Episode 8: An Empathy 101 Tutorial (ft. Etel Haxhiaj)

We bring on District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj to recap and process the city council’s debate last night over whether to apologize to Thu Nguyen for a rash of bigotry, starting with Candy Mero-Carlson and culminating in a literal Fox News segment. Luckily, the vote was 8-2 to do so, but it doesn’t erase the great shame brought onto Worcester, nor does it show that our old guard councilors really understand the extent of it. Some links to things discussed within:Greg Opperman’s story for Worcester Sucks on Etel’s journey to America. My piece on the situation: The Unbearable Bigotry of Townies.Candy sneaky texting while Maydeé Morales speaks about her failures as an elected leaderDonation links: Rob Bilotta’s campaign, Etel’s campaign, Khrystian’s campaignAnd of course there’s supporting this outlet, which we’d greatly appreciate.Venmo a tip / Paypal a Tip / Send a tip on Ko-Fi / Merch StoreAnd help us get the word out too! Also check out the dumb March of the Ents meme I put on the Worcester Sucks Instag—Outro music: “Abstract City” by Hammered Hulls.—Intro music: “Roaming The Cosmic Winds” by Mystic Realm, Worcester-based dungeon synth project by Kevin Fitzgerald. Check out the full album, Forsaken Kingdom, on the Mystic Realm Bandcamp.—Logo by Travis Duda (@hunchbacktravis)—If podcasts aren’t your thing (totally get it, you did sign up for a newsletter after all) you can adjust which sections (Outdoor Cats, Bad Advice, WPS In Brief, etc) come to your inbox in your settings.—This podcast is now available on all the major podcast players: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts and you can add it to any other sort of player with this RSS link. Get full access to Worcester Sucks and I Love It at www.worcestersucks.email/subscribe