Nonfiction

  • The Romance of Reality TV

    One of my guilty pleasures is watching Romance reality TV. Specifically, lately, it has been 90 Day Fiance, including the spinoff show, The Other Way.  Since I am watching this on a streaming service, I am always a season or two behind. Unlike others, I started my obsession with reality TV by watching The Amazing… Continue reading

  • Rest and Retreat

    I know solitude seems like the opposite of what you want to do right now, but solitude with a purpose, such as rest, could be highly beneficial especially after this difficult year. There are also many forms of rest. Resting the mind for better sleep, retreating to rest and recharge, and finding solitude to create… Continue reading

  • Deep Dives: The Natural World

    Sometimes, when the world and news cycle seem really fragmented, I take great solace in diving deep on a particular topic. While this can be done on the internet, for me the most satisfying method is to sit down with a book and just let myself sink into the minutia. If you’re craving that same… Continue reading

  • Wintering Over: Art in Shades of Dark and Light

    Winter, like life, comes in shades of dark and light. Herein lies the drama of an indispensable duo meant to be seen, in multitudes of splendor, in paintings photographs and drawings. Let us go into the season with an Invocation of Beauty seeking not, its Genesis but Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico and Antonio Berni’s Juanito and… Continue reading

  • Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists with Mayumi Tsutakawa

    On Dec. 5th, the Seattle Public Library presents a virtual program, Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists with Mayumi Tsutakawa, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. It is about five woman warriors of the Pacific Northwest: pioneering photographer Imogen Cunningham; Black American jazz musician Ruby Bishop; Chinese American artist Priscilla Chong Jue; Leftist journalist Anna Louise… Continue reading

  • Seattle Hygge

    This has been a year when I have found my sense of cozy vibes becoming more amplified in my home. Between nesting for the arrival of our child, working from home, and just settling in to the Pacific Northwest winter – cozy is front and center of all we do. New couch purchase means piling… Continue reading

  • Watch and Read: The Queen’s Gambit

    Just like with books, shows will also leave me wanting more. While The Queen’s Gambit is based on a book by Walter S. Tevis it’s also pretty darn popular right now, as anyone who has seen the show can probably imagine. So here are a few other diamonds in the rough to get you through…and… Continue reading

  • Dysfunctional Holidays

    I don’t know about you, but for me this has been a very, very long year.  Between Covid-19, the election, and the Black Lives Matter Movement there has been a lot of family tension.  With the holidays coming up it makes it even harder to think of those family dynamics coming into play.  While quarantine… Continue reading

  • Tales (and Recipes) for a Winter’s Night

    Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yuletide, Winter Solstice – no matter the form it takes – tales and food so often play a part. Stories of memories, tales passed on from generation to generation, and recipes too following down the line from grandmother, to daughter, to granddaughter, to great-grandson. The ties that bind us during the holiday season… Continue reading

  • Unmuted Spotlights the Connective Power of Personal Storytelling

    Seattle-based memoir author and writing coach Ingrid Ricks recently led a personal storywriting workshop for LGBTQIA seniors and their allies at Seattle’s GenPRIDE center. The workshop built a community of writers and generated an intriguing anthology of fourteen stories entitled Unmuted: Stories of Courage and Resilience from the GenPRIDE Community, released in October to celebrate… Continue reading

  • What to Do About Fake News

    A recent study by the German Marshall Fund found that misinformation on Facebook has tripled since 2016, when the term “fake news” was first popularized during the presidential election. Another take on this is the recent Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, which has tech insiders sounding the alarm on how social media manipulates users and… Continue reading

  • Toolkit for Tough Times: Toughing it Out

    Remember the adage, “When the going gets tough the tough get going?” Well, can we all agree that the going has arrived?! These tough times call for some tenderizing measures, something to help in Calming the Rush of Panic with Creative Strength Training, for instance. As we move into this uncertain fall and winter season,… Continue reading

  • Fifteen Years since Hurricane Katrina – Nonfiction

    As Hurricane Sally made landfall, I remembered on August 30, fifteen years ago, when I realized I needed to actually put together an emergency kit for my family and me. What made me finally do this is seeing New Orleans underwater after Hurricane Katrina and the levees breaking.  What a devastating part of our history… Continue reading

  • Three on a Theme: Vegan Cookbooks for Autumn

    Autumn is a great time of year to turn inwards and do some experimentation in the kitchen, whether this means cooking delicious warm meals or exploring new baked goods to munch on while things get colder and darker outside. This post compiles a list of plant-based (vegan) cooking and baking resources offered by the Library… Continue reading

  • Working it Out: From Emancipation to Economic Independence

    After centuries of receiving no or minuscule compensation (by being hired out) for their labor, formerly enslaved people, at the stroke of a pen, were responsible for their own livelihood. Seamstresses, servants, cooks, carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights and masons could ply their trade. Most, however, of this country’s enslaved workforce had been deployed to cultivate monocrops.… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2020: Set in a City of Literature

    Now that summer is truly underway, it’s time for a book bingo check-in. How’s it going? Do you need a few more suggestions for books set in Cities of Literature? We thought you might need some recommendations for books to read, so we asked our colleagues in the thirty-eight other Cities of Literature to recommend… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2020: Indigenous Author

    If you’ve been wanting to decolonize your bookshelf but aren’t sure how to start, Adult Book Bingo has an indigenous author square, which is an excellent opportunity to begin including more works by Native authors in your daily reading. The Library offers plenty of fiction and nonfiction by indigenous writers from all over the world,… Continue reading

  • Write On!: Get Graphic! Go Comic!

    Are you drawn to drawing your own world? Do you picture rows of frames, imagine scenes, come up with your own cast of characters and play those scenes out in your mind? Is there, somewhere near, a messy pile of graphic novels or comic books that you have poured over a hundred times or more?… Continue reading