I was raised in a family of Italians who were "just off the boat," meaning they arrived on the shores of Manhattan in 1946 without much but hope. And a work ethic sound as the masonry the men knew, so that all over the island and radiating like spokes of a wheel throughout the boroughs, my father's and uncles' brickwork arose. Then there was their ceaseless drive for status. So they worked. They worked scared, they worked through humiliation and failures and exhaustion. They worked without knowing the native language until, in the diligent way they layered stone, they built up their English a word at a time.
Dec. 20, 2000: "Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."April 14, 2001: "First, we would not accept a treaty [i.e., Kyoto] that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country." These are all quotes by President Bush, old Mr. Flip-Flop himself. Now, suddenly, the president has seen the light, become a convert - a literal born-again environmentalist.
I always like to tell my male friends, when they're complaining about wives or girlfriends, a true story about a couple we'll call Bob and Carol (in homage to half of a movie that was considered very daring, and was very popular, in my youth). It exemplifies some of the differences between men and women. Differences that cause problems and misunderstanding in love thangs.
I am writing this letter in loving thanks to the late King County Prosecutor, Norm Maleng, not from a political or professional point of view, but as a dear friend whom I will always greatly admire.
The Seattle Department of Transportation will yet again close the Fremont Bridge to continue its work on upgrading the electrical and mechanical systems. The bridge will close to all motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. through Friday, June 15. The contractor will provide a shuttle service for pedestrians and bicyclists from 8:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on the days of the closure between the north and south ends of the bridge.
Hansa, the 6-year-old elephant who had been a crowd favorite since her birth at the Woodland Park Zoo, died in her sleep on Friday, June 8. The Elephant Barn was closed to the public that day.Zookeepers had been monitoring the Asian elephant's health for a week because of her colic-like symptoms, but tests were inconclusive, zoo officials said.
In any given 24-hour period, the University District presents a paradox that has many city officials shaking their heads in frustration. Broken windows, beer cans and piles of vomit have greeted U-District shop owners arriving early to open up - unwanted remnants of the rowdy midnight crowds that often orbit venues like Tommy's Nightclub near the northeast corner of Northeast 47th Street and University Way Northeast. The discrepancy - it's night and day, literally - can be shocking to the uninitiated and frankly exasperating to neighborhood residents.
Can the Fremont neighborhood handle yet another event during Fremont Fair weekend?With so much going on in the Center of the Universe, it is no wonder we call June Fremont Month. While the Fremont Fun Run and Briefcase Relay raced by on Friday, June 8, there still remains the Fremont chamber's Picnic in the (Gas Works) Park to enjoy on Wednesday, June 20.
The First Church of Christ Scientist held its final services last October, not long after the property was sold to a local developer. As an official Seattle landmark, the exterior of the building will remain untouched. But exactly what use the building will have in its next incarnation remains up in the air.Located at the southwest corner of 16th Avenue East and East Denny Way, the former church is currently slated to be converted into 12 high-end condominiums.
Did ya ever pick up the morning paper and the longer you read, the stronger grew your conviction that there were folks afoot in the world alone who shouldn't be? Folks who need minders. Some, like Dubya, are even hiding out in positions of authority.What follows is a brief list of dauntingly typical examples.
The last three weeks I had the opportunity to travel in Europe, my first trip since 1990 when I visited nine countries in six weeks on a student Eurail Pass. This time I limited my trek to France and Spain. After one or two days being seduced by Barcelona's charms, I began to think of Capitol Hill's Broadway. Could Las Ramblas hold the solution to making our main avenue a vivid and engaging thoroughfare again?
The Washington Council of American Institute of Architects recently honored three branches of the Seattle Public Library and their architects with the 2007 Civic Design Awards. The Douglass-Truth Branch-originally constructed in 1914-and Schacht Aslani Architects received the Honor Award for design excellence, creative risk-taking and problem-solving. Jurors said the modern addition of the Douglass-Truth Branch respects and challenges society's conception of classicism while integrating the site and landscape in both a sensitive and provocative way.
It wasn't quite the Masters, but some 90 golfers braved the rain, as golfers will, on Saturday afternoon, June 9, to participate in the 9-Hole, 9-Bars urban golf course. This biannual event, traditionally held on Capitol Hill, combines what Mark Twain called "a good walk spoiled" (i.e. golf) with the great American pasttime of bar-hopping.
A vocal and animated crowd of South End residents-some donning elaborate hats built from Styrofoam containers-packed city council chambers Thursday to protest the proposed construction of a $70-million waste transfer station in Georgetown. The June 7 meeting, presided over by council member Richard Conlin, provided a public forum for Georgetown-area residents to voice their concerns about Seattle Public Utility's (SPU) plan to build an intermodal transfer station on South Corgiat Drive.
Columnist Dennis Wilken, the Stranger and others have written of their concerns about the vulnerability of women being stalked by nut-job men on the University of Washington campus. Wilken, along with many of us easily disturbed observers, is angered that the university cops apparently are too busy to protect women like the slain Rebecca Griego, and that the U might be able to work out some student "peer escort" scheme by, oh, say, September.<br