October 2015

Seattle's Holocaust Center for Humanity Opens October 18

Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity Opens October 18

The museum, 25 years in the making, contains more than 3,000 books and videos

Two months ago, there were only two dozen handwritten notes, scattered like colorful Post-its, on a concrete pillar inside Seattle’s new Holocaust Center for Humanity. Written by students, the notes answer the question “How does change begin with you?” By this time next year, executive director Dee Simon hopes there will be 15,000 responses. Part…

Lisa Nakamura's Casual, Crowd-Pleasing Gnocchi Bar on Capitol Hill

Lisa Nakamura’s Casual, Crowd-Pleasing Gnocchi Bar on Capitol Hill

The perfect potato dumpling comes to Capitol Hill

  Gnocchi is a very personal thing. Whether you like it oval and dense or square and feather-light, what makes a proper potato dumpling can be debated as much as—or even more than—proper pizza. In some ways, Lisa Nakamura’s high-concept Gnocchi Bar on Capitol Hill is like the Switzerland of this controversial starch: The tasty…

Paul Constant's New Book Review Website

Paul Constant’s New Book Review Website

Former The Stranger editor launches new online source for book reviews

  Those of us who truly love reading books usually harbor a subset of love for reading thoughtful book reviews. But tidy blurbs are largely replacing “sink-into-able” reviews, which is precisely why Paul Constant launched the Seattle Review of Books (seattlereviewofbooks.com) in July. The former books editor for The Stranger joined forces with local novelist…

The Best Beer and Food Pairings Around Town

The Best Beer and Food Pairings Around Town

Kendall Jones presents his dream picks for the humbler side of beer and food pairings

As craft beer enjoys a full embrace by the mainstream, beer menus at Seattle’s best restaurants are becoming as widespread and sophisticated as wine lists, with the pairing of beer and food now a more common part of the fine dining experience. But beer is a humble beverage and does not renounce its modest past,…

Women in Seattle's City Council Race

Women in Seattle’s City Council Race

The general election could yield the first ever female majority

Much has been made of Seattle’s first-ever council race featuring seven of nine positions selected by geographic district. With 45 candidates, it certainly yielded a clamorous primary. But the general election holds the potential for another first: a female majority. Of the 18 candidates on the ballot, 10 are women, and five led in the…

Why You Should Take a Road Trip to La Conner

Why You Should Take a Road Trip to La Conner

Specialty shops, museums and art galleries abound in this small, but historic town

  Where: La Conner, about 70 miles north of Seattle. Bordered by the Swinomish Channel, the historic town is small in size but big in character, with no shortage of specialty shops, museums and art galleries.  WHY: The fourth annual Fall Boneshaker bicycle festival on 10/31  (boneshakerbikefest.com) for a spooky, scenic tour of Skagit Valley…

What Women Should Know About Fibroids

What Women Should Know About Fibroids

Fibroids are common and benign, yet largely mysterious and often complicating

“I can’t find your cervix,” said my doctor to me, during a routine pelvic exam in the fall of 2012. I was confused. I was a healthy, active 31-year-old and had made this OB/GYN appointment as a precaution to ensure that my body was healthy enough for pregnancy—I wasn’t really worried. To my surprise, it…

Helping Kids Have Fun at the Hospital

Helping Kids Have Fun at the Hospital

Mary Bridge child life specialists help kids understand and feel less anxious about the hospital

One bad childhood trip to the hospital can set you up for a lifetime of trauma. So when 7-year-old Kyla, who has an intense fear of needles, needed her blood drawn at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, its unique staff of child life specialists stepped in. They bonded with Kyla by playing with her, walking her…

New Cancer Treatments Reduce Radiation Risks

New Cancer Treatments Reduce Radiation Risks

Two local health centers are bringing state-of-the-art solutions to very specific problems

Once small breast cancer tumors have been detected in a screening, they aren’t easy to find in order to remove them, but new technology, locally only available at The Polyclinic, more precisely targets those tumors. Called radioactive seed localization, the method involves implanting the tumor with a rice-grain-size “seed” that emits a very low amount…

Monsoon's Bar Director Shares his Cocktail Secrets

Monsoon’s Bar Director Shares his Cocktail Secrets

Monsoon’s Jon Christiansen deploys humble vinegars in his zippy cocktails

Jon Christiansen started working behind the bar at Tulio’s in the early ’90s, learning to sling classic cocktails such as grasshoppers and stingers. He went on to accumulate bartending experience at establishments ranging from trendy clubs to upscale eateries, and eventually found a home with Eric and Sophie Banh’s restaurants (Monsoon, Monsoon Bellevue, Ba Bar…

Step into the Wardrobe of this Stylish Edmonds School Teacher

Step into the Wardrobe of this Stylish Edmonds School Teacher

An Edmonds school teacher invites us over for a class in couture

Meadowdale Middle School teacher Tamara Musser knows how the world sees her: “If you walked up to someone in Edmonds’ school district and asked them if they knew me, they’d say no. But if you described me, they’d say yes,” says Musser. The recognition is a result of the special educator’s sensational, at times scandalous…

View a Replica of The Great Northern Train Tunnel

View a Replica of The Great Northern Train Tunnel

A local artist re-creates Seattle’s historic Great Northern train tunnel

Bertha isn’t the only tunneler in town. Seattle artist Rick Araluce is known for his miniature-scale sculptures of haunting interior spaces as well as the giant-scale sets he creates for the Seattle Opera. Now he’s embarking on The Great Northern, a less than full-scale but still massive replica of the 111-year-old, 1-mile-long tunnel that still…

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Artifacts: Reliving Almost Live!

Artifacts: Reliving Almost Live!

On the air with John Keister

Once upon a time, during the halcyon days of network television, a Saturday night staple for many area residents was a Seattle sketch comedy show that aired on KING-5. Taped in front of a live audience, each episode began with the host delivering his opening monologue. As he walked out onstage, an “On Air” sign…

Essentials: Brinnon teacher chosen for Scholastic project

Essentials: Brinnon teacher chosen for Scholastic project

Kindergarten teacher chosen to participate in national project

A kindergarten teacher at Jefferson County’s Brinnon School will help shape the professional development of teachers across the United States. Lisa A. Johnston is among 12 teachers from around the country chosen to participate in the inaugural Teacher Fellows Cohort from children’s publishing, education, and media company Scholastic. The effort will help inform product development,…