_OURCALGARY _OURCALGARY

Election Day in the United States of America tomorrow, Tuesday November 3. Lucky to have Max Alvarez – host of Working People podcast and new Editor-in-Chief at the Real News Network – share his post-election day hopes and fears, his thoughts on where the Left goes from here, and the role independent media like the Real News Network can play in reshaping social and political narratives.  

Max will be co-hosting election night coverage with Tricia Rose, Cornel West and more tomorrow starting at 7pm ET / 5pm MT:   https://therealnews.com/elections-2020-live-coverage-with-the-tight-rope-and-the-real-news

Link:  "Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies" – Jodi Dean https://www.dukeupress.edu/Democracy-and-Other-Neoliberal-Fantasies/

Episode 005 is with someone I’m lucky to call friend, the incredible Cara Gee, aka Camina Drummer, on one of my favourite shows ever made – The Expanse.  She’s starred in movies such as the critically acclaimed Empire of Dirt, and most recently the 2020 version of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” with Harrison Ford.

We talked about police violence, pandemic parenting, Elon Musk and somehow managed a spoiler free talk about the Expanse.  Become a patron:

https://patreon.com/ourcalgary

Calgary Ethiopian Youth Association https://www.ceyayyc.ca/

Albertans Advocating for Change Together https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-is-self-advocacy-tickets-122424586233
alberta.act@gmail.com

Unfortunately, had some technical issues this week, but it was salvaged, hooray!
Our conversation for Episode 004 is with Mary Yohannes, a former journalist with the now dissolved Star Metro and prior to that, CBC Calgary. I wanted to speak with Mary because the last time I saw her, prior to the pandemic, she, like many young Calgarians was planning to leave. Obviously, young people’s voices are not monolithic, but I was especially interested to hear her reasons for wanting to leave - both as a racialized woman who grew up in Calgary - but also as a person who had a sense of the media landscape in the city. We talked about the impact of covid on those plans, her transition to work as a support worker for people living with addictions, representation in Calgary media, Kendall Jenner and a whole lot more in the interview. 
Also, I forgot to mention this in the outro, but Mary wanted me to plug an organization that she's involved with the Calgary Ethiopian Youth Alliance:

https://www.ceyayyc.ca/

Become a subscriber on Patreon:
https://Patreon.com/ourcalgary

CUPE Alberta - Don't Touch CPP 
https://donttouchcpp.ca/ 

NIRVANA KENNEYS 
https://infotel.ca/newsitem/owner-forced-to-close-kelowna-youth-recovery-centre-now-practicing-in-ontario/it49944 

Hope you had a good Labour Day long weekend.
Talking with Joel Laforest from Alberta Advantage about his recent Passage article "Politicians Are Using EI To Rob Workers, Not Help Them"
https://readpassage.com/politicians-are-using-ei-to-rob-workers-not-help-them/
Thinking of starting a union at your workplace? Awesome. 
Here are some Alberta specific places to start - if you're elsewhere - e-mail connect@ourcalgary.org and we'll find a local that works for you.
AFL
https://www.afl.org/ 
AUPE
https://www.aupe.org/  
PSAC-AFPC
http://psacunion.ca/ 
UFCW Local 401
https://gounion.ca/ 

In Episode 002 of 𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘊𝘈𝘓𝘎𝘈𝘙𝘠 we talk to Maki Motapanyane, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies in the Department of Humanities at Mount Royal University, about childcare, the gender wage gap and the impacts of covid on women in the workforce, the (ir)relevance of Kaycee Madu as Justice Minister and much more. Lucas also learns the meaning of discursive.
Follow Maki on twitter: @MakiMotapanyane 
Her research on affordable childcare's role in reducing the gender wage gap can be found here (paywalled unless you've got JSTOR): https://taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429430411/chapters/10.4324/9780429430411-5

Photo by Nataliia Kvitovska on Unsplash

For the first episode of OURCALGARY felt it was important to highlight the voice of an amazing high school teacher in Calgary, Robin Phillips. We spoke about a month ago, and it is scary how there has been almost no new investment from the Alberta government in protecting kids and teachers.