Speakers Forum

The first thing to know about Chief Seattle is how he pronounced his name. Skagit elder Vi Hilbert pronounced it for HistoryLink (18 seconds): Chief Seattle, our city’s namesake, is a bit of an enigma. He was born in 1786, after native populations were decimated by small pox and other diseases brought in by white settlers.

Did you love listening to stories when you were a kid? Of course you did. The art of a good tale, well told, has the power to draw us in, transport, transfix and enchant us. It’s a wonder we don’t listen more than we do. Here’s a chance to dive back in.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. In 2010, researchers counted 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe; approximately 23 percent of the world population. There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States; approximately 1 percent of our population. In the wake of 9/11, President George Bush said this about Muslim Americans:

It’s Sandbox Radio time again on Speakers Forum. Our presentation of their latest work, "The Bridal Issue,” includes the following performances: “The Big Stuff,” by Lisa Halpern“The Mouse That Went To The Country,” by James Thurber (adapted by Leslie Law)“Buckets of Rain,” written and performed by Tina Rowley“The Very Proper Gander,” by James Thurber (adapted by Leslie Law)“Plattitudes: Spinster,” written and performed by Peggy Platt“The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee,” by Mildred Plew Meigs (adapted

As the U.S. presidential election shifts into the major party convention phase the question arises, how politically polarized are we? As this discussion details, while our political discourse may not have reached historical depths of incivility, sometimes it sure feels that way. And statistically, both politicians and voters are more polarized now than ever before.

In this talk and reading, poet Matthew Dickman speaks eloquently about the often taboo subject of suicide. He says he can’t offer an answer to the question, why do people commit suicide? Instead, he shares what he has learned from the suicides of his brother Darin and close friends, what he has learned from research and what other poets have written.

As Representative Jim McDermott prepares to retire after 28 years of service, the top three contenders for his 7th District seat in Congress are on the stump to succeed him.

Reverend Starsky Wilson was co-chair of a commission created to study the aftermath of the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Wilson's charge was “to address the underlying root causes that led to the unrest in the wake of Michael Brown’s death and to publish an unflinching report with transformative policy recommendations for making the region stronger and a better place for everyone to live.”

From slaying trolls on Twitter, writing as a columnist for The Guardian, to co-founding the social media campaign, Shout Your Abortion, Lindy West is fearless. But she wasn’t always that way. West’s new memoir is “Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman.” Memoirists often chronicle embarrassing experiences, but not everyone can do it with the humor and grit West is known for. She got her start at The Stranger and kept writing, because she’s good at it, and because life’s too short to be ashamed of

It’s been 100 years since the first woman was elected to Congress. Since then, the rise of women into positions of political and corporate power has been slow-going to say the least. Jay Newton-Small is TIME Magazine’s Washington D.C. correspondent and the author of “Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works.” She had to dig, and hire a team of researchers, but the data she discovered reveals how a critical mass of women in public and private leadership positions clearly