Arts & Life

How do organized religion and politics intersect in the United States? Ray Suarez, a senior correspondent for PBS's NewsHour, explores this topic in his new book, "The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America." Ray Suarez spoke at Town Hall on January 11, 2013. The talk was presented by Seattle University as part of its Faith and Values in the Public Square lecture series.

Alden Mason was a Pacific Northwest native and a lifelong resident, but his artistic influence reaches far beyond this corner of the country. Mason was born in Everett, Wash., in 1919, and he grew up enamored with the outdoor world around him. 

He planned to study entomology when he enrolled in the University of Washington.  By chance, he told an interviewer, he wandered over to the art building, where a nude model was posing for painting students.  Mason was only half-joking when he says that encounter changed his career path.

According to the Migration Policy Institute as of 2011, 13.3 percent of Washington’s population was born in another country. Today on The Conversation, Ross Reynolds hears stories about traveling to the US in search of a new home.

Eddie Huang stormed through childhood. He fought bigoted kids, defied stereotypes of the "model minority" and partied hard. But he clung to the delights of  his father’s restaurant and the flavors of his mother’s kitchen. Following a stint as a lawyer and a stand-up comic, he returned to his raucous roots, dipped in the flavors of Taiwan, America and the world. Eddie Huang joins us for a conversation about the first-generation immigrant experience he writes about in his new memoir, “Fresh Off the Boat.”

It took author George Saunders seven years to write his latest collection of stories, “Tenth of December.” But for many fans, (including the New York Times Magazine which called his new story collection “the best book you’ll read this year” — and it’s only February!), the wait has been worth it.

I managed to catch up with Saunders in the KUOW Green Room before his interview with Ross Reynolds and decided to ask him about five amazing books that he thinks everybody should read.

What do Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Billy Ansell from “The Sweet Hereafter” and Anne from “The Sparrow" have in common? They're three characters that librarian and author Nancy Pearl wishes she could meet in real life! What makes a character leap off the page? Who would you meet if you could? Nancy Pearl joins us to take your calls at 206.543.5869, or you can send an email to weekday@kuow.org.

When Randy Engstrom and Andy Fife start talking about Seattle arts and culture you can almost feel the air around them vibrate. "It’s like a natural resource," enthuses Engstrom. Fife chimes in. "This is a place where nature is abundant and provides so much. Likewise culture."

You get the sense you’re face to face with the contemporary versions of Frederick Weyerhauser or Bill Boeing, adventurers who came West to seek their fortunes more than a century ago. Instead of harvesting trees, though, Fife and Engstrom plan to harness culture to expand Seattle’s economic vibrancy.

Seattle's Chinatown-International District is home to many commercial establishments. Think about the legions of great Asian restaurants, boutiques, even pet stores. Now meet the ID's first hip-hop dance studio: The Beacon. It's one of the newest participants in Storefronts Seattle, a collaboration between neighborhood businesses, the city and Shunpike, an artist support organization.

Dr. John has been in the right place and the wrong place but it's always the right time for his music. The multiple Grammy Award-winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has been playing music since he was a teenager. His most recent album, "Locked Down," was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and has him playing a Farfisa organ while he sings of revolution, the scourge of crack and the goodness of god. We talk with Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, ahead of his shows at Seattle's Jazz Alley.

The old saying “it’s about the journey, not the destination” is one that comes to mind when listening to the music of Franz Schubert. Seattle Weekly music writer and composer Gavin Borchert has been thinking a lot lately about Schubert and the distinctive way the composer’s music slowly unfolds over time. To Gavin’s ears, Schubert, an early 19th century composer, has a strong kinship with American minimalist composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. That kinship is explored in a new recording called “The Knights:  A Second of Silence.”