Lynette Evans 4/24/26 Lynette Evans 4/24/26

‘The Orca Show’ is the Perimenopausal Fever Dream We Deserve

Let’s be clear: Society treats the onset of menopause like a slow-motion car crash into a nursing home. Menopausal women are expected to go quietly, perhaps draped in a drab beige sheet, clutching a bottle of magnesium oil and apologizing for their sudden lack of utility. But Aysan Celik isn't interested in apologies or beige aesthetics. In The Orca Show, Celik takes the change of life and dunks it headfirst into the freezing depths of the PNW. It turns out, if you want to understand why you’re currently possessed by the spirit of a 5-ton apex predator, you have to look at the only other mammalian girly who loses her period at forty: the orca.

JeLisa Marshall 4/23/26 JeLisa Marshall 4/23/26

Evergreen Style: Prairie Underground

While Earth Month has been celebrated worldwide in April for more than 50 years, the fashion industry’s responsibility to the planet extends far beyond a single month. At Prairie Underground, a fashion label designed and manufactured in Seattle for over 20 years, sustainability is not a momentary focus but an everyday practice. Camilla Eckersley, one of its co-founders, is committed to creating an industry that is fair, fun, and environmentally responsible.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 4/17/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 4/17/26

Perennial Conventions: Spring Awakening

Welcome to Spring! The season featuring wet earth, chatty birds, wardrobe uncertainty, and soon…babies, babies, babies. Both a season on its own as well as a transitionary period. Winter fitfully thawing into Summer as the frigid rot fertilizes the new growth.

Lynette Evans 4/15/26 Lynette Evans 4/15/26

Soft Life, Hard Lessons: No More Dry Biscuits

I have realized that my heart, the very center of my desire, has the amazing capacity to recognize beauty in more than one mirror. I find myself in a season I never expected: navigating deep feelings while standing firmly on newly discovered ground. This wasn’t a planned destination; I didn’t set out to audition hearts or be out here all in my feels. But here we are! As a woman who has been refined by the scorching fires of two divorces, I have realized that healing doesn't make your heart smaller—it makes it more discerning.

Zach Youngs 4/14/26 Zach Youngs 4/14/26

Sound Cinema: Bainbridge Cinemas

Bainbridge Cinemas caters to a wide demographic. It is meant to be a theater that offers broad audience fare so that those that live on Bainbridge Island do not have to make a trek to the mainland if they want to see the latest releases on the big screen. Like most theaters, the theatrical window can be a bit tricky to manage, but in the old sense of the theater experience, if it plays, it stays.

Parker Dean 4/9/26 Parker Dean 4/9/26

Parker’s Pages: Schrader’s Chord

Author Scott Leeds lives in the Pacific Northwest, and just like many of the other authors I have covered before, his work perfectly encapsulated what it feels like to live and be in Seattle and its neighboring cities. There’s a certain way that writers from the PNW write about the rain, the fog, and the dark. Leeds is no different, and effortlessly brings Seattle to life.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 4/8/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich 4/8/26

Noveltease Arouses, Enlightens with Intersectional Literary Burlesque

If you believe burlesque isn’t for you or you’ve never attended a show before, Noveltease offers an experience that highlights the intersection of literature, dance, music, and history in a small venue, creating an intimacy that provides multisensory entertainment. I left feeling good, emboldened, and creative. And though glamorous clothes were shed, the message of the evening—particularly within the selected poems—was that of reclamation, self-affirmation, and pleasure without shame or exploitation.

Parker Dean 4/4/26 Parker Dean 4/4/26

Pro Tips for Trans* Survival in Trying Times

Here, in the Puget Sound bubble, it is easy to lose focus of what we are fighting against and fighting for; sometimes the bad stuff sort of feels like it is happening out there, and that in our blue bubble, we are untouchable. But this isn’t true. Backslides set a precedent for more backslides. It is important to stay vigilant, to offer what you can to people who are not privileged to live in blue areas, and to know how to protect yourself.

Calista Robbins 3/31/26 Calista Robbins 3/31/26

Artistic Freedom to Object Given Space at Flinch/Punch

These spaces—these great halls of reflection—are necessities in our communities, especially in times of war, oppression, and authoritarianism. Annex Theatre, Seattle’s oldest fringe theater, saw this need growing as tensions rose amidst the 2016 election. So they developed a resistance program called Flinch/Punch.

Mary Adner 3/25/26 Mary Adner 3/25/26

Steven Marcus Releford’s Popup Comedy Injects Levity into Vegan Scene

Vegan. Black. Comedy.

Those aren’t words that come up in the same sentence—let alone the same event—ever, if at all. But Steven Marcus Releford is changing the landscape of how we perceive standup comedy at the intersections of Blackness, veganism, and West Coast vibes.

Lynette Evans 3/24/26 Lynette Evans 3/24/26

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.

Gray Harrison 3/24/26 Gray Harrison 3/24/26

Mudlark Oddities Communes with Curious Minds and Spirits

Mudlark Oddities sits nestled on a side street in the Ravenna neighborhood. To enter, you descend an unassuming staircase, then pop into a shop with narrow, cozy aisles and a seemingly never-ending collection of beautifully macabre things to look at. I’ve never stayed less than an hour in the place. In keeping with the name, which dates back to 1800s London and refers to people who scavenge riverbeds for valuable objects, the shop holds many gems in its keep and has fostered a dedicated community around it.

Maxwell Meier 3/23/26 Maxwell Meier 3/23/26

Take This Poetry Starter Pack to Your Library

The Seattle Central Library was the first haven I found. My friend helped me get my library card and showed me all its inner secrets and quirks. I immediately found sanctuary in the poetry section on the ninth floor. This is where I would read, write, and immerse myself into the world of poetry. My manuscripts felt right at home. One does not go to the library just for books—they go for the experience.

Parker Dean 3/19/26 Parker Dean 3/19/26

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.

Gray Harrison 3/17/26 Gray Harrison 3/17/26

Seattle Film Society Nurtures Local Filmmaking Scene

On the last Thursday of every month, SFS screens thematic groupings of Washington-made short films at Northwest Film Forum. Submissions for Locals Only are open year-round. These screenings are followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and aftershow drinks and discussion at a nearby bar. Introvert that I am, the thought of mingling at a networking event was enough to make me feel nauseous. But I wanted to give it a shot, and it sounded intriguing.

Lynette Evans 3/16/26 Lynette Evans 3/16/26

Moe Vegan Serves Soul in Food + Vibes

I pulled up to a stretch of road that holds two years of my 10-year history —just a block from where I first landed when I moved back to Seattle from Atlanta. It was a homecoming wrapped in a transition, but the moment I stepped into Moe Vegan, the famed “Seattle Freeze" officially thawed out.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26

‘Sinners’ in the LGBTQIA+ Lens, Part 3: Agency

Sinners continuously highlights the power and danger in refusal. This is an underrated technique that women, marginalized races, the Queer and Trans community, and anyone else that the world actively rejects have to learn if they expect to survive—when all options have been systemically stripped from you.

When your voice is not only ignored, but silenced… There is power in saying “No.”

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26

‘Sinners’ in the LGBTQIA+ Lens, Part 2: Protection of Youth

With Sammie, one of the most notable themes in Sinners—the protection of youth—is carried through the film.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26

‘Sinners’ in the LGBTQIA+ Lens, Part 1: The Grift

Grifting, originally used to describe someone who swindles others, is now colloquially used to describe someone whose political, spiritual, or cultural views have shifted outwardly to appease those in power, even if they do not truly believe in those views. Often, these people are left-leaning to start, and ‘grift’ to right-wing political views as a way to gain favor with the current right-wing politicians in power. A grifter is usually someone who has positioned themselves as a strong voice in their community, as an activist, a social media icon, or some other persuasive voice.

Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26 Raegan Ballard-Gennrich and Parker Dean 3/13/26

‘Sinners’ in the LGBTQIA+ Lens: Introduction

Setting a record with 16 Oscar nominations, Sinners proves that there’s a reason why everyone is still talking about the film. In the current sociopolitical climate, only a year later, many deeply entrenched systemic inequities highlighted in the film are being exposed as foundational U.S. beliefs merely receded, biding their time in the shadows until they felt welcome again. But despite what conservative influencers and pundits would have you believe, the hate that they justify is neither superior, nor even the majority-held value system in this country.

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