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Glynda Goodness, Vendor of the Week.
Photo by J.P. Gritton |
Somewhere over the Aleutian Islands there exists a void in airspace — American F-14s and Russian
MiGs need never tear across the horizon unless, that is, World War III has begun. The American government allows civilian craft to cross into this “window,” so long as they can steer well clear of military airspace, where Alaska and Siberia glower across the Bering Strait. This tiny strip of aeronautical netherworld used to be the stomping ground of vendor of the week Glynda Goodness, who had scored a job surveying the islands for infrastructural development.
Goodness’ love of flight was in all likelihood there from birth. Her father’s
career as an Air Force mechanic brought Goodness everywhere from the Bahamas to Boston, from Florida to Panama. Goodness has been around planes — and getting around in planes — her entire life.
It probably came as no surprise to her folks when, after receiving a master’s
degree in Education from Southwest
Missouri State, Goodness opted out of a teaching career and moved to Alaska to fly planes. Along with earning her bachelor and master’s degrees, Goodness had been accruing piloting hours in a Missouri flight school.
After a few Alaskan summers (“We’d call them winters,” she says), Goodness flew to Seattle. Then she figured she’d stay. “I love Seattle,” she says. “It’s a great city.”
In order to supplement her income, Goodness became a Real Change vendor. And if you happen to have seen Goodness sell, you know that the thought of her in a Cessna — tangoing tranquilly between warplanes somewhere
over the Aleutians — has a kind of metaphorical resonance.
“Thank you,” she tells her customers.
“Your support means a lot.”
Let her sell you a paper at the QFC on Pike and Broadway.
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