Thom Hartmann, often considered the most popular progressive radio host in America, invites us to an in-depth, historically informed discussion of one of the most controversial portions of the U.S. Constitution—the Second Amendment. Hartmann joined us at Town Hall with insight from his book The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment to ...…

How do we handle emotions in the workplace? What used to be taboo is now front and center when we talk about a day in the life of the modern worker. Join Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, the authors of No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work, for a wide-ranging conversation on why emotions are the new secret weapon t ...…

Not since the early twentieth century has liberalism, and liberals, come under such relentless attack, from both right and left. Some say that the crisis of democracy in our era has produced a crisis of faith in liberal institutions and, even worse, in liberal thought. Adam Gopnik, staff writer at The New Yorker, offered us a thorough examinati ...…

Despite representing a minority of the American public, conservatives are in power in Washington, DC as well as state capitols and courtrooms across the country. Caroline Fredrickson—president of the American Constitution Society—arrived at Town Hall to outline the process by which these conservative representatives came into power. With insigh ...…

The Chinese economic boom, with its impact on the environment, global trade, and the tech industry, has been one of the most important stories of the 21st century. Yet few Americans realize that the boom is largely over, and that the new reality in China—unequal growth, political anxiety, and a newly empowered strongman president—looks eerily l ...…

The immense age of our nation’s Constitution presents a fundamental challenge for interpreters. After so much time has passed, how do we read such an old document? Legal scholar Lawrence Lessig arrived at Town Hall to explore one of the most basic approaches to interpreting the Constitution—the process of translation. With insight from his new ...…

North Korea is one of the oddest and most isolated political regime in the world—one that is broken yet able to summon a US president for peace talks, bankrupt yet in possession of nuclear weapons. To understand this unique nation and its significance in our modern political landscape, journalist Anna Fifield contended that we must understand t ...…

How many individuals with disabilities grow up isolated, wishing they could have built childhood connections with a larger community earlier in their lives? Town Hall Seattle and Disability Rights Washington presented a panel of parents with disabilities who share their insight into how we can build community connections for children with disab ...…

When diplomacy fails and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA’s Special Activities Division—a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective black operations force in the world. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion, and even assassination. To unveil the secret ...…

Many of us find ourselves frustrated with our 40-hour work weeks, wondering about the purpose and practicality of our jobs, and even whether or not work is necessary. We find ourselves questioning our capitalist society’s conception of work—that it’s normal and necessary to commit massive amounts of personal time and emotional energy to our job ...…

From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. Journalist George Packer took Town Hall’s stage to relate Holbrooke’s ambitious, headstrong narrative in Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the Americ ...…

Whether we call it domestic abuse, private violence, or even intimate terrorism in America domestic violence accounts for 15 percent of all violent crime. The World Health Organization deemed it a “global epidemic,” and yet too often it remains locked in silence, even as its tendrils reach unseen into so many of our most pressing national issue ...…

Red May is a month-long festival of radical thought and art that brings together speakers and thinkers to explore alternatives to capitalism. This event centered the discussion on investment and expansion in our own city. Here’s what the organizers of Red May have to say about this evening: “You think it’s your home but it’s their investment. Y ...…

According to some, politics as usual is being rejected across the globe and faith in neoliberalism is fracturing beyond repair. Leading political theorist Nancy Fraser, in conversation with Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara, dissected neoliberalism’s current crisis and asserted that we might be able to wrest new futures from its ruins. Fraser o ...…

Leadership is hard. Convincing others—and often yourself—that you possess the answers and are capable of world-affecting change requires confidence, insight, and sheer bravado. Political leader Stacey Abrams took the stage to share her awareness of the experiences and challenges that hinder anyone who exists beyond the structure of traditional ...…

The numbers are staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Journalist and storyteller Alex Kotlowitz joined us with a deeply intimate collection of chronicles from the lives of individuals who have ...…

Longtime Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee would have howled with laughter just a few years ago if he had been told he would soon be devoting himself to decrying the massive social media engine that is Facebook. But despite his career as a mentor of tech leaders and his large shareholdings in Facebook, that’s exactly what McNamee is doing. ...…

What can we do to prevent violent extremism and promote peace in the world? For some—such as Karl Eikenberry, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan—the answer comes through understanding. Eikenberry drew on his thirty-five year career in the United States Army to lead a discussion about the role of diplomacy and development in addressing the ro ...…

With a lack of access to mental health services, people with mental illness often get swept into the criminal justice system. But on December 11, 2018 a federal judge approved a landmark class action settlement known as “Trueblood” that addresses this criminalization of mental illness—and has the potential to transform Washington’s mental healt ...…

Will advances in artificial intelligence, geoengineering, and bioengineering save or destroy the human race? That’s debatable. KUOW and Town Hall invited you to join us at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute on Sunday, March 24 for the latest event in KUOW’s That’s Debatable series. At this Oxford-style debate, a panel of smart Seattl ...…

The Urban Poverty Forum is an effort to open a dialogue around the systemic issues surrounding urban poverty and to unite a diverse community of care—including faith based organizations, nonprofits, and concerned citizens in addressing problems faced by the poorest among us. For this year’s 13th annual Urban Poverty Forum, Town Hall presented s ...…

When we see our own moments of character crisis reflected in the world around us, we often find ourselves compelled to help guide others through these dramatic changes. For actress, director, and author Amber Tamblyn, the massive upheaval to break out of her acting career led her to what she calls an Era of Ignition—a phenomenon which she sees ...…

Happily ever after is not by chance. Award-winning marriage researchers and bestselling authors Drs. John and Julie Gottman contend that lifelong happiness happens by choice—the choice each person in a relationship makes to remain open, remain curious, and, most of all, to keep talking to one another. The Gottmans arrived on Town Hall’s stage t ...…

With so many people living so much longer, what is the meaning of the increasing years beyond 50? How can a society with more older people than younger ones thrive? How do we find happiness when we know life is long and time is short? Encore.org founder and CEO Marc Freedman joined us to answer these questions and more with a poignant and uniqu ...…

Many real estate experts around the country warn us that trends of skyrocketing rents and home values are pricing the working and middle classes out of urban America. Randy Shaw, Director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, came to Town Hall’s stage with his perspective on the national housing crisis, and offered insight from his book Generation ...…

Many Americans envision capitalism as a driving ideal of our country, but some economists contend that a few digital monopolies have risen to restrict our nation’s capitalist ideals and act as gatekeepers to the free market. Economist author Jonathan Tepper and Business Development manager Denise Hearn took Town Hall’s stage to tackle issues of ...…

Is philanthropy, by its very nature, a threat to today’s democracy? Some believe that such generosity is not the unassailable good we think it to be, and in its current form might even be undermining democratic values and set back aspirations of justice. Political science professor Rob Reich took Town Hall’s stage to cross-examine philanthropic ...…

In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was systematically captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, political outsiders have risen to power by leaning on direct charismatic connections to “the people,” who are usually defined in narrow terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-gr ...…

It feels powerful to march in a protest, but the enduring work that results from these demonstrations cannot often be seen in the moment. How and when does marching matter? Journalist and organizer L.A. Kauffman made her way to Town Hall to lend us her thirty years’ experience on the front lines of numerous protests and demonstrations. Sharing ...…

Seattle has long been considered a center of progressive thought and action. But like any other growing city it has wrestled with familiar demons: racism, class struggles, economic opportunism, sexism, and more. Since the 2016 election, many progressive voices throughout the city have emerged with the goal of transforming Seattle into a central ...…

America’s political leadership remains overwhelmingly white, male, moneyed, and Christian; even at the local and state levels, elected office is inaccessible to the people it aims to represent. But this trend is changing, says political scientist Sayu Bhojwani. She made her way to Town Hall’s stage to share accounts of the diverse and perseveri ...…

More than 2.7 million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001. Reporter C.J. Chivers has served as a correspondent for both of these conflicts from the start, and he brought that perspective to Town Hall to present a vivid recollection of the physical and emotional experience of war, collected in his book The Fight ...…

In August 1920, the seven-decade battle for women’s suffrage was decided by a single state. Thirty-five states had ratified the Nineteenth Amendment while twelve had rejected or refused to vote. It all came down to Tennessee. Acclaimed journalist Elaine Weiss brought us a chronicle of this tumultuous climax of one of the greatest political batt ...…

Since the tragedies at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the March For Our Lives movement has taken a stand against senseless gun violence. The Parkland students work together with young leaders of all backgrounds from across the country to hold politicians accountable and combat the normalization of gun violence. March ...…

Who really benefits from urban revival? From trendy coastal areas to the nation’s heartland, cities are seeing levels of growth beyond the wildest visions of only a few decades ago. For a look at the ramifications of this explosive growth for our own region, we convened a panel of city planning experts and representatives for our local governme ...…

Who are the new progressive leaders emerging to lead the post-Trump return of democracy in America? National political correspondent and award-winning author D.D. Guttenplan stepped up to introduce Town Hall audiences to the next wave of successful activists who are changing the course of American history. With insight from his book The Next Re ...…

How do we keep ourselves from losing faith in our country? Pulitzer Prize­-winning reporter Chris Hedges took Town Hall’s stage for a provocative examination of America in crisis—in the form of his book America: The Farewell Tour. America, says Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of a profound malaise of hopeles ...…

Politicians and teachers alike have often spoken out on the need for widespread reform of our nation’s education system. Former Secretary of Education under President Obama Arne Duncan arrived at Town Hall with insight from his book How Schools Work to offer perspective on the failures in our school systems—and what we can do to fix them. Dunca ...…

Donald Trump has been criticized for his history of unsympathetic, ambiguous, and openly racist remarks. They may have reached fever pitch after he failed to condemn white supremacy in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, but perhaps no remark of Trump’s is more telling than his campaign pitch to Black Americans: “What the hell do you h ...…

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has been called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time. He took Town Hall’s stage to share his explosive and deeply personal memoir Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Vargas was joined by Seattle-based feminist wr ...…

In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. There was no meaningful background check, and he used his real name despite his notoriety as an award-winning investigative journalist. Four months later he had seen enough, and in short order he left to write an exp ...…

Obama’s presidency awakened the U.S. to new lines being drawn in voting demographics and the fundamental changes taking place in our population. Some political analysts see the explosive population growth of people of color in America as the foundation for a new progressive majority. Political expert Steve Phillips joined us to illuminate the w ...…

Local educators and activists feel that Black students’ minds and bodies are under attack. That’s why they created Teaching for Black Lives, a handbook for creating the sweeping reform of our education system and equitable teaching strategies for Black students. The editors of this collection joined us on Town Hall’s stage to read excerpts and ...…

What do we do when our society’s economic elite become more interested in celebrating their own magnanimity than bringing about real change? Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas took Town Hall’s stage to present perspectives from his latest book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. He decries the modern gilde ...…

Bitter controversy consistently surrounds our nation’s judicial decisions concerning the constitutional rights of students in public schools. The Supreme Court has weighed in on numerous cultural anxieties that divide American society—from racial segregation to unauthorized immigration, from antiwar protests to compulsory flag salutes, from eco ...…

With an account equal parts dark, surreal, and humorous, journalist Maya Rao brought us a fraught firsthand chronicle of the breakneck capitalist microcosm contained in the modern-day gold rush of North Dakota’s oil fields. Rao took Town Hall’s stage to share accounts from her book Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks, and the Making of ...…

Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl Champion, a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end—as well as a fearless activist, a feminist, a grassroots philanthropist, an organizer, and a change-maker. He’s also been called one of the most scathingly humorous athletes on the planet, a trait that shines as he joins us to share excerpts from his book Things That ...…

Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl Champion, a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end—as well as a fearless activist, a feminist, a grassroots philanthropist, an organizer, and a change-maker. He’s also been called one of the most scathingly humorous athletes on the planet, a trait that shines when he joined us to share excerpts from his book Things Th ...…

Novelist Leni Zumas imagines a dystopian future that places severe restrictions on women’s reproductive rights. She took us on a deep dive into these issues through the lens of speculative fiction with selections from her new book Red Clocks. She was joined onstage by Tiffany Hankins, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, along wit ...…

The term “Islamophobia” may be fairly new, but irrational fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims is anything but. Lending us perspective through his unique lens as a critical race theorist and law professor, Khaled A. Beydoun joined us to discuss the ways in which law, policy, and official state rhetoric have fueled the frightening resurgence of ...…