Brothers and sisters,

You may recall I had a house fire last November, and was not insured. Although the fire was an accident, the management company is pursuing me for $100,000.00. My contract job, which I though would carry me through this summer, ended suddenly in February. I felt frustrated, scared and broke. I really had no idea what I would do next. No idea at all.

Someone on TOP suggested, out of the blue, that I run for local office, like City Council. I scoffed, of course, who would vote for someone like me?

But guess what. I thought about it. The idea grew, and now I have met with the the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission a few times, this week I open my campaign bank account, so I can start qualifying my candidacy by collecting 400 signatures from registered Seattle voters and collecting at least a $10 contribution from each of those 400.

Most people won't start campaigning until next year, since the election isn't until November 2017. But I'm getting a head start and already designing my outfit for next year's pride parade and wondering about how to get a spot in the parade for our campaign. Hee hee, can you tell I was totally inspired by yesterday's Seattle Pride events?????

The city council campaign is a direct descendant of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign; that is to say, it's ours, not mine. There are a lot of people in Seattle who aren't heard, who don't have a voice. One of the (or The) richest man in America, Bill Gates, has a house here. Amazon, Starbuck's, Microsoft and many other companies who have brought a lot of business and money to Seattle. Those people do not have a problem being heard in our local government.

But the people living in the tent cities, or under the freeway, or in a tent on the jailhouse steps, the single moms struggling to pay their rent, the disabled trying to make ends meet on less than a thousand bucks a month in a city where you can't even find a normal size apartment for $1,000 a month. (I say "normal" size because Seattle's brilliant developer class has built a bunch of teeny little "pods" where kitchens are communal, they are basically dorm rooms, but for adults who work.)

This campaign is for those Seattleites.

That's all, I just wanted to share with you that there are many next steps, and I've found the ones I need to take and I hope all of us find our place in this r/evolution.

Peace & infinite love y'all!