Ep. 132: Spin the Bottle Elections

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EQ: Do the results coming in from the primary elections inform what is to come in November or are politics in the United States a cluster and nothing makes sense any more ever? And what, if anything, can we learn from what happened?

Aug 2  was the primary elections, gearing up for the Mid-Term elections in November. Some interesting, disheartening, and hopeful things took place. Today, Hope and Megan focus on what happened through the lens of why and how we can use that to propel us forward into November in order to see the results that we want.

Related Links:

Your Fudging Homework:

  • Find 1-2 people who aren’t registered or don’t usually vote—bring them along

Ep. 111: Back to School, Go To School Board Meetings!

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EQ: How can we better understand the anatomy of a school district in order to access levers of power & be more effective advocates in our local schools?

Hope and Megan and joined by 2 special guests, Bethany Rivard and Wendy Smith. Bethany is an award winning English Language Arts & Theater teacher at Fort Vancouver High School. Wendy is a classroom teacher and on the Vancouver Public Schools Board director. In this episode, they discuss the anatomy of a school district including who you should reach out to when you have concerns, the best way to connect with your school board members, and why you should attend and participate in school board meetings.

If you’re interested in running for local office reach out:

Do Your Fudging Homework:

Ep. 66: Let Black Folks Do What They Want With Their Hair

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EQ: How is hair discrimination a not-so-subtle manifestation of racism & white supremacy? Why can’t white folks just let black folks do what they want with their hair?

Guest:  Jenna Hanchard is a lifelong community storyteller who has spent her career centering and amplifying diverse voices. Jenna is the leader of Culture & Innovation at The Riveter Co, a women-run co-working and community company poised to become a modern union of working women. She is a three-time Emmy award winner and an Edward R. Murrow award recipient. She was also on the Nerd Farmer Podcast Episode 9 on covering Tacoma and TV News, and Episode 53 “Review in Shadecast”

In this episode, Jenna explains how hair discrimination is rooted in white supremacist ideologies that view hair style as choice rather than understanding the way hair styles reflect culture and history. She shares the story behind Washington state’s HB 2602 (a kind of “Crown Act” bill), led by Representative Melanie Morgan and the intentional language choices in this bill. Jenna gives concrete advice for how to disrupt hair discrimination in the work place (and schools). We hope you leave this conversation challenged and motivated to examine the policies that do/don’t exist in our school districts, our cities, and our states. Call your local legislator using the hotline 1800-562-600 “I’m calling to support HB 2602 because everyone deserves the right to wear their natural hair. Because not passing this bill would directly perpetuate systemic racism in our country.” ALSO, go sign The Crown Act petition!

Context for Hair Discrimination Legislation:

High profile cases for hair discrimination:

Move to pass legislation:

Progress in WA state:

Champagne & Real Pain:

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: Go watch Hair Love and watch you attitude about people's hair

  • Annie: learn history! Shout out to Teen Vogue for pivoting from vapid fluff to hard-hitting journalism.  

  • Jenna: look and see where your state is--what’s passed, not passed, look at local district policies. If there isn't a bill figure out how to get one started. If there is, go and show up. 

Follow us on Twitter @IWL_Podcast or Facebook: Interchangeable White Ladies Podcast

Ep. 51: Regressive and Racist: A Chat About Taxes

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EQ: How are taxes a social justice issue and what are smart people doing about it?

Guest: Alison Cheung, Guest from Channel 253 Adult Civics Happy Hour “The Case for Progressive Taxation”

Communications Hub Manager at Fuse Washington, a progressive political organization. Alison is a graduate of the University of Washington, where she worked on education accessibility and yelled a lot about racist housing covenants. She is currently working on tax reform. 

Alison drops some serious knowledge about Washington’s ass-backwards tax system and how it hurts people in poverty, especially people of color. Sub-topics include her effort to stop using the word marginalized (see UW Dream Project), the important work of Fuse Washington in tax justice issues, helping progressives tell a better story (via The Poet Salon and All in For Washington), working with communities that have been most impacted by our tax structure there, the systemic problems with our state tax structure (it’s regressive!), and possible solutions (a more progressive Real estate excise tax, ending Tax Breaks & loop holes - Washington State Budget & Policy Center, better distribution of wealth, and actually getting people to care about poor Black and brown communities). Additional reading includes (but is not limited to): How Racism Kept Black Tacomans from Buying Houses for Decades.

Champagne & Real Pain:

  • Champagne - we want to raise a glass for:

    • Ava DuVernay for her new Netflix creation, “When They See Us” about the Central Park 5. DuVernay is a queen of cinema and a national treasure. 

    • Roxanne Gay!! Redefining a type of voice a queer woman can have

    • EJ Ramos--model minority mix is erasing other Asians

  • Real Pain - we want to call one out for

    • Meghan McCain for hypocritically accusing Amy Klobuchar of exploiting her father John McCain’s legacy for political gain. That’s literally Meghan’s day job. 

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: pressure your legislators to fix our broken tax system that hurts everyone except the wealthiest. Go on leg.wa.gov to find their contact information and turn up the heat. 

  • Hope: The Breakup Playlist on Netflix

  • Alison: Jeff Chang “We Gonna Be Aight” (check out the NerdFarmReads episode)

Ep. 31: Not Data Without Stories, Not Stories Without Data

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EQ: Why is the work of the ACLU in the Washington important and relevant in 2018?

Guest: Vanessa Torres Hernandez, Youth Policy Director at American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. Nerd Farmer Guest Ep 27

The formidable and fabulous Vanessa Torres Hernandez joins us to talk about the intersection of education and the law. Vanessa shares the story of her early life in Guam, the culture shock of American college life, and her years as a teacher.

Highlights include:

  • We need to pay more attention to school safety  issues in Washington School Safety. Many instinctive responses to school shootings are wrong and not research based.  We need more preventative resources.

  • There is an absurd amount of racial bias in school suspensions and other forms of discipline

  • We need to question and re-imagine the role of law enforcement in schools

  • The importance of stories with data and data with stories in improving school safety - it can’t just be about numbers or feelings, we have to examine both

  • Equal Justice Works

  • Learn more about the Every Student Counts Alliance (ESCA), a new collaboration between organizations and individuals in Spokane working to end the overuse of suspension and expulsion in Spokane Public Schools and to eliminate disparities in rates of suspension and expulsion of students of color and students with disabilities.

  • Read more about WA state laws on suspension, including HB 1541 and Adopted Student Discipline Rules

Guilty Favesies

  • Hope: candles, especially if they’re on sale at Target

  • Annie: single-serving lunch snacks

  • Vanessa: celebrity gossip magazines


Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: What do you think about … Can the ACLU Become the NRA for the Left?

  • Vanessa: Attend Adult Civics HH; Flights and Rights (ACLU) in Seattle; issue oriented civic engagement--most important

  • Annie: clued in to what’s happening in legislature! Sign up for legislators emails