Earlier this fall, we did a stories from the wild event in Seattle. Just to give you all a little background on how this night came together. We were finishing up the first season of THE WILD this summer and we wanted to do something fun and get people together. So we decided to put on a storytelling event.

We put out a call on social media and to our friends and asked people to volunteer and send us their stories. They auditioned, and we worked with them to edit their stories. All the people you are about to hear from have worked really hard to prepare, and share their experiences of the wild with us, to connect with us. Sometimes in some very personal ways.

The night was a great success. I had a ton of fun. It was great for me just to sit back and listen to a few stories instead of always telling them.

We’ve broken the show up into two parts. I hope you enjoy this first half and look for part 2 also in your podcast feed.

If this has made you think about your own experiences in the wild we’d love to hear about it. We are planning to do another storytelling event later in the Spring. You can submit your story at KUOW.org/thewild or email us at thewild@kuow.org.