Soft Life, Hard Lessons: The Archetypes of the Ascent
I look back at the years between those two endings, and I see three specific archetypes. These weren't just men; they were tutors who held up mirrors to my soul, helping me identify the high-caliber requirements I didn't know I was allowed to have.
Trans* Talk: T4T Relationships
I entered my first T4T relationship in September of 2024, and it completely changed my perspective on what love could be. It obviously doesn’t hurt that my partner is one of the funniest, kindest, and smartest men I know, but a big part of our relationship is built on our experience as Trans* people. For me, a relationship with another Trans* person, whether that relationship is platonic, romantic, or otherwise, has its own unique perspective and feeling, one that is inaccessible for me in a cis relationship. But I know that not all Trans* individuals have this experience, so I sought out members of my community to share their input on T4T love.
Sound Cinema: Historic Admiral Theater
I happened to be in Pier 4, but even amid the modern seating, state-of-the-art sound, and digital projection, there was still a piece of the old theater in the partial mural on the auditorium wall. It was a bit haunting, like looking at something that was not supposed to exist anymore. It kept catching my eye as I sank into the comfy seat with ample leg room.
Parker’s Pages: A Future of Her Own
A Future of Her Own by Samantha Quamma is a delightful book that combines historical fiction, activism, and a kick-ass heroine to make something positively brilliant.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: The Ghost of 22
It wasn't until my life was threatened that I found the boldness to move. I learned that staying isn't succeeding if you are being annihilated in the process. It is always, always okay to leave a table where love is no longer being served—even if you’re the one who set the place.
Trans* Talk: SweeThe4rTs Art Show
On February 13, Common Objects opened its doors for SweeThe4rts, a T4T art show and market, created by the Trans community, for the Trans community to share art centered on the relationships between Trans folks.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: The Luxury of Letting Go
“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. You look ten years younger.”
That’s what a man told me recently, and I had to smile. He didn’t know he was looking at a woman who had survived a tsunami. He didn’t know that just as I had finished a hard, honest conversation with myself about the state of my marriage, a hidden betrayal hit me with a force that nearly annihilated me. I had no time to brace for the impact; I just had to decide if I was going to swim or float away aimlessly.
Sound Cinema: Firehouse Theater
The theater is unassuming, tucked off to the right of SR 104 in the town of Kingston. Those waiting for or heading to the ferry to Edmonds likely drive right by it. Yet, Smith's original mission of creating a movie theater where locals can come and see something on the big screen is alive and thriving—especially on $9 Wednesdays when the afternoon crowd buzzes. The theater functions as a community hub and a place where people can see a blockbuster or the independent, art house, international, and repertory films the big chains disregard.
Perennial Conventions: Tending
I no longer have social media (future article on this to come), but I do watch a lot (too much) of YouTube. And for me, January 1—and earlier, in truth—began the seemingly endless bombardment of New Year-inspired content. Planner updates, journaling tips, weight loss and dieting advice. Mere weeks after winter has begun we’re inundated with peppy people telling us how to get our lives together. I’ve never really bought into this, though I know how easy it is to be swept up into the fervor of goal-setting energy.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: Orbiting, Audacity, and Trusting Your Gut
Welcome back to the laboratory. This week, the research is clear: the “Great Fade-Out" has been replaced by the "Great Orbit," and frankly, I’m running out of space in my atmosphere for all this funk.
Trans* Talk: Academic Freedom
Over the holidays, I was alerted to an unfolding story about a Transgender Oklahoman instructor at the University of Oklahoma who was fired after giving a failing grade to a student. At first glance, this story seemed cut-and-dry—a teaching assistant ousted unfairly due to a bigoted student. But the more I learned, the more that the alarm bells rang.
Parker’s Pages: Waxing Off
We are starting the year off with a great read by one of our very own Creatives here at the Evergreen Echo! Waxing Off by E.E.W. Christman is a Queer, urban fantasy novella with elements of horror, self-exploration, and romance. It is a quick and delightful read, pulling you right into the action. Oh, and did I mention there are werewolves and pecan pancakes?
![The Divided Line: Caleb [Part 2]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65456cf1d440cc19dd37c744/1768679138016-TR85VKJ6LQ6MWL6EYJSD/graham-holtshausen-galaxy%2Bwith%2Bjean-riot-police%2B-%2BCalista%2BRobbins.jpg)
The Divided Line: Caleb [Part 2]
Caleb knew it was only a matter of time before the stalemate broke, before the soldiers realized that this fever of theirs would neither extinguish silently nor dissipate without action.
The energy that’d surged through the mourners as the night encroached had unleashed a sort of choreomania set in a new dark age, dancing and keening the only reprieve to the grief of so much devastation.
And maybe that was what the soldiers and their regime feared the most—this mania.
Sound Cinema: The Beacon
As the youngest theater to be featured in Sound Cinema, The Beacon emerged as a wonderful, ethereal being from beyond known space and onto our plane of existence in 2019. This space is a movie palace. Unlike the other spaces I’ve covered, The Beacon is not a movie palace in the sense of the grandiosity of its auditorium or the ornate fixtures that adorn the walls. This is a palace to the strangeness, brilliance, and beauty that the medium of cinema can offer. It is a cinephile's paradise in the heart of Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: Swipe Left on My Spirit
Let me bring you into my soft-life laboratory, because post-divorce dating has a sense of humor I did not sign up for. I told myself I’d try something new. Stretch my faith. Dip a toe into modern romance.
So I downloaded Bumble and Hinge.
Yes. Me.
A grown woman with three children, all my edges, rooted faith, and a therapist who said, “We ain’t taking this ish into 2026.”
Perennial Conventions: An Invitation
As we approach the Winter Solstice, it is an appropriate time to remember the cyclical rhythms that guide our world. These rhythms are constant and the effects they have on us are evident, but in the pursuit of capital and perfect efficiency, we humans have lost the familiarity with the world around us…and I truly believe it is destroying our ability to cope.
Parker’s Pages: The Last Dragon Chronicles
Dear reader, if you would indulge me during this absolutely heinous Seattle winter (I’m looking at you, atmospheric river!) and let me introduce you to a beloved childhood gem of mine, I would be most grateful. While we are taking quite a big step away from the Puget Sound this month and going across the pond to England, I promise this little trip will be well worth it. If you need something warm and cozy to read like I do, read on.
Sound Cinema: Central Cinema
Central Cinema looks incredibly industrial from the outside, but once inside, it's a single screen of terrific movie magic.
The building that houses Central Cinema in Seattle's Central District was erected in the late 1920s and has housed both a car dealership and a milk bottling plant. The idea to turn a piece of the space into a combination movie theater and pub came to Kevin Spitzer, a metal artist, when he was renting it as his studio. In summer 2005, Kevin and his wife Kate opened the theater and have been operating it in the 20 years since.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: The Art of Healing Out Loud
There are seasons when life gets so loud, whispering stops working. You stop tiptoeing and walking on eggshells around your own truth. You stop shrinking to make other people comfortable. You stop pretending you're “fine” when your soul is over there banging pots, trying to be heard and have that hurt validated. At some point, you match the volume. That’s where I’ve been — healing OUT LOUD. Not in a reckless way, not in a messy way, but in a “my heart said testify” kind of way.
![The Divided Line: Caleb [Part 1]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65456cf1d440cc19dd37c744/2ffbf9f8-6e52-46fa-94c9-7a0eeecc9b13/Umut_Sarialan+Pexels+Cropped+-+Calista+Robbins.jpg)
The Divided Line: Caleb [Part 1]
Drums rolled from the brick alleyways and converged upon the square, each musician followed by a small mass of people. They carried things with them: Bits of furniture and fragments of wood. Dresser drawers and desk tops. One group hoisted a billboard overhead from one of the Upper City’s tech institutions.
