"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." That opening sentence from "David Copperfield" could be a touchstone for a new, U-District theater troupe working with homeless youth.To view our own lives as a hero's journey, as Dickens knew, can be healthy for our well being. For kids on the street that view may be a necessary survival strategy.The Turtle Theatre Collective, a band of nine actors, educators, artists and drama therapists is undertaking a journey in which they will explore the world of metaphors and symbols with homeless youth in a storytelling, workshop format. About a dozen youth are expected to participate. The collective, buoyed by a $4,000 matching grant from the city, will encourage the kids to step back, look at their lives, and shape and share their experiences.
Asked to describe himself, Matt Jones doesn't hesitate."A cross between Jimmy Carter and Indiana Jones," he smiles.It fits.Entrepreneur, adventure traveler, stand-up comedian, photographer, motivational speaker and now artist - the 50-year-old Jones is also a hands-on philanthropist.From his Gasworks Gallery, a warren of artists studios at 3815 Fourth Av. N.E., unofficially the big blue building across from Ivars, Jones has mounted his latest charitable effort: Passion for Mashin'.It's all about the lowly potato, which, in Jones's eyes, occupies the "top of the food chain of cool."Every first Friday of the month, 7-11 p.m. the 5000 square foot building is opened to the public for his Passion for Mashin' parties. There's music and plenty of wine, food and art. The 14 artists who rent from Jones open up their studio space. The 200 to 300 people who show up are encouraged to bring potatoes. Jones, in turn, delivers the donated spuds - fingerlings, jumbos, Idahos, Yukon golds - to Northwest Harvest. Jones figures he and his MashedPotatoes.org volunteers have delivered some 50,000 pounds of potatoes to the regional food bank.
Could I love her more if she wore dark glasses &A scarf like Jackie O? she chain-smoked, spit &Swore, shot back whiskey, bucked like a bronco.-John Burgess; Punk PoemsFreemont resident, John Burgess recently released "Punk Poems,"a collection of original poetry. Several poems remind me of a blend of William Carlos Williams and Jack Kerouak given a modern burst of passionate energy. The collection published by Ravenna Press this past August is a culmination of several years' work for John.By day he handles corporate communications for PEMCO, but by night, he's very active within poetry circles.He's been on the board of the Washington Poets Association for several years; he's been one of the hosts of Poets West's weekly open mic readings now held at Epilogue Books in Ballard; and recently he shared the spotlight with Sam Hamill, poet, editor, Poets Against War founder, at a special evening of poetry and conversation held as a benefit and fundraiser for the Washington Poets Association Burning Word Festival and Fare Start (FARESTART.ORG).
The award-winning Roosevelt Jazz Band offers a musical holiday gift thisyear, a "Jazz Nutcracker," to 2,000 students from Seattle elementary schools.The high school band will give two free concerts Dec. 1 featuring selections from Duke Ellington's reinvention of Tchaikovsky's holiday classic. The performances willbe at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in Roosevelt High School's auditorium at its temporary home in Wallingford, 4400 Interlake Ave N.Composed toward the end of Ellington's career, the Jazz Nutcracker is an example of a great modern composer rethinking and re-imagining the work of a revered classical composer. Ellington renamed movements in Tchaikovsky's work with jazzy titles such as "Toot Toot Tootie Toot" and "Sugar Rum Cherry."
"The Voyager" is a small painting.Alone in a pitching boat in the middle of a turbulent sea, a lone, ghostly figure stands beneath the full moon. The figure is sexless, its head made up of four circles, one for the outline three for the empty, black eyes and yawning mouth. One stick-like arm clutches a steering pole. The craft resembles a gondola, long and slender, the aft and stern reaching tentatively toward the sky before curling back in on themselves like coiled caterpillars. The painting is black and white, save for a thin coat of light blue on the water and bright, striking rainbow bands of color along the length of the boat.Rendered on a notebook-size sheet of white paper, it almost seems uncomfortable in its frame upon the gallery wall, like a small child squirming in church clothes. It speaks to the quiet understanding born of the path of solitude, to the all-encompassing feeling of connection that comes when the past, the present, and the future become one in the tacit acceptance of the journey itself. The painting serves as a bridge in more ways than one. It was done in black and white by a small child in 1923 and colorized by an old man in 2005. Two painters, two perspectives, and one artist: Richard Kirsten Daiensai. "The Voyager" is a testament to the longevity of his creative spirit, as well as emblematic of the path he has chosen in life.
One stage, two actors. Fifteen characters, an Irish village's worth in fact, as well as a Hollywood film crew and cast invading the village - that is the premise for "Stones in His Pockets." The play receives its Seattle premiere at the Capitol Hill Arts Center.For the two guys who have to carry the whole play on their shoulders, it means long rehearsals and some interesting problems. Like how do you do a three-minute dance in which most of the characters appear when there are only two actors on stage? Oh, and keep in step with the music!Seattle actors Darragh Kennan and Timothy Hyland relish the challenge, even figuring out that three-minute dance. Kennan suggested Marie Jones' play to CHAC as a perfect work for Center's newest venue, a cozy little performance space built to one side of the bar downstairs.
You'd think that somebody would have warned us. When we were first out of our cradles, some kind mentor should have laid down a few precepts for coping with a world that, a poet once wrote, is "so full of a number of things" we should all be happy as kings.It's that "number of things" which is the sticking point. Unlike kings, we don't all have huge castles in which to keep the things.For instance, our advisor should have told us never to buy a house with more than two rooms, no matter how many people might be housed there, because, as a matter of course, we'd furnish all those rooms, leaving us, at some point in our lives, having to unfurnish them.We should have been warned, as well, never to accept inheritances of any goods that are larger than a breadbox - a very small one. No sets of antique china or ginger jar vases. No French armoires. No plush albums with photos of long-gone and now unidentifiable ancestors. Travel souvenirs would have warranted another warning. The Mexican bark paintings, the camel seat from that Moroccan bazaar, brass rubbings, masks and other reminders of happy vacations and overseas sojourns.Collections? A wise advisor would have suggested the avoidance of any collectibles larger than thimbles.
The City Council Budget Committee voted on Nov. 16 to pass a budget for 2006. The full council is scheduled to vote on Monday, Nov. 28. All nine Councilmembers serve on the Budget Committee, so it is unlikely there will be any changes.Councilmember McIver served as budget chair, and I thank him for piecing together a very valuable and workable budget.The council has adjusted the Mayor's proposed budget in three major ways:1) It provides increased services for our neediest citizens;2) It provides increased transit planning for dealing with our key transportation corridors; and3) It significantly improves our library by increasing our book collection and expanding the hours in our branch libraries.I am disappointed that we could not add more police officers for bike and foot beat patrols. But I recognize that this is a huge cost that must not only be sustained in the future but also grows larger each year.
Mark FarmanIt's terrible. I guess it's a sign of the times. It's a corporate event now compared to the comunity and neighborhood event it once was.Cher BrooksIf you're going to have the parade downtown, at least end it up here. Make your statement and bring the party back to the Hill.
They seemed to be getting close. Last May, it was hoped that there would be enough support among Capitol Hill property owners to create the Capitol Hill Improvement District (CHID), a self-taxing entity that would raise money to address various issues that adversely affect the Hill's business district.It hasn't happened yet. But the idea, which first gathered a little momentum more than three years ago under the Broadway Business Improvement Association banner, is not going away. According to Chip Ragen, who heads up the CHID steering committee, the organizers were once hopeful that the CHID will be in place by the end of the year. Logistical issues have rendered that goal optimistic. But Ragen is more than optimistic that a CHID will be created in 2006.
It's that time of the year when people across the country find themselves wrestling with raw turkeys in the kitchen. Now is a great time to brush up on how to clean up, for many of us, myself included, are messier in the kitchen than others. Cleaning as-you-go is best. Let's start with china and other fine things.Any fine china manufactured after 1985 has been coated with an extremely fine plastic layer which makes it dishwasher safe. But following manufacturer's instructions is always wise with fine silver, stemware, china and glassware. Crystal cannot tolerate the heat of a dishwasher and will crack so wash it by hand. Also, know that knives can be damaged by harsh chemicals in the dishwasher; the preference is to hand wash good knives.Some of the best cleaners are the simplest, least costly, easiest to use and aren't too hard on Mother Earth when used sparingly. Liquid dish detergents clean by removing surface food and breaking down grease. Many stains on cloth can be removed with dish liquid by first wetting the spot completely with cold water and then applying a liberal amount of liquid detergent directly to the stain. Allow the article to sit for at least an hour. Repeat this process for especially heavy stains, and then wash the item in warm or cold water. Hot water will only serve to cook the stain into the fabric.
"We were too little to know when hard times were hard times, but we never felt like they were."- Joselyn FooteJoselyn Foote and Vivian May own the Main Course, a preschool and day care on the corner of 51st Ave S. and S. Orcas St. They also run a catering business, and they are accomplished singers. They have lived in the Rainier Valley since the mid-1980s. Foote was interviewed in April 2003 for the Rainier Valley Historical Society's Rainier Valley Food Stories project. She grew up in a military family and therefore lived in many different places as a child. But Foote always came back to her grandmother's house in Mississippi, which is where she first got interested in food. Here follows an excerpt from Foote's life story as chronicled in "The Rainier Valley Food Stories Cookbook: A Culinary History of the Rainier Valley Going Back 100 Years, with Recipes and Stories from our Multicultural Community":When my dad would go overseas, we would go back to Grandmother's house. Grandma's house was so little, [with] us five, and then my mother's sister also lived there, and she had three [kids]. To us it seemed like a big place, but when we went back for the funeral, it was like, "Lord, Jesus! How did all of us fit in this little old tiny place?"There was an outhouse. The roads were dirt back then. It's just a whole different life all together. You didn't have a lot of toys or games - we'd run up and down the street, that was fun to us. But I stayed wherever the cooking was going on, most of the time, 'cause I was always fascinated.
Seattle Parks and Recreation recently announced the winners of the third annual Denny Awards for volunteer service. This year's winners are Ruth Bell, who lives in Rainier Beach, John Barber of the Leschi neighborhood, George Hildreth of Northeast Seattle, Seattle Works and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.Bell showed great leadership and involvement in numerous projects in Southeast Seattle, especially the wetland restoration at Pritchard Beach, the Stroll Garden at Kubota Garden, and most recently, the new play area at Beer Sheva Park.
Winter is approaching and as the temperature drops, it's important for older adults to prepare for the potential hazards that cold weather can bring. For the thousands of seniors living in the Northwest, winter may pose a number of risks. Reports have shown much higher incidences of injury and illness due to icy sidewalks, cold and dry air, flu viruses and in many cases, hypothermia. According to the Healthy Aging Partnership, a coalition of more than 40 Puget Sound not-for-profit and public organizations dedicated to the health and well-being of older adults, older adults should keep these tips in mind to help ensure safety and optimum health this winter.
Thanksgiving Day must conjure up memories for all of us regardless of our ages. I believe most adults can recall more Thanksgiving events than Christmas days. I don't know how to prove my conjecture other than anecdotal.My formative years in Flint, Mich., involved holiday car trips to a favorite relative's home in Detroit. That meant my parents, my only brother and I had to jam ourselves into uncle Stanley's Chevy, which already held his elderly parents. Seven people in a two-door Chevrolet felt like sardines packed in a tin can.Mom hated the preparation to ready the family for the 120-mile round trip. "Hurry up, kids!" Mom would say in frustration. "Get your coats and hats on. We must be ready to run out the front door the instant uncle Stan drives up. You know how mad he gets if he has to wait even one second."It never changed until finally Dad bought his first car. But that took 15 years. He was oblivious to the situation. I now believe that he knew his brother probably suffered form battle fatigue after his five-year enlistment with the United States Coast Guard during WW II. Like most war veterans, he did not converse about the battles he fought. When he tried to speak long sentences, he stuttered - the one external change the family noticed upon his return from the war.