Arts & Culture

What Happens to Professional Dance in a Socially Distant World?

by Beverly Aarons 

Dance is physical, primal, and ephemeral — bodies brush against each other, and sometimes audience members are so close that they could reach out and touch dancers as they glide by only a few feet away. So what happens to dance in a socially distant world where bodies must remain six feet apart and preferably masked? And how do dancers, choreographers, and the community adapt, change, and provide a sustainable model for the future? Donald Byrd, the artistic director of Spectrum Dance Theater, introspected about how he and Spectrum are transforming and how he hopes to leave a legacy that will provide a model for creating dance performance in the future. 

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News

Tickets or Passes, Please! Sound Transit Will Resume Fares and Enforcement

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by Erica C Barnett 

(This article was originally published on The C is for Crank and has been reprinted with permission)

Sound Transit, the regional transit agency, announced Monday that it will resume charging fares on Link Light Rail and Sounder trains on June 1. Fare enforcement officers will begin riding trains again and “educating” riders about the reintroduction of fares and providing information about how to access reduced-fare ORCA Lift cards starting today, May 19. Starting in June, fare enforcement will begin again. Officers are supposed to “follow social distancing guidelines” when checking fares. Continue reading Tickets or Passes, Please! Sound Transit Will Resume Fares and Enforcement →

News

Seattle City Council Passes Resolution Asking Gov. Inslee to Create Relief Fund for Undocumented Workers

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by Carolyn Bick

The Seattle City Council has unanimously adopted a resolution asking Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee to create a relief fund for undocumented workers affected by the current novel coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution, which was championed at the grassroots level by several immigrants’ rights organizations and introduced by sponsors Seattle City Councilmembers Lorena Gonzalez and Teresa Mosqueda at the City Council’s May 18 meeting, asks that the governor create the fund, because undocumented workers are ineligible for regular federal or state unemployment benefits or relief, despite paying taxes like official United States citizens.

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Voices

My Brush With Mount St. Helens

by Sharon Maeda

May 18, 1980 was a beautiful sunny morning. I left SeaTac Airport for a trip to Los Angeles. I was a finalist for a job and although it was a great opportunity, I didn’t particularly have any interest in living in “Lalaland.” So, I booked a flight that gave me enough time to get to a Venice Beach hotel for the interview, a meal along the boardwalk, back to the airport and home to Seattle in a one-day trip. 

As we took off from SeaTac, the pilot announced that we had received clearance to circle Mount St. Helens to see the steam. He told us to stay in our seats as we would be circling two times, giving everyone a chance to take photos. We could see the thin line of steam and the rim of the crater. 

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News

Grassroots Mutual Aid Network Provides Services for King County’s Unsheltered Community

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by Carolyn Bick

The wind catches Dee Powers’ short, wavy hair as they lean out of the window of the mobile home they share with their partner. Squinting in the sun, Powers banters with Daniel Ojalvo, who has come to drop off jugs of bleach and other supplies that Powers will divide into small amounts for distribution among the homeless community.

Both Ojalvo and Powers are part of the homeless mutual aid network, a grassroots effort that formed to serve the homeless community during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The community often doesn’t have access to regular sanitation or food in normal times, and has even less access now as the pandemic sweeps across the world. Much of the regular homelessness outreach has dried up, since it’s more difficult to do outreach safely these days. That’s where the mutual aid network, in partnership with existing nonprofits and other community organizers, comes in.

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Voices

GoFundWho? More Equitable Ways to Crowdfund in a Crisis

Platforms like GoFundMe are burdened by bias. During the pandemic, we can all be more intentional with our giving.

by Marcus Harrison Green

The dire health and financial consequences of the coronavirus have music shops on life support, restaurants clawing for survival, truckers desperately seeking personal protective gear, and essential workers pleading for help with rent. Facing immediate emergency and stay-home orders, many are turning to online giving platforms that can provide a rapid funding source and a gimcrack bridge between subsistence and destitution. Continue reading GoFundWho? More Equitable Ways to Crowdfund in a Crisis →

Community

Rainier Beach Community Pays Tribute to Conner Dassa-Holland

by Ari Robin McKenna and Makayla Miles

When Conner Dassa-Holland was in middle school at Orca K–8, his English teacher there, Donte Felder, would often present students with two questions:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

Years later, Donte would run into Conner from time to time in South Seattle, where they both lived. Usually, after getting an earful of Conner’s recent achievements, he would ask Conner what had become a predictable question:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

Responses varied over the years. Having spent both 7th and 8th grade in Donte’s English classrooms, Conner was ready with a variety of off-the-cuff answers over the years.

Donte remembers their final exchange:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

“Change the world. Our systems are wrong.”

“How?”

“I’ll figure that out later, but one step at a time.”

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News

Esther “Little Dove” John: Faithless Elector or Trump Resistor?

by Chetanya Robinson

Four years ago Esther “Little Dove” John, then 64, accomplished something she had wanted to do since junior high. She became a member of the electoral college, and in December 2016, joined 538 others across the country to choose the next president of the United States.

John, a longtime Beacon Hill community member, artist and activist whose friends call her Dove, never imagined her choice would cause a ripple that would reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Members of the electoral college are expected to vote for whoever wins the popular vote in their states. But in 2016, ten electors across the country tried, and seven succeeded, in casting a vote for someone else. It was the largest such revolt since 1808.

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Community

Neighborhood Check-In: Beacon Hill

by Jessie McKenna

This is the second in our series of articles checking in on the neighborhoods of South Seattle, produced by community members living within them. Read our first, a Rainier Beach and Dunlap check-in, here.

Per the new norm in the era of COVID quarantine, I don’t see people out on Beacon Ave as much or at the coffee shops, restaurants and grocery stores like I normally would, and I miss my community — our interactions and checking in with each other, sharing news and resources. I miss being connected to my neighborhood in a way that feels organic and authentic (vs. awkward and/or virtual). 

I’m grateful for the online realm where my friends and neighbors are sharing stories and information, but nothing beats face-to-face conversation and we’re not getting as many of those these days. But I caught up with some neighborhood folx to check in on them one-on-one (virtually), and then later we arranged a time for me to snap their pics from a safe distance. 

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News

Bill to Create Public Emergency Ordinance to Restrict Encampment Sweeps Set to Be Introduced at Seattle City Council on May 18

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by Carolyn Bick

A bill that would create a public emergency ordinance to restrict the City of Seattle’s ability to sweep encampments during the current novel coronavirus crisis will be introduced to the Seattle City Council on Monday, May 18, with a vote to be taken on May 25, the Emerald has learned.

Continue reading Bill to Create Public Emergency Ordinance to Restrict Encampment Sweeps Set to Be Introduced at Seattle City Council on May 18 →
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