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Gloria sits down with musician and activist, Morgxn and his husband, therapist Gabriel Starner, to talk about Fruity Farm, the agroforestry farm they run in Sumner County, which they have cultivated into a genuine safe haven for Pride in a county that offered none.

They get into the farm's pawpaw orchard and regenerative growing practices, and the wild story of how Fruity Farm became Sumner County's Pride venue after local business owners and even a church backed out under pressure. What started as a last resort turned into Affirming Sumner, a full-blown celebration and a hub of community and resistance.

They also dig into a tense meeting with a Republican state representative over a "religious freedom" same-sex marriage bill, the farm's lost USDA/NRCS greenhouse funding, and what keeps Morgxn and Gabe hopeful in Tennessee's current political climate.

Check out Affirming Sumner on September 19th! RSVP here.

Listen to Morgxn’s album Heartland, out now!

Give our guests a follow!

Morgxn: @morgxnofficial

Gabriel Starner: @gabrielmaxstarner

Fruity Farm: @fruityfarmtn

Affirming Sumner, the volunteer group organizing Pride at the farm: @affirmingsumner

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode discusses Tennessee's abortion ban in specific terms, including the state's lack of exceptions for rape, incest, or minors, and references a proposed bill involving capital punishment for abortion.

NOTE: This is Part 2 of the multi-part conversation with Brandon Puttbrese (Part 1 covered vouchers, school funding, and the K12 charter school story).

Gloria and Brandon pick back up for a second, wide-ranging conversation covering Tennessee's abortion restrictions and a personal-privilege bill Gloria brought to add narrow exceptions, a wave of "Charlie Kirk" bills restricting campus speech and inserting religion into schools, a series of pro-corporate deregulation bills (including one custom-built for Elon Musk's Nashville tunnel project), state takeovers of local school boards and airports, an unfunded immigration enforcement mandate, and a rare bipartisan win on voting rights restoration.

They close with what's giving Brandon hope: growing bipartisan coalitions and a new generation of candidates running on concrete, popular reforms.

Full episodes and show notes: https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes

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Gloria talks with Corbin Trent, the East Tennessee organizer behind Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, who helped recruit and elect AOC before working as her first communications director.

They trace Corbin's path from food trucks in Morristown to the Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 campaigns to Capitol Hill, then dig into the state of the Democratic Party, disinformation and the "socialist/communist" label problem, healthcare and housing supply, immigration policy, and Corbin's current project, a super PAC called "A Fight Worth Having" aimed at building a team-based, cross-country progressive movement.

For full episodes and show notes, visit ⁠standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

Follow Corbin on ⁠Substack⁠!

Check out his amazing work: ⁠corbintrent.com⁠ | ⁠americasundoing.com⁠ | ⁠afightworthhaving.com⁠