Poet, playwright and Seattle Latino Film Festival Founder & CEO Jorge Enrique Gonzalez Pacheco swings by the bookstore and chats with Ian about his early artistic life in Cuba, where he incurred severe government side-eye with his hagiography to the pre-revolution days, and how his poetry stemmed from an inability to related to his widowed father. He talks about his migration to Miami, via Mexico, and the random string of events that led him not only to Seattle but to organizing a major cultural event in the city, now a decade old.

Seattle's Chief Librarian Marcellus Turner stopped by the bookstore -- he got there before any staff did! -- and looked back on his career in library administration, which dates back to the 4th grade in Mississippi. He details the challenges to the Seattle Public Library system in the face of such rapid socioeconomic change, explains why people love libraries so much, and lists the strangest encounters he's ever had with patrons.

Restauranteur Yenvy Pham brings Ian the best sweetbread ever baked or eaten and between bites, the two talk about the managed uplift of Little Saigon as the city changes around it, and sometimes changes it, too. Yenvy, whose parents founded Pho Bac after coming to Seattle as Vietnam War refugees, describes how nightlife can "activate" the community, making it safer and prosperous, even though fixed community investment can be difficult for refugees and other immigrant communities.

Ian interviews Gabriel Bello Diaz, founder of Efficio Custom Products and the new Hyena Culture maker space collaborative. They discuss "the east coast grind," their shared Puerto Rican heritage, and the challenge of being technical in two languages. Gabriel shares his thoughts on using tech to make a city better, not just richer, including diffusing policy conflict, standing up maker spaces for actual makers (not just tinkerers), and introducing creative engineering in public schools.

Organizer and real estate strategist Bo Zhang talks about how her experience in rural Japan shaped her sense of community -- and how lack of community creates trauma. Bo fills Ian in on her family struggles and how they impacted her decision to enter a technical career; they discuss the difference between "free market" and "capitalism," what Bo thinks was a major political failure on her part, and the Bramble Project, a group focusing on the corners of the real estate industry that intersect with community development and neighborhood-level social structure.

Reproductive justice advocate Kirsten Harris-Talley stopped by the bookstore and recounted her whirlwind 51 days as a city councilmember; she sheds light on how the "dominoes had to fall" for such an unlikely event to occur and also shares how her uniquely prepared team stepped into place just in time for budget season, "the Super Bowl of the city council." Kirsten then walks Ian through her unique childhood as a biracial, churchgoing youth in the rural poverty of small-town Missouri, and how that spells out so much of the contemporary political moment. The two discuss ideology v. leadership style as a barometer for elected officials, and Kirsten plugs the work being done by her group Surge Reproductive Justice.

Featuring three of the best conversations this season, this week's episode focuses on the best of the unpublished UpZones interviews: Ian and journalist Casey Jaywork discuss "truth" in journalism in the postmodern moment; architect and MOAR co-founder Matt Hutchins updates Ian on the state of cottages, mother-in-law cottages, and other infill properties in Seattle; and public intellectual slash humorist extraordinaire Doug Abbott has a bold idea over soup.

After an epic hagiography about the new zoning laws in the Twin Cities, Ian welcomes good friend and local CEO Seena Mortazavi to the bookshop and the two discuss growing up in the Middle East (with a stint bravely roller-blading the wild hills of Vancouver, Canada) and living in Bangladesh and Tajikistan; Seena explains for UpZones' listeners what microfinance is, exactly, and how it enables those at the very bottom of the economic ladder to participate in "the lubricant of the economy" -- credit, which is as much a community endeavor as a capitalistic one. Staying on theme, Seena describes his company Chronus, a mentoring software company endeavoring to make money while doing good for the community.

South Seattle Emerald interim Managing Editor Aaron Burkhalter talks about his career in local journalism in the Pacific Northwest and how much the coverage needs of the south side have changed as the city's population has grown. Aaron explains how the SSE has achieved a truly mobile newsroom that keeps costs down and allows its staff the flexibility to be out in the community.

Transit Riders' Union General Secretary Katie Wilson swings by and talks about growing up in Binghamton, NY, settling down in Seattle based on the killer library resources, and the paradoxes of labor organizing in the age of global capital. She explains the challenge inherent in convincing low-income members that transit funded by one of the most regressive tax schemes in the country is still worth it, and adds her voice to the growing chorus in support of the MASS campaign.