368. Anna Zivarts with Barb Chamberlain and Tanisha Sepúlveda: Driving Change — Navigating Mobility for All
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Release Date: 09/03/2024
388. Derek Thompson with Clayton Aldern: Abundance
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
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...
info_outline
387. Queering Talks: Out in Front—Radical Leadership in Queer Liberation
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
In Part Two of our , we will center the voices of those who have always led the way in liberation movements, claiming the spotlight for those who have consistently been “out in front” of struggles for justice, love, and equity, demonstrating that the margins have always been the source of radical change. Queering leadership is not just about reclaiming lost stories; it’s about futurism — imagining and building new realities. Leaders who live at the intersections of power systems have long envisioned new possibilities and turned them into reality. They’ve led us beyond the...
info_outline
386. Elie Mystal with Jay Willis - How Overturning Laws Could Help America
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Is there a current law on the books that you disagree with? How about ten? In Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, New York Times bestselling author and legal analyst Elie Mystal argues not only that ten pieces of legislation are making life worse for millions of Americans but that they should be repealed completely. On topics ranging from immigration to gun rights to abortion and religious freedom, Mystal asserts that these are the worst of our ordinances and that the laws by which our nation is governed do not always reflect the will of the people. Dissecting...
info_outline
385. Lessons from Ending Apartheid: How to Resolve Deep Conflict
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Around the world and throughout history, bitter political adversaries have put aside their differences and worked together to create peace. In a conversation moderated by Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director of Civic Genius, hear two extraordinary leaders tell how they helped transform South Africa into a multiracial democracy, and what their experiences can teach us. Roelf Meyer is renowned for his pivotal role as the South African government’s chief representative in the negotiations to end Apartheid. Mohammed Bhabha was on the African National Congress team at the Convention for a...
info_outline
384. Yoni Appelbaum: Priced out of the American Dream
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...
info_outline
383. Ron Wyden with Liz Berry: It Takes Chutzpah
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
“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...
info_outline
382. Chris Hayes with Luke Burbank: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
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...
info_outline
381. Queering Talks: In Between
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
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...
info_outline
380. Jesse Hagopian with Dr. Ayva Thomas and Wayne Au: Teach Truth — Unbanning Books in Public Schools
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
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...
info_outline
379. Juan Williams with Enrique Cerna: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement
Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
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...
info_outlineTraffic, parking, gas prices, miles per gallon- many casual concerns might enter your mind when you get into your car and go out into the world. But what happens when your concerns are not casual but constant, and they start with figuring out whether you can even access where you’re trying to go in the first place?
One-third of people living in the United States don’t have a driver’s license, yet live in a system that doesn’t prioritize people who don’t or can’t drive. In her book When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away From Car Dependency, Anna Letitia Zivarts sets out to explain why factoring nondrivers into planning decisions and improvements across our transportation system will create a better quality of life for everyone.
Drawing from interviews with involuntary nondrivers from around the United States and from her own lived experience, Zivarts explores the realities nondrivers face in a car-centric society. The majority of involuntary nondrivers nationwide are disabled, lower income, unhoused, undocumented, formerly incarcerated, very young, or elderly. These populations face significant financial and accessibility barriers attempting to navigate a transportation system that suffers from a major blind spot towards them- it’s a system designed and run by people who can drive.
When Driving is Not an Option evaluates the human health, environmental, and quality-of-life costs of our current systems and what changing them to be more equitable and accessible could look like for everyone- car user or not. In conversation with cycling policy leader Barb Chamberlain and fellow disability advocate Tanisha Sepúlveda, Zivarts touches on levels of change that could create expansive impacts- from accessible and affordable transit and housing to promoting diverse leadership, from sidewalk connectivity to creating more opportunities for biking, scooting, and wheeling. By acting on the needs of nondrivers who are frequently excluded from the conversation, Zivarts posits that more supportive structures and healthier, climate-conscious communities could be right around the corner.
Anna Zivarts is an author, organizer, disability advocate, and low-vision nondriver. She launched and currently serves as the Program Director of the Disability Mobility Initiative at Disability Rights Washington. She represents disabled nondrivers on the Washington State Active Transportation Council and previously served as the equity and accessibility expert on NHTSA’s Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Program Assessment teams for Kentucky and Maryland.
Barb Chamberlain is the Director of the Active Transportation Division of the Washington State Department of Transportation. She is a long-time proponent of active transportation safety, equity, and accessibility, previously serving as the executive director of the nonprofit Washington Bikes. Her work has been recognized with regional, state, and national awards.
Tanisha Sepúlveda is a program coordinator for Empower Movement WA, a coalition of BIPOC and disabled mobility advocates supported by Disability Rights Washington and Front and Centered.
