As the shock wave created by the video of George Floyd’s murder continues to reverberate, people—especially white people—are asking “What can I do? How can I be an ally?” and one part of the answer is always “educate yourself about structural racism.”

To that end, these title suggestions will help get you started thinking about what it means to be antiracist and understand what structural racism is, how it came to be, and how it is experienced by people of color.

If you…

If the pandemic has taught me anything, it’s to commit wholeheartedly to making use of whatever I can forage from my garden, pantry and refrigerator before donning a mask for a trip to the grocery store.

Part of my effort to consume what’s on hand before it spoils or suffers a slow death from freezer burn comes from practicing the art of frugality for decades, but during this uncertain time I’m also hyper-focused on not wasting food—whether it’s bitter spinach I harvested just after…

It has been a real week, huh?

I thought about dedicating this space to films that would educate and inform about racial justice and systemic inequality. If two decades of working for a nonprofit movie theater that works to elevate marginalized voices and hosts a giant documentary film festival each year has taught me anything, it’s that film is an excellent, impactful means by which to educate and inspire in a way that’s more easily digested than books and less overwhelming than…

A simple business transaction drew me from downtown Bellingham to Skagit County last Sunday, the final day of Washington state’s shelter-in-place order.

I’d made plans to meet with artist Todd Horton at his Bow-based studio on Blanchard Road to purchase an ethereal painting of a heron in flight, but what I assumed would be a quick exchange of cash for art turned into a two-hour tour not only of Horton’s wildly productive creative lair, but also that of Altility, metal magician Aaron…

If there’s one thing you can count on around these parts, as surely as the sun will rise and set and Pacific Northwesterners will never understand that socks are not to be worn with sandals, it’s that when the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra announces its season, tickets will go quickly.

Loud shows in dark bars get a lot of press—especially from me—but anyone really in the know about Bellingham’s music scene can tell you that the surest sellout in town is the Bellingham Symphony…