Does Jeanine Cummins’ ‘American Dirt’ step over a borderline?

Pipe organ guardians carry through a classic resonance

by Samira George | December 2nd, 2020

Few people think about what happens to a church after it closes its doors for good. Some are turned into hip coffee shops; others, repurposed into art galleries; and some torn down completely to make way for luxury apartments. Before the age of electronic...

Path with Art endeavors to keep art accessible in the virtual world

by Kamna Shastri | December 2nd, 2020

When COVID-19 shut down the world, the local arts organizers of Path with Art knew they couldn’t abandon their students. For many students, the free classes offered by Path with Art created a community and a belonging that would become even more necessary...

Seattle voters approve Proposition 1, increasing funding for public transportation

via Tyler Agafonov | December 2nd, 2020

After Seattle voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1 , a new 0.15% sales and use tax for public transit in the city, King County Metro riders will begin to see increased service hours and reliability, more support for reduced fares and improved...

Read more in the Dec. 2-8, 2020 issue.

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Real Change
Streaming to stay sane

by Michelle Galluzzo | October 7th, 2020

Almost all King County events are canceled, so we’re listing streaming events for optimal physical distancing

October 12 Virtual Indigenous Peoples’ Day Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center: online event; 1:30 p.m., free, all ages tinyurl.com/y3wyu7uy Just because we can’t celebrate in person doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate at all. This year’s Indigenous Peoples’...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
A rose blooms in concrete

by Evelyn Chow | October 7th, 2020

“One of the hardest parts of being homeless was losing a sense of routine. I used to love doing my eyebrows. One day, someone came up to me and pointed out how messy they had become. You don’t get time to do self care when you’re living on the streets. For...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Remembering Evie Lovett

by Kamna Shastri | October 7th, 2020

I met Evie Lovett briefly one day during my shift in the Real Change Vendor Center. She came up to the door of the community room where, at that time in the pandemic, we would pack a bag of food and hygiene products whenever someone asked. I cannot remember...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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I give Trump credit for being rare. He’s one in 8 billion

by Dr. Wes Browning | October 7th, 2020

Because I write these things, I often jot down thoughts I have, thinking I might use them later. Here’s one I found that I wrote a couple of months ago. I have no clue what I was reacting to: “Some people invite karma. They beg for life’s hard lessons. Who...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Why poor people pay more taxes than the president

by Hanna Brooks Olsen | October 7th, 2020

In this Washington, it’s extra bad

After a New York Times report surprised exactly no one by revealing President Trump’s meager tax filings, a lot of people around the country were mad. But in Washington, we all should have been even more mad — because here, the homeless pay more in taxes...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Refuting the myths

by Mike Wold | October 7th, 2020

Study enlightens us as to who gets abortions and whether they have regrets

The right to have an abortion is increasingly under attack. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent death means that abortion will become one of the leading issues in the U.S. general election in November. Yet, as Diana Greene Foster points out,...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Creative during COVID

via Meryl Alcabes | October 7th, 2020

Artists are stretching their imaginations to keep working

Meryl Alcabes is a Seattle-based event and portrait photographer who is also a feature and humor writer. Meryl has lived in South America and in Europe, but her favorite city is Seattle, where she raised three sons and lived to tell about it. Meryl dabbles...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Adding life to what matters

by Kamna Shastri | October 7th, 2020

The breathtaking and memorable Black Lives Matter mural painted by Vivid Matter Collective on Pine Street in June was harmed by the application of a sealant treatment, but it is being repainted. The mural arose during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protests. Now...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Local courts shifting for COVID might stay that way

by Ashley Archibald | October 7th, 2020

When the first COVID-19 case in the U.S. hit Seattle, it was like someone pressed the pause button on the region. By the governor’s order, life slowed to a crawl as in-person gatherings were canceled and restaurants closed, until the only place to find...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Staying home | Virus hits White House

by Ashley Archibald | October 7th, 2020

Staying home Housing advocates demonstrated in Olympia Oct. 2 to call on Gov. Jay Inslee to extend the statewide moratorium on evictions as the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the livelihoods and housing of Washingtonians. The advocates,...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Seattle budget back and forth reveals many plans and politics

by Ashley Archibald | October 7th, 2020

The Seattle City Council finished heated negotiations to reconfigure the 2020 budget to account for coronavirus-related shortfalls and an uprising against police brutality one week and began tangling with Mayor Jenny Durkan’s proposed 2021 budget the next...
Read more in the Oct. 7-13, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
Streaming to stay sane

by Michelle Galluzzo | September 30th, 2020

Almost all King County events are canceled, so we’re listing streaming events for optimal physical distancing

October 1–11 Social Justice Film Festival Social Justice Film Institute, Northwest Film Forum and Meaningful Movies: online event; $5–125, all ages tinyurl.com/y2q6d28f This year the Social Justice Film Festival will be screening online all week — anytime...
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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Real Change
The Jewish High Holidays

by Rabbi Olivier BenHaim | September 30th, 2020

We, Jews, just finished celebrating our High Holidays. These started with Rosh HaShanah , the Jewish New Year, and closed — 10 days later — with Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement. Associated with these Holidays is a poem from the Torah portion called...
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And robots. Fear them

by Dr. Wes Browning | September 30th, 2020

Some cheerleading is in order. There’s little chance the national election will come down to one state locked in recounting votes, as in Florida in 2000. The most likely scenario is that by Nov. 20 or so, after mail-in ballots have been counted everywhere...
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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Does Jeanine Cummins’ ‘American Dirt’ step over a borderline?

by Edie Lau | September 30th, 2020

The controversy surrounding the book’s publication has merit, but it’s a good read, nonetheless

I’ll just say it straight up: I liked “American Dirt” very much. Jeanine Cummins is a helluva writer. “American Dirt” is a harrowing fictional story of a mother and her young son fleeing for their lives from a drug lord in Mexico. It’s a grim topic. I didn’...
Read more in the Sept. 30 - Oct. 6, 2020 issue.
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