“The door led me into another universe. People were shouting. Typewriters clattered and chinged. Beneath my feet I could feel the rumble of the presses. In my whole life I had never heard such glorious chaos or seen such purposeful commotion . . . By the time I had walked from one end (of the newsroom) to the other, I knew I wanted to be a newspaperman.”
Carl Bernstein was a 16-year-old wayward kid in 1960 when he opened a door to the Washington Evening Star newsroom. The “kid,” who years later would team with Bob Woodward, was interviewing for a copyboy’s job at what was known as “a reporter’s paper.”
Weeks later he landed the job. What sealed the deal? Despite his lousy academic record, Bernstein had demonstrated his ability to type nearly 90 words a minute. (He’d taken a typing class to escape going to wood shop.)
In his new book, Chasing History: The Kid in the Newsroom, Bernstein describes in rollicking detail his five-year apprenticeship at the Star. He ascended from copyboy to “legman,” then dictationist (taking stories by phone), to city desk clerk and pinch-hitting (but never gaining full status) as a reporter. His last summer, he spent two weeks editing the church page, assigning stories, laying out the page, writing headlines, choosing pictures and editing copy.
During those five years, 1960-65, days before he was old enough to vote Bernstein covered momentous events. He helped the D.C. paper cover stories during the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy’s inauguration, Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy assassination, school desegregation, the MLK March on Washington, D.C., and the growing Civil Rights movement.
Bernstein was one of the last of his kind: a national reporter without a degree. After barely scraping through high school, he enrolled at the University of Maryland. He spent three years as a freshman, collecting more than a hundred parking tickets and managing to dodge the draft. After being called up in 1964 he escaped deployment by snagging a hard-to-find spot in an Army Reserve unit.
Bernstein dedicates Chasing History to “those who put me on a path. And to Lance Morrow (a former deskmate and close friend).” Not only did he fall in love with the newsroom but with the quirky one-of-a-kind cast, an extended family of friends, teachers, lovers and mentors. He writes affectionately about many of his co-workers, including some noted Star bylines: David Broder, Mary McGrory, Miriam Ottenberg, Haynes Johnson, and (briefly) Mort Kondracke. Bernstein worshipped his city editor, Sid Epstein, and tried to model himself after that consummate newsman.
In the book’s epilogue, Bernstein reminds us: “it’s important today to remember what Sid’s work was about: putting out five editions a day of a great newspaper whose reporters routinely beat the hell out of the Post in that day and age, and did it with standards style and honesty and a kind of esprit and joy I’ve never seen since in journalism.”
His book is a vivid recounting of the days of hot metal type, composing room mishaps, and roaring presses. It’s also a primer on how to cover the news: doing meticulous research, cultivating sources, keeping files on subjects of interest, agonizing over just the right lede and finding a way to put context into a story. He defines good reporting as “the best version of the truth that you could come up with.”
After discovering the Star would never hire him as a reporter without a college degree, Bernstein left the paper in 1965 for the Elizabeth Daily Journal in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and later the Washington Post. He concluded: “I loved the Star, but it did not quite love me back.”
Editor’s Note: Freeway Park is a much-admired design by one of America’s most revered landscape architects, Lawrence Halprin. The 5.2-acre park, which bridges the I-5 Freeway, recently earned a $10-million donation from the expanded Convention Center nearby. Both authors have been members of the Freeway Park Association, a neighborhood support organization.
David Brewster:
Mike, I know you live right by Seattle’s Freeway Park and are active in supporting it, so I’d like to understand how the Park is going to use the $10 million windfall gift from the Convention Center expansion. Will it be exciting and magnetic, or will it be, as I fear, all spent on repairing neglected features like those rarely-active fountains?
Mike James:
I’d say your fears are well-founded. The perennial reality of city infrastructure, parks included, is an endless catch-up to restore and maintain, rarely to re-invent. Take that windfall $10 million, subtract all the design/planning/development/permitting costs, and you get just $6 million for actual construction. In Freeway Park now that dictates a focus on plantings, repair of benches and other furnishings, restoration of pavement and the several fountains, better lighting and signage, and perhaps even an actual working bathroom.
To the extent there’s any enhancement beyond basics, we might also see a children’s play area, better storage facilities, and a staffed information booth. Don’t even ask where we’d be without that Convention Center money. I always compare the park’s needs to the endless pothole game along our streets. We fill in the holes again and again, but hardly ever get to the repaving.
All that said, the thrust of the planning is to whip the park into shape, make it easier to find with better lighting and wayfinding, add enough event programming to lure people back inside — all meant to help people discover or re-discover an iconic urban space.
David:
You make a good point about the city’s chronic problems in funding infrastructure and maintenance. But I also have the feeling that Freeway Park is punished as an orphan, left to scrape up its own money. One problem is that it straddles First Hill and Downtown, so neither really thinks it has responsibility. That straddle used to bedevil police responses to gangs and crime, since the dividing line between the East Precinct and West Precinct was I-5 (right down the middle of the park). Another problem is the internationally famous design of the park by Lawrence Halprin and his associate Angela Danadjieva — a fame that makes alterations of the hidey-place architecture likely to become an international act of war. Lastly, some of the features such as the waterfall are very costly to keep operating. You usually don’t put a water feature right underneath trees that shed needles and big leaves. I will say this, however, none of these factors has stopped the Parks Department from lavishing attention on the landscaping. I greatly admire the replanting that was undertaken by that gifted landscape architect, Iain Robertson of the University of Washington, now sadly deceased.
Ed Note: This commentary from Heather Cox Richardson points out that Trump is now openly saying he was trying to overthrow the election–somehow thinking that by admitting the crime it might make it sound acceptable. Can his shield of self-serving narcissistic dishonesty ever be questioned by his own sycophants? Or more bluntly, does anyone in his party have the guts to say the emperor has no clothes?
Ed note: Our Health Care Committee has ordered 100 KN95 masks which should arrive in the next week or so (hopefully). You will be notified when they’re available (for $1.00/each) at Skyline’s resident run Corner Store.
From Al: “We just picked up the free (taxpayers paid) N95 masks at Bartell Drugs this (Sunday) morning. It might be worthwhile to notify residents that they are available now – (they may go fast).”
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on Masks from Bartell Drugs
Ed note: I’ve been avoiding Madison when going to Madison Park or to the Safeway on Madison (at 23rd). This can be done by traveling south when leaving Skyline, turning L on James (which turns into Cherry going east), then turning L on 23rd or MLK back to Madison depending on your destination there. It’s a bit longer but quicker bypassing the construction!
It might be helpful to point out that the chaos stemming from the Madison BRT construction project has begun to hit home.
For any of us who are returning home from Capitol Hill or Madison Park etc., our traditional route of coming down Madison to 9th and turning left, has been nixed. Last week the SDOT folks put up ‘no left turn’ signs at Madison and 9th and Madison and 8th. (They may have also put on in at Terry, I did not notice.)
So for the time being the only legal options are to use the left turn light at Madison and Boren, then take Boren to Marion and cross over to 9th or 8th. (Columbia or Cherry are options, but sometimes are blocked by construction activities.)
The other option would be to turn right on Terry to Spring, then left one block to 9th, then left on 9th. (This won’t work for 8th since Spring is one way west
of 9th.)
Posted inTraffic|Comments Off on Navigating Madison Street Construction
Groundhog Day is on Feb. 2 every year. In 2022, Groundhog Day will be on a Wednesday.
What is Groundhog Day?
On Groundhog Day, the world looks to Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog, to tell us if we’re in for a long and dreadful remainder of winter or if we can expect spring-like weather to come sooner. If Phil sees his shadow, we can expect more cold, dreary weather, and if he doesn’t, early spring is allegedly on the horizon.
How did Groundhog Day start?
It is believed that Groundhog Day has its origins in the Christian tradition of Candlemas Day, which would take place halfway between the first day of winter and the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). It was believed that if Candlemas took place on a day with clear, pleasant weather that it was actually indicative of a long winter to come, and clergy members would distribute candles to worshipers in different sizes depending on what the weather prediction was. Hedgehogs would be used to further predict the weather, and German settlers brought the tradition to Pennsylvania.
The first Groundhog Day of known record in the United States was in 1886, and the first celebration of it in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhogs were hired as our meteorologists stateside simply because they were much more common here than the other critters—and the typical hibernation cycle for male groundhogs ends in early February when they emerge from their burrows to find mates.
From Fox News by Adam Sabes. Thanks to Ed M. for sending this in.
Ed Note: How much does our everyday language have historical bias against those of color, those with disabilities or those with a different sex identity. At first glance this list (click of the link below) looks over-the-top, but try reflecting on some of them and see how much our everyday language can disrespect those different from ourselves (but please still call me grandfather!).
The University of Washington Information Technology department released an “inclusive language guide” that lists a number of “problematic words” that are “racist,” “sexist,” “ageist,” or “homophobic.” According to the guide, words such as “grandfather,” “housekeeping,” “minority,” “ninja,” and “lame” are considered “problematic words.”
Posted inDisabilities, Education, Race, Social justice|Comments Off on UW language guide says ‘grandfather,’ ‘housekeeping,’ ‘spirit animal’ are ‘problematic’ words
Ed note: KN95 masks will soon be on sale in the Corner Store. It’s helpful to know that they can (carefully) be reused as noted in this NYT article.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its mask recommendations to align with what experts and many other people have long known: N95s and other respirator masks (when they are legitimate and fit properly) are more protective than most cloth face masks are. But these disposable respirator masks cost $1 to $3 apiece, and throwing them out as quickly as you would paper cups can add up, especially if you’re masking your entire family. You might also be concerned about the environmental cost of disposable masks, which are constructed from nonrecyclable materials. Fortunately, for most people and in most situations, you don’t need to chuck your mask after each use, or each day. Here are some answers to common questions about reusing your disposable mask.
How can I safely reuse a mask?
You can re-wear a mask after you have stored it in a paper bag for a few days, according to the CDC and multiple experts we’ve interviewed for our respirator guide. The agency provides a simple strategy for healthcare workers that involves rotating used masks in brown paper bags, a variation of which was employed during the N95 shortage in the early days of the pandemic. The coronavirus has an expected survival time of about 72 hours, so waiting for, say, five to seven days should be enough time for it to be inactivated.
Personally, to keep track, I have five masks on rotation and seven brown paper bags marked with the days of week, lined up on my windowsill. I place my mask in the appropriately labeled bag between uses during the day and at the end of it. After a week has passed, I either take the mask out to wear or move it to an eighth bag marked “Ready to Use.”
Is it really safe to reuse masks right now, considering how infectious Omicron is?
Yes, reusing a mask is safe. Masks work the same way on any variant—by trapping virus-containing particles in their layers. Also, the coronavirus is transmitted mainly through respiration; you’re less likely to catch it by touching an infected surface. That said, it’s safest, and just good hygiene, to handle your masks with care, touching only the elastics and washing your hands afterward.
What if my mask gets wet?
Moisture, even from your breath, degrades the mask little by little, and that process will probably hasten if you’re wearing the mask to work out at the gym or if you’re in a humid room or climate. If your mask is wet due to condensation from breathing, you can reuse it. Keeping those paper bags in a dry spot (ideally by a sunny window) can help enhance the viral-deactivation process, said Christopher Sulmonte, project administrator at the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit, a facility for patients with emerging infectious diseases. If your mask gets drenched (say, you get caught in the rain), throw it away.
Can I wash my mask or disinfect it with bleach or alcohol?
Though you may be tempted to rinse or wash your used disposable mask, even just to freshen it up, don’t try it. Getting the mask wet or agitating the mask with soap can damage the material.
You also shouldn’t attempt to disinfect your used mask with alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or other chemicals. A 2020 Emerging Infectious Diseases research letter reported that treating a disposable face mask with alcohol reduced the mask’s integrity and therefore its filtration efficiency. Hydrogen peroxide worked better, but the researchers applied it using a specialized machine, something you wouldn’t find outside a lab or hospital setting. Bleach or other disinfectants are a bad idea, too: Not only would they damage the mask, but “you don’t want to risk breathing in any disinfectant that remains on the respirator,” said Nikki Vars McCullough, a vice president at 3M’s Personal Safety Division.
What about treating the mask with heat or UV light?
That same paper published in 2020, amid the N95 shortage, found that dry-heat decontamination can be effective only one or two times, and UV for three times, before the mask’s fit and filtration may be compromised. Although these methods may be important in medical settings highly exposed to COVID-19 during a respirator shortage and in need of techniques to immediately zap away viruses, they require a strict protocol that’s impossible to follow for most people outside of a healthcare setting. You’re better off using the paper-bag method. “It’s a lot easier, less expensive, and there’s less of a chance that you’ll be hurting the mask,” said Sulmonte.
When is it time to throw out the mask?
“There’s no hard and fast rule,” said Sulmonte. The CDC paper-bag directive suggests discarding a disposable N95 mask after five uses. But that guideline was meant for workers in a healthcare setting. For everybody else, that may not be necessary. A mask is still wearable if its elastic bands continue to create a secure fit and the material looks clean and provides good airflow. (Dust, pollen, air pollutants, makeup, skin oils, and, yes, inactivated virus eventually accumulate and clog up the filter.)
Also think about where you’ve worn the mask and for how long. Someone who wears a mask in the subway every day, for example, may need to throw it out sooner than someone who wears theirs to the grocery store every once in a while. Whatever the circumstances, switch to a fresh mask if yours is dirty, thinning, damaged, or hard to breathe through, or if it no longer maintains a good seal.
Is there any situation where I should throw it out after one use?
Yes! Assuming replacements are readily available, Sulmonte advises throwing a mask away if you’ve been in a place where high virus exposure is expected—for instance, if you’ve been interacting with a COVID-19–positive person.
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on How to Reuse N95, KN95, and Other Disposable Masks
On Wednesday, January 19, by a vote of 8 to 1, the Supreme Court refused to block the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from releasing documents produced by the Trump White House to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Last night, NARA handed over hundreds of pages of documents to the committee. Today, Betsy Woodruff Swan at Politico published one of them.
Hoo, boy.
It was an unsigned executive order dated December 16, 2020, just two days after the false Trump electors in seven states executed documents falsely saying Trump had won the election in their states. The executive order charges that there is “evidence of international and foreign interference in the November 3, 2020, election.” It went on to echo the lies that the campaign peddled after Trump’s loss.
Those complaints were used to justify using the National Guard to seize the nation’s election machines (ironically, the most intrusive possible federal interference in state elections from the leader of a party that just killed a voting rights bill on the alleged grounds it was federal overreach).
The order told the secretary of defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records” from the election. It gave the defense secretary power to call up the National Guard to support him and told the assistant secretary of defense for homeland security to provide support from the Department of Homeland Security.
The secretary of defense had 60 days to provide an assessment to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, suggesting that the process would continue after Inauguration Day.
The executive order also provided for “[t]he appointment of a Special Counsel to oversee this operation and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate based on the evidence collected and provided all resources necessary to carry out her duties consistent with federal laws and the Constitution.”
Aside from the eye-popping content, the executive order gives us some hints of who was behind it.
The document cites two National Security Presidential Memoranda—numbers 13 and 21—to justify the emergency powers Trump planned to assume. That citation revealed that this was no run-of-the-mill bananas proposition: the existence of Memorandum 21 was not publicly known. Its inclusion in this document suggests the author had access to sensitive government secrets. Tonight, Hugo Lowell of The Guardian noted that the National Security Council would not say anything about what National Security Presidential Memo 21 authorizes.
The proposed special counsel was likely Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who was lobbying to become a special counsel at the time this executive order was drafted. Indeed, she may have had a hand in drafting it, although lawyer Rick Petree noted that the important role of the secretary of defense suggests that Trump loyalist Kash Patel might have been involved as well. After he lost the election, Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, making Patel Miller’s chief of staff where he exercised unusual authority.
Washington reporter for Reuters Brad Heath noted that people close to Sidney Powell said Trump authorized this executive order before his staff talked him out of it.
Tonight, Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who was subpoenaed by the January 6 committee on January 18 along with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, told MSNBC’s Ari Melber that he and “the Trump legal team” were part of the plan to create the false electors. While he claimed that what they did was legal, he pushed responsibility for the plan onto Giuliani as the one in charge.
And today the election threats task force in the Department of Justice launched its first case against a man accused of threatening lawmakers. Today, the FBI arrested 54-year-old Chad Christopher Stark of Leander, Texas, who posted a message on Craigslist on January 5, 2021, offering $10,000 to kill Georgia lawmakers. He wrote: “Georgia Patriots it’s time for us to take back our state from these Lawless treasonous traitors.” “[I]t’s time to put a bullet” into certain officials, because “[i]t’s our duty as American Patriots to put an end to the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force we can no longer wait on the corrupt law enforcement in the corrupt courts.” In language that echoes that of genocidal movements, he wrote: “If we want our country back we have to exterminate these people.”
He concluded: “Remember one thing local law enforcement… we will find you oathbreakers and we’re going to pay your family to visit your mom your dad your brothers and sisters your children your wife… we’re going to make examples of traitors to our country… death to you and your communist friends.”
The story of January 6 came perilously close to a different ending.
As a follow-up to the Sky Opera and Live Opera presentations of the Magic Flute, you might want to see even more Mozart at a coming Town Hall event.
Thu 1/27, 7:30PM / $15-$20 / In-Person & Livestream Town Hall Seattle and Byron Schenkman & Friends present Mozart Birthday Toast A Traditional Tribute
Continue the longtime Town Hall tradition and pay tribute to Mozart with pianist Byron Schenkman & Friends, in-person at Town Hall!
Schenkman has assembled a delightful program that includes: Mozart’s Violin Sonata in C, K. 296 Trio in B-flat, K. 502, featuring violinist Teddy Wiggins and cellist Eli Weinberger plus variations on Papageno’s famous aria from The Magic Flute by Josepha Barbara Auernhammer (Mozart’s student, colleague, and duet partner) In-person tickets include a special treat to upwrap at the end of the evening! More info >
Posted inMusic, Opera|Comments Off on Honoring Mozart at Town Hall
From the New England Journal based on FDA recommendations
Ed note: Soon we will have RDTs sent to us if we’ve requested them. If you have symptoms, for sure test yourself or get tested at one of the sites available. But what if you just had an exposure? The following guidelines should be helpful.
“When should an RDT be performed in an asymptomatic person with a known exposure to SARS-CoV-2?
In persons with exposure to SARS-CoV-2, testing is generally not useful in the first 48 hours after exposure, since the virus will not have achieved a sufficient viral load. The most appropriate window for testing is generally considered to be 5 to 7 days after exposure, which is the average peak of symptoms and viral load. For a two-test strategy, which is the FDA-approved indication for most RDTs for asymptomatic screening, a second RDT should be performed 2 days after a negative test.”
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on If you’re asymptomatic but exposed to COVID-19, how should Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) be used?
Agenda CEG Meeting – January 21, 2022 4:00 pm Mount Baker & Zoom
-Rick Baugh, Facilitator -Rick Baugh, Minutes
Report of Last Month’s Activities – Past events: -David Domke Talks (Peggy Newsom)
Coming events:
DATE/TIME
EVENT
Place
Feb 18, Fri – 4:00 p.m.
CEG Meeting
Mt. Baker & Zoom
Pros & Cons of CEG being an SRA committee
Status of Important Legislation
Updates on Involvements in Civic Organizations:-WACCRA – Legislation to Support in 2022 Session: Rick Baugh
SB 5247: Multistate Reciprocity Nurse Licensure
HB 1616: The Charity Care Act
HB 1732: Relates to the Washington Cares Act,
HB 1802: “Nothing About Us Without Us Bill”
HB 1646: Continuing the work of the dementia action collaborative
HB 1854: Relating to requiring coverage for hearing instruments
Discussion on Future Activities-Ideas on topics and speakers for future meetings. -Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State Other Reports of Civic Activities Individuals Involved in the Community-Interview of Mary Ann Hagan: Her years of music Involvement -Interview of Jim Sanders: His years of involvement with elected officials. (Time permitting) Next CEG Meeting (New Meeting Date – 3rd Friday of the Month) Fri., Feb 18, 2022 at 4:00 Mt. Baker. CEG Coordinators:Rick Baugh & Katherine Graubard
Thanks to Gordon G. who notes, “This “domestic” robot will be featured at this year’s International Robotics Conference. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one in every Skyline apartment?🙂”
Reload document 
Open in new tab 
