Category Archives: Features

Features

Black History Today: Aaron Walker

by Marcus Harden

(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students)

“In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.”-Hank Aaron

“Servant leadership” at times has become a cliched term — many people talk about it, but not all reach the actuality of it. The reasons for that are simple. Those who truly embody it are too busy serving and leading to bask in the glory of the lives they’ve affected and changed.

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Features

Black History Today: Randi Jones-Gratton

by Marcus Harden

(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students)

“In my culture, death is not the end. It’s more of a stepping-off point. You reach out with both hands, and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into a green veld where… you can run forever.”

–The Black Panther

“I’m going to call your mom.”

Now, that’s something I say as an educator only when something has gone really, really well or really, really, badly! When it’s bad, every student involved feels their heart start to race and their eyes widen a bit. This was the case for Randi Jones-Gratton’s son years ago when I had to make that announcement, letting him know that I was calling his mom.

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Features

Black History Today: Dawn Mason

by Marcus Harden

(Black History Today is published in collaboration with Rise Up for Students)

Introduction to Black History Today 2021:

I loathe funerals. I suppose most people do. Yet, I despise them for different reasons than most would imagine. I hate funerals because I always wonder how glorious and useful the words, sentiments, and expressions of love and gratitude would be to the departed (and those giving them) if they were around to hear and feel them.

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Features

The Endurance of Jewish Life

by Jennifer Karami

The Seattle Globalist was a daily online publication that covered the connections between local and global issues in Seattle. The Emerald is keeping alive its legacy of highlighting our city’s diverse voices by regularly publishing and re-publishing stories aligned with the Globalist’s mission. 

(A version of this article originally appeared in the Seattle Globalist.)

“I know your grandmother’s real name.”

Those were the words of Denise Grollmus’ mother on her 28th birthday — the day she found out she was Jewish.

The Holocaust destroyed most of the Jewish population in Poland before 1945. Jews that survived did so by physically going into hiding or by renouncing their Jewish identity. 

That’s what Grollmus’ grandmother did. In Nazi-controlled Poland, the family begun masquerading as Catholic to avoid persecution … and kept the charade going for generations.

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Features

Filipino Health Care Workers and Their Battle Against COVID-19

by Ronnie Estoque

Clea Patriarca Alverio-Hume, 57, served as the medical records director at Queen Anne Healthcare, a skilled nursing facility, and she also worked for Swedish Medical Center where she was the lead admission coordinating assistant at the Transfer and Operations Center.

On May 21, 2020, Alverio-Hume developed a harsh cough. Initially, it was attributed to her allergies due to the cottonwood trees that were shedding at the time. Her allergy medicines and inhalers were filled, but they didn’t seem to help much according to her husband, David Hume. Four days later, Alverio-Hume went to a clinic to get tested as she had a minor fever and was vomiting. Her cough had gotten severely worse.

“I ended up calling the paramedics that Tuesday evening because she was having difficulty breathing,” her husband said. 

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Features

Weekend Long Reads: Our National Strategy for Combating COVID-19

by Kevin Schofield 

It only took a year and a changeover in administrations, but the United States finally has a national strategy for combating COVID-19. On his second day in office, President Joe Biden unveiled the 117-page plan and seven accompanying executive orders to begin to move the plan forward.

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Features

A Hard Year for Those Without Shelter: Death Rates Rose and Pressures Increased for the Homeless During the Pandemic

by Ashley Archibald

In a video posted to YouTube, a woman in a blue surgical mask stands in the corner of a walled-off yard, a puffy, slate gray jacket zipped against the cold. To her right is a table draped with a white cloth holding 19 votive candle holders. Slowly, deliberately, the woman reads a list of names.

“Azhane Mitchell.”

“Charles Lingenfelter.”

“Christopher Mann.”

In the silence following each name, a man lights a candle.

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Features

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda: Finding Commonality in Division

by Melody Ip

When Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda reflects on her past four years in office, she celebrates hard-fought wins for healthier families, worker protections, and small businesses. Yet COVID-19 hit and reversed the progression, significantly impacting many of the people Mosqueda has worked so hard to protect. For this reason, Mosqueda is running for a second term on the City Council, believing her work is not yet done.

“I don’t want us to recover to what we were before,” Mosqueda said. “I want to recover to a more equitable Seattle, and that drives me to stay in the legislative branch and fight for those longer-term policies that, once we [pass them] into law, will make dramatic improvements for people’s lives over the long haul.”

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Features

Weekend Long Reads: Section 230

by Kevin Schofield

One of the frequent targets of President Donald Trump’s ire lately has been the cryptic “Section 230.” Last month, Trump threatened to veto the entire budget for the nation’s military forces if Congress didn’t include a repeal of Section 230 in the bill. This week’s “long read” is a deep dive into Section 230, its origins, and the ongoing controversies it begets that extend far beyond Trump’s personal vendetta.

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