Love & Wisdom
When Harry Met Allie
Not every meaningful connection results in love
I walk across the lobby toward the restaurant maitre’d, squeezing my abdominal muscles to balance in my heels on the marble floors. I identify my date from his photos sitting at a table in the back corner. To the chagrin of friends and family, I recently reset my dating app age preferences to max out at 45, not 40.
Gender-Bending in the Wilderness
Intense outdoor trip defied conventions
I had confidence in the team, even though this river had rapids that were rated as Class III and IV (translation: a little hair-raising and you get really wet), but I had taken a similar journey with the same company more than 15 years ago, so I knew there was going to be an emphasis on safety, and it would be exciting and well-executed. That said, I was nervous, though I wasn’t sure that my back and bladder were going to be as accommodating as they had been some years ago.
Papa and His Pronouns
A parent works to adjust to his young daughter’s preferences
I love my daughter. Although I’m not sure she’s my daughter. I now call her my child. My little monkey. Sparky. Love of my life. My kiddo. But never, ever, my little girl, even though she attends Seattle Girls School. Because when Valen turned 11 last year, she told her mother and I that she…
You’re Not Doing it Wrong
Navigating the soiled nest of family life
This morning, I found myself running late as I tried to get my daughter to the bus, but I wasn’t alone in my rush. There was a parade of cars driven by grumpy, frazzled parents eager to position themselves in front of the bus before the next stop. No one wants to miss the bus….
Capturing Hope
A picture is worth more than a thousand words
A year ago, 23-year-old Anika wouldn’t have recognized the person she is today, emerging from a scattered and difficult past with deep gratitude for the support she’s received. “My journey has been broken, lots of broken roads, and very narrow,” says Anika, who asked that her last name not be used. “But I’m on a…
Editor’s Note: An Experience That Lives Forever
The world isn't always as it seems
It was Friday night after a long week. I had just arrived home. The red light was flashing on my answering machine (remember those?). I was ready for the weekend. The call crushed me. My first love, my high school sweetheart, my partner in mischief, had passed away due to complications from Multiple Sclerosis. Gwen…
‘The Answer is in Us’
Equity expert Erin Jones encourages everyone to ‘show up for one another’
Erin Jones has a unique perspective on race. She was put up for adoption after her white birth mother’s family refused to let the mixed-race child come home. She was adopted by a white couple whose parents also struggled to accept her. She was raised in Minnesota until age 5, and then moved with her…
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: My Way
A professional matchmaker makes every mistake in the book, and owns up to it
In the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson’s assignment is to get Matthew McConaughey hooked, then get him to break up with her in 10 days by doing every no-no in the book that would drive any man — any sane person — crazy. This social experiment would be a…
Publisher’s Note: The Lost Art of Civility
How to bring back respectful discourse
Can a city be too “woke”? That’s a provocative question. If we root the term to its original definition from early 1900s to 1950s African American culture, “woke” is an adjective generally defined as “being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” Beginning about 10 years ago, it came to also encompass a broader awareness of…
Aging Well Really Is The Best Revenge
We can all learn something from the late Tina Turner
I’m bothered by the term “aging gracefully,” whatever that means. I think a better phrase is “aging dynamically,” being your vital, wisest self, a carefully-curated product of living and learning over many years. I know. I am not trying to be Sally Sunshine here and overlook the harsher aspects of being in the third and…
Where Innovation Meets Education
Seattle Girls School empowers girls to change the world
An innovative experiment at a small school in Seattle’s Central District may hold the key to the future of education. The Seattle Girls School serves students that identify as female or gender nonconforming. Rather than abiding by a traditional grading system for every assignment, students at the private middle school get letter grades only at…
The Grind Of A Grudge
MOVING PAST ANGER AND LETTING GO OF TOXIC ENERGY
I was watching a Seahawks practice when the man I’d shunned for three years offered me an apology. “I’m sorry,” said Dave Mahler. You might know him as Softy. He hosts the afternoon sports-talk show at KJR 93.3 FM. “I was wrong, and I shouldn’t have said what I did.” He then offered me his…
Live, Laugh, Bomb
A ROOKIE TRIES STAND-UP COMEDY, WITH MIXED RESULTS
As with many Tinder dates, things didn’t go quite as I expected. For example, I didn’t intend to have multiple guys I’d matched with in the same place, at the same time. Especially when that place was a comedy open mic that was going to be my first and possibly only attempt at stand-up. After…
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