Think Out Loud Creators & Guests

Kathy is Assistant Dean, Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School and Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative. Kathy has been a clinical law professor for 30 years and has been teaching animal law for 22 years.

George Saunders is a writer and professor at Syracuse University. He writes short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels.Saunders writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, and GQ. His first story collection, "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," was published in 1996. His most recent novel, "Lincoln in the Bardo," won the 2017 Man Booker Prize.Before becoming a full-time writer and professor, Saunders worked as a technical writer and geophysical engineer.Saunders was born in Amarillo, Texas and raised in Oak Forest, Illinois. He received his B.S. in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He received his M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University.

Bruce Gilley is a Canadian–American professor of political science and director of the PhD program in Public Affairs and Policy at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.

Maia Szalavitz is a reporter and author.

Terry Blas is the illustrator and writer behind the ongoing web series Briar Hollow. His work has appeared on comic book covers for Bravest Warriors, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time, Rick and Morty, and The Legend of Bold Riley.

Claudia Rankine is a poet, essayist, playwright, and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays, and various essays.

Lisa Daugaard is a criminal justice reform activist. She is the director of the nonprofit organization Purpose Dignity Action. She is also a commissioner of the Community Police Commission in Seattle.Daugaard received her B.A. from the University of Washington, her M.A. from Cornell University, and her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, she worked in New York City as a fellow at the ACLU National Legal Department, as Legal Director of the Coalition for the Homeless, and as Organizing Project Director at the Urban Justice Center.

Jim Brunberg is a music composer, sound engineer, and producer. He is the founder and co-owner of Mississippi Studios & Revolution Hall. He also founded the Independent Venue Coalition.Brunberg received his B.A. in Literature and Music from the University of Michigan and his J.D. in Philosophy and Native American History from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Conrad Wilson is a reporter and radio producer. His work focuses on criminal justice and legal affairs.Currently, Wilson reports for Oregon Public Broadcasting. Previously, he was a reporter at Minnesota Public Radio, and before that he ran the news department at an NPR affiliate in Colorado. His work has aired on "Marketplace" and NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered." He has also written for Mashable, The Oregonian, Business Week, City Pages and The Christian Science Monitor.Wilson received his degree in international political economics and journalism from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Jeffrey Alan Merkley is an American politician, writer, and author of the book, America Is Better Than This.

Peter Frick-Wright is a writer and radio maker. He has reported from Bosnia, Burma and Burundi. Peter also co-hosts the Outside Podcast.

Tuck Woodstock is a queer biracial journalist, equity educator, and audio producer.

Nadya Okamoto is a social entrepreneur, activist, writer, and author of the book, PERIOD POWER. She is known as the founder & executive director of the non-profit organization PERIOD.

Masha Gessen is a journalist, author, translator, and activist. She is known for her criticism of Russia and of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.Gessen has written extensively on LGBT rights. She has written several non-fiction books, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, New Statesman, Granta, Slate, Vanity Fair, Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, and U.S. News & World Report. Since 2017, she has been a staff writer for The New Yorker.In 1981, Gessen and her family moved to the United States. As an adult in 1991, she moved to Moscow, where she worked as a journalist. She has been described as "Russia's leading LGBT rights activist," and she quips that she was probably the only publicly out gay person in the whole country for many years. She was on the board of directors of the Moscow LGBT rights organization Triangle. She was openly critical of Russia's ban on "homosexual propaganda" and other anti-LGBT laws, as well as the harassment and beating of journalists. In 2013, a few months after being physically assaulted in the street and worried about reports that the Russian government might take away one of her children because of her sexual orientation, she and her wife and family fled to New York City.

Viet Thanh Nguyen is a novelist, writer, professor and, author of the book, The Sympathizer.

Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician.Veselka's nonfiction has appeared in Salon, The Atlantic, GQ, Maximum Rock'n'Roll, Bitch Magazine, Smithsonian, The Atavist, and The American Reader, and has been included in Best American Essays and the anthology BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism.Veselka's first book, "Zazen," was published in 2011 and won the PEN / Robert W. Bingham Prize. Her second book, "The Great Offshore Grounds," was published in 2020 and won the Oregon Book Award.

Jay Robert Inslee is an American politician, author, and lawyer serving as the 23rd and current governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995 and then again from 1999 until 2012.

Roman Mars, born on October 16, 1974, is the host and producer of 99% Invisible, a KALW radio show and podcast, and a founder of the podcast collective Radiotopia. He has also contributed to radio programs such as Radiolab and Planet Money. Fast Company identified him as one of the hundred most creative people of 2013.

Jill Lepore is a historian and a Staff Writer at The New Yorker, She writes about history, law, literature, and politics.