This week, Nora and Marcus sit down with Renée Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, to talk about a grim reality we’re supposed to pretend is normal: gun violence that’s killing kids every day while politicians offer therapeutic platitudes and zero legislation.

But here's the twist—Hopkins and her team have actually made progress on this issue. While the rest of the country cycles through outrage, helplessness, fear, and legislative paralysis, Washington state has been quietly passing comprehensive gun safety laws. Background checks, extreme risk protection orders, safe storage requirements—turns out you can regulate tools of mass death without the constitution bursting into flames.

It's a conversation about how we misunderstand both where gun violence comes from and who it most impacts, and the policy wins that are saving the biggest killer of pregnant women and children across the US. Bring tissues. Bring rage. And maybe bring some faith that steady progress beats thoughts and prayers every time.

Mentioned in the episode:

Alliance for Gun Responsibility | Call RFK: 202-690-7000 | Shakespearean Insult Generator | Awe by Dacher Kelter

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus’s Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus’s work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

This week, Nora and Marcus take listeners on a wild ride through America’s collapsing systems, plus the unlikely origin story of this very podcast: part DIY zine, part serendipity, part awkward poetry class with an ex, and a Town Hall conversation that revealed GoFundMe has effectively become our national healthcare system… just with nicer branding. Along the way, they dig into Nora’s groundbreaking work on crowdfunding, showing how desperation got repackaged as an “internet take action button” while the real structural injustices stayed put. It’s a conversation about inequity, resilience, and why mutual aid might be the only antidote to living in the “meanwhile.” Sure, it’s a little enraging, BUT you’ll laugh through the fury (and yes, that counts as your cardio for the day).

Mentioned in the episode:

Marcus’s first article, featuring Nora | Nora & Marcus’s Town Hall Talk on YouTube | Heather Cox Richardson at Town Hall | Crowded Out | White women wasting ICE’s time | Our episode with Dean Spade

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus’s Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus’s work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus chat it up with Dr. Daudi Abe about America’s hottest commodity: ignorance, which is now streaming in a classroom near you! From states rebranding slavery as “involuntary relocation with benefits” to classrooms streaming PragerU like it’s the Disney Channel, we dive into how the powerful weaponize misinformation to keep us confused, divided, and buying Hulk Hogan bobbleheads instead of books. It’s hilarious, terrifying, and just the kind of conversation you need if you’re trying to make sense of why critical thinking is being treated like contraband. Oh, and Dr. Abe has a special message for anyone crying that higher education leads to indoctrination…

Mentioned in the episode:

Deadhorse Canyon | Man or Bear | Marcus’s article on Homer in the South Seattle Emerald | Book: A Festival of Violence

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus’s Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Nora and Marcus’s work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.