Once upon a time there was a man named Bartleby. He was a good enough guy, though a little odd in the estimation of those who knew him. But in fact, few knew him. Bartleby allowed no one close enough for that. His work colleagues knew little of where he had come from, couldn't really understand the decisions he made at work, and even his good-hearted supervisor was at a total loss when he slowly slipped out of life. Herman Melville's main character in the short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" has been dissected by high school students and college students for decades, with no real agreement over exactly what ailed him. But whatever else was wrong with him, it seems apparent that Bartleby suffered from the same malady that affects an astonishing number of us: he was lonely. And whether that loneliness was self-inflicted or caused by the carelessness of others, it was a fact.Regardless of our status: single, married, old, young, surrounded by family, believer, atheist or agnostic, I believe that we too are prone to such profound loneliness. At our core, we long to know and to be known. To be intimate. Fundamentally, I believe this longing is a desire for intimacy with God, the One who created us and designed us. We yearn to experience acceptance, forgiveness and unconditional love and to know the One who reaches towards us in these ways. It is why for centuries Christians have found various ways to describe the "God-shaped space" that exists inside of us, waiting to be filled.
More than 530 parents, teachers and community members gathered at Roosevelt High School in mid-October to talk about something parents fear more than the smoking, skipping school and sex talks combined: math.Solving problemsThe talk was led by Ruth Parker, a former elementary-school teacher and CEO of Mathematics Education Collaborative, who argued that the traditional methods of teaching math still employed in schools are leaving Seattle students "numerically illiterate" and "unprepared for the demands of reasoning necessary in the work force today."As an example, audience members were asked to perform a series of seemingly simple math problems, but without the aid of pen and paper. The problem "48 times 26" alone resulted in six different answers and immeasurable audience frustrations. This difficulty, Parker said, results from mathematics programs that force students to conform to a fixed method of solving math problems.
Being homeless is never easy. But when the weather turns bitterly cold as it did last week, daily life for men and women without a place to live can become even more grim - even deadly. That's why the city opened up an overflow, severe-weather homeless shelter last week in the Rainier Room at the Seattle Center, said Al Poole, the city's Homeless Intervention Director.The Seattle Center temporary shelter was added to the two regular shelters: City Hall at Fourth Avenue and James Street, along with the Frye Hotel for homeless women and the overflow shelter at the Compass Center at Alaskan Way and South Washington Street.The Downtown Emergency Center also opened its doors to the homeless early last week, but it was closed down almost immediately, and homeless people were directed to the Seattle Center, Poole said. The Seattle Center shelter, with space for 80 people, worked well, he added. "We didn't have to turn anyone away."
All around town, technical directors must be groaning. The clever folks at the 5th Avenue Theatre have upped the ante of Christmas spectacular. Not only does it snow on stage in "White Christmas," new snow technology makes the audience become part of the winter scene.Overall, the 5th Avenue's "White Christmas" uses its Norman Rockwell pretty sets to great advantage. The cast is clothed in layers of red velvet and nostalgia, turning every moment in a sparkling homage to a celebration of the holiday season.Based on the 1954 movie musical starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, the stage show's snowflake-thin plot never offers much suspense. True love will win out and a show in the barn will save a quaint inn in Vermont from bankruptcy. If you want more chills and thrills than that, try "A Christmas Carol" at the ACT.
If you missed out on the chance to score some of Seattle's best art, don't fret. Head over to the South Park Art Show, 8201 10th Ave. S. in the Old Firehouse, on Dec. 9. Many of the same artists will be featured, and all art for sale will be priced at or below $100. The South Park show runs for a short time, from 4-10 p.m.
Seattle's downtown Goodwill store has been at its current location at Dearborn Street and Rainier Avenue South since 1923, and has no plans of moving. While their current building has a leaking roof and unstable foundation, Goodwill has found a way to leverage their assets to build a new facility.Goodwill has made an agreement with local developer Darrell Vange to exchange their property, valued at more-than $20 million, for a new retail store, administrative offices, and classroom space. Vange, of Ravenhurst Development (a local partner of TRF Pacific) has much bigger plans for the 8- acre site. Goodwill's new facility will operate on less-than one-fifth of the 700,000-square-foot "Dearborn Street" development; the rest of the property will house a big-box business (such as Lowes or Target), medium-size vendors, 500 mixed-income housing units, and 2,300 underground parking stalls.Any residential or commercial development at Dearborn Street and Rainier Avenue requires an amendment to Seattle's Comprehensive Plan. The current Goodwill site is zoned for industrial use. The city council's urban planning and development committee held a public hearing on November 28 to listen to community concerns about the rezoning of the property.
For many years I've been sharing British Christmas customs and traditions, both on my radio programs and in print. Fortunately, the traditions are long and the customs varied, starting as far back as the Druids and the Romans and including many conquerors and invaders who brought their customs and traditions to the British Isles. In the process they have supplied me with plenty of interesting material to share with you.So in this electronic Year of our Lord 2006, let me offer you a mince pie - not a slice, but a miniature,3-inch, covered pie which, like Christmas pudding, is a truly British tradition.
Children's letters to North Pole address answered Operation Santa, the 13th annual event whereby the Queen Anne Church of Scientology and members of the Queen Anne community answer children's letters to Santa, is set for Saturday, Dec. 9, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the church chapel at 601 Aurora Ave. N. The epistolary effort, conducted in conjunction with the Queen Anne U.S. Postal District Office, has become a neighborhood tradition.Decades ago, postal workers around the country took it upon themselves to begin answering children's letters to Santa. Given the deluge of more and more letters and requests, it became obvious that help was needed. Community groups nationwide have taken up the cause, and for many, answering letters is a way to brighten a child's Christmas - and their own.
Scores of sacks holding thousands of dollars in coins are being collected from area schools-including Our Lady of Fatima in Magnolia-that are participating in Penny Harvest, a months-long philanthropy-education program that raises money for community needs. At least a dozen of the 50 schools participating in the program this year are expected to meet the "25-sack challenge" that entitles them to a $1,000 grant to form a Philanthropy Roundtable. Schools that fall short of that goal but still want roundtables will be able to apply for scholarships.
Real Magnolia F.C. grabbed its second consecutive regular season division crown, winning the 2006 Seattle Youth Soccer Association Silver A Division with a record of seven wins, one loss and two ties.The team-a boys under-11 soccer team hailing from the Magnolia Soccer Club-clinched the division title Nov. 11 with a 2-1 defeat of the Wedgwood Dolphins at Greenlake.
At the movies, I sit next to a woman I have seen around the neighborhood for years. A woman I've taken special note of because she reminds me of my mother. Which can elicit a feeling of undivided love and appreciation or something more equivalent to road rage, depending on the last conversation we had, or tried to.While waiting for the film to begin, I go over and over in my head why this woman is so similar to my mom even though she has dyed red hair - instead of dyed blond - and she wears an over-abundance of silver jewelry rather than the gold accoutrement my mother prefers.Manner: the perfect word for why she and my mother resemble each other. Let's just say that if they shopped together, they'd be drawn to the same bric-a-brac.
Dear Santa,My name is Sam, and I'm 12. This is the first time in my life I've ever written to you, which is pretty unusual for a kid unless your last name is Horowitz, and then I think it's pretty common. You are one busy guy with all you have to do, so I wanted to let you know that in our neighborhood we have lots of great stores and businesses that have most anything you could want. So if you get behind or there's a huge snowstorm or something, Queen Anne would be just fine if you missed it this once. We are all good neighbors and do our best to take care of one another.One store that is cool is Horowitz Trading, West. I hear you know everything, so you probably already know it's my mom's shop, but that's why I know it best and would like to tell you about it so you won't worry if you can't make it.
Dear Santa,My name is Sam, and I'm 12. This is the first time in my life I've ever written to you, which is pretty unusual for a kid unless your last name is Horowitz, and then I think it's pretty common. You are one busy guy with all you have to do, so I wanted to let you know that in our neighborhood we have lots of great stores and businesses that have most anything you could want. So if you get behind or there's a huge snowstorm or something, Queen Anne would be just fine if you missed it this once. We are all good neighbors and do our best to take care of one another.One store that is cool is Horowitz Trading, West. I hear you know everything, so you probably already know it's my mom's shop, but that's why I know it best and would like to tell you about it so you won't worry if you can't make it.
I am one of those older fellas who do not often talk about the weather.Early on, I noticed that when folks didn't know what to say to each other, but felt, out of politeness, insecu-rity or just a dogged desire to be gumming and flapping, that they must say something, the topic they often chose to bore others with was the weather.Cincinnati, the locale where I grew up, liked to think of itself as special in every way. The weather was no exception."If you don't like the weather around here, just wait five minutes," somebody would say, and that tired old saw never failed to get a round of answering guffaws.Oddly enough, I discovered, once I started moving around this big country we share for 77.4 (male) to 81.6 (female) years, on average, that everywhere in the Land of the Free people are fond of saying something banally similar to Cincinnatians about their particular area's weather.
Here's one way to beat the December chill: visit Bayou country in Seattle Children's Theatre's world premiere of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." SCT's original adaptation of "Philopsuedes," the Greek fable written in 150 C.E. by satirist Lucian of Samosata and previously revisited in a Goethe poem, a Paul Dukas symphony and a beloved segment of Disney's "Fantasia," gets a swampy new take by playwright OyamO (Charles F. Gordon, writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor). One might not feel, exactly, moist heat emanating from the production's sets, full of tangled moss and vines drooping from contorted trees, presumably along the banks of muddy creeks. But the supernatural dilemma of the title character, a hungry lad named Charles (Connor Toms) who stumbles across an enchanted forest and proves too eager to learn magic from queenly sorceress Marguerite (Anne Allgood), feels like a mystery shimmering in the fever of American folklore. Without getting too specific about time and place, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" looks as if it's set during the Great Depression, a hard era in which it would make sense for young Charles to be wandering for miles alone in search of a meal, possibly after riding the rails for days. Charles crosses paths one night with the elegant, not-quite-earthly Baron (Terence Kelley), a rather beautiful figure all in white who seems attuned to cries of need in the dark. (After a minute or two, one can't help but wonder if the Baron will eventually have a legendary engagement with bluesman Robert Johnson, at a certain crossroads elsewhere in Mississippi Delta country.)Benevolent but interested in whether Charles has the stuff to recognize his destiny, the Baron offers sage advice and then sends the boy into the woods. There, Charles discovers his gift for understanding the language of plants and animals, and is mocked by Miss Orange Tree (Leslie Law), Mr. Juniper Bush (Mo Brady), Miss Grapevine (Khanh Doan), Jeremy Groundhog (Lisa Estridge) and an owl, Mr. Who (Peter A. Jacobs). Rescued by the cautious Marguerite, Charles begs her to take him on as her apprentice. The idea intrigues her; she has awaited a surrogate child for some time, but doubts whether Charles has the discipline to pay his dues over a long period. Marguerite gives him three chances to make mistakes but remain with her. Unfortunately, impatient, disobedient Charles quickly uses up her forgiveness.