Theatre: In Rep We Trust

 Primary Trust by Eboni Booth Directed by Kaytlin McIntyre, Seattle REP, through November 24th

OK, after By the Skin Of Our Teeth, I was looking at redemption here. Not to bash on the Thornton Wilder play TOO much, but even the best reviews touted the actors and the stage settings, and not a one called out Thornton's words to praise (the general consensus was "Allegory!"). So I stand by my previous review, and looked at the Rep to pull out of a middling first showing.

And they did so. Primary Trust is a perfect little play, well acted and directed, and is the first play in a long time that made me say "Wow, I wish I had written that". Its a Pulitzer winner, which usually leaves me cautious, but it is really, really good.

Here's the summary - Kenneth (Stephen Tyrone Williams) is a lonely man. He works in a used book store. He drinks and eats dinner at a local Tiki bar. He doesn't have any close friends, except maybe Bert (Andrew Lee Creech). And Bert has his own challenges (no, I'm not going to do spoilers on this one. I go into these plays mostly blind, and I have no idea if I would have reacted differently if I knew what was going on before). Anyway, Kenneth is trapped in the routines of his life, and the story is how he gets untrapped.

And that's about all there is to it. It is a real simple, sweet story. And it is so well-written and well-presented.

Let me rave on the actors for the moment - Stephen Tyrone Williams is a kind, endearing Kenneth. He's well-intentioned and introverted and uncomfortable and a little broken and scared of the world around him. Williams has previously been in Rep productions - August Wilson's Fences and the Piano Lesson,  He captures the chaotic internal voice of Kenneth, turning on a dime from budding confidence to overwhelming panic attacks and back again, pulling the audience along. He's just really good in this role. 

Allyson Lee Brown matches him step for step as a cascade of waitstaff at Wally's Tiki Bar, a flood of customers that the bank that hires Kenneth (The Primary Trust of the title) and one waiter that helps Kenneth break out. She has the improv skill of morphing characters one after another, literally filling the town of Cranberry, New York. Andrew Lee Creech is Bert, Kenneth's only mental support network, and captures that nature of the bud who is always there for him. Rob Burgess is excellent both as the owner of the bookstore, and later as the bank manager, each with their own quirks. And Justin ("Lizard Boy") Huertas rounds out the cast ambient music throughout. 

This is a good cast, and hits that point I like to make about Repertory companies, that you get to know the actors, not just the characters they portray.  And they have good material to work with.

Eboni Booth is an incredible naturalist writer, and her characters emerge through their dialogue. The interrupt, they fill in each other sentences, they apologize, and they talk about nothing in an amazing realistic sense. She uses repetition to her advantage to show passage of time ("Welcome to Wally's!") and the nature of the community the play is set in (just about everyone says "Pardon My French" at least once). And the actors are up for it, their portrayals feel like real conversations. 

The Lovely Bride pointed out that all the characters were nice. And she's right, All of them. There is no bad guy in this play, except for Kenneth's own crippling insecurities and blocks. And we find out why Kenneth is broken, and not only the WHAT of Bert but the WHY of Bert as well.

The stagecraft was great and not intrusive onto the action itself, scenery floating in and out. The main set is a sort of "Our Town" street, but it becomes Wally's, the bank, a snooty restaurant, a street, and it does so without poking too hard at the reality of the play itself. No big puppets needed. 

This one falls into the "Go see" category, a pleasant way to spend the darkening, rainy afternoons and evenings. And sweet. Really sweet.

More later,. 

The Political Desk: The Jeff Recommends

We're a week out. I've been covering politics and elections for twenty years now in this space, and realize that I've gotten more serious and less snarky over that time. It's something I'll have to work on (regaining my snark).

The press has been particularly frustrating this election season. Yes, I know about a couple major newspapers were cowed into submission by the GOP into "No Endorsements", but it goes deeper than that. The Seattle Times published it endorsements in the open, but its individual endorsement articles are behind a paywall (which is amusing since its endorsement of Bob Ferguson is a master class at timidity and praising with faint damns). The Stranger has just been purchased, and just fired its news editor, Rich Smith. And you would not know from the Kent Reporter that there even was an election (plus they soft paywall as well). Small sites tend to be more localized and partisan, and they still provide some good general data, but lot of old standbys have gone by the wayside. They will be missed. 

Here's an interesting comparison of Stranger vs. Seattle Times endorsements, for your edification and amusement.

I do stand by my opinion of the GOP's "Flood the Zone" approach of doing so much so badly that no one can keep up with their crimes and errors. We've seen a new accusation of sexual assault, the revelation that the impeached former president withheld funds for blue-state disasters, military threats against anyone that looks at the convicted felon funny, a couple mental meltdowns on sympathetic podcasts, and a Nazi-ish Madison Square Garden seeping with hatred and rage. And that's just been in the past week. Yeah, it's been taxing. I just do this thing once every four years and I'm exhausted.

And there has already shenanigans and low-level violence on the ground. Most of them have been GOP-related, and their argument that there is election fraud, and to prove it they will commit election fraud. There have been fights and threats. In Washington State, we've had some ballot boxes vandalized already, so now you have the added task of checking to make sure you ballot was received and counted. Because there are jagoffs out there.

AND you can find one of your nearby ballot drops and voting centers here, or you can mail it in. No postage necessary. The deadline is 8 PM November 5 for the drop boxes, postmarked Tuesday, 5 November for the mail ins. You can even register to vote and vote the same day at the voting centers. 

Anyway, summing up the past week of posts, I've put in a simple format for you. These are my endorsements and belong to me. Go fetch your mail-in ballot and take us across the finish line. As I've stated before, I don't care who you vote for. But I would want you to vote. 

The Heywood Initiatives: NO on all of these budget-busters:

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2066 - Supporting natural gas by preventing regulation that encourages other energy sources

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2109 - Repeal the Capital Gains tax on people much richer than you while killing funding for education.

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2117 - Destroying carbon tax credits and in doing so kill funding for transportation, energy conversations, and emissions-reduction.

NO to Initiative Measure No 2124 - Bankrupting our state-run long-term care insurance, because they can.

So NO on the bundle of them.

President: Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz. I never realized I had more guts that Jeff Bezos. Learn something new every day).

US Senator - Maria Cantwell

US Representative Congressional District No. 9 - Adam Smith

Governor - Bob Ferguson

Lieutenant Governor - Denny Heck

Secretary of State - Steve Hobbs

State Treasurer - Mike Pellicciotti

Attorney General - Nick Brown

Commissioner of Public Lands - Dave Upthegrove

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Chris Reykdal

Insurance Commissioner - Patty Kuderer

Legislative District No 11 State Senator -  Bob Hasegawa

Legislative District No 11State Representative Position 1  - David Hackney

Legislative District No 11 State Representative Position 2 - Steve Berquist

State Supreme Court Justice Position 2 - Sal Mungia

Superior Court Judge Position No 41 - Paul Crisalli

Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Capital Projects and Technology Levy - Yes. Put this long electoral nightmare out of our lives.

That's it for the pre-election write-ups. I'll do a follow-up with results a few days after the election (We're mail-in, remember, so it takes a while to get the results, and in some cases lead changes). Then we're back to talking about games. And theatre. And if you're very good, collectible quarters. See you next time.

More, of course, later.

The Political Desk: Getting Schooled

 OK, here we go again folks. 

Kent School District No, 315 Proposition No. 1 Capital Projects and Technology Levy is the fourth attempt to get money for the school buildings. Each one has gone down in flames, and each one has come back retooled, asking for less funds, being clear about what they're spending it on, and reducing the number of projects. The amount they're asking for is not excessive. I will note that this time they included an athletic field revision for Mill Creek school, which was one of the complaints of the No people the last few times. It's purely transactional, but it's politics. 

I'm not a big fan of replacing athletic fields, but I am a fan of roofing, building sidings, boilers, and emergency generators, along with upgrading their tech to modern levels. And this is a reduction on the property tax it replaces. So, I'm with YES

The No side is hauling out their standard scare tactics. Property taxes! Can't trust the school district to use the money like they said! What happened to the AC improvements? They dun the current measure for removing stuff that they complained and campaigned against last time. Pretty much they don't like the current Kent School District admin, and are willing the starve the schools until they get what they want (Accountability! is a great buzz-word. So is transparency, which they didn't use this time. 

There have been some yard signs around (YES for education!), but the local paper of record, the Kent Reporter, has been notably absent from the reporting on this. And it is the last thing on the ballot, separated as far as possible from the budget-busting initiatives at the front end. But hang out for the after-credits scene, here - and vote YES (Yep, I put it in bold twice).

More later, 

The Political Desk: Mild Court Press

Now I'm working more in the dark. There used to be a site called Voting for Judges which served as an excellent aggregator of  endorsements from the various groups interested in judges (like the various bar associations). That site is no longer in operation, and general political coverage tends to be a bit scattershot.

A lot of court positions are elected in Washington State this time, but the vast bulk of them are unopposed. So congrats to all the Justices who are lonely in their ballot box. I'm not going to do the research on you, not even for entertainment purposes. We have only two races that have any competition.

State Supreme Court, position 2 - The Seattle Times bemoans the fact that court positions are officially non-partisan, but the final choices are from a Democratic-supported candidate and a GOP-supported one. Because the position is non-partisan, but the candidates are not. Still, they (and 8 out of 9 other Supreme Court justices) support Sal Mungia, a lawyer out of Tacoma with a strong resume, solid endorsements from the legal community and a good track record on civil rights. OK, I can go for this. 

Superior Court Position 41 - Even less information than the State Supreme Court. The Times doesn't cover the race. The Stranger uses the space to mostly campaign against the established court system. Still, Paul M. Crisalli has gotten a hatfull of endorsements, including all the current State Supreme Court justices and 53 of his judicial colleagues on the King County Superior Court. So yeah, I can go for this.

More later, 

The Political Desk: State Legislature

 This one is fairly short, in that there are no Republicans running here, and two out of the three positions don't even have competition. 

Legislative District 11 straddles I-5 and I-405 and stretches down to Panther Lake and Grubb Street - we're in the far SE corner. Bob Hasegawa is our incumbent State Senator and is running unopposed. David Hackney is the State Rep Position 1, and recently showed up in a Seattle Times article about crime (he's against it. He also supports Bob Ferguson's pitch to spend $100 million more on cops and public safety). He's also running unopposed. Steve Berquist is State Rep Position 2, has a secret identity as a school teacher, and is running against a Libertarian candidate. I'm recommending Berquist for the usual reasons (he's done a good job, particularly on education issues), but I'm pleased to see other parties running for office that are NOT the big tickets. Hey, they even have yard signs!

And that's it for local news. More later.

The Political Desk: Statements on the State

 Now we're down to the state level. Washington State elects its entire executive branch every four years, so the potential for massive turnover is always there. However, the state's been doing pretty good, has recovered well from COVID, and regularly gets high marks in various ratings as to the health and well-being of its citizens. So yeah, I am up for the Democrats in general.

Governor - This is an open position with Jim Inslee choosing not to run for a fourth term (and that's a good thing, in my opinion). The Democratic candidate is current Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has been an activist is protecting consumers in the state. He's gone after corporate shenanigans, took on pharmaceutic companies over fentanyl, cleared out the rape kit backlog, and been a bridle on Trumpian nonsense for the past four years. He has been an activist, aggressive, AG, and don't see that changing when he becomes governor. It is kinda amusing that a lot of positive political candidates come out of the AG offices these days, but that's probably a beard-stroking analysis for later. So, Bob Ferguson.

A positive word, though, about Dave Reichert, who is likely the best candidate the GOP has put up for the past twenty years. The former King County Sherriff, former US Rep, he was not endorsed by his own party because he wasn't crazy enough. He may or may not support Trump depending on who he's talking to but I will take him at his (current) word. But I am happy to not recommend him purely on his political views (Tried to defund Planned Parenthood, doesn't support marriage equality, anti-climate science). Of late, he's been making a case for divided government (even though that has been a mess at the national level). So, no thanks.

Lieutenant Governor - The Lieutenant Governor presides over the State Senate, and does more than a little nudging on its priorities (like the current housing crunch). This is the department of "Don't Mess Things Up".  And Danny Heck has succeeded admirably with not messing things up and actually moving the ball forward on things in a bipartisan fashion. So yeah, let's keep him.

Secretary of State - OK, I will be honest, I'm a strong supporter of Steve Hobbs. He has maintained the integrity of our election systems that Sam Reed and Kim Wyman had built up, and kept our elections free and fair. But he's also a gamer, and an extremely vocal one, and has pushed to protect small game stores and game producers, as well as expand RPGs in school libraries and prisons.. We've got a lot of small companies out here, and I appreciate the support. I did attend a fund-raiser for him at the Mox Boarding House, where he not only committed to his support for the industry, but also went into extreme gamerly detail on the cases that his staff have handled over the years (A student voting in two places, people who died between when they mailed their ballot and when it was counted). He did so with the pride of DM telling about you about his latest adventure. So yeah, Steve Hobbs. 

State Treasurer - Now we get into the more boring but just-as-important positions. Meat and potato stuff.  The ones that handle the money. The State Treasurer is the state's CFO, collects the cash and distributes is Mike Pellicciotti has done a bang-up job, such that people who rate us on our financial stability and such give us high marks. Moody's gives us a AAA rating, Standard and Poors gives us a AA+, and we have strong state pensions. Not bad. So, Mike Pellicciotti.

State Auditor - The treasurer spend the money, the auditor makes sure it is spent correctly. Auditor is a watchdog operation. These are the accountants looking over the books. Pat (Patrice) McCarthy has been an auditor for twenty years, starting with Pierce County, and has picked up the torch in 2017, and has done a good job, not only checking up on pandemic funding, but also uncovering fraud and waste in the government (like $7 million in misappropriated funds for a local housing agency). McCarthy has a earned the position.

Attorney General - With Ferguson running for governor, the AG is an open position, and there is a game of musical chairs. Nick Brown has risen to the top of that scuffle, and is an excellent candidate for the position. He was Inslee's General Counsel. He was the first Black US Attorney for the state. He's pushed hard on the fentanyl crisis, consumer protection, and sex trafficking. Pro choice, pro gun safety, pro-consumer. Brown has large shoes to fill, but I think he can pull it off. 

Commissioner of Public Lands - This race is another win/win for voters, in that both candidates are good. Jaime Herrera Beutler was both a State and US Rep. She also voted to impeach Trump on the second go-around, and the state party will never forgive her for that. Dave Upthegrove has botanical name and has been on the King County Council and a State Rep for a neighboring district. . Either could run our extensive state forest lands. The big diff is dealing with our mature legacy forests (Not the old growth, but stuff has hasn't been lumbered since WWII). Upthegrove supports keeping them intact, Beutler wants to let in the logging companies that have been funding her campaign. On the other hand, few year's back Upthegrove got shirty with some traditional enviros that supported someone else in the primary. So, jump ball on this one, but I'm still going to give the edge on policy to Dave Upthegrove.

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Chris Reykdal is the incumbent and has navigated the department through some really choppy water of later - the COVID pandemic being part of this. However, he's got the numbers back up to pre-COVID times, and we have more graduations than ever. Also, school meals, CTE training, retaining teachers, and improvements for rural schools. And he takes a hit every time people have to pay their property taxes. (Did I mentioned that paying for the kid's education is literally in our state constitution. Yeah, it is). Reykdal has also been a bulwark against conservative culture warriors and voucher advocates. So, yeah, I'm going with him.

Insurance Commissioner - The previous guy who held this job for many years turned out to be a jagoff and as such is not running for re-election. The Democratic party actually does that - it's an accountability thing. Republicans? He'd be on the conservative talk shows complaining about persecution, demanding a trial, then pushing it back as far as possible. But that's just a personal rant. Patty Kuderer is an excellent candidate to hold the position of wrangling our insurance industry. Her background is from the state legislature, where she's been active in employment discrimination, which makes her a good choice to help the office recover from its previous commissioner. She's pro-consumer protection , pro reproductive healthcare, and pro-transparency with the insurance companies. Yeah, let' give her a shot.

OK, this was a long one, but it is all downhill from here. More later. 

More later, 

The Political Desk: Congressfolk

 Let's look at Congress. We have two races on the ballot, one at the state level for Senator, and one for the 9th Congressional District. The 9th is a rough trapezoid with the corners at the International District in Seattle, Sammamish in the north, Auburn, and Federal Way in the south, and includes Mercer Island and Bellevue.  So yeah, a lot of people in a relatively small space.

Let's do Senator first. Maria Cantwell has done a real good job in her tenure, and I would normally recommend her to keep her job but as a matter of course. But I want to enthusiastically recommend her based on her performance this senatorial season. This has been first and foremost due to her pushing through the CHIPS and Science Act, which has encouraged semiconductor  research, development, in the states in the States. This act has seen amazing benefits already, and will continue help our home-grown computer chip industry. That's a good effort on her part, and a recommendation to keep her and encourage more of the same in the future.

The 9th Congressional District is in one of those really good positions with two good candidates. Adam Smith has been the House Rep within our ever-shifting borders for nearly thirty years now, and in his seniority has a good position as the Senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He's done good work in that time. Melissa Chaudhry, on the other hand, is from the more progressive wing, and has extensive experience in charities and NGOs. I recommended Chaudhry in the primary as new blood, but I have to admit that Adam Smith is competent, capable, and has done a good job, which is one of my base-line requirements. So I'm telling you both candidates have merit, and you need to do a bit more digging to find out if you think they are worth voting for. Myself? Walking around both of them for a day or so, I have to go ultimately with Adam Smith. But I'm going to say this is going to be real close.

More later,

The Political Desk: Prez and Veep

 Kamala Harris/Tim Walz. Well, Duh.

I mean, seriously, I was going to vote for Biden anyway, even with the age issues. The current administration has spent the past four years digging out of the holes that the previous admin put us in, and has done an excellent job. Let's face it - the economy is better than most of Europe post-Covid. Stock market is up. Crime is (generally) down. Illegal immigration is down (but still there and still illegal). Inflation is really down (but still inflation). As legacies go, it's been pretty good.

And Kamala Harris has been there for the good stuff. Presiding over the Senate, she cast the deciding vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, and has helped with the recovery over the wishes of a brattish, do-nothing GOP. (The Republican-controlled House is the LEAST productive of any governing bodies since the 1960s, with the possible exception of ginning up investigations that do nothing but generate copy for FOX news). So yeah, she gets the credit for a good administration. 

But she isn't just a continuation, she's a Biden-Plus - the good stuff you've gotten as a result of the Great Recovery and her own plans for first-time homebuyers. Decriminalization of pot. Protection of women's rights. Cap insulin prices across the board. Expand the Earned Income Tax credit. If she gets a fragment of her plans enacted, she's doing pretty good.

She has a LOT of experience in all three branches of the government - Judicial (Attorney General of California), Legislative (Senator), and Executive (the current gig as Veep). The resume is pretty damned solid. And let's add to the fact that she's pretty much put together her organization in 100 days, and has exceeded the expectations of even Biden's team.

And then there are the endorsements. OK, you expect other leaders in your party to endorse you, but she has EVERYONE on her side and out there pulling for her, including a handful of former presidents. And the mass of entertainers, which is nice but not confirmative, in my opinion. The Insane Clown Posse like her. That's nice. Oh, and there is a group of Gamers for Harris, which is also nice but not confirmative for most people. I'm proud to have added my name to this list, by the way. So just so you know, I'm in the bag on this one. 

But what's interesting about endorsements is the number of name-level Republicans, government, and military folk that are supporting her. A lot of them have "former" and "retired" in their title (as in "can't punish me for speaking my mind"). A lot of them have had first-hand previous experience with the convicted felon that's her opponent, and they want nothing to do with him. But the big thing with these types of endorsements is this: You can still vote for Harris and be considered a good Republican. 

The other guy is, well, the other guy. He was the previous administration, and pretty much a complete collapse - screwing up COVID (while sending medical supplies to Putin), kowtowing to foreign authoritarians, threatening our own allies, running up the debt more than any other president, helping overturn Roe v. Wade. The wall that never got built, the infrastructure week that never happened, the replacement of the ACA that never occurred. Pretty much a dead loss as an administration. Mind you, he gives an entertaining speech, as he dances between subjects like a drunken badger on meth. Most of the people who worked for him are not supporting him, and many are publicly going for Harris. He does have his ardent supporters, who hope he hangs around long enough to pass some dreadful conservative legislation. They just want someone with a pulse. Though we don't know for sure because he won't share his medical records (Harris did, of course).

And he seems tired. Worn out. Non-linear. He says he's doing "the weave", and we just can't get the depths of his sagacity. He'll be claiming to do zen koans next. I feel real sorry for him, and I wonder why the mainstream media isn't talking more about Woodrow Wilson (who was incapacitated late in the administration, and access to him (and his decisions) was controlled by a small group of people). 

Eight years ago I put forward the idea that his approach was to "Flood the Zone" - say and do so much that is wrong that no one can keep up with you. Just keep piling crime upon crime, insult upon insult, weirdness on weirdness. Stage an embarrassing photo op at a closed MacDonald's? By the time people call you on it, you're out there talking about Arnold Palmer's junk. And while that is sinking in you mention how Hitler had the best generals. Because if you ever stop delaying and denying, the entire mass of insults and lies will collapse and crush you.

There are others running. Jill Stein and the Greens are running to deny Harris a majority, so then people will pay attention the THEIR issues (because that always worked in previous elections). RFK Jr is still on the ballot in Washington State because he didn't drop out fast enough, and will probably drain off some Republicans that can't bear to vote for the guy that promised RFK Jr a place in his administration. The rest are minor players in this particular passion play. Thanks for showing up.

But like I said, I was pleased to put my name on the list of Gamers for Harris, and declare my support. And I think she's going to be a great president.

More later,