Visual art, performance art and poetry will intersect in a new monthly event at Phinney Center Gallery. Every fourth Friday of the month, the new series "Untitled [Intersection]" will showcase one short work of contemporary performance art, alongside two featured poets (one recognized and one rising) at Phinney Center Gallery, 6532 Phinney Ave. N.The new event, which makes its debut on Friday, Feb. 23, was conceived as a "live art series, designed to strengthen the Seattle arts community by cross-fertilizing, fostering dialogue between genres and bringing fresh talent to the fore," noted series producer A.K. Allin.
On Jan. 4, 1907, a woman named Anna Clise and 16 of her friends came together, each with a $20 donation and a vision: to form an association that would provide health care to any child who needed it, regardless of whether the family could pay for the care.One hundred years later, the vision lives on.During February, Seattle Chil-dren's Hospital & Regional Medical Center celebrates its 100th anniversary. Throughout the year, the organization will honor its history in various ways, including a history wall on display in the hospital, the creation of a website where patients and doctors can share their experiences from Children's (storyproject.seattle childrens.org) and publication of a book documenting its history, due out in late 2007.
On March 13, Seattle voters will go to their mailboxes instead of their polling places to cast their advisory ballots on the future of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. There is some confusion about the procedures involved in the first all-mail election in Seattle history, and I want to make sure that you don't miss the opportunity to participate in this important election.A commitment to the processWhen a city requests that a particular election be handled by mail, it is up to the Elections director - not the Metropolitan King County Council - to grant or deny that request. The City of Seattle requested that the Viaduct advisory election be conducted entirely by mail, and interim Elections director Jim Buck granted that request. I disagreed with the decision to hold an all-mail election. There are more than 100,000 poll voters in Seattle who have never voted by mail, and with absentee ballots being mailed to voters starting Wednesday, Feb. 21, there is little time to inform voters of this significant change. Although I disagreed with the decision to conduct the Viaduct advisory election entirely by mail, I am committed to ensuring that citizens who want to participate have their votes counted.
The recent opening of High Maintenance Bitch (HMB), a pet-supply store that sells designer products for dogs and cats, has sparked controversy in the Wallingford community over the prominent exposure of the store's sign. "I looked at [the sign], and my reaction was, 'They got my attention,'" said Jackie Jones, a Wallingford resident. Jones sent an e-mail complaint to Wallingford Chamber of Commerce members regarding the prominence of the word "bitch" on the sign. "I think my first e-mail was just reactive, one of shock, like, 'Can someone explain to me why there is a public sign in Wallingford that says 'bitch'?'" she said.She said further that she felt it was "inflammatory" and "socially irresponsible."The sign, as visible to passers-by, features the word "Bitch" in prominent type and color, while the words "High Maintenance" are less visible.
The AIDS epidemic is not over, and the Bailey-Boushay House at 27th Avenue East and East Madison still is still working hard to improve the lives of epidemic victims, just as it has for the past 15 years.In a modern building facing Madison Street, Bailey-Boushay House was the first skilled-nursing facility in America planned, funded, built and staffed specifically to meet the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. When it was built in 1992 the AIDS epidemic was lethal. The nursing home lost 95 percent of its patients to death - more than half the AIDS deaths in King County each year. When Bailey-Boushay began 15 years ago, patients would start with the facility's out-patient care then move into the nursing home and die, said Brian Knowles, executive director of the facility. He said the average stay then in the nursing home was 30 days.Today the average stay is 40 days, but the big difference is that most of the patients move into the nursing home and then move out and get on with their lives. While there is still no cure for HIV/AIDS, having the disease is not the death sentence it once was. But the change in HIV/AIDS has meant that Bailey-Boushay has had to evolve.
Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection runs from Feb. 17, through June 3, at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave.In the exhibition, the works of prominent artists associated with the venerable Leipzig Art Academy see the light. The featured artists are Neo Rauch, Tilo Baumgärtel, Tim Eitel, Martin Kobe, Christoph Ruckhäberle, David Schnell and Matthias Weischer. What makes this exhibit of paintings so unusual is that the few drawings completely blow away the rather conservative works on canvas in the collection.
t Seattle Out and Proud (SOAP), the group that puts on the annual Pride events, owes the city more than $100,000 for its use of Seattle Center last June.Last year's Gay Pride weekend centered on Downtown Seattle last year for the first time, taking the annual Pride march off Broadway to main downtown streets and focusing on events, entertainment and merrymaking at Seattle Center instead of Volunteer Park. The weekend was judged an unqualified success, drawing more participants and spectators than ever before. There were hurt feelings and dire predictions among those who objected to taking Pride off Capitol Hill, but they went mostly forgotten. Until now.
For years it's been perceived as the epicenter for a long-list of chronic criminal activities around the area of 20th Avenue East and East Madison Street. Both the neighborhood and the Seattle Police Department have long regarded Club Chocolate City - formerly and infamously known as Deano's Bar and Lounge - as a magnet for drugs and prostitution. >That reputation is likely to change. Last week, Club Chocolate City entered into a voluntary agreement with the city to stop serving alcohol. The last day of liquor service was first intended to be on March 31. Owing to additional liquor violations, the club's last day of alcohol service was scheduled last Wednesday, Feb. 28.
During the years of World War II, there was a group of us that bonded together and did our best to make the war go away. Without the in-your-face news gathering of today, we only heard rumors and the occasional newscast over the radio about the war.Of all the shortages, we missed movies the most, so when word spread that a real war movie was coming to Seattle, we planned that day well in advance.
Nine Washington State University students from the Queen Anne/Magnolia neighborhood have earned recognition on the President's Honor Roll for fall semester 2006, according to the registrar's office.The nine are Daniel William Bottomly, Christopher William Conroy, Nicholas Andrew Greene, Patrice Helen Krier, Katherine Barnett Latimer, Madeline Rosen Levy, Witney Sigri Lonseth, Melissa Rose Macdonald and Natasha Sladek Palewicz.To be eligible for this honor, an undergraduate student must earn a grade-point average of 3.75 in at least nine graded hours in a single term at WSU or a GPA of 3.5 based on at least 15 cumulative hours of graded work.
There's good news and bad news about the Magnolia Public Library. The good news is the branch didn't close as expected on Feb. 24, saving neighborhood library patrons from having to make a trip to the Ballard or Fremont branches. The bad new is why the library is staying open. A single bid from Graham Contracting for the $1.78 million renovation project came in at just shy of $3 million, according to Caroline Ullmann, assistant communications director for the Seattle Public Library.
It was news to several residents that funding for the Queen Anne Gardens Apartments was in question, they said. The tenants all said they first learned of the problem only after reading a story in the News. >The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) sent out 500 "courtesy" letters about funding to the surrounding neighborhood and to community organizations, according to LIHI program coordinator Lisa Zahn.The snafu over the letter is symptomatic of deeper problems in the 38-unit building since LIHI took over from the Senior Housing Assistance Group (SHAG), according to Miller and fellow tenants Donnamarie Palermo and Frank Rich.
Is Queen Anne the new hotspot for dining out? So it would appear - particularly upper Queen Anne, where restaurants are opening and closing their doors at such a rate that it's almost as if there's a gigantic game of musical chairs being played, and while some of the players are switching their seats, others are new to the game, and some have simply packed up their bags and gone home.n the midst of local concerns about ongoing reconstruction and its effects on small businesses and the greater community, there's no reason that we shouldn't celebrate the coinciding appearance of a vibrant, growing restaurant community on top of the hill.
The March 13 Advisory Ballot is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tear down a 50-year-old wall, reconnect downtown with its waterfront and show the next generation that we had the courage and foresight to make smart decisions about Seattle's future.In order to accomplish that, our votes must be clear and united: NO on a louder, uglier and noisier elevated viaduct!
A couple of you, my dear readers, saw fit to stop me on the streets of Lower Queen Anne and ask me why I "have let up on Bush."True, I haven't written for a while about America's worst president since Warren G. Harding, but frankly I thought I had said all there was to say. Repeatedly.But for those of you who haven't enjoyed my recent excursions into other, more fruitful fields, here's the latest on Li'l Georgie.British prime minister Tony Blair, the hero of the Oscar-nominated film "The Queen" and once a popular figure in Great Britain announced last week that Britain is shortly to begin pulling troops out of Iraq.