You Don't Have to Tip at Ivar's Salmon House Anymore: They are bumping everyone's pay at the sit-down restaurant to $15 an hour. "Discretionary tipping by customers will be taken away, and instead all wait staff will receive an 8 percent commission on sales, while back-of-house staffers will receive 9 percent of sales."
Ivar's Doesn't Have to Raise Everyone's Pay to $15 So Soon: But its CEO says, "We don’t want this to be a case of incremental changes over the next four years. We said, ‘Let’s get it over all at once.’"
Servers Were Given Sheets of Paper Comparing Their 2014 Earnings to Their 2015 Projections: The sheet belonging to one server we interviewed projected a slight decrease in annual pay. The server added, "If guests want to leave extra gratuity, we have to go get a manager."
"If a Foreign Company Didn't Like $15 Minimum Wage, They Could Take the US into an International Arbitration" Sydney Brownstone explains what the Trans-Pacific Partnership is.
The Governor of Indiana Is So Sad That His "It's Cool to Hate Gay People" Legislation Didn't Go Over So Well: "I just can’t account for the hostility that’s been directed at our state." Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Two Days Ago, City-Funded Travel to Indiana Was Prohibited by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray: Who said, "None of our taxpayer dollars should go toward supporting this discriminatory law."
I Happened to Be in This Room at McCaw Hall and Got to Shake the Mayor's Hand and Say, "Nice Job on the Indiana Thing." He said, "Thank you." And then he turned and talked to Jane and her son James, far right, Tyler's older (also gay) brother. The two of them run the Tyler Clementi Foundation, and were in town for a Seattle Men's Chorus performance of Tyler's Suite, eight original compositions in Tyler's memory.
Did You Know Tyler Clementi Was an Accomplished Violinist and a Unicyclist Who Could Play While Unicycling? Sadly, there was no unicycling in the show. It's not like Seattle is lacking for unicyclists, Seattle Men's Chorus. I saw one in Cal Anderson Park yesterday.
A Group of Literary Insiders Is Meeting Tonight to Discuss the Future of the Seattle City of Literature Effort: The group includes Fantagraphics' Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds, former Bumbershoot literary arts programmer Bob Redmond, and journalist (and Mineral School founder) Jane Hodges. Plus other people. Whether Ryan will still be the executive director of the organization or be on the board (or none of the above) is unknown, but the meeting's happening in his apartment.
Boudinot's Previous Seattle City of Literature Board Quit: After he wrote this without getting approval from the board to say he's the executive director of the organization he was in fact the executive director of.
Speaking of Frank Opinions About MFA Writing Programs: Get out your pitchforks! Mean old woman Cynthia Ozick said something mean! The brilliant writer criticized MFA degrees with the most amazing image in the New York Times Book Review yesterday: "a cycle of M.F.A. students becoming M.F.A. teachers teaching M.F.A. students who will in turn become M.F.A. teachers: a Möbius strip of job-manufacture."
The Earthquake Generated a Small Tsunami: But there were "no reports of damage or injuries."
Amanda Knox's Former Italian Boyfriend Says: They're just friends. He also says, "I feel today like someone who was kidnapped, who after seven years and five months has returned to freedom."
The Guy Who Flew the Airplane Full of People into the French Alps: "Had been treated for suicidal tendencies."
Trevor Noah Has Been Selected to Take Over for Jon Stewart: "I’m thrilled for the show and for Trevor. He’s a tremendous comic and talent," says Jon Stewart. "In fact, I may rejoin as a correspondent just to be a part of it!!!" Noah's great. Here he is doing stand-up in 2013: