(Image: Community Lunch on Capitol Hill)

(Image: Community Lunch on Capitol Hill)

By Brenna Gauchat
On a Monday morning, you can stop by Community Lunch on Capitol Hill’s breakfast service for a hot coffee and pastry, then return later for lunch and dinner leftovers. Operating out of All Pilgrims Christian Church, the Capitol Hill-based nonprofit is a non-religious meal service dedicated to serving free, high-quality food every weekday to over 100 guests daily. According to Paul Getzel, the nonprofit’s executive director, the program is on track to serve 120,000 meals this year, including 1,000 plates for Thanksgiving and December holidays. As of August, meal distribution is up 40% year-over-year — a trend Getzel expects to continue.

Getzel attributes this growth to the program’s “barrierless” model, which sets Community Lunch apart from other meal services. Because guests may take unlimited food, the count of meals distributed often outnumbers individuals served, as guests frequently share extra plates with others or save them for later. “What [the meals distributed count] indicates to me is that a lot of people are still representing other people that are outside,” Getzel said about stepping back when someone asks for multiple meals. “Sometimes, when I go out to sort of clean up around the church here, I see folks bringing food to their friends who didn’t come in. They’re just out there for a lot of reasons.” Guests are never asked for identification or names, ensuring access regardless of circumstances.

With many regular guests, staff and volunteers naturally build relationships and rapport over time. “I see some folks that I know that are unhoused, that every day, every minute, every night are living in survival circumstances,” Getzel said, emphasizing the focus on immediate essentials—food, water, clothing, and health services—rather than long-term systemic issues. “What we provide is, at least, some safety and some service and deference. And hopefully some comfort for them. An hour and a half a day for lunch, a little bit longer on the holidays.”

Getzel noted that building neighborhood trust through reliable food access also opens doors for external referrals. “I think one thing that has always really inspired me is when you connect with somebody around their basic needs or on food,” Getzel said. “It’s apt to take a referral to another service, just because you have built that trust with people.”

Beyond meals, Community Lunch distributes clothing and health items such as Naloxone and Plan B. The program also partners with Seattle King County Public Health’s Street Medicine team to provide mobile medical care on site, enabling staff to connect guests needing medical attention directly with trusted providers.

“That warm handoff is really, really helpful with [referrals to external care],” Getzel said. “Based on that relationship, they’re willing to accept care.” Looking ahead, the nonprofit is exploring expansions into low-cost veterinary care and legal or immigration advocacy with groups like Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “I think one thing that we’re really trying to do this year is be responsive to community need,” Getzel said.

Getzel brings over 25 years of local nonprofit experience to Community Lunch, having previously spent nearly 18 years at Lifelong, including work with its Chicken Soup Brigade food and nutrition program. Now focusing on funding, volunteer recruitment, and holiday prep, Getzel ensures Community Lunch remains open during holidays when other services close. “Need doesn’t stop just because it’s the holidays,” Getzel said. “Assuming that the weather is a little bit nasty by then, we want to make sure, for the holidays, people could get out of the weather at least for a little while.”

Getzel

While partially funded by city grants, the organization relies primarily on donations to cover expenses. Working with partners like Food Lifeline, the kitchen prepares high-quality holiday meals and requests community support through food and monetary contributions. “We really try to provide an experience where we’re deferring to our guests and we’re serving them because a lot of these folks just don’t experience that ever,” Getzel said. “We don’t want to compromise because we don’t have something for free.”

Supported by six staff members and about 100 weekly volunteers, the program needs consistent volunteer help during holiday meal prep. While Thanksgiving Day sees an influx of volunteers, help is especially needed in the days leading up to the holidays for food preparation. Getzel encourages community members to volunteer with friends and family during the season. “We want everybody,” Getzel said. “We really want to have diversity in every sense of the word, including income and neighborhood you live in, age, everything.”

The lunches also bring together people who want to help. CHS reported here on Community Lunch volunteers who are hoping to inspire the creation of a new “day shelter” facility on Capitol Hill.

At its core, Community Lunch prides itself on offering meals, companionship, shelter, and dignity to the neighborhood. “I just urge for people to not lose their compassion for everybody,” Getzel said. “When we shut ourselves down and dismiss somebody and dehumanize somebody, that’s not going to be a solution. That person’s not going anywhere, and they’re just going to suffer more.”

For more information on how to help, visit communitylunch.org.

• Breakfast: Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
• Lunch & Leftovers: Monday–Friday, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
• Holidays: Open Thanksgiving Day and December holidays with extended daytime service.
• No ID, registration, or proof of need required.

• Holiday Kitchen Prep: Shifts on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading into Thanksgiving and Christmas (highest priority).
• Meal Service & Cleanup: Weekday lunch shifts and limited holiday-day slots.
• Sign-ups available at communitylunch.org.

• Monetary Gifts: Supports bulk ingredient sourcing with partners like Food Lifeline.
• Winter Supplies: Warm coats, gloves, beanies, wool socks, and blankets.
• Health & Hygiene: Unopened travel toiletries, Naloxone, and basic health supplies.

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Spoiler Alert: While I won’t be giving away the entirety of You Can See Everything, I will have to discuss some important aspects of the film in order for this to be a piece worth reading. So if you hate a spoiler, you may want to watch the film before reading this.

My spouse and I have been thinking about You Can See Everything since we saw it in theaters a few days ago. It is a very well made, interesting film. My ADHD makes it almost impossible for me to sit through an entire movie, but y’all, I did not move for the entire three hours of this. I have never seen a documentary like it, and at the same time, I feel like it highlights a fundamental truth about all documentaries: we are always being manipulated.

The manipulation is a main character in this film, not only from Elizabeth Holmes and her horrible partner Billy Evans, but from Nathan Fielder (which is a surprise to nobody who has seen his work before), and pretty much everyone else involved in this project. Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? Who is being taken advantage of? The only thing that we can be really sure of after watching the film is that we, the viewer, are being taken for a ride - one that we’ve willingly paid for.

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I don’t normally want to watch a film about the trials and tribulations of a wealthy white woman, it is one of my least favorite genres (30-something white man trying to find himself and heal his relationship with his dad via road trip and sex with quirky white women is perhaps my all-time least favorite). But I am a fan of Nathan Fielder, and I must admit to following the Elizabeth Holmes case as it was unfolding, and it just looked so interesting.

And it was interesting, and surprising, and a very good piece of film. And I left with conflicted feelings (which I absolutely believe was the filmmakers’ intent) that I’m still sitting with. And as I’ve thought about this film over the past few days, what has really stood out to me is the overwhelming whiteness of the particular symbiotic abuse of Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans, and all of us.

Let me start off by saying this: I wish nothing but awful things for Billy Evans. It has been a long time since I’ve disliked a man so instantly and deeply. He is a manipulative, controlling, narcissistic, misogynist. I want to telepathically send bedbugs to every hotel he ever stays at. I want him to shit himself every time he has a sip of an energy drink.

Watching the film, it becomes clear that Evans set his sights on Holmes because she was mired in controversy, not in spite of it. It is clear that he sees her infamy as his path to fame, wealth and power. It is clear that he has no respect for women - his own partner included. I can bet you money that on some level Evans is thankful for every day that Holmes is in prison, because it’s another day that he gets to literally play her like an online avatar.

And I do not think Holmes should be in prison - not because I do not think she is guilty of the crimes she was accused of - but because I do not think anybody should be in prison. I am sad for her and her children, just as I am sad for all incarcerated people and their loved ones.

But as we watch Fielder’s desperate attempts to let Holmes know how Evans is manipulating her and her image, it becomes very clear that Holmes doesn’t want to know. And her not wanting to know is not born out of a desire to preserve her own image of her partner as some perfect man, but to preserve her own image of herself as the perfect innocent.

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Holmes is a smart woman. Yes, it is clear that she is likely neurodivergent in some way. But she also (and I say this as a neurodivergent woman) wears that neurodivergence as a costume. She both “doesn’t get it” but also knows exactly how to communicate to you how she doesn’t get it. She is clueless but in a way that is so scripted as to leave you with no doubt of how clueless she is. She is vulnerable and lost but in a way that never leaves her for a loss of ways to tell you about how vulnerable and lost she is.

And she’s a woman who was so polished and poised and controlled when she was a “self-made” billionaire, and is now in this film a messy-haired, wide-eyed, sad and confused woman in a rental home by the water. Even the home that this documentary is filmed in feels like part of Holmes’ costume. Just months before filming, she and her small family were living in a multi-million dollar estate in the Bay, but for this time before her incarceration, when they were not only filming this documentary, but also trying to convince judges that they were experiencing extreme financial hardship, she was in a modest, outdated, two bedroom cottage.

When Fielder tries to talk to Holmes about the manipulations of Evans, it is clear that she had no desire to hear it. And she is so confident in that desire. She knows that not knowing is best for her. Just as it was best for her to not know the details of her ex partner’s actions.

I say this without reservation: Holmes is being controlled and manipulated by Evans. But I also say this, with perhaps a little reservation (mostly because it just feels shitty to say): Holmes wants to be controlled and manipulated by Evans, because it allows her to control and manipulate us.

Holmes wants money, power, influence. Holmes wants to cut backroom deals for profits off of the documentary about her and she wants people who portray her in a less-than-favorable light to be punished, and she wants to be the next phenom - and she doesn’t want to be seen wanting it. She doesn’t want to be held responsible for it. She wants it to be done for her and she wants to hide behind the people who are doing it.

And it feels so fucking familiar.

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I’ve encountered so many white women like this. White women whose husbands “take care of them” while also harming others. White women who have Black friends and queer friends and their partners get drunk and say slurs and likely voted for Trump but they can never say one way or the other because they “don’t discuss politics”. White women who complain that their order is wrong and then disappear to the bathroom so their partners can yell at the server without them having to witness the awkwardness of it all, and then return to eat their now correct dish.

There is a dual-narcissism to these kinds of relationships. The overt narcissism of the man who needs to look like the most important, smartest, most in-control person in the room, and the quiet narcissism of a woman who needs to be the most innocent, the most faithful, the most oblivious person in the room. And there is a chicken-or-egg question here, to be sure. Was Holmes like this before these men came into her life? Did she seek them out to help them accomplish her goals? Or did these men condition her to be this way? I’ve seen both, and I’ve also seen that it’s often a combination of both.

I think that Holmes absolutely knows who her partner is, and what that allows her to do. And I do think that should she need to in a few years time, if Theranos 2.0 doesn’t work out or if she just needs a way to get back into the spotlight, she will absolutely point to this film and use her emancipation from the villain that is Billy Evans to launch her new brand.

But in the meantime, this man - this narcissistic misogynist- is raising her kids. And that’s what I really can’t stop thinking about. He’s raising her kids with 100% unchallenged control; not only because she is in prison, but because she has given him power of attorney over her life and has seemingly rejected any opportunities for knowledge or empowerment as to what decisions her partner is making. She knows at least to a good degree what type of man her partner is and she has given up any control over how her children are raised by him and one day, when her kids ask her why, she will say - with wide, innocent eyes - that she didn’t know, that perhaps she should have asked more questions, but she was just so trusting, so in love.

And she is trapped now, in so many ways. She is in prison. This man does have her kids. He has control over her life in a way that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And as frustrated as I am over the way Holmes clings to plausible deniability as to who her partner really is, who her ex partner really was, and how much agency she has had in the harmful things she’s done, I can see why right now why she clings to it. She needs to see her kids. She needs someone to keep her name in the limelight. And when she gets out of prison, she needs someone to be the reason why you don’t know the real her, why it isn’t her fault, why she deserves a second chance.

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turnipfritters:

the yahoo CEO who bought tumblr all those years ago has to ask chatgpt to list three things she likes about her 10 year old daughter

Sentences that immediately precede financial ruin: so a friend of mine has been getting me into Magic: The Gathering lately. Unfortunately, since I am trying to finish a novel in around two weeks, I haven’t had much time to play or explore the mechanics. Instead, I have taken to exploring the fandom and its history through YouTube. This is what brought me to the Rhystic Studies video Red Deck Wins, which reactivated my dormant obsession with skateboarding.

During the lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, I bought a skateboard. Like a lot of people, I had grown up with Tony Hawk Pro Skater, wishing I knew how to ride like Hawk or Rodney Mullen. But what had really invigorated my love of skateboarding—and would ultimately be the reason why I could never be a great or even good skater—were the antics of skateboarder Ali Boulala.

The Flip skateboarding tape Sorry was something I watched over and over and over in high school, and the highlight for me was always Boulala’s part. He skated around France as if the entire country was his, often doing reckless, dangerous stunts on various pieces of public architecture. The most famous was his failed attempt to jump 25 stairs in Lyon, which ended when he kicked his board away mid attempt and landed on both of his feet. He couldn’t skate for two months after that. In order to be a good skateboarder, you just can’t be afraid of getting hurt, even hurt badly. I am not that kind of person—I do fear physical pain.

Red Deck Wins is all about the dominance of classic mono-red Magic decks. The conceit is simple—as long as you can last until the fourth turn, you can just dominate your opponent with cheap cards. It’s high risk and high reward, relying on perseverance and stamina to hurtle you towards an explosive ending. You can see where the comparison to skateboarding comes in, and the video also namedrops one of my favorite bands, PUP, whose vocalist Stefan Babcock famously blew out his vocal chords in the lead up to their second album The Dream Is Over. But what it makes me think about is the delusional level of self confidence one needs to have to get anything creative done, ever.

Red Deck Wins opens with a clip of skateboarder Aaron Homoki successfully completing the 25 stair jump in 2015 that Boulala failed to complete in 2002. I ended up watching the video from Thrasher that documented his attempts. It’s fascinating—what I keep lingering on is his second to last attempt.

After tearing his MCL on his first attempt, Homoki went back the following year to try again, only to be kicked out by the police. They allowed him one hour to attempt the trick the next morning, and Homoki puts everything into it. He breaks a couple boards, he hurts himself a little bit, and on the second to last attempt he successfully lands at the bottom—he just doesn’t roll away.

“Oh my god, I can do it though,” he says to himself as gets back on his board and climbs back up the stairs. “I can do it.”

I think this is the only way you can ever achieve anything—to commit so hard that even under the risk of incredible injury, to just know, in your gut, that you can do this. It has been the only thing that has motivated me to keep writing, even after losing my job and trying to build myself back up from that. I just know I can do it. There’s no rational belief system behind that, it’s just something I have to believe, because if I didn’t I would just completely fall apart. It’s not that I’m not afraid of the pain. I just can’t let it stop me.

Starting Aftermath was also something I’d consider high risk, high reward, as is writing a novel on as tight of a deadline as I am. You’re probably not going to break any bones doing these things, but you can still absolutely eat shit, fall flat on your face, fail utterly. But as Rhystic Studies says in Red Deck Wins, it’s the risk that makes it an utter thrill.

“I used to think the red deck was cheap, dumb and simplistic. But the older I get the more I understand the attitude of those who play with mountains and a grip full of fire,” he says. “This one’s for those who go all in.”

This is a four year old YouTube video with 940k views—I know I’m late to the party. But it’s also been a long time since I’ve felt so moved by a YouTube video, and I’ve certainly never thought Magic: The Gathering would be a topic that could make me feel so utterly affirmed for the often downright stupid choices I’ve made in this life. Right now I’m freefalling, in the air between the first and 25th step. I don’t know if I’ll land. The impact could really hurt me. But I’m not afraid. I know I can do it.

Mississippi’s attorney general announced Monday that the police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in June “was justified.” “Today, the Office of the Attorney General announced it has completed the review of a June 14, 2026, incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department,” the statement from the office of Mississippi’s attorney general, Lynn Fitch, said.

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