The Art of Stopping Time

We chatted one Friday, Brooklyn St bus stop. You read The Art of Stopping Time, and give notes of appreciation to bus drivers. I hope to see you again

Omelie

You loved my hair, I loved your dress-we chatted outside Chop Suey in Feb(?)… You know which night, find me there again. Let’s make art together! 💋

The other day—during our first 70-degree day in Seattle this year—I was lucky enough to join hundreds of my fellow organizers, community leaders, friends, family, and neighbors at the Crocodile to launch my re-election campaign to continue representing Washington’s 7th Congressional District.

Throughout the day, we looked back on how our campaign and our broad progressive movement have achieved incredible things to lift up poor and working people across the country. But we all also recognized that despite what we’ve achieved, our movement, our country, and our democracy are still facing some of the greatest threats and challenges we’ve ever encountered.

First things first: Per popular request (one person asked me to do this), I will now be using Accuweather for any forecasts on Slog. Expect on-and-off showers and temperatures in the low 50s throughout the day. 

Pay Up: Later today, Council President Sara Nelson’s committee will look at legislation to roll back the newly established minimum wage for gig delivery drivers. According to Working Washington’s analysis, the bill would amount to a 24% wage cut. It would also slash mileage reimbursement to half the IRS mileage standard, causing workers to lose money with every mile they drive. On top of that, the bill does nothing to address what’s actually making the service too expensive—the retaliatory fees gig companies slapped on orders. AND the bill does not promote equitable job offers between drivers and bike couriers, which, as I wrote, is what actually contributes to bad outcomes for the minimum wage's most vocal opponents. Ultimately, the bill amounts to a total repeal because it would stifle the Office of Labor Standards' ability to enforce the law and eliminate a worker’s right to sue companies for breaking the rules. If this sounds bad to you, call Nelson at (206) 684-8809, or find your district rep’s contact info here.

WEDNESDAY 4/24  

Hanif Abdurraqib

(BOOKS) Hanif Abdurraqib is the best friend I never met. Having spent years reading his work—his essays, his poetry, his music criticism—it feels as though we’ve spent half a lifetime together sitting on floors, listening to records, and exchanging observations about everyone from Aretha Franklin to My Chemical Romance. He doesn’t write at you, as so many culture critics do—his prose opens up and pulls you into whatever little world he’s spinning in his brain. You don’t just understand his observations, you often feel them, too. He’ll be at Town Hall in April in support of his new book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, which NPR, Time, Chicago Review of Books, and Lit Hub, among many others, have deemed as one of the most anticipated books of 2024. I can’t fucking wait. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 7:30 pm, $5-$25, all ages) MEGAN SELING

I worked for you for five years. You gave me raises and promotions. The whole team took pictures with my toddler daughter at our all staff meeting, carrying her around like a little football.

Celebrity chef David Chang, the founder of the famed Momofuku restaurant empire, inadvertently caused a social media storm earlier this month when his company attempted to enforce a trademark for the phrase “chili crunch,” even going so far as to issue cease-and-desist orders to other condiment brands using the term.

It wasn’t long before Chang was roundly clowned upon by…seemingly the entire internet. Critics rightly pointed out how absurd it was to attempt to trademark such a generic term—after all, the beloved condiment chili crisp has been around since long before Chang manufactured his signature Momofuku Chili Crunch, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a distinction between “chili crunch” and “chili crisp” (or a danger of consumers mistaking other brands’ offerings for Momofuku’s, for that matter). The fact that Momofuku was using this as an excuse to tear down small AAPI-owned businesses was also not a great look, to say the least. Consumers even called for a boycott of Momofuku products, with many retailers vowing not to stock goods from the business in response to the decision.

In the summer of 2022, a COVID-19 infection sent William White to the hospital.

The drummer for the indie rock band Glass Beach, a proggy, emo-ish four-piece that has amassed a cult following online, White got sick while traveling to Salt Lake City’s Pride Festival, a show they’d debated playing in the first place. To White, COVID-19 felt out of control, and mass gatherings risky, but they’d been invited because queer kids involved with the Utah Pride Center voted Glass Beach their headliner of choice for a youth pride event

“I wasn’t super sure about it,” White recalled during a recent interview while on their way to a show in Phoenix, Arizona. “But that sounded so special and important to us.”

I'm pro-density, pro-public transportation, pro-walkability, and pro-bike infrastructure. As you can see, these positions are shared with conventional urbanism, a movement that began in the 1960s with Jane Jacobs's famous confrontation with the car-centric city planner Robert Moses. Ten or so years after the latter was defeated, urbanism was codified in, of all places, Florida. In the 1990s, the rise of urbanism's influence corresponded with the destruction of public housing and white re-flight to urban cores from the suburbs, which became more and more diverse as a consequence of displacement.

As we entered the present century, it was clear that, as a project, urbanism had failed. Its key principles proved to be too market-friendly. Walkability, improved bike infrastructure, and even access to transit increased, rather than depreciated, the value of a location. At present, the densest zip codes in the USA are inhabited by millionaires (and a few billionaires). Why this outcome? The purpose of this post is to provide an explanation.

On Tuesday, over two hundred of Senator Murray’s Jewish constituents and other people of conscience held a Passover seder in the streets in front of the Federal Building where Senator Patty Murray has offices.

Why? Because on Tuesday, Senator Murray voted yes on a supplemental appropriations bill that includes $17 billion in additional military funding and weapons to the Israeli government. We, the organizers of Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle, are calling on Senator Murray to listen to her constituents and take action towards a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Student walkout for Palestine: Students across the Puget Sound region walked out of class Tuesday to demand that the US stop aiding Israel and that Israel release Palestinian prisoners and cease its occupation of Gaza. Students at colleges and high schools in Seattle, Redmond, Olympia, Issaquah, Bellevue, and Highline planned walkouts, according to the Seattle Times. UW’s Seattle campus did not participate, but they supported high school demonstrations. 

Now to Ashley for a brief interlude…

It’s a shame that Tessa Hulls will never write another graphic novel. 

Even though Feeding Ghosts represents her first foray into the genre, the 400-page odyssey holds its own in the company of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do, or any of the other major comic works that feature immigrants, the children of immigrants, and refugees processing the generational traumas sparked by the horrors, bloodshed, and diasporas of the 20th century. 

No shit. It’s just that good.

The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) wants to prop up 30 digital kiosks powered by IKE Smart City to run advertisements, display maps, and to emit free Wi-Fi. The kiosks' ads would raise a projected $1 million a year for DSA and smaller Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to pay for downtown improvement initiatives at no cost to the budget-challenged City of Seattle. But, as the old saying goes, if something is free, then you're the product.

Gooood morning! The National Weather Services says the weather today will be partly sunny, high near 68 degrees. Expect some calming winds in the afternoon.

Texas Attorney General drops challenge of Seattle hospital: In December, a Seattle hospital filed a lawsuit against Texas AG Ken Paxton after he demanded the hospital turn over the medical records of Texas children who receive gender-affirming care from the hospital. Paxton dropped the request for medical records as part of a settlement agreement with the hospital, according to KOMO. However, the hospital also had to drop its registration to do business in Texas. That won't affect children receiving gender-affirming care, but it may be annoying to the hospital employees who live in Texas and work remotely for the hospital.

We've got a special delivery: all of the best events Seattle has to offer this week in one handy roundup. Find details on everything from the Seattle Black Film Festival to the Upper Left Comedy Festival, and readings from Hanif Abdurraqib and Gabrielle Zevin, here.

MONDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Empress Of Live on KEXP
Before seeing her magnetic opening set for Carly Rae Jepsen's Seattle show last fall, I was admittedly unfamiliar with the genius of Empress Of (aka Lorely Rodriguez). I was mesmerized by Rodriguez's performance style, which involved standing amid free-standing mirrors and dancing her heart out while singing ethereal electro-pop songs in a lavender fairy-esque outfit. I was immediately obsessed with tracks like "When I'm With Him" and "Women Is a Word." Unfortunately, her current tour does not include any proper concerts in the Pacific Northwest. However, she will stop by KEXP this week for a live in-studio performance to support her critically acclaimed new album For Your Consideration. The studio session is free and open to the public, but admission is limited—you've been warned! Snag your tickets in person 90 minutes before the set (or just watch it on YouTube afterward). AUDREY VANN
(KEXP, Uptown)