When I was in high school, I wasn't the most popular guy in the school. In French class, the row of seats along the window belonged to "Les Freres d'A," or the A Brothers, because we all got A's on all of our tests. The brothers were me, Dow Constantine, David Garrigues, and Matt Picinich. The thing about Dow was that he was also the Student Body President, extremely popular and for all the right reasons. He was nice to everyone. He could have been like the Heathers of the movie fame, but he was definitely a Veronica, who fought for the underdog. Of course, he's not Gay. His boyfriend didn't try to blow up the school. He didn't murder any of the mean kids. Maybe "Heathers" wasn't the best analogy...
I graduated from West Seattle High School in 1980. Our class slogan was "We are cool and kind of shady. We're the class of 1980." Corny, isn't it? Anyway, I moved away from Seattle over twenty years ago after all of my Gay friends died of AIDS. It was just too hard to go to the same old places and not see the same old faces. Ghosts seemed to inhabit every corner, so I took off for the endless summers of Southern California. Well, my grandmother has an inoperable tumor now, so I am back in Seattle taking care of her and I see an interesting political development.
Ron Sims, the King County Executive, has just been confirmed into the Obama Administration. He is now the Deputy Secretary of HUD. His appointment means that his seat is now open and they will be voting to replace him this November. Ironically enough, my old A Brother Dow is running for the empty seat. Now, I want to make this very clear. I am not involved with the Constantine campaign in any way. I have not talked to Dow in almost thirty years, which is amazing because I am only twenty-five years old ;-). This is just paying forward what a very popular guy from my old high school did to be nice to everyone.
Now, I am not going to go through all of Dow's accomplishments. If you are interested, you can do the research. I am going to say that after graduating from good old West Seattle High, Dow attended the University of Washington. It may sound good, but I graduated from UCLA, so I can be an academic snob and pity his lowly school ranking. However, he did manage to get a law degree and a Masters in urban planning, which is not bad no matter what school it was even though we are skeptical of lawyers and all. He served as a state representative, a state senator, and is currently on the King County Council, but don't hold that against him. He really is the kind of Progressive Democrat we can all be proud of and support.
I am making an unabashed plea for donations to his election fund. Dow is a great guy and has served his community in the best ways all of his life. If you really do want the kind of change you can believe in, support Dow. Here are some internet sites to help you do your research and thank you so much.
http://dowconstantine.org/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://directory.metrokc.gov/...
I have never plugged a politician before, so please help me to help an old schoolmate. He is only 47 years old and this kind of promotion could really help his political career. Look what happened to his predecessor. Thank you for taking time on your holiday to read this and Happy Memorial Day!!!!