Emily Hamilton

As a high school kid in 1986, Asia DeWeese joined a cohort of women who pioneered the acceptance of women in wrestling in the United States.

The Portland-founded team is made up of skaters from the Pacific Northwest and beyond. They travel all over the United States, and sometimes across the world, to compete and find power in their community.

The Carlton Observatory in Yamhill County is working to raise funds to build a new community science center complete with a planetarium, observatory and maker-space at McMinnville’s Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

Sincere Studio opened this month in Northeast Portland. Founder Frances Andonopoulos said they find inspiration in projects like the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and they hope to provide “textile arts education with a focus on sewing as a tool of social change and empowerment.”

“Holiday Out,” a new Christmas musical presented by Metropolitan Performing Arts in Vancouver, seeks to raise awareness about queer youth houselessness and give young LGBTQ+ people a story to tell at Christmas.

In September, zine artists, makers, writers and creators all gathered at Portland State University for the return of the Portland Zine Symposium — a two-day event celebrating the art of zine making, and the zine community.

For the first time ever, one writer will be awarded the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. This award seeks to honor Le Guin’s legacy by looking for storytellers who are “realists of a larger reality.”

Deanna Tham, Oregon Symphony's newest associate conductor, describes how her passion for rock climbing helped her become a better musician.