Book Review: Profit and Lo$$

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Articles by Mike Wold

Vendor Profile: Abias Crosby

by Mike Wold | December 20th, 2017

Abias Crosby has a problem. He lives on the third floor of his apartment building. “I’ve been dragging up these steps for almost six years with groceries and everything.” There’s no elevator. Recently he found he wasn’t able to climb the stairs anymore. “I...

Known for holding a ’SMILE’ sign, Real Change vendor Jonas Stone passes away

by Mike Wold | December 20th, 2017

Some people don’t like being told to smile. But when vendor Jonas Stone held up his “SMILE” sign to the crowds coming off the downtown Seattle ferries, he’d bring a smile to the faces of the most recalcitrant. He’d call out “Cheer up, it’s not raining yet...

Book Review: ’Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People’

by Mike Wold | November 15th, 2017

According to Danny Katch, President Trump isn’t the only blemish in our politics; he’s just the latest incarnation of our corrupt two-party system

Danny Katch should get an award for the catchiest political title of the year. As you might expect, “Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People” is not just about the election of Donald Trump. Katch finds problems with the entire American democracy and in...

Addis Michael Jr., photo by Jon Williams

Vendor Profile: Addis Michael Jr.

by Mike Wold | November 8th, 2017

More than 30 years ago, Addis Michael Jr. built bridges and high-rises in Savannah, Georgia. An accident at work put him in a coma for six months. “I never worked a day after that. My marriage went down the drain.” His wife moved to Seattle and he followed...

Book Review: ’White Man’s Game: Saving Animals, Rebuilding Eden, and Other Myths of Conservation in Africa’

by Mike Wold | November 1st, 2017

Stephanie Hanes documents how nonprofits’ good intentions can go wrong in Africa

The word “Africa” conjures competing images. One is of a wilderness, populated by animals, beautiful and wild, a place seemingly untouched by people. Another is of dire poverty, famine, disease and endless civil wars. And there are many others, fed to us...

Q&A with David M. Buerge, author of ’Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name’

by Mike Wold | October 18th, 2017

Seattle author explores the history of Chief Seattle and the invasion of White settlers

David Buerge, author of “ Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name ,” points out that Seattle is the largest city in the Americas named after a Native American, and yet very few people know why our city was named after Seattle and few people really...

Illustration by Jon Williams, Real Change

Book Review: ’Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration — and How to Achieve Real Reform’

by Mike Wold | October 4th, 2017

John Pfaff’s statistical analysis of the prison system is billed as an answer to Michelle Alexander’s ‘Standard Story’

It’s a measure of the success of the movement against mass incarceration that John Pfaff calls the analysis first laid out in Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” the “Standard Story” about why U.S. prison populations have skyrocketed in the past 40...

Vendor Profile: Ray Sutton

by Mike Wold | September 20th, 2017

Ray Sutton took a break from selling Real Change this past year. “I had a job for a little while, but the place I was working, they decided to sell the company. I got laid off. It was $13.50 an hour, only six hours a day, but I liked it. Good people and...

Citizen University Founder Eric Liu will be the keynote speaker at the annual Real Change breakfast at 8 a.m., Sept. 19 at the Convention Center. Photo by Jon Williams

Three steps to build change from the ground up in Eric Liu’s ’You’re More Powerful Than You Think’

by Mike Wold | September 13th, 2017

Eric Liu’s book “You’re More Powerful Than You Think” isn’t about personal empowerment. “There is no chicken soup for anyone’s soul here.” Instead, it’s a self-help book for communities, rather than individuals. Liu, founder of Citizen University , lays out...

Book Review: Profit and Lo$$

by Mike Wold | September 13th, 2017

The first in a mystery series set in Seattle's homeless community

Here’s a book for Real Change readers who are mystery lovers. Rita Weinstein’s “Profit and Lo$$” looks to be the creation of a new series about a private investigator, set in Seattle. This offering has a good setup: a laid-off office worker, a food bank...