Join The Seattle Times for an evening of storytelling about homelessness and resilience

It’s time to hand over the microphone. We often hear about homelessness from politicians and business leaders. The crisis arises between neighbors and in political debates. Now we’re hearing directly from people who experienced it.

Join The Seattle Times and Path with Art for an evening filled with stories of homelessness and resilience from people who have lived it since 6 p.m. Thursday, October 28.

Stories About Home will feature five storytellers from across the region. Through spoken word storytelling, they offer a more personal and nuanced look at many of the problems faced by the more than 12,000 people who live outside, in vehicles, or in shelters in King County.

Storytellers, covering topics from addiction to mental illness, survival and grief, help shed light on one of the most intricate problems facing our region.

The one-hour event will be streamed live via Zoom and Facebook and will end with a live question-and-answer session between viewers and storytellers.

Reserve your place today.

Get to know our storytellers:

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Bering Sienicki is a member of the Yurok Tribe and grew up in South King County. He now lives on Capitol Hill, loves to write, and works part-time for a thrift store while attending college on the side. Bering’s story centers on the five years he lived out in Seattle and how he got off the street and found recovery.

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Michelle Murray is an army veteran who now lives in Olympia with her dog Sakkara. She has struggled with PTSD and homelessness since leaving the military. Michelle’s story deals with the support she found during her military service and what happens to a person when they are taken away.

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Harold Odom is the Director of Politics and Public Relations for the Lived Experience Coalition. He lives in a tiny house village in Georgetown, where he has lived for four years. Harold’s story will focus on his survival while homeless, the challenges he faced and what he is doing now to improve the region’s response to the crisis.

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Pat Swain She has worked in real estate in Alaska for most of her career, but now she is retired with her husband in Port Townsend. Pat’s story will focus on her daughter Karen, who lived in her car with her pets after working in Hollywood for 20 years.

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Catearn “Crash” Duncan is a Colorado born military veteran and has spent most of her life moving from town to town trying to survive as a single mother. She is currently studying at Path with Art, has a Chihuahua named BooBoo and lives in a motel in Kent. Crash’s story will focus on how she turned the trauma from years of abuse into an outlet to express her creativity.

Stories About Home is hosted by the Seattle Times’ Project Homeless Team, a community-funded reporting team that works to study and explain the area’s homelessness crisis, and Path With Art, a nonprofit working in the Seattle area to encourage the recovery of individuals. Groups and society from the effects of trauma through artistic engagement and community building.