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Ep. 229: They’re Not Real, So Why Am I Crying w/ Author Kate Schatz

EQ: How does writing function as a form of activism, and what does it mean to tell stories that challenge the systems that shaped women’s lives?

We welcome Kate Schatz, feminist author, educator, and public speaker, to our podcast this week to discuss her brand new novel Where the Girls Were, released March 3, 2026. Many listeners may already know her from the bestselling Rad Women Worldwide series or from Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book, which she co-wrote with W. Kamau Bell. In our conversation we discussed the impetus for her activism how it shapes both her fiction and nonfiction writing. From setting to character development, Kate gives insight into the choices for her novel and how she hopes it impacts readers. We could not avoid examining how the text juxtaposes agency and shame in a pre-Roe era  and how it’s currently published in a time Roe v. Wade has been overturned.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

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Ep. 228 Sisters, Sinners & Sleuths w/ Author Margot Douaihy

EQ: How is art (and literature) giving us hope in these crazy times? 

In this episode we welcome back Margot Douaihy to talk about her newest novel, Divine Ruin, the third installment in the delightfully gritty Sister Holiday mystery series, released January 13, 2026. Our conversation about her new novel launches us into a more philosophical conversation about the relationship between the sacred and the secular, and the materiality of life. From fighting for our art, making a case for broader literacy, to considering how faith, guilt and forgiveness are all intertwined, Margot pushes our thinking about literature and our relationship with words. If that wasn’t enough, we also contemplate whether or not addiction is a moral failing (original sin?!) or something else. We also hear her professional hot-take on the impact of AI on creative writing and poetry.

Related Links:

Do Your Fudging Homework

  • Annie: Walk, do not run, to read Margot’s work and pick up your own copy of Divine Ruin. You’ll be very glad you did. Support your local bookstore in the process and it’ll be a big win for everyone. 

  • Margot: Danez Smith “For Renee Good”; write a poem of your own!

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Ep. 227: Hold On To Your Tinfoil Hats

EQ: How can we hold onto necessary joy in the midst of fascistic dread and existential horrors and alleviate the guilt associated with maintaining healthy boundaries with the daily news?

In this episode, we try to make sense of a truly unhinged February 2026 news cycle, from the slow drip of the Epstein files to the ongoing denials and distractions from Donald Trump, and the growing fear around a militarized federal police force after ICE killings in Minneapolis. We talk through what it feels like to watch the U.S. unravel in real time, including the inside outside perspective of being American abroad, how people in our lives are actually talking about the news, and where current events are quietly (or loudly) breaking relationships. Even cultural touchstones like the Super Bowl feel heavy right now, and we sit with how exhausting it is to live through overlapping crises and nonstop distraction. We also wrestle with all the unverified claims circulating online and how hard it is to filter what we are seeing, while still making the case for rest, small joys, dark humor, and showing up where we can as a way to stay human in a moment that feels overwhelming and absurd.

Do Your Fudging Homework

  • Annie: Find your glimmers of joy and hope right now. They don’t have to be big, but they have to be yours. Chase after them. 

  • Hope: Book from a long time ago “Hope in the Dark”, Rebecca Solnit, Rebecca Solnit makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Oscar nominations (Sinners, Train Dreams, Bugonia is weird an interesting); Moroccan baths folks. Go get scrubbed.

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Ep. 226: What’s For Dinner w/ sweetpea flaherty

EQ: What books or trends do you think will define the reading experience for 2026, both for individual readers and the community your bookstore serves?

Guest: We are back with the one and only sweetpea flaherty of King’s Books in Tacoma. sweetpea joined us recently on Ep 214: Shelf Awareness, Ep 196: New Year Fresh Reads, Ep 186: Pumpkin Spice & Bookish Advice and  Ep 184: Hot & Steamy Summer Reads 

In this episode, we decide to treat book recommendations like meal prep. We refuse to limit the number of apps, mains, or desserts we consume. So, what’s for dinner?

Hors d’oeuvres/Antipasto

Main Dishes

Banchan/Side Dishes

Desserts/Aperitifs

As always, we want to thank our team…

  • Executive Producer: Doug Mackey

  • Assistant Producer: Doug Mackey

  • Sound Producer: Doug Mackey

  • Audio Engineer: Doug Mackey

  • Theme Music by: Doug Mackey

  • Resident Gentleman and Scholar: Doug Mackey

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Ep. 225: What Pop Culture Icons Can Teach Us About Economics w/ Swiftynomics Author Misty Heggeness

EQ: How do women’s visible and invisible  economic contributions reshape our understanding of the modern economy, and what reforms are needed to recognize and support their full economic power?

In this episode, Annie and Hope sit down with economist and author Misty about her book Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, considering how pop culture can help reshape the way we understand economics. Misty explains the origins of the book, the audience she envisioned, and why it was necessary in this moment. Our conversation moves through key themes including reinvention, survival, misogyny, care work, motherhood, and self-investment, highlighting the visible and invisible ways women sustain the economy. Misty unpacks how women’s economic contributions have been historically overlooked and undervalued. We examine how figures like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé provide a lens for understanding women’s economic power within larger structural systems and how making women’s labor visible can support equity, agency, and long-term change across different stages of women’s lives.

Related Resources:

Do Your Fudging Homework

  • Annie: Swiftynomics will be available January 27th, so consider adding it to your nonfiction TBR.

  • Hope: If you’re feeling intimate by books about economics, try one! You might be surprised.

  • Misty:  Learn more about Taylor Swift’s inspiration for a couple of her songs by reading Clara Bow or The Bolter

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Ep. 224: Goodbye 2025, We Won’t Miss You

EQ: How did 2025 live up to or exceed our expectations?

In this episode of IWL, Hope and Annie look back with humor, honesty, and a healthy dose of side-eye, asking whether the year lived up to expectations at all. From Korean skincare and bold, joyful aesthetics to political wins and  AI overload, nonstop global crises, and media consolidation fatigue. 

We asked listeners to share their joys, self care secrets and wildest events of the year. Stories range from milestone celebrations and unexpected personal growth to collective rage, political whiplash, and finding comfort in small, grounding rituals. Together, the episode becomes a communal reckoning with a chaotic year, balancing exhaustion and hope while naming the moments that made survival, connection, and even delight possible. Shouts to Channel 253 Members and People’s Pilates

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Ep. 223: The Magic of Christmas Lights w/ Holiday Hero Katy Evans

EQ: From hyper-nostalgic decor to handmade gifts, what are the biggest Christmas trends for 2025 and what do they tell us about the current state of the economy and social cohesion (aka are these just recession indicators wrapped in holiday paper)?

Guest: Katy Evans, author of Confessions of a Christmas Loving American Atheist

Today’s episode is all about what Christmas means to us! For new and long time listeners, who've never heard the Katy Evans Holiday Hero inception story, we deliver that as well. From stupid Southern Living Holiday trends to Ralph Lauren matching plaid, and what holiday foods make us the most happy, this episode will have you laughing and reminiscing. 

Related Links:

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Ep. 222: Aging Boldly w/ Menopause Coach Micheline Foss

EQ: How can understanding and openly talking about menopause transform it from a silent struggle into an empowering stage of growth, health, and self-discovery for women and the people who support them?

In this episode of IWL, we take time for an important conversation some of us are having in the shadows. Aging and menopause. Micheline talks us through what menopause really is, how our understanding of it evolves over time, and why she’s committed to changing the narrative around this huge life transition. From navigating medical dismissals and making informed decisions about HRT, Micheline helps us reframe our thinking about this phase of life.  We wrap with three simple things anyone can do today to feel better during perimenopause or menopause and what gives her hope as the conversation finally starts to shift.

Check out her website and work Aging Boldly, her menopause playbook and free resources.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: I shouldn’t recommend things I haven’t read yet and our expert guest can weight in on their thoughts about this book, but I recently had someone in my life recommend Genderqueer Menopause by Lasara Firefox Allen, which looks promising. That’s not my actual homework, thought–my actual homework is to spend time reflecting on how menopause affects queer, always including trans, people in unique ways as an exercise in allyship and empathy. 

  • Hope: Don’t be afraid to talk about menopause, or perimenopause–host a party where you and your friends can learn together (shout out to Crissy Calera)

  • Micheline: Let’s connect—follow me in Instagram!

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Ep. 221: Who Gets to Be the Hero w/ Author Natasha Bowen

EQ: How can storytelling rooted in myth, history, and identity help reclaim forgotten narratives and reimagine who gets to be the hero in fantasy worlds?

Guest: Natasha Bowen; follow her on Instagram @natasha_bowen_

YA author Natasha Bowen takes a moment from her writing deadline to join us on the podcast to discuss how she moved from the classroom to full time writing, why the fantasy genre (and especially mermaids captured her imagination) and what it feels like to build a world shaped by real folklore, history, and creativity. We talk about the moment she knew she had to write Skin of the Sea, the research behind West African mythology and the Mami Wata, and the role the sea plays as both a setting and a symbol. Natasha explains how her writing choices are influenced by her obsessive personality, her resistance to being told what to do, and her joy of fun, fast-paced and visceral reading experiences. Natasha shares why it was important to her to center protagonists that exist outside the lens of colonization, showing a wider range of representation, joy, power, and myth. She also gives us a look at her upcoming novel, Call of the Dragon.

  • Annie: Please support Natasha’s work via a local bookseller like King’s Books in Tacoma and please heed my perpetual advice–just read. Don’t make excuses. Pick up a book, okay? It’s a good time to be super literate. 

  • Hope: Find the thing your obsessed with and find what another culture or country believes about that topic.

  • Natasha: Go out of your comfort zone and try to find books and authors who write stories you haven’t read before.

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Ep. 220: Jaw and Order

EQ: What does the idea of “Mar-a-Lago Face” reveal about how politics has become not just about beliefs, but about identity, aesthetics, and the faces we show the world?

This episode takes a closer look at one of the strangest overlaps between politics and pop culture: the rise of “MAGA face.”  It started as a viral trend but has turned into a look that says as much about power and belonging as it does about personal style. From viral “Mar-A-Lago Face” headlines to plastic surgery modeled after Ivanka Trump, this aesthetic isn’t really about beauty; it’s about power, wealth, and identity. The discussion explores how politicians have become influencers, how cosmetic surgery can act as a form of political branding, and the irony of condemning gender-affirming care while embracing its own version through fillers and facelifts. Ultimately, we ask what it says about our culture when political identity can be read right off someone’s face.

Related Resources:

Do Your Fudging Homework

  • Annie: Do some personal reflection on what gender-affirming care actually is. We need to have more nuanced conversations about gender anyway, and this is a fair place to start. Please jump on the Channel 253 Slack and share your thoughts on this topic. We’re always interested in listener perspectives and this one is pretty fraught. 

  • Hope: Find peace and accept who you are as you are. Stop trying to please other people in your pursuit of beauty and health.

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Ep. 219: Moving Beyond Choice Into Reproductive Justice w/ Loretta J. Ross and Marlene Gerber Fried

Guests: Loretta J. Ross and Marlene Gerber Fried 

EQ:  How can reproductive justice move us beyond debates about individual choice to confront the broader systems that shape people’s ability to have children, not have children, and raise families in safe, supportive communities?

With our guests, we wrestle with how reframing the abortion debate as a conversation about reproductive justice broadens the conversation, connecting personal experiences to larger systems of oppression including racism, white supremacy, eugenics, and patriarchy. The discussion covers the historical and policy context of abortion in the United States, the power of language like reprocide, the necessity of coalition building across political and social lines, and the importance of community-based, judgment-free support services. Our guests also share the core principles of reproductive justice, the origins of the framework, and how activists can apply a justice lens in practice, both nationally and internationally, to secure reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy for all.

Additional Resources:

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Ep. 218: The Heart of Tacoma’s Queer Youth Community

EQ: What role do queer youth centers play in the community and what unique challenges do they face in the current political climate?

Guest: Wayne Rowser, Oasis Youth Center

In this episode, Hope and Annie sit down with a longtime advocate and community leader from Oasis Youth Center to talk about what “queer” means today and why spaces like Oasis are so important for Tacoma’s LGBTQ+ youth. We explore the history of the organization, how it began, the programs it offers, and the key role of a drop-in coordinator in creating safety and belonging. Our guest reflects on years of volunteering with queer organizations, how that work has evolved, and how it has shaped their own understanding of identity and community. We also discuss what it’s like to lead a queer youth organization in today’s political climate, how young people are experiencing it, and how it influences Oasis’s work. As the school year begins, our guest shares practical advice for educators and families on supporting LGBTQ+ students and offers meaningful ways the Tacoma community can show up for Oasis and the youth it serves.

👎🏻RFK Jr. continues to be on his BS, directing the department of Health and Human Services to slash $122 million from 200 different research initiatives focused on DEI and LGBTQ+ issues. 

🥂The National Institutes of Health has just awarded a major grant to doctors and scientists at Oregon Health Sciences University to study the health outcomes of three people from various places in the world who were unexpectedly cured of HIV after receiving stem cell transplants for cancer. P

🥂Tiktok/Instagramer sharing how to prepare if Obergefell v. Hodges will be review & overturned

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: Put your money where you beliefs are

  • Annie: Whether you live in Tacoma or elsewhere, find an organization like Oasis that you can support with a donation of your money, resources, or time. 

  • Wayne: support local small businesses; support local performers/drag queens (The Hause of Lyfe)

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Ep. 217: Sharp Humor, Big Hearts and a Touch of Murder: Jesse Sutanto Returns

EQ: How are contemporary authors exploring themes of belonging, identity, and inclusion in today’s writing landscape?

Bestselling author Jesse Sutanto is back to talk about the whirlwind success of Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, reflecting on how her career has shifted in recent years and how cultural and political landscapes shape her work. She shares the inspiration behind Vera Wong, and how she mixes humor with more serious themes around family, belonging, and identity in her novels. Jesse also describes how she navigates stereotypes, the importance of authentic representation in publishing, the impact of BookTok and social media on her connection with readers. We get a little hint at what she’s working on next!

Related Link:

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: We’re facing down a literacy crisis in America the likes of which we’ve never seen. So, really, you should be reading more in general and why not start with Jesse’s books? Support a creative who’s doing groundbreaking work while bettering yourself in the process.

  • Hope:  Ditto (and go read the Vera Wong series!)

  • Jesse: Abandoned Queens by Richard Panchyk

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Ep. 216: Twenty-Three and Not Me

EQ: Why are white people so obsessed with genealogy and what are the ethical implications when genealogy becomes entangled with nationalism?

Guest: Zach Powers,  communications director of a Pierce County health equity and access nonprofit and a freelance nonfiction writer who contributes frequently to the Seattle Times' Pacific Northwest Magazine.

This week we're getting into the messy, strange obsession with genealogy and DNA tests. From being Team 23andMe, believing  the feds are spying on us to  TikTok takes and sports metaphors about fandom and heritage, we ruminate on why many Americans are tracing their roots. Our guest, Zach Powers, helps us connect loyalty, community, and the way ancestry shapes identity be it in the form of fandom or  nationalism. We talk about the gap between geographic vs. national heritage (because, sorry, free-kicks bend, but ancestry tests don’t), how white Americans flex Native ancestry, and how facing uncomfortable histories can open pathways to healing. Are ancestry tests a flex, a way to belong or necessary to pick your next World Cup team? TBD. 

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: If you choose to research your family history, use your best discretion when disclosing personal information. Some groups that run genealogy websites are not neutral third parties and have a vested interested in collecting information about you. Protect yourself online. 

  • Zach: “The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are” by Libby Copeland

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Ep. 215: Skinny Jeans Were Never the Real Enemy

EQ: To what extent is the conception of things being “cringe” reinforcing fascist ideology and manifesting white supremacy?

Cringe isn’t the enemy—conformity is. In this episode, Hope and Annie  expose how cringe culture became a social weapon, keeping people in line and silencing individuality. From Gen Z’s obsession with “the ick” to the weird war on Millennial behaviors, we trace the real dangers behind calling something cringe and why it plays right into the hands of control and fascism. Our hot take? To be  cringe is to be free. It’s time to stop worrying about jean cuts and start worrying about our civil liberties.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: Watch Legendary!

  • Annie: Be annoying and loud and uncool. We don’t have time right now to be quiet and demure and hungry for the taste of boot leather. To be cringe is to be free, so be free.

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Ep. 214: Shelf Awareness w/ Sweetpea Flaherty

EQ: What should we be reading this fall?

Guest: Sweeatpea Flaherty of King’s Books and Tacoma celebrity status has returned to grade us with their expertise and book recommendations for the fall! Sweetpea has been a bookseller since 2000, lived in Tacoma since 2003, and took over King's Books in 2010. They host events weekly and have 13 book clubs (now 15). kingsbookstore.com

Other questions:

  • Worst book you've read this year so far?

  • Book with the most promise but failed to deliver? 

  • Most underrated book you've read this year?

  • Book that pleasantly surprised by– better than expected or otherwise–Nico Case memoir The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You” and John Wistwell “Someone You can Build a Nest In”

Non Fiction:

Food/Drinks:

Poetry:

Memoir/Biography

Fiction:

Great Books:

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: American War & What Strange Paradise, Egyptian-Canadian Omar El Akkad autobiography One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” )

  • Annie: Andrea Gibson, rest in power. Find new and interesting ways to support authors - Alice Oseman on Patreon. Seattle’s first all-romance bookstore, Lovestruck. FMC in Missoula. Niche bookstores and public libraries in new cities!

  • Sweetpea: Pre-order books signal to publisher

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Ep. 213: Caucasity in the Kitchen

EQ: What do viral TikTok trends like deviled eggs, water-based recipes, and beef tallow skincare reveal about how social media shapes our food culture and redefines what we consider craveable or creative cuisine?

Today, the three IWLs get into the ridiculousness of social trends. From the resurgence of deviled eggs, to a seeming obsession to integrating beef tallow into one’s skin care routine. This episode topic is ridiculous and we know it. Perhaps our nonsense will bring some levity to your summer. 

Related Resources:

Champagne & Real Pain:

🥂 The gal who made fake home goods decor & snuck it into the store “this house is filled with Love and natural Gas”

🥂Gingers are the New Black

🥂The Bellingham bee-keeper community coming together when 40 million bee were released after the semi carrying them tipped over.

Do Your Fudging Homework (Annie):

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Ep. 212: Yes, It is That Deep

EQ: Are you making everything too political?

In this episode, Hope and Annie discuss how to respond to people who accuse you of making everything political. From running 5ks with Palestinian flags to Trump watching Les Mis at the Kennedy Center, more often than not, yes it is political. And that should be just fine.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

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Ep. 211: Telling the Truth Without Selling Out w/ Katie Wallace

EQ: How do institutions navigate the line between storytelling as advocacy and storytelling as exploitation—especially when funding is on the line?

In this episode, we welcome back educator and youth advocate Katie Wallace who joined us back on Episode 83: Kill the Ogre of Post Secondary Ed w/ Katie. With over 18 years of experience in education and nonprofit leadership, Katie returns to share her two cents on the line between advocacy and exploitation. We wrestle with the ethics of storytelling in a post-affirmative action landscape, where Black and Brown students are increasingly expected to turn their trauma into personal narratives for gatekeepers' approval. From the rise of the "trauma essay" to fundraising strategies that tiptoe or trample over the line into white saviorism, we try to pin down a very complex and abstract topic by centering human dignity. Katie brings insight, honesty, and hope as she discusses how to shift power in storytelling and how to ensure young people, especially those from marginalized communities, retain full agency over their own narratives.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes (The Lesbiana’s Guide To Catholic School)

  • Megan:

  • Katie: Tipping Point - Trevor Noah with Malcolm Gladwell - its ok to change your mind

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Ep. 210: We Listen AND We Judge

Note to Listeners: We recorded this episode on June 28. Since then, the Supreme Court has dropped a few more opinions and rulings.

As expected, the Supreme Court had a busy end of June. Some significant surprises dropped Friday morning. Annie and Hope jumped onto the mic to try to make sense of the rulings.

Related Links:

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