RadioActive

Washington state is considering putting tolls on the I-90 bridge that connects Seattle to the Eastside. This would affect the lives of adults who travel to and from Seattle for work, but what about students who go to school outside their Seattle neighborhoods?

Seattle is known for many things: coffee, the tech industry, and of course, rain. But hip-hop is not on that list. We asked people on the street which rap artists come from Seattle, and the only ones they could think of were Macklemore and Sir Mix-A-Lot. None had heard of a rapper who has lived here his whole life, M-Eaze.

Nigisti Hailemariam has been in the United States for over 20 years. She has two kids, a stable job, and a red Honda outside her three-bedroom apartment. But life wasn't always this peaceful for Nigisti. RadioActive youth producer Yafiet Bezabih tells the story of his mother's journey.

This month, hosts Sarah Rosenthal and Kamna Shastri bring you stories about the reality of human trafficking in the Seattle area.

First we hear from Kathleen Morris, an advocate for trafficking survivors with the International Rescue Committee. She tells us what human trafficking is and what to look for in a trafficking situation. Then we hear an incredible story from Yasmin Christopher, a law student at Seattle University whose family was trafficked to rural Grays Harbor County from Bangladesh. Finally, RadioActive reporter Katherine Sims brings us to Westlake Center in downtown Seattle where a vigil is held once a month to stand up against human trafficking. She talks to one high school student, Emily Kubota, who has been going to the vigil for two years.

KUOW's RadioActive Youth Media is proud to offer a spring journalism workshop in Rainier Valley, in partnership with Rainier Scholars, a Seattle college prep program. Six students, age 16-18, will spend the next eight weeks learning what it means to be a journalist. They will pitch, interview, edit and write their own feature stories for KUOW.org later this spring.

The newest RadioActivians interviewed each other about challenges they've overcome: