December 3, 2019
By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director Twenty-five years ago, I jumped into a pool in Switzerland and when I got out of the pool, I went about my business, i.e. my life for a while—maybe a half hour?—before I realized everything was blurry. I’d jumped in with my glasses on and when I went back, […]
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December 2, 2019
Extinguish larynx, strung down neck & plucked from voice box, pulling out a sharp snap; I holler to the kingbird out of loneliness. Feathered body & beak yellowed with age, sleek wings broken in by many winters, his dead eyes, refusing to acknowledge. Measurements of clawed feet, the push of the scalpel into his full […]
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November 26, 2019
New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicolas Kristof grew up on a cherry farm in rural Yamhill, Oregon, and it’s there that he and Sheryl WuDunn, his wife and co-writer, return in their latest reporting. In part, their book is about the lives of some of the children with whom Kristof grew up, about a quarter […]
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November 22, 2019
By Ruth Dickey, SAL Executive Director A few years ago, everyone I knew began telling me about a book they absolutely adored and that I simply must read. But when I learned the book was about a Count who spends 30 years in a hotel in Moscow, I was first skeptical, and then outright resistant. […]
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November 21, 2019
It’s a mite hard to believe on nights like this that, somewhere, I have friends who aren’t dream-deep and snug in their beds, asleep, but may be dozing off in lecture with pens stuttering on notes; air conditioners humming furious against the peak afternoon heat. Harder still to believe, that while they scribble and we […]
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November 20, 2019
We are so grateful for the many volunteers who make our world go round at the SAL headquarters. Bianca Glinskas is one such volunteer, and not only does she help out in the office—she also writes for our blog! Check out her recent pieces on poet Mary Ruefle here and here. To see what’s inspired […]
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November 13, 2019
Numerous creative and brilliant people work on behind-the-scenes projects for SAL. Andrea Dimond is one of two freelance designers and has freelanced for SAL for over three years, where she uses her superb design skills to produce our Annual Report and other pieces. See some of her past work here. Read on to find what […]
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November 12, 2019
On Thursday, November 21, 2019, Seattle Arts & Lectures will present a reading with Mary Ruefle at Broadway Performance Hall in Capitol Hill. Mary Ruefle has published over ten collections of poetry. Below, local writer Bianca Glinskas reveals three favorite Ruefle poems and what they tell us about the reader and the writer. By Bianca Glinskas […]
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September 3, 2019
by Kate Jones, Summer Intern Another wonderful summer has come and gone, and I’m looking at my finished Summer Book Bingo board, trying to articulate why I love this experience so much. I’m no Book Bingo veteran—this is only my second card—but I’m starting to boil it down to a few reasons, reasons that […]
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August 30, 2019
Many people work for SAL behind-the-scenes and it take a team to make it all happen. Danielle Palmer-Friedman has worked with SAL for the past year in a variety of ways—as a Words Matter volunteer, running front of house at events, and being a social media extraordinaire, to name just a few. Read on to […]
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