The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Features

Late Returns

editor@thestranger.com (Grant Cogswell) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

How Mike McGinn Broke the Seattle Machine—and Why the City Will Never Be the Same by Grant Cogswell When you've fought every day for 10 years to turn a map you and a friend drew at a kitchen table into a $2 billion transit agency, and volunteered and done strategy for two winning underdog city council campaigns, and then run for city council yourself and nearly made it—to say nothing of half a dozen city and county ballot initiatives you've run, the first of which was called the region's biggest political upheaval of the decade on the cover…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

It's Not in the P-I

editor@thestranger.com (Brendan Kiley) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

One Dying Industry (Theater) Stages a Play About Another (Newspapers) by Brendan Kiley The reporters are getting nervous. "My whole career, I've just expected that people should talk to me so I can write stories about them," says Tom Paulson, former science reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He lost his job this March when the P-I became one of over 130 American newspapers to cease printing in 2009. "But being interviewed by playwrights is nerve-wracking. It's role reversal." Paulson took his turn on the other side of the tape recorder as part of…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Meet Your New Mayor

editor@thestranger.com (Dominic Holden) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0800

Meet the New Mayor, Richard Conlin by Dominic Holden If ever Seattle needed a strong leader, it's now. The great recession, the crumbling viaduct, the toxic Duwamish River, the leaky 520 floating bridge, density and its discontents—all of these challenges cry out for a steady hand on the civic tiller. Fortunately, we now have such a hand: a veteran of grinding bureaucratic battles, a visionary, a man who can make law and attend a Sound Transit board meeting and threaten certain growth- management goons, all before lunch. People of Seattle,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

2009 Election Nightmare!

editor@thestranger.com (Mark Kaufman) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Vote or Else! The Worst-Case Scenario in Terrifying Detail by Mark Kaufman div#articleRight{display:none;} Vote! Click here for election endorsements and Cheat Sheet! Vote! Click here for election endorsements and Cheat Sheet!…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Happy Heteroween

editor@thestranger.com (Dan Savage) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Putting the Hetero in Halloween by Dan Savage There's something scary—scary in all the wrong ways—about a "sexy Jane Doe" costume. The sexy cadaver costume is half of one of those "sexy" Halloween costume sets that drive some people nuts. You know: Sexy Nurse & Doc, Sexy Nun & Priest, Sexy Lady Pirate & Pirate Captain. The girls' costumes bare a lot of flesh, the boys' costumes don't, and that is sexist and unfair and—wait, a sexy CADAVER COSTUME?!?! Yes. Someone out there is selling a sexy CSI…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Case for Mike McGinn: Part 4

editor@thestranger.com (Christopher Frizzelle) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Christopher Frizzelle Inside the McGinn War Room by Christopher Frizzelle It had been a long two days for the McGinn for Mayor campaign. On Monday, October 19, McGinn announced that, contrary to previous statements, he would abide by the will of the city council and not try to stop the deep-bore tunnel, instead turning his attention to making sure Seattle taxpayers wouldn't be saddled with paying cost overruns. Within 24 hours, opponent Joe Mallahan had released a campaign ad accusing McGinn of "lying" to voters—of being, essentially, a flip-flopper. After…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Case for Mike McGinn: Part 3

editor@thestranger.com (Brendan Kiley) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Mike McGinn Is the Culture Candidate by Brendan Kiley To be honest, I'm slightly chagrined to find myself writing the third installment of this Perpetual Adoration of Saint Michael. The Stranger has thrown so much unqualified weight behind the man, it's starting to get a little boring. The contrarian in me had hoped to come out swinging for Joe Mallahan just to break the tedium. Nevertheless, here I am, endorsing Captain Beardo's culture platform, because—it cannot be denied—it beats Captain Cell Phone's. Neither candidate had shown a deep interest…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

How Many Men Does It Take to Change 1,944 Light Bulbs?

editor@thestranger.com (Brendan Kiley) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

How Many Men Does It Take to Change 1,944 Light Bulbs? by Brendan Kiley One sunny day last week, a Jamaican man with gray hair, round cheeks, and steel-toed boots stood on the sidewalk across the street from the Paramount Theatre downtown. He was looking upward like everybody else, watching workers 100 feet in the air take down the Paramount's 80-year-old, 64-foot-tall sign. He smiled—but David Allen always seems to be smiling. As Seattle Theatre Group's operations director, Allen has been in charge of that old sign for 31 years, ever since he came…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Case for Mike McGinn: Part 2

editor@thestranger.com (Dominic Holden) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

McGinn's Got the Policy Ideas to Solve Seattle's Biggest Problems by Dominic Holden You've heard the line before: Mike McGinn is a one-issue candidate. His campaign for mayor was fueled in the primary by opposition to the deep-bore tunnel under downtown. Other than that, folks say, he's got nothing. But numerous strong showings at debates and strong policy positions on a raft of issues demonstrate a candidacy built on pushing solutions to Seattle's transportation mess and scores of other city problems. Instead of building a highway under the city, for instance, McGinn wants…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Dan Savage's Guide to the Movies (The Amateur Porn Movies in HUMP! 5, That Is)

editor@thestranger.com (Dan Savage) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

HUMP! 5: A Guide to the Smut That Made the Cut by Dan Savage When the first audience sits down to watch the first screening of HUMP! 5— noon this Friday at On the Boards—those of us who run HUMP! will have already watched each of the films at least four times. We watch all the submissions during the HUMP! jury's initial screening (a long and drunken process), we watch the ones we like again while making the difficult decisions about which films to cut (a sad and sobering process), we watch them again when…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Case for Mike McGinn: Part 1

editor@thestranger.com (Eli Sanders) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Why This Is Mike McGinn's Moment by Eli Sanders A bullying, headstrong executive is on his way out. He departs with his approval ratings down around his ankles, with his political capital all used up on a controversial project that we'll be paying for long after he's gone, and with the economy in the tank. Everywhere, voters are clamoring for change. Sound familiar? It continues. As the election cycle kicks off, an unlikely candidate emerges to replace the departing executive. This candidate doesn't look like your typical politician. He's…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

News Flash: I Didn't Like Hooters

editor@thestranger.com (Lindy West) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Keeping Abreast in South Park: The New Hooters by Lindy West It is 11:37 a.m. in the Hooters parking lot, and the festivities have already begun. Beneath a be-Hootered banner, two men play "Crocodile Rock" on dueling pianos. The pianos, however, are not pianos. Instead, two electric keyboards have been implanted in black piano-shaped boxes. If dueling pianos can be said to become "more depressing," this has occurred. To the right of the dueling electric piano-shaped boxes is a rectangular fenced-in pen, in which 50 or so Hooters girls are milling…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Fall

editor@thestranger.com (Heather McHugh) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

A New Poem by MacArthur Winner Heather McHugh by Heather McHugh div#articleRight {display:none;} 1 The tree is an arbiter that aims to leave but lives to claim. It runs the tab of a die-hard drinker, stretching as it sinks; inflamed to the south and slippered to the north it bears down, bursts forth—quietly equipped for its own fires with its own dampers; by the years befriended but by quick of dayor season's sawing reasonably unhampered...From the rock at its root it shoots a stem of stars. 2 The animal, part dream,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Mind of Kalebu

editor@thestranger.com (Eli Sanders) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Inside the Mind of the Alleged South Park Killer by Eli Sanders In March 2008, a tall, tough-looking man walked into a financial-services firm in King County and began taking notes. His name, according to court records: Isaiah M. Kalebu. He'd arrived with his pit bull, Indo, and during a break from the note-taking he informed a secretary that he was the rightful owner of the firm's building. He said he'd bought the property using proceeds from the sugar trade, but it had since been stolen from him. Then he wandered around, telling various…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Sexy Beast

editor@thestranger.com (Brendan Kiley) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Sex and Death Under the Sea: The Mysteries of the Giant Pacific Octopus by Brendan Kiley Buster is feeling shy, as usual. Buster is so acutely shy that researchers at the Seattle Aquarium can't tell whether this giant Pacific octopus is a boy or a girl. If Buster is a boy, he'll have a special tentacle (the third to the right, going clockwise, from the front of its mantle) that is both an arm and a dick. And, since the suction cups on octopuses* also function as taste buds, his special tentacle will be an arm…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Yes He Can

editor@thestranger.com (Eli Sanders) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Advice for Dow Constantine in His Race Against Hutchison by Eli Sanders Dow Constantine can count. He knows that if you add the 27 percent of votes he got in the August 18 primary to the 35 percent of votes that went to his main Democratic rivals—Ross Hunter, Larry Phillips, and Fred Jarrett, who have all endorsed Constantine in the general election—you get to 62 percent. That math suggests that the King County executive's seat will be his. But not so fast, Dow. Susan Hutchison may be a Republican running in an…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Fall! Arts! Preview!

editor@thestranger.com (Stranger Staff) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Art Events Worth Staying Alive for This Fall by Stranger Staff Summer is ending because Mother Nature hates you—but we at The Stranger do not. As our small contribution to prevent seasonal affective suicide, we've assembled this non-comprehensive list of events worth living for. Attending them will burnish your mind, brighten your skin, and improve your sex life. Laminate this guide, hang it on the bathroom wall, and remember that the best is yet to come. Jump To: Theater, Visual Art, Film, Books, Music THEATER 'The 39 Steps' Direct from Broadway,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

"Why Do You Hate Me?"

editor@thestranger.com (Dominic Holden) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

A Faggot Reporter Asks Four Anti- Gay Bigots a Very Basic Question by Dominic Holden * We have no idea what these people actually look like. We talked to them over the phone. On August 31, the Washington Secretary of State's office announced that Christian extremists had gathered enough signatures to put Referendum 71 on the November ballot. Assuming a lawsuit doesn't stop it, R-71 allows the voting public to decide if the legislature was right in recently granting same-sex partners in this state the same rights as married couples. (An "approve" vote on the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Yeats Motel

editor@thestranger.com (Jen Graves) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Cornish Finally Has Dorms—in Creepy Old Motels in Denny Triangle by Jen Graves M otel odor is different from hotel odor. This is what separates the two. A hotel smells, if you smell it at all, like effort: the effort to cleanse or to cover over everything that smells. The particular magic of a hotel is that, through a certain overall system of strenuousness, it subtracts residue with every guest rather than adds it. (Full disclosure: I used to be a hotel maid.) When the residue begins to build up in a hotel,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

My Glamorous Life as a Scumbag Drummer

editor@thestranger.com (Trent Moorman) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Sex, Lies, and Drumming: The Impossibility of Being in Love and Being on Tour by Trent Moorman Black water in the middle of Puget Sound. An uneasy December night. 1:50 a.m. The port-side deck on the last ferry for Bainbridge was empty. I was standing by the railing watching the city grow small. My cymbal bag was next to me, tied to my right ankle, and there was a cinder block in it. I use the cinder block when I play—it goes in front of my kick drum. It's impossible to play when the kick drum is…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]