"Seattle citizens live the act of planning, but they are reticent about submitting to the discipline of following a plan." Walt Crowley in 1993 writing about our failed 1970 Forward Thrust transit gambit. *Sigh*

In building future and alternative worlds, the way people get around can be used to reveal and ask questions about societies, technologies, and politics. Join us at 6pm on Tuesday, 9/16 learn how descriptions of public transit in fiction shape the worlds of our imagination. luma.com/0olo6szj

HAPPENING NOW: the Sound Transit board is getting new details of the full long-term financial deficit impacting the agency over the long term. CEO Dow Constantine just told board members that the agency faces a 20-25% funding shortfall through 2046, a gap that translates to $30-$40 billion dollars.

It's possible a wheelchair could go over this hole, but a walker or a cane or a foot could easily get caught. This warning seems less than ideal. #soundtransit #seattle #safetyfail.

#seattle #tree folks -- you have an opportunity Saturday morning to meaningfully support trees in #chinatownid at the Spring Clean -- Sign up for tree maintenance at signup.com/go/swwpoNZ These trees directly affect the health of one of our immigrant neighborhoods. (ends at noon, on the streetcar)

I stand with librarians -- the LOC cannot have "inappropriate" books -- if such things exist. It collects all our books.

Sentences said in utter absurdity: "Don't you dare have thoughts about my broccoli." She did have thoughts. And claws. #cats

🥚 I'm a legal orphan with two living parents worrying about cuts to VA and Medicare. I'm from the domestic supply of infants. I have a uterus, a few birth certificates that don't match each other or the current name on my ID, and diagnosed mental illness. So where do I fit in this current madness?

I just did something that's been on my to-do list since October. I did the first half (identify the problem) in January. 4 months ago. It took 7 minutes. #procrastination #justdothething

Had the opportunity to visit the CDC Museum yesterday while friends were getting laid off. The number of programs is so far beyond what we see. We have undermined our own country, and so many others.

This weekend I get to visit a family member recovering from a month on a respirator from "just the flu" and a college friend currently facing down job loss due to the massive Federal HHS cuts. In case I wasn't able to make the argument that the personal is always political.

Trying to keep my head above water by taking advantage of our day of spring and my first boba of the season. #seattle

In my house, a smidgen is less than a smidge which is less than a pinch. But also, my partner's fingers are bigger than mine, so their pinch is closer to my mom's pinch, as her fingers were also bigger than mine. My pinch is closer to my mom's smidge, but she mostly called it "a bit."

I agree. What more is there to say? Sound Transit is one of the biggest infrastructure project drivers in our region, and a secretive hiring process is a disservice to all of us. publicola.com/2025/03/06/s...

"I’d really like to stop reading major geo-political updates in the form of shitposts on Truth Social." SAME, friend. Same. Relatedly, I remember the utter disbelief in Steve Inskeep's NPR voice when he was reporting "news" FROM "Twitter" not that many years ago. www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025...

The real friends were the corporate tax loopholes we closed to fund low income housing along the way.

My partner is out for the night, so I'm indulging in my favorite things he isn't into: mushrooms and doctor dramas. #coping

Sanity. Sleep. Angry cats. The cafe running out of doughnuts before I got there.

People need food to live. Feed children. And elders. And everyone in between. While we're at it, let's feed pets, too. People need care when they are ill. Let them see doctors without going bankrupt. Give them sick time so that they don't infect everyone around them & so they can get well.

SAME.🥚 I have a half sibling from my bio-dad, and an also adopted sibling I grew up with, but I have no contact with the first, and little with the second.

I got friendly woofed at by a very good dog on my way to the bus today. I'm going to hold onto that Good Thing today, as the world continues to crumble.

As a non-academic researcher, I hit journal paywalls & academic index paywalls often. It can be hard to decide what to pay for when some academic studies lend themselves to practical use & some don't -- & the abstracts don't tell me the difference. If only I could afford to be a student forever.

Sitting in my bathroom with my weak, painful hands fighting a "safety cap" on my damn generic pain reliever. This is for people with arthritis! Design better! #universaldesign

So far as I can tell, this Republican admin's plan for most of us is death. Starting with anyone currently ill or disabled.

How did we not learn to cover our coughs/sneezes in public? We had and have a GLOBAL respiratory pandemic. People are still dying. I am currently often the only person masking, even in my west coast bubble, and dealing with a family member on a ventilator & I want to slap people coughing in my air.

I am not sure that many of these speakers understand what a comprehensive plan is, nor that Seattle has been working on ours for years. Also, renters might be more committed if we didn't have the threat of unaffordable rent hanging over us. #seattle

“It would also take a big step toward reinvigorating small maker’s businesses that are slowly being pushed out of the city—like the 700 diverse urban manufacturers and producers…” publicola.com/2025/02/04/t...

You will not have IT figured out at 30. You will eventually know figuring it out is a side quest meant to distract you. You figure things out moment by moment. This is not only okay, but good. So are you, probably.

Turnip. #cats

In architectural history grad school, I spent a lot of time on utopian architecture (preference for constructed vs theoretical), which eventually lead me to institutional architecture -- people were building their theories into actual structure and whole complexes. College campuses do this, too. 1/

I support our transit staff as they support one another.

Hanging in the ID/C station waiting for a Link train. An automated announcement tells riders with bikes, strollers, luggage, to use the elevators. Only 1 of the 4 elevators has been operational in the last 6 months. Transit only works if you can get to it. #seattle #soundtransit

I'm not really a young person anymore -- GenX is old now. And I did, briefly, not in Seattle, own a house and a yard. I did not like it. I am a renter in the type of building that this council opposes, a 5-unit in a very mixed residential area. We have everything on my block and IT'S GREAT.

Relatable. www.savagechickens.com/2025/01/the-...

Scrolling through my local news sources, I sure did not expect to see SF legend @charliejane.bsky.social giving me hope for the coming years: www.thestranger.com/politics/202...

I am alarmed a) by how little has changed, and b) that I still have this.

Took me all day to write a text to my a-bro. It's been almost 5 months since we talked. Family is needlessly complicated, but he's the only other person who knew our a parents, now gone. 🥚

The newest love of my life.

"Just what a baby needs: drumming." My partner, as we sit child-free each with a cat on our laps, listening to a random Christmas playlist.

Chinese food on christmas is not my tradition, but it is a tradition I can offer the utmost respect -- and this is a good list if you're in #Seattle. As a Chinese-American, and heavy on the American, I can endorse both those entries: everout.com/seattle/arti...

Miu Miu runs the Panama Tea House in Seattle, and she's very focused on customer satisfaction. 💞

This episode of Code Switch touched me and made me think of all the teachers in my life -- not just the ones who taught me, but all the friends and family who take on what is really a rough, unsupported job. www.npr.org/2024/09/18/1...

Today's mood, by Turnip.

The prospective adoptive parents in the US are not "in a state of uncertainty." They have been told they cannot purchase Chinese children anymore. I'm sorry they are disappointed, and am GRATEFUL these children will stay in their country. Adoptees *can* be grateful. www.knoxnews.com/story/news/p...

This bridge is tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and its story should make (north)western preservationists dig into our notions of "integrity" for architectural and cultural resources. And I will never see it, because my flatlander DNA cannot do altitude. www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

These are a few of my favorite things... My locals are now Arundel Books and Mam's Books, but I am always up for finding a new bookstore. But not all of them -- we did the Indie Bookstore Challenge in 2018, and it was fantastic and exhausting!

I'm such a light user of social media, but I do like to share cat photos. This mesmerizing candle is pho scented and came from Little Saigon Creative in Seattle's CID. #cat #shoplocal