Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Dying in the 1970s

Arts & Culture   February 8, 2010 at 6:21 pm Alexandra Bush

Ken Kesey’s classic Sometimes a Great Notion is arguably the great novel about the Pacific Northwest; it’s also a damn good movie.  Knockout performances from Paul Newman and Henry Fonda are highlights in this chronicle of a family logging business determined to withstand the encroaching union.

“Never give a inch!” is the Stamper family motto, and this is a film full of (stubbornly) manly men with (desperately) gritted teeth.

Obviously, no movie could ever approach the scope of Kesey’s tome, but in atmosphere and characterization, this 1970 film is pretty spot-on.  It’s a time capsule of a way of life and image of masculinity that were already dying in the 1970s and have faded to distant memories in the 2010s.

Sometimes A Great Notion plays nightly at 6:30 and 8:45 at the Grand Illusion through Thursday night.




  • Queen City

    Those look like people from a Hilfiger ad.

  • Queen City

    Those look like people from a Hilfiger ad.

  • schepticrat

    Do yourself a favor and read the book. As a side note, I believe it payed for the “bus” memorialized in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test.” It's a wonderfully dark story. It always comes back to me on a dark rainy day on the coast.

  • schepticrat

    Do yourself a favor and read the book. As a side note, I believe it payed for the “bus” memorialized in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test.” It's a wonderfully dark story. It always comes back to me on a dark rainy day on the coast.