Well, shit.
We wanted to come back way earlier than this. We meant to come back three whole years ago. And, somehow, in the aftermath of the 2016 election combined with the vitriol we saw happening around the 35th Avenue NE street redesign (leaving fireworks on the work equipment, WTF?), we felt our personal mental health could use some distance from local happenings for a while.
We also left a job, played a *lot* of Breath of the Wild to recover from that job, got another job, and renovated a house.
We took to Twitter now and then to share power outage news or restaurant openings or “Here’s why that helicopter is over our houses” or whatever, but live reports from public meetings and such stopped. (Honestly, so did those meetings in a way — changed to open house formats to keep Q&A sessions from being overrun again and again by The Loudest People.)
But now we’re one of the epicenters of a pandemic. This is wa-a-a-a-ay different than public meetings where people moan about parking spots. This is our lives.
And if our prior experience during the missing years can teach any of us anything, it’s that helping feels GOOD. It’s one of the few things that does when things get awful.
So we’re dragging the Ravenna Blog out of its trunk in the attic, brushing off the cobwebs and dust, updating WordPress about a dozen times, and we’re gonna start to do what we can again to be repository of local and reasonably up-to-date info again. At least in terms of COVID-19 information.
It’s gonna look rough here for a while. And we’re not going to be able to cover all the things we want to. But here are our priorities at the moment, in no particular order:
- information about helping out local businesses
- closure information (on whatever closes)
- list of King County Public Health resources
- whatever else makes sense — it’s our first pandemic
So. Leave some comments, send us your emails (and for the love of the god-of-your-choice, cite your sources), and let’s help each other.
And if you’ve come here to complain about parking spots, you can fuck right off, right now.
–RB
Thank you! Hyperlocal journalism is really really helpful right now.
Yup. We’ve been feeling this gap in our own lives for this info for over a week now, which is why we’re back. (And it’s why we started the site back in 2008!)
Hi,
Just saw a resource for parents who may want to connect about child care and other issues
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2638451076392372/?hc_location=ufi&comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDEwMDMwMzMzMjUzMTAxN18xMDEwMDMwMzM4NTgzNDE5Nw%3D%3D
I work in infectious disease communication, so there is a lot of material out there.
What I find most compelling is the FlattenTheCurve message, which encourages us to use social distance to slow down the spread of the virus for the vulnerable community. Even if you think you are very unlikely to suffer, the numbers for epidemics argue that social-distancing can work.
Love ya. I recommend going to local coffee shops
We also recommend that. Don’t stay if you don’t want to, but buy something, check in with the staff, leave a BIG tip, and get back to watching Fleabag or whatever at home.
Welcome back!
Thank you, Nicole! ❤️
Really useful tweet with advice for caring for yourself at home is you have Covid19 symptoms. https://twitter.com/smasheroteacups/status/1237711448064884739?s=21
Welcome Back Ravenna Blog…. We need you and appreciate you!
Dort
Thank you, Dort!
SO glad you are back. Your good work has been missed.
Thank you, Lisa. ❤️
Welcome back! Looking forward to information about helping local businesses along with general neighborhood stuff. My family ordered take out from Mio Posto tonight and they were quite full! I was sad to read Arriba Cantina closed this week; I never made it in!
Thank you, Erin! (We will personally miss the slightly smoky Arriba Cantina queso fundido. ) Thank you, also, for getting takeout from another local restaurant! Keep it up!
Welcome back, neighbor!
And hold up, Arriba Cantina closed? Darn… that was tasty.
The Mexican place up by Mio Posto is very good.
Hi Stephen! We heard today, actually, that the Mexican place you’re referring to is closed, though we haven’t found any confirmation from them online about it. Let us know if you hear anything?
Also please consider supporting Yummy Cafe in Bryant (Chinese food) and Chiang’s Gourmet. Good vegetarian options, too, at both places.
And Luu’s Cafe up in Wedgwood, a charming bubble tea shop that makes some good banh mi. Luu’s is pretty new and obviously a labor of love. I hope they make it through this. They’ve got delivery options.
Our son got some bubble tea today, with a friend!
Happy you’re back, Rebecca!
Thank you, neighbor!
Welcome back! I live in 98105 and welcome all updates. You were smart to bag blog after all that 35th vitriol. Now we have this Black Swan virus event which hopefully will end soon. Thanks for doing.
Welcome back, Rebecca, and thanks for this!
Thanks, Cam. Glad to see you’re still around in the interwebs as well. ❤️
I never knew about you before. This sounds like a great thing. Will we have less snarking than on Nextdoor? That would be a blessing. I’m hopeful by the tone I’m seeing so far!
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