Lucas Camilo

For the past few years, Krista, Burke, Lucas and Ida have done our year-end “Top 10” lists, focusing on different passions that we want to share with the world. 2024 ended in devastating fashion with Trump’s election and imminent inauguration… but there were bright spots as well… things that we did, listened to, watched, or read that helped us get through it all. So without further ado…

1) Lucas’s Top 10 Music Documentaries!

Of course, Lucas has his own, popular writing blog (so popular, in fact, that he garnered his first right-wing troll this year!) His list has already been published with this intro:

“Hey fans, 2024 has certainly been quite a year. Quite a year of music documentaries that is. Here are my top music documentaries I watched in 2024.”

Read the full list on his blog Handsome Boy Writes.

2) Krista’s Top 10 New Places

This year has felt new in so many ways. I have a new body. (I mean, my body is different since of surgery and chemo… but also, the other day Ida started slowly bringing her hands together, then circling her palms apart and back together. She told me that new cells generate so often that each time her hands touched she was introducing new hands to each other. My god! The children are brilliant!) And Lucas has a new body too. His has extra hardware that, while far from a miracle cure for pain, did take some pressure off his back. It meant we could travel further this summer than years past, which felt glorious. And so, as I thought back on the year, I felt like there was a lot of newness – adventures, exploration, and also appreciating things close to home. I chose half places further away, half in or near Seattle.

First, further away…

10) The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble – This year I returned to knitting. I love all small-town knitting/yarn stores; the knitters who work in these stores are so generous with their skills. My favorite knit shop this year was one Ida found in our travels: The Artful Ewe. It is special because the owner dyes and spins her own yarn. But more importantly, she convinced me not to buy any more yarn (I have lots!) and instead pointed me to an easy pattern that I could use to knit my first sweater. She was so helpful – and I did it! I knit my first adult sized sweater. Also, have you been to Port Gamble? It’s borderline creepy in its high-scale, historically preserved quaintness, but also, it is stunning! It’s a tiny town of well maintained old buildings on a sort of spit, with views out into the Salish Sea.

9) Harrison Hot Springs – It’s a spring of naturally hot water, a hotel and a town, all with the same name! Harrison Hot Springs is not far across the border in Canada, on a lake surrounded by jagged Canadian Cascade Mountain peaks. Everything about it is stunning. The hotel has probably seen better days, which gives it charm, plus it was hosting a convention of British Columbia’s friendliest quilters. I went with friends in the cold days of March, and it was so incredibly beautiful that I was sure I’d be back this summer with Burke and the kids. It hasn’t happened yet, but come mid-winter break, you know where to find me.

8) The South Whidbey Commons – In my dream other-life, I run a coffee shop/used bookstore/community gathering space. This dream space is wheelchair accessible, friendly to kids, adults and elders; there are community tables where people talk to strangers or pull out a board game and have lunch while playing with kids and grandparents. There are even buckets of LEGOs and toddlers arguing about who gets the best blocks. Someone on Whidbey Island is living my dream, and it is called the South Whidbey Commons, in Langley. Unlike its upscale cousins (google “Langley Coffee Shop” and five other places with sparse, instagramable graphics come up first), this place feels like you could probably get a free cup of coffee if you needed it. (Unsurprisingly, they’re fundraising to stay open.)

7) Quilcene and the Hood Canal. This fall Ida and I took a trip out to the Hood Canal to explore with my sister, and we stayed in Quilcene, a small town on the Hood Canal where fingers of brackish water stretch into the marshy land. It was beautiful. We hiked to stunning waterfalls and around the wet forests filled with mushrooms. We didn’t make it to the Quilcene history museum – I imagine it includes an ode to timber and the way that logging made and broke communities in the area. I guess I’m saying we also saw the patchy hillsides that are still being clearcut. And it was October, and I wondered if the “Kamala” yard signs by the long driveways to the lovely waterfront houses did anything other than turn off families who had been there for generations and couldn’t afford those waterfront properties.

6) Accessible Ramp into the Spokane River in Couer d’Alane, Idaho. This super wheelchair accessible river entrance was one of the highlights of our family’s summer road trip. Lucas and I came across it when we were out for a walk. When we saw this paved ramp for rolling into the river, I immediately took Lucas’s shoes off, checked the height of his ventilator, and started rolling him in to the water. We were beside ourselves laughing, it was so unexpected and exciting. The next morning, we were back with Ida and Burke, and we immediately planned to advocate for one of these in Lake Washington when we got home.

And in the greater Seattle area…

5) Mercer Island’s King County Public Library – I ended up working from the Mercer Island library because it was around the corner from Ida’s Thursday evening theater class. It is lovely. Big and quiet. Surrounded by windows looking out onto the huge old cedar trees that surround the library. If you need a quiet place to work that is in the suburbs but feels like a retreat, I recommend.

4) The Clock-Out Lounge (and the Neptune and the Black and Tan Hall) – Earlier this month Burke and I managed to get childcare until the very late hour of 10:30pm, and we went to a show at the Clock-Out Lounge on Beacon Hill, just a few minutes from our house. It was so cozy, friendly, and the night we were there they had a lineup of super talented women rock musicians, all shouting out the owner for her support of local musicians. And, in late November we took Lucas to see Seattle rock musicians do a sort-of cover of The Band’s “Last Waltz” at the Neptune. It was incredibly fun – mostly because of the musicians, but also because they had one of the best reserved sections for people with disabilities we’d seen. And the Black and Tan Hall opened this year, and we got to take Lucas to the show celebrating the work of the Rhapsody Project – another accessible show packed with incredibly talented local musicians.

3) Oncology massage at Swedish Cancer Institute. The massage therapist Shelagh Lane (who you can also see if you don’t have cancer) regularly transforms a drab institutional room at Swedish into a truly healing space. I got to see her six times after my surgery and through chemo, and every time my body released something tight, toxic or painful. So much of Western medicine’s cancer care is medieval – lopping off body parts and then poisoning the entire body just to kill a rogue few cells. I can’t even find words to describe how healing it was on a psychic and spiritual level to go to the same place I got chemo for this incredibly caring, warm, healing touch. I looked forward to seeing Shelegh like she was my cancer-healing fairy godmother.

2) Leschi Marina’s Club Sake Dragon Boats – Joining the “Team Survivor” Dragon Boat crew this year is one of the greatest perks of having had cancer. It is a team of incredibly fun and welcoming women. I learned that I love being part of a team – pulling a giant boat of twenty women through the water at sunset, or in the grey and rain, or as Mount Rainier peaks out from behind the clouds. Glorious! And they don’t talk about cancer much, unless you happen to bring up chemo-induced menopause, and then they’ll tell you anything you need to know. (Also, you don’t have to have had cancer to Dragon Boat. There are other boats for everyone else, all part of Team Sake.)

1) Seattle Central Library’s Writers Room. The rest of these are in somewhat random order, but this is number one. I was among 40 Seattle writers selected as a “writer in residence” in the Eulalie and Carlo Scandiuzzi Writers’ Room, and it was dreamy. Beautiful, light-filled space, even on dreary days. A desk where I could spread out all my work and thoughts, without all the other things at home to distract me. Eleven floors of stacks of books that I could pull from whenever I came across a question or a reference I wanted to follow. At one point I went down an elevator-history rabbit hole, and a reference librarian managed to pull from the archives the 1953s Otis Company year-end report celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the invention of the modern elevator. Amazing! I am so grateful for the library and the librarians and the other writers I’ve gotten to know through this residency. And, even if you aren’t part of the writers’ room, the downtown library is like a museum. Check out the 7^th floor zine library with its new mural created by our friend E.T. Russian. Or check out the “Seattle Room” on the 10^th floor with so much local print history. Or, if I get accepted for a second year, come knock on my door on the 9^th floor!

3) Burke’s Top 10 Podcasts of 2024

The Cobain 50 (KEXP)

An obvious choice at the top of my list — it’s Lucas’s favorite podcast, and we enjoyed many beautiful moments listening to it together this year. The podcast is an exploration into the 50 albums that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain listed in handwritten journal entries published after he died. It’s a great jumping off point for hosts Martin Douglas and Dusty Henry to dive deep into the fascinating history of many great bands, artists and albums. Memorable episodes feature Sonic Youth, The Vaselines, Wipers, Public Enemy, and more. As a bonus, Lucas reached out to Martin and Dusty and was invited to KEXP for a full studio tour and hang out time with the guys! (read all about it on his blog).

How to Survive the End of the World, Election Time 

It was a brutal election season with an even more brutal outcome. As a politics and podcast junkie — who also happened to be fundraising for grassroots electoral organizations through Movement Voter Project — I couldn’t help but tune into a fair share of podcasts about the 2024 elections. This series from adrienne maree brown and her sister Autumn Brown was the perfect antidote to the mainstream-white-guy-Democratic vibe of Pod Save America (and other shows like it). Interviewing smart lefties — mostly Black and brown, LGBTQ+, movement organizers, etc — makes for some poignant reflections on this challenging political moment.

Rachel Maddow Ultra (Season 2)

Speaking of timely political podcasts, Rachel Maddow’s Ultra is an eye-opening investigation into the recent history of fascism in the United States… and season 2 is even better than season 1. Here she explores the continuation of the pro-Nazi movement after World War II and the influence of Senator Joseph McCarthy. I mean, we all know this guy was evil but it’s even worse than imagined: how closely he identified with the white supremacist, far-right, and the lengths he went to demonize and terrorize his enemies. Important history to explore on the eve of a second Trump presidency.

Let the Kids Dance (KUOW)

There were some stellar podcasts put out by Pacific Northwest public radio stations this year and Let the Kids Dance was one of the best. It especially hits home because I grew up in Seattle during the the infamous Teen Dance Ordinance. This was the 90s and there were so many great bands; plus, I was in my headbanging & stage-diving prime! And yet the ordinance prevented teens like me from seeing most live shows. Little did I know there was a youth-led movement to overturn it, which eventually succeeded. Oh yeah, and my new brother-in-law Paul Uhlir (of Seattle band Sweetwater fame) makes an appearance.

Starting a Riot (OPB)

Another great, local podcast about music. This one from Oregon Public Radio, it focuses on the riot grrrl movement that started in Olympia, WA in the 1990s, tracing the cultural impact of bands like Bikini Kill that fought to central girls and women in the burgeoning punk rock and alternative music scene. But the podcast also delves into some of the contradictions of the movement, in particular the focus on straight, white women at the expense of queer and non-binary people of color.

Salmon Wars (OPB)

Another troubling history podcast from OPB — Timber Wars — made my list a few years ago. Salmon Wars is a sequel that features on a family from the Yakima Nation as they grapple with shrinking northwest salmon populations and the loss of salmon habitat. There is some hope and possibility for the future of salmon in our region, and tribes are at the forefront of that restoration.

Under the Shadow (NACLA)

This gets me to the section on fascinating podcasts by people I know. Michael Fox was a friend from my time living in El Salvador in the early 2000s and he’s continued to report on events in Latin America since then. This series tells the history — through a personal travelogue — of United States government intervention throughout the 20th century in Central America. There’s an overview and then two episodes each on El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Chameleon: The Michigan Plot (Campside Media)

My old high school friend Ken Bensinger co-hosts this show about the infamous plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. Most people have probably heard about the FBI raids and subsequent trial of the right-wing conspirators who nearly carried out the violent act. But it turns out the case wasn’t so clear cut, and that the dirty legacy of FBI agents and informants (which goes back to COINTELPRO and post-911 harassment of American Muslims) is embedded in this story as well.

Scene on Radio: Capitalism

Yeah, capitalism sucks. And John Biewen’s Scene on Radio series is one of the best politics/history podcasts out there. Each season he has a different co-host and together they dig deep into certain big topics — from white supremacy (the often referenced “Seeing White” series), to patriarchy, to American democracy, to climate change. The early episodes of this series on the history and pre-history of capitalism were my favorites, though I also appreciated their efforts to imagine solutions and alternate models in later episodes.

Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs (Slate)

I’ve enjoyed most seasons of the Slate series Slow Burn and this was one of my favorites. It tells the story of a State Senator in California who introduced a bill to criminalize the employment of gay teachers in public schools… and more importantly, the movement built by queer activists to defeat it. This is a well told tale of creative, fervent community organizing which outlasts the cultural forces and big money that at one point appeared insurmountable.

On Lots of Lists:

These are other insightful podcasts that I didn’t include in my top ten in part because they’ve appeared on a number of other year-end lists (and thus don’t need the boost in downloads that would result from my high-profile endorsement ;)

Empire City: the Untold Story of the NYPD (Crooked Media). Host Chenjerai Kumanyika (also featured on Scene on Radio) tells a damning history of policing in the US, & of the NYPD in particular.

Embedded: Tested (NPR). The ugly history of sex testing in sports to determine if certain athletes can compete.

In The Dark season 3 (New Yorker). An investigation into the murder of 24 civilians by Marines in Haditha during the Iraq war.

Animal (NYTimes). A sweet, thoughtful series from writer Sam Anderson that we listened to as a family on our summer road trip.

Serial Season 4: Guantanamo (NYTimes). The tortured history of Guantánamo prison told by people who lived through key moments in its evolution.

The Wonder of Stevie (Audible). The brilliant Wesley Morris delves into Stevie Wonder’s amazing run of albums in the 1970s.

Sicilian Inheritance (iHeart Radio). Jo Piazza (who wrote a novel by the same name) investigates the death of her Sicilian grandmother 100 years ago.

Longshadow: In Guns we Trust (PRX). The rise of gun culture in America, told through events like Columbine and January 6.

Honorable Mention: 

• Booming (KUOW)
• If Books Could Kill
• Hacks and Wonks
• Translash
• Build and Block (Convergence) 
• Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative (Radiotopia)

4) Ida’s Favorite Books that I read with my dad

When you Trap a Tiger – Tae Keller
Lost Kites and Other Treasures – Cathy Carr
365 Days to Alaska – Cathy Carr
Puppets of Spellhorst – Kate DiCamillo
Magnificent Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
Ferris – Kate DiCamillo
Turtle in Paradise – Jennifer Holm
Full of Beans – Jennifer Holm
Penny from Heaven – Jennifer Holm
Max Einstein: World Champions! – James Patterson
Hilo: Rise of the Cat – Judd Winick

Dear friends,

Happy New Year! We are sending you so much love, today and for the whole year ahead.

But before we jump forward, we put together our family’s look back – our “best of 2023” lists. We hope you enjoy.

Quick family highlights this year: Lucas starred in a viral video and launched into a great first year of high school; Ida is a proud owner of three fish in a 10 gallon tank and an enthusiastic Girl Scout (watch out for her cookie sales soon). The two of us have had some major highs and lows this year (too much for a short paragraph), but we feel incredibly lucky to be weathering the storms together. We have also been held by community, again, in so many life-giving ways – thank you, thank you, thank you.

Wishing for peace, love and safety for everyone in 2024.

Love,

Krista, Burke, Lucas and Ida

Krista’s Top 10 Food and Drink of 2023

I feel too daunted to write about books this year (I am fortunate to be reading a lot for school and pleasure, but there are too many for me to narrow down). This year I’ve been enjoying food so much… and I’ve had the gift of so much food. And so, here is a list – incomplete and far too short – of some of the best things I’ve had the pleasure of eating and drinking this year.

10. Homemade spring rolls with Ida

Ida loves food sometimes (pastries, pizza, pasta), but she is also incredibly picky. I often feel sad about not being able to share foods we love (soups, curries, salads, most fruits and vegetables, etc.) with her. But somehow, if you cut avocado and cucumber and carrots and purple cabbage into tiny slivers and wrap them up with tofu and rice noodles in slippery rice paper, she loves it! And so do I. I prefer to dip in a tamari and peanut butter dipping sauce, and she goes for strait tamari, but still: we are enjoying delicious and healthy food together. It is very pleasing.

9. Pumpkin Soup with Ancho Chiles and Apples

This year our garden (from Burke’s compost) planted itself with a few sprawling volunteer pumpkin plants, and we eventually harvested more than a dozen delicious pumpkins. We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin pie, and this great fall soup. I am also still happily making my weekly-or-so whole wheat sourdough bread, which is always best with soups like this one.

8. Teresa and Bruna’s fanciest camping salad of all time

In August we did our version of camping by renting out three extremely wheelchair accessible cabins at a state campground. It feels like such a rare treat, given all the things we need to travel, to sit out in the woods, around a cook stove or campfire, with friends. Anyway, this year our friend Teresa took camping meals to another level with an arugula, delicata squash, lentil, goat cheese, herb salad. It felt like such a treat, of kind of contribute-what-you-can-communism-with-friends, to have brought something like bagels and cream cheese as our contribution and get this for dinner. I will ask her for the recipe if you want it.

7. Pizza and negronis at Bar del Corso

It feels like we don’t get out a lot, but when we do we try to savor the chance. Bar del Corso on Beacon Hill has a sweet little covered-but-also-heated, warm-but-also-open patio. It was the first place Burke and I ate after COVID quarantine. I went back this year with friends and then for another date out with Burke, and each time felt like a celebration. The pizza is thin crust, wood fired delicious (and it’s served with pizza scissors, which make it feel extra fancy), and the negronis make me wish I could drink more than I can.

6. My mom’s vegan lasagna

My mom arrived for Christmas with a pan of her vegan lasagna. Ida, who usually squinches her face and turns away from “grandma cheese” (ie. vegan), declared, before even looking at the food, “Oh, I love your lasagna, Grandma!” This, I know, means a lot to my mom. She spent multiple days making three different vegan cheeses from scratch. And, truth be told, I don’t love a lot of vegan cheese, but this lasagna really is good. If you have that kind of time this lasagna needs, I can get you the recipe.

5. All the pastries and coffee at the Bright Spot

I love a local a coffee shop. I love pastries. I love a short Americano. I love reading and writing in a coffee shop. I love running into neighbors in a coffee shop. And so, it was very exciting when a new coffee shop opened two blocks from our house this year. My favorite things they serve: a buttery spinach and feta croissant and their affogato with vegan soft serve!

4. Cook’s Illustrated Apple Pie

The Venn diagram of my favorite pies and Ida’s overlaps at apple, so I’ve been working on finding the best recipe. This one from Cook’s Illustrated, with the lemon zest, is excellent, especially with local, crisp apples. This winter I was too tired to make the crust, so I put a frozen crust on the bottom and then topped it with an apple crisp topping (lots of earth balance, oats, nuts, brown sugar, and more lemon zest). It was also quite delicious.

* A close second to homemade apple pie are Macrina’s mini (but still sharing-sized) apple pies. Picture Ida and I groaning in delight as Burke – not usually a sweets guy – agrees it is really, really good.

3. Sparkly Gingerbread Cookies

A highlight of Christmas this year for me was making sparkly gingerbread cookies with Ida and her friend Tesni and way too many glittery sprinkles. I couldn’t tell who was happier – the two of them dumping more and more frosting and sprinkles on these quite tasty cookies, or me watching them.

2. Drinks with Burke at Itto’s Tapas

Shortly after we got confirmation that I had cancer, when we had just begun to digest the fact that I had a deadly disease that was probably not going to be deadly for me, Burke and I went out for drinks. For a week or two we had been holding it together by day, assuring our kids that all was treatable and not too big a deal, while quietly unraveling on the inside. In my memory, the cocktails we got at Itto’s (and also the food, but especially the drinks) were the best I had ever tasted in my entire life. I haven’t been back to see if they are that good when you’re not living in existential fear and joy, but maybe? (Also recommend: going bowling a couple blocks away after the delicious drinks.)

1. Every single dish we have been gifted this fall and winter

Meal trains feel like love, incarnate. Like consubstantiation (word I just learned for the belief that the body of Jesus is present in the communion wafers), I feel like I am eating the physical manifestation of love in the meals people have made, sent, and delivered to us. A very incomplete list: homemade empanadas, Korean noodles, bean soups, black eyed peas and greens and cornbread, enchiladas with mutliple handmade salsas, queso oaxaca, and Mexican crema. We often have baggies of cilantro-on-the-side in our fridge after friends made curries and tacos and soups (it doesn’t help convince Ida to s. We’ve twice had friends deliver pupusas, one of Ida’s favorite treats (and ours, too.) A friend who was taking her two kids to an appointment at Children’s Hospital while Lucas was inpatient met me near the elevators and handed me a bag of frozen lentil soups. It all has carried me through. All four of us, through the waves of overwhelm and awful this fall. Another friend with cancer said that the outpouring of love he’s felt almost made the cancer worth it. I feel it, too. I won’t wish for more diagnoses for more meals, but for now, this year’s food highlight is all the food/love we’ve been gifted.

Burke’s favorite podcasts of 2023

Listening to podcasts — along with basketball, and jumping in lakes, rivers & the Puget Sound — has become one of my escapes, especially since early Covid times when I started taking frequent walks around the neighborhood. I also listen while doing dishes or laundry or cleaning up the house, or sometimes when I’m really deep into a juicy podcast, just laying in bed after a long day. My favorite genre is multi-episode historical podcasts, those that use personal stories to tell a broader social-political tale. In another life I’d be a podcaster… or maybe some day when my kids grow up and I retire from organizing.

Anyway, here are my 10 that I listened to in the past year:

Ultra (MSNBC)
Rachel Maddow goes deep into far Right organizing in the 1940s including efforts by Nazi supporters to overturn the government and install a fascist regime. Hard to believe that some of this stuff is true and that the story is not one we know already. Maddow added even more to the tale in her book “Prequel” which came out after the podcast. Both are pointed towards the current rise of right-wing authoritarianism & the possibility of Trumpism taking power in 2024.

50 Years of Hip Hop (KEXP)
There were a lot of hip hop retrospectives this year (check out Lucas’s documentary list for a great one on screen) due to it being the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop (a 1973 Bronx house party featuring the beats of DJ Cool Herc). This year-long series from our local Seattle radio station KEXP — hosted by Larry Mizzel Jr, — has been superb, with episodes covering the origins, 90s socially conscious hip hop, and more recent artists (including a fascinating conversation about the devolution of Kayne West.)

Street Disciples: Politics, Power, and the Rise of Hip-Hop
Runner-up for best hip hop retrospective, this 5-part series from Trymaine Lee’s podcast Into America goes into the political events surrounding the rise of rap music and hip hop culture, starting with the social conditions of the Bronx in the 1970s. Episode 2 (“Broken Glass Everywhere”) is a pointed history of how hip-hop went political, starting with Grandmaster Flash’s song “The Message”, and on through Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”.

Louder than a Riot season 2 (NPR)
Sticking with the hip hop vibe. This is (was) a brilliant show hosted by Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden and season 2 gets into the voices that have been often left out, marginalized and abused in the cis-male dominated rap culture — specifically Black women and queer folks. Sadly, NPR canceled this show as part of layoffs last fall but I suspect we’ll hear more from Madden and Charmichael in the future.

After Ayotzinapa (Reveal)
Great investigative reporting, this is the horrifying story of 43 Mexican college students who disappeared one night in 2014, setting off a national crisis that still hasn’t lead to resolution for the families. Check out some of Reveal’s other podcasts including “The Culture War Goes to College” by my old DC housemate Sam Greenspan.

Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American Connection (Novara Media)
Another one that actually came out in 2022 but that I didn’t discover until earlier this year. I’ve gotten really into the history of the IRA (for example, Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Say Nothing) and this podcast tells the story of how the Troubles played out in the US and how Irish Americans in solidarity with the IRA managed to smuggle guns and money to their socialist revolutionary counterparts in Ireland. CISPES even makes an appearance in one of the episodes!

Think Twice: Michael Jackson (Wondery)
Oh man, this is a doozy. Michael Jackson’s legacy of abuse is repulsive and yet the impact of the Jackson 5 — and Michael in particular — on music and pop culture is undeniable (check out the poignant book “Monsters” by Claire Dederer for more on this theme). This 10-part podcast goes all in, and is co-hosted by the great Jay Smooth.

Ghost Herd (KUOW)
It makes me happy to see a skilled local journalist (Anna King) have the resources to make an in-depth, well produced podcast like Ghost Herd. And it’s a compelling story about capitalism, greed, land use, and cows in southern Washington state.

Grapevine (NBC news)
The way the Right has manipulated religion and fear around trans kids is one of their more despicable acts in recent years and could help turn the 2024 election in their favor. Or not. This story of how a rural Texas high school goes to war over books, teaching, and queer and trans kids is an intimate portrayal of one front in this terrifying culture war.

Reclaimed: The Forgotten League (ABC news)
Gotta have at least one sports podcast per year on my list and this was by far the best. We all know about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball but that moment occurred alongside the success of the Negro Leagues in producing some of the greatest players ever — including the grandfather of Vanessa Ivy Rose, the host of the show who is on a mission to resurrect the legacy of the Leagues.

The Fall of the Aztecs (Rest is History)
The Rest is History consists of a couple hilarious Brits going in depth on various historical events, from Antony and Cleopatra to the assassination of JFK. The 8-part series on the Fall of the Aztecs is the longest they’ve ever done and though it’s tragic the way Cortes’s triumph plays out, it also aptly demonstrates one of their main themes — which is that a small twist here or there could drastically change history.

Honorable Mention:

• The Grinch Holiday podcast (Wondery)
  My kids’ favorite holiday podcast became mine as well. Hosted by the hilarious and master impressionist James Austin Johnson.
• The Gun Machine (WBUR)
  The ugly story of how gun manufacturers came to be so powerful in the US — told by a journalist who know guns all too well.
• Kids of Rutherford County (ProPublica)
  A disturbing investigative podcast about the jailing and abuse of kids in a Tennessee town, and the unlikely lawyers who fought back.
• The Take (Al Jazeera)
  Some of the best coverage of the war in Gaza, among other things.
• The Big Dig (WGBH)
  Who knew a podcast about a major infrastructure project in Boston could be so filled with intrigue!
• The Rise of the Nazis (Rest is History)
  Troubling and mind-boggling history that I never knew, at least to this depth.
• If Books Could Kill
  Hilarious takes on bestsellers full of conspiracy theories and other junk.

And here’s Lucas’s top 10 music documentaries that we watched in 2023. I hope you check them out.

1. Little Richard: I Am Everything is a new documentary about Little Richard’s life and his music. My parents and I watched it all together and we loved it.
2. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone is a documentary about an all-black rock band from L.A called Fishbone. They never got really big but they ARE really good.
3. Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World is a three part series on the history of hip hop from the beginning of hip hop up until recently.
4. Bad Brains: A Band in DC is a documentary about the black punk band Bad Brains. They were from Washington DC… much like a certain handsome man we all know. 😊.
5. Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time is a three part series about the music scene in Laurel Canyon, California in the 60s and 70s.
6. Hype! is a documentary about the Seattle rock scene.
7. Salad Days is a documentary about the punk scene in Washington DC in the 80s. You really need to know about the bands that rocked my birthplace.
8. A Film about Jimi Hendrix is exactly what it sounds like. Pretty poorly named if you ask me.
9. The Kids Are Alright is a documentary/concert movie about The Who.
10. Count Me In a documentary about famous drummers.

Ida’s favorite books 2023

-smile, by Raina Telgemeier

-Max Einstein,by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

-Hilo series,by Judd Winick

-Harry Potter and the goblet of fire,by J.K.Rowling

-Whale done, by Stuart Gibbs

-Dash, by Kirby Larson

-the tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo

– Planet Earth is blue, by Nicole Panteleakos

– One time, by Sharon Creech

– Stella, by McCall Hoyle

It’s been six days since Lucas got released from the hospital after his spinal fusion surgery. Here’s what he has to say about it:

“Things have been going pretty well. I’m been staying on the couch a lot listening to playlists and audio books and watching stuff.

“We’re still figuring out getting up on my wheelchair. I’ve been feeling a lot of numbness in my left foot and we don’t know why that is. That makes me a little nervous about going back to school.

“I’ve been enjoying watching fun shows and movies with Ida, like Carmen Santiago and the really funny new Netflix musical ‘Leo’ about a lizard.

“I got a visit from my old friend Jonah yesterday, and on Thanksgiving I got visits from my cousins, Aunt and grandparents. It feels good to see people after being in the hospital for so long.”

Indeed, the most frustrating thing has been the challenge of sitting up in his wheelchair. In the early days of his return he would be up in his chair for 30 or 45 minutes and suddenly get pale and his heart rate would drop. We’d get him back down on the couch and his color would come back. That only happened a couple times but the problem of numbness in his left foot has persisted. We’ve reached out to doctors and physical therapists and mostly they agree that it must be positional, something that’s cutting off blood flow to his foot. But we’ve tried lots of things, from propping his foot up on decks of cards, shifting his position in the chair, and using multiple different seat cushions, and nothing seems to work so far. We got a glimmer of hope yesterday when he was up for nearly 2 hours in his wheelchair without any noticeable numbness… but then today the left foot was back to its old tricks 10 minutes after getting up. He can still last up to an hour even with the weirdness of his foot feeling numb, but then he asks to get down. In order to return to school he’ll need to be able to sit up in his chair for 4 hours, so he’s got a ways to go.

Other signs are generally good. He’s still having some pain but it’s improving. His energy is good during the day, and as he mentions above, he’s figured out ways to keep busy and entertained while he spends most of his time lying down. Lucas’s shockingly good spirits in the face of so much  — first pain, now boredom and upheaval of all our routines — buoys us on the hard days. He remains an amazing kid, living like it’s no big deal in his sometimes difficult body.

Lucas helped Jonah with word games and questioned whether his mustache was real

We’ve noticed that our cat Raven has been acting very strange while Lucas is on the hospital. Humans haven’t been around that much, and she can probably sense that there is heightened anxiety around the house when we are there. But more than anything, she missed Lucas. Well, now that he’s back in his regular spot on the couch Raven is snuggling in with him, content at last.

Lucas’s last day at Children’s went about as expected — a classic hurry-up-and-wait. Some doctors from the Orthopedics team came in at 7 am as Lucas and I were still waking up to tell us… nothing really. He’d get discharged at some point today (which we already knew) but needed to get the final go-ahead from the surgeon first, “probably sometime after noon…” But then by 10:30 someone came in and removed his last drain, followed by the IV, and we were clear to go. We started frantically packing up everything strewn about his room, picked up his medications… but of course the discharge papers still had to be signed, which somehow took another 2 hours. Finally, around 1 pm we loaded Lucas in his wheelchair (pain not too bad!), grabbed the “get well soon” balloon that Ida gifted him, and headed out the door.

Heading out!

Now that we’re home it seems like a real whirlwind. Overall, given the intensity of the surgery and the usual nature of in-patient hospital stays we feel pretty good about where things are at. Hopefully Lucas will be back up in his wheelchair soon, blogging himself about how his new, straight, titanium-rod assisted spine is treating him.

It’s been 4 days since Lucas emerged from the spinal fusion surgery and he’s just about ready to go home.

We’ve definitely had some ups and downs over the last 24 hours. Lucas had a rough night of sleep on Thursday so when the wheelchair tech along with physical and occupational therapists busted into our room at 9:30 am on Friday he had barely done his morning Wordle and was not at all happy about their suggestion that it was time to get up in his chair. But he didn’t have much choice, and so after dealing with a broken ceiling lift (further stressing Lucas out), all four of us managed to get long, lanky Lucas — with his newly straightened back — into his wheelchair for the first time since surgery. Some modifications had already been made, so the chair fit him OK, but it took some more tweaks before he started looking halfway comfortable sitting up. He lasted about 15 minutes, complaining the whole time — both about the pain and all the people running around messing with him and his wheelchair.

So, not a great first experience but it gave us hope that he’d last even longer the next time he got up. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Instead, attempt #2 that afternoon lasted less than 10 minutes; he complained that the pain was immediate and intense. After he got down, we couldn’t help feeling bad about rushing him to recover, and also discouraged about how far off the possibility of spending an hour in his wheelchair (which is necessary to get home) seemed.

Things started looking up again later that afternoon when a very cuddly service dog named Lucy came by to visit. Meanwhile, we heard from the medical team that Lucas had checked all the boxes for discharge… except for the big challenge of showing that he could sit up in his wheelchair for a sustained amount of time.

So this morning we gave it another shot. This time, right before getting up he got a dose of Oxycontin to mitigate the pain. The transfer from the bed was much smoother, and as soon as he was settled in his wheelchair we held our breath until he said, “The pain…” And we said “Oh no!” and he said, “… isn’t so bad this time!”

Sure enough, he lasted for 45 minutes and though the pain eventually kicked in he was still doing his daily Heardles when we suggested that he get down to rest. At that point we were hoping he could saving his energy for a ride home in the afternoon, but as we write the sun is headed quickly toward dusk and it seems like we’ll be here another night.

Thanks for the pictures, playlists, and message. Lucas is groggily taking it all in. It is such a sweet part of our job as parents, funneling all the love his way.

Lucas is making amazing progress in his recovery. We didn’t know what the days after surgery would look like but it’s fair to say that he’s doing better than expected. In particular, he continues to be very animated when he’s awake, with lots of strong opinions. Given all that his body has been through and all the drugs they’re pumping through him you’d think he’d be out of it. Instead, he’s been lively and engaged much of the day (while also taking lots of naps.)

In the morning one of his IVs was removed  as well as one of two surgical drains later in the day. He’s also no longer connected to any heart monitors. That makes the job of moving him around a little easier… but it’s still a lot of work. And that’s probably why he was often grumpy today. More than once he told a nurse or respiratory therapist to “stop messing with me!”, at which point we’d chuckle and explain that he’s just showing off how feisty he is coming out of surgery. They weren’t offended, and overall we’ve been so grateful for the skill and thoughtfulness of the medical professionals working with Lucas.

Meanwhile, he got visits in the morning from Nonna and Papa as well as Aunt Ashley…and, the head of security at Seattle Children’s dropped by (who also happens to be an amazing local drummer and friend of the family.) Ida was also back for the second day in a row to hang out with her beloved brother. She insisted that she come to the hospital right after school because she missed Lucas so much. The two of them get along well most of the time but it sometimes it takes a bit of hardship to bring out their maximum love and sweetness towards each other.

Another highlight of the day was getting Lucas into a sitting position in bed… not once but twice! The first time felt especially triumphant (even though it was only for 4 minutes) because it showed that he’ll likely be able to sit up in his wheelchair soon. Someone from the orthopedics team who observed said that he was on pace to go home in the next few days, which would be sooner than expected. He lasted even longer the second time we sat him up, motivated in part by Ida’s dancing and cheering and balloon waving. After that he crashed, but still it was a positive day over all. Thanks again to everyone for you messages of support!

Lucas wants everyone to know… “the surgery went well!”

Yesterday began at 5 am when we made coffee and started mobilizing for Children’s. The morning went pretty smoothly and it was only right when we prepared to say bye to Lucas and leave him alone with the anesthesiologists that he got very nervous… but then the drugs kicked in and he was out, and we were pushed out of the room as I futilely tried to reiterate suctioning instructions one last time.

Getting ready for anesthesia

Then we had to wait. It turns out the actual surgery didn’t start until around 10 am, as it took a while for full sedation to kick in and to get him in the right position. At around 2 pm we got a message that surgery was wrapping up, and soon after that the surgeon came out to let us know everything had gone as planned. Among the things we learned is that they used the longest rods in stock to support the fusion of the vertebrae. In other words, Lucas is really tall! And, now he’ll have long pieces of titanium inside his body keeping his torso straight and aligned.  We also learned that he lost a lot of blood (as expected in major surgery) but that they hadn’t yet done a transfusion… thought later in the evening his red blood cells were still low so they did end up doing a transfusion.

We made our way to the ICU and soon Lucas was rolling in on a gurney with a team of doctors and nurses in tow. He was still out, a good things since they hadn’t yet changed him back to his regular trach. Lucas’s biggest concern when talking to the team pre-operation was that he would wake up and still have the hospital-issue cuffed trach in place, preventing him from using his voice. Fortunately, and with some encouragement from us, they changed it out just before his eyes starting to pry open, and he groaned out his first words… “is it over?!?”

Lucas was groggy for the rest of the afternoon but surprised us by having enough energy to immediate start bossing us and his nurses around, making sure he had everything he needed. As many people know, Lucas is obsessed with doing the daily Wordle and managed to do it at 6:30 am before heading back to surgery. The word was “sassy” which suddenly seemed fitting given his unexpectedly spunky behavior coming out of surgery.

Watching a documentary about The Clash

Meanwhile, the drugs kept flowing, helping to mitigate the pain. But the hardest thing for Lucas was the discomfort of having so much connected to his body: tubes draining excess blood from his back, multiple IV lines in his veins, various wires stuck to his body monitoring heart rate, blood oxygenation, etc, a blood pressure cuff inflating every 15 minutes, a foley catheter, and of course his ventilator tube connected to an unfamiliar suction device. On top of it all, nurses and other medical personnel enter the room every 15 minutes to monitor various things. Finally, he also couldn’t lie fully on one side, which is his preferred position for sleep. So needless to say, it was a rough night… by 5 am he gave up on sleeping and requested his audiobook. We’ve been up ever since.

Still, he’s been an amazing sport. Very little complaining despite all the inconveniences. And he’s managed to charm his nurses and respiratory therapists with all his jokes and handsomeness.

As always, we appreciate all the messages of love and encouragement, not to mention all the other ways people have supported us. It was a stressful day but we’re so relieved and grateful to (hopefully) be through the worst of it.

Our family has a lot going on these days and we wanted to share a Lucas-related update. Or rather, we’ll let the man himself tell you what’s up. Here’s what he posted to Handsomeboywrites:

 

Dear fans,

Next Tuesday the 14^th, I’m having a surgery on my back called a spinal fusion. I’ve been having a lot of back pain and this surgery is supposed to help with it. It’s supposed to straighten out the curve I’ve had in my spine. It will make it so I’m out of school for a while and I probably won’t be able to post stuff on HBW, so don’t expect anything in the coming weeks.

I am a bit nervous about what’s going to happen right after surgery. We’ll stay in the hospital for a couple days after it. But I hope it really is going to help with my pain.

I also hope it will help me stay in class and focus longer. A lot of times, I’ve had to leave classes and even leave school early because I’ve had so much pain. I really hope it will help me focus longer on school.

So be thinking of me next week. I won’t be doing a lot, so if you have book, movie or show recommendations, let me know.

See you later,

Yours truly

Lucas.

Needless to say, we’re all a bit nervous about the surgery. Lucas has had a few surgeries before but nothing quite like this. The type of spinal fusion he’ll undergo involves straightening out his spine, fusing together the vertebrae below the neck, and placing titanium rods inside his body to keep the spine straight. As Lucas likes to say, it’s a doozy.

Fortunately, we’ve had great interactions with the surgeon and feel confident that it’s the right thing to do and the right time for Lucas to do it. Krista and I will be with Lucas right before he goes under anesthesia and then right after he comes out of surgery. Ida will be spending the next couple nights with friends and family but is excited to visit Lucas in the hospital on Wednesday. It won’t be long that they’re apart but she still says “I’m going to miss my little Lukey so much!!”

In addition to the couple days at the hospital that Lucas mentions (actually 5-7 days) he’ll likely need to recover at home for at least another few weeks before heading back to school. Because he won’t be able to get up in his wheelchair much during the recovery, he’ll have plenty of time to watch shows, listen to podcasts and audio books, and read jokes and nice messages from friends, family and fans.

If you post comments here or below his post on HBW we’ll make sure he sees them. You can also send emails to lucas@estansbury.com.

And as Lucas says, keep him (and the rest of our family) in your thoughts in the coming weeks.