This week Nora and Marcus start where all great late-stage-capitalism horror stories begin: Trump's "golden age of affordability," $10 lattes, and a Starbucks bear cup that looks like it escaped from Dollar Tree on work release. From there, they dive into the Epstein files, congressional clownery, and the ongoing revelation that the powerful are exactly as gross as we always suspected.

Then historian Peniel Joseph shows up to draw from his new book Freedom Season. He walks us through why 1963 was a hinge year for civil rights, how backlash is baked into progress, and what today's fights over voter suppression, book bans, and basic human dignity owe to that era's coalitions and courage. Nora and Marcus then close with a tender closing reflection on grief, family, and remembering our way toward a better future.

Mentioned in the episode:

It's never too late to tell a family member you love them. Until it is. | Nora's grandfather's NYT coverage of March on Washington

Books by Peniel E. Joseph:

Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America's Civil Rights Revolution | The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. | The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century | Stokely: A Life | Dark Days, Bright Nights From Black Power to Barack Obama

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

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Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

In our 25th episode, Marcus and Nora do what any self-respecting pair of exhausted optimists would do: celebrate by looking back at all the chaos we somehow survived together.

They revisit the best, wildest, and most unexpectedly therapeutic moments from In the Meanwhile: the mutual-aid revelations, the metanarrative nerd-outs, the Gaza truth-telling, the working-class rage, the billionaire clownery, and the profound relief of finding out we're not the only ones screaming into the void.

There's also: a pop quiz no one studied for, a democracy pep talk from Mama Green (queen), a brief interlude dragging Senate Democrats (deserved), and proof that they've technically out-podcasted Barack Obama. Plus, their trademark Eight Ounces of Joy, future dream guests, and a reminder that community, humor, and righteous indignation are the only things getting any of us through this timeline.

Mentioned in the episode:

Democrats and the end of the shutdown | Katie Wilson | #11: Katie Wilson | Seattle & King County voter turnout | #3: Civic Bravery (ICE Detentions) | #5: Dean Spade | #16: Tricia Rose | #17: Douglas Rushkoff | #8: Gabriel Teodros | #13: Dr. Daudi Abe | #21: Byron Sigcho Lopez | #10: Francesca Fiorentini | Doing the Reading | ICE Signal chat data leak | Podchaser | Guest Rant: Now is the Time to Hope, and Vote

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

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Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

Nora and Marcus are back—running on caffeine, civic duty, and sheer willpower—joined once again by Charles Douglas III of Common Power. Together, they break down the chaos that is election week: why Seattle's slow counts might actually be a good sign, what the polls keep getting it spectacularly wrong, and how to turn that fleeting campaign adrenaline into real, lasting community power. They dive into big-tent politics, the art of re-humanizing our movements, and why voting should be so boring it's revolutionary. Charles brings the hope, the humor, and a reminder that democracy isn't a one-night stand—it's the long-term relationship we build together, one conversation, one community meal, and one ballot at a time.

Mentioned in the episode:

Guest Rant: Now is the Time to Hope, and Vote | Common Power | Protesters at Kamala's book talk in Seattle | Nancy Pelosi retiring | Insider trading among elected officials | Wall Street Billionaires Now Offering to Help Mamdani | Graham Platner | Prime Minister | Rebecca Solnit on 2024 election | Mike Davis: Despair is Useless

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

It's that time again, when democracy throws on a sequined gown, downs a few too many shots of optimism, and texts us at 2 a.m. like, "Hey stranger… you up to vote?"

This week, Nora and Marcus are joined by Charles Douglas III of Common Power to talk about what happens beyond Election Day: the gritty, essential, and deeply human work of keeping people fed, fired up, and politically awake once the confetti settles and the hashtags fade.

Because when the ballots are counted and the headlines move on, the real story begins — the one we write together. Lucky for us, democracy's still kicking, but only if we keep showing up to do the steady, everyday, occasionally caffeine-addled work of keeping it alive.

Mentioned in the episode:

Common Power | Seattle Mayoral election | Tressie McMillan Cottom article | The Stranger - How a KUOW story became a weapon in the mayor's race | Community support and mutual aid during Montgomery Bus Boycott | Kat Abughazaleh | Mamdani campaign soccer match, scavenger hunt | Atlantic Magazine: Trump's plan to subvert the midterms | New Disabled South campaign for SNAP benefits | Oregon Coffee Shop raises money for free food | Barbara Golden | South Seattle Emerald | Dick Gregory sparks in darkness

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo: Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

What happens when you combine nude bicyclists, dancing frogs, and 7 million patriots saying "hell no"? Joyous resistance. Though MAGA would prefer we forget it, protest is as American as apple pie - from the Boston Tea Party to the summer of 2020. This week, Marcus and Nora are joined by Nadine Bloch - activist artist, puppetista, movement facilitator, and nonviolent organizer - to debrief No Kings 2.0 and talk about what's next. As authoritarian 'creep' becomes authoritarian creeps at warp speed, how can communities mobilize sustained, creative, and even joyous nonviolence resistance? Bloch walks us through noncooperation strategies, offering equal parts pragmatic hope and realistic appraisals of the fight we're up against. It's a call for all of us to dig deep, get organized, and, as Bloch puts it, "make revolution irresistible." Just try to walk away uninspired!

Mentioned in the episode:

Freedom Trainers | Seattle strike 1919 | Flint Michigan strike 1937 | Montgomery Bus Boycott | Washington Spirit 'Free DC' chant | jury ullification | malicious compliance | Japan's new prime minister | Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution | Marcus' latest stranger column| ICE spending on weapons | Year of Yes | Paul Ingrassia | No Kings was the largest mass protest in US history | Colleges rejecting Trump's Faustian Bargain

More of Nadine's work:

Beautiful Rising: Creative Resistance from the Global South | We Are Many, Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation | From Airtable to Zoom: An A-to-Z Guide to Digital Tech and Activism | Education & Training in Nonviolent Resistance | SNAP: An Action Guide to Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding | WagingNonviolence | Endpoliticalviolence.org

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

Chicago is not a war zone. It's a community under siege, refusing to flinch. This week, Nora and Marcus talk with Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez about what happens when federal power turns local neighborhoods into testing grounds for fear, and how people fight back with tamale deliveries, neighborhood networks, and unapologetic solidarity. It's a raw, unfiltered look at what resistance actually means when the cameras leave: mutual aid, protest, and the daily act of refusing to look away. It's also a gentle nudge on the importance of keeping people "productively uncomfortable"—a mix of hope, humor, and a rallying cry for anyone wondering how to resist when democracy feels like it's on clearance. Spoiler: it starts on your block.

Mentioned in the episode:

Leaked messages expose Young Republicans' racist chat | Mother Jones on the Dual State Theory | 12 Years a Slave | No Kings Oct 18 | Apple pulls ICE tracking apps under government pressure | Chicago tamale vendor kidnapped | Rideshare drivers targeted at O'Hare | Chicago TV Producer arrested | Broadview resistance to ICE | Colorful Portland ICE protest met with state violence | 25th Ward | AP News: Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago | Silverio Villegas Gonzalez murdered by ICE | Murder of Laquan McDonald | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson | Chicago Executive Order: ICE Free Zone | 40% decrease in Illinois prison population | Chicago ceasefire resolution | Seattle Mariners on the brink of World Series | VICE: John Mayer and D'Angelo Backed by The Roots Is the Dream Performance You Didn't Know You Needed

ICE Resistance and Chicago Resources: Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights | Mutual Aid Map | City Bureau: How to Get Help Amid ICE Raids in Chicago | Kelly Hayes - They Came for Our Neighbors. We Showed Up. | Look for the Helpers - Chicago | How to Start a Walking School Bus | Whistle Warriors - Printable resources and Meetups | Street Vendors Association of Chicago | Chicago Operation Buyout | Hands Off Chicago | Legal Resources and Assistance from TRP Immigrant Justice

More on Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez: ABC News: Chicago alderman on the immigration crackdown sweeping the Windy City | Sigcho-Lopez on Democracy Now!

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

When the news starts looking like a haunted carnival (panic at 6, Prozac at 11), who are we supposed to trust? This week, Nora and Marcus grab the scalpel and dig into our media's open wounds with writer/editor Maggie Mertens and journalist/therapist Sarah Stuteville. They talk billionaire capture of news, the gutting of public media, and "toxic empathy"—which, to be honest, is just what people say when they're allergic to compassion. Together, they sketch a sane news diet (follow people, not brands), make the case for independent, community-rooted outlets, and ask how we turn doom into doing—from ICE resistance to Gaza coverage. It's a much-needed bit of group therapy for anyone trying to stay human in the headlines.

Mentioned in the episode:

Maggie Mertens: The State of 'The Media' is Bad. What's an Independent Journalist to do? | Photo of pastor being pepper sprayed in Chicago | Toxic Empathy on Today Explained | NPR: One Palestinian Family Shares Their Story of Loss | Study: Profiling Misinformation Susceptibility | South Seattle Emerald | Study: empathy gap + privilege | Children zip tied in Chicago ICE Raid | Cascade PBS Layoffs | CPB is shutting down | Better Faster Farther | Mistakes Were Made | Margin Call

Follow Maggie: https://maggiemertens.substack.com/

Follow Sarah: https://www.sarahstuteville.com/

Support the pod: Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus debrief a joy-sparking night with Stacey Abrams before wading into America's latest authoritarian cosplay. They're then joined by Kashana Cauley—TV writer, comedian, and author of The Payback, a razor-sharp novel about debt, policing, and survival told with humor as cutting as it is honest. She talks about why gallows humor is both a shield and a call to collective resistance. Together, they dig into scrappy resistance led by ordinary people, why "voter apathy" is really despair, and how fiction can punch holes in bad policy.

Plus: an "Eight Ounces of Joy" palate cleanser—Reading Rainbow is back (yes, with Mychal the Librarian)—reminding us the future still has libraries, laughter, and reasons not to yeet our phones into the Sound.

Mentioned in the episode:

The Payback | The Survivalists | Debt Collective | Stacey Abrams at Town Hall Seattle | Pete Hegseth doing pull ups | HUD website announcement | NSPM-7 | Reading Rainbow is back! With Mychal Threets | Assata Shakur | Kashana at the University of Illinois Chicago Oct. 29th

Follow Kashana Cauley: @kashana.blacksky.app

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus tear into the clown-car chaos of American public health: vaccine policy whiplash, Trump's acetaminophen-ass-head-of-men moment, and RFK Jr. running HHS like a crystal-healing Etsy shop. Then they call in Yale epidemiologist and longtime AIDS activist Gregg Gonsalves, who's been in the trenches since ACT UP. He reminds us: public health has always been political, authoritarians hate experts because they tell the truth, and the real antidote isn't just clapbacks, it's organizing from your school board to your statehouse.

And because you can't fight pseudoscience on an empty soul, we end with Eight Ounces of Joy: Kubota Garden peace and a serendipitous cross-country friend reunion. Proof that even in the darkest timeline, you can still find a little sunlight, solace, and maybe even a hydrangea that outlives the administration.

Mentioned in the episode:

Gregg Gonsalves | When AIDS Was Funny | Sick From Freedom | Why doesn't the United States have universal health care? The answer has everything to do with race | RFK Jr., American Psycho | ProPublica reporting on Russell Vought | Research paper on Measles/polio/diphtheria becoming endemic | How Public Health Took Part in its Own Downfall | Defend Public Health | Tom Holman accepting bags of cash | ACOG: Acetaminophen in Pregnancy | Marcus on Kubota Garden |

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

Whelp, here's the episode where we finally ask: democracy or dystopia, which one needs fewer bunkers? Marcus and Nora open on a week so wild it made "Make America Boring Again" sound visionary, then dive in with Douglas Rushkoff (creator of Team Human, and author of Survival of the Richest). We unpack why tech billionaires keep fantasizing about escape hatches, Hawaii compounds, New Zealand bunkers, and DIY Martian hydration, while the rest of us are left with the bill (and the algorithms). Rushkoff maps the feedback loop between accelerationist politics, growth-at-all-costs tech, and a media machine allergic to context, then offers an antidote: cap the "more," rebuild local, practice mutual aid, rediscover awe, and value time for its own sake. It's funny, salty, and surprisingly hopeful.

Mentioned in the episode:

AGI | Degrowth movement | The Social Dilemma | Black Wall Street | Robert Redford: the Company You Keep | Rev. Dr. Howard John Wesley: how you die does not redeem the life you lived | Journalist firings following death of Charlie Kirk | Michaela's story on SoundSide | Gabriel Teodros | Before trilogy

Douglas's work:

Team Human podcast | Generation Like | The Persuaders | Merchants of Cool | Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.