humanities.org

Humanities Washington sparks conversation and critical thinking using story as a catalyst, nurturing thoughtful and engaged communities across our state. SPRING/SUMMER 2014

Big Ideas in Little Books Prime Time Family Reading brings discussion and family bonding to local libraries

ALSO INSIDE Robert Horton on Movie Adaptations • Page 4 | New Washington State Poet Laureate • Page 10 | Hope in Hard Times • Page 13 From the Executive Director INSIDE 5 QUESTIONS...... 4-6 Film critic Robert Horton discusses the variety of book-to-film adaptations, from The Godfather to The Shining. NEW PROGRAMS FOR 2014 COVER STORY...... 7-9 SET TO FOSTER LIFELONG LEARNING, Prime Time Family Reading brings underserved families together to discuss the humanities themes in children’s books. GOOD CITIZENSHIP PROFILE...... 10-12 Elizabeth Austen, the 2014-16 Washington State Poet Laureate, on her introspective works and goals as poetry In honor of Humanities Washington’s 40th Anniversary, Executive ambassador. Director Julie Ziegler announces three new programs IN THE FIELD...... 13-16 Hope in Hard Times: Washington During the Great Depression visits sites around the state in 2014. By Julie Ziegler | Humanities Washington executive director IN THE FIELD...... 17-19 Think & Drink brings provocative humanities conversations to pubs and tasting rooms around the state. s our world grows ever more complex, and personal we are asked to make increasingly lives, enabling WHY THE HUMANITIES...... 20-21 A WSU Vancouver professor Steven Fountain on how difficult choices. From where we buy our us to continually humanities discussions about tribal recognition have affected food to how we vote on state initiatives, our improve. The his community. decisions are influenced by a whirlwind health of our CALENDAR...... 22 of factors and can have profound global democracy, of our NEWS AND NOTES...... 23 impacts. But how are we to inform free institutions, ourselves and to be good citizens? 2013 ANNUAL REPORT...... 24-28 depends on a citizenry that ABOUT HUMANITIES WASHINGTON...... 30-31 Now, more than ever, we must work to preserve a society that values the lifelong values and pursuit of knowledge. prioritizes learning, Cover photo by Greg Lehman that actively seeks out different perspectives Layout and Design by Tarsha Rockowitz In an age of sound bites, the humanities and discusses constructively. Edited by Abby Rhinehart give us a chance to go deeper – to examine SPARK is published semiannually by Humanities a topic from multiple viewpoints, to share Every day, I meet Washingtonians who are Washington, 1015 8th Ave. N., Suite B, Seattle, WA 98109. committed to building community and Founded in 1973, Humanities Washington is the state’s complex stories of our past, to express our flagship nonprofit for public humanities programming. values, our concerns and our triumphs. to upholding the humanities. Our state Opinions expressed in Spark are those of the authors and do The humanities also help us hone our is full of people striving to better their not necessarily reflect the views of Humanities Washington, its trustees or its staff. Spark is distributed free of charge via abstract thinking, reasoning and creative neighborhoods and to better understand U.S. Mail and through a network of partner organizations impulses, inspiring new thought that can their neighbors. Humanities Washington throughout the state. For information about editorial content, sponsorship opportunities or to be added to the Spark propel us forward as individuals and as is honored to serve this state, providing mailing list, contact the editor at [email protected] a people. These skills aid us in our work broad access to educational opportunities or 206.682.1770. Copyright © 2014 Humanities Washington, all rights reserved. SPRING/SUMMER 2014 a look back at the terrific partners with to funding from the National Endowment whom we’ve worked and the projects we’ve for the Humanities, The Paul G. Allen undertaken over the years. On our blog, Family Foundation, the Wockner SparkMag.org, we’ll feature a series of Foundation and other private funders, we snapshots from our past, sharing stories will triple our reach with new partnerships that have helped shape the humanities in Port Townsend, Kennewick, Spokane, in Washington state. To receives updates Mukilteo and Monroe. We also plan to on this series and news from Humanities train additional professionals this spring so Washington, visit SparkMag.org and we may continue to expand across the state. subscribe under “Get Spark via Email.” None of this work in 2014, or the 40 With an eye to encouraging another 40 years preceding it, could have been years of great storytelling, we’ve created accomplished without YOU. Thank the Washington Stories Fund, a new grant you for your partnership and financial opportunity to encourage documentation support, both during our 2014 fall and distribution of the little-known stories fundraising appeal and before. It is of people or groups whose contributions because of you that we’re able to continue Families come together at the Prime Time Family Reading program, expanding to reach five communities this spring. add to the cultural richness of our to evolve to meet the changing needs of This mother and son participated in the 2012 Prime Time state. Unfortunately, because of cultural, our state. You are an essential part of our session in Lynnwood. | Photo by Adam Knight economic and geographic barriers, most state’s thriving cultural community. of us don’t experience the stories of those outside our social and professional circles. For the past 40 years, it’s been an honor in the most rural and urban areas of the to be a part of a community that so state and everywhere in between. The Washington Stories Fund will provide critical funding to help local cultural strongly values the humanities. We look In 2014, as we mark Humanities organizations share these stories, cast forward to another 40, and thank you Washington’s 40th anniversary, our constructive new light on current issues, for helping to make that possible! board and staff are reflecting on the past nurture compassion and understanding, With sincere appreciation, and looking forward (as any organization and – we hope – seed civic action. Our committed to lifelong learning should!), first Washington Stories Fund recipient and we are thrilled to draw your attention to will be announced in the fall. three key initiatives you’ll see unfold in In 2014, we will also dedicate significant the coming year: 40 Years of Washington Julie Ziegler, Executive Director Stories; the unveiling of a new grant resources to accommodate the rapidly opportunity, the Washington Stories Fund; growing demand for our Prime Time and dramatic expansion of our Prime Time Family Reading program. Prime Time uses Family Reading program. reading, storytelling and group discussion MORE ONLINE to build the reading skills of elementary All anniversary celebrations should school students as they explore cultural Sign up for Spark 5, our monthly include an opportunity to reminisce, and ethical themes in children’s literature. e-newsletter: and Humanities Washington is pleased to (For more on Prime Time Family Reading, see humanities.org/signup do this with 40 Years of Washington Stories, our story on page 7.) This spring, thanks

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 3 5 Questions

Gregory Peck as attorney Atticus Finch in the 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee’s Marlon Brando gave an iconic performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, a movie that adheres closely to the original book. based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. Horton describes the story as “a potboiler as a book, but pretty highly esteemed as a movie.” FROM THE PAGE TO THE BIG SCREEN Movie critic Robert Horton on adaptations fromThe Godfather to The Lord of the Rings and more

By Abby Rhinehart | Humanities Washington communications officer

obert Horton says books can have a Speakers Bureau, a roster of 29 cultural Robert Horton: Some of the most Rsecond life – and a third, and a fourth – experts and scholars that provides low- interesting are books that were not classics through film adaptations. cost, high-quality public presentations to begin with – in fact it’s a near-truism across the state. His talk, The Movie Mashup: that great books don’t make very good Each adaptation, the movie critic says, Wild Literary Adaptations on Film, is part of the movies, but great movies can often come reflects its times. “If you look at (the new slate of Speakers Bureau presentations adaptation of) Anna Karenina in the 1940s, from middling books. The Godfather is a available in 2014 (see page 6 for more on potboiler as a book, but pretty highly you see a tragic tale tinged by an era of war,” the new Speakers Bureau topics). he says. “If you see the 2012 version, you see esteemed as a movie. So that’s a rule of a postmodern take that doesn’t quite believe Horton shared his thoughts on the wide thumb to keep in mind. in its own fated love story.” variety of book-to-movie adaptations. But there are no real rules when it comes Horton is a film critic for The Herald Humanities Washington: What do you to adaptation: You can get good movies (Everett) and KUOW. He also travels the think are some of the more interesting by sticking close to the book, as with The state as part of the Humanities Washington adaptations out there? Maltese Falcon or To Kill a Mockingbird, and you

4 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 can get good movies by coming up with my own vision of the thing. These days, if something entirely new. A couple of the I’m going to see a movie adaptation, I will films in my (Humanities Washington) “The basic thing is that a movie usually avoid reading the book before I see talk, for instance, are hardly recognizable has to find a way to translate the it, so I can go in cold. in their sources: the sci-fi classic Forbidden essential mood, feel, idea of the source Planet, which is ingeniously inspired by HW: In 1924, Erich von Stroheim Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the beautiful into film language, which is an entirely famously tried to do a complete, literal 1943 horror film I Walked with a Zombie, which different animal than literature.” remake of the novel McTeague. The resulting uses Jane Eyre as its core idea but then creates film, Greed, was over nine hours long. Most its own world beyond that story. Certainly -Film Critic Robert Horton movies cut something from the book.1. So The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an impressive what tends to get left out and why?

Famous adaptions from book to screen (left to right): I Walked with a Zombie (1943); The Lord of the Rings (2001); The Shining (1980); O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); The Great Gatsby (1974 & 2013); The Maltese Falcon (1941). attempt to contain a sprawling epic, in (Herman) Melville’s seafaring tale Billy Budd Horton: The easiest answer is that which much is cut out despite over 10 hours and set it in the North African desert. That a picture is worth a thousand words, of movie time. film, Beau Travail, is a classic of its own. so a single shot can replace pages of description. Another big one is that But the basic thing is that a movie has to find HW: How does having read the source a way to translate the essential mood, feel, a novel can put us in the mind of a material affect how we watch an character, but a movie (unless it extensively idea of the source into film language, which adaptation? is an entirely different animal than literature. uses voice-over) does not – the movie Of course, I’m covering some of the crazier Horton: For most of us, I think it’s quite should create visual approximations adaptations (in my talk), so I include O Brother, powerful. If I’ve read a book, I do my best of what characters are going through. Where Art Thou?, which is supposedly based on to forget preconceived notions, but, let’s That’s why some directors find themselves The Odyssey by Homer. And it sort of is, but it’s face it – we all “see” a book as we’re reading throwing away pages of dialogue when they fun to see what the connections are. What’s it, sometimes right down to casting the realize an exchange of looks will say the truly exciting is when a first-rate artist takes main roles in our heads. Sometimes I’ve same thing. Stroheim believed strongly in a classic and then completely re-imagines it: had to watch a movie a second time to see realism (there are stories that he insisted on French filmmaker Claire Denis transplanted how good it is, just to be able to shake off authentic vintage underwear in his films,

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 5 despite the fact that no one would ever see it For titles that truly seem unadaptable, I SPEAKERS BUREAU ADDS on camera), so that might’ve had something think some radical approach is probably NINE NEW PRESENTATIONS to do with Greed’s original length. called for. In my talk, I’ll cover The French FOR 2014 Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles, which HW: Director David Cronenberg said, has a plot like a conventional nineteenth- Humanities Washington’s roster of traveling in an interview about his adaptation of century novel but is written in a modern presenters expands in 2014 to include new talks Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis, “You have to style that comments on its own story on topics ranging from the Civil War in cinema betray the book in order to be faithful – complete with three different endings! to the history of comic books: 2. to the book.” What do you think For the movie, screenwriter Harold Pinter Cronenberg means? • Hank Cramer, Through a Soldier’s Eyes: decided to make it about a movie company Wilson Cramer’s Civil War filming The French Lieutenant’s Woman – so Horton: He’s right. Because of the need to • Robert Horton, The Movie Mashup: Wild make a movie breathe with its own kind of the whole thing operated on a couple of Literary Adaptations on Film different levels, in an attempt to do what energy and language, everything should • Lance Rhoades, From Birth of a Nation to be rethought. The goal would be to catch Fowles had done with his literary style. Ken Burns: The Civil War in Cinema the spirit of the book, not every character Michael Winterbottom’s film of Tristram Shandy • Ratna Roy, Hinduism: A Way of Life in or scene. That can be difficult for authors tried a similar sort of approach. Washington to accept; Stephen King disliked Stanley But I actually do believe some books are • Amy Rubin, Women Composers: Their Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, but The better left on the page. The Great Gatsby Music and Their Stories Shining’s an amazing movie in a way the depends so much on the sound and • Anu Taranath, Not Just for Kids: What book can’t touch. rhythm of (F. Scott) Fitzgerald’s prose, it Children’s Books Can Teach us About the World HW: Why do filmmakers tackle seemingly translates poorly to the screen – at least • Andrew Wahl, Sequential Reaction: A when Baz Luhrmann tries it. History of the American Comic Book (New unadaptable books, like In Search of Lost Time; Speaker) The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman; • Shawn Wong, Defending Your Voice: or Mrs Dalloway? And how are some able to, Robert Horton reviews Teaching Soldiers How to Tell Their Stories against all odds, make a solid adaptation? movies for The Herald • William Woodward, The Gettysburg Horton: Maybe it’s the challenge, or maybe (Everett) and Seattle Gospel: Exploring Lincoln’s Famous Address the filmmaker is so in love with the material Weekly, as well as a number that it blinds him or her to how hard it would of national publications. His be to adapt that literary property. books on film include Billy Wilder: Interviews and MORE ONLINE Some ideas are absurd by their very Frankenstein, and he coauthors the zombie Western nature: It’s a Wonderful Life is based on a brief graphic novel Rotten. For more information, visit Christmas card, and so the screenplay humanities.org/speakers was an almost entirely new invention 1. Jonathan Rosenbaum, “The cruellest cut,” The Guardian, (which worked out pretty darned well). August 30, 2002, accessed December 4, 2013, http://www. JOIN THE SPEAKERS BUREAU Roger Corman made a whole string of theguardian.com/film/2002/aug/31/artsfeatures.film. 2. Dennis Lim, “Cannes Film Festival: David Cronenberg on movies based on very short (Edgar Allen) Adapting Unadaptable Books,” The New York Times ArtsBeat, Humanities Washington seeks applicants Poe stories or poems, which pretty much May 27, 2012, accessed December 4, 2013, http://artsbeat. for the 2015-16 Speakers Bureau. For blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/cannes-film-festival-david- meant concocting an original story. cronenberg-on-adaptingunadaptable-books. more information, see page 23.

6 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Cover Story

BIG IDEAS IN LITTLE BOOKS Prime Time Family Reading sparks discussion and family bonding in local libraries

By Abby Rhinehart | Humanities Washington communications officer

f you lost everything, what would you Another little boy said, “I’d like to save my Imiss most? money to get my sister here from Mexico.” That was one question, of many, that These families had gathered as part of the families tackled at the Spokane Valley Prime Time Family Reading program, Library last fall. That evening, they had held at libraries around the state and read the picture book A Chair for My Mother, sponsored by Humanities Washington. the story of a family who comes together Struggling readers between the ages of six after losing everything in a house fire and ten take home books each week and read to save their money for a comfortable them with their families. Then the families armchair. The slim children’s book come together weekly at the library for a meal, prompted families to discuss what they storytelling session and thoughtful discussion valued most and sparked the question: of the themes presented in the books. What would you buy if your family was going to save money together? Prime Time conversations go in whatever direction families choose. As Walla Walla One family remarked that they’d buy a Library Storyteller Janice King sees it, six-person bike to take rides together, the conversation leaders are “the catalyst said Spokane Valley Librarian for the community discussion,” rather Aileen Luppert. than lecturers or dispensers of knowledge.

Left: A mother and daughter enjoy A Sick Day for Amos McGee at the Walla Walla Public Library last fall. | Photo by Greg Lehman

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 7 When students read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type last fall, scholar Tod Marshall Children read along as they listen to A Sick Day for Amos McGee at the Walla Walla brought a typewriter to the Spokane County Library to help the story come alive; many of Public Library in 2013. | Photo by Greg Lehman the students had never seen one before. | Photo by Kirk Hirota

In Walla Walla, families took their the Humanities, as it set out to address discussion on A Chair for My Mother in intergenerational illiteracy; in 2012, a different direction, asking, “Whose “It’s a time of listening and sharing Humanities Washington decided to bring responsibility is it to take care of a family the curriculum to Washington state. if their house burns down?” King rather than instructing and learning … it puts everyone on equal footing … “What I like about this program is, in remembers, “One boy, I think he was addition to encouraging kids to read for six, got out of his chair and said, ‘It is and I think that that empowers pleasure, the kids have a chance to reflect everybody’s responsibility.’” children – and adults as well.” on these books, how they relate to their lives, and on cultural and ethical themes,” This year will be one of massive expansion -Prime Time Storyteller Janice King, Walla Walla for Prime Time in our state. This spring, said Ellen Terry, program director for Humanities Washington will launch Humanities Washington. new family reading sessions in Port At the Lynnwood Library in 2012, Terry Townsend, Kennewick, Spokane County, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the said, “One of the sessions was on Fanny’s Mukilteo and Monroe. It will also hold a Wockner Foundation and OneFamily Dream, so there was a spirited discussion training workshop this spring and plans Foundation makes this expansion about dreams, with questions like: What to hold additional sessions in the fall. possible. Prime Time began 23 years does happily ever after look like? What Support from individual donors, The ago with the Louisiana Endowment for does it look like in a fairy tale, and what

8 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 MORE ONLINE For more on Prime Time Family Reading, including sites for the program this spring, visit humanities.org/reading.

Above left: Students listen eagerly to the discussion at the family reading session at the Lynnwood Library in 2012. | Photo by Adam Knight. Above right: Two sisters gather around a picture book at the Spokane County Library in 2013. | Photo by Kirk Hirota. does it look like in real life? What does more comfortable using the library. “I treat. Marshall, who teaches English at a happy life look like? And if you have went in (to the Walla Walla Library) the Gonzaga University, wore his cap and dreams as a child, do they change?” other night to check out some things, and gown as he handed out diplomas and one of the families was there checking T-shirts to graduates of the program. Conversations don’t just take place in the out – I am not exaggerating – 15 books,” “It’s a time of listening and sharing rather libraries. One parent at the Shadle Library said King. in Spokane said that after attending Prime than instructing and learning,” King said. Time, when she and her child read at home, That impact is set to make kids into “What I really like about this program is “Now we talk more in-depth; (we’re) not just lifelong learners. “You get the sense that that it puts everyone on equal footing … reading the stories, but (also) focusing on if you have a library card, you get to find and I think that that empowers children – the deeper questions in the books.” out what you want to know, not what and adults as well.” other people want you to know,” King Another child, at the Shadle Library continued. “You get to say what you want session, said, “I like it because my mom to say, and not what other people want usually gets home at six and watches TV, you to say.” (but) now we read together.” Last fall at the Spokane County Library, The program’s impacts extend beyond its scholar Tod Marshall made the final six-week session, as participants become evening’s graduation ceremony a special

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 9 Profile

IN HER OWN WORDS New Washington State Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen talks with Spark about her winding path to poetry

By Jefferson Robbins | for Humanities Washington

Elizabeth Austen, the 2014-16 Washington State Poet Laureate. | Photo by Fat Yeti Photography

lizabeth Austen feared letting her poetry says. “I’m not the point. The point is the Now an advocate of the poem in several Eloose in public, until she realized she experience the audience has, and I’m only media — on the page, on the stage, on the was just its channel. fifty percent of that.” radio — Austen has learned to see herself as just one more of those media. Poetry is A stage actor for years before turning Named to the laureateship in February an interaction between poet and reader, wholesale to the written word, the Seattle to succeed Kathleen Flenniken, Austen after all, and poetry aloud entwines the poet never endured stage fright when assumed the role of state ambassador for reader with the listener. speaking lines from other writers. It was poetry, traveling the state with public requires about only her own work that scared her when readings and workshops to build awareness “Performance you, but it’s not you,” she says. “And that really liberated she tried to give it voice. and appreciation of poetry in Washington. me to understand that my job was to be “My mouth would go dry, my knees would Austen has been familiar to listeners of the instrument that introduced the poems shake, and it troubled me,” says Austen. “I Seattle’s KUOW as producer and into the room, but the audience had a couldn’t figure out why it was so completely voice of the public station’s poetry job as well … Every audience member different to perform my own work.” segments for thirteen years. There, experiences a slightly different poem, because of where they are.” Then, an epiphany — one of a handful that she’s shared and analyzed the work of have guided Austen to her appointment contemporary Northwest verse artists Perhaps the best example from Austen’s this year as the 2014-16 Washington State like Alice Derry, Christine Deavel, own work is “The Girl Who Goes Alone,” Poet Laureate: “It’s not about me,” she Derek Sheffield and others. from her 2011 collected volume Every Dress a

10 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Decision. Read onstage, it becomes a seven- At Freehold, Austen had written a trio of minute travelogue of the risks a woman poems that turned into a dance theater piece. must take — or is told she must take, by “We have lost something by offloading “I think that was where the light really came the men and authority figures in her the arts onto people who make it their on for me, of poetry as something powerful,” life — when going unaccompanied into the professions, and to reclaim the making of she says, and when she returned to Seattle world. And every reading yields some new from her walkabout, that was where she response from a listener. art as something that is deeply pleasurable, invested her energy. that is social, that is a conduit to a deeper “What I’ve been amazed at when I’ve She took up serious academic study of performed that piece is how often it’s men connection not only to the self, but each the form in master of fine arts studies at who come up and talk to me after, and other — that feels very urgent to me.” Antioch University in Los Angeles, and, tell me how the poem has helped them – Elizabeth Austen , understand more what it means to be a 2014-16 Washington State Poet Laureate woman,” she says. Austen grew up in southern California, raised in the Catholic Church — an managing director for Freehold Theatre, upbringing she now says contributed to a nonprofit acting studio. her sense of the power of language. Acting summoned her, and she worked onstage Then came one of those epiphanies. At and behind the scenes on sojourns living about age 30, Austen dropped everything in England, New Jersey and Dallas. and bought a one-way ticket to Quito, Ecuador. (Among the things she took with Austen moved to Seattle, sight unseen, in her was Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese,” 1989 and immediately felt at home both in with its opening admonition, “You do the city and its theater scene, working with not have to be good.”) It was a walkabout Book-It Repertory Theatre and the Seattle Shakespeare Company. She soon became across the South American terrain — like that undertaken in “The Girl Who Goes Alone” — to center herself and figure out how she could become the author of her Austen released a collection of poetry, own life. Every Dress A Decision, with Blue Begonia Press in 2011. “When you’re an actor, unless you’re generating your own material, you’re always in service of someone else’s vision or expression,” she says. “And that can be an amazing and beautiful thing. But

part of the reason why I left theater is I got Despite her background in theater, Austen had trouble really tired of not being the one who was reading her own poems aloud, at first. But now, Austen has overcome that stage fright and brings her acting skills generating the material.” to her poetry. | Photo by John Ulman

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 11 while there, netted the KUOW internship to adult audiences and participants, that led to her ongoing role at the station. hosting such workshops and discussions at local libraries and tribal centers The poems she went on to create are throughout the state. concerned with freezing moments and turning them over in the hand (“Not Yet,” “Really, the biggest challenge with teaching “Humans”), as well as exploring what place poetry to adults is that by the time we LEAVING people have in the world. come to adulthood, we have all been pretty much acculturated to stop doing things And more specifically, she studies the place we may think we’re not good at,” Austen THE ISLAND of women. Even the title of Austen’s 2011 says. “... My strong belief is that we have collection from Blue Begonia Press, Every lost something by offloading the arts onto Ferry From Orcas to Anacortes Dress a Decision, queries the expectations and people who make it their professions, and conditions placed on a woman. Poems to reclaim the making of art as something By Elizabeth Austen like “Problem Was” are both reflections that is deeply pleasurable, that is social, Washington State Poet Laureate, 2014–2016 and warnings against letting a man that is a conduit to a deeper connection determine one’s value: not only to the self, but each other — that “The more he talked — feels very urgent to me.” Mist-colored knots of sea glass. A moss-clot cadged from the trail’s edge. The truce his litany of needs, the catalog of my flaws, the chronicle fished word by word from beneath the surface, of his disappointments — it became a kind still unspoken. We carry what we found of lullaby, soporific, setting me adrift on the tundra ...” what we made there. Three days you and I let the currents direct our course, slept Austen’s poems first arrived in chapbook form in 2010 from Floating Bridge Press on cool sand, let woodsmoke flavor us. with The Girl Who Goes Alone, featuring an What’s left? Slow travel over cold water. earlier version of the title poem, and with the work of other poets in Sightline, from MORE ONLINE Toward home and days ordered by clocks Toadlily Press. Published the next year, Bring The Washington State Poet instead of tides. We watch through salt-scarred Every Dress a Decision went on to become a Laureate to your community: finalist for the 2012 Washington State humanities.org/poetlaureate Book Award in poetry. windows, hoping the dark shapes will rise beside us, will grace us. We know too well She’s also found ways to weave poetry into Watch Austen read “The Girl her work as online content strategist for Who Goes Alone”: what can’t be willed, only missed Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she sparkmag.org/tag/Elizabeth-Austen if we look away too soon. hosts workshops for fellow staff. In her two-year term as Washington State Poet Above: Many of Austen’s poems are rooted in the Western Washington landscape she calls home. | Photo Laureate, Austen hopes to bring poetry by Fat Yeti Photography

12 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 In the Field

FINDING HOPE IN HARD TIMES Traveling exhibit on the Great Depression connects local history to the present

By Jefferson Robbins | for Humanities Washington

ome spring’s end, Gwendolyn Haley Haley. “That’s exciting, to think about Chopes Spokane County residents will people making connections with their have a new view on their community. A own community’s past.” sepia-toned view, maybe a little dusty, like a Dorothea Lange portrait. Gwen Whiting, the Washington State Historical Society education specialist who Haley, a library services manager with curated the exhibit, wouldn’t have it any the Spokane County Library District, other way. wants to project her patrons back through the decades with Hope In Hard Times, the “This is such a personal history,” Whiting traveling exhibit about Washington in the says. “Sometimes studying history, you Great Depression that lands at the North talk about these periods that are very Spokane branch April 12. disconnected from people — but everybody has a Depression story.” Once they’ve walked through the paneled exhibit, which will take up part of the Hope in Hard Times: Washington During the Great library’s main floor, perhaps visitors will Depression is a 10-panel exhibit developed by the Washington State Historical seek out the places where Depression Two unidentified boys look for work in this image, “Pea history underlies the Spokane of today. Society and toured around the state by Pickers on the Move Near Auburn,” taken by Lt. Col. Humanities Washington. The exhibit Floyd H. Oles in 1938. The photo is a part of the Hope in Hard Times exhibit, in Eastern Washington this spring “At Riverside State Park, there was a will visit eight sites from 2013-15, having and summer. | Photos courtesy the Washington State Civilian Conservation Corps camp,” says already visited Clarkston, Port Townsend, Historical Society

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 13 “Breakfast Outside the Tacoma Commons Mission,” taken by Chapin Bowen in December 1930, highlights the resourcefulness of the Great Depression, as men use a wagon as a makeshift griddle.

Naselle and Burien. The exhibit will be yielding a succession of Democratic on display in Walla Walla at The Kirkman governors and legislative majorities. House Museum until April 6. “We wanted to tell the story When Whiting began her research in of the Great Depression not as this The Great Depression, the worldwide 2009 for the original incarnation of the economic collapse that gripped the United exhibit at the Washington State History overarching story, which is a pretty States from 1929 to 1939, was particularly Museum in Tacoma, she found the state dark story, with not a lot of bright spots. transformative in Washington. When it had reacted to the Depression not with We wanted to point out who the began, much of the central state was arid panic, but much like the proverbial frog and tough to farm; by its end, the Grand in a slowly heating kettle. regular, everyday people Coulee Dam was channeling irrigation were that were living it.” water throughout the Columbia Basin. “You kind of associate the Depression with -Gwen Whiting, Curator, Washington the stock market crash (in October 1929), Decades of Republican Party dominance State Historical Society collapsed in tandem with Herbert and the image your mind always goes to is: Hoover’s presidential administration, immediate hard times.”

14 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Instead, Washington seemed to live in But in the meantime, unemployment exhibit at the Washington State Historical denial, with The Seattle Times waving away the and homelessness lingered, giving rise Museum wrote their own memories or bad news with a large headline reading to the ad-hoc societies of “Hoovervilles.” thoughts on the Depression period on a “NO DEPRESSION.” But in truth, These temporary shantytowns sprung public bulletin board and even responded the state was suffering economically up nationwide, but Seattle’s nine-acre to each other’s postings. One child wrote even before the stock market crash settlement was the first, and perhaps the of hard times affecting the family; another due to declines in its agriculture and most durable. The community was built visitor wrote back, consolingly, “Things timber industries. The end of World from wood rather than cardboard, lasted will get better.” War I had shrunk the market for most from 1931 to 1941, and found ways to The exhibit has retained that intimate, of Washington’s exports, and it lacked serve its residents where local and federal individual touch as it travels. Community large-scale manufacturing to develop new authorities failed. members at the five sites to host the goods. Because our state was already in a “You had unemployed men building exhibit so far have built local displays with downturn, the initial effects of the Great a town, building a community, heirlooms and documents relating to Depression were less apparent. and instituting real reforms in that their communities, and events organized Actual job losses were slow in the community,” Whiting says. At one point, around Hope in Hard Times have elevated each town’s own struggles in the Depression. immediate wake of the crash, but at the “Hooverville Seattle was actually trying Depression’s lowest point, more than to build a college.” In Clarkston, the Asotin County Library a quarter of Washingtonians found History echoed around Whiting as her put on a “Be a Time Traveler Day” themselves without a source of income. work on the exhibit progressed. She began with a radio show and puzzle involving Bank failures grew so widespread and researching Hope in Hard Times during a state crushing that the Chamber of Commerce funding crunch that saw threats to defund in Tenino began minting its own the Washington State Historical Society redeemable currency, “Tenino scrip,” and its associated museum. She pressed putting some $10,000 in paper money on, uncertain if she’d still be employed to and, famously, wooden tablets into see the exhibit through. circulation from 1932 to 1933. As her work continued through 2011, As in other states, federal job creation the Occupy movement spread, with programs moved in to provide relief. activists and the disenfranchised taking Public works projects in the state included up Hooverville-style residence in public the Deception Pass Bridge and the Lake places nationwide. Tacoma’s own Occupy Washington Floating Bridge (which now forces based themselves in Don Pugnetti carries I-90), ultimately putting 54,000 Park, literally next door to Whiting’s people in the state back to work. Building museum workspace. the dam at Grand Coulee — which would eventually give power to the state’s new So the time proved right, in a national A chaotic scene from the Great Depression is captured in “Unemployed Resist Eviction of Family,” by Ronald aluminum smelting industry — required economic downturn, to talk about Debs Ginther in 1931. Though not professionally trained, the work of about 8,000 people over its Washington’s past experiences with Ginther painted scenes of the Depression that he witnessed firsthand as he wandered the Pacific Northwest nine-year construction. the same phenomenon. Visitors to the looking for work.

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 15 symbols historically used by hobos. In the display in the North Spokane Library; Port Townsend, the Jefferson County the library district is holding events and Historical Society hosted a discussion on outreach throughout the county. Locally the films of the 1930s. In Naselle, the organized doings include programs Appelo Archive Center focused on the of Depression-era music and speaking region’s roots as a logging community engagements at all 10 county libraries, plus and partnered with the local library. showings of the Ken Burns PBS miniseries In Burien, the Highline Historical The Dust Bowl and a visit from Northwest Society held a car show featuring 1930s journalist Timothy Egan, author of the automobiles and scheduled workshops on National Book Award-winning Dust Bowl family history and genealogy. One of the images in Hope in Hard Times, “Seattle history The Worst Hard Time. Hooverville” was shot by the teenage amateur At the Spokane County Library, volunteers photographer June Hayward Fifield in 1931. have contributed family heirlooms from “Although we have this basic text (of “We wanted to tell the story of the Great the region, like toys, an antique radio and the core traveling exhibit) for people to Depression not as this overarching story, reading material. Haley says, “I actually follow as a road map, the exhibit can be which is a pretty dark story, with not a lot of found some sheet music from the 1930s completely different and unique to any bright spots,” Whiting says. “We wanted to that had belonged to my grandfather, who community,” Whiting says. was a professional musician.” point out who the regular, everyday people The big picture of history, she’s found, is were that were living it,” letting the light of The Spokane exhibit isn’t just limited to really made of many, many small pictures. everyday triumphs shine through.

YOU CAN GO Hope in Hard Times: Washington During the Great Depression is a traveling exhibit exploring the adversity and triumph of everyday Americans during the 1930s, comparing the struggles of the era to those faced today. Upcoming Exhibit Locations & Dates:

The Kirkman House Museum North Spokane Library Sea-Tac International Airport Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum 214 N. Colville St. 44 E. Hawthorne Rd. 17801 International Blvd. 115 Lake St. S.E. Walla Walla, WA 99362 Spokane, WA 99218 Seattle, WA 98158 Ilwaco, WA 98624 Jan. 17 – Apr. 6, 2014 Apr. 12 – June 30, 2014 July – Oct. 2014 Oct. 2014 – Jan. 2015

MORE ONLINE For the latest on Humanities Washington’s Traveling Exhibit, visit: humanities.org/exhibits

16 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 In the Field

Attendees sip drinks and listen intently at Humanities Washington’s first Think & Drink, The Politics Behind Your Pint, in Seattle in 2011. | Photos by Mike Hipple DRINKING AND THINKING Talking consumer culture and other community topics in bars and tasting rooms

By Abby Rhinehart | Humanities Washington communications officer

eople congregated in the crowded bar, a Humanities Washington Think & Drink People had gathered not just to drink, but Ptalking animatedly over craft beers at event with University of Washington history to think – to think about how their choices Seattle’s Naked City Brewery & Taphouse professor Linda Nash and Seattle University are influenced by our culture and affect last December. Many were excited economist Meenakshi Rishi, moderated by the economy. KUOW’s Steve Scher. The event used the about their holiday shopping. But they To begin the conversation, Scher asked holiday shopping season as a jumping-off weren’t just there for the beer and the Nash and Rishi how the United States point to ask: How did America become a good company. had developed into a consumer society. consumer culture? And how does our The crowd had gathered for ‘Tis the Season: consumption affect the economy – and “One powerful way to assimilate has Holiday Shopping and the American Consumer Culture, our community? been to join the consumption frenzy,”

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 17 responded Nash. As immigrants poured Civil War, as the image of Santa Claus was Nash said, “Historians know that the into our country in the nineteenth popularized by a retailer. And as immigrant past never repeats itself … We’ve kind century, she said, many groups were groups began to assimilate, they also began of been lulled into a sense that the sort anxious to assimilate. They could do so to tie gift-giving to their own holidays, like of American ascendancy (in the mid- through language or work, but both of Hanukkah. Rishi added that this trend has twentieth century), when America was at those were fairly difficult to attain, as only increased with globalization, recounting the height of its power (and) was globally language learning takes time and jobs were that her relatives in India now give gifts dominant … we think that that moment often segregated. Or they could assimilate not just for Diwali, but also for Hanukkah, is going to continue to repeat itself, but through consumption – by buying and Christmas, Valentine’s Day and more. that was a unique historical moment, wearing fashionable “American” goods. and it’s over.” With enough money, anyone could dress After the conversation got going, the like a native-born American. audience began to chime in. The discussion continued, jumping from the proposed $15 minimum wage to the At the same time, department stores became “Is consumerism a bad word or just an environmental impact of consumption a safe place for women to congregate outside economic term?” one attendee asked. and more. (To listen to the full audio the home, said Nash, and young people found of the event, visit SparkMag.org/tag/ Rishi took a strong stance. “I don’t think places to socialize freely in stores and cafes. ConsumerismThink&Drink.) spending is bad at all,” she said. “The economic “Today it might be the mall, but back then it might’ve been Coney Island,” added Nash. model is driven by consumer spending. Animated discussions continued at tables Whether you choose to have five computers, or around the bar after the formal program The conversation moved to the tradition ten computers, it’s your choice … The economic had ended. Nash and Rishi mingled of gift-giving in the holiday season. Nash model says more is better than less. (But) do I with attendees, casually dropping in recounted how the practice grew after the believe in (that model)? No.” on conversations.

“What makes me a regular fan (OK … a groupie) of Think and Drink? Mix together time with family and friends, stimulating topics of conversation (often continuing after the event for days) and provocative panelists … Serve it up with some great Naked City beer and you’ve got a sense of place, a community gathering, reminiscent of coffee klatches and diners.” – Marcy Wynhoff, Seattle-based teacher Even after the event is over, participants stick around and keep the discussion going at a Think & Drink in Seattle in 2011.

18 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The event was one of 13 Think & (when I-522 was on the ballot). Other Abdelhamid. “With that diversity comes a Drinks that Humanities Washington Think & Drink events have tackled more responsibility on our behalf to address the put on last year. Program manager Zaki long-standing concerns, like the growth topics that affect the different cultures that Abdelhamid said, “Think & Drink brings of technology or the American healthcare make up our communities. I look forward the humanities to people where they system. The idea for Think & Drink came to having these conversations and learning already gather, sparking conversations from Oregon Humanities, which holds from the citizens of our great state.” on provocative topics in an environment similar events in Portland. “What makes me a regular fan (OK ... that is conducive to open discussion, In 2014, Humanities Washington will a groupie) of Think and Drink?” asked even on topics that might otherwise be Marcy Wynhoff, a Seattle-based teacher. take a different tack with the program uncomfortable to tackle.” “Mix together time with family and and offer a series of events, all centered friends, stimulating topics of conversation Think & Drink began in Seattle in on a theme: race, place and class. 2011 with an event on Prohibition, (often continuing after the event for days) Individual events will look at different and provocative panelists. Then throw corresponding with the release of the aspects of these issues in our state, from Ken Burns documentary on the subject. in KUOW’s Ross Reynolds, Steve Scher or the racial divide in schools to our state’s Marcie Silman. Serve it up with some great Since then, the program has expanded role in national and international civil Naked City beer and you’ve got a sense of to Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane. Past rights movements. place, a community gathering, reminiscent events have tackled current issues ranging of coffee klatches and diners.” from negative campaigning (during the “Washington is a state rich with diversity 2012 election) to marijuana legalization and cultures from all over the world,” said

YOU CAN GO Think & Drinks are offered at four locations around the state: Seattle Spokane Tacoma Yakima Naked City Lindaman’s Engine House Gilbert Cellars Brewery & Taphouse Gourmet Bistro No. 9 Tasting Room 8564 Greenwood Ave. N. 1235 S. Grand Blvd. 611 N. Pine St. 5 N. Front St. Seattle, WA 98103 Spokane, WA 99202 Tacoma, WA 98406 Yakima, WA 98901

Listen to the Think & Drink ’Tis the Season: Holiday Shopping and the American Consumer Culture: sparkmag.org/tag/ MORE ONLINE consumerism-think-and-drink For think & drink events: humanities.org/think-drink

Above: Conversation continues after the event at a Think & Drink at Naked City Brewery & Taphouse in 2011.

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 19 Why the Humanities? THE POWER OF TRIBAL RECOGNITION Bringing together communities and tribes in Southwest Washington with the humanities

By Steven Fountain | guest commentary

Sam Robinson (left) and Gary Johnson, both of the Chinook Indian Nation, present at the Native American History and Culture Symposium at Washington State University Vancouver last March. | Photo by Katrine Barber

he tears were perhaps inevitable. Though made tribes major players in the to the center stage. “Tell us what an audience Tthe snuffling and clenched tissues were environmental arena as well. Fisheries needs to know,” we told them. And they did. probably not the best gauges of understanding, management, casino proposals and poorly they did at least indicate we had arrived at a understood tribal rights and histories have all We invited Yakama, Cowlitz and Chinook rather uncomfortable moment. contributed to ongoing conflict among tribes tribal elders and council members to help and between members of our communities. explore effects of federal recognition. For The final night of the Native American It is a fight that mostly plays out in court cases three evenings in early March, they had carte History and Culture Symposium at and newspapers, presented with little blanche to inform an audience about what Washington State University Vancouver historical context or public discussion. recognition and their relationship with the in March 2013 demonstrated the distance federal government meant to them. The we had traveled in four days. Our central Over the course of our symposia at events were born out of many partnerships, subject, federal recognition, was perhaps a Washington State University Vancouver, we with Professor Katrine Barber and students less obviously emotional issue than Indian have sought to understand this conflict and from Portland State University; tribal elders boarding schools, our topic in past years. have highlighted the presence of Native and council members Johnson Meninick However, focusing on federal recognition, Americans in our community through (Yakama), Mike Iyall (Cowlitz) and Tony with the support of a Humanities Washington history, anthropology, literature, music, Johnson (Chinook); legal commentator Spark Grant, actually enabled us to continue psychology and film. We have asked how the Robert Miller (Lewis and Clark Law School); a trajectory into even more local, immediate experiences and images of Native Americans and historical commentator Andrew Fisher and controversial issues. have shaped our community and have sought (College of William and Mary). to better understand the ninth-largest urban The federal government’s official recognition Native American population in the United The first night began with members of the of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Chinook States using the humanities. Yakama Tribe describing the effect of federal Indian Nation’s ongoing quest for the recognition on their cultural history. The same have shaped the regional politics of This past year, we took a major step: We went Treaty of 1855, establishing the relationship Southwest Washington. Issues from salmon from inviting people from local tribes and between the tribe and the United States recovery to coal terminal proposals have organizations to participate to moving them government, centers on the rights of

20 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 continued access to hunting, fishing and communities and the university can mutually gathering places, and because of this, the very benefit from ongoing collaboration. The identity of Yakama peoples is rooted in those “Treaties negotiated but not ratified, conversations on Native American rights and the land. recognition granted and revoked, involvement in the school, begun around and the ongoing complications of humanities, have since extended into the The second evening began as members of the sciences, business, engineering, nursing and Cowlitz Tribe told a quite different story of tribal politics all demonstrated that education. Expanding our relationship with their long struggle for recognition and what history is clearly not past.” the Cowlitz Tribe, discussing how we might their tribe has been able to accomplish in the better serve one of our largest minority decade since they gained it. The ability to – Steven Fountain, WSU Vancouver history professor student populations, and reaching out to apply for federal grants has enabled the Native American communities in Oregon Cowlitz Tribe to extend health care, housing and Washington are all simultaneous long- and transportation to tribal members and open discussions about culture, knowledge, term efforts, the results of humanities-based the surrounding communities. education, psychology, economics and discussion. They speak to the power of the politics. Getting to know each other as The third night brought the story of the brief humanities to spark tough conversations, individuals brought home how much the build relationships and, ultimately, months of Chinook Tribal recognition and daily experiences of Native Americans living make change. the sudden reversal of that decision in 2001. in Southwest Washington depend on the To kick off the bicentennial of the Lewis and legacies of the past. Treaties negotiated but It may result in discomfort or even tears, Clark Expedition, the Bush administration not ratified, recognition granted and but it is time for all of us to begin talking featured the Chinook Tribe alongside others revoked, and the ongoing complications of with, working alongside, and listening in a White House luncheon. A lame duck tribal politics all demonstrated that history is to our neighbors. Clinton administration had extended clearly not past. recognition to them only the year before, based in part on the tribe’s history since the By the time we arrived at our fourth evening, winter of 1805-06 when it helped Lewis and all understood that there were still entire Steven Fountain is Clark’s Corps of Discovery survive. Two days worlds left to explore and appreciate. Several professor of history later, while tribal representatives were still in students and community members have at Washington State the capital, the announcement came that the since approached me to ask what they can do University Vancouver, Chinook Tribe had been “unrecognized.” to further understanding. Tribal members where he teaches classes on The arbitrary decision meant loss of access to have repeatedly expressed appreciation for early American history, health and loan programs and, perhaps more the opportunity to tell their stories and hopes environmental history, importantly, loss of the acknowledgement that that we can continue to collaborate. the American West Chinooks were who they said they were. Attendees agreed that without civil discussion and Native American and the respectful consideration of stories, history. He is an affiliate Each evening, after the presentation, we we have little hope for progress. of the Plateau Center for American Indian Studies in gathered around tables for family-style meals Pullman and is a 2013-14 Washington State University and intimate group conversations, meeting Washington State University Vancouver has Vancouver Faculty Diversity Fellow, working to increase people face-to-face, asking questions and taken up that challenge and has been cooperation and collaboration with Native American explaining views. Over a shared dinner, reaching out to tribes and Native American communities in Western Washington. student facilitators and tribal members led organizations to actively explore how these

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 21 Calendar JOIN US! A selection of upcoming Humanities Washington events

March 14–30 April 17 May 15 THE KENTUCKY CYCLE FIRE AND FORESTS, EAST OF THE MAPPING LATINO MUSICAL CASCADE DIVIDE MIGRATIONS BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – This sweeping epic of three families in eastern Kentucky ROSLYN – Photographer John Marshall will RICHLAND – In this hands-on experience spans 200 years of American history, from lead a discussion on the past philosophies led by musician and educator Antonio 1775 to 1975. Bainbridge Performing Arts and future policies regarding forest fire Davidson-Gómez, participants will play will put on outreach events around the play, management in Eastern Washington. All of instruments from U.S. Latino and Latin including round-table conversations and Eastern Washington’s vulnerable forests will American traditions and literally “connect film and book tie-ins. inevitably burn. The question for us is: How the dots” on a map to see how Latinos do we want them to burn? have contributed to popular music in the United States.

March 22–23 June 19 SEQUENTIAL REACTION: A ONE TRAIL, MANY VOICES: HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN SONGS OF THE OREGON TRAIL COMIC BOOK PASCO – The version of the Oregon Trail LYNDEN, BELLINGHAM, FERNDALE – journey that most of us learned as children This interactive, multimedia presentation will presents hardy, American-born pioneers trace the history of comic books, from their heading west for adventure. The truth is far Golden Age in the 1930s and ‘40s to the different. Folksinger and storyteller Hank digital revolution of today. Journalist and Cramer will share the traditional folk songs comic-book historian Andrew Wahl will of the diverse groups of emigrants on the lead us in a conversation about the history Oregon Trail and explore how migration of comic books as an art form, an industry, via the trail affected the travelers, their songs and a lens for exploring American culture. and the culture of the Pacific Northwest. Photo by John Marshall

More information about these events, along with a complete MORE ONLINE calendar of Humanities Washington activities (sortable by region): humanities.org/calendar

22 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 News & Notes NEWS & NOTES Humanities Washington Compiled by Humanities Washington staff Launches the Washington Stories Fund

In 2014, Humanities Washington will introduce a new grant opportunity, the Bedtime Stories Seattle Washington Stories Fund. The fund aims and Spokane to broadly share the little-known stories of people and communities that enhance the Dates have been set for our Bedtime Stories fundraisers, two cultural richness and health of our state. nights of food, wine and words featuring local authors unveiling Humanities Washington will work with original works written specifically for the events. Bedtime Stories existing cultural groups and organizations to Seattle will be at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel Oct. 3; Bedtime source and share these stories by providing Stories Spokane will be at the Spokane Club Oct. 17. matching grant funds to qualified projects. MORE ONLINE Thank you to the Lenore and Charles Hale Family Fund for their leadership gift and Check our website (humanities.org) and blog (SparkMag.org) Photo by Lynette Johnson to the 50 donors who have contributed to this summer for more information and tickets. make this initiative a reality. MORE ONLINE: To learn more about the Washington Welcome New Staff Stories Fund, visit humanities.org/ Seeking Speakers WashingtonStoriesFund Humanities Washington welcomes three Bureau Applicants new staffers to our team! We are thrilled to have George Abeyta, our new development Humanities Washington is seeking coordinator; Courtney Czarnecki, our applicants for our Speakers Bureau program coordinator; and Paige Spicer, program. Speakers Bureau is a roster of 40 Opportunity Grants our database administrator, in our offices. cultural experts and scholars that provides low-cost, high-quality public presentations Former Development Coordinator Chase In honor of our 40th anniversary, Clancy and Communications Director across the state, encouraging audiences to think, learn and engage in conversation. Humanities Washington will distribute 40 Andrew Wahl have moved on to new Opportunity Grants in 2014 to projects all ventures, and we wish them all the best. Applications for the 2015-16 roster of arounf the state that spark conversation speakers are due April 25. and critical thinking. Opportunity grants MORE ONLINE are available year-round and do not Visit humanities.org/about/staff for MORE ONLINE require a funding match; organizations more information. For more information on our Speakers may request up to $1,000. Bureau program, including how to apply MORE ONLINE to be a 2015-16 speaker, visit For more on Humanities Washington’s grants humanities.org/speakers program, visit humanities.org/grants.

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 23 HUMANITIES WASHINGTON 2013 ANNUAL REPORT

2013 ANNUAL REPORT

To accompany Humanities Washington’s traveling exhibit, the Participants enjoy themselves at a Speakers Bureau talk in Asotin County Library hosted a “Be a Time Traveler” day with Bellingham in 2013. | Photo by Adam Knight OUR MISSION: puzzles for children. | Photo by Rochelle Feil Adamowsky Humanities Washington sparks conversation and critical thinking using story as a catalyst, nurturing thoughtful and engaged • The Speakers Bureau brought more We are honored to have your steadfast than 200 conversations to museums, support. We could not have accomplished these communities across our state. libraries and community centers around programs without you, and for that we are the state on topics like human trafficking very thankful. and historical fiction. ast year was one of growth and Please follow us at humanites.org and Lachievement for Humanities Washington. • Our Traveling Exhibit, Hope in Hard Times, SparkMag.org for upcoming events Following a rigorous strategic planning visited several museums and libraries and information about the work of process, in which we redeveloped our mission throughout the state. It encouraged each Humanities Washington. statement and put story and conversation at community to compare the struggles of the the core of ourw ork, we continued to evolve 1930s to those faced today. our programs to reflect that mission. • Think & Drink brought programming to unexpected venues and new audiences In this annual report, we are excited to Cynthia Wells in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima and Board Chair share our 2013 program accomplishments Tacoma. Topical issues such as with you: healthcare, urban planning and the • The new Prime Time Family Reading Latino experience sparked lively Humanities Washington is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit program was expanded to several parts of discussions. organization in Washington state. the state to bring families together and • The 2012-14 Washington State Poet use reading and storytelling to explore Laureate, Kathleen Flenniken, ethical and cultural questions. inspired awareness and appreciation of • created opportunities for people poetry with public readings and Grants workshops throughout the state. MORE ONLINE throughout the state to come together and use the humanities to promote critical Humanities Washington is honored to have Extended version of this thinking around important community served the state of Washington for 40 years, Annual Report and reports issues. Examples of these programs include and we look forward to being a crucial force from previous years: discussions of tribal recognition in Vancouver for promoting the importance of humanities.org/annualreports and community engagement in Spokane. humanities in the coming decades.

24 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 2013 ANNUAL REPORT HUMANITIES WASHINGTON

Administration $92,347 YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN: (8.6%) THANK YOU TO OUR Fundraising 2013 TOTAL $167,028 2013 SUPPORTERS! (15.6%) EXPENSES: $1,069,421 Programs Our friends and supporters help Humanities Washington $810,046 nurture thoughtful and engaged communities by ensuring we (75.8%) can continue to provide free or very low-cost programming in all corners of the state.

$35,000 AND ABOVE Hagan Foundation Center for the Humanities Lucia and Leo Huntington U.S. Bancorp Foundation Lenore and Charles Hale Family Fund† at Spokane Community College Inland Northwest Council of Libraries UW College of Arts & Sciences and National Endowment for Humanities Tammy Miller Steve Kessel and Sibyl Frankenburg English Department The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Pacific Continental Bank* Larry Kinner and Dolores Hecht* UW Simpson Center for the Humanities Wockner Foundation Ned and Susan Palmer† Whittnee and Kevin LaChapelle Vijay and Sita Vashee Mary Pembroke Perlin and David Perlin† Dan Lamberton and Linda Andrews* Elizabeth Welty $15,000 TO $34,999 Mary Pigott Susannah Malarkey* Witherspoon Kelley Jane and Jay Reich*† Edward Marquand and Annette and James Woolsey Amazon.com John and Lyn Roth* Michael Longyear* Lynn Hubbard and David Zapolsky The Boeing Company Safeco Insurance Sue McNab* Bryon and Julie Ziegler State of Washington Garth and Drella Stein Jeff and Eileen Nave The Spokesman-Review* Nancy Nordhoff and Lynn Hays $500 TO $999 $5,000 TO $14,999 Wells Fargo Private Bank Shaun O’ L. Higgins and Ann Glendening Lori and Dean Adams Kenneth and Marleen Alhadeff Bridget and Paul Piper* Kellie Bond† Linda Breneman and Eric Strand $1,000 TO $2,499 Suzanne and John Poppema John and Patsy Burgess D.V. and Ida McEachern Charitable Trust Alaska National Insurance Company David Powers and Ann Chasanov Elizabeth Burroughs David Skinner and Catherine Eaton Skinner† Ashley Andrew Tom and Anna Rudd† David Byrne Bunker and Larry Frank Michael Bauer Gary and Mariesa Stokes Kris and Andy Dinnison William and Elizabeth Frank John Baule* Cyndi and John Upthegrove David and Janet Freece* Virginia Hislop† John and Connie Bloxom† OneFamily Foundation Sue Bradley PEMCO Insurance Carol and Jonathan Buchter* Addi Brooks and Bob Pennell* Bruce Burgett* Judy Pigott Mary Carr* 105,033 Red Lion Hotels Corporation* Jane and Terry Chadsey people served Cynthia Wells and Tim Kerr*† Bill and Patty Degroodt Jane Dudley $2,500 TO $4,999 Ruth and Alvin Eller† If we have inadvertently omitted you from this list or Avista Foundation Ellen Ferguson miscategorized your contribution, please accept our BMO Private Bank Foster Pepper PLLC apologies and contact Development Director KayLee Jaech Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Garde Capital at (206) 682-1770 x103 or [email protected]. Karen and Tom Ellick* Debra and Chuck Holland* A.J. Epstein* Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation † Denotes donors to the Washington Stories Fund. * Denotes a combination of cash and in-kind support.

SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 25 HUMANITIES WASHINGTON 2013 ANNUAL REPORT

Ellen and John Buchanan† Carol Burkhart† Ginny Butler When asked if a Humanities Washington Marité Butners Barbara Callander program sparked meaningful discussion, the Robert and Eleanor Carriker average participant responded Tony Case and Betsy Hale† STRONGLY Sarah and Tim Cavanaugh AGREE, rating the event a Jeanne and Wayne Chabre† 5.4 out of 6. SJ Chiro Suzanne Cohen Anne Coldwell† Frank Coldwell† Joanne Gordon Elise Fortin UP TO $249 Patricia Coldwell† William and Margaret Coldwell† Greater Everett Community Foundation Friends of the Library of Walla Walla Jennifer and Stephan Albright Richard Conway Samuel Green Paul Haas Richard and Cindy Algeo Nancy Cope† Joyce and Donald Joy Nina and Darrell Hallett Barbara and Kerry Anderson David and Ann Cordero Kristi Kosmata Phyllis Hatfield Beth Bacon Carolyn and Eric Cox Paul Lawrence Keri Healey Rebecca Baker Jeanne and Tom Crisp Bob and Cindy Masin Sandra Hill Connie Bantz Jane Crowley Reba McIntyre Cyndy and Tom Israel Roy Barsness† Sharon Cumberland Mark McLaughlin Chris Jahrman and Lisa LaBard Harriet Baskas Doralee Dahlke Joan Penney* Charles Kerr Erica Bauermeister Joan Daugherty Cynthia and Roger Petrie Dr. Betty Kiemle Rylan Bauermeister Julie and Daniel Davis Ronit and Colin Plank Allen and Kristie Kirkpatrick M. Colette Belusko† Dean Davis Posner-Wallace Foundation Wendy Laird and Paul Owen Dawn and Randall Bennett Kathleen and Christopher Day John and Cynthia Purdy Marie Lauritano Allen and Judith Bentley Robin and Gary Dearline Elizabeth Romney and Jim Giles Peggy Lewis Ella Berg Silver Denton Colleen Rozillis Stephanie and Krista Mann Teresa Bigelow Gerald and Patty Dicker Eric Sanders Mary Anne and Chuck Martin Merrill Black Rebecca and Todd Dickerson Barry Scovel Eric and Marina McVittie Anne and Wayne Blair Elsa and Daniel Distelhorst Jim Sheehan Sharyn and Jack Merrigan Kristin and Gerald Blalack Susan Dittig and James Gore† Maggie and Doug Walker Linda and Larry Milsow Peg and Darrell Blue Wayne and Lawrence Dodge Anne and Jess Walter Russell and Diana Nickel Jo-Ellen Bois-Smith and Gregory Smith Mary Edwards Karen and Peter Westwood Steve and Susan Poquette Catherine Bombico Scott Elliott Anne Winkes Jane Repensek Betty Bostrom Deanna Ensley Ann Wyckoff Sharma Shields Cassidy Boyd Fadel Erian Marcia and Klaus Zech Nancy Strom Gina Boysun Kasey Essex Helen and Ed Stusser Mindy Breen Eckhard and Susan Fischer $250 TO $499 Gayle Terry and Gregory Reese Frances Brewer Kathleen Flenniken Mary Alberts Jeanne and Tom Thorsen Natalie Brody† Connie Fletcher Dean Byrd and Jean Evans Dr. Mel Trenor and Dr. Deborah Nedelman Sylvia Brown Darren Focareta Kim Crompton Robin Updike Becky Bruhn Lee Fowler Stephanie and Krista Dallas Brad Hinckly and Curtis Vredenburg Cathy and Phil Davis Meredith and Peter Wagner Dayton Historical Depot Society Carol Wallace Steve Dunnington Jan Walsh* Margaret and Tom Easthope Kathie Werner 190 Anne and Aaron Epstein Debra and Arthur Westwood Frank Woodruff and Jan Agosti books given out to families Jane Floyd at Prime Time Family Reading

26 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 2013 ANNUAL REPORT HUMANITIES WASHINGTON

George and Marlene Fox Donald Frothingham Jr. and Ann Frothingham† Kai Fujita Jean Furcht† Bill and Pamela Galvani Patty Gates 711 130 Stephen and Sue Gattis events held Lee Ann Gekas cities served Mary Giannini each year Irene Gleason across the state Gary Graham Kathleen Grainger† Susun Hosford Pamela McClaran and Don Evans Tim Ross Beverly Gunstone Roy and Elizabeth Hoover† Robert McCormic Nancy and John Rossmeissl Charles Hale† Beth Hudson† Irene McCoy Margret Rowland Jocelyn Hale and Glenn Miller† Susan Huth James and Mary McCue† Jeanne Ryan Denise and Thomas Harnly Deborah J. DeMars Patrick McEvoy Cynthia Salzman Richard Hart KayLee and Joe Jaech Julee McTaggart Larry and Neomah Scharps Nancy Hawley Elizabeth Joffrion Mannyy Mederos Kirk and Debbie Schmick Steve Hayes Elisheba Johnson Mary Metastasio Beki Schmidt Robert and Renee Hazen Bryan and April Kelley Susan Meyers Judith Schoepflin Mary Heath Diane Kenny† Miriam and Phillip Meyerson Mark and Leslie Schwisow Heinz and Sue Hecht Tracy Kerr Thomas Moak Karla Sclater Teri Hein Sallie Kessey Karen Mobley Laurel Sercombe Ila Hemm Erin and John Kinney Steve and Sydney Moe Marie and Richard Sever Maureen and Patrick Herward Ruth Kirk Kathy Monkman Scott and Linda Severs Kristopher Hill Jeanne Kohl-Welles Chris Moore Marilyn Severson Wim and Carol Hol Joe Korus Cecilia Moore Norma and Peter Shainin Douglas and Trish Honig Christie Kovarik Janet and Jerry Mueller Michael Shapiro Donald and Lynda Horowitz Jen Werdell and Eric Krieger Jane Murphy† Margaret Sharkey Linda and George Lamb Ellen and George Naden Parveen Sharma, M.D.† Carolyn Lamberson Douglas Nelson Boyd and Mikki Sharp, Jr. Donna Larson Stephen and Sue Nevler Ken Shear Steven Lee Carrie Norton† Patty and David Shelledy Marlene LeMire Joyce Ogden Jane Silver Chris Leyden† Colette Ogle Eva Silverstone Amanda Licorish Sharon Oliger Grant and Lelia Smith Karen Liere Naomi and Paul Pascal Jennifer Smith, Ph.D.† Annette Lilly† Savitha Pathi Ernest and Ruth Solowan Vern Lindblad Cindy Phillips Todd Sommers Mark Lindquist Brent Ponton John Spady Barbara Loste Molly Quinn Richard and Wendy Spaulding Carolyn Louthian Angela Rasmussen Paige Spicer 94% Julie and Daniel Malarkey Gwen Rawlings Robert Stacey Christopher and Margot Malarkey Molly Reed Roderick Stackelberg of our partners said Tod and Amy Marshall Andrea Reid Carolyn Starr Bill and Judy Matchett Caroline Rex-Waller David Stasney Humanities Washington Kathy Maxwell Dr. Lara Riley and Dr. Mark Brown† Sally States† Melissa McCabe Jean and Alice Ritchey Wendy Stauff helped meet a need Kevin and Charlie McCandlish Linda and Tony Robinson† April Steg in their community Carey Ann McCarthy Richard and Melvina Romanelli Yolanda Stein

SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 27 HUMANITIES WASHINGTON 2013 ANNUAL REPORT

MAKING IT HAPPEN: 2013 PARTNERS Collaborating to Engage Communities in Every Corner of the State

A Poet At Your Table • Aberdeen Timberland Regional Library • Aegis Living of Kent • Aegis of Bellevue American Society of Civil Engineers • Anacortes Public Library • Appelo Archives • Archbishop Murphy High UP TO $249 (CONT’D.) School • Asia Pacific Cultural Center • Asotin County Library • Auburn Library, King County Library System• Auntie’s Judy Stone Bookstore • Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center • Bayview Retirement Community • Bellevue Library, King Amanda Swain County Library System • Bellingham Public Library • Blind Dog Books • Book-It Repertory Theatre Broadway Center Elaine and Jim Sweet for the Performing Arts • Burien Library, King County Library System • Calling All Poets Series • Cama Beach State Park • Cascadia Community College • Centralia College Centralia Timberland Library • Centrum • Children’s Harold Taw and Katie Hong Museum of Tacoma • Chuckanut Writers Conference • City of Redmond • Clallam Bay Branch, North Olympic Delma Tayer Library System • Clark County Historical Society and Museum • Colton Branch, Whitman County Library Prof. Janelle Taylor Columbia Basin College • Concrete Chamber of Commerce • Connell Elementary• Contemporary Arts Alliance Terry Tazioli Copper Canyon Press • Cowlitz County Historical Society and Museum • Darvill’s Bookstore • Dayton Memorial John and Elizabeth Terrey Library, Columbia County Rural Library District • Douglas County Historical Society • Duvall Library, King County Library System • Eastern Washington University Edmonds Branch of the American Association of University Women Ellen Terry Edmonds Community College • EMP Museum • Endicott Branch, Whitman County Library • Engine House No. 9 Prof. Lynn Thomas Entiat Public Library, North Central Regional Library • Eugene Public Library • Everett Public Library • Fairwinds Kathleen and David Thorne Brighton Court Retirement Community • Fairwinds Brittany Park Retirement Community • Fairwinds Redmond Martha Tofferi Retirement Community • Federal Way Library, King County Library System • Fort Okanogan Interpretive Center Freeland Library, Sno-Isle Libraries Friends of Lacey Timberland Library • Friends of the Bonney Lake Library Kathryn Van Sanden Friends of the Buckley Library • Friends of the Mukilteo Library • Friends of the Oak Harbor Library • Friends of the Johanna and Rick Vanderlee Port Townsend Public Library • Friends of the Puyallup Public Library • Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Lisa and Sam Verhovek Refuge • George Community Hall • Gig Harbor Pierce County Library • Gig Harbor Welcome Club • Gilbert Cellars Shawn Vestal Glacier Middle School• Gonzaga University Grantham Elementary School • Greater Kent Historical Society Harbor History Museum • Harstine Island Community Choir • Harstine Island Community Club • Hedgebrook Andrew Wahl Highline Community College History Department • Highline Historical Society • Immanuel Presbyterian Church Kathryn Hamilton and Steve Wang Issaquah Library, King County Library System • Jack Straw Production • Jefferson County Historical Society Karen Warrick Jefferson Land Trust Geology Group • Jefferson Land Trust Natural History Society • Jet City Shows • Jewish Family Barbara Waxman Service • John Muir Elementary • John Rogers PTA Joint Base Lewis-McChord • Kent Library, King County Library James Weller† System • Key City Public Theatre Kirkland Library, King County Library System • Kirkland Performance Center Kittitas County Historical Museum • Kron • KUOW • Lacey Timberland Library • Lake Chelan Historical Society Janet Wells Lakewood Pierce County Library • Langley Library, Sno-Isle Libraries • Larson Gallery Guild Lewis County Historical Constance Wentzel† Museum • Lindaman’s Gourmet Bistro • Literacy Source • Lopez Island Historical Society • Lopez Island Library Ann Widditsch Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities • Lower Columbia College • Lynden Pioneer Museum • Maryhill Museum David Williams of Art • Mead High School Methow Arts Alliance • Methow Conservancy • Mirabella Seattle • Mirror Stage Company Monroe Library, Sno-Isle Libraries • Moses Lake Museum & Art Center• Mukilteo Library, Sno-Isle Libraries Verne Windham Museum of History & Industry • Museum of Northwest Art • Naked City Brewery & Taphouse •Newcastle Library, Marcy Wynhoff King County Library System • Nordic Heritage Museum • North Mason Timberland Library • Northwest African Janet Yoder American Museum • Northwest Film Forum • Northwest Folklife • Northwest Indian College • Okanogan County Historical Society • Olympia Timberland Library • Onalaska High School • Orcas Island Historical Museum Orcas Island Public Library • Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Washington •Oyez Roslyn! • Pacific IN-KIND Beach Elementary School • Palouse Branch, Whitman County Library • Panorama Retirement • Pantages Theater AlphaGraphics Penn Cove Water Festival • Phinney Neighborhood Association • Pioneer Human Services • Poetry Out Loud • Port Chateau Ste. Michelle Angeles Main Library, North Olympic Library System • Port Townsend Public Library • Port Townsend Marine Peninsula Truck Lines Science Center at Fort Worden State Park• Quincy Valley Historical Society and Museum • Rainier Valley Historical Providence Health & Services Riddell Williams P.S. For a complete list of our partners, visit humanities.org/about/annual-reports/partners2013

Each dollar you donate is matched by 2X the National Endowment for the Humanities 28 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING SPONSORS:

WOCKNER FOUNDATION

THANK YOU TO OUR PUBLIC FUNDING PARTNERS:

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 29 ABOUT HUMANITIES WASHINGTON

As the state’s flagship nonprofit for the humanities, our work brings people together to learn about their unique pasts and shared present, promotes respect for other perspectives, encourages community dialogue and nurtures relationships that enable us to move toward a more prosperous future. By acting as a catalyst and facilitator, we support and partner with a wide network of communities, organizations and individuals across the state. Together, we provide low- or no-cost, high-quality cultural and educational programs that engage audiences in conversation, civil discourse and critical thinking.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES STAFF CONTACT US Cynthia Wells, Chair Julie Ziegler, Executive Director Humanities Washington John Baule Eric W. Sanders, CPA, Associate Director 1015 8th Ave. N., Suite B Jonathan Buchter Seattle, WA 98109 Bruce Burgett KayLee Jaech, Development Director 206.682.1770 Mary Carr Ellen Terry, Program Director David Freece Zaki Abdelhamid, Program Manager humanities.org Debra Holland Abby Rhinehart, Communications Officer Elizabeth Joffrion SparkMag.org Larry Kinner Paige Spicer, Database Administrator Dan Lamberton George Abeyta, Development Coordinator Humanities Washington Ed Marquand @HumanitiesWA Sue McNab Courtney Czarnecki, Program Coordinator Mary Pembroke Perlin Humanities Washington is a Joan Penney 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization David Powers in Washington state. Jane Reich John Roth Gary Stokes Jan Walsh

30 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine SPRING/SUMMER 2014 OUR MISSION Humanities Washington sparks conversation and critical thinking using story as a catalyst, nurturing thoughtful and engaged communities across our state.

OUR PROGRAMS

BEDTIME STORIES is an annual literary THINK & DRINK brings hosted celebration featuring critically acclaimed conversations on provocative topics and Northwest writers unveiling new short new ideas to pubs and tasting rooms stories created specifically for dinner galas around the state. in Seattle and Spokane.

FAMILY READING uses storytelling TRAVELING EXHIBITS brings and discussion to explore cultural and museum-quality exhibits and dynamic ethical themes in children’s literature and programming to underserved areas and emphasizes the importance of families surprising venues around the state. reading together.

GRANTS assist local organizations WASHINGTON STATE POET LAUREATE in creating opportunities for their builds awareness and appreciation of poetry community to come together to discuss – including the state’s legacy of poetry – important issues using the humanities. through public readings, workshops, lectures and presentations throughout the state. (In partnership with ArtsWA.)

SPEAKERS BUREAU draws from a pool of leading cultural experts and scholars to provide free conversational lecture events MORE ONLINE for community partners to offer local audiences throughout the state. Additional information about any of our programs: humanities.org/programs

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 SPARK { Humanities Washington Magazine 31 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 241 1015 8th Ave. N., Suite B WENATCHEE, WA Seattle, WA 98109 98801

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Changes? Please make the corrections on your address label, check the appropriate box below, and return to Humanities Washington.

Name misspelled Contact person changed Address wrong Duplicate mailing Remove from mailing list

Or send changes via email to [email protected]

STAY IN TOUCH WITH HUMANITIES WASHINGTON!

Want to subscribe to Spark? Visit humanities.org/signup While you’re there, you can also sign up for our monthly email newsletter, featuring the latest humanities news and stories from around the state.

humanities.org SparkMag.org Humanities Washington @HumanitiesWA