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No crashing drones into the Space Needle 😳
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No crashing drones into the Space Needle 😳

(📸: Kat Overton)

‘FINDING OUR COMMUNITY WAS WORTH IT’ 🏙

Feeling at home where you live can be a process. It can take time to warm up to a place, and to find the people, places, and communities that make it worthwhile.

In honor of Seattle’s 165th birthday this week, we asked you a question: What keeps you in Seattle? We’re sharing out your replies over the next several days, and today, readers Kat Overton, Anne Hilton, and Jennie Shortridge get into what it means to find your place:

“It is a goldmine for wonderful Ultimate frisbee players and playing opportunities. We play year round on turf, grass, indoors, and on the beach because the weather is (overall) so agreeable here. Seattle has the biggest Ultimate population in the country, and it is only getting stronger with its successful youth programs. It makes me so hopeful and gives me a sense of special community that I don’t think I could ever sacrifice. The photo I’ve shared [at the top of the newsletter!] is from our Monday night Golden Gardens Beach Ultimate pick-up games. I love it because it has sunshine, friends, frisbee, sailboat races, the Olympics, and the Sound — it’s basically only missing the city skyline and Mt Rainier.
— Kat Overton

“I actually got really sick of Seattle a few years ago and went so far as to get a job offer in Boston, but when it came time to decide, my wife pushed for us to stay here. So we did. At the time, I wasn’t super happy with the decision, but sticking it out and finding our community was worth it. Part of falling back in love with Seattle was, cliché or no, taking the time to appreciate what we have, including the pieces of our city that are in plain sight but easy to overlook or dismiss because you’re too busy. I used to walk the South Ship Canal Trail every day at lunch (when I worked near Fremont), for example. My wife and I started being deliberate about planning nights out, taking advantage of community events, and becoming more civically engaged. It took a few years, but I’ve made my peace with Seattle, warts and all. We’ve got a lot of problems, but we’ve got a lot of heart.
— Anne Hilton

“It’s the best place to be a working writer. Here I have a stellar writing and reading community, a supportive book ecosystem with so many independent bookstores and literary organizations including the amazing Hugo House (about to move into its new forever home in Capitol Hill), and a nonprofit collective of authors (Seattle7Writers.org) with whom I get to hang out and give back to the community in myriad ways to support literacy. It may be expensive, it may be difficult, but I’m staying.
— Jennie Shortridge

Thanks to everyone who’s been sharing what keeps them in Seattle. Check out more of your answers here, read yesterday’s stories about family ties here, and stay tuned for more of your stories tomorrow.

NOW HERE’S WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR CITY 🏈

No more kneeling. The NFL says it’s going to fine teams whose players kneel or sit during the National Anthem before games. While 39 percent of voters in this Seattle Times poll are calling that a “good move,” Seahawks players and plenty of fans are not happy about it. “Can my Seahawks just go make their own football league?” one local tweeted. NFL players across the country have been kneeling or sitting on the bench instead of standing during the anthem to protest racial discrimination. One player who’s been out front on all that is defensive end Michael Bennett. He was a Seahawk until he got traded to the Philadelphia Eagles this year. Want to know what he’s got to say about all this? He’ll be in town on June 18 to talk about his book: “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable.” We’ll bet this comes up.

Honk if you hate honking. Even on the road, we Seattleites can be pretty… passive-aggressive. “We don’t honk unless you’ve been sitting at a green light for more than 20 seconds and even then, it’s a very light beep,” Mark Hallenbeck told Crosscut. Mark’s the director of the Washington State Transportation Center, and the way he sees it, our city’s traffic culture is shifting away from good ol’ “Seattle Nice.” The culprits? Newcomers from cities that drive more aggressively. And the mix is a little awkward. (Crosscut)  

What does it cost to kill a tax? Amazon, Starbucks, and Vulcan are hoping to find out. Each of those big local co’s is ponying up $25,000 to a campaign to repeal the head tax — a new tax on businesses our city council passed last week to raise money to fix our housing crisis. To say different parts of the city are divided on whether we should or shouldn’t have a head tax is quite the understatement. So far, the “No Tax on Jobs” campaign has raised $352,000 from 50 different sources. Among the other contributors? Dick’s Drive-In and Uwajimaya. (Crosscut)  

Ready for this hiking season thing? There’s no time like Memorial Day weekend to try out some of the umpteen amazing trails that make people who live in less outdoorsy cities very very jealous. Not sure where to start? Seattle Met’s here to help with its new Insider’s Guide to Pacific Northwest Hiking. Not a fan of gorp, sporks, and camp stoves? Try out this Infatuation list of places to eat before and after a hike.

PARTNER EVENT

📖  May 30: Hear where Seattle stands on immigration policy and how you can welcome immigrants to the city at this Impact Hub Lunch + Learn. (Pioneer Square)

Want to partner on your event with us? Here’s how.

AROUND TOWN

TODAY

🍿  Catch a short movie or two (Queen Anne)
🎶  Hear original songs by local artists inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale (Fremont)
🍴  Eat local to support West Seattle neighbors (West Seattle)
🗣  Ask about the forthcoming U-District light rail station (University District)

TOMORROW

🍺  Grab a bite to eat and try new beers on a boat (Wallingford)
🎶  Hit the dance floor to help out your LGBTQ+ neighbors (Belltown)
🎟  See a play about three women’s “web of personal, cultural, and national identity crises” — through June 3 (Downtown) — thanks for the rec, Cynthia Brothers!

SATURDAY

💡  Learn Fremont’s past from a local historian (Fremont)
🎈  Head to this popular Street Scramble scavenger hunt (Gig Harbor)
🎈  Take the fam to the Northwest Folklife Festival with the fam — through May 28 (Queen Anne)

SUNDAY

🎶  Sway to some jazz (Greenwood)
🍿  Watch films about the Asian immigrant experience (Downtown)
🏞  Ooh and ahh at minerals, gems, and fossils (Lake City)
🍴  Eat pancakes and hear Bach played on a marimba (Capitol Hill)

Going to one of these? Take us with you! Email a pic to [email protected] or tag #theevergrey on Instagram. See more upcoming events on our events page, and add your own events with an Evergrey membership.

NO CRASHING DRONES INTO THE SPACE NEEDLE 😳

It was New Year’s Eve 2016, and a guy from Pasco was flying his drone waaaaaay too close to the Space Needle. The drone crashed, he pleaded guilty this week to a charge of reckless endangerment, and seriously though what was he thinking?

Fly safe out there, all. — The Evergrey

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