The Weed Out Podcast

Izzie & Thalia join us for a second time after their recent vote on Friday, May 25th. It was a unanimous vote to move forward and unionize. Please join us to celebrate this win with them, talk about what is coming, and learn how to support them on the long road ahead!   www.theweedout.com

How do you find your joy? Do you find it in the little things? Do you like to plan ahead and have something "big" to look forward to or maybe it's a mix of it all? No matter how you find it we hope everyone knows how important it is to take a step back sometimes and see all the good there is in this beautiful World. Spencer and Joanna talk about gardening, obviously, and so much more! You'll have...

Michael Hitchcock of Roots and Dreams and Mustard Seeds joins us for a second time. Michael fills us in on what he and his spouse are working on while co-directing the non-profit in downtown Pittsfield. We talk a little bit about the upcoming mayoral race in Pittsfield as it is that time for a number of municipalities in Western, MA.  On June 10th & 11th the Solidarity Economy Festival & Gathering...

We heard you when you reached out after the last episode on local headlines and are back at it in this episode. We have gathered stories from all over Western, MA along with one focusing on the State and one being national news. We select stories that highlight either issues in the community or things we can celebrate - such at upcoming Berkshire Pride. Listen in for all the good, bad, the funny a...

It's the 30th episode of The Weed Out and we are so excited to bring you 3 of the Union Organizers from Hadley, MA who helped establish and intent to unionize. They are the second store in the country and we are so happy for them to give us some of the details so that we can support them as a community and continue to uplift all workers. Solidarity with all unions and workers! For links please vis...

Laura Saylor joins us for a second discussion about police brutality and corruption happening out in Eastern, MA. These are not specific to Western, MA but are not so far away that we should not all take notice and be aware of what is happening nearby. The Chief in one town is refusing to leave after being dismissed. A woman has been allegedly framed by a group of Police for murder of her partner...

Decarcerate Western Mass joins Joanna & Spencer to discuss all the great things they are doing in the region. Decarcerate Western Mass "is a coalition of people and organizations that came together at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of supporting incarcerated folks and getting people released." They are an abolitionist group, aiming to reduce the number of people incarcerat...

Listen in for some local headlines from all around Western, Mass. Some you may have read and others you may not have seen. They are stories that are good to focus on as municipalities throughout the region set their budgets. The budgets we have show our values as a community. Thank you for listening and you all take care!   For more information, including links to all stories mentioned please visi...

Joanna & Spencer have a chat with Will Meyer of the Shoestring about local media. We discuss local independent journalists and how important this is as we continue to see more and more news sources having layoffs, closing, or being PR for local police departments or businesses. Please listen in and maybe you will be interested in reaching out to the Shoestring to write a local story or you may sta...

Katie Talbot from Neighbor to Neighbor in Holyoke, MA joins us!   www.theweedout.com for more info and links

This episode of The Weed Out features Mike Crawford of The Young Jurks. Spence and Mike do some cross pollinating of our shows and direct action that focus on Worker's rights here in MA and beyond! Thank you, Mike, for joining us this time - can't wait to do it again. Visit theweedout.com for links and more info.

Joanna and Spencer are joined by Andrew Quemere again to finish up our talk on the Records request process here in MA. As we said in the last episode, the law states that citizens have access to certain information. Andrew discussed the law and how to make a request in part 1. This episode focuses on the appeal process and what to do if you aren't getting the records you are requesting.  www.thewe...

Joanna and Spencer are joined by Andrew Quemere in this episode about records requests and the freedom of information act. Here in MA, citizens have access to certain information. Andrew will discuss this law with us and some pros and cons. This is part 1 of a focus on public records with Andrew who is an expert on this topic and will walk us through the process as we go along. Please join us!   w...

Laura Saylor, of the Workers Party, joins us this week to discuss the case of Sandra Birchmore which takes place in Canton, Ma as well as a number of other towns in Eastern, Ma. Birchmore was 13 when she was first introduced to her abusers through a school resources program that connects police officers with children. Sandra died pregnant after years of sexual abuse and trafficking at the hands of...

In this episode, we had a great discussion with Dev a local organizer and activist. Dev is affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and is working with others who hope to focus on their values and grow here in Western Ma as a group. Dev and members of the local PLS group work closely with other local groups like the Western Ma Worker's Party as well as the Tenants Union of Western MA...

Please listen in while we talk with Andrew Quemere about police brutality in a tiny town in the farthest Western corner of the state. Not only does this story involve the police in two small towns, but all the way from Pittsfield Chief of Police, the Berkshire County DA, and the Mass State Police. Andrew is an independent investigative journalist and his work can be found on  The Mass Dump  a news...

Join Spencer and Joanna to talk about the recent murder of Sayed Faisal in Cambridge and things shared by the Berkshire DA regarding recent drug busts and tie these issues together in how both utilize copaganda to direct the narrative to the public. We have spoken about copaganda in the past and we will keep speaking about it. It is part of our media that is often hard to identify.   Go to theweed...

Visit theweedout.com for more information.

For this episode, Spencer goes solo and discusses Copoganda. It permeates much of society through the news, TV shows, social media, and so on.    For more visit: theweedout.com

Join us while we discuss the newest small business in the area to vote to unionize - The Lady Killigrew cafe in Montague, MA.   Please visit theweedout.com for more information.

Please listen in on your discussion with a friend of the show and local activist, Michael Hitchock of Pittsfield, MA.

Join us while we have a conversation with local organizer and activist John "JR" Rivera.

Please join us as we discuss downtown Northampton and one of the most well-known real estate ghouls - Eric Suher.   

Join us as we discuss the Worcester Police Department's recent news that the DOJ will be taking over to conduct an audit. Worcester is in Central MA so about an hour from where we are located and we thought since Springfield, MA recently was investigated as well (in the last few years) we could discuss that too.  

Listen in while we discuss union organizing, worker solidarity, and what that looks like locally and all over. Union popularity is the highest it's been in 20 years. We see Starbucks, Amazon, and other stores and businesses where workers are organizing. We are excited about this increase in interest in worker's rights and hope you are too!