Happy Birthday
Mayor Schell!
November 1998
Real Change has, at times, commented pointedly on Mayor Paul Schell's statements,
decisions, policies, behaviors, administration ... well, just to prove there's
no hard feelings, really, we threw him a birthday party. The Mayor didn't
come to the party, but all of us had a good time anyway. And afterward, we
sent him a picture of the cake, and a present.
My speech:
"Several months ago, when Paul Schell announced to the Seattle Times that the reason so many homeless people were outside was because they didn't want to go to existing shelters, I set up a donation box at the Real Change to finance a remedial math course for the Mayor.
"It is now the Mayor's Birthday -- a good day to turn the collected funds over to the Mayor for his education in arithmetic.
"We have collected 68 cents.
"Now, I know that this is not enough to finance teaching the Mayor how to do math. Or even how to subtract 2300 from 5500.
"But this shows a commitment. This sets a goal. This levels a challenge to all concerned citizens of Seattle.
"I asked our resident Math expert, Dr. Wes Browning, how much money we would collect if every one of Seattle's 537,000 citizens donated 68 cents to the Mayor's Math Fund.
"Dr. Wes said, 'Not enough.'
"But it would be enough to show that we care that the Mayor learn math. Here's our 68 cents, Mayor Schell. We hope it helps."
SrteetWrites members
held an open mic reading.
Michael Sloan's Poem Happy Birthday
