Animal Scientist Dr. Temple Grandin on the Human-Animal Bond

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Contributing Writer

Articles by Robin Lindley

Heroes and trials at Harborview

By Robin Lindley | September 23, 2009

One of the most shameful things about modern America is that in our unbelievably rich land, the quality of health care available to many of our people is unbelievably poor, and the cost is unbelievably high. --Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, 1978 ...

On the meaning of Obama

By Robin Lindley | June 4, 2009

In a recent email, my Swedish cousin enthused about the election of President Barack Obama: "That is a great difference from [George Bush], who grew up in a state with one star on the flag in Texas to Obama, who knows that there are many stars all over the world." My cousin's words reflect an international sense of relief as President Obama departs from the preceding administration by recognizing that the U.S. is part of an interdependent world. In his inaugural address, Obama stressed this sense of interconnection as our world shrinks: ...

Most Livable Region?

By Robin Lindley | April 16, 2009

In the late 19th century, newcomers to the Northwest derided the early settlers as "mossbacks" who were stuck in the past, in the woods. Seattle writer Knute Berger, the curmudgeonly, modern-day Mossback for the online newspaper Crosscut, has written hundreds of columns ...

Two Roads Diverged

By Robin Lindley | March 18, 2009

In his celebrated poem "The Road Not Taken," Robert Frost reflected on choice and destiny: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--/ I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all the difference."

These powerful words inform award-winning writer David Guterson's most recent novel, The Other, an exploration of loyalty, compromise, and life decisions set in the Seattle of the last four decades and the Olympic Peninsula's lush west side. ...

Back to mountain wartime

By Robin Lindley | March 16, 2009

In his epic new novel, The Eleventh Man, celebrated Seattle writer Ivan Doig tackles the huge maelstrom of World War II. The book follows the wartime odyssey of Ben Reinking, one of thousands of Montanans who enlisted in the military after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. ...

The Cruelest Art

By Robin Lindley | March 14, 2009

Waterboarding. Hypothermia. Stress positions. Prolonged isolation. Sensory deprivation. These "clean" tortures leave deep psychological wounds but few physical scars -- and they have been used for decades not only by dictatorships, but by democratic governments, including the United States.

After 9/11, Americans used these techniques on so-called enemy combatants detained in a system of prisons from Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib and the Pentagon's detention center at Guant ...

Beyond the Rubble

By Robin Lindley | March 12, 2009

The death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the charismatic Brazilian chief of the U.N. Mission to Iraq, with 21 others in a Baghdad terrorist bombing in August 2003 presaged the failure of U.S. policy in Iraq. He suffered for several hours under tons of rubble because heroic yet poorly equipped rescuers from the most powerful military in history lacked the training and equipment to free him. ...

Angry voices beyond the beltway

By Robin Lindley | March 9, 2009

In the face of escalating gas and food prices, falling wages, rising unemployment, a housing crisis, a mismanaged and endless war, unbridled corporate greed, and Congressional deadlock, enraged citizens on the political left and right are channeling their dissatisfaction into grassroots movements for change. ...

From the Edge of History

By Robin Lindley | March 9, 2009

For the past four decades, Ted Sorensen has led a distinguished career in international law. Despite his many achievements as an attorney, however, he is best known as the closest advisor to Pres. John F. Kennedy -- and is seen by many commentators as the greatest American presidential speechwriter. ...