Music is universally appealing and inspiring. It can showcase the unique and draw us happily together. It is rhythmic, oscillating. It moves us ... physically and emotionally. It is comprised of parts that come together to create invisible beauty. We are drawn to the sense of balance within music, and we intuitively alert to any harmonic disruption. Similarly, we are finely tuned to maintain our own well being.Holistic wellness is about removing the obstacles that impede you from fully inhabiting and expressing your innate capacity - your song. When we are out of sync with our true nature, symptoms of discomfort present as an alert to the discord. In effect, symptoms are an instrument of well being. As we remove sources of discord, we regain our balance and the body heals.The Red Hot Chile Peppers sing, "We got to move it if we want to do our best. We got to shake it if we want to keep it fresh." Literally, movement IS valuable for loosening stagnation that is causing disharmony in the body.
It is about you, after all.During the last year, a variety of Internet crazes swept the nation and exploded beyond recognition. The leader in this online revolution, arguably, was YouTube, the Web site featuring video clips ranging from the bizarre and amateur to forgotten film moments and chunks of humorous advertisements. Before dismissing the impact of online video, note that Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion last year. This is hardly small change.This Saturday, the Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) will present WeTube, which will liberate online clips from YouTube by showing them on a big screen. The evening will feature a selection that will include some of the more popular and outrageous clips of the last year. Peter Lucas and Adam Sekular, NWFF program directors, worked together to assemble the WeTube program.
Whether you've been hoofing it at the Century Ballroom for the last decade or you're just curious about Capitol Hill's version of an old-time dance hall, be sure to drop in and join the fun this weekend.For the Century's 10th anniversary celebration, owner Hallie Kuperman has invited longtime crowd pleasers to pack the weekend with swing, salsa, tap and all the other types of dance. Bands like Pearl Django and the Solomon Douglas Swingtet will be there as well as such local favorites as the Total Experience Gospel Choir. "It was important to me that everyone involved has a history with the Century Ballroom," said Kuperman. "I didn't want to just bring in people who had never played here before. It's going to be lots of old friends and people who have worked here coming back to celebrate."
On a Saturday afternoon toward the end of January, Matthew Amster-Burton and his 3-year-old daughter Iris walked the few blocks from their home to the play structure at Lowell Elementary School. He was surprised to find the area was fenced off and that the gates were locked. The gate and locks had gone up quickly and without public notice. Aware that school playgrounds are intended to be a community resource, he set out to learn about the closure and to find out what might be done to reopen it. The reason for the closure had to do with ongoing safety issues. The playground had been experiencing a variety of safety-related problems after school hours. Drug paraphernalia, broken bottles, even human waste would regularly be found in and around the playground. The extent of the problem reached the level where fencing the area off, thus keeping the playground closed after school hours, was deemed a necessary step. "I'm very sympathetic to safety concerns at the school, but I wondered why I hadn't heard anything about this before. I also wondered if there wasn't some other solution," Amster-Burton said.To that end, he called the school and learned there had been no community outreach on the subject, which surprised him. He next contacted an online Capitol Hill parenting group, and learned that others shared his concerns. His interest led to a community meeting last week to discuss the locked playground.
Crime data for 2006 indicates that Seattle residents are still living in one of the safest major metropolitan cities in America, according to statistics released last recently by the offices of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.Total crime for 2006 decreased 8.2 percent, largely due to a solid reduction in property crimes.
When Marcella McCaffray was a child, she and her family attended a Memorial Day parade every year. Marcella's mother told her the parade was held to celebrate Marcella's birthday, and she believed her. >Motherly love stretched the truth, but it was true that Marcella's birthday was on Memorial Day, May 30. (In 1971 the holiday was changed to the fourth Monday in May, a moveable date.) She attributes her longevity 90 percent to good genes, but adds that "you have to take care of your good genes." She also spends time with her daughters. Carol lives a few minutes away on Magnolia; Marcie and her husband live on Cougar Mountain near Issaquah, where they own a zoo dedicated to the preservation of endangered species.Marcella will have to wait until 2011 before her birthday falls on Memorial Day again (this year it's on a Wednesday). But her life is full of enough theater and pageantry to sustain her until then.
Documents signed last week by leaders of King County, the Port of Seattle and the BNSF Railway Co. move a step closer to saving an Eastside rail corridor for public use, and to transportation improvements that could mean billions of dollars in economic activity.King County Executive Ron Sims, Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore and BNSF Chairman, President and CEO Matt Rose on Feb. 26 signed two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) formalizing proposals to bring an Eastside rail corridor into county ownership in exchange for the transfer of King County International Airport to the Port. The parties also agreed to cooperate in the siting and development of an intermodal freight facility to serve the region.
We need a new high school. Our public schools are full and bursting at the seams in the Magnolia and Queen Anne neighborhoods.The children of the baby boomers, referred to as the echo boom-let, are in school now and many are in pre-school as well. So where are all the kids going to go to high school? Ballard is already stuffed to the gills, and their surrounding grade schools and middle schools are full as well and will feed into Ballard High School.For those of you who think private schools are the answer for your kids, they are full as well. The new Center School only has room for 75 students per grade and it is an alternative school, not comprehensive.
After 40-years of non-stop abuse under the wheels of the cars and trucks traveling north through Seattle, Interstate 5 between the I-90 and South Spokane Street interchanges has become undeniably dangerous. While Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials announced the renovation to the Greater Puget Sound area commuters on Feb. 21, WSDOT officials have been warning South Seattle merchants associations and business groups about the necessary closures since December."This is a major project that will affect hundreds of thousands of drivers and community residents. We are still analyzing data to determine the potential affects on traffic; developing mitigation strategies; and coordinating with construction contractors, transportation agencies and transportation groups."What Succhan did not make clear is how the small businesses in the South Seattle neighborhoods most heavily affected by the freeway construction will be protected.
HILLMAN CITY ­- ­A Seattle Police Officer lost control of his patrol car between Hillman and Columbia City while responding to a back-up call placed by officers engaging in a high-risk stop. The accident occurred in the 5400 block of Rainier Avenue South near South Brandon Street on Feb. 23 just after 2 a.m., according to Seattle Police Department spokesman Sean Whitcomb. Initially we believed that his injuries were life threatening," Whitcomb noted. "We're thrilled to hear he's been upgraded to serious."
All eyes turn to the dramas being acted out in Washington, DC. But here at home in the "other Washington" developments are unfolding that could affect our lives in Seattle. The Democrats in Washington have stronger majorities in both houses of the state legislature than their counterparts in the US Congress. And as citizens we can have much more influence in Olympia where just a few calls or e-mails to a legislator can have an immediate impact.First off, do you know who your state Senator and Representatives are? If not, go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ and type in your address.
We are driven to simplify all issues with catchy slogans and reduce them to labels that speak so loudly and yet, mean nothing. We talk about "the mess in Iraq," "Islamic fundamentalism," "Islamofascism," "al-Qaeda," and patriotism. We all know what these terms mean, don't we? It is so much easier for us to dismiss the fratricide in Iraq as something that is innate in Islam; a culture that is far too violent to understand peace or democracy: they are fighting because of "hundreds of years of hatred," they want to go heaven by killing others. The real fact is that we don't know what is going on, how to stop it, or how to get out.
My father is spinning in his grave. My sister is in shock. I ams shattered. r>According to the Wall Street Journal, crossword puzzles do nothing to keep those brain cells alive. A study the Journal reviewed stated that we start losing those cells at the ripe, old age of 30 and continue to lose them bit by bit until we depart this mortal sphere.
The following are based on incident reports from the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct. They represent the officers' accounts of the events described.DRUGS, OBSTRUCTIONAt 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, officers on a routine bicycle patrol near the Bellevue Place Park at the 800 block of Bellevue Court East came across two men hiding behind a fallen tree at the north end of the park.The officers were spotted, and one man fled immediately. He was apprehended after a short chase. The second man waited for a moment. But when officers came closer, and spotted an open case of beer next to the man, he, too, took off running. Officers followed that man. After a short chase, they corned the man between a tree and a fence. They ordered him to come out; at first he refused. Officers could see him frantically trying to bury something into the ground by his left side. The man eventually got up from the ground and was placed into custody. Officers searched the area where he had been digging and found a syringe and various items commonly used to cook heroin. Inside the bottom half of a beer can officers found a large amount of what they suspected to be heroin residue. A field test confirmed the presence of heroin. He was thus arrested and booked into King County Jail.The first man was checked for warrants. When his name came back clear he was released from the scene after signing a parks exclusion ordinance.THEFTJust after 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, officers on foot patrol along Broadway East were stopped by clothing store employee who said that a woman had left the store without paying for a pair of leggings.They spoke with an employee who said she saw the woman take two pairs of black leggings and a hat into a dressing room. After a short time, when the woman had not emerged, the employee went to the dressing from and asked if the woman needed help. The woman said no and started to leave the dressing room. The employee saw two empty hangers on the hall and but a single pair of leggings in the woman's hand. The employee then became occupied by another customer, during which time the woman put one pair of leggings on the counter and left the store. The employee ran outside and saw the woman run into a nearby restaurant. Soon after, the employee flagged down two foot patrol officers. Armed with a detailed description, the officers found the woman roughly a block away. When confronted, she produced the pair of leggings the employee said had been stolen. "I'm homeless and I needed something clean," she said, adding that she had just been kicked out of a methadone program. She was arrested and booked into King County Jail.DRUGS, ETC.At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, officers on routine patrol in the area of 21st Avenue East and East John Street saw a man they recognized walking on the sidewalk. They knew the man was wanted for an outstanding warrant. When a computer check verified the warrant, they pulled over their car in order to take the man into custody.When the man saw the officers he took off running. The officers called for backup and gave chase, yelling at the man to stop. The man ran through several yards and hopped over several fences in an effort to get away. Officers soon spotted the man trying to hide behind a house. When a light was flashed on him he fled again, this time lowering his shoulder to plow through a five-foot-tall fence. While he got through the fence, he was slowed enough that officers caught up to him and placed him under arrest.Other officers located a jacket the man discarded. Inside the jacket was a glass tube with a residue inside consistent to crack cocaine. The residue later tested positive for cocaine at the East Precinct. The man, who is in his early 40s, was booked into King County Jail, charged with the warrants, drug possession, obstructing an officer and property destruction. Making matters worse, the incident took place within the Stay Out of Drugs Area around Meany Middle School.ARMED ROBBERYAt 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, officers responded to the 1700 block of Summit Avenue after a female resident reported that her boyfriend had tried to rob her.She told officers that her boyfriend lives in the apartment and she came by to visit. At one point, for reasons she did not provide, the boyfriend backed her into a corer, then inside a closet, while holding up a knife. The boyfriend next ripped the cell phone that was hanging on a cord around her neck and threw it to the ground.The boyfriend turned to look out a window, at which point the woman saw a chance to run out of the apartment. Officers went inside the apartment and took the boyfriend into custody without incident. The woman said she and her boyfriend have been dating for six years and have a child together. The woman changed her story several times while the officers were present, so officers were uncertain about a variety of facts in the case. Additionally, she refused to give the officers an official statement. The man was arrested and booked into King County Jail.
On Sunday, March 4, "We the People of the United States..." sounded forth from the corner of Phinney Avenue North and North 67th Street. group of Phinney neighborhood residents plan to gather there and read the U.S. Constitution aloud to commemorate the anniversary of its enactment. br>Members of Phinney EcoVillage, a local association dedicated to community-building, hopes to attract residents and remind them of the Constitution's true meaning.