OK, in an effort to provide full disclosure, I'll tell you that my favorite childhood book was Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." I loved the whole family, the all-knowing mother and her band of diverse but delightful daughters, but most of all I loved Jo. She was the tomboy sister, the writer, the girl who fought against a life restricted by gender. I wasn't alone in my affection for the book. Almost every woman I know found magic in this tale of innocence, familial love and fortitude.Written in 1868, the novel has been a favorite ever since. It was adapted to film six times, made into a TV series and an opera, and just this year a musical version played in Seattle. The latest production is a Book-It adaptation which lights up the stage at the Center House. Beautifully realized and marked by an ingenious set and good acting, it's a holiday treat for the whole family. Yes, even the male members will enjoy it - if my husband's response is any indication.
Sentimentalists love "The Sound of Music." So do lowbrows. Even highbrows hum the songs. So when the touring show of "Dr. Doolittle" unexpectedly cancelled, 5th Avenue Theatre hastily announced Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 Broadway crowd-pleaser as the replacement.Although it's a decent production, "The Sound of Music" falls short of 5th Avenue's high standard. Still, the children are cute, Maria heartfelt and the Mother Abbess, glorious.
There are many reasons to see "Black Nativity," the most meaningful being its ability to accomplish what our world leaders cannot: to bring people from all walks of life, races and religions together in peace and harmony. Such is the power of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes' Christmas gift to the world. Intiman's beloved production debuted eight years ago with director Jacqueline Moscou, Pastor Patrinelli Wright and a choir of six, Rev. Samuel B. McKinney, four actors and three musicians. Now the multicultural choir numbers 40-plus, its members age 12 to 78, from churches all over Seattle. Ten of the singers are also trained dancers, six of them teenagers. And the band has swelled to a half-dozen. First performed in 1961 near the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, "Black Nativity" unfolds in two parts: the birth of Jesus as seen through the improvisational music and dance tradition of African-American culture, followed by a rousing gospel songfest. Movement is as much as part of this production as music, blending hip-hop, moonwalking and cha-cha with rap, jazz and scat.
Every year much is written about the many ways holidays can backfire on us. The season of peace, serenity and perfection so easily turns into a season of stress, disappointment and aggravation.There are countless pressures: to do everything, to see everyone, to prepare the best meal and, of course, to buy the best present. Let us consider this last one: the particular potential pitfall of gift-giving.
This time of year everyone is busy. Whether it is shopping or attending holiday parties, it can be a stressful time. Here are some tips for decorating your holiday home with ease and beauty. Like many home-décor projects, color plays an important role in setting a foundation on which to build. A color theme provides a focus and will pull together the look of your holiday decorating. Color themes such as this year's trend of jewel-tone colors in purples, yellow, blue and pink are just some color combinations to choose from. The traditional and reliable red-and-green color theme is also a good standby to use.
With bent angel wings, a decapitated Jesus and a gift of ham, the tradition continues as Seattle Public Theater (SPT) at the Bathhouse presents its fifth-annual production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" through Dec. 24.The play centers on some Christmas chaos as the Herdmans, six trouble-making siblings on welfare, invade a church production of the traditional Nativity story. Things go awry as they assume all the major roles in the pageant. The story is both humorous and heart-warming, with a few moral lessons.
This year, I'll face the month of December abiding by the words "less is more." Despite umpteen years of over-optimizing the holidays, and over-spending and over-committing, I'm redefining the season on my own terms. Even though I question my ability to learn from certain past mistakes, fearing I possess the habit compulsion Freud spoke of, I like to think that when it comes to dealing with holiday pressures I've gained a certain perspective over the years. As a writer, I know how many words are nonessential, that the meaning of a story is not lost in the editing but more clearly revealed. I'll apply the same riddance to Christmas even when confronted with my family's expectations, as well as my own need to make life as creative as my work.
Don't dare imply our Fremont Philharmonic is anything but genuine. The Fremont (California) Philharmonic may fulfill the more traditional, conventional image of a philharmonic, but when Kiki Hood dared to refer to the California group as "real," John Cornicello gave us an impassioned lesson in semantics. "Philharmonic" means "lover of music," or literally "loving harmony," and no more apt description exists of the Center of the Universe's Fremont Philharmonic.Kiki - who plays recorder, kazoo, hand percussions and human Theremin for the Fremont "Phil" - meant nothing by her comment, and neither did John (who plays keyboards). They've had to distinguish themselves on the group's website from the similarly named but profoundly distinct California orchestra for musicians looking for auditions.
Colorfully painted buildings with brightly lit windows sit astride North 45th Street in Walling-ford, known to many as a local portal to some of the world's most diverse cuisine. It is here, among the small but popular ethnic restaurants that line the busy thoroughfare that Karen Law and her business partner Junko Yamamoto have carved out their own culinary niche. Ethnic flavorsSandwiched between Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant, H&R; Block and the popular Wonder Bar, the once-vacant space at 1719 N. 45th St. is now warmly decorated in tropical blue and passion pink hues that invite you into Hawaiian Breeze.With a vision to bring new flavors into the area's culinary repertoire, Law and Yamamoto have embarked on a quest to serve and educate people about Hawaiian and pan-Asian food.
It's a Friday afternoon in Greenwood, and 28 middle-school girls have gathered at a large martial-arts studio for an unusual academic activity. Before the day is over, the air will fill with the sounds of snapping wood and confident shouts as these girls break boards with their high-flying feet.Welcome to Martial Arts in the Public Interest (MAPI), a nonprofit organization that provides youths with positive role models and personal growth. Located just off Aurora Avenue North at 945 N. 96th St., MAPI is run by Master Rachel Evans, a fourth-degree black belt, and here she comes now.
Forget "gay cowboy movie." That's a careless, stupid label that doesn't begin to contain the emotional scope of Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," adapted from Annie Proulx's 1997 short story. An adult alternative to inane comedies about "hooking up," "Brokeback" puts its faith in human passion as a potentially soul-altering experience. It's a masterly movie about the making and breaking of a fundamental human connection, the kind that sparks between any pair of star-crossed lovers, in any time or place that thwarts their union. In a dusty parking lot out in the middle of nowhere, two young cowboys lounge in very separate spaces, sharing not a single word, while they wait to be interviewed for sheep-herding jobs up in the mountains. In 1963, it's the way young men were in rural communities: wary, shy, not given to immediately striking up conversation or friendship. But there's poignancy in that prolonged silence, in the flat, colorless landscape that surrounds these boys. It's like a Western version of an Andrew Wyeth frame, filled with aching isolation, loneliness.Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) is wound tight as whipcord, a quiet loner who mostly lives inside his own head, hardly able to allow words to get free of his clamped-down control. There's a fadedness about this young-old man, as though he learned the art of camouflage very early on and never stops practicing it. With his dark-eyed good looks, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) is softer, more vivid, and he projects an optimistic innocence, not yet bruised by pretense and thwarted passion. If Ennis can't conceive of a future outside his emotional prison, Jack doesn't yet know what it is to be locked up for life.
Catholicism has been a blessing and a curse in my life. When I came out after college graduation it was a traumatic experience. I'd only attended Catholic schools: grade school, high school and college. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, a democratic but socially conservative city, my only knowledge of gay people came from my mother. She reviled gays due to her ignorance and my own experiences in school watching soft, effeminate boys getting beat up or called "fag" because they didn't fit the masculine mold. In sixth and seventh grade I experienced this same harassment because I took an interest in fashion and parted my hair down the middle.Lately I've thought a lot about my experience growing up Catholic in the Midwest. The announcement by the Vatican that gay seminarians will be routed out and encouraged to leave the priesthood is disturbing news. The action comes on the heels of the sex scandals that rocked the church in the first half of this decade, travesties that church leadership ignored for 30-40 years.
You may have heard this before. An old building gets bought by a developer. The building is torn down and in its place rises a bland, generic townhouse that eliminates a building that helped give a neighborhood its character and adds nothing of aesthetic value in return. Safe to say this has happened all over Capitol Hill. But instead of writing to condemn another such project, I'm here to praise two developers.
As pioneers in Washington's gay-rights movement, former Capitol Hill residents Harvey Muggy and Donald Lothian worked tirelessly during their lifetimes to inspire political activity among the state's gay community. When he ran for the state House of Representatives in 1986, Muggy was the first openly gay person in Seattle to seek political office. He lost the election, yet he continued to work in politics and recruited members of the gay community to serve at various political levels. Lothian owned two Seattle gay bars - the Off Ramp in Eastlake and the Crescent on Capitol Hill - and worked behind the scenes for gay rights. Saddly, Muggy died in 1992 and Lothian died in December 2004. But the couple has ensured that a cause that was close to their hearts will continue long after their deaths, thanks to a $1.3 million bequest from their estate left to Lifelong AIDS Alliance in Seattle.
Rainier Beach High School alumni and current NBA New York Knicks guard Jamal Crawford exchanges a handshake with his fellow NBA teammate and Vikings alumni, Nate Robinson. Both Crawford and Robinson are pictured looking down at the newly refurbished basketball court at Rainier Beach High School while the school's athletic Director Dan Jundy looks on during a Dec. 6 ceremony.