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Co-operative geekery

Today was all about building the communities you need to see in the world.

We take a brief breather from our Juneteenth gear up to look to the north at the things the Compost Cooperative is up to. Worker-owners Revan Schendler and Trenda Loftin swing through the studios to tell us more about the core mission of the co-operative and how their model seeks to combat recidivism and climate change at the same time.

Then we brush the surface of nerdom, a topic near and dear to Kaliis' heart. The BEGIN Podcast features black nerds in western Mass digging into all things geeky. Two of the hosts, Neal Robinson and Garrick Perry, stop by to chat with Kaliis about the our respective histories on what used to be the outskirts of society, and the intersectionality of black and nerd culture.

Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413.
Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.