Year in Review
Seattle Met's 5 Most-Read Longform Stories of 2023
These are the features our readers loved this year.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_3094,w_4700,x_0,y_0/c_limit,dpr_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_80,w_1080/people-tree-dangle-rgb_nkr3ix.jpg)
Image: Mac Holt and Seattle Met Composite
The Tree of Life Is Falling Down
Allison Williams
How one death-defying spruce became the mascot, tourist trap, and spiritual center of the Washington coast.
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Image: Hawk Krall
Washington's Great Taco Time Divide
Allecia Vermillion
Loving Taco Time Northwest might be the truest badge of being a real Seattleite.
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Image: Courtesy Haley Shapley
I Got Stuck on That Beached Ferry with My Cat
Haley Shapley
This is what it was like to be aboard the Walla Walla ferry when it ran aground on Bainbridge Island.
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Image: Daniel Berman
The Schism at Seattle Pacific University
Benjamin Cassidy
How an anti-LGBTQ+ policy led to an existential dispute at a small Christian college, pitting students and faculty against the board—and placing the institution in peril.
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Image: Seattle Met Composite
Clouded Judgment: How a Former Amazon Employee Hacked Capital One
Benjamin Cassidy
Paige Thompson engineered one of the biggest data breaches in history from her bedroom in South Seattle. Her trial exposed us all.