* 7:30 AM: Inauguration Day! Whoo-hoo!!! There will be parties all over town to celebrate, but once the dancing is done, check out President Obama’s two published books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. (I don’t think Change We Can Believe In really counts as a book, personally.) And if you really have Obama-fever, there are dozens and dozen of books about the new President (and First Lady) available from SPL. Some of the authors are not fans. [LINK]

* 7:00 PM: Bent: A Writing Institute will be celebrating the inauguration with a reading at Richard Hugo House. “Over thirty Bent writers” will take the stage in the Cabaret to put some of their “own visions into the world.” Or into as many people as happen to show up, I presume.
[LINK]

* 7:30 PM: Elliott Bay Book Co. is hosting Adam Shepard, yet another self-published author who got a mainstream publishing contract after selling thousands of copies via POD. Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream documents Shepard’s successful attempt to go from homeless and broke to flush and sheltered within a year. Which he did. Good job!
[LINK]

I’ll start with a story.

There were two rival fisherman, Joe and Moe, who worked the fishing grounds of the Baltic Sea. They really, truly hated one another. Their crews would row in port, they’d cut each other’s buoys, they’d try to sabotage each other’s boats. It was that fierce a battle between them.

One day, while they were out in the fishing grounds, a mild weather system turned into a sudden gale, and then into a raging storm. Waves were suddenly forty feet high, tossing the fishing boats to and fro, making them shudder like an earthquake every time they fell off a crest and smacked into the trough below. Joe got word from the men below — the hull was breaching, and the bilge pumps weren’t keeping up with the water filling in belowdecks. It was clear the sea was going to take the ship. Suddenly, the radio cackled with a mayday. Moe’s ship had flipped clean over, men were overboard, and this was his last goodbye.

Joe immediately ran to the fridge and busted out all the beer, then started handing it to the men desperately working to try and prevent the boat’s demise — and theirs. “Drink up, men!” shouted Joe over the pounding sound of the ocean foreclosing on the ship. “That son of a bitch Moe is dead!”

“But we’re going to be dead soon too!” shouted back a bailing crewmember.

“Yes!” retorted Joe. “But we will die last!”

And that, in a nutshell, is why the conservatives’ chest-pumping over the demise of the P-I is ridiculous.
(more…)

photo by Greg Stonebraker [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• At least on Seattle MLK parade wasn’t cancelled. Thousands marched from Garfield to the Federal Building on a beautiful summer day. [centraldistrictnews]
• A meme born in Iraq makes its way to Seattle with a presidential shoe toss in front of SCCC. [seattle.lj]
• Explaining dumpster full of newspaper boxes through real estate. [thesouthlake]
• Trying to get the Huskies off campus and into Qwest. [seattletransitblog]
• Dodgeball is going to be dead soon. [flickr] What are you going to use instead?
• A neighborhood blogs gets to know itself through bar graphs and downloadable survey results. [capitolhillseattle]
• Bid adieu to the remaining hours of the Bush era by listening to Carrie Brownstein’s selections of protest music from the last eight years. [monitormix]

Like many people, I spent MLK Jr Day working, as I have for many, many years. A national day of service is a nice idea, but employers tend to think of MLK Jr Day as “Monday.” Maybe the idea will take off over the next four to eight years, and everyone will get the day off (paid, please!), but for now a quick search at www.usaservice.org produces a list of inauguration parties– no community service or volunteer projects.

Various studies (by the UN & Johns Hopkins U, among others) have estimated that volunteer work contributes about 5% to a country’s GDP (although GDP studies don’t usually include volunteer and other unpaid work, such as home-keeping and child-rearing, in their measurements. I’ve read studies that estimate the total contribution of unpaid work to GDP as high as 30%). When President Elect Obama and his team talk about volunteer work, or service, as a vital contribution to the nation’s economy, they aren’t kidding.

Seattle has as many programs that could use some free labor as any other city. Google “volunteer” and “seattle”—I got over 3 million hits. That’s a lot of volunteer opportunities! Concerned about the city budget crunch and how it will affect your quality of life? Schools? Parks and recreation facilities? Help close the gap. Let me tell you how!

The city of Seattle has it’s own page of volunteer opportunities, from “Adopt-A-Drain” to the Youth Tutoring Program. Turns out SPL could use both adult and teen volunteers… Hmmm. I think I’m going to have to put my time where my mouth is.
[LINK]

Do you have kids? If so, you probably have little time for volunteering, and less energy, but Seattle Public Schools could still use your help. Well, when SPS say “help” they mean, “please, we desperately need tutors and mentors!” If you are comfortable with kids and enjoy teaching in a small group or one-on-one setting, this might be your thing.
[LINK]

Seattle Art Museum is looking for people who are passionate about art and can make a six-month commitment. I know people who’ve never had a romantic relationship that lasted six-months, but if you are not commitment-phobic, and get all intense and starry-eyed about art, inquire. I bet you get free passes to exhibits and stuff, too.
[LINK]

The Seattle Community Network maintains a list of organizations seeking volunteers. Work with Queer youth, teach kids chess, Adopt a Grandparent…
[LINK]

When Ann Dunham settled down on Capitol Hill in 1961, it’s doubtful it was of her own volition. The Seattle Municipal Archives shows that the push for civil rights movement within Seattle began as early as 1949 with letters from groups “requesting the city not accept plats [of land] with restrictive covenants”. In 1953, the city council agreed and in 1957, the State passed the Omnibus Civil Rights Act. Although, attempts were made to enforce such anti-discrimination legislature, white citizens (such as realtor John L. Scott) pressed to continue residential segregation via buy-outs and physical intimidation. A request came to Seattle City Council in 1961 from the NAACP, “propos[ing] that the City pass an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing.”

After a series of examples of public protest such as a sit-in and marches through the years 1961 to 1963, the city council finally sent the opening housing ordinance to voters on March 10^th, 1964 where it was defeated by a landslide. The next for years, the civil rights movement fought the battle at a national level, with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King’s and other leaders spreading hope through out the country.

“Finally, on April 19, 1968, three weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., an open housing ordinance was passed unanimously by the City Council, with an emergency clause to make it effective immediately. It was signed by the Mayor the same day.” (Seattle Municipal Archives)

Today, when we remember Martin Luther King, Jr., we can reflect on the effects his work produced in our own community.

Assuming that you didn’t watch Saturday Night Live this weekend or find a Fleet Foxes on SNL watch party to attend somewhere, you can now enjoy seeing them all cleaned up and performance in Studio 8H via the power of YouTube. Here they are being introduced by Rosario Dawson and playing “Mykonos”:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_g5QDFLdj0[/youtube]
Thanks to Sound on the Sound for finding these clips. I looked briefly on Sunday and fell for this CSNRoll [mbv]. Click over there to see their second song, “Blue Ridge Mountains” [sots] or, for HD versions, turned up by LineOut [#], try: “Mykonos” [youtube] & Blue Ridge Mountains [youtube]

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Which means that the only thing literary-ish going on is a dramatic reading of excerps from some of Dr. King’s speeches. 2:30 PM, Seattle Center, Center House Pavillion. A full program of King Day events start at noon. [LINK]

Christmas 2009 by Seattle Daily Photo via our group pool [#]

While Slog has been busily indexing a list of inauguration parties in Seattle, those of us over at Metblogs have been quietly coming up with our own list of celebrations surrounding Obama’s swearing-in tomorrow. Here’s the list of events that us Metbloggers are hoping to check out tomorrow:

- Paramount Theatre will be opening its doors at 7 a.m. for a free showing of the inauguration on the big screen. Concessions to be sold include “Malia Scones with Bright Cherries and Almond Crunch,” “Banana-bama Bread,” and “Sasha’s Carroty Goodness Muffins” from Dahlia Bakery. KOMO 4 and the Seattle Theatre Group are co-hosting.

- Aster Coffee Lounge is playing the inauguration on a big-screen TV, while serving red, white and blue waffles (strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream) and mimosas, according to MyBallard (#).

- 88 Keys in Pioneer Square will have a brunch buffet for $10.90 starting at 8 a.m. (doors open at 7 a.m.), as well as AM1090 and Lee Callahan on hand to ring in the new presidency.

- Every single Starbucks with a flat-screen TV will be showing the inauguration live. The locations are listed in an attachment at the bottom of this post.

- King Cobra is throwing an inauguration party tomorrow starting at 4 p.m.

- At The Corson Building in Georgetown, $25 will get you a party with wood fired pizzas and oysters. 6 p.m.

- The Obama Ball is being thrown at the Armory complete with big band, soul food, and “keynote speakers.” Casual or formal, the ball costs $22 for individuals, $44 for couples, free for children, and begins at 6 p.m.

- Happy hour at Moe goes until 8 p.m., and then there’s the FuturObama 3D Inauguration Bash at Sole Repair, with Johnny Fever, among others, DJing, starting at 9 p.m.

- Rebar is having a Return To Camelot inauguration ball with Ade and Nick Garrison and Sylvia O’Stayformore starting at 8 p.m., $10 or $5 if you’re in formal wear.

- High Dive in Fremont will be having an Inauguration Celebration featuring RA Scion from Common Market with Vunt Foom Vunt Foom, with Diztortion and I-Adjust 10th and Commerce starting at 8 p.m. $6 cover.

- Three Imaginary Girls is throwing an Inauguration Celebration with H is for Hellgate, Friday Mile, Benjamin Bear and Ed Wang at Chop Suey starting at 8 p.m. Cover is $7 and the event is 21+.

- Or, you could take a cue from one Metblogger, and break out that magnum-sized bottle of champagne that you’ve been saving. :)

Let us know which event you’re heading to, and we’ll add it to the list!

Do you have a dog? If you live in Seattle, one in three of you will answer, “Yes!” to that question. In fact, if you live in Seattle, you are more likely to have a dog than a child. Unfortunately, if your pet needs emergency or critical health care, there are far fewer resources available for pets than for people… which is where ACCES comes in.

ACCES is Animal Critical Care and Emergency Services, Seattle’s only 24/7 emergency, critical care, and specialty animal hospital. And they need blood. Specifically, dog blood. If your dog is healthy, not on medication, at least 55 lbs, and can lie still with a needle in its neck for about 10 minutes (not as unlikely as you might think), then your pet might be a good candidate for blood donations. ACCES operates the only animal blood bank in this area; while animal blood can be purchased from nationwide blood banks, they are often backordered by weeks. Having a community blood bank allows ACCES to have blood on hand for emergencies, making the difference between life and death for area pets.

Every dog considered for blood donation receives a full medical exam, including blood tests, several weeks before the first donation date. Donors also receive an exam before every donation, copious amounts of liver treats afterwards, and a toy to take home. Donor’s owners get a bumper sticker that announces “My Dog Gave Blood” (which no one will force you to put on your car), and that warm, fuzzy feeling deep in your heart, from making a positive contribution to your community.

And, hey, maybe after Fido has donated, you could, too!

LINKS:
ACCES
Puget Sound Blood Center

As many of you (very many actually) can attest to, the Metblogs monthly meetup took place at Oddfellows Cafe last Thursday.

What you might not have known is that Oddfellows was incredibly accommodating. We originally made the reservation for 10 people. However, when our monthly meetup turned into a discussion of the future of the news, around 30 people showed up.

The manager and all of the staff were wonderful. On occasion it took a few extra minutes to get a drink, or to catch one of the staff’s attention, but when you triple a reservation with no warning, and cram all of those people around a table set for 10 and everyone still gets their food and drinks in a timely fashion without mistakes and all of the staff is pleasant and the manager even tells your group’s organizer to STOP APOLOGIZING REPEATEDLY for the influx of people, you know you’ve got a place you can come back to.

Photo by ~wesa~ from our group pool.

There were mixed reviews of the food. I ordered an Oddfellow cocktail (which was delicious and moderately strong) and shared the steak with my husband. The quality of the steak was excellent. It was cooked exactly as I asked and the braised onion was tender and sweet. The mac and cheese was also quite good. I might have preferred a bit more spice, perhaps some smoked sea salt or truffle salt, but the noodles were tender and cheesy with a nice dusting of crunchy breadcrumbs on top.

I thought the mac and cheese was reasonably priced, and while the steak could have used a bit more steak for the $15, it wasn’t unreasonably small.

In short, we’ll be back to Oddfellows for future meetups.