Housekeeping: Next Book Club

A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns

Feeling a need for light and levity, Nate and this week’s guests recommend films. Jamika has us think and Katy has us thinking about Christmas.

Note: We at Nerd Farmer Podcast love Stan Lee, his comics, his movies, and his genius. He will be missed.

Wakanda Forever, Sir. Excelsior.

Does This Film Hold Up?

-Katy-

Secret of Nimh

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World  

Sixteen Candles  

Richie Rich

It Takes Two  

Home Alone 2  

Queen of the Damned  

-Nate-

Top Gun

Lethal Weapon  

Porkys  

Purple Rain  

The Outsiders  

Memphis Belle  

The Abyss

The Usual Suspects  

-Jamika-

Beauty and the Beast 1991

Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella  

Top 5 Katy

Moonlight

Let the aright One In

John Wick

Heathers

Sorry to Bother You



Top 5 Jamika

In Bruges

Addams Family Values

Eave’s Bayou

Sin Nombre

Top 5 Nathan

Brotherhood of the Wolf

The Way of the Gun

Malcom X

Menace II Society

Spaceballs

Coming Out and Cuffing Up

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Boy Erased

If Beale Street Could Talk

Widows  

The Favourite

Aquaman

Netflix Top 5

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Shirkers

Carol

It Follows

The Witch

Black Panther

Thor: Ragnarok

Children of Men

Honorable Mention Must Sees

Mary Poppins Returns

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

RBG

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond  

On the Basis of Sex

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Anna and the Apocalypse  

Contributor Cat’s Favorite Flicks

Princess Bride

1954 Sabrina

Wizard of Oz

Dogma    

Shawshank Redemption

Books

Crazy, Rich Asians

Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger

Her Body and Other Parties



The 5

  1. Is there a movie you didn’t get a chance to share?
  2. What are you listening to or reading right now?
  3. What do you think is terribly overrated?
  4. Why are Android Phones magical?
  5. Share your love of electric scooters.

Twitter

Jamika

Katy  

The mid-term elections are coming up and this time they feel a tad more dire than most years. Y’all need to vote. Hell, in Washington State we vote by mail and you can register online. Don’t be basic. Don’t be cute. Just vote.

On this episode we had on political strategist (and possessor of one of the best laughs on Earth) Christina Blocker and Jenny Jacobs, host of Channel 253’s Citizen Tacoma. We worked through the Washington State and Pierce County Voters’ Guides and gave our takes on all the initiatives, charter amendments, judicial races, legislative races, and stupid Eyman inspired “advisory votes.”

Listen this episode, share it with your peeps, but most importantly vote like your life depends on it, because for many folks in marginalized communities–especially undocumented people and the transgender community–it does.  

Going Further

Washington State Voters’ Guide

Silong, a refugee arrived in Tacoma in 1981. He’s that dude

Shelly, wife of Cambodian Genocide survivor. Ally.

Ivory, daughter of Khmer Rouge survivor. Future student at Lincoln High School.


In this episode, Nate takes us on a heartbreaking journey with these three members of the local Cambodian Community, learning of the threat of immigration detention, families being ripped apart and put back together, and living with the constant fear looming in and around the community and their loved ones.

7:00 Jumping into the threat of immigration detention

8:00 A brief lesson of how the Vietnam War affected Cambodia and personal history of how immigrants came to America.

14:30 The beginning of Shelly’s Story.

20:00 Ivory’s Story.

22:50 What does it look like when someone gets deported?

34:00 What are the relations like between local Cambodian and Vietnamese communities?

38:00 How can we (citizens) help?

42:00 Recommendation for Cambodian restaurants and dishes.

The 5

  1. Where should one go in Cambodia?
  2. What are you listening to right now?
  3. What are you reading right now?
  4. When folks visit Tacoma, where do you take them?
  5. Favorite Local Happy Hour?

Going Further

Khmer Rouge

Cambodia 1975-1979

SEARAC | Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
http://www.searac.org/

RISC | Returnee Integration Support Center
https://www.risccambodia.org/

F.I.G.H.T | Formerly Incarcerated Group Healing Together
http://www.fightwa.org/

Asian Law Caucus | Asian Americans Advancing Justice
https://www.advancingjustice-alc.org/

NWIRP | Northwest Immigration Rights Project
https://www.nwirp.org/

The Seattle Clemency Project
http://www.seattleclemencyproject.org/

1LOVE Cambodia
https://1lovemovement.wordpress.com/

Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs of Tacoma:
http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=141157

T.H.A.C | Tacoma Healing Awareness Community
https://www.facebook.com/THACWA

The Socials

Silong’s Twitter

Shelly Hem

With Book Club Guests:

Hope Teague Bowling – ELA Teacher, Pod-Spouse, Interchangeable White Lady

Kenny Coble – Tacoma’s Book Seller, Avid Tweeter, Activist, INFJ

5:00 Why should we read this?

8:00 Is diversity for white people?

13:00 What is Jeff Chang’s story?

15:00 “We Got Be Alright” is a profound example of allyship. Discuss.

18:30 Where is the solidarity between all non-whiteness?

19:30 Colorism vs Racism

23:00 Discussing Chang’s voice as a writer.

“Not a single thing that happened in Ferguson would happen in a white community.”

31:00 The media doesn’t care about non-white stories. We can tell our own stories.

35:00 Jeff Chang: “[He’s] always most interested in how people see resegregation happening in their neighborhood.” Gentrification. Resegregation. Displacement.

42:00 “The fate of Brooklyn that tells us about the fate of Ferguson.”

47:00 How do you square this book with the idea that we have consistent black leadership in Tacoma?

48:00 “Should schools try integration based on factors like socio-economic status given the challenge using voluntary race-based measures?’

54:00 Chase Hutchinson “With the discussion in the book about the Oscars, what do you think is to be learned and what do you hope to see with both the films selected this year as well as the broader cinematic art that is to be told in the future?”

There could be something to finding forgiveness, to finding wholeness, to finding reconciliation.

The Socials: Suggested Twitter Follows

Hope Teague Bowling

Kenny Coble

Jeff Chang

Nikole Hannah Jones

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, 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’s guests talk with Nate about running for office and what life is like on the other side.

First up is Deputy Mayor, Anders Ibsen. Anders ran for office of Pierce County Conservation District in 2008 while finishing his senior year at Evergreen State College. He was elected to Tacoma City Council in 2011 and re-elected in 2015. Ibsen is a native Tacoman and a graduate of Tacoma School of the Arts.

The second half of the show is dedicated to Andrea Cobb. Andrea is the current President of the Tacoma School Board. She has a BA is Sociology from Willamette University, Masters in Public Administration from University of Washington (Go Dawgs) and is currently working on a PhD in Education Leadership & Policy Studies. Andrea is also a Proud Lincoln Alum and second generation Abe.

Anders Ibsen:

“The only thing innate is desire. Everything else can be learned.”

11:00 Council District Boundaries.

13:00 How to get involved?

14:00 Getting Started.

16:00 How much to run? Where does the money from?

19:00 What seats are coming open?

22:00 What’s next for Anders Ibsen?

Andrea Cobb:

“If not me, then who?”

27:00 What were your hesitations?

30:00 What’s it like to campaign and raise money?

31:00 Being Legitimate. If you can’t find your space, take it.

35:00 Experience with the Op Ed Board

40:00 I try to live in a place where not everyone is having an experience that is the same as my own.

43:00 If you were the tsar of Tacoma Schools- what would be your focus?

The 5 with Andrea Cobb

  1. Favorite lunch spot in Olympia?
  2. Southern Kitchen or Uncle Thurms?
  3. Choose one song to listen to for the rest of you life?
  4. Favorite member of New Edition?
  5. When you bring folks from out of town, where do you take them?\

Going Further

People For The American Way

Front Line Leader Academy

The Socials

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

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 iTunesStitcher, 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.

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 iTunesStitcher, 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.

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

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

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