In reality it went like this: Zach picked Rosie and me, dressed in modest clothing for fear of the sleaziness of other casino patrons, up from her house in a decades-old Volvo and the three of us sped off down Aurora. Just past a hotel that advertised rooms at an hourly rate was the Holy Grail: Goldie’s Casino.

We entered the dark building and were immediately carded. After receiving thumbs up stamps from the security guard (unfortunately, the stamp was not an indication of how the night was going to go) we proceeded to do a few awkward laps around the gambling area, which consisted of a circle of gaming tables presided over by bored looking dealers and predominantly middle-aged patrons.

After our second or third lap around we were starting to attract some weird looks so we decided to rendezvous. I had set aside a budget of $20 for the night and, with little-to-no knowledge of most of the games, was investing it in Zach (who unfortunately doesn’t know how to count cards).

Since the whole reason I was at a casino was to write an article about it, I decided I should try and show (and by “try and show,” I mean Rosie forced me) a little journalistic integrity. We timidly approached an empty table and greeted a dealer. He didn’t seem too keen on talking to us, though whether that was because of us or the fact that he spoke little English is anyone’s guess.

We learned that he’d been dealing “for a couple years,” that he “liked it okay,” and once he saw ten thousand dollars paid out (although he actually could have just said ten; as I mentioned, his English wasn’t so good).

A friendly Russian dealer named Igor then pointed us to the 3 Card Poker table, where any illusion that we knew what we were doing fell away. Rosie and I stood awkwardly behind Zach as our minimum bet of $15 disappeared in 30 seconds.

Deciding quickly that it hurt too much to see my money disappear into the hands of dealers, we turned to head out. However, on our way a flashing computer screen distracted us. “Play Texas Hold ‘em for $2!” it screamed. Rosie bravely volunteered to play, being dealt a hand by a burly animated man named Big Tony.

Tony seemed to be our good luck charm. Unfortunately, we soon figured out that there was no way to actually win money from the machine. With 27 minutes and 34 seconds left in our game we slunk out of the casino, attempting to retain some of our dignity.

The Internet tells me that millions of adults in the United States have a gambling problem. I don’t get it. My hard earned cash was taken away from under my eyes in seconds and there was nothing I could do.

Though the night could have been considered kind of a bust, something happened on the way home to change all that: we saw hookers (I think – I apologize to anyone walking in short skirts on 100th and Aurora around nine last Wednesday)!

We Got a Coo Schoo
Garfield has recently become the first Seattle school to participate in the nationwide “Cool School Challenge.” Led by Ecology classes, the challenge intends to reduce the school’s carbon emissions. There are 36 participating teachers, all of whom are having periodic “carbon audits” on their classrooms. This means the amount of carbon emitted (by lights, appliances, trash, etc) is calculated. After a month, the classroom which has cut back on emissions the most will receive a prize. Whether said prize will be their carbon emissions altered into solid form and sculpted into statues has yet to be confirmed.

Boyz soccer rulz
For one of the first times in recorded history, the Garfield mens soccer team made a high school soccer game enjoyable to watch. In both the exciting win over Skyline on the 11th and the nailbiter against Stadium this Tuesday, the team attracted huge numbers of fans, filling Memorial Stadium to an extent it hadn’t seen since Bumbershoot. We cheered, we yelled, we tried to taunt the ref and other players à la the student section at basketball games. Some grew so overzealous as to block others’ view. Basically: we love you, soccer boy babies.

“Hey Juliet” – LMNT
No lie, I put this on every CD I make. There’s nothing better then blasting this ’90s boy-band song at full volume and using all the lungpower you have to sing along.

“Superstar” – Lupe Fiasco
This song helps prepare me for the days when I’ll be a superstar and everyone will want to know me. Just kidding. However, it is the perfect song to dance around your room to with a hairbrush microphone.

“Summergirls” – LFO
The perfect reminiscing song, even if you never had that cliché beach fling. I wish it was summer.

“Working on a Dream” – Bruce Springsteen
Bruce was played constantly in my house when I was younger, and this ingrained love for him has made me love anything he comes out with. This song has become permanently linked with the past election in my mind, and it’s so (dare I say) hopeful.

“Our Song” – Taylor Swift
I can’t not put T-Swift on here. She’s too good, despite what all the haters might say. Plus, she writes her own lyrics. I wish this was my song.

“America” – Simon & Garfunkel
By far the best road trip song ever. Simon and Garfunkel sing oh-so-wistfully about setting off on a journey and exploring the country. It’s also the first song on the nearly iconic “Almost Famous” soundtrack.

“Tears in Heaven” – Eric Clapton
Clapton’s song about the horrific death of his 4-year-old son is possibly one of the saddest ever written, but somehow a little bit optimistic at the same time.

“In Your Eyes” – Peter Gabriel
My mom and I used to dance to this when I was a little kid, and it has held a special place in my heart ever since. I’m using my sappy rights as a girl to say that I love this song so much because it’s just about simple love, without anything attached.

“Days Like This” – Van Morrison
There is no better song to play at the end of a perfect day. It also works well when you just had a bad day, and need reassurance that there will be better ones.

Of course it was a pretty inane argument. As ten-year-olds, neither of us really knew anything about the relative merits of the two papers. I think I ended up conceding that the Times was better because they ran the comic strip “Baby Blues,” my then-favorite.

But the moral of that story isn’t that I was such a sophisticated fifth-grader that I was already paying close attention to newspapers and current events, or that I was already on the path to a love of debate. Instead, it’s that having two different options for daily newspapers in a city the size of Seattle was as commonplace as having milk cartons for sale in the cafeteria.

Everyone has heard about what’s happening to newspapers. The collapse of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has allowed people here to get an up-close and personal look at what’s going on around the country: Denver’s Rocky Mountain News recently turned off its printing presses, and just a few weeks ago rumors began swirling that the Boston Globe is facing closure if issues with the unions aren’t quickly resolved.

On top of all the outright closures, almost every newspaper in the country has had to make cuts, whether in page count or staff size or both. The New York Times combined its “Metro” section with its “National” and “International” sections along with condensing its index, and cutting other features, like fashion coverage, all together. The Seattle Times, in addition to its noticeably thinner print edition, has had to cut over 300 positions over the past year or so.

In a world where everything’s becoming more digital—companies are developing ways to read full books on screens, students turn to Google before heading to the library, emailing has made letter-writing a thing of the Victorian era—it’s easy to think that what’s happening with newspapers is an issue of declining readership or people’s reluctance to actually read print.

However, that’s not quite true. Although some newspapers have reported drops in print circulation, others have held steady and still more, like The New York Times, have reported slight rises. Between the years 2000 and 2007, circulation at the Seattle Times actually rose.

“As many or more people are reading newspaper content today, whether in print or online,” says David Boardman, executive editor of the Seattle Times. “The problem is revenue. The fundamental piece of it is classified advertising.”

With the advent of free sites like Craigslist, nobody wants to pay per-word fees in the paper anymore. Unfortunately for newspapers, this has led to an 80 percent decrease in classified ads revenue, which in itself was 50 percent of all ad revenue (which, to continue the chain, was around three-quarters of newspapers’ total revenue).

It’s these losses that are leading to the demise of papers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The 146-year-old paper, which had been in competition with the Seattle Times for 118 of those years, printed its last issue on Tuesday, March 17. Hearst Corporation, the owner of the P-I, announced in January that the paper was being put up for sale and if no buyer was announced, it would be shut down or reduced to a web-only operation.

John Nelson, a former page designer and graphic artist for the P-I, was there when the announcement was made—or rather, when the staff found out.

Everyone was in the newsroom—writers were writing, editors were editing, designers were designing—when a story came on the television. As everyone sat at their desks, someone yelled, “King5 says we’re going out of business!” The station had heard a rumor that the P-I was going to close, and announced it on their six o’clock news. People couldn’t believe it. Many starting crying bullsh**.

According to Nelson, though, “It just had this ring of credibility about it.” In hindsight, they could have seen it coming, perhaps (for instance, they’d recently acquired a new director of editorial from Hearst Corp. whose job was basically to make cuts), but there weren’t any major signs: managers and editors were still talking about extending coverage of stories into the future; they were still working to meet budgets; everyone still really cared.

Still, even at the time, the ominous feeling was in the air. The day after the story broke on King5 nobody denied it, although many claimed they didn’t know about it. The publisher disappeared. Finally, almost two full days after the rumor started circulating, someone from corporate made the official announcement that if the newspaper was unable to find a new owner it would be shut down.

After it was said and out in the open, no one knew what to do. “Everybody stood around, staring at their shoes,” says Nelson. “It was pretty ugly.”

Around two and half months later, the word came that the next day’s issue would be their last. Nelson walked into the room a few minutes after the official announcement was made. Everyone in the room wore a shocked look, like a deer in the headlights, while resigning themselves to the fact that it truly was all over.

Over at the Seattle Times, reactions were mixed. Many staffers there had friends or even spouses at the P-I. “First there was sadness and shock,” says Boardman. “We would have been less shocked to hear it was our paper than theirs. Then there was a conscious relief.”

It’s not that anyone at the Times had wished a collapse on the P-I—as journalists, and even as citizens, it’s hard to see such an old institution go under. But one or the other had to go, and when you ask people at the Times they predictably say that it’s better the P-I collapsed, primarily because the owners of the Times are local, rather than national, and therefore have more of a vested interest in the community.

Because of this, in part, Boardman is more optimistic about the future of his paper than he has been in a few years. The other big part of that optimism? Surprisingly, it’s the economic troubles our nation is battling as a whole right now. Soon the ad money should start coming back, though obviously never to the amount it was at before, and papers will maybe be able to start increasing staff and content once again.

Still, the medium of newspapers is constantly evolving based on the demands of the public, some of whom still enjoy the experience of spreading out the day’s paper before them on the breakfast table, while others turn more and more to electronic updates.

“I’m not too hung up on what the delivery system is, whether it’s ink on paper or electrons to a flexible screen, or to your cell phone,” says Boardman. “I do care about the content.”

For many, blogs seem like the way of the future: specific commentary and happenings on everything you can think of. But the thing is, most still rely on the original reporting of newspapers. Even many radio and TV stations get their stories from papers, or at least news services like the Associated Press.

That’s not to say that newspapers aren’t taking advantage of new technology. The Seattle Times has both a Facebook and Twitter page, and their web department is one of the few parts of the newspaper that’s been continuing to grow. They’re taking advantage of new ideas like “crowd sourcing,” using the internet to reach out to the public and get them to be the eyes and ears gathering information.

However, don’t necessarily get used to getting all this for free on the internet. “We give the content away online,” says Boardman. “The common phrase is, ‘Info wants to be free.’ I don’t buy that. Good information doesn’t want to be free.”

It would require a complete reworking of the system with new ad models and new rates, but Boardman thinks it will work. Looking at the prices people pay for things now, he has no doubt that people will pay to continue to receive a good product, in whatever form it may be.

Despite the depressing fog the newspaper industry seems to be in now—in the last year and a half, close to 15,000 journalists have lost their jobs—those in the industry aren’t necessarily pessimistic about its future. Confidently, Boardman says, “What emerges will be healthy and vibrant for many years to come.”

Of course, as we grew, we came to accept the notion that other kids “just like us” lived in other countries. Cultural investigations in social studies and summer vacations in foreign countries widened our perspectives. Teachers crammed our heads with numbers and facts, all concerning these people “just like us” who live halfway across the world.

Yet despite all the years spent in world history classes, most people still know little about the reality of these other places. Stereotypes and misconceptions bloom where ignorance and misinformation lie. But nothing can change an opinion faster than a face-to-face encounter with someone from a previously mysterious country.

Garfield and a slew of other Seattle schools were slammed with this realization when seven students from the Middle East arrived last week to represent their countries and change some minds.

The students came from the United World College campus in Montezuma, New Mexico—one branch of a twelve campus international school accepting students from over eighty countries around the world. Though the trip was originally intended to be just for Israelis and Palestinians, the delegation also included one student from Jordan and two from Afghanistan.

The visiting students’ presentations about their countries abolished assumptions drawn from the media and put into perspective skewed impressions of countries like Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine.

Before meeting them, traces of stereotypes still lay in our expectations. Would the girls be wearing headscarves? Would the boys be wearing long robes? Would our standard greeting of a hug be inappropriate?

When we came to meet them at the airport however, all our questions were answered. They all wore clothes that any of us might wear to school: jeans, t-shirts, even fresher sneakers than ours. We put all inhibitions aside as the students approached our welcome team with open arms and wide grins, greeting us enthusiastically.

Formalities aside however, it took a little prying to get a feeling of what they were really like. But after becoming a little more comfortable, they opened up and their jokes became similar to those you might hear in the boy’s locker room. In our frenzy to understand the cultural differences between America and the countries of the Middle East (and our own curiosity), we pressed them relentlessly for details on the dating and party scene.

According to Gal Wachtel, an Israeli student from UWC, the party system on campus (and in Israel) is quite similar to ours.

“It can get a bit hectic sometimes especially [on the UWC campus] because you have so many students from so many backgrounds all partying in their own style in the same place,” she says.

The “so many students” doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to the rumor mill however. Like almost any school here can seem like everyone knows everyone else’s business, including the teachers. When asking to hear all the gossip, the student’s economics teacher, Eyad Shabenah, started chuckling and gave us his take.

But despite our shared clothing preferences and weekend activities, there’s no denying that the places we come from are quite different.

Recently our community has witnessed an increase in violence, especially youth and gang violence. After each incident, the schools and city at large respond with an outpouring of sympathy and willingness to help in any way possible. After the tragedy of September 11th, the whole country mourned, even though many didn’t know anybody in the attacks.

Many other conflicts elsewhere, like that between Palestine and Israel, have escalated to such a point where news of another suicide bombing or attack has become a norm.

“It’s more shocking if nothing happens,” says Rayah Farah, a UWC student from Jordan. “ What’s traumatizing is that it’s become a routine.”

As Americans ask, “How can we stop and prevent the violence in our community?” these students and others who are exposed to it almost daily ask instead, “What was the death toll? Was anyone we know killed?” While we scramble to examine, explain, and justify each incident, these students have become almost numb to it.

Though the descriptions of their lives both shocked and resonated, it was especially jarring to hear how our country, so far away, affects others.

When the United States first invaded Iraq, the citizens of Israel carried gas masks with them to stay safe from the chemicals and gases that Iraq would surely test on Israel as a threat to us.

“We decorated our gas mask boxes with glittery stickers,” says Watchtel. “We just had to find humor in it.”

With differences so large and cavernous, is it possible to bridge the gap? Can we possibly make a genuine connection through all the misconceptions and prejudices that our countries foster towards each other?

The students say that it is possible. Even after harsh debates and passionate accusations flew between the Israeli and Palestinian students, they still were classmates at the end of the forums.

In both open discussions in forums and just hanging out with them, the students became more than another “them” from halfway around the world. Instead, they were clear-cut individuals with sincere stories and enlightened perspectives. Out of generalizations and statistics developed kids who were “just like us.”

Most of the time, these jokes are intended only as comedy with no intention to offend. But there’s always that one person who gets upset, and that one person is able to stop the whole joke.

This is what happened with JewMoney, a self-proclaimed financial magazine written “for Jews, by Jews, and made of Jews.” The masterminds behind the magazine, a four-page black-and-white pamphlet, are none other than Jewish seniors Jonas Myers and Matt Bricker-Mounts, who started the project on a whim in marketing class.

“Normally, that would have been that,” say Myers. “But we kept thinking of hypothetical gimmicks for the magazine—names of articles, jokes, etc. It was too tempting to not continue writing it.”

From the beginning they knew the jokes were tasteless and at risk for being offensive, yet they felt the material was too funny to keep to themselves. Inspiration kept coming and coming, and soon the two even had defined roles within their own publication: Myers was the content guy and Bricker-Mounts the graphic master.

Finally, the time came to distribute. Too much work had been done not to share it with people. Where to share it was the only question. School seemed an inappropriate venue, but the students were their only potential audience. Every effort was made to avoid offending people; a long disclaimer on the cover states that the views within are satirical and in no way express the contributors’ true opinions.

The first issue, published in January, turned out to be a huge success.

“The target audience is, and always has been, our close friends, all of whom appreciated the magazine and its humor,” says Myers. But even teachers who saw the magazine enjoyed it. It was time to work on issue number two.

On a roll, the founders and editors decided to expand. They added a crossword. They added two pages. They even expanded their topics from just financial to financial impacts on food.

“The jokes were edgier, the topics wider in variety–not only financial this time around. Demand was high, and people were asking for JewMoney,” says Myers.

In the February issue there were articles with titles like “President Barack Jewssein Obama,” convincing readers that our new president was good for Jews, and “[insert Jew joke here],” instructing readers on when it was and was not appropriate to make a religious joke.

Once again the response was good, not only from students but from parents and teachers as well. Thinking they had a hit, Myers settled in for the jazz band trip to the Lionel Hampton festival. While gone, Bricker-Mounts was called into the principal’s office. Mr. Howard told him that a teacher had found the paper and been deeply offended by it, and requested that he, Myers, Eric Lykken, who had drawn a cartoon for the paper, and Travis Burgstahler, who had been falsely credited as copy editor, come talk to him the following Monday.

When the four finally came face-to-face with Mr. Howard, he told them that the teacher who it had offended had gone to both the Seattle Public Schools legal office and several media outlets (none of whom took hold of the story) before coming to him. In addition, Howard said, a number of students and teachers had contacted him with questions about why the publication was allowed to be distributed at school.

The five decided that the best way to rectify the situation would be to make a public apology during the morning announcements.

Throughout the whole process, Myers and Bricker-Mounts always knew that people could get offended, but never actually expected them to. Always with the intention of amusing their friends, the two made their biggest mistake simply in where they decided to distribute it.

“All in all, it was a short-sighted venture,” Myers says

A short-sighted venture it may have been, but it certainly amused people in the process.

Watching these children interact with me, each other and what’s around them always serves to remind me of what’s important in life and the overall unimportance of the stress I feel. They’ve taught me, or re-taught me, things that everyone one should know.

Lesson one: curiosity is a good thing. People go through high school for the sole purpose of graduating, and the attitude we get in school seems to have turned into a one track mindset. Very little actual learning gets done. Names and dates and formulas seem to be most of what I’m tested on. Few teachers expect students to delve deeper into subjects and for that reason seem to skim over the surface themselves, rarely elaborating.

Now meet Noah, the cutest kid ever. At the ripe old age of two he’s lived on both sides of the United States and traveled to Brazil, but most of all he’s eminently curious about everything that surrounds him. A typical conversation starts with a simple query (“What’s that?”) and proceeds to be a long string of “Why?”s while I struggle to come up with the answer (what exactly is smoke, anyway?).

Sure, it can get pretty irritating sometimes, but this is how they learn. Toddlers and preschoolers want to know about the world around them, the way things work, and all that good stuff. Who are we to take that away from them early? Think about how much more interesting class might be if people cared about what was going on and wanted to know more about it, rather than less.

Lesson two: sharing is caring. It’s not just Garfield on this one. People walk around the world assuming they’re entitled to everything they come across. Once someone gets it, it’s theirs and it’s not going anywhere.

There’s a family that lives up the street from me that has four boys between infancy and second grade. The house they live in isn’t that big, and at the moment the three oldest boys (ages three, five and seven) share a room. All their toys are communal, many of their clothes are hand-me-downs and every day they do everything together.

Sure, sometimes there are fights, but everyone gets an equal chance and turn at everything. The world would be so much simpler if instead of fighting over things like oil, each country just took an equal share. It might be simplistic, but there’s definitely something to go off.

Lesson three: you won’t get bored if you’re creative. I sit every day in most of my classes staring at the clock, sure that my teachers are making the minutes pass slower than normal. Everything I do could be so much more fun if I were still able to think as creatively as a three-year-old.

Back to Noah, my favorite two-year-old. He’s never bored, because everything he does has a story that goes along with it. Often it’s his imaginary reindeers. This little Jewish boy has developed an elaborate fantasy that involves two reindeers living behind a chair in his house, though sometimes they move to the house he built for them. Other times we’ll be walking and everything we see is something new and exciting to make a story about.

I know, I know. We’re all grown up, and it can be close to impossible to go back to the way things were. But that doesn’t mean people can’t try. Maybe next time someone wants to listen to your iPod you let them for a few minutes. Or if you’re bored waiting for a bus, make up stories about the people around you. Try delving deeper into what you’re learning in school. Whether you do any of these or not, try and recapture the magic of some of those early childhood memories.

What if you get a really bad number in the housing lottery? Not to sound superficial or anything, but I don’t really want to spend my college years living in a closet. Asking this question will not only tell you more about living on campus, but, according to Varon, also “whether a lot of students feel like they can slip through the cracks without having much recourse.”

How much do students take advantage of _______? Who cares if a college has a whole dining hall devoted to exotic cuisines of the lower South Pacific if nobody eats there? One, it means the foods probably not that good or two, that it’s hard to use for some reason. This question can be asked about anything: books in the library, features of an athletic center, food in the dining halls.

What happens if you decide to do something academically life-changing? This isn’t quite as drastic as it sounds; it’s actually more along the lines of changing a major. Although it sounds boring, it is important to know the rigidity of the school’s administration, as well as the quality and helpfulness of advising programs.

What do you do on a typical weekend? This is where you get to hear about all the ca-razy frat parties (or lack there-of) that go on each weekend. As Varon says, “Even if your tour guide gives you an answer made up of a collection of things they think will sound fun, there’s some truth in that, too — what’s thought of as ‘fun’ on this campus?”

What kind of access do students have to funding? Another seemingly boring one, but think about it: a college might talk and talk about all study abroad programs and internships, but these things cost money. You’ll want to know if your financial aid will carry over while you study in Spain for a semester or if you’ll have to pay rather than be paid for an internship you do.

BONUS: What’s something interesting about this school’s a cappella scene? Yeah it’s dorky to us now, but singing is seemingly cool at many schools. And all these schools at which singing is cool have a fun fact about the scene. For instance, Haverford has the most a cappella per capita.

DON’T ASK: What’s your least favorite thing about the school? Remember, the guides are there representing their college and some are even getting paid for it. Even if someone does ask it, the answer in front of so many people will almost certainly be at least a little dishonest. Try saving this one for after the tour or for another student you meet on campus.

Cutest. Story. Ever.
A few days after New Year’s, a five year old girl and six year old boy in Germany decided to get married. For real. They snuck out of their house early in the morning before their parents woke up, brought the bride-to-be’s older sister as a witness (she’s seven), and walked about a half-mile to the local train station where they hopped on a train to get to Hanover. From there they hoped to catch a plane to Africa, but alas, the three unaccompanied children caught the police’s eye. The initial disappointment over not being able to get married abated when they received a tour of the police station.

Frog Grooms
In other weird child love stories, two Indian girls, both aged seven, married frogs in a remote village. It wasn’t completely random; it’s a tradition based off a legend in which Shiva turns himself into a frog and his wife Parvati (like from Harry Potter!) has to turn into a young girl to trick him into remarrying him. Still, child marriage is illegal. And pretty strange. Luckily for the girls, their new paramours were soon tossed back into the ponds they came from.

Cool Obama Connections
You know that game six degrees of separation? When you try and figure out how many people you’d have to go through to get to someone else? Well, I like to play that with our new president. My main connection: Laura Munoz’s aunt is the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and has meetings with Obama on the reg. Or at least sees him from time to time. That’s three degrees, for those counting.

Rahm Emanuel: The man whose lips utter streams of profanity and is known as Rambo is actually a classically trained dancer, though he probably got some other education in there too. As the new White House Chief of Staff he’ll be the hot to Obama’s cool as his advisor in almost everything.

Hillary Clinton: Oh, Hillary. So close and yet so far. After a brutal primary campaign, this former WalMart director and Alaskan dishwasher was named the Secretary of State. Her duties will include nearly everything foreign policy, as well as trying not to look too bitter in public.

Timothy Geithner: With all this recession depression stuff going on in our economy, I hear the job of treasury secretary is a pretty big deal. As the president of New York’s Federal Reserve Bank I’m sure he’s been around enough money in his life to have the experience for the job.

Bill Richardson: The nation’s only Hispanic governor has been appointed Secretary of Commerce. I don’t quite know what that job entails, but I assume the Fox News fan will have something to do with trade-—that’s what commerce means, right? I also assume that he was joking about the Fox News thing (he’s super liberal, Fox is super conservative… get it?). Sike.

Robert Gates: As the only holdover from the Bush administration, Gates will continue developing preemptive strategies to protect the U.S as Defense Secretary. Plus he used to be CIA, which is cool.

Janet Napolitano: When the news came that Obama had named an Arizonian politician to his cabinet everyone thought it was John McCain. But no, his arch-rival will remain stuck in the Grand Canyon state while its governor will journey to Washington D.C. to advise our president on Homeland Security.

Shaun Donovan: On his neat new video podcast thing you can download to your iPods (or computers, for those of us who left our iPods in African airports), Obama announced Donovan as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. I wish he’d use his experience in New York City to help Seattle, as the city planning here sucks.