Thirty-two years it took for me to trust myself. A sliding glass door to an inherent truth–value in my existence. “Stepping into my first dance-music concert was the beginning of opening that door,” I thought to myself, as I walked the grounds of Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Standing amongst countless variations of flora and […]
Previously, I discussed how making time to “date” ourselves can pave the way for increasing our emotional intelligence. It is a key to understanding “you” as a human. Humans are driven by emotion. Heightening your emotional intelligence improves your ability to respond to different situations optimally. To know why you feel the way you do, […]
Nails on a chalkboard. A semi-truck skidding to a halt on the interstate as its back jack-knifes, sending sparks cascading across rows of cars like the Fourth of July. A never-ending vacuum on a Saturday morning outside of your apartment door. What do these three things have in common? They are all analogous to how […]
In this ongoing series, DJ and mental-health advocate Alex Wagner shares stories and inspiration to create awareness. I often received remarks on my seemingly perpetual state of happiness in elementary school – a smile that would never leave my face. One time, I happened to eat something most unagreeable with myself, resulting in me spending […]
Paul Janeway never wanted to be in a band that had his name in it. But his friend and co-founder of St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Jesse Phillips, changed all that. “I grew up singing in church since I was four years old,” Janeway said during an interview ahead of the band’s recent show […]
“That’s what I’m all about–on my bio, everywhere–it says ‘recovery advocate’,” Blue October frontman Justin Furstenfeld tells me, adding, “It’s my responsibility to share my experience of strength and hope about recovery.” May 10, 2022 marked one full decade of sobriety for the singer/songwriter/producer/actor, whose recovery journey was poignantly recorded in 2020’s Get Back Up, […]
Music is a powerful key to pieces of our minds and hearts that might succumb to cobwebs and rotting wood otherwise. Music threads thought and understanding into the fabric of emotional comprehension, allowing us to feel magnified to limitless degrees, potentially, everything. It is wondrous to allow abstraction to help us articulate emotion, perceive it, […]
Three years ago, Mark Tremonti — guitarist/singer-songwriter/founding member of the rock bands Creed, Alter Bridge, and Tremonti — became absolutely obsessed with Frank Sinatra. Though he’d always been a fan of Frank’s and sang along suitably with Sinatra’s low register, this time was different. It was as if Tremonti was being deliberately pulled in Sinatra’s […]
It was mid-50s out in the crisp Pacific Northwest air. Discolored hands carrying bags of groceries in the cold, a washed, dull look splashed onto my face. Between point A and point B, I felt alone. It’s challenging to fit into much of anything when you walk on a tightrope wearing neon blue and sequin, […]
Alanis Morissette and the notion of sensitivity hadn’t ever been paired together before for me. Years back, we used a website called the random Alanis Morissette song generator which would, after the input of a few choice words, spit back to you a song full of resentment and malice for your enjoyment. Her grunge-infused success […]