The Beatles played their first Seattle concert on August 21, 1964, with more than 14,000 excited fans packing the old Seattle Center Coliseum. Despite the electric atmosphere, the cheers were so loud that most of us couldn’t hear the music. I was there among the crowd, thanks to my Aunt Dorothy, who surprised my friend Jeannie and me with tickets for my birthday while I was visiting her in Washington that summer. The noise was intense. This concert was only the third stop on The Beatles’ inaugural U.S. tour and the first event ever held at the venue, originally built for the World’s Fair. The crowd’s volume was overwhelming. It made no difference to fans like me, who was only […]

Bellevue, Washington, was one of the places that brought me the most joy. It was a safe haven for me growing up, offering refuge from the abuse, confusion, fighting, and stress of home in Los Altos.

It was where my mother’s sister, Aunt Dorothy, lived, and every summer, George and I would go together—our trip, our escape. In those moments, I could indulge in the fantasy of leaving behind my dad and stepmom for good, dreaming of a new life in Washington, free from the unpredictable chaos that always loomed in the background.

After our mother’s death, my Aunt offered to take George and me in, but my father refused. I later discovered that my mother had named our […]