What are you celebrating this week?: Today So Far

There are a lot of non-holiday holidays coming up. Do any stand out for you? And what do you celebrate?

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for November 23, 2022.

Coming up is Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. After all that, we get around to giving on Giving Tuesday.

Friday is also Native American Heritage Day, and while we're at it, Thursday is also D.B. Cooper Day as well as National Day of Mourning, Saturday is Good Grief Day for Charlie Brown fans, and next Tuesday is Chadwick Boseman Day. And apparently, today is DrinksGiving, as well as Women Led Wednesday, and Local Comic Shop Day. We got a lot of days happening.

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I lean into the Small Business Saturday. Partially because there are fewer hordes of suburbanites stampeding into big box stores on Saturday, but also because I've come to appreciate a fair amount of small shops and others who don't have Walmart's marketing budget. On a very personal level, I like to say that I "support my local geekonomy," which is filled with DIY crafters and creatives who speak my language, which is sometimes Vulcan. For example, GeekCraft Expo is in Seattle this weekend, but there's also Dave Ryan Pop Art in Pike Place Market, or Outsider Comics in Fremont, or Distant World's Coffee in Roosevelt. I could go on and on, but these are the types of businesses I want year-round, and a dollar goes further with them.

Amanda Winterhalter, KUOW's institutional giving officer, says she favors the #optoutside mentality on Black Friday. That's the marketing campaign REI started a few years back. She says, "getting outdoors instead of in stores or online feels pretty dang good and grounding."

Within that spirit, Gina Kilbridge, KUOW's philanthropy officer, points out that state parks are free on Friday. Gina adds that she tunes into Urban Craft Uprising events as a way "to find unique, handmade gifts" noting that it "serves as an accessible marketplace for many makers just getting their businesses off the ground."

I feel like this is an opportune time to point out that I work at a nonprofit station driven by listener donations. What is the TSF community doing over the next week? Let me know at dyer@kuow.org.

I like the idea of targeting your dollars, because right now, it's pretty tough in Seattle. Zillow recently noted that a person would have to work 56.3 hours to make rent in the city, which is up from just a year ago. That's taking into account Seattle's "typical" rent and wages. The real estate company further notes that rent has increased by 29% in Seattle over the past five years, yet the average wage has only risen 12%.

This tough situation extends to homebuyers. Another local real estate company, Redfin, reports that a person should earn $205,000 if they want to afford a home in Seattle. That's up from last year's figure of approximately $141,000. In fact, $141,000 is the earning figure you now need to afford a home in Tacoma (last year it was $99,000). These are significant jumps for just a single year.

As we enter the season of goodwill and giving, targeting our dollars is one more thing we can do to spread that positive energy.

For everyone planning a feast tomorrow, the rain is taking a break again for Thursday, but it will be right back this weekend. The recent rain broke November's dry streak, which will go down as the driest stretch of November weather on record.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Lisa Fortune, 19, holds her 4-month-old puppy, Rico, after visiting the free veterinary care clinic on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at New Horizons Shelter on 3rd Avenue in Seattle. At the New Horizons youth homeless shelter in Belltown, there are rooms for up to 30 youth and young adults to spend the night. And right in the middle of those rooms is a vet clinic. (Megan Farmer / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

You may have the day after Thanksgiving off from work. This is because Friday is Native American Heritage Day, a federally recognized civil holiday. It was established during the end of George W. Bush's presidency as a day to honor Native American contributions to our lives. The first such holiday was in 2008. The bill for the holiday was initially supported by 184 recognized tribes, and was introduced to Congress by Rep. Joe Baca. President Obama also signed a resolution for the holiday in 2009.

On Friday, perhaps you can throw on a playlist with Redbone and Pat and Lolly Vegas. You might know Redbone as the band behind "that song from 'Guardians of the Galaxy.'" Brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas were of Yaqui, Shoshone, and Mexican heritage. They had been regularly performing together in LA throughout the 1960s. Their sound was very 1950s/60s Rock n' Roll surf music. They were pulled in to record on other artists' records and they were even featured in a few surf films of the day. The brothers were friends with another musician in the rock scene, Jimi Hendrix (who was part Cherokee), who encouraged the brothers to form an all-Native band.

Redbone was formed in 1969. The sound was a big departure from the surf rock they previously specialized in. That hit song you may know, "Come and get your love," was on their 1973 album Wovoka. The band also had hits with "The Witch Queen of New Orleans," "Wovoka," and "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee."

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