The Middle Ground by Sam Day 5/15/19

Real Change

Better jobs equal better communities

by Amy Daley and Sam Dancy | May 29th, 2019

COMMENTARY

We are two of 25,000 union grocery store workers in the Puget Sound region. Income inequality has gotten so extreme in our business that in one day, our CEO makes more money than our average coworker — his employee — earns in an entire year. This is outrageous and, with your help, we are going to do our best to change it.
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Real Change

The Middle Ground by Sam Day 5/22/19

by Sam Day | May 22nd, 2019

Contact Sam Day at sam@samday.com
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Real Change

Stale cookies and unsolicited conversations

by Oscar Rosales Castaneda | May 22nd, 2019

Real Change columnist

I joined peers from the UW School of Social Work on May 3 to counter-demonstrate an “Affirmative-Action Bake Sale.” We collectively decided to show our presence, not so much to directly engage but to observe and be present for anyone in need of a sympathetic ear or a space to process their thoughts. The event was, after all, a cheap stunt meant to antagonize and dehumanize.
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At least my quasi-apocalypse had room for some homeless people — and The Gap

by Dr. Wes Browning | May 22nd, 2019

Real Change columnist

One of our vendors calls me “Dr. Crank Monster.” It’s nice to be appreciated for who you truly are deep down in your cold, dead heart.

I’m thinking about this now in connection with my reaction to the knowledge that Northgate Mall is going to be redeveloped, right about when the light rail line reaches it. This cranks me up.

The press releases are blossomy. They’re going to add greenery. There will be at least one hotel, and office buildings, and not one but three ice rinks for an NHL team. The whole place is going to look like a campus. Whoop-de-freakin’-do.
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The kindness of strangers: thoughts on Jewish identity and the idea of community

by Matt Kanter | May 22nd, 2019

COMMENTARY

As Jews, we are taught to welcome the stranger as Abraham did the angels and to remember that we, too, were strangers wandering the wilderness. We are taught many of our values in simplified words or phrases, like Tzedakah (Justice), G’milut Chasidim (Acts of Loving Kindness) and Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World). But we don’t always see these ideas in practice.

In my childhood, I witnessed these values in action.
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Seattle City Council honors vendor Sharon Jones with a proclamation

by Tim Harris | May 22nd, 2019

Director's Corner | Timothy Harris, founding director

Sharon Jones would have loved the May 20 meeting of the full Seattle City Council.

As the session began, Council President Bruce Harrell suspended the rules of order so that Councilmember Lisa Herbold could say a few words in honor of the late Real Change vendor Sharon Jones, and read a proclamation into the official record:

A Proclamation Honoring the Life of Sharon Jones

Whereas, Sharon Jones was born in Shreveport, Louisiana into an Air Force family; and
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Real Change

The Power of Believing

by Tim Harris | May 15th, 2019

With your support, Zack Tutwiler found somewhere to belong

After 25 years of publication, Real Change remains unique among Seattle newspapers.

Not just because we’re the largest independent weekly newspaper still standing. Or because — unlike most print publications — our circulation and readership are still growing.

Our continued relevance comes down to this: At a time when the public dialogue on homelessness has gone more than a little toxic, Real Change is a place where people like Zack Tutwiler — who have struggled all their lives — can find acceptance and community.
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‘Diggling’ — and reimagining community

by Jacqueline Moulton | May 15th, 2019

Who are we? It is a question with an evolving answer, one I believe is most revelatory comes in the space wherein language fails — when we misread, misinterpret, misunderstand the other. Who we are reveals itself within the cohabitational relationship between language and community. I learned this from an argument that brewed one day at Aurora Commons — a disagreement barreling toward violence because language, that reliable tool, had failed.
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The appeal and gripping grippedness of ‘Game of Thrones,’ which I’ve never seen

by Dr. Wes Browning | May 15th, 2019

Let’s talk about something we don’t know about!

Oh, to be as carefree and unconcerned about the truth as our president. What an imaginative life he leads, while I’m stuck week after week trying to say at least one or two things that are true.

I wouldn’t want to mislead people about subjects that matter to me. I only want to mislead about subjects I don’t care about.

For example, I could write an entire column about everything I don’t know about a certain TV series that I’ve never seen. Not one episode.
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Real Change

The Middle Ground by Sam Day 5/15/19

by Sam Day | May 15th, 2019

Contact Sam Day at sam@samday.com
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