Nerd Farmer Podcast

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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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

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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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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

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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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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

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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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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

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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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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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