Wallyhood is the Wallingford, Seattle neighborhood blog. Our goal is to foster community and communication between Wallingford residents by creating a voice and storyline for residents to follow and to participate in. We cover local personalities, events, daily life…anything  and everything relevant to our neighbors.

If you’re a business interested in sponsoring or advertising on Wallyhood, we would welcome your support. Please visit our sponsorship page for more information.

Wallyhood was founded in January of 2009 by Jordan Schwartz. In the early, chilly days of 1993, Jordan Schwartz and his black and white cat Fourth moved to the same little house in Wallingford they share today with his wife, Michelle, son, Zevin and bees, numerous and unnamed. Days find him working on Pathable, a social networking service for conferences and events, which he co-founded with his friends Peter and Shelly.

If you see a story with the “Wallyhood” byline, that’s Jordan. It’s unclear why he continues to use the first person plural in all his stories. No less puzzling is the fact that he is writing this bio in the third person.

Since then, he’s been joined by growing cadre of contributing writers, all members of the Wallingford community:

Erin Leach-Kemon moved to Seattle from her one-stoplight hometown of Middleburg, Va. in fall 2008. She completed her bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, she interned as a staff writer at local newspapers and magazines, as well as working as a student affairs intern/House Mom/ pub crawl organizer in Bath, England. Currently residing in Wallingford, she regularly contributes stories to her neighborhood blog, Wallyhood and works as a technical writer for Microsoft. Her interests range from European country hopping, non-fiction writing (primarily on the city’s metro buses) and the occasional dumpster dive.

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Chris S. Witwer likes to call herself Wallyhood’s “Lower Wallingford Correspondent.” Chris is a former Texan (is there any such thing?) who came to Seattle in 2005 for three reasons: weather, scenery, and coffee culture. It has taken her four years to begin to understand Seattle humor, but she’s getting there. Chris is a bureaucrat by day, and caffeine-fueled blogger when she’s not reading novels or pretending to write one. She lives with her partner, Laura, and two cats — Dolce and Molly, and uses the internet to make fun of stuff on her personal blog, http://felsputzer.wordpress.com.

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Helen has lived in Wallingford for 11 years and think it’s the best neighborhood in Seattle, possibly the world.  She has worn a track between her house, QFC and the library and spends a lot time walking around, being a busybody.  She is a mother, does volunteer work and is interested in local, green and child-related issues.  She has an advanced degree in English literature and thus reads a lot and enjoys the craft of writing.  She also works part-time for her husband’s software company (doesn’t everyone have a software company around here?).

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Margaret Steck is a freelance writer and a longtime resident of Wallingford. She and her husband are the proud parents of two children they adopted from Ukraine in 2004 and 2008. When she’s not out running with their Labradoodle/Retriever, or shuttling the kids all over town, Margaret covers the neighborhood schools beat for Wallyhood, and writes articles pertaining to running, parenting, and international adoption.

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Matt Mason(MTM Photography) is a photojournalist, along with being a fine art and event photographer. Developing his skill over 10 years and around the world in over 30 countries, he now works in Seattle. He has received an Honorable Mention from the International Photography Awards and had his work shown at various venues in New England, his original home. He has embraced his new home of Seattle and its vibrant people and culture bringing a new dimension to his work. He is a regular contributor to several news, culture, and music outlets focusing on local Seattle. You can view and purchase his fine art at www.mtmphotography.net

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Sharon came to Seattle sixteen years ago to attend the University of Washington Law School and has been here ever since. House hunting brought her to Wallingford – the tree lined beauty of 40th just couldn’t be beat. Since then, she has practiced law, written some short stories, taken a detour into project management, and started a family. She currently works for a large Redmond software company and has moved to another home in Wallingford with Scott, their two children, and cat. She came to write for Wallyhood through her friend Jordan and contributes with two parenting related columns: Wallymom and Notes from the Playground.

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If you are interested in writing for Wallyhood, drop us a line, we’re more than happy to share the excitement that is hyperlocal journalism.