The Third Thirty March Story Circle

Window Seat Media shares edited excerpts from its  Third Thirty Community Oral History Project interviews through monthly virtual story circles. After listening to a short audio story, participants will be invited to reflect and share their own stories in facilitated large and small group conversations. Our hope to amplify local knowledge, share powerful stories and ideas, and ask what is possible. Join us!

"Those of us in the 70s were coming out of the 60s, which was an entire decade of freedom of thought and experimentation on a lot of different levels. And I think that Olympia at that time, which was a unique period, was really an open book of possibilities. Boy, back then it seemed like the ideas were so big there weren’t rooms big enough to hold them. They were just bursting everywhere."

- Tom Anderson

FEATURED STORY

What ingredients are needed for creativity and collaboration to flourish, unencumbered, within ourselves and our communities? How can spontaneity and letting go of control create new - and perhaps profound - possibilities.  

Our story this month explores these questions through the lens and life of Tom Anderson. Tom arrived in Olympia in 1971, when the Evergreen State College first opened its doors, and he’s been here ever since. He is an accomplished artist and had a hand in many community efforts during the 1970s and 80s. Tom describes his creative process as a “rehearsal in enduring uncertainty.” It was no surprise to learn that Tom is the son of a jazz musician. His total embrace of improvisation and the spirt of chaos reverberates through his story.

Join us as we honor Tom, learn from his story, and share our own!

Read more about Tom on his website here. 

Project Collaborators & Funders – We Thank You!

Thank you Tom for entrusting us with your words and allowing us to share them. 

This event and story would not be possible without the collaborative energy and talents of Kris Tucker (interviewing and editing), Marissa Bolaños (photography), Nick Rawson (music), Fran Beard (facilitation), Ava McGee (facilitation), Meg Rosenberg (facilitation), and Amanda Mackison (project support).

This project is funded by the Thurston County Heritage Grant Program, the City of Olympia, The Freas Foundation, and Humanities Washington and the National Endowment for the Arts CARES Act.