January 2021

By Patrick Robinson

Over the last 12 to 16 years I have watched with increasing alarm, the tendency of people, organizations, groups, couples, political parties and most recently leaders to react quickly, angrily, making snap judgements, saying inflammatory things, resorting to personal attacks and more. In short I have taken note of a major increase in Belligerence. 

The word comes from the Latin Bellum Gerere meaning to “wage war.”

Wars, by their nature and through history are binary. One winner. One loser. And as they say, all is fair.

We have seen the breakdown of manners, of what we used to call “couth” meaning well mannered behavior.

That itself is a kind of outgrowth of basic biblical teaching. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

But what is behind this belligerence? 

I think it’s in large part the distance and anonymity provided by the internet.

by Jay Craig

Everybody loves the Ballard Bridge. It was built as part of the effort to connect Lake Union and lake Washington to Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. Without the Ship Canal, Seattle would not be the city it is. Being a fresh water port allowed us to become the Port of Alaska, with over 50% of the seafood consumed in the United States passing through here. The Ballard Locks and the Ship Canal Bridges are daily reminders of one of the greatest engineering projects in US history.

And the view from the control tower of the Ballard Bridge on a sunny morning or when the sun is setting behind the Olympics is beautiful. 

By Jean Godden

In 1991 when Ron Chew, an International District institution, wanted to learn about his family's hidden history, he was able to retrieve his grandfather's nearly century-old immigration papers from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Seattle.

Those papers were filed along with many tantalizing details, referencing people and places in his granddad, Chew Quay Fong's life. From those records, Ron Chew learned that Quay Fong, only son of Chew Jung Man and his wife Chin, was born in 1877 in the village of Fow Seck in   China's Hoisan District.

By Ken Robinson

Managing Editor

You are now and always have been “the media”, the ‘Press” and the “MainStream Media.” Ever since Publick Occurrences, America’s first newspaper,  was first published in 1690. 

Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

information from D1CN

Recently, West Seattle Bike Connections (WSBC) met with SDOT for a presentation of its proposal for a two-way bicycle trail between the West Seattle low bridge and the north end of the West Duwamish trail using the southbound curb lane of West Marginal Way SW. WSBC, in consultation with Duwamish Valley Safe Streets and West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails, has just sent a letter to SDOT detailing our support for the project.

Specifically, they support SDOT’s Option B, which would run the bike trail between the signal at West Marginal Place SW, just south of the bridge, to the existing half-signal crossing to the West Duwamish trail and provide parking on the west side of the road from there to the planned new crossing to the Duwamish Longhouse.