One of my proudest accomplishments of 2021 is starting a podcast series called Apparently for 90.3 KEXP, here in Seattle, Washington. My friend Evie Stokes and I tell stories of parents in music. We started doing this in the beginning of the year and by the end of the year, an incredible journalist named Celine… Continue reading Apparently it’s a podcast.
Author: Rachel Stevens
wull hay: the newsletter!
If you've loved this here blahg for a decade or a hot second, good news—it's coming straight to your inbox now! SUBSCRIBE HERE. You'll get all the things you found here: writing, music, photography, embarrassing moments, podcast recommendations… every Tuesday. Thanks so much for being here. I'm excited to see what connections come from this next… Continue reading wull hay: the newsletter!
I can’t stop thinking about salmon…
I saw salmon spawn for the first time on a Sunday, after a running race in Carkeek Park. I wrote about salmon spawning and the love of a mother on a Thursday morning. That Friday afternoon, The New York Time's Modern Love editor wrote me back saying he would like to publish my article. We… Continue reading I can’t stop thinking about salmon…
05: do you have any hustle?
Evan and I were still living in Bozeman, Montana, but he had taken a job in Seattle. This was the first time I was moving without a job. This was the first time my ambitions weren't uprooting us. I had been working in advertising, deep in as an Art Director with an eye on a… Continue reading 05: do you have any hustle?
hold.
we're in Kauai right now for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday (okay, 71st… COVID mulligan) and it's magical. the whole family went to Tunnel Beach today to snorkel and hang. when we finally all got settled, I saw an opportunity to go snorkeling with my beloved sister-in-law, Liv. (wait… she's my husband's brother's wife… still sister-in-law, right?… Continue reading hold.
04: back out here.
it feels like I'm back out here. and by "here" I mean my creative space. sometimes it has felt like I'm gone from it. but I'm back. back out here. and lemme tell you, it sounds good… https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ldPOASIY3SnIcDpsfjwgY?si=dc41c30ee3254ce8 this playlist is a little vibey… starts with some jazz… includes songs from two awesome people I recently interviewed… Continue reading 04: back out here.
you’re the reason…
Evan has wanted to do the Enchantment Through-Hike for a while now. So I said, "Lessdoit!" Well, not me. I wanted Evan to be able to do it and Marcie and I would hike in with him and then turn around at four miles. The full hike is about 20 miles and pretty intense. Evan… Continue reading you’re the reason…
03: fractured sunshine in my eyes.
My daughter had a seizure. My parents left Seattle. We went to Montana. We ran a race and leaned in to friendships we had missed so much. Our family needed that mountain air and those people and that exercise and that wide open space. And there was a ton of music, too. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5PJDcl22ngHLa4vHKYjd7J?si=88907c80763e4b9b I was… Continue reading 03: fractured sunshine in my eyes.
c’mon, baby.
This is a post/story that I feel like would need a trigger warning? I'm not sure how those work, how this works, how any of this goes. But I do want to share this and if you are sensitive to scary things involving children, I would stay away from here. (I say this knowing that… Continue reading c’mon, baby.
02: walking to get back.
last weekend, Evan, Marcelline, and I hiked up Mount Si. it was a trek. it felt like the kinds of thing I used to do all the time. a place I used to find myself, even though I had never been up there before. lately, as I'm literally moving forward—in life, in work, up mountains—it… Continue reading 02: walking to get back.
01: a coolness coming.
this space has been calling me back. an intentional space where I can be creative without algorithm or supervision. climbing out of the past 16 months is a little brighter than I thought it would be. so good in a lot of ways, but a little blinding in others. I have completely hunkered down with… Continue reading 01: a coolness coming.
it felt close.
I slept on the couch last night. Not because I was in the dog house (though I wouldn't put it past me), but because Evan was sick. Like puking sick. After Marcelline's 5am wantings, I went to the kitchen for a glass of water and on my way, saw a bright white cat right out… Continue reading it felt close.
a birth story for mother’s day.
My parents tell this story of a five-year-old me. I had been taking tap dance lessons fervently week after week. Our big dance recital was the day after a big roadtrip vacation, so my parents basically drove through the night so I could make the curtain call. The recital started by calling each child’s name… Continue reading a birth story for mother’s day.
new chapter? hell, a whole new book.
Before we Instagrammed, we texted a ton. Before that, we blogged. And before that, we wrote in our journals. My notebooks admittedly started as prayer—or "quiet time"—journals. It's so interesting to see what I prayed for. What I asked for. How I talked about God and myself. Then they quickly moved to wine-fueled scramblings about… Continue reading new chapter? hell, a whole new book.
July Today, August Away, September Now.
"July Today" is a self-imposed photography project started in July 2014. I had just gotten my first legit DSLR camera. And I wanted to practice shooting in a more high-stakes way. Something with deadlines. My art director at my job was teaching me about photo editing. He said, to check the levels in the photograph,… Continue reading July Today, August Away, September Now.
found in a trailer.
I am only doing contract work now. That means more radio, more stories, less office time. No more the Creative Director at a marketing agency. (Though I am still doing work for them.) This has been a scary—yet welcome—change. A new chapter. One I've been writing for basically 15 years now. To stop from ruminating… Continue reading found in a trailer.
a rockstar-esque anniversary. [and a surprisingly easy story to tell.]
Evan and I celebrated four years of marriage last week. It feels like more to me, but only in the best way. Only in the familiar—family—it-feels-like-we've-been-through-decades-of-life-together way. On Wednesday, August 14th (our actual wedding anniversary), The Rolling Stones were playing in Seattle. My incredible cousin took this event and made it a family affair by… Continue reading a rockstar-esque anniversary. [and a surprisingly easy story to tell.]
SIX.
Last night, I went to Gasworks Park and watched the lunar eclipse. With the magical moon above and hundreds of Seattleites milling and huddling about, I thought a lot about today. And about this past yer. January 21st. Today. Six years since my bad ski accident. The less I write about personal stuff out loud—the… Continue reading SIX.
the day that didn’t exist.
January 7, 2009 didn't exist for me. A decade ago, I was on a plane to Sydney, Australia. When you're running away from a lot of things, you choose the farthest place you can swing. I left on January 6th and when I arrived in Sydney, it was January 8th. This girl was bopping around… Continue reading the day that didn’t exist.