Santos came back on the show to talk about her findings and to walk us through the details of the 108 page, near year-long investigation — which coincidentally was touched off by reporting from past show guest Jason Wilson in the Guardian.

This is a must-listen.

Related Readings

Jason Wilson in the Guardian on Shea’s leaked chats logs

Full text of the State Legislature’s investigation into Matt Shea

Santos’ December 19 article: WA Rep. Matt Shea engaged in ‘domestic terrorism,’ helped plan Malheur standoff, investigation finds

Bundyville Podcast: Season 2, The Politician

The Socials

@MelissaSantos1

@Crosscut 

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Today our guest is Christina Torres also known as @biblio_phile. 

From Teach For America to leading her own classroom at the Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Torres opens up about her journey as a social justice educator.  Throughout the episode we circle back to three major questions:

1. What is my work in justice now, given my position of privilege?

2. How can I make my kids feel safe/heard/comforted at this moment in time?

3. How can I continuously reflect and grow in my own awareness about matters of justice in the world?

We know that our students will face a variety of challenges, injustices and problems in the world. It’s not about what they will experience but a matter of how they might experience it. Social justice oriented educators strive to equip students with the tools to navigate the challenges (not necessarily solve them).  We help students understand the “danger of a single story.” 

Finally, we explore the tension between staying aware and protecting our mental health/managing tumultuous times through self-care. We share our own strategies for helping students discuss these important issues while managing the array of emotion present in any given classroom.

References & Resources:

• Read Christina’s work at any of the following: ChristinaTorres.Org,  Teaching Tolerance,  Honolulu Civil Beat, TeacherPop, PRX’s OnBeing, and EdWeek Teacher.

  • Hope especially likes these two pieces: Assessment as an Act of Love; Mindfulness Won’t Save Us. Fixing the System Will. 

• According to Oxfam global citizenship is a framework where students:

• Build their own understanding of world events.

• Think about their values and what’s important to them.

• Take learning into the real world.

• Challenge ignorance and intolerance.

• Get involved in their local, national and global communities.

• Develop an argument and voice their opinions.

• See that they have power to act and influence the world around them.

• Unesco defines global citizenship in this way, “While the world may be increasingly interconnected, human rights violations, inequality and poverty still threaten peace and sustainability.”

• NPR Podcast “Codeswitch”

Do You Fudging Homework:

• Hope: read up on global citizenship and why, even if you’ve never left Tacoma or whatever city you’re listening from, you should adopt that framework for your life.

• Annie: Timeline: A Modern History of Iran from PBS NewsHour

• Christina: NPR Throughline podcast

  • Contact Christina ChristinaTorres.Org or on Twitter @bilbio_phile

We discussed her learning the soccer ropes, her Moment of the Year, Player of the Year, and Story of the Year. She also took a bathroom break during a monologue about her colleague Matt Calkins’ unfortunate opinion piece connecting Seattle Soccer fans to the attacks on “journalist” Andy Ngo. We won’t be linking to it because it’s slop, although we will link to this instead.

It was pointed out in the interview and worth pointing out here that this is an hour of two US born, black Gen Xers talking soccer together — we need more of that.

The Socials

Twitter @JaydaEvans

Going Further

Jayda at the Times

Soccer Study: A Series from Jayda

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines

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

And here are some dates and events that we discuss, and that you may want to learn more about!

• January 24:  Downtown on the Go: Aging in Place (affordable, sustainable housing)
• February 21:  Downtown on the Go: Moving into the Future (accessibility and transportation options)
• March 10:   Presidential Primary for WA
• March 20:  Downtown on the Go: Public Space for all Ages (accessible parks, public spaces)
• April 26:  Democratic Legislative District Caucuses: Legislative district caucuses meet to elect delegates to the Congressional District caucuses and State Convention.
• Second week in May (deadline May 15):  Filing week for state elections. For Pierce County and Tacoma ballots will have all state representatives, all congressional representatives, and several county council districts. Open county seats: 2 Pam Roach, 3 Jim McCune, 4 Connie Ladenburg.
• July 4:  Freedom Fair moves to Point Ruston?
• August 4:  Primary election for WA state (not president)
• November 3, The BIG election
• December:  And now onto the census!

Evelyn Fielding Lopez   @True_Tacoma

Joe Lopez   @JoeLopezTacoma

Links

• Southern Anti-Racist Project
• Channel 253 membership

Sometimes you attend a conference and one of the most powerful takeaways is a connection with someone from another part of the world. When Hope was partnered with Naketa during a pair-share exercise, she knew this was a conversation that needed to be recorded and shared with a wider audience. This week’s episode is truly a GLOBAL conversation. On December 21, Annie braved floods to record in our Tacoma studio. Our amazing guest, Naketa Ikihele woke up bright and early to record with us on her summer vacation (from her car!). Hope tried not to laugh too loudly at 1 am as she recorded in her sister’s dining room in the Philippines.

Naketa Ikihele is a primary school educator, and coach/consultant with Kia Mahira in Auckland, NZ. To start the show, she introduces herself with a traditional opening common in Maori culture that honors her family, tribe, and land. Throughout the episode, we compare NZ and US education systems, specifically focusing on how teachers fight for diversity and equitable educational opportunities for all students. Naketa shares insight into governance and the effort to revitalize cultural pride in indigenous children. She also describes how NZ systems approach challenges such as the recruitment of teachers and supporting vulnerable students. One highlight is when Naketa shares that developing partnerships with parents is starting with a simple question “what do you dream for your child?”

For further study:

• Comparing NZ and US system

• IB Learner Profile/Competencies

• Government program New Zealand Now

• Pacific Peoples in New Zealand history & context

• NZ Association for Research in Ed

• Webber and MacFarlane’s research The Transformative Role of Iwi Knowledge and Genealogy in Maori Student Success

You can follow Naketa’s work by visiting her websiteKia Mahira  or on Twitter @Naketa_NZ

Champagne & Real Pain:

• Champagne: 2019 is basically over. Good riddance. 

• Real Pain: People comparing Donald Trump’s impeachment trial to Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilot

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Hope: read one of the links we posted & make room in your mind 

• Annie: learn more about global poverty from the “We Day” website

Cast of Characters:

• Will James, KNKX on homelessness in Tacoma
• Laurie Jinkins, Speaker of the House, on the 2020 State Legislative Session

Speaker Jinkins broke some news that evening, stating one of her first actions this session is going to be to address the situation over Rep. Matt Shea and his involvement with violent, far-right organizations. We’ll have more on that story in the coming year.

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines

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

Links

• Get First Night Tacoma buttons
• Channel 253 membership

Disclaimer: I think it’s important that men engage seriously with women’s sports, that said we realize this podcast is three dudes talking about women’s soccer, but we didn’t feel like going “Hey, Megan (Oyster or Rapinoe) you wanna go talk soccer in a suite with us…” like a bunch of creeps.

Cast of Characters:

• Andrew Hammond, Tacoma News Tribune, Flounder B-Team
• Steve Ketelsen, Flounders B-Team

The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play and is brought to you by Alaska Airlines.

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