Law and Order: Stories from All Sides

and banh mi sandwiches available on site from Bicycle Banh Mi

Your Storytellers:

Iron Comic and union organizer Nato Green

Artist and former Google lawyer Rose Hagan

Former Marin County Coroner Ken Holmes

Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Alex Kozinski

criminal defense attorney Renee Paradis

SFPD Sergeant Carl Tennenbaum

Author Iyabo Williams

hosted by Arline Klatte and Beth Spotswood

Nato Green was summed up more or less accurately by The East Bay Express as, “erudite and acerbic, a San Francisco-raised father, union organizer, gastronome, bibliophile, and political sparkplug.” Nato wrote for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on FX and recently released his first comedy album, The Nato Green Party, through Rooftop Comedy. Nato tours with W. Kamau Bell & Janine Brito as Laughter Against the Machine, the guerrilla stand-up comedy tour, like Doctors Without Borders with jokes. Named SF Weekly’s Best Comedian of 2010, he is also the creator of Iron Comic, the Iron Chef-spoofing comedy game show. Daniel Handler says: “Righteous and hilarious, Nato Green is like finding a shot of bourbon at your co-worker's stupid vegan potluck.”

Ken Holmes began his law enforcement career in 1975 when he was hired as a Coroner's Investigator by Marin County.  He attended the Santa Rosa Police Academy, and subsequently numerous other schools and trainings in the world of forensic death investigation.  After working his way through the ranks in the office, he eventually was elected as Coroner in 1998.  He served 12 years as Coroner for Marin, retiring when my office was combined with that of the sheriff in 2011. He has two grown children, two step children and six grandchildren and enjoys playing the role of granddad.  He has been active as a coach in youth sports and scouting since his children were young. His personal pursuits are travel, SCUBA diving, dancing and time with family. Ken is an active Board member of Marin Suicide Prevention and Community Counseling and the Bridge Rail Foundation, and also volunteers with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, reviewing and assessing missing persons reports for children in the U.S. and Canada.

Rose Hagan was Google's sixth lawyer and first trademark lawyer. In her more than 7 years at Google, she helped protect Google's brands, developed policies regarding use of third party brands in products such as AdWords, held leadership roles in the International Trademark Association, and watched the company grow from around 500 employees to more than 20,000. Prior to joining Google, she spent a decade practicing intellectual property law at law firms in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas. Since Google, she's been focusing on the visual arts as an oil painter and fused glass artist.

Judge Alex Kozinski was appointed United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit on November 7, 1985, and became Chief Judge on November 30, 2007. He graduated from UCLA, receiving an A.B. degree in 1972, and from UCLA Law School, receiving a J.D. degree in 1975. Prior to his appointment to the appellate bench, Judge Kozinski served as Chief Judge of the United States Claims Court, 1982-85; Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, 1981-1982; Assistant Counsel, Office of Counsel to the President, 1981; Deputy Legal Counsel, Office of President-Elect Reagan, 1980-81; Attorney, Covington & Burling, 1979-81; Attorney, Forry Golbert Singer & Gelles, 1977-79; Law Clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, 1976-77; and Law Clerk to Circuit Judge Anthony M. Kennedy, 1975-76. Judge Kozinski is married to Marcy Jane Tiffany and has three children: Yale, Wyatt and Clayton, and three grandchildren: Quinn, Owen and Anna.

Renée Paradis is a Sebastopol native and recovering New Yorker who has recently become a San Francisco resident. After working as a civil rights lawyer for a number of years, including for the ACLU and both Obama presidential campaigns, she now has her own law practice here in the city, focusing on appellate criminal defense. Her rarely updated web site is littlemizsmartass.com

Carl Tennenbaum, aka Carl T, was born, raised, and still resides in San Francisco's Outer Sunset district. A graduate of Lincoln High School, City College, USF, and San Francisco Law School, he joined the San Francisco Police Department in June 1981 and has worked a variety of assignments in the past 32 years, including the foot beat in the Tenderloin, three years in narcotics, the Haight Ashbury Park Station, and the Chief's office. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1996 and has since worked the Bayview and Central Stations. Sergeant Tennenbaum is currently with the Property Control unit where he is under house arrest and paying penance for some minor transgressions. 

Iyabo Williams is an author and survivor who tells about her heartfelt journey of faith and struggle from Nigeria to the United States, her experience and hardships as a young person in the time of civil war in Nigeria, her incarceration as an adult in the United States and building a foundation for family as the first generation in America here in the Bay Area.

Doors at 7pm, Stories at 8pm

Seating always on a first come, first served basis