Jerome is a politician, environmentalist, and do-gooder based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He and his husband Aaron enjoy volunteering, traveling (pre-COVID), good jokes, and big mugs of coffee.
Why are you doing this? Why a podcast?
First, I should mention that Bottomless Coffee refers to the community that I’d like for us to build as well as the name of the podcast. I believe in community building as a way of building power and – frankly – this is a time when people of similar values need to come together to advance their common goals. That’s definitely something that I learned during my run for political office but the power of community can dramatically improve people’s lives without necessarily being tied to a political goal.
So – for example – in this community and on this podcast we are going to be advancing antiracism, environmentalism, talking about caregiving, mentorship, respect for one another – things that you don’t necessarily see being taught in the world anymore. Also, in a world where it feels like there’s a constant pressure to take big, dramatic actions – we focus on the incremental steps that build over time to reshape your life, your neighborhood, and your community.
What perspectives are you bringing the the podcast?
I genuinely feel that at this moment in human history where we’re called to be proudly antiracist, proud environmentalists, and knowledgeable about the practices and policies that increase inequities between people across the world. So I’m definitely the person on the podcast that’s thinking, “How can this be antiracist? Does this subject have a history or racial inequities? Does promoting this also promote climate change? Why don’t we have more visible diversity in our guests!?” and so on.
Where do you see this going?
I believe that we are all empowered to make the world a better place but we just need a little help getting started. And some likeminded thinkers who are out there doing the work need a platform to help spread their message. My hope is that Bottomless Coffee can both empower those who need that little push or guidance and be a small platform to help some fellow do-gooders started.
And if you bring together a band of do-gooders with a distributed community of supporters behind them then, well, I suppose you can do just about anything.
You can learn more about Jerome’s political life at www.jerometevans.com.
Jerome is on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
