By Morf Morford
Tacoma Daily Index
When your city has the word “destiny” as part of its name, you have a built-in set of assumptions that you can, could and should do things that other cities won’t do.
Lots of cities are more like extensions of the larger city near them. Tacoma, in more ways than could be defined, is a whole other world from Seattle. Consider for example a couple of events playing on the concept of “destiny.”
The fourth annual Destiny City Film Festival is set for this summer, August 25-27 at the Blue Mouse Theater in Tacoma’s North End, and is a must-see for film fans. The three-day festival began as a way to showcase the best independent films from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, to invigorate the audience through the art form of film.
We also have City of Destiny Awards, honoring local volunteers whose commitment to helping others in their communities is exemplary. 2017 is the 32nd anniversary of the program, and a new category was added this year, the Disability Advocate Award. Regular nominations closed February 10th, but the nomination deadline for the Disability Advocate Award has been extended through March 3rd. Recipients will be honored at the City of Destiny Award ceremony in June.
Coming up much sooner is the Destiny City Zine Symposium sponsored by Destiny City Comics and hosted by King’s Books on February 25 from 2-5 p.m. An open space is available for zine makers and comic artists to sell and present their creations. This is the third symposium, and you can expect many more.
One of my favorite aspects of Tacoma is that we are known for individuals taking on their own visions and, ahem, destiny, to pursue a dream that not everyone else notices. It is part of Tacoma’s history that an idea takes shape, gathers energy (and an audience) and then moves to a bigger city and becomes a movement. Here’s your chance to be part of a vision in its early stages.
Local illustrators Danielle Burch and Felicia Chang (aka LittleKumiho) will be there; they previously worked as illustrators at UWT’s student newspaper The Ledger. You can also count on seeing (and meeting) artists and publishers who will be selling their books of poetry, handmade prints, school projects, and more.
If you know (or want to know) the zine world, you will recognize these names of these artists who will also be present: Jen Vaughn, who recently worked on a Nicki Minaj video game and an Archie comic relaunch to lead up to the new TV show; Corey Lewis has created official art for Street Fighter, G.I. Joe, and has a new comic coming out from Image, publisher of Walking Dead.
Overall it’ll be a great place to meet local working artists looking to network and collaborate. Every creative person knows that creativity is sparked by encountering the work and ideas of other creative people. You never know where inspiration will take you.
King’s Books is located at 218 St. Helens Avenue in Tacoma, and sponsors many worthy, community-building events from author readings to book clubs. I’ll keep you posted, but you can keep up to date on their website – http://www.kingsbookstore.com/.
