Author: Carl Setzer

An Update: Rebranding

Carl Setzer
Blank Slate

I’ve been thinking about something of a personal rebrand. Basically, want to align different elements of my web presence with elements of my life. The professional side, the poet, and, well, everything else. What I’ve decided is to distribute my content across three sites (I’ve held these domains for years):

CarlSetzer.com has the most SEO for my name, so I wanted recruiters and those looking for freelance talent to find me and my professional content quickly.

CarlSetzer.net started as a poetry site, so it’s really just coming back to the beginning. I just brought over all the poetry I’ve written over the past few years to CarlSetzer.com. So I just need to get this page up-to-speed. This will tie into most of my social media accounts as that mostly been poetry.

NotJustSeattle.com fits me as someone who considers himself a lifelong Seattleite, but who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and spent a lot of his childhood travelling the country. I’ll figure out this page soon and start updating with energy.

I’m not planning on porting my subscribers over, but am amenable if that’s what you want me to do. If I did that, I guess I would bring everyone over to CarlSetzer.net, and most of you seem to have connected with me over my haiku. Let me know what you think.

So, I’d love it if you popped over to the other accounts and subscribed. It’d mean the world to me. With all this, I’m planning on relaunching my haiku a day series on CarlSetzer.net. Come and join me there!

Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital In WA Shuts Down Youth Gender Clinic Amidst Federal Funding Threat

Carl Setzer

I have many dear friends in the trans community. It pains me to see them targeted so cruelly and brutally. Therefore, it’s painful to read headlines like this one:

Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital In WA Shuts Down Youth Gender Clinic Amidst Federal Funding Threat

What’s particularly hard is that this is preventative capitulation. The Trump administration has made a lot of noise about cancelling these programs, but “the Trump regime has yet to actually make good on its threat of successfully withdrawing Medicaid and Medicare funding from a hospital for providing gender-affirming care.” This care is life-saving, starting with “60% lower odds of moderate to severe depression and a 73% lower odds of self-harm or suicidal thoughts” (Exhibit A: Together, we can make health care inclusive for trans youth).

I hope institutions like Mary Bridge can see that pre-emptive capitulation doesn’t serve the interests of those they serve. And medical professionals should also keep in mind the precept of “first do no harm”.

Let’s not give up the fight before it starts.

Seattle Vlogger Tiffany Chen

Carl Setzer

I discovered Tiffany Chen a few weeks ago. She’s recently moved to Seattle, so I’m enjoying looking at the city form new eyes. And I love her explorations.

Anyway, in this video, she explores Ballard. I love that Scandinavian Specialities is STILL there! Apparently, it’s been there since 1962. If you haven’t been definitely head over. It’s been ages for me, as I live in Lynnwood now, but it’s well worth it.

I hope you enjoy!

Edit: the video embed was tweaky. Fixed!

Some Recent Musical Thoughts

Carl Setzer
Photo by Jonathan Cooper

Music plays a huge part in my life. One of my “gifts” is the ability to tie pretty much any phrase, event, or whatever with a song. I’ve had plenty of opportunities this week.

I’m currently working on a project with the Edmonds Waterfront Center. They have several musical activities over the course of each week. And I hear these from my office. One of my favorites: a ukulele class. They play a wide range of songs, which often transforms me in place and time. The ukulele is a wonderful instrument that I delight in hearing. It’s hard to continue in a bad mood when ukuleles play. With this, I was explaining to a chum about some of the artists who have created albums with the instrument. The two that readily come to mind are Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame and Amanda Palmer.

Eddie has a great ukulele album titled, less creatively (I guess) “Ukulele Songs“. This is, perhaps, my favorite from that album.

Amanda Palmer has written some fun songs for the instrument. This one is my current favorite (FYI, not completely safe for work).

A few days later, a friend of mine mentioned her drink of choice was tequila. That always make me think of this song:

And, yesterday, while seeing article after article about AI, this song popped into my head.

Seattle Area Networking Events

Carl Setzer
Guys networking

Well, it’s been a bit, hasn’t it? It’s been nearly a year since my last post. Wow! My apologies. Attempting to reboot my career has taken a great deal of my time and energy. I deeply appreciate that you are here, now, reading this post. Thank you so very much!

As I’m now looking for a new role, I thought it apropos to create a list of networking events. Besides the need for ME to network, I’ve had a couple of folks ask me for places to go. So, here’s the quick list I came up with.

List of Seattle networking events

  • Seattle Chamber of Commerce:
  • Puget Sound Business Journal
  • IABC (International Association of Business Communicators)

Now, here’s where you come in. This list is minimal. Please give me ideas, add to this. I think this could be a nice addition and regularly updated element to my site.

The Evolution of a Lynnwood Construction Project

Carl Setzer
Evergreen Estates Sign - Lynnwood

If you travel around the intersection of 188th and Highway 99 in Lynnwood, you’ve probably noticed the land that’s been sitting vacant for years has been cleared. It’s been quite the journey for this site over the past few years.

Evergreen Estates Construction
Evergreen Estates – Lynnwood

It has evolved a fair amount since it was the Evergreen Estates mobile home park. Back in 2017, it was slated to become the Evergreen Village apartments, a 231 unit 6-story multi-family project. There were low-income units planned, which would be valuable in this region, especially with housing prices rising rapidly. Though it would’ve solidly impacted traffic in my neighborhood, I was good with something going in. That project fell apart, however, I don’t have visibility to the specifics. It did go through much of the more involved parts of the permitting process. I did notice that the property went up for sale after languishing for a few years. In 2020, it was bought by Holman Lynnwood RED LLC, an affiliate of Holman Auto of New Jersey. And now the land has been cleared and the project seems to be moving forward.

Many of us are going “great, just what we need…ANOTHER car lot on Highway 99!” I’m glad that the property will be developed and become less of a trash and graffiti magnet.

Rick Steves Visits Whatcom County

Carl Setzer
white and brown mountain under blue sky

Edmonds’ own Rick Steves recently created a series about touring Whatcom County for the good folks at Visit Bellingham and Whatcom County (check out their write up of this series here). I found it fascinating and enlightening.

Below are the videos in episode order.

Episode 1: Rick Steves Tours Whatcom County and Samples Farm to Bottle Fare

Episode 2: Rick Steves Explores Seaside Life and Peace Arch State Park at the Top of the PNW in Whatcom County

Episode 3: Rick Steves Enjoys Arts & Culture in Whatcom County

I adore Fairhaven. It’s a wonderful part of the region that has a marvelous charm. I especially appreciate Rick calling out Rena Priest, Washington State’s Poet Laureate and member of the Lumi Nation.

If this inspires to you to explore Whatcom, the Visit Bellingham & Whatcom County folks have a visitors guide for you.

*A special thanks to The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog. It’s where I first read about Rick’s video series. If you love poetry, you should go check them out.

Edmonds Bookshop To Change Ownership

Carl Setzer
Edmonds Bookshop Logo

I’ve long been a customer of Edmonds Bookshop. I just read in the Seattle Times that Mary Kay and David Brewster are retiring. As sad as I’ll be to see Mary Kay move along, I’m pleased that long-time assistant manager Michelle Bear will step up and lead.

Hear’s to another 50 years!

Photowalk Video Recommendation For You

Carl Setzer

I really enjoy (Seattle-based) Tyler Tang’s films and want to do what I can to help promote him.

So, here’s his most recent video. Check him out, give him a follow, and share.