May 31, 2007
There are few restaurants in Seattle that truly transport the patron to a different time and space. Most local eateries rely on natural lighting and large, revealing windows — most likely to combat diners' predisposition toward Seasonal Affective Disorder — which make it abundantly clear that, yes, it is cloudy and, yes, you are surrounded by water on three sides.

May 29, 2007
The year I graduated from middle school, a song and spoken-word piece narrated by Baz Lurhman was released. The single featured a man's voice presenting an irreverent commencement speech. It was entitled "Everyone's Free to Wear Sunscreen."

May 22, 2007
"I'm bringing you home a few treasures," my boyfriend hinted to me on the phone several days before he returned from a recent trip. "Souvenirs from afar."

May 17, 2007
Hotel restaurants, once the toast of European culture and decadence, have notoriously become tacky, overstuffed and overpriced affairs, where middle-aged businessmen end up regrettably hitting on their partner's underage daughter.

May 16, 2007
Assuming this is not your first day on campus, you've probably sat in one the University's ugliest buildings and waded through one of the ugliest debates facing research institutions today.

May 10, 2007
Old-world stained glass, secluded wooden booths and exposed brick walls mysteriously beckon patrons into Via Tribunali.

May 9, 2007
It seems the United States may slowly, but surely, catch up with the other half of the world that has decided to save the planet. Last week in this column, I wrote about the gimmick-ridden practice of selling carbon-offsets to U.S. businesses in order to bolster their hip, "carbon-neutral" status.

May 3, 2007
As the vegan community grows in Seattle, it seems that — slowly, but surely — nearly every type of cuisine has transitioned to accommodate those who shun both meat and dairy.

May 2, 2007
It seems businessmen and politicians have finally started listen ing to Al Gore. Unfortunately, they're taking his Earth-saving advice in a rather medieval manner.

April 24, 2007
On the UW's sprawling and highly liberated campus, it's hard to imagine how different other campuses — even those within the same city — can be. Imagine, however, if signs like those displayed throughout campus last week debunking myths about bisexuality, were not only prohibited, but considered amoral.

April 19, 2007
Tired of spending $60 to take your girlfriend to some trendy sushi restaurant where the food is about as authentic to Japan as the Ikea-esque design?

April 18, 2007
Love it or hate it, it appears that cursive handwriting has become a dying art. Of the nearly 1.5 million high-school students who took the SAT in 2006, only 15 percent used cursive on the essay portion, according to the College Board.

April 12, 2007
Bar food has never been considered a cuisine to be desired — indeed, most dishes are designed solely as gut-busting sponges for alcohol.

April 11, 2007
There I sat in the library, staring at my computer screen. How long had I been there? Who knows? But one thing was certain: Suzzallo's Puritan-era wooden chairs were taking their brutal toll on my behind, and the library's fluorescent lighting was beginning to burn into my temples.

April 5, 2007
Tucked away in a space off Pine Street, near the freeway, the Baguette Box feels almost like an after-thought of Capitol Hill.

April 4, 2007
It seems that Seattle may finally get the museum it deserves.

March 26, 2007
There's a good deal of paradoxical logic floating around the courts of this nation.

March 9, 2007
If I learned one thing from the nearly 12-hour day I spent following UW President Mark Emmert it is this: I couldn't do his job.

March 8, 2007
The people at Tutta Bella are serious about pizza and they're not afraid to brag about it.

March 7, 2007
This is the story of how a cynic stopped worrying and learned to love love.

March 1, 2007

February 28, 2007
Raised in an era that told them, "You can be anything you want when you grow up," many young women are realizing that, thanks to social structures still in place from the era of their grandmothers, "anything you want" couldn't be further from the truth.

February 22, 2007
Like a siren's song, Belltown's Cascadia happy hour lured me with three sweet words: "One dollar mini-burgers."

February 21, 2007
Words like "pee-pee," "wee-wee," and "privates" have always bothered me. Perhaps it comes from my background in which the use of such euphemisms for genitalia was laughable.

February 15, 2007
Turns out, I'd been missing the best sandwiches in Seattle and I didn't even know it. Turns out, about half of Seattle doesn't know about it either.

February 14, 2007
From the canary yellows that illuminate the runways heralding spring to the seemingly gravity-defying pieces of haute couture, fashion has always been an art of shocking extremes.

February 12, 2007

February 8, 2007
Blink and you might miss this lauded International District restaurant. Hidden at the back corner of a Vietnamese strip small, all that is visible of the Tamarind Tree from the road is a small white sign — those with myopia might want to use a GPS or specially trained hound with a knack for the subtleties of Vietnamese cuisines.

February 7, 2007
Chances are, no matter how much Grey's Anatomy you've watched or even how much you've studied for medical school, a doctor has said something you haven't understood. And you're not alone.

February 5, 2007

February 1, 2007
Brunch has always been an urbanite's meal of escape. There are little to no time constraints on the occasion.

January 31, 2007
The way we're teaching sex education these days, our children will likely be bigger freaks than we are.

January 25, 2007
There's good Mexican and then there's Taco Bell. And then there's Gran Sabor.

January 24, 2007

January 22, 2007

January 18, 2007
I've always thought it was a tragedy that East Coast deli culture never extended past the Appalachians.

January 17, 2007
The American high school has gotten out of hand.

January 11, 2007

January 10, 2007
A daughter of doctors and a past candy-striper, I've grown up accustomed to hospitals. So why, in this particular hospital waiting room, did I feel so uncomfortable?

January 8, 2007

January 4, 2007
Despite the fact this writer once came in third in a state geography bee, I still had to look up Trinidad on a world map.

January 4, 2007
Oh, celebrities. What would we do without them? Politicians certainly aren't flashy enough to be a substitute (and no one wants to see Condi go commando), and while some businessmen (read: Donald Trump) attempt celebrity status, their blunders just don't have enough visual pizzazz to grace the front of US Weekly.

January 3, 2007

December 7, 2006

December 6, 2006
They're coming. Thousands of them in six-story swarms. Razing buildings to the ground. Sucking the life-blood out of entire neighborhoods, and leaving nothing but Craftsman rubble in their wake.

December 5, 2006
Keith Ellison, Minnesota's newly elected Democratic congressman, identifies himself as a member of the Muslim faith and as such would like to carry a Quran while being sworn into office.

December 5, 2006
"Be careful what you wish for," or so the saying goes. As Hanukkah draws near, families draw closer together and Christmas lists grow longer, this adage takes on a new meaning.

December 4, 2006
The Seattle City Council will vote next Monday on a proposed set of revisions to city parking standards.

November 30, 2006

November 29, 2006
With Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth released on video last weekend, and with the Supreme Court intending to hear its first case on global warming starting today, human-induced climate change is clearly a hot topic.

November 28, 2006
You may not pay much attention to it, but you know its there. You know it's there because, even if you're not, someone else might get to be.

November 28, 2006
It seems Mother's Little Helpers aren't just for mother anymore.

November 27, 2006
An increasing trend of Internet slang and casual abbreviations used in academic writing is being seen by both high school teachers and university professors, according to a new report by <i>Newhouse News Service</i>

November 22, 2006

November 21, 2006
Sometimes change can come from the most unlikely of places, and sometimes even the highest levels of power can be shaken by a single person.

November 21, 2006
The Pacific Northwest is renowned for its natural resources, with Mount Rainier on one side and the Puget Sound and Pacific Ocean on the other. Many Seattleites pride themselves on being environmental activists.

November 20, 2006

November 16, 2006

November 15, 2006

November 14, 2006
What if your mornings consisted of waking up, showering and dressing two other individuals before you even thought about going to class or racing for coffee?

November 13, 2006
Always had a hard time swallowing the rot-gut beers served at college parties? Mike Hale did too, but instead of wincing at the sight of yet another can of MGD, he did something about it. He started one of western Washington's first microbreweries and began a craft that has become, for him, a labor of love.