Reminiscing about the value of gravel

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Dr. Wes is the Real Change Circulation Specialist, but, in addition to his skills with a spreadsheet, he writes this weekly column about whatever recent going-ons caught his attention. Dr. Wes has contributed to the paper since 1994. Curious about his process or have a response to one of his columns? Connect with him at [email protected].

Articles by Dr. Wes Browning

1965 was a good year; we had night skies back then

By Dr. Wes Browning | September 27, 2023

I try to watch PBS news every day. With the writers' strike, it’s the only TV I bother with anymore. It’s enough to enable me to know the most important things going on. For example,I know there’s likely to be a U.S. government shutdown this upcoming weekend.

But the other day I was astounded to learn from PBS that light pollution was now making it hard to see the night sky.

The last time I remember seeing the Milky Way in all its glory was when I was 16 years old; that was 58 years ago. ...

A tragedy of perpetual retreat and longer pharmacy receipts

By Dr. Wes Browning | September 20, 2023

I’ve been getting meds at Bartell Drugs for years. At least since the 1960s. I originally gravitated to the triangular two-story store that was at 4th and Pine in what is now Westlake Park. Being a teenager, what “meds” meant to me was mostly just aspirin and allergy medicine. The big draw of that store was the counter on the second floor where my friends and I ate corn dogs while watching shoppers outside. Eventually that store was closed, and I switched to the 3rd and Union store. ...

OK, this is it: no more requests

By Dr. Wes Browning | September 13, 2023

I have a general rule regarding these columns. “I don’t take requests.”

Just saying so usually works, but from time to time I get requests from obstinate people who won’t put their requests away. This is one of those times. Katie Comboy, Real Change’s Volunteer Coordinator, decided a few months ago that I should volunteer a column about Albert Einstein’s first wife Mileva Maric´ and how Bertel done her wrong. Then Camille Gix, on advocacy staff, stuck her advocacy into the fray. ...

I need to get out of bed four times a night, so my right arm is getting plenty of exercise at least

By Dr. Wes Browning | September 6, 2023

Many of you already know I fell and fractured my upper humerus just below where the bone meets my shoulder socket. Humerus sounds humorous, which inspired me to write this column.

It started about two or three weeks ago when Anitra and I were threatened with eviction if we didn’t clean our messy apartment. A friend offered to help by arranging cleaners to come over. Anitra and I were asked to bring ourselves and the cat to the office to be out of the way. We carried the cat in a canvas grocery bag around my neck because she refused to get into her carrier. ...

Systemic racism is everywhere, even — and oddly— in math

By Dr. Wes Browning | August 30, 2023

Dr. Wes is off this week, so enjoy this vintage Dr. Wes column from July 2020.

The U.S. Census Bureau is projecting that for the first time ever, U.S. kids under 16 are mostly either non-white or Hispanic, according to the Associated Press.

Over the whole population, non-Hispanic whites now account for 60% of the population, but the percentage is expected to drop to less than half by 2045, at least. ...

I don’t know how else I could have ended up with an aumakua!

By Dr. Wes Browning | August 23, 2023

The fires in Maui have been horrifying. I fear that the final death toll will be more than a thousand people. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered from loss.

I have a dim memory of Maui from early childhood. Sometimes, when I was a toddler, my parents arranged a car trip across the island. I don’t know how. We were living on Oahu, not Maui. Was there a ferry? Was the car a loaner? Anyway, my whole memory was of miles of cultivated fields. It looked too corporate. ...

Why stop at driverless cars? How about pilotless helicopters, too?

By Dr. Wes Browning | August 16, 2023

According to headlines this morning, San Francisco will experiment with driverless taxis. I think it’s a great idea!

I was a Seattle cab driver for five years, from May 1982 to May 1987. While I have a lot of interesting memories of that time, I think it would have been better had I not been in the cars. In fact, after I crashed six different cabs, I made a deal with the Department of Licensing that I wouldn’t crash anymore if they would just replace my driver’s license promptly with a state ID. Which they did. I was so relieved. ...

‘Wes Browning: One personality to serve you since 1991’

By Dr. Wes Browning | August 9, 2023

My cover picture on Facebook has been a fake Real Change cover showing me with those words. It was created in 2014 by Jon Williams, our graphic designer at the time, for the in-office purpose of introducing staff to vendors. There were different fake covers for all the staff members.

We were all asked to pose for Jon to photograph us. I struck a kind of kitschy Soviet realism propaganda-poster pose, with me optimistically gazing up over the horizon. ...

Let’s have a rent control law without loopholes you could drive a semi through

By Dr. Wes Browning | August 2, 2023

I’m psyched about some upcoming developments.

One actually has already happened: All the newspapers in the country have said “the Barbenheimer is here!” I probably won’t be seeing the Barbie movie, because I don’t really relate to Barbies. But I relate a lot to the Bhagavad Gita-quoting, A-bomb-designing Robert Oppenheimer. I also relate to Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel and Richard Feynman, who supposedly show up in the film somehow or other. ...