SHOW NOTES
The People’s Republic of Astoria
A Limited Series Podcast
One door knock at a time, one phone call at a time, one volunteer shift at a time, Tim’s neighbors were building something. A grassroots movement. Mutual aid networks. A community.
In just seven years, they’d reshape their neighborhood. They’d form nonprofits to give away free food, and create outdoor spaces that everyone can enjoy. They’d elect democratic socialists to nearly every local office, and then help build a movement large enough to put a 33-year-old organizer and State Assemblyman named Zohran Mamdani on the cusp of being elected the next mayor of New York.
In seven short years, a movement would grow. Thousands upon thousands would get involved. And in Astoria, Shawna Morlock and nine perfect strangers standing in the park would blossom into fifty thousand volunteers knocking on doors across the city.
While they were building all that, Tim Donovan had retreated from politics entirely. A former freelance journalist who covered progressive causes for national outlets, in 2016 he left that world behind. For the next nine years, he’d mix cocktails in his neighborhood of Astoria, Queens.
This is the story of the people who built those movements — but it’s the story of people like Tim, too. Because it’s not just about the people who knock on doors three nights a week. It’s not just about people who organize nonprofits.
It’s about the rest of us.
It’s about the choices we make.
And sometimes, the ones that we don’t
Episode 01: Ten Perfect Strangers
In winter of 2017, Shawna Morlock was doomscrolling after Trump’s election. She’d gone to the Women’s March and it felt cathartic, but it left her asking: “Now what?”
She heard that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was running in her district. She’d never volunteered in her life.
But then she met the candidate, and she started to believe.
Meanwhile, Michael Thomas Carter was a young activist who had to make a choice: keep his safe job, or take a risk with an insurgent outsider?
Through interviews with journalists Ross Barkan and Michael Lange, you’ll learn about the forces that AOC was up against — Joe Crowley and his friends in the Queens Democratic Party, and a system of patronage that hand-picked judges and made backroom deals. You’ll learn what motivated her to fight.
You’ll meet Magdalena Moranda, a 25-year-old activist from the next generation. And you’ll learn what actually keeps these volunteers coming back.
What’s Next
Episode 2: “Twenty Years Apart” – Jimmy Van Bramer is an Astoria kid, born-and-raised. A former city councilor, Jimmy watched the neighborhood change, took on the largest company in the world — and won. You’ll also meet Ross Barkan, who hires a young organizer named Zohran Mamdani to a campaign that will learn lessons from failure.
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Production Credits
Written, narrated, and produced by Tim Donovan.
Thanks to Daisy Larom and Sarah Noe for their guidance & assistance these last three months.
Special thanks to my wife Alice, for her endless support, brilliant ideas, and incredible patience.
Special thanks to Michael Thomas Carter, Shawna Morlock, Magdalena Moranda, Ross Barkan, and Michael Lange.
Music by Pyrosian; full Creative Common Licenses available at peoplesrepublicpod.com.