A number of School of Education faculty and alumni attended a journalist happy hour event at KUOW, Seattle’s public radio station. The event was designed for members of the KUOW newsroom to meet community members in a relaxed environment to better understand the communities they serve. Kristin Leong, KUOW’s Community Engagement Producer, is an alumna of AUS’s School of Education. Faculty members Caryn Park, Julia Daniels, and Rachel Oppenheim were in attendance, as was alumna Yen Baynes.
This particular happy hour conversation was focused on the topic of citizenship and American identity. KUOW’s community engagement team gathered an intentional group of community members at the station for a conversation with Kim Malcolm, the local host of All Things Considered. The goal of the conversation was in part to gather ideas to ensure that KUOW’s election coverage is meaningful to their listeners and community members. The group that gathered represented a diverse cross-section of the Seattle area who had varying, complex relationships to citizenship and American identity. They engaged in a thoughtful, sometimes heated, conversation around such themes as immigration, colonization, betrayal, and belonging. The discussion surfaced a number of ideas that will likely contribute in meaningful ways to KUOW’s programming as the election draws closer.
