Extended Newsletter with Special Announcements: August 17, 2026
Personal Reflections
With all the announcements today, I am skipping this section this time. The only thing I will say is that my Dad is still in the hospital and we are still without a diagnosis. This is maddening, please pray!
New Project Announcement: For the Record
Vinyl records have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I still remember how thrilled my family was when we upgraded our record player to a nicer model that maintained a classic vintage look. I always thought records were cool, but my personal connection to them didn’t truly begin until 2016, when La La Land came out in theaters. That Christmas, my Grandpa Bob gave my sister and me each a $100 Amazon gift card. I used mine to purchase a record player—the same one I still use today—and the La La Land soundtrack, pressed on beautiful blue vinyl. Ironically, I no longer enjoy that film (or its soundtrack), but I will always be grateful to it for getting my collection started.
I am incredibly proud of my collection. To me, it is something genuinely beautiful, featuring some of my favorite artists of all time and representing a wonderful array of musical stylings, genres, and eras.
More recently, I have become a regular at Rainy Day Records. There is something about Rainy Day’s atmosphere that I absolutely adore. It is comforting, delightfully chaotic, and always brimming with fresh inventory from countless genres and generations. I love browsing for both records and DVDs, and enjoy my fair share of window shopping.
As someone who is deeply sentimental, I have found myself feeling almost guilty whenever I look at my record collection lately. I have not prioritized actually enjoying my collection. I can imagine others feel the same way, and that is why I have decided to start this series.
For the Record will begin when 14 Questions for My Community ends, with its debut on September 22nd. Each week, I will share a review, reflection, or observation from my experience listening to something from my collection.
At the heart of this series is a desire to encourage us to pause, step away from Spotify for a little while, and rediscover the experience of sitting down with a record and truly listening to it. After all, many of the artists who created these albums originally imagined them as a vinyl, at-home listening experience —something to be experienced intentionally, from beginning to end.
I hope For the Record can become a space for conversation, musical discovery, nostalgia, and inspiration. I want it to celebrate the joy of collecting, encourage us to revisit the music we love, and help keep this beautiful art form—and our collections—alive and thriving.
Oh and for the record, I think this is going to be a lot of fun!
PS: My record collection is large, but like a true vinyl enthusiast, I still have plenty on my wishlist! If you’d like to add something from my wishlist to my collection, you can check out my Amazon Wishlist. Thankfully, many of these records can also be found at Rainy Day Records—and supporting local is always the best!
Sign up for “14 More Questions”
What started off as a fun summer project during my undergrad studies in 2023 has turned into something bigger than I ever anticipated. The heart of this project is to invite people to have their voices heard and, through sharing their perspectives, allow readers to feel that they are not alone. They say, “It takes a village,” and this project seeks to create that village—a space we can all access and draw from when we encounter life’s deepest questions. Click here to learn about the next round of this project and to sign up to participate.
This Week in the Arts
With titles still being decided, I will be publishing three pieces in my JOLT Column including:
Review RAH Community Engagement’s ‘Cinema in the Park’
Touring the Hands-On Children’s Museum
A Conversation with Sisu Stitchery’s Heidi Aijala
I will be publishing these articles under “Rachel’s Choice”
Review: ‘My View from the Back of the Bus’ by Merritt D. Long
A Love Letter to Local Arts: Bill Lange Celebrates Our Musicians and Artists in his Docuseries
To read my articles as they come out, I invite you to subscribe to The JOLT News and follow me on Instagram and Facebook, then invite a friend to do the same! :)
If you read a story that inspires you, I invite you to share it with others and help spread the word about the incredible things happening in the Thurston County Arts Community.
Other Fun Things This Week
14 Questions for My Community: What do you think is the best way to resolve a conflict, and why?
Getting in ‘The Zone’: “I Am the Night - Color Me Black”: Season 5, Episode 27. Watch here in advance.
Tip Jar
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