How well do you know Olympia? Here's the game: Each Saturday (or Wednesday) I post a picture from somewhere around Olympia and people try to figure out its location. The first person who gets it correct is the first person who correctly got the location *yay!*.

From Wikipedia

Letter from Inside the Black Bloc

Black Bloc FAQ's

The Black Bloc and Anarchism

Infoshop.org Black Blocs for Dummies

Black Bloc Tactics Communique

Interesting, and sometimes disturbing stuff here. Perhaps we should count ourselves lucky that only a few windows were broken...

Most of these pages are pretty pro black bloc. I had a hard time finding pages about resisting, infiltrating, or eliminating black blocs.

Historic Photos of Seattle / text and captions by Walt Crowley. Nashville, Tenn. : Turner Pub. Co., c2006. x, 206 p.

This is a very disjointed book. Or maybe disconnected is a better word. Dis-something. Compared to Turner Publishing's other Washington State based photo works, this one feels rushed and unfinished. Somehow I sense the back story is more interesting than the product.

But let's focus on the product for now. This work features over 200 black and white photos of Seattle from the 1889 fire to a 1994 shot of the Space Needle and monorail. The photos are divided into chronological chunks, each introduced with an historical essay.

OK. Now I'll go good, bad, good. And the dips are deep.

The essay portions of this book are excellent. Put them together and you have a very nice summary of the history of Washington State's premier city. In the choice of photos for the early years, you do get a sense of how new and raw our corner of the United States is compared to the rest of the Lower 48. The rapid speed in which our Western Civilization has managed to screw up this beautiful corner of God's Country is staggering.

Walt Crowley didn't exactly send that specific message in this work, but I'm sure he would've agreed with me on the previous couple sentences. Walt and I both remember what it used to be like around here when Washington was an isolated outpost. Sadly, he died a year after this book was published, which might account for the terse captions and the haste-like sensations while reading this-- maybe he knew his time was limited.

Olympia has been named "recession-proof" by JobBait.com - They looked for cities across the nation that had greater than 1.2% population growth during three different time periods.

Full article and Analysis.

Article excerpt about Olympia:

In Olympia, Wash., the local cash cow is state government.

At the southernmost tip of scenic Puget Sound, the population of this smallish city of 44,000 swells during the legislative session, when lawmakers, lobbyists and special interest groups swarm downtown coffee shops and eateries. Olympia is home not only to the Capitol and the bustle of politics that surrounds it, but also to two regional hospitals, Evergreen State College and a lively arts community.

In addition to numerous galleries, downtown Olympia hosts the Washington Center, home to the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Harlequin Productions at the historic State Theater, as well as the Capital Playhouse. The 125-seat, black-box theater runs 11 musicals a year, and the three-week shows were so popular, they added another weekend to each musical starting last September.

"None of those things individually is a significant driver by themselves, but what they do do is drive the economies of other businesses," says Jeff Kingsbury, who founded the playhouse. "It's such a diverse mix of businesses and the thriving arts, it really helps stabilize the economy all the time."

Located between Seattle and Portland, and close to both the mountains and the coast, Olympia also earns points for air quality, low crime and other quality-of-life measures. But it's that constant of state government that is "the great equalizer for us," says Michael Cade, executive director of Thurston County Economic Development Council. [More]

As heard on Opium:

"artisan's cafe is closing their doors to the public after may 15th, because of some problems with some landlords. they are expected to reopen in another space sometime, but who knows when that'll be!"

Can anyone confirm this?

Some of my oldest friends from Camp Quixote are moving on. The couple that recently got married - the husband recently moved back to Yellowstone where he's a cook, and got a job for his new wife. She hops a bus to join him tonight. The card shark who always beat me (and everyone else) at hearts is moving back to Alaska next week. His heart condition is getting worse and he'll be spending time with old friends and his doctor. The guy who always gave me a (toothless) grin as he entered and left, has headed back to family in Florida to get away from the Olympia drug scene - he was afraid he might slip back into old habits. The guy who always teased me and everyone else with his quick smiley humor got trained to work in a nursing home, for which he's absolutely perfect - always cheerful and friendly to everyone. He moved out of the camp awhile back. Some of residents have found apartments and jobs in the area and visit the camp periodically. Others are starting to talk about their next steps. I am happy for my friends, but I'm also going to miss them. The camp won't be the same without their wonderful spirit.

I'm beginning to recognize the new faces, but they're a little more quiet around the volunteer hosts while they get used to their new surroundings. Unfortunately, some have come and gone quickly because of not being able to abide by the camp rules.

Right now the camp is located near the Unitarian church, over on the Westside. We could really use more volunteers, even people who can only work one shift would be great. If you're interested in making a tangible difference in our community, please contact me.