in America' and the Panama Papers at The Common Good in 2010.

Twitter: @rgoldfilm1

(1) Material from IMDb.

Judith Ehrlich

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Judith ehrlich

Film director

Judith Ehrlich is a producer and director, known for The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009), The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (2000) and P.O.V. (1988). (1)

Ehrlich spoke alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Rick Goldsmith at a Screening and Discussion of 'The Most Dangerous Man in America' and the Panama Papers in 2010 at The Common Good.

Twitter: @Ehrlich1Judith

(1) Material from IMDb.

Daniel Ellsberg

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Daniel Ellsberg

Author, “leaker” of the Pentagon Papers

Daniel Ellsberg worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-1968, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to The New York Times, The Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and contributed to the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

Ellsberg is the author of three books: Papers on the War (1971), Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (2002), and Risk, Ambiguity and Decision (2001). In December 2006 he was awarded the 2006 Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” in Stockholm, Sweden, “…for putting peace and truth first, at considerable personal risk, and dedicating his life to inspiring others to follow his example.”

Since the end of the Vietnam War, Ellsberg has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions, and the urgent need for patriotic whistle-blowing. He is a Senior Fellow of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Ellsberg spoke alongside Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith at a Screening and Discussion of 'The Most Dangerous Man in America' and the Panama Papers at The Common Good in 2010.

Twitter: @DanielEllsberg