AltWeeklies Wire
No Luck Club: Seattle Authorities Crack Down on Asian Dance Clubnew
Who is Justin Toa? A psychotic arsonist? A dangerous gangster? Hardly--he's a 20-year-old Asian guy with two-toned hair and a spotty traffic record from his teenage years. Why are the authorities after him? Because he runs a 16-and-over hip hop club.
The Portland Mercury |
Allie Holly-Gottlieb |
12-31-2009 |
Performance
Know Your Decade: Take Our Quiz and Kiss the '00s Goodbyenew

Think you're a genius at remembering everything that happened over the last 10 years? Take this quiz of pop culture and news from the last decade to see how much you really know.
The Portland Mercury |
Wm. Steven Humphrey, Patrick Alan Coleman and Mercury staff |
12-31-2009 |
Commentary
Doing it Green: A Bat Mitzvah Fished from the Recycling Binnew
Two days before Sadie Rapp was set to lead the Chapel Hill Kehillah’s congregation and celebrate her bat mitzvah, her transition to Jewish adulthood, the Rapp’s house was full of repurposed garbage.
Using Yoga to Help Young People Break the Cycle of Violencenew
The Oakland-based Niroga Institute seeks to take yoga out of the world of the pale, privileged, and pliable. Giving thought to where, how, and to whom yoga is taught, the institute aims to make the practice a tool for healing communities at their sorest points.
East Bay Express |
Marcy Rein |
12-30-2009 |
Sports
Eat it Up: Charleston's Top 10 Food Trends of the Decadenew

"Locavorism" has been a wonderful thing for Charleston dining. Wadmalaw Island has bloomed as the vegetable garden of Charleston, and there are now enough farmers' markets open around the area that you can shop at one just about every day of the week.
Charleston City Paper |
Jeff Allen and Robert Moss |
12-30-2009 |
Food+Drink
Focus On... The Super Bowlnew
During the Super Bowl telecast on Feb. 7 there will be an unforgettable halftime performance. Insiders say it features a grainy home video clip involving Elin Nordegren, a 5-iron, a sleeping Tiger Woods and two balls. OK, that's not true.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Rich Tosches |
12-30-2009 |
Sports
Goats are the New Chickens, Plus Other Must-Know Trends and People for 2010new
We’re undaunted by the challenge of trying to predict who and what is likely to pop around these parts next year. In fact, we embrace it as close as a fifth of Jack at 11:59 pm on Dec. 31. Check out our 14 people and trends you must know when the new decade begins.
Willamette Week |
Editorial Staff |
12-30-2009 |
Commentary
Utah Ski Resort Reviews: Experiment with Unfamiliar Venuesnew

Whatever you want, there’s a Utah ski resort that specializes in it. Want a miles-long nonstop run? Gourmet food? How about a giant half-pipe, or multi-terrain parks, or making your own trails through the trees, or a resort with no other people?
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Wina Sturgeon |
12-29-2009 |
Sports
Lawrence Hislop Makes Climate Horrors Look Heavenlynew

Lawrence Hislop’s photographs, accompanied by short videos he shot and narrated, chronicle life in three Arctic regions — Shishmaref, Alaska; Uummannaq, Greenland; and Lapland, Norway — and in the Republic of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
The Georgia Straight |
Robin Laurence |
12-28-2009 |
Art
Greetings From Crown Center at 40: Hallmark's Island of Misfit Ideasnew
Hallmark Cards broke ground on this "city within a city" on September 16, 1968. Company founder Joyce C. Hall had spent the previous decade meeting with architects, industrial designers and real-estate men. Walt Disney, a friend, had even contributed a few ideas. Hall envisioned Crown Center as a sort of monument to corporate benevolence.
Irish Music, Dance Hit Santa Barbara for the Holidaysnew
Last Wednesday, Tomáseen Foley and his troupe of four transformed the Granada into an Irish “rambling house,” sharing stories, traditional music, and dance. Throughout the show, Foley shared traditions that went back before “the quills inked history,” as his grandmother put it, creating an intimate ambiance.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Michelle Drown |
12-22-2009 |
Performance
The Myth of the BPA-Free Diet: Seven Days of Trying to Evade a Chemicalnew

Though reports of its potential health effects and presence in the linings of containers and cans have long been reported in science journals and the media, an article in the December issue of Consumer Reports brought concerns over BPA to a broad audience.
Reno News & Review |
Kat Kerlin |
12-22-2009 |
Culture
The Cost of Repairing the Murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Churchnew
Painted in the Depression era, the church's murals go well beyond standard religious iconography. Along with traditional Catholic imagery of angels and the Virgin Mary, they include World War I-era soldiers killing Christ, crowned with barbed wire; a worker killed in a mining accident.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
KATE GIAMMARISE |
12-22-2009 |
Art
Paul Ross Spadafora Wanted to Demonstrate His Commitment to Boxingnew
In 1992, a 16-year-old boxing prodigy named Paul Ross Spadafora walked into the Island Avenue Tattoo shop in McKees Rocks. Weeks before, he'd dropped out of his sophomore year at Sto-Rox High School to focus on boxing. A natural righty who fought as a left-hander, he asked to have a paw-print tattooed on his upper stomach, with the word SOUTH inscribed above it.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
SEAN D. HAMILL |
12-22-2009 |
Sports