Book Review: ’Can You Hear Me’

Real Change advocacy team takes on Olympia: A first-timer’s perspective

via Evelyn Chow (Organizer, Real Change) and Canada Jones (Vendor, Real Change) (not verified) | February 12th, 2020

On the morning of Monday Feb. 3, Canada Jones strolled around the block of First Avenue South and South Washington Street in a suit we picked out together from the Real Change clothing closet. It was 6 a.m. on the day we were heading down to Olympia for...

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Rainy Day of Heroes

by Lee Nacozy | February 12th, 2020

The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) unites over 100 papers worldwide and organizes initiatives like Vendor Week, when we get creative each February to support our vendors. For several years now, Real Change Development Director Camilla Walter...

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A contemplation of ‘Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’

by Cliff Cawthon | February 12th, 2020

If Marvel Studios called dibs on Christmas, Yule, Flag Day, Homecoming, Kwanzaa, International Women’s Day and Easter, then DC Films has nabbed Mardi Gras with a woman emerging from a party backdrop. “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation … )”...

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Real Change
Vying for Votes: Interview with City Council District 3 candidate Egan Orion

by Ashley Archibald and Lisa Edge | October 9th, 2019

It’s safe to say that Councilmember Kshama Sawant and small-business owner Egan Orion come from very different places, politically and stylistically. Sawant is a proud socialist who has frustrated some but worked to spur changes like a $15 minimum wage,...
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Vying for Votes: Interview with City Council District 3 candidate Kshama Sawant

by | October 9th, 2019

It’s safe to say that Councilmember Kshama Sawant and small-business owner Egan Orion come from very different places, politically and stylistically. Sawant is a proud socialist who has frustrated some but worked to spur changes like a $15 minimum wage,...
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Opening a beer had power over me, so I switched to root beer

by Donald Morehead | October 9th, 2019

It makes the same noise, but now that noise makes me feel graceful

It’s easier to fall down than to get up. You get sick and go to the hospital, or you go to jail and lose your job, and everything can go downhill fast. Boom, boom, boom. It falls right down the line like dominoes. That’s the way it is. When you start losing...
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Book Review: ’One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy’

by Dave Gamrath | October 9th, 2019

Author Carol Anderson chronicles the story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws

Following news reports, it is well known that the Republican Party has attempted to restrict the votes of those they deemed unlikely to vote for Republican candidates: minorities and the poor. Many of their tactics are also well known, including new...
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Reporter’s Notebook: sex worker arrests, signature-gathering company fined, Boeing whistleblower

by Ashley Archibald | October 9th, 2019

Not working An Oct. 2 presentation to the Seattle City Council on a diversion program took a hard turn when the deputy police chief suggested that many sex workers on Aurora Avenue were housed and some were there because they enjoyed the work. The exchange...
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Letter to the Editor: Crossword clue

by Letters to the Editor | October 9th, 2019

Hello Real Change Editor, My name is Regina Gebken and I work at the Grocery Outlet on MLK and Union. I buy my copy of your paper every week from Eddie, who sells papers at the store. I like spending time doing the crossword with my friends. Often, I find I...
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Homelessness is a community crisis that involves all of us

by Rex Hohlbein | October 2nd, 2019

Most of us are not social workers, case managers or substance abuse counselors. We have little crisis or suicide prevention knowledge and no real expertise in dealing with anger management issues or de-escalation tactics. On issues of abuse and trauma, we...
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Closing nonprofit takes away 25 beds and a voice for youth

by Ashley Archibald | October 2nd, 2019

It was 1995 when Zackary Tutwiler, a 15-year-old homeless kid surviving in Seattle, took his first step into the world of activism. Tutwiler, now a Real Change vendor, would go from overnight shelter to the Orion Center, a drop-in day center for young...
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Reporter’s Notebook: marijuana reform bill, local leader receives MacArthur Foundation award

by Ashley Archibald | October 2nd, 2019

Pot act passes House Sure, the only news you might have heard out of Washington, D.C. of late centers on a mob boss-style phone call between President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine, but lawmakers made history with a piece of legislation intended...
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Director’s Corner: Economic justice is the right approach to ending homelessness

by Tim Harris | October 2nd, 2019

After President Trump bullied his way through the West Coast a few weeks ago, blaming cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco for making sleeping on the streets too attractive, a friend asked, “Is there a city in America that gets homelessness right?”...
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Vying for Votes: Interview with City Council District 6 candidate Dan Strauss

by Ashley Archibald and Lisa Edge | October 2nd, 2019

When Councilmember Mike O’Brien announced he would not seek another term in District 6, the floodgates opened. Candidates poured into the race. In the end, 16 people threw their hats in, more than in any other district. Out of the melee, two have emerged...
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Vying for Votes: Interview with City Council District 6 candidate Heidi Wills

by Ashley Archibald and Lisa Edge | October 2nd, 2019

When Councilmember Mike O’Brien announced he would not seek another term in District 6, the floodgates opened. Candidates poured into the race. In the end, 16 people threw their hats in, more than in any other district. Out of the melee, two have emerged...
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Crime and cognitive dissonance

by Hanna Brooks Olsen | October 2nd, 2019

Real Change columnist

A Seattle Facebook page recently shared photos of individuals allegedly shoplifting from area grocery stores, creating a dust-up among folks who most likely don’t have a lot of experience living with scarcity. The carts in the photos contained necessities,...
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Real Change vendor Todd Kline

by Bridget Mountain | October 2nd, 2019

Malibu’s Rock Star has been selling Real Change for the past 10 years. Todd Kline, originally from Seattle, moved to Malibu in the ’80s and became famous for balancing rocks on the beach. Today, Kline lives back in Seattle, where he sells Real Change on the...
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Book Review: ’Can You Hear Me’

by Megan Wildhood | October 2nd, 2019

Elena Varvello's novel is billed as a riveting coming-of-age story but reviewer Megan Wildhood found it underwhelming

A man with a loving, submissive wife and a typical teenage son kidnaps a girl and, even after he’s eventually caught, doesn’t ever seem to recognize the immorality of his actions. Author Elena Varvello asks readers of “Can You Hear Me?” to believe, even to...
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