Low Tide at Constellation Park

The Seattle Aquarium has a volunteer beach naturalist program — they send good natured sea-life loving nerds down to the shores of Puget Sound when the tides are low to educate us plebeians about what lives in our tidal zone. I adore these people. Dressed in safari vests and red Beach Naturalist baseball caps, they …


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7 Ways Your Brazilian Girlfriend is Cheating On You

Limited time value media wonkishness ahead. You can read this, or hey, for a better use of your time, read this story by Clementine  Wamiraya who fled the Rwanda massacres. Man, what a read. I’ve seen worse contributor plans than Hearst Publishing’s The Mix. You apply to be a contributor and if you’re approved, you’re …


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A More Perfect Union

I have a complicated relationship with the US. It had long been my desire to pull up stakes for Europe. I blame this on art school, reading about the Paris exiles, and a lot of misleading movies in which some not quite well formed young American goes abroad and becomes exactly who she’s meant to …


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Northwest Aurora

I’ve only seen the Aurora Borealis once. I was flying home from Alaska and I looked out the window of the riveted dual prop plane to see green and yellow ribbons of light dancing in the sky. I still feel like I was imagining it. Given that it was nearly 20 years ago, I’m not …


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Explaining American Gun Violence to Your Foreign Friends and Family

In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over. — (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) June 19, 2015 Thanks to globalization, we Americans live in a world where more and more of us have deep ties outside the United States. This can be …


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