Nerd Farmer Podcast

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 state are obligated to disclose them to defense teams when the officers testify or provide evidence in a case, a Brady Disclosure. When that story broke, we reached out to Santos about coming on and talking about her investigation. She suggested we wait until later in the month and do a 2:1 and include a recap of the Washington Legislative Session.

We debated breaking this into two separate episodes, but instead decided to drop a double album, a la Wu-Tang Forever. If you specifically want to hear about the Brady List story, jump to 34:43.

*Yes, Santos is a member of the NF Smoking Jacket Society

Cast of Characters

• Melissa – Twitter

Going Further

• Santos’ Story in Crosscut
• A Crosscut Story Stream about the Brady List 
• Melissa on Matt Shea – the Domestic Terrorist in the Washington State Legislature
• Support Crosscut

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 4-2-3-1 scheme, the rough start for the team in the NWSL Challenge Cup, and the status of Megan Rapinoe.

If you are an OL Regin fan there’s a ton here including some smoke to Rose Lavelle rumors. If you’re new to WoSo, welcome aboard, this conversation is a great intro to OL Reign and Susie is a great follow.

Cast of Characters

• Susie – Twitter

Going Further

• Ride of the Valkyries – An OL Reign Blog
• Rapinoe on Nerd Farmer
• Megan Oyster on Nerd Farmer
• Bev Yanez on Nerd Farmer

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 also had some off-season homecomings with Fredy Montero and Kelyn Rowe.

After an extended off season, due to Covid-19, the 2021 MLS season will start for Seattle on April 16 at Lumen Field against Ozzie Alonso and Minnesota United. We invited on two of my favorite writers from the Sounders beat, Miki Turner of Sounder at Heart and Ari Liljenwall from MLS.com, to preview the roster and the season ahead. We talked comings and goings, remaining holes, new formations, and predictions for the season.

Cast of Characters

• Ari – Twitter
• Miki – Twitter

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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: debt, credit, saving, retirement, etc. Some states require a course in financial literacy as a graduation requirement but Washington State is not among them. So I brought on two guests to talk about teaching both students and adults about personal finance.

This conversation features Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani. He is the Director of the Center for Economics Education at Northern Kentucky University. He is joined by Brian Page. Brian is an award winning teacher and now serves as the Senior Director for Partnerships & Advocacy at Next Gen Personal Finance.

When in doubt, remember the advice of Marshawn Lynch: “Keep an eye on your mentals and your chicken.”

Going Further

• NKU Center for Economic Education
• Dr A’s YouTube Channel
• Brian’s Blog with NGPF

Cast of Characters

• Dr. Al Bahrani – Twitter
• Brian – Twitter

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 Altheimer, who was doing his normal route in the neighborhood.

But Troyer’s version of events and Alexander’s version of events differ: We know for sure Troyer called a special police dispatch number rather than 911, like you and me might have done; we know that 42 units were initially dispatched to the incident; we know that according to Althiemer an officer drew his gun; we know that according to Troyer on the call, Alexander threatened to kill him; we know that Troyer’s version of the story now differs substantially from the responding officer, Troyer’s own statement in the initial call, and statements made by Altheimer.

We know all of this from the reporting of Jim Brunner in Lewis Kamb from the Seattle Times. So, I invited them on the show to talk about their reporting on the story and their unanswered questions of which there are many. Give this a listen and then decide for yourself.

Going Further

• Kamb and Brunner’s original story on the incident
• Kamb’s prior appearance on NF
• Troyer’s 2017 appearance at Adult Civics Happy Hour on police community relations

Cast of Characters

• Jim Brunner
• Lewis Kamb

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 talking to a student from Pakistan that I have only a rudimentary knowledge of the history of South Asia, pre-1947. I shamefully don’t know a ton about the classical African Empires, etc. So we are going to be throwing in a new wrinkle in the show called Nerd Farmer Academy. These will be periodic interviews with academics about topics in history, sociology, and economics.

The first Nerd Farmer Academy episode centers on the interwar period in Europe and the rise of fascist states in Spain, Germany, and Italy. Our guest is Beth Griech-Polelle. She is the Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. She came on to talk about the interwar period, the death of European empires, and lessons for today. She is really, really passionate about this time period and I think it comes across in our conversation.

Look for future Nerd Farmer Academy conversations about the history of Black Arabs and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). If there’s a topic you’d like to hear discussed, shoot us an email: nerdfarmpod@gmail.com.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 mRNA technology that made them possible. She also discussed the underlying issues with the vaccine rollout in the US including the federal role and the problems with cold storage.

In the second segment of the show, she talked about her contempt for anti-vaxxers and how their movement is rooted in eugenics. She also talked about how she engages her family members and friends on the issue of vaccines.

Note: when we recorded this conversation there were few details available on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is not an mRNA vaccine like Moderna and Pfizer.

Cast of Characters

• Jenny on Twitter

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 the book Caste and its utility in both classrooms and teacher professional development. I was struck in particular about his argument that in too many cases policing and schooling are two sides of the same coin for students.

We also discussed issues of representation, the very real school to prison pipeline, and lessons from the book Caste that we can apply to K-12 and policing. Logic also hosts a radio show on 91.3 FM KBCS.

Cast(e) of Characters

• Logic Amen – Twitter

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 have influenced the caste systems in India an Nazi Germany, yep… Nazi Germany. All societies have some sort of caste structure, but only a few have such a rigged, entrenched, legally codified caste system. The book is one part memoir, one part history text, and one part comparative sociological study.

This is a roundtable conversation with people working to educate various populations about caste and white supremacy. We will have a follow-up conversation in a few days about caste in K-12 and law enforcement with Logic Amen.

A special thanks to all the listeners who contributed tweets to this conversation, especially Sandy Boyd, Aron Early, Richard Thomas, Don Borst, and Karl-Peter Hammer.

Cast(e) of Characters

• Erin Jones – DEI Consultant – Twitter
• Halley Knigge – Tacoma Against Nazis – Twitter
• Allan Belton – PLU President – Twitter

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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 affiliate KNKX. She made a prior appearance on the show to talk about the budget situation in Kent Public Schools in 2018. We welcomed them both onto the pod to talk about the education stories and trends they are keeping an eye on in 2021.

They each brought in five stories to watch this year. They talked about everything from the upcoming Seattle Superintendent vacancy, the Phonics Wars, teacher mental health, and the effectiveness of remote learning.

This episode opens with some host commentary about ongoing issues of police accountability and the Tacoma City Council’s oversight of both TPD and the City Manager.

Cast of Characters

• Jenn Smith – Twitter
• Ashley Gross – Twitter

Going Further 

• Seattle Times Education Lab
• Education Lab on Twitter

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS