Trisha Ready on the Housing Crisis, the Crumbling Economy, and an Unseasonably Anxious Summer
“Everybody has a theory about the future of the economy, or a theory about why the American infrastructure is crumbling. It’s easiest to pin the failing economy on the blundering George W. Bush, who has become our misery mascot. Or on SUVs that suck the oil fields dry, or arrogant meat eaters who kill by proxy politely in their kitchens. One of my friends blames the fall of the American empire on a tax structure that favors the wealthy and deconstructs the middle class. Barack Obama blames the Iraq war. Then there’s blaming corporate greed, which is like pinning responsibility on a nameless star in a hardly visible solar system; big money moves in abstract glyphs around us. Corporations change shape and eat each other so quietly. Daily stock-market numbers read like charts of tides.”

Dominic Holden on What the Economy Is Doing to Planned-For Skyscrapers
“On First Hill, a massive sign obscured by layers of graffiti ballyhoos the Boylston, featuring 43 luxury condominiums with slab-granite countertops, workout facilities, and valet parking. But the website on the sign no longer exists. On Ninth Avenue and Pine Street, a lot sits vacant. Records for the site show that since May of last year, the site’s developer hasn’t pursued a permit for a 37-story tower. Near Green Lake, promises made in 2004 to redevelop the Vitamilk dairy into hundreds of residential units have produced only an excavated maw. Seattle’s building boom has busted, despite cranes on the skyline for developments that broke ground before the economy took a dive last summer. Some projects, specifically three- and four-story apartment buildings, seem to be keeping pace, but the more ambitious towers are on hold—perhaps indefinitely.”

Brendan Kiley Profiles Fringe-Director-Gone-Establishment Sheila Daniels
“Sheila Daniels makes audiences listen. When Bart Sher, the decorated artistic director of Intiman, hired her as his associate director last fall, he was effectively hiring his opposite. Sher favors thunder, bombast, Sturm und Drang. Daniels, who toiled in the Seattle fringe scene for 15 years, builds intensity with quietness, favors substance over flash. She doesn’t push her actors to assault the audience; she makes us lean forward, go to them.”

Paul Constant on Scott McClellan
“In fact, McClellan is the worst kind of amoral snake-oil salesman, twisting with the shifting winds of public perception. If Bush’s approval rating was above 50 percent, McClellan would still slither onto talk shows to praise the wisdom of the president’s plan in the Middle East. He’s the kind of idiot who actually says the word ‘irregardless’ without any sense of irony.”

Jen Graves on Portland Art Museum’s New Prize—and Its Bid to Become the Art Capital of the Northwest
“In order to give birth to the CNAA, PAM killed its longstanding Oregon Biennial: not a popular move, but a smart one. The museum had to sell out Oregon in order to make Portland the art capital of the Northwest.”

Eli Sanders on Barack Obama’s Liberal Abandonment
“In the last few weeks, Obama has upset huge swaths of the liberal base in rapid-fire fashion. When the U.S. Supreme Court banned executing child rapists, Obama announced that he disagreed with the court’s decision—reminding everyone that he supports the death penalty, and making clear that he wants it to be handed out to people who rape children even though it has traditionally been reserved only for murderers.”

ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS ISSUE: BOAT’s practice space; Ratatat’s vintage instruments; what Lake Union tastes like; Steven Seagal; tzatziki; Sherman Alexie’s problem with boat racing, the symphony, and Lost; Lindy West’s favorite patriotic YouTube videos; and so much more.