2022 Retrospective | Vee Hua 華婷婷
by Vee Hua 華婷婷
The Emerald will be observing a team-wide wellness pause from Dec. 15 to Jan. 2, and most publishing will be on hiatus, with the exceptions of four pieces, of which this is one, wherein editors look back at 2022 and some of the work that made the Emerald shine.
I joined South Seattle Emerald as its interim managing editor in May 2022. As I reflect on the importance of this publication as one that is rooted in community — for community, and led by community — I think of how the Emerald was the first publication to cover my first short film in 2018 and generously followed my career in the arts. It became an honor to be involved as a contributing arts writer in 2020 — writing about the live-action educational TV show, Look, Listen and Learn (LL+L), and LANGSTON's Seattle Black Film Festival for two years running, among other topics.
The Emerald is a publication of reciprocity and relationship: of mutual exchange between the Emerald and its writers, and between the Emerald and the community it serves.
The existence of a publication like the Emerald is beneficial not only to South Seattle, but the whole of Seattle, King County, and Washington State, period. No other local publication centers the authentic voices of the most diverse communities and neighborhoods in the region like the Emerald does. We uplift positive stories around mutual aid, generational wealth, public health, environmental justice, voting rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and housing justice — as well as uncovering harsh realities around police accountability, gentrification, community safety, gun violence, and so much more.
This year, our four assigning editors — myself, Arts Culture & Community editor Mark Van Streefkerk, Voices editor Mike Davis, and deputy managing editor Marti McKenna — are each highlighting three of their favorite articles from the past year. My top three represent the work of communities nearest and dearest to my heart right now. These include inclusivity through voting rights; queer and trans BIPOC; and community safety from a perspective that centers collective care.
I believe the Emerald's nuanced approach generates power among frontline communities that are doing the critical work of bettering our society as a whole.
Here are three articles that stood out for me in 2022:
Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the editor-in-chief of REDEFINE, a long-time member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and a film educator at the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they previously served as executive director and played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences. After a recent stint as the interim managing editor at South Seattle Emerald, they are moving into production on their feature film, Reckless Spirits, which is a metaphysical, multilingual POC buddy comedy. They have a master's in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Featured Image: Photo collage of 2022 Emerald content contributors created by Emerald team.
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