Podcasts about knute berger

The massive Columbia River travels more than 1,200 miles from start to finish. It crosses four mountain ranges, powers 14 hydroelectric dams and irrigates hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, among other feats.  But its origins start humbly: in a gentle lake in the mountains of British Columbia.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger journeyed to these headwaters for a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's far more left to explore.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to share what it was like to make the trek to that peaceful lake in Canada where it all begins. Berger and Hegg also discuss the fur trade that kicked off an early-19th century era of exploration along the Columbia; the Welsh-Canadian explorer and cartographer known for navigating and mapping the entire river from start to finish; and the existential threat that climate change poses to the ice and snow that feed the river and its watershed.  This is the last episode of the season! Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next season with more. In the meantime, check out the new Mossback's Northwest Special. It's a 30-minute deep dive on the Columbia River, streaming now on Cascade PBS and at CascadePBS.org. For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

In the second half of the 19th century, a businessman named George Francis Train rose to prominence through his success with global shipping and trade. As his wealth grew, so did his obsession with himself, and his tireless self-promotion made him a social media phenomenon of his age.  Train is perhaps best known for the alleged relationship between his world travels and the Jules Verne bestseller Around the World in 80 Days, and less well-known for his attempts to beat subsequent travel records through a partnership with a newspaper in Tacoma.   Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger shone a spotlight on Train and his adventures in the Pacific Northwest in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more left to uncover.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to more deeply explore Train's eccentric and monomaniacal exploits. Berger digs into Train's obsessions, travels and unique psychology; reads aloud from some of his writings; explains how he coined the still-beloved Tacoma moniker “City of Destiny”; and ponders Train's uncanny resemblance to some contemporary figures.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

The tumultuous mouth of the Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon, is beautiful but deadly. Thousands of ships have capsized and wrecked on its shores over the centuries.  That's earned it the menacing nickname “Graveyard of the Pacific,” although that's not the only gloomy moniker in the region.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger explored some of this history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there are more stories left to tell.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the early explorers who coined so many of the area's depressing names, from Cape Disappointment to Dismal Nitch; the natural forces that make the river's mouth so treacherous; some of the area's most famous shipwrecks; and the deadliest tragedy to ever occur here and its uncanny parallel to Berger's own family history. Plus, Berger shares his adventures from scouting and shooting the video for Mossback's Northwest, including breathless hikes, sandy mishaps and barking sea lions.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

The Pacific Northwest has a reputation for the macabre. We'll never escape the allure of Twin Peaks, for instance, or the terrible crimes of some of the most infamous serial killers in American history.   But some of the weirdest things can happen to corpses after death. Did you know that dead bodies can turn into soap?   Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger explored a few lesser-known stories of regional murder and mystery in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more left to share.   In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to offer a deeper look at the grim tales of Hallie Illingworth, the “Lady of the Lake” whose body was found in Lake Crescent in 1940; “Mother Damnable,” a storied resident of 19th-century Seattle whose corpse allegedly turned to stone; and a recurring recent phenomenon involving disembodied feet washing up on beaches along the Salish Sea.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

A few seasons ago, the Mossback's Northwest video series profiled Catherine Montgomery, an early 20th-century wilderness advocate who has been dubbed “the Mother of the Pacific Crest Trail.”   But after the video aired, a viewer reached out with some more information: Catherine Montgomery, a “progressive” of her time, expressed extremely racist views.   This, unfortunately, isn't a new story. Many American heroes, including in the context of wilderness access and preservation, perpetuated racism and exclusion. Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger invited Alison Mariella Désir, host of the Cascade PBS video series Out & Back, to join him in an episode of Mossback's Northwest to discuss these uncomfortable and lesser-known truths.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins Désir and co-host Stephen Hegg to dig even deeper into the big questions of wilderness access: How many celebrated environmentalists, from John Muir to John James Audubon, did and said unconscionable things? What do we do with this knowledge? And what impact has this history of bigotry had on the experiences of people of color in outdoor recreation today? Plus, Désir shares stories rarely told about the ways people of color have always  participated in – and championed access to – the great outdoors.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

In 1996, some of the oldest human remains ever found in North America were discovered along the banks of the Columbia River, ultimately illuminating Indigenous presence in the region since time immemorial.   Long a crucial source of sustenance, culture and trade, the Pacific Northwest's largest river has continued to be a vital part of human civilization, whether through its salmon or its many hydroelectric dams.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger dug into this history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more left to discuss.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to revisit the story of The Ancient One and the decades-long controversy that ensued over his bones. They explore the significance of the river to its people over the centuries; the impact of the arrival of European and American traders and settlers; and the impact of the creation of so many dams, especially the one that submerged Celilo Falls.   Special note: The voice of Lana Jack in this episode comes courtesy of Creative FRONTLINE. The clip is from “Celilo Falls and the Culture of Death” with Lana Jack, produced by Tracker Ginamarie Rangel Quinones (Apache Investigative Reporter) and filmmaker Robert Lundahl. The full episode initially aired on Creative FRONTLINE, KPFK Los Angeles 90.7, Pacifica Network.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies  

At the turn of the 20th century, almost no one had a car in Seattle. There weren't traffic laws or paved roads, and at first, only the wealthiest people could own these “horseless carriages.”  Within a couple of decades, though, cars were everywhere, and Pacific Northwesterners were using their cars for all kinds of intrepid adventures, from long-haul road trips to mountainside camping.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger took a look at early car culture in our region in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more left to explore.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss when the very first cars showed up in Washington and what those cars were like. They dig into some of the earliest (and most treacherous) road trips; the day cars were turned away from Mount Rainier National Park; pioneering women drivers of the era; and the newfangled camping gear that manufacturers raced to produce for the region's ever-outdoorsy drivers.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

The Columbia River has been carved up by more than a dozen dams over the past century. But it's the colossal floods and lava flows from millions of years ago that truly set it on its winding path.  How do we really know what we know about the Columbia?   To better understand this history, Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger joined forces with geologist Nick Zentner of Nick on the Rocks in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series. But there's much more left to unearth.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss his decision to spend half of this past season of Mossback's Northwest on different aspects of the Columbia River. They also dig into the massive floods and lava flows that made the Columbia River what it is today; what it was like for Berger to work with Zentner on this project and other geological inquiries over the years; and the enthusiastic response from viewers, including one observation of a mistake in the video that led Berger down an entirely new path.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

At a live event, Knute Berger, Stephen Hegg and Nick Zentner discussed Mossback's Northwest and the 10th season's focus on the Columbia River.  Mossback's Northwest is still going strong, with its most recent season covering everything from the Columbia River to a history of racist exclusion in the outdoors.   In October, Cascade PBS put on a live event to celebrate 10 seasons of the beloved video series. Stephen Hegg, who's produced past seasons of Mossback's Northwest, interviewed host Knute Berger to give audience members a peek behind the scenes.  In this bonus episode of Mossback, Berger explains from the stage how the video series got its start, what it's like to craft a season and the historical artifacts that bring Mossback's Northwest to life.   Plus, the two were joined by special guest Nick Zentner of Nick on the Rocks, who made a guest appearance in the first episode of Season 10. Stay tuned for a deeper dive on everything Season 10 covers when the Mossback podcast drops new episodes in early 2025.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. ---  Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg and Knute Berger Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner Story editor: Adam Brown 

On this special LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel is joined by co-host Lee Corbin to mark the centennial of the around-the-world flight which concluded at what's now Sand Point/Magnuson Park in Seattle, just a short distance from the SPACE 101.1 FM studios. Corbin and Banel interview historians and aviation experts - including Knute Berger, historian Mike Lombardi of Boeing, Ted Huetter of the Museum of Flight and US Air Force Brigadier General Frank Goodell - and provide live coverage and color commentary on the centennial festivities organized by the Friends of Magnuson Park. Thank you to special guest Jay of Jay's Radio Hour for spinning 78rpm discs from 1924 to mark the occasion. Special thanks to field producer Shawn Murphy, and to Eric Zappa and Megan Hanna of SPACE 101.1 FM who ran the mixing board back at the station. NOTE: This live and remote local radio broadcast was not without technical glitches, and audio quality of some of the vintage 78rpm records suffered at times. It's all part of the magic of broadcasting LIVE from a grassy field (including when someone cut the power by tripping on the extension cord). Enjoy! This LIVE three-hour broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 12:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time on Saturday, September 28, 2024 via SPACE 101.1 FM and streaming live via space101fm.org from the NOAA facility adjacent to Magnuson Park – formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Adelaide Lowry Pollock was an educator, birder, author and believer in the power of civic participation at the turn of the 20th century. In the early 1900s, pioneering educator Adelaide Lowry Pollock was the first woman to be named principal of a Seattle grade school. A lifelong love of birds dominated her curriculum. Her students went on birding field trips, mapped birds' nests, researched bird behaviors, learned bird songs and even built elaborate birdhouses.  Ultimately, though, Pollock was interested in more than just the birds themselves. For her, studying birds was a way to encourage both environmental preservation and civic participation.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger profiled Pollock and her legacy in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's more left to explore.   In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss how the seed for this story was planted by a single photograph; what those bird-centered classroom activities entailed; what the study of birds truly meant to Pollock; and the chapter of her life following her time in Seattle's schools, which included teaching citizenship classes for soldiers overseas and attempting to improve the lives of both retired teachers and juvenile offenders. Plus, Berger and Hegg take a field trip to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Queen Anne, one of the places Pollock's students studied birds, to imagine what the place would have been like in Pollock's day and do a little birdwatching themselves.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Sitka trees were key military materiel in both World Wars. Knute Berger shares how the need for wood and the women who harvested it changed logging. In the early 20th century, Sitka spruce, a giant conifer native to the Pacific Northwest, became known as an excellent material for building airplanes. As a result, when the U.S. entered World War I, the demand for that wood exploded.  The American military set up what was called the “Spruce Division” and brought in soldiers to Washington forests to help manage a growing industry. Over time, as the demand for spruce continued into World War II, women began to fill tens of thousands of timber jobs traditionally held by men.   Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger dug into these overlapping histories in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is far more left to explore.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the unique characteristics of Sitka spruce and why the U.S. military was so interested in it; labor strife and the role of unions in the Northwest logging industry in the early 20th century; the entrance of female workers into the lumber camps and the rampant sexism they sometimes faced; and the larger impact that all of these forces had on the Pacific Northwest and its timber business.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Minoru Yamasaki was among the most influential architects of the 20th century. Knute Berger tells the story. Minoru Yamasaki was born in Seattle in 1912, studied architecture at the University of Washington and went on to design some of the most celebrated buildings of the 20th century. Among them: the World Trade Center in New York and the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.    Yamasaki aimed to do something that few were doing at the time. He subverted the bare, minimalist and sometimes brutalist trends of mid-century modern buildings with fine details that evoked elegance and beauty.  Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger explored Yamasaki's career and legacy in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more left to discuss.   In this episode of Mossback, co-host Stephen Hegg joins Berger to hear more about Yamasaki's early life experiences and how they influenced his work; his approach to architecture and how it differed from the prevailing cultural winds of the time; and the process of creating his most acclaimed buildings and the blistering critiques they sometimes received. Plus, Berger and Hegg take a field trip to Rainier Tower, a striking Seattle skyscraper and one of Yamasaki's most controversial designs.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Soundside host Libby Denkmann sits down with Mossback's Northwest host Knute Berger to talk about the Colfax, WA man who made "Stuntman" a profession - Yakima Canutt.

Environmental activist Polly Dyer teamed up with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in the 1950s to keep a stretch of Washington wild. Today, more than 73 miles of Washington's rugged Olympic Coast is still rugged. It's accessible only to hikers, not cars. Part of the reason for that is a famous 1958 beach hike led by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice – and Washington resident – William O. Douglas.  The three-day hike, co-organized by environmental advocate Polly Dyer, was designed to protest a proposed coastal highway that would have transformed the region forever. A filmmaker tagged along with the roughly 70 participants, and thanks in part to the efforts of the Oregon Historical Society, the film is now restored, digitized and available for anyone to watch on YouTube.    Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger detailed this chapter of Pacific Northwest history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's more left to explore.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss his early admiration for Justice Douglas and the fan letter he sent him back in 1970; Douglas' famed legacy as an advocate for wilderness conservation; the less-publicized, but just as crucial, role Polly Dyer played in preserving wilderness in Washington and across the country; and the fact that the 1958 hike was not the only protest hike like it.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Audiences loved Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, but what he sold as “authentic” was anything but. Knute Berger shares how the myth shaped our idea of the frontier. You've probably heard of Buffalo Bill. The name is nearly synonymous with “the Wild West,” a kind of cultural mythology created as white settlers colonized the American West in the late 19th century.  Although he's now larger than life, Buffalo Bill was, in fact, a real person who hunted buffalo, scouted for the U.S. Army and developed a wildly popular traveling show of sharpshooters, cowboys and other “rough riders.” It was a beloved pageant that catapulted him into global fame. In 1908, Buffalo Bill's show arrived in Seattle.   Cascade PBS's resident historian Knute Berger explored all of this in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more left to discuss.   In this episode of Mossback, co-host Stephen Hegg joins Berger to more deeply understand who Buffalo Bill really was; unpack the genesis of his traveling show and what it meant to audiences everywhere; dig up firsthand accounts of his Seattle shows as well as that of copycat “Cheyenne Bill”; and interrogate the colonialist narrative that Bill and his supporters perpetuated and that still exists today.     For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Folk songs, clam bakes, aquaculture and more: Knute Berger explores the myriad ways clams have shaped our region's culture. Clams are among the Pacific Northwest's most vital natural resources. From thousands of years of aquaculture to folk songs and university mascots, the celebration and consumption of clams permeates local food and culture.   Cascade PBS' resident historian Knute Berger dug up some of these stories in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's more left to uncover.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg discuss their own experiences digging for clams on the Washington coast; Indigenous knowledge and early settlers' experiences with (and reliance on) clams; the lasting impact of Seattle restaurateur Ivar Haglund; and the strange but mighty geoduck.   Plus, they take a field trip to Ivar's Acres of Clams on the Seattle waterfront to eat clam chowder, drink clam nectar and do battle with seagulls.   For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Boeing's Plant 2 was so crucial that the military asked Hollywood to hide it from the enemy. Knute Berger shares the story. From the moment the United States entered World War II, Seattle was vital to the war effort. Boeing's Plant 2 was a key manufacturing hub for thousands of B-17 bombers, one of the Allies' most important tools in Europe.   Fearing the consequences of a military attack on the facility, the U.S. Army hired a Hollywood set designer to help make its roof look – at least from the air – like just another suburban neighborhood.   Cascade PBS' resident historian Knute Berger explored this historic feat of camouflage in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more to the story.   In this episode of Mossback, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg dig into why the U.S. military went to such great lengths to hide the Boeing plant in the first place; John Stewart Detlie's little-known legacy in Seattle; Detlie's gossip-strewn relationship with actress Veronica Lake; and what all of this tells us about the war's lasting impact on the Pacific Northwest.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Back-to-back disasters in Washington and B.C. killed more than 150 people in 1910. Knute Berger digs into the traumatic circumstances and their fallout. In the stormy winter of 1910, an avalanche struck two stalled trains in Wellington, a railroad outpost in Washington's Central Cascades. Three days later, another one blanketed dozens of rail workers in the Canadian Selkirks.  Both events remain the deadliest avalanches in North American history – and both are connected to the rapid expansion and unrivaled power of the railroads in the early 20th century.    Cascade PBS' resident historian Knute Berger unpacked these twin disasters in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's much more left to explore.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the details of what happened and the impact this trauma had on the region; the labor disputes and power imbalances circling the tragedy; and what accountability looked like at the time. Plus, they go behind the scenes of the Mossback's Northwest video shoot to share what the train cars and snowplows of the era would have been like – and visit the Seattle cemetery where some Wellington victims are still buried.  For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Sara Bernard Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Crater Lake wasn't always a lake. Knute Berger tells the story of when a blast 50 times the size of Mt St. Helens' blanketed the PNW in ash. Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon is known for its crown jewel: a brilliantly blue and very deep alpine lake. But some 8,000 years ago, this lake was a mountain.  Then the mountain erupted, blowing its top and layering ash so far afield that it impacted wildlife in Canada. Indigenous people carry oral traditions that share what it was like to witness the blast.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger unearthed this history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more left to uncover.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to more deeply understand the geologic history of the blast and the cultural history of what eventually became known as Mount Mazama. They also discuss the chance of this or any other volcano in the Pacific Northwest blowing again — and what impact that could have on all of us.  For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies

Asahel Curtis shot thousands of images in the early 20th century. Knute Berger talks about the effort to share them with the public for the first time. Asahel Curtis, the renowned Pacific Northwest photographer, was amazingly prolific. He documented regional life for 50 years, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger explored Curtis' work and legacy in Season 5 of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but that legacy now has a new chapter.  As Berger detailed in a more recent episode of Mossback's Northwest, he's revisiting Curtis' story thanks to a new project that aims to digitize the approximately 60,000 glass plate and nitrate negatives that make up the photographer's massive archive.   The Washington State Historical Society will spend the next few years painstakingly scanning each one. The goal is not only to preserve the history the images contain, but also to share them — for free — with the public.   In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the digitization project and all it entails, as well as a handful of remarkable photographs the process has turned up already. Plus, they dig into the philosophical aspects of photography in an increasingly online, AI-driven world, where notions of fact and reality can seem elusive.  For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies

Catherine Montgomery spearheaded a movement to preserve old growth in Washington forests. Knute Berger shares her story. In the early 1900s in Washington, women couldn't yet vote, but many formed powerful civic groups to advocate for everything from prison reform to forest preservation.   One woman stands out: the mountaineer, teacher, activist and suffragist Catherine Montgomery. Her advocacy helped support women's empowerment, protect wilderness and old growth trees, and even plant the first seed for what would later become the Pacific Crest Trail.   Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger introduced us to Catherine Montgomery's legacy in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more left to explore.   In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to paint a picture of Montgomery's life, the political and social context of her time, and the tough work Montgomery and many other women undertook in that era to advocate for forests and other social causes in the face of rapid development. Plus, we hear what it's like to visit the little-known park she helped create.  For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies  

In 1915, Germany wanted to keep the United States from joining World War I. Knute Berger explains how the fight came to the Northwest. In the years leading up to World War I, Germany and its sympathizers tried to prevent the United States from entering the conflict. An intricate network of spies and saboteurs attempted to sway public opinion as well as interrupt shipments of war materiel at U.S. ports. Seattle was not immune to these forces. In the wee hours of May 30, 1915, a scow packed with dynamite near Harbor Island lit up the skies. The blast marked the beginning of an era of anti-German sentiment; the Espionage Act; and, of course, the U.S.'s eventual involvement in both world wars.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger blew open this history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to the story. In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the murky details of this gigantic explosion in Seattle, the geopolitical context surrounding it, similar efforts by German saboteurs across the U.S. at that time, and the way these pre-war histories are remembered—and forgotten. For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies  

Still encountering racism in the 'free' states of the West, some Black communities sought the American Dream in Canada. Before the Civil War, many states in the American West were considered “free” because the institution of slavery was outlawed. That didn't mean, however, that these places were free from racism and legalized discrimination. So when a group of Black Americans from San Francisco were invited to join what was then a British colony in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, hundreds agreed to make the journey. The result was a mixed bag of freedom, opportunity, and, in some cases, encounters with the same discrimination they'd attempted to escape.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger explored this complex history in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more left to discuss. In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to lay out the context surrounding the Black exodus to Victoria and key figures in that history, including one who had a significant impact on the city of Seattle. Plus, we hear about one of the only known examples of the Underground Railroad in the Pacific Northwest. For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies

P-Patches launched a modern agricultural movement in the 1970s, sprouting from a small family farm in Wedgwood. Seattle was once full of farms. But as the city developed, land-use regulation and other forces began to push farmers out.  One farming family feeling the squeeze in Seattle in the 1970s helped launch a program that has had a profound impact on the city ever since. A piece of their land became the first of what is now a collection of about 90 public urban gardens, or “P-Patches.” Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger dug into this history and what it represents in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is a lot more left to unearth.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss Seattle's early efforts at farm-to-table living, how the rise of supermarkets and other economic forces almost derailed them, the details of the first P-Patch and what these popular gardens now symbolize in an ever-changing city. For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies

The North Cascades' bear population thrived in the 19th century, but now almost none are left. Advocates are working to bring them back. The iconic grizzly bear once roamed the North Cascades. Grizzly bones have also been found as far west as Whidbey Island. Today, however, there are almost no grizzlies left in Washington state.  Some government agencies have started the process of potentially reintroducing the bears to the region, given their history as a key part of the ecosystem. This idea, however, isn't without controversy.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger dug into this history and controversy in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's more left to explore. In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to ask what evidence we have of grizzlies in Washington's historical record, why the bears have mostly disappeared and why some want to bring them back. Plus, Berger and Hegg offer some sound advice on bear etiquette.  For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

In 1924, four airplanes took off from what's now Magnuson Park. Six months and more than 26,000 miles later, half the fleet made it back. The 1920s marked an era of aviation. After World War I, many powerful nations focused on the new technology and rushed to be the first to use it to circumnavigate the globe. In 1924, the U.S. military selected eight Army pilots and four specially made biplanes with open-air cockpits to make that first attempt. The pilots were called “the Magellans of the Sky” after the celebrated 16th-century explorer who tried the same feat on the sea. Their official launch site? The shores of Sand Point, or what's now Magnuson Park in Seattle.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger shone a light on these lesser-known Magellans in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but there's more left to highlight.  In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to dig deeper into the reasons behind the attempt, the physical dangers and geopolitical challenges the pilots faced, the flight's global significance and its relationship to Boeing. They also discuss the Centennial Celebration that will mark the anniversary of the flight in 2024, exactly where the planes launched and landed a century ago.  For more on all things Mossback, visit crosscut.com/mossback. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@crosscut.com. And if you'd like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Crosscut member today. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Story editors: Sara Bernard and Sarah Menzies Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

The millionaire built a 'castle' on the Columbia River and later a replica of the English monument. The Stonehenge that sits atop Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, has long inspired speculation of its purpose and imitators to its form. One of those imitators overlooks the Columbia River in Washington state where it inspires questions: Who built the replica and why? The answer to the first part of that question is Samuel Hill, a wealthy railroad man who marveled at the landscape the abutted the river and who enjoyed building things out of concrete, including the replica and roads. In a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, Knute Berger tells the story of Sam Hill and his concrete curiosity overlooking the Columbia. But there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg explore the origins of the monument and attempt to answer the second part of the question: Why? Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Samuel Hill and his Stonehenge here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

For decades, department stores competed for customers. Knute Berger recalls how Frederick & Nelson lured them in with a chocolate mint truffle. Food does more than feed us. It connects us, to each other, to traditions and to place. This is true everywhere, but especially in the Pacific Northwest, where an abundance of life creates endless options for indulgence.  Salmon, apples and even chicken teriyaki all have a spot in the hearts of Northwesterners, but there is one delectable that seems to inspire a particularly intense and mouthwatering nostalgia: the Frango. Host Knute Berger and Stephen Hegg discussed the Seattle-made chocolate treat in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series. But there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg dig into the origin and cultural impact of the Frango. They discuss how the chocolate mint truffle was a part of a larger department-store culture that shaped the rituals of the region for many, and they explore some of the other sweets created here. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Frangos and other Northwest delights here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

When a film is shot in a city, it is often a big deal. There are lots of trucks, lots of crew and lots of traffic disruption. It's big business, and for the latter decades of the 20th century it was business that was often done in Seattle. Tugboat Annie, the first Hollywood film shot in the Emerald City, came to town in the 1930s. But it wasn't until the early '60s that Seattle really became a destination for directors and actors. It started with the Elvis Presley vehicle It Happened at the World's Fair and continued with The Parallax View and Scorchy in the '70s up to Singles and Sleepless in Seattle in the '90s. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger reviewed this filmography in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to explore.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg talk about the movies made in and about Seattle, why Hollywood came to the city to make them and what these films tell us about how people outside of Western Washington see the city.  Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about movies made in Seattle here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Decades after the Civil War, southern sympathizers sought to rewrite history. Knute Berger explains how those efforts were received in the Northwest. When Gone With the Wind premiered in Seattle in 1940, it was an event. Moviegoers who ventured Downtown to attend a showing of the Civil War drama were met with fanfare. The street outside The 5th Avenue Theatre, where the film was playing, was decorated as if for a Fourth of July parade, with one notable exception: the presence of Confederate flags.  These flags could be seen in brief footage of Downtown that was featured in an earlier episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series about the Seattle Freeze. And while the production team didn't notice, viewers did.  In a recent episode of Mossback's Northwest, Knute Berger and producer Stephen Hegg discuss the feedback and the historical investigation that followed. But there is still more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, both Berger and Hegg discuss changing attitudes toward the Confederacy and toward race in Seattle as our city's Southern sympathizers attempted to rewrite the narrative of the Civil War. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about the Confederacy in the Northwest here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Long before an industry was built around capturing orcas, a tragic encounter between a wayward whale and humanity foretold decades of exploitation. There are few animals that capture the imagination of human beings the way that orcas have. For decades people have paid money to see them, scientists have studied them intently and, in the Seattle area, concerned news consumers have tracked their every move. At the start of the 1930s, though, there wasn't yet a market for whale watching. Enter Ethelbert, a young 11-foot-long female orca who appeared in a place she was not expected: The Columbia River, 100 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean near Portland, Oregon. In a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, Knute Berger tells the story of Ethelbert, from the carnival-like atmosphere that grew up around her unlikely appearance to her tragic end, pickled in a steel tank on the side of a Washington mountain. But there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss Ethelbert's brief fame and how her fate foreshadowed the curiosity and industrial-level exploitation that humanity would inflict on her species. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Ethelbert here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

From cheap power to rugged hiking trails, Franklin D. Roosevelt's government transformed the region. When President Roosevelt launched the New Deal in 1933, he set off a decade-long mobilization that would help move America out of the Great Depression. It was a massive program that not only provided jobs, but also modernized infrastructure throughout the country. In the Pacific Northwest, where the resource economy was hit hard by the Depression, it reshaped society and even remade the land. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of the New Deal and its impact on the Pacific Northwest in a recent episode of the Mossback's Northwest video series, but the New Deal is bigger than any single video could contain.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger joins former Mossback's Northwest producer, and new Mossback co-host, Stephen Hegg about the ways that the program transformed the Northwest and how the region's most massive project helped set the course for the next century. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about the New Deal here. --- Credits Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

It's Opening Day for the 148th season of Major League Baseball.All 30 teams kick off their seasons at various points in the day, including the Seattle Mariners, who face the Cleveland Guardians tonight at T-Mobile Park.Seattle Now talks to Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales, local historian Knute Berger as well as a listener about why opening day is so meaningful.We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/donate/seattlenowAnd we want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram at SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedback

Before there was Ernestine Anderson, Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, there was Frank Waldron. The unfortunate irony of Seattle's storied jazz scene of the early 20th century is that there are many stories but not much jazz to account for it. While recording technology existed at the time, it wasn't being used to capture much of the music being created in those early years of the Jackson Street music scene. The music has instead spread its influence through compositions and the living tradition of musicians passing the music down through generations. On both counts, Frank Waldron was an original. As a composer, performer and teacher, Waldron helped shape music in the city and across the country for decades. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of Waldron and the Jackson Street music scene in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard explore Waldron's music and discuss the origins of a scene that broke both the rules and racial barriers and gave rise to stars including Ernestine Anderson, Ray Charles and Quincy Jones. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Jackson Street jazz scene here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

The Canadian artist created landscapes unlike her contemporaries', intuiting the web of life beneath the canopy and putting it on canvas. As a painter in early 20th-century British Columbia, Emily Carr approached her subject matter through a colonial lens and expressed what she saw with a modernist style developed in the studios of London and Paris. She earned renown for her early depictions of Indigenous cultures, work that would later be criticized as appropriative.  It was later in her career, though, that she focused more intently on the forests themselves, intuiting a web of life beneath the canopy that would eventually be proven by science. Her paintings from this era are unlike those of her contemporaries, capturing the mystery and majesty of these natural landscapes in vivid form. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger explored this part of Carr's career in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard discuss how Carr's living landscapes came to be and how the power of the Pacific Northwest's forests have long inspired powerful artwork, personal reverie and even a kind of evangelism. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Emily Carr here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

He was invited to the city to talk about his storied past, but the Nez Perce chief had his eye on the future of his people. When Chief Joseph arrived in Seattle in 1903, he had a message to deliver and a public interested in hearing it. He had become a kind of celebrity, though the nature of his renown was complicated. A leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Tribe, Joseph had joined his people as they were pushed out of their ancestral home in northeast Oregon by the U.S. Army. And he had put up a storied fight against those forces as they attempted to, and eventually did, stop the tribe's retreat to Canada. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of Joseph's visit to Seattle in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard discuss the history of harassment, attempted erasure and resistance that defined Joseph's life, as well as the forces that brought him to Seattle and how the message he came to deliver still resonates today. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Chief Joseph here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

A border conflict between the U.S. and Britain, combined with the ambitions of a future Confederate general, almost turned the Salish Sea into a war zone. The so-called Pig War of 1859 may have been initiated by the killing of a boar, but other forces were at play that nearly elevated a neighborly conflict into an international conflagration.  The conflict took place on San Juan Island, a disputed territory that was home to both American and British colonists. And on the American side was a future Confederate general eager for conflict. Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of the conflict in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback Podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard talk about the conflict's roots, how close the countries came to all-out war and how cooler heads prevailed. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about the Pig War here.

There was money to be had during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. And the infamous lawman knew how to get it. Wyatt Earp was a man often on the move. In the two decades after his and Doc Holliday's storied shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, he spent time in San Francisco, Utah and Alaska, shading his reputation with turns as a sportsman, gambler and entrepreneur.  The gold rushes of the late 19th century charted the course for Earp and his common-law wife, Josephine, as they moved from boomtown to boomtown, which landed them, naturally, in turn-of-the-century Seattle. The young city was a launching point for tens of thousands of people looking for riches in the Klondike and a good place for an entrepreneur like Earp to “mine the miners.” Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of Earp's time in Seattle in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard discuss how the Gold Rush shaped Seattle, what Earp had hoped to find when he came to town and the possible reasons he left a short time after.  Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Wyatt Earp here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

The accomplished actor, athlete and singer was an outspoken leftist, which made him a target in mid-1900s America. The reasons Paul Robeson was a beloved figure in the middle of the 20th century are many. He was a professional athlete, an accomplished actor and a sought-after singer. Yet for some in American government, his role as an outspoken activist defined him.   Robeson's criticism of his country's race relations and foreign policy made him a pariah to those who viewed him as an ideological enemy of the U.S. in the emerging Cold War. Eventually his passport was seized, which threatened his livelihood and led to a series of concerts at the U.S.-Canada border in Washington.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the tale of those concerts at the Peace Arch in Blaine in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard talk about Robeson's concerts in greater depth. They discuss why Robeson's politics were considered such a threat, how the travel ban impacted his career and how anti-Soviet fervor affected those who shared Robeson's beliefs, if not his celebrity. Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Paul Robeson here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

The famed Arctic explorer thrived when times were tough, and they were often tough. In the years that followed he would become the first person to successfully reach the South Pole and, later, would travel to the North Pole. Before that latter trip, Amundsen returned to Seattle and set up camp for six months, updating his gear and shoring up his finances.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the story of Amundsen's time in Seattle in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to explore. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard talk about Amundsen's great ambitions. They discuss what drove Amundsen to undertake such extreme endeavors, how he raised the money needed for his expeditions and the fellowship among explorers that would eventually lead to his apparent death.   Before listening, we suggest you watch the Mossback's Northwest episode about Roald Amundsen here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

The Seattle landmark is best known for its connection to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II — but it has more stories to tell. The Panama Hotel in Seattle's Chinatown-International District is best known for the role it played during the expulsion and incarceration of Japanese Americans after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.  That order resulted in more than 120,000 men, women and children on the West Coast being forcibly removed from their homes, taking with them only what they could carry. The Panama agreed to keep safe what many who were removed from Seattle couldn't take with them, and now the hotel's basement serves as a time capsule.  Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger told the story of this ugly period of American history in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to discuss.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard talk about the long history of the Panama Hotel. They discuss what made the hotel special for Japanese Americans and immigrants arriving in the city, the discrimination that came before and after Order 9066 and what Berger found when he walked among those forgotten belongings in the hotel's basement. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about the Panama Hotel here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Jonah Cohen Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Feliks Banel's guests on this episode of "Cascade of History" include Knute Berger, KCTS 9's 'Mossback' and author of a recent Crosscut piece about Nazi spies in Seattle in the 1930s; and John Mackie of The Vancouver Sun and John Atkin, civic historian, on Vancouver, BC's long love-affair with neon signs. This LIVE broadcast of "Cascade of History" was originally presented on Sunday, September 25, 2022 via SPACE 101.1 FM from studios at historic Magnuson Park in Seattle

Newly discovered files shed light on the creation of the Seattle icon and the fight over who deserves the credit for its distinctive look. Hear all about it in this special preview of the new Crosscut podcast, Crosscut Reports. When the Space Needle rose quickly on the Seattle city skyline, the response was varied. Some loved it, some hated it. Some likened it to a flower blossoming, others said it resembled a mushroom cloud. The Cold War was on everyone's mind. So was the future. The Needle was supposed to represent the Space Age, a bright future that looked to the stars. It was also supposed to represent the aspirations of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, also called the Century 21 Exposition, and reflect the forward-looking city itself. But in the fall of 1961, as the Needle tower neared completion and the citizenry warmed to it, controversy broke out, an all-out war of words between the architects — Victor Steinbrueck and his boss John “Jack” Graham, Jr. That there was a war is no secret — the conflict played out in the press at the time. But the dispute between these two groundbreaking architects goes deeper than previously understood. New files discovered in the dirt cellar of Steinbrueck's Eastlake home reveal that Graham sought censure of the man who provided the sketches that gave the Space Needle's tower its unique shape. This and other revelations surrounding the Space Needle's creation that were found in those files are the subject of this, the first episode of the first season of Crosscut Reports. To listen to the next two episodes of this series on Victor Steinbrueck, search for Crosscut Reports wherever you listen, or go to crosscut.com/podcasts. For photos from The Steinbrueck Files and an accompanying essay by editor-at-large Knute Berger, go here.   --- Credits Host/Producer: Sara Bernard Reporter: Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Guest Host Zaki Hamid discusses the weeks news with Crosscut's Knute Berger, Publicola's Erica Barnett, and Seattle Times Amanda Zhou.

In pop culture, the relocation of 'marriageable' women to places like Seattle was played as a humorous, feel-good story. It wasn't. In the midst of the Civil War, a man named Asa Mercer headed East to seek out women to move to the small frontier town of Seattle. It's a familiar story, one that served as inspiration for a television show called Here Come the Brides and the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Those shows played the scheme for good-hearted laughs, but the reality was no laughing matter. Settling the frontier was a largely male enterprise, and the desire for women for labor, partnership and sex led to practices that highlighted the patriarchy, racism and exploitation that shaped early American life. Knute Berger touched on this history in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to discuss.  For this episode of the Mossback Podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard discuss the conditions that gave rise to the so-called Mercer Girls, the racist underpinnings of early laws that helped lead to such trafficking of white women and how the mistreatment of Native and First Nations women and girls by white men on the frontier was a precursor to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women of today. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about the Mercer Girls here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut's Knute Berger, Seattle Met's Allison Williams, and the Seattle Times Amanda Zhou.

From Lewis and Clark's trusted companion to a lifesaving sled dog, these canines have been honored with statues, taxidermy and legend. It is a well-documented fact that, in Seattle at least, dogs outnumber children. And while that ratio may even out as you look further afield, its hard to deny that dogs have a major influence over life in the Pacific Northwest.  That has long been the case and the roles that those dogs have played in the story of the region have been varied and include the woolly dogs bred by the Coast Salish peoples, an intrepid companion to storied explorers and one globe-trotting mascot to a federal agency. Knute Berger touched on this history of hounds in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is more to explore.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard delve deeper into the dogs covered in the video and tell the true story of Balto the Wonder Dog, who was maybe not as wonderful as early reports suggested. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about dogs of the Northwest here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

This week Russell Wilson is out.Gas prices are up.. And we're getting ready to do that daylight saving thing. We break it down with Crosscut's Knute Berger and KEXP's Martin Douglas.Follow us on Instagram @seattlenowpod

Brother to Edward, Asahel Curtis had his own approach to capturing the culture of the region. The way we see the modern history of the Pacific Northwest would have been very different if a certain family of homesteaders hadn't settled in Kitsap County in the late nineteenth century.  Out of that family of farmers would come, not one, but two prolific photographers whose work would help define the region for generations to come.  Edward Curtis is the more famous of the two brothers, his stylized portraits of Native Americans securing himself a place in the pantheon of frontier photographers. But his younger brother Asahel has his own legacy and an encyclopedic portfolio of images that serves as a more accurate record of life in the Northwest at the turn of the century. Knute Berger touched on this history in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to explore.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard go deep into the history of the Curtis brothers, detail their complicated relationship and discuss how Asahel managed to captured the spirit of the Northwest while assuring his own commercial success.  Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about Asahel Curtis here. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Producer: Seth Halleran Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten  

No one really knows who made the first of these delicacies, but some sleuthing reveals an origin spurred by the gold rush and railroads. Crab has been a part of the culture of what we now call the Pacific Northwest for a very long time. But how the people of this region eat that crab has changed over the years and those changes can tell a lot.  Take Crab Louis, for instance. As a dish it is fairly simple: some crab, some vegetables, some red sauce. Yet the story of Crab Louis is one of western colonial expansion that brought with it new agricultural practices and norms.  It is a history that host Knute Berger touched on in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to the story. For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard talk about how the gold rush and railroads changed cuisine in the Pacific Northwest and how tracking down the origins of a recipe is a lot like searching for the origins of folklore. Plus, Knute shares what it was like to lunch on crab with Anthony Bourdain. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about Crab Louis here.  --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

The legendary lumberjack has been central to American identity. But who does he really represent? Over the course of the past two centuries, tall tales of Paul Bunyan have stretched across North America, from the frigid woods of the East Coast all the way to the Pacific. With his ax and his ox Babe, the legendary lumberjack is said to have single-handedly shaped the continent.  That was all fiction, of course. Much of the landscape that Bunyan is credited with creating was here long before any white man with an ax showed up. And the forces that would actually reshape the land in the 19th and 20th centuries consisted of multitudes, many of them felling trees in the Pacific Northwest. Knute Berger touched on this history in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to discuss.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard dissect the folklore and ask why, exactly, Paul Bunyan was created, who did he serve and what we should make today of a legend that ignores the history and people that came before it.  Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about Paul Bunyan here.  --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Headlines about sea creatures were once a regular occurrence around the Salish Sea. We take a deep dive into local lore. When it comes to cryptids, there is one creature that puts the Pacific Northwest on the map: Sasquatch. But Bigfoot hasn't always had a monopoly on mysterious sightings in the area. Sea monsters long inspired horror and fascination around the Salish Sea and on the Pacific Coast.  Large creatures in the waters of the Northwest are depicted in Indigenous artworks from precolonial times, and frontier newspapers regularly carried tales of frightening sea creatures. The tales continued well into the 20th century. As recently as the 1960s, Seattle residents claimed to have seen a sea monster in the waters of Lake Washington. But if not monstrous beings, what were people seeing?  That is a question that host Knute Berger touched on in a recent episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series, but there is much more to discuss.  For this episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard unearth some of the region's many sea monster headlines and discuss how mysterious the ocean really was before oceanography and resource exploitation made the creatures of the deep more familiar. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about sea monsters here.  --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

A closer examination — with more theories — of the case of the world's most famous mile-high bandit. On the afternoon of Nov. 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper boarded a Seattle-bound 727 in Portland, with plans to pull off what would become a historic heist. Later that night, the man leapt from the plane with $200,000 in hand and, presumably, a parachute on his back. He was never heard from again.  Yet the story of that high-flying crime has been told innumerable times, turning the man who became known as D.B. Cooper into a kind of folk hero. Now, 50 years later, the questions surrounding the fate of the polite hijacker who claimed to carry a bomb onto a Northwest Orient flight have led to a bigger question: Why are we so fascinated with D.B. Cooper?  It is a question that host Knute Berger touched on in an episode of his Mossback's Northwest video series late last year, but there is much more to discuss.  For this inaugural episode of the Mossback podcast, Berger and co-host Sara Bernard go deeper into the cult of personality that arose in D.B. Cooper's wake. They discuss the rise of midair hijackings, the cultural climate that likely made the heist so irresistible to a broad swath of  Americans and what the tale of D.B. Cooper can tell us about our own fractured culture. Before listening, we suggest you watch the original Mossback's Northwest episode about D.B. Cooper here.  --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

This week we have a special preview of Mossback, a companion podcast to the popular Mossback's Northwest video series that airs on KCTS 9. The Mossback podcast digs deeper into the topics that fans want to know more about from the current season of Mossback's Northwest. Hosted by Sara Bernard, each episode of this series will feature an interview with Mossback, Knute Berger, about one episode of the video series. The podcasts will provide stories and factoids that were left on the cutting room floor, along with critical analysis from Berger and a greater context that will stitch each topic into the long, storied history of the Pacific Northwest. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

This week we have a special preview of Mossback, a companion podcast to the popular Mossback's Northwest video series that airs on KCTS 9. The Mossback podcast digs deeper into the topics that fans want to know more about from the current season of Mossback's Northwest. Hosted by Sara Bernard, each episode of this series will feature an interview with Mossback, Knute Berger, about one episode of the video series. The podcasts will provide stories and factoids that were left on the cutting room floor, along with critical analysis from Berger and a greater context that will stitch each topic into the long, storied history of the Pacific Northwest. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

This week we have a special preview of Mossback, a companion podcast to the popular Mossback's Northwest video series that airs on KCTS 9. The Mossback podcast digs deeper into the topics that fans want to know more about from the current season of Mossback's Northwest. Hosted by Sara Bernard, each episode of this series will feature an interview with Mossback, Knute Berger, about one episode of the video series. The podcasts will provide stories and factoids that were left on the cutting room floor, along with critical analysis from Berger and a greater context that will stitch each topic into the long, storied history of the Pacific Northwest. --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Mossback is the companion podcast to the popular Mossback's Northwest video series that airs on KCTS 9. The Mossback podcast digs deeper into the topics that fans want to know more about from the current season of Mossback's Northwest. Hosted by Sara Bernard, each episode of this series will feature an interview with Mossback, Knute Berger, about one episode of the video series. The podcasts will provide stories and factoids that were left on the cutting room floor, along with critical analysis from Berger and a greater context that will stitch each topic into the long, storied history of the Pacific Northwest. In this preview teaser, Bernard and Berger chat about the origins and aims of their new venture.  --- Credits Hosts: Sara Bernard, Knute Berger Editorial assistance: Mason Bryan Executive Producer: Mark Baumgarten

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Harry. Whatever name you know him by, he is ubiquitous in the greater Seattle area, spotted everywhere from bumper stickers to roadside landmarks. In an otherwise skeptical city replete with “science is real” lawn signs, it seems that many of us believe— or at least want to believe— in Bigfoot. As part of the Beasts of Seattle podcast series, Town Hall's Podcast Artist-in-Residence Samantha Allen interviews Finding Bigfoot co-host Ranae Holland, local journalist Knute Berger, and Bigfoot researcher Mel Skahan about why the ape-like hominid continues to captivate us today. Samantha Allen is the author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle and the Lambda Literary Award finalist, Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States. A GLAAD Award-winning journalist, Samantha's writing has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, CNN, and more. The music for this podcast was written and performed by John Gould. You can find more of John's music at johngould.bandcamp.com. The art for this podcast was made by Sadie Collins.  Finding Bigfoot is streaming on Discovery+. Sources: https://www.seattlemag.com/news-and-features/its-too-soon-close-door-bigfoots-existence-hear-us-out https://1889mag.com/explore/mel-shahan/ Presented by Town Hall Seattle. Beasts of Seattle is part of Town Hall's Artist-in-Residence program.

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Harry. Whatever name you know him by, he is ubiquitous in the greater Seattle area, spotted everywhere from bumper stickers to roadside landmarks. In an otherwise skeptical city replete with “science is real” lawn signs, it seems that many of us believe— or at least want to believe— in Bigfoot. As part of the Beasts of Seattle podcast series, Town Hall's Podcast Artist-in-Residence Samantha Allen interviews Finding Bigfoot co-host Ranae Holland, local journalist Knute Berger, and Bigfoot researcher Mel Skahan about why the ape-like hominid continues to captivate us today. Samantha Allen is the author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle and the Lambda Literary Award finalist, Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States. A GLAAD Award-winning journalist, Samantha's writing has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, CNN, and more. The music for this podcast was written and performed by John Gould. You can find more of John's music at johngould.bandcamp.com. The art for this podcast was made by Sadie Collins.  Finding Bigfoot is streaming on Discovery+. Sources: https://www.seattlemag.com/news-and-features/its-too-soon-close-door-bigfoots-existence-hear-us-out https://1889mag.com/explore/mel-shahan/ Presented by Town Hall Seattle. Beasts of Seattle is part of Town Hall's Artist-in-Residence program.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Seattle Times mental health reporter Esmy Jimenez, Publicola police accountability reporter Paul Keifer, and Crosscut editor at large and host of the Mossback's Northwest, Knute Berger.

Have you ever visited the defunct coal chutes on Capitol Hill? Do you know where you can find a 100-year-old sidewalk or the nearest pocket park? Susanna Ryan, local cartoonist and creator of Seattle Walk Report, was joined by Crosscut's Knute “Mossback” Berger for a fresh look at Seattle's hidden historical gems. Ryan gave us a preview of her new book Secret Seattle with a visual presentation exploring the weird and wonderful hidden history behind some of the city's most overlooked places, architecture, and infrastructure. Local history buffs, walking enthusiasts, and armchair explorers alike can revel in the hidden locales uncovered, and revealed, by Ryan. Self-taught cartoonist, illustrator, and designer Susanna Ryan is the artist behind Seattle Walk Report, a popular comic series hosted on Instagram and published as a book in 2019. With her keen eye for Seattle's overlooked landmarks and everyday ephemera, she captured everything that makes the Emerald City magical. Her work has appeared in Seattle Magazine, The Stranger, Seattle Refined, The Evergrey, and the Seattle Review of Books, as well as on KOMO News and 107.7 The End. Knute “Mossback” Berger is Crosscut's Editor-at-Large and host of the Mossback's Northwest TV series on KCTS 9. He writes about politics and regional heritage. Previously he served as Editor-in-Chief of Seattle Weekly, Editor & Publisher of Eastsideweek, and as Managing Editor of Washington Magazine. He is Editor-at-Large for Seattle Magazine and has written two books, Pugetopolis and Space Needle, Spirit of Seattle. He is a regular commentator on KUOW-FM and a Rainier Club Fellow. Buy the Book: Secret Seattle (Seattle Walk Report): An Illustrated Guide to the City's Offbeat and Overlooked History (Hardcover) Third Place Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation online click here.

The historian discusses how the battle between North and South lives on in American politics today. Deep partisanship defines American politics in the 21st century. But division is nothing new to the country. Long before modern Democrats and Republicans were at loggerheads over health care and tax policy, Americans fought over the fate of the country.  The Civil War was obviously the most consequential of those conflicts and, for much of American history, the conventional wisdom has held that  the war's conclusion resolved some of the most pressing questions about the nation's fate.  Yet the appearance of the Confederate flag in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection — a site never before seen in the nation's history — signaled that the war might not be over in the minds of some Americans.  For the latest episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, recorded during this year's Crosscut Festival, historian Heather Cox Richardson speaks with Crosscut's Knute Berger about America's enduring conflict and the founding paradox at the root of it all.   --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Chi Lee, Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

Today Crystal is joined by friend of the show Mike McGinn. They dissect Joe Nguyen's challenging of Dow Constantine for King County Executive, the massive transportation package that squeaked by the legislature at the last minute, its anachronistic focus on building new highways, and how trying to please every interest group means the public's interests get left behind. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's guest, Mike McGinn, at @mayormcginn. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Joe Nguyen challenging Dow Constantine for King County executive” by Melissa Santos: https://crosscut.com/politics/2021/04/joe-nguyen-challenging-dow-constantine-king-county-executive  “Dow's $100 Million Convention Center Bailout Plan” by Doug Trumm: https://www.theurbanist.org/2020/12/08/dows-100-million-convention-center-bailout-plan/  “Washington House passes carbon-pricing bill with promise of a 5-cent gas tax for transportation projects” by Joseph O'Sullivan: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/washington-house-passes-carbon-pricing-bill-with-a-5-cent-gas-tax-for-transportation-projects/  “‘Forward Washington' Leaves Safety Behind” by Ryan Packer: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/04/19/forward-washington-leaves-safety-behind/  “The legacy of racism built into Northwest highways and roads” by Knute Berger: https://crosscut.com/opinion/2021/04/legacy-racism-built-northwest-highways-and-roads    Transcript Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks and Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host.  Welcome back to the program friend of the show and today's co-host: activist, community leader, former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks, the excellent Mike Yeah, McGinn. Mike McGinn: [00:00:51] I'll take excellent. That's pretty darn good. Most days I just feel kind of mediocre. So, you know, Friday afternoon excellent goes a long way. Crystal Fincher: [00:00:59] I think you're pretty excellent. I think you are also a pretty excellent Seattle mayor as people know. Mike McGinn: [00:01:06] Oh, you know, there's a few things I'd do over, but that's a different show. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:12] Well, you know, I think I want to start off the week just by talking about the latest big entrance into the realm of political candidates. Joe Nguyen has announced that he is taking on Dow Constantine for King County Executive. How do you think things started with the rollout there? Mike McGinn: [00:01:33] Well, I think that he has a great reputation and he's developed a lot of support. He - my one experience with him was when I was working with Feet First, a statewide pedestrian advocacy organization. He appeared on a webinar and I was really impressed with Joe then, just his values, and his style, and his approach. I think the big thing on this race to think about is - I think it's an outsider year, Crystal. I don't think this is an insider year. I think it's a year where people don't underst-, you know, people are pent up, they're frustrated around, particularly around issues like homelessness. We even see crime going up, you know. There's just, I think, a general sense that government, local government, isn't competent and that's going to be a real challenge for any incumbent. And this goes for where somebody who's in office or previously held office, and the mayor's race as well.  And so Joe is an elected official, but he's a relatively new one. He's younger, he's coming from outside the system. And I think that's going to be a big challenge for Dow. I think Dow also has the challenge - we were mentioning this earlier. You know, when someone's been in office a long time, and Dow has been in office a long time - the strategy to do that, to not get a serious challenger in a primary or a general, and Dow has not really had a serious challenger since he was elected - is you kind of deliver enough to every major constituency group. Labor, business, environmental - to keep them on the sidelines, so they don't finance a challenger. Now that's a great strategy for staying in office, but it turns out it's a really bad strategy for delivering the types of results that the public can see and appreciate, you know? And it's a strategy that works for awhile - because if nobody's financing a challenger, if there isn't a lot of criticism coming from other people who are driving media of the incumbent, you know, you can end up without a challenger and you can end up in basically a strong position for a long time, but that strategy works until it doesn't. And the point at which it doesn't is when the public decides - you know, time for change, incumbent's not getting it done, there are big problems, and we need a new face to do it. And I think that's where Dow is going to have a lot of - I don't know if Joe's gonna win, but if he doesn't win, he's going to give the incumbent a hell of a scare. So I think there's going to be a really serious race. And that's how this one's going to go down. I think the same dynamics, by the way, or perhaps even more strongly, are in play in the Seattle's mayor's race. If you, if you're attached to the way things have been done, you're going to have - you're facing a headwind. If you're coming in from the outside, you're going to have a better shot. Crystal Fincher: [00:04:34] Yeah, certainly as a challenge, I agree with your assessment and it's really challenging. People right now are more impatient, I think voters are more impatient than we've seen. That there are so many people who are in such close proximity to crisis in one way or another, and feeling pressure and anxiety in one way or another, in multiple ways. And that they're looking at a political system that they feel has not met the mark, they feel is not operated with the urgency that they see problems in their lives demand and that we're facing societally. And so it becomes very hard when people are like - it is time for change and it's actually time to get serious about this change - and all this incrementalism, it's going too slow, it hasn't worked, it's just perpetuating the problems. And it's really hard, from an incumbent's position, to make the case that you are the person to implement the change that people are demanding when you have overseen the status quo for years. And I think Dow ran into that a little bit this week, even in navigating through Joe Nguyen's announcement and being asked about it and, you know - Yes, I'm ready to implement new changes, looking forward to appointing a sheriff, and looking at those things. And people are going, How are you going to lead change when you're the one who's presided over the status quo? How does that work?  Mike McGinn: [00:06:06] You express that more articulately than I did, Crystal. I mean, you really - the point you make, too, about the economic distress that people are facing. So we've got Democratic politicians who say, You know, we really care about inequality. We're going to do something about it. We really care about climate. We're going to do something about it. We really care about the people out on the street. We're going to do something about it. And your point is dead on - you can't credibly claim that when you've been in office a long time and the problems seem to be continuing. And it's harder for executives than legislators - they can always blame the other people in the legislature. But when you're an executive, it's an even harder spot to be in. And again, I think that the dynamic is in part - you say defense of the status quo or presiding over the status quo. That's also wrapped into the strategy that I was saying of - you make sure you give everything to every major constituency group. Crystal Fincher: [00:07:05] Yep. Mike McGinn: [00:07:05] You know, when you do that, you're just not teeing yourself up to really get at root problems in the same way. Because if you did that, you would make, depending on what side of the spectrum you're coming from - from the side of the spectrum I'm coming from, you'd make a bunch of people really mad at you - people with money and power. And if you want to avoid that, then, and not have them finance a challenger, well, you're not going to be looking at the type of taxing policies or regulatory policies that can really get at, or spend spending policies, that can really get at the heart of climate or inequality or racial injustice. Crystal Fincher: [00:07:44] Yeah, I think you're right on. I think we saw an example of that in the past year with Dow Constantine's announcement that he planned on leading a bailout of the convention center, which is, you know, certainly making a lot of moneyed interests and people who would be financing challengers very happy, but the public immediate response to that was very different. It's just like, Whoa, where are we coming up with these hundreds of millions of dollars in the middle of a pandemic with all of these other people in pain? Is that the wisest expenditure right now? Is that the most effective and productive way we can spend this money, when we're trying to prevent people from falling into homelessness and climb out of this pandemic and recover as a community, without leaving folks behind. And that seems to be the question of this recovery. There are a lot of people - we just saw Amazon's record-breaking, eye-popping earnings again. We've seen grocery store earnings, you know, be sky high. The rich are doing just fine throughout this pandemic and the people who've done well - Mike McGinn: [00:08:56] The convention center is - it's not just the bailout of the convention center, right? And of course there are two processes, right? There's a process for if you want to raise money for one thing, it requires extensive public hearings, it may require a public vote. But if it's a process to raise money to bailout the convention center, it just happens. Boom. There it is at the City Council - County Council, excuse me. There are two processes, but it's not just the bailout. The convention center itself is like a $1.7-1.9 billion project that is financed primarily by hotel taxes, taxes on hotels. How do we decide that we should tax hotels to build a convention center instead of say taxing - and that's visitors from out of town - instead of say, taxing hotels and the visitors from out of town to pay, to help with the transit or housing of the people that clean their rooms, clean their bathrooms, and change their sheets. Like why do we put the money there, in the convention center, instead of into this. And that's another great example of - nobody voted on that convention center. It's a special taxing district created by the legislature, with the authority to levy these taxes without any public vote. So we create these systems that can funnel close to $2 billion to this one structure - by the way, it also takes property off the tax rolls for the city of Seattle. Crystal Fincher: [00:10:30] Yes, it does. Mike McGinn: [00:10:31] Right, like that's another aside. You know, the streetscape will be horrible - this big, chunky building. But all of those things are asides to the fact that - we wire the system to deliver benefits for a certain portion of the population, and the portion that already is doing pretty well, and we don't take care of the public. And it can take a while for the public to catch up with that. Because the politicians are out there saying - I care about inequality, I care about climate, I care about racial injustice, I care about service workers. But they're not seeing the results, the public isn't seeing the results. So yeah, Joe's in the race - he's a new guy and he's against Dow Constantine who's been there for 12 years. Yeah. If I'm a betting man, I'd bet on Joe, but who knows how this works? Crystal Fincher: [00:11:19] Who knows how it'll work? I definitely see it being a competitive and lively race. I definitely see this leading a conversation that permeates throughout all races. About, to the point that you just made, who is our policy designed to help? Who is it designed to overlook? Why are we continuing to reinforce existing systems that create and reinforce inequity and inequality? I think it's high time to have conversations about that. I think Joe Nguyen is really eager to have those conversations. Mike McGinn: [00:12:02] He's keen to have that conversation, right? Crystal Fincher: [00:12:04] Yeah. Yeah, and is not afraid, not bashful, not afraid. They certainly have not been shy about going after Dow Constantine on social media and Twitter and being, you know, feisty in the replies, and with a lot of people agreeing. And I think Dow - part of the challenge when you have been a safe politician for quite some time, is that it is not natural to respond to an attack - for politicians and people. And I think they're trying to figure out exactly what their message is going forward. And that's just not as simple and automatic as a lot of people would wish. So I think they're working through that, and certainly Dow has a lot that he can stand on in terms of a record. I think we're going to hear a lot about that. You know, he - it's hard to paint him as bad, but it's hard to paint him as great, and a leader. Mike McGinn: [00:13:06] I would totally agree. It's - one, I'd agree is, it's hard to paint him as bad. I mean, I've worked with Dow Constantine and he's - I know which direction he'd like things to go in. It's just that he's in this position of - he's had his turn. And I think that's a very tough position. And, you know, he's had a good turn. He's had three terms. That's a good long turn to have a shot at things. And in that case, it doesn't have to be personal for the voters to decide they might want to go in a different direction. You know, they don't have to have personal animus towards an incumbent in that situation to want to make a change. I mean, I could - it's not exactly comparable, but Larry Gossett and Girmay. I mean, I admire the hell out of Larry Gossett. The guy is a hero, but the voters can say it's time for someone else to have a turn. And that's - that may be the case here for Dow. Crystal Fincher: [00:14:02] Yeah. And in that situation, I think that it - that race could have turned out very different if there were a different challenger. But there was someone who voters felt comfortable to carry on the legacy that he established and lead in the world that we're living in today with the urgency that's necessary. And I feel like there is a similarity there. Obviously different contexts, but voters, like you said, can make this decision without having to dislike Dow, and can fully respect Dow, and still find themselves making a different decision. Mike McGinn: [00:14:40] Absolutely. Absolutely. There's a little bit of a segue here. There's a little bit of a segue here. We were talking about promises and rhetoric and action. And you promised me we'd talk a little bit about one of my favorite topics - transportation. Crystal Fincher: [00:14:58] Transportation and climate. And geez, how they're such universal topics in everything that we're dealing with. And we just had the end of the legislative session last weekend and they, despite going into the final weekend saying we have no time, we aren't going to be able to pass anything, not a transportation package. Lo and behold, few guys spent the weekend in a room and hammered it out. And what did we get with that transportation package, Mike McGinn? Mike McGinn: [00:15:33] Well, what's amazing is that this isn't even the big transportation package, that one is still promised for the future, right? But in this specific transportation package that they funded, we continue to see the same investment in highway expansion that we've seen before. You know, if you go through what was in the project, we're still going to run State Route 509 through a neighborhood, that if you look at it, is a primarily Black and Brown neighborhood. At the federal level, they're talking about taking money out of - they're talking about investing to remove highways that divided Black and Brown neighborhoods. In the state of Washington, we're about to punch through - 509 - through a neighborhood that's just south of Sea-Tac airport, which is primarily Black and Brown people. So it's been on the books for decades. The highway builders have wanted to finish the highway. And even though we now know about climate change, and the effect of highway building on climate change, even though we know about the effects of pollution on the lungs of the people who live near highways, even though we know about the history of racist siting of highways, we're still gonna do it here because that's been what they've wanted to do forever. And it's - that's not the only one in the package. We're widening 405, we're widening I-5 in stretches, we're widening I-90, we're completing the North Spokane highway, which just supports sprawl as well.  So it's, uh, you know, did I say wider 405? Like it's pretty much a couple of billion dollars, this year, to make highways wider. You know, this is at the same time that Sound Transit is trying to figure out, Where do we find the money, in the recession, to keep our promises to the voters, right? So it's in the same exact time. So we have not really changed direction. And the amount of money in this state transportation bill for active transportation, you know, like walking and biking or transit, remains extremely small in relation to the billions that we see going towards highway expansion. It's not even maintenance. I get it. If you need to repave a road, if you need to take care of a bridge - I mean, we know that the City of Seattle. Yeah, this was also in the news. The City of Seattle has hundreds of millions of dollars of bridge maintenance that they need to do in the coming years. That could all be paid for with state gas tax, as well as bridges across the state. Because state gas tax pays for roadways, whether it's a highway, whether it's a local street, whether it's in a city or town or at the state level. We could take all of that money, put it right into maintenance for cities and towns, reduce the property taxes that have to go to that, so that cities and towns could have more money to support other things, or who knows? Maybe they might reduce taxes, although I wouldn't bet on it. But we could do that. That would be a choice to spend our gas taxes on taking care of what we have, reducing the burden on cities, instead of expanding highways. It's just ridiculous. Crystal Fincher: [00:18:52] Well, it's just so - Mike McGinn: [00:18:53] Sorry, I just got going there, Crystal. Crystal Fincher: [00:18:55] No, I love it. It is spot on. And it is, to your point, ridiculous. It's ridiculous that, as you point out, this is happening while federally, we are finally having conversations that are addressing the reality that we're facing today. The reality that roads are not this benevolent, wonderful, unifying force. We absolutely have to maintain and take care of our existing infrastructure, but we don't have to expand a damaging and dangerous and unhealthy infrastructure. And there is no greater source of pollution than the transportation sector. And so if we are going to make changes, it absolutely has to involve the transportation sector, or else we're just taking one step forward and two steps back.  Which we have done in this legislative session, coming out of Washington. And enabling revenue that comes from attaching a price to carbon, and then enabling that to be used to further enable pollution by creating more roads. We're doing this while we have projections that show that people are not going to be using freeways to the same degree. And that was just hyper-accelerated by the pandemic and people commuting remotely. So fewer people are driving than have ever been before. Lots of people are loving the idea of not returning to a commute. Driving isn't something that - a lot of people have this nostalgic view. It is not that romantic thing for everyone anymore, particularly in our current context, when it just basically equates to a commute, which is not fun or pleasant for anyone.  And more people are looking to live closer to work, or to be able to work from home, to be able to walk to the store and not have to get in your car and drive to enjoy a night out or to go grab a bite to eat. People want to be able to live, work, and play in their own neighborhoods and communities. And that's actually a healthier way to develop communities and a healthier way to live. In this context, for us to then, in a state that is supposedly super progressive, super Democratic, and to just double down on pollution when we knew better. They knew better than this. They made a decision that it didn't matter. And we just have to do better than that. We have to do better than electing simply people with D's by their name, who are fine making the same decisions that we've always made. We have to look deeper into the values and intentions and look at records and say, Is this consistent with someone who is going to make the right decisions moving forward? There are some choices that need to be made.  Mike McGinn: [00:21:53] Well, you know, that's a topic, right? Like this is Democrats in the legislature, and to some degree, the choices made by advocacy organizations themselves. Transportation and climate advocacy organizations, as to what they view as politically possible. So, in 2007, I was a volunteer leader of the Sierra Club and we were presented with being asked to support what was then called the Roads and Transit ballot measure. And it also had billions in highways in it, including a lot of the projects we're talking about now. It was coupled with giving Sound Transit the authority - it was coupled with what we would now call Sound Transit 2 - was one big package. It was sent into the region, Puget sound region, to vote on - whether we want to expand highways and expand rail at the same time.  In the Sierra Club, we made a political calculation. And we made a political calculation that we could beat it, and that we should beat it, because the highways were worse for the climate than transit was good for it. And it was not a worthwhile trade. And even more than that, building the highways was inconsistent with the massive reductions in emissions we needed to make. It didn't put us on a pathway to success, regardless of how you counted the exact amount of carbons saved or lost from each activity. And our political calculation was that there's actually not that much public demand for highways. That when you combine an environmental message of don't make climate change worse, along with the natural resistance of voters to spending, raising their taxes to pay for something they don't care about that much, that we could beat it. And we did. Now, it turns out that light rail is really popular, right? So when they came back with light rail alone, they got 60% of the vote. In the prior year, the Roads and Transit package got like 44% of the vote. I'd have to look it up. I think it was 44%. So that was the difference - you got rid of the highways - support for the package went up 13% and you got to majority viewpoint.  Now that lesson - that it's worth building a coalition that - you take the environmental component and you put that on top of the anti-tax component, and there's not a majority for highways. Yet, somehow or another, the advocacy groups go into every legislative session with the viewpoint that new highways are inevitable. And because they have that viewpoint, the other side says, Well, we're going to hold - you got to support the highways if you want more transit. That's what happened the last major package. Or in this case, if you want to get a carbon fuel standard, a low carbon fuel standard, or you want a cap and trade bill, you're going to have to support the next highway bill.  And the analysis is all done based upon looking at this set of people in Olympia as to what's possible, rather than looking at where public demand lies. And I don't know, I guess what I'd say to the activists is, and the advocates out there, If someone's trying to put you in a box, right? And the box is - you have to support all these bad things if you want the thing you want. Well, you can either accept the box or you can try to kick out one of the sides. And in this case, kicking out one of the sides means raising hell, going to the public and organizing, and holding your champion's feet to the fire and say, No, we're not going to make that deal. And honestly, let's just think about this. If you were in there - if I were in there and I had somebody saying to me, a Democrat saying to me, Look, you gotta sign off on the bad highway, or else you'll never get what you want. I'd be like, could you put that in writing for me? I'd like to take that out to the public. I'd like to tell everybody what you just told me. Let's see if you can stand there. Let's see how long you can stand there saying we're not going to take action on climate, which the public cares about a lot more today than they did in 2007 when we defeated it. You tell the public they can't have highways, they can't have road maintenance money. You know, they can't have a transportation bill, because that's what you believe. Let's go. Let's see how you stand up to the public on that. But that's a different attitude than, Ah, we got to get something. I guess we have to give up stuff. I guess we just have to accept the parameters of the debate that's laid out by the people that want the highways. You know, someone's trying to put you in a box, kick out one of the sides, try to change it. That's the job of an advocacy organization. Crystal Fincher: [00:26:48] It is absolutely the job of an advocacy organization. And we have seen a lot, a number, we've seen some willing to do that. We have seen others who are, who have been unwilling and - Mike McGinn: [00:27:00] Well let's name a couple of names, at least on the positive side. Disability Mobility Initiative, Front and Centered, the Urbanist - for saying, No deal. Don't make a deal. Stand up for what's right. And your backstop is not, again, not counting all of the carbon atoms that are flowing from this or being reduced by that. But it's like, what's possible given where the public is and these folks are taking the harder stance.  I think of Bill McKibben and 350. They decided to make the Keystone Pipeline an issue. If you're like one of the real climate policy wonks, you might say, Well, there are other things that are more important to reducing emissions than stopping that pipeline. And if you were a political realist, they'd say they were political realists - Well, you can't stop that. That's too far down the line. Well, look what happened when they made that their signature effort? Not only did they end up stopping the Keystone Pipeline, they built power to stop other things as well. So that's, I think, you know, a lesson that I think the advocates here need to need to adopt. Which is let's build power by aligning ourselves with public attitudes and picking out the things that are obviously bad and trying to stop them. And presenting a different vision of how to get to a finish line rather than this compromise incrementalism, where I'm not sure if it's one step forward, two steps back, or 1.1 steps forward and 0.9 steps back. Let's get out of that, man. We got to get, we gotta eliminate carbon from the system.  Crystal Fincher: [00:28:36] You gotta be running forward. Mike McGinn: [00:28:38] All the steps going forward. You gotta be running forward. Right. Crystal Fincher: [00:28:41] We can't take these little baby steps. We can't stand in place. We have to be unambiguously moving rapidly forward. I would also underscore when other organizations like 350 do make priorities, and do lift up what the community is asking for and what communities themselves know they need to be healthy and whole. And standing with native and indigenous communities, who are quite justified in demanding that their land not be sullied and poisoned by pipelines. And looking at that as a path forward. This is what happens when we walk side by side with community and what we all know is correct. And everyone has ownership of what is happening.  I think that there's - the Front and Centered coalition of almost 70 organizations state-wide certainly stood up and made their voices heard in this debate and will continue to. And acquitted themselves well throughout session and beyond. And really, it is important to know who's willing to speak truth to power and where an organization's priorities are. Are they in maintaining their access to power, and just the proximity to power, and just feeling good that they're standing next to someone viewed as powerful and influential? Or are they actually trying to get good policy passed, to prevent bad policy from being passed, and really deliver results for their members and their community?  Because at the end of the day, we just saw more - another article this week about another study about just the impacts of pollution on communities of color. And there - it's not philosophical, it's not theoretical. Pollution is killing communities of color. Killing communities of color. And you can see that happening with rates of illness and rates of death. You can see that in Seattle, in just the difference in life expectancy between folks in Magnolia or Laurelhurst and others in South Seattle and Georgetown. And it's just, it is just so frustrating to watch people settle for proximity to power instead of demanding what's really going to work. Mike McGinn: [00:31:26] It's such an important point that you raise. Which is for an advocacy organization to ask, to really examine what is the source of their power - is really what you're asking. And what a powerful point about the Keystone Pipeline, as well. That working in alignment with the interests of the tribes increased the power of the environmental organizations. It didn't decrease it, it increased it. And that's a really powerful lesson. Groups that think, as you've pointed out, if a group thinks that their power comes from their policy knowledge - like there's a little bit of power there. It's nice to win the argument, but if logic and rationality and policy expertise were enough to win the arguments, the Democrats would be destroying it right now. But it's not, it's just not. Nor do - people also sometimes think the source of their power is their working relationships with elected officials or their access. But they confuse how - they confuse how democracy is supposed to work. Because as soon as the elected official knows that your power derives from your access to them, now they hold power over the advocate because they can deny access at any time. And that just saps the strength of advocacy. So I'm always - what I'm always looking for is - where groups that understand that their power has to be rooted in their ability to mobilize public demand for the outcomes, that they want to tap into the public demand that already exists and move it. That's a source of power that - and let's face it, the other side gets that too. You know, they do it with - they get the Koch brothers to give them billions of dollars to run campaigns. They're working on it as well to try to demonstrate that their power comes from the public, not just from their dollars. But if we really believe our power comes from the public, that the people are with us, then let's play that way. And that I think is the biggest - is the issue. I think a lot of organizations think their power comes from their knowledge, or from their access, or their relationships. And it's just at the end of the day, that power is not very strong. It's just not very strong in - against the other side. Crystal Fincher: [00:33:53] I agree. And that's actually one of the big lessons, kind of working lessons, that I learned from you, actually. Was just the power of community and coalition and to stitch that together in the face of established power on side. How to stitch that together and apply pressure to get the outcome that you want. And the power of coalitions to be able to do that - to pressure electeds, even through the prospect of an initiative or, Hey, we're going to take this action on our own. You have the opportunity to do the right thing and you can get the credit if you do. Otherwise, we're moving forward and we're doing this thing. So what's it going to be. And that being an effective lever to move policy. So, you know, you have practiced this for a long time. Mike McGinn: [00:34:44] I have, and I haven't always won either. Let's be really clear about that, but at least I took a swing at it. You know, who knows - you might, at least take a swing, at least take a swing at trying. 'Cause if you play by Olympia's rules, Olympia is going to win. If you play by those rules, you you're guaranteeing a loss at the outset. If you play the other way, and say, No, we're going to try to bring some new power into the relationship to try to upset the conventional wisdom about what is or is not possible. You might not win, but you might win. And that's far better than guaranteeing being stuck in this kind of incrementalist status quo. And people get to go home with a victory, and legislators get to say we did something. And then you get this cycle where everybody gets to say, Well, it was good enough. It was good enough. And we're all really good for it. And you know, it kind of ties back to the comment we were making about Joe Nguyen versus Dow - that works until people realize, Nah, things aren't really getting solved and it's not really getting at the heart of it. Crystal Fincher: [00:35:53] Yeah, I agree. Well, that brings us to our time here today. I'm so thankful you were able to join us today. Thank you for listening to Hacks and Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM on this Friday, April 30th, 2021. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler. Our insightful co-host today was activist, former Seattle mayor, and Executive Director of America Walks, Mike McGinn. You can find Mike on Twitter @mayormcginn, 'cause he's still mayor in our hearts and we're denying the one that is there. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. And now you can follow Hacks and Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our mid-week show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced to the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk to you next time.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut editor-at-large Knute Berger, Publicola editor and publisher Erica Barnett, and New York Times technology correspondent Karen Weise.

The Rainier Avenue bakery whose desserts have been at countless Seattle parties for nearly 100 years has sold its last sheetcake. We talk with Crosscut columnist Knute Berger about why Borrachini’s was so beloved.Like what you hear? Tell a friend to check out the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut editor at large and host of KCTS9’s Mossback’s Northwest, Knute Berger, Q13 correspondent Brandi Kruse, and Crosscut reporter David Kroman.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut editor-in-chief Knute Berger, creator of the Wild West newsletter Eli Sanders and Crosscut political reporter Melissa Santos.

Director of The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS), Eric Dorfman joins Knute Berger to unveil the science, planning and the process of acquisitions for Dorfman’s former Museum’s (Carnegie Natural History Museum) upcoming exhibition, “Nature’s Rainbow,” illuminating diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. In this talk, Eric shares how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Knute “Mossback” Berger is Crosscut’s Editor-at-Large and host of the Mossback’s Northwest TV series on KCTS 9. He writes about politics and regional heritage. Previously he served as Editor-in-Chief of Seattle Weekly, Editor & Publisher of Eastsideweek, and as Managing Editor of Washington Magazine. He is Editor-at-Large for Seattle Magazine and has written two books, “Pugetopolis” and “Space Needle, Spirit of Seattle.” He is a regular commentator on KUOW-FM and a Rainier Club Fellow.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Q13 reporter Jennifer Lee, creator of The Wild West Newsletter, Eli Sanders, and Crosscut's editor-at-large, Knute Berger.

Another week, another shot at making sense of what life is like now with Crosscut's Knute Berger and Policy Campaign Manager at the Statewide Poverty Action Network Shaun Scott.Support the show by making a gift to KUOW: http://bit.ly/seattlenow

In a time of newsroom layoffs, hot takes, "fake news" and intense political polarization, it can be difficult to find in-depth journalism that takes the time to explore underrepresented communities or attempt to tackle the world's toughest questions. But Fred de Sam Lazaro is someone who's been doing just that for over three decades. Lazaro is the executive director of the Under-Told Stories Project, a journalism and teaching endeavor that documents the consequences of poverty around the world and the work being done to address them. He is an award-winning journalist who's been a correspondent with the PBS Newshour since 1985. He's reported from over 70 countries on topics such as labor, sex trafficking, public health and immigration, and directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle. He talks with Crosscut editor-at-large Knute Berger as part of the Communiversity series hosted by Centrum, a Port Townsend-based nonprofit arts organization. The event was held February 3, 2020, at the Salish Coast Elementary School.

Journalist John Dickerson tells us what it takes to succeed in the White House, why President Trump appears to be failing and whether Joe Biden would be any good. In the last few months Trump has been challenged by the kind of crises that demand leadership. Yet, the manner in which he has responded to the pandemic, civil unrest and economic collapse appears to have turned the electorate against him. Once a favorite for re-election, Trump is now more likely to join the handful of presidents who voters have ousted at the ballot box. A moment of apparent presidential failure is as good a time as any to discuss what a successful presidency might look like. On this week's episode of Crosscut Talks we are sitting down with Dickerson to do just that while talking about his latest book, 'The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency.' Plus, Crosscut's resident historian Knute Berger tells us why the top job in Seattle is no breeze itself.

Ross Reynolds reviews the week's news with Joyce Taylor, news anchor at KING 5, Kevin Schofield, writer at SCC Insight, and Knute Berger, editor-at-large for Crosscut.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Crosscut's editor-at-large Knute Berger, The Stranger's digital editor Chase Burns, and Joni Balter - host of the Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail.

As the world grapples with the spread of the novel coronavirus, another event from history has been invoked again and again: the so-called Spanish flu of 1918-19. While that pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people, took hold at a very different time in world history — the First World War was winding down — the similarities are striking. From a public contending with draconian public health measures to charlatans peddling unproven cures, both the Spanish flu and the novel coronavirus are tests of society’s ability to respond to a force that doesn’t easily bend to human will. But what happened after the earlier pandemic ended? Crosscut’s resident historian Knute Berger looks past the initial epidemic and talks about how the flu changed the culture of the United States, and Seattle in particular, for years afterward and what that might mean for a future after COVID-19.

Bill Radke talks the week in coronavirus news with Karen Weise of the New York Times, Marcus Green of the South Seattle Emerald, and Knute Berger of Crosscut.

In a time of newsroom layoffs, hot takes, "fake news" and intense political polarization, it can be difficult to find in-depth journalism that takes the time to explore underrepresented communities or attempt to tackle the world's toughest questions. But Fred de Sam Lazaro is someone who's been doing just that for over three decades. Lazaro is the executive director of the Under-Told Stories Project, a journalism and teaching endeavour that documents the consequences of poverty around the world and the work being done to address them. He is an award-winning journalist who's been a correspondent with the PBS Newshour since 1985. He's reported from over 70 countries on topics such as labor, sex trafficking, public health and immigration, and directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle. For the latest episode of the Crosscut Talks Podcast, he talks with Crosscut editor-at-large Knute Berger as part of the Communiversity series hosted by Centrum, a Port Townsend-based nonprofit arts organizations.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Civic Cocktail host Joni Balter, Crosscut editor-at-large Knute Berger, and The Stranger's digital editor Chase Burns.

Marcie Sillman reviews the week's headlines with Joni Balter, host of the Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail, Knute Berger, editor-at-large at Crosscut, and David Kroman, city reporter at Crosscut.

Greg, Brian, and Colin get inspired and (briefly) contemplate dividends before reading plant-based historian, Knute Berger's, latest listicle of "9 Seattleites You Should Know" from Seattle Magazine. Subscribe for access to all our premium episodes. https://www.patreon.com/seattlesucks

The idea of decolonization has been with us for as long as countries have laid claim to land already rich with people and an existing history. And generally it is thought of as the giving back of that land. But there is more to decolonization than mere acreage. As Edgar Villenueva argues, "decolonizing ... is about truth and reconciliation."When it comes to philanthropy, decolonization is especially complicated. While attempting to heal communities hurt by colonization, philanthropists can actually end up doing greater harm. What is needed is a process of acknowledging the truth behind many of these philanthropic efforts and reconciling the impact of the corporate power that fuels them. For this bonus episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, editor-at-large Knute Berger speaks with Villenueva about what it will take to do just that.A nationally-recognized expert on social justice philanthropy, Villenueva grew up in North Carolina and is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe. He’s also the author of Decolonizing Wealth, a book that proposes indigenous solutions to dysfunction and inequality in philanthropy and finance. Among other roles, he serves as chair of the board of directors of Native Americans in philanthropy and is a board member of the Andrus Family Fund, a national foundation that works to improve outcomes for vulnerable youth.This conversation was recorded at the KCTS 9 studios in Seattle on Nov. 19 as part of the Crosscut Talks Live series.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Liz Brazile and Knute Berger of Crosscut, and host of the Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail, Joni Balter.

Ross Reynolds reviews the week's news, live from the Capitol Theater in Olympia! With Rachel La Corte, reporter with the Associated Press, Knute Berger, editor-at-large at Crosscut, and Angela King, KUOW's Morning Edition anchor.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Knute Berger, editor-at-large for Crosscut, Joni Balter, host of Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail, and Nathalie Graham, staff writer at The Stranger.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with Knute Berger of Crosscut, Eli Sanders of the Stranger, and Joni Balter, host of the Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail.

Ross Reynolds reviews the week's news with Ashley Archibald, reporter at Real Change News, Marcus Green, South King County reporter at the Seattle Times, and Knute Berger, columnist at Crosscut.

Bill Radke reviews the week's news with C.R. Douglas, reporter at Q13 News, Knute Berger, columnist for Crosscut, and Joni Balter, host of Seattle Channel's Civic Cocktail.

Bill Radke reviews the week’s news with former Republican state representative and now Independent Chris Vance, Crosscut columnist Knute Berger, and co-founder of The Evergrey Mónica Guzmán

Host Dillon Honcoop welcomes longtime Seattle columnist Knute Berger to talk about bridging the urban-rural divide

Today on the show: creativity and geography. Salem Chamber Orchestra Files For BankruptcyLast month, the Salem Chamber Orchestra board announced the season would be cancelled because of financial difficulties. Now it has informed its musicians it will also file for bankruptcy.Frank Almond’s Famous StradivariusViolinist and concertmaster Frank Almond, the man behind the best-selling CD “A Violin’s Life,” will perform on Tuesday in Corvallis at Oregon State University and on Friday in Bend as part of the High Desert Chamber Music’s Spotlight Series.The real star of the show, though, is Almond’s famous, 300-year-old Lipinski Stradivarius. That Almond is playing it at all is a small miracle: a couple of winters ago, thieves tased him and ran off with the instrument, which is valued at $5 million to $6 million.Paige Powell’s Magnificent Ride Through New York CityWhen Portland native Paige Powell worked at “Interview” magazine in New York City in the 80s, she traveled in rarified circles. There were lunches with Bianca Jagger, dinners with David Bowie, late nights with Madonna, and an endless parade of parties with Andy Warhol. And she documented it all with her camera.When Powell moved back to Oregon, she put all the photos and videos in boxes and didn’t look at them for years. Now she’s showing them for the first time in a multimedia installation at the Portland Art Museum called “The Ride.” She gave producer Aaron Scott a tour.Marc Acito’s Broadway Breakthrough, Starring George TakeiThe life of the “Star Trek” actor-turned-civil rights activist is inspiring a new musical on Broadway. “Allegiance” tells the story of George Takei and his family, who were sent to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II. The New York “Observer” called “Allegiance” “fresh,” “original,” and “passionate.” And the play’s co-writer happens to be someone who worked in Portland for 20 years before returning to New York and Broadway: Marc Acito. We caught up with Acito between the play’s rehearsals.Liminal Wants To Offend You
Liminal Performance Group has a reputation for brassy, experimental, tech-rich theater productions, so we were intrigued when they announced that they were going to re-vamp a seminal anti-theatre work called “Offending the Audience” for “a modern age of pan-surveillance and fractured media self-reflections.”What happens when you slap a pandemonium of surveillance and interactive technology, plus nude interpretive dances, onto the 50 year-old play by Peter Handke? For our ongoing series “What Are You Looking At,” we invited James Engberg and Eric Kilgore to see the show. You might know them from a theater podcast and XRAY-FM show they hosted called “5 Useless Degrees & A Bottle of Scotch.”“Offending the Audience" runs through Nov. 22 at Action/Adventure Theater.Amazon Goes Old School With Brick And MortarLast week, while we were whooping it up at Wordstock, book lovers in Seattle were treated to the latest high-tech, new-fangled idea in e-commerce, cooked up by Amazon: the opening of a store. With books.From Seattle’s KUOW, Kate Walters reports on the retail giant's first permanent brick and mortar retail shop in Seattle. Then we call up Knute Berger, a writer for the blog “Crosscut” and “Seattle Magazine,” who wrote about the opening.Jazz Composer Darrell Grant's Oregon Sojourn
In 2012, pianist, composer and Portland State University professor Darrell Grant started work on a song cycle called “The Territory,” about his relationship with Oregon, its history, and its geography. “The Territory” premiered last January in New York, and it’s now being released on PJCE Records. Grant stopped by KMHD Jazz Radio this week to talk with Matt Fleeger about the genesis of the project in advance of a record release concert on Nov. 14 at the First Unitarian Church.

Seattle's multi-billion dollar Viaduct replacement tunnel is in trouble. The shaky waterfront Viaduct has settled into the loose soil. Buildings and streets above the new tunnel have sunk and cracks have appeared in some streets and foundations. Bertha, the tunneling machine, is stuck. Digging the deep pit in order to get access to the damaged drill head may be making things worse. How close is this project to getting tagged as a boondoggle.Crosscut writers Matt Fikse-Verkerk and Knute Berger join Steve Scher at Zeitgeist Coffee, just blocks from the troubled project, to ask, Is Bertha Toast?