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Meet the Woolies

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“Woven tightly into the social fabric of the internet resides a cozy community of people who get off on wool. Sexually. In fact, you might say that the wooly world is one of the greatest achievements of the internet. Where else can a person — separated by borders of nation, language, religion, and culture — find others who are sexually aroused by the sight of a mohair sweater? By cable scarf bondage? By the singular sensation of a warm mitten on the genitals? Only online, of course.”

Had a warm and fuzzy good time writing this article for Racked. This material was particularly well received by my mother’s knitting circle. Delight in the full Woolie experience here.

Extravagantza

Created by Extravagantza

Below, please find additional photos of a Woolie playroom generously shared with me by Margot and Rob, a Woolie couple featured in the article. For more context on these images, please read the article.

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Prohibition in Seattle: Party Like it’s 1916

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“On January 1, 1916, Prohibition began in Washington State, making the production, distribution and possession liquor illegal. This was three years before liquor was prohibited by the federal government and it would be seventeen years before prohibition ended in 1933. But the party didn’t stop in Seattle. Who would have guessed that polite, tech nerd Seattle was once home to approximately 4,000 raucous illegal speakeasies?”

Thanks to Roy Olmstead, cop turned bootlegger, Seattle was one wild place in the early 1900s…

Get the scoop here!

King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers 4Roy and Elise Olmstead with Roy’s mother Sarah at courthouse, Seattle, 1926. Photo: MOHAI

Seattle is Not San Francisco – Yet.

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“If you’ve been apartment hunting in Seattle recently, you’ve probably heard someone say, “Seattle is becoming the new San Francisco.” A handful of news sources outside of Seattle seem to confirm this opinion. It sounds like a compliment. Afterall, San Francisco is the city by the bay where Tony Bennett left his heart. But it’s not. Seattle, like San Francisco has had a rapid influx of young, wealthy, tech workers crossing state lines at a rate of about 6,000 per month, dramatically driving up the price of rent to prices unattainable for the average bear.

However, unlike San Francisco, Seattle’s median rent for a one-bedroom in November ranked 10th highest in the country at $1,710 per month whereas San Francisco came in at number one with a median rent of $3,670 per month, according to a recent report by Zumper. Yikes. So while we may be Rice-a-Roni, we aren’t the San Francisco treat.”

Read the full article here.

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Photo: Sydney Parker

74 Years After Pearl Harbor, Seattle Remembers Japanese American Internment

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“On December 7th, 1941, seventy-four years ago today, the Japanese navy led a surprise attack on the US fleet stationed on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Seattle remembers not only the lives lost in battle, but also one of the worst violations of constitutional rights in American history: the expulsion and internment of 12,892 persons of Japanese ancestry from Washington state.”

Learn more about the history of Japanese Americans in Seattle here.

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Tatsuya Arai family on Bainbridge Island, 1915. Photo: UW

 

What’s the Deal with the Lenin Statue in Fremont?

/ Sydney Parker / 1 Comment

“The Fremont Festivus weekend is upon us. An annual celebratory event when locals gather around a bronze, dead dictator adorned with lights, for food, live music and Fremont Festivus games. Wacky activities include “airing of grievances, feats of strength, and the Chicken Dance ‘round the Festivus pole,” reports the Fremocentrist and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce.

This breed of odd mayhem is par for the course in the quirky Fremont, Seattle neighborhood. But then what’s the deal with the Vladimir Lenin statue? What is a symbol of mass oppression and totalitarian violence doing at the center of such a free spirited community?”

 Read the full story here!IMG_20151204_095650212_HDR

Photo: Sydney Parker

Read the full story here!

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Photo: Sydney Parker

Save the Reactor! The UW nuclear reactor building is a relic of Seattle’s atomic age

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“Until the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, More Hall Annex, a massive concrete building on the University of Washington campus was called the Nuclear Reactor Building. As the name indicates, the building housed a nuclear reactor used to provide training opportunities to students in the Department of Nuclear Engineering. The building was utilized until 1988 when fears about toxic nuclear waste prompted a decline in program enrollment. The nuclear reactor hung out, untouched, until the 9/11 terrorist attacks inspired the university to decommission the reactor for good lest it end up in the wrong hands. As an extra measure, they changed the name of the building to More Hall Annex to deter anyone in search of nuclear material.”

Read all about it! Save the Reactor! 

seattle university of WashingtonPhoto: John Shea

10 Ways Your Dog Will Emotionally Destroy Thanksgiving

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“The holidays can be a hard time. Pressure is on, money is tight, relatives are…alive. At least you can always count on your trusty pup to be on your side when the going gets tough. Or can you? If the rest of your family is dysfunctional, why wouldn’t your dog be too? After all, you raised him to be the little fur ball he is today. And now you get hit with the therapy bills. Look, not everybody can be the dog whisperer, okay? We all make mistakes. If your family is straight out of Jonathan Franzen novel, here are 10 ways your doggie will destroy Thanksgiving.”

I may be more proud of this listicle than anything I’ve ever done in life. 

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The History of Seattle’s Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“The Daybreak Star is an Indian Cultural Center in Seattle, described by its parent organization, United Indians of All Tribes as “an urban base for Native Americans in the Seattle area.” The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is located on 20 acres in Seattle’s Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood.

The center owes its existence to Native American activists, including founder Bernie Whitebear. Together with the Indian community, they staged a peaceful militant takeover and occupation of the land in 1970 after most of the Fort Lawton military base was declared surplus by the US Department of Defense.”

Read more about this amazing center here.

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PARKS & REC: Fremont’s New ‘Troll Knoll’

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“Seattle’s Fremont Troll will soon have a competing attraction. A new park adjacent to the Fremont Troll is set for completion December 2015. The “Troll Knoll” as the park has been affectionately named, will provide a green space for tourists and locals alike.

The new park received a grant from Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund submitted by the Friends of Troll’s Knoll, in an effort to transform under-utilized public land into community park and p-patch garden.”

Check out the renderings in the full article here. 

Fremont Troll

 

Seattle’s Old Romantic Movie Theaters

/ Sydney Parker / Leave a comment

“In December 1894 Seattleites gathered in Pioneer Square to watch a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s latest invention, the kinetoscope. It wasn’t long before the projection technology advanced and Seattle began a love affair with the movies. Single screen movie theaters popped up all over the city and drew huge crowds. Independent films reached a new audience in the 1960s and 1970s when several old Seattle buildings were repurposed into movie theaters. Here’s a look back on the origins of Seattle’s famous movie theaters.”

Read the full article here

Seattle movie theatersA scene from “Hush” 1921. Photo: J. Willis Sayre via University of Washington