Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Blue City Blues leads a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum, as she addresses the escalating global threats to democratic institutions and explores pragmatic strategies to counter the rise of authoritarianism. Drawing on her extensive research, Applebaum discusses findings from her critically acclaimed works, including Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and her latest book, Autocracy, Inc., offering insight into how free societies can prevent the worst-case scenarios now unfolding across the world. Anne Applebaum is a prize-winning historian, a staff writer for The Atlantic, and a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her history books include Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine; Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956; and Gulag: A History, which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Her most recent books are the New York Times bestsellers Twilight of Democracy, an essay on democracy and authoritarianism, and Autocracy Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World. She was a Washington Post columnist for fifteen years and a member of the editorial board. She has also been the deputy editor of the Spectator and a columnist for several British newspapers. For nearly two decades, David Hyde worked for NPR-affiliate KUOW in Seattle, most recently as a Murrow-award-winning politics reporter. He departed in 2024 to dedicate himself full-time to podcasting and other journalism and writing projects. Blue City Blues builds on the success David had creating the Seattle Nice podcast. Each week, Blue City Blues takes a deep dive into the many shared issues facing blue cities. Sandeep Kaushik is a political and public affairs consultant in Seattle. In addition to his extensive strategic advisory, public relations, and political communications work for elected officials leading businesses, associations, governments, and non-profits, he has worked on multiple political campaigns in the Northwest, including numerous issue and ballot measure campaigns. Prior to forming his firm, Sound View Strategies, Sandeep worked as deputy communications director for then-King County Executive Ron Sims, and prior to that as a political columnist/writer for Seattle's alt-weekly, the Stranger, and as the Washington State correspondent for Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. He currently co-hosts two podcasts: Blue City Blues and Seattle Nice. Presented by Town Hall Seattle, Blue City Blues, UW Office of Public Lectures, and UW Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.

Like many universities nationwide, the University of Washington is facing threats to federal funding, which they rely on for fundamental research and development. The erosion of federal support means universities like UW are facing decisions on how to survive and move forward, especially as today's social and political climate becomes more divisive. UC Davis law professor Brian Soucek explores this pivotal moment in his book, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. One could argue that universities must remain neutral in society's contentious issues in order to uphold the neutrality of truth and knowledge. But can a university ever truly be neutral in today's social and political climate? Soucek argues that this promise is doomed to fail—universities can't help being opinionated, and neutrality is an unattainable myth. Soucek takes a deep dive into several prominent campus controversies, including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and restrictions on campus speech and protest. Each issue forces universities to choose a side in what they do and say. Soucek argues that those pushing for neutrality are only preventing universities from standing up for their long-held values, whether in today's current moment of crisis or in periods of political calm. Drawing from his conclusions in The Opinionated University, Soucek calls on universities like University of Washington to forget neutrality as a governing principle and focus instead on what their mission should be—and who should determine it. Their very existence may depend on it. Brian Soucek is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. A scholar of free speech and equality law, Soucek has shaped national policy on academic freedom, nondiscrimination, and campus speech through his work with the American Association of University Professors' "Committee A" on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the University of California's Academic Senate. Buy the Book The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education Third Place Books

Seattle loves to think of itself as an informed, engaged, "I-read-the-footnotes" kind of city. But what happens when the institutions we rely on to tell our stories are shrinking, consolidating, or vanishing altogether? Join Marcus Harrison Green with Florangela Davila, Hannah Murphy Winter, and Naomi Ishisaka for a candid, no-spin conversation about the state of local media— and what it means for the future of civic life in Seattle. We'll dig into questions like: Alongside Florangela Davila, of the South Seattle Emerald, Hannah Murphy Winter of The Stranger, and Naomi Ishisaka from The Seattle Times, Marcus will explore how we rebuild trust in news, fund coverage that actually reflects our communities, and resist the slide into a city where the loudest voices are the best-funded ones. This won't be a nostalgia tour for the "good old days" of print. It's a conversation about what comes next—and how Seattle can choose a media ecosystem that serves people, not just profit. Host: Erica C. Barnett is a longtime journalist covering local news and politics, co-founder of PubliCola, and author of Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery. Panelists: Florangela Davila is the Executive Director of the South Seattle Emerald and a longtime Seattle journalist whose work has centered on both race and the creative community. She's the former race and immigration reporter at The Seattle Times, former arts reporter at KPLU, former managing editor and host at Crosscut/Cascade PBS, and most recently, the news director at KNKX Public Radio, where she led the newsroom to more than two dozen regional and national awards during her four-year tenure. Hannah Murphy Winter is The Stranger's Editor-in-Chief and writes about queerness, justice, the climate crisis, and the intersection between politics and the arts, usually not all at once. Naomi Ishisaka is the social justice columnist and assistant managing editor for diversity, inclusion, and staff development at The Seattle Times. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and The Stranger.

Across the water from Seattle, you can visit the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. It's a place to honor and learn from the past. Evelyn Iritani, a longtime Seattle resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wants to remember – and learn from – another, lesser-known story from World War II. In her book, Safe Passage, she reveals the dramatic, behind-the-scenes efforts to bring U.S. and Japanese citizens home from enemy land. In 1943, during some of the Pacific theater's bloodiest battles, the United States and Japan coordinated the exchange of civilians caught on the wrong side of the battlefield after Pearl Harbor. Nearly fifteen hundred Allied civilians trapped in Asia, mostly U.S. citizens, sailed through dangerous waters to India, where they were traded for Japanese immigrants sent from the U.S. The fate of the more than ten thousand U.S. civilians left behind in Asia rested on the success of this endeavor. Engineering these wartime exchanges was fraught within and outside the U.S. government. The U.S. uprooted and repatriated Japanese citizens of Latin America, sometimes against their will. People imprisoned in camps like Bainbridge Island, many of them American citizens, were forced to choose between expulsion to a war zone in Japan or an uncertain future behind barbed wire. Through these stories, Iritani explains how messy humanitarian efforts can be in wartime and illuminates the lasting effects of racism throughout U.S. history. Evelyn Iritani is the author of An Ocean Between Us: The Changing Relationship of Japan and the United States, Told in Four Stories from the Life of an American Town. She is a former reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Los Angeles Times, where her reporting garnered numerous awards, including the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a series she coauthored on Walmart. Frank Abe is lead author of the graphic novel, WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, a Finalist in Creative Nonfiction for the Washington State Book Award, and co-editor with Floyd Cheung of a new Penguin Classics anthology, THE LITERATURE OF JAPANESE AMERICAN INCARCERATION. He won an American Book Award as co-editor of JOHN OKADA: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy, and wrote and directed the award-winning PBS documentary CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION." He is currently developing a new stage adaptation of Okada's NO-NO BOY. Buy the Book Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal​, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During W​o​rld War II Elliott Bay Book Company

Celebrate the 234th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and the historic December 15, 1941, radio broadcast of We Hold These Truths with a live performance and radio event at Town Hall Seattle. Known as the poet laureate of American radio, Norman Corwin wrote We Hold These Truths months before its original airing. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the program—created to honor the Bill of Rights on its 150th anniversary—took on new emotional depth and national significance. This production commemorates both the Bill of Rights and Corwin's landmark broadcast, featuring a cast of prominent local broadcasters and public figures. Feliks Banel is an award-winning broadcaster and historian based in Seattle. Presented by Town Hall Seattle, SPACE 101.1 FM, and Cascade of History.

As political violence, mass shootings, and the actions of radical extremists continue to be a devastating presence in our news cycle, academics and experts are compelled to look for connections. What things do most mass shooters, terrorists, or violent extremists have in common? In her newest book, educator and scholar of extremism Cynthia Miller-Idriss expands upon the roles of gender in this conversation – that not only are these violent acts almost always carried out by men and boys, but that evidence of aggressive misogyny, homophobia, or transphobia occurs at nearly the same rates within the perpetrators of these crimes. Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism seeks to shed light on an increased presence of gender-based violence across a range of incidents and forms extremist groups. Through extensive research and five distinct case studies, Man Up draws attention to violent events where motivations of racism, antisemitism, or xenophobia are still supported by throughlines of misogynistic aggression. From the misogynistic language in the plot to kidnap and execute Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer to the prior reports of stalking, harassment of women, and domestic violence by the men behind the mass shooting events at Virginia Tech and Pulse nightclub. Miller-Idriss also provides her analysis on the centering of gendered discrimination within far-right and male supremacist culture – a rising misogynistic force that has resulted in increasing numbers of attacks internationally, specifically targeting women and citing feminism or sexual frustration with women as motivation. Miller-Idriss posits that these interconnected threads of misogyny have been underrepresented in the media and with experts in a way that leaves us vulnerable to hate-fueled violence of all forms, both online and out in the world. From interpersonal instances of sexism to extreme far-right ideologies and mass violence events, Miller-Idriss explores how an epidemic of misogyny and a patriarchal backlash can act as driving factors in this rise in violence. Man Up aims to give insight on how this culture shift has developed, how to recognize the misogyny in our everyday lives, and presents strategies that everyone – including parents, teachers, and counselors – can use to push back against these forms of violence. Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss is an internationally recognized scholar, speaker, and author on the subjects of extremism and radicalization. She is the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) at the American University in Washington, DC, where she is also a Professor in the School of Public Affairs and in the School of Education. She regularly testifies before the U.S. Congress and works with agencies globally on trends in domestic violent extremism and strategies for prevention and disengagement. Her work and expertise have been featured by MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and more. Her previously published books include Hate in the Homeland and The Extreme Gone Mainstream. Jen Barnes is the CEO and founder of Rough & Tumble. She is an advocate, entrepreneur, and life-long athlete committed to building community around gender equity and visibility for women's sports. Buy the Book Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism Elliott Bay Book Company

Three voices at the intersections of art, education, and social critique come together for an evening of readings and conversation. Jesse Hagopian will share from his forthcoming book Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education, while Martellus Bennett (MR. TOMONOSHi) and Michael Bennett will read from their own works, including Black Thoughts and Things That Make White People Uncomfortable. Together, they'll engage in a wide-ranging conversation on race, creativity, justice, and liberation, offering perspectives that draw from literature, design, sport, and activism. Martellus Bennett (MR. TOMONOSHi) is a multidisciplinary author and the founder of TOMONOSHi! Publishing, the home of his ceremonial philosophy, the TOMONOSHi Gospel. His work is a celebration of the fantastical whimsy of Black life, a poetic exploration of ancestral memory, and a form of Black American Futurism. Michael Bennett is an interdisciplinary designer whose work translates the forms and languages of the African diaspora into spatial practice. His approach moves across architecture, sculpture, and furniture, engaging design through structure, material, and scale. Michael is beloved in Seattle as a Super Bowl champion with the Seahawks and has also made a name for himself as a sharp cultural critic. His New York Times bestselling book, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, offers an honest and often humorous critique of racism, sports, and power in U.S. society. Jesse Hagopian is the descendant of African ancestors who endured and resisted enslavement in Mississippi and Louisiana, and Armenian ancestors who survived genocide. Today, Jesse is a Seattle-based educator and the author of Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education. He is an editor at Rethinking Schools magazine, a columnist for Truthout, a founding member of Black Lives Matter at School, and the Director of the Zinn Education Project's Teaching for Black Lives campaign. Jesse is also the co-editor of Teaching Palestine: Lessons, Stories, Voices, Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, Teaching for Black Lives, and Teacher Unions and Social Justice, as well as the editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing.

How much do you know about Black history? From African women's rebellions on slave ships to a former enslaved man whose account of the first Juneteenth differs from what we hear today, to Benjamin Banneker's life, to how Islam found its way into American popular music in multiple genres, there is a lot of information that doesn't necessarily make it into your average curriculum. In A High Price for Freedom: Raising Hidden Voices From the African-American Past, author and historian Clyde W. Ford addresses these and other topics, seeking to illuminate and amplify little-known figures from the past, from Elizabeth Key's court case in the 1600s to the true mission of the marches in Selma to more modern accounts. The title of the book takes its name from a young man named Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was killed in 1965 by an Alabama state trooper. As he lay dying in the only hospital that would treat Black people, Jimmie Lee whispered to his nurse, a nun, "Sister, isn't this a high price for freedom?" Ford's latest release includes factual accounts about people and events in the African-American past that teach things many of us never learned and may challenge the stories we thought we knew. Clyde W. Ford is the author of fifteen works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a psychotherapist, an accomplished mythologist, and a sought-after public speaker. In 2006, Ford received the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction. In 2019, he was named a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in African American nonfiction. In 2021, Clyde received the prestigious Washington Center for the Book Award, the Nautilus Book Award in Social Justice, and was a finalist for the Goddard-Russo Prize in Social Justice for Think Black. Clyde was honored as a "Literary Lion" by the King County Library System in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2019. He was voted "Best Writer of Bellingham, Washington" in 2006 and 2007 by readers of Cascadia Weekly and received the 2007 Bellingham Mayor's Arts Award in Literature. Ford is currently a speaker for Humanities Washington, an affiliate of the NEA, where he presents a program entitled, "Technology, Race and Social Justice," around the state. He is also the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library Publishing Project at HarperCollins. Clyde has participated in hundreds of media interviews and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New Dimensions Radio, and NPR. He lives in Bellingham, Washington, where he founded the city's annual Martin Luther King Day commemoration in 1991, and enjoys walking the mountains and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Buy the Book A High Price for Freedom: Raising Hidden Voices from the African American Past Third Place Books

Our region is facing tremendous setbacks for salmon populations and Northwest tribal treaty rights. Fish runs continue to fall short while Indigenous communities bear the brunt of climate change, political polarization, and existential threats to their way of life. Tribes can't overcome these issues alone, but it's not just a matter of finding allies — it's how to get them in the game. The Billy Frank Jr. Salmon Coalition, formed by Salmon Defense, has taken an innovative approach to protect salmon, restore ecosystems, and build climate resilience by uniting unexpected allies, who have often been at odds in the past. ​This diverse coalition includes tribal leaders, scientists, state and local officials, fishers, attorneys, conservation groups, and local industries. Join us on Indigenous Peoples' Day, for a conversation offering a timely reminder that Indigenous knowledge systems are not only vital to climate resiliency but must also be centered in policy-driven solutions. See how cross-cultural dialogue can help foster creativity and how lasting alliances are strengthened by collaboration amongst groups with different viewpoints. Peggen Frank (SeiiNiiSeii) is a leader in salmon conservation, tribal advocacy, and treaty rights protection. Since joining Salmon Defense in 2011, she has helped grow the nonprofit into a powerful conservation organization focused on education, advocacy, and litigation. Her key projects include the Billy Frank Jr. curriculum, a sčədadxʷ (salmon) education video, and the Salmon Warriors campaign. Peggen is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, born and raised on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and now lives in the homelands of the Nisqually Indian people. As Executive Director of Salmon Defense, Peggen manages the likeness and legacy of Billy Frank Jr., ensuring his influence inspires future generations. Kadi Bizyayeva is the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians vice-chairwoman, fisheries director, and Northwest Indian Fisheries commissioner. She was also appointed to the Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board by Gov. Jay Inslee. Kadi is passionate about her role protecting and conserving tribal treaty rights and believes in honest co-management and finding common ground. Her experience includes assisting with project oversight and policy guidance, as well as accounting and administration in several roles within the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and the Stillaguamish Tribes' Natural Resources Department, where she has worked since 2013. Along with her professional roles and achievements, Kadi is also a wife, mother, and a tribal fisher and hunter. Ron Garner is president of the Puget Sound Anglers State Board, a member of the Billy Frank Jr. Salmon Coalition and a key member of the Western Washington sportfishing community. In 2018, he had the rare honor for a nontribal member – let alone a sportfisherman – of attending a Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission meeting. Ron is passionate about advocating for habitat restoration and reconnection in the Stillaguamish River watershed to promote healthy salmon populations, particularly endangered Chinook. His experience also includes serving on several Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife advisory committees and task forces related to marine wildlife. Along with his sportfishing community leadership experience and advocacy, Ron is a self-employed commercial construction business owner. William Frank III served on the Nisqually Tribal Council for many years in several roles, including chairman, and currently serves as chairman of the Wa He Lut Indian School and the Salmon Defense board. He also runs Medicine Creek Tribal Strategies, an independent consulting firm. William is the son of the late Billy Frank Jr., a nationally recognized leader and activist for tribal rights and protecting salmon. His father helped tribes win the landmark 1975 court case that recognized treaty rights and made tribes co-managers of the...

Just weeks after Seattle's November elections, Town Hall Seattle kicks off a timely, can't-miss series hosted by Marcus Harrison Green. The panel features political strategist Crystal Fincher, The Stranger's news editor Vivian McCall, and the South Seattle Emerald's political columnist Tobias Coughlin-Bogue. Together they'll cut through the noise to unpack what the results really mean—from who's setting the agenda at City Hall to what's looming in Olympia, and connect it all to the turbulent political currents in Washington, D.C. Expect an unflinching, illuminating conversation about what's next for Seattle, the state, and our role in shaping the national story. Host Marcus Harrison Green is the publisher of Hinton Publishing, the founder of the South Seattle Emerald, and a columnist with The Stranger. Growing up in South Seattle, he experienced first-hand the impact of one-dimensional stories on marginalized communities, which taught him the value of authentic narratives. After an unfulfilling stint in the investment world during his twenties, Marcus returned to his community with a newfound purpose of telling stories with nuance, complexity, and multidimensionality with the hope of advancing social change. This led him to become a writer and found the South Seattle Emerald. An award-winning journalist, he was awarded the Seattle Human Rights Commissions' Individual Human Rights Leader Award for 2020 and named the inaugural James Baldwin Fellow by the Northwest African American Museum in 2022. Panelists Crystal Fincher is the Executive Director of KVRU 105.7 FM, an independent non-profit community radio station in South Seattle that she and her business partner recently acquired. She also publishes and hosts Hacks & Wonks, the region's premier podcast about local politics and policy. Crystal led an award-winning political consulting firm for 15 years, helping elect state and local candidates and pass ballot measures across the West Coast. Crystal's work has always been rooted in community mobilization and economic development, serving on the City of Kent Land Use & Planning Board, as a Deputy on the Washington Roundtable, and on the boards of Kent Youth and Family Services, the Northwest Association of Financial Professionals, Tabor 100, and the Washington Institute for a Democratic Future. She currently serves on the boards of Progress Alliance of Washington and The Urbanist. Vivian McCall is The Stranger's News Editor. In her private life, she is a musician and Wii U apologist. If you're reading this, you either love her or hate her. Tobias Coughlin-Bogue is a writer, editor, and restaurant worker who lives in South Park. He was formerly the associate editor of Real Change News and has since covered politics for The Stranger and the South Seattle Emerald. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and The Stranger.

Town Hall Seattle, Juneau Street Resilience Pod, and the City of Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment hosts an evening with climate justice leaders who are reimagining our climate future in Seattle and beyond; discussing how community leaders, local government and academia can use joy and storytelling to build relationships and actualize climate resilience strategies, and sharing more about the upcoming One Seattle Climate Action Plan Update, including how you can get involved! Moderator Nancy Huizar (they/them/theirs) is an environmental justice activist, facilitator, and consultant. They believe that everything we are doing to further environmental justice needs to address and connect to how people — particularly people of color — are impacted. Because the environmental movement has historically shut out communities of color, their work focuses on tending to, understanding, and centering the needs and health of communities of color. Panelists Lylianna Allala is Interim Deputy Director for the City of Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment. Previously she served as the Climate Justice Director in the Office of Sustainability & Environment. In her current role, she provides strategic leadership and direction on policies and programs that address the root causes and impacts of climate change including citywide implementation of Seattle's Equity & Environment Initiative and Seattle's Green New Deal. Prior to joining the City of Seattle, Lylianna led climate & environmental policy & outreach for U.S Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. She began her career in habitat restoration and ecology focusing on upland and urban forests, and wetlands. She is a co-creator of the Growing Old podcast, a 2019 Henry M. Jackson Foundation Leadership Fellow, and an alumna of the 2024 Obama Foundation Leaders USA program. She currently serves as a co-facilitator for the Obama Leaders Climate Community of Practice. Debolina Banerjee (she/hers) is a Senior Climate Policy Manager at Puget Sound Sage. Her work includes research-based analysis of climate policies, campaign support on climate justice issues, and building power within Sage's local and statewide climate coalitions. Debolina has research experience in transit-oriented development, the environmental impacts of unorganized industries and project management for real estate development. In addition, she has extensive experience working with grassroots activists and marginalized communities in India, organizing for social justice around food, sustainable agriculture, clean environment, community development, and women's empowerment. Aya de León is the Poet Laureate of the City of Berkeley, and she teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books publishes her novels for adults, including the "Justice Hustlers" series and several standalone novels. Candlewick Books publishes Aya's "Factory" series for younger readers. Aya has appeared in the New York Times' "By the Book" and has received acclaim in the Washington Post, the Village Voice, and SF Chronicle. Her words have also appeared in Harper's Bazaar, The Guardian UK, and on Def Poetry. A graduate of Harvard College, with an MFA in fiction from Antioch University Los Angeles, Aya has been an artist in residence at Stanford University, a Cave Canem poetry fellow, and a slam poetry champion. In spring 2022, she organized an online conference entitled Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency (available on YouTube). She's also on Instagram. In 2025, she kicked off her new project, Formation, an intergenerational community organizing project through the arts. She organizes with the Black Hive, the climate and environmental justice formation of the Movement for Black Lives. She is also involved with the Working Families Party and writes and choreographs social justice line dances to bring joy to political movements. Dr. Esther Min received her PhD in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene from the University of...

In relationship with Se'Si'Le, Braided River is celebrating the launch of their newest project, In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature. As told to Kurt Russo, with a foreword by Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem, and illustrations by Fiorella De La O (Quechua), this book invites readers into a conversation rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being in nature. The vision of the project is to draw on ancestral knowledge to further empower and inspire Indigenous-led environmental campaigns with non-Indigenous allies and partners to the benefit of Mother Earth and all her relations down to the seventh generation. Come be a part of the celebration of this inaugural project, with a night full of powerful Pacific Northwest speakers. Facilitated by Jeff Renner, engaging public speaker and meteorologist, the talk will include Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem (President and founder of Se'Si'Le, previous Lummi Nation Chairman), Lynda Mapes (Pacific Northwest Journalist, reported with the Seattle Times for 27 years), and John Vechey (Cofounder of groundbreaking technology companies, and board member of Se'Si'Le). Jeff Renner holds degrees in Atmospheric Sciences and in Journalism and Political Science. He is a polished and engaging public speaker with a passion for the Pacific Northwest and a deep love of the natural world. In addition to his public speaking, Jeff is a meteorologist for the King 5 television station in Seattle. Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem (Lummi) is the President of Se'Si'Le. A fisherman, Former Chairman and Councilman at Lummi Nation, Jay was a leader in the fight to protect Xwe'chi'eXen (Cherry Point). He has organized and executed Tribal, local, regional, and national campaigns. A bridge-builder, he uses empathy and storytelling to bring people together. Principal at Julius Consulting LLC. Lynda Mapes is a journalist, nature writer, and author based in Seattle. A full-time daily newspaper reporter since 1985, Maps worked at the Seattle Times for 27 years before her recent retirement to focus on writing books and long-form journalism. John Vechey is a board member of Se'Si'Le and is based on the San Juan Islands. In Right and Respectful Relations, Vechey is highlighted under the chapter about technology. As the co-founder of groundbreaking technology companies, including Pluto VR and PopCap Games,Vechey has helped conceive of and produce popular video games like Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies. Se'Si'Le is an Indigenous led, Bellingham-based non-profit that works to protect Indigenous areas, resources, and sacred sites. Buy the Book In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature Mountaineers Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Braided River.

How can one person fight for social justice? Can everyday people actually make changes in systemic, structural inequality? Social psychologist and author of the book Change the Wallpaper, Nilanjana Dasgupta offers science-driven answers to these questions, arguing that social shifts start with small changes to our “wallpaper,” or the things that we experience in our daily lives. In other words, we need to revise the hyperlocal cultures we live in to make broader change. Dasgupta believes that these small shifts in our cultural “wallpaper” are far more effective in producing structural change than through popular movements such as bias awareness training, symbolic proclamations, or even just relying on people’s good intentions. By integrating a wide range of studies in psychology, neuroscience, education, sociology, economics, public health, urban studies, cultural geography, and even landscape architecture, Dasgupta shows how attitudes and beliefs are based on what we see and hear every day. They nudge our behavior to create or reinforce small inequalities that go unnoticed and ultimately accumulate over time. So, how do we change our wallpaper? By consciously disrupting these patterns and habits, Dasgupta argues, we can create opportunities for social mixing across lines of differences, allowing new relationships to form, and promoting a better understanding of others’ experiences. These actions lead to organizing and larger social shifts. It’s through these small changes in our daily lives, Dasgupta explains, that we can all work toward justice. Nilanjana Dasgupta, author of Change the Wallpaper, is Provost Professor of Psychology and inaugural Director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of many articles, the winner of the Hidden Bias Research Prize from the Kapor Foundation, and the recipient of multiple U.S. government research grants. Her work has been featured in the New York Times and other major outlets. Paula Boggs is the founder of Boggs Media LLC. A TEDx speaker, U.S. Army veteran, and musician, she previously served for a decade as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at Starbucks Corporation. Her career spans roles as Vice President Legal at Dell, law firm partner, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and U.S. Army captain. Appointed by President Obama to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, she actively serves on multiple nonprofit and corporate boards. Buy the Book Change the Wallpaper: Transforming Cultural Patterns to Build More Just Communities Third Place Books

As founder of Moms Demand Action — the nation’s largest grassroots movement against gun violence — author Shannon Watts has helped thousands of women find their voice and take action. In her new book, Fired Up, Watts outlines a practical and inspiring framework for reigniting purpose, confidence, and ambition. With real-life stories from women across generations and backgrounds, Fired Up offers tools to help readers identify what sparks them and live with greater intention and impact. Watts seeks to challenge the negative narrative that many women hold, asserting that empowerment begins where expectations end. In a world that often pressures women to shrink themselves, choosing to embrace desire and step outside prescribed roles becomes a powerful, even radical, act. Shannon Watts is the founder of Moms Demand Action, the nation’s largest grassroots group fighting against gun violence. Known as the ‘summoner of women’s audacity,’ she spent more than a decade leading one of the world’s largest field experiments for mobilizing women. She has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, a Forbes 50 over 50 Changemaker, and a Glamour Woman of the Year. She is an active board member of Emerge America, one of the nation’s leading organizations for recruiting and training women to run for office. She is the author of the 2019 book Fight Like a Mother, and she writes regularly for Substack and outlets like The Washington Post, Elle, TIME, and more. Brooke Baldwin is a TV host, award-winning journalist and bestselling author. She writes a weekly Substack entitled “Unraveling, with Brooke Baldwin.” It’s inspired by her bombshell first person essay published in Vanity Fair entitled: “Leaving CNN Was How I Found My Voice.” For more than a decade, Brooke anchored her own live daily news show on CNN and was renowned for her versatility, authenticity, and humanity at the news desk. After CNN, Brooke hosted a popular social experiment show on Netflix called The Trust. Brooke is the author of the bestselling book Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power, redefining the word ‘huddle’ to explore how women lean on one another to provide support, empowerment, inspiration, and the strength to enact meaningful change. Brooke now lives in Los Angeles after a ten-year run-in New York City. She is a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Buy the Book Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age (Hardcover) Elliott Bay Book Company

Did you know that private equity firms have a hand in many U.S. industries, including hospitals, daycare centers, supermarket chains, local newspapers, and prison service providers? They also manage highways, municipal water systems, fire departments, emergency medical services, and a growing swath of real estate. In her new book, Bad Company, journalist Megan Greenwell illuminates how ingrained private equity is, and how it’s preying on the most vulnerable people in our society, controlling congress, and causing destruction in communities around the country. Private equity is a system of finance that pools money from outside investors and huge bank loans to acquire companies that hold a lot of debt. The company retains their debt, which makes it difficult for the company to recover and protects the investors from those debts. This might sound like a lot of finance jargon, but Greenwell wants to show how this industry is affecting all of our lives. Entire communities are ruined as a result of their buyouts. Workers lose their jobs. Communities lose their institutions. Only private equity wins, Greenwell argues. Greenwell shares personal experiences of four workers and how private equity upended their employers and communities: a Toys R Us floor supervisor, a rural doctor, a local newspaper journalist, and an affordable housing organizer. Throughout these stories, Greenwell highlights how private equity executives are among the wealthiest people in the United States and are reshaping the economy, disrupting communities, and hollowing out the very idea of the American dream. Megan Greenwell is a journalist who has written or edited for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, WIRED, and ESPN. She is also the deputy director of the Princeton Summer Journalism Program, a workshop and college access initiative for students from low-income backgrounds. A California native, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their pug. Jay Willis is a writer who covers courts, politics, and democracy. He is the editor-in-chief at Balls & Strikes, and was previously a staff writer at GQ magazine and a senior contributor to The Appeal. Before his journalism career, he practiced law at large firms in Washington, D.C. and Seattle. Buy the Book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream (Hardcover) Elliott Bay Book Company

One guiding principle for resisting the patriarchy in the United States is to demand equal rights for men and women. Yet, author and multidisciplinary expert Dr. Anna Malaika Tubbs argues that fighting patriarchal culture is more complicated than that. Tubbs believes that this fabricated hierarchy became so deeply ingrained over time that it now goes unnoticed. She outlines the history of patriarchy in the United States along with everything it intentionally conceals. Pulling from her latest book, Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us, Tubbs highlights how the United States has its own unique gendered hierarchy. From the founding fathers to the current Supreme Court justices, from enslaved women to maternal health crises, from the exclusion of women in the Constitution to the continued lack of an Equal Rights Amendment, Tubbs brings together academic research, the stories of freedom fighters, and her own experiences to reveal what is erased. She goes further, showing a patriarchal system that has survived by hiding the tools that are necessary to dismantle it. Resisting a patriarchal system, Tubbs believes, is more complicated than once thought. She argues that humanity in the United States is determined by gender in a limited and flawed binary that is also always tied to whiteness. The first step to dismantling patriarchy is to understand how deeply ingrained it is. The next step, Tubbs says, is telling a different story that highlights everything the patriarchy shrouds, and bringing it back into the narrative. Anna Malaika Tubbs is a New York Times bestselling author and multidisciplinary expert on current and historical understandings of race, gender, and equity. With a Ph.D. in Sociology and a Masters in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge in addition to a Bachelors in Medical Anthropology from Stanford University, Anna translates her academic knowledge into stories that are clear and engaging. Her articles have been published by TIME Magazine, New York Magazine, CNN, Motherly, the Huffington Post, For Harriet, The Guardian, Darling Magazine, and Blavity. Anna’s storytelling also takes form in her talks, including her TED Talk that has been viewed 2 million times, as well as the scripted and unscripted screen projects she has in development. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their three kids. Florangela Davila is a newsroom leader and journalist who has been working in Seattle media for more than two decades. She’s earned regional and national awards for her own work as the former race and immigration reporter for The Seattle Times, and has led teams at Crosscut/Cascade PBS and at KNKX Public Radio to accolades, including the 2024 national Edward R. Murrow award for Overall Excellence in the large market radio category. In February, she joined the BIPOC-led and focused online journalism outlet The South Seattle Emerald as executive director. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, the child of immigrants from Colombia and Peru. Buy the Book Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us Elliott Bay Book Company

Is Seattle on the cusp of a biking Renaissance? From Beacon Hill to SODO to the Waterfront and Downtown, the next few years will bring major improvements to Seattle’s growing network of connected and separated bike lanes and bike paths. That’s good news for people who want a safer, healthier, more equitable and climate-friendly city. Join Cascade Bicycle Club on Bike Everywhere Day for a conversation with climate journalist and bike advocate Paul Tolme, Biking Uphill in the Rain author and Seattle Bike Blog founder Tom Fucoloro, and Cascade Bicycle Club Policy Manager Tyler Vasquez. Learn about the history of Seattle’s bike advocacy movement, how the passage of Proposition 1 last November is a gamechanger for biking, and how building a Bikeable Seattle is an act of love and compassion. Paul Tolmé is an award winning environmental journalist, former Associated Press staff reporter, and winner of the Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism whose work has appeared in Newsweek, the New York Times, Audubon, National Wildlife, Salon, Ski, High Country News, and more publications than he can remember over a 30-year career. In 2020, following his move to Seattle, he switched careers to engage in direct advocacy on climate, transportation safety, and transportation equity as the spokesperson and content strategist for Cascade Bicycle Club, the statewide nonprofit that helped defeat the effort to repeal Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. He lives with his wife on a tiny houseboat on Lake Union and bikes, walks, and uses mass transit to reach nearly all of his Seattle destinations. Tom Fucoloro is the Founder of SeattleBikeBlog.com and author of Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars (2023, UW Press). An independent journalist originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Tom has been reporting about bicycling in Seattle since 2010. He is a car-free parent and received Cascade Bicycle Club’s 2023 Doug Walker Award “for outstanding leadership in improving lives through bicycling.” He was a finalist for the 2024 Washington State Book Award. Tyler Vasquez is a dedicated transportation advocate with experience in policy development, public engagement, and project management. Growing up in a frontline community impacted by inequitable infrastructure decisions, he is committed to ensuring that transportation investments are transparent, accountable, and prioritize historically underserved communities. As an advocate with Cascade Bicycle Club, he works to improve bike infrastructure and safety, ensuring that no one’s right to mobility comes at the cost of their safety. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Cascade Bicycle Club. Buy the Book Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from Behind the Handlebars Third Place Books

What if everything you thought you knew about crime and punishment was shaped by those who profit from it? Join us for a discussion with civil rights attorney and author Alec Karakatsanis as he examines “copaganda”—the deliberate manipulation of public perception by police, prosecutors, and the media. Despite historically low crime rates, the United States imprisons far more people than it did just decades ago, driven by a sprawling and profitable punishment industry. Karakatsanis will explore how media narratives fuel fear, distort public policy, and divert attention from systemic harms, challenging us to reconsider who truly benefits from these widespread misrepresentations. Recognized by Teen Vogue as “one of the most prominent voices” on the criminal legal system and a featured guest on shows like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Breakfast Club, Karakatsanis brings his legal expertise, trenchant political analysis, and humorous personal storytelling to delve into one of the most critical topics in our society today. After beginning his career representing people accused of crimes who could not afford an attorney, Alec Karakatsanis founded the Civil Rights Corps, an organization that challenges systemic injustices in the U.S. legal system. In the last decade, the organization’s work has freed hundreds of thousands of people from illegal confinement in jail cells, reunited hundreds of thousands of families, returned tens of millions of dollars to marginalized communities, and advanced inspiring alternatives to punishment as a means of preventing and addressing social harm. He was named the 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice for designing and litigating landmark constitutional challenges to cash bail and modern debtors’ prison practices across the United States. The author of Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System and Copaganda (both from The New Press), he lives in Washington, DC, with a community of wonderful friends, family, weird paintings, a garden, and his rock collection. Erin Papworth, MPH, is a serial entrepreneur, executive, and ex-fintech founder, with a robust background in healthcare, finance, and technology. After leading multi-million dollar health programs in West and Central Africa, Erin co-founded Nav.it, a U.S.-based AI-driven financial wellness app. Nav.it was acquired by The Fintex Group (TFG) in Q1 2025. She is now the CEO of luupo, Inc, a subsidiary of TFG, bringing the mission of more inclusive consumer banking to TFG’s global banking and payments network. Erin is an avid traveler, startup advisor, and maintains connections to research institutes, primarily documenting the outcomes of investing in diverse entrepreneurs and social enterprise. Buy the Book Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News Elliott Bay Book Company

America is facing an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, with troubling effects on our mental and physical health. We live in one of the most divisive times in our history, one in which we tend to work, play, and associate only with people who think as we do. How do we create spaces for people to come together — to open our minds, understand our differences, and exchange ideas? In his new book, Meet Me at the Library, Shamichael Hallman argues that the public library may be our best hope for bridging these divides and creating strong, inclusive communities. Public libraries are increasingly playing an essential role in building social cohesion, promoting civic renewal, and advancing the ideals of a healthy democracy. Many are reimagining themselves in new and innovative ways, actively reaching out to the communities they serve. Today, libraries are becoming essential institutions for repairing society. Drawing from his experience at the Memphis Public Library and his extensive research and interviews across the country, Hallman presents a rich argument for seeing libraries as one of the nation’s greatest assets. He includes examples from libraries large and small — such as the Iowa’s North Liberty Library’s Lighthouse in the Library program to bring people together to discuss important topics in a safe and supportive space, to Cambridge Cooks, an initiative of the Cambridge MA Public Library that fosters social connection by bringing people together over shared interest in food. As an institution that is increasingly under attack for creating a place where diverse audiences can see themselves, public libraries are under more scrutiny than ever. Meet Me at the Library offers us a revealing look at one of our most important civic institutions and the social and civic impact they must play if we are to heal our divided nation. Shamichael Hallman serves as the Director of Civic Health and Economic Opportunity at Urban Libraries Council, an innovation and action tank of North America’s leading public library systems. In this role, he’s working to advance conversations about public libraries as essential city and county infrastructure, including their value as physical spaces and a connector of diverse lived experiences. From 2017 – 2022 he served as the Senior Library Manager of the historic Cossitt Library (Memphis Public Libraries), tasked with overseeing the multi-million-dollar renovation of this space which reimagined the roles that a branch library could play in the community. During his tenure with Memphis Public Libraries, the library system was awarded the 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Science by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and was recognized as the Nation’s Most Innovative Public Library by Smithsonian Magazine in November of 2021. His 2020 TEDx talk “Reimagining the Public Library to Reconnect the Community” garnered international attention among librarians and social innovators. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Seattle Public Library. Buy the Book Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy Elliott Bay Book Company

From bestselling authors and journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Abundance is a call to renew a politics of plenty, face the failures of liberal governance, and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget — if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades — because we haven’t been building enough. Abundance explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next gener­ation’s problems. Authors Klein and Thompson contend that progress requires facing up to the institutions in life that are not working as they need to. It means, for liberals, recognizing when the government is failing. It means, for conservatives, recognizing when the government is needed. In a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre­serves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel. Co-author Derek Thompson joins us at Town Hall for a talk about his book, our current challenges, and the path forward. Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the host of the podcast Plain English. He is the author of the national bestseller Hit Makers and On Work, an anthology of his writing on labor and technology. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Clayton Page Aldern is a senior data reporter at Grist. A neuroscientist turned environmental journalist, he holds a master’s in neuroscience and a master’s in public policy from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He is also a research affiliate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. With Gregg Colburn, he is the author of Homelessness Is a Housing Problem. His book The Weight of Nature, on the effects of climate change on brain health, is out now from Dutton. Buy the Book Abundance (Hardcover) Third Place Books