The Political Desk: The Jeff Recommends

 So, this list should look familiar.  Go back here to see the initial writeup, along with other resources you can access when considering your vote. No seriously, go check them out. Don't take my word on all this. Add to them the Voter's Guides for Washington State and King County. Be a knowledgeable voter.

I provided my recommendations at the outset because there have already been a lot of funny business this election. No guarantee on the efficacy of the Post Office. Some ballots have been trashed when they were sent out. And a some politicians have been getting envelopes of white powder sent to them. Across the country, we're seeing polling stations closing, voting rolls being "accidentally" shredded, and threats of government agencies patrolling the polls. We're already seeing reports of how long it takes the mail to go from mailbox to postmark down in Oregon, undelivered ballots found in the trash, and the administration threatening challenging the results of the Alaskan races (but only if they lose). And Facebook "goofs" and kills all its reporting on the latest No Kings/Voting Registration rallies. 

So yeah, if your vote didn't matter, why are people so hung up on keeping you from using it? There has been a lot of "friction" (that's an Amazon term) added to the process to keep you from taking the time and making the effort to vote.

IPL26-645 (Rescind the Income Tax on the Wealthy: NO

IPL26-001 (Make the Parental Rights Law worse): NO

IPL 26-638 (Force all girls in sports to prove they're really girls): NO

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith 

State Representative, District 11: Ashley Fedan

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran

Washington State Supreme Court: Position 1: Colleen Melody 

Washington State Supreme Court: Position 3: Jaime Hawk

Washington State Supreme Court: Position 4: Ian Birk

Washington State Supreme Court: Position 5: Theo Angelis

Washington State Supreme Court: Position 7: Debra Stephens

Southeast Electoral District Position No.5: Heather M. Barker

Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Replacement of Expiring Educational Programs and Operations Levy: Yes

And that's about it. Vote early and use a convenient drop box. Deadline is November 3rd,8 PM. Every election is important, and this is your chance to make your voice heard.

More later,

The Political Desk: The Kent Report

 Finally, my ballot ends up with an educational levy - Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Replacement of Expiring Educational Programs and Operations Levy. This is what it says. An old levy is expiring, and this one will replace it. So cue my semi-regular growling about how we have to vote on THIS to keep our schools running, while there is stuff in the budget that goes through indirectly, through our elected representatives. And this is despite having in our state constitution that we must fund schools. 

Yeah, you know the drill. Eat your veggies. See your dentist twice a year. Go vote Yes. 

More later, including another wrapup.

The Political Desk: Judging the Judges

 This is actually the big item on the list - rating up there with the Heywood Initiatives. We are electing five (5!) State Supreme Court justices this go-around. And for these recommendations, I'm call in the pros. The Washington State Supreme Court Visualizer goes over all the major races, where their endorsements are, their current funding, current polls, and the bar association ratings. It is pretty much a complete package on them. 

Now I tend to lean towards the more progressive side of the fence (no duh), but all of these candidates are serious judicial types with experience in court, and backgrounds as lawyers and lower-level judges. These are serious professionals. Some of the more conservative candidates want to keep politics out of the courtroom, which sounds good, but mainly its to hide that they're getting backing from the State GOP. In the Birk/O'Donnell race, a liberal PAC sent out an attack mailer keying in on which candidates had Republican support. O'Donnell's side complained about the these fliers were playing politics with the courtroom, but his own flyer trumpets the endorsements of a couple Democratic Party former governors, along with Adam Smith (Adam Smith) with nary a word of the GOP endorsement. So yeah, the positions are non-partisan, but the candidates are not.

Here's a summary of recommendations

Position 1: Colleen Melody 

Position 3: Jaime Hawk

Position 4: Ian Birk

Position 5: Theo Angelis

Position 7: Debra Stephens 

OK, so one more personal note. Position 4 candidate Sean O'Donnell and his supporters marched in the Mercer Island Community Parade. They were right behind our Tai Chi class (I told you, I don't tell you everything about my life). We were marching and every so often would stop to do a few sword forms (yes, they trust me with a sword). The Lovely Bride was bringing up the rear, and Judge O'Donnell kept warning his folks not to get too close, lest they get skewered. I do appreciate that, but I'm still popping for Ian Birk.

And, as a final thing, there is a long listing of votes for Southeast Electoral District Judges. That area includes Kent and Renton, but for the life of me I cannot find a map showing the exact region, so you may or may not have them on your ballot. The judges at this level handle the small stuff - traffic infractions, small claims, misdemeanors, and the like, and have a 4-year term. All of these on my ballot are uncontested, including Judge Position No. 5, which pits Joshua C. Harris against Heather M. Barker. Harris dropped out of the race, but too late to get him off the ballot. So, when you get this far down, go for Heather M. Barker. And a bunch of other professionals who don't have opponents this time.

More later,

The Political Desk: County Mounties

We're down to the King County Level here. We have three positions open, of which only one has anything representing a choice. You can always withhold your vote, if you want, and while I encourage folk to vote in every opportunity, I understand if you want to give it a pass.

King County Assessor. The current assessor is not running due to personal and professional challenges, so this is an open seat. According to their Voters Guide entries, both promise reform and protection of homeowners. Rob Foxcurran has had valuation experience (That's how much the county claims your house is worth, for property tax purposes) and is a former Mayor of Shoreline, while Dominique Scarimbolo is a small business owner (local brewery) who is described as anti-tax with experience in opposing property tax evaluations. She also has nothing reported as expenditures in the PDC. And while the Assessor's office does not set tax rates, it does set the appraisals.

Looking at it all, I'm going to give Rob Foxcurran the edge here, though I think both candidates represent a change to the Assessor's office.

More later, 

The Political Desk: State Level

 Not a lot here on the state level ballot for Grubb Street. Just two legislative positions.

Legislative District No. 11 Representative Position No 1. Here's a story - I was let go from Zenimax Online in the Great Xbox Layoffs back in July. No, I don't tell you everything that happens in my life. We're union (CWA) and held protests at a number of Microsoft sites across the country. And I marched and chanted and represented for the union. Like I said, I don't tell you everything, but my smiling face appeared on a couple of web sites and is probably on my permanent record somewhere.

Anyway, Ashley Fedan showed up for us, which was very positive. She's from a union household and is strongly supportive of Worker's Rights. And why David Hackney has done a good job (and this is one of those cases where we have we have a choice of two good candidates as opposed to an avoidance), I'm going to be voting for Ashley Fedan. 

Legislative District No. 11 Representative Position No. 2 Steve Bergquist is running unopposed. Yeah, I said I wasn't going to post recommendations on uncontested races, but he's been doing a good job, and deserves the head-nod.

More later, 

The Political Desk: The National

 United States Representative Congressional District No. 9. Adam Smith. My god, this feels SO much like a rerun. And in part its because its the same race the 9th Congressional District here, here, here and here, with the same opponent. And probably the same result. Adam Smith is definitely centrist in this day and age. His opponent is out of the right-wing hate radio, will hold down about a quarter of the vote, and then declare victory.

And actually, while I cannot get passionate about Adam Smith, I have to recognize he's done very well for the state and for Democrats over the years. He's the ranking member of the Armed Services committee, and while he supports a lot of the Department of Defense (and the bucks it brings into Boeing) he also has stood out against particularly wasteful projects and supported the needs of our servicemen and women. I've heard him speak on a wide variety of issues and respect both his commitment and his logic. He's nuanced, which is usually a kiss of death in that somebody is going to angry at him about something. But to be frank, you can't do much better than that. 

So. Adam Smith. Adam Smith, Adam Smith, Adam Smith.

More later (Adam Smith).

The Political Desk: The Heywood Initiatives

 Washington State has an initiative system that allows citizens to put initiatives onto the ballot for majority vote. It is one of those ideas that I support strongly, while realizing that there are knock-on effects. Chiefly, to get the issue placed on the ballot, you have to get a certain percentage of the voting population ( 8% of those voting in the previous gubernatorial race) to approve. For Washington State that's about 300,911 signatures, and you should add a padding of 15-20% just to be sure. So you have to turn to initiative gatherers to reach that number, and that starts running into money. Which means that you have to find deep pockets to put your issue on the ballot. 

Anyway, Brian Heywood is a millionaire from California who moved up here in part because he didn't like the way his state was going politically. And he has the money to help fund these initiatives, which are … pretty bad. So the To-Long-Didn't-Read advice here is - take a big pass on these and vote NO/Reject on them. Oddly, the Stranger and the Seattle Times agree on these, which hardly ever happens.

Here's the long form.

IP26-645 - This is called in media "Repealing The Millionaires' Tax" or the "Repealing the High-Earners Tax". This tax, passed in Olympia, put a 9.9% tax on individual income over a million bucks (the first million is not counted). That affects 23,000 of the households in Washington State or about 0.5% of the population, and puts more responsibility of funding the state on those people who can afford it. This is the big one that the Heywoods want to get rid of, since it picks on a small group of people to pay their fair share. Worse yet, it picks on people with money.

And the Heywoods dragged the opponents of this appeal into court for pointing out in the description that if we repeal it, we're going to have cut services and raise other taxes to cover the shortfall. They lost that case, of course, and will probably go back to court should they lose this one. And yeah, if we get rid of this, the state is going to have to cut back harder than anticipated, particularly in education. It also means that we'd have to keep the onerous Business & Occupancy tax (B&O) that would otherwise be replaced with this measure, along with other benefits this tax will bring.

And the argument is that rich people would leave Washington State if we started making them pay, though the lack of income tax didn't keep Bezos here, or Starbucks HQ, or the executives at Boeing. So that doesn't sound like a sound argument. And when New York City started putting requirements on the wealthy, they ended up having MORE millionaires moving in.

When I ran into signature gatherers in the wild when they were setting up (those who did not march away when I said I supported the tax), they stressed that this was a income tax (it is) and if we let it stand, it is only a matter of time before it can be applied to everyone - a nose of the camel sort of thing. And you know what, it could. And if they replaced our sales tax (6.5 for the state, plus up to 4% local sales tax) with an income tax, I would be supportive of that as well. 

Let's keep the tax. Vote NO on repeal. 

IL26-001 - The "Parental Rights Initiative" - This one has a behind-the-scenes story. Washington State has two types of Intiatives in its system (OK, it has three if you count referendums, but we don't have any this year, so let's set that asside). These three on our ballots are Initiatives to the People - we vote 'em in, they're law, and they're on the books for at least two years. There are also Initiatives to the Legislature, which, if we vote 'em in, the legislature can either take a pass on them, or vote for it themselves, and fine-tune them.

A few years back, we has an initiative to the legislature on the Parental Bill of Rights, and it passed (easily). And the legislature chose to pass it themselves, with amendments that made sure that it would stand up in court, and protect the students themselves. Not so fast, say the initiative people - we want you to scrap those amendments, and take the original bill, warts and all.

And to paraphrase Frodo Baggins, this one seems fair and feels foul. Its to strengthen parental rights in the public schools. How can this be bad? We all want to protect kids, right? Well, there are a couple things.

First, some of the stuff is already law in the public schools that will protect kids.

Second, it actually reduces some of the protections for students, like being gay or reporting abuse in the home.

Third, its not really going to give you the parent the rights, but rather give the most conservative member of the community the rights. Sort of like all the book-bannings. 

And lastly (and I'll be honest, least), this challenge is not going to hold up in court. This is because initiatives have to do ONE THING, like creating a new law or repealing an old one. This laundry list of intentions was apparently copy-pasted from a Louisiana law, and will be challenged and overturned up here. This is what happened to the last initiative that sounded good (against weaning our housing industry off natural gas), which then got overturned.

IL26-638 - This one is known as "Trans girls in school sports " or, to use the terms of the initiative, would prohibit students it defines as "biologically male" from participating in girls sports.

Here's a story from junior high., back in the early seventies. Seventh grade gym class, we had jock strap inspection. All the 7th grade boys had to line up, pants down, shirts up, buns naked, as the gym teacher walked around and checked us out fore and aft, to make sure we had sufficient athletic protection. That particular coach was gone the next year and there were rumors in the locker room, but nothing ever surfaced publicly.

Just mentioning that in passing.

Anyway, this initiative is to mandate that all girls (and only girls) meet the requirement of being sufficiently women in order to participate in school sports. What that definition is seems flexible, but right now that's to ensure that they are packing their factory-equipped organs. It is an incredibly small sample size (less than the number of millionaires we're asking to tax), but we're going to put all young women through it. This is an initiative founded on the illusion that the first season of Bosom Buddies (Tom Hanks, Peter Scolari, 1980) was a documentary. And to use the slippery-slope argument that the Heywood supporters are using against the income tax, its an easy step to enforcing other restrictions on young men and women, based on physical attributes, testosterone levels, racial background, or gender preferences. Nose of the camel, indeed.

But really, its a bad law, and won't do what the proponents claim to want (keep penises out of the girl's locker room) - Heck, we can't even keep penises out of beauty pageant's dressing room - we send those offenders to the White House.

So, in summary:

NO on IPL26-645

NO on IPL26-001

NO on IPL 26-638

Enough with these negative vies. More later,

The Political Desk: Election Muddle

 So, there's a lot going on this election season, and only some of it is happening on the ballot itself. 

Washington State has exclusive mail-in ballots, and I've noted elsewhere that this has been a very good system in that it makes it pretty easy to vote, and the state gets to oversee the voting rolls. The Federal Government, primarily the current Executive branch, hates that, and wants to control who gets to vote. And yes, there is voter fraud out there, but more often than not its from the people counting the votes as opposed to the voters themselves. In any event, the GOPS in charge want to crash/control mail-in voting so they can decide who gets to vote (spoilers: Not you). 

And in the primary we saw this in a gutting of the Post Office's responsibilities in this, such that they will not guarantee the postmarking your vote in a timely fashion so that it is postmarked before election day. So you can still mail in the ballot, but unless the Post Office gets around to it, it won't count.

To no one's surprise, in the primary, there was an increase statewide in rejected ballots that arrived too late. But to everyone's surprise, this increase was strongest in Republican rural areas, while in King County, where most of the people live and most of the people vote Democrat, there was a DECREASE in rejected ballots. There could be a couple reasons for this - King County and its adjacent counties have more drop-off boxes, and people used them. Or that it takes longer for the Post Office to turn around ballots in rural areas. Or it could be that King County voters are ornery enough and peeved at Federal intrusion that they got off their duffs and made sure that their votes counted.

So, good job to the folk in King County, regardless of who you voted for. And a hat-tip to the Republicans who shot themselves in the foot pushing this, as Republicans are wont to do.

But the Federal Government was not done, though, in that they went to the Supreme Court and demanded that they could crash the entire mail-in-ballot system. At the time of this writing, the court has voted 7-2 that he should go stick his head in a pig and stop this foolishness. This does not mean that the Executive Branch will not continue to try to control your votes, because, you know, they only have to win ONCE.

Oh, and the head of the Executive branch has declared that this election is all about HIM. He's not on the ballot, but this is an endorsement of him personally and the GOP's policies and candidates only secondly. Which since midterm elections usually tend to trend AGAINST the party in power, seems like he's lining up his other foot for a bullet, but whatever.

So where does that leave us? Well, first off, I'm going to recommend you vote early. We're on a short timeline here (3 November is Election day)  I'm going to recommend you find a drop-off box nearby to turn your ballot in, because the Post Office may be too busy sending out those fliers from Safeway to get around to postmarking your stuff. And I am also going to indulge in spoilers this particular go around. Yep, I'm going to tell you want I'm recommending, and THEN drag you through the thought process (such as it is). OK? OK.

And of course I'll be pointing out others - the Seattle Times has been moving through the ballot over the past month, but you can find their summary here. The Stranger is being kind of touchy right now because they got some pushback about not recommending the most progressive candidates in the primary. That's OK by me, but as a result, they've gone into detail about how they don't like most of the candidates they did recommend here. A comparison of the Times and the Stranger's endorsements can be found here. Plus, there is a "Lefty" aggregation of endorsements and support can be found here, the Urbanist is doing a deep dive here, and the Progressive Voters Guide here (and you can tune it to your particular county). 

So here we go. Some of this is going to be very familiar to those few who paid attention to the Summer Primary, but there are some new things. As usual, I'm not going to call out races where there is a single candidate, which includes a lot of the lower-level judgeships. Here's what I'm voting for, and I'll catch up with the details later.

The Heywood Initiatives (IP26-645, IP26-001, and IP 26-638): I wish there was an "oh, hell, no" option here, but I will settle for a simple NO.

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith 

State Representative, District 11: Ashley Fedan

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody 

Position 3: Jaime Hawk

Position 4: Ian Birk

Position 5: Theo Angelis

Position 7: Debra Stephens

Southeast Electoral District Position No.5: Heather M. Barker

Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Replacement of Expiring Educational Programs and Operations Levy: Yes

OK? So let's turn over the test papers and begin. More later, 

Theatre: Cringe

 Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector, Directed by Matthew Leavitt, Seattle Rep, through November 15

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of cringe humor. That's embarrassment humor, where the characters are humiliated for our personal amusement. Its the opposite of Schadenfreude, in which you get a uncomfortably positive feeling about the characters getting their comeuppance. In cringe, the characters don't really feel like they should have things explode on them, and you end up feeling more empathy than vengeance, and share their embarrassment by the very act of watching them suffer.

That said, Eureka Day is cringe, and is pretty good at it.

Eureka Day is a private school in Berkley. We get a seat at the executive board for the school as they continually seek consensus (is not adding a particular racial category on a drop-down menu othering or excluding?). People are heard and valued. Rights are recognized. Decisions must be unanimous. Well-intended liberal values rule the day. Community must be inclusive. Everyone is over-articulate. Buzzwords fly. The granola is crunchy.

Don (Jonathan Slavin) is the feckless principal, who in the words of one of the other members "Is a great captain, until you meet an iceberg." Suzanne (Sara Hennessy) is the queen bee, has been part of the board forever, and is filled to the brim with tragic anecdotes and opinions for the others to recognize. Meiko (Ashley Song) is the quiet knitter who rarely gets to finish a sentence. Eli (Quinn Mattfeld) is an enthusiastic former techbro-turned-stay-at-home father, quick to interrupt, if only pointing out the validity of another's point (Oh, and he's sleeping with Meiko). And Carina (Nemuna Ceesay) is the new girl, trying to fit in and not making too many waves. The dynamics are continual litany of explanations of the validity of each other's opinions that often the result being immobility in decision-making. More self-congratulatory sound than fury.

And then the iceberg hits. Some of the kids come down with mumps, and they have to make the decision about closing the school, for how long, and how to reopen it. They try to handle it by by including everyone in the decision-making process about vaccine requirements, but quickly discover that some are pro-vaccine and some are anti-vaccine. And the peaceable kingdom falls apart. 

This most hilarious bit is when the five try to bring all the parents online with a zoom call to discuss the vaccine requirement to reopen the school. It descends into the upper levels of hell quickly and comically in a way that anyone who has been in one of those online group chats can imagine. We can't hear the actors' lines from the laughter as the online discussion is portrayed a screen behind the struggling executive board. But that's OK, because their contribution just makes matters worse.  Because this is one of the those problems where consensus and compromise cannot work things out and find middle ground. And it threatens to destroy the school in the process. There is no good solution to make everyone happy.

And there are, in the words of the board itself, "no villains". The characters are broad but broad-based, and have good foundations for their beliefs and good arguments as the larger issues become deeply personal. And while the action builds, they do not get to the point of throwing hands at each other, which happens way too much in this type of comedy (I'm looking at you, God of Carnage after all these years). You like these characters, and you feel for them as they wrestle (and fail) at the challenge. Cringe.

The actors are really good, challenged by the fact that they spend most of their time seated in multi-colored chairs. You're watching them react to each other with facial expressions more than actions. The set design is good, and yeah, I thought the chat log on a big screen behind them actually made sense and worked (a lot of plays incorporating modern tech have a definite problem with that, but the writing here carries it through). And the characters they portray are not horrible people, even we see the moral and ethical ground beneath them leached away by the flood. 

As I said at the top, I'm not a fan of cringe. But the team here did a really good job of it, and the writer knew where to stop and provide a ending, if not a happy one. So I'm going to chalk this one up as a win.

More later,

Theatre: Stranger in a Strange Land

 The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh Directed by Zenaida Rose Smith and Christie Zhao,  Arts West in co-production with Yun Theatre, through 11 October, 2026

Arts West kicks off its season with a powerful entry in The Chinese Lady. We caught it the opening Friday to an admittedly light house, such which the theater's Artistic Director jokingly blamed on the fact that the rest of the Alaska Junction businesses were engaged with a Wine Walk that night. Regardless, it was an amazing piece, well-acted, spurring a lot of deeper thoughts and conversations. This one has layers.

So, the Chinese Lady is Atong Moy (Zoe Ding) who was the first female immigrant to the US, arriving in 1835. This made be blink at first, but the Wikipedia backs that fact up. so OK. She was purchased by traders and put on display in New York within an exhibition of Chinese goods (at the start of the play, the items on the stage are described, along with their prices). She would speak about China and talk about foot-binding (she would walk to demonstrate), chopsticks, and tea. In the histories, she does not speak English, but through her interpreter, Atong (Sebastian Wang). Atong is lower caste, and informs us of the fact that he is of no relevance at the outset, but acts not only as translator, but as servant, minder, and protector. Here she gets to speak in her own voice.

Atong's performance at the outset is creepy and uncomfortable, and it is supposed to be - a performance that that overweening and saccharine for the rubes paying their coin to witness a human being from the other side of the world in their native habitat. But Moy engages with it with the optimism and positivity of youth - she intends to bridge the gap between East and West by telling her stories (the tales lose something in their translation).  Then we reset the act and run through it again two years later. And then again. And as we move through Moy's life as a captive in her role, a fly trapped in the cultural amber of her past, the world changes around her - Opium War and Gold Rush and the Indian Removals and Railroads. In history she vanished from the story in the 1850s - on stage she becomes immortal.

Zoe Ding is amazing in the role, starting at a coquettish 14 years old and moving through the years, growing more frustrated with the world and he place in it. Her dialect rounds and becomes Americanized, as does he manners, and the fact she is trapped in the same routine for decades. Sebastian Wang is excellent as Atung, the supposedly impassionate sounding board and servant lets the mask slip to show his true (and to him, impossible) devotion to her. Together they are an amazing team on the stage. 

The pacing of the play is fantastic as well. We run through Atong Moy's performance a number of times over the years, and watch the slow erosion and frustration of the character. And there are so many quiet moments within the play that carry a lot of meaning behind them. I don't talk about the pacing, but it works so well here.

The play covers a lot of ground within its small exhibition room, a curtained stage bedecked with Chinese crafts and curios. We get not only the history of the Chinese immigrants in America and the relationship between Atong Moy and Atung, but also the nature of theater and exhibition and how we tell our stories. We, the audience, are watching actors who are not Atong Moy and Atung, but are presented as them, who then present a China that altered in their lifetimes. Both Atong Moy and Zoe Ding gets her moment to address the audience and individuals, not just consumers of culture, and force us to confront the nature of what we were watching.

And its uncomfortable. And worth it. Forget the Wine Walk. Go see this instead.

More later, 

 

Book: Steampunk Roots

 The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, Bantam Spectra Books ( a division of Doubleday Bantam Dell Publishing Group), 1991

Provenance: Unsure. I got this book in hardback back in '91, which means I was living in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at the time. While we had a small bookstore in town (The Breadloaf), but I think I probably got it in hardback up at one of the big chains in Milwaukee (Waldens. B.Daltons, Borders, and Barnes & Nobles).

Review: This one is going to be a be scattershot, and I have a bunch to say, so let me divvy it add up for easier digestion.

        i. A forgotten book

I have what a friend described as a perfectly average library. Books I really like I press into the hands of others. Books I don't like I donate to libraries or sell to used bookstores. Yet those that remain are memory-enhancers. I look at the shelves, and can usually tell what the book was about without much rummaging through my mental attic. The presence of a physical book brings back memories in a way that a file folder cannot.

But this one, not so much. I know I had read work by Gibson (Neuromancer) and Sterling (Involution Ocean) before picking this up. Both authors were the bannermen and bleeding edge of the cyberpunk movement, coming out of the Austin Writing Mafia (I think I still have a button identifying them as such). And this one flips from a dark future to an alternate past, and is in my opinion the first of the modern Steampunk genre.

        ii. On genre

I've said this elsewhere, but genre is a marketing term. It is very much "if you liked X, you'll like Y". And indeed, the Cyberpunk movement gathered together a group of similar writers (many of them from Austin) and formed an Sf subgenre of it.

In the light opera Pirates of Penzance, the Modern Major General buys his estate and title, and in the process buys his ancestors as well who came with the place. In the same way, genre creates its own predecessors, who may not have been connected with the process. Mary Shelley wrote gothic romances, not SF or horror. And Jules Verne and HG Wells were writing adventure fiction because no one thought of it as Science Fiction in those days, though we look at their books as being precursors of Steampunk. And "SF set in the Victorian Age" is a good touchstone for this, though these guys were writing in the Victorian Age. 

Another predecessor, one that is closer to what I think of as Steampunk were the Edisonades (which you may or may not have heard of). These were adventure fiction of the early pulps, which usually involved some young genius (some of the featured a young and fictitious Thomas Edison) who explored the west and fought Native Americans with the aide of steam-powered robots. So we're closing in on the definition. And yeah, that feels Steampunky, and are part of the evolution of the genre.

But Bruce Sterling (one of the authors here) defined Cyberpunk as "Where the technology meets the street". It is not just cool tech, but rather an attitude as that tech moves into the mainstream, and is used by the populace for purposes not intended by their creators. A real-world example were the pagers in the 80s, which were a pre-cellphone invention to tell you you were needed on the (usually landline) phone. When they first showed up, they were posited to be used by doctors who might be needed in surgery. And they ended up being used for drug deals once everyday people got ahold of them. So the various "'punk" genres have that sense of utility to them. It's not all about dirigibles and land fortresses, its about how it affects the inhabitants of that genre.

Anyway, The Difference Engine is definitely in the Steampunk vein, and I think I can make a claim that its the definitive modern Steampunk novel, though that term would not come into common usage until later (with the joke -"Steampunk is what happens when goths discover the color brown"). This is serious tech, and how it involves the world in ways that were not anticipated.

        iii. Oh, what a world that has such creatures in it

We could easily drop The Difference Engine into the "alternate history" genre, and it fits snugly there as well (indeed, the blurbs for it key in on that). And the alternate that it proposes is one where Charles Babbage gets his analytical engine in gear back in the 1820s (in our world, the plan broke down and this initial engine was never completed). The result of this is a world driven by steam and clockwork gears as opposed to electricity and gasoline. Its an analog world with massive calculating engines figuring everything, resulting in an authoritarian merit-based dystopia where the populace have citizenship numbers. Babbage and Lord Byron are running the works, while figures like Disraeli are writers and the poet John Keats is doing analog powerpoint slides. 

The time of the novel is 1855. Maps of the world are provided in the endpapers. London and Paris are allies under their individual national thinking machines. The US has broken up and the Confederacy arrives early. New York is a commune like Paris in the 1870s. Texas is independent but rebelling against French Mexico. California is a republic, and most of the west is still "unorganized territory". Japan is developing the next level of tech with coiled springs and whalebone. We don't get a timeline here, or even a definite point where it all diverges. It just does create an alternate world.

        iv. There's a plot in here, right?

Oh, yeah, we have a plot. We've three separate protagonists, each of which spend their time on the stage, fade from the narrative, then pop up again later. Sybil Gerald is a prostitute who falls in with the PR man working for an exiled Sam Houston. Edward Mallory is a paleontologist who discovered the brontosaurus fossils in the Wild West and has returned to London to present his findings. Laurence Oliphant is a mysterious government agent who is threatened by forces within and without. All of them come into contact with a deck of programming cards, of unknown origin, which bounces from person to person throughout the novel.

And as in a lot of cyberpunk, the story is full of incidents and accidents, which may or may not have to do with the main characters, but they are swept up into them. There's an assassination attempt on Sam Houston, after which he exits the narrative. A race at the Downs as a test-bed for steam-powered vehicles, and introducing streamlining to the world. The Big Stink, a historic event where London becomes unlivable due to its own waster products, arrives early and suddenly. suffocating the city, causing the upper classes to flee, and creating the foundation for a rebellion. And all of these brush up against our protagonists, even as the deck of cards disappears for a while in all the confusion. 

        v. Who wrote what?

With books with multiple authors, there's always the temptation to try to figure out who wrote what. In the case of Cormyr: A Novel by Ed Greenwood and myself, Ed wrote the modern sections, I wrote the sections set in the past, then we switched and revised each other. Working with Kate on our Finder's Stone books, we both hammered out the plot, then I wrote the first draft and she turned it into English. And the Beatles have Paul songs and John songs but most are Lennon & McCartney. But its a chancy mind problem and guesswork at best.

Still, there are some fingerprints of the authors from their other works. William Gibson is noticeable in the presence of a mysterious McGuffin (the cards) and the idea of a final revelation that shows up what is really happening in the book behind all the incidents and accidents we encounter. The writing style and historicity feels a lot more like Bruce Sterling, who delves a lot more into the style of previous eras (indeed, Sybil comes to us sideways from a Benjamin Disraeli novel), and the level of detail and accuracy on reporting the life and times of the Victorian age. 

But that's just a guess. Every collaboration creates a new form, format, and style, and this must be judged as a separate chimera from its individual creators.. 

        vi. Why is this a forgotten book?

I don't know if it is truly forgotten - I'm going through the Internet and seeing numerous editions of it. But it doesn't seem to have the effect of Mirrorshades or Mona Lisa Overdrive did on the body literate in general. And they may be a couple reasons for it. The book's heavier than most cyberpunky tomes, and its language is deep and involved, mimicking the tone of stuff truly from the Victorian Age. Plus the level of detail is such that a post 20th century reader would be well-warned to keep the Wikipedia at hand to explains crinolines, portmanteaus, dollymops, and the various classes of London Society. Plus a map of London of the period would aid as well, since the characters cross through it great detail. 

Yet the book has value for the modern reader.  It foreshadows a lot of developments in our after-the-Millenium world. The Radical Lords are techbros in the 1800s. We're developing large language models and using them to bet in a burgeoning prediction market. Even more so now than then, we can be tracked by our purchases, our numbers, and our faces. Extreme databases on all of us are currently at large, along with cultural hackers that can make use of this endless supply of data to our own ends. And the book really sings with the promise of an unevenly-distributed apocalypse.

So Difference Engine oddly has more resonance now than thirty years ago when I first read it, and then forgot about it. It was worth a visit, and it should return to the shelf else it slips from organic memory once more.

More later,

Twenty-Five Years Ago

 

More later,

Book: Book about Books

 The Bookshop; A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss, Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2024

Provenance:  Village Books and Paper Dreams, a three-story bookstore in the Fairhaven district of Bellingham Washington. According to the receipt I was using as a bookmark (and admit it, you do the same). I was up north for one of the Lovely Bride's tax-preparer conventions, and while she attended meetings on the tax implications of crypto, I book-shopped. 

I've noted elsewhere that actors love plays about the theatre, but I don't find a lot of writers writing about the process of making and selling books. Most of the "books about bookstores" have been fiction and in particular romances (cue up the movie "You've Got Mail"). So it's good to get ahold of something talking about the history of bookstore. 

And physical bookstores are odd things in our digital world, in that they have a "baby turtle" approach to sales. A host of authors create works, which publishers create a huge printing of individual volumes, which are then scattered throughout the country to bookstores large and small, independent and chains, on the off-chance that someone will come in and adopt them. There are cases where I go in looking for a specific volume or author, but just as often I'm just browsing, seeing if something piques my interest. 

Which is how I found this particular book. Up in Bellingham.

Review: The Bookshop is more of a collection of short vignettes and anecdotes than a solid linear history of the bookstore, which sounds about right given the individualistic anarchic nature of the history of selling books. It is a swarm of origin stories, and swings all over the joint and all over the country. We intro through the author's local bookstore, the Three Lives in NYC, then spring back in time to Ben Franklin and printer/publisher/ booksellers, then the oldest Bookstore - the Old Corner in Boston. Then we go to bookmobiles, Marshall Fields to introduce the department store bookstore, and the Strand, again in NYC, as the first superstore. we skate along specialty bookstores (Socialist, Nazi, Queer, Black, though nothing on SF or Mystery book shops), then into Barnes & Nobles and the mall/destination bookstore, and Amazon's attempt at a physical bookstore (There was one at University Village, but that's now a restaurant). We take a side alley into the sidewalk vendors of New York, and finally lands on a bookstore co-owned by an author, Anne Pattchet, as an example of the modern indie, blonde-wood bookcases and all. 

Despite the scattershot vignettes, there are a lot of through-lines. The modern independent bookstore is a community gathering place - its owners are in the shop (and often characters in their own rights), and has its regulars and its signings, lectures and events. These bookstores have also always been under siege - underfunded and often running on fumes, with threats from larger chains, censorship, local government regulations, the Internet, Book of the Month, e-books, and even libraries. Plus they have taken the hits from the twentieth century - war and depression and AIDs and COVID. Bookstores close and move and get new owners. So the story of the bookstores are one of survival and community. 

And despite the wide net cast by the author, we're missing stuff. A lot of bookstores get a glancing mention (Powell's in Portland, City Lights in SF, Third Place in Seattle), with the assumption that the reader knows about them. Brentanno's gets mentioned a lot but I don't know much of their story from what is here. There is a lot of famous-authors-as-patrons. But what's missing is the publishers - they move like great dark shapes in the waters offshore, mysterious and powerful. I am STILL looking for a good history on publishers. 

Still, it is a worthy and readable volume that lionizes the independent bookshop and presents its people as unlikely community heroes. Worth diving into.

More later,

Theatre: Freak Out

 Freak the Mighty - Book and Lyrics by Anthony Drewe, Music by Ryan Fielding Garrett, based on the novel by Rodman Philbrick, Directed by Michael Barakiva, Choreographed by Patrick McCollum, Seattle Rep through 6 September 

The Rep launches its season with a big-hearted, big-cast, big charactered musical. The Come From Away  revival last year was a hit (so much so that they brought it back during the summer for another run), so they tapped the same producers - Junkyard Dog Productions - in a co-development with the Cleveland Play House for this new work. And despite the fact that it has already opened in Cleveland, the Rep is crediting this as a World Premiere. OK, fine. 

Here's the overview: Max at 15 is a big soul in an overlarge body. Traumatized at a early age by the loss of his mother, he is developmentally challenged, a slow, oversized cowardly lion. He is distant from his grandparents, has been left behind a couple grades at school, bullied by the tough kids, and has no real friends. That is, until Kevin moves next door with his mother. Kevin is physically disabled, on crutches, and has Morquio syndrome, where his organs are growing faster than his diminutive body. Brainy, acerbic, hopelessly optimistic and a know-it-all, Kevin, who takes the name Freak and is unashamed of his appearance, adopts Max as his best friend. Kevin is a big fan of King Arthur, and an imaginative sequence set in the court of the King is one of the highlights of the show. Together they are adventurers in the town of Portsmouth, Maine. Together they become Freak the Mighty, brains and brawn.

This is a full-fledged, Broadway-bound musical. A large cast with great voices and solid dancing. Big production numbers combine with small spotlight moments. The live orchestra is based in the adjacent Poncho Theater (didn't realize this until after the show). Coming of age. Big-hearted themes. The REP tends overdo its staging, but it works oh-so-well here as background fly in from above, sets skate onto the stage, and everything moves with a clockwork precision. A lot of the numbers feel like they have Come From Away in their DNA, and it has a lot of structure of a modern musical - the initial "I want" song, the sad lament, and the big production number right before the intermission, the reprise of an earlier song in a darker key, and the big Finale. Its a musical, so my writer's brain can identify the plot points as I go along, but it is so well done that I really don't mind. And yeah, I got emotional about it.

Netza Jimenez is a beautiful ogre as Max, who starts to heal his trauma and inertness. Cornelius Kittrell is the dynamic, unstoppable Kevin, undaunted by his physical limitations. Both have great pipes - there is a lot of great singing here, but a particularly call-out goes to Kanoa Sims as Gwen, Kevin's mom, who brings an innate warmth to all her songs. But they're all good, and their characters earn their moments.

And I should note that this is based on a young adult novel of the same name, and that was made into a movie about 25 years ago. And the plotline holds in all the versions. But this is its own animal, adapted to the stage with all its advantages and challenges. And the result is this world premiere, the test run, the out-of-town opening, and it is so heartful and engaging and well worth it that I actually hope that it makes it, and that in ten years we see it come back as a revival. 

Good start to the season. More later, 

Political Desk: Primary Colors

 So, why are you taking so long to report this? 

Well, a big part of it is our mail-in ballot system. While we have strict limitations (the ballot has to postmarked or in a voting box by the 8 PM election day), it usually takes a couple days for the smoke to clear and results finalized. Plus, there are usually one or two results that a so close you have to wait to find out who wins. Older and conservative voters tend to vote early in the process, while more progressive types and young folk vote later, which can really swing results. And I think that this lack of instant gratification is a reason some folk don't care much for mail-ins, but I'm willing to wait for final results (I tend to look askance at exit polls, by the way).

In any event, there were few surprises out here. The big one is one I didn't talk about - a levy to support the Seattle Public Library system. It wasn't on my hyper-local ballot, so I didn't talk about it. The Seattle Times did talk about it, and said, "No Thanks".  Everyone else gave it an overwhelming "Yes" with 75% of the vote in favor. My only problem with all this - Why do we have to vote to raise money for overwhelmingly popular items for the greater good, while other budgetary matters (Like, oh, salaries of our elected officials) slip through without a second thought?

Anyway, here's the results from Grubb Street

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith (48%) vs Doug Basler.(29%). The more progressive candidates split the vote and the Republican talk-show host gets through for the third time. He's about topped out his final numbers from the last two runs, and there is little doubt it with tri-peat here. 

State Representative, District 11: David Hackney (43%) vs Ashley Fedan (31%). Both are Democrats. The third candidate in this race was a Republican, so it is likely those votes will swing to Hackney.

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran (47%) vs ....? At the time of this writing, Dominique Scarimbolo is at 19.17% and Christopher Roberts is at 18.69%. This one will continue to hang fire for a while, but it is worth noting that Scarimbolo got no endorsements, raised no funds, did little active campaigning, and was running on a platform of "Property Taxes Suck". So it is interesting to see how this one will play out. 

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody (53%) vs Scott Edwards (29%)

Position 3: David Stevens (35%) vs Jaime Michael Hawk (33%)

Position 5: Theo Angelis (36%) vs. Sharonda Amamilo (32%)

Position 7: Debra Stephens (54%) vs Todd Bloom (27%)

The only note I have on the above is that 50%+ for a nonpartisan position is pretty solid for the upcoming general election. 

And with that we close the rolltop on the Political Desk for a few weeks until things heat up for the general, and go back to talking about games, books, and theater. 

More later,

Theatre: Shakespeare in a Quarry

 The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, directed by Susan Weingarten, Shakespeare Northwest, Rexville-Blackrock Amphitheatre, Through 7 August.

OK, you can come back now. I'm done with local politics for a couple weeks. 

All the World's a Stage

The Skagit Valley is pretty far off my beaten path, but a member of my playwriting group is the director, so I and two fellow Quills decamped the far-off lands of the Skagit Valley north of the city for this production. Shakespeare Northwest is a plucky band of thespians who bring the Bard's work to life in a natural setting.

That setting is alongside Pleasant Ridge, in what looks like would once be a stone quarry. It is near the Rexville Grange, a large hall for the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, set back among the trees in the back of the property. The outdoor stage is simple bare stage with a few backdrops. The groundlings (and everyone is a groundling here) bring their own chairs. blankets, and drinks.

(And as a note, I stopped for dinner at the nearby Rex Bistro, a bustling place with a good smashburger. Just passing that on.)

The play itself is classic mix-up. Two sets of twins, master and servant, separated as babies, find themselves in the same town. They bear the same name (Antipholus for the master, Dromio for the servant) and appearance. The native Antipholus is married, the newcomer is not, but is stunned by the fact that everyone recognizes him by name, and is convinced the entire town is beset by witches. There are mixed deliveries, assignations, tasks, tokens, the Dromios are beaten for following their masters' orders, and the new Antipholus falls for the native Antipholus's wife's sister. And their original parents are on the scene, though they don't realize it yet. Hilarity results.

It is at its base a screwball comedy, and the troupe leans into it, decked out in 1930's garb. Add to that some songs from Cole Porter and Rogers and Hart, and you has more than a whiff of that decade. Abbot and Costello would fit right into this version. One of the challenges of the play is dealing with twins (A mystery is never about twins, while a Shakespeare play its a good bet). This version uses the same actor as the Antipholus (Antipholi?) and the same actor as the Dromios, and pulls it off with mild costume changes (hats and ties). 

The actors themselves were very good, though un-microphoned and outdoors, they had to project over the wind in the trees and the occasional truck on the main road. Carolyn Travis threw themselves into the roles of both new and original-flavor Antipholus with increasing frustration over the situation. Stacy Brooks as the suffering wife Adriana was excellent, as well as winning the "Sonnet Slam" at the start of the evening (five actors each present a Shakespearean sonnet - a hat is passed and winner gets the proceeds). My fellow Quill, Susan Weingarten, did an excellent job directing this, the farcical of Shakespeare's plays, and yes, it was a long trip home in the dark, but worth it.

Shakespeare Northwest's site is here, and here's the calendar of their performances. Some of which are actually down in Seattle. Worth checking out.

More later, 

The Political Desk: Summing up a Summer Primary

 What, that's it?

Yep, this year's primary is kinda quiet. The biggest ticket is US Rep for us up in the Panther Lake area, and we're looking for a replacement for County Assessor, as well as a slew of State Supreme Court candidates. 

Here are my recommendations. You don't have to  pay attention to them, and I encourage you to make your own decisions. One of the great advantages of mail-in ballots is that it gives you the chance to deliberate as opposed to being in a voting booth facing a bunch of strange names and no idea what to do. 

There are whole slew of other people's endorsements and recommendations, but I recommend people start with the Voter's Guide, which allows the candidates to present themselves in their own words (or their approved words). Sometimes its a great place to see red flags, or to reveal their personal story or preferences. You want to see who is giving money to the various candidates? Check out the Public Disclosure Commission here.

The two big sets of media endorsements are:

The Stranger. which tends to be lefty loosie, swung more away from progressive candidates this time around. Their arguments can be a little loose, and they often do not get this far south of the city.

The Seattle Times goes a little more righty-tighty, but aims at centrist and pro-business. Oddly, they've currently got their recommendations behind a paywall, which is just dumb.

And I should note that here you can find a summary of the two major papers, with notes about where they agree with each other.

Other than that?

The Urbanist does a damned fine job summing up the races and covers a lot of the races that the mains don't deal with.

Washingtonsupremecourt.org does a great job summarizing the state of the state's supreme court, 

The Fuse Progressive Voters Guide weighs in, giving their choices and why other candidates may not have made the cut. Here's the link for King County, but you can search around for other locations as well. 

The Lefty Cheat Sheet does a good job gathering together all of the endorsements of the center-to-left crowd, for your viewing enjoyment.

The Sierra Club's notes are here. The state GOP talks about their chosen judges here. The King County Dems talk here. 

And with all of that out of the way, here's what I put down. You can find my rationale and rationalizations in the earlier entries.

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith 

State Representative, District 11: Ashley Fedan

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody 

Position 3: Mike Diaz

Position 5: Theo Angelis

Position 7: Debra Stephens

And that's it for me. The deadline is 4 August, and I strongly advise voting early because of all the craziness at the National Level. And if you no longer trust the post office, here is a link with your friendly neighborhood voting drop-offs.

OK,  I went to all the trouble of providing all the links. Now go out there and vote!

More later,

The Political Desk: The Supremes

 This, surprisingly, is the big ticket item for this election. Washington State Supreme Court judges are elected as opposed to appointed, and we have no less than five races going on right now for nine positions. This site does a pretty good job laying out the state of the court, along with their websites, cash raised, and endorsements. And the more conservative factions in the state are throwing some cash behind the more conservative candidates who are running. Because one thing we need in this country are more conservative judges.

We have five positions up this year. One has just two candidates, so is not on your ballot, and is to fill an open slot from mandatory retirement (something else WA state does for its justices). Two are special elections for positions that have been temporarily filled. One is an open seat because of a retiring judge, and the last one is just a regular election. The candidates are:

Position 1: Colleen Melody was appointed at the start of this year to replace the retiring Mary Yu. However, she's shown her chops and her law, impressing the Times and even the persnickety folks at The Stranger with the depth of her legal knowledge. So, yeah, Colleen Melody.

Position 3: The current incumbent is not seeking re-election. Mike Diaz comes with a hole heaping pack of experience, endorsements, and knowledge. Yeah, he knows his stuff.

Position 4: The current incumbent has hit mandatorily retirement. This position has just two candidates, so I'll save any comments for the general, except to note that the Lovely Bride worked very hard not to accidentally skewer one of the candidates at the recent Mercer Island parade. But that's a story for another time.

Position 5: Theo Angelis is another appointment, replacing retiring Barbara Madsen. He's still the new kid here, but I'm going to recommend him in any event. Sharonda Amamilo is also good.

Position 7: Chief Justice Debra Stephens is up for re-election, and, well, she's done a good job over all these years. Yeah, let's keep her. 

And that's it. One more post, and we'll be done.

More later, 

The Political Desk: Assessing the Assessor

 A single county position is up this year, and with it comes scandal. The King County Assessor's office is responsible for setting the taxable value (valuation) of residential, personal, and commercial property for property taxes. They do not have influence on what those taxes are (though they have opinions) but are responsible for setting the base number that those taxes are based on.

Here's the current scandal, the current County Assessor, John A Wilson, has served long and well, and has on occasion ran without competition. However, of late he has been hip-deep in personal problems, including stalking and harrasing his ex, at one point being fitted with an ankle monitor to track his migratory habits. The surprise here is that he hasn't stepped down before now (because we kinda take that sort of thing serious in these parts) but he has stated he will not run for re-election. So we have four candidates that are are up for his position. 

Al Dams is the Chief Deputy Assessor under the current guy, and has been keeping the lights on over there while his boss was posting taunts from his hot tub. He points out there will be no ramp-up period for a new guy to get his bearing. He has a bunch of endorsements.

Rob Foxcurran was the Senior Appraiser of the City of Seattle, and, as such has been deeply involved in valuations of properties in the city. He also has a whole pack of endorsements.

Christopher Roberts is a former mayor of Shoreline and has managed big budgets and delivered on housing affordability. He is pushing transparency in office and regaining the trust of the electorate. He is also weighing in with a lot of endorsements.

Dominique M Scarimbalo is a wraith. She's on the ballot, has a web site, but has raised no funding according to the Public Disclosure Committee. Nor has she showed up in discussions from The Stranger or the Times of the candidates. According to her Voter's Guide entry, she's proudly not a politician (she runs a brewpub down here in Kent) and is protesting our current tax system overall. So if you want a protest vote of the entire system, have at.

Me? I'm going to go for Robert Foxcurran, who combines both experience in the field with a fresh face and outlook.

More later,

The Political Desk: State Positions

 After the single Federal-level position on my ballot, we slip quickly down to the list to the State Legislature. We're in the 11th Legislative District, which overlaps the heart of the 9th Congressional, and includes Tukwila and Renton and just the northern tip of Kent. We're in the northern tip, while the rest of Kent is split between the 33rd and 47th., so yinz folk will have to look elsewhere.

In elections with an incumbent, you are often looking at an asymmetric conflict. The incumbent has experience, imbedded access to the mechanisms of politics, a set of previous endorsements, and a track record in that job (which can be good or bad or sometimes both). They also have been in touch with their constituents throughout their term through mail and emails (and yes, I DO read those). Challengers, on the other hand, often benefit from the fact that they DON'T have a track record in that particular position, and can ofter their intent for once they get into office. They may often have applicable experience in the "real" world (as opposed to politics). 

Anyway, there are two representative positions in the state legislature for each district (and a state senator, but that positions is not up for a vote this time). Position 1 has three candidates:

David Hackney is the incumbent, a Democrat that has done very well in the position over the past few terms. I would put his highpoints as his recent vote for the the "millionaire's tax" and one requiring base qualifications for sheriffs. He's pushed transparency in government as well. He's pushed anti-fraud bills but they have not progressed through the chambers yet, so that's a work in progress.

Ashley Fedan is his Democratic Party challenger, a former Navy Nurse (Lt. Commander in the nursing corps). She was a precinct committee officer for the 11th District, and is running on health gace, housing and pro-working families and pro-union. That's a good platform.

Christian Rombourgh is the Republican, which I think is a good thing because most of the GOP has given up King County for dead. Christian is an ironworker who demands real accountability, reducing red tape, supporting good-paying jobs, supporting trade unions and defending working peoples. Good approach, to be honest. His web site, alas, is still under construction as I write this. 

It feels like, when the dust settles, it is going to be Hackney against Fedan, a choice between two very good candidates. I'm going to recommend Ashley Fedan, at least for the Primary.

Also, there's Position 2, which has a single candidate - incumbent Steve Berquist. This blog does not pass on endorsements for single candidates, but just between you and me, Berquist has bee doing a good job, so I'm not too bent out of shape about him not having competition this time around.

More later,