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Opinion

The splendor of darkness

By John Helmiere | December 14, 2022

We have entered the cold, cloudy, dim period here in the Pacific Northwest. With the season come various festivals, both religious and secular, based in a longing for the return of the light. As a born-and-raised Florida Man, I crave direct sunlight and can relate to this yearning. However, this season I am trying to not just survive the darkness but also appreciate its sacred splendor. ...

My favorite Christmas song: ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo’

By Dr. Wes Browning | December 14, 2022

The good news: Few Republicans are in favor of Trump’s idea to terminate the Constitution so he can be president again. He “truthed” about throwing the 2020 results out and declaring the “RIGHTFUL WINNER,” or having a new election.

The bad news: The party still appears to want him to be its nominee for president in 2024.

“Suspending the Constitution is very wrong.”

“Let’s try to get the guy who wants to suspend the Constitution re-elected.” ...

Human services sector calls for more support

By Tree Willard, Jen Muzia and Steve Daschle | December 14, 2022

For a house to stand and last, a certain degree of thoughtfulness and craftsmanship are required. For that same house to be an efficient, comfortable, nurturing space that holds its heat and lets the right amount of fresh air in at the right times through the changing of seasons and over decades — that requires a much greater degree of thoughtfulness and craftsmanship. In either case, a solid foundation is essential. ...

Feature

The eye of Bryant Carlin

By Bryant Carlin | December 14, 2022

I hope you’ve enjoyed this small sample of the work I began in 1994. I have been seeking to create a detailed documentation of the current state of the Olympic wilderness ecosystem through immersion photography. My present catalog is approaching 26,000 still images and more than 12 hours of video, a body of work that I am presently editing and organizing.

My immediate goal — as far as work in the wilderness — is to complete a two-year, 52 base camp, in-depth study of the three ecosystems of the Olympic wilderness: alpine, lowland forest and wilderness estuaries and coastlines. ...

Three Christmas plays, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | December 14, 2022

As documented in the first edition of Real Change’s new theater column, Staged in Seattle, there are quite possibly too many Christmas plays running in Seattle right now. Like, more than any person — no matter how driven they are to watch anything and everything on a stage — should reasonably see.

Given that I am the opposite of that hypothetical, insatiable and theater-obsessed omnivore — I have seen plays only when forced to in school or, later, by romantic partners — our arts editor Henry Behrens thought it would be funny to send me out on review duty. ...

Arts

Author Joe Burns wants you to take a more radical, militant ‘Class Struggle’ approach to labor organizing

By Guy Oron | December 14, 2022

Over the past year, the labor movement has been on a bit of an upswing. Workers are winning historic victories at big corporations such as Starbucks and Amazon. The cost-of-living crisis brought a renewed interest in strikes and workers organizing for better wages and conditions. ...

Changemaking

For vendor Donald Duncan, life is something to ‘respect to its full potential’

By Taija PerryCook | December 14, 2022

Donald Duncan has never stayed in one place very long, and yet two things have endured: his hopeful outlook on life and his endearing Tennessee twang.

Raised in Greene County, Tennessee, with his four sisters, he has since lived in Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, California, Texas, Arizona and Washington.

After leaving home at the age of 18 and spending time in the southeastern U.S. for a few years, Duncan got a job with a traveling circus. ...

Seattle

‘I’m not choosing to live this way at all’

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | December 14, 2022

On Dec. 8, a rainy Thursday morning, Richard was getting ready to move. He lives in an RV with Samantha, his gorgeous and amicable husky, and he’d been parked at the somewhat improbable sounding — but very real — intersection of 34th Avenue Northeast and 35th Avenue Northeast in Lake City. He wasn’t moving for fun, of course, but rather because of a sweep. ...

Immigrants and people seeking abortions at risk through new license plate–reading tech

By Guy Oron | December 14, 2022

Undocumented immigrants and people seeking abortions could be put at risk by devices that read license plates and can used by almost anyone without much regulation, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Washington. ...

Seattle City Council committee greenlights extension of street cafe program

By Guy Oron | December 14, 2022

On Dec. 6, the Seattle City Council Transportation and Utilities committee approved an ordinance that would extend the city’s street cafe program and allow for more food trucks in curbside spaces. The legislation, drafted by Councilmember Dan Strauss’s office in coordination with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), is intended to permanently renew the city’s existing street cafe program, which was expanded in June 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. ...

Washington v Eyman | The Senate giveth, taketh | The bus rolls on

By | December 14, 2022

Washington v Eyman

State officials celebrated on Dec. 6 when the Court of Appeals upheld “virtually all” of a lower court judge’s ruling against former initiative coordinator Tim Eyman.

The Thurston County Superior Court found that Eyman hadn’t reported certain activities to the Public Disclosure Commission that left hundreds of thousands of dollars in his personal bank account. The judge in the case imposed a $2.6 million civil penalty against Eyman and awarded $2.8 million to cover state costs of prosecution. ...