West Seattle - Opinion

By Jean Godden

"The greatest publicity stunt of all time" (or so they said) took place on Seattle's waterfront in the midst of a gridlock. The traffic jam occurred in 1947 after a tanker car filled with sweetened corn syrup broke its…MORE

By Amanda Knox   We did it! This week, Chris and I finally finished all seven books of the Harry Potter series. For the last six months or so we’ve been immersed, listening to the audiobooks during car rides and at the breakfast table, and…MORE

Editor’s note: She’s back in print! Jean Godden is a new columnist for the West Seattle Herald and Westside Weekly. Godden is a veteran newspaperwoman (Seattle P.I. and Seattle Times) and public servant (Seattle City Council). Her column will…MORE

By Amanda Knox

Just under a year ago, my sister Delaney asked me to read and help edit her senior thesis project—an essay about her year volunteering at a local youth tutoring center. “You gotta help me, Amanda,” she pleaded. “I can’t use…MORE

By Dr. Christine L. Kirchner

They may carry cheery names like Gentle Dental and Bright Now, but what actually happens in these corporate dental chains can lead to some very unhappy outcomes for their patients.

Former patients talk…MORE

By Amanda Knox   On Valentine’s Day, my friend and I were walking along the waterfront at Lincoln Park. We came across a large stone on which someone had assembled a bunch of shells to spell out “LOVE” in large, capital letters. My friend stared…MORE

By Amanda Knox   This week Chris and I learned the shim sham. Without getting technical, I’d describe it as a social line dance combining tap-style stomping, gliding, kicking, wiggle-walking, and swagger. The shim sham is what our instructors…MORE

By Amanda Knox   February 14th is creeping up, which reminds me that some of us don’t have partners with which to celebrate, and are perhaps feeling particularly alone. Not bad alone, necessarily, but notably alone, more so than on any other day…MORE

By Amanda Knox   I remember how Don Saulo, the chaplain at Capanne prison, visited every cell each morning and greeted every prisoner by name. He brought in movies for us to watch, and each one—Kung Fu Panda, Avatar—made him cry. He told the…MORE

Across Washington State, thousands of women, families of diverse communities, and members of the LGBTQ community took to the streets in a peaceful protest to stand up for equality, civil and women’s rights, and religious freedom.

It was an…MORE