Keiko Is there lead exposure risk in your community? Find out here. Ta Nehisi-Coates is now writing comic books?! Black Panther features the first black superhero in mainstream American comics. Ta Nehisi-Coates gives you a behind-the-scenes look at this new Marvel comic book. Anna You knew this already, but here are more damning details: Fossil fuel giants and … Read more
Serena “It’s like a modern art installation. So fabulous—the people and machines and objects of our lives all working together.” That was Italian consul general Mauro Battocchi speaking about (wait for it…) a recycling facility. The “trash tourism” circuit, with little to no marketing, has apparently taken off, with officials from around the world visiting … Read more
Margaret A friend of mine has just been priced out of her long-time apartment in Capitol Hill. After close to a decade in the neighborhood, this year’s rent hike was too much for the family budget. She’ll be moving to Lake Forest Park in a few weeks, taking on a longer commute, which will leave … Read more
Eric Are some babies just easier than others? I wish we could all acknowledge that the answer is yes: Within the range of developmentally normal children, some parents have a much, much harder job than others: more drudge work, less gratification, more public shaming. It sometimes feels like the great undiscussed secret of pediatrics—and of … Read more
Alan Gary Braasch: Brother, it’s been years since we schemed of a photo book to lay bare the consequences of American consumerism and since you donated a cover photo for the first-ever book on climate change in Cascadia. Now, before we could scheme and collaborate again, you’re gone. Gary, your deep passion for this planet … Read more
Kristin Nick Hanauer gives us a 21st century view of the economy: a healthy economy is one that is creating new solutions to human problems. To solve problems, we need a diversity of ideas and approaches. To foster more ideas, we need to give more people the opportunity to participate. Bill Gates had a good … Read more
Kristin Funny-shaped districts aren’t the problem with American voting. Electing one representative per district (funny-shaped or otherwise) is the problem. We can solve it with multi-member districts that ensure minority views get represented and it doesn’t matter who draws then district lines. Yes, yes, and more yes. The Brennan Center’s Democracy agenda: Voting rights, money in … Read more
Eric KUOW’s Liz Jones has a wonderful new piece out, “I Keep Telling My Mom I’m Gay – And She Keeps Forgetting.” It’s a poignant story by any measure, but I suppose particularly so for me because both Liz and her subject, Ben Nakamura, are old friends of mine. What type of exercise is best for … Read more
Anna One appeal for voters (albeit different voters) that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders seem to share is that they don’t (or claim not to) have pollsters. The idea is: You get what you get (or in Trump’s case, “No one tells me what to say”). The idea is that poll numbers aren’t going to … Read more
Anna From Intellectual Take Out, via my old year-of-nothing-new gurus, the Minimalists, 15 stats that show Americans are drowning in stuff. (Can you guess how many households rent storage units or how many actually have room to park a car in their garage?) Rural Studio architecture students are perfecting the $20K house so they are … Read more