Fear, Lies, and Book Bans (with Tara McGowan and Jessica Berg)

On today’s episode, Rachel Vindman, Jasmine Clark, and Amanda Weinstein dig into misinformation. They’ve been enduring misinformation-driven attacks lately their own lives– over the weekend, extremist protestors showed up at Amanda's house and didn’t even really know why! And meanwhile, in Georgia, Jasmine’s been dealing with Republicans who say they support kids’ mental health but want to ban books that might help students understand themselves and their place in the world.

They’re joined by Jessica Berg, an English teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia. Jessica talks about the importance of books and how hard it is for teachers to care so much about their students and yet to be accused of the very opposite. (But hey, at least the pay is good, right? … right?) And after that, Jasmine sits down with Tara McGowan, the founder of Good Information Inc. Tara and Jasmine chat about misinformation, how we can push back, and what they’ve learned from being the only woman in the room.

Finally, our hosts raise a glass to getting kids vaccinated, supportive neighbors, and family time in this week’s “Toast to Joy.”

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @TheSWPpod! And if you feel like you could use some support figuring out how to stand up against book bans in your community, we invite you to sign up for one of our Troublemaker Trainings.

For a transcript of this episode, please email theswppod@redwine.blue.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

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