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.

The broligarchy isn’t just cringe, it’s deeply dangerous. This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sit down with Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI, to unpack how artificial intelligence isn't changing the game—it's rigging it in favor of authoritarianism. McQuillan breaks down how Silicon Valley has found its perfect dance partner in far-right movements, and offers a crucial blueprint for resistance. By rejecting the lie that AI dominance is useful or inevitable, McQuillan maps out how we can refuse this technological takeover and build something better in its place. Enter "decomputing": the radical idea that communities can organize alternative infrastructures based on care, mutual aid, and actual human judgment instead of algorithmic solutionism.

Part organizing manual, part explainer on Elon’s tasteless Nazi fan fiction, this episode is necessary listening for anyone who's ever wondered if we're sleepwalking into a dystopian tech future. Spoiler alert: we are. But we don't have to be.

Mentioned in the episode:

Resisting AI by Dan McQuillan | Decomputing as Resistance by Dan McQuillan | Resisting the Techno-Fascist Takeover by Dan McQuillan | Travis Kalanick on doing “vibe physics” | A Former DOGE Employee Gives His Account of Working for the Operation, NPR. | More Everything Forever, by Adam Becker | Empire of AI, by Karen Hao | The Interview: The Grody-Patinkin Family is a Mess. People Love It. | Pathetic Spiritual Practice with Rev. Denise M. Cawley

Find Dan McQuillan on social media:

https://x.com/danmcquillan | https://bsky.app/profile/danmcquillan.bsky.social | @danmcquillan@kolektiva.social (mastodon) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmcquillan/ | https://www.instagram.com/resistingai/

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’ 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 catch up with Seattle’s most unexpected threat to billionaire brunch politics, Katie Wilson. She’s a longtime organizer, transit rider, and Americano-splitter who went from dragging mayors in public comment to becoming the mayoral frontrunner herself. Her game plan? No hedge fund sugar daddies, no donor call lists, just a Google form, a ground game, and the radical idea that government should actually work for people. This one is for everyone who’s screamed “Do something!” at their screen, only to realize the person who should do something… might be themselves. It’s equal parts political strategy, Buddhist wisdom, and just enough hope to make every fauxgressive clutch their Chamber of Commerce tote bag in horror.

Mentioned in the episode:

Katie Wilson for Mayor | Voting info in King County |

Support the pod:

Donate to Hinton Publishing to support In the Meanwhile

Follow us on social & the web:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Nora and Marcus’ 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.

This week on In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus speak with The Bitchuation Room's Francesca Fiorentini — comedian, journalist, and professional thorn in the side of fascists everywhere. She breaks down why comedy is doing the job cable news is too scared to touch, why billionaires are basically rich toddlers with Wi-Fi, and how the left can stop doomscrolling and start building real power. From Palestine to potty‑training wins, Francesca shows us that sometimes the best way to fight back is to laugh in the face of the people trying to wreck your life… and then organize to take their power away.

Mentioned in the episode:

The Bitchuation Room | TICKETS: The Bitchuation Room live in Seattle 8/2/25 | AJ+ | Francesca on Abolish ICE | Bill Burr | If Books Could Kill - “A Bari Special Episode” | Lead pipe replacement in Flint, MI | Injectable preventative HIV medicine goes global | The Stranger

Follow us on Social:

Instagram | BlueSky

Nora and Marcus’ 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.

In this scorching episode of In The Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sweat it out—literally and metaphorically—as they sit down with disability rights advocate and policy powerhouse Matthew Cortland. With razor-sharp clarity and raw honesty, Matthew unpacks how Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” budget is actually a legislative wrecking ball aimed at Medicaid, Medicare, and the people who need them most. Matthew shares their own survival story of chronic illness, insurance denials, and systemic gaslighting—and how that fight led them to become one of the country’s leading voices for healthcare justice. Part moral call to arms, part policy masterclass, this episode digs into why messaging matters, how personal stories can save lives, and what it means to organize like survival depends on it–because for millions, it absolutely does.

Mentioned in the episode:

Matthew Cortland | Data for Progress | Ady Barkan’s organization, Be A Hero | Little Lobbyists | AAPD | The House of God by Samuel Shem | Frank Luntz | Don’t Think of an Elephant!, by George Lakoff | Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie

Follow us on Social:

Instagram | BlueSky

Nora and Marcus’ 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 sit down with Gabriel Teodros, MC, poet, educator, organizer, and community time traveler, to talk about how we carry grief, make art, and stay human when the world’s on fire (sometimes literally). Gabriel takes us from losing his home in a blaze to creating From the Ashes of Our Homes, his most personal album yet. And along the way, he unpacks what it means to do “love work” in a world built to erase us. We get into the big stuff: why silence in the face of genocide isn’t just complicity, it’s consent. Why joy isn’t a luxury, it’s resistance. And why solidarity isn’t a social media post, but something you live, build, and dance to. This isn’t just a convo about music. It’s about using every beat, bar, and breath to fight back. Come for the rhythm, stay for the revolution.

Mentioned in the episode:

All About Love, bell hooks | Lovework | Khalil Gibran, The Prophet | Denizen Kane | Gabriel Teodros - From the Ashes of Our Homes | Gabriel Teodros - An Open Letter to My Cousins in Israel | Palestine Will LIve Forever Festival | Andrea Gibson | The Undocumented Socialist Alien who Keeps Saving America by Marcus Harrison Green in The Stranger | Tikun Olam

Follow us on Social:

Instagram | BlueSky

Nora and Marcus’ 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.