In the year following her partner's tragic drowning, Charlene Strong is reborn a national activistCharlene Strong is not so certain the grief will ever go away. As Dec. 14 approaches, however-a date that will commemorate the passing of her partner of 10 years, Kate Fleming-Strong has taken the route of activism in her honor. Last December, during a massive rain and wind storm, a torrential blast of water filled the basement of Strong and Fleming's Madison Valley home. Just moments before, Fleming had fled downstairs to rescue the very tools which kept her so sharp and prominent in the world of audio production. The award-winning audio book narrator and producer ventured into her windowless basement-the heart of her company, Cedar House Audio-where her life was taken by the city's most violent storm in almost 15 years.
Do you know where your property begins and ends? Jim and Donna Duggan thought they did. They also thought were doing a good thing - for the neighborhood as well as themselves - when they decided to replace the sidewalk in front of the house where they have lived for 27 years, at 109 W. Boston St. There had been subsidence in the pavement, and they and others had tripped on it.At the same time, they thought, they would rebuild their lower steps and replace the rockery that bounded their small lawn with a wall that would be more attractive. They didn't know what a can of worms they were opening.
The Supreme Court, that bastion of objectivity, has agreed to look at the handgun ban in Washington, D.C., vis-à-vis the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution that guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms by stating, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Nov. 19 was National Ammo Day. For the calendar-challenged, they also declared Nov. 17 to 26 National Ammo Week.
Christmas comes but once a year, and in many ways I'm sure we're all thankful. Take shopping. I'm usually about two weeks behind the mainstream in my gift purchases, and therefore, without fail, I get my choice of all the picked-over merchandise that's left. This year, though, I've decided to sidestep the crush of the usual Christmas throngs in the stores and do all my gift shopping with my phone and TV set. All of the really tasteful items that you see advertised on the tube have got toll-free phone numbers anyway, and the really good stuff is always advertised late at night, or early morning, when the phone lines are less busy.
The first fat flakes started whirling around outside my windows just as I settled into a huge bowl of carrot, with dollops of yogurt, soup. On TV, Rick Steves was doing a Christmas show with scenes from the Christmas Mass at the Vatican and sledding through the Alps to find the perfect Christmas tree. Earlier in the day I had set up this year's Advent calendar. For a brief few hours, everything coalesced into the ultimate picturesque winter scene!The perfection was brief. On Sunday, our farmers, the ones who fed us all spring and summer, needed to get themselves and their animals to the high ground, for the floods were on their way.
Ho, ho, ho, my butt.It's not that I don't want to be in the Christmas spirit. Quite the opposite. I like Christmas, Peace on Earth, a time of festiveness and all that. It's just all the ... stuff. It's the lingering suspicion that "ho, ho, ho" is now a registered trademark of the North Pole Corp., which has now been bought out by Wal-Mart and is henceforth doing business as Santa's Club. Always the fastest sleigh. Always.
I saw a woman hit in a crosswalk at Aurora and 95th a month or so ago, while riding the No. 358 bus up to Shoreline. The guy who hit her was late getting through a yellow light and hit her on the red. I don't know what happened to the woman, but I do know people getting basically executed inside crosswalks isn't over and done with in Seattle.
I've been waking at 5 a.m. since November 6. That was Election Day around here, as you may recall. I was temp'ing for King County Elections as a ballot tabulator. I felt like a real big-city commuter, descending into the bus tunnel hours before dawn, clutching my traveling coffee mug like a security blanket. And this would be the day voters decided whether to become more of a big community, by moving further from the drudgery of the solitary commute toward the shared experience of public transit. At least that's how I interpreted the Roads-n'-Transit referendum.
JUSTIN STOLTMANI don't really dig what's happening to Seattle, and this block is following suit. It's gentrificaion. The old buildings add character and are architecturally interesting
Ho, ho, ho, my butt. It's not that I don't want to be in the Christmas spirit. Quite the opposite. I like Christmas, Peace on Earth, a time of festiveness and all that. It's just all the...stuff. It's the lingering suspicion that "ho, ho, ho" is now a registered trademark of the North Pole Corp., which has now been bought out by Wal-Mart and is hereforth doing business as Santa's Club. Always the fastest sleigh. Always.
Thanks to the generosity of a good friend with an even more generous employer, I recently sat in a seat at Safeco Stadium that, on an annual basis, costs more than my college education. And the only thing between the field and us was a conspicuously wealthy family of three that didn't say a word to each other the entire game. The timing was perfect since it was well-before Halloween and the season of debt and gluttony - descending on us earlier and earlier every year - was right around the corner. Since I didn't bring a book, and I find baseball about as exciting as watching paint dry, I started thinking about America's materialistic, throw-away society and the culture of excess, consumption and debt that was about to swing into high gear.
I saw a woman get hit in a crosswalk at Aurora and 95th a month or so ago while riding the No. 358 bus up to Shoreline. The guy who hit her was late getting through a yellow light and hit her on the red. I don't know what happened to the woman, but I do know that people getting basically executed inside crosswalks isn't over and done with in Seattle.
Ho, ho, ho, my butt...It's not that I don't want to be in the Christmas spirit. Quite the opposite. I like Christmas, Peace on Earth, a time of festiveness and all that. It's just all the...stuff.  It's the lingering suspicion that "ho, ho, ho" is now a registered trademark of the North Pole Corp., which has now been bought out by Wal-Mart and is hereforth doing business as Santa's Club. Always the fastest sleigh. Always.
Ho, ho, ho, my butt...It's not that I don't want to be in the Christmas spirit. Quite the opposite. I like Christmas, Peace on Earth, a time of festiveness and all that. It's just all the...stuff.  It's the lingering suspicion that "ho, ho, ho" is now a registered trademark of the North Pole Corp., which has now been bought out by Wal-Mart and is hereforth doing business as Santa's Club. Always the fastest sleigh. Always.
The Seattle Police Department wants you to stay safe this holiday season by not leaving your common sense hidden away when you become enmeshed in the rush of the season's preparations.