Author Archive GD

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Damseled Princes

I’m a sucker for gender-flipped stories and the way they shed light on common tropes. A manic pixie dream boy doesn’t teach an uptight female protagonist to enjoy life – he’s just an unemployed drummer boyfriend. It’s a trope that doesn’t hold up. But give a handsome prince the damsel treatment and suddenly a tale as old as time becomes sparkly and new with strong female protagonists and emotionally intelligent love interests. I will always show up for handsome heroes made helpless and the strong smart heroines who save them – like the ones in these K-dramas.

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Independent Bookstore Day 2022 – Island Outliers

Despite my love for filling up passports and my obsession with completeness, I’ve never tried to “win” Independent Bookstore Day for two reasons. First, getting to all the bookstores in one day is too hard. And second, getting to all the bookstores in one day doesn’t leave time for actually browsing the bookstores, and I can never leave a bookstore unexplored once I enter. So each year, I’ve made my own goals. This year was my most challenging.

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The Comfort of Swan Lake

The ballet Swan Lake needs no introduction. But a blog post does. So by way of introduction let me start by saying that if you are only going to see one ballet in your lifetime, it should probably be Swan Lake, and Pacific Northwest Ballet is one of the best places to see it. I’m not going to do a full review because I’ve done that before, and except for the person sitting behind me who told his friends, “I didn’t look at the booklet, like at all, because I didn’t want any spoilers,” I think most people have a pretty good idea what to expect anyway. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to say about it.

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Leta Biasucci and Kyle Davis with company dancers in Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake, on stage April 15 – 24, and streaming digitally May 12 – 16, 2022. Photo © Angela Sterling.
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Easter Egg

When I took my kids to Iceland, it was over spring break. We returned the day before Easter, so I knew I wouldn’t have time to put together Easter Baskets for them. Instead, I bought treats in Iceland and smuggled it home in my carry on. Instead of tons of candy pieces, Icelanders get one giant, decorated chocolate egg in their baskets. And one year, so did my kids.