‘No simple contract:’ UW community members read the U.S. Constitution
Twelve years ago the University of Washington Libraries staff started a tradition. They invited UW students, staff, and the general public to join them on a given day to read the U.S. Constitution.
“The Constitution is ink on parchment. It is 4,400 words. And it is, too, the accreted set of meanings that have been made of those words, the amendments, the failed amendments, the struggles, the debates—the course of events—over more than two centuries. It is not easy, but it is everyone’s.” -Historian Jill Lepore
There’s something about hearing a wide variety of your fellow citizens, people of all walks of life, read aloud one of the founding documents of this country. Even if you know the Constitution like the back of your hand, you’ll likely hear something new here.
This in only the second year that KUOW has recorded the event, but it’s becoming a tradition of us, too. This public reading took place at UW’s Suzzallo Library on October 6.
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John O'Brien
Senior Producer, All Things Considered
John O’Brien is KUOW's All Things Considered Senior Producer. He spends his days setting up interviews with newsmakers on subjects from politics and public health to arts and culture. John learned to make radio starting in 2006 as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds.
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