Editors Note: This guide reflects the process as it was before Donald Trump took office on January 21. Trump's executive order, "DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT," directs Director of Homeland Security and Director of the Office of Personnel Management to implement changes that require government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards "accurately reflect the holder's sex," which the order inaccurately defines as fixed at conception.

There's no arguing with these people about the actual and complex biological realities of sex, and it's irrelevant to the fact that Trump has the ability, as Joe Biden did, to change how federal agencies—including the State Department, the Social Security Administration and US Citizenship and Immigration Services—handle gender marker changes. As the order also directed federal agencies to "remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms ... that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology," the State Department and SSA have removed pages with information about how to change gender markers. While that's quite the implication, it's still not 100% clear what the new policy is. Anecdotally, we've heard a mix of experiences, perhaps a reflection of the chaos at the federal level. Take note: States control driver's licenses and birth certificates, and as of now, identity documents with conflicting gender markers not pose a serious problem. Follow our ongoing coverage for further updates. 

Under normal conditions, there’s a standard order of operations for trans people updating their identity documents.

It begins with securing a court order to legally change their name, and then presenting it, and a handful of other identifying documents, in this order to the Social Security Administration for a new Social Security Card, state Department of Licensing for a new license, the State Department for a new passport, and a Department of Health or Biostatistics to correct a birth certificate.

Like all of the internet’s weird little film guys (gender-neutral), I was surprised by how sad I felt when I found out David Lynch had died. But as I went about my day thinking of almost nothing else, it made me feel better to read loving remembrances from women he’d worked with. I’ve always been struck by Lynch’s ability to depict genuinely horrifying onscreen violence and abjection involving women characters while showing nothing but support and kindness for the real women involved.

“He put me on the map,” wrote Naomi Watts of Lynch on Instagram. “The world I’d been trying to break into for 10-plus years, flunking auditions left and right. Finally, I sat in front of a curious man, beaming with light, speaking words from another era, making me laugh and feel at ease. How did he even ‘see me’ when I was so well hidden, and I’d even lost sight of myself.” (She signed off as “Buttercup.” Lynch gave his actors a lot of cute little nicknames; Kyle McLachlan was Kale, and Laura Dern was Tidbit.)

LA is burning again. This time, it's north of Santa Clarita. There, a wildfire "exploded in size across two counties on Wednesday [and] into Thursday." When will this end? What is to be done? During the first round of LA fires, the Fonz (also known as Harry Winkler) suggested that the whole bad business came down to a criminal whose level of derangement appeared to be the sort we find in comic books. "THERE IS an ARSONIST here in LA,” the Fonz tweeted on January 8, “May you be beaten unrecognizable !!! The pain you have caused !!!” This tweet went viral (it had over 7 million viewers). And the Fonz's response makes perfect sense if it is placed in the context of a culture that, in movies, in sermons, in TV series, and in podcasts, inflates the significance of the individual to proportions no mirror on reality can ever hope to meaningfully reflect. But before we totally dismiss the Fonz, we must admit that his view of the situation is actually not far from the one we find in the first book of Octavia Butler's Parable series, Parable of the Sower.  

The grave of renowned writer Octavia Butler, whose novel Parable of the Sower eerily envisioned fires consuming Los Angeles, remains intact at Altadena’s Mountain View Cemetery despite nearby blazes. https://t.co/cMEXnU2ntv pic.twitter.com/4ROmReKl5M

— Black Enterprise (@blackenterprise) January 21, 2025

Dive headfirst into the weekend with an assist from our cheap and easy guide, which suggests events from Têt in Seattle – Vietnamese Lunar New Year to The Beacon's David Lynch: A Remembrance Both Wonderful and Strange and from Fremont Bridge Night Market - Winter Feast to the very first 4th on 4th Flea Market. For more ideas, check out our roundup of this week's top events.

FRIDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Timothy Heaphy
Timothy Heaphy, the lead investigator into the 2017 racist riot in Charlottesville and the January 6 insurrection, will visit Elliott Bay to discuss his book Harbingers: What January 6 and Charlottesville Reveal About Rising Threats to American Democracy. There's no better time than now to get familiar with signs of misinformation, and the context Heaphy provides in Harbingers might provide helpful, if harrowing, context as we move into a second Trump presidency. LINDSAY COSTELLO
(Elliott Bay Book Company, Capitol Hill, free)

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Boeing's big, bad billion-dollar losses: In a surprise to nobody, Boeing had a not-so-good year last year. In 2024, the aerospace company lost a cool $11.8 billion. The good news is that it's only the second-biggest loss in Boeing history. The biggest-ever loss happened in 2020 after the fatal 737 MAX crashes and the ensuing grounding of those planes. The losses from 2024 started in January after an Alaska Airlines plane's (also a 737 MAX) fuselage door blew out mid-flight. Those doors aren't supposed to do that. Boeing had to pull plane deliveries. The company also blames financial losses on last fall's machinists' union strike. 

The people want healthcare: Washington saw its highest-ever enrollment of Affordable Care Act (ACA) users this year with about 308,000 residents choosing plans through the state's ACA marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder. Why was enrollment so high? According to the Seattle Times, "This year, more than 75% of customers benefited from federal premium tax credits, which were implemented by the Biden administration." Those tax credits enabled people to purchase plans that cost around $540 a month before the subsidies for only $70 a month. Thanks, Joe. You simply do not know what you've got until it's gone. 

Rock legend Billy Idol hits the road this year with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Author and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will talk about her forthcoming novel Dream Count on the Neptune Theatre stage. Plus, industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails will “peel it back” on tour this August. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

ON SALE FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

MUSIC

Bayside - 25th Anniversary: The Errors Tour
The Showbox (June 11–12)
On sale at 9 am

Beach Bunny - The Tunnel Vision Tour
Showbox SoDo (Sun May 25)

Belphegor
El Corazon (Tues Apr 1)
On sale at 9 am

Back in 1996, young filmmaker Ondi Timoner had an ambitious plan: She would follow 10 young underground rock bands for one year and film them, as they all reached for their respective grip on a brass ring of fame, success, and financial solvency that—thanks to the world-altering arrival of Nirvana—suddenly seemed within reach. 

But as the project, dubbed The Cut, moved forward, Timoner was drawn to the Brian Jonestown Massacre, a scuzzy gang of '60s psych-pop revivalists from LA with two impossibly charismatic members—hyperprolific frontman Anton Newcombe and tambourine player Joel Gion. And the BJM wouldn't stop hyping a band from Portland, the Dandy Warhols, that trucked in a more bubblegum glam sound, but were part of Newcombe’s foggy plan to foment a musical revolution.

Backyard Bagel
During the pandemic, owners Aaron and Emily Emas found a New York Times bagel recipe and began baking a half dozen per day for 10 months straight, so it's safe to say their formula is dialed in. The hobby soon grew into a baking business and pop-up known as Aaron's Bagels and has now morphed into this brick-and-mortar in Fremont, serving coffee, bialys, babkas, pizza, and other delights in addition to their crowd-pleasing bagels. 
Fremont

Good Morning! Our cold, dry January continues. I’m not mad at all the sunshine, but it’s 28 degrees right now and that’s just not walking-to-the-bus weather. It’s supposed to make it all the way up to the low 40s today, and we’ll have a break from the freezing temps overnight today, but we’ll dive right back in tomorrow. Stay warm, check out the KCRHA resources if you need them, and for the love of their little Frito-y paws, keep your animals inside.

Have you been enjoying the clear skies? It's been cold and quiet weather-wise, so we thought we'd share some pretty mares' tails (ice clouds high in the atmosphere) over Lake Washington this morning!☁️#wawx pic.twitter.com/53OzutZhWM

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) January 22, 2025

Okay, let’s get the Trump-dates out of the way. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, hit a new snag in his confirmation hearing. Democrats have a sworn statement from his ex-sister-in-law, saying that he was frequently intoxicated and abusive to his ex-wife. The Senate is holding a test vote to see where things stand, but “There has been no public indication that any Republican is having reservations,” the New York Times reported. Cute. 

I live in an apartment complex where I have a neighbor upstairs who seems to think the world is his personal concert hall. This person plays piano at all hours of the day and night, with the earliest I’ve heard him start being around 7 am and the latest close to 1 am. I can’t even begin to describe how pissed off I get to hear the same two or three songs on repeat, and I’ll go ahead and add that he’s not particularly good at playing them. The repetition alone is enough to make me see red.

The kicker is that he’s not even good. I recognize the beginning of the same couple songs, and somewhere, he starts hitting random keys and then starts over again.

WEDNESDAY 1/22  

Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu 

(COMEDY) I feel like whatever the 2025 equivalent of a "hipster" is when I espouse my love for alt comedy, but voices like Joe Pera, Connor O'Malley, Jo Firestone, Jacqueline Novak, Kate Berlant, and John Early really do keep me alive. I'm excited to count Ikechukwu Ufomadu, deemed the “gentleman-scholar of alt-comedy” (New York Magazine), among my new favorites. Armed with books, a cup of tea, and a slideshow, the Ziwe writer's absurdist one-man show Amusements defies genre and makes some astute observations. ("I understand many of you are 'here' tonight," he notices.) (Here-After, 2505 First Ave, 7 pm, $19.99, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

In less than a week, the Seattle City Council will choose one of six finalists to fill Councilmember Tammy Morales' seat and represent District 2, which spans from the Chinatown-International District to Rainier Beach. With such a short timeline, there's little time to get familiar with the D2 hopefuls. 

Unfortunately for all involved, last night's only scheduled candidate forum, which took place at the Columbia City Theater, was a confused, biased disaster. 

Let’s Do Something a Little Different: If you want this morning’s headlines—both the good and the bad—then read on. There is news about death, murder, fire, and Trump, and almost none of it is good! But if you want to exist in a world that’s all lollipops and roses, and act as though nothing is terrible, click here for the first (only?) installment of Slog AM: Only Good News! 

Executive Order Whiplash: There are a lot of headlines flying around about all the executive orders that Trump has signed so far—he’s rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, halted all refugee travel to the US, increased large-scale deportations across the country, withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, and demanded the government only recognize two genders, for example. If you’re starting to feel nauseous from it all, Axios has this handy running list of the executive orders that he’s signed so far, what they are, what it means.

Let the Lawsuits Begin: Twenty-two states are suing Trump “to block an executive order that refuses to recognize the U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens,” reports the New York Times. The National Treasury Employees Union is also suing his administration for his DEI rollback, resulting in “reclassification of thousands of federal workers as political hires.” Several groups have also filed lawsuits against DOGE.