Let’s meet the baseball nut who sticks up for the guys behind the plate that every baseball fan loves to hate. Yes, we’re talking about umpires. In this episode of the Check It Out! podcast, host Ken Harvey talks to his friend Jason Becker, creator of the Umpire Inspire podcast. “In my book, he’s a genius, and he’s producing a fascinating podcast f…

In Episode 62 of Sno-Isle Libraries Check It Out podcast, co-hosts Ken Harvey and Tricia Lee talk to local author Stewart Tolnay and learn how he has used his study of American racial history to create interesting fiction and nonfiction. Tolnay is a Ph.D. professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Washington. His first fiction novel, “Les…

Part 1: You Don’t Wanna Be a Rock-and-Roll Star Chris Ballew lived the rock-and-roll life. As frontman for the late, great Presidents of the United States of America, he wrote infectious, goofy, catchy hits about “Peaches” and a “Dune Buggy” when heavy grunge dominated Seattle’s FM radio waves. He toured all over the world. He played to packed aren…

Rodney Clark helps deliver the future. As the vice president of the Microsoft Azure Worldwide Internet of Things and Mixed Reality Team, Clark and his crew work with more than 8,000 partners and clients to connect billions of everyday devices to the cloud. Sensors on stop lights, cash registers, automobiles, home appliances, exercise monitors, vide…

If you’re anxious about the global coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19, you’re not alone. In this episode of Sno-Isle Libraries Check It Out! podcast, you’ll hear how a globe-trotting disaster-relief doctor loses sleep about the deadly virus that has upended our sense of “normal.” Dr. Dan Diamond is a clinical assistant professor at Washington State …

Claudia Samano Losado has many talents. Early-childhood educator. World traveler. Life coach. Recreation-center owner. Dance-movement instructor. But maybe most importantly, Losado is a fervent Oak Harbor Library supporter. “I think I’m very passionate about a lot of things, and one of my passions is to share with others and to take and give in the…

Chapter 1: Meet the writer who’s not fond of writing Nancy Leson loves books, she loves libraries, she loves to talk and she loves food. That makes the Edmonds resident an ideal guest for Sno-Isle Libraries Check It Out! podcast. Libraries figured large in Leson’s childhood in Philadelphia. Her family had little disposable income, so off to the lib…

If a picture is worth a thousand words, some of Rich Frishman’s photographs could be novels. Frishman was a news photographer for The Daily Herald in Everett and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize before he left to pursue freelance work. He knows how to tell a story with a photograph, and he still sees and tells the stories of America through his c…

David George Gordon admits he was a bookworm as a child. Is that why the prolific author loves insects, and loves to eat them? Sno-Isle Libraries Check It Out! podcast hosts Ken Harvey, Jim Hills and Jessica Russell sat down with Gordon and chewed the fat about his reputation as “the bug chef.” And they graciously accepted the guest’s gifts, as pol…

If you’re old enough to remember when Seattle television was limited to a handful of broadcast channels and you remember J.P. Patches, you’ve seen the work of Sharon Howard and Mike Rosen. Howard got her start in broadcast TV in 1977 with KIRO-TV as a floor director for newscasts and “The J.P. Patches Show.” It was performed and broadcast live, six…

As the outgoing president and CEO of Washington CleanTech Alliance, Tom Ranken has been close to many of the biggest and some of the smallest businesses in the region. What they all have in common, Ranken says, is a goal to change the world. Ranken had plenty of business expertise - Immunex, VizX Labs, Axio Research - on his resume before joining t…

WSU Everett Chancellor Paul Pitre’s career path wasn’t always taking him toward higher-education administration. But once he got there, it all made sense. With a bachelor’s degree in communications studies from Western Washington University in hand, Pitre started working in Seattle-area media jobs. “I worked at (Seattle-based TV station) KOMO for a…

Usually, the phrase is, “Baptism by fire.” For Shari Ireton, Director of Communications for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, her introduction to emergency management was baptism by mud. It was March 22, 2014, a Saturday, and Ireton was out with the family shopping for science fair supplies when she got a message about a slide that had closed …

Chapter 1 Did you know that July 17 is Yellow Pig’s Day? Podcast co-host Paul Pitkin didn’t know either when he brought it up, but you will now. According to a not-quite exhaustive online search, two Princeton math students - David C. Kelly and Michael Spivak – began in the early 1960s celebrating July 17 as Yellow Pig’s Day in honor of mathematics…

This is a special episode of the Check It Out! podcast. It brings four special young people together for a conversation between themselves and moderator by one of their own: Rilee Louangphakdy. Each of these young adults presented themselves and their thoughts at a previous TEDxSnoIsleLibraries. In this episode, they talk about their experiences on…

In this episode, Check It Out! reporter Abe Martinez leads listeners through an interview with Chris Jordan, a Seattle-based photographer and documentarian who created a movie called "Albatross." Jordan's comments come as part of a conversation he had with Jennifer Geist. Over the course of eight trips to Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific …

Chapter 1 Introduction Check It Out! reporter Abe Martinez chats with podcast co-hosts Ken Harvey and Jim Hills about the experience of interviewing Andre Feriante. Length: 06:41 Chapter 1 – Andre Feriante Italian-born and trained in classic flamenco guitar, Andre Feriante talks about his artistic and personal journey. Now a Whidbey Island resident…

She comes from a small town in Ohio known for the lack of a discernible accent by its residents. Allison Warren-Barbour is finding other ways to stand out as she leads United Way of Snohomish County on a new path to help families escape the traps of poverty. Now in her third year as President & Chief Executive Officer, Warren-Barbour brings experie…

Episode 18 of the "Check It Out!" podcast includes three short stories from three contributors, Rilee Louangphakdy, Abe Martinez and Kaley Costello. Chapter 1 – Library Surprise with Rilee Louangphakdy Rilee says he is a "huge fan" of comic books, graphic novels and manga. Recently added to the Sno-Isle Libraries collection are digital version of c…

When Emmett Heath thinks about public transportation, buses might not be the first things that pop into his mind. "Our mission is to help people get from where they are to where they want to be," Heath says in this episode of Check It Out!. "That's our business." If that means a bus meets those needs, great, Heath says. If it is a vanpool or some o…

Chapter 1 – “Hmmm … I didn’t know that” Check It Out! podcast hosts Ken Harvey, Cindy Tingley and Jim Hills chat about a grab-bag of subjects, including: Snowmageddon 2019 and how planning gets iffy when it’s raining in Seattle, snowing in Marysville and a whiteout in Oak Harbor. What 32 consecutive years of clean state audits mean for Sno-Isle Lib…

This very special episode of Check It Out! is a podcast, looking at a podcast which looks at one of the most pressing issues facing our communities today: the opioid crisis. Anna Boiko-Weyrauch and Kyle Norris, both with KUOW Public Radio in Seattle, created Finding Fixes, a podcast focusing on how communities and agencies across Snohomish County a…

Chapter 1 – Sarri Gilman Sarri Gilman helps others search for healthy boundaries and find balance in their lives. A licensed psychotherapist, the Whidbey Island resident works with individuals, couples and families challenged with issues around relationships, emotions, mental health and being in a state of overwhelm. Her boundary workshops help peo…