The Rooms Where It Happened: Washington’s Road to Marriage Equality
The book is timely. The political and religious right, led by the Republican Party and Fox News, has demonized transgender athletes and drag shows as part of a new campaign to discredit LGBTQ civil rights.
Future Tense: Our (Enduring) Childcare Crisis
It is not work that produces a marketable product like designing a new app or building widgets or whatever. It is work that invests in the future.
“The Bad Part of Town”: Seattle’s 3rd & Pine
Despite 3rd and Pine’s current low reputation, it has a surprisingly glitzy and glamorous past. Going back to the 1920s, it was a popular streetcar stop for those wanting to enjoy the more luxurious side of life.
Reconsidering Narcissa Whitman
Many of Narcissa’s letters from Walla Walla to her family in Upstate New York have been saved. It’s worth taking a closer look at these fading documents to see if there are other aspects to this dramatic and ultimately sad story.
We’ve Got the Meats: Our Insatiable Quest for Protein in a...
Depending on what’s included in the calculation, agriculture accounts for roughly a quarter of all human-caused greenhouse gases.
Q&A: What the Republicans Need to Win in Washington State
"The business community, while they had always been a strong supporter of Republican campaigns, are now coalescing on both sides, skewing campaign money and resources heavily towards Democrats."
Travel Update: Asia Surges with More Flights, Higher Fares
In 2019, pre-covid Chinese made 155 million trips abroad, by far the largest number of tourists from any country in the world.
Disconnected: Why the Seattle Connector Streetcar is a Very Bad Idea
The Market, like downtown Seattle, is already stressed by post-Covid challenges and depressed downtown conditions. The two-year complete demolition of the First Ave. route, followed by bottlenecked streets and supply access, will create lethal threats to many of these businesses.
Ron DeSantis’ Tribute to “Comstockery”
DeSantis's Florida laws allow parents and members of the public to select books they would like school districts to remove. All that’s needed to challenge a book is for just one parent to say it made their child uncomfortable.
Mobile Chickens: Farm Ecosystems and the Evolution of Wine
"Instead of cleaning the coop, we have ours on wheels so we can move it around with the tractor. So as a concept, there were no plans we could find but it was something we came up with so we could have laying hens. They’ll eat the grass – it’s like salad. It also thwarts predators, because they habituate.
Full of Hot Air: Our Historical Wariness of Balloons
Matching the current Chinese deployment of weather or intelligence balloons over North America are attempts by the 1940s Japanese military government to inflict harm and alarm along America’s West Coast, using low-cost giant balloons.
Springtime: Fresh Local Asparagus Nesting in Spaghetti
This is spaghetti as the soft sweet ground beneath the first of the asparagus, it is their day.
American History Through Indigenous Eyes
“To say that the United States is a colonialist settler-state is not to make an accusation but rather to face historical reality, without which consideration, not much in U.S. history makes sense, unless Indigenous peoples are erased.”
The Art of Ikat: Seattle Art Museum Makes the Case
Ikat is a labor-intensive weaving technique employed in disparate world cultures. It entails an arduous process of dying small groups of threads different colors.
The Browning and Un-Westing of Christianity
The future of American Christianity now appears to be a multiethnic community that is largely led by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
You Should Collect Art
Because I genuinely believe that collecting art will enrich your life, whatever your circumstances, and because I’m getting paid to write this, I am going to convince you that it’s cool to buy and collect art.
Blood-Soaked Histories: Ukraine and the American West
It is not difficult to understand why Ukraine would seek freedom from Russian domination. But Russia’s refusal to let go of Ukraine and its Russian-majority provinces can also be understood.
Running to be Spokane Mayor: Lisa Brown
“This election will shape the future of Spokane for decades," declares the incumbent mayor, Nadine Woodward.
REVIEW: Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ The Moore
Fresh on the heels of his band’s fifth album – the aptly titled V – these PNW gigs begin UMO’s first tour since 2019, which Nielson chalks up to his family taking priority over music.
Busting the Myths Around Universal Health Care
Let's examine how each assumption is challenged by how our healthcare compares to other nations' healthcare plans.
A NIL-Sum Game: What’s Discombobulated This Year’s Final Four
Since seeding began in 1979, this is the first time that none among the No. 1, 2 or 3 seeds advanced to the tourney's final weekend. In its 34-year hoops history, Florida Atlantic has never won a tourney game until this month.
Time to Invoke Mussolini: Trump’s Plan to Gut Government Agencies
Trump has gone so far as to call for “the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Banned in Wyoming: Outlawing Abortion Pills
The anti-abortion crowd -- Republican-dominated and mostly white male -- have been outdoing themselves with their aggressive tactics. It is not enough to ban abortions. Instead this mob competes at crafting legislation to deny medication, criminalize care givers, and provide incentives to would-be vigilantes.
The Core Issue: What’s Really Driving up the Cost of Housing
Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) have scarcely moved in King County since they were first drawn in the 1990s, so the supply of land that can be subdivided into normal building lots has been steadily shrinking.
Is The Washington State Legislature About to Declare Microsoft a “Foreign-Influenced”...
The bill would label as a “foreign-influenced corporation” any company in which a foreigner or foreign institution owns 1 percent or more of the stock. The much-feared Norwegians own 1.13 percent of Microsoft.
SDOT (Slow Down Our Town): Our Master Plan to Make Madison...
The Council is threatening to defund SDOT by 50% and turn over street maintenance to social workers and community activists. Unless you offer some ideas for strangling Madison Street, you could lose your jobs.
Gregutt: How I Ended Up Writing About Wine
There was no single 'Aha!' moment; it was a gradual dawning of attention to this unique product.
Marmalaise
A few years ago, a mutual friend developed a mania for first-principle cooking, which is a fancy way of describing any attempt to cook something from extreme scratch.
“Sure, I’ll Sign That”: How Cal Ripken Jr. Demanded a Fantasy...
Each spring, as we approach Opening Day, I’m reminded that baseball is about a weird concoction of reality and fantasy, physics and psychics, curve...
The Supremes Don’t Have to, But… (The Irony of Conservatives’ War...
Getting rid of Sullivan’s constitutional shield has evidently earned a place on many conservatives’ wish lists. It has long had a place on Donald Trump’s.