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.
Tanggol Migrante Maintains Support of Filipino Migrants as US Mourns Renee Good
The new year came out swinging. The newspapers covering yet another US-backed coup in Venezuela barely cooled from printing when ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed legal observer Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. As ICE activities escalate and continue unchecked, so too does the number of casualties. Grief and rage march hand-in-hand in the streets.
‘Lear Alone’ and ‘Walking on a Paper Moon’ Lead Baker Theater Workshop’s Winter Lineup
Last month, I was fortunate to attend the Pacific Northwest premiere of Anna Tatelman’s play Life on the Moon, produced by Baker Theater Workshop and performed at ReAct Theatre. The play examined the challenges a family experiences when trying to authentically communicate their feelings with each other over the holidays. Furthering on the theme of familial complexity, Baker Theater Workshop will present two plays together from January 10-19 which dig into family dynamics: Lear (alone), and Walking on a Paper Moon.
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.”
Queer Up-and-Comer Alise Garcia Chats Lezztalkaboutit’s Accessible Events
Back in November, I had the privilege of covering the Performative Femme Contest hosted by Alise Garcia of Lezztalkaboutit. It was a stunning display of Queer community. Recently, Alise and I met up for coffee to discuss the purpose of Lezztalkaboutit and what she has in store for the future. We also discussed the importance of community and what it takes to build one.
The Ink Drinker Brings Together Bibliophiles, Beverage Lovers in Ballard
The Ink Drinker, which opened last month, has a substantial number of books open to the public. Even if you forget your current or feel-good read, there is no excuse not to join in on the fun. Although you cannot check them out, rows and rows of books stand resolute as they call individuals inward. Even if one’s literary tastes differ from another, every person can appreciate and find refuge or a second home here.
An Ode to the Occidental Square Ice Rink
There was one person doing laps around the rink with speed and grace and not falling on her back every three steps like the rest of us. I jealously wondered if she had brought her own skates, and if the blades had been sharpened, unlike our dull footwear. Someone told me that this is what professional figure skaters train on, which confused me even more. Because HOW??
What Does Accountability Really Mean?
The word “accountability” seems impossible to avoid for anyone paying attention. Repeatedly, people with power abuse their position. Repeatedly, communities clamor for accountability, a just outcome for all affected persons, and satisfying solutions that will excise the rot from which harm festers and breeds. It is difficult not to feel disillusioned by the usual wishy-washy or dismissive responses, feigned ignorance, and lack of material progress in terms of repairing harm and promoting safety. How are we supposed to hold people accountable, so to speak, if they won’t take accountability?
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.
Life on the Moon Powerfully Illuminates Familial, Autistic Expression
On December 14, I was lucky enough to attend the PNW premiere of Life on the Moon, a play written by Anna Tatelman, directed by Jeremy Radick, and produced by Baker Theater Workshop. Hosted at ReAct Theatre, Life on the Moon is a family drama that centers on the relationship between siblings Piper, an 18-year-old with autism, and her older brother Spencer, who has just returned home from the army for the holidays.
Communion Restaurant & Bar: Homecoming on a Plate
Communion Restaurant & Bar sits inside the historic Liberty Bank Building in the heart of Seattle’s Central District. For me, this wasn’t just dinner; it was a return to my roots. I grew up on 20th & Union, and this exact spot used to be Thompson’s Point of View, a restaurant I frequented all through elementary school. Eating here felt like stepping into a memory with a modern twist.
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.
Crow’s Nest Comics Establishes Inclusive Shop in Central District
Crow’s Nest Comics, formerly the beloved Outsider Comics shop of Fremont, has made the move to a much cozier location in Central District, just a tiny walk from I-90 (or the 7 or 554 bus will get you just a block away). Though the shop has moved and changed names, they are still offering their warm, inviting atmosphere, stunning collection, and commitment to accessibility, all from a better location.
Evergreen Style: Seattle Fat Mall
One of the greatest joys about fashion is finding the perfect fit. Yet for fat or plus-size shoppers, that joy is rare, often overshadowed by an exhausting search for options that barely exist.
Earlier this year, in partnership with Seattle Restored, the Seattle Fall Mall emerged as a pop-up community space in Downtown Seattle where being fat or plus-size was centered and celebrated.
For eight months, the founders—Amber and Alyss Seelig, Candace Frank, and Kwame Phillips-Solomon—brought together local artists and fashion designers who challenge industry norms through body positivity and collective liberation.
Soft Life, Hard Lessons: The Price of Peace
So here I am: rebuilding, relearning, re-everything. Washington State, bless its procedural little heart, makes you wait a full 90 days before you can even finalize a divorce. Raggedy. I could’ve been free by now, had my soon-to-be-ex not spent nine rounds avoiding the process server like it was tag at recess. So yes, I’m irritated.
I winced when my therapist—a doctor, mind you—named him a narcissist who love-bombed me at the beginning. You could’ve held my hand for that, sis.
