The Checkout: Grocery Nerds

Episode #15 Notes 0:45 - What kind of jobs have you had as an essential worker? 1:45 - When did you start at Amazon, and what kind of work did you do? 2:30 - How did Amazon initially react to COVID and what motivated you to speak out and organize your fellow workers? 4:15 - What was Amazon’s reaction to you speaking out? 5:15 - What kind of action did you start taking? 8:00 - What was the response...

Episode #14 Notes 1:00 - Can you tell us about your background in journalism, particularly as it relates to ag and food? 2:30- Tell us about your work on outbreaks in large meat packing plants during COVID? 7:15 - Tyson and their role in the the current COVID outbreaks at meat packing plants. 9:45 - How have workers responded to these outbreaks at large meat processors? 12:00 - What could and shou...

Episode #13 Notes 1:00 - How did you come to study your unique mix of Geography and Healing Arts? Specifically around food an equity? 4:00- What does ‘embodied healing’ mean to you? How is your work specifically addressing traumas in the food system? 9:10 - How do corner stores figure into your research? 12:45 - How does racial surveillance in corner stores impact the health and well being of clac...

Episode #12 Notes 1:00 - How did you get into farming? 5:00 - How did you acquire land? 10:00 - How did you get involved with food access, nonprofits, and municipal boards? 14:30 - How do you describe the food system in and around Austin, TX? 19:00 - There is an emergence of non-white, non-hetero-normative farmers getting into farming. How do you see this changing the food system? Why do you think...

Episode #10 Notes 1:00 - What is Bierwax? 6:30 - Vinyl bars in Tokyo: how do they operate? 9:30 - On spinning records whilst serving drinks. 12:15 - How did you get into craft brews with your background as an educator? 16:30 - How did you finance starting up your bar? 19:15 - What’s it like being a person of color in the bar and craft brew world? 20:45 - Is there a group or association supporting...

Episode #9 Notes 0:45 - Tell us about food procurement. 4:15 - How did your experience at United Farm Workers help formulate and start your work in the Good Food Purchasing Program? 10:30 - What role did unions and community organizations play in starting the Good Food Purchasing Program? 20:30 - Could you describe the main pillars of purchasing standards under the Good Food Purchasing Program? 25...

Episode #8 Notes 1:00 - How did you get interested in farming and what do you grow? 4:15 - What got you interested in politics? 7:00 - What makes Vermont politics unique, and what’s applicable to other states? 9:30 - Jobs. How do your policy ideas will ensure good paying jobs and living standards for Vermonters? 15:30 - Ag policy. What’s your policy on environmental sustainability and how has clim...

Episode #7 Notes 1:00 - How did you get interested in food and agriculture? 5:45 - Say what? Tom and Errol both organized to save NYC community gardens back in the day. 7:00 - Tom, you’ve actually managed a farm - tell us about that? 12:00 - How did you end up working at Mother Jones? 16:30 - What inspired you to start writing Perilous Bounty? 19:30 - Climate change. What is the severity of the ri...

Episode #6 Notes 1:00 - How did you get into farming? 4:00 - How has being a veteran influenced you as a farmer? 8:30 - What role did Farmshare Austin play in your development as a farmer? 10:30 - On Battle Ground to Breaking Ground program. 12:15 - What went well with your training through Farmshare Austin and what could be improved? 15:00 - As a Black woman who has deep roots in East Austin, wha...

Episode #4 Notes 0:30 - Why is the Foodchain Workers Alliance relevant today? 8:00 - Why haven’t unions traditionally focused on food service workers in the past? And how are the current worker-centered efforts really moving the needle in social movement organizing right now? 13:00 - Tell us about the HEAL Alliance. 19:30 - Let’s talk about the meat industry. Tell us about your campaign around thi...

Episode #3 Notes 1:00 - What is land reform? 8:00 - What was the intention of land reform in Guatemala? What was the goal? 11:30 - When thinking about your work in the US, in the context of your family history, how do you define food sovereignty? 21:00 - How does food sovereignty and land reform fit into the present moment? 29:00 - How do you balance out the fact that people were forced to work th...

Episode #2 Notes 1:00 - What led you into the food industry? 3:30 - How did your family influence your career trajectory? 5:30 - What did you study in college? 7:30 - What were some of your initial experience working your way up a large food company? 9:50 - Did you feel like you faced additional challenges as a woman of color in the food industry? 13:45 - How do you think the natural products indu...

Episode #1 Notes 3:30 - What is Food Sovereignty? 7:00 - What is the difference between Food Sovereignty and Food Justice? 10:00 - Who makes the decisions in our food system with regards to growing, distributing, and selling our foods? 12:30 - Why is there such disparity in food access - particularly the quality of grocery retailers - across different geographies? 16:00 - How has COVID-19 exacerba...