Red Coat & Rainbow Cap + Pigtails – 1 Line

Mon Feb 16 – Bearded in a red coat reading a paper. You got off at Capitol Hill 10:25pm. Multicolor cap, 2 pigtails. We kept locking eyes.

Erika at Wuthering Heights

You introduced me to your Mikey, I introduced you to mine. I mentioned literary role play. Shall we roam the wily, windy moors?

Your plans are in good hands with weekend picks from the Seattle Asian Art Museum's Lunar New Year Family Festival to a Pioneer Square Scavenger Hunt and from the 12th Annual Black & Brew Imperial Stout Festival to the 2026 Seattle Home & Garden Show. For more ideas, check out our top picks of the week.

FRIDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Seattle Cider Taproom Farewell Party
It’s the end of an era, folks. After Seattle Cider announced its sale to 2 Towns, news traveled quickly that although the brand will live on under new ownership, February would be the last month for the cidery's beloved SoDo taproom. Whether you're a fan of the spot or just a casual cider sipper, come on out and raise a glass and celebrate the people, pours, and moments that made the space special. Plus, throwback pricing is on tap all evening, so head down to throw back $3 tall boys of the award-winning flagship Dry, $4 core ciders, and $5 for everything else. LANGSTON THOMAS
(Seattle Cider Taproom, Industrial District, free)

Good Morning! Did you see a little snow yesterday? It was spotty, and fleeting, and it might be the only snow we get this year, so I hope you got a taste of it. Today promises to be cold (low 40s), but probably dry, so get outside for a bit. Tomorrow, the rain starts again.

MAHA Moms Revolt: On Wednesday, Trump invoked a Korean-war era law that allows the government to force the manufacture of supplies “in the interest of national defense.” What’re we manufacturing? Glyphosate—a probably-carcinogenic pesticide that’s sold in the hardware store aisles as Roundup. And the anti-vax, raw milk chugging, horse dewormer-obsessed MAHA crowd is pissed. The founder of Moms Across America (named Zen Honeycutt, of course), which has led the anti-glyphosate campaign, called it “an egregious offense to what he promised,” and Republicans are worried that it could impact how many women vote red in the midterms. To be clear, MAHA is off base on a lot, but they’re right to hate this pesticide. Studies have shown that it very likely causes cancer. But it’s a Monsanto favorite, and every decision is for sale in Trump’s America.

UN Who? On Thursday morning, President Trump emceed the inaugural meeting of his knock-off United Nations, aka the Board of Peace, which he created and oversees. (Any nation can get a permanent seat, as long as they’re willing to pay $1 billion to get it.) In the meeting, Trump announced that the US was committing $10 billion in aid to Gaza, but Congress doesn’t appear to have appropriated that money, so who knows where he’s getting it. “Beyond that, there were few clear objectives from the meeting. It was like the United Nations General Assembly, if everything about the United Nations revolved around Donald Trump,” the New York Times wrote.

Have you been on the 1 Line this week? If so, you might have seen a little Easter egg on the schedule board: the 2 Line.

On February 14, Sound Transit started running the 2 Line in Seattle, but only between Lynnwood and Chinatown-International District. Its cross-lake connection will commence on March 28. Nevertheless the "practice run" to Chinatown-International District is causing some confusion and, in some cases, consternation. But what's the fuss all about? It's a transitional moment to what might be the biggest public transportation event since the Capitol Hill Station opened nearly a decade ago. And to be honest, all of the busiest stations on L1 are located between Northgate and Westlake. But, yes, it's not really the 2 Line, but the train says it is (I’m what I’m)—so, when riding it, as I did on February 16 and 18, you’re feeling the near future by way of the simulated mood of the 2.

On Monday, the millionaires’ tax bill passed the Washington state Senate and headed to the House. Great, more revenue! But there’s more to it than a 9.9 percent income tax on annual earnings above $1 million—including tax breaks for big, wealthy corporations

This week’s unexpectedly strong revenue forecast ($827 million more than projected over the next two years) coincides with town halls across the state. If you live in the 37th (Southeast Seattle), the 36th (Northwest Seattle), or the 43rd (Central Seattle) Legislative Districts, it’s more important than ever to show up this Saturday and make your legislators explain why they’re giving big business a break while our social programs wither.

Hey now, hey now, these tix are what dreams are made of! Psych pop-rock project Tame Impala brings special guest Dominic Fike along on a North American trek. Heavyweight MC J. Cole launches his first headlining tour in six years to support his reported final album. Plus, former Disney Channel star Hilary Duff makes her comeback with a new album and supporting world tour. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

ON SALE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20

MUSIC

Aaron Hibell
The Showbox (Fri July 10)

The Cab
The Showbox (Thurs June 4)

Chapterhouse: Whirlpool 35
The Crocodile (Mon May 25)

Welcome back to Pop Loser! This week, the Queer/Pride Festival lineup dropped, the Cass Elliot biopic was cast, and I have one special request from God (spoiler alert: it involves The Traitors). I’ll also share two new songs that I’m currently obsessed with, and in a new segment, Questions from the Cutting Room Floor, Grammy-winning opera singer J’Nai Bridges shares her go-to karaoke songs.

Woman Killed By Driver in Capitol Hill Identified: Her name was Lilliana Moreno. On Monday night, the 27-year-old was crossing East Pike Street when she was hit by a car making a right turn from Bellevue Avenue. She was trapped under the car for 20 minutes and died at the scene.

ICE Arrests: According to the Deportation Data Project, ICE arrested 2,000 people in Washington between late-January and mid-October of last year, a 140 percent increase from the same period in 2024. Roughly 47 percent of those arrested had no criminal history.

The coffee shop was busy and full, and you were sitting on the couch while your friend was sitting at the armchair. There was room on the couch and another unoccupied armchair next to your friend. Both of you were on your phones. My husband and I asked if we could sit in the empty spaces. You looked at us and then went back to your phone. We sat down for a minute, but then a bench freed up nearby and we moved there.

Most people file it away as a political artifact: the “Keep Hope Alive” speech, a concession with a crescendo that closed out Jesse Jackson’s 1988 campaign. But I remember it less as a footnote to an election and more as a key, one that cracked open a door inside me before certain kinds of cruelty could fully settle in.

This week, as we mark Jackson’s passing, the tributes have rightly talked about the “Rainbow Coalition,” about how he stretched the imagination of what a Black candidate could do and be in national politics, about how his run helped clear a path that others later walked. All true.

People who take the bus are superior to exclusive light railers, who are only cosplaying as serious transit riders. That measly track can be the gateway drug into the vastness of Seattle’s public transportation network. It can only take you two directions today—and a third and fourth when the Cross Lake Connection unites the 2 Line with Seattle proper on March 28. On the bus, you can go anywhere. 

At least, this is what I thought of myself. I take the bus frequently and have since I moved here almost 12 years ago. But a new game has humbled me. 

The Seahawks basically destroyed the Patriots to claim their second Super Bowl. Now comes the big question: Will the team visit the White House? Back in 2014, they made the trip and celebrated with the then president Barack Obama. But things are very different now. Trump is violently attacking cities and not even trying to hide his racism. The Seahawks have a lot Black players and the city it represents is considered a “Welcoming City.” How can this work out? Rumours recently circulated that the team had declined the standard invitation, but it’s now reported that the whole business is still very much up in the air. Also not verified is the rumor that the Seahawks haven’t received an invitation from Trump’s White House. Maybe both sides just want to keep their mouths shut and let this difficult matter quietly pass like two ships in the night.

Yesterday, at around 4:45 pm, we at the Stranger’s office saw through the windows something that had the likeness of snow. Was it the real stuff or not? We couldn’t tell. Maybe this was a collective hallucination. Today, expect a low of 31, a mostly cloudy morning, some rain in the afternoon, and, yet again, no snow.

My partner and I are both AFAB nonbinary queers in our mid-30s and have been together a long time. We don’t believe lifelong monogamy is realistic. We even started our relationship practicing ethical non-monogamy, then defaulted to monogamy for many years. We now have two very young children and are planning a third in the near future. Between parenting and a longstanding libido mismatch, our sex life has been hard for years. When we do have sex, it’s good, it’s just infrequent (maybe 1-3 times per month) and logistically difficult. I’m generally content, and sex simply isn’t a high priority for me right now.

Over the past several months, my partner has asked about opening our relationship again. I’ve tried to engage, while also feeling that this stage of life might be the worst possible time to experiment with our relationship structure. Recently, after a long conversation about opening up, including explicit discussion about consent and buy-in, my partner told me they had already joined a dating app and had been messaging people for about a week. Nothing physical happened, but they didn’t tell me during our conversations.

My questions:

1. Is there a sweet spot in child ages where opening a relationship actually makes sense? I don’t want to postpone this forever, but I also can’t imagine having the emotional capacity to navigate it anytime soon.

2. In the context of non-monogamy, does joining a dating app before mutual agreement count as harmless exploration, or is that already crossing a line?

I want to be GGG and sex-positive, but also scared to make our relationship worse in an already stressful time, and right now I’m struggling to see how to balance those things.

Overloaded Parents Exploring Now?

P.S. I carried and I will again, since I do think that matters. A bit over one year postpartum now.

Millionaires tax passes Senate: After a three hour debate, the 9.9 percent income tax on earnings over $1 million a year passed with a 27-22 vote. Three Democrats voted with Republicans. Lawmakers approved an amendment that repealed part of our sales tax, but didn’t approve a tax break on baby diapers.

Legalize It! “It” being smaller, cheaper elevators. The Washington State Senate approved a bill aimed at culling onerous standards that prevent elevators from being built at all. Sponsored by mushroom (and ibogaine) crusader Sen. Jesse Salomon, the bill will direct the state’s building code council to take on the issue next year.