Columnist Hanna Brooks Olsen shares her experience selling Real Change with Yemane Berhe
There were still little clumps of snow around downtown and I found myself marveling at the fact that everyone in Seattle seemed to have acquired an ankle-length down coat in the last 48 hours.
I tried out a few lines, brandishing Real Change papers to people headed to lunch.
“You look dapper today, sir! Buy a paper?”
“That’s a very fetching hat, ma’am! Interest you in a paper?”
None of it worked. One after another, pedestrians shooed me away without a glance. Some mustered a weak smile. It was jarring to be so thoroughly ignored by my fellow human beings. ...