School is back in session, and so is Getting Curious! This week, Jonathan sits down with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to better understand Pell Grants, Pre-K, and how the Department of Education plays a role in each child’s education.

Dr. Miguel A. Cardona currently serves as the 12th Secretary of Education. Since beginning his journey as an educator, Secretary Cardona has served as an elementary school teacher, school principal, Performance and Evaluation lead administrator, Assistant Superintendent, and most recently Commissioner of Education for the State of Connecticut.

You can follow Secretary Cardona on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @SecCardona.

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

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Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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Refresh your beach playlist with a second serving of Getting Curious LIVE! For our last episode of the summer season, we’re giving you a taste of some top-shelf interviews recorded on Kesha's Weird & Wonderful Rainbow Ride Cruise, at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, and backstage at Jonathan’s Road to Beijing tour in Brisbane.

Featuring interviews with Detox, Thorgy Thor, Bob The Drag Queen, Erin Gibson, Nicole Byer, and Mawaan Rizwan.

Find out what today’s guests and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com, and full versions of each of the conversations excerpted in today’s episode are available for free wherever you’re listening to the show.

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Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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We’re celebrating the dog days of summer with two weeks’ worth of our favorite Getting Curious tapings from festivals, tour stops, and even a cruise. This week, cool down with interviews recorded live at Clusterfest and Outside Lands in San Francisco, and Vulture Fest in New York. The guests are amazing, the humor is on point, and the admission is free.

Featuring interviews with Cat Cohen, Ayo Edebiri, Julio Torres, Jaboukie Young-White, Michelle Wolf, Florence Welch, and Justin Theroux.

Find out what today’s guests and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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Join Jonathan and archaeologist James Doyle as they explore early Mesoamerican arts, cultures, and communities on this week’s Getting Curious. Listen in to learn about the numeral and writing systems that connected Mesoamerican societies thousands of years ago, the significance of commodities like jade and marine shell, and the ways in which Mesoamerican traditions continue today.

James Doyle is an assistant curator in the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. James is on Twitter @JamesDoyleMet and on Instagram @jamesdoylenyc.

Want to learn more? Check out some of James’ writing for the Met, including:

Ancient Maya Sculpture

Ancient Maya Painted Ceramics

Olmec Art

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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We are in for a real treat this week as Dr. Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere joins Jonathan for an episode all about dogs! How do dogs perceive colors and sounds? What are best practices for dog training? Is alpha behavior a real thing? And are Jonathan’s dogs Pablo and Elton on track to be best friends?!

Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere, Ph.D., is the Director of the Thinking Dog Center and Assistant Professor at Hunter College (CUNY) where she focuses on studying the behavior and cognition of domestic dogs, and occasionally cats.

You can follow Dr. Byosiere on Twitter @SEByosiere, and follow the Thinking Dog Center on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @HunterTDC.

Want to learn more about dog behavior? Here are some recommended resources:

How to Choose a Dog Trainer

Guide to Cooperative Care

Companion Animal Psychology Blog

Bark Magazine

Fear Free Pets

Whole Dog Journal

The Other End of the Leash Blog

Pet Professional Guild

IAABC Foundation

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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One in four women and one in two trans people will experience intimate partner violence in the United States, and the primary obstacle to safety for survivors is financial security. Sonya Passi joins Jonathan to discuss what it looks like to reframe intimate partner violence as a structural economic issue, and what it will take to give survivors the support they need to thrive.

As a sensitivity warning, this episode discusses intimate partner violence in detail. We hope that centering an episode on this important topic helps to bring awareness to survivors’ experiences, and the incredible work that Sonya and other advocates are doing through organizations like Freefrom.

Sonya Passi is the founder and CEO of FreeFrom, a national organization on a mission to create pathways to financial security and long-term safety for survivors of gender-based violence. Sonya and her work emphasize the creativity, resourcefulness, and power that each survivor has to achieve financial independence, and to build communities that support individual, intergenerational, and collective healing.

Keep up with Sonya and Freefrom’s work on Instagram @freefromdotorg, Twitter @freefromorg, and Facebook @freefrom.org.

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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On the eve of the Tokyo Olympics, we’re turning our attention to another era of athletic competitions: the ancient Olympics. Professors Sarah E. Bond and Joel Christensen join Jonathan to discuss these early games and what they reveal about ancient Greek and Roman politics, religions, gender roles, and more.

After you listen, make sure to check out Dr. Bond’s first appearance on the show: Would I Have Been The Toast Of The Ancient Mediterranean?

Sarah E. Bond is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Her book, Trade and Taboo: Disreputable Professionals in the Roman Mediterranean, was published with the University of Michigan Press in 2016. Follow her on Twitter @SarahEBond.

Joel Christensen is Professor and Chair of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. He also runs the blog sententiaeantiquae.com and the associated Ancient Greek and Roman (and Cats) Twitter account @sentantiq. He has published introductory books on Homer with Elton T. E. Barker (Beginner’s Guide to Homer, One World, 2013) and Erik Robinson (A Commentary on the Homeric Battle of Frogs and Mice, Bloomsbury, 2018) and recently completed The Many-Minded Man: the Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic with Cornell University Press (2020).

Find out what today’s guests and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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This week on Getting Curious, we’re going from table to farm to learn more about where our food comes from, and who is producing it. Activist and lawyer Mónica Ramírez joins Jonathan to discuss the history of farmwork in the United States, the labor conditions facing contemporary farmworkers, and the work she and her peers are doing to prioritize legal and mental health support for farmworker communities.

Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author and activist. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas (formerly She Se Puede).

Mónica has received numerous awards, including Harvard Kennedy School’s first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award and the Smithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award. She was named to Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list and TIME Magazine included her in its 2021 TIME100 Next list. Mónica is also an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship.

Follow Monica on Instagram @activistmonicaramirez and Twitter @MonicaRamirezOH. Justice for Migrant Women is on Instagram and Twitter @mujerxsrising, and at justice4women.org.

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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This week on Getting Curious, Sister District’s Lala Wu and Gaby Goldstein are here to remind us that there are no off-year elections, only odd-year elections—and we’re in the midst of a major campaign season.

Lala and Gaby break down why this year’s state legislature races are a bellwether for the midterms, what’s going on with redistricting, and how you can get involved in electing progressives across the country.

Once you’ve listened to the episode, make sure to check out Gaby’s first appearance on Getting Curious, in 2018 (“How Do We Flip Red States Blue In The Midterms?”) and head over to Instagram for a 2020 conversation with Sister District’s Rita Bosworth.

Sister District is a grassroots organization of over 50,000 members, which provides hands-on field and fundraising support to endorsed state legislative candidates. Sister District Action Network, their affiliated c4, focuses on political research, civic engagement and state legislator support. You can learn more at https://sisterdistrict.com/. Sister District is on Twitter and Instagram @Sister_District and on YouTube and Facebook at Sister District.

Lala Wu is thrilled and humbled to be the first woman of color to take the helm as the Executive Director of Sister District. In her previous role as the Director of Engagement & Partnerships, she successfully led the expansion of the organization's volunteer infrastructure to over 150 chapters in 31 states. Prior to co-founding Sister District, Lala was a clean energy and land use attorney. Lala is on Twitter @_lala_wu_.

Gaby Goldstein is an attorney, political strategist, and health & state policy enthusiast. As Co-Founder at Sister District, she is building progressive power in state legislatures and helping legislators succeed once elected. She serves as Political Advisor at Sister District Project, and as Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Sister District Action Network. Gaby Goldstein is on Twitter @gaby__goldstein.

Find out what today’s guests and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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Last June, LGBTQIA+ activist, journalist, and media personality Ashlee Marie Preston joined Jonathan on Instagram Live for a conversation about Pride, racial justice, and everyday acts of resistance. To round out Pride this year, we’re releasing that conversation as a podcast episode.

Follow Ashlee Marie Preston on Instagram @ashleemariepreston and Twitter @AshleeMPreston, and learn more about her work at YouAreEssential.org. Make sure to revisit her first appearance on Getting Curious, recently released from our archives: “Am I A Self-Karen?”

Find out what today’s guest and former guests are up to by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN. While you're on Instagram, check out some of our other Instagram Live conversations with activists, politicians, scientists, and more friends of the show.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Check out Getting Curious merch at PodSwag.com.

Listen to more music from Quiñ by heading over to TheQuinCat.com.

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

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