Family and friends gathered at Jimi Hendrix Park on Thursday, July 2 to celebrate the life of Horace Lorenzo Anderson. Many of those gathered wore t-shirts with favorite photos of the young man who was killed on the edge of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone on June 20. While there were no speeches, the event was a chance for friends and family to enjoy a delicious repast and remember the 19-year-old who had recently graduated from the Youth Education Program (YEP) alternative high school, and had a bright future in front of him. As a DJ played music in the background, some people danced and talked about their memories of the young man whose life was taken too soon. Continue reading Family and Friends Remember Horace Lorenzo Anderson at Memorial Gathering in Jimi Hendrix Park→
The tradition of mirthful children sitting on Santa Claus’s lap for pictures started at the Frederick and Nelson’s downtown Seattle department store in the 1940s. 75 years later, the practice is now so ubiquitous, you can’t throw a rock during the holidays without hitting someone dressed as Jolly Saint Nick. Continue reading Black Santa Tradition Continues Thriving in South Seattle, Central District→
It’s been twenty years since I photographed some of the events surrounding the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Seattle in November 1999. Lots of people who remember it at all, think of it as the “Battle in Seattle,” or the WTO riots,but my memories are of a mostly-peaceful protest attended by over 40 thousand people that thought like me; that believed in livable wages, safe working conditions, and protecting the environment. It was one of the most empowering events of my life. There were people representing labor, the environment, farmers, NGO’s, student and religious groups–all there to speak out against an organization that they believed had too much control over everyday people’s lives. They believed that–as one of the chants the protestors used–said, “Another World is Possible.” Continue reading OPINION: Remembering the Battle in Seattle 20 Years Later→
Standing on the Tukwila Community Center’s back patio, Ken Workman squinted a little as he looked towards the Duwamish River. More than two centuries ago, his ancestors looked over the same river, its shape much the same now as it was then.
A little boy told his dad he only wanted a little off the top as he and his father and older brother walked into the Rainier Beach Community Center for Fathers and Sons Togethers Barbershop Chat, Chew and Play. The event is held twice a year — in February during Black History Month and at the end of August, just before school starts. Participants can get free haircuts, lunch and valuable information about health and wellness. Ten volunteer barbers from more than half a dozen shops cut the hair of numerous boys, their dads and family members. While they waited for haircuts, the families heard speeches from a variety of experts in healthcare, financial security, and access to sports like golf.
Under the warm, yellow lights of Kobo in the Chinatown-International District’s Japantown, Mako Willet readied her sanshin, an Okinawan instrument similar to a lute, to play another song, supposed to warn fishermen about stepping on sharp conch shells.
