Who should get a statue in Seattle?: Today So Far

• There are a lot of public works of art around Seattle. Only one features a female from real life history. Who would you honor with such a statue?
• No more tiny plastic bottles at hotels in Washington.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for April 12, 2023.

Seattle has more than 400 public art pieces in its civic art collection. These are statues, sculptures, murals, and more. Recently, it was pointed out that among it all, there is only one monument of a female. That statue is of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but died from leukemia (caused by radiation from the bomb) at the age of 12. She folded more than 1,000 origami cranes before her death. Her story has become a symbol for world peace, which is why her statue is featured at Seattle Peace Park in the University District.

As Soundside recently discussed, that's the only statue of a real life woman in the city. There are other public art displays, which are abstract, but not of a genuine historical figure. As UW Professor Sasha Welland points out, art displays like these shape "our collective memory of the place and the people because there are these markers in the landscape in the places that we walk by every day that reminds us of something of someone or some movement, or some moment in historical time."

Soundside reached out to the city for a comment. You can read the full story here. But it begs a question: Who would you make a monument to in Seattle?

Off the top of my head, Sue Bird stands out. I'm no sports fan, but even I can sense the impact Bird has had on Seattle, a celebrated, record-making athlete who spent their entire WNBA career in the city.

Brandi Carlile? She paid her dues busking around Seattle and playing local clubs before rising to become one of the most influential, award-winning musicians working today. She did thank Seattle while receiving three Grammys, afterall. While we're talking about influential local musicians, we should probably also consider Ann and Nancy Wilson from the band Heart.

Bertha Knight Landes was the first female mayor of any major American city — Seattle — in 1924. There's also Dixy Lee Ray, who had a few titles — scientist, Pacific Science Center leader, public TV show host, Washington's first female governor, and really cool name. Or Kikisoblu aka Princess Angeline, Chief Seattle's daughter. After the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 forced the Duwamish onto nearby reservations, and despite Seattle also banning Native Americans from the city, Kikisoblu stayed at her cabin, near where modern day Pike Place Market is now, and became a fixture of the city. That would be an informative statue for people to see.

Who else? Feel free to send me any ideas at dyer@kuow.org.

A handful of environmental and health-related moves just passed out of the Washington Legislature this week. What you'll most likely notice in your life is the eventual absence of tiny travel bottles of shampoos, soaps, and other toiletries. Plastic items like these will be phased out over the next four years.

The core argument around the ban is the persistence of microplastics in the environment.

“The Seattle Aquarium’s research team has been studying microplastics in Puget Sound for several years now, taking samples every two weeks,” Seattle Aquarium's Nora Nickum told KUOW, adding that microplastics are found in every sample. “It’s just clear that this is a local problem. The plastics are coming from here, in our region, and we need to take action here locally to prevent that.”

The ban breaks down to hotels with more than 50 rooms nixing the single-use plastic items by 2027, and smaller hotels by 2028. KUOW's Ruby de Luna has the full story here.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

In the busy airport terminal, Kamaile Hamada, a teacher from the Ke'ala O Kamailelauli'ili'i Foundation and other members are waiting for the delegates to board the plane that will carry remains back to Hawaii. The remains are from 54 Native Hawaiians. They had been stolen from Hawaii by explorers, anthropologists, and scientists during the early colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. The remains and other artifacts, including an 8-foot-long spear, had been held for decades in collections in Germany, Holland, and Austria. (Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez / KUOW)

DID YOU KNOW?

Klaus Teuber grew up with a love for board games, and even making his own, as Germany recovered from WWII. He favored making games where people cooperated with each other. By the 1980s, he was crafting games that were winning awards, yet they weren’t best sellers. Until, that is, he invented “Settlers of Catan” (just called “Catan” today). Catan was released in 1995 and has since become one of the best-selling games of all time. It has sold more than 40 million copies and has been translated into 50 languages. I play a version of it on my phone every day. A short film was made about the game, and some argue that the fictional game “Cones of Dunshire” from the show “Parks and Recreation” was a parody of Catan (the company that manufactures Catan created the props for the game on the TV show). Today, there are national and international Catan tournaments.

In Catan, players arrive on an island and set up homes and cities. They harvest, they build, they make roads. To do all this, players are required to communicate with each other and trade. There are some nasty moves that can be played, but in general, folks aren’t invading each other or knocking down their neighbors’ cities. "You cannot destroy someone's building," Teuber told NPR in 2020. "It's impossible. And you have to communicate."

Teuber passed away on April 1, at the age of 70. His family said his passing came after a short illness.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

Inflation eased in March but prices are still climbing too fast to get comfortable

Inflation cooled last month, thanks in part to falling gasoline prices, but the rising cost of services such as travel and restaurant meals continues to stretch people's pocketbooks. The consumer price index for March was 5% higher than a year ago. That's the smallest annual increase since May 2021. Price hikes have continued to ease since hitting a four-decade high last summer, but inflation is still running more than two-and-a-half times the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.

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