by Alexa Peters
Valentine’s Day is supposedly the day of love, but for singles — particularly Seattle singles riding out the pandemic alone — it can also be a day of loneliness. For Skanda Bhargav, a 31-year-old tech worker who moved to Seattle from the Bay Area last summer, this Valentine’s Day is especially hard.
Continue reading Self Love Tips for Valentine’s Dayby Meg Butterworth
“It may be an easy thing to make a Republic; but it is a very laborious thing to make Republicans; and woe to the republic that rests upon no better foundations than ignorance, selfishness, and passion.”
Those were the cautionary words of Horace Mann, whom many regard as the founder of American education. Although spoken in 1848, his words are profoundly relevant today as we precariously inch our way into 2021, reeling from the January 6 attack on the Capitol and questioning how 2020’s devastating events will define our future under the new Biden administration. Media sources daily debate how we will overcome our political tribalism, racist past and present, government distrust, and rampant disinformation campaigns. It’s heavy. Why didn’t we heed Mann’s warnings?
Whatever happened to civics class? You know, the study of the rights and duties of citizenship?
Continue reading A Civics Revival In Educationby Kevin Schofield
This weekend’s read is written by the most unlikely of co-authors: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Football League (NFL).
Continue reading Weekend Reads: The CDC and the NFLby Makayla Miles
(This article is co-published in agreement with Rainier Beach Action Coalition’s SE Seattle Freedomnet.)
This is the first in a series of articles drawing from experiences of the many young adults employed by the Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC) to improve their community. Each article will tackle practical issues young adults in our community should have learned about in school but often leave school without knowing.
If you’ve lived in Seattle’s South End neighborhoods long enough, you’ve most likely heard the reputation surrounding Rainier Beach, or maybe you’re aware of the way it is portrayed in traditional media outlets. It seems the only time these communities make the news is when something bad happens, ignoring all the positivity that happens. Seattle can point to the violence, but never meaningfully address its root causes, or even take note of what local organizations are already, successfully, doing to prevent the continued violence.
The lack of economic opportunity in the South End is the driver of crime, the creator of poverty, and the cause of anxiety chronically impacting mental health. The question becomes how can we ensure opportunities for our young adults that will allow them to be successful, to become homeowners, or to become business owners? How can we ensure they have the ability, if they choose, to stay in the neighborhood they were raised in?
Continue reading ADULTING 101: How to Respond to Mental Health Stressors in the Rainier Beach Communityby Marcus Harden
(Black History Today is a published in collaboration with Rise up for Students)
“For while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.” -James Baldwin (Sonny’s Blues)
Continue reading Black History Today: Aaron Readerby Marcus Harden
(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students.)
“I tell my students, when you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else”-Toni Morrison
Leadership is lonely at times. It’s a place we often romanticize, urging young people toward aspirations of leadership without telling the whole story — that real leadership often comes at a cost.
Continue reading Black History Today: Dr. Kiesha Sopher-Scarlett, Guiding Light for Seattle’s Studentsby Marcus Harden
(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students.)
“In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care. You must care. You don’t have to know how many square miles are in Idaho, you don’t need to know what is the chemical makeup of chemistry, or of blood or water. Know what you know and care about the person, care about what you know and care about the person you’re sharing with.” — Maya Angelou
In our youth, ego often truly is the enemy. For men especially, we are taught to find ourselves to be indestructible, all-knowledgeable and sometimes beyond reproach. We seek a level of independence when, to be effective in this world, we need interdependence — which requires people to walk besides us and sometimes a couple of steps in front of us to show us the way.
Continue reading Black History Today: Danny Cage, Jr.by Marcus Harden
(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students.)
“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.’”
— Toni Morrison
It’s been said that “greatness” is not some esoteric quality that happens to and amongst the chosen, but that it comes from hard work, consistency and unwavering courage. If you called the attendance roll in a “Masters Class” on greatness in the teaching profession, it wouldn’t take long to call the name of Doris Baptist Hickman — or as most call her, Mrs. Hickman.
Continue reading Black History Today: Mrs. Dorian Baptist HickmanThis week we dive into another scientific controversy: fluoridated drinking water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers it one of the 10great public health achievements of the 20th century, and yet others decry it as an attempt by the government to poison us (a conspiracy theory mocked in the movie Dr. Strangelove). What’s the truth? A recent research paper from Sweden tries to get to the bottom of this.
The benefit of fluoridation is in its well-documented ability to strengthen tooth enamel and this prevent tooth decay and cavities — also the reason why fluoride is added to toothpaste. The downside is that in large enough concentrations fluoride can impair cognitive development or, in the extreme, be lethal. The question is really whether a dose that is large enough to improve dental health is small enough to avoid the negative effects.
Continue reading Weekend Reads: Fluoride is the Wordby Marcus Harrison Green
(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up For Students)
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
-Tupac Shakur, “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”
Pruning roses…
That’s the way Reagan Jackson described the craft of writing to me the first time we met. It was during a one-on-one writing session at Hillman City’s Tin Umbrella (now Onda Origins Cafe & Roastery).
I almost trembled with intimidation that first meeting. I was mere months removed from blogging in my pajamas in the basement of my parents, house after I forewent the lucrative and luxurious world of high finance to eke out a “living” as a journalist.
Continue reading Black History Today: Reagan Jackson
