Shannan Lenke Stoll | Real Change

Taking clues from the past

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | May 14th, 2009

We're now 18 months into the current economic recession: That's a year and half of steady economic decline. More and more people are losing their jobs and collecting unemployment every month. State and local governments are slashing budgets for public services. Shelters and soup kitchens in many major cities are stretched to capacity.

Sound familiar?
- Read more about Taking clues from the past
- Comments
Sonic youth

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | May 6th, 2009

A benefit concert for homeless youth will take place Sat., May 16 at New Horizons, 8 p.m. And this benefit for youth is organized by youth -- by students at three Seattle high schools.
- Read more about Sonic youth
- Comments
Ride a bike? Get it blessed

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 29th, 2009

University Christian Church (UCC) is inviting community members to pedal their bikes to church this Sunday morning, May 3, for a unique service celebrating that earth-friendly mode of transportation, the bicycle.

UCC's Bicycle Sunday -- which marks the beginning of National Bicycle Month -- will feature a bicycle blessing, the first event of its kind in a Seattle church. Churches in other cities hold annual bike blessing services. New York's

Cathedral of St. John the Divine held its 11th annual Blessing of the Bikes on April 18.
- Read more about Ride a bike? Get it blessed
- Comments
Public access

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 29th, 2009

In another unanimous vote the same day, the council exempted itself from Public Records Act legislation requiring that city departments index documents for public reference. Such an index was cited by Congressman Conlin as "very expensive and likely unreliable because departments will have to keep updating it from several different perspectives."
- Read more about Public access
- Comments
Carnival Band

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 16th, 2009

Timmy Sars of Vancouver's Carnival Band plays baritone sax while Tesla dances. Sars led a motley marching band of spontaneously assembled horn players during the final day of Honk! Fest West on Sun., April 12, at Gas Works Park, as a marathon marching band jam session went from 1 p.m. until dawn.
- Read more about Carnival Band
- Comments
Upping the cost of public higher ed

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 15th, 2009

Making up for a $9 billion Washington State budget deficit seems like a Herculean task, and it is. After all, the categories being dragged under the guillotine
- Read more about Upping the cost of public higher ed
- Comments
Greening the Duwamish

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 15th, 2009

Volunteers from all over Seattle will gather along the banks of the Duwamish River to celebrate Earth Day this Sat., April 18 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Seattle Parks and Recreation, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, REI and People for Puget Sound are a few of the organizations and agencies hosting work parties to clean up 13 sites where shoreline habitat has been disrupted during this annual Duwamish Alive! event.
- Read more about Greening the Duwamish
- Comments
Schools not jails event

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 8th, 2009

A fundraiser organized by the Village of Hope, titled "Education vs. Incarceration: A Night of Education", will take place Sat., April 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Franklin High School, 3013 S Mount Baker Blvd. The $10 suggested donation benefits organizing efforts against the closure of five public schools and the construction for a new municipal jail in Seattle.
- Read more about Schools not jails event
- Comments
Honk! if you love spontaneous music

by Shannan Lenke Stoll | April 8th, 2009

A musical revolution with a groove laid down by um-pah-pah-ing tubas and buzzing snare drums is marching through clubs and spilling into the streets of Ballard, Georgetown, and here and there around Seattle this weekend, April 10-12, during the second annual Honk! Fest West.
- Read more about Honk! if you love spontaneous music
- Comments