On my way to the station, several people complimented my shirt or my hair, others smiled as I walked past, and even more strutted by in intricate outfits, displaying various Pride flags in all manners of ways. In a sea of rainbows and smiles, I made my way home, thinking about those who had come before me, the Queer and Trans* elders I would never get to meet. What would they think of the current state of the movement? Would they think we were “loud” enough?

Ivy watched as the evening workers and night dwellers shuffled down the sidewalks, heads bowed against the omniscient glow of the streetlights that’d borne witness to their savage furies. 

Warning, the voice began again. 

Ivy lifted a cigarette to her lips, inhaled, let the smoke sit and coil through her lungs like a breath of life before she blew it through the crack of her propped window. Only the stub of the cigarette remained, its embers hot against her fingers. But it was good for a few more puffs at least, and god did she need it. 

It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne De Marcken is an ephemeral collection that feels more like a dream than a story. This novel is simply unforgettable, and it had me in its clutches from the moment I flipped open the first page.

For their 30th Queer and Trans Film Festival, Three Dollar Bill Cinema is taking us back to 1996 when it all began. This event will be a mix of throwback favorites and some new shorts in the TRANSlations Shorts program. The festival will open with Beautiful Thing, which was the film that kicked it all off 30 years ago.

I closed out Pride Month by attending the fabulous and charming Queer Talent Show at Friday Afternoon Tea in Wallingford. This Queer and woman-owned business is a wonderful location with kind and knowledgeable staff, and their get-together for the end of Pride was cozy, loving, and all-around magical. Owned by the amazing Friday Elliott, Friday Afternoon Tea is quite simply the place to be.

A few things greet you when you take in a show at the Blue Mouse. There are clocks on each end of the building's marquee, and scampering across the edges are neon, blue mice created by Tacoma-born glass artist Dale Chihuly. The lobby has the old-school movie house charm with a concession stand right inside the doors. When you go through the curtains to the theater proper, you see the old influences on the space—the large stage for performance or presentation mixed with the modern features.

Aaron Johnson (he/him) is on a mission, the type of undertaking that comes to you through lived experiences. Ben Wilson (he/him), the producer of and participant in the short film Dark and Tender, invited me to attend the film’s screening at the Seattle Black Film Festival. The film, which aims to be a larger documentary, tells the story of the CUT Project.

The Seattle Asian American Film Festival returned for its 13th year this month. The festival was composed of several programs, including an opening night centered on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, a Native Hawaiian Showcase, and a Queer AF Shorts collection. Another highlight of the festival was the Bring it Home: Pacific Northwest Shorts program, held on June 21 at the Broadway Performance Hall. Featuring 11 films, the program was a celebration of the diversity of AAPI experiences in the Pacific Northwest.

On June 10, 2025, I had the fortunate and unique opportunity to sit down with Seattle artist Heidi Fairall. Her quirky and whimsical style shows not only to how she perceives art, but life itself, and was refreshing and inspirational for aspiring creatives alike. For myself, she made me think about how I approach the creative process when it comes to my own projects.

The 2025 Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) kicked off its two days of in-person screenings on June 20 and continues virtually through June 29. The opening night screened Reflections & Legacies, a feature-length compilation of films focused on stories of refugees and immigrants of Southeast Asian communities into the United States. While only a few hours of programming in a shorter-than-usual SAAFF, the evening captured a deeper sense of meaning and community than its schedule would suggest.

For the uninitiated, the Triple Door is a longtime dinner-and-a-show venue in Seattle’s downtown that seats some 300, The Sound of Strip is an improv burlesque show set to the music of a live cover of The Cure, and Ruby Mimosa (aka The Effervescent EnterTEASER) is a local star noted as one of the most influential performers in the world by 21st Century Burlesque and the genius mind behind BurlesKaraoke.

It’s opening night! Today marks the start of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival—a two-day affair held in Seattle at the Wing Luke Museum (International District) and Broadway Performance Hall (Capitol Hill), and followed by a week of virtual screenings for those who can’t attend in person. This year commemorates 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War (or “The American War” as it is known in Vietnam).

Jasmine Joshua and Heather Ragusa’s musical Here & Their, starring Chloe Payne and Meg McLynn, is shaping up to be a new Queer musical classic! With top-tier vocals, witty lines, and songs that are sometimes hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenching, Here & Their brings a fresh perspective on Queer stories that many of us can relate to as well as creates levity during these dark times. This musical is joyous, hopeful, and feels like finally taking a deep breath after a tense and stressful start to 2025.

Descendants continue to confront parallel systems of oppression in every aspect of life. This often manifests in resistance by way of creative expressions that support sustainability and showcase ingenuity. Every year on this date, many descendants pause to reflect on the resilience of their ancestors and celebrate their legacy. The Threads of Freedom exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum is one such example in the Puget Sound.

On June 15, millions of Americans took part in the No Kings protest. In Seattle, around 70,000 protestors marched from Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill to Seattle Center. Whether you were among them or not, the ripples of the protest could be felt all over the city. For weeks, I have seen people with signs and heard chanting from around my block in the University District, and on my usual weekend commute, I have watched protestors stand together around Seattle Center. This is the first truly hopeful week I have had in a long time, and in the middle of Pride Month, knowing there are so many people willing to fight against this administration has been inspiring.

Sometimes, to see yourself reflected back at you can be a radical experience. 
This was how it felt at Moving History – The Queercrow Archive, Volume 3 on June 8 at Northwest Film Forum. The event was the third annual installment of a collaborative project between two Seattle nonprofits devoted to preserving history through video: Scarecrow Video and MIPoPS (Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound). 

Base Camp Studios 2 isn’t just a studio space. It’s a community. It’s a reminder that art lives through people, through shared space, and through the simple act of saying, “Hey, come take a look.” If you are looking for art that moves, surprises, and welcomes you, head to Base Camp. You won’t just see the art. You’ll feel it.

Back in March, I had the pleasure of interviewing Emergence Films’ cofounder Rachel Noll James and discussed the forthcoming Emerging Filmmakers Program. Open to anyone who identifies as a woman, this program’s mission is to elevate marginalized voices in the filmmaking world while giving filmmakers of all experience levels the opportunity to create a feature length movie. A few months later, this year’s cohort of emerging filmmakers has been selected! There are three groups: Team Pocket Topic (Melissa Tumas and Sonia M. Kandathil), Team Mother Tongue (Jo Woods and Sarah Mona), and Team Cosmic Coyote (Mia McGlinn, Ila Dreesen, and Sydney Renee).

Though you may appreciate the updated and modern conveniences built into the space by the Olympia Film Society, the bones and the spirit of the structure make the Capitol Theater a way to go back in time and see a film like those who experienced the new medium for the first time. It is a bit of magic in the heart of Olympia.

It’s very different from my experiences growing up moderately religious in the South. It took away the shame and self-blame. In heteronormative, vanilla sex, there are too many unspoken expectations, too many assumptions about what’s going to happen, that some people just begin following the script without any sort of communication. This, I believe, leads to situations like what 17-year-old me experienced, where I left thinking I had led someone on and realized years later that I was actually assaulted. I don’t know if he knows this though.