Specials | Pacific Wave Delight Edition 2020

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Abigail Dahl @abigailgracedahl

The Daily — Delight 2020

Contents

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Clothes I’m taking to the grave

Shocker: Being nice makes you feel good

Best hangout spot, according to crows

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Skateboarding to escape winter

A day at the Grand Illusion

The world of natural wine

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The highs and lows of backcountry skiing

Poetry from our readers

Finding peace in cooking

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Hygge for the soul

The perks of waiting: Film photography

Why are we drawn to comfort food?

The Daily — Delight 2020

THE DAILY

Letter from the editors During this time of year, it can be hard to see the good around you — the skies are gray and you might feel stuck inside, biding your time until the warmer months come.

We often get caught up in all of the things we’re missing in life, the parts we want to fix, and ruminate on the lows without spending time lingering in moments of joy. We wanted this magazine to be an opposing force to all the stressful headlines that make you feel helpless and overwhelmed by the

bad things in the world. It’s all about seeking out delight and holding it a little tighter when we find it — whether it be our favorite winter coat, a seasonal soup, a trusty film camera. We hope you close this magazine with some more tools to tune into your own shades of delight.

The Daily acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations.

Editor-in-Chief Mira Petrillo editor@dailyuw.com

Sales Manager Isaac Jundt admanager@dailyuw.com

Pacific Wave Editors Charlotte Housten Chamidae Ford pacificwave@dailyuw.com

Advertising Inquiries 206.543.2336 ads@dailyuw.com

Design Editor Jenna Shanker design@dailyuw.com

Publisher Diana Kramer dianakramer@dailyuw. com

Copy Chiefs Sam Steele Trevor Hunt copy@dailyuw.com Photo Editors Lydia Ely Mo Tilmo photo@dailyuw.com Illustration Editor Abigail Dahl illustrations@dailyuw.com

You are our legacy. You are our future.

Because of customers like you, University Book Store has the great honor and privilege of prioritizing our community over profit, as we’ve done for 120 years. ubookstore.com

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The Daily — Delight 2020

Clothes I’m taking to the grave

By Chamidae Ford The Daily I am the kind of person who has a closet stuffed to the brim — colors, patterns, silks, and knits all snuggled up against each other, begging to be worn. Marie Kondo had built her livelihood on closets like mine. But, being a deep-rooted maximalist in all senses of the word, I refuse to let items go. They act like a road map of where I have been and what I’ve worn. Unlike a true mother, though, I can admit I have favorites — pieces that I will keep with me for all of my journey.

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The Milan blouse When I studied abroad in Italy, every time I went to a new city, I looked for their vintage stores. Italy is known for their fashion, and I was determined to add some of it to my wardrobe. When I arrived in Milan, during fashion week no less, the first place we visited was Humana Vintage, a cheap chain filled with high-quality clothes. It was located right next to the tram stop near the Duomo, but I’ll admit that I beelined to Humana before admiring the enormous cathedral. Vintage stores come first.

When I exited this clothing wonderland, I was out 30 euros but had a jumpsuit covered in fruit and a perfect green blouse to show for it. My time in Milan was riddled with stressful transportation mishaps and unfortunate miscommunication, but ultimately, I left this city with a chartreuse-colored top made of soft ribbed fabric with iconic puffed shoulders. It’s lightly embroidered with matching green roses, but you have to be in the right lighting to see them shimmer. It’s not a groundbreaking piece, but it’s a staple item that reminds me of my travels.

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The carpet jacket I can’t remember who came up with the name for this coat, one of my high school friends probably, but she’s old, amazing, and my favorite thing in my closet. I was 17 years old when I bought it, I had $20 in my bank account and a 50%-off coupon in my pocket for Value Village.

My new ability to drive unlocked a new level of my love for shopping — I would raid my local thrift stores multiple times a week. I remember on this particular trip, I was feeling uninspired by the store, close to giving in and leaving empty-handed. By some type of fate, or my ridiculous determination, an almost velvet-like jacket covered in winding flowers of blues, reds, and yellows caught my eye. I remember my friend told me not to get it, but I didn’t listen. This $14 jacket (ultimately $7 because of my coupon) has followed me across the globe during my study abroad and is easily my most complimented item.

Leather cheetah girl When people think of me, they think of this jacket. I’ve never owned a more versatile piece. It survives seasonal transitions like a champ. I’ve only owned it a year, but it feels like it’s part of my very soul. Bought on a visit to my hometown (land of cheap and quality vintage), she was nestled on the bottom rack of the men’s section.

I don’t know how she got there, but it felt like fate when I slid her on and it sat perfectly on my shoulders; she was 100% leather goodness. The brown leather is covered in little cheetah print spots, managing to be fun but understated. Often cheetah print can leave fun and playful and enter loud and awkward, but this jacket manages to pull off chic while staying fun. For the bargain price of $5, I am certain she will follow me into old age and then be passed on to my children.

Reach Pacific Wave Co-Editor Chamidae Ford at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @chamidae_ford.

A Cheap Date,

Lydia Ely The Daily

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The Daily — Delight 2020

A compliment a day keeps the gloom away

Lauren Abbott @lorin.abot

By Nicole Pasia The Daily

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The Daily — Delight 2020

As I sat on my usual bus route, the 372, I noticed a woman’s jacket in the corner of my eye. A beautiful brocade velvet blazer, with large red and black flowers delicately interwoven with gold thread.

I wanted to compliment her, but instead, I sat in silence. Maybe it was because she sat two seats over, and the couple sitting in between us was immersed in a conversation. I wonder, though, what would she have said if I asked her about her jacket?

You may have heard the phrase “random acts of kindness,” where a person performs spontaneous, positive acts for another, often with no expectation of receiving similar treatment. Each act can be as simple as paying for the coffee of the next person in line or complimenting a stranger’s outfit on the bus. It’s an unexpected gesture that puts a smile on your face.

How can these one-time interactions with strangers make gloomy Seattle days a little more bearable? And for those of us who are entrapped by the so-called “Seattle Freeze,” — what stops us from doing it?

The phrase “random acts of kindness, senseless acts of beauty” originated in a 1993 children’s picture book by Anne Herbert and Margaret Paloma Pavel. They came up with the phrase as a foil of the saying, “random violence, senseless acts of cruelty.” Accompanied by Japanese ink drawings, the book follows humans, depicted as animal characters, as they contribute good into the world.

“We’re social animals, and we’ve evolved such that having a sense of social connectedness with others actually has a lot of health benefits,” Adam Kuczynski said, a fifth-year graduate student at the Center for the Science of Social Connection.

Establishing a sense of connection with others has numerous benefits, he continued. They allow us to conceptualize a network of support, where even smallscale interactions can build up our resilience in handling problems such as stress

and anxiety.

Besides this social resilience, the unexpected nature of these kind acts provides welcome relief. As college students, we are constantly pressured to perform well on tests, apply for jobs and internships, and participate in extracurricular activities.

Even when you achieve those goals, it confirms that you are reaching your expectations, but nothing more.

In 2016, writer Jeff Haden challenged himself to compliment everyone he saw for an entire day. He stated most of the people he complimented had little relationship to him and didn’t owe him anything. Haden’s unexpected compliments made an even greater positive impact because those people didn’t have to work for them. He also said that although coming up with a personal compliment for a stranger isn’t the easiest feat, it was well worth seeing their faces light up.

Even when compliments are directed toward one person or group, studies have shown that completing these acts of kindness have certain health benefits for the giver as well. Completing altruistic behavior can signal your brain’s pleasure center, according to a study at Emory University.

This so-called “helper’s high,” can make you feel as if you, the giver, are the one receiving kindness.

So, if doing random acts of kindness leads to all these health benefits, why didn’t I compliment the woman’s coat on the bus?

Interacting and trying to create a first impression with someone you don’t know can be quite daunting. There’s the possibility of being rejected or met with awkwardness, Kuczynski said. There are certain ways you act around people close to you that you won’t feel comfortable doing in front of strangers.

“People with social anxiety, for example, [have] such a high fear of even going into [small talk],” Kuczynski said. “Their fight or flight response kicks in.”

Sophomore Grayson Parry responds to awkward situations with the former.

One time on the bus, he wore a Christmas sweater with the iconic baby Yoda from the show “The Mandalorian.” The person sitting across from him complimented his sweater and began to discuss the show with him. Despite a bit of awkwardness surrounding the interaction, he and the person on the bus continued to talk about the show for a few minutes.

Although the one-time interaction allowed him to connect with a stranger over a show they both watched, he also stated that if he knew he would see that person again, he would be more motivated to establish a relationship.

“If it’s someone sitting next to me [in class], I would try to talk a little more,” Parry said. “I would never get up and walk away.”

It might take a while to get to know someone, but humans constantly outwardly express themselves through clothes, social media, and groups in which they are involved. If you notice something about them that you like, what’s to stop you from complimenting them?

It’s a calculated risk, with the potential to end in awkwardness or rejection.

Some people are able to shake off this awkwardness better than others. But when you do end up connecting with a stranger, it’s a pleasant surprise. Although you might never see that person again, that brief moment of human connection can reinforce your sense of connection to the greater community, and ultimately benefit your mental health in the long run.

“You get to be the one to create the connections you want to have,” Kuczynski said. “It involves being willing to tolerate anxiety and awkwardness when it shows up in small talk.”

Reach writer Nicole Pasia at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @NicoleAPasia 7

The Daily — Delight 2020

Abigail Dahl @abigailgracedahl

The place where the crows go Finding delight in nightly flight

“There’s really no way to wrap your head around the ‘crowverload’ that is the UW Bothell campus at night unless you’ve been there in person.”

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By Mac Murray The Daily Imagine, if you will, a baseball field at night. Now, imagine that baseball field absolutely filled with crows. Now, whatever number of crows you were originally imagining, square it. That’s how many crows I came across during my recent visit to the UW Bothell campus.

Locals will know that I’m not exaggerating about the sheer number of crows. There’s really no way to wrap your head around the “crowverload” that is the UW Bothell campus at night unless you’ve been there in person.

For a crow-lover like me, this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened on a baseball field. Crows have some of the biggest personalities in the animal kingdom: they’re loud, proud, and unafraid.

Watching the communal roost is a lot like watching a group of noisy best friends descend on a bar after months apart.

Kris Tsujikawa, a UW graduate, photographer, and self-proclaimed “crowtojournalist” with a beautifully crow-centric Twitter presence, described the nightly roost as a “giant sleepover party.”

That’s essentially what it is. Crows, those silly independent birds we mainly see hopping around campus alone or in small groups, gather at sunset in massive numbers. Maybe they’re gabbing about their days or simply enjoying the security of a group setting; it’s hard to say.

“There’s a couple hypotheses for why birds communally roost,” Douglas Wacker, a professor and avian researcher at UW Bothell, said.

Safety in numbers is one potential factor; another is the chance to share information. Crows are highly intelligent and have many complex vocalizations, though unfortunately, scientists have yet to develop a system of exact translations.

“I don’t think that we can say that they’re talking about their days or talking about predators yet,” Wacker said. “We can certainly say that … [they make] really raucous kind of grainy-sounding calls when a predator’s near. So they do have different calls that they use in different contexts.”

Crows come from near and far to take part in this nightly migration to Bothell.

Certain Seattle crows make the trip, as do

The Daily — Delight 2020

some who spend their days north of Bothell in Mill Creek or near Everett, according to Wacker. He has also observed that when crows leave Capitol Hill in Seattle for the night, some groups will fly toward the Bothell roost and others toward another roost in Renton.

It’s not really known how different groups of crows decide where to spend their nights or how this information is communicated, but it’s hard to deny that there is some community organizing at work when you’re witnessing thousands of birds descending on one location.

“The experience of visiting a crow roost is magical and amazing,” Tsujikawa said. “I have the wonderful feeling of being fully alive. And knowing these gorgeous birds communicate with each other, care for each other, and form strong bonds, it makes it even more special.”

Witnessing the communal roost is also a reminder that life is teeming all around us and that we can’t ignore the presence and needs of nature. Try to build a new baseball field, for instance, and you might wind up having inadvertently constructed a conveniently safe, fenced-in, and well-lit

area for prey animals to commandeer by night.

Bothell’s crows first started roosting on campus in 2009 when the nearby wetlands were restored, but it seems that they subsequently found the new sports field to serve quite nicely as a hangout.

Wacker sees this as a welcome reminder, not as a problem.

“I feel like as a society we’re so programmed to be kind of adversarial to everything, kind of program things to be what we want,” he said. “But it’s a more sustainable approach to try to live with things and manage their presence such that people can enjoy it as well.”

It’s hard not to become charmed by the crows’ presence en masse, especially now that they’ve become synonymous with UW Bothell’s campus, attracting flocks of people who come to witness the nightly sight of thousands of their beloved birds.

“They’re super charismatic, and it’s fun that they’ve become kind of a symbol of UW Bothell,” Wacker said.

He shared a few tips to share for those looking to visit campus and optimize their crow-viewing experience.

“I think the best place to be, early on, is kind of in the middle of campus between UW1 and Discovery Hall,” Wacker said.

“Then I think it makes sense to move near the viewing platform near the North Creek Events Center. You can go across this little bridge and go out and look onto the wetlands themselves.”

My love for crows is far from scientific, but it consistently brings me delight.

They’re curious, intelligent, and playful, and they seem to have a good sense of humor.

Crows are just out here doing their thing. May we all live by their example: Wear more black, not care what people think of us, and maybe host a giant slumber party with a few hundred of our closest friends.

Reach Health & Wellness Editor Mac Murray at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @merqto

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The Daily — Delight 2020

Skateboarding in underground garage saves Kalina Zanelli from Seattle winters

By Mo Tilmo The Daily 10

The Daily — Delight 2020

“It gives me a much stronger sense of self, and the kind of happiness I feel when I manage to land something I’ve been working hard on is ridiculous.”

“Skateboarding makes me feel like there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Kalina Zanelli spends a lot of her time either in science labs or skating “fun curbs” in the parking garage under Red Square during Seattle winters. Finding a place to skate can be hard to find when it’s constantly raining outside, but when you’re a skater, you find ways — or rather, things, to skate.

“Skateboarding constantly proves to me that I can do a lot more than I think I’m capable of,” Zanelli said. She also finds a sense of community and says she met a lot of “wonderful people” through skating. This found-family and the challenge that comes with learning a new trick keep Kalina skating into the spring.

Reach Photo Co-Editor Mo Tilmo at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @mo_PRBLMS 11

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Welcome to the Grand Illusion Cinema Seattle’s oldest running arthouse theater is a film nerd’s paradise Sammi Bushman The Daily

By Armon Mahdavi The Daily While at the UW, I have never lived more than a 10-minute walk from the Grand illusion Cinema. When I graduate, as much as I will miss the friends, the grimy basement parties, and the inspiring classes, I am certain that some of my fondest college memories will have taken place in a dark, 70-seat arthouse theater.

The space is tiny; when I ramble about it to my friends, many have passed by it, tucked into a corner on University Way and 50th Street, without even noticing.

You know, next to the Arepa place? Across from Jack in the Box? If they don’t know, the only solution is for me to take them. As a member, you can take a friend for free to a limited number of movies.

The Grand Illusion Cinema is Seattle’s oldest independent movie theater still in business, opening in 1968 in what was previously a dentist’s office. If you’ve been there, that makes perfect sense. The “lobby” has the feeling of a waiting room.

As you wait for the doors to open to their single screen, you can peruse various film books that rest on their shelves. The lobby is also surrounded by old posters displaying various film series the Grand has put on over the past 50 years. Some of these include “Festival of Depression,” showing classic foreign arthouse movies with morose themes, as well as “Gunshot for Action,” a festival of classic westerns from the 50s.

“It was initially called ‘The Movie House,’ showing arthouse stuff, and UW students were a big part of its customer 12

base,” Spencer Sundell, a volunteer projectionist of nearly nine years, said. “It was bought by a non-profit group, which later became the Northwest Film Forum … they were gonna cut this place loose, but a group of volunteers that had been working here for quite some time made their own non-profit, bought it from NWFF, and kept the Grand Illusion Cinema going.”

Everything at the Grand is lost in time.

Inside the screening room, the chairs seem straight out of the old repertory theaters of our dreams, with their metal frames and floral embroidery. The screen is tiny just like the room, but when surrounded by red velvet curtains, the magic isn’t sacrificed.

Before the film begins, a staff member will stumble in front of the screen to introduce the show and remind the audience that the Grand team consists solely of volunteers.

On my most recent visit, the Grand was playing three poignant documentaries, “Honeyland,” “The Cave,” and “Citizen K,” for the weekend of Feb. 7-9. I saw “The Cave,” an Oscar-nominated documentary about an underground hospital in the horrors of the Syrian War. With a theater so small and intimate, there is a true feeling of comradery with the other audience members. For a film as devastating as “The Cave,” the emotions of everyone present was viscerally felt.

One of the beauties of the Grand is how diverse their programming is. One week you can see an Oscar-nominated documentary. In another, a sweet, heartfelt indie straight off a film festival run. Another, you can watch a vintage adult film presented by the Seattle Erotic Cinema

Society called “The Sensually Liberated Female.”

I have a bit of disdain for this new onslaught of “luxury” movie theaters, with their recliner chairs and full-menu service during the show. The chairs are perfect if you want to sleep through your cinematic adventure, and I am not a fan of seeing waiters scramble through the audience during my movie, whispering sweet nothings of chicken tenders and pretzel bites.

Unlike the Grand, these theaters forget why we go to the cinema in the first place: we love movies.

Theaters like the Grand feel both so essential and so rare. It can sometimes feel like they’re a dying breed, yet at the same time, my countless times spent in the Grand have been populated with giddy movie nerds, enthusiastic to experience something special.

“Will there continue to be theaters?”

Sundell said. “I think so, and I certainly hope so. The question, I think, for Seattle, is will there be room in the economy and the real estate market for a theater like this: a tiny, specialized, niche theater, to allow something like that to continue to exist?”

I hope so too. The richness of the Seattle film scene depends on it.

General admission tickets for the Grand are $10 and student tickets are only $7. You can also buy a yearlong membership starting at $40.

Reach Arts & Leisure Editor Armon Mahdavi at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @armonmah

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Delving into the world of natural wine and all its earthly glory

By Jackie Light The Daily You’re probably living under a big, sober rock if you haven’t heard about natural wine yet. Maybe you swear by mango White Claw. Or worse, you go to house parties far too often and the only wine you drink is poured into your mouth by someone else from a bag. Yes, I might be judging you, but you know, who’s not? Natural wine.

That’s because natural wine is made by the people, for the people. It doesn’t require any expertise or income requirements to consume, and is better suited to those who seek out adventure and new experiences that can’t be reproduced.

It’s lawless and unruly as demonstrated by its wildness on the palette, but also by its lack of classification. In an industry that’s been plagued by hundreds of years of rules and tradition, natural wine has none — except that it is natural. So what does that mean in the context of pressed and fermented grape juice?

For answers, I turned to Molly Ringe, owner of the eponymous Molly’s Bottle Shop in the quaint and quiet Sunset Hill neighborhood near Ballard. Molly’s 218-square foot shop is part tasting room, part wine boutique and is one of the many new, natural wine-focused specialty shops to emerge ever since the craze took hold in Seattle. This craze can be attributed to a number of factors, from the famously colorful, hand-drawn labels on their bottles to the distinctive hipster street cred it invariably offers. But for Ringe, making the case for natural wine was nonnegotiable.

At 30-year-old, Molly was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, she was working as a sommelier at night and in IT during the day, a job that enabled her to “gain access to one of the best oncologists in the United States.” Under treatment, Ringe’s doctor insisted that she eliminate conventional wine from her diet, but not for reasons you might think.

“He was convinced that the additives and chemicals in conventionally made wines were part of the reason why people were getting cancer much younger and more aggressively,” Ringe said.

After successfully battling cancer and committing to her own research, Ringe was determined to make her own natural wine, and even enrolled at Washington State University’s viticulture and enology program to learn the winemaking process.

She knew something was wrong when they taught her how to put on a hazmat suit in preparation of spraying pesticides and herbicides on the vineyards.

Ringe left the program and traveled to Paris where she discovered natural wine in all of its earthy and natural glory.

Before natural wine had unleashed its grip on all of the posh, faux fringe culture neighborhoods of San Francisco and New York, natural wine was being made, consumed, and normalized in France since the 1980s.

As mentioned, there are no actual rules that winemakers must adhere to when producing natural wine, but there are several basic principles that a winery must follow to be considered natural among their peers. Of course, organic

farming is an essential component to this and many farmers commit to what are called “biodynamic” practices.

Regardless, many natural wine zealots will claim that the biggest difference in natural wines versus conventional wines are the lack of additives. Among other technical reasons, conventional winemakers use additives to reduce flaws and achieve consistent flavors within their wines, as well as make it age-worthy for consumers.

For wine naturalists, these so-called faults and inconsistencies are what make opening a fresh bottle so exciting.

Since natural wines are unfiltered, they contain microbes and proteins and cloudy molecules that are constantly altering the course of the wine, sometimes producing sour, kombucha-like flavors while others are fruity and delicate. Not even a winemaker could tell you what their bottle will taste like once opened, since anything goes when you let nature take the wheel.

“Natural wine is an opportunity to taste a place,” Ringe said. “When you start manipulating it with additives and chemicals, you take away that opportunity.”

In addition to Molly’s Bottle Shop, places nearby that serve natural wine include Poindexter Coffee, a coffee shop by day and wine bar by night right off the Ave, and Vif, a coffee shop and natural wine bar hybrid in Fremont.

Reach writer Jackie Light at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @jackie_e_light 13

The Daily — Delight 2020

By Henry Zing The Daily

Backcountry skiing The challenges,

dangers, joys

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Eldorado Peak, labeled the “Queen of the Cascade River ‘’ by mountaineering legend Fred Beckey, is infamous for the grueling 7,000 feet of elevation gain, which includes trudging up a densely forested slope to stand atop its knife-edge summit ridge.

While most are content with the experience of simply climbing, UW junior Thomas Kakatsakis has skied it not once, but twice, only two weeks apart.

“The jungle approach kind of sucks,” Kakatsakis said. “We had 70-pound packs, so that was f----d, but once you get up in the alpine, it’s amazing.”

Despite their challenges, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering provide an escape from crowded ski resorts and an extraordinary chance to experience the outdoors.

Resort skiing in Washington has grown quite popular in recent years, and limited parking and bloated lift lines are an increasing reality on winter weekend outings.

UW skiers will likely recall the weekend of Jan. 11-12, where on the approach to Crystal Mountain Resort, many waited for hours in a 57-mile long line of cars, only to discover that lots had reached capacity at 7:48 a.m.

“It allows you the means to explore Washington, and Washington has an unbelievable amount of ski terrain,” Kakatsakis said. “People don’t think of Washington as a skiing state, and I come from Colorado, but in my mind, Washington is a better skiing state than Colorado.”

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Backcountry skiing, or ski touring, describes a form of skiing outside the confines of a ski resort, where the skiers ascend undeveloped slopes without the assistance of a lift or rope tow.

Backcountry skiers use a specialized kind of ski binding which allows the heal to be released, and attach “skins,” a strip of textured material that prevents the skis from sliding backward, to the bottom of their skis, thus allowing upward travel.

The exhilaration of descending through untouched powder might appear to be the greatest allure of backcountry skiing, but many backcountry skiers actually identify the seemingly laborious experience of ascending as equally satisfying.

“You have to do it for the up,” Kakatsakis said. “If you wouldn’t do it without the up, then you shouldn’t do it at all.”

Backcountry skiing enthusiast and Mountain Madness climbing guide Zack Keskinen described the process of skinning up the slopes as akin to an artist painting a canvas.

“You put this perfect skin track in that stays out of the danger areas, doesn’t disturb the snow, kind of has a nice gentle pattern that matches all the way up, and it’s almost as beautiful as setting that track on the way down,” Keskinen said.

Whereas a season pass to a Washington ski resort can cost between $400 and $900, backcountry skiing is affordable, once gear and safety classes are accounted for.

“Once you have all the gear, touring is free,” Kakatsakis said. “And you don’t have to buy the high-end gear, you can get

used setups for cheap on Craigslist.”

Although the UW might lack a club devoted specifically to backcountry skiing, multiple campus organizations provide affordable opportunities for renting some of the essential safety gear.

Membership with the Climbing Club at the UW (described by Kakatsakis as the best UW student organization for finding backcountry skiing partners) is very affordable and offers one the ability to rent avalanche safety gear free of charge, including shovels and probes.

Students can also rent backcountry

skiing equipment from the UW Gear Garage, which offers an avalanche beacon, shovel, and probe for only $25.

“That’s definitely a big barrier to backcountry skiing, gear is so expensive, but the fact that they rent it for like 20 bucks makes it easier,” Kakatsakis.

However, it is impossible to talk about backcountry skiing without considering its inherent dangers. The warm and deep nature of the maritime snow in the Cascades does make avalanche danger lower than in the Rockies, but avalanche training, gear, and careful consideration of avalanche conditions are essential for safely navigating the backcountry on skis.

And although avalanches constitute the most publicized danger of backcountry skiing, there are more routine dangers that are ever-present as well, such as simply getting lost.

“You take a wrong turn going down the ski area, you fall in, break your tib fib, break your femur,” Keskinen said.

The committing and challenging aspects of the sport might intimidate curious students; however, Seattle offers incredible access to backcountry skiing areas.

While resort skiing offers convenient access to the pleasure of descending snowy slopes, backcountry skiing provides the experience of solitude, and as many skiers say, the ability to “earn your turns.”

Reach writer Henry Zing at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @ZingHenry

Sammi Bushman The Daily 15

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Vino

By Ana Kelly After a while, you can’t make it into a metaphor anymore.

It goes like this: When your foot falls asleep and then awakes again.

The feeling of dense fuzziness. The pixels you can’t see.

It’s the air between us. It’s the pink, but it’s also the yellow.

It’s the bumping feet and the laughs that tip your head back.

You tip my head back. You paint the ceiling.

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Poetry from our readers

By Amber Anderson A question mark hangs in the air between our supine heads.

Our knees bent in supplication, we feed on the prayers our hands make.

Sap runs a river between our legs, thick enough for living things to petrify in.

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"Puppet's Dessert"

By Avery Sabine who is the marionette loosed of his master and what mischief is he capable of when his strings are left dangling around the legs of his stool, a pedestal which invites inside his hollowed wooden frame a sort of self-mockery like rot or termites or even the fingers of time: it is a sign of his inevitable departure from the world as all things reach their eclipse eventually; anyway, this unshackled entertainer often forgets to breathe as the acoustics of his very own opening act infest and possess the aforementioned hollow cavity of his young wooded frame — who is no match for air alone and is leadened, chastened, and humbled by the palpable demanding force of sound, a raw emotion eaten for dessert, which you miraculously always make room for, no matter how full and broke and late a state the dessert descends upon you in AND is that not why they call it a treat?

Submitted by contributing writers not affiliated with The Daily.

The Daily — Delight 2020

Home is where you make zucchini bread

By Tatum Lindquist The Daily Hand-sewn apron tied back and hair up.

Ingredients scattered about the counter, two eight by four pans sparkling with grease.

Even with a sunless sky and nipping wind that sticks at the back of my throat, only warmth and light filtered into the kitchen.

In the dead of winter quarter, a feedback loop of stress, sleep deprivation, and coffee set in. Don’t get me wrong — I love Seattle winters. However, a cozy contrast can mediate energy and motivation into this cycle of anxiety and stress. While baking, period, can fill this need for selfcare, zucchini bread holds a special place for me.

Even as an in-state resident, coming to the UW challenged my ability to make friends. Introverted by nature, a university as expansive as this one did not feel like home, no matter how many blankets I wrapped myself in.

Zucchini bread reminds me of a similar time in my life. After my dad and new stepmom moved in together, I then too felt uncertain about calling that new house home.

At some point, after a long and painful day at school, I came home to find a fresh loaf of zucchini bread cooling on the counter, basking in the wintry sun; my stepmom

was trying out a new recipe. She cut me a slice and, after listening to me vent, brewed me a cup of green tea. The zucchini bread was sweet from more than just sugar, and I realized that home is where you make it.

This time, my best friend and my dear partner joined me in making the zucchini bread. We mixed the batter as we talked, grated the zucchini over jokes, poured the batter in the pans with genuine smiles, and waited for the bread to bake while playing cards.

With the rain drizzling on the windows, sweet delight in the form of fresh zucchini bread melted in our mouths. We congratulated ourselves on our deliciously soft masterpiece — granted, it’s hard to mess up zucchini bread.

Once again, I knew that while my dorm may not be as cozy as home and winter at the UW may not be as endearing, home is where I make it: full of love, coziness, and zucchini bread.

Reach writer Tatum Lindquist at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @TatumLindquist.

And the importance of happy chickens I’ve got Al Green on the kitchen speaker and 10 hours of sleep under my belt; in other words, it’s Sunday morning. I plop two eggs into a pot of boiling water, gently, otherwise they’ll crack and you’ll be looking at a ribbon dance of egg whites which would actually look pretty cool if this carton of eggs weren’t $6.

A note on expensive eggs: they’re absolutely worth it. I used to have backyard chickens, and after eating fresh eggs, you cannot go back. There’s a lot of things we should be buying ethically and as college students, we probably have to pick and choose. With eggs, you absolutely know the difference: the yolks are a deep orange, like blooming poppies, and they taste deeper and more flavorful than the jumbo white

DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit.

2. In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.

3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and sugars.

Gradually, while beating, add dry ingredients. Beat well before stirring in zucchini.

4. Pour batter into two greased 8x4 pans, and bake for 40 to 60 minutes.

Cool bread in the pan for 20 minutes.

Then, remove the bread from the pan to allow it to cool completely.

5. Serve with butter and a cup of tea, and enjoy!

Christine McManigal @christeth

Elevating the humble egg

By Charlotte Houston The Daily

INGREDIENTS 3 cups whole wheat flour 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 3 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 1 1/8 cup brown sugar 1 1/8 cup white sugar 3 tsp. vanilla extract 2 cups grated zucchini

variety at the store.

You can taste it when the chickens are happy. I try to get mine at the U-District Farmers Market, but if I don’t plan right (because I can’t be without eggs for more than a day), I settle for Vital Farms, one of the few pasture-raised egg companies in the United States, which they sell at the Target on the Ave. I used to think that softboiled eggs were one of those enigmatic French dishes that was impossible to get right and that I would never be able to make for myself (I still feel this way about poached eggs), but Bon Appetit’s simple recipe made me realize that soft-boiled eggs are absolutely the people’s eggs.

I’ve danced to two Al Green songs, so the eggs are almost done boiling (seven minutes exactly). I transfer them to icecold water to stop the cooking. The shells

peel right off, thanks to the dash of rice vinegar I added to the water, a trick I learned from my brother.

These eggs are about to get so droolworthy. When you cut them in half, the aforementioned orange yolk is at the perfect, lava-like consistency: thicker and richer than the way I usually make my fried eggs. They look like two little suns on the plate. This morning, I top them with chili oil, salt, and some soy sauce, but there’s a hundred different ways to pair these eggs: on avocado toast, over rice, with cooked greens, or atop a bowl of ramen. But because of the happy chickens, they shine pretty damn brightly on their own.

That’s it. Give it 10 minutes and you have a warm, colorful, umami snack that feels way fancier than an over-easy, the perfect way to bring delight to your Sunday morning.

Reach Pacific Wave Co-Editor Charlotte Houston at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @lilgarlicclove 17

The Daily — Delight 2020

Hygge for the home, hygge for the soul Brighten up winter quarter with the power of light and togetherness

By Sarah May The Daily Every winter, people all over the Pacific Northwest desperately search for ways to alleviate the general malaise resulting from long, dark winters with less light.

They go to light therapy, they buy candles and twinkle lights, or maybe they turn to “hygge,” the Danish concept of coziness that’s caught on across the world. While there’s no exact translation for hygge in English, Americans have begun to understand it as a feeling of contentment and well-being, the feeling of sipping on hot chocolate in front of a fire while a winter storm rages outside.

In 2018, Seattle was named America’s most hygge city, based on its weather, coffee shops, and high density of fireplaces.

In American culture, hygge has come to mean everything from sheepskin rugs to scented candles to a jaunty tune from Disney’s “Frozen” on Broadway. But none of those things are really what hygge is about, according to Kristian Næsby, a visiting lecturer of Danish.

“In its most basic form [hygge] is to be together with people you love and respect,” Næsby said. “It’s some form of seclusion or finding a little nook, where you feel like you have something together here that’s different from the rest of the space or the rest of the world.”

So while buying candles for your dorm room or bundling up in a new sweater may help you fight the cold and dark, it’s not exactly hygge. Næsby said that hygge comes from being present and engaged in genuine conversation with people 18

The Daily — Delight 2020

Edith Freeman @edithfreeman you trust, something that’s especially important for young people who are still trying to figure out who they are and what values they hold.

“You mirror yourself in other people that you look up to or that you believe have kind of figured it out in some way,” Næsby said. “I think that in Denmark that happens a lot in situations where hygge is present because you feel safe around the people that you’re with, and you can kind of speak your mind without fear of being judged harshly for it.”

So if it’s not about fireplaces and coziness, how does this help fight the impacts of winter? Næsby said that hygge is about turning your back to the world when it feels dark or sad and looking toward the people you love.

“Because you have a feeling of ‘I can’t fix this, it’s too big, sometimes I need to turn away and focus on smaller community,’” Næsby said. “So this is like a little docking station for your soul.”

Physically, a way to cultivate hygge and alleviate the winter blues is through light.

Mehlika Inanici, associate professor in the department of architecture and director of the Master of Science Design Computing Program, studies how lighting affects satisfaction, health, and productivity.

Daylight, Inanici said, is blue rich and it helps regulate humans’ internal body clocks. Exposing yourself to blue light, which humans perceive as white, in the morning helps wake you up and prepare you for the day. However, in the evening,

humans should transition to warm light (aka red rich light), that prompts the production of melatonin, a brain chemical that helps you sleep.

With this in mind, Inanici said that the key to lighting a home is variety and flexibility.

“As human beings, we don’t, in general, really like uniform lighting,” Inanici said. “Like anything else, we like variety in the songs we’re hearing, we like variety in food, we like variety of lighting in our environment as well.”

Inanici suggested using localized lighting (candles, lamps, etc.) rather than overhead lighting in living areas meant for relaxing. Having lighting in a few different locations creates points of interest that lends more dynamism to an environment than one overhead light source would.

In turn, Inanicic said, light sources should be adjustable in both intensity and color because we use our homes for a variety of activities that require different levels and types of light.

Inanici said we like daylight because it changes throughout the day, so we should use adjustable lights indoors to emulate that variety when we’re at home. This way, you can use blue light in the morning and warm light at night, as well as bright light when you’re working and lower lights when you’re relaxing. However, even with tunable lights, Inanici said there’s no substitute for real daylight.

“Despite the fact that we say this is a dark and gloomy climate, I can tell you that there is enough daylight if you spend half an hour outdoors,” she said.

So when all else fails, remember this: The sun sits just behind that Seattle cloud cover and soon it will be spring.

How to make your life cozier Fill your home with people you love. Be present with them and be curious about what they have to say. Ask more questions than you tell stories. Any space that has people you love can be hygge if you’re spending genuine time together.

Indulge. Whether it’s in candles or food or each other, hygge is about treating yourself and really enjoying the things that make you happy, no matter how small they may be.

Make your lighting flexible. Use tunable LEDs that are able to shift lighting color and intensity throughout the day. Easily programmable from your phone, these bulbs allow you to mirror how daylight shifts and gear your lighting toward whatever you’re using your space for at the moment.

Try using localized lighting instead of overhead lighting to make your living environment more engaging.

Spend time outdoors, whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour. While this may surprise Seattlites used to bundling up indoors during the cold, rainy winters, Inanici says that even in winter there’s no substitute for real daylight.

Reach writer Sarah May at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @SarahM3204

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The Daily — Delight 2020

ts: o o h s d n a t n i o to p s d i o r a l o p m o r F d n a e z a r c y h p a r The film photog tion a c ifi t a r g d e y la de

By Ellen Cooper The Daily Do you remember when Polaroid cameras came back into style? They were all over Tumblr and scattered around at the checkout line in Urban Outfitters. Then came the cheap disposable cameras with intentionally grainy filters and colorful designs that most of the time never fully developed.

Now, you might have noticed that Fujifilm QuickSnaps and thrifted point-andshoot cameras are becoming trendier and trendier.

I can’t say I’m not a follower — I’ve bought many disposables over the years and my Instagram consists mostly of film photos my friends have taken of me. However, maybe there’s a reason for the extra time, money, and effort that goes into shooting and developing film.

What I’ve noticed is that most often, unless you’re an art student or a photographer on the job, film cameras come out at night. Amateur photography has become 20

increasingly popular with friends at parties, seemingly capturing things one might forget later.

My friends and I have discussed it many times. When you finish a roll and take it in to get developed, a waiting game begins. We joke that there’s almost a “high” that comes with the uncertainty of how they will turn out until you get the email saying your photos are ready.

By that time, you’ve mostly forgotten what photos lie ahead — who was in them and where you were. It’s anyone’s guess as to what you’re going to see and, if you’re lucky, the photos can unlock memories you didn’t know you could remember. They’re somehow more concrete depictions of your life compared to your subpar daily iPhone pictures. Film also tends to look better, and you can’t deny that it’s more satisfying to receive weeks later than looking back through your camera roll.

Laura Hart Newlon, architecture professor and interdisciplinary artist, expressed her opinion about the difference

between digital and film photography.

“I think one reason that we see more people gravitating toward analog photography is precisely because of the ease and instant gratification of digital technology,” Newlon said. “Having a camera in our back pocket enables spontaneous enables the spontaneous shooting, and we’re able to make hundreds of images in a few minutes.”

Our generation has basically grown up with constant immediacy through technology. We’ve always had the internet at our disposal with the ability to Google and live an online life through social media. As soon as we post things, they are monitored — our photos and comments have likes, our stories have views, and our messages have read receipts.

And yet, according to the American Psychological Association, studies suggest that young people today practice delayed gratification better and more often than previous generations. It is believed that the cognitive skills being learned from

The Daily — Delight 2020

Courtes y

using current technologies are slowly improving our ability to do so.

Delayed gratification is the resistance of a smaller more immediate reward for a larger reward later. This process of delayed gratification has been linked to positive outcomes related to impulse control, academic success, and even social competence. Essentially, delayed gratification helps us improve our willpower.

Newlon explained that shooting film also changes our perception of images. It’s an entirely different process, prompting a slower and arguably deeper engagement with the construction of a picture. There are only 24 or 36 frames to use and then, of course, the additional time and labor spent having a store develop them or develop them yourself in a darkroom.

“For so-called ‘digital natives,’ this way of using a camera — or thinking about image-making more generally — is actually new, not old,” Newlon said.

There’s something inherently evocative about the physical evidence that comes

of Ellen Cooper

with film photography. You have to wait and work it through so many steps until you can see the final product. The more work that goes into it, the more meaningful it is to hold it in your hand.

The art of photography seems to be making a comeback as well, as resources at universities and online are allowing younger people to experiment more often.

“One thing that I am struck by is that the college students I work with aren’t purists,” Newlon said. “They understand, likely without even realizing it, that film and digital are both image-making tools and they find ways to bend them to their purpose, according to their needs and interests.”

It seems that the evolution of photography, through both analog and digital forms, is coming to a fluid point.

The freedom in it is allowing our younger generation to find new ways of creative expression by re-imagining older forms with a current perspective. In many ways, amateur film may just be a passing trend,

and yet it continues to prove itself to be a strong and interesting medium.

Only now, it has become even more accessible than it was in the past — if you can afford it, that is.

The UW’s Photo Lab and Lighting Studio in Gould Hall allows students who have taken ARCH 410 or 413 to use the darkroom for $25 per quarter with additional access to check out equipment.

Or, you can always drop off rolls at stores like the Shot on Film Store or even Walgreens.

Reach writer Ellen Cooper at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @ellenecooper

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The Daily — Delight 2020

The food we go to when it’s not so bright out What makes comfort food so dang good?

By Charlotte Houston The Daily For me, it’s buttered noodles. It could be penne, rigatoni, spaghetti, farfalle — whatever’s sitting in my cupboard. And then garlic, roasted in butter, maybe Parmesan if I have some laying around in the fridge.

It was probably one of the first meals I ever made myself, and it’s always there for me.

My mom would make it when she needed a quick meal, or when I was young and too picky to enjoy whatever else was on the plate that night. She knew it was always a winner. It’s simple, carby, and hits my two favorite flavors: butter and garlic. That’s my comfort food.

There’s also the kind of disgustingsounding combination of rice cakes with cream cheese, a snack that they used to serve at my preschool. Actually, even just the smell of onions cooking over the stove is soothing, reminding me of the days when the smell of my parents cooking dinner was detectable before I even walked inside.

I find myself drawn to these dishes when I’ve had a hard day, or I’m just feeling lonely. The way they wrap me up and comfort me doesn’t seem to just be because they taste good — the feeling is distinct from simply a good meal. So what’s so special about these foods?

Comfort food, oftentimes, is carby or starchy, maybe even heavy on the dairy — breads, pastas, ice cream, and mac and cheese are all pretty standard places where people go when it’s gloomy. Oftentimes 22

people find relief in these foods when they’re stressed or upset, and it seems to calm them down.

“Wheat has an affinity for the endocannabinoid receptors in our brains, which are sort of the pleasure centers,” Ann Anagnost, a UW professor who teaches ANTH 361, Anthropology of Food, said. “I think that’s one of the reasons why we feel this, actually, physiological sense of comfort.”

The endocannabinoid receptors are also the parts in our brain that, you guessed it, cannabis binds to. This could be a factor in the feeling of sedation that this food gives us.

There is also research that points to a correlation between food that’s high in carbohydrates and increased serotonin production, which is a neurotransmitter that is related to a relaxed mood.

Carbohydrates supply us with tryptophan, which is the amino acid that is the precursor for serotonin. There’s also the simple somnolent power of eating a satiating meal in general, which can trigger our parasympathetic nervous system. The opposite of the activated, fight or flight system, it’s nicknamed the “rest and digest” system, and you get tired because your body is dedicating most of its energy to moving your food through your body. This is where we get the idea of a food coma from — a coping mechanism that’s pretty useful if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

But it’s not always the case that

our comfort foods are these inherently rewarding sugary, fatty foods. When I asked my mom what her comfort food was, for example, she said it was fruit. She recalls her dad eating a piece of fruit every night after dinner, and engaging in that ritual these days makes her feel connected to him. So obviously, there’s an emotional aspect to this.

“One of the food memories that I share with my students is when I went away to college and I came home for the first time,” Anagnost said. “I was talking to my mom and my dad sort of slipped up behind her and poked his head around her shoulder — and he was a very reserved man who never expresses emotions very directly.

And he sort of whispered to me, ‘I made rice pudding.’ I didn’t realize, in retrospect, that that was his way of expressing his love for me and communicating to me that he missed me and he was really glad that I had come home.”

She then recalled when she tried a rice and cinnamon gelato flavor in Italy, much later in life, it whooshed her back to that memory.

“Food can have that — this really powerful sort of associative emotional intensity, that food journey encoded for us,” she said.

In fact, a study was conducted that speaks to this idea of the emotionality of certain foods. First, a note on attachment theory, which claims that we all have an attachment style that is based on our

The Daily — Delight 2020

COMFORT FOOD YOU CAN RELY ON

Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen Nestled next to the Grand Illusion Theater off 50th and the Ave is a Venezuelan restaurant that serves thick, tortilla-like arepas filled with beans, ground beef, plantains, avocado, and plenty of other options.

I would like to take a moment to thank maize for leading the charge here. Wheat, who? Bread has nothing on the texture and bite of a fluffy, pancakelike arepa. Nothing on the Ave makes me feel as full on $9 as this place does, and I always walk out needing a nap in the best way.

young relationships with our primary caregivers which tends to echo into our adult relationship patterns. You’re either securely attached — you trusted your caregiver, felt safe depending on them, but weren’t overly clingy — or you’re some form of insecurely attached, and feel anxious depending on people or trusting them.

In this study, they had subjects read an essay that made them feel like their sense of belonging was being threatened.

Afterward, they gave them potato chips, a classic comfort food. Surprisingly, the group of participants that were identified as securely attached preferred the taste of the comfort food compared to those who were insecurely attached. A followup found that in their daily lives, securely attached individuals tend to turn more to comfort food when experiencing isolation.

This study seems to be saying that emotional associations with food actually are powerful enough to buoy the feelings of loneliness. That even when we cook ourselves dinner for one, maybe we’re still reaching out in a social way to our loved ones. Food seems to be a powerful source of connection even when there’s no one to share it with.

Biscuit Bitch Sometimes you have to wait in line for Biscuit Bitch. Sometimes, you have to wait in line in the rain. Sometimes you’re worried about finding one of the few seats and also feel somewhat berated by the servers who I think are specifically trained to be rough around the edges. No matter what, it’s always worth it. Biscuit Bitch is the carby, southern comfort food that Seattle needs in the winter. Can’t I just go to Morsel? Please. There’s nothing wrong with Morsel’s biscuits, but the variety and just the plain sass of the cuisine at Biscuit Bitch is unmatched. This isn’t just biscuits and gravy — you can add grits, jalapeños, and hot links. It’s quintessential, carby comfort food.

Xi’an Noodles This spot is nestled high up on the Ave and 52nd, but don’t let its casual exterior fool you. Xi’an Noodles might be the most critically recognized spot on the Ave, known for its hand-pulled biang biang noodles. If you’re as much of a sucker for chili oil as I am, this is the place for you. I always go for the “tingly beef” noodles, a huge plate full of wide, flat Chinese noodles bathed in chili oil and tender pulled beef. In the winter, the carbs make you feel cozy and the chili warms you up (also will probably unclog that pesky stuffy nose you’ve had for weeks).

Reach Pacific Wave Co-Editor Charlotte Houston at pacificwave@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @lilgarlicclove Edith Freeman @edithfreeman

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We’re happily crafting your favorites at Starbucks® locations across campus. new Espresso Truck

Suzzallo Library Husky Union Building