Arts & Life

Lara Hamilton was about to turn 40 when she realized she wanted to quit her job. She worried about losing a steady paycheck, but she really wanted to find work she loved. She found the courage to act from a surprising source: Julia Child. Lara tells KUOW's Jeannie Yandel how Julia helped her then, and now.

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Local record producer and writer Pat Thomas recently compiled a collection of music written by and for the Black Power movement,  "Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975." One of the musicians he discovered in putting the album together is a woman named Elaine Brown. She was the head of the Black Panther party during the mid '70s. Today, she's most well known for her activism for prisoners, but Pat thinks her music from the late '60s and early '70s has a message that still applies today.  He recommends listening to "Seize The Time," "The End of Silence" and "Until We're Free."

Travel guru Rick Steves has made his way into many a knapsack with his essential travel guides, but how did he first begin his travel business and what inspired that career? Ross Reynolds sits down with Rick Steves and goes beyond travel to hear his story. 

Seattle is one of the whitest cities in the country according to the most recent census. But what does that mean? What's it like to live in such a white city? We talk to you about the latest figures.

Seattle writer Jay Craig created his own religion. Its rules helped him deal with his bipolar disorder, and he thought it was good enough to overthrow Christianity. But when a close friend ended up in a mental institution claiming to be the daughter of God, Jay was forced to take a good, hard look at himself.

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It's sometimes difficult to engage in conversation with people whose beliefs are very different from your own. But Brenda Peterson, a West Seattle author and environmentalist, has found a place on a local beach where she can have those conversations. It's a sanctuary for Brenda where she finds connection with creatures of all kinds. And it's the place where she founded the nonprofit Seal Sitters a few years ago.

Seal Sitters is a volunteer organization that watches after seal pups that show up on Puget Sound beaches. Brenda Peterson speaks with KUOW's Dave Beck. Her new children's book, based on her experiences with Seal Sitters, is called "Leopard and Silkie."

Other stories from KUOW Presents:

Seattle native and MC Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis sit down with Ross Reynolds to discuss their careers, upcoming album and involvement with Washington’s pro same-sex marriage campaign. 

With NPR’s popular Car Talk hosts retiring, public radio approaches a crossroads. Which way to go? Hit the archives to keep popular programs on the air, or create more new shows? The creator and host of This American Life has some ideas. We talk with Ira Glass about the present and future of public radio.

Is gender inequity the biggest issue of our time? Around the world, it’s not unusual for young girls from poor families to be kept out of school. In India, the mortality rate for girls under age five is 50 percent higher than it is for boys. Pulitzer Prize–winning author of “Half the Sky” Sheryl WuDunn talked with us earlier this year about education, poverty, maternal mortality, sex trafficking and gender inequality, and what can be done to help.

FOUND Magazine creator and This American Life contributor Davy Rothbart joins us to talk about 10 years of FOUND and his new collection of essays, "My Heart Is An Idiot." Then, Marcie Sillman speaks with choreographer Amy O’Neal about her new solo performance at Velocity Dance Center.