Tag Archives: Arts and Culture

PONGO POETRY | The City of Love

Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. For over 20 years, Pongo has mentored poetry with youth at the Clark Children & Family Justice Center (CCFJC), King County’s juvenile detention facility.

Many CCFJC residents are Youth of Color who have endured traumatic experiences in the form of abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. These incidents have been caused and exacerbated by community disinvestment, systemic racism, and other forms of institutional oppression. In collaboration with CCFJC staff, Pongo poetry writing offers CCFJC youth a vehicle for self-discovery and creative expression that inspires recovery and healing.

Through this special bimonthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To learn more about Pongo’s work of inspiring healing and relief among youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, join the Pongo Poetry Circle today!


Dear Dad

by a young person at CCFJC

Dear Dad,

Hey, Dad, even though I didn’t meet you
I love you with all my heart.
Mom says I’m just like you.
I walk like you, I talk like you,
even act like you. Auntie
called me your carbon copy.
I met Elijah and Leroy Jr.
I’m surprised that outta all your other kids,
I’m the one
who looks like you.

Continue reading PONGO POETRY | The City of Love

Arts in the South End: December Roundup

by Jas Keimig


2024 is practically breathing down our necks, and there’s no shortage of art to take in this December. From an all-new holiday musical at ArtsWest to the return and reimagining of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity at Intiman Theatre, this season is the perfect time to rejoice in traditions new and old with those you love most. 

Think we missed something? Let us know at Arts@SeattleEmerald.org.

Continue reading Arts in the South End: December Roundup

‘The Return,’ a Palestinian Story Onstage, Gets an Extended Run

by Agueda Pacheco Flores


The Return is a play that has to be watched; it can’t be explained or summarized. At least, that’s what playwright Hanna Eady says.

“I can’t tell you too much about the plot, because the way the structure works is that it unfolds as the audience would watch it,” said Eady, adding that it’s a mystery. 

Continue reading ‘The Return,’ a Palestinian Story Onstage, Gets an Extended Run

South End Scoop: Books & More from KCLS — November 2023


The King County Library System (KCLS) and the South Seattle Emerald are teaming up to bring you the “South End Scoop.” Dig into this community-centered column each month for great book, music, movie, and event recommendations from your local librarians. 

Continue reading South End Scoop: Books & More from KCLS — November 2023

PHOTO ESSAY | 2023 Legendary Children Brought the House Down

by Jas Keimig, photos by Susan Fried


On the evening of Friday, Nov. 17, Paccar Hall at the Olympic Sculpture Park hosted the eighth annual Legendary Children. Featuring the superstars of Seattle’s drag and ballroom scenes, it is an annual celebration of Indigenous, Black, and Brown queer and trans people and legacies that’s been going strong since 2015. On this night, attendees arrived in sparkly tops, sky-high heels, bright-pink fur coats, and perfectly coiffed ’dos to show off on the public runway and to each other. The event was co-organized with The Seattle Public Library (SPL) and the Seattle Art Museum, and the crowd perused SPL tables, sipped bevvies, looked at books from the Legendary Children library courtesy of Loving Room, and hooped and hollered the house down.

Continue reading PHOTO ESSAY | 2023 Legendary Children Brought the House Down

PONGO POETRY | Shuffling Through the Past

Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. For over 20 years, Pongo has mentored poetry with children at the Child Study and Treatment Center (CSTC), the only state-run psychiatric hospital for youth in Washington State. Many CSTC youth are coping with severe emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges. Approximately 40% of youth arrive at CSTC having been court ordered to get treatment; however, by the end of their stay, most youth residents become voluntary participants.

Pongo believes there is power in creative expression and articulating one’s pain to an empathetic audience. Through this special monthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To partner with Pongo in inspiring healing and relief among youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, join the Pongo Poetry Circle today!


My Aggression

by a young person at CSTC

My aggression doesn’t really surprise me
because it’s normal like allergies

My aggression is predictable when I’m getting
upset and stressed out about a lot stuff
like passes and visits by visitors

Continue reading PONGO POETRY | Shuffling Through the Past

Beware the ‘Airhorn of Truth’

Emerald political cartoonist Brett Hamil’s new collection of all 152 “Sunday Comix” strips reflects Seattle’s frustrating political climate.

by Jas Keimig


Since 2020, comedian and political cartoonist Brett Hamil has been faithfully skewering Seattle politicians and cranks every week for the South Seattle Emerald in his “Sunday Comix” column. From City Hall gadflies who are obsessed with abiding by the infuriatingly slow Seattle process to Seattle police officers who want no consequences and all the funding, Hamil’s work has documented a turbulent and weird past couple of years for our so-called progressive city. Now, he’s compiled all 152 comic strips into a new book Airhorn of Truth: The COMPLETE Sunday Comix which serves as a hilarious and potent reminder of how far Seattle has to go. I called up Hamil this week to chat about the recent City Council election results, his cartooning process, and what hope he has for our mossy city.

Continue reading Beware the ‘Airhorn of Truth’

Arts in the South End: November 2023

by Jas Keimig


As the year begins to wind down, events in Seattle are only winding up. You can spend November picking up some DIY zines at Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, listening to carefully collected oral histories of Seattle’s Black community at Wa Na Wari, and catching a free screening of the excellent 2020 documentary Crip Camp at Town Hall. 

Think we missed something? Let us know at Arts@SeattleEmerald.org.

Continue reading Arts in the South End: November 2023

Haiku Comics Provide a Way of Feeling ‘Less Desolate’

Poet Shin Yu Pai and illustrator Justin Rueff’s new comic book captures the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the profound disconnection of the pandemic.

by Jas Keimig


The sight of ferries disappearing into the Puget Sound horizon. Savoring the last raspberries of summer. COVID spreading rampantly through elementary classrooms and schools. In their new comic book Less Desolate published by Blue Cactus Press, poet Shin Yu Pai and illustrator Justin Rueff capture the splendors of living in the Pacific Northwest as well as the profound isolation and social unrest during the pandemic by using an interesting, little-known artform — the haiku comic.

Continue reading Haiku Comics Provide a Way of Feeling ‘Less Desolate’

PONGO POETRY | The Wanderer With the Scars

Pongo Poetry Project’s mission is to engage youth in writing poetry to inspire healing and growth. In the spring of 2022, Pongo began mentoring poetry with young people at the Echo Glen Children’s Center, a juvenile institution for youth serving criminal sentences. Studies of incarcerated youth indicate that up to 70% suffer from a mental health disorder and that many have experienced childhood trauma. The isolation, economic upheaval, and turmoil of the last two years have only exacerbated this issue. Youth at Echo Glen have endured significant mental and emotional challenges in the last two years, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and behavioral challenges.

Pongo believes there is power in creative expression, and articulating one’s pain to an empathetic audience. Through this special monthly column in partnership with the South Seattle Emerald, Pongo invites readers to bear witness to the pain, resilience, and creative capacity of youth whose voices and perspectives are too often relegated to the periphery. To learn more about Pongo’s work of inspiring healing and relief among youth coping with mental and emotional turmoil, join the Pongo Poetry Circle today.


The Wanderer With the Scars

by a young person at the Echo Glen Children’s Center

I am the happy one, who likes to wander
I am the calm one, who might come and go
I am the defiant one, who would never settle down for long
I am the one with the scars and their secrets.

Continue reading PONGO POETRY | The Wanderer With the Scars