RESIST PSYCHIC DEATH

There is a common belief about Olympia, the 24th-largest city in Washington and capital of the state, that the outsize cultural weight of the town sprang from Evergreen, a small liberal-arts college founded at the end of 1967’s Summer of Love. Simpsons creator Matt Groening and Lynda Barry both launched their cartooning careers there. Campus radio KAOS was the first station to give priority to independent record labels. Bruce Pavitt, cofounder of Sub Pop, first made a name for himself on campus. The talents incubated at Evergreen, so the lore goes, seeped into the greater community and, from there, burbled on out into the world.