Iconic Convos: A Sound Garden
Nicole Bearden (NB): In honor of Seattle’s Faux Spring weather last week, I decided it was time to have a confab with one of my personal favorite Seattle Icons: A Sound Garden. Located on the NOAA campus near Magnuson Park, between Piers 15 and 17 on Lake Washington, A Sound Garden reverberates with hauntingly atmospheric intonations as the wind blows through artist Douglas Hollis’ twelve, 21-foot high, steel tower sculptures. Sound Garden, I appreciate your presence today.
A Sound Garden (SG): a chorus of metallic hums breezing through the air We are delighted to converse with you.
Max’s Musings: Sylvia Plath
It wasn’t until after her death that the poetry collection Ariel was discovered and published in 1965. The Restored Edition was published later in 2004. With an honest and heartfelt foreword written by Plath’s daughter, Frieda Hughes, the collection “found comfort in restoring the balance” of Plath as both the poet and the human.
Plath’s poem “Lady Lazareth” first exposed me to her dynamic wordcraft. Of all the poems I came across in Ariel, there was something honest and authentic about Plath’s “Barren Woman” which solidified its spot for this week.
![The Divided Line: Vero [Part 2]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65456cf1d440cc19dd37c744/1739584838970-5THDK09VYKDTVPTUWK70/Vero%2B1.jpeg)
The Divided Line: Vero [Part 2]
It began slowly—the plague, the greed, the riots. Revolutionaries rose up behind symbols, murals, and songs, while the masses were fed machinery and religion. In the wake of the destruction, politicians deemed art a dangerous thing—a worthless thing—and the masses agreed. They took away the paint, the books, and the instruments. But they could not wholly silence the artists. These are the stories they left behind.
Iconic Convos: Fremont Troll
Nicole Bearden (NB): Hello, and welcome to another Iconic Convo with Seattle’s most recognizable icons. Today we are speaking with the Fremont Troll. We appreciate you spending time with us today, Fremont Troll.
Fremont Troll (FT): Grunts, and nods slowly as dust drifts from his head to float through the air
NB: Now, you’ve been around since 1990. How have you noticed that the city has changed over the past 35 years?
Max’s Musings: Judith Skillman
Judith Skillman, Seattle author of Red Town, crafts a fictional town through a handful of poems that reflect on one’s past self and the experiences weaved within, around, and through. Reviewer Beth Bently claims that an “ordinary experience undergoes a surgical probe to reveal the underpinnings of relationships, ancestral connections, memories from childhood. No event is too slight to remain unexamined”. Red Town is a perfect example of coming to terms with one’s dark past to move to a future of pure gold.
Parker’s Pages: Every Little Thing You Do is Magic
This week we’re taking a look at a book that’s a bit out of my normal reviews here in Parker’s Pages. This one is an interactive Tarot card guide called Every Little Thing You Do is Magic by two Seattle artists, Callie Little and Moorea Seal. While doing my usual rounds of the local bookstore, I came across this guide while digging through the store’s collection of Tarot decks and just knew I had to have it.
Max’s Musings: Carol Levin
Writer and dance director Carol Levin published her poetry collection Confident Music Would Fly Us to Paradise in 2014. As a patron for all distinct art forms, Levin dedicates her collection to the Seattle Opera. The collection offers a deep dive into many intricate facets of a colossal opera production.
The Divided Line: Vero [Part 1]
It began slowly—the plague, the greed, the riots. Revolutionaries rose up behind symbols, murals, and songs, while the masses were fed machinery and religion. In the wake of the destruction, politicians deemed art a dangerous thing—a worthless thing—and the masses agreed. They took away the paint, the books, and the instruments. But they could not wholly silence the artists. These are the stories they left behind.
Iconic Convos: The Gum Wall
NB: A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with Pike Place Market. During our talk, Pike Place spoke briefly about their friend The Gum Wall. Now that we are clear of the market’s holiday hustle and bustle, Gum Wall has made time to connect with us and share some secrets. Welcome, Gum Wall, and thank you for speaking with us today.
Sound Cinema: The Majestic Bay
The theater is a triplex with the largest of its three screens on the street level. The lobby is adorned with history. Photos of the original iterations of the theater line the wall with a look at what the demolition and reconstruction process was like for the theater in 1998. Within the lobby there’s a classic snack bar with everything a movie goer needs. Above your head, notice the unique glass lighting fixtures that look like jellyfish, which complements the theater's maritime theme, more evidence of which is scattered throughout the space.
Max’s Musings: Reyna Biddy
For discussion this week, I chose a poem from Reyna Biddy’s poetry collection, i love my love. Published back in 2015, I was exposed to her work for the first time in college during one of my poetry workshops. After reading it several years ago, I wanted to reread it with fresh eyes and an open heart.
Although the collection goes through ups and downs of self-doubt and self-confidence, Biddy reflects on her parents’ relationship as well as the greatest love of all: self-love. Biddy’s poem “for you” speaks to this ideal through a power anthem that invites the reader to act.
Parker’s Pages: Frog Day
When life gives you a book about frogs, by golly, you’ve got to jump on it.
This week I discovered Frog Day, a stupendously cute and informative book all about frogs and toads and the wonderful world they live in. From the Earth Day series of the University of Chicago Press comes a 24-hour story about 24 different frog and toad species, written by herpetologist (a biologist who studies amphibians and reptiles) Marty Crump and illustrated by local Seattle artist Tony Angell.
Iconic Convos: The Seattle Freeze
Nicole Bearden (NB): Since we are deep into Seattle’s dark days (Winter), I thought it was about time to talk to our most famous, local, glacial icon: The Seattle Freeze. Thanks so much for joining us today, Freeze. What have you been up to?
Seattle Freeze (SF): Oh, just chilling. The usual.
NB: Snorts Oh! Ha. Very funny.
Max’s Musings: Sarah Stockton
I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State, edited by Rena Priest, is a poetry anthology full of diverse poems celebrating the tales of the epic fish. Priest states in the preface of the anthology that this passion project of hers stemmed from how “salmon are a keystone species, which means everything relies on them, and if we want to be okay, the salmon must thrive.”
Iconic Convos: Lenin Statue
Nicole Bearden: Zdravstvuyte, today we are speaking with the Fremont Lenin statue. (I don’t speak Russian, but I learned the phrase for “hello”, just for today).
Lenin Statue: Hello. I do not speak Russian.
NB: Aren’t you a Lenin statue? I thought Lenin was Russian?
LS: Lenin was Russian. My nationality is more complicated. I was created by a Bulgarian, for Czechoslovakia, and have now been in the Capitalist States of America since the ‘90s. What is nationality anyway? What are borders, but arbitrary lines assigned to take power from the many and funnel it to the wealthy?
Max’s Musings: Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco, folk singer and founder of Righteous Babe Records, is returning to Seattle, February 1, 2025, to the Moore Theater. In the spirit of her visit, I wanted to select a poem from her poetry collection Verses, published in 2007, which tackles “the tough issues at hand” while “her personal-is-political viewpoint is more relevant than ever”. The collection looks at the importance of art and poetry and how they can be powerful tools in rhetoric when entering political spheres.
Parker’s Pages: The Scent Keeper
I desperately needed an escape this month and happily uncovered one of the most delightful fantasy novels I’ve ever read while scouring the local bookstore. The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister creates a cozy atmosphere right off the cuff, weaving lyrical writing with gloriously sensual descriptions of scents to create a reading experience that feels like no other. I have never had a novel tug at my sense of smell quite like this one; it brings to mind memories old and new, just as it does for the main character of the novel, Emmeline.
Max’s Musings: Shel Silverstein
A Light in the Attic, like other works, was banned for Silverstein’s depiction of challenging authority, igniting disrespectful behavior, and promoting disobedience. The book’s most “problematic” poem “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes” puts a spin on chores and suggests children to break dishes to escape washing them.
With children making up Silverstein’s target audience, the book made its way across households and schools until it was ultimately banned in both Wisconsin and Florida. Considering this, I knew it was a necessary read as I wanted to investigate it further. The poem I chose for this week is “A Light in the Attic” that shares the same name as the collection and appears first.
Iconic Convos: Black Sun
BS: The more people change, the more they remain the same. People, seasons, time—they all cycle, they all come back to incipience.
I bear witness to the spinning wheels of time, the turning clock of seasons, and the joys and sorrows of man—I bear it all and it is both a heavy burden, and a lightsome ecstasy.
A trio of squirrels playing tag in my tree friends' branches. The cries of a woman brought to regret by a loathsome monster. And in between are the mediocre events, such as life and death which keep us turning—I see all.
Sound Cinema: The Grand Illusion
It is tough when a beloved institution closes its doors, but it’s wonderful when it can be given an excellent send off. The Grand Illusion Cinema has been at 1403 NE 50th Street in the U District for over 50 years, the last 20 of which have been as a completely volunteer-run non-profit. The theater will be closing soon and having its final screenings this month.
