Local Teens Reevaluate Seattle’s History Through a New Podcast
'This is most likely the diverse history of Seattle that [Seattleites] have not heard about before'
By Ariel Shearer March 2, 2020
This article originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the February 2020 issue. Click here to subscribe.
Not all history is taught in schools, but thanks to a group of local students serving as youth advisers for Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), integral stories from our city’s complex past are now freely available for binge listening online. Each episode of MOHAI’s teen-led podcast Rainy Day History features a discussion on historical inclusion and exclusion as it relates to different museum artifacts—such as the wooden cane that once belonged to Kikisoblu, a daughter of Chief Seattle who refused to leave the city when the Duwamish were forced from their native land, and a collection of abandoned dolls left by Japanese schoolchildren incarcerated during World War II. These budding historians receive stipends and mentorship from MOHAI staff while producing ambitious projects (even the theme music for Rainy Day History was written and produced by teens) and offering expertise that helps shape the museum’s exhibits and programming. “This is most likely the diverse history of Seattle that [Seattleites] have not heard about before,” says 17-year-old TK Le, one of the podcast’s hosts and a senior at Seattle Academy. “A lot of stuff is not taught in textbooks that we think is actually really impactful…themes that apply to not just Seattle, but to us as humans in the greater society.”
Follow Us
AANHPI Month: Where to Celebrate, Eat, and Learn Around Seattle
From festivals and museum exhibits to food tours and historic neighborhoods, here are a few ways to mark the month across the region.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month—known as AANHPI Month—is observed in the U.S. each May. It began as a weeklong observance in 1978 and expanded to the full month in 1992. Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in the United States extend back much further, including to the late 16th century, when…
Black Panther Park in Skyway Becomes First Black Panther Park in the World
The new community garden honors the Black Panther Party’s legacy of food justice and the Skyway neighbors who helped bring it to life.
On a sunny Sunday earlier this month, at the corner of 75th Avenue and Renton Avenue South, the community gathered for the opening of Skyway’s Black Panther Park. Inspired by the Black Panther’s Free Breakfast for School Children program that compelled the federal government to provide breakfast in schools, Black Panther Park is a community…
Rearview Mirror: A Family Coming Apart, SIFF, and My First Fashion Show
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
The Family House A house can hold a lot, and Seattle Rep’s Appropriate knows that. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony-winning play, directed here by Timothy McCuen Piggee, drops the Lafayette siblings into their late father’s hoarded, falling-apart Arkansas plantation home for an estate sale, and lets the whole thing crack open from there. The sibling dynamics are…
Studio Sessions: Raili Jänese
The Kirkland painter brings a playful eye to daily life and the little rituals of being human.
Artist Raili Jänese pays close attention to the small stuff. It might be a goose on the move, a rabbit in the yard, or a person lost in the rituals of coffee or cooking. The Estonian-born artist, now based in Kirkland, makes colorful acrylic works that turn everyday behavior—human and animal alike—into something funny and…