The James Beard Awards are the Oscars of the food world, and Seattle has two nominations,

which means reservation wait lists are ahead. It's truly one battle after another. I'm Brandy Fulwood,

host of Seattle Eats. On the latest episode, Seattle Times Food Critic Tonvin and I break down the results

and help you nominate your next dinner.

Listen to Seattle Eats on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcast.

Focus from KUOW in Seattle.

This episode includes an explicit description of a sexual act and discussion of sexual harassment.

Please take care while listening.

This school, when I first came to it, man, your eyes could get poked out with everybody pointing a finger to everybody else

whose fault it was. I never got to interview Cheryl Chow, my former principal at Garfield

High School in Seattle. She died more than a decade ago. So it was surreal listening to Ms.

Chow's voice, through my headphones, as she described the Tom Hudson scandal,

which took place during my senior year.

Mr. Hudson, a beloved science teacher, had been put on leave during the fall of 1999,

after I reported rumors about him sexually abusing boys.

Then, in February 2000, two and a half months into the district investigation of his alleged misconduct, Mr. Hudson died by suicide, leaving many of us shocked, some of us devastated, and all of us wondering, was he even guilty?

In the aftermath, a local rock climber and budding documentarian named Tim Matsui

pitched into help with Post-84, the outdoors club that Mr. Hudson ran for years at Garfield. Tim realized that many of the kids in

post-84 were still traumatized by the death of their teacher, so he decided to interview them

for a story that ultimately never materialized. Tim held on to the tapes for decades, and when he heard about the work I was doing,

he shared them with me, including this conversation he had with Ms. Chow.

I think there were a lot of good teachers, but to survive a number of teachers just

...