Nerd Farmer Podcast

Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 3 — Cassandra Williams, Love by the Slice — #198

This 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 Slice. Love by the Slice is a Black-owned business, located on Hilltop, directly across the street from 1111 and is the best bakery in the city.
Cassandra talked about how she got her start, selling cakes for church fundraisers, learned to decorate cakes from YouTube, and landed her space in early 2020… right on time for the world to fall apart. But she persevered and the bakery is thriving. 
Her pound cakes are ah-mazing and legendary on Tacoma’s Eastside.
Going Further
Love by the Slice on Insta
Love by the Slice
Cassandra on IWL in July 2020
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
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Nerd Farmer Live: “Episode 200” – Lessons from the Last Five Years – Jenna Hanchard, Will James, Melissa Santos, and Matt Driscoll

In 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 week’s episode is the audio from that evening.
Each All Star Guest appeared on the show for the first time in 2017 and joined us to talk about lessons learned and how they’ve become smarter over the last five years. 
We’re calling this “Episode 200”, (it’s really episode 197).
Matt and Melissa closed the evening
Cast of Characters
Jenna Hanchard, Independent Journalist – Insta
Will James, KNKX – Insta
Melissa Santos, Axios – Twitter
Matt Driscoll, The News Tribune  – Twitter
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 2 — Umi Wagoner, eTc — #196

This 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 shop in downtown. eTc is in their ninth year of operation, now located at 116 South 9th Street. 
eTc is what Tacoma wears. 
Going Further
Umi on Insta
eTc
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Running a Small Biz in Tacoma Series, Part 1 — Russ Heaton, Doyles Public House — #195

This 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 the best bars in America by Esquire. Doyle’s has been open in the heart of the Stadium District for seventeen years.
Doyle’s is a Liverpool and Sounders bar and as you will hear Russ wears his heart on his sleeve.
Admin
This Thursday, we’re hosting Channel 253 Fest. A few tickets still remain to join us for a live episode of Grit & Grain, shenanigans from the hosts of IWL, and for Episode 200 of Nerd Farmer. You won’t want to miss this!
Going Further
Doyle’s on Insta
Doyle’s website
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Reporting on a White Supremacist Hate Group in Centralia — Isabel Vander Stoep, The Centralia Chronicle — #194

A 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 Vander Stoep to talk about her reporting on the group and their activities in the area. The AFA are a hate group that wraps their white-supremacist ideology up in Nordic traditions and folklore. 
Here’s the overview from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
They defend neo-confederacy and traffic in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory:
Being a Confederate is no longer about where you live or even on which side your ancestors fought. You can be from Ohio or Pennsylvania or New York because what is now happening in New Orleans and elsewhere in the South, is your battle, too… The people who want more immigration for the precise reason that it will ensure a non-white majority in America. … These people are not just after Southerners, they’re after you too.
They also traffic in the adjacent white-genocie conspiracy theory:
While AFA leadership has often couched the group’s bigoted views in “cultural preservation” rhetoric, the “Declaration of Purpose” on the group’s website belies those curated claims in stating: “If the Ethnic European Folk cease to exist Asatru would likewise no longer exist. Let us be clear: by Ethnic European Folk we mean white people.” Such beliefs in white genocide undergird the AFA’s adherence to ethnocentrism and rigid gender roles, two through lines connecting AFA’s ideology to that of the broader far right. 
For women they preach gender traditionalism against a “guereilla feminist” agenda:
It can be hard to know where we, as women, fit in today’s modern society; what exactly our role is; our purpose. Guerrilla feminism has torn the fabric of collective female self-awareness, and we are all led from birth on a journey away from ourselves, destined for confusion and depression via mass media marketing. We are brainwashed from birth to believe that our value as women is dependent on a combination of base appeal and a willingness to imitate our male counterparts in both personality and lifestyle.
Going Further
Isabel – Twitter
Takes & Typos on the coverage of the AFA
SPLC on AFA
Two Centralia Councilors Critical of Mayor for Speaking Out Against Shop With ‘Whites-Only’ Religious Ties
2 men kicked out of National Guard over alleged white supremacist ties
Virginia Police Sergeant Suspended After Antifa Group Identifies White Nationalist Ties
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

A Call for a Tenant Bill of Rights — Zev Cook and David Galazin, Tacoma 4 All — #193

Housing 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 Tacoma Housing Now; and talked about the national housing market with a NY-based real estate consultant.
This week we’re talking about the call for a tenant bill of rights with organizers from Tacoma for All. Tacoma for All is a citizen initiative led by tenants in Tacoma and their allies. The initiative calls for protections for renters, protection from predatory institutional landlords, fair practices around excess fees, mandated situational relocation assistance, and longer notification periods for rent hikes and forced moves.
Zev and David are organizers from Tacoma 4 All and joined us this week to talk about the initiative and their efforts to garner community support for it.
Going Further
Tacoma 4 All 
Text of the initiative 
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

The Proud Boys are Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy — Brandi Buchman, Emptywheel — #192

After 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 against their political opponents.. They were instrumental in some of the most coordinated attacks on January 6. 
Reasonable countries like Canada and New Zealand have designated them as a terrorist organization. But they maintain a place on the fringe of the US right, yucking it up with elected officials and getting name-checked by the former President during a debate in 2020.
Our guest is Brandi Buchman. She’s a contributor at Emptywheel, a former senior staff writer Daily Kos and the former Chief White House & Congressional Correspondent for Courthouse News. She’s dope enough that the goons at Breitbart have written several pieces attacking her. She joined us to talk about the recently completed trial and what comes next in the string of trials of the organizers of the violence on January 6.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
Brandi – Mastodon 
Archive @ Emptywheel
Buchman on the trial – Lawfare 
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Are Your Deposits Safe in Regional Banks? — Austin Patjens — #191

In 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. In short order, Signature Bank also collapsed and several others were left looking wobbly. In response, many Americans began moving their money away from regional banks toward larger national, so-called too big to fail, banks. This trend represents an acceleration of bank consolidation, making the rich guys richer. 
I wanted to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the banking sector and did so thanks to our guest, Austin Patjens. Patjens is the VP SBA Business Development Officer Sr at Heritage Bank (he joined us for this episode in a personal capacity). We talked about the health of regional banks and why he believes your deposits are safe at banks like his and other regional banks.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
Austin – LinkedIn
Heritage Bank – website
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

On Cormac McCarthy & “Blood Meridian” — Israel Calera — #190

This 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.
An original illustration of Cormac McCarthy by Iz
He currently resides here in Abu Dhabi and he (and his extremely loud cat Winky) joined us to talk about Blood Meridian, the 1984 western novel from Cormac McCarthy.
This episode is an outgrowth of a series of conversations in Takes & Typos that culminated here.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
Israel – Instagram
Blood Meridian – 1985 NYT Review 
Cormac McCarthy and SA Cosby Are Masters of their Craft – Takes & Typos
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

Understanding Washington State’s Extremely Regressive Tax System — Melissa Hellmann, Center for Public Integrity — #189

Long 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 Taxation and the topic has come up on several other episodes. This week as tax season reaches its zenith, we wanted to get to the bottom of why the tax structure in Washington is so regressive and what we can do about it.
Our guest is Melissa Hellmann, an award-winning reporter who covers racial, gender and economic inequality. Prior to joining the Center for Public Integrity in August 2021, she covered marginalized communities for The Seattle Times. She previously worked at Seattle Weekly, and the Associated Press. 
This conversation centers on Melissa’s prior reporting in Crosscut and the recent efforts in other states to make their systems more less regressive.
Cast of Characters & Going Further
 Melissa – Twitter
Center for Public Integrity – Website
If you’re Black, saying ‘I do’ can increase your taxes – Discussed in Exit Question
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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 
Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member