Lobbyist Julia Donnaruma joins Tom on the pod to talk about her various experiences with lobbying, what it was like to work for Mayor Bloomberg, and finally, her nonprofit work with New Alternatives For Children — the very place she met the loquacious Mr. Duane.
District Leader Layla Law-Gisiko joins Tom to talk some more about the NYCHA Chelsea Demolition and the general privatizing of subsidized housing.
NYCHA, NYC’s public housing authority, is allowing private developers to demolish two Chelsea NYCHA campuses, displacing over 90 senior citizens in order to build luxury high-rises. Tom brings activists Roberta Gelb and Lydia Andre on the pod to talk about what you can do to stop the demolition.
Lawyer Jim West joins Tom on the pod and the two reminisce about their good ol' days fighting the good fight, as West was one of the principal lawyers involved in the cases that eventually led to Braschi decision — the landmark ruling that allowed the surviving partner of a same-sex relationship to continue living in a rent controlled apartment belonging to the deceased partner.
Remember that ol’ book Tom and Blake were working on? It’s still happening, so Charles Sanchez comes on the pod to question Tom about some more gay & political book-related stuff. Knowing Tom, this will be super straightforward.
Producer and engineer, Sam Small, joins Tom to talk about boycotts, adderall, and the one and only Zohran Mamdani
Tom’s old pal, Representative Tony Simone, joins him on the pod to talk about deciding to run, having a crush on his fraternity brothers, and his two pending bills: the melt act and the non partisan pulpit act.
Justice Andrea Masley joins Tom to talk about her career as a judge and two of the NYC Bare Association's current bills, Repeal the Cap and Do the Math.
Tom’s dream guest is here! Former New York Times reporter, David Dunlap, joins the pod to talk about the beginnings of the “gay and lesbian beat,” and all the peaks and valleys of his 50 plus years working for the paper.
Charles Sanchez, one of the newest additions to the YDS team, finally takes to the mic. We learn about his first dilly-dally, his career as a writer and musician and the first penis he ever truly loved.
Former city council member Jimmy Van Bramer joins Tom, his former employer and gay mentor, to talk about his political career, his love life, and their mutual Irishness.
Tom’s former chief of staff, TAG treasurer, and occasional cellmate, Laura Morrison, joins the pod to talk about their mutual organizing history.
So you know how Tom is always saying he’s kind of “bisexual,” well today we get to meet his first girlfriend and lifelong bestie, the poet Katherine Eatmon.
Our pre-book series is coming to a close, so we’re reflecting and bidding farewell to Blake as he hunkers down and works on the duo's soon-to-be NYT's Best Seller. You also might be wondering: what's next for the Senator? Listen and find out!
Tom’s got the reigns and he wants (almost) all of YDS — Blake, Angel (Blake’s husband) and producer Sam — to answer his steaming questions about food, god, and colors.
Tom was a capital O organizer back in his heyday, but can he organize his physical spaces, too? Blake isn’t so sure, and so a conversation ensues about how we arrange our lives and our priorities.
After Tom and Blake got into yet another fight about their (distracting) writing process, producer Sam Small hops on the mic to mediate and get to the bottom of their communication problems.
Gay Devastation: Tom missed the Kylie Minogue concert because he had COVID, so, naturally, a conversation about all things healthcare and Luigi Mangione ensues.
What was once the title of Blake’s radio show is now, unofficially, chapter one of the forthcoming memoir and the guiding question for this week’s episode. Words like “fairness” and “justice” were brought up, and incidentally so was “Cheney.”
Blake and Tom take their relationship to the next level on a work-cation in Culebra, Puerto Rico.