Ep. 147: An IWL State of the Union

EQ: What exactly is the state of this union right now?

Megan and Hope convene for the annual IWL State of the Union. We kickoff the episode discussing the “official” SOTU and favorite and most absurd traditions from the event. We also talk about their own  “Dumpster Fire’s” from the previous year, like the potential Republican POTUS nominees for 2024, but also highlight the “Glimmer of hope” that come along with these things. The second half of the episode is focused the effort to avoid performative outrage and avoiding “basic” activism and allyship. We discuss how easy it is to get caught up in cyclical outrage and how it is important that we not, because the real people that are impacted by these issues go on being impacted even when the public stops paying attention. We share that we are going to be recording follow-up episodes about these key topics in the coming weeks and months. Starting with revisiting Residential Schools in both Canada and the United States.

If you have any helpful/relevant information of know somebody who would make a good guest for any of the following topics, please reach out to Hope (hope.teague@gmail.com) or Megan (megan.holyoke@gmail.com) :

• Banning of books in classrooms/educational laws in Florida

• The water crisis in Flint, MI and/or the Ohio train crash environmental crisis

• Immigration and border crisis regarding the children separated from families at the border

• Chinese Residential Schools for Tibetan Children

Related Articles:

• State of the Union Traditions

• “How Florida’s New School Librarian Training Defines Off Limits”

• Desantis’ Academic Restrictions Show He Hopes to Change History By Censoring It

• Why Are There Empty Shelves in Florida Schools?

• Crippling Teacher Shortages

• Tennessee Bill to ban Drag Shows in Public Spaces