Angela Sterling's photographs of last year's "Nutcracker" at Pacific Northwest Ballet illustrate a sumptuous new picture book issued for this Christmas by local publisher Sasquatch Books. Sterling trained as a ballet dancer and reached the rank of soloist at PNB by the time of her retirement in 1997. Since then, she's become a respected ballet photographer, with her work appearing in national dance magazines as well as newspapers.The new book from Sasquatch features full-page, full-color photos of last year's dress rehearsal of "Nutcracker," as well as a simple text that tells the story of Tchaikovsky's ballet as conceived by choreographer Kent Stowell and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who designed the sets and costumes.
A new release from the University of Washington Press, "Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood," should appeal to local history buffs.The trove of vintage photographs includes an image of the 1953 construction mess as the Alaskan Way Viaduct was being built - maybe an image of the future in reverse someday.The book's authorship is various. Mildred Tanner Andrews, an award-winning writer specializing in Northwest social history and historic preservation, edited the volume. Leonard Garfield, executive director of the Museum of History and Industry, wrote the introduction. There are three writers: Karen Murr Link, historic preservationist and author; Marc Blackburn, a park ranger with the National Park Service; and Dana Cox, long-time tour guide and historian with Pioneer Square's Underground Tour.The result of such a group project makes one long for the vigorous prose and storytelling prowess of a Murray Morgan, but ultimately, that may be an unfair expectation. The book certainly succeeds in what it sets out to do: Document and illustrate Pioneer Square's past and give us a renewed appreciation for what once was the heart of the city.
The Northwest Puppet Center is no stranger to the parents and children of North Seattle, but many probably have never noticed the cheerfully decorated white and pale blue building in the Maple Leaf area.A fixture in the neighborhood for 12 years, it is one of about six puppet theaters in the nation. The Center not only houses a space for performances but also a museum and archival library as well. Owners Chris and Stephen Carter perform and design the majority of shows. "Often we're drawn toward world folklore, so we've done folk tales from Africa, Asia and we've done two Northwest Coast Indian stories," said Chris Carter. "We've also done some children's classics... Basically it's stories that appeal to us, that have magic and fantasy and we feel will make a good show."Open for performances Wednesday through Sunday, the theater has eight shows lined up for this season.
Like many Americans, I drift somewhere between the extremes of complete faith in faith and complete faith in science in my grappling with the mystery of life. Given my hesitation to fully commit to one side of the debate or the other, I balk whenever one camp stakes claim to possessing sole and exclusive insight into the reality of our existence.At a time when the schism between science and faith seems to be growing wider by the day, a bridge is needed to connect these two worlds in a manner that respects the dignity and integrity of both viewpoints.Such a bridge has just emerged in the form of the Dalai Lama's newest book, "The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality."In his book, the Dalai Lama advocates the melding of science and spirituality in an effort to alleviate human suffering. As he recently wrote in a New York Times editorial, he acknowledges that there are differences, perhaps unsolvable differences, between the worlds of science and spirituality.
"Old Mortality" was the title of a novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the first bestselling writers, so early he even preceded Dickens.Scott is most famous these days for penning "Ivanhoe," which became a film in the early '50s starring, I believe, Robert Taylor.I loved the movie - I was about 6 - and wanted to become a jousting knight for a year or two until the fireman bug bit me."Old Mortality" could be a precursor to "Old Yeller" for all I know, a 500-page epic about a Scots terrier who bites the paperboy.I've never read it.But I've been thinking a lot about the title lately, mostly because of my recent trip to Cincinnati.Going back east for me is also time travel, as in going back in time.The main reason for this year's trip was to celebrate my mom's 87th birthday.She is having eye problems, and so, for the first time ever, I was allowed to drive the 1992 Buick Roadmaster she's had since my now-deceased stepfather bought it new 13 years ago.But mortality didn't hop onto my viewfinder because of my mom.
Ron Richardson, a board member for History House, encourages students to generate displays for the museum's rotating exhibits. "It gives kids community service," Ron explains practically, although his real agenda is "a young generation connecting with an older."It is no wonder then, that Ron brags on the Diaries Project at Chief Sealth High School as overseen by teacher Gary Thomsen. Students there don't just connect with an older generation, they seek out, sort and share history in a format accessible to everyone. They've chosen "The Diary of Lake Union" as their next project - a documentary of history, happenings on the lake and information from a University of Washington geologist.Sound ambitious? It wears me out to think of the magnitude of it, but Ron suggested I look at what they've already done.
This is not your usual gimcrack, wisecrack and novelty retail space.In fact, this is clearly a different kind of retail zone, even for Wallingford.Not a Number, the curiously-named business which opened at 1905 N. 45th St. Nov. 19, is the spot for those seeking Bush bashing buttons, T-shirts and anti-corporate bumper stickers. This is retailing from the left side of the political spectrum - a sort of political Archie McPhee. That's not too risky an enterprise in Seattle, or especially Wallingford, for that matter.But it's not all about politics. The environment and sheer whimsy get their due here, too.The business carries lamps made from recycled chopsticks, for instance, and Albert Einstein, Jane Austen and Sigmund Freud action figures and tennis shoes crafted from recycled coffee filters, tires and sterilized surgical gloves.The makeup of the crowd is mostly young and hip; the store's soundtrack often 1950s TV dinner appropriate."I have a vast, weird music collection," said owner Kara Ceriello, casting an admiring glance at an old album cover on display, "Jackie Gleason, Music, Memories and Martinis" while, from another album, a retro version of the Lawrence Welk 1950s hit "The Girls of Calcutta" wafts from the sound system.
Picture a typical nightclub or bar. There are people milling about, music blaring, drinks in everyone's hand and a blue cloud of cigarette smoke hanging in the air.After Dec. 8 the smoke will be gone.Nov. 8, Washington voters passed Initiative 901, banning smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants. "I think it's great," said Louis Perrault, a smoker and bar patron. "You wake up, your hair doesn't smell, your clothes don't smell. It's nice." Perrault's feelings seem to be shared with the majority of the state. The initiative passed with 63 percent approval at the polls.
Capitol Hill shoppers can add a little Hollywood glitz to their holiday gifts, courtesy of the Seattle International Film Festival. Savvy movie shoppers have two opportunities this weekend to add a little SIFF under the tree: the Holiday Sale on Saturday, Dec. 3, and the Poster Auction on Sunday, Dec. 4.At the Saturday event, SIFF is cleaning out their closets and placing the swag on sale at the Broadway Performance Hall. Included in the SIFF Holiday Sale are mugs, T-shirts, promotional items and many, many movie posters."There's film festival posters, posters of films sent to us, and some that go way back-films that played at the Egyptian during the off-season. Some of these posters are ancient. There are fun things to be found," said Gary Tucker, SIFF's director of marketing and development.To encourage people to get creative with their posters, SIFF is offering "mystery" rolls of posters at the Holiday Sale."We're bundling them up and selling them as wrapping paper," said Tucker.
You know, I realized once again, after my recent visit to my home town of Cincinnati, that nobody loves you like family. But the reverse is also true: Except for psychotics and romantic exes, nobody is as tough on you as family.In a national sense, America is my extended family and all of you who share this ground, at this time, are my distant relatives, like it or not.A friend who has followed what I often laughingly call my writing career asked me a slightly pointed question the other day that started me thinking.Her question was: "Why have you, the most apolitical person I've ever known, become such a Bush basher?"I immediately - just like with family - got defensive.
Todd Miner's childhood dream was to one day own a Christmas tree farm. Real trees were a staple of his family's deeply embedded Christmas traditions. He grew up to become an electrical engineer. Gradually he lost interest in that career, but his dream remained. He decided to pursue it.When he started looking into it, Miner discovered that owning a Christmas tree farm is hard work and competitive, and starting one is even more so. But in the course of his research he found an as-yet-unfilled need: some people are too busy or unable to go out and search for a real Christmas tree, even though they would love to have one. He had found his niche.A year ago Miner founded TreeSleigh.com and began selling Christmas trees online. The business is the first of its kind in the nation.
"We're talking about too much money for too little benefit," said John Niles. If you guessed that Niles is talking about Sound Transit and light rail, you would be right. And Niles, who is the technical chair of the Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives (CETA) is nothing if not direct:"Some people think light rail is the key to fix traffic congestion. It isn't. Sound Transit's previous Environmental Impact Statement shows that it won't make one iota of difference, and that's assuming they ever get to Northgate. The impact on congestion is remarkably small. We're talking 150,000 regional boardings daily by 2030 out of 11 or 12 million trips a day by then."Voices in favor of light rail might not welcome the notion of criticizing the project. After all, physical work is actually under way to connect downtown to Tukwila and presumably Sea-Tac. The downtown bus tunnel closed a few months ago to convert it for use by both buses and light-rail trains. But the points Niles makes are worth considering given that the plan is still to bring light rail to Capitol Hill, en route to Montlake, the U-District and, eventually, Northgate.
Three days a week, the two study rooms at the Columbia Branch of the Seattle Public Library hum with the sound of students and volunteers poring over atlases, math problems, dictionaries and textbooks. School is back in session and homework help is in full swing at the library.Radiz is a 16-year-old Garfield High School student who needs help with her biology and algebra assignments. Abdi, 12, arrived in the United States this past summer and is eager to improve his reading skills by reading aloud with someone to help him with words he doesn't know yet. Jenny, a fifth-grader at Van Asselt Elementary School, is researching the countries and major rivers of South America. Ibrahim has some baffling statistic problems to solve for his high-school business class. But what if these students need help on days that the volunteers don't work at the Columbia branch? This year, the Seattle Public Library has rolled out a new, online homework assistance program to provide greater outreach to students who need help. It's called Online Homework Help and it's available to anyone with a library card, and up-to-date computer and Internet access.
The city council budget committee voted on Nov. 16 to pass a budget for 2006. The full council voted on Monday, Nov. 28. All nine councilmembers serve on the budget committee, so it is unlikely there will be any changes.Councilmember McIver served as budget chair, and I thank him for piecing together a very valuable and workable budget.The council has adjusted the mayor's proposed budget in three major ways:1) It provides increased services for our neediest citizens;2) It provides increased transit planning for dealing with our key transportation corridors; and3) It significantly improves our library by increasing our book collection and expanding the hours in our branch libraries.I am disappointed that we could not add more police officers for bike and foot beat patrols.
A recent road trip took us to Portland, Ore., for the Western Regional National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Conference. Held at the Portland Convention Center, representatives from Oregon, Utah, Washington, Montana, Northern California and Idaho colleges were all on deck looking to book the hottest acts: from indie rock bands to a hypnotist. Seattle's hip-hop contingency consisted of two people: us.We took as many CDs and bio's we could to hand out to perspective talent buyers. All of them were gone within 15 minutes on the first day. It seems Seattle is hotter in Portland, than it is in Seattle.