A taste of horror: Inspired by Japanese folklore, a thrilling novella twists and turns a familiar genre into new shapes

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

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

Articles by Leinani Lucas

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. ...

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

By Leinani Lucas | February 23, 2022

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Black Pulp: Genre Fiction in the Shadow of Jim Crow’
By Brooks E. Hefner | 2021 | Paperback, $25 | Nonfiction, academic | Available via Interlibrary Loan

In “Black Pulp: Genre Fiction in the Shadow of Jim Crow,” James Madison University professor Brooks E. Hefner shares the history of pulp fiction by Black authors in the early 20th century. Hefner details the rise and fall of publishing houses and papers that focused on Black American genre fiction. ...

Young Black man, seen from behind, stands on expanse of concrete and bends down while holding measuring tape.

In ‘Goliath,’ Black Americans’ history defines our collective future

By Leinani Lucas | February 2, 2022

Tochi Onyebuchi’s masterful new near-future dystopia “Goliath” tells the story of an Earth that parallels our own. Onyebuchi shines light where we often don’t see it in sci-fi. “Goliath” is an unapologetically authentic Black American epic unlike any that I have read before. The dystopian nature of the Earth isn’t because of some extraterrestrial force, but from a terrifying combination of eco-fascism and white supremacy. ...

Black woman with shoulder-length hair, wearing tailored suit and pearl necklace, stands with hands on hips in front of a sunlit bridge

Failed justice

By Leinani Lucas | December 29, 2021

From prison to the courtroom, Keeda J. Haynes shows the inequity of the system

Criminal justice reform has long been a divisive topic for Americans on all sides of the political spectrum. The pendulum doesn’t only swing between “death penalty” and “abolition,” and even people belonging to the same political parties or ideology will have different ideas on the best way to deal with those in our society who commit crimes. In “Bending the Arc,” Keeda Haynes reframes the topic as a question: Does the justice system encourage reform at all or is it purely punitive? ...

Painting of two boxers with faces in shadow, one, in red, punching the other, who is in blue

Swords and robots: Book-It Theatre audio dramas drive the action forward this season

By Leinani Lucas | December 15, 2021

Faking humanity: A new sci-fi play asks timeless questions

Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre has opened its 32nd season with the audio play “Zen and the Art of an Android Beatdown.” The play features a small cast of actors in an adaptation of the story by Tochi Onyebuchi. The show mostly hinges on two characters: Cecile, voiced by Mandy Rose Nichols, and the Boxer, voiced by Tim Gouran. ...

Combining Japanese treats and yōkai, ’Yume’ is a delicious debut

By Leinani Lucas | October 27, 2021

Book review: ‘Yume’ By Sifton Tracey Anipare

In Sifton Tracey Anipare’s debut novel “Yume,” readers are thrown into a delightful world of monsters, food and stunning visuals, all of which makes a fantastical fall read. “Yume” takes us across the Pacific Ocean to Japan, where Ghanian Canadian Cybelle is teaching English in a town outside of Osaka. ...