As you might recall, I decided to "retire" this blog in early 2020, for reasons explained here. For eight years I posted a new story about once every three days, and to give the blog an appropriate climax I shared a walloping 55 stories all at once to celebrate the blog's "end," and give readers something to chew on for a while. In case you missed it, here's a video of yours truly telling the blog's "final" story, in video form:
For myself, I've been hard at work on a second book, promoting the first one (including two wonderful talks for the folks in Carnation and Northgate, plus a great show at the Wing Luke), and working on a new film project. I'll have some cinema-related material for you soon.
Although I don't post stories as often now, the ones I do post come not from obligation but from a deep, compelled desire to do share. They're often longer and more substantive. Here are a few highlights from the blog's "post-retirement" phase:
Bus Stories:
- It's About Who's Around: This is the story that got me to break the retirement. I couldn't not write it. It was too meaningful to me.
A few reflections on how our current hard times shape how we see others, and what we can keep in mind on that score:
- Do Not Hide From This Awful Sensation
- Not Because it is Easy
- Better to Suffer Injustice Than to Do It
- The Antidote
More generally–
- Release: Some thoughts on embarrassment, shame, and growing up.
- Raskolnikov in a Beanie: two passengers argue over mask-wearing and reveal much on race.
- Something Early: An E Line story both hard-edged and soft.
...and three deep dives:
- Cigarettes and Fentanyl: All Aboard: You've been wondering about all the drugs on buses now. Here's the skinny.
- It's Complicated: Why Rainier RapidRide seems like a good idea, but isn't.
- The Gift & the Question: A piece on returning to the 7 (again) and how good it feels to be among people who still talk to each other.
On Films by Others:
- Trois Objects 1: on Michael Mann's Heat: An essay on the afternoon that got me into films.
- Stillwater: I do not require my friends to think like me. I share common ground with this film's protagonist as much as anyone else.
- Neither Here Nor There: My take on the Slap. Yes, that slap. Or more accurately, the more interesting fact that Chris Rock did not strike back.
On My Film:
- Grateful: A piece on my film's journey through the festival circuit;
- Reviews: Three reviews for my film, Men I Trust, by UK Film Review, Film Threat and more;
- Anya Patel interviews me at London's Dreamers of Dreams festival (video).
Press:
- Why I Wrote the Book (video, 6 mins): For Redmond Library's Summer Reading Program: a video intro on why the book exists:
- A favorite of the interviews I've given, an in-depth piece for PLU's student journal Saxifrage;
- A largely non-political essay I wrote for Democratic Socialist's of America's newspaper, Democratic Left.
- Seattle Met selects me as one of their 100 Power Players for 2021;
- International Examiner interview, plus a rare essay on race and being Asian-American;
- Two more pieces in Seattle Met: on driving during the pandemic, and a panel discussion transcript about fare enforcement.
Photography
New work and accompanying essays on place and feeling within the following cities:
On Art
- On Seattle's Waterfront: Before and After: two favorite essays of mine, the first of which appears in local treasure Laura Hamje's book Concrete Ghosts, discussed by me here. There was a Seattle before the Seattle we see today.
- Reflections from Workin' On It: Another essay diptych, for Hart Boyd's zine, this one about artmaking in childhood vs. adulthood.
- Trois Objets 2: Antonello da Messina: I keep coming back to this painting, and not just because it's finally getting its due for containing "the greatest hand in the Italian Renaissance!" Everything I love about it and why.
This list is incomplete. If you're on a desktop, check out the selections and archives on the right; if you're on a smartphone, scroll down for the same. Enjoy the links above, explore more, and don't forget to check in around the 1st of every month for new material!