You Know Me Now
Rex Hohlbein and Tomasz Biernacki
You Know Me Now is a Seattle based podcast giving voice to those marginalized in our community and those reaching out in service.
When we listen to those living different lives or views from our own, we begin a journey of understanding. An understanding of not only those around us, but also ourselves.
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Top 10 You Know Me Now Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best You Know Me Now episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to You Know Me Now for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite You Know Me Now episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
EP016: Just Say Hello
You Know Me Now
07/29/23 • 60 min
Personal relationships can be thought of as the foundational supports of a healthy community. By simply getting to know each other, being exposed to different life experiences and views, we broaden ourselves and deepen our ability to empathize within the community.
While we know this to be true, society appears to be increasingly slipping into polarized camps. We find ourselves in echo chambers, ones where there is little room for opposing views. This is happening at all political levels and around nearly every important issue. And while echo chambers are a form of immediate gratification, which is of course an instant feel good, they are an unhealthy environment for all of us.
The good news is, we can easily do something about this! Starting today, right now, we can work to be more open with each other. To courageously be willing to hear and respect different views, lifestyles, beliefs, and choices, especially from people outside our circle.
It begins when we Just Say Hello.
When I first met Preacher he was living in a tent with his partner along the Ship Canal in the Fremont neighborhood. He had just been released from jail, several hours earlier, and his smile was still a mile wide because of it!
Being invited into their tent, one of the first things I noticed was how meticulously organized and beautiful everything was, including the tapestries and little battery operated string lights hanging from the ceiling. It was not at all what I expected!
While sitting there, taking in how they had made this tent a home, Preacher picked up his guitar and began singing a song he had written while in jail. It stopped me with how beautiful his voice was. I remember having a moment of really looking at him closer. As a gay black man, just out of jail, living homeless with nothing, I couldn’t imagine how he had been able to move through so many barriers.
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EP006: Why have we not ended homelessness?
You Know Me Now
11/05/22 • 66 min
We want to begin this episode by asking a big question. With all the suffering, all the helplessness and fear felt, as expressed by Dene and others living on our streets, why have we not ended homelessness? Beyond what the solution needs to be, whatever combination of more housing, more mental health, more drug rehab, more job training, and whatever else ‘more’ is needed, why haven’t we made it happen? Could it be that we are only seeing the forest, and because of it genuinely missing the trees? Are we so overwhelmed by the larger issue of homelessness, we are truly missing the person going through.
When folks living inside discuss homelessness, among each other, the conversation often ends up being about how (quote, unquote) “the issue” affects them or their neighborhood. To put it directly, what impacts the lives of the housed is what gets talked about when discussing the unhoused. That list includes.... the piling up of garbage, drug-use, loss of park use, taxes, panhandling, right down to how the homeless smell and look on public transit. And because many people living inside are frankly tired of it, or overwhelmed by it, or even angry over it, often the knee-jerk reaction is to want, all of it, the whole issue, to just go-away.
As community, we then support, or quietly consent, while the city erects chain link fencing around areas that were providing cover from the rain for those without shelter. We are okay with hostile architecture installed that prevents people from being able to sleep on benches, where they can be off the ground. We are put-off when we see folks hiding in the bushes or back alleys publicly going to the bathroom but we don’t demand public bathrooms and garbage pickup for those without a place to live. We turn away when sweeps are conducted, not seeing the lives being uprooted.
Despite these types of actions, as well as the efforts to provide programs and services, the issue not only persists, it is getting worse. We have to ask ourselves, really, “Why is that?” “What are we missing here?” Is only seeing the issue of homelessness and its effect on us, the housed, part of the problem? Would our programs and services change if we changed how we see the issue, meaning seeing the person actually suffering through homelessness? join in on the conversation
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EP003: The Next Good Thing
You Know Me Now
05/03/22 • 82 min
Drug addiction. As vast and complex as this topic is, chances are you already have strong opinions based on past experiences. Perhaps you’ve had a bicycle stolen and you’re sure it was taken by someone addicted, looking to sell it for their next fix. You negatively refer to that unknown person as a “junkie”. It becomes your opinion of the drug issue. Perhaps your sister overdosed and died. As a result your parents couldn’t find a way to emotionally support each other so they divorced. The grief was too great. Because of it, you’re angry at anyone who takes drugs. Perhaps you are addicted yourself and have burned every relationship you’ve ever had, including those in your family. You feel lonely, isolated. You believe nobody cares. Every person that has been touched by drug addiction, either personally or through a friendship, a close one or even a brief encounter, has strong visceral feelings about this issue. Feelings that are accompanied with endless questions. Most of which are difficult, emotional, and often unanswered. To find the answers we need to get past the soundbites and stereotypes. We need to dive deeper.
We hope you join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
More stories can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/
EP012: Inside view of Tent City 3
You Know Me Now
03/15/23 • 50 min
For folks who don't know Tent City 3 is operated by the 501C(3) non profit called SHARE / WHEEL which stands for Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and its partner organization Women's Housing Equality and Enhancement League. Both organizations have deep roots in Seattle with their birth during the 1990 Goodwill games.
The self managed community model that SHARE/WHEEL developed in the 1990’s is one of the first in the country. From the beginning, Tent City 3 has moved quarterly to different host locations throughout the city, mostly to church parking lots.
In early January, for this episode, I spent two days and one night at Tent City 3. They were located on a small parking lot between the Husky stadium and lake Washington on the UW campus.
While I got to know a number of residents during the time there, such as Kendra, Osh, Andrew, Ryan, Sebastian, Rebekah, and others, most of my time was spent hanging out with Sean Smith.
Sean is one of the camp leaders who has years of experience operating tent cities and his time with SHARE goes back really to the beginning of the organization. We started our conversation with his childhood memories.
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EP018: Seeing the precious other
You Know Me Now
09/12/23 • 60 min
When responding to complex societal issues, we are all familiar with the shortcomings of treating symptoms rather than causes.
Even so, despite knowing this, we also all know how easy it is to go down that path. When an issue is screaming at us, any issue, our knee-jerk reaction is to just make it go away, make it stop.
When the city of Seattle puts up chain link fencing to keep the homeless out from under freeways and bridges, it is addressing a symptom, the unsightliness of encampments. The fences are meant to make it go away. We, as a community, passively allow it to happen because, in the moment, it feels better to not see what is unsightly. It is literally, out of sight, out of mind for us. However, for the homeless, they are still homeless.
So how do we shift our focus to successfully addressing root issues rather than symptoms? How do we get past giving in to knee-jerk responses?
We begin by understanding that, for the most part, the symptoms of homelessness are what the housed community feels and are impacted by and the root causes are what the unhoused community feels and are impacted by. When we respond to symptoms, we need to know that we are responding to our needs, rather than the needs of those struggling.
It is an important distinction, an important and necessary shift.
When we act compassionately, and intentionally, with this knowledge, we open ourselves to the uncertainty, to the uncomfortableness, of homelessness, and beautifully begin our own journey of addressing the root causes of others’ struggles.
In this episode, we have the sincere pleasure of talking with Sparrow Etter Arlson. Sparrow has been living with intention toward her unhoused neighbors for the last 21 years. She is a co-founder of the Green Bean Coffeeshop, co-founder of Aurora Commons and its (SHE) Clinic, the acronym SHE standing for Safe, Healthy, and Empowered, and the Founder of Sacred Streets. Sparrow is now the Seattle Planning Specialist at King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
Join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
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More stories and our new Artist Spotlight can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/
EP004: Would do it all over again
You Know Me Now
08/21/22 • 65 min
In this episode we meet Auntie who poses a question. A question really for all of us, which is, “If you are judging my life, tell me what you have done with yours?” She goes on to say, there are probably a lot of your actions that you don’t think are wrong, but to her and to others, maybe they are.
I don’t think Auntie is just saying defensively, “Judging her is like the tea kettle calling the pot black.” I think she is looking for more than that. She’s pointing out that we all have parts of our lives that others disagree with and that we should not simply fall into quick judgment. Rather, can we come together to find shared truth. I think it is at the center of why Auntie wanted to share her story.
Life is always more complicated, or gray, than the black and white world we often want it to be. We do need each other and all our differing views to find our way through the gray.
This conversation for sure is not meant to define the lines of right and wrong. That’s for all of us to work through. Rather, it is just asking us to stop and reflect on the complexity of life and give space for each other on issues we differ on.
Drugs are a polarizing force in our society. Some believe there should be zero tolerance for drug users and dealers, while others, such as Auntie, believe that all drugs should be made legal. Listening to each other is the first step in finding the shared truth.
Auntie feels she has lived a good life guided by her love of people. She knows she has pushed the edges of what society approves of but also that she has held true to her own sense of what is right and wrong, her own code of ethics. She says without reservation, she has no regrets.
We hope you join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
More stories can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/
EP005: The Sweep
You Know Me Now
09/29/22 • 102 min
In this episode of You Know Me Now we’ll be discussing the controversial government policy of sweeps.
If you are not familiar with the term, a sweep is the forced disbanding of a homeless encampment on public property. The act of sweeping is typically performed by a combination of police, tow trucks, dumpster trucks, and any other needed government agency to accomplish the task. For example, when parks are involved, often the Parks Department is included. During a sweep all individuals, regardless of their circumstance or condition, along with all of their personal property, are removed from the area. This is fairly straightforward. Government removing people and belongings from locations where laws have made it illegal to reside. Sweeps are often set into motion when individuals in business and residential neighborhoods complain that the laws are not being enforced. In short, homed individuals reach a tipping point and want something done. This seems reasonable. I think everyone can sympathize with those that have been impacted by a homeless encampment either near their business, out front of their home, or in the park they enjoy. It is clearly unfair that the impact of homelessness should be felt by a few when it is in fact a larger community issue and responsibility.
However, sweeps as a solution have not proven to be an answer to, or even a path towards, addressing homelessness. Yes they provide immediate relief to those being impacted, but the issue itself is not being resolved by sweeping, only swept to a new location where another neighborhood is then impacted. There is a plethora of information around homelessness, including sweeps. Most of it comes in the form of collected data around programs, policies, services, resources, and budgets. What gets missed in all the data is the human being being swept. Nobody is measuring increased levels of trauma, or how many steps back are taken in what is already a difficult path to move forward on for those struggling with homelessness. It is accurate to say, sweeps are conducted to benefit the homed, not the homeless. In a situation where people are illegally living on public land, why should our policies and programs be structured to benefit them? What’s wrong with sweeps just benefiting those living legally? To quote many folks living outside, when told to ‘move along’, they will answer, “Move along to where?” One of the fundamental flaws with sweeps is that there is no safe place to be swept to. All the land is spoken for. When housing is offered often it ends up being unavailable or unsuitable to that person’s real needs.
It is also important to remember that each person living on the street has a profound and true story of why they are there. Nobody just chooses homelessness. Often, beginning very early in childhood, some form of trauma is experienced, knocking them off their life path. While most of us move forward on our journey, working to fulfill our hopes and dreams, those who have been traumatized spend a great deal of time just getting back to the start line, just trying to survive. For this reason alone we owe it to those struggling on our streets.
If we are going to address homelessness in a meaningful way, our programs need to also fit the needs of the homeless, not just the homed. Our actions must be thoughtful and sensitive to not only do no harm, but to also actively provide paths forward. This begins by listening to those living on our streets.
In this episode you will hear from people who have recent, first hand experience of what it's like to be swept. Also we talk to a few very passionate folks from Stop the Sweeps Seattle, a mutual aid group who advocate for services over sweeps.
We hope you join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
More stories can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/
EP002: Being Dizzy
You Know Me Now
03/14/22 • 62 min
What does becoming a friend with someone experiencing homelessness look like?
Getting to know and becoming friends with anyone, you begin to care about that person, about their well being. When your friend is struggling it pulls at you, you want to help. That’s what friends do.
Often in these moments, the problem isn’t the ‘wanting to help’, it is in the ‘how to help’. That’s the very moment it gets complicated. Always. Giving help to anyone is a tricky thing. Giving help to someone that is homeless, at times feels a bit like swimming out to someone you love that is drowning.
We hope you join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
More stories can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/stories
EP026: Take a deep breath
You Know Me Now
09/17/24 • 47 min
Tracy and I met 9 years ago when she commented on the Facing Homelessness Facebook page. Her sharing was, you could say, a tour de force of emotional outpouring.
Today I want to revisit that exchange because something important happened, something I believe is available to all of us and provides a path for moving forward when discussing difficult societal issues.
Tracy’s comments on the Facebook page were, for sure, ones of disgust and even anger towards those living homeless in her neighborhood. They were not unlike the polarized back and forth emotional statements we often see in the world of social media. However, Tracy did something remarkable after sharing her comment. She remained open and willing to engage.
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EP022: The Skipping Rock - Part 3
You Know Me Now
02/17/24 • 69 min
This is the 3rd and last part of an episode called The Skipping Rock.
In this 3rd part of Casey’s story, we cover some of the most traumatic events of her life. She admits openly that due to the heavy drug use, trauma, and instability during this time, she has gaps in her memory, making it difficult to connect everything together.
Rather than tell this chapter of Casey's life in a chronological order, as we usually try to do, we’ve decided to bring forward events, or moments, that best express what Casey was going through. As a young woman living homeless, heavily addicted and working in the sex trade, she was just trying to survive. Through these events we will continue to explore the idea of choice.
When we left Casey in the last episode, in Part Two, she was heavily addicted to street drugs, so much so that she was no longer able to dance at the strip clubs. This not only robbed her income, it took away her sense of being in community. Now that that was gone, she was trapped in an increasingly vicious cycle of doing drugs to be able to do the sex work, so she could make the money to pay for the drugs, that she was taking to do the sex work.
Join in on the conversation on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/goodoldlistening/
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More stories and our new Artist Spotlight can be found at https://www.youknowmenow.com/
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FAQ
How many episodes does You Know Me Now have?
You Know Me Now currently has 27 episodes available.
What topics does You Know Me Now cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture, Documentary, Podcasts and Relationships.
What is the most popular episode on You Know Me Now?
The episode title 'EP016: Just Say Hello' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on You Know Me Now?
The average episode length on You Know Me Now is 61 minutes.
How often are episodes of You Know Me Now released?
Episodes of You Know Me Now are typically released every 29 days, 20 hours.
When was the first episode of You Know Me Now?
The first episode of You Know Me Now was released on Jan 22, 2022.
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