1. The news section of The Stranger this week is almost entirely a house organ for the candidates and causes that The Stranger endorsed in this year's election. DOMINIC HOLDEN chastises Ed Murray's backers for using battered women as a wedge issue. ANNA MINARD tries to imply that the GMO initiative is going to fail because of big-money donations. And CIENNA MADRID chastises the voting public for not being more supportive of measures that could change the way that the city council is elected. Choose one of the following prompts and write a reaction to this week's news section:

a. Do you believe these articles are sincere attempts to address issues that matter to the city, or are they three desperate campaign ads thinly disguised as news?

b. Or do you believe The Stranger is self-aware enough to understand that all of their endorsements are going to fail in this year's election? Perhaps these articles are merely "ass-covering" techniques, allowing Stranger staff to point back on election night and say, "Well, we knew this was coming. How unfair it all is!"

c. Really, does any of this matter?

2. Here is a table comparing and contrasting regular Last Days writer David Schmader with guest Last Days writer CIENNA MADRID:

Considering the empirical evidence displayed in this table, do you believe that Cienna Madrid is qualified to write Last Days simply because she's a woman? Or does the fact that she's a woman, and therefore more "diverse" than Schmader, trump the fact that Ms. Madrid has never once been funny in her life?

3. Ms. Madrid also contributes a very long feature about a he-said, he-said disagreement involving a frozen piece of fecal matter. Discuss.

4. What amount of money do you estimate would be enough to convince Ms. Madrid to stop writing altogether? Would such a fundraising project be more suited for Kickstarter or Indiegogo?

5. MEGAN SELING crosses a career milestone in the music section, writing her 100,000th overwrought story about a pop punk band. Do you believe that one day, a human being will read one of Ms. Seling's stories, or is she destined for a Kafkaesque career as a writer eternally unread? recommended