Farewell, Wendy Cho Ripp – you are the Bus incarnate

We have some sad, but exciting news to share.  Wendy Cho Ripp, the Bus’s supreme ace in the hole, is leaving the Bus at the end of the month.  She has accepted a position as a legislative aid to Seattle City Councilmember-elect Sally Bagshaw.

We’re unbelievably beyond super sad to see Wendy go – over the past two and a half years at the Bus, she has become an unstoppable powerhouse, both on the front lines and behind the scenes.  She will leave incredibly large shoes to fill – size 10 to be exact.

Although Wendy has been a guiding force at the Bus, Wendy’s transition is a perfect example of the Bus’ core mission at work: to engage tomorrow’s leaders on their own terms and empower them through hands-on democracy.  This is a huge step for Wendy and the fact that she’s was selected to be a Seattle City Council staffer at the age of 26 speaks volumes.

Wendy has been on the Bus since the very beginning, and she’s been key in building the organization. We’re going to miss you Wendy, and words can’t quite capture it. But even more, we’re looking forward to seeing you take over the world.

Check out the Official Wenzilla Slide Show below the jump, and thank you Wendy, for being you!

your daily science lesson…

This is the coolest thing we’ve seen all day, courtesy of our friend OctoPai…(and wait till the end of the video – it’s worth it)

“The coconut-carrying behavior makes the veined octopus the newest member of the elite club of tool-using animals—and the first member without a backbone, researchers say.”

Welcome to the elite club of tool-using animals, Veined Octopus. Welcome.

Olympia. In a can.

What’s the hardest part about keeping up with the goings-on in Olympia during the legislative session? Well, for one thing, they’re in Olympia. And if you’re not there, it’s not easy to stay up on what ‘s going down (you see what we did there?). If you’re not in the loop, laws tend to get passed that you might not agree with.

And that, my friend, is crap.

So here’s what the Bus is doing about it. We’re bringing Olympia to YOU. Literally. In January and February, you, the big homie, can join the Bus for drinks, art, and legislators, aka our brand new Olympia series tactfully titled: Olympia. In a can.

Here’s what you get to do: show up at Grey Gallery and Lounge on Capitol Hill on a Wednesday evening. Grab a beer (or a soda – it’s an all-ages space, people!), check out the art, and then prepare to have your mind blown as legislators video-conference in direct from Olympia just to talk to you, the young people of Washington State.

Yes, you read that right – Olympia is grabbing a beer with YOU, through the wire, live and direct. Every evening will be focused around one of two huge themes from this year’s legislative session: the environment and higher education. Unless you’re driving down to Oly midweek, this is your single best way to talk face to face with the elected officials whose votes will decide these issues. To top it all off, we’ll be recording video testimony, so you can make sure every legislator hears your voice loud and clear.

Think of it as your own personal smoke-filled room… minus the smoke.

Here’s the dates and issue-foci:

• January 27th – Higher education
• February 10th – Environment
• February 24th – Higher education

We’ll see you there!

Hello Michelle, hello Barack

Not too shabby, eh? The one of Mr. President is a tad fuzzy (understatement, people), but we promise it’s not this guy:

Hella News Flash

Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

This news is fresh like rain water.

• Check your ed: Dammit. The Gov’s first run at the 2010 budget estimates is, shall we say, craptastic for higher education. General funding? Down by $89.5 million. State funding for need-based scholarships? Cut by fifty percent. Overall crappiness? Up by approximately 300% (there’s no link for that, it’s just a fact of life). Thoughts, students?
• Another one bites the dust: Representative Brian Baird, repping (aha!) the 3rd Congressional District down Vancouver way, isn’t running for re-election. The immediate result? A spate of declarations for his seat, growing seemingly every day. The latest from State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane)? “Enough friends and colleagues considering 3rd district Congressional seat to field a softball team.” Thank you Twitter, for bringing us such nuggets.
• We’re not gonna take it: Or are we? What’s a state to do when times are tough and programs are getting cut left and right? Well, for the first time in YEARS, there’s actually talk of bringing in new funding. This would be, as the kids are saying, a “game-changer”.

Them yoots (us) and the health care debate

Trust this man with your democracy.

The Bus has long been a fan of smart people, and one of the smartest we know is a gentleman by the name of Matt Singer. Matt’s a Montanan, rocks cowboy boots like it’s his job, and reps young people politically nationwide. Matt recently put up an article on the Future Majority blog (which is required reading for national level yoot political business) about the ongoing health care debate and how it’s related to young people. And yes, it’s a doozy.

The bottom line: it’s improvement, but younger people will not be seeing the same benefits as older generations. Basically, there may be a Medicare buy-in option, aka a form of the public option, but it would only be open to folks between 55 and 64. To quote the wondrous Mr. Singer, “young voters got a public option… for their parents.” Ouch.

It’s informative to keep the national debate in mind as we move towards the legislative session in Olympia. Sometimes even the best ideas don’t capture every person’s priorities, but that doesn’t mean we as a generation have to sit anything out. Keep that in mind… we’re going to be announcing some exciting Oly developments next week. It’s a good thing.

Ice ice baby

At the Arboretum in Seattle - Photo by John Lok/Seattle Times

Just think it’s pretty neat to see how weather changes bring out a completely different set of activities. That is all.

Thursday cute

Because we can, dammit. Happy Thursday.

Hella News Flash

Big up your newsy self. Big things, big things. Can you name all the song references? Answers below the jump.

• Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: Sam Reed, our erstwhile Secretary of State, has thoughts on electoral reform for this legislative session. The top two? Adjusting current law to require voters to have their ballots into their county elections offices BY election night, not just postmarked, and changing the crazy front-loaded presidential-primary system we’re currently working with. Interesting. We’ll be following these here bills.
• Zombie: Like a bad penny who just won’t go away, Mr. Tim Eyman, fresh from having his tail handed to him with the No on I-1033 vote, is already gearing up for next year. This time around, Tim’s targeting some already-covered ground, seeking to extend the requirement that 2/3’s of the state legislature must vote to make any changes to tax levels. Sigh. There he goes again.
• Cash Rules Everything Around Me: Well, once again the budget looks cruddier than something very very cruddy. How bad is it? Well, we’re looking at an approximately $2.7 billion deficit, which means we’re going to be stuck out in the woods of budget hell. It’s the big time. We have to figure out some alternative to all-cuts all the time.

Answers to the music quiz below!

Orrin Hatch and… eight days of hanukkah?

Okay. Well, we have to watch this.

And to make sense of this insane world that we live in, the accompanying article, via Tablet Magazine. Money quote: “all it is is a hip hop hanukkah song by the senior senator from Utah, that’s all it is.”