TYLER CHURCH: I’m a troublemaker, as you know.

KAYLIE SIROVY: Yeah. Yup. Such a troublemaker. OK. Hello, everyone. My name is Kaylie Sirovy, your host from the Minnesota Daily. Right now, you’re listening to In The Know, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota. And today in the studio with me, I have Tyler Church. Hello, Tyler.

CHURCH: Hi, Kaylie.

SIROVY: Tyler has had kind of heck of a week. This is why he’s here. 

But first let’s talk about kind of how long you’ve been here and what other stories you’ve been working on.

CHURCH: I’ve not been here for very long. I’ve been here for like maybe six months. I’m still a sophomore, but I’ve put out, I’m not gonna say a fair amount, but I put out like a decent amount of stuff. It kind of goes all over. Over the summer I was doing a mix of campus admin so like stuff with just, you know, the higher ups and then just like campus activities. 

So it’s a lot of mix. Now I’m a lot more focused on campus admin now that everybody’s back in the office. But yeah, if you’re looking for stories from administration, you’ll probably see my name and beautiful face on there.

SIROVY: Yes. So let’s talk about this past week. Yay!

CHURCH: Yay.

SIROVY: For those of you who don’t know, there was a protest where protesters went into Morrill Hall and kind of like barricaded themselves in there. I saw pictures of bike locks, of like chairs against doors and Tyler was there being an incredible student journalist.

CHURCH: We may be doing a little bit of a stretch there, but I was there.

 SIROVY: You were there, yes. 

CHURCH: I was there.

SIROVY: And he was interviewing people, protesters there. Why don’t I have you tell the rest of the story?

CHURCH: Yeah so, I got there when I saw the safety alert. I was at home. I was in my apartment and I got the safety alert, and I looked over at my girlfriend, I was like, “We’re leaving in five minutes, like get in the car, like we gotta head over.” Because I was originally covering the protests in general. And I knew that there was a protest happening today, but obviously, you can’t really expect something like that to happen. 

So I immediately hopped in my car and my girlfriend dropped me off. We got there probably five minutes after the notification. And outside, you know, I see all the protests happening outside. You can’t really see what’s happening from the inside, from the outside view. But people were like draping like banners and stuff off top Morrill Hall. So I’m like, “OK, I need to get in there.” 

So I start talking to people at the front door. And they’re just like, “Yeah. We got to ask a couple of people if you can get in, but we’ll get back to you.” So I’m waiting outside, talking to a couple people who are also there to cover, and just some protesters in general. 

Finally I’m able to get in. I’m there with the two other Hannahs from our lovely organization. And they’re doing their thing. So I get up. I walk around, look at the damage. You see the stuff that you’ve seen in pictures already. The spray paint on walls and on cameras, the windows broken and doors and stuff like that, the barricades.

SIROVY: What were you thinking in this moment?

CHURCH: For me, I was like, I don’t even remember to be honest with you. I got in there, I was like, dude.

SIROVY: You’re like, I just need to get these stories. 

CHURCH: I just need to get this story done. And then I saw police were coming in. I was like, I remember vividly. I was talking to my girlfriend when she dropped me off. I was like, “You know, if I get arrested, you know, I’ll call you,” cause I always make that joke whenever like I’m going to do like protest stuff or anything that, you know, could cause chaos. Literally did I know that would bite me in the ass. But I saw the police. I was like, “That’s a bad sign.” I mean, obviously they’re gonna be there, but just I had a feeling in my stomach anyway.

SIROVY: Were you scared at all? Like during any of this?

CHURCH: In moments like that, you don’t really get scared, especially because like people aren’t necessarily hostile to you. They’re just hostile in general about a lot of stuff. But like, if you’re in there and they know you’re a reporter they’re just gonna leave you alone and do their own thing. Which you know, like I’m not gonna get in your way. I’m not gonna try and stop you from like breaking shit. 

That’s your prerogative, but like you definitely get kind of like an adrenaline rush just from like being in there. I remember even when I covered the the first major protest at Cunningham’s inauguration. I was sitting inside for that, and I remember the minute like everybody like stood up and started interrupting, chanting inside the building. 

I was sitting there. I was like, dude, I feel like I just like did drugs. I was just like seething with adrenaline and like through my body. I was like, “Yeah, this is going to be fun to write about,” but little did I know I would be stuck on the same path for another three, four weeks and I’d be here. 

But yeah, in those moments, I’m not going to say you don’t necessarily think clear because like you do still have like your thoughts but it’s kind of just like, it’s just messy. It’s hard to keep track of everything, so like no matter what’s happening around you, even if like nothing’s happening, just the knowledge that you’re there and like in that moment is kind of a lot for a fair amount of the time.

SIROVY: During all this, were you texting Spencer or Liv, your editor?

CHURCH: Oh, yeah. I was blowing up people’s phones. During that time, I was texting literally everyone that would hear me. I was texting my dad. I was texting my girlfriend. I was texting Spencer. I do feel bad because I did not text my editor, Liv, like, at all until after I’d gotten detained. 

They put the handcuffs on me and I remember getting out. And I immediately, like, walked over like to grab all my stuff, and I like texted Liv. I was like, “Hey, just, guess who just got put in handcuffs?” And, like, immediately, I got four texts from her, being like, “What the, what just happened?”

SIROVY: She was freaking out a little bit.

CHURCH: Yeah, yeah. I felt so bad. I was like, “Oh my bad, I forgot to text you.” But, but no, I was trying to text as many people as possible. Obviously, Spencer like if you look through the stories, Spencer was there, but not for very long. He was just there to drop off the vests. Check in.

SIROVY: So you texted him, did you ask for the vest or was he like, I’m bringing these to you guys? 

CHURCH: Dude, that’s a good question. I don’t even remember. I think he was just like, “I’m gonna bring these to you guys.” And I mean, thank God cause even still like it didn’t really work out too well for me, obviously, but like I’m sure that helped a lot with the other two. Yeah, I still feel bad for him. I owe him a pair of brakes cause he messed up his brakes on his bike trying to bring those heavy ass press vests to us. 

SIROVY: How heavy were they?

CHURCH: Yeah, they’re metal plated. Yeah, so like metal plates on the front and the back. And like tactical.

SIROVY: You looked very professional wearing them.

CHURCH: I did not feel professional. I was fighting for my life in those vests.

SIROVY: Yeah so at what point did police start coming in?

CHURCH: I was mid interview with some of the protesters when they came through the door. I remember one of the other people from the campus administration desk had texted me maybe two minutes before that they came through the door being like, “They’re coming through the tunnels.” So if I would have checked that I would have known. 

Shout out Mady, but I remember like we were sitting there. All props to like, everyone involved not with the protest, but like the reporters because everybody from the Daily, everybody like that was there was absolutely on point with everything. If I would have just like checked my phone more often, I probably would have been in a better situation.

SIROVY: But you probably weren’t thinking about it. 

CHURCH: Yeah, it wasn’t necessarily my main focus. 

SIROVY: It was a team effort though. 

CHURCH: It was a team effort. Everybody there was like just, it was a very selfless effort. But I was with the protesters in that room. And I remember hearing the cops coming through the hall before they had come through cause you know, they make the call outs and stuff and they’re not quiet. 

SIROVY: What were they saying? 

CHURCH: They were just like yelling that rooms were getting cleared as they were coming down the hallway. And I remember sitting there with the protesters and I stopped for a minute. I was like, “Are those the cops?” They went, “Yeah, I think so.” And then just like stood there. I was like, “OK, like, I guess we’re doing this.” And they busted through the door.

Multiple times, I was like, “Yeah, I’m press. I’m with the Minnesota Daily.” I still got put in handcuffs. So it didn’t really get me much of anywhere. But I was trying to be as vocal as possible. Obviously in that situation, there’s a lot of stuff happening. So it’s very chaotic for everyone involved but like, you know stuff like that is, it’s just tough when you’re still starting out, especially there’s a lot of like, you know, like I said, there’s a lot of adrenaline involved and like, it’s a very scary time at points. 

I never was too worried, but like I was definitely upset for a lot of the time just cause like getting put in handcuffs isn’t fun. Getting ordered around it’s never, especially like when I’m just there to do my job, man. 

SIROVY: Why were you put in handcuffs and the other two Hannahs weren’t? 

CHURCH: They were in a separate area. So I’m assuming that. I’d gone down into the basement in order to interview the two protesters cause where we were originally, it was very loud and like chaotic cause everybody was moving around. So we headed into the basement and I left the two Hannahs up there to you know, fend for themselves. 

But yeah, we got down there and I remember I was put in handcuffs. I was sitting with everyone else who had also gotten detained, like the protesters. And I remember them walking down the stairs and seeing me and just like being dumbfounded. I was like, “Hey guys, like, how’s your afternoon going?”

SIROVY: Nothing out of the ordinary over here. Don’t look too close. 

CHURCH: I tried to be as polite as possible to everyone involved, but like those handcuffs were cutting into me, man. Like it was irritating me.

SIROVY: And were they like actual like handcuffs? 

CHURCH: Oh, no, they’re the thick like zip tie ones that they have. So it was plastic. It was like sharp plastic.

SIROVY: Still very uncomfortable.

CHURCH: Yeah, if you see those pictures like you can see like where I don’t think I have the marks on me anymore, but I’ve had them for the past couple of days. 

SIROVY: And you weren’t even in these for very long, were you? 

CHURCH: I was in there for maybe 15 minutes, but they did put them especially tight on me. The cop that was cutting me out had to like hand me the scissors, cause he didn’t trust himself to cut me out of them, cause they were so tight.

SIROVY: Oh my god.

 CHURCH: Yeah, like there are some nasty marks on my hands afterward. They cut into my wrist. Like I had like cuts on my wrist. But that was that, you know, like that irritated me a lot. Like obviously you’re never gonna be like too positive in that scenario.

But I was trying my hardest to be polite. Because you know, it’s like I said like it’s a hectic environment for everyone. So I don’t want to try and bring more negativity in the environment. 

SIROVY: Yeah. Yeah.

CHURCH: But yeah, both the Hannahs had come down. That’s where you see all the pictures from is like both of them had come down and like started taking pictures. Another thing that irritated me is one of the cops did try and like step in front of me as they were trying to get pictures.

SIROVY: What do you mean step in front of you? 

CHURCH: Like as they were taking pictures, she kind of like stepped in my way to try and like block some of them.

SIROVY: So like you couldn’t see the press name or like your face or something?

CHURCH: It was more so like when they were cutting me out of the cuffs which irritated me. There’s not much I can do about that. It’s just what it is. No shade to, like, a lot of the people at UMPD. Like, there’s a lot of nice people there. But just the entire ordeal was very, like, frustrating for me as a journalist. I’m not the most seasoned veteran journalist here.

SIROVY: You don’t have years of protest experience under your belt.

CHURCH: I’ve been covering protests ever since the start of the semester. So I’ve been to more than a couple, but it was such a hectic environment and just everything that I had gone through was just like, I’m just here to do my job man. I don’t want to be like the guy who causes issues for everyone.

SIROVY: You’re just there to get the voices, to get the what people say. I also saw that your backpack wasn’t given back to you. 

CHURCH: Oh my God.

SIROVY: And then I saw that UMPD had a statement about that. What are your thoughts during this? What were your feelings here? 

CHURCH: Yeah, that’s another level of the frustration. Not only was it frustrating as like a journalist because it took all my like equipment. So like my computer, my notebooks. Obviously I still had my phone through the ordeal. But all my like hard equipment for writing and recording specific moments was gone. And on top of that because they had taken it for so long. It was over 48 hours, I think. 

I couldn’t do my schoolwork. I didn’t have a computer. I didn’t have any of my notebooks. I didn’t have any of my textbooks. So I was just out of class for two days, which you know doesn’t sound like a lot, but like when you’re, when you’re in the middle of class. 

SIROVY: Literally the middle of the semester. 

CHURCH: Middle of the semester. Midterms are happening. It’s a mess. I appreciate all my teachers cause all my professors were super, super nice about it. A lot of people could choose to be hard asses about it, but like everybody was like very accommodating, which I appreciate. 

Like I mentioned, a lot of the staff kind of rallied around me in that time. But it was just so frustrating. Even from like an individual perspective, if you’re looking at it outside of journalism, like they took away my access to just being a student. Which, you know, when I pay as much as I do to go here.

SIROVY: Why did they take your backpack to begin with? 

CHURCH: Yeah, I had set it down with the two Hannahs cause it’s a heavy ass backpack. I will admit I have all my textbooks and stuff in there. I don’t want to be lugging it around all the time. So, I had put it down in like the atrium room where everyone else was to go interview. I remember like getting put in handcuffs and I know that this is going to be like a bigger problem than it’s supposed to be which I was right.

SIROVY: When did you realize that they took your backpack?

CHURCH: I think I was still in handcuffs. I had asked one of the police officers who was standing next to me. I was like, “Hey could you guys at least like check for my backpack while I’m here?” And then I gave him the description and stuff and they went, “OK, like, we’ll look through and see if we can find it.” And the moment I started to worry was like, they were like, “Yeah, we can’t find it.” I was like, “Oh.” 

Which, you know, looking back through all the media and stuff that was posted, I remember vividly seeing one of those photos, like where everyone was getting arrested in the main atrium. You can see my backpack from the photos. So I was like, “OK, let’s get it together, guys. I know that it’s there.” And I think I asked probably like five or six times. I was a bit irritating about it because I want my stuff.

SIROVY: Yeah, not having your backpack. It feels like you’re naked almost. 

CHURCH: Dude, walking around campus I was like, I need to put some clothes on.

SIROVY: There’s a weight that isn’t there that should be.

CHURCH: I feel like I’m getting looked at, but just like not having it and like constantly asking for it. I’m sure I was quite a handful to deal with for the people at the UMPD. I’d ask for it probably six, five or six times, like I said. Every single time I got back, like, “We don’t know where it is.” 

And eventually, it was probably rounding to be, around, like, that 7, 8:00-ish when we finally got out. And one of the ladies from the UMPD was like, “Yeah, just come in tomorrow. I’ll give you my information so that you can contact me and we can pick it up.” 

And I kind of sighed. I was like, “OK, I got class tomorrow, but we’ll figure it out.” And then I get to the UMPD, the safety department, that day which is where they told me to pick it up and I saw shutters on the windows and a sign up and I was like, “Yeah, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”

SIROVY: Were they closed? 

CHURCH: They were closed. They had completely shut down the office for the protest. They were still doing active stuff, but it wasn’t open to the public. So I was just kind of left out to dry for that, you know, however long. It took me a while to even get in contact with someone from the UMPD who wasn’t just like a representative. 

But yeah, it was a messy time for everyone involved. The whole entire Hubbard school and a lot of the staff at the university mobilized around me. It was really great. You know, in times like that, it’s really demotivating, especially like when you see some of the like hate and stuff like that, right? I was just here, man. I just was here to talk to people. 

SIROVY: That’s your job.

CHURCH: Because it’s my job. But it was very nice to like see everybody who was like willing to bat for me. Even people who I had never met before. It’s very nice to see how the Hubbard school treats some of their student journalists. It really represents a greater sense of community in there. Even just the whole entire school in general. I had people reaching out to me in departments I had never even taken classes.

SIROVY: What were they saying? 

CHURCH: It was just like general stuff, like asking you about the scenario, talking about like how unfair it was. I had people contacting the UMPD on my behalf. It was crazy and like I said, I’m just some guy, dude. I’m not like a media mogul. I’m not like some crazy dude out here. I’m just like some guy who works.

SIROVY: You mentioned that you were like texting your dad during this. What did he have to say? 

CHURCH: My dad’s a jackass. Oh my god, I sent him a picture of me in handcuffs and he went, “Yeah, that’s good.” And I was like, “OK, dude.” 

SIROVY: He wasn’t maybe like, I don’t know, worried for you?

CHURCH: I mean, he was eventually. He’s always wants to like be so unserious. I remember I’d sent them a picture of me in handcuffs and he was like, “That’s how it should be.” And I was like, “OK, thank you. By the way, your son’s in handcuffs.” 

Yeah, after it had progressed and it was getting difficult to get my bag from the UMPD. Obviously he was pretty upset because like it’s a big ordeal, But no, he’s always that type of person who has to make a joke about everything.

SIROVY: I don’t know maybe making a joke during that time might have made you feel a little bit better?

CHURCH: Yeah, it definitely helped ease the frustration a little bit cause I was like dude, you’re so, just why.

SIROVY: Why are you like this?

CHURCH: Yeah, like, it’s so unnecessary. 

SIROVY: Yeah. 

CHURCH: But no, it definitely helped a little bit. I love my dad. So it was a good little laugh. He’s another person who really, like, came to bat for me in that situation. Even though he’s, 600, I don’t even know how far Milwaukee is from here, some miles away. He was still supporting me even if he couldn’t do much from the physical standpoint of it. 

SIROVY: That’s sweet.

CHURCH: Yeah, my family’s pretty great what can I say.

SIROVY: But maybe on the less sweet side there have been a lot of comments. 

CHURCH: Yeah, it’s ugly.

SIROVY: We’ve been posting a lot on The Daily website and I know the Star Tribune has been posting stuff, and I know MPR did stuff cause this has been kind of like a hot topic. 

CHURCH: I’m just that popular. 

SIROVY: And everyone kind of has an opinion about this. And they have been kind of directing it toward Tyler in specific. And, what have been some of the comments that you’ve seen? 

CHURCH: Yeah, I want to preface it first with like, I know a lot of it’s not about me. And a lot of it’s just about the topics in general. But I feel like there’s a lot of like, because of the, I don’t even know how to say it, the anonymity of the internet. There’s a lot of people who will just say things without remorse. And it’s definitely like, especially harping back to that one point, like I’m not a seasoned journalist. 

The most hate I’d ever gotten on a post before this was some dude who didn’t like the university’s policy around landscaping or something over the summer. And I remember getting into all the protest stuff. You know that it’s a volatile topic. People are going to want to talk about it. And there’s a lot of motion around it. There’s a lot of volatility. And when there’s not really anything else to direct it at, aside from like that stuff, it kind of ends up on me, which sucks. You kind of have to have thick skin about it. It’s funny to me, a lot of the times. 

SIROVY: Those really hateful comments are funny?

CHURCH: It’s well, it’s ugly. It gets bad. I just look at it and I’m like, “There’s no way these people are serious.” You take a look at it and it’s you have enough time in your day to like go online and hate at some like 20-year-old who’s just here to do his job. I’m not a hot shot. I’m not like someone crazy who needs to be humbled. I’ve been humbled enough already. 

I’ve had enough humbling moments, but yeah, like there’s some crazy stuff out there. I won’t even like try to give you the time of day right now because it’s not really worth it. I have seen some crazy stuff. It is very like demotivating as a journalist. You see all that and if people hate this so much like what’s the point? But just keeping that mindset of knowing that people are hating simply because they have an opinion on the topic and it’s not necessarily about you. 

Sometimes it is. Sometimes people are just mad at me which I guess, do your thing. I’m not gonna stop you. I can’t stop you, but please stop. 

SIROVY: Pretty please. 

CHURCH: Pretty please, I’m just some guy. People are gonna hate, it’s just how it goes. I try to keep a positive mindset about it. But I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t like sit with me sometimes. You gotta have thick skin about this stuff. 

SIROVY: And you feel fine going into protests in the future?

CHURCH: Can’t get much worse, can it? I mean, yeah.

SIROVY: Like it’s not deterred you from wanting to cover protests?

CHURCH: It’s made me want to cover the volatile stuff more. Just knowing that stuff can happen to literally anyone. Seeing that it can deter people, it makes me want to go into it more. It’s stuff that even if people are going to be unhappy about it, it’s stuff that is like important to a community. So it deserves to be talked about. It deserves to be like addressed at least. 

If that brings me hate, if that brings me, you know, like all these crazy comments, I’ll just give them another laugh. It’s just how it is. I mean, if it deters people, I completely understand. It’s a lot for a lot of people. Like I said, you just got to have thick skin about it. It can be scary. It can be like intimidating for a lot of people.

But there are people out there who don’t get the chance to talk and don’t get the chance to get their voice heard. So I’m just here to do that. I’m just here to be able to let people talk for as long as possible. Cause I like to talk as long as possible. I like to talk, so.

SIROVY: That’s a great attribute to have, though as a journalist. Just to be able to kind of yap away.

CHURCH: Oh, I can yap. I can yap. 

SIROVY: There have been some pretty positive comments though. I saw some on our website saying like, “Hey, thanks for doing your job. Thanks for doing freedom of the press and all that.” 

CHURCH: Yeah.

SIROVY: So I can imagine that kind of helps too. 

CHURCH: I want to give you all a big hug. A big, big bear hug. Yeah, it helps a lot. Seeing the way people have like rallied around me especially in moments like it’s really nice. It’s definitely like an interesting time for me. It’s something that a lot of people will just never quite understand if you’re not in it. Just like the absolute fray that is like everything surrounding me right now. 

SIROVY: This experience is not gonna go away for you.

CHURCH: Yeah. I’m pretty much stuck where I am right now until it blows over.

SIROVY: You think you’re gonna remember it like 50 years down the line? 

CHURCH: I’m gonna be telling my kids that I had to, I’m gonna be like, “I don’t feel like going to school today.” I’m be like, “I got detained. I got put in handcuffs and I was still in class the next day. I don’t want to hear it.” That’s gonna be my bargaining chip until I die. 

SIROVY: That’s a good one. And like our parents, like, “We used to walk 20 miles in the snow to get to class now.”

 CHURCH: My dad can’t say anything to me anymore. I’m not, you know, let him say anything to me anymore. I have a supreme power over him now. 

SIROVY: Yeah. Not a, not experience a lot of people have. 

CHURCH: Yeah. In all seriousness though the positivity surrounding it, it’s helped me out a lot. Like I said, the whole entire process has been very demotivating for me. In certain ways it’s been motivating. I want to make sure these people have voice. People who want to talk about injustice deserve their voices to be heard. No matter like what side you’re on. No matter like what your views are. If you feel like there’s something unjust occurring anywhere, like you deserve to have those thoughts like spoken out. 

So that’s very motivating, but the entire process of the discourse around it can be very demotivating, but at the same time, everyone coming around to like support me. People in the comments, people in my life, professors, were like I said, who I’ve never even like talked to before coming to my side is very, it makes me feel like I’m fighting the right fight. 

SIROVY: Do you have anything else you want to say about this whole ordeal before we wrap up? 

CHURCH: I’m just very appreciative to be where I am. Like you said, a lot of people, a lot of journalists don’t get the opportunity. I see it as a blessing, even though it’s been like a rough time for me. It’s brought me a lot of headway in ways that, otherwise it would take years to get. Being able to talk to people on NPR on a fairly prime time slot, or just talking to these journalists around the world who would just otherwise wouldn’t even know that the Daily exists.

SIROVY: Hey, we do important work. 

CHURCH: We do important work. Mndaily.com. Silent plug. But yeah, it definitely is a blessing. 

SIROVY: Seems like you learned a lot from this experience. Yeah.

Learned how to maybe not do some stuff, too. 

CHURCH: Learned how to, you know, get put in handcuffs. 

SIROVY: Learned maybe don’t set your bag down.

CHURCH: Yeah, don’t set my bag down in the middle of nowhere. No. There’s a lot of negativity that comes with it, but you gotta recognize the blessings. There’s a lot of cool people out there. A lot of very nice people who are willing to fight for you even if they’d never met you before for the sake of a greater good of the community which I think is a very beautiful thing. 

You gotta take the highs and the lows with it as, as bad as it can be at certain points. You know at the same time, I got to stay out of class for two days. I got to sleep in. I got to sleep in. I got to, you know, just chill. No. It sucked.

SIROVY: I think you earned that just a little bit of break. I think you earned that.

 CHURCH: I missed my computer so bad. I missed all my stickers on my computer. My little notebooks and my silly little textbooks. It’s a very interesting and tumultuous time. That’s a little vocab for you guys. 

SIROVY: Word of the day.

CHURCH: Word of the day. Tumultuous. It’s a very, like, bizarre time for a lot of people. And there’s a lot of like emotion surrounding it. So, it can be very volatile. But you gotta understand that, like, there are opportunities here that like a lot of people won’t get for their maybe years in their career. So there’s a lot of positivity that comes with it. I got great stories for my kids. I got a couple cool tags for my backpack now saying “evidence.”

SIROVY: Oh, there’s a tag on it?

CHURCH: Oh, there were tags on pretty much everything.

SIROVY: You could just have it framed, the little tag.

CHURCH: Dude, I am gonna frame it. I am gonna frame it. I’m gonna put it up right in my living room. I’m gonna let it sit there.

SIROVY: People are like, “What’s that?” “Oh, do I have a story for you.” 

CHURCH: “I have such a great story. Why don’t you sit down?” It’s a blessing. There’s a lot of negativity that comes with it, but you’re going to get that eventually. And it sucks that I haven’t had the time to build up that resistance to negativity. I was talking with a lot of my friends about that. 

You want to take that time as a journalist to build those skills. One of those skills that is important is building up that barrier to hate and resistance. Because you’re going to get that throughout your career. So I haven’t necessarily gotten that yet, but I’ve been trying to handle it as best as possible. There’s a lot of things on my plate right now. And I won’t let that stupid shit be one of them.

SIROVY: Well, I think you did a very good job today.

CHURCH: I’m just the greatest. I have to constantly reiterate.  

SIROVY: Alrighty, this episode was produced by Kaylie Sirovy. As always, we appreciate you listening in and feel free to leave us an email at [email protected] with comments, questions or concerns. I’m Kaylie. 

CHURCH: I’m Tyler. 

SIROVY: And this has been In The Know. 

CHURCH: Yeah! Woo!