SGN September 23, 2022

ISSUE 38

C E L E B R AT I N G

VOLUME 50

48 YEARS

F R I D AY

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ART AND BEAUTY ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE Wing Luke Museum’s “Multiversal Magic” party celebrates AAPI culture

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer As the sun set and the lights came on across the city, the Wing Luke Museum opened its doors for the house party of the season, “Multiversal Magic.” Themed after the hit A24 film Everything Everywhere All at Once, the party incorporated the “sickest looks,” including Elvis jumpsuits, googly eyes, and psychedelic drag.

see PARTY page 5

Photo by Juliana Adams

Seattle teachers approve new contract

Wizards of the Coast takes bigotry to court

Photo by Elaine Thompson / AP

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Seattle teachers and paraprofessionals approved a new contract in a September 19 vote, allowing schools to open after a fiveday strike.

The Seattle Education Association (SEA) represents some 6,000 teachers, social workers, counselors, and other support

staff employed by Seattle Public Schools.

According to the union, 71% of classroom teachers voted to approve the new contract; paraprofessionals voted 66% in favor, and office staff voted 82% in favor.

“It was beautiful to see what we can all do together in solidarity,” Uti Hawkins, SEA vice president and lead contract negotiator, said at a September 20 press conference.

see TEACHERS page 4

Artwork by Larry Elmore

by Daniel Lindsley SGN Staff Writer With the massive popularity of its roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) only growing, Renton-based tabletop gaming giant Wizards of the Coast (or just Wizards) is suing TSR Games for its racist, homophobic, and otherwise “reprehensible” content.

Wizards is tough to reach on a good day, especially on matters concerning diversity, inclusion, and political issues in general.

It makes its official positions clear enough through the standard corporate channels, like statements and rainbow logos on social media during Pride, but it has also taken more concrete actions to support the Queer community.

see WIZARDS page 8

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In this Issue

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Local News

Teachers at Roosevelt High School – Photo courtesy of Seattle Education Association

TEACHERS

continued from cover “It was a very, very clear message to Seattle Public School leadership that they need to be part of the conversation in the community, and they need to come to listen.”

SEA members went on strike September 7 — what would have been the first day of the new school term — and agreed to suspend the strike after a tentative agreement was reached with the school district. Students were able to start school on September 14.

“We want to let you know that it was a struggle,” Hawkins said. “There was a definite fight to retain our worker’s rights, as well as ensure that the supports for our students that we know are necessary — coming off of some of the most difficult years of a lifetime — need to be in place.”

A major point of contention was how to integrate special education students into general education classes. Washington has one of the lowest rates of inclusion in the nation, and research shows more inclusionary practices improve academic outcomes for all students.

The union successfully pushed for more classroom support staff to make that possible. Special ed students will now be placed in general education classrooms for most of the day, SEA leaders say.

“We’re talking about inclusive education, and that’s big,” said Cherylynne Crowther, president of the Seattle Special Education PTSA. “That’s a first step, and there’s a lot that goes into understanding and awareness of what inclusive education can look like.”

“What you see in our contract is the rolling out of different inclusion policies around special education,” Hawkins added.

“The rolling out of some of these things will be over time.”

Pay increases were also an issue in the contact negotiations. Under the new contract, the school district will increase pay 7% for both teachers and professional staff.

In the second year of the contract, mem-

bers would receive a 4% salary increase for inflation and 3% the following year.

If the state funds a higher inflationary adjustment, union members will receive whichever is greater.

Jennifer Matter, SEA president, said Seattle wages are just now catching up to salaries in nearby districts.

“That was our main goal with this bar-

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Photo by Michael Ciaglo / Reuters

gain — to make sure that we are competitive but also trying to have a living wage,” she said.

The contract will cost the district about $228 million over three years and is predicted to add almost $92 million to projected budget shortfalls. Options to cover the shortfall reportedly include dipping into the school district’s rainy-day funds or

using federal pandemic relief money.

“This is not unusual, especially for government organizations,” Vivian van Gelder director of advocacy and policy for the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition, told the Seattle Times. “But usually there is always something on the horizon that will likely fix [budget shortfalls].”

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PARTY

continued from cover Much like the multiverse the event aimed to channel, there was something going on in just about every corner of the museum.

Before the festivities had even begun, curators were welcoming guests and inviting them to explore the vast exhibits. Upstairs, patrons wandered through galleries showcasing the triumphs and adversities of different ethnic groups, such as the I Am Filipino room, the Vietnam in the Rearview Mirror room, the “Woven Together: Stories of Burma and Myanmar” exhibit, and a memorial to the Cambodian killing fields .

Attendees were also able to enjoy the exhibit on beauty and beauty standards.

Farther along was a live and interactive mural, created by artist Nikita Ares. Her artwork came alive as the night went on, and offered a beautiful and modern contrast to the historic nature of the upper-level exhibits.

Also on the upper level of the museum was a special room for tarot reading. This exhibit, courtesy of artist and tarot reader Alexa Villanueva, proved to be one of the most highly sought-out experiences of the evening. A line for the fortune room stretched around the top floor and zigzagged into other rooms.

Hitting the dance floor On the main floor of the museum, partygoers enjoyed active and loud performances, a bright dance floor, and many delicious catered foods. The emcee for the night, Mane Tuia’ana, knew how to keep the party going, but also when to call for quiet — as the attendees flooded into the dance floor, he called on everyone to take a moment to acknowledge the Duwamish tribe.

Tuia’ana kept the party going all night, introducing each new performer and DJ to the crowd. The first was DJ KBOOGIE. She immediately attracted some of the best-dressed participants to the dance floor with her EDM-inspired beats.

The party kept going even after she left the stage, as she was followed by the equally as impressive DJ Magic Sean, who shifted the vibe by introducing the room to some old-school hip-hop and R&B. The change in beats didn’t deter dancers.

Aside from DJs, the party also included performances by local artists, such as Seiichi Nagai, a Seattle-based indie performer, and

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Photos by Juliana Adams

Viper Fengz, a dancer-storyteller extraordinaire. Traditional cultural performances were also incorporated into the night, with beautiful dances from the UTOPIA Washington Laulima cultural performance group.

Slam poetry For those looking for a quiet reprieve, there were other fantastic activities set up across the museum. In the theater, local artists and writers came together for a slam poetry contest judged by audience members. Poems ranged across a myriad of styles and concepts, including nature, identity, loss, grief, and Bruce Lee. One of the most noteworthy performances came from museum worker Nat, who read excerpts from her book. “It’s really important to share the positive and the negative and to embrace all that,” she said. “I’m always scared as hell to come up

here, but so many people have told me my words have helped them heal. If there’s a chance they could help someone else, that’s just the most rewarding thing.”

Beauty on display Next door to the theater, a different type of beauty was on display, literally. The latest installment at the museum, an examination of different forms of AAPI beauty, hosted many surprises at each turn.

Every section of the exhibit included a form of interaction, whether it be naming a nail polish color or writing words of affirmation to put on the wall. The exhibit started with a room highlighting Asian American social media influencers and personalities, including the incredibly talented Seattle native Alexa Manila.

The next room examined hair and makeup throughout the ages, with a running video

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of Jenny “The Shanghai Pearl” Ku demonstrating the evolution of beauty. Ku also happened to be standing next to the exhibit, offering up googly eyes and sticky gems for anyone who wanted to add a little sparkle to their night, because, she explained, “in the [video], one of the main characters has really amazing, outrageous makeup.” She also said she enjoyed the process of trying out different looks from the last hundred years. “I really liked the ’40s. Actually, I think I liked all of them, but especially the ’30s and ’40s and the 2010s.”

The next room focused on celebrities, with movie posters highlighting some of the most successful films to feature Asian representation, including Bend It Like Beckham, The Matrix, Crazy Rich Asians, and Moana. The room also asked patrons to name one of their favorite AAPI celebrities.

see PARTY page 6

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PARTY

continued from page 5 Following that, the exhibit highlighted the importance of nail art, and explained the rich history of Vietnamese nail salons and Asian immigration. Along with an interactive section that asked participants to rename popular nail polish colors, the exhibit also had an actual nail artist present to do manicures for partygoers.

The final section of the exhibit took a different approach. “It was curated by community advisory committees, that’s how we make our exhibits,” said the curator, Mikayla, who wanted to use just her first name. “I was the facilitator of that process, so we pulled together people with different connections to the topic of beauty… There were nail salon owners and actresses and a therapist, all …with all these different angles on beauty.

“It took us about a year and a half to develop what we wanted to say and what we wanted in it, and it was really interesting. The very first day, the first meeting, we were like, ‘Oh, beauty, this is going to be such a fun topic,’ and we had people go around and say a time they felt beautiful, and everybody was crying by the time we got around the table. It turns out it’s a very intense topic.”

Photos by Juliana Adams

Addressing beauty standards From body shaming to colorism to the dangerous practices of plastic surgery, the final room examined why the topic of beauty made everyone so emotional and asked attendees to question modern beauty standards and reexamine the trauma we all hold as a result of them.

“There’s a lot about how beauty expresses yourself, but also a dark side, the business side of beauty and toxic nail salons and exploitative labor practices and all that,” Mikayla explained. “And also that the

beauty industry is designed to make you feel like you’re not good enough. So this space is very specific, in that it’s an area to deconstruct those messages and see what’s behind them.”

The space concluded with a faux fire of orange paper, the purpose of which was to toss away cruel comments or toohigh standards . As participants left, they were guided to look in mirrors and see themselves as the final piece of art in the museum.

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Mikayla explained this more fully: “Often, it can be someone like your mom who says those things to you, and that’s super painful. So we have this space here where people can write down messages that are running in their heads from their childhoods or what someone yelled at [them] on the street…, and it’s symbolically burned.

“Then we have this space for people to write positive messages to help take care of them[selves]. We wanted to give people a space to process all of that.

“And then as you go down the stairs, the final space is like, ‘Now we’re really ready to express ourselves, free of all that baggage’ and understanding the colonial nature of beauty standards.”

The party, from the performances to the artwork, to the costumes worn by attendees, was incredible. Each element of the night was intentional and a tribute to AAPI culture, beauty, and pain.

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Arts & Entertainment

Queer as folk

The country artists you should be listening to right now

(clockwise from top) Brooke Eden, Loamlands, Mad Lasso, and Olivia Klugman – Photos courtesy of the artists

by Georgia Skerritt SGN Intern For a long time, I’ve classified my love for country music as a guilty pleasure.

Being a Queer woman with liberal, leftist politics, it’s never been something I was eager to share with other people. The truth, though, is that because I grew up with it, I’ve always had a soft spot for it and always will. More than a symbol of national pride, country music is one of the many ways that I and many others indulge our nostalgia (and sometimes our homesickness as well).

I can’t deny that the country music scene is generally in line with the American right and comes with its share of problems. On the other hand, the genre has evolved to survive just like any other and, in the process, is becoming a crossroads for modernity and tradition. A prime example is in the the world of Queer country.

The history of the LGBTQIA+ community in country music is a vibrant one — think of the Seattle-based group Lavender Country, Orville Peck, and Lil Nas X. Beautiful displays of advocacy and acceptance have also come consistently from allied artists, like Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgraves. Even with its muddy history and controversies, there is a safe space in the world of country music for anyone who might come looking, either for nostalgia’s sake or to try something new.

Here are some emerging (Queer) folk and country artists to check out now: Brooke Eden In the last few years, Brooke Eden has

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been carving herself a warm and inviting space, both in Nashville and on the internet. Since her debut album in 2014, Eden’s creativity has shifted to reflect the exploration and self-compassion that have informed her in more recent years, particularly as she came out. Now, she has a growing discography that perfectly scratches the guilty-pleasure country itch whenever needed.

Her sound is brighter and faster than the artists mentioned further down and makes for a great sing-along driving moment (trust me). I particularly like her song “Got No Choice,” which feels like a classic love ballad and a fresh Queer anthem all at once.

Find her @brookeedenmusic on Instagram and TikTok. Loamlands I originally stumbled across Loamlands in my “Discover Weekly” on Spotify a couple of weeks ago. Based out of Durham, North Carolina, the group describes themselves on their website as “a project built out of love for southern Queer culture and a desire to listen to and tell stories of the Queer community.”

Influences of folk and bluegrass are a bit easier to hear in Loamlands’s work than in Brooke Eden’s more contemporary popcountry sound. Borrowed from their Spotify page, the term “distorted country” is a perfect description for the group, who offer an experimental mix of rock, funk, and folk for a refreshing taste of Southern comfort music. I enjoyed tracks “Little River,” “What Kind of Love,” and “Baby I’m Running,” all of which vaguely reminded me of

Brandi Carlile’s early work.

With only 2.1K monthly listeners on Spotify, Loamlands is a gem waiting to be discovered. The band is on Instagram and TikTok @loamlands.

Olivia Klugman Though Olivia Klugman pushes the boundaries of country music and leans more heavily toward folk, their work deserves a spot on this list regardless.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Olivia is now based in Los Angeles, booking small shows across the US and creating an online presence that has garnered 147.3K followers on TikTok alone.

With alluring brevity, Klugman’s music wants you to feel your emotions.

The lyrics are often bittersweet and introspective, inviting listeners on a journey to meet the artist’s younger self and glimpse into their first, precious Queer experiences, which remind us of our own. My favorite song from their discography is “Raining in June,” a track that explores the frustrations of emotional restlessness and helped me put a feeling of my own into words that made sense. In short, Klugman makes music for the heart.

Beyond “Raining in June,” I would also recommend streaming “Self Help” for a moment of introspection and “Not Forever After” for some Queer comfort.

Olivia will hopefully release an album in the near future. In the meantime, follow them on Instagram and TikTok @oliveklug for updates.

Mad Lasso

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A lucky Instagram discovery for me, Mad Lasso is another star on the rise having debuted earlier this year in April. The brainchild of Austin-born Franklin Smith Ellis, Mad Lasso blends indie and country for a sound unlike any others. In his Spotify profile, Ellis mentions his struggles with Bipolar Disorder, substance abuse, and personal trauma, which Mad Lasso has helped him cope with.

Ellis isn’t very outspoken on social media about his sexuality, but his top song “Missouri” – one of my favorites – touches upon religion-based trauma and navigating Queer experiences. His music feels comforting and thrilling all at once. I also enjoyed the more contemporary and indieinfused style in “Crystal,” as well as outlaw country-esque “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”

You can follow his journey on Instagram with @madlasso on Instagram, and be sure to keep an eye out on November 4th for his second EP, “Sad Lasso Pt. II.” Honorable mention: Odie Leigh It’s unclear if Louisiana local Odie Leigh identifies as Queer, but her work is still a must-hear for anyone in search of new folk tunes. In particular, I would recommend streaming her song “Crop Circles,” which feels like a lovely, Joni Mitchell–inspired number.

Leigh also happens to do some collaborative work with Klugman — the two sing covers together on social media and were recently performing together around the US. Check out her work @odieleigh on Instagram or TikTok.

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Photo courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

WIZARDS

continued from cover Queer representation in Wizards media has steadily improved, and in June this year, the company featured a few fictional samesex couples in the art of a special release of Magic: The Gathering cards, with half the money from purchases being donated to the Trevor Project. In previous years, it has held similar fundraisers for the local LGBTQ youth organization Lambert House.

On a broader note, the website of Wizards’s parent company, Hasbro, boasts a “100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index Survey,” and of its use of “inclusivity workshops.”

Until two weeks ago, Wizards had mostly kept to its community and itself, focused inward — a noble act when the corporate world is so averse to introspection, and no doubt a difficult one given the troubled history of its other major intellectual property, Dungeons & Dragons — that is, an IP created in the ’70s by straight, white, cisgender men Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Exorcising the pale ghosts of that game’s origins has been, without a doubt, a big part of Wizards’ version of the D&D project.

It suffers enough for being rooted in the Western fantasy genre, which in turn is heavily influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien’s notoriously man-centric and racially controversial Lord of the Rings trilogy.

But these are restless ghosts. In days of yore (1997), Wizards acquired the nearly insolvent TSR, Inc., and with it the Dungeons & Dragons IP. The latter company has been resurrected twice since then, and its second incarnation under Gary Gygax’s son, Ernie Gygax, has animated a whole crypt’s worth of bad ideas with the reveal of a playtest document of Star Frontiers: New Genesis.

I won’t repeat what was written in the playtest, but trust that it’s racist and transphobic in a manner so bald-faced that there’s no more skin to cover the skull. While past and current editions of D&D are rightly criticized for racial bioessentialism — for instance, its early editions’ descriptions of orcs and “dark elves” bear painful parallels to how minorities have historically been denigrated — Star Frontiers throws aside all pretense and façade by all but shouting

to the heavens that it’s the creation of white supremacist transphobes and worse.

So there’s not much unpacking to be done with the playtest (which was leaked in July by the Bellevue-based organization NoHateInGaming), but Wizards’ response to it is worth our attention.

On September 9 this year, after previous legal disputes over the Star Frontiers and TSR trademarks, Wizards filed an injunction against TSR for planning to publish racist, transphobic content using a company name and IP closely tied to Wizards itself.

This may seem to some like just another copyright dispute, being spun as a valiant blow against bigotry in tabletop gaming, but it’s more complicated than that. The wording of the injunction ties the well-being of Wizards as a company to its reputation, of course, but also by extension to the success of its efforts to promote diversity and inclusion: “Wizards would be irreparably harmed

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Photo courtesy of DHSM

by the publication and distribution of the game (Star Frontiers) usings its trademarks, because consumers may mistakenly associate Wizards with the reprehensible content of the game,” the injunction reads, “damaging its reputation and goodwill and undermining its efforts to foster a culture that embraces diversity around its games.”

Here “goodwill” refers to the intangible benefits of a company’s good reputation, and potentially its “brand,” a word used later in the document. Wizards threw in a few examples of what it has been doing, internally and externally, to build that brand.

Earlier this month, Wizards noted, it responded swiftly to criticisms of its recent D&D release, a reboot of the spacefaring fantasy setting “Spelljammer,” by issuing an apology and removing some racially insensitive content from future printings.

The company, the injunction reads, “increasingly uses sensitivity readers and

diversity experts in its creative process to ensure that its storytelling reflects its values.”

This whole case is unprecedented for a company that usually takes legal action only to prevent online piracy of its content.

It’s doubtful that Wizards, on its own, could take similar legal action against companies that don’t bear its old trademarks.

But the eyes of all tabletop gamers and creators rest on this event, and it has made it clear that the industry’s leading company depends not just on the appearance of progressive values, but on actually embodying those values as well. As long as we keep Wizards accountable, it’s likely it’ll keep working on its ghost problem.

As for the case’s success, the injunction does list some precedent from past cases in the 9th Circuit, so I have high hopes that Star Frontiers won’t reach distribution — at least, not under the weighty trademarks it uses currently.

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Episode 34: D’Lo Ash & Lindsey discuss goblincore, fantasy stereotypes, Queer country music, and more! Our special guest is actor and comedian D’Lo!

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C E L E B R AT I N G 4 8 Y E A R S!

Film

Crowd-pleasing The Woman King is a heroically epic spectacle

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer THE WOMAN KING Theaters The Woman King is an old-school Hollywood historical battle epic reminiscent of sword-and-sandal dramas like Spartacus, Demetrius and the Gladiators, and — more recently — Ridley Scott’s Academy Award-winning Gladiator. The big differences are obvious, and include its majorityBlack cast and decidedly feminine point of view. But director Gina Prince-Bythewood is up to the challenge of delivering a visually resplendent, crowd-pleasing spectacle that’s easy to recommend and even easier to love. By all accounts not entirely historically accurate, Prince-Bythewood’s film remains highly entertaining all the same.

It is the early 1800s. The African kingdom of Dahomey is one of the richest and most powerful on the continent. Its fiercest warriors are the Agojie, an all-female kings’ guard who are feared and revered in equal measure. They are led by the ruthless Nanisca (Viola Davis), a veteran warrior who answers to King Ghezo (John Boyega) and no one else. She is the tip of the spear, and to cross her is to risk almost certain, gruesome, bloody death.

Dahomey is at a crossroads. The kingdom achieved much of its wealth by selling conquered captives to European slavers for guns and gold. But Nanisca is tired of seeing her people involved with such an evil business, and the recently crowned King Ghezo is inclined to agree with her, just as long as an alternate source of income is found that will allow his people to continue to live in comfort and security.

Complications arise between Dahomey and the Europeans, and a long-standing conflict with a rival tribe, one larger and more physically powerful than King Ghezo’s, explodes into violence after the ruler’s intentions to cease being a part of the slave trade are made public. Nanisca leads her warriors into a series of thrilling encounters, culminating in a massive battle royale in a pivotal coastal city, where the Agojie attempt to push the European slavers back into the ocean, with their cargo holds empty.

Born from a story conceived with actress Maria Bello, the sprawling screenplay by Dana Stevens (For the Love of the Game,

Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu in The Woman King – Photo courtesy of TriStar Pictures

Safe Haven) isn’t without its maudlin and sophomoric aspects. A few subplots drip with unnecessary sentimentality, and a third-act twist involving Nanisca and one of her new Agojie recruits threatens to derail the entire enterprise by drowning it in schlocky treacle. There are also a few places where the narrative frustratingly repeats itself, engaging in moments of exposition that stop the momentum cold and had me twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the filmmakers to pick up the pace.

But goodness is this a gorgeous motion picture. The lush, dynamically immersive cinematography by Polly Morgan (A Quiet Place Part II) is a treat for the senses. The costumes by Gersha Phillips (The Whistleblower) are equally dynamic, as is the meticulously intricate production design by Akin McKenzie (Wildlife). Terence Blanchard (Da 5 Bloods) contributes a thrilling score that augments the on-screen action nicely, while Terilyn A. Shropshire (Beyond the Lights) edits with energetically coherent precision, adding a level of intensity that’s so natural, it borders on breathtaking.

The acting is universally great, and it shouldn’t shock anyone that Davis is hypnotically compelling as Nanisca. But it is her supporting partners who steal the show.

Lashana Lynch gives one of the year’s most memorably euphoric performances as the general’s lethal right-hand person Izogie, stealing scenes from her co-stars with ease. Sheila Atim is equally outstanding as Amenza, Nanisca’s chief confidant and Agojie spiritual leader; she has a third-act march down the darkened streets of a burning city that chilled me to the bone.

The standout performance comes from relative newcomer Thuso Mbedu, however, portraying Agojie newcomer Nawi.

Having already made a name for herself with a stunning turn in Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad series for Amazon, she grabs The Woman King by the horns the moment she arrives in the story and then refuses to relinquish her grip to Davis, Lynch, or anyone else. The majority of the narrative is centered squarely on her, and she is more than up to the challenge of bearing the load.

Prince-Bythewood made a name for herself directing one of the greatest motion pictures I’ve ever seen, 2000’s Love & Basketball, and then quickly found herself in “movie jail” when the drama didn’t initially live up to box office expectations. Now considered something of a minor classic, and with successful stints behind the camera with The Secret Life of Bees, Beyond the Lights, and The Old Guard, it’s safe to say Prince-Bythewood is no longer in immediate danger of losing her position of cinematic authority.

There’s no reason to think The Woman King will change that. This is a superbly directed tale that features a trio of remarkable action sequences better than almost anything else I’ve seen in all of 2022. But Prince-Bythewood remembers to ground events in a distinctly human quality, putting character first and making sure each member of her cast has multiple moments to make a lasting impression. It’s all pretty great, and I think the majority who head to the theater to give this one a look are going to feel the same.

Allison Janney channels her inner CIA mountain woman in Lou

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer LOU Netflix During the worst storm to hit the Pacific Northwest in decades, Orcas Island residents Lou (Allison Janney) and Hannah (Jurnee Smollett) are in the fight of their lives. The former is the latter’s cantankerous, monosyllabic landlord. But she’s also hiding something from the young single mother and her perpetually rambunctious daughter Vee (Ridley Ashe Bateman), and her truth might just save all three of them from almost certain death.

Lou can’t keep her secrets hidden after Philip (Logan Marshall-Green) — confirmed dead in an explosion by the US military months ago — appears like a ghost out of the rain and kidnaps Vee. He’s Hannah’s abusive ex-husband, a crack covert military operative who took too much of a liking to the torturing suspects and the slaughter of innocent civilians. Lou tracks Philip into the forest, and it turns out she’s got a particular set of skills that make her perfect for this type of mission.

see LOU page 14

Allison Janney and Jurnee Smollett in Lou – Photo courtesy of Netflix

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Film

Grotesquely flamboyant Pearl is colorfully bloody perfection

Mia Goth in Pearl – Photo courtesy of A24

in the farm’s backyard pond). Pearl’s anger regarding her situation and who she passionately believes she should be is immediately palpable, but there’s also a sly timidity to her personality that’s somewhat surprising.

It’s the slow and methodical erasure of that kittenish timorousness that West and Goth seem to have the most interest in exploring. Pearl knows there’s something off about herself; she even admits it out loud before the bodies start hitting the floor and dismembered limbs get fed to that ravenous alligator. Pearl wants to be good, or at least that’s what she tells herself. But being seemingly locked into a life she does not want — and facing massive obstacles put in place by those she thinks should love her the most — is incrementally exhausting, which almost makes her homicidal anger uncomfortably understandable.

But this isn’t some claustrophobic chamber piece taking place entirely at the family’s farm. Pearl’s world may be small, but West, cinematographer Eliot Rockett, production designer Tom Hammock, and costume designer Malgosia Turzanska — all X veterans — craft a vibrant, larger-than-life dreamscape that’s like something from Hollywood’s golden age. They present the film as if it were a blood-splattered Wizard of Oz, only instead of a yellow brick road, Pearl

bikes back and forth along a golden-brown dirt boulevard that leads straight to town.

It gives the picture a psychedelic texture that’s light-years from the grindhouse, Tobe Hooper-influenced aesthetic of the previous entry in the series. It’s as if Stanley Donen or Vincente Minnelli rose from the grave and decided to make a Technicolor splatter film instead of a high-energy musical.

There is a dazzling texture to this world that feels organically lived-in and boisterously gaudy in equal measure, and it suits Pearl’s fracturing sense of reality nicely.

The 1918 setting allows West to subtly comment on current events, but never in ways that are so obtuse that they’ll fly over a viewer’s head. There are also opportunities for the director to make clever audio and visual connections to the sex-positive X, many of them eliciting ample, well-deserved chuckles of recognition from the audience.

I also loved a pair of wonderful supporting performances from David Corenswet and Emma Jenkins-Purro, the latter sharing a scene with Goth right at the end of the film that’s unbelievably terrific.

As for Goth, as mesmerizing as she was in X in her dual roles as wannabe porn starlet Maxine Minx and an elderly Pearl, this is next-level stuff from the actor. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. There’s never

a false step or ill-conceived choice. Goth gives Pearl an inner spark that smolders in disquieting grandeur. Whether dancing in an empty corn field with a top hat-wearing scarecrow, watching a risqué French silent film with the local movie house projectionist, or dancing up a storm at a church audition for a traveling theater troupe, everything she does is aces.

But none of that holds a candle to a climactic monologue where Pearl digs inside herself to discover truths she never thought she’d have the courage to speak aloud, as if doing so would erase any chance she had to get off a path covered in blood and littered with bone. West leaves the camera on her for almost ten full minutes, and Goth holds the screen with titanic precision. It’s stunning, beyond extraordinary even, and I’m still dumbfounded that a gnarly horror yarn like this had the ambitious audacity to make this sequence — and not any of the gorily familiar ones — its uncontested high point.

I loved X. West made a fun little barnburner of incremental grotesqueries that had me wanting to rise to my feet after it was over and cheer. But Pearl is even better.

Not only does it stand on its own, but it’s also one of the best films I’ve seen in 2022.

It’s pretty much perfect.

Set during the mid-1980s, Lou is something of a female-driven Shoot to Kill meets Taken riff, only with Janney taking on the assignment of the retired or aging (or, in this case, hiding) elite government agent who is called back into service to protect the innocent. She is a former CIA field officer with information on what happened in Iran in January of 1979, and the government wants that intel back. Unsurprisingly, she also knows more about Hannah, Vee, and especially Philip than she wants to let on; the solution to that mystery becomes

the major narrative device around which everything revolves.

There’s not much more to it. The screenplay by Maggie Cohn and Jack Stanley doesn’t go anywhere unexpected, with each character beat and plot reveal foregone from the first moment we’re introduced to Lou. Same again when we encounter Philip taking full advantage of an innocent Good Samaritan whose only mistake was to pick up a roadside stranger stranded in the rain.

It’s clear who these people are and what ties them together, the only question being how it will all conclude when the truth is revealed and brought into the cold, rainy light of day.

The good news is that Lou remains entertaining and mostly overcomes its decided

lack of originality. Director Anna Foerster (Underworld: Blood Wars) shows a steady hand orchestrating the action. Cinematographer Michael McDonough shoots with the same crisp, confidently clear eye he brought to other primarily outdoorset dramas like Winter’s Bone and Sunset Song. Composer Nima Fakhrara (Becky) provides an unexpectedly quirky yet assuredly robust score, his compositions subtly augmenting the building tension during the climactic act.

Yet none of this matters if Janney, Smollett, and Marshall-Green weren’t up to the physical and emotional challenge of giving all of this absurd melodramatic silliness emotional weight. They are. The trio

acquits themselves admirably, giving fullbodied performances that are consistently compelling, even during those moments when the script drifts shamelessly into treacle and schmaltz.

Janney is particularly strong, and while I won’t say I needed to see her channeling her inner Liam Neeson, now that I’ve done so, I’m quite glad this bit of absurd strangeness has miraculously happened. She brings Lou home, and if Janney decides to tackle more roles like this in the future, based on what she accomplishes in this spiffy, hard-boiled outdoor thriller, that’s perfectly okay by me.

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by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer PEARL Theaters Pearl is a gift. A prequel to Ti West’s 1970s-style, grindhouse barnburner X released back in March, this new film reunites the director with star Mia Goth, the pair collaborating to flesh out the backstory of that enterprise’s elderly murderess.

Pearl (Goth) lives on a secluded Texas farm with her German immigrant mother (Tandi Wright) and sickly father (Matthew Sunderland). It is 1918. The Great War is nearing its end, and the Spanish flu is still a lethal danger throughout the United States. Pearl’s dad was an early victim of the pandemic, and now he’s strapped into a wheelchair, unable to move, speak, or take care of himself whatsoever.

Additionally, her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) is off fighting in Europe, his whereabouts and whether or not he’s even still alive dispiriting unknowns.

West and Goth do not try to hide who Pearl is going to become. The gorgeously cinematic opening credits do a grand job of colorfully showcasing the young woman’s budding psychopathic tendencies (and also remind everyone about the giant alligator residing

LOU

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Books

Untangle Trans history with Before We Were Trans

by Terri Schlichenmeyer Special to the SGN BEFORE WE WERE TRANS KIT HEYAM © 2022 Seal Press $30.00 352 pages

Image courtesy of Seal Press

On the evening of June 8, 1847, John Sullivan was apprehended by gendarmes while weaving down a sidewalk in London.

Sullivan was wearing a few women’s garments and was carrying more, all of it stolen. Because it wasn’t the first time he was arrested, he spent ten years in an Australian penal colony for his crime.

“Is this story a part of trans history?” asks Heyam.

There aren’t enough clues to determine Sullivan’s truth, not enough “evidence that their motivation for gender nonconformity was not external, but internal.”

The answer’s complicated by the fact that “Transgender” wasn’t even a word during

Sullivan’s time. Presumably, Sullivan was white but even so, we must also consider “that the way we experience and understand gender is inextricable from race.”

Surely, then, Njinga Mbande, the king of Ndongo, can be considered Trans; they were assigned female at birth but presented themselves as king, as did Hatshepsut of Egypt. In precolonial Nigeria, the Ekwe people were gender-fluid, to ensure that there was a male in the household. Do political and social reasons fit the definition of Trans?

In England, it was once believed that to dress like the opposite sex was to become that gender. In prison camps during World War I, men participated in plays to ease the boredom, and some ultimately lived permanently as women. Early history shows many examples of people living as “both.” Were they Trans or not?

Says author Kit Heyam, “Historians need to tread carefully and responsibly when we talk about the histories of people who blur the boundaries between intersex and trans.”

Moreover, can we allow that there’s

probably some “overlap”?

The answer to that could depend on your current situation and mindset. Absolutely, Heyam dangles their own opinion throughout this book, but Before We Were Trans doesn’t seem to solve the riddle.

Judging by the narrative here, though, it’s possible that it may be forever unsolvable. There’s a lot to untangle, often in the form of partially recorded tales that hark back to antiquity and that lack knowable details. Even Heyam seems to admit sometimes that their thoughts are best guesses.

And yet, that tangle can leave readers with so much to think about when it comes to gender. Ancient attitudes toward Trans people — whether they were, indeed, Trans or acted as such for reasons other than gender — absolutely serve as brain fodder.

This is not a quick-breezy read; in fact, there are times when you may feel as though you need a cheat sheet to follow similar-sounding names. Even so, if you take your time with it, Before We Were Trans may put you over the moon.

Isabel Sterling’s latest vampire romance is sure to warm the coldest heart

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer It wouldn’t be Halloween time without a book from one of the most popular YA fantasy authors, Isabel Sterling. Well known for her These Witches series, Sterling is back in 2022 with a brand-new book, which takes place outside her best-selling franchise.

“It was fun to create something from scratch, especially having it be the first new thing since I was published,” she said of her latest book, The Coldest Touch. “You grow so much through the publishing process. You have to think about the story in a much deeper way. The way you work with editors changes, at least for me; it changed how I think about the story and approach the story. I fell in love with these characters.

They’re some of my favorites, for sure.”

Writing her latest novel was a bit of an experiment for Sterling, who approached the book using a different process. “It was a book that I sold on proposal… I had written the first 50 pages or so, and then I sold it on that,” Sterling explained. “My editor had some feedback on just that piece, so I ended up rewriting all 50 pages. Once I got the green light to start drafting, that probably took two or three months.”

Writing a novel at the height of COVID-19 Sterling also faced unique challenges when drafting The Coldest Touch due to pandemicrelated delays. “COVID was starting. I was drafting it from March through May of 2020, so it was an interesting time to be writing a book, especially, weirdly, a book about a girl who can’t touch people. So, yeah, it took a few months. In total, I may have spent seven months on it, but it was sort of pieced through different years.”

For most authors starting their second project, especially after such a successful debut novel, the process goes smoothly. However, for Sterling, there were still bumps in the road. “In a lot of ways, it was nice, because I had gone through it and I knew how it worked. I knew what to expect — or at least I thought I knew what to expect, and then oopsie, COVID. That kind of threw everything for a loop. The biggest change was dealing with all of this, in and around that time.”

Slow burn Despite all the unprecedented obstacles she faced, Sterling still finished the book

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Photo courtesy of the author

and felt especially drawn to the characters she had spent so much time with.

The story of The Coldest Touch follows Elise, a girl with oracle powers, who, upon touching someone, can see exactly how they will die.

“Elise came first,” Sterling explained.

“The spark of the story was this idea of how lonely it would be to be somebody who, every time you touched someone, you see how they’re gonna die. That aching loneliness drew me into the story initially, like:

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what would it be like to be in that situation?

So I kept mulling over it, and it took a few different iterations to figure out what that story was.”

see STERLING page 16

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Books

STERLING

continued from page 15 The story is also sapphic. “What I liked being able to do in this book is kind of contrast the out-and-proud Lesbian vampire with the clueless, ‘I’m just a good ally, but it turns out I’m Bi’ character, because that was sort of my experience. I was like, ‘I don’t know, I just like Gay people, they’re all great,’ so it was fun to bring that piece to it, that unsureness as she sort of figures out who she is. And there’s a very slow burn, which was fun to write.”

Writing a vampire novel for 2022 Of course, Sterling is drawn to elements of the supernatural; her first series centered around the lives of teenage witches. This book also took a turn for the spooky, but this time around, Sterling wanted to explore a different type of Halloween character.

“I knew fairly early on that I wanted to include vampires, because it just made sense to me that you’d have to be able to touch somebody [who had] no death.

I knew that had to be a component of it.”

With the inkling of a vampire story brewing in the back of Sterling’s mind, she still had to piece together the plot. “Figuring out why vampires were suddenly in her town and who Clare [the vampire] was, that was a process of journaling and discovering what would make sense. Clare stole the show in drafts because she, in ways, became even more interesting, and then I had to find a way to balance them.”

Will we get a sequel?

While These Witches series was always set up to be a pair of books (although a short prequel was also written), the fate of Sterling’s latest novel is still up in the air. “I know what would happen in a sequel. I have a general idea of what the sequel would be, but this … was going to be one book, and if sales were amazing, we were going to have a second book. We don’t know,” Sterling explained.

“Currently, there are no official plans to write [a second book], but I do know what [would] happen. I built it so it could end in one book and be satisfying, but I left lots of threads I could pull on for book two if I ever got the chance,” she added.

Writing a stand-alone book was another tricky experience for Sterling. “That’s part of what made it challenging, because I went into it wanting to do two books, and my publisher was like, ‘Let’s do one and see how it does,’ and I was like, ‘How do I do just one book if that’s all we ever get?’”

After many revisions, she found the perfect balance.

Where fantasy meets reality Sterling has created a name for herself on the YA fantasy shelves. While she enjoys reading other genres, she doesn’t see herself leaving the fantasy section as a writer.

“I grew up reading fantasy. I have always been into things that are a little bit magical and witchy and just a little bit outside of our real world, and I am very drawn to that,” she said, laughing.

“I have a hard time thinking about writing a book that isn’t about magic. I don’t even know what that would be. I read a lot of contemporary books, but I don’t know how people come up with this stuff. There are no vampires — where’s the fun in that?

It’s fun to read, but for me, as a writer, I need a little bit of that extra something.”

While she waits to see if The Coldest Touch will earn a sequel, Sterling is working on another fantasy novel, this one about a ghost. “Right now, I’m writing a book that’s sort of like our world, but everyone

Photo courtesy of the author

has magic, and then there’s this one girl and, uh-oh, she can see ghosts, and they have to solve a murder. I’m always in that realm, and I plan to stay there.”

While Sterling’s books are all fun and fantastical, she likes to center them on real teenage experiences. “The reason I enjoyed writing [The Coldest Touch] is that when you’re a teen, even if you have close friends, it’s so easy to feel desperately lonely. That’s something that both characters experience in different ways, and when you find that person who helps you feel seen, it’s important to hang onto that. I think there’s also a lot of grief, but also humor, and those can coexist — in real life, too. We’re never just one thing.”

Of course, the real-life struggles of the characters are always balanced out by fun, spooky vibes, something Sterling enjoys to a degree. “I am so looking forward to it being cooler out, to get out and walk the dogs,” she said. “I live in central New York, so our trees turn really beautiful colors. I am weirdly super into yardwork, so I do like raking leaves. I used to go pumpkin picking and apple picking when I was younger, but now my back is old and doesn’t like it. There will probably be lots of Ghost Adventures though, but I spook easily, so I can’t do a lot of horror movies.”

If reading a spooky, sapphic novel is a part of your ideal Halloween season, look no further than The Coldest Touch, which is sure to warm even the most undead of hearts.

Image courtesy of Razorbill

Poetry writing workshop for Queer women Private room; space to write; time to think; great food; well-stocked library; great live performance of our writing on Friday night; chapbook of our week’s work.

October 10 - 15, 2022

ROSLYN, WA 98941 $100.00 FOR THE WEEK SPACE LIMITED TO SIX WOMEN

Send a short bio of 200 or less words and two (2) poems to: karenheiken@gmail.com Karen Heiken has taught for 45+ years in a variety of capacities. Until 2020, the last ten years were at IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe NM) and at Santa Fe Community College.”

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First Times

by Jack Hilovsky SGN Contributing Writer As I embark on a new monthly column for the Seattle Gay News, I want to take a moment to introduce myself and explore the concept of firsts.

For many of us, the last two and a half years brought many firsts. The first worldwide pandemic of such a magnitude in nearly a century, the first presidential election ever where the loser denied losing, the first time many of us began examining our consciences to determine whether we are antiracist, and so on. All the way to the World Health Organization this summer proclaiming monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, the first time since the AIDS crisis in which many of us felt scared and a familiar sense of dread all over again.

But for all these negative firsts in the broader universe, there has been a positive counterbalance in my own life, for which I can only express gratitude.

Three months ago, on June 14, a project I spent 12 years of my life bringing to fruition, well, finally came to fruition.

In 2010, I sat down to pen a story about my best childhood friend and how that relationship evolved into my first Gay experience. Twelve years later, after countless expansions, contractions, revisions, and edits, this tale was ready for the world. After multiple rejections, I finally found a publisher in Buffalo, NY, who agreed to help me make my dream of being an author a reality. (For more, see https:// jackhilovsky.blogspot.com.)

I settled on the title RJ, Farrah and Me: A Young Man’s Gay Odyssey from the Inside Out for my coming-of-age memoir. The Farrah in the title is Farrah Fawcett, who rocketed to fame thanks to her pinup poster and Charlie’s Angels TV role, embodying the “it girl” of the late 1970s. RJ and I met in theatre class as teens and became fast friends, only to discover we shared a mutual obsession with the blonde starlet. Our friendship turned physical one year later, which brought pleasure and pain as I struggled to confront my sexuality in light of my traditional, Catholic upbringing When SGN Editor A.V. Eichenbaum interviewed me about the memoir on

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Photo courtesy of Jack Hilovsky

the Radio SGN podcast in July, we enjoyed such a freewheeling conversation that they invited me to write a column. And so, another first (although I had written a column for the Capitol Hill Times and the LGBTQ+ magazine ‘Mo over a decade earlier).

Earlier this spring, an additional first happened. As I approach a milestone birthday next year (I‘m not telling!), I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago. My significant other joined me, and together we embarked on what they call the French Way, a 500-mile trek that began at the foot of the French/ Spanish Pyrenees and took us through northern Spain, across mountain, desert, and forest.

Seven days into our walk, I came down with COVID. I’m grateful it was mild and allowed me to continue. But then my significant other developed a painful leg ailment, called the Disney rash (don’t ask, just look it up). We took a breath from our daily march to let the rash resolve and were thankfully on our way a few days later (fortunately we were able to avoid groups and stay in private rooms for the remainder of our outdoor journey). I learned about the importance of staying in the moment and not trying to orchestrate or control life so much, accepting things as they are. And that I’m adaptable. And I learned about adventure, making dreams come true, and finding an inner resilience.

I hope this column may challenge you — and you might even gain a new perspective. Because I have a feeling that firsts, dear reader, will continue to surprise us as we travel this path called life.

I’m looking forward to experiencing it with you. Thanks to the SGN for giving me a forum to explore with you.

Jack Hilovsky is an author, actor, and blogger who has made his home in Seattle since 1986. His first book, RJ, Farrah and Me: A Young Man’s Gay Odyssey from the Inside Out, can be found at Third Place Books (Seward Park & Ravenna), Fuel Coffee (19th Ave., Capitol Hill), Nook & Cranny Books (15th Ave., Capitol Hill), Madison Books (Madison Park), Pegasus Book Exchange (West Seattle), Barnes & Noble (Northgate), and University Bookstore (U District).

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National & International News National news highlights

by Daniel Lindsley SGN Staff Writer Virginia cracks down on names, pronouns in schools Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has rolled back certain accommodations for Trans students, restricting access to locker rooms, bathrooms, and school programming based on biological sex, with exceptions only as required by federal law.

The policies go further. Barring parental approval of other names and pronouns, students under 18 must be referred to by the names and pronouns in their official records. Schools may not encourage teachers to conceal from a student’s parents information about that student’s gender, and parents must be given an opportunity to object before a school even offers services pertaining to gender.

The policies will be to public comment for 30 days, starting later this month. After that, local school boards will be required to adopt policies “consistent with” the department’s, but may be “more comprehensive,” a 2020 state law says.

In line with other Democrats and LGBTQ advocacy groups, Democratic Del. Mike Mullin wrote on Twitter that the policy “calls for the misgendering and outing of children in schools where they’re supposed to be safe. Absolutely shameful.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a news conference – Photo by Eric Risberg / AP

California to give grants to Gay veterans California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Saturday last weekend that he has signed a new state law meant to help military service members who were discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to regain their eligibility for VA benefits.

“For decades, our bravest heroes, men

and women who wore the uniforms of the armed services, had to hide who they really were,” Newsom said in a statement, “and many were other-than-honorably discharged if their sexuality was discovered.”

After the “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” law was repealed in 2010, the Department of Defense did create procedures for veterans discharged under the policy to receive the full range of veterans’ benefits.

“But many veterans sadly don’t know or can’t even access this important process,” Newsom said, citing the expensive legal counsel required and other barriers.

“We’re taking steps to fix this.”

The new law will require the California VA to create a grant program to help guide LGBTQ veterans who qualify through the process of regaining their benefits.

International news highlights

by Daniel Lindsley SGN Staff Writer Rebel bishops in Belgium stop short of marriage Going against certain 2021 directives from the Vatican that prohibit church blessings for Gay couples, Belgian bishops have published a proposed prayer liturgy (ceremony) of prayers, readings from scripture, and expressions of commitment, all for same-sex couples.

The bishops said that the “moment of prayer” wasn’t the same thing as a marriage, but rather an effort by the Belgian church to “create a climate of respect, recognition, and integration” for its Gay members.

The news comes as part of a broader trend of progressive churches pushing for greater acceptance and outreach to the LGBTQ community, with the German church leading the way, though Catholic teachings still maintain that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”

A spokesman for Belgium’s bishops conference, Tommy Scholtes, argued that the proposed ceremony didn’t really even amount to a blessing, so much as “an opportunity for homosexual couples to pray together, and others will also be able to pray for them.”

“There is no blessing,” Scholtes went on, “no exchange of consent. There is nothing like a marriage.”

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Peruvian fans in Qatar – Photo by Hussein Sayed / AP

German football fans demand rights in Qatar At a human rights congress hosted by the German soccer federation, fan representative Dario Minden urged Qatar’s ambassador to Germany to abolish the Middle East country’s laws against LGBTQ people. Qatar will be hosting the World Cup in November.

“I am a man and I love men,” said Minden to Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani. “I do — please don’t be shocked — have sex with other men.

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This is normal. So please get used to it, or stay out of football. Because the most important rule in football is football is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re Lesbian, if you’re Gay. It’s for everyone. For the boys. For the girls. And for everyone in between.”

Minden went on, “Abolish all of the penalties regarding sexual identity and gender identity. The rule that football is for everyone is so important. We cannot allow you to break it, no matter how rich you are. You are more than welcome to

join the international football community and also, of course, to host a big tournament. But in sports, it is how it is. You have to accept the rules.”

Al Thani’s comments after Minden’s appeal were off the record, but beforehand, the ambassador had complained to the congress that human rights issues were distracting from the tournament, and he wished there was more concentration on “the enjoyment of football.”

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