Carol J. Williams is a retired foreign correspondent who covered revolution and war for 35 years for Associated Press and Los Angeles Times, from USSR/Russia, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. She has been awarded more than a dozen international honors, including a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1994 for her coverage of the Balkan wars.

She chronicled the USSR’s brief era of hope for reform and the tragic consequences of its failure. She followed Eastern Europe’s euphoric rebellions that toppled Communist tyrants from Berlin to Bucharest. In Yugoslavia, she documented the rise of ethnic and religious nationalism fanned by corrupt leaders who pushed their people into devastating wars. Her dispatches from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine traced those conflicts to unresolved disputes from their days of imperial oppression.

THE IRON CURTAIN CHRONICLES is a fictionalized trilogy recounting historical events of the last decade of the Cold War, told through the work of a young news agency correspondent. 

Join us as Carol discusses her book, Dispatches from Moscow: Spies and Lies, with Interviewer, Melody Sky Weaver, Washington State Librarian.

Carol J. Williams is a graduate of the University of Washington and holds a journalist law certificate from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Retired from mainstream journalism, she curates “World Briefing by CJ Williams” on Twitter @cjwilliamslat and Bluesky @cjwblue.bsky.social, writes on foreign affairs for Seattle’s PostAlley.org, and speaks on media and foreign policy at events held by civic groups, libraries and her alma mater, University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies. She lives with her husband Ken Olsen, a retired editor, in Silverdale, WA.

Melody Sky Weaver, Washington State Librarian.

On August 10, 2026, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs appointed Melody Sky Weaver to serve as the next Washington State Librarian. Weaver brings more than two decades of public library experience to the role. She will begin her tenure at the Washington State Library on Oct. 1. 

“My mission is to transform lives through the power of libraries,” Weaver said. “I consider this my calling in public service. I am profoundly honored to assume the role of Washington State Librarian.”

Weaver currently serves as the Community Services Director for the City of Port Townsend. In this role, she oversees the city’s library, parks, facilities and art programs. Before that, she served as the Port Townsend Public Library Director for nearly a decade. Weaver spent five years in public library service in Idaho and also served as the branch manager for the Kitsap Regional Library from 2011 to 2015. She graduated with her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from the University of Washington Information School.

“Melody’s record of public service and advancement of librarianship is beyond exceptional,” said Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. “She is passionate and well poised to lead the Washington State Library into its next chapter.”

Additional photos from Carol J. Williams’ journalistic work in the USSR.

Bob Abel, Olympic College (Emeritus), DiRAC Institute, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, “First Light: Early Results from the Rubin Observatory.” Join us as we hear updates of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory which officially began operations in June. Located on an Andean peak, with a huge mirror and the largest digital camera ever built, its deep, panoramic images record the entire night sky every three days, and it will repeat this process for ten years. This is by far the most ambitious sky survey ever: by the time of this talk, it will have already gathered more data than all of the telescopes in history combined. The first official data release is scheduled for mid-2028, but the observations obtained while calibrating the telescope are already providing new insights into our solar system, our galaxy, and the universe beyond.

Musician and historian Joel Underwood delighted our members with stories and songs of Woody Guthrie last year. He returns, this time with a performance featuring the music and history of America’s most influential songwriter: Bob Dylan. Come sing along with a dozen Dylan favorites, such as “The Times, They Are A’Changin'”, “Blowin’ In the Wind” and yell out the eternal question, “How does it feel?”. In addition, Underwood dives into the stories of the Nobel Prize-winner’s early years in Minnesota and New York, and lays out what really happened the fateful night he “went electric” in Newport. Sometimes poignant, often funny, occasionally infuriating, Bob Dylan’s story adds depth and understanding to a unique treasury of music, and Underwood mines those narrative veins with his voice, guitar, and a master storyteller’s touch. 

Bio: Joel Underwood is a musician, historian, and lecturer based in Olympia. While preparing his graduate thesis on Woody Guthrie’s WWII service in the Merchant Marine, he was named the 2022 Guthrie Fellow and researched at the Guthrie Center Archives in Tulsa. In 2024, Underwood was selected as a speaker for Humanities Washington, traveling throughout the state speaking (and singing) on Guthrie’s time on the Grand Coulee Dam project here in the Pacific Northwest, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. His performance series on Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams (and soon Buddy Holly!) has garnered rave reviews and critical acclaim. Underwood is currently on the faculty of Pierce College, where he teaches early and modern American History.