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STEMS AND LEAVES

STEMS AND LEAVES

By Ezra M

a queer, brown MidWesterner and a rotating cast of co-host friends ponder life aka
we all started in STEM adjacent career paths, got radicalized, and now we're all over north america being cute
keep in touch at stemsandleaves.com
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2020 February | Appalachian Planning with Jason Pyles

STEMS AND LEAVESMar 12, 2023

00:00
01:10:06
Danceable Cities aka Research on urban dance phenomena in China

Danceable Cities aka Research on urban dance phenomena in China

This episode we chat about dance as a consideration in urban design. In China, millions of residents participate in urban dance as a way to enhance their health and foster social connection. These groups practice in parks and ‘waste spaces’ around cities, accompanied often by live music. However, this practice has run into some resistance from the central and city governments. Complaints of too much noise have forced cities to ban these dancing retirees to parking lots and bridge underpasses. But the dancers persist, sometimes as an act of resistance. We unpack all that an more this episode of STEMS and Leaves.
Links:
Designing the Danceable City: How Residents in Beijing Cultivate Health and Community Ties Through Urban Dance’ by Caroline Chen
Mar 17, 202313:49
Wild City Food aka A brief history of urban foraging

Wild City Food aka A brief history of urban foraging

This episode we discuss the practice of urban foraging. That act of harvesting wild grown food is a practice as old as humanity. From society’s earliest days, we have depended on the fruits, nuts, berries, and herbs we’ve found along the way to secure our food supply. Although, a recent surge in popularity of foraging in cities and a lasting legacy of racist and classist laws often prevent some groups from foraging in public spaces. This episode unpacks why and how we forage and recommends some interesting research papers that discuss an ideal future of foraging laws.
Sources:

Falling Fruit . org
Food Law Gone Wild by Baylen Linnekin
Mar 17, 202313:06
2019 July | Interview w/ Shauna

2019 July | Interview w/ Shauna

[From the archive] Another interview out of DC this week, my guest Shauna has worked as a freelance programmer for 9 years. She left neuroscience after a long reckoning with the uncertainty. Shauna found herself challenged by a big question: How do we quantify and understand the vast potential of human behavior with hard tools? Maybe we can’t. Or at least not in the ways we want to.
Shauna and I discuss these interesting ideas from her work and how she’s grown professionally. We also touch on the significance of queer identities in these spaces and handling mental health. I was curious to know how she keeps herself accountable and practices self-care in a sometimes isolating work space. Shauna tells me all her great tips and tricks as she continues her journey of growth and learning.
Discussed this episode:
PyLadies
Minority Postdoc
Galaxy Rise Consulting
Shauna on LinkedIn
Mar 17, 202340:28
2019 August | Interview w/ Sujata Emani

2019 August | Interview w/ Sujata Emani

[From the archive] In this episode, Sujata Emani and I spend a good amount of time discussing women of massive determination and how we work everyday to emulate their example. Sujata also shares some insight into her identity as a caregiver for her grandmother; an identity that was chosen for her and certainly changed the trajectory of her life in her mid-twenties.

Discussed in this episode:
Beltway Science Podcast
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Department of Energy
National Labs
Research Article: Designing the Danceable City
Mar 17, 202349:16
2020 February | Appalachian Planning with Jason Pyles

2020 February | Appalachian Planning with Jason Pyles

Planning in Appalachia, convincing a community that you’re not taking their jobs, and the future of autonomous vehicles in rural places. My guest this week, Jason Pyles, and I discuss all this in more in one of my favorite interviews yet. As a kick off to our discussions centered around Geography and Geographic Information Science, I turn to Jason for his expertise.
Jason works for the Buckeye Hills Regional Council as one of two GIS professionals supporting the agency’s work. His position is unique in that he is sort of a one-man-GIS-show and does all the work entailed in GIS from top to bottom. He shared some great insights into what it means to serve his regional community through his role in technology.
Mar 12, 202301:10:06