Our guest this week takes a break from partisanship to join us for a low-key conversation on the front porch: State Representative Pat Outman! We talk parenting young kids, outdoor hobbies, childhood aspirations, travel spots, and the challenges of representing all the voices from a rural district. He takes advantage of being away from the podium for once and even attempts to interview our host! Then we play the first half of a father-son version of the Newlywed Game, to see how well he and his dad know each other (to be concluded when his father, Senator Rick Outman joins us here in a few weeks). Also joining us this week is Montcalm Area Reading Council Director, Amanda Lee, and she and Stef talk about a whole array of ridiculous things (as usual). We run the gamut of topics, from Princess Kate (who announced her cancer diagnosis a couple days after we recorded) to celebrity memoirs, vacation prep, upcoming concerts, vegan diets and swishy pants. Lots of fun as always, and TONS of book recommendations… so settle in and join us!
Thanks to Cory Smith from the Daily News for photos!
Our community and front porch are stretching this week to bring in an (uncaped) crusader from up north, Michele Howard, the director of the Traverse Area District Library system! I met Michele at this year’s Michigan Library Association conference in October. Her story of firing up organizations in her city to dig in and work together to make change inspired me to make her my first recorded interview for the podcast (if not our first episode). Michele’s great work brings hope that any community can start a conversation that overcomes barriers and brings life-changing results with the right motivation.
We are also joined again by Cara McGee, our in-house comic creator, who was gearing up for Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle. She gives some hints on her current projects, talks the best cities to stock up on too many specialty foods, and shares her favorite celeb comic-con encounters. And somewhere in there we try to solve the mystery of an obscure, possibly German dessert multiple decades after it was served. There’s something for everyone this week on the Front Porch!
