Treadmills and exercise bikes are out, and kickboxing and stick fighting are in. As local fitness guru Nicole Marinez explains, "It's very trendy to include martial arts in your fitness program." A new batch of women, and some men, began kicking and punching their way to a better body on Monday, April 3. These local residents are the latest group to step up to MKG Martial Arts International's Body Sculpt Challenge.
Word-of-mouth has created a lot of buzz around the 5th Avenue's new production of "Wonderful Town." Lines started to appear last week outside of the 5th's box office for a show that almost everyone who hasn't seen it describes as, "Isn't that the one where three sailors dance around New York?"Actually, the sailors appear in "On the Town" (a later musical also featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein). In "Wonderful Town," two sisters dance around New York, getting into various hijinks, including a madcap conga with members of the Brazilian Navy. Don't worry too much about the plot (there isn't much anyway); the show is just an excuse to string together a number of wonderful songs by Bernstein with sparkling lyrics by the incomparable team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Yes, I was at the big Capitol Hill afterparty memorial service on the early evening of March 28, across from the East Republican Street house where the shootings took place and just three blocks from the apartment house where "Singles" was filmed. The service was large, it was (mostly) somber, it was sad.But it was also a celebration of life, of the "peace, love, unity and respect" ethos oft proclaimed by the techno world these past dozen years or so (almost the entire lifetimes of two of the shooting victims).You'd think that after all these years, the oft-justly-vilified "MSM" (that's blog-talk for "mainstream media") would've figured out that the dance-music scene ain't no big bad den of iniquity. But the ol' temptation of easy stereotypes reared its ugly head again, as local papers and broadcasters this past week filled too many of their dispatches with easy-to-write, easy-to-understand inaccuracies.
April 15 probably comes to mind as Tax Day for most people. But for Jeff Corey, the Capitol Hill case manager who works with homeless and at-risk youth, the day has a different meaning. Between now and then Corey will be working on bringing a tea cart to Cal Anderson Park and making sure it's ready for business. The cart will be staffed by some of the youth Corey works with, which will help them gain a little work experience as they take steps towards regular employment.Working for Street Outreach Services, Corey has been Capitol Hill case manager for the last 15 months. His job is working with homeless youths he meets and gets to know on the street and help them take positive steps in their lives. It's demanding, often non-linear work. Success is measured in small increments. A client may get an identity card. A job application may be filled out. A person may ask for and receive information on safe sex or the needle exchange. Sometimes all he can do is listen to a person's share his or her story.
The yellow police tape has been removed. Ten days after the fact, the signs that something violent and tragic took place at the blue house at 2112 East Republican Street are harder to see. The television crews that camped on the street have moved on. Crowds of reporters no longer gather. The vigil for the victims of the March 25 shooting, held by friends of the six people who died, no longer marks the scene. Flowers, both fresh and faded, remain as a quiet memorial. A large dumpster sits in a parking spot adjacent to the property, various items of debris contained therein. In short, for the neighborhood at least, life is moving on. The shooting incident - in which Kyle Huff, a 28-year-old Montana transplant shot and killed six people age 14 to 32 before taking his own life - understandably dominated the city's attention for many days. But by Monday, April 2, for example, the story no longer made it to either daily newspaper's front page.One glimpse of life returning to normal: A man walking by the house, talking on a cell phone, making reservations for a T-time at a local golf course.Or a duplex for sale one block away from the house, listed at $799,999. Kids from Meany Middle School were jogging by in the light rain. School buses lined up and were ready to go at both Meany and the Holy Names Academy; the scene of the shooting lies roughly in between.
When I was first approached about writing this column, the guidelines given were to capture the essence of Georgetown. I envisioned covering an array of topics, from the character of the neighborhood to the characters that call this part of Seattle home.I imagined writing about the peeing man who exits the 4:20 bus and turns the corner to relieve himself in our laurel hedge, or the veteran who constantly walks around the block with his hands behind his back, sporting his rainbow suspenders. Sometimes he scatters soda pop cans around the turnabout so cars can smash them for his recycling bin. There is also the jogger who passes through the alley with her three Greyhounds in tow, all managing to run in unison. Hopefully, I will get to cover these people someday because they are stories waiting to be told. In the few months I've put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), I had hoped to write about these characters but that hasn't happened yet. Instead I've written about issues that we are facing, like Southwest Airlines or the proposed red light district. This column will be no different.
On February 27 an historic event took place. The Martin Luther King County Council voted to change the imperial crown logo of the county to that of the image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While this story is of significant importance to many communities here in the Pacific Northwest for its symbolic as well as practical implications, the majority of news coverage was scarce at best. Keeping this in mind, it would be good for all of us to consider why this is so significant.In 1852 King County was named after William Rufus Devane King, who was the Vice President of the United States during the Franklin Pierce presidency. He died two months after the election. Isaac Stevens, the Territorial Governor of Washington at the time, named our adjoining counties Pierce and King in order to gain favor with the White House.Considering that Vice President King owned 170 slaves, it is hard to think of such a person being representative of what our county stands for. With the council's victory to change the logo to the image of Dr. King, it ushers in a new era of social consciousness and a symbolic acceptance of the principles for which Dr. King stood and died for.
Believe it or not, sometimes high school kids just don't know how to blow their own horns, and for Franklin's cadre of exceptional competition teams, a little help is more than warranted. Dubbed a "championship ceremony," students gathered in the Franklin High School Gymnasium on the morning of Friday, March 31 to celebrate the achievements of four of the school's competition programs."Typically when you win a state championship, you have a gathering [just for the one team]," observed Franklin High's athletics and activities coordinator Christina Roux with the school's boys basketball team in mind. "It's not just the team itself. It's all the fans that came down with the team to see them play."
One Reel summer concerts at Gas Works Park have been put off until next year because objections and a lawsuit filed by Friends of Gas Works Parks made it difficult for the Queen Anne-based non-profit promotion company to book acts and line up sponsors, according to Seattle Parks and Recreation.The lawsuit calls for the city to conduct an Environmental Impact Study before the concert series is approved by the city. But the city has never done an EIS for events and it doesn't plan to do one in this case, said Parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter.No one from Friends of Gas Works Park returned calls for comment, but the group's attorney, Dave Brickland, said an EIS should be required under the State Environmental Policy Act. SEPA often triggers environmental reviews for building projects, and the same approach should apply to events, he said. "The law makes no distinction between activities and facilities," Brickland added. "I'm flabbergasted, frankly, that the city makes the distinction."
Students from Blaine Middle School were joined by several members of the community in a gathering Thursday night to celebrate "The Children of Uganda," an event sponsored by the Sister Schools program.The March 30 event, held at Magnolia's First Free Methodist Church, featured Ugandan artwork and auctions, along with a sampling of desserts. St. Mary Kevin, a Ugandan primary school, was recognized as a sister institution. Terry McGill, founder of the Sister Schools program, organized the event. "[Students and teachers] got a chance to see pictures of what is donated in Uganda," he said. Each year, McGill arranges a supply drive to donate school items to Ugandan children and families.A trip to Uganda in 1988 sparked McGill's interest in exploring what the country has to offer.
Rodolph "Rody" Rowe is an energetic man.The pastor of the Queen Anne United Methodist Church has been at the helm of the small church near the top of Queen Anne Hill for a little less than five years now.In that half-decade Rowe has overseen the growth of his flock from 25 or 30 souls to 80 "on a good day."He is also helping put the finishing touches on a beautifully remodeled and redesigned sanctuary/meeting hall at his church.Rowe said he is proud of his house of worship's new look, but he doesn't seem to be a man totally devoted to the surfaces of his faith."We started turning this church around about two years ago... if that's what is happening. People need beauty," Rowe said. "But we are a church that wants to be beyond the walls, too."Much of the beauty created in the place of worship has been done by local artists.
Nearly 2,000 voter challenges were filed in King County before last fall's election; following considerable public uproar, many were eventually withdrawn. Now Senate Bill 6362, seeking to clarify voter challenge procedures and sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Queen Anne, has cleared the Legislature with a single dissenting vote."Many of my constituents felt intimidated by challenges filed so close to the election," Kohl-Welles said. "Some didn't vote because they feared they could be found guilty of fraud. We can't permit such abuses to happen again or anywhere else."
My family and I have been tenants at Fisherman's Terminal as business owners since 1942, and I have been a member of the Fisherman's Terminal Advisory Committee (FTAC) since 1982, when I served as president of the Seattle crab vessel owner's association (NPFVOA) and was closely linked with the development of its ongoing safety training program.I also served 8 years as a founding member of the Seattle Fisherman's Memorial, which commemorates those members of our community who were tragically lost at sea while earning their livings.My familiarity with the terminal and all of its various managers has been ongoing for 50 years; it's been at times a somewhat contentious relationship, but most certainly also cooperative and helpful.
All of us have looked across the undulating surface of Puget Sound and likely other large bodies of saltwater as well. Yet how many of you have ever wondered what lies just below the waves, and even deeper?The captivating new film "Deep Sea 3D," which recently opened at Pacific Science Center's Boeing IMAX Theater, gives you a look at this fascinating underwater world.The film is narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, with an original score by composer Danny Elfman.Sea life in a whole new way, as they say, to steal a line from their advertising.Through the use of IMAX 3D technology, audiences are transported below the ocean's surface to swim with some of the planet's most unique, dangerous and colorful creatures.
Imagine that one day you're happily married and living in Magnolia with a houseful of children, and the next, you're a widow with no way to pay the bills. Now, there is a silver star in your window.You've barely recovered from your high school graduation party and you find that you're being shipped off to a country that you're only vaguely familiar with, having only half listened in history class. Your family runs a successful business in Magnolia, but it has been taken by the government; your entire family is branded a security risk and sent to a "relocation camp," even though you were born and raised in Seattle, as were your parents and your grandparents.While these stories may seem dramatic or even far-fetched, they happened all too often during World War II. From now until June 1, you are invited to share your WWII stories with us.In the Magnolia Historical Essay Project II, we hope to tell the story of the Magnolians who lived here during World War II, and those who fought for our country overseas.