Nerd Farmer Podcast

Tacoma teachers are currently at a labor impasse with the Tacoma School District. Because the school district has the home phone number and home email address for every family they serve, there’s an information asymmetry. They can give families whatever information they choose to share or withhold and frame events in any way they see fit. Teachers don’t get to tell their side of the story. So I decided to sit down with three local educators, right after they finished their first day on the picket-lines. They each shared why they voted to strike and why they find the most recent contract offers from the district unacceptable.

Our guests:

National Board Certified Teacher, Sara Ketelsen, Math

Interchangeable White Ladies show host, National Board Certified Teacher, Hope Teague-Bowling, English

Channel 253 contributor Cat Melaunie, a new kindergarten teacher 

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines and the Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus.

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

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This week’s guests are three members of Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club.

The three men who come from vastly different backgrounds have insightful opinions and interesting perspectives.

History Lesson: John Brown was a radical abolitionist. He and his sons armed a small rebellion of escaped slaves and freedmen by raiding a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Read the whole story! Oddly, they don’t seem to teach you much about him in school.

14:00 Gun abolition is dangerous–the state is not here to defend marginalized populations.

25:00 What does the John Brown Gun Club do?

27:00 How does the John Brown Gun Club really feel about the NRA?

31:00 How does PSJBC support Tacoma Against Nazis?

34:00 Is there space for persons of color to discuss firearms, learn how to use them, and maybe even shoot?

42:00 How do we navigate the conversation between gun owning and students asking for gun control?

? Show Contributor Cat’s Note: “I’m simultaneously heartened by their existence and baffled by the notion of being that free with firearms.”

The 5: Long Reads to shape Understanding

The Rifle on the Wall: a Left Argument for Gun Rights

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

Going Further:

Patriot Prayer (they’re awful)

Examples of Hate Symbols (14/88)

Follow the PSJBGC

Facebook

Twitter

Housekeeping: Buy the fall #NerdFarmReads Book, We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines and the Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus.

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

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Note: the second half of this episode references the Thompson Group. Since recording, we’ve learned more about their long list of local clients. For more info check their website. 

In Part II of our look at Northwest Detention Center, we took an in-depth view at the politics of the Northwest Detention Center including a deep-dive at the political contributions of the Geo-Group and its lobbying firm.

Guests:

Tacoma Native, Erik Hanberg. Eric is the Co-Founder and Publisher of Channel 253, he is also the Commissioner of Metro Parks Tacoma.

Evelyn Lopez ran for mayor in 2017. She is the former Executive Director of Public Disclosure Commission. Evelyn was born in New Zealand and has become a Tacoman Transplant. For more with Ms. Lopez, check out Episode 11 of Nerd Farmer Podcast.   

Shannon McMinimee is Former General Council for Tacoma Public School, former Assistant Superintendent Yakima Public Schools, and current part-time Lecturer at University of Washington Tacoma.

Going Further:

Eminent Domain

Difference Between Welcoming City and Sanctuary City

Tideflats Subarea Plan

Jogger Detained for 2 Weeks after Accidentally Crossing into U.S. From Canada

13th Amendment

McCulloch V. Maryland

The Socials

PDC Website

True Tacoma Facebook

Evelyn Lopez Twitter

Eric Hanberg Twitter

Cedar Law PLLC

Shannon McMinimee Twitter

Housekeeping:

Housekeeping: Buy the fall #NerdFarmReads Book, We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

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In part one of our deep dive into The Northwest Detention Center, we had a conversation with Lewis Kamb and Monserrat Padilla.

The NWDC, a detention center created to hold undocumented migrants, is the largest private prison in the State of Washington. NWDC is privately owned by the corporation, GEO Group. GEO Group has more than 200 facilities that include both immigration prisons and privately operated prisons.

This week’s guests are Lewis Kamb and Monserrat Padilla. Lewis is an investigative journalist who currently writes for Seattle Times. His previous credits include Seattle PI and Tacoma News Tribune. Monserrat is the Coordinator for Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network. Monserrat has been an LGBTQ Immigrant Coordinating Director, the program coordinator for  QUIP (Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project) for United We Dream.   

Going Further:

Lewis Lamb’s NWDC article

Washington Immigration Solidarity Network

Jay Inslee Legal Defense Fund for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Priorities for Deportation

Socials:

Monserrat Twitter

Lewis Kamb Twitter

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network Facebook

Housekeeping: Buy the fall #NerdFarmReads Book, We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

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Housekeeping: Buy the fall #NerdFarmReads Book, We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

This week the pod takes on Social Emotional Learning in schools. Danielle Gonzalez of the Aspen Institute begins the podcast with her perspective on SEL and why we must teach it. She also delves into the danger of “systematic whitening” of students of color and where the national policy conversation on SEL is headed.

Next up, author and professor, Claude Steele, gives an overview of Stereotype Threat with a few ways to combat it. Professor Steele’s book Whistling Vivaldi centers around anecdote about a man-of-color whistling Vivaldi in public spaces. Steele also discussed the impact of the disproportionate ratio of white females teaching to students of color and the need for Social Emotional Learning in school.

2:00 What is Social Emotional Learning and why do we teach it in schools?

4:00 Aspen Institute convenes state superintendents to talk about leadership and disparities between white and black students. Implicit bias, interpersonal relationships, black and white students experience the world differently. See the Aspen Report here.

9:00 Is SEL a way to systematically “whiten” students of color?

12:00 Stereotype threat and the meaning behind Whistling Vivaldi.

15:00 Academic Beat of Professor Steele: What do you do?

17:30 Professor Steele explaining SEL from his perspective.

22:00 Teacher diversity and the correlation of Social Emotional Learning

“The opportunity to see yourself… in a leadership turns out to be important in the success students have.”

25:00 Professor Steele’s take on historical events that led to teachers being so homogeneously white and female. How should we develop trust between students and teachers of any color.

29:00 What should school systems do to support students social-emotional needs?

33:00 Who do you see and who have you seen do this well?

35:00 What do you [Professor Steele] wish the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, understood about Social Emotional Learning?

Going Further:

Aspen Institute

claudesteele.com

Stereotype Threat

Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude Steele

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A reminder our #NerdFarmReads Fall Book is “We Gon’ Be Alright” by Jeff Chang. Buy it, read it, tweet about it using #NerdFarmReads. We’ll record in the fall.

The World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet. Every four years billions of people worldwide tune in to watch their national teams (adopted or otherwise) compete for the most important title in sports. The month-long tournament just wrapped up. On this episode, Nate sat down with Steven Ketelsen and Kevin Zamira, two of the hosts of the Flounders B Team. Flounders B Team is a South Sound soccer podcast on the Channel 253 Podcast Network.

We discussed the cultural divisions within US soccer: “suburban & mainly white (cargo shorts)” versus “urban & mainly Latinx and African immigrant” and how it harms the growth and development of the sport in our county.

We also discussed the US failure to qualify for this World Cup. Coaching is the number one reason, but there are problems at the core. Future pod guest Matt Pentz’s Own Goal is required reading for this conversation.

We then discussed problems with player development and what Nate dubbed “the Lost Generation of USMNT Players.”

We wrapped up a discussion of about the final. 

Extra Credit & For Reference

Panama Announcers at World Cup — just watch the pride

American Fiasco by Roger Bennett — a podcast series about the 1998 World Cup mentioned by Steve

Matt Pentz’s Own Goal on the Ringer — Why we didn’t qualify in 2018

America’s Youth Development Gap

The Socials

Steve on the socials

Kevin on the socials

The Flounders B Team on the socials

*Note: During the 5 Nate didn’t have the heart to tell Steve on-air that @SoccerByIves is Jersey-based, but follow him for good Peruvian food recs anyway

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Housekeeping: Buy the fall #NerdFarmReads Book, We Gon Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

Kent is a school district located south of Seattle that serves 26,000 students and employs 3,400 people. Layoffs were announced this spring and teachers are fleeing in droves. It may be summertime, but we decided to get to the bottom of the sitch in Kent.

Guests: KNKX Youth and Education Reporter, Ashley Gross and 2018 Puget Sound Regional Teacher of the Year and 15-year teaching veteran, 6th Grade Teacher, Denisha Saucedo

5:00 Nate kicks off the show with an anecdote he’s heard about the laying-off of Kent’s entire I.T. department

10:00 What is the McCleary Decision? What is a Title I School? And what do they have to do with all of this?

19:00 Kent’s finances are especially messy. Ashley Gross explained, how unusual is it to borrow from the Capital budget and/or the Rainy Day fund?

23:00 Denisha discusses the impact of the budget situation on her students, especially her level of access to technology.

28:00 Denisha and Ashley bat around their perspectives on the level of culpability of the School Board versus the Superintendent

32:00 **Nate conflict of interest disclaimer** re: The Broad Foundation

34:00 What’s the “Geographic Footprint of Kent Schools”?

38:00 What are some solutions (spoiler: there aren’t many)?

41:00 Who should the audience follow if they want to know more about what’s happening in Kent?

The 2:

1. Denisha: Where is that necklace from?
2. Ashley: Favorite Pho Joint? (Mekong Bar, 4th & Vine)

The Socials

Ashley Gross Twitter

Denisha Saucedo Twitter

Going Further

Channel 253 Memberships

Broad Foundation

Paige Cornwell, Seattle Times

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This week’s guests are local experts on books, films, and music. We hear from Katy Evans who works for The Grand Cinema (the local arthouse theater.) We get music recs from hip hop head, local podcaster, realtor, and ex-educator Dave Jones. And we learn what we should be reading from our only four-time-show-guest Kenny “I have a lot of opinions” Coble of King’s Books.

We started the show with a reminder about the fall #NerdFarmReads Book Club: We Gon’ Be All Right by Jeff Chang: buy it, read it, tweet about it using #nerdfarmreads

Katy on Flicks

9:30 The Rider from Chloé Zhao

21:00 Sorry To Bother You

33:00 God’s Own Country

35:00 The Handmaiden

43:00 Atomic Blonde

Dave Jones on Music

15:00 Phonte, If you like Jay-Z 4:44

26:00 Khruangbin

31:00 Black Panther Hot Take

38:00 Stimulator Jones

Kenny Coble on Good Reads

18:00 Things That Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett

18:00 So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

28:00 Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

39:00 There, There by Tommy Orange

46:00 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

The Hot Take 5:

1. What’s the first thing you read in the morning? (Dave Jones)
2. Found Adult Read? (Kenny Coble)
3. Best Brunch in the city? (Katy Evans)
4. Are you messing with Kanye’s new album? (Dave Jones)
5. Favorite Action Flick? (Kenny Coble)

Going Further

What did Kanye do?

Ralph Marston Daily Motivator

Alma Mater

Black Panther IMDB

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Socials:

Katy Nicoud Twitter

iDaveJones Twitter

Tha Deacon Twitter

Kenny Coble Twitter

Tha Deacon IG

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Dr. Holliman Douglas is a Washington transplant by way of Tennessee to Kentucky. She holds degrees from Western Kentucky and Murray State University as well as a doctorate in Ed Leadership and Policy Studies from Eastern Kentucky University. She is the first person to hold this position at the college because the students wanted it, needed it, and asked for it.  She completely believes in a liberal arts education and wholeheartedly believes her (currently unborn) child will attend one, when the time comes.

12:00 What is happening in K-12 that isn’t happening in college? A discussion surrounding equity gaps, female students, historically marginalized students teach them about their future and possibilities.  How should K-12 and Secondary Ed have a conversation?

16:00 Given what’s happening with demographics, how should university prepare for the new generation of students?

21:00 Why is it so difficult for universities to create spaces?

22:00 What should the university role in helping shape our political future moving forward?

28:00 A deep dive into student retention at the college level and the factors that impact it.

33:00 What is service learning and where is it shown in Evergreen and Washington, as a state?

38:00 A conversation surrounding the ratio of faculty of color to students of color.

The 5.1

1. Solid Book Recommendation?
2. Favorite Restaurant in town?
3. If you had absolute freedom, what crazy, kooky program would you put together?
4. Netflix Recommendation of the moment?
5. Give me a TV you enjoy?
6. How did you fall in love with New Edition?

Books

The Chief Diversity Officer: Strategy, Structure, and Change Management

Don’t Touch My Hair!  

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Congressman Denny Heck is a Greener, author, film-buff, and the representative of the 10th Congressional District. His top priorities are growing jobs, growing economy, and feeding the American Dream. He serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and has strong thoughts about housing policy.

5:00 What are the primary  concerns of your constituents?

10:00 What message do the national Democratic Party have for places like Elkhart, IN and Shelton, WA?

13:00 When we vote for a Republican we get a tax-hating, abortion restricting, deregulating, gun-loving conservative. What do we get when we vote Democrat?

16:00 A realistic view of what could or might happen after midterm elections…

17:00 How housing affordability and experiencing homelessness are influencing the country and economic turns.

23:00 Do you think there’s hope for an actual bipartisan infrastructure plan soon or in the long-term?

26:00 What does tribal sovereignty look like in 2018 and the future?

29:00 Regarding recent moves by the Trump Administration: is it odd to pull out of a negotiated deal with Iran on the eve of an impending negotiation with North Korea?

32:00 What do Republicans say to you (when no one else is listening) about say about the current state-of-affairs?

34:00 Opinions on reducing the role of Gerrymandering.

Listener Questions

35:00 What should happen between now and November to prevent foreign intervention in our elections?

38:00 Why is the disposition with the house? What’s up with David Nunez?

43:00 What’s the worst case scenario/long term trajectory with respect to the tax bill and the wealthy?

48:00 Where are we nationally on the issue of marijuana?

51:00 What’s your philosophy on engaging with constituents?

53:00 Thoughts on Net Neutrality? How do you think the FCC and the courts will handle it?

The 5 (ish)

1. Greatest Movie Ever Made?
2. If you weren’t a member of congress, what would you be doing?
3. How do you pass the time on flights?
4. What was your first book about?
5. Is there a teacher out there you’d like to thank from your childhood?
6. Do you have a favorite summer break memory?

Going Further

Denny Heck Online

Find Your Representative

The Socials

Twitter

Email Denny Heck

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