Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Seattle home prices are notoriously sky-high, making this city a difficult place to afford and move to. How did Seattle and other U.S. cities become that way? Or, as historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum puts it, how did the U.S. cease to be the land of opportunity? Pulling from his book, Stuck, Appelbaum explores how housing affects the very fabric of our society. For 200 years, people in the U.S. moved to new places for economic and social opportunity. But, Appelbaum argues that not only is this American Dream becoming more inaccessible, it hasn’t been available to many for a long time. He explains how zoning laws stopped people from moving, including the legal segregation of Jewish workers in New York’s Lower East Side and the private-sector discrimination and racist public policy that trapped Black families in Flint, Michigan. These efforts, Appelbaum says, have raised housing prices, deepened political divides, emboldened bigots, and trapped generations of people in poverty. And now, he argues, we are stuck––literally unable to move. While Seattle may be an expensive place to live, it’s a common story all over the country. Appelbaum describes what caused these problems and lays out ways to get people moving again. Yoni Appelbaum is a deputy executive editor of The Atlantic and a social and cultural historian of the United States. Before joining The Atlantic, he was a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University. He previously taught at Babson College and at Brandeis University, where he received his PhD in American history. Buy the Book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity Elliott Bay Book Company

“If you want to make change, you’ve got to make noise.” A call to action in the political sense conveys boldness and focus. It’s about drawing attention and speaking loudly about one’s convictions, with a sense of urgency and persistence. To longtime outspoken advocate and US Senator Ron Wyden, that’s what you’d call chutzpah – and his upcoming book sets out to inspire that same quality of action-driven audacity in Americans of all ages. It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change acts as a reflection of Wyden’s decades of public service and as a motivational manifesto to push people forward. Noted throughout his career in government for championing civil rights, sensible ideas, and strategic alliances that strive to get pressing bills passed, Wyden understands the importance of strong, loud community and charting new pathways. In It Takes Chutzpah, Wyden explores the long history of the Yiddish word chutzpah, the many interpretations of it across Jewish culture, and how he sees the trait as a tool to reclaim idealism and enact positive change. Wyden compels individuals and groups alike to look at the objectives before them with this boldness in mind, as well as conviction in their values. Wyden touches on the importance of free speech, healthcare, reproductive rights, a clean environment, and regulating the impacts of Big Tech throughout his political tenure. He explores how campaigning for the preservation of those values has been bolstered over the years– and even offers “Ron’s 12 Rules of Chutzpah” as a guide to defying convention and achieving progress. It Takes Chutzpah stresses that unapologetic volume and the nerve to keep fighting can prove crucial in accomplishing goals, creating allies, and moving brazenly forward together. Ron Wyden is an American politician and longtime advocate in the areas of civil rights, internet freedom, healthcare, and more. He currently serves as the senior United States senator from Oregon and Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance. He has previously held positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. State Representative Liz Berry represents Washington’s 36th Legislative District, located in the shadow of Seattle’s Space Needle. She is a passionate advocate for ending gun violence, combating plastic pollution, and standing up for working families and consumers against powerful special interests. A lifelong champion for women in leadership and reproductive justice, Rep. Berry served as president of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington and as a board member for Pro-Choice Washington. She is the former Legislative Director to U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. Rep. Berry lives with her husband and two young children in Queen Anne.  Buy the Book It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change Elliott Bay Book Company

You’ve probably been there: doomscrolling or otherwise distracted by devices. Many of us have lost focus before as our addictive phones consume our time or interfere with social situations. People bump into one another on the street, look down at their phones at restaurants, or check their mobile devices while spending time with the kids as continuous pings sound off in their pockets and purses. New York Times bestselling author, political commentator, and MSNBC news anchor Chris Hayes posits that these phenomena are part of a larger issue of attention capitalism, and show how attention itself has been taken from us and turned into a commodity. His latest release, The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, charts how the deliberate harvesting of human attention by wealthy companies has fundamentally changed news, politics, and leisure time. As society grows increasingly unable to concentrate, the consequences can be serious, and hold implications for what lies ahead. The Sirens’ Call aims to provide a holistic framework as well as steps people can take to regain control of their own lives and futures, overcoming what Hayes refers to as “the little attention box” that continues to dominate much of our existence. Chris Hayes is the Emmy Award–winning host of All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of A Colony in a Nation and Twilight of the Elites. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and children. Luke Burbank hosts the public radio variety show “Live Wire” as well as the daily podcast “TBTL” and is a Correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. He grew up near Greenlake in Seattle and jumps at any opportunity to come visit his hometown. Buy the Book The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource Third Place Books

Step into the in-between. This segment dives into the rich, transformative power of liminal spaces—those borders and boundaries where identities and experiences defy tidy categories. Our speakers will share deeply personal stories of hybridity, multiplicity, and fluidity, offering insights from lives lived beyond the binary. These talks challenge conventional thinking and celebrate the voices of those who have always thrived in the margins. Don’t miss this bold exploration of the spaces where possibility begins. About Queering Talks From the beginning, Town Hall has been a space for meeting the needs of our city—hosting concerts, book talks, and new ways to connect. This January, we’re thrilled to launch Queering Talks: In Between, Out in Front, Always Been, curated by Dr. Jen Self (they/them), founder of the UW Q Center. This bold new series reimagines the traditional lecture format through a queer lens, challenging ideas about who speaks, who listens, and who is centered. Built around three themes—In Between (exploring fluid identities and spaces), Out in Front (centering changemakers leading justice and equality movements), and Always Been (highlighting the historic contributions of queer visionaries)—this series promises to inspire, expand perspectives, and celebrate inclusivity. Join us in sparking meaningful conversations and building a community that values growth and connection. Read more on our blog: https://townhallseattle.org/queering-talks/ Dr. Jen Self (they/them) is a therapist, educator, performer, and writer whose work lives in the third space—the liminal zone where identities, systems, and possibilities collide and transform. As the founding director of the University of Washington’s Q Center, Jen reimagined what it means to create community healing spaces by centering a queer intersectional praxis. Jen knows that macro changes take place in our everyday decisions and actions. Their career spans decades of racial and gender justice work as a therapist, educator, strategist, program innovator, and truth sayer, navigating—and disrupting—institutions to make them more humane and transformative. Jen’s current projects include writing everything from maps on napkins to a memoir, co-leading The Racial Healing Project, and co-creating the Queer Leadership Lab. Darrow Brown lives at the crowded intersection of Black, gay, male, spouse, parent, and friend.  Public service employee, therapist, DJ and recent East Coast transplant are some of the busy and sometimes pothole-filled intersecting streets. Darrow gnaws, perhaps chronically, on what it means to embrace and sit with perfect imperfection. He uses storytelling – his self-proclaimed superpower – to build connections and help develop fertile relationships and thriving human beings. Thai Nguyen was born and raised in the 206 in West Seattle, occupying the straight mess of being a queer-cis male. Thai works as a peer counselor and an aspiring social worker. He focuses on lived experience as a means to break down barriers and reimagine social norms. Thai seeks to spotlight authentic community experiences and needs to diversify our dreams for the world we could build for each other.

Did you know that the Seattle Public Library offers any U.S. resident, ages 13-26, a free “Books Unbanned Card,” which allows you to check out any e-books or e-audiobooks from the Library’s digital collection, no matter where you live? This is just one example of how people are resisting new restrictions on information and education across the country. In his new book, Teach Truth, Seattle educator and author Jesse Hagopian discusses these restrictions and offers advice on how to defend antiracist education. Hagopian outlines how numerous states and school districts in recent years have enacted policies or laws mandating how to teach about systemic racism and oppression—policies that impact nearly half of all students in the U.S. Thousands of books have been banned from schools. Teachers face termination, attacks, and disciplinary action. You can be punished, including jail time, for providing access to a banned book. These new changes have old roots in McCarthyism’s Red Scare and Lavender Scare. They have strongholds in U.S. history. But there is also strong pushback. Hagopian shows how the fight against them also has a rich legacy, from the resistance to anti-literacy laws for enslaved people to the Black Lives Matter at School movement today. Hagopian calls to defend antiracist education, showing how to reclaim suppressed history by creating beloved classroom communities and healthy social movements. Jesse Hagopian has taught in public schools for over 20 years, serves on the Black Lives Matter at School steering committee, organizes for the Zinn Education Project, and founded the Ethnic Studies course at Seattle’s Garfield High School. He is an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, the co-editor of Black Lives Matter at School and Teaching for Black Lives, and the editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing. Dr. Ayva Thomas is a P-12 education and systems leader in and beyond her local community. She has been a speaker, panelist, and thought partner for events like the Zinn Education Project’s Teaching for Black Lives campaign, the City of Bothell’s DEI work, and the City of Kenmore’s Juneteenth Celebration. Wayne Au is Dean and Professor in the University of Washington Bothell School of Educational Studies, and he is an editor for the social justice teaching magazine, Rethinking Schools. A former public high school teacher, he writes and speaks about racial justice in education. Au’s most recent book is Asian American Racialization and the Politics of U.S. Education. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Seattle Public Library. Buy the Book Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education Elliott Bay Book Company

After the U.S. elected Barack Obama its first Black president in 2008, some assumed that this signaled a post-racial America. However, subsequent and serious incidents suggested this was not the case, inciting what some came to know as a second civil rights movement. Political correspondent, journalist, and historian Juan Williams explores this phenomenon in his latest release New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement. Who are the heroes of this movement? Where is it headed? What distinguishes it from its predecessor? Williams aims to answer these questions, exploring demographic changes, the rise and role of social media, and other critical shifts in the economic and cultural landscape. The author traces the arc of this new civil rights era, touching on subjects like the Obama presidency, Charlottesville, January 6th, and a Confederate flag in the Capitol. Exploring both past and present, New Prize for These Eyes will be of interest to historians or anyone concerned about America’s future. It encourages citizens to learn about the progress the nation has made, as well as obstacles that have yet to be overcome. Juan Williams is is a prizewinning journalist and historian. He is the author of the bestselling civil rights history Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, which accompanied the PBS series of the same name. He also wrote the landmark biography of the first African American on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, as well as the New York Times bestsellers Enough and Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate. Williams worked for The Washington Post as a celebrated national political correspondent, White House correspondent, and editorial writer. His NPR talk show took ratings to a new high. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Ebony. He is currently senior political analyst for Fox News Channel and a columnist for The Hill. Enrique Cerna calls himself a recovering broadcast journalist. He worked in Seattle media for more than four decades. Cerna was a reporter, producer and host for KOMO Radio and Television, KING Television and KCTS Public Television. In February 2018, he retired from his role as senior correspondent with KCTS. Still, he remains active as the co-host of the Chino Y Chicano and UNFILTERED podcasts. Cerna has earned ten Northwest Regional Emmy awards. In May 2022, Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication inducted him into its Hall of Achievement. Since March 2020, he has been a member of the WSU Board of Regents. He also serves as vice president for the Seattle Chapter of the National Hispanic Journalist’s Association. Buy the Book New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement Third Place Books

In America today, reports show that food insecurity is a pressing issue for over 35 million people. With rising grocery prices, inflation, and the lasting impacts of the pandemic—understanding the complexities of hunger has never been more imperative. Mariana Chilton explores this issue in the book, The Painful Truth about Hunger in America: Why We Must Unlearn Everything We Think We Know—and Start Again with some new insights and perspectives. Mariana Chilton is an author, professor, and founder of the Drexel University — Center for Hunger-Free Communities. In The Painful Truth About Hunger in America, Chilton takes a radical and urgent new approach to addressing hunger and poverty in the US. Where traditionally researchers, policymakers, and advocates have approached providing food through donations or non-profit organizations, Chilton focuses on the fundamental structures which she asserts have a keen interest in maintaining food stratification. Chilton suggests that the solution to food insecurity lies beyond providing food itself and will have to take both a political and spiritual approach in fixing this crisis. Drawing on 25 years of research, programming, and advocacy efforts, Chilton argues that food insecurity is created and maintained by those in power. To demonstrate her point, Chilton calls back to the original wounds suffered in this country — through a history of colonization, genocide, and enslavement. Drawing on intimate interviews she has conducted with many Black and Brown women, Chilton sheds light on the experience of hunger as linked with trauma and gender-based violence, violence with the natural world, and with ourselves. The Painful Truth about Hunger in America not only reinvigorates our commitment to uprooting the causes of poverty and discrimination but also points to a more generative and humane world where everyone can be nourished. Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, is a Professor at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities, a research and advocacy center focused on addressing hunger and economic insecurity. She founded Witnesses to Hunger, a movement amplifying women’s voices in the fight against poverty, and leads the Building Wealth and Health Network, which promotes entrepreneurship in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Her work on food insecurity, trauma, and human rights has influenced national policies, and she has advised Congress, Sesame Street, and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Chilton’s research has been featured in major media outlets, including The Washington Post and CBS News. Agueda Pacheco Flores is a Seattle-based freelancer with a focus on culture, arts, Southend communities, and the Latinx diaspora. Her work has been featured in The Seattle Times, The South Seattle Emerald, Remezcla, and more. You can find her on X @AguedaPachecOH. Buy the Book The Painful Truth about Hunger in America: Why We Must Unlearn Everything We Think We Know--and Start Again Elliott Bay Book Company

If there is one thing on our collective minds these days, it is the issue of politics. But for all the interest it piques, much of it remains a mystery to the American public. Bestselling author and journalist Casey Michel, who tackled the problem of financial corruption in his first book American Kleptocracy, sheds light on an issue that may be unknown to those outside the Capitol. In Michel’s new book Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, he details how one group has worked as foot soldiers for authoritarian, repressive regimes. In the process, they’ve not only established dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they’ve successfully guided U.S. policy without the rest of America being aware. And now, Michel asserts, some of them have begun turning their sights on American democracy itself. These Americans are known as foreign lobbyists, and many of them spent years laundering reputations and getting cozy in Washington with dictatorships. Michel writes of foreign lobbyists throughout history–including those who built alliances with Mussolini and the Nazis, but also contemporary Americans: in law firms and consultancies, among PR specialists and former lawmakers, and even within think tanks and universities. Foreign Agents illuminates these figures past and present and determines that they pose a threat to the future of American democracy. Casey Michel is an author, journalist, and director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program with the Human Rights Foundation. He is the author of American Kleptocracy, named by The Economist as one of the “best books to read to understand financial crime.” His writing on offshoring, foreign lobbying, authoritarianism, and illicit wealth has appeared in Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and The Washington Post, among other outlets, and he has appeared on NPR, BBC, CNN, and MSNBC, among other stations. He has also testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the links between illicit financial networks and national security. He received his Master’s degree in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in northern Kazakhstan. Foreign Agents is his second book. Dr. Katy E. Pearce is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington and holds affiliations with the University of Washington’s Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. She is the chair of the Communication and Technology Division of the International Communication Association and is an associate editor at the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Her research focuses on social and political uses of technologies and digital content in the transitioning democracies and semi-authoritarian states of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, but primarily Armenia and Azerbaijan. Buy the Book Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World The Elliott Bay Book Company

Professor of Political Science Paul Pierson, discusses his new book Partisan Nation. Co-authored with Eric Schickler, this book explores the roots of America’s democratic crisis, highlighting how the mismatch between the Constitution and today’s nationalized, partisan politics has destabilized American democracy. Pierson offers a fresh perspective on contemporary polarization, explaining how it has evolved from past eras and become self-perpetuating. Pierson and Schickler’s work dives into the changing dynamics of state parties, interest groups, and media since the 1960s, showing how these shifts have intensified political conflict. They also caution about the vulnerability of the American political system to authoritarian movements, particularly within the contemporary Republican Party. This talk is for anyone seeking to understand the current challenges facing American governance and democracy. Paul Pierson is the John Gross Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative. He is the author or coauthor of six books, including Winner-Take-All Politics, Let Them Eat Tweets and Politics in Time. Megan Ming Francis is the G. Alan and Barbara Delsman Associate Professor of Political Science and an Associate Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington. Francis specializes in the study of American politics, with broad interests in criminal punishment, Black political activism, philanthropy, and the post-Civil War South. Buy the Book Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era Third Place Books

What can professional risk-takers — poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true believers and blue-chip art collectors— teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the twenty-first century? In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, statistician Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in his timely and riveting new book, On the Edge, Silver investigates “The River,” or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape — and dominate — so much of modern life. People in “The River” have increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset — including the flaws in their thinking — is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise diverse group: high tolerance for risk, appreciation of uncertainty, affinity for numbers, skill at decoupling, self-reliance, and a distrust of conventional wisdom. For those in The River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it, without going beyond the pale. Taking us behind the scenes from casinos to venture capital firms, and from the FTX inner sanctum to meetings of the effective altruism movement, On the Edge is a deeply reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of power brokers and risk-takers. Nate Silver is the founder of FiveThirtyEight and the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise. He writes the Substack Silver Bulletin. 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 On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything Third Place Books