Hello everyone, hope you’re all good and keeping well during this time!

Hello everyone!

After a summer hiatus, we are back! Episode 36 of the podcast is now live and available for you all to listen to on all major podcasting platforms and on the website www.tomstuandyou.com.

In this episode, we were joined by Austin Sawyer who accompanied Stu on a summer road trip across Canada. In this episode, we recap Stu and Austin’s summer experience, the highlights of their trip, the route taken and the precautions and measures to travel safely during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. We also discuss the positive effects that the trip had on both Stu and Austin respectively and what they have planned for the near future.

We hope that you enjoy the show, please get in touch if you have any questions and also keep an eye out on social media for posts from Stu and Austin of their trip.

Thank you for listening everyone and, until next time, stay curious and stay safe! 🙂✌🏼

We’re onto Episode #35 and we’re chatting with the architectural wonder that is Mitchell Hattersley! One of Tom’s mates from schooling years in the UK, Mitch has made a name for himself in the architectural world, and now lives in LA specializing in the fanciest of buildings.  

Key Message: There is a lot to be optimistic about, we just have to fight for it.  

What we talk about in this episode:

• Why study architecture

Who is Mitch?

Mitch is an Architectural Designer who specialises in high-end, custom homes & retail stores. He is currently based in the sunny city of Los Angeles, California. 

You can follow Mitch’s work at the below links:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

You can now watch our podcasts on Youtube if you’d prefer to also check us out while listening to our beautiful voices 😉 Head over to our Youtube channel at Tom, Stu and You Podcast 

Like us on Facebook and Instagram @tomstuandyou or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or queries you have on the topics we’ve discussed or any suggestions of topics you’d like to hear us address. 

Thanks so much for your support! 

In Episode #34, we’re taking a step back to reflect on some of the lessons we’ve learned throughout the process of creating this podcast. We discuss some of the main connections we’re seeing in each of our episodes, and with all of our amazing guests that have been on the show. It’s also an opportunity to update our listeners on some of the things happening in our lives at the moment. There is plenty of change coming up for Stu in particular, but also with the podcast, we’re putting more effort into getting the technical side of things in order as we launch our Youtube channel. 

Key Message: Your life, your story, your opinions, do all have value. 

Further Watching:

Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson 

You can now watch our podcasts on Youtube if you’d prefer to also check us out while listening to our beautiful voices 😉 Head over to our Youtube channel at Tom, Stu and You Podcast 

Like us on Facebook and Instagram @tomstuandyou or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or queries you have on the topics we’ve discussed or any suggestions of topics you’d like to hear us address. 

Thanks so much for your support!

Welcome to Episode #33 where we are chatting with the amazing Peter Sarellas about how to be a creative. Peter works in Toronto as a professional videographer, and during the COVID lockdown, he has stayed productive by launching a Youtube channel where he teaches people how to make better videos. He’s a funny guy, with a great accent and plenty of stories, so strap yourselves in, as this is a good, light-hearted chat between three guys and their cameras. 

Key Message: Just get started. If you put in the effort, you’ll get better over time. 

What we talk about in this episode:

• Finding our love of videography

Who is Peter?

Peter is a videographer and video editor who specializes in sports, commercial, and event-based work. He is currently working in digital marketing while simultaneously operating a freelance video production business based out of Toronto. Furthermore, Peter is actively building a community on YouTube where he shares informative videos surrounding his work in sports media and digital marketing. Peter has his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance with a minor in economics and has also studied media at multiple post-secondary institutions.

You can follow Peter’s work at the below links:

Website

YouTube

Instagram

Peter’s Quotes:

• If you’re shooting weddings, talk to the Master of Ceremony beforehand, tell him to pause for a second before he says “you may kiss the bride" on the pause, you know you can get ready. Then he looks at you, you look at him, and it’s like go time.

In Episode #32, we have another absolutely incredible guest to share with you, and that’s the amazing Kelly MacAlpine! Kelly is a PHD candidate at Western University, focussing on early childhood environmental education, as well as the brilliant mother of three wonderful kids, one of which we have also had on the podcast, Jessie. Our conversation with Kelly is fantastic for so many reasons, but most importantly, because of the undeniable passion Kelly obviously has for the education of our children. She kept asking us to stop her if she’s talking too much, but as you’ll hear, we absolutely loved hearing what she had to say and we think you will too!

A bit of context before you listen: Kelly talks a lot about different pedagogies, including plastics and 'ghosting' pedagogies; pedagogies are just theories of learning which in this case, are applied to early childhood students. She also mentions 'non-human' relations which refer to animals, objects and nature as well as 'shadows of beings' which can be tracks left by wildlife or evidence of their passing through the area. 

To summarize Kelly's work as best we can, she studies the interactions of kids with their natural environment, and questions if we should instead be allowing them to remain imaginative and create their own stories of the world around them (eg. when it snows, it's because of a fictional snow monkey) rather than just giving them the "facts" and moving on. Do the stories created by kids actually create a greater connection with nature and therefore make them more responsible and considerate environmental human beings?

Key Message: In the name of what?

A few of the issues and topics we discuss in this episode:

• Pedagogical studies (and what that actually means)

“The children must engage in processes that move beyond neoliberal goals of productivity and consumption by formulating intentions that will allow them to pursue their curiosity in ways that will not always yield productive outcomes but will ultimately allow them to

build their competence while pursuing their curiosity in purposeful ways.” Witnessing the Ruins: Speculative Stories of Caring for the Particular and the Peculiar | Journal of Childhood Studies 

Further Resources:

• Ghosting Pedagogies: Restoring Peculiarities in times of Ecological Precarity

Full show notes can be found at tomstuandyou.com 

Like us on Fa

For Episode #31 we are joined by the incredible Mubdi Rahman, an Astronomer with the Dunlap Institute in Toronto, Canada to discuss the value of scientific research and the exploration of the cosmos and human nature. 

Key Message: The best of science tells stories, and Love Actually is a brilliant movie!

“Astronomers have spotted the most jam-packed cluster of young supermassive stars ever seen in the Milky Way galaxy, including hundreds of the most massive types of stars that are dozens of times heavier than our sun.” - http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45600315/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/supermassive-stars-pack-newly-discovered-dragonfish-cluster/#.XwjfIihKiiM 

Some of the ideas we cover in this episode:

• What is astronomy?

• Why is STEM communication and development important in school?

Further Resources:

• Connections by James Burke 

Full show notes can be found at tomstuandyou.com 

Like us on Facebook and Instagram @tomstuandyou or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or queries you have on the topics we’ve discussed or any suggestions of topics you’d like to hear us address. 

Thanks so much for your support! 

We’ve made it all the way to 30 episodes! Can you believe it?? In today’s episode, we’re looking at why we should be rewriting history, discussing the fact that history is biased and unreliable, how we can still interpret important historical context despite this fact, and what history has to do with us living in today’s society. 

The two main issues we’re covering today: history is unreliable, and we’re only taught a very narrow view of the past

Key Message: “The historical memory of a community is its identity. And if for reasons of neglect, ignorance or malice a community's history is trivialized or dismissed, this constitutes an assault on the identity of those who would comprise it.” - Bohdan Kordan

Some of the questions we’re considering today:

• Why is history important?

Further Resources:

Righting Historical Wrongs Written by Bohdan Kordan

Why is History Important? An Overview For the Reluctant Learner 

New discoveries that proved we got history wrong 

Alex Rosenberg in How History Gets Things Wrong 

Statues are not history’: considering the removal of Sir John A. Macdonald 

Full show notes can be found at tomstuandyou.com 

Like us on Facebook and Instagram @tomstuandyou or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or queries you have on the topics we’ve discussed or any suggestions of topics you’d like to hear us address. 

Thanks so much for your support!

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Episode #29! We're joined by the wonderful Hannah to discuss all things political with a surprise focus (lol) on the left. As someone heavily involved in the Labour political party in the UK, Hannah was the perfect guest to have on to discuss the failings of the left, in particular the historic loss in the 2019 UK election, but also where the left goes from here. Although much of the conversation was centered on the political environment in the UK, much of the lessons Hannah has to share can be applied to politics around much of the Western world. There is a reason this has been our longest episode yet, so please, sit back and enjoy a frank discussion about our broken political system. 

Key Message: We need to be better at creating a story that defines the path to a better future, one of increased solidarity and empowered communities. 

Some of the topics and ideas we cover today:

- how do we get people interested in politics

- the issue of political alienation

- constructing a shared goal & building solidarity

- what's wrong with a conservative government

- importance of effectively utilizing technology in political movements

- review of UK's Labour Party 2019 election loss

- the power of storytelling & clarity of vision

- rising above "dark side messaging"

- leading the change & empowering people

- politics of the future

- democratization of the workplace

- a broken political system

Further Resources:

- The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation 

- Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House

- Making the future: a new software for the Left 

- Labour Together: Our party must find the humility to listen and learn

- 2019 Election Review 

- How can we build a 21st-century Labour Party? – LabourList

Full show notes can be found at tomstuandyou.com 

Like us on Facebook and Instagram @tomstuandyou or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, thoughts, or queries you have on the topics we’ve discussed or any suggestions of topics you’d like to hear us address. 

Thanks so much for your support!

Welcome back to the Tom, Stu and You Podcast! It’s Episode #28 and we’re discussing the slogan #defundthepolice which is being protested in streets across the globe. As two white guys with incredible levels of privilege, it’s an idea we had never really considered before a few weeks ago. However, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) activists and researchers have been advocating for the idea of abolishing law enforcement for decades. So what do protestors mean when they say ‘Defund the Police,’ what would that even look like, what alternatives are they suggesting and why are people hesitant to consider it as an option? Listen in to learn more!

Key Message: Defunding the police can free up funding that we can reinvest in services that provide real safety and support throughout the community

Some of the topics we discuss in this episode today:

• History of policing

We also want to stress that just listening to our podcast, or just receiving news and opinions from other white people, isn’t enough. We try to introduce ideas to you, our audience, that we feel are important, and we try to present them in a way that we understand so that hopefully you too can understand. We are part of the problem, we are part of the echo chamber though, so please, please, especially if it makes you uncomfortable, but please click on some of the links we’ve listed in our show notes and on our website, diversify the media you are consuming, consciously, frequently, and consistently analyze your awareness and reflect on your emotions and decisions. 

It isn’t a black person’s responsibility to educate white people constantly on these issues, but BIPOC voices should be centred and focused on, in the discussion. Their stories about policing and their understanding of the systemic discrimination rampant throughout our society should be believed before white people’s, and that when we talk about defunding it should be because of black stories, not because of white will. 

Further Resources:

• @leftnortheast • Instagram photos and videos