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Sharing my thread of news that you can still use in 2021:
Back in January, I interviewed @CrystalQuartez for @wweek about her album, Causal Loop. She put out a new single, "Pink Night," in November: https://www.wweek.com/music/2020/01/30/crystal-quartez-creates-soundscapes-for-self-healing-in-the-instagram-era/
I talked to local designer Dayoung Kim for @wweek about her time on @ProjectRunway, her Moirai label, and her experience with 2020's first viral moment: https://www.wweek.com/arts/fashion/2020/02/11/portland-designer-dayoung-kim-talks-about-her-sudden-departure-from-project-runway-and-that-one-viral-moment/
#tbt and RIP to Monty the Blooming Agave Montana: https://www.wweek.com/culture/2020/05/06/from-drive-thru-strip-clubs-to-old-school-drive-ins-portlanders-are-finding-relief-from-cabin-fever-in-their-cars/
I come back a lot to this goofy story about the Twirling Franz Loaf that @AaronMesh and I wrote: https://www.wweek.com/culture/2020/05/06/the-spinning-franz-bread-loaf-is-back-and-you-can-watch-it-from-home/
My @portlandmercury story during Pride covered how the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court, Portland's longest-running LGBT+ nonprofit, handled reports of racism among its royal pageant court. Thank you again @BlairStenvick for working with me on this one: https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/06/30/28593388/portlands-oldest-lgbtq-nonprofit-responds-to-allegations-of-racism-and-insensitive-language
I got to profile lifelong Portlander Isaiah Tillman, aka burlesque titan Isaiah Esquire, for @PoMoMagazine, and honestly books and cinema should come from his life: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2020/07/isaiah-tillman-will-take-his-roses-now
Thank you again @WmSteveHumphrey for working with me on this essay. I like to think this story helped in its own way: https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/28/28680513/a-journalist-in-jail-what-i-experienced-after-being-arrested-by-portland-police
I'm working on a legal suit with @jlmoisan and @alankesslr. My thumb still hurts from when a cop nearly broke it stealing my phone.
I'm working on a legal suit with @jlmoisan and @alankesslr. My thumb still hurts from when a cop nearly broke it stealing my phone.
I spent most of this story's writing process crying over how wholesome Bikers Against Child Abuse are: https://www.wweek.com/culture/2020/07/22/bikers-against-child-abuse-accompany-juvenile-victims-of-violence-to-court-to-help-them-face-their-abusers/
Safiyah isn't on Twitter, but she still curates for @littmanandwhite and her IG is safiyah.maurice. Also RIP Nightmare Elk: https://www.orartswatch.org/the-lens-is-cracked-art-and-protest-in-the-summer-of-2020/
I wrote about TBA 2020, which encapsulated this year's themes of catharsis, healing, rage, and memory:
https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/dispatches-from-week-one-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival
https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/dispatches-from-week-two-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/10/reflections-of-the-final-week-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival
https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/dispatches-from-week-one-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival
https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/dispatches-from-week-two-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/10/reflections-of-the-final-week-of-the-2020-time-based-art-festival
I talked to musician/activist/mødÊl @LoganLynn about the new @dotgay web domain: https://www.wweek.com/technology/2020/09/28/a-portland-company-is-trying-to-make-the-internet-most-hospitable-for-the-queer-community/
I dove into Portland's temporary, permanent, and even ephemeral new murals (which is why I feel some type of way when the state's largest paper uses archival photos of plywood for stories on downtown businesses) and shared a few stories: https://www.orartswatch.org/painting-the-town-murals-meet-the-moment/
I also wrote stories about businesses closing, summer and fall protests, and that time street racers didn't socially distance when they shut down the Fremont Bridge.
I also witnessed the most significant civil rights uprising in my 30+ years on Earth.
I also witnessed the most significant civil rights uprising in my 30+ years on Earth.
People will break your heart but people will also put it back together. This year I've seen people fall apart and unite in ways that should stop surprising me yet never fails to happen when it does.
I don't know how to end this. I've got some stories to share in 2021. I really miss live events, garments & perfume, and all my girls, gays & theys. I want justice for everything, yes everything, we've survived.
There is so much work ahead. Breathe, rest, hydrate, eat something with 2+ vitamins in it, unclench yr jaw, listen to music with the best headphones you can get.
