zastica

I heard that (due to having a large budget shortfall) Tacoma Public Schools is shutting down Foss HS (or plan to). Foss is next to Cheney Stadium, and has had a few violence related issues in the last few years. They also won the State Basketball tournament when I was there. Foss is also the only public school in Tacoma that offers the IB Diploma program. The IB program is much like Advanced Placement (AP) classes, except it’s much harder and very competitive.

Students commute into Foss from all around Tacoma; there were even a few students from Vashon Island.

If you think shutting down Foss is a bad idea, tell the Superintendent. Send an email, write a letter, or give them a call.

Superintendent Arthur O. Jarvis
Email: ajarvis@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Phone: 253.571.1000
Address: Central Admin Building, P.O. Box 1357, Tacoma, WA 98401

Edit: Link to The News Tribune’s article on this subject

Today Yesterday, I stumbled on a post by someone on reddit/r/seattle about a map of north tacoma that he made, using typography to draw out the map. Typographic maps are not a new thing, but can be very beautiful when done properly. For some examples, check out http://www.axismaps.com/typographic.php.

This is what the big map looks like:

It’s pretty incredible. Here’s a couple more close crops:

This poster is available on zazzle.com to purchase, in multiple sizes. Prices start at $18 for a small version, and go all the way up to $63 for a massive 52”×33” poster. I’m planning on getting one for myself, because it’s just too cool to pass up.

Purchase link

Edit: Also, since yesterday, I noticed the author signed up on feedtacoma.com and started a discussion about this project here

Full disclosure: I have no affiliation with the author, nor do I receive any kickbacks from zazzle, I just think this is double-plus awesome.