In ‘Black Pulp,’ an academic exploration misses the authentic Black experience

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Leinani Lucas is an Indigenous and Black writer from the Pacific Northwest. She can be found on Twitter @LeinaniLucas

Articles by Leinani Lucas

On stage, a woman with long dark hair, in blue dress with print shawl, smiles widely while holding a baby.

Burning bright: Seattle Opera tells the tale of two women bound together by fate

By Leinani Lucas | March 8, 2023

As the orchestra plays the last notes of the beautiful overture by Sheila Silver, the stage lights up on a soft Herat, Afghanistan, sunrise. A young Mariam is baking bread with her mother Nana, and the two are arguing over whether her father will visit for her birthday. In front of the subtly rich opera set, Mariam laments that she has been told stories of ice cream but has never had the chance to experience it. ...

Young Black man wearing glasses and barn jacket stands on stage set, with bedroom furniture in background, with broad smile and holding arms wide

Perfect shows can have bitter moments: Do Seattle audiences make Black attendees feel welcome?

By Leinani Lucas | February 1, 2023

PLAY REVIEW: ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter’ and ‘This Bitter Earth’ At the Seattle Rep and Seattle Public Theater | Through Feb. 5 and Feb. 19, respectively

Attending a show in Seattle has always been an experience surrounded by whiteness for me.

Over the past couple of weeks, I saw “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” at Seattle Rep and “This Bitter Earth” at the Seattle Public Theater. Both shows had incredible casts and stories to be told. Both also made me acutely aware that the experience I was having would not be remotely the same as the one most of the people around me would walk away with. Most of them being white. ...

An image of the iconic Black Panther mask with the title "Making Black futures."

Shaping a more hopeful future

By Leinani Lucas | July 27, 2022

Afrofuturism harnesses the past to envision what’s next

On Jan. 29, 2018 — in the middle of the Trump presidency and an increasing rise of white nationalism — Marvel’s “Black Panther” hit the box office and introduced Afrofuturism into the mainstream zeitgeist. Director Ryan Coogler took Stan Lee’s concept of a futuristic African nation and channeled Wakanda through his artistic direction as a Black American man. ...

Young light-brown skinned drag queen with dark curly mullet strikes a pose while reclining

’We do not need anything else’

By Leinani Lucas | June 29, 2022

Local events are reclaiming queer pride outside the white gaze

When it comes to Pride, talk is cheap. That was why, in 1969, trans women of color fought back against police brutality with bricks. Pride month — which in Seattle leads to Pride weekend — becomes a celebration for marginalized people in society. Especially at a time when Supreme Court justices are targeting Obergefell v. Hodges, the ruling that made gay marriage legal in the United States, after they gutted a decision making abortion a right for pregnant people in the country. There are horrific implications for HIPAA, the law that protects a patient’s right to privacy. ...

Six people on a stage set gather around a boxy-looking implement on a table.

The ‘Bruce’ we deserve: Collaboration leads to triumph in new ‘Jaws’ musical

By Leinani Lucas | June 15, 2022

At Seattle Rep through July 3 | Music by Richard Oberacker | Book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker | Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore | Tickets $23–$99

On Friday, June 10, “Bruce” splashed into the Seattle Repertory’s Bagley Wright Theater. Set in 1974 Hollywood, this new original musical throws the audience into the maw of production chaos surrounding “Jaws.” Based on the book “The Jaws Log” by Carl Gottlieb, “Bruce” manages to inspire and surprise by playing with what’s not there, much in the same way the original film terrified viewers by keeping them always on edge and waiting for the final reveal. ...

Photograph of young man with goatee, wearing backwards baseball cap and hoodie, reading from book. Behind him in shadow is visible a painting of Michael Jackson.

Contemplative nights and honest aches: Pep Borja is decolonizing sexuality one poem at a time

By Leinani Lucas | May 25, 2022

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Dry Nights’ By Pep Borja | 2021 | Paperback, $12 | Poetry, erotica | Available via InterLibrary Loan

Almost 4,000 miles west of Hawai’i, on the other side of the international dateline and situated as the southernmost island of the Mariana Islands, is the United States’ westernmost territory of Guam. Although Guam uses the US Postal service and houses military bases, citizens of Guam have little to no say in the wider American political movement. They have no votes in Presidential elections, and their representatives have no say on the House floor. ...

Psychedelic-style illustration featuring marijuana plant at center, flanked by grinning woman's face and little devil-creature.

Up in smoke: Uninformed propaganda film has modern consequences

By Leinani Lucas | April 20, 2022

FILM REVIEW: ‘Reefer Madness’ 1936 | Public domain | Propaganda, melodrama | Streaming through the Seattle Public Library

The first time I watched “Reefer Madness” (1936), I was in high school and a goody-two-shoes, straight-A student. Even then, I knew it was campy and ridiculous. The second time I watched the movie, I was high as a kite and watching for the irony, like every college student. As a bonafide adult, I now see how this movie has its place not only as a cult classic but as a cornerstone of America’s War on Drugs. ...

Photograph of young black woman lying with eyes closed, surrounded by ferns and wreath of flowers

’Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’ is an expansive but exclusionary examination of Black womanhood

By Leinani Lucas | March 30, 2022

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women’ By Inger Burnett-Zeigler | 2021 | Hardcover, $25 | Nonfiction, psychology | Available at the Seattle Public Library

In “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women,” Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a licensed clinical psychologist, provides a route through the trials and tribulations of being a Black woman in today’s society. Although Black women in America are often talked about as being strong, dependable and unbreakable, that perception has contributed to their deteriorating mental and physical health. Black women are both the highest-educated demographic in the United States and generally underpaid and undervalued in both the workplace and society at large. ...

Colorful digital image of Vincent Van Gogh's face

Immersive: How the digital age is making traditional art more accessible

By Leinani Lucas | March 16, 2022

The most extensive collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh in the world is currently in Amsterdam. The aptly named Van Gogh Museum houses more than 200 works by the illustrious painter, with rotating exhibitions and sidewalk chalk art of sunflowers leading up to the main doors. But while I managed to visit in 2016, going to that museum for most of us Seattleites requires a plane ticket, a place to stay, the cost of food and admission and coveted time off from work or school. ...