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The bare cross and empty tombs

By John Helmiere | April 14, 2021

We are in a season of great change. The springtime bacchanal of color and sunshine (and pollen) complement the changes swirling about us. Politics, social life and the fabric of our city are all in flux. After a year of hibernation, with a tentative end in sight for the pandemic, many of us are beginning to imagine re-engaging with the world. But it is likely to be a new world we enter into, not simply a return to the old. ...
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Real Change
Letter to the editor

By Liz Olson | April 14, 2021

Dear Editor:

Real Change recently highlighted a number of bills focused on reducing poverty moving through the legislature (Anti-poverty bills moving through Washington legislature, March 31, 2021). In addition to these bills, the House and Senate’s recent budget proposals also make critical poverty-reduction investments required to strengthen Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. ...
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Real Change
This is my first one-topic column in recent memory. Bruce Harrell is a gift.

By Dr. Wes Browning | April 7, 2021

As he races to be Seattle’s mayor, Bruce Harrell is getting more creative.

We’ve already discussed here his idea to force all of Seattle’s police officers to watch the full George Floyd video — an idea that reminded me of the eyes-clamped-open scene in “Clockwork Orange.” I suggested the police might not appreciate the force. Nobody likes to be forced to do what they don’t want to do, right? Do you like it when someone yells at you, “Hands on the wall, legs back, spread them!”? Of course not. The police are just like you. ...
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Real Change
Information in the time of COVID-19

By Hanna Brooks Olsen | April 7, 2021

Refreshing social media is a common morning ritual for many of us. With one eye open, breaking every rule of sleep hygiene, we open an app to get an overview of what we missed as we slept. Family updates, funny videos and, in the era of the later stages of COVID-19, news about numbers, vaccine eligibility and what’s open have become a critical part of our information diet. ...
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Real Change
Real Change is not a charity, but a community counteracting isolation

By Shelley Dooley | April 7, 2021

The relationship between customer and vendor is unique. It’s not a strictly business relationship and it’s not charity. Street papers are one rare way for an individual to create their own support system, whether that’s called community or family. The pandemic threatens to rescind this and move the relationship to one with a power imbalance, which would diminish the vendor in that relationship. ...
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Real Change
Mah Nishtanah? What Has Changed?

By Rabbi Olivier BenHaim | March 31, 2021

Mah nishtanah? What has changed? is one of the questions the Passover Haggadah (story/prayerbook) asked us to consider, once again, this past weekend. A year into a pandemic, where does our list start? Yet, a year into a pandemic, we may be too fatigued to summon the will to answer. With the vaccine rollout in full speed, we may be more inclined to turn toward the light at the end of the tunnel. But are we ready to exit? ...
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Real Change
The cheese you ordered may take longer to arrive than you expected

By Dr. Wes Browning | March 31, 2021

Last week, high winds in the vicinity of the Suez Canal caused a huge ship (“as long as the Empire State Building is tall”) to turn sideways in the canal and jam it, blocking all other shipping traffic.

Thus reminding me at once how old I am. I was seven years old in 1956 when Egypt’s Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser surprised the world by nationalizing the Suez Canal. It was very hard to figure out what was going on from just watching the nightly news. It was a bit like walking into the movie “The Return of the King” an hour and a half in having not read any of the books. ...
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Real Change
Sam Day throughout the years

By Sam Day | March 31, 2021

Sam Day has contributed cartoons to Real Change for six years several times each month. He came to this work as he befriended the people who lived outside on Seattle’s concrete. We’re highlighting a few of our Day favorites as he is now retiring.

Day began his career in sixth grade, illustrating his father’s articles and columns in the Tri-City Herald. His political cartoons were also featured in the Lewiston Tribune; the Daily News of Moscow, Idaho; and The Daily Evergreen, all while still in high school, atop a weekly strip for his school paper. ...
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Real Change
Mass shootings are violently rooted in xenophobia

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | March 24, 2021

The past week carried a heavy tone that continues to add to the incremental accumulation of collective psychological trauma. As news seeped into my digital media feeds, I prepared myself for that cyclical pattern that many of us undergo when we encounter repeated instances of violence. We are made aware of our otherness and, in turn, feel the paranoia that follows. ...
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Real Change
Stuck in a particular rut? Write about it.

By Dr. Wes Browning | March 24, 2021

What is about to happen in this space: I will illustrate the technique of “writing while stupid.” I’ve done this before. The basic idea is to harness your stupidity. Make it work for you instead of against you. ...
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