For centuries, people have turned to jesters for relief from the miseries of life. As it turns out, some stand-up performers turn pain and rage into their own coping and catharsis. Continue Reading ‘You Get Paid For Doing Therapy’: Read More
Arts
A review of 'Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes' and why people find the serial killer from the Northwest interesting. Continue Reading TV Review: The Ted Bundy Tapes Show Uneasy ‘Conversation With A Read More
John Bohannon, founder of Science magazine's "Dance Your Ph.D." contest, presents the 2018 winner, Pramodh Senarath Yapa. He won over judges with his choreographic rendition of some chaotic electrons. Continue Reading Ph.D. Student Read More
First-time writer-director Robert D. Krzykowski's odd, flashback-besotted film is a love letter to its leading man, who plays a World War II veteran struggling to remember his past. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Sam Elliott Is Read More
In a new book, Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code joins a chorus of voices warning of devastating consequences if girls don't partake in tech — and suggesting girls should be encouraged to take risks. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: Read More
The former New York Times executive editor and author of Merchants of Truth tells NPR's Michel Martin: "I will do everything within my power to correct anything that is imperfect in my book." Read More
Jonah Larson is a globally renowned crocheter — at the age of 11. He sells his goods on Instagram and donates a portion of his earnings to the Ethiopian orphanage where he was adopted. Continue Reading 11-Year-Old Wisconsin Boy Is Hooked On Read More
A new, eight-part Netflix series examines the complex aftermath of the 1994 killing spree — and offers a good reminder that history is vast, messy and ever-changing. Continue Reading TV REVIEW: ‘Black Earth Read More
Author David Treuer calls his new book a "counternarrative" to Dee Brown's 1970 classic. "I have tried to catch us not in the act of dying but, rather, in the radical act of living," he writes. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: Read More
"A library can be a loud place," says a city official in charge of Moscow's 400-plus public libraries, which have begun attracting visitors with coffee shops, theater rehearsals and lectures. Continue Reading Once Centers Of Soviet Read More
Kristin Roupenian went viral with her New Yorker short story "Cat Person." And that story is in her new collection, but she goes much further, with genre switches, shock endings, even a fairy tale. Continue Reading BOOK Read More
Oliver wasn't always appreciated by critics, but she was still one of the country's most popular poets. In 2012, she told NPR, "Poetry, to be understood, must be clear." Continue Reading Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry Read More
Peter Jackson's documentary, featuring expertly restored archival footage from the first World War, is "astonishing"; his "digital tools summon empathy, not spectacle." Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: World War I Brought To Read More
Thriller author Brad Meltzer and documentary producer Josh Mensch offer an intriguing look at a true-life, foiled plan that, had it succeeded, may have killed the American dream before it even began. Continue Reading BOOK Read More
For the first time in 20 years, a large body of films, music, and books has entered the public domain. That means they can be reworked by new creators in conversation with the originals. Continue Reading Freed From Copyright, These Classic Works Are Read More
From writer and director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men), 'Roma' is based on Cuaron’s childhood experiences and transports audiences back in time to a Mexico City in the 1970s. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Read More
After finishing her degree in CWU’s Professional and Creative Writing program and an MFA from Lindenwood University, the 23-year-old Savannah Slone is releasing her first chapbook, 'Hearing the Underwater,' on January 4 with Finishing Line Press. Read More
If you are looking to start off the new year by catching up on good books you may have missed in 2018, there are plenty to pick from. Last year, authors brought us stories of immigration, ideas about identity politics, creative takes on mythology and literary ambition. Read More
In the 20 years since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released in the U.S., educators of all levels have used J.K. Rowling's series to bring magic to their own classrooms. Continue Reading Walla Walla Read More
This year, movies where women starred had Hollywood muscle behind them. So do this year's heroines — conceived before #MeToo, but landing in the moment — mark a change for the industry? Continue Reading 2018 Saw Numerous Fierce Female Characters Of FilmRead More
Children are invited to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks in Coloring Without Borders. The bilingual book was created to help immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. Continue Reading Book ‘Without Read More
After lawsuits and pushback from her estate. Harper Lee's beloved 1960 novel is now a play. And now, Atticus Finch looks and sounds a little different than he did in the book. Continue Reading ‘To Kill A Read More
Nadine Orenstein never expected to judge gingerbread houses. But several years ago, the curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art happened to see a program on the Food Network about a competition in Asheville, N.C., and was intrigued by the intricate — and edible — Christmastime entries. Read More
Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda lead a great cast in a sequel that finds Mary Poppins helping the Banks family deal with a whole new set of woes. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Is A Fine And Fresh Read More
After starting out in acting, Marshall directed well-loved and successful films in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Big and A League Of Their Own both have big hearts and real bite. Continue Reading Remembering Penny Read More
In Beirut, a young boy sues his parents for giving birth to him in poverty. That's the premise of a new film from director Nadine Labaki which features her most unapologetically activist agenda. Continue Reading The Chaos Of Read More
Whitman College’s Because You Are Here is community theater but not in the way we usually think of it. Performers in this production met with members of the Walla Walla community—particularly the migrant population—to learn their stories and bring them to life. Read More
Award-winning illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi got the idea for his new children's book when his own daughter accidentally dropped a beloved Christmas ornament, and he made up a story to comfort her. W Continue Reading This Read More
Looking for a unique Northwest gift for friends or family? These suggestions will help or inspire other ideas.
Continue Reading From Almond Roca To Cougar Gold Cheese: An Incomplete Northwest Gift GuideRead More
Jessica Abel's comic Trish Trash, Rollergirl of Mars isn't just a sports story and a coming-of-age tale, it's a masterful critique of capitalism that stays engaging despite a few wobbles. Continue Reading BOOK Read More
Poet Tess Taylor says a good poem can "reroute your day" in under five minutes. She offers suggestions for poetry that "takes you to a different place, and then allows you to return a little altered." Continue Reading Poetry Read More
Crosby set the mold for the multimedia star: on radio, on the big screen and on record. The 1940s was the period when his star shone brightest and 'Swinging on a Star' by Gary Giddins tells that story. Continue Reading Read More
HBO's The Price of Everything calls into question the current price explosion and commodification of modern art "that's fascinating, but it's also terrifying," says director Nathaniel Kahn. Continue Reading New Documentary Paints A Read More
The debt John McPhail's tuneful horror comedy owes to Shaun of the Dead proves too deep to clamber out of, but the songs are fun and Ella Hunt's feisty lead performance is charming. Continue Reading FILM Read More
Director David Mackenzie keeps the scale too small and the stakes too low in this retelling of the rebellion of Scotland's Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine). Continue Reading FILM REVIEW ‘Outlaw King’ Is Read More
Marci Vogel's new novella spans a year in the life of April, a young woman blindsided by loss. It's the perfect length for a story, and the perfect balance of humor, anger, sorrow and beauty. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: ‘Death And Other Read More
Julian Schnabel's "bold, blissful and deeply sad" film about Vincent Van Gogh's final days is as textured as the artist's canvases; Willem Dafoe delivers "one of the finest performances of the year." Continue Reading FILM Read More
The former first lady's new book is a story about her history, how that influenced who she is — and learning to adapt after agreeing to let that life be hijacked by politics. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: Michelle Obama’s Read More
On Saturday, four days after he won his race, Dan Crenshaw appeared next to Pete Davidson on SNL, and after roasting the comedian with a bunch of prepared jokes, he accepted his apology. Crenshaw then offered up a lesson about civility in politics. Read More
Joel and Ethan Coen have an erratic body of work but a remarkably consistent worldview. So it's no surprise that their six-part Western anthology, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, feels like both an entirely coherent vision and something of a mixed bag. Read More
In a new $35 million musical, the star attraction is 20 feet tall and requires 15 people to operate. He's an engineering marvel — and also basically a giant monkey puppet. Continue Reading ‘King Kong’ On Broadway Is The 2,400-Pound Read More
He's the voice of NPR's comedy news quiz. He has also run a marathon in under 3:10. And now he has collected his thoughts about his avocation in "The Incomplete Book of Running." Continue Reading Not His Job: ‘Wait Wait’ Host Read More
A fearless performance from Rami Malek and rock-solid rock anthems can't lift this listless musical biopic out of the sea of clichés in which it treads water. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Is No Bed Of Roses, Read More
Traditional and sacred Native American stories have often been used as tropes in the horror genre. Continue Reading Horror Older Than America: Whitewashing Native Tales For A Mass-Market AudienceRead More
Michael Myers is back and, so is Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis was 19 when she starred in the original 'Halloween'. This sequel ignores the others to focus on what has happened to Laurie since 1978. Continue Reading This Read More
What to watch or read this Halloween. Maybe going out to get scared isn’t for you. Perhaps you prefer to scream inside with a room full people and a bucket of popcorn? Or maybe you just want to stay home and have more control over the bumps in the night. Read More
The first episode of the post-Roseanne era of the Roseanne revival struggled to make its jokes land, but it proved that there's plenty of story there to make a good show. Continue Reading TV REVIEW: Without Roseanne, ‘The Conners’ Go OnRead More
Ike Barinholtz writes, directs and produces this timely comedy about a family whose deep political divide widens even further over Thanksgiving dinner. Sloppy at times, but its satiric aim is true. Continue Reading FILM Read More
Director Damien Chazelle says his new film, which examines the years leading up to Neil Armstrong's monumental first step on the moon, is a story of "dreams — and the cost of pursuing those dreams." Continue Reading Ryan Read More
The new comic series from creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell follows a young Muslim-American woman living in an apartment building haunted by evil entities that feed on racist hate. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: Read More
