Seattle Democratic Caucus

Despite not being registered to vote in Seattle yet, I attended the caucus last weekend. I wanted to witness the democracy of it all. Almost everyone I know in Seattle lives in the same neighborhood. So we several of us went to Divya, Gautam & Casey's for mimosas, donuts, bagels and debate beforehand, then headed down to the Commie College to be democratic. It was one of the wildest things I've ever witnessed. The process is incredibly outdated and awkward, but it was a really unique and kind of neat experience.

We packed over 100 people in to a classroom (see picture above). These people all live within 2 blocks of each other. The whole thing has a very "community" feeling. While signing in, everyone wrote down who they planned to vote for (undecided was an option). Then we all got in the room and people took turns talking for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. None of the speeches were very convincing and almost every single one had flawed logic at one point or another. It was more of a, "This is why I'm voting for ---". It was still pretty neat. One of the speakers actually broke down in to tears for Barack. It was awkward, but pretty impressive that she was that emotionally involved (and probably unstable). Then everyone votes again.

The process might be flawed, but it was still deeply democratic. I was so glad I went. It really has the feel of what democracy was in the early days of our country.

Open Mic Night

Hopvine is a little joint up the hill on 15th. They had good pizza and a really good microbrew on tap. However, the reason for our trip was that Wednesdays are Open Mic Night. Andy and I took one for the team (if you can call eating pizza and drinking beer taking one for the team) and got there early to lay claim to the table right in front of the stage and I'm glad we did. It is a fun time and I'm planning to return. I was pretty impressed with most of the acts. There was a duo called the Forget-me-nots with violin (5-string) and acoustic guitar that were really good. They are opening a show at the Showbox SODO this weekend. I might have to check it out.

Twisted Metal

I took this picture a couple years ago on a trip to visit Marques. I've always thought this was a cool piece of artwork and I like how the picture turned out. This is located at the Commie College (SCCC), close to the corner of Pine and Broadway.