269. Julian Randall with Ally Ang: Past, Present, and Prevail
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 08/21/2024
322. Oliver Burkeman: Meditations for Mortals
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
You know that phrase, “We compare our insides to other people’s outsides”? We’re bombarded with others’ achievements but see less of the steps – internal and external – it took to get there. These days, we feel an increased pressure to achieve, to pursue greatness. We reach for this mythical, impossible standard. Drawing from his book, Meditations for Mortals, Burkeman believes that if you accept the fact that you will never “get there,” you can actually start making good choices that lead to a meaningful life. Through this guiding philosophy, Burkeman calls...
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321. As Many Weirdos As Possible: Celebrating the Pacific Northwest Music Scene (1985-1995)
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Join us at Town Hall Seattle for As Many Weirdos As Possible (AMWAP), an evening of storytelling and portraiture that brings to life one of the most vibrant chapters of the Pacific Northwest music scene (1985-1995). This live program will feature musicians, artists, and community members sharing personal memories, projected alongside their documentary portraits as part of the ongoing AMWAP project. Drawn from Poser Productions’ mission to preserve and celebrate personal and cultural histories, this evening invites audiences to engage in a communal reflection on memory, music, identity, and...
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320. Jimmy Wales with Mónica Guzmán: The Seven Rules of Trust
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
As we interact with endless sources of media and news every day, we tend to recognize the big names presenting to us and often have an opinion at the ready in terms of credibility and preference. But why did we develop those opinions in the first place, and how do we move forward with confidence when processing the continuous supply of new information gets more challenging all the time? According to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, it all comes down to something innately human and critical to our collective success– trust. In his upcoming book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for...
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Our Brains on Art: How the Arts Transform Community Health: A Conversation with Susan Magsamen
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Can art transform our brains for the better? Local arts and health champion, Path with Art, in partnership with Seattle University and Town Hall Seattle, leads a conversation with Susan Magsamen, New York Times bestselling co-author of Your Brain on Art, and director of Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab, as well as the co-director of the Aspen Institute’s Neuroarts Blueprint. Susan shares the latest research demonstrating how individual and public health can be transformed through the arts. When introduced in healing settings, arts engagement is associated with a...
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318. Dr. Wendy Johnson with Tessa Hulls: Connection as the Way to Wellness
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Do you live in a way that maximizes your well-being? Chances are, the answer to that question is no. Our modern way of living, some suggest, is incompatible with a thriving lifestyle. While the notion that many factors impact our overall health and wellness is not necessarily far-fetched, you may be surprised by the argument that some of the strongest factors are relational — both with one another and with the earth. Family Physician and public health professor Dr. Wendy Johnson explores this concept in her newest book, Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth...
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317. Nicholas Meyer with George Meyer: Sherlock Holmes and The Real Thing
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Whether or not you’re a Sherlockian, whether or not you believe that Arthur Conan Doyle was the literary agent for Holmes and Watson and not the author of fantastical tales, you might be curious to learn that there’s a new mysterious Sherlock Holmes tale to untangle. Author, screenwriter, and director Nicholas Meyer would like to share that tale in his book, Sherlock Holmes and The Real Thing. Picture the setting: London, 189–. The great city is brought to a standstill by a series of blizzards, and Sherlock Holmes is bored to distraction. It would take a miracle to bring a case to...
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316. Lisa Jewell with Andrea Dunlop: Don’t Let Him In: A Novel
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Who isn’t hoping for a quality partner to build a life with? Someone charming, reliable, with a great personality? But what happens when that sparkling personality is far darker around the edges than you realized? In her tensely thrilling new novel Don’t Let Him In, author Lisa Jewell explores the layers of truth and deception unraveling before three women who find themselves tied together by a man who has more secrets than any of them bargained for. Nick Radcliffe seems to have it all – he’s a man of substance and good taste, with a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a...
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315. Joyful Resistance: Leveraging the Power of Arts Activism
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
`This is a dynamic and inspiring community panel on the joyful power of arts activism. In a time when many are facing systemic erasure — politically, socially, and culturally — Pottery Northwest is transforming art into resistance through equity-driven programming that uplifts Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ voices. Moderated by James Miles, the panel features ceramicist Aisha Harrison, former legislator Kirsten Harris-Talley, and Pottery Northwest Executive Director Ed King. Leading Pottery Northwest is a privilege for Ed King after a career as an award-winning visual artist and ad...
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314. Who Decides What Art We Get to See? A Conversation About Gatekeepers
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Far more art is produced in a place like Seattle that is seen by the general public, in venues like galleries, museums, and art fairs. Who decides which art goes on display, and which work remains in the maker’s studio? A panel of art world experts discussed the often behind-the-scenes process that selects certain artists while sidelining others, and whether the current structure encourages or suppresses diversity, and where there is room for improvement. Elisheba Johnson is a conceptual artist and curator for Wa Na Wari. She was previously a public art manager for Seattle’s Office...
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313. Daniel Brook: The Einstein of Sex: One Doctor’s Revolutionary Work Around Gender and Sexuality
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Many of today’s anti-trans sentiments revolve around the belief that things like gender-affirming care and nonbinary identities are part of a new trend. Yet, over a century ago, one doctor’s revolutionary work around gender and sexuality suggests otherwise. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a German-Jewish sexologist and activist, grew famous (and infamous) for his theory of sexual relativity. While he may be largely forgotten, journalist Daniel Brook wants to reintroduce Hirschfeld to today’s discussion around gender and sexuality. Drawing from his book, The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus...
info_outlineMany of us have sought information about our family history, trying to solve those unanswered questions about our predecessors. In the quest for truths about others through examining their lives and lineage, we may also find truths about ourselves in the process.
In his latest release and nonfiction debut, The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit, New York Times bestselling author Julian Randall braids past with present as he retraces the life of his grandfather, a white-passing patriarch driven from a town in Mississippi, all the way to Randall’s own internal battles with depression and how he ultimately emerged from its depths.
Randall weaves pop culture into his pages, exploring grief, family, emotional health, and the American way with a medley of media ranging from Into the Spiderverse and Jordan Peele movies to BoJack Horseman and the music of Odd Future.
Seattle writer Ally Ang joins Randall in conversation for an evening of laughter, tears, and everything in-between.
Julian Randall is a contributor to the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Boy Joy and his middle-grade novel, Pilar Ramirez and the Escape From Zafa, was published by Holt in 2022. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Tin House, and Milkweed Editions. He is the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle, the 2019 Frederick Bock Prize, and a Pushcart prize. His poetry has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and POETRY. His first book, Refuse, won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He lives in Chicago.
Ally Ang is a gaysian poet and editor based in Seattle, Washington. Their work has been published in Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology, Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color, Foglifter, Columbia Journal,and elsewhere. They are a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, a Tin House workshop alum, and a 2022 Jack Straw Writers Program fellow. Ang holds a BA in sociology and Asian American studies from Wellesley College and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. They are currently working on their first full-length poetry collection. When not writing, Ang can be found gazing longingly at bodies of water or doting on their cat, Gomez.
