conspiracies

This word conspiracy gets thrown around a lot these days. The lizard people phenomenon, pizzagate.

Recently, stories of Q. I'm even seeing more Q graffiti both in this image (Capitol Hill)and on a bus stop in Wallingford. Now anti sex trafficking is conflated with Q and people I know and care about are falling for it.

It feels like we are living in a TV show, only this is real (isn't it?). If only we all had more time for things that matter. 

Black Lives Matter.

Vote.

graffiti: blm + read

I see this dicek tag all over town. Not sure who the graffito is but they customize depending on what they're tagging. This one on a Little Library seemed heartfelt: Dicek Soundcloud BLM Keep on Reading

new sassyblack

If you're not following Seattle performer Sassyblack can we even be friends?

Chic and sultry new video dropped this week.

Decolonizing my bookshelf

With the help of friends and the Seattle Public Library, I've been working on de-colonizing my bookshelf. I realized as I was packing a couple of months ago that many--MANY--of the books I've held onto are written by old straight white guys. 

Nothing against old straight white guys. Some of them are terrific writers! (Looking at you and you.)

But, it's a particular worldview, isn't it? So, I got rid of 3 bags of books and have begun to read more experimentally.

Some finds:

• A friend who adores sci-fi recommended Octavia Butler. We're reading her book of short stories together and have gotten on the phone to discuss.
• I'm on a waiting list for e-books by Bryan Washington (his New Yorker stories are beyond brilliant) and Samantha Irby (also a screenwriter for the amazing "Shrill").
• Continuing to read and listen to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. I read "Stamped: Marked from the Beginning" a few years ago but I think it's time to re-read; he's also done a few public, online seminars over the past few months.
  
• And I'm working my way through a list of mystery and thriller writers, starting with Rachel Howzel Hall. 
• Several women in my life mentioned they're reading american dirt, the migrant story written by a woman who identifies as white. (Both knew about the controversy but chose to read anyway. Le sigh.) I want to read on this topic but by an author with integrity and moral authority. 

 So that's where I'm at. I'll report back with updates and more lists.

 

the consent of the governed

A heavy day Wednesday. Yes, another one, in what feels like years of heavy days. No charges against the men who murdered Breonna Taylor. No one is surprised. This capitalist shithole is so busy protecting property and legal exposure that citizens are killed and there is no justice.

I feel such an anger.

Consent of the governed seems extremely distant and fantastical at the moment. 

The Seattle City Council did dunk on the mayor's veto of their amended budget on Tuesday and for once we got a surprise that wasn't a flaming bag of shit. I would like to see Mayor Durkan govern, actually listen and compromise and move this city and its citizens forward together. There's opportunity here. But will she take it?

Is there good news? It's raining. 

Finally! A much needed soaking. A week ago we sweltered in the worst air quality in the entire world. So yes--Seattle loves its rain, especially today.

have you seen this Karen?

Posted near the corner of Pine and 12th (a few yards from the infamous East Precinct).

Battleground Seattle: Our Streets--an exhibit

 

Check out Lamar Graham's photography exhibit on a plywood storefront on the south side of Pike, at Pike and Broadway. Peering through the View Masters shows images of police violence during the days of CHOP.

young women, now

A break today from quarantine, fire and conservative hypocrisy. I watched a couple of movies this week that benefited from the double feature treatment. Both feature young kids and young women exploring life and discovering sexuality and power. There's the eternal double standard for girls and boys. And delightful moments of comedy and connection.

1. The Florida Project. Directed by Sean Baker (director of one of my all-time favorite movies, Tangerine). Watch young Mooney and her friends Scooty and Jancey, living in a rundown motel in Orlando, constantly sugared up on soft drinks and food pantry pastries, free to roam and yet tethered by poverty, dissatisfied parents, the constant thrum of Disney tourism and a frequent helicopter.

2.Then there's the much-maligned Cuties, directed by Maïmouna Doucouré. What a view into the life of a young Senegalese girl, living in a Parisian apartment with her mom, grave-faced little brother, baby sibling, and extended family. The controversy about young Amy's sexualization seems manufactured to me; I watched this movie twice and both times felt drawn into the entire story: the pull of her Wolof-speaking heritage, her family's Muslim faith, the rejection she feels with her father's second marriage and her mother's perceived failures, and the acceptance she yearns for and seeks through reggaeton dancing and girls at her school who have formed a dance group. It's worth a careful watch.

finding us where we are

A bright spot in a sad day yesterday. (Rest in Power, Justice Ginsburg. Not a perfect person, but a warrior nonetheless.)

For 30 sparkling minutes, Lizzo hosted Kamala Harris on Instagram live.

when your mayor is accused of sedition

 

still smokey (coff coff)

Another day of smoke. I don't remember what the sky looks like anymore.

The forecast for rain keeps getting pushed out and out. I don't remember a September this dry and choking. Everyone I know is at the end of their patience. And then what? 

Also, why are we still driving? Why are there leaf blowers blatting around crumbs of dry leaves?

more closures

We're saying good-bye to a few more of our bar and restaurant friends.

Bar Sue.

Georgetown Liquor.

Others are closed temporarily (like Canon) until the smoke clears, whenever that might be.

Sfingiday

hazy days

The raging wildfires have sent huge waves of smoke up and down the West Coast. It's inadvisable to go outside. The other day I strapped on an N95 and a covid19 mask on top of it, just to get where I was going. 

What's next, people say. 

I don't like to even ask. 

5pm view west from Ballard

Space Needle in the haze 2pm

Thomas Street smoke 2pm

DIY art walk

 More photos of art from very hot late summer walks around the city. 

This big colorful mural is on the side of the Darigold plant on Rainier. 

The other 2 are night time versions of my August 8 post. I had no idea they lit up! A beautiful surprise on Labor Day evening when the air smelled of campfire smoke and I belatedly realized that our state was on fire.

tennis in the time of covid and protest

Serena Williams @ US Open

I was not excited about watching tennis, I'll be honest. Why the US Open decided to go ahead with the tournament in the middle of a pandemic I still don't know. With Djokovic's idiotic early exit, the men's side seems wide open. A number of the top women are still in it, with both Serena and Naomi Osaka playing today. It's so strange watching tennis in nearly-empty stadiums, everyone masked but the players, racquet touches at the end, no handshakes (except of course Djokovic). But, it's also been kind of nice to see some of my favorite athletes on the courts, gutting it out.

Osaka has been wearing face masks with the names of black people killed by police. I wish there weren't so many names, but she is brave for doing so and it has meant something to the families.

the pho department

 

For some reason this little cart has been parked around the hill recently. I saw a similar one at Pho Bac that said Pho the Police.

class

I've been a renter for most of my life. My parents never owned the houses we lived in when I was growing up, and throughout college and well into my twenties, I rented rooms and apartments. I co-owned a condo for a few years, and then a house, but the past decade has seen me back in apartment life, renting again, mostly happily.

The city of Seattle is now pretty evenly split between renters and homeowners, so you'd think renters might get a little more respect. But, we don't. Tax breaks go, of course, to homeowners. People talk disparagingly about renters, as though we don't care about the city in the same way as someone who owns a townhouse with paper thin walls and a scrap of scraggly lawn for their goldendoodle to poop on. But I contest this. Who cooks your food, mixes your drinks, bags your groceries, plays music for you, acts in plays, gives you massages and haircuts, and sells you jewelry and clothes and books? With median houseprices over a half million dollars, it sure ain't homeowners.

I also think about the fact that Seattle's recently departed police chief lives in Snohomish, thirty miles from the city whose police department she led. 30 miles! It feels like a huge disconnect not to hire law enforcement who live in this city, care about it, know it, instead of calling protesters cockroaches and trying to run them down. 

It's all so inter-connected, isn't it: affordable housing, access to food, public safety, a vibrant community. The mayor fights off a recall battle, the Parks Department calls the cops on kids doing a school supply drive, and the cops keep sweeping the unhoused from the park. 

I don't have answers to much of this. I want us to do better. I want to work towards us doing better. It's going to be a battle.

mighty math nerds

Love this educational mural, also in the ID. How wonderful to see scientists and women of color celebrated in street art.

• Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician
  
• Dr. Gladys West: GPS mathematician
  
• Dr. Jane C. Wright: cancer researcher
  

 

more solidarity from the ID

 On a recent walk through the International District (after a failed Zipcar attempt) I snapped these murals.

Donnie Chin RIP/International District Emergency Center

Misha Zadeh

Coca Amli

yesitstara

the closures

Six months into this (six! is it possible?) it's becoming clear that many of our beloved establishments aren't coming back.

ETG remains dark (but is roasting and selling coffee beans online at Big John's and other locations).

This maritime place in Northlake had to temporarily shutter.

And Silence Heart Nest, home of delicious vegan breakfasts, is looking for a new owner.