Posts — Page 1095

What am I in for? How bad is this gonna be?

Author: Chat GPT Seattle has somehow managed to turn attending the arts into a minor civic ritual. The Seattle Symphony gives a land acknowledgment before each concert at Benaroya Hall. Seattle Opera formally incorporates a Coast Salish land acknowledgment into its institutional equity commitments and materials. And Town Hall Seattle says its acknowledgment is read aloud during introductions to Town Hall-produced events. Apparently the music can't simply start. First, the institution needs to establish the approved moral interpretation of the land underneath your seat. To be clear: Coast Salish peoples lived here long before Seattle existed. Indigenous people were dispossessed, treaty promises were broken, and that history should be taught accurately. What does not logically follow is that unrelated cultural events therefore require a ceremonial statement about it. Town Hall makes the problem especially obvious. Its spoken acknowledgment calls Seattle “unceded traditional territory.” There's a rather awkward historical complication: the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. Article I explicitly says the Indigenous signatories “cede, relinquish, and convey” their rights, title and interest in the territory to the United States. And this isn't just some hostile interpretation of the treaty. The Duwamish Tribe's own website says that under the agreement the Duwamish “exchanged over 54,000 acres of their homeland” for the reservation and other benefits promised by the federal government. You can argue that the treaty was coercive, unfair, poorly translated, or subsequently violated. Those are legitimate arguments. But then “unceded” isn't a neutral statement of historical fact. It's a conclusion about whether the documented cession should be regarded as morally or politically legitimate. That's precisely the distinction these rituals conveniently erase. “Coast Salish peoples lived here before European settlement” is history. “This remains unceded Indigenous territory” is a political and legal judgment. “Therefore audiences should hear a land acknowledgment before the orchestra performs” is yet another proposition entirely. Somehow all three get compressed into a ceremonial statement and presented as though no argument has occurred. And what exactly does the ritual accomplish? If an organization genuinely believes it is illegitimately occupying someone else's land, reciting a paragraph before Beethoven and then continuing to occupy the property is an impressively convenient form of decolonization. If it believes its presence there is legitimate, then repeatedly announcing the ancestry of earlier inhabitants before unrelated performances looks a lot more like ritualized political symbolism. And spare me the inevitable “it only takes twenty seconds.” If the Seattle Symphony spent twenty seconds before every concert announcing its institutional position on abortion, Gaza, immigration, capitalism or policing, nobody would call it politically neutral because the speech was short. The stopwatch isn't the issue. The issue is why this political ritual has become so normalized that questioning why it precedes an orchestra concert is treated as stranger than the orchestra doing it. Teach Indigenous history. Teach the treaties. Teach the dispossession and broken promises. Invite Indigenous historians and artists. That's actual history and actual engagement. But a scripted ideological preamble before an unrelated cultural event is something else. Historical truth does not automatically create a ritual obligation. Arts organizations are perfectly free to make political statements. They should just stop pretending those statements are neutral etiquette.

Hi there, Seattle. This is your weekly edition where you can tell Seattle what is good. Did you achieve something this week? Or are you just happy you made it through another week? Did you get to sleep in? Did you find out something new and want to share? Let's celebrate together!! Nothing is too small to share. I wanna hear it all!

I’m going through a breakup after a long relationship. I love Seattle, but my partner was my everything. We lived together, and she was my best friend too. I think I can afford to keep the apartment, but what I’m really worried about is living in isolation. My family, who I know would be a great group to help me get through this and build my life back, lives across the country. I lost a romantic partner, a best friend, a housemate, and a huge chunk of my identity. I’m hoping to get the input of transplants who have had their lives “flipped upside down” and still have made it work here.

I live in a lovely condo in Belltown, but my current room is unlivable. It's cluttered with trash, clothes strewn on the floor, and general mess everywhere. I can't handle it anymore. Any recommendations? Or suggestions on how to find help? I'm also dealing with a serious rug beetle infestation.

I just moved to Seattle and I’m really hoping to meet some new people potentially through stationary/journaling/crafting meetups! I was trying to research groups that do this but I haven’t found much?? Maybe I’m just bad at researching lol. But does anyone know of any meetups like this that happen in town? Or if there are groups that might host events like these? Near Ballard or Fremont would be a plus but I’m willing to go further!!

The 5th Amendment says the government cannot take your private land without paying you full market price. But bureaucrats found a loophole, and it is costing local landowners millions. I just spent ten hours digging through 116 official public permit files. What I found in the county's own records is infuriating. Over 1,200 acres of private property have been effectively stolen through forced deed restrictions. The county locks up your land so you can't build, farm, or clear a single square foot. The kicker: you still pay full property taxes on every inch of it, and you still hold all the legal liability if someone gets hurt on it! And this is just the tip of the iceberg. These are statewide rules, they use Shrub Steppe in Grant county and wetlands rules in King County.

Blue Biria bike - Beach Cruiser looking :,,) Between Thursday (08.13) & Sunday (08.16) my bike was stolen from my house near Red Arrow Cafe after i forgot to properly put it away. It’s registered, no police report (because SPD won’t do anything anyway). Neighbors, beware the person either went down my very long & shared driveway OR through my fenced yard, down a set of stairs to the lower yard & to where my back door is - don’t do what i did & place things fully away even when home. I’ve been debating on posting this (ashamed) but if anyone has seen my bike, please comment. I’m ok with it being gone just curious if anyone has seen a trace or anything. Also, beware Ballard neighbors!

Last year, Fix the L8 proved that Route 8 is not only slower than walking, but also slower than hopscotching , cha-cha-sliding , conga lining , and so much more . Less than a month after taking office, Mayor Wilson signed her first executive order , directing the Seattle Department of Transportation to install bus-only lanes on Denny Way to improve Route 8's speed and reliability. The bus lanes are being installed this weekend and we cannot be more excited to see Route 8 finally fixed after decades of inaction with only a few months of Mayor Wilson's leadership. Join us to Race the 8 again this year to celebrate the new bus lanes and see if we can still outdance the bus! The race will be held on Tuesday, September 8th at 5 PM at Denny / Dexter , starting with brief remarks from Mayor Wilson, a Route 8 bus driver, and Fix the L8 leads. We will then race the bus to Denny / Stewart before heading to Pine Box for a happy hour after the race. You can find more details and RSVP here .

On October 1st @ Town Hall Seattle, a group of your Seattle neighbors will take the stage to explain something they're passionate about to a room full of strangers. The catch: they get exactly 5 minutes . 20 slides. 15 seconds per slide. Slides advance automatically whether they're ready or not. That's Ignite. The subjects are all over the map, which is pretty much the point — you come because you don't know what you're going to learn about. Early bird tickets are $12 : https://www.tickettailor.com/events/igniteseattle/2177926/r/red