Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Could the power of story-telling help create a better reality?  Afterglow is a stunning collection of original short stories in which writers from many different backgrounds envision a radically different climate future. Published in collaboration with Grist, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions, these stirring tales expand our ability to imagine a better world. Afterglow draws inspiration from a range of cutting-edge literary movements including Afrofuturism, hope-punk, and solar-punk—genres that uplift equitable climate solutions and continued service to one’s community, even in the face of despair. The Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer voices in this collection imagine intersectional worlds in which no community is left behind. Whether through abundance or adaptation, reform, or a new understanding of survival, these stories offer flickers of hope, even joy, as they provide a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality. Panelists Sheree Renée Thomas is a New York Times bestselling, two-time World Fantasy Award-winning author and editor. A 2023 Octavia E. Butler Award honoree and a 2022 Hugo Award Finalist, she is the author of Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future, a Locus, Ignyte, and World Fantasy Finalist, Marvel’s Black Panther: Panther’s Rage novel, and she collaborated with Janelle Monáe on “Timebox Altar(ed)” in The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer. She co-edited Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, a NAACP Image Award Nominee, and is the Editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Sheree lives in her hometown, Memphis, Tennessee, near a mighty river and a pyramid. Justine Norton-Kertson is a genderfluid author of stories and poems as well as a screenwriter, game maker, musician, and community organizer. They’re the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Android Press and Solarpunk Magazine. They’ve been published in magazines such as Utopia Science Fiction and Jupiter Review. Their anthologist debut, Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology, was published in January 2023 from Android Press. And their debut nonfiction book, Solarpunk Witchcraft, is forthcoming from Microcosm Publishing in 2024. They live in rural Oregon with their partner, puppies, cats, goats, bunnies, and beehives. Find them at http://justinenortonkertson.com Andrew Simon is a writer and editor living in Seattle. Simon has been an editorial leader at award-winning media organizations including Grist, Fast Company, ESPN, and Complex Media. He’s launched a journalism fellowship, the annual Grist 50 list, and a podcast, among other projects. He currently works on thought leadership and business solutions. He is co-author of the book ‘Racing While Black: How an African-American Stock Car Team Made Its Mark on NASCAR.’ Tory Stephens creates opportunities that transform organizations and shift culture. He is a resource generator and community builder for social justice issues, people, and movements. He currently works at Grist Magazine as their climate fiction creative manager and uses storytelling to champion climate justice, and imagine green, clean, and just futures. In another life, he owned a kick-butt streetwear company, and he would have gotten away with eating the last cookie too if it weren’t for his three meddling kids. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Its goal is to use the power of storytelling to illuminate the way toward a better world, inspire millions of people to walk that path with us, and show that the time for action is now. Afterglow Third Place Books

No matter how we identify, we all have a lot to unpack. While there is a multitude of texts with universal application, community organizer Krista R. Pérez has written a book specifically with a BIPOC audience in mind. In Unearthing Our Roots, Pérez encourages advocates, activists, and leaders from historically marginalized groups to implement transformative and healing practices within their communities. Pérez extends an invitation to readers to unearth and uproot racist, anti-Black, ableist, and other biases that fracture relationships surrounding their communities. With decades of lived experience and a multidisciplinary approach, Pérez presents guided journal prompts for examining our own intentions, strategies for unraveling harmful biases and behaviors, and transformative and restorative practices for communities of historically marginalized groups at both micro and macro levels. Partially funded by the Tacoma Arts Commission, Unearthing Our Roots is a book that doubles as a clarion call. Krista R. Pérez aims to share her story, all parts of her story, including her softest and strongest parts, her sacred nature, the joy of motherhood, and her deeply rooted cultural values, to create spaces for Women of Color to show up in all capacities. Krista is also a proponent of integrated leadership, in which we bring all parts of ourselves to our professional workspaces. By making our whole selves visible we learn to value our whole selves, and others, as others and community members. Jasmine M. Pulido is a Filipina American writer-activist, small business owner, and mother. Her written work has been featured in the South Seattle Emerald, International Examiner, The Postscript, and Give Grief a Voice. Her work has been performed through Velasco Arts and Bindlestiff Studio. She recently wrote her first play, “The Master’s Tool” exploring the struggles of BIPOC folks in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion work in white-dominant non-profit workplaces. Jasmine is pursuing her Master’s in Social Change at Starr King School for the Ministry. She writes a bi-weekly substack called “Liberation Library” and is currently working on her first novel. Unearthing Our Roots Blue Cactus Press

Why do Americans believe in the “magic of the marketplace”?  The answer, as Erik M. Conway contends in The Big Myth (with coauthor Naomi Oreskes), is a propaganda blitz. Until the early 1900s, the U.S. government’s guiding role in economic life was largely accepted. But then business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies combatted regulation by building a new orthodoxy: down with “big government,” up with unfettered markets. Unearthing eye-opening archival evidence, the authors document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor. They detail the ploys that turned hardline economists Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman into household names, recount the libertarian roots of the Little House on the Prairie books, and tune into the General Electric-sponsored TV show that beamed free-market doctrine (and the young Ronald Reagan) to millions. Conway argues that by the 1970s, the crusade had succeeded, paving the way for an ideology that would define the next 50 years of Republican and Democratic administrations and fuel housing, opioid, climate, and public health crises. By understanding this history, The Big Myth aims to help us imagine a future where markets will serve, not stifle, democracy. Erik Conway is a historian of science and technology and works for the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of seven books and dozens of articles and essays. He lives in Pasadena, California. David Roberts is the proprietor of a newsletter & podcast called Volts, about clean energy & politics. The Big Myth Phinney Books

What would the world look like if we shifted political and legislative power to everyday people — on the premise that everyone is worthy and capable of being involved in collective decision-making? Claudia Chwalisz seeks to answer that question. She believes another democratic future is possible and strives to create a more just, joyful, and collaborative future where everyone has meaningful power to shape their societies. By researching, implementing, and reporting on new forms of representative democratic institutions, such as permanent citizens’ councils, where representation passes through sortition (selection by lottery), Claudia hopes to enable everyone to explore how institutions can adopt new forms of the democratic process. Claudia Chwalisz is an author, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder and CEO of DemocracyNext, a research and action institute working to shift political and legislative power to everyday people through empowered Citizens’ Assemblies. Marcus Harrison Green is the publisher of the South Seattle Emerald and a columnist with The Seattle Times. Brandi Kruse is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and political commentator. After nearly a decade with the FOX affiliate in Seattle, she left to launch unDivided, an independent political show and podcast that gives a voice to Americans who feel silenced by the fringes of both parties. Brandi is a Minnesota native and graduate of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska. 

Join local writers, musicians, and activists for an evening of songs, poetry, and witness.  Alex Gallo-Brown has worked as a barista, a server, a cook, an organic farmer, a caregiver for people with disabilities, an educator, and a union organizer, among other professions. He has also published two books, The Language of Grief (2012) and Variations of Labor (2019). Called “the poet of the service economy” by author and critic Valerie Trueblood, he has been awarded the Barry Lopez Fellowship from Seattle’s Hugo House, the Walthall Fellowship from Atlanta’s WonderRoot, and the Emerging Artist Award from the City of Atlanta. He holds degrees in writing from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Georgia State University in Atlanta. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two daughters. Louis Ramon Garcia is a PNW-native and a Washington State University alumnus, where he double majored in political science and philosophy. He led the unionization of workers at Storyville Coffee in Seattle when he was employed in early 2022. Since then, Louis has begun developing a career within the worker/labor rights movement and seeks to pursue higher education for himself and justice and equity for workers everywhere. Victory Rose is a PNW based singer-songwriter and former Starbucks barista who worked at the first unionized Starbucks store in Seattle, Broadway and Denny. She found her voice as a chant leader, accompanist and organizer over the past year’s SBWU strike and rally actions.  Paul Hlava Ceballos is the author of banana [ ], a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry. He has fellowships from CantoMundo, Artist Trust, and the Poets House. His work has been published in Poetry Magazine, BOMB, and the LA Times, and has been translated into Ukrainian. He organized ESL teachers’ unions in New York, helping found a union at Kaplan International Colleges, which was the first union at a for-profit English school in America. Working with 99 Pickets, he also participated in campaigns for the NYU Graduate Students Union, Hot and Crusty, and the Laundry Workers Center United.

As President Vladimir Putin flung threats of nuclear retaliation during Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, we were given an important reminder of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. This terrifying wake-up call has dominated headlines for a year. President of Ploughshares Fund Dr. Emma Belcher knows the threat looms beyond the physical borders of Putin’s war and how they could easily find purchase on American soil. Join Dr. Belcher for a conversation moderated by The Honorable Gael Tarleton about the current state of global nuclear threats and the proximity of Seattleites to nuclear geopolitics. Dr. Emma Belcher is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. Emma spent nearly a decade at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she led the foundation’s Nuclear Challenges grantmaking program. There, she developed and built the foundation’s Nuclear Challenge Big Bet team. She also served as an advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security and international affairs. Emma has been on the TED platform twice, discussing the importance of confronting, humanizing, and ultimately solving the existential threat of nuclear weapons. The Honorable Gael Tarleton, former Washington State Representative for the 36th legislative district (Seattle) from 2013-2021, began her career as a senior defense intelligence analyst for the Pentagon for a decade. She then ran two international subsidiaries of a Fortune 500 company in Russia, helping rebuild the country after the Cold War collapse by cleaning up nuclear waste and preventing environmental disasters. Tarleton co-founded the Northwest chapter of Women in International Security, was Port of Seattle Commissioner, and served as an advisor for the Institute for National Security Education and Research at UW and technical advisor for PNNL. About Ploughshares Fund For over four decades, Ploughshares Fund has supported the most effective advocates and organizations in the world to reduce and eventually eliminate the danger posed by nuclear weapons.

Do you ever wish you had a manual for what to say in certain situations? Cultural Awareness powerhouses Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow’s Say the Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice describes itself as “a practical, shame-free guide for navigating conversations across our differences at a time of rapid social change.” While we navigate a significant time of divisiveness and unrest, conversations about identity are becoming more frequent, but also arguably more complex. When discussing subjects such as critical race theory, gender equity in the workplace, and LGBTQ-inclusive classrooms, many of us with good intentions may find ourselves fearful of saying the wrong thing and hurting someone or being misunderstood. That fear can sometimes prevent us from speaking up at all, which can have the detrimental effect of stalling progress toward a more just and inclusive society. As founders of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law, Yoshino and Glasgow share a goal of showing potential allies that these conversations don’t have to be so overwhelming. Through stories drawn from social media posts, dinner party conversations, and workplace disputes, they offer seven user-friendly principles that are supported by research and teach skills like avoiding common conversational pitfalls, engaging in respectful disagreement, offering authentic apologies, and better supporting the people in our lives who experience bias. Say the Right Thing seeks to encourage us away from cancel culture and shame toward more meaningful and empathetic dialogue on issues of identity on both large and small scales. Whether managing diverse teams at work, navigating issues of inclusion at college, or challenging biased comments at a family barbecue, Yoshino and Glasgow may help us move from unconsciously hurting people to consciously helping them. Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and the director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. A graduate of Harvard (AB summa cum laude), Oxford (MSc as a Rhodes Scholar), and Yale (JD), he specializes in constitutional law, antidiscrimination law, and law and literature. Yoshino taught at Yale Law School from 1998 to 2008, where he served as Deputy Dean and the inaugural Guido Calabresi Professor of Law. He is the author of three books: Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights; A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice; and Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial. Yoshino has published in major academic journals, including the Harvard Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He makes regular appearances on radio and television programs, such as NPR, CNN, PBS and MSNBC. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, including the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award in 2016 and the Podell Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014. David Glasgow is the executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and an adjunct professor of law at NYU School of Law. In his role at the Meltzer Center, he develops and executes educational programs on diversity and inclusion for internal and external clients, coordinates a speaker series and other events on contemporary diversity and inclusion issues, and manages the center’s general operations. He has co-taught courses at the Law School on leadership, diversity, and inclusion, and co-authored a book with Kenji Yoshino, Say the Right Thing: How to Talk about Identity, Diversity, and Justice. David graduated with a BA in philosophy and an LLB (First Class Honors) from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Laws (LLM) from NYU School of Law, where he received the David H. Moses Memorial Prize and the George Colin Award. Prior to joining the Meltzer Center, he practiced employee relations and anti-discrimination law in Melbourne, Australia, and then served as an Associate Director of the Public Interest Law Center at NYU School of Law. Jane Park is the CEO of Athena Consumer, an all women founded Special Purpose Acquisition Company, as well as CEO and Founder of Tokki, a social & sustainable giftwrap company. Prior to founding Tokki, Ms. Park was the CEO and Founder of Julep, an on-line first beauty brand now distributed nationally at Ulta stores as well as on QVC and Nordstrom. Ms. Park was also an executive at Starbucks in the New Ventures division where she launched new consumer businesses. She was also a leader at the Boston Consulting Group in the Retail and Consumer Goods practice group, and a founding director of the CEO Forum for Education and Technology with luminaires such as Steve Jobs (CEO Apple) and Eckhard Pfeiffer (CEO Compaq). Ms. Park serves on the Board of Directors of Athena Consumer, Glo Beauty, and the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, and regularly appears on television as well as consumer, technology, and women’s leadership conferences.  She is a graduate of the Princeton School of Public Policy and International Affairs and Yale Law School. Say the Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice Third Place Books

On February 28, 1993, agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) raided the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. Acting on reports that the group and their leader, David Koresh, were stockpiling illegal weapons, the AFT raid led to a disastrous siege that ended with a lethal fire and the deaths of 76 people, including 25 children. 30 years later, bestselling author and former investigative reporter Jeff Guinn offers a fresh account of the siege at the Branch Davidian compound, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews. In Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage, Guinn’s extensive research captures the voices of a dozen former ATF agents who participated in the initial raids, who speak on the record about the poor decisions of their commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. Why did the FBI choose to end the siege with the use of CS gas? How did ATF and FBI officials try, and fail, to cover up their agencies’ mistakes? Where did David Koresh plagiarize his infamous prophecies? What are the direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America? Guinn considers these questions and more, shedding new light on a story that we thought we knew. Jeff Guinn is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Go Down Together, The Last Gunfight, Manson, War on the Border, and Waco. He was the co-executive producer alongside Leonardo DiCaprio on the TV docuseries Terror in the Jungle, which is based on his book, The Road to Jonestown. He is a two-time Edgar finalist for True Crime and a two-time winner of the Texas Book Award. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage The Elliott Bay Book Company

The Black Power movement is often associated with iconic spokespeople, but its momentum was due, in part, to the work of those with untold stories. University of Washington-Bothell Professor and historian Dan Berger’s new book Stayed On Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey focuses on the story of Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons: two unheralded, grassroots Black Power activists who dedicated their lives to the fight for freedom. A love story as well as a movement story, Zoharah and Michael fell in love while organizing tenants and workers in the South. Their commitment to each other and to social change took them on a decades-long journey that first traversed the United States and then the world. In centering their lives through intertwined stories, Berger shows how Black Power brought unity on both a local and global scale, which had an impact across organizations as well as generations. Attendees will likely learn something new about these unsung members of the movement toward civil rights, introducing people besides those typically highlighted during Black History Month. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Stayed On Freedom seeks to reveal a moving and intimate portrait of two people trying to forge a life for themselves while working to make a better world for others. Dan Berger is professor of comparative ethnic studies and associate dean for faculty development and scholarship in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell. His book Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era won the 2015 James A. Rawley Prize. He lives in Seattle, WA. Dr. Carmen Rojas is the president & CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. For more than 20 years, she has worked with foundations, financial institutions, and nonprofits to improve the lives of working people across the country. Dr. Rojas holds a Ph.D. in City & Regional Planning from UC Berkeley, and was a Fulbright Scholar in 2007. Stayed on Freedom The Elliott Bay Book Company

Do you recall your earliest memories about managing money? Did you squirrel away pennies in a bank or watch your parents balance the checkbook? Author Tori Dunlap had those memories as a child and was always good with money, but she learned her experience was unusual — especially among her female friends. After investigating financial literacy and wealth gaps, Dunlap discovered that girls are significantly less likely to receive a holistic financial education and receive radically different messages about money than boys. Women, she contends, are often taught to restrain their spending, while men are taught to invest and are rewarded for pursuing wealth. And when something like, say, a global pandemic happens, women tend to be the first to leave the workforce or experience job cuts, and are the last to re-enter it. With such disparate outcomes, it’s no wonder money is a source of anxiety and a barrier to equality for so many. In her new book, Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love, Dunlap aims to help women exercise agency over their finances and lives. Through journaling prompts, deep-dives into the financial landscape, and interviews with financial experts on everything money — from predatory credit card companies to the racial wealth gap and voting with your dollars — Financial Feminist strives to help women be free to live the lives they want. Dunlap joins us at Town Hall to share her approach to paying off debt, spending mindfully, saving money without deprivation, and investing for the future. Tori Dunlap is a globally-recognized money and career expert whose work has been featured on Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, the New York Times, People, TIME, Forbes, CNBC, and more. After spending years building Her First $100K on the side of her 9-5 job in marketing, she has turned it into a multi-seven-figure business that changes women’s lives, helping them gain control over their careers and finances. Financial Feminist is her first book. Aleenah Ansari is equal parts storyteller, creative problem solver, and journalist at heart who’s rooted in the stories of people behind products, companies, and initiatives. She’s written about travel, entrepreneurship, mental health, and wellness, and has representation in media for Insider, The Seattle Times, Byrdie, and more. You can usually find her searching for murals, making an oat vanilla latte, and planning her next trip to New York. You can learn more at aleenahansari.com.   Financial Feminist Overcome the Patriarchy's Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love The Elliott Bay Book Company