Seattle Story Project
Read previous Seattle Story Project pieces in our archive.
First-person reflections published at KUOW.org. These are essays, stories told on stage, photos, and zines. To submit a story — or note one that deserves more notice — contact Isolde Raftery at iraftery@kuow.org or 206-616-2035.
From the archive:
I thought I was a Mexican chola girl — then I met my dad
We photographed Ericka when she was a sex worker. This is her life now
He met his first love in Seattle's south end. He lost her there, too
The first time a man hurt me, I was 8. My story isn't unusual
A man shouts racial slurs in a Seattle Starbucks. The silence is deafening
A Young Irish Mom's Painful Decision
I escaped Nazi Germany. I see its ideology alive in America today
My mom's mental illness told through photos
The Grief I Chose: Placing My Baby For Adoption
Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox And My 7-Year-Old Daughter
I Didn't Kill Benjamin Ng, But Maybe I Should Have
‘Is There a Problem?’ That Scary Brown Man And White Privilege
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Stories
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A Native grandma smuggled her grandkids out of their abusive boarding school. She hid them in the mountains
One time, when my gram/Tupa came to visit, she waited for the nuns to be busy doing something else, and she said, “Get in the car.” I was 8 years old when we were taken to boarding school.
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'A single garment of destiny': Dr. King's lessons on interconnectedness
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Things I lost this year: A passport, a pregnancy, a marriage
I stayed in an Airbnb while my husband lived in our house, hoping he would change his mind and see me, want me. I waited until he said no, no chance, the end.
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I traveled to Italy after 2 years of pandemic isolation. Then I got Covid
I had hardly left my home in two years. I’d locked myself away, watching out for neighbors, friends, parents, and my partner. I was finally back in the world, triple-vaxxed and ready to see anything new — anything besides two side-by-side lines on a home Covid test.
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The last homecoming queen at Edmonds-Woodway High School
“So I made Homecoming Court,” Ella announced one October evening. We had just sat down to dinner, and our eldest was catching us up on the latest news of her high school senior year.
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Personal space be damned: A non-hugger rethinks her position
Some time in my 40s, I developed a reputation for “not being a hugger.” It’s not so much that I have suddenly grown uncomfortable with hugs in my middle age; I’ve just become more comfortable saying so.
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The silence is maddening: remembering Jesse Sarey
"As our family continues the fight seeking justice for Jesse, many more have joined this unique 'family' of impacted people."
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'Will I die?' Coverage of maternal deaths among Black women cause fear
Earlier this year, Black health care providers penned an open letter to Black birthing people acknowledging that America's racist past casts a long shadow over the pregnancy experience. They called out “Black birth trauma porn” as a major contributing factor to the heightened fear around birth.
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'I somehow erased my Palestinian identity for the life I have now in Seattle'
In 1992 in Beirut, I was on a three-way phone call with an American DJ and an Israeli heavy metal musician.
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'It's Simon, not Tran.' Bullied by a high school teacher, this Vietnamese writer found his voice
After years of struggling to embrace his culture and hiding his sexual orientation, Simon Tran finally found self-acceptance and the Asian ally he needed.
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With marriage and a gender transition behind them, they dined at Canlis
After Maura Hubbell transitioned, her wife Lisa Jaffe couldn't find her "inner lesbian." This is the story of their marriage and the queerness of connecting after getting divorced.
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He was 16 when a cop kneeled on his neck in Spokane. He’s still making sense of it.
He thought the police were going to kill him on the lawn of his friend's house. Now he's teaching the next generation that Black lives matter.