I've been his patreon for a couple years and you should consider supporting this kind of work. His cathartic rants about surburban sprawl and the downfall of western civilization might be the paper shield saving me from this world.
I love his rants on "Hippie Snake Oil" and the health care system in his "Woke Grocery Store" tour (Berkeley Bowl West). And also the hippies clubbing each other with the cucumbers in the bargain section.
>Join us as we take a look at some of the ethnobotany in the woke-est grocery store in the bay area. Educational content is virtually non-existent as we explore what exactly it would take to make passive-aggressive woke citizens attack a person. Who can do a better job of tokenizing marginalized people? Who wins the most points for having more TRANS-POC friends? Taking a break from the inherent joy of trolling climate-denying obsolete grandpas here to throw some jabs at the other side, as well!
Also, totally not related, cant wait for next regular HN thread about how liberals are not polite enough and how their incivility is cause of all evil.
I'm a botanist and a long time Patreon supporter. He is exactly what botany (and field biology in general) needs to shake things up a bit. Plus, his videos are interesting, accurate, and hillarious.
I've been watching his content for a while now and I love him. He is a breath of fresh air in a field that is sometimes a bit dry. He is hilarious, knowledgeable and brings so much life and character to us in his content. If a little colorful language and wit can get more people interested in nature we will all benefit. We have to share this planet and the more we learn and love it, we will hopefull take better care of it.
I am not a botanist, but I always loved plants. When I was 5 years old I had guerilla gardens growing all over the neighborhood (mainly beans and flowers) and my grandparents taught me how to forage for plants and fungus. Eventually, I began memorizing plant taxonomies on my own. As a more self-taught plant person, I identify a bit more with Santore, than I do with others.
He could do the same show without the poopy words and the sex dungeon jokes and it would be just as good because he has a contagious enthusiasm for the subject. Well almost as good, anyway.
Counterpoint: there are those of us who would know even less about botany were it not for both this man's contagious charisma and abundance of dick jokes.
Enthusiasm does go a long way and I agree that he could be successful with "cleaner" content. Personally, I applaud his authenticity and just like that he is being himself. Just as there are people who might be turned off by curse words and dirty jokes, there are others who might come for the jokes and stay for the science.
And that accent? When the camera is off, Santore dials it back. “That’s just for laughs—I can code-switch to a professional-white-guy voice when I need to,” he says.
People seem to be reading the parent post as being critical of the show’s style. The last sentence pretty clearly indicates that it’s not. The poster is saying that Joey’s enthusiasm for what he’s doing is contagious, and is a huge part of the draw to the show. See for example videos of Julius Sumner Miller.
The occasional “ya prick!” or “asteraceae dungeon” remark and the signature sign-off are the icing, not the cake, and the poster is not suggesting that Joey should scrape off the icing. They’re just calling it the icing.
Thanks! No one seemed to get my point so I guess I didn't frame it very well. BTW, Julius Sumner Miller was my "Bill Nye" growing up. Great stuff. Go fuck yourself!
But that’s who he is. He could pretend to have manners to offend fewer people but he doesn’t have to, seems to be getting on just fine without manners, and probably attracts a lot of people who are put off by people who are dry and proper all the time.
I can only dream that I were half as passionate about computers as Santore is about plants, and a tenth as articulate. The foulmouthed Carl Sagan of the plant world.
Count me as someone who has gotten more interested in the natural world thanks to Joey. His mycology stuff led me to Alan Rockefeller who is also super cool, and does great talks and videos.
I learned that the two of them were housemates for a period of time while taking a mycology class from Alan - can you imagine being a fly on the wall in that place? What a colorful group.
I saw him speak at a Nerd Nite SF event. Very funny compared to other presenters. I think he self-identified as having ADHD and it shows. He knows a ton and is self-taught.
Professional or hobby? I do dome hobby growing and have lions mane, shiitake, black poplar, king oyster, and even some maitake in various stages right now.
> On Twitter, you’ll find that some young academics don’t think Santore’s takes on taxonomy are “woke” enough.
It's interesting to see how "I stand up to the woke mob" is becoming a common marketing tactic to demonstrate authenticity, no matter the context.
The only thing I find on twitter is Santore trying to start flame war threads with unprovoked complaints about "woke" people, and a bunch of people asking him what the heck he's going on about.
I wasn't interested in botany and then I watched his channel, and then I was interested in botany and couldn't remember if why I hadn't been interested before. I like that the strong Chicago accent is apparently an act and enjoy the general misanthropy but it's the botany I stay for
> In 2006, Santore enrolled in a few classes at a community college in San Francisco. He left shortly after. On a whim that same year, he was hired on by the Union Pacific railroad, working as a brakeman, and later, an engineer. For the next 13 years, Santore studied the geology of railroad cuts as the trains traveled through them and stocked his railroad bag with botany research papers from the website Sci-Hub.
https://www.patreon.com/CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt