The Seattle Public Library will reveal the design of the renovation and expansion of the Magnolia Branch to the public from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, at Catharine Blaine School, 2550 34th Ave. W. Representatives from the library and designers from Snyder Hartung Kane Strauss Architects will discuss the design and answer questions. The 5,904-square-foot Magnolia Branch, which opened in 1964, will be renovated and expanded by about 1,200 square feet. In 2001, Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board voted to designate the branch as a landmark building. The library will work with the landmarks board to preserve the architectural character of the library.
The Aug. 2 meeting of the Parks, Education, Libraries and Labor Committee, chaired by city councilmember David Della-and responding to an executive recommendation from Mayor Nickels' office-approved $485,000 in funding for urgently needed flood repairs caused by last year's rain at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Discovery Park.Insurance on the 30-year-old center, damaged by last year's rains, covered a portion of the cost to the city-owned building that is leased to the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. The new funds, available immediately, combined with money from the state, assure that emergency repairs can be made before the fall rains begin.Phil Lane Jr., CEO for the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, said the Foundation is very thankful to Mayor Greg Nickels, Deputy Mayor Tim Cies and the city council committee for their efforts in allocating the needed funds.Lane said the Foundation has also submitted a request to King County for $488,705 to replace the heating system at Daybreak Star, a system so old they can no longer buy parts for repairs. That request is under review by King County Executive Ron Sims' office as part of the 2007 budget process.
The final recital of Church of the Ascension's summer series will take place on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 4 p.m. and will feature Ascension artists Charlene Kern, mezzo-soprano, and Bill Turnipseed, who will trade his usual place in Ascension's choir for the organ bench. They will be joined by guest artist soprano Jacinta Koreski. Kern and Koreski will sing solos and duets from selected oratorios and operas of G. F. Handel as well as excerpts from Haydn's Missa Brevis St. Joannis de Deo, J. S. Bach's St. John's Passion and a vocal arrangement adapted from Dvorák's New World Symphony.
If you're craving a hip-shaking good time, go no further than the Royal Esquire Club, 5016 Rainier Ave. S., on Friday, Aug. 18. From 8 p.m. - 2 a.m. The club will showcase the legendary ReBirth Brass Band from New Orleans, La., in a concert aimed at raising funds for victims of hurricane Katrina.With a dedicated following, 10 albums to their credit, and an energetic live show, the ReBirth Brass Band is an institution. Formed in 1983, the band has long since graduated from their days on the streets of New Orleans to the stages of theaters and festivals all over the world. ReBirth is committed to upholding the tradition of brass bands while at the same time incorporating modern music into their shows. Their signature brand of heavy funk has placed them among the world's top brass bands, and they are the hands-down favorite among the younger generation.
"The Devil Wears Prada" has been adapted from Lauren Weisberger's payback novel, in which she skewers her onetime employer Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of fashion bible Vogue, for all her sins against humanity - and especially Lauren. Good-hearted fashion schlub Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) signs on as newest slave-assistant to fashion goddess Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) and suffers the agonies of the damned under her icy, tyrannical rule. In the course of the film, the sweet young thing is tempted by the glamorous hell of which her demonic boss is queen.Streep strides and glides through the corridors of fashion-mag power in fabulous ensembles, her face a gorgeous mask framed by a perfect silver bob, her voice as whispery and controlling as a cobra's hiss. A mistress of surface non-reactivity, Miranda does not, by word or glance, play by the rules of conversational give-and-take. She remains still, sealed within herself and her own desires, unresponsive to the hungry smiles and guile of those around her. This isn't a hard woman with a heart of goo who will ultimately be touched by her bright, eager-to-please Girl Friday - though, Narcissus-like, she comes to see a viable reflection of herself in Hathaway."Prada"'s moral dialectic failed to inspire me, primarily because the corruption of Hathaway's Candide looked like heaven and her goody-two-shoes notion of the authentic life looked pretty phony.
The bright flavors and colorful dishes offered at Salima showcase a culinary amalgam dating back a thousand years. An elegant new dining place on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, Salima spotlights Malaysian, Vietnamese and Cham cuisine. Proprietor Asari Mohammed delights particularly in introducing his native Cham cuisine from Vietnam. This cookery has been influenced by many cultures, in particular the foods of India and Malaysia. "The Cham people are one of six indigenous tribes from the geographic area of present-day Vietnam; historically the land they inhabited was known as Champa," said Mohammed and added that the Cham have a distinct language and culture, including foods "totally different from Vietnamese". This family enterprise is built upon 15 years of business and professional cooking experience embodied by Mohammed and his wife, Salima, for whom the restaurant is named. Salima Mohammed worked previously as a personal chef for Malaysian diplomats posted to Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City. She also cooked beside her Malay brother-in-law in the family business, Saigon Four Seas in Ho Chi Minh City prior to arriving in Seattle nearly five years ago.
It was during my research on my African ancestry that I discovered something that changed my view of the world. I was looking up the mythology of African tribal groups and found that many of them say they came from somewhere else. Over the years I had discovered that a people's myths should be taken as seriously as their official history. They are the stories that cannot be verified through traditional historical means, but they are passed downed from generation to generation. African mythology is often so intertwined with the official history its sometimes difficult to separate the two.I had only traced my history to West Africa, but the mythology of most West African tribes tells of how they originated in the Nile Valley. They further say that some founding leader led them to where they are now and sometimes the tribal group carries their name.When you add that information with the discoveries in the Rift Valley of East Africa, it is clear that mankind emerged from the region where the religious records say man was formed from the dark red soil.For the first time I realized that the history of Egypt was part of my history and that East African people were the root of the African family tree. We share a kinship of creation.
Despite the architecture and various colors they are painted, the homes located along 12 th Avenue South don't appear that individual when driving or walking by. However, from behind the front door of Ann Cummings home comes a mix of sounds that forces one to stop and take notice. From her home the famous classical compositions of Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin reverberate into the summer air outside her open windows as she prepares for a concert or teaches a student. Adding to the Renaissance-complexity of the scene at Cummings home is the quaint art studio on the second floor with dozens of brushes, paints, sketches and finished artwork hanging on the walls. What differentiates Cummings from many other classical musicians or visual artists is her progressive methods of incorporating the visual arts into her concerts. According to a statement on her website, "as a pianist, Cummings presents classical music to be seen as well as heard."An early passionOriginally born and raised in Florida, Cummings began her training as a classical pianist at the age of 8. With her passion and virtuosity growing as an adolescent, Cummings was provided the opportunity to perform with the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony under the direction of Maestro Hoffman at the age of 16. Soon after, Cummings garnered a four-year scholarship to the University of Florida where she earned a degree in fine arts, musical performance. She graduated from the program, with honors, in 1985. After arriving in Seattle with her husband in 1988, Cummings noticed the apparent energy and support for the arts in the Pacific Northwest. "I wanted to use the arts and music in the most innovative way possible," said Cummings.
Joy DixsonFirst Hill"The number one thing I wish they would have taught us is how to research information on our own. I feel if you don't know something you should at least be taught how to find it out. Wait, that's not the most important: I feel everyone should be taught to say 'please' and 'thank you'."EuRonda RigginsCentral Area"Yes, more about my African heritage during Black History Week, which is what it is, even though they call it Black History Month. I would have liked not to been taught when I was little that Africa is a country and not a continent. They made it look so tiny on the map. I asked a lot of questions, and if I hadn't, I probably would not have done so well in school. But I was too nice."
Being a skateboarder in Seattle these days can be tough. You're either traveling distances to hit one of the cities two official skateparks in Ballard and Seattle Center, or you're constantly searching for spots where property owners don't chase you off, traffic doesn't threaten your life, and obstacles aren't rendered useless with those little bolted-on chunks of metal called "skate stops." Oh yeah, and don't forget the long months of drizzle and rain skaters have to contend with. This frustrating mix of challenges became even more complicated in 2003 when the Seattle Parks Department sought to raze the Ballard skatepark in favor of creating a green space and hand over the land holding the Seaskate park in Seattle Center for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. After a grassroots movement of skaters rose up against the demolitions, the parks department promised to rebuild the skateparks. Unfortunately for the skaters, the planning, permitting, funding, and construction process for such officially sanctioned projects can take around three years from start to finish. However, instead of suffering the wait, a dedicated group of skaters came together to create their own space.
The Shakespeare Committee of the Seattle branch of the English Speaking Union met recently at the Queen Anne home of Sara Reed-Plumb. Several Queen Anne and Magnolia residents gathered to mail out invitations to high school English and dra-ma teachers to attend a six-hour workshop on teaching Shakespeare creatively. The event will take place Sept. 30 at Cornish College of Arts. The ESU's Shakespeare Committee has been sponsoring the Shakespeare competition for local high school students for the past 17 years. The local winner of the 2007 competition, scheduled in early March at the Frye Art Museum, receives a prize of $400 plus a fully paid trip to New York to take part in the national Shakespeare competition. In addition, the winner's teacher receives a $500 prize. The National Shakespeare Competition continues to be the ESU's premier educational program, the one that reaches the largest number of students and teachers around the country. The 2004 competition involved more than 16,000 high school students and about 2,000 teachers from 60 branch communities, an incredible testament to the ongoing seductive power of Shakespeare's words.A recent report from the National Alumni forum noted that many Ivy League schools are dropping Shakespeare from their curriculum, and English majors are no longer required to study Shakespeare in order to graduate.
There is nothing more refreshing than a swim on a nice, warm summer day. Even if you don't know how to swim, performing water exercises requires no swimming skills and usually incorporates some of the same body movement. Non-swimmers may initially be a little afraid of water, but their success and enjoyment of water exercise soon overcome the fear, and many of them add swimming lessons to their exercise regimen.How much does water weigh?Water's resistance varies according to depth and speed, which you can always control. One gallon of water weighs approximately 8 pounds. When you swing one leg through the water, you are meeting ap-proximately 37 pounds of resistance. The faster you move your leg, the harder you work against this resistance. With this said, water training can be a very efficient way to achieve fitness, and almost any ac-tivity can be enhanced with aquatics.
This year's one-of-a-kind, outdoor-in-the-park Art Show at Magnolia Summerfest, Aug. 4 and 5, displayed a larger number of original works of art than heretofore. Visitors had the opportunity to view not only artistic works but also artists' demonstrations, and to vote on the People's Choice Award. That was won by Charlette Haugen for her painting "Through the Masts".
I have often used this space as a therapy session for myself. Yes, you poor people have been the unwitting recipients of my psychological effluvia. You have probably already sensed this on some level. I hope I've not done any dam-age to your psyches, or have deterred any of you from having children of your own after reading about some of the exploits of my offspring. Having said that, I apologize beforehand for whatever damage may befall you by reading the following. It's about my son, but then you probably already knew that was coming as it's been approximately two weeks since he's done something column-worthy. It's time to tell you about yet another mind-bogglingly stupid action that my son took this week.First, let me inform you that, being of semi-sound minds and stretch-marked bodies, we purchased a trampoline for our children. We believed the advertisements that touted the health benefits for our little ones.We wanted them to be active and healthy and not couch potatoes. We made this purchase out of the innocent good intentions of our hearts. We pooh-pooh'd the worries of friends and family. "Aren't you scared that your son will do something stupid and paralyze himself, thereby necessitating 24-hour care and a respirator for the rest of his life?"Nooooo. We're good. We even bought one of those safety nets that entirely surround the trampoline so that no one can fall off and break their necks.
America is growing like Topsy, or so it seems.Wild, almost weedlike.USA Today, McPaper to you, bannered that fact in a frontpage headline early in July.The reason national media trendster folk are noting our national growth is that this year we are approaching a population of 300 million people. We're expected to cross that particular numerical finish line in early October.We are growing faster than at any time since census takers started collecting extensive data early in the last century.In 1915, 94 years ago, America was a country of 100 million people.Pundits of the day, those hirsute Dennis Wilkens of the distant past, pronounced shock and amazement.But 100 million was just the beginning.By 1950 there were 150 million of us. And in fact, that rise was nothing compared to what we Baby Boomers were going to do.Between 1946 and 1964 another 50 million of us came onto the American scene.In 1967, America's population was 200 million!Now, 39 years later, the country has added another 100 million folks.Naysayers claim to be worried about immigrants and immigration, legal and illegal, but I am all for letting in damn near anyone who wants to come.