A serial pervert, some sickening racism--and one nice story, about a union supporting marriage equality. That makes it all better, right? more ›

Yesterday, the AP released a finger-wagging report on a recent study conducted of young adults, asking whether or not they found various slurs offensive--or if, as the majority of them did, they thought that the slurs were the result of their peers "just trying to be funny". Seattlest Staffers had varied reactions and, unable to present a united front, decided to contribute our varying opinions on the survey, the AP's handling of the story, and whether or not kids are just dicks. The Seattlest Staffers remain divided. more ›

Where were you? It was sunny finally. Sure there were thunderstorms at times. But it was a small price to pay to go to the beach in these last days of summer. more ›

Lowell's APP program might be splitting up along North/South lines. Sable Verity dives into the controversy surrounding KUOW's coverage of one APP student's description of how she was treated in the program. Over at HugeAssCity, it's mourning time once again for the loss of the Ballard Dennys, now that the monstrous development plans for that space have been revealed. Lake City Live did a bad news (frowny face) round-up, and CHS has an interesting piece on what the light rail ride from Capitol Hill to the airport will really look like (eleven stops...!). Reverb has an update on Renton's Jimi Hendrix Foundation involving a comic book character named Captain Strata. Hmm. more ›

The vote on school closures is fast approaching! On Thursday, the city school board will make the official call--and emotions are running high. Parents and teachers at the schools on the final recommended closure list made sure their voices were heard this weekend at a rally at T.T. Minor Elementary, one of the schools on the recommended closure list. Though it's possible the school board will vote not to close any schools (a strategy recommended by former school board director Dick Lilly over at Crosscut), it's not likely. Money is just too tight, and something's gotta give. The complaint, however, is that the "somethings" taking the brunt of the cuts are Seattle's poorest, least lily-white neighborhoods--and some are going as far as to call the selective closures racist, flat out. The local chapter of the NAACP is on the case, though last we heard, NAACP national leadership hadn't heard about or approved any legal action. more ›

MY GOD CAN BEAT UP YOUR GOD: The Coexist Comedy Tour hits Comedy Underground today, seeking to unite us all through the power of laughing at our religious prejudices. According to a description of the show, "Can an atheist, a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim and a Buddhist go on the road together, share a stage and be an example of how to get along? Probably not, but our failures should be good for some laughs." more ›

Katelyn: I want you all to know that I take this issue very seriously, and as such I will be quoting all of you in my story. more ›

Oh those wacky Republicans in Snohomish County. Geri Modrell, the chairwoman of the Snohomish Republican Party, has issued an apology after some GOP volunteers at the Evergreen State Fair sold racist $3 bills (available at conservative websites everywhere!) "depicting Sen. Barack Obama in traditional Arab headgear with a camel." more ›

Robert L. Jamieson has a big, big problem with the way things are down in Belltown and a pretty strong idea of who's to blame: more ›

One more event for tonight: Christian Lander, the biting satirist of Stuff White People Like, makes a free appearance tonight at the Hideout (1005 Boren Ave) to shill the book based on his blog. There's a private dinner beforehand--begging the question "Exactly what stuff do white people like to eat?"--but tickets to that portion of the evening are long sold out. Show up any time after 8 p.m. to buy a book, get it signed, or just mingle and commiserate with your fellow Caucasians. Prepare for tonight by being offended at the very idea of such a tasteless event, and don't forget to bring your Asian wife and token black friend! more ›

In terms of identity, Chad Goller-Sojourner either hit the jackpot or got the short end of the stick, depending on one's perspective: a gay black man raised by a white family with a "girl's" eating disorder. more ›

Many thoughts crossed our mind last night as we left the showing of Edward Curtis's , Curtis's work bears witness to the fact that early film sucked. The narrative is disjointed, the story thin and hard to follow. It really just proves that people (or at least Americans) love technical gadgetry for its own sake, and are willing to embrace an impoverished experience for the novelty. more ›

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. more ›

A few weeks ago, singer/raconteur Jenny Owen Youngs was in town, playing at the High Dive the same time as the Fremont Bridge was being closed evenings, which led to our arriving mid-set in a state of high dudgeon. We decided to skip a half-assed review, and afterwards fired off some impertinent questions via email. We just heard back, and as you'll see, Jenny schools us a bit. Now we adore her even more. If you buy her new album, Batten the Hatches, tell her we sent you. more ›

Things we love: The football, themes, and the films of Joan Crawford more ›

Al D'Amato isn't a U.S. senator anymore, but continues to act like one. D'Amato's fathered a child at the age of 70, which is four years shy of Strom Thurmond's record, but nothing to sniff at. more ›

We had to agree with On the Boards' executive staff (Lane Czaplinksi and Sarah Wilke) statement in the liner notes to The Adventures of Ali and Ali and the Axes of Evil that they had been “excited about presenting Vancouver’s neworldtheatre since the first moment [they] saw the image of a smiling President Bush holding a little wild eyed man baby.” Admittedly, this was a large part of the reason why we wanted to see this piece, in addition to the generally good reviews and awards it had won in Canada. In its U.S. debut, the play more than lives up to that photo, with its pointed and consistently funny script. more ›

CALL 911! CALL 911!: Political and economic commentator and White House strategist during the Nixon administration, Kevin Phillips talks about his book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. Phillips traces the set of related causes that caused the downfall of historical world powers. That same combination of ills he says -- global over-reach, militant religion, resource problems, and ballooning debt -- is at work in the U.S. today. more ›

Why does the legislature want to require students to be able to read and write before they graduate high school? more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

A local documentarian got nominated for an Oscar whenever they announced these things. We won't divulge his name, because who knows if he wants to be associated with something as stupid as the Oscars. If we ever get nominated blog of the year by the National Association of Illiterates, please, keep it on the dl. more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. more ›

It's been business as usual since the day after the storm in some Seattle neighborhoods. We eat, we drink, we Christmas shop, we gather all the shingles from the street and life goes on. Meanwhile, the Eastside continues to live red in tooth and claw. It's still mostly dark over there and crowds await Mel Gibson's next gasoline delivery at each service station. Hopefully it'll drive home how much energy it takes to power a 4000 square foot mcmansion full of today's technological wonders when someone's got to wait in line for gasoline to feed the generators. Hey, Eastside, maybe if you didn't try to cheap out of your property taxes by living near the city instead of inside of it you wouldn't be in this mess right now. Something you might want to think about next time the socialist tax collector comes around. more ›

>>>UW iSchool at Kane Hall, 7:00-9:00pm. "Voices in an Empty Room: Five Apologies for the Narrative": Children's author Richard Peck discusses his writing and teaching careers, and his experiences with the kids today. He'll read from On The Wings Of Heroes, his new novel about a World War II childhood. Free with RSVP. Kane Hall, Rm. 220. more ›

--Even The Stranger's Brendan Kiley, who knows from killing animals, is surprised that the U.S. Army tortures live pigs as a training exercise. more ›

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... more ›

Guest Poster Race Card Pete is back. He's a program director at KUBE, and in his spare time he tutors children at Sacajawea Elementary School. He lives in Bitter Lake, but is about to move into a fixer-upper in the Central District. Previously he wrote on a possible Sonics area deal. more ›

We're glad we stuck around for the audience Q&A after the panel discussion on gentrification Thursday night, hosted by the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs. more ›

The New York Times, with annoying & typical provincialism, claims that black chefs are "struggling" [note: free registration required]. Not so in Seattle, where a culinary star like Daisley Gordon shines at Campagne. more ›

Bernard-Henri Levy occupies a position in France roughly comparable to...well, we don't have anyone like him. Rock star Bono comes close. Jon Stewart, maybe, except that BHL writes his own material. Sporting an unruly haircut, clad in the requisite uniform (black shirt, black blazer), he's a familiar figure on French TV, the embodiment of the Public Intellectual. Atlantic Monthly sent him on a year-long assignment to retrace the intellectual journey taken by de Tocqueville; the resulting tome, American Vertigo, has just been published, and BHL came to Seattle as part of the book tour. more ›