The Piano Teacher: Payam Khastkhodaei

The instructor rethinking the approach to music lessons.

When Payam Khastkhodaei began teaching piano to a family friend’s daughter in his Bothell home at 16, he relied on the same method he had been taught as a kid—classical songbooks, rigid practice, and pieces he never connected with. It didn’t take long to see she was losing interest. “I had learned from the Alfred…

Sarah Stackhouse

The Scientist: Dr. Mary E. Brunkow

The Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist is a UW alum.

When the Nobel Assembly called Dr. Mary E. Brunkow around 1 a.m. on October 6 to deliver the news that she had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, she did not answer the phone call. When they called immediately a second time she set her phone to “Do Not Disturb” and…

Chris S. Nishiwaki

The System Smashers: Seth and Zach Pacleb

The brothers taking risks to disrupt capitalist restaurant models.

For brothers Seth and Zach Pacleb, all you need to know about their new eatery is in the name: Pidgin Cooperative. The employee-owned, pan-Asian restaurant and bottle shop that opened last fall in Fishermen’s Terminal represents a level playing field where people come together to fulfill a collective culinary vision. Fittingly, it’s inspired by the…

Ben McBee

The Councilmember: Alexis Mercedes Rinck

Seattle’s youngest councilmember leads with a boots-on-the-ground approach.

Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Standing on Medgar Evers’ driveway. Looking over the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. At 16, Alexis Mercedes Rinck had heard stories of these Civil Rights Movement landmarks from her politically engaged grandmother, who was raising her, but in 2012, Rinck was there. And she was meeting the people—sung and unsung—of…

Rachel Eggers

The Literary Leader: Christopher Frizzelle

The former Stranger editor launching a community-funded publishing company that puts its authors first.

The path to FrizzLit Editions began in the fraught days of March 2020. Christopher Frizzelle, then an editor at the Stranger, was searching for new ways to reach readers in a city that had all but shut down. “My brilliant idea is, we’ll do a book club,” he remembers. That first book club—a quarantine edition…

Bess Lovejoy

The Big Giver: Shari D. Behnke

The philanthropist pouring resources into the arts, hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Like almost everyone who has spent time at On the Boards, Shari D. Behnke has memories of shows that have deeply moved her. And then there are the performances she found so jarring that she walked out part-way through—few and far between, but still a hazard of frequenting contemporary performing arts. “That’s one of the…

Rachel Gallaher

Fave Five: Little Winter Escapes

Places to go when the weather turns cold.

Winter is a time to reset. The holidays vanish overnight, leaving frigid mornings and fewer lights in the windows. And it’s almost as if the sun has a lampshade over it—which I don’t mind. We all need a break from the bright overheads. Still, we are fighting the urge to hibernate. Maybe that means tea…

Sarah Stackhouse

Nord-West Connection

Food for thought.

There has always been a strong connection between Seattle and the Nordic countries, and the National Nordic Museum’s current exhibition, New Nordic: Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place, is a visual reinforcement straight from Norway. A cross-disciplinary show exploring how New Nordic Cuisine—a culinary movement that developed in Scandinavia in the early 2000s that focuses on using…

Seattle Mag

The Explorer: Tessa Hulls

Her graphic novel won a prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

People who know Tessa Hulls won’t be surprised by her initial reaction to learning she’d won a Pulitzer Prize for her first book, the graphic memoir, Feeding Ghosts (Macmillan, 2024). “I think I was in shock for a couple of months,” Hulls says. “I went into the backcountry for as long as I needed until…

Rachel Eggers

The Jazz Man: Thomas Marriott

The musician inspiring the next generation of jazz aficionados.

When Thomas Marriott was 15 years old and a student at Garfield High School, he would sneak into the now-defunct New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square to catch a glimpse of some of the local jazz legends. Over 40 years later, Marriott, a longtime trumpeter and composer, is reinvigorating the scene with Seattle Jazz…

Chris S. Nishiwaki

To Market, To Market

Start small.

Known as a hotspot for independent businesses and one-off boutiques, Ballard recently doubled down on the “Shop Local” mantra with a new collective shopping experience. “Smål Market was created to help small retailers overcome the financial and logistical barriers of opening a business in Ballard’s competitive commercial district,” says Mike Stewart, executive director at Ballard…