Okay, okay, there is a little bit of making excuses this time around since it's been so long, but between Black Field, strategic planning and decorating for Halloween, who has time to just sit down and chat? Our front porches are starting to get chillier, but we still managed to chat with Assistant Director Veronica and Marketing and Outreach Librarian Cass about Halloween decorating year round, scary movies that have scarred us for life, and murder basements (commonly misnamed Michigan basements lol). We then stumble again and again over 90s references as Cass and I chat with Krissi Brott, Greenville City Clerk, true crime lover, and fellow adventurer through a hodge-podge of careers before landing in her dream job. We reminisce about the best and worst of our favorite decade, and dispel misconceptions about the bureaucratic election machine and all the pieces that make it work. Get out and vote and then join us on the Flat River Front Porch!

At long last, it's our end-of-summer edition of Flat River Front Porch! This one has been a long time coming, but it is packed full of (low-key, nerd-friendly) celebrity guests. While we will be coming back home in our next episode to interview a local retired teacher, our guest this week is a teacher from much farther away. She is Amanda Jones, small-town Louisiana school librarian turned freedom fighter who has been making headlines for fighting back against individuals in her community trying to scare her into silence over attempts to remove books from the public library. Her fight turned into a multi-year lawsuit and a bestselling book, That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America (check our shelves!). Cassie, our Marketing and Outreach Librarian and fellow intellectual freedom enthusiast, joins us as we talk about the threats Amanda had to deal with and the good things she was able to take away from the experience. (Warning: there is a small amount of profanity in this episode.) The episode also features some recognizable names and voices from 30 Rock, The Good Place and Parks and Recreation who were excited and kind enough to be featured on our little podcast. Take one last trip for the summer on the Flat River Front Porch!

We are in the home stretch of summer and it has been BUSY, so we're a little bit behind with sitting down indoors and recording. However, we are celebrating the summer fun and planning for the warm weather we have left with some local guests (and one far-flung one). I sit down with Amanda Lee (AGAIN, I know -- but we have so much fun) to talk summer fruits and veggies and the bizarre slang terms Midwesterners come up with for them, when it's acceptable to use your crockpot, beach reads, and something called the Great Saunter (a real thing for which Amanda is currently training). Then we speak with Steve Bowers from The Library Network on the east side of the state. He told us all about the Michigan Activity Pass program (and I've been saving his interview since last October so we were all in a state park and traveling kind of mood). Finally, we compare notes with a handful of library moms about what their alternately exciting and relaxing summers have entailed so far. It's never been a better time to pour yourself some lemonade, settle in on the front porch and join us!