406. Karen Polinsky and Ian Mackay with Kenny Salvini: Ian's Ride: A Long-Distance Journey to Joy
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 05/29/2025
416. 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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415. 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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414. 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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413. 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...
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412. Dr. Jessica B. Harris with Kristi Brown: Recipes and Stories on the Origin of American Cuisine
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Have you ever wondered how American cuisine came to be? When we look at food from around the world, we may more readily accept the complexity of its origins or their legacy in the culinary landscape. But it may be surprising to some that many of our country’s dietary customs likewise stem from culturally robust beginnings. From a James Beard Cookbook Hall of Famer and the star of the Netflix docuseries High on the Hog, Dr. Jessica B. Harris comes her latest work, Braided Heritage: Recipes and Stories on the Origin of American Cuisine. This cookbook — replete with over 100...
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411. Danielle Leavitt with Sasha Senderovich: By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
While the war in Ukraine continues to grab news headlines, the daily lives of Ukrainians remain opaque and mostly anonymous. What is it really like to live there during wartime? Historian Danielle Leavitt answers that question in her book, By the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in Ukraine. By going beyond familiar portraits of wartime heroism and victimhood, Leavitt reveals the human experience of the conflict. A U.S. citizen who grew up in Ukraine, Leavitt draws on her deep familiarity with the country and online diaries to track a diverse group of Ukrainians through...
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410. Caroline Fraser with Bruce Lanphear: Murderland—Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Ted Bundy, arguably the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, committed many of his crimes in the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and ’80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid a large number of serial and violent acts across the region. Why were there so many, and so particularly gruesome? What caused the rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing? In Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, nonfiction author and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Fraser maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous...
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409. Coll Thrush with Joshua L. Reid: Wrecked — Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
A fur-trading schooner beached in 1811. A passenger liner lost in 1906. An almost-empty tanker broken on the shore in 1999. These shipwrecks, and thousands more, are why the northwest coast of North America is sometimes called the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” Drawing from his book, Wrecked, history professor and author Coll Thrush tells the stories of many vessels that met their fate along this rugged coast and how they open up conversations about colonialism, Indigenous persistence, and place-based history. Shipwrecks are commemorated in museums, historical markers, folklore, place...
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408. Dave Barry with Brett Hamil: Class Clown: A Memoir
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
You could argue that Dave Barry is the country’s class clown, but did you know that he actually was elected class clown in high school? It’s no wonder, then, that he’s made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything. So how in the world does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people? Dave Barry will explain. Barry draws from his latest book, Class Clown, to take us on a ride through his life so far, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for...
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407. Steve Oney with Steve Scher: On Air: The History of NPR
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Founded in 1970, NPR is America’s most powerful broadcast news network. Despite being overshadowed by the larger and more glamorous PBS, public radio has long been home to shows such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and This American Life that captivate millions of listeners in homes, cars, and workplaces across the nation. In On Air, a book fourteen years in the making, journalist Steve Oney tells the history of this institution, tracing the comings and goings of legendary on-air talents (Bob Edwards, Susan Stamberg, Ira Glass, Cokie Roberts, and many others)...
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At 26, Ian Mackay loved the outdoors, natural sciences, and cycling. While studying as a biology undergrad at UC Santa Cruz, he crashed his bike into a tree on campus and forever changed his relationship with how he – and others like him – experienced nature. After sustaining a spinal cord injury that would leave him paralyzed from the shoulders down, Mackay was challenged with rehabilitating his body, his mental wellness, and his adventurous lifestyle. In Ian’s Ride: A Long-Distance Journey to Joy, author Karen Polinsky traverses both Ian’s personal journey to recovery against all the odds and the path his work has cleared for fellow nature lovers.
In this intimate memoir brought to life through more than one hundred hours of interviews, journal entries, and more, Polinsky depicts Ian’s story with heartfelt honesty. As he adapted to his new life in the Pacific Northwest with the help of his dedicated mother Teena, as well as family and friends, he grew inspired to revisit his bond with the outdoors. After years of personal growth, advocacy, and accessibility research, Ian has become a community leader, an innovator with Apple, and a world-record-breaking athlete. Ian’s Ride is an inspirational tale of perseverance and an adventure quest for nature lovers, endurance athletes, and anyone struggling with a life-changing loss or diagnosis. This deftly narrated saga examines the passions and challenges that inform how we exist in our hearts, our bodies, our communities, and our natural world.
Karen Polinsky is a novelist and playwright, as well as a former journalist and high school teacher. Her written works include the book Dungeness, the dance drama Heart of Stone, and more than a dozen staged plays.
Ian Mackay, a C2/3 quadriplegic, is a nature lover, mobility technology innovator, and endurance athlete. Mackay is the executive director of the nonprofit Ian’s Ride, which aims to increase accessibility to the outdoors. He also serves as an ambassador for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and is a proud board member of The Here and Now Project, a chapter of the United Spinal Association.
Kenny Salvini is an award-winning writer and community organizer with a passion for promoting wellness, accessibility, and independence in the disability community. In 2013, Kenny cofounded The Here and Now Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to connect and empower the mobility disability community in the Pacific Northwest. In his free time, Kenny does accessibility advocacy and training on the side and is a part-time contributor to New Mobility Magazine. In 2019, he was recognized by the United Spinal Association as their Advocate of the Year. Kenny graduated with honors from Central Washington University, where he majored in Electronics Engineering Technology, and was a two-time NCAA Division II Academic All-American in Men’s Wrestling. He currently lives in Sumner, Washington with his wife, Claire, and their four-year-old daughter, Ila.
