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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

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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

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CONTENT NOTE: This episode discusses child sexual abuse by a former elected official (public record, not graphic in the retelling), reproductive healthcare restrictions, medical mistreatment of pregnant patients, and sexual violence in general terms.

Gloria talks with independent journalist Rachel Wells, founder of TN Repro News, about what's really happening to reproductive healthcare in Tennessee: real patient stories, the crisis pregnancy centers now teaching sex education in schools, and a new state-church data-sharing initiative most Tennesseans don't know exists yet. They dig into cases of patients denied care under Tennessee's Medical Ethics Defense Act, the maternal mortality crisis driven by rural hospital closures, and what it actually looks like when reproductive policy reaches into everyday life far beyond the headlines. Gloria and Rachel also share how they first connected years ago through advocacy work, and close with what's giving them both hope heading into the next election cycle.

For full episodes and show notes visit: ⁠https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

Rachel Wells: TN Repro News (Substack): ⁠https://wellsrachelm.substack.com/⁠ | Website: ⁠wellsrachelm.com⁠

Gloria Johnson:⁠ Instagram⁠ | ⁠Threads⁠ | ⁠Facebook⁠

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Gloria sits down with longtime friend and colleague Brandon Puttbrese, press secretary for the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus, for a deep, wide-ranging breakdown of how Tennessee's Republican supermajority actually operates. They open with the story of Gloria's first major press moment as a legislator, blowing the whistle on a K12 online charter school illegally changing failing grades to passing ones, then dig into the "distraction and deflection" strategy Brandon says defines Republican governance in Tennessee: school vouchers, Christian nationalism in classrooms, a $80 billion infrastructure backlog, and Tennessee's fall to 51st in the nation in public school funding.

For full episodes and show notes visit: ⁠https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

Rep. Gloria Johnson:⁠ Instagram | Facebo⁠⁠ok⁠

Brandon Puttbrese: Press Secretary, Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus⁠ Follow on X⁠

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Gloria talks with musician and activist Allison Russell about the through-line connecting her art and her advocacy — from co-founding the Love Rising benefit concert in response to Tennessee's anti-drag legislation, to her gun violence advocacy following the Covenant School shooting, to the personal history that shapes her commitment to showing up for marginalized communities. They also dig into empathy, generational change, farmland loss and AI data center expansion in Black communities, and Allison's new record, "In the Hour of Chaos," out now.

For full episodes and show notes visit: ⁠https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

​Allison Russell - IG: @allisonrussellmusic · X/Threads: @outsidechild13 · ⁠allisonrussellmusic.com⁠

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Gloria talks with fellow State Rep. Gabby Salinas about her personal journey, arriving in Memphis as a seven-year-old cancer patient at St. Jude, her family gaining citizenship with help from then-Senator Fred Thompson, and how that history shapes her work in the legislature today. They cover the 2025 special session fight over Memphis redistricting, Gabby's bipartisan-sponsored cold case bill, the defeat of a bill Gabby says would have challenged Plyler v. Doe nationally, and close with a get-out-the-vote push ahead of the August 6th primary, including details on how to volunteer in Memphis this week.

For full episodes and show notes visit: ⁠https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

Rep. Gabby Salinas

IG/FB: @voteforgabby | ⁠VoteForGabby.com⁠

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Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of an American Family, Gloria sits down with two of Haley's descendants, Chris Haley and Bill Haley Jr., to talk about the book and miniseries' cultural impact, the recent (and reversed) banning of Roots from Knox County Schools libraries, and the rise of book bans, "divisive concepts" laws, and historical whitewashing across the country. The conversation moves from personal family history into a broader discussion of racism, dehumanization, and the common humanity Haley's work was built to illuminate — closing with details on the upcoming Roots 50th anniversary commemorative tour.

For full episodes and show notes visit:⁠ https://www.standingtallpod.com/episodes⁠

​Chris Haley: Maryland State Archives / Legacy of Slavery in Maryland: ⁠chrishaleyspeaks.com⁠

​Bill Haley Jr. / The Inherited Roots Project: ⁠https://www.inheritedroots.org/⁠

​Roots 50th Commemorative Experience: ⁠https://roots50.org/⁠

​Kunta Kinte Celebrations Inc.:⁠ kuntakinte.org⁠