Love & Wisdom

Heartbeat: Why Your Spouse Should Be More like a Dog

Heartbeat: Why Your Spouse Should Be More like a Dog

We could all learn loyalty, love and understanding

As many of you know, I am considered a relationship expert, and from time to time, I like to write a column about the discoveries that keep happening as I listen in and give feedback to couples and singles about love. But for this column, I want to talk about what I think may be…

Essay:  Blind Spot

Essay: Blind Spot

I'm white and he's Asian. Coupled, everywhere we went people assumed we weren't together

I could be at the supermarket with my husband, in line at a movie theater, or looking for furniture at Crate and Barrel, and people assume we aren’t a couple. Assume we’re strangers even. Salespeople, mechanics, hair stylists, real estate agents, and even our neighbors, at first, look confused. Until we stand close together or…

Letter to Seattle: Acts On Stage Opens Minds

Letter to Seattle: Acts On Stage Opens Minds

Acts on Stage challenges white Seattle

Image caption: Acts On Stage supporter Jess Bielman, left, with Leroy Barber, praises the nonprofit for opening his mind. Letter to Seattle highlights the good deeds and positive experiences in our region. This is a letter from Jess Bielman, a patron of Acts on Stage, a nonprofit, professional theater company in Seattle that emphasizes people…

The Art of Weathering Winter: What “Self-Care” Really Is (and Isn’t)

The Art of Weathering Winter: What “Self-Care” Really Is (and Isn’t)

How to cultivate more community, according to author Angela Garbes & State Representative Darya Farivar

The term “self-care” has become so overused that its meaning can be bent to almost any purpose. Is it indulging in a cocktail or abstaining from booze? Is it splurging on a skincare product or making peace with fine lines? Some have begun to use the term “community care” to refer to a commitment toward…

The Art of Weathering Winter: How a gardener and a gallerist embrace the Seattle gray

The Art of Weathering Winter: How a gardener and a gallerist embrace the Seattle gray

Walk a mile (or twelve) in the shoes of Ciscoe Morris and Tariqa Waters

By Annie Midori Atherton Trudging into midwinter, I sometimes find myself counting down the days to spring with the melodrama of a 19th-century sailor making scratches on the wall to mark how long I’ve been at sea. In an effort to enjoy the season more, I’ve been speaking with a diverse array of locals. What’s…

Sober: Why Dry January Means Something Different to Me

Sober: Why Dry January Means Something Different to Me

An alcoholic reflects on his journey

I was nearing the end of my screed against holier-than-thou practitioners of Dry January when I came to a startling realization: My brain was broken. This was somewhat alarming as you might imagine, but not totally unexpected. As with many crises, it happened slowly at first and then all at once. Years of arguing on…

The Art of Weathering Winter: Foraging, Bathing, and Gold Dust

The Art of Weathering Winter: Foraging, Bathing, and Gold Dust

Two Seattle chefs on the soothing hobbies that get them through the winter

Though I’ve lived in Seattle nearly my entire life, the early winter sunsets, which fall like a set of blackout curtains over the world, never fail to feel like a curse. This year, though, I wanted to challenge myself to find a better way to get through it. Could it be an opportunity to surrender…

Letter To Seattle: Grown-Up for a Day

Letter To Seattle: Grown-Up for a Day

Junior Achievement taught me responsibility and how to plan for my future

Dear Junior Achievement of Washington, My name is Tigran, and I am a sixth grader.  Last year, when I was in fifth grade, I visited BizTown with my class, and I wanted to tell you how that field trip made a difference.  To prepare for the visit, my class and I spent time with our…

Heartbeat: Pay For What?

Heartbeat: Pay For What?

The invasion of the transactional body snatchers

Lest you think I am alerting you unnecessarily, let me reassure you that when I heard about this, I gasped.  GASPED! But perhaps you will gasp, too, unless, of course, you knew this all along. What I am referring to is a new culture in dating that looks an awful lot like it’s turning female daters into,…

Publisher's Note: The Very Best of Us

Publisher’s Note: The Very Best of Us

Helping make the world a better place

Don’t Give Up. With the Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade, the curbing of Environmental Protection Agency oversight of climate change and an extension of gun rights, things in our country have been looking a little discouraging lately. Rest assured, though, that there are heroes among us. Some historians believe that the default state…

Seattle’s Inclusionary Future

Seattle’s Inclusionary Future

What if everyone is important?

Editor’s note: Brenda Cooper is a Kirkland-based short-story writer, poet and futurist who has written 10 novels. Her most recent books are “Edge of Dark” and its sequel, “Spear of Light.” The former won the 2016 Endeavor Award for science fiction or fantasy by a Northwest author. In this column, Cooper discusses the importance of…

Heartbeat: Defrosting Seattle. It’s time to become more friendly.

Heartbeat: Defrosting Seattle. It’s time to become more friendly.

The Seattle Freeze versus the Nashville Warm

So, this column is not so much about the Seattle Freeze, but the Nashville Warm. And how I came to be frozen and how I hope to melt. When I first came to Seattle, I realized that I had to cool down. I grew up in Chicago and went to school in the Midwest and…

Heartbeat: How Corvin Saved My Marriage

Heartbeat: How Corvin Saved My Marriage

There are many ways to further your own happiness

Well, of course the headline is an overstatement, but really, this column is all about finding a way to cope with differences about things you love to do that are deeply satisfying to you but will not, or cannot, be shared with your partner. So how does Corvin fit in here? Corvin is this great…

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