Happy Mother's Day! This week's guest on the podcast is Michele McQuivey, Conor's mom! We had a really good conversation about her life and what brought her to be a mom and raise a family in Reno, the differences in parenting over the years and generations, the value of family vacations, why having adult children is the best of both worlds, what role grandparents should play in parenting, and much much more!

Super extra special thank you to my mom for coming on the show even though podcasts are definitely not her thing normally, and also thanks to her for, you know... giving birth to me and raising me and always being supportive and making sure I've had a good life. My gratitude is immeasurable.

Trustee Kurt Thigpen joins Conor on the podcast this week to discuss his path to being elected to the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees last year, the issues that schools are facing right now in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, diversity and inclusion in schools, clearing up misconceptions about new curriculum (spoiler alert, it's not critical race theory!), school funding, and much more!

Thanks for listening! Education is a very important topic so if you have feedback, guest suggestions, or ideas for future episodes of Renoites, please let me know! My email address is [email protected]

Keep up with what's happening in the school district and find your trustee's contact info at http://www.washoeschools.net

Kalin and Jinger have been a duo of professional magicians based in Reno for decades, with projects ranging from their Vegas-style show Carnival of Wonders to the intimate Magic Underground Theater, and to huge success on Broadway and around the world with The Illusionists.

This week on the podcast, Mark Kalin joins Conor to discuss their newest project, Weird Reno- a walking tour featuring magic, comedy, and Reno's weird history.

Conor and Mark also talk about the art of magic and how it's changed since Mark started performing at 9 years old, the effect of television and the Internet on the magic industry, the reason the next major figure in magic will probably be a woman, and so much more!

Thanks for listening! Learn more about Weird Reno at http://www.weirdreno.com

Happy 4/20! This week's episode is all about cannabis, with guest Haleigh Hoff. Conor and Haleigh talk about weed culture and how it has changed (and is still changing) since legalization, destigmatizing cannabis use, the weed delivery and technology company Blackbird, and Haleigh's own brand Hoff Goods! Plus some conversation on podcasting, healthy and unhealthy uses of social media, the challenges of marketing weed online, and so much more!

Check out Hal's podcast for Blackbird called "Weed Like to Talk" wherever you find podcasts! It's on all the major platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And be sure to check out her store at http://www.hoffgoods.co

Artown is gearing up to prepare for this year in a new location at Rancho San Rafael, and this week on the podcast Oliver X from Artown joins Conor to talk about the plans for 2021, the development of Reno's art scene, Burning Man's influence on Reno as an arts city, murals and public art, and so much more!

For more information about Artown, be sure to visit www.artown.org

For walking tours of Reno's murals, visit ArtSpot Reno

And visit the Nevada Museum of Art! https://www.nevadaart.org

In this week's episode of Renoites, Conor welcomes his boss and friend, Vickie Musni to the show!

Vickie, along with her husband Craig, have been operating DJ Trivia Nevada since 2013 and providing live hosted trivia in up to 21 bar and restaurant venues every week. Conor has been a trivia host with them since 2019.

Vickie and Conor discuss the win/win business model of DJ Trivia, the importance of supporting local businesses, Toastmasters and improving our communication skills, Vickie's experience as a certified personality trainer, and so so much more!

Thanks for listening!

This week, Conor speaks with Holly Welborn, Policy Director for the ACLU of Nevada. The ACLU has been involved with important civil liberties legislation and litigation for over 100 years in this country, with impacts on our freedom of speech, our right to vote, our privacy, and so much more.

On this episode, Conor and Holly focus on incarceration and issues of criminal justice, including incarcerated peoples' right to vote, abolition of the death penalty, the racial disparities of policing cannabis, and much more.

Thank you so much for listening and if you'd like to learn more, visit the ACLU of Nevada at https://www.aclunv.org

This week, Conor speaks with Kathryn Goetzke of hopefulcities.org

Reno is currently the first Hopeful City, part of a program designed to operationalize and teach the skill of hopefulness. Our ability to practice hopefulness is predictive of grades, mental health outcomes, and so much more.

Kathryn is a leader in understanding how we can actually learn hopefulness as a practical skill, and has promoted her work with a Global Hope Challenge, a book, a podcast, and the Hopeful Cities program which launched in Reno this month.

This week on the podcast, Conor talks to Benjamin Castro. Ben is the executive director and founder of RISE, the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality. RISE has been an important organization in providing for our unsheltered community for over a decade.

In our interview, Ben doesn't just tell the story of RISE as an organization, but also the stories of some of the people RISE has helped along the way. This is an essential listen if you want to have a better understanding of the issues people living on the street in Reno face, and the efforts being made to help them.

Huge thanks to Ben and RISE for the great work they do, and for coming on the show to talk about it!

To learn more about RISE, please visit http://www.renoinitiative.org

This week on Renoites, host Conor McQuivey talks to Kimi Cole, chair of the Nevada Rural Democrats. Kimi has been living and working in rural Nevada for years, and has been instrumental in bringing virtual town halls with statewide and national political candidates to rural voters, along with other methods of outreach to address the issues rural voters face.

In this episode, we mention NELIS, the online portal for voters to review legislation, watch hearings, and otherwise engage with the Nevada legislature. NELIS can be accessed at https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021