Nerd Farmer Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Eli Cranor is the author of several acclaimed crime novels, including Don’t Know Tough, Ozark Dogs, and Broiler. One of the most distinctive voices in Southern noir, Cranor writes novels that deliver compelling crime stories while using them to explore larger questions about class, labor, family, and power in contemporary America.
In this episode, his second appearance on the show, we discuss Broiler, a novel set in northwest Arkansas amid the state’s sprawling poultry industry. While the book unfolds as a gripping crime thriller, it is equally a story about immigration, labor, economic inequality, and the human cost of an industry built on relentless efficiency.
Along the way, Eli also discusses why each of his novels has expanded beyond his own lived experience and how the processing plant itself became one of the story’s central antagonists.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Eli Cranor – official website
- Life and Death of the American Worker by Alice Driver
- Mississippi Blue 42 (Cranor’s latest book)
- The Art of the Southern Noir Crime Novel – #168
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Drones have fundamentally changed the economics of warfare. For much of the Global War on Terror, the US enjoyed an overwhelming technological advantage, using drones for surveillance and targeted strikes with little fear that adversaries could respond in kind. That era is over.
Faine Greenwood is a journalist, researcher, and one of the country’s leading experts on drone technology and policy. Rather than approaching drones solely as military hardware, Faine studies how they are reshaping disaster response, public safety, surveillance, privacy, and increasingly, modern warfare. Their work has appeared in WIRED, Slate, and The Atlantic.
In this conversation, we discussed how the war in Ukraine has transformed military doctrine, why inexpensive commercial drones have become some of the most important weapons on the battlefield, and what it means when technologies once reserved for the world’s most powerful militaries become available to almost anyone.
Shout out to @antiheirarchist.bsky.social for matchmaking this episode.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Faine’s Map of Civilian Drone Attacks
- The Ocean Isn’t Wide Enough – Takes & Typos
- How Ukraine is pushing back Russia with bomber drones – Kyiv Independent
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Brandi Buchman is the Law & Justice Reporter for HuffPost and has spent years covering the January 6 attack on the Capitol, its aftermath, and the prosecutions that followed. Few journalists have devoted more time to reporting on the investigations, trials, and convictions that emerged from that day.
Brandi first joined the podcast in 2023 for a conversation about the seditious conspiracy convictions of leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. This week, she returns to discuss the pardons of approximately sixteen hundred January 6 offenders, what those pardons mean for the rule of law, and what they tell us about the current state of American democracy.
This conversation is, in many ways, a continuation of one that began on the Interchangeable White Ladies podcast with Noelle Cook, author of The Conspiracists. That discussion explored the social and political forces that drew ordinary Americans into conspiracy movements and ultimately toward January 6. If you enjoy this episode, I strongly recommend giving that conversation a listen as well.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Noelle Cook on IWL A Violent Masterpiece – Kings Books
- The Proud Boys are Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy — Brandi Buchman — #192
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Jordan Harper is among the best working writers of our time.
Last year, Harper joined the podcast ahead of the release of the film adaptation of his novel She Rides Shotgun. This week he returned to discuss A Violent Masterpiece, his newest novel and, in my view, his best work yet.
Harper writes crime fiction in the tradition of Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy, but filtered through the absurdity of contemporary America. In a moment where reality often feels more ridiculous than satire, A Violent Masterpiece explores the intersections of Hollywood, internet culture, wealth, power, and corruption in LA.
The LA in the book is simultaneously dystopic and immediately familiar.
In this conversation, we discuss the novel, Harper’s influences, the ways his work is shaped by his experiences in Hollywood, social media’s corrosive effect on public life, and why contemporary America can be such fertile ground for noir fiction.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- A Crime Novel Kingpin — Jordan Harper, author of “She Rides Shotgun” — 245
- A Violent Masterpiece – Kings Books
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Grant Wahl’s untimely passing in 2022 left a gaping hole in the global soccer community, and particularly in US journalism when it comes to speaking truth about FIFA. Grant was a champion for human rights and human dignity, and he spent much of his career exposing the places where FIFA fell short on both.
One person who, in my view, has stepped into part of that space is Charlie Boehm, national writer for Major League Soccer.
With the 2026 World Cup approaching, I reached out to Charlie to discuss some of the biggest issues facing the tournament, including:
- Dynamic ticket pricing and concerns about reduced fan demand
- The burdensome visa requirements facing foreign fans traveling to the United States
- The possibility of ICE agents being present at matches
- The ways the President may attempt to insert himself into the tournament
You can follow Charlie on Bluesky, and find his work at MLSsoccer.com and, more recently, Sounder at Heart.
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This week, for the first time, I’m sitting down for an episode with a current student. I’ll call her “T” since, as we all know, people on the internet can be strange. T is a Palestinian-American senior, raised in Texas, who has spent the past three years in the Bowling Dojo, taking Global Studies, US Government and Politics, and Comparative Government and Politics.
Her entire political life has unfolded in the era of Trump-era politics, so I invited her on to share her perspective on the corporate media environment, American political institutions, meme culture, and what it feels like to be heading to college in what she described as an emerging fascist state.
She’s got a great future ahead of her and I think her perspective is worth sharing ad taking seriously. T is headed to a Big Ten university this fall to study business.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- War Crimes and 4Chan Memes
- Grokipedia and the Musk Disinformation System
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This is our third special episode discussing the US war on Iran and the wider regional complications.
Here are the headlines from the episode:
- We are safe and well
- We have secured a “good for now” apartment in Koh Lanta
- Our school is remote through at least April 17
- Despite the President’s claims the war is “winding down” we are seeing an escalatory cycle, including an increasing number of war crimes
This conversation refers to events on or before Friday, April 3, 2026, 10:00pm, Thai Standard Time.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- The War They Didn’t Plan For
- An Update from Gulf War III – #262
- A Dispatch from the US War on Iran – #260
- Iran nuclear deal – Wikipedia
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This is our second special episode discussing the US war on Iran and the wider regional complications.
On Friday, we departed Abu Dhabi for Thailand. We’ll be living out of our backpacks until it is deemed safe to return to the UAE.
Here are the headlines from the episode:
- We are safe and well
- Spring Break came at a great time!
- The Gulf Region is safe—the United States and its policies in the region are the issue
- This again is a US war of choice and is of no benefit to the American people
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Another American War of Choice
- A Dispatch from the US War on Iran – #260
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In preparation for the upcoming Academy Awards on March 16, this is our annual Oscars conversation. We ranked the ten Best Picture nominees and some films we wish would have been nominated.
Chase is a film critic based in Washington State. Andrew is the show’s favorite sports journalist and cinephile, currently doing time in Alabama. Both are three-time guests and now members of the Smoking Jacket Club, the not real society of three time guests.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Halley’s Cancer Journey
- Previewing the 2025 Oscars – Chase Hutchinson and Andrew Hammond – 236
- The Movies of 2024 – Chase Hutchinson, Film Critic – #223
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This is a special episode, a conversation with Hope, about the situation here in Abu Dhabi and the broader Middle East thanks to the US war on Iran.
Here are the headlines from the discussion:
- First, we are safe and well
- The UAE emergency management authorities and air defenses have been amazing
- We intend to depart the region Friday, heading to SE Asia
- The US State Department is failing US citizens in the region
- This US war of choice is foolish and is of zero benefit to the American people
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Another American War of Choice
- American teacher stuck in Abu Dhabi amid Iran conflict: “There are no flights”
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Tom Rademacher is a prior Minnesota State teacher of the Year, author, and parent to a really rad kid. Recently his family made the decision for the safety of their family to move to Spain.
This is a conversation about what led him to leave and what’s happening in his native and beloved Minnesota.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- A Letter from Minnesota
- Erin in the Morning
- Tom’s Webpage
- The State of Teaching, Burnout, and His Latest Book, Raising Ollie – Tom Rademacher – #158
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I had the chance to sit down with Douglas Sackman, a history professor at the University of Puget Sound, for a conversation that feels especially timely.
Professor Sackman joined me to talk about the Gilded Age — that turbulent period of rapid industrialization, staggering wealth inequality, labor unrest, and political corruption that reshaped the US in the late 19th century. It’s a chapter of American history often reduced to robber barons and railroads, but as we discuss, it’s also a story about workers organizing, democracy straining, and ordinary people pushing back against concentrated power.
As we look around today at our tech oligarchs, monopolistic consolidation,, and battles over the meaning of democracy, it’s hard not to hear echoes of that era.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Professor Sackman – Faculty Page
- Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden by Professor Sackman
- Careless People – NF Reads Bookclub
- Halley’s Cancer Journey Newsletter
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Ramadan began this week. Somewhere around 2 billion Muslims around the world will be engaging in a day time fast for the next month. Living in the Gulf, Ramadan contorts my life in so many ways. Our work day is shortened, life slows way down, and there’s time with friends and chosen family. Ramadan has become my favorite religious holiday, even though I’m not a Muslim.
This Best Of episode is a conversation from 2022 with my colleague, Amy Daraiseh. Amy is a special education teacher from Chicago and all around great human being.
Cast of Characters
- Amy – Twitter
- Muslims Around the World Are Fasting: A Ramadan Reflection – Jasmine El Shear – #216
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In December, I came across a post on the r/Tacoma subreddit that stopped me in my tracks. It was titled “Black Deported Veterans film screening” and invited people to a screening of the documentary, Bring Them Home.
As a veteran, it immediately caught my attention. I also noticed the screening was being held at my alma mater, The Evergreen State College’s Tacoma Campus. Although I wasn’t in a position to attend in person, I reached out to the organizers.
The short version is this: the U.S. military regularly recruits people with green cards into service, but often fails to help them navigate the naturalization process during and especially after their service. Instead, many are discarded after and often subjected to deportation. Unsurprisingly—given the reality of systemic racism—this happens at much higher rates to Black veterans.
This is that conversation.
James L. Smith is a journalist and the co-founder of BDVA (Black Deported Veterans of America).
Rob Young is a musician behind the song Excuse My Accent and the producer of the award-winning film Bring Them Home. Rob and James have collaborated to continue advocacy and uplift the issue.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Black Deported Veterans of America – Website
- Bring Them Home
- Excuse My Accent.
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State Senator Marko Liias represents Washington’s 21st Legislative District in North Puget Sound, which includes parts of Edmonds, Everett, Lynnwood, and Mukilteo.
He currently chairs the State Senate’s Transportation Committee and previously served on the House Education Committee, where he and Nate first crossed paths.
Senator Liias joined us to discuss the legislative session that began on January 12. He offered a clear overview of the state’s fiscal outlook and outlined his priorities for the Transportation Committee.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Senator Liias’ Webpage
- Email Senator Liias
- Senator Liias on Bluesky
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Professor Nick Brody teaches Communications at the University of Puget Sound. His research focuses on digital communication, cyber bullying, and the social implications of technology.
He joined us to talk about the concept of Morally Motivated Online Mobs, which are bands of internet users driven by moral grievance and political polarization. We discussed the role of the internet in connecting and activating these people and how online mobs are warping our political discourse and information environment.
Going Further & Related Episodes
Logic Amen widely targeted by conservative commentators
Attacks on Philanthropy and Not-for-Profits – Cole Leiter, Americans Against Government Censorship – #254
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Leiter joined us to discuss the growing pressure nonprofits are facing amid escalating threats and enforcement signals from the federal government.
We talked about how bluster from the Department of Justice can shape philanthropic behavior long before any formal action takes place, and how those shifts ripple outward to affect the services nonprofits are able to provide in their communities. A big takeaway from this conversation: a war on not-for-profits is a war on the communities they serve.
Leiter is the Executive Director of Americans Against Government Censorship and a political strategist with more than a decade of experience in government, nonprofit leadership, and political campaigns.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Americans Against Government Censorship
- Text of NSPM7
- Donate to Catholic Community Services who runs food programs for seniors at the People’s Center
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Guardian correspondent Jason Wilson joined us to discuss his reporting on Elon Musk’s new Grokipedia.
The service, an online encyclopedia and purported rival to Wikipedia, serves up white nationalist talking points, pseudoscientific racial theories, and sanitized profiles of extremist figures. The encyclopedia’s articles are written by Musk’s Grok AI, which has its own problems with racism and pseudoscience.
Later in the episode, Wilson described how a new “transparency” feature on Musk’s Zombie Twitter (X) inadvertently exposed that many prominent “MAGA” and “America First” accounts had been run from abroad, including accounts operated from Russia, India, and Nigeria.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Musk’s Grokipedia – The Guardian
- Grok’s Elon Musk worship is getting weird – The Verge
- Portland’s Right Wing Hate Problem — Jason Wilson, the Guardian – Nerd Farmer, episode #74
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Republicans in Washington DC control the Whitehouse.
They also control both houses of Congress, majorities on every Congressional committee, and they chair every Congressional committee. The federal government is shut down on their watch.
Marilyn Strickland is the representative of the tenth congressional district in Washington State which runs from Tacoma to Olympia. She joined us to talk about the ongoing government shutdown and the legislative agenda she and her party are pushing for in Congress.
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Congresswoman Strickland’s Website
- Republicans in Washington D.C. Can’t Govern and the Country is Being Held Hostage — Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland — #204
- She was Eight Years in Power — Mayor Marilyn Strickland an Exit Interview — #23
- WA State Data on Health Exchanges
- WA-10 Data on Health Exchanges
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This episode is an audio voters’ guide featuring Evelyn and Joe Lopez from Crossing Division: Tacoma’s Talk Show.
We covered the following races in this episode: Tacoma Mayor, Tacoma City Council, Tacoma Civil Service Board, Tacoma School Board, and the Metro Parks (Parks Tacoma) Board.
Note: Please vote early! Election day is November 4, but if you drop your ballot in the US Mail there could be delays due to the federal shut down. Drop your ballot in a ballot box, or make sure it is postmarked before Nov. 4.
Over on Crossing Division there’s also a conversation about the people running for the County Charter Commission.
Going Further & Related Episodes
Let’s Talk About the 2025 Election–Part 1, Crossing Division and Nerd Farmer Voters Guide
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This week we welcome back Azeri dissident journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi, joining us for her third appearance on the show. Sevinc is one of the most prominent independent voices covering Azerbaijan and has a massive Azeri language YouTube Channel with over 600k followers.
When news broke that Armenia and Azerbaijan had reached an agreement many see as the formal end to their decades-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, Sevinc was the first person I wanted to hear from.
In this conversation, she helped me unpack what the deal actually means on the ground, how it’s being received in both countries, and where the region might be headed from here.
But most passionately she talked about the destructive role of Russia in region.
Tap in.
Cast of Characters
- Sevinj – YouTube – Instagram
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Understanding the Conflict Between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh — Sevinc Osmanqizi — #188
- The End of the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh? – Sevinc Osmanqizi – #205
- A Baku Travelogue
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In July, a flood ripped through Kerr County, Texas, killing at least 104 people and leaving the community devastated. Federal emergency assistance was nowhere to be seen and then feckless when it finally arrived, a small-scale replay of Katrina. The response was further hampered by a fragmented media environment that left communities scrambling for reliable information, and by the Trump administration’s politicization of the disaster. Local officials gave angry press conferences while F.E.M.A., weakened by budget cuts, wasn’t up to the task.
Given the twin pressures of climate change and political dysfunction, this is likely our future.
That is the impetus for this conversation about community-based natural hazard preparedness. Note that intentional language choice. As our guest, Dave Clark from Factal, points out, people in emergency management are increasingly pivoting to this framing. The idea is that incidents like these should no longer be treated as unforeseeable disasters, but as hazards we all need to prepare for.
And as a reminder for folks in Tacoma, our city sits on a fault line and in the shadow of a volcano.
Cast of Characters
- Dave Clark – Connect with Dave
- Factal
Going Further & Related Episodes
- Social Diversification, Blogging is Back, and How to Combat Disinformation – Dave Clark – #212
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We’re closing out the summer with another edition of the Tacoma Small Business Series. This episode features Chris Langston of Proof, a new-ish cocktail lounge in Old Town. Chris was previously the mind behind en Rama, Hilltop Kitchen, and 1022 South J.
Chris is a great dude. He brings an apothecary approach to cocktails and has been serving up premium hooch in the city for nearly twenty years.
In this conversation he talks about the origins of Proof and some lessons learned from his time in the service industry.
Proof is located at 2312 N 30th in Old Town.
Cast of Characters
- Proof on Instagram
- Proof website
Going Further & Related Episodes
- NYT review of 1022 South J
- Small Biz Series Vol. 5 – Balcon X
- Vol. 4 – Campfire Coffee
- Vol. 3 – Love by the Slice
- Vol. 2 – ETC
- Vol. 1 – Doyle’s
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Halley returned as our most frequent guest, joined by Trayton for his third book club appearance, to take on How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa. We started with our entry points: what drew each of us to the book, what readers should know about Ressa’s career and work, and why her story felt urgent in this moment. Trayton gave a concise overview for those who hadn’t read it, and from there we compared first impressions—where the book was most effective and where it came up short.
The discussion then turned to the details: the passages that stayed with us, the impact of Ressa choosing memoir as her form, and the ways her ideas connected to our own lives. We also explored the limits of the text and pointed listeners toward other works worth reading alongside it for anyone concerned with disinformation, democracy, and resisting authoritarianism.
It is a thoughtful conversation about the stakes of truth and the courage required to defend it.
Cast of Characters
- Halley Knigge
- Trayton Otto
Going Further
- A Thousand Cuts – PBS Frontline
- How to Stand Up to a Dictator
- How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them
- Next Book Club Pick: Careless People
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Lisa Keating is an advocate for student well-being and making sure schools in Tacoma are welcoming to all students. This fall she is running for re-election. In this conversation, we looked back on her first campaign, how the pandemic has shaped the last half decade of schooling in Tacoma, the $30 million shortfall the district faced in the spring, and the work ahead for the school board.
Keating was elected to the Tacoma School Board in 2019.
Cast of Characters: Lisa Keating – Campaign Website
Going Further & Related Episodes:
- Lisa Keating, candidate for Tacoma school board – Citizen Tacoma
- Back to school with Director Lisa Keating, Tacoma Public Schools – Citizen Tacoma
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Jordan Harper is an award winning writer, born and raised in the Ozarks, now based in Los Angeles.
Most widely known for award-winning novel She Rides Shotgun and his other crime fiction, he previously worked as a music and film critic. His works explore the LA underworld, its associated violence, and are populated with complex, nuanced characters.
Other Works
- The Last King of California (2022)
- Everybody Knows (2023)
- A Short Story Collection: Love and Other Wounds (2015)
Cast of Characters: Jordan Harper – Bluesky
Going Further & Related Episodes:
- She Rides Shotgun – Trailer
- Writing a Multigenerational Crime Masterpiece — Brian Panowich, author of “Bull Mountain,” “Like Lions,” and “Hard Cash Valley” — #202
- The Art of the Southern Noir Novel – Eli Cranor, “Don’t Know Tough” – #186
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Senator Jessica Bateman represents the 22nd District in the Washington State Legislature. She is the chamber’s most outspoken housing advocate.
She joined us for a conversation about the wins, losses, and unfinished work on housing in the 2025 legislative session.
She is a champion for new housing (of all types) and was the lead sponsor of this year’s rent stabilization legislation. Senator Bateman’s prior appearances on the podcast are linked below.
Cast of Characters: Senator Bateman – Legislative Website
Going Further:
- Why We Need Regional Housing Solutions – Rep. Jessica Bateman, Washington State Legislature, 22nd District – #154
- LIVE: Adult Civics Happy Hour, Previewing the 2023 Legislative Session – #183
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Bill Fitzgerald is a privacy activist and vociferous critic of the data protection practices of Big Tech.
In this week’s episode Bill came on to talk about the data privacy implications of putting AI in everything (and putting everything, as in your data, into AI), and the wider societal implications.
Bill also did an episode of Off-the-Record about data privacy precautions to take when transiting through customs and immigration. Channel 253 Members can check the member only podcast feed and Member Slack for that conversation.
Cast of Characters: Bill – Mastodon
Going Further: Protecting Your Online Privacy — Bill Fitzgerald, Privacy Activist — #161
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After seventeen emails, dating back to December, we finally have the conversation I’ve been chasing with Diana Kuprych.
Diana is a Ukrainian student doing her graduate studies at the London School of Economics. Her thesis focuses on security guarantees between states, with an obvious emphasis on events in and around Kyiv. This is a conversation about the war, but also about the past, present, and future rebuilding of Ukraine.
She joined us on the recommendation of three time past show guest Jeff Hawn.
Cast of Characters: Diana – email
Going Further:
- Operation Spiderweb
- Kyiv Independent – On drone warfare in Ukraine
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Melissa Santos is a reporter for Axios covering Seattle and the State Legislature. We’ve been podding with Melissa since 2017. She is a regular on the show and one of our most requested and re-requested guests by listeners.
She joined us to talk about the recently concluded Washington State Legislative session, the punt on the wealth tax, and the leadership of Governor Ferguson in his first term as governor.
Cast of Characters: Melissa – Bluesky
Going Further:
- Axios Seattle
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Tori is an anti-racist educator and writer. She grew up in a deeply conservative evangelical family and is now an out-spoken critic of racism and misogyny that lurks within in some Christian communities.
She joined us to talk about the influence of 90s far right religious ideology, now at the center of the current administration’s policies.
She also joined us in 2022 for a very prescient conversation about Black Conservatism and the Democratic Party.
Cast of Characters: Tori – Website
Going Further:
- Tori’s Anti-racist publications
- Tori on Bluesky
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This is a conversation about tariffs—with an economist who is an expert in making it plain. We’re starting with the basics: Tariffs are taxes on imports, and they’re usually passed on to consumers. So, in plain terms, a tariff on China is really a tariff on you.
By the end of this episode, you’ll understand what tariffs are, how they affect trade, and why the current tariff policies in the US are shaping up to be a drag on both the American and global economies.
Our guest today is Abdullah Al Bahrani—better known as Dr. A. He’s a full professor of economics and associate dean at the Haile College of Business, where he leads graduate programs, research, and outreach initiatives. His own research focuses on household finance and how people make financial decisions.
He previously joined us in April 2021 to talk about personal finance education in schools.
Cast of Characters: Dr. A – Website
Going Further:
- Substack
- Econ with Dr. A on Instagram
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Marguerite Martin is a co-founder of Channel 253 and creator of Move to Tacoma. This is an update to her and my ongoing conversation about housing policy and real estate. You can find my previous conversations with her and many of our other conversations about housing below.
Join the #NerdFarmRead book club! We’re reading How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa. Members, also check the Slack Channel #Books for details of our upcoming discussion on Parable of the Sower.
Nerd Farmer Housing & Real Estate Conversations
- The Housing Market and the Ethics of Real Estate – Jasmyn Jefferson – #107
- A Protest Movement to End Homelessness – Rebecca Parson, Tacoma Housing Now – #113
- How Homeowners in Rising Housing Markets Can Fight Displacement – Marguerite Martin – #117
- The Missing Middle in Housing – Joseph Tovar, American Planning Association – #153
- Why We Need Regional Housing Solutions – Rep. Jessica Bateman – #154
- The US Housing Market is Not Okay – Nicole Beauchamp, Engel & Volkers NYC – #180
- Understanding the Housing Market in Pierce County — Marguerite Martin, Move to Tacoma — #183
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Amanda Willams is a former teacher in Seattle Public Schools and is the creator of the Seattle Green Book, an online listing of Black Owned Businesses in the Seattle Area. She joined us to talk about creating the Green Book and her work with Denkyem Finance, a Seattle Based community development financial institution.
Join the #NerdFarmRead book club! We’re reading How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa. Members, also check the Slack Channel #Books for details of our upcoming discussion on Parable of the Sower.
Going Further:
- Seattle Green Book
- KIRO coverage of the Seattle Green Book
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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This week’s episode is a change of pace for the show.
Film critic Chase Hutchinson joined us for a conversation about the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. We talked through who we think will win each of the major categories and who we think should win.
You’ll hear a breakdown of the Oscar frontrunners and why the rise of Anora seems to be breaking Nate’s brain.
Join the #NerdFarmRead book club! We’re reading How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa. Members, also check the Slack Channel #Books for details of our upcoming discussion on Parable of the Sower.
Cast of Characters: Chase and Andrew (only for a little bit tho)
Going Further:
- Chase’s appearance this summer on the films of 2024 – show audio and YouTube
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Following the inauguration of Donald Trump last month, reactions in the U.S. ranged from jubilation to alarm—depending on one’s political leanings and level of engagement. But how is the new admin being received beyond American borders? In this episode, we flip the “local lens” outward to examine how the new administration is being viewed in this neck of the woods.
Our guest is Willy Lowry, Washington correspondent for The National. He joins us to break down the regional response to the news admin. We discussed how the US’ growing reputation as an unreliable partner is pushing Middle Eastern nations to explore new alliances, the moments that have strained relations over the past decade, and whether Washington is even aware of the shifting dynamics.
Join the #NerdFarmRead book club! We’re reading How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa. Members, also check the Slack Channel #Books for details of our upcoming discussion on Parable of the Sower.
Cast of Characters: Willy Lowry
Going Further:
- The National
- Beyond the Headlines
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In this episode, we discuss the US’ renewed expansionist ambitions with Zoltan Grossman, a professor of Geography and Indigenous Studies at Evergreen State College. Grossman helped me unpack some throughlines connecting 19th century Manifest Destiny to 21st-century imperialism and discussed the stakes for indigenous communities caught in the crosshairs of these ambitions.
We also talked about the fight to recolonize place names like that of Mt. McKinley.
Join the #NerdFarmRead book club! We’re reading How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa. Members, also check the Slack Channel #Books for details of our upcoming discussion on Parable of the Sower.
Cast of Characters: Zoltan Grossman
Going Further:
- Zoltan’s Faculty Page at Evergreen
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One of the least discussed stories in US public education is our decision to walk away from what worked. School integration in the US peaked in 1987, coinciding with the achievement gap between Black and white students reaching its narrowest point.
What began with the Supreme Court’s Brown ruling in 1954 and was picked up with Title I legislation as a part of the Great Society by Lyndon Johnson, was abandoned by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In the aftermath schools have resegregated to the point that a typical white student in the US now attends a school where nearly 70% of their classmates are also white, while Black and Latino students are far more likely to attend schools where a majority of students are from minority backgrounds and where poverty rates are higher.
That is the entry point for today’s conversation with author Karin Chenoweth.
We discussed the fluctuations in student achievement data since the inception of the NAEP in 1971, through the “learning loss” crisis of 2020.
At times this conversation gets wonky and Karin’s dog also makes a guest appearance. But she really knocks it out the part with the “what would you do as Secretary of Education?” question.
If you wanna do some extended reading this episode started as a conversation on Bluesky.
Cast of Characters: Karin Chenoweth
Going Further:
- NAEP Data Explorer
- Long Term NAEP Trends
- Karin’s Website
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The war in Ukraine is a functional stalemate with the Russian death toll nearing 200k. Growth is down in the Russian economy and inflation and prices are up. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s greatest ally in the Middle East, has fallen, and taken refuge in Moscow. In some ways, the Russian global position is very weak. However, the recent US election has the potential to help change Russian fortunes.
We are joined this week by Jeff Hawn. Jeff is a doctoral candidate from the London School of Economics. His research and writing is focused on the history and politics of post-Soviet Russia.
Jeff is our designated Russia expert, making his third appearance on the podcast.
Cast of Characters: Jeff Hawn
Going Further:
- Jeff’s LSE Page
- Democratic Erosion in Russia and Elsewhere – ep 143
- On the Russian Invasion of Ukraine – ep 157
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Hundreds of fishermen laboring on U.S.-flagged ships in American waters face a harsh reality: wage theft, exploitative conditions, and little recourse. Cyrus Donato, one of over 140 inspectors for the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), works on the frontlines to support foreign seafarers and transport workers grappling with these injustices.
The ITF is a global union federation representing nearly 20 million transport workers worldwide, and Cyrus plays a key role in addressing their challenges. He joined us to shed light on the plight of fishermen and the broader efforts to combat exploitation in the maritime industry.
Cyrus is the designated ITF inspector for the Puget Sound Region.
Cast of Characters: Cyrus Donato
Going Further:
- Slavery at Sea – BBC
- Filipino fishermen left in WA marina allege abandonment, lost pay – Crosscut
- US visa requirements leave foreign fishermen out at sea – KUOW
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In this episode, we sat down with Anne Lutz Fernandez—former investment banker, retired teacher, and co-author of Schooled—to discuss education’s role in the 2024 election.
We discussed Trump’s first-term policies, Biden and Harris’s records on education, and how the next administration could shape public education going forward. Anne also talked about tensions between federal and local governance, the influence of unions, and what the Harris campaign could be doing to close the deal.
*At some point in the episode Nate misidentified Glenn Youngkin as the Governor of Oklahoma, rather than Virginia, apologies.
Going Further
-
- Anne – Newsletter, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon
- Schooled
- A Teacher Town Hall on Immigration and Schools
- Resources for Supporting Undocumented Students
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The Civil War in Sudan is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The fight to control the government in Khartoum has reportedly claimed upwards of 150,000 lives and conditions for people on the ground are dire but the conflict rarely makes headlines in Western media.
Our guest this week is Professor Sherifa Zuhur. She’s a national security scholar of the Middle East and Islamic world. Zuhur has held faculty positions at the U.S. Army War College, the American University in Cairo, and MIT, and currently directs the Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic and Strategic Studies.
She joined to talk about the conflict and its historical antecedents.
Going Further
- Zuhur’s – Wikipedia Page and Publications
- Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic and Strategic Studies
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This is Part One of a Tacoma Audio Voters’ Guide. In this conversation, we talked through the Congressional races, statewide initiatives, statewide offices, Pierce County judges, and a proposed fire and safety levy for the City of Tacoma.
In this episode, we were joined by Evelyn Lopez, host of Channel 253 show Crossing Division and Nathe Lawver, who brought the perspective of the Pierce County and Washington State Labor Councils to the conversation.
In a subsequent conversation, Evelyn will go over the State Supreme Court races and the proposed Charter Amendments for the City of Tacoma, over on her show Crossing Division.
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In spite of an avalanche of outside money, Tacoma voters recently adopted a sweeping Bill of Rights for tenants that provides relocation assistance to families, in the case of steep increases in rent, and bans evictions during the winter.
The organizers of that campaign, Tacoma for All, are now undertaking a follow-up campaign aimed at helping hourly wage workers. They seek to raise the minimum wage in the city and to ban abusive scheduling practices, like erratic hours and “clopening“ shifts.
Two organizers from the campaign, Zev Cook and Ty Moore, joined us to talk about their organizing efforts in the community.
Going Further
- Text of proposed Workers’ Bill of Rights
- A Call for a Tenant Bill of Rights — #193
- How Corporate Landlords are Driving Up Rents — #219
- Tacoma for All – Website
- Tacoma for All – Instagram
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Mario Amaya is the owner and operator of Balcon X, a taco and pupusa (and putaco) restaurant located on Sixth Ave. Balcon X is named after his balcony where he got his start selling meals off 100th & Pac Ave.
Mario’s life in inspirational, a true story of overcoming obstacles and all the mess life threw his way.
Hit Balcon X up at 3102 6th Ave. They are is located in the space previously occupied by Old Milwaukee Cafe.
Thanks to Lincoln High School Librarian, Kristen Sierra, for connecting us with Mario.
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Quincy Henry is the co-owner and proprietor of Campfire Coffee, located at 1554 Market Street. He joined us for Part 4 of our ongoing series on running a small business in Tacoma. We talked about starting the shop and roasting business in Downtown Tacoma, the business climate in the city, and his mission to get more kids from the area out in nature.
His coffee is delicious and his energy is infectious.
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Last week Tacoma lost one of its brightest lights. Matt Driscoll was a columnist for The News Tribune and the editor for the paper’s Opinion Section. But he was so much more than that. Rather than being a gatekeeper, he was an advocate for the less fortunate and less politically connected in our community. He made his column a forum for voices across the city, rather than a stale rotation of the usual suspects.
He also was a frequent guest on the show, so in tribute to Matt today we are re-releasing an episode of the podcast from 2018 where Matt joined me and Representative Laurie Jinkins in my classroom, for a conversation about evictions and housing solutions for our region and beyond. I think you get a real sense of the kind of man Matt was from this conversation.
His unexpected passing leaves a massive hole in the paper and in our civic culture.
A Go Fund Me has been set up to support Matt’s family.
More of Matt’s appearances on pod:
Covering Moral Panics – January 2024
Nerd Farmer Live – Summer 2023
Evicted #NerdFarmReads Bookclub – April 2018
Housing, Homelessness, and Political Protest – October 2017
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Chase Hutchinson is a Tacoma-based freelance journalist and movie critic. He came on the show to talk about the year in movies. For our conversation, we tried to focus on films not based on pre-existing IP or sequels. So we’re mostly discussing smaller films — a mix of wide release, some available via video on demand (VOD), and others on various streaming platforms.
You will find trailers for each of the films we discussed below:
I Saw the TV Glow
Janet Planet
Fancy Dance
Evil Does Not Exist
The Beast
Good One
In a Violent Nature
Do Not Expect to Much from the End of the World
The Feeling That The Time for Doing Something Has Passed
Bring Him to Me
Longlegs
Malignant
Barbarian
X / Pearl / Maxxxine
Furiosa
Going Further
- Follow Chase on Letterboxd and on Bluesky
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In today’s irregular edition of the podcast, we discussed Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Trump and the political fallout from it.
I was joined in studio by Producer Doug and Evelyn Lopez, host of Channel 253 Podcast Crossing Division.
BBC Reporting on the Shooting
Dave and Carol are longtime Seattle Sounders season ticket holders and former hosts of the Hands-Free Footy podcast. They decided, for a host of reasons, this would be their last year with season tickets. I asked them to join me for conversation about the state of the football club and its changing relationship with their fanbase.
This is a two-part discussion:
In segment one, we talked about our beloved Seattle Sounders and the troubles they seem to be experiencing off-the-field and in the stands with some of their core supporters and long-time fans.
In segment two, we talked about the recent run of success the Sounders have had on the field, and potential moves they can make in the summer transfer window.
Going Further
- Time to Build for Club World Cup is Now – Dave Clark @ Sounder at Heart
- Mentioned in Intro: Tacoma Neo-Nazi Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison for Violent Hate Crime – John Murphy, Tacoma Against Nazis – #185
- Direct download link
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Cameron Harwick is a professor at State University of New York Brockport. He previously joined us in 2022 for a conversation about the causes and impacts of the inflationary crisis in 2022.
My goal in this episode was to help listeners better understand the various economic data and indicators that we encounter on a daily basis. There’s often a gap between the story these indicators tell us about the economy and the popular sentiment among the public.
This discrepancy has significant implications for the upcoming elections and beyond.
Cast of Characters
- Cameron Harwick – Website
Going Further
- Cameron’s Inflation Explainer – YouTube
- Should Inflation Measures Include Borrowing Costs
- Direct download link
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Emmett O’Connell is a recovering journalist, who writes the blog Olympia Time and hosts the podcast Olympia Standard. He recently published an article examining the hoovering up of homes by corporate and institutional landlords and the impact this is having on communities.
Cast of Characters
- Emmett O’Connell – Olympia Time & Olympia Standard
Going Further
- Emmett’s Article – Re-examining the out-of-town (or just corporate) real estate investment in Thurston County
- Blackstone Video – from show intro
- This Machine Kills, #207 – Rent High? Blame Bob
Going Even Further: Prior Nerd Farmer Episodes about Housing
- Everything in Real Estate Just Changed — Jasmyn Jefferson, Designated Broker and Co-Owner of Windermere Abode Lakewood — #217
- A Call for a Tenant Bill of Rights — Zev Cook and David Galazin, Tacoma 4 All — #193
- Understanding the Housing Market in Pierce County — Marguerite Martin, Move to Tacoma — #183
- The US Housing Market is Not Okay – Nicole Beauchamp, Engel & Volkers NYC – #180
- Why We Need Regional Housing Solutions – Rep. Jessica Bateman, Washington State Legislature, 22nd District – #154
- The Bottom End of the Housing Market Has Been Destroyed — Will James, Special Projects Reporter, KNKX FM — #150
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In this episode, we are joined by Randy Girdner, an educator, filmmaker, and the comic artist creator of the web comic Maurice the Beaver.
This is a conversation about AI and my trepidation about its mainstreaming. I don’t have many answers but I have a ton of concerns. At the same time Randy and I are both regularly using AI programs despite our shared reservations about the technology, its creators, and the place it may come to occupy in our society.
Cast of Characters
- Randy Girdner – Website
Going Further
- Randy on Bluesky
- Randy on Threads
- Graceland West on Reddit
- UAE Student Film Festival
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In this episode, we dove into recent shifts in real estate with Jasmyn Jefferson, Designated Broker and co-Owner of Windermere Abode Lakewood. Jasmyn gave us her take on the Tacoma Housing market and the low-down on the recent NAR settlement. She talked about its impact on commission structures and what’s to come in the industry as a whole.
Jasmyn is a realtor but she sees the field through a different lens than most folks in the biz and I think that comes across in this conversation.
Cast of Characters
- Jasmyn Jefferson
Going Further
- The Case of the Missing $64,000 Homes – Takes & Typos
- The NAR Settlement Explained – Yahoo! Finance
- Jasmyn’s prior appearance on the show: The Housing Market and the Ethics of Real Estate, Part 1 — Jasmyn Jefferson
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This month observant Muslims around the world are fasting in observance of Ramadan.
Jasmine El Shear is an Egyptian-American school counselor in the Gulf, advising Emirati students in navigating an American school system. She joined us for a wide-ranging conversation about the holy month of Ramadan, life for Muslim students in US schools, and her recent Umrah trip to Mecca.
Cast of Characters
- Jasmine Elshear
Going Further
- What Everyone (Especially Teachers) Should Know About Ramadan – #160
- Experiencing Ramadan in the Gulf – Takes & Typos
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Nathan Perl-Rosenthal is an historian of the eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Atlantic world. He focuses on the political and cultural history of Europe and the Americas in the age of revolution, with a emphasis on the transnational influences that shaped modern national politics.
He’s the author of the recent article Revolutions Take Generations in the Atlantic and the book The Age of Revolutions. He joined us to talk about the lessons we can learn from the series of revolutions that took place in the 18th century and the lessons we can learn from them today.
Cast of Characters
Nathan Perl-Rosenthal – USC
Going Further
- Revolutions Take Generations – The Atlantic
- The Age of Revolutions
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We invited Professor Michael Artime from Pacific Lutheran University back on the show to discuss the upcoming election. In this conversation we covered several topics:
- Ezra Klein’s suggestion that Biden step-aside as the Democratic nominee
- The 14th Amendment challenges to DJT for along insurrection grounds
- The state of our ever more fragile norms
- The mainstreaming of Dominionist Christian-Nationalism, with the rise of Speaker Mike Johnson
Cast of Characters
Michael Artime – PLU
Going Further
- Ezra Klein – Democrats Have a Better Option than Biden
- Artime on Episode #77 – What a second Trump term might look like?
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Over the winter holiday, Matt Driscoll, columnist and opinion editor at The News Tribune, reached out to talk about the firing of Claudine Gay from her role of President of Harvard University. Gay was brought down in a right-wing witch hunt following a much publicized plagiarism scandal. But underlying Gay’s firing was a coordinated campaign by conservative activists.
We brought him on the show to discuss these serial moral panics. In the conversation, he asked almost as many questions as I did. This is a discussion about how media covers politics in our digital age but also about what we as citizens owe ourselves and each other.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this one, you can hit me at nerdfarmpod@gmail.com.
Cast of Characters
Matt Driscoll – TNT Profile
Going Further
- Driscoll on Gay’s firing – TNT
- 50% of Biden voters say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians – Business Insider
- Ezra Klein on the State of Journalism – The New York Times
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Happy New Year and go Huskies!
This week’s episode is a discussion about navigating the internet in an era of misinformation. Our guest is Dave Clark, founder of Sounder at Heart. He also writes at Full Moon Storytelling.
We talked about navigating the social media landscape, given the decline of Twitter. We also discussed why blogging and RSS feeds are the answer for many of us and we closed with a conversation about how to avoid outrage and clickbait in the 2024 election cycle.
Note: this episode begins with a brief discussion of the Seattle Sounders roster moves, if you don’t need that in your life skip to 5:48.
Cast of Characters
Dave Clark – Full Moon Storytelling
Going Further
Mentioned by Dave in the Interview: How to Run Your Own Social — Darius Kazemi, Creator and Moderator of Friend.Camp — #164
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Happy New Year!
Recorded live in the Moonyard Studios in gorgeous North Tacoma, this episode is the second of our two part 2023 Year in Review. If you missed Part I, you can find it here.
We were joined again in the studio by Erik Hanberg, President of Channel 253 and host of Citizen Tacoma and Evelyn Lopez co-host of Crossing Division.
In this episode we each gave end of the year awards for:
- Tacoman of the Year
- Story of the Year
- Things we’re watching going into 2024
Cast of Characters
Erik Hanberg – Citizen Tacoma
Evelyn Lopez – Crossing Division
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Happy Holidays!
Recorded live in the Moonyard Studios in gorgeous North Tacoma, this episode is the first of our two part 2023 Year in Review.
We were joined in the studio by Erik Hanberg, President of Channel 253 and host of Citizen Tacoma and Evelyn Lopez co-host of Crossing Division.
Here’s the contact info for Compassion Tacoma the organization Evelyn mentioned who are providing mutual aid to people experiencing homelessness in Tacoma.
In this episode we each gave end of the year awards for:
- Story you wish got more coverage
- Profile in Courage
- Tacoman who needs to go outside and touch grass
- Organization who diminished their reputation
Cast of Characters
Erik Hanberg – Citizen Tacoma
Evelyn Lopez – Crossing Division
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Peter Talbot from The News Tribune has been covering the trial of the Tacoma Police Officers who murdered Manuel Ellis on March 3, 2020. We spoke with Peter in October as the state was making its case against the officers. Now that the defense has ended its case and after a near miss mistrial motion, the trial is about to go to the jury.
We discussed the reasoning behind the motion to dismiss, the predictable “Invincible Super Negro” defense presented at trial, and what testimony and evidence may swing the verdict.
The info in this conversation is up to date as of the recording time, Saturday, December 9 at 9am PDT.
Cast of Characters
Peter Talbot – The News Tribune
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Earlier this month, voters in Tacoma passed a Tenants Bill of Rights, creating among the most sweeping tenant protections in the country. The initiative was specifically designed to combat displacement in the community.
This effort was opposed by the majority of the City Council, the real estate and landlord lobby, and the bulk of the city’s establishment. The opposition raised more money than any ballot measure in city history and they lost.
The organizers of this campaign, Tacoma for All, are made up of tenants, activists, organized labor, and the faith community. In May, on Episode 193, we hosted David and Zev Cook on to talk about Initiative 1. We invited the group back on for a victory lap and so they could share their blueprint for building an effective and winning coalition.
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Jeremiah Oshan is a recovering newspaper journalist and the editor-in-chief of Sounder at Heart. Sounder at Heart is the most read blog in US club soccer. The website was previously a part of Vox’s SB Nation but Oshan and the team took the site independent earlier this year.
He joined us to talk about that story and the roster questions facing the Sounders in the coming off season.
Channel 253 Members, you can find an additional conversation with Oshan on the Off the Record feed where we shared our MLS era best XI..
Cast of Characters: Jeremiah Oshan – Sounder at Heart
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Manuel Ellis was murdered by Tacoma Police on March 3, 2020. The long-delayed trial of the police officers that killed him is underway and this week we’re checking in with Peter Talbot from the News Tribune.
Peter covers crime & justice for the paper. He came on to talk about the state’s case so far in the trial of officers Burbank, Collins, and Rankin.
Cast of Characters: Pater Talbot
Going Further:
- Charging Documents from the AG’s office
- My pre-trial op-ed in the News Tribune
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In March, on episode 188, we welcomed Azeri journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi on the show for a conversation about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
On September 19, that conflict was reignited, with Azerbaijan winning a decisive victory and forcing over 100,000 ethnic Armenians out of the region. Some commenters called this the end of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a dispute that’s been raging on & off since the fall of the Soviet Union, but has roots even earlier.
So earlier this month we reached back out to Sevinc for an update and to hear her take on where things stand. But because I was traveling to Armenia last week, I thought it was prudent to hold onto this episode until I got back on solid ground here in the Gulf..
We made it back safe & sound and here’s our conversation.
Cast of Characters: Sevinc Osmanqizi – YouTube Channel
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Representative Marilyn Strickland is a former member of the Tacoma City Council, the former Mayor of Tacoma, and two-term member of the US House of Representatives. She joined us to discuss the recent dismissal of Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, and GOP hostage taking over the federal budget.
We tackled listener questions about transportation, infrastructure, and legislation around qualified immunity in the second segment.
Cast of Characters: Marilyn Strickland
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In 2019, my wife and I departed the US to begin our overseas teaching career. When I made the transition, I used a service called Search Associates. They helped me navigate the application process and land my current gig in the Gulf.
Now in 2023, it’s the early days of the hiring season for the 2024-2025 school year.
I will have to decide on my intention to return by the end of next month. Teachers around the world will face similar choices this fall and winter because of the nature of international school hiring and moving people across the planet, international schools hire early.
This episode is for folks wondering what it looks like to make the transition.
My guest Brian Lettinga joined Search Associates in July of 2020 following his 24-year career in international education. Brian spent his early years in international education teaching as an elementary school teacher, grades four and five.
Cast of Characters: Brian – LinkedIn
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I belong to a group chat. It used to be about the Seattle Sounders but as they began struggling last season it became more about crime novels, in the vein of Elmore Leonard. We now...
The Seattle Sounders are possibly the least convincing third place team in the history of world football. They’re about three fourths of the way through what can best be described as a Jekyll & Hyde...
Our guest, Sarah Kendzior, is a scholar with an focus on authoritarian Central Asian states. She leverages her academic background in her work as a journalist and commentator, offering unique insights about anti-democratic tendencies and...
Carter is a co-author of the paper Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018 along with Kathryn A. Edwards. The paper lays out how the average American’s wages would be $50,000 higher if income growth...
This summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. In part three, we have a conversation with Cassandra Williams, the owner and proprietor of Love by the...
In June, over a hundred friends and members of Channel 253 gathered for Channel 253 Fest, an evening of live podcasting from the Press Room in downtown Tacoma. It was a great event and this...
This summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. In part two, we have a conversation with Umi Wagoner from eTc, the Tacoma-based rareware retailer and design...
This summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. Opening the series, we have a conversation with Russ Heaton the proprietor of Doyle’s Pub, named one of...
A social media post by the mayor of Centralia and recent reporting by our guest, Isabel Vander Stoep, revealed the existence of an Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) group in Centralia. So, this week we invited...
Housing is a frequent topic of conversation on this show. We’ve talked to realtors about the market for first-time homebuyers; we’ve discussed Matthew Desmond’s Evicted; we’ve talked about combatting displacement; we’ve discussed efforts to combat homelessness with Tacoma Housing Now; and talked about the national housing market with a NY-based real estate consultant.
This week we’re talking about the call for a tenant bill of rights with organizers from Tacoma for All. Tacoma for All is a citizen initiative led by tenants in Tacoma and their allies. The initiative calls for protections for renters, protection from predatory institutional landlords, fair practices around excess fees, mandated situational relocation assistance, and longer notification periods for rent hikes and forced moves.
Zev and David are organizers from Tacoma 4 All and joined us this week to talk about the initiative and their efforts to garner community support for it.
Going Further
- Tacoma 4 All
- Text of the initiative
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After a nearly four month trial, last week leaders of the Proud Boys were convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys are a right-wing paramilitary group that relishes street fights and violence against their political opponents.. They were instrumental in some of the most coordinated attacks on January 6.
Reasonable countries like Canada and New Zealand have designated them as a terrorist organization. But they maintain a place on the fringe of the US right, yucking it up with elected officials and getting name-checked by the former President during a debate in 2020.
Our guest is Brandi Buchman. She’s a contributor at Emptywheel, a former senior staff writer Daily Kos and the former Chief White House & Congressional Correspondent for Courthouse News. She’s dope enough that the goons at Breitbart have written several pieces attacking her. She joined us to talk about the recently completed trial and what comes next in the string of trials of the organizers of the violence on January 6.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Brandi – Mastodon
- Archive @ Emptywheel
- Buchman on the trial – Lawfare
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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In one twenty-four period in March, over 42 billion dollars was withdrawn from Silicon Valley Bank in California. This led to the second largest bank collapse in US history and SVB went into FDIC receivership. In short order, Signature Bank also collapsed and several others were left looking wobbly. In response, many Americans began moving their money away from regional banks toward larger national, so-called too big to fail, banks. This trend represents an acceleration of bank consolidation, making the rich guys richer.
I wanted to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the banking sector and did so thanks to our guest, Austin Patjens. Patjens is the VP SBA Business Development Officer Sr at Heritage Bank (he joined us for this episode in a personal capacity). We talked about the health of regional banks and why he believes your deposits are safe at banks like his and other regional banks.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Austin – LinkedIn
- Heritage Bank – website
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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This week, I sat down with Israel Calera. Iz is an artist and designer from Rio Grande Valley on the US/Texas border, the setting of much of Blood Meridian.
He currently resides here in Abu Dhabi and he (and his extremely loud cat Winky) joined us to talk about Blood Meridian, the 1984 western novel from Cormac McCarthy.
This episode is an outgrowth of a series of conversations in Takes & Typos that culminated here.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Israel – Instagram
- Blood Meridian – 1985 NYT Review
- Cormac McCarthy and SA Cosby Are Masters of their Craft – Takes & Typos
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Long time listeners will know that the topic of regressive taxation in Washington has been a repeated talking point on the show. In 2019, we hosted an Adult Civics Hour called the Case for Progressive Taxation and the topic has come up on several other episodes. This week as tax season reaches its zenith, we wanted to get to the bottom of why the tax structure in Washington is so regressive and what we can do about it.
Our guest is Melissa Hellmann, an award-winning reporter who covers racial, gender and economic inequality. Prior to joining the Center for Public Integrity in August 2021, she covered marginalized communities for The Seattle Times. She previously worked at Seattle Weekly, and the Associated Press.
This conversation centers on Melissa’s prior reporting in Crosscut and the recent efforts in other states to make their systems more less regressive.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Melissa – Twitter
- Center for Public Integrity – Website
- If you’re Black, saying ‘I do’ can increase your taxes – Discussed in Exit Question
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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The show’s roots are local but it wanders wherever my interests happen to lead.
Since moving to Abu Dhabi, I have had the opportunity to visit several countries I never would have considered visiting prior. For example, this fall I went to the Republic of Georgia and this past February I continued exploring the Caucasus with a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. I documented this trip in my weekly newsletter.
I enjoyed my trip to Azerbaijan. One of the topics that came up several times while talking to Azeris was the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over control of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a disputed territory claimed by both states that has been the subject of two wars. At one point, while visiting the Presidential Museum, it became clear to me that I was being propagandized about the conflict. So I did a deep dive that night at the hotel but the more I learned about the dispute, the more questions I had.
When I returned home, I put up the Bat Signal and listener Dr. Joanne Liosky, from our friends at Pacific Lutheran University, connected me with an expert. Her name is Sevinj Osmanqizi. Sevinj is a journalist and author and best known for being on the other side of interviewers with political figures. She is one of the most critical journalistic voices about events in Azerbaijan and was labeled a “traitor” by the regime for opposing the 2020 Karabakh War. I invited her on to get the lowdown on this complicated conflict.
Sevinj is knowledgeable and passionate about her homeland and events there. I really enjoyed learning from her and hope you do too.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Sevinj – YouTube – Instagram
- Takes & Typos – on Azerbaijan
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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This is our long awaited conversation about Dopesick by Beth Macy. Dopesick is the story of the orign and rise of the opioid crisis and the actions of pharmaceutical companies in flooding our communities with drugs. The opioid crisis, a uniquely American problem, was manufactured by capitalism and our market-based health care system.
In the book, Macy looks at how a black market pill crisis became a heroin crisis, and has now become an overdose crisis that claims nearly 100k lives each year.
Dopesick generated more conversation of the Channel 253 Member Slack than any topic we’ve ever discussed. The book and this episode is worth your time.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
- Halley Knigge – Twitter
- Trayton Otto – Twitter
- Ingrid Walker – Twitter
- Buy Dopesick from Kings Books
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Eli Cranor is an Arkansas based writer. His debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, is about a troubled young man named Billy Lowe, who is taken under his wing by the new football coach, Trent Powers, newly arrived arrived from California. It’s a southern noir novel, so you know it’s more complicated than that.
He joined us to talk about his novel, his influences, and what it’s like to write about the people and places you grew up around.
Don’t worry, this is spoiler-free conversation of Don’t Know Tough.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
-
- Eli Cranor – Twitter
- Eil’s website (warning: cute dog photo)
- Don’t Know Tough – NYT Review
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Tacoma Against Nazis (TAN) was founded in 2017 to warn the community about the presence of a violent neo-Nazi cell operating in the city of Tacoma. A member of that cell, Jason “Gravy” DeSimas, was recently sentenced to four years in federal prison for a violent hate crime in Edmonds, WA. While TAN’s anti-fascist protests drew the ire of local media, the arrest and conviction of Gravy for a violent assault drew near-zero local coverage.
So we invited John Murphy, an organizer of TAN, to talk about the sentencing, what happened to Gravy’s co-minglers, and how this story fits into other events we’re seeing, in particular the federal sedition trials in Washington DC of the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys.
It’s worth noting, Gravy was sentenced to 48 months in prison but credited with time served since his arrest, He will be back on the streets and likely back in Tacoma in two years.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
-
- Tacoma Against Nazis – Twitter
- TAN – Website & Blog
- DOJ statement on Gravy’s sentencing
- John’s Prior Appearance on the Show – The Seattle Sounders, MLS, and the Need for Courage Against Fascism
- Brandi Buchman – Reporter from Daily Kos covering sedition trials – Mastodon
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Last night (Gulf Time), as Auckland City and Egypt’s Al Ahly were kicking off in Morocco, we jumped on with Dave Clark, founder and writer at Sounder at Heart. Dave knows more about football in the Arab world and Sounders youth development than any writer covering the team, so he was the ideal guest for the conversation. We talked about the Sounders upcoming match against Egyptian giants Al Ahly on Saturday and the prospects for the upcoming season, which Dave thinks may be the final run for the core of the team.
Cast of Characters
- Dave Clark – Full Moon Storytelling & Mastodon
Going Further
- Dave’s 3 Deep Sounders Depth Chart
- The history Al Ahly
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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This week we are joined by the founder and proprietor of Move to Tacoma, Marguerite Martin, to talk about what’s happening in the housing market in Pierce County. This conversation is a continuation of the discussion we had with NY based real estate consultant, Nicole Beauchamp, in December.
Marguerite, as ever, was fascinating and insightful and this conversion is worth your time.
Cast of Characters
- Marguerite Martin – Move to Tacoma & LinkedIn
Going Further
- The US Housing Market is Not Okay – Nicole Beauchamp, Engel & Volkers NYC – #180
- My AI Is Sexually Harassing Me’: Replika Users Say the Chatbot Has Gotten Way Too Horny – Vice
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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On December 22, Channel 253 hosted the first Adult Civics Happy Hour since the start of the pando. This is the second of two panels from that evening.
Cast of Characters
- Rep Elect Sharlett Mena – 29th LD – Twitter
- Rep Jessica Bateman – 22nd LD – Twitter
- Sen Yasimn Trudeau – 27th LD – Twitter
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
On December 22, Channel 253 hosted the first Adult Civics Happy Hour since the start of the pando. This is the first of two panels from that evening.
Cast of Characters
- Kari Plog – KNKX FM
- Jared Brown – TNT
Going Further
Prior podcast coverage of the Troyer case: here, here, and here.
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
As we did when then Mayor Strickland left her position, this week’s episode is an Exit Interview with Pierce County Council Chair, Derek Young. Young’s career in public service began in 1997, when he was elected to the Gig Harbor City Council, he will leave elected office in January for a gig TBD.
We spoke about the unfortunate Troyer verdict, the ways he feels he’s left the county better than when he entered office, his relationship with Executive Dammeier, what it was like to serve on the council with Pam Roach, and what’s next for him.
Cast of Characters
- Derek M. Young – not that Derek, this one
Going Further
- Derek’s first appearance on the pod – Stop Worrying About Trump and Get Active Locally
-
NerdFarmReads – Dopesick – LibroFM and Kings Books
- Direct Download Link
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
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Housing is a topic we return to with regularity. This is largely thanks to its roots and association with the Pod Auntie’s Move to Tacoma Podcast. With rising interest rates (and inflation) shrinking folks’ buying power, I thought it was time for another check-in on the housing and real estate markets. This episode has a national focus, with the intent to do a locally focused follow-up in the coming weeks.
This week’s show guest is Nikki Beauchamp. Nikki is a real estate advisor. She is based in New York City but has a reach across the country and the globe. She was dope! This is my favorite episode we’ve had in a minute and she’s agreed to come back on the pod for a Part 2 down the road.
Mentioned in the show intro: Here’s a link to my new weekly newsletter, Takes & Typos.
Cast of Characters
- Nikki – Insta and LinkedIn
Nerd Farmer Housing & Real Estate Conversations
- The Housing Market and the Ethics of Real Estate – Jasmyn Jefferson – #107
- A Protest Movement to End Homelessness – Rebecca Parson, Tacoma Housing Now – #113
- How Homeowners in Rising Housing Markets Can Fight Displacement – Marguerite Martin – #117
- The Missing Middle in Housing – Joseph Tovar, American Planning Association – #153
- Why We Need Regional Housing Solutions – Rep. Jessica Bateman – #154
- Direct Download Link
The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
The midterm election results are still being tabulated. The widely predicted Red Wave did not materialize nationally, as the Democrats retained possession of the US Senate while losing a handful of seats in the House....
Cameron Harwick is a professor of economics and SUNY Brockport. I stumbled across a video that he made explaining the causes of the current period of inflation as a result of monetary policy. Much of...
This week’s episode is our audio bookclub conversation about Michael Lewis’ The Premonition. The book is about the state-level & federal bureaucrats who foresaw the pandemic, as early as the George W. Bush administration. It...
In September, teachers in Seattle Schools went on a five-day strike. While the usual suspects in conservative media collectively pulled a hamstring faking umbrage, the community was widely supportive of the strike. Yet many people...
In September, teachers in Seattle Schools went on a five-day strike. While the usual suspects in conservative media collectively pulled a hamstring faking umbrage, the community was widely supportive of the strike. Yet many people...
After a series of episodes about mass incarceration and duplicitous, corrupt sheriffs, today’s episode is something different. We talked about Running with the Devil: the Wild World of John McAffee, a new Netflix documentary film...
After a series of episodes about mass incarceration and duplicitous, corrupt sheriffs, today’s episode is something different. We talked about Running with the Devil: the Wild World of John McAffee, a new Netflix documentary film...
In this episode, the second of a two-part series, we continue exploring the controversial term of Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look and the public record including two official investigations into...
In this episode, the first of a two-part series, we dig into the turbulent term of the elected Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look at Troyer’s influence on the investigation into...
The United States imprisons twice as many people per capita as Vladimir Putin’s Russia and four times the number of communist China. The Prison Within is a documentary about mass incarceration and the harm it...
Danny Caine is the co-owner and proprietor of the Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas. He is also the author of How to Resist Amazon and Why a zine/audiobook about the business practices of Amazon and...
On July 13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a year over year price rise of 9.1%. Driven by rising food and energy costs, the United States is experiencing the worst inflationary period since 1980....
This week, we are discussing police unions and how they protect bad actors. But it is also a conversation about the elected officials who don’t hold law enforcement accountable. This conversation is in part a...
Over the month of June, the US Supreme Court released a series of rulings that upended established precedent (accepted legal patterns) in American society. They weakened the first amendment’s establishment clause, the fifth amendment’s Miranda...
The founding thesis of this podcast back in 2017 was that national politics in the US is largely broken, possibly irreparably, and that it’s essential to put our collective energy into state/local activism, issues, and...
Dave Clark is the founder of Seattle Sounders blog, Sounder at Heart and a former color commentator for Tacoma Defiance. He came on the show to offer a mid-season check-in on the state of the...
The host of this show is not a crypto true-believer but I do dabble in the digital asset market. I remain unconvinced about the long-term value of current cryptocurrencies, but I think there is potential...
You know how we say “Black Twitter,” “Legal Twitter,” “Academic Twitter,” or “Soccer Twitter”? What if those were real and distinct communities? What if there was a smaller “[Whatever You’re Into] Twitter” free of ads,...
Vilson is a veteran of the classroom, a math teacher from the Bronx, and the author of This is Not a Test, Jose is currently away from the classroom pursuing a Ph.D. from Columbia. He...
Tori Douglass is an ex-evangelical, ex-conservative anti-racist educator. She was born and raised in the Portland Area and since 2015 has been an outspoken critic of American evangelicalism and the racism present in many evangelical...
Big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google are swimming in an absolute ocean of our private data. In any ways, we have been worn down and lulled into a sense of helplessness about it....
Ramadan begins April 3. Millions of Americans and millions of students in the US will be fasting during daylight hours for a month. We invited on Amy Daraiseh, a teacher and life coach from Chicago,...
Melissa Santos is a political reporter for Crosscut and a regular guest on the show. She joined us this week to talk about what passed and what didn’t in the 2022 Washington State Legislative Session....
Tom Rademacher is the 2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year and the author of two books: It Won’t Be Easy, An Exceedingly Honest (and slightly unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching and Raising Ollie. The last...
Jeff Hawn is a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics with an area of expertise in US/Russia relations. He previously joined us in October on episode 143 to talk about democratic erosion in...
The Portland Timbers are a men’s professional soccer team playing in Major League Soccer (MLS). The Portland Thorns are literally their sister club, a women’s team, playing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Both...
Tacoma Safe is a new group spearheaded by Angela Connoly. Connoly is a wealthy, socially conservative, activist, who previously led and funded an anti-LGBT effort called the Just Want Privacy Campaign. That campaign sought to...
Jessica Bateman is a former planning commissioner and former member of the Olympia City Council. She currently represents the cities of Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey in the Washington State Legislature. She joined us on the...
Joseph Tovar helped draft Washington State’s growth management act and has served as lead planner for cities across Western Washington. He has a theory: we’ve gotten good at building condos, we’ve always been good at...
The current Congress is our country’s 117th. They were elected in 2020 and will face voters in the midterms later this year. Today they are returning after their winter break to take up the many,...
A founding premise of the show is that political engagement in state and local politics is essential. It is because of this that each year we preview the upcoming state legislative session. This week we...
In arguably the most important piece of local journalism of 2021, Will James did a three part story on the displaced residents of the Merkle Hotel in Downtown Tacoma. The Merkle was the last of...
Dr. Will Horne is a history professor at Villanova University. He is also the founder and editor of The Activist History Review, an online journal created in 2017 to contextualize US history in light of...
Our guest this week is Miri Cypers. She is the Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League in the Northwest. The ADL’s is a legacy civil rights organization whose mission is to “stop the defamation of...
Over on Crossing Division, Evelyn has covered redistricting in Tacoma, in particular the 27th legislative district. In this conversation, we were planning to look at the whole state, including a conversation about the Congressional District...
From QAnon to Anti-vaxx nonsense, from Stop the Steal to the CRT moral panic, the US is awash in disinformation. It comes to us via Facebook, in barbershops, from group chats, and sermons from the...
Victoria Woodards is the incumbent mayor of Tacoma and running for re-election. Her opponent Steve Haverly is a small business owner. He is a newcomer to the political scene and a relative unknown. Haverly is...
Back when Washington State first started voting by mail in the 2010s, I started hosting Bring Your Ballot Parties. These were gatherings where we would discuss the merits of various candidates and ballot measures in...
Democratic erosion is the process by which democratic states drift, inch by inch, into authoritarianism. On paper, Russia has among the best democratic systems out there. In reality, like in the US, things are a...
Anne Lutz Fernandez is a former marketer, investment banker, and recently retired English teacher. Her 2015 book Schooled, is a collection of stories from teachers across the US about their experiences and challenges in US...
Claudia Rowe is a long-time journalist, currently writing opinion pieces for our friends at Crosscut. She recently published a piece detailing how Seattle Public Schools has shed 2000 students during the pandemic to private schools,...
This conversation is the final of a series of episodes we will be releasing along with the ladies from IWL in preparation for what will likely be another very weird school year. This time we’re...
This conversation is part of a series of episodes we will be releasing along with the ladies from IWL in preparation for what will likely be another very weird school year. Robin Lake is the...
This conversation is part of a series of episodes we will be releasing along with the ladies from IWL in preparation for what will likely be another very weird school year. Bill Hanawalt is the...
Last week Pierce County held its August primary. Turnout was weak and progressive candidates struggled locally and across the state. This is a familiar pattern in odd-year elections in Washington: turnout is low, but the...
In my Government & Politics classes, I have taught students about debt and deficits in a doctrinal way for nearly a decade. But recently I have started to question what I (and likely you) learned...
Everywhere you look, there is an endless parade of stories warning us about the dangers of inflation. This is a familiar song, for most of my adult life, in particular online, inflation hawks have been...
Andrew Ujifusa is an assistant editor at Ed Week. He recently reported on the Critical Race Theory (CRT) moral panic sweeping much of the country and the teacher censorship bills that are being proposed in...
Dr. Amy Young is a professor of media studies at Pacific Lutheran University. She specializes in rhetoric and is working on a forthcoming book examining the evolution of conservative rhetoric. Her manuscript takes us back...
Reggie Middleton is an investor and expert in the fields of DeFi (decentralized finance) and cryptocurrency. He made his name by investing in the real estate market in the early 2000s and then shorting much...
On the evening of March 3, 2020, Manuel Ellis, a thirty three year-old Black man, was murdered by police in South Tacoma. For the last year, local police via the media and official statements have...
Dr. Tiffany Smith is a former K-12 educator, podcaster, and story collector. While working overseas she taught in Morocco and Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Her graduate dissertation is about the push and...
On April 23, 2021, Derek Chauvin, the police officer that murdered George Floyd, was convicted in a Minnesota court. Two months prior to Floyd’s killing, in March of 2020, another Black man named Manuel Ellis...
Covid has disrupted every aspect of our society, but its impact on education may be its most long lasting. Pierce County is blessed with a wealth of higher ed institutions: UWT, Evergreen Tacoma, University of...
In April, Melissa Santos* published a story in Crosscut about nearly 200 Washington State police officers with documented credibility issues. The offenses range in severity, but the violations are serious enough that prosecutors around the...
The OL Reign regular season begins in May. We wanted to do a season preview with the Dean of NW Women’s Soccer, Susie Rantz. We talked about new arrivals to the team, Coach Farid Benstiti’s...
The Seattle Sounders went to MLS Cup last year and were sadly and soundly defeated by Columbus. In the off-season, the Sounders lost some beloved players including Gustav Svensson, Kelvin Leerdam, and Joevin Jones. We...
For a lot of people conversations about personal finance are gauche and to be avoided. As a result, I regularly see people, including former students, lament not getting a meaningful education in personal financial matters:...
Here’s what we know for sure know: on January 27, recently elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer was involved in an incident where at 2am he stalked and confronted a Black newspaper delivery driver, Sedrick...
One of the things that moving to Abu Dhabi has taught me is that I have some intellectual blindspots that I want to use the show to help address. For example, I recently realized in...
Jenny Giandalia has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over a decade. She came on the pod to talk about the first two Covid vaccines that have been approved from Pfizer and Moderna and the...
Logic Amen is a musician, storyteller, and fellow-educator. He also is the host and creator of the Griot Party Experience, a Seattle based community story-telling series. He joined us to talk about his thoughts on...
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson is a meditation on the social conditions Black Americans have been subjected to in US society and an examination of how the various systems in the US are influenced by and...
Jenn Smith is the engagement editor for the Seattle Times’ Education Lab. She relocated to Seattle late last year to join the Ed Lab Team. Ashley Gross is the youth and education reporter for NPR...
Although I have been talking about housing issues, literally for years, I am really just now getting my head around the extent to which existing homeowners and their advocacy are the cause and cure of...
Sometime around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan 23, 2021, a crowd gathered at 9th and Pacific in Downtown Tacoma, watching one or more cars spin and burn circles in the intersection. A Tacoma Police Department...
I couldn’t bring myself to do a year in review episode. Besides, it is beyond cliche to complain about 2020 being hot trash. So instead, we decided to look ahead. On this episode we talk...
On January 7th, a day after the coup and fascist insurrection at the nation’s Capitol, a Confederate flag suddenly appeared on the wall of a student in a virtual classroom in Tacoma, WA. Natalie Bowman,...
Even if you aren’t from Tacoma, homelessness is likely an issue in your community. Tacoma Housing Now is a recently created community coalition committed to engaging in direct action protests in order to pressure local...
After an appropriate period of mourning, it’s time to put a bow on the 2020 MLS season and the Sounders run to MLS Cup. It was a weird year. If we’re being honest, I’m not...
In November, Chris Reykdal was re-elected to a second four-year term leading OPSI, the state’s department of K-12 education. Chris was elected in 2016 and he and his deputy, Dr. Michaela Miller, have spent much...
One of my favorite things to do on the show is have someone who is way smarter than me walk me through a topic I am curious about. This episode we’re looking at post-conflict states...
Julie Anderson is the Pierce County Auditor. She oversees elections and voter registration for Pierce County. On this episode she explained the election security procedures in Washington State, how ballots will be tabulated, and why...
Derek Kilmer is the US Representative for 711,000 people in most of Tacoma and the entire Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. He was elected to Congress in 2012. In this conversation we talked about what will...
For better or worse, housing is a commodity. Let’s be honest — it’s for the worse. In the decade since the 2008 housing collapse, housing prices have exceeded the pre-crash highs and more than doubled...
Sarah Frier is a technology reporter for Bloomberg. Her book No Filter is purportedly a history of Instagram, but it reads (to this reader) as an indictment of Facebook the corporation and its Founder Mark...
This episode is our long awaited #NerdFarmReads conversation about Know My Name by Chanel Miller. Miller’s 2019 memoir is her story as a survivor of sexual assault by Brock Turner, the Stanford Rapist. The memoir...
This week Nate hosted Crossing Division – Tacoma’s Talk Show, a sister podcast on the Channel 253 Network. He interviewed regular show host Evelyn Lopez about her recent discovery of the Tacoma Weekly’s pay-to-play endorsement...
Claire Handscombe is a bookseller at East City Bookshop in Washington DC and Book Champion for LibroFM. She is a blogger, web designer, and curator of books playlists. We invited her on the show to...
Derek Young is in his second term as a member of the Pierce County Council, representing District 7. When I saw this article about police use of “vascular neck restraints” (an Orwellian law enforcement euphemism...
Live sports are an important part of my life and this show. Before we departed the states we were season ticket holders to Tacoma Defiance, Sounders FC, and Husky football and had half season passes...
Mohammed Kloub is the engagement editor at Crosscut, a Seattle based news outlet, in partnership with KCTS 9. Moh, who previously held a similar position at the Seattle Times Education Lab, is one of the...
T’wina Nobles is a member of the University Place School Board and a candidate for the State Senate in the 28th legislative district. She is challenging Senator Stave O’Ban, the long-time GOP incumbent. T’wina is...
Sharlett Mena is challenging Representative Steve Kirby, the long-time Democratic incumbent, in the 29th legislative district. The 29th covers much of South & East Tacoma, Parkland, and Lakewood. If elected she would join past show...
You can draw a fairly straight line from mass incarceration, to the war on drugs, to police militarization and misconduct, to the protests we are seeing across the US today. This episode traces that line....
While we are all rightfully paying attention to the protests against police violence, the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the State of Washington and the nation. The fastest growing outbreak in Washington is in Yakima...
How to Fix a Drug Scandal, directed by Erin Lee Carr, is a Netflix Docu-series about a drug lab scandal that rocked the State of Massachusetts in 2013. In the series we learn about two...
Cast of Characters James Miller: Director of Admission, Seattle University Kim Thomas: Equity facilitator, freelance college admissions consultant (First of Her Name) Carinna Lee Tarvin: AP World History Teacher, Lincoln High School The Covid-19 outbreak...
In September, on NF Episode #73 we discussed the book “How Democracies Die” by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky as part of our Nerd Farm Reads Book Club (#nerdfarmreads). This week in light of events...
This week Channel 253 is launching a new show called Gimme the Mic. They’re six-pack podcasts from folks in Tacoma sharing their unique stories and points of view on matters that impact all of us....
Tom Rademacher is loudmouth and I love him for it. An author and activist, Rademacher is an outspoken, anti-racist educator, who was named the State Teacher of the Year a few years back. This bio...
Man, we really picked a helluva year to move twelve timezones away… I am amazed watching the various efforts to confront Covid-19 in the US. In particular, I am blown away watching people I care...
The Census, redistricting, reapportionment, gerrymandering — it is all up to you. This week’s guest is Managing Director at the Washington Census Alliance, Kamau Chege. We discussed the 2020 Census and why everyone who listens...
Fact, everyday black women in the US are simultaneously under assault from the forces of institutional racism and institutional sexism. They are the most educated demographic group: when measuring degrees earned, black women are the...
In late January, I happened to be in Shanghai at a Model UN Conference when the Corona Outbreak began in Wuhan Province. Since then I have been watching events unfold in China and elsewhere. Throughout...
🚨🚨🚨 NEW Theme Music from Producer Doug 🚨🚨🚨 The Rundown She describes herself as a “Dreamer, Blerd, Educator, Disruptor of Ridiculousness, STEM & Digital Access Advocate.” Rafranz is a former math teacher, former district...
Two-time show guest Claudia Rowe is the author of Time Out, an e-book about Willard Jimerson. Jimerson was a young black man for South Seattle who was charged as an adult, convicted of murder, and...
Joy Turner is a podcaster, activist, US Army Veteran, and Louisiana native, who currently works in data for Seattle Public Schools, this interview, however, is in a personal capacity. We had her on the show...
Currently a journalist for Daily Kos, David is an American freelance journalist and blogger. He received the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000 for a domestic terrorism series he produced for...
Melissa Santos is a writer for Crosscut on the State Government beat. She is a three-time guest of the pod and on December 19 she created national news with her reporting on the activities of...
In December, we spoke to Seattle Times beat writer Jayda Evans, at the conclusion of her first season covering the team. She’s a long-time sports writer at the Times and new to the soccer beat....
Last Sunday we recorded the first-ever Nerd Farmer Live episode at the Swiss in downtown Tacoma–if you didn’t make it you missed out. In the conversation, we focused on the most important stories facing the...
Yesterday, Channel 253 attended the press conference announcing the sale of Reign FC to Olympique Lyonnais (OL). After the press conference, we huddled in the Mauro Rosales Suite at Estadio Cheney to digest the day’s...
Zahava Stadler is the Director of Policy for EdBuild. Zahava believes that child poverty and community economic health are at the root of the largest problems facing American public education, and she is excited that...
Jason Wilson is an Australian-born academic turned journalist residing in Portland. He is currently on the far-right, white-supremacist, and right-wing street brawler beat as a correspondent for the Guardian. Jason has a myriad of articles...
Thanks to the Seattle Sounders trip to MLS Cup and the ability to use Alaska Airlines Miles on Emirates — Nate is back in the Moonyard Studios! 📣📣📣📣 This episode is with show veterans Zach...
Michael Artime Professor of Political Science PLU Ph.D. & M.A. in Political Science from the University of Missouri and his undergrad from McKendree University in 2003. His students ignite his optimism and his love of...
This is the first episode of the podcast recorded after the move to abroad to UAE. We open segment one of this episode with a guest appearance from Interchangeable White Ladies co-host, Hope Teague-Bowling. We...
Welcome to the final episode recorded in the mesmerizing, captivating Moonyard Studio in picturesque North Tacoma. Nate will back in seven days with the first episode from Abu Dhabi. Cast of Characters Amy Young,...
Dr. Isiaah Crawford has been the President of the University of Puget Sound since July 2016. His CV is long: A licensed clinical psychologist who has been the dean of the College of Arts and...
Cast of Characters Andrew Hammond: co-host Flounders B Team, Sports Writer at Tacoma News Tribune Trayton Otto: Tweeter, Sounders Supporter, Thoughtful Dude Sarah Hampson: UW Professor, Fan of the First Amendment, 2x Pod Veteran ...
Only 11% of teachers in Washington State are people of color. Dahlia Bazzaz wanted to get to the bottom of why and in doing so did one of the best local education reporting projects in...
EXTRA, EXTRA: This is a special Fight the Fash edition of the Nerd Farmer Podcast. In response to the decision by Major League Soccer and the Seattle Sounders to ban supporters from displaying the Iron...
Professor Gilda Sheppard Sociology and Cultural Studies at Evergreen has been working on a film for admittedly 12 years focusing on the systemic institutionalism of persons of color called Since I Been Down. Dr. Sheppard...
Dr. Dominic Corva: Founder, and Executive Director at the Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy. Dr. Corva has a PhD in Political Economy of Drug Policy from the University of Washington. He...
Megan Oyster is a defender with Reign FC and has made two appearances on with the US National Team. She’s a UCLA graduate and joined Reign FC in 2018. Previously she played for the Boston...
This summer the US National Team is competing in the World Cup in France. Susie covers soccer for Sounder at Heart and co-hosts Coffee & Valkyries, a Reign FC focused podcast on the Sounder at...
This bonus episode of Nerd Farmer is a sponsored conversation with Alaska Airlines, a supporter of the Nerd Farmer podcast and Channel 253. Two guests from Alaska Airlines—Natalie Bowman and J’Keren Sears—stop by the studio...
This podcast is rooted in the belief that local politics and elections matter. Going all the way back to episode number two, Stop Worrying About Trump and Get Active Locally, with Pierce County Councilman Derek Young, we have advocated for folks to pay more attention to local government here in Tacoma. Filing Day has passed and the 2019 primary will go down in August. In November, we’ll elect City Council Members, Port Commissioners, and School Board Directors. It’s time to get informed about who is running now.
Our friends over at Citizen Tacoma will have in-depth interviews with each of the candidates after the primaries. In the meantime, this episode is what we do best on Nerd Farmer–a barbershop chop-up about who is running this election cycle: Evelyn brings the PDC reports and Desiree brings the real talk.
*Note: this episode begins with a very special personal announcement, #YNWA
Guests:
Desiree Finch, FUSE Washington
“Auntie” Evelyn Lopez, co-host of Crossing Division & writer of True Tacoma
Coming Soon:
ACHH XV, the Real State of the City: June 17 at 6pm at Pacific Brewing
The #NerdFarmReads Bookclub Discussion of “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
Philip Cowan has been the Executive Director of the Grand Cinema for nearly 13 years. The Grand Cinema is a nonprofit community gathering spot for independent, international, and local films.
The Rundown
8:00 How does a film go from being independently produced to being on the big screen in Tacoma?
15:00 How do you know which movies you’re going to have at the Grand?
20:00 How do you choose which movie screens in which theater?
26:00 Can we talk about the film Hail Satan for a minute?
30:00 First films, favorite films, oddest films?
The 5-ish
- What should our listeners watch, one thing to read, one thing to listen to?
- What is something that everyone loves that you know is pretty terrible.
Get in touch with The Grand:
philip@grandcinema.com
grandcinema.com
Become a Member of The Grand:
https://www.grandcinema.com/membership/
Movies Mentioned in this Episode:
RBG
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
Kenny
Sorry to Bother You
High Flying Bird
Hail Satan?
Kandahar
Juno
Grizzly Man
The Brink: Steve Bannon Documentary
Maiden
The Hate U Give
Grab a Book from King’s Books (or anywhere books are sold) and join #NerdFarmReads: How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
This week Nate was joined by former CIA agent and author of The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House, Nada Bakos. This episode a follow-up to episode 56, when we talked to Washington Post Reporter, Joby Warrick, the author of Black Flags. Nada discussed her work with the CIA, leading the hunt for the leadership of ISIS.
Rundown
12:00 What is a “Targeter” and how Nada got into intelligence work?
20:00 Nada discusses trailblazing a path for women in the CIA. What did it look like to seek Abu Musab al-Zarqawi?
24:00 Discussion about policymakers and intelligence.
29:00 Life after the CIA and the transition to civilian life
32:00 What are the similarities between foreign terrorist organizations and white nationalists?
34:00 Nada discussed the fight against ISIS in 2019 and how the Trump Administration is managing the fight.
The 5-ish
What to watch? Killing Eve
What to read? Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler
What to listen to? Fresh Air
What is something everybody loves that you think is awful?
Bonus watch from Doug: The Prisoner
@nadabakos
Read On
The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House
Grab a Book from King’s Books (or anywhere books are sold) and join #NerdFarmReads: How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member
We realize it’s really early to start thinking about this, but we decided to do an episode on the 2020 Democratic Party primary field. We each brought our Top Five candidates to the conversation and talked through their pros and cons. We also talked about who we do not support (no 75+ year-olds), and who we’d like to join the race: there’s policy, there’s frivolity, and there is some straight-up nonsense.
Guests:
Steve Ketelsen, 27th LD Treasurer, host of the Flounders B-Team Podcast on Channel 253
Hope Teague-Bowling, host of Interchangeable While Ladies on Channel 253, spouse of the pod
Megan Holyoke, AP Government teacher at Lincoln HS, apparent devoted Pete Buttigieg supporter
Hosts note: I don’t want to replace the oldest president in US history with an even older person, so Bernie and Biden didn’t get a lot of love on this episode. Speaking of Bernie, if you’re all “I love Bernie’s policies” but are a “hell naw” about Sen. Warren… I have some questions for you.
Going Further
Pete Buttigieg interview with Ezra Klein
John Delaney interview with Axios and Medicaid for All Plan
Jay Inslee CNN Townhall & Pod Save America
Beto O’Rourke 2018 Senatorial debate with Ted Cruz
Megan’s Interchangeable While Ladies interview
Muffet McGraw press conference on gender equity
The Five-ish
To read: The Three Body Problem
To watch: Queer Eye
To listen to: Charlamagne tha God interviewing 2020 candidates
The Socials
Hope: @espionfire & @IWL
Steve: @podfish & @FloundersBTeam
Megan: @megan_holyoke
#NerdFarmRead Bookclub
Grab a Book from King’s Books (or anywhere books are sold) and join #NerdFarmReads: How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes,Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines. Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member.
As you know from last week’s episode, Reign FC will be calling Tacoma Cheney Stadium home this season. This episode we welcomed the most consequential US soccer player of all-time (man or woman), Megan Rapinoe and the majority owner of Reign FC, Bill Predmore.
The Rundown
3:00: Bill and Megan on why Reign FC are moving to Cheney Stadium?
6:00: Megan’s first reaction to “We’re moving!”
12:00: Reign FC roster talk: who should we be looking out for this season?
16:00: Rapinoe’s takes on playing for Vlatko Andonovski
19:00: A discussion about women the coaching ranks of both men’s and women’s soccer
20:00: Why we should all go to these games–besides to boo Portland…
26:00: Candid thoughts on the #SheBelievesCup performance and the pending lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation
45:00: Listener Questions
The Five-ish (we’re looking for a new name for this segment–if you have ideas, shout)
Pinoe and Bill: One thing to watch, one thing to read, one thing to listen to.
What is something that everyone loves that you know is trash? (Dick’s Burgers and Kombucha)
The Socials
Twitter @ReignFc
Instagram @MRapinoe
Twitter @mPinoe
Get Tickets–no really, do it!
ReignFC
Grab a Book from King’s Books (or anywhere books are sold) and join #NerdFarmReads:
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines. Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member.