This is summer, I got the chance to visit the rebel headquarters of independent media, The Young Turks. We were out in southern California for my Abuela's 80th birthday party. We planned to do a beach day or two, a trip to the Central Valley to visit my best gal and her munchkin, plenty of family time—while I was planning all of this I knew I had to find a way to make a trip to visit and thank The Young Turks for their work. So, I did.
What is there to say about these guys...
I discovered them in 2015, early on in the Democratic primary season as a related video listed in the sidebar while I was trying to learn more about Senator Bernie Sanders in a Thom Hartman video. I loved the balance of candor, the thoughtfulness, the context, and the wit of the hosts. It was like all the news that I love from Democracy Now, plus some serious and hard-hitting commentary. I started watching their LIVE show every weekday. After a few months I became a paying member. I realized that it was something I cared about tremendously, and appreciated the impact that watching their show had on me, so I knew I had to support them with what I could. I can't recommend their news show highly enough, but they actually have a whole network of shows which are equally powerful and fun.
TYT on Fusion Campus Tour
In the Fall of 2016, in the full swing of the general election, TYT and Fusion teamed up to do a tour across the country to ask millennials about the election, the candidates, and the issues that they found most important. I was glued to their website when they were announcing the details for their stop in Chicago. I got our names on the list, and we went to the October 24th event at the University of Chicago, Institute of Politics. It was thrilling—the guest was David Axelrod, the conversation revolved around the character and the presentation of Hillary Clinton. We got a chance to meet and greet a little bit after the LIVE show.
Visiting Rebel Headquarters
I arranged a visit to The Young Turks studio for our last full day in California, but I forgot to ask about parking. Oops! So our visit started a little crazy, we searched for parking anywhere, found a lot but didn't have cash, tried to find an ATM to no avail. It was an adventure. We finally made it into the studio and our wonderful guide, Norma, got us hooked up with the right parking situation. While my sugar was re-parking, I got to chat with Grace Baldridge—from Pop Trigger and of course, Murder with Friends. We talked about traveling and long distance driving. I got a chance to chat briefly with Francis Maxwell, but no picture because he was in a rush; he's so delightful. I ran into Brett Erlich—from...well, everything. We chatted about traveling and about the awesome landscapes across the country.
Then it was time for the LIVE show. We got to sit in the studio while they filmed, got the meet the big guy, the one and only, Cenk Uygur. Before I actually became a member, I watched the film, Mad As Hell, about Cenk and the formation of TYT. It gave me a look into the work and the passion and the compassion that has gone into building every bit of the TYT Network, the Too Strong TYT Army, the momentum behind the call for a constitutional amendment to eradicate the influence of money in politics through Wolf-PAC. This man IS hard work and dedication. It was an honor to meet and to thank him for that hard work, dedication, and tremendous passion in the fight for justice. We sat through taping the main show, the Post-Game, and TYT Classics. David and joked that we would've loved to stay until they kicked us out. On our way out we had to snap a picture with our wonderful tour guide, Norma. It was the best way to close the California leg of our cross-country road trip.
