Nerd Farmer Podcast

Matt Driscoll: Columnist for The News Tribune, Decent Dude: “What I gathered from Evicted are the Stories.”

Candice Ruud: Government Beat Writer of News Tribune, Former New Yorker: “We all come from different places and we could all end up experiencing homelessness.”

Halley Knigge: Professional Communicator, Astute Reader, Cancer-Beating Bad Ass, Raconteur : “This book is perspective changing.”

Evicted is a book of our times, the tales of vulnerable families, living on the brink, and sometimes going over the edge into poverty.

4:30: As the relationship between tenant and landlord becomes more transactional, It makes people living in rentals more vulnerable. Sharina, the landlord in Evicted, is such a landlord. The book gives perspective on both the harsh reality and necessity of the character, her job, and her lifestyle.

11:30: Halley shares her personal struggle with cancer and how this book both impacted her and brought to light all the “what-ifs” and “maybes” that could have broken her and her family with recent developments in her life.

16:30: Is there an eviction epidemic in Tacoma? If so, how are we  handling it, if at all? We do have a waitlist for Section 8 housing that is not much more than a lottery.

21:00: The panel discusses not their favorite, but most resonant passages of the text. 

30:00: Once you have an eviction, the difficulty increases. An eviction severely limits one’s ability to get good housing, as well as the location of the housing. Some persons would like to argue that is is our choices to lead us to the lives we live. But what are the choices?  

34:00 How can we make connections from Evicted to Tacoma Current State of Affairs? How do we define affordable housing and what is it?

38:00: Why is there so little political energy guided toward this problem?

43:00: Where are the points of light and hope in the book?

48:00: Advice from the panelists about why listeners should read this book?

Twitter

Halley Knigge

Matt Driscoll

Candace Ruud

Author Matthew Desmond

Books!

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

We Gon' Be Alright by Jeff Chang   

In this week’s episode Nate dug into the current 60 day legislative session with Sen. Jeannie Darneille (D-27, Tacoma).

4:00 We begin with a discussion of Western State Hospital and the state of mental health treatment in Washington. This lead to a discussion around arresting and incarcerating people with mental illness (8:00) and the struggles with staffing mental health nurses across the state (11:30).

14:00 Speaking of health care, Jeannie addressed the state’s investment in its children. How can we treat them, give them preventative care, and help via government health programs?

20:00 In Washington, some of our students with the highest needs are in our 36 juvenile detention centers. Jeannie addressed the Alternatives Initiative, reducing census, and “status offense.”

23:00  This lead to a discussion about banning suspensions for all students from kindergarten through second grade, racial disproportionality (25:00), preschool, and language acquisition. (27:00).

39:00 How are we dealing with statewide issues, such as de-escalation in law enforcement and deadly force.

44:00 Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the nation. So Nate pushed Jeannie to talk about tax policy and possible tax reforms, especially in the aftermath of the $1.5 trillion tax cut passed by Congress.  

53:00 Given the Democratic Majority in the both Houses of the State Legislature, Nate asked Jeannie for a quickfire take of the likelihood of several progressive policy priorities:

1. Sanctuary state status

2. Automatic voter registration

3. Vote by mail and same day registration

4. Capital gains tax

Hot Take 5

1. What are you reading right now?

2. Who do you listen to for counsel in Olympia?

3. What’s one thing your constituents understood about the complexity about the work you’re trying to do now?

4. Ferguson or Constantine for governor?

5. When you finish with legislature, what do you want your legacy to be? Who would you like to replace you?

Going Further

The Truly Awful Kentucky Medicaid Bill

NY Times Kentucky Medicaid Article

Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves

Status Offense