Nerd Farmer Podcast
226 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 73 ratingsA National Conversation with a Local Lens
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Episodes
The Vibes Are Off, For Sure—But the US Economy is Doing Better Than You Think — Cameron Harwick, SUNY Brockport — #220
June 17, 2024 12:34 - 52 minutes - 30 MBCameron Harwick is a professor at State University of New York Brockport. He previously joined us in 2022 for a conversation about the causes and impacts of the inflationary crisis in 2022. My goal in...
How Corporate Landlords are Driving Up Rents — Emmett O’Connell, Olympia Time — #219
May 27, 2024 06:41 - 50 minutes - 28.9 MBEmmett O’Connell is a recovering journalist, who writes the blog Olympia Time and hosts the podcast Olympia Standard. He recently published an article examining the hoovering up of homes by corporate and institutional landlords and...
Navigating the Moral Minefield of AI — Randy Girdner, Artist & Filmmaker — #218
May 13, 2024 06:41 - 41 minutes - 23.7 MBIn this episode, we are joined by Randy Girdner, an educator, filmmaker, and the comic artist creator of the web comic Maurice the Beaver. This is a conversation about AI and my trepidation about its...
Everything in Real Estate Just Changed — Jasmyn Jefferson, Designated Broker and Co-Owner of Windermere Abode Lakewood — #217
April 23, 2024 14:57 - 48 minutes - 27.7 MBIn this episode, we dove into recent shifts in real estate with Jasmyn Jefferson, Designated Broker and co-Owner of Windermere Abode Lakewood. Jasmyn gave us her take on the Tacoma Housing market and the low-down...
Muslims Around the World Are Fasting: A Ramadan Reflection – Jasmine El Shear – #216
March 31, 2024 04:03 - 41 minutes - 23.5 MBThis month observant Muslims around the world are fasting in observance of Ramadan. Jasmine El Shear is an Egyptian-American school counselor in the Gulf, advising Emirati students in navigating an American school system. She joined...
Revolutions Take Generations – Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, University of Southern California – #215
March 11, 2024 15:15 - 45 minutes - 25.9 MBNathan Perl-Rosenthal is an historian of the eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Atlantic world. He focuses on the political and cultural history of Europe and the Americas in the age of revolution, with a emphasis on...
“Should Biden Step Aside?” and Constitutional Issues Around the 2024 Election – Michael Artime, PLU – #214
February 26, 2024 05:47 - 50 minutes - 29.1 MBWe invited Professor Michael Artime from Pacific Lutheran University back on the show to discuss the upcoming election. In this conversation we covered several topics: Ezra Klein’s suggestion that Biden step-aside as the Democratic nominee...
How Journalists Cover Moral Panics and Contrived Scandals – Matt Driscoll, The News Tribune – #213
January 29, 2024 08:04 - 57 minutes - 32.8 MBOver the winter holiday, Matt Driscoll, columnist and opinion editor at The News Tribune, reached out to talk about the firing of Claudine Gay from her role of President of Harvard University. Gay was brought...
Social Diversification, Blogging is Back, and How to Combat Disinformation – Dave Clark – #212
January 08, 2024 20:05 - 49 minutes - 28.1 MBHappy New Year and go Huskies! This week’s episode is a discussion about navigating the internet in an era of misinformation. Our guest is Dave Clark, founder of Sounder at Heart. He also writes at...
A Tacoma-Centric Year in Review, Part II – Erik Hanberg, Citizen Tacoma and Evelyn Lopez, Crossing Division – #211
December 29, 2023 19:06 - 34 minutes - 19.7 MBHappy New Year! Recorded live in the Moonyard Studios in gorgeous North Tacoma, this episode is the second of our two part 2023 Year in Review. If you missed Part I, you can find it...
A Tacoma-Centric Year in Review, Part I – Erik Hanberg, Citizen Tacoma and Evelyn Lopez, Crossing Division – #210
December 26, 2023 18:57 - 47 minutes - 27.4 MBHappy Holidays! Recorded live in the Moonyard Studios in gorgeous North Tacoma, this episode is the first of our two part 2023 Year in Review. We were joined in the studio by Erik Hanberg, President...
Time for Closing Arguments in the Case of the Murder of Manuel Ellis – Peter Talbot, The News Tribune – #209
December 11, 2023 07:02 - 35 minutes - 20.4 MBPeter Talbot from The News Tribune has been covering the trial of the Tacoma Police Officers who murdered Manuel Ellis on March 3, 2020. We spoke with Peter in October as the state was making...
A Blueprint for Progressive Activists to Fight & Win – David Galazin and Michael Whelan, Tacoma for All – #208
November 20, 2023 09:12 - 43 minutes - 24.6 MBEarlier this month, voters in Tacoma passed a Tenants Bill of Rights, creating among the most sweeping tenant protections in the country. The initiative was specifically designed to combat displacement in the community. This effort...
Launching a Reader Supported Soccer Journalism Project – Jeremiah Oshan, Editor-in-Chief Sounder at Heart – #207
November 07, 2023 13:47 - 51 minutes - 29.5 MBJeremiah Oshan is a recovering newspaper journalist and the editor-in-chief of Sounder at Heart. Sounder at Heart is the most read blog in US club soccer. The website was previously a part of Vox’s SB...
An Update from the Trial of the Police Officers that Killed Manuel Ellis – Peter Talbot, The News Tribune – #206
October 30, 2023 15:10 - 41 minutes - 23.6 MBManuel Ellis was murdered by Tacoma Police on March 3, 2020. The long-delayed trial of the police officers that killed him is underway and this week we’re checking in with Peter Talbot from the News...
The End of the Conflict Over Nagorno-Karabakh? – Sevinc Osmanqizi – #205
October 16, 2023 13:27 - 42 minutes - 24.3 MBIn March, on episode 188, we welcomed Azeri journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi on the show for a conversation about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On September 19, that conflict...
Republicans in Washington D.C. Can’t Govern and the Country is Being Held Hostage — Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland — #204
October 10, 2023 07:53 - 41 minutes - 23.5 MBRepresentative Marilyn Strickland is a former member of the Tacoma City Council, the former Mayor of Tacoma, and two-term member of the US House of Representatives. She joined us to discuss the recent dismissal of...
A Guide for People Thinking About Teaching Overseas — Brian Lettinga, Search Associates — #203
September 25, 2023 12:25 - 43 minutes - 25.1 MBIn 2019, my wife and I departed the US to begin our overseas teaching career. When I made the transition, I used a service called Search Associates. They helped me navigate the application process and...
Writing a Multigenerational Crime Masterpiece — Brian Panowich, author of “Bull Mountain,” “Like Lions,” and “Hard Cash Valley” — #202
September 09, 2023 13:55 - 49 minutes - 28.6 MBI belong to a group chat. It used to be about the Seattle Sounders but as they began struggling last season it became more about crime novels, in the vein of Elmore Leonard. We now...
A 2023 Sounders Mid-Season State of the Union — Jackson Felts, KJR Radio — #201
August 29, 2023 15:28 - 43 minutes - 25.1 MBThe Seattle Sounders are possibly the least convincing third place team in the history of world football. They’re about three fourths of the way through what can best be described as a Jekyll & Hyde...
On the Culture of Conspiracy in America — Sarah Kendzior, author of “They Knew” and co-host “Gaslit Nation” — #200
August 22, 2023 01:57 - 57 minutes - 33 MBOur guest, Sarah Kendzior, is a scholar with an focus on authoritarian Central Asian states. She leverages her academic background in her work as a journalist and commentator, offering unique insights about anti-democratic tendencies and...
A $47 Trillion Dollar Hole in the US Economy — Carter Price, the Rand Corporation — #199
August 14, 2023 08:05 - 51 minutes - 29.5 MBCarter is a co-author of the paper Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018 along with Kathryn A. Edwards. The paper lays out how the average American’s wages would be $50,000 higher if income growth...
Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 3 — Cassandra Williams, Love by the Slice — #198
July 31, 2023 21:22 - 45 minutes - 25.9 MBThis summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. In part three, we have a conversation with Cassandra Williams, the owner and proprietor of Love by the...
Nerd Farmer Live: “Episode 200” – Lessons from the Last Five Years – Jenna Hanchard, Will James, Melissa Santos, and Matt Driscoll
July 17, 2023 01:58 - 1 hour - 34.5 MBIn June, over a hundred friends and members of Channel 253 gathered for Channel 253 Fest, an evening of live podcasting from the Press Room in downtown Tacoma. It was a great event and this...
Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 2 — Umi Wagoner, eTc — #196
July 11, 2023 04:47 - 51 minutes - 29.3 MBThis summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. In part two, we have a conversation with Umi Wagoner from eTc, the Tacoma-based rareware retailer and design...
Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 1 — Russ Heaton, Doyles Public House — #195
June 26, 2023 11:00 - 53 minutes - 30.5 MBThis summer we are hosting a series highlighting small businesses and their struggles and triumphs in Tacoma. Opening the series, we have a conversation with Russ Heaton the proprietor of Doyle’s Pub, named one of...
Reporting on a White Supremacist Hate Group in Centralia — Isabel Vander Stoep, The Centralia Chronicle — #194
June 11, 2023 08:40 - 43 minutes - 24.6 MBA social media post by the mayor of Centralia and recent reporting by our guest, Isabel Vander Stoep, revealed the existence of an Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) group in Centralia. So, this week we invited...
A Call for a Tenant Bill of Rights — Zev Cook and David Galazin, Tacoma 4 All — #193
May 29, 2023 14:06 - 33 minutes - 19 MBHousing is a frequent topic of conversation on this show. We’ve talked to realtors about the market for first-time homebuyers; we’ve discussed Matthew Desmond’s Evicted; we’ve talked about combatting displacement; we’ve discussed efforts to combat homelessness with...
The Proud Boys are Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy — Brandi Buchman, Emptywheel — #192
May 15, 2023 13:33 - 34 minutes - 19.8 MBAfter a nearly four month trial, last week leaders of the Proud Boys were convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys are a right-wing paramilitary group that relishes street fights and violence...
Are Your Deposits Safe in Regional Banks? — Austin Patjens — #191
May 01, 2023 02:59 - 38 minutes - 21.7 MBIn one twenty-four period in March, over 42 billion dollars was withdrawn from Silicon Valley Bank in California. This led to the second largest bank collapse in US history and SVB went into FDIC receivership....
On Cormac McCarthy & “Blood Meridian” — Israel Calera — #190
April 17, 2023 16:03 - 52 minutes - 30.2 MBThis week, I sat down with Israel Calera. Iz is an artist and designer from Rio Grande Valley on the US/Texas border, the setting of much of Blood Meridian. He currently resides here in Abu...
Understanding Washington State’s Extremely Regressive Tax System — Melissa Hellmann, Center for Public Integrity — #189
April 03, 2023 06:34 - 28 minutes - 16.2 MBLong time listeners will know that the topic of regressive taxation in Washington has been a repeated talking point on the show. In 2019, we hosted an Adult Civics Hour called the Case for Progressive...
Understanding the Conflict Between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh — Sevinj Osmanqizi — #188
March 20, 2023 13:30 - 39 minutes - 22.9 MBThe show’s roots are local but it wanders wherever my interests happen to lead. Since moving to Abu Dhabi, I have had the opportunity to visit several countries I never would have considered visiting prior....
“Dopesick” by Beth Macy — Nerd Farm Reads Audio Book Club — #187
March 13, 2023 15:12 - 56 minutes - 32.5 MBThis is our long awaited conversation about Dopesick by Beth Macy. Dopesick is the story of the orign and rise of the opioid crisis and the actions of pharmaceutical companies in flooding our communities with...
The Art of the Southern Noir Novel – Eli Cranor, “Don’t Know Tough” – #186
February 27, 2023 01:46 - 36 minutes - 21 MBEli Cranor is an Arkansas based writer. His debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, is about a troubled young man named Billy Lowe, who is taken under his wing by the new football coach, Trent Powers, newly...
Tacoma Neo-Nazi Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison for Violent Hate Crime – John Murphy, Tacoma Against Nazis – #185
February 21, 2023 03:05 - 52 minutes - 29.8 MBTacoma Against Nazis (TAN) was founded in 2017 to warn the community about the presence of a violent neo-Nazi cell operating in the city of Tacoma. A member of that cell, Jason “Gravy” DeSimas, was...
Sounders Club World Cup and Season Preview — Dave Clark, Sounder at Heart — #184
February 02, 2023 04:38 - 38 minutes - 22.2 MBLast night (Gulf Time), as Auckland City and Egypt’s Al Ahly were kicking off in Morocco, we jumped on with Dave Clark, founder and writer at Sounder at Heart. Dave knows more about football in...
Understanding the Housing Market in Pierce County — Marguerite Martin, Move to Tacoma — #183
January 23, 2023 11:02 - 55 minutes - 31.7 MBThis week we are joined by the founder and proprietor of Move to Tacoma, Marguerite Martin, to talk about what’s happening in the housing market in Pierce County. This conversation is a continuation of the...
LIVE: Adult Civics Happy Hour, Previewing the 2023 Legislative Session – #183
January 01, 2023 16:48 - 42 minutes - 24.6 MBOn December 22, Channel 253 hosted the first Adult Civics Happy Hour since the start of the pando. This is the second of two panels from that evening. Cast of Characters Rep Elect Sharlett Mena...
LIVE: Adult Civics Happy Hour, the Troyer Trial – Kari Plog, KNKX and Jared Brown, TNT – #182
December 26, 2022 22:13 - 34 minutes - 19.5 MBOn December 22, Channel 253 hosted the first Adult Civics Happy Hour since the start of the pando. This is the first of two panels from that evening. Cast of Characters Kari Plog – KNKX...
He Was One of Us – Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young, an Exit Interview – #181
December 18, 2022 11:50 - 49 minutes - 28.6 MBAs we did when then Mayor Strickland left her position, this week’s episode is an Exit Interview with Pierce County Council Chair, Derek Young. Young’s career in public service began in 1997, when he was...
The US Housing Market is Not Okay – Nicole Beauchamp, Engel & Volkers NYC – #180
December 05, 2022 09:35 - 51 minutes - 29.3 MBHousing is a topic we return to with regularity. This is largely thanks to its roots and association with the Pod Auntie’s Move to Tacoma Podcast. With rising interest rates (and inflation) shrinking folks’ buying...
The Midterm Congressional Results & the Washington Secretary of State Race – Melissa Santos, Axios – #179
November 14, 2022 13:16 - 43 minutes - 24.7 MBThe midterm election results are still being tabulated. The widely predicted Red Wave did not materialize nationally, as the Democrats retained possession of the US Senate while losing a handful of seats in the House....
Grappling with Chronic Inflation and Rising Interest Rates – Cameron Harwick, SUNY Brockport – #178
November 02, 2022 16:12 - 46 minutes - 26.8 MBCameron Harwick is a professor of economics and SUNY Brockport. I stumbled across a video that he made explaining the causes of the current period of inflation as a result of monetary policy. Much of...
Michael Lewis’ “The Premonition” #NerdFarmReads Bookclub – Derek Young and Halley Knigge – #177
October 17, 2022 09:15 - 54 minutes - 31.2 MBThis week’s episode is our audio bookclub conversation about Michael Lewis’ The Premonition. The book is about the state-level & federal bureaucrats who foresaw the pandemic, as early as the George W. Bush administration. It...
A Post-Mortem on the Seattle Teacher Strike – Dahlia Bazzaz and Monica Velez – Seattle Times – #176
October 03, 2022 03:15 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MBIn September, teachers in Seattle Schools went on a five-day strike. While the usual suspects in conservative media collectively pulled a hamstring faking umbrage, the community was widely supportive of the strike. Yet many people...
WTF Did I Just Watch??? A (Spoiler-Filled) Hour on True Crime – Hope Teague Bowling and Megan Holyoke – Hosts, Interchangeable White Ladies Podcast – #175
September 20, 2022 13:03 - 52 minutes - 36 MBAfter a series of episodes about mass incarceration and duplicitous, corrupt sheriffs, today’s episode is something different. We talked about Running with the Devil: the Wild World of John McAffee, a new Netflix documentary film...
The Case Against Ed Troyer, Part 2 – Justin Camarata – Reviewing Evidence from the Public Record – #174
September 07, 2022 11:34 - 44 minutes - 30.4 MBIn this episode, the second of a two-part series, we continue exploring the controversial term of Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look and the public record including two official investigations into...
The Case Against Ed Troyer, Part 1 : Troyer and the Black Community – Jamika Scott – Tacoma Action Collective – #173
August 22, 2022 11:20 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MBIn this episode, the first of a two-part series, we dig into the turbulent term of the elected Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look at Troyer’s influence on the investigation into...
The Case Against Ed Troyer, Part 1: Troyer and the Black Community – Jamika Scott – Tacoma Action Collective – #173
August 22, 2022 11:20 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MBIn this episode, the first of a two-part series, we dig into the turbulent term of the elected Pierce County Sheriff, Ed Troyer. In this episode, we look at Troyer’s influence on the investigation into...