I have driven by this building many times since I moved to West Seattle.  It is opposite a park that has a skateboard setup and a wading pool filled with giggling children on hot summer days.  I always thought it was just a school of some sort, and I was right.  But it actually hasn’t been used as a school  since 1989.

In 2006, however, they found what I think might be an even better use for it.  As a cultural arts center and offering low income housing for artists and writers, it is one of the best uses of a potentially useless building I’ve ever seen.  If we converted all the abandoned structures sitting vacant across the country into housing for the poor and disadvantaged and/or establishments that promote the arts, we would indeed be a rich country.

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center is an inclusive, contemporary multi-arts space based in the Delridge Neighborhood of Southwest Seattle that incubates and inspires new arts participants, art-makers and organizations from our multicultural, intergenerational communities in order to engage in civic dialogue and meaningful community transformation.

via About Us | Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.

Cooper Artist Housing is a 36 unit building in Seattle where artists live and work. A project of DNDA (Delridge Neighborhood Development Association), Cooper is a federally subsidized housing project designated specifically for artists. To live here, you have to be an artist in some shape or form (writer, painter, jewelry maker, poet, dancer, etc.) and your income must be within 30-60% of the national average. People of all ages live here, including families, dogs and cats.

via About Cooper « Cooper Journal.

Good things happen in twos apparently, not three, unless a third thing is still to come. Two reviews came in today that make me so giddy I’m having a hard time concentrating on any writing.

Not only did the reviewers like the book, but each includes comments that show BOTH of my goals seem to be reached: 1) entertain with a riveting story, and even more importantly, 2) make people think twice about that homeless kids they pass on the street. Plus, Darian Wilk is offering two free copies of Painted Black in her contest.

“Disconcerting. Painted Black hits you below the belt. Street kids, hustling, poverty, drugs, child abuse … and all this happening in a developed country. We always knew they existed. Yet somehow these things have always come to be associated with the third world. This is where Painted Black scores. The characters may be fictional but the backdrop is real and their travails present us the dark side of urban America. Kudos to author Deb Borys for weaving an edge-of-the-seat story around such sordidness. Very real characters, a fast pace, pithy dialogs”

via Amazon.com: Jayant Swamy

The idea of a mystery like this is one I’ve yet to come by as a reader – someone stealing corpses for sex? But mystery aside, you cannot ignore the surreal and riveting aspect of the young homeless kids on the streets. It’s written on such a personal level, you see their young faces, doing things that only come alive in our nightmares. But that is their lives. It’s heartbreaking really, and will make anyone think twice about who the kid is hiding under the viaduct you pass.

via Book Review and Giveaway: Painted Black by Debra R. Borys ~ Darian Wilk.