I live a minute and twenty-three seconds away from one of the finest bakeries in Seattle, Bakery Nouveau, a purveyor of croissants and macarons that has improved the quality of my life to the detriment of my waistline. The bakery is across the street from a small park called Williams Place, where some of my…
Dear Civic Leaders of Seattle, I am deeply embarrassed on your behalf after reading your letter to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and John Schoettler. As someone who worked for Amazon twice for a total of five years, and as a citizen who spent two years working with the city on a cultural diplomacy project that didn’t…
In spring 2000, I left Amazon to join a startup called Drugstore.com. My official title was Email Communications Editor. At age 27, Amazon was the first corporation I had ever worked for and I assumed all Internet-based companies operated pretty much like Amazon. Wow, was I ever wrong. Drugstore.com turned out to be a miserable…
Pretty horrible week for now ex-Mayor Ed Murray, wouldn’t you say? A week ago, Murray’s office responded to news that Amazon is seeking to open a second headquarters in another North American city with a statement that read, in part, “My office will immediately begin conversations with Amazon around their needs with today’s announcement and…
I moved to Seattle in September, 1997, to an apartment with a view of the Acacia Cemetery on Lake City Way. I’d often stand at the window with a cup of coffee, watching hunched people sobbing over graves. I’d given up my cool job at a bookstore to follow my girlfriend as she pursed a…
