1. This week's edition of The Stranger should feature a copy of A&P, the arts and performance quarterly written by The Stranger's arts editors and various other contributors. If your copy of The Stranger doesn't have an A&P inside of it, please detail what you think happened to your copy of A&P. (Examples: Shielding a homeless person from the elements, public restroom out of toilet paper—wait, The Stranger still has a print edition?)

2. Ostensibly to celebrate the artistic community in Seattle, BRENDAN KILEY has written an A&P piece about artists and performers who left Seattle for New York City or Los Angeles, those who did not do so, and how (in Kiley's opinion) it no longer makes any difference. From A&P's extensive arts calendars, choose six events upcoming in Seattle this fall that deserved the space that was given to this piece. Why are they more important than Kiley's pointless article?

3. REBECCA BROWN and TRISHA READY have an argument in A&P about irony that would have been of much interest back when irony was a "hot topic" in 1999 and 2000. Read these pieces again, only this time, pretend they were written at the dawn of McSweeney's-era postmodernism. Does that make them more relevant? Why or why not?

4. Also in A&P, DAVID SCHMADER writes about the genre known as fogtwang as though it were already dead, when fogtwang is in fact a burgeoning musical genre just getting its start. Is Schmader's jaded, been-there-done-that tone intended to amplify the emotional content of the story? Or does Schmader really believe that he has seen and done everything of value? If so, why does he still work at a magazine purportedly devoted to finding and celebrating new works of art?

5. Meanwhile, back in The Stranger proper, DOMINIC HOLDEN argues that crime is not increasing in the downtown core. This piece is clearly designed to be an attack on mayoral candidate Ed Murray, who is arguing that the Seattle Police Department is not doing its job. If you have been a victim of crime in the downtown core during Mayor McGinn's term in office, please write a persuasive letter to Holden asking him why he chose to diminish your personal experience for the purpose of scoring a political "point." Be as clear and direct as possible. Remember to include a complimentary close to your letter! recommended