For our final episode of 2021, our guest is Amanda Hood.

Amanda lives in Orange, CA and works as a Case Manager and Benefits Specialist for a homeless outreach services agency. She grew up in a small town in Louisiana, and we talk about what that was like and how her worldview has changed as her exposure to diversity expanded. Amanda gives us some great insights when it comes to people experiencing homelessness and how we can help support these neighbors in our communities.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

CONTENT WARNING: Suicidal ideation

Zach Scott recently moved from Arkansas to Las Vegas, NV with his husband.  He is the Head of Sales and Customer Success for The Dental A Team, a dental consulting company whose main goal is to increase profits, improve systems, and better everyone's involved in dental practices.

On this episode, we talk about Zach's childhood growing up on a cattle ranch in the Bible Belt, his experience coming out to his family, and how his mental health was affected over the years.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

On this third and final episode of this series, April is joined by Jamie Corbin, Ben Cremer, Kelly Holder, and Elicia Zahm as they finish their discussion about equity versus equality, how people are created equal AND created in God’s image, the dueling theologies of the Constitution and the Bible, how this is anti-CRT rhetoric is impacting students, and what we can do on a practical level.

**Please note that this is a conversation among white community members specifically addressing how white people in their area are behaving and what needs to change; this is not intended to in any way center whiteness and/or speak on behalf of Black people about their experience. We acknowledge that no people group is a monolith, and we are are speaking from our own experiences and areas of knowledge.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

On this second episode of this series, April is joined by Jamie Corbin, Ben Cremer, Kelly Holder, and Elicia Zahm as they pick up the conversation discussing the Christian voice that’s driving anti-CRT rhetoric and our personal struggles with church right now. Ben takes us to church as he shares about Jesus’ first sermon, the history of evangelicalism, and the history of Idaho. We talk about indoctrination--what it is, what it isn't, and is it really showing up in our schools?

**Please note that this is a conversation among white community members specifically addressing how white people in their area are behaving and what needs to change; this is not intended to in any way center whiteness and/or speak on behalf of Black people about their experience. We acknowledge that no people group is a monolith, and we are are speaking from our own experiences and areas of knowledge.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

After episode 14, we received quite a bit of feedback, most of it positive, but some of it was critical. The main complaint we got was that we should not have addressed Critical Race Theory without a Black person on the panel.

In this episode, Jamie Corbin and April discuss how they responded to the feedback and ways to move forward in this anti-racism work when it feels like there are so many ways to get it wrong.

This is a pretty raw, behind the scenes look as two friends who are committed to anti-racism work through criticism, discuss how to pause and process, and share ways they strive to maintain curiosity and humility.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

On this episode, April is joined by Jamie Corbin, Ben Cremer, Kelly Holder, and Elicia Zahm as they discuss Critical Race Theory through the lens of education, community, and faith. They also talk about power: who has it, who doesn’t, and why. Please note that this is a conversation among white community members specifically addressing how white people in their area are behaving and what needs to change; this is not intended to in any way center whiteness and/or speak on behalf of Black people about their experience. We acknowledge that no people group is a monolith, and we are are speaking from our own experiences and areas of knowledge. This is the first episode in a series of 3 with this group discussing history, the Christian church, American education, racism, and the humility required to meaningfully address it all. 

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

On today's episode, I have three of the best educators in the state of Idaho, and without any hint of hyperbole, the country. We spoke about what it's really been like in schools over the last 19 months, how teachers are coping and rising above, and what we can do as community members to support our teachers and schools.

Stacie Christensen is a twenty-year educator teaching fifth grade in Boise, Idaho. A professional development junkie, Christensen has been awarded numerous grants to study American history throughout the nation and has served as a Civil War Washington Teacher’s Fellow with Ford’s Theatre. The state of Idaho awarded her Master Teacher status in 2020. Also in 2020, Christensen was awarded Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Idaho History Teacher of the Year, where she was also one of twelve finalists for National History Teacher of the Year. She has since been asked to the Gilder Lehrman Institute to serve as a Master Teacher Fellow, and the National Humanities Center’s Teacher Advisory Council where she is eager to work advancing the teaching and learning of history and the humanities.

Angela Hagans started teaching in 2007. She has built her career around teaching special populations, spending eight years teaching students in a gifted and talented middle school program and then moving to an alternative high school, where she taught English for six years. Angela is now the Title I coordinator and runs the intervention program for Frank Church High School in Boise, Idaho. Learning about new ideas is what drives Angela. You can often find her reading books or talking about her favorite podcast episodes.

Rick Jordan has been teaching and/or coaching for 34 years. He has taught PE/Health at Elementary and High Schools in Idaho and Montana, and   coached basketball, track, and golf. In 2014, Rick became a vice principal is currently in his third year as principal. Rick enjoys dinner in downtown Boise, biking, running and golf.  He has been married to Christy for 31 years and their daughter, Hayley, just began her Master’s program at Boise State University.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

Kate King lives in a suburb just outside of Minneapolis with her husband of 12 years where she has been homeschooling her three kids ages 10, 9 and 6. She has spent the last couple of years writing about the unraveling of the Christianity she always called home, and now hopes to share her stories with the intent of connecting with others that are doing their best to make sense of their own spiritual lives.

On this episode, we discuss how Kate’s faith has changed over the course of her life, how she has wrestled with making sense of it all, and how she even considered walking away from God completely. She shares in such a raw way and I think so many of us can relate to and recognize ourselves in the things that she shares about how her religious experiences were at odds with her desire to find God in the difficult places.

Check out the show notes on the website for links to everything we talk about in the episode and how you can connect with Kate. You can connect with us on Facebook and Instagram to keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening!

We're back after a two month break! On this short episode, April addresses the reason for the break and how the Lazy Genius (Kendra Adachi) has helped her to process the overwhelm.