The 2025 Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) kicked off its two days of in-person screenings on June 20 and continues virtually through June 29. The opening night screened Reflections & Legacies, a feature-length compilation of films focused on stories of refugees and immigrants of Southeast Asian communities into the United States. While only a few hours of programming in a shorter-than-usual SAAFF, the evening captured a deeper sense of meaning and community than its schedule would suggest.

For the uninitiated, the Triple Door is a longtime dinner-and-a-show venue in Seattle’s downtown that seats some 300, The Sound of Strip is an improv burlesque show set to the music of a live cover of The Cure, and Ruby Mimosa (aka The Effervescent EnterTEASER) is a local star noted as one of the most influential performers in the world by 21st Century Burlesque and the genius mind behind BurlesKaraoke.

It’s opening night! Today marks the start of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival—a two-day affair held in Seattle at the Wing Luke Museum (International District) and Broadway Performance Hall (Capitol Hill), and followed by a week of virtual screenings for those who can’t attend in person. This year commemorates 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War (or “The American War” as it is known in Vietnam).

With the historic November election still visible in our rear view mirrors, Seattle voters will be taking to their ballots again in just a few weeks’ time for the February 11, 2025, special election. Among their bubbles will be a voter initiative regarding social housing—this time to fund it. The initiative will appear on the ballot as Prop 1A, but will compete against a City Council alternative called Prop 1B, currently being backed by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

It’s often said that there is the technical and the creative and ne’er the twain shall meet. But local author Lauren Appelbaum aims to show otherwise with the release of her debut novel Rachel Weiss’s Group Chat.

Walking through the convention doors, the themes of safety and inclusion were immediately present. Having gone virtual in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, this was the third GeekGirlCon to return to an in-person format. But the specter of the pandemic still looms over gatherings of this sort—masks were required for all attendees—the medical sort, cosplay masks notwithstanding.

The atmosphere of inclusivity cannot be missed; throughout the event, everything from the decor to the exhibits to the dedicated nursing area conspire to make it clear that you are welcome, whether you’re team Star Wars or Star Trek, you’re a kid or raising one, and no matter how you identify.

Geek Girl Con has been a mainstay of Seattle conventions since 2011, and aims to create a safe and inclusive space to elevate voices and perspectives which are often ignored and left out, especially within traditional “geek” spaces. It is often regarded as Seattle’s biggest “small” convention with over 50,000 attendees per year.