Bradley Lane
Bradley Lane is the president of Seattle Central College and has been an educator for almost his entire career. As a middle school, high school, and college English teacher, he have loved igniting a passion for reading and writing with students of all ages. Now as a higher education leader, he continues to be inspired to work with organizations—including SAL!—that transform lives through the power of education.
His favorite book as a kid was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster because activated my love of fantasy and also wordplay. Bradley also keenly felt the dual attraction to both words and numbers as epitomized by the two brother-rulers of the book, King Azaz the Unabridged and the Mathmagician. Fun fact: while he was always a much better math student in school, it was English that really activated my imagination because I found it more interesting when there wasn’t one correct answer to a question.
A recent SAL event that got Bradley interested in the organization was a conversation with Anand Giridharadas regarding his book The Persuaders in late 2022. The event helped to energize him into becoming more active in his community. Bradley feels that “In a time when our personalized media environments are increasingly targeted by algorithms into creating echo chambers of the same ideas and viewpoints, The Persuaders reinforces the need to engage meaningfully with individuals who hold different viewpoints than you.”
The book he been recommending the most lately is Postcolonial Astrology by Alice Sparkly Kat. Bradley has a huge interest in astrology and enjoys how the writers applies postcolonial theories to imagine different interpretive possibilities for astrological signs and planets outside of dominant Western, largely Greco-Roman mythological formations.
Originally from rural Western Tennessee, pretty much in between Memphis and Nashville, Bradley has not retained a Southern accent, but still has a fondness for good southern food and the occasional country song.