We distributed our last physical edition of The Stranger on March 11, 2020. The world has since turned upside down several times over, but you already know that. To be back in your hands now feels like somewhat of a miracle. Or maybe a fever dream.

We got here with a smaller team and fewer resources. We had to work twice as hard with half as much. And, if I may, I’m pretty fucking proud of us! I’m proud of Seattle, too. Because while we were working day and night to claw our way out of the online-only underworld, so was Seattle’s arts community. Our musicians, artists, actors, writers, weavers, movers, and shakers all worked tirelessly to reignite a spark that seemed to all but fizzle out when the virus catapulted humankind into survival mode.

Things have been coming back to life in fits and starts for a while now, it’s true, but there’s something about spring that always makes everything feel brighter and more alive. And this season, Seattle’s artists aren’t just coming out of hibernation bleary-eyed and bumbling—they’re sprinting toward the light at the end of the tunnel to take back what the past three years have stolen from them. 

In March, local filmmaker Clyde Petersen premieres his long-awaited documentary, Even Hell Has Its Heroes, at Copenhagen’s International Documentary Film Festival. The film is not just about the legendary drone band, Earth; it’s also a love letter to Washington state and all the cinematic scenery that inspires the band’s meditative music. The Pacific Northwest Ballet is breaking out, too, bringing to the stage—live and in person!—Penny Saunders’s Wonderland, which was only performed virtually during the pandemic.

In June, ceramicist Emily Counts will mount her largest show to date at Museum of Museums. Her surreal sculptures of people and body parts—some life-sized!—celebrate the women in her life who instilled in her a sense of magic and curiosity. And the folks at Nii Modo have taken on one of their biggest achievements, too, having converted the former Bartell Drugs on Third Avenue into a huge new event space for concerts, art shows, and the beloved Punk Rock Flea Market.

This is also just the beginning of The Stranger’s return to print—we’re already planning more special issues for summer and fall, so expect to see us on the streets again soon. Of course, we’re always writing about the best art shows, performances, readings, film screenings, and concerts at thestranger.com, too. As I like to say to anyone who unwittingly says to me, “I used to love reading The Stranger”: We’re not dead! We’re just online.

But there’s nothing like print media. We love it, and we know you love it, too. It feels good to be back.

Megan Seling

Arts Editor, The Stranger