My husband Alex Welles and I volunteered in Philadelphia recently with the Obama for President campaign. Our visit included the April 12-13 weekend of Women for Obama with more than 1,000 people from around the country helping canvass undecided voters.I'd never imagined just a short time ago that I'd be doing this. I'd supported Sen. Clinton all of 2007 but had become increasingly disenchanted with her campaign and decided in January to support Sen. Obama. This was an anguishing decision made over several months as I'd been part of Hillary's Women's Leadership Circle during the Clinton administration and been involved for decades working for gender equity -- in my legislative priorities, efforts to advance women's participation in politics and in my research, writing and teaching Women Studies at the University of Washington. And I'd yearned for a long time for a woman as president.
It's just about prom time again. Some of the high schools might have even already held their big formal spring dances, but lessons in dating terror still lie ahead for a number of teens out there. A retelling of high school angst about this one date is always a springtime diversion from the loftier problems of war and peace. When we went to the prom, the idea of our parents renting us students hotel rooms or of us even staying out all night was something that we couldn't even begin to comprehend. Times have changed, I guess.
Drew Busse (left) and Rebecca Ehlers star in the "Wind in the Willows" the beloved children's tale by Kenneth Grahame. It's an exciting family adventure story that follows the car-fascinated Toad, who goes to jail, escapes with the aid of the jailer's daughter, fights weasels and stoats all in an effort to regain Toad Hall. Wind in the Willows plays April 24, 25, 26; May 15, 16, 17 at the United Church of Christ at 3555 W. McGraw St. For tickets call 206-356-1342.
On an open stage under blue lights, Book-It has recreated a small part of the tidal coast of the Puget Sound. Driftwood logs rest against weathered, barnacle-encrusted pilings. The blue-green floor appears to be a shimmering sea that stretches into the distance where forested islands and coastline recede from view. It's a landscape whose outward features we all know well. Book-It's production of "The Highest Tide" intends to teach us the details of its ecology. And teach it does. Through the adventures of its main character, Miles O'Malley a 14-year-old boy with prodigious knowledge of the world beneath the sea and at its shores, the audience is provided a seminar's worth of information on every possible Puget Sound underwater creature from barnacles to sperm whales.
If the "The Vagina Monologues" didn't do it for you, how about "Puppetry of the Penis"? This extraordinary array of 'dick tricks" is coming to Seattle for a return engagement and will be at ACT Theatre April 29 through May 5. Originated by Australian Simon Morley and his fellow down-under comedian David Friend, "Puppetry of the Penis" might well be considered genital origami, consisting as it does of more than 40 "penis installations." Featuring everything from the Loch Ness monster to the Eiffel Tower, it brings a new appreciation of the flexibility of a well-trained human body or its parts.
Jimi Hendrix is no stranger to the Experience Music Project, spawned in large part from Paul Allen's love for the late guitar player's spirit and influence.For "An Evolution of Sound," the latest exhibit devoted to Hendrix's life and works, the museum at Seattle Center takes a longer and wider view. "Up until now everything has been very much a survey of Jimi Hendrix's career detailing what happened from the time he started out until the time he passed away," explains EMP Senior Curator Jacob McMurray.
Beginning next year, the consumers in Washington state will get a hand in recycling their e-waste in a program paid for - at least in part - by manufacturers of computers such as Dell. The program is the result of efforts on the part of the state Legislature, said Seattle City Council president Richard Conlin.The program represents a sea change in King County, which forbade people in 2005 from putting computers, monitors, TVs and cell phones in the trash or taking them to transfer stations.
Bid to rid computer waste wasted as little scrap can be re-used An attempt to do well by doing good in a parking lot at Seattle Pacific University didn't work out too well last month for Jason Purcell and Recycle Engage Neutralize Electronic Waste (RENEW), a for-profit company he recently founded. People were able to drop off electronics equipment to be recycled for free and the response was overwhelming, filling the football-sized parking lot four- to eight-feet high with e-waste, said Purcell, a 2002 SPU graduate and an adjunct faculty member at the school. He and his partner Eric Lundgren from the Environmental Computer Agency (ECA) had been expecting to collect two or three truckloads of recyclables, Purcell said. Instead, he said, the free recycling drive brought in around 305,000 pounds of e-waste that filled 14 semi-trucks that were driven to California - at least initially.
My husband Alex Welles and I volunteered in Philadelphia recently with the Obama for President campaign. Our visit included the April 12-13 weekend of Women for Obama with more than 1,000 people from around the country helping canvass undecided voters.I'd never imagined just a short time ago that I'd be doing this. I'd supported Sen. Clinton all of 2007 but had become increasingly disenchanted with her campaign and decided in January to support Sen. Obama. This was an anguishing decision made over several months as I'd been part of Hillary's Women's Leadership Circle during the Clinton administration and been involved for decades working for gender equity -- in my legislative priorities, efforts to advance women's participation in politics and in my research, writing and teaching Women Studies at the University of Washington. And I'd yearned for a long time for a woman as president.
The 2008 Seattle International Children's Festival (SICF) will take place May 12-17 at Seattle Center and May 19 at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in Tacoma. The annual performing arts festival for all ages will have an international lineup of circus, music, theatre, puppetry, dance and multi-media shows designed to educate and entertain students, their teachers, families, teens and adults alike. Eighteen companies representing 17 countries are scheduled to perform. Tickets are now on sale online at www.seattleinternational.org or 206-325-6500.
Joshua Green, executive chef at Ponti Seafood Grill is one of six Seattle chefs chosen to join the Tazo Taste Infusion, a week-long event in which the chefs create specialty dishes and drinks inspired by Tazo tea.Green's creations will be available at Ponti from April 28 through May 11. Guests will also get learn about pairing tea with dinners. A graduate of Seattle Central Community College's culinary program, Green held several positions at Ponti's before being named executive chef.
I'm officially retired - confirmed by Social Security and AARP newsletters. I have been added to the demographic category of "seniors" and I qualify for discounts I never knew about. There are people in my life who call me "nana" and "grandma" and I am indeed a proud mother of two grown-ups with children of their own. Of course, one never quite retires from parenthood. Although as "seniors" we may still have a place in the lives of our families and friends and our contributions may continue to be helpful and needed, we are no longer movers and shakers of affairs that matter now. We are expected to take the backseat and many of us do so willingly and with grace. I don't question the value of the roles that society assigns to the older generation and I'm not at all critical of those who consent to follow these traditions lovingly.
Seattle Aging Fair coming in May Calling all seniors and Baby Boomers! You can get your blood pressure, bone density, hearing and posture and spine checked at the Healthy Aging Fair, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, May 15 at 810 Third Ave. in downtown Seattle. There will be plenty of user-friendly information available about senior employment services, hospice care, nutrition, recreation, utility assistance and volunteer opportunities. Call 206-684-0500 for more information. Test your driving The AAA Driver Improvement Program is accepting reservations for its course on defensive driving skills. Successful course completion qualifies drivers 55 years of age and over for car insurance premium discounts. It costs $16 and starts at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, May 9, at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 7750 21st Ave. N.W. Call 206-243-3564.
ake the man." But James Klontz, 87, a diminutive man born in Kent and a long-time regional architect who recently retired, is proof that neither clothes nor size make the man.Klontz is not the archetypal superman, invincible hero-architect portrayed in Ayn Rand's novel, "The Fountainhead." Rather, he is a no-nonsense professional who eschews the frills, bells and whistles of some architectural designs for solid structures that go hand in hand with engineering considerations; then a finished design that must always fit in with its surroundings.
Last week, several former employees of the Seattle School District gathered to commemorate the district's former location with an historical marker placed the base of the Merrill Gardens sign at the corner of 4th Ave. N. and Valley St. The marker says: Site of Seattle Public Schools Administrative and Service Center 1949-2002 and the Mercer Grammar School 1890-1940, on part of the Thomas Mercer Donation Land Claim of 1852.