It’s episode 5 of What is California? ! Can you believe it? I was talking with someone this week about the show, and I off-handedly noted that I began planning the podcast in mid-July. That’s less than three months ago! Now look at it: Five episodes in, with no less than Gov. Jerry Brown inaugurating the whole thing last month.
Time flies, friends. Make the most of it.
This week, the podcast features my candid chat with former Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs about historic wins, hard losses, the influence of the Central Valley, and how misinformation is warping California. PLUS: He reads an excerpt from his excellent new book, The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home (to be published next month by Flatiron Books).
Meanwhile, thank you for your ongoing listenership and readership! Please continue to share and refer folks to the show, and if you feel like chipping in a few shekels to help keep the lights on and the cat fed at What is California? HQ, you can become a supporter at Patreon. I’d be terrifically grateful.
Enjoy the show, and remember: Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻
Episode Notes
Michael Tubbs is the former mayor of Stockton and the author of the upcoming book, The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home.
Stockton is representative of where California intersects—or where California collides. You have this tension between rural and agricultural and urban. I remember telling people I was from Stockton, and everyone thought it was a community with a lot of farms. I was like, “I ain’t never seen no farm!” It’s a city with city issues but a very agricultural background. That place has given me an appreciation for salt-of-the-earth-type folks—folks who may not have gone to college, folks who may not work in tech or the creative economy, but are still smart, are still important, still matter.
Notes and references from this episode:
Stockton on My Mind, directed by Marc Levin
Invisibilia: The Chaos Machine, by Yowei Shaw and Kia Miakka Natisse
The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, by Michael Tubbs (published Nov. 16, 2021)
Anna Malaika Tubbs - Author site
Competing Voices: A Critical History of Stockton, California, by Ronald Isetti
“Oldest gurdwara in US,” by Asha Seth & Ramesh Seth, Spectrum - Tribune India
Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED)
SEED Data Analysis and Dashboard
Editorial: Now, for your local fake news…, Los Angeles Times
The Rev. James M. Lawson - biography, MLK Research & Education Institute, Stanford University
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