Grey Matters: Expense Account

Seattle is trying to build pricey new roads while it struggles to fill potholes in the existing ones

A weird contradiction of our times is that we the public are pulled toward two opposite extremes. Specifically, we are exhorted to take on ginormous new public projects while cutting back on almost everything the government does that is actually useful, albeit unglamorous. The downtown Seattle deep-bore tunnel, the expansion of the 520 bridge over…

Knute Berger

Style: Tailor Made with James Todd

Gene Juarez's James Todd adds a spirited twist to the Tom Ford skinny suit with pops of pattern

WHY WE LOVE HIS LOOK: It’s only fitting that James Todd has “creative” embedded in his job title. As a creative director for Gene Juarez Salons, Todd’s artistic vision extends from sleek haircuts to his thoughtful approach to suiting. “I’m notoriously formal,” he jokes about his trademark weekday attire, typically a luxe suit accented with…

Seattle Mag

Hot Button: How Green is Thy Lumber?

Seattle's green building community questions which wood is good enough

Say you’re an environmentally conscious consumer looking to build a new deck. You head to Dunn Lumber on Lake Union and stare at seemingly identical stacks of lumber. Which is the most eco-friendly? It’s hard to tell. Should you just buy the most expensive wood and assume it must be the greenest? What about that…

Maria Dolan

Shopping Around: November’s Shopping Finds

Our top shopping finds for the month

Wax OnWhen pressed on the inspiration for his new line of apparel and bags, 27-year-old Green Lake–based designer Mike Jolley looks straight down—at his tin-cloth Filson coat, passed down to him by his grandfather. A descendant of cotton farmers, Jolley has taken heritage to heart with the recent debut of his Legacy Clothing “Prospector 2011”…

Seattle Mag

Health: Fred Hutch provides phone service

Under contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people see

Special CallingUnder contract with the National Cancer Institute, Fred Hutch provides a service vital to people seeking communication and compassion. The calls come in from anywhere and everywhere, landing in a quiet warren of cubicles inside a South Lake Union building. “I just found out I have Stage 4 cancer in my throat,” drawls a…

Sally James

Parental Guidance: November

Local News, Tips, and Products for Families

The Quickie Holiday PicSlacker parents who have put off taking this year’s family holiday photo (and whose Type-A neighbors did it in September!) will be happy to know that Seattle photographer Sara Adamski (photosbysara.com) has them covered. Call it a drive-through holiday picture service, where all you do is show up at a local park…

Kate Calamusa and Kavita Varma-White

Outdoors: Seattleites Cyclocross

Seattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels

Cross BreedingSeattleites embrace the roughest sport on two wheels Small wonder that cyclocross, a bicycle racing sport that most closely resembles BMX for grownups, is big in the bike-crazy Pacific Northwest, where riders don’t mind getting dirty in the quest for ever more challenging outdoor experiences. Also known as CX or just ’cross, the sport…

Roddy Scheer

Scoop: Andy Liu and David Niu the founders of BuddyTV

The founders of Seattle-based BuddyTV are intent on making TV watching social again

If anyone knows the meaning of the word “buddy,” it’s Andy Liu and David Niu, business partners, friends and each other’s so-called “work-wife” for 11 years. From 1999 to 2004 the duo ran a Seattle-based tech company, and in 2005 they founded BuddyTV (buddytv.com), a website that establishes fan communities based on television-watching habits. The…

Anna Samuels

Spotlight Minis: Art, Books, & Music

Local Art That Matters

Meet Your MarkerARTIST: John Sutton of local installation art trio SuttonBeresCuller SHOW: Panoptos, for which the group has raided the Henry Art Gallery’s permanent collection, hung a selection of art salon style (floor to ceiling), and constructed a custom-made apparatus that holds a high-def camera and moves on an X/Y axis. Viewers operate the camera—either…

Brangien Davis

Scoop: Nerd Report: Ask a Librarian app

Breakthroughs and news from the local geek crew

Once upon a time, people with questions went to a library, where a trusted librarian would help dig up answers. More recently, people stayed put and called the Ask a Librarian phone line to get answers. When a question arises in the age of Google, you whip out your smartphone, open the ask-WA mobile app…

Laural Hobbes

Spotlight: Port Authority

An inaugural literary series bridges Seattle and New Orleans through new writing about place

Picture a port city shaped by the ebb and flow of its maritime industry. A city where the local seafood is legendary, and the music scene is heralded for its influence and depth. Are you seeing the Emerald City, or the Big Easy? This month, the two cities—and coasts—are bridged via Bilocal (bilocal.org), a new,…