Soybeans meet Soy Lattes

Jessica and Kyler spending an evening chatting about what they've learned and heard from their friends and colleagues regarding impeachment.

Please help Jessica fundraise for her new podcast Electoral Elementary.  It is a narrative kids podcast that explores simple civics lessons through storytelling and song.  Starting Feb 2020, listeners will be able to follow Gloria Martinez, a proactive and meticulous 5th grader, as she runs and takes hold of her new leadership role in the tangled world of student government.  Please spread the word and fund us here, www.indiegogo.com (search Electoral Elementary)  or https://igg.me/at/ee-civcsed/x/14583658#/

Kyler and Jessica wrap-up their discussion on the state of education.  They debate the struggle public education has with funding and privatization.  The two educator's they spoke to came from very different schools, but it seems the obstacles in front of them were all too similar.

Jessica meets up with Aurora Mireles, an elementary school teacher in East Los Angeles.  She reflects on that rainy week in January when over 30,000 LAUSD teachers went on strike.  Ms. Mireles explains the bigger systemic problems hurting public education beyond teacher's salaries: segregation, poverty, safety and lack of funding for fundamental services.

We are back with Season 2!  This series of episodes will look into some of the topics that the Democratic Primary candidates have brought up while stumping around the country.  First up, education and teacher pay.

Kyler discusses the state of education with the Principal Ronna Cochran of Sargent High School north of Monte Vista, Colorado.  Ms. Cochran shares her experience teaching in a small school system for more than 20 years.  Although she acknowledges their resources are limited, she works hard to provide new ways to enhance her students' school experience.

Kyler and Jessica discuss the anxieties and higher calling both their interviewees invoked when they spoke of their positions within the federal government.  Did the president learn anything about using these positions as bargaining chips in his border wall negotiation?  And will they have to talk about this all over again if he decides it is worth another shutdown?

Jessica sits down with a friend who works for the coast guard.  He talks about life during the government shutdown and how missing a few paychecks affected him and his colleagues.  Together they debate whether using federal workers as a bargaining chip paid off politically for the leadership or just damaged the country's faith in it.

The government is shut down, so Kyler talks with a friend in the parks service about her experience being a furloughed federal worker.  They explore how the shutdown is bigger than just the 800,000 not getting a paycheck.  And if there are any signs the government will reopen soon.

Jessica and Kyler review what they learned from their discussions on race in the US.  They conclude that the more people leave themselves open to uncomfortable moments the more progress our culture could find when it comes to bias and discrimination.  This most likely won't be the last time this topic comes up on the pod and that's perhaps a good thing.  Hopefully, the news will continue to push us to have more conversations about race/ethnicity and what it means to be a citizen of the United States.

Kyler sits down with Luis and Samantha Escobedo to talk about their experience as a mixed-race married couple.  Luis was born in Mexico and came to Colorado with his family at eight years old.  Sam was born and raised in southern Colorado.  They explain how their cultural differences have informed them as adults and what they teach their children.